Weekly Update

So, I did not get much writing done; I have been watching Sherlock and playing chess against computer bots. When I play real people, I get tense and lightheaded, so I don’t do it often, and it’s true online as well as in person, though in person is definitely much more stressful.
Anyway, that is actually rather relevant because I made a revelation this morning. You may know that I have had a world idea for some time involving what I call the Rookery. It’s a play on the word “rook” which has several meanings: the bird, the chess piece, monks, thieves… Anyway, I thought: what if there was a religious organization with multiple deities/practices that were kind of all connected, and one of them is the Rookery, which, in addition to serving the Goddess of Darkness, also functions as a secret organization of spies, assassins, and thieves? And they leave a rook chess piece when they are recruiting, but other chess pieces when they have committed a “crime” (but because they are sanctioned by the state, it’s not exactly a crime, though also not exactly legal either — in a kind of grey area).
But that is just a setting. I didn’t have a story for it, so it has just been sitting there, waiting for the right moment.
I don’t know if this is the right moment, but I do know that I finally have a character for this setting. I’ve always been drawn to unlikable, intelligent types. For a long time, my two favorite fictional characters have been Madame Defarge from Tale of Two Cities and Severus Snape from Harry Potter. We can now add Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock to that — I haven’t read the real Doyle fiction, nor have I seen any other actual interpretations, so I don’t know whether I would have the same reaction to actual Sherlock Holmes, but that is rather moot. I have a type of character I love, but have never written.
And that, my friends, needs to change. And they would fit perfectly in The Rookery world. I think I know what I am doing for NaNo this year!

Weekly Update

So, this week has been all about the torch marathon for Camp Nano. I am one of the organizers of a month-long event called the NaNoOlympics, which pits different writing groups agaist each other in different events. The last event of the month was the torch marathon, and the rules were basically this:

1. You try to “carry the torch” for as long as possible.
2. A single “leg” of the marathon is one hour of writing (or editing, or other writing activity).
3. At the end of the leg, the current writer can either keep the torch and write for another hour OR pass the torch to another writer.
4. The switch has to be visible — that is, the first writer must say they are passing the torch (either to themself or to the next person) AND the next writer must say they are picking up the torch (unless it is the same person — they don’t have to post twice to say “I’m passing the torch to myself” and then again “I am picking up the torch”).
5. The person picking up the torch must respond to the first writer (if 2 different people) within 5 minutes.
6. The actual hand off needs to occur within 5 minutes of the top of the hour (if not, the person with the torch needs to finish that hour as well).

I was a participant in one of the competing groups, and we had some extremely dedicated writers (I was 4th on the list, but in terms of actual time, the two at the top did an INSANE number of hours). One of them regularly did 5 hours every days, and on at least two occasions, did 11 hours. Because of this, we were never really in any real danger of dropping the torch, so I ended up helping out when I could, and, according to the posted stats, wrote 20 hours during that week, mostly one hour, then a break, then another hour or two, but I did have a couple of uninterrupted 2-hour legs.

The problem with this is that my Camp goal was revision, but I got swept up in the excitement and ended up writing instead. Part of this was due to the earlier Weekend of Writing Wildly, which was a similar event, except done as streaming on Twitch, and when I am streaming, I prefer to write because people can hear my typing and see words appear, even though they are very tiny. So, anyway, I’ve been writing and I have started a new novel/novella (thinking it will be shorter, but too soon to tell), which is a paranormal ghost story. It may end up paranormal romance, but not typical paranormal romance, and it will probably be a lesbian romance at that.

So that’s this week.

Now that we are in May, I am focusing more on the “business” side of things, which I have been completely neglecting since January. I am also planning to organize my life better. Then, June and July will be revision months again, and maybe August, too… As long as I can avoid the temptation of writing lots of new words!

Optional Monthly Question

May 5 question – Has any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a way that you didn’t expect? If so, did it surprise you?

