A.M. Gray's Blog, page 13
September 28, 2015
"I have absolutely no faith in your ability to get this job done."
Writer’s Block#writeworld #shortfics
In one sentence is the spark of a story. Ignite.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a memory about this sentence. Write something about this sentence.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!http://writeworld.org/post/1277999602... have absolutely no faith in your ability to get this job done." He said it again. It was about the tenth time that he had said it in several different ways.The woman shoved various packages into a backpack and seem to completely ignore him as she did it but her shoulders looked tight. When the bag was packed she moved over to point at the map spread out in front of the man. “Here?”“Yes.” He was terse.“You’re sure? These valleys look the same.”“I don't make mistakes.” The rest of the sentence hung in the air. She waited but he didn't add anything else. Her lips pressed together. She seemed to be counting. After an interval, she shouldered the bag and started towards the door. Footsteps rang from outside of the room. She glanced at the internal door and waited. The man that entered the room had the easy gait of a person used to physical work. He had a presence, not just because of his height. “Hey,” he said to her but it said so much more.“You just caught me.”He smiled as if that was a private joke. “What's up?”She jigged her head at the first man. “His wife is missing. Deer Valley.” She adjusted the bag on her shoulder.“Okay.” He gave the man a balancing look. “Got anything of hers?”It wasn't clear which of them he was talking to.“She didn't ask for anything.”“But you do have something?”“Ah...”“Hand it over.” Standing in front of him, he made the husband look weak. The man fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a ring. The plain gold band look small in the palm of the tall man. He made a noise, a kind of a thoughtful noise, before he handed the ring to the woman. They exchanged a look. It was clearly a woman's wedding band. The kind of thing people didn't take off unnecessarily, so why did the husband have it?He used both hands to close her fingers over it. He whispered in her ear, “He reeks of deceit.”She nodded. Trap? he mouthed.She nodded. “He's not convinced of my skills.”“Huh. Why hire you then?”“Indeed.”When the hirer chose not to speak, she gave her man a quick peck on the lips. She had to stand on tiptoes to do it. “See you later.”“Yes,” he agreed.He locked the external gate behind her and leaned back against it. Arms folded and eyes fixed on the customer who looked increasingly nervous. “Sit,” he ordered.He did.“You stay until she gets back and you had better hope she does get back.”“Th-that wasn't the deal.”“I didn't make the deal. Sit down.”His mouth opened but he closed it and sat. He hunched forward a little. “What can a lone woman do?” he muttered very low.“You don't like women, do you?”He startled, clearly surprised that the man had heard him.“Do you?” he pressed.An awkward shrug.“Odd that you didn't offer to join her. Show her yourself.”“I barely made it here!”“And yet you expect her to do the trip twice? There and back again.”“I told her she would fail.”The tall man laughed. “She doesn't fail.” Another balancing look at the customer. “And your wife? Did she fail?”“Is she your wife?”“No, she is my mate.”His eyes widened and his heart raced. Only shapeshifters had mates. Aware that his physical reactions could be catalogued they immediately betrayed him.“She's dead, isn't she?”“Who is?” he tried.“Your wife.”“No,” but he didn't sound sure of it and the shifter knew he wasn’t.“You'd better hope not.” He gave a bitter chuckle. “Why do you think she is so good at this? Why do you think she went alone?” The man made a sound of disbelief.“She didn't tell you that? You must have done something to annoy her.” He chuckled. “You know what's really funny?”The man shook his head.“She can find the missing more easily when they're dead. The dead to talk to her, and they find her because she's the only one who hears them.”
September 25, 2015
What are your terms, sir?
Writer’s Block
In one sentence is the spark of a story. Ignite.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a memory about this sentence. Write something about this sentence.
