From the Stacks: Remedy for Memory by Brista Drake

For today's From the Stacks post, I am pleased to review the debut novel of a local writing buddy of mine. Please note that friendship with the author does not have an effect on my review. Today I am talking about Remedy for Memory by Brista Drake.

“After some time, I could talk to people, but I couldn't say your name. I couldn't put your name next to how I was feeling. There was something broken, and I just . . . didn't think anyone could believe me.  

So I wrote it down instead. I wrote this all for me . . . For you.” 

If Trisha could summarize in one word her entire past relationship with Aaron, "The Baron," it'd be a long, sarcastic "thanks." For most of his life, Aaron Madison glorified being the butt of every joke, but after meeting Trisha four years ago, everything had changed. 

If there was a time to speak, it was now.

Overall rating: 4 stars

I have been following Brista's progress with writing and editing this book since I met her last year during a write-in for NaNoWriMo. Since then I have watched all of her YouTube videos and given as much helpful commentary as I could. So I am immensely proud to see another one of my region's writers reach publication status.

That being said, this book honestly surprised me with how wonderfully realistic it was. Yes, sometimes narrator Trisha jumps around and there will be plot points that are actually left unanswered, but isn't that how life works sometimes? We experience events and then forget them or brush them aside for something we think is more important, regardless of whether or not it actually is. This book did that, thanks to a journal-esque feel to the writing.

While reading it, I could also tell that it was set in the general area where both Brista Drake and I happen to live. This setting is enriched by including details such as a day trip up to Cedar Point--an amusement park--, a performance at The Historic Palace Theater, and of course, the Ohio State Fair. Look, I was completely a band geek through school, and yes, I did participate in the All-Ohio State Fair Band for three years. That, plus all the other details, and the descriptions of the interactions of these high school characters, made reading this book an interesting trip down memory lane for me.

I did note a number of typos in my paperback, but hey, I've found those in my own book, so I typically don't mark down my ratings for that, unless I have no clue what was actually meant to be said. As the typos were mostly use of the wrong homonym (your/you're, passed/past, cord/chord), I can still grasp the overall meaning.

So...I guess the reason why I took this book from a 5-star to a 4-star is because I can see the potential to achieve more greatness, and the stars are my way to show that this was a great first novel, but we can all learn from our first attempts and get better. Also, I do feel like maybe there is more to tell with this story. Most of the plot that we see occurs during Trisha's sophomore year of high school, but there are brief scenes from junior year, and a tiny bit from after she has graduated.

Would the story have been enriched further if more scenes had been added? I can't say. But, once again, that's what you get with the way some people record their lives. Stuff will be missing. That is obviously the case with how Trisha thinks about her high school relationships, particularly with Aaron.

That is the other reason the book scores 4 stars instead of 5. I think we have all had relationships that have made little sense to us, but we go through the motions and such anyway. As an outsider (the reader), I didn't really connect with Trisha and Aaron's romantic relationship on an emotional level, though part of me did remember acquaintances who were in similar relationships back in high school. So I understand the decisions and the sometimes wildly swinging spastic feelings that ruled both Trisha and Aaron's actions, but I still couldn't see them as a couple.

Okay, this is getting long, and may be a little ramble-y but what I'm saying is that this was a really good first book, and a true-to-life glimpse at a typical high school student as she tries to navigate herself and her interactions with her peers. It is a coming-of-age story and a first love story and it did have some sweet moments and some intense ones. I would recommend it to my friends, for the nostalgia factor alone. Sometimes it is nice to think back to those high school days, and then to think about how much we have all learned and grown since then.

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?

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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.

My Favorite Books on Writing

There are so many books on writing out there, and most of them profess to be "#1" or "the best" or "the must-have authority." The problem is that not all of us approach writing the same way. I have mentioned this before in a few other posts.

Anyway, today I will share a few of the books that have been helpful to me while writing and navigating the world of publishing.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

Most of the time when I see writers, editors, agents, etc. post about good books on the craft of writing, Stephen King's book seems to be on the list. And it is a great book. In fact, a great deal of my acceptance over not being an immediate success is on account of reading this. The first half is little snippets from King's own writing career, detailing his process, his many rejections, and his dedication over the years. Then in the second half, while still giving us little memoir snippets, King talks about what you need to do to become a writer.

I love it. One of the first things he says is that to be a writer you need to do two things: read a lot and write a lot. So many in the industry say the same thing, so it is one of a handful of comments/advice I actually believe whole-heartedly. And don't just read in your genre; read everything you can get your hands on. Poetry, non-fiction, western, historical fiction, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, young adult...it'll give you a greater understanding on how to write your own stories.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

I took a couple different creative writing courses in college so my next few books are actually from those classes, but they have been helpful in their own ways. Natalie Goldberg has a sort of zen like approach to the whole process. In some ways, like King's On Writing, this book has personal experience and little memoir-like snippets. 

