Exciting News!

As a warning I will be posting this on both Life of a Book Addict and Writing is Life for those of you who meander between both of my blogs.  I have some very exciting news though!  Starting the 21st and possibly for a few days after, I shall be moving!  Not cities or anything big like that.  Just apartments, but I am very excited for it.  It'll be a better living condition, a better neighborhood, more space.  And honestly, it's the little things I'm excited for.

• Having a in-complex laundry mat.
• Having a swimming pool (alright, not so little, especially in this drought)
• Having more than one set of house keys.
• Having an oven I don't think will short-circuit and burn my living space down.
• Having a fire alarm that works.

See, the little things boys and girls that make life worth living.  And the fact it is a lot closer to my job, also makes things really awesome.  Speaking of, I have to buy a bike.  Anyone know of any cheap ones that function?  I'm going to be looking around, of course, but i I figure, it never hurts to ask around.  Especially since I've been told that getting a steady ride to work means promotion opportunities.  Exciting and terrifying at the same time!

It's Worth a Thought

So I'm trying an experiment at the moment and I'm finding it to be a rather interesting one.  I have decided that I am going to take a notebook and start handwriting a story.  I haven't done this kind of thing in a very long time.  But there is a kind of method behind the madness actually.  Basically the idea is that I am going to write the whole story by hand.  sure it'll take a while, but I think it will be worth it.  I won't be able to backspace which is a good thing.  I'll just have to take it as it goes.

Basically the idea is that I'll write up the whole story and then after it's finished I will type it up and that way I can edit it as it goes.  At least that is the hope.  We'll see how that actually goes in the end.  It's way too early in the process to decide if this will actually work or not.  I think the key to all of it is to make sure that I don't abandon it like I have done the sacred notebooks, at least for the time being.

Most people do not know of the existence of the sacred notebooks.  No, they're not some kind of relic or anything like that.  It's actually one of my oldest stories that I still have.  Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my writing from middle school due to an unfortunate incident involving a neighbor and the police that I prefer not to go into.  And for a while it seems like I really didn't write very much because I can't seem to find many things from my freshman year of high school though that could also have had to do with moving twice within two years.

The earliest story that I still have lurking around these days it the sacred notebooks.  They're falling apart and in serious need of finishing, but it was the start of me taking fairy tales and stories and twisting them to how I want.  Which is honestly what I do when I write.  I love the twists and turns.  And as a good friend, who also writes, very recently told me, we all have something that makes our stories unique.  Something that we throw in no matter what genre we're writing.  I'd like to think that is what I do.  Of course there is probably more to it, but I'll have to figure that out as time goes and I write more.

And I fully intend to write more.  Who knows, maybe one day I'll even finish the story contained within the sacred notebooks.

Unbury the Plot, Love the Characters

Now I have to say that there is nothing wrong with writing blind.  It's a different experience and brings with it, its own kind of rewards.  You never know where the story is going and that becomes an adventure all its own.  But it isn't always that simple.  Sometimes it is actually a little tough.  Sometimes you need something, just one little point in the plot, one little twist and everything can build up around that.  It's more than just starting with a character.  That's all well and good, but there is more to it than that.

I've learned, at least when it comes to myself that some of my best stories come from focusing on the character.  Despite what people think, however, focusing on the characters doesn't mean that you're flying without a plot.  In my opinion, it just means that you do not let the plot guide the story.  You do not make it so that the characters are merely plot devices manipulated to suite the plot's needs and thus negating their ability to be.  To me, characters are alive.  They are vibrant and real.  They make mistakes and sometimes they get with someone that you don't want them to get with or they do something that you hadn't intended.

But, I think that is what makes stories so wonderful.  Watching characters develop in ways that you might have never imagined.  I don't believe that you fall in love with a story because of its plot line.  Or even because of the twists that you find it.  Yeah, those are great.  They add so much to the story that you read and what you experience, but they're not really the point.  You can have the greatest plot in the world, but if the reader can't connect with the characters in the story, it's really a moot point, isn't it?

So really, I think that a good story is a balance between the plot and the characters.  If you have a good plot with characters built to follow it, the story comes across as shallow.  If you have great characters with no plot, the story becomes dull and though people might want to force themselves to read on, usually they can't.  So you have to find the balance.  And honestly, the balance can be the hardest part at times, but it's the most fun at the same time.  So, that's what you work for and right now, that's what I'm working to find as I start off with this story.  I look at Malak, I know her and I know her well.  And now it is time to give her a plot that is worthy of her.

