Carol Moncado

Admit it.

You added the ‘nananananana’ to that title.

I know I did.

But yes. Friday was my birthday. I had like 150 people say something on Facebook.

Talk about makin’ a girl feel good!

I also read some [but not nearly enough] of my manuscript, especially since I’ve passed my self-imposed deadline [though Becky Wade gave me permission to take the day off ;)].

Had an IEP meeting for the 6yo’s speech. Appt made for the 8yo’s IEP meeting [also speech]. Walmart. Bank. Cleaned up the house some. Took two younger kids to seePlanes. Not as good as CARS, but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than CARS 2. It got back [or closer to] the themes/tone of CARS. Chick-fil-A for dinner with hubs and those two. My sister had taken the older two to see Thor 2. Then home. Read a few more pages and now am trying desperately to stay awake long enough to finish this :D. Kids were up at 615 or earlier…

Sigh.

I did get a few words in but not many. I’m ready for the other MS to be done [byMonday?! Please, Lord!] and get to this one full-time.

NaNoWriMo today: 67
NaNoWriMo total: 4078

And I still have about 4 minutes before I can post this for it to count for Saturday.

Yawn.

Or I could save it and post it from my phone like I did the other day.

Think I like that plan better ;).

There.

I admit it.

I procrastinated a lot at work today.

Like I had 3 hours in which I had nothing that I really needed to do for work except answer 3 quick emails and in those 3 hours, I read about…

20 pages.

Yep.

That’s it.

I want this done. I really do.

But I’m having a really hard time with motivation.

Maybe because nearly every page has notes on it of something to change – a word choice here, a comma there, a dozen more commas in the other place, changing the name of one character that’s the same as the name of a completely different character.

And once I finish marking up the hard copy, I have to put it all on the computer.

Sigh.

But Laurie loved the new opening :D. Always nice to hear!

NaNoWriMo today: 266
NaNoWriMo total: 4011

And yes, I will also admit the only reason there’s any word count today is just so I have some word count. Hopefully, tomorrow will be an improvement :).

Spent way too long searching for pics of my hero.

He may or may not look a lot like Zack Morris. Or how Zack Morris looked a bit later.

Alexander “a few years ago”

And Alexander “now”

Spent waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long looking for those pics. And they still aren’t the ones I really want – especially the very late Saved by the Bell: The College Years or “Wedding in Las Vegas” ones :p.

There’s a reason why what he looked like “then” is relevant, but I won’t get into that now ;).

I subbed again today and got some reading done. Not nearly enough. Am on page 102. Only 250ish to go…

NaNoWriMo today: 62
NaNoWriMo total: 3745

And let’s face it, that’s only because I didn’t want a goose egg…

In the manuscript that is.

This sweet gentleman showed up and swept my heroine off her feet – in the most unromantic but incredible sweet sense. He bowled her over with kindness and grace.

It’s a connection she desperately needed. She’s an orphan whose only remaining family has betrayed her in some of the worst ways imaginable. She has a few friends who are very far away geographically and know little of her “real” life.

She has the hero, of course, but that’s not the same as a grandfather. A Poppo [if a good friend of mine will let me borrow the name – and if she doesn’t, no hard feelings].

I love it when random characters appear and change the course of a novel – for the better.

Today was a work day – and election day so not a ton done. I did “accept” most of the changes to the other manuscript so I could send it to Laurie to “next” her way through the major edits. That feels like a big accomplishment. I also printed it out with two pages on a piece of paper, four front and back. May not seem like much, but I’d never done it before.

I’m subbing again tomorrow [today] as a general aide the same place I was last week. If it’s like last week, I’ll have at least some time where I can read through that manuscript aloud before sending it off into the yonder.

In fact, I’m off to start that now. I’m saving this post on my laptop but will come back to it after midnight on my phone and upload it from there.

Pretty clever, eh? 😉

Today’s count:
NaNoWriMo: 635
Total: 3683

It’ll get there.

Yep. The Mary Poppins post was now “yesterday.”

I have gotten some more done. Not much. Think I have the impetus for her decision now figured out.

As much as I enjoyed subbing for the music teacher today, I think I need a day off Wednesday to finish this other manuscript. I have a couple mostly small notes [a few sentences here and there should fix them but need to figure out WHERE] and then DONE.

So for the rest of today…

Other manuscript: 90747
New since earlier: 0
NaNoWriMo project: 3048
Today: 976

And now bedtime. Because I have to work tomorrow. :p

I’ve been posting around midnight rather than trying to remember during the day and forgetting.

Except I forgot at midnight last nigh… er, this morning ;).

I did get a call about 615 this morning to sub at my kiddos’ school. I was the music teacher. Because I know soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much about music :D.

Seriously, though – I love my kids’ school. I purposely get there super early when I sub there because I *know* it’ll take me 10 minutes [or more!] to get to my classroom. Poked my head in the library and said hello to the librarian. I stopped and talked with the speech teacher and made an appointment to talk about the 6yo and talked about when we’re going to talk about the 8yo. Talked with the reading teacher – mostly about the 6yo [who is quite serious about wanting a “ticket” to her wedding next summer ;)].

Got to the locked classroom. Stuck my stuff with the art sub, went back to the reading teacher [who doesn’t have a master key], then found the nurse who does.

So it was more like 15 minutes.

Breakfast duty [which apparently I didn’t really have – I missed the “first quarter only” note on the schedule] and a big hug from the vice principal as she walked in from drop off line duty. Morning was “prep” time so I did edits on my laptop. I did LOTS of edits yesterday at Panera. I also wrote some on the NaNo project.

This afternoon, I had my favorite 1st grader [yes, I know – not supposed to play favorites – but I gave him half his DNA], kindergarten [the teacher LOVES that 1st grader too ;)], and second grade.

