Settling Down

I feel bad for not updating and leaving the last post on a low because everything has picked up again (doesn't it always?) So here's what's going on -- 

My wonderful betas have caught up with me, and their eager anticipation for the ending is spurring me on. Honestly, these last few days I've been insanely invigorated. I feel like everything is coming together and all my beautiful circles are getting completed. I have an ETA of two weeks until this draft is done. And then the hard work begins (hahaha!)

Work is wonderful. I was afraid that I'd resent the time away from writing, but to be perfectly honest it's just focusing me. I start at 10:30, so I go in the wife two or three hours before a

nd write and catch up with emails, then take another hour in the evening. Every moment at my keyboard is precious, and I feel like I'm really able to use that time well. It helps that I really love my job -- my boss is awesome and my coworkers are lovely. I haven't had a day where I haven't wanted to go in, and it's really exciting to see our savings start to grow again after all these months of insane expenses. We've been able to start looking seriously at apartments (!!!!) and are hoping to move around New Year (!!!)

Time is going fast, and that means November is almost upon us (!!!) So frickin' excited for NaNo! Trying not to jinx it by over-thinking, but I've worked out my title and the last scene I want for the series. It's going to be so weird to wrap up this whole story, but at least I'll still have three books' worth of revisions ;) I just hope I give myself enough breathing space between the end of this draft and November first. April just about did me in! 

I will leave you with some music; a track that I feel sums up NaNo 2015 -- Wires by Athlete. 

A Continuation of Good Fortune

Well, where to start...

I have a job! A really wonderful job (I had my first shift today) At Menchies Frozen Yoghurt. It's basically the cutest little franchise you've ever seen; my co-workers are frickin' lovely, and my manager wants to promote me already. And the uniform is insane. Will post pic soon! 

It's full time/ 40hrs a week, but it's right across from Starbucks so I can go in early and get some writing done before my shifts. I think it's really going to focus me, having less time.

Buuut! Writing at home has suddenly become much more pleasant  because (babababaaa!) I have a desk!! I love it, and it's already inspired some great words. I think it's the pet Aloe plant we bought to keep him company. So now I have a little space of my own to keep my papers and books, and where I can sit so people know not to bother me. 

Writing-wise, Part 3's going swimmingly. On the home stretch now, and definitely feeling that! Everything's starting to come together and it's great to see :D 

Second leg of the contest went up a few days ago HERE And they've linked to the judges' results, which makes it super scary, but it's exciting to see that I'm not crashing and burning haha! Will here if I've got through to Round Three on... Monday, I think? 

So, yeah. Good stuff :D 

August Updates

Well, July was a crazy one! Got through Camp by the skin of my teeth -- still haven't quite worked out if Camp suits me, but I love the atmosphere and the camaraderie of it. Didn't finish Moon Path as I wanted to, but got through the hell that is The Middle, and now I found myself in the marshmallow fluff that is The End. I mean, still got about 30k to go, but blasted through the first chapter yesterday and feeling very confident with this section. 

I think it's the relief of not having to care about wordcount. 

Still, three months 'til NaNo Proper! Lots to do, and I can't wait to get down and get Book 4 out. I'm as eager to know what happens as anyone else!   

Contest-wise, I'm through to the next round! Voting doesn't start again 'til Wednesday, but had a look at the second lines and it's looking exciting. Interestingly, I've found that some of my favourite first lines don't exactly hold up under their second lines, whereas some of the first lines that didn't grab me initially are really elevated by the continuation! It's really fascinating, and I love that it's really anyone's game. 

In other exciting news, I had an interview with FixYourWritingHabits published today, talking about ghostwriting and editing. They're doing a month looking into different kinds of writing careers, so pretty psyched to be a part of that! Speaking of which, writing for The Writers' Helpers is still going swimmingly, and all my articles can be found ---> Over in the LinkLink.

Today is a good day. One of my wonderful writing buddies sent me his book yesterday, and it's such a pleasure to read! I really have nothing more eloquent to say about it yet other than *flail* Adfghjk!! Also, looking at writing desks and I think I've settled on this one. It'll be lovely to have a proper writing space that isn't the end of the dining room table! 

This month is going to be a good one!

Updates 2015

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I find the longer I leave it, the more I have to write about and the less time I have! So here I am, sucking it up, and updating.

Currently in Exeter, England, on what I hope is the last leg of our Visa Journey. The medical on the second was very encouraging and I have just found out the my Big Scary Interview is on the 30th. So I have nineteen days to stew and fret. But that's fine; it's nice to be here and see people and have a bit of a holiday. 

Writing is going slowly but well. It's been nightmarish trying to snatch moments here and there to get some words in and, of course, I'm stuck in the hideous Middle Part (it never gets easier!) but I'm persevering and am pretty pleased with what I have. 

Hard copies of NaNo 2014 have been distributed and received very positively so far! All the niggles are things I knew needed to be thought about (more on that later). It's interesting though -- I feel so much better about letting people read this year. I've completely stopped apologizing for my writing and people seem to be taking it much more seriously too. It's very encouraging. I think it's because I really am putting my all into this and it's finally feeling as though it's paying off. Or will sooner or later! It's not just a silly hobby anymore. 

