Time flew by.

When I dropped off the blogging radar I lost one of my important ways to reflect. I still spent a lot of time reflecting but I never wrote any of it down. I feel like the act of writing slows time. Writing narrows and aims thoughts like a laser. A glass etching laser that records litle things here and there and creates a timeline. Even if its not an explicit timeline it is still a timeline of reference. I can reference emotions and thoughts that correlate with different days – weeks or months out of my year through my writing. Without writing I’ve been in a whirlwind everyday. I am never exactly sure where I am going or what I am doing and because of that I have lost time. I have literally lost time.

So I am back, after what I like to call – my experimental time off – now that I have had time to reflect on my lack of reflecting, I realize how much I value writing. (Not that I didn’t know that before) but now I have really felt it, and comes to terms with its importance. I hope I’ll keep up with it, if not here, in some journal.

Has anyone else out there taken long times away from their blogs? If so, how did you get back to blogging? What caused you to stop/start blogging?  

Winner 2012! NaNoWriMo

Bittersweet.

^^^That is how I feel crossing the finish line of NaNoWriMo. I will miss my stats page and the peptalks from all the amazing author participating. I can only hope that I can replicate such a stat page in Microsoft Excel (I am sure I can – but I’ll do that tomorrow). Tonight I will celebrate, by taking the time to read and relax and think about how my novel will continue, because although I wrote the 50,000 words – it is far from done. And right now I am having a bit of difficulty seeing the end result. But I’ll keep writing daily and chugging along letting my wonderful characters show me the way.

To all my readers and followers who participated, I hope you had as rewarding of a month as I did – and I hope you all continue working on the stories you want to, or have to tell. If anyone out there wants to share their Nano story with me I’d be happy to read it, or if anyone wants to read mine – I’ll reluctantly hand over my unfinished story. J

Just Write.

That is what I have learned from doing a novel in a month. Even when you can’t see the outcome or solution – it is always there – it just might be playing a game of hide and seek – the solution evades your ever search. Other times the solution will seek you out when you are hiding – that is, when you are away from the constant clicking of the keyboard on your computer – taking care of other responsibilities (how dull). Sometimes the solutions to your biggest novel problem will seek you out. (That’s my favorite way to play the game).

See the cabin in the distance? Me either…

Congrats to all those who participated – even if you didn’t finish – you still have words on the page and a story in your heart. Just keep going!!!

can you hear the sound of the clippity clappity keyboard?

I am taking some time for a welcomed break from my nano novel. After Thanksgiving weekend I was very behind. I wrote nothing for four straight days! *Gasp* anyone involved in NaNoWriMo knows this can be devastating if you aren’t ahead – which I was not. So yesterday I buckled down and wrote 4408 words, and today I hope to do the same. I will be caught up to today’s count of 45,000 if all goes well and I should have smooth sailing from there.

I thought I’d take a break and write a little bit about the end of my journey. I often worry about my story being too structured. I wonder – does it follow too much pattern that a reader would get bored?

I read for the twists and turns in a book, I don’t want to know what comes next! Otherwise, why would I read it? I like the surprises a book can have hold and I want to replicate such surprises for my future readers. Today, my story took some unexpected turns and I happily chugged along with great speed. I had worried about where the story would go next and it didn’t come to me until I was right there writing it. It is amazing how things like this can just fall into place. This added scene helped my MC evolve and show some of her spunk that might have been lost in the last 20,000 words. She started out a spunky girl but somewhere along the way lost some of confidence.

I hope all my NaNo friends out there are enjoying the last days! I know I won’t stop when this is over; I am shooting for a story that is about 70,000-80,000 words and it will only be the first in some sort of trilogy I hope. So lots more will come from it and I welcome more of these surprises.

Has anyone else experienced surprises like this from their story?

I don’t think there a whole lot wrong Black Friday (if you want to spend your time this way, by all means go for it) but I think there is something wrong when Kmart is open on Thanksgiving. It is completely disrespectful to the holiday of Thanksgiving. I work on Thanksgiving, but I am in the hospitality industry and let’s face it hotels never close. Stores, on the other hand, they use to close. They use to be closed on all holidays and even on Sundays. 

Let the madness begin!

What irks me the most is that people would rather show their appreciation and love through gifts of material items. Gifts that probably are will break because they’re cheap and mass produced and things that end up cluttering and complicating your life. There are families who will cut their Thanksgiving short today to go on this ‘exciting hunt’ – or whatever you want to call it. Its guess its fine because some of these people will be bring along their family and friends. But what underlies this excessive buying spree is our inadequacy in showing love and compassion.  

