Simply Kate

I'm already over 40% of the way finished with the 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo! This astounds me. I shouldn't be at that point for four more days if I followed their daily goals.

When I mapped out this story, I worried that I wouldn't be able to come up with 50,000 words, especially all in one month. Now, I have made my own goal, to finish the novel by November 30th, no matter how many words it is. I have a feeling that it will be at least 70,000 words.

My novel will have three parts, and when it was in planning before November started, I figured part one would only be about 5 or 6 chapters long. I'm halfway finished with the last chapter of part one...Chapter 12. I know that at least the second part will be more than 12 chapters, as I have plotted it out in more detail than in the first and third. And with just over 40% of it done before even part one is concluded leads me to believe that there will be much more to write than just 50,000 words.

When I get to 50,000 words I will be a winner of NaNoWriMo, and I will have a chance to get a free paperback copy of my book. I will have 6 months to take advantage of this offer, and so I will have plenty of time to go through it once and do some simple editing. It was exciting when I thought that I would be able to tell people I had written a novel, but to be able to show people a copy of it is incredible!

I have a list of about 15 people I am going to ask to revise and proof my novel after I have had a chance to go through it once or twice. After a few more revisions, I really believe that the story is strong enough to tempt a publisher. This journey is more than I ever expected.

I have completed the full cover of the book and I have posted it below.

Less than ten minutes until NaNoWriMo starts. I just want to write a few hundred words as celebration that it's finally November, but time...isn't....moving.

So I thought I'd write a quick blog, to hopefully pass a few minute of the time, and get my fingers warmed up for the typing I'm about to do.

Is it weird to be nervous? It's supposed to be fun. But writing a novel in a month? Really? Sounds pretty unbelievable right now. But I have at least the first half all mapped out. It's just coming up with the words and the names. The map is made, the two main characters are names, along with all the places. I'm just ready to actually see everything come into being. Wanna see the map? It's pretty cool!
As I was browsing for the map, I realized that my C drive is PACKED. Like red zone packed, so I better head. 4 minutes to hurry and clean my hard drive. EEESHK!

Highlights:

• 5th ~ Combined Family Home Evening. Two wards, donuts, good times. I made A LOT of new friends that night. (I've come out of my shell in my new ward, and I'm VERY social. Who knew?) And because I hadn't eaten, I invited a huge group of about 15 to accompany me to Cafe Rio! Fun stuff!
• 6th ~ Ten stake activity. Corn Maze, Baby! I really love the corn maze. The cold, the getting lost on purpose. It's really quite fabulous!
• 9th ~ My last day of work at the Rec Center. A Woo Hoo!
• 10th ~ Jeff and Megan's Birthday party.
  
• 11th ~ Happy birthday wonderful nephew! I also taught the combined Relief Society/Priesthood lesson.
• 13th ~ I had lunch with one of my new friends, Kassi. And then had a movie night with my friend Brooke, who consequently is best friends with my ex, James. So it was great having them there. I was also called as First Counselor in the Relief Society.
• 14th ~ Happy Birthday, beautiful niece!
• 15th-18th ~ Vegas Trip/Cousin's Weekend. I have to admit, cousin's weekends are some of my favorite weekends. Thanks for the great time ladies! (Though Vegas is a VERY long drive.)
  
• 24th ~ The longest day! The parents and I got in the car and drove to Salt Lake for the Utah Humanities Book Festival. Shannon Hale was speaking, and I found the courage to ask her publisher if I could have the opportunity to interview her. It was AMAZING! She's so nice. (Thank you, Shannon.) You can check out the interview HERE. After the interview, we all piled into the car, and drove up to Layton for a traditional Halloween party! I really didn't think I'd have the opportunity to go this year, but my parents are so amazing, and bought a hotel room just so I could go. Thanks guys. It was the best day EVER! (You can read a more detailed review of this weekend HERE.)
  
• 31st ~ Happy Halloween. My nephew was baptized today. I can't believe he's already 8 years old. Love you! And congratulations, this is one of the most amazing things!
  

Books Read:

• 1st ~ Forest Born by Shannon Hale (Very good. It was darker than her usual books, but I was able to relate to the main character so well, that I loved reading it. Check out an interview HERE.)
• 9th ~ The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (One of the most moving, and heart wrenching books I've ever read. There aren't words in the English language to describe it. But HERE's my attempt.)
• 31st ~ Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Literally just finished. I really liked it. You can check out my review HERE.)
  

It was a great month. I was able to do so many things that I never thought were possible. It was an insane one. (Kind of sad it's over.)

Do you ever have the same dream over and over? Not necessarily in the same night, but over the course of time. It amazes me. Out of all the dreams I could have, I have to pull from the cobwebs of my mind some dream that I don't even care for.

