End of the year post

I wasn't going to do one of these, but I've been lazy and absent lately so I figured I might as well.

2009 was a mixed year for me. Writing wise and personally.

Even though I'm not quite where I want to be when it comes to writing, I did start working at it more this past year.

I don't like looking back in the past, so instead here are some personal and professional goals for the coming year.

1. Get my own apartment. I'm nineteen years old and still living with my father. Now, that might not seem too bad for some of you, but after living on my own for a year it's really hard living with a parent again.

2. Finish up high school. By this summer, I'm going to be a goddamn high school graduate if it kills me.

3. Finish all three drafts I started in 2009. For VDGP, that shouldn't be too hard. That story still speaks to me the most. College For Witches, on the other hand, needs to be totally ripped apart and redone. TFA is going to need a lot of work as well.

4. Start at least one completely new story.

5. FINISH NANO! Nano has defeated me two years in a row and I won't stand of it again.

6. Read 100 books, which is only 20 more than I read this year. Shouldn't be too hard.

7. I have some fitness and weight goals for next year too but I won't go into detail there.

8. Post on here at least once a week.

I'm sure I have more goals as the year goes on. But even if I just reach a few of these, I'll be damn proud of myself. I hope everyone keeps checking in withe me and hounds me every now and then about these goals. Something about people I've never met before yelling at me motivates me strongly.

Anyone else have some goals for the new year?


Oh yeah. One more goal:




































10. Spend more time looking at hot men, like Jensen Ackles. It just makes my day seem so much brighter.

Writing Meme

Your genre(s): I write mostly adult Urban Fantasies but I've been experimenting in YA books the past couple of months. I still like UF the best but I'm slowly getting better with YA.

How many books are you working on now: Right now my main book is my NaNo novel, The Freshman Affair. And if I ever have any extra time after working on that, Gwen and Jay demand my attention. Constantly. Seriously, they won't shut up.
I still haven't finish my last year's novel, College for Witches, but it needs a total make over before it will ever be finished. So far now, it's on the back burner.

Are you a linear or chunk writer: Mostly a linear writer, but when I get stuck or I'm in a particular mood, I'll skip ahead to a scene that fits that mood or is thrilling enough to get me unstuck.

The POV you’re partial to: First person, first person, first person. It's been a really long time since I've used any other. When I realized that, I decided to try third person limited for my NaNo. There's the occasional miss use of pronouns but other than that I'm liking it. I still think I do better with first though.

The Tense you use: Past. Hands down.

The theme that keeps cropping up in your books: Sex.

Okay not just sex. Also violence, love, pain, and lots of death. What can I say? I like to put my characters through hell.

How many days a week do you write: I try to write at least five days a week. With NaNo it's all seven. Before NaNo, it was probably closer to three, but I'm working on it,

What time of day do you get your best writing done: Latish. Like midnight or later.Or right away in the morning if I actually manage to walk up.

Who are your mentors: Err... I don't really have any. I just try to listen to people who have been writing longer and have had some success with it. I'll take all the help and advice I can get.

My favorite authors to read: Well there's Laurell K Hamiliton, who really turned me on to Urban Fantasy. Katie MacAlister, Kim Harrison, and Madelyn Alt have also helped there. Annette Blair has help nurture my love for paranormal romances.

Then there's the more serious works, like Doyle and Austen. Chuck Palahniuk and Ian McEwan are new favorites. And, of course, I love me some Shakespeare.

This Meme was shamefully stolen from Lori. Thanks for giving me something to post about. =]

Oh NaNo.

It's that time of year again. NaNo is just around the corner. And I'm just as, if not more, nervous for this year as I was last year.

Some of you may remember that I didn't win my first year. I'm still okay with that because I still wrote more that month than I ever had before. But this year, I feel even more pressure to win. Now that I've gone through it once, I feel like I should be more prepare.

I think it's safe to say that's not how I feel. At all.

Since NaNo last year, I have learned a few things about myself as a writer. One, I'm not a wing it kind of girl. I always thought I was, but after the fail that CFW turned into and the success that VDGP is turning into, I've been proven wrong. So I've been outlining The Freshman Affair, but there is something missing. The "Magic Feather" as Lori (Between Brothers out now. Read it.((Unless you're like me and are still waiting for the paperback to come out))) and Scarlett have deemed it.

I've got a little more than a week to discover that magic. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

On a side note- My birthday was two days ago. Which still hasn't really hit me. I feel like I just hit 18. What happened to 2009?

To apologize for my absent, I present to you:


Men who could murder your cat and you'd forgive them without hesitation.

Forget about my blatant neglection yet? Not quite? Well this should do it then....
Enjoy. =]

Just a quick update.

Writing wise- I've been doing pretty well.

VDGP is coming along pretty well. It's sitting at 3,000 some words right now and with how busy I've been trying to see people before I go back to Pennsylvania. I'm pretty happy with how it's been going.

CFW has sorta been put on the back burner because I've been feeling sort of stalled on it again. That story just doesn't want to go the way I want it to. I wish I would have outlined it. Outlining has been my friend lately.

TFA is still in the outlining process and I'm still having a little trouble making it come together. I need a little more... something to make it worthwhile and interesting.

Personal wise- I've been having a rough couple days and don't really know how to make it better. So I'm going to go over to my sister's house and play with her amazing puppy and watch this guy-

be way too beautiful and shirtless for most of a movie. Hopefully there will be some ice cream involved. Sounds like a perfect cure to me.

Vacation time cuts deeply into writing time.

For the past month, I've been on vacation in my hometown. Actually, I'm still on vacation so I haven't been doing very much writing at all. The only thing I really have been doing is working on an outline for an urban fantasy that I've been kicking around for a long time but hasn't ever been made into reality. Well, now that the outline is all but finished, I'm pretty damn sure that this time (which is probably about the 7th time) will be the charm.

