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Hardcover Release!

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As a self-published author, I’ve long been thankful that KDP is pretty easy to use, but I was always sad that there wasn’t a hardcover option. But now there is! And I’m so happy to have a hardcover of my first novel!! I’ll eventually have one for the sequel, Outcast, but it’s a slow, somewhat costly process to get one ready and make sure it looks good. For now, I’m ridiculously thrilled to have this in my hands!

For independent authors, reviews are absolutely vital. If you’ve read any of my books, please consider leaving a review somewhere like Amazon or Goodreads. Thank you!

NaNoWriMo Day 27

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The Words: 1686 words today, starting with a 15-minute sprint with my daughter and the @NaNoWordSprints feed on Twitter. Then I realized I was close to the end of the draft, so I just kept going on my own and finished it!

The Story: A lot of explanation ended up needing to fit into the final scene, and it wasn’t very organized. And then I realized I left something (smallish) out. During revision, I’ll have to figure out if it all needs kept or not, and how to make it flow better. But that’s future-me’s problem, along with the fact that the draft is 20k words too short, so I’ll need to figure out something else for it, maybe even an entire sub-plot. Now-me is just glad to have finished the draft as planned.

Final word count: 54,756

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 27, 2011. (Though you’re on your own to finish them, since this is my last of these posts for the month!

Oh, and be sure to watch the wrap-up of the NaNoMusical!

NaNoWriMo Day 26

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The Words: 1864 words today, all in one 30-minute sprint with the @NaNoWordSprints feed on Twitter. I didn’t write at all yesterday, which wasn’t intentional. I usually try to at least get some words in on Thanksgiving, but it was an unusual Thanksgiving for us this year, and I completely forgot to write until after midnight. I’m a little annoyed that I ruined the daily writing streak I’ve had going all month, but not as much as I would be if I wasn’t already planning to stop early if I finished the draft before the end of the month.

The Story: Today was all post-climax falling action. I’m on the last scene of the book, though it’s probably going to be a fairly long scene. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll finish the draft tomorrow.

Total word count: 53,070

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 26, 2011!

NaNoWriMo Day 24

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The Words: 1188 words today, written in a couple of sprints with my daughter. I have a tendency to allow the day after I hit 50k to be a lower word count day, and today was a good day for that. I only have about 3 scenes left to write before the draft is finished, and while the last few years I’ve tried to get the story to take me to the end of the month, I realized that it doesn’t bother me to stop early this year.

The Story: Today was the climax of the story. I struggled a little to keep the narrative from the right character’s perspective during it, so I’ll have to pay attention to that during revision someday, but I think it came out okay.

Total word count: 51,206

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 24, 2011!

With 6 days left of NaNoWriMo, be sure to check out episode 5 of the NaNoMusical, where the stresses of the month catch up to the characters in my favorite song of the whole thing!

NaNoWriMo Day 23

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The Words: 4323 words today, starting with a 10-minute sprint with my daughter, who was at the end of her writing time for the evening by then. Then I did a sprint myself and joined in with the @NaNoWordSprints feed on Twitter for a 15-minute sprint and then a #1k30 sprint. That last one ended 15 minutes before midnight, and when I entered my total words from it, I saw I’d just squeaked by the 50k mark!!

The Story: Between knowing that I was close to 50k words and writing a couple of scenes that were leading up to the climax, my adrenaline was pumping a bit tonight. Seriously, my leg still won’t stay still. And now I’ve just started into the climax, which I’ll continue tomorrow.

Total word count: 50,018

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 23, 2011!

NaNoWriMo Day 22

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The Words: 2404 words today over the course of 4 sprints with my 11-year-old daughter. She’s been behind for a good portion of the month, but she wrote extra today, too, and bridged the gap a little more. I think she’s got a good shot at hitting her YWP goal of 20k words before the month’s end.

The Story: I came to a spot in my outline that I left blank. Earlier in the month, I saw that and assumed that I’d put it there in case I came up with something to put in it later, and just never did. So I figured that meant nothing went there. But as I approached that spot today, I realized something did go there, because I remember having an idea of what needed to happen to bridge the gap from a trap being laid to it being sprung in the climax. Those ideas are in a character interview somewhere, so I’ll read through it tonight so I can fill in the gap before tomorrow’s writing, when I’ll actually tackle that spot in the outline.

Total word count: 45,695

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 22, 2011!

NaNoWriMo Day 21

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The Words: 2430 words today, starting with a 5-minute sprint sitting in the pew before church started. Then my daughter and I did 2 sprints alongside the @NaNoWordSprints feed on Twitter, though I almost gave up before the 2nd because I’m super tired after getting up early this morning. My daughter pushed me to do the 2nd.

The Story: The main character was arrested for murder while trying to do a little investigating of his own. I don’t really like the way the information is unfolding for the reader, so I will have re-think some of the story flow in revision.

Total word count: 43,291

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 21, 2011!

NaNoWriMo Day 20

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The Words: 2061 words today, in messy sprints throughout the evening where I kept getting distracted by things. But I passed 40k. Only 10 left to go! The draft will definitely need more words than that, though.

The Story: I took some time to explain how the justice system works in the main country of my books, though I’m not completely sure I explained it right. One more thing for revision time. And then the main character was told that he’s a person of interest in a crime.

Total word count: 40,861

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 20, 2011!

NaNoWriMo Day 19

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The Words: 3399 words today, which is the highest daily count for me this month. I finally decided that I didn’t really care this year if I made the story last right up to the end of the month like I have the last few years. I almost didn’t even participate this year, so goodness knows just winning and having a finished first draft will be more than enough. Writing every single day simply isn’t a priority this year.

The Story: I just realized, literally when I was deciding what to write in this section, that I’m doing it again. I’m taking a character that’s not the MC and making her too big. She’s suspected of a crime, a situation that I didn’t plan to last more than a few days, and I’m dragging it out. Plus, the actual MC is sort of there during all of this, but more in the background. That needs to end immediately, he needs to come back to the foreground, and I need to move on.

Total word count: 38,800

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 19, 2011!

NaNoWriMo Day 18

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The Words: Evening work meeting. Headache. 5-minute sprint. 301 words. Better than nothing.

The Story: I started (barely) into a sequence of scenes that will be a little more difficult to write, because they’re really vague in my outline. It’ll be like *gulp* pantsing! (I hate pantsing.)

Total word count: 35,601

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 18, 2011!

And this is a good time to watch episode 4 of the NaNoMusical, where things really heat up!