Tag Archives: wake of darkness

NaNoWriMo – This is the End

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And here we’ve come to the end of NaNoWriMo. Did you win? Did you throw in the towel and say “F— it!”? I did something in between those two.

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NaNoWriMo taught me something this year: I don’t write in a linear fashion. What I mean is, I don’t sit down and start writing from the start of the story to the end of the story. I write big chunks of text and have no idea where they’ll land in the story. I suppose I could have written 50,000 of weird disjointed story bits…or I could have worked on getting the last edit of Mike’s FALLEN SECRETS done. I could have worked on finishing up the sequel to WAKE OF DARKNESS.

So that’s what I did.

Congratulations to all of my friends who fought the good NaNoWriMo fight and won! Congratulations to all the participants too–it’s a huge undertaking and hopefully NaNo got you started on a story line you want to see to the end.

NaNoWriMo Update: An excerpt

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So my goals for NaNoWriMo have changed. Rather that push myself toward 1,667 words a day–because what I was coming up with was close to complete crap–I am focusing on pushing out good writing every day in November. After all, I have things to do people! I’m currently editing another of Mike’s manuscripts for publication soon. I also have the Wake of Darkness sequel to clean up and a couple of photo book projects to finish.

Anyway to get back to the point, I’m working diligently at NaNoWriMo and I’m not beating myself up for not hitting certain word counts. I think my story will actually make for a better novelette, much like Mike’s The Great Machine.

My NaNo story is called When She Learned to Be, and you may not like it. My central character is a teenage girl who is dealing with her homosexuality in a conservative family setting. I realize this is a subject that some people may have issue with. I don’t care. As a writer, I’m doing my job if I’m making you think. There are some scenes that I will be uncomfortable with writing–drug use and a sexual assault–but I’m writing them. If a little voice in the back of my head cringes (can voices cringe? you get what I mean!), I’m writing it anyway.

Here’s an excerpt. Please be mindful of the fact that this is extremely rough and hasn’t been edited:

Sarah’s face softened and a kind smile spread across her face. She understood perfectly. She’d been the unconventional black sheep of her own family; if she’d ever come out she would have faced a storm of disappointment and rejection from her parents and siblings. She had no doubt there’d be a firestorm when Dagny decided to do so.

“Oh honey,” she said, walking to her niece and handing her a tea cup. “Absolutely. Come to me any time.”

Dagny took the cup from her and smiled gratefully at her aunt. She knew Sarah would understand.

“Drink,” Sarah commanded. “It’s a special blend to relieve stress.”

“How did you…?”

Sarah smiled. “I could tell something was weighing you down the moment I walked in the door. Just get through the next few months and then come to New York and live with me.”

Dagny nodded. “Thanks, Aunt Sarah.”

“Of course,” she replied with a bright smile.

Dagny sighed and stared into her tea cup as if it were going to reveal some secret of the universe to her. Sarah studied her seriously.

“What are you not telling me?”

Dagny sighed. “I’m in love with someone.”

“Ah,” Sarah replied knowingly. “Who is she?”

Dagny shook her head. “Just a friend.”

“Just?”

“More than that, but I can’t tell her.”

Sarah frowned. “You have to tell her.”

Dagny panicked. “No, no, no,” she shook her head violently. “I can’t do that.”

“Of course you can!” Sarah replied.

“But it will ruin our friendship.”

“Not if it’s a true friendship,” she corrected. “You have to live your life. You’re too young to carry around that kind of weight.”

“But what happens if she rejects me?”

“Then she rejects you and you move on,” Sarah replied gently. “Life is made for living. In matters of the heart it’s better to regret taking a risk than to look back and regret not doing something. It’s hurting you to keep it to yourself. You need to free yourself of that burden; it shouldn’t weigh on your heart like it does.”

Dagny nodded.

“But will you do it?” Sarah mused. She didn’t actually expect an answer—she often asked her niece rhetorical questions. She did it to get her thinking.

“I hope so,” Dagny non-answered.

Sarah stared at her until her eyes rose to meet her aunt’s gaze. “So do I.”

***

Busy, Busy, BUSY!

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Yes, this is one of those this-is-what-I’m-doing-lately-and-I’m-going-to-pretend-you-care posts.  I have a blog and I’m entitled to do this from time to time.

So I have been working as an editor, full-time, for a publishing company here in town (no, I’m not going to tell you which one) and although I love my job–I mean, come on! You give the writer a full-time gig with benefits and she’s going to be very happy–I find that I’m having to rearrange the time I use to write. I have to rethink my time management skills.

That being said, I’m reading a great book, Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century’s Biggest Bestsellers by James W. Hall, and I’m learning a ton! So much, in fact, that I’m holding off on pimping WAKE OF DARKNESS to publishers and I’m reconstructing parts of it, based upon the advice given by Hall.

Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century's Biggest Bestsellers It’s already an invaluable resource and I’m just into the first few chapters. Basically, this is me–as a writer–recommending it to you–you know, as a writer. It’s an easy read and is quite entertaining, actually.

So anyways, I’m working on WAKE based on the advice I’m gleaning from this book, and because WAKE is about vampire hunters (and agents are getting tired of the genre even though this one is TOTALLY different), I think I’m just going to publish it as an eBook, which is great thing for you readers, since I will certainly be running it on a free weekend sometime once it’s out.

TRANSMISSIONS FROM DATING LAND is still going strong and has done well so far, despite its limited audience–because really, not everyone is looking for a satirical date book.

Other projects in the works: I’m editing PRINCES, a great novella by my bf, otherwise known as MW2. We’re going to publish it as an eBook sometime soon.

Be sure to check out my tumblr account: http://brainybabe.tumblr.com/ which is just more of my silliness. I tend to jump on there during a lunch break or when I have just a couple of minutes to post something silly or quick. It’s fun.

I’m also thinking of constructing an anthology of short stories which will include some flash fiction from myself, perhaps a short story or two from MW2, and then an open call for some unpublished little ditties from some of my writer friends. That one would likely be a free eBook, with the intent to get the word out on some great writers out there who would otherwise not have a voice.

I’m also playing around with a new story, tentatively entitled SAIL. It’s a dieselpunk story with some interesting magical/superhero-type characters. I’m having fun twirling the characters around in my head and figuring out their back stories.

So in addition to all that, I’m apartment shopping and doing the working single mom thing; loving my bf more every day (yes, that was uber-mushy, get over it), enjoying life, and looking for the next awesome thing that will be coming along soon, whether it’s a new writing project, a project house, a fun trip, or whatever!