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Even though I'm heavily involved in NaNoWriMo, I still had to prepare a post for today at Prairie Chicks Write Romance . I planned to talk more about Nano but forgot the Chicks are starting a new monthly feature: Writing Exercises. Wheeee! Janet posted this exercise on Sunday: Choose one of your main characters (male or female) from any of your WIPs and from his/her POV write about one of the most difficult decision he/she had to make. Since I’m working on Emma’s Outlaw for my Nano project, I used my hero, Dan for this exercise and then I used the word count for Nano. The excerpt I posted is a defining moment in the book but I haven't given away the ending. For the record, you are free to guess what comes next but I'm not confirming anything. Okay, I'm off to see if I need to respond to any comments over at Prairie Chicks and then I'm buckling down to Emma's Outlaw . When I left off on Tues, Dan had just come back from town and he brought Emma a surprise . . .

Am I really here? My internet service hasn't been working all week and did I ever miss it! The tech adivsed us it may go down again however because our modem needs to be updated. Terrific. Since Thursday was my day to post at Prairie Chicks Write Romance, I went into the local library Wed afternoon and used their computer to submit my post. It's the last day of October which means National Novel Writing Month starts tomorrow. In the coming month, you'll see me refer to it as NaNoWriMo or even NaNo. I've signed up as a Nano participant at eHarlequin so I'll be reporting my progress there as well as here. Plus, I've been invited to report my progress on Michelle Levigne's blog Living Proof . So, my Thurs Prairie Chick post was Nanowrimo Tips and it's all those things I've found and used for getting the most writing out of Nanowrimo. I've spent October working on Emma's Outlaw and it will be my Nano project this year. My goal is to have Emma...

Today I'm blogging at Prairie Chicks Write Romance about negotiating with your family to give you more time to write during what Prairie Chick Helena calls 'writing binges'. For me, these writing binges come in the form of Book in a Week (BIAW) and National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) which is only 3 wks away. I find I write best when I'm accountable for my writing and that's what these 'binges' give me - accountability. Instead of just talking about it, I'm forced to actually do it. I say yay! to writing binges. Who will care for your family while you're ignoring them? That's where the trade-offs come in. The questions I've asked the Prairie Chicks today are these: - Do you use trade-offs during intensive writing periods? - Are there any trade-offs you’ve thought up but haven’t tried and why not? - What's stopping you?

My NaNo meter hasn’t moved for the past 2 ½ wks because I tried to do too many writing projects at the same time. I had to postpone my NaNo project because it was low on my priority list. I really miss NaNo, though. Before I get to start a new project, I need to complete my current ones . I need to write this across my desk in big letters. At the ACFW conference, I rec’d 2 requests for partials for different manuscripts. I’ve since mailed them out but need to work on revising the rest of the ms with what I’ve learned at the conference, just in case the respective editors request to see the full. This is my main priority. I’d like to say it’s my 1st priority but I have the church blog to update and a local newsletter to get out. At the moment, being the editor of the newsletter is the only job where I get paid to use my writing skills. I’m also working on a contest entry. The contest needs inspirational entries, so I wanted to enter something. We want to keep the inspy categories in the...

I agreed to participate in the Book In A Weekend during this long Labour Day weekend because I'd been putting off completing a book that I really needed to finish. This was the perfect weekend to do it and Dee over on the eharlequin.com board was posting a forum for anyone anyone else who wanted to join in. Now for my progress - When Dee said BIAW starts at midnight - I freaked! I'd been scrambling all week and still had 2 contest entries to get out. So, I worked on them and sent them out - that's 2 entries Charley's Saint and Marry Me, Ma'am? in the Golden Pen contest (deadline Sept 1st) Phew. Around 2 pm, I started my Outlaw wip. But you know, I hadn't worked on it for months. I couldn't remember what my heroine even looked like! thank goodness for character sketches. So, I had to do a lot of flipping between docs to get back into it. At 3:45, the school bus dropped off my boys and I quickly packed up my laptop and moved out to the RV - our old Class C ...

" If it means anything, I would've requested a full manuscript based on these chapters and would expect you to deliver on it, ..." Oh wow! They're talking about my writing. They like it! They really like it! Sally Fields, I finally know how you feel because those words were written by a judge (a freelance editor and acquisitions reader),who liked Charley's Saint - my last Nov NaNo project. Let me tell you the story: Last Nov I decided to sign up for National Novel Writing Month on the eharl site. It entailed the attempt to write a complete 55,000 word novel in 30 days. That's approx 1833 words per day. I wrote Charley's Saint during this month. I finished on Nov 28th with 57,238 words and 256 pages. Mission accomplished, right? But that was only the beginning. The dreadful...uh...fun part was next...the revisions and the tweaking. I found a critique partner and sent the chapters to her and revised it and tweaked it somemore. And then I put it away for a ...

I'm done! I'm done! On Nov 28th, a full 2 days early, I finished the first draft on my NaNovel, Charley's Saint. The final tally is a word count of 57,238 and a total of 256 pages. Now the fun of editing begins. Not! Even as I sat back, twiddling my thumbs over my tummy, relishing the fact that the first draft was done, the idea of an epilogue germinated. On another happy note, my husband and I would like to send out a big Happy Birthday to the first of our love children. This one was born 29 years ago today. Crystal - Happy Birthday!

…and in local news today, reports have been coming in from all over the city that Anita Mae has been spotted scouring local used book stores. Word on the street is that she’s heavily involved in NaNoWriMo although that rumor has yet to be confirmed. Evidence to the contrary yesterday has spiked allegations of time mismanagement. Last week we reported that Ms Mae was found typing furiously in a frozen vehicle behind the set of renegadepress.com, allegedly while waiting for her children to finish work. If her actions yesterday are to be believed, Ms Mae will have have to step up production if she wants to reach 2007 NaNo goal. Only time will tell. This is your local news reporter, signing off from Regina, Saskatchewan.

Yesterday was the halfway point in National Novel Writing Month. I started writing my NaNovel Charley's Saint on Nov 1st. I need to avg 1,833 words per day to have it written by the end of November. As of the 15th, I have 30,773 out of the 55,000 words needed. That's 56% complete! This is my 1st year attempting the NaNoWriMo challenge. Good luck with yours!