I'm baaaack (again)

Wow, so it's been a long time since I last blogged. I've missed this, but quite honestly, I've had an extremely rough year as far as my writing goes. No matter how badly I wanted to write something, it seemed that every time I sat down at my laptop, I would end up just staring at the blank screen. And that annoying blinking cursor. I'd be lucky if I got a paragraph down. But it happens. I find it hard to believe that there is a writer out there who doesn't struggle with the occasional dry spell. Or as one of my best friends calls it, writer's frustration.
The years since I've started writing and working toward that lovely goal of being a published author have been very up and down as far as total word count. Sadly, with most of the years being a very low word count. But I was-and still am-always, always writing a story in my head. I'm always brainstorming on an element I'm trying to expand, whether it be a character's back story, or trying to figure out how they would respond to any given situation. Or even trying to plan out how my fantasy world looks for my future dragon books. That one will take several more years, probably.
Anyway, my point is, even though I've had even lower world count than my usual low word count, I've been brainstorming a lot on my different projects. And I actually have several newer projects I'm working on now.
Which brings me to this month: the July session of Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm using this month to try to give myself that kick in the pants I need to get a few projects done. Several short stories, and a couple of novels I'm trying to get started. You can find them on Wattpad once they're done. And yes, I will be posting on here to give a heads up that they're there.
I'm going to try to do a weekly update as the month goes by (edit: whoops...ok, maybe an end of the month update on how the Camp session went), and I have a few other blog posts in the works too. Here's a preview of what's to come (in no particular order):

• How seven words can make a difference
• A few book reviews (I haven't forgotten about those....I just need to finish the books first...)
• A little more detail on a few of my current projects
• A different kind of blog hop
• A letter from me to you

So I'm just easing myself back into the writing world. I always forget how much I love to write. But when I do begin writing again, it's like a familiar feeling very much like seeing an old friend you've known your whole life, but don't get to see very often. It's that thrill and excitement of getting to see them again, and you're just giddy for a while. It sinks in, and you begin to realize just how much you've missed them.

I'm not making any plans for sitting down and finishing a novel. If it comes, it comes. I'm just playing everything out by ear right now. I'm trying to finish a few short stories and getting a good start on a couple of side project novels. I'm not making any plans on if I'll try NaNoWriMo in November yet. I'll make my mind up once the month gets closer. Although, I will say that this month has really gone very differently-in a positive way-than I would have thought. It's really given me quite the boost in my will and enjoyment to write than I've felt in a long time. And truth be told, it feels really good. I'm feeling more of a sense of accomplishment than I have since I don't know when. I don't know when that first great (I hope) novel will be finished and out there. For now, I'm just enjoying working on the things I am at my own pace, steadily getting them closer to being finished. Once I get these projects done, there will be a bit of a blow up on my Wattpad page, lol.
Oh yeah, and since the post previous to this one was about my dragon short...I am still working on that one. I know what I want to do with it, but my mind's been everywhere and back again for a while. Rest assured, soon enough, it will be up on my Wattpad page, and possibly on here. For now, I'm focusing on a few of my other projects and I'm making some nice progress so far. Here's hoping it continues to go that way. :)

     Always writing (even if in my head)...
          -Liz

Dragonfest is coming!!

I am excited to help announce that after months of planning, the first ever Dragonfest will be held in just a couple of weeks! AHH! So excited! I've been planning like a mad....uh....woman over here and I think I have my short all planned out now. I can't wait to share it with everyone! I've started writing it out some, and it's a bit of a slow process right now, but I want to get everything just right. Between myself, my mom, and a couple of close friends who are also dragon fanatics (hehe), we've developed some very interesting things to come. I can't wait to start on my actual dragon novel, however, I realize that I need to be patient for just a little while longer so I can really develop the lands, languages, and anything else I might need. I need to create a vivid picture of my fantasy world in my mind before I can describe it to anyone else.
Anywho, my Dragonfest short will be posted here as soon as the festivities are underway, which will be September 27th, and 28th. If you'd like to join in, or read all of the entries, you can find it here. But please, feel free to join in on all the fun! Personally, I would love to read more dragon shorts! Or, if you ever want to just nerd out about dragons, that's cool too, hehe.

