A Stickler for Detail ( #IWSG )

Have you ever read a story where the author has made some glaring errors that made you lose all credibility in the story being told?  I don't want to be that author...




The Insecure Writer's Support Group

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 

The co-hosts for the November 6 posting of the IWSG are Sadira Stone, Patricia Josephine, Lisa Buie-Collard, Erika Beebe, and C. Lee McKenzie!

November 6 question - What's the strangest thing you've ever googled in researching a story?

 It's All in the Details

        

         As I had mentioned in my previous post (which is a Battle of the Bands post if you'd be so kind to visit and vote), my last successful attempt at doing NaNoWriMo was in 2010 when I wrote a science fiction novel called Time Light.  Even though the story is science fiction, it takes place in 1965 Chicago.  Written in diary entry form, I was dealing with actual dates and places in history so it was important (to me at least) to be as accurate as I could in every way.

         In order to achieve accuracy, I spent hours on Google looking up places, police procedures and equipment, the daily weather conditions, transportation routes (bus and rail, etc), and even what was playing on television on certain specific days.  Anything that begged for a detail in the story that could potentially (though probably not likely) be questioned by a reader in the know was meticulously researched so that any reader could accept what I was saying as possibly real.  

         A reader like I often tend to be needs to be convinced that the story one is investing in has a reasonable degree of credibility.   A single glaring error or inconsistency might put into question other elements of the written work which can detract from reading pleasure.

          Though it would be unlikely that many (if any at all) would question the daily weather in a story that has real dates and times, my researching of the weather conditions was one my stranger Google searches.  Fortunately, I found numerous resources available on line with weather records dating back to further than my interests necessitated in this case.  The weather for the  year 1965 is well documented in numerous sites.

          I realize that this sort of detail might seem rather trivial and nonessential to many, but for me it was important.  As I was conceiving the story I was also living it in my mind so that every detail had to make me feel like I was there.  If it worked for me then hopefully it would work even for the most discerning reader.

           Frequently I've heard writers mention that researching can be fun and I would agree with that.  I love the researching part more than the writing part.  To me, the researching is an essential part of any writing especially when the writer doesn't actually know all the real details or facts.

           What is the strangest thing you've ever googled for a story or some other written work?  Do you strive for the greatest amount of accuracy when you start delving into details?    Why should anyone care about what the weather was in the time period where a story takes place?

Don't forget to vote on my Battle of the Bands!   (click the link to get there)

Sparkfest! Part 2

        Today I am continuing with the Sparkfest which is hosted by The Writer Coaster.

Sparkfest

What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?


        I'm sad to say that the progress on my current Work in Progress has been put into very slow motion, but it is still active unlike some of my works that are on the shelf accumulating dust.  My NaNo novel from 2010, Time Light, is something that I continue to work on and think about.  In other words it's not dead.  My preparation and wrap-up activities for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge have taken a great deal of my time in the first half of this year and catching up from that, keeping my blog current, and just dealing with daily life provide plenty to veer me off course.  It's really a poor excuse, but I'm sticking with it.


       It would be difficult to pinpoint the spark of inspiration for Time Light.   The style is an amalgam of the styles of modern writers that I have read over the years.  I'd like to think that it is my own style, but it is similar to many modern writers.   For what it's worth (and I don't think much) according the web site I Write Like, my style is like Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club.  I won't complain about that comparison, although I've never read anything by Palahniuk so I couldn't say for sure and that being the case I certainly can't cite him as being any influence or inspiration to my writing.  My writing is my style and I'll take credit or accept blame for it.


      One could probably find quirks in the writing that might one day identify the style as my own.  I hope that will eventually be the case.   I'll have to consider this question of inspiration more as I continue to finish my novel and then as I revise my manuscript. Maybe that spark will come to me and then again, maybe it won't.


        Do you like to be compared to other established authors?   Would you want your writing to be mistaken for that of a well known author?   Have you run your writing sample through I Write Like?   Who did you write like?


      


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How Was 2010 For You?

           As my 2010 began I was getting the last of my first 100 followers.  I had set the goal in October of 2009 to get 100 by the end of the year.  Oh well, I was a few days late, but that was okay in my book  After a little over three months of blogging I was starting to grasp an inkling of how it all worked.

