Category Archives: Turning Point

My Brain And Fingers Need To Communicate Better

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Alrighty, I just have to share some of my nano-isms from Turning Point.  They’re just too funny not to share with the world.  These were some of the ones from the last few times I worked on it. 

  • “You cn borrow myine,” kior said.  (My question is: who exactly is kior?) 
  • “Sienna, it’s nice to see you back,” the tracher said.  “Please be sure to get the notes from someone.”  (who exactly is seeing saying this?  Apparently blog posts aren’t immune to nano-isms.)
  • “I stuck my finger in a vegetable slicer and cut myself,” kiora explained.  “It’s all my sautly there was no note, I should have left on, but I wasn’t thinking.” (*headdesk*)
  • “Dorry,” luna appoligized.  “I just open my mouth, and stuff comes out.”  “Apprently,” sienna nyterred.  (I would like to note that Luna is apologizing for Kiora.As for Sienna’s line, *facepalm*)

And my all-time favorite nano-ism:

  • “Thnaks,” she sadi again.  “Oh, what happened to your ginger, kiora?” (This is seriously one of the funniest things I’ve ever accidently written.  Sienna meant to say finger, but it makes me laugh everytime I think about it.)

It’s honestly any wonder I manage to keep writing with some of the stuff that comes out.  Everything needs to work together, and that clearly isn’t happening.  Like I’ve said a bunch of times, at least it’s always a good laugh, and it really does make writing more fun.  It’s like a game sometimes…what on earth will I come up with next?

Chad Greene

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Chad Greene is the president!  In Turning Point, anyway.  What’s interesting about Chad is that in my original notes, from a year or so ago, is that he was going to be Kiora’s uncle, and she was going to be living with him.  I ended up changing it, because I thought it was too boring. 

Chad has a wife, 2 daughters, and 1 son.  I have no clue what he did before being president, so for now, I’m going to be all cliché and assume he was either a Senator or a representative.  Before that, I have no clue.  He does want his children to be aware of what’s going on in the world, and is always trying to get them to do community service.

He likes baseball, and pretty much every water sport known to mankind.  He likes dogs and bears, green is his favorite color, and he likes comfort food.  And his favorite games are poker and cranium. 

He does see himself as a fairly reasonable person, and loves a good debate.  He’s also a tech geek, according to my notes. 

His profile isn’t well-developed, partly because I didn’t have enough time to work on it, but mostly because I ended up shoving him to the background.  Plus, I assumed that I wouldn’t need to have detailed info on him, since I figured he wouldn’t make a whole lot of appearances. 

I’m not sure if I’ll go back and develop him more.  I think any revisions I do will determine that, since there’s no point in filling

Blake Jackson

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Blake Kyle Jackson is Kiora’s dad.  Even though he doesn’t show up too often, he still plays an important role.

He’s the Secretary of Education, studied Politcal Science in college, and taught at a community college.  I still need to fill in some background info on Blake being an educator, because I feel like if you’re going to be the Secretary of Education, you would need to have experience as a superintendent and such. 

Anyway, he was married to Charlotte, until she committed suicide.  He lied to Kiora about it, telling her that her mom died in a car accident because he wanted to protect her from the fact that her mom had some issues.

He’s pretty calm and quiet, but also very protective of friends and family, especially his daughter.

His favorite colors are green and blue, he likes cats and horses, and his favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.  He likes football and basketball, golfing, and watching CNN.  He likes listening to jazz.  He hates stretching, candy and rollercoasters.  

He does have a tendency to want to fix things and make sure everything is okay.  And he wants Kiora to have what he never had. 

I unfortunately don’t have a detailed profile on Blake, which is something I need to do.  Plus, he’s not really in the novel enough, which I need to change.  I can still write him in, I just need to go back to what I’ve already written and get him in there.  After all, he is why they had to move to D.C., so it would make sense for me to write about his job, and actually show him there.

It’s A Wonder I Keep Writing

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I don’t go back and re-read anything I’ve written very often.  I’ve been doing that recently, and they’re really not that bad.  Sure, sometimes I want to find the nearest cliff and jump off it, or bang my head against a wall repeatedly, but it still amazes me what I can actually come up with in a month. 

I have some funny stuff from Turning Point, so obviously the weird things I manage to write aren’t exclusive to November.  It is pretty interesting to me that Turning Point is the only one I’ve managed to work on.  For some reason, it’s the only one that I’m attached to.  Of course, it is the only one I’ve ever planned, which might have something to do with it. 

  • “Let me change your mind,” kiora said.  “I will.” (Is there a wall I can bang my head against?  Besides, why would Blake agree to let Kiora change his mind?)
  • “You can bever tread too much harry poiterr.  (there are no words)
  • “I thought it had to be dry to dit.”  (Dit is the contraction of do it.  In case anyone was wondering.)
  • “Why do you have to do it befoe your hair dries?” (I love inventing new words, and befoe is one of my favorites!)
  • “What’s with your hair?” asked kyle.  “It’s not fizzy.”  (I should hope not, that sounds terrible.  And by the way, it’s not frizzy either.  Which is what I think Kyle meant to say.)

