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.

It's Resolution Time!

Wow...look at that. It's the first day of 2015 and I already have a post for the blog. I feel proud of that all important statement. The beginning of the year is known to be a time where people make resolutions they intend to keep (and typically end up giving up on within the first month). I'm hoping that won't happen with me this year, but I make no promises.

Anyway, while I could try and promise to make healthier food choices or to exercise more, I think I'll still with resolutions that may be a bit more attainable for me. My goals this year are focused on writing and on reading, and I'm really hoping to stick to them.

Okay...so here we go.

Writing goals

Write every day.

Two blog posts a week--a writing update (hopefully on Tuesdays) and a book review (on Fridays)

Get Project Death: Revelation published ASAP in January 2015.

Write Project Death: Redemption in February and March

My Camp NaNoWriMo project for this year is Souls Unknowing.

Finally, if all goes well, my NaNoWriMo 2015 project in November is to start on the final Project Death book, Project Death: Restoration

Reading goals

I read 83 books in 2012, 130 books in 2013, and 92 books in 2014. Considering that, I think a realistic goal would be to shoot for 75 books, mostly because I want to have more of a focus on my writing this year.

Also, I want to try and include more poetry in my reading habits in 2015. Since graduating college I have read a lot less poetry, and some of it is so beautiful and powerful that it sticks with you and can certainly help to inspire the writing muse, much in the same way that music does.

Editing/Publishing goals

I'd like to have Project Death: Redemption edited in between Camp NaNoWriMo sessions so it can be released in the summer.

Then in the fall I can turn my attention to editing Souls Unknowing, which I will hopefully be able to publish at the end of the year.

--

Well...there we go...my goals/resolutions for 2015. Let's see if I can actually stay on track and accomplish these tasks.

Finding the Right Groove

There are so many different opinions on practically every facet of writing: write alone holed up in a room or in a crowded place like Starbucks, write in silence or write to music, write longhand or type on computer, planner or pantser, edit as you go or just write like the wind...etc. etc.

I like to write to music, and it doesn't matter whether I am alone, with a small group of fellow writers, or surrounded by strangers. My ability to multi-task comes in handy quite a bit...particularly when I am hosting a write-in for NaNoWriMo, since as the ML I can't just ignore everyone else. Anyway, the music I listen to while writing tends to vary a bit based on the story and on the characters.

I listen to a broad range of music, from classical to metal, pop/rock to country, whatever. What is fairly standard with any soundtrack created for a novel is that it is music I have listened to enough that I no longer find myself focusing on the lyrics. Now, I admit that typically a lot of the same artists and songs crop up over and over again, but that is because I can feel so many emotions and connect to so many different parts of the song that they work for a variety of moods.

Some of my favorite artists/bands to listen to while writing include: Epica, Paramore, Florence + the Machine, Leaves' Eyes, Kamelot, Nightwish, Blake Shelton, The Band Perry, Evanescence, Within Temptation, and Carrie Underwood.

For the Souls Trilogy, I found during the rewriting stage that I wanted to try something I had never done before. Instead of having a mixed soundtrack with a bunch of different artists and genres, what if I tried to focus on one band and use just their songs. With the progress it inspired for Souls Unknowing, I was glad for that idea to use as a focus.

Souls Unknowing finds a soundtrack consisting of nothing but songs by Paramore. I own all of their albums and have seen them in concert twice, with a planned third experience this summer. I love the energy of the songs, the way that a lot of the lyrics seemed to connect with my already planned plot and character re-writing, and...did I mention that Paramore actually has a song called "Misguided Ghosts" and the Souls trilogy is about ghosts? It really just seemed like a match made in heaven.

I have already figured out which band to use for Souls Abandoned and it will be more of a Rock/Metal feel with Within Temptation as my band of choice, so now I just have to decide which direction to go for the final book, Souls Crossing--currently it seems to be leaning towards country, and I may be using The Band Perry.

So, for anyone who might be curious as to which wonderful Paramore songs made the cut for my Souls Unknowing playlist, I shall list them below.

"Let the Flames Begin"
"Still Into You"
"Let This Go"
"Fast in My Car"
"Misguided Ghosts"
"Emergency"
"My Heart"
"The Only Exception"
"Decoy"
"Fences"
"Turn it Off"
"Ignorance"
"Looking Up"
"That's What You Get"
"Pressure"
"Hallelujah"
"Brick by Boring Brick"
"Last Hope"
"Brighter"
"Hate to See Your Heart Break"
"All We Know"
"Future"

It is a great mix of some of their early songs and newer ones and each song has a string of lyrics that fits nicely to plot and character events within the novel (at least in my mind). The music of Paramore so greatly helped to direct the re-write that I've actually even mentioned them in the acknowledgments. The fangirl in me honestly hopes that perhaps someday Hayley Williams (lead singer of Paramore) might read my book. It would basically be the greatest thing in the whole world.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy Souls Unknowing when it is released and that this soundtrack gives you a greater insight into both my writing process in general, and this novel specifically.

