Wednesday Update: December 7

For this entry, just a quick update on my goals, as I've been really busy the last few days:

Writing Goal: Pretty much on target for now at 2300 words for the week.

I have not submitted my short story yet, even for editing.

I have not worked on pinning down my goals.

What did I do instead? There was snow earlier this week, and it's been super cold. The husband and I have been running errands every morning. Yesterday I did a load of laundry and helped the Ma put up some Christmas decorations. I watched a movie with the Husband, and I updated the Kids' amazon wishlists. That's still not done, actually. I did play some video games today, for half an hour while Everybody was out of the house.

There's plenty to do for the rest of the week, too. Where did I ever find the time to write 50k words in a month?

Thanks for reading.

Sunday Update and Goals for December

Over the past few days, I didn't even look at my Nano novel, Princess of Swords. I'm okay with this.


I did write and edit 4500 word short story. I have joined a site where I could submit writing for editing and publication. It's a free site with contests, but I don't want to identify it here. I intend to submit this new short story there, once I work up the courage.

So, moving forward. My Goals for December:

For the next two weeks, my goal is to write 5,000 words a week in Princess of Swords. I'm hoping this gives me the weekends off, and progress the novel 10k words before school breaks for the winter. My dad and my sister are visiting from out of state the following week, and the week after that everyone will be home, both kids and the husband. My goal for those two weeks is to write something every day, even just a paragraph or a word. It doesn't have to be in the novel, but it can.

Submit that short story for editing and then publication, and keep track of views and votes. This is more about the experience, for me, than building any sort of readership. I want to see how it feels. Maybe that's weird, but I am an anxious, weird person, and I worry about how things will make me feel as much as if something is smart or wise. I have said that I'd like to be a big time writer, but I worry it would make me feel weird. Not that that's particularly likely anyway, which is actually a somewhat comforting thought.

I also want to start developing my goals for the next round. Between now and Wednesday, I want to brainstorm what sort of things are really important to me when it comes to writing and life, and see if I can get some rough categories for my goals. I already have some ideas.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Nanowrimo Win

Well, I did it. I won Nanowrimo for the first time ever. Let's pick this apart and figure out exactly what it means.

 The first time I tried Nano, I tried to write a brand new novel with nothing to go on but a scrap of inspiration. It took me to some interesting places, but it wasn't enough to carry me through the second week. The second time I tried Nano, I had already been working on a project I'd started in September. I decided I'd try to finish it. About halfway through, I knew I wasn't going to make word count, so I changed my goal. I would update every day until the end. I made that goal.

I've learned a great deal about story structure this past year, from various sources. I applied it to the mess last year's novel became, and it helped quite a bit. I also recognized a pattern in my own writing where I will write too many characters and subplots, ballooning my novel to ridiculous size. Last year's novel will take a lot of trimming to be an appropriate length.

I set out to write a brand new novel this November, but this time I had a plan. I mean, literally. I planned this novel in advance. I knew what was going to happen for each of the major story events, and I knew when in the story I wanted those things to happen. I knew my target word count, 80k, so I knew roughly at what word count every major story event happened.

I had always assumed that planning a novel meant outlining, and that outlining would suck the life and fun out of my novel before I'd even begun. I didn't write an outline. I just wrote down a page of notes and word counts, based on what I'd learned about story structure. When I started writing on November 1, I knew where I was going and what I was doing.

Instead of sucking the life and fun out of my novel, this provided me with motivation and guidance. When I felt like I was stuck, I looked at those notes, and seeing how close I was to the next story event inspired me. This pushed and compressed the dreaded swampy middle to about 10k words toward the middle of act two, difficult only because of some things I need to research. I had an opportunity to eliminate a character from my plan before I'd actually written them into the novel.

Yesterday, with 48.8k written, I was so excited to finish, I was giddy. Then I crossed the 50k mark and crashed hard. Sure, I was proud. I'd accomplished something I never had before. I'd officially won Nanowrimo. I also felt let down. I'd written 50k words in 29 days and it hadn't even really been that hard. Why haven't I ever done this before? I haven't actually completed this novel: I still have at least 30k to go. I still have to research for that part I mentioned above (I just faked it to get through. It will need rewriting). Will I even end up with something I like? Is there too much sex in it? Does anybody even want to read this crap?

Well, you get the picture. Once I didn't have this month of writing madness to hold up my fragile ego, all my doubts came falling in on me again. I have a birthday party to plan for this weekend, my apartment is a disaster. Ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Writing is easy. Life is hard.

