Writing wise at least.

I went to bed later than planned last night, had a little trouble sleeping and woke up later than I’d like.  I just assumed it would be a long day for Fast Drafting.  As it turned out, I am now finished with the next chapter.

A whooping 13 pages for today!!!

Yes, a pleasant surprise.

Last night I managed to get down most of the plot points for Raven’s Mind, so I’m pretty stoked about that too.  Now if only I did housework with the same enthusiasm and dedication as writing.

It’s been a great morning!

So far, it’s 9:45, I got up at 7 and worked out and just finished 12 pages of writing.  I want this chapter to be longer, but maybe I can find places to layer on the editing round.  I am just so thrilled with the amount of pages and how fast I got done.  See, self, it is doable.

Giada’s at a sad place right now.  Another contestant has gone home, and it’s down to the final three.  She should be excited, right?  Well, the next chapter (tomorrow) she’s going to still be in a weird sort and then the following chapter has her pretty freaky.  LOL, can’t wait for that one.

Last night, I spent a few hours brainstorming Raven’s Mind (changed the working title from Raven’s Echo).  I’m at a good spot in that too and can’t wait to get back at it.  Of course there are some housely chores I’ve been neglecting that need to get done pronto, but with the kids, cooking and whatnot, I should be back to Raven by this afternoon.

Since NaNo allows space for a mock book cover, I went ahead and created one.  It’s not professional, but I’m soooo pleased with it.  For one, I snapped it together in like 15 minutes.  No sweating and pulling hair like when I created headers.  And, it’s cool.  I used two photo samples that I downloaded for the story–you know, like as a collage to look at while writing.  One is the house and the second is Raven, so it fits real well.  I wanted to include the “boogeyman” but it didn’t look right so I nixed it.

Here it is:

What do you think?  Pretty cool, huh?  :-D  I’m happy.

Ok, today I’m feeling a bit gleeful.

Not only did I complete my 14 pages *pats self on back* by late morning, I also signed up for NaNoWriMo (that was actually done yesterday) and  am rearing to go on my next book.  This one I am jazzed about.  It includes certain elements I’ve been dying to sink my teeth into, such as urban legends, fear and the feeling of being trapped inside your mind.

I’m very excited about doing Nano this year, haven’t done it since 03 or 04, so now I must get to my brainstorming, but the other thing that has me so happy is a post I read on AuthorMBA.

Self-talk!  What do we say to ourselves and how does it affect our lives.

I’m a FIRM believer in “thoughts become things”, yet I’ll sit here and think, “I suck at titles.  I can’t write well enough.  I get bored too easily.” and more.  What am I doing to myself?  So now my thoughts are filled with, “I write well.  I write a chapter a day.”, etc.  See how easy?  Oooh, I know another one…  “I write interesting blog posts.”  Huh?  Huh? 

So today’s my first day at Fast Draft, and so far I’ve spent the last hour fixing my blog.  Smart?  LOL  I’m going to laugh in the face of writing 10+ pages a day.  In fact, I’m terrified.  Not at the amount but at the topic.  I’m at a spot in the book where I’m a bit clueless.  Instead of spending so much time editing the first few godamn chapters, I should’ve edited some of the middle.

Anyway, I’m off to tackle that now. Wish me luck.

PLEASE wish me luck!

I didn’t plow through 11 chapters yesterday and surely won’t today.  As long as I fix the beginning, which is the rest of the scene I’m on and the next chapter, I’ll be ok.  I’m sick of the beginning of this book.  I’ve changed it what 3 or 4 times now.  I don’t want to see it every again.  The middle is what needs work.  If there was only one thing this all showed me it’d be how important my outlines are.  I didn’t do a full outline for this book, and I feel like I’m twisting in the wind, following each gust until I realize I’ve gone the wrong way.  It’s ridiculous, and no one could do this every time they write.  I, at least, don’t want to.

So, I need to not be in such a rush to get started on the next book.  As much as Raven’s voice is calling to me, I need to maybe listen a bit longer before I begin.  And then I want to outline it thoroughly.

In the meantime, I have other little things that need to get done today too, so I better get moving. Tomorrow starts Fast Draft at RD.

Ever feel irritated with what you’re writing?

That’s how I feel about my current WIP.  I guess I shouldn’t be so angry, lol.  It’s not Giada’s fault I’m bored with her.  It’s not her.  When I reread, the story is still interesting and she still makes me smile, but I get so bored so fast.  How do I get past it?

How do I keep it interesting long enough to finish the darn thing?

I’m thinking I need to write faster, but what if that doesn’t work?  Will I be doomed of a career of never being happy, or will I figure it all out some day?  LOL I hope so ’cause this sucks, and I’m not giving up.

I’m presently working on two books right now.  I know I shouldn’t.  I need to finish AMTDF before starting BM, but it’s the time of year.  For the past two years, especially last year, October came along and the inspriation and desire to write something scary was prevalent.  This is the month we get nothing but movies and shows in time for Halloween, so it’s a great time for horror movies and things that go bump in the night.  So I’ve told myself to start a thriller during this time.  Unfortunately, I didn’t time things appropriately this year and October is here and AMTDF isn’t completed yet.

So, I want to start BM.  I agreed to join Fast Draft with the divas starting next Monday.  Two weeks of writing at least 10 pages a day.  What a great time to begin something new.  I’m thinking I can start BM and then when FD ends I can finish AMTDF.  I have to have that completed by Halloween.   It’ll be cutting it close, and I shouldn’t risk it, but I also don’t want to wait until next year.

Plus, I can’t get this new idea out of my head.  My heroine, Bailey, is 16 and the books starts off with her in the mental hospital.  She is screaming for me to let her go, so I feel I need to abide. ;)  Ok, so I simply like the idea of writing something scarish.  I have the next five days to plot it though, so wish me luck.  Actually, I started plotting this one a couple of months back, but then the main character was 32 and named Alexa.  I want to turn this into a YA for several reasons–one, being to give her less power, two, because of the voice and my natural ability to do casual well and three, because this idea had so much backstory, some of it taking place when she was a teen, it makes more sense to have it happen back then.

So, I’m off now to tackle the revised plot and characters.  Catch ya later!