R.L. Naquin's Blog, page 9

What’s Nanu Reemoo? (Part 1)

It’s occurred to me that in another two weeks or so, I’ll be talking a lot about NaNoWriMo and maybe some of you aren’t familiar with it. Maybe you’ve heard of it, but aren’t sure what it entails. Maybe you know exactly what it is, but you’re mystified by why anyone would want to do it.

Maybe you’ve secretly considered it, but find it too terrifying to attempt.

So, for those of you who know all this, please bear with me. I’d like to explain what NaNoWriMo is, why I do it, and maybe convince a few people to grab my hand and take the plunge. If you know all this and you’re already gearing up to participate, go get a cup of coffee while I talk about it. Refill mine for me while you’re in the kitchen?

First of all, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s run by the non-profit organization The Office of Letters and Light. Their goal is to help people achieve their creative potential, using this program and several others. They’ve built an international community, so nobody has to be alone while working toward their own goals.

Every November hundreds of thousands of people gather, both physically and virtually, with the intention of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That sounds like a lot. But if you’re not a writer, it probably sounds like a random, meaningless number. I know it did to me when I started out.

50k words is the minimum number required for a work to be classified as a novel. 50k words is a very short book. One word less than 50k would classify it as a novella. I know. That still doesn’t really put it in perspective.

My blog posts generally weigh in at around 500 words (though I have a feeling this one will go long). So, that would make 50k the equivalent of about 100 blog posts.

A typed page (double spaced) is roughly 250 words. So 50k is around 200 pages.

50k in 30 days is 1667 words per day. Depending on how well things are going, I write 500 to 1000 or so words in an hour. So, technically, if I have all my ducks lined up and things are going well, I can crank out those words in two hours or less. That seems about average for most people I’ve talked to. I’m not particularly speedy.

Nobody ever sees what you’ve written in that time unless you share it with them. This isn’t about writing the perfect story, turning it in for a grade, or even trying to get it published.

This is about taking the time to really focus and push yourself. I spent a lot of years telling people that I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t have the self-discipline or the guts to sit down and really try until I joined this event. If I hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have learned what I’m capable of.

And to me, that’s the most incredible part of NaNoWriMo — it pushes people to reach farther than they ever have before. It pushes people to try for something they didn’t think they could do. It’s a marathon you don’t have to train for.

I was right. This post is already going long, and I still have a lot more to say. So, we’re going to break this up. On Monday, we’ll talk more about why I do NaNo, what the rules are, and why the rules don’t matter.

See you real soon!

Cafe Wednesday Plus Prizes

Hi guys. Kind of a rough day today, compounded with a 4:30 AM start, so I don’t have much for you.

But.

It is Wednesday, so you can find me over at the Confabulator Cafe with considerably more to say. This week we were asked what the easiest and the hardest things about writing are. As usual, my answer wasn’t very straightforward. It was, however, honest.

So, if you’re interested, here’s the link: Easy and Hard — Compared to What?

Also, we’re now on week three of the fabulous Halloween Party Giveaway over at Here Be Magic. This week’s giveaway is a first-chapter critique from one of five of the Here Be Magic/Carina Press authors. Go here to enter: Week Three Giveaway.

And if you haven’t entered for the grand prize yet, there’s still time. You can win a big basket of swag or even a Kindle Fire. Go here: Kindle Giveaway.

And here’s a little insider info for you — next week’s giveaway includes a nonhuman character in one of my books being named after the winner.

Go! Enter! Tell your friends!

See you real soon!

Halloween Is Monster Month

I am so freakin’ excited about Halloween, it’s ridiculous.

It’s really kind of crazy how much I love this holiday (which — let’s be honest — isn’t even a real holiday, unless you’re pagan, at which point, you don’t call it Halloween).

I don’t like things jumping out at me, so haunted houses are out. I’m anti-social, so it’s not often that we dress up and go to a party. And, as much as I love scary movies, I’m particular about which ones I like, since I dislike “torture porn” and am disdainful of movies that use cheap parlor tricks like throwing a surprise cat at the screen merely to make everybody jump.

Oh, but I do love monsters. If you don’t know that by now, you just got here.

I like to decorate the inside of the house, but don’t bother much with the outside. This would probably be different if we lived in an actual house, but we’re renting a townhouse right now, and only half the building is ours. We have no windows looking out front. None of us would see my hard work unless we were coming or going. As you know, I’m inside a lot. What’s the point? The decorating is for us, not the neighbors.

I’m a California girl, so when cold weather starts rolling in, I tend to get cranky. Every time my husband says how much he loves autumn, I get a little bummed that it’s here. Yes, the leaves look pretty. But to me, those pretty leaves signify the coming death for everything. I like green leaves, people. Green is life. Red leaves mean they’re dying. Brown means they’re dead. Autumn means winter is coming, and that makes me very, very irritable.

