Thoughts on a Friday

Okay, so you know you haven't blogged in a really long time when your blog host changes the entire layout of things and it took you five minutes to figure out how to post something new.  Whew!

Anyway, the Semester That Will Probably Kill Me did not, in fact, kill me, but it was hairy there for a while.  I was hoping to graduate this summer but due to mix-ups and the universe's hobby of making my life more complicated, I have to make it through the fall semester.  The bright side is that the classes I have to take are fun, besides one math, but I'm in denial about that right now, and it won't be as intense as this one.  Look who is focusing on the positives! *pats self on the back*

So I plan on finishing up revisions on HOOD now that I have a little more free time along with beta reading and reading new books because, you guys, I haven't read a book in over a month!  I know.  I flew through the last two books of the Hunger Games when the movie came out (my feelings on that series would take another blog post, maybe two) and since then I haven't touched a book.  I'm remedying that this weekend.

Since I do have more free time, I'd looove some book recommendations.  I have a small pile that I need to get through right now, but I'm hoping it won't take long.

So, what should I read?

Go hard or go home.

So as it turns out, I'm not very good at leisurely writing a book.  If I'm not putting myself under constant pressure to finish something, I get all, "I'll get right on that!  Tomorrow."  This actually is totally unsurprising to anyone who has ever met me, because I'm a works-well-under-pressure gal.  Yay, Scorpio!  I've always said I'm awesome when things go to crap.  It's when things are going good that I get suspicious.  So anyway, the moral to this story is that if I'm going to write that sequel, I'm going to do it in a month with a hard deadline.  Plus side, I'll be awesome when I'm finally published and am put on deadline.  ::Hear that agents?!::

So now I have to decide what I'm going to do.  Do I put my nose to the grindstone and finish the sequel or try to think of a new idea?  It's silly, but I feel weird putting the amount of energy needed to write a book into a sequel of a book that hasn't been picked up by an agent or sold yet.  And writing for me is cool, but am I missing out on My Next Great Idea (yes, I capitalized it.  It felt right.) because I'm working on something for fun?

There's also something to be said for that buzz I get when I have a new idea.  It's when I know that I'm operating on all cylinders and doing what I'm supposed to be doing with my life when I get an idea that I know I can turn into 50-80 thousand words.  And I miss it.  I haven't worked on anything new since NaNoWriMo and I miss the rush of it.

Maybe I will write something new.  I guess it's time to hit up my ideas list to see what comes up.  If nothing does, then I'll finish the sequel.  A plan!

Before that though, I have finals and revisions for HOOD to finish in the next few weeks.  Then I'll put myself on an intense deadline and stress myself out.  Good times.

Brandy

Taking it easy.

So I think we've covered here before that I'm kind of an obsessive writer.  When I'm writing, I'm completely (okay, pretty much) incommunicado from my friends and family, and I normally knock out a first draft in about a month before I crawl back out, cringing from all of that natural light from the sun.

I'm trying something different right now.  I am casually writing a book.  Normally I shadow box, stretch and pump myself up for a knock down, drag out sort of experience but I'm going to see how this goes.  I think I look silly shadow boxing anyway.

What I'm working on is actually a sequel to one of my other books and I'm really only writing it because I woke up the other day with basically the whole plot in my mind, and that's not really something I can ignore, is it?  So I'm writing.  I haven't had to alert everyone that I'm writing a book with everything that means (read: don't call, don't visit.  I'll call you when I'm done) I'm just... writing it.  If I finish it soon, cool.  If I don't, that's fine too because I'm only writing it for me.  Which is actually what I do with all of my other books too, now that I think about it.

I'm also working on revisions to HOOD from NaNoWriMo, so this whole casual thing is breaking that up nicely. 

Hey!  If I can finish the casual book, write a new story this summer and then another for NaNo, I'll hit my three book goal for 2012!  Of course I'll be starting grad school in the fall and that might slow me down, but still!  I'll be close!

So, what are you working on?

Getting back on track.

I'm not going to lie... I slacked off on my writing duties in December.  I was VERY busy baking and eating and Christmas-ing.  Also normal life stuff, but mainly eating.

I've made some headway into my revisions but the tough stuff lies ahead, so I'd really like dive back into those very soon.  Like right after I write this.

After that, my plan is more revisions!  I have huge, huge revisions to do on KC (secret title laugh here).  I'm looking forward to them but they also feel really daunting at the same time.  They'll take a while, for sure.

Then I need to do another round of revisions on my NaNo book.  There are plot holes-a-plenty in that one but I find myself thinking about it all the time, so I feel like I'm on to something with it. (Random: I've written whole instead of hole so many times today! What's the deal, brain?!  Also, why am I typing hole so much?)

