Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Countdown to August Camp

No, I haven't forgotten about Camp. Although now anything Nanowrimo related has just become a formality because I write anywhere between 30k-50k a month anyway. (Look at me gloat!) I do like these endeavors though because it gives me a place to put in my daily wordcounts and play with them!

That said, I've decided how to approach this round of Camp. I'm going to "officially" work on HATSUKOI, another novella in the same series as the first I've been working on, and when I complete the first draft, I'll work on REVENGE like a good girl. I have no idea when that will be, though. HATSUKOI is already at 15k but I've barely dipped into the plot I feel. I think this is gonna become a "full-length" novel as opposed to a novella, but we'll see. Kinda like how the first novella was supposed to be a short story. OOPS.

This will be my problem for the rest of my writing life. And I don't caaaaaare.

For now here's my tentative written-in-10-minutes synopsis of HATSUKOI. A girl-meets-girl love story annoyingly set in 1992. Annoying because UGH NOBODY HAS A CELL PHONE HOW DID PEOPLE FUNCTION says the woman who doesn't own a phone of any kind.

 Aiko comes from a world where she's never had to question her sexuality - so when she meets Reina, a confident and "masculine" lesbian, everything changes. From awkward dates of candid conversation, to those "aha" moments where everything begins to make sense, Aiko's about to run the gamut of all the emotions and experiences she never even knew existed before.

Told on the backdrop of 1992 Tokyo, "HATSUKOI" is the prequel to "DAISUKI", a F/F romance novella coming out this Autumn.


So, anybody else out there doing the Camp August session?

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Weekly Writing Check-In: Aw, crap, Camp.

With all the real life stuff going on right now (don't we all~) I've completely forgotten about Camp August. I think I have it all figured out now. I've changed my writing schedule as I change some priorities around, but for the most part I'm happy where things are going.

Tentatively, I feel it's about time I can announce just a little something:  I currently plan to release my first novella this upcoming September (probably lateish). No finalized cover or title format yet, but that's what I've been working towards lately. It's actually the first part of a trilogy. I'm writing the second one right now and hoping to get it out around Christmas and the third in early 2013. Of course as I said before it's all tentative, depending on how long outside editing takes and the subsequent changes, but look forward to a more solid announcement and corresponding marketing plans sometime next month!

And with that, back to writing. I'm just glad I managed to get all my writing done early yesterday, because watching gymnastics live at 1:30 am has killed my usual writing time. I see how it is.

Friday, July 27, 2012

RESEARCH: It's what we writers call, "research".

By krawky389 @ Deviantart
(I realize I haven't posted a Flash Friday in forever. Meh. Haven't been inspired/have anything to share. Working on bigger things!)

As writers we know (or, uh, should know) that research is important to our writing. Without research, we can look pretty stupid. Or, even worse, (yes, worse), we may come off as racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and a plethora of other -ists that no, you really don't want to come off that way. Seriously.

Sometimes our research is based off our personal experiences. Sometimes it's a mixture of personal experiences and actual academic and practical research. In my case, a series of novellas I've been working on these past two months are about a pair of Japanese lesbians attempting to keep their shit together in modern-day Japan. (Actually, one is in early 90s Japan. So. Much. Crappy. Research. Materials.) Now, I've lived in Japan. Even familiar with the areas they live in/frequent. I've  studied Japanese language and culture half my life. I know first hand what it's like being a lesbian in Japan. I also know what it's like being a lesbian in a generally homophobic and extremely sexist society. What I don't know, however, and will never know, is what it's like to actually BE Japanese. The only thing to do about that is talk to as many Japanese people in these situations as I can, and research as much as I can. Much of my academic research in university, re: my major was actually studying and writing papers about LGBT life in Japan. Academically, and from my own experiences, I feel pretty confident I know what I'm talking about. But I will never know first-hand what it's like to be an actual Japanese lesbian dealing with the bullshit unique to being a Japanese lesbian in Japan. See where I'm going with this?

I'm hyper aware of my privilege when I approach this writing and strive to do my best to not look like a total ass.

I am lucky to know all the wonderful queer Japanese people, men and women and neither, that I do. I am lucky to have lived in various places around Japan, from the queer wastelands to the queer capitals. I've heard stories. I've sympathized with universal human emotions and wants and needs. But I'll never KNOW. All I can do is research the hell out of what I'm writing, from factoids/studies, to personal experiences posted on the internet, to personal experiences I hear from my friends and acquaintances.

