Why would you want to be a writer?

Today I edited just over four chapters worth of Feathers & Fae. I was up and at my computer this morning by 7am. It's nearly 8pm now. Seems like a lot, doesn't it? That was my Saturday because Monday through Friday I work at a normal job to pay my mortgage and bills.

I'm sure you probably did something a lot more interesting. I drank coffee. I ate easy, but unhealthy food. My head and back ache. And I am worried that all this work will be for nothing. That no one will pick up the book and it will never be read.

It's silly right?

Except, it's not. This is what it means to be a writer. Not everyone is going to be Stephen King or JK Rowling. Most writers aren't going to have that kind of success. Putting in countless hours on a novel that may never see the light of day is a very real possibility.

So why do I even want to do this?

Because I am a writer. I can live with the weekends lost to unpaid work. I can live with crappy diet. I can live with the intense fear and insecurity because I would rather be doing nothing else. I am a writer. 

Time Flies When You're Stressing Out

Sometimes - far more often than any of us would like to admit - life throws you a curve ball. My new year has been a bit of a curveball.

And you know what? That's okay. That's life. It happens. I can't beat myself up over that.

My truck broke down mid-road trip. I had to buy a car that I cannot afford. Seriously. No lie. The entire car payment is how much into the negative I go every month right now. You might see how that could be a little stressful.

And to be honest, the last thing on my mind was writing. However, I seem to be doing much better as I've been working through editing a couple of chapters a day on Feathers & Fae. I am really excited a about this. Of course, in the process of editing I also happened to realize that I totally glossed over something I had been hinting at for a couple of chapters previous. Oops!

Tonight I shall be working on correcting that slight omission. With luck I shall have this over to my incredible editor to look over it.

One last thing before I bid you all a goodnight and get to working on this novel - I would like to introduce you to the newest member of my family.

This is Nahni.

She is a 10 month old Australian Shepherd that came to me from a not so great situation.

It's been less than a week, but I would like to think that we are starting to bond. It's going to be tough goinng as she has never had the chance to be a real member of a family before. Even the stairs were new and scary for her, but that's alright. She's a smart little cookie.

I am eager to see how she grows over the next few months. Watch for more pictures of her on my instagram feed!

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.... In my case, that means it is time to get writing!

Happy Holidays!

Post NaNoWriMo is a time of rest. I mean, I need it. because my wrists are on fire, my brain is exhausted and I feel the need to be extra productive at my day job. Not to mention any graphic design projects I picked up during November and put off until December need to be done.

Most of the time this break is a lot longer than a couple of weeks. Never intentionally, but it tends to happen. As of yesterday, I am back on the writing train. There is no long rest for me this time! As much as I would love to just chill out and enjoy the holidays, I have promises to keep to my readers and my editor extraordinaire.

As for my NaNoWriMo project? Blessings of the Damned is not quite finished. We're so close to the end of the story, but there is still a couple of key scenes yet to go before that one is ready for a read over and the key decision on whether or not I will start the editing process.

As for Feathers & Fae, I am two more chapters into editing.  That means 10 are done and 15 are left to go. I think I may make some significant changes to the ending on this go through. I'll know for
sure when I get there. Of course, here I am writing a blog post instead of editing another chapter. Forgive me? I am still hoping to have Feathers & Fae done by or shortly into the new year so I can submit it to TOR Publishing. (Please keep your fingers crossed on that for me).

This just leaves Depths of Darkness to work on at that point. I hope to make a solid run on that one and have that first draft done early in 2018. At that point, I will have to figure out what to write next between editing this novel and Blessings of the Damn (if it makes the cut). I've been looking at some of my older work and there are a few stories that I have longed to go back to so that they can be rewritten. I also have a few unfinished novels (and one novella) that seem worthy of my attention.

I'll figure out what I am going to do when I get to that point. Until then, enjoy your holidays - whichever ones you choose to celebrate - and I will make a good attempt at enjoying mine. 

After the Storm of NaNoWriMo

Now that you’ve had a little time to rest your wrists you might be wondering what to do now. You’ve written a novel or at perhaps just part of a novel, but you did it. You made it through thirty days of creative insanity. You deserve a break. Although, I am sure there are a few of you out there still writing.

So what do you do when NaNoWriMo is over?

I often feel as though there is something else I should be doing after that first little break. I dedicate so much time to writing for the last 30 days that it seems strange not to be doing it any more. If you’re like me, then maybe you should keep writing. Not at the same pace perhaps, but keep at it. If your novel is calling to you - listen.

If you’re one of the lucky few who finished all the way to ‘The End’ then take a break, get a bit of distance from your novel, then feel free to go back and edit. Don’t be afraid if your writing makes you cringe or if that beginning just doesn’t really work because your story ended up going in a different direction. These things happen. This is why we edit our work, which is a whole different ball park.

Maybe editing isn’t your thing and you feel like you’ve already written enough for now. No problem. Catch up on those shows you missed. Let your friends know you are still alive. Make amends to loved ones for your long absence. Shout to the rafters “I did the thing.” Be proud of what you accomplished.

This is the end of the wonderful, creative insanity that we fondly call NaNoWriMo. I’m glad we were able to do this together. I would love it if you would all take the time to fill out this really short survey.

Now, just like most of you, I’m going to go and sleep for a week. Maybe call my parents to let them know I’m still here.

Keeping up the Momentum

It may be hard to believe it, but the end of the month is coming soon. Some of you may be right on schedule, some will be ahead and some will be behind. Wherever you are standing (or sitting for that matter) at this moment don’t give up. Don’t stop. Why you might ask?

