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Today I managed to reach 1,826 words which brings my total up to 13,763. It was a hard day I won’t argue, especially since I work full-time job as well. While I was sitting at the local Nanowrimo meet up, I was very surprised to have one of our ML’s come up to me and said that she shocked as to how we can do it. I didn’t realize this before, but this is her first year participating in Nanowrimo where she actually has a full-time job. It got me thinking about how much I actually put into my writing each year.
Before this year, my writing took a backseat to almost everything else. It was something I would do whenever I had free time. This year though, I have really been trying to improve and of course to finish my first draft. This year it actually felt much more like a second full-time job that it felt like hobby. A lot of it has been how I’ve been considering it. My thought was that it was paying me for it that I could be excused for taking the time that I thought I needed this.
I realized earlier this year that this was not the case. I needed to spend more time on it if I truly want to make it a viable option. Honestly this last year has taught me a lot about my writing. Perhaps even more importantly, it is taught me an awful lot about myself.
The first is that if my tendinitis isn’t hurting when I start writing than it takes an awful lot of writing before it will start. Conversely, writing at my daily job is a lot more painful. A year ago I thought writing was writing but I now realize that there is something different with the way I type at work then the way I type at home. I don’t know exactly what the difference is but I do know what it means for me. It means that I really need to get out my job.
My husband has made me the glorious offer that I can make half of what I normally do over a two-year period as an advance for writing that I can quit my job. But I’m wondering if I might not be able to get out of it sooner. Depending on how much I get when I do begin selling my writing, I may be able to start doing my job part time. I don’t know if it would be viable or not but I think if I want to help my hands to heal then I need to start looking at these options.
I don’t know what, if any, changes this will mean for me next year, but I do know that it will be very interesting to find out.
Posted in Blogs on November 9th, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off
Day 3 of Nanowrimo is here and nearly gone. However, I can say that I’m still on task for my word count. My current total is 6,979 words. It’s over what I need it to be by a day and a bit, which makes me quite pleased. After I finish posting this blog, I’ll more than likely go back to my works and write an additional 21 words on something to make it 7k even. My hand is hurting a little bit, but its not too bad yet.
I am learning interesting things about myself though. For instance, my hand hurts more when I type at my day job, than it does if I type doing my writing. I assume that its because I want to do this work and I don’t really want to be working at my day job, but still, I find it interesting. Does this mean that if I could quit my job and work on my writing full time that I could heal my hand? That I could only worry about it if I really overwork myself, typing 4k or more in a single day?
It’s a pipe dream for the moment. Unattainable, as things stand, so I won’t be able to find out. Even after I sell my first book, I know that I will still need to work at the day job until my books have had time to get me a bit of an audience. It will be interesting to see though.
My book is going well. I’ve finished one chapter of Dual Melodies, and started a second one focusing on Crystal. I’ve also finished two scenes on my WIP, Falling Through the Threshold. The book is coming to together, though my last scene will need quite a bit of editing. Even knowing what the scene needed, it was difficult to write. Something seems wrong with it, but I’m not certain if it is a motivation issue or something else.
What are you at? Have you reached your 5,001th word yet? What has been the most difficult scene that you’ve worked on so far this Nanowrimo? What do you think about my idea about my hand?
Posted in Blogs on November 3rd, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off
Welcome to Nanowrimo! Yes, that’s right, The month of crazy writing has begun again. For those of you who don’t know (and where have you been, if you haven’t) Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge issued worldwide by Nanowrimo is that we should attempt to write a novel in the month of November. To help define the challenge a novel is defined by the site as 50,000 words of fiction. Now, if you’ve been to my site more than once you know that I suggest everyone should be doing Nanowrimo, trying it at least once. Even if you decide that Nanowrimo is not for you, you’ll know that you tried.
Now, the rules of Nanowrimo clearly state that you are supposed to start off with a new novel, completely fresh. However, for years there has been a place set aside for Nano-Rebels. These rebels are continuing with stories that they’ve already started, continuing to write from the year before, writing 50,000 in short stories or any other number of things that don’t quite fit. How does this matter for the moment?
