NaNoWriMo is Over for Another Year

That's it for this year—National Novel Writing Month (November) is over for another year. I sweated through it and finished a brand, spanking-new 50,000 words in 30 days. I wrote a Traditional Regency and now I hope I can edit it, polish it, and send it out into the world to hopefully earn its own living. I haven't decided what to call it yet. I've got a list of titles, none of which really float my boat, but at the moment, I really don't care.

As always, writing this has been an experience in extremes. Extremely exhausting. Extremely exhilarating. Extremely energizing—artistically speaking. I found that my plan did work. I did character sketches before hand so I knew who my characters were supposed to be when I started. And I wrote a series of brief plot points: 3 per chapter. The plot points were basically what I needed to get done in that chapter to bring the characters to their deepest, darkest place and then spring them out into the light again.

I wouldn't say I'm big on planning. Nor am I the best as far as developing an outline with all those nasty goals, motivations, and conflicts listed right out there on a piece of paper, but I do love those plot points. Without them, I could never have kept going at an average rate of 2,500 words per day, every day, for 30 days. Well, almost every day. Of course there was Thanksgiving stuck in the middle there, as well as a business trip.

And, as if finishing this wasn't sweet enough—I got terrific news this week!

At my day job, we hired this guy we've been trying to hire for over a year now! I am so freaking grateful because we desperately needed the help. When my boss called me and told me the new guy starts on December 9^th (well, the 10^th) I was almost crying with relief.

Okay, and then…I heard from this absolutely wonderful lady at The Wild Rose Press that they want to buy my book: I Bid One American! Life is sweet. I love this book and I really wanted to see it published. This is the manuscript that got me an agent so I rather immodestly believe it is quite good.

Yes, The Wild Rose Press is a small press, but I'm very well pleased and I signed the contract immediately. You betcha. My manuscript will come out sometime (I don't have a release date yet) in e-book form and then I'm hoping it will later follow as a trade-size paperback.

And then…http://www.Amazon.Com announced Kindle which is a new e-book reader! Talk about synchronicity! I don't know if my books will be some of the e-books available for Kindle, but I have every hope that my two publishers will pursue this. That would be really sweet.

So to say I'm pretty jazzed at this point is a severe understatement.

I've come a long way over the last few months and I'm slowly making headway in the weird-and-wacky world of publishing. I'm still hungry for that big (or at least 4 figures) contract with a publisher that pays advances, but in the meantime, I'm thrilled to be where I am.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!