Tag Archives: nanowrimo

Chapter Twenty-Five of The Gold in the Dark and a Writing Update!

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Illustration courtesy of Ally Grosvenor.

The twenty-fifth chapter of The Gold in the Dark is out! New chapters, complete with brilliant chapter illustrations courtesy of Ally Grosvenor, release every other Sunday at 11 AM EST (and many times earlier)! You can get started on the series with Chapter One right here or now also on Wattpad.

These past couple weeks have been slow writing- and blog-wise, just due to Christmas and lots of time with friends and family. I’m chugging away at drafting as best I can, but I’ll admit that I’ve been making very slow progress. Regardless, I’m still looking at hopefully getting my first draft of the Beauty and the Beast and Aliens book complete by sometime in February.

For any writers out there, I also want to give a quick shout-out to the Six Figure Authors podcast, which I’ve been enjoying a lot in the last couple weeks. Their last episode featured an in-depth interview with Dean Wesley Smith, who had some really fantastic, unique advice about (not) editing, and the podcast before was just one revelation after the next about selling direct. I do sell direct already from my website, by the way, so if you’ve been meaning to pick up a copy of Specter and you want a little more cash going directly to me, please consider purchasing the book through my store!

I’m also working hard on getting my end of 2019 posts ready; I’m waiting until January to get them up because I do have the sense I’m still going to be finishing a book or two in the next couple days and I want all my stats to be accurate! I love seeing everyone else’s year end posts–best ofs, worst ofs, and everything in between. I think I’m also going to do a “state of the blog/business” post, with some New Year’s resolutions as well. I’ve always enjoyed setting New Year’s resolutions, even if my follow-through is only halfway there. 😉

Anyway, hope everyone’s having a great weekend, and enjoy Chapter Twenty-Five. ❤

Chapter Twenty-Four of The Gold in the Dark and a Writing Update!

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Illustration courtesy of Ally Grosvenor.

The twenty-fourth chapter of The Gold in the Dark is out! New chapters, complete with brilliant chapter illustrations courtesy of Ally Grosvenor, release every other Sunday at 11 AM EST (and many times earlier)! You can get started on the series with Chapter One right here or now also on Wattpad.

These past couple weeks I’ve been continuing drafting my Beauty and the Beast and Aliens book (which now has a mock-up cover, oooh).

The title and cover will be changing, of course, but I just wanted to get a placeholder up on the blog so people know it’s coming. Getting the title right is going to be tricky, since I’m pretty positive this is going to be a series, so the title needs to have a specific word or cadence that can be used for books to come. Oh well, I’ll figure it out in time, hopefully. I was lucky enough with Specter to know straightaway what the title would be, though The Gold in the Dark took some work, and I was never completely satisfied with it if I’m being honest.

Drafting is going well; I’m slower after NaNo, but that’s also a ’tis the season type of thing with Christmas coming up. I keep having great ideas for this book/series, and that makes me very excited for things to come.

I’m also beginning work on my end-of-year posts, like an analysis of my 2019 reading habits, the books I want to read most from my TBR next year, my goals as a writer next year, etc. I’m finding that a lot of my TBR picks for 2019 were not actually books I got around to reading, even though this year I’ve read more than any year past by far! I think a good portion of that is down to me by-and-large abandoning reading fantasy; for the second year in a row I’m not really feeling fantasy for whatever reason. I’ll probably explore that more fully in my upcoming posts.

Anyway, hope everyone’s having a great weekend, and enjoy Chapter Twenty-Four. ❤

Chapter Twenty-Three of The Gold in the Dark and a Writing Update!

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Illustration courtesy of Ally Grosvenor.

The twenty-third chapter of The Gold in the Dark is out! New chapters, complete with brilliant chapter illustrations courtesy of Ally Grosvenor, release every other Sunday at 11 AM EST (and many times earlier)! You can get started on the series with Chapter One right here or now also on Wattpad!

In writing news, NaNo is over!!! I was writing up until just a few minutes before midnight; I still came a little short of my goal (21k), but I still managed to hit 18.5k, which is still a very good writing month for me. That puts me at what I’m thinking will be the halfway point (35k) for my Beauty and the Beast and Aliens WIP–hard to say though, because who can tell how long it will end up being. I have a spidey sense that it will be a bit shorter than my previous books, but that’s just guesswork on my part.

