National Novel Writing Month -- Update 6

So, this is my last update for National Novel Writing Month in 2016. It was a good ride as I wrote and discovered Searching for Rachel Edelstein.

The good news is that I found her and, more importantly, so did Rachel.

It is the story of a black Jewish woman from New York City who has been estranged from her black relatives in Virginia for her entire life. And as she seeks to understand her dual racial and religious heritage, she visits her black family outside of Charlottesville for the first time over a Thanksgiving weekend.

Also, the other good news is I reached the 50,000-word challenge of NaNoWriMo, as I have four other times since 2009. And two of those novels, once totally re-written, have made the rounds in my agent search. And while I haven't landed an agent or a publisher for either, they are quite good enough for publication, whether independently or traditionally published.

The bad news this year is that I am still very unsatisfied with Searching for Rachel Edelstein. Even as a first draft, it is choppy, inconsistent and full of holes. I originally had Rachel's Jewish grandfather traveling with her down to Virginia, only to change my mind midway through the novel. I also changed the parents of one minor but key character midway through the novel.

And there were other problems. Then again, that is what a first draft is for -- to get the story down and to later re-write, re-write and re-write again until the story is nearly perfect. I shouldn't be too hard on myself with this effort. But that re-writing, however, will have to wait until some time next year. I have work on my plate to perfect first.

Anyway, thanks for joining me this month. It's been a blast. Let's do it again next November.

Thanks for reading.

Which Hogwarts House would I be in?

Yes, yes, yes -- I know I should have spent the time writing. It is, after all, the closing days of National Novel Writing Month and I haven't reached 50,000 words yet. But I'm close so I decided not to sweat it. Didn't write yesterday because it was Thanksgiving, nor today because we went shopping.

But I am close and still have time. Plus, deadline pressure is good.

So, what did I do this evening? Went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was good and fun. I enjoyed it.

When I returned home and did some research relating to the world of Harry Potter, I finally decided to test which house I would be sorted into at Hogwarts. (Personally, I have always preferred Gryffindor.)

I took three separate online tests and two of the three revealed I'd be in . . .

GRYFFINDOR.

Although just barely. According to the scoring in both instances, I'd just barely be a Gryffindor and just outside of Ravenclaw. In fact, in the one test in which I wasn't a Gryffindor, I was a Ravenclaw.

So, in the end, I would probably end up in Gryffindor because the Sorting Hat would also take my choice into account. Chivalry, bravery and daring. That sound like me? I'm probably more like Neville Longbottom than Harry.

Now, for all you people who haven't read Harry Potter nor have seen any of the films, you don't know what I'm talking about and probably don't care. (Muggles!) And so for you, I will get back to my last blog of the month when I again talk about NaNoWriMo.

But for everyone else, I know you understand.

And for everybody, thanks for reading.

National Novel Writing Month -- Update 5

Not done yet, with just a week to go in National Novel Writing Month, but I'm closing it. The challenge is to reach 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. I'm more than 85 percent of the way there. Therefore, Searching for Rachel Edelstein is coming to an end. And believe me, I will close it out somewhere just north of 50,000 words.

I'm tired of, on the fly, coming up with what's next to write.

As I look back at this month, I wish I had thought and planned more in advance. It would have made the writing easier. I have long since written past the notes I outlined for the story and so every day I face the challenge of what's next.

By temperament as a writer, I am a pantster -- someone who writes by the seat of the pants -- as  opposed to being a plotter, who does a lot of planning or outlining before writing. I like it because as a pantster, I discover the novel in much the same way a reader would. I like to be surprised by details as I go along.

But with that approach it would take me at least three or four months to write a first draft, and probably longer than that. My first novel -- Fighting Chaos, which gave its name to this blog, took me more than a decade to write. And it's still dreadful.

The second one took four and a half months. Better but not nearly as good as it can, and should, be.

So, I like NaNoWriMo because I can get the first draft done and on paper quickly. But I can't do that much writing so quickly without some planning ahead. I write out pages of notes and use them as a guide day by day.

I wrote notes this year, have hardly looked at them, and now have written well past them. I have to do better next year.

