One Madwoman's one-million words

If January was any indication...

2012-02-01T09:13:00.000-06:00

...I am so going to OWN 2012! January was a great month for me in every way. As far as my writing goes, I could not have been more pleased. It turned out that my goals for the January writing challenge were a bit lofty. Even my revised goals ended up being bigger than I thought they were. So I didn't quite meet all of them.

BUT the amount of work I did get done was pretty substantial, so I call it a win.
I spent part of every single day in Armathad, which I've never done for an entire month before.
I did a detailed plot outline of 19 chapters- somewhere between 30-35 thousand words.
I transcribed 15 thousand words which I had hand written a while back. I still have several thousand more words to transcribe before I'm done with that.
And all the while, i was able to see, with a clarity I've never had before, what is working and what needs to be changed.

I did have one little snag, though. Our home server crashed earlier in the month. My files were completely unavailable. Both hard drives were on their last legs (our backup drive went out at the same time as our main drive- worst nightmare, realized!) and we didn't know if we'd be able to retrieve all our data before they died completely. Fortunately, my resident nerd got us a new sever and worked tirelessly to retieve all our data. It took DAYS for everything to transfer safely, but as of last night, all our stuff is safe and the tension in my chest has finally been released. My digital manuscript is open. Making a copy of all my writing to my desktop now... and I can breathe properly for the first time in three weeks.

My husband is a lifesaver. *Ahem* but I never doubted him for a second. All along, I've have nothing but the firmest confidence in his super-human computer skills.

Moving on-
I don't have an official challenge to join for February, but I'm so on top of things, I don't need one. Er... something like that.

In February, I am going to:
1. Write every single day.
2. Reconcile the differences in my digital manuscript with the ones in my hard copy.
3. Finish outlining the 10 chapters in my digital manuscript that aren't in my hard copy.
4. Begin plotting the rest of the novel/series

Okay... GO!

Day 9 and Still Strong

2012-01-09T22:10:00.000-06:00

Today is January 9. The 9th day of the new year, the 9th day of January, the 9th day of the writing challenge. I have worked on Armathad every single day so far. Some days I didn't get much done, but I've done something every day. For me, that's great progress. Today's post is partly a follow up on how I'm doing in the challenge, and partly a note on some small observations I've made.

First, I should mention that Beyond the Veil of Armathad or The Veil of Armathad or just Armathad is the story I'm most excited about. It's kind of a big deal to me. It's a massive project and I have a lot invested in it emotionally. That said, I haven't touched it in a very long time. And that is actually turning out to be good for the book. As I'm plotting out the story I have thus far, I'm seeing areas that need work which I just never noticed before. I'm seeing chapters that can be combined, altered or omitted.

This last semester, I've had to do a lot of reading (yea!), and a lot of note taking. This has been fabulous for the plotting exercises I've been doing. When I originally plotted out this story, my notes were very general and vague. I wanted to just give myself little clues as to what was going on in each chapter, trusting to my memory to fill in the details I was looking for. Bad idea. My memory sucks. When I took notes on Dracula, I got pretty detailed because I had no idea what my teacher was going to think was important and what was superfluous. That ended up being incredibly helpful. I was able to skim my notes and find the exact point of the story I was thinking of within moments of needing the information. It's taking a little time to re-plot my 17 chapters, but I think it will be worth it. When it comes to plotting new, unwritten ideas, less may turn out to be more until the editing begins. We'll see.

In the mean time, I feel really good about how things are going. I don't know if I'll meet my stated goals this challenge, but if I can at least get some new material out this month and write every day, I'll still feel happy with my progress.

On the horizon: spring semester starts up next week. I have one Internet class and one on-campus class. If this semester resembles last semester in any way, it's going to be hell. But bring it on. I'm up to it.

Novels as a Commodity

2012-01-03T07:56:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about writing this post for a long time now, but haven't had time, or haven't felt like blogging, or (insert acceptable excuse here). But since my husband got me a nook for Christmas, it has been especially on my mind.
I love paper books.
The weight, the texture, the look, the smell (that's right, the SMELL), the very act of holding a book and turning the pages and marking my place with a beautifully hand-crafted bookmark that reflects my personality ever so slightly, flipping through the pages to see where the chapter ends; all combine to make reading a lifestyle rather than a hobby for me. I have a book in hand almost constantly. Life won't allow me to do nothing but read very often, but I've learned to cook with one hand so I can hold a book with the other. If I have to run errands, my current read goes with me in case I'm stuck sitting in the car or standing in line. If I'm watching a TV show with my husband, I'm also reading. I even bathe with a book in hand.

Then along comes the ebook.
Suddenly most of the things I love about reading become impossible.
Except the most important thing: the stories, the stories, THE STORIES!
The stories are still there and they can be so neatly grouped together by the thousands. So many stories to choose from and to jump back and forth between at a second's notice. Many of the classics, which are now public domain, I can even get FOR FREE! BLISS!! But some of the more modern books I'm interested in reading cost as much as a paper book. Of course most ebooks are priced a bit lower (sometimes more than a bit lower) than their paper versions. I won't claim it isn't worth the price to get a good story in my collection. It absolutely is. I won't claim the author/publisher/retailer don't deserve the money. They absolutely do. But as much as I love a good novel, I can't deny that I've treated novels as commodities my whole life.

When I spend money on a paper book, I know that if I don't care much for it, I can sell or trade it later for something I might like better. If I love the book and decide to keep it, I can lend it to my friends as many times as I want, for as long as I want. That paper copy is mine, and I can do almost anything I want with it. That knowledge goes a long way towards justifying the cost of a book for me. I pay for the pleasure of the story, but it also retains some value as a commodity- something that can be sold or traded for other goods. This is not so for ebooks. If I buy an ebook, it is mine. Period. If I don't like it, I can delete it and get no more good from it. If I love it, I can keep it, but I'm limited in how I can share it with others. I am no longer buying a commodity, only the story. I understand the reasons for all these restrictions. They are reasonable and necessary, but they make me sad, too.

I have two opposing views at war within me and they are both right. I love the new and exciting world of eReading, but I can never entirely give up my paper books- my heart couldn't bear it! (cue a melodramatic pose and a crescendoing orchestral movement in the background, dim the lights, aaaaaaand scene. that's a wrap folks. pack it up and go home)

I Get by With a Little Help From My Friends

2012-01-01T21:43:00.001-06:00

I'll be the first to admit that I suck at self-motivating. At least when it comes to writing. When it comes to eating chocolate, reading novels or procrastinating any activity that prevents me from eating chocolate or reading novels, the merest suggestion is sufficient to motivate me. That's why I love a good writing challenge. It's time once again for the quarterly challenge, hosted by the lovely and talented Tristi Pinkston.

After struggling all last year with The Slave Knight, and not making much progress, I've decided to take a break and work on something else. I'm going back to a novel that I started about four years ago called The Veil of Armathad. I usually refer to it as just "Armathad." I pantsed my way through about 30000 words and had to sell my house, leave the state and buy another house. Nothing kills great noveling momentum like an abrupt relocation. My goal for this quarter's challenge is to read through my 30K and plot out what I've got so far. I need to finish plotting out this book and possibly begin plotting books two and three. Yeah. I dream big. With a little help from my friends and the writing challenges they throw at me, I might just end up with a high fantasy trilogy.

A Tardy Update on NaNoWriMo

2012-01-01T21:10:00.000-06:00

When I finished my last blog, I made the mistake of blinking. Not only is it a different month now, but it's a different year! How did that happen? Oh well.

My 2011 NaNoWriMo experience was insane. There were a few times when I seriously considered calling it quits and just focusing on the "more important things" I had going on in my life. But why, oh why, would I do such a thing? So what if my brilliant idea was completely hampered by my utter ignorance of prep schools and high school football? What did it matter if I got a few hours less sleep per night? I am a WRITER, DANG IT! This is what I DO! So I pushed through and ended up with 52626 words and a swiss cheese plot and a couple of MCs I can't really relate to. In short, I don't think I'll do anything with this particular story. I still like the concept, but I don't have enough interest in prep schools and high school football to make it worth my while to do the proper research. I may be able to pare it down at some point and make it a short story. But mostly, I'm just ready to move on. The dreams that inspired me to write this story have stopped and that was kind of the point all along. Unfortunately, I immediately started having some other too-real dreams once NaNo was over. But maybe that concept can wait a while...

So what was the point of NaNo if I just ended up with recycle bin food at the end of it?

Aside from getting rid of the dreams, I got a bit more experience. I learned more about myself as a writer. I learned that YA fiction is highly unlikely to be my niche. I should have known that, since I didn't relate well to young adults even when I was one. I learned that you really do need to write what you know, at least to some extent. If I had gone into this project having some knowledge of at least one aspect of my story, I probably would have had a much better experience. But it didn't matter which facet of the story I worked on, I was clueless everywhere I turned. It was so frustrating, especially since there really isn't time during NaNoWriMo to do much research. I ended up constantly skipping ahead to the parts of the story I was excited about writing, or else floundering in the scene, hoping my characters would come to life and take action on their own. That's one of my favorite parts of writing and it never really happened with this book.

SO the book goes on the shelf, indefinitely; and my lessons go into my pocket. I plan to give it another go in 2012. In the mean time, I have other stories that need editing. So much editing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah; I know!