Be sure to tag #writeworld in your block!http://writeworld.org/post/1278622945... #shortfic
“What are your terms, sir?” she asked.“No!” her brother shouted. “I can handle this.”She ignored him. Her chin lifted. A tiny muscle flexed in her jaw but only those who knew her well could have seen it and known how much it cost her to say those words.“No,” he repeated, quieter now as everyone ignored him. The figure on the throne leaned forward a fraction. “You,” it said.She closed her eyes.Her brother was shouting again. “No. Ignore her. She doesn't know what she’s saying.” The guards that restrained him made sure he got no closer to either his sister or the king of the fae.“She knows,” the king said.“My brother returns home, unharmed - no memory loss, no lost time, no tricks or there is no deal.” The audience of courtiers and soldiers made small nervous noises at her use of the word ‘tricks’.The king waved a hand and the people fell silent. “How will you know if he doesn't?”It was a good question. Her hand trembled. “You will not break your word.”“Your brother will never return to this world.”“Agreed.”“You can’t make deals for me,” he argued. “What about what I want?”Ignored again.“Do I have your word?” she pressed. The crowd hissed at her rudeness but the king had not taken his eyes from her face. She was unable to read his emotion.“Are you sure about no memory loss?” he checked.“Yes.” She glanced down quickly, unsure if she had made a mistake.“Wise. He should remember you and your sacrifice.” He made a gesture at the guards. “Take him to his home.” He glanced back at her. “He may lose some time because of the nature of this world. That I cannot control. I will do the best that I can.”She nodded. She knew that, visitors lost hours here. “I-” she started to say and then took a deep breath. “Goodbye, Oscar.”“No, Jessica - NO!” He tried to fight but the guards carried him out of the room. The shouts faded quickly.Jessica stood. Arms folded across her body to clutch at the other. “My Lord,” she said and bowed her head. She didn’t thank him. That was an insult and it may leave her owing him a favour. She didn’t want to owe the king a favour. She took a step back.“Jessica,” he said.She heard the warning tone and stopped.“You sit here.” He pointed to the step between his feet.“I-?” Her head lifted and she looked him full in the face. Her confusion plain.Someone in the crowd tittered nervously.Her face fell. She had only thought to bargain for her brother; not for herself. She had not argued her position, merely that she would stay. It was a serious oversight. One that she could not fix now he had held to his side of the bargain. She was lost. She had no standing here as a mere human nor could she leave to find her own place in this world. She was to sit at his feet like a dog.“Come,” he insisted.A guard stepped up to force her to move but he waved them back. He stood and pointed at the floor. The whole court had to rise to its feet when he stood. It made her feel smaller. She wasn’t sure what he meant by the gesture. He had made her the centre of attention.She went. She had no other choices. She had asked him to keep his word, and it behoved her to keep hers. Slowly she climbed the stairs. Uncertain of how to sit, she knelt as he resumed his seat and then she tucked her feet behind her. Her back ached and she was exhausted.The court returned to their seats and the banquet resumed. Servers moved among them with food and drink. She had a lovely view from his feet. The faces of some of the court were wary and she guessed that it was because of her. She was an unknown; a human in their world.A very tall fae male watched her speculatively and a new thought occurred; she had her back to the king. Was that an insult? She remembered that historically people had to walk backwards out of an audience so that they did not insult a royal. Was it an honour to sit at his feet? She could see well because she was up so high. Did that matter? She was literally higher than everyone else.All of them.Except for the king and the occasional server who brought him a tray.Or, was she a pet? Was she something else? He had asked for her. She hated to think of that even if he had a pretty face. All fae were beautiful even if some were terrifying with it. He was awful in the original sense of the word. Awe inspiring.The strain of the last few days was telling, and the weight of her worries heavy. She almost leaned against his leg but jerked upright and fought to keep her eyes open. Food or drink might have helped her but she knew to eat it would mean she could never leave. Not that she had bargained for how long she was staying.She was a fool, an impetuous fool. She hoped her brother was safe and that he was worth this. Would she ever see him again?Losing the battle, her eyes stayed closed. She slumped a little and leaned against the throne and his leg. He didn’t move but the King of the Slaugh - the dark fae- had tentacles as well as human limbs. And one of the thicker ones snaked down to cross in front of her chest and then twine around his leg. It held her in place like a seatbelt and stopped her from tumbling forward or down the steps. Another thinner and more delicate appendage reached down and tucked her hair away from her face, placing it neatly behind her ear. She didn’t notice the light touch but plenty of the court did. The tall fae was one of them and he frowned.
