Birth of a Novel 12/6/12

Where did the week go? I can't believe it's already Thursday. How did you do on your goals?

There is a new linky tool in the sidebar to sign up for the Thursday Birth of a Novel meme. Even if you don't want to participate, please visit the other bloggers and encourage them to keep working on their goals. Thanks!

Last Week's Goals:
1. Continue the good exercise habits I've started by going to the gym and watching what I eat. Fail! I only exercised on Monday and Tuesday. Granted I felt sick yesterday, and my schedule is busy today.
2. Fill in the gaps between the new start of Search for Knowledge and the salvaged section. This should equate to two or three chapters. Fail! I kept opening the document and reading. What happens when you read? You start to revise. I've got to stop that or I'll never get the story finished.
3. Write 4 more of the guest blogs I've planned for my tour in addition to the ones I've started. I currently have six of them completed and six in draft form. That means I should have 16 completed by next Thursday. Success! Well, I'm counting it as a success. I have 10 complete posts, 1 tour package put together, and 6 posts in various levels of draft form.

This Week's Goals:
1. I really need to come up with a birthday present for my hubby. And a really good Christmas present.
2. Get back to the gym!
3. Write 4 new scenes for Search for Knowledge: action scene with Landry, the new nightmare, the Code, and the ship.
4. Pull out Fade Into Me and re-evaluate what needs to be done.
5. Complete 4 of the Blog Tour draft posts.

No Writing Time Equals Slightly Crazy

My house is all painted. Almost. I still need to finish all the trim work. A guy came and did some outside repairs yesterday, and my garage looks like a dumping ground.

Yeah, moving is exciting!

I've gained 4 pounds over the last week. It's probably the combination of weird eating schedules, not enough water or sleep, nerves, no exercise, and when I do eat my preference is ice cream or granola loaded with chocolate.

I NEED these

The worst part is my mind is falling apart. Writing time is my time to organize my thoughts. Sure, I put my stuff on my characters, but that's what I call therapy. Let's just say I'm in dire need of some of that! The whole time I've been painting I've been trying to work out some details of the next book with Talia. Unfortunately, I haven't written any of it down and now I can't remember what I decided.

Then there's Fade Into Me. I still think it's the story that will catch me an agent. If I ever finish it. Dog gone it! I'm a stay at home mom. With all my kids in school. Where's all my writing time?

Soon. Soon.

Since I'm not writing at the moment, tell me about your success stories. What are you working on and how's it going?

All About My Current WIP/FW--A Meme

I grabbed this meme from Chantele Sedgwick a few weeks ago and filled it out for my debut novel The Magic Wakes. Today I want to do it for the YA novel that wants to be written, but can't make up its mind about when and how. ;)

1. What is the name of your book?
Faerie Wings although I'm leaning toward changing it to Fade Into Me. Which do you like better?

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?
To be honest, I don't remember. It came to me in the form of a book blurb one day and then the idea grew around it (see below). I think it was because I was thinking about different views people take on faeries and what they are like--good, evil, simply mischievous, etc. My thought was, what if they are none of the things the legends say.

3. In what genre would you classify your book?
YA Contemporary Fantasy? I'm so bad at classifying my genre because they are never cut and dried. This one has some science/aliens but is set on modern day earth and a land through a veil separating a different version of earth that shares the same space but a different time on the space time continuum--giving it a fairy tale feel as well. <--What an awful sentence!

4. If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose?

I just started browsing actors and picked a few. These may change, but I really like Jessie Cave for Ryanne Killian. I'd want this hair and everything! It screams every day girl but hints at Ryanne's Celtic heritage. She looks calm but you know if you push her buttons some fire is going to spark behind those eyes.

And maybe Austin Nichols for Carter Frey.  You can imagine him being a bit pretentious and good all at the same time, can't you?

5. Give us a one-sentence synopsis of your book.
For thousands of years, the Abhithians have served their sentence to tend and nurture their biggest mistake (humans),but the time has come for one human to set them free.

6. Is your book already published/represented?
Nope, must finish it first, get it to Beta readers and do some clean up work.

7. How long did it take you to write your book?
The idea has been floating around for almost two years and I have 45K finished, but still haven't connected the two parts. I WILL finish it this year so I can query it after Christmas.