     Just another dragon nerd here...
          -Liz

PS: I'm sorry for being so MIA, but hopefully I can get back on a more regular blogging schedule again. I have been hard at work on all things dragons as of late, so hopefully that will make up for some of the MIA-ness.

July Camp NaNoWriMo 2013: Summary

So I realize that I have been very MIA this month, and sadly that's not due to massive writing sessions. There have been a lot of unexpected personal things come up this month. One right after the other. There have been some ups and some downs, the ups generally being really good, unfortunately the downs being rather upsetting. I won't bore anyone with the details, but rest assured, I am doing much better now in all areas.
Lately I have been organizing pre-written scenes for my work in progress. It seems to be doing rather well with getting those creative wheels turning. And I am having to exercise some deal of self control to not jump to the more exciting scenes and write them first, because I realize that if I do that, the build up scenes will seem to drag on, and that would just further delay the publication date.
I won't go through posting all of my word counts for the month, but there were some ok days, although sadly more bad days than good. More often than not, I couldn't seem to focus enough to get any word count done.
The second week was better in terms of flow in ideas and word crafting though. The weeks after, it became more common to have days with zero word count. My total right now is over 13k, and I'm working hard to get that number steadily moving up.
I'm starting to see a pattern in NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo seasons. I definitely seem to get more done during the month of November, as opposed to whatever months the camp sessions may be in. I'm thinking it has something to do with more writer participation and general craziness in November than during camps. Something about NaNoWriMo that just sparks more creativity and higher daily numbers than any other time.
I am still trying for my goal of having my novel finished and published before NaNoWriMo, so that I can work on one of two novels. I'm not entirely sure yet which one I will do. Most likely the sequel since that's the one that comes next.
Anyway, I know all of this is not quite as well organized or flows as well as my usual blogging style, but I suppose half of my brain is still elsewhere. If you find it, please be gentle and return it in one piece? It's not much good to me otherwise, lol.

     Trying to de-scramble my thought train...
          -Liz

July Camp NaNoWriMo 2013: Week One

So week one didn't exactly go as planned, at all. It started off ok as far as blog and website revisions. Although, the end of the week could have gone better. But I'll get to that later.
Here are my week stats so far.

My week one stats are as follows:
Day One: 0 total word count
Day Two: 0 total word count
Day Three: 29 total word count
Day Four: 301 total word count
Day Five: 0 total word count
Day Six: 0 total word count
Say Seven: 0 total word count

Week One: 12,374 total word count (left over from April Camp NaNo)

I know, I know...week one didn't exactly go as planned, but bear with me, it's getting better and a little easier. I just seemed to stay stuck in writer's block for this one scene for the longest. I finally had to sit myself down and visualize how I wanted the scene to play out, and then things slowly got a little easier.
Day one could have gone better in terms of actual novel writing. However, I am working on a couple of new treats for everyone! I have two new short stories in the works to be posted vera, vera soon (I hope). If all goes well, I may be able to post them before the month is up. If not, I will definitely do my best to post them asap post Camp NaNoWriMo.
Really, the first two days were spend updating my blog and website for all of you, since I knew Andrew was posting a brand new author spotlight series, highlighting yours truly first, along with a few other select authors for the rest of the month. I was truly touched when I read the kind words he had to say about me and my writing. If you want to check it out, please do! There's also a hashtag going around as #askglasgow if you have any questions on either Twitter or Facebook. :)
Really, the rest of the week was a bit of a struggle to get back into the writing swing of things. I took a day off last Friday (5th) to go see Despicable Me 2 with my boyfriend, and his younger brother. Later, he (boyfriend) fixed some homemade rice vermicelli, which was great! I love it when he cooks, he's pretty good at it. :)
Unfortunately, my weekend took an unexpected turn after that and it's been hard to get back into the writing mood. Although things have gotten a good bit better, and I feel like noveling again now. I'm just trying to let the words flow out of me instead of trying to force them out. I've found that letting the words flow onto the page almost always works out better than forcing something onto the page.
Anywho, so I'm trying hard to finish my novel within the next month in hopes of having it published by this fall. I'll be sure to keep y'all posted on the progress, and of course, I will be keeping my progress bar off to the side updated regularly so y'all can keep an eye on that too, if you so wish. :)

