Thanksgiving, NaNoWriMo and life

Well... day before Thanksgiving and instead of baking pies and finishing cleaning the house and all the other stuff I writing a post! It's a writer thing I guess. Oh, the rest will get done... kinda has to as I'm hosting 8 tomorrow... but for now I write.

Thanksgiving is an odd sort of holiday. I have mixed feelings.  I'm grateful for family and friends and a roof over my head and food on the table, but at the same time I think about what the first one must have really been like.

No fancy table settings, or flatware. No sparkling dishes. It was probably pretty chilly, and they are outside... cause you know, no dinning room. It would have been an interesting menu too.I'm guessing a wild turkey or two, maybe wild carrots... fish also. But it wasn't just them... they had guests, who brought their own dishes.... oh yeah folks, the first Thanksgiving was probably a Potluck! The dishes would have been different, as different as the guests.

I doubt there was as much trust as is shown. The native people wore what they wore, which was considerably less that the pilgrims! They were strange, but they... well some of them... had helped, so these folks wanted to be able to thank them, as well as give thanks to God for helping them survive. Thanks Giving.

Alright... enough of that. It's also NaNoWriMo. Sadly I've not made much progress on the story. Basically after the first couple chapters I'm at a loss. My word count is worse than last years, and I doubt I'll get much time to work on it in the next two weeks. Bother!

The brightest part has been the official release of Toe Beans! I've already has sales! Yay! I really want to bombard everyone with urging them to go buy this book! It's a mostly true story, though some details have been changed for artist reasons. I'm really proud of it, as it's the first thing that I've done for children, and it wasn't an assignment or my usual fantasy! It really is a perfect Christmas gift!

Go buy Toe Beans! Now! Please.

Well, those pies aren't gonna cook themselves, and the floor won't mop itself either, so I guess I should get to it.

Fall...

Well... I've survived the summer... which consisted of mostly trying to make money while making money... I've done one better than the other frankly. It's funny... at some point, you get so focused on survival that the creativity kinda wanders off. Maybe it gets bored.

With the return of fall however, it ambles back. Next month will see the debut of my fist attempt at a children's book. Next month is also.... NaNoWriMo  otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. The idea is write a novel in a month. Not necessarily one ready to publish, but one ready to refine. I attempted this last year and didn't get as far as I wanted.... because of school mostly. This year I once more am attempting this thing.

For me it's not about winning.. yes, you can win...but rather the attempting and the making progress. I've known about NaNoWriMo for several years, but up until last year I was too scared to try it. No idea why it scared me, but it did. This years attempt (like last years) has already been started, but has been sitting stagnant for months. Hopefully this will have it making progress.

What am I working on? Oh, I thought I'd prod at the sequel to Restart.

Four months..?

Of course it's been four month. Why wouldn't it be. I'm incredibly bad about this blog thing, I really am. In any event, I'm here now, so let's do this, okay?

On July 29th my new book, "Porcelain Dragons" was born. It took at least two years to happen, which makes me feel a bit like an elephant. However, it's another first for me, being my first anthology of short stories that had been written for assignments. There is only one in there that isn't, but it fit, so I added it in. I personally think it's some of my best work, but I'm biased.

Self publishing is an adventure for me. I'm now having to learn how to "sell myself" to the public, and in doing that sell what I do. It's hard. Really hard. I actually spend hours coming up with ideas on how to get the word out about me and my work. Most of the idea's I discard, because of affordability. I recently joined a group that meets once a month to discuss this very thing. Many of them seem to have at least some idea of what they are doing. I know I need to get reviews of my books, but so many places want you to pay, and internet searches are all day affairs!

Maybe I'm stumbling on the fact that my books are only loosely connected, that right now they aren't a series. That's probably it, but... I want to make sales. I want the world to read my work. So I guess I'm going to dive in blind, and do a lot of praying that something works.

I've improved my website, so that it actually looks like ... well... I know what I'm doing. Pardon me, while I roll on the floor laughing hysterically.... never can seem to type that without hysterical laughter.

Okay, done laughing. In all seriousness though, I'm working at getting all of these seemingly random bits and pieces of me together to form some sort of a "product" that I can market. So much updating to do! Guess I should get to it. With luck I'll get back here and update this more often.