I probably won't do an official Nano again. Now that I've done it once, I can see why a lot of people hate it. What I need is a steady writing practice that allows time for everything else in my life, not an excuse to dump everything and live in fantasy for a whole month. I need to balance fantasy and reality.

Well, I think I've rambled enough. Thanks for reading!

Post Thanksgiving Update

I started a new novel for NaNoWriMo this year. I was very excited about it. My goal for it is 80,000 words, so I had planned to be close to the second pinch point when I hit 50,000.

The honeymoon period went very well. During the second week I had built up a lead of 5,000 words. I was so proud of myself, considering how messed up I was about the election. Then in the third week I got sick and that ate away my lead, and now that I'm well past the honeymoon period and into the swampy middle, I'm beginning to get behind. I'm about 1200 below par right now. This is only the second day of being behind, and it's not a full day yet, so there's plenty of hope. Especially since the little one goes back to school tomorrow.

I plan to head down to the library tomorrow. It's a less distracting environment, and I've done a lot of good writing there in the past.

I guess that's it. Thanks for reading!

This is Still Here

So I've decided to dust off the old writing blog. It's been two years since I wrote regularly in this blog, but I'm gonna start doing a thing called A Round of Words in 80 Days, and I need a blog for that.

My goals for this period are pretty straightforward. I'm in the middle of NaNoWriMo. My goal is to finish that on time, writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Then, after the end of the month, I intend to keep writing at least 1000 words a day until the novel is done. My target is 80,000, but a little less or more is acceptable.

My other goal is to update this blog twice a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays. I'll have more goals after the new year. I want at least one related to reading, one for editing, and one for writing. I'll probably ramble on and on about my writing projects and what I've learned and what strategies I'm using to keep on going.

I debated deleting or making private my old posts when I use this for RoW80, but in the end I decided to leave them, even though they're old and it might be confusing, or embarrassing. I wrote those things. I'm okay with that.

Thanks for reading.

Just Camp Nanowrimo

So Nanowrimo is National Novel Writer's Month. It happens in November, and the idea is to write a complete 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I gave this a shot last year, but failed. I wrote 10,000 words in five days and then hit a brick wall and couldn't write anymore.

Camp Nanowrimo happens in April and June, and one can either write a novel or do something else. I'm going to use it to help me edit the Ejuridae novel, which I've tentatively named Keystone. It feels weird to have even a tentative name for it.

I have not finished reading The Darker Road. I want to but it's due back at the library tomorrow, so I don't know what's going to happen with that.

Been doing more of the same as last week for Worldstriders; worldbuilding and some scene.

That's it. Thanks for reading.

The Page and I

I feel like when I'm writing I am doing what I was meant to do and everything else in the whole world is just a distraction. I wish I could just go away somewhere and write and that's all. No games, no family, no facebook, just me and the page. Or, the document, since I write on the computer. I feel like a shithead to actually say that or, type it, since that's actually what I've done.

I did a significant amount of worldbuilding, and some scene writing on WorldStriders. Don't know if these scenes will be in the final version.

I'm on page 223 of The Darker Road. It's still meh. I should read it more quickly so I can move on to something else.

Thanks for reading!

If I'm going to do this, I've got to get serious.

Or perhaps serious isn't the right word, because serious isn't enough. I've been going about writing like it's some kind of hobby, or a once in a while weekend gig that I can just blow off and play video games.

And as long as that's how I feel about it, how I treat it, that's all it's going to be. I can't just get serious about it; I've got to treat it like it's the only thing I've got. If I'm going to be successful.

But I have other responsibilities, tons of them. But really not that many. I mean, I've got a family I neglect already, might as well neglect them by writing. It's not like I have a job. I'm the support person in my family.

I have a personal blog in which to complain about all that, though. This blog is about reading and writing. I'm on page 122 of 477 of The Darker Road, and I write every day but it's all in my personal blog, no stories or good stuff.

I need to get into the habit of writing. This is just like I've said on my other blog, habits. I can sacrifice lots of stuff and write, and still be able to enjoy my family.

Do I have goals for this week? Keep blogging in my other blog the way I've been, keep reading every day. Experiment with reading/writing habits. Write the stuff I don't want to write. Push. Obsess, not in a pedantic way, but in a passionate, creative, flamboyantly insane way. Throw sword, attack with scabbard and lunchbox. 

Treat writing like it's all I have, because it is, and I can't let it get away. I hate to admit that in public because I feel like I'm betraying everyone who loves me. But it's all I have that's mine only. And I don't mean that in a jealous way, like nobody else is allowed to write. Just that of all of the things I have that define me, writing was first, and only and wholly mine. Nobody else told me to write, or that I should be a writer. Well, they have, but that was after I had already decided it was for me.