8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or, readers of which books would enjoy yours?
Once again, I hate this question. I know that my idea can't be 100% original, but I don't know what is similar. Actually it is similar to the Immortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare in that my MC learns nothing is the way she thinks it is, and there are two realms of existence. But no demons or angels. :)

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?
This particular book? I don't know. I just felt like trying to write a YA book and this really just happened. I love so many authors and I'm sure they've all inspired me in some way.

10. Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book.
This is what came to me one day almost word for word. After reading it, tell me if you could just walk away from an idea like this?

Everything you’ve ever heard about faeries is a lie.

Lies they told to keep humans from learning the truth.

What is the truth?

They live among us, sentenced to watch over and nurture their greatest mistake.

Us.

Ryanne Killian doesn’t believe in faerie tales, and yet all the eyes of the Fae are watching her–hoping she will be the one to set them free.

Lucky 7 Meme

Lucky 7 Meme Rules:
1. Go to page 77 of your current manuscript.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy the next 7 lines (sentences or paragraphs) and post them as they're written. No cheating!
4. Tag 7 other writers to pass this meme on to.--You know how bad I am at this, so if you want to share, please do and let me know so I can come read.

My manuscript Excerpt:

"He's coming back?" My heart sped up and that restless feeling returned.

My eyes darted around the room. Seventies wall-paper peeled in spots along the upper half of the wall, wood paneling lined the bottom. The carpet had worn thin and no longer resembled the plush shag of its heyday. Luckily, there was very little clutter in the room. One picture of our family at Carowinds and a photo box of postcards from our parents. Still, it wasn't the ideal place to host the wealthy.

"Yeah, he said he thought he could get the dress cleaned for us." Heather got off the couch and went to the window. "Don't worry about it, Ry."

"Right, cleaning won't--" Whatever else I wanted to say evaporated as Heather's mouth dropped open.

"You've got to see this." She waved me over.

The view from our front window had completely changed. I ran to the door and onto the porch to confirm what couldn't be true. Twenty minutes ago the front yard was nothing but clover, dirt patches, and two twigs we called bushes under the front windows. Now I didn't recognize any of it. The small army of gardeners had landscaped the entire yard and disappeared without a sound. 

 A path meandered through bushes and flowers to a willow tree in the center. One of the columns from the wedding and an urn overflowing with purple violets kept the tree company. Something about the pattern of the path looked familiar.


What do you think? And if you post your 7 lines please let me know in the comments so I can come read them.

Birth of a Novel--Monday Comes So Fast

Whatever happened to those wonderfully relaxing weekends? It seems like Monday comes faster than I plan every time.

Today I'll report on last week's goals, make some new ones, and share a bit of music.

Last Week's Goals:
Work on Faerie Wings
Finish the short story Instincts

They were simple goals. A week plenty long enough to work on them. Right? Sure.

I've struggled all year to sit down and just write. I'm not sure what the problem is really. Too many distractions? Guilt? Too many voices talking at once? It's been all of these at different times, but the last two weeks I've made myself sit down and write something. Progress is coming, even if it is slow right now.

As you can see, Faerie Wings has gained roughly 2500 words over the last two weeks. Not stellar, but at least its something. The cool thing? I'm learning things about my MC I didn't plot! And they are awesome in that dark "who knew?" kind of way. For instance, I was writing last Wednesday and discovered that Ryanne has scars on her back from a run in with some of Kevin's friends. And he asked her to let them whip her. And she said yes! How messed up is that? I haven't figured out why and how any of that makes sense or fits in with the story I planned on telling, but there it is. Some back story (no pun intended) that is very telling about Ryanne's messed up self image and need for Kevin to like her. I'm still looking at her funny and she's pouting that I found out how desperate she was before meeting Carter. Current word count: 43,042

I started the short story Instinct but the idea lost it's appeal before I managed to get the rough draft finished. Currently there is 390 words of set up. Maybe I'll come back to it for May's W1S1 goal.

To be honest I'm getting frustrated with the short story bit. What's wrong with my shorts?? I love my stories and think they aren't too bad, but no one wants them. Is it because its not hard sci fi? All my writing has a lighter story feel--even the ones with a slightly creepy vibe to it. Maybe I'm just trying the wrong venues?

While I'm venting, I cleaned house like a mad woman for the first two days of last week. There was no writing of any kind. I was a good housekeeper. I hoped that by putting in the extra effort I could get a few hours of guilt free writing time.

