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I'm at 27K words, and moving along. I don't really know if it's any good, and I'm actually facing a rather bad moment because maybe I can't write...

Let's hope this is PMS talking. Stay tuned.

It's the halfway point today, and I'm a few words behind. I just crossed into 21K territory, which is off-pace BUT I've been plotting and organizing, now that I have gotten pretty clear on the characters, the scene list and the plot. I have Part 1 very well rough drafted, and have Part 2 moments planned. Part 3 is also coming along, and it looks like there will be a part 4, or a lengthy Epilogue.

So, while this kind of planning doesn't add a lot of words to the manuscript, it DOES make the remaining writing smoother. I am still having to stop and do a lot of research, but mostly I'm putting a few hasty links and notes in the mss so that I can go back in editing and flesh it out.

The next two weeks are just getting the story right, the characters doing the story and revealing themselves in the ways that I have planned.

I stopped to ask myself, as you do, does character X die? No. No one dies, except for peripheral characters. It's not that kind of story. This is a happy, somewhat bittersweet little holiday story, and no one dies.

Thanks for reading, all five of you.

Ok, it's been nine days and while I may still write yet tonight, I have 13,500+ words under my belt.

It's still not in a linear fashion, though I do have a master plan for five parts of this book (Prologue, Parts 1-3, Epilogue). I am having flashes of scenes that happen, and so I write those and then stick them in the section they will go in later. That's the beauty of Scrivener, the software I'm using. It can hold all these bits, you can storyboard/corkboard them, and still keep them all in one big editable pile. But there is also room for research. So when I go to the web and look up something, like "sheep in sweaters," I can cut and paste an image or a link, or text from that page, into my notebook under the research section. And it doesn't become part of my word count, but it's right there at my finger tips.

I just wrote this bit:

It seemed that one of the parents was concerned that live animals at the nativity scene might scare smaller children in addition to posing a public relations problem for animal cruelty. Another complaint had been rumored but not yet surfaced to either minister that the Blessed Virgin was allergic to wool, and therefore, they needed to put up some kind of barrier between her and the sheep, or perhaps, as the rumor went, fashion some kind of sweater for the sheep.

And yes, there are sweaters for sheep. There are certain breeds and varieties of sheep that are shearless. Either they are combed for their fiber, or big chunks are harvested off by hand, or they are given drugs which cause the fleece to fall off in one massive piece. Hence the sweater to keep it on until it can be retrieved. The nativity sheep aren't any kind of special sheep, but the idea of a sheep in a sweater is just too much.

I like having little inane moments and thought pictures in my work.

Ok, I know I'm fully involved in this novel for a couple of reasons:
1. I am irritated and annoyed with how I'm not making a lot of visible progress. It's like the water behind the dam is building up. I'm doing research and finding all sorts of cool connections. My characters are talking to me and clamoring for attention like a trio of bad therapy clients, leaving me voice mails, IMing me, emailing and begging for attention. (I'm not a therapist, but that's how I imagine bad, needy clients to be.)
2. I have 17 other great ideas and revelations on other ongoing projects. I'm going to write those down too, perhaps having several documents open at the same time and inching my way toward milestones.

I don't think I get my pedicure today. I miscalculated on the word count, counting 1,800 words twice as I had duplicated them in the several documents I'm using as my "draft." Using Scrivener again this year, and I am settling into how it feels. The corkboard, note cards is useful, and the "Edit Scrivenings" will be great when it comes time to organize this mess.

Right now, I have a page each on each main character, a page on each bit of wiki research I am doing, and several different pages on themes, topics and big ideas that I want to incorporate.

Oh, and of course now it's time to go somewhere and I'm trying to figure out how I can take my laptop to church. Um, no. Not good.

So after church, grocery shopping and dog walking, it's back to the keyboard.

I'm at 7,269 for the first day, but since I logged it after midnight, it's showing up on NaNo as a two-day total. Meh. Don't care.

Got everything outlined, have the three characters on separate courses that will quickly come together, and am beginning to draw some comparisons, add in some of the symbolism, and did some research via travel books. Thing is, the little village in Mexico isn't exactly a tourist destination, so I have to extrapolate.

Not this month, but perhaps in the coming three months, I want to take a road trip down into Mexico, and explore a place like I'm creating. I want to get it RIGHT.

Time to write. I'm doing National Novel Writing month again, and this time there are alligators nippin at my ass to get it done, make it work and make it good.

I can do this. I've been in training my whole life.

I have 3450 words right now, and plan to get a pedicure at 10K. That could be tomorrow, which would be nice.

Trying to decide on the "parental rating" of my novel. But I may not worry about that now. If one character cusses as much as his real life basis does, then we've got a rather salty major character. But then again, his counterpart, major character deux, might react and blush and be the audience/conscience.

Enough chatter about it. Time to do.

I'm sitting in a hotel in Budapest, looking at the Danube River and the Chain Bridge.

FOR REAL!!!!!! OMGPONIES!!!!11!1!!!

ahem. I haven't written since Nov. 3, so for three days, I have 3452. A good enough start. I'm not liking the voice so far, and I have a third character that I sketched a while back and can't remember who s/he is. So, at some point, that voice will start talking and I'll say, "OH, nice to meet you!"

by the way, it's not blue, the river. It's river-running-through-large-city-in-winter gray. But still beautiful.... and did I mention the palace on the hill?

I have meetings all day with editors and folks, and so I have to be sharp. Must.have.coffee.

Luckily, they have some of that here.

Today begins Día de los Muertos.  What are your rituals or occasions when you remember loved ones you have lost?

This really bugs me. A lot. Offensively.

This is NOT my holiday. I understand, respect and find the day and the traditions fascinating. I celebrate as a human on the planet all the variety and color of human culture... I dig the idea of this day, and I am moved beyond words when I witness the practices.

but this is NOT my "tradition" and it's not the day I choose to remember my loved ones. To do so, I think, would be cultural misappropriation and an affront to my comadres and compadres.

And my loved ones are freshly lost, so this comes as a little slap to me. To make it a little "cute" QotD prompt belittles the grief process, and the very serious side of honoring the dead (and fearing them - giving them the day to walk the earth, placating them and then sending them back to the other side).

(and my response to this reminds me that I'm going to be writing a cross-cultural novel this month, so these are issues worth the energy and word count of this post.)

I was talking on the phone to a friend yesterday, and said that maybe instead of NaNoWriMo this year, I would devote the equivalent amt. of time to developing my website(s) and contract business.

Here is why I absolutely adore her, why she is my BFF even if we never see each other anymore because she's in Tucson and I'm here in Texas.

She responded, "yes, that would be good, but I think you should do both. Still work on the novel because remember last year? when you were at work? (we were both in the office last year, and now we both telecommute) You used to come in and talk about your story and you were so excited by it. So you really should do that again."

**** <3 ****

Everyone needs cheerleaders like that.

I'm going to find a way to put her in the novel too, as homage to her support.

There will be more entries today. This is just the starting gun (for me).

We survived Oct. 31, with only 3 lbs of candy. Heh.

I downloaded Scrivener, with the 30 day free trial. *YES* should be perfect. And I'm looking for the little synopsis I did last year of the book I'll be writing.

title: The Road To Navidad.

Are you with me!? be on my team! cheer me on! I'm hoping for 5,000 between now and when I touch down in Budapest.