Camp NaNo, Week 1: Wings Of Eagles

In the month of April, I shall be rewriting my novel, Seek. The first draft ended at around 44,000 words. This 2nd draft, I think it will surpass 70,000 words. In the first draft, I didn’t have a totally solid idea of what the story included. Draft one of Seek was like a skeleton- God gave me the story, but there were major bits I had no answer to.

This 2nd draft, my goal is to have it where I will not have to rewrite it completely again. I have learned that nothing will be totally perfect- so instead of striving for perfection, I am striving for the best I can do. With God’s help, my best is good enough; Most importantly, I want Seek to glorify God. He has shown me the story, put it in my heart.

Seek has so many things in it that Yahweh has taught me, whether over my life, or in the span of the last 1-2 years. Personally, life during that span has been crazy. Seek is a novel that holds things that I have held close for some time, and didn’t know I was holding close, until I gave myself to God completely- every nook and cranny of myself.

I trust Yahweh to guide me in my writing. He has shown me SO much, I cannot begin. Seek has been a journey from the moment God gave me that crazy little dream, that sparked a whole story, and let me spill my heart out.

So, April. I am rewriting Seek. I have faith in the Lord, that He will continue to show me and teach me. And that Seek may touch someone else, too. Here is the first week of Camp NaNo in retrospect. ;D

 

   Day One | 5,546

I stayed up till 12 AM again! 😀 Just for fun, because I was so, so excited. Now, I do not want to have the second draft of Seek written mostly during the wee hours of night… I don’t think my brain is quite as awake and comprehensible. And since I need this draft to be sensible… ;D I don’t plan on writing much at night, unless I have to. I need to get a schedule for the day time writing.

Day one went great! 😀 I reached my goal of 5,000! I was a little worried I wouldn’t get it. I spent most of the day outside in the sun with my family! We worked with the horses a bit. We think Ulu will be having her baby at the end of the month or so! We’re all praying! 😀

So. First day. Lots of words. Went great!

 

Day Two | 397 

My family and I went fishing again! 😀 Kody and I each caught 4 fish each, and Rey and Roger caught some, too! 😀 It was soo fun. I did get sunburnt, though. 😉

 

  Day Three | 3,030

Most of my words today came from… Word sprints. And word wars. 😉 Which I have never really done before… so this month has new thing, ha! Setting small time limits actually helps me, I’ve found. I write pretty well and quickly in ‘bursts’, small break, and then go again. So, that’s cool.

 Day Four | 4,013

A busy day! I was surprised I wrote that much…. it was unexpected, though I wanted to up my count. ;D

We hooked Roger’s Ford to our old cabin’s 2nd floor… and tore it down. It felt wrong to pull down the very first thing we built here… but God’s moving us, and we’re still a family; in HIM. No man made shelter can amount to God’s Hands.

Day Five | 1,008

My whole family and I went grocery shopping, whihc is an ordeal, because we shop for enough stuff to last 2 weeks. ;D It all went well! We also used the Cracker Barrel gift card my brother Ryan gave us. Yum!

And… look what my Ma got me today! His name is Donkey. He’s me new writing buddy.

 

Day Six | 4,043

A nice day, full of rain, big thick sweaters, and school. 😉 I wanted to reach 4,000 today, at least, and DID! I lost track and had no idea I reached my goal until I checked in. ;D

 

Day Seven | 2,138

I HIT THE WEEK MARK! Whoohoo! I also reached 20,000 words in 7 days! Let’s do a quick review.

I reached 100 pages a day or two before the seventh… and kinda freaked. Today, I knew that my initial goal of 50,000 words… was too small. *gasp*! Seek is going to be longer than I thought, which has me pretty excited! ;D I upped my word count goal… so now, I’m shooting for 70,000. I believe Seek will reach it!

This week was wonderful. Tomorrow, I have a karate belt exam, which I’m sorta nervous for… but I’m gonna pray about it! And do my best. (UPDATE: I was promote! I passed the belt exam. :D)

 

~~~

And now… I’ll share some snippets of Seek. 😀 I can’t share a whole lot but I’ll try. Please tell me what you think of the snippets!

~~~

In the black Cadillac,  we chased after the thundering sky. Heading into the storm. A storm that I had known for years now.  A storm that had been following along after me, silent, dark, unmoving.

 I had known the storm would break out one day. It could not hold forever. He would not give up.  It seemed that the day when the clouds parted and the lightning struck, was coming very close. And I was invigorated.

 The time could not be better.

   Rain pelted softly onto the car windows and roof, the windshield wipers going steadily as Peterson drove carefully along. Peterson was  a quiet man, large and stolid. He did not question my affairs, because nothing mattered to the man. As long as he had his payment, he was well off. The man had no life outside the Affiliation.

 

~~~

“Angel, nice to meet you. Please,  get in the car! NOW!” He banged his hand across the car’s roof.

“Come on, Angel! We’re the good guys here, trust me!” Asher said from where he sat, leaning over the seat to see me.

 I glared at Eli for a split second and rushed past him. I tumbled into the backseat, legs after arms in a frenzy, mind racing as he slammed the door shut behind me. I fell in a mess on the smooth, leather cushioned seat, as the man jumped in the driver’s seat and cranked the car, all in a heartbeat of a moment, and then I was pulling myself up to see out of the window.

BAM.  One gunshot, but it missed the Plymouth.

“Thank you,” The man, Eli,  muttered to me, eyebrows raised. The tires skidded up gravel, and his hands guided the steering wheel with sharp skill. The Plymouth burst forth, out of the parking lot and shooting into the street.

  The men who had plowed out of the exit door after us  had gotten into their own car and were now trekking after us, their tires bumping over the asphalt.

~~~

The neighborhood wasn’t all that exciting.

 To my surprise, it was quiet. The sun shed light on the large, gnarly trees and sad little houses, but no people walked the streets. We passed houses with junk in their yards, places with children’s toys plastered across the lawns.

 We checked each address we passed.

Angel was nervous in the backseat, eyes piercing every house we passed. She rubbed her fingers.

“The safehouse is on the other side of town?” Angel asked quietly.
“Yeah. Why?” I replied, shifting my grip on the wheel. My left foot was going asleep, and I tried to shake it awake.

“Makin’ sure.”

  I did not see any of Viktor’s guys. No one was out moving,  and every car that passed us did not have a familiar driver.

We were doing alright.

It couldn’t last long.

 I started to get this tingling in my gut as we drove farther, with still no sign of a living soul. Was I being paranoid? It had been a rainy night and d morning, after all, why would anyone be outside?

 Asher didn’t look like he had much more optimism, though he tried.

“See, half way there, and we’re in the clear.” Asher said.

 

~~~

That was my first week of April for writing! 🙂 I was (and still am) soo excited… Starting Camp, I had notes, character sheets, major points of the story/characters all written, and an outline. Granted, the outline is still open for change, and I have it set up where I’ve got the major points cleared.

TOTAL WORDS WRITTEN: 20, 166 (whoohoo!)

The Scripture that stuck with me this week was…

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

-Isaiah 40:31

 

 

God bless you all!

-Ang

 

How is Camp NaNo going for you? Do you like my snippets? Do you have a writing buddy?