The highly motivated, deliciously sweaty, and full of raw goodness is back. Who? Sven, baby! 70 Days of sweat, founded by the generous Alison Kent, is launching it’s fourth round of writing madness on the 10th of November. It lasts until the 26th of January (two days after my birthday!).
So come on over to the blog and put in your PERSONAL WRITING GOAL.
See you there!
Speedwriting: A positive writing environment where people post their individual word count. A timekeeper will then begin a speedwriting session with a sound effect. The “race” will commence for 15-20 minutes (everyone should be writing at this point, so no traffic at the chat). At the end of that time, the timekeeper will play another sound signaling the end. Everyone will then post their wordcounts again. This is not a race against one another, but a way to keep you writing. You’re racing against yourself. Again, it’s a positive environment. All are welcome.
Everyone’s encouraged, and if you’re stuck in an editing loop, we can bring you back to focusing on writing. There’s a 5-10 minute break where everyone chats and relaxes, or goes and gets another round of caffeinated or decaffeinated beverage. And then the madness starts again.
Realms of Love is sponsoring an online “Write-In” for NaNo participants, every Saturday and Sunday at 7am, 2pm, and 6pm CST. You need a login to get into the chat, but that’s relatively painless. Anyone is welcome! So come on out and get that kick in the pants you need!
It’s release week! Masqued Tails is NOW AVAILABLE at Changeling Press!!!
Official Blurbage:
Trapped!
Magickal null Alaya Bellemore is stuck in a mansion where murder-mystery games become a little too real, midnight encounters with a certain shape-shifting fox becomes the norm, and even the walls and doors are alive.
Shad’s been trapped for far longer than he’d care to remember. When the luscious Alaya walks into his life he finds hope beginning to burn in his heart and soul. And when their passion explodes in an inferno scorching enough to temper their resolve, Shad finds there’s another way to give life to hope.
Can Shad help Alaya escape the clutches of an eclectic collector before she becomes part of his living museum?
For a delicious excerpt, check out the one HERE and the one HERE.
*hugs* I’m super nervous and excited!!
I am a dreamer/enthusiastic and will occasionally bite off more than I can chew. I know this. Which is why I’ve giving you an updated list for the remainder of the year. Instead of the infinite possibilities, I’ll have a very small and controlled list.
So without further ado:
THE LIST
National Novel Writing Month: A cultural phenomenon that unifies over 100,000 people from across the globe in one awe-inspiring goal: write 50,000 words of new content in thirty days. It lasts the 30 days of November so starts in less than one week.
My goal for the year is simple: 75,000 words for my new Dark Urban Fantasy, Blood Harvest. It’s definitely a departure from the norm but it’s been a book I’ve wanted to write for quite some time.
And just so you don’t think I’ve decided to go to the darkside and never return, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have a candy project, a project that I write for fun while my head is stuck on the Blood Harvest work in progress. It involves cowboys, rope, and lots of hot sex. *WEG*
Nano work in progress. The word count begins November 1st! I’ll have a nano calendar to keep track of my progress. How fun!
Now for the fun stuff! Word count update for the Whiskey Straight Challenge! I’ve completed almost 230K so far! I’m at 58% completion and that makes me SO HAPPY!
On the plus side, I finished my suspense novella for the Liquid Silver Books anthology call. Woohoo! I adore their covers. Tomorrow is edit-focused. YAY! Or groan…depends on how badly the ending sucked. At this point I can’t remember.
Hope everyone has a great week! And I’ll be updating on Wednesday for my Wicked Wednesday continuation of Angel’s story! And Thursday I have a delicious release…Kitsune/fox shifter and all around wicked man, Shad. His story releases as Masqued Tails from Changeling Press.
Have a good night all!
October 26, 2008 Word Count:
WOW! I’m moving along.
Blech. It’s cold season (sniffles, headaches, blechs) in the Montgomery household. So I’m busy making character cards for my Nanowrimo book (starts in November! One week away!!!).
I’ve also stumbled into the phenomena that is Google Docs. Let me tell you, this is saving my bacon. I’m putting all my character work there (no more thumb drive among the three computers in my house!). So while I’m working on my manuscript, I’ve got google docs open in the background. All the information is there where I need it and I can check it from any computer (except work) I get on. Beautiful.
So for those who are writing in this year’s nanowrimo challenge (50,000 words written in 30 days), what are you doing to prep? Anything?
If you missed last week’s Wicked Wednesday, you missed the start of Angel’s story, my persona from LAW. Please note that this is just a fun free read and I hope you have a great time with it. All content is © Dawn Montgomery. Enjoy! Let me know what you think in comments.
Part Two of Angel in the Search for the Star Sapphire
“I don’t take orders well.” His arms crossed and she tried not to drool at stretch of material across his chest.
No amount of sexy could make her leave the ladies of LAW, and if he represented anything from her past, that meant someone was going to try. “You don’t take hints well, either, I noticed. Get out of my shop.” She dropped back on the crawler and slid back under the truck.
In a split second an iron grip wrapped around her ankle and pulled her back out. She glared at the now annoyingly smug face of her would-be proposition slinger.
“I’m not sure if I like the way you’re gripping that wrench.”
