My Year in Writing {2016}

2017.

A new year.

2017 always sounded like one of those far-away numbers, you know? Just fancy it being here now!

Time, my roadlings. Time is mysterious.

This last year of 2016 was in many ways a tough year for me, but filled with good things too. 🙂

If you’d like to see my Top 12 Books I Read in 2016 and other miscellaneous info about my reading life this last year, you can check out my post on my book blog! You know, in case you’re curious. 😉

This post, however, is all about my year of writing! (I know, I know, you would never have guessed from the title…)

2016 Writing

I wrote 71,854 words in 2016. Which… is less than my usual 100K, but I will be thankful for it. 😉

Since 51K of that was NaNo, my non-NaNo writing amounted to 20,720 words… which is why I feel like it was a slow year. Most months I was writing 2K in a month, which… well, let’s just say I won’t get my enormous 100K+ monster books written in a hurry at this rate. But all the same, I’m very pleased with the writing I DID get done, and I think I needed a slower, casual year of writing anyway. We’ll just go with that.

WRITING THAT I DID…

I started The Library in the Stars and wrote 51,000 words of that — huzzah! (Now I just need to write the ending. *cough*)

I “officially” started The Other Half of Everything, wrote part of the first chapter, and proceeded to keep writing it out of order later on in the book in snippets. Oops? 6,000 words this year.

Filled in holes in The Secret of Kedran’s Wood and did editing on a few chapters and officially finished the first draft of Part 1! *celebration* I also started the next chapter, wrote a bit of that… and proceeded to keep writing it out of order later on in the book in snippets. Oops? (Wait, did I just say that earlier? *cough* Apparently it’s a trend.)

I wrote 6,800 words of KW2 this year.

On that note, I’m convinced Tare ambushed me and made me write an extra thousand words post-NaNo solely to be able to show Teague that KW is still ahead of OHE in the word department this year. Nicely played, Tare.

And we will NOT talk about the fact that I’m over 63,000 words into it and only a third done the story. AHEM.

And I wrote over 3,000 words of The Invisible Mask, and hit 20K, which was very exciting! I consider the “opening” done, so I’m kind of thrilled about this.

Rewrote an old short story, Midnight Fear, which used to be just over 1,000 words, and now is just under that. Very pleased with the rewrite.

I also wrote that Silmarillion Awards Strangest Character presentation post poem, featuring Tom Bombadil and Puddleglum, which was 800 words.

…

Other than that, I wrote another 1000-ish words on random things like my New Year’s poem, short story Hairdo Havoc, The Silver Forest, and other Kedran’s Wood series jots, including Book 4… even though I’m still on Book 2. Yeah, don’t ask. #TareAndChessClubProblems

PLOTTING THAT I DID…

I did various plotting on various books, including The Silver Forest and The Invisible Mask, but mostly for The Other Half of Everything and the Kedran’s Wood series (mostly KW2), and for The Library in the Stars.

The biggest news was The Library in the Stars exploding into being, out of a bunch of different previous ideas, and being plotted and started.

I also had some exciting “clicking” moments for Once Upon a November, The Siren and the Skyship, and my short story Hairdo Havoc.

And new ideas happened too, of course. My Fairy Godmother Muse has been quite busy.

I suppose I should be grateful I only have half a dozen new “official” ones, if I include The Library in the Stars? (Which did actually combine some ideas, so maybe I’m at about the same number? I don’t know, my Fairy Godmother Muse confuses me so much these days.)

• Painting Rainbows (Underground Rainbow spinoff involving heists & the painter artist Kevin Johnson)
• From That Shadowy Land (inspired by various ballads and featuring Faeries)
• The Treasure of A Distant Storm (futuristic London short story)
• Wintertale (I don’t even know. Thankfully, it’s a short story)
• (And an untitled novel to be written sometime farrr in the future, involving fantasy tropes)

#FairyGodmotherMuseProblems #PlotBunnyProblems

OTHER RANDOM WRITING FACTS…

• Best writing day: 7,589 words (Nov 27.)
• Completed my 7th NaNo!
• Was an ML on my own for the first time
• Was interviewed!
• Got Scrivener (a.k.a. the Preciousss <3)
• Started a book review blog and managed to write 61 posts on that during the year!
• Additionally*, I wrote 76 posts on this blog
• Yes, that is 137 posts total this last year
• Somebody save me from myself

*I typed that as “addictionally” the first time. Oh the irony.

