Writer's Retreat

I just had the best week ever!

Our small writing group has decided to try something completely new, a writer’s retreat. We escaped from real life, and was amazing. When I first told my husband that I would be going on a writing retreat for two days, he told me that I would get bored. Writing, writing and more writing? Wouldn’t I need a break at some point?

Yup.

And that’s why it’s so nice to have such a fantastic group. When I get tired, there’s someone to talk to. We can talk about life, or we can talk about writing. We can bounce ideas off one another, and we can cheer each other one. It’s not that we’re writing nonstop for 8+ hours a day. But we’re keeping at it, which is better than I can say some days.

Actually, I’ve finished more editing in two days than I’d done in over two weeks, so I say that it’s definitely a benefit.

Oh, and did I mention the best part?

No internet.

No distractions.

The left shows how much I got done over the past two weeks, and the right shows how much I did in two days.

Crazy right?

Have any of you been on a writing retreat? Run away from real life so that you could focus on the imaginary worlds in your head?

Old Project/New Project

For the past few weeks, I’ve been very unfocused. Not in a bad way, but I haven’t been able to concentrate on one project long enough to really do anything effective.

This last week, I decided to read through the Orphans of Jadox, just for fun. It’s been quite a whole since I’ve really focused on it, almost 2 years, to be exact. Since then I’ve rewritten King’s Councilor three times, and written the Stone Mason and Jen’s story (still unnamed).

As I read through it I had a giant realization. The Orphans of Jadox is written in 2 different points of view: Larzo and Aydra. Yet, as I read, I realized that there was no distinction between voice. I’ve been reading a lot of reviews on different books, and that always seems to be the biggest complaint. If there are two different people, then they should talk differently, think differently.

So two days ago, I separated their points of view. I printed them out separately so that as I can focus on one point of view before moving to the other.  Larzo is a shapeshifter, a cat. He needs to focus on tactile senses: smell, sight, sound. Each small detail is heightened by his senses. Aydra, on the other hand, as I later found out in in The Stone Mason, has mild empathy, which her son inherits. So she focuses on emotions, reactions, feelings of those around her.

Right now, I’m working on Larzo’s point of view. It’s odd, focusing so much on details, the smells, the sounds, but I’m loving it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I’m completely within someone else’s head. It’s quite fun, and now, when I go on my writer’s retreat next week, I have something definite and concrete to work on.

It’s also been quite a while since I’ve printed out my project, and working in a different medium has definitely got my creative juices flowing.

How about the rest of you? What are you working on right now?

Why I Write

Wow! I have not been on for way too long! Life keeps getting in the way of writing, which often feels backwards to me. Shouldn’t writing get in the way of life? At least, in an ideal world…

I was talking to my sister the other day about stress. I know we all have ways to deal with it. But I know that whenever I’m particularly stressed, when I can’t focus or even concentrate on the smallest thing, it’s because I don’t write.

Writing is the most cathartic practice I’ve ever participated in. I’ve missed it, and I usually know when I’m most stressed because I’m willing to give up sleep and food to try and balance my life with writing.

Today, I’ve been thinking a lot about how writing really makes up a large part of who I am, and it balances me as a person. There’s so many reasons why I love to write, and why it’s so important to me.

Here’s the top reason why I love to write:

1.       I’m a definite introvert. There are days when I’m maxed out on how many people I spend time with, especially as a nurse. I’m in and out of rooms, talking with patients, with families, coworkers – it’s exhausting. After a long day like that, it’s a relief to go home, pull out my computer and surround myself with nonexistent people. It’s a bit of a contradiction, but I know I can turn off my imaginary people. That’s not always possible with real people.

2.       No matter what I’m going through, I always know my characters are going through worse. Work has been rough. I’m not going to deny it. But as bad as it’s been, it’s never as bad as what my characters are going through. I’m currently bouncing between Servant as an Empire and King’s Councilor. In servant of an Empire, I’ve kept Kanya locked up in a freezing cold cellar with rats. In King’s Councilor, Cassie’s being tortured by telekinetic fireballs. Makes me appreciate my life a little bit more.

3.       It gets my brain going. Does this make any sense? When I’m stressed, I can’t stop obsessing about specific things, about what happens if… or I need to do… But when I’m writing, I turn all of that off. I’m concentrating on a different aspect of life, and often, after I finish writing, all of those obsessions have calmed down to a low roar.

4.       I love creating. I’ve always been someone who wants to make new things. Whether it be trying a new recipe, using a new crocheting pattern or attempting to draw (cough, cough), there’s always something that makes me incredibly happy when I can look at something, and say that I made it. These stories are the same way. These are my characters. They are my own creation, and I’m definitely proud of my accomplishments, even when I’m the only one who gets to enjoy them.

5.       I love the escape. Writing and reading serve the same purpose. It’s an escape from real life. With writing, I know the world so well that I can really immerse myself in it. I can jump into Xyheam or into Oren, escape the world I live in and explore another.

What about the rest of you? Why do you write?

The End Hook

This past week, I’ve been trying to catch up on my reading. When I say trying, it’s because I’m still terribly behind, but I did read 3 books since last Saturday.

I’ve heard the phrase that if you want to hook the reader you have to have a good first chapter, but if you want them to read the next book, you have to give them a satisfying ending. Not necessarily an ending that ties everything up in a little bow, but that makes them feel like you’ve met your promise from the beginning of the book. If you don’t do that, then there’s no guarantee that the reader will want to read the next one.

