Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween, also known as NaNoWriMo Eve. I'm pretty sure I'm not a logical person. I currently have two jobs and will spend the first three days of NaNoWriMo in Indianapolis, also known as away from my home, my family and my computer.
The first two I will miss a lot. The third one I can do without but it will make starting NaNoWriMo tricky and any hope of doing NaBloPoMo impossible. That's okay I wasn't really planning on the NaBloPoMo and as I mentioned before I'm not going into NaNoWriMo with the expectation that I will actually do 50,000 words but my hope is to get a really good start and to write more than I have been.
I really do wish that NaNoWriMo was in February or March. There is so much going on October-December that it's just not a good place for me. Maybe I'll do a NaNoWriMo in January. A while back I wrote a post about other months devoted to creative things. January would be after all the holidays and second jobs but before the wedding plans start getting into super serious mode.
Until then, despite all the madness, I will participate in NaNoWriMo and who knows, I might surprise myself.

Good luck to all those participating!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Bitten by the writing bug

So what to do about NaNoWriMo? Well, at writing group we discussed whether or not to join in. And I think we all kind of decided that even if it gets us started on something but we don't make the official goal (none of us did last year), well it's better to do something than nothing at all.
Yes, I'm in but clearly I must be insane. Why? Because I just took a seasonal holiday position at a department store so that I could make some extra cash for various reasons. I know. What the heck was I thinking?

In other news, I started a new story today. Yes, I have the comedy/sci-fi story I want to finish but I haven't felt super motivated in regards to it. Maybe because I started it months ago, or because I have no idea where it's going/how to end it, or because I don't feel confident that there's anywhere that would publish it when it's done.
Anyway, I just started this new story. I've had the idea for a few and today the writing bug just bit me. That last line was a pun regarding the story and that's the only info I'm giving for now. I'll share more about it later on.

Until next time...

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Back to writing group

I know my next post was suppose to be about Faith In The Moonlight and how that story came to be. But it's an in depth story and I just don't have the time to do it justice right now. Today is my only day off of work this week so I've tried to pack in a lot of stuff and unfortunately, a long blog post is not one of those things that made it into the final cut.

However, writing group was one of those things I did manage to fit in. We didn't meet last month due to crazy schedules so it was nice to get back in the swing of things. I brought another scene from Incognito, my former comic book script turned prose.
The last time we met I brought the final scene from my first "arc," which is really about as far as I had gotten in the comic book script besides jotting down a few ideas. So today's piece was all new writing for characters that I had not written original material for in about five years. Very weird to try and pick up where I left off, but having been converting the story from script to prose over the past year did help keep me in touch with the characters.

It was a good meeting. We also touched on the subject of NaNoWriMo, but highlights of that discussion will have to wait for another post.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

The Desk

I wanted to write a little bit about the story that I just got the acceptance letter for, “Faith In The Moonlight.”
But before I can write about what inspired the characters I have to give some back story about the amazing guy I am marrying, the awesome family I will gain and one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received.

In the past years I’ve posted repeatedly about the awful gift giving that happens with my family. Also, I’ve posted a few times that my family are not very supportive with my artistic endeavors. So when I started to learn more about my future husband and his family, I was shocked by a lot of things but one of the major ones is gift giving.
They don’t worrying about keeping things even when it comes to gift giving, instead they worry about whether or not you’ll like it. In my family, if I get a crappy t-shirt, my sister is getting a crappy t-shirt too. In his family, they think of something you would like and they get it for you even if cost $5 more than what your sibling is receiving. Also, my family believes if I buy you something for $20 you better buy me something for $20. And don’t even think about a used gift, that’s just ridiculous! And who cares if you even like your gift? It’s the thought that counts.

Anyway, I have mentioned to them a few times that I write, but I don’t get into a lot of detail because I haven’t really been that successful with it. But last fall we moved into our new rental house and the future in-laws noticed that my office was pretty empty. I mentioned that I’d like to get a writing desk. (Yes, I have a computer desk but why I prefer the writing desk is another post itself.)

Three months later future husband and I go to their house to get a Christmas tree and the future in-laws are acting really suspicious but we never figured out why. A few weeks later, on Christmas day, I go to their house and noticed a large mass covered with a sheet
Later that day I was given a chair with a bow and was escorted to the large, sheet covered object. Then I was presented with my Christmas present, a vintage writing desk.
I was floored. It’s a beautiful desk and the thought behind the gift was unreal to me. A gift picked just for me and to encourage me to follow my dreams. I haven’t had a lot of gifts like that and I was amazed!

I would come to find out later that a few months back their neighbor had died and the week we came for the Christmas tree was the week they were having an estate sale at the neighbors house. They went to the sale because they really liked their neighbor and they just wanted something to remember her by. (Apparently, she was quite a spunky gal.) They saw the desk but it was priced more than they could afford. But a few hours before we came for the tree a man pulled into their sales lot and needed to buy a tree. They weren’t open yet so they were going to turn him away, but they are way too nice to ever do that. And this guy started talking about how he was at the estate sale and they had slashed the prices on everything. They ran down the road and got the desk into the house minutes before we got there.
They insisted that luck was on their side when it came to getting that desk and I believe them.

Next post: The inspiration for “Faith In the Moonlight”