Another one of those long gaps...

It happens, because life happens. Anyway...

Writing and compiling the newest project is a much slower process than a full novel. Close your mouth, something will fly in. Seriously though.. because unlike a full novel, doing an anthology requires more writing, and as the writing in the new project is generated through my college classes... well, it's slower, but I feel it's been better vetted. It's really a trade off.

I am going back to the NW Book Festival in Portland this year. I'm really excited about it. Last year was such a learning experience. This year I have a proper canopy, have spent a bit extra to have power, thus will be able to have a fan and will be able to charge phones and tablets!!! Yay!

I'm learning more about myself and my writing. I've realized that I'm stuck in some sort of a genre rut, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for some classes, it's frustrating. I need to be able to write stories that don't always involve dragons and my world. Currently even, I am wrestling with this, as I again am faced with writing a short story, and I have to "keep it real".  Now it's more annoying than anything. However, I can recall a time where I thought I couldn't, or I wasn't good at it, or some combination of those. That said, I don't have a clue where to start or with what.

I've been trying to be more active with my FB page and posting regularly. Mostly quotes about writing, but it's something, right? I've also done a webpage through Wix, and updated that as well. All of this though doesn't get homework done. Of course, neither does writing this post sooo...

I'd say I'll try and be better about blogging, but we all know how that goes, so I won't bother.

Whew!

Hard to believe that Fall Quarter is almost over and that I've survived. It's going to be weird though to not have to be places on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The flip side of all this is that I should have time to write for myself now... well, myself and those that read my humble scribbling.

The big question is... what am I going to start on? I've been asking myself that since I finished Restart. I don't think I'm any closer to an answer now then I was. I've had a couple people say I should just grab all my short stories and half written things and put them into a book. Maybe.

Maybe I just don't worry about it just yet and focus on Christmas. That needs attention. There is a tree to get and the house to decorate and all of that. Oh, and gifts.

Bleh.. this isn't really about writing is it? Maybe I should ty that. Writing. What have I learned about it over the past ten weeks?

1.) Don't try and read about the technical side of writing poetry while high on anti-histamines.

2.) Re-write, re-write, re-write!!
3.) Just because I think something is awesome doesn't mean it is.
4.) I'm a comma-holic and probably need a 12 Step Group.
5.) Passive verbs are a pain.

There are more, but... it's that time thing.

It LIVES!

Well, mostly. Aside from a few weird technical issues.. Restart is live and I'll be adding in the links to it here right after I post this.. I hope.

I think I need to get back to spending time with this blog, if for no other reason than to be able to write stuff that isn't going to be graded. That's if I get a break with homework... not likely, bu a girl can dream. I'm not complaining.. just.. observing. Okay, t's sort of complaining. However, it is a bit sad to realize that where once there were stories rollicking around in my head, like a pack of kindergartners all demanding my attention, now there are quiet whimpers amidst the crickets.

Oh there have been some inspired moments, but mostly my mind has gone into alert, quivering, waiting for the next writing assignment... and not always with delight. As the moment, it doesn't even want to focus on this bit of writing... drivel that it is. Not helping that my hands; well fingers really; have started to stiffen and not work quite right. Every writers nightmare.

I think that today I will enjoy this bit of fluff writing. I will not edit assignments, or worry about the next story that should be told. Nope.. today is all about this.. whatever this is.

And I'm going to revel in bloody ellipses... a lot.... tons.... massive amounts of little dots in a row.... because I can.

Seems like forever...

And probably has been. What have I been doing you ask. Funny story that... Aside from putting the final polish on Restart (Launch date set for Nov. 9) I thought I'd go back to school and get a degree in what I do naturally... write. I know, I know... crazy! However, one is never too old to learn or refine knowledge, so.. there ya' have it.

So.. school, yeah. Just as much fun as it was when I got my associates, so that's a plus. Again I am reminded how much I can still learn, even about writing.. You want to challenge yourself, take an Intro to Creative Writing class at a university and see how fast you expand! Of course I'm crazy, so to me it's fun finding my boundaries. LOL

It's also keeping me thinking about writing and stories and so on, which is awesome! Still no idea what I'll work on next, but I'm writing a whole bunch of interesting possibilities so who knows! Hmmm... maybe I should start posting some of the random bits and see if anyone says anything.

