A New Year

I love New Years! It's a great time to re-evaluate your life.  A chance to look at who you are and decide who it is you want to be.

The other day, I bought a ring that I love.

It basically sums up what I want 2012 to be about.
I want to enjoy every moment, even the mundane and boring.
I also want to be brave enough to try new things and put myself out there more than I have.

I don't have any specific resolutions for this year.
Instead, I have thought of 3 main areas in my life that I would like to continue to focus on in the year 2012.

1.  Organization
           - I think that this is a big issue for a lot of people and I am certainly no different. The thing is, our house has a lot of potential, I have just been low on inspiration. Luckily, Pinterest has started to help me with that and now I have a few ideas. Now all I need is to take the time to decide what I want and do it.

2. Writing
         - 3 years ago, I thought that I would never be able to write a book. Thanks to NaNoWriMo, I have now written 3 books. The problem is, I never make it past the first draft. I write it then forget about it. This year, I would like to revise on of my books. Even if that only means I end up with a slightly better, but still crappy second draft. I have to start somewhere.

3. Me
     - This isn't really an area of my life as much as it is my life as a whole. I feel like I have a lot of questions that need answers. What do I want to do? I know what I enjoy doing, but I don't know what my passion is. What should I be doing with my life? What am I good at?

These are things that I will be thinking about in the new year.

What are some of your goals for 2012?

What have I been up to?

I never meant to wait so long to update this blog. Time just got away from me. 
I only have 3 things to talk about in this post.

1. NaNoWriMo: I won! I even finished a few days early which is always great. This is my third year winning and I have to say that it doesn't get any easier. I am always surprised at how tired I get about half way through.

2.Christmas: Like everybody else, I have been busy preparing for the holidays. The first thing my husband and I did to celebrate was to go see the beautiful Plaza Lights in Kansas City.

Sorry for the blurry pic, it was taken with my phone will the car was moving. (I was not driving.)

I've also been decorating the house, trying hard to get into the Christmas spirit.

3. Thanks to my amazing husband, I was able to order my Christmas gift a little bit early.

It is a Kindle DX and I have wanted one for a very long time. I love it and can't wait for the case I ordered last week to get here. I've been keeping it in the box it came in so it won't get scratched, but once I have the case I plan on taking it everywhere.

That is all I have for this post. I hope everybody is doing well and that you all had  a nice Thanksgiving.

Crazy Month

This month has been a crazy one for me. I just feel like a lot has been going on.


- writing a novel (in a month)
- trying to make it to write-ins every week (which I've managed to do so far..)
- celebrating our 7th anniversary with my husband
- having to go to the doctor because I was sick
- not getting a minute of sleep last night and getting a call this morning because a family member is n the hospital and it could be serious.


I was going to say that this month seems to be dragging, but then I realized that Thanksgiving is this week and holy crap it's almost December and I've only bought 3 gifts.


Anyways, I'm going to go make coffee and try to just get through the day. 




NaNoWriMo Update:


Day #21
Words Written- 36,462
Words Remaining- 13,538

Quick Update

I thought I would just check in to let you know how I was doing with NaNoWriMo.

I am almost to that half way point.

Somehow I have managed to stay mostly on track. 

Day #15
Words Written- 24,543
Words Remaining- 25,457

You Capture: Fall

This was an easy You Capture.

Fall is my favorite time of the year.

I love when the leaves change color.

NaNoWriMo Update:

Day # 10
Words Written-14,354
Words Remaining- 35,646

I'm just a little bit behind today. I guess that means I'd better go write.

Quick Update

Just thought I would check in to do a NaNoWriMo update.

I actually got a little behind this weekend. I went a couple days without writing anything.

However, I went to a write-in on Sunday night and I was quickly caught up again.

It's amazing what a few hours surrounded by other writers can do for your word count.

Day #7
Words Written- 10,104
Words Remaining- 39,896



In other exciting news, I felt my very first earthquake on Saturday night!

It was pretty exciting.

At first I had no idea what was happening. I heard some noise outside and my windows were rattling, which doesn't happen often. I thought that there must be some really strong wind outside. Then I realized that the wind doesn't usually shake my couch.

I looked online to see if it was what I thought it was and the only place I could get any information was Twitter. Nobody was talking about it on Facebook and none of the local news stations had any information until later that night.

I guess Twitter is the new source for late breaking news.

Can't Sleep

I was up at 5 this morning.

Actually, I never completely fell asleep. I had to hang halfway off the bed just to keep the dog comfortable.

That's why it's 6 in the morning, I'm watching Marley and Me, and I've already started a load of laundry.

