30 Things Question 10

10. Describe your most embarrassing moment.

One of my biggest fears in life is embarrassing myself. So I actively avoid doing things that will result in being embarrassed. That being said, I'm also a huge klutz, but as I've accepted that about myself, I actually rarely get embarrassed when I have klutzy moments. The bigger the fall, the better the story, so I generally just accept them when they happen. I learned a long time ago that other people don't make a big deal out of things if you don't make a big deal out of things. So despite the fact that I've had jeans rip open in convenience stores or I've tripped down stairs in front entire rooms full of people, I can't actually point to a single MOST embarrassing moment in my life.

Though, if you want, you can count any time I've been forced to or volunteered to get up and talk in front of people. Also, there was that one time I caved and tried to sing karaoke. Okay that was embarrassing, but I was so mortified that I hate even thinking about it. Also, everyone was really nice and has never spoken of it again.

So sorry, you get no most embarrassing moments from me.

Listy Wednesday: Giving Thanks

In honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow, I decided to make a list of things I'm thankful for. Enjoy.

1. My family, husband included. ;)
2. My friends.
3. Having a roof over my head that is all mine.
4. My church family.
5. My relationship with Christ.
6. My freedom.
7. My job and my husbands job, especially given that we have both been unemployed within the past two years.
8. My guinea pigs. They can be a lot of work, but they're adorable and I love them.
9. The talents and passions I've been given and the opportunities I've had to use them.
10. My life in general.

Okay, these are all pretty standard and generic, but I wanted to keep it simple. I'm no less thankful for all the little things, like clean water and a bed to sleep in. These are just the ones that encompass all the little things too.

Friday you get more 30 Things.

Until then.

Writing Progress

Well, I actually got some writing done last week. Not a ton, but I at least finished another chapter of Alana. That's good. Now I only have about two thirds of the book left.

Of course, coming up, I'm probably going to have to completely rewrite one of the next chapters, but that's okay. I think the rewrite will improve the chapter.

This week is Thanksgiving, so I have a shorter work week. I'll still get my other posts done, though, so don't worry.

Wednesday will be a special list in honor of the holiday. Friday, I'll continue 30 Things.

Until then.

30 Things: Question 9

9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.

1. My parents. Technically two separate people, but they both had a big impact on me. The biggest was probably introducing me to my faith by having me in church every Sunday.
2. My childhood friend Helen. She was probably my first best friend and she was one of the first connections I made after my family moved to Missouri. She helped this place start to feel like home.
3. My brother Tim. He was my best friend from birth and without him I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have become a writer. He helped me create some of my first worlds and inspired me to create stories in ways that books couldn't. He's still one of my best friends and a source of much encouragement.
4. My youth pastor Tim Ward. He was one of my first shepherds in my faith and really helped cement my beliefs.
5. My former best friend Rachel. While we aren't friends anymore, while we were in high school she is one of the reasons I didn't feel completely alone or abandoned. She helped me make it through a pretty rough period in my life.
6. One of my leaders at church, Lynn. She was a welcome encouragement during high school and also helped me get through that very rough period.
7. My college pastor Brad. He was always an encouragement, helped strengthen my faith, and provided much needed support during that bad period during early college.
8. My friend Judy. She was a much needed help getting me on the path of recovery and helping me remember the truths I'd learned when I was a kid.
9. My pastor Brian. He's been a friend for a long time and he's be instrumental in helping me recover and rediscover the core of my faith.
10. My Lord and Savior, Christ. Without Him, I wouldn't be who I am. He is my life and without Him, I am nothing. I keep learning that everyday and hope to never stop.

Listy Wednesday: Jobs

For the return of Listy Wednesday, I will be giving you a list of the jobs I've had over the years. They're in no particular order, like usual.

1. Kennel Worker
2. Stable Hand
3. Childcare Worker
4. Preschool Helper
5. Receptionist
6. Resume Writer
7. Internet Researcher
8. Childcare Coordinator
9. Custmer Service Rep
10. Product Researcher

Nothing super glamorous, but lots of interesting things over the years.

Friday brings the latest installment of 30 Things.

Until then.

Writing Update

This is going to be short, since I haven't gotten much writing done in the past week.

The reason is because I got stuck when trying to calculate the difference in time passing between my two worlds. I wasn't sure I was calculating it correctly so I had to have a friend help me develop a formula so I could ensure consistency and help me figure out the timing for things that happened prior to the beginning of my book.

This actually turned out to be important because it will massively impact the play of events in the upcoming books. There's a few things that rely heavily on Alan not knowing about magic before she gets to Mascar, so figuring out how much time would need to pass for that to be realistic is important. And since that also affects how much time has passed in Mascar and their history, it required some thinking on my part.

Much thanks to my friend who came up with the formula. It's very helpful and surprisingly simple. Having friends who are better at math than I am is very beneficial.

Okay, this was longer than I expected. On Wednesday, I think I'll have a list for you and on Friday more 30 things.

Until then.

30 Things Question 8

8. What are 5 passions you have?

1. My faith and the Bible. I love to learn everything I can about God and His word and I’m constantly finding news facets of His love for me.

2. Writing/Storytelling. Discovering new ideas and putting those ideas down on paper.

3. Learning new things. I love to learn and find out more about anything and everything that interests me. I’m always researching new ideas or looking up new terms. The more I know, the happier I am.

4. Animals. I love animals and being around them. Any chance I get, I interact with animals. I’m really looking forward to finally getting to own a dog and sharing my life with a furry friend.

5. YA fiction. I love reading, writing, and talking about all things YA. I think there needs to be more great YA fantasy out there and I love discussing the various messages and ideas presented in various books.

Writing Update

So last weeks plans to write got derailed a bit because of crazy work days. Things were just nuts all week last week. As such, I didn't really get a chance to write anything significant. I did do a little work on Alana, but crazy work combined with being mired in doing calculations to figure out time passage rates in two different worlds left me having accomplished very little of substance. I'm hoping to fix that this week, but so far, it's been crazy already.

As for my lists, due to last weeks craziness, I didn't get a chance to come up with new list topics. So no list again this week. Maybe next week.

I will post a question for 30 Things on Friday though.

Until then.

30 Things: Question 7

7. What is your dream job, and why?

To be a YA fantasy author. Also a stay-at-home mom and wife.

I love stories and I love books. Growing up, I read voraciously and, sadly, there were very few good books for teenagers. Most of the books that were available weren’t so great. At some point, I realized that I wanted to write the stories I longed to read. Books meant so much to me that I wanted to write books for teens that weren’t as consumed with worldly messages. I wanted good clean books that I wouldn’t have to hide from my parents. So that’s what I want to write. I want to publish YA fantasy in the secular market that have a basis in my faith without being too preachy.

I also realized a few years ago that I really want to stay at home and raise the kids my husband and I will someday have. I long to be a part of their lives, caring for them and giving them a safe place to return to when the storms of this world buffet them. I want to give them a firm foundation to live out their lives from. I want to care for my family and my home.

Writing Update

Sorry it's been a bit since I wrote an entry. I've had a bit of a crazy few weeks. This past week was particularly crazy.

Last weekend I got sick and was still feeling unwell by Monday. Then I had a root canal on Wednesday and wound up getting sick again on Friday and staying sick all weekend. And that was just last week. The prior week was also a bit hectic.

Needless to say, I haven't really felt up to writing much. As such, I haven't gotten much more done on Alana. I'm gonna try to get back to it this week, but I can't promise anything.

As for my lists, I'm running out of things to list, and being sick, I haven't really had the time (or inclination) to come up with new ideas. I'll try to spend some time on that this week so that next week I'll have some ready to go.

Friday I plan to post the next question in 30 Things, so that's fun.

Until then.

