Tag Archives: camp nano

New Project Feels…Nice

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So I tell myself: Okay. Today, you are going to get back in the saddle and write. I decided to take a break after doing Camp Nano. Okay, true, I failed to hit 50k? Buuuut 50k wasn’t -my- personal goal. Hitting the big, shiny “The End” on my novella was. I hit 42k and The End. I felt time to congratulate myself was in order. So I took a break and started plotting my next few projects and how I’m going to approach them.

Well the project I finally decided to tackle was the rewrite/revision (because not all the words need rewritten, just rewording) of my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel, Spellbound. I wrote 50k of it, plotted out most of the end (but not…the ending? Why not? I don’t remember…) and filed it away because, in that instance, 50k was my goal for that month. I figured I’d get back to it in January and all would be awesome. Not so much. I kept passing it off until a Shiny New Idea came forward…and I wrote that.

Oh well, what’s done is done. Well I’ve decided to rework Spellbound, which is the tale of a desert Wyvern princess and a Magi slave. I’ve figured out character motivations, their goals, and my conflict. I fleshed out the characters a bit (because Spellbound was my first pantsed novel; I jumped into it with wild abandon, not even knowing the characters’ names) and figured out a real beginning. And I ran with it.

Things have changed, but I found (pleasantly!) that I was able to reuse a lot of my ‘old’ words. They just needed…reworded. Some of it has changed, because the plot and pacing is different, but on the whole, it feels nice. It feels nice to be writing again. I figure I’ll run with it through everything I have plotted, meanwhile figuring out my ending.

I’m aiming for 1.5k a night, which will give me…24,000 words by September 30th. Not bad for half a month’s work :) I would like it done by Halloween, right before NaNo 2011 starts up :)

Speaking of Halloween…I cannot wait >3 I love Halloween.

Of course it's a cat :)

Another One Bites The Dust

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So, after burning out of my YA paranormal, Hunger, and taking a long break, I decided I needed to switch it up. Maybe I was just burned out of YA. I decided: Do something adult for once. Well, characters formed in my head and I came up with a plot, and it slowly became my Camp Nano novel, Bonedust.

It was absolutely freeing to write something with no holds barred, where my characters could be as down and dirty as they needed to be, and the violence could be wonderfully bloody :) I just -needed- it. And loved Bonedust for several thousand words. My characters were witty, it was romantic and sexy, and I enjoyed it.

But of course, around 40k, with just a few scenes left on my outline till THE END, my mind started coming up with new ideas. Fluffy YA ideas. I wanted so badly to shelf BD and work on a Shiny New Idea. My bff and crit partner, Sadie Hart, told me I wasn’t allowed LOL. So after a few days of procrastinating, I decided to just…sit down and do it. Get it over with, for better or worse. Ever have that feeling?

So last night, despite the hundreds of breaks I took, I finished Bonedust. It was hard…but yanno? Also rewarding: I finished another book this year. Score! -cue applause- And I can’t wait to put it on my Kindle and re-read it. Once I’ve taken a break from it. I may attempt to publish it…someday. I’m not 100% sure yet. I don’t have to make that decision today. Or even tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I’m considering finishing up my 2010 (yet unfinished but sitting at 50k) YA Nano novel and making that 3 books finished this year. We’ll see!

Officially Under Construction

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As you might be able to tell from the generic-looking preset header…I’m finally getting my blog under construction (cue applause…no? crickets work too!) I’ve figured out exactly how I want my banner to look, I’ve picked out the stock images I’ll be buying, and it’s just a matter of putting all the images together in one final image that I cannot -wait- to finish :) It’s so…me and I’m so excited to reveal it :D

Meahwhile, I’m working on getting two of my YA shorts edited, polished and ready to submit to Smashwords. They will be freebies, to give you a little taste of my writing style. You will be able to find them shortly under the Free Fiction section of My Projects. Descriptions will be up soon, but they’re both romantic and about Faeries. (I’ll admit, I went through an uber-Faerie phase! Who hasn’t?)

And on the Camp NaNoWriMo front…yeah, I’m not gonna finish before the 31st! LOL. BUT I did get a short story as well as most of an adult romance novella (I’ve got about 5 scenes to go before THE END!). I’m gonna work like crazy to see if I can reach the end of Bonedust by August 31st…but as for reaching 50k? I doubt it’ll happen. STILL. I’m proud of myself.

At the same time, I’m working on Wolfsong’s query and synopsis, as well as the plots for  a possible sequel (although it can easily stand alone), and I hope to start sending it out to agents by January 2012.  I’ve been busy, but it’s a good feeling to start accomplishing stuff again.

I need to jump back into my shifter/kelpie WIP, Hunger, and finish it before November, because I do plan on competing in NaNoWriMo again! Probably another full-rewrite, rather than a Shiny New Idea (though I’ve got a crapload of those!) Which would be epic if I won, because that would mean I’d finished…4 books this year? Go me!

But we’ll see. No one knows what the future holds! Anyone else planning on doing NaNo this year? Do you already have your stories chosen, your charrie bios filled out and your plots fiddled with? Or do you wait until November 1st and just jump in?