Yes, but I actually can’t remember it. It was a long time ago, and I remember thinking it was really cool, that they got this thing out of my story that I could see, now that they pointed it out, but did not deliberately put in. It was very eye opening. It made me realize how alive our stories are, and how they can grow and change with each reader, while the actual words remain the same. It made me question authors who tell their readers that their reading is “wrong”. I’m not saying they are wrong, but in my case, it was clear that the reader was right, that I can’t decide what the book is actually about, that I can’t tell a reader they are wrong for seeing something that IS there, even if I didn’t put it there. But I also think there are readers who see what they want to see, and maybe it isn’t there. I haven’t experienced that personally, but I could believe it could happen.
Anyway, this is the number one reason I will not be upset about any fan fiction that might occur. I’ll be flattered and curious to see the different ways people see my world and characters… if that even happens. Of course, I have to finish stuff first, and that means NOT writing new first drafts, and instead finishing the revision of Cipher.

Happy writing, other insecure writers, and I look forward to seeing you all next month!

INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP

FOUNDED BY

Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh

Twitter is @TheIWSG Hashtag: #IWSG

Join in here!

IWSG Website

The awesome co-hosts for the May 5 posting of the IWSG are Erika Beebe, PJ Colando, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine!

Weekly Update

Work is getting better. I did scheduling the Friday before last, and it really helped, so I spent a lot of time scheduling again this Friday, and things are starting to settle.

That means I am expecting my non-work time to begin to settle again, too, and I can get back to some of the things that I know are good for me. And I can get back to doing some writing in the evenings again, too. Which in this case, is revision. I am working on revising Cipher.

Technically, that is also my Camp NaNo goal and my general April goal, but I haven’t been doing it much, so, well, it hasn’t been happening. I’m in a bit of a rut, actually. But hopefully with the job solidifying, the reast can, too.

I have been watching TV lately. I watched The Irregulars, which I really liked, and I am almost to the end of Cursed. These are both on Netflix. On Amazon, I am watching Scott and Bailey, which I am really enjoying. I like that it is a little shorter than Cursed, even though I like them both. After Cursed, I am thinking about watching The Woman in White. I will see.

I’ve also been reading. I’m currently reading The Eight by Katherine Neville. It’s about a powerful, mystical chess set hidden over the years. I haven’t read The Da Vinci Code, but I suspect it’s similar to that. It’s not much of a surprise that I picked this one to read as the TV thing actually started with The Queen’s Gambit. I love chess, and I love France and Russia, so both that show and The Eight go into all three quite a bit.

Anyway, I guess this is a little longer than usual, and I don’t have much else to say. Next week, I hope I will be done with The Eight, so I can give it a proper review.

Until then, happy reading!

Weekly Update

So, contrary to expectations, the last week of February has been the week that I finally got into my revision, even though of course it was supposed to be my focus for the month overall. And March, I am getting back to covers, so by the time you read this, hopefully, I will have started that. I don’t have much to do with them, though, so I should still be able to get some revision in as well. I just started, but so far, the revision is going well.

I also started a new day job, so my schedule has changed, and I am planning on making more of an effort to add walking and yoga to my daily routine. We will see how it goes.

And, as this is the first Monday of the month, that means it is Insecure Writers Support Group day!

Optional Monthly Question

March 3 question – Everyone has a favorite genre or genres to write. But what about your reading preferences? Do you read widely or only within the genre(s) you create stories for? What motivates your reading choice?

This is a good question for March because I am also hoping to integrate more reading into my schedule, particularly at night. I have not been reading as much as I like to. But typically, it goes the other way. I used to read much more broadly than I do now. These days, I tend to default to easier reading, mostly cozy mysteries. I do write cozy mysteries, of course, but I also write in lots of other genres. And sometimes, when I read a book in a different genre, it will inspire me to write something in that genre as well.

What motivates my reading choice? I like to discover new things, but I also like to continue reading something I have started to love. It seems once I get into a series, I just want to keep reading that series. And then, I also like to read the work of other writers I know, or new writers I haven’t heard of. When I was a teacher, I tried to read the books my students read. But in general, I read pretty much everything. It just hasn’t been in the forefront of my mind lately, which is why I want to get back to it.

INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP

FOUNDED BY

Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh

Twitter is @TheIWSG Hashtag: #IWSG

Join in here!

IWSG Website

The awesome co-hosts for the March 3 posting of the IWSG are Sarah – The Faux Fountain Pen Jacqui Murray, Chemist Ken, Victoria Marie Lees, Natalie Aguirre, and JQ Rose!