Well, another month has come and gone. I thought that as I start a new month, I would give an update on my progress as of late.
Life - I moved to St. Louis, quite successfully I may add. So far it seems I have only forgotten my birth certificate (thanks for moving that, Mom) and a pair of shoes (which I hadn't actually missed) and I've only had to deal with one dent in the furniture from the move. All in all, the move itself went smoothly and I am loving my new apartment. We're still lacking a couch, but hopefully we will have that in the next few weeks.
Publishing - I had three separate people contact me from Openings, a literary magazine I have contributed to in the past, to submit a fiction piece for publication...after their announced deadline. I had very little notice for this, but I sent them a few options and should hear back on them shortly. I'm also hunting around for somewhere to submit my poetry and flash fiction, at least until I have a more sizable piece available.
Novel - Slow moving as of late, but still around. Mostly what I've been working on is planning and working with the timeline, since that tends to get a bit tricky with a time travel novel.
Short stories - I'm currently working on a piece regarding the day before the end of the world, which will be published in an anthology later this year. Once this project ends, a second one is beginning, which will likely be a straight-to-ebook free release, regarding travel between other worlds.
Writing groups - While I'm sad to have moved away from such an amazing writing group, I've been able to stay a part of Journey through the magic of the internet. In fact, I am currently heading a small group as part of Journey for those interested in working on finishing their novels, as opposed to writing or publishing them. Additionally, I'm on the hunt for a local group that I can meet in-person with, to have a more immediate support system.
Showing posts with label real life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label real life. Show all posts
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
NaNoWriMo 2012: A Summary
It has come to my attention that I never actually blogged here about NaNoWriMo this year, though I did participate and blog elsewhere. I thought I'd give a quick summary of the experience this year, as it is my best to date.
My novel this year is called Inevitable, though you've likely seen my refer to it as "The Time WIP" here. I scrapped what I had originally written and revamped the whole project and was rewarded with a fairly good starting point.
My success with reaching 50,000 words, and even more so with reaching 60,000 words, is in no small part due to the wonderful writing community of the Naperville NaNoWriMo chapter (or NaperWrimos). I attended two write-ins this year and was able to write 5k and 9k on those days respectively, thanks to the friendly and competitive nature of the meetings. Tim was a great help by encouraging me with additional challenges, promising me plot critters as prizes. At the end, I was rewarded with a great time at the TGIO Party, as well as a 60k start on a novel.
Afterwards, the NaperWrimo community proved to be even more helpful, by encouraging me to keep writing and work towards finishing my first draft. The forums are still alive, as is the community. Last week I met David, Katherine, and Carly at Caribou and had some fun with some editing and reading exercises. David has set me a goal of writing 2 more chapters (or 8,000 words) by our next meeting on the 26th. I'm already benefitting from having a deadline and accountability, but I also enjoy having writing friends to talk to, learn from, and share stories with, especially in person.
I'm still writing and, unfortunately, this means a lot more research. But I shall persevere!
P.S., if anyone knows of any good documentaries on the Battle of Gettysburg, drop me a line.
My novel this year is called Inevitable, though you've likely seen my refer to it as "The Time WIP" here. I scrapped what I had originally written and revamped the whole project and was rewarded with a fairly good starting point.
The main reason I was so successful with NaNoWriMo this year (I won with 60,013 words) is that I love the characters and even more than that, I love the world I created. I had fun with the idea of the Collective—a future version of our world where many superpowers have joined to create one massive empire—and the way I portrayed time travel in this novel. Time travel alone provided me a lot of room for experimentation and imagination. If all goes well, I will continue the themes in this book and write a three-book series of novels surrounding Jonah, Kevin, and the Historians. Additionally, I also want to write a fourth spin-off novel about Rosie Davis, my 1920s correspondent.Jonah McCameron has known since he was twelve years old that he would become a Historian someday, because he was told so. Ten years later, Jonah meets the stern, yet slightly mad Dr. Miles, a professor and Historian, who soon becomes Jonah's mentor. With the help of Dr. Miles, Jonah learns the truth about the Collective Historical Society: that the men and women who make up its body do not simply research history, but experience it first-hand, with the aid of time travel. As an Apprentice Historian, Jonah learns the tricks of the trade, but is soon plagued by questions regarding fate and free will, with no thanks to the mysterious Kevin Doyle. In this novel, Jonah will relive the past, work to change the future, and learn why foreknowledge is so dangerous.
