It's November, peoples

why aren't you all NaNoWriMo-ing??

:0)

Back from the SiWC

so i'm back from the writer's conference... it was lots of fun, i saw a lot of interesting writers in the workshops i went to over the past 3 days and took a lot of notes... i also got 10 minutes with a literary agent and plugged my last year's NaNoWriMo novel... she said it sounded interesting, that it was marketable, and that i should possibly break it up into more than one book before contacting them and submitting something

now, i realize this isn't a guaranteed offer of 'edit what you have and ship it to us so we can send it out to a publisher' but it is 'edit what you have and look into sending us a query, because then we might ask to read part of it'... this is good news... and i was more than a little thrilled when she said that 'werewolf novels are still hot right now'

of course, being told to edit sucks a little because i'm trying to write something different right now... but i've told myself that what i'm writing now has to be finished at the end of November, or at least a few days before my final papers are due, and that the edit starts on December 13th after my last exam

in the meantime, i'm going to write as much as i can before i have to stop and write some papers for school, and hope i don't lose my mind

:0)

song: "Stand My Ground" by Within Temptation
book: "Blue Bloods" by Melissa De La Cruz

SiWC time

so, i haven't blogged much... darn... o well, it's happened before, and it might happen again

the SiWC happens on Friday... wooooooooo... i hope it's bunches of fun... with any luck, i'll get to meet with some literary agent, plug my books and books-in-progress... i think there's like, 3 or 4 of them

and NaNoWriMo starts soon... i have no idea what i'm going to write about this year, maybe just use it as an excuse to write 50,000 more words on what i'm working on right now, or start something new... i don't really want to start something new, i like what i'm working on right now, but i have an idea for a new book

darn my creative brain

:0)

song: "All The World" by Fauxliage
book: "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer

Trying to write... again

so, the week-end was a bust writing-wise, and i now have 10 days to finish the first draft by the deadline i set for myself... it's looking like i'll have a few nights of late writing ahead, since usually i can't write anything good until 11 at night which is very, very odd... sleeping in late and getting headaches from drinking coffee at noon sucks

now, i know i said i wanted to do mermaids for this year's NaNoWriMo novel, but i started thinking about writing something about an investigative photographer getting a stalker, but more like a vampire stalker... it came to me when i was reading something about some vampire tales when they have no reflection, and then thinking that they wouldn't end up on film, either... now i don't know what to write about... o well

school starts in 2 weeks... barf... this time i'm busy Tuesday and Thursday afternoons... parking's going to be fun if i can't find a spot at where i usually park... the city's increasing prices there in September, maybe the cheapos will leave and i'll get a spot at 12:15pm or at 11:15am

and i got a manicure today and have already ruined the polish on one nail... but i got a bottle of the colour the woman used, so i can always do it over... the downside, my nails will never look this pretty unless i get another one... o well... at least my nails aren't too long that they mess up my typing

happy writing, peoples

:0)

book: the Key series by Nora Roberts
song: "Famous Last Words" by My Chemical Romance

Has something changed??

6 months ago, i was sporadic at best with posting to this darn thing, and was bored out of my skull... now, i'm posting from every other day to every day, and writing like a crazy person... have my priorities changed??

well, to a point... i'm writing more, which is good, but i'm not working, which is bad... i know you're thinking, but aren't you a student?? shouldn't you be working to pay for tuition??... yes, but i have money put aside for school, so shush

i'm also at a bigger word count, maybe 40,000 more, maybe just 35,000... i've written 10,000 in the past two months, but that gap had papers and finals in it, and 3,000 of it has come in the past few days... it's totally wiped me out, but you never know what happens when you're on a roll

for all you writers out there, check out Mark Putnam's Plotastic blog, and Paula B's Writing Show podcasts featuring Mark Leslie... 5 bucks says these guys will have published novels in the next 12 months

oh, and i know what i'm going to write about for this year's NaNoWriMo... mermaids

:0)

book(ish): "The Iliad" by Homer
song: "Through Glass" by Stone Sour

My word count is what??

the word count's gone from about 95,000 very late Monday night, to 98,000 very late Wednesday night... that's because i wrote about 1,000 words late Monday/early Tuesday... and another 1,000 late Tuesday/early Wednesday... and now another 1,000 Wednesday afternoon and evening

i haven't written this much is such a short period of time since NaNoWriMo

i think i'll reach my one goal of 100,000 words in the next couple of days if i don't burn myself out

:0)

I'm ba-aaaaack

finally... God, i was getting so tired with that trip after a while, and so tired with flying... i was SO freaking bored on the plane home

but, now i'm back home, and will probably posting here when i get a chance between school and whatever else gets thrown at me... if anyone has random questions, like about NaNoWriMo or Script Frenzy or my possible podcast, then please ask by leaving comments... i'd like to know that people are still reading this blog

