Keystrokes and Caffeine: Saunter's Writing Endeavours

Winner...but not really

2010-12-02T09:07:00.001-05:00

Well, I got to 50k, but I only have half a story and a ton of typos. I can't believe how unmotivated I was... and still am. I really need to start working on this story completion, and edit this as soon as I can... otherwise I'll have yet another unfinished work in my pile.

...who am I kidding?

Catching up

2010-11-23T21:15:00.003-05:00

13 Hours. 13535 words.

That included spending 6 hours escorting contractors around my building (they installed a bathroom vent, yay!), an hour grocery shopping, and an hour making pumpkin bread and doing the dishes. Not bad, for being so lazy this month. I'll win, hands down.

I have a plot, though it's nothing like what I envisioned when I started. Now it's like some Romeo & Juliet in college with a bunch of mental problems, as compared to a motivational speech/book. Hey, whatever works.

...I kind of wish I could make some write-ins, but with my work schedule, it's hard. I guess I should've been motivated to go to those at least. Oops. :(

Almost Halfway Through November

2010-11-13T08:44:00.002-05:00

...and I've written 5 of the 12 days thus far. My work sucks - bad hours and last weekend I worked the whole weekend so I had no time to write. At all. I have not made writing a priority. I feel like a complete loser once again, but I don't have a plot so I don't know where I'm going yet.

Just thought I'd make a depressing status update. I'll still win, but I'm just not feeling this novel at all...

Status Update

2010-11-05T09:53:00.004-04:00

Yeah, I can write. Now that I'm pretty proficient at Dvorak, my hands race when I'm writing out ideas. So it's day 4 and my word count just broke 15k.

NaNoWriMo isn't really a competition for me any more. I can write. I just need to get back into the swing of writing, and still need to learn to edit.

So my goal is to break 50k for the sake of winning, and then really try to go back and make a story out of the wall of text that I've written. Because I only started to get into the real story in the last 1k of words I've hammered out thus far.

I will be computer-less this weekend, thus others will have a chance to catch up with me. I'm not too keen to have that, as I do want to spank everyone else. It's the greedy, competitive part of me. I have no fear of losing, but just want to get the hard part over with. But then again, after I get to the deadline, I'll need to set up another one, or else it's going to again fall away, I'm certain...

So go try and catch me! Quick, while my guard's down! Ninjas say write!

Still absolutely nowhere

2010-11-01T10:22:00.003-04:00

It's November again. Time for another round of National Novel Writing Month. I'm not motivated at all. This summer my dad nearly died a few times and was in the hospital from April until September. That's what I blame on not doing anything all year.

I'm gonna try to do NaNo this year, but it's easy for me to write 50k. I still need to work on a storyline, and finishing said storyline in 50k. I might cheat and do pseudo-non-fiction, which is kind of cheating but I'm still fictionalizing real events so maybe it's not actually non-fiction? Either way, I need to do something to rekindle my writing spark.

Ugh. Here we go again....

I don't know what a chapter is.

2010-07-08T20:15:00.003-04:00

I have gone through two more 'chapters'. But I find that I am pretty fail at making chapters. I used to never write in chapters, but I tried it out for the word count of chapter titles this past NaNoWriMo. Before then, I just put a space between any scene or thought as I wrote and never made chapter divisions (what I would think of as a number or title to divide the story, compared to my lowly character returns). So I'm finding that many of my chapters may not really be long enough, or that two chapters may be better as one chapter with a space separator between scenes within the chapters. It sounds like a crazy rant, but I guess that's how crazy my freestyle writing can be. But at this point, I'm just laughing at my horrible chapter skills, and will work on adding true chapter points, numbers and possibly titles later.

Start

2010-07-01T20:39:00.002-04:00

Edited: 2 Chapters of Tales of Old Glory. Goal: Full edit in July. Don't know if it's NaNoEdMo, but it's my EdMo. I need to get going, or I'm never going to make it. You can't be a writer without a book to sell.

Reset

2010-05-10T21:10:00.003-04:00

I thought my life was bad before, but it pretty much was turned upside down this past month. My father is in the hospital for an indefinite time, waiting for a transplant. I am starting a new job. I saw Paris. I have had only a few full days to myself, which are now swamped with errands and chores. There has been no time to write.

