In the words of Dora the Explorer (well, sort of):

I did it, I did it, yeah, I did it!
I did it, I did it, how about you?

50027 words to a happy ending!

NaNoWriMo rules.

Having Survived Thanksgiving...

What I want to write about most today is how incredible it is that I am just 1596 words away from completely my NaNoWriMo novel. I can't believe I'm going to do it! I have today and tomorrow to finish it, and barring some tragedy, I can't imagine a scenario where I don't make it.

There was a time--say, Thursday last week--when those last 6000 words seemed insurmountable. I was running out of plot. I faced the terrifying proposition of needing to spend 4000 words talking about the wedding that was supposed to be a two-page denouement.

But, I sent my main character on a wild last-minute flight through familiar territory (to her, but not the reader) and the happy-ever-after chapter will be a much more reasonable 1600 words. (That's right, that means that all I have left is the final chapter! Woo hoo!)

For all the writing I've done, this is the third time I've attempted a work of this length, and it will be (barring any disasters) the first time I've completed one. That is pretty damn exciting.

My First Blog Post

This is my first post ever in my very first blog. Not very interesting, I know. I got sucked into reading one blog, then another, and from there it became a time-consuming addiction. Why do I like reading about other people's lives, especially in the sometimes-astonishing detail and honesty that seems to be the norm?

What will I write about? I don't know! It will come to me as I go, I'm sure. I am 23 days into my second NaNoWriMo, and I am very, very happy to say that yesterday I stopped at 38,492 words. Today I will likely pass 40K, and then it's just a hop-skip-jump to the NaNoWriMo goal of 50K words in one short month. The best part of all is that my story is coming together -- I'm a few chapters from the end, I know what needs to happen, and I'm right on track to finish by the deadline. The second-best part is that I think the story might even be good!

Other projects I'm currently working on:

• the second sock in my first pair of knitted socks
• a cross-stitch birth sampler for my first child
• a cross-stitch Peacock Tapestry that has been "in progress" since before I got married
• a text adventure written in Inform (shelved for the month of November -- I only have so much writing capacity)
• several (ok, a dozen or so) Creative Memories scrapbooks

At any given point in time, I also have many, many other projects that have been put aside for an indefinite time.

Does being pregnant count as a project? If so, I should add that to the list. More about my family in the profile -- I'm married-with-kids: two boys so far, one more child of yet-unknown gender due sometime in May.

We have a dog, Kizzy, who is about seven years old. I adopted her from a shelter when she was perhaps 10 weeks old. At the time she looked like a smallish spaniel mix, a good candidate for my first dog. As it turned out, she is likely a Border Collie/Chow Chow mix. Volatile, to say the least. Sometimes I describe her instincts as "everyone should stay together, but everyone should stay away."

I have learned a lot about the BC breed, and I now volunteer for New England Border Collie Rescue. Despite the fact that BCs are not a good choice for kids or family dogs in general, they are my breed of choice (for better and for worse). I have cherished dreams of getting a BC puppy from a reputable, responsible breeder, training for agility and maybe competitive obedience. I want a chance to do everything right!

I do a lot of other things too, but to each in its own time.