Tag Archives: Resources

Fun Tidbits

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My novels are really starting to develop a mind of their own, and I thought I would share a few of the things that have come up in the last few days.

  • chloe ends up in rehab/treatment facility because she came dangerously close to attempting suicide
  • kiora goes to a private prep school in D.C., and apparently is more extroverted than I had planned her to be
  • kyle, who is one of kiora’s secret service agents, is married and has a 10 year old daughter
  • blake (kiora’s dad) is apparently the secretary of education
  • mike is in love with chloe
  • george and hermione are headed towards a relationship
  • there are other ways to go to the underworld besides dying
  • there’s a ritual involving the giant prehistoric chicken, and it go either bad or good, depending on the intentions of the person in charge of the ritual

I also added a new link under the resources section: it’s a link to Q10 which is completely awesome.  I don’t use it nearly enough, but every time I do, I’m reminded of how great it is.  It’s pretty similar to notepad, but even cooler.  even with the internet on, it’s impossible for me to get distracted by anything because you can’t minimize the screen.  Or if you can, I haven’t figured out how to do that.  Actually, it’s probably a really good idea if I don’t know that.  I don’t need distractions because I’m distracted enough as it is.  Plus it makes the most awesome sound when you type.

Secret Service: 10,311; I’ve pretty much shown kiora at school or at home.  She lives in D.C., and I’m totally not taking advantage of that.  I must focus on that in the coming weeks.  And I’m not showing a lot of conflict.  Some, but not much.  What makes this more sad is that I have a pretty decent list of possible conflict.

Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken: 10,012;  I’m finally all caught up.  However, I’m still not feeling the story, so I may just randomly change directions, and ignore everything I’ve just written.  If I still find myself bored with it in a week, I’ll reevaluate and take things from there.  I think there are things that aren’t allowing me to have fun with this, which I’ll talk more about tomorrow.

2006 Sequel: 10,021; it’s taken a very interesting turn.  it’s definitely deviating from my plans on this one.  I have a great list of things that would get in the way of her writing, but sadly, I’m not using it.  But I’m taking this newfound idea and running with it. 

Total Wordcount: 30,344, which means I’m all caught up.  let’s hope it stays that way.

Too Hot To Get Anything Done!

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Today was not a super big writing day, but I did make some progress with my harry potter fanfic, so it wasn’t a total loss.  I think today I was in the mentality of oh, I’m a day ahead, I don’t have to worry about writing too much.  and combined with having trouble with my harry potter novel, it was really hard getting any writing done.  Plus, the weather’s ridiculously hot right now, and it has the effect of me not wanting to do anything.  But all things considering, I managed to get nearly a day ahead for one of my novels, and started to get caught up with harry potter, like I said earlier. 

Secret Service: 6696; I haven’t worked on this one today, but I’m pretty sure I’ll manage to write around 1000 words today.

Harry Potter: 1670; i’m having the worst trouble starting it off, so I may have to take a different approach, and jump to life at hogwarts, with vague sentences about different stuff that happens over the summer.

2006 sequel: 7868; I’ve managed to get ahead almost a day, although I did get to a point where I wanted to add on but just couldn’t get myself writing, so I used Write Or Die.  It really is a great resource, and while I don’t use it all the time, it’s great to use when I need it.

Total words: 16234

I’m 3770 words off schedule, but I have no doubt that I’ll be able to catch up with the Giant Prehistoric Chicken.  A change in approach may be what jumpstarts it.  I can always write the beginning later in the month.  This is why I love doing multiple novels- no matter what, I always have something to work on, and it’s really helpful and times like this, when I have trouble starting off.

A Good Day For Writing

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Getting ahead yesterday turned out to be a really big help.  Granted, it was just with one of my novels, but it meant that I could focus on trying to get more ahead.  I’m hoping that I can get a day ahead of schedule, which should give me some time tomorrow to focus on the Giant Prehistoric Chicken 

This year I’m finding that I have a couple ideal writing times.  Mornings between 10:30 and 12:30 are working out really well.  The other ideal writing time for me is after 5:30 pm until the early hours of the morning. 

So here’s my word count totals so far:

The Secret Service Novel: 5081; some new characters

Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken: 414; I’ve decided to give this one a break for today, and decided that for now, I would write it out of order.  If I can get to 13336 for the other two, it should give me some time to catch up.

2006 Sequel: 5010; this novel is very quickly becoming a rant, however, I am showing Chloe to work on things that she had always ignored and brushed off before, so it makes sense that she would be talking about her problems more.

