There isn't much time left. I have exactly six days left on my sabbatical, then I jump headfirst into the craziest month of my existence. I have figured out that if I want to hit my 53000 words this year, I have to write 2500 words a day five days a week. If I stretch that out to six days a week, that count goes to 2120 words a day. If I write every single day of the week for the entire month of November, I would have to write 1767 words a day. It's not as intimidating as it sounds.

53000 words is roughly 102 single spaced pages in Arial 11 point font. I wrote 129 pages in just over two weeks last year in October before jumping into Nano. So this shouldn't be horrible. I might even be able to have a social life while participating in Nano this year.

The whole point of Nanowrimo is to prove to yourself that yes, you can do this. There's no excuse to keep putting off the chance to write that book you've been dreaming about. It's tons of fun and I'm excited to be a part of it again this year. The prize is just too cool.

So I'm going to enjoy my last six days of sabbatical (I might even cut it short and work on Legacy before the Nano craziness begins) and make plans for November that are far enough away that I can plan my writing around them. Then I'm going to wait for my proof copy of Forbidden to arrive so I can again hold the work my mind in the palm of my hand.

NP over at Coffee Stained Writer (www.coffee-stainedwriter.blogspot.com) posted about stealing other people's ideas last week (I think it was Saturday? I read the post on Saturday) and I wanted to clear the air a little bit because I felt the post was inadvertently directed over here to me. Consider this the only time I'm going to rant on this blog. Most of my rants are saved for my personal blog, but I digress.

I know, I know. It's not November yet Kell. It's not even September yet and here you are, harping about three pages a day and now you're talking about nanowrimo. What's up with that? Here's what's up with that.

I did nanowrimo last year and I've never regretted a moment of it. Nanowrimo has made me a little bit of money by giving me the chance to publish my first novel successfully. If a very good friend of mine hadn't pushed me to do it (thanks NP. You'll never know how much) I would still be where I was last year, questioning my talent and wondering if I should just hang up my pen and go out into the real world again.

Here's why you need to do nanowrimo if you've never done it before. You'll be pushed creatively, you'll find you can write those 50,000 words (don't freak out at the number. It's not as hard as you think), and you'll be richly rewarded afterward when you do finish it. Plus, once you see that you can make the word count for the month, you'll never say three pages a day is so hard again. Trust me on that one.

So why am I bringing it up now? Come on, it's August still. Well, you can't work on an unfinished work for nanowrimo. It has to be brand new. That means you better get your research done right now. That means your character mapping needs to be finished next month or in October. It means you need to prepare for it right now.

"But I'm still working on a project. I don't have time." Stop whining. You think you're busy? So is everyone else. Believe me, I have too many irons in the fire right now. I'm releasing a book in November, as well as finishing up a first draft before November 1st, transcribing a novel for a friend that needs to be done by November 1st, and I'm doing my research for nano right now. If I can do it, so can you.

At least give it a shot. You'll get tips and advice along the way that will be very helpful for you. It's worth every sleepless night and stressful day. It's worth it to be able to say that you completed something. That's the first step in cultivating a successful writing career isn't it? You have to finish something.

So sign up and get ready. Once November gets here, you'll be shocked how fast it flies by.

Sorry for the few days of nothing. As I'm sure everyone and their grandmother is aware by now, my computer was trashed last week. Drama, drama, drama. Add this to the fact that I currently don't have internet at home, and you get the three (sometimes more) posts a week. Last weekend was a mental health weekend and I didn't leave my apartment. So, today starts a new day.

I have a new fang marked computer, or at least a temporary one until I get the real new computer. So for the last three days, I've been rewriting the book that I lost last week and I'm finding new things to inspire me to keep going. I'm dependant on music to write. Since most of my new music was lost on the hard drive, I'm using what I had saved from a LONG time ago on the external hard drive. While going through this music I realized two things: I need to get new music and I really love the Japanese rock music I saved.

Anyone whose read Prophecy knows about the Daitenshi Club which has a rock song in Japanese being played when Rhoswen walks in. I forgot all about that song until I found it on Monday. I also found the theme song to the first couple seasons of Inuyasha. That's a good song too. I might not know what the words mean (there are some English words in there, but that doesn't help much), but the music is great.

This got me to thinking today about inspiration. What helps put you in the writing mode? What do you do to make sure that you get those 3 pages a day everyone in the business says we should write? Are you a musicphile (if that's not a word, I created one) or do you need to read a lot or do you like to look at nature?

I need the music, that's true, but I also read constantly. This week's been a slow week since I'm only on my second book of the week. Normally I knock out about four. Granted, I did finish about seven volumes of manga over the weekend, but still. Since I'm a vampire writer, I read a LOT of vampire stuff. I'm currently into the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I'm in love with True Blood. Next I'll be back in the Twilight zone (yes that's Stephenie Meyer. I'm making bad jokes) again after the latest Sherrilyn Kenyon comes out next month.

Tell me what inspires you. I'm curious to know what works for other people. Maybe I'll find something new for myself.

When you're writing, how do you picture your characters? This is something I've been thinking about lately and I'm dying (pardon the pun there) to know what other people think.

I've read that some writers think about their novels like a movie playing in their head. They can see the people in the story as actual actors. I must be strange then because I don't see that in my head. I actually see my novel coming to life as an anime. Yes, you heard me. Anime.

Japanese animation is just cool, if you've seen any you have to admit that. It's classic and revolutionary and uninhibited. I've seen things in manga and anime that American artists would never try in a million years. If you've ever seen Akira or Vampire Hunter D, you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, when I was writing Prophecy, I saw Seven, Rhoswen, Ulrich, Chocon, and Varick as anime characters. I even had my husband draw some of them to help me out. So I want to know how you see your characters when you're writing.

Is it a film playing out in your head? Is it like a music video to whatever you're using to right brain? Is it like mine? Is it something totally off the wall?

The time has come for me to separate my writing life from my actual life. There's just too much going on with my writing to keep it on my regular blog. Once my second novel comes out in November, there will be even more.

So far, everyone loves Prophecy. That is surprising and not surprising at the same time for me. When I wrote the story of Seven and Rhoswen, I didn't expect it to take off like this. I was just discussing the story with my friend Melissa, who just finished the book a week ago, and she was begging me for the second one (she has it on her computer. When I told her that, she got real quiet and paid attention to the road). I never thought I would inspire people to actually cry when something happens to one of my characters (I almost gave away the plot twist. Oooops), but Melissa did. So did Laura, who bought the first copy I sold.

As I've been editing the prequel, which will be out sometime next year, I've found myself loving my characters all over again. It's interesting to think of what they will go through later in the novel or later on in the story as I'm writing the next book in the series.

It also makes me think about what will happen when this goes mass market (because it will eventually). That's exciting to think about.

Anyways, I wanted to throw out a post saying welcome and there will be more to come. Now it's time for more coffee.