Camp NaNoWriMo July 2015: Distraction = Low Word Count

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.

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.

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.

Camp NaNo July 2015: Souls Unknowing Replotting

Wow guys and gals...just one more week until the start of Camp NaNoWriMo July session. I am really excited for it and I think I'm going to get off to a decent start. My work has already scheduled off days for July 2nd and 3rd, and obviously the 4th and 5th are the weekend, but there are rumors that we might get the 1st and 6th off as well, which would be amazing, and I would definitely try to write as many words as possible during that time.

In the week of June I have remaining though, I am spending most of my time reading books to recharge my creative energies, as well as to hopefully get my book review posts ready for July. We'll see how well that goes.

But you aren't here to listen to me ramble about reading or vague plans, at least today you aren't. No, today the topic is on my replotting efforts for Souls Unknowing. Now, I wish I could say that I've spent quite a lot of time following through on the topic and writing down all of my random ideas, but the truth is that sometimes that isn't really my style. I've learned over the years that if I write down all my plot ideas then somehow my brain likes to think "but you've written that already" and then it is really difficult for me to actually write the scenes or chapters.

So, what I do instead is to just think on what I need to do and have a mental list. Yes, I have considered some plot points to change or to enhance in this rewrite, mostly because some of the plot I remember wanting to write about and then somehow I just didn't write down the scenes. For example, main character Tru spends quite a bit of time with her history teacher, Mr. Malone, and I remember wanting to actually write more scenes and conversations between them, but then I got distracted by my main plot about the ghosts and everything else sort of faded into the background. I hope to fix that issue this time around.

I also need to work on expanding on some of the characters, like fellow mediators Megan and Allie, as well as Tru's friends Tammi and Tess. These characters have lived in my mind for the past decade and I know them quite well, but I think back when I started writing this book I didn't know that much about them, and what I did know I didn't know how to express properly.

There is one really awesome scene involving Tru, Ian, and Ava that I am definitely keeping. It was one of the best moments and twists in the whole story, mostly because it started out as being completely unplanned, but after it happened I realized how much more interesting it made the book. Those of you who read SU back in high school know what I'm talking about, but please do not talk about it. I'd like to avoid spoilers if possible.

For the most part I am following the loose outline of the original draft for this story, but I always give myself room for new scenes or relationships or conversations. I like to let the characters dictate the events of the story, and considering how much everyone has developed since those early days (including me and my writing ability), I know there will probably be changes along the way.

I hope that my early readers will enjoy this new adaptation of the story. I have been thinking about how to improve the story for so long now that it will be really nice to actually follow through.

Okay, so next week I will have my June Book Haul post up on Wednesday, but I might also have a first day of Camp recap bonus post. It all depends on how many words I get on the page. Let's get ready to write.

Camp NaNo July 2015: Souls Unknowing Prep - Rewrite the draft

Okay, so in September of this year I will have another round of Basics of Writing posts, and one of those will cover revision, but today's topic is a bit different from revision. Also, today's topic is completely relevant to my prep for Camp NaNoWriMo and my project, Souls Unknowing.

I know of a number of writers who rewrite their drafts three to ten times before they are satisfied with the story. Rewriting was never that vital to my writing process. It used to be that I would write a draft, set the whole manuscript aside for at least a couple weeks and at most a few months, and then read through and scribble all over in the margins. I would make little notes about adding scenes or more details or perhaps a longer conversation, but I typically did not scrap a scene and start over from scratch.

But lately it seems like a lot of my projects are becoming unique and veering away from my typical writing process. Souls Unknowing is no exception to this. I have said it before and I will say it again: when I wrote the first draft of SU I was in high school and I thought that third person present tense was a good idea.

Now, for some authors, 3rd person present tense works as a POV, but looking back at that old draft now, I cringe while trying to read it. I am not one of those people. I can do 1st person present tense, but not 3rd. Looking at that old draft, I also cringe at how simplistic it is in a lot of ways. Sure, I ended up with a bit over 50,000 words, but about 75-80% of the draft is dialogue. I know I need to add a lot more description into this story.

So...for the first time, a complete rewrite seems to be in order.

Thankfully, SU was written about three computers ago and was saved on floppy discs and such, which means I have no digital copy available to me so my old way of revision wouldn't work even if I wanted to pursue that option.

I do have a complete printed out copy of the original draft, so I have something I can refer to while writing, but honestly, unless it is absolutely necessary, I think I'm just going to go with the flow and write...see where the adventure takes me this time.

I know my characters and I know the major plot points I need to hit this time around. But other than that, I think the best path moving forward is to try and treat this like a first draft again. I have grown so much as a person and a writer, and I have a much better understanding of the writing process now. It would be a shame to miss out on some great writing possibilities just because I'm trying to stick completely to the ideal of that decade old draft.

So, I may still call this a rewrite, and I may still reference that draft from high school, but I think when I do my writing updates in July that I'm just going to talk about my current writing and the progress I'm making for the duration of Camp NaNoWriMo.

That being said, I guess the question to address is...how do you handle writing a full draft of a book? The answer sounds so simple but is so extraordinarily difficult...you just write. Write down one word followed by another followed by another until you reach the end. Then you go through that draft and read it, with a critical eye as if it was written by somebody else, and make commentary and notes for how to improve the draft. Then you follow those notes and revise the draft. You repeat this as many times as are necessary to make it feel like the best book it can be. And then maybe you do it one more time just to be sure.

