J. C. Dumas

A writer by day and nurse by night.

[authorjcdumas]

Happy New Year!

It is January 1, 2020.  A new year and with that comes new goals.  But first, a reflection of 2019.  I finished writing a book and began the editing process, I am in the process of the companion story.  The things I learned, a cross country move, make keeping up with anything nearly impossible.  Planning for the move, the actual move, and settling into a new home, new job, and eventually a new puppy.  Even trying to post a small prompted entry in October was difficult, of course, that was the month that I moved.  

This year I want to be more focus and get things done and completed.  

Today marks the beginning of the first day of quarter one.  Quarter one goals include:

[ ] Finish writing Project Lost

[ ] Read through and edit Project Lost and Project Forgotten for added scenes between the two stories, and the cohesion of the two stories.  

[ ] Finish world-building for Project AON

[ ] Line edit Project Forgotten

[ ] Begin Beta reader for Project Forgotten

[ ] Quick read and implement changes for Project Lost

[ ] Begin and write the first 8 chapters of Project AON

Right now starting the new year my work in progress: 

Project Lost

Word count: 53,567, writing chapter 20 out of a planned 25 outlined chapters.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty-nine

Day 29: What's the word you misspell every single time?

I know they are a few, I can’t remember because Grammarly corrects my spelling every time.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty-eight

Day 28: Skittles, M&M, or Reese’s Pieces?

M&M peanuts butter or pretzels 

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day  Twenty-seven

Day 27: Would you rather write 1,667 words for 30 days or 5,000 words for 10 days?

Last year I had a few days of 4,000 words, and those days were hard and exhausting.  I would not want to do 5,000 words for 10 days.  I much prefer the current 1,667 words.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty-six

Day 26: Best book to movie adaptation?

Harry Potter.  Yes, details and scenes were cut from the book to the movie, but the story staid the same.  The visuals of the world are amazing.  It's not like The Horse Whisper, where the story is sorta the same, but the viewpoint entirely and purpose of the story is wholly shifted, or The Notebook, I love the movie, the book is fantastic, but the ending is different.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty-five

Day 25: What is your greatest writing strength?

My characters.  I love my characters, I spend a decent amount of time working a backstory and motive into all my characters, even the background characters.  

[authorjcdumas]

Where did October go?

Well, the weekly writing updates kinda went down the drain this month, and to be honest, so did the writing.  I am right now in my new apartment in Nevada.  The final packing, the three-day drive, and unpacking of the essentials items.  I have had a full week, with a back room filled with boxes, my desktop and work area in the dining room, the planned office is for my husband and myself.  I have no routine, no desk, and I start work next week.  

I purchased a small lined notebook before the three-day ride to write out and see if I could finish the journal.  I did the majority of the driving, except for about two hours each day.  We didn’t get into our hotels until much later than I expected, and surprise surprise, I was also exhausted.

The past week, I have been prepping for NaNoWriMo.  I went to my first live meetup.  It wasn’t well structured, but it was nice to talk to actual other writers who were about to dive into this month-long craziness of 50k words.  I drew up sprint tracker sheets in my writer’s notebook.  Starting a new job and eventually going back to my work schedule of 3-12-hour shifts a week, the four days off will be nothing but writing, the workdays I want to be able to at least one sprint even if its a 10 to 15-minute-sprint.  

Goals, goals, goals.  Write every day.  Finish Project Lost.  Write 50k.  

So if I haven’t been writing, then what the hell have I been doing at night.  I have been doing so much prepping for Project AON.  Holy crap so much work.  All of my characters have backstories and personalities. My settings are beginning to come together, through pictures and stories of there own.  January1st 2020, I can't wait to start writing that four-book series.  

NaNoWriMo 2019 is on the horizon, and I can’t wait to start the month-long journey.

Current WIP word count: 17,091 words.

Current WIP: Project Lost (writing) and Project AON (world-building and prepping)

Goal for October: 195 out of 2,500 words. (FAIL)

NANOWRIMO Goal this year will be to finish the first draft, whether that’s adding another 50,000 or not, I’m going into NaNoWriMo as a rebel this year.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty-four

Day 24: What is your biggest writing weakness?

I don’t have a regular work schedule. I work at night; therefore, I am not able to have a regular writing schedule.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty-three

Day 23: Bookmark, book open face down, or dog-ear the page?

Bookmark, absolutely bookmark, the other two will either damage the binding or the pages.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty-two

Day 22: You can ask any author just one question--who would it be, and what would you ask?

J.K. Rowling, I don’t know if I have a question but a whole conversation on her popular plotting method.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty-one

Day 21: Share your favorite writing themed quote.

“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”

― Jodi Picoult

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Twenty

Day 20: Experienced WriMos: What’s your best piece of advice for NaNo success?

Don’t compare yourself to others.  Some participants don't’ work, or writing is their only job and usually write thousands of words each day.  I remember seeing one person finish the 50k in the first week; meanwhile, I sat struggling to get the first 10k.  Some people work, some don't, some are single or married, have kids or none.  Everyone is different; don't’ get frustrated.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know you Day Nineteen

Day 19: Post a gif that has something to do with your novel, but with no explanation.

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know You Day Eighteen

Day 18: Which fictional setting would you most like to visit?

Hogwarts

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know You Day Seventeen

Day 17: Which fictional character (literary, film, or TV) would you want as your BFF, and why?

Hermione Granger or Rory Gilmore, both characters would rather stay in with a good book.  I also tried to get ahead with my own classes by reading ahead or getting the reading list early. 

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know You Day Sixteen

Day 16: If you could “expecto patronum” your inner critic, what would your writing Patronus be?

A wolf

[authorjcdumas]

Get to NaNoWriMo Know You Day Fifteen

Day 15: What author(s) influence your writing the most?

Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson and Scott Lynch, the world-building in the books are amazing, the character is fabulous, and I strive to set this in my own stories.