Let's just get right to it...for my goal of 25,000 words written this month, I need to write 807 words each day. This means by the end of Day 21 (aka yesterday) I needed to be at 16,947.
So, what's my current word count?
7,092 words
Yeah, I'm almost 10,000 words behind. I need to catch up big time.
What else do I need to do?
Right, actually work on the project I chose to write for the month: Souls Unknowing. The only exception to this is naturally, Project Death: Revelation, because people keep asking when it will be released.
I want to get both of these books out into the world. I have a date in mind for publishing SU and I'd really like to stick to that date, so if things go poorly over the next couple months then SU will have to be pushed back to next year.
And I am definitely getting Revelation out this year. I think Thanos might be cooperating enough for me to write the last few chapters and ship the story out to my beta readers. Then it's just a matter of a quick clean-up and edit (hopefully) and then I'll have a publication date announcement.
Why have I been distracted?
Oh yeah...reading books. I realized I was about 7 books behind for my 2015 reading goal of 75 books, and I have been buying a number of books that I just really want to read, so I ignored my notebooks so I could delve into already created realms and characters, places where I could avoid the fact that my own characters didn't seem to want to participate in the storytelling process.
Maybe ignoring my characters had made them more willing to talk to me.
I can only hope.
I need to have a big writing push this weekend, and then stick to a schedule for the remainder of the month so I can finish on schedule. Or at least finish on schedule for this altered schedule that is really only half of the goal I wanted to meet.
I guess if I want next week's update post to be filled with good news, I need to get off here now and actually write.
Until next time...may the words be with you always.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Camp NaNoWriMo July 2015: 1 Goal Change, 2 Weeks Down, and 3 WIPs?
Hey everyone! I'm going to try and keep this update post fairly brief because I really need to get a shower and then get to bed. I've already worked 32 hours this week and I have another 20 hours to go. I'm also hoping to get some writing time in this week too...because I'm still just a little bit behind.
First things first: I have changed my goal for the month because it has been a bit difficult for me to carve out time to write and real life is a bit more stressful at the moment than I thought it would be. Shooting for 50,000 words this month is not all that feasible, so I have changed my goal to 25,000 words, though I would still love to write more than that.
Second...WOW...how are we seriously already halfway through the month? Where is the time going? I mean, I feel like July just started and yet here I am writing up a blog post on July 15th and looking at the calendar for the next few weeks and feeling like I have no way to hold on to the remaining time in the hourglass compromising July. The sand just continues to run out and soon enough it will be gone.
Yikes. I really need to pick up my writing pace. Seriously. I do not want to have two failed Camp NaNoWriMos this year.
Third point to this post...I originally started the month wanting to get as much of the rewrite for Souls Unknowing finished as I could. Naturally this meant putting Project Death: Revelation to the side for a bit. Apparently this is the time that Thanos decides he wants to cooperate, and I'm not going to say no to getting words on the page, no matter what story they pertain to. Of course, I have also been having fun little daydreams about this cool science fantasy world and characters and stuff so I've been doing a little bit of world-building and plotting for that. I'm not trying to really get into writing it, but I want to have enough down that I don't have to worry about forgetting the cool idea. So, in a way, I am currently in various stages of three writing projects this month. That's fun and random and a bit chaotic.
I guess I'll just leave you with a statement of where I need to be with my word count as well as detailing my progress so far, and then I'll head off to do what I need to before I pass out. A shower is a definite must. Working in a factory is not conducive to smelling nice and clean.
With the new overall goal in mind, my word count by the end of July 14th was supposed to be 11,298 words.
My current word count is: 5,819 words. So I still have a bit of catching up to do.
Right now Camp NaNo is telling me that I need to write 1,129 words per day to finish on time. That is totally doable, so long as I can find 30 minutes to an hour of good solid writing time. When I get going on Write or Die sessions I can usually manage around 1,500 words or so in 30 minutes, which would definitely get me to my word count goal.
