"To be a writer is to sit down at one's desk in the chill portion of every day, and to write; not waiting for the little jet of the blue flame of genius to start from the breastbone — just plain going at it, in pain and delight. To be a writer is to throw away a great deal, not to be satisfied, to type again, and then again, and once more, and over and over." ~ John Hersey

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my Livejournal. I'm Kathleen Foucart, aspiring author and proud writer of YA fantasy fiction. Feel free to explore the tags and archives and to add me to your Friends list.

Who am I?

I'm a recent graduate of the MFA in Children's Literature program at Hollins University- I absolutely adored it, so if you're thinking of getting an MA or MFA in Children's Lit, I highly recommend the Hollins program.

I'm married to my wonderful Hubby, who doesn't think I'm too crazy (or at least, too crazy to marry). We have a Great Dane named Emma Hermione; she has a big bark, but is really a cuddle-bug. Just watch out for her talons.

I write, read, sometimes knit, watch too much TV and drink too much coffee. I'm on Twitter and Facebook, and I try to remember to cross-post blog entries to My Blogger account and Myspace but often forget because LJ is my first love (and I actually know how to use it-- mostly).

But honestly, most of my time is taken up with writing, whether I'm working on a first draft, a fourth draft, updating my wiki, writing a query letter or staring at the screen for half an hour straight, hands in my hair, muttering "What in the world happens next?" repeatedly.

What do I write?

Like I said, I write YA fantasy fiction, which means I write books about teenagers for teenagers (and adults) who like to read about wizards, magic, werewolves, vampires, shape-shifters, faeries, and a lot of other things that may or may not exist. ;-) And while I don't rule out writing non-fantasy stories or books for adults, YA fantasy is where my heart is.

I've got two completed manuscripts (not counting all the near-misses that were my tutorials in "how not to write" when I was younger), the first in the querying stage and the second in revision.

THE TIES OF BLOOD (formerly ARION) is an edgy/dark piece about eighteen-year-old Arion Rapson, who lives in a Regency-era world and discovers his father is a Big, Evil Wizard-- and Arion has to train to take over. It’s got magic, potion-abuse, romance and lots of family turmoil.

WINGS & FANGS: BEWITCHED is about a sixteen-year-old immortal shape-shifter who rescues a classmate from a werewolf, only to find this classmate isn’t all he seems.

If you have questions I didn’t answer, feel free to check my user info, ask in the comments section of any of my entries, or to email me at kathleenfoucart at gmail dot com.

Ack, I totally forgot to post this this morning! Here's what I read in January:

1) Princess in Pink by Meg Cabot
Princess Diaries Vol. 5

2) Valentine Princess by Meg Cabot
Princess Diaries Vol. 4 1/4

3) Nicola and the Viscount by Meg Cabot
(Anyone know why this wasn't on indiebound? I couldn't find it...)

4) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games Vol. 1


Books Read This Month: 4
Books Read This Year: 4


Sorry for the post & run but I gotta get some sleep! I'll just say that the switch from Cabot to Collins was... different ;-)

And, FWIW, I have no HG "Team" yet, but I'm leaning strongly toward Peeta ;-)

After weeks of combing through icons, I've finally got one I think works really well for Gen & her story, which I'm currently calling QUENTS. It shows a little more of Gen's girly side than I was originally looking for, but I think it works :)

I'm also going through my music library and discovering all sorts of random songs I downloaded (amazon & iTunes freebies) that are kinda eerie for how well they work. Like Moby's "Pale Horses" and Cage the Elephant's "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" (which is the song from the Leverage commercials).

Gen's song* is "Don't Wanna" by I Nine and today I bought Vedera's Stages after wearing out the "Satisfy" single. And Mieka Pauley's Elijah Drop Your Gun has the perfect sound for this story (esp. "Stronger" "Run" and "Bravely").

And yes, I'm still revising. Slowly but surely. :)




*I've found this is the best way for me to crack into a character's head, finding the song that's just theirs. I'll probably post on that sometime in the next week, so if anyone's interested in that aspect of 'how I write,' check back soon.

