Writing Update - April

Melissa:

So, as you probably noted, I changed the title of the posts.  From:  NaNoWriMo Re-Writes Update, To: Writing Update.  I hope Jackie doesn't mind.

It seems we are picking up so many different things as we go and noting more than just the NaNoWriMo projects.  And what a better way to track all we do, even our sidetracks... as I know I've been sidetracked. *sigh*

I've been participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this month.  I produced a little over 10k words in the first 9 days, yes I did take a few off.  I was excited!  And wasn't ready to let go of the story yet.... At 10k I knew I'd have another 10k to finish, at least.  Then I talked with Danni on Twitter and....decided another 15-20k to finish.  See, I was trying to keep this a *short* story, novella length.  And left a character out that could turn things at the end.  So, the question is Happy Ending?  Not so happy ending?  Does the main character *really* need a man to fall back on?  I was going to go with no.  But...seeing it feels like a romance, figured there should be a good man in her life.  So...now I need to go back and add this character in. *sigh*  It's all good though.  More words, more creating, more fun.

This story seems to be coming this way:  I had a "plan."  Okay, it was a rather rough plan, but a plan, to start with.  This guy was in it, but I wanted to keep the story shorter so left him out.  Well, it seems I do want him there, and have added him.  The writing comes in sections.  Strange really, for me anyway.  I think at one point I had three scenes going at once.  I started a scene, thought of something I wanted to mention so started another scene to come, and went back to the previous one.  On the days I wasn't writing, the brain was stuck on what I had wrote and added little things and hints to it.

It's definitely it's own process this round.  Toward the end there are some things that need to be added as I skipped a section where there is a great opportunity to shine with some steampunk ideas....but I need to come up with them yet. lol.  But I just couldn't wait to get to the end, and excitement thing.  I knew what was to happen and wanted to write it.  And I did.

Then!  I started a bar scene that I've had stuck in my head...376 words only and more to it than that, but that's what you get when doing it at work.

So...I also wrote an acknowledgement to people for a work I've done.  It's for one that no where near done, and may never be published, but I wanted to remember those how helped inspire.  Also...I might have wrote a bit about where the name of a character came from and why it means so much in the characters personality and what I based it off of.  I'm goofy! I swear! LOL!

What did I clock out at in words this month... lets say 30,052!  Outstanding, right!?  24,893 at the Main Camp Nano project.  3,218 at a separate short story.  1941 at another short story.

All these have lots to add.  The short stories are started and there for me to play with any time I need an escape.  That's what they are for, for me at this time.  One day, maybe I'll fine tune them and sell them to anthologies or something...who knows.

What did I learn this month... um, I'm not sure.  Haha...  Alright, I have to say what I learned is I can work through it.  The more I do, the more the mind roams and creates other things.  Everywhere I look now I see something I can question or create something from.  Is it a full novel?  No, but the mind has been open to different ideas.

Now, back to re-writes on previous and the new project created here.  Lots of work to do and create.  There are whole new leg of work to do with WIP 1, and lots to redo on WIP 2.

Jackie:

I love the new title of the post! Though, really, had Melissa asked me before changing it, my suggestion would have been more like "The Funk to End All Funks". Considering it was only me struck by this affliction, it would have been one sided though, so it stays as is :)

Really, I started the month with great plans. I figured 10k would be easy to achieve, especially considering my new line of thought for the main WIP that I planned to have completed. I even posited at one point that I might make the 25k mark with all the new stuff I wanted to add. Well, it turned out to be harder than I imagined.

Poor Melissa had to (virtually) listen to me whine about lack of time, regardless of how true it was, and the fact that nothing was coming out. I would rack up word counts of 80 or 376 in a day, versus the 1300 we would do on a normal November NaNo day. It was seriously pathetic. But Melissa kept encouraging me, so I plodded along, typing in whatever dismal additions that I could.

Late in the month, like say April 29th late? I had an idea. I started typing a silly line but it's one that always gets me going. It has something to do with a cartoon pooch that types out great works of mystery on top of his doghouse. This morphed into 5k by the end and added into the total for my main WIP and another short story I was working on, I finished the month at 10101 words (which apparently has no meaning in binary, I checked.)