The chapters are all relatively short, a couple of pages typically, and Goldberg mentions early on that you can read this book from cover-to-cover, or you can just jump around to whatever topic is relevant to you in that moment. It isn't necessarily a how-to guide, but each segment does make you think about your writing, whether it is showing instead of telling, being specific with details, your writing space, why you write, etc. 

What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter

Okay, so this one really is a sort-of how-to book. I still haven't made it through the whole book, but we covered a lot of it during my creative writing class, and it is pretty helpful. There are a number of parts to this book and in each part there are several chapters highlighting a different component relevant to the part. 

For example, one part is called "A Writer's Tools." Within that part there are chapters on timing and pacing, showing and telling, transitions, titles, etc. In each chapter it will talk a little bit about the chapter's topic, and then it will have a writing exercise. Most of the time Bernays and Painter also include a student example from what they've amassed from teaching this over the years. 

In school we actually had a creativity notebook where we had to jot down things. I would often pick chapters from both Writing Down the Bones and What If? and either write my own ponderings about it or actually attempt the exercise. It was helpful to me and in some ways pushed me to try different styles or methods, which can certainly improve your writing overall.

Gotham Writers' Workshop Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide from New York's Acclaimed Creative Writing School

Okay, so this one is another how-to styled book that my class used for the advanced fiction writing class. Like What If? it has various chapters and exercises throughout the book, configured to help you think about all the components of your fiction writing. If I had to pick which one I liked more, I would go with What If? but the Gotham Writers' Workshop book really is set up as if you were doing a workshop of your very own.

It runs through characters, plot, POV, description, dialogue, setting, voice, theme, revision, and the business of writing, so it covers a lot of ground and gives a lot of information. And though I've never tried it, GWW does hold online courses/lectures/workshops that you can pay for. If they're anything like this book, they are probably pretty helpful.

No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty

Finally, I always seem to come back around to NaNoWriMo when it comes to posts about writing and inspiration and motivation. I first read No Plot? No Problem! several years ago and it helped me prep for participation in NaNo. 

Chris Baty is an amusing writer, and reading about the history of NaNo and getting advice for dealing with the awesome chaos that is writing a book in a month is fabulous. The second half of the book especially breaks down NaNoWriMo week-by-week and discusses the feelings and pitfalls that tend to accompany each week. This all comes with the knowledge Baty has accumulated from his many years with NaNo (and he would know since he founded it back in 1999). 

In 2014 they came out with an updated and revised version of the book. I need to get that version and see what bonus goodies are between the covers, but for now, let's just say that I highly highly recommend this book and participating in NaNoWriMo in general.

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Those have been some of the biggest helps to me, though there are many more writing books I own and possibly could have mentioned. Of course there are a myriad of other books out there and I'm sure there are more I should read. If you know of any, let me know in the comments.

NaNoWriMo 2014 Midpoint Update

Hey everyone...it's been a long while since I last posted. I am so sorry about that. It seems like I keep failing on keeping up with my schedule for this blog. That is going to be one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2015, to actually keep up with my blog posts.

I guess what sparked or pushed me back towards writing posts is a new friend I made at my region's write-in yesterday. She has a blog, a YouTube channel, two jobs, and I've looked at her content production...she is fairly prolific.

If people haven't realized this already, I can sometimes be quite competitive. So if she can maintain a blog, a vlog, and all sorts of other social media outlets then so can I.

So, here's my update for the first half of NaNoWriMo, but I warn you that it is pretty sad. In week one I wrote an overwhelming total of 1,616 words. That's right. In one week I wrote less than what is supposed to be written in a day. I added a little over 1,700 words yesterday, which means that I am roughly 20,000 or so words behind schedule.

I have to play catch up now. And since I am wide awake and it is currently 1:10am I just might try some Write or Die sessions now and see if I can boost my total a bit.

Also, in other semi-related news, I have gotten my mom to agree to me making some changes to my writing office. So, after I do some tidying up and such, my spring cleaning projects will include repainting the office and making it feel even more cozy and productive for my writing and my life. So look for updates on that in 2015.

Okay, so I'm going to go write now and see if I can squeeze in anywhere between 15,000 and 20,000 words on this 16th day of November.

Wish me luck. I'll probably need it at this point.

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.

Not just a writer, but also a cheerleader

Okay, so I was going to spend my writing update post talking about the great progress I've made and how I've almost polished up another novel, but something else has really struck me as important over the past week or so and I feel like I have to talk about it. Especially now that I'm unemployed and searching for a job, I find myself spending more time on other activities I do at other times of the year.

For example, I am a Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo. I won't say which region since I participate in NaNo under my real name, not my pen name. Being an ML has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my life, because not only do I have so many authors in my region who help to inspire me with their stories and their motivations and such, but I also have the opportunity to help them and motivate them to continue with their writing.

