Conclusion to NanoWrimo

My stories are never done in 50,000 words, never.  That being said, I did complete the goal and my story, tentatively titled Shadow's Bane, is almost done.  Business at work has kept my word count lower as well as a healing finger.  Glue guns and I do not mix is all I will say.  The conclusion which includes a final confrontation with the bad guy who will be defeated has yet to be written.  I am setting up those chapters and I hope to be have it completed by the end of the year at most.  I just have to keep my inner editor turned off because I keep thinking of things that could use tweeking, deepening the relationship in the beginning, more time in the cells before they escape, clearer time line, and better descriptions.  But having said this, the pacing is much better and I like my characters better than most of my other stories except one.  And I think it is better written.  I have more tools in the toolbox, I just need to keep adding to the tools to improve my writing. 

Update on ShadowBane

So first, it is now Shadow's Bane.  Heh, heh, my husband somehow triggered this one.  I like it better, a bit more evocative of a romance.  I now have the rest of the story plotted out and just have to write it.  I am up past 40,000 and wrote 3,000 words today.  Work is very slow the day after Thanksgiving.  I would likely have written more but I had multiple side by sides for people interested in a job position on my team.  I actually didn't mind, I had time to let the plot percolate.  I am so excited that it is coming together so well and I can see potential for more stories depending on how well I flesh out minor characters in revision.  I have my best pacing ever, although I still need to tweek some of the pace of the relationship.  I think it moves a bit fast in the beginning but I might check out other authors just to see if I'm right about that or not.  I love the twists and turns it has taken.  I can't wait to have it finished and then give it to people to read. 

Update on writing

So, I haven't updated this thing in a while.  Probably because I've been super busy writing.  I have gone back and forth with my two guys developing something of a relationship and building trust issues.  I'm hoping to have the falling in love stage completed soon, especially since I've hit 25k words today.  They are about to have a huge fight and then make up so that will advance the plot quite a bit. Then I have to bring in the dangling plot elements and tie them all together with the happy coupe escaping at the end.  Sounds like a lot but I think it will write itself.  It's not dragging like it usually does at this point and I am happy with it overall.  There are elements I can see need fine tuning, no story is perfect on the first draft but I like it so far. 

In other news, one of my closest friends, who moved away a couple years ago, finally moved back.  Yeah, Heather!  And she brought a friend with her from Texas who my husband and I met back in February and we love Cassie!  We had dinner out with them last night and today we're going back to help with unpacking.  So yeah, things are going well. 

Real life and story life can all be good at once.

Drabbles of writing: Shadow Bane

So my characters are very busy and I am a very happy writer.  Even though I have had limited time to write, every bit of it has been productive, words leaping off the page.  I love my characters, love their interactions with each other.  Soon I will have to make them interact with others as well.  I love that I seem to have finally gotten a bit better at pacing or at least at creating more tension between sections.  Now for those of you who would like to hear a bit of story, I will throw some lines in that I like.



Ebon:

But how am I to show you a grand time if I cannot be myself?”

Aiden:

“Be yourself, just quieter.”

Aiden:

How about you, do you like art?”

Ebon:

"I love art and I have a distressing tendency for it to end up in my possession.”

 Aiden:

“Huh. What happened to the mischievous brat who stalked me for the last few days? I didn't imagine you'd really be into this as much as you are.”

Ebon:

“I guess there's a lot you still need to learn just as I'm sure there's a lot I'll learn about you."

 

 ~Off to sleep and come up with more ways to torture my characters.  I think I made one of my characters scream at the end of the chapter.  I can't wait to find out what happens next. 

Nano News

Today was rough, not because the characters were not talking, they were.  They kept up the tapping in my brain all day long.  But work was busy and I had little time for writing.  I only got in about a bit over 700 words today and the chapter is still too long.  It looks like a good place to end it but in comparison to the other chapters it is at least a page short.  So I either need to fill in some detail or continue with a bit more.  I look at it in the morning and see if my unconscious sleeping brain has made a decision.  Sometimes for me, sleeping on it really does help.  I am over the word count for NanoWrimo but only because I wrote a bunch yesterday.  I am hoping to get a lot done tomorrow since I will write in the morning and am also heading out to a write in in the evening.  Probably the only one I am likely to make since I don't like to abandon my husband too often.  :)  I actually have limited time and don't like to lose the time with him.  Crossing my fingers that the writing continues to gell so well because so far it has gone fairly well aside from today. 

