Giving Thanks

OK, so... um.... yeeeeeaaaaaahhhh.... about last week.....

So, I allow myself to go ahead and be all emo and vent-y in this blog for three reasons. First, because my mood does greatly effect my writing, and as a writing blog I feel it is only fair to explain this issue to my readers. Second is because I feel it's important for me to see the times that I was down, and remember that I bounced back. To see that with each passing year my "Why am I bothering" posts get less and less. Perhaps one year I'll actually make it through all twelve months without feeling lost; at least, in regards to writing. Finally, I write those posts on the off chance that someone else feeling just as low and worthless stumbles upon my blog. Upon reading my rock-bottom moments, maybe they will feel like they're not alone anymore. Someone else has been in the same place they are. They aren't a freak. Others go through the same thing. And each following week I usually feel better. So, maybe said hypothetical reader will see it as hope.

Thus I keep in emo posts that apparently freak people out, and then I subsequently get about four different IMs from people asking me if I'm OK.

Um.... whoops.....

I appreciate the love, though.

So, that, plus the fact that American Thanksgiving is this Thursday, leads me to start this post with some positive vibes: 30 things I'm grateful for; Writing Edition.

1. I've discovered that writing is my passion, and I did so early in life.
2. As much as I whine about not being good compared to others, if I were to look fairly objectively at my work, my first drafts are actually really good compared to most. I just need to do a few structural edits, tighten things up a scooch, and/or fix a handful of grammatical/typo errors; for the most part.
3. Everyone I know gets that I'm a writer and cheers me on. I even have my co-workers thumbing over at me and stating "she's the writer..." People understand and accept that I'm as much a writer as I am a female, Caucasian, or 5'3". It just IS. I don't have a single nay-sayer surrounding me, and the only one I've ever really come across my whole life was my college creative writing professor. Apparently I'm beyond lucky with this lot; most of the people I talk to have friends, family, spouses, kids, and/or co-workers who don't understand the calling that is being a writer.
4. Along those lines, my blog has increased to close to 50 reads every week, and 11 followers. I know this is pathetically small in the grand scheme of things, but considering I only had about 11 hits each week when I first started, it's an awesome improvement. Especially since this is a glorified diary, and not an informative blog like most are this day and age.
5. The passion my mother has for my writing, even if I don't ever seem to write in the genres she enjoys to read; it's more stuff my dad would have loved. She's my biggest cheerleader - sorry, ChibiSunnie, but you can't surpass a mother's support! Even in weeks, such as this past one, where I feel like writing is a waste of time, she has relentless faith that my calling to write will get me somewhere. She is willing to do whatever it takes to push me there.
   As a side note, writing a list of things we're thankful for in November is her idea that she instilled in us since my sister and I were super little, so you can also thank her for this list!
   
6. Proof of my mother doing whatever she can to help me succeed: her buying me MasterClass lessons. They are inspirational and informative. I still find myself referencing back to the James Patterson lessons. In fact, those lessons were the main reason why I'm a NaNo "Plantser" this year - "[finding] the sweet spot between plotting every detail and jumping in blind." I like to think I am so successful with NaNo this year because of that, and I wouldn't have thought to do so to the extent I have if it weren't for my mother getting me into that MasterClass. At least, I wouldn't figure it out on my own so quickly.
7. I have an awesome writing group that I can go to every other Tuesday; and today is one of those Tuesdays! Everyone is super supportive, and I've made some friends there that I enjoy seeing every meeting; as well as chatting with via Facebook the rest of the time.
8. She may still think that it's needless elevation of her, but I still consider Ali Luke a writing mentor of mine, and it's great that we're such good friends. I appreciate being able to connect with her, and having her cheer me on.
9. While we've been slacking with the back and forth, Ali set me up with a really awesome writing pen-pal. We really do click, and we're supportive of each other. It's nice to have such a large supportive net surrounding me.
10. While most of my Facebook posts and statuses seem to go unnoticed - simply due to the lack of reactions/comments I ever get - every single post I've made this month in regards to my NaNo progress has had "likes" and "loves" as well as words of encouragement. And not just from my mom, either.
    
11. Even when I'm exhausted, I can manage to crank out at least a few-hundred words towards NaNo. It helps keep me from feeling like a slacker.
12. I gave myself permission to miss up to two days each week by going with the "write only on weekdays" word count. Granted, I'm still behind by a little over 1200 words, but that's a heck of a lot better than I've done in the past.
13. In past NaNo's I usually have already given up by this point in the month. I'm basically insanely behind in word count, or I lost track of my story, or life just got in the way and I couldn't find any writing time; it was depressing. Which is why I didn't bother with it last year. But this year has been going amazingly, even if I am behind. I can still smile at the progress I've made, be proud, and press on knowing that if I get just ONE good day in, I can easily make up the words I'm behind.
14. I have almost viciously loyal fans. Granted, they are only about five in number, but how many aspiring writers can say they even have one? If you are one of those fans, know that I love you and I'm beyond humbled by your undying love for my craft!

    

    Hacker Girl
    Facebook Sticker
    by Birdman Inc

15. Ever since I started working at my new job in April, I've had tons of time to write and craft. It's fantastic to have a job that allows me the downtime to be creative so I am less stressed about having to fit it into my limited "outside of work" hours. It gives me the evenings to clean, snuggle with Hubby, and/or socialize. It really relieves the pressure of trying to shoehorn writing into my life; keeping it from feeling like a "chore."
16. Even if Hubby and I haven't had much time together, if I tell him "OK, I didn't find time to write today, I have to hide away for an hour or two" he gives me a kiss, locks me away in the bedroom, and wishes me luck in finding inspiration. I know our alone time is precious, especially since it will nearly disappear once we start having kids, so it means a lot to me that he understands how important writing is to me, and is willing to sacrifice some of his time with me so I can do what I need to.
17. Silly thing to be thankful for, especially since one could argue that it's made me lazy in my learning, but God bless whomever thought of the concept of a spellchecker, and added kudos to whomever thought to include it automatically online. I've always been an atrocious speller, and spell check has kept me from looking like an unintelligible idiot for years. A+, Spell Check.
18. Aside from two slip ups this year - I believe it's only two, and fairly recently - I've been able to consistently write for this blog each week. It kept years, but I think I finally found a good rhythm and schedule. Now to figure out when the heck I'll actually be home on Tuesdays in order to coordinate my promoting of the blog at the same time it goes live.
19. I've seen a lot of my friends hit hardships with their writing and more-or-less give up, even though you can tell that it pains them to do so. If this wasn't a passion for them they'd just be like, "yeah, I wasn't that good. It sucks, but I'll figure something else to do." However, you can hear the frustration in their voice that they just can't get the words and the story they're trying to tell out of their head. To these friends, I wish you the ability to figure it out, and a reminder that I'm around to talk to if it would help. However, they are also reminders to me of what could happen if I stayed in the mindset I had last week.
    So, this bit of thankfulness is dedicated to the fact that I can bounce back, and - aside from a near six-year hiatus after the discouragement from my aforementioned professor - I haven't given up writing for more than a few weeks.
20. The shear fact that my friends have come to me with their writing concerns is also a big thing for me. In times that I feel useless and bottom of the barrel in regards to writing, it's nice to have others come to ME. They find me comforting and supportive enough to want to bring their problems to me, and occasionally they do so because they hope I can give them advice. It's nice to get these reminders that I can "pass it forward", in regards to mentoring and supporting other writers. It shows me that I have something that I can give back to the writing community; that I'm not just taking all the time. I have something of value that others wish to tap into. 
21. Many blessings to YouTube, MP3 players, CDs, and music in general. If I'm not in the right "mindset" for a scene I need to write, I can just bring up a playlist I put together as a sort of "soundtrack" for the scene - or the character as a whole - and it brings me exactly to where I need to be in a song or two. Also, music keeps me productive. As I'm writing this post I have a whole playlist of 90s songs going in the background.
    
22. While I may be running out of steam throughout the story - some parts awesome, some parts complete trash - I'm still so grateful that I am inspired enough by Jolene to be able to get the nearly 33,000 words that I already have. I'm not even half-way through her backstory yet! Talk about character epics!
    
23. Along those lines, I am grateful that editing is a thing. I'm going to need to hit this story pretty hard-core come January; after a month of taking a writing breather and setting the story aside so I can come at it with fresh eyes.
24. Even when I feel clueless on how to start a chapter, a scene, or this blog, I can generally just place my hands on the keyboard and work my way through. When I feel I have nothing to say, I can still fall into a groove, and end up with a great deal to tell. May I never take this ability for granted.
25. The amazingness of my Wonder Twin, Ronoxym, and the fact that we've been chatting a heck of a lot more the past month or so. Apparently, my writing inspires him, and anyone who has read this blog long enough would know how much he inspires me. In most cases, we are on such the same wavelength that I can always go to him if I'm stuck with something. It's also so much fun to see what new Plot Bunny is hopping around in his head. Now, to try to get him to actually MATURE one of those suckers!
    