2011-10-28T00:07:00.001-05:00

So much for me being a more reliable blogger. Sorry 'bout that. I haven't had much time for the blogosphere lately. But I wanted to pop in really quickly and mention a few things. First, November is but 4 days away. I'm hoping my life will be turned up-side-down with much NaNoWriMo fun and terror. I've got an outline in the works and will hopefully be able to bust out a brilliant piece of fiction without too much crud in it. Interested in trying it out this year? Here's the link.
Also I was led to a nifty little writer's network that I wanted to share with you all. Check out the iWriteNetwork. Create a profile. Join a group or two. Meet some like-minded, inky-fingered yarn spinners. It seems to be a fairly new gig, but there is already a crazy amount of fun going on there. 'Kay, I'll see in you November for some NaNo updates.

Getting my feet wet again

2011-09-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

So today is day four of the NovelPI challenge. I thought I'd check in really quickly. I've done 2 pages of editing a day so far. That was my minimum goal this time around. I have to admit though, when I picked that as a goal, it sounded really easy, and I thought I'd be able to do it lickity-split each day. I'm finding out that tracking my editing is really different from tracking my writing. Things like word count and page numbers are easy when you're writing. There was nothing there, and now there is something. But with editing, revising, rewriting, what-have-you, you have to count what's already there, but is now changed in some way- or NOT changed if it was deemed acceptable, but it still gets counted because it was scrutinized. Sigh. I would have been better off setting myself a time limit each day. It could take me hours, or days even to edit one line. I have some notes in my WIP that will require me to comb through most of the story and insert stuff that will make that one line stronger when we finally come to it.

What I've decided I'll do this month is work on the bits of my story that need expanding. Towards the end, there is a lot of narrative that should be dialogue, or paraphrasing that should be detailed narration. Oh, and I decided to work from the end to the beginning this month. Some of the notes I've skipped because I just don't have the time to really dive into them and fix the problem. Rather than skip those notes again, I'm just jumping to another point in the story that needs work, too. As long as it all gets done, it doesn't matter what order I do it in, right? Right.

Well, I'd better make the most of my quiet house and do some editing. Till next time!

Let the NovelPI begin!

2011-09-01T06:11:00.000-05:00

Here we are, September 1. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to get my two pages of editing done right away. What a great way to start the month, diving back into my novel! It'll try to update here periodically, but I am staggeringly busy at the moment- school, kids, homework, school, being sick, life in general- you get the idea. I'll update daily on twitter. Follow me, if you dare.

Happy writing.

Author, Missing in Action for Weeks, Found

2011-08-17T16:58:00.000-05:00

With the end of the 2010-2011 school year, author Robin Ford went suddenly and inexplicably missing from her blog. Many authors will take a break from blogging from time to time, but Ford's disappearance was unexpected and has gone unaccounted for during the entire summer. This afternoon, she was found perusing Nick Enlowe's blog. Witnesses say that as she read about Nick's Novel Push Initiative (novelPI), set to start September 1st, she seemed to awaken from a trance. We have the exclusive interview with Ford this evening. The writer explained:

"I really didn't mean to take time off from my blog, it just sort of happened. I had a lot going on with my family early on in the summer and I thought that if I wrote on my blog, I'd just end up complaining about it all. And that isn't what this blog is for, so I was waiting until I had something more appropriate to write. And then I became really disenchanted with the Internet and social networking and blogging in general and I didn't even read many blogs for several weeks. In fact, my writing has taken a terrible hit lately as well. It's been a bit depressing, really. And then I don't want to write because I'm depressed. You see the cycle I've been stuck in? But today I was determined to catch up on some of the blogs I've been ignoring. Then when I saw Nick's upcoming novelPI, I thought this might just be the thing to get me out of this funk I've been in.

"I apologize to my faithful readers for being MIA for so long. And I most especially beg my MC's forgiveness for showing him zero love this summer. I still feel a little bit funky, but I promise to work on it. And I hope that come September first, I'll be writing again, editing again, and blogging regularly again."

Will this explanation be satisfactory for Ford's readers? Will Nick's Novel Push Initiative give her the motivation she needs to finish her work in progress? Or will it all be too much for this overwhelmed author? We hope to answer all these questions over the next several weeks, so stay tuned.

Let's get personal

2011-05-18T00:00:00.078-05:00

Okay, my long-time friend, and one of my favorite people ever requested that I post 7 things about myself. And since I'd do just about anything for Kristi Marie (I know her as Kristi, but she goes by Marie now. Go figure), here they are:
1. I had a crush on Harrison Ford when I was growing up. He was taken, so I married Robert Ford instead (Robert Ford killed Jesse James. Don't tell the authorities where we are, please).

2. I can't remember most of my life before I was twelve years old. That makes all those writing exercises, where you're supposed to close your eyes and think back on a childhood memory, pretty much impossible for me. But I can remember this:

3. I won't believe you when you tell me that the reward for being a parent is being a grandparent. Parenting sucks most of the time (they tell me it's worth it in the end- we'll see about that) and I just can't see how it could get SO much better one generation removed. Maybe I need my eyes checked again.

4. I'm now sitting here, worrying that everyone who reads the above confession will think that I'm a horrible person because I can't gush on and on about what a joy motherhood is. And I do worry about things like that. A lot. But I've also learned to tell that worry-voice to get over herself and put a lid on it. I'm not nearly important enough for people to spend that kind of energy on my silly comments. My worried face looks something like this:

5. I always secretly wished I was the kind of studious person who speaks a ridiculous number of languages and knows a lot about everything- you know, the kind of person you find on Jeopardy. In reality, I may be that smart (maybe) but I'm far too lazy. I like studying and learning, but I'd rather be a Jack than a King in most areas.

6. I'm a dog person because I like that dogs can be trained to do pretty much whatever you tell them. And I'm a cat person because I'm more like a cat. Seriously, don't tell me what to do. Don't touch me. Okay, now you can touch me, but only if you give me food afterword. Meow.
(This dog looks like my dog and this cat looks like my cat. My dog does this to my cat all the time and my cat really doesn't care.)

7. (Suggested by the infamous Robert Ford) When I turned 17, I got a life-sized cardboard cutout of Chewbacca because (wait for it....) I have an uncanny talent for wookie growls. grrrnnnnaaaaaawwwwllll!

Absolute creative freedom

2011-05-11T00:00:00.080-05:00

is perhaps not all its cracked up to be. If you gave a child an entire roomful of toys, the child will probably not play with each toy, and will only use those he plays with in one or two ways, and only for a limited amount of time. Give that same child only one, seemingly uninteresting toy, and he will spend hours coming up with dozens of different ways to play with it. If you've ever seen a child with a box, you know what I mean. Being limited to only one toy forces the child to be creative. In the same way, if a writer begins a project with no direction, no parameters, no limitations, endless possibilities, she'll be overloaded. To cope with the overload, she is very likely to stick with something she knows, maybe reproducing a basic story outline she's already familiar with. She may come up with a few great ideas, a fabulous character or two, etc. But she's going to create limitations for herself that comfort her, and make her feel safe enough to explore in one or two areas.
On the other hand, if she begins by setting some guidelines for herself right from the start, she'll be forced to get all-kinds-of creative in order to stick within those parameters. For instance, if you were not allowed to use the letter 'p' in telling a story, you would have to find some pretty interesting ways to tell it. At the very least, you would have to be creative in your word usage.
I don't subscribe to the idea that if you follow steps A,B,C and D, you'll end up with a best selling novel and a million dollar movie deal. But neither do I believe that absolute, unrestricted freedom is as conducive to creativity as a few well-placed parameters. Of course, this is just a theory of mine.

Does anybody have any experiences with writing restrictions they'd be willing to share?

Any writing opportunity will do.

2011-05-04T00:00:00.072-05:00

But sometimes a writing opportunity comes along that becomes especially meaningful. And sometimes that opportunity starts out as being one you did not start out too excited about. I've mentioned before that I had two school paper due recently. They were both kind of monstrous, involving research and citations and headaches and whatnot.
The poetry one was not that fun for me, but it was great practice for finding pertinent research and for writing on a topic that I was not enthused about. I also chose an angle to write on that wasn't necessarily an obvious one, and I worried that my teacher would disagree with my presentation. But I guess I argued my points well because she thought it was fabulous and read it to the class. I'm glad it's over.
My other paper was a different experience though. I was dreading it when the teacher announced it to the class. But I started getting excited about it when I decided I'd interview my mother about her father's polio, and write my paper on that. Grandpa passed away several years ago, but my mom remembers some really fascinating things from watching him deal with his illness. I won't go into all that, but I will say that writing this paper ended up being a really special experience. I got to talk with my mom for hours on a topic that made a big impact on her life: her dad. Yes his having polio was kind of a big deal, but so much the profound love and admiration she has for him stems from how he dealt with the disease. The extremity of his suffering is the kind of thing that shows a person's true character. It strips away all pretense and exposes the honest soul within. And my grandpa was truly an elite character. The hardest part about narrating this story was deciding what to cut out.
Then I also had to find some historical references to compare his experience to. I had a really hard time deciding what direction to go with that. In the end, I looked at some statistics on polio, both in the Seattle area, where he lived, during the time of his illness and at the national level over the course of about 85 years. It ended up being fascinating, looking at those numbers and thinking that he was one of them. He wasn't alone, but his story was quite unique in spite of that. I also explored some of the wonderful benefits that came out of the epidemic. The overall theme of my paper was in looking at the benefits that come from difficulty. Again, I wasn't sure how my teacher would receive it, but I ended up with 100%. More importantly, I ended up with some information and some memories that I will always cherish.

