Hey everyone!

To celebrate the fact that today is the 15th of November and therefore the halfway point of this wonderful National Novel Writing Month, I have decided to share with you the passage I wrote this morning. At the moment, I'm hovering at about 24,440 words (from the total goal of 50,000 this month), with eight chapters and a prologue.

Not that it matters to you, really, but this piece was written into Chapter 3. I realized last night that chronologically, I needed my main character Marianne to make the Paralympic Team before my secondary character Casey went through the second Olympic Trials event.

This is fictional and not an autobiographical story, but I am using a lot of my own experiences. I have created these characters, not copied them from real people. Also, I have changed a few dates, as well as the location of the Games, as you might notice near the end of the excerpt. In real life, I was officially named to the Team while staying with the rest of the disabled archers at the Olympic Training Center for a quick training camp, and the coaches were there with us to deliver the official news, which we all knew was coming anyway. In this scene, Marianne has been living as a Resident at the OTC for months, and knows she will make the Team because of prior events at the World Championships. Even so, it's still an incredible feeling.

I chose this excerpt because I wrote it today, and because posting it would give away nothing about the book / characters / plot that wouldn't already be assumed by the reader. I am also fairly proud of it as a writer. It's not a stellar scene, but it's good. It's solid. And it also happens to capture the way I felt when I found out last March. I remember that it was the Spring Equinox, and chilly. I can remember standing outside Athlete Check-in after the meeting, and calling my great Uncle Norm. He was fast asleep in Massachusetts, but I left a message on his voicemail, breathless and excited. He still has it saved, and told me recently that he listens to it often. So here, I'd like to share with you Marianne's fictional (though no less realistic) experience.

( Excerpt from PASSING THE TORCH... )


24,440 currently / 25,000 today's goal / 50,000 ultimate goal / 15 days left!