Writing Update

This is going to be short since I don't have much of an update and I have to get a writing assignment done for this week.

I still haven't gotten a chance to write much more on Alana since my hands have been bothering me still. I'm working on making that less of a problem, but work has been crazy so I haven't succeeded so well yet.

Only one post this week, since my hands are bothering me and I need to get this writing assignment for my workshop done. Should be back to normal next week.

Until then.

30 Things: Question 6

This is actually a really hard question for me to answer. So far, it's my least favorite. But this project is about being vulnerable and open, so here you go.

6. What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?

The thing that stands out the most is the issues that went on between me and my parents from when I was 16 until I got married at 22. That was, by far, the most difficult period of my life, due chiefly to my very strained relationship with my parents. I don’t want to go into too much detail, since I’ve begun working on healing from the pain that they caused me during that time and throughout my childhood. Suffice it to say that we had nearly weekly fights over some very petty things. They said terrible things to me and called me names and in general were some of the least supportive people I know. I nearly ran away so I’d never have to see them again on multiple occasions. The things they said and did while I was a teenager has damaged our relationship in ways I can't even describe.

I am just now starting to deal with many of the issues that have resulted from my childhood and I pray that someday I will be able to put them all in the past and have some sort of healthy relationship with my parents. But I am getting through it. I recognize it for what it was and I am learning to rewrite my self-image. The Lord is using that pain and hurt to draw me closer to Him and make me a better wife. I know that the scars of those things will never go away, but I also know that eventually they won’t be so fresh and I will be able to use them to point others to the redeeming love of Christ.

Writing Update

I actually don't have much of an update this week. The past two weeks I've been having major pain in my arm, so I didn't get any writing done. Which is annoying. Hopefully this week my arm will be better and I'll get more writing done though.

I've sort of run out of list ideas for Wednesdays at this point, but I hope to have a few more starting next week. Instead, I'll just post 30 thing on Friday.

Until then.

Writing Progress

I don't' really have much to say about my writing this week. I've been working pretty steadily on Alana and have made it to the fifth chapter, so that's good. My online writing workshop is going well too, but since it's only the second week, I don't have much to say other than the instructor liked my first assignment.

So that's pretty much it for now. I'm actually going to take a break on posts for the rest of the week since I'm sort of out of ideas for lists at the moment and my hands have been bothering me a lot. I'll be back next week.

Until then.

30 Things: Questions 5

5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?

1. My faith.
2. My writing.
3. My church.
4. My friends.
5. My husband.

Listy Wednesday: Activities I Enjoy

Today I'll list all the things I like to do besides writing. Most of these I don't get to do too often, since my time is super limited, but I still really enjoy them when I can get to them.

1. Reading
2. Doodling
3. Jewelry making
4. Crafting
5. Researching stuff
6. Watching TV
7. Watching movies
8. Baking
9. Learning Spanish
10. Horseback Riding
11. Walking dogs
12. Going on mission trips
13. Volunteering at church
14. Yoga
15. Drawing
16. Gaming
17. Daydreaming
18. Word puzzles
19. Playing cards/board games
20. Hanging out with friends

On Friday, I'll continue 30 Things.

Until then.

Writing Progress

I've been working on the next draft of Alana some more. I've managed to get to the middle of chapter three.

This draft is harder because I'm not just flat out writing stuff. Instead, I'm reading through my previous draft and reworking stuff that needs to be redone. I'm really focusing on descriptions and trying to be more purposeful in them. I'm trying to make them feel more real and less detached. Not an easy task, but I like to think I'm having some success with it.

In other news, I started taking an online writing workshop offered through Writer's Digest University. It covers the basics of fiction writing, so I probably know most of what's going to be covered, but I wanted to take it cause I've not taken many creative writing classes in my life. I figure it might be good to do one on the basics and see what happens. Hopefully it'll be a good experience. And who knows, I might meet some other writers. If it goes well, I might try to take another one next year.

This first week is about description, so I have to turn in a 250 description by Wednesday. Should be fun.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Wednesday, I'll post a list of something. Not sure what yet.

Until then.

30 Things: Question 4

4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.

1. You are beautiful, no matter what you might think now.
2. You will meet people who truly cherish and care about you, so don’t stop looking.
3. You won’t have to deal with the health problems for ever.
4. Storms are coming. Cling to Christ and you will make it through, even when it seems like you won’t.
5. It’s okay to be who you are. The people who matter will love you for it.
6. It’s okay to be girly, when you want to be. It’s also okay to be a tomboy.
7. Don’t be so anxious to grow up. Someday you’ll look back and wish that you’d appreciated being a kid more.
8. Don’t push Tim away. He loves you more than you know and he always will.
9. Remember that despite all the arguments and pain your parents cause, they do love you, even if they don’t know how to show you.
10. Pay more attention to your school work. You’ll regret it later if you don’t.

Listy Wednesday: Pets

I decided that today I'm going to list all the pets I've had over my lifetime. I'll list their names and species, but they won't be in any particular order. Enjoy.

1. Bernadette (Bernie), Guinea Pig
2. Amy, Guinea Pig
3. Parker, Guinea Pig
4. Black Suede (Suede), Rabbit
5. Penny, Dog
6. Honey, Gerbil
7. Raphael (Raphi), Gerbil
8. Slate, Gerbil

And that's it. Friday continues 30 Things.

Until then.

Writing Update: Success

Sorry for the long delay in posts. We had a holiday and then I got sick, so I didn't have time to get all my posts written like I normally do. But I'm back now, so yea!

I bet you're wondering how First Sight is going. Well, good news: I finished the second draft just before Labor Day! The new draft comes in at just over 50k words, which is great since that was part of my goal with this draft. I'm still not super thrilled with the story as a whole, but I think I made real progress on improving it, so that's good.

Since I finished that draft, I've decided to get back to work on Alana. I started working on revising it into a fifth draft. This time, my focus is on really upping the description and wording so it feels more vibrant and alive. I've been rereading a particular series of books and I've found that it's really helped me think about describing things in new ways. Because of this, I feel like I'm doing a lot better at making my description pop. At least I hope so.

More exciting writing news. I have decided that I'm going to take an online writing workshop to help me really hone my novel writing. I only took two creative writing classes in college and neither of them really focused on novels, so I'm going to do that now. I figure it can just help improve my writing. And that's something I really want to do. So I'm gonna get signed up for those shortly.

All right, that's all I've got for today. On Wednesday I'll post some kind of list. Not sure what it'll be about yet.

Until then.

30 Things: Question 3

3. Describe your relationship with your parents.
In a word: complicated.

I love my parents, but they have caused me a great deal of pain over the years. I’m working on forgiving them and figuring out a way to have a better relationship with them. Still, I love them and it’s hard to imagine not having them around, even if I don't talk to them very much.

I'll probably go into greater detail later in this series, but for now, this will have to suffice.

Until then.

Listy Wednesday: Places I've Been Part 3

Today I'll end my series about the places I've been by giving you a list of all the cities I've visited around the world. Well, most of them. There are some towns that I found myself in that I don't remember the names of. Still, I'll include as many as I can, including the country in which they are located if they happen to be outside the US.

1. Austin, TX
2. Rochester, MN
3. Aurora, CO
4. St. Charles, MO
5. Lubbock, TX
6. Minneapolis, MN
7. Rome, Italy
8. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
9. Frankfurt, Germany,
10. Denver, CO
11. St. Louis, MO
12. Colorado Springs, CO
13. Des Moines, IA
14. Denton, TX
15. Post, TX
16. Jacksboro, TX
17. Philadelphia, PA
18. Liberty, VA
19. Mobile, AL
20. Cedarville, OH
21. Savannah, GA
22. Turin, Italy
23. Venice, Italy
24. Guatemala City, Guatemala
25. Chiquimula, Guatemala
26. Zacapa, Guatemala
27. Trieste, Italy
28. Florence, Italy
29. Pisa, Italy
30. Vatican City
31. San Antonio, TX
32. O'Fallon, MO
33. Springfield, MO
34. Rolla, MO
35. Chicago, IL
36. Nashville, TN

I'm sure that's not all of the places I've been, but I'm having trouble thinking of the other cities.