Part of my research recently was two-fold when it mixed in with my need to watch some "new" (as in, new to me) cinema from Japan. I guess you could say I miss being bombarded by it on TV every day for a full week every month. A friend recommended to me on a forum thread specializing in LGBT Japanese films that I check out a few. I'm about three in (one is a repeat that I saw before in Japan, but this time I had subtitles, ha!) and I've found a movie that I'm absolutely in love with. So many good feelings, great acting, great story (the premise is a lesbian finding out that both her parents are/were ((mom's dead)) gay and got married just to have a baby while continuing their same-sex relations. "We were mother and father, but not wife and husband", is how it's explained to her.) great kissing and just generally feel-good minus a couple problematic scenes. Anyway, I've been touting this movie everywhere and now it's my turn to share it here. It's a 2006 movie called "Love My Life". You can watch Part 1 with English subtitles on Youtube below (click the CC for English subs,  although it takes a couple minutes to kick in) and the whole thing with Spanish subs. Otherwise you have to find it elsewhere. Check it out!


Anything you've had to make sure you researched correctly? Has your research lead you to any great but maybe unrelated discoveries?

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

BOOK REVIEW: The Witch Sea, by Sarah Diemer

The Witch SeaThe Witch Sea by Sarah Diemer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another short lesbian-themed romance I picked up for free on my Kindle. (Didn't see it free last time, so maybe it's limited time?) The cover was also lovely and the overall plot was fantasy, so I was immediately intrigued.

"The Witch Sea" is the legend of Meriel, a third-generation witch who lives captive on an island, upholding a spell her grandmother put in place decades before against the sea-creature Galo. The legend implies that Galo turned human and went ashore in order to destroy humanity with his legions of marine life soldiers. Meriel's grandmother cast a spell barring Galo and his followers from entering the sea again, but it must be maintained via a silver net that keeps sea creatures from reaching shore and turning into another member of Galo's "army."

However, one seal makes it through one night and becomes the woman Nor, whom Galo sends every day to try and barter with Meriel for a lift of the curse. Over the course of the story Meriel realizes how lonely she's been her whole life and that she doesn't know if she believes in her grandmother's mission. And, of course, she's falling in love with Nor.

The highlight of this story is watching Meriel come undone, from the first moments she begins to doubt her road in life, to the final seconds when she realizes how much she desires companionship for once in her life. The development is thus watching Meriel go from spell-casting drone to a woman with her own hopes and wants. The author does a great job of showing this change happen, and it's both believable and sympathetic.

This isn't a story about sex, or even romance at the core of it. It's about one woman (erm, seal?) showing another that the world is more than what she's been raised to believe. Obviously this reflects our own, not-so-fantastical world, but achieves it with a whimsical tale that reads like it's straight out of classic legend. However, those looking to read this book to find a great lesbian romance will probably be disappointed. That's not a slight to the story, but a warning to readers looking for a light-hearted and sexy read. Cause that ain't this.

My only real issue with the story was in the sentence constructions. There are a lot of wordy sentences that are quite confusing to read at first. Overall I thought the editing was done well, but I question letting the wordiness get through in such large amounts. Otherwise that's my only gripe, and once you get used to it, it doesn't really detract from enjoying the story. You just might have to read things a few times.

I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys women making changes in their lives...with a fantasy setting. I'll be looking up the author's other works since I enjoyed this one so much.

View all my reviews

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Weekly Writing Check-In: And We're Off

Well not really. I'm not going anywhere. Nobody's coming here. It's not even a really good figurative title. The only thing going "off" is my alarm clock every day at noon. But! As of yesterday evening I finished the pre-beta edits for my upcoming novella and have sent it off to beta. Wow. I must have no life. In less than a month I wrote a 45k novella, rewrote it, edited it, rewrote it again, and then finally edited it one last time and then sent it off to beta. This is my life. Every day.

Needless to say, my evenings are so consumed with writing/editing that I had NO IDEA what to do with myself later on. I just sat here, after doing my cleaning and blogging, going, "Now what?!" I had idle hands. You'd think I'd take a break, right? Give my brain the night off? Nah. I WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE NEXT ONE~ Wrote two pages before finally going to sleep. Writing 3k every day is so infused in me now that I don't know how to function otherwise. I mean I got nothing else to do with my time...

