Okay, so I was doing really well on that blogging thing. Then things happened and I stopped. If it helps to know, I've been go-go-going for the last three-ish months. So what I am going to do is a day early addition of the Friday 10 to catch you up on my life and my writing.
1. So first off, as I spent a lot of time talking about back in October, I participated in NaNoWriMo. And I won. I got a bit over 50K on November 30th which was a stretch because a lot of the drama that happened. I was very happy that I was able to concentrate on getting a lot done even though life was kicking me in the behind. I have a good "start" going and I have been trying to follow my outline, which I keep changing a lot of. But I am getting somewhere and I am very happy about that.
2. I had planned on getting this novel done before the conference in April. If I really push it I probably can do that, my problem will be is that it will still be in need of a lot of revision, chopping and organizing so it works as a novel. I'm glad now that I didn't sign up for a pitch because I honestly don't think it will be at that stage of readiness. I'm still excited for the conference and keep checking the website for any updates to the speakers and classes! I cannot wait until they publish the brochure so I know what I am going to want to check out. One thing that I am good at in my everyday life that doesn't always seem to roll over to my writing life is that I am a major planner. So I like to know what I am doing when so I want to see those brochures to get planned! Also, since I am going to be driving back and forth every day, than it will definitely be something I want to make sure things get off to a good start.
3. One of the biggest changes of my life happened in November. It was something that we had been planning on happening for quite a few months, but it was a big adjustment that I wasn't quite as prepared for as I was hoping. My three step daughters moved down on a permanent basis. So I took on a new hat to juggle during my daily life: Full Time Mom. It is a hat that I have always loved during their visitations, and I am learning that hat has a lot more corners to navigate when you have children with you full time. One of the biggest difference is that we used to have them during their vacays at school, which means I never experienced the homework, waking up early to get to school life. It was a change. A somewhat hard one for everyone involved because of the fact that they had to enroll in a new school in the middle of the year. Since they got here right before Thanksgiving, they actually ended up getting a little breathing room before jumping in to school. And oh my goodness is the enrollment process for mid-year dramatic! So much paper work, so much drama. I've learned that having kids full time also means I need about 36 hours to a day to get everything done. Which, obviously, will not ever happen.
4. The next thing that really threw me in a loop was the fact that we decided to move. Going from a part time five member family to a full time five member family meant we really needed to get more space so everything was comfortable. So we spent a lot of weeks talking over what we planned to do. We found a place that we loved and realized it would be too far out where we wanted to enroll the girls in school, not too mention was in high demand. Then we found a place in the school district that we wanted the girls in and found out that it was just as wonderful the first one, though a little more tight to the budget. So, over Christmas and New Years we moved. Oh my goodness does that suck. Not only are you trying to do it in winter weather, but trying to celebrate a happy holidays with family during it all made time very short for getting things finished. I ended up turning in our keys to our old apartment at the very last minute, covered in grime from cleaning and rushing into the office so I could get them turned in on time. I even paid people to clean and clear junk which I never thought I would do but I just ran out of time even though I was right there helping beside them.
5. Along the same lines of moving there has been a lot of adjustment to a new life. For all five of us. The girls are still adjusting to a new lifestyle here with us and have been trying to catch up on school, instead of being a vacation lifestyle that they have always been used to they now have to get used to a life where there is school, chores and rules that they weren't really held to before hand. Like I mentioned before, I've had to adjust my mindset to the refurbished mom hat I have put on and the fact that full time mom means less time for writing which kind of saddens me. Then we are adjusting to a new house with new creaks and noises, new attitudes and designs. Bigger and better which sometimes we all forget.
6. Packing and unpacking. I have moved more in the last five-ish years than I have my whole life. My parents still live in the house they brought me to from the hospital after I was born. I never moved in my childhood. The first time I moved was from their home to my boyfriend-now-husband's home in Denver. It was a big move. The last few years has been a lot of upgrading our household to fit our family since a lot of things have changed since we first moved here. I hate moving. We are staying in this apartment until we get a house. I never want to pack or unpack again. That is the worst part. Oh and I love how it always starts as "I'm going to make sure all of these boxes are organized and labelled by room!" to "Oh my god, I don't think I have enough boxes, lets just fill them up and we'll go through them later." The first option probably would have made the unpacking easier, but I ran out of boxes and time and sanity.
7. Let's go back to writing. I've learned to take whatever spare moment I have to write. There may not be a lot of time, but I do get a few hundred words down each day. I know that isn't a lot right now, but we are still at the point of settling into a new place so my days off have been filled with a lot of busywork. Once things get settled, unless I have things I need to get done. My days off on Mondays are going to be devoted to writing and hopefully that will allow for bigger chunks of words getting written during those days. And of course I will still be focusing on getting whatever words I can during the rest of the week too.
8. About my story itself. There are things that I had originally written and planned on writing that I am questioning now. And it's not a matter of whether it is important for the story, it's more that it's not important for this story. Aislynn's story has grown to something different. I found myself, during NaNoWriMo, letting her story just flow out instead of planning, which allowed for a lot of words to come out, but it also called for a lot of changes. Because of that and everything else happening, I did take a lot of December off to really focus on where I wanted to take this story. Hopefully it goes somewhere where I want it to. Oh and my oldest daughter started reading it and liked it. And I one a 25 page critique on Christmas which was exciting so I can't wait to see what that person thought of them. She is a blogger at Victim of Writing and her name is Tiffany. She's very nice!
9. So, work. I have been trying to apply for a wonderful position at work and keep twiddling my thumbs. I really want this position, but I don't know if I meet the qualifications. Wish me luck.
10. I have learned to survive on many cups of coffee. It allows for less sleep and more time to get things done. Which is sad, but its been working. I may need to wean off of the coffee and switch to teas. Teas have always been more calming and settling than there to give me a buzz.
