Here it is, the 26th of November and I'm nearing the end of my third National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I went into this month excited and all ready to re-write my 2010 NaNo novel. I was pumped. I wanted to get through NaNo with a fresh draft, maybe edit it one more time soon after, and then send it out to beta readers. Then, my goal was to edit and edit and edit some more during the next year, and to send it out to agents by the end of 2012. It was a lovely, wonderful, sweet plan.
Then it all went to hell.
There were HUGE plot holes in my story. Things that I couldn't get past. Things that were integral to my plot - things that were integral to this story becoming two books, maybe even three. Things that I MAYBE could have figured out as I wrote, but everything else that I wrote relied on me figuring those things out. Also, there was absolutely no action in my story. Well, one car wreck scene, but that was it. The rest was people explaining things to others. A lot of telling, instead of showing. Yes, these are things that can be fixed in future edits, but it just wasn't working. I was bored of my story (although I still like much of the idea), and I felt like nothing was happening. Nothing was moving forward.
So I changed it. I made it much more YA. I made it more supernatural. Then I decided to read a couple of published novels that were similar to mine. I know, I know, people say not do to this. We should steer clear of novels that might resemble what we are currently writing. But I wanted to read them to make sure that my novel wasn't too much like them. So with one, I was okay. My story was different enough that I wasn't worried. But then I read the other one, and it was like, yeesh. That's almost exactly what I'm writing.
So I changed it again. Now, mind you, I haven't been deleting anything, so my NaNo word count still includes what I wrote for the first two stories. But with this one, I only wrote about 1,000 words and got bored. Again.
I haven't written a single word on my NaNo novel (novels?) since the 17th. I'm currently sitting at 14,540 words. Which is less than I did my first year, where I got around 15,000 words. Last year I won. This year, I have to write over 7,000 words a day to reach the 50,000-word goal. I'm thinking this isn't going to happen.
For the past few days I've been really discouraged about my writing. I pretty much decided that this story, this idea that I've been working on and changing and brainstorming about for the past year needs to be set aside. Maybe someday I'll figure out what to do with it. But for now, I figured I'd just start a whole new story, keeping my current word count, of course. But I was at a loss as to what to write. I looked on the NaNo forums, where they have this great Adoption Society, where you can "adopt" plots or characters or whatever. But nothing struck my fancy. I was out of inspiration. So I got more discouraged.
But today, I read some posts by Maureen Johnson (she's the Agony Aunt this year of NaNo - kind of like a Dear Abby columnist) where she talks about just jumping into your novel, and where she helps writers who have lost that fun relationship with writing. Maureen Johnson has helped me all throughout this month. She seems to know exactly what questions to answer at the right time. I think she might be psychic.
I also hopped on my Twitter account (I don't do that very often - I only was compelled to go there today because I got an email that someone new was following me) and browsed some tweets by literary agent Holly Root. She had one on there about an author she represents who wrote a post about her experience finding an agent.
It's weird. Things like this open my eyes and light a fire under me and make me wonder why I ever questioned my writing. I've been writing ever since I can remember. Before I could physically write myself, I would tell my mom little stories and she would type them up for me. I have always been a writer. And I have always wanted to someday be published.
So what if that original NaNo idea never becomes anything publishable? I love to write, and stories are always coming to me. I just need to remember that I don't have to have the next huge hit idea, and that I don't have to even have to have an outline before I start writing. Actually, it's better, for me, if I don't do too much planning, because otherwise I think that I have to have everything perfectly planned out before I can even begin. This does not work. I just need a little spark of an idea. A character trait, a world, an image - something that will get me started. And then I just need to let it go from there.
So I may not finish NaNo this year. I may not get to put a shiny Winner badge on my next blog post. But right now, after I finish this post, I'm going to go back to that Adoption Society forum and find something - some little glimmer, some quirk or scene or line or name or setting - SOMETHING to get the ball rolling. I'm in the writing mood today. And we'll see how far I can get when I have no plan, no plot, and no direction. This actually will probably be fun.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Thoughts on Publishing
Yes, it's been a while. No, I haven't been writing every day - get OFF my butt! ;) Actually, I've been taking a bit of a break after NaNoWriMo. And since the new year is quickly approaching, I've decided to stop my Write (Almost) Every Day Challenge and begin afresh in the new year. I plan on jumping right back into my NaNo novel at that point, editing and writing and working on getting it publishable.