That motivation, or cheerleading, extends past my time as a ML. My mom decided to go back to college and she has just started her second quarter. I have had (okay, not had like forced, but had because I feel that I have that duty) to cheer her on and help her out whenever possible. I spent 8 semesters (4 years) earning my Bachelor's degree, and then another 3 semesters (1.5 years) earning my Master's degree, so I know a little bit about navigating college, which has worked in my mom's favor. Just this quarter, she needed a textbook for an assignment and didn't have the time to order it from the school bookstore to have it sent to her. So, I drove down to the main campus and picked up the book, an easy task for me because I have done that same activity almost a dozen times before. I enjoy that rush when she is doing well and succeeding. I am as happy to see her getting 100% on assignments as she is, and that is great.

Now one of my cousins has decided to go back to school, and I told her the same thing I told my mom...if you need help, I'm here for you. She sends me text updates on how her classes are going and what kind of grades she is getting. And I am happy to send back how happy and proud I am, because really, I have grown to enjoy being that cheerleader, that person who helps someone else achieve a goal.

To move this whole story back to writing and publishing, etc. I'd like to think that I try my best to help out fellow authors. I have had several great Twitter conversations or Facebook conversations with some authors. When they tweet about needing help with a name or a certain creature of mythology or something, I try to help when I can. After seeing a post about submitting a manuscript to a contest or submitting a query letter to a publishing company, I wish the author luck, and try to check in if they don't say anything after a while. I saw an author I enjoy asking for suggestions for her next blog post, so I asked if we could hear more about her current work in progress. She obliged by posting a few hours later, and even thanking me for the suggestion at the very beginning. (The fangirl in me really liked that).

I really enjoy being a cheerleader or a motivator, no matter what the cause. When it comes down to it, one of my favorite things aside from writing my own novels is talking to and helping others who are participating in NaNoWriMo events. I think that the employees of the Office of Letters and Light have the best jobs out there, because they get to be there to help motivate and inspire the next authors of the world, whether this generation or the next. Someday I sincerely hope to have a job that awesome.

Until then I will continue to be a ML and a cheerleader to my friends, family, and the authors I hope to join in the published ranks soon.

How Time Flies

It seems like just yesterday that I was waiting for November to arrive so I could start work on my novel. Now, here it is, the 20th of November, and I am dangerously close to reaching that 50,000 word mark. This has also been a week where I start planning my ideas and stories for the next couple of months. I have to do my final edits for Project Death: Resurrection and then come January I'll be able to jump into the sequel, Project Death: Revelation.

I'm both looking forward to and dreading 2013. I have a lot of writing plans and goals and so I'm eager to spend the time working on and editing those projects. At the same time, next year I turn 25. I'm as-of-yet still unpublished, still looking for a job in a library so I can utilize my Master's in Library and Information Science, and though I'm not looking, my romantic life is pathetic as well. Sometimes it makes me feel like a bit of a failure, especially seeing all of my friends and classmates married and having children.

I want 2013 to be a good year.

That means that I really need to focus on my writing and getting as much finished as I can. I will continue with my Tuesday writing update posts and my Friday From the Stacks review posts, but my non-online self needs to set specific goals for writing time and reading time. Maybe by creating a schedule will help me not waste so much time.

Anyway, NaNoWriMo is going quite well. On Saturday I went up to my old region for a write-in and that was pretty fun. I think I managed something like 2,100 words there, which was nice, and then I came home and continued writing for a few more hours.

I plan on doing about 3,500 words today and then hopefully the other 3,500 I need tomorrow. I want to cross the 50,000 word mark before Thanksgiving so I don't have to worry about my writing when I'm spending time with my family and then going in to work. After work on Thursday I am going to drive down to one of my best friend's house because we are going to a concert on Friday. Basically it means that I won't be able to do much writing Friday or Saturday even.

I will say that I will have a From the Stacks post up on Friday...I just don't think that it will be Alchemystic like I said last week. I think I'm going to move Julie Kagawa's The Lost Prince up to Friday since I read it a couple weeks ago, and then I'll move Alchemystic to Dec 7th, which was when I was originally going to review The Lost Prince.

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 42,862
At This Rate You Will Finish: November 23, 2012

What NaNo Means to Me

This week I guess you guys get a bonus post. Today is Donation Day for the Office of Letters and Light, specifically the program NaNoWriMo. Obviously, I know I talk about both the OLL and NaNoWriMo a lot, and if you are bothered by that, I'm sorry but I'm not going to apologize for it. (No one has really complained about me talking about it so much, but just in case...).

I love NaNoWriMo. It is an amazing program and without it I don't think that I would be quite the writer that I am today.

On Twitter today they are having people use the hashtag #whatnanomeanstome. What I feel for NaNoWriMo cannot be condensed down to 140 characters, so instead, I have this blog post.