But that is for 2017. I just need to get Rachel done this year. So I must get back on it.

Thanks for reading.







  

National Novel Writing Month -- Update: A partial of Searching for Rachel Edelstein

Since so many people have been so kind in the last two weeks as I have struggled to bring a little of this novel to life -- and there have been times when I've seriously doubted it -- I have a small treat for you. Very small.

Here is a little of the beginning of Searching for Rachel Edelstein.

This is only a little more than a page and doesn't really tell you what the story is about. But I thought I'd do this anyway.

Remember: This is part of a first draft. It has no polish. Much is likely to be re-written one day.

Enjoy. Thanks for the support and thanks for reading.

Searching for Rachel Edelstein

By

MB Dabney

00,000 words

 

BEFORE

 

The blade of the shovel sliced across his face, gouging a deep cut, from his hairline down across the cheek to his chin. Dazed, Muller dropped the gun and staggered backwards. Rachel raised the shovel again and brought it down.

Hard.

The rounded part of the shovel caught him squarely in the face, flattening his sharp, pointy facial features. The blow dropped him to the ground and Rachel continued savagely beating him. Fear and anger overwhelmed all her sensibilities. She kept hitting the man lying helplessly on the ground.

Rachel didn’t know Ellington was behind her until he reached around and grabbed the shovel in mid-swing, stopping her from again striking her helpful victim.

“That’s enough, Rachel. It’s over.”

When the autopsy was done on Johann Muller the next day, his face was nearly undistinguishable.

 

 

 

CHAPTER I

“Rachel, you haven’t answered.”

 

The subway car rhythmically rocked Rachel side to side as she blankly stared ahead, almost like a zombie, oblivious to her immediate surroundings. The clang of the metal wheels on the track below didn’t phase her, nor did the sight of the fashionably dressed young Korean woman across from her. She was uncomprehending of the aroma of the man in the tattered clothes seated to her right, although those unfortunate enough not to have a seat turned away from him and his assault on their nasal passages.

It was perhaps muscle memory that guided Rachel from the subway stop to her shop, Guilford and Sons Antiques, in the Union Square section of lower Manhattan. Once inside, the shop greeted clients with the smell of mahogany and old money. The items on display reflected it, because it wasn’t a shop for a spend-thrift.

Guilford and Sons specialized in furniture for any room – cabinets, seating, tables, wardrobes and armoires, decorative objects and occasionally rugs. There also was a small area dedicated to classic photography and prints.

To accommodate its customers, the shop could arrange shipping to anywhere in the U.S. – for a hefty price. Global shipping was also available, for an even heftier price. But New York’s wealthy rarely blinked twice at the expense.

Rachel had not changed the name of the shop when she purchased it years before from the sons of the late owner, reasoning that keeping the former male owner’s name on the front windows would probably help her business in the city’s male-dominated antiques industry. It certainly would be better than having the name Rachel Edelstein front and center.

Or so she told herself.

In an emotional sense, that pissed Rachel off, as it might with any black or Jewish woman. And since she was both, she was doubly pissed off. But from a business sense, she was willing to let it slide. After all, she had herself to feed and her employees to support, though that hadn’t been a problem recently.

 

 

 

 

National Novel Writing Month -- Update 4

Well, I've reached 30,000 words, which I wanted to do last night but ran out of steam and out of time. But I'm there, more than 60 percent done.

I've figured out the end but haven't figured out yet how to get there so I just keep plugging away. I am totally beyond what little of the story I outlined last month. But the good thing is I'm discovering little pieces of interesting information about my characters as I go along.

For exchange, Rachel, the main character in Searching for Rachel Edelstein (isn't that amazing?), loves mac and cheese. She uses her mother's long-held recipe, since her maternal grandmother was a horrible cook.

The plot of the story involves Rachel, who is from New York, going to Virginia to meet her estranged family on her father's side. And while she is there over Thanksgiving, she'll learn that the mac and cheese recipe her mother used was actually from her father's mother, who Rachel just met for the first time.

The recipe is a small thing -- and hasn't been revealed yet in the novel. It comes later -- but I only discovered it while writing. I never would have thought of that while I was writing an outline.

