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

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

Apologies

So I know I haven’t been very consistent with my blogging this month, and I’d like to take a moment to explain why.
At first, it wasn’t so bad, I had a couple of draft posts saved, intending on finishing them and posting them. But then I had an unbelievably busy week, and right in the middle of an already hectic week, my Grandmother nearly had a stroke and was put in the hospital for about two weeks, so the whole family was kinda busy with that. She’s doing a little better now, but still has a ways to go until she’s doing a whole lot better.
Anyway, then there’s my other set of grandparents-my Pap-paw and Granny. My mom told me just recently that they’re not doing so good. Of course, she’s been telling me this for a long time now, but it’s only just now sinking in. I’ve only ever had one Pap-paw. My other granddad passed away when I was about 12, and I never really knew him that well. I’m really close with my Pap-paw though, I always have been. He’s really special to me, and it’s kinda rough to suddenly realize that he may not actually be here for much longer. He’s been sick and it’s apparently taking a bit longer than it should for him to get better. I know it’s going to be really hard whenever it may be.
So, for the most part, it’s been a bunch of family stuff come up all at once that’s kept me away from my writing. That, and the other millions of things on my mind lately. I feel like I really need a break from everything, but at the same time, I feel like I don’t even have time for a break! It’s really crazy, and I’m trying my best to just relax and tackle one thing at a time.
Of course, my boyfriend is pretty good at keeping me relaxed too. If I’m really stressed, all I have to do is just be around him, and everything seems better, brighter and easier to tackle.
So bear with me for a while, dear readers…I’m still around, and definitely still writing. It just may be longer in between blog posts than I would like. On the upside, however, I do have a couple of more ideas for posts! So I should have roughly 4 or 5 rough drafts I can be working on for blog posts to be posted the next time I get a chance to breathe. :)

     “In tru nose…out tru mouth…”
          -Liz

April Camp NaNoWriMo 2013: Week Three

*Note: Yes, I am very aware of how delayed this is...I've just been really busy...anywho, here's how week three went last month...

Alright, so week three could definitely have been better, but I still like that 1,085 mark I hit on day fifteen. :) Here are my stats so far.

My week three stats are as follows:
Day Fifteen: 1,085 total word count
Day Sixteen: 66 total word count
Day Seventeen: 0 total word count
Day Eighteen: 0 total word count
Day Nineteen: 0 total word count
Day Twenty: 800 total word count
Day Twenty-One: 43 total word count

Week Three: 9,362 total word count

So I know I said last week that I would have already hit 10k by now....yeah....that didn't really work out well, as you can see. I'm not far from that 10k mark though, and I will be hitting it before this last week's up. I know saying I'll hit that 50k mark before the month's up now, is a bit of a stretch, but I'm still going to see how far I can get, and take my novel past the end of April in order to finish it. My plan is to write the sequel in July, so I'll need to know exactly where I'm going in order for that to work. I've had a couple of ideas for the past few years, but I'll need more of a solid plot line and know what I'm doing so I can make sure that sequel gets done.
My lack of wordage on multiple days this past week is due to, really and honestly, lack of "want to". Wait, no, make that "willing to". I've been wanting for a long time to sit down and finish my novel. But it seems that my will to cooperate with the ways of Camp NaNoWriMo are less than my will to cooperate with the ways of NaNoWriMo (and yes, there's a bit of difference here). I think for one, my crazy Wrimo's, Angi and Mal, who I've known since I first started NaNoWriMo a few years ago are sadly not participating in April's Camp NaNo. However, they are possibly considering the July session, so it's quite debatable to expect better word counts then. My craziness can better bounce off of said Wrimo's then, and perhaps my word counts will be kept up to speed with the daily goals.
The boyfriend is still steadily encouraging me to finish, which I will. It just probably won't be in time for the end of April, sadly. But hopefully I can have it finished by the middle of May. :) In any case, it will be finished. That much I can promise you. :) And it might possibly get finished before May is up...lol, he's given me that deadline that it better be done by then. Of course, I kinda think perhaps part of it is just his excitement to finally read the rest of my novel. Especially since he know very little about it. But then again...maybe in reality, he's actually giving me the kick in the pants I've needed to really get moving on my novel. I mean, that's NaNoWriMo's motto...I think...except for the life of me, I can't seem to find it...my bad. But I know I've seen it somewhere, lol.
But anywho, maybe him giving me a deadline to finish is what I need. I mean, I'll give my own self the occasional deadline, but mine seem to be more flexible...and something tells me his deadline won't be quite so flexible. :P
As far as the actual writing goes, I think what I need to do now is just power through the scenes I'm in now and get to the good part already. It's just felt for a while like it's just draaaaaaaging on, which is less fun for the writer than it is for the reader, I'm sure. I have a plan for the next several chapters, up until chapter eleven or twelve, so I know where I'm going more specifically for now. Past that point, I still have my basic plot line to follow. First things first though...I just have to get past that chapter two plateau...

