They say slow and steady wins the race, and they're right. After struggling several times, I've finished my first National Novel Writing Month! I couldn't have done it without all the wonderful comments from my fellow bloggers (psst that's you)! I'd like to thank my Word War buddies CA Marshall, Shelley Watters, Erica Chapman, Kari, Chaos (Aislinna), Abbey, Child of Ink, and Jessica. We had some fun times in our Word War chat room - thanks for pushing me along. A special shout out to Kerri C. for not only interviewing me, but also for her encouraging emails.

I'm taking off December to do fun stuff. Like write Blogs, comment on Blogs, shop for Christmas, and anything I ignored during November. I'm so excited to just chill.

It's time to celebrate! *does happy dance to Kool & The Gang*

P.S. This newest blog template change is only for the month of December (I totally swear).

Today's coffee is a home-brewed hazelnut blend, and it's totally putting me into the mood for Thanksgiving. As  I prepare to bake a dozen pies today (I'm the pie lady in my family), my thoughts are on the people I'm thankful for and who my life wouldn't be as special without.

Not only am I thankful for my wonderful family and friends, but I am thankful for you, my writing community, who has never let me down when I was in need. There have been some depressing times, frustrating times, and some magical times. It's in those magical times that keep me going. When a fellow writer reaches out to say, "It's okay. You can do it." If I didn't have you all to be with me through this crazy, scary, rewarding journey, I'd be lost. So on Thanksgiving, when we raise a glass to good health, I will think of you all and wish you all the successes and happiness you deserve.

And about that burr in my side called NaNoWriMo, I finally am caught up and on schedule to finish by November 30th. It is because of my word-war buddies and your comments that I've pushed through the frustrating days of falling behind, and I'm grateful for the encouragement. I actually think I have the makings of a great story albeit one in serious need of revision. 

I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving, and to those of you around the world who don't celebrate it, I wish you a fruitful weekend.  So what are you thankful for?

That's it. Slurp!

I've been drinking pot after pot of coffee, and I still don't have any energy lately. So right now I'm drinking a Keva Juice with some sort of miracle energizer additive in the hopes that I can speed write today. NaNoWriMo is kicking my butt. Per the status on the site, if I keep writing at this rate, I won't finish until December 4th. Oy! Just Oy! So I'm gearing up to whoop NaNo's ass. I will make my goal today, which is 2,000 words, in spite of all the distractions. I'm just putting up a brief post to say, for those of you struggling with your writing, take a break, grab a cup o' joe, and join me in the suffering. This too will pass, be it at the end of a sentence, at the end of a page, or at the end of the month,. We will prevail!

On another note, I'm trying out a new template for my blog. One that is simpler and won't take forever to upload. Let me know if you like the new one or if you liked the older one better. I kinda like the older one, but I'd hate to have it be too slow.

Great. Well, if you're participating in NaNo, why the heck are you here reading this? Get to writing!

That's it. Slurp!

I've had so much coffee this morning that the words on the page are speeding by. First off, I had an awesome Carmel Dulce at Satellite Cafe, which I got from their drive-through on my way to pick up my mother. I had to take her in for a procedure, and since she wasn't going to be done for a few hours, I went to the nearby Starbuck's to write. I had a Vanilla Latte because clearly the barista didn't hear my order of skinny Toffee Mocha. I went up to tell him, and he said to keep it and then came to my table several minutes later, bringing me my original order. So I'm writing this after downing the Vanilla Late and now sipping the other, which explains the jabbering.

Anyway, NaNoWriMo is finishing its second week and I got my pep message from the NaNo people. It was about the second week of NaNo having a bad reputation and Wrimos (that apparently is the name for participants) posting things, like "I've been Week Two'd". This sounds worse than it really is (if not kind of nasty). It's simply slacking off or giving up in week two.

Since I'm a first time Wrimo, this was news to me but I can honestly say that at the beginning of this week I was struggling big time. I wasn't meeting my goals and getting pretty frustrated with the process. The clock over my head ticked so loud I felt like I was tied to a railroad track with the hero frantically trying to rescue me but doomed to fail. Tick. Ticktock. Ticktock. Ticktockticktockticktockticktockticktockticktock . . .

The NaNo status page is a demon, just saying. Every time I posted my word count for the day, its estimation on what day I would finish was nowhere near November 30th. Then my Wrimo buddies *waves at Shelley, Cassandra, Erica, Jessica, Kari, Tina, and that Child person who hasn't revealed her name yet* started doing Word Wars (this isn't flinging curse words at each other). We write for twenty minutes and see what each others' word counts are. My word count rose and I'm having a great time getting to know and competing with such awesome writers. Of course, I'm usually the loser, which is totally fine with me, because it forced me to sit my butt in the chair and write. I stopped looking at the clock and focused on my writing goals for one day at a time. Now I actually like the tick of the clock. We get in a few quicky rounds of writing before bed (get your mind out of the gutter :D ) and I'm meeting my goals.

The thing about doing NaNo is that it exposes my writing ticks. I have habit words that I use frequently when I'm writing fast, and I tend to write the same sentence structures. Adverbs riddle my pages. Characters' eye colors change at times. It's a mess. I've come to realize just how important the editing process is. It is in editing that you restructure your sentences, choose stronger verbs to make your work shine, and remove all the ticks that make your work weak.

And here are my ticks . . .

Glance
Looked
Actually
Clearly
Um (Yeah I know, duh, right?)
Hardly
Okay
Well
So

I'm sure there are more, but this is all that I've noticed while speed writing during NaNo. Knowing your weakness is the first step in editing. So what's the weak link in the chain of words that you write?

That's it. Slurp!

P.S. I've received some awesome blog awards from JC Fighter, Summer Ross, Michael Di Gesu, and Rachel Morgan that I'm working on posting and passing on. I just wanted to say thank you guys for thinking of me!

Today's coffee is still out of the pot but without creamer because I forgot to get some yesterday. It's the start of day five for NaNoWriMo, and I'm on schedule at 8k plus words written. Though what I have will take like seven little men polishing for hours upon hours and whistling while they work to get it shining like a diamond, I will keep going.  This is a short post because I'm sure you all have more important things to do than to listen to me whine about how skeletal my NaNo project is. That's how it's supposed to be, right?

Not. A few of my writing buddies say they're editing as they go. I'm like WTH? With all that's going on, I can't possibly edit as I go. I leave the crap behind me and during the many months after NaNo, I'll revise several times until I'm happy with the results. So don't get down if you think your NaNo project sucks. You can make it better later. Just keep writing and don't look back but remember your work isn't ready to send out into the querying world until seven little men . . .

On another note, the fabulous Kerri at Craft Junkie interviewed me about my project here.  Stop by her blog and check it out and follower her. She's going to have more interviews throughout NaNo.

How's your NaNo project or current work coming along?

That's it. Slurp! *cringes at the terrible tasting coffee*

Today's coffee is just straight from the pot. That's how it'll be most of NaNoWriMo because I'll be stuck at my desk writing. To kick off the first day of NaNoWriMo, Summer over at ...and this time, concentrate! blog is hosting the Writing Space Blogfest "--in which we all share photos of our writing spaces, whether it be a desk, a couch, a coffee shop, a pad of paper--whatever." So head on over here and check out other writer friends' work spaces.

Good luck to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo and if you want to buddy me, go here .

So here's my space. It's a dual desk. My side is on the left and my husband's is on the right with the huge screen. He doesn't write, he does scientific stuff I don't understand. I can't wait to see where everyone else writes.