September 21, 2015
Weird fanfic stats
If you have followed me for any length of time you’d know I love statistics. I was very sad last month when the fanfiction.net stats went a little weird. They basically died.
I usually average about 4,000 hits a day but my August stats table looks like this:

One reader???
*eyes narrow*
I don’t think so.
This has happened before and usually a few days later it comes good. But not this time. And it continued for the first few days of September. So for about fourteen days I have stats that swear no-one read anything at all. And I know they did. They sent me reviews during that time.
*sad face*
I do not know what happened at the site but I’m glad it’s back to normal.
I usually average about 4,000 hits a day but my August stats table looks like this:

One reader???
*eyes narrow*
I don’t think so.
This has happened before and usually a few days later it comes good. But not this time. And it continued for the first few days of September. So for about fourteen days I have stats that swear no-one read anything at all. And I know they did. They sent me reviews during that time.
*sad face*
I do not know what happened at the site but I’m glad it’s back to normal.
September 14, 2015
Build on a good story base
I try to walk every day as I spend too much time sitting at my desk. A trip to Ikea got me a desk top and table legs that can extend to a standing height. It made a cheap standing desk for my chromebook so I can do a few things standing up but scrivener is still on my PC, so I swap and change. I never stand still. I usually end up dancing about listening to my music. I’m sure that’s good for me, too.
My suburb is in flux; the older homes are being knocked down in sets of four or six, and low level unit blocks are popping up everywhere. They are all eight to ten storeys which is the building limit in this council area. If I look out my back window I can see seven cranes. It makes my walks a little bit challenging - seriously, I am too old for catcalling - but I love watching the changes in the building sites as the structure rises from the ground.
There is one site that intrigues me. From the day it was fenced off it was different. It is incredibly neat and well organized. The fence was dead upright with no gaps, the clay soil was covered in gravel so the workers didn’t walk in mud, the work caravan units had aircons and plumbing installed, and one was a designated meeting room, and they built a two metre wide set of stairs down into the pit when other sites used a ladder or a dirt ramp. At the end of the day they have the structural items they need for the next day set out - ready and waiting.
I was thinking that if I had the pick of an apartment in any of the building sites, I’d take one in this block.
Why? Because if they have that attention to detail on the basics, then it will be the best quality construction.
I said in the last post that I have been reading a lot about writing. And one of the things I am learning about is story structure. It is one of those things that I think you notice more when it isn’t present. I read a murder mystery recently that I gave up on when I was more than halfway through and there still hadn’t been a murder. It broke the rules and I didn’t like it. Because it did that it didn’t get a chance to prove itself to me.
Another was a regency romance that then introduced the paranormal, and then a murder mystery and then a serial killer. Well… which is it? In trying to do everything, it didn’t do any properly. When the two main characters were being romantic I was thinking ‘they don’t have time for this, someone is trying to kill her’. And when they finally started to investigate the murder they used clues they had gathered in the first, very early part of the book. It was like a frankenbook - built up of too many genres for me. It’s basic structure was flawed.
And another was set up as a werewolf Romeo and Juliet; each was the child of warring alphas and once they mated any conflict disappeared. As a reader I was so disappointed. The writer had made an implied promise to the reader - I’ll give you this - and then they didn’t.
So, like that apartment block, if your story has the structure right then maybe you can be a little bit fancy if the core is there. Keep your promises, get the basics right, and you will build a good, solid structure when you do.
My suburb is in flux; the older homes are being knocked down in sets of four or six, and low level unit blocks are popping up everywhere. They are all eight to ten storeys which is the building limit in this council area. If I look out my back window I can see seven cranes. It makes my walks a little bit challenging - seriously, I am too old for catcalling - but I love watching the changes in the building sites as the structure rises from the ground.
There is one site that intrigues me. From the day it was fenced off it was different. It is incredibly neat and well organized. The fence was dead upright with no gaps, the clay soil was covered in gravel so the workers didn’t walk in mud, the work caravan units had aircons and plumbing installed, and one was a designated meeting room, and they built a two metre wide set of stairs down into the pit when other sites used a ladder or a dirt ramp. At the end of the day they have the structural items they need for the next day set out - ready and waiting.