Writing and publishing is a long and tiring process, but that feeling of accomplishment at the end is totally worth it.

Camp NaNo July 2015: Souls Unknowing Prep

There are only 20 more days until the next session of Camp NaNoWriMo, and that means that it is time to start prepping and planning so I can focus on the writing in July.

Obviously this first post will talk about some of the preparation I am doing so I'm ready to work on Souls Unknowing again. I haven't worked on my Souls trilogy in a couple years, so one of the most important aspects of prep is reading over my original draft which has good bones but is otherwise pretty awful. I'm glad to see how much my writing has improved since high school. When I finished SU then, the draft was 95 pages single spaced and came in around 50,000 or so words. It was an amazing accomplishment at that time, but now most of my novels tend to clock in around 80-90,000 words.

Reading through that first draft also comes complete with the need to review character details. When I was writing this book, I think most of my background information and such was saved on floppy discs...which obviously aren't compatible with my laptop. Some of the work may have been saved on a thumb drive, but I don't know which one, so I'm basically starting from scratch.

One of the more fun parts of prepping for Camp NaNo is getting myself into the mood for writing a ghost story. That can actually be divided into two segments. First: watching Ghost Whisperer. I loved the show when it was on during my high school years and the character development as well as the portrayal of ghosts really helps to inspire me. Of course, in the show the story follows Melinda Gordon, who only shares her gift with her mother and grandmother, but in my trilogy I have a small group of people who can see and speak to the dead, so don't think that I'm trying to copy something I loved years ago.

The second segment of fun prep is doing some actual ghost hunting myself. Back in March, a friend took me to a public ghost hunt at the Mansfield Reformatory, which is also where they shot the movie Shawshank Redemption. We had an awesome time and that sparked some ideas for when I finally came back around to the Souls trilogy, so much so that I decided that I wanted to do another hunt closer to this session of Camp.

Unfortunately, the ghost hunts sell out pretty quickly, so I couldn't get in anytime in June, and in July I'd rather be trying to write as much as I can for Camp. However, there is a ghost hunt scheduled for August 1st, which is also my birthday, so that's a bonus. I'll get to do some more ghost box sessions and see if I can get some good ghostly photos (mostly orbs showing up in the image). It'll really help as I continue my writing process.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that not all prep is completely focused on Souls Unknowing. I also need to re-organize my office and desk. Having a sense of cleanliness and order will be very beneficial to the writing process and will help my mind to not be so cluttered.

And a random bit of prep for Camp NaNo is that I informed my usual lunch buddies at work that during the month of July I will not be joining them to eat, because I will instead be sitting by myself and trying to get as many words on the page as I can. Thankfully, letting them know in advance means I don't have to worry about accidentally blowing them off come July. Letting other people know about your participation in Camp NaNoWriMo also gives you people to whom you are accountable. If people know that you are supposed to be writing, then they will regularly ask for status updates, which for me is super helpful because it keeps me on track with my word count.

Another prep point that has nothing to do with writing or planning is to try and read a few books so I can have my From the Stacks review posts ready for you. I may or may not be all that successful with this one, and if I fail then I will have the posts up after the writing process is over. These past couple months I have been trying to focus more on writing than on reading and reviewing. I do have my review posts planned through the end of August though, so I just need to read the books and write the reviews.

SU Prep also means that I am thinking long term for the writing and publication process. If all goes well then I will write this book in July and August, and then it can be shipped off to my lovely beta readers and critique partners in September. I'm hoping that you all will help keep me focused and motivated on this timeline, because I have put this book off for too many years already and it needs to be done.

If all goes well then I will have Souls Unknowing out to the world this year, with Souls Abandoned to follow next year, and with any luck I can have Souls Crossing out in 2017. We'll see. First I have to get back to all of my prepping and organizing and rewrite the story so it can be so much better than my original concepts.

Are any of you participating in Camp NaNoWriMo in July? If so, how are you prepping for the month? Are you a serious plotter, or do you go with the more adrenaline inducing pantser method? And what writing project(s) are you working on for the month?

Feedback Needed: Blogging and Vlogging

Hey everyone...this is actually going to be a super short post, but I had a question and I'm hoping for some feedback on this.

I try to get on Blogger fairly regularly and check my stats, and I'm always looking for ways to increase viewership and of course, reader participation. That's why I linked this blog to my Google+ and why I post about it on my Twitter and Facebook.

Anyway, for most posts I typically receive between 12 and 30 views, which isn't bad...but I only get comments on maybe one out of every 20 posts. I would like to be able to interact with my readers and fans more.

Lately I have been thinking about the pros and cons of vlogging (as in video blogging in case for some reason you didn't know that). I'm wondering if being able to connect a face and voice with the person behind the computer (aka me) would be more beneficial.

Of course, that has me wondering what to do if you guys would prefer a vlog. Do I then stop blogging and just move all my content over to YouTube...or do I blog and vlog? If I do both then they would cover the same content (likely almost word for word), but would give the reader/viewer the option of whether they want to watch/listen or just read.

