The noveling continues

I'm just shy of 40,000 words on my novel, and am well on pace to finish my 50,000 words by the end of the month. Of course, last night was when I got the first glimpse of just how much will be unwritten by the time I get to 50,000 words, as I have just started tapping into the fictional history part of the novel. I want to write pages and pages of history for this world that I've made up, but it really doesn't have a place in the narrative portion of the story.

I think that there are parts of my novel that will get yanked when I sit down to edit it, and maybe then the history can be worked in. But I think that what I'm really looking at is a whole other book for this fictional history... and of course, that's what my brain is stuck on right now. *sigh*

In other news, Jeremy and I have stumbled across a vast cat conspiracy. Whenever we are getting ready to go out of town, one of the cats gets sick. First it was Delilah, then it was Gabe, and now it's my new kitten, Black. :( I'm taking a short lunch today so that I can leave work early and take him to the vet, and Jeremy will bus straight to the vet from work. I have, of course, been freaking myself out by looking up what his symptoms might mean, and finding all sorts of gloom and doom. Hurrah for the internet, right?

Seeing as there are only 2 more cats who could possibly get sick to continue this trend, and only one more trip for us after this weekend, I'm hoping that our conspiracy is not real. I'm also grateful for the fact that we've managed to juggle the finances sick cats and Christmas shopping pretty successfully, and that D and Gabe are both better now.

Think good thoughts for my kitten, if you're so inclined. I would be thrilled if I get home to take him to the vet and he's already healthy again...

Gearing up for NaNo!

Because I sometimes think I am more than a little crazy, I've decided to take a shot at doing NaNoWriMo this year. For those unfamiliar with the acronym, it's National Novel Writing Month, which means I'll be attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.

I've avoided doing NaNo in previous years because November is a BIG month for craft shows and sales on Etsy. And it may very well turn out that I get a few days into November and realize that I'm not going to be able to do it. Looking at my calendar for November is daunting. I lose 4 days to ACNW. I lose 4 days to craft shows. I lose 2 days to flying to and from Kansas. I lose 3 or 4 days for our Thanksgiving excursion. All totaled, that adds up to probably 13 days that I will not get to write, leaving me with 17 days that I can write. Most of my weekends are completely shot.

But I've agreed to try, and try I will. This will be Jeremy's fourth year of doing NaNo, so obviously he's my big source of inspiration for it. He, however, has a slight advantage over me, in the form of more days off work, and partially clear weekends. He also often writes during his lunch break, and can write on the bus. I can't write on the bus. :( (At least I can crochet on the bus!) I may try to squeeze in writing before work and during my lunch. But by and large, I've got a couple of hours in the evening on just over half of the nights in the month. Eek!

My novel is a little hard to explain. The working title is "Daughters of the World's Fair." It blends some history with some supernatural elements, primarily fairies. It will probably end up being a young adult novel, since the protagonists are 13 year old girls. It's based around the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, but is set in 1917, with only a few brief scenes in St. Louis. Needless to say, it's a bit complicated. Cuz that's just how I roll. :)

I'm sure I'll be taking time to make blog posts all through November, but don't be surprised if a lot of them are word count posts, reporting on how many words I've written and such. I'll probably be posting most of that elsewhere, though, so if you're really interested in following my progress, let me know. :) I'll try to keep this blog a little less about the details and a little more about life in general. Just not a lot about crafting for a while, since I won't have a whole lot of time to do that. :)

Clockwork journal by redharp.etsy.com