I was thinking that if I had the pick of an apartment in any of the building sites, I’d take one in this block.
Why? Because if they have that attention to detail on the basics, then it will be the best quality construction.
I said in the last post that I have been reading a lot about writing. And one of the things I am learning about is story structure. It is one of those things that I think you notice more when it isn’t present. I read a murder mystery recently that I gave up on when I was more than halfway through and there still hadn’t been a murder. It broke the rules and I didn’t like it. Because it did that it didn’t get a chance to prove itself to me.
Another was a regency romance that then introduced the paranormal, and then a murder mystery and then a serial killer. Well… which is it? In trying to do everything, it didn’t do any properly. When the two main characters were being romantic I was thinking ‘they don’t have time for this, someone is trying to kill her’. And when they finally started to investigate the murder they used clues they had gathered in the first, very early part of the book. It was like a frankenbook - built up of too many genres for me. It’s basic structure was flawed.
And another was set up as a werewolf Romeo and Juliet; each was the child of warring alphas and once they mated any conflict disappeared. As a reader I was so disappointed. The writer had made an implied promise to the reader - I’ll give you this - and then they didn’t.
So, like that apartment block, if your story has the structure right then maybe you can be a little bit fancy if the core is there. Keep your promises, get the basics right, and you will build a good, solid structure when you do.
September 8, 2015
Large gap in posts - sorry...
Oh my goodness… where has the year gone? I know I always say that but seriously… I picked up a carton of milk and saw the use by date in September and nearly had a fit.
I have lost it a bit lately - been all over the place but I promise to try and update more frequently… now… what have I been doing?
I did another camp nanowrimo. This time I was sorted into a cabin with other wanna-be writers from a tumblr writing page. If anything, the results were more disastrous than the cabin of newbies from last time. A whole quarter of us (three) finished. And what have I learned from this? As I always ask the kids. Don’t rely on your cabin to drag you along. I aimed for 50k words and did that with the usual sagging bit in the middle before I pulled up my socks to finish.
The story was different to the one from last camp; a messed up soul mate romance. It now has nearly 80k words but needs a lot more work.
I had to update to Windows 10 and I damn near had a panic attack at the thought that Scrivener might not work. When I contacted them they assured me it should be fine. And so far it is. *crosses fingers*
Kid Extra is still with us. I eventually measured out kid 1’s room, made a scale model on paper and shifted things around until I could make them fit and then went to Ikea and bought some single bed furniture. They are getting on well and he seems a lot happier. His mother has not been back and told us after many attempts to arrange to collect his stuff, that she had destroyed it all because we didn’t collect it by some arbitrary date she hadn’t even told us about. (And she wouldn’t let us collect it anyway.) I do NOT understand some people. He seemed quite blasé about it. I reckon he knew he wasn’t going to get his stuff back.
I have been doing a lot of writing courses on Udemy and YouTube, and reading a lot of books on writing. I am very proud of my status - read 150 books this year! And my Pinterest book page looks neat. I have 39 followers there, now. It might help if I wasn’t reading six books at once in four different places! Updating my PC means I can read on the Nook app but I am finding it very different to the Kindle one. Plus I have some older ebook files open in adobe reader and I have a pile of actual physical books by my bed. I confuse myself some days - now where did I read that quote?
So what have you all been up to?
Links:
Pinterest
I have lost it a bit lately - been all over the place but I promise to try and update more frequently… now… what have I been doing?
I did another camp nanowrimo. This time I was sorted into a cabin with other wanna-be writers from a tumblr writing page. If anything, the results were more disastrous than the cabin of newbies from last time. A whole quarter of us (three) finished. And what have I learned from this? As I always ask the kids. Don’t rely on your cabin to drag you along. I aimed for 50k words and did that with the usual sagging bit in the middle before I pulled up my socks to finish.
The story was different to the one from last camp; a messed up soul mate romance. It now has nearly 80k words but needs a lot more work.
