December to Remember.

So I haven't blogged lately, even if I do have a lot to blog about.  I haven't told you guys about YALLfest yet, which I still plan to do.  I haven't blogged about what I've read, which is just bad because I think we now know, if I don't blog it, I don't remember it.  Lots of things.

And we'll still have to wait another day for those because I have December on the brain today.

See, now that I've all but finished the first draft on my NaNoWriMo book, which is titled HOOD, by the way, I feel like I'm kind of floating in the land of unknown.  I always feel lost when I finish a book anyway but after writing one in a little over three weeks, I feel like my center of gravity is off.  You know how when you've been swimming for a while and then you get out of the water and suddenly you're all, "Why is walking so hard?!"  That's how I feel about stepping back into the world after being hunched over my laptop for a month.

It also just so happens that my life isn't going to be very busy in December.  My semester ends this week, NaNoWriMo is over... hell, even Sons of Anarchy's 4th season ends in two weeks.  Besides normal life stuff, my schedule is significantly lighter.  Which would be an awesome time to write a book, except that I just finished one.

So I plan on making December The Month Of Creativity!  First off, I want to do a few rewrites on HOOD before putting it up for a little bit.  Then I have revisions to do on MISFITS and some pretty big rewrites on KILLER CUPCAKES.  I'm literally going to be up to my eyeballs in my own books!  I'm pretty excited about it.

I also plan to brainstorm a lot, listen to a lot of music and write down every single idea that pops into my head for the new year, in which I'm hoping to write three books and jump back into QueryLand.  That's right.  Bring it, 2012!

So while I am kind of staring wide-eyed at December, I'm also really excited.  It will be nice to not have major goals and to just let the creativity flow.

So, to other NaNo-ers and No-NaNo-ers, what are your plans for December?

Brandy

Writing frustrations.

I'm sure I'm not the only struggling writer out there that reads books that are so good, so consuming that you just want to throw things and shake your fist at the sky while yelling, "I want to write like this!" Right?  RIGHT?  Because that's what I've been doing the last few days.

I know I've tweeted about my love of the series The Vampire Academy but I don't think I've mentioned it on the blog before.  I'm in serious love with these books.  Yes, I'm a few years late but still, it's love.  I also know that there are a lot of people who will shake their head and sniff at vampire books because they're so overdone and "on the way out" but I. Love. Them.

I'm reading the series for the second time and I've done so just as fast as I did the first time and with the exact amount of awe as well.  For me, these books aren't even about vampires but amazing characters that I find myself thinking about throughout the day.  In fact, a friend asked me what I'd been up to the other day and I answered honestly, "Well, I'm wondering what Dimitri Belikov is up to."  It's just the way I think.  I can't help it.

What's so impressive though is how ballsy Richelle Mead is.  If you've read the series, you know what I'm talking about.  The end of the third book and all of the fourth are heart wrenching, gut twisting and breakdown inducing.  By nature, I'm not a crier, but I think every time I put down the fourth book in the series, Blood Promise, I bawled my eyes out.  And in a show of how good the story is, the next day, I picked the book right back up, tissues in hand.  I'm also about to read that book for the second time, ready to cry for a few days again.  But Mead went there anyway.  She KNEW that she was turning the world she created upside down and she pushed on.  Even when you think things are about to get better for poor Rose Hathaway, they don't.

I've also heard people complain about decisions that Rose makes throughout the series, calling her selfish or immature, but that's because she is.  Mead allowed Rose to be imperfect and to do things that the readers may disagree with because it's what made her real.  She got away with this because the story is just that good and because it's honest. This is so brave and as a struggling writer, SO admirable.

I have a lot of the same feelings about the writing on Sons of Anarchy.  You just don't leave seasons hanging the way Kurt Sutter does.  You don't flip the whole world around, leaving everyone at risk.  You can't write characters that do horrible things and expect people to pull for them.  Except that he does.  What makes these stories so good is that when I either put the book down or walk away from the TV, my mouth is hanging open and my heart is pounding.  I can't believe these writers went there and that they continue to go there.

I haven't read Bloodlines yet, the companion book to the Vampire Academy series, but I have heard what the very last line of the book is.  Mead went there again, leaving us hanging yet trusting her that she'll bring it next time.  And I'm positive she will.

*shakes fist at ceiling*   Why must they set the standards so high? Why??

So, what story, book, TV or otherwise, leaves you shaking your fist?  I'll be sure to grab a pen and paper so I can check them out too.

Brandy

The last two weeks, in pictures.

It's been too long!  Quick recap: My sister got married, I hung out with family in Delaware, didn't sleep much.  Returned home only to wake up the next day with the flu/cold/death sickness that didn't go away for almost a week in a half.  The fall semester started, I've revised MISFITS a little, started planning out a new project, read some books, watched Sons of Anarchy season 3, reorganized my bookcases and then started this blog post.  That doesn't really capture how crazy it's been.  Maybe pictures will?  Let's see...

The view from the balcony at my sister's wedding.

My Sick Kit on the couch.

Cat # 2, Blaze. Another part of the Sick Kit.

Also Cat #1, BooBoo.

Then school started and these started piling up.

New notebook, which I love.  Science? Not as much.

Me & my BFF's obsession.  If it's wrong, I don't want to be right.

I hit up Borders and needed to find a home for these.

My fav bookcase and fav books.

The whole thing. Almost full. Must add on.

This is now!



So anyway, that's been my life, in pictures, for the last few weeks.  Exciting, huh?

Real blog posts (with words!) coming soon.

-Brandy