Sunday, February 17, 2013

Writing Update #6 - Slow week

I honestly have no idea what word count I'm currently on. I spent most of the week without power since it stopped working and out landlady couldn't remember that it was shut off since it wasn't her part of the house. I could go on about it but I won't since that's behind us.

My writing week was spent mostly writing by hand. I made sure to get 1k everyday but it took a long time to get there but at least I wrote something for Nested. Now, I'm going to zip right along with this novel since I already like the way it's going.

Stowaway is coming along as well but it has gotten to the point where it could end and be a short story so I'm going to leave it there until I finish Nested. I have a feeling that I'm going to change it around a bit.

I came up with a great idea for the rest of my romance novel. I already started it but I'm going to write down my ideas and put them on my wall (filled with note cards of ideas). I have to say, going out Friday night with my friend and meeting new drunk friends helped me a lot with this.

So, that's all that has been happening here.


Sunday, February 10, 2013

My Shallow Antagonist

Do you base your characters off of people in your life? 

I don't try to base all of a character on one person, maybe bits and pieces but in the novel I'm writing called Doormat Syndrome, every character is based on someone in my life.

The one I'm focusing on is my main antagonist. She is shallow, selfish, rude, and vain. Honestly, I don't know why or how I put up with her for so long but I did. She's still in my life now but only when she needs something - that's the only time she'll contact me. This person and I still talk to. She's not always bad but she does have moments that just completely cancel out her goodness.

Maybe I'm being a pessimist.

But you'll understand why I call her my Shallow Antagonist if you read the pieces I've already written about her. I will probably post a few at some point in time.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

5k Weekend

Today is the start of another 5k weekend, where I try to write 5,000 words by tomorrow night. I think I can handle it...if I get started right now. I'm hoping to get further into my novel, Nested. Right now, I'm at a point where there is important stuff going on but I want move on from that and get more towards the action. Yeah, I'm awful like that. I'm still towards the beginning of my novel (it's at 11k right now) so it will be picking up again. The first part of a novel is something I always change in the end, anyway.

I want to work a little more on Stowaway, my short story. My character has found herself in a strange situation and needs to find her way out of it. Stowaway and Nested are in the same world. There will be, at least, one character from Nested that pops into Stowaway some time in the story but that moment is brief.

Have a good weekend!

Cylee


Friday, February 8, 2013

Writing Update #5 - Balance

February Goals
    • Word Count Goal: 10,855/85,000 
    • Finished 1st drafts: 0/1 
    • Books Read: 0/1
    • Blog Posts (Every Friday): 2/4 
    • Genre Stretch Challenge: 0,688/2,501

Today concludes the first week of February and I hate to admit it, but I'm behind. Not a big deal. Today is Friday, I'm not doing anything since it's early morning on Friday. Okay, that's not true, I have to run a few errands but that probably won't happen until the afternoon.

If all goes well, I'll be spending all day writing because I want to catch up but also, because I'm really enjoying my novel right now. Nested is turning out better than I had planned. Waking up everyday at 5am seemed to be what I needed to get writing again. Things certainly have changed in my novel since I wrote it for NaNo. I might have to change my cover...even though I love my cover art for it. It was simple and actually made a lot of sense.

Now...it could makes sense in a way. I'll make samples to see if I like it but that's only after I catch up or I reach my word count goal for the month. Not the year...that would be crazy since that will take me until next week to catch up if I dedicated all of my free time to writing but this month, I've finally found my balance between writing, reading, and crafting/art. It works out rather well in my favor and my inspiration has been endless. Knock on wood, I might have jinxed that. I'm really doubting that - even still, I'll beat up that writer's block, no problem.

I started my Genre Stretch Challenge this week. The short story is called Stowaway and it has gotten a little strange. I honestly have no idea what's happening in my story, I just know a character popped up that seemed completely out of the blue but my muse explained to me why he was in the story. Makes sense now, and why it's called Stowaway. During one of my sleepless nights, I made up a simple mock cover for my short story but I might remake it. It's not great.

Well, I think that's it for my writing. There is my cellphone novel The Abandoned City but that's coming along slowly and I won't add the word count until a chapter is finished...and I only work on that novel when I'm out of the house without my laptop.

So that concludes my week, I guess. Today, I'm going to remember to add a song. This song is currently stuck in my head. It's not a song I usually listen to unless it's playing on the radio but since it's stuck in my head, I have to buy it....yeah, sometimes, I don't make sense (actually a lot of the times I don't).

Anyway, here is the song.


Friday, February 1, 2013

Writing Update #4 - February Begins

February Goals
    • Word Count Goal: 00,000/85,000 
    • Finished 1st drafts: 0/1 
    • Books Read: 0/1
    • Blog Posts (Every Friday): 1/4 
    • Genre Stretch Challenge: 0,000/2,501


Today is the start of a new month and that means a start of a new novel. I'll still be working on Sea Foam as I go to try to finish it but I'm going to start writing Nested again.  This is going to be a different version of it though. After reading through my NaNo novel for '12, I realized that this novel was in the wrong genre. While there was nothing wrong with my storyline or my characters, there was something wrong with the setting. So, I went through and changed it. Now, I'm really looking forward to writing this novel from start to finish (hopefully).

I have yet to get started on anything. I was working on my novel that I'm typing out on my cell phone. It's not really a novel I guess...it's more of a story for children. There is one little boy in particular that I'm aiming this towards because he has such a hard time finding something that he likes and I'm going to write him something that he will like...I know this kid well enough to write a novel for him. The first book is called The Abandoned City...well, it is for now. Titles on my novels change drastically as I write.

There are a few new things I'm trying this month. The Genre Stretch Challenge being one of them. Another things I'm going to do is get  back into this writing tournament that I abandoned a long time ago. It's on deviantArt and in one of the groups I'm in...I think it's the Writer's Guild. I participated in it once and I loved it. I'm still surprised that I got as far as I did in the tournament. My friend deserves the thanks for getting me back into that. She is the one who inspired me to join again...and I'm really nervous about it (like always).

Well, I think that's all for now. I'm going to start writing and hopefully get at least 3,500 words in today, if not more.

Have a wonderful day.

Cylee