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Today is one of those days when I wouldn’t mind using #FML as a hashtag on Twitter. Not that its even been that bad of a day. All in all, it’s been a good day actually. I finished Nanowrimo with 56,331 words, an awesome total. In addition, I came in twelveth overall in the city for those that hang out on the Nanowrimo forums, and probably the top 20 of writers in Calgary if we count those who don’t. I had a friend visit today, last night was a TGIO party… all in all, it’s been excellent. The main problem stems from me. I have made a deal with my body; If it works harder for me in November, I’ll let it rest in December. So I still feel like I’m running on fumes, 7 days later… though it is getting better.
As if to make it worse, I’ve also been hit by a light bout of insomnia. It means that if I don’t head to sleep the moment I feel tired, I wake back up immediately. Normally this would be counted as extra writing time, but in December, it starts weighing on me, since I actually need to work. On the other hand, at least insomnia never lasts more than three to five days for me so I do know that simply waiting it out is a viable plan.
I do have more vacation coming up at the end of the month (Yes more… I take all my vacation late in the year) which will give me some good time to catch up on all the writing I’m not doing right now. This is why I’m not feeling too guilty about taking 15 – 20 days off to recover from the work of Nanowrimo. And what was that? Writing?
Yes, I have completely stopped writing… I need to get myself back into it, and this blog is a vital step towards that. I find that one of the hardest parts of Nano is to start writing again after December rolls around. However, I am going to make some promises to you guys.
1. I will be writing this year, and much more this month than in November.
2. I will have my novel rough draft finished for the end of February.
3. My music reviews will hence forth be finished within two weeks of receiving them.
4. This novel will be edited and I will start sending it out to publishers before the end of next year. In fact, if I’m lucky, I’ll have it done pre-SiWC 2011.
As for my story? Well, it’s actually been a roaring success this year. I am working on Chapter 14, of a probable 30 Chapter book, so I’m almost half way there. I have a complete story so far. Not much in the way of subplots… more a mention of such here and there. My story has thus far been written in order and the chapters are coming out mostly of a reasonable length (about 4K worth of words). The plot is making sense, I have good explanations for my world building that is fitting in. The only thing I’m somewhat disappointed in is that thus far, I’ve alluded to the war that the vampires are in but I haven’t actually come out and said it. This will need to rectified and will probably include me writing in a new character, a commander in the war on the side of the vampires.
I feel that my writing is definitely improving this year and with every book I write, it gets easier and easier to put together a cohesive story that works.
On a non-nanowrimo front, I have finished reading the High King of Montival now and while I can say that it is one of the best books I’ve ever read, I am quite annoyed with SM Stirling. This was originally going to be the end of the series… apparently now there are another two books coming out. While I love reading more of his books, which makes this somewhat a good thing, it is also a bit of an annoyance, since I was thought I was going to read the incredible and satisfying conclusion. Ah well, I can’t be really annoyed… it was too good a book for me to be actually annoyed! For those of you who asked, I have now started reading Geist and its almost as good as High King of Montival. I’ll review it as soon as I’m finished it and have just a bit of time.
In closing, How was nano for you? Did you get anything written? What have you learned about your noveling over the last nano? What books are you reading and what books do you think I need to review for you?
Posted in Blogs on December 6th, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 2 Comments »
My first conference ever and it turned out to be incredible. I arrived a few days early and got to visit my Mom for a day and then I ran out to visit with a writerly friend of mine. We sat in and chatted all night and even watched the craft. She gave me a brilliant little rock light (I’ll see about including a picture in my next blog) and then the next day we headed out and went shopping. Now, me and her are probably the only girls in the world who can go out shopping, and come home with the oddest things. I came back with flavoured honeys, a mini cast-iron cauldron (I’ve always wanted some), a gorgeous card and an oracle deck. Wonderful stuff, but definitely not your usual run of the mill shopping.
After I got to the conference the first thing I did was get my info for the weekend and then register for my hotel. While waiting to register, I struck up a conversation with the woman in front of me. She was attending the conference as well. Nervous, I asked her if it was her first year. I should have known better… she was a publisher of children’s books and a presenter. It was all right though. I made up for it by remembering to ask her what she was working on that excited her. Really the weekend only went up from there.
The class on Thursday was next to useless though. It was touted as a revision course, but it was actually just rewriting scenes. Had I not paid extra for it, I would have left the class and taken a different one. On the other hand, I met Samantha Herne, a great writer who also podcasts. She was a really great gal and I loved talking with her. Friday was great. The courses were always good and Patrick Taylors course on “How not to write a successful series” was incredible. Saturday was awesome as well, and I started getting my name out there. The big incredible thing for me on Saturday was my “Blue Pencil” meeting… a chance to meet with CC Humpreys. He took a look at my work, we chatted and he complimented my writing. He said, “No, your work is quite good. You’ve managed to make it all really creepy without actually saying anything creepy. That’s how to do it if you’re going to.” Let me tell you, I was so excited, I was practically bouncing.
At least until Saturday Dinner. I found Samantha Herne at dinner that night and sat down at her table… only to realize that she also had two authors, an editor and an agent sharing the table. The other girls at the table were more like me, in various stages of unpublishment (I think I’ve created a new word). Regardless, they were all awesome, and great to talk to. Table 7 rocks, does it not ladies? I was going to go and see the forensics stuff after dinner, but I was invited up for cocktails by the girls… and when an agent and author ask you if you want to join them for cocktails, the universal answer is “Yes”.