So I guess today, I'd just like to say that any opportunity to write is a good one. If it doesn't sound interesting or if it doesn't immediately inspire, it's still worth doing. I have a couple more successful experiences to add to my collection. But sometimes you end up falling flat on your face. That's okay, too. And still worth the experience. Take any opportunity you can, look for opportunities when they don't come to you, and create them when they seem not to exist. Just write!

checking in...

2011-04-27T23:07:00.000-05:00

Tonight I'm basking in being done with all my major school projects. It's smooth sailing from here until finals in a couple weeks. But I'm not worried about that. In the mean time, I've cleared up two notes on my WIP and I have three days to do 28 more if I'm going to reach my writing goal by the end of the month.
I am so tired. All. The. Time.

I think it's my allergies. Or my allergy medication.

But I won't go into all that, except to say I have a theory I'm trying and hopefully it will help me be a little more awake so I can write the way I want to. So many things can get in the way of writing. The biggest problem is that I love writing, but I usually love all the things that keep me from writing, too- except the dishes; I definitely don't love the dishes. That's been my constant struggle lately: to find time for all the things I love.

I hope your writing goals and your life goals are in better harmony with each other than mine are right now.

2/3 through April and halfway through May

2011-04-20T21:06:00.000-05:00

If the date is April 20th, can someone please tell me why my brain is stuck in the middle of May? I keep reminding myself that if it was the middle of May, my baby would already be 1, I'd be finished with the semester, and life would be a lot less nuts than it is. But alas, my mind just won't join me in the here and now. So I suppose I'll have to make do without it. Um... how does one do that?

Well, brain or no, it is 10 days till the end of the month. I got my English paper turned in with plenty of time to spare. I can't say the same for my History paper. It's due tomorrow, no later than 5:30pm. I still have a page to a page and a half left to go. The good news is, I finally have all my sources and I have a good idea of what the rest of the paper will be like. I just need to disentangle myself from my family long enough to get it all down on paper in a comprehensive way.

Another project got thrown at me this week as well. It's a group project for English. We present on Tuesday. Just like that. I'm trying not to think about it. Believe it or not, procrastination can actually be a healthy and productive way to deal with life.

So once my paper is done, I need to do some prep for my group project, and then I'm free to edit my WIP. You see, this was all leading some where. You see, I do have a plan. The problem with plans is that plans have a way of not working out. Then the plan becomes the problem. But then there's the power of positive thinking. My plans will work out fine this month. My plans will all go according to plan. I will get my school work done to the best of my ability and also pay some attention to my book. Oh, and I won't utterly neglect my family to do it. The universe will not implode; it will not!

So with a fool proof plan and the power of positive thought, I simply can't go wrong. But if all else should fail, I'm pretty certain the universe will not implode. Write on!

"I give you books, and give you books...

2011-04-13T11:59:00.000-05:00

...and all you do is eat the covers." When I was growing up, my dad used to say that whenever we were complaining too much. And though I've never actually eaten the cover of a book, they are delightful in their own way. I like to browse the firstreads give-aways on goodreads.com and occasionally enter a drawing or two to win a free book. Each drawing provides a little blurb to entice people to enter that particular give-away. But with hundreds of books to choose from, I don't want to read all those blurbs, especially when half of them are just feel-good quotes from big-time reviewers, praising the book to the skies. Yes, yes. There's someone in the world who thought your book was amazing. WHAT'S IT ABOUT?

Back to the point: I judge books by their covers. There. I said it. Each firstreads drawing has only the cover of the book and a couple lines of text to hook me in before I'm on to the next one. If I'm intrigued, I'll read the full blurb and decide if it sounds interesting to me. Of course it's a little different when I'm in a bookstore. At least I know at any given moment the genre I'm looking at. But still, unless it's an author I'm already familiar with, I'm not going to read the back of the book if the cover doesn't grab me. Am I wrong to judge a book by its cover? Maybe. But the fact is, we all do it to some extent. Which leads me to wonder...

What will my books' covers look like? What judgements will others dish out to my work, based on its clothing? It may be a bit premature to be thinking about this but I think when I have to choose a cover for my book, I'd like it to be a cover that I find attractive. I know I'm supposed to want others to be attracted to my book. But I figure, if it looks good to me, it will probably attract people who read the way I read, who like the same things in a book that I like, etc . Maybe there's some kind of formula I should be considering, all about what sells in today's market, and such. I don't know about all that, I just know what I like. And for the fantasy genre, I tend to be attracted to life-like, gorgeous art, with a lot of play on shadow and light. It should depict a scene from the book, but not a spoiler scene. And there has to be a sword, or some kind of weaponry. I know it's weird, but a book with a sword on the cover always piques my interest.

For The Slave Knight, I imagine a painting of Jhampo as a flesh and blood man (his sword prominently displayed, of course), maybe standing on the deck of a ship, next to a harpoon gun, with a sea monster's head rising out of the water. Or maybe Jhampo (his sword drawn), leading a band of ex-slaves through the forest. Or maybe Jhampo, kneeling before the throne to receive his knighthood, with the proud, disgruntled gentry looking on.

What kind of a cover draws you to a book? How do you decide what cover art to wrap around your story? How much input does an author actually have in that decision?

So far, so good.

2011-04-08T12:22:00.000-05:00

This week has gone fairly well. I got my interview done. I talked with my mom about her father's polio. It was interesting to say the least. I haven't done much of the digging I need to to find appropriate historical accounts of the polio epidemic. But that project is not my top priority. I have a little extra time before I have to worry about it. And why put off till tomorrow what can be put off till the day after tomorrow, right?

So the dreaded poetry project has been my main focus this week. I got my poems picked out, my topic chosen, and a rough outline written up. I've even started writing out my first draft. I found some potential reference material, but I still need to read through most of it and see what I can actually use. But I had to include at least one book (as opposed to journals or other electronic references), which I did last night. And I must say, our readings and class discussions have moved on to dramas. It helps immensely that I get a break from poetry at least part of the time. And it helps that I actually enjoy plays and such.

This weekend and early next week, I need to select quotes from my reference materials, finish writing my draft, and get my bibliography in order. We'll do revisions in class on Tuesday, so the deadline is definitely motivating. I sure wish I had a writing group or something to give me deadlines and accountability for my fiction.

Happy writing to the rest of you, too!

And a very happy April to you, too...

2011-04-01T19:24:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that March is over, and with April comes a new quarter and a new quarterly challenge over at Tristi's. I may be insane to try and do another challenge when I just utterly failed NaNoEdMo and I have a lot of course work to do. BUT I did sign up. I must be a glutton for punishment or something.

No. NaNoEdMo did not go well. I got about 10/50 hours worth of editing done, and at least a couple of those hours were spent revising school papers. I was just overwhelmed with school work, life, sickness- my own and my kids'- and whatnot, lots of whatnot.

But it's a new day, a new month, a new quarter, and I can do better. This time, I'm going to be smarter than I have been. Since I set my own goals for Tristi's challenges, I am including those wretched homework assignments that threaten to cause me another failure.

So my April goals are as follows:
1. Get my English poetry research paper written and turned in by April 19th.
2. Get my oral history paper written and turned in by April 21st.
3. Get through 30 of my editing notes on my WIP, since there are 30 days in April.
My focus right now has to be on 1 and 2. But it's still excellent writing practice. Hopefully that thought will help keep me moving along. This week, I need to choose the poems I'm going to write on (and the topics within those poems) and find some literary critiques to support my ideas. I also need to conduct my oral interview and find some historical references to compare my interviewee's experiences to. Phew! To the library!!!

Thoroghly Unenthused

2011-03-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

My apologies for being so absent lately. Spring break came and I just forgot to write. Then the next week came and I forgot to write. Also I was feeling both uninspired to blog, and disenchanted with all forms of electronic communication. I still am, but I'm also willing to try and push through it.

Today, I'd like to talk about a different kind of writing- the academic variety. I've had to write several papers for my English class this year and they've all gone rather well. I just picked a story or a poem we've studied that spoke to me in some way and I ran with it. My teacher has read them all to the class (much to my chagrin). But that's exposure, I guess, and since I choose to be a writer, I had better get used to it. Next up is a high-points research paper on poetry. I should be excited about it. Research is not something I've done a lot of and this will be a great opportunity to practice. After all, I will need to do research for my novels now and again, right? But poetry? Really?

Once, when I was much younger than I am today, I loved poetry. I had rhyme, meter, and imagery in my blood. I ate and breathed allusion, symbolism and irony. Not so much now. Now I enjoy a good poem for about ten minutes, max. And I find myself compelled to choose two poems to study, analyze and compare, using literary critiques to support my thoughts. I wouldn't think anything of it if I weren't already so SICK of poetry. I've had enough to last me the rest of the year, but I'm no where near done with it yet. If I ever get the bright idea to take an entire class devoted to poetry, remind me what a bad idea that actually is.

Okay, my venting session is over. Can you, my dear fellow writers, give me some tips on developing some love and inspiration for a topic you are thoroughly unenthused about?

Seriously. HELP!

This week is NOT a bust... yet.

2011-03-09T08:37:00.000-06:00

But it could be soon if I don't get off my hind-end and do something with my manuscript. So far this week, I haven't touched it. I'm facing a couple of barriers:
1. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with family, home, and school work. I tell myself spring break is coming up and that I'll have more freedom to revise then. But the truth is I'll have kids out of school, a husband off of work (for a couple days, anyway), family in town (but not staying with me), and some school projects that need some attention. So if I'm honest with myself, I'm still going to need to force myself into setting aside some time for writing.
2. I'm stuck on the issue I'm working on. I've got all these notes of things I need to change and this one is kind of a biggie, involving writing new characters, minor sub-plots, etc. And to be honest, I'm not sure the idea would add all that much to the story over all, but I won't know for sure until I've tried it. So maybe I need to just step away from this "fix" for a bit and work on some of the lesser problems. Then readdress this issue when I either feel up to it, or have nothing else left to work on.