26. I have to give a special shout-out to Shadow. He's been in love with Jolene pretty much as soon as she was introduced in-game. His passion for her, and his need to know her story, is what really helps drive me to keep going. Plus, his determination to not read my story - even though I shared it with him - until I tell him it is complete and edited, is really going to push me to not just toss this to the side once November is over. On top of all that, he digitally pokes me nearly daily to make sure I'm writing instead of wasting time on Facebook.
27. I'm thankful for my new laptop. Yes, it still annoys me nearly daily, but I think that's because all computing devices got together one day and made a pact to never work properly for me. Still, about 95% of the time it works beautifully, and it's amazing how motivating it can be to have functioning equipment when trying to do something.... such as writing.
28. I've been able to not just get reading in this year, but a LOT of reading in; at least, compared to past years. It's a part of writing that I've neglected under the assumption that "I should be writing my own story instead of wasting time reading stories others have written." So, I'm glad that I can get past that mental block and again enjoy good stories, while also mentally noting what I should do to improve my own.
29. Fanfiction being a thing is amazing to me. The fact that people accept that others want to continue an already established story just might be my bread and butter someday. I may use it as a crutch to avoid doing the work of creating an original world - or original characters in some cases - but it keeps me writing. Those times I try to be original and it results in me pulling out my hair, I can fall back on fanfiction writing to keep me from hiding in my emo corner. I can use my imagination to try to think of new situations or scenes not explicitly seen, and go to town. Keep my skills sharp. Keep me from getting too down on myself. Keep me writing even when I think I can't do this properly. Keep me posting things for others to read, and then, presumably encourage me to keep going. Fanfiction keeps me positive, active, and pressing forward. Three cheers for this genre!
30. You guys! My readers! I will always write because it is who I am, but the validation I get by having people read my work is unquantifiable. Seeing people respond to my writing, seeing my blog hit-counter go up, seeing my followers expand, it all energizes me and encourages me. It holds me accountable. If I was just writing for me, who knows if I'd post here every week? Who knows if I'd try so hard to get stories written and completed? Who knows if I'd bother to attempt writing challenges? Who knows if I'd try to expand and improve? All of this. All this growth. All this determination. All this dedication and discipline. All of this is because of you, dear readers, so super THANK YOU to each and every one of you!

    

    NuaNia
    Facebook Sticker
    by PRANEAT

Whoo! That was an exercise! Now, to try to remember all of those points in the future so I don't get as bummed out anymore.

As for my NaNo progress, well, I am 1200 words behind where I SHOULD be, as I mentioned above. However, that still has me at nearly 33,000 words, which is more than I've ever written for NaNo before. Most I've ever written in one month. All of my stories with more than 30,000 words have been written over the course of months; even years.

The best part is that while there are definitely parts of this story that I want to skip over because they just aren't entertaining for me - so I can only imagine how boring they can be for the reader - I'm not burnt out. Not like I thought I would be.

Writing has become a daily routine; as it should have been ages ago. Even if I write 500-words; that is still SOMETHING to bring me forward. It's still 500 more words than I would have had if I just went "meh; don't feel like it today." I'm FINALLY making writing an equal priority. Plus, hiding away for about an hour isn't that bad right now, while I have limited other responsibilities.

Will I be writing 1600 words every day once NaNo is over? Probably not, but I do think I'll be in enough of a habit to keep pushing forward with daily.... SOMETHING writing related. Which is the main point of NaNo: get yourself into a writing habit. "Winning" NaNo with a 50,000-word novel once the month is done is just frosting.

Also, the more I work on Jolene's story, and the more the D&D sessions take Jolene and Rensin in the opposite direction I thought they'd go in, the more I want to work on Gyateara, and working on Amara's story finally. I have to admit that the similarities between Amara and Corlmitz has helped bring the poor girl back to the forefront, after being hidden in the corner by my X-Future girls.

I have so many stories that I want to tell, and I want to complete. I have this drive now that I haven't really felt before. I have this determination. It is invigorating!

The rest of 2016 may have been a disaster-and-a-half, but for writing - and my ability to get out of working in the local grocery store - this year has actually been quite awesome!

Here's to pushing forward, keeping this passion and discipline, avoiding the "woe is me" pit-traps, and having an even better 2017!

For my fellow Americans, happy Thanksgiving. And for everyone, I'll catch ya next week with my last drive to hit 50,000 words before the close of the month.

I Think I'll Set Up Shop Here In The Gutter

I read my "smut" at writer's group last week....

To be fair, I did spend the last two hours of work leading into the group frantically writing an opening to the story in an attempt to drop the story down to a bit more of a PG-13 rating. I was able to get to about three or four pages into the story before it starts getting "naughty," so I was able to read that much at least.

Nearly had a heart attack in doing so, though. I just sat in the meeting mentally riffling through all of my writing to think of SOMETHING else that I could read. No dice. At least, not unless I decided to bring up something that I wrote YEARS ago just for S&Gs. Then it hit about 7:30. We had a half-hour to still fill. Everyone else already read. We were just kind of staring at each other trying to figure out what else to talk about. That's when I sort of bashfully went "Well, TECHNICALLY, I wrote about 10,000+ words since last session. I just don't know if anyone would want to hear what I wrote.... it's.... kind of.... MATURE." I then proceeded to explain the rabbit hole I dove head first into.

They all chuckled that we were all adults, and that it would be fine. Granted, there was a gentleman - fairly new, this was his third or fourth meeting - that seemed to be around my age; probably older, though. Then there were two women that may have only been about ten years older. The rest of the group, though, were definitely closer to my mom's age, and older. Being the clear youngest in the group, it still felt awkward to read THIS kind of story for them to critique. What happens if the sex scenes need tweaking? What if they don't? I don't know which would be more awkward, them being like "Well, I think that it would seem more realistic if he...." or if I got a resounding "WOW! Well done." Because that would mean that I now know where there minds were....

It's bad enough that I know family members that enjoyed "Fifty Shades of Grey," I don't know if I could handle actually knowing people who enjoyed my smuttiness.

Anyway, I was later informed that just about as soon as I spoke up with "Well, TECHNICALLY, I wrote..." that my face just FLOODED with a blush. I was like a human strawberry for the last half-hour of the meeting. And that blush stayed for at least an hour! I'm not cut out for this!!!!

I read the intro to the story, and stopped before anything "naughty" actually happened. Both parties were still clothed - although Jolene was quickly remedying that - and it was just a bunch of flirting leading up to that point. Nothing terribly too bad. I probably would have read it proudly if I didn't know what was going to start happening in the next sentence.

When I stopped, the room kind of filled with a whining "awwwww," so... I guess that means I caught their attention? I don't know if that's because I was doing good, or if they wanted to hear the sex portions I wrote. The only other comment was from one of the newer regular members commenting about my sort of voice change. Normally, I'm about 80% dialogue and only 20% action/scene setting. To try to let the reader know the situation leading into the sex scene, I did a quick recap of the roleplay that inspired me. It was a LOT of background info. She noted that: "You normally do mostly dialogue, and this time we barely had any."

Well, she would have had a lot of dialogue if I had continued, but I wanted to just quickly set up the scene, and including all the dialogue leading up to it didn't seem practical. Still, the way that she said it, I wasn't sure if it was a good thing, a critique, or just an observation.

Then I got an email from one of the group members asking if I cared enough about improving the story to want a beta-reader for it. We could do a story exchange: my smut for his super dark murder scene that he fears will make him look like a twisted psycho. I've written fairly dark and grisly murder scenes - I asked a bunch of people my senior year of high school if they knew what happens to human eyeballs when you burn to death - so I could easily read his bit. STILL not sure about sending him mine, though. Again, I don't know if it would be more awkward if he gave me advice on how to improve the sex scenes, or if he told me it was amazing.

Still, on the off chance that I decide to send it his way, I wanted to polish it first. Slowly but surely, I went back over the story about a dozen times the past week trying to get it to a point where I'm confident that I can't improve it on my own. I still have a couple of lines that don't seem quite right, but it's the best I have for right now. Rensin's a bit harder to get the voice right than I gave him credit for. I just can't give him that spark of bashful innocence like his player managed. So, super added props to his player for being such a great writer. I even asked Mouse to pass along my praise.

She offered to get the two of us in touch - me and Rensin's player - but I just feel that would be super weird considering the circumstances. I'd rather just know the character and not the player at this point....

