Where have I been?!?!

Hello friends! It has been too long since I've written for you. I've been a little busy lately! I've actually started to work on my stories again. Much has happened in the time I dropped off the face of the earth. Let me fill you in using cliff notes:

• My horse tried to die on me - In hindsight, he didn't actually try to kick the bucket on me but he sure as heck gave me a gastric ulcer. He coliced (for my non-horse friends, its a gastrointestinal issue of gigantic proportions) and took three days to get his system back in order. He then abscessed at the injection site from a shot of pain reliever. This pretty much took up my ENTIRE life for more than a month. FYI, he's fine now... thankfully!
• My literary friend, Laura, moved to Missouri - Rather, her husband was transfer and she *had* to go with him. Poppycock, I say. It was a sad day for me, not just because she rips my stories a new one (as to make them better not to be mean) but she is a very dear friend. I misses her. :(
• Computer issues are a pain in the you-know-what - My lap top is at the "doctor's" getting fixed. Something about a bad hard drive, I think. With a few viruses throw in. Needless to say, it gave me the blue screen of death. BUT my most amazing friend, Kaitlin, is trying to fix him. Obviously, not having MY computer to type on will hinder my writing.

I'm not trying to use these as an excuse, I'm just giving you legit reasons why my word count has suffered. I have gotten to Chapter 8 in Book 2 of my trilogy AND, recently, started writing a Christian fiction novel on the side. I got stuck in my fantasy world and thought it would be good to write something that is constrained to the laws of reality. I think it may be working... we shall see.

With Laura gone, I had to find someone to bounce ideas off of--not that Laura isn't, like, a text, e-mail, or phone call away!--it helps to have someone close by to help. Enter friend Kaitlin. She doesn't tear my story apart and make me answer questions to the 10th degree, but she does tell me what works and what doesn't. She tells me if anything seems off about what I've written. Case in point, I had all characters in book 2 ANGRY at one specific character--she pointed it out and was thinking, "Why are they all so angry at him, he's not that bad?!" I agreed and had to go back and fix about 3 chapters worth of rage at this poor man. Anyway, she's writing a story too and its really cool to have so many writer friends! :)

Despite my lack of writing, I have, in fact, been reading quite a bit! All the research I've done to make my writing better and advise from well-known published authors/editors/agents was to READ, READ, READ. And when you're done with that keep on reading! If you write fantasy, read historical fiction. If you write mystery, read science fiction. If you write romance, read... I dunno, kid's fiction. If you write fiction, read non-fiction. So that is what I've been trying to do! I've noticed a few things...

• 1.) I pick up on bad writing RIGHT away - and I can't go on.
• 2.) It gives you a perspective you may have not had to begin with.
• 3.) All writing styles are different, and reading gives you many different preservatives which HELP enhance your writing. You learn what not to do. What to do. What is believable. What works and what doesn't.
• 4.) You pick up little things that you draft into your own style. I've taken to highlighting phrases that I think are amazing.
• 5.) You get to learn SO MANY WORDS! Write them down, look them up, and use them! I also highlight those as well.

So, just because I haven't really written much, doesn't mean I haven't been working on my creative muscles. I'm getting there! Goal for 2011: Finish book 2 AND my single Christian fiction book. ***Stay tuned, I'll be writing a few book reviews for you, too!***

National Novel Writing Month

Last year my friend Laura (I know, I bring her up a lot but she's helpful!) mentioned she participates in something commonly known as NaNoWriMo, a.k.a National Novel Writing Month. You have 30 days to write 50,000 words. She's told me that in the past few years she's been able to crank out the very basic storyline for, I think, 3 or 4 novels.
This year, she told me I had to do it, of course I didn't disagree. What I wasn't sure of was if I'd be done with my first novel --alas, I am!!!! Woot!-- She challenged me to finish my first book so that I could get a HUGE jump on the second one. I am proud to say that I met her challenge and seek to do my 2nd story justice.
So, as of today, I signed up as a participant and developed my "Story Question" for Book 2. In my first official act I shall now post my badge! :)

Wish me luck! We'll see what kind of slug fest is in store for me!

SUCCESS!

