Are you ready?

Preparing

I have not done a regular blog post in a couple of months.   I have kept up on the Flash Fiction serial -- can't miss a week of that one! -- but I just couldn't think of anything else to write here.  I got busy, I got ill, I got both busy and ill sometimes ... and I just ran out of energy.  And now....

Now we are only days away from NaNoWriMo!  The picture today is the cover for my main NaNo Novel.  I am not entirely ready.  The outline for the first novel (since I usually do more than one) is not done.  I can see the end, finally, but I have this blank spot between a significant scene and how it all turns out.  I can't even say how much is going to happen between the two spots.  Nor can I say WHAT will happen.

But I have a great set of characters and an excellent plot up to that point.  I know what my people are about to find and once I work out the implications, I will see where it goes.  I might not 'see' that part until I'm actually writing the novel.  Not a problem -- I have an outline to get me that far and I've never had a problem ending a story.
I realize that I have inadvertently borrowed the attitude of one character (a historical person) from one of C. J. Cherryh's stories.  That made me laugh because it seemed so logical.  I think she'll be amused.

It is amazing how many things affect our writing, and we don't always realize it.    Just a little hint of this, a memory of that -- and suddenly there it is in a story.  You might not even realize it.  This one was just obvious when I thought about the character.

So, I have most of one outline ready for NaNo.  I have a second outline all done, but it will be my second book since I already wrote about 2500 words on it.  Once I get at least one complete (50k plus) novel written, then I can go to it if I have time.  I'm not sure that I will.  My goal is only 100k this year.  I might do better, but I am not aiming at the 250k or so that I sometimes do.  100k is a calm NaNo for me.  Since I've been ill, I don't want to push too hard.

But I do want to have fun!  That's part of why I am less concerned with totals this year.  Last year was kind of tricky because I was trying to hit an overall total for all the NaNo's I'd done through the years.  I wanted 3,000,000 words -- and I made it.  This is year 17 for me, and I have always won.  I love the joy of finding all these writers in one place, and a good many of them having fun.  (If you are not having fun, don't do it.  Drop out.  NaNo isn't for everyone, and it will not affect your career as a writer one way or another unless you learn something from it.  NaNo is a good time to experiment, have fun -- and realize that you are not the only writer out there in the world who are dealing with one problem or another.

Have fun, NaNo or not!

Preparing

So, I am looking at ideas for NaNo in November.  I'll need two or three outlines.  Today I came up with something I think is going to be fun to write.

Let's say my characters are looking for a lost city.  This could be fantasy, science fiction, or even a fictional lost city set in the real world of today.  I am tending towards fantasy, though it might be Alternate Earth Urban Fantasy of some sort.  I only have the very basics of the idea so far, but it is growing enough that I'll start note taking and outlines soon enough.  Anyway, my characters are looking for some ancient place.  The name of the place is in a language no one speaks now.  Many people consider the city to be pure myth with no tie to reality, but my group of adventurers is going to prove them wrong for whatever reason they have for this quest.

They know the basic area, or so they think.  However, the land itself changes over time.  Harbors silt up.  Earthquakes bury ravines in debris.  Humans knock down hills or build new ones to suit their current needs and tastes.  Entire landscapes change; the lush farmlands of ancient times might be a barren desert now.

Or the area might be much like it had been thousands of years before.  Maybe the adventurers have traced what they seek to this general location, but they simply can't find any sign of the ancient city. They know they are close, but where is it?  They spend some time in the largest city in the area, hoping to find more maps, old manuscripts, perhaps even learn a few new myths.  They know they're close.

What if they're standing right on it?

Locations that are suitable for a settlement often remain good, even after slight changes around them.  Conquerers rename cities and the next conqueror names it again.  There was a city named Wasat once -- a powerful city, and it stood for three thousand years.  In fact, it still stands, but that's not the name you are likely to know.  When the Greeks conquered the land, they renamed it after one of their own cities. The current rulers of the land thought these ancient ruins looked liked palaces and gave it a name to reflect that belief.

So a city that was Wasat for about three thousand years in ancient Egypt became Thebes and now is Luxor, and in a fraction of the time the city existed, its old name is forgotten. Wasat is not a name you are likely to know, even though this is a city that was never lost.  The name is inscribed in stone and on papyrus, but until the last century, the ability to read those words was lost.  The ancient Egyptian priesthood had died out, and they took with them the secrets of the mdw ntr -- The Gods' Words.  Was, by the way, was the ancient word for power.  Waset means, basically, the city of power.