Ebon

Cautionary note...don't read this if you don't like reading about two men potentially flirting.



I was a gambler, a thief, sometimes a con man, and he was way too pretty for me to let him die.  

Part of two lines from the story so far put together to give an idea of one of my characters. 

"What the hell do you think you're doing?”

 "I'm flirting with you obviously.”

 So if you can't tell I love my characters.  They are flowing out of my head and on to the page easily.  Aiden is less of a talker but Ebon, Ebon is trying to steal the show.  Good think Aiden won't let him.  Tune in for more....5669 words so far for NanoWrimo.

 All in all it has been a great morning!

 

NanoWrimo first day

Today was rough.  I don't know if I had stage fright or what but I had a difficult time beginning this morning on the new story.  My character kept wanting to talk about things that didn't need to be in the story, at least not yet.  I wanted to start with action.  Then I saved the file....but not to the flash drive but to the desk top....I got to work only to find out it was at home.  I think this was my blessing in disguise because I started over and it began where I felt it needed to and my character began talking about the present....I wrote 1,718 words for the first day and I am more excited than ever.  I even managed to end so that tomorrow will be the beginning of a new story.  Next up...Aiden and Ebon meet.  What will they think of each other, these two enemies?

Nano News

In Nanowrimo news, I am working on a new novel, a paranormal romance set in New York.  Aiden, member of a secret society, a clan of wraith hunters finds his life turned upside down when he falls for one of the creatures that his family hunts.  Ebon, Enenra, shadow demon, finds himself unwillingly attracted to one of the men who hunt his kind.  Will they be able to find love or will Aiden's family destroy them both when their relationship comes to light?   

I have done more prior research on this than anything besides my Urban desert story, Coyote Weavings, and I think in future, I really do prefer to plan before I begin writing.  I know there will be more that I need to find out as I write but I think my writing will be better for it.  And I have loved looking up all the information and putting together the details. I've looked up everything from colleges to a houses in New York to the history of Japanese trade in an attempt to set everything up.  And I'm not finished yet.  But I am extremely excited!!!
Only a few more days to go.....

Planning vs Pantsing

Hmm, it's been a while....
I have been working on a new project for NaNoWriMo.  I thought it might be cool to add to my millions of project by getting another rough draft done, this one a paranormal romance.  Yes, I know romance, I see you rolling your eyes out there but that's what the concept called for.  In any case, I've been doing a lot of research and prep since I can't actually start until November and wasn't trying to do all of it last minute like I normally do and I've discovered something in the process.

I like research.  I like planning.  I love watching a story unfold and the characters come to life before I've even begun to write their story.  I feel more comfortable with a plan and plot and trying to answer all the questions the readers would ask before I start writing.  I don't want to everything everything nailed down nor do I intend to have all of it together...I'm not that good a planner but a little preparation will help immensely when I begin writing.  I will have to see how it pans out at the beginning of the month when I begin writing but at this moment, I'm feeling better about this story than any other since my Tower story, another I spent a lot of prep on.  I obviously need to plan and outline somewhat before I begin writing.  I am not a pantser, I am not a gardener.  I am also not quite an architect where I have everything planned out but I do need some structure.  Nice to know yourself a bit better and hoping this translates into better writing as well as an easier time with editing.

Character development

Wow!  It's been a while.  Can I just say that work has been super busy and this is my only excuse?  Well, that and lots of exciting stuff on tv.  On to more interesting tidbits of my life, although not that exciting since work has been ever present.
   I am taking a few days off work to....work on writing.  Heh...you know you are a writer when that really is all you want to do.  I need to edit two works in progress.  I'm excited about both stories but I need more research and I do need to dig out a lot of repetition and tighten up the stories in general.  Then the story I am currently writing needs the characters fleshed out.  I am hoping by writing up the background details that will enable me to have them jump off the page more.  If that doesn't work, I may scrap it entirely and start over, just using the bits that might be salvageable.  Last, I need to plan and set up for November.   I have an original story that I think would make an incredibly interesting romance paranormal story.  I wrote a scene out of it as a short story but that is all I've done.  It involves shadows and smoke.  That's all anyone gets for now.  In any case, lots of work to do and I am excited to begin.  But first the mundane task of taking the car to get an oil change....  :)