Wow.. suddenly things feel like they are moving!

Wow... wait wait wait and then.... Boom! stuff happens. Gotta love it! So waiting patiently for the proofs of both interior and cover layout for Restart. I look at the date and realize that there is the very strong possibility that everything will be done well before Christmas!

I'd thought that I could try and work on the next book, but after the opening few bits, nothing. No idea's, no drive. I hate that! I really really do. Then again, it's actually been a far busier summer than I had anticipated, even into August.

Okay, so part of that is my own doing. After much debating and soul searching I've decided that I should go back to school. Yeah, at the tender age of.... well... old... I'm going after a Bachelor's Degree in Writing Studies. Makes sense right? I think so in any event. However, the process of that has taken up some time...and energy. Good energy, but still...

Anyway, so now I turn my energy toward attempting marketing and creating excitement about the book. Maybe after I get the cover proofs I can see about like posters or something.. and put them up around town? In book stores? Coffee shops? All of the above?

Yes.

And so it begins!

Well, editor has the manuscript for Restart! Now I wait for a couple weeks while they go through it.I think time would go faster if it wasn't summer, where I have all the time in the world to look at my email.

I'm facing the "Now what do I do" conundrum now. I can't edit yet, but I can't seem to work on anything else. I have a whole other book waiting to be written, yet I keep shying away from it, because This one isn't done. In fact, I can't seem to write anything even related to the book. Nothing regarding the characters, nothing regarding the area.. nothing. Even this blog is hard... because it's about the book and me and writing.

I've tried keeping busy around the house, but being just back from a vacation, I don't feel inclined. Heck, I haven't even full unpacked! Oh I've gotten little things done.. dishes, my car now fits in the garage.. but laundry or sweeping and mopping... nope. As warm as it's been, I'm barely cooking!

Well, I've kind of run out of words for this, so I guess I'll wander over to FlightRising and see if I can waste a day there..lol.

Goal Reached!

Wow... I would have never believed that this could actually happen. I actually raised the funds to pay for an editor! Why pay? Welll.... there wasn't exactly a lne of people beating down my door volunteering to edit soooo...

I'm not perfect. I can write (so I've been told) but even the best spell checker won't catch a wrong word spelled right... nor can it tell me if all the punctuation is right... or if my timeline is clear. Only another pair of eyes, that haven't written 70,000+ words, can do that. As I said... didn't have folks beating down my door to volunteer to do this. I knew of two people capable... one has way too much on his plate, and the other won't edit anything by family or friends. Huh... kinda leaves me screwed.

So, finished the manuscript, fixed the obvious mis-spells and was just going to self-publish as it was. However, my beautiful husband had gotten addicted to Kickstarter... which gave me an idea... Maybe I could use that to raise the money to get this thing edited... So, doubting it would come together, I launched a Kickstarter campaign.. which most of you have probably gotten sick of hearing about by now..lol.

In all honesty, I was pretty sure I wouldn't reach the goal...once again, didn't have a whole lot of folks beating down my door. It's funny... when you do something like this, you find out who really believes in you as a person and who is just giving lip service. Now I know...

It's okay though... cause with or without your help, this book will live and be by far the tightest thig I've written. Still don't think it'll be a best seller... huh, then again, didn't think it would get funded either.... Huh.

Moving right along...

So today I got to thinking about how I write, and that in turn drove me here.

I was sharing with a co-worker (yes, I'm doing this from work) about distractions. Like researching something while writing. I'll  come to a halt in the writing to go get more information, or better understanding, about what I'm writing about. In doing that I inevitable loose track of time...and lo and behold, I'll surface from the depths of curiosity to find that hours have passed.

By this point I'm usually hungry, so I stop and eat something. Of course then it's nap time. In short, the entire day will pass and I will have written maybe a dozen sentences.

I think that's why sometimes I wonder if I'm dedicated enough. However, before I get a bazillion comments, I remind myself the same thing I tell my kiddos... There is no right or wrong way to write, just write. It's not about speed, it's about getting the words on paper.  The only time "speed" really matters is if you are testing. Otherwise, write as you can.

