November 28th, y'all. Where has the time gone! NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close, and hopefully your word count is right on par. 

The last stretch is usually either one of two things: a) Super awesome smooth sailing, or b) basically writing with the same feeling as when you're trying to drag yourself out of bed during the winter. Which is horrible and exhausting, lol! But the last stretch is where it counts. You just have a little bit farther to go... just a bit more to write before you can end NaNoWriMo with a grand celebration. 

And that's the thing I want to focus on: the celebration. Because whether you wrote 500 words or 50,000 words or 350,000 words the point is, YOU WROTE. And that is absolutely fantastic! You told yourself you were going to tackle this thing, you gave it what you had, and you tried. You had the courage (or craziness) to attempt a goal along with hundreds of other people.  I can't even begin to tell you all how proud I am of you writers. ;) So, whatever your word count ended up being, take some time to celebrate. Grab some cake or ice cream, throw a bit of confetti, or snuggle up with a new book and a cup of tea.

​Let's also take some time to think over your story. After NaNoWriMo is over is the best time to set your book aside and take a break from it for a little while, as it clears your head and you can get a fresh perspective once you get back to it. But let's go a step further and actually ask ourselves some questions about your book. (This is also really encouraging as you're finishing up NaNoWriMo, too!)

1. What is one of your favorite lines that you wrote? "Do not pull the child away from a good piece of cake, sir," Mr. Pemberton grunted. He looked seriously alarmed. "Cake is necessary to the happiness of the soul!" --The Needlemaker
2. Why? 

I just love Mr. Pemberton and his sage advice to eat more cake. Because... cake. :P 

3. Who is your favorite main character? 

So hard. Maybe Nan Winkworth from "The Needlemaker". I also love Kier Malloy from "Further Courage" although he hasn't been in the book much yet. 

4. Favorite side character? 
I really was surprised by how attached I grew to Tabitha Hamilton, the MC's sister in "Further Courage". Timothy Devere from the same book has always had a special place in my heart too--I wish he was my brother, lol! 

5. Favorite scene to write? 

From Needlemaker: Shady detective Miles Creep snooping about the docks and attempting to catch a certain someone... (details removed so I don't spoil it!) I don't know why but I just enjoyed doing this one. I also really enjoyed some dialogue between Nan Winkworth + her sister in law, Nan Winkworth + Kit Lawler, and Kit Lawler + said sister in law of Nan's. #hilarious :P 

6. What would you say the best thing about your book is so far? 

Needlemaker: I got a surprise when I realized that one of the themes was turning out to be "we can't rely on our own goodness". I was shocked because I THOUGHT the theme was "Stick to what is right even when no one else does"... and while that's still in it, I never expected the other. I was super excited to see how the book developed/is developing so well right under my nose! The characters, the themes, and the plot line just is coming along great. *Of course, I need to do some major editing, but let's focus on the positive!* 

Further Courage: I was already very familiar with this cast of characters and the plot line so it has been fun to work on. I think the best thing about this book so far is that the characters are far from perfect and I'm so looking forward to watching them grow and learn throughout the book. 

7. What's one thing you know you'll have to fix/work on later? 
While still being optimistic about things, lol, there's a couple things that come to mind. For "Needlemaker" I really want to go back and add more internal conflict for the main character, Kit, as well as work the theme in better throughout it. For "Further Courage" I'm thinking about actually changing the POV entirely, or something, to get rid of the stiffness. The MC is naturally a very private person so I want people to be able to really step into her shoes better. 


That's all for now... Let's go out there and cross the NaNoWriMo finish line with great epic-ness! :) 
Y'all have a lovely day! 
<3
​Victoria

Guess who I'm thankful for. 

Yep! You! :) 

I am always so encouraged by you all-- your comments, your thoughts, your participation... it is all so amazing and always makes me smile. You all are the BEST, and it's for you all that I keep going with this blog. 