My success with reaching 50,000 words, and even more so with reaching 60,000 words, is in no small part due to the wonderful writing community of the Naperville NaNoWriMo chapter (or NaperWrimos). I attended two write-ins this year and was able to write 5k and 9k on those days respectively, thanks to the friendly and competitive nature of the meetings. Tim was a great help by encouraging me with additional challenges, promising me plot critters as prizes. At the end, I was rewarded with a great time at the TGIO Party, as well as a 60k start on a novel.
Afterwards, the NaperWrimo community proved to be even more helpful, by encouraging me to keep writing and work towards finishing my first draft. The forums are still alive, as is the community. Last week I met David, Katherine, and Carly at Caribou and had some fun with some editing and reading exercises. David has set me a goal of writing 2 more chapters (or 8,000 words) by our next meeting on the 26th. I'm already benefitting from having a deadline and accountability, but I also enjoy having writing friends to talk to, learn from, and share stories with, especially in person.
I'm still writing and, unfortunately, this means a lot more research. But I shall persevere!
P.S., if anyone knows of any good documentaries on the Battle of Gettysburg, drop me a line.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Updates (Six Month Hiatus Explained)
Well, it's been six months since I was last here. Sorry about that. Here's a few quick updates, then I'll make a second update about what I actually came here to write.
Health: I learned recently that I do not have carpal tunnel, but that I actually have cubital tunnel, which is somewhat similar, but uses the ulnar nerve and runs through the elbow instead. I'm on anti-inflammatories and some light therapy, but I think the thing that really helped it was just knowing the cause and the things to avoid. But more importantly, the pain I've been feeling is not a result of cubital tunnel syndrome, but is in fact a "more serious issue" we're currently trying to determine. I go in on Wednesday for blood tests to determine whether or not I have RA, which is the most likely result.
Zenith: Has a new intro that I rather like, but other than that, has been sitting ignored for a few months. I really need to go through and do final edits, but I just can't seem to find the motivation lately (we'll get to that in a minute).
Inevitable aka the TimeWIP: If you only follow me here, you don't know about the TimeWIP yet. It is my current project, which involves time traveling Historians. Yep, I gave time travel to one of the most boring professions and denied it to everyone else. Basically, the Collective Historical Society has unlocked the key to time travel and they've found a way to limit access to it. Historians are sent back in time to witness important events and collect facts (and occasionally artifacts) on these events. The MC, James, is told when he's 12 that he'll become a Historian, because in the future he's already one and the CHS needs to make sure this happens. There's more to it after that, but that's where I am at the moment. I really enjoy writing about time travel.
NaNoWriMo '11: I will be participating again this year, partially because I want to get back into the habit of writing everyday, partially because I want to challenge myself with something I'm not very good at (realistic fiction), and partially because Casye needs a writing buddy. Originally I thought about using the TimeWIP, but I had already written pieces of it, so that would be cheating. Instead I'm going to write about a bunch of friends from college who get split up after graduation, which will highlight different kinds of LDRs and LDFs.
Health: I learned recently that I do not have carpal tunnel, but that I actually have cubital tunnel, which is somewhat similar, but uses the ulnar nerve and runs through the elbow instead. I'm on anti-inflammatories and some light therapy, but I think the thing that really helped it was just knowing the cause and the things to avoid. But more importantly, the pain I've been feeling is not a result of cubital tunnel syndrome, but is in fact a "more serious issue" we're currently trying to determine. I go in on Wednesday for blood tests to determine whether or not I have RA, which is the most likely result.
