Monday, November 19, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
NaNoWriMo 2012
I have to say I was diligent during my self-imposed JNoWriMo in February and April, and I came out successful in my 50,000 and 55,000 word goals, respectively. Even though I failed at finishing (or, rather, starting) JNoWriMo in June and August/September, nor did I give any attempt at JNoFiMo, which I believe I slotted for spring of this year. Circumstances arose, a new dog, a hot summer that plagued all of SE Wisconsin with incessant stickiness, blah, blah, blah... No damn excuses, Jen--"Kray" needs to get done, period.
Well, this time it's for realsies. NaNoWriMo is right around the corner, and with my stats public on the website, with writing buddies watching my every move, it is time to buckle up and take the plunge after a six-month recess.
I still wrote over the summer, but it was mostly hinged on a random good idea or starstruck inspiration here and there, and never on one story. Or even four stories. And I don't think I wrote enough. My spastic brain synapses had me thinking across the whole damn spectrum of my stories, over all three series, and in no particular manner of order. Perhaps it's ADD that has me getting bored with one story so that I'm propelled into another. Part of me gets defensive. As all these stories are interconnected, and I have the grandiose plan of planting recurring characters in the stories, perhaps it's not such a bad thing that I work on separate stories concurrently. Or maybe I'm just working on my next panic attack.
"Kray" is quite near the end, and with the story "Kayt" nearly completely mapped out in my head, though only partly on paper, I need to start working solely on that book in the background, should "Kray" hit a proverbial wall. Discipline is hard when you're a writer, particularly an unpublished one with no legal or contractual dates to oblige. I need to rely on my own meager sense of willpower and the good sense to turn the Internet off if I have any interest in attaining my goals.
So. As NaNoWriMo was set up so that writers could a) finish a novel, and/or b) write 50,000 words (that's 1,667 a day), I once again aim to satisfy both those goals with attention spent mostly on finishing "Kray", followed by a decent push into "Kayt". (No pun intended...)
"Kray": ~25,000 to 40,000 words
"Kayt": ~10,000 to 25,000 words
...And so there's a nut: as my stories are developed, so are the plots, the characters, the motives. Various plot points I started out with several years ago now, embarrassingly enough, seem moot. Confusing. Stupid even. I fear as I move on from book to book, I'm going to want to change various aspects of things already written. This rings out as "tireless editing" in my head. Blerg.
But I can't do anything until I shut my damn mouth and get my fingers moving. Thursday, November 1, 2012, starts NaNoWriMo--30 days to write 50,000 words. Wish me luck.
JLH
Well, this time it's for realsies. NaNoWriMo is right around the corner, and with my stats public on the website, with writing buddies watching my every move, it is time to buckle up and take the plunge after a six-month recess.
I still wrote over the summer, but it was mostly hinged on a random good idea or starstruck inspiration here and there, and never on one story. Or even four stories. And I don't think I wrote enough. My spastic brain synapses had me thinking across the whole damn spectrum of my stories, over all three series, and in no particular manner of order. Perhaps it's ADD that has me getting bored with one story so that I'm propelled into another. Part of me gets defensive. As all these stories are interconnected, and I have the grandiose plan of planting recurring characters in the stories, perhaps it's not such a bad thing that I work on separate stories concurrently. Or maybe I'm just working on my next panic attack.
"Kray" is quite near the end, and with the story "Kayt" nearly completely mapped out in my head, though only partly on paper, I need to start working solely on that book in the background, should "Kray" hit a proverbial wall. Discipline is hard when you're a writer, particularly an unpublished one with no legal or contractual dates to oblige. I need to rely on my own meager sense of willpower and the good sense to turn the Internet off if I have any interest in attaining my goals.
So. As NaNoWriMo was set up so that writers could a) finish a novel, and/or b) write 50,000 words (that's 1,667 a day), I once again aim to satisfy both those goals with attention spent mostly on finishing "Kray", followed by a decent push into "Kayt". (No pun intended...)