Despite my better judgement, I DID share the Jolene/Rensin story - titled "Rensin's Conquest" - as well as the Devon/Trish work-in-progress story "Some Like It Flame Broiled." I don't know why, but I just NEEDED to share it with someone, and Shadow happened to be online while I was still trying to calm my blush from writing group. I freaked out to him; basically a "WHAT DID I JUST DO!?"

He chuckled, and told me that he was fairly certain it was good since I'm such a good writer. This of course lead me to tease that he's like my mom: barely actually reads my stuff, but still has unwavering faith that I'm an amazing author. More talking back and forth along those lines, and eventually I just sort of caved and sent him "Some Like It Flame Broiled" with the understanding that I hadn't finished the story yet, let alone went back to polish it.

I dunno. I guess the fact that he's a close friend makes it somehow less awkward for him to read the dirty bits? No real critique one way or the other from him, aside from "<3 Trish" and "You should finish it." Positive reviews, I guess.

Well, last night I finally finished my polishing of "Rensin's Conquest" and sent that over to him too. He's part of the online D&D group with Rensin and Jolene, and so he'd probably be one of the best suited to have an outside perspective on whether or not I have everyone in-character. We'll see if he reads it and/or what his thoughts on the matter will be. I'm predicting it will be raging hatred for Jolene for playing with innocent Rensin's heart, but at least evoking emotion means I did something right, correct?

I also tried to switch gears by talking to Shadow about the MASSIVE love triangles - knots; web? - that I'm trying to set up in "Glitches" between multiple different characters; mainly Chayse, Lia, Willow, Devon, Nyssa, Ripley, and Lincoln. It sort of wobbles between Chayse being the center of a triangle, to Willow being the center, to Devon being the center, to Lia being the center.... I feel like there needs to be more romances in my story that isn't interwoven with those seven characters, but right now the only other option I have is Colette and Joseph.

Anyway, while talking to Shadow about all of this - just to have SOMETHING to talk about that isn't sex-related - I started to get a real passion for "Glitches" again. I think I'm going to finish off "Some Like It Flame Broiled" just so that I don't have ANOTHER work-in-progress hanging around, and then try attacking "Glitches" some more. I need to get an outline figured out. A road map so I know where I'm going with everything.

I think the easiest way is to come up with the individual story arcs for each character and then find a way to weave them together. That was SUPPOSED to be what I wanted to tackle this month while also doing my MasterClass on screenwriting, but somehow I ended up down the dirty-birdy rabbit hole instead. People keep reassuring me that it's perfectly fine; "romance novels" are a big seller. Still.... what a debut into the writing world.

Speaking of my MasterClass, my mother's birthday present to me this year was to sign me up for the Aaron Sorkin class on screenwriting. Isn't she just awesome!?

While Sorkin is entertaining, he also is super awkward to listen to. He's kind of like this:

He even more-or-less said this in a
disclaimer in the intro lesson.

He meanders when he talks, and tends to share examples of what he's trying to teach as a means to prove his point. However, the examples are so specific it's hard to still grasp what he's trying to say. I'm still going through the "pre-writing" portion of the class, and so perhaps it seems only vaguely helpful because I'm not actually trying to do things such as research quite yet. I'll keep you posted on how the class goes once he gets into the actual "this is how you write a script" portion.

To finish up, a quick touch-base on my reading progress:

OH. EM. GEE! "Ready Player One" is quickly jumping up the ranks to one of my favorite books! I'm so in love. All the geekiness. All the 80s pop culture. The actual suspense keeping me on edge. The main character's voice, how he tells the story, is witty and I can't stop promoting this book to everyone I see. Almost literally. I had a customer in the store the other day that basically had the 80s Saturday Morning Cartoon line-up tattooed around his left leg, and so naturally I talked him up about "Ready Player One."

I have no clue if I can finagle things around on the reading challenge check-list so this book still fits, but at this point I don't care. I may not fit all 12 challenge points in before 2017, but I'll definitely have at least 12 books read!

Alright, now off to try to finish "Some Like It Flame Broiled" so I can FINALLY get out of this gutter and start working on something I can read without looking like I replaced my head with a giant tomato.

This Rabbit Hole is Filthy....

I think I'm officially down the Rabbit Hole, guys!

Working on the smutty Devon/Trish story was NOT my only trek down this road! I added about 1000 more words to that story - I'm not sure it has the same intensity though - but most of my time was kinda focused on a new story. Remember Jolene? My new D&D character for Bear's online campaign? Yeeeeeaaaaaah. Remember how she's a prostitute? ......yeah......

Let me rewind. So, Bear started up this game in like June or late May, but I never got to join the original campaign. Bear decided to do a reset with new characters in the same world setting, and re-invited me. Spink's wedding was the night of the first game of the new campaign, and then two Saturdays ago was the second session; where I froze up in character-creation so I couldn't play.

The game keeps a perpetual game-log of everything shared via the IM component. Which means, not only could I go back and read the session I missed, but I could also read the original campaign; for generic entertainment purposes. I ended up copying both into two different Google Docs for later consumption.

Well, I read through the session I missed, and then re-read the session I was present for, but didn't play; to make sure I had a basic understanding of how the game played and the world Jolene was in. Hubby suggested against doing this to avoid me accidentally including info my character shouldn't know - Metagaming - but I've always been fairly good at keeping Out-of-Character-Knowledge separate. To the point where Lia and Willow have both done super stupid things even though I'm on the outside going "NO! Don't do the thing!" but they didn't know better... so they just went with what was in-character.

Sorry, I'm rambling. Point is, I went back and read through - which took up some of my free time at work - but I'm SOOOOO glad I did. It's so entertaining! Plus, this one character Rensin is just too adorable. I really like how he was built; nice and complex. And, if you know anything about me, you should know that if he's my favorite character it means he's fairly broken.

Rensin is part of a race of Northern barbarians who are claimed to be decedents of giants. There are no adults less than six-foot tall, and most are closer to seven-feet. Even Mouse's character Mahtab, a young woman still possibly capable of growing, is about 6-foot-2-inches. Then you have Rensin. Poor guy is 6-foot-3 and is therefore the smallest full-grown male in the village. He's routinely called "runt" which is only made worse by three things:

1. Rensin is the orphaned son of a great warrior of his village; one of the renowned "living legends" - or, at least FORMERLY living - of his region. Being a "runt" makes him seem even more of a disappointment to his father's name.
2. The person who seems to call Rensin a runt the most is his master - he's an apprentice; not a slave - the local swordsmith Alric.
3. Alric's daughter Mahtab also picks on him on occasion about being a runt since he's only an inch taller than her - there abouts - and she seems to be Rensin's closest friend; also, she's the king's granddaughter. The King of the North is a mountain of a man at about eight-feet tall; so it makes Rensin feel even MORE inferior.

Still rambling, I know, I'm almost to my point.

So, there's adorable Rensin who tries to bolster his pride, only to be quickly deflated by the playful Mahtab who doesn't seem to realize the anguish she actually causes him. He's already fairly down on himself because he doesn't think he could measure up to his father, both figuratively and literally. He keeps trying to say that he'll surpass his father's greatness someday, but in the same breath seems to mutter how useless he currently is. The man is also a bit of a blockhead who doesn't seem to understand subtlety or sarcasm. Completely clueless when it comes to matters of the heart.

Plus, the avatar for Rensin is friggen ADORABLE!

JUST LOOK AT THIS SAD FACE!
FFXIV: Gharen by YanareKu

Doesn't he just look so wounded? And I don't mean all the battle scars. He needs huggles! Lots and lots of them!

And THAT'S where Jolene comes in. He's a bit of a handsome fella, and, being a barbarian, he's only wearing a loincloth and a very large, shiny sword made from a dragon's fang. Honestly, I'm not sure if it's the body or the loot that caught her eye first. Still, he seemed a good mark, so she went for it. There was LOTS of flirting involved; he didn't catch any of it. So the half-elf Prisys chimed in to try to lead him towards the "lightbulb moment"; it worked, but he still didn't quite get that Jolene was willing to sleep with him. That needed more nudging from the other two women in the group: Mahtab and the dwarf Dunina.

FINALLY getting that he was being given the green flag, Jolene leads him and his female party-mates to the house Jolene is currently staying in as their lodging for the night. For all intents and purposes, the screen fades to black, everyone knows what went on behind closed doors with Rensin and Jolene, fade back up to him gleefully exiting the bedroom the following morning. Play continues as usual.

Then I was left alone with no customers, for five hours, completely undistracted, and bored... and tired. My mind wandered into the dark recesses of "What exactly DID happen behind those closed doors?" because a) Rensin was clearly a virgin trying to hide this fact from the women around him, and b) Rensin had nothing worth stealing aside from his sword, so what was Jolene's angle?

