Book Review: FAIRY TALE MURDERS, by Kelly Money

From Goodreads:

Women are disappearing in Topeka and with each disappearance there comes another "special delivery" from a man who calls himself the Fairy Tale Murderer. Detective Kate Kingsley searches for her missing best friend, Kristen, while hot on the trail of an emerging serial killer. Is Kristen one of the killers "princesses" or is she simply the bait to lure Kate to her own Fairy Tale ending?

First I must say that I received a free copy of this book at the tail end of October, for the purposes of honest review. With NaNoWriMo and my own personal responsibilities, it took me a while to get to this book, but I finally sat down to read it.

I have to be honest: I couldn't finish this book. It's not that it was terrible; rather, the style just didn't suit me. It wasn't bad, but it didn't keep me reading. Sometimes there are just books that don't click with a reader, and I find that, for me, crime and thriller novels tend to fall into this category more often than other genres. It's no fault of the story--FAIRY TALE MURDERS just wasn't the book for me.

The story itself seemed very solid, and I would recommend it to any thriller and crime fans, especially those looking for something unique. I very much enjoyed the way the author got into the killer's head, and what I did read was dark and twisted without taking it too far. From a purely objective standpoint, what I did read was easy to read and understand without being overly simplistic, and the characters I encountered all had distinct, full personalities. While the book didn't suit me, personally, this isn't a bad review--FAIRY TALE MURDERS is a book worth picking up if you are at all interested in a darker story with a direct line into the killer's mind.

I can't offer many more thoughts on this book, since I didn't make it very far, but I am glad for the chance to have read it, and I hope any thriller and crime fans out there will give it a read. 

Until next time,
J.

Same Old, Same Old

It's been a bit, hasn't it? Since I left you last, I completed NaNoWriMo '14 with just over 64K new words added to the WiP. I'm still not done, but I got a huge chunk out of the way and life's pretty good. Our ML's husband even used his 3D printer to make all the local winners their own trophies. Mine's sitting on top of my desk, and I'm quite fond of it.

Other than NaNo, I really haven't been up to much over the past few weeks. The Husband Guy and I spent Thanksgiving with a couple of friends, and I've been doing much the same as I always do. The words get written, the dishes get cleaned, and I think about doing the carpets before abandoning the idea in favor of sitting around in my underwear and watching Netflix.

You know, the usual.

The one thing I haven't been doing lately is reading, which is somewhat of a frustration for me. I've been getting extremely sidetracked, and my TBR pile has sat, dusty and neglected, waiting for me to realize it's still there.

The one book I have read was given to me for free, for the purposes of honest review...which leads me to Friday's post! I'll be segueing into regular posts again, starting with Friday's review of FAIRY TALE MURDERS, by Kelly Money. If you're interested in that, stay tuned.

Until then, though, I'm going to go vacuum. And by vacuum I mean watch some more Netflix.

Toodles,
J.

The Road So Far

Been a while, hasn't it?

Things around here have been pretty solid. I'm making decent headway in part two of my WiP, using NaNoWriMo as the push I've been trying to find for a while now. I'm below the "official" goal, but that doesn't bother me. The important thing is that I'm getting part two written, after who knows how long spent procrastinating. Life's good.

I've stumbled into a pretty good reward system to keep myself writing: in a single writing session, whenever I clear 1,000 words, I get a milk chocolate Lindor truffle. They're my favorite candies, and the other day I managed to write 2,000 words in a sitting. I got a big bag of them, and I'm rewarding myself accordingly. I'm not letting myself have one every 1,000 words written; rather, I only get one if I clear 1,000 words in a writing session. It works for me, so I think I'll keep doing it.

Other than NaNoWriMo, things have been pretty quiet around these parts. I've got a few books to read and review, but other than that my schedule's pretty empty until Thanksgiving. So, naturally, I'm trying to spend as much time writing as I can.

There's really not much more to say at the moment, so I'll leave you here. If you're doing NaNo, good luck! If not, I wish you well on whatever other ventures you might be undertaking.

'Til next time,
J.

And the Game Begins

It's the end of October. Pumpkins and skeletons and goblins and witches are everywhere, it's just a few days until Halloween, and the week many dub "NaNo Countdown Week" has begun.

I'm no stranger to NaNoWriMo. I've participated every year since 2008, and this year is no exception. My current plan is to write the second part of my current WiP, since I know it's going to be one of the most difficult sections of the story. Since NaNoWriMo is all about pushing yourself to write something, whether it's good or utter tripe, I'm using it as the push I need.

Every year since 2010, when asked for advice about NaNoWriMo, I've offered up the same anecdote. At the end of October in 2010, I was sick. Nothing life-threatening or even all that remarkable...until NaNoWriMo hit. I got so caught up in the competitive spirit that I pushed myself to write as fast as humanly possible. I hit the 50K goal in four days, and kept going. I slept the minimum hours I could get away with, snacked instead of getting up to eat, and hardly left my desk.

Remember, I was also sick at the time. That cold developed into full-blown walking pneumonia through my horrid lack of self-care, and a week into the month I landed my ass in the hospital with a temperature of 107.3.

Which, if you didn't know, is right about the temperature where you start losing brain cells.

So yeah. That sucked, it was dangerous, and if my mom hadn't taken my temperature and rushed me to the hospital when she did, it could have been a lot worse.

That story being told, my advice regarding NaNoWriMo is as follows (lifted from my Twitter):

As we get closer to #NaNoWriMo, this is my advice: pace yourself. It's not a contest. Don't beat yourself up if you write slow. 

I wrote 50k in 4 days one year while sick. It put me in the hospital. Remember to sleep and eat and exercise. #NaNoWriMo 

Writing is good. Writing can even be fun. But don't hurt yourself just to say you were the first of your friends to reach 50k. #NaNoWriMo 

Likewise, don't try to shame those who write slow or see #NaNoWriMo as casual fun. It's not life or death. Don't make it such. 

Also remember that what you write during #NaNoWriMo won't be perfect. It probably won't even be good. That's okay. It's not supposed to be. 

The important thing is that you're writing. Even if you don't finish, you got something done. Even if you only wrote a sentence. #NaNoWriMo 

Be good to yourself. Feel free to treat yourself. Enjoy the ride. #NaNoWriMo  

This has been a series of inspiration and advice #NaNoWriMo tweets. Back to your regularly scheduled shenannigans.

Remember, folks, it's not a contest. Have fun, and be safe.

'Til next time,

J.

Review: THE WATCHERS: KNIGHT OF LIGHT, by Deirdra Eden

Been a little while, hasn't it? I haven't been up to much. Catching up on TV shows on Netflix, taking care of the man and the apartment, just the normal stuff. We got a new puppy, but between that adorable chaos I read a new book: Knight of Light, book one in The Watchers series, by Deirdra Eden.

I received an ARC for review, and since it's release day I would like to wish Deirdra Eden a very happy book birthday by saying Knight of Light was a fun, entertaining read. I feel fortunate to have been offered a place in the blog tour.

