Big Black Hole...

I finished the most recent stripe on the Ravenclaw scarf, so now there are four blue stripes and four bronze - I am only eleven stripes away from reaching the end!

Of course, as I went to start the next blue stripe, I noticed that my ball of blue yarn had gone missing. The last place it had been was in my purse... However, while my purse is big, it is not a Tardis, nor has it been touched by Hermione, so a ball of yarn going missing in my purse is impossible (my car keys on the other hand...) Apparently a friends cat had been playing near my knitting while we were at their house, so the next logical place to look was around their house - but nope, no sign of a big blue ball of yarn anywhere.

Which means that my yarn has fallen into a black hole.

Which sucks, because Cascade 220 is not cheap.

Stupid cat.

But on to less distressing fronts, like writing!

Which, actually, is just as distressing as loosing the ball o' yarn.

I have a confession to make - I haven't written at all (aside from test cases for the QA analysts at work) since last week. We've just been so busy at work recently that when I do have time to write, I really just want to curl up into a ball and sleep or spend time with my husband. I understand that ROW 80 gets that writers have a life, but this is one of those times when I feel as if I fail as a writer. There's always something else going on that's more important and I'm never able to meet my own personal deadlines because I'm always so distracted.

PS - Recently Patricia Wrede started a series on writing Epics. You can find the first one here, and the second one here. I haven't had a chance to read them yet, but I expect they will be very illuminating as one of the projects I want to work on when I'm done with TUO is an epic.

Of Details and Characters and Other Odds and Ends...

Someone once said that the devil is in the details - and I find myself agreeing with them just this once. Currently in the adult story, the hero is entering the theater where he will meet his heroine and I'm finding it a bit hard to balance how much I need to describe about the setting, and the crowd around him. The theater is an old art deco theater from the 1930s that has been lovingly rehabbed by it's new owners. However, the theater is only in the story for the next set of chapters and it doesn't get visited again until the very end of the story. Also, I don't want to go all GRR Martin on my readers and completely loose them (Not that I don't love GRR Martin and A Song of Ice and Fire - I do, but there is just an insane amount of detail in those books!).

After a bit of trial and error, I finally found a good balance, but I'm really looking forward to the next chapter when the dance begins.

Sometimes when I write, I will base characters off of people I know - but I've never run into this conundrum before. In this story there is a character based off of an acquaintance at least physically - in temperament they are two totally different people. In the story, the character is a villain  In real life, the person is actually very nice and sweet. I can't help but wonder what said person will think if they ever read the story and notice the resemblance (which is very highly unlikely because I doubt they would even look at a book like what I'm writing - it's just not their thing) Have you, fellow writers, ever done something like this? Or based a character on someone you know?

On other fronts my husband recently discovered that occasionally I write adult scenes in my stories. He was very shocked by this, and kept looking at me as if he couldn't believe that I would do something like that. He then proceeded to spend the weekend occasionally muttering things like how he couldn't believe his wife writes smut. I still don't know why he was so stunned - yes I may be quite an introvert, but I'm not a prude (not that there's anything wrong with that) and it's not like I'm writing scenes based off or our relationship - however watching him try to process this information about me has been quite entertaining!

The ongoing tax issue is nearly resolved so we're all breathing a bit easier. I'm just waiting for the tax man to take a look at everything and make sure it's all legit and legal before we proceed.

And that's all there is to talk about this week...

Hopefully your words are flowing freely on whatever project you are working on!

Still chipping away...

Based on my friend's advice I added a little bit to chapter three of TUO. The heroine and her friends now have a run in with a guard while trying to go down to the old bridge. I saw that some of you suggested that I wait till everything was done before I let my betas read it, but I was stuck, and my normal tricks to get unstuck weren't working. I've been helping this friend with her stories so I figured that she could help me with mine. And while I'm still stuck, at least my story is hopefully a little better for her advice.

The adult story (I really need to find a better name for it) is coming along at a scattered pace. I reached a point where I was also stuck with it, so I tried breaking the document down into separate documents for the various chapters to see if maybe that would help. While that made my computer happier, I'm still stuck. I blame the fact that I'm in the middle of a crowd scene with a lot of description and very little action. In the mean time I've been working on other, more interesting, parts of the story and wondering what my brain was on when it came up with this idea. Belly Dance and Hockey don't really go together. But somehow it's working. Perhaps because the opposites attract tropes is one of the oldest tropes out there. 

