NaNoWriMo 2010: Week Four

Today marks the end of Week Four of NaNoWriMo, and I am starting to really feel proud of myself, in a peaceful way that I hadn't felt throughout the rest of this. Up until this point I was excited (which I still am!) and it made my pride probably unbearable for everyone else. Now I'm sort of just calmly reminding myself that I've got this in the bag (which I have!) and that this novel is going to be great (I hope.) Believe it or not, until this week I hadn't actually started the most important part of my plot. Up until about Wednesday, everything was just build up. I can already see that a lot of what I wrote is going to end up being cut. Sarah had been slowly decending into insanity a bit already, but the things that push her really over the edge only started recently. Friday night, actually,...

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NaNoWriMo: Week Three Recap

Woops, I forgot to do this last night, and forgot again this morning. So let's all pretend that this isn't a day late. Let's also pretend my landmarks are not all a day late. You see, this week, there have been two days this week where I haven't written at all. And another two where I haven't met my word count goal. Somehow, miraculously, I did not let that get me much behind schedule. I am still on track, I'm just no longer ahead. It seems that week three was feast-or-famine week for me. I've had two 3k days, and I'm progressing forward. I'm going to do what I can to do a BIG PUSH this upcoming week, and see if I can't finish NaNo by the 27th. It's become very clear to me, over this week, that Only Make Believe is not going to be finished by November 30th. The 50k will be (I'm determined...

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NaNoWriMo: Week Two

So if you read my last post, about my baby sister (forgive me, my teenage sister) you'll know that I mentioned to her that I had hit a bit of a block. My problem was that I was SO READY to jump forward to January (on the book's timeline, that is.) The scene that I have been DYING to write since I started takes place right after the kids (remember, it's set in a second grade classroom) come back from Christmas/Winter/Holiday break. Last week I was totally ready to jump from September AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the way to January, but there were a few other key scenes that I would be skipping that were important to the plot. It made me want to stop writing, because I didn't want to skip those scenes, but I also didn't want to write them. Talking to my sister, knowing she wrote all...

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Contagious

I've been writing my whole life, and when we were younger, I used to read my stories to my two little sisters. Sometimes, the older one would start to write her own version of the story. Usually, so that she didn't "copy" me, she'd change the names of the characters, but other than that, same story. I thought it was cute. She used to do a LOT of things in imitation of me, most of which drove me crazy. This one never bothered me. But eventually she outgrew that. Stopped "borrowing" my plots, stopped re-naming my characters, and so far as I knew, stopped writing entirely. I live 800 miles away, so usually I don't get to hear all the little details of her life. I'll ask "How's school going?" "good." "What have you been up to lately?" "Stuff." Mostly, when we talk, I'm the one doing most of...

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NaNoWriMo: Week One

Originally, I planned on writing a post here ever day, in addition to doing NaNo..... what am I? Crazy? Apparently so. Clearly that didn't happen, so I think I'm just going to do things at random as needed, and then do a weekly update every Sunday (because NaNo started on a Monday this year) Day one was fantastic for me. I ended up writing over 3000 words, so I'm a day ahead of schedule, which is great, especially considering I have no hope of writing on Thanksgiving. My fiance's mother asked me to do Thanksgiving dinner with her this year. For me, that's a huge huge honor, and I'm very excited, but she lives almost 2 hours away, and between driving there, cooking, eating, spending time with teh family, and coming home.... there isn't going to be any writing time for me. So I'll probably...

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I'm Absolutely Terrified!

So let me be honest. I'm absolutely freaking terrified of writing this book. For one thing, NaNoWriMo, though super exciting, is also just a Li'l bit scary. That's a lot of words, in not a lot of time..... For another thing it's horror.  Let me tell you a story about when I was in 3rd grade. It was around Halloween, and we had an assignment: write a scary story. I wrote it. It's title was A Little Girl's Horror. I worked so hard on it, and was so proud of it, that I brought it in to school early, and showed it to my classmates! Apparently, scaring your classmates in 3rd grade is rather frowned upon. I got in trouble, and was even made to see a therapist. I haven't written any "scary" story since then. Not one. Since I was.... about 88 or 9.  I turn 20 during NaNo. I'm scared...