Which is what I wanted to talk about today - publishing. My friend, Tracy, wrote a blog post a few days ago about self-publishing. Here is a link to that lovely post: Building A Bridge. Go there, read it, come back. I'll wait.
Wait! You're supposed to come back!
Yes, I know she has a lot more posts than me.
Yes, I know she posts WAY more regularly than I do.
Yes, I know she has a lot of witty commentary and sage insight.
Yes, I know that she shares recipes! And, believe me, I've had her yummy food, the recipes are worth it!
But you're supposed to come back after you read that one post! You can peruse the rest of her posts later!
Dang!
Well, for those of you that did come back, I'll continue.
Tracy talks about how she feels that experts (literary agents and professional publishers) help to make her story the strongest it can be, and she feels that self-publishing doesn't include these last few strength-boosters in your story. I totally agree with her, and I had some other thoughts on the subject. I thought about writing a comment to her post, but my thoughts kept getting bigger and longer and I didn't want to write a novel of a comment, so I decided to write my own blog post on the subject.
The funny thing is, the night before Tracy wrote this post, I had a dream that my husband's brother, Josh, wrote a book and had it published. He was not self-publishing, but I was quite irked in my dream that he was having a book published. I was jealous, of course, but I also had other thoughts on the fact that Josh was publishing a book. Did I mention it was a BIG book? That didn't help my jealousy.
But seriously, I was mostly upset because Josh is not a writer. He is an aspiring actor living in L.A. Now, I don't mean to say that non-writers shouldn't write and have their books published. I actually don't mind that. The thing I mind is that non-writers who are celebrities (Nicole Richie, Hilary Duff, Sarah Palin, etc.) have an easy time publishing. I understand why - publishing companies know that they will be able to sell a book written by Sarah Palin - they have no idea if they'll be able to sell a book by little old me. But my point is that, in the past, publishing has been HARD. There is a format, a process, a LONG wait, and an emotional tailspin created by thousands of reject letters. Authors go through all of this and then when they finally get a yes they rejoice, run around in their living rooms, shouting and rushing towards the closest bottle of champagne. Somehow I can't see celebrities doing this. I actually imagine them kind of shrugging, like, "Yeah, I wrote a book." (Not all celebrities - I actually can't imagine the agony that Portia de Rossi went through while writing her personal experiences with bulimia in her recent work, Unbearable Lightness.)
But this is how I feel about self-publishing, too. It takes away a lot of the process, the hardship, the struggle of becoming a "published author." I also feel that it kind of takes away a bit of the power and prestige of the title of "published author." It's like, hey, anyone can do it, so what does it matter that you're a "published author?" Who cares?
That said, I have a friend who is in the process of self-publishing. I do not mean to belittle him in any way. I will be buying his book and giggling like a giddy school girl, most likely telling everyone around me that "I know this author!" The only problem is - so far, the only places to buy his book will be on Amazon, Ebay, and the Barnes and Noble website. Which, I will admit, is awesome. But all I know is that, if I ever get a book published, I want to be able to walk into any book store and see it on the shelf. It's a lot of hard work to write a novel, and I'm willing to work even harder to get it published. One of these days...
Which is what I wanted to talk about today - publishing. My friend, Tracy, wrote a blog post a few days ago about self-publishing. Here is a link to that lovely post: Building A Bridge. Go there, read it, come back. I'll wait.
Wait! You're supposed to come back!
Yes, I know she has a lot more posts than me.
Yes, I know she posts WAY more regularly than I do.
Yes, I know she has a lot of witty commentary and sage insight.
Yes, I know that she shares recipes! And, believe me, I've had her yummy food, the recipes are worth it!
But you're supposed to come back after you read that one post! You can peruse the rest of her posts later!
Dang!
Well, for those of you that did come back, I'll continue.
Tracy talks about how she feels that experts (literary agents and professional publishers) help to make her story the strongest it can be, and she feels that self-publishing doesn't include these last few strength-boosters in your story. I totally agree with her, and I had some other thoughts on the subject. I thought about writing a comment to her post, but my thoughts kept getting bigger and longer and I didn't want to write a novel of a comment, so I decided to write my own blog post on the subject.