Well, it matters because for this year, I am a Nano Rebel. I’ve mentioned that I was asked for partials and I have a new novel to write. I am both writing my new novel and I am working on rewrites for my vampire novel. I have also taken in an additional challenge of writing for my blog every day this month. Don’t expect a long post every day but I will try to keep you updated to my progress through the month.
If you’re interested my friend Danni, also known as Epic Robot Danni, is also taking on the challenge of Nanowrimo and has also taken on the challenge of writing every day for her blog. Check her blog out if you want to procrastinate for a few extra minutes while you take on this challenge.
As a final check in, I’ll let you know that on Day One of Nano, as of 10:26pm local time, I’ve not only met my daily goal of 1667 words(the daily amount you would need to write to finish 50k in a month), but I have actually written 3159 words. I’m hoping to reach 3334 words for the day after I post this. I’ll let you know if I manage to hit that goal tomorrow. As always, you are very welcome to add me as a Buddy on the Nanowrimo forums, where I go by the name Feytouched.
In the meantime are you taking part in Nanowrimo this year? Tell me about what you’re writing below in the comments.
Posted in Blogs on November 1st, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off
Camp Nanowrimo (a version of Nanowrimo taking place this July and August, perhaps moving to a year round event) started on July 1, 2011. I, of course, decided to take part, partially because I’m insane and partially because I have Nanoitis (a disease that makes people compulsively take part in anything with the name Nanowrimo in it). However, for this project, I didn’t have a book idea ready to go, so I decided to give it a go with all of my other projects on the run. So, my goal for this month is still 50,000 words this month, however, I am counting all of my fiction words.
Right now, I have a short story of about 3,000 to 5,000 words that needs to get done, the world building/plotting for my Dual Melodies novel (speaking of which, if you haven’t read my description of the characters, here’s a link, I need opinions like a thirsty man needs water) and finishing off the novel for Falling through the Threshold, about 12,000 words before it’s finished I’m assuming. I’m only at 4072 words right now meaning that I’m a little behind (around 7K) where I should be for the 7th. This doesn’t worry me in the least, since traditionally, my first week of Nano always leaves my word count floundering. If you’re taking part, look me up on the site. If you’re not, cheer me on. I can always use a bit more encouragement to keep me honest.
This week, tricks that people fall into. I know that as a new writer, too many ideas can actually be overwhelming. It doesn’t help that some people try to hoard the ideas they get, as though ideas are in short supply. This point has always boggled me. It’s true that many ideas are bad and even more than that simply won’t have any bearing on that bit of writing that you’re working on. However, I think we need to note that ideas aren’t in short supply. The more that you come up with, the more ideas come. Personally, I write down every idea I get for a novel. And the truth of the matter is that I will never get to write in full most of these ideas. For me, the simple act of writing down the idea, gives my mind permission to come up with more. By validating and rewarding my mind for being creative, it is less likely to draw a blank while I’m writing. Also, one of my ideas (which on their own were probably not all that good) can be used in a different way in whatever I’m working on right then.
I also know that writers, especially new writers, can get so caught up in their newest ideas that they become unable to finish a project. I can’t this has never happened to me before. The new shiny is always better than the old tired thing you’ve been working on for a year. However, if I could only take one piece of advice from the past I would take this. “The very act of finishing a full project will teach you a lot about yourself and where you are as a writer.” I know that I wouldn’t be as self-aware about my writing had I not pulled my novel “Falling through the Threshold” through to the end. Has it all been easy? Certainly not and I can say honestly that, at times, the simple act of putting down words on the page has been as hard as pulling teeth or opening a vein to watch my life’s blood drain onto the page.
But the simple act of writing is so cathartic that I could never give it up. Even if I never became published, I think I would still want to write. The stories I come up with, even the ones that are so Mary-Sue’d that I may as call the main character Blaze, are worth writing. If nothing else, it’s a way of exploring my subconscious and learning things that I can’t learn any other way.