So, I'm writing as I can, and slowly moving forward. Planning and starting the next book, because Restart begs for a sequel and I  have all these notes and ideas and stuff. The hard part is the working title.

Why worry about it? Because I have to save the file and it helps to have a name. Kind of like coming up with baby names before the baby arrives, regardless of whether or not you know the gender. You are carrying within you a living being, and you are forming a bond with them. Part of that is having a name to refer to them by as you talk to them.

Stories are the same, at least for me. I have no clue the true gender of what I'm creating, but to think of it impersonally takes something away from the creative process.

It's been a year... almost.

Yeahhh.... I'm pretty sure I mentioned ages ago, when I started this thing, that my posting would be sporadic.

So, since a year ago.. I've finished the manuscript for Restart!!! Yeah! I'm stoked. I've also made some decisions about how I'm handling it being published. It's huge! 78,000 + words type huge! There's no way I can edit it all, so I've decided to have someone else go over it and help me fix stuff, and then publish and help with distribution as well.

Now for my reality check... That shit's expensive!!! When you don't make bupkiss to bgin with and all your personal resources are needed for things like.. bills... doesn't leave much left over frankly. Okay, so I decided to take another huge risk.. I started a Kickstarter campaign.

Real ego/self esteem tester that. I'm giving it 30 days to raise $3,500; which is the cost plus a bit more of the publishing/editing package. I started this like 4 days ago... I've got two.... TWO contributors.... AND ONE OF THEM IS MY HUSBAND!!! I've sent out emails, I've posted on Facebook, I've freakin' Tweeted it. Two.

I can't send an email at work, cause of policy, but I can show it on a case by case basis. That's not so good either frankly. One person went through and corrected the grammar in the letter (proving how desperately I need to have this done!) and the other implied it was just a hobby. What do I do with that?

I came home and cleaned the house. I took a nap. I petted the cats. Guess what? My house is clean, I'm rested and the cats are content... and it still stings. I... I want this to be more. I've been told by people over the years (teachers as well as parents) that I'm a good writer, that they enjoy reading my work. That should count for something, shouldn't it? I gave up trying to make a living doing Graphic Design... I.. I can't give up on something that I can't stop doing. I won't give up on my writing again.

Some how, some way.. this book will live beyond my own little circle. If I have to ... I dunno... make a damn porno.. to fund it, then that's what I'll do.  I'm tired of hearing that the things I feel passionate about are "nice hobbies". Collecting stamps is a nice hobby... writing books is a passion.

So, I've giving notice to the world.... piss off.. I'm not giving up on this. If no one will help this time, I'll try again, and again... and again.. I'll keep trying until people get so sick and tired of being nagged by me on funding that they open their stinkin' wallets and take a chance!

You've been warned.

Productive time...

Great leaps and bounds on Restart of late. An oddly productive Spring Break actually, despite all the other chaos. It felt REALLY good to write.. and write a lot! I hate going in spurts though.

So what got done in Restart? Well lets see here.... mmmm... rescued a three year old, hired a secretary, and... oh lots of other stuff. Really... you thought I'd give it ALL away? For shame. I can tell you though that the book is at almost 500 pages and I'm not anywhere near done actually.

Actually I'm pretty sure that I'm the one most excited about this. Sitting down to write is like catching up with old friends and just.. hanging out. Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry...but it's never boring. It helps that this is set in Seattle I think.

Other things... punctuation!!! Bleh. The bane of my existence some days. I went back through and fixed the punctuation for the dialog in Soul of Evil, and cleaned up some of it as well. I rushed it to see it published. Not my best idea. However it's fixed now... and yes another proof is on it's way to me.

I've learned something though... especially with Restart. I order proofs when I've made huge changes, so that if I've gaffed it somewhere I can fix it. Does it cost me a bit? Yes. Is it worth it? I think so. It also gives me tangible proof that progress is being made, which for me is necessary.

Now if I could just get the cats to feed themselves...

Another amazing month..

With two posts! So it's been either productive or educational as far as writing. Well, the last one was productive soooo... you got it, educational.