I have this reoccurring nightmare, where I'm walking this circular path at this park near my house. Just walking. Around and around. It's perfectly blue skies (but it seems kind of dark outside). There is this old lady sitting on a bench by the path, or one of my sisters is swinging near the path. Every time I pass the old lady, (or my sister) she says "hello." The first time, it's barely audible. With each passing "hello", it gets louder and louder, until she's screaming this one word at my walking figure. The sky grows dark, and there's thunder. The ground shakes. (One time there were fighter jets flying around like I was in a war-zone). Then, a terrifying, booming voice starts yelling at the woman. "NO! NO! NO!" Over and over again until the terrified woman (or my sister) cowers in fear, and says "Okay, okay, I'm sorry." The sky clears, the ground stops moving. I stand up from my horrified position on the ground, and continue my morning walk around the path. And as I pass the old lady, a barely audible "hello" passes her lips. The whole cycle starts again until I force myself awake. *shrug*

But the one I had last night is more comical than anything. I've had this dream since I was in Jr. High. And last night, it had the same exact people it had when I was in Jr. High. Weird. Especially since I haven't talked to a lot of this people since before my Senior year in High School.

The premise is basically this. I'm at a 6 week summer camp. I've gone for the past three years (in my dream). Here's the catch. It's in Space. Yeah. Pretty out there. There are two ships. One for the boys, one for the girls. One Captain, and a handful of crew members/camp counselors, the majority of which are drunks. The boys is the smaller of the ships. The girls is HUGE! It has a grocery store of Costco proportions inside. All of the activities happen inside the girl's ship. It always starts with me and my best friend (Nicole...she was my best friend in Jr. High. Pretty strange. I rarely see her anymore.) sitting on the ship, heading to the camp. I freak out a little. Flying scares me. Her boyfriend shows up...Wes. (She's been married for a year, now. To someone else. Awkward.) Everything seems happy. It's just a nice setup for camp in the future. Until I see Wes making out with someone else. So there's a lot of drama about that for a while. But they make up. Of course. (Remember at the time this dream was created, they were the on and off again couple.) Pranks ensue between the genders. Until the girls go too far and the boys don't realize that they were pranked. They think that the girls ship is infected. So the captain hearing this decides to form a plan with the boys. "We're all going to get on our ship and leave the girls stranded. It's the only way to ensure our safety." But the captain knows that it was prank. He just doesn't like the girls. He's a little sexist. So things are slightly awkward between the guys and the girls.

I end up following Wes to the boys ship, and see all the plans they are making. I warn the girls. We pretend not to know anything, but we formulate a plan to over throw the captain! MUTINY! But...there is one girl who is in with the captain. The same girl that made out with Wes. We all kind of hate her. (I won't mention names, but I kind of hated her in Jr. High, too.) So, the captain comes up with a plan to blow up the girl's ship and blame it on some kind of technical malfunction. We're a step ahead of him, cause we've made friends with his mole. She tells us all the details.

Things start to get a little crazy now. If things were far fetched before... There is name calling with the captain. We trap him in the girl's ship. We head for the "Costco" and send an avalanche of pudding boxes down on top of him. Now he's just severely ticked off, and a little sweeter tasting. While he's trying to get out of the mountain of pudding, we take over the ship and head for home. With the help of one of the drunk counselors who wasn't all bad, we make it safely. The captain was executed. (It's a violent future.) And I open my eyes.

Seriously, I've had this dream a total of about 9 times over the years. The same things happen (except one year he wasn't executed. We created a downpour of canned soup, and he was kind of Campbelled to death. Oops.) But the basis of the dream is the same. The same people. The same scenery. Craziness. It's possible I'll still be having this dream when I'm 80, and I'll have forgotten who all of these people are. But they'll still be in my dream.

Oh the sleeping mind of Katie.

Hey Bloggers! I have mentioned this video a LOT on my blog, but the contest could use some more hits. So I thought I'd post it, and hope for some results!

It's super easy. Leave a comment in the comments on YouTube (not here on Blogger.) Leaving a comment is easy, and you'll have a chance to win. That simple!

The deadline for this contest is November 21st. Hope to see your entry soon!

Hey blogging world! Less than a week until NaNoWriMo starts. (National Novel Writing Month, if you didn't know.)

I am SO thrilled. Can't wait. It's my first year with this project, and I'm very excited to start. I really hope that I can pull it off.

For those of you who haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, the concept is to write...a LOT...during the month of November, with the result of a short novel with at least 50,000 words. If you are able to write 50,000 words before the end of November, then you win. (I'm not exactly sure what you win, other than the satisfaction that you've just written a first draft of your very own novel.)