Copper Con

It began with my drive out on Friday night.  Traffic was heavy and I thought I would never get there in time for the first panel I wanted to attend.  But I made it!  Thus began a weekend of excitement and networking.
   The first panel began with laughter but also serious advice for would be writers from Gini Koch and Marcy Rockwell.  It was exciting to see two of my favorite authors who always give the best advice!  We talked a lot that weekend and in fact, I actually got to spend a lot of time with them as well as Terry Smith and Jordan Summers who also were attending, both also published authors who had a lot of information.  I even got to sit down for meals with them and get to hang out!  I am looking forward to more time and Gini even offered to give me information on RWA, the Romance Writer's Association which is very helpful to beginning writers.
   I also got many opportunities over the weekend to meet a variety of writers.  I encountered interesting people and enjoyed James A. Owen's inspirational speaking again.  Every time I hear him, it leaves me weepy.  The man has done so much and accomplished so many things in his lifetime.
  Saturday was workshops and panels and I got a lot of information.  I have all written down and at some point will need to convert that to a separate blog.  I learned when to kill off a character and just learned that sometimes it is important to the story.
  Sunday was my field trip day.  After meeting Chris Dickensen and Debbie Boudian and their respective partners and also listening to them reading their novels, I went up to Estrella Mountain Regional Park.  Once there, I almost turned back as it costs $6 to enter.  Now mind normally that is not a lot but money was tight since it was rent time.  Still I went up to the gate and explained that I was an aspiring writer and would like to at least get a map as I have a story I am placing at Estrella.  The gentleman was very nice, brought me the maps, and then gave me a temporary gate pass for 30 minutes so I could drive around and take pictures, thus proving that if you ask, you never know what you will get!
  I went to the Filk concert which was quite nice.  I loved the singing although the actual filk circle later bothered me a bit with off notes but the concert was quite good!  I had to restrain the urge to sing along.  I went to several panels after this which gave more useful information, the best being the erotica which signaled me that the type of writing I like is highly in demand.  I was also given a couple good small publishers that put out erotic romance at least one of which I was familiar with and will check out submission guidelines.
  I stayed quite late and then only went out Monday to enjoy the reading by Gini and Marcy of two of their latest works, both as expected quite good.  Gini's made me laugh and I was grateful I already have the novel.  Marcy's was beautiful descriptions and immediately had me hooked.  However, I will have to wait to read hers.  The final part of the evening was not spent at the convention but rather out to dinner with Duncan to spend some time together after I had been away all weekend.  We went out to dinner at The Melting Pot.  Yummy food and a relaxing evening and as always great company!  I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend!

Writing, work and editing

It is incredibly busy at work, so busy that last week, we almost had no time to breath.  Why do I mention this, you ask?  Because, for the last month, I have been attempting to whittle out time to edit White Guardian.  I feel in my bones that this could be a good story if I could just find the time to work on it and improve it.  I can see many of my flaws as a beginning writer and I have a plan but have been unable to execute it.  I have found little bits of time to write a tiny bit each day but the longer, more involved work still remains tabled.  When it is busy, there is a lack of time to focus, a lack of time to think, which since editing is all about analytical thought instead of pure creative energy equals no editing.  Solution= I am going to have to take the time at home to work on this.  I have vacation at the end of September.  Come hell or high water, this is my editing time.  I can plan 3 whole days to work and at least make some progress.  Here I come!

Contest News

So disappointed.  My short story did not win and from the sound of the feedback I received, didn't even come close.  I was told that they were looking for something more original and that it was too easy for the characters.  And the worst part, is thinking about it objectively, they are right.  It is cute and the character is interesting but the story could be developed more and the situation could have been more work for the characters.  Ah, well, live and learn and if I want to continue to hone my craft, I need to take the good with the bad and learn from the feedback I am given.  Not to say I have to like it but learn from it, yes, or I will never make it as a writer.  At least they did give me feedback and were quite kind in how it was phrased.  I also was given a couple links to e-zines to submit to and I did at least take the risk.  Can't win if you don't ever try...