So that's my question: would you prefer my writing and From the Stacks posts in written format or video format?

***

Oh, and I'll have my regular From the Stacks review post up tomorrow, and then two special music related writing posts up this weekend (one on Saturday and one on Sunday). Yay for lots of new content.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015: The Finish Line, and What's Next

I'm not going to lie...this has probably been my worst NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNoWriMo session to date. I had such a difficult time focusing and hitting my daily goals. So many stressful parts of life seemed to converge and honestly made it to where I was either working so I could have money or sleeping because I needed to recharge. I was just drained. So...with two days left in this month's Camp session, I have about 11,000 words. I will consider myself lucky if I can hit 20,000 by the end of the day tomorrow.

But...I am not giving up on the project just yet. I have pushed my deadlines time and time again, and I'd really like to stop that cycle now. Frankly, I gave myself a couple extra weeks in my mental deadlines anyway, just in case this happened. Still, I will try and keep updates coming--either on Facebook or Twitter. My goal is to have 25,000 words added to my current WIP by May 13th. The hope is that those words will wrap up everything that has been left loose these past months, and then my trusty critique partners will get e-mails with the WIP around May 15th.

Basically I am working to get Project Death: Revelation and Project Death: Redemption out in print and to the readers. That is my continuing project that I will be focusing on through May and June. I have publication dates in mind for both books, but I'm not exactly going to announce those just yet, in case more unexpected delays pop up. I'm really trying not to continually disappoint my readers.

I really want to put out the best book possible and Thanos has given me all sorts of trouble with his book. He has been uncooperative, and then throw in work and general stress, as well as various issues at home, and writing hasn't been as productive as I would have liked. But I am determined to get everything polished up and out to readers soon. I just need to keep to the deadlines I have set myself. If I can then I should have more exciting writing updates in the next few months.

Speaking of writing, in July, Camp NaNoWriMo returns, and I am hoping to focus on the re-write process for Souls Unknowing. Like the Project Death series, this first book of the Souls trilogy was written while I was in high school. Needless to say, the characters and the story have stuck with me. The original version needed so much editing and work that it seemed ridiculous to even try to salvage it. Most of the plot was all right, and I liked the characters, but my writing has improved drastically in the past decade. So, hopefully I'll be able to get about 2/3 of the book completely rewritten.

I don't want to try to think much farther out in the year than that, but I'm basically thinking that my NaNoWriMo project in November will be to finish up the Project Death series by writing Project Death: Restoration.

Oh, and December 5th I will once again be participating in the local historical society's book signing event. The people behind it scolded me last year for not being there to sell books. I didn't have Revelation ready so I didn't RSVP, but they still set up a spot for me. I'd like to have both Revelation and Redemption there this year.

On the blogging front, I did spend some time figuring out what blogs/reviews I still owe you guys from the past couple months, and I will slowly be working on catching up with all of that, but I also went through and planned out a lot of my writing and geeky posts for the next few months, which should make my life a bit easier. Thinking of a blog topic can sometimes be frustratingly difficult.

Basically in May I'll be talking about some Basics of Writing. In June I'll be going through Souls Unknowing prep for July Camp, and that will also reference some writing thoughts and techniques. Then July will be Camp NaNoWriMo updates similar to the ones I had in April. Then in August it's a slight detour from the writing posts as I get really geeky and talk about getting ready for Comic-Con; Of course I will be at Chicago Comic Con August 20-23 and will have all sorts of updates on FB and Twitter, but there will be blog posts as well.

I guess that's all the future talk I can manage for right now. It's going to be a hectic and exciting few months, but I'm really looking forward to it all.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015: About Writing Communities

There are so many topics to discuss when it comes to the writing and publishing processes, and I'm sure I've repeated most of them, because they are important and my process has evolved and grown as I have. One thing that has never changed for me is the importance of having a community of other writers and artsy type people around.

When I first started seriously focusing on writing back in high school, I had a friend introduce me to this site called fictionpress. I lot of people have used it, and it can be a brilliant resource. Well, I don't know how much anymore, but it used to be amazing. I would post up chapters of novels and would get all sorts of great constructive reviews. That support--even the really short reviews that just said "OMG...need the next chap"--was so helpful to keep me writing. It was really great motivation. Then fictionpress added in a new feature, forums, and all of a sudden it seemed like most people wanted to do short little RP-type stories instead of reading and reviewing actual stories. So I pulled all my stories down and left the site.

I'm still basically trying to find a replacement I really like. Well, a digital replacement anyway. My friend-group has typically always included a few other writers and they are good for in-person writing discussions. Digitally, there are sites like Critique Circle and Wattpad, which both have their advantages and disadvantages.

I like that on Critique Circle you have to pay credits to post up chapters, and you earn credits by reviewing the chapters of others. That's nice. But after you've left the newbie zone, it can be a lot harder to get those reviews. And sometimes the line to get a chapter in the review area can be a couple months long. With my writing and publication schedule I don't have that kind of time. Yes, there is an option to buy a subscription for CC and open up my own little zone just for my stuff, but will that be a worthwhile expense? I don't know.

Wattpad is all free, and you can post a novel a chapter at a time, but I wonder how effective it really will be in the long run. I've heard of a lot of people using it and liking it, but I don't have much experience with it myself.