Eight pages later - which I'm still polishing up a bit - I got my answer, and a blush of embarrassment that THIS is what my writing has come to!

Part of me is shamefully proud of it, as evidenced by my telling everyone that I've written it. The larger part of me, though, is mentally locking this thing away with the Devon/Trish AU story; never to be seen by the light of day.

Which begs the question: What am I going to read at writing group tonight?

Maybe I could read either of the smut stories and just skip over the sex parts? I mean, it's "smut" and not "porn" because the ratio between actual plot and sex is at least fifty-fifty.... I hope I come up with something a bit more PG-13 at least for tonight.

Still, I find it ironic that, aside from "naming things" being the bane of my writing existence, one of the things I say I'm terrible at writing are "repetitive action" scenes such as long conversations/monologues, chase scenes, fight scenes, and.... you guessed it.... sex scenes. Yet, here I am writing two different "aggressive romance novels," as Bear put it.... Part of me again wants to actually read the "dirty bits" to someone so that I know if I'm at least improving on this skill.

Sheesh. What a skill to have....

You proud of me, Mom?

Well, like I said last week, "Fifty Shades of Grey" is a thing.... Eh, at least I'm writing. I could be... um... not.... writing..... right?

Aside from all of that, and reading through the backlog of old campaign sessions, I not only finished "Reformation" but I also started up a new book.

"Reformation" still wasn't my cup of tea. There was a good story there, but I feel like the book didn't follow it. I walked away still disliking Langston's tactics, but not only did I not HATE her, but I was curious about her. I felt the story should have been focused more on her. I'm an odd duck, I know. Either way, the ending seems to rush to a conclusion, and I just wish there was MORE there. So much so that when I started up my MasterClass: Screenwriting with Aaron Sorkin this past week, one of the assignments is to take an already existing story, and adapting it into a screenplay, at least for 10 pages. I decided that "Reformation" would be my "existing story." Sadly, I had to return the book to the library before I could finish the assignment, but I have the basis, so I can go back and work on it more the next time I have the downtime to re-borrow it from the library.

I'll talk more about the MasterClass next week; this post is already super long.

The book I'm currently reading is called "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. One of my co-workers found it at a garage sale and figured it was perfect for me. Boy was she ever right! Seven pages in and I'm already in love. Geeky gamer references, 1980's pop culture, a relatable main character, and glorious humor; awesome. I'm not terribly far into the story, but I'll keep you posted.

For now, though, I think I've spoken my fill for this week. Lord knows what I'm going to talk about next week.....

August Will Be New Script Frenzy Month!

First off, a quick call out to my nephew whose birthday was last week:

Love ya, sweety!

Alright, back to business. Sorta.

I slacked off this week. I didn't even remember to check-in over at Writers’ Huddle for the summer writing challenge. I've been stalled because I can't seem to figure out where to go next with my story, and so I've been avoiding it all together.

On the plus side, I'm about 2 days ahead of my schedule to finish reading "Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer" on time. I keep teasing Ronoxym that Magnus is just a blonde-haired Boston version of Devon. The more I read the story the more I feel it's true. I find it so amusing that Rick Riordan and Ron essentially came up with the same character. On top of that, it's not like Ron was influenced by Riordan, since Devon's been around for over 3 years before Magnus Chase was printed. At least 2 years before Magnus was introduced to the public.

Speaking of Ron and Devon, Ron's still chugging away at his super Alternate Universe one-shot. Since in this reality Devon is an actual, psychotic Brotherhood member, Ron just writes that he's "Arson"; his Brotherhood code name as well as Street name when he was homeless. It's hard for Ron to even refer to this evil version as Devon, which is interesting. Anyway, he's been writing at least a little bit each night this past week; checking in with me on his progress pretty much daily. Hey, at least ONE of us is writing, right?

I'm excited to read it. He just finished up the first draft last night, but he says he still needs to go back and rework it since he doesn't think he got Trish right in the first half. Still.... EXCITED! You don't know how hard it is for me to continue writing this instead of hopping over to Google Docs to give the story a read through!

Now me? I think yesterday I finally broke my mental block. I gave up trying to figure out the opening scenes. I know more-or-less what I want to happen, but I just can't get the details. So, I allowed myself to just jump to the next scene I DO know the details. It's such a simple thing: allow yourself to NOT work linearly. Yet, it was exactly the sledgehammer I needed to get past my mental block.

I couldn't get very far before doing actual work at - gasp! - work! However, I at least decided to just write up an outline. There won't be a natural stop like in a novel or movie, but if I more-or-less know where I want to go in this "season" - as it were - of the comic then it might be easier for me to fill in the blanks. I know I want to follow the Devon storyline, so I'll write that up first. I'll then go back and put in the character arcs for Chayse, Willow, and Lia. Then probably go back through again to sprinkle in the redone Marvel-Canon characters, as well as Lucas and the concept of the Challengers of Heaven.

I feel like I'll be going back through my James Patterson MasterClass notes for this one. That, and any I make during my next class! For a birthday gift - BTW, Happy Belated to me!!! - my mother bought me another MasterClass for the second year in a row! This time it's screenwriting by Aaron Sorkin; best known as the writer for "The West Wing", "Sports Night", and "A Few Good Men". Such great timing! I start seriously working on a comic script and MasterClass sets up a screenwriting course that started THIS WEEK. Like, I'm one of the first people to ever take this class! So exciting!

A friend of mine is also beta-reading "Glitches" for me and is planning on giving me his notes later today, so that's just as exciting. We already discussed the pitfalls I managed to pick out in my obsessive read-throughs. So, I'm waiting to see what else he could advise me on. I mean, he already gave me one or two really good notes on things I never would have thought of myself due to the subtlety of it.

So, no, I didn't really do anything this past week aside from avoidance and obsessing. However, now I have all the tools I need to get me pumped again. I'm sensing a writing comeback. Okay, so I don't know HOW good of a comeback this SPECIFIC week will be, since Spink's wedding is this weekend, and so my free time is pretty booked. Still, August is looking GOOD.

I'm apparently also very modest....

Reflection On 2015

I didn't think I was going to be able to find time to work on this blog again next week. I might have to deal with the fact that yet another year passed that I wasn't able to get 52 updates in. I've done a lot better than the last two years. A lot closer with 50 posts; maybe 51, we'll see how this week goes. The last time I had 51 posts in a year was 2012, so there's that. Maybe 2016 will be the year of true weekly posting all year long.

As possibly the last post I make this year, I want to reflect on how 2015 treated me in the writing department. I don't want to think about how it treated me otherwise...

I won't go as in depth as I did last year, but I do want to do a reflective overview.

I had six resolutions that I wanted to follow this year in order to improve my writing and make it a much more serious part of my life. I started out real well with all of them, but none made it through the full year.

Resolution #1: No More Than Three (3) Zero Days In Any Given Week

I haven't talked about Zero Days in MONTHS. That in an of itself is a bit pathetic. What I need to do is what I've been suggesting to my fellow writers at my bi-weekly groups: get a small pocket calendar whose sole purpose is for me to mark what days I write. This way I can keep track of my Zero Days and try to eliminate them. As of now, I have no real recollection on how long I was able to keep up with this resolution. Heck, with help from my MasterClass in September and October, I even had a set writing hour. Still, I barely wrote anything this month, and I don't recall writing much more the previous month. So, at the very least, this resolution fell apart two months from the finish line. Most likely died months before that, though. I guess I'm trying to tackle this beast again this upcoming year. With the improvements I made this year, though, maybe I can actually follow through with this in 2016.

Resolution #2: Read At Least One Book A Month

Oh, this one died and died hard. I missed January. I read in February. And then I spent the rest of the year painfully slowly reading two different Rick Riordan books: "Percy Jackson's Greek Gods", and "Kane Chronicles: The Throne of Fire". Normally I tear through Riordan's books, but there's just something about these two. Hubby and I try, lord we try. We love Riordan's Percy Jackson books so much. Even when the first Heroes of Olympus book didn't include Percy at all, we still loved it. The Kane Chronicles though.... Out of all mythology, I was also the biggest into Egyptian, and so I thought I'd love this series the most. Nope. Something about how he wrote the two main characters Carter and Sadie just makes them seem whiny and spoiled. It kept a while to go though the first book in the series too. Still, I try. And here it is, like eight months later, and I'm only about half way through the book.

As for "Greek Gods"? Well, it has Percy's playful snarkiness, but there's something a lot more childish about the whole thing. Sure, the whole series of Percy Jackson and Kane stories - and now the newest, Magnus Chase - are written for middle graders. Basically, for 10 through 14 year olds. However, none of the other novels, even the Kane Chronicles, really READ as aimed towards kids, per se. "Greek Gods" just really hits home to me that I'm reading something aimed at a 12-yr old. It's still fun, but I ended up using it more as a reference book than one to read cover-to-cover. I'll give it another go, though.

