And that, my friends, is a sigh of relief....

I was working on my story, and really -- I'm near the end.  Sure, I'll go back and add to it, even things out, make them blend more, but I'm getting to the climax, which, in a novel comes right before the end.  So....  I was looking at my word count, about 25,000.  Immediately, I thought, "Crap!  That's not good!"  So then I did some searching on the Internet.  I wanted to know how long should a novel be.  AND, I found the answer!  YIPPEE!!  I'm right on target for my prospective audience!!

This is what I found:
(Taken from http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/fiction/2004/12/how_many_pages_.html)

How Many Pages Make a Novel?

That question just arrived in my email, and it's a good one. The answer is: It depends.

Some publishers, especially in genres like romance, have requirements as uniform as a muffin tin: Each manuscript will be long enough to fill a book of exactly so many pages. Others are far more flexible.

In the days of the typewriter, a double-spaced page with 1-inch margins would hold an average of 250 words. So you could assume that since 4 pages = 1000 words, 240 pages = 60,000 words, which was the typical length for most mainstream and mystery novels.

Then came the personal computer and the writer's own choice of typeface and point size.

This threw the old estimate right out the window, but word processors of course give us a precise word count—and word count is what most publishers are interested in.

The number of words in a novel will vary depending on the genre. A young-adult novel will run between 20,000 and 40,000 words. That would be the length of a novella in mainstream fiction.

Many genres seem to have succumbed to supersizing. A mass-market western, mystery or SF novel used to run to 60,000-70,000 words. Now they're more likely to hit 90,000 words. Fantasy novels seem to be about 125,000 words—per volume, with some series going on and on. Mainstream fiction can be anywhere from 55,000 words (about the length of many mass-market romances) to ten times that.

And how many pages will your published book have? Again, book design and typesetting can influence the total. I've noticed a lot of hardback mainstream fiction lately with text that's really double-spaced, with generous margins: clearly the author handed in a short manuscript, and the publisher is trying to puff it up into something that looks worth the price.

Mass-market paperbacks don't seem to have changed their design much, however, and I've noticed that a typical page of a paperback novel will run around 440 words...not quite the equivalent of two double-spaced manuscript pages. My novelEyas was just about exactly 500 pages long in manuscript, and came out in print at 354 pages.

If you're working in a genre like SF or romance, it's always a good idea to visit the websites of genre publishers to see what length they want. If you go to Harlequin and browse through their FAQs, you'll see that different romance series require much different lengths, from 50,000 words to twice that.

For you this is a craft, maybe even an art. For them, it's an assembly-line business. If you're J. K. Rowling or Stephen King, you can tell your publishers how long your next novel will be, and they will tug their corporate forelock, thank you very much, and plan accordingly. But lowly scribes like you and me are unlikely to enjoy such freedom.

2,000 words later....

I did a lot of writing today.  Michael's not home to disrupt me -- he is spending the day shooting with his buddy.  I did a lot more reading than writing -- I'm up to chapter 7 of Midnight Sun.  My writing is definitely not up to par with hers...  This is disappointing.

I guess time will tell if it's something I can fix.

Another problem...  I'm on pg. 140 of Midnight Sun and she's still at the beginning of the story.  I'm at pg. 82 and nearing the climax.  I'll probably be ending by the time I hit pg. 140.  I guess I will have a lot of filling to do.  I just worry that I spent too long building up and I don't have enough at the finish line at this point.

Keep writing and see how it all plays out, right?

Back to reading....

Frustration

I'm afraid to write out of order, but I don't know how to get from where I am in my story to where I want to go next.  I know what other events I want to have, but I don't know how to make it flow into the story.  It's like I wrote myself into a hole.

AND, I'm afraid I'm taking too long getting to where I need to go.  Maybe it's where I'm breaking my chapters -- maybe I should consolidate them some more?  I'm trying to break them where each significant event has it's own, though.  I dunno...  Maybe this story just isn't going to be any good.

I guess I'll skip ahead to what I want to have happen next and then work backwards later.  I have to get stuff down.

I've been reading Midnight Sun this morning, since I was stuck.  LOVE IT!!!  I wish I could write like Stephenie Meyer....

Merry Christmas!

I've been doing a lot of reading and writing.  Things are going pretty well.  I've just been busy with all the holiday stuff going on.  But MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  Maybe I'll be done by this time next year and working on something new.  :)

And vacation has begun...

I was hoping to get more writing done than I have, but I am still working when I can.  Michael's home on vacation, too, and he won't leave me alone.  He's forever trying to see what I'm doing.  He just discovered I have a Facebook account, though he's seen me on it a zillion times.  Apparently he hadn't realized what it is.  But he doesn't like that I have it -- he seems to think I've been keeping it a secret.  Whatever.