Yes, those last two were lame, but I ran out of ideas. I'm gonna try and write up some other posts later today. Hope all is well!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Friday, October 28, 2011
Friday Ten
Hey guys,
I wanted to post this weeks Friday Ten. Which may or may not make it to ten… So, here we go:
1. So this will be my Halloween post. So every year at work we do themes among the departments and whoever wins then gets to have a pizza party or some such thing. My department did pirates. Which was fine, I participated. I dressed up. But our decorations were really tacky, sad to say. I wish we went through the time and planning to get it as narrowed down to being awesome because it could have been. Another department did a Zombieland theme and it rocked. I may or may not have a picture of me. And I will not be showing it.
2. So a few weeks ago I started Weight Watchers. I suck at it because I fail at exercise. I try to watch my food intake and stay within my points but really I don’t think I am at a point in my life that I can really commit myself to it. There are other things I want to focus on.
3. In the world of writing I have Aislynn’s story pretty much plotted from start to finish. Which is an accomplishment for me because I am terrible at plotting. Which brings me to…
4. So I have set up my own goal for NaNo. I want to see if I can finish Aislynn’s story in November. I am shooting for over 50K — in honesty probably closer to 100K — but I think if I set the goal I just might be able to finish it. Which is a pretty difficult thing since I still am going to be working full time, but hopefully I’ll be able to cut some time out for myself and really push myself into getting words down.
5. So I’m not sure I really said anything about the conference I am planning to go to. It’s the Pike’s Peak Writer’s Conference. It’s April 20-22, but there is also an add on day on the 19th. I want to go all four days. I’m excited and I haunt their website, waiting for the day they put out the brochure so I can see what exactly the workshops will be and who the speakers will be. You guy may think I’m crazy planning for a conference without knowing their schedule but I looked at their past years line ups and don’t see anything wrong with the workshops they offer or they speakers they bring in. Plus it’s their 20th anniversary, so I think it should be exciting.
6. Our girls are going to be getting here around the 14th — which is sucky in the sense they miss Halloween down here which I was looking forward to but awesome it will be so soon. They are going to be here for a few months as the first part of this newer arrangement we have come to with their mother. They are being home schooled now so we get a lot more leeway with the visitation (in the sense that we do not have to base it on the school holidays). It’s going to be a new experience and hopefully one that will work well for all of us.
7. Other life things. We’ve decided to move. Which is more of a big deal then it sounds. When we moved into our current apartment we were very happy and it worked pretty well for us. We decided we wanted to stay here until we could afford to get a house. But that changed for a few reasons. First and foremost, the girls are getting older and we need a little more space, especially since the plan is to have them down with us more often because of the home schooling. Second off is that things have not been perfect here (but not nearly as bad as our first place). Things have slowly started to get worse in regards to the appliances. The dryer takes 2-3 cycles before it actually gets close enough to be considered dry. The dish washer takes almost as many cycles to clear dishes because its a dish washer circa 1990s and the water shooting up just from the bottom does not clean the top rack of dishes. It gets to the point where I hand wash them and pretty much put them in for them to get completely cleaned. So basically things suck. The new place we are looking at is bigger, about the same rate and since the washer and dryer and appliances are ALL included instead of some being rented I think they would be more up on the getting things fixed.
8. So my cat. Again. Is seriously pickier than a three year old. You have to get just the exact thing she wants at the time to feed her. We have switched her to primarily wet food (with a supplement of dry food if she gets hungry). We use Aristocats brand because she has always liked it when we gave wet food as a treat versus a meal. Well, I found another brand that was a little easier on the pocketbook for bigger servings. She refuses to even touch it. So apparently it was harder on my pocket book then intended. This cat drives me crazy even though I love her dearly.
9. My husband is amazing and so very supportive and I just want to leave him a message here telling him how wonderful he is.
10. So, I live in Denver. We are known for the snow. I hate snow. We got snow on Tuesday, its still sitting around because it is so cold. My husband makes fun of me because I was wanting it to be colder and I always turn around and wish it would be warmer in winter. But honestly the fall and winter are my favorite time of the year because of my favorite holidays and my birthday and just everything is fun and wonderful.
Anyways, that’s my Friday 10 for this week. Hope to entertain you some more soon!
Cara Mia Amore
I wanted to post this weeks Friday Ten. Which may or may not make it to ten… So, here we go:
1. So this will be my Halloween post. So every year at work we do themes among the departments and whoever wins then gets to have a pizza party or some such thing. My department did pirates. Which was fine, I participated. I dressed up. But our decorations were really tacky, sad to say. I wish we went through the time and planning to get it as narrowed down to being awesome because it could have been. Another department did a Zombieland theme and it rocked. I may or may not have a picture of me. And I will not be showing it.
2. So a few weeks ago I started Weight Watchers. I suck at it because I fail at exercise. I try to watch my food intake and stay within my points but really I don’t think I am at a point in my life that I can really commit myself to it. There are other things I want to focus on.
3. In the world of writing I have Aislynn’s story pretty much plotted from start to finish. Which is an accomplishment for me because I am terrible at plotting. Which brings me to…
4. So I have set up my own goal for NaNo. I want to see if I can finish Aislynn’s story in November. I am shooting for over 50K — in honesty probably closer to 100K — but I think if I set the goal I just might be able to finish it. Which is a pretty difficult thing since I still am going to be working full time, but hopefully I’ll be able to cut some time out for myself and really push myself into getting words down.
5. So I’m not sure I really said anything about the conference I am planning to go to. It’s the Pike’s Peak Writer’s Conference. It’s April 20-22, but there is also an add on day on the 19th. I want to go all four days. I’m excited and I haunt their website, waiting for the day they put out the brochure so I can see what exactly the workshops will be and who the speakers will be. You guy may think I’m crazy planning for a conference without knowing their schedule but I looked at their past years line ups and don’t see anything wrong with the workshops they offer or they speakers they bring in. Plus it’s their 20th anniversary, so I think it should be exciting.
6. Our girls are going to be getting here around the 14th — which is sucky in the sense they miss Halloween down here which I was looking forward to but awesome it will be so soon. They are going to be here for a few months as the first part of this newer arrangement we have come to with their mother. They are being home schooled now so we get a lot more leeway with the visitation (in the sense that we do not have to base it on the school holidays). It’s going to be a new experience and hopefully one that will work well for all of us.
