Category: real life

Momentum…Fading…

I’ve been doing pretty well so far this year, keeping up with the lessons in the HTRYN course, and starting over with HTTS. But this week…Not so much. It’s been hard this week, and I haven’t had much “free” time to work. Nowhere near as much as I’d like, anyway. Not by a long shot. I should be finishing up lesson seven in HTRYN tomorrow. Instead, I haven’t even really started it, apart from printing out the worksheets, and reading the lesson about three times to try and grasp the information. It’s about Setting, and this lesson, for me, is DEEP. And very much needed… Hopefully I’ll get a chance to do some work on it later tonight.

On the up side, I did wake up two mornings ago with a complete story idea dancing before my eyes, so I grabbed a notebook and scribbled down the high points, as well as any details I could remember. Interesting story. And not like anything I’ve written. Epic fantasy with a heavy war element, which is totally not like me at all. Intriguing idea, though….(*staring at notebook with story notes longingly* No. Can’t work on that now. Have other darlings to worry about right now…But later, My Precious. Later.)

That’s about all I’ve got going on for now. How’s everyone else’s week going?

Is It Hot In Here?

We’re already a week and a half (more or less) into January, and I’ve only read—Gasp!—one book. Yes. Just one. Wow. I know, right? I’m also re-reading Gone With The Wind for like the 25th time. Last year is the only year in recent memory that I haven’t read it. I started it, but didn’t finish. So now I’m trying to do that, I just haven’t had time lately! Besides, I’m in the middle of being annoyed at Scarlett (Yes, again! What? You thought that just because I’ve read it so many times I wouldn’t get mad at her? Not to mention Rhett. I’d like to knock their heads together, or shake some sense into them. Okay. Rant over.)

Anyway, the only book I’ve read so far this year is Jill Myles‘ Gentlemen Prefer Succubi. Great title, right? And fantastic cover art! Hello, Mr. Fallen Angel. (On a side note, clearly, my life is not fiction. Men like this do not exist in my world. Sadly. Sigh.) So, back to the book. It’s about Jackie, who wakes up in a dumpster to discover she’s not only hooked up with a fallen angel, but to top off the night-she-doesn’t-really-remember, got bitten by another guy and turned into a succubus. Yeah. One of those nights. She ends up in the middle of a battle between the vampires and the angels, torn between the two sides: the sexy fallen angel and the hot vampire. (We should all have problems like this, no?)

This book…was a highly entertaining read. I laughed out loud several times, especially when Jackie was trying to resist the Itch (the, ah, driving force for a succubus). Ms. Myles has a deft touch with humor, as well as making the book smokin’ hot! (Again, check out the cover art!) If you like hot heroes, bad boys, and humor, you should definitely read this book!

Goals for 2010

Okay, so you knew this was coming. I can’t help it. I’m OCD about some things. Making lists, especially To-Do Lists, is one of them, and goals for an entire year are like the mother of all To-Do Lists, so here’s mine for the year. Well, some of them. I have a lot of personal goals that aren’t really relevant, and are more like things I want to get done this year (upgrade my computers’ memories, for example), so this is mainly just my writing-related goals.

Write, using HTTS:
2YN 2
Ash’s story

Revise, using HTRYN:
Werewolf story (already in progress)
Tempest
Chasing Shadows
Atlantis
TSS
Zombie story

Other goals:
Go back to school
Start learning Irish
Read 150 books
Blog twice a week
Run a half marathon

Looking back over this list, which is NOT the complete list by any means, I feel I should probably add another one: Learn to function without sleep. So, how about you? What are your goals for the year?

What I Accomplished This Year

So, here are the goals I set for 2009:

-Zombie story (finish)
-Werewolf story
-Witches II
-2YN II
-Ash’s story
-Mena’s story

I want to edit five stories:
-Tempest of Angels
-Werewolf story
-Zombie story
-Witches II
-2YN II

I want to polish three stories:
-2YN
-Witches
-Atlantis story

I want to start subbing two stories:
-2YN
-Atlantis story

My personal goals:
-Read 165 books.
-Learn one Japanese lesson per month.
-Start a professional website (I sort of gave up on this one last year, but I’m giving it another go this year).
-Run 5 miles in less than an hour.
-Do 10 pull-ups.
-Write 300,000 words

And here is what I actually accomplished:
-finished zombie story
-wrote werewolf story
-wrote Witches II
-wrote Mena’s story
-wrote about 2 chapters on the 2YN II

-started editing the werewolf story with Holly Lisle’s How To Revise Your Novel class (which is brilliant, by the way)
-polished Witches
-polished the Atlantis story
-polished the 2YN story
-started subbing the 2YN story (and have had 3 partial requests so far, so yay, got a step farther this time)
-wrote 368,771 words

Everything else…didn’t quite happen. But that’s okay, right? I did accomplish a lot this year. I learned a lot. I’m mostly happy with everything I got done. And I have a lot of things planned for next year (What a surprise, right?), which I’ll be posting about tomorrow.

