The 50k Itch & Pansting (Plus Some Other Stuff, Too)

Before getting into my case of the 50k Itch, I want to direct you guys to a link a friend e-mailed me last night. I don't want to make a big deal of this, because, honestly, I think this author has had more than enough. But I do think it's a good learning tool for other writers, so... 

Read it and learn from this person's mistakes.

CLICK

We're all human. And bad reviews can really sting.

But writing is a business and under no circumstances do you tell someone in a business environment to "fu*k off." You've got to keep your cool. If you truly disagree with what the reviewer has said, find a more private way to discuss it and keep your wits about you throughout the entire conversation. The worst thing you can do as a writer is burn bridges. 

Your reputation will always be very fragile.

Be careful with it.

(Must I mention Orson Scott Card?)

I wish this author luck in the future and sincerely hope her career hasn't been too damaged by all this.

Now, let's get to what this post is actually about--a little ailment I like to call the 50k Itch.

It always happens to me. Right around the 50k mark, I get antsy. I come up with ideas for new stories and itch (sometimes quite literally) to start them. It's like I've been eating nothing but Twinkies for the last few months and now someone is offering me a Ho-Ho.

With BROKEN, I could hardly stand it. I couldn't stand it with OPHELIA and all but stopped mid-way through to write DARK WATER. And here I am--facing another 50k and trying my damnedest to resist the call of my shiny new idea.

I finished BROKEN, so I know I can fight through the Itch.

And I'm pretty sure I know what happened with OPHELIA. Around the 50k mark, I wasn't only itching to start something new--I was running out of ideas too. I didn't know where I wanted to story to go from there. I've known from the beginning how it ended, I just didn't know how to get there. (I've figured it out since then, so I'll get back to it someday.)

This time around, I'm not going to fall into that pit. I have a very detailed outline on hand and prepare rough drafts of the scenes ahead of time. I was flying by the seat of my pants with OPHELIA, and it didn't work. Plain and simple.

I. Am. Not. A. Panster.

I just can't do it. I can't keep ideas straight without putting them on paper and dedicating endless hours to thinking them over.

Annnnnywho, I've done a pretty good job resisting the urge to start something new so far, and I attribute that success to knowing what's going to happen next. (BTW, if you're panster, you've got my respect. I don't know how you do it.)

Do you get the 50 Itch?
How do you resist new ideas?
Are you a panster?
Or do you spend hours/days/weeks on outlines like I do?

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!
(Related Reading: Shiny New Idea Syndrome)

Guilty Pleasures--I Indulge In Them

That's pretty much what I told myself before heading off to bed yesterday, seeing as I only wrote a thousand words, then spent the rest of the day looking at ball-jointed dolls. (Which is a hobby I desperately wish I could afford.)

Well, since I woke up, I've done nothing but scour the internet for...what else?
Pictures of celebrities that "look like my characters." (The characters of DARK WATER, specifically.)

Yep--I'm wasting my time by indulging in every writer's guilty pleasure.

I usually do this before I even start writing (so it doesn't distract me like it's doing now). But for some odd reason, I overlooked it this time around. Maybe I was just too excited about starting a new story to care.

Meh.

Well, I've done it now, so I figured I'd share my choices with you guys.
Here goes nothing...



~:~ Vidette Reichhart ~:~

AnnaSophia Robb

When I saw AnnaSophia in the trailer for the upcoming movie adaptation of Soul Surfer, I thought, "Wowza! She looks like Vidette!" (That is, by the way, what started this whole thing.) The resemblance is especially striking with this particular picture. It's actually kind of weird how much she looks like the girl in my head. And they're even the same age.


~:~ Edgar Reichhart ~:~

Asa Butterfield

Aside from the fact I picture Edgar's eyes being a little greener and his hair a good bit longer, Asa is a nearly perfect fit. That's definitely the sweet, baby-faced boy running around my mind.


~:~ Shaw Kilgour ~:~

Alex Pettyfer

Yes. Just yeeeeeeeeees.


