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83K Or Bust: Day Sixteen
Okay. Got some rather serious news today that may change certain things for me in the near future. I’m sorry to be so vaguebooky about it but I’m still processing this. It’s not horrible — nobody’s sick or dying, the bank isn’t about to foreclose, nothing like that. It’s just one of those curve balls that life throws at you out of the blue. And as was pointed out, this could turn out to be an amazing opportunity if it’s handled right. I’m choosing to think positive, because otherwise I will dive headfirst into a large bad of peanut M&Ms and nobody needs to see that.
On the plus side, I’m just about at the midpoint of the book and Darius just dropped some news on Matthias that I didn’t even know but explains a lot about Danäe’s behavior. Yeah, sometimes my characters take the plot and run with it, usually making the story much better in the process. But this little wrinkle is going to cause problems when everyone gets to Hellaspont. Oh, well, throwing the kitchen sink at your characters is how you make good drama.
Today’s stats:
Started With: 36,178 words
Wrote: 3,024 words
Total word count: 39,202 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, laundry, put clothes away, cleaned the bathroom, gave reassurances that everything would be all right, made some jewelry for the Etsy store, went to sleep a bit early.
Writing Tips: If you are lucky, your characters will occasionally say, “Oh, by the way, did you know this?” and dump an amazing subplot in your lap. This can be tricky because said subplot does not always fit in with your outline, which is why you should try and keep your outline as flexible as possible. How you first envision the story is not necessarily how it winds up on the page, and that’s not always a bad thing. Storm Season was supposed to be a fast, fun story about a guy who gets seduced by twin sea gods. It somehow transmuted into an fantasy ecothriller that spawned a six book series. Apparently I like adding complexity to my sex scenes. Who knew?
83K Or Bust: Day Fifteen
Yay, brain’s more on-line today and I’m closing in on the mid-point of the book and the middle of Act II, whereupon Matthias and Danäe wind up getting one hell of a surprise in re: Matthias’s missing son Lukas, something that could very well change the game for everyone. Also, Danäe gets introduced to the marvelous tipple that is hard cider (and I sneak in a Pratchett in-joke) and discovers its side effects the next day, and Matthias gains an insight into his new wife.
Today’s stats:
Started With: 33,226 words
Wrote: 2,952 words
Total word count: 36,178 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, laundry, shower, met up with the usual suspects for our Monday writing session at Starbucks, attended my biweekly writers group meeting and critiqued a couple of novel chapters, broke up at least three cat fights.
Writing Tips: If you can use humor well, don’t be afraid to add a light scene or two to your WIP. If you can use humor well, that is. Not everyone can, and humor is notoriously difficult to pull off well. If it seems forced or just isn’t working, yank it. The last thing you want is to club your readers over the head with “funny.”
83K Or Bust: Day Fourteen
Still dealing with the migraine — it’s making me irritable as all get out (I should mention that these are atypical migraines, not nearly as horrible as the regular kind but still rather debilitating because my sensory system goes straight to hell) but I managed to nail my ass to the chair and get in my word count. Now I’m only three days behind. Whee. I would pound my head on the keyboard, but that would just make things hurt more.
Today’s stats:
Started With: 30,222 words
Wrote: 3,004 words
Total word count: 33,226 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, laundry, and we threw caution to the wind and went to go see The Martian and have dinner at IHoP afterwards because that’s just how we roll.
Writing Tips: If you know you need to fix something but don’t have the time (or need to do research, or your brain is malfunctioning and you can’t remember the words you need), highlight it in some way, either by a genuine highlight or a comment or even adding XXXX in the spot. Later on when you’re editing, you can come back and fix the issue. Just remember to, you know, actually go back and look for this stuff. I’ve known writers who will put SEX SCENE HERE if they’re not up to writing something hot and sexy at the moment. Whatever works for you.
83K Or Bust: Day Twelve/Thirteen
This is short because my brain has decided to throw a weather-triggered migraine at me. Stupid brain.
