NaNo and submitting.

In two days I am starting NaNoWriMo. National novel writing month is sponsored by a fabulous organization called the Office of Letters and Light. I love NaNo. The rules are simple. On Nov. 1 you begin from scratch to write at least 50k words in the month. I usually write more. I am mean to myself like that, lol. This year i will tackle the first Sam book. Yup that lovely post-apocalyptic paranormal crime series is coming out of my imagination and meeting paper. I decided today to switch to a different case. The crime Sam (Samantha Jackson) will be solving is the case of 3 missing girls from a single community. In a world where families are pretty paranoid about safety and where children are even more precious than ever this is a pretty big deal so using the fact that she can shift shape into any animal she chooses and use their senses plus the fact she has a photographic memory means we have a smart cookie. Her background has been rough and very few know of the paranormal aspect to her so hiding that is big for her. her partner is human and has no idea so that adds a layer. I am excited to dig in.

On to Submitting. I think I am going to take the plunge tomorrow and write up a submission letter for the romance books. My RWA chapter-mates said to go ahead and submit. if I sign just make sure i retain the rights to submit other genres elsewhere and such in the contract. So that is my plan. Wish me luck!!

NaNoWriMo

So I figured out some of my book issues. BUT I did it with only so much time until my self imposed deadline. Now my big scheme deadline says have all 4 books done by March. Little plan wanted this book done this month so next book could be tackled in November. I wanted it that way for a reason. November is National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo. Write 50k words in a month as a group effort with a whole lot of other writers as support and cheering fun. Lexi's book was a NaNo book. The book I am going to completely re-tool and re-write was a NaNo book. I hit the 50k mark with it but didn't finish my personal goal on it. I have the case mapped out and am now going to reconfigure it post apocalypse with some survival thrown in. So I want to do NaNo. This means putting the current book aside for a bit. Part of me is glad because this book has not flowed well while Sam's book floats in my head all of the time. It begs to be written. Part of me is annoyed. In trying to do this I hate missing a deadline, even self-imposed. Hmmmm..... No way I write 45k more words though in a week. I am not that good, hehe. I am so torn.

This book has been giving me fits.

So this months project has been the youth fantasy adventure. Kind of Harry Potter meets The Mummy with a twist of Snow White, lol. Basically A king and queen finally have a child. The sorcer knows that the only way for him to become ruler is to kill the child so he has a henchman do the deed. Henchman instead take the boy across the sea and leaves him in a different kingdom. Boy is found by another orphan 12 years older than he is and raised to survive a brutal kingdom. They become the Guild of Theives as they take in other lost orphans and save them from bad lives. The one day the older one disappears, kidnapped by the sorcerer as word of his orphan rescue gets back to the sorcerer. That is where the book starts Our young prince is 14. He has no idea he is a prince and can't remember a thing. His mentor has figured it out but not told him for his safety and vanished besides. So the boy along with a gypsy girl go on a search to find the mentor.

I like the book. I see the kids in my head. I see their adventures with other magical things and perilous environments. But I am only 3300 words in. Yes I know the date. I think I have let myself be bogged by the idea of the audience. I have been so stuck on trying to keep it simpler than normal that the words just haven't flowed. A dear friend reminded me that my audience is much smarter than I seem to be thinking and that i don't need to "dumb it down". They are capable kids these days and used to bigger books. The shortest Harry Potter was over 76k words. I need to stop worrying about simplicity and instead let the story flow. Let my normal details flow, let the relationships build and just stop worrying. So that is what I am going to do. Tomorrow i tackle this book anew. From the top. No simplification. Just true Lila voice! Wish me luck.