“Oh? And how would that be?”
“Like you want to hit me with it.”
She kicked his shin and he jumped back in surprise furiously rubbing his shin where she’d connected. The burn on his cheeks told her his pride had been slapped. “I’m not friendly, sweetheart. Take your sexy ass out of here and go play with someone else more your type.”
He dropped to a crouch and took off his glasses. “I don’t need friendly, Angel. I need you.”
Oooh, that got her motor revved just the tiniest bit. If only he’d say that too her in a much more compromising situation, complete with the wicked smile he sported.
“What are we looking for?”
“Accept the terms and then we’ll talk.”
She laughed. This had gone on long enough. “Ramses, initiate intr–”
His arm blurred in speed and she felt a sharp prick of pain in her neck. Her vision darkened almost instantly and she pawed at her throat. A thin metal object fell into her palm and she stared at it without comprehension.
“Yes, Angel?” The cultured voice of her security system echoed in the room. She needed to…to. What did she need to do, again? Her body fell back. She groaned, wondering why it didn’t hurt to fall.
“You’ll feel a little sleepy now.”
In his arms? How? Her thoughts grew cloudy. His eyes were so beautiful. Beautiful.
“I’ll take you to the hotel where you’ll be briefed.” He touched her face and she turned into it.
Pretty eyes. So tired. I’m so sleepy.
“I didn’t want it to be like this.”
Her eyelids felt so heavy. She closed them for just a second…
Okay, so I was bummed today b/c I haven’t “done much” writing since the 12th (my last official PWC Update). I mean, sure there was that 14K rush I did last weekend, but nothing really since then right? Well, I suppose I was wrong. There’s a reason I don’t look at word completion until the end of the week. I’d either get depressed or go into shock. Shock is where I am now.
October 19, 2008 Word Count:
Look at that! I’m really moving! 21,538 since the 12th. Wow.
I am amazed. Maybe I *have* done a bit since the 12th. Again, I had my math checked (not that I’m bad at MATH, mind you, but I do occasionally mess up excel formulas LOL). No doubts. 21.5K in 7 days. No wonder I’m staring off into space and running four hours of shiny web surfing.
Tomorrow I’ll finish edits on my Christmas story and send it back in to Changeling. I’ve got to finish up Winter Break for Aspen and then finish my suspense story.
Let’s see what’s up with some of my favorite haunts around the web:
Mouthwatering Numminess from Cooking by the Seat of My Pants. Can you taste the decadence? I loooove cheesecake. Perfect to keep me going when I forget to eat for 10 hours. *ducks* Is my husband reading this?
Finally! A strawberry lemonade that tastes like my grandmothers! But snatch the recipe quick! The owner has put the website on hiatus. Who knows how long it will be there! Perfect drink for a long night’s work. I save my alcohol mixes for when I’m done with a project.
Nanowrimo (national novel writing month) is almost upon us! In November hundreds of thousands of participants will pound out (hopefully) 50,000 words. A new novel, multiple novellas or getting that big fat THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE checkmark. It doesn’t matter. Sign up, give it a try. 
You never know. Harlequin Romance (who, oddly enough, have many category lines within that 50K limit *WEG*), Romance Divas, Cobblestone Press, Asimov’s Forum, Writing Forums, and many others have groups/forums/etc you can join to share in the madness that is NaNo. Kelley Armstrong is giving a pep talk to encourage writers. Did you know she has her own forum where she’s asking for people to struggle right along with her? Wicked cool.
Even cooler than Nanowrimo? Nanowrimo’s Young Writers Program. From elementery school (different set of parameters here people) to high school if the kiddo has aspirations to write, this is the place. With daily writing challenges and really awesome workbooks to help them get motivated, it’s definitely a great thing to keep them going through the blah month of November.
Besides, I can think of no better pastime than pounding out word over agonizing word with your kid, nephew, niece, cousin, etc. It definitely gives you that sense of familial accomplishment so rare in angsty teenage years. Since no one underage should be checking out my blog, please pass the Young Writers Program link on to them.
Tokyo Pop, Youngwriters.net and many others have forums dedicated to all those attempting it this year! Check with their school…some are actively (YAY) encouraging it! Also, if you’re an educator interested in getting your students involved there are a lot of active forums discussing it, like Realms of Fantasy. http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/
Want to know what I’m up to? Come find me on twitter.
Crafty stuff to do from around the net. Since this is completely off topic, you’ll have click more to get to the rest. For those not interested, feel free to skip. (more…)
As some of you know I’m on Twitter. A mini blogging tool that lets you drop messages on the fly from your mobile device anywhere/anytime. And at 140 characters or less, you can get some pretty cool messages out there. There are a few things you should understand, though. If you haven’t delved into the magic that is Twitter, please disregard the next paragraph.
Twitter isn’t a private messaging service. Any of your messages (outside of direct messaging) can be read by complete strangers whether you have your messaging acct locked or not. Also, if I follow two people and they @ talk to each other, I can see what they say to one another.
There have been quite a few LOL moments lately b/c of it. Just pay attention to what you’re saying and try not to write yourself into a twitter corner LOL.
*note from hubby: damn there goes my chance to talk to your friends about presents for Christmas*