MilWordy Progress

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” - George Orwell

What writers hope to achieve

It's been a long while. Sorry about that. I kind of got busy with life and I tend to forget about this place. Oops. As you can see, I'm around and hacking away at my annual Milwordy challenge.

And talk about hacking away at it this year. I'm at a little over 100,000 and half way through the year so nowhere near my normal numbers when it comes to this challenge. I didn't write a single word in February, March, or April. In January I didn't even hit 50K and squeaked by 50K last month. I might get by with over 50K words this month but I'm loosely aiming for it.

Why?

It's not for lack of ideas or content. I've got three ongoing series in Avalora School of Magic, The Interviewer, and The World of Ambrosia. I have an ideas list with around 70 story ideas ranging from short to novel and most of them fleshed out to the point where I can pick it up and start going. If you're wondering why I haven't been writing, well I don't know for sure. It's why I'm writing this after all as an introspective journal like entry.

I suppose my lack of writing could be simple burn out. I've been doing Milwordy and NaNo events since 2013. That's five full years of pressing myself to hit at least 80,000 words a month writing solely in the evenings and on weekends.

I've often said how doing the MilWordy challenge takes away from my social life and I'm not kidding. For me to hit 80,000 words by writing weekends and assuming there are eight weekends in a month, I need every day to be a 10,000 word day. Breaking that down, I would need 2,000 words an hour for five hours.

It doesn't seem like much (or it might)and really it never has been a lot for me. My average is 2,000 words an hour, sometimes more and sometimes less. I've had nights where I can hit the 10,000 in four hours and I've had days where I get 15,000 or more words.

But between work keeping me up until two am then sleeping till noon and wanting to go out to do something, I'm left with much less than 10 hours a weekend I feel like writing. I want to do fixes around the house and work on my garden. I want to watch movies on Netflix and catch up on shows I've been wanting to see since forever and a day ago.

Here's the kicker: I haven't felt like writing. There are times I plop myself down in front of the computer and don't put a word to page. These have become more frequent as of late and writing became a sort of chore.

Don't get me wrong, I like what I've produced and do want to continue working on everything. I think I'm plain tired. I've worked with Avalora for two years now which is one of my longest projects to date. Avalora is going to turn out to be the biggest too and my creative batteries needed re-charging. This brings me to my next point.

Eventually there will be a new link on this blog which will basically be a place for me to post some of my other creative endeavours. I'm mainly a writer so don't mistake this for me "retiring" from writing. I will never retire so long as I take breath.

But, I paint in acrylics, oils, and digitally, I make jewellery, and most recently I've started to repaint and reimage dolls. I've dabbled in pastels, charcoal, colored pencils, and water colors. As a child I took ceramics which essentially meant I got a white sculpture (Usually of a dragon) and got to paint it. I've started making pipe cleaner animals at work and my brain loves looking at something to figure out "hm, how can I re-create this?"

Sometimes my brain needs a break from putting words on page and I have to do something else or I'm lost. I have to give my brain the challenge of figuring out something new or I wander off into doing nothing. It helps I've taken until June 20th off for a kind of stress leave. I need a break from life every few years or I tend to snap which is never good for anyone involved.

So, this week is going to be about doing some painting around the house, working on my back garden, repainting some dolls, sleeping, and working on the new blog page. I might write a bit, I might not and that's okay. At one point I'll freak out because I'm nowhere close to MilWordy but I've got a week off in November so I'm not too concerned.

Until next time: comments and questions welcome. Keep a look out for the new page too. I can't promise a date because gosh knows I rarely keep a deadline and sometimes forget about this blog but I will get it going.

Yet Another New Year's Post

So, I haven't been around since October. Sorry? It's not like I ran out of post or anything. I still have a bunch of stuff sitting in drafts. I sort of lost interest/got busy at the new job and am still trying to get used to my afternoon shift schedule.

Excuses, excuses, truth is I'd rather be writing, close second is sleeping. BUT, I did participate in National Novel Writing Month. I failed in getting my 254,000 goal because of burn out and general lack of time, plus hey, I needed to sleep. I did almost get 2,000,000 words. I kind of gained back the weight I had lost and stopped going to the gym in like April. And...yeah I failed in getting anything done for Tale of the Twins or doing any marketing in general.

On the plus side, I started working at a place I like making over minimum wage, got a new phone, got new tires on my car, and am slowly, very slowly, picking away at the debt I massed while not working. No, I don't like going to work but once I'm there it's not bad and I'm not throwing up in nervousness of having to work there.

My BFF got married while my other BFF is single (a good thing, really) and might be going for her doctrine. She's applying. I'm still singe which is fine with me, my cat's still crazy, and I don't have to choose between buying extra groceries or paying a bill. Plus hey, I'm not using credit cards or lines of credit to you know, live.

On the writing end of life: I wrote almost two million words. Most of that was split between Avalora and fan-fiction. I wrote four new novel this year. Why? Because I planned my year instead of picking as the months went on what I wanted to write. Basically I over-planned for my brain, said "hell with it" and wrote other stuff instead of following the plan. Oops.

Yes, I wrote fan-fiction. Why? Because it's fun. I can be as crazy as I want and make up all the stuff I want and it's no big deal. Let's not get into the fact I made a bunch of original characters so the fan-fiction became it's own novel in someone else's universe but whatever.

Anyway, monthly word counts:
January: 158,491
February: 132,736
March: 88,876
April: 126,539
May: 253,040
June: 240,823
July: 205,978
August: 202,794
September: 95,326
October: 122,740
November: 228,043
December: 53,something

Sorry, I got lazy in calculating my December total. My word tracker gave me the final total. Why were May-August over 200K? I wasn't working. I was on a LoA from the job I got in January because it almost killed me, quite literally. I got the new job August 31st which is why September's total is so low then I got back into the swing of writing and working.

Yes, December is really low. It's normally my month off and I've had way lower counts than 50K before. I didn't write for half the month so there.

Anyway, goals for this year? Same as last year: writing, trying to figure out the whole marketing shtick, potential losing weight, carving down the debt, and what not. I'll try to keep up on the blog but no promises. My memory sucks and I get distracted by writing. Sorry, totally not sorry. *winks*

Until next time: thoughts, comments, rage, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.

Updates

For those of you actually following this blog, you'll notice I made a huge change to my "Novel Series" list for this year. Basically I knocked off every novel except book 3 of Tale of the Twins. Why?

Cuz I'm totally not getting to them in the few months of the year that's left.

Why?

Because I got distracted by Avalora and a bunch of ongoing fan-fiction.

Why fan-fiction?

To be honest, I don't know. I started free-writing and now I have a following of sorts on the site so it's gone from there. Plus it's kind of nice not to make up my own characters or world for once. It helps me focus solely on plot...even though I kind of made up some characters to go into the world. Oops?

Once I'm finished this one ongoing but almost ended fan-fiction story, I'll be going back into the Avalora world since November is coming up in a month and I've only got enough written and ready to be posted to take me through until the middle of November.

I'm planning to start working on term two of year one of Avalora by mid-October. Hopefully I can get a butt load of chapters done, kick it into higher gear for NaNo, finish term two then get Tale of the Twins done.

After that I'll finish off that super-hero book I started in August and actually finish it. Then? Eh, maybe I'll write some of the novels I had on my original list.

I've figured out I can't actually plan my years for writing so intently. My mind wanders from the project I'm on then I get distracted and I end up making on-going things. So, for next year, I'll go back to pulling titles out of a hat once I finish a novel. It seems I get more done that way.

Until next time: comments, questions, rants, rages and what not can be left below.

Another Million

Technically I should have posted this blog on June 31 but I got lazy. Oops? Anyway, another million down and six more months in the year to go.

What's funny about this million is it's less novels and more ongoing stories and short stories. I've written a total of four complete novels since January 1 which are Mists of Time Book 4: Adam's Story, Zombies 2, Death's Feet, and A Dragon's Rage. So, where did the other half a million or so come from?

