Ooooh Guess what?

Now, I know I said I wouldn't make all my posts about writing...that would be boring IMO but, since writing and painting (or taking pics for later painting) is what I do outside of being a wife and mother, well, it comes up a lot...

But GUESS WHAT??  *pauses to change pants as the excitement gets to her*

The new cover for the Ravaged Anthology is in my hot little hands (and that of a my fellow anthologyians <--don't know if that's a word, but it is now! lol) and I am sharing with you now!

Drum roll please as I post another hot cover by a talented artist from Breathless Press.

See my name just...there... ;) and all my fellow author peeps!! I'm so excited. They did a magnificant job. Not sure who the artist is, but Breathless Press sure got their hands on some good ones!

I'm moving slow on writing. Changed a major plot point. If you're a follower of my author FB page then you know my muse hit the other night as I was nodding off to sleep. What did it do? Oh nothing much. Just decided a major plot point had to change. Warning: Possible spoiler for The Ulfric's Mate--No easy kill off for old Joseph for his very bad misdeeds.

Noooo.

My muse has decided he gets to live--in exile, where of course, he can still be trouble... Sigh. It means I have to rework the whole story though. It's okay. I don't actually WRITE down outlines, I just know where I want to go and how I want to get there. But when my muse does this to me? Well, it's not the first time. I'll get over it!

*squeee* sorry. They slip out once in a while. Now I have TWO book covers to squee over. I may have to get a sock to put in it... LOL

So, back to the drawing board...perhaps literally, as I work out the new plot points in my mind. Also, may be a good time to do some of those edits I need to do...all week and none are finished? oops. Especially since I got second edits back on Barely There that's in the afore mentioned Ravaged.

Time for me to get back to work... And you can thank Persephone Jones for getting this on my blog this early today LOL Sigh.

The Muse

So, a twitter follower/ee of mine posed a question: Do you outline for NaNoWriMo or do you fly by the seat of your pants??

We all know I fly by the seat of my pants. Last year, I had an outline and although the story was interesting, which is like saying oh very nice dear to a kid's drawing) it didn't have the pizzazz my stories usually have. Why? Once the outline was finished, I was bored. Bored bored bored. You've heard me say this before, so now you're probably bored, right? LOL

You know the synopsis issue? AKA the Seagull Summary? This is this and that is that? Yep, I get it when I outline. I'm writing an outline for a fast paced zombie thriller and reading it makes me yawn! I have like a brain fart. Or something. (wonder what kind of traffice searches this post will get! seagull farts? :P)

But, I'm thinking of writing an historical horror. I've been saving this online magazine to a folder for when I became ready to do it. I could read up on it the week before and make notes (no outlining!) re historical facts, dates, etc. I have an elizabethean novel kinda floating around in there as well. (No wonder I can't remember anything. Seriously, is anyone keeping count of the books floating around in my head? Someone build a yacht, or maybe an ark! and gather them together :P) And recent events in the news have sort of reinforced this other horror story I had...

Damn damn (damn farts now for search engine? LOL) now what am I going to write? Plus I have to keep going on the fantasy I'm, uh, working on. Yes, I'm working on it.

So the first step for NaNo is deciding what to write. The next step? Research. A friend on FB and twitter posted a pic of her research for her very first NaNo. I was floored. I think I left my jaw back there somewhere. Thing is, I do research in spurts as my mind gets these ideas, then when it's time to write, I have the knowledge and just need a little brush up.

After the research, do you outline? If you've never writtern before, this can be a hard question. As I've said, I've tried it both ways. The outline kills my muse. But for others, it keeps them on track and makes sure they have all the plot points. In my opinion, there is no ONE right way. I can't really work in total silence, but I know people who need it. I can't work with constant music, but know people who have whole saved tracks for the particular book they're writing.  Do what works for you and if you're not sure, experiment. This isn't just true for NaNo, but for any craft. Learn the basics (in this case, spelling, grammar) then find your own style.

So after you've gotten that far, you have to wait for the big day. In the meantime do all the preps I've mentioned before, not forgetting your favorite treats, and stock up on caffeine, roll your sleeves up and get ready!

There are plenty of us peeps working together on twitter for cheering each other on. I know I'm going to need it with the DAY JOB. My poor Muse needs the extra encouragement. I'm so tired that I don't want to look at a screen anymore when I get home, and my creative juices are burned out from all the exacting knowledge I've had to use all day (and it's only going to get worst. My work load is increasing!) and the creative side is screaming in pain in the corner. I have to soothe her, for I need her for my sanity.

And with that gruesome that, I'm going to finish this post before it turns into something dark!

Let your muse roll with the punches, encourage, feed, and exercise it. Then, let her/him loose on November first! NANOWRIMO FTW!!!

Here Come Summer

MY muse and my mojo are back, but I'm stunting my way through the word count. It's there, but just under 1k the days I write. Sundays have turned into semi forced days off...but that's okay. AS I've said previously, you have to take time off or your body will do it for you.

