I Can See the End of Camp NaNo

The end is nigh! I mean that in a non-apocalyptic away. I'm excited because I'm 42k into my 50k words for Camp NaNoWriMo this month. The end is near, and I'm hoping I'll even finish a touch early. Hubby is helping me to celebrate by attending a Thursday Age of Ultron showing with me. So I have to finish. The tickets for my reward are already booked.

Has anyone else been doing Camp NaNo? How's your progress?

#WordlessWednesday

Camp NaNoWriMo

This is your reminder that I'm about to slip down the deep, dark well of Camp NaNoWriMo. I will see you at the end of April, and hopefully I will have met my word counts and finished the rewrite of the novel I put together last year. This time, without the plot holes! Oooooo. I know, I'm excited too.

And feel free to stalk me there and tell me I'm a moron if I fall behind on my progress. I could probably use it.

Doing My Homework

Today I finally sat down and did something that wasn't just writing for my books. I first drilled in what Amazon category I think will fit them best, and then I set about looking through other people's covers to get ideas. I'm even assembling some favorites in various genres on a Pinterest board for easy access.

The thing that gives me a bit of an edge when it comes to look is that I'm a graphic designer by trade. If you're curious, you can see my work here. I can make it pretty. I even have a concept that I like already, though as I peel through the hordes of other covers, I'm wondering if I'll need to... well, honestly, to class it down a bit. There are some pretty awful homemade covers out there, and I don't want to fall into that category. I'm also thinking that doing a straight, clean, modern cover won't fare well amidst all the naked man flesh. There's a lot of naked man flesh. Which, don't get me wrong, I enjoy. I just think you can sell sex without showing it. 

How have you approached cover design to make your book stand out without making it look like it doesn't belong? I'd love to hear some stories from folks who are already in the trenches!

When It Grows on Its Own

Found him on Pinterest.

I realized in retrospect how dirty the title sounded, and I almost stopped to change it. Almost. Then I remembered who my friends and readers are. 

Last year for National Novel Writing Month, I wrote up a vampire novel. I'm currently in the process of polishing the end, resolving a few threads, and editing (OW! the EDITING!) the darn thing. At the time, it was a nebulous probably kinda maybe sort of thought that I'd eventually turn it into a series. Well, this year's NaNoWriMo will see me making that a reality. 

Yep, I'm officially going to be one of those random chicks writing vampire romance. If helps, it's hot dudes making out, not whiny high school girls. Does that help? If you didn't run screaming when you read that, I have high hopes that you'll enjoy Tales from the Last Drop once I actually get my stuff together and get one or two (or three) of these puppies done and ready to a point where I'm comfortable sharing them with the world.

All this is to say that thanks to a chat with Tera Shanley and my friend Chad who's the reason I'm writing this series in the first place (the Last Drop itself happens to be his creation - yes, using it with credit and permission, folks, no worries here), I've got my direction for NaNo. I've also got some real, concrete direction on my fiction writing for original stuff. I feel like I'm finding solid ground on that for the first time since high school, and it's a fantastic sensation.

The Planning Begins

Why, yes, I do have it. Thanks for noticing.

The time has begun to get my stuff together and start planning for NaNoWriMo. I still have only the vaguest, fuzziest of ideas of what I'm going to do. I know, great start. 

So, are any of you planning to dive in? If so, do you have a clear idea of what your plan is yet? Am I the only one whose brain is on the fritz? 

Why I'm Not Ashamed of Writing RPS

The whole cast is a gateway drug. It wasn't my fault.

First, lets's start with the terminology. RPF is real person fiction, and RPS is real person slash. Slash (for those who may not know) is fan fiction pairing two characters of the same gender. So RPS is fiction about two actual people of the same gender hooking up. 

Even in the fic community, RPF of any sort is often looked down on. We can all allow that there's a creepy factor. You're talking about actual people, not fake people! And, heck, some people take issue with shipping (liking two characters paired together romantically) in fic at all when it isn't cannon. Or with fan fiction as a whole. Or with the air with breathe. Ahem, I digress. The context here is to realize that a lot of people just aren't comfortable with the idea of RPF and RPS.

Epic fucking trolls, these boys.

So why am I not in the least bit ashamed of having written it? Shouldn't I be apologizing profusely via fan mail for the wrongs of the past? Um, no. First of all, fan fiction is written by fans generally to be read by other fans. It's not for the celebrities or show runners... and amusing as the gif sets of celebs being confronted with fic can be, I'm generally horrified when fans or interviewers spring that sort of thing on the celebrities in question. It's tacky and creepy. Hey, if they like trolling Tumblr on their own (hi, Mark Ruffalo!), then that's wonderful. But that's also their choice.

See? Terrible influences.

So it's okay because the people it's about don't see it? Well, yeah, partly, but there's also the fact that for me, I'm not really writing about a real person. I don't know the real person. I'm writing a fictionalized version of a person who I'm making up based on interviews or random perceptions or pictures. Despite it being called "real person slash," there's nothing real about it. There are definitely people for whom those lines are blurred, but I'm happy to say I'm not one of them. I have boundaries. I have common sense. I also have clear warnings and information attached to all of the fiction that I write so that those who don't want to read it can avoid it like the plague. 

