Blogging for the New Year

I'll say this up front to get it out of the way: I'm sorry.  For what?  For being a shitty blogger.  I guess it's working out the same as my attempts at keeping a journal, since journalling and blogging seem to be about the same thing.  I guess I'm just not much of a sharing type of person, especially when it comes to my thoughts and opinions.  I like to keep them to myself, much in the way I wish others would do the same.  Unless it's part of a stand-up routine, one of the most annoying sentences for me to hear is, "You know what I think?".  It just grinds on my nerves.

That's why I try to keep this blog focused on writing.  Unfortunately, I feel uneasy about giving advice since I have only had a book self-published so far.  I've put out a lot of short stories on here and other sites as part of challenges so I don't mind saying something about writing to anyone who needs help or motivation.  If you're following, I'll do my best to keep up on this blog.  It should get easier to have things to add since I'm nearly finished with the first draft of my YA novel, Facets, and I will have thoughts and revelations on the self-editing process.  So, please, bear with me.  Thank you.

Winning at NaNoWriMo

November 2015 has been torn off and tossed into recycling, leaving behind the rushed pages of a new novel, a yearning for even more coffee, and the satisfaction of having conquered my second NaNoWriMo challenge. It was a smooth ride up until the very last day.  I think I lulled myself into a false sense of complacency, leaving the final 3000 words for my last day. "I'll take the day off, finish up the challenge, and still have time for laundry and video games." Then I stood there with my hands on my hips and faced into the gusty wind like a triumphant hero should.

Then the migraine hit.  I wasn't worried at first.  I often wake up fuzzy-headed but like Quinn said of the sharks in Jaws, "Sometimes they go away, sometimes they don't go away." Well, this one turned out to be a predator and it was bent on biting the legs off my novel just before the finish line.  I scraped together a few hundred words during the day, took groggy, lurching breaks to throw in the damn laundry and let the roofers in the finish insulating a skylight they removed...a month ago. No video games.  Couldn't keep my head up for that.  But by evening the Migraine Shark got bored with my antics and I was able to finish and send it in for validation.  Only afterwards did I realize I had moved around two scenes twice meaning I had double scenes.  Got rid of those then banged out another 1000 words in an hour to FINALLY validate a correct chunk of novel.  Don't know if it mattered to anyone else, but getting it right mattered to me, even if I screwed something up.

My novel, however, is not finished.  I've got about10-15 more scenes, maybe another 100 pages to go before I rip into it with my editorial weed whacker.  I actually enjoy rewriting though.  I'm setting my next goal at finishing the first draft by Christmas then the re-write by my birthday on Jan 27.  The 28th will see me sending it out.  Here's hoping.  Write on.

NaNoWriMo WIP 1000 word snippet

Here goes the first scene from my work in progress over at NaNoWriMo tentatively called Facets. It's just about 1000 words so I thought I would use this for Chuck Wendig's latest sort of challenge.

"Well, Talia, let me start with what you've been worrying about the most.  You're not insane."

Talia Wiley released the breath she had been holding.  She smiled for the first time in days and tears fell down her cheeks as her mother put her arm around her from the chair beside her.  Her father, Jarrett, squeezed her arm on the other side.  The three of them sat in identical padded chairs in front of the doctor's oak desk.  Talia's little sister, Sara, was being watched by a neighbor.  They had decided to leave her at home in case the news was bad.  The office was warm with wood trim and stacked bookcases.  It was a far cry from the labs Talia had been in for the past two days.

"That's great news, Dr. Van Hoag," Jarrett said, still looking concerned, "It only confirms what we've been saying.  I mean if something was wrong with Talia, then there was something wrong with everyone that was with her that day, including me.  But it doesn't tell us what happened.  Hallucinations don't cause that kind of damage."

Talia left her mother's embrace and rubbed the wetness from her dark brown eyes.  Her mother, Aniya did the same.  People always remarked how much they looked alike, same dark eyes, same smooth skin and high cheekbones.  The only difference was their hair.  Talia's was straight and black like her father's while her mother's was brown.  Sometimes Talia wished her hair was brown just so she would not have such a Goth look in the morning.  It did not help that her mood tended towards dark and sarcastic.  No one considered her behavior abnormal, however, just the usual teenage angst.  That was until two days ago at the jewelry store.  Talia still had dreams of the chaos she had created.  Objects flying around the store, pockets of darkness, visions of ghosts and demons.  She jumped at the sound of the doctor's voice.