I'm mid-revision. Or at least, I'm supposed to be. I was going to start January 1st. I was going to power through it! I was going to be DONE by mid-February.

Oooh, look, a shiny new story...

I'm sure we've all been there. So far I've been able to resist Shiny! New! when really working on another piece. I write out the scene-let has popped into my head, scribble some notes at the end of it and call it a day. Then again, I've never had a character I was quite so afraid would come back at me and kick my butt if I did that to her.

Unfortunately, this butt-kicking character also came along with a story that requires a lot of attention, recursive editing and research. Which I'm all for. Just, not when I'm on self-imposed revision deadline.

The last few days I've been floundering. Writing, yes, because that's just what I do, but not getting much of any importance done. (Seriously, I filled out a bunch of these for Mordecai, Josephine, Isis and Connor. Which would be fine, if I was working with their story at all, but at the moment I'm not...) And I'm one of those people who has to have a big chunk of time to get into a revision. I can't just skim along while doing ten other things, I need to Sit and Re-Read and Think and Write. And I just haven't had that in a while.

So I feel guilty for not revising, but I can't concentrate, and the new story is calling, but I can't write that right now because I need to revise, but I can't concentrate...

It's not that I haven't gotten any of my revision done. The first five chapters have been revised and smoothed (D3.1 and D3.2, respectively), so I'm not too worried about them. But I have a few Big Things I need to look at in this draft, and I'm having trouble finding the solutions. My subconscious is working on it, but my subconscious is also busy figuring out Gen's world and having a much easier time of that, so trying to get it to return to the W&F world is a bit more difficult than I'd like it to be.

But as hard as this all is, and as frustrated as it's making me, I wouldn't give up any of it. I'm a pretty firm believer in things happening in the time frame they're meant to, so there's a reason I'm working on Gen's story and the W&F1 revision at the same time. I'd be happier if this reason would reveal itself to me sooner rather than later, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Since Hubby's not off work until 7ish tonight, I've got a few hours now and I'm going to dive in and see how far I can get with W&F. After I write out this new idea I just had for a major plot point in Gen's book... ;-)

Anybody watch NCIS? If you do, this analogy will probably make sense. If not... Well, here's a little snippet of dialogue to help you understand:

Ziva: We're still trying to find a link between Sharif and the Chechen rebels.
Gibbs: You won't find one. He's trying to distract us.
Random-Lady-Related-to-Plot: From what?
Gibbs: I don't know
Random-Lady: Then what makes you so sure?
Gibbs: *look*
Abby: [stage whisper] Never question the gut. [grin]

(If you want to see the clip, click here and go to 8:10.)


The point of all that? I've been trying to come up with a way to describe how I write.

I posted a friend-locked teaser the other day. That particular story started when I opened a new document and typed: I wish I had a reason for being here. That would make it a lot easier to answer the cop standing in front of me, hand on his baton.

Where did those lines come from? *shrug* Dunno. No clue. Really. Opened up a document and started typing the first thing that came to mind.

And then I just kept typing. I've found that's a rather effective method to continue writing. I know, it sounds stupid-obvious. But I write the next sentence and the next and suddenly I've written 12 chapters (11,112 words/52 pages) in 12 days.

This story is different from other things I've written. Gen's smart and tough in ways I've never written. I'm hanging out on the edge of my comfort zone, writing this story. It requires plotting, people. I mean, real honest-to-goodness I have to know what happens next plotting. But I know I can do it. How?

Gibbs-gut.

I've seen a lot of questions bantered around on Twitter chats lately that just confound me. I wish I could give these people a helpful answer (in 140 characters or less), but I can't wrap my brain around a lot of them. I don't know how. I just know do. And if it doesn't work the first time, try something else.

...and then someone asks how you're supposed to know if it doesn't work. Again... Gibbs-gut.

