The Prep for NaNoWriMo

I have returned. Back from the fiery depths of a place called School and an equally fiery place called Work.

October is passing with a flash thanks to the mounds of papers and studying as well as those lovely 6am work shifts that leave me too exhausted to do anything afterwards but sleep.

While it seems that I've disappeared off the face of the writing community, the truth is--I've been sooper sekretly busy...it just comes in spurts. Writing a bit on the computer here, writing a bit on the notebook there. Characters, plots, story lines have permanently wedged themselves into my skull so even when I'm not doing my sooper sekret writing, I can't stop thinking about all my characters.

In all reality, I've been prepping for NaNoWriMo, which for those of you who haven't heard of this strange word, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. Long story short: 30 days to write 50,000 words. Sound easy? Think again. That's almost 1700 words a day to form ideas into sentences. I failed it last year, coming up at only 30k words with some flipping between which story to write.

This year, I'm prepared.

How am I preparing, you ask? Oh, let me tell you.

Step One: Think up a story

Preferably something that will be longer than 50k words...

Or in my case, decide which of the seemingly billions of ideas I want to pursue. But that's all they are: ideas. Nothing concrete, just brief snippets of story that I want to turn into full-length epic novels. It's tough. I have a lot of promising ideas, I think, and I'd like to create the plot for them someday, but for the sake of my sanity, I'm deciding now, before November, which story I am putting all of my effort towards. But to decide that, I needed to go into step two, and that is...

Step Two: Plot, Detail, Outline

Some people dig outlines, others don't. For me, It's not so much a detailed outline as a poster board with a bunch of thoughts jotted down and circled in a bubble. Sometimes there is a timeline of events, sometimes I have arrows from one bubbled thought pointing to another to show that they are linked in some way. Sometimes I just want to bang my head against the closest hard surface, but in no way does that help my progression. The most I hope to achieve in the second step is a general plot.

"This story is about a boy who does [this]. He and [this person] are bitter enemies but they must team up to stop [this] from happening. Along the way, he meets [a person] and [another person] who help him on his journey."

Something like this, but more awesome.

Step Three: o hai characters.

For me, sometimes this step and step two get switched around. I tend to think up characters and then revolve stories around them, but sometimes the story writes them. With the case of my NaNoWriMo WIP, it was the characters first, story second. But every so often, it's story first, characters second.

With every story, I like to have well-rounded characters. It's hard for me to write them as bland and then go back once I'm finished to tidy them up, so I like to have them as 3D as I can make them. Considering there are only 30 days to write a full urban fantasy novel, character development will help me move way faster.

Characters created--Check!

Characters named--Check!

Characters described--Check!

Hello MC boys. You're looking very makey-outey (props to those who know what that line is from)

Step Four: Determine the Point of View and tense

WHY WAS THIS STEP SO HARD?! For me personally, this step is STILL driving me insane as to how I want to actually write the story. As much as I ADORE first person PoV (both past and present), this book is screaming to be written in 3rd person because of the jumps between characters. And considering there are five characters with huge roles and three that are actual MCs, that would be very tricky. Still considering it, but not likely.

3rd person is safe for the plot, but no I have to decide whether to make it past or present. Present would be the safest for this story, but I'm feeling more and more comfortable with present tense.

UGH DILEMMAS!

For the time being, I've decided to do 3rd person present. Tenses worry me less when I have to go back and change them.

Step Five: Combine steps 1-4 in a large bowl...

Feeling comfortable with my decisions, I mix everything together to create a decently detailed plot with developed characters, those pesky plot twists, and an ending.

Again, this is me being overzealous. After not actually being ready for NaNo, I vowed to make this year better. This year...I WILL finish a book in a month.

Oh, I almost forgot Step Six: Buy munchies...lots of munchies

Because NaNoWriMo also means "lets gain 10 lbs from snackage and lack of sleep!"

So...Did I miss any steps?

Writing for the sake of writing.

Guys.

Guys!

......I finally have time to write.

