November 26, 2012

Fleeing the Scene: ROW80 & NaNo Updates

A day late with my A Round of Words in 80 Days and NaNoWriMo updates.

But for good reason. I managed to write just under 10,000 words this past weekend. I still can't believe it.

My current NaNo word total, including what I've done so far today . . . 41,596! And I'm nowhere near stopping for the day. I hope to hit 44,000 today and finish by Thursday.

Can you hear me squealing?!

It was a crazy weekend. Characters renamed themselves, plot developments appeared out of nowhere, and I wrote scenes out of order. My muse took me on an amazing ride. I'm still processing some of it, but I look forward to blogging about it in December.

Until then, I wanted to share a funny story . . .

Mom and I went to Miami ten days ago to accept our Reader's Favorite Silver Medal. Depression Cookies was displayed in a booth at the Miami International Book Fair, so we took a cab down to walk around the fair and see our book.

We met some wonderful authors, bought several books, and talked to all kinds of professionals within the publishing industry. Before we knew it, the sun was going down and the fair was closing. Mom and I decided to walk into downtown Miami and find a place to eat. Something off the beaten path.

I guess I should mention that Mom and I are not from big cities, and neither one of us had ever been in downtown Miami before.

Are you sensing where this is going?

As we walked away from the fair, we saw a middle-aged woman walking toward us. She looked trustworthy, so we asked her where we might eat.

The lady frantically looked at her watch and never stopped walking. "You don't want to be here past six," she said, as she scurried past us. Then, she threw us one last piece of advice, pointing us toward the beach (and tourists) and telling us to hurry. I looked at my watch. 5:55pm.

All of the sudden, store owners in the area started pulling down huge metal gates and several people sitting alongside the sidewalk asked us for money. Mom and I exchanged one look and took off. You've never seen two women cover five blocks so quickly.

In my mind, every paranormal book started coming to life. I saw glowing eyes and dark figures. I even imagined men in long coats pulling us into a dark alley. Let's just say that being an avid reader with a great imagination did nothing to help me. My heart was pounding when we finally found a cab.

Just don't be surprised to read something from me that has two women frantically running through the streets of Miami being chased by . . . well, I don't want to give it all away now. Stay tuned . . .  

5 comments:

Kim Switzer said...

First, congratulations on the word count and the silver medal! An your story had me giggling--I am from a big city, so I totally saw where that was going which actually made it even better to me. I love it that it inspired a story idea! Can't wait to read it.

Elise Fallson said...

Wow, you are rockin the word count! Awesome. (: And congrats again on the award! But now you have my imagination running wild as to what was going on in Miami after 6:00! :O

bookworm said...

I grew up in NYC and lived in Tampa for a couple of years, so I knew exactly where this was going. I'm glad it can be worked into your novel. Now, I have to stop goofing off and return to my NaNoWriMo effort.

Jo Michaels said...

Love things that inspire stories :) I had a few emotional scenes that I've written into books and more that I plan to. You GO girl! Congrats on the award AND the word count! WRITE ON!

Julie Glover said...

Wow! Great word count. Amazing word count. Astounding, spell-binding word count! Congrats on finishing NaNoWriMo.

Have a great weekend.