Finished! Acabada! Críochnaithe! Finie! Finita!
My messy, jumbled, and unedited first draft, as of 4:47pm on the 28th day of October in the year 2010, is done. My book is complete... or rather the story is complete. The book is far from done. The plan: edit, edit, edit. I shall then clean it up and make it presentable. I will find an editor (see how much it costs) and have them fix my horrid grammar and tie up loose ends on the story. I plan to submit it to a few publishers and see where it goes from there!

I'll write more... its time for dinner and my brain needs a break. :)

Writing is _____ (fill in the blank).

So when I started my journey to write this story of mine (which it has no title yet, I don't want to jinx it by giving it one!) I never thought I would actually finish it. To draw up an outline, start the book, and see it to completion is HARD. I'm not even joking. I know there a ton of people out there who start novels and never finish. I'm not going to blame them nor think that they didn't give it their all b/c its a bloody battle to get to the end. I think its like running a 10k marathon but only in your head. You have to train and dedicate yourself to see the finish line.


As I am now in Chapter 20 in my book, I can see the last stretch. I can't tell you how BADLY I want to cross that line. I can practically taste it! It makes my heart beat a little faster. So for me writing is a release. Its an expression of myself. Writing is actually FUN; I get to create things and control the chess pawns. Its slightly addictive, really. It would be so cool to go back to school and get some sort of writing degree --but alas, that is not practical in today's society.


Writing is a jouney; you find yourself along the way and discover things you never knew. Writing is educational; I've found so sweet new words I've never heard of before and HAD to use them in my book! Writing is not a one man sport. Well, it may before Steven King or James Patterson but for the rest of us, we need S U P P O R T! Its a must. I can not imagine the disarray my story would be in if it weren't for Laura, Caela, Abby, Jill, or Leah. I go to them and tell them to read things 4 times over. Or I ask them to read the raw version. They are a brave, brave folk for whom I am eternally thankful to God for. And let me tell you that its nerve-racking to put yourself out there all vulnerable like. But I do it because I have a story I want to tell.


I am almost to the end but FAR from finished. This is only the first battle. The battle to the end of the beginning. Wish me luck, support me, and encourage me. Until next time, keep reading :)

Winning the small battles...

...one chapter at a time! So today I completed chapter 14 in my novel. This is so super exciting for me. I'm STOKED right now. I had to walk away and marvel at this chapter. I have to say that things just got a big shove into "a lot more interesting"


I had to blog about this crowning achievement in my short writer life. I wanted to share with you the excitement I felt at writing something that blew even ME away and I WROTE IT!!! Not only are my characters becoming "real" but the story is "coming to life"... no joke! Today it just leapt off the screen and into my fingers. I feel like I need a beer or some sort of small gratifying award for this. (Chocolate Sundae from Campbell's or Coldstone's... any takers??) I'm so stoked, seriously. It was worth it to push forward, ignoring my messy, unedited chapters, and taking Laura's advice to continue on.


I'm so glad that God gave me the talent to write --or the drive --or the idea --or whatever it was that He programmed into me. I give God glory that this story brings me joy to write it. Its also allowed me to discover a few things about myself that I'd never known. I encourage every person to at least start the journey of writing a story. Wow... just wow. I have a huge smile on my face right now.


Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day! :)

Procrastination is a pain...

So here I am writing a blog instead of writing on my book. I've decided to forge ahead and at least get the book finished. I think things would be so much less stressful if I sat down and pounded out the story. THEN I'll go back and work on what Laura has given me. I'll then submit it to my horse riding teacher, Jill, and see what she thinks. There are precious few people that I want reading this until I'm done with the unpolished "final" version... the one I'll submit to an editor. So I say all this to drum up the energy to write on my story. Its 7:05 pm... I'll give myself an hour to work on it. Until my next update, keep reading. ;)

Operation "Write a book" Update

As I mentioned in my previous post my friend Laura has been helping write a better story. This chick is GREAT and I'm soooooooo glad that God gave her the brain that He did. It works on a different level than most people's. (That's totally meant to be kind and NOT mean!) When I submit a chapter to her I get it back COVERED (and I mean COVERED!!!) in her handwriting. It triggers two reponses in me.
1.) Omgosh, that is a crap ton of work. I can't do this.
2.) Her wisecrack remarks make is laugh. I love love love to see my reader's reaction to things.