---

And that’s about it! Overall, not a bad year (Fairy Godmother Muse and her antics notwithstanding). ^_^

I don’t know what this new year of 2017 will hold for me in the writing arena (and I’m avoiding making plans, since historically plans and I do not mix well together — they tend to laugh at me, attack, knock me out, steal my everything, and leave me looking very foolish) but I’m looking forward to finding out! 🙂

How was your year of writing in 2016? Do you have problems with a Fairy Godmother Muse of your own? Any exciting writerly pursuits in the last year? Tell me all!

…

P.S. I’m thinking of going on a blog/internet break for two or three weeks… so I may disappear for a bit and come back around the end of January, give or take. Just a heads-up. Have a great month, everyone! ❤

Brief Ishness of December

Ishnesses, my dear Roadlings!

My December of 2016 was spent…

WRITING

Getting over the last of my end-of-NaNo cold and finishing up last NaNo-and-ML things.

Writing a thousand words of Tare and the Chess Club only a week after NaNo because I’m insane like that. (I’d missed them. <3)

Getting Scrivener and playing with it to my heart’s content, organizing stories etc. — I adore it.

Skimming through The Library in the Stars (in order to find snippets to post) and finding that it wasn’t as bad as I thought and that I also love it more than I thought.

Being attacked by plotbunnies — a very vicious pair who are here to stay, happily chewing at my brain and taking over my room and stockpiling word-carrots. (I don’t even know where this sentence came from — apparently they’re taking my sanity too.)

READING

Frantically reading through Once so that I could review it on time. (I’m sure there’s a great “once upon a time” pun in there somewhere if you’ll just give me and Baz a second.)

Collapsing happily into spontaneously re-reading three of Diana Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci books aloud. ❤

Reading a book about writing which I actually adored. (FYI, this is Very Big News.)

Finishing some daily-readings books I’d been reading all year.

Finally getting to read Eight Days of Luke (because I got it for Christmas) and really enjoying it because Luke and DWJ writing and all the things!

LIFE & CHRISTMAS

Christmas tree and Christmas music — yay!

Spending a warm sunny afternoon writing Christmas cards while sitting on porch steps in the sun in short sleeves (and actually feeling too warm) while ladybugs made occasional visits; and, a little while later the same day, running hectically down the street in a strong cold wind while wearing a winter coat, to catch the post office on time. (Ah yes, a Texan “Blue Norther”. That was such a steep temperature change it was hilarious.)

Flailing over the Jayne from Firefly hat which SarahTPS made me for Christmas WHICH I CANNOT GET OVER AND I LOVE IT SO MUUUUCH! ❤

Having a lovely quiet Christmas with my family and getting excited about books which I received.

WATCHING

(don’t ask what’s with the color-coding all grey-blue-white except for the western, because I have no idea how that happened)

Seeing Star Wars: Rogue One (enjoyed most of the movie — the humor and Cassian, anyway — and loathed the end).

Rewatching some Sherlock because You Know Why. *cue shrieking* (If you don’t know why, it’s because Season 4 is currently starting. o.o I’m currently too terrified to watch it because I value my non-shredded heart. Ahem.)

Rewatching Divergent and Insurgent, and watching Allegiant — kinda fun. 🙂

Watching The Deputy — buddy show!! I love Clay McCord and Simon Fry so much. ❤ They’re da best! ^_^

(And I forgot to put it in the picture, but I re-watched A Muppet Christmas Carol for Christmas and I just love that movie. :))

LISTENING

Listening to the epic music from Ren: The Girl With the Mark, because I got the soundtrack download for Christmas — THIS MUSIC IS EPIC!