Yeah, NO.

Thursday I tried to sit and write and got a lot of lip from someone I love very much. He had decided to clean out two of the kids' rooms and get ready for the yard sale (which is still a week away mind you!). First of all, my kids are old enough to clean their own mess. Second, I helped for the first three hours! All I kept thinking was, "Don't you have work to do for your employer??"

Do you ever get frustrated with the lack of understanding and support from your family?

This weeks goals:

• Continue to work on Faerie Wings until I get something to work on from my editor. I should be able to finish this draft if I just do it.
• I give myself permission to work on the sequel to SENDEK when I feel like it. Which is a lot and why I think FW is coming so slow.
• Start designing/writing the mystery dinner theater for girl's camp--I've started mapping it out in a notebook

And, a song to inspire:

Intimidating my Monday

It worked for Mal.

I feel like I'm forgetting something important. Because of that, I'm keeping my goals simple this week. 

Goals for this week:

Work on Faerie Wings

Finish the short story Instinct

Friday Already?

Once again the week flew by, thank goodness! This gets me one step closer to a fun filled (crazy) summer and then the fall. I can't wait for the fall. For the first time in sixteen years I will be at home with NO CHILDREN during the day!

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but think of the writing I can get done. Hopefully the biggest edits for Sendek: The Magic Wakes will be almost finished by that point, but I don't really know. I guess it depends on how blind am to the true faults in my story. However, if they are finished I can put everything into finishing book two Orek: The Search for Knowledge and get a detailed outline of Battle for Sendek on paper by the end of the year. That's what I would LIKE to accomplish, but we all know how life happens.

All of that is taking for granted that Faerie Wings will be finished and beta read by one or two people BEFORE the end of summer.

Do you think its weird that I've set writing goals for the entire year already?

Well, here is the week in review:
Work on Faerie Wings I did add another 1500 words, not as much as I wanted to do. There have just been to many other things to do. Most of that 1500 words were dialogue. Funny how much I love writing descriptions, but when I write, I write the dialogue first and then fill in around it.
Finish writing the short story I started Finished and submitted. I probably should have had someone read it first. :)

Prepare and teach all my lessons this week--not last minute I even made an awesome powerpoint for one of them.

Visit two families that I need to Check, and I made homemade bread for them and another family. I really do enjoy serving others, even if I complain about it. Perhaps a goal for next week should be "less complaining".
All that housekeeping stuff that doesn't go away Eh, maybe 80% on this one?
Make eye appointments for everyone--I keep forgetting this one
Run Um, failure. I ran once. Tonight should be interesting. Good thing I already planned to stay with my 5 year old. ;)
Run a 5k with my family Friday night--This is happening no matter what.

It's Finally Friday

It sort of sneaked up on me after the harrowing first few days of the week. I'm sorry to admit there was not a lot of writing this week. Instead I sat on the couch watching TV shows on Netflix. These are the two that I'm currently blowing through:

Roswell--3 alien teens search for the secret to where they came from in the hopes of returning to the home they can't remember. They have powers to rearrange matter. Max uses these powers to save the life of the human girl he's been secretly crushing on for a long time. And thus starts the drama. There's a good story buried under all the teenage hormones--I think. Maybe. :)

I don't know why I'm watching really because some of the characters are total creepers. Sort of like all the ridiculous eye gazing from Twilight. Whether its bad acting, poor scripting or what, I haven't decided. But its a great way to pass the day while I wait for kid #1 to get home from school so we can watch...

Doctor Who series 6 is finally on netflix. Matt Smith has really grown on me, but I still don't like the Amy Pond character. Rory I like. Amy just bugs me because its always about her.

I've heard they are getting the Doctor a new companion for series 7. The new girl will step in after 4 or 5 episodes when Amy and Rory step out. I can't wait! Oh, but since I don't get BBC America I'll have to wait at least a year. Buggers.








Yeah, so I need something to help me get back to writing. I'm supposed to be finishing this draft of Faerie Wings in March as part of the Speedbo challenge. Very little progress to report this week. The good news is the story is still stewing. Carter is always on my mind and his character is slowly changing and solidifying.

I guess I shouldn't kick myself too hard because if I wrote everything now I'd just have to change things after I know who he really is. As he changes, I'm finding new strengths in Ryanne too. She reacts to him differently now than she did before. It's more real if you know what I mean.

