Sorry that I have been avoiding the blog, but I am pretty sure I’m not going to hit the mark on Nanowrimo, for a lot of different reasons. So I felt badly for a few days. Then I decided that I really didn’t have anything to feel bad about.

I may not have 50,000 words. but I know now that i have three book length projects. One that could be a series, and two that are linked together and could be part of a series as well. If I could combine all the words I’ve written together, I would make it, but that’s not how the rules work.

Because I was avoiding the blog, I also missed Teaser Tuesday. Since I will be computer free until late Friday/early Saturday, I have decided to share the book that would have been Tuesday’s teaser.

I found this book in the best way. I had to take my son to see The Crucible, so I popped by the library and picked up a book that I had heard nothing about.

“But it had been many years since Mr. Talbot had listened to an opinion voiced by his female relations, and his aunts’ words fluttered past him like moths into darkness.” p. 8, A Proper Education for Girls by Elaine di Rollo. Available online in all the usual places and the Brick and Mortars as well

I hit 5,683 words so far today. I will get more I am sure since I have a few more hours before the PTSO meeting and who knows if the meeting is really slow, might be able to get a few more words in there as well.
Also will be able to sleep in late tomorrow which means working late into the night is definitely an option.

Only 19, 133 words to go to be back on track by Sunday

It’s doable. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

I hit 3,375 words today. That was the word count goal for day 2.

Yes, I know that it’s day 8 but I am not giving up and I feel like things are really starting to hum now. I am going by word counts and thinking less about the days, at least for now. My big goal is to get on track by this time next week.

Still I am happy with the story itself. I’ve gotten my heroine across the ocean and she is heading towards her destiny. Next she will meet her mysterious benefactor and then things will really start happening.

Here’s hoping that the Diet Dr. Pepper and the mini Snicker bars hold out.

Another frustrating day as far as word count goes, but I have decided to stop thinking about the days and just concentrate on numbers.

Speaking to the Dead current word count: 2,251. Got a helpful tip from Paperback Writer’s blog today. Don’t deal with spell check until you have finished typing a section of manuscript. Things seemed to go better that way. Also keeping a list of things I need to research later, but not stopping for now.

Example: How long does it take to get from America to England by boat in the 1800’s?

Must get some sleep. Hopefully will get lots written tomorrow before I have to do things in the evening.

I know I can achieve this goal. I’ve done it before and I will do it this time.

Yes, even in the first week of the madness of Nanowrimo, I am still trying to read. Why you ask? I think I am trying to make myself explode like Mr. Papapya(if you watch Fringe you get it, if you don’t you should). Anyhow this week’s Tease comes from Audrey Niffenegger, She is most famous for having written The Time Traveler’s Wife. I haven’t read that one, but I am finding her second, Her Fearful Symmetry to be quite good.

She’d almost given up and resolved to post the letter, but she didn’t want Martin to worry when she didn’t come home from work. I wish I could leave it hovering in mid air, she thought. And then she smiled and went to get her sewing kit.-p. 17, Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger.

I’m sorry I wasn’t here last week, I’ve been having a really hard time getting back into my routine since I was felled by the flu.

I want to say much thanks to Sarah Beth Durst and her novel, Into the Wild for getting me through that most difficult time.

So this week I’m giving you two teasers from the Irish author, John Connolly.

Our library system here has been hit hard by the recession, with hours reduced and no library hours on Sundays, so I haven’t been able to go to the library as often as I would like. I was fortunate enough last week before going to a tedious PTSO meeting to pop into the library. I have a tradition of trying to read something “Halloweeny” during the month of October. With this goal in mind, I picked up John Connolly’s latest, The Gates about a young boy, Samuel Johnson and his dog Boswell stumble upon their neighbors trying to open the Gates of Hell. The book is about what happens when they do. It is also about Particle Physics. I know how do demons and particle physics go together? Check out the book and it will all make sense. Two of the best things about the book were the chapter titles and the footnotes. The Gates very much reminded me of the Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett’s Good Omens.

“VIII- In Which Samuel Learns That Someone Trying to Open the Gates of Hell is Not of Particular Concern to His Mum”

After finishing The Gates I was able to go to the bookstore(they were having a sale on journals and I could not pass that up) and I was able to pick up another book by John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things. This book also features a young boy David who has lost his mother to an illness in the Britain of 1939. He and his mother had shared a love of fairy tales and books. After her death, David begins to have a different relationship with books.

“He had trouble understanding what Dr. Moberly was saying most of the time anyway, partly because the doctor used words that David didn’t understand, but mostly because his voice was now almost entirely drowned out by the dronings of the books on his shelves. The sounds made by the books had become clearer and clearer to David. He understood that Dr. Moberly couldn’t hear them the way he could, otherwise he couldn’t have worked in his office without going mad.”-p. 25, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.

There is nothing more exciting to me than finding a new author, especially when it is unexpected. I hope you are as delighted when you read John Connolly as I was.

After an extremely nasty bout with the flu I am back to the world both cyber and real.

I am very excited to bring you this teaser from a very talented lady, Gail Carriger. She is the authoress of Soulless, the first in the Parasol Protectorate. Vampires, Werewolves and Parasols. How can one resist? The perfect October read. Oh and if you visit the publisher Orbit’s website, you can make a paper doll of Miss Alexia Tarrabotti.

“It says here that there was a particularly gruesome incident at the ball last night! Did you know there was an incident? I do not remember any incident.-p. 25, Soulless by Gail Carriger.

The next book in the series Changeless will appear May 2010.

Visit her website at www.gailcarriger.com

Run to the bookstore, make a pot of tea and enjoy!