Procrastination…

I’m so bad at it. Or, really, a little too good. All day today “Finish Zombie Chapter” has been at the top of my to-do list. And still it sits there, with no actual writing being done on said chapter. Why? Because I’ve been chasing pretty lights across the internet, of course. Most of the time, I consider myself fairly disciplined as a writer. Today? Not so much. It’s cold here. Rainy. Taking a nap sounded like a much better idea than writing. And also, checking my email incessantly for no apparent reason. But that’s over with now. I WILL finish this chapter tonight. I’ve sort of lost the feel for this story, but it should be fun anyway. I get to vicariously raid an army base and shoot things. Sounds entertaining, right?

I also need to do some work on the revisions class. Seems I’m having some difficulties pinpointing conflicts in some of my scenes, so I really need to buckle down and focus on this, so I can wrap my brain around it. I can feel a break-through looming on the horizon, but not if I continue to procrastinate. So I’m done with that. Off to work now…Wish me luck.

Writing…Stuff

So, I intended this blog to be mostly about writing. But there are other things in the world besides writing. I know it’s hard to believe, but there are. However…some of the things that aren’t strictly writing related do actually have connections, in my mind anyway, to writing. For example, the man I saw in the French Quarter a few months back, dancing on the sidewalk in a green sequined skirt and feather boa. He gave me an idea for how my faeries in this year’s NaNo gain their magic. He also showed up as a character. At first glance, not related to writing at all. But then again, completely related.

Something else that makes me think of writing: movies. But not just any movies. Really good movies that provoke a strong emotional reaction from the audience. And it doesn’t have to be a reaction of sadness or grief, either. That’s the kind of stories I want to write: thing that draw a strong emotional reaction from the reader, a story that is sheer unadulterated pleasure for the reader.

I saw a movie like that last week: All Saints’ Day (the sequel to The Boondock Saints). The first movie came out in 1999, barely hit theaters, but developed a cult following when it came out on DVD. I personally think it’s a great movie. It’s bloody, full of profanity and violence, yet completely unapologetic for those things. All Saints’ Day is more of the same, a sheerly entertaining movie. I loved it. It opened in limited release over a month ago, and I drove an hour to see it in the only theater in the entire state that was showing it at the time. Totally worth the drive. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Thankfully, I don’t have to. It’s now showing only fifteen minutes from home, and I’ll see it again at least once. But that’s the kind of stories I want to write: sheer fun and breathless entertainment (Although I’ll admit the hot Irish guys don’t hurt, either.)

Playing Catch Up

So, it looks like I can only manage to post here once a week. You’d think that meant I’d been doing a ton of writing, wouldn’t you? You’d be wrong. Because I’ve been doing quite a bit of other things that aren’t writing.

Like watching men in kilts throw trees around. Yes, seriously. Why are you looking at me like that? I went to a Celtic Music Festival/Scottish Games. Quite interesting, let me tell you. Men in kilts. Throwing trees. And flinging burlap bags (weighted) into the air with pitchforks. Quite impressive as well. I can only imagine me either hitting myself in the head with the 16-pound hammer, or stabbing myself with the pitchfork. Ah. Good times…The music was excellent, as well. You don’t hear many harps these days, but I listened to one awesome performer. All of which allowed me to successfully procrastinate for almost the entire day Sunday. Yes, I’m behind. No, I’m not giving up. I shall hit my word count goal of 100k for NaNo!

Day 10: 1,772 words (23,085 Total)
Day 11: 60,040 (29,125)
Day 12: 1,009 (30,134)
Day 13: 1,012 (31,146)
Day 14: 3,218 (34,364)
Day 15: 1,205 (35,569)
Day 16: 2,180 (37,749)

And, as a side note: I hit my word count goal for the year today! 300,000 words!