Istanbul -- which I believe means 'the city' -- had to be renamed because Constantinople, the city of the great Christian Emperor, would not do in a Muslim world.  Before Constantinople, there had been Byzantium, for which an entire area and era were named.  If you go looking for places, sometimes you need to look under the floorboards, so to speak.  The adventurers might not have to go out into the jungles or the desert wastelands.  Of course digging down into the heart of a populated city isn't going to be easy, either.  Add a few religious implications, and I can have everything up to assassins and riots.  Oh yes, this might be fun.

Another NaNo Novel is also playing in my brain.  I need to do the background work on that one, but it really is going to be a fun new Devlin novel.  Oh, and I haven't forgotten the 'Egypt rules the world' story, either.  I am just not ready to do that much research.

So there might be two major works in the planning stages.  We only have six full months and a couple weeks to get ready, you know.  It is crazy how fast this year is going.

I am also looking at doing something on Wattpad.  Have any of you worked with it?  I think the piece I put up might be Journey of a Thousand Truths as soon as I get the first draft done.  I admit that I don't fully understand Wattpad, but I am willing to expand out and see what it might do for my readership.  There are too many things for authors to try out there and I've been getting lost in the wilds for a long time.  I am not looking to be a top selling author, but I would like to reach a few more people who enjoy the same sort of stories that I enjoy.  I suspect that Wattpad will be another 'lost in the crowd' place, but if I am going to try it anyway.  I think I will be posting on Wednesdays.  Mondays I have this blog and Fridays I have the 2YN class on Facebook and the Flash Friday piece, so I want to get away from this weekend rush of posting.  Since I will have the novel done before I start posting (or close to it), I might even do two posts a week.

But it is all confusing, especially for someone who truly only wants to write and maybe play with pictures and graphic art now and then.  Oh yes and read -- and continue to learn more Egyptian Hieroglyphs.  I shouldn't grumble and complain because I do have the near perfect writing life, just lacking in funds now and then.  On days like today, though, with my back painfully reminding me of why I can't get a job out in the real world, I start looking more at what I can do to help the finances.  I can write.  I am still going to believe that will count!

NaNo is here!

 

Let me start out by sending all of you to a post on another journal where I was featured yesterday.  Sorry I'm late with this; I have spent two days very ill and barely keeping track of anything at all!

https://quotidiandose.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/  

Beyond that, I hope everyone is ready.  I have my outline and I'm just waiting for 7 more hours to pass.  I have work to get done in that time, so it should go quickly.  Too quickly, probably.  I hope, also, to be feeling better by then.

Good luck to all of you!

Flash Fiction # 118 -- Is it time yet?

 

(A little pre-NaNoWriMo Fun)

      Zaphod sat on the desk between me and the computer screen, his golden eyes blinking.

"Is it time yet?"

"No, Zaphod." I worked at getting my spreadsheet finished, even though I knew I would abandon it in a couple days.

"Is it time yet?"

"No." I added an array of colors and new SUM totals.

"Is it time yet?"

"Turn around and look at the screen yourself. You're blocking my view."

"Oh." He laid down and pushed his paws ever-so-slightly over the edge and closer to the keyboard. "Is it time yet?"

"I am going to hang you up by your furry little tail if you don't stop." I looked up at the screen and frantically cleared everything else off and opened Scrivener and a new blank template. "Twenty seconds -- and . . . . 12:01 AM and NaNo begins!"

I reached to type, by Zaphod was faster.

Uowwwwwwwwiuiujs

"I did it! I got the first word! I win!" The cat stood up and blocked the screen again. Precious seconds were passing. It was almost 12:02 am and I didn't have a word yet!

"That isn't --" I stopped. There was no use arguing with him. "Yes, you win!"

"I win NaNo! I win NaNo!" He pranced around the desk and finally looked over to where I had begun frantically typing. "Are you done yet?"

224 Words

http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

http://fridayflash.org

for more fantastic quick reads

Unofficial NaNo Pep Talk for High Count Writers

Have you written more than others you know? Have you pushed through almost a full draft of a new novel that is well over 50,000 words?

There is no need to be embarrassed or ashamed.

