Castle in the Clouds

I've always been a bit of a dreamer.  My heart's not-so-secret desire is to quit the day job and dedicate myself to writing. I have this vision of me remodeling my youngest boy's room into a craft/writing/library space.  The dormer will sport a cute little reading bench.  The walls on that half of the bedroom will be floor to ceiling bookshelves that will allow me to see what I actually own. The opposite wall will sport a crafting workbench and shelves for all my supplies and scrapbooking albums.  In the center of the room, a simple desk for my computer and printer. I imagine myself spending a great deal of time in this room.  While Ken is busy elsewhere - working, golfing, fishing, hunting, or just playing in his pole barn - I can see myself curled up on the reading bench, book and hot tea in hand. I can also see myself scrapbooking with music or an audiobook filling the air.  I can see myself sitting at my writing table, laptop open and my writing noteb...

Okay, I'll admit I've never read Thoreau's Walden.   That doesn't prevent me from thinking I know what it's about, though.  It's about a guy who goes off to live in the woods near a pond and does some crazy, in-depth self-reflection, right?  Or are his thoughts more of a contemplation on humanity, society, and culture? Maybe he just needed some time alone to write? Maybe I should read the book or change the title of this post because it's obvious my knowledge of the book is limited to a guy alone in the woods on the edge of a pond.  Nope.  I'm sticking with the title. Reasons why:   Reason #1: I vacationed by myself for a week.   Reason #2: There was a pond and a forest.   Reason #3 : I was writing! My week alone in the woods was spent in a lovely, modern campground with full hook-up, which means I had electricity, water, and sewage.  Temperature control.  A microwave.  Television. My fan. My computer.  Phone. ...

Today's First Writing Confession:  I worry that my new novel is taking too long to get to the good stuff.  I feel as if I'm still laying the groundwork, which might not be bad thing, but likely is.  The potential for conflict is there, but I've yet to heighten the tension or raise the stakes, and those two things need to happen.  Soon.    I keep reminding myself that this is the first roughest of drafts.  It's okay if I'm taking too long because I can edit out the unnecessary bits later or rewrite what's there.  I'm tempted to give what I've written to my sister.  She's biased because she loves me, but she doesn't pull punches when she thinks I've managed to derail a project.  She'll tell me if she's bored or just getting impatient. Today's Second Writing Confession:  I haven't worked on the story in a good week and a half.  Finger pointing and scolding encouraged. 

I really thought I could do it this year.  I had the time and the desire.  I did a lot of pre-writing activities, like character building and plot development, months before the official start date.  I had notes on what had happened in book #1 and what I thought needed to happen in book #2.  I was prepared. The beginning of NaNoWriMo 2013 went well enough.  I started out strong.  Unfortunately, my dedication waned after the first week.  I wrote fewer and fewer words, skipped a day here and there, and then would try to regroup and attack the blank page with a weekend writing marathon.    It didn't work.  I came nowhere near 50,000 words.  As of this moment, I have 20,460 words written. Given my double-spacing and fondness for Courier New's 12 point font, this brings me to page 97.  I've just started chapter eight, and I think what I have so far is a good, solid start for a first draft.  It's also 20,460 more wor...

This blog started out as a place for me to discuss my writing (mis)adventures.  It morphed into something else entirely, something that more closely resembles a mommy blog.  It became a place for me to record the mundane and the exceptional moments in our daily lives.  I've highlighted youth and school sports.  I uploaded vacation pictures.  I've droned on about books and school and whatever else I felt the need to discuss.  What soon became absent from the blog, though, was my writing, the very thing that prompted me to start blogging.   This was mostly because I stopped writing and turned my attention to more immediate concerns, like work, family, and school.  I no longer frequented my writing groups - the online or the face-to-face communities.  I lost touch with the majority of my writing friends.  I opted out of writing challenges and focused my brain power on obtaining my degree.    However, since graduating this s...

I've gone back and forth on linking my real identity with my alter-ego's.  The reasons aren't complicated.  I'm afraid that my self-published titles could someday hinder my chances of selling to a traditional publisher. I'm also afraid that the types of books I've published under the pseudonym would be problematic when I get around to shopping out my fantasy novels; I fear being pigeon-holed.   Okay, and if I'm being really honest, in the beginning I might have been afraid that the self-published book would get terrible reviews (paranoid much...yes), and those terrible reviews would further damage my future publishing chances. This fear has been lessened.  While not everyone has raved about the book, the response has been favorable.  Small in scale, but favorable.  As I write this post, Amazon shows 4.5 out of 5 stars; granted only five reviews account for this.  Yet, through Amazon's KDP program I've sold quite a few copies and gave away...