Well 346,153 came from Avalora School of Magic. There were a lot of scenes written for character for another series, about 105K words or so. The planning for Avalora is over 7K. About 175K worth of fan fiction and about 10K for a short story and some random planning. Lemme break it down:

January: 158,491

• Mists of Time Book 4: Adam's Story
• Alternate Ending to Mists of Time Book 3
• Zombies 2
• Avalora Planning
• The Van Helgroves: Children, Timeline, Family/friends descriptions, and scene.

February: 132,736

• Zombies 2
• Avalora Planning
• Avalora School of Magic

March: 88,876

• Glory Hole: Kids
• Avalora School of Magic
• Death's Feet Planning

April (Camp NaNoWriMo): 126,539

• Glory Hole: Kids
• Death's Feet
• Avalora School of Magic

May: 253,040 (The biggest Word Count EVER in a month)

• A Dragon's Rage
• Avalora School of Magic

June: 240,823 (And the Million)

• End Days: Planning
• Avalora School of Magic
• A Dragon's Rage
• Naruto Fanfiction: One short story and one seemingly unending piece.

How did I write so much in May and June? Well on April 15th or so I had a mental break down because of a lot of reasons. Stress from work, former stresses I never really took care of, and a bunch of crap I can't seem to get away from now and I won't be able to get away from.

Essentially I was diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder (to the point I was clawing at myself before going to work) and was told to take 15 weeks off. The unfortunate part is because my prior job didn't pay into the government benefits thing, I only had about 422 hours of taxable work hours when I needed 600. So, I don't get any kind of Unemployment Insurance for being off because of a medical reason. One of the many ways my old company screwed me over.

Of course I am planning to keep writing the rest of the year. Whether or not I get another million will remain to be seen but I can without a doubt say I'll beat last year's total of 1,440,350. I won't beat out the novel total of 16 but definitely the words.

I do have to say, Avalora School of Magic and the fan fiction will be the bulk of whatever my final number is. Am I going to write the other novels listed in the Novel Series Tab? Well, hopefully. I at least want to get Tale of the Twins Book 3: Heaven vs. Hell written once I re-edit Book 1 and go through Book 2. Will I write any of the others? No idea. I do want to finish Glory Hole: Kids. Besides that, no clue.

I have found that writing something as long as Avalora (again over 300K and nowhere close to being finished) is both refreshing and daunting. That 345K is the first term of first year. There's a second term to first year and NINE MORE YEARS of schooling for these kids, PLUS at least a chapter or two for all six of them after graduation. It literally is Friends meets Harry Potter.

I'm also finding writing the fan fiction, knowing not many people (if any) will see it to be refreshing as well. Hey, I might post it up on wattpad or fanfiction.com but I don't have to. It can be totally mine. It might be safer that way...ahaha. As for why the Naruto-verse: I watch a lot of anime, and yes I have gone to conventions and dressed up. Once as Misa Misa from Death Note and once as Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood). I find it funny I kind of went backwards in the whole writing path. Most people practice with fan fiction before moving onto original characters.

Not me. I did original character then wrote fan fiction. Technically at the start of this almost twenty year adventure of writing I started with fan fiction but I didn't know it was called fan fiction...

ANYWAY. For those wanting to reach a million in six months it's easy. Just have a mental breakdown so you have 8+ hours a day to write and just keep writing. Actually, skip the mental breakdown part and keep writing. It's probably safer for your mental health that way. Not that writers are sane people in any sense of the word.

Until next time: thoughts, comments, questions, rants, rages, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.

2015 Novel Series #3: Death's Feet

So this is one of those novels I'd started, scrapped, re-started, scrapped and re-started then finally finished. The first two incantations didn't have much of a plan. It was about these six characters who worked for Death and had to make sure the souls of the dead moved on. Yes, very much like Dead Like Me. There was a main conflict but no real purpose. The bad guy wanted to stop Death for no apparent reason.

I let it sit. I re-read both tries. Then I decided to put all my focus onto one character, one of Death's Grim Reapers and everything made sense. Instead of helping souls move on, the Grim Reapers now collect the souls and bring them to death in reliquaries. There are different levels of Grim Reapers: normal reapers, the Leaders of Crews (generally five), and the Grave Robber who is a special sort of reaper that can physically see a soul if it hasn't been captured in a reliquary.

The story focuses on Rosalynne, a Grave Robber who thinks she's found her soul-mate again after 200 years. Then all Hell breaks loose and someone jumps her while she's gleaning missed souls from the cemetery. This attacker takes her reliquaries and we find out someone's trying to thwart Death. Why? That's for Death Herself to figure out.

Death Herself, Amorita, plays a more active role in this incantation than she did in the prior two. She's directly involved with the group as she had been but she's more active when it comes to actual plot. In the others, she was just there as kind of a like a guide character. In this one, she's a plot point.

This is also the novel I used for Camp NaNoWriMo, April edition. It wasn't a good Camp because again, I was in a cabin where the other people weren't active. Most of them put up a goal and then bailed. One other person tried to regularly talk but everyone else kind of took off. It's disappointing which is why you didn't see my weekly updates about Camp this year. Onwards with the novel summary.

Genre: Urban fantasy? Supernatural? I've no idea.

Word Count: 69,908

Prompt: The show Dead Like Me

Main Characters: Rosalynne, Amorita (Death Herself), and the Baddie.

Minor Characters: Simon, William, Max, Tim, Steve, Barb, Ruby, and the other Grim Reapers. Yes, ordered in level of importance. Ha.

Summation: Rosalynne never thought she'd fall in love again until she met William. The problem? Rosalynne's been dead for 200 years and works as a Grim Reaper, an assistant under Death Herself. Can William be Rosalynne's reincarnated lost lover or is something or someone trying to thwart Death?

High Points: Amorita. She was such a fun character to write. Most specifically? The scene where she goes to Heaven to talk to God and Lucifer about Purging the world so she can kill off all the people taking the reliquaries in one go.

Low Points: Ending the novel. Seriously, when you've had something in your head for so long stewing and it's finally done it's like you're missing a part of yourself now or something. I'll miss these characters.

The World: Ours but with an incarnation of Death walking around as well as people who work for her who can't die.

Memorable Lines:

Trust Simon to give her an early job. The job forced her to push her legs to their limits in racing half way across the city to get to the location on time. She shifted the handles on her bike, pulling up slightly to jump the curb and veered around the idiots on the sidewalk. Sure, she was supposed to be in the bike lane running along the side of the road but she didn't trust the motorists trying to get to work before 9AM.

Rosalynne swung her bike around an older woman walking a yappy dog and got some small sense of satisfaction when an idiot trying to take a selfie had to step to one side or be run down by her bike. She heard a curse but didn't bother to look over her shoulder. One hand did come up to give the thwarted selfie-taker a one fingered salute.

The music in her ears changed to a heavier beat and Rosalynne grinned. The pounding bass did nothing for her headache but it would help her concentrate on getting to the job before her real job. Oh the joy of working overlapping shifts of sorts. Simon couldn't even give her later work if he wanted. He gave her what fit into her schedule as given to him by Amorita.

Amorita, the mysterious woman Rosalynne, Simon, or anyone else on the team didn't want to meet. Amorita could keep to her shadows and be nothing but a name to Rosalynne for as long as her second life continued. Amoirta, Lady Death, Keeper of Souls, Grim Reaper, whatever name a person could come up with for her could stay secluded in whatever place she called home in this city. Rosalynne wished Lady Death had elected to live anywhere else. Wished wouldn't do her any good so she kept pedaling. Maybe she'd get lucky and wouldn't have to follow an ambulance to a morgue.

"You're not a good Grim Reaper," Robert told her.
She chuckled at him and she felt him watching her. She shrugged.
"You can tell that to Lady Death when you meet her but she'll just laugh," Rosalynne said.
Robert gasped and Rosalynne watched him consider her words.
"You're not Death?" Robert enquired.
Rosalynne shook her head. Robert blinked and waited.
"I'm one of her Grim Reapers. My job is to gather lost souls and bring them to her so she can bring them into the afterlife. She's the one who can tell you what happened to you and your family, not me. I do her legwork," Rosalynne said.

