I think I can, I think I can . . .

Chug, chug, chug. Today, I wrote 990 words. A good start to my average 1,000 word a day goal. I could have done better, but I finished The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins today. I couldn't put it down and I was happy with how it ended. I hope someday I have a book that people can't put down and they like how it ends. Kudos to all the authors that can do that, I hope to someday join your ranks.

I write best at night. I always have. In college, I used to go to Drake Library, lock myself (literally) in one of the small, individual rooms in the upper level of the library and write. I would drink a Sobe adrenaline rush and block out distractions. I don't see that drink around too much. I look for it often, because it was one of the few energy drinks that tasted delish.

Tomorrow the dream contiues

Back from NY and ready to write!

The past couple weeks I have been visiting family and friends back home in NY with little to no time or space to write. I did get a couple pages out, but nothing too special. I did have a lot of good things happen while I was in NY. My sister in law had a baby: Mariah Josephine, making me a proud aunt to two gorgeous nieces! My cousin Kristina had her wedding shower and bachelorette party - fantastic times had there! I got to hang with family, have hot dogs and other killer bbq food, and I even added an extra dog to the mix - temporarily. I am dog sitting my mom's long haired tea cup Chihuahua for July.

I got back a couple nights ago, after a crazy drive back that began we me locked my keys in the car while it was running and the dogs were inside, followed by having to detour around a 4th of July parade after getting off an exit for gas, and driving through a hail storm going about 10 mph. Yesterday was my day as rest, relaxation, and lawn mowing (aka sweating my skin off). Today, I continue to write.

I wrote about 750 words. Not fantastic, but surely better than nothing. I know I need to pick up the pace if I have any hope of finishing my novel-in-progress. I am currently 81 pages in. I want to set a reachable goal. I punched out the stuff tonight in about an hour. Maybe try for 7000 words a week. It seems lofty, considering how long it has taken me to get where I am, but it doesn't seem unreasonable. We shall all see how well I stick to my new goal. Wish me luck and thanks for reading/following! :)

Change in plans.

So I finally decided that I was going to just keep the title to the story I was going to submit and deal with it, but last minute another story I wrote caught my eye in my "writing" folder and I read through it. I had to hold back a couple tears and decided I would send that one instead. I like the title better, but other than that, I'm not too sure why I sent it instead. Hopefully it was a good decision. Only time will tell. I have been writing faithfully for my novel. Also today I started a memoir that deals with a certain time in my teenage years. I'm not sure if it will amount to anything more than a personal cleansing, I guess only time will tell. Taylor Swift's song, "Mean" got me going with it. I'm not even sure that it actually is relevant, except the word mean. Anyway, only time will tell if it's worth cleaning and sending.

In reading news, I recently finished the Ender's Game quartet for the second time. I sincerely love everything Orson Scott Card. It was his writing that really made me love Science Fiction and want to write it. I am going to re-read the Ender's Shadow quartet also, but first I am reading The Hunger Games Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins. It was recommended to me by a co-worker and is good so far.

I am sincerely happy right now to have the time to read and to write. Sometimes I don't think people understand that I need an open mind to write, or that reading will help me get a better understanding of how plot, character and form fit together. Well, it's time to pick up my book and a glass of wine. Night.

Problem of the day . . . of always

Titles. I can never figure out what to title stories. I always give things working titles so I remember what they are as I am writing them. However, working titles are simply cheesy and not thought out, and yet I rarely change the title once I'm done. So the question of the day, or possibly the century is this: how do you choose a title? I tried the obvious to solve my dilemma. I looked at books on my shelf and thought about why they are titled the way they are. Some obviously tell you what the book is about, some give the theme, some are simply one word, like Pastwatch (Orson Scott Card), others are long, like the short second life of bree tanner (Stephenie Meyer). How does an author choose? How do I choose? I want it to grab attention, because I admit to often choosing books based on title, cover, and referral so I expect others to do the same. Since no one has read my stuff before and it's a short story with no cover art, I need a killer title. On that note, if anyone reads this and has any idea at all about ways to choose titles, please comment. I am lightly begging. Thanks. Till next time.

. . . and then it hit me!

