What am I going to do for NaNo?

Someone visited me from Nepal yesterday. Hello!

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NaNoWrimo starts a month from now (November first). In Nano, one must write a 50,000 page novel, or realistically, the first part of a novel, as novels generally run twice that length. The organization prefers it’s a new novel instead of adding to a novel you have because it’s easier to write from scratch.

I was all ready to submit Gods’ Seeds as the novel I was going to write, but then I opened it up to find out that I’d already written 21k of it. This was the novel I started for NaNo and quit when Trump got elected President. It wouldn’t be a cheat to work on Gods’ Seeds as long as I didn’t count those 21k words, but it would be harder to get back into.

I could start a new novel. Not sure what that would be yet.

Or I could be a rebel, which would be writing anything but a novel. This way I might be able to edit/develop Gaia’s Hands, which I’m editing and at the same time wondering what I can add back. Or I could write more short stories that fit in the Archetype universe, or …

I don’t know what to do. I’m committed to write, because I’m hosting a NaNo write-in space at the Game Cafe. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Editing Gaia’s Hands Again

I actually started working on editing Gaia’s Hands yesterday while sitting at Mokaska Coffeehouse in St. Joseph. Their new digs are amazing, by the way — spacious and warm. Their coffee is always full of intriguing hints — spice and chocolate, or bold berry, or citrus.

How did it feel editing Gaia’s Hands after a long break? I see things that need to be smoothed out, things that need to be added. I have a better feel for the characters than I’ve had before, and that’s saying a lot, as these are two characters I’ve lived with for years.

I remind myself that I literally have known these characters for years, as Gaia’s Hands was the first novel I wrote. Jeanne Beaumont, the scientist trying to ignore the web of mysticism she’s being drawn into, and Josh Young, the mystic grounding himself in writing. They represent the yin and yang symbol, constantly shifting roles.

The sad thing is that I will have to take a break from them again, first because Whose Hearts are Mountains will soon return from dev edit, and second, because November will soon arrive and I will work on a new novel for NaNaWriMo.

I hope, soon, to get Gaia’s Hands in shape for some sort of publication.

Writing Dark

I don’t consider myself a very dark person. If you meet me in person, even when I’m depressed, I come off as perky, if somewhat squirrelly. (Some of this is a pose to keep my students from feeling threatened). If you know me well, I’m pretty straightforward.

But sometimes, I write dark themes. In The Enforcer, the Archetype Boss Aingeal, serving in his role as enforcer of a Chinese gang, murders his rival and sends a bloody message to the leader of the gang. In Hands, a young man discovers his freakish talent to heal — and kill. The very short story I’m writing now, The Message, involves an act of revenge for a mother’s death.

I suppose Apocalypse, with its end of the world scenario, is dark. I never thought of it that way. I guess I write dark themes more often than not.

I think I should challenge myself to write something completely funny for a change. The ideas that come to my head, though, aren’t funny.

Maybe funny is a new goal to work toward.

Experiment results:

About a month ago, I made the vow that I would go about writing as if I’d already been published. Here’s the result:

I will get back into novel writing for NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. I’ve already committed to a novel — I’m going to tackle the book I’ve been postponing for the longest time, Gods’ Seeds. So if I don’t start noveling (is that a verb?) before then, I will go back to writing novels in November.

Yes, I was considering quitting, but my developmental editor is suggesting I keep writing, and I respect her judgment. I think it’s good to have external voices to help counter the dreary self-doubt that writers have a tendency toward.

My dev editor also suggested trying out for Pitch Wars, which is a competitive process by which one can get an intense pitch workout. I will be trying for this, because I have the desire to improve.

And I’m still submitting, mostly short stories and flash fiction, but also queries on Apocalypse. I may send out to one or two novel publishers this weekend because I expect a rainy time.

In writing as if I’ve already been published, all I’ve lost is the negative self-talk. I think I could like this.

Keep Writing

Keep writing.

That’s my advice through the times of rejections, the times spent wondering whether we will ever get published.

Keep taking those ideas and putting them into words, and then hone those words so that they spin the scene, the emotions, the characters, the plot.