The funny thing is, the night before Tracy wrote this post, I had a dream that my husband's brother, Josh, wrote a book and had it published. He was not self-publishing, but I was quite irked in my dream that he was having a book published. I was jealous, of course, but I also had other thoughts on the fact that Josh was publishing a book. Did I mention it was a BIG book? That didn't help my jealousy.
But seriously, I was mostly upset because Josh is not a writer. He is an aspiring actor living in L.A. Now, I don't mean to say that non-writers shouldn't write and have their books published. I actually don't mind that. The thing I mind is that non-writers who are celebrities (Nicole Richie, Hilary Duff, Sarah Palin, etc.) have an easy time publishing. I understand why - publishing companies know that they will be able to sell a book written by Sarah Palin - they have no idea if they'll be able to sell a book by little old me. But my point is that, in the past, publishing has been HARD. There is a format, a process, a LONG wait, and an emotional tailspin created by thousands of reject letters. Authors go through all of this and then when they finally get a yes they rejoice, run around in their living rooms, shouting and rushing towards the closest bottle of champagne. Somehow I can't see celebrities doing this. I actually imagine them kind of shrugging, like, "Yeah, I wrote a book." (Not all celebrities - I actually can't imagine the agony that Portia de Rossi went through while writing her personal experiences with bulimia in her recent work, Unbearable Lightness.)
But this is how I feel about self-publishing, too. It takes away a lot of the process, the hardship, the struggle of becoming a "published author." I also feel that it kind of takes away a bit of the power and prestige of the title of "published author." It's like, hey, anyone can do it, so what does it matter that you're a "published author?" Who cares?
That said, I have a friend who is in the process of self-publishing. I do not mean to belittle him in any way. I will be buying his book and giggling like a giddy school girl, most likely telling everyone around me that "I know this author!" The only problem is - so far, the only places to buy his book will be on Amazon, Ebay, and the Barnes and Noble website. Which, I will admit, is awesome. But all I know is that, if I ever get a book published, I want to be able to walk into any book store and see it on the shelf. It's a lot of hard work to write a novel, and I'm willing to work even harder to get it published. One of these days...
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
NaNoWriMo Accomplished!; Write (Almost) Every Day Challenge, Day #56
Oh, Hello, Blogger. And Hello, December.
Whew. NaNoWriMo is over, and I am a winner!!! I wrote over 9,000 words one day and crossed that 50,000-word finish line with a few days to spare!
And boy am I glad that I finished when I did. Because only a couple days later I caught a bug that my son had caught over Thanksgiving and I was down for the count. I was in a lot of pain, and, well, you don't want to hear about that. Let's just say it wasn't pretty. And to top it off, my husband caught it, too! The whole house, laying around on couches, moaning and sipping water all day.... We were all pretty pathetic.
And it's still not completely gone. I have the most horrible headache of all headaches ever to be known as horrible (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it is one horrible headache that's lasted for two days now), but everything else is pretty much gone.
Although my dizziness is still around. For those of you who didn't know, for over a month now I have been suffering from spells of dizziness, or rather, spells where I feel almost drunk. I have been to the doctor about it, been to the chiropractor (which seemed to help), but it's still not going away. For a while it was constant - I'd feel the symptoms almost all day long. That lasted about two weeks. Now it comes and goes - mostly it just shows up once a day, and not for very long. But since I've been sick I've felt pretty bad, although I guess being sick might make me feel dizzy itself.
But somehow I was still able to participate in (and win!) NaNoWriMo. I guess it's because I was relatively still, sitting with my laptop and typing away. But I am really, really excited about my story this year. There are so many scenes I have yet to write, and so much editing to do, but I actually want to edit it. We'll see how that goes.
Well, I can't write much more today because of that damn headache. But hopefully I'll be back soon. Oh, and notice how I've changed the name of my challenge to "Write (Almost) Every Day Challenge." I just gave in - I'll still continue to try to write every day, but I now accept the times that I cannot write as vacations, not failures. ;)
Whew. NaNoWriMo is over, and I am a winner!!! I wrote over 9,000 words one day and crossed that 50,000-word finish line with a few days to spare!And boy am I glad that I finished when I did. Because only a couple days later I caught a bug that my son had caught over Thanksgiving and I was down for the count. I was in a lot of pain, and, well, you don't want to hear about that. Let's just say it wasn't pretty. And to top it off, my husband caught it, too! The whole house, laying around on couches, moaning and sipping water all day.... We were all pretty pathetic.