     Powering through chapter two...
          -Liz

April Camp NaNoWriMo 2013: Week Two

So week two could have been better, but I'd say it picked up considerably in the past couple of days. ^_^ Here are my stats so far.

My week two stats are as follows:
Day Eight: 242 total word count
Day Nine: 0 total word count
Day Ten: 97 total word count
Day Eleven: 198 total word count
Day Twelve: 285 total word count
Day Thirteen: 288 total word count
Day Fourteen: 891 total word count

Week Two: 7,368 total word count

So I may have sort of fibbed a little last week when I said I'd be starting on the second chapter....I've only started on the second chapter since Saturday (13th). Although, I am now well into it at a nice total word count of (so far) 7,984. I have promised myself that I will get to 8k, then go to bed. And I am shooting for a total count of 10k for the day. I figured it up, and since I'm a bit behind, I can shoot for 2.6k a day and still have my 50k at the end of the month. If I shoot a little higher for a few days and hit 3k instead, I can finish a tad early. 
At any rate, I'm just happy that it's still do-able. I mean, I was going to finish my novel anyway, but it's a certain sense of accomplishment to be able to say to some random stranger, "Hey random stranger, guess what? I'm a novelist, and I finished it in 30 days! Yep, you heard me right, I wrote 50k in thirty days. I'm one of those crazy writers you hear about." One could say while smiling to oneself and walking off quietly while the poor stranger stands there, scratching their head and saying to themself, "These kids these days....." Hehe.
Anywho, so once again, you may notice a lack of wordage on one particular day. And no, I am not blaming the boyfriend or any of his wonderful family this time. In fact, I'd like to have a little shoutout to my super smart boyfriend, as he helped me out of some crazy writer's frustration quite easily. A few rounds of Q&A and I had one of my characters better figured out that I had neglected to take the necessary time to get to know prior to Camp NaNo. But said character is now figured out on why they are the way they are, and what chain of events has caused them to be this way. Also what they're likely to do in the future. But my dear readers, you shall get to meet this character soon enough. I am so excited to be able to share this story with you finally, after 6 long years of writing and re-writing, as well as editing and re-editing. It's been a long process, but an exciting and eventful one to say the least.
Oh, and as an update to last week's post, this week has gone much better as far as words coming to me much easier. Especially in the past few days. I had told the boyfriend, who's debatably more excited than me for the novel to finally be finished....even though he wasn't exactly around for the first 5 years of the novel, lol. Anywho, I had told him that once I got past the first chapter, the words would be coming to me much easier. But because I am re-writing my early chapters completely, I wasn't sure what I was doing in the first chapter. Plus, my characters have been doing very well at taking me into an entirely new direction than I had planned. But I love it! I love it when my characters show me some new direction I didn't even see before, or in a case like earlier tonight, they show me they have a certain spunk, and much more of it than I had originally thought too, lol.
But anyway, it's really late...or maybe it's early...something like that. In any case, it's well after 3am, nearly 4am, and I still have just over 100 more words to go before I'll allow myself to go to bed already! Here's hoping I can make it to 10k later today! I hope, I hope! :)

     Just along for the ride....just don't tell my characters they're driving....
          -Liz

Decisions, decisions...