Day Twelve’s stats:
Started With: 27,100 words
Wrote: 3,122 words
Total word count: 30,222 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, laundry, copyediting, and then Ramón and I went to see a really awesome burlesque show.
Day Thirteen’s stats:
Started With: 30,222 words
Wrote: 897 words
Total word count: 31,119 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: I have no idea. I did something. Head hurts. Can’t remember.
Writing Tips: If you have a migraine, it’s okay to kick the writing in the head and go lie down. You have my permission.
83K Or Bust: Day Eleven
Didn’t make word count today, mainly because I was busy doing promo for Evernight Publishing’s 5th birthday bash and blog tour (go check it out — I’m giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate as my personal prize), working on another editing project, and copyediting a friend’s novel (it’s a pay job — I’ve got a cruise coming up and I need all the shekels I can earn right now). Not making word quota is annoying but as I said earlier, it happens. I’m currently about 7K behind where I should be, which is still makeupable (is that a word? It is now), especially with a couple of weekends ahead of me. If I can get a good head of steam up this weekend I should be able to whittle that down to 2K or so, the gods willing and the crick don’t rise.
I won’t be working tomorrow night, though, because I have ringside tickets for an awesome burlesque show and I’m bringing Ramón, my buddy Stretch and her husband. I may be behind at the moment but I’m also a hair under 1/3 of the way through the book, and that deserves a reward.
Today’s stats:
Started With: 26,064 words
Wrote: 1,036 words
Total word count: 27,100 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, did knee PT workout, promo for Evernight’s 5th birthday blog tour, started copyediting a friend’s book, more editing on the video project, a touch of food shopping, made a big ol’ batch of tarragon chicken salad so that Ramón can continue to eat as low carb as possible while I’m working, and laundry.
Writing Tips: There’s a reason why the carrot and stick analogy works so well. Don’t be afraid to hold out rewards for various things — making word quota, reaching certain milestones in the book, and most definitely when you finish the book. Want to watch an episode of The Vampire Diaries? Finish a chapter. Want to play Solitaire? Finish a chapter. Etcetera. I always buy myself some jewelry when I finish a book, and I’m already on the lookout for what I want as my carrot on October 18th.
83K Or Bust: Day Ten
Goodbye September, hello October (and hopefully cooler temperatures if the local weathermen aren’t making it up as they go again). Today was a day of pulling out words by the roots. Sometimes they flow. Sometimes you have to tease them out, and sometimes you have to go in after those suckers with a pickaxe and C-4 and tell yourself that you’ll clean everything up in the edit. Foo.
Today’s stats:
Started With: 23,021 words
Wrote: 3,043 words
Total word count: 26,064 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, cleaned up all kinds of cat vomit (what the heck is going on with them, I do not know), did knee PT workout, hit every poster on the Mid Week Tease and left comments on their teases, left answers for comments on my own tease, did promo blog posts for Deep Water in various groups on Facebook cooked lunch for Ramón and myself, made a skull necklace and bracelet, mailed out jewelry purchases and a new check for a bill because I’d forgotten to sign the first one, made dinner for Ramón and myself, and took a shower.
Writing Tips: Give yourself permission to write crap. Not every word that you write in the first draft will be gold. In fact, they’re going to be pretty shitty, with little glittering bits here and there that show promise. Think of it as digging clay out of a riverbank and slapping it into the general form of a person — the second/third/yadda yadda drafts are when you start carving everything into shape, adding stuff here and deleting stuff there. Sometimes deleting a lot of stuff there. Right now you’re not concerned with precision, or the perfect turn of phrase (although if you can manage those little glittering bits, please do so), or a gripping scene. You want shitty words that convey the general plotline of the story, and you want enough of them so that you make your word count. Do whatever you have to do to get them there — write a general outline that you’ll fill in later, skip ahead in the story, write something absolutely ridiculous that you know you’ll have to delete later but amuses you now. This is the time to get mud all over everything and build that castle.
Mid Week Tease: Empress of Storms #MidWeekTease #MWTease
Still working on the challenge project (now called Empress of Storms) and the more I write about Matthias and Danäe the more I like this prickly, too smart for their own good couple who are finding out that they have far more in common than they ever thought. Here’s a hot little scene where Matthias learns that well-bred young ladies sometimes like to be on top.