Then, of course, right now I have my Camp NaNoWriMo cabin. Every session I manage to find a few people who are active in the cabin chat threads and since they are also in the middle of NaNo madness we can all support and encourage each other. Which is really great, but then the month ends and mostly we lose contact with each other. I don't know...maybe it would be worth it to find a place where we can gather online year-round and help each other out with more than just random help. Maybe we can form a beta-reading and editing group. That could be cool.

My local NaNoWriMo group is amazing...when we are all able to get together. A few years ago it felt like we would meet every week, or maybe every-other-week, year-round, and it was awesome. While we didn't always write, we always motivated each other to do more writing upon getting home. We went bowling, geo-caching, we flew kites...basically it was inspirational adventures where we could just hang out and also talk about writing, editing, publishing, the whole shebang. Now I feel like I'm lucky to see some of the group every few months. I miss the camaraderie.

Obviously, you can see my point with all of this rambling. Communities are important, and they help on so many different levels. So many people say that writing is a solitary job, and in some ways it is, because you have to lock yourself up somewhere and just write, but it is also incredibly social. Talking to other creative types helps to break free from any writer blockages and makes the whole experience feel a bit richer.

If you can find a group of fellow writers, poets, artists, creative types then I highly recommend it...whether that is a digital group or a local group, it is super helpful.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015: Mid-Month Music Inspiration

With some stories I have very specific playlists, ones that will jump around in different genres and/or different artists, depending on what is needed for the scene or chapter. I believe I have written some posts on the topic of writing music before--Project Death circa 2012, and Souls Unknowing playlist--, but today I want to talk specifically about the music of my Project Death series, and even more so on the music that helped me when finishing Project Death: Revelation.

All right, well the post linked above with the old playlist for Project Death still mostly works, and since my iTunes has upgraded a few times and lost my saved playlists, I'm glad to have this, but obviously new inspirational writing songs (for me) have been released the past few years. When I was in the final stages of editing Project Death: Resurrection I listened to the Kamelot album Silverthorn on repeat, and the beautiful, haunting, and dark music really helped me channel what I needed to be focusing on at that time, as well as helping me think on what could happen in the future.

While finishing up the second book, Project Death: Revelation, I still listened to that Kamelot album a lot, but I found myself majorly inspired by the new Epica album, The Quantum Enigma.

Have you ever been listening to a song from an album and a certain line or verse will pop out at you, standing out from all the rest as completely relevant to what you are doing? It happens to me all the time, and especially while finishing up Thanos's story. So...I've decided to share some of those special lyrics with you all.

Also, if I can without revealing anything too spoiler-y, I will try to explain why those particular lyrics connected to the story in such a powerful way.

As time goes by I hide the truth

Cannot stand myself with a broken shell

Give me relief

Let me believe between sweet fiction and reality

As time goes by I try to choose

Don't know where to roam in this private hell

Give me relief

Let me believe between sweet fiction and reality

- "The Second Stone" by Epica

When it came to getting through the second book, I had to deal with the issue that the book both took place 100 years earlier, as Thanos transitioned into being Death, and in the present day following the events of the first book. Delving into Thanos's mind and memories showed how for so long he had needed to hide the truth from so many people and how those secrets ate at him. I could tell that all he wanted was to be able to have everything out in the open, so these particular lines spoke to that part of his past so well.

See through the veil

Our perspective on life

Defines everything we reach

Most of us will aim for

All the certainties

Beyond the veil

Our perspective on death

Can manifest in many ways

Some of us stay fearful

Til the end of days

As we believe in what we see

We all assume that this is real

- "Sense Without Sanity - The Impervious Code" by Epica

Obviously, when you are becoming Death, you sometimes muse on the topics of both life and death, and many of the characters in the series spend some serious thought on the topic. Do you play it safe in life? Do you risk everything? Are you scared of dying? Or is it just another adventure? All those thoughts make this song really stand out to me.

Together we'll be strong

To defy all that can't bring us down

United standing strong

You will not fight alone

Don't drown in a sea full of sorrow and pain

United standing strong, here is where you belong

Your angels will whisper

Nothing is what it seems to be

Search with your heart and you'll find the key

You'll see

- "Omen - The Ghoulish Malady" by Epica

Not only do these lyrics speak to the dynamic of Thanos and Tamesis, but also to Thanos and how he still occasionally struggles with the problems associated with being Death. He wants to have Tam at his side, but who he is and what he does makes it all dangerous. I know that I've had people wonder if and how the two will get past the issues keeping them apart, and a lot of that has to do with Thanos really searching for the answers.

A thousand signs declined

That traveled through light

Translate this mystery

That covered my eyes

Accept approaching fear

And courage appears

Death is a certainty

It's growing near

Letting go is fateful

- "Canvas of Life" by Epica

Guys, this is one of my favorite songs on the entire album. I can't really speak to why this is important to the story, but it is highly relevant to the last few chapters. Obviously talking about it further would reveal major spoilers, so I won't ruin it for anyone.

I still listen to The Quantum Enigma while writing the third book in the Project Death series, but I've been doing a lot of listening to the new Nightwish album as well--Endless Forms Most Beautiful. And at the beginning of May, Kamelot will have a new album out, called Haven. I'm guessing Haven will probably have some songs relevant for me finishing book three and working on book four. We'll see. 