Monday is the A Picture Paints 1000 Words blogfest that I'm hosting over at Unicorn Bell. Please come sign up. You pick a picture and write a story for it. The good news is that it has to be 1000 words OR LESS. So, for short notice, you can make it as short as you want!

There will be prizes too!

Now, I need to go pick a picture myself...

Birth of a Novel and Lucky 7's Meme

Oy! I almost caught up with my sleep and then daylight savings hit me. Why? Why can't we leave things alone. Meddling humans.

Anyway, there still hasn't been as much writing as I wish, but there has been writing. I had a couple of days where I got 1000 or more words. So wish it had been more.

Faerie Wings--Bulk of the writing went here. I'm still working on filling in Carter's half of the story and blending scenes to move me forward again. This week will see a lot of cutting I think. Current word count: 40,065

Eleena of the Stars--no new writing.

Sendek: the Magic Wakes--Is finished. Has been, but I went through another line edit to catch some flagrant typos that survived the last edit. 

Last week Chandara and Sharon Bayliss tagged me with this Lucky 7's Meme. The rules are simple,
1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating.

Since I don't have 77 pages of Eleena, and Faerie Wings is in flux with all the moving around I'm doing, I pulled from Sendek. This is actually part of one of my favorite scenes. 

As she visualized the video clip of the crash, Talia fought back tears and focused on the whisperings coming from Sutton’s mind. She wanted to know what he was really looking for. Closing her eyes again, she focused all her energy outward, up through his arms and into his skull. In her mind’s eye, she ran through hallways full of closed doors searching Major Sutton. As she closed in on his mental image, he turned away from her.
A momentary fear washed over her and she didn’t know if it was hers or his. He stopped running. She had turned the tables on him.

Word count: 85,125

Orek: The Search for Knowledge--no new writing. The new Scrivener file has been created and the new opening scene written. Here's the Lucky 7 using my 1st draft Nano 2010 version of Orek. It'll go into flux(my word for the day, can you tell?) as soon as I finish this first draft of FW. This one is sort of an info dump in dialogue, but some version of it will exist in the final draft because this is where a new quest really begins. They just don't know it yet.

"Orek’s history contained dragons of high intelligence. These beings communicated with one or two of the early wizards to plant scientific ideas, but when men warred over whether science or magic would govern the people, the dragons left the planet."
“That sounds like Sendek’s history.” Talia stared at the drawings of the dragons.
“Jaron thought the dragons from Orek’s history came from somewhere else. Look, this is a list of planets he believed the dragons had visited over the eons.” Landry held up the last page and pointed to one name in particular.

Draft word count: 50,050
Rewrite word count: 2,000


Anyone who wants to do the Lucky 7 meme, feel free to do it. I'm not going to tag anyone. Instead I'm going to go be a writer, not a blogger. :)

Birth of a Novel Feb 27th, 2012

First the good news...I got my computer back this weekend! I can't tell you how long this month has felt without it. Sunday night I started typing in all the little scenes I had jotted down in notebooks so I would have a better idea of what to report today.

Faerie Wings: All the new scenes are from Carter's POV. I've really enjoyed getting inside his head. Before this month he was just a good guy. An attentive love interest. Now he has flaws. Really good ones that are going to add some conflict to the story. The biggest surprise? He's a bit prejudiced against humans! This is great since his duty is to marry one. (Huntress, I think this is going to be how Ryanne's feisty side gets to come out. There will finally be something to tick her off about him in spite of how lovey he is to her.) Current Word Count: 35,927 All that chicken scratch in the notebooks didn't translate to higher word count.

Eleena: I didn't really work on this one this month, and that's all right. I'll get to it when it comes to me. My main goal right now is to finish Faerie Wings. Current Word Count: around 1000

This week's goals:

• Submit Sleepers before the 29th to get my Write1Sub1 badge for February.
• Fix the typos I found in Sendek: The Magic Wakes when I read it on my kindle.
• Work on FW and Eleena.
• And, I'm feeling the pull to work on Orek: The Search for Knowledge. This kind of scares me because I'd like to finish FW first. But when your muse calls you have to go with the flow, right?

What are your goals for this week?

