NaNoWriMo - Week 3

Week three. Not as much progress as I would have liked but the story is flowing along and looks as if it will travel a path I had not originally intended. That's okay. As long as it ends up where I want to end the second book in the Trilogy.

My total  word count so far, just over 12,000 words. Am I disappointed I probably won't reach 50,000? Not really? NaNoWriMo has served it's purpose. I'm working on my book and pushing it onward.

'Winter Emergence'

Moth's are tasty kitty treats. I have two cats, Maximillian and Adara who enjoy the nightly chase of miller moths who managed to sneak in the door and flutter around whatever light has attracted them. Watching them bounce around, leap in the air and finally catch their prey, are wonderful reminders of the powerful hunters they are descended from. As I watch them, I am in process of writing the second book in my trilogy, 'Winter Emergence'. It is the human story with sprinklings of what is going on with Word Warrior, Mute, Rowena, Indrani, and many others my readers were introduced to in 'Winter Awakening'. (WolfSinger Publications 2011 - available on Amazon and SmashWords.) My kitty babies inspired my first book and will continue to influence the next two books. So will Gray Momma and her five kittens who inhabited our back yard last summer. They were wild ones we watched and fed. Eventually, we trapped them all and they went off to a good foster home to be tamed so they could eventually be adopted. However, watching her behavior and her kittens gave me a good idea on how cats not familiar with humans would act. This will play a prominent role in my next book.

World of the Writer

Today, I managed to rewrite chapter one of 'Winter Emergence', the next book in my trilogy. During Pikes Peak Writers Conference I had a read and critique session with Steve Saffel and he told me although it was well written, it didn't grab him. What did I forget? You always need a hook to grab the reader and pull them into your world. So, I rewrote the entire first page, moved information around in the chapter and did a much better job at 'showing' rather than 'telling'. The reader wants to experience the world through the character. A simple fact I had forgotten. Speaking of experiencing the world through the writer, I currently have a cat on my lap. She's purring, warming my legs, her gray fur is soft on my arms and her tongue rough as she tries to both bathe me and get my attention away from the keyboard. It's rather annoying. What first attracted me to bring her home were her vivid green eyes. Not to mention she took a toy away from a child who was trying to play with her. I decided then and there she'd be perfect to bring home and introduce to the 'boys' - my two senior cats. There was lots of hissing and 'why are you sniffing my tail?'In between her hiding under the wooden bench next to the carpeted stairs. What happened? Well, that's a tale for another day.