November & NaNo

It’s a bright, sunny day, today. Very mild, about sixty degrees, and beautiful. There aren’t any flowers outside, but I thought I’d include one here because I love the way the light plays across the petals in this image. The flower, a Gerbera Daisy, is wintering in the house, now, so it has no flowers at the moment, but I’m hoping to see it bloom again in the spring.

The novel I’m working on for National Novel Writing Month is coming along very well. I’m flabbergasted by the amount of writing that’s been accomplished. The Lord is definitely in work with this particular story and it’s both amazing and humbling to behold.

The story is hovering around the 60,000 word mark, where it’s been the last two or three days. That’s not to say nothing’s been done on it, but yesterday, I removed some scenes that weren’t yet connected to the actual story line, then constructed the rest of the story to the best of my ability from it’s current end point to the planned end of the story. I wrote a total of 4,483 words yesterday, so I gained almost as much as I deleted, but the day-to-day word count doesn’t reveal that.

I’m on the downhill side of the project now, since I think I’ve probably passed the midway point in the anticipated story. I’m guessing it’ll wrap up in the 100,000 to 110,000 word range. With ten writing days left (including today), that means I’ll need to average about 5,000 words a day. That’s right about where I’ve been for the month so far. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m of the very firm opinion that it will be done, but it will be done only by the Grace of God.

Parting Gifts, the novel I’ve been trying to rewrite this month, is not going so well. In fact, I’ve worked on it only one day so far this week and it’s looking like I won’t get to it the rest of the week. The NaNo story is consuming so much creative time and energy, there’s little or nothing left for Parting Gifts. I plan to continue working it as much as possible, but with the end of November’s third week now drawing to a close, I see little hope of completing the second draft before November 30.

But that’s okay! I’m happy with the work that’s been done on Parting Gifts and ecstatic over the progress on the NaNo story, Saving Grace. That has been the primary goal all month and will continue to be until I finish it.

Ah! I see it’s a little after two p.m. That means it’s time to get to work! Thanks for reading and see ya later!

Written by

I've been an avid looker-at of books since I was old enough to sit on Mom's lap and listen to the stories she read. Once I learned to read and discovered the school library, I read every horse story I could find. I must have read Walter Farley's Black Stallion series a dozen times during grade school. I still enjoy reading the adventures of the Black Stallion and Flame and all the rest. But Marguerite Henry, C. W. Anderson, Thomas Hinkle and anyone else who wrote a story about a horse was also on my to-read list. I couldn't get enough of them. Then I found Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and discovered another world; the world of mysteries! More recently Dick Francis has combined my love of horse stories with my love of mysteries with his series of books. Frank E. Peretti, Joel C. Rosenberg and other writers now fire my writing and story telling imagination. I am, as yet, unpublished. I write every day, maintain painting and writing blogs, painting journals, writing journals and a number of other writing endeavors. Along with other members of my church family, I've written devotions for Advent and Lenten devotional booklets. For a time, I wrote a monthly column for the Newton Kansan newspaper. I still enjoy a good horse story but I also enjoy a good mystery or cozy mystery, suspense and a little bit of action here and there, as well as literary works. I hope, Lord willing, to try my hand at each of those genres, but if you pressed me to tell you what my stories are about, I'm most likely to tell you they're usually a mix of political thriller and Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament prophets had a lot to say to the people of their day. They have a lot to say to us, too. It's impossible to follow the news and read Old Testament prophecies and not make connections. Once a connection is made, a story is likely to take shape. The never ending wellspring of ideas is often delightful, frequently overwhelming and sometimes frightening. After all, I know what followed the prophecies of the Old Testament prophecies. Can we be far behind...?

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