I discovered NaNoWriMo in November 2005 and decided to participate for the first time in 2006. Since then I have never regretted that decision and November has become the month I look forward to each and every year. It gave me a confidence in myself and my writing ability that I wouldn't have had otherwise. In college when a professor would assign a paper that needed to be so many pages long I would laugh to myself, because nothing they assigned could ever compare to the challenge and exhilaration of writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

NaNoWriMo has introduced me to a community of people who are just like me, who love to write, to create, to challenge themselves, and they have formed a family for me. Though my parents say that they support me in anything I do, I don't really feel any encouragement from them. My NaNo family though is always there for me, and not just during NaNo-season. My region has started to meet all year round because we have found something special together while bonding over NaNoWriMo.

Over the years I have seen a number of NaNoWriMo participants get book deals and publish and see their writing dreams come true, and you know what, they started off just like me, a participant with an idea and a dream. Seeing the success of fellow writers really makes me believe that I am capable of following through with my goals.

I talk about NaNoWriMo all the time, to anyone who will listen to me. As an ML for my region, I absolutely love scheduling write-ins and going to restaurants, coffee shops, and the library to write. Just yesterday at a write-in one of my new Wrimos told me that I seem really passionate about this program, and that's the honest truth...I do.

When I dream with my friends about where I would like to move for work if I could go anywhere, well okay, I'd love to go over to Europe, but more realistically, when I think of somewhere in the United States, my answer is to go to San Francisco. I would love to be so close to the OLL headquarters and donate whatever time I could to help them with their creative efforts.

NaNoWriMo is more than just a writing challenge for me. It is a way of life, a calling, a family, a home. It makes me feel important and happy and exhilarated and smart and like I can be successful at something. NaNoWriMo means everything to me. I am so glad to have discovered this amazing program and I will continue to help in any way I can to support their efforts. Whether that is blogging, Tweeting, volunteering my efforts as an ML for my regions, advocating to anyone within earshot, I will.

Please...if you are at all able, consider donating to NaNoWriMo. It means so many different things to so many different people, but for me, as a writer and as a librarian, NaNoWriMo is about books: reading them, writing them, and loving them, and there can never be enough of that love in the world.

You can donate by going here: https://store.lettersandlight.org/donations

Mid-Month Reflections

I love writing. Really, other than reading it is the best form of escapism for me. Of course these past couple years another great form of escape came from hopping on my motorcycle and going for long rides out in the country. The difficult thing these past couple years is that I've been at home (with my parents) and in some ways that has beaten down my creativity levels. When I was in high school, then in undergraduate studies, and even my first semester of grad school, writing came so easily to me and I was constantly inspired to just write.

In high school I would get so much done in study halls, and sometimes I would jot down bits and pieces of stories during classes.When I reached college I was living in the dorms and found myself surrounded by so many other creative personalities and it seemed that my stories just poured out of me and I couldn't stop them.

That all started to shift starting with my second semester of grad school. I moved back home and decided to commute because it would save me money. But it took me away from all of the creative minds I was used to being around and left me at home with my mom, dad, and brother. Don't get me wrong; I love my family and I'm really glad that they are letting me stay at home while I try to find a job with one of my college degrees, but it has gotten so much more difficult to write.

I picked out the wall color in my bedroom and decided where each piece of furniture would go. I hung up my posters just like I did in college...but even with all that, something is missing, and it is making the time I spend sitting at my desk feel more like a chore than something I love doing.

Even now I am having issues. I love Souls Abandoned and I really know the characters, but my writing has slowed down severely since the first few days of NaNoWriMo. Okay, yes, here is where I could go into how it is the fault of my family, or all the stress I deal with at work every day, or whatever, but really the problem is with me. I'm not going to try and push the blame onto anyone or anything else. It is my fault that my mental creativity levels are not at optimum levels because I am not capable of pushing aside all the stress from my personal life so I can focus on telling these amazing stories. (Well, okay, I think they're amazing; I'm not sure about other people).

My best day of writing was on November 1st and that was because of the kick-off party. Spending time with many of the other Wrimos in my region was great and it fueled up my creative juices for the rest of the day. I write better when I'm around other people who are also partaking in creative endeavors. If my work schedule was less erratic I would try to have a write-in every day or every other day just to absorb that creative energy.

Someday I will get my library job and I'll be able to move into my own apartment or home. I can honestly say that I hope the writing goes so much better then, because frankly, I do miss sitting at my computer and pounding out several thousand words a day.

* * *

Okay, here I am about ten hours after I wrote that top bit. Yes, those feelings and thoughts still exist, but I did manage to get some writing done...over 3,000 words on a Monday is pretty good. This I can attribute to participating in a Word War with a member of my NaNo region who was hosting a write-in I could not make due to work. I wrote 1,300 words in 30 minutes and then did another word war for 1,400 words in 30 minutes...add those to the few hundred words I wrote this morning and it makes for a pretty decent day.

Later today (because it just now became Tuesday) I am having a write-in with my region. We are checking out a local coffee shop and I'm hoping to be able to add a few more thousand words to my total word count.  As it stands now I should definitely be able to hit 30,000 words by the end of the day, but since that is less than 2,000 for the day, I think I'm going to try and aim more for about 35,000...maybe? It sounds like a halfway decent plan. I'd really like to cross the 50,000 word line before Thanksgiving. I am going to a concert the day after Turkey Day and I'd like to be able to relax a little and okay, fine, maybe boast about how I won NaNoWriMo for the seventh year in a row.

