Saturday, May 12, 2012

Camp NaNoWriMo, and a New Poem...

Camp NaNoWriMo is coming up again.  I joined in on the frenzy last August trying to finish "The Shepherdess Princess" by shooting for 50,000 words written in the month.  It officially starts in June and resumes in August with a separate challenge for the month of July in between.  I have had such a busy month of May with being summoned for jury duty that I don't even know if I have any free time to work on an outline for a story to work on in June at all.  The month is already half over.  I haven't written anything for a couple weeks now beside a poem entitled "We're Not In Kansas Anymore" that I penned late last night.  I also have a partial poem written that I would like to edit some and finish.

Last November while doing NaNoWriMo, I managed to get 11,500 words total for the month.  Even though they have writing challenges for each month of the year, I haven't joined in any of them since November.  I have made progress in "The Shepherdess Princess" quite a bit since then because I now have 20,186 words total in the story.

I really wanted to try to get started on a new project for Camp NaNoWriMo, but I'm not sure if that's a possibility for me at the moment.  I started writing "The Shepherdess Princess" for NaNoWriMo in November 2009, and I feel bad about using the same novel over and over again when my first draft should be done by now.  I have enjoyed working at my own pace a lot better, though.  I've never been good with having a deadline because it brings too much stress onto me.  I love about being an independent author because I can work at my own pace.  I mainly join these novel writing months to network with other authors, and see how much progress I can make just doing my own thing.

Here is the picture that prompted the new poem:


Here's the poem:

"We're Not In Kansas Anymore"

Dorothy, Em, and Henry don’t live here anymore.
They moved to some other peaceful shore.
They got sick of the twisters-
The last of which took Dorothy’s mister.

Dorothy’s husband is the new Wizard of Oz,
Or at least she thinks so because
A piece of the Yellow Brick Road
Came down one day in the field below
With a note.

“I’m sorry I never believed you,” Dorothy read,
“I really thought it was all in your head.
The Cowardly Lion and Tin Man say hello,
And the Scarecrow sends his regards to the family down below.
Glenda the Good Witch offered to send for you
If you so choose.
Mr. Marvelous is waiting with his new balloon.
It will be taking off tomorrow promptly at Noon.”

Dorothy spent the night
Thinking whether or not she should take the flight.
She missed her husband and friends,
But she decided against it in the end.
Someone had to take care of Uncle Henry and Aunt Em,
As they have no other kin.


I haven't added my new poem to "The Trifecta" yet, but I will soon.  I'm just not sure when I'll find the time.

I stated in a previous post that I started reading "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke.  I have since set it aside to read "Calico Joe" by John Grisham which I finished reading Friday afternoon.  I immediately started another library book called "The Thief Queen's Daughter" by Elizabeth Haydon.  I'm now about halfway done with it.  "The Thief Queen's Daughter" is the second book in a series of books I found on sale at the local Dollar Tree store not too long ago.  The series is entitled The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme.  The main character is a magical being called a Nain (a race that predominantly lives underground), his family are shipbuilders, they have lived above ground for four generations, and he's the youngest of 13 kids at the age of 50 in Nain years (13-14 in human years).  The series starts with him lost at sea during an Inspection of a new ship that was attacked by Pirates, he's rescued by a merrow (mermaid type creature) until he's picked up by a passing boat that spotted an albatross that had been circling over him in the distance.  It's a series of Children's books, but I would recommend them to any age of reader.  I feel like a kid again whenever I open one of these books up.

The first and third book in the series was the only two I could find on sale at the Dollar Tree.  I've read "The Floating Island" (book #1) and will eventually read "The Dragon's Lair" (book #3) sometime after I finish with "The Thief Queen's Daughter."  I'll probably go back to reading "Inkheart" in order to get it back to the library without wanting to renew it too many times.  "Inkheart" is also a Children's book series.

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