Mina Lobo's Resurrection II & a NaNo update

Here I was, all ready to prepare my first "proper" NaNo '13 update, and suddenly I saw a link to another blogger's post for Mina Lobo's Resurrection II blogfest. Which I signed up for. So ummm, yeah, I forgot it was on, and for some reason I wrote the date down as having been yesterday (November 6th), but over at Mina's blog it very clearly says November 7th. So I guess I get to participate still! Phew, that was lucky!

Anyway, the thing about my blog is that I don't really write awesome posts that are meant to be recyclable. I just come here and puke out (sorry for the visual) whatever I'm thinking at the time. Or else I slap something on the page that is related to some blogfest or blog hop topic that somebody else came up with. Or I do my own self-imposed regular posts like my Globetrotters posts, my "Out & About Me" posts, etc.. Now, because it's NaNo time right now and I'm madly participating (well, not so madly, but definitely participating), I was gonna just link back to some old post about NaNo (like, from last year, 'cause I participated then too). But then I went back to my November posts and I saw one that I thought was very worth re-sharing. It's this one.

Lately I've talked more about my dad because of my travel posts - Dad took me on an 8-stop world trip when I was 17. But my mum just happens to be totally, completely awesome, and November is not only the month of NaNo, it's the month of my Saggi Mum's birthday. So I figured last year's post about Mum was a very fitting choice for resurrection. :)

Right, now that most of the post has been taken up with pure rambling which passes for participation in the very super awesome Mina Lobo's super-fun blogfest, I will spare a few lines to actually update you on NaNo, as originally intended:

I'm at 18,495 words.

I haven't been writing much, generally around 2-2.5k a day. For me, this isn't a lot.

I'm okay with not writing a lot, 'cause you know, I've been busy at work with huge due-by-year's-end projects, and also I have other stuff to do. Sometimes.

I am really loving my story, even if much of it is crap right now. The story itself is good, I think, so eventually the writing will become good to match the story.

For now, I spew forth and writing comes out.

I LOVE NANO.

All I Want for NaNo ~ blog hop

From November 1-3, J. A. Bennett has been running the All I Want for NaNo blog hop, and here's what it's all about:

"I first heard about NaNoWriMo three years ago shortly after I started blogging. I thought people were nuts for even attempting to write 50k in a month. Yet, I couldn’t pass up the chance to try it out for myself. Since then, I’ve done NaNo (including camp NaNo) 4 times--this November will make 5.

Because of this, I’ve spent a considerable about of time on NaNoWriMo.org, and they’re doing some amazing stuff for people. I have a 14 yr old cousin who went to LTUE last year because NaNo came to his school, and he decided he really liked writing. If that isn’t awesome, I don’t know what is. 

In these past three years I’ve felt awful for not giving back when NaNo has been doing so much for writers everywhere. That’s why I decided to write an anthology with a few awesome friends and donate all the proceeds to NaNoWriMo." - J. A. Bennett

This blog hop requires that we post what we want for NaNo, and put a buy link to The Spirit of Christmas Anthology, as well as the blog hop code so people can visit all the other blogs that have participated. So, without further ado:

1. What I want for NaNo is to hit 50k once again, and to also keep working on revising my novella. Yeah, I really want to do both!

2. The Spirit of Christmas Anthology  - BUY

3. Here is the list:

Oh, and by the way - there are other prizes being given away, so check out J. A. Bennett's blog for more details!

P.S. It's the start of Day 3 of NaNo, and so far I'm at 5,720 words. I got a slow start because I didn't write anything on Day 1 - circumstances beyond my control! People turning 80, that sort of thing. :D - but I caught up on Day 2, and now it's Day 3 and I have yet to do most of the writing I want to do today.

Write ... Edit ... Publish ~ HAUNTED for Halloween!

Hey everyone! It's that time again, when we post for Denise Covey's Write ... Edit ... Publish monthly blog hop. This month's WEP is a little different though, as Denise explains:

Welcome to creepy Halloween! There are many blogfests vying for attention. I am combining the Write...Edit...Publish blogfest with Francine Howarth's Trick or Treat Blogfest where you either give or receive free books. (In comments, say if you want your name to go into a hat to win a free book - say TREAT!)