(have a taste — listen to part of this gorgeousness)

LINKS YOU MUST READ ❤

Reading possibly the best and most beautiful and true post that I have EVER read about Story and life, all wrapped up in Tolkien and Lewis quotes and the story of Christmas. It was by word-wizard DJ Edwardson and I highly recommend hopping over to his site and giving it a read!

Getting excited about the tutorial Cait @ PaperFury posted (which I hope to try out soon) about How to Make Origami Lucky Stars.

BLOGGING

 

Posting about my Ishness of NaNo 2016, reviewing Once (fairytales, yay!), posting snippets of The Library in the Stars (Part 1 and Part 2), and a couple of tags posts, one Wintry one for Christmas, and one on words and quotes.

On my book blog, The Page Dreamer, also posting a brief review for Ghostly Echoes (Jackaby #3), and some For Your Ishness Reading Randomosities.

That was my December, and finishes up the final Ishness of 2016! On Monday I’ll be posting an update on my writing of the year, so stay tuned! How was your December? ^_^ Happy 2017 to you all!

(Part 2) Snippet Tag: The Library in the Stars

Part 2

The Snippet Tag @ Short & Snappy by Madeline J. Rose

And I’m back with Part 2 of my NaNo 2016 snippet sharing, with the second half of the Snippet Tag from Madeline J. Rose @ Short & Snappy!

See Part 1 of the Snippet Tag for more snippets, if you missed those, and for the rules etc. 🙂

Meanwhile, here are more snippets from my NaNo, The Library in the Stars! Enjoy! ^_^

Snippet Tag:

Part the Second

6. Share a snippet that gets you beaming with pride and you’re just like yep, I wrote that beauty.

The young man sat on top of a pile of rubble, his shadows wrapping around him and stretching down the pile of stones and debris in all directions away from him, in defiance of the laws of the sun, which sent its light between two other buildings and illuminated the area. The sight was a striking one—a person in shadows sitting in the middle of a pool of sunlight. It looked impossible—but Veronica was beginning to learn a few things about that word and its lack of applicability, as well as the word coincidence.

“That’s far enough,” the young man’s voice said, as they paused in the shadows of the building next to them. “Unless you want to lose your shadow, too,” he added, a glance from his black eyes flicking toward Veronica. The sun gleamed on his raven hair and his arms were folded and rested on top of his drawn-up knees, cloak or shadows or both spread around him.

“You were just who we were looking for, my lad,” Drayke said pleasantly. “Only one request for you: kindly return the shadows of myself and my space craft.”

“Love to,” the young man said. “Can’t.”

Drayke narrowed his eyes. “Is that right?”

The other sighed. “Look, I can’t help you—it seems I can’t help anyone, come to that—so I suggest you just go away.”

“Love to. Can’t,” Drayke said cuttingly. “You seem to have taken my ship’s shadow, and she says she can’t fly without it. So until you give it back, I and my good craft, as well as this girl here—unless she can time-wisp away, which seems to be uncertain—will be enjoying (if that’s the word I’m looking for) a stay in this rather depressingly desolate place.”

7. Share a snippet of genius, deliciously witty dialogue between your characters.

[Note: I couldn’t help picking a few for this one. And yes, Eon’s in all three of them. >.> Ahem.]

“We need your help breaking a friend of ours out of prison,” the blue haired girl spoke up cheerfully.

The hologram of Kelly was seen to drop her forehead forward onto her folded arms atop the table surface.

“And this is why the fate of the universe should not be in your hands, pet,” said the unseen Ether Eon.

“Curious,” Drayke remarked. “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that before.”

***

“Eon, is your time working correctly?”

“I’ll pretend I’m not insulted. You’re welcome. Of course my time is working correctly.”