And yet, I know that I am a dreamer, and not one to do that which is dreamed. I need to change that. Can I be the change that I want to see in the world?

I need to.

Saying I have done something is so much greater than saying that I will. And saying I will is all I seem to ever say. Here's hoping that I can learn this action track.

Stagnation

2010-04-12T21:21:00.002-04:00

I haven't written in forever. I hate myself for that, but I decided to do some real life stuff that I've put off for years.

Good news: I got a bank safety deposit box, and within it is a CD of all my writing. Even though none of it is done yet. I really have to get back into writing. At least most of these chores are almost done...

NaNoWriMo Simultaneous Winner and Loser @@

2009-11-20T18:43:00.003-05:00

I WIN!!!

Yep, was right on track with my 2-2.5k a day method, and finished up after work with this little sprint to the end.

Unfortunately, I also lose, because although I finished the last scene, I did skip four or five scenes to get here. I'll spend the rest of the month fleshing them out, and by the end of November I -will- have a complete story ready for editing . Here goes!

How I write so much (apparently)

2009-11-09T18:20:00.006-05:00

Writing is going well. I am setting my goals at 2k on weekends, and 2.5k on weekdays, when I can pound out a k at lunch break. It's working quite well, and I just broke 22k, far ahead of schedule. I like being ahead, as it leaves me a buffer in case something comes up... as it always does around Thanksgiving time.

I am a big fan of word wars, where you race against someone for word count over a specific period of time. Unfortunately, none of my RL friends are writing this year, and I'd waste more time in the NaNoWriMo forums than I would make up during a word war. Write or die is fine for me, but it's nothing like beating a real human being at a competition. (We all love being winners, don't we?) Since I don't have this, yesterday I trolled the forums, looking for -anyone- in the DC region that had more words than me. Of course, I don't know any of them, but I friended them, and at least now most of the friends on my friendlist will have more words than me, thus motivating me to write more (I hope).

Since I got in my word count for today, I think I'll browse some of their profiles now. Hopefully some are in for a bit of competitive writing. Wheee!

And we're off!

2009-11-02T19:58:00.004-05:00

As always, November came upon me a little too fast. The last week of October seemed like it was by before I even had a list of what I wanted to finish up before the massive month of writing began. But that's okay. I have a plot this year. And holy crap, is it helping. You're supposed to do 1,667 words a day to reach 50k without a worry. I'm well past 5k now.

I may have thought I was a pantser at heart, but I'm gonna plot whenever I can from now on. After all, my ideas are originally pantsed at some point, right?

My monies may soon leave me

2009-10-15T20:52:00.005-04:00

HOLY EFF THE WILL WRITE FOR WINE CHICK IS A PRIZE PERSON IN NANO THIS YEAR ^^ (she's aka Lani Diane Rich btw...)

It's a thing NaNoWriMo does to draw donations for the Office of Letters and Light, their non-profit organization that promotes writing around the world to youth, the impoverished, etc. I am sorely tempted to donate muchly, and encourage you to do the same. I may be able to make a marathon donation page again, where you can sponsor me to write and the money all goes to NaNo through me. Stay tuned as I research this option once more.

Going it alone

2009-10-15T20:09:00.002-04:00

Sometimes things happen in real life. Sometimes it happens to a lot of people at once. Real life can be a bitch like that. Normally it's I that have the problems, but this time for the past few weeks it's been every single person from my writing group that has something going on.

So I've pushed myself a bit more and am going it alone. I'm working every day on fleshing out my plot for NaNoWriMo. I have a map, a sketch of a new kind of fae creature, character backgrounds, and a pretty good plot outline. It rocks, even though I'm being all antisocial about it. But really, it's not my fault. :P

How I record my writing (is there a word other than write?)

2009-09-24T19:17:00.004-04:00

There are many ways to record your writing. Some people like to use pencil/pen and paper. Some prefer using their blackberry with attachable foldey-keyboard. Many others use laptops when on the go, and also whatever computer they have when at home.

