Week in Review – 2013/04/15 – 2013/04/21

Posted on 2013/04/21 by Tonette dela Luna

Updated stats per my goals for this writerly journey. The deets of my original goals can be found here and here.

Camp NaNoWriMo April, 2013 – Current word count, not including Sunday’s totals = 53,320 (I wrote 20, 024 words this week.)

Savvy Authors April Boot Camp – Current word count not including Sunday’s totals = 50,957 (I wrote 16, 981 words this week.)

Blogging A to Z Challenge – A through R posted

Round of Words in 80 Days – Three Mid-Week Check-Ins and Three Sunday Check-Ins (including today)

I. Am. Tired.

Excited, too, so that’s good. I’m getting a kick out of the stories I’m writing and already have a series in play for the fairy tale mashup. It’s fun coming up with creative twists on familiar (and less familiar) fairy tale, fable, and folklore characters.

There’s a challenge to write 100 pages from May 1st to May 7th. I’m thinking of giving that a whirl to keep the momentum going. I’ll still blog but maybe once or twice a week (perhaps the for the #ROW80 check-ins) so I can focus on the stories I’m writing and revising.

As for the rest of the alphabet, I have pretty much all the topics covered but sometimes my inspiration for the content comes to me closer to the deadline. It’s been fun blogging through the ABCs and I look forward to doing that again next year.

We’re rounding the bases and home plate is in sight. It’s been an eyeopening experience and I can’t wait for future writing challenges and opportunities.

In the meantime, I’m taking it easy so my hands can recuperate and am catching up on some reading. I’ve also found some old stories that I’m reviewing with fresh eyes and have some story ideas I’d like to tinker with.

Though, I’ll be saying this more near the end, as well, thank you for coming with me on my writing journey this month.

ROW80Logocopy

Week in Review – 2013/04/08 – 2013/04/14

Posted on 2013/04/14 by Tonette dela Luna

Week Two in my Write-a-palooza is history and I lived to blog about it.

Yesterday was the first #NaNoThon and I chugged out the words. My friend for this event was iA Writer. So good. Distraction free writing with no temptation to check the internet. Better yet, I used the iA Writer iPad App so it gave me a different feel and motivation to up those word counts. A feel good moment rounding out the night with good numbers for both novels, 13, 481 words in total. If I keep this pace, I actually might finish the stories in fifteen days. That is, by Monday. Wouldn’t that be a riot? If that were to happen I think I’d continue on to Book Two in my fairy tale mash-up. I’ve been dreaming up characters this past week and am excited for the second subplot in Book Three already!

Updated stats per my goals for this writerly journey. The deets of my original goals can be found here and here.

Camp NaNoWriMo April, 2013 – Current word count, not including Sunday’s totals = 33, 296 (I wrote 17, 079 words this week.)

Savvy Authors April Boot Camp – Current word count not including Sunday’s totals = 33, 976 (I wrote 19, 385 words this week.)

Blogging A to Z Challenge – A through L posted

Round of Words in 80 Days – Two Mid-Week Check-Ins and Two Sunday Check-Ins (including today)

Excited at the progress.

I did surpass my goals of doubling my word counts. I would like to finish my novels by next weekend and get a head start on my next writing projects during the last week of April. I figure why stop now? I think there were a couple days during the week when I felt things petering off, but I’ve gotten my second and third winds now. It helps to have a great family to give you the recharge necessary to forge ahead.

I think I’ll spend today reviewing my remaining blog drafts and do more character research. Diving into these characters’ minds has been the most fun this month.

There’s another Camp NaNo and Savvy Authors Boot Camp coming in July. The months in between will have me revising previous WIPs, then kaPOW, I’ll be primed for the next round of finger-numbing, wrist-aching, head-scratching story creation.

Should be a blast.

Week in Review – 2013/04/01 – 2013/04/07

Posted on 2013/04/07 by Tonette dela Luna

Seven days into my write-a-palooza and I’m pleased as punch. While I don’t know what that means exactly, I for one, am happy at the response to my blogged and Twitterisms. It gives me courage to continue spilling forth my inner monologue to those willing to read. To all of you, my heartfelt thanks.

Some stats per my goals for this writerly journey. The deets can be found here and here.

Camp NaNoWriMo April, 2013 – Current word count, not including Sunday’s totals = 16, 217

Savvy Authors April Boot Camp – Current word count not including Sunday’s totals = 14, 141

Blogging A to Z Challenge – A through F posted

Round of Words in 80 Days – Checked in last Wednesday and this post serves as the Sunday Check in.

Not too shabby, considering some snafus with lost work, busy schedules with the family, oh, and life, in general.