Zenith: Has a new intro that I rather like, but other than that, has been sitting ignored for a few months. I really need to go through and do final edits, but I just can't seem to find the motivation lately (we'll get to that in a minute).
Inevitable aka the TimeWIP: If you only follow me here, you don't know about the TimeWIP yet. It is my current project, which involves time traveling Historians. Yep, I gave time travel to one of the most boring professions and denied it to everyone else. Basically, the Collective Historical Society has unlocked the key to time travel and they've found a way to limit access to it. Historians are sent back in time to witness important events and collect facts (and occasionally artifacts) on these events. The MC, James, is told when he's 12 that he'll become a Historian, because in the future he's already one and the CHS needs to make sure this happens. There's more to it after that, but that's where I am at the moment. I really enjoy writing about time travel.
NaNoWriMo '11: I will be participating again this year, partially because I want to get back into the habit of writing everyday, partially because I want to challenge myself with something I'm not very good at (realistic fiction), and partially because Casye needs a writing buddy. Originally I thought about using the TimeWIP, but I had already written pieces of it, so that would be cheating. Instead I'm going to write about a bunch of friends from college who get split up after graduation, which will highlight different kinds of LDRs and LDFs.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Damsel and My Worst Fear
Has it really been six months? My. I'm sorry, folks. I am still alive and I am still writing. Here's what I've been up to since my last post:
- "The Damsel" won first place in the fiction division of the OPUS writing contest. I was unable to make it to the awards ceremony because I had work, but my good friend Bethany was nice enough to accept the award on my behalf. She read the first few pages of the story and from what I've been told, the audience reacted quite well. One of my professors in attendance emailed me to say that the audience laughed and murmured in appreciation. We're printing the story in our school's literary magazine as well, so we're hoping that "The Damsel" might be a draw for students to pick that up once it comes out. It's rather killing me that I wasn't there to read the piece myself and see the reactions with my own eyes. The whole night at work all I could think was, somewhere out there, someone is hearing my story, and I have no idea how they feel about it. I suppose that's something I'm going to have to get used to at some point.
- I graduate in 3 weeks. 3 weeks to the day, actually. I'm quite looking forward to it at this point. This semester has been eating me alive, between 17 credits and two (and later three, sort of) jobs. That's one of the major reasons why I haven't posted here since late November. Soon, though, I will be done with school entirely and I will have time for these sorts of things. Even more importantly, I will have time for finishing Zenith and moving onto my next project (it involves time travel!).
- Another big reason I haven't been around is that I haven't had the strength. I have carpal tunnel and tendonitis in both hands/wrists and it's been really bad this year. Even with a brace, typing is hard and I was only able to do it in short bursts. Most of the time, I had to dedicate that to my homework assignments, and some of those I couldn't even manage. Thankfully, my professors were understanding and gave me extensions on the larger papers, but blogging was absolutely out of the question. So was writing. I was basically starting in on my worst fear: losing my hands. The absolute worst part about it was not that I was in constant pain, but that I couldn't write about it. That was all I wanted, to write about how it felt, and I couldn't. That pain goes so much deeper.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Money Issues in YA vs Adult Literature
Note: This piece is one I originally posted on 21 May 09 on my other blog, Typeset World. It is reproduced here because I've been struggling with the same issue lately and felt it was worth reposting.
Generally, I believe that children's literature (including Young Adult) holds more positive qualities than adult literature does, but this isn't the case in all areas. The biggest thing for me, lately, is that in regards to money, adult books seem more realistic. There's a simple reason for this: adults worry about money more. Because they spend their lives working for that money, and they have to pay the bills for water, heat, electricity, medical, insurance, etc etc etc. Then they have to buy groceries and toilet paper and rubber bands. Whatever. The point is, adults are constantly aware of how much money is going in, and how much money is going out. This is reflected in book catered to the adult audience. We see many issues of money in this genre: characters needing to pay rent, or trying to get a raise, worrying about how they'll pay their medical bills whenever something goes wrong.