A huge issue for me is that my home computer is a homemade PC with Windows XP and I actually bought a Mac for write-ins (coffee-shop meet ups for NaNo). These are mostly incompatible, in terms of writing software, unless you get a Windows emulator for the Mac, such as xTerm, which can run Open Office. This worked all right for me the first NaNo, but as writing group went on afterwards, the hassle of having to save from Open Office format to a .doc format got annoying. And then I always saved fractions of the novel depending on the system I used, which left me with a shit-ton of fragments.

The solution proposed to me was GoogleDocs. It's accessible on the intrawebz, so I can write in it in either my Mac or PC (provided the wireless at the write-in is working). It can be saved as a document, and also is stored online. Also, it has the added bonus of an autosave feature, and it won't disappear if your computer crashes, your house explodes, or some other badness befalls your works written so far.

There may be other ways, and please, let me know, but this one is doing well.

Already thinking about cheating....

2009-09-22T17:57:00.002-04:00

The beautiful thing about NaNoWriMo is that it is really easy to cheat. You can go on a rant, ramble, quote songs or verses of Shakespeare, or repeatedly use long phrases or names. For example, instead of calling your main character (MC) Sue, you could call her Daisy Sue, and then every time you write her name, it's automatically DOUBLE! the wordcount.

There is a prince in my book. I have decided that every time his playmates address him, they have to add "Your Highness" at the end of each statement. If I'm struggling for wordcount, I can always change that to add at the end something like "Your Highness, Young Prince and To Be Ruler of the Fair Kingdom of West High Rains" or something of the sort....

...but that's cheating. And besides, do I -really- need that much extra wordcount? Nah. It's probably just to get to the goal faster. I just need to remember, my goal is to -finish- the novel at 50,000. No need to rush there by cheating, right?

Not again...

2009-09-12T21:33:00.003-04:00

So I got another story idea. It's kind of like fanning the flames when you are in a "writing thought mode." Sometimes you get ideas that don't fit the story you're supposed to be brainstorming about. But that's all right... I'm doing my note thing. I just don't like getting these new ideas because I don't have time to write about all these stories I have dancing about in my head. Not yet. Not with a full time job and a social life.

I think that "writer's block" is a fantasy. It's not real. Saying you have writer's block can be a symptom of a few things.... hesitation to commit, procrastination, fear... maybe just a frustration with the novel and desire to get it out right. Maybe it's something else. The brain might shut down, but that doesn't mean you should stop writing. Just remember Write or Die, and those notes/story ideas that you may have jotted down. It's not too bad, as long as you keep writing... even if it means embracing your pantser side. Keep going. Fan the embers that are left. Bring back that firestorm of ideas.

Pantsing or Plotting?

2009-09-10T18:46:00.003-04:00

As I learned from the Will Write for Wine podcast, there are two ways to write a book: Pantsing or Plotting. Pantsing is a cute way to say that you fly by the seat of your pants when you write. You have no idea what's going to happen, and just go for broke. You write and hope that the story works itself out while you pound away at the keyboard. This is what NaNoWriMo is perfect for. You can just wing it and the content doesn't matter. All you need to do is get to 50,000 words. This is how I have always written.

There are people, I hear, who hate NaNoWriMo for this very reason. It can be a massive waste of time and effort if the story is crap, or if it's all just useless ranting and not even a story. I like to say that if you get anything out of NaNo, whether it is a character, story idea, even a good line or two, then it's worth it. Plus, it gets people to write. How can that be a bad thing?

...other than that giant waste of time, and the 48,000+ words that you may end up throwing out as just rubbish. The way to try to avoid it is the dreaded idea of plotting. For some, this may come easily, but I am a procrastinator, and hell, if I procrastinate so long that I can't plot out my book, I am still a great pantser.

The idea of plotting is that you have either a story idea, or character, or setting that you feel you need to tell a story about. You take what your idea is, and develop the world around it. You create characters, each with their own backstory, ideals, and desires. You create the physical setting. You create the story arc, with the typical beginning, middle end. You add in subplots, mini-stories, challenges that your protagonist must face (and sometimes fail at) in order to reach the end of the story. It's a crap-ton of elements. And for each of these elements of plotting people have written countless how-to-write-this books. Plotting's not easy and requires time, effort, and organization.