I think it is definitely an accomplishment to boast about...right?

Current word count: 28,075
At this rate you will finish on: November 23, 2012 (I think that will change greatly after a high word count day.)

Not So Unwelcome Distractions

Okay, I admit it, for a few days I was so stressed out over work that I came home and could not even think of working on Souls Abandoned. If I had then it was likely that I would have killed off everybody, because that is how frustrated work made me. Considering a number of my characters are ghosts already, that probably wouldn't have worked too well. So, anyway, I took a few days of not writing, but I continued to think about what I wanted to write.

On Saturday I was scheduled to work for 9 hours to do a job that usually takes me about 7.5 hours. Well, I figured I would take advantage of that and use my note app on my phone to get at least a few hundred words written. When all was said and done I managed to write just over 2,000 words while at work, but 1,700 of those words were on the sequel to my first novel written for NaNoWriMo. The titles of that trilogy basically sucked so right now I'm just calling it the Amaranth trilogy and if I work on any of the books then they are saved under Amaranth 1, Amaranth 2, and Amaranth 3. That first NaNovel started out with my main character Lexa having a dream, and while I was working the opening dream for Amaranth 2 burst into the front of my mind and I could not avoid it.

Of course, writing all that on the beginning of Amaranth 2 just made me start thinking and lately it seems like stories I've pushed aside are fighting their way back to the front, wanting to be written and finished. These "newer" story ideas, the ones I have not done much more than a very basic outline for, are ones that in all honesty could be set aside for a later time. So, really, my writing schedule I made a couple months back for 2013 may have to change completely so I can accommodate some of my very persistent and sometimes rude characters.

Now, I still plan on working on the rest of the Project Death series. I want to have those rough drafts done next year definitely. Then, it would be nice to finish the rough drafts of the Souls trilogy and I would love to be able to finish the Amaranth trilogy. Here's the cool part about all of these: both the Project Death series and the Souls trilogy were started when I was in high school and if I remember correctly I set Souls Abandoned aside back then because of the idea for Project Death: Resurrection. So, that was back in 2005-6. Now, towards the end of 2012 both of these stories are screaming for completion. A six-year semi-hiatus is not nice for the characters but putting them aside has made me grow, mature, and gain perspective on the stories.

So, in 2013, with any luck I will be able work on and finish some of these stories...and that includes actually coming up with titles for the Amaranth trilogy.

Souls Abandoned
Current word count: 24,965
At this rate you will finish on: Nov 20, 2012

Off to a Great Start

I didn't do any writing yesterday and this morning I got up, did laundry, went out to vote, and then spent time with my mom before I went to work. So here I am, at 11:00 pm and my word count for today stands at zero. I will fix this...just as soon as I write up this quick post. Though during NaNoWriMo, most people would be all panicked about not writing for a couple days, this year I find myself feeling remarkably calm. Perhaps that is because of how far "ahead" I am so far. Right now I stand at just over 20,000 words. For proof, I offer up this picture of my NaNo stats page:

Total words written: 20,063
Days remaining: 25
At this rate you will finish on: November 14, 2012

I am putting most of my success on the fact that I have been living with these characters for so long. I know them; they are good friends of mine, which to non-writers may sound crazy, but it's true. Though I say characters, they do not feel like made up to me. These people come to me fully formed and ask me to tell their story, but of course sometimes they aren't very forthcoming on certain aspects of their history or their secrets. That might be one reason why I never continued writing this trilogy six years ago.

We have all grown, these characters and I. Now we are in a much better place to tell this story, and for that, I am pleased. Six years ago, Tru was more immature and in truth she sort of annoyed me. Originally I planned to kill her off in book two (I will say that was me making a decision and not them at that point), but after all this time, Tru and Shane and Ava and Lara and Chay have come forward to finally give me the details of this situation, all the ordeals they have been through with the spirit world in Souls Abandoned.

So far, things are going quite well, and my plan is, if for some reason I am able to get through the rough draft of Souls Abandoned before the month is over, I'm going to at least start working on Souls Crossing. Though most months it has taken nearly the whole 30 days to hit the 50K mark, this year I am shooting for writing the entire month. I know I can hit the 50K goal for NaNoWriMo, but now I want to see how far past that goal I can get.

That's all for now. I need to go add some more words to my total word count. I'll be back on Friday for my next From the Stacks post. Thanks for joining in.

Oh, and for the Wrimos who are keeping track, or those who have not checked, to stay on target with 1,667 words a day, you should be at 10,000 words by the end of today, day 6 of the month. Keep up the writing everyone. You can meet your goals.

NaNoWriMo is Coming! NaNoWriMo is Coming!