Enjoy, and make sure to hit the list after the teaser to see other great Mid Week Teases!
When widower King Matthias IV of Ypres is called upon to fulfill a treaty with the neighboring country of Hellas and provide a royal consort for young Queen Danäe, the only Ypresian royal available for marriage is himself. Can he overcome his grief for his late wife and risk letting a blue-haired witch queen into his heart? And can Danäe, only half-trained as a water mage, root out a magical threat against Matthias before it kills the man she’s loved since childhood?
At night Danäe could finally put aside the public persona of Queen and revel in her new role as Matthias’s wife. The king had been as good as his promise, and made sure to come to her chambers as soon as they were both ready for bed. Sometimes they would pass the time talking about the day’s events over goblets of crisp white wine provided by Flavia, but more often a laughing Matthias would tumble her onto the wide bed and proceed to drive her mad with his lips and hands, holding off until she was begging for release before he slid deep inside her.
But for all his passion, there were curious gaps in the king’s sensual education. Danäe stumbled across one of these one night when she playfully straddled him, rubbing his erect shaft against her mound and the slick flesh beneath it. He closed his eyes and groaned softly at the sensation.
“Well, you’re certainly eager,” she teased. “I do believe I’m of a mind to ride the royal stallion tonight.”
His eyes popped open. “What? You mean…me? You on top of me?”
His shock was mild but genuine. “Well, yes,” Danäe said, wondering if she’d come up against some odd Ypresian taboo. But they breed horses — it can’t be that unknown among them. “Unless you don’t care for that position.”
“Oh. No, it’s not that. I just didn’t know…”
Danäe paused. “You didn’t know what?”
He let his hands settle on her hips, cupping them. “That well-bred young women knew about things like that.”
She couldn’t help laughing at the absurdly prim tone of his voice. “It’s a very common position, you know. And not just among tavern wenches and women of questionable virtue.”
“Danäe, really.” His mouth twitched. “It’s just…Hanne wasn’t comfortable doing such things.”
“Ah.” She sat back on her haunches, wondering if the late queen hadn’t enjoyed the act of love, or was simply too reserved to ask for variety in her husband’s lovemaking. “I myself happen to enjoy it a great deal. It gives me more leverage and allows me to rub against you in a way that feels wonderful.”
“It does?”
“May I show you?”
The hazel brown of his eyes darkened. “Please do.”
Rising up, she guided the head of his cock between her legs and eased him inside, grateful that his earlier kisses and caresses had left her nicely wet. Her inner muscles stretched from his girth, and the delicious sensation of fullness started a warmth in her belly that would soon build into a raging fire.
Humming happily, she slid down until he was completely inside her. “How does that feel, milord king?”
“Tight,” he said, somewhat breathless. “Warm, slick. Gods, you feel amazing.”
“You as well. Now,” she rose up and sank down on him again, “one of the benefits for you is that you can simply lie there and enjoy me. Feel me tight and hot around you, watch my breasts bounce as I ride you.” She cupped them, stroking and tweaking the aching nipples. Flickers of pleasure arrowed down to the wet flesh between her legs, enhancing the sensation of Matthias’s marvelous cock inside her. “I love feeling you like this, so thick and hard.”
“I can tell.” His breath had shortened, not quite panting but heading there. “Is that why you enjoy this position?”
“Partially, and also because I can also do this.” Her right hand snaked down, one finger landing on her clit and rubbing it in slow circles. Flames of pure pleasure licked up through her belly. She threw her head back, grinning at the ceiling. “Oh, Gods, that’s good.”
His hand crept around from her hip, long fingers splayed across her thigh. “Show me how to do that,” he said, hoarse.
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83K Or Bust: Day Nine
Yep, not a damned word on the book today. No choice, as I had to work on a video project that is due later this week and sucked up the bulk of my day. Seriously, clones are looking better and better all the time.