"So, someone stole your Grave Robber's reliquaries,"
Lady Death's voice was smooth but unnerving. It made Rosalynne want to run screaming from the room but she was paralyzed. It took Rosalynne a moment to realize Lady Death had not posed a question. She had made a statement.
"Yes," Simon agreed.
His voice was light and Rosalynne could see the sweat beading across his forehead. Simon didn't know what happened when reliquaries were taken. Rosalynne hoped he might have an idea. Apparently Lady Death could be the one to know.
"Twelve you said,"
A second statement, like she wanted to confirm whatever Simon had told her on the phone. Simon nodded this time. Lady Death took a long drag off her cigarette and exhaled five smoke rings. She was the image of calm. Rosalynne knew somewhere inside, maybe deep inside, Lady Death was not as relaxed as she seemed.
"Rosalynne," Lady Death said.
If Rosalynne had been standing she would have fallen over. She did have to tighten her grip on Barb's hand but Barb squeezed back as hard.
"You didn't see him or sense him,"
Again, not a question but a verification of fact. Rosalynne nodded. Lady Death shifted her head to look at her and Rosalynne lowered her eyes as to not meet Lady Death's gaze. She knew Lady Death would take no offense.
"Odd the Grave Robber couldn't sense him," Lady Death went on. "Not that you're the most powerful of the Grave Robbers, a child still in terms of it, but even so you should have sensed him alone in the cemetery."
...
"Even a normal Grim Reaper should have sensed him. Odd," Lady Death said.
Instead of putting out her cigarette in the ash tray, she flicked it onto the carpet. Simon winced but said nothing. Lady Death didn't even squish the cigarette to put it out. It didn't burn through the carpet and no smoke coiled from the discarded cigarette. It was as if the life had left it the moment it left her fingers. Rosalynne did not want to linger on the thought.

Amorita let out a long breath and stepped forward. To anyone watching it would look as if her body liquefied then flowed through the bars to solidify on the other side. To her the movement felt like taking a step as normal with no barrier in between. She went where she wished when she wished and nothing could impede her.
"Look out!"
Something hit her from the side and Amorita felt the sensation of flying. She landed, feeling roughness biting at her flesh as her body rolled. She heard yelling and screaming, squealing, honking, but none of it mattered. The attacker was gaining distance. Amorita blinked at the sight of blue sky above her head and shifted.
Nothing hurt. Nothing ever hurt so she sat up. People were near her, telling her to stay still and for a moment she didn't understand why. Then she looked down at herself. There was a bone peeking out of one leg and blood flowing from the wound. Her left arm was mangled as well and there were patches of skin that had been torn away. She supposed people would consider her lucky to come away so unscathed. This was an inconvenience. (Says the one who just got hit by a car...lol)
...
Stupid cars and their ability to sneak up on her. Some inventions weren't worth it. (snickers)

"Powers above and below can't end her because they end their method of getting souls. From what she tells us, she came first, so I don't think the Rules apply to her. If she wants a tsunami to hit Japan again because she thinks it'll be fun then she'll do it." (She being Death of course)

"I've been fighting this group for centuries now and every time I thought I had them finished they came back. This time they only waited four years. No, I'm done being gentle. I will purge the world: hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and war. I suspect when it's all said and done over four billion will be dead," Lady Death said.
...
"But that's, you can't,"
"Who's going to stop me? God? Lucifer? You? No. The purging stats in one week..."

"What's this all about, Death?" God asked.
"The faction is back," Amorita said.
"Oh, well, don't you normally handle it without meeting us?" God questioned.
...
"Normally but this time I'm finishing the group," Amorita said.
"Oh, good. Well, have at it then," God said and began to stand.
"You sure you want to tell Death to 'have at it' without hearing her plan?" Lucifer asked.
Damn him. She had almost gotten out of this without having to tell God what she planned to do. God scowled, met Lucifer's eyes then looked to her. He sat back down. Lucifer chuckled, a little smirk coming to his face and Amorita shrugged.
"I'm Purging the earth in six days," Amorita said.
...
"How many humans do you plan to Purge?" God asked.
"Four billion," Amorita replied.
She hadn't skipped a beat, replying as if she was mentioning the weather. It was her talent, really. The angel dropped his clipboard. Lucifer lost the grip he had on his cigarillo and it dropped onto the table then rolled to the edge, hovering between falling for a few moments before becoming stead. God stared at her with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.
"Four billion?" God questioned.
He sputtered...


"Oh, you're coming with me," Lady Death said.
"Why?" Rosalynne managed.
Lady Death smirked.
"Back-up,"

(Amorita and the Baddie fighting in her apartment. She's been slamming him against walls and making a general ruckus)
"This is your neighbour in four. Do you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to put my kid down for a nap."
"Sorry, deciding the fate of the universe in here," Amorita said.

"I can't believe you just dropped that like it was nothing," the man said, pointing at her discarded cigarette.
"And I can't believe you dared to stop me," Amorita said.

"Eternity's a long time. At least I know how to amuse myself."

NaNoWriMo 2014: The End

I'm about a week late on this for various reasons. I went to a concert on Sunday so I didn't get to sleep till about 2:30AM, worked the next day for 9AM then couldn't concentrate on anything Monday night. The past week has been crap work wise, writing wise, and everything in between wise. Yes. But hey, better late than never, right?

Final Word Count: 251,956. My NaNo board count is 252K and change but I'm not entirely sure why there's such a difference. I'm fairly sure I beat last year's 250K WC by about 1000 words. This is with missing two weeknights, and a weekend. Yeah...

Novels: Mists of Time Book 1: Discovery, Mists of Time Book 2: Seeking, and Mists of Time Book 3: Finale. Book 3 still has four chapters left in it though so the series isn't over.

Plot so far: The Mist Watcher started going crazy on the worlds he wants to destroy which means Blair, the Ala'gan I mentioned in the last NaNo Blog, Tenkondin, and a few other characters end up world hoping. They visit 8 other planets, one of which happens to be Cara, the world that has a four book series about it. The other is Ambrosia which not only got two chapters but is about the characters and world I've been fiddling with for almost my entire writing career. For those that don't know: almost 20 years. Yeah.

Final Thoughts: The last week was pretty stressful and reminded me why I had originally decided NOT to go for 250,000 words. But I hit 200K by day 24 (or so) and decided "why the heck not? Let's go for 250K again!" The fun part was I ended up getting 10K every night on the 27, 28, and 29 which gave me the final push. I didn't write Sunday (the 30th), didn't even turn on my computer actually, and worked two Saturdays which I normally don't do. Basically even with the few days I missed I beat last year's WC by 1000 words. I didn't think I could do it. I'm glad I did.

I don't regret being less active in the forums. Last year I spent at least an hour a day in there and with my writing speeds I lost about 60K words. I didn't have to be as stressed as I was last year if I hadn't been in the forums so long. I learned it this year. I also learned no matter what, there will always be someone who's faster than you who you will (no matter what) be jealous of. There will also be A LOT of people (more so if you're an over-achiever) who are way behind you and are angry/jealous/hateful towards you.

There was a thread made in one of the forums where people accused those with high word counts of cheating, bragging, arrogance, disrespect, and a slew of other things that frankly, is what makes people like me so self-conscious about saying how far I am. One person even went as far as to say it was going to be their last NaNo in part to the over-achievers. Another implied that OA-ers implied to others those others didn't have the determination of over-achievers.

The hatred is the main reason I decided to say "screw it" to the forums this year. When the event isn't actually happening the forums are a great place but when November and the camps come around, so do all those negative people that have driven OA-ers out of their regions, and out of the forums. I SHOULD NOT be afraid to enter the "NaNo Ate My Soul" forum with a high word count because I'll be accused of cheating or lying or whatever.

People seem to forget NaNo is a PERSONAL challenge. If I can hit 250K words in a month and you can't, it doesn't make you any less of a writer. It just means I write faster and (maybe) have been doing this for much longer. And yes, sometimes it DOES mean I'm more motivated, self-disciplined, and determined to get the extreme word goal. It still doesn't make you less of a writer.