Two years ago, we got a total of five trick-or-treaters, and they came in two separate groups. Last year, we didn’t get a single one.

So, what’s left? Scary movies. Carving pumpkins. Apple cider. The severed arm that our family is constantly moving around the house in an effort to scare each other. Reese’s peanutbutter pumpkins.

Pumpkin spice Coffee Mate. Pumpkin pancakes. Pumpkin French toast. Pumpkin waffles, pie, cheesecake, rolls, and bread. Pumpkin-colored skin from putting pumpkin in everything I can think of.

Ghost stories. Halloween specials of regular television shows.

And at midnight on the big day, after watching scary movies and gorging on candy we bought for non-existent trick-or-treaters, November 1st shows up and takes us away on a month-long writing extravaganza called National Novel Writing Month.

So, yes. I’m ridiculously excited for someone who only likes about half of what normal people love about it. To sum up:

Love being able to use the fireplace, hate it when it gets cold.
Love getting scared, hate being startled.
Love Halloween decorations, hate putting them up outside.
Love dressing up in costume, hate having to go out.

I still love Halloween, though. It’s right up there with Christmas for me. In fact, I almost love it even more than Christmas.

I am a mystery, even to myself.

Bottom line? Monsters. More than anything, I love monsters. And this is their month.

Happy month-of-Halloween!

Hidden Hangout with Maurice and Halloween Giveaway

It’s Wednesday! You know how I know? The trash guys came today. That means I’m at the Confabulator Cafe. Coincidence? Probably. But since I’m home most days, it’s the only way for me to tell what day it is without getting too confused.

So. This week, we interviewed characters from one of our stories.

Since I never like to do things exactly as I’m supposed to, Maurice is actually conducting the interview. And he’s interviewing not one, but three other characters. All of them are from stories that never made it.

I’ve given him his own talk show, and he’s pretty excited about it. Head on over there and see what Maurice is up to: Hidden Hangout (Episode 3.8) As you can see, he’s already in his third season. Maybe we’ll get a chance to peek in on other episodes in the future.

And don’t forget to check in with my fellow Confabulators to see what their characters have to say. Some of them are a little unsettling.

Also, it’s week two of the ginormous Halloween giveaway over at Here Be Magic. If you’re a writer, especially if you write romance or fantasy, this is a great week to enter. Jeffe Kennedy is doing a month-long mentorship for one lucky winner. She’ll help with your query, synopsis, and first three chapters, as well as brainstorm with you who to query.

The grand prize is still open for entries, too, so even if you don’t need help with a manuscript, you can still enter to win the Kindle Fire. Go! Enter! Here Be Magic: Halloween Party Giveaway Week 2.

See you real soon!

 

You Can Do it! (But Should You?)

This is a little story about knowing your limitations.

As you know, I announced the awesome news on Wednesday that I just got a four-book deal with Carina Press for the rest of the Monster Haven series. Yay! I’m really excited about that and relieved to know those books will have a home. I’m also pleased that I know exactly what I’ll be doing for the next two years.

That’s only half the story, though.

You may be aware there’s also a spin-off series featuring one of the characters in the book I’m writing now. When I handed over the proposal for the rest of the Monster Haven series, I also turned in a proposal for three books in the spin-off djinn series.

The plan was to alternate Zoey’s books with the djinn books, and their plots intertwined and culminated in the finale of Zoey’s books. The Carina acquisition team didn’t say no to the second series, but they wanted to see a detailed synopsis and a first chapter of the first book before they decided. I agreed to have it ready by the end of next month, since I planned to write the novel during NaNoWrimo.

This plan of mine meant I’d turn in the completed and self-edited third Monster Haven book by the beginning of January, then have the first djinn book ready by the first of February. Back-to-back books. I could do that. Not going to be easy, but with deadlines keeping me in check, entirely doable.

The freak-out was subtle. It crept in slowly, and I didn’t recognize it until I realized I was totally useless with everything I touched. The thought of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas interrupting what came down to a three-month long NaNoWriMo (minus the support of a real NaNoWriMo for two of those months) nearly reduced me to tears.

Two nights ago, a tiny voice whispered in my head. “What if you wait and do the djinn books after the Monster Haven books?”

I tried to brush the thought aside, but it stuck. I didn’t sleep much that night. My biggest worry was that I’d be giving up. Failing.

Wait. What? Dude. Four-book deal. How is putting off an additional three giving up? Idiot.

So, I reworked the djinn plots to fit chronologically after the Monster Haven stories and shot off an e-mail to my awesome editor. To my surprise, she was totally on board with the switch, and even liked the new spin a little more than the original concept.

When I approached my husband with the idea that first night I thought about it, I expected him to give me a pep talk on not giving up. You can do this! Don’t compromise! Wrong. He was right there with me. He thought it was a great idea.