Its not even that her critque is mean, its just in depth. She's forced me to look at my story and characters deeper. I've had to gain a greater understanding of this worldview I've created. I knew I had holes in my story and she's helped flush them out. It is HARDwork!

Another thought... my characters have taken on their own life forms. My main character Sam now listens to music... as often as she can. She doesn't listen to any specific type, its whatever she's feeling at the moment. Sam's best friend Leigh (who Laura was dying for me to give her a flaw, any flaw) has become a very good liar. She does it with ease... and its not that she lies about petty things but more like how the CIA lies. National security depends on CIA lies and in my book, people's lives depend on Leigh's lying abilites. (This does not, what so ever, depict my best friend Heather, in which the character Leigh is based on. Heather couldn't and wouldn't fib her way out of a paperbag!)

I love writing. I always liked to write... but I've found that I love it. I love getting what's in my head out on paper. I can get home from a really bad day at work and type on my story. I will write and write and write until my brain says it had enough! When I'm done with the brain dump, I feel 100% better about my life. The ONLY other thing that does that for me is riding horses. Its very cool to discover these things about myself... and I'm 26! Anyway, stay with me and thanks for reading!! I love you all!

Perserverance & Friends

So there I was in chapter 11 of my book and I was floundering. I needed to go through my first 10 chapters and elaborate and edit, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. If I had to read that first chapter ONE more time, I was going to pitch all of that work. I just couldn't do it but I needed to. I wanted to claw my eyeballs out. I had Chapter 1 pretty much memorized.

This is where wonderful friends enter the picture. My BFF, Heather and newest friend, Laura have gotten the first 5 chapters to critique & edit. Dana is in the process of reading it but she goes to college. :) I also gave my farrier, Karl and trainer, Jill the first two chapters so they could give me their opinions. Turns out I don't have to do all this on my own! Who would have thought? I mean, I know I ask for opinions but this was a good idea.

Laura was the first to return the pages to me. My prolouge and Chapter 1 went from 3 and 8 pages to 4 and 12. She was very helpful! I can't wait to get the feed back from everyone else. Its exciting to see my friends reactions. Its also very very very very cool to see what I've written invokes an emotional response from "my readers". That what I wrote made them ask the questions I wanted them to.

I do all of this 1.) I have a story I want to tell 2.) I'm decent at writing and think I may have a LONG shot at being published. 3.) I have friends that are horse people. They will ALWAYS give me an answer as to if something sucks. 4.) Its an adventure. I'm finding things out about myself that I NEVER knew. I had no idea what it took to write a book until I started doing it. 5.) I HAVE GOT TO finish the story otherwise I will feel incomplete. 6.) Its actually rexlaing. Go figure... the writers' block included.

Thanks for reading and I hope to give you a couple books reviews in the next week. Until then, take care! :)

Writing Woes

Oh its times like these that I think I'll never finish my book. I write and write and hope some inspiration hits me so that my store can move forward. I'm kinda at a road block, a detour... and I can't figure out how I want the next few chapters to play out. I know where I want my story to go but I don't know how to get there.

Its frustrating because I don't want to write crap. I want it to be good... I know that not everyone will like my story but my friend Laura was right when she said if you can't stand a certian section in your book, how do you think your reader will feel.

Maybe I'm trying too hard. Is that even possible? Maybe I'm over thinking and trying to aim for prefection when I need to be aimming for a rough draft. I need a body of bones before I can add muscle and flesh. But what if the bones don't come. I'm just not feeling very creative... the mojo ain't flowin' dude. I'm tired and my mother is watching Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings in the next room over. I can't focus.

I know I'm bitching but it can't be helped. I told you this was going to be a place for me to confess my writing woes. Is this writer's block? I think it may be but isn't writer's block. You know what I need to do. Step away for the night... maybe even a day... and come back with fresh eyes. I need to listen to some music, rider my horse, read a book for enjoyment, and not touch my story for a couple days. Yes, I think that's what I will do. I don't want to... taking a break isn't really in me but something's gotta give.

I gave my BFF, Heather, the first 5 chapters of my book and I should wait for her feedback. Laura said she'd help me too... I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.... I'm the little engine that could. I'm walking away and not think of it for 24 hours... starting now 7:56pm, Monday evening. Until next time, thanks for listening to me whine. ;)