Tottering Regarding Plottering

About a month ago, I came across this post of W.M.Morrell's.  She introduced me to the concepts of plotters and pantsers.  I loved it. As you can see, from the comment I left, I was (mostly) a panster for Shattered.  I loved just sitting down and letting the words stream from my fingertips.

But sometimes the stream was more of a trickle... sometimes all I found at my keyboard was a dry riverbank - with a few puddles here and there. Because I didn't know where I wanted to go next. I got stuck. There were more than a few weeks in which I didn't write anything at all.

This is why I've decided to outline my next project. (For which, by the way, I just came up with a very cool concept... more on that later)

I'm a fan of Writer's Digest books... I peruse their online shop often.  The other day I came across First Draft in 30 Days.  A few clicks of the mouse and it was delivered a couple days later. 

As I'm sure you surmised, the book offers a 30 day plan for outlining a complete novel.  Apparently, the outline should be so comprehensive that the first draft will be practically written at its completion. 

So here's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to follow the 30 days plan and see where it takes me.  I'm not going to do the 30 days consecutively - it's the holiday season and my sister's here for 6 weeks!  Plus I'll be editing Shattered at the same time.  But I will blog about each day as I complete it from the schedule.

The book seems really thorough.  However, I have no clue if it really works, I haven't read reviews or heard anything about it... and don't tell me if you know one way or the other - because I'd like to go into this completely unbiased!

Wish me luck!  Day 1 will fall sometime in the next week or so :-)

♥ me

Award Numero Dos!!

Recently Melane at Chasing the Dream gave me my second blog award!! I was completely flattered when she told me... and also totally finishing my WIP at the time, and then sick, so it's taken me a little while to respond.

First of all, Melane, thank you so much! I'm a huge, huge fan of your blog and run (click) over to it salivating Pavlovian-style when I see you've updated it :-)

And now it's MY turn to pass it on!

The rules for The Best Blog Award are:

1. To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.
2. Pass the award to other bloggers that you recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Oh man, I love my blogging friends!  These are the ones whom I've most recently discovered and think it'd be a shame for you to miss out on!!

1. Courtney at Courtney Reese
2. Valerie at I Should Be Writing
3. Shannon at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe
4. Southern Princess at Southern Princess
5. Jonathan at Words and Coffee
   

I highly suggest you check these blogs out - I promise, you won't be disappointed!


♥ me

Max and Natalia

Below is a piece flash fiction I wrote for Shannon's contest... Shannon posted a wordle word cloud and told contestants to create a short story using words from the cloud.  (How many times can I type the word 'word' in one sentence... and now, make that two...)

I bolded the words (that I could remember) I used to form the story with.  It was fun - a definite change of pace from Shattered - the young adult urban fantasy I spent the past five months writing.

So, here it is... Will I win the prize?  Who cares! I mean, it'd be cool - don't get me wrong... It's just that I think any contest that gives writers a reason to write is a contest worth entering...


Natalia didn’t talk about Avalon.

Max didn't press her about it.

He loved her. With that deep, faerie tale kind of love that’s rarely in the cards for anyone. She was his world. So he didn’t press her.

But she was pulling away. Whatever had happened, whatever secret she kept, it seemed to set a shadow within her open, carefree nature. Max couldn’t erase the nagging suspicion that somehow Ernie Iver was involved. But he was out in California -- nowhere near Minnesota. Thank God.

The man was a goblin, a monster. Next to him, baboons looked like little kids. Natalia said they were just friends. And Max had believed her. Before Iver’s very public, very verbal, and unfortunately very truthful, attack on their relationship.

Those days were long past though. They’d made their way back to a good place. A better place, perfect and built on trust.

Still, something changed when Natalia went to Avalon. She never read books anymore. She didn’t even take the time to brush her hair.

On the second Sunday of every month since Max had known her, Natalia and her father went shopping for antiquities. They’d discovered an ancient looking table once, years ago, in a dusty old town in North Carolina. It was made out of an old barn door. They’d hauled the thing home, sanded it out on the deck, and stained it a dark, chocolate color. Four weeks they spent on the table and Natalia loved it. She guarded it like an army of one - Max wasn’t even allowed to work on his crosswords without a placemat between the magazines and the wood.

Since Avalon, she sat at the table, silent in her chair every morning and stared out of the window. But Max knew she wasn’t really looking at anything. Her mind was elsewhere. She drank glasses of water without coasters, and those glasses left rings on the oak.

So he tiptoed around her. He kept things light, trying to let the darkness run its course.

One month, though, turned into three. He just couldn’t stand the defeated look on her face anymore. So he sat down, and stared at her across the table, until she met his eyes. And he asked her to explain the business in Avalon.