Well, here we are, just one more day left before I can officially start writing for NaNoWriMo. I really can't wait for this. My region is having a late-night kick-off party so we can get a boost on our word counts, and we are in a couple different Word Wars with a nearby region, one war for the highest count by the end of day one and the other for the highest overall count for the month of November. I know I thrive on competition and I'm hoping it helps to motivate others as well.

I scheduled a pre-NaNo meet-up for my region a week ago and met a few new faces, which turned out to be completely and utterly amazing because now we have some new locations for write-ins, one of them being an antique shop. I'm really looking forward to that one. Anyway, that led one of my region to create her own unofficial kick-off party since she lives about 40 minutes away from the rest of us. That party was yesterday and I was lucky enough to be off work.

It was great to be able to meet a couple other Wrimos from the region, both of whom are still teenagers in high school, but they have these amazingly interesting and creative sounding novel ideas. Plus, I can honestly say that though we spent most of the time talking, I did manage to get a little more of my #nanoprep done. Here's what's really funny: I have been saying for a couple weeks now that I needed to go back through Souls Unknowing so I could find specific character descriptions. Well, I finally did that yesterday at the meet-up. Of course I only looked at the information for the characters who will show up in Souls Abandoned, but that's all I really needed.

Oh, and speaking of the Souls Trilogy, for those who would like to follow along in a (hopefully) daily updates through the writing process, check out the blog I created especially for the occasion: http://soulstrilogy.blogspot.com/

I will be posting about my writing process, how this book is different from when I wrote the first one, and occasionally I will offer up some snippets of what I'm writing. Sometimes I may even show some small chunks of Souls Unknowing, but I warn you, they came from the mind of a 16-17 year old who knew very little actually when it comes to writing structure and such. When I look back at what I wrote in the beginning it feels more like a script because so much of it is dialogue.

Anyway, I just have to make it through the remainder of today and all of tomorrow before I can really start typing away on this novel. By the way it is currently as cold as I would expect in late November and some friends of mine have reported snow on the ground. I do not approve of this, but I will still enjoy Halloween tomorrow anyway. Nothing shall stop me from going to work in a costume. So, I shall see you all on here again on Friday for the next From the Stacks post. This week I will be reviewing Master of Crows by Grace Draven. And my Daily NaNoWriMo posts will be over on the Souls Trilogy blog starting on Thursday.

An Introduction to the Souls Trilogy

Just as I did in Camp NaNoWriMo with writing up an introduction to Do Not Drink the Holy Water, I am going to do the same for my NaNovel for November, which is Souls Abandoned. However, while my previous novel discussions have been the first novels in trilogies and series, my project for November is actually the second book in the trilogy, so I'm instead going to introduce you all to the entire trilogy.

I did quite a bit of writing back when I was in high school and though my chapters were short and lacking in description of settings, characters, and well, inner monologue, I did manage to write out some rather lengthy works, some of which I have either continued to work on, or have planned to go back and edit at some point. Such is the case with the Souls trilogy.

The first book, Souls Unknowing, was started back in 2004 and I wrote something like 10 chapters (around 12K) before I set it aside for a while. Some of my readers back then kept asking me about the story and what was going to happen so I ended up going back to it, and I finally finished the really rough draft in 2006. From there I actually did just keep on writing, diving into Souls Abandoned, but again, I wrote a few chapters and then set it aside to work on other stories.

Now, my biggest fan for these books has actually never let me forget about them and has asked me if I intend to finish the trilogy and attempt to publish. The short answer is yes, but I know it will be an incredibly long road. When I first started with this trilogy, I was still fairly new to writing and so the details and such are pretty rudimentary. Looking back on the roughly 54,000 words of Souls Unknowing, I can see the potential for a lovely finished product, but it will take a lot of cleaning and polishing to get there.

 

Since coming back to the trilogy, I have made the covers and made the basic back cover blurbs, which may end up changing by the time I am through with the edits. Creating the covers has actually made me want to focus on these stories more. Right now, one of my best friends/the biggest fan of this trilogy has the rough draft of Souls Unknowing and is relentlessly editing and giving her input on it. Once she's finished, I'll take a crack at it as well, and with any luck, it will look like a decent product by then.

Here's the rough summary of Souls Unknowing:

For Tru Bauer life has been extremely complicated since her mother's death. Hiding behind her popularity she simply tried to be normal. But it is difficult to be normal when her father decides to move both her and her brother Luke across the country and drops them off at a boarding school.

At Rolling Hills Boarding School, Tru starts to face all the things she has pushed down over the years. And as the spirits at school get restless, it is up to Tru and her new friends to solve a 50 year old mystery and save the lives of everyone around them.

So, I can see that I can do some improving and tweaking on it, but that will wait until after I have gone through the editing process.

Now, for NaNoWriMo 2012, I am re-dedicating myself to working on Souls Abandoned. For those of you who are sitting there and saying, "But...you have to start a new novel for NaNoWriMo. Those are the rules," I just have to explain my situation. The roughly 11,000 words I wrote for this novel back in 2006 are not the best and I know basically all of it will change with this reboot of the story. However, I am not including any of the previously written words, so that is how I justify what I am doing. In November I will add at least 50,000 words to Souls Abandoned.