So three books and three sets of revisions! Yippeeeee.

I'm going to be SO READY to write something new by spring.  Which is good because my December to Remember, write-every-single-idea-I-had-down thing worked and my notepad on my phone has a lot of titles of Book Idea 1, 2, 3 and so on, in it.  If I'm being honest, after I finish the MISFITS revisions, I'd really like to write one idea I came up with in December, but I can't just stick to the fun stuff all the time.  In theory, these revisions could be done by March-ish and then I can write like a crazy woman into the summer.

My writing goal this year is to write three books, which is actually the same goal I had last year.  I came up one short in 2011 though, so I'm determined to make it happen in 2012.  I actually want one of them to be the MISFITS sequel just for my own enjoyment, so we will see!

Do you make writing goals?  And if so, what are they?

Brandy

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

Quick Monday post.

So, I would like everyone to take a minute to look over to the right at my word counter widget and see that I'm 40% DONE WITH MY NANO WIP!!  Eeeee!

Okay, seriously,  I'm under no illusion that a) what I'm writing is fantastic just yet or that b) I can keep this kind of writing up.  My eye twitch and nightly headaches are making me crazy but watching other people's word counts go up, paired with being excited about what I'm writing makes me pro-duc-tiiive.

I have tons of work to get done before I leave for South Carolina for YAllFest and a mini family vacation that it will probably be hard to write everyday this week, but I feel good that I've got a little stockpile of words to fall back on.  Also, I can't wait to listen to all of those awesome authors give out advice and then be able to post about it!

Back to NaNoWriMo for a sec: Being the person that I am, I'm excited about how much I've written but mostly, I'm suspicious about all of these words.  Clearly, none of them can be good if they're flowing that freely, right?  Surely at some point I'm going to hit a wall... or something.

I know I should just enjoy it, I do.  But it's strange, guys.  Very strange.

So, how's everyone else's NaNo going?  And the NoNaNo folks?  What's it like outside?

Brandy

Happy NaNo Eve! Oh, and Halloween too!

So while everyone else is eating candy corn and celebrating Halloween, I am completely focused on NaNoWriMo.  I'll go ahead and admit that I did all of my Halloween things this weekend, which mainly included watching documentaries on Vlad the Impaler and eating WAY too much candy, so it's not like I wasn't festive.

My NaNo idea is bubbling over the top of my brain, so I'm ready to write, but as always, I have to walk the fine line between letting the story play out in my head to plan a little bit and letting it play out so much that I don't feel like writing it anymore.

I'd love to say my pantser quality is all about letting the story flow freely from my brain, through my fingers and out into the world but that's not entirely true.  While planning stories does make me jumpy in a way that only a person with commitment problems can, my main problem with plotting is that if I let the ideas flow too much and I see the whole story in my head, I don't feel like writing it anymore because, to me, it already happened.  I know that's probably weird but that's just how I am.  My very first book took me a year and a half to write and I firmly believe that it's because I, trying to plan like I saw so many awesome writers talking about online, got tired of that story and it slowed me down. 

Knowing exactly what happens in my story takes me out of the game very early, so I try to keep the planning to a minimum (who the main characters are and the conflict), which is what I'm fighting right now waiting for NaNo to start.  I actually think I'm going to jump in at midnight because these characters are screaming at me!

I'm ready! And nervous.

I didn't do my regular blog posts last week, because I was trying to take a break from the computer in preparation for NaNo as well.  I developed a really awesome eye twitch while writing MISFITS, so this time I'm trying to be really careful with my eyes.  But I do plan on keeping the blog updated in November to document my breakdown experiences during NaNoWriMo.

Happy Halloween/NaNoWriMo Eve!

Brandy

Monday Meme, except not really.

I was going to do my normal Monday Meme about writing today, but my mind is totally, and completely full of NaNoWriMo.  So I thought that instead of answering questions about writing, I would talk about my game plan for writing 50k words in thirty days.  *deep breath* No, I'm fine.  Totally fine.  Not overwhelmed at all. *deep breath*

So last night I realized that there was not only a week left in October but that November, does in fact, come after October.  You do the math, people.  NaNoWriMo is coming up fast.  So, being the list person that I am, I sat down with my planner and figured out, with my schedule for November (which is nuts) what I'll have to write to make my goal.

November is the month where school work piles up in preparations for finals in early December.  It's also the month of my birthday and my mom's birthday.  It also includes a trip to South Carolina for YALL Fest and my niece's softball tournament, Thanksgiving and a midnight showing of Breaking Dawn.  Plus ALL OF THE OTHER THINGS.  But I figured it out!