All-in-all, my point is that I have struggled through two books, and even then, I barely set any time aside for reading. At least I read three books last year. This was just pathetic. Granted, the main reason why writers should read is to see how others have honed their skill to tell stories, therefore improving the reading-writer's skills as well. And me? I do that, just through analyzing TV show, movie, and video game writing instead. It's not an excuse for me to have such a pathetic reading record, but at least it's proof that I AM doing what reading is supposed to for writers, just, with other medias...

Resolution #3: Log On To Writers’ Huddle Forum At Least Once A Week

I was doing really well on this one too. After I caught up on my backlog of posts, I even did what I suggested at the beginning of the year: evolve the resolution to "be an active member of the Huddle at least once a week". I was doing soooooo well. Then November happened. Once again, during the last two months of the year I fell off the face of the planet in regards to that site. If any Huddlers still read this blog, know that I love you, I miss you, and I'm going to try this resolution again next year.

Resolution #4: Complete At Least One Writers' Huddle Module

Oh, yeah. Didn't even bother with this one. Not even the module where Ali Luke Skype interviewed me for part of the lesson on NaNo. I kept meaning to, but just didn't have the discipline to sit down and go "OK, This one. Now. Go."

I feel a little better that I at least did the MasterClass that my mom gifted me. It's the same basic principle as to why I wanted to do at least one module this year. However, I still feel like I'm wasting my WH's membership by not being more active on the forums, and by never doing any of Ali's modules. This is yet another resolution that is getting another go in 2016.

Resolution #5: Beta Read And Return Notes Within A Fortnight

Um, yeah, about this one.... Especially after the MasterClass, and hearing how quick James Patterson is with his notes for his co-writers, I really REALLY wanted to stick to this one. However, no one really gave me anything to Beta this year. I mean, I did hop on whenever Ronoxym had something new for me to read, but that was mostly because I was so excited about the story that I was ready to gobble up any advancement he made. Plus, I knew that if he was in the mood to write that I needed to jump on that and get notes back to him ASAP before his writing attention drifted to a new project.

The only true beta request I received was from poor DFL just before Thanksgiving, and I have yet to do more than open the document she sent. Considering it's a good 100pgs, it's a bit daunting, but I still should have read at least 15pgs by now to get back to her about things. Baby steps. Still, November and December have been a complete writing hole. I think THAT'S what I need to conquer next year. In the meantime, I REALLY need to start beta-reading DFL's story!

Resolution #6: Have At Least Six New Stories/Chapters And 52 Blog Posts Published Before The End Of 2015

You know what? Aside from missing two weeks this year, I think I actually accomplished this one. It didn't look good for most of the year since I was so laser focused on Please, Let Me Explain, and I haven't been able to update that since February. However, I did post a couple new chapters of X-Future: The Second Generation Begins after Ali's Summer Challenge on the forum. I also started posting those super-short one-shot writing prompts after joining the writing group a couple months ago. All of that bumped me up to my goal for this year; barely at eight total prose updates, and nearly all at the end of the year. Still, it's one resolution I didn't completely fail at, and so I'll take it!

For any of you that somehow missed the stories I posted this year, here's my complete list.

From "Please, Let Me Explain":

"Chapter 1: Devon's Cell"

On DeviantArt           On FanFiction

"Chapter 2: In the Kitchen"

On DeviantArt           On FanFiction

From "X-Future: The Second Generation Begins":

"Bro-Bonding"

On DeviantArt           On FanFiction

"You're In Trouble, Son!"

On DeviantArt           On FanFiction

And for my original writing, I have the newest anthology of my Writing Group writing prompts:

"Fashion Gone Bye"

On DeviantArt           On FictionPress

"Memory Tap"

On DeviantArt           On FictionPress

"The Power of Pink"

On DeviantArt           On FictionPress

"What a Crumby Day"

On DeviantArt           On FictionPress

Alright, so I at least have that. I have eight updates this year. Not the larger chapters or fresh new stories that I was originally planning, but it's something. So. Tada!

Even with all of my failings at these resolutions, I have grown a lot as a writer.

I may become busy and miss one or two, or post a few days late, but for the most part, I have learned to set aside time for me to update this blog regularly. That's the first improvement.

I've taken that MasterClass, and I joined that local writing group. Even if I don't feel up to going, or I'm too busy to take two hours out of my week, or I slacked off and don't have anything to read, I still force myself to go. It's a way to really demonstrate to myself that writing is important enough for me to make a priority in my life. Plus, I always feel weird NOT having something to read at the meetings, and so it forces me to sit and write out the writing prompt at the very least. It may not be much, but it keeps me writing even if I don't feel like I have the time to. It forces me to MAKE the time. Another improvement.

It only lasted about a month or so before life got chaotic, but for a brief point in time I spent an hour a day on my writing. I may have spent that hour researching. Or spent it plotting. Or spent it character/world building instead of actually sitting and writing prose. However, it was still more than I usually allotted myself, and so I am proud and going to try to get back to this again. I enjoyed making writing a priority, and seeing how Hubby really supports me vanishing for an hour a day doing so. Improvement number three for 2015.

I've become a bit more confident in my writing, and have picked up on what I need to really focus on in order to make my stories better. I've taken a few chances with writing decisions I've made - you'll see this when I post my next writing prompt - and while I may not be 100% on board with how the story turned out - such as with "What a Crumby Day"- others seem to enjoy it, so that's what I care about. I'm challenging myself to break from my comfort zone in writing. I'm also enjoying being a sort of writing mentor of my own with a few of my friends and the ladies at the writing group. I still feel like a teenager in a world filled with mature, accomplished writing adults, but at least I now feel like an 18 year old instead of 14. Small improvement, but improvement none-the-less.

While I am hoping for a drastic improvement in my overall life come 2016, I am content knowing that I can build on this year's writing success to improve on my craft even more next year.

Who's coming with to see how it turns out?

I'm So Bad At This Remembering Thing...

Yes, I took the time to watch "V for Vendetta" today.

Personally, I'd be content with remembering what day of the week it is...

I haven't had a moment to stop all week. Between Halloween, and football, and work, and cleaning, and the Daylight Savings Time switch; it's chaos. I mean, you KNOW I haven't had a moment of down time when I haven't been on Facebook in the last five days! Which also means I haven't really had a moment to write. Sadly, this results - as many long-term readers may have guessed - in me being a moody crank all week.

Seriously, it's like when an athlete can't exercise. I get angry easier, I get mildly depressed, I start tearing up at the drop of the hat, I get sluggishly sleepy, and I get lethargic when I do have an hour or two of down time; now too stressed to focus enough on writing anything.

So, I am sorry, folks, I neglected to work on that "co-author" assignment YET AGAIN. I WILL get to it, I promise you. Perhaps if I have a day off again when I'm not volleying between frantic cleaning of my apartment and raging about how I just want to blow it up and forget about the mess.

On the plus side, Ronoxym finally continued Please, Let Me Explain; so to speak.

I'll hand it to James Patterson, those outlines really do wonders. I went through everything we hand so far, all 27 pages of it, and wrote down an outline. That way Ron didn't have to wade through so much in order to refresh his memory and jump start his muse. Unexpectedly, since the story is so long, and I wanted to include every main action so far so we can watch for redundancy or parts that don't belong, the outline was still 9 pages. I went over the outline to create an even broader one, just the main bullet actions, that's it. However, add in questions like "What is the point of this scene?" and "What feeling(s) should the reader get?" to each scene - of which there ends up being 16 of them - adds a few pages. The "broad" outline - which was meant to be a brief overview of the story - clocks in at TEN pages after Ron kept going. Whoops. Either way, it's important stuff.

Especially those two questions. Something else I learned from the MasterClass lessons. Each scene should have a set purpose. That purpose can drive the characters or plot forward, but it has to do at least ONE of those two options. Then, make sure everything - EVERYTHING - in that scene falls into that pre-established purpose. Next, figure out the feeling of the scene. What are the characters conveying and/or what should the reader feel. Make sure every action portrays that feeling.

You're pretty set if you follow those two guidelines.

Anyway, so the outline was done and sent to Ron. It kept him a day or two, but he went OFF with it. Sparks started up again; gears turning wildly. After an "emotionally exhausting" writing session, Ron finished off as much of the plot - via the broad outline - as he could. The last bit relies on how Willow reacts to a "grand reveal" and he wasn't really sure where to go with that. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out the result myself. I see it going horribly, horribly awry.

