I won! Nanowrimo 2008

I just finished. 50,130 words. Hurray! It is Saturday night, which means I have a whole day to spare. I am not green with envy at those who somehow completed this *weeks* ago. Not me. Nope. Well, perhaps a little.

Tonight, Pierre said to me “Well, you now have an entire month for editing. By the first of January, I expect you to have a completed manuscript, ready to send to publishers.” He means agents, he just doesn’t know it.

Happy, happy, joy, joy. I finished. Well, sort of finished. I reached my goal of writing 50,000 words during November. I’m very happy.

Now comes the editing. I need to make sure that dates and such are consistent, and I know they are not at the moment. I need to write a few more scenes that show the growing political unrest as the empire falls apart. I have a number of scenes which I stopped short because I had no idea what to say. They must be fleshed out. I need to go through and eliminate the use of Sumerian in speech because, apparently, it stopped being a spoken language at least three hundred years before the story. Ooops! And somehow I need to stick in a scene where the men realize that Jacob is circumcised. I think I’ll get Pierre’s help for that.

But I did it!

Why I write what I write

On Twitter, @sarahcpr asked an interesting question – on our blogs, who do we write for? Do we write what we like, or do we try to cater to what others like? That required more than a 140 character answer.

The truth is, I can’t write to what others want, because I have no way of knowing what it is you want to read. So, I write here the same way I write my fiction. What comes from my heart comes out through my fingers. I put everything I can into it, and I hope that someone, somewhere, will enjoy reading the final product.

While I work on Rakkot Eyes, Pierre frets. If I put in Bible verses at the beginning of some chapters, he fears that it will turn away some readers who are expecting a solidly historical read. He’s probably right. If I have temple prostitutes and women having ritual sex before marriage, then he worries that it will turn away Christian readers. He’s probably right. Either way, someone ain’t gonna be happy. In the end, I will likely have a fairly long Author’s Note at the end explaining some of my decisions. And, of course, a reminder that the story is, after all, fiction.

On a totally unrelated note, I’ve been experimenting with Magpie, a service which purports to pay “publishers” for ad space in our Tweet stream. As interesting an idea as it is (and Magpie says I could make 156 Euros a month or almost $250 CAD), I’m not prepared to lose my very nice follow list, which currently stands at 763 followers. So what I’ve done is create another Twitter account – @marie_too – and I’ve invited those who want to see/send Magpie advertising to follow me there. It’s safe to say that anyone who is following me @marie_too is quite happy to receive Magpie advertising as they’ve effectively opted-in to receive it.

Anyway, although I’ve mentioned it a couple of times, @marie_too still has less than 20 followers, one of which is my main account @mariebeausoleil – this leads me to believe that most people really, really don’t want Magpie advertising.

Word count? Are we looking for word count? Alas, in the switching of computers between me and Pierre, I lost my Nanowrimo report card. *insert crying sounds* I know that I had 38,365 words when I started, and I’m trying to write 50,000 new words. My word count currently stands at 77,203 which means I have a lot of writing to do this week.

Nanowrimo Day 22

My word count by the end of the day should be 36, 674.

Currently, it stands at 34, 122.

Honestly, I should do a little extra if I can. The weather is terribly cold today, so that’s my excuse for not sticking my cute little nose out the window at all. (Okay, I do not have a cute little nose, but I still don’t want it to freeze and fall off. You think I’m kidding? It’s -17C plus windchill today!)

I know that I need to write more story about Laban (my main character’s father) and his new wife. As I’m reading what I’ve already written, I’m discovering that he’s really, really not a nice person. Early in the story, he regrets smacking around the slave woman who has been sharing his tent for decades. However, he doesn’t really feel bad about it, more of ‘Eh, shouldn’t do that to her.” Later, he has no problem with kicking her out of the tent when he gets married. In the women’s tent, his new wife comments on the bruise on her face by saying that her husband was displeased when her moon time came. So he’s an asshole, plain and simple. He’s a bully who picks on women and those who are weaker than he is. I think I’m pleased with this. I don’t want him to be a sympathetic character. After all, he purposely switches brides when Jacob gets married. He’s not a stupid man, so he had to know that this would cause problems for everyone. He doesn’t care. So, yes, he’s the sort of man who would beat up his wife or his female slave, and the sort of man who would marry a much younger wife instead of an older widow.