All I have to do is write no less than 2k words most days, and on non-busy days, crank out 5k words, which I did every Wednesday while I was writing MISFITS.  That will help make up for the days, like the SC trip, where I highly doubt I'll write at all.  If I keep up with my schedule, I should actually hit around 60k before the end of the month, which is pretty much my norm for first drafts.

Besides being overwhelmed to the point of dizziness, I'm still SO excited.  This is my first NaNo, and it's something I've always wanted to do but my work schedule never allowed.  This year though, I'm in!

So, is anyone else around here doing NaNoWriMo?  I'd love to have a few people to keep up with, and hopefully help keep each other motivated.

-Brandy

Monday Writing Meme

Which words do you use too much in your writing?   "Just" haunts me.  I probably use "anyway" waaay too much.  And in the latest WIP I'm revising, I wrote the word "alien" like it was my job.
Which words do you consider overused in stuff you read?  I've noticed a lot of "startled" lately.  Characters startling all over the place.
What’s your favourite piece of writing by you?  I can't really choose.  I love all of them differently.
What blog post do you wish you’d written?  Oh, I don't know.  I'm sadly not up-to-date on popular blogs.
Regrets, do you have a few? Is there anything you wish you hadn’t written?  I wish I hadn't taken so much time off from writing a few years ago. 
How has your writing made a difference?  For my life, writing kind of keeps me sane.  My head starts to get very jumbled when I don't write.  I don't sleep well and am just in general not fun to be around.  Although, I've been told I'm not fun to be around when I'm really into a WIP either, so who knows...
Name three favourite words  Any curse word, asshat and fantastic.
…And three words you’re not so keen on  I'm not really sure.  I'm not big on all of the startling, that's for sure.
Do you have a writing mentor, role model or inspiration?  Everyone who writes is an inspiration to me.  I like knowing everyone's stories and processes.
What’s your writing ambition?

Just to make people not want to put my book down, to meet readers and write books until I run out of ideas.

 

When big ideas don't work and NaNoWriMo

So I've had this BIG IDEA rumbling around in my head for a while.  I've talked and talked and blogged and blogged about The New Project over the last month and yet every time I sit down to write it, I feel a little... weird.  I still love the idea and really love the characters but something is just off about this book, which I planned to write before NaNoWriMo in November.  Then, seeing how little progress I was making on figuring out what's wrong, I figured that I would just write The New Project for NaNoWriMo and spend this month planning.  I normally don't plan at all but this kind of idea needed it, mainly because I had no idea what I was writing about and there was a little bit of a historical background that I planned on using... and none of this has helped.  The idea feels lost.

I really hate that because I'm normally one of those, If You Start It, You Finish It, kind of people but I'm thinking this idea needs to go to the back burner for a little bit.  Or maybe it needs to marinate!  Or maybe I should stop watching The Food Network!  Either way, it doesn't feel like the right time to write this story.  I will write it someday, but now apparently isn't the time.  Does that happen to anyone else?  How do you deal with it? 

So with all of that said, I think I've finally settled on what I'm going to write for NaNoWriMo.  This is another idea that I've had for a while, with a folder on my phone and all, for when I think of something while I'm mid-conversation with someone, or when I'm grocery shopping.  It's growing in my head every time I think about it, so I'm taking that as a good sign.  For NaNoWriMo, you just kind of have to GO and this is the kind of idea I can jump out of the gate with.

And quickly, can I just tell you how excited I am for NaNoWriMo?  It's my first go round, although I've always wanted to participate.  With my last job, November was entirely too busy to dedicate to writing a whole book, but this year is different, so I'm going for it.  Is anyone else participating this year?

Have a good weekend!

Brandy

Monday Writing Meme

Hey everybody!  I hope you had a good weekend.  Mine was spent with words, so obviously it was fantastic.  I swear, what drives me to work so hard throughout the week is to simply make time to read or write.  And I'm totally fine with that.

Anyway, here are some random questions for the Monday Meme.  You know the rules: there are none.  Just let me know if you post it so I can stalk you check it out.

1.  When did you decide to take a real swing at writing?  Or have you yet?  I have.  I remember writing my first book, finishing it and being all, "Well, no one's allowed to read that mess!"  But then I wrote my second book and thought I should let someone read it.  The safest person was my best friend and she demanded to read more and I thought maybe I was on to something.  I've been dedicated to writing ever since.

2.  Who is your writing role model? Any one who writes everyday while living and working like a "normal" person is my hero.  It's so hard and so admirable.  Also, J.K. Rowling.  She wrote these little books that I'm sure you've never heard of and I remember reading the first chapter and hoping someday I could take someone to another world like she took me.

3.  If you've been published, what is your favorite part of your job?  If not, what do you look forward to?  Not published YET. :)  I would love, love, love to sit and talk to people about books, mine or others.  Since I write mostly YA, the idea of sitting down with teens who love reading makes my heart grow like the Grinch's. Also, just holding my own book would blow my  mind.