She painted a picture for him with her words. By the time she finished, he’d rubbed his knucklebones raw against her beautiful antique table.

After that, Max didn’t talk about Avalon either.

Have a great weekend!!

♥ me

First Draft... COMPLETE!

Joseph Joubert once said,

"Genius* begins great works; labor alone finishes them."

And, at this very moment, I completely agree with him.  Because without that spark of inspiration and the substantial amount of hard work that followed -- I'd never be able to type the next sentence.

I finished Project Jane!!
(The first draft anyway.)  Which I (tentatively**) titled Shattered. 

And seriously, here's how the entire process went down.

First, I had the idea.  It hit me and I couldn't ignore it.  I was revved.  I knew I had something good.  I was excited and words flowed like chocolate fondue at a fancy wedding.  (You know the type... Like 10 tiers of freefalling chocolaty goodness.)

I felt like this:

Then about 10,000 words in something happened. The words slowed down... The process began to feel more like molasses.  Thick, slow rolling molasses.  Heavy.  The excitement was still there, but I was weighed down.  Doubts, writer's blocks, the realization that completing a novel is not all butterflies and roses.

I felt like this:

And that's pretty much how I stayed for the next 85,000 words.  I loved my characters; I loved my plot.  I never stopped loving the writing process (I never will), but the hard work factor rocked me.

Oooh boy, but let me tell you.  The effort and blood and sweat and tears were all worth it when I typed the very last paragraph... the very last sentence... very last word.

So, if you're a first time writer stumbling across this blog, know this: don't give up on the first draft! It loses its magic sometimes and you might get bored with it.  But don't stop writing because finishing it feels amazing.  And you can always go back to edit the parts you forced yourself to write.  (And maybe, if you're lucky, they actually came out a lot better than you thought they did!) 
(Also, check out the hashtag #amwritingparty on twitter... It's a nightly party with writers who are super, super supportive and all in some stage - be it writing, editing, or brainstorming - of the writing process.)

As for me?  I've got a few edits to take care of immediately, before I forget that I wanted to do them.  (I made a list while I wrote, since I didn't edit while writing).  Then, I'm putting Shattered away for a few weeks before I enter the next phase, which I believe is going to feel

a little bit like this:

And a LOT like this:

(Except without the balls... and with my manuscript.)

*Genius, insofar as how I relate to the quote, refers to the creative spirit.  I'm not trying to say I have a large IQ.  (I mean, I'm blonde after all...)
**I think the title fits my story perfectly... I'm just hesitant because a quick google search told me that Dean Koontz wrote a novel called Shattered, in the 70s... And I'm not sure what the protocol is for using a title that's already been used...

♥ me

Other Fabulous Things to Read

I have a lot going on.   That being said, today I will provide you with links to other bloggers who had very interesting things to say recently - in case you missed them the first time around.

• Carol explains why you should take the time to interview your main character... In fact, if you do - send her the transcripts and she'll post them on her blog!
  
  
• Simon wrote a really amazing short story for a contest... and he WON
  
  
  
• Georgia announced a "new adult" (older than "young adult" material) submissions contest.  It ends on November 20th, and is co-hosted by JJ of the St. Martin’s Press editorial department.
  
  


• My homegirl Hot Blonde in the Kitchen, is posting daily entries with delicious recipes and tips to help you prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Seriously, the girl's no joke.
  
  


• My friend Jenn just started a blog.  She muses about life, straight from the heart, and is very entertaining :)
  
  


• Shannon created an absolutely, MUST WATCH, hysterical video of her editing/adverb-karate-chopping Ninjadillo.  I heart Ninjadillo.  In fact, the picture at the bottom of this blog is of me using crucial ninja skills of my own.  I'm hoping Shannon will show it to Ninjadillo and that he'll want to be my friend.
  
  


• Andrew wrote out some crucial writing tips.  He wrote them for nanowrimo participants, but they are applicable to ALL writers.  Definitely check them out.
  
  


• Wendy gives us all the secret to publication.  Truly the Holy Grail of how to get published posts.
  
  


• Kari Anne did something SO COOL.  She allowed facebook and twitter friends to throw any word they wanted to at her.  Then, she made a list of all the words and wrote them into one short story.  Fabulously.  You should definitely READ IT!
  

Okay, so this should be enough material to keep you occupied for a while.  I'll be back on Wednesday... Thursday at the latest!  But don't forget about me while I'm gone!  Fun stuff to come when I get back (awards, and clichés, and concrete writing, oh my!  And also... setting the mood, wink wink)

Finally, one last bit of entertainment.  (Really, this is just for Ninjadillo, but still...) This is me at a friend's wedding last summer pretending that I was a ninja... using bouquets as nunchucks.  

Take me seriously.  I am very scary.

♥ me