          After I got the 100, I set my next goal for 200 by April 1.  Blogging daily, I had gotten settled into a writing routine.  The followers came on a regular basis now that I knew more about how it all worked.   My second goal came before the April 1 projection.  That's when I tossed out to the readers the concept of the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge.

         This was my celebration and I wanted others to join with me.  And, by golly, they did.  The Blogging From A to Z Challenge was a success.  I made a lot of new blogging friends and picked up another 100 followers during the month of April.  This was the highlight of the year for Tossing It Out.

             Blogging was becoming old hat for me now.  I was churning out posts and making my daily deadline.  I was also starting to look forward to my first blog anniversary in September.

               When the one year of daily blogging date came I soon cut back to a three day schedule.  This works better for me and each post gets more readers than the daily posts did.  Of course, it still seems like there's never enough time to get  everything done.

               Once again I participated in NaNo and completed that challenge without a hitch.   This novel should actually see completion very soon.  Then it will be on to editing and rewriting and so on.

              On the non-blogging level I'm getting by fine.  My health remains good, but my job outlook is still bleak for now.  I've been enjoying my first granddaughter as she passes her second birthday and is not a terrible two child by any means.   My daughter who was getting married last December has delivered me a second beautiful granddaughter less than two weeks ago.  Life is simply grand.

               This year I will try to get something to happen to my first completed novel Time Light.  I also want to wrap up my father's project The Autobiography of a Nobody and my 2009 NaNo novel A Desert Place--I am a year behind on both of these.

                Is anyone up for another April Blogging From A to Z Challenge?

                How was your year?   What were the highlights?   What do you plan for 2011?


     Happy New Year!   

Do You Think Creative Visualization Works?

              Recently, as I was working on my novel for NaNo, I began to take special note of how much I was visualizing the story in my mind. This is not a new approach for me by any means--it's my normal modus operandi.  However, I started paying closer attention to the process of visualization as it applies to writing.  I discussed this in my blog entry for yesterday.

              Then, this past weekend as I was working on finishing my novel Time Light, I began visualizing the novel having already been published and achieving success.  I could see myself at hugely attended book signings and author events.  And there was my book in the top ten of the New York Times bestseller list.  It was all there vividly in my imagination.  What if I were to apply the principles of creative visualization?  Would it all happen as I saw it in my mind?

               To clarify what creative visualization is, let me summarize it for those of you who may not be familiar with it.   Creative visualization is a discipline which involves seeing in your mind's eye that which you want to attain in your life.  The visualizer focuses on the goal, imagines every detail about what it would be like to attain that goal, and meditates or even prays about attaining the goal until eventually the efforts of the mind make it happen.  This type of visualization is often associated with spiritual or mystical powers that help bring the attainment of the goal to fruition.  This is the dime store version of creative visualization as I understand it.  It is undoubtedly more complex than that but this gives us a place to start.

               Creative visualization is a vital component to several religions, New Age movements, and prosperity success programs.  Many self-help books promote this technique to help achieve goals.  It is a practice that does make sense to me, but not in any spiritual or mystical sense.  If goals are achieved I think it is more attributed to the logical outcome of applying the creative visualization techniques rather than the intercession by some higher power. 

               This discipline of visualization is something that is more related to putting us "in the zone" rather than some higher realm controlling our destiny.  In other words, I see creative discipline as more of a mental rehearsal of something you want to do or a detailed internalized examination of where you want to be. 

            A good example was pointed out yesterday in a comment by Talli Roland.  She related how an athlete will use creative visualization to "practice" a skill without physically doing it.   The athlete will imagine whatever skill they are interested in perfecting, analyzing it and repeating it in their mind so that when they actually physically perform the act there should be a mental sense that improves the physical act.  The visualization in this case is totally functional and for the most part irrelated to anything of a spiritual nature.

          This example can likewise apply to getting a job or promotion, finding a romantic partner, or acquiring something that one wants.  A salesperson may mentally practice a sales pitch before meeting with a customer, imagining what barriers may be encountered and picturing closing the sale.  You may begin a process of visualizing finding a romantic partner and meditating and fixating on this until it happens--but it is highly unlikely that anything will happen unless you take action.   The visualization exercise does not cause the success, it merely prods the dreamer and facilitates the potential of success.

