And finally...
I sent the printed copy in by courier on Tuesday. It arrived in Vancouver and was signed for at the front desk by "Patty" at 10:26 AM Local time.
Now begins the LONG wait for the judges to sort out a short list and eventually pick a winner.
Last year they had around 300 entries and the whole process took nearly 4 months, so it's gonna be a while.
I have no expectations of winning or even short listing, but you don't enter something like this without a little hope that somehow you might just be good enough...
4 months is a long time to hold your breath, so I'm just gonna cross my fingers.
And toes.
For those interested...
I just got confirmation from "Melissa" at the 3 day novel contest that its OK to e-mail the file to my individual friends. They don't consider that to be publishing. If you want to read it, send a self-addressed, stamped e-mail to "
greybishop1@yahoo.ca" so I can e-mail you the file. It's a word doc, so you gotta have Microsoft Word!
I'd love to let you read it but...
I found this on the 3 day site in the rules:
Manuscripts will NOT be returned. Entrants retain all copyright for their work, however,
publishing an entry in any form (including self-publishing, chapbooks, or web publishing) before the winner is announced will disqualify the author from winning. After the announcement, we will present the winning author with a publishing contract. All other entrants may develop or publish their novels as they wish.
I'm going to e-mail them to see if it's ok to send copies out individually...
And then it hit me...
It took a half an hour, but as I was coming down the stairs from my den, it occurred to me just how cool it is that
I ACTUALLY FINISHED A NOVEL!
In Less Than 72 Hours!Fortunately, my couch and television were the only victims subjected to the GB Happy Dance.
No injuries have been reported at this time.
THANK YOU, EVERYONE!
To everyone who posted a comment, sent me a prayer or spared me a good thought this weekend, THANK YOU!
Knowing that there was an audience that would be disappointed if I didn't finish gave me an extra push more than once.
Happily though, I never had any real "down" times. I'm guessing that I actually logged 36 hours in front of the computer, maybe a smidge more. I even had time for a short nap on Saturday and never slept less than 6 or 7 hours in a night. All in all, it was tough, but regardless of outcome, I'll be doing it again next year.
Thanks again guys!
GB
And the final count is...
All printed and ready to mail.
Final tally: 94 Pages, 28,823 words. My edits actually gained words and dropped a page in the page count. Wierd, but sometimes that's how it works.
I have just one word left in me:
Whew!
And...Time!
Bred in the Bone is
FINISHED!95 Pages, 28, 366 words.
I still plan to edit it tonight, since I'm sure there are things that I can improve upon, but it's
DONE!I'm gonna have dinner now. I'll let you all know how the editting goes.
GB.
Woo-Hoo!
Bed time for GB on day 2.
84 Pages, 25,065 words.
The final battle has been joined and the characters are just about at the end of their journey. I have a pretty solid idea how all of this will turn out and I anticipate another twenty or so pages to the end. All in all, I'm right where I aimed to be.
One more day, folks.
GB
Dinner break, day 2
56 Pages, 16,622 words and time for dinner.
Two new MAJOR plot twists just jumped out of my head onto the page in the last three hours.
My goal tonight is 85-90 pages, 25,000-ish words. That will leave about 10-15 pages to write tomorrow, and some time for a quick edit before midnight.
All in all, things are progressing nicely.
GB
Bed time for GB on day 1.
44 pages, 13,098 words. I'm pretty much on target and aside from changing the plot three times in the last 24 hours (Each on for the better, I think) things have gone very well.
I'm off to bed, catch y'all tomorrow.
GB
Dinner break
20 pages in the hopper, 6,555 words. My goal is to double that before bed. I'm actually getting more sure of the story in the middle now, so that has me relieved.
Dinner time.
Later folks.
GB
Lunch break...
Well, I've been writing all afternoon and just now decided to eat lunch. I'm not much of a morning person, so I spent a couple of hours relaxing this morning, clearing my head and drinking coffee. I've written another couple thousand words and have now ventured out of "outlined" territory. I knew how the story opened, I know how it ends, but now I have to write the (Hopefully) exciting middle bit. No idea what's going to happen, so it'll be an adventure between now and this time tommorrow.
I'll keep y'all in the loop...
GB
Bed time for GB...
Seven pages, 2319 words and I haven't run out of "outlined" story yet. I actually (surprise!) know what will be happening in the next five or ten pages, so I'll be diving right in once I get coffee down the gullet tomorrow morning.
Off to bed.
I'll keep you posted.
And...go!
I'm just about ready to go. Printer and keyboard installed and tested, fridge loaded with instant or near instant edibles and tons of juice, water, milk and pop, slow cooker doin' its thing with the weekend o' stew and I've got the den computer fired up and a nice, (font-ed and formatted-I can bog for hours picking a font...) blank page up and ready to be filled.
I'm posting this now, with about 40 minutes to go before start time, so I can have a quick cup of tea, relax a bit and clear my head.
When I've reached the end of tonight's stamina or inspiration (whichever comes first), I'll put up a quick "where I'm at" post here, just so those interested can keep score at home...
See you all just before I turn in...
Thanks again for the kind words of support, all of you.
Wish me luck!
GB
Three hours and counting....
The crockpot is full and sitting in the fridge, awaiting it's time in my slow cooker. I went and bought a printer on the way home, so I'd have a paper copy to mail first thing Tuesday morning. I also borrowed my work computer keyboard, since it's the one I do the most typing on. I'm heading up to install both right after I publish this article.
Feels like I'm ready!
I'll post once more before I begin and then again before I turn in for the night.
Blog ya later!
T Minus Twelve Hours...
With a scant twelve hours to go, I can feel the adrenaline starting to flow. I still have to whip up GB's Special Beef Stew when I get home tonight and take care of a few chores around the homestead before midnight, so I don't have any major interruptions this weekend.
The good news is: I have a plan. Surprise!
Actually, all you Losties will appreciate this. The book will basically be a short adventure wherein the hero breaks into a wizard's stronghold to "take care" of said wizard. While he's making his way through the gauntlet, his origin and history will be told in a series of...
Wait for it...
Wait...
Flashbacks!
It came to me the other night on my way home. I was trying (
Inside my head, it would be WAY too out of character for me to actually write this stuff down...) to organize the book in a straight "origin, adventure, resolution" timeline and it just hit me. Flashbacks. So simple and yet so elegant a solution to the problem of introducing a completely new character to readers and yet keeping the plot moving along at a swift and interesting pace. Devoting a third of a short novel to a character's origin would be a big snooze otherwise...
A few of the soon-to-be-written-down plot twists are boiling away in the back of my brain as well.
Yay!
The den is ready! Kinda...
I just finished a final clean up in the den. I put in the desk and chair, plugged in the 'blaster for my ambience music, installed and double checked the computer and even chose a font to work in.
Whew!
I wish I'd had enough time to finish the drywall, paint and install the floor, but at least there are no giant gaping holes in the walls anymore...
One day to go!
This is gonna be fun.
I'll do my best to put up a progress report once or twice a day when I'm taking a brain/food/pee break, so you can check in here and see how insane I'm going...
