Sister Bethany and I had a great time at the NaNo Party last night, the Night of Writing Dangerously:
There should always be an excuse in one's life to wear one's fascinator, especially if that includes a writing party with an open bar and lots and lots of candy (I have to say, I did not overindulge in either vice. What was wrong with me?).
It was held at the Julia Morgan ballroom, and it was GORGEOUS. There was a room for photos, and Bethany and I snuck in early and took our own with my cell phone.
I love this one of her (it looks like a book jacket photo, doesn't it? for a mystery?):
And me:
And I passed the 50,000 words written in November mark! I passed it at the party, although I didn't make them toot the horn, because it didn't feel like a real win. Here's why:
17,000 of those words were written in one book, and 33,000 of those were for another book, the NaNo. Not exactly a Win. Yes, I'm calling it, for me, a win. I'm accepting my green winning bar over at the NaNo website, but I've decided I'm not going to upload the words and get the Official Purple Bar of Winningness (which happens after you upload your document and they verify the wordcount). That would mean cutting and pasting the two documents together, and I'm just not going to do that.
I wrote 50K words of new fiction this month. That is super-duper-awesome-terrific. Very proud of me. Yes.
But now I'm sailing off to revision-land, which is really where I prefer to live, and you know what? Woot! Right now, as soon as I post this, I'm running away from home. I'm driving down the coast, and checking myself into a hostel on the beach (a private room because I am old and do not want to share with the kids and their loud rock music and funny cigarettes) and I will look at the crashing waves and begin my edits.
I am so excited. I'm bringing music, books, MY BOOK, a pen, and LOTS of post-its. Oh, and wine.
Maybe I'll see a whale on the horizon.
I'm so glad you had such a fabulous evening! And when I saw your photo last night, one of my first thoughts was that you were wearing the fascinator you bought in New York (I just have a good memory for small details, really).
Have a fabulous time running away and digging in to your edits!
"the kids and their loud rock music and funny cigarettes" -- This cracked me up completely, by the way!
Crossing fingers for a whale sighting.
Posted by: Faith | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:08
Bravo! You are a superhero for working two books at once!
Posted by: Beverly | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:18
Happy revising, darlin'!
Posted by: Cari | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:24
Of course! You want your own loud music and funny cigarettes, without sharing.
Have a great trip to revision land!
Posted by: Gwen | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 13:18
What a great night you had! So jealous! And have fun watching the sea while making your edits - I'm actually jealous of that, too!
And THANK YOU for talking Nano up as much as you do - I don't know if I've written what I consider a "novel", but writing about the hubby's affair and getting it out slightly fictionalized on paper has helped me find a new level of forgiveness for him (although not necessarily for the other woman!) I'd tried starting an anonymous blog about it, journaling about it, forgetting about it, but writing it all out the way I have has done wonders! Thank you again!
Posted by: Amanda | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 13:56
I love the hostel idea...Can you do a quick review when you get home? Think it would be a great get away for a long weekend.
Posted by: Darci | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 17:41
Wait, does that mean I'm one of the kids...?
Posted by: lala | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 18:00
you both look fabulous, dahling, and congrats on all those words you done wrote. have a blast at the hostel!
Posted by: Carrie | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 21:08
Congratulations! And I adore your dress.
Posted by: Rachael | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 19:54
Hey, congrats on doing 50k words in one month (so you are a nano rebel this year, you are not the only one).
Thanks to you, I am doing Nano this year and I'm at 48K, and will get my 50K this week.
No, really THANKS to you, I really have amazed myself writing 1.2-1.8K per hour, enjoying getting up early to squeeze in an hour of writing before work etc.
Dawn XX
Posted by: Dawn in NL | Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 06:27
Yeah, I hear ya. I used the 50K nano-words to finish the last 1/3 or so of the novel I was already workin' on. Not as exciting as doing a new one, but what the hey!
Posted by: becky | Tuesday, December 01, 2009 at 16:01