I had to update to Windows 10 and I damn near had a panic attack at the thought that Scrivener might not work. When I contacted them they assured me it should be fine. And so far it is. *crosses fingers*
Kid Extra is still with us. I eventually measured out kid 1’s room, made a scale model on paper and shifted things around until I could make them fit and then went to Ikea and bought some single bed furniture. They are getting on well and he seems a lot happier. His mother has not been back and told us after many attempts to arrange to collect his stuff, that she had destroyed it all because we didn’t collect it by some arbitrary date she hadn’t even told us about. (And she wouldn’t let us collect it anyway.) I do NOT understand some people. He seemed quite blasé about it. I reckon he knew he wasn’t going to get his stuff back.
I have been doing a lot of writing courses on Udemy and YouTube, and reading a lot of books on writing. I am very proud of my status - read 150 books this year! And my Pinterest book page looks neat. I have 39 followers there, now. It might help if I wasn’t reading six books at once in four different places! Updating my PC means I can read on the Nook app but I am finding it very different to the Kindle one. Plus I have some older ebook files open in adobe reader and I have a pile of actual physical books by my bed. I confuse myself some days - now where did I read that quote?
So what have you all been up to?
Links:
May 23, 2015
Writers' block
I was chatting to a reviewer on fanfiction this week. They told me that they were struggling with writers' block and I replied at some length - because I can’t help myself… and then I thought… hey, that might make a good blog post.So, here it is.
I am a firm believer that there is no such thing. The plumber who comes to your house doesn't say that he doesn't feel like fixing your toilet today. But I know what you mean - some days the words come hard. And you know what? Ages later when I read through the text I can't tell which bits were written on days when I had to force words out like the last bit of toothpaste left in the tube. No-one else can tell either.Some hints:*have a routine - write at the same time/place*block out your writing time and DO it. Butt in chair at 6pm or whatever*playlists - music - spotify or 8 track - people have readymade playlists. Pick one that matches your world. Spooky, southern style? look up True Detective playlists. DON'T get distracted . Some authors make their own. Maggie Stiefvater shares her’s.*record your word count - when do you write the most? I do well late at night, others prefer early morning*turn off or mute social media - I'll just check Twitter, or tumblr, and an hour later my writing time is gone*have something with you to record ideas - I carry a notebook & pens in my handbag, but other people write messages in their phone or record it in their phone. (One friend puffs as he is jogging - and then *puff puff* she said...) I write in waiting rooms, on public transport and because it is a notebook I can't look up twitter *write about how hard it is to write. Just getting words down on anything is a start*free write - you kind of meditate and just type out anything*change the colour of your white blank page - I set the default in Google Drive to a nice pale green - weird but it works for me*writing prompts - photos or sentences writeworld on tumblr has several a day - problem is, I want to write them all :( and I keep writing short stories that beg to be extended*give yourself a gold star - put one on the calendar for each 500 or 1,000 words you write.
If you are stuck on a storyline:*plot it out - super rough but it makes you think about where it is going. A boy is asked to help find a girl lost in the woods, when he meets her again she doesn't notice him, but then when she shouts at him he turns into a wolf, and his wolf likes her etc... It is easier to write towards an endpoint when you know what it is. It doesn't matter if it changes as you write it, and it is much better to waste a small amount of time to think about issues rather than write 30k words and find it can't work. I used to just make it up as I went along but the more I write, the more I realise I need a plan; even a really rough one. Think of it as your directions to a place - you wouldn't drive to somewhere without them, even if you take a detour or two on the way.*write the WORST things that could happen in the next scene - play the ‘what if’ game. Be as nuts as you want - one might be useful. The ones you reject - at least you are thinking about the characters and how they would behave and then the right way to do it will appear*write a different scene or pov - I switch to a pack scene - I love writing funny pack dialogue. I make myself laugh and then I am back on track*write the lastscene - JK Rowling did this. Wrote the last scene of the last book*write out of order - do the scene that excites you and then fill in the gap to get them there*interview your character - pretend you are doing 'press' for the book - so Adam, what made you like Eve?*finish what you start - There is no better feeling. I'll admit that I am crap at this. I am constantly leaving stories to write another one and then I just end up with a huge pile of unfinished things. And those characters shout at me; they want their story told. Now, I try to rough plot out the new idea and then put it aside. If I have that 'map' I can write it later; even add a photo of an actor that looks like the main character or the image that inspired me. When I finish the one I am writing, that story is waiting for me. I want to write it and it’s all there. No stress about what to do next. And I can't forget what the story idea was; it's written down.