So. I’m my own worst enemy. I have huge ideas and sometimes no clear vision of my own limitations. But I got there in the end. I didn’t give up. I just redistributed.

Could I have pulled off the double-series maneuver? Yes. I’m still sure I could have done it. I was the only one asking myself to do it, though. I would have missed a lot of real life going on around me during all my favorite holidays, but yeah. I totally could do it.

But sometimes we have to re-examine our goals and ask if we should. It’s important to believe in yourself, but it’s equally important to be able to tell yourself no.

My djinn will wait a little bit longer. When I finally get to her, she’ll be awesome.

News, Prizes, and the Cafe

Why this picture? No particular reason. It just made me laugh.

Usually Wednesday means a quick post to direct you to the Confabulator Cafe. This time, I have three things for you.

First–and I know a lot of you saw me announce this on Facebook yesterday, so bear with me while I say it again–Carina Press has acquired the rest of the Monster Haven series.

So, yay! This means the book I’m working on right now, Fairies in My Fireplace, is going ahead. But wait, there’s more! There are three more books in the series after that, and those, too, have been acquired by my publisher. Zoey’s world is now officially a six-book series. As I’ve mentioned, Pooka in My Pantry (book two) comes out in March, and now they’re talking about a September release for Fairies in My Fireplace. Scheduling for the rest of the books is still being discussed, but they’re definitely coming.

Second–Big stuff is going down over at the Here Be Magic site. It’s been awhile (a month or so) since I’ve blogged over there, and some of you are new here. So, to sum up, Here Be Magic is a group blog of Carina Press authors who write science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, time travel, paranormal, etc.

We’re having a big Halloween party, so you should definitely head over there. Not just today, but every week through this month. Why? Prizes, my friends. Big prizes. Some are geared toward other writers (critiques, coaching, etc.) and some are geared toward readers (free books, bookmarks, pens, swag of all kinds). The more entries you get in there, the better chance you have of winning something good. And by good, I mean the grand prize at the end of the month–a Kindle Fire loaded up with a bunch of our books.

I’m in on the Kindle, so my book will be on it. You could also win a big basket of swag or a non-human character in one of my future books named after you.

Lots of prizes. Lots. Head over and enter lots of times. Leave comments. Win something! Everybody likes free stuff.

Third–Of course, I’m also over at the Confabulator Cafe today. This week we were asked how supportive of our writing endeavors the people around us are. I, of course, have a perfectly wonderful family, so it was kind of tough to write. But there’s still one person who’s my biggest naysayer–actually, my only naysayer. It’s all in the title, really: My Only Enemy Is Me.

So, there you go. Three things on a Wednesday morning.

See you real soon!

Television Reflections

Family Ties: Back in my day, condescension was both good parenting and high comedy.

I am a child of the ’80s. It was a different time. We expected less. Sitcoms, especially, were peppered with cheesy dialogue, moral lessons that slammed us over the head, and canned laughter to tell us when something was meant to be funny.

My favorite movie of all time is Raiders of the Lost Ark. Having seen it twice on the big screen in the last few years, I can honestly say, it’s not up to today’s standards. I still love it. But there are continuity problems that we never cared about back then. A lot of them. Objects and costumes and hair shift and move back again multiple times throughout a scene.

But it wasn’t important. We didn’t have DVRs to freeze and go back mid-episode. When VCRs came along, you could do it, but freezing a frame made lines across the screen, so it was difficult to really see anything. We didn’t have digital copies or computers or Youtube, so errors in detail were missed, ignored, or passed off as interesting trivia.

It’s different today.

Despite the plethora of reality shows, we expect near-perfection in storytelling, dialogue, and continuity. Move a single cup from one take to another and message boards will light up like Christmas in Las Vegas. Life lessons need to be more subtle. Character motivations have to be solid, or viewers will stop watching in disgust. Production qualities, even on sitcoms, are incredibly high. Compare the multiple-house sets and outdoor shots of Modern Family to the three or four rooms with only one angle on Family Ties or The Cosby Show.

Now, with that in mind, there’s something about today’s television shows (and even in a lot of movies) that really bothers me.

Modern Family: Today, we don’t need to be condescending to be good parents, and kids are hilarious all on their own.

So much care is put into the details of every shot. So, why can’t they keep the green computer screens near the cameras from reflecting in the eyeglasses of every single bespectacled character?

Seriously. I know I’m being picky, especially in light of all the wonderful special effects and realism they’re putting into everything else. Writers, set designers, costumers, directors, actors–they’ve all upped their game.

And that’s  why the green reflection in the glasses bugs me so much. And seriously, it takes me right out of the story. I see green, I start scanning for anything in the room that would explain it. Next thing you know, I’ve forgotten to pay attention to the show itself, and I’m squinting to make out everything reflected in the glasses.

