THE most fun ever

I had that today, the most fun. It was awesome and while I am totally exhausted right this minute I am still buzzing, hours after the last photo was taken.
A couple friends and I 'trashed' my wedding dress. Decked out as though it was my wedding day we took a trip to the beach where I climbed atop a tunnel, crawled through grass, stood beneath a dying tree, climbed a cliff, sat on a throne carved into the stone, went through a cave and went swimming in a river and the ocean itself. I'll post some of the pics as soon as I get them! Very keen to see how they turned out. We had an absolute blast and the level of attention we got was on some levels astonishing! lol I guess it's not every day you see a 'bride' fooling around at the beach. So many people took photos of me, lots of people asked whether I was getting married that day (well, prior to me stepping into the waves.....) plenty of them came down from the cliffs above to get a closer look at what was going on, and many walked past with strange looks on their faces like they wanted to say/ask something but just couldn't get the words out - hilarious. lol I was laughing the whole afternoon, I can't think of a better way to spend a sunday avo than out and about taking bunches of interesting photos! Am really looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

And on another front, my brother just called to say that he got a new job! They are going sharemilking and we're going to rent their house! Freedom from the evil nasty steep driveway, I was having nightmares about being here late in the pregnancy and not being able to get out to a hospital or something, it's not the most child friendly of houses, nor the most pregnancy friendly either, so it will be great to be somewhere thats easier to get in and out of - not entirely sure what Dad will think but thats ok! (seeing as we rent from dad) we'll have to work really hard to get the place looking super tidy and wonderful for the next lot of people who rent here, two months is lots of notice.

What a great day!

hmm

Every day I tell myself - today I'm gonna get my act together, get stuff done, make a dent on the editing, do the housework etc etc.
Every day I fail at getting much done at all. I'm just so tired, and lethargic, and sick feeling. It's terribly hard to get motivated to do even the smallest of things. But I know they have to be done, and I know that I can't be lazy forever, I have to get moving again. Must summon energy.
The lack of caffeine probably isn't helping, but they say you shouldn't drink coffee while you're pregnant and it's not like it's good for me anyways. I'm gonna fall down in other areas, this is one I know I can hold my ground in - if i can just make it through til a time when I have some energy again. Oh please Gods tell me there is a time I'll have some energy again?

And the big news is...

I'm pregnant.

Ta da! Just like that.

So I have known for a couple weeks now, but didn't want to mention it until I thought that everything was okay - initially my Dr. freaked me out by saying that she thought it was abnormal, but its worked out that things are normal and I'm just not as far along in the pregnancy as she thought I was. Which is good. I was stressing out for a good solid week before she called me to say that she thought everything was normal and on track.

And now I am waiting for an ultrasound, it would put all my worries to rest and give us a date to go on. As it is I really have no idea when I got pregnant, but going from my hormone levels at my last blood test I'm around 7 weeks now.

I have been waiting two weeks for an appointment card, and nothing. So I rang this morning and I'm not even on their list/in their system. So I had to call the Dr's and get them to send another request through, which means more waiting - the ultrasound place couldn't even give me a rough estimate to go on for how long I can expect to wait for one. It's all a little frustrating.
I have never been good at patience. Never. Waiting = bad. I just want to know that everything is okay.

On the other side of things we are totally thrilled to be pregnant. It's probably happened while I was on the pill (don't freak out anyone who uses it!! I've managed like ten years without any accidents lol this is the first), and before the wedding, all of which is totally fine by me.
I don't care that people are going to count back and realize that I was knocked up before getting married, I'm having a baby! And that is super cool. I've been waiting for this for years now, and finally, it's happened and so quickly and easily and it's just really wonderful.

I knew it was going to be a big year, and my goodness it really is :-)

OK. I'm IN.