Anyway, I guess that's enough on the updates for this week. For those participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, we are at the halfway point of the month, so hopefully you aren't too far behind. If you are (like me) then we can catch up together. If you're ahead...well, go you! That's exciting. Let's all get cracking in the second half of the month. We can achieve our writing goals. I know we can.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015: One Week Down

Wow...the first week of April has flown by. I guess I can blame it on the month starting with a 3-day weekend due to Easter. That also made that first weekend a bit difficult for writing, but I managed to get some words on the page, even if it wasn't quite what I needed to be up to par for my goal of 50K.

I will say that the difficult part of this is that I am working on the third book of the Project Death series, while simultaneously editing and going over continuity in the second book. It is a lot to digest at once, and there are certain scenes in the second one that I've had to play with and add to so that the story is more developed and makes the most sense. In fact some of those scenes have been necessary to finish before I could really and truly focus on my work for the third book.

Okay, so I don't want to make this a super long post, especially since I really would rather get back to writing. Mostly I just wanted to make it clear that I am not dead, I haven't forgotten about this blog, and I'm still getting words down, on the page and on the screen.

Based on the goal of 50,000 words in the month of April, I need 1,667 words per day to stay on track. Going by that math, after day 7, my overall count should be 11,669. Right now, I am clocking in at just under 6,000 words...so a tiny bit behind.

I'm hoping to catch up over the next couple days...or maybe even over the weekend. It's going to be tough, but I think if I squeeze in all the writing time I can spare that everything will work out.

If you want more frequent updates during the writing chaos of Camp NaNoWriMo, you can follow me on Twitter @DanielleThamasa or on Facebook via my author page.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015: Off to a Pretty Good Start

I was actually originally going to title this as "Off to a Great Start" but that would be just a bit of an over-exaggeration. While I am doing decently, getting close to hitting the daily word count, I'm not quite there. Still though, I am super glad that I am actually writing every single day, and for longer than just a couple random minutes.

Right now I seem to be getting in about an hour or so of writing every day before work, and even though it is writing by hand, I am managing close to 1000 words, which is really good for pen and paper scribbling. If I was able to take my laptop with me then I would definitely hit my 1667 word goal for each day.

But that's why they invented the weekend, right? To have more time to catch up on all the words that eluded you through the week?

Well, that's the way I look at the weekends, at least during NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo sessions. This weekend is no exception. In the first two days of Camp I wrote 2700 words, which is only about 600 words behind. But then, due to traveling on day three, I didn't actually write.

So here we are on day four, and I need to write 4000 words today to be completely caught up. That's not an impossible task. A few times I have managed to write 10000-13000 in a day, when properly motivated (typically by use of the Write or Die app).

I'm with my best friend and another self-published author, Signy Cullen, this weekend, and we definitely plan on having a writing session at the local Panera. Plus whatever we manage to do just at her house.

I'll have more of an update on my Camp writing progress for my regularly scheduled writing blog post on Wednesday, but for now I can say that I have almost finished the first chapter of Project Death: Redemption, the third book in my series, so that feels pretty darn amazing. I'm starting to settle into Jules's mind and voice, and I think it's going to be a really good book.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015 Final Prep Countdown

Less than a week until the start of Camp NaNoWriMo. I am super excited everyone. Time keeps on ticking by and I'm trying to keep myself occupied by reading books so I don't try to start writing early. Though Camp is a bit more flexible and it actually allowed to continue working on an earlier project, I'm really trying to follow basic NaNo rules this time, which means no work on Project Death: Redemption until April 1st.

I guess speaking of time, it is important to discuss continuity, especially when dealing with a series with a rotating cast of characters.

It was interesting enough for me to work on the second book in my series, because it is both prequel and sequel at the same time. The story continues right where it left off from book one, just from a different POV. But Thanos is also recounting the story of how he became Death. That was made much easier by having flashbacks, rather than just having him do extremely lengthy monologues.

What gets really fun is that when I reached the epilogue for book two, the timeline jumped forward by about two months. Thanos does a quick recap of what has happened with him and Tamesis, but there are so many other characters who have done other stuff he doesn't know about.

Remember in my prep post a few weeks ago when I talked about thinking on the beginning of Redemption and how I had tried a few different options but wasn't really liking any of them? Well, I think I figured it out. At work I mused on the idea and a possible first line came to me, which then led to me thinking about exactly how the first chapter would pan out.

The problem with my first chapter idea is that most of it takes place in Julianne's head. There is no real character interaction...unless I slightly bumped up my timeline to bring in some people. And when I thought of that, I could picture a conversation between Damir and Sitara, which led me to a continuity issue with certain events in the second book.

I guess that means that the beginning of this third book starts in the middle of the second book. In edits, I'm sure that will be a bit more interesting. I'll have to make sure that events happen in the right order and that it all sounds plausible in the timeline I have to work with.

Certainly it is doable, but boy does it make thinking about the story line a bit more convoluted.

This is what I'm thinking about now, but really, I just want to focus on getting as much of the first draft written in April as I can. Fine tuning it all can wait until afterwards. That's when I check to make sure that the character growth is gradual and as organic as possible, and that my mythology and timeline are all consistent with what has been presented before.