The problem is I (and everyone else) can say it doesn't make you any less of a writer all I want but humans are a naturally competitive bunch so when someone sees someone else succeeding so (seemingly) effortlessly they'll get jealous and angry. Occasionally the success will motivate a person but it's rare.

But writing (playing sports, working out, singing, playing an instrument, dance, etc. etc, etc) relies on practice and experience. The more you write the faster you'll write and the more you'll learn about you as a writer which means the quicker you'll come up with GOOD ideas and BETTER first drafts.

I didn't wake up 20-ish years ago with the ability to write like I do today. My first drafts are solid (minus grammar and spelling cuz I'm not a pro) enough they don't read like a first draft. Re-write isn't in my vocabulary but YES, it used to be before. In fact, everything I wrote prior to 2009 has to be re-written. Hell, even some of the things I wrote from 2010 till now have to be re-worked. Not fully scrapped-start-from-scratch, but re-worked.

But after writing on and off for 20 years, learning about myself as a writer, PRACTICING THE CRAFT, reading, and having the decades of experience: I feel confident in giving a FIRST DRAFT to someone to read. And those someone's usually come back with "I want to keep reading your writing," "THIS IS AWESOME!" "I can't wait for the rest!"

So yes, I can pump out 250K words of quality writing in a month. Maybe you can't but I'm not any better than you. Anyone, ANYONE who takes on the task of writing a NOVEL is a winner in my book. And even if you didn't get the 50K in a month: you're still a winner because YOU WROTE SOMETHING. Even if it was 1,000 words, it was 1,000 words more than what you had on Oct 31. The simple fact is YOU WROTE SOMETHING. Now all you have to do is keep writing something.

Until next time, rants, rage, questions and everything in between can be directed to the comments.

NaNoWriMo2014: Day 21

Tradition, blah, blah, weekly update on NaNo-ing. Let's get things moving, shall we?

Word Count: 165,062. So, I technically only need 84K in order to hit last year's goal of 250K. Which would be entirely doable if I still had two full weekends of writing, which I don't. I only have one weekend of writing which if I'm lucky will give me 40K. If I'm lucky. Yeah. I likely won't get the 250K this year but I'm going to keep writing like a mad woman to see how much I get. Cuz. NaNo.

Words Needed: For the 250K: 84,938. For my official goal of 200K: 34,938 which is way more manageable. Also, fun fact, I'm 1200 words away from hitting last year's Milwordy finishing WC which means by the end of November I'll be at least 33K over last years MilWordy ending WC. Yes I am insane. I think it's been established, no?

Novels: Mists of Time Book 1: Discovery and Mists of Time Book 2: Seeking. I'll start MoT Book 3: Finale sometime next week I'm sure.

Plot so far: We now know why the Mist Watcher isn't acting so kindly towards you know, guarding the Mists. And we know why Blair is the only Mist Watcher from earth and what it means to the Mists to have a planet like earth existing. Oh and Blair's moved into an apartment with xer boyfriend. Last night Blair lost xer virginity which is kind of a big deal. Blair also realized xe can't live without said BF which means I might kill off said BF. Oops?

Thoughts: I'm perfectly happy having sacrificed the forums to write. It's not that I don't miss the forums, I do, but finding if someone's responded to me directly and seeing so many new threads a day is exhausting when I know I have to pump out words, work out, make jewelry and still try to get an episode of House MD in before midnight.

I've also sacrificed on the making jewelry and working out this week. Tomorrow I won't be going to the gym but I will be working most or all day which I'm not pleased about. I never signed up for working weekends but we're moving so crap has to be cleared out of the new building, etc.

Anyway, the novel is progressing smoothly but all of the final book will have to be reworked as I compensate for the bad guy's motivation, subplots and other odds and ends that have popped up.

I also played up the book-ception some more by making some minor supporting characters races from the World of Cara, more specifically an Ala'gan and a Tal'kan woman. I've a feeling they're going to appear in Book 3 somewhere. Thankfully they're not in the Cara series or it would get all kinds of messed up.

Dyns' character isn't as fun as I thought he would be. He and Blair were supposed to have a closer relationship but Blair ended up becoming better friends with Tenkondin who's about to be kicked out of the plot for a short time. The good news is Dyns is foreshadowing his last line in Book 3 which is great because now that last line won't come out of nowhere.

In short: everything's tightening up better than I expected.

Until next time, rants, rage, questions and everything in between can be directed to the comments. Don't forget about the Kickstarter Campaign for Burnt: The Story of the Fire King. Eighteen days to go and I need help. Mental help, I'm sure. ;)

To be a Writer

There is a question that normally pops up around NaNoWriMo time that always makes me think. It's usually something along the lines of: "Are you a real writer?" or "You know you're a writer when..."

I all ready know I'm a writer and I believe that the reason is different for every writer out there. It's just like how the way I write won't work for everyone else, the reason I write or how I know I'm a writer will be different for everyone else.

Despite this I think there are a few things that every writer has in common.

Perseverance: You can also call it determination. It's the simple fact that even if we're rejected or we fail that we'll keep trying no matter what. We'll plaster our walls with rejection letters before giving up on getting a book published and if we can't get it traditionally published we'll work on being the best damned self-published author we can be. And if we fail at that, Hell, we'll STILL keep writing because at some point we will write a book that someone will take a chance on. It could also be called sheer madness. (I jest)

Ambition: This is the WILL to succeed and goes hand in hand with perseverance. It's the desire to succeed and sometimes it's the only thing that will keep you going.

Tough Skin: I don't mean this literally. I mean that most of writers either have or develop (or have to develop) a hard outer shell so they can take criticism without spiraling into depression or whatever. It takes a strong person to keep coming back after negative feedback and trying again.

Imagination: I think this is pretty self-explanatory. If you don't have a creative mind it's going to be difficult to get into something that begs for originality and creativity. Writers are constantly asking: "What if?"

Courage: You think it's easy to put your work, something you slaved over for months or years out there and not be nervous? It doesn't matter if it's the first time or the 50th time there is still that little voice in the back of an author's head that says: "What do I do if they don't like it?"

Always writing: If you say "I think I've written my last book" then you're probably not cut out for being a writer. We never stop and when we try to stop we come back. Stephen King tried to retire once (maybe twice) and it never happened. Writing isn't a job. It's something that is a part of you that you physically cannot stop. You know those withdrawal symptoms drug abusers get when they come off the drug? It's the same thing that happens to writers when they try to stop writing. It just doesn't work. The only reason a writer stops writing is because they physically can no longer write.

A touch of insanity: Really, how sane are you when you become different people on occasion to get into the mind of your new MC? And how sane are you when you've got an "Inner Editor" otherwise known as this person in your head who keeps telling you how to write or what to write and that you suck?

Blood, Sweat and Tears: Sometimes literally. You will cry at rejection letters or horrible critics. You will sweat your ass off when you send your book to an editor wondering if it's good enough. You might even bleed from stress inducted hernias. Doesn't that sound like fun? But, it's all part of that desire (ambition), determination (perseverance), and daring (courage).

When you think about it, all writers are the same. We all have this drive to keep going, we take insults, we bring to life strange worlds, we put ourselves out there, we don't stop and we're a bit nuts. Most of us are also sleep deprived, caffeine addicted, have an animal as a best friend, and like to be alone with our words. But that makes us sane.

Until next time rants, rage, questions, and everything in between can be directed to the comments. Don't forget to check out my Kickstarter Campaign to get Burnt: The Story of the Fire King out there.

NaNoWriMo 2014: Day 14

And keeping with tradition, here's my weekly update on how the NaNo-ing is going. Remember, I've got a campaign to get Burnt: The Story of the Fire King out and into the world so eventually the things I've written for NaNo (and between NaNo events) will be published as well. Eventually. Anyway, check the campaign out here.

Word Count: 104, 771. Last year I tried (and got) 250K. My official goal this year is 200K...though I've been seriously considering trying for 250K again. I could get to the halfway point on it by tomorrow. I'm only 16K off...