"Kray": ~25,000 to 40,000 words
"Kayt": ~10,000 to 25,000 words
...And so there's a nut: as my stories are developed, so are the plots, the characters, the motives. Various plot points I started out with several years ago now, embarrassingly enough, seem moot. Confusing. Stupid even. I fear as I move on from book to book, I'm going to want to change various aspects of things already written. This rings out as "tireless editing" in my head. Blerg.
But I can't do anything until I shut my damn mouth and get my fingers moving. Thursday, November 1, 2012, starts NaNoWriMo--30 days to write 50,000 words. Wish me luck.
JLH
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Goodreads.
Several weeks ago I opened my first Goodreads account, and last night I started adding my romance (and other genre) novels.
I had foresight, dear readers and fans, and started a Google document long ago to catalog all my romances, just by author. I had this list linked to my Droid so that when I was in a store and found a good book, I would double-check to make sure that I didn't already own this book. And half the time, I already did. (Saves on the trouble of returning the item.)
The Google doc was nice for awhile. Obviously, it wasn't a public document, and my archaic style of categorizing the "already read" books (in red) and "to read" books (in black--yes, that's most of them) and "really want, so don't hesitate to buy" books (in green) served its purpose quite nicely.
But now not only can I catalog them by genre, sub-genre and sub- sub-genre, but now I can arrange them by whether I read them or not, as well as utilize the rating system and review space. I just wish I had these features when I started reading romances almost 20 years ago.
But, as you can see in the bottom right corner of the above pic, that's almost 800 titles to type in. Holy balls.
As I've already included 20 titles, I'm thinking of all the creative, helpful ways I can sub- sub-categorize them. I can also peruse the categories other Goodreads members have created in the same vein of books as me. I'm happy to be able to not just push a novel onto my romance "shelf", but I can coincide it with shelves like "erotica", "historical", "pirates", "western" or "cowboys", "Regency", "tough read", "fluff read", "bad books", etc. W00t.
But, as this is a good way to streamline my hobby and clear my mind, it's more time spent away from writing, which is the crux of this whole charade. I own 800 romance novels. As a published novelist, I believe that is seen as eccentric, colorful and "a bit of all right". After all: one can't practice a trade if examples are not readily available. As it stands, I believe I'm just weird...a crazy cat lady who has a shit-ton of romance novels, of which most stand unread.
I guess the point of this tirade is that, while it will take awhile, the Google doc will allow me to include all my titles on Goodreads in a fraction of the time. We'll see how much I surprise myself with tomes I remember enough to include a review, even a meager one.
...And on that point, my reviews until now have been quick, pithy and more self-worthwhile than I think will be helpful to other members of Goodreads. When it comes to romance novels, I feel the three points I focus most on in my reviews are the writing style, character makeup and interaction, and the sex. The sex, of course, is crucial. And maybe that will be helpful to a few romance fans.
JLH
I had foresight, dear readers and fans, and started a Google document long ago to catalog all my romances, just by author. I had this list linked to my Droid so that when I was in a store and found a good book, I would double-check to make sure that I didn't already own this book. And half the time, I already did. (Saves on the trouble of returning the item.)
The Google doc was nice for awhile. Obviously, it wasn't a public document, and my archaic style of categorizing the "already read" books (in red) and "to read" books (in black--yes, that's most of them) and "really want, so don't hesitate to buy" books (in green) served its purpose quite nicely.
But now not only can I catalog them by genre, sub-genre and sub- sub-genre, but now I can arrange them by whether I read them or not, as well as utilize the rating system and review space. I just wish I had these features when I started reading romances almost 20 years ago.
But, as you can see in the bottom right corner of the above pic, that's almost 800 titles to type in. Holy balls.
As I've already included 20 titles, I'm thinking of all the creative, helpful ways I can sub- sub-categorize them. I can also peruse the categories other Goodreads members have created in the same vein of books as me. I'm happy to be able to not just push a novel onto my romance "shelf", but I can coincide it with shelves like "erotica", "historical", "pirates", "western" or "cowboys", "Regency", "tough read", "fluff read", "bad books", etc. W00t.