7. Other life things. We’ve decided to move. Which is more of a big deal then it sounds. When we moved into our current apartment we were very happy and it worked pretty well for us. We decided we wanted to stay here until we could afford to get a house. But that changed for a few reasons. First and foremost, the girls are getting older and we need a little more space, especially since the plan is to have them down with us more often because of the home schooling. Second off is that things have not been perfect here (but not nearly as bad as our first place). Things have slowly started to get worse in regards to the appliances. The dryer takes 2-3 cycles before it actually gets close enough to be considered dry. The dish washer takes almost as many cycles to clear dishes because its a dish washer circa 1990s and the water shooting up just from the bottom does not clean the top rack of dishes. It gets to the point where I hand wash them and pretty much put them in for them to get completely cleaned. So basically things suck. The new place we are looking at is bigger, about the same rate and since the washer and dryer and appliances are ALL included instead of some being rented I think they would be more up on the getting things fixed.
8. So my cat. Again. Is seriously pickier than a three year old. You have to get just the exact thing she wants at the time to feed her. We have switched her to primarily wet food (with a supplement of dry food if she gets hungry). We use Aristocats brand because she has always liked it when we gave wet food as a treat versus a meal. Well, I found another brand that was a little easier on the pocketbook for bigger servings. She refuses to even touch it. So apparently it was harder on my pocket book then intended. This cat drives me crazy even though I love her dearly.
9. My husband is amazing and so very supportive and I just want to leave him a message here telling him how wonderful he is.
10. So, I live in Denver. We are known for the snow. I hate snow. We got snow on Tuesday, its still sitting around because it is so cold. My husband makes fun of me because I was wanting it to be colder and I always turn around and wish it would be warmer in winter. But honestly the fall and winter are my favorite time of the year because of my favorite holidays and my birthday and just everything is fun and wonderful.
Anyways, that’s my Friday 10 for this week. Hope to entertain you some more soon!
Cara Mia Amore
Friday, October 21, 2011
Friday Ten
So, I want to try and start a trend for myself. Post tens things that happened during the week as a recap. We'll start today! Woo hoo!
1. First things first, I want to wish everyone a happy Second Rapture. I was watching the already snarky comments show up on Twitter this morning and it always makes me giggle. First the one in May, and now this one. I survived the one in May, and plan to survive this one. Just means we get an after party tomorrow.
2. I apparently went a little crazy last night. If you follow my Twitter you may have seen it. Basically what happened was I was reading through other people's blogs that I follow. I noticed a trend. People use Blogger and rarely Wordpress. Am I doing it wrong? Well, of course I freak out at stupid things so asked Twitter for their response. My wonderful SIL The Auto Momma (go follow her fun blog!) suggested Blogger. But I dunno yet. So in the midst of my crazy I decided to set up a Blogger one that will mirror my Wordpress one. Now I have two blogs to maintain when I have issues with just one. See: Crazy.
3. So, for the writer's conference preparation I decided that, like a lot of others suggested, to get simple business cards made with my name, contact information and social media names. (This may be a reason I didn't just decide on one blog -- the business cards have the Wordpress blog). They arrived the other day and it gave me a little thrill to see my name on a card that I will hopefully be handing out to people that I network with at the blog. Other writers, possibly agents, editors, whomever. I want to start networking and that will be my biggest first step to getting my name out there.
4. As for the writing thing. I decided that I am basically going to toss what I had written before and start over. Well, kind of. I have been doing a lot of plotting and I am changing things up, I think Aislynn is happy with the changes because her voice seems to be flowing better when I sit down and write.
5. Plotting is hard. I have always been the classic "Pantser" and never really plotted anything. Just wrote what came to me. I decided that since I was basically stuck on Aislynn to try and plot it out. To divide the chapters so they were shorter (basically one or two scenes for the chapters instead of a bunch) so that it flowed better. Haven't done the complete plot outline but I have a good start and I pretty much know where it is going to end up.
6. Research. Again, hard. I'm not a good researcher, and if I want to keep accurate in my writing I know that I need to become a good researcher. It always bursts my bubble when I see writers talk about how excited they are to research. Then it lifts me back up when I see the ones that aren't. I know I'm not alone and knowing that makes it easier. I need to get on to it.
7. Life. I know this is a writing blog, but sometimes life butts itself into the conversation. I love my life. I love my husband, our kids, and I sometimes like my day job (even though it takes away from my writing time). The Hubs and I decided about a month ago that we are going to try and move out of our current place to a new one. I'm excited. It's bigger and not much more out of the pocket -- I'll like having the extra space and the extra bedroom so the girls can at least be a little more separate. Life is good, I'm a happy gal.
8. Family. I have the most amazing family. So encouraging and helpful on this journey that I am trying to commit myself to. I just want to say thanks to you all for all you do and help me with, though I know that some of you don't read this and some of you do, I hope I tell you guys "Thanks" enough.
9. The Neurotic Cat. So, Isis. Our wonderful cat that talks to us and acts more like a dog then an actual cat. She's crazy. From her fear of the outdoors and strangers, to her disinterest in her food (I can not count the amount of times I have had to change the brand of food she eats because she stops liking it -- similar to a toddlers attitude toward food -- maybe she's a kid and not an animal at all), to her hyper bolting and knocking over things, and her obsession with cardboard (boxes, paper towel rolls, etc) and plastic. I love her dearly but I cannot tell you how much I sometimes want to put her in a box and see if she'll eat herself out of it.
10. Hmm. Not sure what I have to say for ten. I think I'll just end with a have a good weekend!
Cara Mia Amore
1. First things first, I want to wish everyone a happy Second Rapture. I was watching the already snarky comments show up on Twitter this morning and it always makes me giggle. First the one in May, and now this one. I survived the one in May, and plan to survive this one. Just means we get an after party tomorrow.