So while I wait to hear back from betas on this novella, I've started the next. I plan on releasing both by the end of the year (more details to come, but basically, a couple months apart) so might as well get as much done now as I can before my brain becomes consumed with more editing, Camp, formatting, and marketing! Oh goodness. The life I've signed up for.

That was my week! Huh, for once I actually had something to talk about. As for the cleaning? Taking a break from it tonight. I have a million CDs to put away and I just don't want to. Ha!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

In which I take a break from cleaning.

Those of you who may be wondering how the great desk/shelf clean is coming...it's going well. Slow, but well. I've got my desk completely organized how I want right now and it's making me happy. I've got most of the floor done and the shelf isn't going to get much better although it's still kind of a mess. Not much I can do about it though when I own an apartment's worth of THINGS and am storing them all in a tiny bedroom at the moment. (I own about 500 CDs and intend to display them all someday...lofty ambitions.)

Ah, now for a writing topic...no, I ain't got one. Other than I'm hanging out at Goodreads (MUST...NOT...COMMENT ABOUT...DISGUSTING DEBACLE...GOING ON THERE...) a lot right now and could always use more friends! I am so addicted to the trivia feature and it's been fun watching my ranking go up. I'm currently about to hit the 4000s. Booyeah~ It's so easy when half the questions are about Harry Potter anyway.

For reasons I won't talk about until tomorrow's check-in post, I'm at a lost of things to do at the moment. It's weird, and I'm not sure I like it. Oh well, I'll tell y'all about it tomorrow!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Face the Space, the Prologue

Good Lord I look like a weeaboo.
The picture you see to the left is the current state of my "office corner" in my bedroom. It's a mess. A very obnoxious mess because shit keeps falling off the top (and there's some yuck things at the bottom of those piles, I'm pretty sure) and I just want to light it all on fire. Well, not really. I would miss a lot of that stuff, considering I bought most of it in Japan. (Also isn't my Pikachu back support pillow ADORABLE~)

So today while I was at ye olde Wally World I noticed they were starting their back 2 skewlz sales crap and had aisles upon aisles of office supplies. Well we all know that's mah crack! And since I just got paid 100 dollars from the United States Postal Service for my insurance claim in May, I decided WHY NOT and bought up some cheap organization  crap so I can get started on this mess.

Sometime this week (probably the day after I finish editing/rewriting parts of this novella and send it off to readers, since that's my priority) I am going to tackle this corner and make it not look like a 10yo otaku-wannabe threw up in it. My main goal is to get the DESK itself gutted and organized, although I'm sure in the process I'll start working on the floor. I'll be sure to post the after shot!

...Also, I swear the rest of my room isn't this messy. Kinda. I did tidy up the floor a couple weeks ago...

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Weekly Writing Check-In: To Smut, Or Not to Smut

I dig me some lesbian koalas.
"Smut", is, of course, my affectionate term for "sex scenes" in my own writing. Usually, in my main series, I'm not shy about including graphic sex scenes (I'm writing for damn adults, after all) so long as it's related to the overall plot, whether by something that happens during the scene or how it affects the fornicatin' characters. It's pretty easy for me to go "lol that smut was fun to write, too bad it's gettin' cut even before the second draft happens lolol". But that's when I'm writing my science-fiction/fantasy.

I've been editing my romance novella this week, and I think I've mentioned here before that me and a few CPs/general friends have been discussing how I should market it. Should I market it just as a romance with a couple graphic scenes, or as an erotic romance? To me, marketing it as an erotic romance means there's smutsmutsmut all over the place, and if that's what you're looking for, you may be disappointed to see the first ~smut~ doesn't pop up until halfway through the novella. Here's the thing: there are two very good places I could insert some good ol' lady x lady smut earlier on in the novella, but I didn't because it wasn't really plot related. I'm thinking I may write them anyway after I finish this edit just to see how I feel about them in the overall story. But I wouldn't have thought of it at all if it weren't me thinking ahead towards marketing. I don't know. I'm talking in circles now.

But yes, smut has been on the brain all week. Ain't being (lonely, sad) 25 grand.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

BOOK REVIEW: "First Taste", by Paisley Smith

First Taste (Naughty Nooners)First Taste by Paisley Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this one up on my Kindle because 1) It was free and 2) The synopsis was interesting. (Essentially, Natalie goes to the planning of her high school reunion and meets up with Hayley again, a woman she once "experimented" with and still harbors feelings for. Hayley feels likewise, and their antics take them from the bathroom to the bedroom and beeeeeyond.)

