Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Rolling On And On...


It has come to my attention (like running into a brick wall) that I need to work at short stories. I simply cannot write a short story.

Well... I can. I HAVE.

I've been writing and working on my short story called "The Wicked One" for some time now. And I either need to set it aside until I figure out the details or I need to condense it down after it is written.

I have a thing about giving far too much information. My mom has also told me I have the gift of gab. I can see someone in the store and talk and talk and talk...

Meh.

I feel the same way in my writing. I feel like I have caught up with an old friend and just keep going on and on about everything. A little more mystery would be nice. People don't need to know EVERYthing, do they? Even in writing?

I know I will get there eventually, that I will polish up this short story and things will be fine. It is the routine, the angst of writing, of starting that new story.

Oh! And I think I have figured out how to start my historical fantasy story... I can't wait!

Do you think you put too much or too little information into your writing?

Monday, January 23, 2012

Posting Past Midnight...

I'm a night owl by nature. I can't help it. That is the best time for me to write, when everyone is asleep, including the cats and I can work uninterrupted.

Mornings, or shall I say afternoons in my case, are usually reserved for checking emails, responding to comments and trying to read all of the blogs I follow. I don't always comment, but sometimes I try to leave one even if it is a generic, "Great post!" Because, well, half the time they are very good posts.

My husband built me a desk. I absolutely love it and will be working on personalizing it once he gets the backing attached where my shelves will be. Once that is done, it will be more stable. Someday I will be able to afford a comfortable chair. I had to go back to sitting in my recliner tonight. For some reason the whole right side of my body hurt today. Didn't help that I stood too long at work when I could have sat down and taken a break.

My body is protesting winter, that's all there is to it.

So I didn't even get to enjoy my desk tonight. I will have to see how I feel tomorrow and make up for lost time.

I took a really cool picture the other day and will share it with you later this week along with the first of my "character interviews". I've told you all before that some of my characters are based on real people and their characters they created in LoC (Legends of Cosrin). So I have a two parter. Part one is with the actual person, part two is with the character based on them from my first book, Shadow of the Rose, Book One: Adversarius. Adversarius for short... due out this May.

So keep on the lookout! Have a super Monday and a great week!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Working Out The Kinks...

The Kinks, what a great band...

I got sidetracked right off the bat! It's been one of those kinds of weeks. I'm trying to spend some time working on my short story. I always tend to hit a roadblock, then stop writing and work it out in my brain for awhile. I did have a great epiphany as to where I want this story to go, I just need to push forward and actually keep working on it.

I'm also working on revisions for my second book, Veritas. AND even though I have those two in the works, I have plans to expand on the very short stories I wrote for WDC's (Writing.com) Writer's Cramp contests. They are both very good stories, aren't related to my fantasy writing or my world for that matter and would go great in an anthology of things I want to compile.

Aside from all this and my work schedule, I'm trying to stay afloat and deal with financial issues. Seems like 2012 started off with a bang for lots of people and I got hit with the shrapnel as well.

Oh well. I'll make it through.

But as I was saying, aside from all of this going on, I'm trying to work out a Virtual Blog Tour. I have heard from several of you saying I can hop on over to your place when the time comes. I would like very much to join up with Michael Offutt as his book will be released in May as well. We have completely different genres, but my theory is The More, The Merrier. Even though we're selling different books, there is absolutely no reason why we can't do a tour together. If there is anyone else coming out with a book in May and they're looking to do a blog tour, I'd love to hear from you! We are a working community, after all and supporting each other is what we do best.

So drop me a line if you have a book coming out, or if you don't mind us hacking your blog for a couple of days. I'm also looking for some Blog Tour advice, do's and don't's... things like that. What do you suggest? What advice do you have?

Have a great week everyone!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Something To Look Forward To...

Meh. I didn't post my Friday Favorites post for two reasons. One, I got busy and two, I drew a blank on most of my favorites and said to hell with it.

I do have a couple of things coming up on the horizon. From now until maybe May, when my book release is due, I will be posting some interviews with my characters.

Most of you know that I have, in fact, based lots of my characters on some friends of mine I used to game with . Legends of Cosrin (LoC) is a text based Role Playing Game. A MuD, if you will. It helped me out in lots of different ways.

What ways, you ask?