NaNoing In Spite of the Storm

Or, Tropical Storm Ida. She’s coming ashore tonight, which is supposed to mean wind and rain here. (*Looks outside. No rain. Only occasional signs of wind.*) My company decided this warranted scheduling changes, so I got off two hours early. And what did I do with my ill-gotten gains? Um…caught up on the blogs I haven’t read in at least a week. Incessantly checked my email. Looked for random people I have no actual interest in finding on Facebook. Oh, and continually tried to check the NaNo website, which is apparently experiencing some technical difficulty.

And yes, some writing. I actually got 1k this morning before work, and 1.75k tonight, which hits my word count goal for the today, plus 1k to make up for the ah, less than stellar word count weekend I had:

Day Six: 2,509 (17,951 Total)
Day Seven: 322 (18,273)
Day Eight: 264 (18,537)
Day Nine: 2,776 (21,313)

I may not have gotten much writing done this weekend, but I did accomplish some other things: Seeing a completely unbelievable concert on Friday night. Cross Canadian Ragweed (a.k.a. CCR. Yeah, I know, not the CCR. But still completely awesome.). Now, back home, they get airplay on the mainstream country stations, but they’re more styled as “Texas Country.” Not that you could tell that from their hard-rocking style. I’ve seen them twice before, both at outdoor venues, and this time was at the Hard Rock Live in Biloxi, MS. Small venue. Mind-blowing show, complete with awe-inspiring guitar and their traditional, in-your-face songs (My favorite? Lighthouse Keeper, which, as a friend of mine said once, only makes sense if you’re on something. I wasn’t, but I still love that song. It sounds best at top volume with the windows down.) Micky & the Motorcars opened for them. Styled as “alt-country”, Micky & the Motorcars also did a great show with a ton of adrenaline.

On Sunday, I participated in a fundraising walk for the National Kidney Foundation. Excellent cause, lots of fun, and done in Audubon Park, which is an oasis of beautiful scenery. Stately old oaks draped with Spanish moss. A small lake. Beautiful houses surrounding it. In short, an excellent setting for Mina to get into some sort of trouble during the course of this book.

So, while I may not have been actually writing, I was researching. Yeah. That’s it. Now if I can just figure out a way to work that concert into the story…

Loose Ends

The first draft of the Witches sequel is done! It comes in at 135k, which is less than half the word count of the first draft of Witches. It even has a title: Shadows of Winter. The title came to me a couple of days ago, like a bolt from the blue. No, Witches still doesn’t have a title, although I’m getting glimmers of an idea in that direction. I try not to push it. It will give me its name when it wants to, sort of like my characters do. I also finished up the first draft of the werewolf story last week. I had computer issues with it that meant I lost about 15k of it, but since I was aware that the story had some issues in the front end, I decided not to worry about that (not that worrying would have done me any good at all anyway), and just put in quick and dirty summaries for the last chapters, since I know good and well there are going to be major changes made during the revision. It’s all good.

So, that leaves getting ready for NaNo as my only loose end. With two weeks left, there’s plenty of time. Except that for seven of those days, I’m gong to be out of town, and for three days before that, I’ll need to be getting ready to leave. So, that really only gives me three days to finish my outline and get everything ready for the madness. No sweat, right? Right. Ah…Need to go look at that outline again. I think I have, oh, the first chapter planned. But I do have some really nasty things in mind to inflict upon my characters…If they’d just finish telling me their names, this would be so much easier!

Things Change

This has been a rather rough weekend. My little brother is moving back to Texas tonight, and I’m really going to miss him. We’re pretty close, and he’s one of my best friends. Not that I blame him for moving back. I miss it, too, even though I like it here. It’s hard, though. Here, I have my parents, a job that I really like, and I’ve always liked this area. But Texas…will always be home. My friends are there, friends that I really, really miss sometimes. And the culture is totally different there. Much more normal to me. 🙂 It’s funny, some of the things I miss, from the music on the radio to the wonderful Mexican food. And don’t even get me started on spring. Springtime in Texas is beautiful, with the Indian paintbrushes and the bluebonnets blooming. I get really homesick in the spring.

But I’ve had so much more time to write here. Part of that is the job I have has normal hours, part of it is me focusing so much on the writing. Regardless, I’ve gotten a ton of things done in the year since we moved here, and I’ve gotten all sorts of fodder for stories. Guess things are just on a downswing right now.

On the up side, my BFF had her son last night, so I’d like to say a big hello to little Rowan. I can’t wait to see him! (Have a trip all planned for next month.) Until then, I’ll just have to admire his pictures.