Today is my day to blog over at sweet'n'sexy divas and I'm talking about how I have a newspaper muse. Now that all the papers and magazines are going under, their muses are out of work, and I think one has found me. Not that I'm unhappy. I love any muse that comes my way.

Stop on by the blog to see why I think that and let me know about your muses.

http://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/2014/11/i-have-newspaper-muse.html

Nanowrimo week 1 is complete and I've done a great job of keeping my word count up. My lowest count day is 1746, which is still above the Nanowrimo daily requirement. Every other day was hit or exceeded my personal goal of 2147. All and all this year has been great. I've got some good progress on some stories I want to get into my publisher soon, and I'm loving it.

Yesterday I pushed myself and managed to hit 20041 words before I crashed. Not a bad word count for 7 days worth of work. My goal is to get half way done by the end of the weekend. Next week is going to be a little harder. My boss will be back, so I'll probably have to work some more (boo!) and I have some personal things going on at the house I have to take care of before my guests arrive, but this great head start only makes those things more possible.

I received the cover for Serving Madame: Monsieur's Turn. This cover, just like the story, features Monsieur more prominently, which in this case is the yummy Jimmy Thomas. Though the girls get their real estate too. 

The story should be available soon, I'll announce it as soon as I know. But until then, we have this prettiness to look at.

We're really starting to get into the heart of Nano now, and my energy is starting to wane. I got my words in yesterday during work, even exceeded my goal of 2174 (The number of words it takes to be done by the day my parents arrive for Thanksgiving) but not much more. I really pounded through the words, and got what I needed, but by the end of the day I was exhausted. I barely wrote anything at home. I watched a little TV, made dinner and fell asleep. 

That's one of the tricky parts of Nano. Its a marathon, not a sprint. And finding the right amount of energy, fortitude and rest. It was really important to me this year that I get a good start, which I haven't always done in the past, because of my commitments. And I've definitely achieved that good start. Now I have to start giving myself a break and letting myself relax and enjoy this process.

In upbeat new, I finished the first draft of Hot-N-Ready. This is a short story that I plan to submit to Romance Divine as part of a free read anthology they are doing. Right now its pretty short, which was the point, but I'm sure when I go to edit the word count will go up a little bit. I believe in free reads, giving people a chance to take a sample before buying the whole cake, and have been successful with them in the past. I'm thrilled that Romance Divine thought of me for this opportunity.

Hot-N-Ready: 3329
Owned Forever: 9526
Total: 12855

Nanowrimo Day 3, otherwise known as my first day back at work, was hard but not as bad as I would have expected. Thankfully my boss is on vacation this week so its an easier transition into working while writing like a crazy person than I've had in previous years. It definitely took me longer to get my words in yesterday than the days before, but I still managed to 3139 for the day. Though I did have to motivate myself with a pumpkin latte treat, that I didn't even get, because by the time I hit 10k it was too late to head out to Starbucks for my yummy treat. But I'll get it shortly, now that its finally cool enough to enjoy. 

On top of that I received edits on Serving Madame: Monsieur's Turn. I am a working writer, and my priority is to publish books and maintain good relations with my publishers, over winning this contest. So edits and emails from my publisher have to take precedence over nano. Thankfully the edits were quick and just grammatical so I was able to get them done and back to the Romance Divine quickly as well as get my words. Making Day 3 overall a very productive day.

Owned Forever: 8449
Hot-N-Ready: 2072
Total: 10521

Day 2 of nanowrimo was almost as good as Day 1, thanks in some part to daylight savings time, which gave me an extra hour to write. I also went to a local write-in held at the Panera down the street. I know these events don't work for everyone, but for me they are great. I got down at least 1500 in an hour and a half. Not bad word count for that time. And I got to eat my favorite yummy black bean soup too. 

All and all I ended up with another 3071 words for the day, bringing my total word count up to 7382. But the real test is coming up. Going back to work. I know I won't be able to get the same kind of words in that I can on a weekend. But I just need to make the most of my time and get in as many as I can.

Owned Forever: 5856
Hot-N-Ready: 1526
Total word count: 7382

Its that time of year again. Nanowrimo! This year I'm really trying to get as many words done as fast as possible, because I'm hosting thanksgiving this year, which means I'll be busy for the end of the month, and unable to breakaway from family to get down some last minute words. Luckily for me, the first day of nano fell on a Saturday, giving me lots of time to get ahead on my word count.

As is my tradition, I stayed up late and started Nanowrimo with a bang. I got down 1760 words before bed that night. I got up the next day and continued to bang them out for the rest of the day. I ended last night with a total word count of 4311.

Hot-N-Ready: 1276
Owned Forever: 3035