Books, Christmas and ice

So, life goes on. I hope you have had a chance to read the summery of my story before I removed it. Mom says it's time to move on to another story, and she is probably right.
But I'm not finished with this one yet. I have to finish this one. It's my favorite, and I've only just begun to fill it up. You know, flesh it out. Or, at least I think I am fleshing it out. It is probably just  fine the way it is, especially for someone's first all written story, but I keep coming up with ideas, connections and plot. Not changes, improvements. ;)
I have others, many others, ideas  that take up pages and pages. The next book I will work on is going to be a science fiction. And it has a lesson in it.


So any way, Christmas.
We caroled to more people than last year, made less Christmas treats than last, had no snow, but all together I think it was great. What Christmas wasn't? My grandparents are serving a mission in Ukraine, and sent some pretty cool stuff. My favorite, was my dad's shop-key. I wouldn't know how it's really spelled, but it's the big and tall fuzzy hats that we would call the Russian hats that are sometimes on nut-crackers. I wore it to church the next Sunday and my Young Women's president said I looked like a Russian princess. The only thing was that it was way too big for my head, but I didn't care, it was authentic. And it looked very nice with the outfit I was wearing.

But we had no snow. Not enough to count, that is. When winter comes the other thing to look forward to is sledding down the gigantic, steep hills behind our house. Fast and fun. It isn't unusual to wear out several sleds a winter.
However, there is a pond near the base of the best one, so, you have to be careful.
(And a creek at the bottom of the one that would have been better,)
But, most always it is frozen, (the pond, not the creek,) if there's enough snow to sled.
Except once.
Joseph thought it would be fun to sled down and then skid across the pond ice, so he went, belly on a sled, all the way to the bottom, but he didn't skid on the pond ice. We saw him stop in the middle of the pond. Nothing happened.
"Hey Jo, get back here with that sled, it's my turn." we said.
Still he did not move.
And then, we heard a  "Whoa-yikes!" And he jumped up---and that's when the ice cracked.
It is funny to think back on that. It is only a shallow pond, four feet deep at the most, but he was sure cold. Joseph and ice. There are a lot of stories of the two.
He told us when he reached the top of the hill that he was stuck. That where he stopped was less than an inch thick. He was afraid that if he moved  it would crack. Don't know how long he was planning to stay there before the ice broke.  ;)
There are other times when we dare each other to belly crawl on pond ice like polar bears, to see who can get to the thinnest ice possible without breaking it, and of course, we are not always as brave as we want the other to think, and at the first little crack, sometimes it's a good idea to scoot for your warm and dry clothes sake.

But no ice contests this year. It was too warm a December. But there's still February. It's suppose be the coldest month of the year by west plains.

In the last minnute....I did it.

 

 I won NaNoWrimo this year! As you can see. My name is not yet on that just yet, but it's gonna be there. Now, just to remind anybody who might have forgotten, NaNoWrimMo means National Writing Month. It is a contest where thousands of people compete with themselves, friends, and time. 

It is; can you write this many words in a month? It is harder or easier then it sounds.

If you think it's hard---please, it's easy! 

If you think it's easy---watch out, and be warned. 

If any of that makes any sense.  ;) It depends on the person, and the time they've got.

The contest is not a "who has written the best book?" Sort of thing. In fact, nobody sees your story unless you want them to. And you don't put it in the internet. Just your daily word count.

You folks older then 17 have to write 50, 000 words. 

Under 17? You can create your own goal. this was my last year doing that. My goal was 30,000. Pretty easy right? Last year I had a hard time with 20,000 words, but then I wrote like around 500 words a day. 

I've gotten twice as fast now. As long as I know what I'm writing. So, a thousand a day. No problem.

First week  of  November: Ready....start! Write, type, write, type. 

Second day: I'm stuck.

third day: On fire!

Fourth week: Ahhh! five- thousand words behind and I'm only catching up about two thousand a day! procrastination.

Last days of November: I'm gonna make it...

Nov. 30, 11:59 pm: verified, and won. and just on the last minute.

whew! Whooooooo-hooooooo! Ha,Ha!  :D

I'm at it again

It's National Novel Writing Month again! (NaNoWriMo)
and I'm writing another novel this month. Actually it's a new version of last year's book, which makes it harder because I'm kind of editing. :P
The progress is slower. But at the moment I've only 300 words to catch up for today!
and then, next thing I know it, I'll be struggling to find another 2,000 words for my story tomorrow.  But it's wonderful all the same.

I likes what I write, and I writes what I like.

But, how do you do NaNoWriMo ? Well, here's one way: cancel Thanks Giving, buy yourself a laptop and sit quietly in your closet typing away. Don't stop. If you hear footsteps in the hall, don't move. You don't want anyone to find you, ( they'll put you to work doing something they think is useful,) or you'll have about 3,000 words to catch up on before you get back. :O

The Proof copy!