So, as Melissa worked out a conclusion to what she learned last month, I'll add in my two cents also. First, I should always listen to Melissa; she knows what she's talking about :D Second, I am a world-class procrastinator and my own worst enemy. I will not get the word count out if I don't actually sit down in front of the computer and type. If I want to make something happen with my writing, I have to write.

This seems obvious, but let me tell you, screwing the pooch (and I mean this in the proverbial sense, not the rooftop typing pooch I referred to earlier) is a way easier thing to do than pouring your heart, soul, or imagination into something that someone may read down the road. It's intimidating to think about what you're doing under these terms but from the point I'm at to the point where a shiny new book would be placed into someone's hands is miles away. One step at a time, right?

Three, I was able to sufficiently stick to March's promise to bombard Melissa with my clichés and idioms, though I didn't do it on a daily basis. I did however, work hard to not include them in my writing, unless it was for the purpose of making fun of it, then that made it okay, lol.

I'm happy to say that coming into May, my new idea has taken more shape in my head and has worked itself into a fuller story, complete with a potential arc for a multi-book thing...wait, that's me getting ahead of myself again! Anyway, hope May is good to all of you and your word counts.

NaNoWriMo Re-Writes Update - March

Melissa:

I've now started a word number chart, to track the change in numbers...up and down as I'm deleting and adding as I go.  It's not as dramatic as it was with Nano but I've added lots in notes and have many scenes to completely write.  I've noticed I did a lot of telling and I need to show it, create a whole scene to convey my thinking.

Now.  Question.  What is a person to do when they keep getting distracted with other ideas?  lol.  Seems the creativity is flowing and jumping around.

Between the adds and deletes, I've added 7,642 words to my NaNoWriMo Re-writes.  These were added from my reading and from now as well.

Then, I caught the bug for a short story from a song.  I wrote 3,951 words for that this month.  Which I do need to get back to.

AND, thanks to Skyla Dawn Cameron (who seems to know I have a weakness) I've signed up to do Camp NaNoWriMo in April.  This is yet another idea I want to try.  It's a fairy tale remix with steampunk to it.  I signed up to do only 10k words.  I'm not ready to do another 50k just yet.  I've got to much mapping to do.

THEN!  Yes, there's more. lol.  Jackie and I were joking around one rough day... we came up with a dual novel project.  I've got LOTS of research I need to do to get caught up, even half way close, to what Jackie knows.  I think she's going to have to carry me on some aspects. ;P  lol.  But that's partners, right?

I really need to get through Jayda's story so I can go back through and finesse the words, sentences, paragraphs...ALL OF IT!  lol.  I'm still in the writing stage and have soooo much to get through.  I might be about a quarter of the way through at this point.  (no page numbers, sorry.  Haven't figured that part of Scrivener yet.)  I even have a whole leg of the journey that needs to be written yet.  *phew* So much to get done!

Oh!  I had a new character pop up on me too!  She was to be a step on to show a connection and explain the world a bit.  Ha!  That's a joke.  This girl decided she's a lot more than what I thought.  So, it seems she'll be sticking around more and I'll have to write her in where she's needed.  But there are a few characters I need to write in anyway.

So, I have my work cut out for me.  I'm learning the goods and the bads with NaNoWriMo.  I still think it's an amazing idea and will continue to do it.  Maybe that topic is for another post... ;)

Jackie:

I'm happy to report that even before the last day of March hit, I was finished with my entire read through. Woot! I made a lot of notes for things to be changed or expanded throughout, so I will have a bigger word count once I translate all the handwritten notes. I usually have fairly neat penmanship but some of these puppies look like hieroglyphics, I tell ya!

Adding to that was something that started out so little, my deciding I didn't like the name of my project, which turned into a whole new direction for the story to go. This is a really good thing because the original draft had so much focused on the one part that there wasn't much mystery to the mystery book. It's always good to have a few things going on and I think that the change is a good way for it to happen. Here's hoping I can work it all out.