That's why I'm marking down "Jonas and Olivia" the ebook to only $1.99 (half off!) from November 24th (tomorrow!... aka Thanksgiving!) to November 28th.  If you already have a copy of "Jonas and Olivia", share the fun and pass the word along to your friends or family who may not have gotten it yet so they can grab it at half price too. :) 

Off to write (You all have a lovely day!) 
<3
Victoria

Hey guys!

Life has been pretty crazy, y'all, but I did it...I hit 50k. But NaNoWriMo is not over for me yet because... well, I'm overachieving lol. But I thought I'd talk a little bit about my novel today! You already got to meet some characters from my book Further Courage but since I'm doing two novels this November I thought the other one deserved some attention too...especially since I'm writing in that one quite a bit more than Further Courage anyways. 

So, let me introduce The Needlemaker to you! It's an Industrial Revolution era mystery. It has a very twisty plot and you see the book through three different view points: The Needlemaker, Kit (Christopher) Lawler, the seamstress Nan Winkworth, and the slightly shady detective, Miles Creep. 

Here's a snippet from the book that I wrote yesterday (unedited lol!) Kit is waiting for Nan to return to take care of her slightly crazed sister in law. 

 "I believe it is very unlikely they shall find you at all, Mrs. Rutherford. I suggest that you try, um--" he glanced around the shop. "Watercolor." He blinked at his own suggestion, then decided that since he had said it he might as well go with it. "Yes, watercolor. It is an excellent reliever of stress, I do believe."
"I haven't any paints." Isabella whimpered, her cries quieting. 
"You could paint with..." Kit's breathing quickened as his mind searched for a possibility-- anything! His gaze landed on the tea cup Isabella had set on top of a stack of needle packets. "Tea! Yes, indeed, it would be most...British." 
Isabella sniffed and stood up, wiping her eyes. "That would never work. My Mr. Rutherford gave me the finest oil paints to use, and I expect nothing less. Watercolor indeed." She picked up the tea cup and went to the back room. "I am not going to paint, I am going to sit here and--" her voice level increased. "And anxiously ponder death, my existence, the disappearance of my one and only son and this horrible wallpaper." She broke down in sobs. 

If you want to see more of what this book is like, check out the mood board for it, here! 

This novel has been a lot easier to write so far for me right now, so I've been working on it a lot. I really enjoy the characters in it, and I find the dialogue and development of the relationships in it fun to do. That said, trust me it's going to need a lot of editing lol!

How have your novels been coming along? Hope the writing has been going great! :) 
​
Have a lovely day!
<3
Victoria

Hello you awesome people! :) 

How are you all today? I'm feeling pretty good about things, even though I'm behind my over-achieving goal. The words are coming better, it doesn't feel like such an exhausting pursuit, and I'm having fun. 
Have any of you all been going through mid-way blues? The slump that comes in the middle is definitely no fun, and I got it early this year. With a slow start (opposed to my usual get-ahead-while-you-can-in-the-beginning approach) and various circumstances that left me feeling totally worn out, getting those words down were super hard. It was honestly pretty discouraging, and I wasn't very happy about how things are going. So what are some ways to get out of those mid-way blues? 

1. If you have to, take a break. I know a lot of people promote pushing through even when it's hard, and sure, sometimes that is the trick. But then there are times when no amount of pushing through is going to help. If you are truly tired and you just don't have the energy, take some time to go catch a nap, take a shower, or relax. I've spent a few days so far not doing any writing--the first three or so was in the first week and I was just busy. But one recently was because I took it off just to rest and get a little recharge. I felt SO much better after that, and things are going a ton better for writing now. 
2. Try Word Crawls. When it seems like the words are just taking forever to get out and you're feeling pretty down and out, sometimes a fast-paced word sprint or word war is not the best idea. They're great for when you're ready to hit that thing with some mad typing, but when you're already tired, it can just be sad to see how slow you're moving that day. Introducing word crawls. I had heard of them before, but had never tried one before this NaNo...but when I was having a rough time writing some other NaNo-ers recommended that I try a Word Crawl and boy oh boy did it help! While Word Crawls are a little more in-depth than a word sprint, it's done with varying sizes of steps or goals along the way, so it makes it fun and you feel better as you are able to reach the various goals easier...in the long run these crawls can bring in several thousand words. I'm almost down with this one: The Road Trip Crawl. 
3. Remember how great you story is. If that means checking out your Pinterest mood board, daydreaming about your characters for a few minutes, or listening to a few songs that make you think of your book, do it. Remember just how great your story is and why you're excited to write it! :) 