Ever since I started daydreaming about becoming a published writer, I always envisioned being signed with a publishing house, and (hopefully) being mentioned in the New York Times Bestsellers list at least once. But now that seems to be changing slightly. I'm starting to really consider self publishing at least my first novel. And who knows? Maybe I'll get picked up by someone after then. The idea of self publishing is still very new, and only slightly intimidating to me. But I do have a couple of pretty great people I know who have helped me out.
One being Sir Andrew Gaeta, my newest writer friend I met through NaNoWriMo 2012. See, he's already been self published twice (see his novels here), and is currently working on getting a third published, if I'm not mistaken. Haha, seems like he's always writing, which is good. He's sort of given me the kick in the pants I needed to quit ho-humming around and finish my projects already.
Of course, my amazing and ever so supportive boyfriend is a huge help too. He's easily my biggest fan, and I love that he's always so enthusiastic about my writing. It's a little bit funny though when I hint about something I'm planning for later in my novel, but won't share it with him. Unfortunately, he doesn't always get special treatment. ;) He does get to read my works eventually, but I also want him to get the full effect with twists and turns and whatnot. Haha, he's rather impatient right now to read The Unknown as I write it next month. I assured him that he will get to read it as soon as I'm done editing it-I don't let anyone, not even my mom or best friend to see my rough drafts. He's also a writer, and a fantastic one at that! I look forward to the day when I get to share his debut novel with all of you. :) I'm definitely the proud girlfriend there.
In my debates with myself on self-publishing, I created a couple of accounts to play with and I am having so much fun with it! I'm getting even more excited about finishing my first novel next month and getting that much closer to publishing it. I can't wait to share my stories with you. :)

          -Liz

Oh...so close...

Alright, here it is! My No Kiss Blogfest scene! I hope you guys like it as much as I enjoyed writing it! And please feel free to leave any comments about your thoughts on it. :)
And don't forget to check out some of the other scenes here.

     “Stop it, Riley! I’m serious, quit it!” I couldn’t help but giggle a little. Riley continued to shove me sideways with his elbow.
     “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He replied, grin showing in his voice.

     “You’re just mad because this will be my third round in a row to win. I’m just so sorry, Ri, but I’m just that good. I hate that you had to find out this way.”

     As if on cue, Mrs. Parker passed by the door and poked her head inside, “Riley, you’re not letting Alexis beat you too badly, are you?” She asked teasingly.
     “No ma’am, I don’t really have to try that hard to beat him.” I replied with a teasing smile.
     “Oh, trust me, I am perfectly aware of that.” She replied with a wink.

     Riley turned to look at his mom for a moment to mock shock that she would say such a thing. It was a well-known fact that his family was always like this though. The first time I ever came over to his house, I learned this right away and jumped right in. I loved spending time with his family. It had become like a second home for me. In no time at all, Riley and I were inseparable best friends. We had a rather unusual friendship too. Everyone anywhere always thought we were dating because we were always invading each other’s personal bubbles. Or we would be if we had one. Even though we had been best friends for years, his brothers and sisters were still suspicious about us having a secret relationship this whole time. Or that we were just in denial that there was anything there. We finally just decided that we knew the truth, and people could think what they wanted because we weren’t changing how we acted around each other.

     I took my chance while Riley was briefly distracted and sent the turtle shell I’d been holding onto for the longest, aimed at his cart, and let it fly. I bounced up and down on the end of the bed in a happy dance as I passed his wrecked cart and went through the finish line.

     “Yes! Winner and still champion, in your face!” I taunted.

     Mrs. Parker just grinned and shook her head while walking away.

     Riley turned the game off, “Ok, then, something else.” He looked at me sideways, and then suddenly pounced on me. “One, t-”
     I quickly countered and flipped him over, ending up on top of him, pinning him to the bed. “I’m sorry, what was it you were saying? I win?” I asked, grinning widely. As much as he wanted to pretend to hate it, I knew he secretly enjoyed our games. We never really wrestled, we would just occasionally pin each other to the floor for some random reason.

     Suddenly a voice came from the open door, “At least close the door if you’re going to be like that.”

     Riley craned his neck around to look at his younger brother, “Shut up, Jordan!”

     Jordan just rolled his eyes in slight disgust and walked off. He was probably the most convinced that there was something more going on with Riley and I.

     He looked back at me and just shook his head, “That kid can be such a brat.”

     I rolled my eyes in response, then I got an idea and smirked at Riley.
     “What?” He asked suspiciously.

     I leaned down and quickly licked the side of his face to show triumph that I still had him pinned.

     “Ew! Yuck! What was that for?” He asked in bewilderment while heavily wiping the side of his face.

