NaNo/Writing

I am very bad at updating my blog, though I keep up with my LJ fairly well. It might have something to do with the fact that I don't have many people who read this blog, so why bother? Though, there are good reasons for it...

Anyway, the point of this was to mention that I won NaNoWriMo this year! Yes, I finished a novel of 50,225 words (I think that's what it was, anyway) ... and in the next couple of months, I will be revising My Imaginary before putting it to the mercy of my wonderful test-readers. Then, after more revisions, it will be ready to move on to the next big step!!!

But in the meantime, I will continue my work on Hailey's Pearl. It's just over 10,000 words so far, and I estimate that it will end up being 50 or 60,000 in the end, but I'll have to see how I'll get there. Once HP is ready for the revision process, I'll start on my Frog Prince story, which HAS to be finished (at least draft one) by December of 09 in order to beat Disney's version. I don't think that there will be a problem (though I doubt it'll get to be published as a result???), but just to be sure that I have proof that I didn't copy...! Yeah.

Ahem, yes. So Hailey's Pearl, then Spellbreaker (for this is the secret name of the book - oo!), and for NaNo next year, I have an idea, but no title... not even a working one. But it will be written and dedicated to my hubby, Aaron.

Speaking of which, he and I are going to be working on our joint-written middle-grade novel some time soon as well, though he has to go through his own revision from his NaNo-winning novel, Enforcer, first. Darn the luck! But at least we're not the only ones in the boat - - Crystal and Eric both won with their novels (Fire Cougar and whatever Eric's is called), so we'll likely be holding more write-a-thons and book-groups in addition to our standard, weekly writing group meetings. :)

Crystal and I also need to get together to write our joint-novel, but we have other projects to focus on first. Hmmm....

I do not think that I will be able to afford going to the writing conference this summer at BYU, because it is quite expensive and I am not-so-rich at the moment, especially with Aaron and I trying to get into a house. But you never know what will happen.

That's what makes life so great, isn't it?

Writing, but still sleepy

I feel tired all the time! Ugh! I have been trying to get a lot more sleep lately (and yes, I've been taking my thyroid meds), but I still have to fight falling asleep all day long. It's so frustrating.

However, Hailey's Pearl has broken past the 10,000 word mark and I've gotten through my awkward stage -- the first 3 1/2 chapters! :) Now the fun can really begin. I love writing novel-middles. I forced my way through those hard chapters and I think it's paid off.

My writing group seems to really like it, too! So that is a huge plus. Woo! Tonight is going to be another writing night for me. Maybe I can add a chunk of words to that count.

Sleepy, not writing

Lately, I have been struggling to keep my eyes open almost all of the time... Ever since I got home from Washington, I've wanted to do nothing but sleep. :( And not that I was doing a great job writing before, but now it's really difficult to get myself motivated. Sob. There's less than a month before October and I said I'd have this novel done.

Crossed fingers are appreciated. ;_;

Vacation Writing

Writing has been slow, but fairly constant. I am going to need to pull some long writing sessions if I hope to get this done by October, though. That opportunity might come next week, though... we're headed out to Seattle for a gaming convention, and I suck at games. So there is a good chance that I won't go every day and can stick around in the hotel to write.

I really hope that's what happens.

In my freewrite today I discovered that I have 10 books that I want to write. Of those, only one isn't fantasy. Still fiction, but nothing really "weird" happens in it. It breaks down to this:

7 YA novels
1 really long picture book (re: The Katurran Odyssey)
1 co-written middle grade series
1 collection of short stories

I am certain that there are more that I am forgetting, but that is the current plan. :) I have all sorts of notes written for, like, all of these stories. Right now. Hailey's Pearl is going pretty well. Woo hoo!!!

Ahhhh!

It's so hard to force myself to write! There are so many other things that I need to take care of - like cleaning and stuff. And then I start thinking 'well if I do all of the housework now, then I'll have lots of writing time later!' but then other things need my attention and, somehow, the apartment gets messy again! Oh no! What to do, what to do?

On the writing conference-grown community, they mention a thing called 'butt glue' to keep you in place to write. Of course, my computer offers so much more than just a word processor. There are tons of people to talk to, tons of things to do (I mean, I work at a computer for my *job*), and read about... I'm already glued to my chair most of the time, but why am I not writing? ;)

I will have to make a specific time, I guess... like how I have to take my meds at certain times. I should have to write at certain times. Right? Something like that.