Project Death: Redemption is shaping out to be a fun story, and I can't wait to introduce you all to Jules and to reintroduce you to Damir.

Camp NaNo April 2015 Mythology of a Story

A lot goes into the mythology of a book, and that is especially true when working on a series. The more I write, the more I learn, and frankly, the world continues to expand the further I get into it.

So, here we are at another Camp NaNoWriMo prep post, and I know that there are a few different camps when it comes to this part of preparation...usually tied to the general writing camps as proposed by NaNoWriMo.

First are the planners, and I imagine they would have about 85% of the world-building and mythology figured out before they started writing. Planners are the people who have to know what's going to happen and know how deep the water is and how quick the current is before they jump in. I've tried to go the planner route before, and honestly, as soon as I write up such a large compendium on the characters, the plots, the settings, the mythology, all the desire to actually write the story is gone, because it feels like I already wrote the dang thing.

Then there are the pantsers. They are the people who just sit down and write, and figure things out as they go along. Now, sometimes pantsers don't fly by the seat of their pants, and have a vague 10% idea of what might happen. Again, I can't go wholly along with the pantser mentality because when I sit down to write, you can bet that I've been thinking and dreaming about the characters, the world, and the story for a while and now feel that it is time to actually put the words on the page.

So a couple years ago there was this proposal of a third camp of writing, and honestly it fits me quite well...the percolators. Much like the name implies, those belonging to this camp will consider the story and its aspects and muse/think on/percolate about the options before writing. I find that percolating has elements of planning and pantsing. It is a nice middle ground, and I do some of my best percolating while I'm at work...because there isn't much else to do with the mind while the body repeats the monotonous tasks of an assembly line.

For the most part I have basic character details scribbled down...height, hair, eyes, name meanings, etc. in case I need a quick reference at some point or another, and then I may have vague details for what might happen within a chapter. For instance, while writing on Project Death: Revelation, the second book in my Project Death series, I regularly would have a chapter number with bullet points saying stuff like "-Thanos Reaps person here" and then a couple other points to round out a chapter. That way I have a general idea what I need to do, but it isn't planned to the point that I feel like I've already written it.

As I've progressed through the series, I've realized that perhaps I should have written down more about the overall mythology of the beings within. Book two really gets into the creation of Death and highlights a bit about the purposes of the Resurrectors. Plus, Fate becomes a relatively important character in person instead of just in name. And in the third book there will be even more details about Fate, and possibly about how the Resurrectors were created in the first place.

Though I never really wrote it down or anything, I had been thinking about how the whole system worked for quite some time. I actually have drawn from several different areas of mythology and from some areas of spirituality to create this world. When Resurrectors heal, they place their hands on two of the chakras of the body. Fate obviously hints towards a possible link to mythos found in many systems of mythology, and I would say specifically which one, but you'll learn that sometime in the Project Death series...probably soon. I do have a novella planned that is focused on Fate.

What's really exciting is that though I've utilized Fate, Death, and the Angel of Death in my own way, and then created the Resurrectors, I'm not quite done introducing "mythical beings" just yet. Just as Tam helped to create the Reapers and bring them into the world, another new classification will be introduced in Project Death: Redemption.

My Project Death universe keeps expanding and it adds so much more realism and depth to the world overall. I can't wait to see what happens next, and I hope you all enjoy the world as much as I do.

Next week will be the last Camp NaNoWriMo prep post...but I still haven't quite decided on a topic yet. I'll figure something out by then...I hope.

Camp NaNo April 2015 Character Development

All right...here we go with another Camp NaNoWriMo prep post. There are only a few more weeks until the insanity is upon us once more. As usual I am attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days, though with Camp, it is easy to change the word count goal lower or higher, depending on the project you are working on.

I already mentioned that I'll be continuing work on my Project Death series. I can certainly admit that progress has been a little bit slower than I have wanted the past year, but I am trying to make up for that by sitting down and writing, even if it's only a paragraph or two a day. This series will be written and published, but I have to balance that desire to free the story into the world with the need to write the story properly. Rushing will only make the book a disappointment, to both myself and to the readers.

Anyway, that's not what I really want to discuss today. In this post, I want to talk a bit about what sort of character development I am working on in regards to Project Death: Redemption, the third book in the series.

In particular I want to discuss the big new character being introduced, a minor character from the first book who will playing a much larger role, and a fairly important character from both previous books who we learn a lot more about this time around. Each of their developments has been a bit different.

First we have the brand new character, who also happens to be the narrator for this third book. If you've paid attention to my talk about this series, you know that a different character takes the lead in each book. The first book was told by Tamesis, and the second by Thanos. This time around we are introduced to Julianne Mason, who commonly goes by the nickname Jules.

I think it will be quite refreshing to return to a female POV. Thanos was incredibly difficult, which somewhat explained pushing back his release date a few times. But the difficult part comes from Jules actually being a bit more removed from the whole situation with Resurrectors and Death. See, Jules is a human who has died, without being saved by a Resurrector or collected by a Reaper or the Angel of Death. This leaves her soul/spirit wandering the Earth. Perhaps luckily, Julianne does know of the existence of the Resurrectors, due to the stories she was told as a child. Unfortunately she quickly learns that she maybe should have paid more attention to those stories, because she doesn't remember much.