I did do quite a bit of re-writing, however, and I wrote another 1,000+ words yesterday.  I've been doing a lot of reading.  I read 2-1/2 books between yesterday and today for one of my classes.  I have to read 12 all together.  YA novels.  Not really anything I would have picked so far...  Although I'm only halfway through The Adoration of Jenna Fox and do far I'm liking it.  :)

I read Tyrell and another called Weetzie Bat that I wasn't overly thrilled with.  I'm dying to get into City of Glass but I really feel compelled to get these others done first since I'm on a deadline with them.

OH!  And I finally caved and ordered myself a Nook.  It won't ship out till Feb. 1st though.  That BITES!!  But I'm excited about getting it.

Alrighty...  I fixed up some of the whole relationship scenario with my main characters.  And I think I need to give "The Watcher" a name...  Something "old-timey" but not boring, something that sounds like it could be a bad guy's name...  I dunno.  Victor, Edgar...  Something along those lines.  Cuz I've got them talking and you'd think that she'd ask him his name through all this.

I was thinking, too, this could be a whole "Heaven Can Wait" kinda series.  I could have a teenage girl die in labor and she helps her boyfriend adjust to being a single dad at age 16/17...  Or, I could have a teenage BOY die and have to help his pregnant girlfriend decide whether to have the baby or give it up.  Oooh, that might be good.

I could have a girl die and her bestie is a witch so even after she's gone, she can still see her and talk to her.

I saw a book on Shelfari that had a boyfriend and girlfriend and one had died and it said something like "even death couldn't keep them apart."  So, I dunno.  Lots of different scenarios could work if I can just get the first one to amount to anything.

Got in touch with my dad that I haven't talked to in God only knows how long.  I remember talking to my step-brother, Aaron, when I was living in Wilmington like 12 years ago.  GAWD, can it really have been 12 years ago???  I don't think I talked to my dad at that point, but I may have and just don't remember it.  Yeah, I guess I did cuz I knew he was about to be moving because my half-sister was playing soccer on the junior national team and had gotten an offer to play at a private school or something and it was a really good opportunity?  I don't really remember the specifics.

Anyway, my brother called me in the middle of the night, drunk, and left this loooooong rambling message about how he wants to find our dad.  I told him the easiest way would be to find Aaron because he has the least common name.  My dad's name is apparently EXTREMELY common.  But I would never have been looking for him in freakin' TX anyway -- I thought he lived in Massachusetts.  So, anyway, Shawn's not a take-charge kinda guy, so I did it myself, and immediately got in touch with Aaron, who then got me in touch with everyone else.  Turns out my step-brother, Ryan, and my step-sister, Brie, are only about an hour and a half from me.  They live here in Durham, NC.  Aaron's in Wisconsin, not far from Kim who's in Minnesota.

So...  I guess it's only been a couple of days, but that's pretty much what I've been up to.  Hopefully I can write some tomorrow, and as soon as I post this, I'm going to open my file back up and see what I can add to what I was working on yesterday.  I think I got cut off by Michael before I could finish what I was working on.

Well, better hop to it.  He could come home any time now and spoil all my fun.  :)   hehe

Not much new...

I haven't had much of a chance to write lately unfortunately.  Michael hasn't been going out so he's here beside me most of the time irritating me, or I have children hovering about asking for stuff for Christmas.  Not a moment's peace!!

I wrote a little this morning.  About 3 pages worth, I guess.  I'm having issues with working my Watcher into the scenes.  I'll be focused on my main characters and what they're dealing with when it will dawn on me that I need this other arc happening too.  It actually worked out okay in one scene today -- she was focused on her thoughts and what Jeremy was saying and then realized afterwards that this guy's standing there in the corner of the room taking freakin' notes on what they're saying.

So anyway...  Here's hoping that Michael will pick back up with his training schedule so I can get back to my writing.  It's way easier to do when I have the "I'm writing a paper" excuse.  If I write now, he'll want to know why cuz he knows I don't have any classes at the moment and I really would rather keep my book private at the moment.  Besides, it's not like he'd be at all supportive of it.  He's too self-centered for that.

OMG!!  His friend is thinking about going to work overseas in like the Middle East.  He said if you work for 9-10 months over there you earn $80-100,000 tax-free.  On the one hand I'm thinking, that's 9-10 months of peace -- I can really focus on my writing and not have to bother with entertaining him or listening to him act like a retard.  On the other hand, that would dump his kids 100% on me to deal with 24/7 for 9-10 months.  He's very little help as it is, but at least he's a "threat."