~:~ Karisa Branswen ~:~

Alexis Jordan

Alexis looks just like I imagine Karisa looking in the face. Karisa's skin is a little darker and her hair is A LOT curlier, though. But otherwise, Alexis a great overall fit.


~:~ Bren MacLochlan ~:~

Cameron Bright

Chris Massoglia

Taylor Launter

So, I'm sure you're like, "Three different pictures for one character? Lolwot?" (I saved Bren for last for a reason, y'know.) Well, here's the dealio. I couldn't find an actor/singer/anything that had everything I was looking for. Sooo, I guess I've just gotta whip out my handy-dandy Celebro-Mixer. Cameron looks like Bren in the face and has the right hair color, Chris has the right hair style, and Taylor has the skin tone and eye color. Mix them all together, and BADABOOM! You've got Bren.



Well, that's that.
This is just my main group, though--I actually went through and found a picture for every character who gets a name. (Gosh, I love wasting time.) And technically speaking, this isn't even the full group. Two more characters join up later on...but even giving away their names will probably spoil something in the long-run, so I'm keeping my mouth shut.

Do you indulge in this guilty pleasure as well?
Which actors do you associate with your MC?

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

Maybe This Idea Doesn't Work: Downfall of the Sharktopus

Every once in a while, my whole family sits down around my brother's Xbox and he treats us to a few movies. Yesterday was one of those times. The list of movies included: Inception, Bigg Snoop Dogg Presents: Tha Adventures of the Blue Carpet Treatment, and Sharktopus. (What was Inception doing in there? No clue.)

Now I could do a lot of talking about Inception and Tha Adventures of the Blue Carpet Treatment (and I'm sure you're all curious), but I wanna talk about Sharktopus instead. This movie was truly laughable. The horrible CGI, the underwhelming performances from ALL the actors, the unbelievable amount of cliches...

Hell--just take a look at this trailer:

Ahh--that's classic bad right there.

But, despite all that, I think the worst thing about this film is the idea itself.

"A half-shark, half-octopus creature created for the military, creates a whole lot of terror in Mexico while a scientist who helped created it tries to capture/kill it."

That's the tagline. Granted you can get passed that repetitive wording, let's take a look at the central premise. The military (the Navy, specifically) commissioned a scientist to genetically engineer a shark/octopus.

What?

Why did they do that? They explain the military wanted to use it as a weapon. What made them think a sharktopus was the way to go? Instead of, y'know, missiles and torpedoes and those other weapons they typically use. I mean, sure--they were under the impression they could control it with those neuron-thingies, but why would they want to use a genetically engineered sharktopus? WHY?! It doesn't make good sense and they never really explain it, so...

This idea is flawed right from the get-go.

My point here is pretty simple. Some ideas just don't work. No matter how hard you try (and they definitely weren't trying with Sharktopus), the audience isn't going to buy it. I'd be hard pressed to pick out a book with an idea that just DIDN'T work, but in this age of "fresh and original" being synonymous with "out-there and bizarre," I can imagine there may be some popping up soon.

The only suggestions I can make (based on all the of ridiculous movies I've seen over the years) are:

--AVOID SILLINESS.
Just say the word "Sharktopus" to any random person and see what happens--I bet they laugh. That's not the reaction you want from what is supposed to be the scary monster in your story. If the name/description of your villain/monster/demon/whatever conjures up a silly image, you're pretty much boned.

--LOGIC! USE IT!
Yes, I'm talking to you too, fantasy writers. Just because your book isn't set in the real world, logic still applies. But let's go back to my sharktopus example. Why is the Navy suddenly turning to genetic crimes against nature as weaponry? Did normal weapons not work as well as they wanted? But how would a sharktopus work any better than normal weapons? And just how the hell did they go about creating the sharktopus? I'm sorry, but there's only so much you can just throw at your audience. I might have accepted the Sharktopus without asking for an explanation of how it came to be if they'd been able to give me a good reason for why the military wanted it to begin with. So, please, please, PLEASE! Don't ever disregard logic.