May the words be ever in your favor this month, Wrimos. Until next time...for now, I need to daydream and write.
First things first: I have changed my goal for the month because it has been a bit difficult for me to carve out time to write and real life is a bit more stressful at the moment than I thought it would be. Shooting for 50,000 words this month is not all that feasible, so I have changed my goal to 25,000 words, though I would still love to write more than that.
Second...WOW...how are we seriously already halfway through the month? Where is the time going? I mean, I feel like July just started and yet here I am writing up a blog post on July 15th and looking at the calendar for the next few weeks and feeling like I have no way to hold on to the remaining time in the hourglass compromising July. The sand just continues to run out and soon enough it will be gone.
Yikes. I really need to pick up my writing pace. Seriously. I do not want to have two failed Camp NaNoWriMos this year.
Third point to this post...I originally started the month wanting to get as much of the rewrite for Souls Unknowing finished as I could. Naturally this meant putting Project Death: Revelation to the side for a bit. Apparently this is the time that Thanos decides he wants to cooperate, and I'm not going to say no to getting words on the page, no matter what story they pertain to. Of course, I have also been having fun little daydreams about this cool science fantasy world and characters and stuff so I've been doing a little bit of world-building and plotting for that. I'm not trying to really get into writing it, but I want to have enough down that I don't have to worry about forgetting the cool idea. So, in a way, I am currently in various stages of three writing projects this month. That's fun and random and a bit chaotic.
I guess I'll just leave you with a statement of where I need to be with my word count as well as detailing my progress so far, and then I'll head off to do what I need to before I pass out. A shower is a definite must. Working in a factory is not conducive to smelling nice and clean.
With the new overall goal in mind, my word count by the end of July 14th was supposed to be 11,298 words.
My current word count is: 5,819 words. So I still have a bit of catching up to do.
Right now Camp NaNo is telling me that I need to write 1,129 words per day to finish on time. That is totally doable, so long as I can find 30 minutes to an hour of good solid writing time. When I get going on Write or Die sessions I can usually manage around 1,500 words or so in 30 minutes, which would definitely get me to my word count goal.
May the words be ever in your favor this month, Wrimos. Until next time...for now, I need to daydream and write.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Camp NaNoWriMo July 2015: It's Been a Week Already?!
Technically the one week mark was yesterday, but today is the start of week two, so I think it's a good place to pause and do the one week update post.
So...my plans did not go quite as I expected. I wanted to utilize my couple days off work plus my standard weekend to get as much written on the page as possible. It should have been easy to do, at least for the first couple days. July 1st and 2nd...and half of the 3rd, I spent on my own. In those days, I managed to write 3,483 words...which is good, but still about 1,400 words behind par.
Camp NaNoWriMo in July runs just a tiny bit different from the big event NaNoWriMo in November, not just because you can set your own word count, but also because July has 31 days. Because of this, my goal of 50,000 words does not mean needing to write 1,667 words a day. Instead, to be on par for the month, the goal is 1,612 words per day. That sounds great, right? One extra day of writing? Yeah...it should be great, but somehow I turn that into the idea that I can have a day early on where I don't accomplish as much, and it's fine, because there's an extra day.
For my own goals, by the end of July 7th, I should have reached 11,284 words.
My word count as of July 7th: 5,000 words
That's just a bit behind, but it's okay. I'm starting to figure out my writing schedule for the month and working around other scheduling issues like work and sleep, etc. All I need is a couple hours of time set aside for writing each day and then I should be able to catch up and possibly even get ahead.
Obviously it is still early in the month, and a lot can happen in the next few weeks. I'm going to try and keep getting these Wednesday update posts up for you guys, but I'm also going to try to do little updates on my Twitter and my Facebook page.