I'm working on alter ego's book #2.  That sounds like progress, doesn't it?  That I'm working on another book.   What I should really be telling you is that I'm trying to work on book #2.  It would certainly be a more accurate assessment of the situation because there is little progress being made. I can't remember if I've mentioned this recently or not, but I sat down and started writing the first chapter of the new book and within four paragraphs realized I couldn't go any further.  Despite having spent years working on book #1, I couldn't remember small-but-important details.  I was bringing one of the secondary characters into the new book's opening chapter and couldn't for the life of me remember her hair and eye color.  A minor detail, to be sure, but one that must remain a constant for continuity's sake.  So, I opened my OneNote file for book #1 and started poking around.  This was the file where I supposedly wrote d...

So, my alter ego has this book she needs to write.  It should be fairly easy because the characters and the setting have been determined.  After all, this is a sequel.  So many elements have been established, including the the main conflict... Oh, my.  That's part of the problem right there!  As I typed the word conflict I realized that, yes, there's conflict, but it happens around the two main characters, not to them.  In other words, there is Big Conflict, but no personal conflict.   That's why the writing is stalled.  Personal and interpersonal conflict are the key ingredients and they're missing right now. I don't have any insights into what these personal and interpersonal sources of conflict should or will be.  I just know I need to figure them out in order to truly begin this book.  And to think I thought my new tactic - rereading and creating a new "story bible" for the previous book - would be the thing to jumpstart ...

I know it's only Day 3, but, as they say, so far so good.  I've been able to keep up with my morning pages.  The first two days I managed to write them on my way into work.  Today, I used a moment of downtime during the proctoring session I'm overseeing to get the words on the page. I still need to do my artist's date and complete at least two of the exercises set out for me this week.  I figure I'll read week 2's intro on Sunday, so that gives me most of the weekend to complete these three tasks. Obstacles to overcome: Friday:  First baseball game of my son's 10U tournament Saturday:  Morning baseball game, help at the concession stand, afternoon baseball game, Harry Potter movie date with my boys and my youngest sister, possibly stop by friends' house for fireworks. Sunday:  Morning baseball game, help at the concession stand, afternoon baseball game. I suppose somewhere in all that craziness I'll have to make time for things like la...

I read through the introduction and most of the Tools chapter last night.  Because Ms. Cameron emphasized the importance of starting on the Morning Pages as soon as possible, I decided to start them today. First, I must admit I am not a morning person.  As I told my journal, I don't wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  I'm more sluggish than sprightly, if you will.  However, I really am determined to give this creativity program 100% effort, so I grabbed my journal on the way to the car.  With my husband behind the driver's wheel, I was able to write my three pages. Only I didn't write three pages.  I wrote two. I discovered that at some point in the past I had jotted down notes from a writer's conference - there were scribblings about books to read, synopsis tips and tricks, and even some general writing advice.  This discovery hampered this morning's effort to write three pages. I didn't want to tear out those little gems, so I decided to sim...

Remember these?  I figured it's time to see just how much progress I've made... Complete the final edit on my alter-ego's first self-pubbed paranormal romance novel. Once this is accomplished, I will be releasing it on Amazon in both print and e-book formats.  This should be the easiest to accomplish.  I just need to sit down and go through the marked-up copies I have in my possession.  So why haven't I?  Good question.  Complete a few more chapters on the collaborative story I'm writing just for fun with my younger cousin.   A-ha!  This is one that I can actually say I've made progress on.  We've been slowly adding to the story.  In fact, I have it on my agenda to work on this tonight when I get home from work.  Work on the story bible for my fantasy novel - the very same fantasy novel that will not get out of my head, yet, at the same time, will not fall gracefully onto the page!  It's working title, for future ...

In addition to reading my way through the insanely over-grown pile of books on my to-be-read shelf, I plan on getting some serious writing-related business accomplished between now and September. In an effort to hold myself accountable - to you, dearest Internet - I thought it might be helpful to actually outline my objectives. Complete the final edit on my alter-ego's first self-pubbed paranormal romance novel. Once this is accomplished, I will be releasing it on Amazon in both print and e-book formats.  Complete a few more chapters on the collaborative story I'm writing just for fun with my younger cousin.  Work on the story bible for my fantasy novel - the very same fantasy novel that will not get out of my head, yet, at the same time, will not fall gracefully onto the page!  It's working title, for future reference, is Between the Heavens and Earth . Either rework what I already have written on said pain-in-the-arse fantasy novel or start fresh from page 1. ...