You can do it. I know you can.
I am a firm believer that there is no such thing. The plumber who comes to your house doesn't say that he doesn't feel like fixing your toilet today. But I know what you mean - some days the words come hard. And you know what? Ages later when I read through the text I can't tell which bits were written on days when I had to force words out like the last bit of toothpaste left in the tube. No-one else can tell either.Some hints:*have a routine - write at the same time/place*block out your writing time and DO it. Butt in chair at 6pm or whatever*playlists - music - spotify or 8 track - people have readymade playlists. Pick one that matches your world. Spooky, southern style? look up True Detective playlists. DON'T get distracted . Some authors make their own. Maggie Stiefvater shares her’s.*record your word count - when do you write the most? I do well late at night, others prefer early morning*turn off or mute social media - I'll just check Twitter, or tumblr, and an hour later my writing time is gone*have something with you to record ideas - I carry a notebook & pens in my handbag, but other people write messages in their phone or record it in their phone. (One friend puffs as he is jogging - and then *puff puff* she said...) I write in waiting rooms, on public transport and because it is a notebook I can't look up twitter *write about how hard it is to write. Just getting words down on anything is a start*free write - you kind of meditate and just type out anything*change the colour of your white blank page - I set the default in Google Drive to a nice pale green - weird but it works for me*writing prompts - photos or sentences writeworld on tumblr has several a day - problem is, I want to write them all :( and I keep writing short stories that beg to be extended*give yourself a gold star - put one on the calendar for each 500 or 1,000 words you write.
If you are stuck on a storyline:*plot it out - super rough but it makes you think about where it is going. A boy is asked to help find a girl lost in the woods, when he meets her again she doesn't notice him, but then when she shouts at him he turns into a wolf, and his wolf likes her etc... It is easier to write towards an endpoint when you know what it is. It doesn't matter if it changes as you write it, and it is much better to waste a small amount of time to think about issues rather than write 30k words and find it can't work. I used to just make it up as I went along but the more I write, the more I realise I need a plan; even a really rough one. Think of it as your directions to a place - you wouldn't drive to somewhere without them, even if you take a detour or two on the way.*write the WORST things that could happen in the next scene - play the ‘what if’ game. Be as nuts as you want - one might be useful. The ones you reject - at least you are thinking about the characters and how they would behave and then the right way to do it will appear*write a different scene or pov - I switch to a pack scene - I love writing funny pack dialogue. I make myself laugh and then I am back on track*write the lastscene - JK Rowling did this. Wrote the last scene of the last book*write out of order - do the scene that excites you and then fill in the gap to get them there*interview your character - pretend you are doing 'press' for the book - so Adam, what made you like Eve?*finish what you start - There is no better feeling. I'll admit that I am crap at this. I am constantly leaving stories to write another one and then I just end up with a huge pile of unfinished things. And those characters shout at me; they want their story told. Now, I try to rough plot out the new idea and then put it aside. If I have that 'map' I can write it later; even add a photo of an actor that looks like the main character or the image that inspired me. When I finish the one I am writing, that story is waiting for me. I want to write it and it’s all there. No stress about what to do next. And I can't forget what the story idea was; it's written down.
You can do it. I know you can.
May 18, 2015
2 million hits
Last night as I was sleeping in my warm bed, Best Friends Share Everything crashed through another milestone. You can read it here at fanfiction.And I'm just… speechless. I can’t believe how far an incredibly rare pairing has gone and how much people love that story. They tell me almost every day.
My total hits are 8,015,828And now I need to go have a lie down or maybe a skip around the block. So proud of my odd threesome.
*Banner made by GoldenGirl
May 1, 2015
Camp nanowrimo 2015
Phew… I did it.
