One Last Petal

Hullo all! I missed a couple weeks as I was on vacation - more to the point, I was on a train! Orson Scott Card once said, “Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any." I believe this is especially true on a train. Everyone on board has a different story: from the young couple backpacking across the country; to the young family taking a day's excursion; to the attendant who has been working the rails for twenty years; to the businessman typing furiously on his laptop the entire trip. What are their stories? Who are they? Where are they from, and where are they going? What made them decide to take the train instead of some other form of transportation?  So many stories just sitting right there in front of you, and that's just the people on the train with you. What about the big cities whose twinkling lights shine in through your window late at night? The sleepy towns...

Welcome to 2017, all! I recently saw a meme (that of course I can't find) about expectations for the new year. It went something like this: Anxious friend: What do you think 2017 will bring?   Optimistic friend: Flowers. I think it will bring flowers.  Anxious friend: How do you know? How can you be so sure? Optimistic friend: Because I'm planting flowers.  Just a little thought to remind us, that if you want things to get better, sometimes you have to put in a little bit of work and make it better ourselves. Me, I'd like a little less stress in 2017, which generally comes down to how well I've organized my life. To help with this, I've started a bullet journal, which seems to be working pretty well so far. It might just be an excuse to get to use pretty pens, but we'll see how it goes through the year. My latest writing project is centering around a book I got last year: 90 Days till Your Novel. Thus far, I've managed to get up every day before ...

Well, folks, this will be my last post of the year. I've certainly not been as consistent as I would have liked, but it has been a year full of ups and downs so I think I did okay overall. I know this has been a tough year for a lot of people, and the world is still reeling from the many deaths of famous people whose talents we have enjoyed. I experienced this on a more personal level as well with the loss of my grandmother early on in the year. More than that though, I'd like to think I've learned a lot about myself this year. I've learned to be a better friend. (I hope.) I had a falling out with a friend early in the year. In my younger days, I would have responded in anger, and let that anger destroy our friendship completely. Instead, we still talk, albeit not as frequently as before, and I still care deeply for her and try my best to help her when I can. I still mourn the fact that a case of miscommunication led to the disagreement at all, but I'd like to th...

Good morning all! NaNoWriMo started on Tuesday and I've been doing pretty well so far. I wrote double my word count goal on the first day to get myself a running start, as it were, and I've managed to make word goal everyday so far. And I'm rather impressed with the way I've worked in some Firefly references, and I even have a character named "Simon". That being said, I'm not really feeling the story. It almost seems like there's a discontent to my writing at the moment. Maybe it's just because I haven't written in so long and once I get going, it will settle into a better rhythm. Things just seem choppy and unnatural at the moment. However, I won't let it discourage me. After all, this is merely a rough draft to get the story down and we can work on more poetical writing in the revision months.  Here's a short excerpt from what I've written so far: What happened next about the little transport ship is probably best left to ...

So, I've got nothing wonderful and prolific for you today. I nearly forgot about posting today in the craziness that has been life lately. Instead, you get a random brain sketch of some character interactions. Sorry for the lack of descriptions, it just sorta came to me and I enjoy watching the Colt and Topside together, so I thought I'd actually write this one down, but of course, I lost most of the dialogue as soon as I started typing. “Let’s roll!” Topside barely heard the Colt’s call as he considered the weasel of a man before him. How he had the audacity to say such things... “Yeah, I thought you couldn’t take it,” the man sneered. “Any time, any place,” Topside retorted, his muscles tensing for a fight. “I said - let’s go.” The Colt appeared beside him, acting as though the other man wasn’t even there. “Aww look, you got your mom to come rescue you, isn’t that nice?” the man taunted. Topside tried to step past the Colt to take a swing at the man, but she s...

Progress!! Hurrah!! Except, there hasn't been as much progress as there should have been this month, unfortunately. I knew that the first part of the month would be busy with family-related things, and various distractions from Real Life, which is why I made my goal rather low. I didn't expect quite so much to happen, pulling me away from my nice quiet evenings of writing. Life seems to be settling a little bit now, so I'm confident I can get back on track before the end of the month, especially as there are two Saturdays in there with no plans at the moment. Other than helping a friend move. Oops. Probably shouldn't have offered to help in April... In terms of the story, I think it's progressing fairly well. Perhaps a little more slowly than I had anticipated, but based on previous critiques, earlier exposition seemed like a good idea. My goal is to have a good solid base for the trilogy, so that I don't have to worry about remembering to explain th...

As I’m writing their story for my Camp NaNo project, now seems as good a time as any to tell you all about the cutest couple ever. (The Author would here like to state that she totally isn’t biased, what are you talking about?) “Trap” is the official ship name of Topside and Raven, two very different people from separate universes who met in a role playing thread, and despite all the trouble this would cause their Authors, couldn’t help but fall in love. Topside is a little over thirty years old, and a former USAF test pilot. He continues his risk-taking career as a member of an elite task force.  Despite his daredevil tendencies, he’s quite laid back and gets along with pretty much everyone. He can be rather stubborn and fiercely loyal, rarely backing down from a fight if it involves someone he cares about. However, it isn’t often that he takes offence personally, and is slow to anger. At 6’3, Topside is taller than most, but his height is tempered by his broad shoulders and ...

Finding Raven *drumroll please* Ta-da! Here's the big reveal of my CampNaNo April 2016 project!! Characters from all sorts of genres find themselves dropped into a tiny corner of the world. There, a young girl, the raven spirit bearer, and a military test pilot find themselves falling in love. There is a place, that is neither very far nor very near, in which worlds meet without any of the usual unfortunate happenings that generally accompany such things. It should also be known that, other than a few rare exceptions, such as poor cellular service or the atmosphere not quite agreeing with one, one can generally expect that whatever abilities one has in one’s own world will work exactly the same here. Money isn’t required here: there is nothing to buy. Nor are phones or any other such commodities of any use. What is needed here, is found here; or it is found that it isn’t needed here. Known as “The Corner”, because it lies at the corner of all the worlds, it...

If you don't know about National Novel Writing Month, then you need to head  here  right now. Yes, forget about me, and go get lost in the wonder that is NaNoWriMo, writing 50,000 words during the month of November. It's a fun challenge to leave your inner editor behind and just let your story out. It's a race against yourself  to finally  write that book you've always said you would (or at least get a good head start on it!). But mostly, it's a world-wide community of like-minded people who are just as introverted, crazy, and obsessed about their own characters as you are. Camp NaNoWriMo is also run by the same people, but just as summer camp was a time to relax and play in the mud, so is Camp NaNo a less formal version of the November challenge. Personally, as much as I enjoy NaNo, I love  Camp. You get to pick your own goal, so if you aren't ready to tackle 50,000 words in one month, this is a great place to start. Not only that, but there's a stronger...

I picked up this book on novel writing by Walter Mosley the other day at the library. I was looking for another one, (which I didn't find, sadly), when this one stood out. It's small, but the affirmative wording of the title drew me to pick it up (Clever, Mr. Mosley, clever). I read it in just a couple of hours this morning, the blizzard outside giving me a great excuse to curl up with hot chocolate and a book. It's not full of profound wisdom nor overly burdened with examples or "must do's", which I found made it all the more enjoyable. The straight-forward wording is something that I relate to, and the example that were given were clearly laid out. It's not a workbook or a reference guide, just a simple presentation of the basics of novel writing, along with a forthright assumption that you will now go write your novel. A few things that I hope to take with me from reading it: 1. Write every day. Mosley suggests a minimum of one and half hours a day....