I’m struggling with how much to write about Rachel at the Inanna temple with her aunt. This was a fertility cult, and everything I have read about fertility cults says that they treated sex as something beautiful. Now, this is not something we learned in Sunday School, you know, that Rachel and Leah grew up in a fertility cult culture. What does this mean? Well, no one knows. I want to portray things accurately, except I worry that those who read this story expecting a “Bible-based” tale are going to have a rude surprise. Anyone who believes, as we were taught in Sunday School, that the Patriarchs and their families were all “good little Jews” (or rather, “good little Christians-in-waiting”!) will not like my story. Because … well, they aren’t.

I wish I could sit down with an expert an ask some questions:
What would it mean, day to day, or before marriage, to grow up in a fertility cult?
Would a girl approaching marriage be taught “the art of love”? If so, what would that mean?
Was virginity important, or are we only assuming it was because it was later?
If nomadic women had the “red tent” or the “women’s tent” during menstruation, what did city women do? Could this have been a bone of contention between city and tent relatives?

I’ve also realized that I’ve focused a lot on the women and Inanna and included absolutely nothing about the moon god Sin. Apparently the city of Haran had a huge temple for him. Which leads me to the question of just *how* big these temples could be?

I realize that it’s likely no one knows the answers to many of these questions, so my guess is as good as anyone’s. It would be nice, however, to talk with someone who studies these things professionally.

Well, I have a lot of writing to do today. 2552 words or more. That’s only going to work if the baby behaves wonderfully today.

Day 19 Nanowrimo

I have once again fallen behind. Somehow in the switching of computers today (why, oh, why, did we decide to do this in the middle of Nanowrimo), I also lost my Nanowrimo report card, which helped me keep track of where I am and where I should be.

Today, I should be at 31, 673 words
I actually have 29,205.
Even with my poor math skills, I can see a problem. 2468 words is what I need to write in the next hour.

I don’t think it’s happening. I have a cranky 13 month old who doesn’t want to stay asleep, and I have an appointment early tomorrow. Sigh. Let’s see how much I can do.

Nanowrimo Day 14

I’ve fallen behind again. I’ll try to make it up tomorrow.

Nanowrimo words: 23022 (Should have hit 25000 tonight)

Total words: 61657

Day 13 Nanowrimo

Well, I think comments are working! Hurray! I only had to completely destroy my blog in order to do it. Okay, I can get all of that back. I need to figure out how to change the font and font size for my blog lists, turn my labels back into a label cloud, add my Twitter button back, get my tracking code back on. Yea, just a few things to do.

My word count is:
21747 Nanowrimo words
60382 Total words

I’ve introduced a cook who knew Leah’s mother, and I found out that Leah’s father is quite fond of quails. I’ve introduced a childhood enemy of Leah’s who, like many childhood enemies, remembers her quite fondly. I’ve set up Leah’s slave girl as desperately wanting children but scared because she lost her first two. (I don’t mean miscarriages)

All in all, it’s all pulling together nicely.

And, yea, if you’d like to follow me in Twitter (I’m semi-active), I’m at http://www.twitter.com/mariebeausoleil

Lest we forget

It is Rememberance Day. When I was a child, we all marched in the town parade and then stood around the town’s War Memorial while the remaining veteran’s were honoured.

Does that even happen any more? Are there any vets left?

I’m only 36 and the world has changed so much in my lifetime. I don’t think that there’s ever been a period of time in history where things have changed so rapidly. I grew up using a rotary dial phone and long distance calls were horribly expensive, and now we use Twitter and blogs to communicate with strangers all over the phone.

