Returning From the NaNoWriMo Land of Insanity...erm....Creativity......

So, I haven't blogged for a while. I have a reason for that. You see, I went on an adventure to NaNoWriMo Land. I got lost for a while in the wild abandonment that is writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

Did I make it? Yes I did. I went 10K over, in fact. Is the novel any good? Well, only time will tell, but you can check out the details of 'The Ring of Lost Souls' here. All I do know for the moment is that it took some stupendous and completely unexpected turns, which I never even saw coming.

And this is why I love November and National Novel Writing Month - you get swallowed up by the enormity of it and as a consequence, not only creative magic happens, but crazy risk taking also happens. This in turn seems to lead to even more creativity.

So, since I have finished a few days early, and now no longer know what to do with myself, I have compiled a list of interesting (in my eyes anyway, you may just be lulled into a sleepy land filled with numbers) statistics:

• Number of words written in November: 68,387 
• Actual word count as per NaNoWriMo validator: 60,387
• Words lost due to laptop malfunction: 8,000 (Yes, I am STILL feeling ill at this. All I can say, is back up your work more often than once a day)
• Number of days it took me to re-write above mentioned words: 1.5
• Kilograms of red bullets eaten during the month of November: 1.4
• Average words per day (as per NaNoWriMo website):2,012
• Most words written in a single day: 8,000
• Least words written in a day: 0
• Day I reached 50,000 words: 21st November
• Day I actually finished my novel: 28th November
• Days it would have taken me to reach 50,000 words if all the days of no writing were taken out: 16 (Holy smoke, Batman!)
• Number of plots thrown in because I couldn't think of anything else to add: 6
• Number of above plots that were useful: 1
• Number of covers designed: 2 (And thanks again to Jade Zivanovic for the best cover art EVER!)

So, there you have it! For those of you who are still writing furiously, may you creativity flow while your hands keep up. And for those of you who are writing you NaNoWriMo novel free-hand: are you INSANE?!?!?! No, just kidding ;-P Here's hoping your pen flows as freely as your creativity and your hand cramps up only after the 1st of December!

Fantasy Island Book Publishing: Scare Our Pants Off Competition

Fantasy Island Book Publishing: Winner of the Scare Our Pants off Contest:

Congratulations to Jared Loper, who is the winner of Fantasy Island Book Publishing Halloween horror short story contest!

Jared wins a full edit of his story, a shelf full of horror, and a place in every blog of every FIBP writer with a link to his full story.

Here is his super scary entry:

Boogeyman by Jared Loper
Everything had been going well the day that it all happened. Surprisingly well, even. It had been a crisp, fall day. As Miguel walked home from his job at the Indianapolis Child Support-Prosecuting Attorneys, he could smell the moisture in the air. It would snow soon. If not today, then sometime later on in the week. The walk to Ransom Street wasn’t very far. It also wasn’t the most pleasant walk in the world. The neighborhood had been pretty run-down and was only getting worse. (More at http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Boogeyman)