That's the first thing I need to tell you because chances are a lot of snobs will tell you otherwise. Just because you happen to write faster than some of the others is nothing to be upset about -- neither for you nor for them. What you do does not concern them, but you see . . . a lot of them are not writing, so they have this time to make swipes at people who are, and they're not very logical about their attacks either. There are several factors which come into play when you are writing more than some of the others which might include an outline, more time, better focus, less time being snarky . . . and a love of writing.

The last is the part many people never take into account when they look at those who write more than what is often considered normal -- as though there could be such a thing anywhere in the world of writing. Everyone works to a personal beat and with as much energy, ambition and ability as the author can translate to moving little fingertips on keyboards. We find our comfort zone for writing, whether that's one paragraph or a dozen pages at a time.

So don't let the naysayers about 'quantity and quality' jab at you. I've been working with writers for more than a decade and I can tell you something these people don't want to hear: The speed at which you write the first draft has nothing to do with the final, published quality of the material. I've known people who have taken years on their first drafts and had stories no better written than something of the same length and genre another person took a month to write. In fact, I've found that the faster some people write novels (not all, there is no all in the world of writing), the more coherent the first draft is because the author has kept better contact with the storyline and characters.

Speed has nothing to do with quality of writing. Quality comes from what you know, what you are willing to learn and how well you edit afterwards. Write slower if it suits you, but don't be afraid to fly and don't let anyone else tell you that you shouldn't fly either.

You've done well. You should be proud to have your wonderful first draft, whether done or nearly done. Get the manuscript finished, set the story aside for a while before you start the work of editing. Don't let editing scare you, either. This is a wonderful, wondrous gift for writers who are allowed to rework and reword every bit of their art until they can get the stories they want.

Me? I'm about to start the last chapter of my novel. I have over 80,000 words on it, and I've really enjoyed writing the book. (Those of you who know me from November NaNo runs would expect me to have written more -- but I was very busy this month. I'll save the multiple first drafts for November!)

Camp NaNo and Muse and more

The week has not been great overall, but the writing is going well. Resurrection: Chance and Change is up to 28k. This is a Science Fiction tale and though I suspect the first part is to 'introvert' heavy with the characters, I can fix the problem later. My goal is to have 90k for the book, and I hope to have all of it written in June. We'll see if I can do it because I do have other things going on. I have a good outline for it, though the current chapter has gone far off of it. I'll be back in the next chapter, though.

But then I always have other things to do, don't I?

I am also cleaning up and editing Muse, a novel originally published in the Holly Lisle Store. This is an absolutely just for fun novel and it's been interesting to edit it and update it a bit (Palms to Smart Phones, etc.). Here's a little snippet:

"This is a real mess. We've had flooding in town before, but never anything threatening for days on end, and where there's so much trouble elsewhere in the area we can't even count on help from the outside. It's frightening to realize how much depends on a few bags of sand. I feel as though there can't be enough sand in the universe to keep us safe."

"Sand is finite," Killian agreed, brushing a few grains from his shirt sleeve and onto the table. They could hear Alain get out of the shower. "And with so many other towns in need of the bags --"

"I suppose sand is finite," Parka said suddenly. "Or can you count something constantly in the act of creation as limited?"

"Finite resources from which to create sand," he said. Alain looked in at them, shook his head, and went toward the front of the house instead. "So there can only be a limited number of grains in the world, even if everything changed to sand."

"Why are we limiting our definition to earth?" she asked with a grin.

"Because it would be very hard to get sand bags brought in from Alpha Centauri just now?" Killian offered.

"Well yes, but . . . if space is infinite, then there are infinite worlds and infinite grains of sand -"

"Not all worlds will have sand, at least not in a form we would call sand. But if you are going to go with the infinite universe theory, why not go with the infinite alternate Earths theory instead?"

"Oh! Good point! That one works much better --"

"I hate to interrupt such a mind-boggling, intelligent conversation," Alain said, coming back to the archway between the kitchen and dining room. "But I thought you would like to know there are a couple wackos heading for the door, Parka."

For the rest of the week. . . .

Let's talk about rudeness. We're all rude at one time or another. It's part of human nature. But there appears to be some people who go out of their way to annoy others. This week, a few people are upset that I created a chat room, on the site I own, called Zette's Crazed Writing Club. This one is strictly for those of us who love to write, who enjoy talking about writing, and who are often crazed when we write (no matter what the actual word count).