           The way I see it is that you can creatively visualize with the greatest intensity that you can muster, and nothing is likely to ever happen until you actually step forward and start taking action.  The visualization is a first step towards action, which may or may not lead to success.  Creative visualization is not a magic spell.

Do you think that creative visualization works?

             Do you ever consciously use creative visualization to attain goals?   Do you believe that creative visualization is connected to an element of spirituality or mystical power?    Have you visualized your success as an author (or whatever your field of interest is) and what have you seen?


           Stop by tomorrow when I will have a special post with a scheduled stop on Tamara Hart Heiner's book tour appearing on Tossing It Out.


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Now It Is Official // Teaser Tuesday

            Now it is official--at 53,237 words Time Light is a NaNo winner.  The basic story is nearly done and should be finished by the end of this week.  There will be a process of editing and fleshing out certain portions and then I'll be ready to take the next steps.  I guess I'd better research my options.  I'm open to suggestions.

            Today in honor of my win, I'm going to do my NaNo twist to Teaser Tuesdays, which is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. I'll be offering a longer teaser than the meme calls for, but it's my party and I'll contrive if I want to.

            On the NaNo site there is a portion under my profile that tells about my novel .  One part of this section has a space to include an excerpt of the novel, which I am including in my post today.  However, before getting to the excerpt let me give you an idea of what has happened so far.

             John Proffitt has been out of work for about a year.  He has exhausted his resources and lost his car and his home.  To complicate matters, John has no precise memory of anything about his life.  His wife is on the verge of giving up on the marriage and leaving her husband. 

          When the story opens, John and his wife have been living in an old empty apartment building for a few weeks.   From the very first night, John has been wakened by shaking and sounds in his building and a light beam which shoots into space from the abandoned building across the street from where he lives.  While his wife is at work, he begins investigating these mysterious events and eventually becomes convinced that the abandoned building is a staging area for an impending alien invasion.

             In the following excerpt, after John has met Edward, a man in his neighborhood, who takes interest in the story and joins John in his investigations, the two of them finally find a way into the abandoned building through a tunnel leading from the apartment building.

              

Excerpt: Time Light

           They climbed the stairway. At the top, John very slowly cracked the door open. There was dim light from the sunlight filtering through the shuttered windows. His eyes scoured the surrounding area as he opened the door ever wider. Soon he was completely inside the first floor. He turned off his flashlight since he could see without it here. In the dim light he could see that there were a few closed darkened offices, but most of this floor was a wide open room. He could clearly see the metal wheels at each corner of the room. They all appeared to be identical to the ones they had seen in the basement. Their careful steps seemed to intrude upon a spectral stillness which hung over this place.


          Continuing on, they ascended the stairway to the next floor. Reaching the top of the stairs they were both awestruck by what they saw. The room was cavernous. The height extended to the roof of the building. Instead of the silver wheels they had seen in the other parts of the building, here there were towering pillars made of the same metal. The base of the pillars was like the wheels, but the cylinders that rose from them went to the ceiling. What appeared to be a retractable dome was in the center of the ceiling. Sunlight filtered through the boarded windows, but there was another more indefinite light that subtly filled the space amidst the four pillars. Something that looked like illuminated dust particles moved slowly in suspension in the center space of the vast room.


           When Edward seemed to start heading toward the center of the room John held his arm out to block his way. “We need to leave,” John felt an undefined sense of fear sweep over his entire body and a chill came over him.


           Edward pushed against John’s extended arm, but John persisted in keeping his friend from advancing any further. “Let’s get out of here now and go back,” then as an afterthought, “Please!”


           They turned away and departed with stealthy haste. John no longer felt a curiosity to look around any further. He only wanted to be gone. Edward acquiesced to John’s urgency, but tried to take in everything he could see as they made their escape. Once out of the apartment basement and in the lobby, John leaned against a wall and took slow even breaths. He realized that he was sweating and shaking from whatever he had experienced from what he had seen.



           So there's a little taste of Time Light.  I hope it makes you curious to read more.  Let me know if you have any thoughts about this excerpt or anything else in life.
 

It's Not Official, But I Won

51,468 Words!

           As of Sunday night November 28, 2010 I have passed the 50,000 word mark, but I have not officially registered as a "winner" yet.  I will do this today (Monday).  I've got a little further to go--a few more scenes to write--before the story is complete.  Then I may have to flesh out the story to give it greater length and substance.  However all in all I'm pretty pleased with my results.