Birth of a Novel February 20th

Sorry, no pics today. I'm still computerless. :( So, I'm keeping this post short and sweet:

• The part arrived. It's been tested and it works. He just has to put the computer back together and hand it to me. ????
• Even computerless, I'm filling pages and pages in a notebook. My goal was to add another 10,000 words to Faerie Wings by the end of February. I think I'm well on my way to reaching that.
• Carter is surprising me with the silly little flaws he has. This is a good thing because he's becoming more real to me.
• My February goals for Write1Sub1 have been flushed. Sort of. I did get one written and sent to my CP. The computer died right after that. Revisions have not been made and I don't have anything else ready to submit.
• I'm a basket of nerves right now. Bidding on the Cupid Blind Speed Dating starts in an hour and a half. I'm entry #41. Only the undercover agents can make comments, so if you visit, come back here to let me know what you think. What if no one bids on SENDEK? I can't help but get my hopes up.
• Thursday is the day that the first round of ABNA ends and those going forward are announced. I actually had a conversation with hubby asking what I should do if I won ABNA and got an offer from an agent. See, no matter how hard I try not to set myself up for crushing blows of failure I can't help it!
• Small publisher X has had my full MS for about 3 weeks. I sent it the day BEFORE the computer died.

I feel like something is going to happen this week. But what will it be? And will I be crushed when nothing happens?

#DaysITsucksTObeAwriter

New favorite song?

What a great week this has been! Lots of great blogfests celebrating romance, kisses, and all that jazz. Thanks for all the comments. They gave me lots to think about. I've also been reading Sendek on my Kindle. Wow, there are a lot of typos that I missed! And pronouns that didn't get switched in the POV change. Not having my computer to fix all of those is killing me right now. I tried to open my wip on hubby's computer and it didn't recognize the rtf file. That's how lame (read OLD) it is.

I'm still jotting notes and some scenes for Faerie Wings and Eleena of the Stars in notebooks. Not a lot, but just enough to keep the excitement from dying while I wait for the computer part to come in the mail.

This week signified bonus time for my family. I went wild and bought two new CDs. Yep, I'm a high roller. One of the songs hit me as the perfect end credit song for Faerie Wings if it were ever turned into a major motion picture. I can't tell you all the reasons, but let's just say the line about colors appearing and fading together sealed the deal.

I give you Fade Into Me by David Cook.

And this one would be perfect for the end credits of Eleena of the Stars.
Take Me As I Am also by David Cook.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you next week!

That's YAmore Blogfest

Click HERE for the Critique Partner Blogfest.

Today is another blogfest. This one is the "That's YAmore Blogfest" hosted by Oasis for YA. Follow the link to see the rules and find the other participants.

We are supposed to share a scene of true love. I chose the following snippet from Faerie Wings for two reasons:

1. It shows what a wise and kind person Carter is. All he wants is to make Ry happy, help her see the good things she already has in her life.
2. I love the idea that true love doesn't always have to be romantic. Often the truest love that is given to us is by the members of our family. The ones we take for granted far too often.

 Okay, set up? They are taking a hot air balloon ride over Napa Valley, and Carter asked Ry if she believes in true love.

“Carter, my life has taught me love doesn’t conquer all. I loved my parents. Begged them to stay with me, but it wasn’t enough. They only cared about themselves and they left me behind.”

The knot in my chest twisted tighter. Mom hovered in my mind's eye, waving good-bye to dad without a single tear. Her only words to me that night had been along the lines that sometimes leaving is best for everyone. She didn't bother warning us before she left a few months later.

"How do you walk away from your own daughters?" I wiped at the tears that spilled down my cheeks.

Carter eased me down to the floor of the basket and found a napkin for my nose. He let me cry, stroking my arm or back the whole time. When I calmed down he squeezed my hand.

“My sweet Ryanne. So much pain locked inside. Don’t forget that Heather stayed with you. That’s true love too.”

He was right. All these years I’d only held on to the hurt, forgetting that Heather could have left me too. Instead she fought to keep custody of me. She put off college and worked to pay the bills until I could get a job and help too. My parents might be selfish flakes, but Heather wasn’t like them. I squeezed his hand back.

“Why couldn’t I see that on my own? Thank you.”

“That’s why I’m here.” He touched my face with his thumb and wiped away a tear. “Now, how about some food?”

Critique Partner Blogfest

Today starts a weeks worth of amazing blogfests. I'll try and keep a running tab of links at the top of each so the different blog participants can find the one they're looking for.

