NaNo Eve

The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win. Everyone wants to win, but not everyone wants to prepare to win. Preparing to win is where the determination that you will win, is made. Once the game or test or project is underway, it is too late to prepare to win. The actual game, test or project is just the end of a long process of getting ready, in which the outcome was really determined. So if you want to win, you must want to prepare to win. Once you prepare to win, winning is almost anti climatic. - Edward W. Smith, Sixty Seconds To Success

Yesterday I finished my preparations for NaNo. I roughed out basic character sketches on my secondary characters, Kate and Pete (I really like Pete... he might be too good for Kate and need his own book). I brainstormed a few more scenes -- I now have about twenty-five, which is fewer scenes than I normally start a book with, but more than I had for lasts years NaNo novel and I managed to muck through then.

I double checked what I had to do for NaBloPoMo and discovered that they're now offering prizes! Woo! I think that I'll be preparing my blog at night instead of writing it in the morning so that I'll have enough time to work on getting at least seven pages written each day.

My plan for the first week is to write at least ten pages a day in preparationg for hitting the wall in the second week. I thought I was alone in this last year until I re-read Chris Baty's book. He says that it's really quite common. Good. Misery loves company.

Yesterday, Allie asked me: You have dogs in almost all of your stories, don't you? Interesting - ever think about why that is? Or is it a deliberate choice?

It didn't start out as a deliberate choice, but after they popped into to my first couple of books (along with a very interesting rat), I figured I wouldn't fight it. Still, with Liv's story, I wanted a weird pet... not a cat or a dog. I managed to give my hero a ferret, but somehow a gorgeous Mastiff named Spike nosed his way in as well. It might simply be because I love animals and can't imagine anyone not living with a pet.

Yesterday Ceri said: I like your collage. I don't know how to make those.

They're created in Power Point as a slide and then saved as a .jpg file. If you have Power Point, give it a try!

We went to two libraries yesterday to stock up on books (mostly for my daughter, since I won't have a ton of time to read). Between DD and I, we only have 46 books checked out... I feel like a slacker. I typically have more! See, I am making sacrifices for NaNo!

I can't decide if I'll post my blog tomorrow after I write, or before. I'll be posting a total word count each day... Hmmm... I'll probably post before I start with a big goose egg, since that's how I'll be starting the day.

I. Can't. Wait.