Seems like ages since I sat down at Starbucks and cranked out some words. Other than school, friends, and work, it's taken me a lot of plotting, coffee, and scribbling on notebooks to get to where I am now, which is about to work on a new idea.

Yeah I know, I know. Not sure how many times I've said THAT before, but I'm hoping this will be different. Why?--because something clicked in my head: I'm done playing by the rules. I've spent so much time worrying about what agents will think, why publishing houses would never buy this story. In all the stress and worry and frustration, I forgot that writing was my passion. I forgot that writing was what made me happy. So I'm falling back to my roots. Some of what I've written is too tangled in the worries I had before, and I'm tired of trying to fix it at this moment in time. Maybe some day I'll tend to the messy WIP folders I have, but until then, I'm starting over. Writing just what I want to write because that is my passion. If it's good--wonderful. But it doesn't matter to me so much anymore.

I just miss writing for the sake of writing.

As it is, I'm adventuring into the lands of male PoVs. Wish me luck.

Just a little update

Mostly because I feel AWFUL about the blog abuse, and mostly because I needed to vent about the build up of life that is really restricting writing time.

Reason 1.) I am a slave to work. Work. work. wokr. owrk. As the days go by, my brain turns to mush. It was like a game of How Many Hours Can We Cram Into Leah's Week. And let me tell you, they done good.

Reason 2.) I am a slave to school. Hour and a half commute to Fresno, class, hour and a half commute home, sleep. Rinse and repeat. How I pass the time on that drive? I blast A Day to Remember, Four Year Strong, and Saosin--which incidentally are all CDs that fit awesomely with the new Concealed story.

Reason 3.) I am a slave to my animals. My parents are off to help the needy children in Haiti for a week and a half. It's wonderful and caring and noble of them, but mixing reason 1 and 2 with tending to the three dogs, 2 cats, fish, and lawn care have left me a bit exhausted. So when I'm not doing 1 and 2, I'm doing 3.

And social life? At this point, non-existent. Friends moved to Fresno, Leah stays home...at least, only for a few months until I move down to Fresno too. At this point, the writing output will spike. I had never written so much in my life when I lived in my last apartment in Fresno. For some reason, having my own place with my own stuff was like a kick in the ass to my muse. 67k on my first book in two months...while going to school 5 days a week...and working...and still being able to read books and play video games.

I just keep telling myself that all this stuff I'm doing will end well. I'll have money for my apartment from all the hours at work. I'll learn more about writing through my English classes to further my writing style more than its already come. And I'm only taking care of the animals for another few days, so I'll have more time then.

Until then, I'm just counting down the days until I move out. It'll be "So much writing, so little time."

Teaser Tuesday

Another snippet from my WIP, Time Lost, which is an Urban Fantasy 5-book series about a girl, Sierra, who discovers she was born into an eternal society of time watchers who protect the lives and timelines of world-changing people and events (i.e. making sure things happen how they are supposed to happen).

I'm super excited about this series, having abandoned my others temporarily to pursue this one. I'm a good chunk into it, working my way to the scene that I posted part of last night in Friday Night Write (sorry if you read it already. I just kind of love it.)

Basically, it's Sierra--waking from a nearly-fatal wound--and Leo--one of Sierra's best friends--watching over her as she recovers. These two kind of own my heart right now.

**********

Snipped

Fanfiction: an 11-year-old's heroin

For me, one word: Fanfiction.

A few months back, Roadtrip Wed at the YA Highway asked to see our teen writing--and not our writing about teens, but our writing when we WERE teens. I got a lot of lol's and people telling me how awesome I was for writing in the world of Harry Potter and World of Warcraft.

Now, my love for writing and books extends WAY before Harry Potter. I've been reading since I was six, running up to my mom when I read the word 'The' (no joke!) all by myself. I memorized this dinosaur pop-up book from making my mom read it to me every night. I have no idea where that book is now (though I have my suspicions that it may have been involved in voodoo rituals and lots of fire...Just kidding, Mom. Kinda) but since I was just a tiny little thing, I loved books.