           So besides the start of a novel which I feel pretty good about at this point, what have I gotten out of NaNo this year?  Here are a few things:

1.  A handful (hopefully not too many) of NaNo related posts that are mostly self-indulgent and probably of little interest to most readers who are not participating in NaNo.   Hey!  I'm not the only one that did this!

2. As I write this my e-mails are up to nearly 700.  I did so well cleaning this all up a while back.  Now I see in part how this accumulation came into being last year.  Thanks NaNo!  Oh well, now with my new system and some focused email decluttering I should have this remedied by the end of the week.

3.  I'm way behind in keeping up with a lot of blogs.  Let's face it--with all of the blogs that I try to follow I was behind before I even started NaNo.  If I haven't visited yours in a while please give me an electronic slap on the back of the head and tell me to come over to see you.   Sorry!  And NaNo didn't help this situation at all.

4.  Reading--I'm behind on my reading.   I've got some good books waiting to be read.  And what have I been doing?  Writing--okay that's not too bad, but I'd still like to read some.

5. Neglecting my personal life-- Finally, I can take a shower after one month---Just kidding!  Seriously though, I've got some mail to go through and other personal things that need to be done.  I've been paying my bills on time, but I think there are some other things that I need to do. I think, but I don't remember.  Who am I?  Where am I?   Why are all of these agents and publishers calling me about my new novel, Time Light?  Okay maybe not the last part yet, but the rest is true.

         Anyway, that's my post for today--felt obligated to hack out something.  

         What has NaNo given you?   What have you been neglecting?   What's your favorite movie?  Did you eat all of your Thanksgiving leftovers?  Have you ever carried moonbeams home in a jar?  Are you afraid of clowns?  Do you like it when someone asks you a bunch of random questions?

A Bit of Muse Amusement: Finding Inspiration

              Anyone who is participating in NaNo undoubtedly is well underway in their project and knows what they are writing about.  It may have been a rough start for some, but somehow a fire got lit and now they're going like a house ablaze--at least one would hope.   However others just never got started, perhaps with that age old complaint of not being able to find their muse.

             I've always found the term of "finding my muse" to be a bit silly.  Perhaps because of its origins in ancient Greece where the muses were essentially goddesses who delivered inspirations for ideas to those in the creative arts.  I suppose it's a bit poetic, but in practical terms it's utter nonsense.  Any writer who sits around waiting for special delivery of an inspiring idea to come via a muse needs to cruise to another profession in my opinion.  Writing should come from within you so it does require some effort on your part.

             Now, I'm not going to get into any scientific or philosophical theories about where inspiration comes from--books have been written about this topic and I'm just going to do a short blog post.  These are just my thoughts.  I want to tell you how I find inspiration to come up with topics to write about, then maybe you can tell us how you get inspired with writing ideas.  I will be using my current NaNo project, Time Light, as my example.

            The Genre:      Before you come up with a story it helps to know what general genre you plan to approach.  In my case I decided beforehand that I was going to write a science fiction novel.  Since my favorite sub-genre is time and interdimensional travel I decided to concentrate on something related to that.  This sense of focus allowed me to start visualizing mental pictures and scenarios related to these concepts.  I like old buildings.  I decided that I wanted my story to revolve around a setting of an old building.  Once all of these elements were in place I let my imagination run with them.

           The Spark:     My usual modus operandi in coming up with an idea, or at least setting my course, has been to draw upon news stories, anecdotes someone has told me, something I've observed, or a quote. For my two NaNo submissions I have used Bible quotes to get the story started.  In the case of Time Light, I used a verse that I heard in the sermon at the church I attend the day before I was to begin my project.  That quote came from John 1:1-18 and most specifically the verse that says, "He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light".  The "he" in this verse is John the Baptist--my main character became John Proffitt, who witnesses the light coming out of an old building.  The light that he sees is what I decided to call the "Time Light".  I now had a main character and a title.  The story began to flow freely from there.

         The Kindling:     Just as any fire needs kindling in order to get started, a story needs to have details thrown in to get it going.   For Time Light I started with my setting.  The way my vision was shaping I wanted a city.  I had lived in the Chicago area in the mid sixties so I decided to use this as the time and place for the story.  I studied the Illinois and Chicago maps in my road atlas and started researching mid-sixties Chicago on the internet.  From there I just started making connections and drawing up additional ideas from what I was reading.   The Chicago of 1965 was starting to take shape in my mind and on the page.   The daily activities of my main character and the people he meets started to flow easily.