Renewed goals would be to try and double my word counts by next Sunday. I also want to get a head start on writing my alphabet posts for the week. One of my workshops has us doing some characterization exercises, plotting, etc., so I’m trying to do double-duty where I can or apply it to an existing project so there aren’t too many hats in the ring, as it were.

One of my short stories is being primed in a workshop that aims to have it published on Smashwords and Amazon. I didn’t think that was to be my first published piece, but I’m proud of it just the same. I’m sure many authors have their pet projects that were meant to be the inaugural story in their writing careers. I hope to one day revisit those works and apply the skills I have acquired over the years that have made me a better writer. Who knows, those stories might see beyond my own imaginings and come out to play. Anything’s possible. After all, I did join a humor contest at the start of March which ended up with three of my pieces being published on a website. I might as well get used to my work being out there for public consumption.

April’s been a great month so far and it’s not even halfway through. How are everyone’s writing goals progressing so far? Are there any additions? Any amendments? Any hair-pulling and commiseration that you wish to share? I’m happy to ‘listen’ and read.

Cheers to a great first week and I hope that the next one is just as splendiferous.

T-Minus… We’re on the Precipice, the Calm Before the Storm

Posted on 2013/03/31 by Tonette dela Luna

TWO STORIES, ONE MONTH, A BLOG, and ME.

STORY ONE: A Love Less Ordinary

The first is a contemporary piece about the Murphy’s Law of relationships. Protagonist’s best friend and roommate kicks her out of her own apartment because she and her deadbeat fiancée (the freeloader who never paid rent) are ready to take the next step. This on the same day she’s laid off from work. Dodging questions from her mother about her career and love life, she just wants out of her current situation. Unemployed, newly homeless, and desperate for work, she doesn’t realize how lost she is until she ends up working as a live-in nanny for a family that’s just moved to town. At least there’s the cute guy she sees at the deli every Tuesday. Their sandwich banter is something she looks forward to. On this Tuesday, however, after all that happens, she misses her deli run and ends up at some family’s dinner table, hired on the spot, after saving the young son when he ran into the street. Things start to look up until her new employer’s husband walks in, holding a big bag of sandwiches from the deli.

STORY TWO: Hamelin

This one’s a beast to get into. The gist is that it’s a YA Speculative Fiction piece, a riff on fairy tales, hopefully unlike what’s already out there. First off, I’m focusing on a fairy tale that isn’t saturated in the media, at the moment, the Pied Piper. In my story, the Piper is female. In this fairy tale universe, heroes are villains, and vice versa. Aside from characters you may know by name, circumstances are quite different as the story unfolds. Other notable fairy tale characters from classic and contemporary authors alike might make an appearance but in this land, nothing is what it seems.

=8=

That’s what I’m writing about in April. Well, the major writing projects for April, that is. Since the Blogging Challenge is thematic, I’ll try to keep it writing related, as much as possible, and hopefully slip in some word count updates. Otherwise, I’ll be keeping everyone apprised of my story progress each Sunday (the day we have off from the blogging challenge).

So, today was a lovely sunny day. Since I live in the vicinity of Raincouver, I don’t trust it. I bet there’s a rain cloud waiting to leap out from behind a tree.

Tomorrow it begins. To borrow from a phrase of an awesometastic program premiering its third season tonight,

“WORDS ARE COMING.”

And plenty of them, if I can help it.

I suppose this is where I make the choice. Do I stay the course or head back to shore? Heck, I didn’t even know I was on a boat, but here we are. [cue JAWS score]

Was this how Neo felt when given the choice of the red pill or the blue pill?

“You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
— Morpheus, The Matrix

As writers, do we not tread the fine line between reality and the real world on a daily basis? Neo was The One. That meant squat in the end… oops. SPOILERS. I will speak of this no more.

What’s my choice?

I swallowed that red pill, bitter taste and all, back when I decided to do this trifecta of writing awesomeness: Camp NaNoWriMo, Savvy Authors April Boot Camp, and the Blogging A to Z Challenge. That pill swirled around my gut and my hand did the T-1000 morph the moment I Tweeted my declaration of the write-a-palooza.

I’m not doing this because I’m a masochist–writers are inherently so. I’m doing this because I know I can. Hundreds of thousands of creative folks know they can, too, or at least they’ll give it a try. We’ll support each other. I’m doing it for the global frenzied encouragement as much as I’m doing it for my own writerly goals. It’s just a matter of how far I’m willing to push my creative self down the rabbit hole.

Care to join me?