There are plenty of other chat rooms on the site so if the idea and name behind this room bothers you, feel free NOT to come into that one. Simple answer. Those of us who do go to the room will most likely be writing and enjoying ourselves. If that doesn't appeal to you, fine. Stop complaining to me and being rude about it. (Yes, another email today.)

End of that rant!

I accidentally startled my oldest cat, who leapt straight up and then down on my left hand, putting a claw through the lower part of the little finger. My, that's just so much fun for typing. It's better than it was, though! The swelling has mostly gone down.

We also had to have a huge old Maple taken down this week. The tree was lovely, but parts were dying and the neighbor began to rant. This, of course, cost us a lot of money we didn't have. It also means, no matter what, Russ won't be home for our anniversary again this year. Probably wouldn't have happened anyway, but there is always that little hope. (This will be our 33rd anniversary, by the way.)

So I am throwing myself into Camp NaNo and having fun. I get to write a fun novel and it's free. I'm not going to do something like the November NaNo counts, though!

Latest Release:

A low tech, backwater world and an easy assignment. What could go wrong for one of Inner World Council Security's top agents?

Humans hiding secrets are always dangerous.

Devlin's Team, File 1: Dancer

Today starts June Camp NaNo.

Up until this year I've said I would only ever do the one, traditional NaNo madness in November. The others didn't interest me. However, someone being rude about NaNo in general on the FM site annoyed me enough that I decided to leap into the June set up.

No, not the wisest way to get involved, but you know . . . It kicked me out of some complacent, rolling along work. I had to push to get the outline done -- as much of it as I could do. The end pieces are not as strong as I would like, but I hope that by the time I get to that section, I'll have a better feel for everything.

I am writing Resurrection: Chance and Change. This is a science fiction novel about a group of people who did something drastic after their captain died in a brawl at one of his usual gambling games. And the person they're pinning their hopes on is brave, smart . . . and has a lot of secrets of his own.

This might be just the sort of thing I need for June, which is looking like another miserable month otherwise. We have to pay to have a tree taken down. Russ will not be home for our anniversary (5th year I a row) and various other real life things that just make life annoying sometimes.

But I have my writing. I have a brand new book I am about to write, so life can't be all bad, right? I do not intend to make this a mad rush through writing like I do with the November NaNo, either. I plan to have this novel done at the end of the month, and nothing more.

I think this is going to be fun.

(Late day report: 5190 words into the novel. Yes, it is fun!)

(Oh and the picture -- Cotton-topped Tamarin. I use them in the story!)

What do you mean November is over?

Well, that was a fast month!  Yes, I did well -- 215,750 words

Beware the Wrath of Bunny Hopper

Devlin 5: The Aldebaran Stopover

Devlin 6: Legend

Devlin's Report 2: Gemini and Psi

Devlin's Report 3: Caliente

Not bad at all, really.  Intense.  I had two cats ill during the month, which gave me problems for a while there.  However, I did have fun.

And I also crossed the million word mark, too.  Got newsletters done for DAZ and some much needed updates for ACOA.  And now I just need to get caught up on everything else and we'll be fine.

I hope everyone had fun!

Now back to the real world, if I can find it!

A Psuedo-Holiday Letter: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour #5

Dear Everyone,

Today I should have been doing a self-interview for the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, but I couldn't quite get my head around the questions -- which is odd for someone who generally interviews authors for Vision.  So I thought I would write a pseudo-holiday letter instead and let you know what's going on in my world.

Personal Life:

Russ is still working in New York and I am in Nebraska.  This is the start of the fifth year and we really hope things will change soon.  He only manages to get home for a few days three or four times a year, and none of us are happy about the situation.  On the other hand, he does have a job, which is why he went to New York.

The three boys -- Wind, Zaphod and Edmond (yes those are the cats) -- are doing well, though Edmond has been suffering from a horrible cold already this year.  I dread to think what it is going to be like when winter actually hits.

I do have a new member of the household, however.  Meet Buffy -- who has lately been answering to 'You, Demon Cat from Hell!'   She is the most active cat I have ever known.  All three of the boys play with her from time to time, but I think we're all hoping she grows out of it soon.  Don't let the picture fool you.  She was just shocked that I would do such a thing to her.  She hasn't sat still since.