Those who participate in the WEP blogfest will be competing for a $10 Amazon Gift card from yours truly (for the entry that catches my , and Francine is donating a free e-book to a participant.

So, with all that said, here's my post (all 970 words) for October's hop.

Watched

In the days immediately after Brian Walters drowned, his wife Jeanna existed in a strange sort of limbo. She could neither believe the accident had really happened nor say definitively that it hadn’t. She had seen it with her own eyes—him standing up at the wrong angle, teetering for one endless moment, and finally sailing overboard. She’d seen it, yes, but she found it hard to trust her own mind. 

After the news broke, friends and family flooded in around her, opening their arms and hearts and, unfortunately, their mouths as well. “She won’t talk about it,” and “The poor woman,” and “Such a tragedy!” were all the things she heard and wished she hadn’t. She craved peace and quiet—mostly, the quiet—but with a missing husband who was an important member of the community, she had certain obligations to meet. 

Organising the funeral and the wake were the first on a long list. 

So Jeanna called in favours, she used her very best business voice and she made all the necessary arrangements. She pulled it all together at a dizzying speed, and finally the day arrived when she would say goodbye.

* 

The service passed quickly but lasted a lifetime. As Jeanna stepped out into the harsh, sweltering air of mid-February, she felt more sapped of energy than she ever had in her life before. Faces swam all around, turning their sympathy on her, and voices pecked at her from every angle. She was quite convinced they drew blood. 

Her focus narrowed and the sounds faded away. She drew a breath that echoed, climbed into the backseat of the limousine, and slammed the door behind her, shutting out the chaos of a world that never stopped shaking.

* 

Up on a miraculously verdant slope, with the hot air of a full-blown summer’s day leaching life from everything, Brian Walters’ coffin sank into the ground. It didn’t have him in it, but it was still his. A wide-eyed Jeanna watched it go down, and when it finally came to rest her lips moved in a silent farewell. 

But she didn’t feel that she was really saying goodbye. Because he wasn’t in there. All they were burying was a wooden box, with nothing but mementos inside. And hours later, when the last of the dirt had been flung back in, sealing the deal once and for all, Jeanna still didn’t believe he was really gone.

* 

Time passed, and Jeanna felt warm and watched over. She never really felt widowed, though she missed Brian’s ridiculous laugh, his dancing green eyes, his reassuring presence. She never really felt alone, and she couldn’t explain it. But while people kept a close eye on her, always expecting her to finally have the breakdown they all presumed was simply delayed, she managed to get through each day without shedding a single tear. 

It didn’t really seem strange to her until the second year was halfway through, and she realised she didn’t so much feel watched over anymore as she felt watched.

* 

Over the months, the ‘watched’ feeling persisted. When at home, Jeanna took to drawing all the blinds and keeping all the curtains closed. It didn’t make her feel better. No matter what she did, the surveilled feeling remained. 

Was Brian here in ghost-form, haunting her? She’d never really believed in any of that, but the watched feeling was making her think twice. 

One night, she got the feeling so strongly that she spoke aloud without meaning to: “Brian? Are you there?” She waited, but got no response. “If you’re there … please tell me.” 

What she really meant was, Please leave me alone. 

She was ready to move on, and wished he would let her.

* 

She worked with a man called Jake Reynolds, who was interested in her. He’d asked her out a few times, but each time she’d declined. He respected her boundaries, but also assured her with a gentle smile that he wouldn’t give up until she told him to. 

She hadn’t told him to yet. 

Nor had she told him she was being stalked by her dead husband. 

When she saw him at work next, he hinted once more that they should make a dinner date. As usual, she said no, but this time it was more a knee-jerk reaction than the old reluctance. So she quickly added more words to the mix. “But ask me again and I’ll say yes.” 

“When should I ask?” he wanted to know. 

She hesitated. “When you think the time is right.” 

H asked her out a week later, and she said yes.