The story focuses on a girl called Auriella, who holds great power that she doesn't quite understand. Through the course of the book she befriends many people of many kinds, and experiences things the rest of us could only dream about. The story is fast-paced but fun, with characters both enchanting and terrifying. It has all the charm of a lighthearted adventure, and all the suspense of a harrowing adventure.

I look forward to the rest of the series, as I was sad to see the characters go. The worldbuilding is intriguing and unique, and Deirdra Eden has crafted a story enjoyable by anyone who enjoys fantasy, magic, adventure, and action--especially middle grade and young adult readers. My only wish is that the book had been just a little bit longer. So much happens and there are so many ideas introduced that I can't help but wish for more. I'll definitely be interested in following this series.

If you're a fan of a good adventure and characters who are tough, determined, and witty, be sure to give Knight of Light a read. 

Until next time,J.

Always Crashing in the Same Laptop

So I've been taking a bit of a hiatus, if you hadn't noticed. About halfway through last month I started feeling extremely worn down, and so I took a couple of weeks to myself. During those couple of weeks, I sat down and did a lot of editing on my WiP. I managed to get seven chapters spit-shined and polished. I had plans to finish the next eight and send the document to my crit group, as well as my husband and parents, who haven't read much of my work but would like to.

But then my laptop crashed.

I didn't lose much, when I take a step back and look at it. The main file with my WiP got corrupted, but that was the only thing. I lost no other documents, no pictures, no programs. I had a backup of everything up to when I started those seven chapters of edits, so there's nothing I have to rewrite.

But damned if it didn't suck to lose all of those perfect shiny edits.

For the rest of my little hiatus, I barely touched my document. I was--and still kind of am--pissed at losing something that took a lot of effort and that I was proud of. I got a bit burned out at the thought of doing it all over again, especially since I don't exactly remember all the little tweaks I made.

This week, though, I'm picking it back up. I had a sulk, made some notes, and it's back to edits. My plan is to edit the entirety of Part One, send it to my crit pals, and then start writing Part Two while working on the outline for Part Three. Because of how lengthy this project really is, and because I took that hiatus, I'm giving myself until my birthday in February to get this thing finished and spit-shined.

No penalty if I don't have it finished by then, of course, but it's something to shoot for.

'Til next time,
J.

It's Not the Length

A few weeks ago I posted about the length of my WiP. When I wrote that post, I had just upped my word count goal again, and I was worrying that this book will wind up being too long to sell. I typed out my woes and put the worry to bed for a little while, but in the time since Husband Guy and I returned from vacation, that woe has re-awoken. The other day I upped the word count goal to a whopping 180,000 words. Typical guidelines for my genre say that 115,000 is pushing it, and so yesterday's productivity was halted while I brooded.

Thank the stars I have the support network I do, because if I didn't have them, my own worries might cripple me.

Husband Guy, bless 'im, told me I should stop worrying because the story sounds great, and that's what's important. The ladies in my writing group told me much the same, and one of them asserted that she would much rather read a great story with a lot of meat than the same story watered down for the sake of length. And they're all right: length is a concern, but not nearly as big a concern as I've been trying to make it.

My running theory is that since I'm happy with the writing, my brain has decided to pick something else to feel insecure about. My brain is kind of annoying like that.

To combat this mess of insecurity, I've done a little something. I looked up the word counts of each book in The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire--two series by two authors who have helped define and mold my genre. The shortest on the list is The Return of the King, at 131,000 words. The longest is A Storm of Swords, at 424,000 words.

Really, my current goal of 180,000 doesn't look so extreme compared to that. I've copied the numbers down and I have them pinned on the cork board beside my desk, as a reminder of what my writer family has told me: it's not the length, it's how you use it.

'Til next time,
J.

Review: QUEEN OF SOMEDAY, by Sherry Ficklin

Well, I'm back. We made it home last night, and I spent all day today sleeping and recovering from the drive. During the downtime in our short vacation, I managed to read QUEEN OF SOMEDAY, by Sherry Ficklin. Since it's still technically Wednesday, and therefore a blog post day, I'd like to offer up a review.

First, in the spirit of full disclosure, I received a free digital ARC from the author, for the purposes of honest review. 

Now, for the honest review:

Catherine the Great is not somebody I know very much about, so I can't evaluate the novel from a historical perspective, but the story was right up my alley. I devoured the book in just a few short hours, and I would happily both recommend it to friends and read it again myself. It had nearly everything I love: political intrigue and court struggles, false friendships, dangerous affairs, vicious power plays, and so much more. I found each character equally compelling from the beginning, and I found Sophie, the main character, very relatable. Her desires and struggles realistic and complex. In my opinion, she was the perfect balance of strong, independent person and young girl who still gets in over her head and needs help. She was strong without being unrealistically flawless, and I would gladly read about her exploits for days.

I feel I also must commend Sherry Ficklin on her novel's positive portrayal of sex as something that can be enjoyable for women, not just men. The sex is by no means the focus in QUEEN OF SOMEDAY, but when it is discussed, it is discussed tactfully and in a positive manner. That is definitely something I would love to see in more YA. Not only are there extremely positive portrayals of strong women, these women are portrayed as having real desires--sexual or otherwise--and are never reduced to hurtful tropes or stereotypes.

Overall, I found QUEEN OF SOMEDAY a great read. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories with political intrigue, historical glamour, and court life. I would also suggest QUEEN OF SOMEDAY to anyone who enjoys Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, but who would like something smaller in scope that is less violent and sexually explicit. Sophie may not have been vying for the Iron Throne, but her struggle is no less thrilling.

'Til next time,
J.

Vacation's All I Ever Wanted

Last night I wrote an entire chapter, and I'm proud of myself. I've gotten a lot more done this week than I thought I could, and that's a good thing--because tomorrow my husband and I are going on vacation! I haven't seen my family in ages, and so we're going to go visit them over the 4th of July. I'm looking forward to it immensely, and it makes me even happier that I can indulge myself with a week of no productivity without feeling like I'm slacking on my word count.

I've also snagged an ARC of Sherry Ficklin's QUEEN OF SOMEDAY, which I will be reading and reviewing here. Hopefully it will make the 12+ hour drive go a little faster. I've been looking forward to reading this book for ages, and I can't wait to share my thoughts.

Other than that, I don't have much to say today, other than I'll be back in a week. Have a good 4th, everyone!

'Til next time,
J.

Goals, Interrupted

It's just after ten on a Monday night. I'd say it's a quiet night, but the neighbors have an over-inflated idea of how much I want to hear their stereo. Other than that, though, it's a good night. My husband's in bed and I have plans to hang out (and maybe write) with my best good pal Mires. I shared some more chapters of my WiP with my writing group, and I've got a clear idea of what I need to write next.

I've got something knocking around the back of my mind, though, and that is that my original goal of having this book finished by September isn't realistic. I had originally hoped to have a finished manuscript by RMFW this year, which I'd hoped to attend, but those goals need to be revisited. It's kind of sucky, but things happen. Life gets going, days slip by, money gets eaten up by rent and groceries, and you sit and wonder what the heck happened.

