So Excited!

So I've been productive the last few days.  Not really, but a little.  I have another story published on kindle...

Wait, did I ever even mention I have one?

I do!  It's been up there since 2012 actually so about two years. Shame on me for not mentioning it before!  One of my early NaNoWriMo projects, and a story that I very much enjoyed writing, A Taste of Hope is not the story I wanted to mention.  As it happens, I finally decided to publish my novelette Soulless!  It is the first book in a series I call the S Series.

To add to that little victory, I have also (finally), put up an author page on Facebook that can be found here!

Now, I mentioned NaNoWriMo earlier, and I'm very pleased to say that it's almost upon us!  I'm so excited just as I find myself to be very year!  As it happens, I actually hope to be working on one of the novels in the S Series this coming November.  So please, wish me luck and to anyone else participating, I wish you well!

I'm Good at Excuses

So clearly I have not been writing lately.  Almost a month at this point which is really not good for you when you love writing as much as I do which I know a lot of you out there do.  I have been writing, but it's been for my roleplay sites which isn't a bad thing.  It's really good for socializing and it's also very good for character development.  So I won't knock it, but I haven't been focusing on my actual writing either which is the bad thing.

And I'm really good at making excuses for why I'm not writing or why I can put it off another day.  I'll even just sit there and kind of stare at a document sometimes and say well I can't think of anything so maybe I'll try again later.  And that is not the way that it is supposed to work when it comes to writing and I know that very well.  So I guess at this point there is no real excuse.  I have to stop doing this to myself.  I have to start sitting down and forcing myself to write unlike I have been.  Which means working on everything.  It'll help in  less than two weeks when Camp NaNoWriMo starts.  Of course I'll have to kick my butt into gear and write about ten times what I would normally write which is good for me because I think I need it.

I need to start looking at my writing more seriously.  I have the free time to do it these days.  That is what happens when you get laid off.  Not that I'm not still looking for a job.  I wouldn't be getting unemployment if I wasn't looking.  But when I'm not hunting there is no reason why I can't be writing or editing.  I have to get through my novels and start actually getting them ready for a point where I could reasonably publish them which is definitely something that I want.  It is a goal that I have never forgotten despite my failings in the area of my writing.

I am getting back into my writing though.  Just last night I decided to dust off an old idea and see if I could breath some new life into it.  I have actually been doing that quite a bit this year.  I am doing that for my Camp novel as well for the novel idea that I am developing for the Two Year Novel Course on FM Writers. So honesty I think that everything is working out really well.  Now the key is if I can keep the momentum or not.

Call It Progress

FIRST OFF!  Before I do anything else.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Alright, now that I have that out of my system, onto the rest of the blog.

So I have made some progress over the last few days.  Like I have updated a story on fictionpress.com.  You know it only took my like five or six months.  Which is actually better than some of my other records when it comes to fictionpress and fanfiction so I can't really complain too much in that area though I really do need to get better on that whole thing.

I also started a new story on fanfiction.net and deleted several other ones.  Sad, yes, but it is something I felt was necessary.  The ones that I might actually go back to I saved first though so that's a benefit right?  I mean I would like to think that I managed to do something right!  Of course I could be wrong and have utterly screwed up everything but stranger things have happened.

Anyway, I'm starting to get kind of excited for the new year mostly because I am hoping to actually do well this year for WriYe.  That being the year long spin-off of NaNoWriMo. It's unofficial, but still loads of fun and I am honestly looking forward to a lot of the stuff that I have planned for it.  I figure as long as I at least write a little bit every day I'll do a lot better than I did last year.  Not that that is saying something as I made about a third of my goal that I had for last year.  I am much ashamed of that fact.

But let's just hope that everything goes well.  Because with me, you never know.  I might not do what I'm supposed to and that would make me most sad.

Something Serious

I've decided that I seriously need to throw myself into writing again.  Reading is good.  Playing video games is great stress relief.  Work is essential.  But writing is something that I tend to have a bad habit of doing and then letting slide for several months at a time.  I can't continue to do that.  The more that I do that, the less likely that I will ever be to actually do what I want to do one day which is to be published.