I also have a very small cast in my story, making it hard to incorporate a change like another story line. This goes along with what Melissa said about NaNo...the time restriction didn't really allow me the opportunity to flesh out more interesting people. So, I will attempt an outline in future projects, with a larger bunch of players to keep the reader on their toes ;)

I am also participating in Camp NaNo; this filtered down to me from Melissa, who decided to do it with Skyla...a total domino effect, I'd say. I'm keeping on with my 2011 NaNo project, to grow its numbers (or at least I hope so.) I registered for 10k but if I can muster the time, I'd like to see 25k added to get it closer to a publishable level. We'll see, I guess.

I had started a short story in March as an experiment. And totally contradicting myself about the outline, I just winged it. I got about 1400 words and that's where it stalled. I have an idea of where I want it to go but not sure how to get there yet. I think I'll use it as a writer's block project; if I get stuck on my main project, I can switch over and type something else for a bit.  It's kind of like what Melissa asked above about the multiple ideas, but with a (reasonable?) argument.... thoughts?

And yes, we concocted a story that we've thought of a way of writing together. It's kind of exciting with just the small ideas we've tossed around so far but I have a crap load of library books out to do more research. And I've been sending stuff to Melissa to get her up to speed. She now knows things about me that many don't but instead of running away screaming, she's jumped on my crazy train and I'm more than happy to share my hobby :)

My last point is about my writing: I've noticed I tend to lay the clichés on thick. So, to work them out of my system (and keep them out of my actual writing), I've started hitting Melissa with them on Twitter :D I'd love it if anyone could add some here too, just to see if I've missed any...though I'm still not done with my existing collection. Watch out, Melissa!

So, March was a success, but there are still miles to go to hit the mark. Wish us luck!

NaNoWrimo Re-writes Update...February

Melissa:

February was a huge month for me.  Why?  Well, I'll tell ya...

That moment when you move the HUGE clip to the beginning portion of noted pages and the big clip to the last part to do.  Yep, that was me this month!  That's a cool feeling to know you are on the downward slide.

I went on my Friday Pub Writing day and on this afternoon excursion, I added a 2000 word scene, that needs lots of work and focus.  But it's a start.  Now after the months done, I know what to do with this scene, and it's going to lead to a whole section I need to add to round out a few things.

And to close out the month.....*drum roll*  I finished the whole first read through!!!  Wow.  I have to say I was getting tired of not being done.  So I kept at it.  I have a patience issue, I do think.  I felt I was taking to long and possibly forgetting things, so wanted to get through it all while still fresh in my head.

Now what?  I'm not sure.  Is there any suggestions?

I've found there are many things I have decided on which way I'm going, and things I still need to make choices on.  I've got the scene started from that Friday afternoon at the pub, and it has lead to (along with another scene I read) a whole new run in the story as well.  I'll have to sit down and map what my point of the run it, what the characters will come across and why, along with what we will learn about them on this trip.  This is a great thing.  I've filled in some gaps in my mind for future about the world as well.  I just need to drop hints to have the reader think and question things so I can explain them later and they won't feel like they are hit out of left field when they come.

One thing I do keep noting, "Show, don't tell."  I found I made notes of simply telling me what's to happen. I need to create the scenes to show it.  There is lots of that to be filled in.  So still lots of creating and writing to come.  Then maybe I can go through and pretty up the sentences adding together two sentences that describe the same thing.  You know, make it make sense.

I did start filling in what I want to add to a few sections, and I'm really enjoying what I'm creating.... at this point.  I go through phases of love then hate and want to scrap the whole thing.  But right now, I'm feeling the love.  The hate will come again soon, I'm sure.

For me, it's on to adding/deleting words/sentences along with reading as I go.  I'll be writing up the gaps too. This will be a long phase and I think will take me longer than the two months to get to this point.


Jackie:

Melissa has been awesome in her dedication to getting through the first draft. Me? Not so much. I have screwed the pooch more times than I can count when I should have been writing but....

My positive spin lies in the fact that I actually made it beyond the 25% mark! That sounds bad in comparison with Melissa's amazing progress (I'm so proud of her!), but for me it's a good thing because I haven't tossed it aside, or set a match to it, etc. I may be slow in reading it, but I'm not giving up! (I'd be pumping my fist in the air now if I wasn't typing ;)  )

I still have my project divided into two parts (mainly because I didn't have the huge clip that my writing buddy spoke about above) but more pages get flipped kitty-corner as the days pass.