(Little like this)

So naturally, it was only a matter of time before my love for reading evolved into a love of writing.

I remember the first story I had ever created. After reading Hero with a Thousand Faces at the age of 10, I wanted to write my own story, and even back then, I was a little fangirl for fantasy. Epic fantasy to be exact. The story I conjured was about a mistreated girl who was the daughter of a king. She wasn't a princess however because she had inherited magic from her mother who was a sorceress, and in her father's kingdom, magic was outlawed. But when her sister falls ill and the only cure comes from the petals of a Fire Rose several lands away, only she has the ability to save her. Insert mentor to nudge her on the right path, a cute sidekick with the ability to control the elements, and an evil wizard plotting to stop the MCs quest so that her sister's death would cause a war between nations, and you've got a MG book on your hands. See, I was such a rockstar at 10.

But I never got around to writing it. Something else popped up that had be in a hype. It was called fanfiction, and it was heroin to my 11-year-old brain. Harry Potter was the one to get me started. During the withdrawls (AKA time between HP books), I had to find some other way to lessen the pain, which lead me to the site Fiction Alley. I read them, I wrote them, I virtually stalked fanartists--the site was the Disneyland of HP fanfiction. Even famous authors wrote there, like Cassandra Clare, who was known by every HP fanfic fan around the world.

It took me 8 years of reading and writing fanfiction to realize what my fantasy career would be, thanks to Sarah. I haven't read/written anything in a long time, since I realized my own goals, but every so often I skip away to an easier place where settings and characters are already developed, and rainbows, unicorns, and harps speckle the area...

So what about you. When did YOU realize your love of writing? What was the first idea you had and how old?

D-bag guys: Are they a turn off?

I would say Patrick Bateman from American Psycho doesn't think so, but his vote doesn't count, because he is--in fact--a d-bag.

As I sit here contemplating Feral, my new WIP dystopian, I can't help but wonder if my MC guy Jeremy is coming off too strong. Not only does it switch perspective between my MC Anna and Jeremy, his character is pretty sleazy. It's a first person perspective, changing every 2-3 chapters between them to give a glimpse of how the other changes.

For Jeremy, he's a rich, spoiled, 22-year-old playboy who thinks his life is perfect. Until he meets 17-year-old Anna, a rogue citizen who, as punishment for treason, is turned into a slave and sent to Jeremy as a 22nd b-day gift. From the first time they meet, there is a burning hatred. He thinks she's beneath him, therefore doesn't interact much except for giving her orders. She loathes him and tries to make everything more difficult.

This is where I become hesitant to continue. As I said, it switches between Anna and Jeremy's perspective, so I worry about how strong Jeremy comes off. The first paragraph of his POV starts off as:

They were sitting at the bar. Their skimpy miniskirts were barely covering anything, certainly not their long legs, crossed at the knees. The irony that they were sitting lady-like while wearing thin scraps of nothing. Still, I appreciated the view.

Jeremy is a d-bag. There's no questioning it. But that's exactly why I'm in love with his character. For the first half of the book, he remains this way--arrogant, spoiled, sleazy. The last half of the book, on the other hand...well, let's just say that his eyes open. The world he lives in isn't so perfect. Of course, no one would change their ways of thinking instantly. He's not going to turn into Prince Charming and sweep Anna away, but he does change. The decisions he makes, the way he speaks to people--it's all a part of a dawning realization.

But is it worth reading to get to that part. Selling a guy's POV is hard enough. Girl's relate better to girls, can put themselves in the MCs place. Right from the start, you know he's an asshole. What you don't know is if that will change. Of course, I've said it on here so everyone reading this knows he'll find some sort of redemption, if not fully, but as an unbiased reader, would you still be inclined to read a guy's POV novel KNOWING he wasn't the best of people?