Anyway, that's it for now. Not sure who reads these updates but here it is.

Thanks for reading.

  

National Novel Writing Month -- Update 3

Oh my goodness, I just made myself cry. Damn, I hope this stuff is good. I'm too close to it to know for sure.

I just wrote the scene where my main character, Rachel, a black Jewish woman from New York, meets her paternal grandmother in Virginia for the first time. It was more emotional than I thought.

But then again, I am playing the theme from Love Actually in the background, so that -- and not my writing ability -- could be the reason I shed a tear or two.
  
It's been a slow week and while I'm still on pace to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month, I am far behind my personal goal. I know the important thing about NaNoWriMo is writing but word count is always important to me. I know this first draft will be crappy. I accept that. But it will have -- or should have -- all the elements I will need whenever I get around to re-writing it. And I hope this new scene survives in the re-writes. It feels good.

You can't improve your writing until you write it. And so, I will plunge forward, hoping to up my pace so that I can finish close to my personal due date.

Thanks for reading.

 

National Novel Writing Month -- Update 2

Took a day off from working on the novel yesterday because it was Election Day. But in the end, I wasted a day.

Oh well . . .

Maybe now I should just write fiction non-stop, 24/7, for the next four years.

Thanks for reading.



 

National Novel Writing Month -- update

It's Day 4 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the average target for today would be to reach 6,668 words. But I have been ahead of schedule since Day 1, which is the only way I can do NaNoWriMo, and I just passed 10,000 words this afternoon.

Ahead of schedule, of course, but lagging slightly behind my personal goal. No matter. It is an achievement so far and the day isn't over. There's more writing to do.

I am discovering some interesting things about my characters, which is good. Just not sure all of it should be in the novel. But that's a judgment for the second and subsequent drafts. This is just the first draft and I need to get it down.

Tally-ho.

Thanks for reading.

Love Actually

I'm listening to the soundtrack of Love Actually (2003) as I write a particularly melancholy section of my novel, Searching for Rachel Edelstein.

I wonder what music I will have to find for the more uplifting portions of the book. Can't be this, although I do like it a lot. Plus, as I think about it, the ending is very uplifting. So maybe I can stick with this.

We will see.

I'm ahead of schedule and at this pace will reach 50,000 words well before Nov. 30. That's the main goal. But I haven't matched my secret writing goals, the ones I try not to mention aloud. If I grunt it out today, perhaps I will get close. Like I said, we will see.

Writing is work and I am lazy. But I have to get back to it. The novel won't write itself.

Thanks for reading.

Searching for Rachel Edelstein

In a less than two hours, I will start my next novel during National Novel Writing Month, Searching for Rachel Edelstein. It will be a follow-up to my 2010 NaNo novel, The Last Tontine Survivor. But this is not a thriller.

Rachel is a black Jewish woman in Manhattan. While she was conflicted about her dual ethnic heritage in the first novel, it was not central to the plot, which involving looking for her grandfather and millions of dollars he took from the Nazis in the 1940s while trying to stay ahead of killers who were after her.

In this novel, Rachel, having survived the chaos from before, takes stock in her life and decides to seek out her estranged family in Virginia. Raised virtually as a white woman in New York, Rachel will come truly face-to-face with her blackness for the first time.

I have written out about three pages of an outline for the novel but haven't finished it. So I will be flying blind a little. But that may be good. It will certainly make reaching the 50,000-word goal by Nov. 30 at midnight a serious challenge. I hope I am up to it.

Wish me luck. I'll need it.

And thanks for reading.

National Novel Writing Month

It's nearly that time again. November. National Novel Writing Month.

Let the games begin.

I first signed up for NaNoWriMo in 2009 and since then, I have finished four novels -- in 2009 and 2010, and 2013 and 2014. I wasn't able to do a novel last year because I had a serious car accident in late October which resulted in a bandaged left hand. It was difficult for me to type while it was on and it came off too late in November for me to feel confident of a successful NaNoWriMo attempt.

I haven't definitely decided to enter this year -- there's a lot going on here and I should remain focused on selling one of the novels I have already finished -- but I have two in mind. The most likely of the two is about Rachel Edelstein.