I'm going to give RMFW a miss this year, unless my some miracle I scrape everything together last-minute, with the goal of saving up for next year. That's a lot more feasible, and it automatically gets rid of the September deadline I set for myself. My new self-set deadline is the end of the year. That I can definitely do--my little meter on Storytoolz currently estimates my finish for late October. I can definitely get this thing finished by December.

If there's anything I'm learning through this goal shift, it's that as an unpublished writer, I have to be flexible. Heck, all writers have to be flexible. Things change, ideas fade, new ideas crop up, life happens, and characters veer off the track they've been set. I have the luxury of changing my deadline at will, and so there's no use moping that I've "missed" said deadline. I can give myself endless extensions as long as I'm still working, and I don't have to feel bad about it. And I am still writing. Sometimes slowly, sometimes in a more meandering fashion, but I'm writing. And that's better than I was doing this time last year.

Goals have to change sometimes, and that's okay.

'Til next time,
J.

Long is a Four-Letter Word

Lately I've had word count on my mind. As a fantasy writer, I enjoy the luxury of longer length conventions, and so my current word count goal of 150,000 words doesn't seem that extreme. For another genre, yes, but for fantasy? Par for the course. Problem is, I'm currently at 36,000 words in my main document, and I still have four and a half chapters until the end of Part One.

There are four parts, and my chapters run between three and four thousand words apiece. So figure about 50,000 words for Part One. That's not so bad. Multiply that by four and you get 200,000. That's pushing it. That's really, really pushing it.

Parts Two and Four are, as it stands right now, going to be shorter than parts One and Three. I don't have complete outlines for the later parts, but if Part Four is roughly half the length of Part One, that puts me at somewhere between 175,000 and 180,000 words, which isn't that bad. For the kind of book I'm writing, it's pretty standard. I think.

Still, whether it's 175,000 or 200,000, that's a long book...and I'm a yet-unpublished writer. Getting a behemoth published as a first novel is going to be a lot more difficult than something a few thousand words shorter, and I've been hyper-aware of that for the past week or so. The more I work on this book, the more painfully obvious it is that it's not going to be a short adventure. This is going to be a paving slab of a book...and, if my ultimate dreams come true, the first in a series.

I desperately want to avoid splitting this first book into two or, gods forbid, three separate books, because--to me--this isn't a story that should be split like that. It would be messy and difficult to do. Splitting it between parts Two and Three would leave the mother of all cliffhangers (I say humbly), and splitting it elsewhere would make even less sense.

Doubts worm their way in: it will be hard to sell something so dense, the chances of a series are slim, you know how it goes. I'm trying hard to squash those doubts and boot them to the side, because I'm still writing. Thoughts about publishing are supposed to come later, after I have something finished and spit-shined. Hell, this might not even be the first book I get published. It might never get published. Who knows? If I'm honest with myself, this entire post smacks a little of getting the cart before the horse, but the issue is one constantly on my mind when I think about this damn book.

Right now I'm trying not to let it keep me from focusing on what's important: the story. My philosophy on things like this has always been to write the whole story first, and then go back and make changes or cuts or splits as needed. It's a challenge to stick to it sometimes, but my plan is to write out these concerns so they're pondered and set aside so I can get more work done.

So, I suppose, now that I've done that...it's time to finish chapter eleven.

'Til next time,
J.

Gadgets and Gizmos Aplenty

Yesterday I finally did what I've been planning to do for months now, and that is buy myself a shiny new laptop just for writing. I still have my old behemoth of a laptop for gaming, but this new beauty is my writing, blogging, and Facebook machine. It's nice and portable without being too small, it's got excellent battery life, and is perfect for things like travel, conferences, or just walking down to the coffee shop (which Mireyah Wolfe and I did today). I also bought myself a copy of Scrivener not so very long ago, and so I now have the perfect setup for productivity.

It's great, and while I could write just as well in a plain notebook or on the ratty old desktop, I must admit that having invested money in tools specifically for my writing makes it all feel more...real. They say a craftsman is only as good as his tools, and while that may not necessarily be true in all cases, it's nice to have something nice, for my personal use, that is specifically for my chosen craft.

I was away all weekend and I'm currently in the middle of a long sleepless stretch, so my productivity hasn't been the best. After a good night's rest, though, my game plan is to start getting up at a sensible time, getting the daily chores done in a timely manner, and then sitting down for uninterrupted, scheduled writing time. I have the new, professional setup...so it's time for a new, professional routine. Usually I do the "write when I feel productive" routine, and that's worked well for the past few weeks, but if I'm to meet my summer goals, I can't blow off a day of writing just because I felt more like gaming than writing.

I have the tools of a professional writer. It's exciting, and even though a good laptop doesn't automatically a good writer make, it's yet another thing that's pushing me to take my words in a direction that might lead to publication.

I don't have much more to say today--I'm pretty exhausted after having been awake for a good 30 hours straight--so I'll leave it here and hope it all makes sense.

'Til next time,
J.

Dream a Little Dream

I was catching up on some favorite blogs of mine, and I discovered that Beth Revis (whose books are the bomb diggity) had written a post in line with something I've been thinking about lately. You should stop reading and go check it out. I'll wait.

*waits*

Okay, cool. For those of you who didn't go read the post, basically Beth talked about how, even though she's achieved her ultimate dream of being published, there are still things she wants. Just because you achieve one thing, Beth says, doesn't mean you should stop dreaming.

Obviously I'm not a published author yet, so that remains my ultimate goal. Beyond that, though, I like to allow myself a few daydreams. Publishing is a slow industry and the chances of making it huge are small, but it's fun to sit and imagine what might happen if my story took off in a big, bad way. Book signings and fan art and a television show and an entire fandom that produces fabulous art and fics and vids...the things I see from fandoms I'm a part of make me want to make it big. Fandom is a really cool thing.

I'm not presumptuous enough to think the stars will of course align to bring me all of these things, because the nature of publishing guarantees nothing. But those little imaginings of mine are fun, and harmless so long as I don't let them carry me away. I still have to finish this book, I still have to find an agent, I still have to go through the process...but imagining the "what ifs" gives me a fun little incentive on the days I feel lazy or that my writing isn't good enough.

So, without further ado, here's my wish list of what I want, what I really, really want:

Publication - Obviously this is the supreme ultimate goal that I'm working toward every single day. This is the most realistic thing on this list and the one that has to happen first. Even if I only ever get this, I will be happier than words can say.

Present to teenage writers - I still live close to where I went to high school, and last I heard my old English and creative writing teacher still teaches. He was a major influence on my writing, and if I still live around here when I land that publishing goal, I would love so much to talk to his creative writing classes about...well, writing. We were fortunate to hold Skype calls with writers when I took the class, and I think it would be a lot of fun to be on the other side. Even if I can't speak to Mr. K's class, I would still love to talk to high school students about writing. It was in high school I got my start, after all.