In children's books, you don't see this. First off, because children don't pay their own expenses, they rely on their parents. This doesn't mean that children don't worry about money. When do we get to read the stories about the child who hides in the bathroom for the first ten minutes of lunch period so they can be at the end of the food line so that no one is around to hear them when they tell the lunch lady they get a free lunch? The story of the kid who has to buy all their clothes at the second-hand store and purchase all their shoes a size or two larger because they can't afford new things all the time? The kid who doesn't go to birthday parties just so they don't have to show up without a gift because the family couldn't afford one?
We don't read these stories very often. I think the main reason of this is that children who are reading the books don't want to read about those problems all the time--especially if they're living them. They might just want to escape the problem, put themselves in place of the main character, and live like royalty for a few hours. That's totally understandable.
With YA however, I see it a little differently. Young adults are no longer children, but not yet adults. They're somewhere in the middle, age-wise, and in this issue as well. Or, at least, in my opinion, they should be. That doesn't mean that they are. This is the age, especially in the later teens, that one gets their first job and starts to pay some things on their own. Sure, these things may just be movie tickets or new cds (assuming they even buy hard copies anymore), but it's their own money, and they need to keep track of it. Even still, you don't see this as much as you would expect. Yes, in John Green's Looking For Alaska this issue is tackled through The Colonel, who is always having Pudge pay for his cigarettes because he can't afford them. We go to his trailer even. But the thing is, the Colonel, much as I love him, is not the main character here. He's not the narrator either. It's all Pudge, and Pudge has the money to pay for cigarettes for both of them, to pay for McDonald's, and his family can easily afford the private school. Generally, the main characters have money. This may also go back to how poverty-stricken children want to escape their money issues through literature, but it may just be a way to make things easier on the author. Things are so much easier to get going if the character can afford them.
Still, there are books that address these issues, I'm not saying there aren't. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson is a great example. The family is having financial troubles and are barely keeping their head above water at the point where the story begins. The hotel is beginning to fall into disrepair and we see the ways this impacts the family members. It's great, and more than that, it's believable. It's something that some of us can relate to. So why aren't there more books out there like this one? Why do our main characters always have to be upper middle class with spare cash and cars (even if they're not new)? Will books featuring a few money issues (even small ones) become more popular in our current economic situation, or will we see rise to more books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where the poor boy finds the golden ticket--a way to rise above the current situation? I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything mentioned. Leave them in the comments.
Generally, I believe that children's literature (including Young Adult) holds more positive qualities than adult literature does, but this isn't the case in all areas. The biggest thing for me, lately, is that in regards to money, adult books seem more realistic. There's a simple reason for this: adults worry about money more. Because they spend their lives working for that money, and they have to pay the bills for water, heat, electricity, medical, insurance, etc etc etc. Then they have to buy groceries and toilet paper and rubber bands. Whatever. The point is, adults are constantly aware of how much money is going in, and how much money is going out. This is reflected in book catered to the adult audience. We see many issues of money in this genre: characters needing to pay rent, or trying to get a raise, worrying about how they'll pay their medical bills whenever something goes wrong.
In children's books, you don't see this. First off, because children don't pay their own expenses, they rely on their parents. This doesn't mean that children don't worry about money. When do we get to read the stories about the child who hides in the bathroom for the first ten minutes of lunch period so they can be at the end of the food line so that no one is around to hear them when they tell the lunch lady they get a free lunch? The story of the kid who has to buy all their clothes at the second-hand store and purchase all their shoes a size or two larger because they can't afford new things all the time? The kid who doesn't go to birthday parties just so they don't have to show up without a gift because the family couldn't afford one?
We don't read these stories very often. I think the main reason of this is that children who are reading the books don't want to read about those problems all the time--especially if they're living them. They might just want to escape the problem, put themselves in place of the main character, and live like royalty for a few hours. That's totally understandable.