* 

Their date went beautifully and Jeanna spent almost the entirety of it forgetting all about her dead, ghostly husband. At the end of the night the truth came rushing back in a dismaying wave as Jake walked her to her front door, his arm linked with hers. 

“I had a wonderful night,” he said softly as they came to a halt in front of her doormat.

Something fluttered in her chest as she gazed up at him, admiring his chiselled jaw and bright blue eyes. 

“So did I,” she whispered, and on a whim decided to kiss him. Just as she was stretching up on tip-toes, the front door to her house opened and Brian’s voice sounded out, loud and clear.

“I didn’t expect you to give up so soon.” 

She turned to the doorway, fear seizing her throat, and realised he wasn’t dead at all. That man was very much alive, and wearing a seriously grave expression. 

“Who’s this?” Jake murmured from beside her, his arm tightening on hers, but Jeanna barely heard him, because her attention was all on the thing Brian held in his hands. 

It was a shiny, metallic thing.

It was a gun.

© 2013, Trisha Farnan. 

Cephalopod Coffeehouse & Do You Have Goals?

Cephalopod Coffeehouse time! This monthly blog hop is hosted by The Armchair Squid, and is a fair bit of fun. :) The idea is to post about your favourite book read in the last month.

So far this month I've only finished reading two books (yep, I'm having flashbacks to approx. a month ago). But of those I read, the one I preferred was The Trial of Dr. Kate, which I received from Netgalley. Here is a little review (less little than last month's):

Story: This book is set in the early 1950s. Shenandoah Coleman, an ex-fighter pilot who has become a successful reporter in Memphis, returns to the town where she grew up in poverty. She's there to do research for a book she's writing, but also to speak with an old friend, Dr. Kate, who has been arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of murder. After talking to Kate, Shenandoah becomes convinced the doctor isn't guilty. Determined to help clear Kate's name, she starts investigating. At the same time, she's being stalked by the driver of a Dodge Pickup who is apparently set on running her off the road - and killing her. And she's fending off the advances of sweet-talker Bobby who gives her plenty of butterflies.

My thoughts: I quite enjoyed this book for the setting, because I don't really know anything about American history or Tennessee (I'm Australian and when I was at school we really didn't learn any American history except as it related to the World Wars, etc.). Sometimes I found that problems were resolved a little too quickly, like when we finally learned the identity of the Dodge driver. This character harboured hatred toward Shenandoah that had built up over many years (like, fifteen years), but in a matter of minutes Shenandoah managed to diffuse the situation and make everything "okay" again. There was also the fact that at one point, a fair few people died on the same day for unrelated reasons, and some of the deaths were really ... unexpected. :) Not that that doesn't happen in reality. It just seemed a bit strange in this case.

The truth that came out in the end about the murder victim was quite a surprise to me, as was the trial verdict. All in all, I found this a slightly strange read, but I did enjoy "visiting" that part of America (I have in fact visited Tennessee, but only to drive through it). And I was glad when the book ended so I could go back to the cooler weather we were enjoying here in Western Australia at that time. (Sadly, it's starting to heat up now)

I've been participating in this monthly blog hop hosted by Misha Gericke and, as I've neglected to mention before purely because I didn't even realise it, Beth Fred. :) It's a hop where participants reporton how their "big dream" goals are coming along. My goal isn't really the biggest I could have gone for, nor the biggest that I have in my head, but it's the one I really, desperately want to achieve for right now, so that's why I chose it. Anyway, my goal is to:

publish something by the end of 2013

And how have I gone with it since last month?

Back then, I'd received great feedback from my awesome CP Damyanti, but hadn't done anything about it yet. Since then I've managed a rewrite of chapter 1, and now I've received feedback from Damyanti on the rewrite. It was encouraging feedback, as it gave me the impression I'm headed in the right direction. For now I'm going to let the feedback settle, and move onto rewriting the next few chapters.

I don't know that I'll have all this done before year's end, given that November will be NaNo month. I honestly can't see publishing my novella by year's end. But I'm not giving up hope yet. The above will be my goal until the year is over and done.