In fact, that will my question to you all this week… Do you write up Mary-Sue characters just for fun? Or do you desperately avoid any idea that may even come close to them?
Posted in Blogs on July 7th, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off
There are times when writing is easy and there are times when writing is hard. These will change for every person but for today, I want to let you know some of the things that make writing hard for me. The first is summer. I don’t know what it is, but summer is the hardest time for me to write. It seems to be a lot more work in summer than it is in winter. It must be a combination of the heat, the humidity and the fact that I am much more slothful when I’m warm and happy.
Second is writing block. This only happens (as I’m coming to understand) when something is inherently broken in the scene I’m writing or where the story is going. My mind defines this as “It’s Wrong; Fix It” and refuses to budge from that positions until I figure out exactly what is wrong with the book. Fortunately, as I learn more about myself, I find that bouts of writer’s block don’t last as long as they used to.
Third is Too Many Projects. I can handle having quite a few projects on my plate and everyone I know says that I am a bit of whiz for multi-tasking. Unfortunately, all that skill seems to go out the window if I have four or more projects on the go. For instance, my current writing list is comprised of 1)Music Review(finished just an hour before I started writing this), 2)Blog Post(if you’re reading this, I am finished it now), 3)Falling through the Threshold(I’m in the last few chapters, maybe 16k to typing the coveted “The End”, 4)Dual Melodies(I’ve gotten behind on my 2YN stuff for it) and 5)A short story for SiWC(Got the idea, but haven’t done any planning or writing beyond that point). I was fine when it was just the three stories, but trying to add the other two flummoxed me. Fortunately, they will be things of the past by the time you’re reading this.
Forth is Video Games. I don’t think I need too much insight into this one. 
Fifth is the Real World. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes you’re having hard times with your spouse. Sometimes as a writer you hit a wall and want to rail against it, angry and hurt, but you can’t because it’s not a problem that can be solved by screaming. Sometimes problems from the real world leave you feeling empty and drained inside.
All these things can happen and some of them sneak up on us so quickly or so silently that you won’t even see them coming. But those are the times when you have to remind yourself that these moments are exactly what your writing is for. It’s to remind you that everything is precious, that everything is worthy of being recorded and that sometimes you don’t have to live through pain to understand how to help with it. Why do I write, even when it’s hard? So that I know, I’ll be remembered, exactly as I am now, crystallized in a particular emotion, even if I’m called by something else right then.
As I final thought, I’ll leave you a favourite quote of mine by F.Scott Fizgerald. He once said “Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person. It’s like actors, who try so pathetically not to look in mirrors. Who lean backward trying – only to see their faces in the reflecting chandeliers.”
Posted in Blogs on July 2nd, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off
Hey guys, please leave your comments and choice of which point of view you think is better here. I’d like to know your opinion of which I should be writing in. If you haven’t read it before, please go here to read both of the quick scenes and cast your vote.
Posted in Musing About the Words... on April 26th, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off
Hello? Is anybody out there? Really? After this long I had sorta thought that nobody but the spammers were visiting anymore (and before I get too far off topic, let me say that the spammers have really been active. 2 days generating over 300 spam posts? Either my site has just gotten a lot more hits from regular people and the spam bots are following or somebody is sending them my way because I don’t have a bot detector set up yet). In that case, accept my apology and my most heartfelt thanks. Much like a dog grabbing a toy and shaking the stuffing out of it, Life has been grabbing me and shaking the stuffing out of me. While I can’t point at just one thing, I can say that life simply conspired to make the month of February a really busy month.
As a quick update, I’m still writing and most days I have written, even if I haven’t been making my 750 words a day (and for that matter, being able to get onto their site each day). I have found a way of guilting me into doing a bit more writing each day though… I programed my phone to remind me each day at quarter to 8 pm “Have you written your 750 Words yet today”. Its good because it gets me writing again, even if I have to admit that I’ve been tempted to write excuses and reasons why I haven’t as a response to the question.
