Me! Me!

The lovely Ms. Alexandra Shostak tagged me in this "meme" survey thing. I so love surveys :-)
Before I begin, I tag Quillfeather and Melane!


1. What’s the last thing you wrote? What’s the first thing you wrote that you still have?
The last thing I wrote was a piece of flash fiction for Shannon's contest.

The first thing I wrote that I still have is a story called "For the Fear of Death". I wrote it in 5th or 6th grade and found a copy of it a few Thanksgivings ago. (My husband - then boyfriend - was the one to find it, actually, and then decided to read it outloud at the HUGE Thanksgiving gathering that year. I about died, haha.)

2. Write poetry?
I do actually! Not a ton, but my professor seems to think I have some talent in it... (I submit poems for critique in my creative writing workshop.)

3. Angsty poetry?
Not really. I did write a poem about a conch shell being washed away by the sea without anyone noticing... But I don't think that really counts as angsty.

4. Favorite genre of writing?
FANTASY! Specifically magical realism... Love it.

5. Most annoying character you’ve ever created?
A selfish daughter in a short story I wrote a year ago... Otherwise I really do love my characters :-)  (So far at least!)

6. Best plot you’ve ever created?
Um. I think it's the one for Shattered. I love the plot beneath the plot! (But I'm pretty biased.) I can also tell you about the lamest plot I ever created - but I may just save that for a future blog post...

7. Coolest plot twist you’ve ever created?
If I tell ya, I'd have to kill ya ;-)

8. How often do you get writer’s block?
Not that often. (Ask me that same question tomorrow and I could give an entirely different answer!)
But Procrastination Block stikes quite frequently.

9. Write fan fiction?
Nope.

10. Do you type or write by hand?
I type. (I do have composition notebooks full of notes though.)

11. Do you save everything you write?
Oh goodness YES.  My computer died after college and I lost a LOT of things. I learned my lesson.

12. Do you ever go back to an idea after you’ve abandoned it?
Sometimes. I don't abandon much though. I hate giving up on creative things that I put effort in to!

13. What’s your favorite thing you’ve written?
Shattered!! Hands down. (I have two poems I'm quite proud of, but they don't hold a candle to my novel!)

14. What’s everyone else’s favourite story that you’ve written?
My professor loved a poem I wrote about windshield wipers (random, I know). My husband's is the Fear of Death story from elementary school - but it's the only thing he's read yet and he's really, really excited to read Shattered when it's ready. 

15. Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?
Ditto to what Alexandra said: Everything I write has a romantic sub-plot.
Also, Shattered is a teen drama... I'm not sure about the angsty part though!

16. What’s your favorite setting for your characters?
The real world! Particularly places by the water...

17. How many writing projects are you working on right now?
I'm editing Shattered and about to start my new idea!

18. Have you ever won an award for your writing?
Does it count that in first grade I wrote a story about a groundhog that was printed in the school publication? It was chosen out of entries from students in grades 1-6 and my class won an ice cream party for it...

19. What are your five favorite words?
I suck at picking favorite things because they ALWAYS change. Here are 5 that I really like right now:

grace, lithe, demure, lilt, ethereal

20. What character have you created that is most like yourself?
Niko. But only some parts and it was completely unintentional. She's a brat.

21. Where do you get ideas for your characters?
Ditto Alexandra: They sort of just walk into my head.

22. Do you ever write based on your dreams?
Not very often. Though Shattered came to me right as I opened my eyes one morning in Annapolis...

23. Do you favor happy endings, sad endings or cliff-hangers?
I hate cliff-hangers! I mean, I love them but I hate them because I am NOT good at waiting until a sequel comes out. I really hate cliff-hangers that are never answered. (I also don't write them.)

I lean towards happy but am not opposed to sad as long as story leads me in that direction.

24. Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Yep.

25. Does music help you write?
Absolutely! I never write without music. I could, but I prefer not to!

26. Quote something you’ve written. Whatever pops into your head.

It’s swallowed completely by the sea, perhaps

lost forever, but

to the rest of the world nothing has changed.

(A stanza from The Conch)


Have your fill of me yet? If so too bad bc tomorrow you get TEN MORE FACTS! dun dun DUNNN

♥ me

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