2. I apparently went a little crazy last night. If you follow my Twitter you may have seen it. Basically what happened was I was reading through other people's blogs that I follow. I noticed a trend. People use Blogger and rarely Wordpress. Am I doing it wrong? Well, of course I freak out at stupid things so asked Twitter for their response. My wonderful SIL The Auto Momma (go follow her fun blog!) suggested Blogger. But I dunno yet. So in the midst of my crazy I decided to set up a Blogger one that will mirror my Wordpress one. Now I have two blogs to maintain when I have issues with just one. See: Crazy.
3. So, for the writer's conference preparation I decided that, like a lot of others suggested, to get simple business cards made with my name, contact information and social media names. (This may be a reason I didn't just decide on one blog -- the business cards have the Wordpress blog). They arrived the other day and it gave me a little thrill to see my name on a card that I will hopefully be handing out to people that I network with at the blog. Other writers, possibly agents, editors, whomever. I want to start networking and that will be my biggest first step to getting my name out there.
4. As for the writing thing. I decided that I am basically going to toss what I had written before and start over. Well, kind of. I have been doing a lot of plotting and I am changing things up, I think Aislynn is happy with the changes because her voice seems to be flowing better when I sit down and write.
5. Plotting is hard. I have always been the classic "Pantser" and never really plotted anything. Just wrote what came to me. I decided that since I was basically stuck on Aislynn to try and plot it out. To divide the chapters so they were shorter (basically one or two scenes for the chapters instead of a bunch) so that it flowed better. Haven't done the complete plot outline but I have a good start and I pretty much know where it is going to end up.
6. Research. Again, hard. I'm not a good researcher, and if I want to keep accurate in my writing I know that I need to become a good researcher. It always bursts my bubble when I see writers talk about how excited they are to research. Then it lifts me back up when I see the ones that aren't. I know I'm not alone and knowing that makes it easier. I need to get on to it.
7. Life. I know this is a writing blog, but sometimes life butts itself into the conversation. I love my life. I love my husband, our kids, and I sometimes like my day job (even though it takes away from my writing time). The Hubs and I decided about a month ago that we are going to try and move out of our current place to a new one. I'm excited. It's bigger and not much more out of the pocket -- I'll like having the extra space and the extra bedroom so the girls can at least be a little more separate. Life is good, I'm a happy gal.
8. Family. I have the most amazing family. So encouraging and helpful on this journey that I am trying to commit myself to. I just want to say thanks to you all for all you do and help me with, though I know that some of you don't read this and some of you do, I hope I tell you guys "Thanks" enough.
9. The Neurotic Cat. So, Isis. Our wonderful cat that talks to us and acts more like a dog then an actual cat. She's crazy. From her fear of the outdoors and strangers, to her disinterest in her food (I can not count the amount of times I have had to change the brand of food she eats because she stops liking it -- similar to a toddlers attitude toward food -- maybe she's a kid and not an animal at all), to her hyper bolting and knocking over things, and her obsession with cardboard (boxes, paper towel rolls, etc) and plastic. I love her dearly but I cannot tell you how much I sometimes want to put her in a box and see if she'll eat herself out of it.
10. Hmm. Not sure what I have to say for ten. I think I'll just end with a have a good weekend!
Cara Mia Amore
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
So, one day I made a goal...
Alright, so here's my confession on this wonderful, fall Tuesday. I made a goal and started to slack off.
If any of you follow my Twitter or Facebook you would have seen that around the beginning of this month I decided I wanted to save up and try to go to the Pike's Peak Writer's Conference in April of 2012. I put together a savings plan to save a little each month until then until I have the conference fees ready (which I should have soon since registration starts on November 15th!) and of course some extra spending money. I decided to make my first conference an "easy" one. Meaning it's only up in Colorado Springs so that means I will be driving there in the mornings and home at night, so no hotel stays.
One of the other things I wanted to do is plot out and finish writing one of the stories I've been working on. Aislynn's story has been the focus of my spare time for awhile now so I decided to work with her. So I got myself all excited with "I can do its" and "there's plenty of time". And I got some great encouragement from my family and friends when I told them what I wanted to do.
But...
I STARTED TO SLACK OFF.
The first week or so of it worked wonderfully. I sat down and tried to do a bare bones plot outline for my story and got it pretty much squared away. Then I sat down and started to rewrite. From the beginning. Most of you out there probably think I'm crazy, but I needed to make this story get done and the only way for me to do that was to refocus myself on the writing instead of the plotting.
So I picked up a pencil (which I never write with) and started writing. Let's just say I went through at least one eraser that first sit down session trying to get the words to sound right. I was encouraged, I was getting words on the paper. And yes, some were along the same lines as my original ones but I got quite a bit of new product in there as well.
Then I started to write while at work -- on breaks and lunches -- and found that I would get into the flow right as my time would be up and would have to stop in the middle of a good writing spree and would lose my train of thought. Which meant more time of "catch-up" before trying to write again on my next break.
So, it got to the point where I didn't even want to try and write while at work because I got too distracted and really didn't get anything good out of it. Then my strategy changed to just writing before and after work. Well, that also meant that writing was on my mind when I left for work and then I didn't have enough time to destress after a day of work and honestly the work was still suffering.
I really need to restrategize and I hope that this slacking hasn't ruined my plan. I won't let it.
I think I'll focus on NaNoWriMo this year but a little more focused to me instead of how they do it. I will set my goal to 50K new words written during that month. If I do that, that will be a majority of the novel right there. That will give me time to wrap it up and hopefully have some people read it. Then by the beginning of the year I'll be ready to add changes and get into the process of making my manuscript sparkle.
And there you go with my confession of the day!
If any of you follow my Twitter or Facebook you would have seen that around the beginning of this month I decided I wanted to save up and try to go to the Pike's Peak Writer's Conference in April of 2012. I put together a savings plan to save a little each month until then until I have the conference fees ready (which I should have soon since registration starts on November 15th!) and of course some extra spending money. I decided to make my first conference an "easy" one. Meaning it's only up in Colorado Springs so that means I will be driving there in the mornings and home at night, so no hotel stays.
One of the other things I wanted to do is plot out and finish writing one of the stories I've been working on. Aislynn's story has been the focus of my spare time for awhile now so I decided to work with her. So I got myself all excited with "I can do its" and "there's plenty of time". And I got some great encouragement from my family and friends when I told them what I wanted to do.