And I know that's the goal of a lot of people who call themselves writes, but this is something I have wanted for years.  It's something I've wanted for as long as I have been writing which has been probably over ten years now.  No, definitely over ten years now.  It's weird to think that I've been writing that long and yet not that long at all.  Writing has become something so essential to me.  It's as much a part of me as breathing or eating.

But I'm really good at neglecting the things that I need in my life.

I guess that's the real reason why I slack, I have a bad habit of not caring about myself.  Because of that, I neglect the things that matter to me and inc this case, that would very sadly include my writing.  So my goal is to use this blog to force myself to write.  That and my lovely friend Emily.  She's amazing like that and since she does have access to me I know that she can bother me into writing and I can do it to her in return.  It's a great system and honestly I think it's something we both need.

Besides, why should I give up something I love so much, something that keeps me sane, just because I don't think I should be cared about.  And maybe I'll get into the habit of writing in this blog daily or weekly or something like that.  It might help to serve as motivation and I think that'll help me out a lot.

Apparently, Texas is very good for me because I have now been in this state for over a year and the first time I won NaNoWriMo was, you guessed it, right here in Texas.  It's as if the state has this miraculous hold on me.  And to make it that much more amazing, both times, I also managed to finish the novel in the very same month.  The first had a working title of London in the Spring, a coming-of-age historical adventure which will probably be edited again several more times.  This latest one, however, is i my pride and joy.  This year I wrote a novel that I call The Faithful, the first book in a series called the Prophecy of the Goddess.  I reverted back to my beloved fantasy genre but added a more dystopic twist to everything.

Thus you have a monster of a novel (over one hundred thousand words in total).  A monster that I am more than a little proud of.  I worked very hard on it.  And now I face the daunting task of both editing it and writing the first sequel.  I'm both excited and terrified at the prospect, but it also fills me with joy.  I guess that's how I know that I'm doing the right thing.  Nothing could make me happier than to do these things.

A Few Days, Just A Few Days

That's what I keep telling myself at least.  It's kinda hard when you're really excited however.  I mean, who can blame me?  I'm a writer.  Sure, I'm a student in college and that stuff is important, but writing is something...it's something key to my life.  It keeps me sane.  And yes I do mean that.  Writing is the perfect outlet.  That and I love just being able to do whatever.  I love being able to have some kind of control since me and control usually don't know each other, well...at all.  It's a simple fact of life.  That's why me and writing get a long so wonderfully.  And in five days, is NaNoWriMo.  Those of you who know it either think I'm insane or are right there with me.  That is another simple fact of life.

But I'm really excited.  I have my plot thought up.  At least the beginning.  And I have several characters though most of them are just kind of...well...they're more names than anything let's face it.  I mean they have positions in life, but that's about it.  I have no idea what kind of people they are, what they look like, none of it.   I just know why I need them in the story.

Though I have one far more serious problem.  My space key.  It keeps being evil.  I want to strangle it.  After all, if my words are sticking together, how can I properly number them?  Maybe death...naw, I probably just need to use some cotton swaps or something to clean out the junk under/around the keys.  I know that *sighs* I just really don't wanna >.<  I am such a bum.  It's terribly pathetic sometimes.  Like right now I should be working on reading through an assignment for a test.  Instead, I'm rping, playing on the NaNo forums and writing up this blog entry.  Yeah, definitely bum status.

Despite my bum status however, I still have my wonderful boyfriend.  And he is wonderful!  He's really sweet, great sense of humor, and he's doing NaNo too.  It's epic!  He's going more the fantasy route however which makes me uber jealous.  I love doing fantasy, but I'm trying to be good and write a novel that's strictly realist.  Yeah, it's gonna be hard for me.  I'm not a realism person.  I can be, never doubt it, I just happen to enjoy fantasy a lot more.  Especially when it's done right.  I have my opinions on fantasy, but I can mess with those later.  For now, I'll sign off and tell myself to study: a.k.a.- continue to mess around.