Long Day Was Long

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First thing’s first: 19k for Camp Nano :) Whoot, ahead of the game by a couple of thousand words, which is making me feel pretty darn good. My goal is to finish my novella-novel (unsure which it is at the moment) by August 31st, rather than 50,000 words. (Okay, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to get 50k! I just don’t foresee my story being that long! Still, I’ve got another novella I need done by Jan, so I may start that :D )

This past week we’ve had my stepsisters for their last days of summer vacation before school starts (I believe they’re going into 10th grade, 5th grade and Kindergarten, respectively). I’ll admit–I’m not a big little-kid fan. They drive me insane and I stress out when the 3 bedroom house is full of 7-10 people (this includes blood family, step family and whatever friends my sibs have over). I typically hide out in my bedroom until they leave, but a week’s a little long to only come out to use the bathroom and eat LOL. So I endured. They were good and I actually -gasp- enjoyed their company…until today, at least, when I woke up too early and before breakfast the 5-year-old was nagging me: “I wanna play Barbie.com!”. Uh, no. Eat your cereal and shaddup! XD (Okay, I’m not THAT mean…kinda)

Then of course we had my new puppy, Remy’s neuter scheduled for today. Mom got up at 6 am, took him to our low-cost spay/neuter clinic some 30 minutes away, and came back. We estimated picking him up between 5-6 pm, giving us time for a nap. Upon learning that the girls’ mom couldn’t come until 6, and we’d be in town then with no one home to watch them, we (read: I) had a little spazz attack. So we changed plans, got permission to drop the girls off at their grandma’s place…and then the clinic called and said we had to pick Remy up between 2-3pm. Cue panic x 2. Add into the mix the fact that long-distance car rides make me anxious (and long-distance car rides + 2 talkative kids under 10 make me even MORE anxious? Yes I’m a naturally nervous person–I’m on meds for a reason xD)

Long, long day.

But in the end? I got some amaaaazing Japanese teriaki chicken on fried rice? To. Die. For. Plus the fact that we swung past my friend’s place and visited for a little bit. The day turned out pretty good ;)

Remy’s home and no worse for the wear; the anesthetic’s already worn off and now we’ve been instructed to keep him “quiet” for 7-10 days. Even though Remy is part doxie, and my other doxies are…well…lazy? Remy is young and spirited and races laps around the front yard on a Flexi-leash every night. And we’re supposed to keep him quiet? LOL. Ohboy. He’s not even been home three hours and he’s wanting to go-go-go. Having a couple of parts removed has not phased him. He looks at me with those big, melty-chocolate eyes and practically says “Moooommmm whyyyyy?” xD So cute. Can’t help but love him <3

See what I mean about melty-chocolate eyes? :D

Hello again!

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Summer of 2011 has been kicking my butt.

First thing, I burnt out after 30k of Hunger, my YA SocNoc novel and I just couldn’t force it any longer. I went into a depression-like-state that made me unhappy, unwanting to do anything but sleep. I pondered hibernation, but I decided it wouldn’t work since I’m not a bear (and my bladder hates me. SO!).

Then, just as I got a little spark of Muse and went back to Hunger, my cat started acting odd. Sick. Not like herself. Of course, Pandora being my favorite cat, I was panicked and in tears. She wasn’t eating, drinking, going to the litterbox. She just…laid there. Lethargic. I assumed it was a hairball–she’d done this before, months ago. I gave her hairball medicine…and she didn’t fight me (and believe me when I say this cat fiiiiights). That’s when I noticed a smear of something gross on the bed. Many angsts and a bucket of tears later, we got her into the only vet that was not booked…and it turned out she had pyometra, which is an infection in the uterus. Rare in cats, but she’d never really gone into season so we didn’t spay her. Had we not found it as soon as we did, she’d be gone. Needless to say, thank God for Care Credit. They were the only way we were able to afford her emergency surgery. She’s back. She was so so so happy to be home. She’s now recovered and her shaved belly hair is growing back. Turns out, she had a large cyst on her left ovary that kept her from going into heat. So basically my cat had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome…just like me. LOL. I love her so so much. I’m so happy to have her healthy again.

So, I was ready to write once more… Then my parents went camping and brought home a puppy and I fell in love. He’s an all black, wire haired dachshund-chihuahua (chi-weenie! XD). 5 months old–his owner’s daughter was really sick and between allergies and her hospital bills, they couldn’t afford him…and Mom couldn’t leave him behind. I laid eyes on him and melted. Just. Melted. I scooped him into my arms…and he became Remy. Remy is the name I’ve had picked out for my next dog for over a year. I’d planned on a little longhair doxie, maybe spring/summer of 2012. Female. Preferrably chocolate or dappled. Not a chiweenie, and not a boy. I’ve always been against having boy dogs… But…he’s here and I adore him. He’s a bouncy, stubborn, fun-loving, bright-eyed little guy. We’ve had him for two weeks now and he’s fitting in wonderfully. We’ll be having him neutered as soon as we can get him in.

And I came up with a Shiny New Idea, plotted it out a little, and started writing on it. Then one of our inside cats got outside and stuck up 60+ feet on the highest branch in an unclimbable tree…and proceeded to stay there and mew like a baby for 30 hours (he got chased up by the dogs). We tried getting on the two-story roof, tried calling him down with canned food, tried spraying him with a hose. My Mom looked stuff up on the internet and found that cats can supposedly only survive a few days without food and water before they go ‘toxic’ and she pretty much went emo, overly stressed and tired and was bawling, saying he was as good as dead. Talk about drama… So everyone in the house was stressed, I was torn between bawling my eyes out and begging the darn cat to come down. I just kept praying and crying that he’d be okay.I couldn’t give up…

At 2 am Sunday morning, little Toki–terrified and hungry–came down the tree far enough for my step dad to climb the tree (and nearly fall out) and grab him. Toki is now safe inside once again and the experience has matured him from a trash-thieving little kitten-cat to a calmer, quieter adult.

And I just keep hoping the drama is over for awhile LOL.

I’ve currently got 5 scenes outlined on Bonedust and still working on it. I’ve also decided to jump in and do Camp Nanowrimo! :) I figure, if anything else, it gets me writing daily again, even if 1667 words a day is a little daunting haha. :) Still, gonna jump in and try and swim for it! :D