Have a fandom - All fandoms have their weird side, but I've seen amazing things come out of some of my favorite fandoms. I don't really read or write fanfics, but I've seen the pleasure folks take out of them and I'd love to hear about AUs and crackships and reimagined twists. I'd love to see artwork and fan videos and crack vids and fancasts and more. The thought of my work possibly ever inspiring such a thing makes me feel positively giddy.

Land a TV series - Obviously the caveat here is that I would want a film adaptation of my book that is true to the story and had a dream cast, but, y'know, that goes without saying. I would love a television series based around my book, even if it was just a season or two. I think that would lend itself to authenticity easier than a two-hour film. I might not watch a lot of TV, and this might ultimately just be a pipe dream, but I'm a sucker for a good fantasy show...and I'm a bit biased toward my own story in terms of "what I think is awesome."

Merch - Funko Pop figures for my characters. I want that in my life. 'Nuff said.

Write until forever - I want to write as long as I can, even if I never get published or only see some of my work make it anywhere. Writing is such a part of who I am that I never want to stop. I said publication is the most realistic dream on this list, but that's not true. Publishing can be fickle, but damned if I'll ever let myself stop turning a phrase.

It's fair to say that some of these are just flights of fancy, but, hey, a girl can dream. As long as I keep my head in the game and don't let the fun dreams become more important than the true goal, I think I'm golden.

What dreams do you folks harbor? Care to share?

'Til next time,
J.

Read the Thing

Everyone knows (or should know) that you can't be a writer unless you're a reader. Reading is how we learn the craft, whether that knowledge comes from emulating the great books or analyzing the bad. When it comes to genre, reading that genre is how writers learn the conventions, stylistic variations, common themes, and tropes. If I had to make a list of the most common advice I've read in "writing 101" books, "read your genre" would come in at #2, right between "open in media res" and "write what you know."

Just like those other two chestnuts, though, "read your genre" has its own pitfalls as a piece of advice. While it's important to read and understand your genre of choice, it's my opinion that only reading the genre you write is a quick way to get stuck in a rut.

Years ago in high school (okay, not that many years ago; I am only 20), I was trying to come up with a new story idea for a NaNoWriMo novel. Fantasy is my genre of choice and always has been, and I wanted to put together a stunning work of epic quests, creatures, and discoveries. I was, however, stuck fast. Everything I scribbled out in my notebook seemed trite and overdone, and I pitched countless harried notes into File 13, never to be heard from again.

It was at that point my mom came to me with a book she loved, but that was vastly different than anything I've ever written: Naked in Death, by J.D. Robb.

I loved that book. I'm a couple books behind in the series now, but I've read most of them more than once and will keep reading them as long as they're being written. They're not part of my favorite genre, but that doesn't make them bad. I enjoy those books more than some fantasy I've read, because they're well-written, they have strong characters who go through realistic arcs, and while some of the cases the main character solves might be "formulaic," they always contribute to the characters' overall growth as a person. They're great and I can't recommend them highly enough.

And, at that point in time, they were just what I needed. Reading good books that weren't part of my genre bounced me out of the rut I was in. I didn't stop to analyze every little thing because it was a genre I was trying to write; rather, I was able to sit back and enjoy a damn good story. It was only after I read the first few books in the series that I stepped back and examined what made me love them.

It was that examination that made me realize I can't just think about my genre and its "rules," I have to focus first on telling a story I'm passionate about and that has a strong story.

It's important to read the genre you write, but I think it's more important to read good books and, once you've taken time to enjoy them, then take a moment to think about what you loved. Every genre needs strong characters and an engaging plot, not just your chosen genre, and reading widely exposes you to different techniques you can try out for yourself.

Thoughts, anyone?

'Til next time,
J.

It Begins

And with a bang, a crash, and a lightning flash...it's Monday again. The working types are off to another day on the job, and we home-lurkers are either enjoying a morning to ourselves or sleeping in. Or maybe something else--obviously I don't know. But however you're spending your Monday morning, I hope it's treating you well.

It's been a while, hasn't it? But it's a fresh month and the beginning of a promising summer. I've been writing away between reblogging cool pictures on my tumblr, and I'm nearly 30,000 words into my behemoth of a WiP. I've got a few other projects bubbling away on the back burner, but for now, this lovely thing I call From Dust to Ashes holds my heart.

I have a few plans for the impending summer, though for us the routine isn't disrupted much. The husband's schedule stays the same through the heat, and I don't have to worry about keeping any kids entertained. All that's really going to be different is the heat, and that can be handled with the miracle that is central air. So...what's a girl to do?

The answer: write my ass off.

My best good pal Mireyah Wolfe and I did some number crunching, and they made a real pretty sound. We can't make any definite calls yet, but it looks like the two of us might be able to grace the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conference with our presence this year. We've both set a goal of having, if not finished books, at least finished drafts of our WiPs by the time we fly out (assuming we can go).

According to my word count meter, I'm approximately 19% toward my word goal, with an estimated finish date of November 10th at my current pace. Obviously November comes after September, so starting today I intend to pick up the pace. This is my summer of writing. Between a trip to see my family, a barbecue or two, and whatever other distractions summer brings, I will finish at least the first draft of this book. It's going to happen. I believe in me.

So what are you folks planning for the summer?

'Til next time,
J.

Bounce House

Being sick is such a drag. I've spent the past week or so curled up in bed with a stack of books, napping off-and-on and hoping the constant supply of cough drops and cold medicine will be enough to exorcise the snot demon in my chest.

I'm feeling loads better today, though, so that's good.

In the writing-o-sphere, between enjoying well-crafted tales from others, my brain's been doing a lot of thinking about the final third of my own WiP. I'm still mired in the beginning of chapter four, but I've been itching to bounce around out of order, which is something I've never done before. Yesterday I sat down and churned out over a thousand words for a scene that I haven't even gotten set up yet in the main document. It's toward the end. It's not anything I have many notes about. It just...happened.

And I have to say, it was a lot of fun.

I've always been the type of writer who keeps copious notes, reference images, scribbles, and timelines. It's how I keep my thoughts organized long enough to get them down in what sometimes resembles a cohesive story format. I've never, however, used those notes to write my scenes out of their proper order. It's always been a possibility, since I'm usually so organized with my writing thoughts, but not anything I've ever played around with. I've actually gone out of my way to avoid bouncing around, because the thought of going out of order has always made me feel awkward. Stories go in order, and writing them out of order is weird, or so my brain has always insisted.

Thing is, now that I've written some scenes out of order, I can't say I'm so against it anymore. I've got the notes to keep everything straight, and forcing myself into writing the next scene in chapter four hasn't panned out very well thus far. Playing around with the later political intrigue, arranged marriage, and bloody battles has been more entertaining and productive than plowing through the task of getting my main characters from the safety of their home and into the strange new place.