I am trashed. I wrote 43,000 words in the last eight days. The last day on that graph is an anomaly. The site knows I am in Australia but insisted that I had time left. Not sure where it thinks I am.According to my own word count at 11:30pm on the 30th, I was under by about 4k. Heavy sigh - only 4k?But on the 1st it said I still had ten hours to go (honestly nano where doyou think I am?) So - just to check - I collated and exported my scrivener file to Word; cut out the chapters that I had written before the camp started and voila! 81,427 in 30 days. Average of 2,700 per day.I am a winner.Yay. *throws confetti - waves pompoms*It was hard to check my word count as I was working on a section of a much, much larger project. And I am honest. I could have pasted it all in and said I finished 110k words. But that would be cheating.Plus scrivener counts any words I type in each day, so fact files and research info counted as part of my daily word count goal, but not part of my project word count, so my spreadsheets didn’t match. I can probably fix that somewhere but Scrivener is a very deep pool and I am still treading water on the surface of what it can do. Hey, I did well to NOT get all that stuff included in the final draft.And I kept writing things in sections that were not part of the Camp project. I also tend to edit; I can’t help myself. There is a kind of nanowrimo dread you feel when a word count goes backwards. So it is only in the last few desperate days that I stopped deleting things I am not sure about and just used strikethrough on them. They still count in the word total even if they really do get deleted later. But in 80k words, it’s not a big difference.But my cabin was a bit of a loss. We were put in a ‘cabin’; a little group of twelve so that we could cheer each other on. Four of us did that. The figures on the right are the cabin stats. Four members set their word counts and never wrote a single word or left a single message for others. ZERO. And one had a 100k target. Another wrote 1,700. So pretty much half the cabin were no-showers. There is an option to NOT be in a cabin, so I don’t understand why they did this. I get that disasters happen but surely you can see a problem early? So, as a cabin we hit a third of our target and failed miserably.You know me, I tried to help people. But I know me, too. I was right about tricking my brain into hitting an external deadline however arbitrary. You’re weird, brain.Now I have to clean it up, edit a little and send it all off and see if it is ‘yes’ to more.Links:ScrivenerNanowrimo
I am trashed. I wrote 43,000 words in the last eight days. The last day on that graph is an anomaly. The site knows I am in Australia but insisted that I had time left. Not sure where it thinks I am.According to my own word count at 11:30pm on the 30th, I was under by about 4k. Heavy sigh - only 4k?But on the 1st it said I still had ten hours to go (honestly nano where doyou think I am?) So - just to check - I collated and exported my scrivener file to Word; cut out the chapters that I had written before the camp started and voila! 81,427 in 30 days. Average of 2,700 per day.I am a winner.Yay. *throws confetti - waves pompoms*It was hard to check my word count as I was working on a section of a much, much larger project. And I am honest. I could have pasted it all in and said I finished 110k words. But that would be cheating.Plus scrivener counts any words I type in each day, so fact files and research info counted as part of my daily word count goal, but not part of my project word count, so my spreadsheets didn’t match. I can probably fix that somewhere but Scrivener is a very deep pool and I am still treading water on the surface of what it can do. Hey, I did well to NOT get all that stuff included in the final draft.And I kept writing things in sections that were not part of the Camp project. I also tend to edit; I can’t help myself. There is a kind of nanowrimo dread you feel when a word count goes backwards. So it is only in the last few desperate days that I stopped deleting things I am not sure about and just used strikethrough on them. They still count in the word total even if they really do get deleted later. But in 80k words, it’s not a big difference.But my cabin was a bit of a loss. We were put in a ‘cabin’; a little group of twelve so that we could cheer each other on. Four of us did that. The figures on the right are the cabin stats. Four members set their word counts and never wrote a single word or left a single message for others. ZERO. And one had a 100k target. Another wrote 1,700. So pretty much half the cabin were no-showers. There is an option to NOT be in a cabin, so I don’t understand why they did this. I get that disasters happen but surely you can see a problem early? So, as a cabin we hit a third of our target and failed miserably.You know me, I tried to help people. But I know me, too. I was right about tricking my brain into hitting an external deadline however arbitrary. You’re weird, brain.Now I have to clean it up, edit a little and send it all off and see if it is ‘yes’ to more.Links:ScrivenerNanowrimo
