7 Line Challenge

So, I was tagged a while back by the lovely Victoria Pearson in a blog post and I have finally gotten around to doing my post. I would apologize, but we all know I would do it again. I do have an excuse. I was writing and my first draft.

Here are the rules:
This is your mission:  Go to line 7 on either page 7 or page 77 of your manuscript and post the next 7 lines, then tag 7 people to keep the challenge going! This a short and savvy way to see what others out there in the blogosphere are writing and get a sneak peek of what your favorite author may be bringing out soon.

I am "breaking the chain" so to speak by not tagging anyone. However, if you want to do post of your own, please let me know either in the comments, or via twitter, and link back to this post.

Now, I've posted page 77 of my just finished WIP...at least I thought I did...er...can't find it...

*Gulp*

Anyone remember where I put that post?!


Anyone?! If you know where it has walked off to, let me know.


Ok, guess I'll do it again! Hah! Take that lost blog post thingy!


So, here is 7 lines from my recently finished first draft of Hate Jacket. This time from page 7.

Probably should have worn it back, but I was in a hurry as usual. By the time we get into the car, we both look like drowned rats. Correction, Blake looks like a walking god with wet hair. I shake my head.

Blake laughs. “What are you staring at?”

“If I didn’t like you so much, I’d probably hate your guts,” I reply with a mock glare.

Blake laughs even harder. He’s heard it before. He knows what I’m saying. He claps me on the shoulder again, nearly slamming my face into the dashboard.

So, what do you think?

'Till Next Time

Changing Gears and #writemotivation update

I almost called this post "Grind 'em till ya find 'em and call me toothless". Not only is that an insanely long title, but I also wondered what kind of perverted freaks would find my blog through it. You never know. The internet is full of crazy people. I should know, I'm one of them.

Anyway...were was I? Oh yeah, changing gears.

*GRIND* *GRIND* *THUNK*

I said, "CLUTCH! THE SMALL PEDAL ON THE LEFT! USE IT!"

Ok, much better.

For those of you who are crazy enough to follow me, you probably heard that I finished my first draft of my first WIP. It is now sitting quietly waiting for a couple people to finish reading it before I go and tear it to pieces. I'm looking forward to it. I have some awesome ideas and if I pull them off right, it won't suck. Big "if" there. :D

Being a writer means that you have lots of words in your head waiting to come out. Just because you "finish" a draft, doesn't mean you can stop. However, there is some down time where you have to let it sit before you go back and do evil things to the words on the page (and not to mention the characters contained therein).

So, I put the thing down and promptly stopped sleeping for two days. It may have been the 5,000 words I pushed out last Sunday, it may have been too much caffeine. I think it is because my brain need to get words out and I wasn't.

A couple days later, I was talking to one of my tweeps, Adrien-Luc Sanders (he's the managing senior editor at Entangled Publishing he has some very interesting writing, editing, and publishing tips that he tweets about). He was talking about a melodramatic 17-year old. It was a funny post. I had to comment. Anyway, we ended up talking about being angsty teenagers and then a character started talking...really loudly in my head.

Yes, writers are schizophrenic...It's worse if you are a librarian...scary, I know.

So, this character was talking loudly enough that I couldn't ignore him. So, I'm now working on his story. It isn't mine, it's his. I tried to tell him off. He cussed me out, flipped me the bird, and kept talking. Yeah, he's that kind of character. I tweeted several times about him being an a-hole...because he is. It's not going to be a pretty story to write. It's going to have a lot of emotion in it. It will also not have robots, monsters, vampires, magic, swords, or spaceships. It will be a human story about a trouble teenager who has to deal with some pretty heavy things. I'm actually looking forward to writing it...provided I don't punch him first!

Now on to the #writemotivation update

1. Finish draft of WIP: DONE! YAY! HAPPY DANCE!
2. Figure out what I'm writing next: YUP! I also wrote down nine other story ideas that I want to write at some point
3. Do character sketching/world building for new WIP: In process. I have about 5 characters developed. Still need a location and a few more characters before I can start writing.
4. Blog once a week: So far so good!
5. Cheer everyone else on: Yes! Although I could do some more cheering (IMHO).

'Till next time!

The Hardest Chapter Written and #writemotivation update

I almost called this post "How I Survived Hell Week", because it was. Not my worst week ever, but still taxing emotionally for several reasons.  First of all, I was grinding through Chapter 10 of WIP#1 and really not wanting to, plus I had a temp in my office all week.

Chapter 10 sucked because I had to deal with the death of one of my more favorite characters. Yes, I killed him. It was actually what he was wanting. Not in a suicide sense, but in a story sense. He knew his death would better serve the story than his life. I didn't want to do it, but he made me. Now, for those non-writers out there, this might not make a lot of sense, but trust me when I say, it was necessary. I even cried a little when the chapter was done. Partially from grief at killing a character I liked, and partly because it was a hard thing to write and I finished it.