Words Needed: 95,229 for 200K, 145,229 for the 250K if I decide to do it. We'll see how it goes this weekend.

Novels: Mists of Time Book 1: Discovery was completed on Day 9 and clocks in at 91,771 words. I started Mists of Time Book 1: Seeking on Day12 but planned 5K towards it on Day 11. And yes I counted the planning because I will be replacing said planning with actual story right in the Word Doc for the novel. So there. :P

Plot so far: Blair has a boyfriend, xe's come to terms with being a Time Knight/saving the world but now there's someone trying to destroy the Mists. The Mists is the plane that separates all the worlds from other worlds and all the worlds from the Mist Beasts which are out to destroy everything. So, someone destroying the Mists puts the entire universe in danger. Blair, Dyns (Blair's tutor), and Tenkondin (the perverted tentacle being) talked to a Keeper (one of the 12 council members in the Mists) who referred them to the Mist Watcher (the leader of the Mists) but the Mist Watcher doesn't seem interested in doing anything about said person destroying the Mists. This is weird because it's the Mist Watcher's job to, you know, watch the Mists and make sure no one's breaking them.

Thoughts: The series has become a real life drama about growing up in combination of "hero must save the world" story since Blair is living a double life: one on earth and one in the Mists. We'll get to see how Blair deals with xer broken family, xer budding love life, xer BFF getting dumped and emotional trauma there as well as figuring out why someone is destroying the Mists and why the Mist Watcher doesn't seem to care. Oh and beating all the Mists Beast. Then there's the whole applying to university issue. Blair has a lot on xer plate...

I've fallen in love with Tenkondin's character. He was supposed to be a minor, comic relief type but now he's become a third main character. Also, two other characters have decided to be important main characters, one who wasn't planned at all and the other who was supposed to do some snooping around then die.

Funnily enough, I did a kind of book-inception in which I mention races and people I wrote about in a different series in this one. The series in question is the Cara series which I wrote back in 2012. The races are the elemental races of the Ala'gan, Tal'kan, Mil'nee, and Nil'shay. I also mentioned the Female Main Character in passing thanks to an Ala'gan. I also mentioned the world of Ambrosia which is a story I've had in my head for about 15 years now and haven't started. It'll be the last thing I write. ;)

I find it funny this book can become a kind of connector book between everything I've written. But, most of my stories occur on earth so, yeah. Though with all the different races I'm making up I may decide to write a few novels based on the various different beings mentioned in this series. It'll be fun.

I've also noticed I'm not participating in forums so much. I know why though. Basically I'm using every ounce of my time to write, go to the gym, make jewellery, watch House, bug my cat, make dinner, and relax. I'm not sacrificing as much as I did last year to participate in the forums and write. In fact, I sacrificed participating in the forums so much. I'm not sure how to feel about it yet.

Now? I'm off to write the next chapter. I'm planning on getting to 110K before midnight tonight so we'll see how it goes. Until next time: rants, rage, questions, comments, and everything else can be directed to the comments.

NaNoWriMo 2014: Day Seven

In case you didn't know I did a live-blog update thing on Day One of NaNo. You can find it here. In keeping with tradition, this is my weekly update on how my NaNo-ing is going.

Word Count: 60,740

Goal: 200,000. This is 50K lower than last year's goal because the quarter of a million (as fun as it is to say) nearly killed me. I'd rather have fun writing then kill my motivation when panicking about being behind. So yeah, I reduced my goal and I'll likely forever keep a 200,000 word goal every year I do NaNo until I can write full time.

Words Needed: 139,260

Novels: Mists of Time Book 1: Discovery.

Plot so far: Blair has been forced out of xer house and is now living on xer own. Oh, and Blair thought xe was going insane but xe's not. Turns out Blair's a Time Knight and has to protect the world/universe. Oh, Blair's bi-gender, so physical male who occasionally feels female and dresses/acts according to those feelings. Yes, Blair does prefer female pronouns when xe feels female and wears a padded bra to give the illusion of breasts as well as special underwear to hide her downstairs. No, Blair does not want SRS surgery as even if xe becomes physically female xe will feel male on some days and want to reflect it in xer look and how xe acts. Blair's also 18. So this is kind of a coming of age story with magic thrown in because ooooo--OOOO...magic! :D

Thoughts: I was doing great until I read a thread in the NaNo Ate my Soul section of the forums. The thread was about how people were unmotivated because of over-achievers like myself. One even went so far to say that this was his last NaNo in part because of over-achievers. At first: anger. Then, well, I got upset.

I will freely admit: IT UPSETS ME TO KNOW PEOPLE OUT THERE FEEL LIKE CRAP BECAUSE OF MY HIGH WORDCOUNT. I know how demotivating seeing someone with a higher word count than you can be. Hell, even as an OAer I STILL FEEL BAD WHEN SOMEONE HAS A HIGHER WORD COUNT THAN ME. Here's what I wrote in said thread and I'll stick by it:

Yeah, I have 60K. Yeah, I'm a regular OAer. Does that mean I'm better than you? Nope. Am I going to flaunt it in your face and call you slow? Nope. You're awesome for simply taking the challenge and writing. Even if you don't get the 50K you wrote SOMETHING. That's what matters.

Anyway. Threads like this kill my motivation. Why? Because it upsets me to think something I can do (and have practiced hard to get here) makes someone else upset enough that they want to leave or give up.

So what if I can hit 60K by day six? I've been writing for almost 20 years. That's almost 2/3rds of my life. I know what works for me and what doesn't. I know my limits. I know how hard I can push. I've dedicated countless hours to this craft and written over 3 million words in the past three years. I've practiced writing for quality and quantity in tandem. I've learned to edit as I go. I know what to do so I can hit the word counts I do. I also have no life to speak of so all my free time is dedicated to writing. And so what? I'm not better than you. I still suffer from the writing blues and I still struggle with plotting and getting the motivation to start writing. I still have nights, like tonight, where I don't write a single word because I'm just...bleh.

I can guarantee every OAer was in your shoes at some point in their writing life. Heck, some of the OAers are stunned at other OAers because of even higher word counts. I'm at 60K. There are others at double my word count. Am I jealous? HELL YES. Do I care? Not really. I know I can't physically get to that amount unless I'm not working most of my days and even then I'd be killing myself to attempt it so I'm not going to bother. I'm going to focus on my story and what I can do, not what someone else can do or if they're doing it faster.

NaNo isn't about racing to the 50K or getting over 50K before anyone else. It's not about being better because you have a higher word count. It's about setting out to write a novel. It's about having fun. It's about accomplishing your own personal goals. Screw what everyone else is doing. Focus on what you're doing. And if it really kills your motivation then make it a challenge. Decide that you're going to push your own limits to see how high you can go.
WRITE FOR YOU. This is YOUR challenge, not anyone else's. Don't make this a competition because we are all the same. We're all writers struggling to get our stories out. We all have our own personal challenges and demons to face. We all bleed the same red, shed the same tears, and have the same hand pains when we push really hard. How high your word count is and how quickly you get there means nothing in the grand scheme of things. What matters is you accomplishing your own personal goals and NO ONE can take those accomplishments away from you.

SO CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR WORD COUNT...whatever it may be because YOU are awesome for getting it.

End rant on Over-achieving, etc. The novel itself is going well. I've been having fun with the story, Blair especially as it's awesome to see xer growing and becoming more xerself. Xe couldn't do it at home and now xe's happy. Well, happy-ish.

I've also been (just) informed that I'm representing bi-gender well. This has made me UBER excited as I was nervous about tackling a bi-gender character when I'm not bi-gender myself. But, everything seems to be good with Blair's characterization so I can continue on how I'm going without worrying. Thank you to em--dash and everyone here for that. :)

Until next time, rants, raves, questions, comments and everything in between can be directed to the comments. And don't forget to check out my kickstarter campaign to get Burnt: The Story of the Fire King out there if you feel so inclined.

2014 NaNo Day One

HELLO FELLOW WRITERS! *taps microphone* This thing on? Yeah? Good.

