Month: November 2020

NaNoWriMo Day 23

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The Words: 2172 words total for the day.

The newest expansion of World of Warcraft launched today. My son bought me the pre-order for my birthday back in May, and my husband was pushing for me to play as soon as it launched. So even though I’m terrible at balancing my time when I have an active WoW account, I did play with them this evening.

So while waiting for the launch time, I did a few sprints with my daughter, and at least got close to my personal daily goal of 2500 words. Fortunately, my writing time has been in the afternoons most often this month, while we generally play at night. Hopefully this won’t ruin the rest of NaNo for me.

The Story: I’m on the last scene of storyline 3, which involves a visit to prison and a reunion of old enemies. I’ll definitely finish the scene, and thus the entire storyline, tomorrow, and will only have one thread of story left to write to finish the draft.

Total word count: 62,814

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!

NaNoWriMo Day 22

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The Words: 2766 words total for the day.

My husband had online course work to complete today (he got a bit behind), so in order to give him some quiet in the computer area, my daughter and I took to the living room to write. For me, this meant using my Neo, which I haven’t used much this month.

We did a 10-minute sprint and a 15-minute sprint, and then took a break for a while. While supper cooked, we did a 20-minute sprint, and that put me past 2500 words (my daily word goal).

I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but in all three of those sprints, I hit the upper limit of my average when doing a sprint, meaning how many words per minute I type. Most of the time, I am somewhere in a range with a difference from min to max of only 10 words per minute, though I’ve had some outliers in both directions. But with all three of those sprints, I was at the max. I don’t know if it has anything to do with writing on the Neo or not, though to be honest, it did feel faster. Maybe I should keep doing that and see what happens.

The Story: I was not real thrilled with what I wrote today, but I think that’s just because I had to look at a side of something that I’ve avoided in the past. And I think I got a little out of character with the main character in this storyline, so I’ll have to scrutinize that in the revision and either change it here, or make it part of his character that is seen earlier in the story too.

I think I should be done with this storyline either tomorrow or Tuesday. That will give me a full week, or close to it, to write storyline #4. That may be just enough time, or it may turn out to be too much or too little. If I’m running out of time, I’ll raise my daily word goal. If I end with some days left in the month, I’ll write some new scenes for storyline #1 that I have planned to slim down the length there.

Total word count: 60,642

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!

Book Review: A Castaway in Cornwall

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A Castaway in Cornwall
by Julie Klassen

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

Laura Callaway feels like a castaway as she searches flotsam and jetsam from nearby shipwrecks on the coast in Cornwall for anything that might be of value, either monetarily or sentimentally. She’s not completely alone, but she does feel abandoned by her parents. Then she discovers a real castaway on the beach–Alexander Lucas, who managed to survive a shipwreck. As Laura helps nurse him back to health, clues begin to surface about his identity, and before she knows it, Laura is caught up in a game of spies, smugglers, and prisoners.

This book had my attention from chapter one and kept it all the way through. I was surprised to realize how many pages it had once I was done, and the only reason it even took me more than two days to read is because I was too busy to get back to it like I wanted to. Laura and Alexander were both really interesting characters, and the description of shipwrecks, smugglers, and treasure kept me firmly in early 1800s England.

Even side characters and small side plots were interesting, and what I really liked about the story is that the romance wasn’t so in-your-face, as if it was the only thing that mattered in the book. The half-point detraction was for a few minor quibbles that mostly came about near the end of the book. Some things were resolved a bit too easily, in my opinion, including a relationship that ended up feeling like it was only strained to give the MC a stronger reason to feel “castaway.” Also the villain’s arc ended with a trope that I find tired.

Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am already looking for more from this author. I highly recommend it to fans of Christian books in the historical and/or romantic genres.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about A Castaway in Cornwall
Publication date: December 1, 2020

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

NaNoWriMo Day 21

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The Words: 2546 words total for the day.

I started on my writing even later today, as my daughter and I went to my sister’s house to babysit her two young kids until after supper so their parents could have a much-needed evening out. My daughter and I did a 20-minute sprint together when we got back and planned to do more shortly before her bedtime. However, we got caught up in watching the BBC miniseries North and South together (her first time watching it, and she’s super into it!), so I did a couple of sprints alone after she went to bed to hit my personal daily word count goal.

The Story: Things are really advancing in storyline #3. The battle that this entire book is based around has come, and the MC of this storyline does not waver in his loyalty. However, there’s something looming…something sinister that might call that loyalty into question.

Total word count: 55,311

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!

NaNoWriMo Day 20

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The Words: 2358 words total for the day.

I was gone all afternoon so didn’t get any writing done until after supper. I did one 10-minute sprint with my daughter then, and then we did more sprints later, before she went to bed.

The Story: The main character of this storyline had a very dispiriting task to complete, which he succeeded at this time, though he may have wished he hadn’t. Then I got to write the aftermath of an event in book #2 in the series (which is coming out in 10 days!!), and that was a lot of fun for me.

Total word count: 55,311

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!

Book Review: Obsessed

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Obsessed
by Ted Dekker
My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Historical thriller, Christian

It’s 1973, and Stephen Friedman is a realtor in Los Angeles. He has no family, no history, no roots, but that doesn’t bother him–or so he claims. When he finds out that a Jewish Holocaust survivor who died recently might have been his mother, it doesn’t affect him–or so he tries to convince himself. But then he learns that she may have left behind a vast treasure…and some very real danger, both of which are now his to uncover.