First up is Loralie's Critique Partner blogfest. Follow the link to find the other posts. At first I wasn't going to do this because I don't have a finished novel ready for critiquing. But I will. And that's why I decided to join up. Maybe there will be someone else who needs emails asking, "Hey where's the next few chapter?"

Anyway, here are my answers to some suggested questions from Loralie to help in our search for a critique partner.

Genre: YA contemporary fantasy

Title: Faerie Wings

Current status: 34K rough draft, 2/3 complete. The first chapter has been rewritten and I'm working through the rest before finishing the story. I got a bit off track with my focus and am fixing it.

Feedback needed:  General thoughts. Is the story line smooth and easy to follow. Does the voice match that of a 17-18 year old? Highlight the things you really like, anything that takes you out of the story, questions you have as you read (these help me the most because then I can see if you are asking the right questions in the right places), did I start in the right place (this is debatable even now), is the end satisfying, any unanswered questions that bug you. That kind of thing. I don't need a line edit because what I send will not be the final draft. And probably loaded with passive and -ly words.

The Pitch: 

Everything you’ve ever heard about faeries is a lie.

Lies they told to keep us from learning the truth.

What is the truth?

They live among us, sentenced to watch over and nurture their greatest mistake.

Us.

Ryanne Killian doesn’t believe in faerie tales, and yet all the eyes of the Fae are watching her–hoping she will be the one to set them free.

• The first 500 words: I actually don't have access to my computer at the moment (it's being repaired), and my hubby's computer is so old it won't recognize the external hard drive when I plug it in. So, here is the first 250 words or so that I posted on a webpage (see tab at the top) I created for this idea. (Come back tomorrow for another snippet from this novel for the YAmore blogfest.

“If I do this, you’re going to owe me big time.” I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and stared at Kevin. He stood on my porch in his letterman's jacket looking like the all-American homecoming god without a clue.

“I knew I could count on you, Ry.” He slapped me on the shoulder like one of the guys and headed down the steps.

“I still think it’s stupid. A girl shouldn’t be best man!” I yelled from the door as Kevin reached his car.

“But you’re my best friend. I’ll have Jessie call you. And don’t forget, it’s right after graduation.”

“How could I forget that?” I mumbled and he drove away.

What an idiot. Did he even know I was a girl? I was going to be the laughing stock of our graduating class, but it didn’t really matter. I would do anything he asked. I always had. Look what it got me. Best Man at his wedding. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was marrying Jessie. The cliche cheer-leading Barbie wanna-be.

Birth of a Novel Feb Week 2

Faerie Wings--I now have a first chapter that I don't hate. It still might not be the best place to start though. Eh, I'll keep building from there and try to finish the story, then I can re-evaluate where to start.
Current word count: 34,498

Eleena of the Stars--I worked more on the first chapter. Visualizing an evacuation has been hard. All that comes to mind are the ones I've seen on TV and I don't want it to be just like all of those. Plus, TV doesn't help with the smells. Good thing I have a great imagination.

Over the weekend I realized something very important. I have a nine year old. That's how old Eleena is at the beginning of the book (but this is NOT a MG or YA for that matter). He also has a great imagination and I bet if we sat down and talked, I could do a better job at capturing that age's voice. *headsmack* sometimes writing really IS that simple.

Would it bother you to read a book that moves through so many years of time? My goal is to have Eleena's voice/vocab/ageness grow with her. Makes it a bit trickier, but could be amazing if I pull it off, right?
Current word count: 950--this is a guess since I can't access my computer.

The Sleeper--Well, I sort of got stuck. But no worries! I sent the draft to my CP with questions and concerns. She's always honest with me and has a great talent for telling me where to cut back and where to expand. That's what I need right now.
Current word count: around 1,500

Birth of a Novel--February 2012

Last week was crazy busy with family visiting on top of normal hectic life, BUT my writing took an upswing. Not necessarily in word count though.

The Sleeper--I now have a finished first draft of a short story for my Write 1 Sub 1 submission for February (I'm doing the monthy challenge). Now I need to revise/edit, send to crit partners and then revise and send. Current word count: 1567 (no word count goal in mind).