Whatever happened to homemade gifts? Whatever happened to quality time? My grandmother always tells me she wants the gift of time. She wants to spend a day with me – doing things we enjoy together. We got for a cup of coffee – catch up on everything under the sun. (The coffee costs me a total of $10 – which is comparable to a great deal on Black Friday) I’ll help the with projects around her house – whether is scrap booking (something I truly loathe) or decorating her Christmas tree. It’s the same for me, I don’t want a lot from her, just to know that shes is happy, healthy and enjoying life. It really can’t get much easier if you think about it – that is what most humans fundamentally want.

My second problem with Black Friday sales is that companies are still making money off these sales, so why can’t Barbie be $2.99 everyday. Why the huge price cut? Am I over paying for the other 364 days in the year (yes I am). I am sure quality gets cut, workers get less money, our environment suffers and so on and so forth. Maybe someone can explain to me how they afford it… I’ll just avoid it like every other year.

Its like the Beatles song – Can’t Buy me Love!! That will be my song tomorrow.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels to all!

So here it is…

5,000 more words till I’m halfway there

I think that 20,000 words is a good time to relect on my experience so far this month. I have been a pantster, which is strange and new to me because I usually a pretty good planner. But then again, I havent written fiction in a while and this is my first nano.

One observation I have made while being a pantster is that my characters have been developing on their own. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing and I know other writers out there have this same experience. For instance, I was getting a little bit stumped with where my plot was going. I was working through some scene description when my character discovered something about herself while investigating her new surroundings. We were both very surprised at this discovery. So surprised, that she isnt even convinced she was able to do what she did and she brushes it off. That discovery that my character and I made together has opened up a whole new path for my novel to continue on. I could have never planned this new ability of hers, even in my skeletal outline that was floating around my head – never exisitng on paper – I wouldn’t have thought she was going to develop this skill.

I also find myself drawing on contemporary issues – which makes sense but it wasn’t intentional. The environment and sustainability seems to pop up here and there in this novel and that is an issue I feel strongly about. I never thought that this novel could be a platform for those issues – in a creative way.

What discoveries has everyone else made about their writing? Are your characters acting on their free will yet?

So, today I wrote my first action sequence – which was something I had been avoiding so far this month (I am not really sure why – because I think it was actually kind of fun) I  was probably just nervous cause it an ‘unknown’ in the realm of writing – for me at least. Anyway… here is my action sequence – let me know what you think. Should there be more action – more details? I would love to hear some critiques! Thanks in advance and good luck to all  – we are now in the deep trenches of nano territory! PS – its not edited so excuse any mistakes and feel free the point them out for later revision!

Together they began the long journey. It was pretty uneventful up until about an hour in. After some non-stop swimming – they came to a large crevasse. Lexus stopped. “Can you feel that?” he asked.

“No, what is it” Selene whispered this – slightly afraid of what Lexus was referring to.

“It’s something big – and its lair is down inside that crevasse.”

“Do you think we can go around it?” asked Selene.

“No, that will require a lot of back tracking and with the humans lurking we can’t really afford the extra time. Maybe if we move slowly – we won’t disturb it.”

“I don’t know about this,” protested Selene, “I can sort of feel it too – I think it’s hungry.”

“Well lets hope that mermaid isn’t on its favorites list.”

“Didn’t you come this way to find me – did you pass this before?!”

“I passed it before – but I didn’t detect anything living down there. Must have just moved in.”

“Great…” Selene followed Lexus closely – she was glad for a moment that he was there – but her annoyance with him still lingered below the surface.

They slowly sailed over the crevasse. Selene looked down wondering what monstrous being could be dwelling down there. The crevasse was a deep split in the ocean floor – dark and foreboding. A few bubbles escaped upward and slinked past her face. She thought she saw movement and grabbed for Lexus’ arm. She churned the water in the process. Lexus felt the movement and whipped his head around to see what she was doing. He put his finger to his mouth – signaling her to calm down and keep moving.

They kept moving for another few minutes when she saw the movement again – this time she was certain something was watching them.

“Lexus,” she hissed, “I think it is watching us…” she pointed in the direction she had seen movement.

His sight reached where her finger was aimed. Just at that same moment a ten foot long angler fish came snapping out of the crevasse. It stopped abruptly, keeping its lower end protected by the cover of opening in the Earth – it eyed them closely. Dark muddy scales covered its body. Its fins were tattered in places from what must have been past fights. It was bobbing like a drunkard while its bulbous nob teetered in front of its face. Slowly it chomped its mouth looking eager for a meal. Its large sharp – thin teeth – were at least a foot long. They looked sharp enough to skewer a merman in swift movement.

