2013 – The Year of my Me Time

I’m a writer. We all know that. I’ve been writing and blogging since 2008. A few years ago I came across Kait Nolan’sRound of Words in 80 Days and discovered a vast network of fellow writers who are darned adept at cheering each other on while we all try to meet our writing goals.

Well in 2013, even though I managed to write and publish two books that brought my YA Contemporary series, Wings from Ashes to its conclusion, I slacked off.

That’s right.

I don’t honestly think that I hit an actual road block or a writers’ block, it was more like a sudden need for down time.

For the past three years, I was writing every night, almost nonstop. Either I was blogging or working on that next book.

Looking back at this past year, after publishing Along Came Neil, I lost the need to write with fervor. I no longer feel as though I need to hurry and get it done. It will get done when it is ready. Who knows, maybe my word count will be longer on this work than the past works.

Is this a sign of maturing as a writer?

I thought that the #wip I was working on for my Na No Wri Mo was going right into that slush pile of unfinished works. It didn’t after all. Instead, I have slowed my writing pace down to a hundred words or two here and there. Add a sentence there, maybe change a paragraph there.

The story is not growing at the pace I was writing at in the past. But it is growing.

I have almost hit the half-way point. Then today I thought about some additional plot points and how to work them into the story line to make it more appealing.

This new, careful way of writing brings me hope for the future of the remaining works in my slush pile. Maybe they can be saved after all. I have two other stories that remain half written and may have to be tackled next. I hate leaving anything unfinished.

Besides writing this year will continue with my Me Time. This is the time I will set aside to do other things I like doing, as in my crocheting, computer gaming, quilting, reading, and gardening.

In 2014, I will follow each completed project, whether it is a written project or a crafting project of some kind with a follow up photo to share with all of you, even if it is a book I just finished reading.

This is the sweater I made for my grandbaby two years ago. My daughter is keeping it even though she has outgrown the sweater. She says it is now an heirloom.

Sweet!

I made Jas a new sweater for Christmas this year. I will post the picture of it as soon as I get one of her wearing it, in a couple of days.

Next up is an afghan that my son has already laid claim to. I never expected that. When I’m done with that, I may need to make a quilt. I haven’t quilted since writing and publishing Friends of Choice. It is long overdue.

It feels right to find my Me Time again.

Do you set time aside for your Me Time?

What do you do with your Me Time?

Stop by and Share – I’d love to hear about your other projects.

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Sunday Scoopful and #ROW80

Can you believe it is already the third Sunday of the Month? Where did the days go? Next week is Thanksgiving.

Being the third weekend of the month means that yesterday was the third Saturday of the month, and it was the day my other writing group meets. The Monadnock Writers’ Group meets every third Saturday of the month from September to June at the Peterborough, New Hampshire town Library, downstairs. For all but two months, we are entertained by a speaker, a guest who shares tidbits about what it means to be a writer. We have had screenplay writers, poets, artists, photographers, and others who have something to share with the art form of writing.

This weekend we were visited by Judson D. Hale, Sr., The current editor-in-chief of The Old Farmer’s Almanac and Yankee magazine and is Chairman of the Board at Yankee Publishing. He shared tidbits of what an editor faces when it comes to submissions. He gave many example of queries he has received over the years and why he told the person no and why he said yes to a story. He said it was all in the blurb or tag line of the story on whether or not he found the story to his appeal. If the story line sounded boring he would say no, and if they gave him a blurb with juice to it, he would say yes. It wasn’t the subject matter that made the difference it was all in the way it was presented.

Judson had some genuinely excellent points, and he shared his witty humor with us along with some of his favorite quotes.

So who is doing NaNo-ing?

*raises hand…

ROW80 Check In:

I’m still NaNo-ing. Yep, that’s right. I haven’t given up hope just yet, even if I missed writing a few days this week.

Remember, my best is writing a first draft in 90 days. So, if I can beat that best, then I win my own personal goal, even if I don’t finish the work in progress in due time to make the NaNo goal.

Today I am happy to report my 5k for today. I might finish the first draft by the end of January.

I did have to go and revamp my plot outline before I could go any further. It is so helpful to have that plot point by plot point all figured out. The characters may not always behave the way you might want them too, but if the goal is there already for them to get to the rest of the character building falls into place.

It does not matter if your character is not as strong as you wanted them to be. They can still be kick ass and sweet and simple too. The most crucial thing is to make your characters likeable. Then you can pick the characters off one at a time if they don’t want to behave.

I must say, I can’t kill off characters as easily as Suzanne Collins did in Hunger Games. As I read her book I was miffed at how easily she was able to kill them, one after the other. In the end, I found myself saying – out loud – huh? Now why did she kill him off, I kind of liked him? He must have been a terribly crummy boy for her to do that to him.

Now I am learning the art of killing off characters (lol). At the 20% point of the work in progress, I have successfully managed to kill off one character. I wonder how many more characters that I can kill off by the end of the story.

Happy NaNo-ing and may your WIP treat you well for your next ROW80 check in.

Check out other ROWers by following the link below.

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