With YA however, I see it a little differently. Young adults are no longer children, but not yet adults. They're somewhere in the middle, age-wise, and in this issue as well. Or, at least, in my opinion, they should be. That doesn't mean that they are. This is the age, especially in the later teens, that one gets their first job and starts to pay some things on their own. Sure, these things may just be movie tickets or new cds (assuming they even buy hard copies anymore), but it's their own money, and they need to keep track of it. Even still, you don't see this as much as you would expect. Yes, in John Green's Looking For Alaska this issue is tackled through The Colonel, who is always having Pudge pay for his cigarettes because he can't afford them. We go to his trailer even. But the thing is, the Colonel, much as I love him, is not the main character here. He's not the narrator either. It's all Pudge, and Pudge has the money to pay for cigarettes for both of them, to pay for McDonald's, and his family can easily afford the private school. Generally, the main characters have money. This may also go back to how poverty-stricken children want to escape their money issues through literature, but it may just be a way to make things easier on the author. Things are so much easier to get going if the character can afford them.
Still, there are books that address these issues, I'm not saying there aren't. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson is a great example. The family is having financial troubles and are barely keeping their head above water at the point where the story begins. The hotel is beginning to fall into disrepair and we see the ways this impacts the family members. It's great, and more than that, it's believable. It's something that some of us can relate to. So why aren't there more books out there like this one? Why do our main characters always have to be upper middle class with spare cash and cars (even if they're not new)? Will books featuring a few money issues (even small ones) become more popular in our current economic situation, or will we see rise to more books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where the poor boy finds the golden ticket--a way to rise above the current situation? I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything mentioned. Leave them in the comments.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Writing is Inescapable
There are some jobs where you go to the office, clock in, do your work, clock out, and leave. Writing is not one of those jobs. Writing is who you are, every minute of the day, whether you're working on the story or not.
As I mentioned, I'm working on editing Zenith and I have until the end of June to do so, a date that is approaching far quicker than I'd like. After that last post I went to my day job as a receptionist, came home, and went into immediate care. I spent the next seven hours on a doctor's examining table, getting my blood drawn, being sent to the hospital, having a CT done, and waiting for results. Through that whole ordeal, between thoughts of "I bet it's appendicitis" and "ow ow ow OW" and "OH GOD I HATE NEEDLES" and just "uuggghh," there were thoughts like "I'll have to remember what a CT is like for when I'm writing about Ciera" or "Maybe the disease she can have is stomach cancer." I've had Ciera's story rattling around in my head for years, (where a teen is struggling with a terminal illness and doesn't tell her friend) so even when I was on the table, part of me treated the experience as research. It's a job you can't leave at the office, you can't leave at home.
That said I haven't gotten much done since the last entry here, because I spent such a long time in the hospital. I'm alive and I spent all of yesterday out of town away from my computer at a Memorial Day picnic. Tonight hopefully I can find some time to focus and get a few chapters knocked out before I have to turn my attention to homework.
Deadlines are great for me, ovarian cysts are not, even if they afford me chances to research a future project.
As I mentioned, I'm working on editing Zenith and I have until the end of June to do so, a date that is approaching far quicker than I'd like. After that last post I went to my day job as a receptionist, came home, and went into immediate care. I spent the next seven hours on a doctor's examining table, getting my blood drawn, being sent to the hospital, having a CT done, and waiting for results. Through that whole ordeal, between thoughts of "I bet it's appendicitis" and "ow ow ow OW" and "OH GOD I HATE NEEDLES" and just "uuggghh," there were thoughts like "I'll have to remember what a CT is like for when I'm writing about Ciera" or "Maybe the disease she can have is stomach cancer." I've had Ciera's story rattling around in my head for years, (where a teen is struggling with a terminal illness and doesn't tell her friend) so even when I was on the table, part of me treated the experience as research. It's a job you can't leave at the office, you can't leave at home.