On a side note--do I suggest you watch Sharktopus? Yes, I do. It's not all that long and it's a great way to get a few cheap laughs.

Now, if you want to see a good genetic engineering movie, I'd go for Splice. Definitely one of the better "crime against nature" flicks I've seen recently.

Have you ever come across an idea that just didn't work?

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

We Interrupt Your Regularly-Scheduled Programming...

For a blog post about coffee.

Now, for those of you who know me in person (so, none of you), you'll know I'm already pretty chipper in the morning. In fact, I annoy everyone in my house with my early-morning glee. But even I wake up with a layer of fog on my brain. And I can't be expected to write anything good with a fuzzy brain, can I?

Of course not.

So, I turn to the most logical solution.

The drink of the gods, the official fuel of writers everywhere...

Coffee.

Every morning, I perform my sacred coffee dance under the rising sun and wonderous black liquid rains down from the heaven into my awaiting mug.

Well...actually, I still use this thing:

I can almost hear you guys laughing at me. "Is that a percolator? A glass percolator? Is this the friggin' stone age? Get with the times, little lady."

Well...bite me, 'cause I like my percolator and I'm not upgrading. (Jeez, I'm stubborn.) I, personally, think the coffee it makes tastes a hell of a lot better than the stuff my grandma's instant coffee maker spews into your cup. So, every morning, I clean the leftover coffee from yesterday out and set a new pot on the stove. After a good twenty minute wait, I've got coffee!

Time to break out my mug:

This became my official cup by accident.

There was a time when I got to slack off and Travis made my coffee for me (but now I'm getting up before him and have to make it my-damn-self). During that time, he always gave me the same cup--this one. When I asked him about it, he said he didn't even reailze he was doing it. After that, he tried to mix it up and give me a different cup, but it was too late. He'd gotten me into the habit of always looking for this cup. (And I'm about as ritualistic as they come. I do the same thing, in the way manner, EVERY MORNING. OCD, maybe?)

The next few steps look a little like this:

 Sugar first. Lots of it.

 Then, add coffee. Not too much--gotta leave lots of room for milk.

 Milk time!

Once it turns a nice, creamy color, stir in the pound and a half of sugar still sitting at the bottom.

And finally, drink and enjoy.

Then I repeat the process for my second cup and BAM!

No more fuzz on mah brain.

This is pretty much the only way I like coffee. Call me small-town, but I'll take plain ol' coffee over a French vanilla latte-thingy with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles any day.

How do you like your coffee?

HAPPY CAFFEINATING, LOVELIES!

(Did I just use 'caffeine' as a verb? Yes. Yes, I did.)

Almost-Car Accidents, Good Luck And Other Fun Stuff

I made this face yesterday on the way to the comic book store. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know what I'm talking about. But for those of you who don't, what had happened wuz (lol) Travis ran a red light and nearly T-boned this chick. (Seriously kids, cell phones and driving do NOT mix. Leave the phone in your damn pocket!) By the time both our cars stopped, there wasn't two feet between us. And I look up, clutching my chest, to see a police car sitting across the street.

But he just waved and shook his head.

Mr. Unknown Officer, if by some chance you ever see this: Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU! for not ticketing my boyfriend. (And we apologize for running that red light. This isn't a regular occurrence...if that's any consolation.)

The way I see it, he A) saw the terror on my face and figured we'd had enough for one day, B) knew I was going to chew Travis out, so he probably didn't need to, C) was glad he didn't have to fill out an accident report, or D) was actually just a really nice guy. Either way, I'm happy.

I got to thinking as we continued toward Heroes and Dragons--if one of my MCs was in that situation, they would've hit the other car at full speed and the cop probably would've found something illegal that the MC (legitimately) didn't put in the car. Or perhaps the accident would awaken a dormant force within the MC that threatens to consume their soul if they don't learn to control it. I dunno...something horrible would've happened.