I never really understood that until this week.

Now, there’s obviously been books that when I finished went ‘meh’ and didn’t bother to read the next books, just because I didn’t feel that invested. The characters were fine, the plot was okay, but if I’m going to read something else from that author, I want more than fine. Otherwise, I want something new that will have a chance of wowing me.

This week, I started a book that I’d seen at the bookstore. It had great promise, and I loved the main characters. The story was crisp, and easy to follow. I read the entire book in about four hours because I had to know what happened.

But then the ending came.

This book was the first of a trilogy. When I got to the last 3-4 chapters, I started to get frustrated. Suddenly the story had morphed, it was no longer an action story, but it was entirely focused on a love triangle that really didn’t exist. Or should have been resolved by that point.

It ended on a cliffhanger, a really big one. And I debated between reading the next one. The ending was what swayed the decision toward no. I didn’t care anymore. I was frustrated with the author and with the characters, and I made the conscious choice not to continue the series.

Has this happened to you before? What makes you decide not to continue a series/trilogy? 

Adoption

I’m sure some of you have noticed that I’ve been a little bit less active than normal. There’s definitely a good reason for it.

Several months ago, my facility finally opened officially, and instead of sitting around, waiting for something to happen, we grew from two to seventeen in no time flat. During that time, it gave me a good chance to reevaluate my life’s goals, and the direction that I’m taking.

As my husband and I talked and pondered and prayed, we came to the decision that it’s time to expand our family. This decision wasn’t easy to make. Last year, we found out that chances of having kids is slim to almost none. We considered in-vitro, but even that doesn’t have the greatest projected outcome for us. Since I was young, I always said I would adopt, and now, we’re working on making that a reality.

We looked into both fostering and adoption. We would love to foster someday, but right now, we feel that adoption is the right path. So for the past 2-3 months, we’ve worked on all the preliminary papers: the home study, the reference forms, background checks, doctor’s physicals… and everything in between.

Earlier this month, we were finally approved to adopt. But that means that now we’re playing the waiting game. We’re waiting for someone to choose us to love their child. I can’t even imagine how difficult that decision would be.

We would love for you to spread the word for us. The more people who see our profile, the greater the chance we have of finding the right match, and the child who will make our family complete.

Here’s a link to our profile on adoption.com 

Thank you!

Halfway Through the Year!

Wow. At some point, June snuck in. I’m still signing everything with the date of May.

Halfway through, and time to double check how I’m doing with my goals.

1. Focus on publishing.

In January, I set up a query party, and it was amazing! There were six people from around the world that participated, and we roated queries every week so that we could have someone new critique it. I definitely learned a lot from all of them.

I actually just went through my query again this week, and after one or two more revisions, it’ll be ready to send out. (Though, that’s what I’ve been saying since January, so…)

2. Participate and win both Camp NaNoWriMos and the regular NaNoWriMo

April’s Camp NaNoWriMo was a little interesting. I made a completely different goal for myself to try and get pumped for November, and in a way it worked, in a way it didn’t. I did win, but halfway through the month, I decided to scrap that goal because it had started to frustrate me too much. I went back to revisions, and finished the month strong. I just signed on to the ML for this year’s NaNoWriMo, so I’ll be there cheering everyone on!

3. Read 52 books in the year of 2015

I’m on book number 13. Basically, I’m only about halfway to where I need to be. It’s been awesome though, to know that I need to be reading. Another amazing phenomenon is that I’m throwing books into my to-read shelf without paying as much attention as I might, and often, I’m very surprised by what I’m reading. Less research is actually making the process more interesting.

On the writing side, I’m halfway through my second revision of King’s Councilor. February and March, I took it and tore it apart, throwing in a new beginning, middle and end. Right now, I’m trying to make it a little cohesive before sending it to the betas to be torn apart again.

On a more personal note, my husband and I have been working toward a goal together, and today we made a major breakthrough! I still can’t talk about it yet, but I’m so excited I’ve got butterflies! I hope to tell you about it soon.

Book Review: Rosehead by Ksenia Anske

I don’t normally do this. I love reading books, but I’ve never actually written a true review. But this book blew my mind.

I met Ksenia online through Google +. When she first published Rosehead, I put it on my to-read list. I knew that she was a very dedicated and enthusiastic writer, and I was excited for her and her achievement. But as it always happens, things started to get busy. It took me way too long to get to it, but last week, I finally did.

Since I’ve put so many books on my to-read shelf, I usually forget what they’re about. When I started Rosehead, I had no idea what to expect. And of everything I thought this book could be, it wasn’t.

Let’s start with the main characters. Ksenia created a thirteen year old girl with a large vocabulary. She’s struggling to fit in, and in more ways than most kids. I won’t spoil the story, but let’s say, I had a hard time deciding whether or not her world was upside down, or if she was just a kid imagining it all. Part of it had to do with her talking dog, and the crazy rose garden.

I think what really amazed me about this book was that I never knew what to expect. Whatever I thought would be the logical next step, Ksenia threw it onto its head and did the opposite. Or not even the opposite. It’s like choosing between right and left and deciding on up. That’s how the story went.

And it was a fantastic ride. I’ve told everyone I’ve seen in the past three days about the book. My neighbors are sick of me talking about it.

It’s well worth the read.