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NaNoWriMo: Part 2

First things first. If you NaNo, add me here. Now, the more fun stuff Welllllllll I talked Chelsea into participating. I'm glad to have someone I know IRL in this with me. Of course, I have all the amazing writers from Accentuate, who I love to bits, but as much as I love them, I love my IRL friends too. I think everyone should do NaNo. Yeah. So, I think I should give you a little information on Only Make Believe, because really, I've shared it all with the rest of the internet, why not my blog readers? (Unrelated: speaking of blog readers, I live for comments. Give me some love? I'm totally not above begging.) I've drawn out these GORGEOUS character profiles. The have pictures of the characters, and small, not-overly-detailed, but substantial, list of things about them. I have a horrible...

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NaNoWriMo 2010: Official

This is part one, because I'm sure there will be more parts and updates. I don't know how many or when they will be, but there will be. I;m officially signed up for NaNoWriMo 2010. For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth. It's a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel (according to the official rules, a new novel that you hadn't started yet) in ONE MONTH.  I've registered. If anyone wants to be my writing buddy, you can add me under Boatkicker. This month, pre-nano, I'll be doing two things. 1) Taking a break from The Circle. In fact, this break will be a two month break 2) Pre-planning for my NaNo novel, which is currently titled Only Make Believe. 3) Trying to convince my dear friend Chelsea to participate with me. I think I'll post some of...

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Internet and Ellipsis

For the past several days, I haven’t had internet. I just moved (yes, again) 800 miles. The place I’m in now doesn’t have internet. I have a laptop. I can go to the library. It’s right up the street. About 200 yards away. Not far at all. But I haven’t except to do necessary things. The libraries where I grew up were so numerous compared to the number of people living there. About one library for every 4 square miles or space. There were hardly ever more than 12 people in any given library at a time (and in some libraries, considerably less than that) They were always so private. It felt like you were alone, which for me, was comfortable. Relevance? I went to the library here yesterday, and there were at least 60 people. It felt crowded. Over populated. I can handle crowds just fine, but...

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Water

I have an 11 year old sister who asked me to go with her and her friend to a pond near our house to swim. Although I was tired, I agreed. The weather was getting a little chilly, so instead of swimming with them, I sat on the bench on the shore. The little beach, though public property, is unnamed and secluded; only people who live in our neighborhood even know of it's existence. Bored, I watched a frog that jumped around in the water, and was suddenly inspired to write. I had no paper, of course, since I hadn't planned on writing, but we were alone, so I pulled out my cell phone and turned on the voice recorder. I spent the next hour telling the next scenes in my book to my phone, and watching my sister, bunches of fishies, a few frogs, and a turtle. Water does this for me. I do my best...

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The Right to Write

Okay, you caught me. This is just a rant. A rant about writing, but still just a rant. Several years ago I wrote a story, a piece of flash fiction, which I now call The Human Cycle. Only one person besides myself has read it. I posted it online for two hours one night, but I took it down soon after, before it got any hits. If you ask me, it's the best thing I've ever written. I have never been prouder of anything. I love that story. It's only 926 words, but it took my 8 months to write. So who is that one person who saw it? And why wouldn't I show anyone else? The person who read it was a friend of mine. She had watched me labor over it for months, but hadn't read it. When I finally finished it, I printed out a copy and handed it over. She read it, looked me in the eye and said "Have...

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I'm BACK!

I'm going to be honest with you all. I've been scared. I thought I was seeing some symptoms of a terrible situation that I have been in, in the past. A lot of times before, I've written a few thousand words, gotten a little stale, forced through it, fell out of it, moved on to something else, and never gone back. I have been absolutely TERRIFIED that I was about to lose The Circle. It wasn't just The Circle I was losing interest in. I suppose I was just going through a phase of distraction in general. I haven't wanted to post because even though I have been writing, I wasn't making progress on anything special. I've written a few words on my as of yet untitled psychological horror novel. Some on a short story that I meant to submit to a contest. Some on a few old projects, and I've even started...