In the last four years, I have become a virtual hermit.  I have a very boring life, in most respects. I order almost everything I need on-line and since my job (a weekly newsletter for DAZ3D.com) means more computer work, you can imagine the amount of time I spend in front of the computer, and that's not even counting the most important aspect of my world.

Writing Life

2011 marked a huge change for me as I finally moved into the new world of the Indie Author.  Trust me; this is not a leap to make without a lot of thought and study.  It may seem as though this would be an easy choice, to do away with the publishers and go straight to the reader with your work.  The problem is finding those readers.  Publishers could distribute to the stores (and let us all mourn the loss of Borders) where readers gather in groups.  If nothing else, this is an important aspect of traditional publishing.  Yes, the Internet is also filled with readers, but it is very difficult to draw their attention to your little corner.

However, over the last year or two, readers have begun to seriously seek out new talent.  The Kindle and Nook markets have made this a viable, exciting market.  A number of previously published authors have leapt into the Indie Author field with both reprints and new work.  Some of my personal friends (Holly Lisle, C.J. Cherry, Jane Fancher) were some of the people who finally convinced me to have behind the old world and leap into the new.

I had already been published in ebook format for many years.  Now, though, I have moved away from the small press companies and taken over the entire process myself.  I now own a small co-op publishing entity.  The group of us have banded together simply for marketing purposes.

While you can find my work at the Nook and the Kindle sites, the easiest way to find the majority of them is to go to Smashwords.

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/zetteG

There you will find novels, short stories and more.  The prices range from $2.99 down to free.  Most are science fiction and fantasy.  A few of them have been previously published.

What do I hope to achieve in the Indie Publishing World?

I don't expect to be a huge seller.  I write the kinds of adventure stories that are not filled with sex.  My stories are about fighting against the odds and finding adventures, sometimes in odd places.  I have a few truly wonderful fans and I hope to reach more of the same people.  My sales doubled in the last quarter, so I hope that means a continuation of growth.  I would like to make enough to help support Forward Motion and Vision: A Resource for Writers, without having to ask for donations and then build up from there so that I had a solid writing income of my own.

But that's the business side.  What am I writing now?

I just finished the first draft of Beware the Wrath of Bunny Hopper, which is a fun little urban fantasy novel.  I'm now working on Devlin 5: The Aldebaran Stopover, which is part of a science fiction series.  I'm doing these for the 2011 round of NaNoWriMo.  This is my 11th year taking part, and though I had something of a slow start, I have really gotten into it and I'm enjoying the process again.  It probably seems odd for someone who writes as much as I do to take part in an event aimed at helping new writers get moving on their first novels.  I do write far more than the required 50,000 words.  (I am up to 116k at the moment and still a long ways to go.)  Why join in?

This is an intellectual marathon.  It's inviting people to use their brains for something creative for a whole 30 days in a row in November.  It, wisely, does not require that you write great fiction, but only that you give yourself a chance to let your imagination play and create what might be a viable first draft of a novel.

For me, it's an excuse to just leap into a story and forget everything else for a while.  For a few days (usually not the entire month!) I can tell myself that writing is the most important thing going on, and everything else can be put aside: work, Forward Motion, Vision, etc.  It's my chance to do what I love most with no demands and no excuses.

For many people, the actual act of writing is the most difficult part.  That's not true with me.  Even editing is not a problem because I love revisiting the story and making it better.  What is the problem on my end?  Finding time to really concentrate on the work for the last steps before publication. Oh and marketing.  Marketing is something I just can't seem to grasp.  So I have bought books to help me out in 2012.  Yay!

Photography

I started my Picture a day blog on January 1, 2006 and I have not missed a day since.  The pictures are taken on the day they are posted (though sometimes they may be posted a day late, but dated to the day they were taken).  This has been an interesting experiment!

http://zettepicaday.blogspot.com/

Finding a picture to take each day isn't difficult when you have cats.  However, I do try to get some other things. Birds at the feeder are always popular and so are the leaves in autumn.  I also have a spot on Flikr for various things:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zettepics/ 

Digital Art

Almost all of my work in digital art these days is going towards cover art for the books.  That's okay.  I just wish I had time to play with it more and to even learn some of the tricks to making models and textures.  That's something else I want to try my hand at next year.  If I get to half the stuff I want to do, it will still be too busy in 2012! 

