Blogging Circle: Tick Tock Goes the Clock (Even for the Doctor)

This month's blogging circle's topic is Deadlines.  Dun dun duuuuuunnnnnn.  *ahem*  And the first thing that I thought of was Doctor Who.  Good job, brain, go for the fandom parts.  Now, for the questions.

We've all have deadlines to face - whether it be yearly like WriYe, monthly like NaNo, or weekly like LWS (Last WriYer Standing).  How do you face your deadlines?  Any advice to help meet them?  Any advice on what to do when you miss them?

What I like to do, when faced with a deadline, is try to have a plan on how I'm going to reach my goal.  For example, with NaNo, I try to plot out as much of the novel as I can and how much I want to write for each chapter.  That gets me to the goal of wanting to write 50K.  It also helps with getting as much done of the novel as I can in one month.  For the deadlines that go month to month, I'm a bit of hit and miss on them.  Sometimes I'm right on the money and have something done and ready to go.  But that's because I plan out everything ahead of time.  So, plan plan plan down the details as much as you can.  Also, try to get your schedule planned out ahead of time as well.

You're probably asking: What if I hit a snag?  Oh noes!  Well, go back to planning.  There might be something that you're missing and you've just tripped over it.  Look at what you've tripped over and make a plan of attack to fix it.  Sometimes a half hour of sketching a chapter makes the world of difference to hit your deadline on time.  Also, you might find a subplot you wouldn't have realized if you hadn't gone back and looked it over!  I know I have from time to time.

Now, I have missed deadlines, waving to them as they pass by.  The best thing to do, when you miss a deadline, is try to finish the project anyways.  For example - it wasn't until 2008 that I finished NaNo for the first time ever but I first signed up in 2003.  With the 2003 to 2007 projects, I kept at them.  Some of them I finished and some of them are locked away in a drawer to never be spoken about again.  So, finish the project and try to do it within a month of the old deadline.  You might end up liking the project anyways or you might lock the project away to never see the light of day again.  But the important thing is that you did finish.  Yes, it is late and yes, deadlines are important, but sometimes a finished project is the best ephoria for a writer.

So, recap of suggestions:

• Plan your heart out: Outline, character sketch, world build, and everything else.  Get your plotting out of the way first and then your project should move smoothly to hit the deadline.
• Don't be afraid to go back to planning when you hit a snag: Sometimes the best plot ideas come from going back and outlining the chapter.
• Schedule your time: Realize when you're going to work the best and try to use that time to it's maximum potential.
• If you miss your deadline: Get the project done and do not blame yourself (much).

And those are my secrets.  Go forth and smack those deadlines head on!

WriYe Blogging Circle: Rhythm (February)

Poetry has an obvious rhythm but so can prose.  Writing can be so musical as, well, music writing.  What type of cadence do you find in your own writing?  Are you short and choppy?  Long and lyrical?  And why is your way better than anyone else?

The following is in verse because I am, at my core, a geek and a poet.  Also, I am awesome; the end.


My cadence, you ask,
Is one to be marched to.
Even though I work on
Becoming something else,
The road is long and never ending
But for the moment, it is,
The sound of the drum beat.

Short and choppy, to me,
Sounds more like real life
But is not really for me.
I'd like to go on and and on
And on some more
But then I realize that sucks too.
The balance is somewhere between the
Two and is like reaching some point of
Nirvana - lyrical yet short.

My way is the best
But only for me
And, as said before,
Ever changing
Like the sea.
For I must have a silly metaphor
Or simile
In every blogging circle
Post that I write.

WriYe Blogging Circle 2013: Inspiration (January)

As much as I want to write mind blowing stuff about the topic, I can't. Inspiration is like lightning. It strikes, never in the same way tiwce. And I better write it down or it rolls away like... no, thunder isn't right. Boo metaphor. You suck.  Anyways, there are questions and I'm going to answer them. Other blog posts might go another way but this is the way this one wrote itself. Deal. So, roll them on like a boss. Or drum roll. Whatever really works in the end.


Where do you get your initial spark of inspiration?
See lightning metaphor/simile thing. Oh, for fanfiction, it is more along the lines of "..what if?". Example: Sucky ending of X-Men: First Class where it ends with the clear lines drawn of Charles vs Erik. Since, it was a reboot, I thought we'd have a MORE ORIGINAL ENDING YOU WRITERS. *takes a breath* So, that needed the "...what if?" of Erik taking Charles home to be helped and killing Moira. Or have Van Helsing having a happy ending. And so on and so forth. So, lightning for original and "what if" for fanfic.


Is it from anything important?
I...don't know? Maybe when it is from something outside of me instead of my mind. Like the story idea from a Nightwish song. Or intertwining 3 different movies that Jeremy Renner is in (Bourne Legacy, M:I 4, and Avengers) because the characters feel like they could all be the same person. Maybe that's important. Otherwise, I dunno.