And it's still not completely gone. I have the most horrible headache of all headaches ever to be known as horrible (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it is one horrible headache that's lasted for two days now), but everything else is pretty much gone.
Although my dizziness is still around. For those of you who didn't know, for over a month now I have been suffering from spells of dizziness, or rather, spells where I feel almost drunk. I have been to the doctor about it, been to the chiropractor (which seemed to help), but it's still not going away. For a while it was constant - I'd feel the symptoms almost all day long. That lasted about two weeks. Now it comes and goes - mostly it just shows up once a day, and not for very long. But since I've been sick I've felt pretty bad, although I guess being sick might make me feel dizzy itself.
But somehow I was still able to participate in (and win!) NaNoWriMo. I guess it's because I was relatively still, sitting with my laptop and typing away. But I am really, really excited about my story this year. There are so many scenes I have yet to write, and so much editing to do, but I actually want to edit it. We'll see how that goes.
Well, I can't write much more today because of that damn headache. But hopefully I'll be back soon. Oh, and notice how I've changed the name of my challenge to "Write (Almost) Every Day Challenge." I just gave in - I'll still continue to try to write every day, but I now accept the times that I cannot write as vacations, not failures. ;)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
"I Want" Wednesday; Write Every Day Challenge, Day #28
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I am horribly failing at this personal challenge to write every day. I think I'll stick with it, though, because with NaNoWriMo quickly approaching, I will be writing A LOT.
And that's what I wanted to talk about today: NaNoWriMo. For the past couple of days I have been plotting my story. I am now currently on idea #3, and I am super, super excited about this one! Unfortunately, I have to throw out my previous characters - or adapt them into these new characters, and I have to get to worldbuilding! My new story is Science Fiction, and I'm still not sure if I'm going to set it in a future America, or build my own land. No space travel, so I don't have to worry about creating planets, galaxies, universes! Or do I? Who knows which direction my novel will take me next month! But even if I set my story simply in America in the year 2060 (for example), I need to figure out what the world is like then - the government, the environment, society, jobs, technology, transportation, hobbies, schools, etc. I have a lot of work to do! I've decided that my plotting exploits count towards my Write Every Day Challenge, so Monday was Day #26 and Tuesday was Day #27. Maybe I'll actually write every day this week! (I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but not daring to hold my breath!)
I realized that my story is like The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter. Which is SO me! I think that I'm so excited about it because it's the type of story that I love to read, and so it should be a lot of fun to write! I think I've finally found my niche, and I have no idea why it was so hard to find! I think the adage should be not "Write what you know," but "Write what you like!"
Oh, and it's "I Want" Wednesday again. This time, I want something immaterial. I simply want to continue to be this excited about my novel throughout the month of November. Sure, there will be ups and downs, but I haven't been this excited about writing in a long time, and it's wonderful!
Back to plotting!
And that's what I wanted to talk about today: NaNoWriMo. For the past couple of days I have been plotting my story. I am now currently on idea #3, and I am super, super excited about this one! Unfortunately, I have to throw out my previous characters - or adapt them into these new characters, and I have to get to worldbuilding! My new story is Science Fiction, and I'm still not sure if I'm going to set it in a future America, or build my own land. No space travel, so I don't have to worry about creating planets, galaxies, universes! Or do I? Who knows which direction my novel will take me next month! But even if I set my story simply in America in the year 2060 (for example), I need to figure out what the world is like then - the government, the environment, society, jobs, technology, transportation, hobbies, schools, etc. I have a lot of work to do! I've decided that my plotting exploits count towards my Write Every Day Challenge, so Monday was Day #26 and Tuesday was Day #27. Maybe I'll actually write every day this week! (I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but not daring to hold my breath!)
I realized that my story is like The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter. Which is SO me! I think that I'm so excited about it because it's the type of story that I love to read, and so it should be a lot of fun to write! I think I've finally found my niche, and I have no idea why it was so hard to find! I think the adage should be not "Write what you know," but "Write what you like!"
Oh, and it's "I Want" Wednesday again. This time, I want something immaterial. I simply want to continue to be this excited about my novel throughout the month of November. Sure, there will be ups and downs, but I haven't been this excited about writing in a long time, and it's wonderful!
