IWSG: The New Year's Resolution Edition (#21)

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.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! It's a little late, but there it is. I suppose we're all still adjusting to the fact that it's already January 2016. Like, how are we supposed to digest that? It's as if time keeps chugging away and I'm still trying to get out of bed in the morning.

Anyway, I want to do another New Year's Resolution for 2016, like how I did for 2015. Again, I intend to set a general word count of 100,000 words for the year, but I really intend to add a couple more resolutions that are a bit more challenging than that. (Gotta keep upping the ante, right?)

First off, I'm resolving to finish a first draft of a new novel I have been planning out recently. I started my goal on January 1st, so I'm already going at now. It should only be about 60,000 words long, perhaps a bit longer. It is, thankfully, an intentionally short novel for the genre I'm writing (Adult contemporary Austen romance).

Then--and this is the hard part--I am resolving to publish the book myself this year! As in self-publish! I know, right? Me, actually publish a book for real? That's like, insanely something I've never managed to do ever before. How can I ever hope to pull this off? It's only a silly dream of mine, right?

Well, I intend to make the dream a reality. So, add to my list of resolutions to actually publish a novel before the year is over. I don't even care when I do it, as long as it is by the 31st of December 2016. It's technically still this year, so it'll do. Can't get too picky about hard goals, now. 

I don't have any high expectations for it, either. I hope to do most of the production myself, although I might need a cover artist. I don't expect anyone to read it or even like it (the genre has a small audience, anyway). I just want to finally publish a book and be a real author! Then, I can get on to writing and publishing my second book....

What's your New Year's Resolution, assuming you have one? You do have one, don't you?

WIP IT GOOD Blogfest

The WIP IT GOOD Blogfest is a one-time blog meme opporutnity for authors to share some information about their current manuscript Works-in-Progress. Hosted by DL Hammons & Elise Fallson.

I know I keep doing blog memes on this blog and I'm so sorry, everybody! One of these days I'll have original content again--I swear. 

In the meantime, I decided to do this fun blog meme at the last minute because I am a bad blogger and can't come up with blog content to save my life. But, at least this is something, right? So, I will answer the questions pertaining to this meme about one of my many unfinished WiPs (and I have several, but this one I'm currently working on). This is my newest one.


1. WIP Title:

Rise of Iron (1st book in a planned series)

2. Word Count (projected/actual so far):

8,212 actual words written thus far. Should be topping out over 100,000 by the time it's finished.

3. Genre:

Young Adult sci-fi apocalypse with some fantasy elements. 

4. How long have you been working on it?

I think since last month, April 2013. 

5. Elevator Pitch (if you came across an agent in an elevator ride, what couple of lines would you use to summarize your book?):

A teenage girl saves a man's life by turning him into a machine (a cyborg) so he can eliminate all the evil robots destroying the entire city of Los Angeles. 

Yeah, that's basically what this wacky story is about without all the frill and fluff of language!

6. Brief Synopsis:

Mindy Collins refuses to leave the city even after the metal has come to life and has already destroyed most of Los Angeles. She chooses to stay and fight, but she's not strong enough on her own. When she saves a man's life after being nearly killed by one of the cities many living metal robots, she has no choice but to recreate him into a living robot, too. With the strength of ten men, he's the only hope the city has of actually exterminating the conscious steel that is determined to wipe out all organic beings on Earth. 

7. Are you looking for a Critique Partner?

No. Have that squared away already.

8. Are you looking for a Beta Reader?

Yes, if anyone is interested! I'm open to having more than one.


Anyway, this is what I'm working on right now. It's coming along slowly, but I guess that's how I work. I find I need at least 9 months to create an entirely new world before I feel l've got it all figured out. So, I'm still conjuring my story and world building and will be for some time to come. 

What are you writers currently WIPping?

 

Matching Music

Today's post is just something to post in the interim of waiting for the next IWSG post for June. I'm starting to like that meme......

Since I struggle for what to blog about I figured I'd post videos of songs that I like to associate with my current work in progress, which I'm calling Rise of Iron. It's an apocalyptic (NOT post-apocalyptic) Young Adult sci-fi with a fantasy-ish element to it.