Speaking of, here is the cover and then the rough summary:

For Tru Bauer, things have only grown more complicated since the events at Rolling Hills Boarding School. Though home with her family, she finds that the spirit world is changing and it will take every mediator available to solve the problem.

Spirits are crossing over before they are ready and some spirits who have crossed over are being returned. The only solution may be to trust a mediator who has spent years believing he is crazy, and even then fixing the problems may require a great sacrifice.

I'm actually really looking forward to jumping into this story again and I've been working on writing down some different ideas and trying to figure out exactly where I was planning on these books heading when I worked on them six years ago. Of course, sometimes my ideas now mean completely changing or eliminating previous ideas. I'm hoping this means that Souls Abandoned will end up being better than it would have been back then.

And though I don't know exactly when I'll get to work on the final book in the trilogy, I feel as if I still have to share it with you guys, even if for no reason other than the fact that I think this cover is my favorite. I love the colors and everything; it is so fitting for what I'm thinking will happen in the story.

So, here it is, the cover and rough summary for Souls Crossing, the final book in the Souls Trilogy:

Repairing the scars between the world and the realm where spirits go after crossing over was not easy and there are still a number of spirits who need to be crossed over again, but for Tru and the others, now is a time to rest and to mourn.

After so many trials and so many sacrifices, sometimes the easiest thing to do is to take a break and ignore everything, but the spirits will not be ignored and this time, crossing the spirits over is the only chance these mediators have at getting some peace.

All right, guys, well there you have it...a brief little introduction to the Souls Trilogy. On Friday I will have the next From the Stacks for you, and then I'll be back next Tuesday for my final writing update before NaNoWriMo officially starts. I'm ready and I'm excited, and most of all, I hope you guys like the stories I am telling you about because I am really hoping to start publishing soon.

Plotting, Pantsing, Percolating

Typically in NaNoWriMo, there are two different camps: Plotters and Pantsers. Plotters are the people who make extensive outlines, character descriptions, and who know exactly what will happen in their story from beginning to end. Pantsers, as the name suggests, are the people who fly by the seat of their pants. If they are lucky then they might have the title, basic character information, and maybe a plot idea.

A short time ago, Grant Faulkner, suggested a third camp, that of the Percolator. You can read more about it at the OLL blog here: http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/33164071079/pantser-planner-percolator

The post really resonated with me, because while I am an occasional Plotter, most of the time to others it seems as if I am a complete Pantser. With the creation of the Percolator I have really found my home. Because though I may not write everything down, I do think about my ideas and my characters most of the time. But, I just feel like if I write down all my ideas, my plot points, then I won't want to write out that actual point in the story because technically I've already written it down.

So, most of the time, when I do somewhat fall in the Plotter camp, it is incredibly vague so I can still write out those scenes and chapters. It works decently well but still I sometimes worry about even writing down those little vague details. I'm fine writing up extensive character profiles and I do spend a lot of time thinking about their personalities and how they would react to certain situations. It all completely adds up to me being a Percolator.

Needless to say, my NaNovel for this year is one I have been percolating on for a long long time. I started the first book in the trilogy back in 2004 and finished it in 2006. At that time I felt so inspired that I jumped straight into the second book, wrote a few chapters and then started working on other stories. I have been thinking about the second book ever since but haven't really had the time to sit down and focus on it because of the numerous other ideas that kept popping up.

I have been stewing over this story for six years now. Though I have lost a lot of my original character information due to computer crashes and USB failures, I still have a hard copy of book one and I can get most of what I need from there.

The Percolating shall continue and I will write down as much as I can today for #nanoprep. On Friday I'll have my next From the Stacks review and next Tuesday I will introduce you all to my NaNovel for the year, which technically means I'm going to introduce you to the whole trilogy. Enjoy your #nanoprep day everyone.

It's Time for NaNoWriMo Prep!

Here we are, back for another writing update, and I can honestly say that October is a month where my writing gets a little erratic. I spend some time working on random stories I have and then I also try to work on doing some outlining and such for my NaNoWriMo novel. Next week my writing update will introduce you to the world I am immersing myself in for the month of November, but for now I'm going to talk about the other stuff I'm working on.

I'm still doing some editing on Project Death: Resurrection and it still isn't going fast enough for me but I'm still going to keep working on it, because I set a goal and I plan to stick to it. I think I've added another 800 words or so to my total, taking it up to 70,000 words.

Something I know I shouldn't have done but I couldn't help myself was start working on another new novel, but the idea came to me a few weeks back while talking with a friend of mine who is planning on going to grad school to become a librarian. Anyway, it led to me thinking of how I think of librarians as real superheroes, and wouldn't it be cool if there was a group of librarians who actually were superheroes with abilities and such. So the House of Librarians was born. I've done basic character sketches and I've written 100 words so far on the story. This will be a side project, not one I'm really going to really focus on for quite some time, but if the muse strikes I might as well write down a few hundred words here and there.