Back to plotting!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Write Every Day Challenge, Day #15
I missed three whole days of my Write Every Day Challenge! Boy, I stink at this! So I'm going to do what I've done before when I missed a day. Today will be Day #15, even though I should be much farther than that by now, and I will write something for every day that I've missed. So I have a lot of writing to do!
I thought that I might get a bit of that writing behind me since I went to the first meeting for this year's NaNoWriMo. But I should have known better. We never get any writing done in those meetings, especially the ones not in November! We always have so much to talk about. But we had fun and we've got some ideas for upcoming NaNo meetings. This year should be a blast!
I watched the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 the other day online. It was awesome! It included quite a few scenes that weren't in the previous trailers. I'm so excited for the movie! It's less than two months away now! Yea!!! Head over to Mugglenet to watch the new trailer (and for all things Harry Potter, for that matter).
Anyway, I'd better get to that writing. I think I'm going to try some more of the prompts from www.creativewritingprompts.com.
I thought that I might get a bit of that writing behind me since I went to the first meeting for this year's NaNoWriMo. But I should have known better. We never get any writing done in those meetings, especially the ones not in November! We always have so much to talk about. But we had fun and we've got some ideas for upcoming NaNo meetings. This year should be a blast!
I watched the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 the other day online. It was awesome! It included quite a few scenes that weren't in the previous trailers. I'm so excited for the movie! It's less than two months away now! Yea!!! Head over to Mugglenet to watch the new trailer (and for all things Harry Potter, for that matter).
Anyway, I'd better get to that writing. I think I'm going to try some more of the prompts from www.creativewritingprompts.com.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Still Recovering From Book Club: Write Every Day Challenge, Day #12
So yesterday I forgot to write again! Gasp! So I'll do what I did last time: write this blog and then write in some other way to make up for my lost day, and today will be Day #12 (it would have been Day #13 if I had written yesterday).
Book club on Saturday was fun. We all had a LOT to say about Mockingjay and then we played The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Movie Board Game. A couple of the girls in my book club are total die-hard Twilight Saga fans and they kicked our butts. I came in fourth, but only because two girls left before the game was over. We all brought our "last meals" (what we would want to eat as a last meal), and we had quite a spread! I brought sushi, and the others brought ribs, chicken parmesan, salad, ice cream, and cake. We all ate too much and drank waaay too much wine and had lots of fun! I heart my book club! ;)
My husband and I have been reading the blog Mark Reads Harry Potter ever since I found out about it a couple days ago. It's hilarious! I'm still on the posts about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but my husband is ahead of me and I keep hearing him giggle and I want to get to what he's reading! We both think that Mark's next project should be The Hunger Games trilogy.
I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo, and I think I may be onto a plot. I think we're supposed to have our first meeting this coming Sunday. I'm excited!
I'm not sure what else to write about today, so I'll go ahead and work on my other writing task. I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with Day #13 of my Write Every Day Challenge!
Book club on Saturday was fun. We all had a LOT to say about Mockingjay and then we played The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Movie Board Game. A couple of the girls in my book club are total die-hard Twilight Saga fans and they kicked our butts. I came in fourth, but only because two girls left before the game was over. We all brought our "last meals" (what we would want to eat as a last meal), and we had quite a spread! I brought sushi, and the others brought ribs, chicken parmesan, salad, ice cream, and cake. We all ate too much and drank waaay too much wine and had lots of fun! I heart my book club! ;)
My husband and I have been reading the blog Mark Reads Harry Potter ever since I found out about it a couple days ago. It's hilarious! I'm still on the posts about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but my husband is ahead of me and I keep hearing him giggle and I want to get to what he's reading! We both think that Mark's next project should be The Hunger Games trilogy.
I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo, and I think I may be onto a plot. I think we're supposed to have our first meeting this coming Sunday. I'm excited!
I'm not sure what else to write about today, so I'll go ahead and work on my other writing task. I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with Day #13 of my Write Every Day Challenge!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
A Few Random Things: Write Every Day Challenge, Day #11
A few random things today...