Slowly but surely, I'm letting myself write what feels natural and fun rather than forcing myself to stick to the rigidity of the linear timeline. It's getting me writing more often than one a week or so, and that can only be a good thing, yeah?

'Til next time,
J.

Pinned Down

It's oh-so-easy to get distracted when sitting down to write, as many writers know. The carpets suddenly need steam cleaning. The dishes need to be scrubbed. Laundry...there's always laundry. Which reminds me, I really ought to wash some clothes so Husband Guy has clean pants...but I digress. Point is, it's easy to get distracted while writing.

I, personally, have developed two distractions that masquerade as productivity, and I blame Mires for both of them. Making lengthy WiP playlists on Spotify and compiling various and sundry inspiration boards on Pinterest have been my pastimes of choice over the past little while now. It's damn nifty, and adds an interesting dimension to my plotting, but I've had to exercise caution so I don't wind up doing nothing but making playlists and boards when there's writing to do.

Even though they've functioned as distractions some days, though, I've found them incredibly helpful in cementing ideas. Particularly when it comes to pinning.

I currently have sixteen different boards all devoted to one project. It seems kind of excessive at times, but I don't feel as if it's been a waste of time. All the major characters have gotten individual boards. On those I've been putting actor photos, cool quotes that apply, and things like that. I've got a board for miscellaneous images that apply to the story in general, and I've got a board for setting porn. My personal favorites are the boards devoted to specific relationships, for images that fit more than one character. There are a couple romantic relationships on there, but I've also got a board for images relating to the relationship between my main characters, who are brother and sister and definitely not Lannisters.

It's not only been a lot of fun to do, I also feel like it's helped me organize my thoughts in a way my notes haven't been able to. There's a lot of cool artwork and graphics out there, and pinning pictures that speak of determination and strength help me get into a character's head a lot more than writing, "determined and strong" in my notebook. 

It does sometimes suck me in to the point where I neglect actually writing, but more often than not it gets me into the mood to explore my characters and settings and put the story on paper so I can read it and share it and love it. 

And isn't that the best kind of "distraction"?

'Til next time,

J.

Let it Grow, Let it Grow

So lately I've been having a lot of late-night hang-out sessions with my best-friend, writer-buddy, downstairs-neighbor Mires, and the two of us have done a bit of joint brainstorming. We've tried to prod each other into taking down notes and actually writing, and in the process we've both learned some new things about our stories and our characters. With Mires' help, I've sat down and had a long think about the direction my own current WiP is going, and the direction it's since taken has actually kind of startled me.

I've had these characters in my head for a good five years now, and the first incarnation of their story came out of my very first year participating in NaNoWriMo, back in 2010. I abandoned the project after getting kind of muddy in my first attempts at entering the world of publishing, but it grabbed on and didn't let go until I finally came back to it. I've gone through so many different ideas with this story that what it is now is similar but definitely not the same. It's grown. It's grown a lot. Just when I didn't think it could grow in scope any more than it already has, Mires and I had one of those brainstorming sessions.

The ideas we both presented got my thoughts spinning in new directions, and now that I'm faced with the necessity to write all of this down and consider it, it's daunting. I had a solid direction with this story for years, even if it's taken me a while to come back to it, but now I'm faced with adding in all these new, fresh ideas that I've fallen in love with. It's kind of scary. It's so tempting to take those cool new ideas and lock them in a box, because rewriting the same old story is comfortable.

I can't let myself do that, though. I have to let this story grow, because if I try to stifle it, it's not going to go anywhere. It's going to get caught in an infinite loop of rewriting the same story and never being satisfied, because I'll deny it the fresh air it needs to grow into something strong and powerful.

So.

It's not back to the drawing board, per se, but I've got a lot of notetaking in front of me. Timelines, history notes, character profiles, subtle political tones, all of that has got to be documented before I can take it and play with it on cards and white boards and eventually the manuscript.

It's daunting, but I can't deny my excitement.

Revisions never bothered me anyway...

'Til next time,
J.

Gotta Go Slow

If a person wants to write a book, and they want to see that book go somewhere, and they dream of seeing their writing on the bookstore shelf, they have to work. They have to work hard. More than that, they have to learn. The publishing industry is something vast and complex, and even though it moves along at a pretty slow pace at times, it's still ever-changing and convoluted. Even if you don't want to go traditional, you still have to sit down and learn--self-publishing isn't any easier than traditional. I'd argue that it's actually even harder, based on what I've heard from others who have gone that route.

If I had to go back in time and give my younger self a single piece of advice about the writing world, it would be slow down. When I was a newbie writer, I didn't do my research. I jumped in feet-first and I got muddy. Fortunately I've learned from those mistakes, but I like to think my (albeit idealistic and naive) younger self would have paid attention if she'd had a mentor who had a better grasp on the industry. I'm not saying I know the ins-and-outs, but I've learned a lot over the past several years.

I think the point I'm trying to make here is that when any writer starts out, they're going to be at least a little ignorant of how the show runs, and they'll stay that way unless they do their research. As I already said, the industry is vast and complex. You can't jump in feet-first and not expect to get muddy, and possibly even hollered at for making such a mess of yourself.

Writing is one thing. Publishing is another. No matter how experienced you are at crafting a pretty phrase, you can't get by on pretty words alone. You have to know how to treat writing like a business, I think, and you have to understand how the business side of it works before you can get those pretty words in the hands of readers.

I've got no place of authority in this strange word-fueled world, but I've still learned enough that I feel comfortable saying the following:

If you're a new writer, slow down. Pay attention to those who have been at this longer than you. It's a shiny new world that's exciting and vibrant and enticing, but you can't let that distract you from the fact that nobody starts as an expert. Every chef started out peeling potatoes, every blacksmith started out with nails and horseshoes, and every great writer or publisher or agent or editor started at the bottom and worked their way up.

It's okay to make mistakes, but the worst mistake you can make is moving too fast in an industry that values, perhaps above all else, taking things piece-by-piece, word-by-word, day-by-day.

'Til next time,
J.

And Now I'm Back From Outer Space

Or the coast, at least.

Last Friday, I went out of town for about week. I got back this past Wednesday, just before midnight. I gave myself a few days off after the mayhem of a not-so-restful but still enjoyable time away, and now I'm back to grace your blogrolls with posts of dubious quality.

I've been thinking a lot about community lately; specifically, the writing community I have available to me.

In my adventures in writing and networking, I've noticed that a lot of writers identify as solitary creatures. It's not true in all cases, of course, but it's somewhat of a trend for writers to be loners, even if they're veritable social butterflies online. I could sit here and postulate reasons for that trend, but that's not really what I'm interested in. What I am interested in talking about is how I personally have a habit of pulling back so far that I'm reluctant to let anyone read my writing. My husband, who is also a writer, has read all of two paragraphs of my work, and that only after an outrageous amount of time spent listening to me carry on about how I'm so sorry if it's bad, please don't hate me forever.

Even if I love my writing, I have this profound reluctance to let people I'm close to actually read it. That's a problem, and it's one I'm trying to overcome.

