FRIDAY STIR FRY - Blessings

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Since Thanksgiving was yesterday, I'm still in the thankful mood. I'm going to take advantage of it because sometimes, when life gets funky, it's hard for me to remember to count my blessings.

1. My son and daughter and grand children. Even though I don't get to see them often, they are present in my heart.
2. My job. Sure it drives me crazy and I really would rather not have to work, but I know there are a lot of people who would love to have a job.
3. My little house. Yes, it's in the ghetto and it's old and run down. But, I love it. Plus it's really cheap and my landlords are nice people.
4. My new car.
5. My friends. There aren't many, but the ones I have are true blue.
6. My relatively good health. My knees are bad, but other than that, I'm healthy.
7. My novel. Even though it hasn't found a home yet, I'm proud of it.
8. NaNo. I failed to reach the goal, but I got some words down. And without this wonderful program, I wouldn't have #7 to be thankful for.
9. Price Cutter grocery store online shopping. I hate going to the store and for a $5.00 fee, they will shop for me and all I have to do is go pick it up!
10. Beer.

I thought it would be hard to come up with ten things, but it was easy peasy. I hope you all had a happy and thankful Thanksgiving.

Now it's your turn. Tell me at least one thing you are thankful for.

FRIDAY STIR FRY - To Kill Or Not To Kill

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Yep, that is the question. I keep wanting to kill this guy, but then I think of the mess it will make.

Before you call the cops, I'm talking of course about one of my fictional characters (or am I?).

I hate horror and suspense. I can't watch any of the popular shows today - Walking Dead, True Blood, CSI, etc. And forget going to a movie that has any hint of killing, or slashing or blood. I admit it, I'm a weenie. Give me a good love story, a comedy or family drama any day. This is why I'm having a hard time killing this rat. He deserves to die. He's mean spirited and selfish and weak in character.

The problem I'm having is not in the killing, but in the complications it creates for my main characters. Did one of them do it? Will jail be involved? Will it stop their blossoming romance or enhance it? I realize that's what makes a good book. Twists and turns and mess. What to do, what to do? The ideal would be to write it both ways and see which is better. But, to heck with that.

Tell me what you would do.  

(and as you can see by my NaNo graph, I am painfully behind, so any suggestions to help move this along will be greatly appreciated)

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Random Thoughts

Well, believe it or not, I'm way behind on NaNo as you can see from my miserable word counter. Oh well.

Received another rejection this week for BTH. Up to ten now, I think. I've lost count and interest. I'm really tired of the whole process. Sending the query or whatever the heck they want and then waiting, waiting and waiting. Only to get turned down. Considering putting it on Kindle. If I could only have a week off work so I could do a cover and format it and all that good stuff. I don't think two days on the weekend will be enough. Plus I don't have a clue how to do a cover. There are peeps who have offered to help. We'll see.

Work is kicking my butt (which is my excuse for my pitiful word count). A person in our department is leaving and the three of us that are left are trying to divide her work up between us. My old brain is having to learn new stuff. But, MAYBE, if they don't need to hire somebody, we can get a raise when she leaves. Not sure I'm going to survive to see that.

On a brighter note, I'm loving my new car. Need to take a road trip soon.

Which brings me to my question of the week. Where do you like to go on a one day road trip?

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FRIDAY STIR FRY - 50,000 or Bust

Yes, I'm still attempting to do NaNo. I'm behind in word count, but I'm trying not to stress over it. In fact I'm not paying any attention to where my count should be each day. That could be a mistake, but I'm trying it.

My story is not moving along very well, but I am flushing out some of my characters a little more, finding out what makes them tick, what their motivations are. Yes, there will be a lot of editing when this month is done. But, as I've said before I like the revision process.

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This is a three day weekend for me because of Veteran's Day. Thank you all veterans out there for your service by the way. Any way, I have no plans except for our Sleuths' Ink writers meeting Saturday. So, I'm planning to write, write, write. Who knows maybe I'll get caught up.

 

When is your best time of day to write? Are you a morning, night or weekend writer?

 

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Yep I'm Crazy

I'm in. And yes, son, I'm crazy. Every year my son asks me why I want to put myself through this. And honestly, I don't know. It's crazy. 50,000 words in one month. 1667 a day, every day. And, every year I find myself getting behind. I've spent many a Thanksgiving at my son's house typing away, trying to catch up on my word count, while everybody else visits. And although everyone gave me encouragement, I could tell there wasn't a single soul who understood my insanity.

What drives me into this mess? I wouldn't have a finished novel under my belt if it weren't for NaNo. And I wouldn't have three others started. That's why I do it. It's hard for me to get the writing muse to cooperate and generate new material. I'm much more interested in revisions. But, without that start of 50,000 words, I would have nothing to revise. So, I need NaNo. My plan this year is to finish one of those unfinished stories. Fifty thousand words should about do it.

I admit the last couple of years, I failed miserably. I'm going to blame it on laziness, my constant companion. These last few months, I've had some health set backs and maybe that's why I'm determined to succeed. I need something positive.

I've added a word count widget to my blog to help keep me accountable.

Who's with me!!!!