     Excited to see everything coming together!
          -Liz

PS: I'm so sorry this is so delayed. But hey...at least it isn't a month late. :P

Prepping for July

So the July session of Camp NaNoWriMo starts in just 2 days! Normally I would say that now is the time to panic because maybe I wasn't quite as prepared as I should be. However, I do have a plan! Since I was unable to finish in April, I will be continuing until I finish in July. And then, whenever I hopefully finish the first novel, I will just go straight into the sequel and go until I finish.
My hope is to finish the first draft of the first novel by the end of July or August, get edits, work on any revisions, and try to get it self published by sometime this fall, or winter at the latest. And perhaps, if everything else goes accordingly, have the sequel also self published sometime within the next year.
The past month has gone well in terms of brainstorming and in general prepping for July though. I've been getting tons of ideas for the sequel lately and I cannot wait to get to those scenes! I so wish I could share more details about that now, but be patient, dear readers...the day will soon come when I will probably be sharing an excerpt from the sequel. Although, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. I should probably finish the first novel before I start thinking about what excerpt I would share from the sequel.
Overall, I am just so excited to be steadily moving forward to finally being able to share this story with you. I guess excitement over the written word and fictional lands is all part of what truly makes me a writer. And I do know that this is what I was meant to do. I thank you all for sharing this journey with me. :)

     Prepping for the madness...
          -Liz

Coming Soon: Book Reviews

So I've said it before when I first started this blog that I would eventually be doing some book reviews. Well, dear readers, that time has finally come. I find it sad that I don't seem to have as much time to read as I did when I was growing up. Back then, there was rarely a time when you would not see this one with a book in her hand. To this day, I love reading! I think that's something that will never change. But as I just said, I just don't seem to have as much time to read as I used to. Although lately I seem to have a little more time to read, which makes me very happy!
Soo...very soon, I will begin posting the occasional book review. I hope to post one either once a month, or once every other month. It depends on how much time I have for reading. I do have a short list started of novels I will be reviewing by the end of the year.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

Seizing Darkness (coming August 2013) by Mariana Thorn

pRevealing Hamilton by Sarah Jayne Carr

Eighth Empire (coming December 2013) by Andrew Gaeta

Hopefully, as the year goes on, I'll get a break now and then to sit down and read. And I'll have more to review! Eventually, I hope to own a set of the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. I love pretty much anything dragon, and I watch every week with my family as a new episode of the tv series spin-off comes on. But I'm getting a little off topic.
Anywho, so there you have my short list of novels I know of so far that I plan to read and review by the end of the year. My plan is to review the content (cover to cover, whilst trying to avoid any spoilers), including a brief synopsis of the novel, as well as possible comments on cover art and character personalities. I'll be making notes on the author's writing style and what audience may be best suited for the various adventures.
I promise it won't be the drag that it may sound like. I shall do my best to keep it light and fun. However, I make no promise if I'm reviewing an intense thriller or anything intense, really. It's kind of hard to keep it light and fun if the characters are constantly on the run from some crazy thing or another. Unless you have a cruel sense of humor and enjoy poking fun at said characters only because it's not you in that situation, ha ha.
Anyway though, tonight, I sign off with a very fitting quote for right now. I hope you enjoy the weeks to come as I share little pieces of one writer's life.

