Thursday, May 01, 2008

May: Novella in a Month Challenge! Week 1

I'm taking part in CataUniversity's May novella challenge! I'll be posting updates here on my blog throughout the month, but rather than post thirty short separate posts on the topic I'll group them weekly. Off we go!

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Day 7!! 1 week down!

Today I wound up leaving my characters in the dark...literally! It can drive me nuts to walk away from writing a scene right in the middle of a particularly juicy, scary, or suspenseful moment, but sometimes I have no choice. Getting back into "that" precise flow after I've given it distance can be tough, too, which slows down the writing overall. Other times, that bit of space allows me to come back with a fresh angle that makes the piece even stronger.

Which will be the case when I go back tomorrow and find my half-naked characters in a supply closet? Day 1 of Week 2 will tell the tale!

Day 7 Favorite Line: Draining off the foam in the dim cacophony, his eyes took in fifty scandalous sights at once—including one or two that would be permanently burned into his retinas. But no sign of the Chuckster.

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Day 6
**warning: today's favorite line contains adult themes**

Finally did what I've been wanting and got straight to writing first thing (well, after breakfast). This paid off! Hit 1462 words and could easily have kept going...baby, I was on a roll. Alas, the dreaded Other Things in Life didn't care about my roll, nor that I was leaving my character in the midst of a rather shocking discovery. Ah well. Total to date: 6951.

Day 6 Favorite Line: Though of course, were he the Highlander from his sleazy novel he could have climbed a sheer, craggy cliff to a castle turret, fought fifty bad guys off at the top with a sword heavier than his last girlfriend, then boffed the rescued maiden for hours on end afterward before maybe breaking a sweat.

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Day 5
**warning: today's favorite line contains a little language**

Do days ever run away from you so fast you're sure you'll never catch up? Today I had two editing projects, promotion for A Grand Seduction, a new Squidoo lens to promote, the usual assortment of Email, and oh yeah, a house to clean, daughter's hair to braid, dolls to help her dress,alphabet letters to drill, meals to make, and a job to go to. I just knew TODAY was the day I'd fail to write a single word on Island Seduction, let along hit the challenge goal. So what happened?

969 words today; total 5489. I did it!! How?

As soon as I took care of the MUSTS (dolls, hair, meal, some editing--work is later today), I dropped everything and started pounding keys. I could just have easily reversed that process--not allowed myself the fun of writing until I'd gotten my necessaries finished--but in my life, the necessaries are on endless parade. If I don't make writing one of my very TOP priorities, I'll never get around to it. So my characters were alive and kickin' today!

Day 5 Favorite Line:
During one of his baste-and-turn sessions on the deck above the beach (less irritating sand to contend with—his ass was not an oyster and he had no desire to have to pluck pearls out of it) he'd spotted an interesting anomaly about the hotel's structure—it stood several stories higher than the number of floors available from the main elevators.

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Day 4
**warning: today's favorite line contains adult themes**

Broke a major rule today! I did advance the plot, but decided the opening lacked the heat of the first book. Went back and lit a can of Sterno under the characters to make 'em simmer more...and simmer they did! Still haven't hit my stride of writing on awakening, but got an early enough start to hit 200 over goal by 11:30. 1032 words today, for a total of 4520.

On a humorous side note titled, "I love to torment characters," not only is Steve sandophobic on an island, he's stuck reading ROMANCE NOVELS to while away long hours of surveillance. HA!

Day 4 Favorite Line: How did women read this stuff? Nymphs with flowing hair, nipples that hardened into giant pencil erasers with a mere glance at a man, spreading their legs in pornographic delight by the second chapter...whoever wrote this junk never met any of the women HE'D ever dated, that was for damn sure. And he hadn't exactly grown up in a monastery.

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Day 3

Introducing Steve Detroit, my hunky alpha P.I. He's turning into quite the character--humorous, smooth, sexy, and determined to let nothing get between him and the truth about his cheating brother-in-law...though the seductive Jessamine may undermine this plan.

I love when my characters take some free reign in how they develop. It’s an exciting part of the writing process. So much so that today I did 1486 words, for a total to date of 3488. Too bad I have to go to work, or else I’d probably try to hit the frozen yogurt shop again. (I do try not to let my calorie count exceed word counts!)

Day 3 Favorite Line: He should probably be grateful he hadn't been sent to a nudist colony. Not that he was prude—not by a long shot. But the one such beach he'd seen didn't exactly attract supermodels and fitness buffs...and he wasn't keen on all the exotic places sand liked to wedge into afterward.

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Day 2
Work was so nutty yesterday that I was too blown to give even a wisp of thought to my male lead or the story. Then I had a fun guest blog stint scheduled for this morning, a spouse who needed errands run, and a 4-year-old who had apparently made some major Mommy 'n Me plans. I didn't even start on the challenge until this afternoon, with constant interruptions.

Nevertheless, I somehow made 50 words over goal! Not quite as far ahead as yesterday, but I'll take it. Of course I had to celebrate by immediately abandoning the laptop to take my daughter for frozen yogurt!

Day 2 Favorite Line: Jessmine turned to find her boss in his usual stance, hands behind his back and a pasted-on smile that had the unsettling ability to say, "Here to serve" to customers and, "Watch your ass" to employees at the same time.

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Day 1
I bit my nails all the way through last night, as I had no plot or even a male lead! Not how I begin a writing project, to say the least. To kick my muse in the butt I held an 11th hour contest on NovelSisterhood, and got a great suggestion from winner Deidre Durance for a P.I. alpha male that I'm going to "hunk up."

Despite the worry I managed exceed the daily goal of 830 words and did 1122! I opened with the female lead, who I know more about, ending with the intro of Mr. Hunk. The rest of today I'll hand him over to my muse to think on in prep for Day 2.

Day 1 Favorite Line:
Angel wings and Bermuda shorts definitely did not mix—for a number of reasons, she grumbled—and the manager had to be called in to reaffirm the resort policy on certain types of...mingling before human diners caught a feathery glimpse.
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2 comments:

Sandie Hudson said...

Good luck with your writing for the rest of the week. It always seems that if you have something to do, someone has other things they need you to do for them first. Ahh, family where would we be without them.

I love your favourite lines, way cool.

Hugs
Sandie

Carol Burnside aka Annie Rayburn said...

Your story sounds fun! Mine is very angsty. :O

Stick with it. You're doing great!