And if I let it get away it's like I never lived. I mean, I have my lovely children and all the people I ever talked to, and that's great, but none of that is just me, my own, at my core. It's what I've shared with others, what others have influenced me to do. Writing is the only thing that originated 100% from within myself.

I can't let it get away. I've got to hold on to it, lift it above the fires of Mount Doom for as long as I have fingers, as long as a single thought remains in the tattered remnants of my brain. Write.

All's Quiet on the Writing Front

Hello, Readers.

I'm still toward the beginning of a book called The Darker Road. So far it's not as good as the other books I've read this year, but I'm trying to keep at it. Chalion was a little hard to get into...but this one is way worse. I'm hoping it will surprise me.

As far as writing goes, I'm having trouble writing for one of the characters. Maybe I'm getting hung up on the fact that he's a man? I don't know. I tried to work around it and things got very convoluted. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll do something.

That's it for this week, Readers.

Thanks for Reading.

The Curse of Chalion and not much else

Hello, Readers!

Yesterday I finished The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is the first book I have read by this author, and I enjoyed it very much. It is a classic fantasy setting, one we might call "low" fantasy instead of "high". It is a pretty standard feudal society, everyone seems to be a human, and there is no magic but religious magic, and very little of that.

The first half of the book was slow, but not so slow that it became uninteresting. Then things sped up and I just couldn't put it down. The world is very well built. There are no maps but even so I was able to follow where things were happening. The culture and religion are well constructed and well integrated with the plot. The characters, especially the main character, were deep, sympathetic and believable.

I was able to guess a number of plot points before they happened, but there were plenty of surprises as well. I was so happy with the ending, but a cynical part of me wasn't thrilled with how evenly everything worked out.

I had a thought the other day. These reviews are for me, to get me to the point where I can write about writing, which will help me be a better writer.. I try not to include spoilers, but I may stop doing that. I'll try to add spoiler warnings. I may also try to write notes as I'm reading.

As for writing, not much has happened. I tried to write some backstory for a character but got hung up on worldbuilding and other issues. Maybe for my next book I need to focus on something that happens more in the real world. Then I don't have to worry about stuff like armor or medieval combat techniques, or medieval anything.

Actually, that gives me an idea, but I won't share it just yet. Maybe next week.

That's it for this time, Readers. Thanks for reading!

Daggerspell, Worldstriders planning progress, Ejuridae editing progress

Dear Readers,

I finished Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr last week. It's the first in a series. I love series that start with  a character of limited experience, whose world is small, and then broadens the readers knowledge of the world and universe as the larger story continues over the course of the series. The Belgariad is like that, and I have a feeling this series is going to be the same way.

The first book in the series takes place in the kingdom of Deverry. The tech level seems a bit more primitive than most sword and sorcery, and magic is sort of shamanic. The story is about a small group of people and their strange "wyrd" or destiny. They interact across several lifetimes, accruing, repaying and forgiving karmic scorecards.

As for writing:

I started going over the plot of the Ejuridae novel, and I thought of some changes. Once I work that out completely I'll implement the changes in the text, and then I'll go through the whole thing for consistency and language. Then it will be ready for first readers.

I have done a lot of backstory writing for Wordstriders, and I've started to work out exactly where I want the actual story to go. Starting with a bare skeleton and then filling it in. Usually what I do is I start writing at the beginning and get bogged down in the middle. This time what I'm hoping to do is work from general to specific. The backstory writing has been really fun and I'm getting to know the characters well.

That's it, Readers. Have a good week, and thanks for reading!

Quick post from sick writer

Dear Readers,

I've been sick this week. I finished Daggerspell and really enjoyed it. I'll write a proper review next week.

I've written like 10,000 words of backstory scenes for the main character of the World Striders novel. It didn't seem like that much. I'd just write whenever I felt like it. It felt good to write. None of it is actually going in a novel or anything probably. But I've enjoyed writing.

That's it. Thanks for reading. (cough, cough)

Writing update, no review

Hello, Readers!

So yesterday was a day off for the family, so I forgot it was Monday. That might happen on Monday holidays, so be warned.

I'm a little more than halfway through Daggerspell by Katherine Kerr. It's an enjoyable read so far.

