Wow - I'm officially a novelist! I've done it - written just over 200 pages (51,158 words to be exact) in one month - actually 28 days - I finished last night. The total amount of time spent? 28 hours. It really did work out to an hour a day - although there were more than a few days that I wrote nothing at all. And yesterday (Sunday) I decided I wanted to finish it, so I wrote for 5 hours, pretty much straight, and knocked off the last 10,000 words (I even surprised myself!)
And I didn't even have to skip church! There was a special team from South Africa visiting Oasis (my church) for the last few weeks, and this was their last day. It was one of those services that starts at 10 and ends around 1:30, but no one notices! There were so many exciting parts, and I feel so thankful to have found a church that really fits what I believe the church should be. We did communion the way King David did - which meant taking the cup, and pouring in the grape juice (although I think David used wine!) till it spilled over the side and all down your hand. Then you down the whole cup in one go, and turn the cup over on your head to show it's all empty. Crazy, eh? and messy. But it was really powerful, and whever I spill liqiud from now on I'm going to think of "My cup runs over!"
I got home from church with 10 minutes to quickly change and get my stuff ready for my Spinning Class at 3. Then as soon as I got back from the gym, I put in a load of laundry, and wrote my novel. It was such a great feeling to finish, even though it was 11:00, I had to get online to get my 'winner's certificate' from the NaNoWriMo page. I also got a little winner's icon for my blog - should be appearing later today!
What now, you may ask? Well, I plan on printing out my novel and making a book, partially so I can do my editing on a hard copy, and partially because I want to hold a big, fat book that I wrote. I went to Tesco and bought a bunch of extra printer paper and an extra ink cartridge, so I'm ready. That will take a few hours to do the formatting and put in the illustrations. And then, I'll just get busy celebrating Christmas, I've been saving putting up my decorations until I finished my novel. I also have a bunch of grading to finish this week, that I was also putting off (rightfully!). And then Friday, the school is paying for a day trip to the hot springs, and then we're going away the weekend after to Sun Moon Lake for more hot springs, courtesy of the parent's association. I tell you, a rich private school is the way to go!
Thanks to everyone who's been reading my novel and supporting me - you're the best! Keep an eye on the novel website, I should be putting up the last few chapters today, then maybe the illustrations. I can't wait for next November!
Plucking Blackberries
5 comments:
Well Carole, that post deserves a comment! Congratulations on being a "novelist" When you were talking about making a book, do you mean binding it yourself? Do you have access to the supplies there? And that celebration at your church sounds awesome, it's encouraging to know that everywhere you go, there are gatherings like that- you just have to search them out!
You can't wait until next November? Do you need the motivation of a certificate to be inspired to write another one? Or is it all the added stress that makes it a once a year event?
Thanks for taking the time to put this site up. I've bookmarked it and will be back to spend some more time here.
Check out my thanksgiving card related site at http://holiday-stories-and-poetry.com.
John
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