I agree very much with the statement "there aren't really any set rules of writing." That being said, though, there are a few Laws in the industry. Perhaps chief among those Laws is that one can't start submitting to agents without having their manuscript and queries critiqued by trusted friends or writing buddies who can provide a bit of objectivity. Even if a person is great at remaining objective, it's still hard to dig in and rip a book baby to shreds when something isn't working. Beta readers, writing groups, or reader friends can help iron everything out before one embarrasses themselves by submitting what's basically a rough draft to an agent, and possibly ruining their chances of getting their dream representation.

Slowly but surely, I'm becoming more comfortable with letting my work be read by people who I can't run away from if they tell me something is bad or rough or needs to be reworked. I believe it's helping me grow as a writer, and, really, as a person. You can't evade criticism forever. Writing buddies, friends, and family are telling you your story needs work, not because they're trying to be cruel, but because they want your story to succeed.

Or that's how it should be, anyway.

'Til next time,
J.

A Whole New Style

Oh, hey, it's Monday again.

In my continued adventures with getting back into the writing and publishing world, I've noticed an extreme shift in my approach to things. My plotting style is very similar to how it used to be, but I've incorporated a lot of new things. My note-taking has become simultaneously more and less complex, depending on what I'm taking notes about. Lots of little things have changed, and while I don't regret this, there's one major change that has involved a big learning curve.

I used to be very much focused on "write first, get it right later." I'd finish an entire book very quickly and spend ages going back to tweak, edit, revise, and change. I would refuse to let myself read back over anything I'd written, unless it was to get myself back into a scene I'd left halfway through. Produce crap, shine it up later--that was my policy.

Now, though? Now there's a lot less of that. The WiP I've been working on today was resurrected at the beginning of January, and I've been working on it a fair bit since then. I'm only a paragraph into chapter two, and I'm not planning on writing any further for a while.

Why? Because I'm trying so hard to get the previous chapters up to speed. I'm not trying to make them ready to print, of course, but I want them to be solid before I keep going. When I type out "the end," I want to go back to a story that is solid and doesn't leave me with something that needs to be rewritten and rewritten and rewritten to make it legible. I'm very much a person to say "let yourself write crap," but instead of going back to shine up the entire manuscript, I've been taking it a chapter at a time.

Honestly, I prefer this new method.

It may be just for this project; I'm not sure. This story has given me trouble in the past, and was subject to a great number of revisions and chapters-inserted-later that kind of bogged the original story down into a convoluted mess. Shining up each chapter so the details are clear and concise has helped me focus on getting everything going in the direction it needs to go. Much like plotting gives me a general map to my destination, this method of writing helps me enjoy each step of the journey instead of getting lost in the race to finish.

Obviously neither method is wrong, but I think, for this project at the very least, some perfectionism and lingering has helped me make something that keeps me from dreading each new day at the keyboard.

'Til next time,
J.

The Index Cards Cometh

First off: whew, it's been a little while since I posted on schedule. Things have been a bit busy, and my birthday was Monday so my plans involved naps and cake. Now, though, things have quieted down and I'm back on track schedule-wise, so here we go with today's post:

Index cards. A common tool of the writer. Some people use them for jotting notes, some people use them for organizing scenes. Some use them for the basic stuff, some find them vital to their craft. Some don't use them at all, and until yesterday I counted myself among that crowd.

The lovely Mireyah Wolfe and I have been talking a lot about plotting lately. I'm a lifelong plotter, while she's never had a lot of experience with sitting down and planning out where her story is going to go. I suggested a few of my preferred techniques and recommended a book or two, and the next time I went over to her place to hang out, her dining room wall was plastered with ginormous index cards covered with notes. I admit, it made me smile to have made a convert to the world of plot, but I digress. It was those index cards that caught my eye. They were big enough to fit plenty of information, but small enough that they could be easily organized and moved around. In short, they were exactly what I'd been looking for over the past several weeks, and I was determined to get my hands on some.

Mires told me where to get some giant index cards of my very own, and so we made the trek to the local drugstore. Five bucks later, I had two packs of my very own, and I've since started to take down character profile notes and brief chapter outlines. I've never used index cards before now, but I'm finding more and more that they're a cheap, convenient way to organize mountains of information into an easily-accessible fingertip database.

It may seem silly to some to gush over index cards, but these things are really, really nifty. I've got organized, accessible, physical copies of my notes, and I can flip through everything without ever having to tab out of my main manuscript file.

I may have converted Mires to the ways of the plotter, but she's accidentally converted me to the cult of the card.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more giant index cards to shuffle around on my plot board.
'Til next time,
J.

Too Much, Not Enough

When it comes to missing a day of writing, I used to say, "well, I just didn't have the time." These days, that's very much not the problem. If anything, I have entirely too much time on my hands.

I stay at home while my husband works two jobs, and I don't currently have a vehicle. That's not a "poor me," or anything; it's the way things are, and it works for us. The point is that, aside from our pets, I'm at home alone, with nowhere to go, and that it's a daily thing. I have housework to take care of, but that really doesn't take too much time. The rest of the day is completely mine.

Sounds great, right?

For the most part, yeah, it is pretty awesome. I can walk away from most projects when I start to get overwhelmed or bored or I just feel like doing something else for a little while. The problem is that I have no daily structure, and it's easy to either get extremely bored very quickly, or get sucked into something and not walk away from it until it's 5:30 and time for dinner. Either way, it becomes extremely difficult to focus on the one thing I'm trying to get back into:

Writing.

Lack of structure and an excess of free time makes it so endlessly difficult to muster the self-discipline to write daily. When I can spend literally all day long playing video games and have pretty much no negative repercussions from that act, it's easy to do just that. When I get bored and nothing is stopping me from just going to take a nap, it's really really easy to do just that. The hard thing is putting my butt in the chair, switching on my brain, and doing something that can be difficult, frustrating, and, when it comes to editing, occasionally tedious.

Today I'm letting myself bask in laziness and lack of structure, because I have at least acknowledged the problem. I'm going to get it all out of my system. Tomorrow, however, starts the days of a specific time frame in which I will write. Saying "I'll write [x] amount a day" hasn't cut it, because that [x] amount gets lost in all the free time. Saying "I'll write from noon to one every day" has a lot less wiggle room.

Self-discipline is hard, but I think I can do this.
'Til next time,
J.

Juggling Act

I have always been the kind of writer who prefers to work on one thing at a time, as well as the kind of writer who prefers to write in order and never skip from scene to scene. It's linear, it's straightforward, and it gives some stability to a process that can be anything but.

"But wait!" some of you observant readers are saying, "You have three word count meters on your sidebar, not one! Three!"

You're quite right, observant readers. There are three word count meters on my sidebar. Because, despite the fact that I vastly prefer working on one thing at a time, I find my loyalties currently divided between three stories. Two are old projects being overhauled, one is new, and all three are pestering me to give them more attention than the other two. Some days it's pretty tiring, and some nights I can't sleep for wondering what character A is going to do in story 3 while character Q does X in story 1. Keeping it all straight is, to put it bluntly, really damn difficult. I've got a lot of respect for writers who can do this on a regular basis, because bouncing around between stories has got my head spinning.