I just got email from the nanowrimo team, about ScriptFrenzy - and I am in. For some reason I thought it was a word count total that you had to get to, but no, it's merely a page total, 100 pages to be more precise. I remember writing my script for my script writing paper and I think it had to be 60 pages, and it took me like 3 days. So I can totally find time to write 100 pages during April, even though I will undoubtedly be juggling editing still during that month.
I've had this idea burning away inside me for years now. YEARS. And the only reason I didn't write it for my class was because I really thought the idea was just going to be too out there to get a good grade - (as it was I wrote about succubi anyways, which is really I guess, not that common either...).

Anyways. I'm making a commitment to sign up and get this script out of my head and onto the page.

I DID my 10K for the fantasy challenge, I'm working on my 50 hours for editing - I will get there, trust me. Yeah I know, I'm only 10.5 hours in and half the month is gone, but I can do this. I refuse to break it down into how many hours a day from here on in I need to do because that will make it seem harder....

Having something else to be excited about the month after this will help me get more stuck in. I don't need to think of a script idea as I have it, I don't need to research formatting because I know that - and in reality you don't actually have a hell of a lot on each page if you're formatting a script the way it should be, nothing like writing 100 pages of novel.

And with that, back to the editing before my first visitor of the day arrives!

sidetrackings

I wisely decided not to get any more books out of the library yesterday. The more I'm reading, the less I am working on my own writing. And while I think reading it important, I've definitely been hiding in books recently instead of writing - I had my reasons, but no more hiding in books.
Secondly, man I just love the Sweeney Todd soundtrack. I mean, I loved the movie and it's so great to be able to listen to the songs. I am such a sucker for musicals - and anything with Johnny Depp.

beginnings

Beginnings are very important, its important to get them right.
And so, moments after sitting down in front of the laptop/novel, with two versions of 'the beginning' in front of me, I begin to question which one is the right one to go with.

Originally the story starts with a death, it gets the story moving quite quickly but then we slip into some back story - which is important, before picking back up where the intro left off.
The new beginning, starts with a wedding, and the first inklings that the MC's sister has married a control freak. After this I am imagining that time will zip forward until the MC moves in with her sister and takes over the business due to her sisters illness, which then leads to the death, and the rest of the story.

I don't know which way to do this. After writing it like that, possibly the second way seems the best, though in reality, the story isn't about the wedding, or the marriage, or the sister who dies so much as it's about the MC and her relationship with her sister, her nephew, and the other mysteries which are not even hinted at in the beginning of the novel (well, in rewrites there will be some hints, just so that the reader is prepared, though it's never come up as an issue for any of the people who have read it so far).

I'm aware that too much back story can sink a story, but then I am also really wary of starting a story in the wrong place. Too early or too late can be killers for a good story.

I want the focus to be on what the story is about, not on the back story - which leads me to the conclusion that I should stick with the original opening, and find ways of incorporating all the relevant, important information into the story without drowning the reader in it. It won't be that hard, I just have to be a little bit clever about how I do it.

And now to figure out how to do that....

Query: For people who have edited novels before, do you break the whole thing up into scenes and/or chapters before you start editing? or do it all in one big document?

P.S: Thank you ten minute blog for clearing that all up for me!

Seriously, where is the month going?

We are almost halfway in - now that freaks me out. How did this happen?
So, every other day I say to myself "yeah, I am going to get WAY into my editing tomorrow" and it never really seems to eventuate. Today, I am though. I have every intention of it. I am full to brimming of good intentions.
In fact, after I post this I am turning on the laptop and writing.
I've been getting bits of editing done here and there, I worked on a short story instead of the novel the other day, which I think helped me get back into the mindset of it. I can do this, I will do this.
What motivates me more is that a friend has had his full manuscript requested - now, he's not getting too excited about this but I am. It shows that people can get this requested, sure I know, it's not been accepted or anything yet, but hey, in a world where you are always being told that you'll never make it, that there is so little hope, when you know someone who has had a full requested it shows that there IS hope. I mean sure, it means that there is one less slot for you to fill.... lol not really, we don't write the same kinds of things anyways ;-)
Ok, off to write/edit. I can do this.