Hello from Ohio!

Hello!  I'm in Ohio.  That's about all I have time for right now, but I'll try to blog sometime shortly after the New Year!

The Opposite of NaNoWriMo

That's what December has been for me.  I don't think I've written a word of any of my stories since I reached my goal, and it's almost halfway through the month!  This is not what I anticipated.

I think I'm getting back on track, though.  Last night I read the first two chapters of my work in progress and tonight before I go to sleep I want to read the rest of it.  It's been such a long time since I worked on it that I'm having a hard time remembering all the details.

Anyway, as far as other things, Will's brother came home from his mission, his family came into town, and Will turned 30 since I last wrote!  So a lot of things.  I'll probably post pictures sometime, but not right now, because my real life is hectic and I miss my fake world.

Also in awesome news, we'll be able to visit IL and OH this year!  I AM SO EXCITED!  I don't even know how long it's been since I've seen everyone, and I'm really happy that I get to get my kids together with my extended family!

I hope you all are enjoying the holidays!

I Love My Writing Group

I do.  I know most of you guys think I'm crazy when I talk about writing novels, but they get me.  It's so encouraging to be around people who share your dream and don't mind talking at length about made up people and places!

Guys, even though I only see you once a month (and sometimes every other month) you are some of my favorite people!  Julie and Deb, today was great!  Z, congrats on your beautiful little girl and I hope we see you again soon!

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 30. WINNER!

That's right, I win!  At 51,513 words, my story is finished.  Now I can set it aside and work on other things for a little while, until I'm ready to revise.

This month wasn't particularly easy.  My housework definitely suffered.  Because I was staying up until 2 AM some nights writing, I slept in late and Chaela and Joci destroyed some things.  I learned that I'm not one of those women who can have it all.  Yes, I'm here with my girls, but do you know how much TV they watched this month so I could achieve my goal?  A lot, and I feel guilty about it.  But at the same time, I feel immensely fulfilled to have achieved my goal.  It's a conundrum.

Anyway, now back to the story I was writing before NaNo.  I hope to keep up my good habits and finish it sometime in January, but with Christmas coming, we'll see what happens.

I'm so glad I did this.  It increased my love of writing and helped me get more comfortable making up a plot, which I always struggle with.  Thank you to everyone who supported me and good luck with any of goals you are trying to achieve right now!

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 29

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  1,548 words to go.

I would love to make something for you!

Some of my Facebook friends have mentioned that they're interested in ordering things from me.  I am definitely interested in doing that for anyone who is serious!  So here's a list of items and prices for anyone who is interested.

If you want me to make something, keep in mind that Christmas Eve is one month from today, so you need to tell me soon if you want to get it by then.  If I feel like I've gotten too many orders to be able to get yours to you by Christmas,  I will tell you.

Basic fleece beanie with applique - $10
Tell me what you want on it and I'll tell you if I can do it.  Simple designs are better.  I've done video games, colleges, and superheros so far.

I've got patterns for more complicated beanies, like one with dinosaur spikes down the middle.  I would be willing to do those for $15 and can send you a picture if you're interested.  I can also do My Little Pony beanies with ears and cutie marks for $15.

Fleece Hoodie - price depends on what you want. (I'm willing to do these in adult sizes for $10 more to account for the cost of extra fabric.)

My Little Pony hoodie
Note: Prices differ according to how much work each one takes.  Also, if you don't want hood embellishments like ears and horn, knock $5 off the price.

Rainbow Dash - $50
Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity - $45
Applejack (no hat), Pinkie Pie - $40

We can talk about designs.  It's a custom project, so you tell me what you want and as long as it's physically possible I'll do it.

I do the hood in the color(s) of the mane and the band on the bottom in the colors of the tail.  The Pinkie Pie hood is quilted with waves and curlicues. 

Other hoodie ideas - I'm open to anything.  Animals, cartoon characters, super heroes, characters from books... just let me know what you're thinking and I'll see if I can come up with a design for it!

Tulle tutus - $25.  Baby not for sale.  

Ok guys, I feel like you might be looking at these prices and thinking I'm crazy, but remember that the cost of fabric is included in this and I'm doing all the cutting and sewing by hand.  It takes me several hours to do each, and this is the cheapest I feel I can go and still have it be worth all the time I put into it.

If you want to order something, email me at caitlyn.hair@gmail.com.

If you have any other projects in mind, please feel free to ask me about them!

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 23

Not much to say today besides the usual "Woo hoo I'm still going!"  It's weird for me to feel like I'm accomplishing goals; it's not something I do often.  Maybe I can take these new habits of achievement and apply them to my eating and exercise habits!

Ha ha!  Yeah, we'll see.

Well, tomorrow I'm going to hit 40,000+ words, so I'm excited about that!  Other than this not much is going on.  We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving with Will's parents, which was cool.  And now I guess we have society's permission to start celebrating Christmas!  Except we put our Christmas tree up almost a week ago and that's pretty much the extent of my decorations.  I might make more, but sometimes it seems like writing so much is sucking up all of my creative energy.  It's also addicting, so we'll see what I do when this month is over.

Anyway, my brain is mush and I'm thirsty.  Goodnight!

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 20

2/3 of the way done and I'm still sticking with it!  Woo hoo!  The problem now is that I don't think the story will be anywhere near finished at 50,000 words.  Ugh.  Sometimes the really difficult thing about stories is how long they take to write.  I get as anxious about what's going to happen as the people who are nice enough to read for me!

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 18

I broke 30,000 words today.  That means I have less than 20,000 words left.  Holy cow, I'm on the downhill slide.

Thank goodness.  I've been having a hard time keeping up lately, but I'm hanging in there.  It's still almost all junk, but hopefully when it's over I can salvage something.  My main character's personalities are still jumping around on me a little, but I've nearly got them pinned down.

Meanwhile, I still haven't stopped thinking about my other story even though I haven't been able to work on it.  Hopefully this time is just allowing it to mature in my subconscious and become even better.

Yeah.  We'll see.

You know, it will be pretty crappy to do all this work and never see anything come from it.  I hope that someday I'll have something that's not too embarrassing to see the light of day.

Someday.

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 15

HALFWAY DONE!

Yes!  That's right, I passed the halfway point tonight!  I'm happy.  I'm especially happy because I was too tired to finish yesterday and I fell about 1,000 words behind.  But I made it up and it's over half done!  Yay! That's all I have today.  Does anyone else have goals that they're trying to meet?