50,112!

I have over 50,000 words on my novel! It's nice, of course, but it honestly feels a little anti-climactic - probably because my story isn't finished yet. I guessed before I started that it would end up being about 75,000 words, and I still think somewhere around there is correct. It's anyone's guess what the length will be once I'm done editing, though.

I think my interview yesterday went well, and I have my fingers crossed that they want to hire me. They're planning to make a decision within two weeks, so we'll see...

Four score and seven years ago...

George has finished his novel! That's right, he's done; a week ahead of schedule and 200 words over the minimum. He called this afternoon and we talked briefly about it - he's already making plans for the next novel...

And my novel? It's still coming along. I broke 40,000 words today, so I have a week left to write and 10,000 words to go. I don't think that 50,000 words will finish my story, though, as I'm only a little more than halfway through my plot. I started to worry a few days ago that I was writing the world's most boring novel, but today I wrote a fun scene between mortal enemies that restored some of my faith. I guess if I really start to struggle, I can always follow my dad's writing advice: "And now," said the heroine, "I will recite the Gettysburg Address." Or maybe she could turn to Shakespeare, or the dictionary, for comfort. Not that those would necessarily make my novel more exciting, but they would help me reach 50,000 words.

In other exciting news: I found out yesterday that I was selected to interview for a position that I really want and think I would be really good at. The interview is next Monday, so if you could all send good thoughts my way, I would definitely appreciate it!

Randy and I saw Broken Flowers this past weekend and enjoyed it, although we both got the impression that some of the people in the theater were there expecting a Bill Murray film rather than a Jim Jarmusch film. At one point, the man seated next to Randy muttered, "What the hell is going on?" That pretty much sums up every Jim Jarmusch film I've seen, but in a good way.

And I think that's probably enough from my rather scattered brain today.

Help! Help! I'm Being Repressed!

Saturday was International Left-Handers Day. To quote from the newsletter my mom passed along:

Left-handers routinely encounter difficulties that most right-handers do not fully appreciate. For instance: scissors, can openers...power tools and kitchen utensils... For those of us who are right-handed, try using your left hand to do these simple little tasks. You will learn very quickly that it's quite challenging, and hopefully you’ll have a greater appreciation for those who are left-handed.

Darn straight. I celebrated my left-handedness by going with Randy to his company's annual picnic and holding my cotton candy in my left hand.

We had a great time at the picnic. The weather was perfect for an outdoor event - upper-70s and overcast. The event itself was much more elaborate than I had expected - there were carnival rides, bouncy castles, a giant slide, face painters, stilt walkers, a petting zoo, pony rides, bingo, and a catered cookout. We rode the rides, ate some lunch, and looked but did not pet at the zoo. I got to meet a few of Randy's co-workers that I hadn't met before as well.

This weekend was also Lakemoorfest, which is apparently a celebration of all things Lakemoor-ian. We didn't go, because it looked pretty similar to the picnic, only not free, but we did watch the fireworks they had last night. We're close enough that we only had to walk down the street and around the corner a bit in order to see over the houses, which was nice. We were both very impressed with the fireworks - Lakemoor's not a huge place, so we weren't expecting much, but they were fairly spectacular.

Novel update: I'm making good progress. I'm not quite matching George's furious pace, but I only need 1700 words by the end of tomorrow (very do-able; I wrote 2600 today) in order to reach the 25,000 word mark. Then I'll be halfway finished by the halfway point!

The book's definitely going to need editing once it's done, but I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll have changed my mind by the time I've rewritten half of it, but let me keep my illusions for now.

I should be writing...

We have a new TV! After looking at the Circuit City in Boulder, the Circuit City in McHenry, and the Best Buy in Crystal Lake, reading a gazillion reviews on Amazon.com, checking Consumer Reports, and a great deal of dithering, we finally bought one Sunday. We may not be the most exciting people, but boy howdy, no one can say we're not well-researched and deliberate.

It's great so far - much bigger, and with a flat screen, so we can finally see all the stuff in the corners. I'm glad the payoff is worth it, because it was kind of a pain to get it. We went to Best Buy, bought it, took it out to the car, struggled with getting the box in the car for a bit, finally realized we were going to have to take it out of the box to get it to fit, opened the box, and discovered it was broken. Part of the case was not just cracked but actually crushed. So...back in the box, back on the cart, back inside to trade it out. This time, we gratefully accepted their offer of help getting it into the car and were impressed with the guy who easily picked it up all by himself and slid it (no problem) into the backseat. Wow.

Randy also had a birthday! He's 28 now, so it was his Golden Birthday (28 on the 28th). Sadly, he had a bit of a cold on his birthday and only wanted to go to bed early, so we didn't do much then. He was feeling much better by this weekend, though, so we went out to dinner to celebrate and had a great time.

Finally...writing. Since I last posted about my novel, I've written, um, almost nothing. At the rate I was going, I would have finished around, oh, say 2034. Luckily, while George was visiting, we were talking about writing, and I told him all about NaNoWriMo and loaned him my copy of No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High- Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days. He was inspired, and we decided to have our own, unofficial version of NaNoWriMo this month, starting today. So, for the next thirty days, I'm sure we'd both appreciate any support any of you want to wing our ways. Any of you who are feeling particularly masochistic are welcome to join us!

A Novel Idea

As some of you know, I'm working on a novel.

My major in college was Professional Writing, which required a class called Writing the Novel for graduation, in which you (surprise!) write a novel. Although I did well in the class both times I took it, I wasn't at all happy with my first two novels and thought that I could have written something better, or at least something less monumentally stupid. After graduation, I kept thinking about trying again with a different genre, or better characters, or a more intriguing plot, but I couldn't ever quite come up with the discipline required to write a novel that wasn't being graded.

Last October, Randy found a mention of an event called NaNoWriMo, where participants write a novel (or at least the first 50,000 words of one) in a month. It sounded intriguing, and I decided to give it a try. I was even, maybe, just the teensiest bit smug about my chances of succeeding, since both of my previous novels were about 50,000 words and I had written each of them in about a month, completely disregarding my professors' advice to spread the writing out over the full semester.

It was exhilarating, at first, to fling myself into a novel with no outline, no plan, only a few characters and a very hazy idea of where I was headed. But after about 17,000 words, I started to lose steam. I was writing myself into corners and I still didn't know where my plot was going, and I was really starting to like the story - I was worried that I was going to screw it up. So I didn't finish it, and then November ended and real life intervened.

I still really liked the story. I had good characters, and I thought the plot had promise. Best of all, this novel was actually interesting, in a way that the first two just really, really weren't. Since November, I've thought of it often and worked on it rather less so. But recently, I've come up with a plot - a complete plot, with no gaping holes or fatal flaws, and good characters doing interesting things. (I hope!) I'd like to finish it up over the next few months, in time for this year's NaNoWriMo.

So, I wanted you all to know I was working on it. Please, feel free to ask me at frequent intervals how it's going. Be disappointed in me when I haven't written anything since last Tuesday. Be pleased for me when I've gotten four chapters and a plot twist done since Thursday. It's a young adult fantasy novel. I won't be posting any of it online, since that's tantamount to publishing it and I could then only sell re-print rights. But I can tell you that it contains: a heroine with a mysterious past, a hero with a tragic past, an evil prince, a mystical necklace, a black fortress, and a legendary dagger lost for centuries. I'm really excited about it!