Grand Total: 10,505 words

So below is a picture of my handwritten progress sheet.  I pretty much highlight each goal I hit.  It’s also in addition to the spreadsheet I’m doing.

My Favorite Places to Write

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I don’t have a specific area where I write, but there are a couple places that I like to write.

Coffee shops are one of my favorite places to write.  I get to drink coffee, and eat pastries.  Coffee shops are also great places to people watch.  I love coffee shops because I don’t get distracted as easily.  Power outlets are often far and few between so I have to get my writing done, especially if I can’t to an outlet.  On the downside, some places seem to frown upon staying for a few hours, so I also have to keep an eye on the time.  And there’s also the cost of food/drinks every so often. 

However, at home is where I get most of my writing done.  There’s no specific writing room or anything, since I’m still living at home, and I can’t exactly claim any room specifically for writing.  It does sound nice, though.  Someday.  Anyway, I pretty much write in my room, on my netbook.  It’s great to write at home because I stay as long as I want.  Plus there’s free food and coffee.  On the downside, there’s a lot of distractions at home, so it’s not ideal for someone so easily distracted.  There’s family needing stuff, (or just being annoying), there’s the lure of the internet.  And for some reason, when I’m writing is always, without fail, the time I decide I need to make enough dinner for a couple weeks.  And bake a lot of stuff.  Which would be helpful if I did it before the month where I try to write 3 novels.

 Of course, everyone has their own preference about where to write, so it’s definitely good to know where and how you work best, and to use it to your advantage.

My NaNo Survival Kit

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I love the forums over at NaNoWriMo.  They’re not only really helpful, but there’s a lot that I would never think about.  One being the NaNo Survival Kit.

Essentially it’s something that helps you get through the month of November.  Writing a novel in one month is a roller coaster.  And with work, and school (Note: this year, there’s no school and no work), there are certain things that help people through the month. 

Things that I would put in my NaNo Survival Kit:

  • my magical binder- it has all the notes and characters essential to my novels
  • music- i can’t write when there’s silence.  i need some kind of background noise, but of course, i don’t need anything too loud either.
  • USB drive- backing up my work is really important, plus I’m paranoid that I’ll lose everything before I manage to validate it.  and I work on 2 different computers so I need to have the most updated version in one spot. 
  • pencil, eraser, highlighter and pens/sharpies in assorted colors- I love color-coding, plus it’s a good way to organize my notes
  • post-its/index cards/paper- good way to write short notes, or to do an outline, and on the plus side, it’s easy to rearrange things.
  • the forums over at NaNoWriMo- there’s a wealth of information and distractions, plus I get to talk to other people who are in the same boat as I am
  • coffee- I love coffee, and it helps me focus long enough to actually get writing done.
  • snacks- I have to eat sometime, and I don’t always want to make an actual meal.  The actual snacks vary from year to year, but halloween candy is always good the first week or so.

I’m debating whether I should have a writing hat or something.  Some people swear by it, and I’m curious as to whether it could work for me.  Maybe I’ll spend some time looking at hats.  Or failing that, maybe there’s something else I can wear while I’m writing. 

There will definitely be at least one more post in the next couple days.

The Magical Binder

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The picture above is my NaNoWrimo Binder.  And yes, it is an offical binder to boot.

My binder originally started in December when I decided that I wanted to attempt editing one of my 2009 novels.  I also had a section for the character biographies as well.  Since then, I’ve added a section for names I like, and a section for plots, things I overhear and things/people I see. 

I’ve since updated my binder replacing last years kind-of edited novel with my 3 plot ideas and swapping out last year’s characters with this years characters.  The different sections can be seen below. 

    The tabs are the post-it filing tabs.  The backs have an adhesive, so I just stick the tab where I need it to go.  And  plus, they’re removable so I can change the sections around if I want.

The first section, Novels (2010) not only have my plots, but they also have any and all notes I have/need.  So I have family trees, a list of ways to get fired from your job, a list of things to derail a writer, and a bunch of notes and questions about the Secret Service.  My secret service novel definitely has the most notes out of the three plots.  I have the evolution of the idea, plot holes, questions, some basic info about the secret service, and random notes that I probably won’t use, but are still helpful.   