I started to do a new blog Sat, Sun, Mon and it didn't happen for a variety of reasons. So this morning I woke up and said I'm going to Borders to get some time in. I'm drinking a Mint Chocolate Javakula and eating a browning. *pauses while jealousy infuses your mind*

My house is superbly rearranged and we may have solved an issue with our woodstove. Now just need to figure out where to keep it for the summer. I love the way the house is arranged with it out of the house though. We'll see what happens there. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the future, which has been a rare commodity of late. I had a commission for artwork, bookmarks sold, and someone else who's thinking of commissioning artwork. I have writing that's wanted, a check, albeit a small one, coming sometime in the future for a short in an anthology, and another small one coming in the fall for another contribution to an anthology. Small things but it all helps me to feel good about myself.

I'm about at 22k on the sort that used to be 12,600 so I'm getting somewhere with my little bits, but want to go faster. Tomorrow, if it's not windy, I'm going to be burning and weeding, but as of Thursday, I think I need to have another NANO :D With the way the house is gettting organized, it might even be possible. Just the thought of doing that makes me feel good :D

So I think I'll call up my partner and start up another writing thing for the two of us since the last one was short circuited by life. My kids have been given their instructions for summer school. Because of my daughters stuff, we got a little behind (not too far as I'm not afraid to make them work later or on weekends when emergencies happen) so I've given them their insturctions for what they have to get done if they want a month off for the summer. Yep, I'm mean. Only giving them a month off... partly because of the family upset that happened. Plus, their are more ways of teaching than sitting in a classroom and they're more fun in the summer :D

I'm working with the boys on art but my older one wants something different, so Nate's teaching him beading techniques (which I know enough of to backhim up) and I'm going to work with both of them on design and compostition. Shhhhh....they don't know that's part of the schooling :D I told them we could set up a lemonade stand at the end of our drive and they can sell their art stuff as well. Course this is happening on their month "off" lol I know, devious I am, but it's a lot easier to get their cooperation and a lot more fun for them if they don't know it's happening as part of school.

Also, I'm going to be starting a medeival section for the boys. Think it'll roll right into the next school year. We can do everything from music (which I need to bone up on) to sewing, history, geography, politics, and for breaks? Math by way of monolpoly...

Anyway, my summer looks to be full and exciting. With the school stuff, writing and hopefully camping/day trips to mountains, I plan on giving my boys a fun summer, even if they learn something along the way. Hope you all have summer plans that work for you.

BTW, I plan on blogging all through the summer as well. So if you need some company because it seems everyone and their brother is off on wonderful momnth long summer trips, come see me and we can have our own fun together :D

What to do when

you don't feel like writing? As much as I love writing, there are days I don't feel like writing. So what do you do then?

First of all, (and btw, when I say first of all, I'm assuming you've already consummed copious amounts of caffeine and have more handy!) you establish yourself a routine for writing long before this. For me, it's networking, answering emails, reading my writer type blogs, and recently I've even had to watch my comment thread closely. Which I lurv! It helps as I state on the 10 things for nano time that I do. It gives me time to remember things I have to do before start writing, and for my kids to know I'm going to be busy and hurry up and ask for whatever it is you need.

So, you've done your routine and still...nothing. Your muse apparently went down the drain with your shower water. Now what? First, try these things.

One, I always start my writing by rereading last 1-5 pages I did last. It does two things. It helps me catch weird errors and other editing issues and it gets me back into the mood the characters were at. So do that. You get down to the last paragraph of superb awesomeness you wrote (When NOT in the mood to write--NEVER EVER CALL YOUR STUFF CRAP EVEN IN YOUR HEAD!!!! I don't care if it's the worst stuff you've written in 3 years. On these days, you are not allowed to start arbitrarily deleting!! I mean, if you wrote, "Sh thuchks her sumb." you may erase and fix to "She sucks her thumb." and you may even make a comment her that the whole section needs to be reworked. See how I did that? Needs reworked. Not sucks. Not crap! Ahem,off the soap box and back to our regularly scheduled program.) and you are still not in the mood?

Here's what I do. I open up other MS I'm working on. Or have finished, and I start editing. NOT TRASHING, editing. A really nice hint that my friend @tamiklockau gave me? Save in drafts. I do it before all major work is done. That way, if in your present mood you OOPS and lose a scene that in your right mind you know is needed (I have done this!) you can simply go copy paste from other draft :)

Editing is a huge, major, super, uber important, gigantic part of writing. Did y'all catch that?? So, editing when your muse is gone, is still part of the writing process. The time isn't loss and you are still improving your craft.

The other thing you can do is research that you need. Whether it's for plot point on the story or grammar geeking, doing research is not always fun and can be a good thing to do when "not in the mood" to write.

But, hold yourself accountable. don't research "the big bang theory" unless you really are looking up the science for your book and not the TV show!!

Anyone else have hints and tips for what they do when "not in the mood"--FOR WRITING!! LOL