     I laughed while I got off of him and climbed to the head of the bed to sit and lean against the wall. “It’s a moose kiss.” I giggled.

     “Oh, really now? Well then maybe you should get one too.” He said with a teasing look in his eyes.

     I squealed slightly, “No!” I argued as he grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me, holding me hostage as he tried to lick my face back. When I wouldn’t let him, he settled for tickling me.

     “Ok, ok, I give, I give!” I cried between gasps and giggles.

     Riley finally backed off a little, and just looked at me with a victorious grin spread across his face.

     I sat back up against the wall and tried to catch my breath. After a moment, I jerked suddenly, causing Riley to stare at me, “What was that?”

     “I just got a sudden chill.” I replied, folding my arms and hugging myself.

     “Oh, well I can take care of that.” He stated simply, while putting his arms around me, rubbing my arms. “Is that better?”

     “Oh, thanks.” I said while snuggling into him slightly. Riley was always warm, even on the coldest day of the year, he was guaranteed to still be warm.

     I felt tiny goose bumps slowly creep down my arms, and I could tell the hairs were rising on the back of my neck. I looked up at him only to find that he was already staring at me. But it was a different look than I had ever seen on his face-at least when looking at me. I had seen that look a time or two when he was looking into the eyes of someone he truly liked.

     But that couldn’t be right… I argued with myself. And yet, somehow I felt drawn to him. Before I knew it, we were slowly moving toward each other as if some internal gravitational pull were controlling us. And neither one of us seemed to have a problem with that.

     He slowly raised his arm and gently placed his hand on my face. He drew me closer to him until we were mere inches apart. I could feel the heat coming off of his chest. I felt my heart beat quicken to the speed where it was pounding against my chest and I was sure he could hear it. If he did, he didn’t say anything. He just continued to stare into my eyes. And I was suddenly very aware of how much I was breathing into his face. My breath had quickened as well, and I seemed to be taking short deep breaths.

     We stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like hours, when suddenly, his gaze moved from my eyes to my lips. I knew it was coming then; any second now. If it were even possible, my heart beat felt faster. Without even realizing it, I held my breath then let it out in one long, slow breath. I stared at his eyes, then his lips, then back again to his eyes. I couldn’t help but stare at his lips though. His full lips that looked so kissable. And now barely an inch away.
     It would be so easy to just kiss him already. I’d barely have to move at all.

     So easy, and yet I didn’t dare move. I felt frozen in place.

     Finally, he began to move the last half inch to kiss me, when, “RILEY!!!”

     He let out a heavy sigh, and hung his head, “That would be Lauren. I’m supposed to go tuck her in tonight.”

     “Oh, uh, right. Yeah, go tuck your little sister in. It’s fine.” I replied, feeling like I just tripped over my own words for speaking too fast.

     Riley gave me a barely readable expression that I took for apologetic. Then he left to go see his baby sister. I did love the girl though, cutest little three-year-old.

     As soon as he had left the room, I collapsed on the bed, What just happened?

Well, I hope y'all enjoyed it! And again, feel free to leave a comment below! I look forward to seeing what everyone's thoughts are on it!

          -Liz

A Christmas Short Story

So I've been working on a Christmas short story for a while now, and it's finally finished. Whew. I was determined to have it ready today at the very latest, so I sort of stayed up all night finishing it. But it's done now, and I can finally sleep.
But before I give you the links for the new Christmas short story, it originally was meant for an entry in a little Christmas challenge. I was given a picture and song. The picture I used for the cover. The song was "All I Want For Christmas is You". All I've really known about was the Mariah Carey version. However, I have since discovered the Michael Buble' version, and it fits so much better for the mood of this particular story. If you don't have it, or have never heard it, I suggest you do so now. Go on ahead...I'll wait while you give a little listen. :)
*3 minutes later*
Isn't it great?? I just love that cover. So anyway, yes, this has been a major inspiration for me in the writing process. It really helps keep me in that mood that I need to be in when writing this kind of story.
But, I know, I know, you probably want to go on ahead and read the story already, well ok.

Here it is, my Christmas short story I've been working on for you! :)
Hope you guys like it!