Are any of you bloggers out there planning on doing NaNo? If so, my user name is Kate Weber, and I would love to have you as a writing buddy!

Everyone should sign up. C'mon, one month isn't much. You can spend the majority of it writing, right? Sign up is free, and who wouldn't love to say that they've written a novel?

Book festivals are incredible. I only went to hear 2 authors speak, and they were in the same hour. Shannon Hale and Sara Zarr. I had never heard of Sara, and I bought two of her books and can't wait to read them. The two sat on stage and just talked to each other and it was hilarious! The rest of the time I wandered around and people watched. It was quite entertaining seeing all of the different people wandering around the library. And that building is just beautiful!

The interview with Shannon Hale went swimmingly. And not swimmingly as in I was in over my head, and somehow managed not to drown. I mean it was really quite perfect. (Except for the fact that the lighting wasn't great and so it looks like a home film.) You can watch it HERE! It was SO much fun! I found myself shouting "That was SO cool!" or "I can't believe that just happened." for about an hour afterward.

The Halloween party was amazing as usual. But no surprise there! Here are some pictures!

I feel so lucky with my lot in life right now. I am so blessed. I have the most wonderful parents who I will call my producers from now on. Anything I needed for my interview they provided. They were there to make sure everything ran smoothly AND to get me there in the first place. I love them so much! Thanks guys! You are the best!

Have you ever felt like your life isn't really yours?

This weekend is the Utah Humanities Book Festival in Salt Lake City. One of my all time favorite authors is speaking. I have listened to Shannon Hale speak at the Book Festival once before, a few years back. This time is so much more incredible. Why? Because after her lecture, I get to interview her, one-on-one! This is the unbelievable part. Sometimes I really can't believe that it's really happening. Part of me feels like it is old news. I mean, I knew that this was going to happen for about a month. But the other part of me is SCREAMING inside cause I actually get to talk to her tomorrow.

Insane!

Also, every year, a cousin of mine holds a Halloween Party. This will be my fourth year attending this party, and it's become tradition. I didn't think that I would be able to attend this year, because I've traveled so much and I don't....have my own vehicle... Anyway, it turns out that I was already going to be in SLC on the day of the party! So my amazing parents, who are going to the Book Festival with me, decided that they were going to do all they could to make sure I got there.

LOVE YOU Mom and Dad!

So it's going to be a day of traveling, books, authors, interviews, costumes and "Body Body".

Wow, I love my life! Can't believe it's mine!

Hey guys! I signed up earlier this week for a REALLY cool project called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) Where you just power house to write a novel in the month of November! I'm SO excited to start. I've got the plot all lined out, and I'm ready to just write! I got a little anxious for it to start, and decided to make a temporary cover for my novel. (The novel isn't titled yet.) I really like it! :D

If you are interested in joining NaNoWriMo, you can sign up here: http://www.nanowrimo.org

Highlights:

• 6th ~ My first day in the new Singles Ward. A new stake was added in our area, and so the Singles Wards got mixed up. I'm LOVING it!
• 7th ~ Labor Day! Day off! Wahoo!
• 12th ~ I started a new project on YouTube called KatesBookClub. I review the books I've read, and other fun stuff. I'll have contests, too. AND I have an interview with Shannon Hale in October! COOL!
• 21st ~ Heroes Season Premier! WOO!
• 22nd-24th ~ Sick. Yuck!
• 29th ~ I resigned from my job. There was a LOT of crap with the management. I did make it a week longer than about three other colleagues of mine.

It seems like a very uneventful month, but it's been busy. I work ALL the time! And I read a lot!

Books read:

• 2nd ~ Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Reread, just as good as the first time!)
• 5th ~ Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (Reread, SO amazing! This is like the fourth time I've read it.)
• 10th ~ Enna Burning by Shannon Hale (Reread, again, if I didn't like it, would I read it again?)
• 13th ~ Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (So good! Check out my review of this and Hunger games HERE.)
• 18th ~ City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (Very good book! Lots of great action, romance, violence, and all that great stuff. Check out my review of this trilogy HERE.)
• 23rd ~ River Secrets by Shannon Hale (YAY! Love this book.)

Love reading! Seriously!

TV Shows:

• Glee (The second episode was a little skanky, but I really like it.)
• So You Think You Can Dance (Auditions...wow.)
• Heroes (I can't believe it's already in season four, or is it season five? Last season concluded twice.)
• Modern Family (HILARIOUS)
• FlashForward (So intriguing. Can't wait to see where it goes.)

It was a pretty uneventful month. I finally have a crush on a few guys. It's been a while since I've had a solid crush. I read a LOT. Had a good time, except with my boss. Can't wait for October. I have LOTs of exciting things planned. WOO HOO!