Meanwhile a friend drew me a very lovely picture of a character she created for me in her story as a Valentine's day gift. I've based characters off of friends before, but I've never had one based off of me - so I may have squeaked a lot and walked around with a silly grin on my face for most of the day.

Unfortunately the tax issues from last week still haven't been resolved. I don't feel very comfortable discussing them on the internet until everything is said and done, but it occurred to me that I may be able to submit the story of what happened to XOJane (one of my favorite online sites) as an It happened to Me article. A very boring IHTM article, since it's about taxes, but from what I've seen online while researching this issue, this actually does happen quite a bit and not everyone knows their rights. Maybe by putting my story out there I could possibly help someone. Who knows. 

And that is all the news that's fit to print at the moment. 

Check out ROW 80 for more writing updates!

I Will Write In Words of Fire...

I discovered this poem today while surfing the net and had to share it:

I will write in words of fire.

I will write them on your skin.

I will write about desire.

Write beginnings, write of sin.

You're the book I love the best,

your skin only holds my truth,

you will be a palimpsest

lines of age rewriting youth.

You will not burn upon the pyre.

Or be buried on the shelf.

You're my letter to desire:

And you'll never read yourself.

I will trace each word and comma

As the final dusk descends,

You're my tale of dreams and drama,

Let us find out how it ends.  - Neil Gaiman

Happy Valentines Day Husband dear. I love you.

Taxes...

I've done a little work on TUO this week, but another beta/friend of mine read what I had done so far and said that she was confused about why everyone was afraid of the guards in the castle.

Me: Well, they're not the greatest guys.

Her: You need to show examples of that. You can't leave it a mystery, because if you have too many mysteries, then people will get confused and stop reading.

Me: *insert huge sigh and defeated look here*

However, here's the rub - the characters haven't encountered the guards yet. I'm very close to the scene where Mattie, the main character, bumps into the King and realizes that her friends were right all along and the guards are jerks, but until that point they're just background characters. She suggested foreshadowing (well, it would be backshadowing really, since all the examples I mentioned to her in our conversation are situations that happened in the story's past) but I can't do too much talking about the past within the first few chapters because that may loose readers as well.

I'm trying to stick with my policy of 'it's my story, I will write it how I want to' (and then worry about edits after everything is said and done) but I'm self-conscious and want to please everyone so I find myself doing rewrites again.

Of course, all of this has been pushed to the side momentarily because it's tax season right now - which is turning out to be more of a headache than usual this year. I bring this up, because from what I've read on various blogs authors either make estimated payments throughout the year or pay a lump sum. Patricia Wrede (who actually has a lot of great writing advice in her blog) discusses taxes more here and estimated taxes here. Personally, after dealing with the mess that is this years taxes, when it comes time for me to self publish, I'm going to make large estimated payments throughout the year to hopefully avoid owing the Federal Government. I may also pay someone to do my taxes instead of doing it all myself.

WIP Wednesday the Seventy Second...

I do not have a picture of it, but I did get some knitting done this weekend. We went over to a friend's house to watch the Super Bowl, and, since I really have no interest in football whatsoever, I spent the entire game working on my Ravenclaw scarf. Currently I'm about halfway through the orange stripe.

I have pretty much given up on the mystery baby blanket. I just have no interest in continuing it, and I suspect the person who it was for has given up on it anyways. However, I can't bring myself to frog it just yet.

I purchased Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger yesterday since I finally finished Let's Pretend This Never Happened last week. I loved Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, and The Finishing School series is set in the same world as Parasol Protectorate, so there's still Vampires and Werewolves and steampunk gadgets galore. However, it's set 20 years earlier than the Parasol Protectorate, so the steampunk gadgets that the characters have encountered so far are a bit clunkier; there's automaton butlers that run on tracks, and the dirigibles haven't quite mastered the aether yet. Also the characters are much younger - Sophrina is 14 where as Alexia was 26 - which was a bit of a shock since most young adult novels have characters that are 16 to 17 nowadays. So far I've only gotten to the 5th chapter (or is it the 4th?) where Sophrina and company arrive at the location of the Finishing School and are greeted by a werewolf.