:0)

song: "Second Chance" by Faber Drive
book: "The Last of The Red Hot Vampires" by Katie MacAllister

*snore* Hum-what? I'm awake

Geez, things just feel so boring right now, it's an odd feeling... well, maybe it's just the weather, it's annoyingly cold outside, raining, earlier it was snowing... i just don't understand the weather

so i'm here, inside, drinking coffee, at 3:15 in the afternoon on a Saturday... and i really don't have to go out until Monday afternoon... i should probably go through my textbooks, maybe on Monday i will... crud, i just realized i have to read a new book for Wednesday, and write something on it for Friday

well, maybe i should pick up my writing again, i've left that poor NaNoWriMo book sitting in it's Word file for so long, unfinished... maybe i'll write some more today, since i've got nothing to do... well, first i have to do a couple of things, then i'll go back to my book

and i've got to think of a way to get more people to read this darn blog thing i have here... hmmm... maybe have some kind of odd contest... or just turn it into a podcast or something

:0)

song: "The Killing Moon" by The Distants
book: "Dance with the Devil" by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Long time, no type

Cripes, it's been a while since i wrote something here... i guess i should update this darn thing more often or something

first thing's first... my birthday was on the 26th, and i don't feel any older than i did before the 26th, which is a little strange, but o well... maybe in 10 years i'll feel old :D

Christmas was good, a little lonely considering it was only the four of us this year... last year it was five plus our dog, but with my grandmother's passing in June and the putting down of our dog in July, it was only the four of us with no one eating the wrapping paper... but it was still good... i'm still wondering why my sister and i got a bleach pen form my mom, but my mom's nuts

NaNoWriMo was in November, but i'm rushing to finish the damned thing so i can get it published on Lulu.com so they can send me a free printed copy... and once it's up on Lulu.com, everyone who wants a copy of the darn thing will be able to get it... well, they might have to pay something for actually printing the book if they want a paper copy, that just a little annoying... i'm up to 73,000 words and 287 pages, and i have two and a half chapters more planned out, plus an epilogue

i'll be lucky if i finish before my classes start on Tuesday... i have to finish by the 16th, which is about 9 days away, but i want to finish before that

Well, happy late new year to everyone, and maybe in April i'll start book number two, because i've enjoyed writing this book, even last night when i wanted to cry

:0)

song: "Rough Hands" by Alexisonfire
book: "Jewels of the Sun" by Nora Roberts

New development on the writing front

i found a link on the NaNoWriMo site to Lulu.com, and since they love the NaNoWriMo writers, from today to January 16th, they'll publish your novel for free

OMG!!!!

this just makes me want to finish it by the 31st even more

Nancy, do this!!

song: "The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars
book: "Hunting Midnight" by Emma Holly (omg, love her books)

Day twenty eight: A Winner in Winter

yay me, i won at NaNoWriMo





so, everyone can congratulate me or something





on a different note, it's been freakishly cold here, with a total of 43 centimetres of snow falling from Saturday night to early Monday morning... umm, earth to weather, this is B.C., we're not prepared for any amount of snow that's over a couple centimetres... it's the end of November... where's all the rain we should be getting????... it's been so so so cold here, like, minus 10 degrees C, and it's just horrible... i doubt i'll be driving anywhere until a lot of it melts away


it's looking like it'll be better over the next week, with sun and some rain on the week-end... which'll be fun since i'll be driving home on Sunday night, since i'm housesitting for someone right now... at least it's not that cold inside

Day twenty: Celebration Time

woot woot!!
yay me! yay me!
*doing a happy dance*

i just got to 50,000 words, well, a little more, but it means i actually did it and wrote my butt off for the past 20 days

i think i'll be celebrating for the rest of the day by writing more

song: "I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters
book: "Even Vampires Get the Blues" by Katie MacAlister

Day eight and a half: Time to celebrate

yay me!

i'm halfway to 50,000 words, and i so think i'll be much longer than that, because i plan on so much more

so, yay me!!

songs: "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers and "Lights and Sounds" by Yellowcard