Because no one wants to read "we almost hit the other car, but didn't, and the cop across the way just let us keep driving. Then we bought four comics and went home for dinner. It was yummy. The end." That's boring.

As cruel as it seems, we have to put our MCs through hell. We can't let them catch a break. We've got to drive them to their breaking point, then push them a little further. (Holy shit, we're evil!)

But if nothing ever goes right for the MC, it may seem like you're trying too hard to get the reader to sympathize with them. And no one likes a pity monger. So, our MCs are allowed to have tiny strokes of luck.

Really tiny.

I suppose, like most things involved in writing, it's all a matter of finding the right balance. Your main character can't be so lucky that it looks like you're coddling them, but they also shouldn't be so unfortunate that readers roll their eyes.

How often does your MC catch a break?
Has anything incredibly lucky happened to you lately?

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

Oh Boy, Do I Love Ludo

First off, I didn't make it to 50k like I wanted. *cringes in preparation for e-beheading* I did make it to 49k, though, so that's something. (Maybe you can just smack my knuckles with an e-ruler instead?)

Anywho--you guys may remember me mentioning in yesterday's post that Ludo is my favorite band of all time. Well, considering I haven't been doing anything but listening to their new album lately, I thought I'd use them for the basis of today's post.

Why do I love Ludo so much?

(What's not to love?)

Aside from the humor, the variety of sounds they cover, Andrew Volpe's voice, and the fact they named their band after a character in my favorite nostalgic movie ever (seriously, I was fueled by Labyrinth as a kid. Rented it every weekend. Don't know why I didn't buy a copy until I was thirteen or so. I'm rambling...), their ability to tell a story is freaking amazing. Any band who can tell a good story is automatically cool in my book, but Ludo wins a lot of extra points for the unique stories they tell.

Who out there likes love songs?

Give these a listen:

There are plenty of love songs out there, but not many invoke the poignant, beautiful images Ludo's music brings to mind. I really appreciate this kind imaginative writing in a world so full of...blandness. And this is only scratching the surface of the places Ludo's songs will take you.
("This song is about when you're on vacation and your friends get eaten by a fuckin' lake." -- Andrew Volpe, lead singer and songwriter for Ludo, on Lake Pontchartrain.)

I like to write by music--I'm sure most of you already know that. Music stirs up the emotions I need to crank out a good story. And, of all the 1,800 songs on my playlist, the ones tagged LUDO work the best, partly due to their wide range of sounds, styles and subjects (Prepare the Preparations covers things like skeletons, pirates, cyborgs, robots, leprechauns, witches, curses, Bonnie and Clyde, and ‘50s R&B), and to Andrew Volpe's unbelievable ability to take a cliche or a stale idea and make it shine like new.


Andrew's refreshing creativity ranks pretty high on my list of favorite things--up there with coffee and that trip I took to the zoo where we jumped the fence into the orangutan cage (True story, bro. Didn't go over so well).

Example: Ludo's Broken Bride album is the story of a man who builds a time machine to save his wife from the car accident that takes her life. Miscalculations send the man, instead, on an adventure spanning from the reptilian horrors of prehistory, to the gruesome zombie warfare of the Apocalypse.

When I first heard this album, two things happened. First, I cried. By the last song on the album, I was literally moved to tears. And second,  I took a moment to admire (and, let's be honest, envy) the power behind the story I had just taken in. It's nothing incredibly new--I've read plenty of books about time travelers--but it struck me all the same. As a writer, seeing someone take an idea that's been done half-to-death and giving it new life...well, that's enough to bring a tear to my eye. (Lololol. It did.)

Then to see the same band that just made me cry like a four-year-old who dropped her lollipop turn around and make me bust a lung laughing with songs like Whipped Cream, Go-Getter Greg, and Girls on Trampolines is just...I don't think there are words to properly describe how awesome that is.