Both Selene and Lexus stopped dead in their tracks. They looked at each other quickly – Lexus yelled ‘swim!’ to her and she took off. Lexus dove deep – straight for the fish. Selene reached the other side of the crevasse and hid behind a large rock that jutted straight out of the sea floor at the end of the crevasse. She watched Lexus – gripping the rock in terror.

She was relieved to discover that Lexus was a very skilled swimmer. He evaded chomp after chomp by quickly changing direction. The angler fish was just was skilled though. It too, quickly changed its direction making right angle turns seem natural. She watched the two of them in what seemed like some kind of death dance. The angler was gaining on Lexus. She was about to jump out from behind the rock when Lexus picked up his speed and shot straight through an opening in a rock formation on the other side of the crevasse. The hole was plenty large for Lexus to get through but the angler, in all his excitement at a rare delicacy, swam straight through the opening and got stuck.

Still chomping it wriggled forwards and backwards – but it was no use, the fish was nicely sandwiched in. Lexus approached it flexing his black arm. He looked as if he might sacrifice it right there, but stopped and looked to Selene. He took one last look at the fish and swam to meet her.

In a post-apocalyptic world where the humans have been decimated, a lost race flourishes. Deep in the oceans of the world Merpeople, armed with their algae fortifications, continue living in the highly polluted waters. Biologists work day and night to protect the city from nuclear waste that is actively flowing from abandoned power plants.

As young Selene’s sixteenth meryear approaches she is given the opportunity to escape the confines of the city. Curious about her mothers disappearance, she sets out on an quest to find out what really happened. Risking everything to find answers, she may find out more than she can handle about who or what else survived The Great Disaster twelve years ago.
And here is the chapter…

Chapter II

The next morning Selene found her father sitting on the couch, removing sand from between his fins. “Morning Selene” he said.

“Morning dad. How was clamming last night?” she didn’t want to start off telling him what he shouldn’t do.

“It was good, I know I’ve said this before but… I really do feel a lot better.”

“That’s great dad, I’ll believe it when I see it.” Sandy turned away.

Her father said a bit slower, “I know you worry starfish, but really! Look!” Selene turned back and he began flexing his biceps for her, Selene wouldn’t admit it but they did look bigger. A smile crept across her face and her father let out a long deep chuckle.

“I guess so dad… what do you want for breakfast?”

“Eh, what’s on the menu this morning?”

“Well we have clam scramble, or clam stew, or how about your favorite! Clams bendidict?!”

“Hmm, what a hard decision, I don’t care, make the clams whichever way you want.”

“Clam scramble it is then.”

She twisted around the corner and into the kitchen. She began working on shelling some clams with her bare hands. Her fingers deftly worked, prying each clam open in seconds. Her father floated and said, “Wow starfish, you are almost as fast as me!”

Selene laughed, “Actually I think I’m faster.”

He finished helping her shell the remaining clams. Then they chopped them up into tiny bits and she tossed them with some squid ink.

“Delicious!” her father said as they sat down. “So starfish, what do you think you want to do for your birthday?”

“Well my friends are planning a surprise for me that evening…”

Her father interrupted, “how about some birthday cake before you go out? How’s that sound?”

“That’s great,” Selene replied. She felt bad hiding her real plans from her father, but if everything went well, he would never have to know. But that was just the problem; she worried that something might go wrong. She was really banking on her theory about the biologist. She had seen them going out numerous times at the central portal with only their algae face masks. This was a new development in the past six months. The biologists preferred to take the ‘no comment’ route when they were asked about this development by the journal-mers. They said it was top secret and the city mayb be put in jeopardy if any information about these developments got out. She wondered if radiation levels were decreasing, or if the biologists were building up a tolerance of some sort. She was hoping it was the former and not the latter because she had no defenses, other than Atrayo’s stolen algae mask.

Most merpeople were satisfied that progress was being made, but there were also ones like her that found the secrets disconcerting. She knew there were others who had made their escape, but they never came back. She wanted answers about her mother’s disappearance but she also knew she needed to come back to her father.

Thoughts are greatly appreciated, questions too and constructive criticism. My username on nano is katyd1018 if you want to be writing buddies!

Last night, I wrote past my first word count goal of 1677 words.

Yippe!!!