It's something that's been picking at my head. I really do love Jeremy's character. He's complex, mysterious, intuitive. To plot out how he changes in his thinking and reactions is exciting to me, but I can't go through another Concealed mishap where I change everything over and over again. I'm at the point where I need to decide whether to keep this plan of having his POV included, or scrapping it before I get too far in. It doesn't affect the plot; I'll still be able to portray everything I want to, but getting into Jeremy's head would be fun.

So what would YOU think about reading a book with a d-bag main character? Input/discussion/criticism is completely welcome. I'd love to see what others think.

It's spring break, and that means...

...I'm more or less doing something like this:

This next week, while I'll also been drowning in that which we call "presentations" and "tests" the week I get back, meaning there will be studying, I do know that I'm not working the entire week. Translation: MOAR WRITING!!!1

Seeing as how our breaks are the same week, me and Sarah have plans to drink ungodly amounts of coffee, drown our ears in Two Steps from Hell, and generally cause chaos and confusion in the human world type away on Lappies. Well, she'll be betaing novels, I'll be writing, but the coffee and music will indeed happen.

As a little side note, just because I'm all sorts of happy, I got an invite to join the group blog GotYA which will be debuting early April. I'm really excited to work with all the rockstar writers again. Their awesomeness...it's limitless.

As a final update, I have (maybe) decided to work on Feral, my dystiopian novel rather than Concealed. While Concealed is still my baby, I feel a bit burnt out on it having written it, partially revised, rewrote it, then started revising again. I'm a decent 55k in, but the beginning now doesn't add up with the rest of the book, nor do I think I want to keep the rest of the book the same. Always-changing ideas and character advancements. Someday soon, I will finish it, but for the time being, I need to set it aside. After focusing for 3 years on these characters, the stress of trying to get it the way I see it is overwhelming. So this Spring Break is dedicated to Feral, which I intend to write lots of. I'm hoping to get at least 1/3 of the way through, if not more. I have an entire week of nothing but writing (with tidbits of studying and getting together with my group for a presentation) and I plan to fully use all of that time.

Kissing Inspiration

I'm not even entirely sure how I got to this point last night, but as I was searching around youtube, I came across some videos about the "Top Ten Best TV Kisses" and "Top Ten Best Movie Kisses". Something that bothered me about these lists were half of the ten were from one show and half were from another. And all of them were based around the romantic crack ones: One Tree Hill, The OC, Gilmore Girls, Smallville. Not saying I have a problem with these shows, but they aren't something that interest me. I'm all about SciFi, fantasy, action, etc. I like those romances that burst onto the scene in desperate moments. These always inspire me to write and have an influence in how I write as well.

So I'm making a list of some memorable movie and/or TV smooches, complete with videos and in no particular order...well, except for the last one. Some of these, due to the fact that I can't find them on youtube, are not my favorites, but they are indeed memorable.

5.) Kate and Sawyer - LOST

So to anyone that knows me well, they know that I am completely, 100% in love with LOST. I've been watching it religiously since the beginning. The tension, the romance, the confusing yet intriguing storyline. I love it all. And since the beginning, I've been doe-eyed for Sawyer and Kate. It's no surprise that to my friends and family that this would make one of my favorite kissing (among other things) scene. Steamy, sexy, and dirty--literally. But it doesn't matter if they were rolling around in mud, it's still way hot.

4.) Lara and Terry - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Reason: Angelina Jolie and Gerard Butler. I think that should be enough said, but I'd like to go into further detail. Since I couldn't find the extremely steamy kissing scene all on it's own, I left a fanvid with a mix of different Lara/Terry clips. This couple has such a fun, dark, interesting chemistry, which makes their relationship all the better. Yeah the actual movie had some pretty cheesy parts, but the characters made up for that.

3.) Jack and Elizabeth - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

I had to add this one on here because I must say, I love all of the events surrounding it. The kiss that wasn't actually romantic, the lure, the mischievous smile--there's no actual romance, more of infatuation. Where as the lure of the kiss could have gone one way, like panic or disbelief, they chose to keep it tense yet calm. The eeriness of the entire scene is really great.

