Life: Full Speed Ahead

I finished my NaNoWriMo novel and won this year for the third time in a row, making my streak 3 for 3. Boy, was it ever tough, though. Despite my best efforts otherwise, Anemone's Song, the novel I finished in October so that I wouldn't have it hanging over my head in November during Nano, haunted me anyway. I kept having the desire to work on that instead of my Nano novel. It drove me crazy.

I suspect that's why writing during Nano this year was so difficult. I hit the third week slump hard this time around. It wasn't pretty, folks. But I forced myself through it out of sheer willpower alone. I think that was a good experience for me. Writers need to write, and not simply when we feel like it. We must write when it is difficult, and when we would really rather do anything else but glue ourselves to the chair and the keyboard.

Now that November is finished, however, I have returned to working on Anemone's Song at last, and I am much happier for it. I have a new temp. job at the moment, which is less than thrilling, but it helps pay the bills. In more exciting news, I began to write a column on Examiner. com, so I am getting more experience under my belt professionally. Writing articles for it has helped me to practice some of the skills that I am reading and learning about in order to possible dip my toes into freelance writing in the future.

My truest love will always be writing novels, though. As poetry is my weakest form of writing, writing stories are my strongest. Nothing makes me feel more alive.

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From Deadlines to Nanowrimo

At 11:07pm on Friday, October 2nd, 2009, I finished my novel, Anemone's Song. I finished two days past my self-imposed deadline, but at least it is complete. What can you do about a child who suddenly gets sick with pink eye and a bad cold, after all? Even after I put her to bed in the evening, there simply wasn't enough time left to write to completion. So, I worked myself half to death, but I did finish it two days later than scheduled. Now it can't hang over my head during NaNoWriMo. I don't need distractions like that.

In terms of NaNoWriMo, I am still contemplating what I shall write. I have some stray ideas, but nothing solid yet. I'd like to write something with Native Americans, maybe a historical fiction of some kind, but I'm still researching and trying to decide what I want to do.

What is everyone else doing for NaNoWriMo? Have you decided yet, or are you like me and still without a clue?

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@$#!$*^! Deadlines

Two days. Several chapters. 5 hours of sleep. Gallons of caffeine!

I will finish, I will!

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When Life Gets Tough...

...get to writing! Or keep on writing. Either way, this is what I'm determined to do. I missed my deadline to have the book finished by August, so now my goal is to finish before the end of September. I really don't need this book interfering with my ability to write during Nanowrimo, and I'm certain that it will, if I know that it's sitting nearby, aaaalmost finished, but not quite.

Mostly, the reason I missed my own deadline was due to a lot of craziness and stress in my life. Perhaps it's understandable if one knows my circumstances, but to me it isn't. Instead of writing through the pain and emotions, I stopped writing, which only magnifies everything and makes it worse.

I also haven't heard back about my short story that I submitted, even though it's been over the 6-8 week span the publication estimates for a response. I've determined that if I don't hear from them by the end of this week (week 10), then I will write a prompt letter.

August was my month of bad, horrible luck. Each week got progressively worse than the one before, culminating in finding out that my father has an incurable brain tumor, and leaving me ultimately unemployed again (knowing that it is a temporary position does not help in the slightest when one is laid off). I am hopeful that September will be my month of good luck--or at least be my bend in the road toward one that is.

I'm not yet optimistic about life again, but I'm going to write toward it.

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Fear and (No) Motivation in St. Louis

I have not accomplished any writing for at least a week now, possibly somewhat longer. I've lost track, actually. So many things are going wrong for me in my life that I have trouble picking up the pen and putting it to paper. I've finally tracked the phenomenon down to fear, in the last couple of days--fear that I will fail in my writing, too. Fear that my work will get rejected again, as it has countless times before. Fear that I really can't write after all, because I don't have any talent, and that people are only lying to be "nice" when they tell me they like my work.

I guess I figure that since nothing else is going right, why should my writing? I'm thinking in particular of the short story I sent in to a magazine, which I am waiting to hear back about, and also of the novel that I am currently close to finishing.

So how do you get over the fears and start to write again? How do you make yourself pick up that pen? Do you just write through the fear, or do you need to do something, a cleansing ritual or what have you, before you can again? Thoughts and advice, my fellow writers?

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Romance Is In The Air...

I've started working some more on finishing up Anemone's Song, my novel. I'm probably into the last third of my book, now. I'm hoping to finish it by the end of August, latest, if I can keep the momentum going that I have right now. I've written pages and pages in the last two days. See, I write at work. Whenever our queue is empty, we are allowed to read or write or basically do most anything except use the computer for non-work purposes or play with anything that makes noise, like cell phones. So it's kind of like working two jobs at the same time, some days. I figure I may as well take advantage of this while I have the chance, and I realized that I hadn't been, much. So, I forced myself to start writing at work, and although it was a little difficult to start at first, I managed to muddle my way through a scene that was giving me trouble. Then things started to fall into place, and I'm writing like the blazes now. I just hope I can keep it up.

I discovered today, though, that my ending had changed somewhat. But I really think it's a better ending, overall, and I think I know a way to incorporate at least a bit of the old ending into the new one, so it's almost like having the best of both worlds. And...and I think it may not be a one shot, after all. I mean, it will stand alone, but I think I have an idea for a sequel of sorts. I'll have to develop it
more later to see if it will actually work, though.

I think that the two main love interests in the story are almost my favorite couple, as far as my characters go. Second only to another couple. Maybe even on par with them. And it's not because the couples are similar to each other. Actually, they're very different in a lot of ways. But there's just something about this particular couple. They just have a ton of chemistry, much like another couple of characters I know. *happy sigh*

Well, now that the new ending is finished (I completed it just before posting this), I just need to go back and fill in the pages between part three and the ending.

Life is good.

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Settling In

I found my Writer's Market, as well as a whole host of other writing books and manuals, but I know there are others somewhere that I have yet to unpack. It just doesn't look like enough. I have to have more than that. I'm at least missing a few. I hope I find them soon.

So I am currently trying to sort through and organize all of my books, including my writing books. We bought a new bookshelf at a yard sale for a good price, and now it's just a matter of time and organization to get them all set up the way I want to.

And being that I worked in a bookstore for a little over two years, you can bet I am anal about my books. I organize them into different sections, then alpha by author, then by series order, if say a prequel was published after a series. If not, then I put them in publication order, and...well...it seems like I get more anal every time I organize them. And as such, it takes days.

Which is why it is a once or twice a year project at most.

Are other writers as picky as I am about having books organized? (I still find myself tidying up and re-organizing books into the proper order in bookstores to this day; usually I don't even notice until someone else points it out.) Or is it just because I used to work in a bookstore?

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