Faerie Wings--Most of the work on this WIP was plotting as opposed to actual writing, but I'm liking the new direction of things. I also continued researching co-dependency and checking to see how it's fitting into the overall story. Current word count: 32,451 (reworked a scene, cut, added part of another scene)

Perhaps the most exciting news from last week is the official start of Eleena of the Stars. She now has research and plotting notes added to her Scrivener file, a morph thing photo, and the first scene of the book written. This story is going to take a long time to write, but I'm excited about it so it will be what I write when I just can't force myself to work on Faerie Wings. Current word count: 671. There will be a snippet of this posted for a blog fest in February.

How is your writing going?

Birth of a Novel January 9th

I should be hanging my head in shame. There is no progress to report on Faerie Wings or To Win the Game. I did however redecorate my living room. Although, that was only one day out of the week. We bought new couches and painted. Everything else still worked with the new design. Yay!

Most of the week was spent cleaning or enjoying the beautiful weather we had in North Carolina. The week started really cold and then perked up to a balmy mid 60s for several days. There was no way I was staying inside during such lovely weather. I carried my digital recorder with me and made some notes as ideas popped into my head for either novel.

I also played a bit with the Dragon software. One of these days I'll get around to posting about that, but I need to learn more before then. The day I played with it, I actually wrote a scene from Battle for Sendek (book 3 in the series). The other project I worked on was my short story Fallen Angels. It's almost ready to submit. :)

Wow! I guess I actually did get some writing done last week.

I also created a new website for homeschool cooking classes because I got a phone call about it. The lady was supposed to email me the details for the homeschool fair but I haven't heard back from her. I'm ready when she does though. If you're mildly curious THIS is what I do to earn some extra cash at times.

And finally, I worked some more on my new website. I'm considering switching to wordpress. It has some nice features, but it's taking some getting used to. I like the control that I have over the pages and the ability to create drop down menus.  It just seems easier to get organized and have areas for specific projects. But its easier (for me) to personalize the backgrounds here on blogger.

My biggest concern is will my followers move over there with me? For January I'm going to post here and there. Does anyone know if/how I can just reassign the link to this page to that page?

Anyway, the new website is more novel oriented in address at least--The Sendek Saga. 

How did your writing week go?

No Kiss Blogfest and Birth of a Novel 2012 Edition

Today (Jan 2nd) is Frankie Diane Mills 3rd Annual No Kiss Blogfest. Visit her site to read the rules and find Mr. Linky to find all the other participants. So, here is a snippet from Faerie Wings. I've posted it before, but since I joined this blogfest yesterday it's the best I can do.

If the symphony had been planned for my enjoyment, the dancing was for Heather. She and Scott took to the floor leaving Carter and me sitting in a corner. The music was too loud to talk, but I learned you can say a lot without words.

Carter traced the same circular pattern on my hand over and over. I leaned over and spoke close to his ear.

“Why the circles?”

He turned until his mouth was next to my ear. “Circles have no beginning and no end.” He drew another one on my palm. “There are many other meanings, but that’s my favorite one.”

The warmth of his breath on my skin spread. In the dim lighting of the club, a new boldness came over me. I flipped our hands over and drew a spiral on his palm. We sat so close that I felt his body tense. 

“Ma Cherie?” He exhaled into my hair.

“Did you know that in Celtic symbols, the spiral represents growth, balance, and creativity?” I spoke into his ear.

“It also means awareness and surrender.” He nipped at my ear, and a delicious tremor ran through me. “Please don’t tempt me more than I can take.”

His other hand closed over mine, stopping it’s motion. He didn’t pull away but pulled me closer. I couldn’t hear his breathing, but I felt the quick rise and fall of his chest so near to mine.

When it slowed he pulled back and looked into my eyes.

“Shall we dance?”

And now for the first Birth of a Novel post for 2012

Oh how the holidays derailed all my glorious plans.

Instead of working on Faerie Wings on the drive, I started a new WIP tentatively titled To Win the Game.

Current Word Count: 2,153
This is the story I've been terrified to write. I know I won't be able to do it right, but something moved me to start it. It'll probably sit in the background and get written in sporadic spurts. We'll see. If you are wondering it is contemporary women's fiction. Not a romance either. Totally different from my normal stuff.

In Faerie news, some big decisions WERE made, even though writing did not take place. First off, I made a huge discovery when I was telling my sister about this story. The story I explained to her--very concisely and quite good enough for a pitch btw--was not the story I had started writing. It sounded much better than what I was writing. It was the original idea that somehow I veered away from. I need to get back to THAT story.