Well. First of all, I found the game while working for America Online. (That dates me, doesn't it? Lol!) At the time, it cost $2 an hour. Seriously. And lots of people I knew would play for DAYS! But, me being an employee of AOL, I didn't have to pay to play. Some of my co-workers and I would be logged in to the game while waiting for calls to come in to support.

I got hooked from the get go. After leaving AOL, the game became self sufficient, so to speak and was only $5 a month, then free for awhile and well... anyway I digress.

Around that time I was seriously depressed and found solace in my internet friends. Lots of people got addicted to the internet and chat rooms when it first came on the scene. I admit, I was no different. So I spent a good majority of my time playing LoC. Then I got out of it and later on found World of Warcraft... the rest of this part is history.

But one huge way LoC helped me was with my writing. I had to be the character and because the game was text based (words scrolling on the screen at high speeds) you had to type out your emotions, type out different descriptions of what your character was doing, etc. When we nerds got going with our RP's, (Role Plays) there was no stopping us!

Everyone worked together to make the stories come to life on the screen. People would talk in groups about what they wanted to do and lots of people would just wing it.

One memorable RP (Role Play) story included myself and an entire Fighter's Guild.

Let me back up just a bit. At any given time way back in the heyday of the game, there would be around 200 people logged in to the game. So you were usually dealing with a large group of people over the internet and everyone was playing a character and had to be In Character (IC). Out of Character (OOC) had its own chat room and you had to "Step out of character" sometimes to ask questions or explain situations. Most people didn't know what was going to happen next, it was like a constant, unfolding story.

So anyway, the Fighter's Guild (main place for warrior type characters to train) had to be managed by a Guild Master. There were usually 3 assistants to help maintain the guild, help new people, game commands... lots of technical stuff. People were voted in and had to campaign for the spot. One of our GM's (Guild Master) wanted to cause an uprising and the Guild was divided. People who were supposed to be Comrades in Arms began fighting. A civil war of sorts. So my character (Kayta) and several others began to plot.

Muahahaha!

My character and her half sister wormed our way in to the GM's confidence and basically played the Double Agent scenario. Now, when you get a game full of geeks and role players, you get people who are "passionate" about the game. Everyone gets into character and forget reality. We got harassed both in character and out.

Seriously.

But my whole point of this is to point out just how much this game was like an on going story. If you were going to be gone for any length of time, most people would post a story of where there character had gone. Some went on adventures outside of the city, others would leave to take care of "families". All sorts of sub plots were tossed into this mix.

So, do you see where I am going with this? It was writing. It was writing a huge, epic novel of endless possibilities and proportions. Sometimes a player would quit the game and kill off their character. We would hold weddings, funerals and celebrate the births of "children". We fought gods and goddesses, we became heroes and even Legends.

And a lot of the time, we sat in the local inn and worked on our drinking skill.

Oh, and the bar fights were awesome. Hehe!

So when I speak of Cosrin, it is with fond memories and wistfulness. I have several really good friends that have kept in touch even though we no longer play the game. We connected on lots of different levels.

I came up with the idea long ago to start writing about things we did in this game, but then thought... What if i don't do those stories justice? I would hate to tarnish those memories. So I went a different route, created my own world wrapping it around my dear Cosrin. The main city in the game was called Moorgate. My main city in my stories is called Moordigan.

In the time between now and May, I'm going to introduce you to a more in-depth look at my characters. I'll be interviewing them and I will also be "interviewing" several people behind those characters. Because practically each one is based on my fellow geeks and gamers.

Hope this didn't bore you too much and I apologize for the length of the post. Everyone have a great weekend! I'll see you on Monday.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Writing, Writing...

I've had a few days off of work. That's the down-side to working part time. Yesterday we had a snow day. Schools closed, my husband's work was closed as was mine. All but one employee made it to my work. I could have made it but it took about 3 hours to shovel out of my drive since the plows were busy trying to make the roads manageable.

So with all this time off I actually had an epiphany about my short story, "The Wicked One". I have to admit, even though my stress lately has caused a bit of a creative drain, it does help to write through it all.

Thanks for all of your comments over the past two days about your Girl and Guy I.Q. It can be difficult to write about the opposite sex. But if you get the gender traits right, the rest comes easily.