     "So many books, so little time." -Frank Zappa
          -Liz

April Camp NaNoWriMo 2013: Week Four

Ok, so week four could definitely have gone better in the writing area. Unfortunately, there is no "but" to follow that statement. It just could have been better. Brace yourself, this may sting a little...
Here are my stats from week four.

My week four stats are as follows:
Day Twenty-Two: 0 total word count
Day Twenty-Three: 214 total word count
Day Twenty-Four: 0 total word count
Day Twenty-Five: 0 total word count
Day Twenty-Six: 0 total word count
Day Twenty-Seven: 0 total word count
Day Twenty-Eight: 0 total word count
Day Twenty-Nine: 0 total word count
Day Thirty: 0 total word count

Week Four (and total for the month): 10,006 total word count

So yes, my month definitely could have gone better writing wise. However, the final week of April NaNo was not a complete loss. In fact, I think I gained a little more than a loss of a few thousand words. I got to spend more quality time with my amazing boyfriend that whole week. And I know I haven't mentioned him a whole lot before, but this is a time when I really don't mind sharing more about him. I mean, if anyone should get to brag on the man, it should be me, right? ;)
Anyway, so the final week in April was what's known as TWIRP around here, it stands for The Woman Is Required to Pay (and ask, actually). So I of course asked him to be my date for the week, and I gladly paid for the various events. He well knows that I would rather him not spend every penny on me, and I do not mind one bit actually paying for things every now and then. I actually told him that I think it should be a monthly thing from now on to have a TWIRP date, just as a little thank you from me for all that he does for me. He smiled sweetly when I told him this, and didn't argue, lol.
The week started off with a zombie themed scavenger hunt around the local college campus. It was so much fun, even though I didn't last very long. He got tagged not long after me, so when we caught up, we just walked around a little. It was a moonlit night, and there was a fountain nearby, so we just sat and talked for a while, which was so nice. Although slightly comical because you could still hear the shrieks in the distance from those who were still in the game being chased by "zombies".
We decided to skip the next night, which was trivia night, since we both had some work that needed to be done. This is where I got in those 214 words, and finally got out of the second chapter, and into the third. It's going ok now, I just need to pick up the pace a little more.
Since we skipped trivia night, I decided to take him to Portico for burger night. I swear, they have like the best burgers there! Afterward, we went back to his family's house to watch Psych with his younger brother. It's kind of become a semi-regular thing with all three of us to watch it together. :)
The next night was the dance, which was probably the highlight of both of our weeks. I'd never slow danced before, and I'm glad I got to share that with him. I think we slow danced about four different times the whole night, and it was just..great. Actually, that's kind of an understatement, but I'm not really sure what word to use here. It was definitely more than great though. And we survived the night without stepping on each others toes too! lol.
The final night of the week, was dinner and a movie night. I was a bit giddy this night because there was a specific place in town that he'd been wanting to go to for weeks on a date, and we just hadn't made it yet. So I started plotting that if we didn't make it before TWIRP week, I was going to take him myself. Bonus point? Pretty much his favorite place in town! I think he was a tiny bit thrilled when he realized where I was taking him, as I kept it a complete surprise. We managed to sit for a while, and take our time before we had to leave for the movie, which I had forgotten was a double feature. We sat and enjoyed The Princess Bride, which is fastly becoming one of his favorite movies. It is a pretty great movie though, easily in my top 5, and so quotable too! The second movie was Back to The Future, although it was getting late and we weren't able to stay and watch.
Nonetheless, the week ended well. I'm glad I had the week to spend with him. It's nice to be able to slow down and just have fun for a while...get away from the stresses of school and such.
Anywho, I'm sorry this is so beyond delayed...but I do have quite a few drafts I'm working on to be posted in the next couple of weeks, as well as a few for July. Here's hoping I can pick up the blogging and noveling pace. :)

          -Liz