Category: writing

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…

We’re All Crazy Around Here

Those of us doing NaNo, anyway. So, for those of you who are, how’s it going?

Pretty well, for me. I started the month with the first four chapters outlined (just a general, phase outline), and an insane goal of 100k. I had basic ideas of how the story would end up–and that’s still where I stand, with no real idea of the ending. I’ll be figuring that out soon, though. Hopefully.

My MC, Aramina, is an accident-prone elf who gets shanghaied into looking for the missing son of an old family friend who’s been murdered. There’s more going on than Mina realizes, including something strange at the tomb of voodoo queen Marie Laveau, and the mystery man she keeps running into. Then there’s her cheating ex-boyfriend, a detective working the case, and Lorgan, her best friend (a faerie) who does his best to keep her in tiptop, dressed-to-the nines shape. When he’s not singing kareoke or getting handcuffed to his bed, that is. It’s tentatively titled Chasing Shadows, although that’s not quite right. But it’ll do for now.

Day One WC: 9,009
Day Two WC: 531 (9,540 Total)
Day Three WC: 2,832 (12,372)
Day Four WC: 1,512 (13,884)
Day Five WC: 1,558 (15,442)

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!

Querying

Well, I finally bit the bullet and started querying the 2YN novel (To Vanquish a Dragon). I love this story, but it’s time it went out into the world. I sent a handful of queries. So far, I’ve heard back from two agents. Received a form rejection from one, but the other one (Marlene Stringer of Stringer Lit) requested a partial. Now, to the casual observer, when I read that email, I probably looked like I’d just won the lottery. Considering my goal this time around (Okay, the only goal I’d officially let myself hope for.) was something besides a form rejection, I was super excited. Ms. Stringer has since rejected my partial, but she sent a very nice note along with it, which I really appreciated. That one clearly wasn’t meant to be, but that doesn’t mean the next one isn’t. And Ms. Stringer really made my day with that one simple email.

The Sky Is Falling

I’ve read in a couple of places that one of the most annoying questions asked of writers is “Where do you get your ideas?” Frankly, hearing other writers’ answers to that question is fascinating. I mean, who wouldn‘t want to know where Stephen King gets his ideas? (I mean, where does he come up with some of this stuff? Of course, I’m eagerly anticipating the release of his new novel. Every time I read one and scare myself silly, I swear I won’t ever read another one. And yet, every time, I simply HAVE to.) But, having only a vague idea of where my own story ideas come from, I know why this question is so frustrating to writers. Because, really, who wants to hear “I don’t know” in response to this question? Precisely no one. But it’s hard to put such a nebulous concept into words.

For example: At least three of my story ideas (with complete drafts done) have come from dreams I had. One of these is Witches. One of these is Through Shadowed Stone. After I started researching Heart of the Sea, but before I started writing it, I had a dream about the story, where I was actually Nerina running through the forest. As for the others, well, sometimes they just seem to fall out of the sky. And sometimes…they come from a place a little bit more earthly.

With NaNo looming on the horizon, I’m been mulling over ideas for this year’s story. I’ve known what it’s going to be about (basically) since before LAST NaNo, but now some of the details are coming clear. It’s going to be urban fantasy, probably with a lot of comedy and a mystery aspect (how’s that for convoluted?). The MC is an elf, and her best friend/sidekick is a fairy. It’s set in New Orleans, of course. What better place to research? A couple of weeks ago, some friends of mine were in town for their first visit here. Naturally, I had to take them to the French Quarter. As strange as some of the things you can see there are, it’s easy for me to believe something paranormal could be going on at any time. So, I’d like to say a big thank you to the 300-pound man wearing a green halter top and long green skirt, with Mimi-esque makeup (a la The Drew Carey Show), and dancing, literally, to the beat of music only he could hear. You’ve given me a wonderful idea for the fairies in my story and how they derive their power. You also deserve a thank-you for the laugh I got while watching the expressions on my friends’ faces when they saw you. (And one of said friends is the basis for the MC in this story, too. She’s the most accident-prone person EVER.) And also? The Red Dress Run, which I witnessed two weeks before that, will also be making an appearance in this story. Men in dresses are not that unusual in the Quarter. Approximately 400 men in red dresses wearing competitors’ numbers IS a teensy bit strange. (And honestly, the explanation is quite funny and still strange.) You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a sight like that. So, thanks to all those men in red dresses as well.

So, yeah. THAT’S where story ideas come from: out of the clear, blue sky.

Done!

With this draft of Witches. Finally. It comes in at 188k. Which, considering the original draft was 297k, doesn’t sound so bad. I know I need to cut quite a bit more, but right now, I’m letting it sit and breathe. I’m hoping to do a novel swap with it, but I’m not in any great hurry. It’s also going through my crit group, and I have no intentions of subbing it anytime soon.

Now that this draft of Witches is done, I can work on some other things. Like finishing the sequel, which is probably about 2/3rds done. And considering I haven’t written anything new in over a month, that should be interesting, getting back into the swing of things.

I’m also working on my query letter for the 2YN story. I hate writing queries, but I’m determined to come up with a good one for this story. I also plan on going through the MS one more time to make sure everything’s cleaned up and pretty, then I’m going to start subbing it. Nervous about that, but it’s time that story left the nest.

But for now, let me just say again: I’m DONE!