On Friday, I'll continue my 30 Things series.

Until then.

Writing Update: So Close to Done

I got a decent amount of writing done last week, so I'm now at a little over 47k words. I also have about four or five scenes left to rewrite in the draft. That means, I'll hopefully be over 50K by the time I'm done. Which is awesome, since the first draft was so short. Still, 50K is pretty short for a fantasy novel. Although, I already know I'm going to do at least one more draft of this novel, since I think there are some scenes I need to add to the beginning and I need to adjust some things in the middle to make them make more sense.

One good thing about this draft is that it helped me discover the theme of this novel. I know theme is a big thing in novels, but I've found that the couple of time I've tried to write with a particular theme in mind, it hasn't quite worked out right. First Sight actually started out with a sort of theme about truth and lies and how they interact. But as I was working on this draft, I realized that that theme wasn't really working. Maybe because I didn't know what I was trying to say about it, or maybe because it was too nebulous. Or maybe something else all together.

In the end, I realized about 3/4 of the way through this draft that the theme of First Sight is actually trust. Trust in oneself, trust in others. Which is an interesting thing to explore when one of your characters always knows when someone's lying. I found myself thinking about how something like that might affect a person's ability to trust others, particularly if they suddenly found that they couldn't use their lie-detecting on someone they were supposed to work closely with.

Knowing this makes me need to rethink a lot of my two MC's interactions. Which is one of the reasons I know First Sight will be getting at least one more draft.

Okay, that's all I've got today. Come back Wednesday for Listy Wednesday.

Until then.

30 Things: Question 2

2. Describe three legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.

1. Never accomplishing my goals.
I am something of a procrastinator, so I worry that I will never get my act together and actually accomplish my goal of becoming a published author. I fear that I’ll keep finding a way to put off doing the things that I need to in order to get published.

2. Failure.
I fear failing at whatever I try to do. I’m scared that if I try something, I will wind up being horrible at it and making a fool of myself. This probably stems from my childhood and the fact that perfection was expected of me in everything and since I couldn’t be perfect, my failures were often pointed out without bothering to point out when I had actually gotten something right.

3. Abandonment
I am scared that those closest to me will at some point get tired of me or realize that they never really liked me to begin with and leave. This probably stems from the fact that this has happened to me on several occasions, and usually right about the time I was really starting to trust the person.

Listy Wednesday: Places I've Been Part II

Today, I continue my series on the places I've been. This time, I'm going to list the states that I've been to. This will include ones I've driven through but not necessarily stayed in. It won't include the ones I've flown over. Enjoy!

1. Texas
2. Missouri
3. Colorado
4. Minnesota
5. Oklahoma
6. Kansas
7. Arkansas
8. Mississippi
9. Alabama
10. Georgia
11. Tennessee
12. Kentucky
13. Ohio
14. Illinois
15. Indiana
16. Pennsylvania
17. Virginia
18. New Mexico
19. West Virginia

As you can see, I've been all over the Mid West, and throughout the South, but not many other places. I've never been West of the Rockies. That's something I hope to fix one day.

Next week I'll list all the (major-ish) cities I've been too, both domestically and internationally.

Until then.

Monday Writing Progress Report

Last week I had a bit of a hiccup in the middle of the week with my writing. My wrists started hurting again, so I didn't get a ton written. I'm up to a little over 45K words now, so only about 2K words more than last week.

This is particularly maddening since I'm within about seven scenes of being finished with this rewrite of the story. I'm hoping this week will be a little better with my hands, since it's not raining too much and I've been exercising them (my hands that is). I just find this very frustrating. Being limited by how much pain I have is so annoying. There are times when I wish I could just sit and type for hours, but I can't because my hands hurt too much. I utterly hate having fibromyalgia at times like this.

I know I randomly mention when my writing is affected by my health, but I rarely talk about my feelings about my health. That's probably because most of the time, not being able to physically do things doesn't really bother me that much. I've adjusted and learned how to work within my physical limits. It only ever really gets to me when I weeks like last week, where doing anything hurts and nothing helps make the pain go away. It's at those times that I'm reminded how much I hate how useless this condition makes me feel.

Okay, enough ranting about things I can't change. I'm looking forward to finishing this draft in the next week or so.

Until then.

30 Things: Question 1

I'm always cautious to reveal too much personal information about myself. Letting people in is scary. That's why I don't say much about me or my life in these posts.

Recently though, I've realized that this isn't the best idea if I actually want people to connect with me. There are things in my past that, while I dislike them, may help you understand me more and may help us connect better. After all, that's what I want my writing to do, so if I can't open up how can I expect my writing to connect to people. So I've decided to try and write posts that are more personal and show you a little more about me beyond just what I'm writing.

I'm going to start by doing a series of 30 posts answering a series of questions about myself. I found this series through a pin on Pinterest on this blog. I liked it so I decided to fill it out. I never thought I'd post the answers, but turns out I am. Go figure.

Okay, let's get started.

30 Things

1. List 20 random facts about yourself.

1. I am a Christian. When I say I’m a Christian, I mean that I believe that Christ is the Son of God who came to earth to live a perfect life and then die before rising again on the third day all because we as humans are broken by sin and can't have a relationship with God without Christ's sacrifice. I also believe in the complete validity of the Bible and a few other things that you can feel free to ask me about.
2. My sense of smell is very weak. I can only identify a few things by smell, and I can only smell things that a very strong or that I am thinking about smelling (i.e. someone says smell this and then sticks something under my nose).
3. I talk to inanimate objects, mostly telling them to stop moving or stop acting stupid.
4. I like to practice talking in non-native accents, especially after I hear someone else speaking with an accent.
5. Over time, I tend to pick up accents and mannerisms of the people I hang out with or spend lots of time around.
6. I am not scared of reptiles, amphibians, or rodents; in fact, I think they are pretty cool.
7. Other than the nickname my family used/uses for me (Kat) and the one only one of my childhood friends uses for me, I didn’t have a nickname until well into college and no one even uses those for me anymore.
8. I love the smell of fresh mulch.
9. I sing along with pretty much any song I know even part of, sometimes despite hating the song/artist.
10. Often if I hear just the title or a few words related to a song, the part I know best will get stuck in my head.
11. I don’t watch R-rated movies and I avoid explicit music and books as much as possible, but I play M-rated video games.
12. I love re-watching shows and movies I’ve already seen.
13. I would rather be half an hour early that a minute late.
14. I never played any sports or instruments in high school or college, nor did I join any clubs, teams, or groups, except senior year of high school when I returned to homeschool choir.
15. I’ve only been out of the country three times in my entire life. Twice to Italy and once to Guatemala.
16. I was 18 before I saw a beach or ocean for the first time.
17. I’ve never been skiing, even when I lived in Colorado for 18 months.
18. Despite being a major klutz who routinely runs into stationary objects, trips walking across flat ground, and falls up and down the stairs, I have only fallen out of a tree once when I was about five. I’ve never fallen off a ladder or off of any other objects I have climbed.
19. I’ve never broken a bone, but have had 20+ stitches and several very bad sprains.
20. I'm a major introvert. And I'm kind of shy. No those aren't the same thing.

There you go. Come back next week for number 2.

Until then.

