Winter Solstice & Winning NaNoWriMo

Another National Novel Writing Month has come to an end. Like last year, I managed to "win," by writing 50,000 words during the month. I finished Thanksgiving afternoon and, sad to say, have not written a word since. It's been crazy since then and I haven't had much chance to write — that, and I've been dying to do some serious reading.
One of the books I'd been looking forward to was "Winter Solstice" by Rosamunde Pilcher. This book was recommended to me by a friend, who reads it every December. She called it "comforting," and I can definitely see why. Rosamunde Pilcher creates a world that is very easy to immerse yourself into. There's something very cozy about it all, and I found myself looking forward to reading it every day. It was almost enough to stop a few little things from bothering me — almost.
The first strike this book had going against it was that the chapters focusing on Sam were dreadfully boring. I found myself skimming over paragraph after paragraph about him and the mill he was to save. This is my first Pilcher book, so I don't know if all her work is this way, but it was made infinitely worse by the fact that she tells the story from several different points of view and repeats the same information over and over. So, for example, you've just finished reading a chapter all about Sam, describing how he's been asked to save the mill that used to produce very high-end fabric but when the owner died his children didn't want anything to do with it, so the workers took over but there was a flood and it went bankrupt. Then, in the next chapter, Carrie meets Sam, who she learns has been asked to save the mill that used to produce very high-end fabric but when the owner died his children didn't want anything to do with it, so the workers took over but there was a flood and it went bankrupt.
I hate to sound like the morality police, but there were a few little things that annoyed me in that department, too. It bothered me quite a bit that two of the characters got together so quickly. There were some other little relationship bits that grated at me, too. All in all, it wasn't enough to completely ruin the book for me, but it did bother me a little.
All this aside, at the heart of "Winter Solstice" is a really lovely story about a group of people who are thrown together unexpectedly for Christmas. Each person has his or her own issues to get past, but with the help of the others, all of them are able to heal.
I don't know if "Winter Solstice" will become a yearly tradition for me, but I could definitely see myself revisiting it sometime in the future.

National Novel Writing Month 2013

This month I am on a mission to write 50,000 words. Yes, it's National Novel Writing Month. I've known about NaNoWriMo for years, but last year was the first year I tried it. I was always one of those people who wanted to write a novel but never did. Then in September 2012 I started writing a novel. I finished the first draft of that in about a month's time and thought, "Let's do that again!" So I signed up for NaNoWriMo. I had a blast doing it. There really is nothing like the experience of sitting down and seeing just how much you can write in a month. What's great about National Novel Writing Month is that it encourages you to keep going. If you know something that you've just written isn't exactly how you'd like, you keep writing. If you are stuck, you keep writing. You may not have the Great American Novel when you are finished, but you will have something, and that's a lot more than most people have done.
I know there are a lot of naysayers when it comes to NaNoWriMo. Don't bother, they say. Nobody wants your crappy novel. Why even bother? I think that's a really crappy attitude. If people want to write for fun, let them. It sure beats sitting around and watching Duck Dynasty and the Karsashians, in my personal opinion. Also, why deter potential authors that way? Sure, not everyone is going to write something amazing that publishers will be clamoring to put into print. But there may be a few gems that come out of it. One of my favorite books in the past couple of years, "The Night Circus," was written during National Novel Writing Month. I think that's pretty awesome, and if Erin Morgenstern had been told not to bother, it would have been a damn shame.
National Novel Writing Month has helped rekindle my passion for writing fiction. It gives me confidence that I can do what I've always dreamed of doing and, even if I never get a big publishing deal, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've written a novel. For me, it's the equivalent of running a marathon (which totally is not my cup of tea, but I'm not about to go telling others not to bother because they won't win anyway).
In the first three days of NaNoWriMo, I've written more than 6,000 words. I'm feeling great about my story and can't wait to write the rest.