Moving on to actual non-word count details of writing Souls Unknowing. Considering we are at the beginning of everything, I have spent time thinking about how I came up with this story and different conversations and scenarios that eventually led to me writing this book back in 2004-2006. In 2004, in Spanish II, I vividly recall my teacher discussing how bad it would be if there was a fire in the school, mostly because of the location of the Spanish classroom. She said that if for some reason we were trapped in that room, death would be pretty gruesome. See...the class was right across the hall from the boiler room. I just recall her talking about how if the flames reached the boiler room, the result would be a pretty decent explosion.
That image got my writer brain running and processing and I began to wonder if I could use that in a book.
At that time I was also watching shows like Tru Calling, and reading books like the Mediator series by Meg Cabot, and my brain starting putting together pieces that intrigued me, and I ended up with a fire at a school 50 years earlier, that had the unfortunate outcome of everyone dying. Fast forward to present day, and a new school was built and I put four mediators (people who can see ghosts) into this new school, which is also filled with the spirits of the deceased.
In 2005, another TV show joined my queue of to-watch shows: Ghost Whisperer. Watching that really helped me get into the mood for writing about ghosts.
So with those inspirations and of course the support of several friends and fans, I wrote this story, and realized that the characters would have more to say, which led to the creation of the Souls trilogy: Souls Unknowing, Souls Abandoned, and Souls Crossing. Strangely enough I started rewriting SA before I decided to redo SU, so there is almost 25,000 words of better writing already done for the second book. Hopefully that means I will have an easier time of finishing it, and I'll be able to put these books out one a year, instead of having the two plus year gap like I have with the Project Death series.
It has been interesting so far to re-enter this world and try to start at the beginning and write the adventure in a way that shows just how much I've grown in the past decade. Perhaps later I will post up the original prologue from Souls Unknowing, and then share the re-written prologue, just to show you (and myself) how much my writing style has developed. I know that sometimes we writers might not really think about how much progress we've made, because we are always seemingly stuck in this cycle of planning, writing, and editing. It's cool to just take a moment to appreciate where we've been and what we've accomplished.
Now...back to increasing that word count. The goal for next week's update post: 22,568 words by July 14th.
So...my plans did not go quite as I expected. I wanted to utilize my couple days off work plus my standard weekend to get as much written on the page as possible. It should have been easy to do, at least for the first couple days. July 1st and 2nd...and half of the 3rd, I spent on my own. In those days, I managed to write 3,483 words...which is good, but still about 1,400 words behind par.
Camp NaNoWriMo in July runs just a tiny bit different from the big event NaNoWriMo in November, not just because you can set your own word count, but also because July has 31 days. Because of this, my goal of 50,000 words does not mean needing to write 1,667 words a day. Instead, to be on par for the month, the goal is 1,612 words per day. That sounds great, right? One extra day of writing? Yeah...it should be great, but somehow I turn that into the idea that I can have a day early on where I don't accomplish as much, and it's fine, because there's an extra day.
For my own goals, by the end of July 7th, I should have reached 11,284 words.
My word count as of July 7th: 5,000 words
That's just a bit behind, but it's okay. I'm starting to figure out my writing schedule for the month and working around other scheduling issues like work and sleep, etc. All I need is a couple hours of time set aside for writing each day and then I should be able to catch up and possibly even get ahead.
Obviously it is still early in the month, and a lot can happen in the next few weeks. I'm going to try and keep getting these Wednesday update posts up for you guys, but I'm also going to try to do little updates on my Twitter and my Facebook page.
Moving on to actual non-word count details of writing Souls Unknowing. Considering we are at the beginning of everything, I have spent time thinking about how I came up with this story and different conversations and scenarios that eventually led to me writing this book back in 2004-2006. In 2004, in Spanish II, I vividly recall my teacher discussing how bad it would be if there was a fire in the school, mostly because of the location of the Spanish classroom. She said that if for some reason we were trapped in that room, death would be pretty gruesome. See...the class was right across the hall from the boiler room. I just recall her talking about how if the flames reached the boiler room, the result would be a pretty decent explosion.
