Tag Archives: Resources

There May Be Something To This Planning Thing…

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I’m pretty good at not planning for NaNo- I usually don’t do research, but I will admit to doing character profiles that I don’t use once November hits.  But it’s still a good way to get to know my characters, and know how they cope with things and what things they like.  It is nice to refer to it if I need to.

I’ve done quite a bit of work on my plot bunnies, just coming up with some different ideas and possibilities.  I still have no clue what to do for my historical fiction, but then again, I’ve just been reading and haven’t really given it any thought.  But for the other 2 ideas I have, I’ve been doing some serious brainstorming. 

The brainstorming’s been pretty helpful, and I like what I’ve come up with so far.  I still need to come up with something more concrete, but everything should be ready to go by September or October. 

I’m not exactly going to go out and start coming up with an outline, but I at least want a general idea of what’s going on.  But who knows?  I might actually come up with a very basic outline for something one day.  I won’t know what works until I try it.

I did do some research for Turning Point, and had a list of conflicts and questions I had, and it was the only one I didn’t have trouble with last year, so there may be something to the whole research/somewhat planning thing.  I think I’m going to do something similar for my plot bunnies, but I’m going to hold off for the moment.   

The more I use OneNote, the more I like it.  I find it pretty easy to use, and it’s pretty easy to organize it the way I want.  I could even color-code it if I wanted to, and while I don’t, it’s pretty easy to do.    

I’m pretty glad I got my writing done yesterday morning, because I had a busy couple days.  When I got home yesterday, I didn’t really want to do anything except watch tv and maybe take a nap, so I’m glad I did it first thing in the morning. 

Today’s going to be a fun-filled day, so I’m not sure how much I’ll get done.  But I’m sure I’ll do what I can.

And The Research Has Begun

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I’ve started rereading The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir.  It’s been a while since I’ve read it, and since I’m determined to write something set during Tudor England, it might give me an idea or two.  And since I’ve been listening to Tudor Talk, I’ve been inspired to read everything I can about the Tudors. 

I’ve started compiling a list of books I want to read, and here they are:

  • The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir
  • The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
  • The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir
  • Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford by Julia Fox
  • The Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey
  • Pretty much anything else by Alison Weir

 I’m a big fan of Alison Weir, and I’ve heard about the David Starkey book, so I’m curious as to what he has to say.  And I want to compare and contrast his book with Alison Weir’s book.  And I think he has a book about Elizabeth I, so that may end up on the list as well. 

I’m not sure if I’ll read any other books, mostly because I’m not sure what other books are out there, but also because I have a good number of books I want to read.  Plus, they have to get their information from somewhere, so I’ll have to check out the bibliographies if I need/want more information. 

I might start reading some historical fiction too, just to get some ideas, and see what other people have done.  I’ve read most of the Philippa Gregory books, which were okay, but there are a few I haven’t read, so those will probably go on the list. 

The nonfiction stuff is probably going to take me a while, since I’ll be taking notes, but I should be able to get through the fiction stuff pretty easily.  It looks like I’ll have plenty to read, but thankfully it counts towards my 100 book challenge, so I’m killing 2 birds with one stone.

Some Of My Favorite (Writing) Things

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Sometime in late October or early November, I mentioned my NaNo Survival Kit.  Quite a bit has changed in the last few months, so I thought I’d do an updated list.

What has stayed the same:

  • my magical binder: it has everything I need in it; It’s essential to writing…when I actually do any. 
  • music: I’m always looking for new music, and I definitely have some new music since then.  The only problem is when I’m distracted by the music I’m listening. 
  • USB drive: I still use it, although it’s much more sporadic now since I’ve been using dropbox.  But still, everything is on there, even if it’s not the most updated version. 
  • I still have an assortment of pens/sharpies/pencils/erasers, plus index cards and post-its: I do write stuff down, especially when I’m planning.  Index cards and post-its are very helpful for reminders or notes.
  • Snacks/food: Very important, as I need to eat.  I’m hoping that this year, I’ll have some food ready to go in the freezer.  Failing that, there’s always procrastination.