And although I have a test to study for and will have extras kids around today, I hereby commit to spending time with The Slave Knight today. How much time? Uh... how 'bout... 10 minutes. It's doable, but can easily turn into 15, or 20 or even more!

How is your work-in-progress going? And what barriers are you faced with this week?

National Novel Editing Month

2011-03-01T23:25:00.000-06:00

Welcome to March, everybody! It's National Novel Editing Month. Much like writing with NaNoWriMo, we cram an insane amount of editing into one month- 50 hours of insanity to be exact. If you're interested in signing up, you may do so here. I'm all signed up and am about to head over there and log the 10 minutes I have so far. Hold on a sec...

...and I'm back. Gee that was easy! Now if I can only turn that 10 minutes into 10 hours. Actually, I don't know if I can do this, but I'm going to do my darnedest ("gee?" "darnedest?" why am I suddenly talking like an old man with his pants pulled up to his chest with suspenders?).

Since I got my initial review of The Slave Knight all done in February (huzzah!) I'm going to focus on implementing all the notes I've made on it. There are about 159 of them. Some are small, some are big and some are mammoth-sized. But this will be my focus for March and NaNoEdMo. If I can get through them all, my little story will look astonishingly like a real book. I hope.

Anyway, wish me luck! And if you decide to sign up, let me know so we can encourage each other.

Write on!

Oh... the mistakes we make...

2011-02-25T08:27:00.000-06:00

Last night I did a dumb thing and I just now realized it. Sigh...

I'm sure all you writers know the importance of having a backup of your MS saved somewhere. I have three copies of mine that I play with. One is on my hard drive. One is on my laptop desktop. The other is on my flash drive that goes to and from school with me. If I know I'm going to have time to write after class, I save my latest version on there and I'm all set.

I didn't put my most up-to-date version on the flash drive last night because I didn't think I would have time to write. But then I did have time to write. I just figured I'd merge the files later. No big deal. So far, so good. I edited a few pages before I had to leave and just before bed I merged the files and backed it all up in all three places.

Here's the part where I was stupid: The file I had open, and had been working on, was the one from my desktop. I saved and closed it so I could merge the files easier. But then, out of habit, I merged with my hard drive file that I haven't touched for a while. Still not a big deal, until I saved (not merged) it all over my desk top file- which had the last couple weeks worth of edits on it.
Sigh...

So much editing that now needs to be redone. I could cry. But instead, I'll just blog a bit.

Lesson learned: pay attention to what you're doing, even if you've done it a million times before. And when you merge two files, merge all three.

Not a monumental mistake, but still irritating. I was 30 pages away from being finished with my initial mark up. Now It's more like 50-60. I was hoping to be done by the end of the month. Still possible, but a lot less probable now.

(dejectedly) I supposed I'd better get back to work now...

Turning Over a New Leaf

2011-02-23T00:00:00.029-06:00

I am a writer because I write. I am a reader because I read. I am a book reviewer because I review books. I am all these things, though I get paid for none of them. But the lines are destined to get blurred sometimes. There have been times when my book reviews have been written by the writer in me, and others by the reader in me. In general, I try to be objective- what did I wish I knew about this book before going into it, what will others appreciate knowing before they pick it up? But sometimes...just sometimes... I can be harshly critical. Usually only when I really hated a book. The problem is, if I really hated a book, chances are there's someone else out there who really loved it. And even when that person isn't the author of the book, they tend to take it personally. They tend not to be able to say, hey, we disagree. no big deal, and walk away. They feel like they have to defend their love of the book.

I know what that feels like because a couple days ago, I read an excerpt of a novel I've been waiting on pins and needles to read. I loved the first book, I admire the author, I think his work is the very definition of modern epic fantasy. It has never occurred to me that there might be people out there who hate his work. Yet it was there in black and white, in the comment area after the excerpt: mean, nasty, critical hatred. It burned me up. I wanted to tell off each and every one of those know-nothings who would rather read the pretentious drivel of some puffed up snob so they can feel better about their own intelligence level. I particularly wanted to throttle the arrogant ones who claimed they could write better themselves (a claim I don't think I've ever dared make among my criticisms).

All this got me thinking: even if I write the most brilliant piece of fantasy in the history of the world, some people are going to hate it. I knew that before, but I imagined all these insulting people were commenting on my work. And it made me wonder how I'll ever be able to get past it to continue writing. I could do as many authors do and just not read any reviews on my books. But I don't think it's possible to avoid all the criticism, no matter how hard you try. I still don't have an answer on this one, except to hope that all the rejection preceding my first publication will give me a thick enough shell to not let the post publishing ugliness get to me.

Now to the heart of the matter: turning over that new leaf I mentioned. I've determined to abandon the criticisms. If I hate a book, it's okay to hate the book. But I don't have to hate on the author or his abilities in his craft. I don't have to rip up his style and put him down as a human being. Okay so I've never done that last one, and I've done the others only rarely. But from this day on, I will do them not at all. I will strive to create a balance between honesty and tact that will leave the author and any other lovers of the book their dignity and a sense that their love is not being mocked or ridiculed in any way. I offer my comic apology to the ones who have been offended by my harsh reviews in the past and I give my cosmic promise that I will strive to avoid giving offense in the future.

Huh... that leaf is kind of beautiful on the other side. Who knew?

because it's Wednesday

2011-02-16T15:47:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Wednesday, people! Honestly, I have very little to report this week and probably nothing interesting to say. BUT here I am.

Last week was kind of a bust. My husband was out of town and I was sick. My kids were very busy, so I was very busy. And in constant pain. And every single plan I had laid ran into one complication or another. So the writing did not happen so much last week. When my sweetheart finally came home, he was sick. Sigh. But I have been a little bit better this week about writing. I had some time between classes, so I worked on editing The Slave Knight and it was so much fun that I came home after my last class and edited some more. I've been editing in bits and pieces today. I heart my book...

In other news, I've been writing a lot for school and have several other writing assignments coming up very soon. Hey, I'll take any opportunity to work on my craft. That's why I became an English major.

And another Valentine's Day has come and gone as well. I mention it because my gifties this year will have what I'm hoping will be a big and positive impact on my writing. I've been saving up my play money so that I can buy a laser printer. Robert surprised me and chipped in some of his own money and bought one for me. Now I can print manuscript pages to my heart's content and not have to replace the ink cartridge every time I do it. Hooray! Also, Robert got an ebay gift certificate for fixing his brother's computer. I jokingly told him he could use it to buy me a new battery for my laptop (the old one is dead-DEAD and my laptop is chained to the wall by its power cord). And he did! A 12 cell, so I can unplug for twice as long. I'm very excited about that. My theory that I can get anything I want from him, as long as it's technology related, is proving itself quite nicely.

So I pledge to be a good little writer-girl this week and pay attention to my MS, despite the gobs of homework, church commitments, and family demands.

Music and Writing

2011-02-09T00:00:00.066-06:00

I've always loved music. New music, old music, good music, bad music (sounds like a Dr. Seuss book). I play a little piano (a very little). I sing only adequately (but soulfully). I'm secretly a performing musician at heart, but it terrifies me. So I sing in the church choir, refusing solos, and I rock out with the radio. I've been known to sing in the shower or while playing mindless games on the computer, but only if I'm sure no one else in the house can hear me. And sadly, sadly, I have never felt comfortable singing to my babies, so I do it rarely. When I listen to music, I get wrapped up in it. So much so that if I'm doing anything else, I have to tune the music out so I don't get too distracted.

Knowing all this, you probably think I have the radio on all the time, right? Or I have my ipod in one ear at all times. Or I play CD after CD, filling my world at all times with music.

Not so much.

I don't know how it's happened but over the years, music and I have become somewhat estranged. I listen to music in the car now and that's about the only time. And then it's usually only the stuff I know my husband doesn't mind. I suspect it has something to do with having kids. Kids have a music all their own and it completely overwhelms all other sounds. My days are so flooded with the sounds of children's programming, nursery rhymes, kids laughing, kids crying, kids fighting, kids questioning, kids complaining, kids playing... well, you get the idea. If I get a moment to choose the noise in our house, I tend to choose silence. That makes me sad because I miss music. But I also can't stand one more moment of noise, not even lovely, wonderful, beautiful noise.

What's all this have to do with writing? It seems like every time I turn around, I'm hearing something or reading something about some writer's "writing sound track." And I always think I'd like to make my own inspirational mix of songs to help draw the words out of me. But the thought of taking time to sift through all my music to find the songs that 1. invite the muses into my writing process and 2. do not distract me to the point of not being able to write at all, is just exhausting. So my writing sound track, unglamorous as it seems, is the aforementioned kid-noise or silence. For now, I think I'm okay with that. But maybe as the kids get older, I'll be able to add in a few grown up tunes in there.

What's your writing sound track? Or do you sometimes find silence to be the most inspirational sound of all?

January challenge check in

2011-02-02T08:47:00.000-06:00

I meant to write something yesterday, but it turns out you can only do so much in one day. Who knew?
So Tristi's Challenges is over for this quarter and I need to review my progress. I did great! I didn't quite meet all my goals, but I did get a lot done. Remember, I wanted to edit 2 pages a day and also get my manuscript formatted. Well, I edited an average of about 4 pages a day. I still have a little less than 100 pages left to edit. But I'm sure I can get that done in February. I didn't get any formatting done. But as I have said before. That ended up being a much bigger job than I initially thought it would be. I am still working on my general outline. Once that's done, I should easily be able to piece my MS into chapters and whatnot.

