Writing, Writing, Writing

A good friend of mine just finished writing 80K words in 28 days! Like I told her, that's Nano on crack. Let's take a moment to celebrate her achievement.

*claps in a circle*

Me, I'm still editing. It's a necessary evil. Kind of like underwear. No one sees them, but you know they're there but you'd rather skip 'em. Think of all the time you'd save not editing or putting on underwear. Sure the editing takes way more time but who wouldn't love a few extra seconds in the morning.

*crickets*

I've mentioned before that I had grand plans of doing all this writing and editing since I was let go from my day job. That was until I actually tried to write. While pregnant. (This is why I'd rather skip the undies. I have ligament pains and forgoing panties would save some time. TMI? *shrugs*) This little darling is sucking the creative juices from my body. So while I planned on finishing a Honey Creek that is 40K, edit my YA due out next year and then edit and rewrite my Nano from 2011 so I can submit to agents, I'm still editing my YA. Sure my HC is done but I'm not where I thought I'd be on my timeline and the birth of this little sweetie is fast approaching. The Nano? For-get-about-it (done in my best New Yorker accent)

Which brings me back to my friend and her 80K words. How did she do it? Besides ridic amounts of coffee and short of locking her kids in a room (I kid, she'd never do that!) she outlined. And I don't mean a rough roman numeral outline. I mean 10 pages of an outline. When it came time to fill in the actual words, she had a wonderful guide to follow.

I know most authors do the same. Me? Not so much until now. She's inspired me.

With my friend in mind, I have a new game plan. Finish my YA, which I hope to get done before vaca at the end of the month or if not, before September (birth month). Crack open my Nano. It's rough and needs about 20K more words to be completed. But I want to read through it once, make notes and then create an outline with all the extras I want to add. Then I'll attack it with edits and rewrites. The notes and outline will also help me to create a synopsis (I write mine last) so when it comes time to submit to agents, I have that step done. I don't plan on participating in Nano this year. With a new baby, I'm not sure I can handle another thing on my plate. But you never know when inspiration will strike. I could be recovering in the hospital when a dinger of a story hits.

Okay, that's my two cents. Take what you want and happy writing.