***

“I hate turning into tools,” Eon complained. “At least when I’m a pocket watch I’m moving and time is flowing through me… Why do you think I turn into the shapes of living things? But when I’m a wrench or a key or a grappling hook, I’m just… a metal thing. It’s annoying.”

“Very sorry,” Briley said, “but I’m sure it’s worth it for the rewarding feeling of knowing you helped me.”

“Don’t push it,” Eon warned.

“Well then try this: knowing that you’re the only shape-shifting Ether pocket watch in the galaxy and that I couldn’t continue in my measly existence without you.”

“Getting better,” Eon admitted.

“Or… how about that since we’re trying to find a way to fix time, we may very well be saving the galaxy, and that you’re a key part of it?”

“That’s more like it.”

8. Share a snippet that makes you feel like an evil genius for thinking up such a malevolent villain (Mwa-ha-ha!)

“Lying?” Wilecka repeated.

“Oh, don’t pretend,” Damian snarled. “I never bought that thing about your finding me abandoned with no memory—I know you took my memories. And by the way, I would like them back.”

“I should have known,” Wilecka muttered as if to herself. “The blood that flows in your veins—of course you would betray me and steal what was mine! You were my son, and now you turn traitor! You want back memories, do you, you shadow-skulking traitorous cur? Oh, you shall have some, and more shadows too—see if that makes you happy,” she spat.

9. Share a snippet that leaves you breathless, in a cold sweat with action-induced intensity.

Drayke seemed to grow somewhat larger, his long draping green sleeves flapping and shoulder-length green hair flying about his head in the almost-wind, and his eyes—they seemed to be glowing green with a sort of green light of anger.

“Let. Us. Out,” he said in a steely voice.

The house moaned its refusal with mixed angry and sad emotions.

“At least let Veronica go!” Drayke shouted then, even more wrathful then before, with more force than she had heard him use yet. “I don’t care about me—I’m a space elf, I’m going to live a long time, and I imagine you’d get tired of my living here after a couple of hundred years; besides, it’s not like I have anything better to do. Keep me if you wish. But Veronica has a life to live—she has her brother to find. Are you going to keep her trapped here against her will? Look at her! She’s a frightened girl—like Aurora.”

The house rocked as if an earthquake had hit it at the mention of Aurora’s name.

10. Share a snippet of a most interesting first meeting between your characters.

“Well, since we seem to have run up against each other, and I am to be denied my solitude,” the space elf continued, coming down the white rocky slope toward her—he walked with an easy cat-like grace—“we may as well meet properly. I am Drayken Essengale. And yourself?”

“Veronica Coltridge,” Veronica said.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Drayken began, paused, and added, “All right, I’m lying there a little bit. The whole solitude thing, you know. Still.”

Veronica laughed. “Well, what’s politeness other than lying about one’s feelings because of social norms?”

Drayken’s green eyes—they were green, she saw—glittered into a sort of smile. “Aptly put.” He eyed her critically for a moment. “I take that back—it is a pleasure to meet you. You may call me Drayke, in fact.”

“Well… thanks. Pleasure to meet you too,” Veronica said, and meant it—she’d always wondered what meeting a space elf would be like; apparently it was unpredictable, was what it was. “I just wish…” She looked around.

“Ah, your friend,” the space elf picked up. “Maybe he’s waiting with your space craft—more visible than a little thing like yourself.”

“I don’t have a space craft,” Veronica said before she could stop herself.

Drayke arched one dark green eyebrow. “Then how did you get here?”

“I—” Veronica stuttered.

He looked very closely at her. “You’re not a space elf. How— Ah. You’re a Time Wisp.”

“So everyone keeps telling me, despite my lack of knowing it myself!” Veronica exclaimed.

Drayke blinked mildly at her. “So, what year is this for you, if I may be allowed to ask? What can I say—this traveler has picked up a taste for curiosity in his wanderings.”

“Four years before I was born,” Veronica said, then winced. “That… sounds strange when I put it that way.”