This next week I’m going to be picking up all the other pieces of my writing life: blogging, Instagram, ARCs, Goodreads updates, etc. All that’s been terribly neglected in this NaNo push, and I don’t want everyone on social to take my radio silence as a sign that I’ve perished. 😛

Hmm, maybe I should also real quick jot down what I learned this NaNo so I have a historical record. First off, I’ve learned that my stamina doesn’t necessarily die after a couple hours of butt-in-chair time. I do have the capability of writing for eight plus hours and achieving a 1000+ word day. (That might sound ridiculous to some faster writers out there, but I am sloooooooow, and I do a lot of editing as I go, so more than a thousand words is a great day.)

I’ve also learned that I like letting other people know about my NaNo goals! I used to be pretty secretive about my writing life, but now I share it with the world. XD It’s pretty cool to go into work and have my coworkers ask me about my word count–I found it to be really motivating, since I didn’t want to be all “Oh, I’m doing this thing, but actually I’m slacking off on that thing, so just forget I said anything.” Nobody wants to be that guy. Gal. You catch my drift.

Lastly, I learned that getting out of my house to write really is the key for me. I wrote everywhere this month: many multiple coffee shops, a couple different libraries, work (sorry, boss!), an AirBnb writers’ retreat with my friends, on a Thanksgiving trip (another shout out to my amazing friends and husband who didn’t give a fig that I was desperately typing words while they were duking it out on Smash Bros).

Anyway, I’m going to wrap this up here. I’ve missed being present in this space, so expect way more posts for me in the run-up to Christmas. (Yay, Christmas!) Have a great rest of your weekend, and enjoy Chapter Twenty-Three. ❤

Chapter Twenty-Two of The Gold in the Dark and a Writing Update!

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The twenty-second chapter of The Gold in the Dark is out! New chapters, complete with brilliant chapter illustrations courtesy of Ally Grosvenor, release every other Sunday at 11 AM EST (and many times earlier)! You can get started on the series with Chapter One right here or now also on Wattpad!

First, I just want to give a quick update that Specter is still free on NetGalley right now. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to keep it up on NetGalley through the end of the year, but still not sure about that, so I’d grab a copy while you can! It’s also free on Kobo through the end of today. I’m curious–does anyone use Kobo as an alternative to buying ebooks through Amazon? I know it’s big in Canada; the majority of my sales through Kobo are from Canadians.

In writing updates, my NaNo’ing has been less than stellar this past week. One of my region’s municipal liaisons sent out a little note at the start of the second week reminding everyone to buckle in because the second week is always the toughest, and man, was she right. Not that I’ve gotten nothing done, but I’ve just had a couple little things happen personally that have sapped my energy. Nevertheless, I’ve managed to get a decent amount done, and I have to keep reminding myself that a decent amount is way better than a negligible amount, which was my output prior to November. 😉

Looking ahead to this next week, I’m excited–I’ve taken three days off work to relax and get some writing done, so I have a five-day (!) weekend coming up. 😀 Could not be more thrilled. Maybe I’ll also get the PDF/EPUB/MOBI packet up for the first part of The Gold in the Dark; I’ve only been promising that for, oh, months?

Anyway, I’d better wrap this up so I can get back to my NaNo words. Have a great rest of your weekend, and enjoy Chapter Twenty-Two. ❤

For all the NaNoWriMo pantsers out there who need a little help…

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

Okay, so I’m a plantser, with an emphasis on the pants. (And if that’s mumbo jumbo to you, it means that I by-and-large dive into my books with only a vague plan. :D) So as the start of November looms, I was intrigued when Reedsy sent me an email about their plot generator! This is a lot more thought-out than other story/character generators I’ve seen; you can set your genre (drama, romance, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi) and lock in the elements that ring true to you, until you have your perfect story.

So you can lock in any of the elements that catch your eye and keep generating more suggestions until the story’s the way you want it!

I decided to treat the “kicks off” bit as a scene in the book, rather than the very start of the book, since I already have the opening part of my project written. Some of the character jobs I treated a bit loosely, given that I already have a decent conception of my characters, but the whole thing really got me thinking and helped me come up with some decent ideas.

I’m doing a Beauty and the Beast soft sci-fi retelling, so because it has both sci-fi and romance elements I did two of them! Here was the sci-fi version I came up with:

An airship pilot, who has an obsessive nature. A supercomputer, who has the patience of a saint. It’s a soft science fiction story about what it means to be human. It kicks off in the dunes with a fight to preserve alien culture. (Note that: someone in the story has recently lost someone dear.) And there’s a twist! There is an accidental bodyswap at one point in the plot.

