A Slight Revision

After conversing with the beautiful Night Owl (always a welcome form of writing procrastination, one of my favorites if I do say), I have decided to take her excellent and expert advice to include blogging toward my word count goal for the year. After all, the goal is to get myself into the habit of writing regularly, and apparently she enjoys my blogging. I have be painfully neglectful of my poor blogs in recent months, and though it may be too much to hope for regular post to BOTH blogs, I will certainly be trying. Of course, the most effort will probably go to this blog, though I have fewer readers here than over at Life Serial. The major focus of my year is going to be my writing, therefore it seems fitting that I write most often here at The Write Stuff.

As Night Owl decrees, so shall it be! Let the words flow!

~KK~

New Year, New You

Ok, so last year was a total bust, writing-wise. I didn't meet ANY of my 2010 writing goals and only two of my non-writing goals. I had an AWESOME time visiting my families in both Maine and Kentucky and I joined a gym, but I have only made infrequent appearances at said gym. I've also been seriously lacking in the blogging department.

I did, however, finish my first NANOWRIMO!!! I haven't finished the story, but I made it past the 50k mark before midnight on November 30th!!! This was my third NaNO, but my first win. It felt great, made me feel like the year wasn't a total waste.

This year, my darling Night Owl over at The Unhero's Journey has made me promise to write 1500 words a day starting today. Any words that do not get written will be added to the next day's total and so on. This equals approximately 525,000 words for the year. Today and today only, updating my blog will count towards my word count goal. Too many people have been bugging me about my blogs, and the hours in the day keep slipping away!!!

So here's the goals for 2011:

Writing Goals

1. Write at least 1,500 words every day for a total of 525,000 words this year. Stories, poems, MS, songs, all count toward my word count goal. I will give myself leeway in my daily word count, taking into account several weddings, 2 High School graduations, a baby birth, a memorial service, and a cross country road trip. A few words less here, some more there, you get the picture.

2. Clean up my writing space, so I can have some semblance of order to write in. This will help in the successful completion of #1.

3. Look more deeply into freelance writing and opportunities available. Talk with the pros, research, figure out where I can go with my "talent."

4. Finish and polish up NaNo novel, get it ready for submission.


Non-Writing Goals

1. Help Roommate find a new job.

2. Clean up and weed out our clutter. Organize, rearrange, make our living space more...liveable.

3. Work out. Gym, pool, home, whatever it takes to lose the weight. I'm aiming for at least 2 pants sizes, and 1 shirt size, minimum. Don't ask for numbers, cuz I'll never tell... ;)

4. Find a summer job in Maine, so I'm not a total bum for 3 months. Start saving a little at a time.

5. Bankruptcy. Enough said.

6. Become a full tithe payer. The Lord blesses those who are obedient...or so I've heard...

7. Get my sorry butt back into college!!!! Get in gear toward getting my degree.

8. Visit Canada while I'm back East. There are some wonderful people that I just need to hang out with in person (you know who you are)!!! This also requires getting my butt in gear and applying for a passport.


Whew!! Ok, so maybe my goals are a little unbalanced this year, but I've got to get a lot together before I can make my life work. I'm hoping that this will be a better year than last.

What are your goals for 2011???

~KK~

NaNo Day 1 Wordcount

So in the first two hours of NaNoWriMo 2010 I wrote 684 words. Then I came home and slept until mid-afternoon (not exactly in my plans...). I wrote a grand total of 2,064 words for the first day. In the midst of massive back pain and the side effects of painkillers. I'm pretty impressed with myself. And now I plan on drugging myself into oblivion and sleeping until morning. Work tomorrow, then writing until I pass out. My goal for tomorrow is 2,500 words. Go me.

Hope everyone made their wordcount goals for the day, whether you're doing NaNo or not!!!

~KK~

NaNo 2010

Ok so tonight at midnight is the official start of NaNoWriMo 2010. If you live in the US or Canada or anywhere in our nearby timezones, you still have plenty of time to register and get yourself ready. And by plenty of time I mean 9 hours!!!!!

I'm so stoked. I've been saving for a Netbook, and I might have enough money by halfway through the month. Until then, I'll be doing Write-Ins by hand and the rest of the time I'll write on D's new owrk PC when she lets me and on the dying laptop when she doesn't! ;)

I had a most spectacular fall flat on my back yesterday, during which my entire left side went numb and I'm hurting a LOT today, especially in my left arm and hand and my back. So writing by hand at the Midnight Write-In tonight should be interesting. We shall see how it goes.

My NaNo novel is called Roads Taken. My MC came to me in a dream. I think hers will be an interesting story to tell. Her name is Sasha and she's going on a trip with her bet friend Sam and her dog (who is unnamed as of late). I'm excited and I really want to succeed this year. I plan to attend every single Wednesday Write-In and every other Saturday/Sunday one. I need all the moral support I can get!!!

So, are you doing NaNo this year???

~KK~

Slightly off the Normal Topic...

Now, usually I reserve this blog for strictly writing related topics, but I really want to spread the word as far and wide as I possible can. Here goes:

So this family was brought to my attention by a friend of mine. They work with a program called Reece's Rainbow that advocate for children all over the world who are in orphanages and institutions simply because they were born with Down Syndrome.

They are currently working toward adopting 2 children, Ianna and Axel. They both have different conditions and I believe they are each from different countries. They are both around ten years old.

At the moment, they are very, very close to being able to bring Axel home. Hopefully, the Lord willing, they will leave for his country sometime in December to start the process of bringing him home.

At the moment they are holding a raffle for an iPad. As you know, these things are pretty pricey. But right now you can buy a raffle ticket for one of these babies for $25. And if you donate $100 to the site, you get 5 entries.

Here's the family's blog:
http://myianna.blogspot.com/
And here's the entry advertising the raffle:
http://myianna.blogspot.com/2010/10/ipad-give-away.html

I hope that some of you wonderful blog readers will be able to help this family out by contributing to the raffle or at least spreading the word.

God bless you all, my lovely blog readers.

~KK~

NaNoWriMo 2010

So it's that time of year again!!!! NaNo 2010 is only 9 days away!!! I'm so excited for this year's NaNo. I've been doing all kinds of of research for my novel and stocking up on the essentials (you know, junk food, notebooks, pens, junk food, white out, fingerless gloves, back support for my chair, junk food, caffeinated beverages, possibly a Netbook, and did I mention junk food????), I've taken the first of the month as a personal day so I can attend the Midnight Write-In at Denny's and then spend the first getting a jump on my writing...that is, if I don't fall asleep...cat naps are goooood...

I feel really good about this project. I think it could actually go somewhere, unlike the last few projects that seemed to crash and burn before they were even off the ground.

NaNo will be a crazy ride, as usual, but this year, I think I can succeed.

I hope.

~KK~

My Very First Guest Post!!!!!

So Miss Dolly has given me the great honor of doing a guest spot on her Blog Writer Revealed!!! She's doing a series on Writer's Journeys and she asked me to do an interview! I was so excited and honored. Dolly's a great person and I love her blog, so I was very quick to agree. So check it out on Friday, 8 October here!