Rachel is the main character in my successful 2010 NaNo attempt -- The Last Tontine Survivor. And it was a quarterfinalist in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. That novel focused on Rachel, a black Jewish woman in NYC, who is searching for her missed and beloved grandfather, a German Jew who survived WWII. But he and others stole money from the Nazis and now, 70 years later, the descendants of a former Nazi official are looking to get the money back -- and are willing to kill to get it. With her pursuers on her tail, Rachel must find her grandfather and save him before they are both killed.

Rachel's ethnic duality (and her conflicted feelings about it) is part of the subplot but will be part of the main plot of his newest effort. I tentatively call it Searching for Rachel Edelstein.

More about that later. But for now, I just wanted to put it out there that I will probably attempt a novel this November.

Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading.

Writing to Writer's Digest

In my e-mail in-box last week, I noticed a call from Writer's Digest for stories on the experience authors have had during National Novel Writing Month, which is held each November. As you know, the challenge of NaNoWriMo is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in the 30 days of November.

I wrote a piece last night of my first NaNoWriMo experience and the non-writing challenge I faced that year -- the year I learned I had cancer.

Take a look below at what I sent Writer's Digest.

Keep writing and thanks for reading.

---

I have accepted the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge five times, starting in November 2009, and have completed the challenge three of those times. The novel I wrote in 2009, An Untidy Affair, and the one I wrote in 2010, The Last Tontine Survivor, both made it to the quarterfinal round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) competition. I entered Affair in ABNA in 2011, while Tontine was a quarterfinalist this year. I also wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo last November and plan to enter that work, The Deadly Game, in ABNA in 2015.

 

I love NaNoWriMo because it truly gives you, the author, the right to write, to sweep away all the external and internal stumbling blocks and to focus on the task at hand -- 50,000 words in 30 days, or an average of 1,667 a day.

 

I am a freelance journalist by occupation and write all the time. But fiction is different and was, back in 2009, much harder for me. Unlike a news or feature article, a novel is like having a long, elaborate daydream which is written down. It's how I approach it.

 

That first year, I wasn't sure I could do it. But I decided to try and settled on a story idea in the spring of 2009. It was to be an auto racing novel, with the protagonist facing major challenges both on and off the track. I love auto racing -- open-wheel cars in particular -- and know a lot about the sport. But the story would still require a lot of research on the technical side, which I planned to do in the summer and fall.

 

In early July 2009, I learned that I might have cancer, which was confirmed just after Labor Day that year. And suddenly, I couldn't write fiction. Faced with the challenge of my life in the real world, I couldn't daydream the dreams necessary to write fiction. I was stuck in the real world. I was focused on learning everything I could about my cancer so I could make a reasoned decision of the course of action for treatment. For seven weeks, I sought advice from six different doctors, including leaders in the field. But it wasn't until late October that I made a decision I was comfortable with.

 

Problem was, it was much too late for me to do the research I needed for the novel. So I decided on a murder mystery because it is a genre I enjoy reading and am comfortable with. I decided on a setting and a theme I was familiar with so that there wouldn't be much research needed, and I could do it while I was writing in November.

 

I hate outlining for a variety of reasons but knew I couldn't write 1,667 a day, everyday, without knowing where I was going in advance. Therefore, I hand wrote a nine-page outline in narrative form and also completed a spreadsheet to track my daily progress. 

 

Shortly after midnight on Nov. 1, I started, and after 90 minutes had 1,100 words. I was surprised that the first sentence in my outline turned into nearly 900 words of text in the novel. I wrote later that day after church and completed 3,200 words that first day. On the second day I completed 2,940 words and 3,500 the third day. I was writing twice the rate I needed. With the encouragement of NaNo writers in the Indianapolis area and others I met online, I continued at that pace and reached 50,000 words on Nov. 15, and completed the first draft four days later, for a total of 54,000 words. (With revisions and re-writes, Affair is complete at 74,000 words.)