I should be getting back into my blogging groove, so look for my usual Friday post.

Have a great day everyone!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Guys And Gals...

So the other day I posted about girls writing guys well. So guys, how well do you write your girls?

Do me a huge favor, okay? Do not, NOT describe her like your fantasy girl. Come on, you know what I'm talking about. All those comic book geeks (and now gaming geeks) who make their girls well endowed with nice rear ends and impossibly tiny waists.

However, if you like a girl to have long hair, go for it. Same with hair color, eye color and intelligence. Same thing goes for girls as guys. Don't wussify them.

1) Don't make the girl seem so helpless without a man. Give her some spine. She's got to be able to stand upright!

2) On the opposite side of that coin, don't make her masculine.

3) Girls worry about their appearance. Duh. What you may not know is they usually obsess about their best feature.

I get insanely crazy about my hair sometimes. Same with my nails. I take great pride in having an awesome complexion. What expensive products give some women, I get with just soap and water. Don't hate.

4) Women like romance. They can insist they don't, but every girl wants to be swept off her feet. But give her independence.

All right ladies, feel free to add your two cents to this one.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

What's Your Guy IQ?...

This question pertains to you. Yes you. All of you female authors out there. When you have a male character, whether he be your main or otherwise, how well do you know your man?

There have been times when I read about male characters written by females and they're too... feminized.

And not in a good way...

When your guy hits on a girl, is he sweet and shy? Does he blush when she sneaks a peek in his direction? Not necessarily a good thing. You want him to be sweet, shy, possibly flushed a little when a good looking girl glances at him from under her long lashes. But you also want him to man up, right?

They care about their appearance, but less than girls. Most guys don't worry about their hair.

1) They'll usually take a sniff at the closest t-shirt/jeans/underwear and if it doesn't knock them out, they'll wear it.

2) Fingers through the hair counts as combing.

3) If it itches, they scratch it no matter where they are. I think I would laugh my butt off if a character actually scratched...

Oh, and for that matter, since when do characters not have to relieve themselves? Make those boys write their name in the snow. Don't forget to dot i's and cross t's.

4) Boys/men have to "peacock". They strut to impress the girls. They love to wrestle in front of girls if they can get away with it.

5) They want to be protectors. They'll defend their honor, they're loyal to their friends and most of them will defend the girl. Then there is the extreme opposite. The bully.

Most bullies think that defending their sense of honor means fighting everyone who looks at them sideways. Anyone who seems different in any way suddenly will have a huge target on their forehead.

So make sure you do your guy homework. Don't wussify your guy. Ha! My favorite joke from the male human in World of Warcraft is "Cover me! I gotta take a whiz behind that tree."

So what's your "Guy Q"?

Monday, January 9, 2012

Working Through The Stress...

I want to say thanks to everyone who left comments on my last post. I'm trying to work through the stress of things. I even had a really cool, twisted epiphany on my short story, "The Wicked One".

I know everyone goes through some rough times. I know we're all allowed to vent on our blogs once in awhile. It happens.

So, I have a link here for the Hellfire Herald. This is the blog for the publishing company I signed on with. This particular post caught my eye simply because I write like this guy. You can read the post here.

Before you hop over to read it, let me tell you a little about it. Mostly, it is about writing style. I've told you all before that I am a Pantser. Quite like Elana Johnson. (Hence where that term came from, lol!) I write by the seat of my pants. My characters speak, the movie plays in my head and I frantically try to keep pace. Much like my comrade over on the Hellfire Herald. I write it all out and then later on, I look it over, find the story, the holes and polish that puppy til it sparkles in total darkness.

Okay, now you can go over to that post. I just like it when you linger a little longer over what I write. Have a great week!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Seriously?...

It is only day 6 of the New Year and I've been hit with a mound of stress. Fear not! I will push through this, because I absolutely. Have. To.

I've got a pretty strong work ethic, but when I was hit with depression and anxiety, it took me down like a cheerleader getting hit by a biker chick. I spent I don't know how long feeling sorry for myself and burying my head under my blankets, afraid to face the world.

Then I went back to work, got injured, spent two years getting two surgeries on my left wrist and dealing with Pain and Torture. (Physical Therapy) Went back to work, got sick again with fluid on my brain and full hysterectomy. Am back to work again.