As for writing, I did a tiny bit of world building for WorldStriders, and hashed out a little more backstory. I am working on the villain's backstory right now. I've also had several moments of doubt. Do I really need to do it this way or that? My goal for this week is to write 20 minutes every evening, whether it's about the story or the actual story itself. Just to really write, to exercise my creative muscles. I feel like I'm holding back a tide right now. It only hurts, and why bother?

Of course, I will finish Daggerspell and get started on other reading by next Monday as well.

Thanks for reading!

The King of Elfland's Daughter and On the Edge

Greetings, Readers!

This week I read two books. I finished The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany, and I read another book, On the Edge by Ilona Andrews.

I loved reading The King of Elfland's Daughter. The prose was so beautiful, like an old faerie tale. Which is sort of what it is. The language is a little thick and flowery, so it was not a quick and easy read; it made me slow down and savor. That's the kind of book it was. The urban fantasy I've been reading is fast and exciting and hard to put down; this book almost needed to be put down between chapters to let it soak in. I wish I'd read it when I was younger, a child, on one of those rainy autumn afternoons in Forestville, when it didn't matter how small the cabin was because I was worlds away in Elfland and Erl.

On the Edge was more urban fantasy. The story was predictable and a little too pat, the romantic subplot even more so, and the love scene cringe-worthy. There was so much backstory I double checked to make sure this was the first in it's series. Some of the backstory points would have made a better novel than this one! However, I loved the world and the characters and the way they interacted, especially the protagonists little brothers, enough to want to read the sequels if/when they come out. Maybe they'll be about the brothers.

As far as my writing goes, I did accomplish the character backgrounds for the two main characters. This week I'll work on worldbuilding for the fantasy realm and start playing with plot and writing up some background scenes to explore the way the characters interact.

I started rereading Ejuridae but I've read it so many times I go cross-eyed. I have to edit the last few chapters to get it ready for first-readers because I'm just not able to see it anymore. I'm too familiar. There's a big chance I'll put it aside after I give it to a few people to read, I just want to be able to say I've finished it.

Thanks for Reading!

Review of 7 Wonders and a Goal for the New Year

Good Evening Readers!

I finished Seven Wonders by Adam Christopher on New Year's Eve. I'm glad it didn't follow me into this year. I loved Christopher's previous effort, Empire State. The actual prose itself in Seven Wonders was as good, and that kept me reading, but the story fell short in my opinion.

I really wanted to like this book. There was a lot of good stuff in it: the superpowers, the moral ambiguity, the realistic treatment of untrained superheroes, some great flashy action scenes. What it lacked was a protagonist. Not just a sympathetic protagonist, but any at all. It starts off with Tony Prosdocimi, but then it's off everywhere else, and nobody is right or innocent, nobody has clear motivations. It's great to keep a reader guessing, but what if they don't care to? If the reader is so divested from the characters that each new twist makes them shrug and say, "Oh. Okay. Whatever." That's how this book made me feel. The writing itself was good enough to keep me going through the end, but I can't say much else for it.

I am currently about three-quarters of the way through The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany. The review for that will have to wait until next week, but I am enjoying it.

As for writing, I have two projects. One is the new one I discussed before, the Worldstriders one. I have not moved on that yet but I do have a couple of goals for it. One, I'd like to finish it, a whole novel, before NaNoWriMo comes around again this year. I'd like to spend November mad-writing a brand new novel. This week, I plan to do detailed character creation on the main characters and plan out a (very) rough plot. I will do some writing, but it will largely be backstory and may or may not end up as an actual part of the novel itself.

The other is a D&D homebrew I'm running for my daughter. This is a creative writing project as much as anything I've ever written. We game on Fridays and there's a ton of world building to do.

There is also an editing project. I want to get the Ejuridae novel ready for first readers by the beginning of summer.

And that's that for reading and writing. Thanks for reading and I'll be back in a week!

Have a Happy New Year

This will be a quick post. I didn't meet any of the goals I set last Monday. I've done no writing or planning, and I'm on page 340 of Seven Wonders. It was silly in retrospect to expect much of myself over the holiday, so I'm not going to express any goals at this point. I'll be back next week to do that, however, and hopefully I'll have a book review at that point as well.

Happy New Year!

Mondays.

Hello Readers!

I've decided that for now I'm going to try to blog every Monday. It's arbitrary. I don't hate Mondays like some. The weekend is more stressful for me because everybody's home. The Husband starts his vacation in a couple days, and won't go back to work until early next year. I am glad to see him more, but being the introvert I am it will be difficult to unwind with everyone about.