Water is a wondrous creation of the universe.  It being the summer, I finally managed to get down to the pool and go swimming.  And luck of all luck, I had to myself for a good 45 minutes before anyone else even came down.  Considering all the kiddies are out of school, this was a miraculous thing.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and plan to go back tomorrow since we have a free weekend, which this year is yet another amazing fact.  As for my writing, having completed and submitted my short story, I gone back to the paranormal romance that I have been playing with.  I've gotten to the fun part, past the introductions, and into the smut. (insert evil grin here)   Since this is really the first story I've had where the romance was the main part of the story, I am struggling a bit with that aspect.  I am realizing that it is not as easy as it sounds to write either romance or the sexual aspects of the story.  My respect goes up vastly for romance writers.  For those of you who think it is easy, let me tell it is not.  It is hard...and yes, that is a pun. :P  But I will do research and continue to tweak it until it is the way I want it.  I like the characters so far and am discovering new things, like how bossy my bottom is....It's amazing how much in charge he wants to be!  I will leave this post on that note and everyone, have a great weekend!

So horribly nervous, I have sent off my short story to Coppercon.  I think I'm more nervous because I have yet to receive a response back from their volunteer email line.  I am hoping they receive my email since the story is due for 7/15.  It's like sending a note into an abyss and hoping you get a response from the dark.

O_O

In other notes, it has been crazy today at work and people are strange.  Not only that but strange accounts I don't normally talk to have been calling all day!  Will be so glad to go home.


Edit
Little less nervous about the emailing.  I received a confirmation that they received my submission and I will be hearing back.  The guidelines say about two weeks before the convention which would likely be middle to late August.  Whew!  Now to fiddle my fingers while I wait.

So I have mostly completed my dragon story for Copper Con's short story contest.  I am going over it one more time tomorrow but I do think it's as ready as it can be.  I also volunteered to help with the convention, emailing the volunteer line again.  I hope to be of help and also enjoy the convention, one way or another.  In other news, still writing and busy weekends ahead as well as busy days at work.  We had back to back calls today so not much time but I did get my editing completed and also did a small amount of writing.  Enjoy the day!

A year

It has been a great year and the best part....I've written every day.  A year ago today, I began a promise to write at least a 100 words every day for a hundred days.  I got to a hundred and continued.  Got to 200 and continued.  Now I have been at it for an entire year.  I've finished 4 rough drafts of novels.  I've finished several short stories.  And I think this next year, the focus must be editing.  I've loved writing every day and will continue but now I must finish the task, by polished and shining what I've written until it is the best that it can be and work on getting it submitted and published.  But for now a celebration, a whoo-hoo! for what I have accomplished.  Thanks to my friends who didn't mind me ignoring them and supported me.  Thanks to my husband for encouraging me, even if it was in his own snarky teasing fashion.  Thanks to my family for having faith.  Now the journey continues.

Editing?

The writing continues.  I finished my short story, I think.  I might need to review it one more  time but at 1300 words, I think it actually stands up fairly well.  And, No, I can't post it.  Since it has to be unpublished at the time of submission, I don't want to take the chance on a blog counting.  But I will post it once the contest is over.  Now onto editing and revising White Guardian.  Today was not the day, just a little too much to do at work but hopefully tomorrow, I'll be able to make a start.  I think some of the pause was me trying to decide what to hack and slash and what to keep.  I am definitely cutting the first chapter entirely, although some pieces of it might make their way back into to other parts of the story.  I will begin with the second chapter and just preface with a couple snippets from the first chapter.  I'll see if that works the way I want it to.  Good luck with your endeavors, my friends and farewell to another night.

So I was checking out Copper Con, mostly because I wanted volunteer so I can actually go, money being a bit tight at times.  It turns out they are again having a short story contest, this year's theme being a dragon as the protagonist.  While I didn't have one that fit that exactly, I flipped one of my short stories around and am writing it from the dragon's point of view, which was amazingly easy.  He likes being the center of attention.  :)  I finished the rough draft today and will work on editing it to make it as good as possible.  I also recruited a reader but if anyone else is interested, I would appreciate it as I need to make this as good as possible so I can win! Other writing news, still editing, a lot!  No end in sight.  Can  you tell editing is not favorite past time?  I love writing but not the fixing.  But it needs to be done.  La sigh!  I want the best story I can get.

First new post

This should be interesting, at least as an experience.  I've begun editing White Guardian. I received more input at Comicon which should help.  I also volunteered or at least emailed about volunteering for CopperCon and Leprecon.  We shall see what happens.  Continuing to work.  May attempt to write a short story about a dragon for Coppercon but I would have to have it done by July 15th.  So many exciting opportunities!