Anyway...  I doubt anything will come of it anyway.  I'd say it would be nice to have him earn that much money, but he'd just waste all of it anyway.  He said he'd use it to pay off his house (key words HIS HOUSE).  That way he wouldn't have any bills -- he already paid off his truck.  I pay all the other bills, have a car payment, have credit cards and student loans...  He wastes sooooooooooooo much freakin' money and then acts like I must because I never have any.

See, that would be the biggest plus of getting published.  Additional income to pay off my freakin' loans!

Finito!

Not my story -- but with my semester!  I uploaded my final artifact and reflection tonight and am completely done with this semester, with my 4.0 still intact.  :)  I got a new idea to add to it today, but I've been so stressed, I haven't felt up to writing.  Hopefully tomorrow!

Breathing a little easier....

It took me most of the weekend, but I'm nearly done with the semester.  I submitted my huge project for my 6144 artifact that had been such a nightmare.  Got that done this afternoon and about an hour and a half later, my professor wrote back saying it was approved (an A -- I love Dr. Jones!!) and to show her my reflection so I could post them to my portfolio and be DONE!!  So, just waiting on that.

Then I was working on my 6018 paper -- a collection development policy.  I'm almost done with that.  Jennifer's going to send me hers tomorrow so I can make sure I'm doing it right.  I know I'm saying the stuff he wants, but I'm not sure if he actually wanted something "formal" instead of a narrative telling what I'm doing and why.  I've only got 2 sections left to it (unless I discover tomorrow it needs to be drier).  So, I need to finish up my evaluation and my diversity policies and call it a day.  Er, a semester!

Anyway, since I've been busy working on these I haven't had time to do any of my writing.  However, I got a fortune cookie yesterday that said "You will be unusually successful in business."  Considering I'm a librarian, I'm not in "business," so maybe it's an omen that someone will one day like my book.  LOL, see me holding my breath?  Stupid cookies....  I got one last month that said something about "Your wife will..."  I was like, news to my HUSBAND!!  Sheesh.

Well, I'm going to go shower and do some reading, I think.  I did finish up Dark Visions.  I must say, I wasn't impressed.  I did like the Night World series, though.  Especially the first one.

I found another series I want to read.  I need to get a Nook so I can cuz I have no room left for more books.

It's only Tuesday?? Seriously??

This has been such a long week!!!  And I'm only 2 days into it!!

Monday I didn't get to write.  The boys had scouts and Michael was home and I can't concentrate when he's there watching The Jeffersons online.  Grrrrr...

Tonight I had class, so I didn't get tooooo much time to spend on it, but I did manage to write a little over 3 pages and do some revising.  It's 10 now so I think I'm gonna read for a while.  I'm currently working on L. L. Smith's Dark Visions.  I don't think I like it...  I'm almost finished, but it just seems to be taking forever to go nowhere.  I'm kinda disappointed.  I guess I just don't particularly care for the characters.

I hope readers will like mine.

I introduced my "watcher" in what I wrote tonight, too.  :)  I'm on page 52, Chapter 7.

Sunday Morning

It's much easier to write when the house is quiet.  I woke up relatively early, fed the ducks, and fixed a cup of coffee.  I turned on the computer and messed around on FB while I "woke up" and then started writing.  I wrote about 6 pages before Andrew got up and came down to join me, turning on the TV.  Now he's watching some lame Bam Magera-esque show...  Nitro Circus.  Blah.   But now it's hard to write.

I'm worried about getting my schoolwork done, too.  I've got a huge project due in a week (my final artifact for my 6144 class), as well as my artifact for 6018 due 2 or 3 days after that one.

I may need to take some time away from my writing to work on those.  Plus I still have lessons to come up with for school, and collaborative research lessons to design for 4th grade.

Writing is a wonderful escape.  It would be wonderful to be able to just be a writer one day -- I think it would be a relaxing lifestyle.  I mean, I'd still want to work in the media center, though. I wouldn't want to just write until I was ready to retire from the school system.  But it would be awesome to have extra income coming in.  And if it's something that only takes a couple hours of my time every day, then WOW!  It would be like having a part-time job I enjoyed.

What do you think the chances are of actually getting published and making money at this?  Probably not good.

whooohoooo!

Okay...  I've had a lot of distractions thus far, but I've actually written about 6 pages today.  I've got the car accident, Taylor's death....  She watched him cross over and then her world started spinning and she fainted.  When she regains consciousness she's in her bedroom.

Now I've got to figure out how to get her back to Jeremy...

What I learned!!