I do know that with writing, stuff like fizzy hair is going to just…come out.  It’s also the reason why I do one reread (if that).  But…it does make me smile, which is becoming more rare for me.  Anyway, I’m still surprised at what I manage to write.

Random Novel Update

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So I totally thought that I be working on more than one novel.  It was a grand scenario I imagined where I’d spend my days planning upcoming projects, writing, revising, and reading lots of books.

Alas, that is not how I spend my days.  I either watch whatever marathon they’re showing on USA or the histoy channel.  I read a little, and most certainly not the way I used to.  I’m lucky if I do anything related to those novels I had such high hopes for.

The hard part is actually doing it.  I can imagine all I want, but if I could just imagine things, and they’d be true, my life would be a lot different right now.  Please believe me when I say there are some things I could imagine right out of existence.

Even the rereading of every NaNo I’ve ever written has pretty much stopped.  I might read a page here or there, but there’s so many!  It makes my head want to explode!  I guess that is what I get for writing multiple novels though. 

Complaining aside, I am happy with how Turning Point is coming along, even if Saturday mornings are the only time I work on it.  This one is definitely my favorite of the bunch, as it’s the only one I’ve actually continue to write.  I’ve read some of the others, and had a good laugh (I have yet to jump off any cliffs, and I promise I’ll try to stay far away from cliffs), but reading and working on it are two completely different things.

Kiora is starting to work things out with her dad, and that’s good, because things got weird between them.  Or maybe things were always weird, but it’s become much more pronounced. 

Her secret service agents are going above and beyond the call of duty.  They’re concerned about her, and I think they’ll miss her, even if they won’t admit it. 

Not that I want to publish right now, because I don’t really want to publish right now, but if I did, I think it would be turning point.  And it’s not because I think the idea is any good, although it is an intriguing idea, but because it’s the only thing I’ve ever continued to work on.  Who knows, it could be coming to a bookstore near you someday.

A Letter To My Muse

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Dear Muse:

What is going on in that head of yours?  I fail to understand why Kiora should be with Kyle.  I could have sworn we had decided that it would be Kiora and Dustin, who is closer to her age than Kyle.  Yes, we never settled on how old Kyle is, but we did decide that he is older than Dustin.  And Kyle’s married with a 10-year-old daughter!  How exactly do you propose they get together, besides divorce?  Kyle doesn’t strike me as the get-a-divorce type of guy, unless something tragic happens to his wife.  And furthermore, how do you propose we fix Kiora’s thing with Dustin?  I most certainly do not want to kill him off, and I am really starting to like them together, even if they can’t date.  Well, not yet anyway.  I suppose they could, but I have no idea how they’d manage it. 

While you’re figuring all this out, O Wise One, could you figure out what’s going on with Sienna, Luna, and Holly?  Like what happened between her and that secret service agent?  And why did Luna end up in a psych ward?  Could you explain to me why Holly thinks Kiora would be a good addition to her little group and what she wanted Kiora to edit?  Because these things are very confusing, and I’d like an explanation if at all possible. 

I do commend you on staying away from that ever-so-frightening inner editor, because she’s very scary!  It takes someone very special to ignore her, and you have done a fantastic job ignoring her.  I’d appreciate it if you could keep that up, because she is your enemy.

Thanks!

Turning Point Update

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Random Note: My top 24 book list has it’s own page, so if you haven’t checked it out, it’s right next to the current projects page!

I’ve finally read it for the 1st time, since, well, ever.  And I have to say, I’m pretty impressed.  In the five years I’ve done NaNo, this is (so far) the only one where I thought most of it was pretty decent, with a few parts even being (dare I say it?) good.  There’s the requisite fluffy parts, some parts that are cute, and a lot I can work with.  I actually think (if I ever go back and edit) that I’ll end up keeping most of it.  It’s still needs a lot of work, of course, because I did write it in a month.  But I’m pretty happy with a lot of it!  I also thought I’d share some of the gems I found.

  • They are doing their jon.  (don’t you mean they’re doing their job?  doing their jon did give me a laugh though)
  • “That’s very sensical,” laughed ian.  “Don’t you mean logical?” asked kiora.  “Nope, I meant logical.”  (I have no idea know if using the word sensical was on purpose or an accident- either way, I decided to run with it, with some strange results)
  • Plus, if your dad decides to ruin for office it’ll be good to make nice with people.” (Sienna, I think you meant to say run for office, although given kiora and blake have a strained relationship at best, running for office may not be the best idea)
  • “Please be quiet,” kiora begged.  “I know you don’t want to relieve high school, but if you two don’t stop, then I’ll fail everything and end up on welfare because I had to drop out of school.  Is that what you want?” (there may not be anything wrong with this sentence, but it amused me)
  • Kyle somehow managed to glare at dustin most of the ride home.  (I didn’t know glaring was that hard)

There’s definitely a lot more where that came from, so I’ll be posting them every once in a while.  Some of it, I definitely didn’t remember writing, which is to be expected- and it definitely makes any rereads interesting.  It’s like, I wrote that?  Some of it made me scratch my head, and stare at the screen in wonder.