I hope I am up to the task.

A New Project

So I have started a new project.  Again.  That happens a lot.  I have this really bad habit of starting new projects all the time and setting aside the old ones.  It's not necessarily a bad habit, but the problem lies in that I don't always pick the only projects back up.  I really need to get out of that habit.  And I am trying.  I've been bringing back up old projects as well as trying to force myself to edit even though, if I'm going to be honest, I really don't like to do it.  But I think that just comes with the territory.  Anyway, I wanted to share about this new project and hopefully get some feedback.

I do not have a name for it yet or anything like that.  Actually I don't have much of anything on it.  I simply know it is about one of my older characters.  Not older as in age as in she has been floating around my head as this this lovely little benevolent bit of light for a very long time.  So I suppose I should introduce you all to Malak Aarle.  I am not sure how old she will be this time around.  I've played her anywhere between sixteen years of age to about twenty-three.  It makes for a fairly wide age gap and leaves a lot open.  Malak's family is kind of a pet project of mine and has been since I first created her for role-playing on a Harry Potter site probably six years ago.  I have to say that I love Malak very dearly.

The family's main history starts with her grandfather, Falco Aarle.  Falco was born and raised in the Netherlands, a son of modest folk who married a woman from his homeland.  During World War II (see this is where I start dating things), he stepped forward as a spy against the German and became heavily involved in various political intrigues.  He sent his wife and parents to live in England to make sure that they remained safe while he did some very dangerous and clever things that he has never divulged to anyone except for, sometimes, proper channels of government.

After the way was over, he joined his family in England and settled down with his wife having two children with her, a son named David and a daughter.  His children were raised in England though he did still teach them them his native language of Dutch.  For all his children knew, their father was a botanist.  He worked very closely with plants and consulted with the government on various matters.  They never knew of his darker past or even his involvement in things like the Cold War.

David grew up with a very normal life and went into architecture.  He moved down to Saudi Arabia as a contractor shortly after he left school which was where he met a rather modern Arab woman named Ayda.  The two ended up married and while still in Saudi Arabia, Ayda gave birth to twins who they named Malak and Aeyldis.  When their daughters were two, the couple moved back to England near Falco and his wife.  Within the next four years, Ayda gave birth to two other children, Karim and DeWitt.  David's sister had stayed closer to home marrying a banker and giving birth to a little girl a year after Malak and Aeyldis who they named Emerald.

As you can see, I've always given a lot of thought to Malak and her family.  Now the problem doesn't lie with figuring any of that out.  I know her background and when I write about her, it will probably be when she is in her twenties since some very important things happen around the time she is eighteen.  However, the most interesting aspect of writing Malak, since apparently she has already decided the story shall be in first person, is that she is blind.  It brings the story into a new perspective.  Everything in writing is so much about building pictures and here you have a woman who can only do that with her mind.  I'm not sure how I'm going to write it or even what, so far, the story will be about, but I do know that drawing the reader in with a blind narrator should be the most challenging part of all.

Should I go forward with it at all?  I suppose that is the question that I find myself needing the answer to the most.  I very much want to.  I've always wanted to write about Malak, but the question is does anyone even really want to read about her?

As You May Have Noticed

I haven't been on this blog in a while.  I noticed that recently and those of you who follow this blog probably noticed that as well.  I promise I haven't been completely inactive.  Just mostly inattentive.  Actually, I've been doing some work on another blog, connected to this one.  It is called Life of a Book Addict.  On that blog I am trying to review at least one book a week as well as give little updates on my writing, which I need to get back to, and honestly, just updates on my world and my perspective of the world around me.  Some of it is a little hard to share while some of it turns into my usual rambling.  But, I did think that it was only right that I mention it and allow people the chance to look at it.

I will be using this blog still mostly for my writing whenever I remember to make updates which means reminders need to go onto my iPod while the other will likely more focus more on my life and my love of reading.  So, for anyone who reads this and all those brave and stubborn enough to stick with me, I thank you.

Here I Go Again

I know more excuses.  Anyone who reads this is probably tired of hearing them.  Almost a much as I'm tired of making them.  Not sure which of us is ahead on that scale yet.  I haven't quite decided that yet.  But that can come later.  After all this post is certainly not about the weight of one's annoyance versus another.  It is about the excuses.

Or what some people would call what I've been doing with my life.

