A month ago if I saw my writing habits now I would scream.
It really is horrible-- for my goal-oriented perfectionist half, that is.
I haven't worked on Sable in days, I'm not getting up at 4:30 anymore (curse my drafty, cold room), and NaNoWriMo is only days away. My goals have been flushed down the toilet along with all the other crap trying to pass for writing that I've had to cut from Edgebrook (about 10,000 words.)
It's a living nightmare!
But I think it has helped me some. I suffered from a little burn out and now, easing into a more flexible schedule I'm starting to feel a little less uptight. I think I'll let Sable rest for a little while and focus more energy into my course novel, Edgebrook. and revising Moonfire (first in my Silvermoon Series, I've already completed draft one of the second and Sable is the third.)
So I'll try to look at it as more of a holiday than a horror. I break from my usual strict word count goals.
I wrote 1,000 words for Edgebrook today, using Write or Die. It truly is priceless and if there are any procrastinating writers out there I cannot recommend it enough. It's amazing how much words I can get out when I'm trying to keep that darn screen from flashing red.
Time to work on Haloween costumes. I'm going to be a masquerade dancer and my sister is going to be a pirate, and I've got a lot of sewing to do. So good bye for tonight, loves.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Angela Snapped, Edgebrook Came Alive, and I Didn't Hide
Angela snapped.
Ever since I killed one of Sable's pillars, one of its strongest characters, Angela has been depressed and really hard to write. Her new response to difficult situations is to bottle it all in instead of her usual explosions. Normally her first response to everything is Fight! But now that she's hurting she just makes her face an emotionless mask and digs her claws into her palms.
But today she let a little of her old self out, except in a darker way... Out of the blue she started wailing in this guy (who was a complete jerk, I'll give her that) and all of the pain and rage she let out floored me-- not to mention the guy who's head she was slamming her fist into repeatedly. I love it when my characters surprise me like that. It's a good feeling.
Edgebrook came alive.
I've been stuck in one POV (Adam's.) My instructor thought it would be best. And, crap, has it been suffocating! It's hard for me to tell a story through just one MC's eyes, but today after a pity-party I buckled down and just let Adam tell me how it all really went down. "Screw your fancy outline!" he said. "This is how it's going to be."
So of course I didn't argue (He's super strong and turns into a giant ferocious cat! Hellooo!) And when I turned him loose I started to get chills and my passion for this story came, like the nights I spent telling it to my sister, staying up until four in the morning because I just had to tell more! Very sweet memories, those are.
I didn't hide.
I went to church, led worship, and hung out with the youth group at Wendy's; not once did I retreat inside myself. I came close, but I snapped myself out of it before I could go there and it was a good feeling. It's nice feeling comfortable around people my age, I wasn't worried or skittish. I was me, albeit a slightly quieter version of me, but me nonetheless. It was great.
Edgbrook: 11,000 words
Sable: 50,000 words
Ever since I killed one of Sable's pillars, one of its strongest characters, Angela has been depressed and really hard to write. Her new response to difficult situations is to bottle it all in instead of her usual explosions. Normally her first response to everything is Fight! But now that she's hurting she just makes her face an emotionless mask and digs her claws into her palms.
But today she let a little of her old self out, except in a darker way... Out of the blue she started wailing in this guy (who was a complete jerk, I'll give her that) and all of the pain and rage she let out floored me-- not to mention the guy who's head she was slamming her fist into repeatedly. I love it when my characters surprise me like that. It's a good feeling.
Edgebrook came alive.
I've been stuck in one POV (Adam's.) My instructor thought it would be best. And, crap, has it been suffocating! It's hard for me to tell a story through just one MC's eyes, but today after a pity-party I buckled down and just let Adam tell me how it all really went down. "Screw your fancy outline!" he said. "This is how it's going to be."
So of course I didn't argue (He's super strong and turns into a giant ferocious cat! Hellooo!) And when I turned him loose I started to get chills and my passion for this story came, like the nights I spent telling it to my sister, staying up until four in the morning because I just had to tell more! Very sweet memories, those are.
I didn't hide.
I went to church, led worship, and hung out with the youth group at Wendy's; not once did I retreat inside myself. I came close, but I snapped myself out of it before I could go there and it was a good feeling. It's nice feeling comfortable around people my age, I wasn't worried or skittish. I was me, albeit a slightly quieter version of me, but me nonetheless. It was great.
Edgbrook: 11,000 words
Sable: 50,000 words
Friday, October 9, 2009
Edgebrook: My Newest Project
I promised I would so here's a little bit about Edgebrook.
This is a rough summary and is subject to change. Edgebrook is the book I'm working on for my college course on writing books, from The Institute of Children's Literature. So here it goes.
Seventeen-year-old Adam is just a victim of typical teenage rebellion. Everyone's wanted to run away at some point in their lives, right?
His adopted parents don't understand him, and he's sick of his tiny town. But since he's strong enough to tie crow bars into bows, and he can change shape into a cat twice the size of a lion with saber teeth and four inch long claws, you can understand his frustration.