Now, to the main portion of this post, where I tie everything into the title. Tomorrow, October 17th, is the first ever official NaNo Prep Day. They are asking Wrimos to hop on Twitter and Tweet about how you are planning for NaNoWriMo using the hashtag #NaNoPrep. I'm planning on doing it, and I hope you other Wrimos out there will join in. It should be pretty fun.

Oh, for those who want to, you can find me on Twitter: @DanielleThamasa.

And in other news, I received another Goodreads First Reads book yesterday. It is called Tangled Web by Crista McHugh, and the copy I received was autographed and came with two autographed bookmarks as well. It looks like a really interesting book so it may very well end up being a From the Stacks pick in November. That is the other thing I am trying to do in preparation for NaNoWriMo, to get ahead on my book reading so I don't have to panic as much about getting my From the Stacks reviews ready.

Well, I think that just about wraps up my post for today. I'll see you all either tomorrow on Twitter for #NaNoPrep or on Friday for the next From the Stacks.

Countdown to NaNoWriMo

I love NaNoWriMo. For those who don't know anything about it, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, a program put on by the OLL (Office of Letters and Light). It occurs every November and participants attempt to write 50,000 words on a new novel in just 30 days. 2012 marks the 13th year of NaNoWriMo, and I am proud to say that this year is my seventh go round.

NaNoWriMo site: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard

NaNoWriMo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo also does word sprints, where you might write for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45 minutes and is a quick little way to boost your word count each day. The word sprints are run on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaNoWordSprints

They also have a blog: http://blog.lettersandlight.org/

Okay, so there's a lot of different places to get information about NaNoWriMo and I can tell you that it is a completely wonderful program. The OLL is a non-profit organization and they have done a lot of good around the world, between helping to raise money to build libraries around the world, to helping inspire hundreds of thousands of people to follow a dream to write a novel or at least attempt to write one.

Now, for those of you who do participate in NaNoWriMo and you'd like to be my writing buddy, unfortunately I have been participating under my own name, not my pen name. About the only way I could change my name on the site would be to send an e-mail and hope that it could be done, but I don't really plan on doing that. There is less pressure to write during a NaNo event if I only have friends and fellow Wrimos from my region follow my progress.

There are 22 days until the start of NaNoWriMo and so it is likely that my next few posts will be focused on my novel preparation for the event. More to come on that later, and there will be more From the Stacks posts over the next few days. I feel badly about disappearing for the past few weeks so I want to make it up to you all by writing more posts. So I'll be back with another From the Stacks tomorrow.

NaNoWriMo, a high-velocity approach to noveling

Okay, as I mentioned at the end of my last post, I discovered NaNoWriMo (that is, National Novel Writing Month) in November of 2005. I was on a site called fictionpress where people can post chapters of original fiction and then others can review it. One of the writers I particularly enjoyed started posting these nice long chapters every day and it intrigued me. After seeing an author note mentioning NaNoWriMo, I went onto the Web to learn more.

NaNoWriMo is a writing event in which writers all around the world challenge themselves to write 50,000 words on a new novel in the month of November. It sounds completely crazy but it was that chance at pure insanity that drew me in. Since I discovered it mid-month, I knew that trying in 2005 was out, so I made up my mind to participate in 2006.

The rest, I guess you could say, is history. I have participated in NaNoWriMo every year since 2006. I managed to drag at least 8 friends into doing it with me as well over the years and I have learned an incredible amount about writing from the whole experience. In 2006 I participated alone, and in 2007 I got a group of my novel-writing friends together and I became an unofficial Municipal Liaison at my university. In 2008 I officially started the region for my area, and I have been the Municipal Liaison ever since.

A Municipal Liaison (or ML for short) is a volunteer who organizes events for the region. These can be social gatherings or events for people to work on their novels. Social gatherings are fun and it is nice to unwind from the otherwise hectic month of November, but the write-ins are my favorite because it is inspiring to see a group of people either writing long hand or typing away on laptops.

Okay, so I mentioned participating in NaNoWriMo, but what I didn't mention was that I have won every year since I started in 2006. To win you just need to hit 50,000 words before the month of November has ended. Right now I have 6 NaNoWriMo wins under my belt and I'm looking forward to 2012 to make it number 7.

What I am not looking forward to in 2012 is that I will have moved. The region I started will fall solely into the hands of my co-ML from the past couple years. I trust him to keep things going, especially since he is an English professor, but I will always think of the region as MY baby. However, I can console myself with the knowledge that my new home does not have an official region...yet. I will definitely be applying for the position and starting a region. Hopefully I will have as much success in a bigger city as I did in a cute little college city.

Okay, so on Feb 15 I will be posting up details of my Week 2 FebNoWriMo experience. I'm thinking that I will also post up a blog about how I came up with my pen name, the title of my blog, and a few fun little quirks I have.