(via yassimanga)

5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN CAMP NANOWRIMO

Posted on 2013/03/28 by Tonette dela Luna

This is my second year in the NaNo World of Awesomeness. The challenge is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. With everyone’s already busy lives, it’s a testament of creative perseverance when NaNoWriMo’s been going strong for over eleven years now. Short for National Novel Writing Month, the annual collective writing phenomenon held in November has gone global–for now. I think we should get those peeps up at the Space Station to do some writing. You know, if they’re not busy doing other astronaut-type things this April, but I digress.

Last year, Script Frenzy (RIP) a much loved sibling to the elder NaNo gave me the opportunity to write an Alternate History Thriller Screenplay. Considering I’d never tried the format before, it was interesting. We went to Hawaii, at the time, and I remember using Celtx on my iPhone during in-flight turbulence, just so I could get the pages done.

I missed last June’s Camp NaNoWriMo. I’d like to think of Camp as NaNo’s awesome cousin. Imagine my delight when I joined Camp for the first time last August. We got an extra day for good behavior–and also, because that’s just how August rolls–and I hammered out an MG Urban Fantasy, the first in a series.

The actual NaNo was a beast, but in a good way. Brewing holiday cheer and writing insanity are like rebels on the dance floor. Out of that, I have a YA Thriller, also the first in a series.

Like I said yesterday, revisions, sure. They’ll happen. But if you get an opportunity to have thousands of people cheering you on to write as they simultaneously unleash their creativity into the world? Do it. And when it happens three times in one year? DO IT THRICE.

Here are five reasons–of many reasons–why YOU NEED TO GO TO CAMP THIS APRIL:

1) GET IN THE ZONE. Some say Camp NaNoWriMo is NaNo Lite. Not true. Think of it as easing yourself into November. Incremental genius, at your own pace. The fact that this year they’ve gone rogue with the NaNoRebels, you get to write anything: poetry, stage plays, screenplays *sigh*, comics, graphic novels, short stories, non-fiction, you name it. With adjustable word counts, Camp is tailored to maximize your creative output. The only person stopping you from doing this is you. The only thing you have to lose is time, and we’re all using that stuff up anyway. Join. Write.

2) LIKE-MINDEDNESS. Cabin Mates. Writing Buddies. Global Support. Hey, if there’s anyone who’s going to understand the craziness you’re about to endure it’s all the other people about to endure the same craziness. Together, you can celebrate, commiserate, and conflagrate (metaphorically speaking). Appreciate the artist within you. Within all of us. Same boat. Better together. Need convincing? Go on Twitter and join the #CampNaNoWriMo conversation. You’re not alone. The world is buzzing about Camp. Join. Write.

3) NETWORKING. Those people who share your thirst for creativity and penchant for masochistic writing schedules? They know people. You know people. People get to talking. Connections are made. You never know that a person you’re brainstorming with could have the next bestseller. Better yet, they could be interested in your next bestseller. NaNoWriMo isn’t a casual event. There’s nothing casual about churning out the words until your hands are numb, your vision blurs, and your head’s about to burst from exhaustion. Moral support, feedback, crit partners, beta readers, mentors. Anyone who understands NaNoWriMo understands the passion behind it. Anyone you network with will help you become a better writer. That’s a fact from personal experience and a promise. Join. Write.

4) COMMITMENT TO YOUR CRAFT. You can tell people you’re a writer, but it means more if you show them. Accountability is a big deal, not just to save face, but to keep you motivated. Reach those word count goals, Exceed them. The act of committing to a massive project such as writing a book in a month, it shows you mean business. It’s not going to be easy. It’s not meant to be, but you can refer back to numbers 1 to 3 and you’ll be okay. That’s what the community is for. Am I saying that every single entrant reaches their goal? No. And believe it or not, that’s okay. The fact that you tried is what matters. You need 2,000 words today, but only reached 700? Don’t feel bad. Life happens. Just remember you have 700 more words than you did yesterday, 700 words closer to your finished draft. NaNoWriMo ignites that desire to reach the goal. As long as you keep moving forward, you’re already a winner. Join. Write.

5) SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT. This really is a no brainer. I remembered typing my last word as Camp NaNo came to an end. My fingers tingled. I had such an adrenalin rush. I just finished a story. Now, I’m not saying that you should drop it on an editor’s desk then and there. The purpose of NaNo is to help get the words out of you and onto the page. After that, the real journey begins. Editing, revision, more critiques and beta reads. Agent or no agent. Traditional publishing or indie publishing. Marketing. Promotion. The road is long, but you’re already traveling once you’ve gotten that first draft written, but what do you need to do first? Join. Write.

I’ll be a happy camper in April. What about you?