Day eight: Almost at a standstill... and almost crying

okay, i'll talk about the crying first, because it would've been happy crying... i didn't actually cry, i did get a little teary-eyed, and i blame one person... i blame Wendy

now, i'm not angry with her, i'm just really touched and all emotional-y... yesterday, her blog mentioned the writing i was doing for NaNoWriMo, so i sent her the first part of what i have, like, the first 20 pages or so, it's basically a little intro and the first chapter... her response was she loved it, and i mean LOVED it... so far everyone seems to love it, like, LOVE it-love it... which makes me feel better, knowing i'm not writing all this boring crap that no one will like

so, today on Wendy's blog was a poem, which i loved, babe, it's so good... and it's kind of like a poetic version of how someone is changed from a human to a werewolf... which did make me reconsider what they look like as werewolves (like if they're actual wolves or something close but a little more human)... i loved how it was written, in little sections... and of course, the mention of sushi... and i've only had bad sushi once, and i'll never go back there again

now, onto my standstill... i don't quite know what's going on... i haven't really been writing as much as i was last week, which is annoying... i have been going back and adding more, which always gets me to add more when i think i've forgotten something, which is good

now, think of it in terms of pages and words... 4 pages, double spaced, 12 point type, is about 1,000 words... do you know how hard it is to write that much when you think of it like that?? i always get stuck when i think of it like that... i wanted to get to 25,000 before i left for lunch, and i might just be able to do it if i stop blabbering on here

song: "Beautiful" by Warwick Avenue
book: "Red Lily" by Nora Roberts

Day four: writing at a steady pace

okay, i'm starting to get a little tired from writing, but i guess it's normal... i think at this moment, i'm at 12,600 words, plus a little more... i don't remember off the top of my head... i got some writing done late last night, just because I wanted to stop at 12,000 before I headed off to bed, and i did at like, 1:30 this morning... so, i'm going to cheat and say that over three days, i've averaged about 4,000 words a day... which is pretty good, in the long run, when to get 50,000 words in 30 days, you should be averaging about 1,700 to 2,000 words a day

at least the whole thing ends at midnight local time, so i'll still be writing after a good chunk of the world has stopped... yay me (and no offence to everyone else)

Wednesday was basically just laying the beginning foundations and writing... Thursday was padding and adding more as I read over it and writing new stuff... Friday was more writing new stuff... who knows about today?... probably more new, maybe some reading over of the second part to prepare it for critiques by others

hmmm, what else can i talk about??

i'm thinking that the first 20 pages or so are done, and i'm not about to add more to them... i've let some people read the first part... Jeannie (love my Jeannie), Dani, and Nancy... i think that's all who've read it so far... Jeannie said she'd buy it when it came out, Dani said she was hooked and wants to know more, especially about one guy that was mentioned, and Nancy said she liked it... hopefully other people'll like it, too... i like it, i think it's interesting, and i know there's going to be lots of twists and surprises

i feel so evil saying that, but it's true... i guess that's all for now... enjoy the weekend, peoples... and happy writing to all the NaNoWriMo people... you're all going to write great things

song: "Alphabet Lost and Found" by They Might Be Giants
book: "Night Play" by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Day one: my writing begins with a bang

omg omg omg... you all have NO idea how good i feel right now... as of right now, i've written 3,934 words... the FIRST 3,934 words of my novel for NaNoWriMo... it took me weeks to get this far with my other novel... i guess this one's just easier because it's a more present day focused book, not one taking place in a fantasy land... i just want to keept going and going and going, but i'm so tired and a little cold and i need sleep

with any luck i'll be back in about 9 hours writing another 3,900 words... i'm aiming for about that many each day... it's about 16 pages, double spaced... and if i can do that with everything that's happened today, then i can do it for the next 29 days

now, i know i promised some people an excerpt... and here it is... and i'll forego the song and book recommendation for today
~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I was younger, things happened quickly, quicker than I thought things would happen, which felt a little strange when I was growing up. Of course, everything about my life is strange, so who am I to complain? My childhood was short, to the point, and very, very boring, so I’m not about to go into it and bore you completely.

I swear to you, it was a completely normal childhood, with the normal parents, normal siblings, normal house, and normal pets. Completely normal everything.

I could say more about the normalness of it, but why would I when I’ve got a lot more interesting things to talk about, like, how I became a werewolf. Well, it was the normal way, of course.

Some stupid wolf bit me.

That sure did teach me to carry around a knife or two instead of pepper spray. Pepper spray does not work on wolves that tackle you to the ground and bite you in the shoulder. Trust me on this.

I was in college, my junior year, and I was taking a shortcut through a back alley towards my apartment. I’d been taking the alley for years, and I knew what kind of disgusting things lived back there under the dumpsters and trash cans. Walking through the alley, I turned the corner, and the next thing I knew I found myself flat on my back, with this snarling, growling animal on me.

The first thought that went through my mind was, “Oh, shit.”

The second thought that went through my mind was, “Damn, this guy’s heavy.” And I could tell it was a male wolf.

He slowly lowered his head towards me, then bent further and sniffed at my neck, and then at my hair, pressing his nose into the dark red mass of curls. I started trembling, shaking under the weight of this huge animal. Well, shaking as much as I could; his weight was really pressing down on me. I could almost feel the bruises forming on my chest and shoulders as he pressed down hard.