I try not to bounce between projects in one day, because that's a bit much, but sometimes I find that while working on story 1, story 3 wants me to clean up scene M. Story 2 creeps in and demands attention for character delta, and then they all get whiny as I take a step back to take a breather. It's bizarre, it's not my typical writing style, and, to be honest, despite the frustration of trying to juggle everything, I find I like the challenge.

Today I'm working on one of the older stories that's getting an overhaul, but who knows what I'll be working on tomorrow? I certainly don't. That would have terrified me once, but where I am now in my writing career...well, it's kind of fun to wing it from time to time.

Though I'm still not a pantser. No matter how much I bounce around, I don't think I'm ever gonna be very good at winging a story. It's all plotting, all the time. But that's another post for another day.

'Til next time,
J.

A Rose By Any Other Name

I'm a fantasy girl at heart. I write it, I read it, I watch it, I listen to it, I sometimes think I live it. It's my genre, and I love it. Because I read a lot of fantasy, I run into a lot of invented languages. Tolkien did it better than perhaps anyone, and it's been a thing in fantasy as long as fantasy has existed, insofar as I'm aware. Plenty of folks make up languages for their writing, for speaking in code with friends, or just for their own amusement. I've made up a language of my own, for the very first draft of the WiP I'm currently overhauling.

I was talking to my husband about this the other day, since he's a big, big fan of languages. He studies not only foreign languages, but linguistics itself, and his advice to anyone who wants to include a fictional language in a novel is as follows: If you're not completely sure of what you're doing, don't do it.

I have a slightly different opinion on the matter than the Husband Guy, but the sentiment is one I very much agree with: If you don't have at least a passing understanding of how languages work, you run the risk of having an invented language that is little more than gibberish keysmashing, and that leaves readers feeling frustrated. You don't have to be a master linguist, but it's my opinion that if you just try making up a series of invented words, it's most likely not going to flow, not going to make sense, and readers will skip right over it in annoyance. I've seen fictional languages done well, and I've seen them done poorly, and poorly-constructed fictional languages always leave me wondering why the author felt the need to include them in the first place.

I'm not the Ultimate Authority, mind you, but speaking as both a writer who has tried and failed to construct a fictional language, and as a reader, most fictional languages drive me nutty. Tolkien was a philologist and a linguist, and so of course he knew what he was doing. You don't have to be a professor with credentials, but I stand by the opinion that you absolutely must understand how grammar works, and you can't just make up a string of words and expect them to sound good.

Also, a pet peeve: Umlauts. I feel like 99% of fantasy writers who include umlauts in their fictional languages have no idea how umlauts actually work.

I guess what I'm saying is this:

Playing with fictional languages can be fun, and it can benefit your story, but if you don't know what you're doing you run the risk of the language devolving into complete gibberish that can potentially piss off your readers. If you want to include a fictional language, devote time to figuring out more than just "[x] word means [x]." Figure out the grammar, and for the love of whatever gods you hold dear, please don't write "asdf jkl; uiop qwerty xyzqlb" and expect readers to believe it's anything more than random keysmashing.

Until next time,
J.

Tell Me I'm Frozen

So in case you've been living under a rock, it's cold out there. Like, really cold. Really, really cold. We're talking so cold and so icky that the snow's piled up to a depth of six and a half inches here in South Mississippi, the roads have been solid sheets of ice, highways are closed, businesses and government buildings are shut down, and my husband hasn't been able to get to work for the past two days.

It's cold.

I bring this up because I had a bit of a brainwave earlier. I don't get to experience snow very often (thank you, Mama Nature), but from time to time snowy environments crop up in my stories. Not really being familiar with snowy environments in the real world, I base all my descriptions on what I've seen and heard from others, with what precious little snow I've dealt with thrown in. I like to think it's passable, but I didn't realize until this week's Snowpocalypse just what kind of cold snow is.

Snow is cold. Snow is freezing. It's white, it blankets the earth, it dampens sound. Most people know this, even if they've never been in snow, because these are all extremely common descriptions of snow. This week, however, I've learned so much more about snow than I ever wanted to.

Snow isn't just cold, it's wet. The cold stings whatever exposed skin it can find, and the dampness soaks through your clothes and your very skin, cutting all the way down to bone. Your body tremors and shivers and shakes as you try to fight off an invader that sometimes feels like its eating at you from the inside. The ice, which may conjure thoughts of fun things like ice-skating and snow days when it first forms, blackens and takes on a menacing sheen that you know could be the death of you if you venture forth. The sky turns to steel and while the sun may shine, it is not the friendly sun of a sweet spring afternoon. The sun--that bastard--only exists to mock you at this point.

It makes me feel slightly better about the cold, really, all this learning I've done. Not by much, mind you, but slightly. It's gotten me thinking about descriptions in my own writing, and how they can always be improved by getting out and experiencing things. Obviously I'm not going to go out and experience what it's like to get shot or stabbed or shoved in the trunk of a car (good lord, my writing is bleak...), but even everyday experiences can help shape my writing into something more realistic and immersive.

Though I wish the lesson in snow hadn't been so...uh, well, I wish it hadn't been so damn cold.

All y'all frozen folks stay safe out there.
'Til next time,
J.

Agony! Beyond Power of Speech!

I've been overhauling a very gloomy story lately. Several characters have distinctive Great Tragedies, and nobody comes out on top. Bad things happen to everyone and no punches are ever pulled. With apologies to Stephen Sondheim, every time I contemplate heaping more misfortune upon my poor characters, all I can imagine is said characters banding together to sing their own rendition of Agony from Into the Woods.

"Agony! / Far more painful than yours! / When you know she would kill you / if it opened plot doors!"

Replotting the story and figuring out the fates of all my named characters has gotten me thinking: it's not just me who's cruel to these fictional people; it's popular for writers and authors all over the Internet to detail just how much fun they've been having torturing their brain babies. What's up with that? Are writers just all sadists who turn their desire to maim and harass to people they can torment without going to jail?

I'm still not ruling out that particular possibility, but I've spent some time thinking about the question and I think I've come up with an answer:

Life is pain, Highness, and not everyone knows how best to deal with that pain. Life is long and full of misfortunes big and small, and humans being who we are, we've come up with many varied ways to cope with that. Some coping mechanisms are healthy, some are destructive, and some are so common and vital that there's an entire industry devoted to them: namely, the publishing industry.

Books, I think, are one of humanity's shared ways of coping with all the bad stuff. We writers heap all this misfortune on characters because misfortune is part of daily life, whether that misfortune comes by way of losing keys or by way of something bigger and much more painful. As writers, we know all about how no matter how fantastical a world, there has to be a tie to reality. That tie, it seems, is that everyone goes through unpleasant things.