Whenever downloading free ebooks, there is always a gamble on quality. Especially with erotica, I've noticed. I've been burned about 4/5 times with shoddy writing, unbelievable/unhealthy characterization, and just embarrassing situations. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any of that in this piece, as a huge pleasant surprise. In fact, quite the opposite. Aside from a few stylistic differences in opinion with this author/editor, I thought this short was wonderfully written with strong characters and some...rather...hot...experiences. (It felt like Christmas over here.) Definitely will re-read someday and am hoping the author dallies in F/F again if she hasn't already, because she can consider me a fan!

The only downside I felt was the cover. As far as I can understand the author had no control over it, but the cover really isn't helping anything. I see most of the lower score reviews for this short are based on the fact it's F/F. Obviously the summary states it's clearly F/F, but it just goes to show some readers are going by the cover and not the summary.

View all my reviews

Friday, July 13, 2012

ANNOUNCING: "The Book Brigade" at tumblr, a book promotion blog.

A couple days ago I created "The Book Brigade", a  blog on tumblr intended for promoting books. It's follower submission based, which means you're invited to submit a post promoting your blog (so long as you're a follower. It's only fair to everyone else.)  There are a few guidelines on the submission page to help you get going if you're interested in submitting your book - okay, a lot of submissions. But they're mostly for those not used to posting on tumblr.

And on another note, you're not limited to promoting just your own books! Feel free to post your favorite books, your friend's book, etc etc. So long as the submission follows the guidelines it won't get denied.

(You do need a tumblr account to submit/follow, however. But tumblr is free and pretty user friendly once you get the hang of it!)

Now it's back to editing and...ugh. Sorting out a character's backstory timeline. I hate that. A lot.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

When Family Just Doesn't "Get It".

I am not shocked my family loves this show and buys into it.
First, the exciting news! My novella I've been working on for about a month now is officially FINISHED, first draft wise. It's a cool 70 pages, 40-somethingk of two women angsting about their relationship and attempting to fix their problems with sex. In Japan. BUT MOVING ON.

Gonna let it sit a couple days before tackling my edits by the end of the week. Feels weird to not have to be WRITING today. (Taking a total break from writing fiction until I start editing again. Articles / blog posts still total fair game though.)

Anyway, when I (foolishly) announced to my family that I had finished the first draft of this novella, and intend to spruce it up for publication, I immediately got a "Yay! Is it up for sale yet?" Well, no, family, because I have to edit it first. See, that's a good thing. There's so much out there that we have to give ourselves the biggest edges possible by editing, which includes slashing, rewriting, and eventually, some great polishing. This takes time. Again, that's a GOOD thing. And assuming, family,that I don't get a meltdown during edits, I should still meet my target publication date of "this autumn". As you keep reminding me, family, I am currently "unemployed" and spend most of my day working on the computer.

But nope. "Well what's the point of writing it if it's not out there?" "Who cares? I read shit all the time. And I still read it. Nobody really cares how good it is." "Did you put vampires in it? Vampires are really in right now!" "ARE YOU RICH ENOUGH TO MOVE OUT AGAIN YET?"

Yeah. Family doesn't "get it". It's a point of contention between me and them at times. I have to explain repeatedly that no, you don't just run a typo check and then throw stuff out there. Of course, part of it is kind of flattering - they think I'm so ~smart and creative~ that I shouldn't have to work hard on stuff before just crappin' it out there. Well, thanks guys, but that's still not how it works.

I think the thing that gets so frustrating though is that, ultimately, they only care about my writing so far as it makes me money. My family is all self-employed, hands-on goods and services based people. (Stepfather is a commercial fisherman, mother...well mother sells sex toys both in real life and on the Internet. And was a librarian for a while. Grand.) So not only do we argue about me "working" on the computer (because it's not real work, see) but they don't see the point in it if I'm not making a living wage out the gate. I get it. They want me to be able to take care of myself and not rely on them for forever. But that's the point. That's why I'm doing this. That's why I spend 10 hours a day doing pre-marketing when I'm not writing or editing. And if I want to stand a change at all in the self-pub world, I need to make these stories the BEST they can be so I'm not swept under the proverbial rug.