I have been writing, both writing in my novel (which I finally have figured out what my “plot point not making sense” was. Knowing a scene is wrong, but not knowing why blocks me horribly) and in new projects that I started off with my friends. We bought copies of 2YN by Lazette Gifford and have been running ourselves through that for the last 3 weeks. 2YN stands for “Two Year Novel” and her book helps take you from base idea/cool scene to a finished novel and sending out queries in two years. I’ve been through the course before and would suggest it to anyone thinking of writing a novel. Even if you’re not a meticulous planner (I wasn’t when I started and though I’m a planner now, I’m still not very meticulous about it), I found it very useful to learn how people plan and what sort of questions to ask. Due in part to my experience in the class, I was able to make the world my characters were living in much more believable.
Anyways, I started doing this with a few friends of mine and have new novel ideas brewing up because of it. One of them is Dual Melodies and I think that I’m going to start posting up my writings on this. Between the 40k words written on it previously and another idea I had messing around in my head I suddenly realized that the story just needed some basic tweaking before I could start re-writing it again. So, I’m starting over from scratch on it… which means an all new story for you guys! The other story is a silly idea that I’ve had brewing in my head about a year now. I’m tentatively calling the project “Erotic Angel” since it’s about a winged woman who is a professional courtesan and bard. It includes a lot of sex (note the Erotic in the title”) and while I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sell this little mini novella/novel thing, it is helping me to step out of my box and understand not only the act of sex more but also the feelings, emotions and behaviors surrounding it.
Something that I had to stop doing during February was reading. Now this was painful to me, mainly because the book was not a good book. Trying to slog through it was like trying to wade through 4 feet of snow… it can be done, just not easily or happily. Now, I will admit that had I been handed this book 2 years ago, I probably would have just said it annoyed me, but not that it was actively bad. However, since I’ve started studying the art of writing, my bar for books has gone way up. Mediocre or not actively bad isn’t a good enough reason for me to read anymore. However, this book did help me to identify two main rules of writing that I now consider to be my two major sins of writing.
1. Never assume that I am familiar with your world or your characters.
What I mean by this is don’t start a book and forget to mention whether your main character is male or female. Don’t assume that because you said, “He’s a monk that was trained to kill people in war” (for instance) that your reader is going to automatically understand that later on when your monk-killer starts emo’ing out and saying people “treat him differently because of what he is” that we aren’t going to immediately think that its because he fought and killed people in the war(Yes, this is has happened before… we were told the main characters profession and emo-tendencies before we found out his race).
2. Don’t make your secondary characters stupid just to make the main character look smarter.
This should be quick because this rule is quite solid. If you want your main character to come across as smart, make him smart. Don’t make the other characters stupid. In the book I was reading, a 40 year old general sent his squad in unprepared to fight mercenaries/bandits who had holed up in a cave that they had prepared in case they needed someplace to fall back to. The war mage (normally the smartest character since that sort of magic is based off how intelligent you are) admitted to not learning battle spells on a day when he should have known he was getting into combat. But the 18 year old Monk could have told him what he needed to know.)
Anyways, I’ll stop on my rants and let you guys go. Keep an eye open, I’ll be posting up two songs I wrote during FAWM(I wasn’t really participating, but I thought I’d give song writing in general a try) and I’ll see you all next time.
Posted in Blogs on February 27th, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off
Please feel free to leave comments about my writing, where you think the story may be going or any other thoughts that you had while reading it!
A few of you following me may have noticed something this week… That’s right. I changed my Twitter account from B_A_Matthews to BA_Matthews. Why? Well that’s simple. I had it set up for a different name originally. Now of course, I changed it and while it reads correctly on their page, it does not when I try to use it to validate web responses or posts. Having spent a few days trying to correct and change it permanently, I finally decided that I would be better served just starting a new account and closing my old one. Thus, the old account should have reached the end of its run on Friday, August 13, 2010. The new one is already up and I’m tweeting there already, so jump on the bandwagon and follow me (BA_Matthews). Also thank you so much to PhilippaJane (of Chasing the Bard fame) who was the first person to receive my message about my changing twitter account and set about following me on the new one.