Ludo is unlike any other band I've ever come across.

It's this sort of uniqueness that inspires me to do the same in my writing--to plunge headfirst into my well of creativity instead of just skimming off the top.

I've been reading a lot of posts lately about how the Sea of New Ideas is pretty close to running dry, and Ludo's music makes me confident in saying a) that's not true, and b) if it is true, big whoop--you can make old ideas glitter too.

They motivate me to be better at my craft. They ignite the love of words inside me. I wish I could thank them and pay them back for all their music has done for me and my writing.

Y'know, I feel like I'm gushing, but it's all true. If there's a band out there I think every writer should at least sample, it's Ludo.

So yeah...here's my fangirl post.

What about you?
Do you have a band that inspires you?
Or one you just especially love?

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

**EDIT**

Also, I want to share this video.
Ahhh...these guys made me lol so hard.

Yeah, great going guys. Undermining all that stuff I said about you being unique. ("Basically it's the movie A.I.--totally ripped off," Andrew Volpe, 2:16, on the inspiration for Cyborgs vs. Robots)

Wow, I'm A Slacker...

Hi, lovelies. I haven't been around as often as I usually am. I wish I had a good reason to give you for my rash of laziness, but...

I don't have one.

(Told you I draw stupid cartoons.)

Yeah...I'm just being needlessly lazy.

I'm slapping myself on the wrist for it right now. I think it may be partly due to this...

Ludo's new album, Prepare the Preparations. I got it over the weekend. For those of you who don't know, Ludo is my favorite band of all time. Just yesterday, I was telling Travis I don't think there is a song Ludo has done that I don't absolutely love. So, needless to say, I've been kinda busy learning all the words to their new songs.

But I'm nearly 50k into DARK WATER--I don't need to be slacking off right now! I'm going to dedicate today to writing. I want to get to 50k.

Three-thousand words. That's my goal.

If you guys come back tomorrow and the word count under DARK WATER in my sidebar doesn't say 50k, you have my permission to bite my e-head off. (I think I need it. Lol)

Today's post isn't much. (I didn't have anything planned. Eep.) But look out for an actual post from me tomorrow. Pinky promise!

Oh, and by the way...

I've been keeping up with everything that's happening in Japan. My heart really goes out to everyone involved. I'm praying for them and plan to make a donation, but I really wish there was more I could do.

If any of you want to make donations, click here, here, or here.

TAKE CARE, LOVELIES.

Winners, Awards, and First Chapters! Oh, My!

My blogfest is officially

OVER.

Whoo...guys, let me tell you, my eyes are worn out. But I believe I manged to stop around to everyone's blog. If I missed yours (I'm sorry), just tell me and I'll hop right over.

Did everyone else have as much fun as I did? I read so many good beginnings! And I got a buttload of awesome feedback on DARK WATER. Have I mentioned lately how much I love you guys? You're all so helpful! If I could, I'd jump through my screen and give each and every one of you a bone-crushing bear hug. (As if I could with these little noodle arms of mine...)

But, now that the fun is over, we have matters to attend to. A $20 Amazon gift card that one of you lucky ducks will be receiving. And the winner is...

Oh, wait a tick! Before I announce my winner, I want to thank Madeline over at Capricious Existence for the awards she gave me!

Thanks, Madeline!! *waves*

 To accept these awards, I have to:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 or so recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

So, here goes!

Seven totally-random-and-probably-weird things about me:

1.  I've got the sense of humor of a fifteen-year-old boy. Up until high school, most of my friends were guys. (I had a grand total of TWO good female friends.) And it's pretty obvious their um...crudeness rubbed off on me. I once thought about doing a tally to see how many crotch jokes I make in a day, but decided against it. I'm not sure I can count that high.

2.  I don't watch a lot of movies. I'm always one of the last to see all the big hits. (My brother had seen Avatar four times before I broke down and decided to go see it.) I think it might have something to do with the time it takes to watch one--I feel like I could be doing something more productive. My boyfriend is a movie buff, so it really gets on his nerves when he starts talking about a movie he loves and I just stare at him like an idiot.