If you don't know me here's a brief intro:

• I'm a writer
• Some would call me a prolific writer for the sheer amount of words I write but others have written more in a month than I do in 8 months. So there. ;)
• That said: I've written 3.6 million words in three years, won three NaNos by at least double the goal needed, and won four camps with double my goal for the month.
• I've written 34 books and tons of short stories
• I've been writing for about 20 years
• I'm insane, generally
• I'm doing a Kickstarter campaign to get one of my novels published: check it if interested

You know the basics and can check the rest of this blog for more if you're so inclined. All you really need to know is that I write. A lot.

I also decided I'd do something different for this year's NaNo since it falls on a Saturday. I will be honest and say I'm writing this part of the post on October 6. The rest of this post will be written throughout the day today (November 1) as we journey through Day One of NaNo together.

That's right. I'm going to be giving an hour (or two hour) play by play on how many words I've written and how I'm doing, mentally. You'll get to virtually hang out with me live all day, more so if you follow my Twitter account.

So you know: I'm planning to write a trilogy this NaNo, or at least a good portion of one. At least the first two books. Because again: I'm freaking nuts. The basics:

Blair is an 18 year old bi-gender biological male who isn't accepted by xer family for wanting to remain physically male and thinking of xerself as both male and female. Blair also only has one friend who's moved away for university and (s)he works in a minimum wage job and has no idea what to do in life. Oh and there isn't a LGBTQ friendly place within bussing distance. In short: Blair has problems.

Blair gains more problems as when (s)he turns 18, xer father either wants xer to pay rent or move out. As if that's not enough Blair starts seeing things that no one else can see. Because a non-accepted LGBTQ person isn't enough for a novel on its own for me. I gotta give it steroids, you know?

Anyway, Blair seeing thing isn't mentally related. Nope. (S)He's magical in today's world but (s)he just doesn't know it. (S)He's also The Hero of the story so yeah, there's going to be a "Baddie" (s)he's got to beat up to save the world. And if you re-read if you haven't noticed: Blair uses BOTH pronouns to describe xerself so it'll be interesting to work that shift into a series well.

We'll get to learn about Blair, well you will anyway. I probably know a lot but characters change, especially Blair. It'll be awesome either way. That's probably a funny sentence if you re-read it. Let's move on, shall we? And let's remember that all the below is written AFTER I've worked on Blair's story for an hour (or so).

The Novel: Mists of Time Book One: Discovery

Hour One: Saturday November 1, 2014, 7:30AM-7:50AM and 10AM-11AM
Starting Word Count for the month: 2023
Word Count: 6044 which means 2616 written from 10-11. :)
Pros: We got to meet Blair and get a glimpse of what he deals with on a regular bases. And yes, he's a he right now for these two chapters at least. That might change when tomorrow comes for him.
Cons: His dad's an ass and people miss-gender Blair a lot...
Issues: I think I had a few too many "that's" but I'll catch 'em in editing.
Plot Fun: Blair's seeing things, just flashes of shadows and what not which is exactly what's supposed to happen. Oh, two college kids couldn't pay for their groceries so Blair had to work through them panicking.
Best Line: Minor Character: "Listen lady, I've got things to do," Blair: "First: we all do. Second: I'm not a lady."
Last Sentence Wrote: He really did need more sleep.

Hour Two: 11:09AM-11:58AM
Word count: 8,430. Words written: 2,359
Pros: Blair's going crazy nicely. ;)
Cons: Blair's family life sucks.
Issues: I think I made Blair's family life suck too much without explanation.
Plot fun: Eh, not much fun this time around, sorry.
Best Line: "Oh yeah, I'm so scared of being grounded. I don't have a life outside of working and cleaning up after the rest of you. What's dad going to do? Tell me I can't go out till 9PM anymore? I don't do that anyway. You can't threaten me but there are lots of things I can do to make your life miserable. So again: stop taking my shit." Blair to his younger sister Natalie who took one of his shirts and ruined it. She does this lots. Blair's also the house-slave of sorts because of reasons that will be revealed later.
Last Sentence Wrote: He was sleep deprived not insane.

Hour Three: 1:00PM-1:20PM, 2:10PM-2:50PM
So I had to take a break because my furnace stopped working and I had to call them in. They came, they fixed and I have heat in my house again. Anyway:
Word Count: 10,949. Words Written: 2518
Pros: Blair decided she felt like a girl this chapter. It was fun.
Cons: Blair is gentler and less expressive as a girl. It's going to get confusing I'm sure.
Issues: Blair's boss is an ass.
Plot fun: Blair telling her sister off for going through Blair's things. Mwahaha.
Best line: Natalie: "Fine. You're such a bitch." Blair: "You've learned from the best."
Last Sentence Wrote: Natalie's eyes went wide before she slinked off, obviously not liking the potential topic of conversation.

Hour Four: 3PM- 4PM
I'm all ready on chapter four. I forgot how much fun it was to write this quick. :D
Word Count: 12,881. Words Written: 1932. I had to do some research. It took ten minutes. Oops.
Pros: Blair (as a girl) talked back to her dad which she's never done before as a female. It's normally her "male" half that speaks up more.
Cons: Blair's sister is trying to understand her more. This is potentially bad because the whole world is supposed to be against Blair. If Blair's sister is trying to understand her then Blair has an ally outside of her BFF and I might accidently kill the sister. Oops? We'll see where it goes.
Issues: I keep feeling like I'm using "that" too often. :(
Plot fun: Blair dressing in denim short shorts with mesh at the hem and a crop top because she can.
Best line: "I'm not changing. This is who I am." Blair to her father when her father says he's waiting for Blair to grow out of this phase. Yeah, not going to happen.
Last Sentence Wrote: Thanks.

Hour Five: 4:15PM - 5PM
Word Count: 14,427. Word Written: 1546 not bad for under an hour.
Pros: Blair deciding to move out.
Cons: This line: "The family doctor hadn't wanted to talk to Blair since Blair started dressing as he felt (either male or female) when he woke up. It was going on five years now and Blair was sure no doctor would touch him unless he was dying."
Issues: I was getting distracted. Oops?
Plot fun: Blair being attracted to his potentially new landlord
Best line: "He wasn't about to conform so he could be treated like a real person. It wasn't fair he had to conform to make other people feel comfortable.
Last Sentence Wrote: Blair nodded in thanks and they got off the elevator at the third floor. (Kinda boring...)
Now I'm off to have dinner, go to the gym, then check on my friend's cat. I'll be writing come 7PM or so. See you then my pretties...mwahaha!

Hour Six: 7:30PM-8:30PM
Yes it did take me two and a half hours to eat, wash dishes, work out, check on my friend's cat, get into my pj's and settle in front of the computer. So sue me. ;)
Word Count: 17,130. Words Written: 2,703
Pros: Blair finding a place to live quickly.
Cons: Blair seeing more corporal visions that no one else sees.
Issues: Blair's mom regrets Blair leaving which wasn't supposed to happen. Actually, I think his whole family regrets it even though his dad is forcing him out so Blair will stop "playing dress up"...dad's words.
Plot fun: Anne, one of Blair's co-workers is being friendly. She might betray Blair later. We'll see. ;)
Best line: "I'm not playing dress-up and I'm done being your slave." Blair to his dad after his dad says he only pushed Blair so hard so Blair will stop playing dress up. Um, no, your son is bi-gender which means sometimes Blair feels like a girl and will dress accordingly.
Last Sentence Wrote: "Hey, non-taxable money, free pizza, and I get to piss off someone's parents. It's an all around win." Anne to Blair when Blair asks why Anne is helping Blair move out.
And now: a short break to fix a few things (yes I edit during NaNo so there :P) then back to writing.

Hour Seven: 8:50PM -9:50PM
Word Count: 20,243. Word Written: 3113 BOO-YEAH! OVER 3K and a palindrome!
Pros: Blair and Tim connecting.
Cons: Rob touching Blair's ass when Blair doesn't want it.
Issues: OMFG MY WRISTS HURT! This is what happens when I go from not-writing for a month to writing over 10K in a day.
Plot fun: Blair expressing her emotions so nicely and now hearing things that aren't there.
Best Line: Blair: "I'm physically a guy." Tim (new neighbour/friend/crush): "I'm bisexual." WIN!
Last sentence Wrote: "I should probably get back to the house before my parents start rooting through my stuff."
Also: I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN AND DYING AT THE SAME TIME! WOOOOOT!