It kept me a couple days - again, I've been non-stop - to get to read the outline. I have to admit, while I was excited for Ron writing again, and I enjoyed what he came up with, it wasn't as strong as his opening. Probably because he hasn't been with the project for a year or two, whereas I feel like I've been living with it daily for that long.

Also, the real reason the newest part doesn't seem "strong" is because it doesn't push the story forward. So, I blame it on my improved knowledge of story writing. Don't get me wrong, like I said, the plot is good. It just feels like it belongs in a companion story or an anthology of some sort. When I read that Ron write Willow huffing to Devon that he needs to get to the point already, I almost snorted. She's so me! I was honestly thinking the same thing: what's the point? Why does this belong to this story? If WILLOW thinks this, why wouldn't the reader? And if RON wrote it in the outline, I think at least a part of him feels the same way.

So, I'll help him work on what he originally wrote at some point, but right now we're reworking so the back end of this story actually stays on track. We'll see how that goes.

I really wish there were more writing-related news to report; this post feels so short, and after being so late to boot! However, as I mentioned, there really wasn't a lot of time for me to do much of anything.

I'm really REALLY hoping to do better this upcoming week. We'll see how it goes. Especially since I have the next writer's group meeting on Tuesday. So, I REALLY need to kick my butt into gear and write at least ONE of the two concepts I had for my writing prompt.

Good news! That means I'll have SOMETHING for you guys to read next week. Possibly a start to a new anthology; a place for all of my writing prompts to sit together. Yay.

Alright, I got to jet. Catch you next week, and hopefully on time!

New Standing Appointment

I did a thing this week. And I'm not just talking about actually publishing this update on time.

I was searching the community events board online in order to figure out what time to expect Trick-O-Treaters on Saturday. In the past four years that I've lived in this neighborhood, I've always had to work nights and came home during the tail end of the event, so I really didn't know. While on the site, something else caught my eye. A writing group was meeting at the community library a block from me.

I knew that this was a thing, but I never seemed to either catch when they were meeting, or I would find it out but chicken out in joining in.

As I just explained to both my husband and my mother, I have this awkwardness about my writing and writing groups. Before I go and meet everyone I always have this preconception in my head. These people were assertive enough to start up a writing group and/or attend one for a while before I joined in. This seems a lot more dedicated than me to the craft. This seems more mature than me. So, my mind instantly jumps that they're more skilled than I am.

Given the right atmosphere, that's not necessarily a bad thing. For instance, on Writers’ Huddle. It's a great community in which the more experienced are kind and generous teachers for the others; helping the less-experienced miss the pitfalls they fell into.

However, before I find out whether or not the particular writing group is as kind an environment as WH, I always feel like I don't belong. That comparatively, I'm too amateur an author. I believe the analogy I used is that I feel like an eleven-year-old in high school. Sure, the others haven't mastered the craft either, but they are more skilled at it and more mature about it; more time to hone it.

Even in my thirties, whenever I think about joining a writing group for the first time, I always feel like some preteen tag-along younger sister that everyone groans, rolls their eyes, and reluctantly tolerates.

In all honesty, even with the welcoming environment of WH, I still feel that way in regards to sharing my work. I have still done so a couple of times, and I've always received very gentle constructive criticisms. However, I still get nervous that someone will look at my work as if they're a college professor asked to grade the short story of a middle schooler.

So, even though I'm a fairly brave person, this one point really terrifies me a bit. One of the main reasons I was so grateful that Spink said she'd come too. Part of me believes that I would have been a Nervous Nelly, but gone anyway. Another part of me has a strong feeling that I would have chickened out; purposely lost track of time so I could go “Oh, darn. I missed it. Whoops.”

Knowing that I'd be meeting Spink there really helped encourage me to get my butt over to the library. I couldn't leave her high and dry.

When we got to the meeting room there were two women already there. Very welcoming; about my mother's age, probably a little bit older. The one took the lead at the meetings, and the other self-published the book she wrote during last year's NaNo, and is even doing a book signing for it next week.

Another woman soon joined us. The “resident poet” of the group. The rest of us are all aspiring to write fictional novels. Her poems were really good. Well, honestly, to me poems are like that one art quote: “I may not know art, but I know what I like.” I just don't get poetry. I've tried. The vague imagery and artistic wording just doesn't work for me. However, the woman's poem that she read when we shared samples of our work did evoke a sadness in me. That's a win in my book.

Two more women attended the meeting Tuesday night. One sort of reminds me of an older version of myself. She was very talkative, upbeat, bubbly, encouraging, and seemed genuinely interested in everyone's writing. She marked what everyone's genre of interest was, and was the first to ask the return members how their writing was going.

I was amused that the second woman – the last that joined the meeting – is actually the mom of my husband's Best Man; well, one of them, he chose two since I had a Maid and Matron of Honor. None in my circle of friends seemed to know she wrote; at least, as far as I knew. So that's pretty neat. We were never formally introduced, and so I don't know if she knew who I was, but I picked up who she was fairly quickly. It's going to be fun to get to know her better through these groups and her writing.

Just when we thought this was going to be a “Women's Writing Group”, two college boys snuck in. They both seemed just as shy and unsure as Spink and I, but the woman who played leader Tuesday night was almost giddy at the expansion of the group. They had doubled the return members, which does seem very exciting.

We went around the room introducing ourselves and the genre(s) we enjoyed writing in. Most of the group seems to like to dabble in historical fiction. I did have a nice internal chuckle in regards to one of the two men who joined us. He was listing off the genres he enjoyed writing in, and – I lost count – but I think he has something like five or six Works-in-progress; each it's own genre. He finished off his list with “that's all I have right now.” We all chuckled, and the leading woman joked “Oh, is that it?” I wanted to reassure him that I too have about eight open WIPs, but I was still feeling out the room at the time, and didn't find an opening to talk to him about it once I got comfortable. I'll have to make a mental note to do so.

The ladies that were return members then read off the writing prompt they had last week, and then read what they wrote based on that prompt. I had a feeling we were going to be doing something like this, which is why I wanted to prepare before going. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, and so I didn't know what to bring. Thankfully, the library has free wifi, and so I was able to jump on GoogleDocs to find something to share. Same with Spink and the two guys. Future Me made sure to point out something she liked about everyone's share, which is nice.

However, I later joked with my husband that I feel I should be a bit concerned for my writing. Since I usually write such large pieces, I decided to share one of the assignments from MasterClass. I explained to the group what the class was, and then I explained the prompt. I finally prefaced my reading by stating that it was purposely incomplete. I then shared the Devon/Trish suspenseful scene that I shared here last week. Difference is that I read the entire page leading up to it too.

Future Me commented that she really loved the imagery of Trish's hair falling in her face, as well as Devon's note that with all the gasoline one spark would have “the whole thing go up like a Michael Bay set”. I told her I was a bit concerned that the drop of humor there relieves too much of the suspense that I built up. She responded that a sprinkle of humor throughout is a good thing to make sure it's not too intense. I'm still skeptical.

Anyway, with the comment about my imagery and reassurance that my humor wasn't misplaced, no one asked to know what happens next. No one seemed to want more. I don't know if that's simply because the name of the game with their prompts was to leave the reader hanging, and so it didn't occur to them to comment about the cliffhanger. Or is it because my suspense wasn't large enough that they cared to know?

After everyone read off their samples, the woman who self-published wanted people's opinions on a query letter that she wrote for her second novella. This was pretty cool for me since I just learned about query letters in the MasterClass. Seeing one first hand was a bit exciting for me.

As a cold-reader who knew a little bit about query letters, I was sort of the Devil's Advocate. I deduced that if I had questions or issues after reading the letter, that the agent might have the same ones. The ladies that were regulars obviously knew this woman's story because they must have talked about it in their meetings. They didn't see the issues I did because they knew the answer, and so it was a bit rough going as they became sort of defensive of the woman's work. However, the leader of this meeting did chime in with a bunch of “that's a good point” and tried to mediate between me and the author. In the end, I'm really hoping that my critiques help her sell her book. I really do. In all honesty, it sounds like something that would be right up my mom's alley.

We finished off the meeting by coming up with a new writing prompt. No one had one in mind – I was going to offer up the burning house one from MasterClass since I still need to do it anyway – and so it was suggested that we make custom ones up. It was still randomized, though. Each of us were to write a person – not necessarily a proper noun – a place – same deal – and a mystery of some sort. I wrote down “A workaholic who just got laid off”, “A city penthouse”, and “The smell of the main character's lover lingers in the new house purchased after the death.” We then put our suggestions into their proper piles, and then chose one at random. I ended up with “Salesman/woman”, “New York City”, and “Where is the time capsule?”