And this is what has changed:

  • Coffee: I still like coffee, and it’s still a very important drink, but I’ve decided to expand my drink list a little.
  • tea/hot chocolate/apple cider: I don’t drink much tea, hot chocolate or apple cider, but I’ve been drinking more of all 3 lately.  It never hurts to expand my drink rotation.
  • Writing Prompts: I like writing prompts because they get me to think about things in a different way, whether the prompt is serious or silly.  Plus, it gets my mind going, and once in a while, it’ll spark an idea. 
  • Other blogs: They’re definitely part of my writer’s toolbox.  Some, of course, are food-related, others are crafts-related.  It’s cool to see what other people are doing, and it gives me a break from writing. 
  • Writing hat: I got it at a halloween store that was going out of business, and trying to get rid of their inventory, so it was half-off.  I personally didn’t notice any difference in my ability to actually write more, but then again, I had writing ju-ju in spades.  It did get me into writing mode…when I actually remembered to wear it.  Maybe I need to start wearing my hat to get me into writing mode.   

Weird Dreams

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I know I have a lot of them, but unfortunately, I don’t remember a lot of them.  There was one I had (sometime during the night) where I was at Cosmos (cool coffee shop) and there was this girl doing ballet dressed up as a walrus and was trying to make it look like she was trying to fade into a picture of a whale. 

Found this one in my journal and copied word for word from it: back in march 2010, “a little girl went missing, and people are still looking for her, checking new technology.  I walked around the museum.  There was a filmmaker in communist Russia telling people that they could still leave, and that those in Communist Germany couldn’t.”

Apparently, there was no connection between, the little girl, me walking around the museum, and the filmmaker.  Apparently I was walking around the museum talking about shoes, according to the notes I had. 

And another dream: In April 2010 (nearly a month after the dream mentioned above), “I couldn’t find the keys for the north doors, and had to stay at the museum all night.  there was a camp-in.  all of the leads were there trying to figiure something out.  Another vsa was there too.  I tried locking the doors with a different key but I couldn’t.  People kept trying to come in and I kept telling them we were closed.  One man wanted to know why we closed at  and I just stared at him blankly.”

This one was also taken directly from my journal.  Honestly, I’ve had a lot of dreams about the museum, and most aren’t too weird.  Or at least, they weren’t weird enough for me to write down, apparently.  Of course, I’ve spent enough time there over the last 3-ish years to where dreams about the place weren’t unusual.  I guess it’s a byproduct of working at such a cool place.   

And another dream, date unknown, although I think it might be from June 2010, taken from…my random notes document: ”

I was at a birthday party when three people disappeared.  The one boy felt like his protection had disappeared because he was turning a certain age (unknown during the dream).  There was a neighborhood of creepy two-story houses.  The trio were trying to sell harry potter’s biography to get people to support their cause (also unknown).  They were traveling at night down a street that appeared to be H st.  They also traveled by plane with a Dumbledore-like man, so they could be protected.  The one boy went to this one house where he could only go up to a certain point.  There was a woman standing on the second floor balcony.  She later came up to the one boy and asked if she could have a copy of the book so that she could have information on harry potter.  The two boys went to this factory type place and it blew up.  There was wreckage, and the boys couldn’t get out because there were too many things in their way.  The things weren’t their earlier.” 

It’s some weird twist on Harry Potter!  I do believe it’s my 1st harry potter dream…one that I remember anyway.

I’d have to go through my old journals to see if I have any other weird dreams written down, because there aren’t many in this current one, which goes back about 3 years.  Only in the last month or so have I started to write in it more often.  Entries became more sporadic in 2009, it looks like. 