When he runs away from Edgebrook, his plans of showing the world what he can do are thrown out the window when he is sucked into another realm.
In the desert land of Nuria, inhabited by tattooed, red-eyed people with crimson angel wings; Adam finds his path crossed with Riley, a beautiful mystery, with a temper hotter than Nuria's three suns, who had her wings clipped for a horrible crime committed against the Nurian king.
As an evil plot unfolds to open a portal to earth and unleash an indestructible army, Riley is sure stopping the King's enemy would earn her grace in his eyes. And Adam is sure the journey will uncover his forgotten childhood and reveal who his real parents are.
Can Adam discover the secrets of his past and help Riley earn back her wings? Adam is determined to do so. But between his absent memory, a powerful warlord, and an unrequited attraction things aren't going to be easy.
But then again, Adam's never backed down from a good challenge.
There it is. Still working out the kinks.
Sable: 44,700 words.
Edgebrook: 7,000 words
This is a rough summary and is subject to change. Edgebrook is the book I'm working on for my college course on writing books, from The Institute of Children's Literature. So here it goes.
Seventeen-year-old Adam is just a victim of typical teenage rebellion. Everyone's wanted to run away at some point in their lives, right?
When he runs away from Edgebrook, his plans of showing the world what he can do are thrown out the window when he is sucked into another realm.
In the desert land of Nuria, inhabited by tattooed, red-eyed people with crimson angel wings; Adam finds his path crossed with Riley, a beautiful mystery, with a temper hotter than Nuria's three suns, who had her wings clipped for a horrible crime committed against the Nurian king.
As an evil plot unfolds to open a portal to earth and unleash an indestructible army, Riley is sure stopping the King's enemy would earn her grace in his eyes. And Adam is sure the journey will uncover his forgotten childhood and reveal who his real parents are.
Can Adam discover the secrets of his past and help Riley earn back her wings? Adam is determined to do so. But between his absent memory, a powerful warlord, and an unrequited attraction things aren't going to be easy.
But then again, Adam's never backed down from a good challenge.
There it is. Still working out the kinks.
Sable: 44,700 words.
Edgebrook: 7,000 words
Monday, October 5, 2009
Back in the Routine
I'll admit it. I've fallen away from Sable the past week.
I got up with a grimace my insides gritty from the thought of looking at the stupid book. I wanted to give up. It's amazing how creative you can get when you're entertaining the idea of ruthlessly killing off every character in your book, all the while unable to coax anything worth reading from the actual story itself.
I couldn't feel the story like I could before. My words seemed forced, and my characters were screaming at me just to write their dang story already! I already knew what I was going to write, what I had to write, but I wasn't feeling the magic like before. This novel that I loved so much suddenly filled me with bitter loathing. I guess killing off one of my favorite characters finally came back to haunt me.
But this morning something changed...
I cut my page count in half (because of Edgebrook, which gets ten pages too, my newest addition to my written family, and don't worry, I'll tell you all about it.) And despite a hesitant start the ten pages came to me so fast, I felt the rush again. It was awesome! I let my fingers dance over the keyboard telling my inner perfectionist to shut the heck up and let me get the story written. I let my characters act freely without confining them to the limits I've placed on them and they did some very fascinating things.
I feel good.
I got up at 4:30 again (seems to be a magical time for me for some odd reason. FWI I am not a morning person!) and like a puzzle piece I fit back into the routine that Silvermane hardwired into my brain and the rest of my day went smoothly, but most importantly I'm not going to abandon Sable. Though the novel is proving to be a difficult little brat, I'm going to finish Sable to the end. I'll probably have more hard times, but I can get through them. I know it.
38,300 words
I got up with a grimace my insides gritty from the thought of looking at the stupid book. I wanted to give up. It's amazing how creative you can get when you're entertaining the idea of ruthlessly killing off every character in your book, all the while unable to coax anything worth reading from the actual story itself.
I couldn't feel the story like I could before. My words seemed forced, and my characters were screaming at me just to write their dang story already! I already knew what I was going to write, what I had to write, but I wasn't feeling the magic like before. This novel that I loved so much suddenly filled me with bitter loathing. I guess killing off one of my favorite characters finally came back to haunt me.
But this morning something changed...
I cut my page count in half (because of Edgebrook, which gets ten pages too, my newest addition to my written family, and don't worry, I'll tell you all about it.) And despite a hesitant start the ten pages came to me so fast, I felt the rush again. It was awesome! I let my fingers dance over the keyboard telling my inner perfectionist to shut the heck up and let me get the story written. I let my characters act freely without confining them to the limits I've placed on them and they did some very fascinating things.
I feel good.
I got up at 4:30 again (seems to be a magical time for me for some odd reason. FWI I am not a morning person!) and like a puzzle piece I fit back into the routine that Silvermane hardwired into my brain and the rest of my day went smoothly, but most importantly I'm not going to abandon Sable. Though the novel is proving to be a difficult little brat, I'm going to finish Sable to the end. I'll probably have more hard times, but I can get through them. I know it.
38,300 words
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