NaNo Update--November 3, 2008

I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful weather. It's supposed to hit over 70 degrees this afternoon. I want to play hookey from work, but I won't.

This was a great weekend. We went to a Halloween party at our friends' house and it was fun. We were home by the witching hour, and we spent all of yesterday outside doing cleaning and yard work. I didn't start my NaNoWriMo novel until last night and I reached my personal best for daily word count. Drum roll please...

8,305 words!!

I can hear QH now. He will be saying I should have at least 2 novels a month written at that pace! Don't be surprised to find me chained to my computer, ha, ha, ha!

The story came out of nowhere and it was more interesting than the one I outlined. I thought I should go with it. I call it "Red's Revenge" and it is a spin on the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. I have an excerpt posted on my author site on the NaNoWriMo page. Just look up Laura Crawford.

I just updated my Novel Info, so check it out and let me know what you think. I put it in the Horror & Thriller category, because I think that was a better fit than Mystery & Suspense. I could be wrong.

I have to get things done around here, and head off to work I will update my word count tomorrow.

In the meantime, go out and vote tomorrow, and I hope you are all well rested from gaining your hour of sleep from the time change this weekend.

And enjoy the weather!!

Happy Halloween & Let's Get Ready to Write!!

Happy Halloween, everybody!

It looks like the weather is going to cooperate with us this year. Temps are expected to be in the 60's, no blizzards, no precipitation of any kind, so the little ghouls and goblins should have a great time and come home with a huge bag of goodies.

I'm remembering how much fun I had taking my son, Alex, around to trick-or-treat when he was little. I wasn't really into the spirit of it this year, because he's still in Illinois, serving our country in the Navy. Last night I headed to Walmart because our coffee maker died and we needed a new one, and I ended up buying a table cloth, a witch hat, a candy bowl and a bag of candy and some treat bags. We don't usually get trick-or-treaters here, we're too far out of town, but my nephew, Cannon, is supposed to visit. He's Remy the Rat from the movie "Ratatouille". I can't wait to see him in his costume.

Or the pictures, is what I should say. I have to work tonight. Dangit. That's ok, Uncle Dude will be here.

The second part of my title is referring to National Novel Writing Month, which kicks off tonight at midnight. My goal this year is to be finished in 14 days, which is doable for me, I just have to double my daily word count, which is on average 2,000 words per day. I have my loose outline ready, just basically my premise and a few character names, and I am ready to write!

I also have a goal to take this year's novel to a publisher. I want to do something with the other novels I wrote that I still have lurking in my hard drive and on my backup disk. I haven't decided if I am going to combine them into one novel or try and rewrite them into a series. I'll see how things go this year and decide then.

I have also joined a new group, started by my good friend, Dorothy Thompson. She is moderator of "The Writing Life" writing group and owner and operator of her own online book promotion business called Pump Up Your Book Promotion. She has created a blog writing group to help writers who have blogs to up their SEO (Search Engine Optimization), by having the members visit each other's blogs and leave comments. It will help all of us increase our traffic to our blogs, our websites and hopefully, create more clients and opportunities for all of us. The group is called "PumpUpYourBlog" and it's through Yahoo! Groups. Here's the link: pumpupyourblog@yahoogroups.com.

One of the rules of membership is we have to blog at least 3 times a week. So you will all be hearing from me a lot more. Now, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, that depends on what I write about. LOL!! Just kidding.

One thing I do want to say, please get out and vote on Tuesday.
I know we are all sick and tired of the election coverage, the negative campaign ads, the lies and empty promises made by the candidates and their opponents, but this is more important this election year than in any other.

I don't care which party you are with, or what issues you would like to see changed, but it is our civic duty to vote. When you look back in history and see what women went through just to fight for the right to vote, you will make every effort, wait in any line for any length of time to vote.

We are privileged and blessed in this country beyond reason, and our men and women in our armed services fight everyday for our freedoms. Don't disrespect their sacrifices, their families sacrifices, by not making every effort to vote your conscience.