I don't know any other way to explain it. I write with my gut. If I'm on the right track, I know it. If it's wrong, believe me, I really know it. If any of you have been privy to my IRL whinging about how something in one of my stories just isn't working, you know what I'm talking about. It's a lot of me staring into space and shaking my head as I try and formulate words for what's off.

So I wish I could give some really helpful writing tips, that all my pondering about how I write gave me some kind of insight into writing-at-large. But all I can say is keep writing. It'll help develop your own Gibbs-gut.

I got a little side-tracked at the end of 2009 and didn't put together my reading lists like usual. Sorry! So here's my (rather pitifully short) list:

October
1) Wake by Lisa McMann
YA, 14+
I got this when it first came out, but like so many other books, I didn't have the chance to read it right away. When I asked about past-vs.-present tense in YAs on Twitter, the Mundie Moms suggest I read Wake, which is third person, present tense. I was skeptical, but it works perfectly for this story. I absolutely loved it and jumped right into Fade. Only about a month to go until Gone!

2) Fade by Lisa McMann
Sequel to Wake, YA, 14+
Continues Janie and Cabel's story. Love-love-love :)

3) Monster by A. Lee Martinez
Adult, appropriate for 16+
This is one of the only written-for-adults books I read this year, and it was great. I know he doesn't really like being classified as a "funny" writer, but Martinez's humor is witty and often dry without going into total absurdity, even though the situations (when taken out of the context of a fantasy novel) seem, well, absurd.

4) Christina's Ghost by Betty Ren Wright
Middle Grade, Ages 8 to 12
This was my favorite scary story when I was growing up, so I had to read it for Halloween this year. While it no longer terrifies me as it did back then, I was happy it held up as an adult re-read.


November
1) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Middle Grade, Ages 8 to 12
Since I only got one book read in November, I'm glad it was this one. What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's fantastic.


December
1) The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
YA 12+
I somehow managed to miss this series when it first came out. I actually was right in the YA age range at the time, but missed seeing them until the movie came out. I then avoided them, because I liked the movie so much, I was afraid I wouldn't like the books as much! I was so wrong. I love these books! The pop culture references are right where I was when I was Mia's age, so it totally resonates with me, but I think even with the somewhat 'dated' references, Mia's voice holds up with current teen voices.

2) Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cabot
YA 12+, Sequel to The Princess Diaries
This is not the same as 'Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement' the movie (which I love). I'm not sure where they came up with that storyline for the movie, but, um, it wasn't here. But this book is so great! I loved following Mia as she continues to try and achieve self-actualization while being a princess and in love with her best friend's brother.

3) Princess in Love by Meg Cabot
YA 12+, Sequel to Princess in the Spotlight
If you only read a few of these, make sure you get up to this one. Mia's so sweetly neurotic, I just want to be her friend!

4) Princess in Waiting by Meg Cabot
YA 12+, Sequel to Princess in Waiting
I can't really continue to gush about these books and say new things, but this one was great, too! I totally remember my mind making some of the wildly irrational conclusions Mia comes to when I was 14. ;-)

5) Nightlight: a parody by The Harvard Lampoon
Adult, 14+ Appropriate
This is the Twilight parody from The Harvard Lampoon. I enjoyed it, but, as a fan of Twilight, I thought it could be better. Really good parody, IMO, comes from a very good understanding of the source material. This seemed more a parody of the movie and a single reading of the book. But it was still hilarious and in many parts I found myself laughing out loud. But if you hate Twilight, you'll probably enjoy this more than if you love it.

6) The Espressologist by Kristina Springer
YA 12+
I read the ARC of this, and it was so cute! I'll be on the look-out for a finished copy. I wanted a little more character development, mainly because I loved them all, but other than that a solid, fun update on Emma.


Total Books Read in 2009: 64

I'm not a fan of New Year's (the holiday). The Christmas season is always really busy for me (used to be lots of church/school related stuff, now it's just life in general), and I tend to get sick mid-to-late December (this year was no exception *sigh*), so I'm always worn out by the time New Year's comes around, and the idea of partying because a clock turns & I have to remember to write a different number at the end of the date just doesn't appeal to me.