It's too late to put much effort into this right now. In fact, I'm about twenty minutes past my bedtime. So, in brief, I miss writing. I'm so ready for school to be done. Not just this semester, but altogether done. I want to graduate and get my life back. Get my creative groove back. Okay. That's the end of the pity party.

Disclaimer: I did not write this story. As I did not write this story, it does not belong to me. All credit is due to my Great-Grandfather, Arthur E. Spencer. “Doc” J. C. Johnson, P.T. I got into a very tough scrape with the same bug that killed my mother’s father, Harvey Farrar, out in the Dakota Territory in the spring of 1888 and my grandmother’s second husband, Henry Rextrew in February of 1924, while they were living on the farm across from the Spring Hill School – pneumonia. There being no penicillin, Dr. Chapin’s only treatment was lots of liquids and mustard plasters. These were prepared by making a paste with lots of mustard. Take two tablespoons to a cup of flour, enough water to moisten and then spread this on a piece of cotton sheeting and cover with two or more thicknesses of cotton flannel to retain the heat. The plasters were heated by placing a pan of hot water on the “sandwich” and then placing the plaster on the back or front of the chest successive...

The last couple of weekends have been so very enjoyable. Right now we're in between sporting seasons, so there are no games or meets to attend on the weekend. We're also in between holidays, so there are no parties planned or last minute shopping to do. Nope, these last couple of weekends have been completely free. For the first time in who knows how long, my weekends have been free! Sure, I've had to do homework, but even that has been relatively easy because I've only had to read and make a few comments in my Kazakh-American reading group. No papers to write just yet. Research, yes. Actual writing, no. Since the homework has been on task and the house isn't a complete disaster, I've been able to fight a few monsters on Final Fantasy XIII, read a couple of non-school-assigned books, and watch a few movies. This weekend I also made a point of visiting with my Grandma. She's 82 and not in the best of health. Her lungs can't really handle Michigan...

I want to sign up. Really, I do! I've participated for several years running, but I know there's no feasible way for me to write 50K in a month's time. No way. No how. So, I'll have to cheer from the sidelines as Sarah , Matt , and the other Red Hot Writers venture into the craziness of NaNoWriMo without me. Go, team!

I have a lot of unfinished projects sitting on my flash drive. And because I have nothing better to talk about today, I thought, hey, why not bore you with a list of all the stories I've started but not finished. It's my blog. I can do what I want. So, in no particular order, I give you the Unfinished Projects. (These aren't titles, but file names. ) Ashyss & Seiene - Started this one for last year's Nano. At a little over 3000 words, its the beginning of a dark fantasy novel. Ashyss has joined a mercenary crew against the wishes of her rather elite elfin family. The main conflict, if I remember correctly, was going to involve a missing family member, dying power sources, and political shifts. I'd like to come back to this one mainly because I like the character. Of course, if I do come back to this one, I'm going to need to dig out the story notes because the intricacies of the plot and character development escape me at the moment. Fairie Hunter -...

Have I ever told you how much I hate writing query letters and synopsises? Well, I do. I hate it! Those few pages are harder to get right than the first chapter of the book. I can't tell you how many times I've revised the query and rewritten the synopsis - mainly because I haven't been keeping track - but I promise you its more times than I care to think about! Because of this, I have lately been doing what I do best. Avoiding them. Of course, that's not helping with my submission goals. So, for the last week, I've been forcing myself to work on them a little bit every day. Eventually this will result in a finished copy.

A couple of years ago I started listening to a podcasted novel called Nocturnal . I have to admit, I was just as entertained by the author as I was the story he was narrating. Scott Sigler made me laugh. He was also doing something I found quite daring. He was defying the publishing gurus and gatekeepers by giving away his work for free. Even more intriguing, he was succeeding in a big way. His fans - or junkies as they're called- responded to his call for action and managed to score him the #2 position on Amazon for his print novel, Infected. This gained him some attention and soon enough he had signed with Crown Publishing. He's now a New York Time's best-selling novelist. One who continues to make his work available to the masses through free podcasts. I must admit, I'm in awe of this guy. He has skills. So when one of my hubby's high school friends contacted us about attending a book signing down in Royal Oak, I was interested. I was also worried I wou...

The Hunted