Still terrifying though, waiting for feedback.

Speaking of which, I have a couple of pieces that people have sent me than need reading, so I think I'm going to get on that this afternoon. I'm excited though -- they're really good! It's always a thrill beta'ing a decently written story! 

Will catch up again soon.

Revision Update

I am currently on page 294 of 397, and it's going well. Not being able to justify the nice fluffy ending I had finished with on the fifteenth, I spent the 16th talking it through with a writing-buddy and came up with a thousand words of rip-your-heart-out-and-shove-it-down-your-throat angst which feels much more natural to end Dragons on. 

Reading through has, so far, been much less excruciating than I had expected it to be. The further in I get, though, the more nervous I become. I certainly understand why people advise letting the MS rest before tackling it. It's much more pleasant to read with fresh, reader's eyes than re-visit the words you wrote only a matter of days ago. Still, it's not as bad as I expected it to be. And I'm trying to keep reminding myself that I wrote two novels in a month and a half so what can I really expect? 

Ugh! I'm itching to continue the story, though, but I really need to get back to Book 1. I think I'm going to hand-sketch Book 4, just dabble with it casually whilst I'm writing 'Moon Path'. My concrete goal for 2015 is to start querying so I really need a finished manuscript ASAP. 

Today it is beautiful and snowing, and I've done all my xmas shopping (how is it only a week 'til xmas???) so I think I'll count this as a good day :) Hopefully I'll finish up revision tomorrow so I can order my Createspace copies. Waah! I'm so excited to see it in print!! 

Here's what I'm listening to today -- Fall Out Boy & Taylor Swift: My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, Live. Supreme.

Pre-Post Jitters

5,000 words to go and I'm getting pre-finish jitters, a weird combination of manic excitement and abject terror. It's the best feeling in the world! Well, one of them.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to condense 'Guilders' and 'Dragons' down into one, so I'm feeling better about not exactly really finishing-finishing the story. The problem with pantsing is that you end up learning a whole bunch more than you expected to and to do it justice, it really needs more words. I'm getting really excited about cutting it down and focusing it more. Doing that really did wonders with 'Moon Path', so I think that'll be the way to go. 

Yesterday I did 0 words, but I've made up for it today by getting in 3,000 pretty easily. Had a little bit of a a hiccup, but only about 500 words of one so it wasn't too bad. I've come to realize, though, that I really do need to sort out my place name because, well, I don't have any. People names are hard enough, but place names are impossible! The problem with putting off things 'til later is that later never really comes... I did that with surnames and look where that got me!

I also need to focus Aurelia. She's become completely unsympathetic and that's not her purpose at all. Whenever I put her into a scene, she just ends up arguing with everyone. I'm writing way too personally with her and I know I'm going to have to back off and be more objective in the re-write. God, it feels good to get it out though! It's freaking me out a bit how much of myself I've been putting into the story recently, but revision will bring focus and objectivity so I'm not worrying too much. 

Following my good writing morning/afternoon, I'm spending the evening rewarding myself by formatting what I've got and making it pretty. I can't wait to see it in print!

Art, Progress and The Hobbit

Apologies for the lack of updates, it's been a busy couple of days. Tricksy scenes are like buses, they all come at once and then it just gets ridiculous. I'm happy with the scenes individually but, once again, crisis of confidence has struck and I'm feeling paralyzed. Who am I kidding? This isn't going anywhere. It's boring and whiny and full of plot-holes -- oh god! the plot holes! I can't keep anyone's attention with it. It's like an ugly child whose mother thinks it's gorgeous but the whole world knows better. 

*headdesk*

*I* like it, but I'm feeling delusional,

In other, happier news, Hragon from NaNo did some sketches of Dakin for me and I'm super pleased! It's always nerve-wracking asking for art, but I've admired their work for a while and was not disappointed!

Also, we got preview tickets to see The Hobbit today and... well... It's worth seeing but I laughed more than I cried. It was no Lord of the Rings.

Eagles what?

Novelling, NaNo and LadyBits

It's been a good couple of days. 

I've hit 30,000 words on The Novel, and managed to execute the transition between parts one and two pretty much exactly how I wanted to. Of course, I expect the feedback I'll get on it will be something along the lines of, "...?" But, right now, that's okay. I'm experimenting with a less linear structure and if it doesn't work, I can always go back and change it.

It's fun writing Alyk again. I don't know why, but I really enjoy writing him. I think, all things considered, he's my oldest character and I can just trust him to do his thing without too many problems. I still have no idea if he's good or bad, though, which makes understanding his motivations a little tricky. But I think he holds up anyway.

It'll be interesting to see which direction he goes in Book Two. 

NaNo 2014 is almost upon us (!!!) and I am so bloody excited! The wife's doing it with me - a collection of interlinked short-stories that I'm really looking forward to reading - and one of my super-talented uni friends has also let me bully her into participating. On a completely selfish note, the competition of having there will really boost me, I think. Failure is not an option because it'll be doubly humiliating with her doing it too.

It's going to be great!

I finally finished my article for LadyBits, and the editor is super pleased with it so I'll link to that when it's up. The first article was definitely the hardest (I picked a killer topic) but I've started writing a couple more and I think I'm going to really enjoy writing for that blog.