 

In 2010, I outlined again, and challenged myself to write twice as many words a day as needed. Tontine is a suspense/thriller and I finished the first draft on Nov. 18 (instead of Nov. 15) only because I attended an out-of-town meeting that November and lost three days of writing. (The final version is 76,000 words.)

 

Last year, I reached 50,000 words again on Nov. 18 because what I learned from failures in 2011 and 2012 was that I need a decent outline and need to jump well ahead of the daily word count. Get a lot done quickly in case of troubles later. It's hard for me to catch up on the word count, so I never get behind. But that's just me.

 

I'm already working on research for NaNoWriMo this November. Finally, I plan to write that auto-racing story.

 

My advice is prepare as much as possible ahead of time, set difficult but achievable goals, find writing partners and stay in touch with them, write something everyday and, most importantly, HAVE FUN writing. Whatever you write is going to be crappy but you can start fixing it on Dec. 1. You can't fix it if you don't first write it.

 

If you write and have fun, you will find your word count going up quicker than the approach of the Nov. 30 deadline. So HAVE FUN.

 

A New Novel, Part II

Gotten off to a slow start with my new novel. Distractions caused by work, children, our garden and a volunteer group I am working are taking a toll. My pace is only half of what it should be. But I have time to kick it  into grear. It is an interesting murder story that is a sequel to An Untidy Affair.

Yes, yes, yes, I know. I generally don't write sequels (although I plan them for the future) because if I haven't sold the first book yet, why waste time on a sequel that also might not sell? Sound thinking. But I want to crank this one out in less than a month and then sit it on a shelf until later. I won't be wasting that much time and if Affair is ever sold, I will have another novel waiting in the wings.

But that can only happen if I get myself in gear. I should have more than 6,000 words done by now and only have about 3,000. However, the storytelling is going well. It's just finding the time, the will and the energy to work on it.

I guess I am getting old.

This effort is part of NaNoWriMo in June. It had a summer camp theme. I registered, of course, and can even text a small group of writers for encouragement and support. Haven't done much of that -- it's also distracting -- but I can probably use the encouragement.

Well, I have a headache and other work to get done, so I'm going. But you keep the faith and keep writing.

Thanks for reading.

P.S., I saw a political bumper sticker yesterday that I thought hit the nail on the head. It said Republicans in 2012 are willing for throw millions of people out of work just to get one man (Obama) out of a job.

Interesting assessment.
 
 

A new novel

Started the outline for a new novel today. I don't like to do sequels. (Someone at Writer's Digest once told me why write numerous books in a series if you haven't sold the first one yet. It would be a huge waste of time and creative energy.) But this is a continuation of story with private eye David Blaise.

The first novel was set in May 1985. This novel is set several years later. But I like the plot and the characters and, frankly, it could be a stand-alone, not just a book in a series.

I plan to write, in longhand, eight or 10 pages of outline and see what I have from that. And I decided to do this now, instead of in the fall, because I plan to attempt the first draft in June, as part of the NaNoWriMo in June.

It will be more difficult than in November, when there is a holiday. There is no holiday in June but with graduation, and open houses, and college preparation and registration, I have a lot going on it June. (I can barely wait until August when we send our daughter off to school. I don't remember it being this hectic when I started college.) Plus I have a story for an anthology to finish in June. Lots of stuff for my brain to handle.

Anyway, my untitled book should get underway on the first of June. And if for any of a number of reasons it doesn't get finished in June, I can always attempt it in November. It's a wonderful detective mystery story that's begging to get out. So, I'm going to let it.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.   

Query News, Part III

Since last fall, I have concentrated on writing a novel for National Novel Writing Month (then changing my mind), doing a final re-write and edit of The Last Tontine Survivor for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, starting a short story for an anthology, re-writing another short story for a Writer's Digest contest and, finally, doing a final read-through and edit of An Untidy Affair for a contest with a publisher. Sounds like I have been busy, and I have been.


But as I sit and think about it, all that work had another purpose -- distracting me from doing something I need to focus on but generally don't enjoy doing -- sending out query letters for my novel.


I now have two really good works I feel comfortable with querying in their current forms. And I have queried Affair before. Since it is under consideration with a publisher, I will hold off on querying it for now.


Which brings me to Tontine. It's Tontine's time.