But...
I STARTED TO SLACK OFF.
The first week or so of it worked wonderfully. I sat down and tried to do a bare bones plot outline for my story and got it pretty much squared away. Then I sat down and started to rewrite. From the beginning. Most of you out there probably think I'm crazy, but I needed to make this story get done and the only way for me to do that was to refocus myself on the writing instead of the plotting.
So I picked up a pencil (which I never write with) and started writing. Let's just say I went through at least one eraser that first sit down session trying to get the words to sound right. I was encouraged, I was getting words on the paper. And yes, some were along the same lines as my original ones but I got quite a bit of new product in there as well.
Then I started to write while at work -- on breaks and lunches -- and found that I would get into the flow right as my time would be up and would have to stop in the middle of a good writing spree and would lose my train of thought. Which meant more time of "catch-up" before trying to write again on my next break.
So, it got to the point where I didn't even want to try and write while at work because I got too distracted and really didn't get anything good out of it. Then my strategy changed to just writing before and after work. Well, that also meant that writing was on my mind when I left for work and then I didn't have enough time to destress after a day of work and honestly the work was still suffering.
I really need to restrategize and I hope that this slacking hasn't ruined my plan. I won't let it.
I think I'll focus on NaNoWriMo this year but a little more focused to me instead of how they do it. I will set my goal to 50K new words written during that month. If I do that, that will be a majority of the novel right there. That will give me time to wrap it up and hopefully have some people read it. Then by the beginning of the year I'll be ready to add changes and get into the process of making my manuscript sparkle.
And there you go with my confession of the day!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
I really should...
... actually start blogging again.
It's been a quiet few months and need to get back to the happy work of blogging and updating those of you who actually do come here to see if I've updated. Because it is kind of cruel of me to have just disappeared without even a mention of a hiatus.
But a hiatus is what I had, I took myself away from blogging -- really from writing at all -- and it was a much needed hiatus. My story was in a rut and my blog was getting to the point (or well past it) where I wasn't coming up with the topics myself but depending on the topics of others and stating my own opinion. When I noticed that I realised that I had to step away, that I had to give myself a break from the creative world to let my mind take a break. Have you ever gotten to that point? Or am I alone in that?
Now that I have take a handful of months to work on other aspects of my life and to let those creative juices build up I hope to become a little more consistent in my writing and blogging. Hopefully I can stick to that.
So to get myself back into the swing of my stories, to hopefully incorporate the ideas that have been building, I've decided to read through and lightly edit what I had already written. I want to familiarise myself with where I had previously been heading with the story and play with it so it will fit better with the new road I want to take it down. It has been fun and tiring to see where it was going, and I hope to make it better.
There was something else that I realised while on this little hiatus of mine: that I have been living in a little, lonely cave. Let me try and explain that in the context of writing: for as long as I can remember I have been always considering writing as a very solitary task. I know those of you out there that are writers are probably laughing your butts off and I am completely embarrassed that I admitting this. But I've been reading other writers' blogs and it was like that light bulb going off:
I don't have to do this alone!
I've been looking at the blogs of other writers for awhile now -- both aspiring and published -- and I really started to see how the dots connected. The people I read about always talked about others in their journey: people who helped them through problems by reading through the work, people who gave opinions on the story in general. They talked about the agents they touched base with while querying their work, and then their relationship with that agent if they get that wonderful letter or call that signs them as a working pair. Then you have editors, publishers and everyone else that join the party. They are never alone.
Yes, writing is a very personal project for the writer, and can usually be very solitary and internal in the first stages -- unless you are writing as a pair or group, in which case I give many kudos since its so hard to meld voices that can be so individual -- but once you have gotten the bones of a story down you really are no longer alone, or shouldn't be. I think that is the biggest step I have tried to make in the last bit of time.
I am very nervous about the judgement of others. I mean it took me until very recently to start sharing my writing with my husband and my family. It felt too personal, too secret, too strange. It was something about myself that made me different from most people in my life (which is kind of a pathetic reason) and I was scared to share. But it was so fulfilling to finally share with them. And to hear from my husband that he wanted to read more was music to my ears. But people who are close to you can be biased (my husband swears he is trying not to be but you never know) and I want to see if I get the same reaction from those who are not that close to me.
So this is when I ask you readers out there for a favour. I want to get out of this cave -- and I already have but this new light is bright -- and join the world around me. The writing world that I have been keeping myself from. But I need recommendations. What are good sites or places to find people to critique your work, what are good sites in general to look at, or blogs, or anything. Are there conferences I should be trying to attend, are there memberships I need to get. Help me if you would! Because I don't want to do this alone any more.
Any help will be much appreciated and I'll love you forever!
It's been a quiet few months and need to get back to the happy work of blogging and updating those of you who actually do come here to see if I've updated. Because it is kind of cruel of me to have just disappeared without even a mention of a hiatus.
But a hiatus is what I had, I took myself away from blogging -- really from writing at all -- and it was a much needed hiatus. My story was in a rut and my blog was getting to the point (or well past it) where I wasn't coming up with the topics myself but depending on the topics of others and stating my own opinion. When I noticed that I realised that I had to step away, that I had to give myself a break from the creative world to let my mind take a break. Have you ever gotten to that point? Or am I alone in that?
Now that I have take a handful of months to work on other aspects of my life and to let those creative juices build up I hope to become a little more consistent in my writing and blogging. Hopefully I can stick to that.
So to get myself back into the swing of my stories, to hopefully incorporate the ideas that have been building, I've decided to read through and lightly edit what I had already written. I want to familiarise myself with where I had previously been heading with the story and play with it so it will fit better with the new road I want to take it down. It has been fun and tiring to see where it was going, and I hope to make it better.
There was something else that I realised while on this little hiatus of mine: that I have been living in a little, lonely cave. Let me try and explain that in the context of writing: for as long as I can remember I have been always considering writing as a very solitary task. I know those of you out there that are writers are probably laughing your butts off and I am completely embarrassed that I admitting this. But I've been reading other writers' blogs and it was like that light bulb going off:
I don't have to do this alone!