But I still write about the stories I care about. I'm not the type who can just write about what "sells" and have it be of any quality. That means you won't be seeing any (straight) paranormal romances in the young adult world from me any time...ever. Probably. More likely to write a type of dystopian, but it would still star 30-40yo lesbians. So until I do start making ~those paychecks~, my family isn't gonna care and we're still gonna argue about my "working".

So dear readers, commiserate with me. Ever butt heads over your writing life with your own family? Anything they don't "get"? I know I'm not the only one.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Weekly Writing Check-In: Fun For All the Fairy Boys and Girls

This week has been nothing but more writing, more marketing, more planning, more etc etc etc. You know, same ol' same ol'. Although today my internet went down randomly for four hours and I sat there going "...well, what?" because I didn't realize how much I rely on it for business-stuff until it went down. I tried working on my novella instead, but then the cat had to get her medicine and suddenly I was called to play video games and BLAH BLAH BLAH.

In other news, it's been a big week for fandom. First there's the announcement that the Sailor Moon anime is being rebooted, and then just tonight they announced an anime adaptation for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. One has me way more excited than the other. Can you guess what it is?

If only Groose was in ALttP.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

SAS: How to Write A Page Turner, by Lorelei Bell

"Share A Saturday" is a weekly chance for you, yes YOU, to come on my blog and talk about whatever you want, so long as it's related to writing/books. For more information, such as if you'd like to "share a Saturday" with me, please see below!

In her teens and young adult years, Lorelei has always rooted for Dracula to be the dark romantic hero, but was often disappointed. She was considered odd because of her interests in the macabre, horror/vampire novels and movies well before it was 'cool'.

She went on to write novels that she had always wanted to find in bookstores, but couldn't. After 35 years of trying to impress agents/publishers, but failing, finally her first vampire novel, “Vampire Ascending” was taken up by a small publisher. She now has her sequel, “Vampire's Trill” out, and a third in the Sabrina Strong Series going through edits.

Inspiration comes from authors J.K. Rowling, Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and Janet Evanovich, and others. Visit her blog here !

How to Write A Page Turner

You know how you'll hear people talk about a book that they couldn't put it down? Ever wonder how the writer's accomplished it? Well, I'll give you a few tips. I don't mess around, I learn from the masters!

Let's take J.K. Rowling's books because most people have read them. First of all when the Harry Potter books came out, I really wondered what all the big deal was. I didn't buy the books until I saw the first movie. That got me interested. I read the first book, and had to read the next one and the next one, and then could not wait for the fourth one, and after that, I was hooked. Why? Why was it when I was done with these books I felt like I had left my best friends? Why did I want to go live with Harry, in Hogwarts and be magical?

J.K. Rowling understood how to bring her characters alive, make them seem real and did it in such a way we didn't even notice. 

Sympathetic characters:
First of all, consider her main character, Harry. Harry, as you know, is the “boy who lived” after Voltermort killed both his parents and then went after baby Harry. He wore that mark from then on. 

What a way to begin a book, or a series! You've automatically made the reader sympathize with the main character. Then when you find out how horribly he's treated by his aunt, uncle and cousin—more of the same thing. You feel sorry for him.

But wait! Harry is not defenseless, nor is he stupid. He finds out he's a wizard. Plus, he knows better than to befriend people who are nasty. He's brave, and has pluck and daring, all the necessary equipment of a good hero of a story.

Application:
When I began my Sabrina Strong Series, I didn't want to have a kick-ass heroine. I wanted someone who most people could relate to. As the story opens, she's just lost her father, and her mother disappeared one day, and everyone thinks she was abducted, and never found. But Sabrina knows she was turned into a vampire. So, she knows that vampires exist. 

Problem (1): She needs a job, but can't hold one down because she is a touch clairvoyant—she has to wear gloves to keep most of her visions at bay, thus most jobs she's unable to do or hold down. 

Problem (2&3): Then comes along an ad for a clairvoyant. Ta-da! But wait, she realizes that the person who is to interview her is a vampire (she's clairvoyant, remember?). But she really needs the job, and this is something she can do! So, she goes on to the interview, but before she gets inside, she's attacked by a werewolf. Vampire Nicolas saves her. Afterwards, he becomes someone she needs to lean on in order to get through the first few nights of working for vampires under Bjorn Tremayne in Chicago. But Nicolas desires her, and so does Bjorn. Since Bjorn is the master, what he says goes and prevents Nicolas from having anything to do with her.

But hold on! Sabrina is not exactly certain she wants a vampire lover. Plus, the shiftchanger and her are getting really close. And they get even closer.