When you plot, you need a way to record the plot, and I am trying to just use a word document. Some people use sticky notes, spreadsheets, workbooks... you name it. I have no idea if my document will become so long that it is more of a novel than a plot outline, but I have to start somewhere. I've never plotted this intensely before... all I may have normally is a scrap of paper, a quote, a character sketch. Most of my story I make up as I write and paste my ideas into this 'plot' document, so I remember what I created. It's disorganized, but it's worked for me so far. I'm hoping that if I really plot this next story idea out, and do it well, I may have at the end of November the closest thing to a novel that I have written thus far.

If you would like me to expand on any of these thoughts, please let me know. There are so many things I could keep blogging about, but I think this is enough for this post. ^^

Planning for November

2009-09-03T18:55:00.003-04:00

The fact that I have two active story ideas dueling in my head is beginning to get to me. Every day I have at least a couple things that I need to jot down, and they get my mind going. It feels great, like week one of NaNoWriMo way early. And it lasts for so much longer because there's no pressure to pump out words.

At writing group, everyone is starting to plan to plan to make our plots before NaNo. This is how it always goes. Supposedly now that it's September, if we start outlining the plot, making the settings, and creating the characters and all that now, then we'll have our novel hot and ready to go on November 1st. But then we never do, which isn't a massive deal, because the unofficial motto of NaNaWriMo is "No Plot? No Problem!"

But I fortunately fell into this plot planning scheme. It is great, but I wonder if I could do all this planning work if I didn't have a fresh idea in my brain. (Speaking of brains, they are tasty, as I Twittered (part2) about. Crispy fried in butter with capers. Mmmmmm.) But wondering if I could do planning any other year doesn't matter this year. I've chosen which idea I want to run with. Now to flesh the plot out before November.

For the past couple NaNos, I have finished my 50,000 with time to spare, but I still had way too much of the plot left that I hadn't written. As is chronicled earlier in this blog, these past NaNo endeavours have yet to be finished (and edited). It's horrid. With this plot planning, I'm hoping that I can find some way to actually fit the entire novel into the 50,000. That's my goal for this year.

Writing Group Returns!

2009-08-19T19:35:00.005-04:00

Another few months, another few excuses. This time I flew around the world and visited Australia and the UK. Great excuses, and of course it meant that I completely failed the deadline of finishing edits on Studies. NEW GOAL! I'm going to try and get it done before November and the actual National Novel Writing Month begins.

While I was in the UK, the weekly writing group started to e-mail again, and as of last Wednesday, we're meeting weekly once more! I'm getting a fresh start, but of course between the hiatus of editing and traveling I have come up with yet -another- novel concept, and am trying not to get started on writing it before November (since it would be cheating to write before November began, though I can use the brainstorms that have been passing through my mind for NaNo). So now I have to keep myself in check. Part of the thrill of writing is having that fresh idea, seeing where it leads you and what exciting new passages you will discover yourself to have written in a blur of keystrokes and caffeine.

Keystrokes and Caffeine. Damn, that would be another good name for this blog. ^^

Speaking of which, I'll try and do the blog thing again, and we'll see how it goes.

Post Script to the Norwescon postings; I will be going back next year. The people I met there are the main reason: I'd love to see them all again, and at cons it ends up being more of a reunion when they are as small as Norwescon is. And of course, I love the dorky sci-fi workshops. FTW.

Naming Issues

2009-07-15T19:39:00.003-04:00

I know I haven't updated in forever. Real life has been busy but pleasant. Unfortunately, writing has gone to the wayside. This is about to change once more.

One thing that has never left my mind is the criticism from the Norwescon Panel that "Saunter Maelstrom" was too odd a name to be a good author's name. Since then, I've pondered what other last name might possibly be good enough for me to like and feel connected to.

I have settled upon Logan as my last name. It is supposedly a surname on my mother's mother's side, which I am more connected to emotionally, and it also has a bit of genealogy to it. It is the last name of a woman in my family directly related to Daniel Boone. Yeah, he's not the best famous person to be related to, but it's what I got. :P

A post script correction from a tweet

2009-04-22T18:47:00.003-04:00

This is the bad archaeology website: http://www.badarchaeology.net/

And this is a good example of things they like to omit: http://www.badarchaeology.net/data/ooparts/nampa.php

Norwescon Summary

2009-04-22T18:31:00.004-04:00

If you read my recent Twitter posts, you would have heard that I had the inevitable flight problems. I ended up getting home about four hours later than I was supposed to, after taking a seven hour delay. Not bad, all considering.