Listy Wednesday: Places I've Been

Today I'm going to list some of the places I've been. This is going to be a series of lists actually because I'm going to break it down into countries, states in the US, and cities (both US and international).

I haven't really traveled that much, so this first list will be short. As usual, there are in no particular order.

1. Italy
2. Guatemala
3. The Netherlands
4. Austria
5. Germany
6. The United States (technically since I was born here, I'm not sure it counts as a place I've been, but I'm including it anyway.)

I've flown over a number of other countries, but never actually been in them, so they don't count.

Next week I'll list all the states here in the US I've been in.

Friday, I'm starting my new series of personal posts.

Until then.

Writing Progress

Last week I didn't get as much written as I would have liked. I've been fighting migraines, pain in my hands, and just generally not feeling well. Still I got a little bit done. I'm now up to about 43K words.

I'm still having trouble with the ending. I've been considering ways to change it and make it better, but I still am not sure. The part I'm having the most trouble with is where they actually confront the antagonist. It just doesn't feel right. Most of the rest of the ending feels okay, but that particular part just rings false to me for some reason. I'll definitely have to work on it and let you know what happens.

I'm gonna end here because honestly I don't have a lot else to talk about with First Sight at the moment.

So come back on Wednesday for a fun new list.

Until then.

Character Ideas Part IV: Antagonists

I realized that I never finished this series, so here's the last entry in my Character Ideas series of posts. I've already talked about where I get the ideas for protagonists, side characters, and love interests. Now it's time for the antagonists.

Typically my antagonists come from the needs of the story. Most of the time when I'm coming up with the story, the antagonist is one of the last big pieces I work on before writing. I've never had an idea that starts with the antagonist, but that could happen in the future.

I don't want to tell you too many specifics about the antagonists in my two novels because that might give too much away. Instead, I'll just talk in generalities. Both needed specific qualities to cause the plot events for both stories. The mean specific skills and back stories to make their motivations make sense. I actually probably spent more time on their motivations than my main characters. This could be because I have a tendency to write stories where the MCs get thrown into situations, whereas the antagonists are causing the issue so they need to have a specific plan and course of action and the motivations to make that plan take place. So I know exactly why both my bad guys did what they did, what drove them too it and why they didn't choose a nicer path.

I guess you could say that the plot is really what gives me the ideas for my antagonists. Again, this might not always be the case, but at the moment, it's what I have.

Next Firday, I'm going to be starting a new series, but it's not going to be about writing topics. I've decided that since this blog is called Writing through Life, I should probably talk a little about my life. So next week, I'll start doing just that.

Until then.

Listy Wednesday: 100

Since it's my 100th post today, I decided I'm going to push myself and list 100 of the names I like best. See, I like names. Who am I kidding, I love names. I have a bunch of baby name books (have since I was a teenager) and I'm always looking up new names and what they mean. So naturally I have a list of names I love. And today, I'll share 100 of those.

This list will consist of both male and female names in no particular order. They are names that I like for a wide variety of reasons, whether cause I would name my kid that or because it's a cool name, or because it works for a character I may one day create. As usual, I'm not telling you which is which. Feel free to guess. Also, tell me which names you like best from my list, or which ones you think I should have included.

1. Lucas
2. Caleb
3. Gavin
4. Brandon
5. Zachary
6. Levi
7. Nathaniel
8. Bryson
9. Cole
10. Braxton
11. Gage
12. Collin
13. Reuben
14. Brice
15. Benton
16. Efrain
17. Callan
18. Alden
19. Justus
20. Rowen
21. Emmitt
22. Matthias
23. Teagan
24. Brendan
25. Brennen
26. Zechariah
27. Emery
28. Braeden
29. Trent
30. Travis
31. Malachi
32. Corinne
33. Lorelei
34. Livia
35. Elaine
36. Kassandra
37. Virginia
38. Elisa
39. Elaina
40. Phoebe
41. Alexia
42. Genevieve
43. Tessa
44. Alexandria
45. Cora
46. Elise
47. Lydia
48. Victoria
49. Chloe
50. Sophia
51. Samantha
52. Zoe
53. Rebekah
54. Piper
55. Brant
56. Aidan
57. Alexander
58. Andrew
59. Asher
60. Benjamin
61. Bennett
62. Blake
63. Braddock
64. Bradly
65. Brent
66. Brody
67. Bryant
68. Cale
69. Camden
70. Christopher
71. Cody
72. Colin
73. Connor
74. Cullen
75. Gideon
76. Daniel
77. David
78. Dyllan
79. Ellis
80. Eli
81. Elijah
82. Elliott
83. Ephraim
84. Ethan
85. Evan
86. Everett
87. Ezekiel
88. Gabe
89. Geoffrey
90. Graham
91. Ian
92. Isaac
93. Isaiah
94. Tate
95. Alaina
96. Amelia
97. Aubrey
98. Tyler
99. Titus
100. Tobias

What are your favorites from my list? What names are missing? I know there are a bunch of guys names, so what girls names do you think I should add?

I'm Back

I was sick last week, so I didn't get blogs done. I'm still not feeling great, but I figured I need to try to do these even if I didn't feel well. So here I am.

I started working on First Sight again last week. I've been trying to get two scenes done a day, since I really want to get this draft done. I'm not always successful, but I've been pretty good about it. My current word count is just over 40K. That's right at what the first draft was when completed, so I'm pretty happy about that. I've added quite a bit that I hope makes the story better.

Currently I'm working on the last third or so. It's officially my least favorite part of the story. I'm not sure why. Maybe I don't totally like the resolution, but something about the end feels off. Or maybe it feels too easy. I'm not sure. Before I finish redrafting, I might reread that section and see if I can figure out what's irking me about it so I can fix it. I don't want to just regurgitate a bad ending if I can fix it.

That being said, I really want to get First Sight done cause I want to get back to Alana. I think I know what needs to be done, so I want to get busy doing it. I've been rereading some really well written books that have really inspired me and that makes me want to work on Alana.

Okay, that's it for tonight. Wednesday I'll have a list for you. Friday will be the last post in my Character ideas series.

Until then.

An Update

For the past couple of weeks I was working off and on on the account of my trip to Guatemala back in June. It took a while because I started it as a personal journal, then turned it into a journal that I was going to post for public consumption. Because of this, after writing the thing, I had to go back and do a few revisions and edits. It's now been published on another blog dedicated specifically to it, so I'm back to working on First Sight.

I got a few scenes done last week, but since I haven't spent a full week working on it, I am waiting to resume my regular blog posting until I do. Sorry for the delay, but I'd like to have something to actually write about when I post my next blog.

I'm planning for that to be next Monday, so hopefully it will be. Until then, you can always head over to my Guatemala blog and check out my adventures there.

A Little Longer with the Break

I know I've been gone for a bit. I was in Guatemala for a week so it got in the way of my writing. Since I've been back, I've been working on another project. Once I get that finished, I'll get back to my normal schedule of posting and writing.

Also, when I finish that, I might have some stuff to write about Guatemala, so bonus.

Until then.

Character Ideas: Part III

I know I promised to post this last week, but as I mentioned Monday, I was having hand trouble. Still am, so this may be short.

Anyway, I'm sure you are all dying to know where I get the ideas for my male leads and non-MCs.

Most of my main male leads come to me as part of the idea process. Well, their personality does. They start out as a list of things that I feel like that character needs to be. In Mathan's case (that's the lead for Alana) he needed to be dark, mysterious, a bit older than her, and skilled in using the magic that Alana has to learn to use.

In Raelin's case, Keller needed to be a bit more hostile. He is kind of Raelin's opposite. That's pretty much all I knew other than he and Raelin didn't get along at first.

Other than that, I didn't have too much of a clear picture of who my male leads were. That didn't develop until I actually go into writing the stories. It was only then that I really got to know who they were as characters, more of what their personalities felt like.