For those of you who are also fic writers, have you ever dabbled in RPS or RPF? Do you cringe when you think about it? Do you still write it? 

A Softer Sort of NaNo

I hereby confess that I am not doing anything productive for Camp NaNoWriMo this time around. Oh, I'm writing for it. Fan fiction, people. Yep, that's how it's going to be. 

I'm still going to work my butt off, and I darn well intend to come out of it with a finished story. If you'd like to see whether I'm managing, you can check out my profile here. And for the Avengers slash fans out there, you've got a treat coming.

We Are The Champions!

It's never the wrong time to look at Zachary Levi.

Well, I'm the champion. I really can't speak for you. In all seriousness, I completed Camp NaNoWriMo, and I feel fantastic. I only did 25,000 words this round since I was shooting for a novella. Not only did I knock out the word count, the story itself is close to complete. Well, the first draft. We all know that's a starting point, not an end point. Why didn't I learn that sooner? In any case, it's a huge chunk of work done, and my main characters have been tortured appropriately with at least somewhat of a reward in the end. I'm not entirely heartless. 

With that done, and my book club book read (we did Dreams & Shadows by Robert Cargill this month), it's time for some recreational writing, tacky movie watching, and fan fiction reading. Let there be geeky hedonism!

The Tough Keep Something or Another

No, mommy, no laundry - get your damn story done.

So far, Camp NaNoWriMo has been good. It's going really well, actually. So maybe my title is misleading. So far I'm keeping up with my daily word count, and I'm making good progress on the story. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that I've spent months plotting this particular story out. 

I won't say that the characters are "speaking" to me, precisely. I don't really talk to my characters. I plot scenes like I'm watching a movie. I direct and edit a movie in my head, then I write it down. This particular movie involves internal visual casting of Chris Colfer, Chris Evans, Mads Mikkelson, Olivia Hussey and Karen Gillan. What I'm saying here is that it's beautiful. Seriously, this is a fun head picture to savor. 

Any of you out there hitting up the event? Writing something even if you aren't? Whose faces are you looking at in your head?

Let's DO THIS!

This is my brain this morning.

This is a friendly reminder to all of you that I'll be doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month (ie starting April 1st). Yes, I'm going to have to get off my butt, wake myself up (my toddler, above, is illustrating my current mental state), and get some progress made.

I'm wildemoon there if anyone cares to stop by and make sure I'm actually writing. I changed my word count from 50k to 25k not so much because I'm copping out but because as I plotted it out, I realized the idea I wanted to tackle was a novella and not a novel. I'm tackling an urban fantasy romance this time around. Wish me luck, and let me know what you're doing with your projects this month!

Pitching a Tent

The time has come for me to once again stop screwing around and write something. I'll be doing Camp NaNoWriMo yet again, and as always will be using the handle wildemoon. Let me know what yours is if you'd like to share a cabin - the more the merrier! 

I haven't kept up for the first part of this year. I admit it. I've been lazy. I haven't finished any stories, I haven't edited any of my mostly-done novels, I haven't gotten it together at all. The bright side? It doesn't mean that I can't do those things starting now. April is a fresh start.

Whether you're doing Camp NaNoWriMo or not, what are you doing right now to reach your goals (writing or otherwise)?

Twisting Yourself in Knots

Done. Just done.

So for this year's NaNoWriMo, I completed a novel. More or less. You see, it was meant to be the first in a series of at least three books combining a few stories I already had plotted out. The problem? I made changes, I loved them, and then... I started thinking.

There are few things as dangerous as a writer thinking. Things go from smooth sailing to second guessing everything in no time flat. I managed to twist myself in knots about whether I wanted to break two of the plots taking place in the book out into two separate books to give them more focus. And then how I wanted to handle the interlocking timelines of many events if I chose to do that. And how it would affect the other stories planned for the other books. And then my brain started leaking out my ears, and I stopped thinking.

I'm still a bit twisted up as to how to resolve it all, so in the interest of not driving myself crazy, I'm fleshing out a couple of other ideas to dive into in the meanwhile. So, writers, crafters, artists, general creative types, how do YOU unknot your brain once you've tied it up?

NaNo VICTORY!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's mommy actually finishing!

It's done. National Novel Writing Month is done. Yes, okay, it's been done for a week. Don't act like you've been anymore inspired to be constructive with your writing than I have. We all know better. 

I've been verified, I'm done, it's real. Another year in a row of ACTUALLY FINISHING! I'm desperately happy about that. I'm proud of myself. 

Of course, now comes the frustrating part. The spewing out words onto the page is really the easy part. Now I have to do something with those words. I've already decided that instead of having two major stories going on in this book, I'm going to split them into two books. I also decided that another idea I had should be book one, which makes the "book one" I just finished book two. I think I like making life hard for myself.