Hailey's Pearl - Progress

I started writing the novel this week on Brandon Sanderson's suggestion. The Tailor will be worked on later, which is hard, but for the best. I just started Hailey's Pearl on Thursday and I'm already up to 2,830 words. I don't know what will happen, but it's exciting and fun to write. My goal is to get all the way through without revising anything, and then I'll go back once the first draft is completely done. So far, so good.

I have a bunch of sketches from writing conference that I'll post along with some tidbits about the characters, maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Funny thing is, I know what the Pearl in the title refers to on a metaphorical level, but I haven't figured out what role it will play in the story, if any. I guess we'll see.

Writing Conference ... again!

This week has been so amazing so far. I am sad that tomorrow it will be halfway over already. But, I don't think I like doing homework and I really should go back to my day job so we can, you know, eat and pay rent. You know how it is.

Anyway, I don't want to go into too many details here, but I have SO much to think about now. I love learning about writing. I love learning about the people who love writing and love learning about writing. If that makes any sense.

But more importantly, the writing group website has changed -- http://www.room5446.com/

Writing Conference

Whew, my novel is almost ready for the big conference next week!

When I say 'conference,' I am normally referring to the BYU Writing & Illustration for Young Readers conference, and by 'almost ready,' I mean that I almost have the first two chapters of version 5 written and revised. I wanted to have much more done by now, but I am good at getting cold feet and procrastinating. But they only require the first two chapters for the conference, anyway, so I should be okay.

They also want us to bring an idea to work on during the week, one that we haven't done any actual writing for. I am going to bring Hailey's Pearl, which only has that one image and a few other sketches. I don't know why I am so excited to write that one... I mean, it's about dealing with the fear of the ocean and more importantly, the evils of whales. I mean, that is some serious and scary stuff. Then again, maybe that is why I am excited. I have thought much about my fear of whales. The story also has mermaids, which I think is pretty rad.

But back to The Tailor, I think that I will start working on character sketches and post them here with tidbits and thoughts. That will not only help me, but if I somehow get famous some day, my dearly devoted fans will come back here and eat it up like lucky charms or, my personal favorite, honey bunches of oats. Mmm.

So much has changed in the different versions of the story. I think that, one day, I really will make a website just for The Tailor (and my other writing, possibly), to discuss at length the differences in story and why things changed the way that they did. Even if no one else will care but me, I will consider it a writing exercise and my narcissism will have a productive outlet - everyone wins!

Anyway. I think that's enough for now since I don't have any images to post (bad me). The conference starts at 8am Monday morning, so I think that I will work on my novel and rest up! I'm so excited to meet Brandon Sanderson, who is my group mentor for the conference.

More updates soon!

Stories that I want to write

I am on a break from work (lunch? Something) and wanted to write a blog post because I can't stop thinking about writing. This is a good sign! I think, anyway. Only a month and a half or so before I have to have a bunch of The Tailor ready for that writing conference. I'm scared to death. But I have been working on it and with the help of my writing group, I should be okay.

For fun, though, here is a list of stories/novels that I want to write and their tentative titles. Why? Because... well... fun! And for my reference.

• Mermaids (Hailey's Pearl)
• Unicorns (Turn of the Century)
• Frogs (Sister of the Frog -- definitely needs a new title)
• Imaginary Friends (My Imaginary)
• Dragons (The Winged Opagin)
• Shapeshifters (The Tailor)

Deceptive, huh? I thought so, too. I briefly wanted to write a story about vampires, too, but I don't want to bandwagon on Twilight (even though I love it). I just thought it was interesting that my own blood's taste has changed so dramatically after all of the cancer stuff. You're probably thinking "wow that is pretty gross, Gabapple, what is with the blood tasting?" but you know what I mean... get a cut on your tongue, or a papercut, and you don't have things available and immediately put your finger in your mouth after saying "ow!" ... it's habit! Leave me alone.

Anyway, my blood tastes pretty gross now. Kind of dingy. Dirty blood? I read somewhere that the medication will do it. I don't have a thyroid anymore, so perhaps the synthetic chemicals have altered that. It also looks different whenever I get it drawn, too. I don't think a vampire would like me. :) This is both a good (yay less death) and bad (aw no Edward) thing.

Woo! I should finish my work for the day and then get on writing. I just hope that I can concentrate on The Tailor while all of these other story ideas are swimming through my head.

Hailey's Pearl

Look! A post! Finally! This is from another novel that I want to write in the next couple of years (probably the beginning of 2009 unless I can really get my act together.) It was created in ArtRage and took all evening, but I am well-pleased. I included a small excerpt of the half-chapter that exists of this story. I am hoping that by involving art with my novels, I will get much more motivated to complete them. So far so good!