Drayke laughed, his teeth glittering white in the moon light and his long dark green hair swaying. “Not by half. I once knew a Time Wisp who was at least—” He broke suddenly off and became somber again, his face clouding as he turned to stare off into the stars.

Tagging:

2 to 5 bloggers… okay… I can do this.

I tag: Jenelle Schmidt || Tracey @ Adventure Awaits ||  Sarah @ Light and Shadows || Claire @ The Overactive Imagination. (Obviously no pressure to do it, any of you, just if you want. ^_^)

And if anyone reading this wasn’t tagged and still wants to do it… CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED! *waves magic Fairy Godmother Muse wand and makes it so*

Easy copy-pastable list of questions:

The Snippet Tag (created by Madeline J. Rose)

Rules:

-Include the fancy-shmancy graphic I included somewhere in your post. (Or make your own, just so long as you include a link back to my blog.)
-Answer all the questions, however you want to. Creative interpretation is key here! You can use the book you’re currently working on to answer the questions, or other books you’ve started or have written.
-Tag 2-5 other bloggers.

Questions:

1. Share your most gripping, fascinating, and hooking first line of a story.
2. Share a snippet that literally just crushes your heart into a million feelsy little pieces.
3. Share a snippet that makes you want to shout to the world that you’re SO. HAPPY.
4. Share a snippet that gives a bit of insight into one of your most favorite characters ever.
5. Share a snippet that literally melts you into a puddle of adorable, squishy, OTP mush.
6. Share a snippet that gets you beaming with pride and you’re just like yep, I wrote that beauty.
7. Share a snippet of genius, deliciously witty dialogue between your characters.
8. Share a snippet that makes you feel like an evil genius for thinking up such a malevolent villain (Mwa-ha-ha!)
9. Share a snippet that leaves you breathless, in a cold sweat with action-induced intensity.
10. Share a snippet of a most interesting first meeting between your characters.

What think ye of part 2? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Tell me aaall! ^_^ (And if you read all the first post AND this one… then, goodness, I don’t think I have enough cookies to give you how many you deserve. *does anyway*) Thanks for reading!

Snippet Tag: The Library in the Stars (Part 1)

Part 1

The Snippet Tag @ Short & Snappy by Madeline J. Rose

I was tagged! By Madeline J. Rose @ Short & Snappy (an extremely fun blogger — seriously, her blog is like sunshine and makes me smile so much — do go check out her fantastic blog at once!!) for a new tag which she created, The Snippet Tag! Thanks so much, Madeline! ^_^

I’d been planning to share some snippets of my NaNoWriMo 2016 space-fantasy, time-travel novel The Library in the Stars anyway, and this was the perfect excuse for that, so there’s some perfect timing right there. 😉

Aaand I came up with quite a large wordcount with these snippets I picked, so I’m chopping the post in half and sharing five today and five in another post later this week. So here is part one!

On with the tag and the snippets!

The Snippet Tag (created by Madeline J. Rose)

Rules:

• Include the fancy-shmancy graphic I included somewhere in your post. (Or make your own, just so long as you include a link back to my blog.)
• Answer all the questions, however you want to. Creative interpretation is key here! You can use the book you’re currently working on to answer the questions, or other books you’ve started or have written.
• Tag 2-5 other bloggers.

Questions:

Part the First

1. Share your most gripping, fascinating, and hooking first line of a story.

[Note: I… already shared the opening (hooking or not) in my latest Beautiful Books post, so how about a snippet from the end of the first chapter? (More than a line, I’m afraid. ;))]

It seemed to Brendan that he had only been in his book for a mere few seconds (it may possibly have been a dozen chapters) when the doorbell rang again. For the third time that day. And right when the hero of the novel he was reading was in a particularly sticky predicament that even Brendan’s highly imaginative mind could not see a way out of… which was very bad timing, to be honest.

Jamming his bookmark in his place, he snapped the book shut, left it on the couch, and navigated the book stacks toward the door. He opened it and looked out, and shadow looked in at him.

