Monday, November 26, 2007

nearly full november moon



A few nights ago, my daughter and I were out doing barn chores when I noticed this gorgeous moon had risen over the back field. Suddenly everything became quite magical and I realized that exact feeling is what I want to capture in my YA novel that thus far has one chapter written over a year ago.

Starting December 1st, I'm planning to get busy and get a first draft done. I hadn't planned this until late one night near the end of October when some writers were posting about doing NanoWriMo. I got excited and jumped on the bandwagon. As is typical for me, I took the whole thing a step further and decided to do not only a November writing project but a December one too.

It never occurred to me until several weeks later that the YA novel begins on the winter solstice, so doing it in December will be perfect.

This photo is a reminder to me of the mood of that evening. I'm looking forward to some writing in the barn.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh, Billie! You have inspired me with that fantastic photograph. I'm a photographer, too. I will come back late tonight and show you something cool. I think you might appreciate it. :-)



L

billie said...

Oh, I'll look forward to it. In the morning, probably... :)

Anonymous said...

This is an 'empty' blog I started quite a while back:

http://scribalmenagerie.blogspot.com

I posted a photo there so I could share it with you. I took it back in August, but it reminds me more of fall than of summer. When I saw your photo, I thought of it right away. They are a bit similar, isn't that cool? I can appreciate how your photo would bring you a magical feeling and I think that's perfect for a YA novel (and its lucky readers). My photo gave a somewhat similar feeling. To me, it has a feeling of mystery, but with just a touch of apprehension. I think it's the colors that put that kind of a spin on it for me. And the fact that it is NOT the moon you see in the photo, but the SUN. And it's not fall, it's summer. Spooky, no? That's summer where I live. Storm season.

The empty blog is one that I wanted to develop into a writer's blog, but I couldn't quite figure out a way to separate a writer's blog from a personal blog, because of how my writing mirrors the personal journey like we discussed before. They have been so intertwined for me, but perhaps... one never knows. :-)



L

billie said...

That photo is quite lovely! And I know what mean about the writing and personal merging. It's difficult to separate the two.

Anonymous said...

This is an amazing photo.

billie said...

Thanks, Matthew. It turned out better than I thought when I took it!

Peggy Payne said...

About NaNoRiMo...did you write a quickie draft of something? or go at NNRM speed on your work-in-progress. I find either quite daunting. But would probably benefit by giving it a shot.

billie said...

Hey, Peggy - for November I have been working on my nonfiction project that has to do with horses, titled Partners in Zen. I had a few paragraphs written and have been thinking on it for several years.

I started November 1st and will end up tomorrow with just over 25k words. It will need fleshing out but the skeletal system is firmly in place.

On Saturday I'm starting with the YA novel I've also been simmering for several years. I have the first chapter and a fair number of notes, but no real plan for how it will unfold. I want to do the same thing as I did in November - get a solid hunk of the initial writing done so I can roll into the new year with things to work on.

As though I don't already have enough of them! But I decided it was time to get these two into physical form.

Peggy Payne said...

An astonished Wow!