3.  On the flip side, I'm a music buff, but Travis (the boyfriend) only listens to what he hears on the radio. It annoys me to NO END that he's so resistant to looking for music. (Because we all know they don't play good music on the radio anymore. You have to seek it out.)

4.  I'm addicted to coffee. I can drink a whole pot by myself and make more later. But I don't like my coffee to taste like ANYTHING that actually resembles coffee. It needs to taste like a milky, sugar-filled diabetes trap.

5.  I like to listen to music and picture my characters in epic scenes. I feel kind of silly, but I've got a sneaking suspicion I'm not the only one out there doing it.

6.  When I was a little kid, I had my heart set on becoming a marine biologist. Yeah, believe me, I was the only kid in class with that response.

7.  I have a weakness for funny guys. If they can make me laugh, I'm done. I once dated a guy I had no chemistry with for nearly a whole year because he was quite possibly the funniest guy I'd ever met. I dunno--the funny just blinds me.

I'll be passing these awards along to:

1. A. Grey at Grey Places

2. Tessa Conte at Tessa's Blurb

3. Teralyn Rose Pilgrim at A Writer's Journey

4. Zan Marie at In the Shade of the Cherry Tree

5. Alexis at Korê Averna

6. Loralie Hall at It's Always About the Journey

7. Rosie Connolly at East for Green Eyes

8.  Marie Rearden at The Flying Cheetah

9. Rane Anderson at The Lit Express (Yeah, not a recently discovered blog for me, but have you seen it? If any blog out there deserves a stylish blogger award, it's The Lit Express.)

And that's that.

I know it said 15 bloggers, but eh...rules are made for breaking, right? Annnnnyway, now that all of that is out of the way, all that's left is to announce our blogfest winner.

Our winner is...

Trisha at WORD + STUFF

I'll be sending your gift card through email ASAIFOH!

(Translation: As soon as I figure out how. Lol)

But I can't stress enough how grateful I am to everyone who participated. You guys really made my first blogfest an awesome one. If I could give you all a prize, I would. (Damn my wallet for being so empty.)

You can all be counting on seeing more blogfests out of me in the future!

Oh, and one more thing!

You might remember me mentioning something about posting the first chapter of Broken for you guys to read if you're interested. Well, take a gander (yeah, I just said gander. I feel lame) at the top of the page. See that new tab that says 'Broken'?

Yeah, that one. Click it.

BOOM! First chapter.

There's a comment section at the bottom, so if you do read it and have something you're just burning to say--be it positive or negative--go right ahead. But let me warn you...it's kinda long.

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

It's Here! It's Here!

It's blogfest day!

Yaaay!

For those of you scratching your heads, today is the start of my Catch Me If You Can blogfest! The idea is pretty simple--I want everyone to have an answer to that pesky question we all have: "Does my WIP catch people's attention right away?" Post up to 550 words from the beginning of your WIP and let's find out!

And there's a $20 Amazon gift card up for grabs, so yeah...there's that :)

If you haven't already signed up, there's still time!

CLICK HERE!

I'm going to be posting the first 500 words of DARK WATER. I was originally planning to post from BROKEN, but I'm trunking that project for a while.

 I'm still going to be putting BROKEN's first chapter on a page all it's own. More info on that on March 9.

Annnnnywho--here's the beginning of DARK WATER. It's a first draft, so I know it needs a lot of polishing. Any feedback (positive and negative) is awesome and greatly appreciated. If your critique is running a little long, or you've got something you'd prefer to tell me in private, feel free to send me an email!

Kristina(dot)Fugate(at)yahoo(dot)com

-----

Today should be a happy day. A day for giving thanks to the sea for the bounty we’ve received this year. But we have no thanks to give--not today. Not as we stand, speechless, around the mangled body of Lundy MacLochlan.