A Look at Souls Unknowing

Today, I'm going to give you all a peek into my next novel, Souls Unknowing, which will be released February 28, 2014. It is the first of a three book series revolving around ghosts that I've been writing and editing for a long time.

Something has caused the spirits of Rolling Hills Preparatory School to grow extremely restless, and it is up to a small group of mediators to discover long buried secrets to prevent such a tragedy from occurring once more. 

Unfortunately there are a number of hurdles to overcome and there are more secrets than just what happened preceding the fire that destroyed the school fifty years earlier. 

Tru Martin struggles with accepting her true place as one who communicates with spirits, due to a desire for normalcy. Veteran mediators Megan, Allie, and Ian all seem to have different opinions on how to proceed with crossing over the spirits. And the arrival of another mediator who has a history with one person in particular may lead to the greatest shock of all. 

With time running out and graduation looming around the corner, can this friendship formed out of a shared ability survive all the secrets, spirits, and dangers, and solve a mystery before tragedy strikes again?

By the way, this current synopsis is not completely set in stone, so if you have any suggestions then feel free to comment on the blog, send me a Tweet @DanielleThamasa, find me on Facebook, or send me an e-mail to daniellethamasa@yahoo.com with the subject as Souls Unknowing synopsis.

I am working really hard to get this done and published for my current deadline. Thanks to everyone who has stuck by me through this writing and editing process and I hope you enjoy the finished product. Tru and the rest of the gang have been constant companions of mine since 2004 and living with people for that long makes you think of them as family. I care about basically all of my characters (there are a few villains that I would really like to just disappear, lol) and I sincerely hope that other people feel some sort of connection with them as well.

Okay, and just for those of you who are reading this and have stuck with it, how about a sneak preview of the prologue for Souls Unknowing?

Prologue: Let the Flames Begin, 1964

This place has always felt like a prison to me, with the bars on the windows and all of the rules and restrictions. Yet if I had known then what I know now, then perhaps a lot of this could have been prevented. Looking back it all should have been clear to me, each event and strange occurrence clearly revealed the tragedy that was to come as well as who was responsible. One thing is absolutely certain though: I will not let it happen again.

I am dead. That is the one absolute, the unchanging fact, and it is something I wish I could have known of in advance. There are so many things I never got to do, and so much I never could tell my family. But I am not the only one who died and I am certainly not the only one who feels trapped in this school, waiting and watching for something to change.

I can feel that the time is growing near and when the chance comes to me, I know I must do what I can to help, which seems ridiculous as no one can truly see me, hear me, touch me. It has been fifty years and even with all of the others like me, it feels quite lonely here. Watching all of the youth as they grow and make mistakes and figure out what is next for their futures is incredibly bittersweet. I remember when I was once that way, when the future held nothing but possibilities, when I was ready to graduate from high school and truly start my life.

Patton High School was once a glorious place, despite some of the outward appearances. If you simply looked at it from the road then it looked more like a juvenile correction facility, complete with bars over the windows, as if they expected some sort of danger or breakout attempt. I though it nothing more than a safety hazard and it was that point alone that led to the demise of so many of us that spring morning.

The day had started off like any other. I had been dropped off at the school by my father, my little brother following at my heels, acting more like a child than a freshman, but I suppose it had been a difficult first year of high school for him, and really, I thought of him as one of my best friends. Still, I had not said much to him that morning, instead lost in the thoughts of my looming graduation and what would happen when I moved away for college in the fall. Would my father and brother be fine on their own? I hoped so but most days I had my doubts.

We parted ways as I reached my locker. He had to walk all the way upstairs and to the other side of the building to reach the wing of freshman lockers and all I said to him was that I would see him at lunch. That never happened; I lost my brother that day and no matter how hard I have looked, I still have not managed to find him. If he somehow survived I would have known, I should have felt it or seen him at some point, but the void in my chest tells me that he too passed away in the tragedy of Patton High School.

It was during third period history that I started to think that something was off. The desk to my right was empty, a sight I had not witnessed in the whole four years of classes here. The young man who sat there had not missed a day, obsessively coming, even when ill. I had always thought it annoying, but now I was unsure what to think.

I supposed I was the only one who noticed his absence before the Mrs. Johnson took attendance. She had called out his name twice before the others started looking around. “Has anyone seen Trevor today?”

Not a single person answered, which wasn’t surprising. Trevor had no friends and most people avoided him. It had nothing to do with his appearance, his home, or his family, but because he was just a bit odd. He really enjoyed discussing different methods of warfare and weaponry and along with most other people, I found that to be quite unnerving.

After that awkward few moments, Mrs. Johnson finished up her attendance call and jumped straight into the lesson, continuing our discussion of World War II. I could not help but think that there would have been more back and forth conversation that period if Trevor had come to school. Then again, if he had, then he too would have been wandering these halls as a ghost.