I've also never liked New Year's Resolutions. It made no sense to me when I was in school-- why make resolutions in the middle of the year? Instead I wrote a list of Dos and Don'ts at the beginning of every school year (8th-12th grade), and that was pretty much it.

This year, though, I started following Maggie Stiefvater (m_stiefvater) here on LJ and her fantastic post on resolutions really got me thinking. I need solid, quantifiable goals. I learned that back in the beginning of December, but I guess I never really thought of resolutions that way.

So this year, on New Year's Day, I sat down and thought about it. What did I do last year? What do I want to accomplish this year?

In 2009 I...
- Revised Two Novels: THE TIES OF BLOOD (formerly ARION) and WINGS & FANGS: BEWITCHED
- Started Querying Agents (Haven't found The One yet, but still looking!)
- Started Drafting Two Novels: WINGS & FANGS: TAKEN and QUENTS (super-new story I started last month!)
- Added to another WIP: WITH SOUL SO DEAD (formerly MORDAGRIN)

With all the above, I wrote approximately 418,000 words in 2009.


So in 2010 I want to...

- Begin querying WINGS & FANGS: BEWITCHED. This involves another round of revision, but that's got to be done anyway, so that part won't be a resolution.

- Finish at least one second-book-in-series, either WITH SOUL SO DEAD or WINGS & FANGS: TAKEN. This is because I hear a lot of talk about how writing the second book in a series is Really Hard, and I want to tackle and conquer that challenge.

- Finish a first draft of JORA, QUENTS or BROKEN PROMISE and begin revisions as necessary. I didn't finish a first draft of a novel this year, and I want to get faster on first drafts in general, so this one is pretty important to me.

- Write at least 30,000 words per month. According to my Daily Word Count Spreadsheet, I almost always hit this anyway. But there are some months I don't, and I really want to try and do it. I'm no longer attempting to write Every Single Day (meaning if I miss a day, I won't beat myself up about it), but this goal will keep me moving each month.


I'm really excited to get into these goals. I think they're varied enough to keep me interested in what I'm doing, but still hanging out just outside my comfort zone, so I'm definitely going to have to work to reach them.

Anyone else want to share their goals/resolutions?

Stephanie Burgis, author of A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK, is holding her first ARC contest! :)

This is, as I have been calling it to anyone who will listen, my "next favorite book." She posted the first chapter here a while back and I totally fell in love. Therefore it is my "next favorite book" since I've only gotten to read that one chapter.

So this is my entry into the ARC contest. I will, of course, be buying a shiny finished copy should I win the ARC, too, but if you, like I, really want to read the rest of it Now-Now-Now!, go to her contest here and follow the directions to enter!

Good luck!

Usually that title would mean I'm talking about my goals for revision. This time, however, I'm revising my December goals.

Right after NaNo ended I stated my goal for December was to write 40,000 words. So far this month I've written about... 5800. So I'm revising my goal for the month. This is due to a couple things.

For one, I've been working on the second book in the Arion trilogy, WITH SOUL SO DEAD, and that world just takes longer to write than the Wings & Fangs world. Plus, it's a first draft of a second book, not a second draft of a first book. I've got things like world-rules I have to pay attention to, as well as carrying things over from the first book and either resolving them or getting closer to resolving them. Which is, to put it mildly, hard.

The other issue is that I don't want to have to do draft upon draft of W&F: BEWITCHED, so I'm taking a lot more time to read through my second draft manuscript, make notes, decide how I want to run my next revision, things like that. I'd love to have this query-able by March/April. I realize that might be pushing it, but then again, it might not be. I won't know until I try.