"I can shed some light on Talia's incident but to be honest, she's given us more questions than answers.  You were referred to me because I am a neurologist who specializes in Talia's suspected condition."

"Condition?" Talia said.  "It's a tumor, isn't it?"

"No, dear, it's not a tumor."

Talia continued, "So some hormonal or electro-chemical imbalance affecting my perception of reality?"

Devlin VanHoag sighed from behind his desk, "Let me guess.  WebMD?"

"Wikipedia."

"Ah, the Borg brain of the twenty-first century.  Did it happen to say how your hormones knocked over display cases from across the showroom or allowed you to hear the other customers' thoughts as they ran out?  No?  I'm actually surprised but at least we can rule that out, right?"

Aniya leaned forward, "So then what caused those things to happen, doctor?  The security cameras prove she didn't make it up."

Jarrett scoffed, "Security cameras?  Hell, I was there, remember?"

Talia remembered hearing the voices.  The few other customers ran out thinking it was an earthquake.  But she had heard other voices, too, not from the room.  She clenched her fists tight until those  chilling memories went away.

Devlin left his leather chair and came around to sit on the front of his desk, legs stretched to the floor.  He was mature with thinning grey hair, hazel eyes surrounded by lines, and a slight stoop to his walk.  He was thin and his pristine lab coat draped on him like a robe.

"Talia definitely does not have a tumor," he said, "and she does not have any problem with her brain at all.  In fact, her brain works better than yours or mine at a certain level that we are only now beginning to understand."

"This isn't going to get too technical, is it doctor?" Jarrett asked.  "I mean I'm no slouch but my knowledge is in business and running a restaurant.  I'm going to need layman terms to understand this."

"Speak for yourself, Dad," Talia said, "I want to know everything."

Devlin chuckled, "Trust me, I prefer simple.  Life's complicated enough without pointless jargon.  Now, a lot of people don't know that the brain gives off different electrical waves from its own activity.  There are several different ranges of these waves from Alpha to Gamma.  Normally these waves are so weak they have no affect on their surroundings.  Talia is part of a new emerging group of people who can produce a brainwave known as Gamma-3."

"So my brain's radioactive?" Talia said.

"No, there's no radioactivity.  The name is based on the length of the wave."

"And these Gamma-3 waves can affect things like in the store?"

"Not things in general.  In fact, the only things they interact with are microscopic crystals in the brain.  When they are then in the presence of similar crystals outside of the body, such as in a ring, depending on the crystal, different things will happen."

"That's why so many things happened at once," Jarrett said, nodding.  "We were in a jewelry store.  We were surrounded by crystals."

"But why then?" Aniya asked.  "Talia's been around crystals before.  I know for a fact she has a few necklaces that I bought her that have crystals.  Oh, my.  Could that have done it?"

"No, no," Devlin said, "The brain is always developing and growing.  Different chemical changes are also going on in teen brains such as Talia.  It probably started producing the correct waves that day and she just happened to go into the store.  A perfect storm, if you will."

"Wait," Talia said, "You said I'm part of an emerging group.  So there are others like me?"

Devlin Van Hoag leaned forward so his hands were above his kneess and looked Talia in the eyes.  He smiled.  "Oh, no, dear.  There are no others like you."

NaNoWriMo fun

Here we are in the second week of NaNoWriMo and hopefully everyone is still on pace or ahead of schedule.  For once I've managed to stay on point and I'm passed the 16000 word mark.  Here's a quick excerpt from my WIP, "Facets":

"You don't belong here, freak," Sam said in a hushed tone.  "I'm going to get you kicked out of here.  Bet on it.  I don't care what you can do."

"Too bad it's not up to you, is it, Sammy?" Talia said.

"Don't call me Sammy, freak.  Your days here are numbered."

"Well, let me get you started," Talia held up her middle finger, "One."

"Talia."