It's easy to rest on your laurels when you self publish. It's also easy to assume you know what your doing. In the course of starting again to attempt to promote Soul of Evil, I ordered a proof copy. Mind you I'd updated the content LAST YEAR! When I'd updated it I gave a brief look over the interior pages for numbering, formatting, etc...  Never bothered to double check the cover proof. Happily put it up and went on my merry way. Didn't have the funds to order a proof copy for myself. I mean... I know what I'm doing, it was just a few little changes, right?

Riiiight... So this year I decide to promote again, and actually order a proof (because it's required!). Well, the proof arrived yesterday. First thing I notice is a white line down the outer edge of the cover. Wait, what? That's not right. Why is that there? Oh well, small fix. I open it. Black and white copy of the front and back covers. Wait..what?! I dunno.. I plunge on.. No page numbers in the opening pages, good. I pause on the dedication page, because something catches my eye. On the left hand page, down in the corner is.... a page number? Okay, that's not good. Make a note to myself and plunge deeper. Things are fine and then...

I look at the corners of the pages and there are NO page numbers!! WTF? I skim through and see that the numbers don't start until like page 83. I spend the rest of the afternoon re-formatting the ENTIRE book! I made a good change though.. I made it closer in size to a standard paperback. It raised the price significantly, because it raised the page count significantly. Ah well.

All of the above issues could have been avoided if I had actually LOOKED at the previews. I didn't, because I was certain that it was fine. I've previewed the new version fully, both interior AND cover. Now we'll see if the print copy works as well.

Oh damn it's been a while.

Time flies when you're so stressed out you can't even think about writing or characters or anything except how stressed out you are. Yeahhh... so that's pretty much been it since I last made any sort of a post here. Fun, yes?

Apparently though recently the stress has backed off because.... I'VE BEEN WRITING!!! Go me! I've also been trying to lose 20 lbs, but that's neither here nor there. So.. the writing thing.. very exciting to me. Maybe I can keep it going for a while. I discovered something today though about me and writing and more specifically working on Restart. I need others to be excited about it as well. I mean excited as in "I want to read the horrible rough draft version because it sounds so awesome" excited.

For that I have one fan and happily they aren't related to me! Yeah, a real live fan. I realized today that their excitement and enthusiasm for the story makes me want to write more. Of course it also makes me want to share more too. I get some enthusiasm from my own child, but... I want others too. Today I reconnected with a friend. Both our lives have been crazy and hectic soo... but trying to get together with her during Spring Break... maybe eat some chocolate fondue and she can hear some of this book.

I have re-written the synopsis on the back cover, because I changed directions. I scrapped the serial killer idea, mostly because I just couldn't bend my brain around how it all works. Also there was enough going on without adding That into the mix as well. Besides, that means I can use it in some other story... Anywho, so new back cover wording is as follows:

Peyton DeLaChat liked Seattle. He liked the weather, the scenery and the blissful obscurity. It helped that he'd visited the area before he relocated there. Getting settled was easy, even with no real plan in mind other than reinvent himself. Preferably with as little drama as possible.

When his daughter comes to him with a request for help rescuing a little boy, Peyton figures why not, sounds simple enough. He quickly discovers that even in this time nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Sounds better to me... but then of course it would.. I wrote it. Anyone else have a thought?

Ah sporadic-ness, how I love thee..

It's weird the things that can trigger the Muse. The past months have been so hectic I couldn't think. Between Alaskan cruises and remodels, well... what's a writer to do?

However, school has started again and I'm happily in the thick of it. This year I am taking a more active role, which includes being more involved with what we're reading. How does this relate to writing you may ask.. If you have to ask, we really need to sit down and have a talk. Anywho.. with the reading, it makes me aware of dialog and writing, especially when reading aloud. Combine that with the new teacher who is teaching creative writing and well... there ya' go.

So today I wrote. Dialog, cleaning up scenes, finishing up some scenes. For several hours I wrote. It felt wonderful! Now if I could only have a full sized kitchen to cook in, I might just make it.

And into June..

Well... as the song says... schools out for summer. The last week or so has seen some sort of progress on the WIP. Mostly I found a captive fan willing to listen to the rough draft being read. I've found that I find more of my grammatical and typing errors when I read out loud.