What else about inspiration intrigues you?
I'd love to know more about how and why inspiration works. However that probably includes brain scans and scientific words.


What is your advice to others?
Read newspapers. Take a walk. Listen to music. And always ask "what if?".

And sneak attack! We're back

I do feel like the title says everything I need to about this post.  We can all pack up and go home due to the title.  Word.

So, it's 2013 and it's March.  I meant to be back earlier, because the WriYe Blogging Circle is starting again, but January and February were a mix of meh and awesome.  Let me back up a bit.

So, it's December 12th, going into December 13th.  Casey, the dog, is sleeping and suddenly he starts yelping loudly.  Thinking it's a nightmare, I wake him up and go find him to make sure he's okay.  He does this two more times and, after the third time, he can't get up.  So I wake up mom and he has another episode.  We find a 24 hour vet hospital, bundle him up, and get him there.  He arrested in the parking lot and was declared dead.  It just happened - they (the vet and the person helping) think it was a mix of seizures and stroke.  They both think that he wasn't in pain and he just went.  There one moment and gone the next.  Christmas was hard because of this, but we got on okay.  Save for grandma asking if we could get a puppy everyday.

So, it's January and we've decided on what type of breeds we want.  And I go researching Cavachons and find Foxglove Farms Designer Puppies.  We fall in love with the puppies because, you know, they're puppies.

Side note: Anybody saying we should have adopted?  Please check yourself.  Casey was a rescue who would have been put down otherwise due to biting a kid, dog aggression issues (he was just insanely overprotective of his humans), and not being socialized well as a puppy.  We did look at shelters and other places.  Most had older dogs, which we just went through, and pit bulls.  Now, where I live, pit bulls are considered vicious and you are not allowed to have them outside, save for a quick run to the car for grooming and vet appointments.  So, that was a no-go because we couldn't walk it and there's only so much yard running around can do.  Plus, we also wanted to raise a puppy / young dog (around a year, year and a half at most) and most dogs were 3 years or older.  We just left that situation - Casey was 3 when adopted - so...yeah.  We went the way we did.

Back on track - after thinking about it and pressing mom into just calling already, we did.  Our first two choices were already on hold but the third - our Cookie - wasn't.  So we decided to buy her and give her a good home.  She's spoiled rotten, but listens well and learns easily.  We've had some accidents, but she's a puppy and I'm a stupid human sometimes.  So, that's one of the big reasons that I didn't do a "dust off the blog" post earlier.  And why it's been a bit hard to write.  At least in January.

February was just...I had to get fanfic done in a set amount of time and it was killing me.  I should never do that again.  if I get like that, I should just drop out and spare myself the pain of cramming.  Other people can cram, but I can't.  I wish I could, because it would be awesome, but eh.  Life is life.

So, that's everything.  The first 2013 WriYe Blogging Circle post will be up shortly.

Challenge: Finish that Book!

I have a pile of books that are on my current reading list online and offline.  I'm thinking of starting a challenge, officially starting on September 1st, that I will finish all of the books I've started by the end of the year.  Or at least 50 percent of those books.  I'm wanting to go for all the current reading books to be finished, so we'll see how that happens.

<u>Rules</u>
1. Create a list on Goodreads.  Link to that list in a post on your own Livejournal / blog and state your goal - ie, read half of the books on the list or read all of the books on the list or whatever you want your goal to be.  Now, these books can be from whenever you started them, if it was this year, last year, ten years ago - basically, if you want to finish reading a book this year, add it to your list.

2. If you do not have a currently reading list, go through your to-read lists and make a list of books you want to complete before the end of the year.  If you don't have a to-read list, find a new author and start working through their books.

3. On September 1st, start finishing those books!  You can also add books to your currently reading list until December 1st.  After that, books can only come off but you can't add to it.

I'll probably be talking about this here and crossposting to my blog. 

Who Are We Writing For Anyways?

Hello again.  Long time, no blog posting.  I would say that I would get better at it, but we all know that's not going to be true.  I did finish a book recently - in my defense, it was a long ass book - so I might write about it later.  Or not.  We'll see how it goes when I want to.  Also, schedule a tangent into the end of today's blog post.  Mostly because I want to and mostly because I'm insane.  Let's go into the first part of that today.  From now on, I'm going to start having an insanity of the day.  If you follow me on Facebook, you'll see it there.  I might spring board it into a blog post or I might just post about it a million times on Facebook.  Depending on where you read, you might care or not care about this at the end of everything.  But moving on.

Insanity of the Day: Who do we write for?  Do we write for ourselves or do we write to impress others?  Do we write to carry on stories that we think need to be carried on?

Before I answer, a bit of history.  When telling a story first started, it started as an oral tradition.  You'd gather around a fire and watch a story being told through dance.  Or listen to someone tell a story through the first bits of language being developed along with visual clues.  As we progressed as humans, stories got written down.  Some of those stories were amazing enough to survive through to today - Chaucer, Shakespeare, so on - and some were lucky enough to get printed when they did (Treasure Island, I am looking at you).  So, bit of history background done.