I've been looking at the blogs of other writers for awhile now -- both aspiring and published -- and I really started to see how the dots connected. The people I read about always talked about others in their journey: people who helped them through problems by reading through the work, people who gave opinions on the story in general. They talked about the agents they touched base with while querying their work, and then their relationship with that agent if they get that wonderful letter or call that signs them as a working pair. Then you have editors, publishers and everyone else that join the party. They are never alone.
Yes, writing is a very personal project for the writer, and can usually be very solitary and internal in the first stages -- unless you are writing as a pair or group, in which case I give many kudos since its so hard to meld voices that can be so individual -- but once you have gotten the bones of a story down you really are no longer alone, or shouldn't be. I think that is the biggest step I have tried to make in the last bit of time.
I am very nervous about the judgement of others. I mean it took me until very recently to start sharing my writing with my husband and my family. It felt too personal, too secret, too strange. It was something about myself that made me different from most people in my life (which is kind of a pathetic reason) and I was scared to share. But it was so fulfilling to finally share with them. And to hear from my husband that he wanted to read more was music to my ears. But people who are close to you can be biased (my husband swears he is trying not to be but you never know) and I want to see if I get the same reaction from those who are not that close to me.
So this is when I ask you readers out there for a favour. I want to get out of this cave -- and I already have but this new light is bright -- and join the world around me. The writing world that I have been keeping myself from. But I need recommendations. What are good sites or places to find people to critique your work, what are good sites in general to look at, or blogs, or anything. Are there conferences I should be trying to attend, are there memberships I need to get. Help me if you would! Because I don't want to do this alone any more.
Any help will be much appreciated and I'll love you forever!
Cara Mia Amore
So... let's talk updates!
Okay, I disappeared again -- sorry. I had really intended on bloggin more, but kind of got myself distracted. Let's talk about some of those distrations.
First, and foremost, I have been really trying to focus on my writing because I have been kind of ignoring it for the last few months. Honestly, ignoring it was something I needed to do because I was in a rut and really just needed to step away from my stories and get a better look at them. So, now that I am trying to get back into that writing mood I have been editing through what I had already written (after being
aw
First, and foremost, I have been really trying to focus on my writing because I have been kind of ignoring it for the last few months. Honestly, ignoring it was something I needed to do because I was in a rut and really just needed to step away from my stories and get a better look at them. So, now that I am trying to get back into that writing mood I have been editing through what I had already written (after being
aw
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
**Peeks Around a Corner**
So, I'm very sorry about the unplanned hiatus for the last few months. Life has been busy and ... well I have a hat-full of excuses, none which matter here, and none of which you guys would care about.
Unfortunately, in regards to actually writing, I have been unproductive. In regards to research, I have found aplenty. In honesty I am in a slump, I don't have any belief in my story right now. Which is sad because I love it and my characters. I want to tell their story, but part of me doesn't know where to take the story. I know where I used to want the stories o go, but I haven't been able to get there.
So, I have been rethinking a lot in regards to plot and where I want to take things. As of right now, things are up in the air. Going to finish typing in the last bit of edits I did on each of the stories and take some major time to think about where I want these stories to go. Going to edit what were my previous outlines, and see what I want to happen.
I need a big room with walls made of white board walls. Do my best planning when I can write and erase.
Anyway, I will try and write a better, longer post soon.
Unfortunately, in regards to actually writing, I have been unproductive. In regards to research, I have found aplenty. In honesty I am in a slump, I don't have any belief in my story right now. Which is sad because I love it and my characters. I want to tell their story, but part of me doesn't know where to take the story. I know where I used to want the stories o go, but I haven't been able to get there.
So, I have been rethinking a lot in regards to plot and where I want to take things. As of right now, things are up in the air. Going to finish typing in the last bit of edits I did on each of the stories and take some major time to think about where I want these stories to go. Going to edit what were my previous outlines, and see what I want to happen.
I need a big room with walls made of white board walls. Do my best planning when I can write and erase.
Anyway, I will try and write a better, longer post soon.
Cara Mia Amore
Friday, March 25, 2011
Review: The Uglies Trilogy **Spoiler Alert**
Description: The Uglies Trilogy (UGLIES, PRETTIES, and SPECIALS) is a trilogy of books by Scott Westerfeld, and is a dystopian young adult series. It takes place in a post apocalyptic Earth in the different civilizations that have formed. They are highly advanced technologically and they refer to those in the past as Rusties (we used metals that rusted, they are focused highly on what we would consider ‘green’ living – nothing wasted and everything is recyclable) and are themselves very focused around making everyone the same.
Basically when the story starts she is considered an ugly. Their world has come to the conclusion that all of the problems are centered on the fact that there are prejudices and differences among people. So and extreme cosmological surgery happens when people turn sixteen and they are turned into someone who looks almost like everyone else. Only minor details are different. There are no races any longer, no differences in looks. The world is divided into twos. The uglies and the pretties. The uglies are those that have not gone through the surgery and the pretties are those that have. It’s to such an extreme that they even divide the two groups and keep them away from each other.
The trilogy starts with UGLIES and is focused on a young girl named Tally Youngblood. She is on the verge of her sixteenth birthday and is excited that soon she will be pretty and will be able to join her older friends in pretty town. What ends up happening is she meets a new friend named Shay and she enjoys the fact that their birthdays are right around each other and they can be best friends forever without having to wait for each other. But something is off about Shay; she is unusually unexcited for the surgery. Shay ends up running away; to somewhere she says that the surgery and being pretty is not important, they can be themselves. Tally stays behind and looks forward to her surgery. On her birthday though, instead she gets taken away and is recruited to find Shay by Special Circumstances (a government agency that deals with trouble makers) and to turn Shay and the people she ran to in to Special Circumstances. So she does it so she can get the chance to be Pretty and winds up in the camp with Shay, and David a boy who has never lived in a city where surgery is required. David and Tally fall in love, and David tells Tally a secret about the surgery. The surgery causes lesions that change a person’s personality. David’s mother, who is a surgeon, thinks she has a cure. But in order to test it she needs a consenting subject. So Tally makes a drastic decision, she decides to become Pretty even though she had changed her mind before.