A month ago, back on Feb. 22, my blog posting titled "Nervous Nellie" included the pitch I used for Tontine for ABNA. Though I was eliminated from the contest based on that pitch, I still will use it as the basis for my query letter for the novel. I think it conveys the story well. But in case I'm wrong, I will only send out a limited number of queries with that letter. If I don't get any bites after sending five to seven letters, I will strap it and start with an entirely different letter for Tontine.

I truly don't know what it's going to take to pique an agent's interest but I know it won't happen as long as I stall trying. I can keep busy with contests but unless I win, it won't get me closer to publication. So it's Query Letter Time.

This evening I will put in some serious effort in compiling an agent list. By the weekend, the letters should start heading out. Rejections, and the accompanying depression, will probably start next week.

Just wanted to prepare you.

Thanks for reading and keep writing (and querying).

Discover Mystery contest

Poisoned Pen Press, a small but well-thought-of indie publisher, has a new contest this year for unpublished authors. It is called the Discover Mystery contest and I have decided to enter AN UNTIDY AFFAIR.

The mystery manuscript must be between 60,000 and 90,000 words, and the winner will be offered a publishing contract with a small ($1,000) advance. The submission deadline is April 30, with the winner being announced one month later on May 31.

Though I like Poisoned Pen Press, I have never submitted a manuscript there before, mostly, I think, out of fear of rejection. The publisher prides itself on the fact that it accepts and considers authors without representation. And I know a local author who has had several of her mysteries published through Poisoned Pen and has enjoyed some success them.

As you may remember, I originally wrote AFFAIR in November 2009 during National Novel Writing Month and it has gone through numerous rewrites. I think I am up to 12. Because it is polished is one of the reasons I decided to submit it. That and the fact that I have another work currently in the Amazon contest. The Poisoned Pen rules state I can't enter the same mss to another publisher at the same time it is being considered in the Poisoned Pen contest.

So this is two contests this year -- Poisoned Pen and Amazon -- with different novels. Way to go, me!!

One of my stated goals was to enter four contests this year for novels or short stories and so I am nearly half way there. Plus I am looking around for other contests to enter. Both AFFAIR and THE LAST TONTINE SURVIVOR are good works which are completed and edited (as best they can be by an non-professional editor). So I am prepared to shop them around and hope for the best.

Your prayers would also be helpful.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

My Muse Can Beat Up Your Muse: The Road to Publication: Part Three

My Muse Can Beat Up Your Muse: The Road to Publication: Part Three: [ This is part 3 of a summary of Spookygirl’s journey toward publication. Use the Progress tag to access all related entries. ] ...

Hello. It's me again. Finally.

I entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest again this year. I first entered in 2009 with A MURDEROUS DISPATCH. (I should have kept the original -- and once again -- title, "Death at the Jungle-Bunny Journal.") I didn't make it past the first round.

Last year, I entered A NASTY AFFAIR. and again I should have kept the original -- and once again -- title, "An Untidy Affair." The original title is a better fit for the story. It implies something both sexual and non-sexual.

I made it to the quarterfinal round last year, which was farther than 95 percent of all the entrants. And though I got a reasonably positive review from someone at Publishers Weekly, I failed to advance to the semifinals. Unfortunately, the review was vague and I couldn't get much out of it.

AFFAIR was written during National Novel Writing Month in 2009 and my entry this year, THE LAST TONTINE SURVIVOR, was originally written during NaNoWriMo in 2010. (It's original title was merely, "The Tontine," but this time, I like the change.) It is a good story and I think the writing is strong. I have gotten three critical reads of the manuscript, including an edit. But I have no idea how it will do in the contest.

So much of ABNA comes down to luck, particularly in the first round. I have no idea whether I have any of that. But I have done my part. I have written a good novel with an interesting plot. I have done what I could. Now, I just have to while until the first round results are announced on Feb. 23. The finals will be in late May. I hope I make it that far.

There are two categories in ABNA -- general fiction and young adult. I am entered in general fiction. There is a grand prize winner in each category.