On top of that, I had a temp working in my office. Now to some of you, this may not be a bad thing. To be honest, it usually isn't for me either. In fact, I needed the help. I was so far behind, I couldn't catch up. Not that I was goofing off, but rather my work load has increased exponentially since I started working there 15 years ago. Back then, we had 5 people. Now, we have 2 and we do so much more than the 5 of us did back then. Not sure how we do it, but we do. Anyway, my boss was super nice and brought in a temp. The guy that was helping me was actually really nice. He worked hard, he didn't complain, and he actually picked up on the job pretty quickly. I shouldn't be complaining, but I am. It wasn't his work that bothered me, it was that I had someone else in my office. I've been a solo worker in this office for years. I'm used to doing things my own way without having to worry about someone else getting in the way.

Despite the stress of the week, there were several positives.

1. I am involved in an anthology project started by the very cool, Violeta Nedkova (@LynMidnight on Twitter). It's part of Writer's Worth. Anyway, she's envisioned this really awesome idea. It involves 12 stories, written by 36 authors. 12 to start, 12 to flesh out, and 12 to finish. The hash tag on twitter is #Grim5Next (not sure why, it just sort of took). I was chosen to do one of the 12 starting stories. My beta has been giving me rave reviews and I should be sending it to the amazing Lyn (a.k.a Violeta) soon.
2. Someone was looking for a slush pile reader, I responded, and starting Monday-ish, I get to help read some slush-pile stuff. It should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. The other cool part is that I need to do a e-journal report for class and now I have an e-journal to present! :D
3. I finally figured out what my short-story is going to be for my Creative Writing class. Now, I just need to write it. I also have to do a character write-up as well as a short outline.
4. I attended Planet Comicon. Which, if you live in the KC area, or even the Midwest, it's about the biggest one in the area. This one was gigantic and had some really amazing guests and authors. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll see some of the pictures from it. I'll post more at some point. It was awesome, and exhausting.
5. Got some feedback on chapters 1 & 2 of WIP#1. At least in the first chapter, I used the word "seems" multiple times. Oops. I already go through each chapter remove excessive "that"s, now I have to look out for "seems". Sigh. I also need to provide more descriptions. I have some, but at least one of my betas things I need more. I guess that is why it is called a "draft". Needless to say, I will be doing some revisions later. Other than that, they really liked it.

So, after this week, my brain is kind of fried. I've kept up my writing every day, but sometimes it is harder than others. I kicked butt on my #writemotivation goals. Blew my chapter count out of the water and rooted for all my writer tweeps. As for insidious WIP#2, he kept quiet, but I'm finding that I can switch between multiple writing ideas without any problems. Either I'm going insane (a distinct possibility considering the people I hang out with) or my brain is living up to the challenges I've placed before it.

'Till next time.

Falling in Love with your Characters and #writemotivation Update

So, I am now 23,000 words into "Stone Of Unity" (a.k.a WIP#1) and I am starting to experience a phenomena that a lot of writers experience. What I'm talking about is developing an emotional connection with my characters. Like I said, it isn't a unique experience. J.K. Rowling mentions becoming emotionally distraught over the death of Sirius Black. At the time, I thought it was an odd "author thing". I mean, I've felt sad when a character dies (in the case of Harry Potter, it was Dobby), but really the thought of getting completely distraught over a character just sounded weird. Well, I don't find it so weird any more. While I was lying awake in bed one night, I had a brilliant flash of inspiration on WIP#1. As soon I thought it, I started getting really upset. Then it hit me. I was emotionally connecting with my characters. I really didn't want to have one of my good guys betray someone that trusted them wholeheartedly. I know it sounds weird and neurotic, but it is true. I'm mad at one of my characters now. I don't want to write the chapter (which I am now currently doing). I don't want to hurt this innocent, trusting person, but I know it will make the story better. I know, it's weird, but true. If I could stop, I would, but I can't. I've hit that point with writing where it is my preferred activity. It trumps computer games, TV, and even reading at times. Yes, it is weird. I blame all my #writemotivation friends. They are evil and are contributing to my writing obsession.

Speaking of #writemotivation...Goal update!

1. Finish Chapter 4 of WIP #1 and start on Chapter 5: Yeah, blew this one out of the water.
2. Blog at least once a week: Yup and sometimes twice!
3. Write at least 30 minutes every day (more is better!): Stumbled a couple times with this, but even when I didn't get actual writing done, I was still working on writerly stuff. I give myself a 98%
4. Cheer on everyone else!: Yup! Love this part!
5. Do my best to not get distracted by WIP #2 as it is insidious and evil.: Nope, still quiet, had some other ideas floating around, but nothing big enough to distract me.

Well, that's all I have for today.

'Till next time.