I was reading an article online yesterday where I published, professional writer was talking about the 5 myths of writing and part of it was that when your book is published and it's doing well and you're doing promotional stuff for it, you don't need to worry about your second book.  That's false.  Duh.

Well, anyway, what he was saying that a pro should be churning out a new book every 12 - 18 months.  He makes himself write AT LEAST 1,000 - 1,500 words a day on his writing days (he doesn't write every day).  That's 3 - 5 pages.  I can sooo do that!!

AND I found a list online of people who want to find new books to read to represent them with the publishing companies.  So, when my book is done and I'm thinking I'm ready, I'll have a list of people I can approach with it in hopes of getting some representation.  IF, of course, it's even any good.

So anyway...  I need to get started.  I've got 3 - 5 pages to write today!!!

Thanksgiving!

This has been a very difficult week.  I found Blue dead Monday morning.  I miss him sooooooooo much.  He was my constant companion.  And Michael does not deal well with such things.  He can't think of much else and hasn't been sleeping well.  We buried him Monday night, and I haven't really felt like writing and I've been busy with Thanksgiving preparations when I wasn't dealing with that.

Today is Thanksgiving.  I got up at 6:45 and started cooking.  Dinner was delicious, if I do say so myself.  I'm so glad I listened to Terry about cooking the turkey in a roasting bag -- we've never had a turkey turn out so well.  It was so moist and tender it was just falling off the bones.

Anyway...  Samantha's asleep on the floor in front of me. She bored herself watching a Packers/Lions game.  I'm watching Medium on the DVR, Michael's in the bedroom playing with his guns (typical), and the other kids are upstairs in their rooms.  I wrote myself out of the hole I was afraid I'd gotten myself into, set up Jeremy's follow-through.  And now I'm ready for the accident to happen.

OH!  And I found a bunch of websites for authors that I need to spend some time exploring.  Research, research, research.  I can't wait till I graduate so I'll have more TIME!!  I mean, I'm not actually delusional enough to think that I'll ever amount to anything.  I'm not going to be the next J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer, but a girl can dream, can't she?

I just wonder who I can get to read it to tell me if it's too sappy or stupid or lame or whatever before I try sending it to any kind of "professional."  Right now it's just my shiny, happy secret.

November 22nd

I haven't gotten as much written this weekend as I would have liked -- I had a lot going on.  This was just not a good break at all.  Michael's been pissed off which makes everyone miserable.  We finally had it out last night after he threw stuff at Samantha.  I started to pack my suitcase to leave and that ended the fight.  I went out in the living room to sit with Blue and calm down.  He had his head in my lap and when Michael came near he growled at him and kept him away.  HA!  His dog is sooooooooooo MINE!

Anyway...  I've felt drained and miserable.  And I had a paper due, so I worked on that.  And OMG -- I have a HUGE freakin' project due on like the 2nd or 3rd of December.  That one looks like it's going to be a nightmare.

However, I did make the time to make some changes.  I consolidated chapters 2 and 3 and made some changes.  And I wrote a new chapter 4, which would have been chapter 5.  I've got about 37 pages now, I think.  It still feels like I haven't accomplished anything, but I'm setting everything up soon, and my big collision will happen soon.

I still need to get Jeremy back into the picture so he can talk to her one more time.  I'm thinking that they should stop in where he works or something.  OH!   I just got an idea of how.  Gotta go write it in my notes!!

November 20th

I'm up to page 28.  I haven't had much time to write lately.  I can't focus when Michael's home irritating me and blasting old reruns of Good Times and Archie Bunker.  (For real, are you freakin' KIDDING me??)

I have come up with lots more ideas for future chapters.  I've laid out the love-triangle aspect, set the groundwork for the end of one relationship and the foundations of another.  And I've filled in the blanks with my main characters a good deal more.  My next chapter will be the dreaded first date for Taylor and Kathryn.

Now if I only had some PEACE and QUIET so I could work.  I got quite a bit done in the short time I had available this afternoon between the time I got home from work and when Michael got home.  I'd have been able to do more if there weren't the continuous disruptions of my children who constantly "need" something (usually money or transportation, though tonight the three with social lives all want BOTH and all want me to go in 3 different directions at the same time, ATM card at the ready to pass out plenty of cash.  UGH!!!

If life weren't so frustrating I might not be looking to write -- it's my escape!

A new muse!

I had to drive my boys out to Cliffs of the Neuse today for a Boy Scout outing, which, I might add, gave me a fresh look at the vision for my story's bonfire scene.  On the way back, however, I heard a song on Sirius' Hit Bound program called "Breakeven" by The Script.  OMG!!  I love it!!  I got their album and listened to it all the way through twice and it gives me all kinds of ideas for things to write about.  There are lots of songs that inspire scenes in my head, story ideas, or something I'd like a character to say, and now I've got more added to my arsenal.