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Burn Out

That focus on one story thing that I was doing for The Circle? It's not working out for me. I'm burnt out. Creatively stifled. Just not feeling the story. I have been craving some good writing time, but every time I open The Circle, I look around and find something else to do, or else I force out a few paragraphs of crap. Forcing it just wasn't working out for me. So, I've made a decision. I'm NOT going to give up on The Circle. I'm NOT going to totally put it away. BUT I'm going to allow myself to work on something else. Another idea that has been haunting me for about a year. That isn't long, for me. I like to let things stew in my head for a bit. Usually I have a story in there for several years before I actually get off my ass and try to write it. I may have hinted at it before (Have...

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Stress Induced Writers Block

I've had this horrible case of stress-induced writers block and it's been wonderful. Instead of sitting down and writing, I've been reading my manuscript (not hard, since it's so short) and trying to make note of holes and mistakes. This particular story is on its seven-billionth draft, and sometimes I forget what I included where. Sometimes I rearrange scenes or cut them, and can't remember where I moved them too, or why I got rid of them. I've caught a lot of mistakes that I'd missed on the hundreds of times I've already read this. I even referenced a scene that I had cut. Maybe the right thing to do would be wait until I've finished writing to do this sort of editing, but if I've accidentally forgotten to add a major plot or character-related scene (usually because I thought I added it)...

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Gone For A While

I'm moving, and wont likely be writing much, and consequently, not posting much. It's an 800 mile move, our lease on this place ends in a week, and we've only just barely started packing and cleaning. I don't write well when my mind is even under a little stress, and because this is such a big move, my stress level is a bit above "little." Just felt like letting you know that I'll be gone, if anyone is even reading this blog y...

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The Beauty of Re-writes

The version of The Circle I'm working on, was originally my Nanowrimo novel. I did not win it. I was only at around 13,000 words. I added a ton more that December, and January, and then started another draft at some point. Can't remember the date on it. That means, this draft is actually the second draft (except the end which I haven't written yet at all). Some days I write without looking at my first draft. Other days, like today, I flip back and forth between the drafts. The great thing about this is, that you pick up on things you never noticed before. Things that don't quite make sense, or things that are almost way-too-much-of-a-cliche to exist. For example, today I was writing the after effects of a fight scene. Missy, my narrator and main character (I've probably said that in several...

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Twin Drafts

Working hard on The Circle again, but I've got two matching drafts. Right now I'm focusing on the one I call "Christine's Surprise." So why two drafts? Glad you asked. You may remember from my earlier post that Christine is pregnant. I've made peace with her internal debate over keeping the baby, but that didn't solve all my Christine's-Pregnancy-Related-Issues. This one I have been dealing with even longer than the abortion issue, but I figured it would sort itself out. I still think that eventually it will sort itself out, but this blog is about my writing process, so I thought I would share what's going on with all this. I'm not sure how exactly Christine finds out she's pregnant. I have two different drafts with two different scenarios, neither of which I like. Originally,...

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Prompts

Sometimes you fight with your characters, and you don't write. Sometimes you obsess over titles, and you don't write. Sometimes you worry about what the readers will think, and you don't write. Sometimes your idea well runs dry, and you don't write. Sometimes, you need some sort of prompt to get you back into shape. I like to use some of the writing prompts on the Accentuate forums but it has seemed the past couple days those haven't been working for me, so I am trying a few of my other old tricks. I thought I would share them here in case anyone else is going through the same thing. 1) I go back to some of my older stories. I have a ton of unfinished works on my computer and in my filing cabinet. This benefits me in a lot of different ways. For one, It also reminds me of how much I have...

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Titles are Terrors!

Everyone has their quirks. Things that they obsess over. Some people spend forever naming their characters. For me, it's titles. I can never come up with a title I'm satisfied with. Not for a short story, a book, or even a blog post. The blog title here, Making Waves, came from a friend's suggestion. I have working titles for most of the things I write, but I wouldn't want to really publish under any of those names. Most of them are the names of the lead character, or else the main setting. Baby, Cammie, and a second draft Cammmmmmmie, CaraInHospital, Celeste, Chapter1, Chapt1, ChapterOne, (I can't remember what those are!) Fire, Grandparnets (yes with the misspelling), Jess, JohnRook, StellaSuccubus, MrButtons, and NicolsAnna are the names of all the stories I've started that haven't been...