I like this Twitter thing. (Let's just try to keep it writing focused??)

All in all, I enjoyed Norwescon very much. The people were friendly, the food was decent, and the dances were pretty rockin'. But I enjoyed it more for the panels about the English language and alternative histories, theoretical futures, and discussions on novels past and present than for all the costumes, events, etc. that also went with the con. I think I may not go again, and opt for a closer writer's convention. That really was the bit that I liked best.

My review was also very positive, which I was surprised about. But then, I'm of the belief that you expect the worst and hope for the best. They exceeded my expectations. I have a good story, one that has action and draws the reader in. I just need to develop my characters and cut out even more of the backstory. I think I'm going to end up writing my encyclopedia before I ever publish, but that could be a good thing. The only bad thing about my review was that they said there's no market for this kind of story right now. Ah well. It gives me more time to make this story really work.

In trouble...

2009-03-27T20:00:00.003-04:00

I'm in trouble. I was editing every day, even had an alarm set for 7pm every day. Then last week I realized that I hadn't yet pasted in the second of the original three books. That's another hundred plus pages. The part I was editing was about a hundred. Seeing that, I gave up. I know, that's lame, but I do have other things, like working on my costumes, getting my camera and art book ready, etc. that I want to do to prep for the con.

I'm still working on editing, but not every day. At this point I don't think I'll have anything resembling a first draft manuscript for Norwescon. I may only have two hundred pages of snippets that I bring with me. Fail.

Edit Update

2009-03-08T20:31:00.002-04:00

Just so I don't forget about this blog, I'm going to try and put in updates! Right now I -appear- to be halfway through my novel, at 53 pages out of 103 pages, single spaced. Of course, we're talking preliminary, spelling and sanity check editing. After this, I need to put things in chronological order, and then do a smoothing edit. If I can get that far, I think I'll be happy.

T-minus 3 weeks and counting...

O, Blog, why do I keep forgetting about thee?

2009-03-02T20:12:00.004-05:00

Wow.

I have actually been working on editing my novel since my last post, believe it or not. I created a two chapter manuscript and summarized my novel for submission to the Norwescon Writers' Workshop. And now I'm editing my whole novel.

To my advantage, March is National Novel Editing Month, so I am going to get a certificate as well as finish up my novel editing this month. Fwee! But seriously, I want to get it done before the last week of the month. That way I can print out a proof copy and read a hard copy to check for any more blatant errors that are lurking in the depths of my pages.

I want to have a couple first drafts of a final manuscript for the con just in case. There may be editors or publishers there that could be interested. And as ridiculously improbable it is that they would ask to see my manuscript, I plan to be ready for it.

Logline!

2008-12-11T20:17:00.004-05:00

I'm submitting a manuscript for review at Norwescon. It's the first two chapters, which are rough because I'm trying to balance introducing an entirely new universe with making the story interesting enough to read.

Here's the logline I made... I think it's a little long ><

Superpowered humans fight a civil war: one side trying to overthrow the other to make their moral and ethical positions the new law. Drawn into the conflict, a splintering family must try to survive government conspiracy, rebellion, human experimentation and a madman's quest for vengeance.

I'll hopefully get feedback there in the spring. And between now and then, I plan to get the rest of my novel edited. From there, I'll start looking for an agent. I think I want to go through one instead of blindly submitting my manuscript everywhere.

Winner!

2008-11-30T21:18:00.002-05:00

Ph34r teh Viking w1nnar!!

I got 50k more words for my novel written this month. Now to edit it and flush out all the transitions. I have two weeks to get a draft together. Wheeeee

The end is near! o.O

2008-11-25T22:24:00.003-05:00

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As my story begins to get to the actual plot, I'm breaking my old records for words per ten minutes. I swear, this blog is turning into a living ad for Write or Die, but it really works.

