Camp NaNoWriMo 2014!

Anyone else participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this July, besides me?

All I know is that November is always a bad month for me because I'm too busy and stressed out due to the holidays, and my creative flow is usually completely nonexistent at the very end of the year each year. July is much better for me for the lack of family holiday stress and a better creative flow!

Camp NaNoWriMo is actually more lenient than the annual event held every November, in that you can set your word count goal as low as 10,000 or as high as 1,000,000 words. All you're trying to do is meet whatever word count you want to meet, instead of the 50,000 words you have to meet in order to win in November. More reasons for me to like this July event better. It will be running between July 1st through July 31st, so it starts exactly a week from today!

If anyone is participating and you'd like to "friend" me on the website, feel free to click here and add me. If you want me to "friend" you, then let me know how to get to your profile page so I can add you to my friends.

Hope to see you there!

What I Write

I never blog about my actual stories, so I figured I should fix that, even if for a mere blog post. Since it's taking me so dang long to finish writing my current novel, I'll just use my little corner of the cyberspace universe to chat about what sort of writer I am and what I've been writing since last August.

Does this make writing seem really cool, or what? Tell everyone you know that this is what you do for a living!!

So, what do I write, since I'm a writer? 

I write stories that appeal to me and hope they are going to appeal to other people with the same interest in fiction that I have. It means I hope I'm in my target audience. 

I have a few, maybe more, unfinished manuscripts lying around on my laptop's hard drive that I feel have become the stepping stones for the stories I write today. That's just a nice way of saying they suck, but if I hadn't written them, or partially written them, I wouldn't have the skills to write what I can write these days. 

I might be approaching forty--as I leer at it--but don't be fooled. I am not much of an adult and probably still think too much like a teenager or college student. I usually read Young Adult fiction, thus I usually write Young Adult fiction. Anything that dramatizes fantasy or paranormal elements floats my boat. Just as long as the fiction isn't stuck in the overly realistic mundane world, I'm happy. I like to escape when I read! 

My current work-in-progress is a Young Adult vampire novel. I know, that sounds like the stupidest kind of novel to write in this day and age. As if this genre hasn't already been beaten to death thousands of times over. Despite this, vampire lore and the fascination humans have with these paranormal creatures lives on, my friend. If a real life vampire were to approach you tomorrow on your way to work, would you simply tell him, "I'm so sick of your kind. Just go sparkle somewhere where I can't see you...!" I think not. 

And, why not? Perhaps you know intrinsically that vampires can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways. You would probably bombard the poor fellow with a slew of questions about what makes him a vampire and how he lives from day to day, and whether or not you happen to be his next meal. They are basically creatures who prey on humans for their blood, sometimes even turning humans into more of their kind. That's all that is needed to create a fictional vampire. Beyond that, the possibilities are endless..... 

My WIP (work-in-progress) is about aristocratic vampires, enslaved humans and the Roman Empire all wrapped up in an alternate history of the 19th century. Yep, that about sums it up. Any questions?

Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Time for me to write a review and shout about another amazing book I just read!

 

Shadow and Bone

 by Leigh Bardugo

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Genre: High Fantasy

My Rating: 5/5 stars

Every now and then, you read a book that makes you remember the reason you love to read. Shadow and Bone is just this kind of book for me. It’s one of those novels you can read and read, and keep reading without even realizing how much time is actually going by in real life as you read it. When you have to put the book down and go do something else that needs your attention, you want to read just one more page, or chapter….

Shadow and Bone is a high fantasy young adult novel set in a fictional world based on Imperial Russia. Yep. Right there you already know you have something different, probably even special (and you do). It’s about a teen girl named Alina Starkov from a country called Ravka who discovers she’s a Grisha—basically a person with magical abilities. She’s not only a Grisha, but the special kind that comes around every century, or even less often. Because of this, she is whisked away to the capitol of Ravka for her own protection and to be trained to use her powers.

There is, of course, romance, but it’s not heavy-handed as you would expect. Let’s face it—YA tends to focus so much on the romance that not much else about the stories have any substance. Not the case here. There is plenty of plot and real things going on, political things even. The author finds little opportunities to sneak in a bit of romantic tension here and there without making it all about those moments. It’s done so artfully.

But, the best part about the story is Alina herself. She is full of sarcasm and even a little sardonic humor. She’s realistic and reacts how people would actually react to the strange and fanciful situations she’s forced into. I liked Genya, her sort-of best female friend character, Mal, her crush and long-time best friend, Baghra, her magic teacher, and even the ever mysterious and complicated Darkling. The relationships she has with all of these characters is delicious.

I know this book came out about two years ago and I’m only now reading it, so I feel a little slow. But, it takes a while to get around to certain books with a to-be-read pile stacked to the ceiling, you know? If you haven’t gotten around to this one, I highly suggest you do. Make sure to imagine Alina with a Russian accent as she tells you her story. The entire story will sound so much better and more fitting in your head that way, particularly with her personality.

IWSG: The Cyclical Edition... (#13)

Insecure Writers' Support Group (IWSG) is a really awesome meme that you should be doing along with the rest of us writers. Unless you truly are happy with your writing and don't feel the need to vent about your insecurities because they don't exist for you. But, really.... Don't they?  
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

 

 

So, it's time for IWSG once again. This post reflects my insecurity from last month's IWSG post, which was all about how insecure I am about being a slow writer.

 

But, this time I think I may figured out why I'm so slow. I've been looking back on my writing habits for the past few years or so, and it looks very much like my creativity goes around in cycles. It means I have periods of time when I'm able to sit and write for a few months without much trouble. But, then I will always lapse into an ebb of creativity that lasts for about the same length of time.

 

I think I can safely say I'm going through a dry spell right now, but it will pass, and the creativity will flow again soon enough. I'm putting the writing on the back-burner for now and getting little things done while I wait for this dry spell to pass, like chores, editing other people's work, etc. I'm really very accepting of this now, even if I wish my creativity flowed all the time. But, that's just how my mind works. Can't control it!

 

Have any of you ever felt like your creativity comes and goes in cycles? I'd be interested in hearing if more authors and writers experience something like this, too.