Novelling ups and downs

I apologize for the length of time between my last post and this. My NaNoWriMo novel seems to consume all my time, brain-power, and emotions. I'm loving it though! :) When I read back over what I have of the story so far, there are some points where I'm like, "Wow, did I really write this? It's amazing!" (Of course, there are parts where I wonder: "How did that get in there?!" )

Yes, this novelling business certainly is a roller coaster ride. There are days that I have to force myself to sit down at the computer, even if I'm just staring at the computer for fifteen minutes before I think of anything to write. And there are other days where my characters dance in my heads all day, solving their problems and difficulties for me and introducing new twists in the plot. Mostly, though, it's been somewhere in-between. It's just finding time to write and staying focused when I do get to write that's hard.

One time when I was writing, I came across a scene that really struck me. I don't usually get very emotional when I write, but in this scene I actually found myself crying as I was writing. The scene was of the main character, Anna, feeling that there is no one who cares about her, and no one to rescue her. She just wants to give up hope and let herself grow numb. But the princess Cassandra, who Anna is serving as her maid, tells Anna the reason that she is still hoping for someone to rescue her. Cassandra says, "The only thing that is keeping me going is the knowledge that I have a father in heaven who is watching over me. I know He cares for me." It's hard to explain why that made me cry - it just really touched my heart.

Another big thing that has happened while I've been writing this novel is that I had my wisdom teeth removed a week ago Monday. I'm glad I didn't know what it would be like before I did it, or else I would never have been so brave. It was pretty tough, especially since I decided not to do the general anesthetic, just the local and "laughing gas". My reason why is that I abhor needles more than just about anything else. The oral surgeon actually said at the end of the operation that most people who have teeth like mine chose to have the general - so he said I was very brave. I really didn't feel brave. I just tried to suffer through it.

Afterward, I found that the recovery was actually harder than the operation. But my novel kept my mind occupied on other things, and I was able to write alot during that time. Of course, now that life has picked back up for me it's harder to catch up (yes, I'm still behind the schedule). But I just keep plugging along, one day at a time!

So those are some of the ups and downs I've faced writing this novel. I am now past the halfway point, so hopefully it will all be downhill from here!

~Melody


P.S. I made a "word cloud" for my novel. It's up on the right of the page, right under the banner for my blog. It's a pretty neat thing - It basically takes all the words from my novel and makes the words that are used most the biggest. Please check it out!