I finished reading Tempted this morning.  Ugh, they leave off with a cliff hanger again.  I hate that.  I liked that each book in the Twilight series could stand alone if you only wanted to read one.  The House of Night series really isn't like that so much.  I've read the first 6 and it's only covered about 2 months' time for the characters and the books all leave off with some kind of battle erupting or some other traumatic event occurring and you have to wait for the next book to find out what happens.  Guess it's a way to sell your books.  I don't particularly care for these, but I've invested so much time in reading them that I figure I should find out what happens next so I might as well read the next book.

Well, I have a house full of boys at the moment and I have a test I need to take for one of my classes before the weekend is over.  Guess I'll do that first and then hope it hasn't crushed my mood so much that I can't write.  I wrote about a page this morning, still working on filling out my supporting characters some more, but I didn't have time to do much before I had to leave to go run some more errands.

Thursday, Nov. 12th

Well...  I spent about an hour reading through what I wrote yesterday and editing it.  My 3rd chapter needs to be fluffed or written out as it's only 2 1/2 pages long.  I lost interest in it which is a good indicator that it's not important.

My fourth chapter is going to focus on a bunch of teenagers at a bonfire party.  It should be fun to write, but I'm tired and in a grumpy mood, so now's not a good time for me to write that one.  I like the changes that I made, though.

I said something tonight to my daughter about wanting to write.  She said she won't read anything I write unless it gets published.  Hello?  Dream the impossible dream here, Kiddo!  And thanks for the support.  Sheesh.  LOL, she's just lucky I love her.

Ya know, I have my main character working in a movie theater.  I can fluff the 3rd chapter by including some details of that and add some more depth to some of the other characters in the story.  All I did was mention that she works there and likes it -- her BFF works there with her.  Then I lost interest.

Well, I'm gonna hop in the shower and relax with a good book for a while before going to bed.  Yay!  Tomorrow's Friday and then it's the weekend!!

Getting Started

Alright...  First of all, I guess it's Stephenie Meyer who really inspired me to start writing again.  I used to write a lot when I was in high school and in college.  In fact, when I was at Florida State University I had an English professor who was encouraging me to expand a short story I wrote into a novel because she really thought it was that good.  I was mimicking Faulkner who has been a favorite of mine since I was in high school.

Anyway, I was reading a few different series of books (gotta admit -- I love to read series over stand alone books) and I was thinking, "This is crap -- I could do better!"  But I wasn't motivated.  Then I finally bought all of the Twilight series and sat down and read them and I loved them so much that I just HAD to start writing.  I wanted to be able to produce something as wonderful and intriguing.  I was totally obsessed while I was reading them.  I'd climb into bed and read for an hour or so every night before going to bed, and all night long I'd dream about what might be coming up in the next chapter.  It was exhausting!

When I was finished, there was such a tremendous let-down.  Not because I was disappointed in the books, mind you.  I was sad because there wasn't another.  I wasn't ready to hear "and they all lived happily ever after."  I wanted MORE!!

So, without another Twilight series book, I went back to reading more of these "I can do better than that!" series of books.

At any rate...  I had been having all these ideas for stories lately and writing them down on whatever I had handy.  I'd write on a sticky note or a sheet of paper when I was at work, then tuck it into my bag to deal with when I got home.  I'd type things into Word documents on my computer.  I'd dream at night of what I could write about.  The problem for me was that I was still in the Twilight mind-set.  Everything was vampires and werewolves.  I didn't want to use that -- I wanted something fresh and different.

I thought of an old story idea I'd had over a year ago and found it on my computer.  I thought I'd actually WRITTEN some, but apparently I only composed it in my mind because all I have is a rough timeline saved in my notes.  But I took that and combined it with another thought I'd had.  And no -- there will not be any vampires, werewolves, or other shapeshifting kinds of creatures in my story I'm currently working on.  There will, however, be a ghost, but she has a lot of work to do so that she can cross over.  She has to save her friends, set things right with her best friend, and make peace with her fate so that she can cross over.

I wrote 17 pages today.  It doesn't sound like much at the moment, but it took me ALL DAY.  I don't know if it's any good, but I like what I have so far.  As I move forward I will be better able to move backwards, too, and fill in gaps that will need to be filled to tie in with future events.

Oh well...  I think my brain is about frazzled now and I've got to start getting the kids ready to go to bed.  Wish me luck as I try to dream tonight of how to make my 4th chapter unfold...  Big things are about to happen!