This book is quite captivating, as basically a conjunction of many different people’s obsessions. Shown in dual timelines, love, hate, hope, thirst for power–all of these combine into a story that spans almost 30 years. The second time period shown, besides Stephen in 1973, is that of 2 women in a concentration camp in 1944-45. And while their lives are threatened by the man who runs the camp, Stephen’s life is threatened by that Nazi’s serial killer son. It’s really interesting to go back and forth and see the story play out, but also see how the son, Roth Braun, was shaped into a psychopath by his equally sadistic father.

The biggest downside in the story, in my opinion, is right there in the title. It’s not the obsession, per se, but how unrealistically quickly it’s developed by Stephen. And the jump from being obsessed with getting his hands on what his mother might have left to being in love with a woman he’s never met, simply because he’s told they were born for each other, doesn’t stir any emotion in me. Except eye-rolling. Is that an emotion? Plus, too many people in the story seem to have the same take on love and obsession, which is fairly unrealistic.

I also think suspense could have been built a little more without some of the scenes shown from Braun’s perspective. And there was one particular major action he took that did not really add anything to the plot.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the book a lot. It’s not my first time reading it, but it is my first time in 10+ years. I’m really glad it held up as the book I remember loving, and I would recommend it for all fans of Christian suspense or thrillers (understanding that it’s fairly light on a Christian message).

Find out more about Obsessed

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

NaNoWriMo Day 19

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The Words: 2271 words total for the day.

I was beginning to think I wouldn’t get more than 600 words again today, when I hadn’t done any writing by 9 pm (even though that used to be the beginning of my writing time). But then my daughter and I did a couple of word sprints together. After she went to bed, I did one more by myself and at least got close to the daily word goal I’ve set for myself (2500).

The Story: The main character of this storyline was given a daunting task, but he rose to the challenge. He really did have a decent plan, and it wasn’t completely his fault that he failed.

I had one of those moments that happens sometimes, where my outline states that something happens, but doesn’t say how. Because at the time I wrote the outline, I failed to realize that there would need to be some detail there, or it wouldn’t come across very well in the story. So I had to try to brainstorm what the character would do in this situation, preferably without slowing down my writing output during a sprint. And it led to my first real “Aha!” moment this month. A completely random thing I wrote into the story two days ago turned out to be exactly what I needed in this moment! It was a small “Aha!” moment, comparatively, but I still loved having that realization, and it was enough to award myself the “Eureka Moment” badge.

Total word count: 52,953

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!

NaNoWriMo Day 18

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The Words: 609 words total for the day.

One 10-minute sprint was all I did today, a bit of a break after hitting 50k yesterday.

In a case of epic timing, my winner’s shirt arrived in the mail today (I pre-ordered it in October), a perfect reward for winning yesterday! That’s one of the reasons I decided to push for the win yesterday, even though it meant writing more than I’ve been wanting to per day. It’s also another reason I only did one sprint today–to keep from running out of story before the end of the month.

The Story: Not a lot happens in 600 words, but I did get a chance to revisit a location and a scene (sort of) from a previous book. I always enjoy things like that.

Total word count: 50,682

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!
And this is a good time to watch episode 4 of the NaNoMusical, where things really heat up!

NaNoWriMo Day 17

/ Kristi / 2 Comments

The Words: 4407 words total for the day.

Even though just yesterday I said I was going to stick to 2500 words per day for a while to avoid running out story before the end of the month, when I got to 2500 today, I realized I was just under 2000 words away from winning. So I did a few more sprints this evening with my daughter and hit 50k! Woohoo!

Tomorrow, I’ll give myself a little break and compensate for so many words today, by just doing one 10-minute sprint or something. Because I definitely have more to write!

The Story: I tried my hand at psychology today and showed some of the childhood of a character who grows up to be a surly, mediocre mercenary. Then we see him as an adult, having to answer for the actions of someone else. Poor guy can’t really catch a break, to be honest.

Total word count: 50,073

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!

Book Review: The Two Towers

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The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings #2
by J.R.R. Tolkien
read by Rob Inglis

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Classic fantasy

Like with my “review” of The Fellowship of the Ring, this is going to be less of a real review and more just my thoughts on my experience with this book. This is my first time through the trilogy, and I’m listening to the audiobooks, because I don’t think I’d make it through if I was reading. One note about the audiobook–Rob Inglis, the narrator, does a fantastic job! He even sings the songs, and while I suppose it would be strange if the narrator of these books with so many songs didn’t attempt to sing them, I still think it’s particularly neat.

I liked this book more than the previous, as we jump right back into the story. It felt more swiftly paced, too, even during the part where Frodo and Sam were wandering for a while. As with the previous book, my notes on this book are from a standpoint of having seen the movies several times, and I prefer the movie that goes back and forth between the two storylines, rather than showing all of one, then all of another. But I do appreciate that they were written to be two separate books, and then had to be combined into one. I also liked better, in the movie, not knowing that Sam had taken the ring from Frodo when he thought he was dead, or knowing that Sam was even following him, until the right moment.

One of the things I’m getting most out of reading the books after having a cursory understanding of the story from the movies is getting to understand the world and the characters more. For example, I like having a better understanding that Gandalf is something special (celestial, even), not just a simple wizard (whatever that would mean anyway). Also, Gollum is so wonderfully sarcastic in the book, which I just loved!

I know that I’m not going to appreciate these books the way that many others do; I don’t think I’m the right kind of person to really get into the history and depth Tolkien put into his world. But I’m still enjoying them and am glad I’m reading them.

Find out more about The Two Towers

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!