So what about you guys? Did you finish? Did you at least get some fabulous writing done? (Let's face it, that's the real victory.) How much has YOUR book already changed since NaNo ended? 

Hottie of the Week: Oscar Wilde

In honor of NaNoWriMo starting today (click that link and add me as a buddy!), we're keeping it literally. Besides, if you don't think this bitch is fabulous, we probably shouldn't be friends. 

Another NaNo Twist

Alright, my NaNo novel has changed again. That's the point of planning, right? Instead of the true crime/fantasy hybrid I'd originally envisioned (it's still on the backburner, don't worry), I'm going to plunge into a novel that started as a piece of fan fiction. Actually, this will be a book set in that universe but not based off of what's already been written. I'm hoping to use this to shape and re-shape some aspects of the universe to fit where I want it to go.

So get ready for sexy vampires. Particularly sexy male vampires. Sorry, straight dudes, there won't be much for you in this one. I'm also trying to goad my husband into writing this November as well, though so far no success in persuading him. He keeps throwing out all these great ideas and not writing them down - hopefully we can change that this year!

So how is your NaNo progress? Any plotting done? 

It's NaNoWriMo Prep Time

The time has come again - it's almost National Novel Writing Month! I'm thinking, I'm prepping, and I'm trying to make myself decide exactly which novel I'll be diving into for the month. I succeeded last time and actually hit my 50k words, so I'm anxious to do it again. It was my first NaNo victory. I want MORE! How many of you will be participating? We can start a blog-based support group right here.

Tunes Tuesday & Inspiration Strikes

In addition to me sharing this awesome song with you since most of you didn't listen to a lot of Splender before they broke up (so sad!), I've had a revelation.

You see, for Camp NaNoWriMo earlier this year, I started a novel. I was sure it would be wonderful, then realized halfway through that it shouldn't be a period fantasy, it should be urban fantasy. So I changed that. Then, last night, I realized that what I wrote also shouldn't be the real story. What I wrote was a prequel. It was backstory. It was the set up for the book I'm actually going to write during NaNoWriMo this November. While this all may sound like a lot of craziness and indecision, in truth it was a lot of thinking and plotting and finally having the pieces slot together the way they were meant to. So look out, world - I've finally got a plan.

I was a teenage copy editor

Uber geek being uber geeky.

First, let me point out that I am not only wearing a Callisto shirt but chakram earrings. I was that hardcore a Xenite. If you don't even know what any of that means, we might not be able to virtually hang out anymore, and I'm sorry that you aren't more cultured. Second, the picture above shows me in my junior year of high school hard at work putting a floppy disk into a super old Mac so that I could use PageMaker to do some layout work.

Newspaper - and especially my journalism teacher Ms. Warren - was formative for me in a lot of ways. I started doing UIL competitions in journalism during my freshman year while I was still in the intro class. The next year I joined the staff as a writer, then I moved up to Copy Editor, and I was Editor my senior year. For the first time in my life, not only was I writing but people were reading my writing on a regular basis. Okay, not a LOT of people since it was a small school and not a well-loved paper, but it was still a boost for me. I did well at UIL too and even went to state for my headline writing skills. No snarky comments about my generally lame titles here, please. I got confident about my ability to write, to get things out on a deadline, and even to polish the writing of others.

Oddly enough it also inadvertently led me to the thing that superceded writing as my primary creative outlet - graphic design. As Editor, I laid out the paper, made plenty of the ads, and made sure the text flowed well. It makes my eyes bleed now to see the things I did, but I glowed with pride over every issue at the time. While sometimes I do miss putting more time into my writing, I don't regret the odd, twisted path my journey is taking. I own my own business, Wilde Designs, selling my art; I work full time as a graphic designer; I have a beautiful toddler, a wonderful husband, gorgeous puppies; and I'm finally putting time back into my writing too. So those of you out there who are still young enough to feel weird about being a newspaper (or UIL or yearbook or whatever) geek, don't. It's part of your experience. It will hep you grow. And, hey, at least it's cooler than chess club.*

*Note: We did not have a chess club at my school. Also? I'm not even sophisticated enough to know how to play chess.

I'm Gonna Write Stuff Up in Here

Okay, so I'll grant that the year is half over. That seems like an absolutely ideal time to finally put into writing my writing goals. I promise my actual writing is better than that. Damn it.

In all seriousness, I've put a lot of thought lately into where I want to be and where I want to go with my writing. It's not necessarily something I want to do full time at this point in my life. I'm a graphic designer by education and trade, and I don't want to give it up. I even run a small business online selling my art, photography and other goodies. That said, I've been writing since I was five years old. I'll never give that up either.

Last year my goal was to publish a story or book on Kindle just to get used to the process. I did it. This year I want to finish at LEAST one and maybe two of the short stories I have in progress and start submitting them to magazines. It's time to put myself out there in that way again as scary as it is after taking so many years off from doing it. I know that any rejection will be worth it for the chance at a yes.

What are your goals for the rest of the year?