A young man (perhaps eighteen, two years older than Brendan), dressed all in black, with black hair falling to his shoulders and seeming somehow rather wrapped in shadows, stood in the hallway. His piercing black eyes looked down into Brendan’s eyes, out of a face pale and drawn and somehow enigmatically displeased with something.

He was definitely strange, but all sorts of strange types could be met with in the inter-spacial Chronos University on Caligma, so it did not bother Brendan. He was only bothered with having to leave his book.

“Well?” Brendan said, more testily than usual.

The young man’s obsidian eyes stared at Brendan, unblinking, in the pause that was the following silence, while tendrils of shadow seeped past the threshold into the room.

“What do you want?” Brendan asked.

“What do I want?” the other repeated in a hoarse whisper, his voice low and seeming to come from the shadows that surrounded him and filled the doorway. “To make my own choices.” He spread his arms, the long black trailing sleeves morphing into darkness, and shadows wrapped around him and Brendan.

The next moment, the shadow took them both and they were gone.

2. Share a snippet that literally just crushes your heart into a million feelsy little pieces.

His ebony clothing and raven hair flowed into the shadows, becoming one with them, so that it was hard to tell where hair and shirt and pants and boots and flapping cloak—if it was a cloak—ended and where shadows began. In fact, the cloak itself could have been a shadow too—sweeping backward enigmatically. And all the shadows seemed alive, moving slightly as if they were being blown in a constant breeze, so that the cloak or shadow gathered behind him was flung back and flowing as if he stood on a hill with a strong wind before him. It was almost like wings, spread back behind him, though some swept around in front of him, cloaking him, his black eyes and glossy hair like raven feathers the only gleaming parts, the rest pure shadow, his pale drawn face staring out at them, his expression enigmatic and veiled, almost empty.

“Drayke…?” Veronica said to the space elf at her side.

His gaze was firmly fixed on the shadowy person in front of him, green eyes narrowed as he took him in. For a long moment there was complete silence as the two faced each other.

“What are you?” Drayke asked then.

The young man laughed, a hollow sound which seemed stolen by the light breeze, and sounded oddly devoid of enjoyment. “Isn’t that an excellent question.”

3. Share a snippet that makes you want to shout to the world that you’re SO. HAPPY.

“Of course it would rain today,” Briley said, stepping out to stand on the roof of the big clock tower, next to where her airship was perched. She glanced at the overcast sky and the other airships flying by overhead, and got some rain drops in her eye. “Oh well, what’s a climb down a clock tower without some rain to keep it interesting, right, Eon?”

Her only answer was silence.

“Speaking of keeping… Eon, get out here and keep me company. I want to talk to somebody.”

A muffled voice came from her pocket. “Of course you would want to talk to somebody right now when there’s only me. And I’m not coming out.”

Briley shook her now wet short blue hair out of her eyes, and put on an old-fashioned cap, with goggles on top, on her head. She pulled the goggles down over her eyes, tugged at a rope—connected to the side of the ship at one end and a harness brace Briley wore at the other—to test it, then snapped her fingers once and pulled a gold and brass pocket watch out of her pocket.

“Too bad,” she said cheerfully, “because I’m making you come out.”

The metal, gears, and glass of the small timepiece took on a fluid-looking form for a moment, morphing into another shape, solidifying into a gold and brass metal figurine shaped like a small clockwork fox.

It stretched in the palm of her hand—much more flexibly and real-looking than an ordinary figurine of metal should have been able to do—and then tried to dodge the raindrops falling and pinging quietly against the metal of its back.

“Ow! Have a care, then!” the little clockwork fox that was Eon said in the clipped tones of his singular accent. He shifted into the shape of a frowning little owl, hunching one wing and holding the other wing over his head, drops of rain running off his bronze feathers onto Briley’s hand. “You said it was raining; leave a chap alone, will you?”

“As if rain bothers you,” Briley said.