This means I kinda get to look at this world with new eyes. On the downside, I've been living in this world almost constantly for the past three years or so and that makes it a bit difficult to back away and give it that freshness. I'm hoping when I start writing that it will sort of flow.

Character-wise, Jules has changed quite a bit from when I first imagined her about eight years ago. Originally she was going to be a keep to yourself bookish type, but I realized that characterization would actually make her wandering period not as difficult because she would be used to being alone. Also, that would once again give me a character who is separated from her peers in some way. The challenge now becomes that Jules has evolved into sort of a popular self-centered girl. So as the story unfolds, she is going to have to redeem herself, and I think she will.

After all, dying and trying to survive when seemingly nobody can see or hear you might just give her some perspective.

Okay, next is the minor character who will be making a reappearance. I knew when I was starting to halfway plot this book in my mind that I wanted to have a Resurrector Jules could connect with. Originally it was going to be another new character, but as I re-read Project Death: Resurrection I realized that there was a character in there who I wanted to see redeem himself, and that was Damir. I wanted to see if he could become better, and develop. More than that, I wanted to see what else I could learn from him, because he only had a few scenes in the first book.

Who knows...maybe while writing, I'll start to have a book crush on Damir, much like I already do on Thanos.

Finally, the important character who we get to learn more about is Addie. When she jumped onto the page in the first book, I knew she had secrets and that she was totally manipulating Tamesis, but she refused to tell me why. Sometimes characters withhold information for so long that I wonder if the truth will ever come out. The second book revealed more about her role in the whole war between Resurrectors and Death, but I wondered if I would learn more about her personally. It turns out that the answer is yes, and what comes out in this third book should actually humanize her a bit.

Addie is seriously one of my favorite characters and getting to learn about her over the course of a few books is actually really cool for me. It shows what a complicated character she is, and actually makes it more of an interesting story.

So..while this wasn't as in-depth on character development as I originally thought, I think it gives you just an idea of the character chaos swarming around in my mind. Hopefully I'll have a lot more teasers and snippets ready after April.

See you next week, when I will discuss my Camp NaNoWriMo preparation in regards to the mythology of the Project Death universe.

Camp NaNo April 2015 Beginning Prep

It's no secret that I love NaNoWriMo. I have participated in every event since 2006.

Now, for those who do not know, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. It takes place every November and participants attempt to write 50,000 wprds in only 30 days. The success of NaNo led to expansions, first with ScriptFrenzy (now defunct) and Camp NaNoWriMo.

Camp NaNo has a few basic differences from NaNo. First, the word count goal is adjustable, which is nice for people who either can't hit the 50K goal or for those who need the challenge of a higher goal. Second, instead of having forums divided by geographical locations,Camp has cabins whoch house up to 12 campers.

I have enjoyed Camp just as much as NaNo and so I look forward to April and July almost as much as November.

This year for the April session I am hoping to write most of the third book in my Project Death series.

So that brings me to the main point of this blog post...the beginning. Books one and two both started in similar manners and it works. The first book is told by Tamesis, a Resurrector who becomes the Angel of Death, and the second book is told by Thanos, also known as Death.

The third book is told by Julianne, who is not like my other two narrators. She is a human and she is being caught in the middle of the growing war between the Resurrectors and Death's forces. For this reason the book needs to have a different beginning.

I have tried to start the book a few different times, but it is not quite working. The trick is going to be in introducing the characters and the world in a way that doesn't feel stale to those who have read the first two books but can also bring new readers up to speed.

So that is what I am focusing on in this next week as I prepare for the start of Camp NaNoWriMo in April 2015.

Camp NaNoWriMo...and Sticking to Deadlines

Anyone who has spent time around me or followed my blog or Twitter or any other social media knows that I am a huge fan and advocate of NaNoWriMo. The "writing season" is my favorite part of the year. It used to be that I only had that level of excitement leading up to NaNo and then during the month (so October and November). So, my excitement level went through the roof four years ago when the wonderful folks behind NaNoWriMo started Camp NaNoWriMo to bring that insanity and energy and thrill to two more months of the year.

The first session of Camp NaNoWriMo will start on April 1st, and much like NaNo will take place over 30 days. Unlike the November version, Camp offers so many more options. People can write scripts/screenplays, a collection of short stories, a picture book, whatever. You can set the word count goal to whatever you'd like, and that is awesome. I have used a couple of past Camp sessions to work on editing and re-writes for novels, which have basically been successful. Even though there is versatility on the word count settings, I prefer to stick with the standard 50,000 words in 30 days. I know that is doable, even with a full-time job and free time to hang out with friends and such.

This year I am going with two different plans for Camp. For the April session it is imperative that I finish everything for Project Death: Revelation. It is the book I have on deadline for myself and I have people waiting for its release. I would absolutely love to have it released in June, but at the latest it will be out in July,  a year after the first book.

Then, for the July session of Camp, I am going for a re-write of the book I wrote for my second ever NaNoWriMo, all the way back in 2007. I enjoyed the basic story and the narrator is a very loud and persistent young woman. I've decided to stop trying to push her into a corner. So, I will be focusing my attention on rewriting and polishing Bounty: A Hunter's Tale, which is about a supernatural bounty hunter/assassin and how she handles a betrayal by her bosses. It is a story that has action, violence, and of course, romance. Hopefully I will have everything set up in this book to continue the series, because I have the plans for seven books.