Speaking of Philippa Ballantine, I follow her blog and though it was hard for her to ask, she had a request for all her readers. Since I’m not published yet, I’m sending the request through to you! Philippa’s new book, Geist (a paranormal romance) is coming out in October this year and I’ll be pre-ordering a copy for myself in just a few days after I get my paycheck. Her publishing company has already purchased the second book in the series from her (sorry, no set release date to my knowledge), and they are considering whether to contract her for the final two books that Philippa has planned in the series. Since I can’t wait to read this new book, I’d like you to help me let the publishing company know that her fans are eagerly awaiting this new series. The best part is that you don’t need to do anything to difficult. No writing letters to the publisher or pre-ordering her book. So what do you have to do? It’s easy. Just walk into your local bookstore, whether independent or a chain (personally I always head to my local Chapters), and ask about Geist. The bookstores will do the rest!
Moving back onto my stuff, I must admit, I haven’t gotten as much done the last day or so as I could have and I’m firmly blaming life for yesterday at least. I got home and collapsed into a sleep so deep that I didn’t walk up until the next morning. I tend to treat my body as though it were some sort of machine usually, as though it won’t break down or get tired. Couple that with the fact that I only tend to get 5 – 6 hours of sleep on weeknights (a little more on weekends) and it means that when my body finally demands a night of sleep I tend to give it what it wants. In my way of thinking it’s easier than trying to actually get 8 hours of sleep every night. One screw up night every month and I get about 2 extra hours every other day seems like a pretty good trade off to me.
This weekend looks as though it’s going to be a nice writing full one for me as well. I want to finish my Memories written in Moonlight novel this month. I have an assortment of about 10 chapters total to write or re-write before I can start doing a content edit of the book. Since I would like to have this novel done (or nearly done) to show Sandra Chang (Editor at Tor Books that I’ll be meeting with at SiWC) in October, I really have to kick my ass to get myself working on it. I will also be spending some time on my Dual Melodies storyline, given a chance, I’d like to kick out another chapter of that this weekend. I’d also like to work on the last bit of editing for Chapter 2 of Dual Melodies so I can put that out for you (or at least, part 1 of Chapter 2) this weekend. I’m also working on a poem to send in SiWC before September. Fortunately, the poem is finished, and I just need to play around with the editing and tighten up the wordcraft a bit on that. The last I plan on working on this weekend is a short story (no more than 8K words) for Pirates/Sorcery submission I heard about on “Get Published” earlier this week. They’ll be accepting submissions in November, and I want to have it ready to go on or just after November 1. In addition to the above, I have a Dark Urban Fantasy that I stopped working on last November in favour of my Seirei story… I think that I would like to pick that up again and finish it.
In addition, me and my husband will be going to see “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” on Tuesday… I’ll let you know about that one if it’s any good, although I’ve heard brilliant things about it! Plus, housework over the weekend, and a few family visits. Yep, a very busy weekend, but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Oh, two more things! SM Stirlings book, “The High King of Montival” will be coming out on September 7, 2010. It’s the final book in his Emberverse series and is setting itself up to brilliant! I’ve pre-ordered mine (and one for my Father who also loves the series). I suggest pre-ordering the book or buying it on its opening day. When publishers and reviewers see a novel get a lot of notice its first day out, they tend to pay it a lot more attention and this series deserves that interest. Also the pagan band Omnia’s newest album, Wolf Love, is coming out either this month or next. These guys are my favourite band out there (sharing that position with Gaia Consort, now known as the Bone Poets Orchestra). If I’m lucky, I’ll get to be the one to do the review of their new album for PRN! Check out this band and give them a listen to my favourite song, Alive on You-tube. You can’t go wrong picking up one of their albums!
Until my next blog, keep writing and I’ll see you next time!