The Woman in Black & Gearing up for NaNoWriMo

The movie The Woman in Black is one of the scariest movies I've seen in recent years. I'm not much for gore, and I love gothic horror, so I really enjoyed the movie. I didn't know until some time later that it was based on a book. When I found out, I added it to my "to-read" list and saved it for October.
While I liked the book, I think I would have liked it better if I had read it before seeing the movie. The movie stays quite close to the book, but it kicks the creepiness factor way up. I didn't really find the book scary at all, except for the ending. It's a good little gothic tale, and I appreciate the time the author took to get the style right. I love that authors are writing gothic horror in the style of the classics. Books like The Woman in Black and This House is Haunted (see previous review) are a delight to read. I did like This House is Haunted better than The Woman in Black, because I liked the writing better and enjoyed the "tongue in cheek" feeling I got at times. And, as I said, The Woman in Black fell a little short for me after seeing the movie.

It's almost November and that means National Novel Writing Month! I did my first NaNoWriMo last year and absolutely loved it. I also did the April and July camps this year, but didn't have quite as much fun with those. November is a better month for writing. Until yesterday I had only a vague idea of where I was going to go with my story. I sat down and fleshed out some ideas and now I'm really excited about it. Tonight I am hoping to work on a chapter outline and character sketches. The novel I'll be working on is inspired by a novel I wrote last year/earlier this year. This will be a "prequel" of sorts, set in the 1920s-'30s. It's the story of two competing resorts/dance halls in northern Minnesota. There'll be bootlegging, gangsters, and forbidden love. Bring it on, NaNoWriMo!

Writing

I know some people consider it a faux-pas to talk about your writing but this is my blog and I'll talk about it if I want to.
I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl, I'd sit around the kitchen table with my dad and write stories. He always wanted to be a writer, too. In my late elementary years I wrote Baby-Sitters Club knock-off stories. I had notebooks filled with them.
I did grow up to be a writer, as I'd hoped. I write for a small weekly newspaper and have done so for the past 15 years. Still, I wasn't quite the kind of writer I had hoped to be.
So many people say they want to write a book. Until last year, I was one of them. That's because last year I actually did it. I got the idea almost exactly a year ago, while on a trip to the family lake cabin. I came home and started writing, and then didn't do anything with it for a few weeks. I started writing again in late September and kept writing all through the month of October until the story was finished. Or at least I thought it was.
I'd always heard about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) but never thought I'd be able to do it. But since I had pretty much achieved the goal set for NaNoWriMo the previous month, I said, "Why not?" So in November I wrote a novel based on an idea I've had rolling around in my head for years. As I came to the end of that, I realized that what I'd just written would make the perfect back story for the novel I'd written in September/October. The problem with that was that I wrote the previous novel in third person and my NaNo novel was in first. I didn't let that stop me and in December started mashing the two together. A few more edits later and I decided I was ready to send out some query letters this spring. I got rejected, of course.
I've had a few friends and family members read my novel, and the overall reaction is good. However, I realize after taking a deeper look at it that it's not particularly original. Parts of it are, yes, and there is a chance that, with more work, I'll make it into something special. For now, I'm looking at it as a valuable learning experience. I know now how much work it takes to write a novel and I have great respect for anyone who completes one. It's really easy to say you want to and it's even easy to start one. To keep going and finish it, and then to go through the revision process is much more difficult.
I've got two works in progress right now. The first I worked on during the April Camp NaNoWriMo. It's like November NaNoWriMo except the rules are less strict and you're put into "cabins" with fellow writers. I still like the story idea but I'm not at all happy with what I ended up making of it that month. I plan to scrap most of it and start over. The good thing about Camp NaNo was that I met two great writer friends and have now met another through them. We're keeping in touch and encouraging one another to continue with our goals.
I did the July Camp NaNoWriMo as well. I'm much happier with what I wrote then, and am looking forward to finishing that. I think it's a good story.
I'm also planning to enter a short story contest next month. Often when I'm trying to write a novel I get a little panicky about not having enough material and I think it might be refreshing to write a short story for a change.