I keep my distance from the quickly-gathering crowd, watching the waves clean away the puddle of vomit by my bare feet. What can I say--I’m the one who found him, and I just couldn’t keep my breakfast down. My stomach still quivers, trying to send up food that isn’t there. I glance over my shoulder at the lighthouse, its lanterns still burning and lenses waiting to be polished. For a split second, an image of Pa flashes into my mind, barking at me to never, ever neglect the lighthouse. But those thoughts are short-lived.

My eyes wander back to Lundy and I cringe. His flesh, torn and scratched; eyes, wide open but seeing nothing. Sea-green froth oozes from his mouth. Chunks are missing from his arms and stomach, revealing the dark pink meat beneath. His left hand and most of the fingers on his right are gone, leaving nothing but grisly stumps. My skin prickles with revulsion and I turn away.

A mournful breeze washes over the beach, kicking my nightdress back against my legs and making me shiver. Or perhaps I’m shivering for Lundy. Oh, gods, poor Lundy...whatever he went through, it had to be horrible. And Bren. My knees weaken. I can’t imagine what he’ll do when he finds out--

A shrill cry breaks my train of thought and I reel around. Azelie--Lundy’s wife. She throws herself down in the sand, pulling the mauled body into her arms. A few of the men from the village pull Azelie back, but she breaks away from them.

“Who found him?” She glares bitter daggers at the crowd. “Who?”

“I did.” My voice is a thin rattle in the silence.

She skitters through the sand, jumps to her feet, and grabs my shoulders. Her fingernails dig into my skin. “Vidette, you had to see something! Who did this to my Lundy?”

I shake my head, wide-eyed. “N-nay. I didn’t see a thing.”

“You had to!” Her nails nearly slice into my arms.

“Azelie!”

My head snaps up. Bren steps off the dunes, his face hard with disapproval. Azelie releases me and I slink back as Bren shoves through the pack of people. His hazel eyes flit to his uncle’s body.

Dismay melts the stiffness in his features and turns the blood in my veins to ice. He drops beside the corpse, reaching toward it with quivering fingers. I look to the others, begging them silently to pull him away as they had with Azelie. But they only squirm and mutter between themselves and steal uneasy glances at Bren and what’s left of Lundy.

“This makes...what? Three?” someone says.

“Four,” another replies.

“It’s a damn shame.”

Someone else scoffs. “It’s a damn curse is what it is.”

I'm A Writer--Say It With Uh...Pride?

***Don't forget to join my Catch Me If You Can blogfest!***

CLICK HERE!

---------

For the longest time, when people asked me what I wanted to do after I got out of school, I'd stutter and fumble over my response, eventually managing to croak out, "I write." And when they asked me what I wrote about, I had an even harder time coming up with an explanation for my book. I can't count the number of times I stood with my head down, cheeks burning, stammering out a jumbled mess of characters and bits of plot.

The one I remember best happened with a good friend of mine.

He worked as a clerk at the local booze shop and I popped in to hang out with him from time to time. On this particular day, I was chilling behind the counter with my feet propped on an empty Jagermeister box, watching him unload the shipment of bottles they'd gotten in that morning. He stopped working and said, "So, you're writing a book, aren't you?"

"Yeah," I said, damning the quiver in my voice.

"What's it about?"

I cursed mentally--oh, how I dreaded that question. "Well...uh..." My mind reeled, trying to reign in at least a fragment of the story from my suddenly scattered memory. "It's about this girl who uh--finds this err...guy in the snow and umm--he's a vampire, y'know? And the uh...the girl gets into trouble with the vampires chasing him--wait, did I mention them? They're kinda important..."

Blood rose to my face and sizzled as I ran out of words. My friend stared at me for a while with one eyebrow raised ever-so-slightly, then he turned and picked up another couple of bottles. "Well, I'm sure it's better than that."