Also, I'm looking forward to diving into a bunch of manuscripts I have sitting on my hard drive waiting for critique, as well as reading through old novel beginnings of my own to decide what I want to work on next (all you people saying "the ring story!" can shut up now-- I hear you!!! It's high on the list, I promise). I'm going to continue to work on second-books for both the Arion trilogy and W&F series, but since I know it's smartest to also be working on something totally different, I'm dusting off a few older ideas that got pushed aside by pushier characters (seriously, you try telling Celestia or D to hold on-- it's much easier to say "Jora, chill for a couple years" Er, yeah. I'm not crazy, I swear.).

So, my new goal is... Just keep swimming. Pre-Draft-Three prep will take however long it takes, and doesn't really have a great word count, and WSSD will unravel as it comes. Plus I hear there's this thing called "Christmas" at the end of this month, and I really should, um, shop & bake & practice my song for Christmas Eve service (haven't sung in small group since '07). I hate to give up my 40,000 word goal, but I think I'll save that one for another month, one when I'm doing a first draft instead of revision prep!

Last night Jodi Meadows (jmeadows) wrote a fantastic post titled "I'm a writer (but I'm not going to tell my neighbor)."

I wanted to comment when it first went up, but I wasn't quite sure what to say. Since then she's gotten nearly 90 comments on this post, mostly from others agreeing with what she wrote and sharing their own stories. A year ago I'd have said the same. And it got me wondering... what happened?

I never used to say I was a writer. I didn't think I was. I wasn't confident in my abilities or my dedication. I'd say I was in grad school, I'd even say I was in an MFA program if asked. If anyone found out what I really did, I got the questions, the looks. And I hated them. They made my stomach sink. They made me retreat into myself, mumble answers I didn't really agree with, hide who I felt I really was and what I loved to do.

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game*

I don't know what happened. But something did change. For one thing, I graduated. I was no longer "a student." I had gotten to "The End" of two novels. I'd revised the heck out of one. And slowly, the questions that used to leave me tongue-tied began to wear on me in the other direction. I was tired of hiding it, like having a dream was some sort of shameful secret.

Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap
It's time to try defying gravity

I started querying. And I told people. I wasn't going to hide it any more. No matter what happens, I'm not going back.

I'm through accepting limits
Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change-- until I try I'll never know

I still hate the questions and comments:
"Are you published?" followed by "Well, why not?" like I should snap my fingers & have it happen.
"Oh, I'd write a novel, too, if I had the time." (My usual response: *tight-lipped smile & nod* followed by ranting to my friends)
"You write young adult fantasy?" (followed by that look.)
"You know no one gets published anymore."
"It will never happen."

They still get to me. But I will not let "them" dictate to me what I'm going to do with my life. It's the only one I get, and I'm going to do what I love.

And who cares, when I have parents who support me? When my husband asks every day what I've worked on and if I sent out more queries? When my friends all encourage me? When my boss at the Day-Job introduces me as a writer to basically anyone who walks into our office?

I know I'm lucky in this; a lot of people on Jodi's comment thread aren't. And I totally respect all of them and their decisions. Being a writer is hard.

To play on Jodi's doctor analogy, not a lot of people will knock a med student for not yet being a doctor, but plenty of people will knock writers for not being published (yet). I don't think it's right, but I can completely understand wanting to shield yourself from that kind of thing. I definitely used to, and there are times when my confidence fails and I say "data entry" when people ask what I do.

But, in general...

I think I'll try defying gravity and you won't bring me down.


*Italicized lyrics from "Defying Gravity"-- technically from Wicked but I own (listen to obsessively) the Glee Cast version.

So, this year I decided to unofficially attempt NaNoWriMo and try to write 50,000 words in November-- not to get into a new story, but to push through my revision of W&F1.

And I did. I finished off the revision at 46,467 words for November. Then I started W&F2 (briefly) and have since gone into working on WSSD (formerly Mordagrin). I hit 50,000 words for the month on Thursday and kept writing. Actually, a few hundred more words and I'd have hit 60,000.