We watched Mary Poppins. Or rather I watched through the penguin dance three times. So now I’m watching it with two of my kids at home :D.

Other manuscript:90736
New: 2244
Official NaNo total: 2072
Today [or rather yesterday/Sunday]: 1657

Look for another post sometime after midnight.

Cleaning, laundry, cranky kids, and in-laws conspired to significantly curtail my writing time.

But the music playing in my house pretty much all day? Rich Mullins, The World As Best As I Remember It, vol. 1 and 2.

The Father of hearts
And the Maker of noses
The Giver of dreams
He’s the One I have chosen
And I will follow Him

The Maker of Noses, The World As Best As I Remember It, Vol. 2

Tonight, I did manage to eek out a bit. I think the “other” manuscript is less than 1K from completion. Plan tomorrow? Hours upon hours at Panera trying to get through the last of the additions [not much] and edits. Then a final read-through this week.

I did whip out a bit of the NaNo project to avoid my zero… 😀

Other manuscript total: 88492
Today: 1152
Official NaNo total: 415
Today: 313

And time for bed… 😀

It’s not the first day Rich Mullins inspired me*. It won’t be the last either.

But today, while IMing with the incomparable Laurie Tomlinson about our mutual love of all things Rich, I told her how some of his lyrics** had been speaking to me on a “fictional” level – that is, about the manuscript I’m trying desperately to finish.

Everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
But I’ve been around enough to know that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons

(Growing Young, The World As Best as I Remember It, Vol. 2)

This! This encapsulates so much about my hero at the beginning of the manuscript. And this does, too:

If I stand, let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through
And if I can’t let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You

(Sometimes by Step, Winds of Heaven… Stuff of Earth)

My hero is a prodigal and when he has no where to turn, he turns back to the One who made him and becomes not just the prodigal, but the returning prodigal.

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me

(Sometimes by Step, The World As Best as I Remember It, Vol. 2)

It’s such a simple concept and at the same time so incredibly profound. To think that when the God of all creation was hanging the stars, He had me in mind while placing one of them in a galaxy far away.

It’s awe-inspiring.

And a key to opening some thought about the eternal and the Creator in my heroine, to laying groundwork for things that happen later on.

My hero is the perfect age to be a Rich Mullins fan. In fact, the CD book thing he left in New York with his Rich Mullins collection in it looks to be a plot point of some significance.

I just hope that I did Rich justice in the scene. As a song writer, a story teller, a worshiper of Christ – he had no equal. Certainly not in me.

I spent too much of my writing time singing along with the Rich CDs recently transferred to my laptop***- and lyric sharing with Laurie. Tomorrow, hopefully, I can finish up the 1000 words or so this other manuscript needs. Maybe a couple hundred words on the new project. And editing all day Sunday so I can hit NaNo hard next week. [Er, and do a final????? read through before sending the other one out.]

Today’s counts:

Other manuscript total: 87340
Today: 1753
Official NaNoWriMo total: 103
Today: 103

Rockin’ ;).

Plus, lots of First Impressions stuff today as the entry phase of the contest wound down. And stray dogs. Had a Corgi for a bit today too :D.

*My retroactive first date with hubby was to a Rich concert. We met him once when we were first in like and he left the venue to go get Subway. Sadly, the shutter on the camera (remember those?!) didn’t open.

**I’ve been listening to loaner CDs of 20 The Countdown Magazine’s Tribute to Rich – you can stream it here.

***Hubs and sis were shooting things on the XBox 360 so earbuds were necessary!

National Novel Writing Month started almost 7 and a half hours ago.

I’ve not written a word.

This is weird. I always start at midnight…

Taking the kids to the dentist and taking my AlphaSmart with me. Debating between starting NaNo and trying to finish the last couple scenes in the other manuscript. Need to do both today. Editing extravaganza on Sunday will [hopefully!] finish up the other manuscript, but need to have that done first…

I’m also trying NaBloPoMo as well. That’s where you put up a new blog post every day. The last two years I’ve made it about three weeks before something happened and I flat forgot. 🙁 I’ll also be updating the word counters later.

So… word counts:

Old manuscript that needs finishing: 85677
NaNoWriMo: 0
Monthly total: 0

At least those last two numbers can only go up.

Seeing how successful her older sister’s “mail order marriage” has been and longing to strike out on her own, Greta Olsen answers an ad for a mail order bride in Central City, Colorado. But when she meets Jess Gifford, owner of a thriving mercantile, she begins to harbor doubts. He didn’t place the ad to begin with and his business in a busy mining town leaves him little time or energy for love. To compound her troubles, she was not the only bride to answer the ad! Will either bride strike the match she hopes for?

 

 

 

This second offering in the Blue Willow Brides series was different from the first. This is not one I HAD to review [somehow I missed the call for influencers] but I did influence for the first one and the third will post tomorrow.

One thing that bugs me [in general] is having two main couples with equal – or nearly equal – page time. I generally feel that I don’t get to know either couple as well as I’d like. That’s the case here.

I enjoyed getting to know both couples but would have loved it if they both had their own books or something. That would be difficult to do given the plot, but… Or just a longer book ;).

One thing that did bug me a bit was that Zach had ordered two brides for his brother with the intention that he would be able to pick the one he liked the most. I get that… sort of. In that you wouldn’t want to run the risk of some evil woman. [There is much hesitance when I say that, by the way.] But, he never thought it through. What was going to happen to the other bride? If he’d ordered them planning all along that he would marry one and his brother the other, that’d be different, but he didn’t. I’m not sure he ever thought about what the other bride would do in a very rural mining town. And he never really apologized either.

It was a fun quick, read and I enjoyed getting to know all four characters. I likely won’t read it again often, but I am glad I read it once :).

Overall rating: 8 out of 10 stars