And here’s the romance version:

A model, who grows carnivorous plants. A prince, who tends to brood. It’s a paranormal romance story about hoping again. It kicks off at a botanical garden with a botched order for a mail-order bride. (Note that: someone in the story has been struggling to live up to societal expectations.) And there’s a twist! The protagonists don’t speak each other’s native languages.

Anyway, I know a lot of book bloggers are doing NaNo this year, so I just wanted to give everyone a useful tip in case you’re scrambling to figure out your story for tomorrow. 🙂 Check it out here, and good luck with NaNo!

The NaNoWriMo 20 Questions Tag!

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

I saw this awesome tag over on Sophie’s blog, and since we’re almost into NaNo season I thought it would be a super fun tag to do! Thanks for putting this together, Sophie. 🙂

Rules

  1. Thank the awesome blogger who tagged you!
  2. Link back to the creator of this tag, Sophie @ Sophie’s Corner. (I want to hear about your NaNo novels!!)
  3. Feel free to use the NaNoWriMo 20 Questions Tag graphics!
  4. Answer the questions.
  5. Tag some friends who are also doing NaNo this year.
  6. And have fun!!!

Tell me about your NaNoWriMo project this year! Give me a blurb!

I’m mostly a discovery writer, which means writing a blurb is nigh on impossible since I don’t know most details of the story until I get to them, but I’ll give the briefest of hooks:

A girl takes her father’s place in an alien abduction gone awry, only to find that her surly extraterrestrial captor may not be the villain he at first appears.

What’s the genre?

Sci-fi fairy tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast!

Describe your MC in three words.

Intelligent, brave, beautiful (I mean, this is Beauty and the Beast lol)

Without spoilers, describe your villain in three words.

Manipulative, tenacious, handsome (can you all guess who I’m talking about? :P)

What is your goal? (the traditional 50K? 20K? 5K? or……. 100K?)

I think I’m going for 21k, which is 700 words/day. I’m a slow writer, for better or for worse. :/

Is this your first draft? Second? Third?

First draft! Ugh, drafting is the worst.

Are you starting a new project (or draft), or continuing an existing one?

I’m continuing an existing draft, which is about 14,000 words long at the moment.

What is your favourite time to write in the day?

Any time I can write with friends, whether that’s after work or in the morning. Having friends with me for “butt in chair” time makes it sooooo much easier to make progress.

Where are you going to write?

At home, at work, at NaNo meetups… Anywhere I can!

Computer or paper?

Computer, using the writing service Dabble. Oh my God, I could never draft on paper. I revise my sentences so much that the paper would be all scratched out scribbles.

NaNoWriMo is a huge commitment!! How are you going to make time to write?

I’m fortunate enough to have some downtime at work right now, so I’m able to write during the day. Also, I’ve actually taken a few days off of work in November to focus on NaNo!

Are you going to participate in local or online NaNoWriMo events? (e.g. kick-off parties in your city, write-ins, virtual writing sprints…)

Yes, absolutely! NaNo events are how I met most of my writer friends. This will be my fourth anniversary for some of my NaNo friendships! ❤

Do you write from beginning to end or skip around?

Beginning to end. I’m a super linear writer, mostly because I’m by-and-large a pantser.

Planner or pantser? (or plantser?)

Plantser, with an emphasis on the pants. I do my best to plan, but things always go awry, and I find my most creative ideas are spur-of-the-moment inventions!

What will be your go-to NaNoWriMo snack?

Hrmm, I mostly write in coffee shops where there are abundant, tempting baked goods. That is not what I need to be eating right now, so… string cheese? Haha, that’s my go-to if I’m at a Starbucks.

Choice of caffeine? (or no caffeine?)

Teaaaaaaaa. Doesn’t matter if there’s caffeine in it or not, just give me an infinite supply, preferably hot and loose-leaf.

Any rewards for milestone achievements? For finishing NaNoWriMo?

Maybe I’ll buy myself a nice pair of shoes; that’s what I did as a reward for finishing my first book. 🙂

Share a tip for other NaNo-ers!

Go to the events! The camaraderie makes it way easier to get words on the page.

Also, try to end each day in the middle of a scene, or even in the middle of a sentence. It makes it easier to start writing again the next day.

How are you feeling about NaNoWriMo? (Excited?! Nervous!? Terrified?!)

Excited and scared, since this book is much more vague in my mind than previous projects. I need to do whatever planning I can prior to November 1st!

Share an aesthetic for your NaNoWriMo novel!

Since I’m not sure who’s doing NaNo, I tag everybody!! 😀 Thanks again to Sophie for creating the tag!

Leave a line down below if you’re doing NaNo this year! What’s your project about?