If you aren't registered yet to vote, there is still time, depending on what state you live in. You can check it out at JustVote.org.

Have a great Halloween and a great weekend! I'll post my word count progress through the next couple of weeks and if anyone else is participating for NaNoWriMo, comment here and we can cheer each other on.

Change your story and you can change your life

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."— Epicurus

The quote above I got from my friend and fellow writer, Sandy Lender. It was on her blog this morning, http://www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com/, and it really clarified for me all the things I have been going through this week.

As all of you know, I have been studying the Law of Attraction and how it works and trying to apply it in my life. It all started with the DVD, "The Secret", a film that has several spiritual teachers telling you how to change your thinking and change your life. It is highly recommended, but it doesn't seem to go far enough in explaining how the Law works and what you specifically need to do to make it work in your life. So, my research for a book I'm working on, has led me to several of the "teachers" and their websites, products, etc., like Joe Vitale, Bob Proctor, and Mike Dooley.

Beth Ann Erickson, my fellow writing friend, mentor/coach, and publisher of Filbert Publishing, informed me that there was a movie made with Jerry and Esther Hicks that was called "The Secret" and produced by Rhonda Byrne. The version I have is the 2nd one. What happened that the first version was redone, why Jerry and Esther were taken out, etc. I have no idea. I would love to see it and compare the two and have not been able to find it. But I always remembered her telling me that the whole Law of Attraction thing started with the Hickses.

So, in my research, I purchased a book by Jerry and Esther called "Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning how to attract Wealth, Health, and Happiness". I started reading it a few days ago, and included was a CD of one of the workshops they held in 2007. I listened to it and read most of the book and it has been very clear what the Law of Attraction is, what it does, how it works, and how to change your life for the better. It clarified for me all the things I needed to know.

Why does this matter and why should you care? Well, I believe that knowledge is power and that we all have the ability to change our lives for the better, regardless of the circumstances. Yes, we human beings have a HUGE control issue. We can't control the weather, the government agencies that wreak havoc on our lives and our stock market, what other people are going to say or do, or who will end up winning an election (we can vote, but we have no control over the results once we have done our part. That's my point.) I believe that if I have this knowledge and it is helpful to you, then to not share it would go against every fiber of my being. I'm a helper. Always have been, always will be. It's who I am.

This week was especially challenging. Without going into too much detail, I had a meltdown at work. I am one of those people who feel great stress and just pile it on until I finally collapse. Not healthy, not productive and really embarrassing when you burst into tears, especially when you can't verbalize what is wrong, why you are crying and how you feel. Unfortunately, I was on the phone during my break with QH to see how things were going. He asked me a few questions and in my overwrought state, it sounded in my head like he was interrogating me. He wasn't. What he asked and what it sounded like in my head were two different things. Not his fault at all.

Let me back up. That particular day, I woke up late, had to go do my errands which amounted to me running around in the car all day with my nephew. I barely had time to feed him, eat something myself, and then rush off to work. I was tired, frazzled, had a killer headache from lack of food and caffeine, and had a ton of stress and worry piled on top. So, he could have said, "Do you think it's going to rain?" and I would have burst into tears. I was just at that point. I also felt that I had accomplished NOTHING that day, but when I wrote it all down, I realized I had actually done quite a bit. But I was focusing on what I DIDN'T GET DONE.

He felt bad for making me cry. I felt bad because I made him feel bad. He didn't know what the hell to think and frankly, neither did I. I just had to cry it out. And I had some explaining to do. I wrote it all out in a 13 page document that I gave to him spelling out everything and that it wasn't him, it was me.

The questions he asked me had to do with my writing sites and in my female DNA, I assumed that he just knew and why do I have to tell you, you should have already read my mind!! Yes, I am a woman and I admitted I was wrong for expecting him to be a mind reader.

I'm sure the feminists will send me hate email.

Bring it on.