So I very recently got a job which is good.  It's very good.  It should, hopefully, mean more money than I've been getting from unemployment which makes me very happy.  My friend bought me a pretty new laptop too!  I now no longer have the excuse of an evil keyboard.  Instead, I have a very pretty laptop with Windows 8 that I adore.  I also flew down to California last weekend for my grandparent's vow renewal which was really cool.  But as you can imagine this has left me not only busy, but very poor as well.

Alright, poor doesn't really have anything to do with it.  And even the busy isn't that much of an excuse.  My job is only part-time after all.  I'm just lazy and I'm good at making excuses.  I am a very shameful soul and I apologize to all for that.  But I am being forced into a situation where laziness and excuses can no longer be allowed.

So I suppose I should start there.

So my first year down here in Texas which would be 2011 for those of you who don't know, I won my very first NaNoWriMo.  I was very proud of myself and after editing the novel, I used my five free copies from CreateSpace to print it.  And then I kind of left it alone.  I gave out a few of the copies but I've always held one back for my mother.  I gave it to her this past Sunday while she was down in California for that same Vow Renewal.

I gave this book to my mother before Church.  I'm still not sure if that was a mistake or not.  I know I would have forgotten if I didn't, but at the same time, what followed was both good and bad.  I should continue to explain otherwise I'll just speculate and no one will have any idea what I'm actually talking about.

The church that I went to while my family lived in Southern California so many years ago, is the one that my grandparents still attend.  It's a smaller church now, but the people are good and remember me well.  At the end of services, before everyone is dismissed, they do announcements.  And those who have announcements can either tell someone before all of this or they can stand up (raise their hand maybe) to be called upon to give their announcement.

My dear, sweet mother raised her hand and when called upon by my grandfather who was giving the announcements, proceeded to tell everyone that I had something I would like to announce.  I then stood up, having been backed into a corner and told everyone that within the last few years I had written a novel and had self-published it.

After service was dismissed, people started coming up to me and asking me random questions about it, how they could get it.  It has now been decided that I shall be ordering copies and selling them to people.  This is good, very exciting.  I mean I love the story itself and this will force me to work on the stories that come after it.  But at the same time, it's not how I thought things would turn out.

I guess that is the way that life is.  It's not always going to be the way that we expect it to be.  And thinking that it will be is rather silly actually.  We can't assume that we know the way that life will turn out.  And that is something that I am having to face.  I think that is what is making me panic so much about all of it.  I had this clear thought of things and my first novel to be known and wanted by people was certainly never a historical novel.  I guess that is what I get for thinking.

I really need to stop doing that thinking stuff.  It's clearly bad for me.

Camp NaNoWriMo and Individualism

So we are almost a week into Camp NaNoWriMo and I have to say that I love how it is set up.  I know that there were some people who were a little upset that they had moved the camp to April since a lot of school events do happen around this time, but I think that they adding in the feature to choose your won word count, it allows you to set your own pace.  I've seen word count goals as low as thirty thousand words which, might seem like a lot, but that is only a thousand word a day so about three pages a day.  And there are, no doubt, word count goals that are even lower than that.  It all depends on how much time you have on your hands.

Though the site does not have it's own forums, you can find those on the main NaNoWriMo site, it does allow for the Cabins which are really fun.  It's just a concentrated group of about six people participating in the current session.  Sometime it's a group of writers from one genre or a group with a similar word count goal or jut a group of friends.  Whatever brings this group together, it is a very intimate way to keep in touch with each other and to give encouragement which, in my opinion, is very necessary when you're trying to push yourself towards any goal.

Of course self-motivation is also an important factor.  You have to know your limits while, at the same time, knowing how you can push them.  This is actually a very delicate balance.  It might not seem like a lot, but it is something so very important.  Most people don't really think about it mostly because we either settle for what we know we know we can do or we push ourselves far beyond what we have been able to do before. This is general insanity.  We're repeating the same actions without changing anything and we're surprised that nothing changes.

Then again, a little inanity can go a long way.  It all requires a bit of a balance.  Sometimes it's more sane than insane and sometimes it's more insane than sane.  It all depends on what work best for you.  Play with pushing yourself and with coasting.  Play with your wordings and how silly or realistic you want your writing to be.  Not everyone enjoys the same type of writing, the same genres.  In the same way, not every writers i going to be able to write in the same way or style.  The sooner that you accept that and find your own style, the better off you are.  This is something I've found from my own experience.  And something I thought I would share on the tale end of everything.