The Campsite Beyond the Woods

Last night was Orchestra School Night, and that means it was busy, busy, busy.  Just an hour or so after getting home to write, and an hour or so after getting back from the school to write.  Did I write?  You know I did.  It wasn’t a thousand, but eight hundred and eighty-five is a number that made me happy, and given that I was chatting with someone at the time I was writing–yeah, multitasking again.  I should know better.

I was chatting it up with another writer friend of mine, and the discussion focused on several things:  work, idiot co-workers, and writing.  While I usually bring up the matter of why we aren’t writing centaur porn for fast money, she wondered if she was going to Camp NaNo.  For those who don’t know about Camp NaNo, it’s like NaNoWriMo, only more relaxing and with fewer mosquitoes.  You have a cabin, you have people who you bunk with, and you write without fear of having sex with any of your roomies and then being murdered by a guy in a hockey mask.

It’s another way to go off and work on something, and not have distractions.  At least that’s the idea, but we all know how real life tends to make things crazy for you, even when you’re off to camp with the rest of the girls, sitting around in your shorts and baby doll night gown, eating smores and talking about your next big novel.

I was asked if I was going, since my friend is considering it.  I mentioned I didn’t think so; she mentioned peer pressure; I mentioned that I already had plans.  I mentioned that I had a goal to get four things published this year, and she was pretty . . . well, lets say my comment was well meet.  Yes, we’re probably talking self-publishing, and we’re talking a lot of work–

Are we?

Since Her Demonic Majesty came back from Harper Voyager, I haven’t exactly been sitting on my hands singing the “Woe is Me” tune.  I’ve lined up someone to do a cover, and all I need to do is get them a synopsis and some ideas, and they’ll get to work.  If that doesn’t turn out as planed, I’ll find someone else.  But before the NaNo Circus 2013 rolls into town, I’ll have that novel published.

While I’m getting the cover, I have Replacements to look at again.  There is one more chapter that needs writing, maybe two or three thousand words total, and then I can do another pass through the story while I round up a cover for this.  I see this story not taking long to get into shape:  maybe a month total.

There is also the Halloween story I did on another blog last year.  It’s sat there, doing nothing, just waiting for me to pick it up and hold it tight.  I’m looking at this as a third story for publication, since it was pretty clean from the beginning, and I don’t believe it would take a lot of work to get it edited and formatted.  It’s a cute story, I like it, and would make a good addition to my catalog.

But for a fourth?  Hummm . . . let me think . . .

The thing with Camp NaNo is there are two events:  one in April and one in June.  I can set my own word count, so maybe something in the ten thousand range would be a good story.  Maybe, just maybe . . . one of the ideas that I’ve got floating about in my head could get knocked out in a week or two, then do an edit on that, then polish it up, and . . . story number four.

Maybe the girlfriends and I can sit in the cabin in our baby dolls and talk about romance and clothes and makeup–

Or we can write porn.

I’m thinking the later.

Bring the Witching Magic

The weekend is over, a last full week awaits, and then the last few days of The Witching Month are upon us.  October has been pretty good, pretty bad, pretty sad . . . but there has been lots of energy flowing, and change certainly is in the air.

The last few days have seen about every up and down that comes from writing.  Lots of editing, lots of blogging, a review, and then finished off Sunday night with a full-on burst of creativity by finishing the last chapter of my Halloween story with a thirty-one hundred word bust of energy that was fueled by Swedish gold.

Though that last chapter was slightly broken by a conversation I had with my daughter, who is looking to do some writing, and wanted to see what Scrivener could do for her.  I showed her Scrivener, I showed her a few of the other programs I use when I’m both writing, and getting my work prepped.  It surprised me a bit, because I didn’t realize she curious about how I write.  Then she told me, “I’ve got a project coming up, and I thought Scrivener would help me keep it organized.”

I believe I know of the project of which she refers, and for a burgeoning teen to look to ways to make her writing a bit more organized . . . yes, it made me proud.  So one of the things I need to do is get her computer set up with the same tools I use, just so I set her on the path of writing greatness–or, at the least, give her the chance to make things easier.

So lots of writing behind me, but not so much ahead.  The story for Halloween is done, complete.  It came to me Saturday morning as to how I wanted it to end, and that’s how I rolled it out.  For anyone who’s followed the late three chapters, the last might come off as a bit of a surprise, but it all comes together.  I’m pleased with how it turned out, and for a story that I was pretty much planning as I went along, I’m also a bit surprised.

Oh, and it ended up a few hundred words below ten thousand, so I can say, yes:  it’s a short story.  More or less.  I’ll call it one for now, though that’s not to say if I ever decide to edit the story, it won’t grow.

But I felt the writing magic flowing last night.  The music was ringing out, and my idea was set inside my imagination.  I typed on, and the words entered my program effortlessly.  And before I knew it, the story reached the end, and I looked down at what I complete . . . 3,139 words.

Yep, just like in the old days.  Give me about two hours, and a good frame of mind, and a great idea, and a story is going to appear.