Talia spun around at the voice, snapping her hand out of sight, too late.  Dr. VanHoag stood at his door.

"If you're through, come into my office."

Sam walked away laughing more than necessary.  Talia stifled a curse and went into the director's office, closing the door behind her.

As you can see, I'm having loads of fun with this character.  Keep it up, NaNoers!

Write, Blog, Write

I know I really should be doing more with my blog, but it is still something I have to force myself to do.  On the one hand, I would rather be working on my fiction writing instead of relating what's going on in my head.  Honestly, it's not that interesting, even to me.  On the other hand, keeping up on a blog about writing will help me do two things: keep track of my successes and failures while writing and help reach out to fellow writers for comments, commiseration, and contacts.  Every whisper into an ear helps, right?  So here I am with more news about my work in progress.

So far I'm keeping up with my NaNoWriMo goals and it is helping me to push through this latest draft of my YA novel.  I still love this idea.  My problem is getting to the exciting parts without leaving out vital information that would keep the reader up to pace with what is going on both in my character's life and in her head.  My first attempt at this I don't think I did a good job of explaining how the different crystals worked and what it felt like for the characters to use them.  In this story I have people who derive psychic-like powers from tapping into crystals.  Different crystals bring out different abilities but what people can do depends on how their brains send out certain gamma rays.  Some can do telekinesis, some can do clairvoyance.  I'm fixing that this time.  Also, in my previous draft I severly limited what everyone was allowed to do with their powers.  I think that made it too boring.  Who would want to live in that world?  So this time I'm letting them be free to use their power, but they know they are all being monitored and their actions will have consequences even as far as prison.  I also had the main character going to a school with a mix of normal kids and Crystallers.  I got rid of that, too much extra trouble for nothing.  If I want to have her have a normal friend, I think I'll bring in one of her friends from before she was forced to move.

So, this is where I'm at.  If you're having similar issues with your story, let me know.  Communities can often help with problems that individuals can not deal with.  If you're doing NaNoWriMo I hope you're well on your way and good luck.  Write on!

NaNoWriMo Powers - Activate!

Day three of NaNoWriMo and I'm a giddy 6100 words into it.  I say giddy because I know the feeling will not last.  This is the beginning of my book and I'm familiar with these scenes already.  Now comes the hard part where I implement the new ideas and plotlines for this 2.0 version of my story.  Gone are the chasms of of inactivity.  They have been replaced with a fearless mix of mentoring and personal challenges.  The main bad guy is now up front and personal instead of mysterious.  Now it's up to me to keep up the energy, avoid the migraines, and not be distracted by to sweet siren call of my PS4.  Aww, look at it over there all calm and peaceful just waiting to play... No!  No!  Bad writer.  I had to catch myself there.  No playing until those scenes are mapped out or so help me...

You see what I'm dealing with.  The kid in me says there's always time to write, while the adult in me wants to just shake some sense into that damn kid.  Write now, you freakin' kid!  Twenty years goes by like a damn McDonalds shamrock shake.  You say just one more day and then, "What?!  Gone!?  It can't be!" But it is and you're left crushing peppermint patties into a vanilla milkshake but it's not the same.  It just isn't.

Anyway.  Oh yeah, NaNoWriMo!  Go, writers!

NaNoWriMo is calling

The latest National Novel Writing Month is upon us in less than a week.  Are you ready?  If you're a pantser (Def: one who perfers to just whip out their imagination at the last moment and let it spew as it will on the pages.  Gross), then you have not even begun to worry.  If, however, you are a planner like me, then there is never enough time.

Don't get me wrong.  I've got a lot of prep work already done; a year's worth, in fact.  I started my project a year ago but did not finish it during last year's NaNoWriMo.  Now before the angry mob reaches for their pitchforks and torches to chase down the cheater let me say this: Ayieeeee!  Actually I've had to re-imagine my idea and most of it has changed or been forced to change due to other changes.  Make sense?  Yeah, I'm hoping it'll be clearer for me too by then.

I'll try to use this blog to keep track of my progress as well as my failings, namely headaches, the bane of my writing right now.  With some determination, I should have most of a novel done and ready to edit by December.