I know I need to make an appearance here more regularly than I do. So I'm going to try and check in every Wednesday (subject to change, depending on my schedule). Hopefully that will keep me writerly (yes. I did just make up a word. that's how I roll) minded. This week brings me lots of homework and very cold weather. Is there any chance the two will balance each other out and give me some time to write? If I MAKE it so, it will be so. So it will be so. Write on!

Writing challange check in

2011-01-21T08:57:00.000-06:00

I need to get better at posting regularly, especially when I've signed up for challenges like the one I'm doing this month. I check in pretty regularly at Trisiti's Challenges, but I haven't checked in here to let you all know how I'm doing so far.

Remember, my goal for this challenge was to edit two pages of manuscript a day and get it formatted by the end of the month.

I'm doing great on the first point, but not so great on the second point. I've been editing between 2 and 10 pages a day (I've missed a couple days though. Still, I'm ahead of where I thought I thought I would be at this point). My "editing" this time around has mostly been reading through the story for the first time and making notes on glaring issues that need attention. And of course, I've been able to make small changes here and there on wording and inconsistencies as I come upon them.

But when I made this goal, I had forgotten that when I wrote The Slave Knight, I didn't bother with piecing it out into chapters. So not only do I have to get it out of the standard single space, 11 pt. format, I actually need to figure out where the chapters should go. That means I need to do some outlining. If I was a good girl and started with an outline, this part would be really easy. This part would probably already be done! Let this be a lesson to you, Robin. Outlining before you start is a good thing. It gives you direction and purpose as you write. Plus it eliminates the need for irritating steps during the rewrite.
Oh well. I may not get that part done this month, but if I can get started with it, I'll be happy.

I forgot to do my two pages yesterday. But today, I'm going to play at Julie's house. That means scrap booking, crafting, and creativity in all its varieties. I think I'll bring my laptop and see how many pages I can look through today.

I should probably start looking for some kind of challenge to keep me going through February. Knowing me, I won't be able to do it alone. And just as a heads-up: March is NaNoEdMo. We get to do 50 hours of editing in March! More about that later.

What helps you stay motivated to keep plucking away at your story?

To speed read or not to speed read?

2011-01-10T14:25:00.000-06:00

Alright, so I can't actually speed read. But I've gone back and forth on whether or not I should bother trying to learn it or not. Part of me figures, Sure why not? It could come in handy and if you want to slow down sometimes you certainly can. Then another part of me, the part that knows me the best, figures You know you'll never be able to stop sub vocalizing. You just love that voice in your head way too much to ever be able to successfully be a speed reader. The writer in me tends to agree with the second part of me. I find that little sub vocalizer in my head invaluable in choosing words, in finding the right flow and in capturing the right tone. And I'm not just talking about writing dialogue here.
So I wondered if other writers feel the same about the little voice in their heads. How do you feel about your sub vocalizer? Is it helpful to you as you write? Do you speed read? When? And how often?

Tristi's Writing Challenge

2010-12-29T08:48:00.000-06:00

Once a quarter, I participate in a writing challenge, hosted by novelist and editor edtraordinaire Tristi Pinkston. This is a great challenge because you set your own goals based on what you need to work on right now.

I need to do a lot of things, but my big focus right now is on The Slave Knight. Now that the holidays are over, I need to get some serious editing done. But where to find the time? In bits and pieces, I suppose. The goal I signed up with is to edit two pages a day and to get my manuscript formatted before the end of the month.

Two pages of unformatted, single spaced type is a lot different than two pages of manuscript formatting. But school starts halfway through the month. Maybe if I format right before school, that'll give me a little leeway to do my school stuff and still puck away at my latest novel.

If you need a little extra motivation to kick off the new year right, head on over to Tristi's Challeges and sign up!

Well whaddaya know?

2010-12-22T21:29:00.000-06:00

A little follow up on the contests I entered. Not all of them are over yet, but a few of them have closed up shop. Susan over at Ink-Spells had a wonderful promotion going on for Heifer International- such a great charity, I love it! I've had some weird financial issues just in time for the holidays, so I didn't feel like I could donate this year. Instead, I asked my brother-in-law to donate on my behalf for his gift to me. Best gift ever! It really is the kind of gift that continues to give for years and years (plus, I don't have to find a place to house a llama since it was given to somebody else). And it also unexpectedly gave back a little bit, too. Susan e-mailed me a bit ago to tell me I won her t-shirt competition, held especially for donors (or is it donaters? I dunno.). I was happy enough without the t-shirt, but this has really made my day.

So thanks a bunch, Susan. And hooray for Heifer International and llamas changing people's lives!

Giveaways Galore!

2010-12-16T15:13:00.000-06:00

It's a good time to get free stuff, lemme tell ya. Here are a few more givaways I found (I reseve the right to edit this post and continue to add giveaways as I find them):

http://bethrevis.blogspot.com/2010/12/epic-contest-of-epic.html

http://cindypon.com/2010/choose-your-own-tgifbm/

http://ink-spells.blogspot.com/2010/12/holiday-celebration-week-of-llamas.html

http://valeriegeary.blogspot.com/2010/12/want-to-win-some-book.html

http://alliteratiarchives.blogspot.com/2010/12/week-of-awesome-continuesgiveaway.html

http://alliteratiarchives.blogspot.com/2010/12/ten-word-novel-contest.html

That's all for now, but stay tuned in case I find some more.

blog giveaways

2010-12-13T15:29:00.000-06:00

Don't get too excited. I'm not hosting a giveaway. Not yet. I'd love to, though. But I'm thinking it kind of loses its power when you only have a handful of followers. That's cool, though. We're a small but loving group, right? Right. When our numbers swell a bit, I'll get around to hosting a fabulous contest with widely coveted prizes. Until then, I'll content myself with entering a contest or two. Today, I entered this one. And there should be a couple more on that blog starting later on this week. Good times, gooood tiiiiimes.

So much for taking a break...

2010-12-03T11:10:00.000-06:00

You know that pain in the neck you get while you sleep, from having a pillow too full or too soft? Yeah, it's kind of like that. It made sense to me that I would dream about my main character while I was writing my story. I spent so much time thinking about him during the day that it seemed inevitable. But now that November is over and my story is complete, I thought I'd take a little break from it so that when I come back to it, I can see it with fresh eyes.
Then, for the last three nights, though I haven't been giving The Slave Knight much thought during the day, Jhampo has been there in my dreams. Well, it's not so much my dreams as that in-between place. I roll over and my thoughts shift, too. Every time, he's there; just staring at me. He's saying, "Hey, I'm still here. Don't forget about me. We aren't finished yet." So I guess that means I'd better get back to work or I'll never get any sleep.

The Slave Knight and The End of NaNoWriMo

2010-12-02T09:27:00.000-06:00

This word cloud was brought to you by http://www.wordle.net/.

Alright, I know I should have blogged yesterday, but life demanded that I do a little catching up with it first. But I'm here today to tell you how great November was.

I dug through 101,316 words to find The End of my story. And to think I started out the month worried about hitting my required 1667 words a day.

I'm not really sure what made the difference for me this year. I think the most I've done for November before now was 61K or something like that. But I did find that my most productive days were always the ones when I left the house to write. Sometimes I'd take my laptop and go somewhere and sometimes I took my flash drive to the school library. But I always came home with thousands of extra words. And I always felt really good about whatever I wrote that day.

I also didn't write anything by hand, except for a little free writing to help generate some ideas. Contrast that with last year, when I did my entire novel by hand. It's a very different experience. What I learned from it is that while using my actual pen gets my creative juices flowing, I really need the linear thinking that comes to me through typing to do things right. Don't get me wrong. I'm going to have a lot of editing to do still. But I think my over all story is much better for having been created through a better combination of handwriting and typing.

Some other things I learned:

We put a big emphasis on word count. The word count is just a carrot; a goal to keep you tapping away at your story when you get bored or tired or distracted. Of course, I always knew this. But it's easy to get so caught up in chasing the carrot that you end up wandering aimlessly. This year, I chased the carrot while still plodding away towards my destination. There was a lot less aimless wandering that I'll have to go back and delete, and a lot more actual substance that just needs a little spit and polish.

I am not a creative genius. I'm just not, and I never will be. But I don't have to be to write a great story, or to create interesting characters. I'm not a right brained person or a left brained person. I'm stuck somewhere in the middle, which is actually a really good thing. My right brain gets to come up with all the crazy ideas it wants and my left brain knows how to make them work so that other people appreciate them, too.

A little preparation goes a long way. I didn't get around to doing the big, fancy, over-the-top outline that I wanted to in October. I don't think that's really my style anyway. But I did sit down and throw out some ideas. I took a moment to look at them and see which ones would fit together. And poof! I had the very rough workings of a story. I had some direction. I did this several more times throughout the month to fix problem areas, and it worked great. Every time I felt stuck and took a step back to just throw around some ideas, I came back to my work with a sense of purpose and direction. I could push through a big chunk of my story with speed and ease.

It actually is worth writing down the odd characters or scenarios that come to mind at random moments. My main character is one that came knocking at my consciousness months ago. I was at a computer somewhere not at home, so I just sent myself an email. It was maybe 200 words or less about my character and the story he wanted me to tell. I could have written about anything this month, but I chose to tell Jhampo's story. It surprised me frequently and I had no idea when I jotted down a few notes about him that he would turn out to be someone I could spend so much time with. And it's a good thing I like him. We're going to be spending a lot more time together in the coming months.

