What's Up Wednesday 11/5/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jaime Morrow's blog and Erin Funk's blog to sign up.

Super short post because of NaNo.
 

What I'm Reading: I started Heir of Fire but I'm afraid to get into it or else I'll spend all day reading.

What I'm Writing:  Working on my NaNoWriMo novel. I keep falling behind, but today it the day to play catch up. Either way, I'm enjoying writing. I started my first NaNoWriMo blog post yesterday. Check it out here


What Works For Me: Night time writing. With the exception of last night, I've been doing most of my writing two or three hours before bed. It works for me, but I know I need to get more writing done earlier in the day. Last night I fell asleep around 10pm and got very little writing done. I can still write at night, just not too late anymore. I have to remember that I'm not in college anymore. I have a job and responsibilities.

What Else I've Been Up To: Nothing, work, writing, watching Supernatural.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

2014 NaNoWriMo Chronicles pt. 1

The NaNoWriMo has finally arrived, and boy am I tired. Let's recap:

NaNo Swag

Day 1: I start off strong. 1500 words by 1 am. Later in the afternoon I meet up with some writers in my region for a Write-In. We mostly talked, but so I didn't get much writing done, but that was expected. I felt comfortable enough with my word count at that point. By the end of the day I'm at 1800 words, which is a great start. I wanted to do a Google Hangout with some writing buddies, but my computer crapped out and I couldn't do it. Lucky for me I backed up at the Write-In.

Day 2: A little difficult. My entire day was booked and by the time I got home, I was too tired to get much writing done. At the end of the day I was at 2680 word, just a few hundred words shy of the word count goal of 3333 words.

Day 3: I managed to get a good chunk of my writing done in the evening before bed. It may have something to do with the shiny new toy I bought. Let's just say, I won't be having many troubles with technology for a while. (Who am I kidding? It's a new laptop, you all saw this coming). By the end of the night I managed to hit the 5000 word count goal.

Day 4: After a long day at work, I am ready to get some writing done. The goal tonight is to be at 6,667 words. I know I can make it. I've got a good support group online and in real life. I'm in a good place with my writing.

The story is coming along nicely. I've set myself on a clear path and I am excited to see where these characters take me. Writing contemporary is not as bad as I thought. Don't get me wrong, I'm still tempted to add in a ghost or some magical element. Oh well, despite being behind, I'm having a blast working on the story and being active in the NaNoWriMo community.

Happy Writing!

What's Up Wednesday 10/29/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jaime Morrow's blog and Erin Funk's blog to sign up.

What I'm Reading: Reading break to prepare for NaNo. I have to return my library books.  

What I'm Writing:  NaNoWriMo is only a couple days away and I have my plot drawn out and my character sheets done. I am so ready for this. Throughout the month of November I will be posting about my journey with small excerpts on Tuesdays.   


What Works For Me: Qlep.

What Else I've Been Up To: Little bit of this, little bit of that. I'm actually enduring a great Supernatural binge. So. Many. Season. I started almost two months ago and I am a third of a way through season 7.  I might have a problem. I know I have to slow down in November if I want to get any writing done.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

What's Up Wednesday 10/22/14

What's Up Wednesday 10/15/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jaime Morrow's blog and Erin Funk's blog to sign up.

What I'm Reading: I'm still reading House of Hades by Rick Riodan. It's a library book so I have to finish it soon because it's a due next week. I've been crazy busy at work so I've been reading on the bus mostly. I'm also tempted to start Heir of Fire. I bought it yesterday and I really want to crack it open. I need to make more time for reading.

What I'm Writing:  I finally plotted my NaNo novel. It's definitely going to be a challenge because it's contemporary. But isn't that the point of NaNoWriMo? I've proven to myself that I could write a novel in 30 days, now I need to step out of my comfort zone.


What Works For Me: Quite time. When I'm alone with no distractions and no internet I can get a lot of work done. Unfortunately I don't get that kind of time often because... the internet. I think I need to find time once or twice a week to get out of the house with pens and paper just to write. It's really refreshing to get away from the computer for a while.

