I have no excuses now...

So, I want my first draft of my first novel to be completed by February 14, 2009. That is about six months away. It's YA Sci-Fi and my aim is 80,000 words or so depending on how the plot unfolds.

To facilitate this I have told my boss, my mother, even the lady at the library where I hope to do a lot of the writing. Now, I am telling you. E-mails, PM's and words of encouragement will be so appreciated in the coming months! My hope is to have something to query next September. In the interim I am also trying to sell my short work and get my name out there. It's time I got myself out there instead of just writing and coming up with ideas in my little hole and never really showing anyone except teachers or close friends.

I want my work to be seen I do. I want people to know what I have in my head. I guess my issue is the steps to getting there and the possible rejection in that process.

Thanks for any help and I think I am going to attempt to change my sig to reflect my goal too. Thanks for listening.

Thank you so much!

Judg - Right well...some quick math and searching tells me that my D-Day is 174 days away. If I want to write 80,000 words by then I need to write 459 words per day. That is not bad at all! To give myself an edge I will say that I want to write 1000 words per day. That should be good. I actually have a NaNoWriMo report card thing that will help me keep it all together and see how my progress is so I can keep BIC. Thanks for the tip!

RJV - Thanks and I am getting ready to. Thanks for the help!

smoothseas - Absolutely! I replied to you in PM!

Thanks, guys! Now to get BIC!

Thank you!

Thanks for the encouragement. My story is about two kids who live on a sea colony, the parents are scientists and are working on biological weapons to use during the war that is currently raging on dry land. The colony gets discovered and that's when my story begins. Survival, loss and some nifty tech stuff. That is a pretty quick and dirty summary.

Thank you, Susie!

Thanks, Clair! *points down* I have my little ticker on here and on my blog. Plus I have a word counter on my blog! I also downloaded an excel sheet that calculates my pacing and all of that to keep me on track. It's modified from the NaNoWriMo one. It is pretty cool. So, I seem to be all set! I have my blog, here and my spreadsheet to let me know how I am doing. Now I am going to get BIC!

Thank you so much guys! I have been working diligently and I appreciate all the good wishes...as a treat here is my first paragraph.


Ocean was slammed against a metal wall by the force of the impact to the protective covering of the sea colony. Soldiers and scientists rushed by the teenager while she rubbed her shoulder. Continuing down the hallway she quickly came to the doors of the laboratory where her parents worked. Ocean pressed the numbered code that would let her into the lab, but the door did not open. She tried the code again and still the door remained closed. She could hear the strident voices of officers giving orders somewhere close by and condensation from the rafters was dripping onto her face.

Thank you, Jennifer!