I'm sure I could go on, but I won't. I'll just end by saying that this year's NaNoWriMo was the best one ever. And my fat word count was only the smallest part. Now the challenge is to get myself on the editing track. I used to be so good at editing. I don't know what happened. Oh, right. I hate doing it, so I stopped doing it. You'd think that if a person is good at something, they'd enjoy doing it. This is not always so. I hate editing. But I also hate having every last one of my stories looking like the pile of goo my cat coughed up on the bathroom floor. Okay then, Robin, let's go prove to everyone that your stories are not just a pile of goo; they're pretty and do not require the use of rubber gloves to read.

Reaching 50K, so bittersweet

2010-11-20T13:18:00.000-06:00

I reached 50,000 words on the 17th. It was awesome! And then the momentum kind of just died. That's the problem with word count goals. When you reach the goal, it becomes that much harder to continue. I've never really experienced that before because I've never hit 50K this early in the game before. My story is still no where near done, and I should reach 60K today, if I'm only half as lazy with my writing as I feel.

Most nanoers will write to 50K, get their beautiful purple bar and then stop. But 50,000 words is only half of the nano goal, and not even the most important half. The real point of November is write a book from beginning to end.

Is it going to be a complete book? Probably not. There will be holes in it. Glaring imperfections will abound. Characters will be flat. But the essence will be there. The main players will be present. The places and events will all have their spots reserved, even if they aren't sitting down yet. You will even have developed a strong sense of style and tone. But there will a lot to do in the rewrite.

Something that surprises me every year is that when you're struggling and you're sure that everything you're spouting is refuse in its purest form, something happens in your brain. This breakthrough occurs that reassures you of your own genius. And then when you go back and read all those words you wrote and then staunchly ignored, you realize there was a lot less refuse there than you thought. Good to know. And maybe that rewrite won't be so bad after all.

The lessons I'm learning this year are so much different and in many ways so much bigger than any NaNoWriMo I've done before. And I think it has much to do with the fact that my productivity is so much greater than ever before. I'm struggling to stay motivated right now, but this is still shaping up to be my best Nanoing experience ever.

So now that I've got 50K under my belt, I need a new goal to keep me motivated. I'm hoping for 3000 words a day. Thirty days of that would give me 90K (this is really just to keep me pecking away at it). So to keep my average up, I have to do 4 or 5 thousand some days. But I'm finding ways to get it done. Go ME!! I am a champion writer! I can do this! I can reach The End in the next 10 days (gulp. I only have 10 days left?)! And so can you, my fellow Nanoers! We were all born to write. It is what we do. That's why we're writers. Now go WRITE!

NaNoWriMo, week 2 and the half-way point

2010-11-16T10:13:00.000-06:00

Sounds like the title to a juvenile novel- Week Two and the Half-Way Point (you know Name-of-Main-Character and the Vague-Description-of-the-Plot).
Nevermind.
Week two has been great. In general, NaNoWriMo's week two is hell week. It's the point when you decide you have no talent at all. Your ideas stink, and your writing is mediocre at best. You're sick of your main character already and you just want to call it quits, or maybe scrap the whole thing and start over. If you can make it through week two, you've gone so much more than half-way.
For me, this year, week two has been a bit of a roller coaster. There were days when I felt the normal week two blues, but pushed through my word count and beyond to the next point in the story that I felt excited about. Other days, I was just on fire and everything I did was magical. I even discovered the title of my book in week two. So I have to say that in five years of WriMo-ing, this the best week two ever!!
Here what it looked like in a nutshell:
11/8- 3000 words
11/9- 3126 words
11/10-3370 words
11/11- 4509 words
11/12- 2951 words
11/13- 3071 words
11/14- 2039 words
11/15- 4277 words
8 day total- 26343
grand total word count at half-way point- 44391.
That's right, I have less than 6000 words until 50K.
Unfortunately, I'm not quite to my half-way point in the story. So I'll need to step it up a bit if I'm going to reach The End by 11/30. And with Thanksgiving on the horizon, I need to focus now more than ever. I've noticed my really BIG output days were the ones when I left my house to write. Maybe I'll have to do some more of that. Before I go, I've written out a synopsis of my story. Some of this is a projection of what I plan to write. It may change over the course of the next couple of weeks. But here you go:

The Slave Knight by Robin Ford

This Jhampo's story. He was banished from his home and sent across the sea to try and make a new life for himself. The first friend he makes betrays him and he soon finds himself in slave's chains. Though he is guarded day and night, he finds an unexpected friend that helps him fit into this hard life without losing his humanity. When the opportunity arises, he is able to escape and help another along the way as well.
When he loses what is most valuable to him to a slaver, he wages war against all slavers. The practice of slavery begins to decline when his destiny takes him in another direction. The King's daughter is being held for ransom and Jhampo has the chance to save her. This deed earns him a knighthood and widespread fame.
But none of this is as great a reward as the one the princess gives herself: her love. Is a title and popular admiration enough to allow a princess and a former slave a lifetime of love and happiness together? The two learn together that love really can overcome anything. But when his past comes back to haunt him, his happiness is stripped away again.
His fame has traveled across the sea to the land of his birth and his banishment is lifted. Now he must choose between the lost home he has been dreaming of for years and the place of his ruined hopes, where he desires only to rebuild again.

nanowrimo update

2010-11-08T22:37:00.000-06:00

Week one is over now (plus one day) and I ended today with 21048 words! That's more than I wrote all last MONTH!! I went into Nano this year thinking I'll probably shoot for 2000 words a day, that way I can get a little ahead and if I have a rough day and need to slack off a bit, I can. But so far, my end-of-the-day totals are: 3219, 1906, 2300, 2594, 2683, 3018, 2373, 3000. Bam! With the exception of day two, I completely shattered 2000 words. Woo-hoo!

Some little things I think make a big difference:
1. Participating in NPI during October. It put me in the habit of writing everyday. The goal of 250 words a day was small, so it became evident that this was an easy thing to do. It's not scary or intimidating to commit to writing every single day. And though the goal was not too impressive in itself, I was able to push myself beyond my goal much of the time. The result at the end of the month was much better than when I've given myself goals like 'write 5000 words this month,' or 'write 50 pages this month.' I've always known that writing everyday is key to disciplined writing. But it has always been a huge struggle for me, to force myself to sit down and tap out those micro story tellers, words.
2. Tracking my progress. Last month, I used a little sticky note to keep track of each day's work; where I started, where I'd like to end and what I actually accomplished. I got some suggestions to use a spread sheet. But I think I love my silly little sticky note. It literally sits by my hand, always in sight. It is a constant reminder of what I'm shooting for and of the wonderful progress I've made so far. My little yellow post-it inspires my inner cheerleader. "Go, go, go! I can DO IT!"
Plus, nanowrimo has added a new feature to their stats tab this year. It tells things like how many words I've written today, how many words until 1667, average words written, total words written, how many words per day I need to reach 50K by 11/30, how many total words I need to write, what day I'll hit 50K if I stick to my average. Its fun to put in my word count every so often. My little meter gets a little fuller, my graph bar jumps up a little higher and all my stats change just a bit. I sit and study my numbers a little and dream of what it would be like if I could have a jet-pack day and work in 6000 words or more.
I don't know if I'll be able to manage a jet-pack day this year. I'm getting a lot done, but it's usually in snippets. My family remains pretty demanding. I was hoping to make Saturday a huge writing day, but then my husband got sick and I had kid duty a lot more than usual. I'd keep my fingers crossed for a heavy writing day this Saturday, but that makes it really hard to get any writing done.
(note: for the uninitiated- a jet-pack day is broken down into sections. start the day with a 2 hour writing session. then take 1 to 2 hours doing something non-writing related, preferably something you enjoy. Then another 2 hour writing session, then another nice break; 2 hour writing session, nice break, write, and that's a wrap. You get 6-8 hours of writing in without going completely nuts)
3. Change is good. I find that when I'm having trouble pushing past a certain part, it helps to change things up by skipping ahead to a part I'm more excited about. It also helps to change where/how I write. If I've been spending a lot of time on the laptop, kicked back in the Lazyboy, it can make a big difference to go into the office. The change of monitor, keyboard, setting, and even physical position stimulate my brain in new ways and make me think differently. If I'm really having a hard time I go back to my favorite way to write. Pen, paper, and cursive writing. Last year, I wrote my entire nano novel by hand. With my Adesso to take pictures of my handwriting and convert it into text, it was a lot easier than entering it by hand later. But there were so many errors to correct that I decided to get back on the computer this year. But I still have the handwriting option if I need it.

Some obstacles to look for:
1. Thanksgiving, as always. But this year, it's at MY house. I do the pies every year because pie is in my blood (don't worry, there's no blood in my pies). Last year I went completely overboard with 12 or 13 pies, a pumpkin roll and a trifle (vegetarian). The resulting sugar high caused some memory lapses. I cannot be held responsible for anything I did that weekend. Anyway, I'm not doing that again. I think I'll limit myself to four pies and one non-pie dessert. Also, since I have the double oven, I'll probably end up doing the bird as well. Though there's some talk going around about frying it this year.
2. Singing. Yeah, I write and I sing. It sounds more impressive than it really is. But I do have music to learn and rehearsals to attend. That definitely eats into my writing time. Luckily the actual performances will be in December. So no conflicts there.
3. School. I only have one class, but it's the first one in a decade. I've done everything I can to free myself up from school this month- acing 2 tests so I can skip (and drop) one this month; and writing a paper a month in advance. But try as I might, I can't get around the pesky up and coming final exam. It's not until December, but the studying must come much sooner than that. Hopefully I'll be able to work around these things to have a really successful nanowrimo.