My whole attitude about things these days has completely changed. I'm tired of pulling my blanket up over my head. So like every other Alaskan, I've had the whole "Suck It Up" attitude. I step out into 10 degree weather to fill a propane tank and suck it up and just do it.

I do have a point here, somewhere. Probably buried under all the snow.

I got hit with some pretty tough financial problems two days ago and have had to deal with some emotional family issues. Sadly, it all hit me at once and I don't feel like I am having a very good New Year.

I know I posted about being positive in your web presence, but I did state you were allowed to whine as long as you got over it. Well, I'm whining. I'm sniveling a bit and I will get over it. I met someone who has been hit harder than me and even though I have nothing to give, I scraped up something and passed it on.

It will get better, not just for me, but for my new-found friend. There will always, always be someone there to support you and help out. If you need a hand, don't be afraid to ask. So bear with me, my friends, while I get over this and figure out the best way to deal with things. It is sapping me of my creativity at the moment and I'm trying to push past that.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Insecure Writer's Support Group...

It is the first Wednesday of a New Year!!

Trying to write around the holidays is like trying to roller skate in an elevator.

By now, you should all be familiar with Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group. A.K.A. IWSG. If you don't know it by now, where the hell have you been???

So, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to blog about. Well, insecurities, of course. I've been pretty supportive the past couple of posts, I think today I'll be the whimpering, sniveling, insecure writer.

Sort of.

If you've been keeping up with me, you've seen my recent posts, I mentioned creating a web presence. Ways you should act, how you should respond to trolls, (people who try to provoke a negative response from other people while they spend their 44th birthday living in mom's basement...) things like that.

You want people to like you, when you get right down to it. Everyone wants to be liked. There's no reason to be snarky in every post. Bad things will happen, you will vent and get over it. Post something happy.

I want people to like me. I feel bad when people don't. I feel like I've done something to offend someone. I panic when I lose a follower. But I have to stop and think... some of my fellow bloggers have walked away from blogging and their accounts may have just gone "poof!" which is why I lost a follower.

Or I did piss someone off.

I've worked hard and I've been diligent in my writing and revising. But still, what if someone looks at my work and goes into Nerd Rage or something. (Nerd Rage is when a game stops responding, crashes or they read a fantasy book that is totally lame...) Insert me in that last one. I've put my baby out there. I've poured myself into this story and am leaving myself wide open for rejection. The bad reviews are going to come and I will have to suck it up and take it.

Gah!

So many things to worry about, you know? It makes you feel insecure. Who wouldn't feel insecure? I'm still insecure about my writing, but the support of my fellow authors and writers and even readers is what keeps me going. With such a wonderful group like this, we should all be successful.

What are your insecurities?

Monday, January 2, 2012

Well!...

I've started the New Year off with a bang. I didn't do anything for New Year's eve, which was completely fine. I'm turning into such a homebody. But I gotta do what I gotta do.

I haven't exactly set goals for the new year, but I have decided to make some life changing alterations that I can meet without feeling disappointed in myself for being a slacker. Let's be realistic, right? Right!

I used to drink a soda every single day up until about a year or so ago. I stopped drinking soda and found I felt better and even lost weight. Lately, thought, I've been slipping more often than not. It's easy when you work in a convenience store. You get free drinks. So rather than reaching for the water button, I pick soda. First I only did it once a week, but now I find I drink it more than I should. So I've resolved to go back to my no soda policy. Sure, I indulge when I go out to eat, but I don't go out often enough that it will become a problem. This is something I know I can stick to because I've done it before.

Writing. I've slacked off since signing my contract. I need to get back into the groove of revising and editing. So I have to push myself and stop procrastinating. Again, I've done it before, I can do it again. Easy peasy.

The last thing I want to work on is getting into some semblance of shape. I'm used to changing my diet to eat healthier. We have to, my husband and I. He has diabetes and he controls it with diet. I changed my eating habits to conform to his so we don't have to worry about separate meals or anything I'm eating tempting him. I just need to keep adjusting my diet and add some exercise in there. Gotta keep moving. Even if I look like a dork.

So making some decent resolutions this year will be pretty easy and I know I'll be able to keep them and not feel bad for slacking.

Happy New Year, everyone. Now you can sit back and relax until Valentine's Day.