Posted in Blogs on August 14th, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 3 Comments »
Sorry for the very few posts this week. Some killer flu bug knocked me out, although I think it may have just been a continuation of whatever knocked me out last week as well. Regardless, the last five days my schedule has been nothing but sleeping for nearly forteen hours out of every day, working eight and a half hours, and about an hour of travel time. Most days, after four hours of being awake, I felt as if I’d been awake for a full twenty-four hours and wanted nothing more than to sleep again. So, one again, this is a ferfent apology for lack of posts. Next week will be much better (I assume) as today (for the first time in a week) I finally woke up before the alarm went off! Such a little thing to make me so happy, but there you have it. Now, on to more interesting matters!
No matter how ill I am I always listen to Writing Excuses and this week, as usual, was a doozy. Their topic was major overhauls to broken stories and, having done this once before, I found it really informative. A little over a year ago, I had to do a major overhaul on the Memories Written in Moonlight. I had found out that when I wrote it, the brilliant story I had in my head hadn’t translated at all to what was actually on the page. Due mainly to all the writing I’d been doing and all of the insight I’d gotten by listening to Writing Excuses, I was able to tell what I’d messed up and how I could fix it. Realizing that I’d ignored everything in favour of the relationship between the main characters, I decided finally to craft a new plot for the characters, giving them more freedom to advance as characters, defining them better as individuals and placing them in situations that placed them in much more conflict between each other and their surroundings. That story has been turning out much better in the rewrite, and will be worth the point of just editing, and not entirely rewriting it.
Howard Taylor (the webcomic artist of Schlock Mercenary)from Writing Excuses also made a comment that I think I’ll take to heart and really try to apply in my writing. He suggested a book to us because, as he put it, “It had stand up and cheer moments that were not the epically heroic, lone warrior against a million demons… but moments … that were triumphs of character, moments of courage in the face of small pettiness…” And I think that writers, especially new writers, like myself, really need to remember that sometimes it’s not the regular hero moments that we as readers will cheer for. After all, we see those successes every day in the movies and in the books we read. However, those character moments when your favourite character stands up to a bully and tells him to screw off… you really identify with the character at that moment. It’s that moment of identification that will make readers continue to be sympathetic with your hero long after the moment of victory has taken place. And it’s that sympathy towards the hero that will leave people remembering them long after they’ve put your book down.
In other news, me and a few friends got to head to the theatre today and we got to watch Disney’s new movie, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I must admit, it’s a good movie and Disney seems to have succeeded finally in a movie kids will like for the explosions and yet a plot and characters set that the adults won’t mind watching. The basic premise (in case you don’t know) is an epic centuries long battle between good and evil wizards culminating in a final battle between the sorcerer told of in prophesy and the head of the evil organization. The world of the sorcerers lies in ours, just hidden through concentrated effort on the side of the good wizards. The movie had an engaging plot, made fun of itself in all the right places, fun characters with generally complete motivations and a great CG budget that didn’t take away from the plot. Some of the decisions were silly or obvious and, of course, the story had its share of shaky science along with a bit of a weak info-dump opening scene, but these didn’t really take away from the movie. There was only one promise that I felt the movie didn’t quite keep at the end, and even then, they kept the promise, just not in a way I thought worked with the plot. Basically, instead of taking something one twist further they stopped and went with the first choice. I put off that minor disappointment to me temporarily forgetting that this was a Disney movie… and that they are not known for taking their twists one step further.
My final assessment though is that this movie is worth the money to go see. It will definitely be entering my video collection when it comes out on video. Especially if you are a fan of Urban Fantasy (meaning modern day mixes of magic and science) this is definitely a movie you’ll be able to appreciate. Oh, Kudos go to Nicholas Cage who plays his part brilliantly and yet, every other character in the movie held their own weight as well. Unlike with The Last Airbender, it was not two actors doing a brilliant job, but everyone coming through with a good performance based on their characters. Hey, that means we actually got a good movie with decent acting… definitely something worth taking a look at, right?
I promise, now that my health is on the uprise, I will have more to discuss with you next week, as well as both the next part of Dual Melodies and a new music review for you to read, to make up for my inability to post things up as often as I would have otherwise enjoyed the last two weeks. See you all then!
Posted in Blogs on July 18th, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 14 Comments »