Yep. Needless to say I was pretty gosh-darn embarrassed. I'm pretty sure all that trouble came from a lack of confidence in my work. And that's okay--I really did suck back then. I read over some of my oldest stories the other day and wanted to burn them so no one could ever see the horror of my early works. I didn't burn them, of course. Because they're a testament to how far I've come.

As is my newfound ability to say I'M A WRITER without nearly passing out from the rush of blood to my cheeks.

I've got a lot more confidence in my writing. I know I've still got plenty of room for improvement, but DAYUM--I'm doing a lot better than I was a couple of years ago. And that's more than enough to put a perma-smile on my face.

Do you tell people you're a writer?

Why/Why not?

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

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Hello, lovelies.

So, as most of you probably know, when I'm not checking Twitter, reading emails, keeping up with Charlie Sheen's latest shenanigans, or just generally screwing off, I'm writing. (How do I find the time??) And, as most of you probably know, I've got three active WIPs right now. Well, two active and one that's semi-active. Annnnywho, since I don't have an actual post planned for today, I figured I'd just drop by and give out WIP updates.

~BROKEN~

Yeah, let's start off with the bane of my existence. Okay, so it's not that bad, but still...

I read through it, edited it's pants off, and even managed to chop it down to 100k. Then, yesterday, I started reading it again with my boyfriend (because when he reads my stuff, he likes for me to read with him). I got through about ten chapters and wanted to bang my head on the keyboard. I'M. JUST. NOT. HAPPY.

This is me:

 (This also happens to be the face I make at our puppy on a regular basis. But that's a story for another day.)

My official list of grievances looks a little something like this:

-Present tense.

Both BROKEN and DARK WATER are written in present tense. Present tense comes more naturally for me than past tense does. (I often find myself slipping into present tense with OPHELIA.) But there's just something about Skye's voice mixed with present tense that...doesn't work. Or at least, it doesn't work in the first few chapters. And that leads me into point number two...

-WTF first chapters?!

I'm not pleased with chapters one through six. The use of present tense in these chapters (mixed with Skye's voice) makes it read like a shopping list. First I do this, then I do this while also doing this. Then I think about this while--well, you get the picture. It's not like that in later chapters, so I know I can make this work. Still kind of annoying though. (Especially since I just rewrote the entire first half of the book.)

-Vampires.

Yep.

It's not that vampires are annoying me, exactly. They're annoying everyone else. Vampire stories sold like hotcakes (btw, what's a hotcake? Are they good?) after TWILIGHT blew up. I mean, have you seen the YA section at your local book store? I don't even have to go inside to know it's full of vampire books. It's gotten that bad! Basically what I'm swinging at with all this is: the market is veeeeeery over saturated with vamps right now.

So yeah. I'm thinking about trunking BROKEN for a while. Let it cool in my closet and concentrate on DARK WATER. Speaking of which...

~DARK WATER~

This is pretty much my saving grace right now. I'm very pleased with the way this story is going. I enjoy the characters, I'm having fun with the story, and I think the premise is kind of unique. Or...at least it is compared to BROKEN. Not to down BROKEN or anything--I love the story, it's just not all that new. Anyway, DARK WATER. I feel I might have gotten a little...uh, dramatic in places, but I can fix all that. I also wish it was coming along a little quicker. I've been working on it for four months, but Stephen King says you should have the first draft done in three. Sooo, yeah. I need to pick up the pace.

~OPHELIA~

Pretty much on hold for right now. I dunno. It's not my genre and I got a little miffed with it. I'm at that point now where I could pick it back up again and finish it in a month, but...meh. I'm being uber lazy about it. One of your should kick my e-ass and tell me to get on it. (I need that from time to time.) Plus, I'm not really pleased with the story. As it stands, I'm going to have to give it some major surgery.

TL;DR

I'm concentrating on DARK WATER right now. It's going great, but BROKEN is being a pain in the ass and OPHELIA needs to be rewritten.

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

P.S. Today is mine and Trav's three year anniversary. So yeah...yay us.