I didn't go into this thinking I needed a 'challenge' but I did. Even though I'd been writing every day, I was getting complacent about hitting a few hundred words and stopping. "Oh, that scene's done? I'll stop now" or "Eh, I don't know what comes next, I'll work on it tomorrow."

Sometimes that's what's needed. But mostly, it's not. I know me. I know I get can get lazy. And while everyone needs a break sometimes, I think the last couple months I was giving myself way too much leeway. I needed a kick in the pants, and NaNo did that.

I'm not going to let that momentum drop, though. I've set my December goal at 40,000 words, and getting at least halfway through WSSD. I'll revise those if needed, but for now? Pushing through.

Today is Day #366.

Up to and right after my wedding last year I found myself, well, not-writing. I wrote a grand total of 8 days last October (I got married 10/25). Prior to late (post-20th) November 2008, I had only written for 4 days that month. And I looked at all those zeros on my word-count spreadsheet and I said Enough.

I never thought I'd be a "write every day" writer. I didn't really want to be. But I knew I had to try something, and I knew it had to happen right then or I'd give up* and that would be it. And I just couldn't imagine it.

So I started writing. I wrote the 21st, 24th, 25th, 26th. Skipped Thanksgiving for some odd reason. Then, starting November 28th, I wrote. And wrote. And wrote. Every day I did something writing related. I either wrote fiction, updated my wiki (series info), or researched agents/worked on my submission packet. Every day.

At first I just wanted to make it a month. Then a month turned into half a year. Then I hit half a year and I just wanted to make it a full year.

I have.

I've learned a lot. I've learned I can cut tens of thousands of words from my novels and still love them-- in fact, I love them even more. I learned that writing a synopsis is hard as hell but when you nail it, it's one of the best feelings ever. I've learned that attempting to re-title a novel after seven years is not something I ever want to do again. And I've learned that I am a writer. 'Cause even though I've hit my goal of one year, even though I've now given myself permission to take days off, tomorrow I'm going to get up and stare at the screen and wait for the words to come. And if they don't come for that, I'll just open something else and something else and something else until they do.

Because I'm a writer. And writers write**.



*And by "give up" I mean on trying to be published. I don't think I can ever stop writing-- I'd go crazy.

**Please don't think I'm saying everyone has to do this-- if you write just fine not writing every day, go for it. I'm all for doing what works best for you.

Sorry for the total lack of entries lately (except for a couple super-f-locks-- thanks for all the help, ppls!), but I decided I really was going to go for my JoNo goals & I finished my second draft of WINGS AND FANGS: BEWITCHED yesterday afternoon. :)

Draft One Stats:
Prologue + 40 Chapters
113,431 Words
446 Pages (not manuscript format)

Draft Two Stats:
40 Chapters
77,891 Words (not counting chapter/section headings)
319 Pages (manuscript format)

I like total rewrites (almost entirely) from memory. They help the word-count drop :)

I have a beta-call out to my trusty readers and am planning to hit Draft Three starting January 1. I might start a little earlier if I get enough comments before then to feel comfortable with how they're going, but I definitely need a brain break between the drafts.

Though, apparently my brain doesn't want a break from D, David and Phillip. Tonight I opened a new document, titled it "Chapter One" and wrote/assembled the first chapter of WINGS & FANGS: TAKEN.

Yes, I am insane. If there were any doubts before, behold as I quash them.

I know I should start work on something else... JORA or BROKEN PROMISE would be smartest. Or WITH SOUL SO DEAD (formerly MORDAGRIN), cause I know I have people waiting for it. But, um... Yeah. Right now this story wants to play, so I'm gonna play for a bit. Besides, I haven't hit my 50,000 words for November yet, and I'm still writing every day, so I need something to work on, right?

Right?

Eh-zactly. ;-)

I'm close to hitting Chapter 30*.

This is the chapter that derailed me for at least a month, maybe more, on my last draft. It's a lot of talky-talky and I knew it was a lot of talky-talky, which made it all the worse.