Frankly, I was stumped. What does a salesman have to do with a time capsule? And why would it matter that it was missing? And “salesman/woman” is so vague. What do they sell? Stocks? Retail? Grocery? Airtime? Street vendor? Everyone else was using the last ten minutes of the meeting writing away, and all I came up with is question after question.

Thankfully, I have two weeks before the next meeting, and so hopefully I'll have something by then. Which means my goal for this week is to FINALLY stop dragging my feet, and write the assignment for the “Co-author” lesson. Then, next week – if I haven't been inspired before hand – will be dedicated to figuring out this prompt.

Spink had to run home early, and so it was suggested that I give her the same prompt I got. I did, and she already knows exactly what she wants to do with it. Lucky.

I have an idea brewing in my head, and Hubby gave me a complete Left-Field idea that I kind of like too. I might have to try both. Should be easy enough, the prompts are supposed to run about a page or two long. They won't stop you from writing more if you're inspired to, but a page or two is easiest to read aloud to the group without taking up too much time. Writing short stories is a real struggle for me, but I might be able to do something similar to my MasterClass assignments. Writing two stories shouldn't be too difficult either if they're each so short.

My biggest issue will be closing the stories. With something so short I always want to leave the story open-ended for me to keep going, but I feel I need to lock an ending down on them for these exercises. We'll see how it goes.

Maybe I'll have something new for you next week. Hopefully, I'll have something new at least every other week as I continue with this writing group. We'll see where they take me.

Have a happy and safe Halloween, All Saints Day, All Hallow's Day/Eve, Dia de los Muertos, or however you celebrate this weekend. I'll be off enjoying my favorite holiday!

Thus Ends My MasterClass Teachings From James Patterson

I change my weekly update day to TWO possibilities - Monday or Thursday – and I STILL can't manage to post on time?! Geez. I'm really sorry about that. I've just been on the run nearly every day. I really haven't been in my house at all this past week. However, this does bring me to my next point.

I love that my husband bought me a new battery for my laptop! I feel so free without the power cord. Before, if I decided to move, I had to wait at least seven minutes before I could actually do anything. I had to sit though two or three different warning messages about the computer not shutting down properly. Then I had to fix the date and time after it factory reset. It was annoying. It was cumbersome. And it irked me that I had to make sure I was done with everything I had open before I went anywhere.

Now I don't have any of those worries. I can start working on something, decide to move to another room, or keep working on it while at the laundromat, and I don't skip a beat. I close the laptop, move, open the laptop, and keep going. It's fantastic! And I've already expressed my love for being able to work outside again. Heaven.

I'm actually working on this opening portion of the blog in the work break room! I haven't done that in over a year! I love being able to just pack up my laptop, bring it with me to work, and write while on my breaks. I miss being able to do this. I feel bad that the writing notebook I had in my purse has been neglected since July, but who cares when I can go straight onto a computer? I work so much faster this way. I can get more accomplished, and I don't have to worry about wasting time writing everything out and then doing so again when I type it up. Once and done!

Invigorating!

It's funny what little bit of your routine can really make or break you. Having that umbilical cord of a charger really broke me. Having to write by hand while on work breaks broke me. Having to stay inside to write on the computer broke me.

I'm so glad to be back!

Alright, enough of that elation. Let's talk actual writing progress.

This past week I finished up the MasterClass lessons. It's kind of like graduating high school or college again. I enjoyed learning something new every week, and now it's over. It was sort of bittersweet. I loved all that I learned, I enjoyed the way that James Patterson presented the lessons, and I was proud of myself for following through. Honestly, I had forgotten the almost obligatory need to finish due to the money spent on the class; I just really wanted to go through it and learn more and more and more. And now it's done. I won't learn anything else from James Patterson, at least, not this way.

I have some solace in three facts:

1. I can go through all of my works-in-progress and apply what I learned in order to at least complete one manuscript, if not actually use it to springboard myself into a writing career.
2. I can teach my fellow aspiring writers what I learned; deepening my knowledge while paying it forward. Patterson taught me, and I shall teach others. Not just you fine folks here – some of you, I'm sure, aren't planning on becoming authors – but my writing friends over at the Writers’ Huddle or Struggling Writers Society. Maybe even other writers I meet along the rest of my journey.
3. I still have others to learn from. There was a free webinar series that I had signed up for, but the live video conferences always took place while I was out somewhere – work, a wedding, visiting a friend or family, etc – and with the Patterson MasterClasses, I didn't bother going through the recordings of the video conferences. I also have webinars that Ali Luke has up on Writer's Huddle. Still have much to learn.

I have already attempted to utilize at least one piece of knowledge learned from MasterClass. On Saturday I contacted Ronoxym about Please, Let Me Explain. We talked it over a little bit, why we're struggling, and how to move forward. I decided to give Patterson's preaching about outlines a shot. I told Ron that I was willing to go through the 27pg story so far, and break it down into an outline for him to read through faster. Get the basic feel of the story back into his head. It might also help me better see where we repeat ourselves, as well as sections that don't seem to fit.

In fact, I already found at least two short sections we can probably cut, as well as one more place that we may be repeating earlier thoughts. It's fantastic to see the story from a little further back in order to better pick out what needs to be reworked. I attempted this before when I was editing PLME back in March, which is how I picked up that the third-quarter of our story seemed to completely ignore the first half.

Well, the beast of a project as our story is, it kept me until Wednesday morning to finally finish up making an outline of everything. Ron and I were chatting all Sunday night while Hubby was at work. Stayed up until 7am. I was slowly chipping away at the outline the whole time. I think we have a bit of a spark back, and I think we might be able to go in a good direction with this story now.

I want to go back through the outline and make ANOTHER one that's not as sentence-specific. More of a “broad strokes” kind of outline. Especially since the heavily detailed one I just finished is still about 8pgs long; and still seems a bit overwhelming to Ron. It should be faster work to go though an 8pg outline and write out broader strokes about each scene. This would make everything less overwhelming, I think, plus it would be a great way to really get at the feelings and message getting across in each section. With both outlines, I can make sure there's a common thread throughout the whole thing. Make sure we figure out the core of what we're trying to say in the story, and that everything sticks with it. As Patterson taught in the editing lesson, you have to make sure that everything moves the story and/or characters forward.

Considering how long the current part we're bogged down in is, I'm assuming I lost the story among all the arguing between Devon and Willow. Both of them go from aggressive to being on the defense to depressed. A wide array of feelings, but do they all deserve to stay in the story? I have to be able to cut my beautiful scenes if they don't work. The best way to make sure something does or doesn't work? The outline will point those parts out.

As I already said, after the first outline I found at least two scenes that might have to go on the chopping block.

I'm just really, REALLY hoping that this tactic will help Ron and I get and stay focused so we can get this story done. I want to complete a story so badly. I haven't done so in years.

Besides, it sounds like he already has one or two new X-Future/Devon-themed stories in mind, and it would be nice to clear this one off his plate before he tries tackling those other ones. Plus, he has a modern-fantasy/mystery story he's been brewing for a while. It might be nice for him to clear his head of the Devon/Willow tale so he might be able to tackle his original story during NaNo.

Oh, and while on that note, I'm opting out of NaNo again this year. November is just such bad timing. I'm most likely going to use that time to work more on building the story concept thought up for the MasterClass, or to continue X-Future: The Second Generation Begins. Ya know, whenever I take a break from cleaning and crocheting Christmas gifts.

Perhaps by the end of November, though, one of my writer friends will have completed something that I can send your way. Or, better yet, maybe I'll have a new TSGB chapter or the start of my Percy Jackson fanfiction.

In the meantime, I'll keep chipping away at the MasterClass assignments I haven't finished yet.

To start, I decided to stick with Devon when I worked on the one-paragraph suspenseful scene description. Back in like May, I was supposed to write the scene where Devon and Nys meet up with Trish, and Devon had his epic battle with her.

SPOILER ALERT!

Since Ron wasn't on the forum all that much anymore, Hubby was going to put Devon's life in peril to figure out what to do with him in the background. After a series of dice rolls, it was determined that he and Trish would have a final battle, Trish would win, Devon would die after having his throat slit, and then Trish would burn Nys alive with her parents. Once Ron returned to the forum he got pouty at Devon's demise – which was announced on the forum with no details since I hadn't written the story yet – and so Hubby revived him using a mutant who can revive the recently deceased, and now Devon is off in hiding with amnesia.

For the suspense scene I decided to go ahead and write one of the opening paragraphs of the fight. I had to work my way up to it. I started with mostly dialogue, but after about a page I made it to a full paragraph.