For a status report, I have completely plotted the story now. I am working on the beginning of the story on my open computer at work, and at home. All that's left is to get the mother to the final battle. I accidentally wrote the battle already, so that part is done. At work, every ten minutes I take a break and write one or two sentences in the end of the novel, about her son being captured once more. All that's left is to make him angsty about the whole situation and end the book. The thing is, since it's once every ten minutes or so, that part sounds more like an outline than a story. I will have to go back in and smooth it out, but at least it's looking like a story now.

I plan to have the plot done in the next couple days, and then I'll begin fleshing out scenes I skipped or glossed over for the sake of getting to the action sooner. That keeps me excited about my writing. There's nothing worse than a boring, non-stop yarn about some scene that I keep writing about just for the sake of wordcount.

One more week...

2008-11-23T20:54:00.004-05:00

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Save me. I'm behind still, but seriously, with the way my life is going, and how well I can type now, I'm so proud of myself. I'm gonna finish this, and hopefully have some time to start the edit. I plan to submit to Norwescon, and the text is due Sunday, December 14. Yay deadlines FTW.

It's NaNoWriMo Once More....

2008-11-13T22:43:00.002-05:00

Yep, I once more stopped trying with the blog. But I have worked on my novel more. After a pained few weeks of wondering if I'd pussy out and write a NaNo about an online RP I'm in, I decided enough with that. I'm going to write the beginning and the ending to this book I'm trying to get published, damn it.

...of course, I schedule surgery for November. And a holiday at a brewery for Thanksgiving. This month is gonna suck.

	508

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Anrea sent me this. It's pretty sick.... the program is fun, but really, what's sick is that with Dvorak typing, on my new wave keyboard, I can freaking fly when I want to.

I'll make it. I just hope I can get all my story in before I hit 50k. That has never happened to me before. :sweat:

so.... it's been a while....

2008-10-01T18:50:00.003-04:00

I tried the deadline thing. Without something really solid, or someone really harping on me, it doesn't work so well. My excuse is real life. All of this year, various things have been given more priority than writing. I don't want that. But I want my real life to be bearable.

...the thing is, I want writing to be my career. And there's only one way to get there. But can I sacrifice my life now for a future I really want to see?

Do you really think 2000-year-old calculators are that amazing?

2008-07-31T20:03:00.003-04:00

This is why I hate people. In general, everyone is so fecking selfish and only want wealth and power. Even today.

The destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria and the Catholic Church's rise to power (and subsequent repression of everything creative and scientific that might have brought current knowledge back to the level scholars were at milennia ago) are humanity's worst crimes upon itself.

I mourn our loss of knowledge every day.

ZOMG August is EdMo!

2008-07-30T20:20:00.003-04:00

I don't know how long it's supposed to take to edit. And there's always an excuse to do something else, even when this is what I want. So I'm resorting to deadlines again. I hereby proclaim August as my Editing Month, and will have at least a complete story, and most typos fixed by the end of the month. A friend from my writing group has volunteered to Beta for me, so I have nothing to worry about except getting him a copy of my novel!

One thing I should do is stop getting books out from the library (currently reading the Golden Compass) and print a copy of what's done to read through. What's cheaper, printing at Staples, or running it out my printer (I only have a colour cartridge (Yes, I'm cheap. I like the word stingy.))?

Hocrap editing

2008-07-09T19:22:00.003-04:00

I started reading my draft of Studies, which is the bit about the government agent watching the son of the werewolf chick. I know I need a faster beginning, but I'll likely cut out something from the middle to start it. That part should be easy (-ier?).

My first huge hurdle is going to be introducing the entire backstory of the Earth, and how these superpowered humans (I call them Channelers) came to be. Not only that, but the Channelers have various "sects" that divide them based on the skills they possess. Right now it is just my MC drifting off whilst sipping on coffee, remembering where this all started. It's relevant, since he started off by thinking about Chanellers changing from mundane humans into their superpowered selves. But it's too much at one time. But I want to get it out there. But maybe it's better to leave some as a mystery, to dole it out when needed and flesh it out as I go. I think that's what I'm supposed to do.

...time to rewrite!

-----

At the writing group tonight:
"There is no win."
"But there is Fail. I know that."

