Hello World

I've been doing some work on the novel DYING MOON, but not enough. I'm very slow due to my chronic pain condition. I'm doing fine otherwise. I'm really looking forward to DragonCON this year. Every year I have more friends. One of these years I need to organize a party. I don't know what panel(s) I'll be doing yet. So, if you are going, feel free to say hello.

HyperiCON

I will at HyperiCON in Nashville this weekend. So, if you are in the area, check out the con. This is a great convention with lots of fun.

What I've Been Doing

I got too behind on the NanoWrimo front due to a nasty virus that had me bedridden for three days, so I had to give it up. It's just as well. I'm back on the novella (Vendetta), but I'm struggling. I have been doing a lot of studying on the art of writing, such as characterization, plot & structure, and scenes.

These are some great books and I recommend them: PLOT & STRUCTURE by James Bell, MAKE A SCENE by Jordan E. Rosenfeld. There is another, but it is in my car and I'm too lazy to go get it at the moment. I'll list it later. I've also been into this month's POETS & WRITERS MAGAZINE. There are so awesome articles in it. This is the MFA edition.

I really wish I could go back to school, but we can't afford it right now. That and I don't have the time. I'd love to get my degree and teach literature.

I've also been doing a little studying of poetry. I picked up that Alexandrine form is a poem that has 12 syllables on each line. That sounded challenging, so I decided to write one. I'm not the world's best poet, but I do enjoy writing poems.

THE SOUP SLOB

He drinks the soup from a chipped, blue ceramic bowl.
Soup dribbles down his bearded chin in rivulets.
He wipes the streams away with the hem of his sleeve
And so the soup continues until laundry day.

Currently I am back at work on Vendetta. I'm just taking it scene by scene. I've also added some stuff for characterization and hopefully fixed the POV issues. I used to think I knew what I was doing and somewhere a long the way I lost my confidence. The illness I deal with has a lot to do with that I think. The chronic pain and fatigue; also, the depression and mood swings.

I'm determined to get this novella done. I have other projects to work on. I haven't written a story in so long I'm worried I've forgotten how (not really).

Anyone else get holiday blues?

VOTING

I did it and it was fairly painless. I live in a very conservative area. My neighbor across the street just put up his McCain yard sign yesterday. And up at the school where we vote, there were McCain/Palin signs at the drive. There weren't any Obama signs anywhere, but that's okay. I put my vote in for him anyway.

My 6th grader came home yesterday and said his friends didn't want Obama to win because he is a Muslim. I had to explain to him that his friends were wrong and that Obama is not a Muslim, but a Christian. It is frightening how kids will parrot the beliefs of their parents and grandparents and defend those beliefs simply because they are held by family. But then, they are kids. I'm hoping they will outgrow that.

Obama is not Muslim and is not a socialist. Anyone who believes these lies is an idiot.

On the NanoWriMo front, I am not at 6,000 words. I'll try to reach 8,000 today, though I'm feeling really tired and icky.

My NanoWriMo Novel So Far

This is probably the strangest bit I've ever written...and the most fun. The title at the moment is YOUNG AT DEATH, but it may change.

Our protagonist is sixteen-year-old Anwyn, Annie to her friends. Her father dead and abandoned by her mother, she lives with her violent and alcoholic Aunt Ethel and her perverted Uncle James. She learns that her best and only friend, Cathy, is moving to Australia. When cornered by her Uncle, she stabs herself in the throat with a pair of scissors in an attempt to end her pain and to cause him pain. However, she didn't think things through and now she is in a worse place than ever.

Accompanied by her pet rat, Oreo, whom she can now understand, she wanders through Limbo while waiting for her comatose body to either recover or die. Limbo happens to be the hospital. So far she has met an angel whom she asked for help and was told that helping her was not his area. And she has met David whose body is in a coma from a drug overdose.

David is suspicious and fearful at first, but not wanting to be alone, he follows her and they become friends. They discover that they cannot leave the building and decide to explore the hospital. They end up on the pediatrics floor where they meet a little girl with a teddy bear. David inquires about the bear's name and the little girl tells him the bear's name is Jaws. David finds this funny, but not for long. The little girl puts the bear down on the floor and it changes into a demonic grizzly that tries to eat them. Their fear snaps them back to their bodies and they meet up again. They reason that the little girl is not a little girl at all, but a demon and that the children on the floor are in danger. So, they have hatched a plan to find another angel and tell it about the demon, hoping that the angel will take care of it.

And that is where we are so far. A lot has happened in just 4,000 words, eh?

NanoWriMo

For those of you who do not know, NanoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, an insane endeavor crazy people undertake every November 1. Participants have until the last day of November to write a novel of 50,000 words. Now, 50,000 words does not a novel make in the real world, more like a novella, but it is a good goal.

If you write 1,666 words a day, every single day, you will reach your goal easy. But my experience has been that it is impossible to do this. Something will always keep you from writing every single day, whether it be the flu or the evil God of procrastination. So far, I'm doing great.
I have 4,000 words at the moment and my goal is to reach 6,000 today. I'm not sure what I will have at the end will make a whole lot of sense, but hey, I'm doing it anyway.

If you are doing NanoWriMo 2008, drop me a line and let me know how you're doing!

Miracle Worker and novella update

Some of you may be aware that I have had Fibromyalgia, a neuromuscular chronic pain disorder for the past nine years. It has made my life hell and every year I get worse. It has really affected my ability to write, because it affects my ability to concentrate and zaps my energy.

Recently, I read an article in a local newspaper about a chiropractor that is an upper cervical specialists. I was diagnosed after a severe fall and it mostly affects my neck and shoulders. Apparently, the first vetebrae is called the Atlas bone and holds the head up. If it is out of place, it can have dire consequences. I went in and got evaluated and was told that yes, I needed his help. I was feeling skeptical, but I had my first adjustment yesterday. I got on my needs with my head turned to the right and flat on a padded table. He pushed really hard behind my skull and there was an enormous cracking sound. At first I thought he'd broken my neck, but then I realized that I was okay. I felt different. Sore, but different. I'm not really ready to say I'm better yet, but last night I slept peacefully for the first time in years and I woke up feeling rested. I usually wake up hurting badly and feeling tired. I still have pain, but it is more of a soreness, than anything else. I've been really super tired today, but I think that just may be the shock to my body. I have felt calm all day when usually I'm feeling confused and anxious.

So, I'm really hoping that this is the answer.

Now, for the novella. It's going slow, but good. The rewrite of Chapter One has been chosen as an Editor's Pick on the review site I frequent. This is a publisher run site that requires payment for membership. The only thing I don't like about the site is that the process is slow for me. You have to review probably two to three stories to gain enough points to post your own. When you are talking about chapters, it gets to be time consuming. I have gotten some good reviews and it still needs work, but when I get it done it will be good.

I really want this first longer work to be as good as it can be.

I'm in mid-draft right now. I've probably got a couple of more rewrites to do before I'm done and then I must decide what to do as far as publishing. I really don't have the money to publish it myself, but that is what I would like to do. I have two very talented artist friends who I could contract for the artwork. I can lay it out myself and work with a printer. I used to do desktop publishing. The only big problem is the money to print the copies, well that and the marketing. I know how to market, but I also know it takes money to do it right. I may see if I can pick up an ad for inside back cover and maybe an insert. That will help pay for some.

I'm also toying with the idea of doing it as a podcast and letting people download it for a fee. That is an area with which I am not familiar.

I'd be interested in hearing any opinions.