I haven't done much writing this week. I did a little playing around with the Adult Story (I really need to find a better working title for that) on Thursday and Friday but nothing has flowed since. I'm tempted to go the serial route with that one a la Anything He Wants, but I've read mixed reviews about serials. Some people enjoy them. Some people don't.

TUO is being just as stubborn. I finally sent what I had written to one of my friends to go over to see if her thoughts or questions about it might get things moving again. I'm tempted to play around with another story while I wait, but the amount of research I need to do on that one is daunting and part of the reason why I haven't written anything for it yet aside from the prologue. Plus, having two stories going on at once is enough thank you.

Check out Tami's Amis for more Works in Progress!

And be sure to check out ROW 80 as well for more writing updates, tips, and advice!

Pinterest for Writing?

Yesterday Lindsay Buroker (author of the Emporer's Edge series) posted a blog discussing Pinterest and how it can be used for writing.

If you don't know what Pinterest is... well, first off, I'm sorry. I'm very very sorry. Because after reading this you'll probably go and check it out and get sucked in and loose all track of time. Basically Pinterest is a social networking site where you can look up ANYTHING. There are pins for DIY projects, how to paint a room, beauty tips and tricks, weight loss, recipes, etc etc etc. If you can think of it, there is probably a pin for it. When you come across a pin you really like, you can either re-pin it and sort it onto a board that you've built, or you can like it.

I'm a big Pinterest addict and I have several boards devoted to recipes, costume ideas, useful things for the home, and DIY projects among other things. A couple of months ago, I saw that Sarah J Maas (author of Throne of Glass) had created boards full of images that reminded her of her books and other stories. I thought it was a swell idea and promptly copied it. I have three boards currently dedicated to writing: one board is specifically for images that remind me of TUO, another is for actors or models that I've cast as characters in other books, and a final one is for images that may inspire future stories. It had never occurred to me that you could use Pinterest to advertise your book though (which is silly, because I have a board dedicated to books I enjoy). Lindsay's blog gives some really great suggestions on how published authors can do that.

On writing fronts, I was able to get the fanfic updated. Now that that is out of the way (it was an idea that just would not leave me alone!) I can focus on the adult story and on TUO again.

Last week I figured out that my problem with the adult story was that I didn't really have the characters nailed down. I had hinted in the one scene that the female lead had a very sheltered life as a kid (though she is not so sheltered anymore!) The male character was harder to nail down - in that same scene he comes off as a playboy, but when I was trying to go back and introduce him he was coming off as suffering a severe case of ennui and just did not care about anything except hockey. Also, I think I was introducing the antagonist a little too early.

I went back and cut the introductory scenes out (I made sure to save them this time) and started writing from the female character's prospective. She had quite a few things to say about her history, and how it led up to this point in time, and it was very revealing.

Progress on TUO has been much much slower. Currently the heroine is running around the castle trying to figure out a mystery without getting in to too much trouble or drawing very much attention to herself. As a result there is a lot of scenes where it's all description and inner thoughts and no dialogue. I worry that it may become too boring, but her run in with the King will be happening soon, so that should spice things up a bit.

No knitting progress this week, however it is getting closer to Renaissance Faire Time so I forsee a bit of sewing in my future  My husband and I are discussing driving out to Arizona to see their Fair in March, and then the Southern California Renaissance Faire begins in April. We both need new shirts, and I want to lower the neckline on the bodice I made last year a little. I've never seen this done (usually people just make a new bodice when they want to make changes to their current one) but I've heard it is possible. In addition to all that, I need new bloomers, and there's a skirt that's been sitting in my faire box for a couple of years now that just needs a bit of elastic to be finished. I will get it finished before this year's faire season ends!

WIP Wednesday the Seventy First

I have finished another blue stripe on the scarf and I've started on a new orange stripe. I believe there's twelve more stripes to go before the scarf is finished - though that could change. Even though the pattern for the Harry Potter scarf knits up pretty long, when they're done they almost look as if they should be longer. The one I made for my husband almost looks like it's too short. I like nice long thick scarves, so I'll be adjusting mine accordingly - and possibly making a new one for the husband eventually.