Getting organised

2008-06-25T18:53:00.004-04:00

The first thing I have to do is decide which book I am going to try submitting first. I have heard varying opinions on which is the right way to do this: to pick the one you enjoy the most (since by the end of editing it you will hate it), to pick the one with the best plot, the broadest arc and character development, or to pick the one that's closest to being complete.

In my efforts to learn more about the process, I did a quick search on Podcast Alley for writing podcasts. The title Will Write for Wine caught my interest, more because of the wine mention than its Podcast Alley rating. I took a wine class in university, and am intrigued by the breadth of wines out there. Anyways, I started listening to it, just to see if they had some good tips about writing in there. Somewhere in the mix of drunken mothers/authors (that write chick lit! (They call it romance...)) they did have tidbits of knowledge, and they amuse me with their drunken laughter and Lani's deep slurs. I'm sure there is better out there, but I stumbled upon this one and am pleased. Suggestions?

These two women suggest taking the fun approach, since after you're published it's more of a chore than pleasure. I am going to take that into account, but I also want to pick one with a great story arc. I have a few with potential. They all fit into a ginormous plot that outlines my science fiction universe, so eventually, you can read the whole history of the cosmos in my head.

A gang of kids, about 30 years in the future, learns how great nature is. They go through teen angst, bonding, and more angst.
Space pioneers crash land on a planet, which has an advanced Beacon and secrets of its own.
The Earth is attacked by aliens that hunt humans down for sport. They are nearly wiped out and are saved by two good strokes of fortune.
A shape-shifter hunts down rebels in a futuristic city.
Her son is the focus of a government conspiracy, and a plot to destroy the rebels for good...
...But no one knows the true source of all the angst for this family... none but the mages.
A boy is kidnapped and trained to be a soldier.
Two lovers flee oppression and try their fortune on Planet Pirate.

After talking to my Wednesdy writing group, it sounds like 4&5 are win, if I can combine them. I think I can. They have the best potential, and are in the middle of my universe. Everything is in bloom, but both the past and the future are yet to be seen.

My best poems

2008-05-30T21:44:00.003-04:00

Futility

A fragment of eternity
Is all that is granted to me.
My love, unable to be found
Becomes drowned out by death's dark sound.

Though now a shining crystal sky
Highlights life o'er my demise
It is clouded in my sight,
Dark and cold as winter's night.

Love's shapeless form is due and bound
To tumble harshly to the ground.
Though I have tried with all my might
I've never held a lover's light

Nor was I e'er prepared to face
Elusive love's subtle embrace.

15.06.2001

On the Dance Floor

Darkness lit by music.
It grows; I can feel
it pulsing with the beat,
drowning my body
in the rhythm of the dance,
promising a high…

This addiction, my soul’s high
as I soak in the music
and let myself dance
mindlessly. I can feel
the pulse in my body;
it echoes the music's beat.

In this night, the beat
unifies souls, lifting them high
above the sweat, the heat of bodies
basking in the music.
The rhythm numbs; all I can feel
is my soul's ghostly dance.

Immersed in the dance,
souls echo the beat
pulsing together, feeling
the rush, the high
of the midnight music
flowing through their bodies.

This feeling, fusing body
and soul in the dance
united by the music…
bodies consumed by the beat
of their souls, soaring higher…
Exult in such sweet feelings.

I am heady with the feelings
coursing through my body,
lifting me higher…
O, heartfelt, joyous dance
melding our hearts
together with music!

The music deafens feeling.
The beat surges through my body.
Never stop this dance, this addiction: life's high.

16.05.2004

Why?

2008-05-14T19:22:00.004-04:00

I fell in love with fantasy. My mind took shelter in the vivid scenes painted for me by authors, and I created characters that fit into the story. I began to imagine fanfiction... though I'm not even sure there was a name for it yet. Maybe it existed, but I hadn't discovered it yet.

I made a character that owned a bronze dragon on Pern, I was an unnoticed dark Jedi slaving away on some random Star Wars planet, I was a space explorer. And I wrote about it.

For years I did that, typing away os my word processor. This was before we had a real computer, although we had an Apple IIE, it was for gaming. Our word processor saved to 3.5" floppies, a definite advantage.