          The Fire:     Once the kindling has been set ablaze with the spark, the fire has to be fed and be kept under control.  As I have been writing Time Light, I have seen how this story can go in many directions.  It could be the start of a series of novels.   Right now my focus has been on John Proffitt in 1965 Chicago having witnessed a light from an old building and his mission to find out what it means and do something about it.  I am staying centered on this story, with an awareness that other stories could follow.  I have to be sure I don't get sidetracked and allow my story's fire to get out of control.

             Since I like to write with music, I like to choose something that will help fuel the fire and keep me in a proper writing mood.  My preference is classical music because I find it to be less distracting and it's almost like a movie soundtrack at times.   While writing Time Light I have been going through the cycle of the nine symphonies of Anton Bruckner.  This music is intense and majestic, yet unobtrusive.  I will listen to one symphony several times throughout the writing day and continue on with the next symphony the following day.   Music varies with us all, and classical works best for me.

              I have not done a formal outline for my story.  The general idea has been in my head from the beginning.  At the outset I wrote the opening and the closing of the novel so I would have a pretty good idea of where I was going with the story.  Then I began writing chronologically in order to maintain control of the story.  The more that wrote, the faster the story began coming so that I've had to list the main points of the novel within the body of the document.  As I come to each point I expand that part of the story.  In essence, the story is done, I just have to finish writing the rest of it.  I believe my story's fire is under control.

             A Final Thought:    Lest anyone have a misconception about Time Light, it is not a Christian novel in the sense of the type of book that would be classified as Christian literature.  It has been inspired by a verse out of the Bible but other than that a reader who was not aware of my explanation would probably not relate the novel to the Bible.  However, because of the author's beliefs the story espouses Christian values.  And so far I've kept the language clean.

            So this is the way I'm doing things.   How about you--what works and what doesn't?   Do you try any of the methods I use or do you have a different approach?   Are there any Bruckner fans out there?

A NaNo Update

22,053 Words!

        I'm right about where I need to be on the suggested word count, but not where I'd like to be.  Actually I'd rather be at 50,000 words right now so I could just be ladling on the gravy.  If I keep my pace, or kick it up like I'd like to, I will complete the 30 day goal of 50,000 words fairly easy--well, perhaps not easy, but it should be doable.

        Since I began my novel, Time Light, something has taken place which pleases me.  I really like this story.  At first, it was okay--just so-so for NaNo.  Now it's my baby and I'm starting to fall in love with it.  As I get to know my characters better, I grow fonder of them and am excited to see where they end up.  The story is filling out and I'm excited by it.  I can very easily see this as turning into a series of three or more novels, as I can see many more stories branching off from this one.

        On a previous post I presented a possible blurb for the novel.  Here it is again:

                                         Time Light

John Proffitt is losing it. First he lost his job, then his house, and now his marriage is in jeopardy. Could he be losing his mind too? Increasingly obsessed with the suspicious activities in the abandoned building across the street from his apartment, he tries to unravel the mysteries of the sounds and lights that come from the building and the men he sees leaving each night. Are they visitors from another planet or something else? In his investigations he uncovers not only the identities of the strangers, but also the secrets within himself.

            Here is more of a synopsis of the story:

          

The story starts in April of 1965 in the city of Chicago.  John Proffitt is awakened in the middle of the night by a deep noise accompanied by a steady vibration.  He investigates to find a brilliant beam of light emanating from an abandoned building across the street from the apartment where he and his wife are living.  A short while later he sees people leaving the building he thought to be abandoned.  He grows increasingly troubled as he begins to witness this same event on a nightly basis.  He sets out to figure out what is going on.

           As he starts examining this mystery he comes to the realization that he has no memories of anything in his past.  He has not been working for over a year.  His wife, Della, has been the one bringing home the paychecks and they are barely getting by on the money she makes.  She is becoming fed up with the situation and divorce seems on the horizon

            John discovers that he had been the head of a technological company when his memory loss came about.  After he has to stop working, he and Della lose their house and are forced to move.   Eventually, with the help of Della, his psychiatrist, and an associate from his company John begins piecing together his past.

