November!

It's nearly November. Two more days.... That means just one thing. NaNoWriMo is right around the corner!

If you haven't experienced the madness of NaNo, you've been missing out. Writing 50,000 words in a month may seem like an insurmountable goal, but I've done it multiple times - and not just during NaNo. Whether it'll work for you or not? How will you know unless you try? ;-)

I'm not as ready mentally as I have been in the past, but I'm hoping my brain will cooperate come November 1st. This year, I'll be working on a fantasy novel. That's a sizable shift for me, but all my background materials are ready. Mostly. The fantasy world creation is pretty well done - what I need for this novel anyway - with the exception of the map I need to complete. Knowing me and my extreme pantser style, I'll probably do that map as I go. Hey, it's what I do. he he

The most fun little piece I created for this novel? An insect that chirps through parts of winter - the snow doesn't put them off a bit. In fact, it's part of their life cycle. Of course, most of the details I put into it won't be used in the book, but it sure has been fun to create those little guys.

Anyway, now's the time to set your eyes on that 50K goal for November. Get those fingers limbered up and your writing software booted up (I use WriteWayPro). No time for procrastination!

Are you doing NaNo this year? If so, what are you planning to work on? Are you ready to hit the ground running on the 1st? Or are you in panic mode like so many, scrambling to get ready?

I'm Having WAY Too Much Fun Here....

Have you ever procrastinated about doing something the Lord is nudging you to do? Thought "That's not really reasonable", "I doubt I'd like that", "I'd have to learn something new and don't really have the time", or some other similar, empty excuse?

Yeah, well, that was me in the very recent past. I'd felt the Lord poking me in the direction of doing my own book cover designs for several weeks (months actually - but we'll pretend it was only weeks *G*). With my first two books, Beyond Hope and Promises, I used Create Space's cover creator to design the covers. They have some great templates to work with, and you can use whatever photos you like. But they also are very restricted as far as fonts, text sizes, and colors (not to mention all text has to be the same color).

I just sucked it up and dealt with it. After all, doing the entire cover - front, spine, and back - from scratch - that's an unreasonable task to lay on my doorstep, Lord. I have NO idea what I'm doing!

Then it came time to work on cover design ideas for my new books to be released beginning this summer - the Donovan Legacy series. I played with the CS cover creator. Uh, workable, but... I didn't really like the results. So I did a combination of CS cover creator and Photoshop. Still not happy, but better. Mostly. Sort of. Great, my perfectionism and nit-picky side kicked in. Argh! Okay, so NOT what I really want. Deal with it. Accept it and move on. (Yeah, cause that was actually gonna happen.)

I ran across a how-to book I'd gotten a while back for Photoshop. Looked through it, played with a couple of things, and decided the book was written by someone who liked to hear themselves talk and tossed it aside. (Now, I can't find the thing to save my life - probably packed it. Doh!) Kind of reinforced the whole "too time-consuming" excuse. So I let it go.

Then, a friend wanted a cover design - front cover only for an e-book. She was telling me what she wanted. It couldn't have been more simple, and I basically said so. She asked if I could do it. She wasn't wanting anything fancy using techniques I didn't know and hadn't used for other types of projects. So, why not? By the time we got through playing, I'd completed 4 front cover designs for her, plus I'd learned a couple of new things about PS.

Well, that kind of blew part of my excuse for not doing my own cover designs. Yeah, I still had a lot to learn about PS, but I already knew enough to be dangerous by that point. he he

The nudges that had turned to pokes became jabs. Get your backside in gear. That first book will be ready for publication before you know it.

All right. All right. I'm going.

And thus I ended up going from this:

 

to this (PS work with the photos, changed font):

 

to this:

Finally, a result I was actually HAPPY with! And you know what? I learned some new stuff, and man, did I ever have fun! In fact, I got a bit addicted at that point. Since this series is 4 books, and I want some continuity to the cover designs (yeah, nice excuses, huh?), I decided to go ahead and re-design all 4. After all, the next one won't be out for months after this first one, so if I decide to change something, I've got PLENTY of time.  And thus I went from:

To these:

Only one problem. They're done. I've nit-picked them to my heart's content and worked myself to a standstill. Now what do I do?

Oh! That new series I'm currently writing.... Yeah!

So, fess up! What have you procrastinated on in the past and found yourself wondering after the fact why you did so? Or are you currently procrastinating about something you feel the Lord nudging you to do?

(BTW, as a side note - my cover designs involve a combination of my own photography and the work of other photographers. With regards to the latter, whether I get the photos for free or for a charge - and always with photographer notification in the mix - I provide credit on the copyright page of the each to the photographer(s).  Regardless of whether I pay for the copyright license or the photographer generously shares their work for free, I believe they deserve credit for their work.)