I figured, why not write a blog post too?

I thought you might want an update on NaNoWriMo.

I will say this, either it gets harder each time I do it, or I just forget how hard it is.

I'm pretty sure it's harder this time around.

That might have something to do with the fact that about 6 hours before NaNoWriMo started, I threw out pages and pages of outlines and character profiles and decided to go with a different story.

A story I knew nothing about. I had 2 characters and a very vague plot idea.

That was it.

Still, I think I'm doing pretty good.

Day #4
Words written: 6,503
Words remaining: 43,497

My goal is to reach 8,000 words today.

I'd be really happy to hit 9,000 but I'm not sure I can do it on no sleep.

We'll see. I'll keep you updated.

I Made It!

This is it!

The last day of BEDO. I have blogged everyday in the month of October!

I have enjoyed the challenge of sitting down and writing something everyday. Some days where better than others, but that's life.

I probably won't be blogging daily anymore, (especially with NaNoWriMo starting tomorrow) but I hope that I will blog a little more frequently than in the past.

I have a lot to do today. Now that NaNoWriMo is so close, I'm starting to feel like I'm not ready.

Since I'm running out of time, I'm just going to focus on cleaning up my writing space and go over my outline one more time.

I'm off to do that now.

I'll be updating here every so often to let you know how NaNoWriMo is going.

NaNoWriMo

I've been talking a lot about NaNoWriMo this month.

With only two days until it starts, I can think of little else.

I thought it might be a good idea to just write a post about it.

I came up with a few very basic tips for anybody who thinks they might want to try writing a novel in a month. ( I should mention that everyone writes differently and what works for me might not work for you.)


1. Plan- It's a good idea to have at least a basic outline of your story before you start writing. I know not everybody works this way. There are some who don't like any outline at all, they just sit down and write. There are some who create very detailed outlines and character descriptions. I'm tend to fall somewhere in the middle. I like to have a very basic outline that I can follow, but not one that I'm so invested in that I get upset if the story starts to take a different direction.

2. Network- If you can find a friend to join NaNoWriMo with you, that's awesome. If you don't know anybody else who writes, check and see if there are any local write-ins. It's a great place to meet other writers who are going through the same thing you are. Also, write-ins give you a chance to catch up on your word count if you fall behind.  Last year I wasn't sure I would finish in time, so I went to a write-in and I was able to write about 5,000 words in a couple of hours. I was able to finish my novel a couple days early because of all the work I got done that night.

3. Write- This seems obvious, but it's also the one thing that keeps people who want to write, from writing. If you want to write a book, at some point, you are going to have to sit down and actually write. You have to find the time and you have to write. It can be scary if you've never done it before, but that is what #2 is all about, finding people who are going through the same experience.

That's about it. I could write pages of things you should or shouldn't do, but I wanted to stick to the basics and these were the first 3 things that came to mind.

I would add one more thing. If you do happen to reach your goal of 50,000 words in a month, you should celebrate it. My favorite thing to do when I win NaNoWriMo is to buy a winner's shirt.

Then you'll have something to wear to remind yourself and everyone else that your are a writer.

I'm here

I'm cutting it close tonight with the blog, but I didn't forget.

I didn't do a whole lot today.

I finally watched the movie Cast Away.

I've had the dvd from Netflix for 2 weeks, but couldn't find the time to watch it.

The movie was the most exciting part of my day.

The rest of my day consisted of laundry, dishes, and cooking dinner.

Right now I am...

Watching- The Office

Drinking- sweet tea

Eating- Zingers (not healthy, but very good.)

It seems like this week has gone by fast. I can't believe that tomorrow is Thursday.

I also can't believe that NaNoWriMo starts next week.

You Capture: Fall, Family, Fresh

It's been awhile since I participated in You Capture, but I'm hoping to make a comeback.

Given the amount of time we had to work on this assignment, I'm a little embarrassed by how little I have to show for it.

I pulled these off of my phone earlier today.

 

I don't have any pictures for family, just fall and fresh.

The rest of these pictures are ones that I have already posted before, but I'm going to post them again because they were taken after the theme was assigned.

I threw that last one in there because for me, the fall also means that it is time to start planning for NaNoWriMo.

That's exactly what I have been trying to do this week, which might be a reason for the lack of any new pictures.

Getting Somwhere

Yesterday I sat down and did some serious thinking about plot and characters for my NaNoWriMo novel.

What I have so far is a very basic and very vague outline.

I still feel like I have no idea where the story is going to go or what to do with it. I guess that is part of the fun of NaNoWriMo.

