So instead, I am starting another novel. I figured, hey, it’s only the 12th, and I’d already written 60k. Even if I don’t finish the second one (enter competitiveness again – I MUST FINISH IT), I have already written a novel in a week and a half. I still have over half the month left. And as is always said during NaNo, even if you don’t finish, anything you write is something you didn’t have written before. And that’s nothing to sneeze at.

And so, novel #2 begins. Untitled as yet, and a sequel to something I already wrote (not this year’s NaNo novel #1), but I’m now at 65k total for the month. It was agreed during a write-in I attended tonight that I ought to just continue counting words from where I was rather than starting a second account on the website or whatever. So my word count now includes both novels.

I was feeling kind of deflated, having finished so early, but now I’m kind of jazzed. New challenge! Two novels! Vastly different styles! Hahahaha! So now I can do all new dares, and use the Traveling Shovel of Death, and push myself to another 50k! Boo-rah!

<insert evil scientist laugh>

I think NaNoWriMo is stealing my sanity instead of my soul. Possibly both. But it’s so much fun. And I already have an idea for next year’s plot. Woohoo!

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley

That’s not a lot of time. It equals out to 1667 words a day though, and honestly, that’s not much. It’s not even a chapter. It’s barely a scene. So in bite-size chunks, it’s doable. You just have to buckle down, is the key. And beat your muse into shape. I did it before, so I’m not too worried. This year, I’m not in school, I don’t have any dance performances scheduled for November but do have to prepare for a workshop I’m teaching on Dec 4th, my kids are 6 and thus in school from 8am-2pm, and That Man will only be home part of the month. Basically, if I can get my ass in gear and write every weekday for at least 2000 words while the monkeys are in school, I think I can make it. This is me being confident.

Seriously though, I don’t do well with failure. I like to win things. I NEED to be the top, the best. So while there is not really any actual pressure to complete NaNoWriMo (nothing happens if you lose except that… you lose), I put huge pressure on myself. I must finish it. It’s a sickness, I realize this.

So I now have between November 1st and November 30th to write a new novel. I know what I’m going to write. Vaguely. Now I need to do some planning. In 2008 I had a very definite outline, chapter-by-chapter, and I’m not sure how much it helped. I think I might try doing a more winging-it style this year and just have events I want to happen and string them together as necessary. I don’t know. I have 9 days (well, 8 really, since it’s already 9:30 at night) to decide if I want to make an outline. And pick character names. And some sort of plot points. I had this idea a few months ago for a Regency romance novel – as is well documented by my reading habits, I love them – and I will be writing that. But I never fleshed out the idea fully.

I suppose that’s what the rest of October is for. And inventing dukes, marquesses, earls, and viscounts. Whee!

Hey, don’t call me next month. I’ll be busy.

I took a lot of pictures. Here are the ones that don’t involve other people’s face who may not want to be posted on my tiny unknown blog. Some are of Infinitus, some of the park and other Universal environs, some of our hotel (the Portofino Bay, which was totally ricockulously awesome).

I read fast. And I read a lot. I’ve now read every book in my capacious library (and half the public library) at least twice. Some quite a bit more than twice *cough*Discworld*cough*. And I need some new books.

I don’t like heavy literary crap. I don’t want to read about someone else’s depressing life wherein their child was born handicapped/parent died/they were widowed young or other assorted tragedies. That’s nice if you like that stuff, but I want humor. I like humor. If it’s served with a side of Regency romance involving various invented aristocratic titles, even better.

I’ve been poking around on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for some new authors. I think I’m going to have to branch out from Regency for a while. I did read a pair of books in Florida the other weekend that were quite cute, although not on par with my favorite Regency authors (Julia Quinn and Loretta Chase, I’m looking at you): “Just Perfect” and “Too Perfect” by Julia Ortolan, which I picked up in the library’s book trade area. The skiing one was definitely superior to the exotic-beach-island one.

I favor romance and lighter fantasy or mystery – the longer the series, the better. I’ve got every Amelia Peabody book in existence along with every Discworld book. Also everything Julia Quinn’s ever written, quite a bit of MaryJanice Davidson, all of Amanda Quick’s early stuff (I stopped liking her new stuff around 1997, but her books up to that point were excellent. “Ravished” continues to be one of my all-time favorites), quite a lot of Julie Garwood (another author who went downhill in the late 90s) and Loretta Chase.

There are two new additions to series I already have been reading which I need to pick up somehow – waiting for paperback to buy them, I think, but I might have to try to get them from the library to read straightaway – the latest in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs (of which I own all previous books and spinoffs) and #16 in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.

Maybe those two will keep me busy for a few days. Maybe even a week if I stretch it out. I really need a few new authors, though.

"The Gronckle Book"

Page 1

Page 2

And here is the text:

Fishlegs was having fun with the Gronckle on Dragon Island. The Gronckle was not having fun. He wanted to bonk Fishlegs in the head.

So he flew and flew and flew, and knocked Fishlegs’ helmet off. And then he bonked him in the head.

The End.