It takes place in Los Angeles, California in the heart of the city. I don't normally like urban areas, but L.A. has always been special to me for some reason (it's the nearest one to me). Big cities are so full of people, they tend to take on a life all their own, don't they? The streaming cars on the highways can be likened to the blood coursing through our veins, keeping us alive. It's like big cities are very large, living organisms, so my story takes this a bit literally. *wink*

Anyway, here are some tunes I like to listen to as I write it! 

 

    

Insecure Writers' Support Group (#4)

"Insecure Writer's Support Group" is a monthly meme host by Alex J. Cavanaugh for writers held on the first Wednesday of every month.

For this month's IWSG blog post, I don't really have a lot of writerly problems to share. I'm just getting the 3rd draft of my novella WIP, Pink Knight, taken care of, and hopefully will finish it by the beginning of next week. It certainly is challenging, as it should be, but not discouraging. I haven't received any feedback from anyone just yet, but I will soon, so I may be headed in that direction shortly.

Yikes! Receiving critiques is really scarey, so I just hope I'll be able to handle it well. I know I don't have to let it discourage me, and I won't, but I still hate that shock you feel when you see someone really picking apart your story with reckless abandon. Of course, if they didn't do this, I'd be worse off, so it's a good thing. Like going to the dentist, or getting a shot. Ugh. I hate both, but we all know these are necessary evils to endure because they are good for us.

All I hope for is that I will have tough enough skin to take it and roll with the punches. 


How about you? Do you get nervous before you receive feedback from your beta readers and critique partners?  

Week in Review (#9)

WEEK IN REVIEW

Time for another "Week in Review" post.



Last Week's Writing

I finished revising the 2nd draft of my novella Pink Knight, which took me about 2 weeks in total. I added quite a few more words to it, getting it to around 28,000 words in total. It went well and I added many things that I couldn't think of when I was writing the 1st draft. Writing is rewriting, right?

Last Week's Reading

I finished reading Persuasion by Jane Austen which is a book I'm ashamed to admit took me forever to actually read. I'm a big Jane Austen fan, but I haven't read all of her books, yet. It was pretty good, mostly at the end. I also read Torn by Amanda Hocking and that was much better than I expected it to be. I was seriously impressed. It's the second book in the Trylle Trilogy and Switched was pretty good, but Torn was better. 

I also started reading The Click Moment by Frans Johansson, a book about succeeding in life and business. There's an entire chapter on the random success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, which I agree completely on. Her success was random as has been many other authors' over the years. The 10,000-hour rule doesn't apply to the book industry, otherwise Twilight would have crashed and burned because Meyer was a very inexperienced writer. The Click Moment is an awesome book about being open to the magic of serendipity and letting it guide you to something amazing in your life, if you let it.

This Week

I'll be doing my 3rd draft revision of Pink Knight and sending it off to my beta readers! I need to add about 1,000 more words to it, though, so I hope that goes well. I need to get it into some sort of decent shape as best I can so my beta readers don't think I'm crazy. 

As for reading, I need to get back to reading The Faerie Guardian by Rachel Morgan. I left it off in order to finish Persuasion, but I'm hearing it kicks some major butt in the second half, so it's something to look forward to. I have an ARC of Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff to get to this week, as well. I love Japanese everything, so I was really excited to get this ARC, but I hear it's a nightmare for people who actually know a thing or two about Japanese culture. I'm scared now because the author, apparently, didn't do any real research into the culture and got quite a few obvious things wrong. We'll see how I react to it.

I also got approved for an ARC of Splintered by A.G. Howard, which is a YA fantasy inspired by Alice in Wonderland. How exciting! It comes out on January 1, 2013. From what I see of early buzz, it's super awesome.


Okay, that's it for me. I hope you've had a great week. Did anyone get their NaNoWriMo novels underway? Good luck with that if you're a participant this year.       

   

Week in Review (#8)

WEEK IN REVIEW

Time for "Week in Review"....


Last Week's Writing

I continued to edit and revise my YA fantasy novella Pink Knight, adding around 1,000 words to the overall word count. It's already reading much better and more detailed. I've been doing my editing from my Kindle because it gives me a different angle to see my writing and the story. Everytime I had left out a word, I noticed it on my Kindle, but couldn't for the life of me see it in my Word document.