Book two, PRETTIES, is what happens after Tally turns herself in. She is now pretty and so is Shay. But the bad thing is she doesn’t remember the plan, the liaisons in her head have erased all the memories of her life with David in the wild. She is your standard pretty. Enjoys parties and having fun. While at a party she meets a guy named Zane and starts to fall for him. At that same party she runs into one of her old buddies from the wild who gives her a message. With Zane, awhile later, she follows what it instructs in the letter. When they get to the end they find out that there are two pills left in an envelope for them. But time is running out, Special Circumstances has followed them and they each decide to take one of the pills. Months later, they are starting to feel some basic results from the pills and start acting out. The pills also cause them to do a giant prank that seems to have many repercussions. They decide to escape to the wild again, with a lot of the different pretties. The group runs into trouble and they all get separated, Tally ends up at a “reserve” where there is a very wild group of people (think some Indian tribes nowadays that have not progressed even to the point where we are today – people stuck in the distant past). Eventually Tally gets to the wilds and the group of people she escaped with (including David and his mother) and she finds out that Zane has gotten worse. They also find out that they’ve been tracked by a tracker in Zane’s tooth. Since Zane is too unstable to move, Tally and he stay behind. They get caught, and they are confronted by a cruelly changed Shay saying that Tally is going to be turned into a Special. An agent of Special Circumstances that has been changed to accommodate their new job.
The third book is SPECIALS and takes place after Tally has been changed to her newest form. In this book Tally has new abilities as a Special, and she also has new lesions. But even with these lesions, Tally is beginning to keep her memories and not be completely affected by them. As the story goes on, Shay and Tally once again journey into the wild to try and find David and his group again. We see Tally’s journey to discovering the world again, and herself. She runs into familiar faces and new ones. She discovers how to be herself and be special. She finds new cities that aren’t restricted by the surgery and lesions and she works to try and get her own city that way.
Review: I really like this series, but I was a little disappointed in the end of it. I like the character and how real she seemed to come out as. Tally was both naïve and haunted by her choices. She wanted to just be like everyone else but other people’s choices seemed to take that chance away from her.
The first book of the series was by far my favorite of the three. I liked how it flowed and I like the character development of it all. The second book was good as well but I kept hearing myself say “oh my god why is she doing that?” and that really pulled me away from it. By the third I really struggled to enjoy it. The ending was decent but not what I hope for.
One thing I did enjoy about this was that it was a male author writing as a female point of view. I haven’t really seen much of that. I’ve seen female doing male POV, I’ve seen male doing male POV, but from what I remember I really can’t say I have seen much of any male doing female POV. It was very well written and I didn’t seem to see any real “tainting” from the male perspective of a female life.
Rating: I think I’m going to give this series a 4 out of 5 as an average. Because of the downward spiral I felt with the end of the series and my love for the first one, I’ll only dock it one point right now.
Cara Mia Amore
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Review: Blue Bloods **Spoiler Alert**
Description: BLUE BLOODS is the first book in a paranormal young adult series by Melissa De La Cruz in which she takes a big spin on your standard vampire. Instead of being your “doomed to the night” type people, they are actually every day people with a twist. When they hit a certain age they have to start consuming human (or Red Bloods) blood. They are called Blue blood because their blood is actually blue. They are descendents of the angels cast from heaven. Instead of having immortality in the obvious sense it’s not their body that lives forever but their soul/memories/past lives. As they become blue bloods (which is an inherited possibility) they start to get access to their past lives and memories.
The story itself centers on a young girl named Schuyler Van Alen. She goes to a private school and is an outcast who is only friends with other outcasts. She discovers a blue blood and finds out that there are many different secrets in this society. The story revolves around her learning who she is and discovering that even though they should never be able to be harmed, there is something out there hunting them.
Review: Alright, here’s my problem. I hate pop culture references in books. It really seems to make books less timeless. De La Cruz uses a lot of pop reference, especially in regards to fashion (which is one of the quickest changing things in this world) as well as common fads that are currently around. I got crazily bored reading this book, which is relatively short, because I kept having to skim over these references. I understand that there are plenty of young girls out there whose lives revolve around fashion and pop culture and I understand I am not really a part of what would be her target audience, but I feel that as a writer you shouldn’t just shoot toward one audience because you never know who might pick up your book to read.
Other then that big issue that I had with it, I really did like the concept and the story. The characters are unique and enjoyable, but I didn’t find myself as drawn to them. It was definitely an original twist on a classic idea.
On thing that was unique was how the referred to historical parts of the story, though embellished, interesting period of time to refer back to.
I don’t really have much more to say on the story … it took a significant amount of time to get through it, and I made the mistake of buying the whole series before finding out if I would have liked it. I will go all the way through and review the other books. I hope they are more pleasing to me.
Rating: I will give this book 3 out 5. Was an interesting tale just not a fan of the way it was written and the things referred to in it. I will read the others and we'll see how those go.
Cara Mia Amore
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Review: Caster Chronicles **Spoiler Alert**
Hey everyone out there who reads this, just beware that there are definite spoilers in here. So don't spoil a great read, just go get those books and enjoy them first!
Description: Currently this is a two book young adult paranormal book series, though from what I know there is going to be at least a third, if not a forth. These books are written by a pair of authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
The first book is BEAUTIFUL CREATURES and is told in the male perspective of a boy named Ethan Wate. He has very realistic dreams that not only stay as dreams but follow him to his waking moments. The dreams are always about a girl. Someone he doesn’t know but is inexplicably linked to. As school starts and they go through the year he finds out that a new girl is coming to school. Her name is Lena Duchannes and she is the niece of the town recluse. They meet and Ethan realizes that she is the girl from his dreams. As the story progresses we find out that Lena is what is known as a Caster. She has magical abilities. Not only that, but she is coming up on her sixteenth birthday, in which case she is going to have to choose between being Light and Dark (basically good or evil), but she really doesn’t get to choose, because the choice was taken away from her family in the past when a curse was set on them. The story is the progression towards her birthday and that choice.
