This week, I made it past 50,000 words in my novel The Moonstone. This is a HUGE milestone, because it means that I am a NaNoWriMo winner. Cue the next question: "So what does that entitle you to?" Bragging rights, mostly, but also the right to wear a cool winner's T-shirt and to get a few free goodies, including a certificate validating my accomplishment. Since this is my first NaNoWriMo, and I joined last-minute on a whim, I am pretty excited that I have made it this far.

So, in celebration, here are some of my favorite excerpts from the story and a behind-the-scenes peek at how I designed the cover.

Katryl, the main character of my NaNoWriMo 2015 project entitled The Moonstone, excels at archery. But the techniques that I describe her using in my book are not the sort of techniques you'll hear about in Hollywood, because, as it turns out, Hollywood has got it wrong. When ancient peoples used bows and arrows, they developed techniques that work while you are moving, riding a horse, and in the heat of an actual battle. Here is the video that helped me discover some of these techniques:

I am having a blast participating in NaNoWriMo 2015, despite the fact that my word goals are clashing with the demands of real life (and, as you'll see, some unusual circumstance as well)! My first few videos, you can tell I'm just getting into the swing of things, but as the days progress, I add more details about my story-in-progress, I encourage fellow WriMos with some tips I've discovered along the way, and I share meaningful stories from my life that relate to my writing. This week: Discover the special new person in my life!

Read on for an excerpt from this week's progress on The Moonstone!

If you're a YouTube fan, you can subscribe to my channel instead of waiting for the weekly blog update!