           However, the peculiar events that he sees happening at night threaten his return to mental health.  He must prove that what he is seeing is real and find out why these events are occurring.  His investigations begin uncovering odd and disparate connections that he must make sense of in order to unravel the mysteries of the street of empty buildings where they live, the management company that owns these buildings, and the questionable operations of the company where he had worked.

           Having come to a realization that the abandoned building is being used as a port of entry for alien invaders he struggles to find people whom he can trust and who will believe his story.  He risks his life to get the evidence he needs to convince the authorities so they can stop the invasion.   But is it all really as it seems?

           In Time Light John Proffitt is confronted by the racial conflict of the mid-sixties river town of Cairo, Illinois; issues of love and trust in marriage; and secrecy and deception in the corporate world.   Seeming to be living on the brink of insanity, he comes to the realization that escape is sometimes the best and only solution.

        So there you go--here is my current synopsis without giving away too much.   This NaNo novel is truly seat of your pants writing.  I've been starting to formulate future plot details in my head, but I'm not outlining.  I'm just writing as I go.  I did write my closing paragraph and I will probably write the closing scene soon.  The rest of the story is being written just as though I were reading it from the beginning.  We'll see how that goes.   At least I'm having a good time.

         On Monday I will be reviewing Alex J. Cavanaugh's CassaStar.   I hope you will check that out to see what I have to say.

          If you're doing NaNo how's it going so far?  Whether or not you are doing Nano, do you have any comments or suggestions about either the blurb or the synopsis?   I'd thought about reworking that blurb, but I'm too busy writing the real stuff.  But I'm still open to suggestions.   Thanks!




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What's It All About, Arlee?

         As promised on my previous post, today I will reveal the synopsis of my NaNo novel as it currently stands.   Things could change since for now I am just writing the story as it comes to me.   I have written the last paragraph to have a sense of where the story is going to end up, but what happens between my opening and that ending could certainly change course as I write.  Already in the initial stage I have shifted my intent from what it was when I started.

        The novel is to be called Time Light.  It is a science fiction that will be more fiction than science.  In other words, the story will be character driven with roots in science fiction premises, but not focused on scientific details or technology.  The setting is Chicago in 1965.  The plot device will relate to time travel, however the reader will probably not see much time travel in this first installment.  

        Yes, I said first installment, as I can already see the potential of a series stemming from this story.  I intend to leave my options open.  When I wrap this up at the end of November I may wish to never speak of it again.  I think some of you know what I'm saying.   For now I feel enthusiastic and I do see potential.   Read the blurb and let me know what you think:

Time Light

John Proffitt is losing it. First he lost his job, then his house, and now his marriage is in jeopardy. Could he be losing his mind too? Increasingly obsessed with the suspicious activities in the abandoned building across the street from his apartment, he tries to unravel the mysteries of the sounds and lights that come from the building and the men he sees leaving each night. Are they visitors from another planet or something else? In his investigations he uncovers not only the identities of the strangers, but also the secrets within himself.

      I will gladly accept any suggestions on this synopsis and would love to hear any other thoughts you might have about my story idea as it stands at this point.

       How about you?  Have you posted your synopsis on your NaNo profile?   I plan to put up a word count widget on my site once I can catch the NaNo site working properly.   Do you have a word count widget?   If so, does it work okay for you?    Have you been having difficulties with the NaNo website?

       And by the way, I don't intend to post about NaNo every post day during November.  Next Tuesday be here when I host Stephen Tremp on his Virtual Tour.    I will also be having some other surprise topics so fret not non NaNo-ers.


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Whoops!

           First day in and NaNo has already started to take it's toll.   Okay I did also get distracted with a few other things as well.  Being the faithful blogger that I am, I realized as I was starting to go to sleep that I had forgotten my Tuesday blog post.   Can't let that happen can I?

            So for the sake of sleep and sanity I will keep today's post very short with an initial NaNo report..

            Name of my intended novel:    Time Light

            Genre:   Science Fiction

             Synopsis:   I'll tell you later

            Number of words on the first day:     1450

            Now I can go to sleep and dream about where this novel is going to go.  At least I have an opening scene.

            For those of you NaNo-ing, how'd your first day go?   And if your not, whatcha been up to?