That said I haven't gotten much done since the last entry here, because I spent such a long time in the hospital. I'm alive and I spent all of yesterday out of town away from my computer at a Memorial Day picnic. Tonight hopefully I can find some time to focus and get a few chapters knocked out before I have to turn my attention to homework.
Deadlines are great for me, ovarian cysts are not, even if they afford me chances to research a future project.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
I'm Not Dead
I'm not dead, I promise. I have been writing between one and three thousand words a day, steadily, every day...just not on my novels, sadly. But for the record, so far all of my papers have been A's. I have one week, six papers, and two presentations left before finals, and after that, summer. Well, summer school but handling three weeks of one class is so much better than fourteen weeks of five classes. The novel writing, though, is going to wait for a bit after next week. Not because I'm writing other things, but because I'll be editing. It's finally time to edit Zenith before I get that free copy from NaNo. As soon as junior year is over; that's part of my reward for surviving.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Real Life: Fears
This blog is for my writing, but it's also my personal blog for anything to do with my writing. This doesn't apply to most writers, but for me, my writing has a lot to do with my health. I have a lot of medical issues and sometimes those affect my ability to write. I can't concentrate, or I can't give up the time, or I can't type. Today I have trouble typing, but I'm here, pushing through because I feel like I need to.
Something personal about me: this is one of my biggest fears. I am not afraid of heights or flying or even dying. I have two fears: needles and not being able to write. It scares the hell out of me, so I'll push through, because I'm stubborn like that. It's a very real fear for me.
Something personal about me: this is one of my biggest fears. I am not afraid of heights or flying or even dying. I have two fears: needles and not being able to write. It scares the hell out of me, so I'll push through, because I'm stubborn like that. It's a very real fear for me.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The Conqueror; Organization is a Battle
Total word count: 13,729
Words written today: 0
Yup, zero words written today, I know. Same for yesterday. My reason for yesterday is that I had a paper & a presentation to prepare for my Colonial Literature class and I had gotten home late from work/school. My excuse today is that I spent my hour off writing this post on the marketing behind the new Twilight book instead of working on my novel. Why? Because I'm not sure where to go next.
Which brings me to my topic: organization. Not all of the work that goes into a novel is writing. Sometimes you need to stop, take a moment, and figure things out. I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head, build up from the last 6 years since I dreamed up this novel, and I don't know where half of them go anymore. There is a huge hole in my narrative, some of these plots no longer exist, some need to be taken out to spare the world. So tonight instead of writing I went down into The Archives, which is the name I have for this semi-organized mess in my room where I keep all my writing things. I have finished copies, rough drafts, edits, & random loose scraps with notes that make no sense anymore. Tonight I went through, found everything that related to The Conqueror and refreshed my memory on everything. Also in my room I have a bulletin board with all the major plot points from the original idea still up there from 4ish years ago. It makes me wince to look at some times. I took all the scraps & I typed them up into two doc files on my laptop, for characters & misc ideas. I also have a paper from earlier tonight covered in questions about where am I going or notes on what things I definitely need to work towards.
I haven't figured out much, but it's a work in process. Hopefully this weekend and next Monday (no school!) I can do more work on these. For right now, I need to work on the outline for my research project in Ethics, and tomorrow is devoted to a literary review of all my sources for Comm Theory. College is not all parties, my friends.
EDIT: I finished my outline fairly quickly & had about 12 minutes before bedtime. I still don't know what's going to happen next (it's less a matter of what will be in the chapter as which chapter is next, narrator-wise) but I didn't want to spend a lot of time figuring it out, so I put in a blank chapter and moved past it. This was a chapter I had almost forgotten until I went through The Archives, but one I think needs to say. So I wrote 224 words before midnight & before I got word blocked.
Help: What is the word for when someone goes "aargh?" Like out of frustration? There is a word for it. It is a word I can't think of. Please to be helping me with it.