Obviously I have some writing and publishing deadlines for myself, and it is incredibly helpful to have these writing challenges like Camp and NaNo. They help to drive my sometimes competitive spirit and keep me focused better than the non-NaNo months.

I look forward to seeing what the Camp sessions will bring, and how much progress I can make on these novels. You can be certain that I will be giving updates on my writing progress through April and July.

It's Not Too Early to Plan for NaNoWriMo

I know, it seems crazy to be planning for NaNoWriMo when it's only the end of February, but for those who don't realize it, the insanity of NaNo does not just take place in November. No, this will be the fourth year of Camp NaNoWriMo, which adds two more month long writing sessions to the year. This year, for the first time since its inception, Camp NaNo will be utilizing the same months as the previous year. So, yeah, that means April and July.

I get the reasoning behind April. Really, I do. It is a way for them to sort of honor the now defunct ScriptFrenzy. But, when I think of April I do not think of camping. The first year Camp NaNo did July and August--and I do not recommend back-to-back months. Then they did June and August, which honestly was my personal favorite setup. Now it seems like they will be sticking with April and July. Grr.

Oh well. I've already planned out what projects I'll be working on for these wonderful NaNo sessions, so now it's just a matter of any planning, plotting, or other shenanigans I want to finish up before it is time to buckle down and write.

For Camp NaNoWriMo session #1 in April, I will be finishing up my work on Project Death: Revelation because I need to have it all pretty and edited for its summer release. So, for those following these writing posts and such, you can expect me to do a lot more chatting about the Project Death series in my updates during the month of April.

Camp NaNoWriMo session #2 in July will be used to do a complete overhaul on a story that has been occupying my mind quite a bit lately. Bounty: A Hunter's Tale is the first in a seven book series that I'd like to really get a jump on. Bounty follows a supernatural hunter who is incredibly skilled at her job, because she is hiding a secret from practically everyone she knows; she is supernatural herself. My plan is to have the first two or three books finished before I start publishing, so that way I don't have to worry about such chaotic deadlines.

Then, in November for NaNoWriMo, I will most likely be working on Project Death: Redemption, the third book in the series. I'd like for the NaNo session to at least get me through about half of the book, or possibly a full really rough draft. The third book follows Julianne, who we discover has died but her soul was never claimed by the Reapers. Basically this book will give us yet another view of the war between the Resurrectors and Death, highlighting one of the consequences possible within the system. Redemption will also take readers even deeper into the role Fate plays in the series. I think it will be a lot of fun, and Julianne will likely be a lot easier to write than Thanos. I love him but it is difficult to stay in his mind for long.

Cover Wars- Project Death: Revelation

Okay so I have spent a lot of time with planning this series, not just the titles, characters, plots, and deadlines, but also with figuring out the covers. It is not an easy process, especially when you are self-publishing and doing everything on your own.

But with some books you just have an idea for what you would like for a cover image. Personally, I try to stay away from having people on the cover, because unless that person is absolutely perfect then someone will complain that they did not picture a character looking that way. I know I have felt that way at times with books I've read.

For the Project Death series I could not stop thinking of cool looking cemetery statues or headstones. If it is the right statue then it has a certain level of...well I don't want to say creepiness but maybe foreboding. And since the series is about Death and his Angel fighting to maintain the balance of life and death, cemetery statues also set the tone for the book.

A couple weeks ago I went to visit my friend Signy Cullen, and while I was in her neck of the woods we went to a couple of cemeteries. I really needed to find the perfect image for Revelation. What is now really amusing is that I may have found two rather good options.

Here's the deal guys. I know this book isn't scheduled for release until 2014, but having the cover finished actually helps to motivate me. I set the image as the background to my phone and my laptop so I see it all the time. I'd like to have the cover ready for you guys too.

I think I am going to make two versions of the cover and then I'll put it to a vote to see which one you guys like better. How does that sound? Then, once the winning cover has been selected, I can release the cover officially as well as the book summary. This would also mean having the book put up on Goodreads as well.

Thanks for all of the support guys, and I will have those covers up soon.

A Different Camp Experience

In all of my NaNo experiences and even in my normal writing, I have a system for my writing. I have always written in a linear fashion, from start to finish. That is rapidly changing when it comes to Project Death: Revelation.

As I said before about Thanos' story, it is both prequel and sequel thanks to Thanos telling Tamesis about how he came to be Death. It originally led to me being blocked and unable to keep writing. Then I realized that I would have to write the past story line and then head back to work on the present story line.

Unfortunately, the story did not like that option. For the first time in my writing career I am writing scenes/chapters as they come to my mind. It is thrilling and terrifying at the same time. What if I can't piece all these snippets together? Will working this way actually make things easier or more complicated when I get to editing?

I guess the only way to find out is to keep writing and work through issues as they come. It is one of the fun things about being a reader and a writer. I like not knowing what will happen next in a story.

My characters don't always tell me everything right away so all of this is like wandering through a maze figuring out what to do next with each twist and turn. I love it, and I can't wait to share my next novel with all of you.