What Else I've Been Up To: Work has been fantastic. I have another event this weekend and next week I have to give a seminar on stage management to local middle schoolers. We're basically teaching the kids about tech theatre so they can do the stage management, lighting and sound for an artist we're bringing to their school in January. My coworkers and I will supervise them, but they're basically running the show. It's actually pretty cool.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

What's Up Wednesday 10/15/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jaime Morrow's blog and Erin Funk's blog to sign up.

What I'm Reading: I'm reading House of Hades by Rick Riodan. Book 4 in the Heroes of Olympus series. Blood of Olympus just came out so I don't have to worry about waiting a year for the last book.

What I'm Writing:  Revision and outlines. Nothing special. I am going to write the contemporary next month. We'll see how that goes. I need to challenge myself. 


What Works For Me: Not stressing out, that seems to work. I'm failing hard right now, but that's life. Lately the process has been getting to me. Those doubts set in and it's becoming difficult to work on a new manuscript. You hear other peoples success stories and triumphs, and as happy as you are for them, it just eats away at your brain. I have to keep pushing forward and telling myself that my time will come. Maybe not today, or with this novel or even the next one, but someday. I can't give up and I can't let this get to me.

What Else I've Been Up To: Well my new job is awesome. I worked a festival last week and the first concert of the season is on Saturday. I've been itching to get backstage. I've been in the office too long.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

What's Up Wednesday 10/1/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jaime Morrow's blog and Erin Funk's blog to sign up.

What I'm Reading: I'm reading Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas. I bought it the other day and I'm enjoying every bit of it. Hats off to any writer who can write high fantasy. I can never write such a complicated world with it's own history.
I also took a trip to the local library yesterday. Not the best selection of young adult fiction, I had to request Isla and the Happily Ever After. Grr, I needed to read that like a month ago.

Not pictured: Maze Runner, which I gave to my cousin

What I'm Writing:  Since it's officially I month before NaNoWriMo, I'm going to start outlining my next NaNo Novel. November is going to be a very busy month for me at work, but if I get enough enthusiasm for the project then I'm sure I can do it. I'm torn between the magical realism twin body swapping novel that I've been sitting on for years and the theatre contemporary I thought of last week. Both have their pros and cons. I feel like since I haven't had the momentum to write the body swapping novel, I won't complete it. But I also have no idea what the theatre contemporary will be about. Maybe it won't be contemporary. I just don't know. I have a whole month to think about it.  

What Works For Me: Knowing the ending. I say I'm half-planner/half-panster, but if there is one thing I know for sure is how I'm going to end the novel. It gives me somewhere to go when writing. Sometimes I stray from my original plan, but the essence is still the same. It works for me, so if I am going to write a theatre contemporary than, I should start thinking about the ending.

What Else I've Been Up To: This weekend, me and a couple of stage managers I knew on the internet launched a group blog on tumblr. The main focus of the blog was to brings stage managers and theatre technicians blogger together. We basically listed over 200 stage managers and theatre technicians on tumblr and created a master list of their blogs. It took a lot of work, but it was worth it.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

What's Up Wednesday 9/24/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jaime Morrow's blog and Erin Funk's blog to sign up.

What I'm Reading: I'm still reading Underworld by Meg Cabot. But my mind is one so many new releases, that I don't own yet. (I'm talking to you Unmade)

What I'm Writing:  I just finished up the revisions. I'm going to give it one last look. This time for real. (although, it's never the last revision.) I got hit with a SNI (shiny new idea) the other day. I'm setting it aside for NaNo, but that doesn't mean I can't outline. The best part is, it's going to be a contemporary about theatre- tech theatre. I don't write much contemporary, but I know a lot about theatre. I don't know much right now, I just need a plot, conflict and some characters and I am good to go.

What Works For Me: Actually writing during the revision process. Sometimes I can't just take a draft take it a part physically with note cards and post-it's. That just drives me crazy. I just have to write and write one the same document (obviously re-saved and numbered) until I finish the draft. I know it's unorthodox, but it works for me. At least for now. I'm trying to change so maybe by draft 3 it will be good enough for CPs and Betas vs draft 5. I get stuck in my ways often and I'm working on it.

What Else I've Been Up To: Working, the real job. This week is all about meeting and learning the ropes. Other than that, nothing's new.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!