“I’m made of metal—of course it bloody bothers me, and if you—” He broke off in mid-speech with a slight yelp, for Briley had put owl-Eon on her shoulder, took a firm grip on the rope and a running leap backward a couple steps, and she purposefully fell right off the edge of the roof a few feet—laughing as the wind flew around her and through her blue hair—until the rope caught her and pulled her up short. She then commenced rappelling down the side of the clock tower.

Eon had instantly shifted into a lion shape, digging all of his many claws into the fabric of her shirt so that he wouldn’t fall off.

“This is what I’m talking about, love,” he griped into her ear. “Whoever thought it was a good idea to give a fifteen year old girl the job of clock tower maintenance—well, they should just have their brain examined is all I’m saying.”

4. Share a snippet that gives a bit of insight into one of your most favorite characters ever.

“I fail to see how being kidnapped by the minion of some crazy space elf lady is supposed to be protection.”

Damian winced. Veronica almost felt bad for saying minion, but not quite. Not enough to take it back, anyway.

“I never wanted to be a minion,” Damian said softly. “And I was supposed to find Brendan and bring him—”

“Don’t say that,” Veronica interrupted.

“Say what?”

“His name.”

Damian paused. “I was supposed to bring him to her,” he went on. “She needs him for… well, I don’t know exactly why. She always said there was something special about him, some reason she needed him in particular, out of all the Time Wisps she’s been collecting—”

“Collecting?” Veronica repeated in disgust. “You do realize how awful that sounds, don’t you?”

Damian nodded. “I never said I was a fan of this person. I mean, she did after all curse me for all eternity to live in shadows and eventually become one myself,” he said a little testily.

5. Share a snippet that literally melts you into a puddle of adorable, squishy, OTP mush.

(Note: [Translation of OTP for those who don’t speak fangirl-ese: One True Pairing, i.e. favorite couple.] There… wasn’t actually very much time for me to devote to my characters’ romantic-or-not relationships. Hence, I’m just going to go with a random section of Veronica and Damian. Since they’re adorable even though they don’t know it/haven’t had time to be yet. >.>)

Damian turned entirely into a shadow and went through the table in the blink of an eye, re-solidifying on the other side just in front of Veronica and flinging his arms and their accompanying shadows around her, at the same second that the force field on the door snapped open and the two shadow men surged through into the space craft. But just a split second before they reached them, Damian, with Veronica clasped in his arms, teleported out of the space craft and reappeared somewhere else.

For Veronica, it was terribly disorienting. She was suddenly engulfed in shadow, feeling Damian’s arms solid and yet somehow shadowy around her, and the next second she stood somewhere else—not entirely sure where else, but only sure that the space craft’s interior around her a second before was no longer there, and that her head was suddenly disoriented and scrambled and aching. She tilted dizzily, and as Damian released her, she started falling toward the ground. Her orientation and ability to hold herself up just stopped working. Damian caught her again before she could fall the whole way.

“Oh. Yeah. I forgot about that.”

“About what?” Veronica managed to croak through the haze of mind-numbing, head-pounding dizziness.

“The teleporting-with-someone-else thing,” Damian’s voice said from somewhere in the shadows above her head. “Not doing that again, then.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Part 2 coming later this week…

…

So, what do you think of this little look at The Library in the Stars? I want to know all your thoughts! Spill ’em! 🙂 (And if you read this far, you get cookies; thank you, kind soul.)

Beautiful Books: NaNo Update (The Library in the Stars)

NaNo update time!

I’ve been writing The Library in the Stars for NaNoWriMo and I thought  it was about time to do a sort of update on it — so fortunately there’s another edition of Beautiful Books this month (cutting it close on the timing) to help my tired brain out with that. XD

Beautiful Books is a linkup for writers hosted by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further in. Join in the linkup if you like!

