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NaNoWriMo, Plot, Plot Whisperer

Progress in NaNoWriMo

Mona Alvarado Frazier

It’s day seven of the 30 day National Novel Writing Month. I pledged to complete the challenge: at least a 50,000 word novel by November 30, 2011. That breaks down to roughly 1,666 words per day. By end of today, that’s11,662 words and I’m at 9,043. Unfortunately, blog post words don’t count.

My story idea is about fifteen year old Jacqui Browne who debates whether she should go into drug dealing to finance her Catholic school education. She believes the school is the ticket to getting to an Ivy League college. A one time drug deal is supposed to get her caught up on her unpaid tuition until the local drug dealer blackmails her into more drops. That’s the gist of the story, right now. It may change before it’s done.

The 50,000 words is  a daunting task when there are three kids living at home, all working or in school. That means a lot of errands and rides to work. It gets done most of the time without too many problems. I lie, most days there’s drama going on about why someone can’t use the car anymore, because someone didn’t put in the gas they said they would into the borrowed car.

But that hasn’t been the problem with making my daily words. The problem has been my back. I tweaked it somehow, probably here typing all hunched over, and it’s been a pain in the &ss, literally. Aleve sucks, doesn’t work. Ice packs work, but only for an hour. I tried typing on my side, laptop next to me. Sucks worse.

I’ll stop complaining, since I can use this time to do more words before I have to go pick up my daughter from school. I wonder if I can wrap the ice pack in a towel and belt it around my waist during the thirty minute round trip?

But I digress. At 9,000 plus words, I’m about 2K behind. I’m ‘supposed’ to be at the End of the Beginning Scene, per the Plot Whisperer. She’s right you know and she wrote a terrific post today about that subject. I do have Jacqui and her sister walking by El Lobo’s bar and spotting the “Waitress wanted-must be 18” sign. I dunno, she’s fifteen and needs to be older to get the job. She or her sister will come up with something, I dunno, but I have to get going too.

Amazon Prime, Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet, E-book sales, E-books, E-readers, Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet

Mona Alvarado Frazier



Oh no, I just pre-ordered a Kindle Fire and now rumors say B&N will debut a new Nook tablet in just a few weeks . I skipped the regular Kindle in lieu of continuing to read “the good old-fashioned way,” until I tried Kindle on my phone. I’m not hooked, but it’s a great way to have books at your fingertips and in your pocket when you don’t want to carry around a one to three pound book in your purse. Plus I hate smudging up my books with the crap that makes its way into the depths of my bag, you know lipsticks, pens, cupcake crumbs. 

But back to the new Nook tablet. It’s about $69 more than the Fire that comes out on November 15, plus it has more memory and has goodies like Hulu. But it  looks like the FIre is still the better choice. Whew, I hate spending money and then finding something better for nearly the same price. 



I put a toe in the e-reader water because the e-book options and low prices are intriguing.This article on e-books tells the black and white story: adult hardcover and paperback sales are down 18% this year. The revenue from e-books has surpassed hardcover revenue this year. This makes for a tempting option to forego traditional “legacy” houses, the Big 6, and jump into the self-publishing world. The battle of opinions on both paths run wide and deep. 


The Wall Street Journal is heating up the debate with their plan to publish e-book bestsellers. Amazon is offering an e-book loan program for their Prime customers.These two items help push the envelop further in deciding whether to buy an e-reader or not and whether to enter the foray into publishing a book in e-reader format.


Everyday I’m tempted to go down the path of self-publishing but I have an agent who is looking at my two manuscripts. When the time comes for a thumbs up  or thumbs down, I’ll have to reevaluate my choices. Who knows, I may read my own novels on my Kindle Fire by next year.