What I have done is decided on a whole new title and undercurrent to the story. I think I'll still be able to keep much of the original scenes, and I hope all of the original humour in it, but there is definite room for growth and change throughout the whole piece.

On that note, I just want to mention the feeling of "I've bitten off way more than I can chew" with my new approach. Normally, this would be enough to find the matches and ignite; I don't like being a quitter but sometimes it's the easy way out, right? NO, darn it all! And this is what I keep telling myself: I will not quit just because my ideas are....well, a bit grandiose, considering my lack of knowledge on the subject. I will grab the bull by the horns and make him my household pet, dammit! (Was that a good metaphor? LOL. I need all the help I can get.) To this end, everyday I'm thinking over how to tackle the subject, how to make it plausible and how to make it interesting to any future readers out there (I'm nothing if not hopeful of the end result.)

So, as February closes out and March brings the promise of Spring, I renew my vow to have this first draft read and a firm grasp on the new material before the month is out.

NaNoWriMo ReWrites Update...January

Melissa:

So, we decided to hit one of our Nano projects this year - rewrite it.  I had *thought* I would get back to last years project with Alena.  Ha!  Jayda had other plans....she wouldn't shut up.  She started telling me pieces of things after I finished Nano.  So she stuck in my head for the new year, taking up the space and driving me back to her world.

So what am I doing and how?  I haven't a clue.  Really.  This is the second story idea I've even gotten this far with and the first I'm going back to read and rewrite.  So, I'm clueless but trying to stay organized....trying the operative word there.

I've started calling this draft six below...six feet below ground that is. lol.  It's that much of a mess I wouldn't even call it a rough draft.

What am I doing?  Making notes on the draft I have printed. and on additional pages if the paragraphs are to long for the page, even the back of the page gets notes too.  I also have a notebook I keep questions in along with comments of things I want to add or do or keep in mind to think on as I go.  I use sticky notes to write the question on and put in the notebook.  I have small stickies for parts in the story that I think I might want to refer back to, making it easier to find.  I have colored pens to help me get through as well.

This is what I've been carrying around the house with me:

I think my family thinks I'm loony.  And I feel like I'm in school again with the stack as I move around. lol.

I'm one month in on rereading/rewriting and I think I'm about a third the way through the 50k hot mess I have from Nano.  I find I'm filling in a lot.  What I had thought I saw but didn't write the first time through with the rush.  There's a good bit with what's happening, descriptions, and back story that needs to go in.  Fleshing out more, in a sense.  I've added words, sentences, and paragraphs.  And removed some too.

This round of rewrites is for story basic set up.  I've found planted ideas I need to decide if I want or not.  Ideas I forgot about as the story line progressed.  If I want them, I'll have to work them in with the next round.  This really is bare BARE bones of a story here.  I do think, so far, I've surprised myself.  There's a touch more action than originally I had thought.  That's good.  But it too needs beefed up and worded properly.

I started to think on the preface after I started, and it's a bit to long.  I might have to pull it, drop hints of it in the story and make a novella out of it or just as a background section for me getting to know Jayda.  I'll see what happens.  Maybe even do the book in sections.  Who knows, that's a ways off.  But if I flesh it out a lot more I think it could be a great character defining novella for Jadya.  *shrug shoulders* Time will tell.

I know I have blant and stupid sentences here.  The next round will be to put sentences together to make one full one and better use of words.  I also keep reminding myself, show don't tell.  I want to show why these characters are this way, not just tell the reader.  Another thing that will have to be touched up with the next round.  But ideas I keep in the back of my head for round two.

If I keep at this rate, maybe I could have a working first draft by November! I can't give you a word count of what I've added/deleted since at this point I'm doing this by hand on printouts. But it feels like it's growing. :)

I have a planned day (which a friend Skyla! talked me into taking off work to go to the pub and write) set aside this month for just this. I have a few short story ideas I want to note as well. So maybe I can get through the rest of the reread/rewrite by mid-March (I'd like end of February, but it's a short month and don't want to be disappointed when doesn't happen). We shall see.