5. What inspires you? I love finding out how people deal with weird things.  I'm a people watcher and, even when I was little, I would watch people and wonder what their lives were like.  Then I would think that maybe they looked normal but really they were a secret superhero or a government agent and wondered how they dealt with that.  This explains all of my books so far.

6. What traits shows up in all of your characters, if any?  Hmm, they all have secrets and I put them in odd situations.  And most of the guys are tall.  That's a personal preference from the writer. ;)

7. Biggest pet peeve in books? Probably cliffhangers that don't answer the questions that are posed in the beginning of that book.  Some loose ends are fine but... we'll just say that there have been times I've read the first book, didn't have any answers and refused to finish the series because of it.

8. Have you ever based a character on a real person?  Not totally.  I take little traits from people I know and use them sometimes.  The mom is KILLER CUPCAKES reminds me a lot of my mom.  All of my guy friends had a crush on my mom and she thought that was awesome. ha!


9.  Do you tell people that you're writing a book?  Sometimes.  I still feel a little silly telling some people what my books are about or that they are YA.  I hate that, "Oh, so you're writing another Twilight?" question because A) I wish, and B) People that ask those questions are helplessly ignorant.

10. Pantser or Plotter?  And why?  Pantser and mainly because writing an outline makes me feel itchy and committed, and I hate that feeling.

Monday Writing Meme.

1.  Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.
I really love the world in the WIP I'm revising, MISFITS.  I think it's because there are SO MANY possibilities.  I actually started MISFITS as a creative exercise by just throwing everything at it and it turned into a book!

2.  How many characters do you have?  I normally have one MC and a group around her.  I think the people around an MC make them who they are, so friends and family are important to me when creating characters.


Do you prefer males or females? I've only written from the female POV but I think a lot about writing a male.


3.  How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you’re writing about fictional places)? It's a big deal.  I'm very picky about names, although in MISFITS the names are so silly and obvious that I just kind of went with it.  I also tend to give my female MC's names that could also be male.  I don't know why but there it is.  As for places, I pick a place that makes sense for the story.

4.  Tell us about one of your first stories/characters! My first story, which I found not long ago, was about me and a lot of danger.  Like, chocolate was dangerous.  I was five-ish.  I've written kind of dramatic my whole life.


5.  Where are you most comfortable writing? My couch.  I try other places but no matter where I go, I get the most done on the couch.  At what time of day? Whenever it hits me, although I make an effort to write during daylight times because if I write too late, I can't sleep. 

6.  Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters? I need quiet to write.  Or if the TV is on, it's very low and on something that I won't pay attention to.

7.  What’s your favorite genre to write? YA contemp, or fantasy-ish YA.  To read? Same. Although I work in non-YA too.

8.  How do you get ideas for your characters? I start with their personality and quirks.  Charlie, my MC in KILLER CUPCAKES is very driven by what goes on around her and how she wants to change that.  Ali, from MISFITS, doesn't deal with emotions well and uses jokes to lighten things up.  My new MC is a complete headcase but I think I love her.   

9.  What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Hell.  One has woken up spooning with a guy in front of her grandmother and almost shot a raccoon.  Another has ridden a were animal.  It's complicated.

10.  Who is your favorite character to write? The group of life-long friends in INHERENTLY DANGEROUS is really fun to write.  They have so much complicated history and there really aren't many secrets between them, so the dynamic is fun.

11.  In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding?
 I kind of suck at worldbuilding, so I'm not sure.  It's definitely not my strongest suit.  I'm working on it.


12.  What’s your favorite culture to write, fictional or not? Any and all.

13.  How do you map out locations, if needed? Honestly?  I've never felt the need to.  I take creative liberties while trying to be realistic about everything around my characters.


14.  Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not! Richelle Mead but I'm not talking anymore about it.  If she finds out (doubtful), she'll think I'm obsessed and I'M NOT.

15.  Do you write romantic relationships? Sure do.  How do you deal with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing? Well, I write mainly YA, so I try to be smart about it.  Interestingly enough, if I ever write my second books to KC or MISFITS, I'll have to deal with this more head on, I think.

16.  What are your favorite character interactions to write?  I lurrve awkward scenes.

17.  Do any of your characters have children? No, but boy would that complicate things!

18.  Tell us about one scene between your characters that you’ve never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not. Not sure what this means, but we'll go with I don't have one. :)

19. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?   
First draft takes about a month, revisions take MY WHOLE LIFE!  Kidding.  But that takes longer.  I would say the whole process takes three months before betas get it.
20.  How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? If it needs to happen, then it does.  What’s the most interesting way you’ve killed someone? I don't know if I can answer this.