Great evening, absolutely incredible. The keynote speakers for Saturday were amazing (especially since I was sitting with both of them that evening as well)! Sunday was great as well. Ivan Coyote asked about “ways to motivate yourself to write” in her class and I suggested my favourite motivator, Nanowrimo. The last 20 minutes of the class were taken up with talk about Nanowrimo (she takes part) and sharing awesome Nano-related stories.
At the final lunch, it was fun, but sorta sad. We knew the fun was coming to an end soon. Robert Dugoni sent us away on the right note though “Today, we WRITE!” Should I ever get a copy of his speech, I will ask him if I can repost it here. The best speech ever! I wish I’d gotten a copy of it. Also, I even won a prize! A set of four books from Mira publishing and a reusable book bag followed me home in addition to the books I got there (Eeeek! I got Vlad the Impaler signed by CC Humpreys, who wished me luck on my book and the Skystone signed by Jack Whyte). Definitely an incredible weekend. I even got a potted plant from my Mom. Gorgeous Red and Yellow flowers… I only hope I can keep it alive.
The trip was more than worth it and I really hope that I can make it out for next year.
Also, very quickly, I bought Geist today (a picture will go up next time), The High King of Montival, and a copy of Warbreaker. My husband bought me a Nano gift as well… an awesome 15 minute hourglass timer with black sand! I got myself an awesome Moleskin journal as well… Dark blue with map lines on it. Just the thing to get my mind thinking and ready to write!
Posted in Blogs on October 27th, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 6 Comments »
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 lack of posts this week, but my wrist has been in a lot of pain, and I still have to type at work, no matter how bad my wrist gets. To try make up for it (and get more skilled using the program), I’m trying to write this on Dragon NaturallySpeaking. While it is slow, I’m hoping this will help me in trying to get out more writing for you while my wrist is hurting. Now on to more interesting topics… I’ll talk more about the Dragon NaturallySpeaking later.
Today turned out pretty well, I thought, although definitely filled with frustration. For example, my success in (finally) finding out who wrote a quote that I found a few years ago and loved. I found it during my first Nanowrimo as someone’s signature on the site. The quote was “Trying to create a world, even in words, is good occupational therapy for lunatics who think they’re God, and an excellent argument for polytheism.” Today I was reading the “acknowledgements” section in “The Sunrise Lands”, a brilliant novel by S.M. Stirling, when I see this quote. Finding out who said it after all this time is good, but would have been better had I noticed it when I bought the book THREE YEARS BEFORE! **Sigh**
On the other hand, I actually chat with S.M. Stirling on Facebook, so he and I had a great time chatting about it and that really reminds me of just how lucky I am that a great author like him is willing to give me the time of day. Many of the big authors find they either don’t have the time, or perhaps the inclination, to respond to their fans personally… and I can understand why. They have deadlines like everyone else, and theirs may be worse than ours since the work they do is much more difficult… or at least, more difficult compared to most jobs where you know exactly what you’re doing and how to best do it.
Still, it adds a dimension of humanity to authors when you know that you can send them a message and they’ll respond back. It shows us little readers that we are not just dollar signs to our authors but are actually people. Okay, most authors probably don’t look at their readers as dollar signs, but I know that sometimes it can feel that way.
As a definite “ding” I would suggest that if you haven’t checked out S.M. Stirling’s books that you should do so immediately. He allows you to read up to ten chapters online for free. And let me say, very few books match the perfection of his Emberverse series. (It starts with Dies the Fire, check it out, and I guarantee, you’ll be hooked!)
In other thoughts, I’ve been thinking a lot about characters, and in particular, Character Motivations. Most character problems can be solved by thinking about what those persons motivations are. In particular, I remember a few months back when a friend of mine on a chat site I frequent said that she was going to be running a game that afternoon, but she didn’t know where the game was going. I asked her what her storyline was and she said that the party had to defeat an evil wizard who had been locked in a tower for being an evil wizard. There were very few specifics beyond that. Working together, we brainstormed an entire storyline together to take her players to 16th level or higher starting just from the question, “Well, what did the evil wizard do to get him locked up in the tower?”
I think that a lot of new authors (even me, occasionally) forget exactly how important character motivations are in writing as well. With the proper motivation for all of your characters, you’ll know who/what/where/why and how for everyone. For me, this is the keystone behind properly designed fully-fleshed people, rather than simple archetypes in your writing. In general, although out of character stuff can still happen, it’s much more likely you’ll figure out what wrong with a scene early and have ideas on how you can change it for the better!
Now for that quick bit about Dragon NaturallySpeaking… it’s a good program, but so far, training is obviously the key. I need to figure out how to make it note my commands (when I say things like “Question Mark” or “Open Quotation Mark”, it actually writes out said commands) and I’m still teaching it to understand my voice. Apparently the program was smart enough to favour speed over accuracy for me. Not that I talk extremely fast by any stretch, but I’d rather spend the time correcting it and training it in the beginning instead of… talking… like… this… for… the… rest… of… my… writing… career. 
Have any of you used Dragon NaturallySpeaking or a similar program before? Any tips or tricks for a newbie like me on it? What do you think about Character Motivations? Are they the most important or do you scoff at me placing such importance on them? As always, I’d love for you to leave a comment. Also, watch for my writing later tonight. This piece is a short story I did, based off of the anime Spice & Wolf and a single character that eventually became worthy of a full novel (okay… I lied, I have the first novel almost finished and the second one in mind).
P.S. – One final comment… My total for Julno as of yesterday evening was 681 words. It sucks, I know, but I’m hoping to get a bit more writing done this weekend. If I could count my blog posts I’d be higher… probably up around 2-3K. Anyway, let me know what your total is for the month, and I’ll keep you updated with mine!
Posted in Blogs on July 10th, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 18 Comments »