And that's it, really.  Not a very exciting life.  Maybe I'll come up with some questions to ask myself later -- but for now, I need to get this posted and get back to writing.

Have fun!

If you want to get to read about nearly twenty other writers and find out what's on their nightstands, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer

Book 1 complete, 74,017 words

Before I write anything else, you should go check this out from Write Now! Coach blogs: 

http://www.writenowcoach.com/blog/?p=493

That's an interesting site, too.  Well worth looking around to see what's going on! 

The post was a good reminder that yes, this is supposed to be fun.  My little mini rants in the last post were just a bit of frustration at seeing the same things every single year.  Notice that I can't even get up enough energy for a few hundreds words about them this time. (grin) 

I completed Beware the Wrath of Bunny Hopper at 74,017 words last night.  After midnight I started the second book, Devlin 5: The Aldebaran Stopover.  I'm coming up on 2k for it.  I suspect it will go to about 60k.  I have another outline in hand for afterwards, though I may just leap in and write something without an outline. 

Or maybe I'll go rebel and finish up the one novel I haven't completed yet this year.  You know what?  It doesn't matter as long as I'm having fun. 

And there is the thing you need to keep in mind, too.  None of us needs more work, do we?  None of us needs more stress.  Don't let NaNo cause you problems.  Enjoy the rush. 

For me, I'm going to be writing as often as I can for the rest of the month.  I will not let much else interfere, except for the stuff I have to get done.  I'm remembering what it is like to write with absolute abandon and enjoy the story just for telling it. 

I'm having a great time.  I hope you are too.

And here is a bit out of Beware the Wrath of Bunny Hopper.  Remember, first draft.  I hope you enjoy it, though:

At the end of the rock-carved hall we reached an open archway to the right and a huge room filled with a lot of people.  I tried to look around, to see if I could find Brad, but they never slowed as they herded me across the room.  Tables set here and there and I could smell food.  I saw faces turn my way.  Talking stopped.  I guess they didn't get many visitors down here in the hobbit hole.

Then, finally, something else occurred to me.  I was the only female in the room.  No others.  I began to think there was more to not telling me about what was going on and I felt a wave or righteous indignation.  It was because I was a girl.  Cooties!  Oh no!

By the time we got to the end of the room, a tall, older man with a sour face had stood and come toward us.  I could see he was not happy to see me at all.  The others didn't actually salute him, but I could still tell he was the guy in charge.  He had the look of Mr. Patterson, the social sciences teacher, whom everyone agreed had been way too long at the job.  He did not put up with anything but what he said was right.

Yeah, I saw this in this guy's face.  I was about to get detention.

But then I heard people coming towards us and looked to the right and spotted dad and my brothers. 

"Bunny!" Dad said, and sounded both surprised and exasperated.

"So, this is the girl child," the older man said, looking from dad and my brothers to me.  "You thought you had found a way around the oath, did you?  Don't tell her anything, only bring her inside, against my wishes."

"We did no such thing," my father replied, and this time he did sound indignant.

"Do not make matters worse, Andrew Hopper."

"We did not bring her in Silvanus.  You know us better than that."

"I would have thought I did --"

"Hold on there," I said and dared to take a step forward.  "They didn't bring me in!"

Silvanus looked at me, his grey eyes narrowed.  "I did not give you permission to speak."

Oh right.  Well, I was about to go from detention to suspension, if not straight to being expelled.  "If you want to know how I got in, then maybe you ought to listen to me, don't you think?"

"And why should I believe what you say?"

"Oh, careful there, Silvanus.  Remember whose daughter she is," dad said, his voice gone oddly soft.

Silvanus frowned, but I could see he wasn't going to give up his anger.  "Someone brought you in.  There is on other way."

Dad put a hand on my shoulder.  I think he meant to quiet or calm me, but I was not going to let him, Brad or anyone else take the blame for what I had done.  I had never feared the truth.   "I hid in the back of Brad's truck after he took me home.  I sent him to take the trash out."

"Damn. Tricky," Brad said with a sigh.

"I watched him when we got here.  I stood in the same place and when the statue asked, I said I was of the blood.  It let me in."