Second, with that in mind, I figured out who Ryanne is at the beginning and who I want her to be by the end. I listed several ways to incorporate the changes into the current wip without having to rewrite everything.


I also started listing things that are in Ry's room. This will help me get deeper into Ry's head and then it will be easier to continue her journey. There are all these little things she's held onto from her childhood that show glimpses of her character, what she lost, and what she is searching to gain once again. It's been fascinating. She's finally talking to me!

Next up is Carter. I'll get to him soon I hope. He's still a bit flat in every instance but the romantic side of his roll. That part I've got. It's the rest of him I need to find. ;)

Current Word Count: 32,167

Birth of a Novel and Debate

Thank you to all who made a guess about my MCs age as part of the blogfest last week. It was fascinating to read the reasons behind the guesses. I was quite pleased that most of you said the age read as around 17 even though a wedding was involved. They are 17! The wedding is not a normal thing for characters this age and I knew that would throw some of you off.

And, to answer another confusion--the wedding is on the same day as graduation. It's a point that really frustrates Ry.

Now, on to the weekly report!

Title: Faerie Wings
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Current Word Count: 33,671 up 3000 from last week.

Last week was a slow week for this WIP. I managed to carve out two more scenes, but I kept getting distracted by another idea. I'll share that in a minute. I also went back and fixed one scene that was bugging me, and I keep revisiting the beginning. But, I'm working on finishing at the same time.

My writing distractions were two fold last week.
1. My short story Fallen Angels has burst into full color action in my head. That means its really hard to ignore. I'm re-writing it and hope to finish it this week, get it to CPs and get it ready to submit by January. This is something totally different for me. Male POV. Yeah. I'm gonna need some male CPs for this one. Michael? Alex?

2. I spent a lot of time debating with myself how I want to develop Faerie Wings main character. It's been suggested to me that she is a bit passive. True. My first drafts usually are, but I don't know how strong I really want her to end up.

Q4U: Does every female MC have to be a kick butt, angry, snarky, fiesty, completely confident, no nonsense kind of girl? Can a strong female lead also be feminine, insecure, unsure, reluctant?

Where is the line between realistic and just down right annoying?

Ryanne is not Katniss. But I don't want her to be Bella either. I personally like the idea of a normal, insecure girl who has to dig deep to find she's more than she ever dreamed.

image found Here

However, there must be glimpses of that more from the beginning. This is what I think my CP was getting at. The steel of the hero's spirit needs to glimmer here and there before being completely unsheathed.

What do you think?

Guess My Character's Age Blogfest Contest

Today, Brenda Drake is hosting a Blogfest Contest. Click on the link to find Mr. Linky to the other entrants. Here are the rules:

On December 8th post the first 250 words of your finished, or not quite finished, manuscript (any genre) to your blogs. This contest is about voice--whether or not your character's voice matches his or her's age. So if you mention the age or school grade in the first 250 words, please edit it out or block it out for this contest. Don't list the genre or title on your posts.

It is directly related to finishing Nanowrimo, but she states the story doesn't have to be finished. Now, my lovely followers already know my MCs age, but the other participating won't have my Birth of a Novel info, so hopefully I can still get some good feedback.

For those that do know the MCs age, please voice your opinion on if I'm close to the right voice. I really would like to know.

Here are the first 250 words:

“Ryanne Killian, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jessie’s shrill voice rose above the chatter in the hall.

I turned to meet her gaze. “What are you moaning about now?”

“I am not going to let you ruin my special day. You have to tell Kevin that you can’t be his best man.” She crossed her arms across her chest. “It’s ridiculous.”

Funny, those were the same words I used when he asked me. I told him a girl couldn’t be best man, but I sure as heck wasn’t going to tell that to miss high and mighty.

“That’s too bad Jessie, ‘cause I already rented a tux.” I turned to walk away, but she grabbed my arm.

“Look, wear whatever you wear to------. -------------------------------------------- . Just smile and don't embarrass us, okay?" Jessie turned and let her nose lead the way as she flounced off with her ----------posse trailing behind. She turned to one of them and said, “Don’t worry, this isn’t over.”

I rolled my eyes and headed the other way. Great, that’s all I needed. If not for Kevin, Jessie would never stoop to speak to someone like me. If not for Kevin, I would have been perfectly happy with that arrangement.

Ah, Kevin. Idiot, jerk, and my best friend since ----------.