I'm done!

I'm FINISHED with my first ever novel! Happy dance!
Ok, so this was only my short, fast draft and not the best, but I'll edit it a lot next year. I'm leaving tomorrow for a very long holiday and I'm kinda glad to leave this behind! Yay! My head is so sick of words right now :)

thanks SO MUCH to all of you who encouraged me and went on this 'adventure' with me :) But most of all praise to the Lord! Who has given me everything, including the strength I needed to finish this.

If God is so good, why does He let bad things happen?

One of the issues I'm dealing with (and trying to answer) in my novel is the age-old question "if God is so good, why does He let bad things happen?" I've read up on this subject, but this video of Voddie Bauchum speaking on the subject is by far the most powerful answer I've come across. When you have five minutes, watch this and be blown away.

Have a great week!

A Few Sweet Things

-“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.” - Anne Lamott. (THIS quote.)


<- this song. (Shout out, Augustine of Hippo!) I've been listening to it all week and I think it's one of the best of the album. Although this is a close second.

- Also, I now have a widget to show my word count on the left at the top of this blog, so I won't be writing it manually on here anymore.

Have a good day!

Writer's Block

Ah! It's inevitable when writing a book. Writer's block. And I have it right now.
That may or may not be the reason why this post is so short.

But un/fortunately I am in the middle of NaNoWriMo, so I have to just keep writing, just keep writing, just keep writing, writing, writing. Through the cliche-ridden prose. Through the choppy dialogue.
Sometime I wonder "What do I even have to write about?" or "Do I really have what it takes to be a writer?" And I don't have an answer to those questions. You know what I found the secret is?: Write anyway.
Somedays the only reason I sit down at my computer and type my story is to achieve my desired word count for the day.
But I write anyway.
Somedays I'd rather do schoolwork than write my novel.
But I write anyway.
It took me a l-o-n-g time to learn this lesson. I've been writing for exactly half my life, and I only learnt this in the last year. So keep going, writers, the beginning is always the hardest.

Word count: 33,557
goal: 50,000
Days left: 22

NaNoWriMo

This is a blog about writers. It is November. I'm pretty sure you knew what was coming.
November is synonymous with NaNoWriMo, and guess what month it is! The month of stress! The month of writing furiously, eyes only kept open with toothpicks and living on either too little food (because you don't want to get up from your notebook), or too much food (because you want to be anywhere but your notebook). Ah, NaNoWriMo.
I found out about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, in case you didn't know) about two years ago, and I fell in love with the idea...but didn't participate because it sounded super scary and stressful. So stressful that I am alliterating here! I wasn't planning on participating this year, but I found myself yesterday- yes! Yesterday! The day before NaNo!- clicking the 'sign up' button.

But here's the thing.

I'm not your average participant. Most participants sign up and start their story on the first day. I started my novel in March of 2010 and I've been working on it, little by little, since then. But what's the harm of joining? I've got a graph to tell me my word count stats, I get to 'meet' a bunch of other writers on the boards, and I get to be apart of a secret internet club. Plus, hey, it's free and I like free stuff.
I have no doubt that this will be super stressful. There is nothing else I'd like to do but drop everything and finish my very first book, but I have to also figure out how to fit a term of school into four weeks, and get ready for a big trip soon. (OK, complaint finished.) Wish me luck!

Word count: 27,261
goal: 50,000
Days left: 29


Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? What was the biggest goal you've ever set for yourself? (In life, not just NaNo)