It’s not cool. I know nothing about television production, but it seems like my husband and my daughter could easily take the green reflections out of the shots with Photoshop.

Why does nobody seem to care? Am I alone in this weird obsession?

Does anyone know why they don’t bother with it? If I knew why, I’d probably let it go.

After all–I’m a child of the  ’80s. We expected less.

Revenge at the Cafe

It’s been a weird day. I’ve been up since 4:30, so my head’s a little fuzzy, and I’m not all here. Actually, I’m not here at all.

I’m a figment of your imagination.

I am over at the Confabulator Cafe, though. Because, you know, it’s Wednesday. That’s what I do.

This week is Flash Fiction week at the Cafe. We were tasked with writing a revenge story. Brutal, silly, big drama, little hurts–it didn’t matter. It just had to have revenge in it.

Mine was more in line with the books I write. Quirky with a dash of dark. You can read it here: Buttoned Down. And don’t forget to read the rest of this week’s posts for revenge stories by the rest of the Confabulators while you’re there.

And yeah, I know I missed my post Monday. It’s a little crazy here at my house. I’ll shoot for Friday. I’ll have slept by then.

See you real soon!

Social Voyeurism

I often complain about how much I dislike/suck at engaging in the required social-networking platforms. But that’s not the whole truth of it. What I really like is watching.

I am a social networking voyeur.

Stories, people. Twitter and Facebook are a wealth of personal stories I can’t look away from. I rarely post anything personal myself. Facebook often admonishes me for my lack of participation:

Your friends haven’t seen an update from you in 18 days.

That’s harsh. I didn’t realize somebody was keeping score.

But, I do lurk.

I’m constantly surprised by how personal people get in public. Fights. Medical problems. In-depth discussions about breakups. Thinly-veiled threats. Money problems.

On Facebook, I can almost understand it. In theory, those are your real-life friends–although the most verbal people often have hundreds of “friends,” so I doubt they know them all. On Twitter? That’s like taking an ad out in the paper to confess to all of New York City that you have hemorrhoids and you like to eat steamed asparagus in the nude while watching reruns of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. While you cry.

I can’t look away. I ignore the political crap that’s taking up most of my feeds right now. What I really, really love are the passive/aggressive notes to an anonymous person who “knows who they are.” How can I not be interested in that? “Some people need to get over themselves and stop acting like little bitches when they don’t get their way. They know who they are.” Really? Now I’m not getting any work done today. I must know what happened or  I will DIE.

I won’t ask, though. I’ll never ask. I only watch. Sometimes the “little bitches” in question recognize themselves in the vague status, and the hair pulling begins. Or somebody’s status goes from “in a relationship” to “single,” while the other person changes theirs to “it’s complicated.” There’s an entire story right there. Somebody’s not letting go. If you’re really lucky, those two people will have a thinly-veiled argument about something trivial, like sports, but if you watched the relationship statuses change, you can read between the lines and see what they’re really fighting about.

It’s all fodder for stories.

So next time you want to declare yourself free from that two-faced someone (who you won’t name right now) that you know their real agenda and you won’t get fooled again? Know that I’m watching. I’m probably scanning your page for clues like I’m Nancy Drew (after she got old and fat). I’m filling in the blanks you’ve left me with theories and speculations. If you only give me a little bit of the story, I’m going to make things up.

And when you apologize for jumping to conclusions, or your target comes at you with excuses for their hurtful behavior, or when you move on to the next vague statement of emotional turmoil brought on by some life event and person you refuse to name, I’ll be watching.

And using it in a story of my own.

Pondering Ideas at the Cafe

The calendar says it’s Wednesday, though I’m not really sure how that happened already. This means, of course, that I’m over at the Confabulator Cafe.

This week, we’re talking about ideas–how many we have floating around, whether we have unfinished projects, and if we’re worried we’ll run out.

Pfff. If you’ve spent any time here on my blog, you know my plate is pretty full. You know I’ve got plans that stretch several books out. How far out? What will I be doing next?

Come see me at the Cafe to find out. My post I Have an Idea… details exactly where my head is for the next several years. I’m a planner, you know. That doesn’t just mean plotting my books before I write them.

The very first blog post I wrote here over two years ago outlined my plan to become a published author. I followed it, even though it was largely made up of smoke, wishes, and underwear-stealing gnomes. And now, here I am.

Each goal reached requires a new set of goals. Now that I’ve managed to get started on this road, I’m not going to stop, congratulate myself, and quit. No. I’m in this for good, now.

So. Five year plan, sort of. And soon there might be a progress report on how that’s going. We’ll see. Chickens. Counting. Hatching. I’ll let you know what’s up when I can.

And don’t worry about me. I’m not out of ideas quite yet.