NaNoWriMo and a plea for your prayers

As you all know, I did NaNoWriMo again this year. This was my second year, and I can honestly say it was a lot easier the second time around. I ended up writing another LDS romance, taking two minor characters from my first novel and following up on their story.

Last year I found out about NaNo on Nov.4th, which made it hard to come up with an idea and write 50,000 words of a novel from it in less than a month. Nonetheless, I managed. This year I had my idea outlined, and let me tell you, it made the whole process much easier. I rarely sat down thinking, "What on earth comes next?" Instead it was, "Okay, I've got to get this laid out so I can do that, and ... oh ... hm ... No, let's do it this way instead!" Okay, so it sounds crazy, but my characters don't always listen to me and play out the plotline I've given them. When I tried to explain it to C, he looked at me like I was crazy ... But it's true! Sometimes my own characters refuse to listen to my instructions. The funny part is that the story ends up even better in the end because they didn't listen to me.

Anyway, for those of you who are waiting for your chance to review the story of Becky and Joe, you'll have to wait a few months. I passed the 50,000 mark and "won" NaNo again, but I've still got two or three chapters left to finish it off. Then I've got to go back and weave in a second plot thread that I'd totally forgotten about. So, I'm hoping to have it polished by the end of March. (Writing is not my full-time job - it's squished into nap times and after-bedtime hours.)

And as far as the prayers go ... I've been patiently submitting my novel from last year (Working title: Lacy's Choice) to publishers. So far I've been able to take rejection with a grain of salt. If you're an unknown, unpublished author sending your manuscript in to the largest, most well-known LDS publishing companies, you just kind of accept that they're probably not even reading past your query letter.

But yesterday I mailed off my manuscript to the next publisher on the list - and to be honest, the one most likely to accept my novel. Cedar Fort, Inc. prides themselves on giving first-time authors a chance. Of the "big guys", they are my best chance. So, include me in your prayers. I realize your prayers can't change my manuscript, but maybe they can help put the editors in a cheery mood when they get to it.

Here's hoping ....