I have made my peace with what I am, with my existence, though I still long for the future that was taken from me. The fire ruined all of it. It was at lunchtime that the pieces began to fall together. When some of the seniors tried to take their lunch out to the courtyard, they found the doors locked, or blocked.

They called out for the cafeteria monitors, who rushed over to the doors to help out. One pulled out keys, but whatever prevented the doors from opening was not simply a lock. As the chatter in the room grew louder, I found myself looking for my brother. He should have arrived to sit with me, but I could not see his face in the crowd of students.

I stood up and walked out into the hall, scanning back and forth, but aside from more and more students filing out to see what the commotion was, there was no sign of Logan anywhere. A shout came from down the hall, followed by several others. It took a few repetitions before I could tell what they were yelling…fire.

When the fire alarm started blaring, it became even more apparent that it was not a drill. Chaos followed in the next minutes, as students ran out of their classrooms and towards the nearest doors. I stood frozen for longer than I sometimes cared to admit to myself, thinking that maybe by not moving it would be proved as nothing more than a rather lucid nightmare. Then I finally moved, making my way to the nearest exit; I could find Logan when we were all outside. There was no way I would find him inside the school.

Yet when I reached the doors I found teachers and athletes alike shoving and groaning against the thick doors. It seemed that much like the doors in the cafeteria leading to the courtyard, these were blocked closed. The panic in those around me seemed to intensify with that realization. Their cries filled the air as thick dark smoke crept into the halls, beginning to obscure everything in sight.

I simply felt numb, detached from what was going on all around, as if I was watching it from outside my body. Where was Logan? I needed to find my brother, to make sure he was all right. The thought should have struck me then that none of us would be all right. We were trapped in the school as the smoke overtook everything and it became harder to breathe or think clearly.

The intensity of the heat down the south wing was what truly brought me into the reality of the situation. If the fire had started that way then it was the worst possible scenario. My mind latched onto the realization that the flames would soon reach the boiler room and that would cause an explosion, which would only make the fire stronger.

“Logan!” I yelled before choking on the smoke and falling into a coughing fit. I couldn’t draw in enough air to continue on with anything, nor could I see more than a few inches in front of my face. Dropping to the ground I hoped that would help with something, and it allowed me to draw in a few breaths but it would not last long.

My last thoughts as I heard a large boom from down the hall was that I had not been able to voice my concerns of the future with my brother.

Aside from all of the dead who linger in this place, there is one other fact that is without question: We were murdered and our killer is still out there.

Finding the Right Beginning

I started writing Souls Unknowing back in 2004, when I was a sophomore in high school, and after a considerable hiatus, I finished the novel in 2006. I enjoyed the story and the characters, but I knew that it would need a lot of work before it would be even remotely close to publishable. As the years passed and I learned more about my writing, I thought about what changes I needed to make if I wanted to really make SU shine.

One of the biggest issues was that I originally wrote the novel in third person present tense. I cringe even thinking about that decision now. But, another issue that had cropped up thanks to the input from several of my early stage readers back then was that the prologue seemed to be emotionally distant and several people suggested that I focus that prologue on just the experience and feelings of one of the soon-to-be ghosts.

I can honestly say that now, after re-writing the prologue, those people who made that suggestion were all geniuses. Not only did I focus it on one character, but it is told from her point of view and without ever mentioning her name, because that will become an important part of the later plots. I love the new prologue quite a bit.

However, I can also say that I don't exactly consider that prologue to be the start of the story. It is the start of the novel, but practically the entire story--aside from the prologue--takes place in the present day. The more I read the original draft, the more I sort of hated it. I had Tru and her brother Luke in a car with their dad as he drove them to their new boarding school. It felt dull and forced and like so many other books I'd read, where the story starts off with a character or characters arriving at school and settling in, blah blah blah.

When I tried to re-write that first chapter I kept running into issues with trying to start the story with a focus on Tru, and it never felt right. Eventually I just wrote the basic idea down and continued with the story, since I put myself on a personal deadline for getting the story re-written, polished, and released.

Today, at work, I was finally struck with the perfect idea to fix that beginning with Tru and from that point I could just feel the words bubbling up and ready to explode from me and onto the page. I can still have the focus on Tru, but utilize another important character from the story to do so. Instead of following as Tru settles into her room and meets people, I can instead have Ian basically observing what happens when this new girl arrives at school and the ripples it causes around everyone else. Plus, with Ian already being so knowledgeable and accepting of his gift to see and speak to ghosts, he can also already point out that Tru is gifted, which brings the paranormal aspect in just a little sooner.

The big question now will be just how much this new beginning will affect the rest of the novel. If it slips seamlessly into place then I should still be able to have Souls Unknowing out by the end of January. But, if it causes a couple other scenes and such to be moved around or edited in any way then it may push the publication day back just a bit. At the very latest (I swear), this novel will be out by February 28, 2014. In some ways that could be nice, because then you'll be able to enjoy Project Death: Revelation in June/July and then Souls Abandoned will be out Dec/Jan 2015.