Must Reach Page 50 by Sunday

My week vacation has accidentally turned into a reading vacation. I had a feeling that that would happen. Yet, I forced myself to read less as of last night.

This new book I have started writing is grabbing my attention again. A good thing I might add. I know people would give me crap because I am procrastinating. Here is my opinion, most procrastination for writers is called writers-block or being distracted. Heaven forbid if people, like myself, were distracted by reading. I call it research.

So, getting back on the writing bandwagon I have set a goal for myself. I hand-write my novels. Its more intimate to me. Currently, I am sitting on page 38. By Sunday, I want to be at page 50. A good goal and its doable. This is how I get over being distracted. I set weekly or nightly goals. Nothing ridiculous such as, 'This week I must write 50 pages'. Fantastic for those who can, but I am a person that needs to keep going.

Twelve pages. That is all I need to accomplish. I think I can do it. No guarantees. Visiting the in-laws can be fun and distracting. Well, I best get back to writing before I get distracted. Writing is good, distractions are bad.

Lets hope by Sunday I can post that I have accomplished my goal and I hope everyone else can finish their writing goals too.

Back to writing I go. Hubby needs his laptop back before he gets too bored.

P.S. I am enjoying reading more blogs about writing. It helps me blog about writing. Keep blogging. Keep writing. As long as it makes one happy and is not for alternative reasons.

New Book Has It’s Challenges

So, for the past two weeks I started a new book and after getting 15 pages in, started to do a massive amount of reading. When I mean a massive amount, I mean around 8 novels.

This happens every summer. My reading list grows and my writing gets pushed to the side. But, with this weekend and being on nights I have some time during my night shift to sit and write. It helps me keep awake.

As of tomorrow I am on vacation, aka visiting the in-laws, where I hope to write over ten pages. Hubby thinks I can write more, so I will have to see.

The difficulty with this book is I want to get too far ahead and not let the story take its own course. Horrible, I know. But, this book, I don’t want to stop writing it. I want to go against the norm. Every book I tend to be reading is about people saving the world, having a gene to help humanity, fight off a disease.

Inside my little black notebook, similar to the picture, I am writing about something that if found, could control armies and do harm to the world. Okay, so most people will be thinking that that sounds generic and boring. Sorry Americans, its based in Canada, where I am from.

Normally, when I start a new book I go with my instincts and write what I dream about. Yes, I dream about what I am writing. Good for me, yet bad too. I wake up a lot and don’t physically want to get out of bed and write down the ideas. Plus, Hubby would shoot me if I got up every night at 3am to write. So, to help refresh my memory I try to find a song that relates to the book in some way; whether it is plot, characters or setting.

With this book, I was lucky enough and had the song come to me without much searching. It’s a unique song, gaining popularity, so it should help me continue to write the book….hence the word ‘should’.

I guess I ‘should’ go back to writing, seeing as whenever I blog I make a comment that I am going back to writing. This time, I plan to. Writing is not easy. So, for those people that comment “I wrote 3000 words today” everyday, I am not like you. Some days I write a page, others 10, and sometimes none.

As I go back to writing, here is the song that helps me spark my creativity with this book. Enjoy!

Work Talk=Book Idea

My hubby works in the Army and goes away in the summer to work. So, typically year-round, but primarily my summer is filled with army talk once he gets home to visit.

Army talk is like a foreign language to me filled with acronyms and phrases. After nearly 6 years of being together, I am beginning to understand most, but not all. I feel like I am being taught how to understand my hubby and his friends speak.

Lack of sleep this past weekend, work and hearing army talk made for a great weekend to develop a book idea…not. Currently I have five typed pages of a beginning of a  new book. Not bad. It means I can start handwriting the pages soon.

I am trying to get my hubby involved in my writing, which is tough because its not like he can sit down and write my books for me. Mind you, that would be fantastic when I suffer from the never-ending writers block. This time, listening to him talk and explain his work helped me develop a great idea for a story if it all goes as planned.

This how I see it, whenever my hubby talks about work, that is his language. Whenever I talk about my books its my own language. We mesh.

So far, I hope this novel works out. I like the idea in my head. Beginnings seem to always work out, its just what to do once I am halfway through that I have difficulty with.

I best find a new journal to write in out of the several I have. If I can type this much in two nights then it’s best to keep writing it.

Guess thanks goes out to the hubby for inspiring this book, even though I have no clue how he did.

Book concept: What if you were the one person wanted by the world and you don’t even know why?

Will that stick, who knows. Ask me when I finish….if I finish it.

Book 15 Complete…Time for Some Mental Rest…If Possible

Monday night I finished writing my 15th book. I found this to be a struggle. In highschool I could write two-three books in a year. Now, I am lucky to finish one. After almost a 3 year gap of writing, I have finished two books in subsequent years. A great feeling.

Since Monday night, I have written two paragraphs in one of my other books I am working on. Not due to writers block, but because my mind needs rest. Writing a novel is mentally exhilarating and tiring.

It is the summer and most of my writing does occur now. Other than work and going to the gym, most evenings and my days off I am free to enjoy writing.

People have been asking me to dabble in other genres or change the time period my books occur in. I guess over time (almost 11 years now), I can experiment more with my writing.

The two books I am currently going to work on (if my mind will let me) is the 3rd novel in my detective crime series and the other one is from the pov of a female killer. One challenging, the other comforting.

No, I am not bragging about how many books I have written. It is a personal achievement of my hobby and not a way to brag and show superiority over other novice writers.

My writing tip of today is to take some time and rest. I need to rest, mentally and physically and am doing so right now. Without some sort of rest we cannot write our best. Just a thought.

Time to eat and work on my hobby.

Inspirational quote of the day for me: “Ink and paper are sometimes passionate lovers, oftentimes brother and sister, and occasionally mortal enemies”. ~Terri Guillemets

Show me, Don’t Tell Me

Seriously? This comment has been appearing on every novice writing website and group I have joined where other novice writers give this as advice.
Here is the problem: you cannot show a person without telling them the details. You want the reader to see a scene, you tell them about it. Writing is meant to be to the point and allow imagination to occur as the reader is reading.
I admit, I hate reading books that drone on with setting the scene. I don’t care if the grass is a vibrant green. All I care about is the characters, the plot and how well the book flows.
What’s my advice? Don’t change your writing because a novice writer is telling you to. It’s your novel. Do what you want with it. I think telling a writer something is important if it is meant to be known. I understand some people will “show” aspects of their books.
Maybe its because I am still a novice writer that I get annoyed by comments such as this one. I do not care if I ever get professionally published, I am just happy knowing I have written 14 books.
Mystery novels, or thrillers, require extreme details. But, you don’t have to show people what you are wanting them to see. IMAGINATION people!!! The whole point of reading is to escape and imagine what is happening.
Honestly, when I hear this phrase I think of love, and those type of novels. You always want to be shown something. So here is my theory, show me your writing. Show me the words on your pages. Show me your effort into writing. Just SHOW ME your ABILITY TO WRITE.
If you are a novice writer, listen to me and not them. Most writers feel like failures after hearing this phrase about their work that they have tried hard to write. It’s your story, do as you please with it. I can say, if you have written even 5 pages, I am proud of you for doing so. Writing is not easy, its hard.
Well, I am back to writing. This whole rant about how people assume since they wrote a novel and have been told this phrase that they are experts. WRONG! Only you are the expert on your own book.
Keep writing. I believe anyone can write a novel.