And if you're having mid-way troubles and nothing seems to work-- don't worry. You are awesome for doing this crazy NaNoWriMo stuff, and just think of all the words you have written already! Don't ever let yourself feel down, because just sitting there writing two sentences is progress and is amazing. You go, writer!! :) 

Let me know in the comments below if you are experiencing or have had trouble with mid-way blues. What did you do to keep going? Have you got a favorite inspiring quote or something that is a mini pep-talk to you? Share with us! :) 

Hope you have a lovely day!
<3
Victoria

Do you ever get those days when you're just like a bit behind on something, so you get discouraged and boom! Motivation hits like 0. Well, that's what it has been like for me the first week of November so far. I knew that the first week would be sketchy as far as writing went, but I figured I'd keep chugging away happily and the words would begin stacking up. Well, unfortunately life isn't always like that. (Shocker I know right! lol) So here I am, not very happy with my low word count and honestly I just feel tired. I'm ok with it--I plan on just keeping at it as best as I can. Every little bit counts, and with a lot of small goals met, I'll soon be caught up... it's not always a big explosion of victory, you know. Sometimes it's the little persistent keep-at-it mentality that brings the victory, slowly but surely. ;) 

So enough of me blabbering! Let's get to this pep talk (Ok, maybe I should call it the 2nd part of the pep talk, since my "update" kind of turned into one haha). I wanted to take a moment to focus on our characters. 

Y'all know how much I love characterization and developing real, relatable characters. I was thinking about this recently...how much I absolutely love my book-people. Someone asked me how I came up with characters and I tried to think of a good answer but honestly couldn't come up with one. It just sounds weird to say I "meet them in my head" but that's pretty much what happens. And that's why when I write I'm always focusing on telling their story, not whatever it is I might want to put down in prosy elegance. Actually, I'm not good at prosy elegance, but we can pretend for a little bit. 

Here's the thing...I actually believe a lot of writers forget that important little bit there. They focus SO much on the plot, the wording, the world, the facts...whatever. And they forget that what truly makes a story good is the characters. I would much rather read a boring plotline with an intriguing character than a super cool plotline with a cardboard-cut-out, shallow character, wouldn't you? Now I'm not saying that plotlines should be boring (forbid it, haha!). There is definitely much that can be said about a good plotline and structure, of COURSE. But I want to redirect some of that attention back to the characters. 

It's amazing what comes up when you start allowing yourself to tell the character's story without any hindrance! I discovered an entirely new character, actually, who plays a super important part in my plot of "The Needlemaker" and adds yet another layer to the story. I never would have realized this if I hadn't let the main character, Kit, talk to a little girl in the street at the beginning of the book even though I WANTED him to be discovering the bad guys, lol. I also discovered that my "iffy" character in my other book, "Further Courage" isn't quite as horrible as I had always believed him... yes he's spoiled, and yes he's not got the greatest conduct at times, but it was almost shocking to me to finally understand that the view of him through my MC Melinda is more prejudiced than anything--which definitely helps develop her character even more.

But enough of my stories! What about yours? Any surprising things come about because of letting your characters "tell" the story? Do you have a favorite character? I like a lot of my characters, but one in particular in "The Needlemaker" is super fun to write--he's an extremely gray character, being neither a villain or a good character. He reminds me of a cat, actually, and he's quite the excellent manipulator. All in all he's very different and interesting to write! So let me know in the comments how it's been going for you! :) 

You all have a lovely day! :) 
<3
​Victoria