Now, let's go through the questions bit by bit.  Mostly because there are three questions and we should take them all seriously. 

1. Who do we write for?

Well...that depends on what kind of writer you are.  If you're like me, you say you're writing for yourself, but in reality, you're most writing to get published and to get the voices in your head to shut up.  Also, it is due to the fact that nobody is writing what you want to read.  Like a horror / fantasy novel where vampires rule the world and there's a kick ass female character who doesn't want to fall in love but does so anyways.

Shut up.  I know my character has issues.  And some of them have a full subscription.

But, back to the point at hand - if you can figure out who you want to write for, you're pretty much set.  The other hand is wondering if you can live with the fact that you're writing for yourself instead of writing for others.  If you're being selfish, but in a good way, because in the end, you get what you want.  It isn't a bad thing.  It is what it is.  At least you know that you're writing. 

2. Do we write for ourselves or to please others?

Well, yes, number 1 can answer this question.  But what if you're not writing for yourself?  What if you're writing because you have this wonderful story that you think everyone should read?  Are you really pleasing others by thinking that everyone should read your novel or are you secretly writing for yourself? 

Yes, a question that brings questions.  Annoying, isn't it?  (Don't answer that.)

If you are truly writing to please others, then you can simply answer "yes" and go along your merry way while turning out this fiction that will withstand the tests of time and make people happy.  However, you might be wrong.  Your wonderful novel might bomb.  Or it might only be for one section of the population while you think it is for everyone.  Or people might forget about you by the next week.

Here's a secret - those who write for themselves - yes, they worry about selling but they also worry about what to do next.  What will be the next story?  Will it fit to the story that I just wrote?  Will it make my muses happy?  If you write for yourself, then you write to make yourself happy and hope that people come along for the ride.  And again, you've already answered this question when you answered the first.

3. Do we write to carry on stories that we think need to be carried on?

This is a personal question.  I can only tell you what I feel.  I feel that yes, I write to carry on stories that need to be carried on.  However, most of my stories contain the belief of things that are supernatural in nature or call upon belief in abilities that humans do not think they can use (magic).  However, with all of these stories, there is a tie to real life.  There is love or hope or rebellion or all three tied into one or even more than that.  One story cannot be put into one box and just stay there.  Look at what the big blockbusters of our time have done - Harry Potter isn't just for kids and isn't just about magic.  Hunger Games isn't just about coming of age and rebelling against those who would want your end because it fits into their version of reality television.  Both stories go beyond what the writer thought they would.  Harry Potter became a reason for kids to start reading and hoping again, while setting a standard for young adult fiction.  Hunger Games showed us that apocalyptic fiction is more than just surviving. 

What am I saying, at least for me, is that I write for myself.  I write to read what I want to read and imagine what I cannot find in real life.  When I write fanfiction, it is because I admire the author's works but yet I see what could happen if just one fact was changed or a character stepped up when they did not.  I know I am not selfish.  I just know what I want to read - and for that to happen, I must write.

Homework - Answer the questions and leave a comment with a link to your blog.

Extra Credit - Comment and share your opinion if I am right, wrong, or nothing.

Writer's Insanity: the Voices That Won't Shut Up

First - apologies for lateness.  I will take my whipping with a wet noodle.  Just realize that I might like it.  :D

I know that we usually go into these things where we springboard on the same idea but different topics.  I'm throwing that out this week to bring something up that has been happening a lot lately.  Well, not a lot as in daily but it is starting to bug me.

It is this - The Characters that will not SHUT THE FRAK UP. 

You're working on this one project that has a hard deadline - hello Leverage Reverse Big Bang fic¹ - and my original characters just start talking.  And whining.  Because I seem to be doing a lot more fanfic writing rather than letting Justinian sink his teeth into the dhampir that he's deeply in love with and won't admit it².  There doesn't seem to be any sort of cure to this other than to write the scene they want.  But then they go quiet.  So, I'm thinking that the best thing is to just ignore them and go novel crazy later.

The problem is that they shut out the project voices.  So there is no choice but to stop and make sure that you write that scene.  I wish it was different.  So, I turn to the blogging circle.

My assignment to you, o Circle-ers, is two-fold.  First - I want to hear your tales of woe about characters who will not shut up.  Secondly - I want your cure.  If it's the same as mine, I still want to hear about it.  But I must have a cure!

And that is that.  Go off and enjoy the world.  Cheers!

¹A reverse big bang is where people first create the art.  It can be any kind of art.  Then the writers get to choose what kind of story they will write based on the art.  It really is fun, if I could actually write it.  It's due at the end of the month.

²Yes, I will write it.  No, it won't be right now, but maybe tomorrow.  <--- to Keri and Tatra,  And maybe Erin.