There were so many things I either didn't think about putting into the 1st draft, or completely forgot to add them, so this 2nd draft is getting all that much needed extra stuff in there. I was feeling so discouraged about the lack of a potential audience for my novella last week, but I really feel tremendously better about that now that I realize I'll just have to keep writing and keep writing until I write some book series that finally resonates with people. If Pink Knight doesn't work out, something else I'll write in the future will and it's a matter of time until I get it right, provided I don't give up. 

Thanks for all your encouragement about that last week, everyone!

Last Week's Reading

I finished reading The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia and it really left a big impression on me. It's a very unique story and a good commentary on how women are treated in male-dominated cultures. It's so sad to see the robot woman, Mattie, try so hard to obtain her independence just to realize that she only got it because her creator granted it to her. She's a machine, so she doesn't have the natural born right to human freedom. Also, it has a super sad ending that I wish had played out differently. It's my main gripe about the story. 

Still, it was such a great read and it has inspired me to take a novel I had abandoned earlier this year (Ironworks) in a very different direction. I always intended to add cyborgs into that story, but I might just make them more prominent now. I love how the relationship Mattie has with her creator is so utterly strange because none of us can relate to knowing our creator, personally, whoever you believe that creator to be. 

This Week

I'll be finishing up my 2nd draft of Pink Knight and hoping that all my much needed additions help it seem more detailed and interesting. I'm hoping to get my beta readers to critique it in chapter chunks and answer certain questions after each chapter so I can see if the story is staying on-track, or going off the rails. I got the idea from Wired for Story by Lisa Cron and it sounds like a brilliant idea. Read that book if you want to know how to write a proper story.

Otherwise, this week I'll be reading for fun books like Torn by Amanda Hocking (Trylle Trilogy, #2) and The Faerie Guardian by Rachel Morgan. I'm loving The Faerie Guardian!


That's my week. Thanks for reading and for your support. Anyone planning on doing NaNoWriMo in November? If only they had the editing/revising version of that, I might have been able to join.  Good luck to those participating!

      

Week in Review (#7)

WEEK IN REVIEW

Time for another 'Week in Review' post....


Past Writing

I spent last week mostly taking time off from my novella WIP, Pink Knight, because I figured the distance from it would do me good. I think it did. By the end of the week, I began to reread and edit it, realizing that the book really doesn't have an existing audience. I suppose I didn't think much about that when I was writing it because it was so much fun, I just didn't want to kill my joy. 

But, it is what it is and it's just not like other books out there. I suppose most writers set out to write as original of novels as they can. Usually, originality is a good thing. But, people don't like what they don't recognize--it's just the way our brains are wired. I'm all for getting away from using tired old tropes, but popular tropes are popular for a reason. Because people recognize them and can make sense of them. 

But, still I want to publish this book because it was so fun to write. Why not? I'm so eager to write the next novella in the series, I've already started the first chapter. 

It's safer to write what you know will sell, but I want to write what's fun for me. I can't see myself just writing something like YA paranormal romance when I usually can barely shove that down my own throat. I guess this means I'll fail, but I'll be having fun while I go down on my sinking ship....*waves*

Past Reading

I finished reading Velveteen by Daniel Marks and it really was a bit disappointing. A lot of books do this to me nowadays. But, this one was too long, too wordy, and too lost for me to enjoy it very much. Whatever. 

After that, I read a 50-page novelette called Guardian by Rachel Morgan, which is the first of a series of prequel novelettes to a novel called The Faerie Guardian. This little story was so good and funny! I loved the writing and the pacing. It was perfect for a quick, absorbing, exhilarating YA read. By the way, Guardian is free in both the Kindle and Nook stores!

Once finished with that, I moved onto The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia and oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh...my gosh! This book is BEAUTIFUL and GORGEOUS! Wow. I'm only just starting it, but it's blowing me away with its incredible world building and the luscious prose that's making me feel like mine is a fat plumber in a tutu trying to dance around in a ballet. It's so freaking stunning.

From the POV of a human-like robot woman, it's about what it's like to be a freaking robot. How brilliant is that? One blurb said it's about "what it means to not be human." The automatons are the minorities in their society and get treated like dirt, so, Mattie, the protagonist, is a liberated automaton, but is still ignored and mistreated by everyone except her creator, a man named Loharri. Read this if you want to read genuine steampunk that means something. Like, what do all the cogs and gears mean? What is their significance to the story and its theme? You'll get that and more in this book.