As for my secondary characters, those ideas basically just come from what ever pops into my head when I need the character. Usually I think about what the character needs to do in relation to my main characters then go on from there. Either that or I think about what the character needs to accomplish. That's pretty much it. Everything else gets fleshed out as I write.

Next week, I'll conclude the series about character ideas by talking about where the ideas for my antagonists come from.

Drafting Update (Sort Of)

So I didn't really get much written last week. My hands were seriously bothering me. That, combined with the holiday last Monday and you can understand why I didn't post any blogs. But I'm back this week, though the blogs will probably be shorter.

In a couple weeks I may have some non writing related blogs to post. Next Wednesday I leave for a mission trip to Guatemala, so hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some stuff to talk about from that.

Come back Wednesday for my weekly list.

Character Ideas: Part II

This week, I'll tell you where I got the idea for Raelin.

I actually kind of hate the story of where I got the idea for Raelin because it's a little similar to the story of another author of a rather well known set of books about sparkly undead creatures. (Yes. I'm being vague on purpose.) If that doesn't tell you where I got the idea, well. I don't know. Keep reading. Actually, keep reading anyway.

So the idea for Raelin came to me (cringe) in a dream. This is, in fact, the only time in my entire life this has ever happened. Which is a little odd since I have rather vivid and strange dreams that I remember long after I've had them (I still remember dreams I had when I was 10). Despite my propensity for strange dreams, I had never gotten a story idea from one. Until I dreamed about Raelin.

Since the dream was rather different than the ultimate story, I'll go ahead and tell you about it. In the dream there was a girl who kept having visions about another girl she was searching for. She was accompanied on this search by a guy that she was both annoyed with and attracted to. The majority of the dream took place in a tavern where the girl and her guy companion were being attacked by people who didn't want them to find the person they were seeking. There were green laser beams and over turned tables involved. After a while, I woke up.

I'm not sure, but I think I immediately knew that I could use this dream as a starting point for a story. It was obviously going to be from the searching girl's perspective. A lot of the details changed, and in the final story there are no green laser beams. But the bones of the story are there.

That is I got the idea for Raelin. She literally came to me in a dream.

Next week I'll talk about where I get ideas for non-MCs, like love interests and minor characters.

Listy Wednesdays: Places to Go

This week I'm going to get a little personal in the list and give you a list of places I want to visit. I'm not sure how long it will be, so we'll see when it's done. As usual, in no particular order, just as I thought of them.

1. London
2. England in general
3. Ireland
4. Italy (again)
5. Greece
6. Spain
7. Paris (mostly just the Louvre)
8. Saint Petersburg, Russia
9. Australia
10. South Africa
11. Jerusalem
12. Japan
13. India
14. Jamaica
15. The Caribbean in general
16. Los Angeles
17. San Fransico
18. Washington D.C.
19. New York City
20. Florida
21. Hawaii
22. Alaska
23. Cancun
24. Chile
25. Brazil

Oh look. I actually made it to 25. Guess it's a good thing I mixed cities and countries together into a single list. ;)

What's Going On with My Draft

This past week I don't think I got as much written as usual. Once more my wrists were bothering me, so writing was difficult. Still, I got a little done each day. My word count is now at 23k. That's 4k words last week. Not bad for bad wrists.

I'm deep into the middle of the book at this point, which is really my least favorite part. Although, currently I'm working on one of my favorite moments between my MC and her mother. It's actually the midpoint of the novel, so a new major revelation is uncovered. Actually, two. One that changes my MC's understanding of her life and one that changes her understanding of the mystery she's working to solve. I can only hope that it comes out as well as I hope it does.

I'm still not utterly in love with the story as a whole, but I'm feeling a little better about it this draft than I was with the first. I think finding Raelin's voice really helped. I'm still worried about the overall plot, but for the most part, the story feels pretty good at this point. We'll see if I still feel that way next week.

Character Ideas Part I

I'm not sure if I've written about this before or not, so I'm going to write about how I come up with ideas for my characters, both main and supporting. I think this is going to be a series of posts, so stay tuned for each week to see how I came up with various characters.

My MC ideas come from a variety of places, though usually it's from something having to do with the story idea itself. Every once in a while I'll get an idea for a character without a story attached, but most of the time the two are inexorably linked.

The idea for Alana actually came from her name. Well sort of. Back before I even had the idea for Alana, I was looking through a name book (something I do quite often. I have a thing about names). While I was browsing, I came across a name that meant "from a distant place," or something along those lines. I remember seeing that and thinking that that would be an interesting story. A story about a character who got taken to a distant land and their name meant "from a distant place."

This sparked idea after idea, and I eventually wound up with the original plot line for what would become Alana's story. Now, obviously Alana doesn't mean "from a distant place" and I'm not even sure how I got to that name, since I could have sworn at the time it was the name I saw. But that doesn't matter. The key was that this name's meaning got me thinking and then suddenly I had a character and the bones of a story to go with her.

Next week I'll post about how I came up with Raelin.

Listy Wednesdays: Literary Characters

This week you get a list of my favorite literary characters. I only came up with 20 this week. As always, they are in no particular order.

1. Meliara Astiar from Crown Duel
2. Eowyn from The Two Towers and the Return of the King
3. Faramir from The Two Towers and the Return of the King
4. Tris from the Divergent Trilogy
5. Keladry of Mindelan from The Protector of the Small Quartet
6. Cinder from the Lunar Chronicles series
7. Cress from the Lunar Chronicles series
8. Percy Jackson from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heros of Olympus Series
9. Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heros of Olympus Series
10. Trisana Chandler from the Circle of Magic and the Circle Opens Quartets
11. Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice
12. Cassia from the Matched trilogy
13. Cat from the Heist Society series
14. Tally from the Uglies trilogy
15. Four from the Divergent trilogy
16. Briar Moss from the Circle of Magic and the Circle Opens Quartets
17. Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series
18. Laurie Holbrook from the Lauren Holbrook Series
19. Eff from The Thirteenth Child
20. June Iparis from the Legend trilogy

Drafting Progress

I didn't get as much written this past week because my hands were acting up. The second draft of First Sight is now at just over 19k words. Not terrible, but not necessarily great.

My goal most days is to get at least one full scene done. If I can, I try to do more like 1.5, but I can't always do that. It depends on how much new material I'm adding in each scene. This past week I added quite a bit to one scene and completely changed the way it ended. When that happens, I don't get as many scenes done, since I've just added to the one I was working on.

I think that's my favorite part of redrafting is finding the places where I can make the story better by adding to it or changing a few things. It's also the hardest part, but it makes it worth it.

World Building Issues

As I've been working on First Sight, I've discovered some issues with my original world-building.

When I first started writing the book, I really wanted to set it in a world that was quite different from the world of Alana's book. Alana's world is small and very uniform, to a point. There's not by way of ethnic or cultural diversity. It's just the nature of the story.

Knowing that, I really wanted First Sight to be different. I wanted it to be a world where lots of ethinicities mixed together in a big melting pot of a city (since most of the story is set in a city). I wanted to have characters from different ethnic background mixing freely and to see lots of different types of people. So that's what I started with.

As I kept working on and thinking about the story though, I realized something. The way the plot works is highly dependent on my characters living in a country that is fairly secluded from the rest of their world. Suddenly I had a problem. How do I have an ethnically diverse yet highly secluded setting? I realized that I don't really think it's possible to have both?

So what's a girl to do? I'm still working on the story. I think I've come up with a solution, but sometimes it's hard to let go of one's original ideas. Still, I know I'll come up with something. I just haven't quite figured it out yet. One thing is for sure. I really want something that's diverse. I just have to figure out how to achieve that and to achieve the goals of the story in a way that's actually believable.