That image got my writer brain running and processing and I began to wonder if I could use that in a book.
At that time I was also watching shows like Tru Calling, and reading books like the Mediator series by Meg Cabot, and my brain starting putting together pieces that intrigued me, and I ended up with a fire at a school 50 years earlier, that had the unfortunate outcome of everyone dying. Fast forward to present day, and a new school was built and I put four mediators (people who can see ghosts) into this new school, which is also filled with the spirits of the deceased.
In 2005, another TV show joined my queue of to-watch shows: Ghost Whisperer. Watching that really helped me get into the mood for writing about ghosts.
So with those inspirations and of course the support of several friends and fans, I wrote this story, and realized that the characters would have more to say, which led to the creation of the Souls trilogy: Souls Unknowing, Souls Abandoned, and Souls Crossing. Strangely enough I started rewriting SA before I decided to redo SU, so there is almost 25,000 words of better writing already done for the second book. Hopefully that means I will have an easier time of finishing it, and I'll be able to put these books out one a year, instead of having the two plus year gap like I have with the Project Death series.
It has been interesting so far to re-enter this world and try to start at the beginning and write the adventure in a way that shows just how much I've grown in the past decade. Perhaps later I will post up the original prologue from Souls Unknowing, and then share the re-written prologue, just to show you (and myself) how much my writing style has developed. I know that sometimes we writers might not really think about how much progress we've made, because we are always seemingly stuck in this cycle of planning, writing, and editing. It's cool to just take a moment to appreciate where we've been and what we've accomplished.
Now...back to increasing that word count. The goal for next week's update post: 22,568 words by July 14th.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
June Book Haul
Well, here we are at another book haul post for the month. I seem to buy about a dozen books each month, which means in a year I buy close to 150 books. That's impressive, and yet, so many of the books I buy end up sitting on the shelves waiting to be read. One would think that would make me slow down on purchases until I've read what I own, but there are just so many interesting books being published and I want to read so many of them. Plus, this way I know that if I fall on hard times and can't afford to buy books, I have a plethora of them still waiting to be read. Okay, so with the 21 books added to my collection in June, my total book purchases for the first half of 2015 stands at 93 books.
Let's get started with the June purchases then... we'll start with the hardcovers. I had three hardcover purchases, and only one of them was planned.
First we have An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. I had heard so many people talk about this book, and the summary sounded interesting to me, but for some reason I kept hesitating whenever I thought about picking it up. Then a friend of mine--who shares similar book tastes to me--finished it and I asked her her thoughts and she thought it was really good, and worth buying in hardcover, so here we are. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. That is a pretty cool cover too.
Next is A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes. This is a spin-off of her Falling Kingdoms series and apparently alternates between modern day and this awesome magical past, so there is connection with the FK books. I really have enjoyed the books by Morgan Rhodes that I have read so far, so this one should be a good read...but I think I'm going to re-read the three currently published Falling Kingdoms books before I jump into this one.
Finally, for hardcovers, I have The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel. Every once in a while there will be a show or movie based on the book that is based on a true story, and it sounds interesting to me. This is one of those times. I have watched the first two episodes of The Astronaut Wives Club and I'm enjoying the story. Then I saw that Barnes & Noble was having a bargain sale on some hardcovers that had light markings on them, so I got this hardcover for only $3.99, which is awesome.
Next up...the paperbacks.
First I have The Fire Seer and her Quradum and Healer's Touch, both by Amy Raby. I have absolutely loved her Hearts and Thrones series; they are so good. Healer's Touch seems to be one not published by the company that published the first three novels and the novella though, so sadly the book sizes don't match, but I guess sometimes that happens. I do like matching sets though. Anyway...and I have enjoyed her Coalition of Mages series so far, though not to the same extent as Hearts and Thrones, so I guess we'll see what happens to Taya and Mandir next.