I was almost afraid to touch him, but I knew I had to push him off of me if I was going to get up and run up into my apartment away from this stupid dog, so I slowly raised my arms and pressed my hands to his chest, trying to push him off of me. I pushed as hard as I could, barely moving him, and he chose that moment to growl at me in warning.

So, I dropped my arms. “Look, buddy, you might want to get off of me before I completely freak out and have a panic attack and faint right here.”

The wolf’s head slowly rose from sniffing at my hair and looked down at me, the bright blue eyes a little disconcerting in such a furry, and oddly intelligent looking, face. I squirmed under the intense stare, wondering if he was even going to get off sometime in the next year, then stopped when he growled again, even deeper and rougher than the last time.

“Hey!”

Someone called out from the other end of the alley, which distracted the wolf and forced him to look at the man who’d called out. I took the opportunity to push the wolf off of me again, using as much force as I could. It was enough to push him away, causing him to fall back into piled up trash bags.

I quickly got to my feet and started running down the alley to my building, and was soon tackled and pressed down hard into the pavement. I could feel hot breathing against my neck, a low growl, and then that wolf bit down on my neck, tearing away my jacket and sweater before puncturing the skin of my shoulder.

Screaming in pain, I tried to roll over and get him off of me, but he wouldn’t budge or let go, and bit down harder. I screamed again, and raised my hand up to the wolf’s head, trying to pull him off as I struggled underneath him. He stilled for a second, and I saw the edges of my vision turn red, then black, and fainted, my hand falling down onto the pavement.

The next thing I knew, I was in my apartment, lying naked on my living room floor, in the middle of the day, covered in sweat and shaking uncontrollably.

I know, it sounds like something out of a fiction novel, but when I saw the bleeding bite mark on my neck and the bruises on my chest and back, I fainted again, almost hitting my head on the edge of the tub and giving myself a serious concussion.

When I woke up, a few hours had passed, and I slowly stood up. All I could see when I looked in the mirror was a nasty looking scar on my neck and shoulder, and fading bruises on my back.

The first thing I did was take a hot shower that probably peeled off the top layer of skin.

The second thing was order a large pepperoni and sausage pizza, because I was starving.

The third thing I did was spend the next four days in my apartment because I was freaking out over what had happened, what diseases that stupid wolf might’ve given me, and what I might’ve done in those twelve hours when I wasn’t aware of anything but the colour black.

The next few weeks completely changed the course of my life, or what I thought my life would be. I thought I’d settle my life into place after college and be normal, you know. Have a career, meet someone nice, get married, have a family, and do all the other boring normal living… stuff.

But, no, not for me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
copyright me 2006

Let the writing marathon begin!

hi-ho peoples... well, it looks like it's Hallowe'en... ooooo, fun... i don't think i've been out on this night since i was 12... weird... and it looks like i've got door duty again... just because my sister still has midterms... o well... and it's her birthday tomorrow... *rolling eyes* o well, again... i might not be around so much tomorrow... crap

well, that's for two reasons... one, tomorrow's the start of NaNoWriMo... when you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days... *rubbing hands together in an evil way*... it's going to be soooo much fun... the second reason is because my dad's working from home tomorrow... so i'm going to be annoyed all day into doing things around the house... i might as well just lock myself in my room tomorrow so i can get some writing done

and because of this writing thing, it basically means that i can't work on my novel for the next month... damn... well, it'll be there in December, right??

so, today's pretty much devoted, for the most part, to planning out my contest novel and writing as much of my novel as i can before tomorrow... i guess i can always go back to it if i get stuck or something... i expect everyone out there to do this, or at least some people... if you've signed up at NaNoWriMo.org, then good for you and tell me your ID, and i'll add you to my list... the more the merrier, right??

now, i know what you're thinking... 50,000 words in 30 days? you're nuts... well, 2 pages, double spaced, is about 500 words... so if you do the math, *doing the math in my head* it's about 200 pages, more or less... you can get 50,000 words in 30 days if you average about 1,700 a day, which is about 7 pages... now, that's really not that bad... and in this contest thing, you're a winner if you actually get to 50,000 words or more

go to the website, check out the rules, and if you think it'll get your writing juices flowing, then by all means, go ahead and sign up... i promise it'll be fun ;)

song: "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer
book: "Dark Lover" by J.R. Ward

Writing update... yay

ok, props to my Nancy... she told me about this writing month thing... which is National Novel Writing Month... it sounds so cool, so i thought, why not??... i can get my book put out there on this site... or even write something else and put this on hold, cause i do have a lot jumbling around in my head... sweet


my ID is donovan_rylie, if anyone else out there is on there... that means you, Nancy *hugs*

and on another note, i've got 4 pages done so far this weekend... which, i know, isn't 10, but i only write when the mood grabs me

song: "Rush" by Aly and AJ
book: "The Compass Rose" by Gail Dayton (love this book)