I didn’t have many weird dreams over the last 3 years.  Or if I did, I didn’t make an effort to write them down.  Because I feel like I did make the effort to do so at one point.  Dreams can definitely be a good inspiration for dreams  for writing, especially if they’re interesting enough.  I may need to write some of my dreams into my novels, since these aren’t enough to spark a novel.  Well, maybe the first one I talked about is…

Odds and Ends

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Yesterday afternoon, I spent a good hour or so trying to figure what books I’m going to read for the 100 book challenge I’m doing this year.  I have 49 books over at google books, just waiting for me to read- and the best part is that they’re all free!  Well, the ones I decided I wanted to read are free.  Plus, I have a bunch of books I haven’t read that are sitting on my bookshelf (and they’re feeling very sad that they’ve been sitting there so long).  And a bunch of books that I need to re-read and haven’t yet entered into goodreads.  I know I’ve read more than what I’ve entered, but I honestly can’t remember all of the books I’ve checked out from the library. 

The other day, I realized that I have a lot of stations over at pandora, and they’re all really different.  And random.  And speaking of music/stations, I’m really glad Jeff and Jer are going to back on the radio tomorrow!  It’s been a long year and a half without them!  Nothing against any of the other morning shows, but Jeff and Jer are, without a doubt, my favorites.  I’m even going to be up at 6 in the morning so I can listen to their first show since they’ve been off the air. 

It is pretty interesting looking at my favorites at stumble upon.  Apparently, I’m really into food/cooking, nature, photography, crafts, dance, ballet, writing, and history.  Well, of course, food/cooking would be the most popular, since the last few months, I’ve really been taken with cooking and baking.  Just from stumble upon, I’ll be busy cooking, and that’s not taking into account all of the food blogs I follow!  It amazes me that there’s so many cool things just floating around, and I never would have found it if it weren’t for stumble upon.   

I’m also excited because later, I’m going to extraordinary desserts in little italy.  Any place that has dessert in their name is a place that’s cool.  Plus, the lemon bar and blackberry (at least, I think it was blackberry) tea that I had from my 1st and only visit was pretty good.  Not extraordinary, but still pretty good.

Random note: If you want to see what I’ve read/am currently reading, what I’m listening to over at Pandora, and want to see my favorites at stumble upon, click on the purple, and it’ll take you to my pages.

Another random note: I managed to write an astounding 654 words yesterday morning!  Usually I manage 100-200 words, at most, but the words just kept coming, which makes me happy.  Turning Point is still the only one I’ve managed to continue adding to, even though I’ve had some of my other stuff open.  I just sit there, looking at it, and then I close it a couple minutes later.  So at least I’m working on something, even if I’m not working on everything that I had originally planned.

100 Book Challenge

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I decided that I’m going to read 100 books this year as part of the 100 book challenge.

The Gin Blossoms

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Seriously, I need to pimp out the Gin Blossoms.  They are seriously one of my favorite bands ever. 

I tend to jump around a lot when I listen to music, but the Gin Blossoms are one of the few bands I can listen to without feeling the need to skip to something else after a minute.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something about their music that makes me feel calm and yet nostalgic.  Their new album (No Chocolate Cake) definitely reminded of New Miserable Experience (which is also completely amazing, and if you have to get any of their albums, New Miserable Experience is the one to get).

Congratulations I’m Sorry and Major Lodge Victory are also pretty good.  I will say that while I like Major Lodge Victory, it’s probably my least favorite of the 4.  Major Lodge Victory definitely has a different feel to it than the other 3.  Congratulations I’m Sorry would probably be my 3rd favorite, if I were to rank them in order of how much I liked them.

It is good to see bands grow and change- each album is definitely them, but there definitely is something different about each one.  When I’m writing, they are definitely one of the first bands I go to, and at least one of their songs ends up on my playlists.  They definitely get me into the writing mood.

Music, Part Two!

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I’ve been using Pandora a lot over the last few days, and it got me thinking about music that I can listen to while writing without changing the station every 5 seconds or skipping through songs until  I find something I can listen the whole way through.

