NaNoWriMo Winner

Well, my first ever novel just hit its climax and I can happily say that I am a 2012 NaNoWriMo winner!  I finally have a real title for my novel, and a short synopsis.  I'm pretty excited about it, even though it took a turn I never would have expected.  Livvy threw up at school yesterday, and so I took advantage of the fact that my boss let me off work today to stay home with her (that lame 24 hour rule...) and I hit 50,000 words.  I actually exceeded it, as the picture below will show.

I'll say this.  For years, I have wanted to be a writer.  I've had grand dreams of actually writing a book some day.  I always imagined it would be non-fiction, believing that real life was all I knew how to write.  Until I decided on November 1st to try to write a novel in a month, I never knew I had it in me to write a fictional book.

Now, 28 days later, I am almost done!  Granted, there is still writing the ending, editing the entire thing, and a lot of work soliciting editors if I actually want to get it published someday.  But I have a HUGE start!  I am excited and proud of myself for sticking with it.

Thanksgiving

I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed the four days off of work I just had!

The food, the family, the time off--it was all very needed.

We spent Thanksgiving day with my mother-in-law and I am grateful that she took on the duties of hosting, making the turkey, supplying dessert, etc...

After counseling on Friday, we headed out to Indiana to spend some time with my family, and it was very relaxing, nine grand kids running around and all!  I can't say that I am looking forward to going back to work tomorrow after these days off, but I am sure my parents will be happy to have their house back...and QUIET!

My sister-in-law has been having some health issues.  She had a heart attack not long ago, just a couple of weeks.  She is young, not even 40 yet, and is still having issues with her blood pressure.  We saw her yesterday for dinner, but she was back in the ER today.  Please say a prayer for her if you would!

Last week, my doctor prescribed Ambien CR for me.  I've been on it for three nights now, and last night was the best.  I slept for SEVEN hours!  That is a LONG time for me!!  The two nights before were both about six hours.  It has been awesome sleeping at night, even though I'd rather be off of many of the medications I am on at night, but I am still having trouble adjusting to getting up in the morning.  Yet another reason I am dreading having to go back to work tomorrow!  I plan to take all of my medicine earlier tonight though, in the hope that it will "wear off" by 7AM.  We'll see...

Blue Mountain

I can't even begin to count the multitude of kindnesses God has shown to me, especially these last 9 months. I have been home for NINE months now!  Can you believe that?  I am amazed.  And in that time, I have rediscovered my husband, I love him more than I ever thought was possible, I am fighting for my marriage against a very powerful enemy, I found the Cross, and God's blessings have been pouring down and me and my family.

I finally got a good job that is actually quite stress-free, and in retrospect, I see now why God placed me in this company, with this job.  I needed something low-key as Kris and I continue to heal and I continue to grow spiritually.  I also needed something that would "work with" my constant pain, and if I were in a more stressful environment, the pain (no doubt) would be even greater.  Kris' business is finally beginning to get the growth we've been praying for, so maybe in a year, we'll be able to put the kids back in private school.  Keep praying for that!

But one of my favorite blessings is all the amazing music I have discovered along the way.  I got to see Chris August perform "Battle" and some of my other favorites at the TobyMac concert.  More recently, I had the chance to see Matt Maher and Brandon Heath perform.  Friday night was a night I had been eagerly anticipating.  The songs by both of these men have moved me to tears on multiple occasions and filled my heart with hope and joy and peace.  I have loved their music and was happy to have the opportunity to go with my mother-in-law and son to this concert.  We had been planning it since the concert was announced, and I was really looking forward to it.

Talks with Livvy

Funny story.

Last night, I was home with the kids and we were watching TV together.  Livvy started asking about a movie.  She was saying, "When are we going to watch the second movie?"

I said, "What movie?"

She said, "You know, the one with the girl whose friend wants her to die?"

Grand prize what?!?

I think I mentioned before how Katherine called me selfish.  Who me?  Never! totally true!

When we got tickets to go see Toby Mac for Katherine's birthday with Grandma, who got to go?  Me.

When we got Brandon Heath/Matt Maher tickets for Kaleb and Grandma?  Who gets to join?  Me.  (And that's tomorrow night by the way!  Cannot wait!!!)

And when Katherine won tickets on JoyFM to see the Rams game on Sunday, with a Switchfoot concert afterwards, who would be going?  Yeah, you guessed it.  None other than me!  And Katherine of course-she did win the tickets after all.

But over the weekend, I started thinking about trying to park downtown just how much I loved my husband. I thought about the crowds at the arena how great our marriage has become and how much I adore him.  I thought about how grateful I am for Kris and that Switchfoot is always best at the pageant I really wanted to do something nice for him.  So, with only a little complete selflessness, I told Kris that he should take Katherine to the game and Switchfoot.  I listed off all of the reasons he should go:

Halfway there

Yesterday I hit 25,000 words on my novel.  It's day 11 of NaNoWriMo, and I am making good progress.  My story keeps changing and my plot and characters are inconsistent.  Ridiculously inconsistent.  BUT...the thing with NaNo (I can call it that-all the cool kids are!) is to just write.  With reckless abandon, pour it out on paper.  Or pretend, virtual paper on a computer.  Don't worry about editing (difficult for someone who is annoyed at the use of improper grammar/spelling-which of course, is certainly NOT ME it's totally me), and just write.  Write whatever comes into your head and keep moving forward.  So that is what I have been doing and with the month only 1/3 of the way over, I am at the halfway point for the 50,000 words goal.

Writing

The funny and cool thing about writing a novel is that the story can change without warning.  Your characters can do something you didn't expect, or your story can change entirely.  Remember that sample I gave you the other day?  Well, it's not even in this novel!  My current word count is 14,700, so I am definitely on track to hit 50,000 words before the end of the month.  I find this whole process to be quite enjoyable.  That is an understatement if I've ever written one!!  I think about my book while I'm working (though I'm still giving 100% at my job-which I love by the way-physical pain aside).  I wrote over 3000 words today, in about an hour and a half.  That's been the pace I've been at since I started six days ago.  I never even knew I had this story inside of me.  And the sample I gave you in my last post is irrelevant.  And I think I'm going to have to change my title too, but I am not sure to what...it's going to have to go in a different book.

NaNoWriMo

I recently participated in a blogging half-marathon on my other blog.  Since I completed that, I decided that I would go ahead and take a leap.  Starting today, I will be participating in the NaNoWriMo.  If you aren't familiar with this, it stands for National Novel Writing Month.  It is much as it sounds.  A month of individuals writing novels, across the nation.  The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel by November 30th.  Maybe that sounds crazy, but if you break it down by the day, it takes just 1,667 words each day.

So, I am up for the challenge.  Busy with the new job, writing my blogs, juggling schedules, and all.  I will write on my lunch break.  I've needed something to do anyway for an hour, and now I have NO excuses.  I can write some mornings before I go to work.  I can write on the weekend.  I can write whenever and wherever I choose, really.