I've never been a huge fan of outlining but I'm really glad that I decided to do it. I have a clear idea of where I want the story to go and what I want to happen. It's probably a little too detailed even but I'm hoping that if it comes between the outline and the characters I'll remember that the characters know what's best. *crosses fingers*

One thing that sucks about outlining is that I had to push myself really hard to finish the outline and just not skip right to the writing. Working on the outline made me so excited to get the actual project started that I almost abandoned the outline more than once. But I stuck to my guns and it's just a chapter away for being complete!

The whole reason I decided to post this was because while I was writing the outline I made the decision to kill off one of my favorite characters. I haven't even started to really write it yet but I'm already so attached to this character that I started to tear up a little. I'm so not excited to write that scene, but I feel like it will cause an intense emotional response from my readers (at least I hope so!) and it will motivate my main character a lot. I was not expecting to have such a strong emotional response already. It gives me a lot of hope for this story!

I still don't have a title for this WIP but I'm so excited to get it going! I can't decide if it would be best to put it off till after CFW is done or work at them both at the same time. I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it.

To apologize for not posting lately (and for the semi info-dumpness that was this post) here's a little man candy:
I usually only lust after men who are quite a bit older than I am so I think for this post I'll pick a few beautiful men who I could actually... well you know... without it being super creeping. Chace Crawford is too hot.

And I would do unspeakable things to Chad Micheal Murray. Whew.
Okay, does this surprise anyone? No matter what, I will never pass up an opportunity to drool over James McAvoy. Never.

Hallelujah

I've been struggling recently College For Witches. The story was supposed to be about the struggles of a young girl starting college and dealing with all the normal problems a girl her age has to, along with some not so normal ones that came from her unconventional upbringing as a Wicca.

What it turned into was a teen romance story. The magic element was barely even in the story and it was supposed to be a main plot point. In short, the original story had gotten lost underneath the intense amount of heat that El and Aiden felt for each other. Excluding a couple particular steamy scenes, I wasn't a fan of where the story was headed.

But tonight, after writing a little more romantic drivel, I had one of the moments I love. An "Aha!" moment. All of the sudden, something clicked into place and I knew how to get the story back on track. A character who is going to be very important in the coming chapters finally came back out of hiding and everyone started to behave according to plan.

Apparently, Elvira and Aiden just really needed to have sex. Before they were uncooperative and stubborn. Now they're content, helpful, and playing by my rules again. And I'm back to liking what I'm writing.

Hallelujah.

YA newbie

So College for Witches is my first attempt at writing something for Young Adults. And I'm pretty sure it's going to be my last.

There's a couple reasons for this. One of them is that I'm afraid that my main character doesn't act her age. All of the characters I've written before have always been in there 20s at least. She's 18, which is actually the same age as me. I would think that I wouldn't have trouble writing someone the same age but it's proving difficult. I don't want to dumb down the character or the story because I know that the readers would be able to tell and resent it. It also wouldn't be true to the character.

It's really hard to put my fears into words without sounding conceited. I don't think I'm better or smarter than anyone my age or anything. I'm just scared my words don't fit with a young adult person.

Another worry I have is with the sex scene I blogged about before. Now I'm fully aware that teens (since I'm still a teen myself) have sex. But again, I'm afraid that the scene I wrote doesn't fit with what is expected in YA. That's it's too put together and more experienced then most teen aged sex. Make sense?

I'm probably being stupid and not giving YA enough credit. It's just nice to be able to put my worries into words. Makes them seem a lot more manageable.

Thanks for listening to my insane ramblings all!

Here to make it up to you:

Mr. James McAvoy.


"Why yes. I do know I'm the sexiest man alive."

Pure Accomplishment.

This one is just going to be a quickie.


But I'm super proud of myself and wanted to share news. Now some of you might not see the big deal, but it's important to me.

Ready?

My WIP crossed the 40k line! I have never come close to writing something this long. I know it needs a lot of work, but for now I'm just focusing on the pure accomplishment I'm feeling at the moment.

How am I going to celebrate?


I'm going to go watch this guy beat the shit out of people and be sexy for a couple hours. With ice cream. Perfect no?

Surrending to the characters.

*Sighs*

I'm giving in to Elvira and Aiden. They will not be denied. I've been reading a couple AW Blogger blogs who have been writing longer than me (and more successfully than me) to pick up helpful tips. And they both have talked about letting your characters take over sometimes because it will ultimately make the story better. So I'm putting my faith in Aiden and El, praying that they know what they are doing.

So I'm off to write a *gasp* sex scene. To get in the mood, so to speak, I'm listening to the
Moulin Rouge soundtrack. Listening to this guy sing:







could get anyone in the mood. Seriously.

Writely woes.

I'm having a problem with College for Witches. Actually I'm having a lot of problems, but this is a new one that's really frustrating me.

I want my two main characters, Elvira and Aiden, to have sex. And the two of them are more than willing. Every time I try to write a scene where they kiss, it escalates to them almost ripping each others clothes off no matter where they are which they don't have permission to do yet.

So you're probably wondering, what's the problem? You want them to and they want to. Well, the problem is this: I can't figure out how to fit it into the story.

Aiden breaks it off with El in the middle of the story, but I do want them to get back together after El goes through something traumatic. But I feel like if they have sex before he breaks it off it will make people hate him and not want him back in her life. Cause sex is a big deal to El. And I'm afraid that if they do it after the traumatic event it will be like she's only doing it because she's scared and grateful. Which isn't what I want it to be about.

I guess for now everyone is going to have to stay fully dressed whether they like it or not. Cause I'm the author and I say so!