(Fishlegs is one of the Viking teens in HTTYD.) We have seen this movie three times now, and it hasn’t even come to DVD yet, and they have several of the books and all the McDonald’s dragons (thanks to my mother, I didn’t even have to buy two dozen HappyMeals to get them: she found a McD’s that had all the dragons, bought up the 8 or so the boys were missing – times two, of course, one of each for each of them – and mailed them to us. The boys were ecstatic, and the dragons remain their favorite and most-played-with toys), so it isn’t surprising he should be writing about them.

I’m very proud of him, of course, and That Man and I are pretty delighted parents that Twin B wrote this little story. He’s very creative. The illustrations show he clearly had this story in mind when he was drawing it – he was very definite about the order the pages went in before I stapled them together into a “book”, and – in typical writer fashion – he had a few pages that didn’t make the cut. At first I thought he was just drawing a half dozen pictures of Gronckles, but there really is a story there. You can see Fishlegs has his horned Viking helmet on in the first scene, and his hair is showing in the second as the Gronckle knocks him in the head with its stubby tail.

Eloisa James, “Duchess By Night” (Book 3 in the Desperate Duchesses series) – More of a stand-alone book than the first two DD, but not as good as book 2. You can comfortably skip this book if you’re just wanting to keep up with what’s happening with Villiers, Jemma, and Beaumont (there’s very little Jemma, and Villiers is still convalescing from his infected arm post-duel in Book 1, so he doesn’t do much). It was all right, but it didn’t particularly impress me.

Eloisa James, “When The Duke Returns” (Book 4 of Desperate Duchesses) – Much better than book 3. Quite delightful, really. There’s a bit more of Jemma and Beaumont in this one, as well, and Villiers, which I enjoyed. But the main story was excellent. Very fascinating characters, and very steamy. Well worth the read.

Eloisa James, “This Duchess of Mine” (Book 5) – Very sweet and poignant. Finally Jemma and Beaumont get to be really in love. It was satisfying to read after going through the rest of the series, seeing them spar and dance about their relationship. They’re a mess, but it’s a sweet mess. Quite a bit of Villiers in this one as well. I have book 6 next, when he finally gets his own duchess.

Eloisa James, “A Duke of Her Own” (Book 6) – Cute, funny, sexy, and sweet. Well worth reading. A vast improvement over books 3 and 4 in this series. Finally Villiers falls in love! And it was very satisfying to read. I really love his character. Nice to finally get a reveal, full circle, from the first book too, with the identity of the Earl of Gyffyn’s baby mama.

Elizabeth Boyle, “This Rake of Mine” – Not very good. Reads verrrry quickly though, I had this one done in a couple of hours. Not much to it, really. I was underwhelmed. Skip this one.

Elizabeth Peters, “A River in the Sky” – This is the latest in the Amelia Peabody series, which I have loved for a long time now, since I read the fifth in the series while I was in Jordan. Some previous member of the American Expedition to Petra had left it in a trunk of books, and I fell immediately in love with the series. This latest book, however, isn’t as entrancing as her earlier ones. The plot seemed less coherent, somehow. If you’re a fan of the series, it’s well worth reading, but try to get it from the library instead of paying the hardback price.

Elizabeth Boyle, “Confessions of a Little Black Dress” – Not very good. Skip this one, or get it from the library. Characterizations didn’t gel, plot was ridiculous at best, the romance lukewarm. I read it on the recommendation of a reading list, and was quite underwhelmed. I’m going to give Ms. Boyle one more chance, as I picked up “This Rake of Mine” at the library today, but I doubt I’ll be adding her to my Love This Author list.

Loretta Chase, “Miss Wonderful” – All right. Library or used bookshop, not a pay-full-price kind of a book. The hero is quite interesting – his history of Episodes of Stupidity was very funny – and the heroine is refreshingly my age (rare in a Regency!), and while it was interesting and relatively absorbing, it didn’t sparkle the way Loretta Chases’s “Lord of Scoundrels” did. Since I loved that book so much, I picked up “Lord Perfect” from the library today to give Ms. Chase’s backlist a further whirl.

Eloisa James, “Desperate Duchesses” – Moderately interesting. Get from the library or a used bookshop, not worth full price. Definitely read it, though, as it sets up a series that looks to be quite good. Heroine is boring, though cute, but the hero is quite interesting, and the side characters even more so. I think I want to be the Duchess of Beaumont when I grow up. She sets up as a centerpiece for a party: a naked woman, painted gold with pearls glued on, and a full peacock’s tail. Now that is just awesome.

Eloisa James, “An Affair Before Christmas” – Book 2 in the Desperate Duchesses series, and very good. Get this one any which way you can. Steamy and romantic, really enjoyed this one. It continues the side character stories from the first book, and I am on the hunt for book 3 in the series. Picked up books 4 and 5 from the library today and will be reading them this week, after I find book 3.

Eloisa James, while not on par with Julia Quinn, is definitely on my list now for reading more of her work. I want to finish the Desperate Duchesses series. I normally stick with Regency-era novels most of the time, but these are in the slightly earlier, much raunchier, and less-written-about Georgian era, and are well-researched to the time period but not overwhelmingly “period” feeling in the dialogue and settings (sometimes too much of a good thing – historical accuracy – makes a romance novel fall flat).

Sadly, there was another one on my list that I read on Thursday, but it was so forgettable that after trading it back in to Zeno’s (the local used book store) on Friday, I can no longer remember the title or author. Clearly, it wasn’t worth sharing.