CampNaNoWriMo – marginalia and such

social distance diaries: days 401-407

Day 401, Monday

Starting the week with some deep work and focus. Randomly selected for covid testing at work, which was a nice push to get tested since I’ve been going out a bit more since reaching the two week post- vaccine mark.

Day 402, Tuesday

Made an appointment to take girl kitty to the vet. She’s been off her food. I suspected a return of her infection or a tooth ache and was sort of right. She has a mild tooth situation but a more concerning low white blood count 😞.

Day 403, Wednesday

Meeting with my department in the morning for our regular monthly check in. Lots to talk about this time as a number of changes are coming. Rare day with a clear schedule so I took my car to get a tune up. 💸💸💸 it’s been a spendy week for my budget between the vet and the car. I was just in time though, my brakes were badly worn (not a surprise tbh). Have to look into tire deals. Also not a surprise after last years flat and air pressure weirdness.

Haven’t been sleeping great this week, so my weekend writing progress has taken a major hit. To make matters worse, I hurt my good arm while carrying the cat carrier 😓. That’s how I hurt my other arm last year (and how we discovered the enchondroma in my shoulder).

Day 404, Thursday

Work and laundry between meetings. It was a long day. It’s been a long week. My diet and physical health suffered as a result and I’m sure it’s one of the culprits behind my headaches and terrible nausea ☹️

Day 405, Friday

Took half the day off to take my dad to the grocery store. It’s a long, complicated story, but he’s mostly disabled and needed the help (I say mostly because he won’t apply for the official designation though he can barely walk or lift his arms). I don’t live with him, my sister does and for reasons kept standing him up for weeks. It was a three hour affair, involving two shopping carts and a tetris-style packing situation to fit all the stuff in my car. He was a happy elder and I was an exhausted, but content daughter.

Day 406, Saturday – Day 407, Sunday

I signed up to take part in a virtual orientation over the weekend; saw a few students, but no one really wants to attend a virtual orientation. It was mostly three hours of chatting with my coworkers from the other campus while answering questions for the handful of students that signed on.

Tried to catch up on my NaNo project, but I realized my word goal was too lofty from the start and decided to edit it down. Probably won’t make it anyhow, but I’m still going. Camp NaNo month was plagued by weekend commitments, family needs, and migraines that kept me away from the draft on a regular basis. It is what it is. Progress is slow but steady.

Posted last week’s vlog a week late… oops! I uploaded but never hit publish.

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writing: after Camp NaNo… or what now?

I mentioned this in a previous post, but here’s an update on my Camp NaNo project and what comes next in my crazy, scheming, writing life.

More writing updates to follow…

and things take a turn

The end is in sight, friends. The end is in sight. Writer’s block is unblocked and the possibility that I might finish draft 2 by the end of April is looking much more possible. Hooray! Lovely CampNaNo inspiration.

And I finally got the call I was waiting for! And I said YES! And I realize this is incredibly vague, but I will explain as soon as it’s all official. Just don’t want to make the announcement yet on the off chance that someone who knows me might be reading this before I’m ready to spill. I’m nervous about what it means, but it’s a happy sort of nervous.

Camp NaNoWrimo FTW!

I did it! I actually reached my 80k word goal! That’s the Good News…

The Bad News is that I’m still not finished.

Yep, I was right when I said predicted that this draft wouldn’t be complete when I reached my goal. Re-outlining the ending certainly helped me get it going at a better pace, but I still see another 3-4 chapters to finish, which might mean anywhere from 15-20,000 more words given my average chapter lengths for this draft. All in all, I feel much better about it than I did last week. See 🙂 staying positive after all.