It's things like this that make me love world building.

Listy Wednesdays: Movies

Today I'm going to list a bunch of my favorite movies. They come from all different genres and, as usual, are in no particular order.

1. Pride & Prejudice
2. The Avengers
3. The Proposal
4. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6. Beauty and the Beast
7. Tangled
8. Frozen
9. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: Cures of the Black Pearl
11. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
12. 27 Dresses
13. Letters to Juliet
14. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
15. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
16. Star Trek (2009)
17. Iron Man 3
18. Miss Congeniality
19. You've Got Mail
20. Ever After
21. Mulan
22. Inception
23. The Dark Knight Rises
24. The Princess Bride
25. The Hobbit (both of the two that are out are tied)

Drafting

I'm still working on the draft of First Sight. The going is slow, but steady. I've been able to write a little over 17k words on this draft. Over the course of typing, I've actually added about 4k words. Which is good because the original draft of the novel is just over 40k words. That's really short, I know. Hence why I'm happy about the expansion.

That's one thing I've noticed about my writing that I'm interested to see if it will carry over into the first draft of whatever I write next. I write short first drafts. The first draft of Alana was only a little over 66k words. While this is still technically an acceptable length for a YA fantasy novel, it's on the short side. Most fall well into the 75k+ range, even for first novels.

So with both the first drafts of my two novels being on the short side, that makes me wonder if my next novel's first draft will also be on the short side. Perhaps it won't be, since I seem to incorporate the things I learn each time I write something new. Still, I have noticed that I tend to write economically and then come back and add more later on. This just seems to work for me. I get the bones down and then come back and flesh it out later on.

What about you? Do you tend to write long and edit down later or write short and add more later?

Emotional Writing

One of the biggest things I've struggled with as a writer is allowing my characters to show their emotions. It's something that I am continually working on. Probably because emotions aren't exactly my strong suite, in writing or in real life.

I've never been the best at expressing how I feel. I'm what some people call a stuffer and others call a bottler. Something happens and I take everything I'm feeling, good or bad, and I shove it down inside where people can't see it. I try very hard to make sure people don't see when I'm upset or mad or annoyed or anything. I also try very hard to simply not feel those things. I'm a bit weird like that. Showing or feeling emotion wasn't terribly highly encouraged in my family, so I just learned to not do it.

The problem is that this has made it hard for me to get emotional in my writing. I've been told that sometimes my writing comes off as too detached. This is particularly problematic since I tend to write in first person an that means you should be privy to all my character's thoughts and emotions.

I'm working on it though. Hopefully as I work with critique partners I can conquer this terrible detachment and get to the heart of my characters.

Listy Wednesdays: TV Shows

It's Wednesday. You know what that means. I list something.

I like doing this because it's a way for you to get to know some info about me, but in a fun way.

Today I'm going to give you a list of my favorite TV shows. As always, these are in no particular order. I don't necessarily watch all of these all the time, particularly because many of them are no longer on TV, so don't think I'm just sitting around watching TV all day. ;)

1. NCIS
2. Star Trek: The Next Generation
3. Stargate: Atlantis
4. Fringe
5. Star Trek: Deep Space 9
6. NCIS: LA
7. JAG
8. Stark Trek: Voyager
9. Stargate: SG-1
10. Warehouse 13
11. Eureka
12. Life (The one with Damian Lewis)
13. Castle
14. Once Upon a Time
15. Downton Abbey
16. Doctor Who
17. Sherlock
18. Elementary
19. Flashpoint (the Canadian cop drama)
20. Veronica Mars
21. Leverage
23. Covert Affairs
24. Firefly
25. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Value of Critiques

So last week I decided that I really needed to find some people to critique my novel before I started submitting it. Call it intuition, call it being scared out of my mind to start sending it out, call it whatever you want. Either way, I got my butt in gear and started looking for people who would want to partner with me and provide some feedback.

Turns out that it was a good idea on my part (getting critiques usually is). It looks like my novel needed a lot more work than I thought. And that is why I went looking for someone to critique it. Because I have spent so much time with the novel that I wasn't able to see it clearly any more and needed another pair of eyes (or two).

Of course, like any critique, there are some things that I don't necessarily agree with in the feedback I got. There are always suggestions that don't quite work with what I'm trying to do in the story or deviate too far from my goal. But overall, I found the suggestions very helpful. And very challenging.

I have some thinking to do as I decide how to dive into the next set of revisions on this novel.

Come back next time work Listy Wednesday.

Interview with Raelin Tabra

One the of the things I've really been struggling with is finding the voice for First Sight. I think I've mentioned before how much of a love/hate relationship I have with this book. Well, I really want to get it in good shape, so I'm working on it again (as I mentioned here). As such, I decided I needed to try and find Raelin's voice. I felt like that was one of the biggest things missing from the other drafts of the book. So I looked up some character interview questions online and found some good ones that I liked at this blog.

I really liked the results of the interview. It turned our to work a lot better than I expected and I feel like I got a much better sense of what Raelin sounds like. Because of that, I thought it would be fun to post the interview in this blog post. Maybe someone will find it interesting.

Note: this interview takes place before the events of the book. I figured that would be best since the inciting incident kind of changes everything Raelin knows about herself. I wanted to get to know her before everything in her world changes.

Interview

Who are you?
I'm Raelin Tabra. How can I help you?

I was just hoping to ask you a few questions. Do you mind?
That's fine. I'm not sure why you'd want to talk to me. Most people would rather talk to my mother or father.

Why is that?
Surely you know who they are? Cassara and Lenton Tabra? She's the most famous Seer in Alyona. He was the Emperor's personal Healer until shortly after they married and moved to our family home outside the capitol. Everyone knows who they are.

And everyone doesn't know who you are?
They probably know me too. Usually they forget I exist, until they see me with one of my parents.

Why's that?
You really don't know anything do you? I'm their unGifted daughter. The fact that two of the most powerfully Gifted Alyonians have a daughter who never Presents, it gets talked about. Except, they don't realize who I am unless they see me with my parents. So most of the time I go unnoticed.

Does that bother you?
Going unnoticed? Not usually. It means I don't have to deal with all the scrutiny that Caedan deals with. Since I'm not Gifted, I don't have to worry about living up to my parents greatness. I'd prefer to be unnoticed than have everyone staring and whispering.

What do you care about most in the world?
My family.

You answered that pretty quickly. Any particular reason?
My family is all I have.

You don't have any friends?
There are a few people I talk to when I go with Papa to market days, but other than that, not really. I think it is a side effect of being so unnoticed. I have Caedan. He and I spend a lot of time helping Papa in the garden. Most of the other people I know find me . . . unsettling. It is very rare for an unGifted child to be born to Gifted parents, so many people don't know how to interact with me.

Do you think that if you were Gifted you would be treated differently?
Of course. It's the way of our country. Those with Gifts are far more respected and sought after than those without. But I told you, I'm used to this treatment.

You don't seem used to it.
*she glares at me now* Do you have any other questions? If not I have things to do.

No I do. What really ticks you off?
I'm not sure there are many things that make me really angry. Injustice does make me mad though. And people preying on those too weak to defend themselves.


Do you think the way people treat you is unjust?
No. I'm not discriminated against. Those without Gifts have all the same rights and privileges as those with Gifts.

But you just said that people treat you differently because you aren't Gifted. How is that not discrimination?
Because my treatment isn't just because I am unGifted. It is because I am the unGifted daughter of Cassara and Lenton Tabra. I am not saying that there are not Gifted Alyonians who discriminate against unGifted Alyonians. I'm just saying that it is not the normal practice among those groups. My parents have always made it very clear that I am no less of a person because I don't have a Gift.