So I've mentioned that I have been working on a novel, recently I've come to realize that parts of it aren't flowing the way I want. I feel like it's too quick and things won't make sense to whomever may or may not someday read it because while the back story of my characters is in my heart (or wherever a writer keeps the soul of their characters) the reader won't understand their motivations. I have come up with a new idea (besides the obvious of editing it and adding more "now" material where necessary). I am going to include inserts or chapters of flashback setting up where life started and how relationships changed. Where it starts, in medias res, is perfect (I think), but with that (and I should have known this) I need to clue the reader into everything else. So here's to writing all of the inserts and the more difficult task of coherently inserting them into what I already have. After that and some careful expansion/editing on my part, the scarier and more challenging part will come: what to do with it. That, honestly, is probably still a while down the road. My goal: (and I can't believe I am sharing this with everyone who may or may not read this, but I would like you to hold me to it) Is to finish at least a rough cut of the (first?) novel by the end of the year and (maybe) have a clue where I need to go from there. Crazy.

Getting back in the swing of (some) things . . .

writing, to be exact, and everything that goes with it. Last night, after I blogged, I submitted a story that I wrote specifically for a literary magazine, 5x5. They have themes, which I always have a hard time with. Specifically, I have a hard time with taking things too literally, I think. However, I'll never get better if I don't try to, and who knows maybe they will like it. Anyway, I haven't ever read the magazine (yet - I do plan to subscribe to it soon) but they deal with concise fiction (under 500 words). I like writing short short stories because I like quick and dirty satisfaction (please don't read into that). I have submitted a few things to literary magazines that specialize in "flash" fiction; I have been rejected by all of these too. The last one stung a bit, because I love the story, Rob laughed at the story (a reaction of any nature to fiction from him is a compliment), and I am sure someone else out there will like it too. I just have to find the right someone.

I was thinking about my writing last night and my style and I realized a few things.
1. When I write about myself I often write in the third person. It allows me to disconnect from my feelings a bit. It makes what I say sound less whiney and makes me less vulnerable because I am not saying the words "me" or "I"
1a. With that said, some of what I write that seems fiction, is often quite real.
2. When I make truly make a plot up, I enjoy writing in first person. It helps me feel closer to my characters, becoming part of them in a weird, loving way.
3. Combining one and two means that I tend to blend non-fiction and fiction in such a way that sometimes I don't know how to categorize it.
4. My flash fiction can read like poetry because when I write something authentic, poetic devices flow from my fingers.
5. I should have been more self assured in college so I would have asked my writing professors more questions about the best places to publish and a whole other assortment of useful questions.
6. If I were more self assured, I would ask them now

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Speaking of college professors, I friended one of my favorites on facebook a while ago, James Whorton. He wrote a book titled Frankland, that I was made to read for another class at the college. I loved his class, Advanced Fiction Workshop and his book was pretty good too. Both taught me about character authenticity, a subject I feel very strongly about. He also has a new book coming out, that I just pre-ordered: Anglea Sloan . Anyway, I mention him here not because of college so much as his Facebook post about a call for submissions to a literary magazine that he helps edit. It seemed serendipitous since I had started to really get back into writing that very night. So that is something else I am working on in the next few weeks.

On another note, the word blog is not recognized in the Microsoft dictionary. I think it’s time someone update it. Oh wait, I can update my version!

It's time.

With the school year so close to being over, my brain has a bit of free space in it for creativity. The good news is, that should be true for a good long while, seeing that this was my third and final year of teaching High School Special Education. How I came to this job is a story in itself, shocking perhaps, interesting, maybe, but most definitely lacking in creativity. I always felt like I was swimming in the middle of the ocean with no shore in sight. I could see a raft, but every time I almost could reach it, a big wave would come and push it away again. Maybe that's just the way life goes, as a matter of fact it might be. Now that I am free from the brain numbing monotony that is Special Education paperwork, I am going to head back to the goal I first pondered in 8th grade -- getting something published/someone that doesn't personally know me reading and liking my work. So far, and I forgot to write about this as soon as the latest time happened, my writing has been rejected three times. Not a lot considering. I just keep trying to tell myself that my writing is fantastic, these people reading it are the crazy ones, and some day they will be sorry that they can't say my writing was published first with them. (Hey with a goal like this you need to have a little bit of conceit.

So back to writing daily, editing randomly, submitting more often that ever before, studying for the GRE, painstakingly waiting for a rejection, and putting myself out there. I will be updating more often and hopefully someday sharing some good news.