Synopsis: Growing up, Lindsey and Ben were inseparable. Best friends since before they could walk, they did everything together. When both were told the other had cooties, neither ran away. They stuck together through thick and thin. And eventually, Lindsey developed a crush on Ben. Right before graduation and Ben moving off to another college. Now, a year later-and still as head over heels for Ben as ever-Lindsey can’t help but wish to see him for Christmas. The only question now is, will Lindsey get her Christmas wish come true?

Booksie: http://www.booksie.com/romance/short_story/lizanneglasgow/i-just-want-to-see-my-baby/chapter/1

Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/story/3262510-i-just-want-to-see-my-baby

     Wishing you a Merry Christmas!
          -Liz

Calling all fantasy lovers...

So I had a pretty fantastic night Thursday night. I was unexpectedly able to go see The Hobbit premiere due to a friend of mine having an extra ticket (in 3D) and they really didn't want it to go to waste. I haven't gotten around to reading the books yet, but I definitely will now. I was especially excited to find out that there's a freaking dragon in The Hobbit! Someone forgot to mention this to me. I love dragons!
Anyway, when the movie was over I stayed with my other friend I wound up sitting with, and we waited until all 10-15 minutes of credits played, only to find out that there was not in fact, an end credits scene. But to pass the time, I was explaining to him that I really want to eventually write a dragon book but I'm not sure what to do about it since nearly everything's been done before. He quickly corrected me saying, "Not necessarily."
So I asked him to give me a few examples. His first idea was simply put, brilliant. I so wish I could give spoilers and share the amazingness of this idea. However, it states it in the title: "spoilers". So alas, I cannot share details at this time, but I am super, super excited about writing this. It may not happen for another year or two. But rest assured-it will happen. And my awesome friend has already been promised to be in the acknowledgements page, and he will be getting an autographed copy because he's just that awesome, haha. And I fully intend on keeping my promise.
A main reason of why it may take longer to get around to writing this is because it's in an area of fantasy in which I am not that experienced. Thankfully, I have two pretty beastly writer friends who both know their way around pretty well with the fantasy genre. It could be because that's pretty much all they write. But then, I never heard anyone complain about too much fantasy either. So because they are so good at what they write, I will be going to them for many, many brainstorming sessions. So chances are, they too will get mentions on the acknowledgements page. But the guy who gave me this brilliant idea comes first, hehehe.
So needless to say, I am so freaking excited about this! And to sweeten the deal just a little bit more, I am going to do my best to work out at least one fictional language, preferably two for this upcoming novel. EEEHH!! Looking forward to getting to work on this!!

     Believing dragons truly existed (no, seriously),
          -Liz

Hot coffee, hot coffee...

(First off...the title sounded better in my head...)
So I have a lot of projects going on right now. Turns out just because November is over, doesn't mean I slow down much. I'm just as busy this month, and here's why...

1. I'm trying to finish my NaNoWriMo novel because I have three friends who will never let me forget it if I drop this one. (Apparently, for whatever reason, they think it's good.)
2. I have at LEAST four short stories I'm trying to finish so I can post them on Wattpad and Booksie.
3. I also have the next chapter of Clue I'm trying to finish.

So yeah, November may be over, but my schedule is still crazy busy, at the very least, mentally.
On the upside of things, as far as my novel goes, I did think of a good scene to add recently, so once I write that, I'll be sure to update my word counter off to the side here (-->). But mark my words, it will be finished eventually. I don't know when, but it will at least be finished for the sake of me actually finishing something. I'm not sure yet if I'll want to publish it though. Personally, it's not as exciting for me as it was in the planning process. But who knows? Maybe it will actually end up being half decent.
For the short stories, I'm fairly excited about those. The first that will be posted soon is a Christmas short story. The others are little short stories I've done for fun. After a little editing, they will be posted shortly. The genre's range from a couple of mystery/thrillers, to some general fiction. I make no promises that any of them will be below 1,000 words though. Because as I've said before, my brain insists that such things do not exist.
As for the Clue story, I am working on that as well. Please bear with me as this month is just as crazy as November was. Hopefully the speed of writing chapters for Clue will pick up soon.
But for now, it's back to writing I go. I'm hoping to post the Christmas short story by the end of the week. I'm also hoping that maybe my life will slow down so I can breathe soon, haha.

