Main Street Books in St. Charles to Close in January

The Post Dispatch has reported that Main Street Books in St. Charles is going to close on January 31, unless a buyer steps forward.

Vicky Irwin, owner for the past seven years, has been a champion for local writers.

The news also reports that the store will have a "retirement sale" in January.

The store is open for business as usual through December. Gift certificates will expire Jan. 31.

Here's a link to the article.

I'm hoping someone with deep pockets and a passion for books will buy the book store to keep it open.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Signing Cancelled

Please Note: Due to the snowstorm, the "Chicken Soup for the Soul, Canned Soup for the Body" book signing for December 14 has been cancelled.

If the signing is rescheduled I'll post details here.

Save the Date: Another "Souper" Book Signing at Main Street Books in St. Charles

On Saturday, December 14, 2013, seven local writers will participate in the fifth Annual “Chicken Soup for the Soul, Canned Soup for the Body” Book Signing.

The "sole" location for this year's "souper" signing will be back to where it all began at Main Street Books, 307 South Main Street in St. Charles, hosted once again by Vicki Erwin, from 11 a.m. till 5 p.m.

Customers who bring in canned goods, which will be donated to area food pantries, will receive 20% off their entire purchase that day.

The following is the schedule of the featured Chicken Soup contributors: 

 

11 a.m. till 1 p.m. -  Cathi LaMarche and Nina Miller

1 p.m. till 3 p.m. - Linda O’Connell, Theresa Sanders, and T’Mara Goodsell

3 p.m. till 5 p.m.  -   Beth M. Wood and Sioux Roslawski

For directions to Main Street Books, call Vicki Erwin, 636-949-0105.

National Writing Month Results: I Crossed the Finish Line but Have a Way to Go

Done. Done. And not quite Done!

That's how I felt on November 28 when I exceeded the 50K word count for my novel in progress.

My official ending count on November 30 was 51,428 words. I still can't believe it!

I'm now about three-quarters of the way finished with a very rough first draft of a novel I've been wanting to write for years.

The next step is pulling it out and finishing the first draft early next year. Then the revising, rewriting, and editing starts. My plan is to have a decent manuscript by the spring, unless life gets in the way of my plans.

November was not without its bumps and bruises, but at least now I can say I wrote 50K+ words in a month. Of course many of those words are crappy, but what the heck. They're still words.

Congratulations to anyone else who has ever taken on this daunting task.

Here are my lessons learned:
Write every day.
Early morning or late at night worked best for me.
Limit social media time.
Limit editing. I could not turn off my internal editor; I just toned her down.
Outline ahead of time.
Don't feel compelled to stick to the outline.
Map out characters ahead of time. (I kept changing their names and descriptions)
Listen to your characters.
Go with the flow. (cliché, I know)
Spreadsheets are your friend. (I kept one with the chapter number, title, word count, and a brief synopsis.) This was extra work but helped keep me focused and on task.
Celebrate!
Put the WIP away for at least a month before picking it up again.

NaNoWriMo Progress Report

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been blogging much lately. That's because I'm elbow deep in writing a novel during National Novel Writing Month.

Today is the midpoint.

For those unfamiliar with NaNo, the goal is to write 50,000 words of a new novel during the month of November. That equates to 1,667 words a day.

Generally I'm a slow writer because I tend to edit and cut words as I go, but I'm trying my best to just let the words fly. It has worked to some degree, especially in the beginning. I didn't edit much except for quickly reviewing my the previous day's chapter and fixing tiny mistakes before proceeding to the next chapter.

My progress during week two has been slower. I found myself doing more re-reading of previous chapters along with editing and fixing of plot holes because my story is taking off in a new direction.

It's both fun and frustrating.

In addition to the stats provided by NaNo, I have a spreadsheet that breaks each chapter down by word count. I have a line entry on the spreadsheet for each chapter. The spreadsheet helps keep me organized and on track. The word counts on my spreadsheet are generally a bit shorter than how they're validated by NaNo, which is a good thing. Maybe they're giving me a 20-word bonus.

Now, for my progress report.

This morning I tallied the words on my spreadsheet and I've passed the 25K mark. Actually, I'm at 25,101.

So, at the half-way point I'm half way there.

This weekend is shaping up to be busy but I'm hoping to take some time to write some more.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Oh, if anyone has any extra words lying around they're not using, send them my way.

Winner of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hope and Healing for Your Breast Cancer Journey

Sorry for this delayed announcement.

Since starting National Novel Writing Month I haven't posted on my blog or visited other blogs as often as I'd like.

Thanks to everyone who left comments for the drawing for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hope and Healing for Your Breast Cancer Journey, featuring Alice Muschany's true story "Hats Off to Betty with Love."

Special thanks to Alice for her generous donation of the book.

The winner is  BOOKIE

So, if you will send me an e-mail at dvolkenannt (at) charter.net (please replace the (at) with the at sign--I didn't want to put my entire e-mail address so I don't get Viagra ads). Be sure to include your snail mail address so I can mail the book to you next week.

Congratulations, Bookie, and thanks again to everyone else.

Now, back to my novel-in-progress. I hope to post my word count early next week.

National Novel Writing Month - I'm in!

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I decided to take the plunge this year and give National Novel Writing Month a try. I signed up late last night after reading the rules and thinking I can do this.

I'm not sure about all the etiquette of belonging, so if showing the crest in this post before I reach my goal is a NaNo no-no, will someone let me know.

Awhile back I developed a chapter outline for a novel I've been wanting to write. Last night, between answering the doorbell for trick-or-treaters, I dug the outline out of my file and printed off a copy.

I logged on to the site even later last night and discovered I needed to write a synopsis, which was no easy task --  and was a change from where the outline was headed. The synopsis got me to really thinking about my novel, though, so when I started actually writing the first chapter I was surprised at where my fingers went across the keyboard and where the story is taking me.

Writing without editing as I go is painful for me, but I'm giving it a whirl.

Before I climbed into bed early this morning I had written over 1,000 words, then when I woke up a few hours later to get Michael off to school I stated another chapter then went back to bed and took a nap.

I've been a member for 16 hours now, and my official word count is 1858.  So, I'd say I'm off to an okay start. We'll see what the rest of the month brings. I'll post my word count weekly to try to encourage myself to continue the task.

If any of my blogger buddies are doing NaNo this year, let me know.