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3/24/2010 St. Albans

My Fiance invited me to go to one of his classes with him yesterday, because they were having a medium come in. The class was Religion and Death, incase anyone was wondering. Anyways, I thought it was pretty cool. Some of the stuff the medium said was really interesting. Other parts, in my opinion, were total crap. Do I think spirits might be hanging around any given place at any given time, sure. I’m cool with that. Do I think scribbling on the mirror is going to call evil spirits into my home? Nope, that seems ridiculous. And unlikely, considering how many scribbles have been all over my own mirrors over time. If random marks called evil sprits in, I’d have had a lot more problems to deal with in my life. Oh. Wait. Maybe that explains everything. Hahaha. The medium...

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I'm adding backdated posts

I have, besides this blog, a personal blog. My daily rantings and ramblings about my family, friends, and general life. I have posted a few very writing-related posts on there, which I'm going to also copy over to here. I'll format them with the date I originally wrote them in the subject line. If you see strange things pop up, now you understa...

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I'm Writing a BOOK

I was about ten when I decided I was going to be a writer. I started writing a book called Erica Herenn (which by the way is pronounced HERN, it rhymes with fern.) I would talk about my book, or my novel, or Erica Herenn. I was excited. A young writer who was proud of herself. The more I devoted myself to writing, the more I talked. I probably drove people crazy! I was told, on more than one occasion, that I wasn't writing a book. I was writing a story. Books are published, and they're written by professionals. I was just a kid, so I didn't write books. I wrote "novel-length stories." This made sense in my 10, 11, or 12 year old brain. I got into the habit of referring to my stories. And you know what? That is what I do. I write stories. But I also write books. The difference isn't in the...

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Age Appropriate

How do you know if something is age appropriate in a book? My book, The Circle, is YA, and that's recently put a bit of a hold on my writing. By definition YA is 14-20. However, I remember reading YA books when I was 8. I'm certain that my book isn't appropriate for the standard 8 year old. I wrote a few thousand words, and moved beyond a key scene. But now I want to go back and get rid of it to make it more age appropriate for your standard 8 year old. Even when I was a kid, I found myself second guessing everyone I said to kids younger than myself. I couldn't remember what I had known about when. I was afraid to swear for fear that they would be scared. I found dirty jokes to be the funniest thing ever, but I was afraid if I even hinted at them around kids a little younger than...

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What would I do?

Today I was reading Rissa's Blog which was about what you'll do when you sell your book. Honestly, I have never thought about it before. I have fantasized about seeing my name on the NY Times Best Seller List. I have imagined my children, when I have them, telling their friends that their Mommy is a writer. I imagine reading my own book to my elementary school class. But that's all of the unreal sort of fantasy. It's the type of fantasy that little girls have when they dress up and pretend that they're movie stars. It's not what they really believe in, what they really expect, or even necessarily what they want. It's just a game. Some fun other life to try on, but it doesn't mean anything. I will attempt to find a publisher because it's a fantasy that would ROCK if it came true, but it doesn't...

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Making it Seamless

I have been working on a short story that I plan to enter into the June Accentuate Contest. Originally it was intended for May, but I can already tell that it wont fit into the Sorrow theme was well as it will into the Regret theme. The death of a loved one IS sorrowful, but the story isn't really about that. It's about three sisters who haven't spoken much in 10 years. They fight a lot, but the reconnect when the middle sister Madison finds a teddy bear named Mr. Buttons. I have what I actually think it a decent beginning. I have GREAT ending...... and nothing else. I have no middle. I have the first hundred or so words, and the last 200. I don't even have an idea for the middle. This happened to me last time I tried to write out of order, and I swore to myself I would never do that again....

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Dreaded First Post

I started writing my first post here, and somehow blogger managed to delete it. I started writing it again in wordperfect, and somehow that ate it too. I've decided that my original first post just isn't meant to be. I'm not sure where to start. Starting something, be it a new blog, a new book, or meeting new people, is always hard for me. It makes me a little nervous, because I wonder whether things will work out in the end. Starting a new blog about writing, after I just had a three day breakdown in which I didn't write AT ALL makes me even more anxious. Am I supposed to say what I'll be doing here on this blog? That's easy. Talking about writing my books. Talking about books I read. Do I talk about where I am currently with my writing? That's a hassle. I don't even know where I am. I...

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