I have actually made progress and tightened up a few things... caught timing errors for one and am feeling a bit more optimistic about making progress. Maybe I'll even get time this summer to get further. One can always hope.

Holy cow.. TWO?

Wow, two posts in one month... I think it's a record of late. Anywho... I've been writing! Yay me. I've been wedging it n between everything else n my world. The writing feels wonderful and I'm making progress once more on Restart. All is joy, right?

Not exactly. I've realized that my preferred way of proofing my work is to read it aloud to someone. Someone that can interact... verbally... in a way I can understand. All of that rules out the cats. Now I've managed to corner my friend once.. which helped (Thank you Kimmy!!) but other than that... nada. It's the Stanley Cup Playoffs so hubby is not an option. The child is... well... the child. While they support me, they really would rather play the 3DS. Okay, well... one of those I understand.

So where do I find people to read to? Oh I thought of maybe the library but.. meh. I... I don't have anyone else. Summer is coming and I know that for half of it I'm busy busy... but.. eventually things will slow down again (I hope!) and I'll be right back to looking for someone to read to.

Well who knows... maybe something will come up. In the meantime, I'll be happy with the feeling of progress.

More writing.. wow.

Huh, who'dda thought.. Still working on the character re-write. It's been hit or miss and there is much not written, but it's still writing.

The other day I had a brain storm of ideas for Restart (WIP)... on my way to work. Uhg! Couldn't do a damn thing about it, except hope that the ideas stuck around long enough for me to get back home and jot them. No.. jotting them at work isn't an option., nor is jotting whilst driving. Thankfully they did stick around... well mostly.

Why is it that when you need to be left alone to write the entire world suddenly seems hell-bent on bugging you? I was humming along.. words flowing, dialog snappy and... BAM! Phone rings. So  stop the stream of ideas long enough to answer it. It was the child seeking information. I gave the information and make it go away. Now I'm on a time limit. Damn. Dive back into the dialog and right at a critical spot that needed a carefully worded reply when... you guessed it... the damn phone. (No idea why I don't turn the bloody thing off.)

This time it was hubby... seeking information. I give him information and try tactfully to extract myself from the conversation. He loves me and respects my writing, so all I had to do was hint and he went away. Yay. Back into the dialog, snappy reply written when.. phone rings again. Are ya' kidding me?! WTF? I look... son-of-a... its hubby again. I answer, answer the question and chase him off. Type maybe a whole 'nother sentence when the [insert suitably vile expletive] phone rings again!!! This time I'm not nice when I answer and snarl. Poor hubby... he apologizes profoundly and begs... BEGS me to set up the DVR for hockey. I snarl some more and do it. That done I glance at the clock and ... oh yeah folks... time to go. Note to self... do not let certain characters (namely one particular Bedlam) drive in the afternoon.

So... there everything sits. I did get a bit more done, but the brain storm I'd had that morning vanished. Ah well..

And again with the long gap...

This is getting to be a bad habit of mine. However, the flip side is that I have been writing. Not necessarily on Restart... but who knows..  I've also been overseeing the remodel. I feel like we're getting a castle!! It's really neat.

So, writing.. yeah. Sometimes you find you've created a character into a corner and are stuck. Last week I realized I had done just that. Not a good thing. I've done it before and really for me there is just one solution.................. REVAMP! Not reboot... revamp. Bit different.. at least to my perception. I've fund that the best way to do something like this is a cataclysmic event, one that is so immense that it's life altering, literally.

With this particular character it meant her mind was well... decimated. It involved some family betrayal and some other messed up stuff... but the deed is done now and so I'm slowly putting the poor thing back together. Thus... writing. I'm finding though that it's not just writing. To be able to effectively remake a character I have to sort of feel what they are feeling. Yeahhhh.... exactly. So it's been an umm... interesting week or so. Spent a couple days just completely out of it and the rest of the time confused..lol.

The onset I didn't write however. I'm blessed to have a husband who is as creative as I am. To be fair here... he started it!! I'd mentioned not being happy with the character being kind of locked into one situation and so he looked at me and said the words I love to hear... "What if...?" Whooo baby and we were off to the races! So the beginning of this whole thing wasn't and probably won't be written... but I'm very okay with that. Maybe down the road I'll take this tale and included it in something.