But, as this is a good way to streamline my hobby and clear my mind, it's more time spent away from writing, which is the crux of this whole charade. I own 800 romance novels. As a published novelist, I believe that is seen as eccentric, colorful and "a bit of all right". After all: one can't practice a trade if examples are not readily available. As it stands, I believe I'm just weird...a crazy cat lady who has a shit-ton of romance novels, of which most stand unread.
I guess the point of this tirade is that, while it will take awhile, the Google doc will allow me to include all my titles on Goodreads in a fraction of the time. We'll see how much I surprise myself with tomes I remember enough to include a review, even a meager one.
...And on that point, my reviews until now have been quick, pithy and more self-worthwhile than I think will be helpful to other members of Goodreads. When it comes to romance novels, I feel the three points I focus most on in my reviews are the writing style, character makeup and interaction, and the sex. The sex, of course, is crucial. And maybe that will be helpful to a few romance fans.
JLH
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The Series' Hook.
No writer can refute the importance of a good hook. In a book, a movie, a speech or a term paper, the hook will propel your reader through the finish line. That is, after all, the key to getting fans who'll lust after more of your work. If you're a one-book-a-story type of writer, well, then maybe it's not as important. Writing style plays its part in fan lust, of course, but what I'm getting at is just how much more important a hook is when it comes to laying out a story over multiple tomes.
I haven't really given the hook to my book "Kray" much consideration until recently, when I realized that this shan't be merely a hook to one story, one book--this will be the hook to a whole series. More than that...
Multiple series.
Kray is one of seven siblings, meaning seven damn books that are all train cars in the same storyline. And that's just the one o'clock train. Don't forget there's a three o'clock and five o'clock train on the itinerary, too.
And while I realize too that I may be jumping the gun or getting my head stuck in the clouds, I realize my dreams are not far from fruition, and that writing a damn good hook may not just get me publication, but it could ensure my blast into infamy. (I won't be demure about it...I want to be the next J.K. Rowling.)
And I'm on the eve of war, as I've mentioned previously. I'm stuck on a war speech, an impending battle, and a closing, all elements I'm rather unfamiliar with. Can a writer of sex and love write a successful scene of bloodshed and war?
It ain't easy, as I've done a few already. Oddly enough, the sex scenes, too, have me stumped from time to time. But I digress.
This month has not started off right. I've been sick all four days, and oddly enough, not well enough nor with enough brain power to write for any of those days. Four days abed--wasted. So "Kray" is not looking so hot, but there's 25 more days of the month. Let's see what happens. July might have to be a co-JNoFiMo this year.
JLH
I haven't really given the hook to my book "Kray" much consideration until recently, when I realized that this shan't be merely a hook to one story, one book--this will be the hook to a whole series. More than that...
Multiple series.
Kray is one of seven siblings, meaning seven damn books that are all train cars in the same storyline. And that's just the one o'clock train. Don't forget there's a three o'clock and five o'clock train on the itinerary, too.
And while I realize too that I may be jumping the gun or getting my head stuck in the clouds, I realize my dreams are not far from fruition, and that writing a damn good hook may not just get me publication, but it could ensure my blast into infamy. (I won't be demure about it...I want to be the next J.K. Rowling.)
And I'm on the eve of war, as I've mentioned previously. I'm stuck on a war speech, an impending battle, and a closing, all elements I'm rather unfamiliar with. Can a writer of sex and love write a successful scene of bloodshed and war?
It ain't easy, as I've done a few already. Oddly enough, the sex scenes, too, have me stumped from time to time. But I digress.
This month has not started off right. I've been sick all four days, and oddly enough, not well enough nor with enough brain power to write for any of those days. Four days abed--wasted. So "Kray" is not looking so hot, but there's 25 more days of the month. Let's see what happens. July might have to be a co-JNoFiMo this year.
JLH
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