Jackie: 

Melissa has done great so far with actually sitting down and working on her project. Me? My stuff sits in a pile on the floor, in a similar state to about this time last year.

I could spout all of my excuses like, I moved to my new house a mere ten days before Christmas, so I've spent a lot of time unpacking boxes, etc. that has taken away from my writing time. Or that I spent a good two weeks in January, sick as a dog. Both of these reasons are accurate but I know too that my motivation has been lacking. Well, maybe to put it a better way, I've allowed my nasty inner voice to tell me my work is a piece of crap. Shame on me!

So, after trying to combat said inner voice, I've started at least thinking about what changes can be made. (I also have a 2011 and a 2012 project, but for me, I decided that I should revisit the 2011 book and see what I can make of it.) There has been something bothering me about my main character's actions that just didn't fit with how I wanted to portray her. Finally, a light bulb clicked, sorting out that issue and hopefully leaving some room for more back story. Yay!

One problem: I haven't written out the idea. That won't remain for long though and it will give me a starting point to rework the first draft now, along with a few other details I want to add in. My final thought going into February is "No more excuses!"

My intent going forward is to work on my first Nano project and bulk it up a bit more with the new ideas and possibly expanding the story into one that is multi-faceted. My 2012 project needs more research as well as sorting out the logical flow of it all (I dropped the ball by the end, which would have readers scratching their heads in its current state, lol.) But first, I need to get it printed out too. There is something to be said about seeing the work on paper that gives it a whole new dimension, I think.

There are lots of writers out there, doing just what Melissa and I are, so good luck to all of you that are trying to make a go of your NaNoWriMo projects too!

The A-Z Challenge Wrap Up

2012 is behind us now and so is this particular reading challenge!

How did you all do? I started off well but real life got in the way and poor Melissa had to do all of the work from there :(

I've wrapped up my own progress on my blog, The Novel Nation, but as a hint, I only managed level 2. It's a good thing I love Alphabet Soup then, right?

Now for the bonus (and the thing that I totally forgot to mention at the beginning of the year :p ) Those of you that participated and linked throughout the year, are eligible for a special prize from us! Simply link up your own close out post below and you'll be entered for a chance to win a book from the Book Depository valued up to $10. What a great way to get started on your reading goals for the New Year, right?!

Thanks to the small number of participants that joined in with us for 2012. May 2013 be bigger and wordier for you all :)

You have until Jan. 20, 2013 to enter your links.

The YA Reading Challenge 2012 Close Out

This is it.  It's been a full year since we started this challenge and I've learned a lot about how to do this.  It was completely new to me when we started, but know I have a feel for it.

This is the place to link your year wrap-up to.

You remember this stipulation to enter to for the giveaway right:

~~MUST FINISH THE YEAR! Please read carefully! Yes, this is a requirement. At the end of the year you will HAVE to do a close out post, By January 10, 2012. We will have a linky set up here where you will HAVE to link that post up. This is required to be eligible for prizes. This way we can find you, and verify all required information.

• On this post list the books with links to the reviews. If anyone wants to go back to the reviews, they can.

Then you can mention the fun stuff:   ~ Name the class of YA reader you are   ~ What you seemed to sway towards in reading material; vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.

Creatures with Bite ~ Vampires and Werewolves 

Dead and Resurrected ~ Ghosts and Zombies 

Brews and Salves ~ Witches and Healers 

Things with wings ~ Fairies and Angels 

Swords and Magic ~ Fantasy

The place to link up and be entered for the giveaway.  You will have until, January 20, 2013, to post your wrap-up post and link here.  I know with the holidays it's crazy and hard to get all the posts done, so that's why we are giving you some time to get through your posts and post.

I'll be posting mine on my blog and linking up here.

December A-Z Challenge

Melissa:

Well...I'm having troubles with December posting.  Coming out of Nanowrimo and getting through the holidays I'm not getting much accomplished it feels.  And looking at this challenge...well, I'm slacking it seems.