Dad just sent the manuscript in, the paper back 6by9, 210 page book will be here... in a week?
Oh I don't know, but I cant wait!
And we just sent it in the nick of time! My promotion code is good until June 1.
This Dragon picture is the cover, sorry, this copy of the pic.  doesn't have the title.  My story has a lot of loose ends, in fact, It doesn't have an end. I should feel embarrassed. Maybe.
But at the moment I am too exited. But I do wish I could have finished the entire thing. Mom says I should tie the ends up and go to a new story. I have a new story idea that I'd planned to do this November.
It is a science fiction called the Cure. For now. I might have to give it a new title, maybe someone else may have already thought of that for their book. It sounds like that kind of title. But for now, that's what it is.
But it turns out that there is a NaNoWrimo camp this June. That's what they are calling it, but its the same thing as in November. So maybe I'll continue my dragon story and finish it this June. It does have an end, I just haven't written it. I will finish it. Sigh, hours, days, weeks...no longer then weeks, of course. :)

Part two of Somtimes

Now about my writing. Everybody writes; in emails,  letters, blogs,  and books. I will always write even if it is only in my journal. Though I don't think that will ever be the case. I love writing letters. I love telling stories on paper. I like to read my short stories to my sisters,  the scary and funny ones are  particularly fun.

I have been working more on my NaNoWriMo novel. It is a fantasy, and my favorite, but also the one I have the most difficulty with.

I am trying to finish it so that I  get the free proof copy of it. So I can let others read it in a nice formal cover. I feel like I am far from that. But I am going to get the proof copy even if I don't finish my book like I'd want to. I already have the cover designed.  

My book 

But this here, is where I am stuck.

“What kind of private business? Are you doing something I should know about?”

Ivan looked into Michael's eyes, for a trace of a lie.

“No.” And there was that gleam. He was lying.  And then, another thing was in his eyes. A spark of gold. Like at the peace banquet. But it disappeared instead of growing.

So strange.

“My business is my business, and no one is going to pry me open. So stop it, and lets go help the others.”

Okay, what is Michael doing? That's the question. I thought I knew, but I have changed my story so that my original idea wont work. This is where my POV character, (Ivan,) has gone on a school hunt ( for deer) with his friends, and they had been attacked by wolves who turn out to be large hunting dogs bred by the rival nation Kerroma. The dogs took a particular interest in Ivan, and as he is later to see, even more so in Michael. 
But Michael had been wounded prior to that by a boar, so he stayed with another boy ( his cousin, ) in the other part of the Forest while Ivan and the other's hunted.  When the other boys had chased the dogs off, Ivan realized that the dogs had took off in the direction where  Michael and his cousin were. So Ivan goes to look. They find Michael's cousin all alone high on a rock surrounded by the remaining dogs.
Where was Michael? had he been killed? stranded? Ivan rescues Michael's cousin, though the cousin is bitten on the foot by one of the dogs so he jumps off Ivan's horse and kills the dog, another startles Ivan's horse who takes him for a wild ride and Ivan slips off the back. He finds Michael, who seems to be unaware of the entire dog attack. Plus, Michael has been drinking strange gold potions. And when Michael and Ivan join everyone else, every single wolf turns on Michael.

 Okay, some time has passed since I wrote that, I think I know now why Michael was separated from his cousin, more or less, or not not so much at all, but I know what he was doing.
So there's a buffering point for you. I told my Nana that I would be done with this story by February. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. 
But I am not putting this book down until I finish it. In the past I have written pieces of stories and could never finish them. but now, I am finishing this one. 
NaNowrimo has helped me learn that first drafts aren't perfect and I should not make them so. Just get it out. It doesn't matter if there's too much detail, or in my case, no detail, or if you antagonist isn't original. Get it out. Then put it down. After a few months, pick it up and edit, rewrite, cut, or even add. All that stuff. And Then again. But a... to cut out seems painful. I had to do that for the first time. 

This is why Dad is catching up...

This is why my dad is catching up to how many blog posts I have. I entered and won A novel writing contest with my brother's and sisters. You should check it out. But I declare, November is not a good month to have this sort of thing. It was really fun, All you have to do after signing up is put away your inner editor, and lock him tight in the basement, (And use up all your spare time ). Then write, write, write, until you've reached your word goal, the dead line is November 30.

Here is a summary: The Dragon Lords, a Summary:

Three young men, A Prince and his friends, warriors in training, meet at battle school and influence each other, and in turn are influenced, for good and evil. Entangling family, kingdom, ambition and political alliances create complications that overshadow boyhood and hint at diverging, power wielding, destinies.