If it seems like all I ever knit is scarves, I apologize. I do have other patterns I want to try, but I never really have the time to work on them, or there may be something going on in the background that's distracting - like hockey. I know I could turn it off, or go upstairs away from the TV, but I don't want to miss any game in this season since it'll be such a short one. Though, in all honesty, the Kings haven't been doing so great so far. The season is only just beginning, so hopefully they can get their act together quickly.

I made a little progress on TUO. I just finished another flashback scene, and I hope I'm not being too obvious about who a certain character really is. Now the main character gets to do a bit of sleuthing around the castle before I finally let her run into the King - which was originally going to happen later in the book, so I forsee some cutting and pasting in my future. 

The other story I'm working on is being stubborn. I think it's because I just don't know the characters well enough yet and they're being elusive. I believe once I finally hammer them and their back stories out, everything else will fall into place. I also think I may be trying to move the story along a little too fast so that the leads can bump into each other as quickly as possible and get down to business as quickly as possible, because, honestly, that's when the fun begins. 

The update for the long forgotten fanfic is coming along quite nicely though. I've managed to write 3000 words since Monday, however it feels like I'm just repeating myself in some of the scenes, and the male lead is beginning to sound a bit like a combination of Thorin from The Hobbit film, and John Thorton from North and South (I'm a bit infatuated with Richard Armitage at the moment). It's not a bad thing as the character in the fanfic is a bit stiff and easy to anger (he doesn't put up with idiots) just like Thorin and Thorton, but it's interesting to see how other media influences our writing sometimes. 

The husband and I are going for another adventure on Saturday! This time we'll be heading up to the Malibu Creek State Park. In another life it used to be the old Fox Movie Ranch, and there's a trail that takes you to the old MASH set. Sadly there isn't as much left as there was out at Paramount Ranch, but there's a sign post like the one they had in the TV Show, and a couple of old trucks, and it'll be really good exercise. So, be sure to check back for pictures on Sunday!

Until later!

Check out Tami's Amis for more works in progress!

Or head on over to ROW 80 for more updates from other writers!

Ideas, Reading, and Writing...

“Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”— Stephen King, On Writing

I saw this quote on Tumblr the other day and it really stuck with me because it's just so true. Good ideas really do come out of nowhere and they're often inspired by the most random things. Just look at the one I had about a week and a half ago; I saw a picture of Benedict Cumberbatch's character in the new Star Trek, then later I was listening to Radioactive and boom, there's an idea. The very first original story idea I ever had was inspired by a trip to Medieval Times, and TUO was inspired by my time working at Halloween Haunt. Pictures, music, a TV show... anything can give you an idea. 

So, since reading Let's Pretend This Never Happened at the gym is not a good idea, I've started reading Austenland again. It's about a girl who is sent to a resort where you can pretend to be a part of a Jane Austen novel and be romanced by a regency gentleman. After that I plan on reading Beneath the Surface by Lindsay Buroker. It's a part of her Emperor's Edge series and I'm eager to see where it will pick up after Blood and Betrayal. 

Since Wednesday I've worked a little on TUO - but it's been a lot of editing and rewriting, so the word count is still staying around 30500. I've also added a little to another side project I've been working on. I'm less than thrilled about the opening though - it just seems off compared to the rest of the book. I had one opening, which I deleted because it felt so contrived, and then instantly regretted deleting it. I may have to delete what I have now (or move it to a different part of the story) and then try to recapture the magic I had with that first opening with some tweaking so it doesn't feel like such a set up. 

And that is all the news that's fit to print! 

Be sure to wander over to ROW 80 to check out more writing updates!

Some Progress...

I apologize for this post being so short today - it's been a busy couple of days here in my neck of the wood and I am exhausted as a result.

No knitting update since I haven't knitted at all since last Wednesday! If my scarf and yarn had eyes it would probably glare at me.

However, I was able to get some writing done... though very little of it has been TUO. The majority of my writing since Monday has been on a fanfic that has been on hiatus for over a year and a half now (yikes). Of course this doesn't put me any closer to my goal, but a new update to that story ought to make the few FF.net readers who still follow it very very happy.

And that's all the news that's fit to print!