Where Have I Been?

It was a dark and stormy night...

It's been a long time since I've blogged.
I missed it a lot. But I was busy.
And still writing.
In fact, I was writing and writing...

...and writing...
I participated in NaNoWriMo.
That's National Novel Writing Month
and it takes place every November.
Since 1999. And it's international now.

The goal is to write a brand new
50,000 word {175 page}
novel in rough draft form
in the 30 days of November.
That's 1,667 words a day.

Evan, Scout and I all joined in.
Scout {15} wrote 20,611 words.
Evan wrote 51,600 words
and finished his novel.
I wrote 65,542 words.
Maybe first time's a charm because...
We did it!
But I wasn't finished with my novel...

So I kept at it until
at 10:00 AM on December 8th
I finished my novel
with 70,444 words.

It feels great.
It was really. really. really. hard.
It was also fun, satisfying and incredibly rewarding.

Now I am working on: Draft II ~ The Revision.
And I love it.
It's the best feeling to be reading
an entire novel from start to finish
~ that I wrote. It's surreal.
I highly recommend the experience.
Have a look around their site.
I would love to have you as my NaNoWriMo Buddy
in 2010.

In the meantime,
please read panel #3 above...
I am going to work my way
back into writing regularly
here at joonbeam. I want to say
THANK YOU
to my visitors who have
faithfully checked in during
my absence. I appreciate your patience
and thoughtfulness.
So please come back often for more
earth friendly creations and tips,
favorite family recipes
and tales from my crazy journey
through this journey we call life.
"Don't leave me!" she cried.

ox
joon