And while I don't believe the best novel always wins, I certainly believe a deserving, well-written novel always wins. And the winner last year in the YA category was a delightful novel called, SPOOKYGIRL, PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR. And its author is a wonderful woman named Jill Baguchinsky.

Jill just started a blog on what it is like to win ABNA. And if I do things correctly, there should be a link to her blog in this blog posting. You should go check it out. I enjoy reading it and look forward to her next posting.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading and, always, keep writing.

ABNA -- I'm out

I haven't blogged but once since I entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest this year, and I made it a point not to post about the contest. I didn't want to become consumed with ABNA or have people asking me how it was going.

I first entered in 2009 with DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL, though I went with a name that was more PC. I was eliminated in the first round. I just missed entering AN UNTIDY AFFAIR in the contest in 2010, missing the cutoff deadline by mere minutes.

This year I entered Affair under the title A NASTY AFFAIR by M. Stewart Dunn.

To enter the contest, you submit a 300-word pitch, which is judged in the first round, a 5,000-word excerpt from the beginning of the novel, which is judged in the second round, and the entire manuscript, which is used to determine the semi-finalists, finalists and the two eventual winners.

Since I didn't do well in 2009 and I spent hardly any time writing the pitch this year, I was surprised (and pleased) to make it through the first round. Plus, I got two wonderful Amazon Vine reviews of the excerpt -- with one reviewer saying, "The author's talent is there in spades" -- as I advanced to the quarter-finalist round. (Wasn't sure how I felt about the 'spades' comment but decided to take it on face value.) And I got five customer reviews. Four of the five were very positive.

I felt quite hopeful of being named a semi-finalist but, alas, it is not to be. Ths list of semi-finalists was announced less than an hour ago and my name isn't on it.

I was well-aware of the possibility, of course. The competition was very strong this year. But I had confidence in my writing, and in the story. Where I lacked confidence, however, was in my self-editing.

I read through the novel line by line before I entered the contest but, since the submission period was already open, I didn't think I had time to have someone else proof it for me before I entered. Afterwards, I was surprised and embarrassed at the spelling and other errors in the ms. But there was nothing I could do about it but hope. In the end, I'm sure the errors hurt my chances of advancing, perhaps fatally hurting them.

I feel about as bad as I thought I'd feel but life goes on. I plan to go over the manuscript completely again and have someone else do a final read. Then I plan to let the query letters fly again and see where it all leads.

And I am on the third draft of the novel I wrote last November during National Novel Writing Month. It is stronger that Affair and I plan to enter it in next year's ABNA competition.

So that's it for me at the moment. Sad but resolute.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

I WON!!!

I won this morning at 2. My National Novel Writing Month novel, THE TONTINE, hit 50,251 words. I rushed the last part in order to finish. There are more holes in this story that you'd find in Swiss cheese.

But I got the novel done and it reached 50,000 words.

Now I'd like to sit back and just read and enjoy the story. And maybe next year, if I still think the story is worth the effort, I will decide to definitely make it my 2011 writing project.

But for now, it's done. I am happy it's done and can sleep some.

Thanks for reading.

40,000 words

I hit 40,000 words this afternoon on my NaNoWriMo novel, THE TONTINE, and have more writing to do today. I am well behind lasat year's pace with no hope of catching up. But I am well on my way to finishing long before the Nov. 30 deadline. Much will depend on how much I can squeeze in today -- my wife has a boatload of chores to complete -- and tomorrow morning.

I will be busy all tomorrow afternoon and probably won't get anymore writing done until Tuesday morning. Then I guess I will spend Tuesday knocking out the rest.

It has been fun -- or as much fun as NaNoWriMo can be. But I fear my characters are too two-dimensional and the plot too neat. During the week, I should have time to read it in its entirety and get a better handle on it all. Right now, I am in the middle of it and can't get that much perspective.

It is short, of course, and will clock in at around 50,000. I imagine I will spend all of 2011 fleshing out the characters and plot, and smoothing out the rough places, of which I imagine there are many. In the end, it is probably a novel that will end up with 75,000 to 80,000 words.

But I am getting there. 40K. That's 80 percent. Just 10,000 more words to go.

Thanks for reading.