Total word count: 13,953
Words written today: 224
Words written today: 0
Yup, zero words written today, I know. Same for yesterday. My reason for yesterday is that I had a paper & a presentation to prepare for my Colonial Literature class and I had gotten home late from work/school. My excuse today is that I spent my hour off writing this post on the marketing behind the new Twilight book instead of working on my novel. Why? Because I'm not sure where to go next.
Which brings me to my topic: organization. Not all of the work that goes into a novel is writing. Sometimes you need to stop, take a moment, and figure things out. I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head, build up from the last 6 years since I dreamed up this novel, and I don't know where half of them go anymore. There is a huge hole in my narrative, some of these plots no longer exist, some need to be taken out to spare the world. So tonight instead of writing I went down into The Archives, which is the name I have for this semi-organized mess in my room where I keep all my writing things. I have finished copies, rough drafts, edits, & random loose scraps with notes that make no sense anymore. Tonight I went through, found everything that related to The Conqueror and refreshed my memory on everything. Also in my room I have a bulletin board with all the major plot points from the original idea still up there from 4ish years ago. It makes me wince to look at some times. I took all the scraps & I typed them up into two doc files on my laptop, for characters & misc ideas. I also have a paper from earlier tonight covered in questions about where am I going or notes on what things I definitely need to work towards.
I haven't figured out much, but it's a work in process. Hopefully this weekend and next Monday (no school!) I can do more work on these. For right now, I need to work on the outline for my research project in Ethics, and tomorrow is devoted to a literary review of all my sources for Comm Theory. College is not all parties, my friends.
EDIT: I finished my outline fairly quickly & had about 12 minutes before bedtime. I still don't know what's going to happen next (it's less a matter of what will be in the chapter as which chapter is next, narrator-wise) but I didn't want to spend a lot of time figuring it out, so I put in a blank chapter and moved past it. This was a chapter I had almost forgotten until I went through The Archives, but one I think needs to say. So I wrote 224 words before midnight & before I got word blocked.
Help: What is the word for when someone goes "aargh?" Like out of frustration? There is a word for it. It is a word I can't think of. Please to be helping me with it.
Total word count: 13,953
Words written today: 224
Monday, March 29, 2010
The Conqueror, Chapter 11; Sacrifices
Total word count: 13,729
Words written today: 498
Writing is just like any other job or hobby, it requires sacrifice if you want to be good at it. Sometimes you sacrifice your time to write your novel, sometimes you sacrifice your novel to spend your time on something else. If you want it bad enough, you make the sacrifice, you make it a priority. Today I sacrificed some time in class to work on my novel. Yes, in class, during lecture. I can take notes and write my novel at the same time...but I will admit that I probably won't know that material as well now. I could have just listened to the lecture, instead I decided to divide my time and work on my novel. I sacrificed that part for my writing. Tonight I'll put aside my writing so I can do my homework (for advanced writing, but trust me, it's not the same). It takes time and it takes management and writing, it takes sacrifice. You don't give everything up for writing and you don't put your writing aside for everything else. You work it out, you budget your time, you figure out what's most important and what needs to be done first. That's what I did today. I wrote 498 words during class and that's all I had time for today, but maybe tomorrow I won't need to sacrifice my writing time. I can't see what tomorrow's going to hold, maybe it'll give me hours, maybe it won't. So I make sacrifices today, in case I can't make any tomorrow.
Words written today: 498
Writing is just like any other job or hobby, it requires sacrifice if you want to be good at it. Sometimes you sacrifice your time to write your novel, sometimes you sacrifice your novel to spend your time on something else. If you want it bad enough, you make the sacrifice, you make it a priority. Today I sacrificed some time in class to work on my novel. Yes, in class, during lecture. I can take notes and write my novel at the same time...but I will admit that I probably won't know that material as well now. I could have just listened to the lecture, instead I decided to divide my time and work on my novel. I sacrificed that part for my writing. Tonight I'll put aside my writing so I can do my homework (for advanced writing, but trust me, it's not the same). It takes time and it takes management and writing, it takes sacrifice. You don't give everything up for writing and you don't put your writing aside for everything else. You work it out, you budget your time, you figure out what's most important and what needs to be done first. That's what I did today. I wrote 498 words during class and that's all I had time for today, but maybe tomorrow I won't need to sacrifice my writing time. I can't see what tomorrow's going to hold, maybe it'll give me hours, maybe it won't. So I make sacrifices today, in case I can't make any tomorrow.