2.) The Doctor and Rose - Doctor Who

Oh man, I can't even begin to explain this one. Well, I guess I'll start with the fact that I only started watching this show recently, as in about a two weeks ago, and it quickly escalated into a favorite. I adored all the characters, namely the Rose and the Doctor. The season two finally really struck a chord with me, so much that it put me in a funk (my uber nerd side is showing). With the season four finally, there was a bit of resolution (though not for the Doctor *tear*). I love the emotions of this show; they seem almost too real.

And lastly is a favorite of mine. I honestly can't tell you what makes me love it so much, but I do. So many elements mixed into the story that just can't deter me. I present to you:

1.) Tristan and Yvaine - Stardust

When I had seen the movie Stardust in theaters with Sarah, we were literally the loudest in the theater. There wasn't many people in there, but we were practically doubled over. The movie is a combination of fantasy, action, romance, and humor. The plot is so good and interesting. Big name actors, small name actors--it doesn't matter. They combine to make the movie fantastic. And the kiss is one of the best ones I've seen in a movie in my opinion. Not sure what it is, maybe the blissful smile on Yvaine's face or the boyish charm on Tristan's. Whatever it is, it was what was playing in the background during my emotional kiss scenes. While it doesn't fit for the desperate ones, it's still stuck in my mind. Kudos.

And that's my list. Of course, most of these are not actually my favorites, but they're all ones I do like. If I had my way with youtube, there would be others on here like the Mal/Saffron kiss in Firefly, Brangelina in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Fifth Element kiss, Rick and Evie in The Mummy, and more. But seeing as fangirls have put up a ridiculous amount of fan vids (50% of which being sibling with sibling at which I went to the bathroom to hurl) I took what I could get of the scenes.

What about everyone else? Do you have a favorite kiss scene from either TV or movie? Inspiration is inspiration :)

Dreams: Epic Inspiration

I actually wasn't planning on posting on this topic until a bit later since it seems to be floating around, but seeing as my dreams keep getting plagued with insane plots, fantastical worlds, and hidden meanings, I figured that it was time to stop avoiding it.

For me, dreams play a huge role in my writing. They play out like a movie, like I'm watching it through a TV screen. Never is my life have I had first person dreams, only third. People tell me that they must be less scary or less intense since I'm not watching them from my own eyes, but movies generate the same response, the same emotions. I quite like watching them this way. My dreams are very vivid. Colors are bright, sounds are clear, and more often than not, there is a general plot. I've even had dreams about my characters. The first one one was about a month ago. It was the first in almost three years of development. That dream went something like this:

I was in a half-finished skyscraper with my MC boy, Adarin. Someone was chasing us--the man who owned the building wanted me. He was using these flying creatures to track us down and eventually they got me. From here, it focused on Adarin, who found me trapped by the owner. He had my hands handcuffed behind my back and treated me like a welcome guest at the same time--feeding me an expensive, gourmet meal. Adarin saved me and we ran. Then I woke up, but I remembered the sinister owner perfectly. An attractive face with soulless eyes. A gleaming smile, hiding a rabid dog. He became Charles Morrison, my villain. The 36 year old lead Tracker of the Initiative has quickly become one of my favorite characters. Because of that dream, he is one of the most developed people I've created. I'm not sure I could get him and his motives any clearer in my head.

Of course, not all my dreams are about my book, some of them could be possible future ideas if I could fine tune them. Like I said, they usually have a plot, but for the most part, I remember only the middle. This next dream was eerie and fantastic.

I have hazel eyes and so does my friend Kaitlyn. I say this because in the dream, people with hazel eyes had a 95% resistance to a disease that was circulating the world. It was painful--a slow process turning humans into zombie-like creatures. They were angry--furious that people with hazel eyes had some sort of immunity. So they captured us, hoping that that 5% would work. If they were going to go down in agony, so were we.

I love my dreams, I really do. Of course, the ones about snakes and spiders coming out from underneath the furniture in an infinite amount I could live without.