Here's my attempt at suspense:

“Don’t worry, Nys, I’ll get you and your folks out safe.” He started scanning the room for escape routes, and a way to get Nyssa’s parents away from that gasoline. Something about the room was off, though. It wasn’t just because the place was bare. There were stains all over the otherwise pristinely polished hardwood flooring. They were mostly along the edge of the room, but the stains zig-zagged along the floor and pooled around the Breafords. Devon took a deep breath. Just as he suspected. The smell of gasoline was too great for it to just be wafting from that barrel. It was splashed all over the room. One false move; one spark, and the entire place will go up like a Michael Bay set. He couldn’t use his pyrokinetics against Trish in order to take her out, but what was stopping her from using hers against him?

I realize now that Devon probably wouldn't need the added incentive to not use his fire manipulation; it probably didn't even occur to him to use it against Trish in the first place. It would have been useless since she's fireproof.

I'll have to rethink the closing line of that paragraph. Hey! Maybe that's what I'll do next month; I'll finish writing this scene finally.

Getting back to the MasterClass assignments, I haven't attempted the co-author one where I have to write a scene about a woman seconds away from burning alive in her bayside cottage. It does seem like a fun one, though, the next time I have two seconds I may have to try that bit. Hopefully, I'll have it set for next week's post.

The first lesson from this week's worth of classes is how to market yourself similar to James Patterson. He starts right off the bat by letting people know that to sell yourself as an author, you need to brand yourself. So you really need to figure out what you want to be known for. Patterson gives an example on how a story he wrote was originally rejected because it wasn't a thriller, and the publisher and public thought that was his brand. He was the “suspense novelist.” He fought that misconception, and now his brand is the way he want it. An author so skilled at captivating his readers that “the pages turn themselves” - as a review once stated. It doesn't matter the genre, if you pick up a Patterson novel, you'll know you won't put it down again until the story is done. THAT'S the brand he wanted.

Other authors have the same sort of branding. Rick Riordan writes Middle-Grade stories about young teens discovering ancient mythology is real and in the modern world. J. K. Rowling's brand is simply Harry Potter. Even with the saga done, lord bless that woman if she tries to write something that isn't connected to the Harry Potter universe. Steven King – while capable of writing non-horrors; like Patterson – is usually branded as a Suspense writer.

Branch out to directors, and you have Michael Bay who will almost guarantee explosions galore. Even though a growing majority of his movies don't include one, M. Night Shyamalan is still thought of as "The Plot-twist Guy." So much so, that there's a joke about the movie “The Happening” where the plot-twist was that there was no plot-twist.

So, what will your brand be? What will mine be? I'm still nervous that my “brand” is “Fanfiction Author” but I guess I'll take it for now.

Now that you have a brand for yourself, what else will move your books off the shelf? You need to market them too, obviously. So, the assignment for this lesson – and the last one of the MasterClass series - is to come up with three taglines. Given the fact that I'm still not entirely sure about a title or the characters, I should probably work on those first. However, I'll see if I can get some taglines done for next week too.

Once you have a brand for yourself, and a marketable tagline for your book, what's next? Well, to push your publisher to get some great reviews to help promote the book. Have your publisher convince newspapers, magazines, and websites to plug the story. Patterson warns that the publisher may try to half-ass this part of his or her job, and so it's your job to remind them why they were so excited to buy the book in the first place. Remind them of the money they thought it would make, or how great they felt after reading it.

You have another large job, too. You need to hop on social media and promote the junk out of the book. Go on Facebook, and Twitter, and Tumblr, and Instagram, and your blog, etc. Sure, you don't need to be on ALL of those different groups, but the more the better in order to hit a wider audience. It's all personal preference, though.

This is even more crucial if you decide to self-publish, because you don't have your publisher doing a large portion of the work. Ali suggests adding a virtual “book tour” to your social media promotions. This means tracking down blogs that you can write guest posts for, and tag on a mini promo for your book at the bottom of it in the “Author Bio” section. People who faithfully hit up blogs, but may not know about you, can find you this way. I know it's how I found Ali in the first place.

Alright, so, you promoted your book, it sells well, and it catches the eye of Hollywood! What now?

I had a few chuckles as I watched this lesson. First, I laughed at the page of the workbook for this lesson. Normally, it gives a quote from Patterson, has an assignment, and has a “take it further” section that lists ways to learn more about the subject.

The lesson on Hollywood, on the other hand, simply says this:

“Take the money. And run. And pray... That's the best advice I can give you." - James Patterson
TAKE IT EASY
Sit back and enjoy as James shares entertaining stories from his adventures in Hollywood.

The other thing that made me chuckle were all of the great quotes I was getting off of Patterson in regards to working in Hollywood. Something, by the way, he highly recommends against.

In fact, just about every author does. I honestly don't know how the past decade or so seems to be flooded with book adaptations – so much so that there's an Oscar category specifically for “Screenplay Adaptation” - when nearly every author can't stand the idea of their books as movies.

Sure, it may be a great dream of a lot of authors going into it. The thought of your characters given life on the Silver Screen. Maybe not enough authors are hearing their colleagues' lamenting their involvement with Hollywood. Still, aside from a small few that are powerful enough to be a valued consultant on the movie, or – better yet – are gifted enough to adapt their own story into a script that is barely tampered with, just about all authors seem to greatly regret selling their story to movie producers.

Patterson even warns that just because Hollywood buys the rights to make your book into a movie – this is called “Optioning the Book” - it doesn't mean it actually WILL become a movie. They just figure it's popular enough that they MIGHT want to make a movie, and if they decide not to, at least their competitors can't make the movie either. So, even if your book is Optioned, there's no guarantee a movie will come out of it. Ask enough authors and they'll probably tell you that it's probably for the best.

Because, seriously, unless you can find a production house that REALLY wants your book bad enough that you have all the cards during the negotiation, or the movie is being made by true fans, it probably won't be close to an accurate portrayal of the story you wrote.

I'd give a list of examples, but you probably know enough already. And it might be a shorter list to name off the ones that WERE book-accurate.

Patterson gives two amusing examples of his realization that the movies will never be book-accurate.

 Patterson: This is the honest to god truth, the only thing in the screenplay that was in the novel was Alex Cross's name. They had changed literally everything in the book. Every single thing.

The other example comes after he watched an early screening of the one Alex Cross movie while attending a Press Junket. There was a woman who ONLY appeared in the second scene of the movie, was never mentioned throughout the rest of the film, and the context of the scene wasn't enough for Patterson to figure out who she was supposed to be. So, he asks Morgan Freeman, who played Alex Cross. Freeman responds that the woman was Alex Cross's sister. To which Patterson replied, “Oh, I didn't know Alex had a sister.”

Patterson also had an amusing observation as to WHY books don't seem to translate into movies all that well. It came to him when he was invited to join the crew on a shoot for “Along Came a Spider.”

 Patterson: That's where I realized... that the novelist ranks somewhere lower than the caterer on the shoot. They know why the caterer is there, but they have no idea why the novelist is there.

Oooof.

It may have been because he's had time to get over it, but Patterson DOES seem to take the film adaptations of his books a bit better than Rick Riordan. Then again, I never attempted to ask Patterson about “Along Came a Spider” on Twitter to see if I'd be blocked by him too...

It might also be because of Patterson's last bit of advice he gave us for the MasterClass series:

 Patterson: The other advice I can give to you – and this is the best advice.... Start laughing, dudes. And dudettes. Laugh. You just gotta laugh at this stuff. It's very funny if you can have a sense of humor about your own work. And you better if you're gonna sell it [to Hollywood].

Fairly sound advice. Personally, I am still hoping to be one of those authors that can pen the adaptation screenplay to my own stories, and stay involved enough that the scripts won't change too much. I think I have a good understanding on how the two mediums work, and how much a book NEEDS to change for it to portray properly in a visual media; remaining entertaining the whole time. We'll see when the time comes....

The last two lessons of the MasterClass consisted of Patterson talking about his young life and his journey to become an author, and then a simple concluding video to congratulate us for completing the class, and encouraging us to keep at it.

I have a few more amusing quotes from each of those classes, but I'll save those. I might do a blog update with just entertaining Patterson quotes from MasterClass.

Okay, well, I'm going to be honest here. I started writing this blog Wednesday morning. I worked on it off-and-on over the past three days. It is currently creeping towards 10pm, and I have worked on this post in the work break room, the laundromat, our neighbor's house, my bedroom, and my living room. I am exhausted, and I HOPE I ran out of things to say for this week.

I know as soon as I hit “publish” I'm going to think of other things I wanted to talk about, but for now, I think I'm done. So, I'm going to go pass out now, and possibly get started on either the PLME broad outline or my Co-Author assignment tomorrow.

I'll catch you guys next week, preferably noon on Thursday, as planned; although I AM working Thursday again, of course....