A Slow Start

The first eight days of My Holiday Novel have gone by with. . .not much. I have written around 1,300 words which is. . .not much. And I am still in the first chapter which is. . . not much. At the same time, I did not set a word count goal for this novel or this challenge so I can't say I'm really behind or anything. I hope to finish chapter 1 by Wednesday, though. I have 10 chapters to get through and possibly an epilogue so I need to get a move on. That's a little more than a chapter a week and it has already been a eight days.

So, not off to a great start with this one but I am off to a start.

As far as the story goes, I do like the plot. I went with the Bible story idea. My novel is third person but I am focusing on a little Egyptian girl who sees firsthand the ten plagues that God inflicts on Egypt. Throughout the story, she begins to loose faith in her gods and goddesses and wants to know more about the Hebrew God.

Turkey day is this month! :)

NaNoWriMo- the Final Days

Well... the last 11 days I was behind every single day. No joke. I would catch up occasionally and then the next day I would get behind again. Sometime around days 20-25, I would sit at the dining room table instead of on our Lazy Boy. Wow, what a difference achair can make. It actually had to sit up straight *gasp*. Needless to say, it helped a lot. I also did some "Nuclear Weekend" (See No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty) type writing where I set the timer for forty minutes and wrote as long/fast as I could and then take a twenty minute break. I repeated this process until I made it to 1500 words. Then, take a long break (eat a meal, watch TV, read a book, talk to actual people, etc.) and do it again with another 1500 words. Then take a break. Then write again. So, I did this a few times (even though I usually only did it twice in a day rather than three times) and it helped a lot.

The last five days of NaNo ended up being pretty interesting. We were staying at a little house in New Braunfels where there was no internet access. That was sad for a couple of reasons: no e-mail, no blogging, no research for the book. But, it ended up helping a lot. On day 27 I had approximately 14,000 words left. I wrote about 3,500 on that day, 4,500 on day 28, 2,000 on day 29, and 4,000 words on day 30. It was a killer and I doubt the last 14,000 words of my book are all that great. But they are written and I am a winner with a grand total of 50,004 words.

As far as the story goes (I haven't really blogged about it) here's a synopsis:  It opens with the birth of a girl named Shiloh Ella Smith in a small town in Michigan. Her dad is a Baptist pastor there. Shiloh grew up without even leaving the state. In fact, she never even left her city unless it was for one of the families summer trips to Lake Superior. In high school, she meets a boy named JJ Wilburn. They are friends at first but by the end of high school they are sweethearts. JJ is a year older than Shiloh but as soon as she is old enough, Shiloh goes off to school with JJ that is only a couple of hours from their home (and still in the state). When he graduates college, he proposes to her. She leaves school early to marry him and JJ takes over the preaching at the Baptist church Shiloh's dad was the pastor at. They have four kids, all of them named after cities/countries that Shiloh had wanted to visit. Their names are Sydney Australia, Seoul Korea, Paris France, and Dublin Ireland (in that order). They go to the lake every summer just like Shiloh and her parents did. Shiloh's happiness does not last long enough, though, as she and Dublin both die that summer. JJ shuts down and the remaining three children have to raise themselves. Years later, the three siblings end up traveling the world together to the cities they were named after. On the trip, they find out a lot about each other, their thoughts on the past, and their faith in something bigger than themselves. 

Sorry this post is so late! Thanks for all the support from my family and friends. It was a crazy month but so much fun. This book is going to need a ton of editing but it may take me more than a month the second time around :P

120 pages!

NaNoWriMo Day 10

Well, it is mid-afternoon on Day 10 and I have reached 17,000 words which is above the daily quota :D Kelsey has helped me try to figure out some plot twists and things to throw in so that I can add words, make it more interesting, and of course not get to board with it.

I used Write or Die again today and wrote 830 words in about 20 minutes. I think Write or Die is a super helpful tool! I know I keep talking about it but it really works for me.

So, here is an excerpt and a synopsis of my novel taken from the first chapter with [brackets added] one time for clarification. This is the same excerpt that I have on my NaNoWriMo page.


Synopsis: Mermaid

Nerin is a mermaid with a horrible life. She has no father, a depressed mother, and an annoying/emotional older brother. After running away from her wedding to a merman named Merrick, her mother only gives her 2 years to find another husband. However, love doesn't come to Nerin right away. A year later, she is still single with no prospective husband in sight. Will she find love in the ocean? Or will she find true love somewhere else?

Excerpt: Mermaid

Merrick stood there, looking quite conceited. I thought he was supposed to look happy on his wedding day but his mouth formed a look of satisfaction for oneself. Oh his smugness. I can hardly stand it now. How can I stand to spend the next eighty-one years of my life with him?

The wedding coordinator started. “Merrick of Delta Marisol, do you take Nerin, also of Delta Marisol, to be your wife until you both depart this form and again become foam of the sea?”

“Yes,” Merrick said.

“And do you, Nerin of Delta Marisol, take Merrick, also of Delta Marisol, to be your husband until you both depart this form and again become foam of the sea?”

I stood there, and blinked. How could I? I was leaving one miserable home for yet another. I was leaving my crazy Mother and emotional brother for the smug Merrick. How could I do that?

“No,” I whispered.

“Speak up,” the wedding coordinator whispered to me. I must have said it softer than I had thought.

“No,” I said louder, much louder. “I will not take Merrick to be my husband,” I said to the coordinator. “I am sorry,” I turned to Merrick, “but I really do not think we are supposed to be together. I hope you find the one you are supposed to be with and that you live a happy life together,”

Merrick’s look of satisfaction for himself turned into shock. I left as fast as I could back down the aisle I had come from and went straight to my small dressing room, locking the door. I hadn’t even looked at my Mother’s face. I am sure it was a look of horror.

It wasn’t two seconds before my Mother came to the door. “Open up, Nerin!” she shouted, “You must marry him,” she insisted.

“Or what? Surely you will take me back into your home, Mother. I am sorry but I just can’t marry him,”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Surely you can see why. He’s so arrogant,” I said, the truth coming out.

“You are so ungrateful! You get out here, you are getting married,”

“Leave me alone, Mother,” I begged, “Just leave me alone.”

She began on another rampage, which I ignored. Meanwhile, Amaya [my best friend] came around the building and tapped on my window. I unlocked it and let her in. I put my finger up to my mouth, signaling her to be quite. She nodded and we sat down and I started softly crying into her chest. She patted my head and stroked my back as my Mother continued on her escapade.

“Fine,” my Mother at last began to wrap things up. “If you don’t want to marry him, then you will have to find another husband, and soon. I am giving you two years. And that’s being generous,” she said, as if she was doing me a favor, and then she left.



Please tell me what ya think! Thanks :)

Later edit in March 2010: I have edited this first chapter a lot since then so don't hold this terrible writing against me, lol. You have to write fast during NaNoWriMo if you want to survive! :)