Swine flu. I gots it. So here’s the brief NaNoWriMo update (as stolen from last night’s Facebook status update):

Word count: 35343. Crap factor: much lower than expected. Still shooting for mid-to-late summer 2010 release.

Coming soon: a rant about the nasty emails I get from irate readers on both side of the abortion issue regarding ‘Waiting For Spring.’

I’ve neglected my updates for the past few days. I can’t remember which day of NaNoWriting this is. But I’m up to 27367 words, about 9000 words ahead of schedule. And for those of you who are curious, here’s an excerpt. (Chosen because it’s the closest thing to polished writing I’ve got right now.)

WARNING: If you haven’t read ‘Waiting For Spring,’ there’s a pretty major spoiler here. And I hate spoilers. Seriously. If you haven’t read WFS yet, close this window and go read something else. But for those of you who have read it, here you go:

_________________________________________________________

 “My parents died in winter,” Wendy said.

 Rick only nodded. He knew. He’d been there.

 “They had to store their bodies somewhere until spring. Until the ground thawed.”

 “June,” he said. “They buried your parents in June.”

 “Yes. That’s right. In June.”

 He hit the blinker and made a right turn. New Mills was white and grey. Frozen solid. He drove past the grocery store. Past the diner. Kept his head low, so he wouldn’t be recognized. Drove slowly, so he wouldn’t be pulled over. Then he took a left, out of town. Out towards the gravel pit.

 “So their bodies just laid there all winter long,” she continued. “Rotting away in their coffins.”

 “They weren’t rotting. They…the funeral home…the cemetery…they kept ’em somewhere cold. Somewhere safe.”

 She gave a brief, disgusted snort. “In a cold storage shed. But they were still decomposing. Technically speaking.”

 “Stop it, Wendy.”

 “That’s why I’m glad I died in the summer. I started rotting in the ground, like you’re supposed to.”

 “I said stop it.”

 “Why? Because it reminds you of Rachel? About how she’s rotting away, too? Because she is, you know. Even though she’s in cold storage. Even though you don’t want to think about it. Her frozen, wounded body. And her broken, wounded soul.”

 He took a swig from his bottle. Jack Daniels. It had been years since he’d gotten any kind of buzz off his liquor. He’d had to be content with numbness. But today there wasn’t enough whiskey in the world to protect him from Wendy’s words.

 She laughed loudly at that. “They’re not my words, you idiot. They’re yours.”

 “I know.”

 “I’m not even here. Remember? I’m dead.” And with that, she started to fade again. Quickly this time. But before she disappeared completely, she turned to him, grinned widely, and said, “I’m in your head. I’m you.”

 “I know.” He looked away and took another swig. “That’s why I hate you so fucking much.”

Days 6 & 7

Well, the past two days are kind of a blur. I wrote, I did other stuff, then I wrote some more. Things are progressing well story-wise, with new characters and lots of angsty goodness and a WHOLE new way for Waiting For Spring readers to look at Rick. And my word count is 21870. I’m not feeling too cocky, though. The next few weeks are going to be completely insane…

Days 4 & 5 sort of blended together, since I actually wrote in several long spurts that started Wednesday afternoon (Day 4) and stopped at about 2am Thursday morning (Day 5). I broke it up thusly:

Day 4

Word count:

•  4062 / 9688

Encouragements/helps:

• Understanding and supportive family who left me alone and  made their own suppers. 
• Emotional upheaval.

Challenges and distractions to overcome:

• Stomach flu!
• Emotional upheaval. 

Odd sources of inspiration:

• My own “Magna Carta” lists. (Two lists made before starting your novel. ”What makes a good book?” and “What makes a dreadful, hideous, boring book?” -  From pages 85-88 of No Plot? No Problem! by NaNoWriMo founder, Chris Baty.

Day 5

Word count

• 1562 / 11250

Encouragements/helps:

• Wrote in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep.

Challenges and distractions to overcome:

• Sleepiness, lingering nausea from stomach flu. 
• Had to work first shift (6:30 am – 3:30 pm) Thursday, which meant that as I as writing, I knew I was using up precious “getting ready for work” sleep time. Also, Thursday is freight day, a source of swollen feet and achy muscles, so I was dreading that as well.

Odd sources of inspiration:

• Sims 3. (A Sim I made, then abandoned to create a new and more interesting Sim, started a life on her own and really screwed things up. I felt guilty for abandoning her. Yes, I’m a nerd. Shut up.)

Day 2 (Monday):

Word count:

• 3913 / Total: 5626

Encouragements/helps:

• A quiet room.
• Knowledge that a graveyard shift was coming up, making writing on Tuesday difficult.

Challenges and distractions to overcome:

• None. Great writing day!

Odd sources of inspiration:

• The swaying shadows of tree branches on my curtain.

DAY 3 (Tuesday):

Word count:

• 0 / Total: 5626

Challenges and distractions not overcome:

• Exhaustion from graveyard shift.
• Voting day.
• Play rehearsal.

