Blogging from A-Z April Challenge and Random Updates!

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It’s March already (how did that happen!?) and April approacheth, with its Blogging from A-Z Challenge!  I have been pre-writing posts for that (or notes, rather) and will announce my theme during the A-Z Theme Reveal Blogfest on March 21.  Look for it!

2016 A-Z Blogging Challenge

Random update #1

I am so freaking tired, you guys.  Seriously.  I cannot wait for winter to be over.  I have literally no energy and I’ve eaten everything that isn’t nailed down.  Even the baseboards looked good (lots of fiber, you know).

It did not help that I managed to give myself the world’s biggest whiplash while skating. I came out of a spin and my blade slipped out from under me, and my back hit the ice, followed closely by my head.  I’ve been in car wrecks that didn’t hurt that much!  I still have a little residual neck pain and an annoying groin pull.  However, my Wolverine-like healing powers have activated and I am fine and back on the ice.

And, with the advent of warmer weather, my energy levels should go back up soon. I’m sure we are all looking forward to the sunshine and longer days.

Random update #2

This means absolutely nothing to anyone but me so I don’t expect you to care, but I thought I would share.  I’m no longer a redhead–I’m now a blonde!  Well, strawberry blonde.

A recreation of my expression when I saw my hair for the first time.

A recreation of my expression when I saw my hair for the first time.

Photo:  Elizabeth West

It’s actually more golden than it looks in that picture; I haven’t gotten a decent selfie yet.  They say blondes have more fun.  So far that’s not true, but I’ll keep you posted.

Random update #3

I have constructed a gigantic Word table with all the scenes/chapters either written or planned for Secret Book.  Only nine remain unwritten.  That may not sound like much, but they’re kicking my ass.  Because this is the Year to Finish Stuff, it WILL get done.  The table helped–it forced me to consider the purpose of each scene, with the unfortunate materialization of a couple more.  Nerts!  Oh well.

I shall leave you now and go recover from this day/week.  You’ll get another vocabulary post before the Challenge.  In fact, I hope to actually finish that by the time it rolls around.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!

Image: Hongreddotbrewhouse / Wikimedia Commons 

The Light Has Left Us: David Bowie 1947-2016

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david-bowie-2013

David Robert Jones, aka David Bowie (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016) in 2013.

Image:  michaelcavacini.com

I always thought he would be there.  He lingered on the fringes of my childhood, lurked in the dawn of my teenage years, became cheerily mainstream through my college days and beyond.  There is no time in my living memory when he didn’t exist.  Until now.

I never bought a Bowie album growing up–I didn’t have to.  The radio played his songs.  Friends played his albums.  People hummed and sang the tunes.  Everywhere I turned, there he was.  I saw him on television, dressed as Ziggy Stardust, and thought, Who is this magnificent creature, and why can I not be like him?

Bowie created art not only in the form of music and raw, emotional paintings, but in surprisingly engaging performances in films like The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hunger, Labyrinth, and The Prestige.  I didn’t know much about him and I didn’t want to know.  He existed as a chameleon, an enigma, a person who was all things and yet nothing in particular.

Child in Berlin (1976), David Bowie

“Child in Berlin” (1976), 24×24 Serigraph–David Bowie

Image:  fanpop.com

They call the most iconic performers stars.  In most cases, this moniker is a misnomer, but for him, it was true.  Like a brilliant point of light, I could not look at him directly.  He was too much for me; I had to encounter him peripherally.  He was my first encounter with androgyny, with mystique, and with the idea that one could reinvent oneself endlessly.  Every time I saw him, he looked different, did different things.

This both fascinated and thrilled me, and it still does.  I knew if he could do this, keep starting over, exploring new venues and endless permutations of art and expression, I could too.  I did not have to be bound by my upbringing.  I too could be weird and proud of it.  I could experiment with genre and form and buck the conventions of branding and those who would pigeonhole my work.  What I want to create, I can.  No one can stop me.

This is the lesson David Bowie taught me.  He crashed flamboyantly into my life and the lives of millions and left us just as quietly, without letting us know we would have a reason to mourn.  He did not share his pain and struggle with us but chose to give us one last gift instead–the complex and gorgeous album Blackstar.  I ended my journey with him by purchasing my first Bowie album tonight and listening to it with tears streaming down my face.

Rest in peace, sir.  You’ve earned it.

2015 in review

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Happy New Year!  It’s time for the annual WordPress report again!

I don’t know what 2016 will bring, but I have a few plans.   They include the following:

  • A renewed push in querying and submissions.  I already sent one (yeah, I know it’s not the best time of year for that because of people’s New Year’s resolutions and the aftermath of NaNoWriMo, but too bad).  Tunerville has the best chance, I think, but we’ll see.
  • To complete Secret Book and begin the Rose’s Hostage sequel.  I’ve made quite a few notes for the latter. Still working out a subplot, though.
  • The upcoming April blog challenge–time to get busy on a plan for that one!
  • I’m hoping to go to Europe this year–not sure when, but you’ll get to see/hear about it.  Italy is definitely on the list because of something in Secret Book, but I have friends in Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, and Belgium I’d like to visit. It’s time I ventured out of the UK.  But don’t worry, UK; I still love you!  I’ll be sure to see you again!

Many thanks to everyone who stopped by in 2015.  I wish you a happy, safe, and amazing New Year!

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 8,100 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 30: The End is Nigh

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I hope everybody had a safe, sane, and happy Thanksgiving weekend.  If you don’t celebrate the Day of the Turkey, I hope you had a good weekend regardless.