22.  Do any of your characters have pets? Yes, and they're cats.  Always.  This says a lot about me.

23.  Do appearances play a big role in your stories?  I think so.  In MISFITS especially there are a lot of small details that I thought were important.


24.  Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities?  I think there is something a little bit wrong with all of my characters but nothing that I would classify as a disability.

25.  How often do you think about writing?  All. The. Time.

Whew!  That was longer than I thought it would be.  Fill out at your own risk.  :)

Brandy

Monday Writing Meme

Just like last week, a writing meme!  I swear I won't only have memes on the blog from now on, it just ended up that way this week.  Pinky swear.  

You know the rules: there are none.  If you end up doing the meme, let me know.  If not, just comment and say hi, okay?  Because I'm fragile like that.

 
1. List one of your writing goals for the upcoming month and how likely you are to accomplish it.

Well, I have two goals for the next month.  The first is to FINALLY, FINALLY finish revising MISFITS.  I would also, in a really happy world, like to finish my first draft on The New Project.  MISFITS will happen, for sure.  I'm not sure about TNP.  It's taking a while to form in my head, so it may end up being my NaNoWriMo project.  Not sure yet.

2. What genre or subject would you like to write about that you aren't currently?

I don't know.  I'd love to write something like The Mortal Instruments series by Cassie Clare but I don't know if I can put myself through that.  If I still hung posters, Cassie Clare's pic would SO be up there.  Also, a book like Beauty Queens by Libba Bray.  She is insanely amazing.

3. What is your writing lifestyle, habits? How do you manage the interruptions with your writing? How do you stay positive? Believe in your writing success?

a) Writing lifestyle - I'd like to say that I'm really structured and sit down from 9-5, or whatever, to write but I don't.  If I wanted to work from 9-5, I'd go get a real job instead of trying to write books.  I do, however, like to give myself wordcount goals, so I try to write 2k words a day.  On Wednesdays, I like to double the word count, a day I've dubbed Double Up Wednesday.


The only real habit I have is that I make notes after writing for the day, so I know what my thought process was when I start the next day.  It keeps me on track.

b) Interruptions - I mostly glare at people.  Is that wrong?

c) How do I stay positive - Oh boy.  I don't know about this one.  I think I go back and forth between thinking my stories rule to thinking I suck at life.  One day I'm all, "Working on my future best seller right now!" and the next I'm all, "I should just go and get a factory job and never write another word!"  So I really don't know.  I have people who tell me I don't suck.  That helps.

d) Believe in my writing success - I've gotten good feedback, even with rejections and that helps.  It lets me know that I'm close but still need to work harder.  So I keep working.

4. Are you a pantser or plotter? - Pantser.  I love the idea of planning while it also gives me hives.  I feel that if I plan out the whole book, I won't feel like writing it anymore.  I also worry that I'll plan myself into a box.  In general, I know who my characters are when I start and within the first few chapters I have a basic idea of what's going to happen and that's all.  This is the problem I'm having with The New Project right now.  I have NO IDEA what's going to happen and don't want to write more until I do. *shakes fist at ceiling*

5. Who are two of your favorite current authors and why? - Oh my.  This is a ridiculous questions to ask me! Or for me to ask myself!  Okay, okay, OKAY!

I'm going to go with Richelle Mead first because of my obsession with The Vampire Academy.  Also because she is so ballsy, and let me be honest, the person who created Dimitri Belikov deserves a poster on my wall.

Second, I'll go with Stephanie Perkins because she is just GOOD.  I read Anna and the French Kiss in one day, put it down, sent texts to all of my friends telling them to read it, and then picked it up and read it again.  So cute.  I just gave it to a friend as a birthday present, actually.

6. How does your family feel about your writing? - My mom is my biggest fan.  She's Person Who Tells Me I Don't Suck #1.  My sister thinks it's cool but is still silently waiting for me to grow up.  My niece hopes I'll make tons of money so I can buy her a new wardrobe and softball gear.  My dad's side of the family doesn't really know that I write that much.... I kind of never told them.  Don't worry!  I'll send them a book when I get published! *crosses fingers*

Okay, that's it!  Happy Monday!

Brandy

Monday Writing Meme

Because I like answering questions about writing, I found this while googling random things and decided I want to try and do something like this every Monday.  The only rule for this is simple, if you want to do it, DO IT!  You don't even have to do it on a Monday.  We are REBELS, people.  REBELS.  If you don't want to do it, read mine and laugh at me or comment.  Either way!

What’s your favorite genre of writing? Hmm, contemporary or fantasy-ish YA.  I think I'm still figuring out where I'll land on this.  Maybe I won't land at all.