April 22, 2015
Book Hoarding
I’ve been busily watching videos from the IndieReCon2015. It was run by ALLI and there was so much information that it will take me a while to absorb it all.One person in a Q&A asked the head of Bookbub about e-book hoarding. And I confess to being kind of guilty of this. I subscribe to both bookbub and buckbooks. They are not publishers but are companies that have found a niche doing the searching for people and letting them know what books are reduced, or free this week, or offered in a bundle. Amazon is huge. You cannot possibly spend the hours on searching through it all yourself. So you let these guys know what genres you like and they will send you a message every day. As an author, a promo with either will catapult your book into the bestseller list. But if it is just downloaded and never read, how does that affect the author?I reckon its good all round. As people have often said, you can’t tell people what to do with your book once you have published it. They will love it or hate it, or leave it in their kindle unread. They may recommend it to all their friends, or they may write a scathing review. Or carve it into mountains.It’s out of your control. And getting upset about it isn’t doing you any favours. If they download it, and it shoots up in the charts then other people may find it and read it. And then it shows up in the ‘also bought’ tables and the search algorithms, and that’s where you really want to be; on the page as people shop for other stuff. That’s why people beg these companies to promote their books.I saw a book that I was inclined to read and it was free. I didn’t download it. And the next time I saw it, it was back to full price. Dammit. So now I will hit that one click button. And I will hoard ALL the books. It’s so out of character *snorts sarcastically*BUT, I also add it to my Goodreads list. And that means that everyone who follows me there sees that book scroll past on their timeline. And maybe they think about reading it and go click on it, too? How is this a bad thing?So now I have two years’ worth of books in my to-read list.How many do you have?
Links: Orna RossALLIbookbub buckbooks
Links: Orna RossALLIbookbub buckbooks
April 14, 2015
Kid extra
I have to type quietly. I have acquired an extra kid. I know right, at my age? Who would have thought it? I had this pipe dream that as my children got older they would move out, but clearly it is not to be. But it does squish my muse quite a lot. Hard to write or research sex for my writing if I have an audience. (… what? Porn IS research.) He’s not really a kid; old enough (just) to be a legal adult in Australia, and he was thrown out of home. Kid 2 asked me to pick him up and he has been sleeping on our sofa since then. He has nowhere else to go. I didn’t hesitate to offer him a bed; even if it was only a sofa-bed. He’s a good kid. He attends uni, has found himself a job, or two, and he’s really trying not to be a burden on the house.His mother is trying to charge him to ‘store’ his things at her house, but if we try to go and collect them, she threatens to call the police and have him charged with trespass as he is ‘no longer her son’. Sigh.Kid 1 likes him because they have a lot of similar interests. This is important because kid 1 is autistic and any change to his routine or home life is a big issue for him - and thereby for all of us. Kid 3 likes him because he fixed her PC.I was talking to a friend on twitter and I joked that this is the second time that something I wrote ended up happening in my life. Life imitating art, eh? I suggested that any minute now Paul ought to be showing up. I wrote him; he’s mine… where is he?But if I see kid extra’s mother I know just the speech to say to her.
Chapter 38 of Best Friends share everything
“Where is he going to go?” Sam asked Quil.“He can come with us,” stated Charlie.“You collect strays now?” Tiffany snarked. “He sneaks out at night you know… he’s in a gang with them.” She waved a hand at Sam and Quil. Charlie looked at them. It wasn’t the first time he had heard about Sam’s ‘gang’ but as far as he could tell, they did good things; even chased off a drug dealer on the rez, he had heard. In his opinion, the world needed more gangs like Sam’s.Charlie managed to look menacing without actually moving. “For the record, that hokwat your son is with would be MY daughter. If he has nowhere else to go, he is welcome in my home.” “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she spat at him.“And if he is a nice kid, I won’t be complimenting you either,” Charlie told her. “Doubt you had much to do with it.”