Enough of that personal stuff. I've been writing a little more, struggling with worldbuilding and plotting a new story, working title of World Striders, or maybe just Worldstriders. That's not actually going to be the title, but it's the name of the universe in which the story takes place. My goal is to have a loose plot by next blog and possibly have started the meat of writing the novel itself. I'm going to set myself some word count and timed writing goals for that, probably half an hour and 800 words. Not that I necessarily expect to always write 800 words in half an hour, just that I don't want to be stopping every five seconds to count words, so a time goal seems appropriate.

I am on page 173 of Seven Wonders by Adam Christopher. It's been a bit harder to get into than the other books I've read these past couple weeks. Part of it is the length; it's easier to get through 200 so so pages than 400.  Part of it is that I've been unable to find a sympathetic character. I feel like the book itself, the author, is trying to guide me through the story and that makes me feel lost. I will try to finish it up and write a proper review in the next few days, though with Christmas and such it will be difficult.

Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!

Three More Books Read

Since my last post, I've read three books. The first was The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. This is a classic-style fantasy story of a shunned youngest son of the ruler unexpectedly inheriting the throne due to the sudden death of his father and all of his older brothers.

This was a very enjoyable read. The protagonist is kind and likable and in way over his head, which makes him a sympathetic character. His enemies are not evil but ambitious or stupid or misguided. Magic exists in this world but is not the centerpiece. The only thing I didn't like were the overly long and difficult names. Now, I realize this is a common feature of the genre, and fortunately there was a pronunciation guide at the back of the book as well as an explanation of titles and a list of notable characters.

Next I read Skin Game by Jim Butcher. I can't really say much about this. It's the fifteenth book in an ongoing series about Wizard for Hire Harry Dresden. In the world of the Dresden novels, all the old legends are true. All. And they're all fighting for control of the modern mortal world. I recommend this series to everyone who likes urban fantasy. Start with the first one, Storm Front.

Then I read Damned by Chuck Palahniuk. This book was bizarre and gross, and the protagonist seems irritating at first, but you warm up to her after a while. It was still fun and funky and wry.

I'm still working out what I'm doing about my writing. I keep waking up from these dreams that are like story seeds. Something I thought of today may end up being a series. Maybe my subconscious is telling me to start something new? I mean, I can always go back to those partial rough drafts I mentioned last time.

I can't remember where I read it now, but I've seen it written that all authors use outlines, it's just that often the outline is in the form of a rough draft. Often when I get an idea I just run with it, start writing, and that's a good thing, but...then when I encounter story problems or have a new idea that negates some of what I've already written, I stall out. I want to try some extra prep this time. Dive in and write, but do character creation and world building to begin with. Make a brief timeline of events, and then if I get stuck I can go back to it and see where I went wrong, make a few notes about the change, and forge ahead.

I can worry that kind of thing will take the passion and fun out of writing, but stalling out is no fun, either.

Review of The Stars, Like Dust and writing progress update

I just finished The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov.

This book is the foundation of his Foundation universe, and one of the first novels Asimov published.

Let me first say that I realize Asimov is one of the premier writers of science fiction. The world building in this universe is excellent, both clear and unobtrusive.

However, I found the characters in this book shallow and the plot predictable. There were a few surprises, but when they were revealed I hadn't identified enough with the characters to really care. The protagonist was arrogant and despicable. The ultimate antagonist was not very interesting, and the most sympathetic characters were a crazy old man and a bored and jaded bureaucrat. The female romantic lead was a classic example of the trope: headstrong and foolish until love makes her compliant.

Overall, despite the top-notch worldbuilding, I found the novel archaic, sexist and rather dull. I must recognize, however, that without Asimov leading the way, many of the science fiction works I love would never have existed. I can see in this work the roots of what became something greater.

However, I intend to read more of his Foundation universe books, simply because the world is so interesting to me.

As far as writing goes, I've got no projects that I'm actively working on right now. I write this blog and a few random paragraphs in the evenings. I have a number of things unfinished. An untitled novel with the main character's name of Juri is in it's severalth editing draft. Unfinished first drafts include Fallen Daughter, Sharli's Home, Children of the Net and Little Claire Lost.

I'm not sure where to go from here, whether I should start something new or try to finish something I started before.

Introduction

Hello, readers!

I am a writer, and this is my writing blog. Here you will find info and updates about my writing progress, what I'm working on, what books I'm reading, as well as other things that might seem interesting or pertinent. You will probably see short fiction here from time to time, but I'm in the process of archiving my older work here.

Please let me know in the comments what you think. This is very much a work in process, which will be updated sporadically until I get everything set up.