It made me mad. I couldn't see how to get out of the talking cleanly and I couldn't figure out a way to just skip it so I sat there and fumed at it every day, getting more and more frustrated... until I just had to go forward. I wasn't going to fix it in that draft, and I just had to admit it to myself.

I remember in one of my classes with Han Nolan, she said something about writing a thousand pages for a story and whittling it down for there**. Which is basically what I'm doing.

From my last count, I have cut 30,293 words and 104 pages from this novel. In the next round I'm sure some parts will be plumped up, while some will slim down or be removed. That's what revision is.

But I had to have that fat draft to know where I was going. And I can't wait to get this draft finished & out to beta readers so I can use draft three to really make the story shine.


*By the old chapter counts.
** No, I can't remember her exact words, and some of it could have been hyperbole.

I'm still undecided as to whether or not this will be a good thing for me, but so far, I'm leaning toward good.

Knowing I have to write 1666/7 words/day to meet the 50000 word/month mark means I don't get to slack off. I opened the chapter I'd left off on in my revision. I stared at it. I had no idea what happened next. So I just carried the conversation along a little (*yawn* I'll probably be cutting quite a bit of that), then threw in a curve of a question, one I needed to have one MC ask and the other answer; I just had nowhere to put it before. Now it's there.

I went on to put in a bit more tension in the one MC's family situation (not a lot, I'll up that later) and an argument between two characters who hadn't argued like that before, but probably needed to for it to be more realistic.

I'd have stopped before the tension and the argument if I hadn't been pushing to hit the daily goal.

Is this the best stuff I've ever written? No; but this is a weird sort of revision. It's more of a rewrite- from memory. Some stuff's the same, some's changing. But I think this goal is going to push me to the end a lot faster than if I just kept going at the pace I've been going.

If Wild & Wonderful Writer's Retreat was the kick-in-the-pants I needed to get back to my characters/world/story, Fakey NaNo is what (I hope) is going to keep up the momentum.

Day 1 Word Count: 1889

Just saw this via Twitter & thought I'd share a little Halloween treat ;-)






Check out all of Debbie Ridpath Ohi's comics at Inkygirl: Daily Diversions for Writers!

So, I've taken in everyone's feedback regarding NaNo and my own weird dream in which I was driving a car in reverse & couldn't stop it (which I took to mean something...), and have decided not to NaNo.

I think it's great for people who want to do it, who think it will jump start them into a new story or help them grow as a writer, but I don't think it is right for me. I'm basically never going to be at a point where I have a brand new story to work on, and trying to come up with one just to come up with one when I have, oh, six or so that could be worked on.... Yeah. Just not the best thing for me to do for me & my career.

However...

I'm going to revise my JoNo goals to include 50000 words in November. I could join up with the group that's aiming for 30000 in November, but since I'm right around there per month anyway, I don't think it will help me. I want a challenge.

So I'm going to try and hit 50000 words. I'm not going to say they'll all be in one story, or even one series, but I will not do my usual round-up*, in compliance with the NaNo word counter. I think this will be fun and it might be what I need to really wrap-up this revision- since it's more of a "rewrite the story from memory to leave out all the boring bits" revision, this will force me to just keep writing instead of stopping to examine/edit/bemoan my overuse of "just," "basically," etc. (That's what Draft 3 is for.)

And who knows, maybe I'll even get to those SFDs of W&F2 or 3 ;-)


*Don't judge- I only round up to the nearest hundred, and not if I think I didn't write/delete enough words to make up for the rounding- if the word count says I wrote 608 words, I say I wrote 600. If it says I wrote 657, I say 700.

We're rapidly approaching National Novel Writing Month, more commonly known as November.

I've never done NaNo. Last year I was still first-drafting on W&F1. The year before that, Arion.

But NaNo never really appealed to me. Start a new novel? For goodness' sake, why? I've had been mid-way through any number of novels since I was in 8th grade. It never made sense to me to start a new one just to start a new one.

Er, until now.