Today’s stats:
Started With: 23,021 words
Wrote: 0 words
Total word count: 23,021 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, knee PT workout, recorded a podcast episode, and participated in the world’s longest video editing session. Seriously, I can’t even feel my butt anymore,
Writing Tips: Don’t beat yourself up if Real Life™ gets in the way and stops you from making your word quota, or from writing whatsoever. It happens sometimes. Just chalk it up to a day that need to be spent on other things and get back to work on your WIP tomorrow. I promise, the Muse won’t hold it against you.
83K Or Bust: Day Eight
Okay, that’s a little better. As it stands I’m now a little under one thousand words behind, which I should make up fairly easily this week, in between finishing a short story for a waiting anthology and delivering a video project to some friends who are waiting for it. Oh, and I edited a Sherlock Holmes pastiche I did a while ago and sent it off to an online magazine because members of my writer’s group were prodding me to send off non-erotic romance short stories again. Because it’s not like I’m doing anything else at the moment.
I’m starting to think that Ramón is right and I am making rods for my own backs. Have I mentioned how much I’m looking forward to our cruise in November? Like, I’m dreaming about it? Seven days on a ship out in the Bahamas, where I don’t have to clean up after cats, make dinner, or do anything but relax and let other people entertain me.
And work on my NaNoWriMo book, of course. I mean, it’s not as if writing stops just because I’m on vacay. That’s just silly talk.
Huh. I just realized I started this a week ago today and I already have a tad over 23,000 words done. Not bad, not bad at all.
Today’s stats:
Started With: 19,388 words
Wrote: 3,633 words
Total word count: 23,021 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, knee PT workout, did laundry, ran errands (mainly to pick up necessary meds), and got slammed by this really heinous sinus headache around 10 PM so I went to bed kinda early.
Writing Tips: There are two things you can do if you start getting sleepy while writing (it happens). One is to get up and do something–go for a walk, work out, do some housework, whatever. Research has shown that getting up every hour or so and getting the blood moving is not only good for your health, it helps your productivity. And whatever helps your productivity is something you should be doing. Unless that means eating a pound bag of peanut M&Ms every day. Don’t do that. Although a couple wouldn’t go amiss. Sorry, I’m in the middle of my Special Lady Time and man, I want chocolate.
The other is to take a nap. Sometimes it’s not that you’re getting sleepy because you’ve been sitting in one place for too long, it’s because you’re just generally sleepy. In which case lying down with your eyes closed for 40 minutes can work wonders.
83K Or Bust: Day Seven
Falling a tad bit more behind, yes, I know. But today I woke up feeling absolutely splendid after a night free of pain, had a very nice final day at the con, and came home with an urge to sit in our hot tub for a bit and soak my knees. After I got out, I almost fell asleep in my chair, so a nap was necessary before I could get my wits together enough to churn out any wordage. No problem, I can make it up over the next few days.
Today’s stats:
Started With: 18,170 words
Wrote: 1,218 words
Total word count: 19,388 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Drove to the con hotel, sold a copy of Storm Season and HIS, also sold a set of skull and rose earrings, did a panel and an autographing, drove home, discovered to my delight that our pool/spa heater still worked after three years of non-use, sat my happy ass in some bubbling water, took a delightful nap, and now I’m heading back to bed because it’s 1:39 AM and that’s late enough for me.
Writing Tips: “But Nicola,” I hear you say, “you have 5,000 words to make up, and you’re already supposed to write 3K a day. How in the world can you make up that backlog?”
Simple — I write 500 to 1,000 additional words a day. I tend to go a bit over the 3K mark anyway, so adding on a few more paragraphs usually isn’t that big of a deal. And if I’m stuck on a scene, I can always jump around a little bit in the story and find a scene I do I want to write and add in some wordage there. It may well be edited or even deleted when I get to hooking that scene up to the rest of the story, but at least the words are there. This, by the way, is why it’s useful to have an outline either on paper or in your head. If you’re stuck on one scene, it allows you to jump around and keep working until you can figure out what’s holding you up (or you get in the mood to write a smexy scene).
Nicola Cameron Writes 