If you're a wrimo, too, look me up. I'm radeliak over at nanowrimo.org

goodbye NPI, hello NaNoWriMo

2010-11-01T00:32:00.000-05:00

I know it's after midnight, so maybe I should have reported for NPI earlier. But I was litterally writting up until midnight. I got 616 words today. Not too shabby.
At 12:00 I saved and closed my novel and opened a new Word file, saved it as NaNoWriMo2010 and began writing. I've got 284 words so far. And since I'm not actually insane, I am going to bed now. More writing to come. Much, much more.

almost there

2010-10-30T23:25:00.000-05:00

I got 610 words today. AND I got my silly hate poem written. It really isn't much and it's definitely not my best work. In fact, I'm not sure it's quite done. I'll probably tweak it a bit so I can get the meter to flow easier. But the beast is slain and that's the important part. I'll skin it later on.
I must admit, I'm a little nervous about next month now. This month has gone pretty well, but the required word count is pretty low. 1667 words is a lot more than 250. And to tell the truth, I'm feeling a little burned out on writing. I'm just not used to doing it every day, see? I'm hoping, HOPING, that starting a new project will perk me up again. And taking a few weeks off from my current WIP will get me excited about finishing it up, right? RIGHT??
So one more day of NPI and then on to NaNoWriMo!!

And now, without further ado, my ridiculous hate poem.

If I were a different sort of man,

The sort that lives by passion alone,

I’d find no greater pleasure than

In stripping your flesh from your bone.

A shadow, a shadow would dance above

The grass covered mound with your name.

Oh, don’t you know that the shadow ’d be mine.

Yes, I’d waltz on your grave with no shame.

Alas, I’m a God-fearer now

And I can’t just follow my heart.

So I’ll tip you my hat and I’ll bow

Until the day we forever part.

And a shadow, a shadow will dance above

The grass covered mound with your name.

For you know that shadow will be mine

As I waltz on your grave with no shame.

note: this is actually a song in the book, written for a man's voice

do I gotta?

2010-10-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

I was really not in the mood for writing today, but I did 504 words anyway. And I set myself up so that tomorrow I have to write a poem. And it's supposed to be a hate poem. I haven't done poetry in probably a decade or more. And it's probably been at least that long since I hated anybody. <groan> Why do I do this to myself?? I used to be pretty good at poetry, when I was depressed and all unhappy and teenage-hormonal and whatnot. But I'm happy now. Life is good. There are rainbows everywhere you look and butterflies enough to kiss every flower. That does not an interesting poem make. Where, oh where, am I going to find some inspiration for a halfway decent poem by tomorrow? I may be in trouble here. If I manage to pull off anything remotely readable, I'll post it here, I promise (oh, good, Robin. No pressure. That's just great.)

2010-10-27T22:36:00.001-05:00

still sick, but wrote about 800 words on a different project today. that counts, right?

today's work

2010-10-26T21:09:00.000-05:00

What do say to 1529 words, plus finishing a chapter? Oh yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

don't say I'm not dedicated

2010-10-25T23:01:00.000-05:00

Got 474 today.So a couple of days ago, I took a reprieve day because I just had a really long day plus computer issues plus some laziness. Technically, I've still got one reprieve day left (I think) but I'm saving it for a rainy day. I really should have called today the rainy day. I had to skip class because I was so sick. But I managed to drag my self, stomach bug and all, down the stairs to do my writing. Good girl. Hopefully I'm better tomorrow and the writing will be joyful again.

yesterday and today

2010-10-24T21:38:00.000-05:00

So last night I sat down to do a little writing. I did a very little writing, about 50 words, and tried to save my work. Cue the computer problems. Goodbye, progress. Crud. My resident nerd was out of the house and nothing I tried would fix the issue. I could have wipped out a few hundred words by hand, no problem. But I gave myself a break and went to bed instead. It's okay. I earned another reprieve day.
Today, I got 1012 words. Not too shabby.

life getting in the way again!! arg!

2010-10-22T21:45:00.000-05:00

I got 1718 words today- a record for the month. I'd like to continue with the scene I'm on, but I've got a crazy busy weekend ahead of me. Right now, I'm off to decorate some cakes, make some pies and clean my house. I'd rather be writing. Til tomorrow, then.

another day down

2010-10-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

342 words today. I was hoping to do some more this evening, but I'm coming up on a pretty crazy weekend and I need to get some prep work in (aka sleep). Happy writing, all!

A new day, a new chapter

2010-10-20T22:27:00.000-05:00

I found 685 words of a new chapter today. I like starting new chapters. Even when you have a clear idea of what's going to happen, it's still always full of surprises. Sometimes, I just have no idea what's going to come out of my characters' mouths. It's always fascinating when they take over and write their own stories.

at the end of a long day

2010-10-19T22:21:00.000-05:00

AND at the end of a long chapter. Okay, so the chapter wasn't really that long. But it was a huge pain in the butt. In the end, it did what it needed to do. And with all it's faults, I'm done writing it. And I'm kind of dreading the rewrite. Let's just say the judge is going to have a field day with it.

So I got 296 words today and finished a pretty hellish chapter. Tomorrow I'll get to embark on something more worthwhile, I hope.

Also, I did a little more pre-writing this afternoon. I still have no idea what direction I'll be going in next month. I need to just take a few hours one day and go muse hunting. I'll track her down, trap her in my net and drag her home with me. I've been needing the exercise anyway.

oh, productivity!

2010-10-18T22:37:00.000-05:00

I found 737 words today. I finished off the scene I was working on, blending together two parts that were written separately. And then I went back and worked on a scene I've been having trouble with. I don't know that I'm totally past the trouble spot. But I'm getting there. I just need to approach it differently, I think. The character in this scene is one I used to really love. He was my favorite, actually. But since he experienced a life changing event, I don't like him much at all anymore. I need to find the love again. We'll get there, though. We'll get there.

10/17

2010-10-17T22:11:00.002-05:00

826 words today.

another reprieve day

2010-10-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

I'm tired. So tired. And I've earned a reprieve day. Need I say more?

On the up side, I worked on some pre-writing for NaNo. I'm thinking this particular idea would make a better short story. We'll see.

good things today

2010-10-15T22:03:00.000-05:00

1359 words added to my total. AND I found the missing pages that I wrote a while back and got them inputted as well. That's especially awesome because there were some plot things in there that I had forgotten about. Usually I can rewrite stuff and still feel good about it even though it ends up different than the original. But sometimes, those initial ideas are irreplaceable. I think that was the case here. So I'm very happy. The story can go on now.

what an odd little motivator

2010-10-14T23:14:00.000-05:00

Today I got 291 words. Plus, I had to rewrite about 40 words that didn't get saved the last time I hit save before closing word.Grr. Not a big deal, really. But still... grr.
This challenge of writing every day is a new one for me. But I like it. It's been really good for me. And having a reasonable word count goal gives me something to aim for everyday without having to sacrifice much of my everyday demands. But since my writing goals are for each new day and not just the month's total, I needed a way to quickly figure out where I am in my word count at any given moment.
It's a silly little thing, but I decided to put a sticky note next to my mouse and write down my starting word count in one column and the count I need to end at in the next column. My total words for the day get recorded here, too.
For instance, today's line looks like this:
10/14- 65834 --> 66084 291
Easy. As silly as it seems, it really motivates me to reach that number. And when I go past it, I feel kind of like a rock star.

What little tricks motivate you to keep on tapping the keyboard?

and that's a wrap.

2010-10-13T22:39:00.000-05:00

For today, at least. I got me 387 bright, shiny words today. And since I'm every kind of tired there is, I'm going to bed. 'Nite.

write now...

2010-10-12T21:22:00.000-05:00

Write now, I stand at 354 words on my fiction. I'm also in the middle of writing a term paper, which is at 791 words and counting. I'm hoping I can finish up my rough draft for the term paper and get some more real writing in tonight. No, I don't mean that. I know all kinds of writing ultimately help you become a better writer. I'd just rather be writing fiction write now.

10/11 word count

2010-10-11T23:48:00.000-05:00

I'm cutting it a little close, I know. But I did get my writing done today. 475 words. Now I'm about where I should be if I hadn't been a slacker yesterday. I had to abandon the chapter I was working on and move on to something I'm a little more excited about. The only thing is, the scene I'm working on now builds off a chapter I wrote a while back that I cannot find now. I'm going crazy!! Where is that chapter? What did I do with it? I really did write it, I swear. Ah, well. I'll have to search for it more later. I can always rewrite it if I have to, right?

Okay then... goodnight and happy writing.

note to self...

