So excited for December

I've already got my tickets to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Dec. 18. As you can guess, I'm pretty excited about this. It's the first time I've actually bought tickets in advance of a movie. Usually, I just show up on opening night and hope for the best. That's how I did it for all of the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potters and any other popular franchises.

I saw the original trilogy when I was on summer break in high school. My dad knew I loved Sci Fi so after I worked my way through the Aliens movies, he talked me into borrowing the three Star Wars movies from the library. They were amazing and totally opened my eyes to a whole new universe. I have to admit that I never cared for the prequels and didn't come even close to this level of excitement when they first came out. Some of that is because I don't really care for prequels that I already know the ending for. The other reason is that J.J. Abrams is directing the new trilogy and I love what he did with the most recent Star Trek movies. He's a very talent director and I am waiting with baited breath to see what he does with the Star Wars universe.

The only bad thing about this is I still have nearly a month and a half before the movie comes out. Ah well, patience is a virtue.

Ghost, Goblins and Witchs

It's that time of year again. Halloween. Where you get to dress up and pretend to be any sort of creature or thing you want. The more creative the better. I think that's why I like this holiday so much. It's such a rich holiday for the imagination whether that be creating a costume or decorating your home. That's why, for the second year in a row, I'm throwing a Halloween party.

My slight obsession with Pinterest has come in handy lately as I've managed to source a lot of great ideas for do it yourself decorations. It's also where I'm getting all the ideas for spooktacular recipes. Since I'm not made of money, I thought I'd think outside of the box and try to create several things from relatively inexpensive materials.

The below were created with construction paper and a stencil I created by printing the outline of a bat off my computer.

Poster paper and tracing my hands.

And the last image - streamers, poster board and tape.

I don't know why but it gives me an awesome feeling seeing the things I created out of such simple materials. Maybe it's because I've never considered myself particularly crafty. I'm excited for the party and hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!

Back In the Writing Seat!

I know I've been out of touch for the past year or so on this blog. Oh wow, just checked and it's been over two years. Way longer than I thought. How time flies when you're busy working, writing, and living. My only defense is I've been hard at work at what matters. Writing.

In that time I've managed to finish the project I was working on, edit it, and start querying potential literary agents. I've recently started a new book and have made decent headway in the narrative. My goal is to finish the rough draft by the end of this year. Don't know if I will make it but need to challenge myself. I'll never get all of the ideas cluttering my head space down on paper if I don't start writing faster.

Right now my progress feels strong and I'm getting word count most days but the real test comes when I get to the middle section of the book. That seems to be where I usually get bogged down. This time I have a new plan of attack and have created an extensive outline that should help me find my way again.

Wish me luck and stay tuned. Below is a video I found that made me laugh. Enjoy!

Back in the Groove

1265 words today! I know it doesn't seem like a lot, especially considering not too long ago I was doing close to 2000, but I've been a bit stuck. I'm hoping this means I've unblocked whatever plot point has been tripping me up.

Some of that writer's block has been me just being plain lazy, but some is an honest problem in the structure of the story. That problem has made itself more and more clear the as this story draws to an end. I had hoped to just finish the ending and then go back and catch the issue in edits. Unfortunately for me, my subconscious refused to move the story forward until I had addressed my problem in some way. (It's difficult to be so close to the end that you can almost taste it and then be utterly unable to reach it.)

This meant writing a short scene earlier in the book that in no way fully takes care of what was wrong, but it at least gives me a place to start when I do the rewrite. It looks like that little band aid actually worked too as this was the first time I've come even close to achieving word count in weeks.

This next week will be key in determining whether I can keep this forward momentum going. Wish me luck!

For my fellow writers out there, or anybody who has faced getting stuck on a project, what do you do to get yourself back in the groove of things?

Oops, I went on hiatus

So, I now understand why they say balancing your work and writing life can be difficult. Between starting a new job and buying my first home, it has been difficult to carve out time to get a few words on paper every night. As a result it has been awhile since my last update to both the blog and the book.

Hopefully, now that I'm settled I will start getting back to my normal routine.

As an apology here is a brief excerpt. Enjoy.

Note this hasn't been through final edits so is subject to change and grammar errors :)

For a long moment Shea thought Witt and Dane had abandoned her. Left her to face the mob on her own. Her eyes lifted briefly to her goal, the platform, and were caught by the fierce whiskey colored gaze of the stranger.

She was caught by the arm and spun around, breaking the moment. Her eyes were wide with fear as the man who’d yanked her around raised one heavy fist, his face a mask of hatred. This was it. She was dead.

The ground shook slightly under her feet. At first she thought it was a tremor in the earth, like the small quakes that occasionally plagued the area. Then a scream rent the air.

“Stampede!”

 

Nose to the grindstone

I've reached that point in the book where I go back and forth daily over whether it's really worth finishing. Self doubt and an absolute loathing for what I've written usually sets in right around the midway point for me. Today, I'm kind of blah. I don't really think its bad but neither do I think its good.

This is where I begin to question everything. Is that character flat? Is that really the mood I want to invoke here? This plot thread is going nowhere. Should I rework my draft? There are a lot of holes in the plot, maybe I should go back and do some editing. It never ends!

All of these concerns are floating in my head while I write and it can make it hard to concentrate. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing as it pushes me to be better, but it can be incredibly frustrating.

For now I need to concentrate on just getting the thoughts on paper. Not worrying about continuity or whether the character is a little different than planned. That can be fixed in edits. Or so I hope.

It's like that moment in a long race where you seriously consider giving up because you're tired and don't want to do this anymore but instead you grit your teeth and push forward. Yeah, that kind of explains it. Let's hope I have more endurance as a writer than as a runner:)

Alright self, it's time to write, write, write!

Where does all the time go?

I see on here that it's been awhile since my last post. I don't know how so much time manages to pass without my noticing. It's like I blink and a couple of weeks have gone by and I have done NOTHING promotion wise. Sigh. All I can do is try to do better.

Today I hit 60,000 words in the newest book, and I'm anticipating between a 100,000 and 120,000 words before I reach the end. This puts me a little over the half way point. That's if I can come up with an ending. Right now my outline stops about 2/3 of the way in because that was all I could envision when I started planning this thing. My hope was that once I got to that point in the story writing wise that I would have some idea of where the rest of it could go. I have an inkling but nothing concrete. Right now I know where I want it to end but haven't quite made the jump to how they got there. Urg.

If I buckle down and write, write, write I might be able to have the rough draft version of the story done by the end of March. I generally write faster towards the end of a story so hopefully that holds true for this one too.

I learned with the last book not to wait until I'm finished to commission a cover so I think once the rough's done I'll contact an illustrator. This way I don't have to wait two months after the final edits have been made to publish.

There's also the possibility of trying to get this thing published by an established publisher. I haven't quite decided whether I want to go independent again or traditional. Both have benefits and draw backs. The benefit to traditional would be not having to worry about covers and an entire team to help me on my way to a finished product. Although I have more control as an independent.

Hmm. That's a decision for another time.