Posts Tagged With: National Novel Writing Month

Who needs a muse when you have dreams?

I had the coolest experience this morning, and I really wanted to share it with you!

So like many creative types, I have really vivid dreams. Most of the time they’re erratic and fun, but not much use otherwise. You know, I’ll be running through a laser tag arena inside a closed shopping mall, trying to chase down a squad of Death Eaters and their pet panthers so I can stop them from reaching the grand library and aligning the twelve planets to attain ultimate cosmic power.

That sort of thing.

This morning, I had a dream about a boarding school in northern Ontario where a select group of students were learning magic instead of whatever subject they were supposed to be learning. It was pretty cool, as I’m a big fan of the whole “magic school” plot. Then I woke up, lay in bed grinning at the awesome dream for a few minutes, and then suddenly had a brainwave about a novel I’ve been struggling with. Eureka!

Apart from containing a school which technically teaches magic, but not really, because they’re mostly preparing themselves to fight giant elemental monsters, the dream had very little to do with my novel. But something about the dream triggered a spark in my brain, and led me to the solution I’ve been otherwise unable to come up with on my own.

Three big cheers for dreams and imagination! Hip hip, hurray!

 

NaNoWriMo update:

Yeah … it’s going pretty miserably, not going to lie. I’m at something like 4.5k words. It’s bad. On the plus side, I have made some strides in figuring out how the story will progress, so even if I only break 10k by the end of the month, at least I’ll have a solid foundation to work from in the future!

How’s everyone else’s NaNo dreams going?

 

Unrelated media of the day:

This comic (by illustrator “Strangely Katie”) is fairly long, but it’s a really cute story, so I suggest you read it all the way through! Click here to view the artist’s website.

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Quick NaNo update …

Avast, me hearties!

Sad news — my NaNo attempts have, once again, failed epicly. I was doing really well the first couple of days … and then it was Monday and there was work to be done, and … long story short, my NaNo dreams are rapidly dissolving. I’ll still tap out some words whenever I get the chance, but 50k seems tragically out of reach at the moment. Noooooooes!

That’s all for now. Back to work. Write on!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

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Gearing up for NaNoWriMo!

Ladies and gentlemen, hold onto your hats, because I’m about to drop a bombshell that specializes in blowing hats off people’s heads. And that bombshell, my friends, is that …

111411_nanowrimo

NaNoWriMo starts in two weeks!

Everyone still hatted? Excellent.

I don’t remember much about last year’s NaNo, a fact which leads me to assume that I failed spectacularly at creating the necessary 50k words to achieve ULTIMATE VICTORY!

This year, however, will be different. I came up with a kicka** idea yesterday in the shower, and I’m getting pretty psyched about writing it. It’s going to involve college, superheroes, and (potentially) evil twins. I’m thinking it’s going to end up being some sort of sci-fi thriller mystery combo, which will be fun, as I’ve never attempted such a genre before. It’s also going to be quite dark, which I’ve dabbled with in the past and had quite a lot of fun with, despite it not being my usual cheery style.

The tentative title I’m going with is “The Nemesis Contract”, which I think sounds suitably menacing. There’s a mini-series of comics that share that name, but as far as I know, titles can’t be copyrighted. Is that correct?

So I will officially be participating in NaNo this year. I can’t promise I’ll succeed, or even get past the first few days, but I’ll definitely give it a shot. I’ve gotten woefully behind on my writing these days, and I figure NaNo’s a good way to get back on the literary horse (whom I have named “Diction-neigh-ry”).

All aboard the NaNo train!!! Who’s with me?

 

Unrelated media of the day:

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August Writing Update

Greetings blogosphere! As it’s been a ludicrously long time since I last talked about what I’m currently working on, writing-wise, it’s about time I fessed up. The truth is …

I’m not working on a whole lot at the moment.

I know, I know — the most important part of being a writer is writing! Now, in my defense, I may not be doing a lot of writing, but I have been doing a lot of planning. I go on a 90 minute walk every day, usually with my brother, and we spend that time thinking and conjecturing and planning my assorted writing projects. So although I’m not technically putting pen to paper, I like to think I’m getting stuff done nonetheless.

Since you’re probably not reading this post unless you care somewhat about my current writing projects, I shall now give you a brief update on the various things I’m working on. Prepare to be bored/amazed!