The job (problem #4): there is a murderer who is killing vampires and draining their blood. And soon, she is on the hit list. She has to find out who it is before anyone else gets killed—especially her!

Problem #5:
Meanwhile her best friend has been abducted by vampires. Sabrina is the only one who can find her. She does locate her, but she's near death and finally she meets the vampire who gave her the hickey on her inner elbow when she was young. Vasyl, a rogue master. He has come to her aide, and little does she know it, but he has been waiting for her to grow into a woman.

When I began thinking up the problems that Sabrina had to face, I knew that this was going to be somewhat action packed. There was also a mystery to solve, because I love stories with mysteries. And there had to be some romance. But it wasn't to be a simplistic romance, it had to be a little more involved, and make her choose the right guy. I didn't want the reader to figure out after the first chapter who she was going to wind up with at the end.

I never like an easy plot, not when I read, and not when I write. I'll become bored quickly. I need adventure, and working in an urban fantasy plot it is pretty easy to come up with all sorts of ideas to throw in there.
Creating an action packed novel, one that keeps the readers wondering what will happen next begins with creating problems for the main character to solve. And having a sympathetic character, someone the reader can root for and enjoy for a whole series. The romance thread doesn't have to be as difficult as I've made it. But I didn't want her to wind up having to be tied to one guy throughout the whole novel, or the whole series.

Make it Real:
Make your characters seem real by having them do some normal thing, like sleep, or eat (or needing to pee). One of my complaints about certain novels is where the characters never seem to eat or sleep. If you don't show them at least contemplating eating, or feeling sleepy, or getting up in the morning, remembering a dream, etc. they won't feel real. And if they don't do any of the above, their dilemmas must cause them to not feel sleepy or hungry, but for the right reasons.

I actually like to have my characters have conversations while eating. I find it a challenge for them to use utensils as props in speaking. Possibly you can think of other ways to make things interesting while they eat, depending upon the conversation. 

Even my vampires need to eat and have human emotions, desires, jealousy, and these are not totally centralized on blood, sometimes it's about power, and sometimes it's about other needs.

 ----

If you'd like to participate in a Share a Saturday, feel free to contact me at my email, hildred @ gmail.com (no spaces) or through any of the other ways to get a hold of me through my Contact page. THE REST OF JULY IS OPEN~

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Hubpages Wednesday: More Fantastic J-pop For the Soul

It just wouldn't be a HW without me posting something about Japan, eh. Well, if you haven't noticed by now, I tend to blab on and on about my other love outside of writing, which is Japanese pop music (or, J-pop). This week's artist is one of the best (as always!) and a huge name that's been around for about three decades now. Namie Amuro is one of the innovators of "hip-pop" music, a fusion of hip-hop and generic pop music. Her super cool attitude and famous long-hair femme chic look are legendary in Japan and the rest of Asia. Her best songs range from 90's dance hits to her hip-pop flavor of the day.

Included in all these hubs is a review of her most recent album that dropped last week, Uncontrolled. Below is a teaser video of the entire dang album!


Monday, July 2, 2012

June Camp Results

Forgot to mention this yesterday in my check in post, but I won June Camp at 62,926 words. Yay! I already know what I'm doing next month (work on CROSS//Revenge, the usual nano novel) so I don't even have to think about that right now. Right now I'm focused on finishing up "Daisuki." as soon as I can.

How about you? How did you do in June? Any plans for July?

(also, post 250!)

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Weekly Writing Check-In: Facebook is Live! Also, writing in the present day.

First things first! To get ready for my releases this autumn, I've launched my official facebook page! I didn't think I would be so excited about it, but apparently I am. I don't have a cover image yet. Gonna wait until I have my first book cover ready to add to it. If you "like" it you can get instant notice of my new blog posts and my new articles over at HubPages and elsewhere around the Internet. Yay!

Now, in other weekly writing news, the novella is still coming along. I've got about four, maybe five scenes left to write before the first draft is done. It's been a trip, mostly because this is my first time in a LONG time writing a story set in the "present day". As in, right now, this month, at this moment, in the year 2012. The main CROSS// series starts in 2007 and ends in around 2011, and those latter ones won't get written for a few more years probably. So I'm not used to relying on up-to-date technology and always dropping everything to look up "did they have this yet in 2007?" It's kind of...liberating~.

Then again all your historical peeps are probably laughing at me right now.  Just let me have this moment. :p