Last night was the vibe I felt when I did NaNoWriMo 2011.  When I was pumping out three thousand words a day without issue.  My word count for last night’s story was close to two day’s work on the NaNo Crazy Train, and if I do that starting 1 November, I’m going to “win” somewhere in the middle of the month.

As before, though, there is no win unless there’s a “The End” on the last page of that manuscript.  But I’m setting my goals higher this year, ’cause the real win comes when I find an email in my inbox that tells me my novel is just too damn good not to publish, and he’s a contract for your consideration . . .

That’s the real magic.  That’s what I’m working towards.  There is no Zuul, there is only acceptance.

And I have studied.

Midnight in Rhandirmwyn

It wasn’t my intention to write last night.  I just sort of happened.

First off, I was really in information gathering mode last night.  I was very tired when I arrived home after work–I’m sorry, I meant this vampiric entity that gifts me with money in return for sucking at my soul for nine hours.  I was burnt out, and didn’t feel like doing a hell of a lot.  So I slapped on some tunes and began looking at things.

By “things”, I mean I’m getting things together for my NaNoWriMo novel.  I finally figured out a local, the basic plot, and what sort of creature I’ll write about.  Yeah, I said creature.  As in things that go bump in the night.  Only these things will do more than bump; they’re probably going to do their best to raise a little hell.

So I was on Wikipedia and Google Maps, when I was seized by the desire to have some ice cream.  As there is a Dairy Queen just down the road, I dressed, got in my car, and picked up a sundae.  So it was when I returned that I slapped in some new songs, then found myself moving the Google Maps to another part of the world.

I needed a location in Wales for my Halloween story, which will see Part Three being published this coming Monday.  I looked about, and pulled up a small town, situated in the rolling hills, named Rhandirmwyn.  Street view showed me what things looked like, and it reminded me of the times I visited my relatives in Tennessee.  There were hills and rivers and trees . . .

The perfect place for a Halloween/Samhain bonfire, or two.

Well, not right there, but once I looked around–yeah, I found the place that would be perfect.  So I looked at the satellite view.  I switched over to the map view, and triggered the terrain feature.  I looked north, closer to Llyn Brianne reservoir, and there it was:  a nice spot on a hill, about 420 meters above sea level.

I imagined the scene.  My characters appearing at a spot just to the east of Rhandirmwyn.  I pulled up the Sky View Cafe webpage and found the sky for that location at ten minutes before midnight, the time of their arrival.  I saw all this in my mind . . . and since I had Scrivener up, typing up the name of the town and the time, I figured, what the hell?  Start the conversation.

Ten minutes later I had just three hundred fourteen words, but it was a start, and it got the exposition of where they were out of the way.  And it set up the start of their journey . . .

I loved how it all came together, how it seemed to burst out from the middle of nowhere.  How it felt natural; how it felt to just sling words out there with no plan save to open the scene.

That’s the brain getting ready for NaNo.  That’s how you do it:  you get your things together, and you go.

I even have the opening scene for my NaNo Novel.  It’s not much, but it’s gonna set the tone.

It’s gonna be hard to make it to midnight on Halloween, and not write a little something.

The Rhythm of Words

Here is something that’s happened to me sometimes.  I have found myself working on a story, and it doesn’t seem to want to move forward.  It stalls; it digs in like a rented mule.  You go in little lurches until you reach the point where you likely give up, thinking you’ll pick up the story later.

I couldn’t do that, however, because I was working on a chapter that I needed to post today.  Like it or not, I needed to get through this sucker and finish it up.

But something else tends to happen as well.  Maybe it’s a lack of distractions, or I’m comfortable with knowing where the story goes, or perhaps I get into the music I’m playing as I write, but I found my rhythm last night.  I found something, because, just like magic, I headed off into Storyland and wrote like mad.

Originally I thought that I might end up with about twelve hundred to fourteen hundred words total.  By the time I was through, I ended up just short of twenty-four hundred words–about double what I expected.  And those last fourteen hundred words came forth like water bursting from a fire hose.

I’ve had this happen plenty of times before.  It happened with my first published story, and it happened at times when I was writing my NaNo novel.  Maybe it’s the music I play:  I’ve had times when the music seems wrong for what I’m doing, and I can’t plow onward.  Other times the music comes across so uplifting, that I can rip out fifteen to eighteen hundred words in an hour.

Maybe it was the fact that I knew what I wanted to do in the story, and like that–Zoom!  I was off and writing.

I’m a great believer that there should be routines you have for your writing, that if you feel comfortable with the door locked and absolute silence, go with that; or if you need death metal blasting from your speakers so you can come up with something sweet and romantic, then let that be your muse.

I’ve changed my routines a few times, but I do prefer writing early in the morning, recharging, then writing late at night, say from 7 to 10:30 PM.  Don’t know why, but working right up until I’m ready for bed works well for me.  Maybe it’s because I have a “day job”, and the only real time I have for writing are during those hours.

This will be my time for NaNo, and I don’t see myself as doing three thousand words a day like I did last year.  I’m probably going to have moments where I hit the minimum, maybe get two thousand a night, and maybe get three thousand during the weekends, but I would be very surprised if I do better than that.