*Goodness, I just compiled and saw that it’s really 337 pages long! Thank you, Scrivener, for keeping all that text in an orderly fashion.*

Cassiel, rewrite draft 1/part 2 (total word goal)

About Cassiel (or the best summary I could come up with for the moment)

With her family and fortune gone, sixteen-year-old Cassiel Loriett is placed under the guardianship of the exacting Mrs. Maywoods, but there is more to her family’s fate than Cassiel knows and the only way to learn the truth is to solve the mystery herself. Willing to do whatever it takes to find out what really led to the loss of her father’s fortune and her mother’s unexpected death, Cassiel runs away with little more than her father’s journal a couple of clues, but first she has to stay away from Mrs. Maywoods and her brother, Mr. Stellworthy, who seems to take a strange interest in Cassiel’s position as the Maywoods’s erstwhile ward.

Finding herself on a quest, Cassiel ends up the unlikely resident of Walstone House–a derelict manor house run by Stephen Frye, and his cousins Christabella and Nathan Walstone, and owned by their reclusive grandfather, Pierce Walstone. Finding a friend and ally in Stephen, Cassiel sets on a journey that might mean losing it all, or finding herslf along the way.

A YA historical mystery set in late Victorian England.

A re-write in progress…

Follow my Cassiel writing updates here: http://things-she-said.org/tag/cassiel/

CampNaNo is wearing me down

Can it be? Yes, a CampNaNoWriMo update at last! It’s been a long month and it’s not even done! Give me words!!! WORDS!

And, yes, I am still using my phone for these videos, so forgive the quality. Girl’s gotta spend wisely and a camera isn’t in it.

a look at June in pictures

June proved to be an eventful month, what with there being birthday cakes and presents and all. But there were also books! And trips! And chairs!!!
Here’s a look at some of the best things that happened in June (sans the birthday stuff, for that silliness see this post)

OMG! I got a book signed by Neil Gaiman. The joy and joyness cannot be contained! Also, the book is beautiful.

See! There he is in all his mad-haired, creative genius glory!

I also had a rare beach outing. It was really a momentary excursion, but there were dolphins and seashells.

And I got chairs and only had to spend $40 on the gas to pick them up. The kitteh is more than pleased. He purrs with pleasure every time he climbs on them.

July is proving to be a busy month… much busier than I anticipated. I’m doing what I call Camp NaNo part 2, in the hopes that giving myself a deadline means that I will finish Cassiel within the month. It’s starting to grow out of control again. I need to reign my creative juices in… I’m wordy to a fault. There must be a project that I can complete in less than 100k. This is not a good thing. Really, I need to focus on action and cut out the extraneous stuff. I’ve let myself go with setting and inner thoughts. I need action!!! ACTION!

So that is that. If it’s a bit quiet around here, it probably means I’m being a stern taskmaster and making myself stick to writing… turns out, I also got in a bit over my head and have to frantically rework some of my work-related writing for publication. My fingers may very well go on strike after all this.

Camp NaNoWriMo – Endings and Beginnings

I met my Camp NaNo word goal of 20k on Saturday night! Now, the real fun begins as I move forward with the rewrite and get back to editing Anúna. At the same time. This will prove maddening (but satisfying!). I miss my other story, but I’m also really excited about the direction Cassiel is taking. Ack! So many plots!

In the meantime, I’m going to try to enjoy my mini-break week in Orlando for the Florida Library Association conference, and make the best of my kitty cat and family-free time (I miss them already!). And I’m really going to try to stick to writing while away. Promise.

a vlog! oh my! a Camp NaNo update

Can it be? Yes, an update on my Camp NaNo progress! A quick vlog on my progress and all the writerly excitement this entails. Also, a special appearance by Tiny!Khaleesi.

Filmed on my phone so pardon the quality (sheer laziness, I tell you). Enjoy 🙂

On writing and researching… The Cassiel blogs part 1 from Gricel on Vimeo.

Adventures in re-writing, part 2

CampNaNoWrimo has taught two incredibly important things about my writing.

1. Sometimes re-writing is the only way to revise a story.

2. After much whining and hand-wringing, I have to accept that Cassiel really is a historical novel. I’m doing myself a disservice as a writer by copping out with an alternate universe setting. Victorian England, be kind to me. It’s been a while since I’ve delved into your histories.