My Apologies

I'm Sorry!

I've been away from home for long stretches of time (giving the ex-boyfriend some space, though he doesn't believe he needs it), haven't written a thing in over a week (stress tends to do that to me), and we just got over a foot of snow where I am and my car is having issues. 

Anyway! I am getting back to writing, hopefully, getting my car fixed (it's at the shop now), and going down to Texas this weekend... to see my mother. So... I'm sorry I haven't been around, real life has gotten in the way of everything here lately. 

I promise I'm back and will have a post up tomorrow and another snippet on sunday as well. 

How would you describe life?

While this quite technically has nothing to do with writing, or any sort of craft, I came across this idea whilst drawing, and thought I might turn it into a little challenge. What if you were asked to define life in one simple word? What would it be? Could you even describe it with just one word?

To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Life is a journey, not a destination." To some, this very well might mean nothing at all, but if you take the time to think it out, I believe that you can find your own meaning to it.

So here is my challenge, how would you describe life in one word? Based on that one word, could you write out why you find that word fits you? It doesn't have to be extremely writer-ly or anything, but you can make it so if you see fit.


Voyage

This life is all that I know, all that I have ever known. In it, I have grown to see many things, I have loved and I have hated. I regret nothing, and I wouldn't change a bit of it.
Many times I have been unable to see the road ahead of me and even thought that I had reached the end. Through countless trials, I have found that the most obvious path has never been the best, nor the most exciting. In learning this, I was able to begin picking my own path, essentially making this life my own. This is just the beginning of my voyage, and I plan to continue living it to the best of my ability.

Be True To You

This is a bit of a jolt from my regular blog posts in that it has little to do with writing. Indeed, what prompted this had nothing at all to do with writing, or reading. Instead, it is about life. Just life.

An old friend texted me out of the blue the other day. Basically he told me he wanted to get his life together and figure things out. Well good for him, I thought. I believe he is soon to graduate highschool, or perhaps he may already have graduated, being homeschooled, I'm not sure.

I feel a tad hypocritical giving out advice on life, as I don't have my own life under control or understood yet, but I did my best. My advice to him was to focus on the concrete things, like saving money to buy a car, first and foremost. My reason for this, I told him, was because 'figuring out who you are' is such a nebulous, almost impossible task. I still am not sure who I am, but I feel I am closer every day to that realization.

I asked him why he wanted to change, and what he wanted to change about himself. He quoted be a "shut-in" and having "social issues" as things to change. That struck me as a bit odd.

I will tell you what I told him. Don't worry about being a "good person", as everyone's definition of "good" is different. Instead, focus on being a person YOU like. Be a person you can stand to look at in the mirror every morning. And most importantly, be a person you would like to be friends with. If you don't like you, how on earth can you expect other people to like you?

I guess there is a way I can tie this into writing.

Write What You Love

Whether you are just starting out or have multiple drafts under your belt, there's one piece of advice that can't be said enough. 

Write the book you want to read. Don't worry about trends, don't worry about fads, chances are by the time to get it finished and published, the trends will have changed. Vampires will be out of style, and choose your own adventure books will be the way to go. Don't worry about it. Don't fret. And most of all don't feel pressured to write anything that you are not in love with. 

If you like your book, readers can sense that, and your writing will be all the better for it. If you don't like your book, or the characters, readers pick up on that even faster. They will be less likely to care about your story and what is happening and if they don't care they won't read it. It's that simple. 

I read somewhere (I don't remember where) that you feel something like 10x more emotion for your characters and what is happening than the readers ever will. This is due to the fact that much is lost in the translation from your mind to paper. You will never get it said or shown exactly the way you see it. That's just a fact that all writers have to live with. But you HAVE to care. If you don't care, your readers will care even less. 

~C.R. Trumbo

Post NaNo Life

Whether you made it across the finish line with 50,000 words (like I finally did this year!) or not, you're going to need to get back to normal Non-NaNo life.

For some, the transition is quite simple.

For others, such as myself and Murphy (I mean, just look at her recent tweets), it can be quite difficult.

There are piles of dishes to be cleaned, animals to be fed on a regular basis again, food that we actually have to COOK. Some of us even have to get back to a normal sleeping schedule. (Not me, my schedule is whack because I work overnights).

So how does one go about re-entering this Non-NaNo "normal" world?

I would advise you take it slowly. One step at a time.

One thing at a time.

Dishes need doing? Do them, then take a break. Watch some television. Maybe write a little bit (if you're still in that mind set like I am).

But then do some laundry. Then take a break.

Do it like this for a few days, or a week, and slowly you will become accustomed to doing chores on a daily basis again.

But also, for those of you who are first time NaNo'ers, or even first time writers, you can write any time during the year. You don't have to wait for November and NaNoWriMo to come around.

I think some veterans may even need to read those words.

Ta Ta for now, lovelies! I'll see you on a daily basis again, now that NaNo is over.

NaNo Tips and Tricks 1

Okay, obviously I still have NaNoWriMo on the brain.

I couldn't think of anything to do for this blog post, and so fell back on NaNoWriMo. Fortunately, I have much to say on the subject.

Much, I hope, that may be helpful to others. Like you.

It's Not Your Life

Writing is fun. As writers, most of us know this. But it's not always fun. But mostly it is.

NaNoWriMo, week one, is extremely fun! But don't think that means you can completely and totally change your life.

Chris Baty says as much in No Plot? No Problem! and I'm going to reiterate it here.

Don't make writing your life. I know for those such as myself it is a big part. And that's okay. But don't seclude yourself from all of life thinking that all you need is time alone and you'll crank out novel after novel.

That just won't happen.

Without other stimulation, you will have no access to new ideas. Without new ideas you stagnate and write the same thing over and over again. You become old fashioned.

So don't. Do NaNoWriMo, and then go back to the way your life was before. If you find you want writing to be a bigger part of your life afterwards, great! But slowly introduce it more and more, that way your loved ones and those that care about you will have time to adjust.

From the Author

Late post is late. T.T

I apologize, I wanted to wait until I got my new computer, but it didn't get here until 7:30 PM CST. So... late post. 

This will probably be a series of shorter posts as I am trying to plan and what not for NaNoWriMo. 

Not So Ninja Edit

Almost forgot! I was hosted on The Kelworth Files blog here.

Check it out!