It sounds like you are upset by the way others treat you. You clearly don't like talking about it.
Since you have figured as much out, don't you think it would be wise to move on to a different question?

All right. If you could do one thing and really succeed at it, what would it be?
I would be as great of a Healer as my father. I love being able to help others, and Papa does so much good with his Gift. I can only hope that despite being unGifted I will be able to help as many people as he does.

Is it hard to be a Healer without a Gift?
There are many things you can't do as an unGifted Healer. You are limited to using herbs and natural remedies. Papa's Gift allows him to Heal more serious illnesses and injuries faster and easier than someone without a Gift can. But it's not impossible to be an unGifted Healer.

What people do you most admire, and why?
My father, because he is such a great Healer. He helped developed some of the best cures that we have. He was the Emperor's personal Healer for years.

So just your father? Anyone else?
Should there be someone else?

Nope. Just checking. What was your childhood like?
*she takes a deep breath* It was interesting. I spent the early part of it wondering when I would Present. Caedan Presented by the time he was three. My parents tried to treat me as normally as possible, but even they seemed confused when I hadn't Presented by the time I was ten. During that time, I had discovered that I greatly enjoyed working in the garden and helping Papa, so at that age, I began to formally train as a Healer. It took my mother a little longer to accept my choice but eventually she too accepted it. As I grew older, the expectations for me to Present lessened and I finally settled into my life as an unGifted Alyonian. Most people who knew my family stopped asking about my Gift by then, so I didn't have to deal with questions much past that age. Since then, I've worked to master everything I can about herbal Healing and gardening.

What's the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?
It was a market day, so my whole family was at the market in the Merchant Quarter. There was a Gifted boy who often came around to buy herbal remedies for his sickly sister. I had become very fond of him and Caedan found out. That day, the boy came to our stall and he and I had struck up a conversation. Suddenly Caedan appeared and proceeded to tell the boy how much I loved him and that I wanted to marry him and have his children (I was twelve at the time). I was so embarrassed that I ran away and hid. I've never been able to speak to the boy again.

What do you look like?
I'm short. Most people believe I'm younger than I am because of how short I am. I have green eyes and long, dark, curly hair.

Listy Wednesdays

I liked making the list last Monday, so I've decided Wednesdays will be list days. Or they will be for as long as I can come up with things to make lists about.

Here's the next one: 25 of my favorite books in no particular order.

1. Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith
2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
6. Squire by Tamora Pierce
7. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
8. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
9. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
10. The Final Kingdom by Golbert Morris (The Seven Sleepers Series)
11. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
12. Cress by Marissa Meyer
13. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
14. Divergent by Veronica Roth
15. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
16. Miss Match by Erynn Mangum
17. Matched by Ally Condie
18. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
19. Heist Society by Ally Carter
20. The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
21. Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
22. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
23. Thr3e by Ted Dekker
24. Legend by Mary Lu
25. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Adventures in Writing this Week

I wrote query letter. Actually I wrote about three or four, well drafts of the same one. You'd think it'd be easier to write one given that I used to write cover letters all the time. It wasn't. While the idea is similar, the execution is quite different. I don't even want to think about what it's going to be like to write a query for First Sight. At least I've always loved Alana. I can't say the same thing about First Sight.

I don't know how many examples of query letters I looked at. The problem is finding ones for my genre. You'd think with the popularity of YA it'd be easier to find example queries. Apparently more traditional fantasy still isn't huge though. Mostly I found examples for urban fantasy and dystopian. Oh well. I think I got it figured out.

Other than drafting a query letter, I've also begun rewriting First Sight again. It's going okay. Now that I think I have a better idea of how she sounds, I feel like the writing is going more smoothly. Of course, I thought that last time too, and it turned into a pain in the butt. Plus I've only gotten a few pages done since I was really busy with Easter week last week. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do some more writing on it this week.

Sorry this post is a little less focused than usual. I wasn't really sure what I should write about. Hopefully I'll have a better focus next week.

Most Effective Way to Keep Writing

I've found over the past years as I've worked on my writing that I don't always want to write. In fact, there are many times when I want nothing to do with sitting down at my computer and tapping at the keys to make words appear on a blank page. The idea is the least appealing thing on the planet. I feel that I have nothing to say, that the idea sucks, that it's not worth it.

In that time, I've tried a number of things to get myself past the issue, to get back to writing. I've tried taking a break and waiting for inspiration to hit. I've tried doing creativity-boosting things like listening to music or going for walks. I've tried procrastinating. I've tried just giving up. But the one thing that always seems to work is none of those things. Instead, I've found the most effective tool to keep me writing is just to force myself to keep writing.

Yep. The best way for me to meat whatever writing goal I have is to just force myself to meet it, no matter what. Even when I absolutely hate what I'm writing, I have to keep writing, because that's the only way words are going to get on the page. There's no special trick or gimmick for me. It's just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

Of course, there's usually a couple of things that make this a little easier for me. First, I have to have a goal of some kind or another. Whether it's a certain number of pages or words each day for a set number of days, I have to have it. I've found that I just don't work well without a goal and a set time frame in which to achieve it.

Another thing I need is to have most of my plan worked out. I need to know what I'm trying accomplish and what my basic outline is. If I don't have those things, I get lost and I lose steam quickly. Nothing derails me faster than getting lost in the writing with no idea where I'm going.

So that's what works for me. What works for you?

Query Work

I've been trying to work on a query letter lately. Unfortunately, I'm having a little trouble figuring out how to focus it. Or rather how to write a good hook for it.

It's not that I don't know how to describe my story. I know what my story is about, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to introduce the concept. From what I understand, portal stories are notoriously hard to sell. This is something I've known for almost as long as I've seriously wanted to pursue publication for this particular book. I know that a lot of agents and editors might find it hard to get behind the story. Which is why I know it's very important to hook them early, and show them how great the story really is, even if it is a portal story.

But how do you get them to get past the fact that it's a portal story? At first I thought that describing Alana as a totally normal teen would be a good draw, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that her story isn't about a normal teen getting thrown into fantastical circumstances. That's certainly part of it, but in revising the story, I realized it's more about her overcoming her fear of conflict. It's about her going from being a perpetual flee-er of conflict to someone who will stand up for others, even though it's probably going to hurt her in the end.

Since I spent so much time thinking the story was about a normal girl in extraordinary circumstances, I've never given much thought to how to describe this new idea in terms of a query letter and a hook. So I'm working on how to pitch this idea in a compelling way. I haven't had a lot of success yet, but I've also been really sick lately, so I haven't gotten to work on it as much as I'd like to. Hopefully when I actually sit down to work on it, it will come out right.

Then I just have to find someone to critique it for me. *sigh*

My Favorite Writing Things

I decided it's time for a list post. (To be honest I'm having trouble coming up with a topic for this post, so you get this list instead). Here is a list of 25 of my favorite things that have to do with my writing in some way.

1. Writing
2. Reading
3. Music
4. Stories
5. World creation
6. Character creation
7. Plot twists
8. Writing sarcastic comebacks
9. Researching other cultures
10. Greek mythology
11. Notebooks
12. Inspiration
13. New pens
14. What if?
15. Magic systems
16. Backstory
17. Happy endings
18. Physical descriptions
19. Horses
20. Adventure
21. Sword fights
22. Chemistry (between characters)
23. Brainstorming
24. Castles
25. Mysterious strangers (in stories only)

There you go. 25 of my favorite (and random) writing-related things.

Why I Love Fantasy

My love of fantasy wasn't always as strong as it is today. I think I've always liked it, but it wasn't until I was in middle school that I really fell in love with the genre. Still, even as a little kid I loved the magical elements of fantasy.