Welp, it’s the last day of NaNoWriMo and I  have not finished Secret Book.  I have written 15,250 words this month, which is more than I wrote on the thing in quite a while, so I don’t consider it a failure at all.   My total words come out to 94,997.

According to my NaNoWriMo stats, at the rate I went this month, I will finish on February 7, 2016.  Maybe.  Maybe sooner, if I push myself through December.  I’m starting to see the links in this story (actually, it’s two stories that converge, then break apart again), and that perks me up a little.  It’s like building something; at first, it’s just a jumble of parts, but when you get to a certain point, you start to see the finished product emerging.

Just stack those over there; we'll have this done in a jiffy.

Just stack those over there, Nigel; we’ll have this done in a jiffy.

Photo: Elizabeth West

I don’t think I’ll do NaNoWriMo to finish something this complicated again.  Tunerville had the distinct advantage of being somewhat simplistic; it’s just a straightforward urban fantasy and I could fly by the seat of my pants throughout.

Remember this guy?  Like him.  

Remember this guy?  Kinda like him.

Image: circuswarehouse.com 

So now there is a month left to go before New Year’s Day.  I shall lurk a bit and see if I can finish the draft by then.  I’ll keep posting the increased word count (I made a cool spreadsheet) so watch the counter on my homepage.  You’ll know when I’m done.  Hell, they’ll probably hear me scream all the way in London.  I still have a couple of vocabulary posts to go, so expect those upcoming.

Thank you for sticking with me through the lamest NaNoWriMo of all time.  I PROMISE I WILL FINISH.

Now I shall leave you lovely people and go watch The Walking Dead.  Here is a video of a dog who feels my pain at having to get up to go to work after a long weekend.

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 23 and 24: BLAST

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Word count Day 23:  Zippo (on the page)

Word Count Day 24:  2152  

I finished a very pivotal scene.  And I thought of several ways I can tie Protagonist 1’s experiences in so that they foreshadow later events, without actually giving anything away.

Heh heh.

Heh heh.

As a writer, I live for realizations like that.  They’re what keep me going through a first draft.  I think some of the difficulty I’ve been having with Secret Book is that it felt disjointed for so long.  I couldn’t see how the pieces fit together; writing it in a linear fashion would not have helped.  Reading the outline didn’t either.

Now I can see them, as I take them out of the puzzle box of my mind and assemble them on the page.  As scenes go from a summary paragraph to fleshed-out realities, some of the things Protag 1 and 2 do and say are surprising me, but they make more sense now.

Nothing is set in stone at this point.  Everything could change in rewrite.  I so look forward to that adventure.

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It’s two days until Thanksgiving in the U.S.  Tonight’s video is from Blue Mountain Cards and gives us an amusing musical look at the standoff between a farmer and his holiday dinner.  Enjoy!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 22: Road to Nowhere

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Word count: 289 lame, stupid, words that were like pulling impacted wisdom teeth

This manuscript draft is like doing homework I don’t want to do.  I want to work on the Rose’s Hostage sequel and Tunerville queries, but I HAVE to finish it.  I may be writing on it all the way through Christmas.

Speaking of which, see how to shut down your crazy right-wing relatives at the upcoming holiday, courtesy of SNL!

NaNoWriMo Days 20 and 21: The Realizations

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Today’s word count:  768

It snowed this morning.  Ugh.  It vanished after a while, but the weather has turned cold and the ceaseless wind that will plague us until July has begun to blow.  This sort of weather makes me wish more than ever that I had someone to keep me warm under this stupid blanket.

No words last night; this is what I did instead of writing:

My Welsh cakes

Photo:  Elizabeth West

I made Welsh cakes for a Doctor Who fan club meetup potluck.  They turned out okay, if a bit heavy; not bad for a first try.  I had to play around with my new griddle to figure out the proper temperature.  It basically took all evening, but it was worth it *nom nom nommm*

I also realized two things.

  • That November is a shitty time to do NaNoWriMo.  There is too much going on–Thanksgiving, Christmas (ice show) prep, the change in weather, and a constant, ongoing parade of potlucks.  November has so many interruptions that it’s like–well, life.  October would be better.  When you’re already struggling to finish a project this way, any help you can get is welcome.
  • That, while I dislike summer, I really, really hate winter.  Goodbye, autumn.  *sigh*

In tonight’s video from SciShow, we learn why earworms happen and what you can do about them!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 19: Boost!

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Word count: 1,873

Holy marathon, Batman, I finished the most annoying scene ever.  It sucks like a giant Dyson from space, but that’s okay.  I just repeat my mantra for pushing through a first draft:  I can fix it later.

Possibly influenced by Scarlett O'Hara.

Possibly influenced by Scarlett O’Hara.

Plus, I broke the 90,000-word mark.  Yay me!  \0/

This book will need to go through several rewrites and about a zillion edits before I’m anywhere close to ready for any beta readers.  In fact, I think I’ll probably have to start on the Rose’s Hostage sequel next, or that poor thing will never get done.

Our bizarre 1960s video for tonight–a cinema snack bar advertisement.  Anyone besides me think that peanut at the beginning looks a little…..protruding?

NaNoWriMo Day 17: Building

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Word count: 1,831.

Much better, yes?  As tired as I am today (I have no idea why, but I’m going to bed soon, I promise), I found it easier to write this evening.  That feeling has been rather AWOL of late.  Along with it comes relief.  During those dry spells and blockages, you sometimes think it’s not going to come back.

In tonight’s video, we learn what happens to you when you don’t sleep.  Good night, everybody.