Hour Eight AKA The FINAL HOUR: 10PM-10:45PM
Yeah, you read that right: the FINAL HOUR. I'm tired, giddy and I'm sure I'm going to be correcting all the words for at least an hour tomorrow, perhaps more but I don't care. I just wrote 20K in eight hours which is something I've NEVER done before. It's always taken me at least 10 hours to get to 20K, sometimes more so happy? RIGHT HERE! Anyway, the summary:
Word Count: 22,160. Words Written: 1,920
Pros: I, it went too quick. Ahaha.
Cons: Blair meeting the other MC without realizing she was meeting him. Wait. I think this is a pro because it becomes a really cool subplot. I can't think I'm too giddy.
Issues: Me wrists. I is issues.
Plot Fun: the new subplot about Blair seeing the other MC before actually meeting him. :D
Best Line: Blair: "Well right now I'm your other daughter and until you can accept that I don't want the keys (to her parent's house which she's moving out of)." Dad: "If you walk out that door Friday then don't expect to be able to walk back in until you've grown out of this phase (being bi-gender is so not a phase, jerk.)" Blair: "Then don't expect me to ever walk through that door again after I leave Friday." GO BLAIR!
Last Sentence wrote: Help, please?

Okay, so, I added two chapters because my chapter by chapter planning was more paragraphs instead of sentences like it normally is so I had to split a bunch of things. This worked out great because I only had thirteen chapters planned and now I have fifteen. I also modified a bunch of subplots in ways I can't remember right now (snort) and added a few subplots and potential subplots for later books which is awesome.

My brain hurts, my wrists and fingers hurts, but I'm still wide awake and oddly I want to keep writing. I'm not because it's getting late and I'd like to get at least 6.5 hours for my attempt at 30K before 10PM tomorrow night. At 10PM I will watch the Walking Dead as a treat, assuming I hit the 50K before then. I also have to run at least an hours worth of errands as well as cook dinner and go to the gym so instead of the planned 12 hours of writing I'm down to like 10. Again.

Oh, also, final word count for the day: 20,137. Why is it different from the WC of the story? Cuz I started with 2,023 words of planning I'm not counting towards my NaNo goal but happen to be in the same document my WIP is in. Oops? Sorry but I work better this way. ;)

Thanks for hanging out and joining me in the craziness. I'm not the only one who did something like this, just go hit up the Over-Achievers thread in the NaNo forums and you'll be surprised to see people might actually have completed the 50K goal right now.

I'm going to watch some House MD (maybe), update my word count (obviously) and back up the WIP (MOST DEFINITELY). Rants, rage, questions, comments, and everything in between can be directed to the comments. Thank you and good night.

Writing Tip: Butt in Chair AKA NaNo Is Coming

The weather is getting colder, the ugg boots are making appearances, and the leaves are becoming colorful. That's right: National Novel Writing Month is coming. In fact; it's only three days away. What? Did you think I was going to say winter is coming? Well there's that too.

Every year around this time you'll get the hoard of writers coming into the NaNo forums freaking out because they don't have a plot. You'll get other writers coming in saying they have too many ideas. Others still set goals in the triple digits. At least three will take the "Million in a Month" challenge again after being challenged by everyone else and themselves. And others will stare at everyone with a look of awe on their faces that will either turn to euphoria or dread as they are the new kid on the block.

It doesn't matter if this is your first year or your 12th year. There is only ONE piece of advice every writer, professional or not, needs to hear when the bell chimes 12 times on October 31 (making it Nov 1): Put your butt in the chair and write.

That's it. There is no secret pill, no mantra, special food or drink, extensive routine, or guru. The only thing that can make you write is you sitting in the chair and writing. That's it, that's all.

I have seen, heard, and smirked (sometimes rolled my eyes) at every excuse because I've seen and heard people doing more and still winning NaNo. Go to school full time? Yeah, so is about half the board. I've got 10 hours in the day five days a week where I can't write.

Go to work full time? Me too. Same with probably the other half of the board. Do both? Okay, now it's a bit tricky. Still doable. Single mother? Ah, more tricky, but again: still doable. Family emergency? Okay, now you're entering the zone where life comes first.

Not to say school, work, and kids aren't important because they are. So is personal hygiene and food. But school, work, kids, and general life can be worked around.

Think of it this way: you only need to write three and a half blocks of 500 words. At an average of 52 words per minute that's a little over half an hour. Okay, so you can only write 30 words a minute. In one hour you'll have hit the daily goal to complete 50K by Nov 30. Actually you'll be about 144 words over so bonus.

Most people can hit the word count goal in an hour. And it's not hard to MAKE time for that one hour. Write on the commune to work or school (as long as you're not the one driving), write during lunch or breaks, wake up an hour earlier if your day is packed or go to bed an hour later. Look at what you have to do and manage your time around an extra hour a day. Instead of doing laundry three times a week, do it twice. Instead of seeing a movie every week, go every other week. Instead of sleeping in for three hours or taking a one hour nap: write.

Winning NaNo is all about a person's ability to plant their butt in the chair and write. It doesn't even have to be good or make sense. NaNo is about motivating you to MAKE the time to write. And sometimes free writing (writing without a plan) becomes the best writing. Sometimes writing about your day gives you an idea on where to take your story. And yes, it still counts as writing.

If you're really, truly stuck: write a scene where your characters are eating pie. They'll get a chance to TELL YOU what's going on and you'll figure out through them how to get there. Again: KEEP WRITING. It's the ONLY way you can win NaNo.

Oh and in case you're wondering: I've won three years in a row by at least double the amount needed. I've also won 4 camps officially. Six unofficially. So yeah, I know what I'm talking about.

Still not convinced? I've got a few other writing tips in that section of this blog as well as a bunch of stuff about NaNo in that tab. Take the few days before NaNo begins to go over it all if you want. And don't worry: the NaNo community is one of the nicest communities I've ever been a part of. If you have a question or problem: voice it. Someone's going through close to the same thing and will help you out.

Until next time: questions, comments, rage, rants and other things can be directed to the comments. Don't forget to check out my Kickstarter Campaign for kicks. I'd appreciate a donation if you're willing.

Self Publishing is Hard

I normally don't hit Ctrl+A followed by Del on anything but I did that twice on this post. Why? Well, I wanted to make absolutely certain that what I'm writing isn't coming across as cynical, arrogant, or whatever else negative you want to say here.

There are a few reasons for this particular post:
1) Something that happened last year
2) A post on the NaNo forums
3) Procrastination: I'm doing it. ;)

That's out of the way. We shall move onward to the good stuff.

Self publishing is Hard

For anyone thinking about becoming a self published author I have one simple word of advice for you: Research.

That's it. No seriously, that's it. That's what the entire self-publishing industry boils down to. Oh, you want details? All right. I've got the details. I've been trying to self-publish for exactly four years and a bunch of months. Don't believe me? Go find the first post in this blog. I'll wait. Done? Good. Let's keep going.

Writing

There are quite a few posts in the "Writing Tips" tab above this post. Feel free to check them out now (or later) but even writing can be boiled down to research. What kind of research? Well, it can be Google-ing how long it takes for a body to decompose in water. It can be reading about how to take care of a horse. It can be asking a doctor how they can operate on a known killer without having a thought of deliberately messing up. It's also reading. Stephen King says it best: "If you don't make the time to read, you don't have the time (and proper tools) to write." So, everything you read becomes research for what you're going to write. Cool, huh?