For those of you that are ahead - Keep the flow going and get that story on the page. Just because you have hit or exceeded your goal for the month doesn’t mean you can pat yourself on the back and ice your wrists (as nice as that would be). Set a new goal and see if you can blow that one out of the water as well. A part of NaNoWriMo is to challenge yourself so do just that - challenge yourself and accept that challenge.

For those of you that are right on schedule - I’m impressed. No, seriously, I am. Most people have days where they write less and days where they write more.To stay on track in spite of this is an incredible feat. However, we have today and tomorrow to do something unexpected - challenge yourself to write just a little bit more. Even if it is only 5 extra words a day. Besides, every program counts words differently, it never hurts to have a buffer for the times that the NaNoWriMo word counter seems to come up short. And won’t it feel nice to look at the official count and go “I didn’t just do it, I blew that goal out of the water.”

For those of you that are behind - Take a moment and look at your word count. When was the last time you wrote that many words in such a short amount of time. Have you even written that many words in all the preceding months this year? For most of you the answer to that question is no. So, take this moment and be proud of those words. You wrote them and hope is not yet lost. I’ve seen miracles in the month of November. People who have come up from so far behind to just blow us all out of the water. And even if you don’t have that in you, who cares? Look at what you have done. It’s incredible.

For everyone, the most important point is that no matter where you are in your writing - just keep writing. In the end, NaNoWriMo has never truly been about the number of words you write or even how good your story is; it’s about challenging yourself and delving into your creative depths to bring forth something that may not have otherwise existed. This story, however much you’ve been able to write this month, is your creation. You made that - no one else did. And that is an amazing thing.

Writing is a Journey

Believe it or not we are three weeks into this crazy journey together. Some of you will be well ahead of your goal and ecstatic at how well things have been going for you, but I will hazard a guess that the rest of you are starting to lag a bit. That tends to happen around this time of the month.

In many ways, the act of writing is a journey all by itself. When you start a great adventure, something new, shiny, and exciting your energy is high, you’re feeling on top of the world and you can conquer it all. You are ready to face this brave new world, but as the reality and struggles of your world start weighing you down each step becomes harder.

If you were a character in a story this is the point where things are starting to look bleak. You may not even be sure that you’ll even make it all the way to the end. However, you may not realize something very important at this point. You are the hero. And one way or another you will realize that the journey will be over soon. You will have succeeded simply because you have probably written more this month than any other month this year.

This is a truth that I realize each year that I do NaNoWriMo.

Each year it gets easier for me to find the strength and will to carry on in my story because I have accepted that this is a part of every journey. I just need to take it one word at a time. I can look back to my word graphs of almost any year that I have participated and identify that week three slump.

This is the time where you need to fall back on those tips from a couple of weeks ago. However, the end is in sight. You are almost there. We are almost there.

Even if riches and accolades are not waiting for you at the end of this particular journey you will have something more important. You will have a novel.

Now get back to writing. Climb that word mountain. Before you know it the sun will be shining on the other side.

They Did WHAT?

I am not going to lie to you. If you did a really good job of developing your character they will take on a life of their own. It makes no difference if you are a planner or pantser at some point this is going to happen to you - if it hasn’t happened already.

As a pantser, this can be great - so long as you keep your end goal in mind when you’re writing. Characters that take over are a blessing if you can stay out of their way long enough to be able to document their adventures. Sometimes you may have to poke them and prod them a bit to keep the story heading more or less in the right directions, but never try to force a character like this to do something that they do not want to do. Generally, if your character has taken on a life of their own then trust them to act in the story’s best interest.

However, you can run into trouble if your characters try to take over, but aren’t well developed enough to really hold their own or they are a Mary Sue. I’ll write more about Mary Sues in a bit.

As a planner, this can be terrifying - especially when you’ve spent all this time plotting out your novel just to have your characters hijack the story and take it somewhere unexpected. If they are behaving (more or less) - congrats! You probably considered who your characters were prior to planning your novels. Of course, that doesn’t prevent any new characters from just popping up and demanding your attention.

If you do have a character trying to derail your novel the most important thing to remember is that sometimes you need to follow that muse. The worst thing that could happen is that you end up with a terrible dead end side story that you can delete when you edit. There is absolutely no reason why you can't go back to the point of derailment and follow the story down a different path this time. These are still words and, better yet, if you are drawn to write this, if it is easy to write that dead end path than do so because those are words you can count. And that best case scenario? You end up writing something even better than you had planned. Chances are, though, you will be somewhere between those two extremes.

What do you do about the Mary Sues?

We all end up with these at some point in our writing career. They do not make for the most interesting reading material, to be honest. If you are halfway through your novel and you are suddenly realizing that one of your main characters just might be a Mary Sue then you’re going to have to do some quick character fixes. (Unless, of course, your story is flowing just fine. Then by all means keep writing and fix that character later).

Keep in mind, that no one is perfect. People have flaws, mental and physical. We struggle, we debate, we worry, we get angry for what seems like no reason. Remember your character isn’t just a character - it’s a person. Make sure that this person you created has failings and flaws. Has things he/she/it struggles with and things that they are good at. Make them round and add a few flaws. If you have, after November, go back and fix that first part. Or if you are really mad at your story and nothing is working out for you there is no reason that you cannot ignore everything you’ve written until now and start back at the beginning with your now, more well-rounded character.

In the end, no matter where you stand, the point here is that sometimes you just have to follow the story, and your characters, where they take you. If you try to fight it you may all too often find yourself blocked in what to write next or just plain uninspired by your own story.