On my last post I decided that, since I had missed a day of my Write Every Day Challenge, I would write more than just a blog post on Day #9. I looked online and found a website called Creative Writing Prompts. I perused the different prompts and found one that caught my eye: #4 challenges you to rewrite the ending of Cinderella so that the glass slipper actually fit on one of her ugly stepsisters. This is right up my alley, because in high school I wrote poem that was a different take on Cinderella, and I love the books of Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West; Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister; and Mirror, Mirror). So off to write I went. I wrote a bit that day, and a bit more yesterday (to fulfill my quota for Day #10), and let me tell you, I had so much fun doing it! It reminded me just how much fun I can have while writing, while making up characters and describing their actions. If NaNoWriMo is anything like that for me this year, I'm sure to reach the goal of 50,000 words! I also found No Plot? No Problem! at the library yesterday! Score!
I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World last night with my friend, Courtney. It was great! I'd like to write a review of it someday, but I think I'll watch it again first.
I was on Mugglenet the other day and they had a post about this really cool looking blog: Mark Reads Harry Potter. It's this guy who is reading the Harry Potter books for the first time, and posts about each chapter after he reads them. He only knew a few things about Harry Potter before he began his quest, and he asks his readers to not reveal any spoilers within their comments (he is currently on The Half-Blood Prince). I've only read one of his posts, but this seems like a great blog! He uses a lot of adult language, so this blog isn't really for kids, but adult lovers of Harry Potter will get a kick out of it! Oh, and there's supposed to be a new trailer for The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 online on Wednesday! Sooo excited!
So tonight I have book club! We're (finally) discussing Mockingjay. We all love this series, so we are all going to have a lot to say! We are also doing a kind of potluck thing this time: only we're each bringing a dish that we'd want to have as our last meal. We were inspired by the meals that Katniss and Peeta eat on the train on their way to their first Games. I'm bringing some sushi. I wanted to bring escargot (my absolute favorite!) but I wasn't sure that others would like it as much as I do. I'm so ready for the meeting; it should be a blast!
On my last post I decided that, since I had missed a day of my Write Every Day Challenge, I would write more than just a blog post on Day #9. I looked online and found a website called Creative Writing Prompts. I perused the different prompts and found one that caught my eye: #4 challenges you to rewrite the ending of Cinderella so that the glass slipper actually fit on one of her ugly stepsisters. This is right up my alley, because in high school I wrote poem that was a different take on Cinderella, and I love the books of Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West; Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister; and Mirror, Mirror). So off to write I went. I wrote a bit that day, and a bit more yesterday (to fulfill my quota for Day #10), and let me tell you, I had so much fun doing it! It reminded me just how much fun I can have while writing, while making up characters and describing their actions. If NaNoWriMo is anything like that for me this year, I'm sure to reach the goal of 50,000 words! I also found No Plot? No Problem! at the library yesterday! Score!
I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World last night with my friend, Courtney. It was great! I'd like to write a review of it someday, but I think I'll watch it again first.
I was on Mugglenet the other day and they had a post about this really cool looking blog: Mark Reads Harry Potter. It's this guy who is reading the Harry Potter books for the first time, and posts about each chapter after he reads them. He only knew a few things about Harry Potter before he began his quest, and he asks his readers to not reveal any spoilers within their comments (he is currently on The Half-Blood Prince). I've only read one of his posts, but this seems like a great blog! He uses a lot of adult language, so this blog isn't really for kids, but adult lovers of Harry Potter will get a kick out of it! Oh, and there's supposed to be a new trailer for The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 online on Wednesday! Sooo excited!
So tonight I have book club! We're (finally) discussing Mockingjay. We all love this series, so we are all going to have a lot to say! We are also doing a kind of potluck thing this time: only we're each bringing a dish that we'd want to have as our last meal. We were inspired by the meals that Katniss and Peeta eat on the train on their way to their first Games. I'm bringing some sushi. I wanted to bring escargot (my absolute favorite!) but I wasn't sure that others would like it as much as I do. I'm so ready for the meeting; it should be a blast!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
A New Writer: Write Every Day Challenge, Day #9
So I completely forgot to write yesterday! Shame on me! But instead of starting all over again, today will be Day #9 (yesterday was supposed to be Day #9), and I will write two different ways today: this blog and another type (free write, work on my old Script Frenzy script or NaNoWriMo novel, etc.). I know this kind of negates the "Write Every Day" idea, but I can't keep starting over every time I miss one day. I really will try not to miss any more days, though.