2010-10-10T23:14:00.000-05:00

it's a really bad idea to watch DVR'ed Craig Ferguson when I should be writing. 36 words, and crappy words at that, before I gave up and just rolled around on the ground laughing. As much as I hate the idea of breaking my streak, I think I need a reprieve today.

the beauty of a challenge

2010-10-09T22:48:00.000-05:00

I wrote 500 words today- twice as much as I meant to.
I seriously considered taking a reprieve today. I've been horribly busy, I'm bushed, and I still have a lot to do before I can turn in. But I convinced myself to just do a little writing- for the principle of getting into the habit of writing everyday. I wasn't sure I'd make myself do 250 words. But then before I knew it, I had 150 and 100 extra really isn't too hard. So I kept going. Then the next time I looked down at my counter, I had 492. An eight word sentence isn't so hard. And ta-da. 500 words.
It may not have happened today if it weren't for the challenge, not just to write 7250 words in a 31 day month, but to write every single day for a month. I like it. A lot.

ten/eight. today was great

2010-10-08T22:09:00.000-05:00

I added 1066 words to my manuscript today.
I wrote around 500 words outlining a school paper.
But most importantly, I made some decisions during my walk around the neighborhood about the sequel that will make the scene I'm writing now go a lot more smoothly. Sometimes it's great to have no idea where you're going with the story. It's a magical journey of discovery with surprises around every corner. But when you hit a brick wall, it helps to have a map.
For me, it also helps to walk. My mind is completely unrestrained when I'm out walking. I can't concentrate on any one thing, even when I try. But that's usually the key to that breakthrough that's been eluding me.
Others have their best ideas on the porcelain throne, in the shower, or playing squash.

Where do you do your best thinking?

today's word count

2010-10-07T22:46:00.000-05:00

I got 614 today, which was actually really great because I started a new chapter today and I was not feeling it today. So I think my word count should actually reflect somewhere around 1852. Oh, well. Maybe tomorrow, I'll figure out where I left the magic. Maybe in the couch cushions or something.

the dead weight character

2010-10-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days, and I'm still not sure what to do about it. I have a character who isn't pulling her weight. Her name is Sasha- which I will probably change because I don't like it and because it's too close to another character's name. She is the Queen. But more to the point, she's the wife of the King. She serves a couple of major purposes, but then doesn't do anything. Her personality is getting on my nerves, the sanctimonious ninny. And she's conveniently put herself in a situation where she may be executed or she may be pardoned.
Right now, the plan is to pardon her. That's in keeping with the king's character, and I'm afraid of what it would do to him if he executed his beloved wife. On the other hand, I'm not enjoying writing her and I don't see a future for her in the story. The way I see it, she either needs to go entirely or she needs to undergo some major changes. The question then becomes will she change for the better or for the worse? Between you and me, I think she's losing her mind. So it would probably have to be for the worse. Unless she can prove to me soon that she's capable of being interesting again, she's going to lose her mind and her head.

10/6 wordcount and shadow friends

2010-10-06T22:51:00.000-05:00

I added 346 words to my work of fiction. I also did some prewriting for a school paper, which I should be working on now, but for some reason, I'm blogging instead. Then I wrote a hefty paragraph or two on a class discussion board. None of that gets my story written, but oh well.

Today, I've been feeling a little bit lonely in the world of words. I have lots of real life friends and a wonderful family. But I don't know many writers. Of the all people I know and love, I can count on one hand the number of writers I get to rub shoulders with. I haven't taken any writing classes yet. I've never been to a convention or conference where I could network with like minded crazies. I don't have a writing group. And I've only ever been to one NaNoWriMo write-in, where I sat in the corner and played shy. And since one blog always leads to another (much like books, oddly enough) I started at a writer-friend's blog and haunted a few other writer's blogs. I "followed" a couple that seemed to have some things in common with me. And here, I have to note that I did so publicly. I always, always follow blogs publicly. I think my e-friends have a right to know I'm there, attending to their thoughts, even if we don't know each other in the flesh. But it made me wonder if there are any other people in the world- besides my supportive husband and my too-good-to-be-true friend, Julie- who follow my little writing blog. If so, I invite you to come out and join us, shadow friends. You're welcome here, even if we've never met under the yellow sun.

10/5 writing

2010-10-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

343 words today. There was lots to do and I just wasn't in it very far. but I still beat my 250 words. Til tomorrow.

10/4- today's writing

2010-10-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

I got in 1380 words today. I'm forcing myself to stop even though I've kind of been on a role. Life doesn't stop beause I'm writing. Alas.

Yesterday, I got some more writing in after my post. My total word count for yesterday was 1576. I really can't complain.

Day 3

2010-10-03T21:12:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure of an exact count, but it was a little over 300 words today. I'm hoping to do some more tonight, so I'll have a solid word count from today tomorrow.

Day 2

2010-10-02T21:31:00.000-05:00

Today was crazy busy, but I still managed 560 words. Not too sabby.

10/1 update

2010-10-01T21:46:00.000-05:00

417 words today. Piece of cake.

A couple writing challenges

2010-10-01T09:01:00.001-05:00

My poor pen has been neglected lately. To get myself back on track, I've signed up for two different writing challenges this month. The first is to write 250 words everyday. If I'm good, that'll give me 7750 words by the end of the month. This challenge can be found at http://5-rings.com/blog/. I'll be updating my progress on that challenge here everyday.

The second challenge is one that I've done a few times. It takes place quarterly and you set your own goal each time, updating your progress on the sponsor's blog: http://tristischallenges.blogspot.com/. I'll probably post updates here as well, since I'll already be blogging my progress on the other challenge. My goal for Trisiti's challenge is to Madman and Architect a new project in preparation for NaNoWriMo next month.

Wish me luck! And wish my family lots of patience with me this month.

Spell Check: NOT a writer's best friend

2010-09-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

Like many writers, I've been using the spell check button at every opportunity- in MS Word, in e-mail, blogging, even Facebook has a limited spell check feature now. And I've been loving it! But if you think spell check is your friend, think again. We all know what the advantages of spell check are. They are all the reasons we use it before hitting the print button, or sending our thoughts into the world wide web. But have you ever considered the disadvantages?

There are two general disadvantages that were obvious once I thought about it. The first is that a lot of words we misspell, are the correct spelling of a different word. How many times have you spelled 'of' when you meant to spell 'off,' or made some similar typo? Even if your spell checker includes a grammar function, this type of error doesn't always get caught by the computer. Which leads us to the second disadvantage: complacency. It's so convenient to click a few buttons, give our writing a last quick glance and call the end product our final draft. It promotes a laziness that ill-becomes any writer. If I want to improve my writing, I cannot fall into this trap.

For myself, spell check is bad because I am naturally a horrible speller. You'd think spell check would be great for me then, right? Wrong. If I rely on spell check, I will always be a horrible speller. Spell check doesn't teach me anything, it only enables me to continue being sub-par. Then what do I do when I don't have spell check available to me? My options are to go ahead and expose myself as a horrible speller or limit myself to using only the words I am confident I can spell correctly. Neither option is appealing to a writer.

Does this mean I'm planning to boycott spell check from now on? I may be mad, but I'm not stupid. My plan is to temper modern convenience with old fashion common sense. I run my spell check, which has a grammar checking feature as well. The words I've misspelled- and they're usually the same words over and over again- I'll practice writing correctly a few times before moving on to the next mistake. The grammatical errors sometimes come with an "explain" button in the options. Making the effort to learn why the grammar check program flagged a particular word or phrase can help prevent future mistakes. Of course, even computer programs aren't infallible, so having a reputable and current grammar book in your desk reference collection is wise- as long as you use it.

Improving my spelling and my understanding of grammar may not be a huge boost to my writing skills, but lacking these things can be a horrible hindrance to a writer. If nothing else, I can remove some obstacles from my path to good writing by putting forth just a little extra effort each time I hit the spell check button.

A Novel Idea

2010-09-12T19:57:00.000-05:00

I recently read a book on legal writing- Garner on Language and Writing by Bryan A. Garner. Why I was reading it is a whole other story, which I won't get into here. What I learned is that even a topic as dry as legal writing can be made not only readable, but just plain fascinating if it's well written. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to improve their writing skills. It's true, I skipped over probably half the book- the strictly legal half. But at least 500 pages of this huge book on legal writing, I was able to apply to noveling.

A concept Garner introduced me to that I particularly loved was the Flowers Paradigm. Betty S. Flowers came up with a way to describe the writing process that really got me excited about the writing process. Each step (pre-writing, outline, rough draft, edit) has a distinct personality. Each personality has a job. And no personality should interfere with any of the other personality's job. Just remember: madman (pre-writing)- architect (outline)- carpenter (rough draft)- judge (edit).

The madman's job is the most fun, but also the most difficult in my case. He comes up with a flurry of ideas. He just spits them out, not worrying about rhyme, reason, continuity, connectivity or flow. He is every errant thought you have throughout the day, written down so they don't get lost.

The architect, I can identify with a little more. He picks through the madman's ramblings. He identifies the ideas that can go together to create a piece of work that will stand strong. He tosses out anything that doesn't fit or will make the end product weak. Then he messes with the structure of everything until he gets the blueprints just right. Then he sends it out to the carpenter.

The carpenter is my strongest writing personality. Unfortunately, my carpenter has been trying for years to do the work of the madman and the architect as well. My poor carpenter has been overworked and under appreciated. His job- and his only job- is to take the architect's blueprints, and build. He fleshes out the outline into an actual story. Not a polished, beautiful, ready-for-the-grand-opening story, but fairly complete and ready for close scrutiny.

The judge is also a strong character for me. So strong that I've had to bind and gag him at times so the carpenter could get his work done. The judge reviews the work, finds the mistakes, the holes, the flaws, the weaknesses and figures out how to fix them. The judge would like to think he's the most important part of the process, but if he tries to get involved too soon, he could ruin the entire project.

So now you know the Flower's Paradigm. I'm going to make a conscious effort to distinctly separate my writing stages. Doing this with my blog posts will give me practice for the bigger projects- school papers, and bigger still- my novels. Wish me luck.