Beyond that, I won three book giveaways last week, which is so bizarre, but awesome. One of them was even a Goodreads giveway, which I hardly ever win. The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett, which comes highly recommended by Kevin Hearne, author of the Iron Druid Chronicles. I look forward to reading that one.

This Week

I will continue to edit and revise Pink Knight, likely adding to its length a bit. I want to add so many little things to it, so it'll be a bit of a longer novella, which is good. It needs more wiggle room and more fleshing out.

Reading-wise, I'm going to keep on reading the magic that is The Alchemy of Stone--slowly savoring the delicious read about Mattie and her life as a robot whose maker refuses to let her have the key to her own clockwork heart because he's afraid she'll stop going over to his house to visit him. Parents....   


Sorry for the extra long post, but I'm finally finished now. Doing any editing on your WIP, lately? Discovered any amazing reads?
  

Week in Review (#5)

WEEK IN REVIEW

Ah... It's time to review my writing/reading week. Let's do this thing, shall we?


Past Writing

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel when it concerns finishing my novella WIP, Pink Knight. I only need to write roughly 4,000 more words and I'll be done. Yay! I met my word count goal for this week, again, of 3,000 words, by racking up 3,356 words. This brings me to a total word count, so far, of 21,150 words.

Past Reading

I didn't read any published books this week, but rather worked on a critique for my writing friend, Camille Picott. She has written a really awesome novella with a heavy Chinese mythological influence. It's definitely something up my alley, not to mention her characters are the shiz. Love them! I still need to finish writing up my critique and email it off to her.

This Week

Again, I plan on writing another 3,000 words of Pink Knight, which won't finish it, but will get me really close. Looks like I'll have this WIP done before October 20th, which is my self-imposed deadline. But, that's good because I don't think, when setting goals, we should set difficult to meet deadlines. I'm allowing myself a few extra days just in case I need them and will still be able to finish by my deadline. 

All I need to do is write the climactic scene and the denouement of the story and it will be finished. Although, both plot points entail a lot of scenes, so there's a lot left to do. But, it's all the really awesome stuff that I can't wait to write! I have it all planned out already and it's going to be so good. Writing should always be this fun, shouldn't it?

I also plan on reading my ARC of Velveteen by Daniel Marks, a YA horror/paranormal novel debut. I've been following Danny's progress with Velveteen, even watching his video when he first announced that he had sold it to his publisher. I remember when he made vlogs about fixing it for his agent to go out on submission. Really cool to see that book go from manuscript to published literature and so motivating for the unpublished. 

Velveteen will be released this Tuesday, October 9th, so check it out if funny YA horror about the underworld sounds like it floats your boat.


That's all for me on my front. It's hard work, but getting your writing done is really satisfying. Have you been making progress on your writing projects? 
 

Insecure Writers' Support Group (#3)

"Insecure Writer's Support Group" is a monthly meme host by Alex J. Cavanaugh for writers held on the first Wednesday of every month.

This month for IWSG, I want to blog about perseverance because that's been the biggest issue for my writing, lately. I start a project, write for a little while, maybe completing about 1/4 of the entire draft, and then give up. My reasons for giving up usually vary, but always stem from the fact that the story wasn't working. 

I'm finally NOW writing the first draft of a novella that I'm 3/4 of the way finished with, meaning I haven't dropped it yet. That is big for me! I actually have a real, viable story that isn't full of holes and tears that leak like an old above-the-ground swimming pool. I'm on the right track to finishing it so I can get on with editing, revising and having it critiqued. Yay!

But, that still doesn't solve the problems with my old drafts that gave me trouble before. What about them? I think I still have every intention of fixing them one of these days because the characters and worlds I've created still stay with me, year after year. They are worth going back to and repairing one day when I'm able to understand how they can be fixed. I think I was trying to write those stories before I was ready to. I've needed to develop as a storyteller, which is, as I've come to learn, one of the hardest jobs in the world to do well. 

But, I want to do this well. This is something that means so much to me, even though I can't understand why. That's why I work so hard to figure out how to tell a great story, one that works. And, my older work can either serve as a measuring stick for how far I've come, or give me a chance to practice my story-tinkering skills. 

Read this blog post by Veronica Sicoe, sci-fi writer. It's all about perseverance and not giving up on the difficulty that is writing a good novel. I thought it was particularly brilliant and inspiring. 