How often do you get writer’s block? Not very often.  If I get writer's block, mostly I'll just trudge thru it, or take a serious look at where I'm at and what I'm doing in a WIP.  I take writer's block as a sign more than a problem.

How do you fix it? Like I said above, writing thru it.  Also, reading more and going to the movies.  Anything that gets the creative juices flowing.  I've also been known to put on some headphones and stare at the ceiling for a while.

Do you type or write by hand? Mostly typing.  If there is a scene I want to flesh out more before getting serious about it, I'll write it out.  Writing by hand is also another thing I do if I feel stuck.  I feel less committed when I'm only writing by hand.

Do you save everything you write? Yes.  I have SO MANY first few chapters of books I've never finished saved.  Even when I'm revising, I save the scenes I cut out.  My excuse is that someday, people may want to see them.  Hoarder-ish?  Yes.  Presumptuous? Totally.  I do it anyway.

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it? Oh, yeah.  This is why I save everything!  If you look at my projects bar on the side, INHERENTLY DANGEROUS is the first book I ever wrote, except it takes place ten years after the first book happened.  The first book sucked but I will finish ID.  New spins on old ideas are the best.

Do you have a constructive critic? I do and she's awesome.

Did you ever write a novel? More than a couple.

What genre would you love to write but haven’t? I've never finished a non-YA book. I'd love to do that. 

What’s one genre you have never written, and probably never will? Horror/thriller.  I'm a total wuss with that stuff.

How many writing projects are you working on right now? Three.  But I'm focusing mainly on two.

Do you write for a living? Do you want to? I don't but it would be the best thing ever.

Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper? Magazine, no.  Newspaper, yes.  I would jump at the chance to write for a magazine though.

Have you ever won an award for your writing? Nope, just a contest.

Do you ever write based on your dreams? No, but I wouldn't rule it out.  My dreams are nuts.

Do you favor happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers? Oh lord, I could write a whole post on this one.  I like endings with closure.  It doesn't have to be happy, although I like them the most.  I just want the questions that are posed in that book answered.  Even if it's a cliff-hanger, I think a good author can wrap up their story and still leave something to look forward to in the next book.

If you do end up doing this meme, let me know in the comments so I can check it out.  Or just leave me a few thoughts in general.  :)

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 voices in my head won't shut up.

This post might make me seem a little crazy... well, a little more crazy than I've already admitted to being, anyway.  But I'm going to admit it: There are people living in my head and they won't shut up.

As you know, I've been working on revisions of MISFITS.  I'm at the print-it-out-and-be-picky stage, which I'll start this weekend.  I've held back from writing MISFITS 2, so I don't get anything mixed up between the two and to give myself a bit of a break.  But then, last Wednesday I woke up with this girl in my head telling me about her life and how the first chapter of her story will start. 

Obviously, I don't actually have voices talking to me but I have all of these people, stories and worlds in my head and it makes me feel a little bit nuts.  I have three stories taking up room in my mind that have me researching some things for The New Story, trying to add oomph to MISFITS and thinking about how that story will continue in the sequel.  It's so much that I'm having trouble sleeping.  My mind simply won't turn off!  I love the new ideas but oh, how I love good sleep...

On the other hand, I can't even tell you how excited I am about this new idea.  It's way out of my comfort zone, the new main character is going to be a handful and I'm thinking I'll actually start working on it when I finish my revisions on MISFITS with hopes of being done before November.  This means I can spend NaNoWriMo working on MISFITS 2.  I would wait on this new idea for November but it's going to involve a lot more research and as much planning as I can do without going crazy. None of that lends itself to writing quickly for me.

Um, crazy is a huge theme of this post.  Let's ignore it, huh?

Anyway!  I'm headed out of town on Wednesday for my sister's wedding, (second time's a charm!) and will be away from humanity, (read: In Delaware) until Saturday.  Maybe a long drive will help clear my head.

So, am I really crazy?  Or are these people in my head something all writers deal with?  Or are we ALL crazy?

-Brandy

Setting the mood.

So, I'm finally getting everything back in order after The Month of Suck that took me away from writing/blogging/email and so on.

I've spent my first few days as a free woman brainstorming over my revisions of MISFITS as well as what's to come of MISFITS 2.  Every time I think about the fact that I'm writing a sequel to an ms that isn't repped yet, I shake my head.  But it's more like therapy for me right now than anything else, so I'm going with it.  Yesterday I spent most of the evening with headphones on listening to Pandora with a notebook nearby and just letting ideas come to me.  That helped a lot but it actually got me thinking about a few other things.