Then came our first computer, a mish-mosh spare part cheap department store thing, but it ran DOS and Windows 95. We loaded AOL, and I discovered chat rooms. Between online roleplaying and my fanfiction, my imagination flourished. I started my own fan newsletters for Harry Potter, Sailor Moon, and Star Trek.

However, at that time I also was in Writers' Sodality, and we brainstormed stories that were based on our own creativity. Some of the people in my group were -amazing-. I wanted to be like them. All the writing groups fostered my own imagination, and soon I was creating my own universe, with my own characters now at home in a world all of my own. By college, I had planned out half of Earth's future history. After three NaNos, I had all of it mapped out. Now I want to share it with the world, and foster others' imagination the way that fiction helped me get through grade school.

A not-so-brief history...

2008-05-06T22:26:00.005-04:00

Here's my sap story of how everything started for me:

I always loved English class, even though learning letters was -very- annoying. I remember sitting on the square primary coloured rug, with the letters of the alphabet running along the edges, facing inward, and some cheery design in the centre where the teacher would sit. There was a wall chart that had letters, and somewhere after "F f" my mind started wandering. Maybe I have ADD or ADHD or something, but I was so glad when that was over.

We learned Phonics. I always tried to be smarter than the rest of the class. I loved the attention. We would have reading races, five of us all reading through our identical cardboard books (See Spot I vividly remember), and me slamming my book closed having read all the pages before some were halfway through. O, the triumph!

After it, my social life went downhill. I got glasses in the second grade and was known as the nerd of the class. My crush got his glasses the same day as me. I would go to the school library and pine over the "restricted section" of the library, which housed the Nonfiction and Young Adult sections, and possibly the encyclopaedia sets. For long years I had to settle for picture books like "The Wizard of Id" and "Grimm's Faerie Tales". Then the Pets section opened up, and I read every book on every pet, and wanted them all. I began to read Rudyard Kippling and Orson Welles.

When I was finally allowed to read Nonfiction books, I was ecstatic. I chewed through Matthew Henson's biography with wicked pleasure. The world was my oyster, or something like that. It was, however, my social downfall, and I soon read through bus rides, lunch, and recess. I was reported to a counselor because of my lack of social skills. Yey me.

In middle school, I got into Science Fiction and Fantasy, thanks to my father. He loves Star Trek and Star Wars, and I started reading into them as well. I fell in love with Anne McCaffrey, and read every one of her books. She was amazing, and her works fueled my imagination, creating a vivid world in my mind that I strove to write on paper.

My first real bits of writing happened in eighth grade. They were short, crude, but expressive, and they got me invited into an 'elite' writing group in High School called the "Writers Sodality". It met every other week, and was a workshop, filled with writing prompts, sharing, food and kind, though nerdy, people. I learned so much, and eventually held office in the club.

In college I joined another writing group, "Inklings". It was smaller, but had bagels, and wonderful people as well. I decided on a Creative Writing minor, and took many classes that were incredibly enjoyable. I graduated with a 4.0 in my minor.

On one bus ride into high school, I heard a short snippet about some people who spent a month writing novels. Complete novels. I wanted to do something like that, but it was over, and I was half asleep when I heard it.

Years later, some friends online, and some friends at school reminded me of this feat, NaNoWriMo. I was keen, and it was about to start. I went in.

(Next post... why I want to write!)

And so it begins...

2008-05-01T19:02:00.004-04:00

Six months.

That's how long I have to mail out a manuscript to a publisher. Then it's November, a.k.a. National Novel Writing Month, and I write another novel. I have written six novels already, plus two 'scripts' and countless short stories and poems. All of my novels are in varying degrees of being finished. I want to finish them.

I write Science Fiction and Fantasy, with a push toward the classic Sci-Fi of the 1950's. (For a taste, look at some of Alfred Bester's Sci-Fi work. I recommend The Demolished Man, if you can find a copy. The Stars My Destination is also a classic, and has been made a comic book as well.)

Having a quarter of a century behind me, I decided that this year I'd pull it all out; I might as well get started. So I'm off, and hoping to use this blog to record my progress. I also hope to post writing exercises up here and show off some of my works.

"Let's get started! Ready, steady go!" (YouTube link to the song!)

(And shout-outs to whomever knows this title's sci-fi reference...)