     Trying to remember how to breathe...
          -Liz

Contemplating Camp NaNoWriMo

Call me crazy (though it wouldn't be the first time, and I'd consider it a compliment), but I'm actually seriously considering doing both Camp NaNoWriMo's next year. If you are less familiar with Camp NaNoWriMo, allow me to enlighten you for a brief moment. Camp NaNoWriMo is pretty much exactly like November's NaNoWriMo...except for the fact that it's camp, and it's typically in the summer instead of November. And there's two of them nearly back-to-back. And I'm seriously considering tackling both next year. It's going to be in April and July this year, so I would at least have a two month break in between the madness. Two months to first relax, then plan all over again for the next camp session.
Here's my thing: I'm thinking I need to do this so I can to give myself a kick in the pants so I can finally finish my main project, and its' sequel. I mean, I've been writing on my main project since 15...it's what inspired me to really pursue this writing thing. So I kinda think I own it to myself and to my novel-in-progress to finish it, and yes, to one day publish it. I haven't decided yet if I want to make my debut with this novel, but it's at least in the top three of my picks to debut with. And I'm not sure yet how exactly the debut process works, but I'm really hoping I get a say in that. (Which, I'm pretty sure I do...) Then again, I know that also depends on what's popular at the time.
Anyway though, my point is that I'm actually really considering doing both Camp NaNoWriMo's next year. Of course, I do have to take into consideration what's left of my sanity. Then again...I have already been promised cookies if I successfully pull off both Camp NaNoWriMo's. I have to say, that's a pretty tempting offer. I wonder what might happen if I complete the first Camp session, and maybe...halfway complete the second? In any case, I'm feeling like this will be fun, and I'm not going to make a prediction that I will finish. But I will try my very best to finish this time. (Although I do have a good feeling I might actually finish this time...)

     Continuing the madness...
          -Liz

*Note: I blame procrastination issues for not posting this sooner...I'm sorry.

NaNoWriMo 2012

Since the month is winding down now, I guess I'll share how my month's been. I attempted National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) for the second time this year. Last year I didn't have a clue of what I was doing, and yet somehow managed to pull just over 20,000 words out of the air. This year, I had been planning my novel since last year's NaNoWriMo...and made it to a grand total of 2,913. Fail. Haha. Although the day's not over yet, and I could still up that count...but I probably won't. I blame my procrastination issues. And the fact that the first week of the month, I had borderline bronchitis, so that wiped out a whole week of writing. Plus a little recovery time. After that, I lost interest for a brief bit. And then for the majority of Thanksgiving break, I was working like a mad...woman...on everything "social media". I completely re-built my website, created a Facebook fan page, updated my Twitter, and then created this blog. In my mind, I think I should be allowed a little allowance here for not finishing my novel in time, seeing as I was so busy with everything else. Plus, I'm a lot happier now with everything done. :)
But I'm going off on a little bunny trail here...moving on...
I do have a couple of close friends here (as well as a new NaNoWriMo friend from the toe of the boot) who have all told me that they want to see me finish my novel. In my mind, I take that as more of a "you have no choice" kind of thing. So with that in mind, I am going to attempt to finish it. Whether or not I choose to publish it, I'm not sure yet. The plot sounded good at first, but now it kinda sounds cheesy to me. I've had a couple of people tell me that it sounds good to them, and they might want to read it. Even a guy friend of mine told me that he's not one for the romance genre, but that it sounded really good to him, and he liked the premise for my novel. So I don't know, I guess maybe that's still up in the air for now. I should probably focus on finishing it first, then decide if I want to publish it or not. I have a couple of friends I could possibly give the rough draft to, if they wanted to critique it for me. That would probably help.
Anyway, so yeah, my month's been kinda crazy. But I'm starting to think that's just how my November is going to be from now on. I can easily see myself doing NaNoWriMo for a long time to come. Hopefully in the future, I'll have better luck with finishing my novel within the month. And who knows? Maybe I'll even finish it early one year. That would be awesome. And for anyone who's following my blog, I'll be having a NaNoWriMo novel word counter off to the side here (-->) until I get to that 50,000. So you can keep up with that, and pep talks would be appreciated, haha. And you will most-likely know as soon as I finish because I'll probably post a celebratory post declaring that the 50,000 word count has been conquered! That will be a great day for sure.
Well, I suppose that's everything for now. I'll be posting again in a couple of days. :)

     Until then.
          -Liz