It took about three hours… which I am hoping to shorten tonight. I would like to be able to write 1677 words in about an hour and a half. I think that is a good amount of time to devote each day. Today I will be working at both of my jobs, so I won’t have the luxury of three hours unless I really wanna lose sleep. It’s tough to balance everything and I’ve read a lot of pas post from Wrimo’s saying that you have to decide what will fall to the wayside once the madness begins. Hopefully I will give up TV time and replace it with writing time.

How is everyone else doing out there as the mad month of November begins?

I will be posting some excerpts later, so check back, I wanna hear feedback!

So I was off to search for some articles to fuel my drive.

I came across one on the website LitReactor. Here is an excerpt of the article “The Devil is in the Details” by Craig Clevenger. He takes us through the ways to transform a sentence that tells to one that shows.

Even after we create a subset of contrasting details which conveys depth and evokes images from the reader’s own imagination, the syntax is still often a list of “tells.” My solution is to restructure your descriptions from noun lists with modifiers to active subject-verb sentences. If I’m describing a short order cook in the middle of a lunch rush, I might say something like:

Lou flung the burgers into their baskets, slapped the bell and shouted, “Order up!”

Pretty straightforward. A compound-complex sentence where Lou is the subject and flung, slapped andshouted are the verbs. Everything appears to be in order, as the sentence subject is performing the sentence verb, so it’s in the active voice; the verbs are most definitely transitive action verbs, acting upon their respective objects. But what does Lou look like?

He wore a dull, white apron and crisp white hat, and grease-stained checked trousers.

Okay, all valid descriptors. I’ve still got Lou (He) as the subject with wore as the verb (a transitive verb, but weaker than flung or slapped); apron, hat and trousers are the objects with the respective modifiers dull andwhite, crisp and white (forgive the repetition) and grease-stained. Nonetheless, the scant narrative goes from the frenzy of Lou sending out an order to a screeching halt, all because of the catalogue description. Let’s take a cue from the first sentence and model the subsequent descriptive sentence after it. Instead of Lou being the subject, let’s make his apron the subject:

His dull white apron…

Did what? How do I assign a verb to an inanimate object?

… draped from the curve of his massive belly.

Apron is the subject this time, with the action verb draped acting on Lou’s belly, the object. A well-crafted description is as much about your sentence structure as it is your choice of adjectives and adverbs. Instead of telling the reader that Lou is wearing a white apron, I’m showing the reader the white apron covering Lou. We can also turn up the heat a notch or two and make the descriptors the subjects, giving them verbs. Instead of using trousers as the subject, modified by grease-stained, let’s make the stains the subject:

Ancient grease stains covered his checked trousers.

In this case, we’ve changed the sentence structure from telling the reader he wore grease-stained trousers to showing grease stains covering his trousers (yeah, I threw in another modifier, so sue me).

Before:

Lou flung the burgers into their baskets, slapped the bell and shouted, “Order up!” He wore a dull, white apron and crisp white hat, and grease stained checked trousers.

After:

Lou flung the burgers into their baskets, slapped the bell and shouted, “Order up!” His dull white apron draped from the curve of his massive belly and ancient grease stains covered his checked trousers.

And one more spit polish:

Lou’s dull apron hung from the curve of his massive belly, barely concealing the ancient grease stains mottling his checked trousers. He flung the burgers into their baskets, slapped the bell and shouted, “Order up!”

I took this article and began an exercise of my own – following his structure. I think my NaNo project will be about mermaids, so I did a descriptive sentence which started as a basic showing -

The violet haired mermaid swam past a group of sea lions, hiding herself from their view behind a school of fish.

Next I tried his technique of changing the subject of the sentence and the focus. I focuses on her fins first. And then gave the sea lions a descriptive adjective.

Her deep green fins flicked past the pack of hungry sea lions.

Then I described the school of fish and her hair color using both objects to compliment and oppose one another.

A shimmering school of fish concealed her from their sight. Her hair swayed with their flow – its violet sheen bouncing off their scales.

So now I have…

Her deep green fins flicked past the pack of hungry sea lions. A shimmering school of fish concealed her from their sight. Her hair swayed with their flow – its violet sheen bouncing off their scales.

Now I’ll try my hand at polishing…

Her deep green fins flicked softly past the pack of hungry sea lions. A school of shimmering silver fish concealed her from their sight. Only noticeable was her hair, swaying with the flow of the fish – its violet sheen bouncing off their scales.

And there you have it, what do you think? I think Clevenger’s article was great and I’ll be remembering Lou the short-order cook during NaNo. Definitely a good fun exercise and I recommend taking the time to read this article!

Credits to: http://litreactor.com/essays/craig-clevenger/the-devil-in-the-details