I did some reading when I got home and there was a part in that book and on the CD that Esther says, "If you keep telling the same story, over and over and over again, you're going to keep attracting those same things. If you want to change your life, you have to change your story." (I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of what I got out of it.)

I decided that, yes, this has been the problem. When I was lonely and wanted someone to share my life with, I was ready to change my life. I wanted someone who would make me laugh, who would love me and my son, and vice versa. I wanted someone responsible, who had a job, who would be there for all the things good, bad and ugly and not hide in a bottle when the crap hit the fan. Age was not a preference.(He's older). Looks were not a preference.(He is the most handsome man I have ever met). I then declared what I wanted and could you make it soon, please? Two weeks later, I met the Love of my Life and the rest is history, as they say.

So, what did I do then that I have such a hard time doing now? Why can't I manifest the things I want like I did 14 years ago? What am I doing wrong?

Back then, I changed my story. I decided I didn't want my life to be the way "it is", I wanted it be what I wanted it "to be". And I surrendered the "how" it would come into my life. I left that up to God. I let it go. I also felt it in my heart and soul that even if it didn't happen, I would be ok. I would live my life to the fullest anyway and be the best person, mother, writer I could be. But I felt good at the time when I was asking. I wasn't asking out of desperation or some neurotic fear of becoming an old maid. I think that was the key.

So, I'm changing my story. I don't want things to stay the way they are,... well, I want to keep all the good things: QH, my son, my writing career, my family and friends, etc. But I want to change drastically what is coming into my life. I want more freedom. I want both of us to have financial freedom. I want to be able to go places and see things and do things and not worry about money. I want more money put away for retirement, for Alex's future and just for a rainy day. And I want more than anything to have fun and share that with QH, the rest of our lives.

I want to live happily ever after. :)

I still have a few things I need to add in there, and QH needs to put his input in for the things we want together, but since I'm a writer, I think I have a good jump on imagining my life to be better. And since life is a work in progress anyway, the story will change as my feelings change.

And in this season of change, I think it's more than appropriate that I start this process now. The colors this year have been spectacular, as the photo above is evidence. I love this time of year. I love the fall colors, the pumpkins, Halloween, the nip in the air, and the bugs going away most of all. There is just that feeling I get in the fall I feel in my deepest core and I can't explain it any better than that, but it moves me.

So, think about it. What do you want to change in your story?

Comment below and let me know.

And enjoy the colors while you can.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope this holiday brings you lots of candy and other sweet things in your life. Fall came quickly and most of the leaves are now blown off the trees. No pictures from the North Shore this year, darn, but hopefully next year we will be able to go again.

I have been busy beyond belief. I am working hard at getting my home business up and running and it is taking longer than I anticipated, but that could just be because I'm impatient and anxious to get it going and be successful. But I don't want to get too ahead of myself and screw things up, so if it has to be slow, so be it. I am getting a lot of help from my mentor, Beth Erickson. She is phenomenal, and she and I clicked right from the get go, and the things she has taught me have given me more "light bulb" moments than Oprah! So, with her help, and my drive, I should be sipping champagne from my private jet in no time! LOL!

I am still working nights, still babysitting my nephew, Cannon, who is such a joy. He's more active and talking and it still amazes me that children soak up and learn so quickly, so I have had to watch my language around him.

Alex will be enlisting in the Navy this Spring, Thank God. He wanted to wait for a variety of reasons, and the fact he will be home for the holidays makes me want to jump up and down. I know he will be leaving, eventually, but I am now getting more acclimated to the idea of him going, and I think I will be ok with it when the time comes.

Tomorrow is the start of National Novel Writing Month. I am participating this year again. I am writing the sequel to the novel I wrote last year, "Office Politics", a murder mystery thriller. I decided to plot this year, which I hope will make the writing go a lot smoother and faster, and I hope to get my certificate saying I'm a winner. I know I am already, I just have to do it.

I won't wait another whole month before I post again. I have a lot of other things I want to share, but they can wait. In the meantime, have a great Halloween, and stay safe!