I’m loving Twitter. I’ve already met so many interesting people. If you read this, I’d love to have you follow me. I do tit-for-tat following, so I’ll add you as soon as I notice.

Rakkot Eyes is at 54,376 words, which means I have 15, 714 Nanowrimo words done. By the end of today, that number needs to be at 18,333. This is going to be a bit of a struggle, since I woke this morning with a headache and a sore throat. I’m such a bad Mommy, because I shoved some Honeycombs and a bottle of milk at the baby, turned on Treehouse and crawled under a blanket on the couch. I’m up now, but oh, I saw want to crawl back onto that couch. If he naps today, I’ll be napping, not writing.

So let’s see how I do by the end of the day. Perhaps I can give Leah a bad cold? I assume people got the common cold 4000 years ago?

Nanowrimo Day 9

Well, my word count is at 52,888 (total) less the 38,635 that I wrote before Nanowrimo began, so that means I’m sitting at 14,253. The goal for the end of today is 15,000. IF my darling boy will go to sleep, I should be able to do that. Alas, it means I’m missing Murdoch Mysteries tonight.

On another note, I’ve finally given in and joined Twitter. I’m mariebeausoleil (so surprising). Please feel free to add me if you’re reading this.

My husband has told me what he wants for Christmas – a really, really good survivalist book, written for city people like us. Any ideas?

Back on target!

I’m doing the happy dance cuz I’m back on target! Hurrah!

11814 words. Hubby and I have a hot date tonight, so I may not get any writing done tonight, but I am, at least, back on target.

Buy books for Christmas

It seems that the book publishing industry took a real kick in the teeth during October. An amazing number of books were returned to the publishers. Did you know that bookstores are really consignment shops? If the books don’t sell, the bookstore gets a full refund.

The more I learn about the publishing industry, the more I wonder why they even bother. Really – they must love the written word even more than we writers do, because I can’t see any other reason for them to do it.

At any rate, here’s the plea coming from Editorial Ass, and I agree with her completely. Buy books for yourself and for gifts.

I’m going to talk with my darling this weekend and try to convince him that We Must Buy Books. I know he’ll give me a stern, over-the-glasses look and, while maintaining that steady gaze on me, point to our beleaguered budget. I shall then plead and say “But if the publishing industry disappears, who will publish Rakkot Eyes when it’s ready?” He’ll tell me that we cannot rescue the publishing industry with our meagre bank account.

I shall try, though. If I can convince him, I’ll post what books I buy.

Word count … my Nanowrimo word count stands at 8528, leaving Rakkot Eyes at a total of 47 163 words. I’ve managed to combine one minor-in-this-book-but-major-in-the-next character with another minor character, which gave me inspiration for a few interesting plot points. She is a slave, owned by a friend of the main character, and her primary function is to have babies for her barren owner. She is the surrogate mother, wet nurse, and primary caregiver for children who legally and socially belong to another. And she’s just barely out of puberty. Character motivations are building in this book in order to fully pay dirt in the next.

Right now, I’m struggling with one thing. Have you ever heard of temple prostitutes? Well, the story has always been that women who worship Inanna must go to the temple at least once in their adult lives (I once read that it had to be before marriage) and offer themselves to the first man who tossed a coin their way. This story has always been told to show the debauchery of those long-ago people.

Well, now some scholars are saying that it never happened and that there is no evidence that any of the regular women engaged in this, and that not even the priestesses did.

If it did happen, then they would not have thought about it the way we do. It would be more along the lines of – a woman’s virginity is sacred and therefore belongs to the goddess. The goddess would oversee the selection of which man chose her, and the two of them would then embody the god and goddess. In other words, from the moment he gave her the money, the two of them would cease to exist as mortal humans.

I’m leaning toward using it. The major character who is going to do this is heavily influenced by her aging, powerful aunt, who was once a high priestess and enacted the Sacred Marriage with the king. Having this character engage in the Sacred Marriage as a laywoman will cause horrific conflict between her and her husband later, because he is monotheistic and his people don’t do this.