First, music helps me a lot with ideas.  I can't write with music on though.  I prefer an empty room with complete silence when I'm writing but there is a way that I think music is going to help me this time.  The one thing I've been struggling with while writing and revising MISFITS is really setting the mood for scenes and adding that extra oomph of emotion with my characters.  Last night, while I was listening to music, I added little notes about what songs I felt matched the emotion I wanted in certain scenes and I actually think that may help!  I know a lot of writers do playlists, so I guess this is my spin on that.  I'm really excited to start working on this tonight.

I also realized that every time I read this ms, I get distracted a lot in the beginning, but always, always read the last half in one sitting.  I'm taking this as a sign that I need to make some changes to the first half.  I'm toying around with re-writing it, (at least the first chapter) just to see what I end up with, so we'll see how that turns out as well.

I'm really excited about this book.  I hate saying that because it makes me nervous, but I just do.  Hopefully someone ::cough:: agents ::cough:: will be just as excited as I am.  :)

So, does music help you too?  Or are you the silent type?

-Brandy

Quick hello!

It's been over a month since I blogged last! How in the world did that happen?

Well, actually I know how.  For some reason I thought it would be smart/fun/a good idea to sign up for three intense summer courses (I'm desperate to graduate, really) and these courses basically stuff everything that you would learn in a full four month semester into one month.  It's not just my online friends who haven't seen me lately... no one has.

I haven't returned e-mails, I haven't tweeted as much and obviously, I haven't blogged.  So if you're waiting to hear from me, give me a day or two and I'll be back in action.  I'm currently procrastinating while I should be finishing a final project, and decided to post something to explain my absence.  So I'm not back for real quite yet.

A quick book/writing update:  Somehow, I found time to do my first round of revisions on MISFITS during these intense classes.  I still love this book and actually can't wait to dig into it for the second time... I'm thinking I'll end up doing three to four rounds, reading it a different way each time, whether on my Nook, laptop or on paper.  I have three weeks off before a very full, but not nearly as intense, fall semester starts and I'd like to be done revising by the end of August.

Also, while I'm revising MISFITS I'm working on a new WIP.  I swore on Twitter I wouldn't talk about it, but I'm among friends here, right?  Right.  So, the other night I accidentally sat down and wrote the first chapter of MISFITS 2.  I know, I know.  You shouldn't write a sequel to a book that hasn't been repped or sold yet.  I know.  But I've been in a tiny (read: HUGE) funk lately and while I sat around wondering what I could do to cheer myself up, I realized it was writing the next story for my MISFITS characters.  I'm only doing this for me, and I swear I'll write something new in November for NaNoWriMo.  MISFITS 2 is really just me wanting to write it, without thoughts of what will happen when I put MISFITS 1 out to agents.

Oh, wow... so this wasn't as quick of a post as I thought it would be.  I should go finish this project.  After that, I'll be back for good though.

I MISSED you all!

-Brandy

Can't stop, won't stop.

So, last week, a week before my self imposed deadline to finish my current WIP, I wrote the last word of my first draft.  Exciting!

As I mentioned in my last post, I'd kind of been immersed in writing , so much so that my friends were begging to talk about something else and my first readers were tired of the 20 questions (fine, 100) that followed everything I sent them.  I'm not saying I was mean, really, just... focused on getting answers.

Anyway, I love what I have, although since the book took a little bit of a turn as I wrote it, I know I'm going to have to re-write a lot of the beginning.  After my last revisions on KC, I feel like I have a better idea of my revision process although, (like I do about everything else in the writing world) I worry that it's completely the opposite of what I should do and what everyone else does.

First off, when I'm working on a WIP, I write 2k words a day.  I'm a pantser, so I don't outline or anything, I just jump right in.  I'd like to say that I don't write on weekends but that kind of goes out of the window when I really get into the groove of writing.  I actually took two days off before finishing this WIP and started recapping when I wrote again, like I was starting the second book and needed to remind the reader what happened.  It was a mess and I think I was doing it for me because I felt like I hadn't written in MONTHS but really I just took the weekend off.  Anyway!  I don't like taking time of from writing.

I always read and revise the previous chapter before I write a new one, just to get back into the groove of what my characters are up to.  These aren't in depth revisions or anything, I'm basically catching myself every time I write "my" instead of "me" which I do ALL THE TIME and I don't understand why.

On Wednesdays, a slow day life-wise for me, I double up.  I've dubbed this Double Up Wednesday, which is really just a way for all of my friends and family to know that when it's DUW, I don't want to be bothered.  On these days, I try to write between 4-5k but I split up my writing.  I've got this weird eye thing happening, where my eyes get really sensitive to light if I'm on the computer for a while, so I take a break and go to a bookstore, lunch or even grocery shopping.  Anything to get away from the WIP and the computer.  The bookstore always helps get me motivated to write more because I see all of those fancy, shiny books and I want one to be mine.  I love DUW.