One of the first fantasy books I remember reading was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It remains one of my all time favorite books and I count it as one of the main influences on my writing today. I think it's the first book that really introduced me to what fantasy could be. Other worlds and great adventures, magic and sword fights, great evil and greater good. So many of the big things that I love about fantasy. I don't know how many times I read and reread that book. So many that I almost had it memorized. I actually still have bits and pieces of it burned into my brain. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

There's something so incredible about fantasy. I'm not sure I can even describe why I love it so much. Maybe it's because when you write fantasy there so much creation involved. You're not just making up the characters and the story line. You're making up entire worlds with their own rules and ways of doing things. And all of those things influence how your story turns out. Every aspect of a fantasy world interacts and influences every other aspect. You get to decide how cultures interact with each other, what those cultures are, and how that influences that way your characters think. That in turn influences why your characters do the things they do and even what they can and can't do. You make up all those rules and so many more.
And that's not even counting magic (if your fantasy world has it) and how that impacts everything else in the world. It's so amazing and I love every part of it.

I'm not saying there's not a lot of creation that goes into other types of stories. There absolutely is. I don't think any one genre is better or more complicated than another. It takes an incredible amount of time and dedication to create any story world, whether you're basing it here in our world or creating and completely new one for it.

But for me, the most interesting and exciting genre is fantasy. I just love it, all those possibilities. The ability to rewrite the rules any way you want. The joy of creating everything from the ground up. It's amazing and I'm not sure I'll ever get enough of it.

So do you like fantasy? If so, why? Or are you more drawn to another genre? What other genre do you prefer and why?

Life Getting in the Way Again

My life (more specifically my health) seems like it's out to ruin my . . . well, life. Okay that doesn't seem to make sense, but whatever. After yesterday, I'm not sure much makes sense to me right now. Right now I'm just super pissed at my body for being stupid.

I think this is the point that I should probably explain.

I had a bit of a scare yesterday. I've been sick all weekend and stuck at home. Yesterday I was finally getting out of the house to go to a meeting for a mission trip I'm taking this summer (to Guatemala. I can't wait!). On the way, for some not-completely-clear reason my body decided that I needed to blackout. This was particularly problematic since I was driving at the time. Oh and alone in the car.

Thankfully I was still conscious enough that I eventually managed to pull over to the side of the road, though I'm pretty sure it's a miracle that I didn't wind up hitting another car. God was definitely protecting me.

After I pulled over, a kind woman stopped and checked on me. Also a police office. An ambulance was called, I was taken to the ER. After three hours and a few tests, turns out I'm fine. Probably just dehydrated. Which apparently doesn't combine well with my naturally low blood pressure. At least that's what the doctor thinks. Not that they are ever sure of anything when it comes to my health.

Still, it was probably one of the scariest experiences of my life. I'd prefer to never, ever repeat it.

Now I'm just trying to get back to normal. My health has always kind of been an issue and seems to complicate my life (both writing and otherwise). I've always to just be healthy, but that's never really been an option for me. Even when things seem totally fine, I'm dealing with some health-related thing. It kind of sucks.

Anyway, that was my weekend. I'll try to write something about writing next time.

Why I Stuck a Fork in It

That title came to me so much faster than it should have. Why can't I come up with a title for Alana that easily?

Anyway, to my point. How do you know a story is finished? That is something I've been trying to figure out with Alana. As I said in my previous post, I think Alana is pretty much done, but I'm not totally sure. I am terrible at judging my own writing.

I'm pretty sure that this is where other people would say that your critique partners come in. Seeing as I don't have any (I've unsuccessfully tried to find CPs multiple times. Inevitably the relationships have just fallen apart. No one's fault, they just haven't lasted), I can't really comment on that. I have had a few people read the book. One of my close friends who is also really particular about their reading material and I trusted to give me an honest opinion gave me some great insight, which I used in the fourth draft. But she's not a writer, so it's still hard to know if the book is done.

Still, after going through and doing a fourth draft, I really feel like it's done or as done as I can make it on my own. Why, you ask. Well, because on this run through, though I did find things that needed some changing, and I added some more small scenes, overall, I felt that the story was told. There didn't seem to be anything missing after the additions I made. It felt complete and cohesive to me at this point. I added far less on this go around than I have on any other draft (while I'm calling it a fourth draft, for this particular book, it's actually something like the 15th. This is just the fourth draft aft a complete rewrite of the entire thing a couple years ago). And while I'm sure I will always find things that I could change, overall, I really like the story and the way I've told it. I feel like it's good and might even be ready to be seen by the outside world.

So I've decided that I want to start submitting it. Which means I have a ton of research to do. And a query letter to write. And I need to write up basic outlines of the other two books in the series. And anything else that I might need to come up with for submitting purposes. Oy. Excuse me while I go cry in the corner over there.

Better get to work.

What's Going with My Writing

Despite the long break between posts, I have still been writing. I'm sure that y'all are desperately wondering what I've been working on, so I thought I'd put you out of your misery and tell you.

Basically I'm still working on the same two stories that I was last time you saw me. They've just progressed some. My life has a way of getting in the way sometimes, so I haven't gotten too terribly far, but I have made real progress I feel on both First Sight and my other book (Alana), which I'm thinking of calling The Hero Card.

First Sight isn't much further along than it was when I last posted. Yes, I realize that that was over a year ago and that I'm a major slacker. To be fair though, in that time, I also put in major work on Alana, got a promotion at work, started working on another concept that completely fell apart, and got laid off from work (don't worry, I got another job eventually). I had a busy year. But, a couple of months ago, I did manage to pretty much finish a second draft of it (thanks to being laid off actually). I also realized that while I love the idea, I'm still struggling with the story itself. I think it's mostly cause I'm not sure I've totally found Raelin's voice yet. There's something still off about the story and I'm just not sure what it is. So I've set it aside again to focus on Alana instead.

As for what's going on with Alana, well. I recently finished a fourth draft that I'm having a friend do a line edit of. I'm pretty sure that it may be as finished as I can make it at this point. So unless my friend comes back and tells me I have some major issues still to work out, then I'm thinking I'm going to start submitting to agencies and see if anyone likes it enough to want to represent me.

Of course, now that I've written that down, something is going to happen and my plans will be derailed, since that seems to be my fate when it comes to my writing. We'll see and I'll let you know.

In the mean time, I have a ton of research to start doing. Oh and I need to write a cover letter draft. Which I then should really find someone to critique, but since I can't seem to find or keep any critique partners, I'm not sure that will happen. *sigh* Oh well, I have to try.

Anyway, that's what's going on in my writing at the moment.

See you next time.

Let's Try this Again

Seems like I inevitably have to restart this blog over and over again. Here I am, doing it again. Funny how that happens.

It's not that I don't like writing. I really, really like writing. Even when I'm not writing I'm thinking about writing.

It's also not that I don't like this blog. I do. I love the idea of it. And I understand how important it is to the future I am working toward (which is probably why I keep restarting it).

I think the biggest obstacle I have in maintaining this blog is that I simply feel that I have little of any value to say. Do people really want to read about what's going on in my life? It's kind of a foreign concept to me, to reveal parts of my life to complete strangers. I'm normally a really private person. Ask anyone who knows me. I don't talk about myself much or in much depth. I can count on one hand (quite literally) the number of people who know a lot about me and my story. And by that I mean the people who know what makes me really excited, or what really hurts me, or other deeper parts of myself.

This idea of posting about my life, about my thoughts on things, is so strange and hard for me.

Which is, perhaps, exactly why I need to be doing this. I am not an open person, but maybe it's time that I learn to loosen this death grip I have on my thoughts and share a few things with the outside world.

So today, I'm going to start on that journey again. I still have no idea what I'm going to say, but I'll just have to think of something, now won't I.