Silence fell everywhere in the room.  Silvanus blinked.  I could sense the shock that spread everywhere with a little whisper from table to table.  I dared a glance at Brad who gave a little shrug, but I saw the way his hand was near the sword he wore as well.  So did my other brothers and my father.  The sight didn't reassure me.  I feared if things went out of hand, they would draw those weapons to protect me.  I saw a whole new world of folly in what I had done.  I never expected it to be like this.

Silvanus was staring at me when I looked back at him.  "You are lying," he finally said, but I could hear a hint of disbelief in his words. 

"She most certainly is not," dad replied.  His fingers on my shoulder tightened.  "You know the truth when you hear it, Silvanus.  And I have been telling you as much about her."

Silvanus stared at me.  His face did not change and I could tell that no matter what we said to him, his mind was made up.  When he gave a little nod, I knew it wasn't one of approval.

"The girl child must go from here," he said.  My father made an exasperated sigh.  "And she must forget."

He lifted his hand and waved his fingers before my face.  Pretty lights danced around my eyes.  I watched them for a moment, wondering how he did it.  Then I batted them away.  "Don't do that," I said.  It's really very annoying."

His mouth opened.  He said nothing.  No one said anything at all, until finally, my father let out a little laugh.  He startled Silvanus who looked back at him with a shake of his head.

"It won't work, Silvanus.  She is of the blood."

Now, go write and have fun!

NaNo Day 8: 63,634 (mini rants and progress)

I am taking a quick break from NaNo at the start of week 2 to cover a few things that have come up.  Many of them are the same stuff we hear every year.  So here are three little mini-rants and then a short progress report.

Number 1:

It's no one's business how you spend your free time, in November or any other month.  If you want to write 50,000 words, go for it.  Have fun.  It certainly beats sitting around in bars or watching television just to have something to do.  If you are doing NaNo on work time, then you deserve whatever reprimand you get.  (Oh, and if the boss can't tell if you are 'number-crunching' or writing in November, then I'd say there's a lot more wrong with the business than NaNo. Just sayin' Economist person with the stupid article.)

 If you mess up your school work for NaNo, you're being immature.

Other than that,  this is no one's business but your own.

Number 2:

Only serious, professional writers should be allowed to attempt a book?  By that notion, no group should be allowed to play football in an empty field unless they intend to be professional football players, right?  No one can paint a picture unless they are sworn to the secret society of artists.  Put that camera down if you aren't a professional!  And never mind that no one is born a professional.

You are never going to see the writing these people do, so how can it possibly affect your life in anyway?  Yeah, some publishers will be hit with submissions, but most of us know better, and we keep spreading the word.  Some of the books might hit epublication long before they should.  Don't go read them.

There.  Easy answer.  You never have to deal with it.

Oh, and 'greater than thou' author?  I hate your website and all the ads and the stupid promo stuff.  What?  Then don't go look at it?  Yeah, that's the point.  If you don't like NaNo, then stay away.  But don't tell others they haven't the right to join in if they want to because they are defiling the art of writing.

Grow up.

Number 3:

This has to do with people doing NaNo.  Let's look at an analogy.

You've entered a marathon with so many other people running, you can't even count them all.  You have no idea where they came from and what kind of preparation they've done, but that doesn't matter.  You are ready.   You get the go ahead and off you go.  You work really hard and you reach the first marker, proud to have made it, knowing you had a hard time getting there.

But you look ahead and there are people way ahead of you on the path.

OMG, that's so horrible and unfair (never mind how hard they worked to get there), that you immediately decide to stop running.

 

Yeah, I think you see the point.

Stop with the silly 'it's so unfair, they're cheating, it's de-motivating to see people with high word counts' crap.  How do you accomplish anything with an attitude like that?  Come on -- what others are doing has nothing to do with you.  Just because someone is running ten miles instead of five doesn't make your work (or theirs) any less difficult or important.  And a few years from now, you may well find yourself running the harder marathon because you are better trained for it.

Okay, now to my NaNo Stuff:

Despite some problems, I am doing well.  My Edmond kitty was very ill, and that has slowed me up quite a bit.  He's better now, but still not fully recovered.  Today I fell and hurt my hand, which is bruised and sore, my shoulder, my back and my foot.  Yeah, not in a good mood over that one. It is making it hard to work.