Keep writing, keep editing, keep improving. Realize that we shouldn’t write for the glory of being recognized; most of us, even traditionally published, will not see a huge number of readers. Give those words life, and they may change the world even if nobody else ever reads them, because they have changed us.

This Too

Every now and then I get to a point where I’m convinced I’ve reached the end of my writing career, that I’m ready to put the whole thing down.

This is one of those times.

I just don’t feel as much like a writer when I’m writing short stories. I’m not as focused (obsessed?), I have to come up with many, many more ideas rapidly (which I don’t know if I’m good at), and I don’t have the attachment to my characters.

Years ago, you wouldn’t have caught me writing a novel, and I never imagined I’d prefer novels to short stories.

Yet now is the time for short stories and sending them off to magazines and waiting. I’ve gotten a lot of rejections, but I keep trying.

I feel like quitting sometimes. I’ve felt like quitting many times before.

This too shall pass.

Taking stock of the blog

These are the things that I’ve learned in writing this blog.

My blog gets an average of 20 hits a day. I would like to up that, but that might not change till I have a product (a published book). Let me know if I’m wrong.

The national origins of my readers will always surprise me. The other day, a reader from Vietnam showed up. I’ve had visitors from Singapore and Egypt lately. Among my regulars are Germany, Poland, Portugal, India, Ukraine, and Russia.

I know virtually nothing about my visitors. I know what time of day they visit, how often, what they’ve read. I do not know who they are or why they’ve decided to visit. As far as I know, I know nobody from Portugal, Ukraine, and Russia. I don’t assume that my Polish, German, or Indian readers are the people I know there. I know that either Russia or Ukraine houses that annoying SEO bot that occasionally drops me URLs to webcam girls. (I don’t go there).

I will keep writing this blog. It may change direction as my needs as a writer change, but it will probably always be a combination of creative writing, musing about writing and being a writer, and the occasional “this is what my life looks like right now.”

Bits and Pieces

Having a relaxing weekend in Kansas City celebrating my birthday, just as I needed. Now in a coffeehouse on the south Plaza, typing this and drinking coffee and trying to come up with good ideas for writing.

The computer issue was a ID-10-T error (look at what that spells carefully); it was my dongle for the mouse rather than the USB port itself. But what the heck, it got me down here for a birthday celebration.

I’m feeling really frustrated with ideas of what to write, however. I just finished a short story called “God’s Broken Promise” which was based on an experience I had. Richard keeps suggesting characters — a guitar-shredding Buddhist monk, a woman with a pack of cats — but I can’t find the stories there. I guess I don’t start with characters like I thought I did. I start with plot, run with theme, and then the characters make themselves known.

So what do I want to write about? I want to write short stories with twist endings — shocking or satisfying or dramatic or silly. (I haven’t written enough silly stuff lately). I want to write novels again (although I’m about to embark in another dev edit).

I need ideas that grab me.

Labor Day

It’s Labor Day in the US, which these days has less to do with celebrating the worker as it does one last steak on the grill before autumn. Makes sense, as the US is hardly pro-worker right now.

I’m feeling decidedly unmotivated. I have a bit of homework to grade, and a short story (flash fiction?) to tweak. I should probably send out my next set of queries (I have at least 30 to send this time around) but I’m so not feeling it.

Maybe this is a day to rest. My longtime readers know, however, that if I say that I’m most certainly NOT going to rest.

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8:45 AM CDT:
Ok, I got the grading done. Still don’t know what I’m going to do with myself today, but I do wish I had more coffee.

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9:09 AM CDT:
Just tweaked the flash fiction. Desperately need coffee even though I had two cups this morning. Have espresso beans, but I just found out my Moka pot is missing a gasket. I don’t know if I want to drink cafe American though.

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9:14 AM CDT:
Trying to psych myself up to do querying. Also still trying to solve the coffee problem, because I’m not sure I’m up to going out at the moment to Scooter’s (with its corporate air and its uncomfortable booths) …

Ok, not gripping blogging today. Better go figure out what to do on my day off…