Now that the Harper Voyager deal is out of the way, I can get to work on plotting for NaNo, and writing the last couple of chapters of my Halloween story (you can find the first chapter here, and the second here), and get a book review finished.

Yeah, yeah, I know:  this is what writers do.

So get busy writing.

The Witching Month

I love October.  I love the fall.  September never truly feels like fall to me, but once we get into October, then everything starts changing.  The weather changes, the trees change . . .

People change.

Things are in the pipeline.  I need to edit four more chapters for Her Demonic Majesty, and that’s it, she’s ready for the submission to Harper Voyager.  I think there’s about twelve thousand words remaining, and without pushing it, I’ll finish the polish by Thursday.  Then I have Friday and Saturday to get my submission package together, and send it off, I believe, on Saturday.

Then starts the waiting game.

I need to contact the publisher who have Couples Dance.  It’s been more than ninety days since they received the full manuscript, and I believe I’m in the position to submit an inquiry as to their intentions.  Not that I’m worried, but I would like to know what’s happening there.  That’s another of my babies, and I like to keep my babies close to me.

Also, my new Halloween story has started.  The first chapters will post in about fifteen minutes (it’s 7:45 AM as I write), and it will get pimped out all over the place–which means maybe a dozen people will see it.  Until I post a link here, and maybe it’ll get a little more coverage.

Boo!

While driving to The Undisclosed Location, I imagined the aftermath of one of my characters death.  It wasn’t a happy moment, but given the context of the scene in which it happened, it was required.  I will admit:  I have problems killing off some characters.  Some I can’t see letting them die.  Or, if they do die, they go out like heroes.

But death is needed.  Maybe I’m not going to all George R. R. Martin and create a series called, “Yeah, That One Dies As Well,” there is always the possibility that things aren’t always gonna be nice and neat.  Struggle is good, and death could always be lurking around the corner.

Let me get some stories sold, first, before I start whacking out characters in a orgy of snuff writing.  I mean, why do I want to kill people off right away, when they haven’t even stepped onto the stage.  Or I could pull a James Elroy, introduce a character as a main character in one novel, and then kill him in the first five pages of the next novel.  Kinda sets the mood for the current novel, know what I mean?

So, witching time is here . . . change is in the air.  It’s a good time to change up routines and set new goals for ourselves.  For come the end of the month, and the celebration of Samhain, we need to be ready.  The time to dance between the two bonfires will be upon us, and we could all use a little purification, so we can prepare our spirits for the coming year.

Time to come out of the dark and into the light.  Time to make things different.

Fall is in the air.

And so are so many changes.

Angel Behind Me, Witch At My Side

Busy, busy day, though not as busy as I might have been.  Editing, shopping, lunch, more editing, TV, and finally getting my Halloween story set up in Scrivener.  Up at 6:30, down at 11:15.

Not a bad stretch.

TV consisted of sitting in the dark and watching the last Doctor Who episode until Christmas.  We sat in the dark because the Internet said we were suppose to do this, probably to make The Weeping Angels that much more frightening than they already are.

It was a good departure episode, for it was time for the Ponds to leave and make way for a new Companion.  As I like to say, Moffat is Evil–I should make a meme out of that, but I’m too lazy–and he teases you, yes he does.  He loves to play with time, as well, but then, what would you expect from the man who invented Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Whimey Stuff?

After the show, then it was up to get my Halloween story ready.  I’ve through of a basic concept, and my daughter gave me some ideas that I may, or may not, use–some of which I’d love to use–so all I needed was a title, which was driving me nuts.  I finally hit on something, which brought about the response, “No one can pronounce that!”  Not my problamo, dig?  I’m just the writer.  Besides, I know what it says, so I’m not worried.

When dream time came, I was pretty much ready.  I took a nap during the day, so it was probably closer to midnight when I finally fell asleep, but then came the dreams . . . oh, my.  Talk about not so much out there while being out there.

There was a company, and a lot of dancing in a huge space where we were building something.  One of my friends was a female humantaur (looking like a human with four legs; think of a centaur without the horse body) dressed pretty much as I imagine one of the characters in my story will be dressed–and she even had a pointy hat.  There was driving around and visiting towns with friends.  There was my trying to pick out a tie for the owner of the company.  There was a lot of coffee–like, we’re talking, twenty gallon vats.

Oh, and there was a Weeping Angel going around trying to zap people into the past.  I know because I saw it a few times as it followed me around.  I think it was avoiding me, though, because I was with a witch friend, and I was in my witch dress and hat–yeah, I was.

I’m a cute witch, too.  You gotta trust me on this.

After the depressing dreams of the night before, last night was much better, even for all its strangeness.  I don’t know, but there was a frivolity that said, “Don’t take this seriously, just go with the flow.”  I wonder if this has something to do with my Halloween story, which is going to be, well, light and fun.  Not with all the death and revenge and murder I had in my last story.

Naw.  This’ll be fun.  You know it’ll be fun when the first line is, “Hey, Witchbaby!  Come here!”

Now all I have to do is write.