The second book BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS takes places relatively soon after the awful happenings from the end of the first book. The story is still told from Ethan’s perspective and we follow his journey through trying to keep Lena with him after her dangerous sixteenth birthday. Lena is pulling away because she doesn’t want to hurt anyone. We meet some new characters in this novel and we learn a lot more about the Caster world. We follow Ethan as he tries to rescue Lena from herself and the dangers of some of her family. Old characters return and new characters emerge. Yet more choices are made in this novel that can make or break the relationship between the two main characters.
Review: I ate these books alive. Literally took two days for both of them to be finished, averaging about a book a day. I loved the fact that this story was told through Ethan, instead of Lena. He is so much the average boy on the verge on manhood, and he ends up being linked to a girl who is no where near average. It’s a fun experience watching him have such … normal reactions. Fear, loves, hatred, loathing, desire – all of those and more were represented through Ethan at one point or another in the story
The writing in these two books was flawless, I would have never guessed it was two separate authors writing. Garcia and Stohl seem to be very in sync with each other which is necessary when doing a dual authorship. I was nervous about these books at first because of the very fact that it has two authors. I’ve had bad experiences with multiple authors for a single story in the past – those experiences involved writing that was no where near seamless in the back and forth. I was pleasantly surprised.
I love all the characters. Even the bad guys. They are so rounded out that it makes you love and hate them all. They are very real and you get very invested in their lives. Ethan and his classic down south attitude makes me laugh, his world is filled with the War Between the States and how it continues to affect those in the Deep South. Lena is naïve and slightly broken by this curse of her family, and because of this she is more and less just like any teen trying to make it through life. Amma, who is a Seer and the house keeper at Ethan’s home, makes you laugh because she is so much a living example of old time manners and chivalry. Macon, who is Lena’s recluse of an uncle, surprises you with his strength, his love and his power. Link, who is Ethan’s best friend, keeps you laughing with his utter joy in the world, despite what is happening around him he can always crack a joke. Ripley, who is Lena’s Dark cousin, is enticing and endearing, even with her evilness. Sarafine drives you made with her selfishness and evil toward her own daughter. Pretty much any of the many rounded characters make you fall in love with them.
The story itself is a unique twist on “witches” or those with magic or supernatural powers. Each person has a type a magic that they are a specialist at, making the magic in this story more along the lines of super powers. Kind of a twist on the Heroes world but WAY better.
Rating: I give each book 5 out of 5. (Apparently I only read books that I think rock … maybe I’m not the best reviewer out there).
Description: Currently this is a two book young adult paranormal book series, though from what I know there is going to be at least a third, if not a forth. These books are written by a pair of authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
The first book is BEAUTIFUL CREATURES and is told in the male perspective of a boy named Ethan Wate. He has very realistic dreams that not only stay as dreams but follow him to his waking moments. The dreams are always about a girl. Someone he doesn’t know but is inexplicably linked to. As school starts and they go through the year he finds out that a new girl is coming to school. Her name is Lena Duchannes and she is the niece of the town recluse. They meet and Ethan realizes that she is the girl from his dreams. As the story progresses we find out that Lena is what is known as a Caster. She has magical abilities. Not only that, but she is coming up on her sixteenth birthday, in which case she is going to have to choose between being Light and Dark (basically good or evil), but she really doesn’t get to choose, because the choice was taken away from her family in the past when a curse was set on them. The story is the progression towards her birthday and that choice.
The second book BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS takes places relatively soon after the awful happenings from the end of the first book. The story is still told from Ethan’s perspective and we follow his journey through trying to keep Lena with him after her dangerous sixteenth birthday. Lena is pulling away because she doesn’t want to hurt anyone. We meet some new characters in this novel and we learn a lot more about the Caster world. We follow Ethan as he tries to rescue Lena from herself and the dangers of some of her family. Old characters return and new characters emerge. Yet more choices are made in this novel that can make or break the relationship between the two main characters.
Review: I ate these books alive. Literally took two days for both of them to be finished, averaging about a book a day. I loved the fact that this story was told through Ethan, instead of Lena. He is so much the average boy on the verge on manhood, and he ends up being linked to a girl who is no where near average. It’s a fun experience watching him have such … normal reactions. Fear, loves, hatred, loathing, desire – all of those and more were represented through Ethan at one point or another in the story
The writing in these two books was flawless, I would have never guessed it was two separate authors writing. Garcia and Stohl seem to be very in sync with each other which is necessary when doing a dual authorship. I was nervous about these books at first because of the very fact that it has two authors. I’ve had bad experiences with multiple authors for a single story in the past – those experiences involved writing that was no where near seamless in the back and forth. I was pleasantly surprised.
I love all the characters. Even the bad guys. They are so rounded out that it makes you love and hate them all. They are very real and you get very invested in their lives. Ethan and his classic down south attitude makes me laugh, his world is filled with the War Between the States and how it continues to affect those in the Deep South. Lena is naïve and slightly broken by this curse of her family, and because of this she is more and less just like any teen trying to make it through life. Amma, who is a Seer and the house keeper at Ethan’s home, makes you laugh because she is so much a living example of old time manners and chivalry. Macon, who is Lena’s recluse of an uncle, surprises you with his strength, his love and his power. Link, who is Ethan’s best friend, keeps you laughing with his utter joy in the world, despite what is happening around him he can always crack a joke. Ripley, who is Lena’s Dark cousin, is enticing and endearing, even with her evilness. Sarafine drives you made with her selfishness and evil toward her own daughter. Pretty much any of the many rounded characters make you fall in love with them.
The story itself is a unique twist on “witches” or those with magic or supernatural powers. Each person has a type a magic that they are a specialist at, making the magic in this story more along the lines of super powers. Kind of a twist on the Heroes world but WAY better.
Rating: I give each book 5 out of 5. (Apparently I only read books that I think rock … maybe I’m not the best reviewer out there).
Cara Mia Amore
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