Of course you can also read about how to write. You know, all the grammar rules, the posts from other authors about showing not telling, how to create 3D/Human characters, how to world build, how to make things seem believable, all that is research too. And hey, you're only at the writing stage of self-publishing. Don't feel over-whelmed. It gets worse. ;)

Research

You're asking: "Wait, isn't this what this whole post is about? Why does it get it's own section?" Why? Because before you can pass go and collect your $200 you have to figure out what you're trying to accomplish by writing a novel and finishing it. Are you writing for fun or do you eventually want to publish? If you're writing for fun: collect your $200 and move onto the next story. Want to get published? Get some popcorn and keep reading.

There are two ways to publish in this day and age: traditional publishing and self publishing. Traditional publishing can take up to, well, YEARS to do. You'll have to find an agent (researching each one as you go) and hope they'll be able to sell your novel to a publishing house, assuming you don't submit to a small press (after researching each one).

Let's assume you find an agent or publishing house to process your novel and start selling it. Great! Now, the year long wait for editing, formatting, and making a marketing plan. And yes, it will take at least a year to get your novel into a salable form by going the traditional route.

On the other side of the fence, self-publishing may take less time. A word to the wise: AVOID VANITY PRESSES. Anyone who wants you to pay them money to sell your novel is not out to help you. They should be giving YOU money. Also, most of what a vanity press (AuthorHouse, IUniverse, Lulu, etc) does: YOU CAN DO for a lot less. Trust me on that. I've been there, literally.

You know what your task is now? That's right. Go do some research on traditional and self publishing. There are positives and negatives to each and you have to figure out which fits YOUR goals the best. Don't worry, I'll wait.

Done? Good. From here on out we're going to focus on the self-publishing route so if you've decided to go traditional: good luck and god speed. :)

Editing

You've finished your novel. Congratulations! It's no longer a work in progress. So, take out the "in progress" part and what are you left with? Work. Yep. Work. And yes, everything after writing your work in progress will be work. It'll feel like you're trying to break through a stone wall with a spoon.

But don't fret fellow writer for there are people out there who are willing to help you. They are Editors and they will whip that novel into shape. But before you get that novel ironed out you have to find an editor. That's right: research. I don't just mean type in "editors" in Google and pick out the first one you see. Dear God please don't do that!

When you find an editor you think might work out you have to do your (that's right) research on said editor. Who else have they edited for? Can you contact the authors that have left testimonials and talk to them? Are there authors that have left testimonials? Are they within your price range?

Wait, what? Price range? Why yes, you'll have to shell out some cash to get your novel off the ground before you start making cash. Hey! Don't look at me like that. You can't edit your own novel unless you've been teaching grammar for a decade or have a major in English. Oh I'm not saying you're unskilled if you meet those qualifications. It's merely a good idea to get someone besides you to look at your work.

Why? Because you're attached to it and you're less likely to "kill your darlings." You're less likely to find the plot holes, inconsistencies, POV shifts and all that other fun stuff if you're the one editing it. So yes, find a good editor and pay to get your novel looked at. It'll pay off in the end.

Editing is like tattoos: you get what you pay for. If you want your book to come out looking totally kick ass, you're going to have to pay in the upper hundreds and possibly close to thousands. BUT, there are editors out there who are in the lower hundred range that will still give you good work. It's a matter of finding them and, you guessed it: doing your research.

The Other Stuff

You've written your novel and you've gotten it edited. YAY! You're not done. Sorry. Now you have to actually put it out there and make it available for people to read.

There's so much that comes to mind for this section that I couldn't really give it a good title. First off you have to (research) pre-market. What's pre-market? Well, it's all that talking about your book that you do before actually putting it out there. Now would be a good time to sign up for Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and a blog of some description. Start connecting with other authors, talk to people, but don't say "Hey, I've written a book and will be publishing it in three months! Go buy it" over and over because people will stop listening. You have to be suave about marketing and you can't keep shoving it in people's faces.

It's hard, I know, and I haven't mastered it. If I had I'd be writing full time and not working a 9AM to 5PM job.

Okay. So you're premarketing, that's great. Good job on making it to this point. Don't give me that look. Yes there's more.

Where do you put it? Keeping our minds out of the gutter, you have to decide how and where to put your masterpiece. Smashwords (online), Amazon (Kindle), and Barnes and Noble (Nook) tend to be the big three. All three have a bunch of legal hoops you have to jump through and different processes to formatting and submitting your novel. If I put it all here this blog post would go over the limit for what I'm allowed to write, I'm sure.

While you're pre-marketing (and even before you're editing) go to all three websites and check out how you submit a novel and what you need to get it up. Oh look, there's that word we're going to love to hate: research the publishing in self-publishing.

All right. You've written a novel, researched how you want to publish it/what you want to do with it, gotten it edited, pre-marketed and you're pretty sure you know how to put it up there. Great!

You're not done. For one: do you have a cover? A summary? An author bio? No? Well, you're going to need them. Covers can run you anywhere from free (if you're good at photoshop) to $500+ depending what you're looking for. What are you looking for? Professional. Eye-catching. Memorable. Neat. Concise and something that gets what your novel is about in one picture.

The summary is a paragraph about your novel that doesn't reveal everything but reveals enough that it makes someone want to read it. I know, I know, confusing. But do some *insert the dreaded r word here* on summaries by reading the summaries of your favorite novels and applying it to your own.

Author bio? Oh that's another hard one. It can be as simple as "John Handcock lives in Texas with his two cats and his muse" or as complicated as "John Handcock lives in Texas with his two cats and his wife. He works for X, and graduated from College with a Degree in X. This is his first novel and he hopes it won't be his last." Please don't take either of those word for word and again, do some research (again) on what others are doing. Writing is one of the few things where looking at someone else's work can help you with your own.

Okay so, you've written a novel, done your research on how you want to publish it, gotten it edited, have a cover, have a summary, an author bio, and set up pre-marketing. Now you can publish and start living the dream, right?

Nope. Oh you can publish it. You can totally hit submit on Smashwords, Amazon and all that and get it up there but you're not done. What else is there?
Continued marketing. You can't just stop marketing once you've hit submit. You've got to keep talking to people, slyly mentioning that your wrote a book and they should check it out. You've got to get reviews (this can also be a part of pre-marketing) and you have to get people you know buying your book.

That's not all you have to do. Oh I know, it's hard enough to market in such a way that is interesting, engaging and won't piss people off. You know what else you have to do? Start the whole process over again.

Yep. You read that right. You have to do it all again, well, minus the research part because you should know all that if you're doing it again. Anyway why do you need to start over? Well, you can't make a living off one novel unless you've got the next Harry Potter in your hands. If you only publish one thing and nothing else people will forget who you are in the myriad of all the other self-published and traditionally published authors out there.

Oh my poor sweet (summer) child, I know, it's enough to make you want to say screw it, right? It says right in the title of this post that self publishing is hard. What did you expect?

No one, and I mean no one, can write a book and become a best seller within three months. It takes months, years even, of dedication to writing and researching (you're cringing aren't you?) before you can finally make writing your living and even then you might be lucky enough to live slightly better than you are now.

Despite what people think writing a novel is not going to make you an instant millionaire and you can't expect to go from writing your first finished piece to self-published author in three months or less. You probably have a better chance at winning the lottery. Even the most successful self-published author I know (Russell Blake) took THREE YEARS to get to the point where he's making six figures. Guess how many books he's written? No, not three. Try a good dozen. Yeah, A DOZEN. He spends all his time writing and promoting and you know what? All his HARD WORK paid off and he's living the dream.

But, yes, it is HARD WORK and there is no short cut. There's no magical spell or pill you can take to make you an instant best seller. Most of it's trial and error. All of it is, wait for it: RESEARCH.

You know the fun part about self publishing? It's just that: SELF publishing. Who's at fault for not finding the right editor? You. Who's at fault for a cruddy cover? You. Who's at fault for sucky marketing? You. Who's at fault for not doing the research needed to be a success? You. Who gets all the credit  (and cash) if you do become the next JK Rowling, Stephen King, GRR Martin, James Patterson, Anne Rice or *insert favorite author here*? You.

Until next time: comments, questions, rage, rants and everything in between can be directed to the comments. And if you want to help a writer out check my kickstarter campaign to get a diverse book published.