The ones that I've described above are always fun to relay to my friends and family. I get the same reaction everytime: oh no. My dreams do often have a tendency to be completely and utterly random. Something about talking dogs, an alligator, and riding a bike up a steep slope with bare feet. But the ones that are just filled with nothing but epicness...those are the ones I can't wait to have.

So what about everyone else? Any dreams come to you that inspired ideas? What about characters. Have you ever had a dream with them in it or the base of character?

i can haz riting tyme?

Another late night up writing. It seems that lately this is the best time for me to write, uninterrupted and peaceful, my brain still buzzing with the days events. As mentioned in a previous post, this is when my muse is most active, it seems. After not being able to write anything in three days, then to come back and pick up at 11pm for a hurried 1k words in less than an hour...I have to say, I love nighttime.

With Christmas season approaching, I'm surprised how much I've had to limit my writing output for shopping, friends and family, work, and a wedding. I was able to write tonight, and it came out nice.

However, I am falling behind on my own novel goal with the delays, not sure if I'll be able to finish in 50k words in 3 weeks plus a week of revisions. The goal was set to finish my WIP before my friend departs for Scotland for six months.

I wanted to finish around January 15th, 11 days before she left so that I would have time to revise and fix things, but that's not going to happen the way I imagined. I'll have to go till later and cut down the revision time from 11 days to 7 days or less. I have so many plot holes or points that need to be spruced up (as seen in my last post). I figured that it's a 10 hour flight with two layovers...she might want something to entertain her, assuming that it's entertaining of course :-S

If I can reach my goal, I'll not only make my friend (hopefully) happy, but I'll be ready to settle down and revise, revise, revise and query, query, query. Depending on how well Concealed goes, I'll either be working on a YA contempt/mystery/thriller-ish SNI that came to mind a week or so back. It's not an epic, world-building, magic trilogy with kickass characters, but it's still pretty epic. I'm pretty excited to write it, even if it does mean putting Feral and Concealed aside. I hope that one day Concealed will find a home, even if it means trying to sell another idea and coming back to that one. Don't worry Neira, Kalina, Adarin, and Dayne; I will never forget about you guys!

If the miraculous does happen and I'm able to finish 50k, there shall be a party.

Current word count: 32,246

Chapters: on 17

Pages: 127 Word/137 preferred text format

Words per day to reach goal: 1657

By golly, I think I can do it. It'll be difficult, but I guess since work has slowed waaaay down, leaving no events until January, I have much more time to dedicate to writing. Let's see how I do :)

Writing: fixing plot holes--complete with pictures!

When I started seriously writing almost two years ago, the barest essentials were all I had. Being a broke college student, it basically translated to: Ramen Noodles, the weekly Starbucks coffee from Sarah, and my computer. For the most part, it was the two of us, sitting on opposite couches, drinking French-pressed coffee, and listening to Two Steps From Hell or Transformers soundtrack. Nothing was more fun that that--the incessant giggling as we realized what was coming, or funny lines that we put in there.

Today, not much has changed. You can still find us sitting in her room, compies on our laps, coffee nearby, music playing from the speakers, still laughing at our own creative geniuses.

But I do use other things that actually really help when I'm struggling. For example: plot holes. Those dreaded little crinkles in your plans, clashing together like hot pink and red. With help from me and Sarah's inside joke, I present:

(Let's pretend my room is this neat)

That's right, me and Sarah's "Epic Board 'O Stickies' or 'Epic Board 'O Plot Holes' as I also like to call it. Of course, not all of these pretty little squares are holes. Some of them are future references, sections I would like to make better, or info on things like people or societies.

But I won't lie, 2/3 are plot holes.

I've also realized just how mean/demanding/snooty my inner editor can be. I do believe one of the stickies on the board reads in regard to a certain scene, "Too boring! Get more action in there." "So, is Dayne ageless? Might want to fix that." "Trackers come before branding, not after." Alright already! I'll fix it when I'm finished writing, sheesh!"