1. Overall, how is your mental state, and how is your novel going?

Well, I hit 50,000 words on The Library in the Stars on Sunday night and therefore finished NaNoWriMo a few days early, so… I’d say my mental state and my novel are both doing pretty good. XD I do seem to have a cold (UGH), and I still have at least five (probably very long) chapters left to finish the novel, and the book itself so far is a confusing plot-hole riddled nonsensical mess, but in spite of all of that I’m pretty enormously ecstatic to have completed my 7th NaNo!

2. What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)?

The first time the doorbell rang, the sixteen-year-old Coltridge twins simultaneously looked up from where they were sprawled comfortably with their very different books on opposite sides of their shared rooms at the university.

Veronica, surfacing from her Galaxy Timeline History 0000-5300 textbook, dropped her book onto her desk on top of a volume of Science and made for the door, nimbly dodging stacks of her brother’s novels on the floor in her way. “I’ve got it!”

Brendan, from his low over-stuffed couch in the corner, eyed the doorway curiously over the top of the book he was reading as she pulled the door open.

–from The Library in the Stars

3. Who’s your current favourite character in your novel?

Drayke Essengale (space elf) and Damian (shadowy hero) are currently fighting for that position. I love them both a lot. ❤

4. What do you love about your novel so far?

The characters. The fantasy in space. Getting to write scenes from several different ideas that I’ve had for a long time, all in one story.

All of the things?

(Except the plot holes and monstrous first-draft-ness of it, but shush, we’re not thinking of those things right now.)

5. Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes?

Probably.

Mostly missing a word or forgetting where a sentence was going and not really completing it because it got so long…

I also one time wrote Drayke when I meant Damian… Whoops.

#ThePerilsOfCharactersWithTheSameStartingLetters

6. What is your favourite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?

They all have their pros and cons. I honestly don’t know.

7. What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!

I don’t really have “writing habits”… which is part of my problem. XD

I don’t eat while I write. I write best in the evening when I have no distractions… which sometimes translates to VERY LATE. I wish I was a morning writer but that didn’t really happen this NaNo.

I have been listening to music and it’s been helpful. Mostly a few songs from Skillet’s latest album, “Unleashed” (Feel Invincible, Stars, and I Want To Live), some songs from the Newsboys’ album “Restart” because it’s fast with a good beat (That’s How You Change the World, Restart, Go Glow), and “The Lord of the Dance” soundtrack because it’s epic and perfect. ❤

8. How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad or do you work alone (like, ahem, Batman)?

I do pretty much write alone in general, but my family will usually hear about how it’s going (and cheer me on accordingly; they’re amazing) and I’ll have a sibling or two read the chapters as I write them, and I do chat about how it’s going with a couple of online friends throughout the month. Mostly, though, the loner thing.

(Pretty much: I’m Batman. Or Tare. Tare works alone too… *cough* But even Batman needs his Alfred and co., and even Tare needs his Chess Club.)

9. What keeps you writing even when it’s hard?

This NaNo, it’s been my wordcount goals and the helpful Scrivener progress bars each day… so mostly the determination to stay more or less on track and get my words done each day.

I’m verrrry pleased to announce that I actually stayed on track and never fell behind par on my wordcount ONCE this month! This is big news. In 7 years of NaNos, this is my first time to stay on track the entire month. 😀

10. What are your top 3 pieces of writing advice?

Not sure if they’re my top three, but off the top of my head:

1. Keep writing: don’t give up.
2. Wordsprints! (And fast music for them.) I wrote SO much my last NaNo day this year by using the awesome wordsprint feature on the NaNo site. SO MANY WORDS. Never underestimate the power of setting a timer and writing the whole time with fast music.
3. Don’t be afraid — if you’re afraid of the next scene, just cheat. XD

There you are. My NaNo update. Now excuse me while I ignore the fact that I still have probably a quarter of The Library in the Stars to write to finish it, and go burrow somewhere comfy and read away my cold to avoid feeling miserable and possibly nap for a week BECAUSE I FINISHED NANO! I’m very happy and looking forward to reading other books now that I don’t have to write my own at the moment. The books are caaaalling me…