All of this means it normally takes me about a month to write a first draft.  I know a lot of people say to walk away from your WIP for a long time but I can only last about a week, which I'm in the middle of right now.  It sucks.  Next week though, I'll dig back in.

What I feel is weird about me, (in a long list of weird things) is that I don't cut down my word count during revisions, so much as add them.  Sure, I cut scenes that I don't think are needed or that slow down the pacing but I still end up adding words.  I word build a lot during revisions, and add things that only finishing the first draft can show me need to be added.  During my last revision of KC, I added 4k words.  And I cut out a lot.  Weird.

Then, of course, I read the WIP somewhere around 9,849 times.  I read it on the computer, on my nook, printed out, on the comp again, maybe one more on the nook, who knows?  It's just a lot.  And this time, I'm going to send this (as well as KC) out to beta readers.  I'm on the hunt now in fact, so if anyone is interested in reading my stuff, let me know.  I'd totally be willing to swap too.  And then maybe we'll be friends forever.  Probably.  In my head, we will be.

So July is my revision month and hopefully I have a new, shiny idea for another book while that's happening, so August can be a writing month, followed by September being another revision month.  We'll see how that goes with school.  All I know is, November is officially reserved for NaNoWriMo.  I'm so stoked for this because I've never been able to participate because of The Old Job, which maybe I'll talk about soon.  The only thing that will interrupt this will be a day to celebrate my birthday and a day to celebrate my little baby niece's first birthday. (And of course, if an agent wants to sign me before or during November, I will do whatever the hell the ask me to do.)  Other than that, I'm writing.  I need a doorknob hanger for that!

So what's your process like?  And don't forget, anyone interested in being a beta for me, let me know.  Remember the lifetime of friendship, okay?

-Brandy

Update and Writing is Like...

I've been writing.  That is all.

I swear that's what my life feels like these days.  I have other things going on but it seems like all I can think, talk and dream about is writing.  I'm positive my friends are starting to hate me but there is no cure for being close to finishing a book.  And if there is, I really don't want one.

I'm in the home-stretch of MISFITS and more often than not, I'm in love with this MS.  It's easily the funniest and yet darkest book I've written and the intensity is about to pick up as I get closer to the end.  I have a friend who likes to read as I write and she said she's going crazy waiting to see what's going to happen.  As a writer, there are no sweeter words.

MISFITS will be my third completed book and I've realized that each one is a different experience.  My first was so hard to write and took forever to finish.  After it, I figured it was perfect and that revising was for those who weren't as blessed as me.  That book is horrible.  Someday I will rewrite it because I love the idea but *shivers* that book is just bad. 

My second book, KILLER CUPCAKES, took a month to write and years to revise.  Since I wrote it, I've revised it more times than I can count and read it more times than I want to think about.  The funny thing is, I've only queried it for a short amount of time and to a very low number of agents.  I think I've mentioned before that I took a break from writing.  I'm talking YEARS from writing, to see if something else was what I really wanted to do.  It wasn't.  But KILLER CUPCAKES was written before that break, I queried a small number of agents, got good feeback and then did something else for three years.  Six months ago, I decided that my Something Else wasn't what I wanted and that writing was.  Five months ago I entered a contest with KC and won, and I've revised it (a few times) again since then.  I've sent a small number of queries out again and am waiting for more feedback.  I'm optimistic.

Then I realized that if I'm really serious about being a writer I needed to write again.  So a few months ago I pulled out a story that I started after KC (before the break) and loved it.  I'd only written a few thousand words at that point but everyone that I'd let read it really liked it.  That book is MISFITS.  I started seriously working on it again about two months ago, but with revisions of KC in the mix, I've probably only really put a little over a month's worth of work into it.  I plan on finishing MISFITS is about three weeks.  I'm totally, completely absolutely positive there will be a good amount of revisions because as I've worked on it, things have changed and I've realized that there should be more worldbuilding. 

So I guess it's different, and yet kind of the same, every time.

I was tagged by Marian for a Writing is Like post (thanks for the tag, Marian!) and I couldn't think of anything to compare writing with until I wrote this post.  I realized as I wrote that for me, writing is like climbing a mountain.  It's a different mountain every time, but the process is pretty much the same.  I make my way up the mountain, figure out which is the best way to go and dream about the easier climb down.  As I reach the moutaintop, I can see the finish and the way down and then the end of the book is the easiest and most exciting.  And each mountain I climb, I'm more comfortable with the journey, I know how best to get to the top and I know how amazing it is to finish.

And I'm almost done climbing my third mountain!

I'm going to tag:
1: Ashley Graham
2: Jennifer Pickrell
3: Kimberly from Meetings with My Muse

If you want to play, post what writing is like for you and then tag three others.  :)

-Brandy