Of course, not only has the "Epic Board" helped me out, but so have these two fabulous items:

(They really do make a wonderful couple)

I've already mentioned coffee once, so I'll just say, 'God Bless!' and move on to notebooks.

Now, I'm really not one to be writing in notebooks--unless of course, I'm sitting in a three hour Econ class that I would always leave half way through every class because the professor was so monotone that I could barely keep my eyes open. Not sure how I ended up with a B-, but I just went with it.

Anyways, yes, I have written in a notebook before. I actually had a good...hmm...I dunno--50 pages of my old draft in misc notebooks scattered around my apartment. While I preferred my computer, I couldn't deny the appreciation I would give notebooks on those days when I had to wait some where for a doctors app or vet trip.

Recently, I decided to map out my thoughts, tidying up everything in my mind, straightening out the clutter.

(Again, let's pretend my room is this clean)

For the most part, there was a lot of scratching things out, smushing words into a corner, drawing a bunch of arrows. Had I not made it blurry, you'd be able to see the pure chaos going on here. The funny thing is, it completely worked. Brain unblocked! Clutter removal attempt: Successful!

Some days just don't go as smoothly. After attempting to write a decent, fairly emotional scene, I found myself making things worse. Not only was I repeating words within the same sentence, it took me forever to spell everything correctly. I was constantly backspacing words and retyping them once, twice--three times even. At that point, I gave up. No writing that night. It was just souring my mood.

Instead, I decided to work on something I haven't done in a long time: a puzzle. I'm not sure entirely what it is, but for the life of me, I swear puzzles are cat-magnets. The moment I had set it on my bed and grabbed up a small table, she was there, gnawing on my mini masterpieces.

(I was missing one piece when I finished the puzzle. I wasn't thrilled...)

Not sure how many times I had to shoo he away (which didn't work. She got grumpy, I got grumpy) but eventually, I managed to work around her. I had forgotten how A.) good I was at puzzles and B.) how long it kept me preoccupied. I had started at around 10pm, and when I looked at the clock after being 2/3 of the way done, it was 4am. Oops. I set it aside, went to bed, and finished the rest of it within the hour. It was a nice break.

After finishing it, I hopped on the computer where I started writing, getting a nice chunk done in FNW. I had to stop eventually because of an approaching plot twist, but it was nice to blow past the 30k mark, and even the 31k mark. I'm currently sitting pretty at 31,178 words, a plot hole free in my head (as far as I can tell. There's a lot crammed in there) and a maybe-query which I'll send Sarah's way. I'm pretty sure it's crap, because I don't like it, but I like her opinion.

So what's your helpful tools? Any other programs, methods and/or items that help get you out of trenches and holes?

Teaser Tuesday 11

Eleven weeks without fail of TT. I'm pretty proud of it, actually.

Anyways, here is the first page of a short story I wrote a few weeks back entitled Silver. Thank you to the lovely Sarah for help editing. I keep forgetting to send it out to try and get published in a literary magazine.

Read it while it lasts. I'll be taking it down before I start sending it off :)

*******************

*snipped*

Do you ever...

...have one of those moments where you hear a song and a novel or short story pops into your head? It just happened for me again.

Wine Red by The Hush Sound caused me to spur a short story that I'm quite proud of. I have Sarah reading over it. I'm hoping she'll like it. Then again, I like it. I suppose that's all that matters.

It could use some work, but it's not bad for typing it out in two hours, briefly editing, then sending it to her. If I get a good review on it, I think I'll edit it more and then send it to some literary magazines. Hopefully I could get it published. Not looking to Query Letter Hell. Just an FYI.

Okay, going back to the short story entitled Silver, Sarah loved it, which has gotten me all sorts of excited. Her input means a lot to me, not to mention, she's better with all of the literary stuff, having taken several classes for it. Having her like it is the icing on the cake. Next step is editing, and then sending it off.

I might die if it does, just because then I could say, "Hey, I'm technically a published writer." :D