Stalling with Surveys!

I should be working, but I'm stalling to let my brain rest for a bit. Julie over at http://juleswrites.blogspot.com/ tagged me for this writing survey, and I thought it might help me gather my thoughts.

1. What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?
The beginnings of a new YA novel, including a horrendous outline. The first thing I wrote is so terribly embarrassing that I'm loathe to share it, but I still have my 4th grade masterpiece, "Emmy T, Wait for Me!"

2. Write poetry?
Poetry comes in stages. I'm not good at it at all, but every now and then I'll scribble a stanza down.

3. Angsty poetry?
I didn't know there was any other kind!

4. Favorite genre of writing?
Is it lame to say good writing? But I do really enjoy YA fiction.

5. Most annoying character you've ever created?
Hm. I was prone to creating Mary Sues when I was a young teen. I actually re-wrote Little Women with a new sister, ME. It was probably good practice, but that fifth sister should have probably been snuffed. She was cloying and obnoxious.

6. Best plot you've ever created?
I still greatly enjoy the outline of my steampunk story, though I don't think I'm at a place where I can do justice to it just yet.

7. Coolest plot twist you've ever created?
"Trumpy, you can do magic things!" My male lead suddenly shows his heritage by healing the girl he loves.

8. How often do you get writer's block?
I wouldn't say it's writer's block, exactly. But I get bored or get a brand new idea. I never really stop writing.

9. Write fan fiction?
I wish the answer was no. But I was young!!!

10. Do you type or write by hand?
Type and almost always have.

11. Do you save everything you write?
I try to do so, though going back 10 years makes me yearn for a fire.

12. Do you ever go back to an idea after you've abandoned it?
I've been writing one story off and on since the 7th grade. I have about 5 versions of it.

13. What's your favorite thing you've ever written?
I love my characters more than anything. Some of them stick with me forever, romping with new ones just because they can.

14. What's everyone else's favorite story that you've written?
My husband likes my children's stories, but he's about the only one that gets to see too much of the work in progress.

15. Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?
All the time!

16. What's your favorite setting for your characters?
Fantasy worlds, but rather paradoxically, in just one place in that world. For instance, and underground cave.

17. How many writing projects are you working on right now?
At least 3. More if I'd let the rest come out.

18. Have you ever won an award for your writing?
When I was a kid, I won 7th place at a regional Power of the Pen Competition. I got a medal and everything!

19. What are your five favorite words?
rather, cadaverous, squelch, cow, chuck (the verb, not the name)

20. What character have you created that is most like yourself?
They are all little pieces of me, but a chick lit character is more or less myself. Of course, she's been one of my least favorite heroes.

21. Where do you get ideas for your characters?
Movies, friends, literature, and some other places besides

22. Do you ever write based on your dreams?
Most of my ideas start from my dreams. I have always dreamed very vividly.

23. Do you favor happy endings?
So far, I've never written a very sad ending.

24. Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Not so much, though I cringe when I move on.

25. Does music help you write?
It inspires me.

26. Quote something you've written. Whatever pops into your head.
Nothing from my head, but...one of my recent favorite scenes follows. The back story is that Evelyn and Wyatt have just been reunited and things are growing hot and heavy between them. Roberto and Adams are two crewmen on their ship.

Everything about her was perfect at that moment. She was soft and warm, impossibly sweet. When he kissed her throat, feeling the quickening of her pulse under his lips, the soft breaths she exhaled were worth every terrible moment he'd experienced on the way.

So when Roberto came crashing through the door like some giant puppy, Wyatt thought it quite possible that he could actually kill a man. Evelyn squealed and pulled away, and Wyatt was left holding her coat like a fool.

"I...uh...I didn't..." Roberto was looking between the two with mounting horror. It was worse when Adams came up behind him, nursing a half-eaten drumstick.

"Roberto, you stupid, half-arsed ninny," Adams said, his mouth still half-full. "Don't you know to knock? They could've been makin' a baby for all you know."

Wyatt glanced at Evelyn. She was looking at the ceiling as though it were the Sistine chapel, flushed nearly to the ears.

"Don't talk that way in front of a lady," Wyatt said. "Did you lunk-heads discover anything?"

"To finish chewing before you talk," Roberto snapped, looking pointedly at Adams.

"Hey, you leave me alone, ya half-wit. Wouldn't have choked if Evelyn hadn't startled me."

"You had almost a whole chicken in your mouth. You were going to choke no matter who stopped by our table."

"Gentlemen!" Wyatt roared. Evelyn was still red-faced, but Wyatt found it more likely that she was holding in laughter now. She wouldn't look him in the eye and was biting her lip.

If you'd like to answer these questions, consider yourself tagged!

WIP Wednesday: Brand New

So if you follow me (and I'm very thankful for the 30 people that do), you'll know that I have at least a modest amount of creative ADD. I have a hard time sticking with a single project. I'm an ideas person. Millions of ideas float and spin and collide in my head. I probably have thousands of pages on my computer for over 100 different stories. How many are finished? Perhaps only double digits. Clearly this is an issue.