I also picked up copies of City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire, and Clockwork Prince, all by Cassandra Clare. The only one of these I have yet to read is CoHF, but I had been borrowing from the library so it was time to finish up the collection (for now). But with three more trilogies and the collections of side stories still to come, it will be a while before I have all of the Shadowhunter books.
I was going to wait a while before getting more Dresden Files books, but I was talking with a co-worker and her excited fangirling over the books made me want to get back to reading them. Since I own the first three, I figured it was time to pick up books four and five. Summer Knight and Death Masks by Jim Butcher continue the story of Harry Dresden, the only professional wizard in the phone book in Chicago as he helps the police with crimes that don't seem to be ordinary. I love Dresden's voice and it makes for fairly easy reading. It will be fun to keep going with this series.
Speaking of continuing on with series, I have also picked up Raven Cursed and Death's Rival by Faith Hunter, so books four and five of the Jane Yellowrock series, which follows vampire hunter and skinwalker Jane Yellowrock as she handles jobs and creatures down in New Orleans. I enjoy Jane; she is a tea snob and she rides a motorcycle that she built herself. It is a dark urban fantasy series and I really need to catch up with the books before the spinoff is released, since that sounds really cool too.
Finally, my last two paperbacks are from writer buddies of mine, and I am so glad to be able to support their writing careers.
Remedy for Memory by Brista Drake is a really true-to-life coming-of-age high-school story. I already finished reading it and posted my blog review about it here. I followed her through her editing and preparation for publication, so it was awesome to see the final product.
Then there's The Levees Can't Hold by Vince Moore. He is an English professor from Tiffin University, and I met him during my NaNoWriMo ML duties while I was at Heidelberg University in Tiffin. He became the ML after I left, but I have followed his publishing progress, and this is the third (and I believe final) book for this interesting urban fantasy series. It follows Dr. Paul Layton, who also runs a martial arts dojo, as he and other members of the dojo have to save the city of New Orleans from supernatural forces, which change by book. One had vampires and one had ghosts. I haven't read this last one yet, but I think it deals with zombies. Regardless, I'm sure it will be action packed.
And now for the e-books.
Broken by Dean Murray
Bound by Dean Murray
The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
Jillian Spectre and the Dream Weaver by Nic Tatano
Justice Calling by Annie Bellet
Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones
The Dean Murray books were both free and tell two different sides to the same story, so we'll see if they're any good. If so I can buy the rest of the series. I have had The Orphan Queen on my to-read list and my most anticipated list, and it was on sale for $1.99 so it was about time to snatch it up. I really loved the first Jillian Spectre novel, so finding the second one was an auto-buy for me. Justice Calling was free and is about a witch who is also a geek, and I think has a comic book store. And I have had Illusive on my to-read list for a while because it is YA story that is touted as X-men meets Ocean's Eleven, so that just sounds cool...and it was only $2.99. The sequel is set to be released July 14th, so that also seems like perfect timing for me.
Okay...so tonight there may be a bonus post for Camp NaNoWriMo. We'll see. I'm hoping to do a lot of writing today.
Let's get started with the June purchases then... we'll start with the hardcovers. I had three hardcover purchases, and only one of them was planned.
First we have An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. I had heard so many people talk about this book, and the summary sounded interesting to me, but for some reason I kept hesitating whenever I thought about picking it up. Then a friend of mine--who shares similar book tastes to me--finished it and I asked her her thoughts and she thought it was really good, and worth buying in hardcover, so here we are. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. That is a pretty cool cover too.
Next is A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes. This is a spin-off of her Falling Kingdoms series and apparently alternates between modern day and this awesome magical past, so there is connection with the FK books. I really have enjoyed the books by Morgan Rhodes that I have read so far, so this one should be a good read...but I think I'm going to re-read the three currently published Falling Kingdoms books before I jump into this one.