Also, you can tell from the picture above, I'm still having fun with the camera on my phone. I've been using Instagram and it's a lot of fun.

Just for fun, here's another picture I took last night.

Fall

My camera might be causing me problems, but I can still take pictures with my new iPhone. Plus there are a lot of fun editing options that I can use right on my phone.

I don't know when it happened, but all of a sudden fall weather is here. It's cold in my house.

My husband actually mentioned turning on the heat yesterday. I am NOT ready for that.

I'm hoping we can hold off at least till November.

Then, I'll be too busy writing for NaNoWriMo that I won't care about the weather as much.

Getting Somewhere

I might actually have a little bit of an outline for my NaNoWriMo novel.

It is very basic and very vague, but at least it's something.

I'm thinking about trying something a little different this year, so I'm a little nervous about how it will turn out.

I was going to do another Wordless Wednesday today, but I didn't have any new pictures on my camera.

Right now I'm going to get back to working on my outline.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to do some laundry...and wash the dishes...and other various cleaning activities.

Slow Day

I was up earlier than usual today. I had to get stuff for Chilli ready so that it could cook all day in the crock pot.

Now, I am waiting for the water to boil so that I can make my lunch.

After I finish this post, I'm going to try to sit down and start planning my novel for NaNoWriMo.

The new website wasn't actually ready until early this morning, so I didn't get to do much yesterday. Now that it's up, I'm pretty excited about getting started.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures lately. I just haven't had much to show.

Time to start planning

Today is the day that the new site is supposed to be launched for this year's NaNoWriMo. 

Today is also the day that I told myself I would start planning for NaNoWriMo.

This will be my third time participating in NaNoWriMo, and if all goes according to plan, it will also be the third time I win.

I'm only a little bit nervous because I have no ideas for a plot, but I know I'll think of something before November 1st.

I always do.

Lots To Do

I have been so tired this week that I can't seem to get anything done.

I don't know if it is because I've started running this week, or if I'm just being lazy, but I'm hoping to change all that today.

These are some of the things that I have neglected this week and am hoping to work on today:

- Dishes

-Laundry

-Need to work on cleaning the office

-Ok, I need to clean the rest of the house too.

-Need to organize paperwork

-Showering would be nice

-It is seriously time to start planning for NaNoWriMo next month.

Just writing that down makes me feel like it really isn't all that much to do.

We'll see at the end of the day what I actually get done.

I would like for my house to be somewhat presentable by the weekend so I don't have to worry about cleaning. 

I want to just enjoy the awesome weather we've been having.

Still Tired

I can’t believe that I am still sooo tired after NaNoWriMo. Actually, I don’t know if NaNoWriMo is the actual problem or not, but that is what I am blaming in on.

I need to get motivated to clean this house before the holidays.

I still have gifts to buy.

I have huge amounts of laundry to do.

My mother is coming tomorrow to do some shopping, which is great but I won’t have time to do anything else tomorrow.

OH! I have good news too! My NaNoWriMo winner’s shirt came in the mail yesterday. I wasn’t expecting it until maybe next Monday because it usually takes at least a week when I order things from them.

It was a nice surprise and I will have it to wear if I decide to go to the TGIO Party on Sunday.

Off to clean the house,
Jenn

11/365

It has been about 6 weeks since I finished the novel that I wrote for NaNoWriMo last november. Today, I will read it for the first time and start the long process of revision.

I am excited and nervous all at once.

a day to give thanks

Since today is Thanksgiving, I thought that it would be appropriate to make a list of just a few of the things that I am thankful for this year.

Here it is:

1. My Husband who seems to love me no matter how difficult I am being. He supports me like nobody ever has. I have never met anyone else like him.

2. Our little dog, Abby. She has been with us almost as long as we have been married and she truly does complete our little family. She has brought us a lot of joy over the years.

3. That after everything our economy has gone through, my husband still has his job and that it seems pretty secure.

4. Our house and the shelter that is provides.

5. That we both have big families that we get to spend time with during the holidays.

6. That we have a car that is reliable this year. There is nothing worse than icy roads and a car that is acting up.

7. Our health. We both seem to be healthy and that is a huge blessing.

8. My best friend who a lot of the times keeps me sane. We don't get to see each other a lot, but I am thankful for the times we do.

9. That I finally got my christmas tree up. After 3 days and various light problems, it is up and is very pretty.

10. I am very thankful that our house has heat that works, because I am sitting by the window and I can tell that it is cold outside.

So, that is my short list of things that I am grateful for this year. What are you thankful for?


Also, NaNoWriMo is going well. I passed 46,000 words this morning.

Thats all for today,
Jenn