So since I've been doing this Write Every Day Challenge (or actually, since I participated in NaNoWriMo last year), I've been feeling like my old self again. I can actually say I'm a writer again. I've always considered myself a writer, but for a long time I hadn't written much of anything, so I felt like a poser when I would call myself a writer. But now I feel like I'm telling the truth. So I started doing this challenge and I even bought myself an issue of Writer's Digest (I know, fancy, right?). [Note: I wanted to make a link to their webpage but every time I try to go to the page, it says "Server Error." I'm not sure if this is an error on my end or their's - my husband would know, but alas, he is not home right now (he's at work - he's the one who makes the money in this family until I find my big story and become a famous novelist ;) )]
Anyway I read the magazine and have been looking at things online and suddenly I feel like I'm a new writer. Like I don't have years of experience writing and a Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing. I do have these things, but all this advice on character and plot, tips on getting a literary agent, and terms like "blurb" and "beta reader" have me baffled. I feel so green.
Luckily I have some friends who know way more about this than I do, and NaNo is coming up fast, so I'll have other writers to talk to. I also hope to go to a writer's conference next year.
But until then, I'll just keep on writing, just keep up with my Write Every Day Challenge, and my writing can only get better!
So since I've been doing this Write Every Day Challenge (or actually, since I participated in NaNoWriMo last year), I've been feeling like my old self again. I can actually say I'm a writer again. I've always considered myself a writer, but for a long time I hadn't written much of anything, so I felt like a poser when I would call myself a writer. But now I feel like I'm telling the truth. So I started doing this challenge and I even bought myself an issue of Writer's Digest (I know, fancy, right?). [Note: I wanted to make a link to their webpage but every time I try to go to the page, it says "Server Error." I'm not sure if this is an error on my end or their's - my husband would know, but alas, he is not home right now (he's at work - he's the one who makes the money in this family until I find my big story and become a famous novelist ;) )]
Anyway I read the magazine and have been looking at things online and suddenly I feel like I'm a new writer. Like I don't have years of experience writing and a Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing. I do have these things, but all this advice on character and plot, tips on getting a literary agent, and terms like "blurb" and "beta reader" have me baffled. I feel so green.
Luckily I have some friends who know way more about this than I do, and NaNo is coming up fast, so I'll have other writers to talk to. I also hope to go to a writer's conference next year.
But until then, I'll just keep on writing, just keep up with my Write Every Day Challenge, and my writing can only get better!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Writing Away
So yesterday I challenged myself: Write Every Day. This is me doing it. ;)
I came up with a plot for a new book a month or so ago. I was really inspired by the movie, Inception. It's really amazing. My plot really has nothing to do with the plot of Inception, but more to do with using the actress Ellen Page as a muse. My main character is based on her and some of the characters she has played. I actually can see this story in my head, which makes me think that, instead of using it as my NaNoWriMo plot in November, I may stick it on the shelf until Script Frenzy in April, and turn it into a screenplay.
This, unfortunately, means that I need to come up with a new plot for NaNo. This is the hardest part of writing for me. I remember, back in high school and in my early college years, I would just write. I would sit down and put a pen to paper and write and write. I hardly ever crossed anything out, I was quite against revision for a while, and I never worried about coming up with a plot or metaphor or form for my poetry or stories. Even before then, I wrote tons of stories as a child, and I never seemed to have a problem coming up with a plot line, or characters, or anything. Then I took all these Creative Writing classes in college where you actually have to write in certain forms and read your work to the class and give and receive constructive criticism. My writing got better, but it slowed down. I no longer wrote several poems a day. I was lucky if I even wrote at all on any given day. I would want to write, but I'd sit down with paper and a pen or at my computer and look at a blank page. I felt the need to come up with some type of form, plot, metaphor, whatever before I could even begin to write the thing. I could no longer simply write.
It's still this way to this day. This is why this challenge will be so great for me. I've always considered myself a writer but when I have nothing to show for it, when I do no work for such a long time, I feel like I'm lying to myself and to the world. Now that I'm challenging myself to write every day, hopefully I will be able to return to that sense of freedom in writing. I need to realize that, as long as I'm writing every day, doing what I love to do, it doesn't matter if it's perfect. In fact, it's not going to be perfect. It's going to be horrible, lovely, confusing, amateurish, witty, repugnant, awesome and crazy. But it won't be perfect. But it will be me, and I'll feel more like me than I've felt in years.
Oh, and I started Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. So far, so good!
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