DAY 4 (Wednesday/Today):

It’s almost noon and I still haven’t written a word. I’m overwhelmed with sadness and disappointment that Question 1 passed, repealing Maine’s gay marriage law. It’s not an abstract political issue. To my family it’s personal. I’m trying not to be bitter. I’m trying to NOT give into hate. I’m trying. And I’m going spend the afternoon trying to channel those feelings into my writing. Here’s hoping it works.

Yesterday was Day 1 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). 50,000 of a novel in 30 days. I’m using it – yet again! – to write the prequel/sequel/companion to Waiting For Spring (aka Rick and Wendy’s book). That’s right…I chucked the last version. Again. This will mark the third time I’ve begun writing it. The good news is, I’ve got a handle on how to tell the story this time. Seriously. I’ll post more information about the novel as the month goes on.

So, how did day 1 go?

Words written:

Encouragements/help:

Challenges and distractions overcome:

Odd sources of inspiration

Today I have to get twice as much written to make up for what will no doubt be a zero word count day tomorrow. (Working graveyard tonight, voting in the morning, sleeping in the late morning/afternoon, play rehearsal in the evening.)

How much of Tess Dyer was inspired by an actual person or situation? What is my favorite sentence from Waiting For Spring? And what’s up with all of those sex scenes? The answer to these questions – and much more! – can be found in this interview, conducted by Andrew Kent (author of Spam & Eggs: A Johnny Denovo Mystery) at the Backword Books blog. You can also find out how you can Tweet2Win a signed copy of Waiting For Spring. You know you want one.

For the next several weeks, Backword Book authors will be posting interviews with each other on the Backword Blog. This is pretty cool, because you can get to know each author twice…as an interviewer and interviewee. Just as exciting, you can enter for a chance to win a free book each week.

Last week, Henry Baum – author of the upcoming The Book of the American Dead – was featured, with Charles Dodd White winning a copy of the novel. This week it’s Kristen Tsetsi. Check out the interview and ask her a question of your own, for a chance to win a signed copy of her very excellent novel, Homefront, (See my review of it here) and a PDF of her short story collection, Carol’s Aquarium.

“The 70 authors on Operation Ebook Drop asked me to say: More Troops please.

We have dropped approximately 4000 Free discount coupons linking our brave men and women deployed in the Armed Forces to some of the finest Indie novels in the industry to keep their reading devices filled with a variety of genres and styles. If you are a troop who has received an ebook drop, sound off here, so your comrades can step up and request our gifts.

If you want to participate and are a deployed member of the coalition Armed Forces, just drop me (edwpat at att.net) an email with your name, unit and location (and a little feedback – our authors enjoy some feedback), and I’ll set you up on the program.

If you’re an author and want to join the ranks of the givers, publish your book(s) on Smashwords and set up a 100% discount coupon and then drop me a line at edwpat at att.net and I’ll forward you the troop list and set you up for all new incoming troop book requests.

This program is only a month old and happened by chance here in the Kindle community. Indie authors care and we want to make a difference by thanking our troops for their efforts.

 Edward C. Patterson former Sp5 E. Patterson, USAR 6th Batallion, 60 th Artillery (1966-68)”

The cashiers at our store are required to swipe each bill of $10 or higher with a special counterfeit detection pen. If the bill is real, the pen mark will be light-to-dark yellow. If it’s fake, the mark will be black; almost like a permanent marker. It’s kind of a pain in the ass, and makes the process of cashing out a customer that much longer, but it’s what we’re supposed to do, so we do it.

Yesterday, a group of hunters from Connecticut came into the store to buy hunting  supplies (Bud Light, Jack Daniels, chips…) and paid with a hundred dollar bill. As per company policy, I swiped it with my trusty pen. This elicited a chorus of hearty chuckles.

“What’s so funny?”

“That pen,” said Hunter #1. “As if you’d find any counterfeit bills up here.” Then he laughed some more.

You could say that this comment left me feeling rather indignant. In fact, you could say that it pissed me off. Who did these ignorant pinheads think they were, coming up here, polluting our fair state with their ugly, gas-guzzling Hummer, hunting our deer, and insulting us like that? Did they think Mainers don’t have the know-how to fashion realistic facsimiles of legal tender? Did they think we we’re without computers and printers and ink and internet access? Did they think we have no brains at all? 

I felt it necessary to put these Mighty Men of Arrow and Bow in their places.

“I’ll have you know,” I began, drawing myself up to my full five foot three inches and giving him an icy stare, “that Maine sees LOTS of counterfeit bills. Lots! We’ve gotten some in this very store! In fact, last month the cops raided a house just a few miles down the road that turned out to belong to the head of a counterfeiting ring!” Then I gave him a curt nod that said So There! and tossed him his change. 

Just imagine my reaction if they had scoffed at our citizens’ newfound commitment to having an increased share in the opiate trade…