The second section, Characters, has character biographies for all characters in Plots 1 and 3.  I have a basic character profile worksheet (the link for it is the Writer’s Write Worksheet in the link section to the right).  I haven’t answered every question in the worksheet I’ve filled in what I think is necessary for a first draft.  Not only that, but not everything is relevant to every character.  I have a character trait worksheet that I found at the NaNoFiMo website (the link is over in my resources) for all of the Plot 1 characters.  And finally, I have a random fact sheet for a couple characters.  Hopefully I’ll be able to finish those up in the next few days.  For the random fact sheet, it’s something that I created on my own.

Using Kiora as an example, it has her favorite holiday (Halloween), favorite flower (daisies) and favorite food (spaghetti).  There’s a list of her likes (which include polka dots and headbands) and a list of her dislikes (which include hand sanitizer and wearing shoes).  And then there’s stuff like: wearing odd jewelry and volunteering at a hospital. 

I’m still not sure if I’ll refer to any of the character profiles once I start writing, but it’s still a good reference to have if I need it.  Since it all of the info about my characters, it’s definitely a good place to start if I’m having trouble writing any scenes, or if I have no idea what to write next.

Section Three is character names.  I hate coming up with character names, and every year, it’s one of the things I hate doing.  I figured that it would probably be a good idea if I compiled a list of all of my favorite names, that way I can go through and pick the ones I want for whatever project I’m working on.  I did the lists in a spreadsheet, with columns for name, origin, meaning, multiple spellings, and other notes.  If I want something English, I can look at the english section.  If I want a specific meaning, I can go with that.  I decided to go with a multiple spellings section, which is pretty simple- just a yes or no.  If I need an alternate spelling for a name, I can just look it up.  The other notes column has stuff like pronunciation, other origins or translations for names (like Hecate seems to be Greek in origin, but could also be Egyptian) or how I want to use a name.  A good example would Sparrow or Sage.  I like those names, but not really as a first name- so in my notes I have them listed as potential middle names.  

The names are really organized.  There’s female, unisex, and male names.  Under each group, they are arranged alphabetically by origin, so Aboriginal, American, etc.  Under each origin, they are arranged alphabetically by name (so Kiora, Kylie, Early, Kaylee, etc). 

And the last section is devoted to other plots I come up with, people I see and things I hear.  Sometimes people I see are such characters that there’s no way that I can pass up writing them; and sometimes things I hear are too funny not to include.  As far as the list of plots go, it’s  nice to have a list of things that I might want to work on.

I also 3-hole punch pencil pouch thing where I keep index cards, assorted post-its and paperclips, and I usually have pens and sharpies in an assortment of colors, plus a highlighter, pencil and eraser so I can keep everything more organized and for when I need to write notes and draw stuff out. 

So this sums up my binder for now.  More posts are coming in the next few days, but I still haven’t decided on what I want to cover before November.

Music

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Music plays an integral role in my writing.  I love writing to music, and when I’m stuck, oftentimes I draw inspiration from music. 

I love Pandora- it has some great music, and since I’m always looking for something new to listen to, chances of finding something I’ve never heard before is pretty likely.  With Pandora, there’s only a limited times I can skip songs, so I can’t be distracted by changing stations every few minutes.  A lot of my stations are finely tuned as well, so for the most part I’m not skipping through songs. 

I do have specific playlists for each novel, and if I’m anything like last year, then I’ll listen to the playlist part of the time, and the rest of the time I’ll probably listen to whatever.

As far as playlists go, I pick music that I think best describes my novel.  I also pick music based on music that my characters like.  They definitely are soundtracks for my novels, as well as my inspiration for where to go next. 

One example is Kiora, from my 1st novel.  She loves Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, The Gin Blossoms, and Black Stone Cherry so those artists will definitely be in rotation. 

As far as specific songs go, Many the Miles by Sara Bareilles, What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts, and Crush by David Archuleta are all expected to played a lot.  While romance is on the backburner, it will definitely by hinted at, so Crush accurately describes how Kiora feels about Blake.  

Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken is another example.  I’ll be heavily relying on the soundtracks from the 1st 2 Harry Potter movies, the music from A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, and the music from Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, and Gred and Forge.  I hoping that by listening to Harry Potter-themed music (some serious, and others not so much) I’ll be in Harry Potter mode.

As far as my 3rd novel, the songs are super-random.  While there’s definitely going to be some drama, which is reflected by song such as It’s Been Awhile by Staind, Wonderwall by Oasis and Happy by Leona Lewis, there will also be a lot of light moments as well.  The lighter moments will be reflected in songs like Barbie Girl by Aqua, Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!