Tuesday, November 1, 2016

I Must Be Crazy (or How I Decided to Do NaNoWriMo)

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That’s right, I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year! It’s my first time ever. I’ve done Camp NaNo for a couple of years, but never this. Whenever I would think of NaNoWriMo, I would always think “There is no way I’m subjecting myself to that. It doesn’t even sound fun.” 50K words is a lot. I love being able to choose your word count for Camp NaNo. It’s flexible. It’s not super daunting. It’s fun. So yeah, two weeks ago, NaNo wasn’t even on my radar. I was planning to get ready for the holidays and work hard on editing Exiles during the cozy indoor fall weather. Oh, silly me. In true author fashion, my plans all jumped out the window laughing hysterically at me. In their place arrived this new story idea, all shiny and exciting and demanding my attention. And not just a story idea, but one way on the opposite end of my comfort zone. You see, this story idea is contemporary romance. Now, the romance part is nothing new for me, obviously. I’m a hopeless romantic, after all. But the contemporary part?!

what

Uh-huh, yeah, contemporary. So I’m like, okay, cool, I’ll just write down these ideas in my future stories notebook so I don’t forget anything. Again, silly me. There go my plans laughing at me once more. Because guess what? There’s this thing called NaNoWriMo, and it would be SO PERFECT to write this story during it! I was a goner by this point. Resistance was futile. I gave in and somehow, despite all the extra life craziness happening this month, I actually committed to writing a whole novel in November. I’m insane! But then, for a writer, insanity can be the absolute best thing. If I manage to do this (is that laughter I hear?), then I’ll have a whole story that didn’t even exist a couple of weeks ago in only a month. Sounds good to me. It’s not like it’s going to significantly delay anything with Ilyon Chronicles, and maybe the change will help with that too.

So basically, all that semi-insane rambling was to introduce my NaNo project (i.e. my current “precious”). And I even have a temporary cover! It’s blue, people! BLUE. And below that, my brief synopsis!

NCM Temp Cover

Alexis “Alex” Jennings has had it with life. After losing her brother in Iraq, everything has collapsed around her. She can’t seem to keep a steady job and is failing to make it in her career as an artist—a career her parents never really understood or supported. Once she had faith to believe that all things would work together for good, but that faith died with her brother. Now she just wants the pain to end.

Riley Conrad served four military tours overseas until three bullets sent him home. After a year and a half of physical therapy, all he wants is to live a normal, simple life, and perhaps even open the coffee shop he has always dreamed about. However, the weight of failing his parents’ expectations doesn’t make it easy, and working as a bartender isn’t getting him anywhere fast.

Could a “chance” meeting between Alex and Riley set them both on the path God always intended?

So there you have it. I've set up a Pinterest board for it that you can check out here if you want to get a feel for the story. As a first time NaNoWriMo-er, I’m pretty excited. It’s going to be a completely new experience on so many levels. So here’s to hoping the excitement carries me through the next 30 days, and good luck to all my fellow adventurers! Oh, and feel free to buddy me if you feel so inclined! ;)

15 comments:

  1. Awww, congratulations! Best of luck!

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  2. This sounds like a lovely story! I adore your character names, and that mock cover is gorgeous! <3

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  3. I LOVE that cover! BLUE! And white!

    And I love that Pinterest board! So much coziness and autumn and mugs and scarves and picturesque landscapes!

    Welcome to NaNo craziness! But be warned... I did it once and was hooked. Can't seem to stop doing it even when life gets much crazier. :)

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  4. Best of luck on NaNo! YOU CAN DO IT! :D Hope your writing goes well! (Story sounds neat too, even though I'm not much of a contemporary-reader! Pwetty cover! ^_^)

    "Resistance was futile." <--That line though. Laughing so hard. XD

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  5. Thst actually sounds like the kind of contempory romance I would read. I usually ignore the genre, but sometimes one catches my eye and I don't mind it for a change.
    I love the cover. You have a real skill with design.

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  6. Thst actually sounds like the kind of contempory romance I would read. I usually ignore the genre, but sometimes one catches my eye and I don't mind it for a change.
    I love the cover. You have a real skill with design.

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  7. This is so cool!! =D The temporary cover is so pretty, and the story sounds great! Love it! :D

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  8. JAYYEEEE this sounds so adorable oh my gosh. I don't read romance often, but sometimes my heart calls for a cute little fluffy read and this sounds amazing. <3

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  9. I love the cover! The best of luck with your writing. This is my first year for NaNoWriMo too...I've done the camps before, and writing 2000 words a day isn't too hard. Except I'm trying to do that for a whole month while keeping up on my other writing projects. *glares at list* I'm still not sure how it will go.

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  10. This sounds awesome!!! Not my usual reading genre ... but since it's you writing it, I DEFINITELY want to give it a shot! (After it's written, of course. ;) )

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  11. Oh my word! No Chance Meeting sounds amazing! And I love the cover artwork! Can't wait to hopefully read it someday! :D

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  12. Whoo! Go brave Jaye! I'll be praying that God gives you ideas and motivation and that whatever He wants to come out of this will happen according to His perfect will for your life! : )

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  13. I am DYING over how beautiful that cover is. DYING. *still can't get over it* XD

    You can do this, Jaye! *highfive* (and I added you as a buddy :D)

    ~ Savannah
    scattered-scribblings.blogspot.com

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  14. I know I'm WAY late to this post, but I just want to say that the cover is delightful. It makes my heart spontaneously burst into smiles.

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