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Conqueror, Chapter 9
Overall word count: 11162
Words written today: 625
Fridays are always hit or miss writing days for me, generally because I tend to write more late at night and I don't have that option on Fridays. I work at 6:30 on Saturday mornings, so a reasonable bedtime the night before is a must. Today I managed 625 words which is not fantastic, but far better than anything else this week. I went three days without writing a word, partially because of the crazy amount of schoolwork I had to complete (6 pages of papers just last night) and partially because I've been having a really rotten week. And by really rotten I mean "exceptionally exhausting" and "terribly trying" and other such alliterations. Getting back to writing, accomplishing something, felt good, like visiting and old friend or watching a favourite movie. (Which I also did tonight by introducing my best friend to Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, but that's beside the point)
In those 625 words I finished the 9th chapter of The Conqueror and introduced one of my favourite characters, William. He's a bit crazy, usually drinking, and generally hilarious. He used to work in the palace, before the Overthrow, and now he works for the resistance. If you've read my novel Zenith, or heard me talk about it, you might be thinking that he's very similar to Fagan/Gramps, and in some ways he is, but in many others he's very different. Still, I think those two would get along rather well, especially over a good meal.
Words written today: 625
Fridays are always hit or miss writing days for me, generally because I tend to write more late at night and I don't have that option on Fridays. I work at 6:30 on Saturday mornings, so a reasonable bedtime the night before is a must. Today I managed 625 words which is not fantastic, but far better than anything else this week. I went three days without writing a word, partially because of the crazy amount of schoolwork I had to complete (6 pages of papers just last night) and partially because I've been having a really rotten week. And by really rotten I mean "exceptionally exhausting" and "terribly trying" and other such alliterations. Getting back to writing, accomplishing something, felt good, like visiting and old friend or watching a favourite movie. (Which I also did tonight by introducing my best friend to Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, but that's beside the point)
In those 625 words I finished the 9th chapter of The Conqueror and introduced one of my favourite characters, William. He's a bit crazy, usually drinking, and generally hilarious. He used to work in the palace, before the Overthrow, and now he works for the resistance. If you've read my novel Zenith, or heard me talk about it, you might be thinking that he's very similar to Fagan/Gramps, and in some ways he is, but in many others he's very different. Still, I think those two would get along rather well, especially over a good meal.
Meet the Lunatic
Hello everyone, chances are if you're here, you already know me, but if you don't, here's the basics. My name is Jez, I'm 20 years old, and I'm an as of yet unpublished writer. I've written all sorts of stories in different genres and lengths and I'm working on getting some of them published. On 19 February 2010, I finished my first complete novel, Zenith, clocking in at 55,940 words. It's a science fiction story set in the future when aspiring film director Rob needs to help his grandfather keep one of the last farms and hide an airplane in a time when air travel is illegal, all with the help of a young cyborg named Risty. This is also the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo in 2009, which I finished!
This blog is to replace my vastly outdated one and to keep track of my writing with updates on word counts, troubles, and celebrations. Hopefully there will be more celebrations than hardships.
And since you're probably wondering, the name of this blog comes from a quote in Cornelia Funke's Inkspell.
This blog is to replace my vastly outdated one and to keep track of my writing with updates on word counts, troubles, and celebrations. Hopefully there will be more celebrations than hardships.
And since you're probably wondering, the name of this blog comes from a quote in Cornelia Funke's Inkspell.
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