What say you? Do you have any intention of fixing up your old manuscripts, or are they your barometers for your progress as a writer?

Week in Review (#4)

WEEK IN REVIEW

Another 'Week in Review' post! I really need more ideas as to what to blog about....



Past Writing 

This week I made my weekly word count goal of 3,000 words minimum by writing 3,384 for my YA fantasy novella, Pink Knight. I've got 17,800 words written of what will be a 25,000 word story, so I'm around 3/4 of the way finished. This is so great! I'm actually going to finish this one. I probably should reward myself when I'm all done.

I can't wait to be done with it, not because I'm hating to write it, but because I want to get to the editing. I must be an editing junky because I can't write and not edit as I write. That's my style, but it'll likely keep me from having to revise the story so much. So far, everything is going very well and the story is good, even for my standards. The fact that I've yet to trunk it is a good sign.

Past Reading

I just finished reading Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel, the second book in The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series and it was amazing! I loved the first book SO much and this one did not disappoint. I might say I liked this one even more than the first. I think it's the last one, which is sad, but good if that's all the author has to say about this story.

I'm very into Frankenstein literature and, finally, more books are coming out because of the success of Kenneth Oppel's books. Last week, I also got approved for an ARC of Broken by A.E. Rought, which is a YA retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Although, I don't know quite how it retells it, but the protagonist is a teen girl. I'm hearing good things about it, so I'm excited. That books comes out January 8, 2013.  

This Week

My goal is to write another 3,000 words of Pink Knight. Honestly, stating my goals on my blog has really helped me to not slack off. I know I would have had I not been declaring that I intend to write this amount of words, or have that much finished by this time. I really need that accountability. It keeps me real. Last thing I want to do is look like a total flake for not writing enough when I could have.

This week's reading will be preempted because a writer friend of mine needs a critique on her novella due out later this year. So, I will be reading, but not a finished manuscript. I do love to edit, although it's so much more work than passive reading. (Can I state the obvious, or what?) If I finish early enough in the week, I'll be moving on to reading my ARC of Velveteen by Daniel Marks. He is a super funny guy and I can't wait to dive right into his YA paranormal/horror novel. 


That's all for this week, folks. Thanks for all your support and words of encouragement. I appreciate whatever comments you'd like to leave, be they in-depth, or even the drive-by variety to lob at me!
  

Week In Review (#3)

WEEK IN REVIEW

Time for another "Week in Review" post and I have happier things to report this week compared to last week.

Past Writing 

I decided to raise my word count last week from 3,600 to 4,200 because I wanted to add back in the 600 words I didn't write from the previous week. It was tiring, but I made my word count of 4,200 and my WIP's total word count now stands at 14,300 words. I'm excited I made it! Last week was so quiet and peaceful compared to the week before, which made focusing on writing ten times easier. Distractions, please keep away!

Past Reading

I didn't read any regular novels last week because I usually have to take a break from the grind every four or five months. As much as I love to read, too much of a good thing without any breaks isn't so great. I've enjoyed ignoring the books on my shelves, even if they've been looking at me like this lately, O__O, trying to figure me out.

I did, however, read a new book on the craft last week that I bought on my Kindle for only $4.99 called The Emotion Thesaurus by Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman. You guys! This book is so amazing. It's self-published by the ladies who run The Bookshelf Muse blog for writing tips and such. It has a long list of different types of emotions that we all feel and descriptions on all the physical and internal symptoms for each, giving you so much more to write with. You just look up whatever emotion you want and there's the list. It's a must-have reference for writers!

This Week

Since my goal is to finish this novella by October 20th (about a month from now), I really don't have to kill myself to write it every week in order to meet this deadline. I'm going to plan on writing 3,000 words per week until it's done, so my goal for this week is to write another 3,000 words of Pink Knight. I'm still very happy with how the story is progressing and surprised I don't feel like I have no space for all the things I want to do with the story. I feel almost like I have too much room, instead.

I'll be back to reading again, as usual, and I'll finally be getting to Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel, the second book in The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series. It's a cool historical gothic YA title with alchemy and mad scientists, or at least, a budding mad scientist who will, eventually, create that infamous monster we all know and love. 

That's it for me this week. Thanks for reading and cheering me on! I hope you all reach your writing goals this week, too, or whatever types of goals they may be.