Standing On The Edge

I’ve been editing Witches like mad for the past two months. Mad, I tell you. Until some days I just wanted to strangle my characters, or merely use some transparent act of God to kill them all off at once so they wouldn’t make my head hurt anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I love this story. Love it. However, it’s been running around in my brain, in some form or another, for almost ten years. That hurts just to type those words. Ten. Years. So, I think I can be forgiven for getting a little tired of the story. Only occasionally, mind you, as I haven’t been working on it continuously for ten years. Far from it. The original first draft ended at around 297,000 words. Yes. Far too long. The second draft was about 50k shorter. I’ve mostly finished the current editing pass, and it’s sitting at 197k. So, all in all, I’ve cut 100k from the story. Yeah. I’ve cut, in essence, an entire book from this story, and I know I still need to cut at least 50k. I have about eight more chapters to re-visit, all of which I marked in my notes as possible cuts. When I finish that, I’m going to put this story aside for a while and let it breath.

But you know what? I still love these characters. They don’t bore me. They pop into my head at unexpected moments. I still can’t wait to see what happens to them. I think that’s a good sign. Heck, a lot of the real people I know have more than started to bore me after I knew them for ten years. But not my characters. So up next, when I finish the little bit of clean-up I have left on this draft, I’m going to finish writing the sequel to Witches. And I know, the draft of that story won’t be anywhere near as long as the first draft of Witches.

All in all, I’ll be happy to put Witches aside. For now.

Why, No, I Don’t Have A Life Outside Of Writing (Why Do You Ask)?

And the results for the first week of June are….Success! Well, partial success, anyway. I hit all my word count goals for the week, in all four stories. The zombie story is going, and that’s about all I can say about that. The sequel to Witches is coming along quite well, and staying mostly true to the outline. The werewolf story is flowing very well, and I have the next two or three scenes outlined (and by “outlined”, I mean I have one sentence for each scene). I started writing the sequel to the 2YN story this weekend. It’s flying along surprisingly well, especially considering I outlined the first two chapters only, and hey, finished those this weekend. Looks like there’s some more outlining in my near future…

The editing? Didn’t go so well. I did get about five chapters edited in Witches. Sigh. It needs a lot of editing. Right now, I’m going through back crits from SG, and seeing what I agree with. Most of the crits are spot-on, and the changes make the story much stronger. So, now all I have to do is follow up with those changes through the rest of the story. Didn’t even get started editing Tempest, but I’ll catch up on that. I’m going to try to re-do the outline for that story before I edit, to help keep me in line. Here are my approximate word counts for the week:

Zombie story: 1,500
Werewolf story: 5,500
Witches sequel: 4,000
2YN sequel: 5,500
Editing: 10,000

May Madness

I knew at the beginning of the year when I set my personal goals that I was being overly ambitions. But it seemed doable. It still seems doable, although my brain does not seem to share my belief. For the last two weeks, I’ve written nothing. Nada. Zilch. On the upside, I did get the 2YN story edited. Again. And I’m happier with this draft. Hoping to start sending it out soon. It’s now tentatively titled Charming Dragons. I wrote about 37,000 words in the first two weeks of the month, so May wasn’t a total bust, but I’d hoped to finish the draft of the Witches sequel this month, and that didn’t happen. It didn’t even come close to happening.

However, I do have a spiffy new plan to finish writing the three stories I’m currently working on (zombie story, Witches sequel, werewolf story), by the end of August, along with the sequel to Charming Dragons. And edit Witches AND Tempest of Angels. So, clearly I haven’t passed the overly-ambitious part of the year yet. 🙂 I do have set word count goals every day, and certain days to work on certain stories. I’m hoping the juggling act will keep me from burning out on any one story. At least, that’s the plan.

Now I’m off to brainstorm the new story. Wish me luck!

The Werewolves are Winning

I’ve been really bad about keeping this blog updated lately. Sorry. On the up side, I have been getting a lot of writing done. A lot. I’m a little over 50k into the sequel to Witches. That’s flowing along pretty well, and the action is heating up. I’m being mean to Bali at the moment, but hey, somebody’s gotta do it, right? She’ll thank me later, when everything blows over. (Probably.)

I’ve been busy killing zombies, too. Being as gross as possible is pretty cool. And I’ve actually really enjoyed writing two military men characters. Most of my characters are normally fairly clean-mouthed. But not Sammy and Luke. Not in this chapter, anyway. But what can you expect when you’re under attack by hordes of flesh-craving zombies? They’re very persistent, I’ll give them that. Sammy, as usual, provides a shot of humor to even the direst situation. I’ll be sorry to finish writing him…

Not to mention getting to know Chance’s new high school in the Werewolf story. Can I just say that she has a really crappy first day at her new school? It’s great, really. For me. Not for her. (She’d probably hate me, and rightly so.) She is so much fun to write. Clearly, I haven’t progressed much (mentally) past my high school days. Or so it seems when I sit down to write her. She practically jumps through the keyboard and onto the page, full of snarky comments and attitude (not to mention her to-die-for wardrobe). Her new friend Benjy has really surprised me, too. I had no idea he was going to turn out quite like he has. Actually, even though the sequel to Witches is coming along so well, and I’m enjoying the zombie story, too, my Muse is itching to play in Chance’s world almost exclusively. I know discipline is good for a writer, but it seems like I get my pages done for Chance in a split second, and sometimes, it’s a whole lot harder to hit my goals on the other stories. I think I’m going to have to devote one day a week completely to Chance’s story. That should satisfy my Muse, and give her incentive to hit my goals on anything else I’m working on. Sounds like a plan.

I probably won’t post here again until sometime late next week. I’ll be flying to Dallas this Thursday, and then my best friend and I are driving to Tulsa for Conestoga. This year should be interesting. It’s in April instead of July this year, so most of the “regular” writers won’t be there. I’m a little disappointed, but I’m looking at it as an opportunity to find new favorites. After all, I didn’t know most of the regulars when I first went to Conestoga in 2007.