“Chasing Nonconformity” (sequel to Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It)

So I sent the second draft of this sci-fi action/romance story out to my beta readers back in … May, I think? A while ago, anyway. I’ve barely heard anything from them since then, so I sent them a message a few days ago asking that they send me whatever notes/thoughts they have by September 1st, so that I can get going on the next draft. I don’t expect most of them to actually finish reading it by then, but hey, whatcha gonna do?

I actually have some really exciting things planned for this story — and my brother came up with a super cool idea just the other day that I’m going to add into the existing manuscript. So I wouldn’t say this project is anywhere near completion, but it’s certainly working its way towards getting there.

“The Elemental Guard” (YA fantasy)

This story has been annoying me for a while, because I wrote the first draft, and there’s just something … wrong with it. I’m not quite sure what. So I’ve completely revamped the concept, and am going to rewrite the entire thing. Siiiiiigh. I think it’s going to be worth it, though. Fingers crossed!

D.Y.S.C. (Disciplinary Youth Survival Competition — YA dystopian)

I’m actually really excited about this one. I’ve been a fan of Battle Royale for years, and loved Hunger Games when it came out, and I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a dystopian story for a while now. And now I’m going to do it! I started writing this story a few years ago for NaNoWriMo, but it was kind of bad, so I’m salvaging the good parts, changing a lot of stuff up, and basically starting over. I’m not going to say much about it right now, but I can reveal that it will involve an asteroid colony, teenagers fighting in a gladiatorial death match (pretty much a staple of dystopian YA fiction, lol), and lots of awesome. Stay tuned!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

 

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

I won Camp NaNo + first draft of Chasing Nonconformity complete!

Fellow bloggerites, I have officially won Camp NaNo and completed the first draft of Chasing Nonconformity (the sequel to Imminent Danger). Huzzah and rejoice, my friends!

would say that today’s a huge day for me, writing-wise, except that would be a blatant lie, as I actually accomplished all the aforementioned accomplishments yesterday. Ah well. Victory tastes just as sweet the next day. But not the day after tomorrow. That’s when the ice storm hits and we all freeze to death in the New York Public Library whilst fending off a starving wolf pack.

Right! So Camp NaNo was a rousing success, possibly because I only attempted to write 20k words instead of the traditional 50k words. Meh. The point of going to camp was, of course, to finish the first draft of Chasing Nonconformity, which I did. So … woo!

Here’s some stats on Chasing Nonconformity for you, because who doesn’t love stats? Crazy people, that’s who.

Total word count: 114,340

Total page count: 308

Total usages of the word “ZWOOSH”: 41

Total references to someone being kidnapped or abducted: 59

Total of alien planets/space stations/colony ships visited: 5

Total level of awesomeness: Over 9,000

 

To celebrate my success, I acquired a slice of cherry cheesecake, a bacon pizza, and a peanut butter chocolate cupcake. The cheesecake was delicious, the pizza was meh, and the cupcake hurt my stomach because I was full from all the cheesecake and pizza. Intestinal discomfort has never tasted so good.

In other news, tomorrow marks the beginning of the LA Times Festival of Books, where Blackbird LSD will be representing me and my book since I don’t have the moola to jaunt off on a jet plane to California for the weekend. They’ve got 51 copies of my book (I know, weird number, don’t ask), 3,000 bookmarks, 2,000 stickers, and all the enthusiasm they can muster! Three cheers for Blackbird LSD! Hip hip, hooray!

That is all.

 

Unrelated media of the day: “Scumbag Candyman”

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 90 Comments

My Tacyon Halloween + NaNo Update

I don’t understand science, so bear with me. Basically, tacyons move backwards through time. So when my brother Jesse (you might remember him from Vlog #2) heard that we were having our Halloween party after Halloween, he decided that we were having a Tacyon Halloween. Does the title make sense now? No? Welcome to my world.

Anyway, I thought I’d share some photos from our party, mostly because I’m super happy with my costume (German bar wench) and wanted to share them with you. Scroll past the photos for an update on my horrendous attempts at NaNoWriMo thus far.

Pumpkin ale and cupcakes.

Mother and brother.

Me, with my friend apparently trying to behead me.

Me trying to behead my friend.

NaNoWriMo Update:

So we’re 3 days into NaNo, and it’s going just plain awful. I am 483 words in, and I shouldn’t even be that far because I need to do actual work for my real job and instead I’m writing — and writing slowly, at that. Le sigh.

Unrelated media of the day:

 

Categories: Random, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

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