We heap these horrible events on our characters to see how far it takes to break them, and what happens when they break. Some fall, some die, some transform into unimaginable beasts. Some, though...some use their pain and their anguish and transform into something shiny and new. Some make it through the horrible events their writers heap upon them, and they come out victorious.

We as humans know the world is full of darkness, and we as writers take that darkness and throw it at our characters. We as readers devour these stories. And why? Because we want to see people go through hell and come out shiny and new. We want to see people succeed and we want to know that no matter what demons the characters face--whatever demons we face--there is still a chance to defeat those demons and find safety, security, happiness.

People go through hell, and they don't always come out on top. Similarly, not all characters come out on top. But as long as there's a chance for those characters to win, we'll keep reading and writing about people going through hell. Misfortune is unavoidable, but if people in books can get through it...well, maybe we can, too.

Or maybe writers are just sadists. Who knows?

'Til next time,
J.

Rules and Regs

Today I'd like to talk about rules. I wrote and published a similar post last week, but thanks to a rather unfortunate bit of computer mayhem, it got deleted while I was trying to reorganize things. My best good pal Mires wrote a similar post in its wake, though, and it seems to me that the point of the post is one that deserves reiterating:

When it comes to writing, the rules were made to be broken.

I enjoy reading what other writers and folks in the industry have to say about crafting a story, and for the longest time I devoured how-to book after how-to book. I still have several that I enjoy and that I will recommend, but I must say that I think my old obsession with the "rules" caused my own writing to suffer. While many people have great advice, none of them are the ultimate authority and getting wrapped up in the rules they lay down is a great way to get derailed from the real task at hand, and that is writing a good story.

When it comes right down to it, I write for my own enjoyment first, and second in the hopes that people will read and enjoy the stories as much as I have. The agents and publishers of the world are the middle men and, as wonderful as many of them are, I think getting wrapped up in the rules they lay down can be detrimental. Don't write this kind of story, always keep this tip in mind, take a look at this trend, et cetera.

Now of course I don't mean to paint the industry or its members as a bunch of bad guys; rather, I'd like to point out that, just as many a rejection letter has pointed out, the market is ever-changing and the components of a good story are completely subjective.

Everyone has preferences, and those preferences can vary wildly from person to person. If we as writers only look to the preferences of a few (no matter how vocal those few), we run the risk of getting wrapped up in quickly churning out stories to fit the market, rather than focusing on stories we love, or, worse yet, driving ourselves to endless frustration with stories with elements we don't even like.

This applies on the small scale, too, with individual story elements. "Don't write about prophecies," somebody might say. "It's overdone and readers hate it." That might certainly apply to a chunk of readers, but there are plenty who like prophecies just fine. The real question to ask yourself is, do you like stories about prophecies? Is a story about a prophecy something you could get invested in, toil over, and stick with for years and years?

It is? Then write it.

Stylistic choices, too, are yours and yours alone. Editors might make suggestions, and those suggestions might work for you, but the choice is always yours. That doesn't mean throw grammar out the window, but it does mean that if you want a character to speak wi' a bit o' slang or inflection, you shouldn't be afraid to play around with it and see what works for you. If you want to Capitalize or CAPSLOCK things for emphasis, WHY NOT? It won't always work out, but getting so wrapped up in what the "rules" say might keep you from discovering something that suits your story perfectly.

They (whoever 'they' are supposed to be) like to talk about how you should never write prologues, never include dream sequences, and never ever ever rely on tired ideas of people discovering alternate worlds or hidden powers.

Fie, I say! I like alternate worlds and hidden powers! I appreciate well-implemented dream sequences! If a prologue is written well, I see no reason not to include it. It's what I like that's important to my story, and the only rule I ever stick to is this:

If you're so focused on rules and what the agents might say, you're missing the point, and that is to have fun while writing a great story.

Go forth and have fun, my friends.
'Til next time,
J.

Words From a Smart Man

I started off the year fully intending to immediately get back to a regular schedule. Regular blog posts, daily writing, being responsible and super awesome, the whole shebang. Unfortunately, however, things didn't exactly go as planned. Despite small bursts of inspiration and desire to write pretty words, I've been crippled by insecurities and even anxiety.

I used to write constantly, and thinking about how much that's changed is something that hurts me a lot. It makes me want to get going again just to prove that I still can, but then I get stopped in my tracks by the overwhelming panic that comes at night when you're surrounded with nothing but darkness and your own insecurities. Over the past few months I've written, but never much at a time. No matter how much I tell myself to put my butt in the chair and produce words, I can't. No matter how much I post about fresh starts, I can't make that fresh start happen. I've lost count of how many times I've deleted this blog's archives to start over, hoping that this time I can make it all work out.

What right do I have to take time away from my real-world responsibilities to play with imaginary friends? Where do I get off playing pretend when there are dishes to do, carpets to vacuum, bills to pay, a husband to feed? What's the point in wasting my time when my stories won't go anywhere; when the chances of making it big are so minuscule?

I might have continued being mired in those bleak thoughts for weeks, months, years longer if it weren't for my husband. We had a long talk late at night, when I was firmly in the grasp of the strongest insecurities, and he said something that was akin to the slap in the face that brings a person in hysterics back to the present.

"If there's something you enjoy, you owe it to yourself to do that thing."

Gods bless that man and his ability to help me break through my insecurities. It's a simple statement, but it gets down to the base of my problem. I don't need reassurances that I'm a great writer, because I know damn well some of my words are shoddy. I don't need insistence that I'll get published someday, because that's not my primary goal. I don't need somebody to tell me my stories are good, because I don't write for them and their enjoyment, if it exists, is a happy accident.

What I needed, and what I think everyone needs from time to time, is reassurance that it's okay to have fun and spend time doing things you enjoy. You can't blow off your responsibilities, but you can't kill yourself stressing over everything and forget to actually enjoy things every once in a while. It may seem like such an obvious thing, but sometimes it's so hard to let myself get immersed in a time-consuming hobby that doesn't have an obvious payout. My crafts I can sell or give as gifts; there's practical sides to that. Video games can be interrupted with little notice. All of my other hobbies have some practical aspect or can be set to the side easily when responsibilities rear their ugly heads.

Writing, though...writing is time-consuming, writing doesn't have immediate payouts (if ever), and writing is hard to break away from when you're in the middle of a scene. It's something that's deeply personal and a bit indulgent, and for so long now I've been wrapped up in analyzing every little thing I do that any hobbies that are more than superficial have fallen to the absolute bottom of my to-do lists and have all but dropped of the radar completely.

January may be half-over, but it's not too late to set New Year's goals and resolutions. Hell, it's never too late to set goals and resolutions. Every day is a new one, and today I intend to roll up my sleeves, kick out the last remnants of the insecurities that have kept me from playing with words, and actually write. 

I enjoy writing, and I owe it to myself to spend some time telling stories, free of stress and free of questions about the practicality of scribbling rough drafts in a tattered notebook. It's my time to shine.

Until next time,
J.