But yes, I am way out ahead of most of the runners, and no I don't have to worry about the word count.  I am really enjoying the work of writing Beware the Wrath of Bunny Hopper.  I keep finding her voice in unexpected spots and she's a lot of fun to write.  The story is already over the word count I expected it to end by, and I still have about 15 to 20k to go.  So yeah, doing well there. 

I'm having fun.  I hope the rest of you are as well!

NaNo Day 1: 12,755

Just a quick post tonight before I crawl off to bed!  I did have a good first day despite several stops and starts.  Not the best first NaNo day I've ever had, but not bad at all.  So here is a bit from Beware the Wrath of Bunny Hopper.  Remember:  First draft.  Lots of mistakes, but still fun!

I rushed forward and in about five steps I had already spotted Brad with his back to a wall and a semi-circle of five people around him.  He had a sword in hand.  I didn't know he had any sword training, but he knew how to use it.  He couldn’t, however, hold off that many and there were others around as well. 

I didn't know what was going on here.  I didn't care.  Even if I could have called the police I still would have rushed in to help him.   

I didn't slow.  I leapt straight into the fray, startling Brad who started to swing and held back, though I had already ducked below the blow.  He made a sound of surprise, but I spun and kicked knocking one aside and then went for a second . . . and by the third my brain was starting to register that these things were not human. 

Beady eyes.  Mandibles.  Thick, dark covering that cracked when I hit it hard enough.  Bit mouth.  No neck.  Multiple legs. 

My brain kept cataloging what I saw while I helped Brad fight them back. 

Insects.  Huge, mutant insects.  It probably should have scared the hell out of me.  It probably would, later. 

Right now, I just kicked harder.  Good thing I'd been so well trained.  While part of my brain was screaming GIANT MUTANT INSECTS! that vicious inner bunny of mine had taken over the rest of it, including control of my body.  He didn't fear insects.  When they kept getting up, he just got annoyed and kicked harder.   

They backed off for a moment and I stepped closer to Brad.  He shook his head with worry, lowering the sword for a moment while he gasped for breath.  I spotted four dead insects here and a few more a ways off.  I thought he must have done very well so far.

Preparing for my NaNo Mini Vacation

This will be my 11th NaNo year.  I have won every year, and done multiple full novels all but the first year.  I love it.  I love the chance to fly.  However. . . .

A couple weeks ago, about the time I realized I could not get the outline for Water/Stone/Light done before November 1st, I began considering not doing NaNo this year. I started feeling as though there was just too much stuff piling up and I couldn't get enough done in time.  I started listing out all the stuff, and by the time I had eight things on the list I had already noticed something rather odd.

Everything except the newsletter turned out to be something I did for other people and without pay.

Hmmm.

So I rethought everything again.  I pushed forward on getting some things done, told a few people they would have to wait, and went to work on the Bunny Hopper outline, which I actually got done and early.  Then I threw myself into the rewrite of Devlin 1 as well, just because I'd been letting my own stuff go a bit.  I always finish my projects by January 1 and I realized I was running out of time with too many projects sitting there in my folder.

And I decided that I can take a few days just to leap in and do something fun.

I'm a happier person now.  I will be writing like mad for the first few days of NaNo.  I'll have a newsletter to do during that time, but I'm hoping it won't be too difficult.  I plan to have everything else that has to be done cleared away by then.  

The first week of NaNo really is my little vacation.  I love to write, but like everyone else in the world, real life and obligations take precedence over what I want to do too often.  Truthfully, I could not write all the time like I do at NaNo.  I wouldn't want to.  But I can take a few days to really live in the heart of a story and enjoy the magic that comes from it.

I have two of my three outlines printed off.  I'll do the last one today.   The first is Beware the Wrath of Bunny Hopper, a fun little urban fantasy. The other two are books 5 and 6 from my Devlin science fiction series.  I already had the outlines done last year, and I'm glad I hadn't written them yet.  They are perfect for a year when I don't have as much time to prepare as I would like.  I have a fourth outline I might use if I need it.  Or, if I still have time after these three, I might go for something without an outline at all.  Those have been fun for NaNo in the past.

Can you tell I'm getting fired up about it again?

I don't know how well I'll do this year.  There is stuff going on that may stop me entirely.  It would, of course, be easier to just say 'oh, things don't look good, I won't do it' and bow out.  What fun would that be?  No, I'm leaping in and enjoying myself.

Year 11, here I come!