The revision on Wings & Fangs: Bewitched is going pretty well. But I think it would go better (& I'd have less to do in draft 3) if I knew arc for the whole series. As I am incapable of outlining (I know this because W&F1 was supposed to be an entirely different book), the only way for me to figure out where the story goes is, well, to write the story.

Here's where NaNo comes in. IMO, it's as good an excuse as any to work on a SFD. I'll have a definite start/end date and a bunch of other people will be throwing down a first draft at the same time, so a lot of people will be discussing similar issues, etc.

I do have a few 'problems' though...

1) Per the rules of NaNo, this needs to be a totally new story. For 'totally new' I have to jump to book 3 (and even then, I'm not sure a couple scenes I've already written wouldn't go into that).

2) I really should give W&F1 my attention while it's going at a good pace.

3) I'm already involved in JoNoWriMo + 1.5. (My goals for that are to finish the revision and to write a few chapters of a new piece.)


Given where I am in my revision*, it would make more sense to stick with JoNo only and not jump into NaNo, too. But seeing all these people on LJ, FB and Twitter who are diving in does make it sound interesting. I write close to 33000 words/month anyway (average), so it would be a bit of a hike to 50000. But I don't think it would be an unmanageable one.

So I guess all this rambling here is to ask your opinion. NaNo or simply continue on with JoNo goals?



*I'm on Chapter 18 out of 40. Since I'm just about at the halfway mark, it seems reasonable to think another solid month of writing could finish it.

I haven't been posting much lately, but it's not because I didn't want to. My revision was stalling out, I've been too tired to give much thought to writing craft (as opposed to just getting some BIC writing done), and I just plain didn't have much to say.

And, let's face it, the revision not going well was my main reason- if I wasn't getting much writing done, how could I talk about writing?

I'm still working on the revision, but I got a fantastic kick-start this weekend in the form of the very first "Wild & Wonderful Writer's Retreat," organized by my friend amieroserotruck.

On Saturday, when I opened up the most recent document I'd been working on in my revision, I realized I hadn't written anything in the actual revision in something like 2 weeks. Two weeks! Unacceptable, IMO. So, sitting in The Quiet Cabin with soniaamiller and not-yet-on-LJ-Amelia (I'm trying to get her to join!), I started typing.

When you're in a room with two other people intent on their own work, in silence only broken by the odd-music channel on DISH Network or your own iPod, you have two options: waste your time playing games or work. I worked.

I finished Chapter 12. I started Chapter 13.

I finished Chapter 13. I started Chapter 14.

The next day, I finished Chapter 14. I started Chapter 15.

Then I finished Chapter 15 and started Chapter 16.

Somewhere between 15 and 16 I re-discovered a plot hole, so I've been mending/filling it in since late Sunday night. But I think I've finally found a workable solution, so I'm ready to get back to finishing Chapter 16.

This was exactly what I needed. Not only did I get a chunk of writing done, I had a great critique session, did a cold-read piece (ARION back-story I want to turn into short-story) & got some good feedback, had a ton of fantastic writerly-talk, and a lot of laughs and chocolate. (And by "a lot" of chocolate, I mean I think I subsisted almost entirely on chocolate/sweets/coffee all weekend...)

And, since the Roanoke-Car, consisting of Amelia, Mialie & myself, all reached our writing goals for the weekend (50 pages for Amelia, finished-panels for Mialie & three chapters for me), we rewarded ourselves with a stop at the Green Valley Book Fair.

And now, Chapter 16 needs some attention again...



For Amie's write-up on the weekend, click here!

Still hiding away in a cabin in WV, but I somehow managed to forget to post this when it first appeared, so here is the trailer for Stephanie Burgis's A Most Improper Magick!




Note: This is my entry for the A Most Improper Magick book tralier competition. Read the rules and enter at http://www.stephanieburgis.com/competition.php.


Seriously, go to Stephanie's website & read the first chapter. It's fantastic. I'm calling A Most Improper Magick my next-favorite-book, since I don't get to read the rest until April!