Finally, for hardcovers, I have The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel. Every once in a while there will be a show or movie based on the book that is based on a true story, and it sounds interesting to me. This is one of those times. I have watched the first two episodes of The Astronaut Wives Club and I'm enjoying the story. Then I saw that Barnes & Noble was having a bargain sale on some hardcovers that had light markings on them, so I got this hardcover for only $3.99, which is awesome.
Next up...the paperbacks.
First I have The Fire Seer and her Quradum and Healer's Touch, both by Amy Raby. I have absolutely loved her Hearts and Thrones series; they are so good. Healer's Touch seems to be one not published by the company that published the first three novels and the novella though, so sadly the book sizes don't match, but I guess sometimes that happens. I do like matching sets though. Anyway...and I have enjoyed her Coalition of Mages series so far, though not to the same extent as Hearts and Thrones, so I guess we'll see what happens to Taya and Mandir next.
I also picked up copies of City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire, and Clockwork Prince, all by Cassandra Clare. The only one of these I have yet to read is CoHF, but I had been borrowing from the library so it was time to finish up the collection (for now). But with three more trilogies and the collections of side stories still to come, it will be a while before I have all of the Shadowhunter books.
I was going to wait a while before getting more Dresden Files books, but I was talking with a co-worker and her excited fangirling over the books made me want to get back to reading them. Since I own the first three, I figured it was time to pick up books four and five. Summer Knight and Death Masks by Jim Butcher continue the story of Harry Dresden, the only professional wizard in the phone book in Chicago as he helps the police with crimes that don't seem to be ordinary. I love Dresden's voice and it makes for fairly easy reading. It will be fun to keep going with this series.
Speaking of continuing on with series, I have also picked up Raven Cursed and Death's Rival by Faith Hunter, so books four and five of the Jane Yellowrock series, which follows vampire hunter and skinwalker Jane Yellowrock as she handles jobs and creatures down in New Orleans. I enjoy Jane; she is a tea snob and she rides a motorcycle that she built herself. It is a dark urban fantasy series and I really need to catch up with the books before the spinoff is released, since that sounds really cool too.
Finally, my last two paperbacks are from writer buddies of mine, and I am so glad to be able to support their writing careers.
Remedy for Memory by Brista Drake is a really true-to-life coming-of-age high-school story. I already finished reading it and posted my blog review about it here. I followed her through her editing and preparation for publication, so it was awesome to see the final product.
Then there's The Levees Can't Hold by Vince Moore. He is an English professor from Tiffin University, and I met him during my NaNoWriMo ML duties while I was at Heidelberg University in Tiffin. He became the ML after I left, but I have followed his publishing progress, and this is the third (and I believe final) book for this interesting urban fantasy series. It follows Dr. Paul Layton, who also runs a martial arts dojo, as he and other members of the dojo have to save the city of New Orleans from supernatural forces, which change by book. One had vampires and one had ghosts. I haven't read this last one yet, but I think it deals with zombies. Regardless, I'm sure it will be action packed.
And now for the e-books.
Broken by Dean Murray
Bound by Dean Murray
The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
Jillian Spectre and the Dream Weaver by Nic Tatano
Justice Calling by Annie Bellet
Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones
The Dean Murray books were both free and tell two different sides to the same story, so we'll see if they're any good. If so I can buy the rest of the series. I have had The Orphan Queen on my to-read list and my most anticipated list, and it was on sale for $1.99 so it was about time to snatch it up. I really loved the first Jillian Spectre novel, so finding the second one was an auto-buy for me. Justice Calling was free and is about a witch who is also a geek, and I think has a comic book store. And I have had Illusive on my to-read list for a while because it is YA story that is touted as X-men meets Ocean's Eleven, so that just sounds cool...and it was only $2.99. The sequel is set to be released July 14th, so that also seems like perfect timing for me.
Okay...so tonight there may be a bonus post for Camp NaNoWriMo. We'll see. I'm hoping to do a lot of writing today.
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