NaNoWriMo & beyond

I am doing NaNoWriMo this year but it is a bit slow going due to some back pain issues. I basically am writing just not to get done on November 30. I will get my first draft done in December. Not a big deal. I will do additions and edits over the holidays and sub in early 2022. It will be a great way to start the new year.

The book I’m writing is tentatively called “The Pilot’s Nightingale Bride.” I think it is pretty obvious that the hero is a pilot and the heroine is a nurse. I hope to make this a trilogy of books set around the Battle of Normandy, the invasion of the Allies into Nazi occupied France. It is a period of history I am very interested in. I think it started back when I was young and watched the old movie The Longest Day [trailer]. Unfortunately there is no mention of the women who also served, like the flight nurses or the nurses who treated men in beach hospitals. Yes, they were there a few days after D-Day.

With the upcoming release of The Nightingale movie in late 2022 (an excellent book by the way, highly recommended) maybe more publishers will be open to World War II romances. That book is women’s fiction, but hopefully more interest will be sparked around WWII set romances. I would love to write some books set about Pearl Harbor and the Pacific theater.

I'm sewing my own wedding gown

I officially started my dress, well at least the mock up, trial dress. The mock up is to work out kinks in the final product–my wedding gown. I am definitely nervous about making my own gown, but excited too. I think it will make this whole thing that much more special. I have my accessories already-veil, jewelry, shoes. Just need the gown. Wish me luck.

Oh and yes, I am writing in between breaks. I hope to get the rough draft of The Pilot’s Nightingale Bride done before the wedding. I’m unsure if I want to submit directly to Harlequin or try querying agents. Hmm…I may try a few agents first.

Updates from the Momma Bear

I have not been writing too much lately as I let my shoulder heal. Recovery has been slower than I thought, but it is apparently right on the doctor’s time table. I did quit my job to heal after my short tern disability ran out and I realized I was not ready to go back. Just holding my arm up for a mouse is a struggle. It is better than it was, but still, I end up in a lot of pain later in the day if I strain myself. I am getting back to things though. I have a schedule for myself to get done a first draft of my WWII romance by my wedding next month. By the time I get back from my honeymoon, I will be ready for edits and rewrites.

In addition to recovering and plotting to write, I have been dealing with personal stuff like a child getting ready for dorm life at college. It’s exciting. It took a year to get this far, but we made it. In case no one really knows, we were in a situation at home no one knew about–abuse. We did get out of the situation and our abuser is awaiting trial, a very long process. (Yes, I said trial. He faces incredibly unpleasant jailtime of a significant time period.) You can guess that the crime is particularly horrible so I can’t even verbalize it. I’m in a better place now and so are my children. One is going off to college this weekend and the other will be finding a part time job with animal care.

Last week I got a tattoo covered, a tattoo that was a reminder of a painful past. As one child heads off to college and in celebration of surviving this ordeal, I decided to get another tattoo–a realistic momma bear and two cubs–on my right shoulder. It won’t be until after the wedding though. I don’t want to be having a healing shoulder tattoo for the wedding. But afterward, I am going to do it.

6/15/2021 Update

So a lot has gone on in my world over the past year. I got divorced. I moved. I had rotator cuff/shoulder surgery. I was out of work for 10 weeks to recover and was not ready to go back to work because of the pain. I ended up leaving my job, retiring from nursing. Between my divorce and surgery, I met the man I am going to spend the rest of my life with. It is because of him, I was able to retire early and work on going back to writing full time. That’s where I am right now.

While I plot my WII romance in my head, and a bit in a bullet journal, I have taken up a hobby: Magic The Gathering. I’m loving collecting the cards, but not overly good at play. I’m still learning. In turn, it sparked friendships with other nerdy people (which I feel very comfortable with). We are playing some MTG together and starting some DND. I have little to no experience with DND, so I am looking forward to it. My character is a wood elf druid bard. Yeah, I may have gone a little complicated, but I love the concept. I got the image of her from a MTG card I found online. My fiancé is also participating in some MTG events but more so with DND.

So, okay, I am still healing up from major surgery in March. Movement is difficult at times but getting better. I am in physical therapy, or as I like to say, torture. I made some writing goals for myself to get 50K done by the end of July. It is a historical romance set during WWII that I am tentatively calling The Pilot’s Nightingale Bride.