Monday, November 7, 2011

NaNoWriMo

Before I go off and talk about NaNoWriMo I wanted to share with you, my readers, what I am reading right now.
I finished the five books in the "Dairy of a Teenage Girl: Caitlyn" series and I've moved on to the "Chloe" series. These books are amazingly written and have really challenged me to become closer to God. They have definitely made me think about things and become closer to God. I would recommend them to girls age 12+ because there are some mature themes.
As I wait for the third Chloe book to arrive at the library, I will be reading Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I really love Sherlock Holmes mysteries and yesterday at the bookstore found "The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1" for only $7.40!
I was overjoyed and purchased it. This (very!) large book contains three or four of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels and about 25ish of his short stories. I am looking very forward to snuggling up with this book! And I LOVE the cover art.

Now on to NaNoWriMo.... What is NaNoWriMo you may be asking? It is NAtional NOvel WRiting MOnth (NaNoWriMo). It is a yearly event where people from all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in the course of one month. This year the novel-writing month is November!
Every day you have to get around 1,500 words done, so you will be finished in time.
NaNoWriMo is for all ages and all genre's of novel. You don't even have to write 50,000 words. If you want you can change your goal to 30,000 words or 15,000 words. You can keep track of your progress online on the NaNoWriMo website.
Now that you know a little bit about NaNo, I will tell you a bit about the novel I am writing.
It is the sequel to the novel I wrote over the Summer, which was based of Antonio, a character in Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. A number of years ago I played the character Antonio in my Shakespeare's class's production of Twelfth Night and I was irked that we never get to find out what happens to my character so I decided to write a story about it.
Then I started to get ideas for a sequel... And then people read my first novel and wanted a continuation. A friend at church said something about NaNoWriMo in Sunday School and I decided to check it out. I had heard about it before but had forgotten about it.
After looking at the site and talking with my parents I decided I would do NaNoWriMo this year. My mom was a bit worried because their site said, "Quality doesn't matter, only quantity." The meaning of this, at least for me, is to get your rough draft of your 50,000 word novel out in a month and THEN go back and edit it and make it (hopefully) much better! So that's what I'm doing.
As of now I have written 9,470 out of 50,000 words. In 7 days! It's quite amazing.
However, I am 2,197 words behind on where I supposed to be by now because I didn't have the energy to write yesterday. I'm actually supposed to be writing right now... Heh heh. I'll consider this blog post my break.
I guess I should get to writing, but before I do I will give you a brief summary of my novel.

Sebastian is bent on finding his father's hidden treasure hoard and Antony won't be left behind. But where Antony goes, Jamie follows. When Jamie's father and his assistant are thrown into the picture, and when Sebastian's wife Olivia won't be left out of the treasure hunt, things get complicated, especially when the treasure hunters run into pirates and are stranded on an uncharted island in the middle of nowhere!

And because I'm feeling hyper and generous here is an exert from the novel!

“Where is everyone?” Antony asked, noticing the empty streets and locked up houses.
“I think I know.” replied Sebastian, stopping the horses and getting down from his seat. He walked over to a large poster hanging on a building and pointed to it.
“It says, ‘Celebration downtown, today. Honoring the detectives Dogberry and Verg-‘“
“Dogberry!” exclaimed Jamie.
“Let me finish.” replied Sebastian. “’Honoring the detectives Dogberry and Verges for uncovering the slanderous tale, and persons involved, that forced Hero to go into hiding.’”
Jamie was staring, wide eyed, at the poster. Underneath the writing was a picture of a sloppy looking overweight man with a mop of messy brown hair. Next to him was an extremely tall and thin man with spectacles on his nose.
“What’s the matter Jamie?” Antony asked.
“Dogberry….” Jamie pointed to the fat man. “He’s my father!”


And now I will get back to writing and listening to Michael Buble Christmas music...

1 comment:

  1. Dogberry and Verges!!!!!!!!!!!! That is awesome that Dogberry is Jamie's dad!!!! :D :D LOL! I can't wait for your novel to be done! Keep up the good work!
    Love, ShiningHisLight97

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