Dustin Ellis Sullivan

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So, Dustin is one of Kiora’s secret service agents.  I don’t have an exact age for him, but he’s in his late 20’s (at the youngest).  Estimating his age was such a pain that I gave up, especially since there were a lot of different variables that frustrated me. 

So Dustin is around 6’4″ making him pretty tall (at least, compared to my height, which is 4’10).  His hometown is Austin, Texas, and has a degree is psychology.  His major is something that I definitely want to change, as psychology is a little too cliche for my tastes.  He tends to be pretty extroverted, and is pretty judgemental of others.  He can be pretty emotional but he also tends to be stoic- it just depends on what’s going on.  He’s really self-confident. 

His favorite colors are blue and brown, he likes Italian food, dogs, darts and Christmas.  He hats cats, board games, apple cider, hair products, and pudding.  He’s scared of needles and heights.  And according to my notes, minored in math, which is weird because I distinctly remember him making some comment about how Kiora’s weird because she likes math.

Kiora Mackenzie Jackson

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This is my first character spotlight.  The format for it may change, depending on the characters.

Kiora’s around 5’4″, green eyes, auburn hair, and is fairly petite.  She’s an only child, wears glasses most of the time, but will wear contacts every once in a while.

She loves arts and crafts, so it’s one the ways she copes with everything going on around her.  Making mosaics, collages and scrapbooks, knitting and crocheting, and sewing are some of her favorite things to do.

I originally thought her to be more introverted and shy, but she definitely came across as more extroverted.  She definitely sees herself as quiet and artsy.  The whole artsy part is somewhat funny to me since she loves math and science, but she’s trying to be a well-rounded person.

The thing that strikes me the most is the relationship with her dad.  Her grandma’s been pretty involved with Kiora’s life- up until her death anyway, and Blake seems to be a workaholic.  She’s had a hard time adjusting to being in Washington D.C., and being the daughter of a cabinet member.  I still have no idea what being the kid of a cabinet member is like, but I’m assuming that she has to go to…stuff.  Like dinner parties and that kind of thing- at least a few a year.  For that matter, what exactly is a “typical” day like for the cabinet?  Meetings, phone calls, that sort of thing I guess.  I have a very vague idea, and I didn’t really focus on Blake at all, but if I can ever get my lazy behind to edit/revise, then I have to figure it out/make it up. 

Random Facts: Loves! Disney movies (the little mermaid is her favorite movie, along with Finding Nemo).  She loves daisies, softball, and brussel sprouts (which is funny because I hate brussel sprouts).  Hates hand sanitizer, wearing shoes, and bingo.  Loves headbands, teatherball, and bowling.Would like a pet aardvark or a pet badger.

The Secret Service Novel

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This one went really well year, which was a big surprise.  Maybe it was the fact that I did a little more planning for this one than I did the others.  Maybe it was because I had conflict and tension in oodles.  I’m not quite sure what was going on with this one, but I’m definitely going to keep working on this one!  I wrote around 800 words or so yesterday, which I’m proud of because it’s something I’ve never done before.  Also impressive is that I wrote 51,045 words without wordpadding at all!

At the beginning of the month, I didn’t really have a clear plan of what Kiora’s life was like, or how Secret Service protection would affect her life.  As the story unfolded though, it’s been hard for her to adjust to being the Secretary of Education’s daughter, and it’s been hard for her to fit in with her classmates, who are much more used to being the child (and in some cases, grandchildren) of important politicians, etc.  She, for the most part, seems like she’s kind of gotten used to secret service protection, but she’s not really the type to say so. 

Also taking me by surprise was Kiora and Dustin.  I orignally decided it would be a one-sided thing, with Kiora having this huge crush on him because she thinks he’s cute.  Out of nowhere, he kisses her, it causes issues because he’s feeling guilty, and she thinks it means something.  I was leaning towards the idea of them dating for a day or two, but found I couldn’t write it.  However, I came up with the brilliant idea of replacing Dustin and Kiora with Sienna (a classmate of Kiora’s) and a secret service agent.  I’m still not sure how everything will play out, but Kiora and Dustin are definitely realizing and coming to terms with the gravity of what they’ve done. 

Victory Song: Use Somebody by Kings of Leon. 

I know I briefly mentioned it before, but I thought I’d have a victory song for each novel.  I’m not quite sure why I picked this particular song as the victory song, but somehow it seemed appropriate. 

I won’t be working on it frantically like I was last month, but I plan on writing 1000 words or so everytime I work on it.  The rules of just writing, and ignoring my inner editor still apply, of course, at least until it’s finished.  Whenever that is.  I’ll be posting how it’s going, plus I’ll be talking about each character in-depth.  I’ll also post the weird stuff I’ve written.

Title: Turning Point.

I know I’ve mentioned the title before, but I’ll be referring to the title from here on out.