Google Images: ADHD
Also, Demon Possession, apparently

So I solved this problem in the most natural way - I started a new story. I'm not abandoning my Nano novel or the one before that, but about a week ago, an idea crept into my head that was shockingly visual. It was such a clear and distinct beginning that I felt I had to write it down. Now I think about it all the time.

I only have a beginning, however, with no real idea of middle or end. So I've decided to try and experiment. I'm going to write down a list of all the things I want to appear in this story. They may not all fit, but if I can pick at least three things I love, I can structure my story around it. It'll give me something to look forward to writing on those days when I feel I'm losing momentum.

Here's my list so far:

A dance-off
a lavish feast
a painful goodbye
a deliciously creepy setting
mystical creatures

Question: What would your list of favorite things look like?

Write Every Day, But What to Write?

It's common writer wisdom that one should write every day. My involvement with Nanowrimo this year showed me that writing every day is the surefire way to keep the muses around. However, now I feel I have a rather strange problem.

I have so many ideas!

I feel like these ideas are swimming around my head, growing and trying to stretch their little legs, but my fishbowl of a mind can only hold so much. There's been much scuffling and bumping around.

Google Images: Plethora
A Plethora of Pirate Cosby Sweaters

I've tried writing down scraps of ideas that I can go back to when my current work is done, but it is quite hard to leave an idea that sparkles and go back to the chore of mining what's salvageable from the slagheap of a novel.

I DO feel that writing of any kind is good. And I take heart when I read Natalie Whipple's list of projects, thinking that maybe it's okay to have a plethora of projects at different stages.

Question: What's your writing style when it comes to multiple projects? Are you a one-at-a-time focused writer or are you the writer with a thousand ideas?

Steampunk, Socialism, and Chicken

The steampunk aesthetic is one that appeals to me greatly. I've been into the late Victorians and Edwardians most of my life, probably due to an early exposure to Anne of Green Gables and the American Girl doll Samantha. Add some modern and fanciful technology, and I'm in!

Pictured: Serious Steampunk Crush

However, the airship soap opera I'm writing currently is something like Steampunk Lite. There's elements of punk, but it's subtle. My MC has decided she's a socialist and is close to joining up with a group of lady airship pilots to take on both the male-dominated society and capitalism. And yet, I have a bewhiskered elderly man with a penchant for chicken and death-defying stunts that keeps me from taking my story very seriously at all.

In other words, I have no idea what my story is, but there are glimmers as I wrap it up. I would love to be able to pull off social commentary and quirky humor, but only a thousand rewrites will tell. I think Neil Gaiman has nothing to worry about.

Question: Any thoughts about what makes something steampunk? When do genres get TOO muddled for your liking?

Only mostly dead

For those of you concerned about my lack of posting, I will fill you in on the details. For those of you who didn't miss me, you won't be getting a Christmas card this year. AHEM.

The important news is that I won Nanowrimo! I wrote just over 50,000 words with an hour to spare. I nearly cried, and that's the honest truth. This was the first year I started without a word drafted and made it 50,000 words into the same story. Probably 95% of it is garbage, but I'm excited about the story. There are some parts that I think could actually turn into something of which I'm proud, given enough revision.

Google Images: Nanowrimo;
Science is now studying carpal tunnel in mice

The bad news is I developed carpal tunnel. At least, I think that's what it is. Typing HURTS. When I was trying to hammer out 7k days, I had to try all sort of creative means to try and make my hands work without pain. I've been trying to give them some time to heal, though last night I realized I MISSED my story. I really wanted to write more. I haven't felt that way in a very long while.

I'm going to attempt to get back in with a regular posting schedule soon. I'd also like a redesign of the page, including a comment section that allows for easier discussion.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: Those of you that did Nanowrimo, did you get something out of it? If you didn't, any new blogs that you found interesting?

Rejection: I'm over it

I'm excited about a rejection letter I got this morning. It's probably unusual to hear a blogger brag about a rejection, but I feel it was encouraging. After another round of queries, I received my first rejection that wasn't a form letter. The official line was: "Fun idea, but not quite right for us."

Rejection is part of being a writer. It comes from multiple sources, including the writer herself. When we can learn to accept it as an essential part of the process instead of a by-product, then we can move forward.


Google Image: Rejection; Best image ever? Possibly.

I feel I'm moving forward. While I may not be making fantastic leaps, baby steps forward are fine by me, as long as I'm going somewhere with them. I'm learning, and I'm enjoying it.

Look at me go!

It has been quite busy on the writing front. I'm about 20,000 words behind in Nanowrimo, but I have put it aside for a few days to work on a children's book that I finally finished to my liking yesterday.

Today it was sent out to a few top agent choices, and I will hold my breath to see if I get any kind of response. I feel it's a stronger story than the one I sent out a few months ago, but we'll see what happens.

Here's my real quandry of the week. I do belong to the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. I read and post on their local chapter mailing list. However, my so-called local group meets on Wednesdays 2 hours away from me. There's no way I can make it to a critique session. I've thought about trying to find a critique group online, but it's proving to be more difficult than I expected.

Google Image Search: Critique Group

Any of you other writers have critique buddies online? Fill us in!