What I listen to largely depends on my mood, and what I’m writing, but I do have a (fairly short) list of artists I can listen to all day.  Here’s the people I can listen to and never get tired of: 

  • The Gin Blossoms
  • Black Stone Cherry
  • One Less Reason
  • Rascal Flatts
  • Taylor Swift
  • Starkid Potter
  • Draco and the Malfoys
  • Harry and the Potters

  As far as Pandora goes, I’ve been listening to the showtunes and swing stations a lot.  Swing seems to be mostly instrumental, so I’m not distracted by singing along.  As for the showtunes, they’re fun enough that I’m not too distracted.  I’ve been adding a ton of new stations, so I’ll have plenty of new music to listen to. 

I get a lot of inspiration from music- one of my novels from 2008 was inspired by a song.  Other times, I’ll be writing, and a song will come on that’ll go perfectly with what I’m writing.  Music is a really nice distraction, and sometimes, it’s the only thing that keeps me writing. 

And this year, I found that if I included each characters favorite music and artists, then it would be slightly easier to get into their head.  Like if I listened to what Kiora likes or what Chloe likes, it would be easier to write them.  Not that I ended up doing that, because I didn’t, but that was the reasoning behind it.  And it’s always interesting to know what kind of music they like.  Of course, it ended being stuff that I like, so I didn’t do it for everyone, but maybe next year.

Food!

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Don’t worry, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth.  

Food is really important to writing, at least for me.  Last month, I averaged 5033 words a day, which only took about 4 hours or so.  Food’s pretty important, since I don’t write well when I’m hungry.  Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to cook ahead, and make enough food for the month.  I never do, but I imagine it would be helpful because then I’d just need to heat everything up, and wouldn’t actually have to cook anything.  And since I’m the only one who’ll actually eat what I make (it’s the byproduct of being vegetarian/fairly healthy eater- no one will go near it with a 10-foot pole), food tends to last me for a while, especially since I tend to make everything exactly as is stated in the recipe. 

November, though, is when I want to bake and cook, interestingly enough.  Cookies and any other baked goods make excellent snacks for several hours of writing. 

Snacks of any kind are essential.  I tend to go for stuff like crackers (Cheez-its and wheat thins are especially yummy!), fruit snacks and other finger foods, since I can type with one hand while eating with my other hand.  It’s pretty hard to write when both hands aren’t free, in which case, it would be a most excellent time to take a break.  Nothing too greasy of course, because it’ll get all over my keyboard, and grease all over my keyboard bugs the heck out of me. 

As for as actual meals, though, it depends on my mood.  Cereal is the best, because it takes no effort, and I could eat cereal all day.  TV dinners/hot pockets/microwave burritos/veggie burgers are also something I rely a lot on, since they don’t require a lot of effort, and if I can put it on a napkin or in something I can throw away, it means more time for writing, because I don’t have to clean anything up. 

Maybe next year will be the year that I make enough food for the month.  I’ve been on stumble upon a lot the last few days, and I’ve definitely found a bunch that look good, so I’ll have to try them out.  Maybe I’ll end up putting a list together, and leave a couple of things to make during November as a nice break from writing.

Here’s Some More Fun Facts!

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I thought I would share a select few (and fun!) facts about my characters:

  • chloe has never been on a plane; for that matter, she’s never left Ashton County
  • kiora wants to be a psychologist or a teacher
  • blake always wants to fix things
  • dustin hates apple cider
  • aisling has cancer

I’m really liking this in-depth character biography thing.  And in addition to the things that come up out of nowhere, this novel-writing thing really is fun, no matter how frustrated I get with the writing.

Secret Service: 17,810; this one is going quite well, and I find myself not bored with it at all.  Kiora’s dad has mysteriously vanished, and I have no idea where he is, or why he disappeared.  Things are pretty tense between him and kiora right now; maybe he’ll tell her what’s going on.

Harry Potter Fanfiction: 18,600; nothing else to report on this one.  Hopefully the frustrations that I felt last week means that it’s out of my system. 

2006 Sequel: 18,342; I’m still a little bored with this one, and I’m not quite sure what direction I should take with it.  Maybe it’s the perfect time to go back and write those chapters I skipped over.

Total: 54,752!  I’m starting to go into a word coma, I think, but I’ll come out of it.