Goals for 2016

Well hello there! And welcome to the great blog adventure 2016!

I just finished going through my blog history to see if I've done this before, and as it turns out, I haven't. So I'm changing that now. I don't usually come up with New Years Resolutions-especially the get fit/eat better one since it kinda bugs me-but I believe last year or the year before (probably the latter), I made just one: to write more. And I can't quite remember how that one turned out. But I think at least for a few weeks, I did write more.

For a while now, I've wanted to get to where I can write something every day. It's a hard one to start and keep up. I try to remind myself that it only takes 21 days to start a new habit. So that's what I'm shooting for first: 21 days, then the year. Although, I may actually need to take it a tad bit slower than that, I'm not really sure. Oh well, it'll be an adventure at least. In fact, I think this will be quite an interesting year...I've managed to think up quite a few more resolutions than I thought I would...

• I will write something every day. Even if it's just a sentence. Baby steps here...there will be difficult days.
• I will get back to and keep up Blogging Fridays. More to the point, I'll make it more of a priority.

• I will read more in the genres that I write in.

• I will make time to read period. The time will not present itself.
• I will finish what I didn't read in 2015, and complete the 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge (already updated over there➡).

Well...so much for that...

• The same goes for writing. This is my career, my work, and my business. It's high time I treated it as such. I will make time to write and figure out how to write even when I may not feel like it. I will use that as a tool for something creative.

So there you have it, my goals for 2016! Yes, mostly writing and reading related. I have quite a bit of work to do there. And I have my planner all ready to be filled up to help reign in the madness. Now to figure out how to use it as a blogging planner...

I may add some things to my list as the years goes on and I settle in. I will definitely be printing out this list and putting it up on my wall where I will see it. At any rate, I look forward to seeing what this year will bring and I'm excited to be back to blogging (oh, how I've missed this)!

     Let's make 2016 spectacular...
          Liz

We've got to stop meeting like this...

The last time I blogged was about mid-April, during Camp NaNoWriMo. I wish I could say that I finished out strong and completed my project. Unfortunately, I managed about 2k before I burned out. I plan on completing it some day though. It's a story that interests me as a writer and I can see things playing out very interestingly. It will probably be just a Wattpad novel, but still, it would be nice to have at least one (if not two or three) novels just for Wattpad.
And it's a bit of old-ish news now, but several months ago, I was super excited to finally get my own domain set up with this blog. I had a draft saved and then distractions left and right delayed my posting it:
Squeeeeaaaal!!!! I am so excited to finally be able to see my website address redirect to lizanneglasgow.com! There are a lot more changes coming, so please bear with me on that. :) I'm hoping that very soon there will be some updates coming to the whole layout here.
I'm in the process of checking to see what sort of themes I can find so I can have a more website looking...website. That is to say, I wish to have a more professional looking author website in preparation for when I do get that novel finished and published.
Another thing that I failed to mention as part of the MIA-ness in February was my mom having an emergency appendectomy. Once the craziness of dinner theater was over, things seemed to settle down briefly. I was still staying at home during the day to help take care of my mom since she was sick. Then out of the blue we found out she had early stages of appendicitis. And after an emergency appendectomy, thankfully, she was ok. She bounced back surprisingly fast too; in the next two or three days she was walking around pretty well again. I still stayed with her for most of the next few weeks to make for certain that she was ok. Now she's doing very well and is back to her old self again, with the addition of a small garden just big enough for a few things she's been wanting to grow. I've even picked out some watermelon seeds in hopes of growing some...we'll see how well that goes, lol
Since it's a couple of weeks away, I'm also planning on doing the next Camp NaNoWriMo. Maybe I can finally finish my novel. In fact, I check Twitter nearly every day. So if you're reading this, and you're on there, please...bug me a little lot. Seriously, check in with me, ask how I'm doing. In the past when someone asks how my writing is going during a NaNoWriMo month, it seems to help give me that push to keep going and remind me of why I'm doing this in the first place. I have stories that need to be told, otherwise they wouldn't be pestering me to be finished. Even simply going shopping, it seems like more and more I'll see something that reminds me or somehow inspires with one project or another that I have going.
I think I've decided that this time, along with #CampNaNoWriMo, my personal hashtag for the month will be #FinishThatNovel because I've been working on it for long enough, and it's high time it gets done. It deserves to be done and to be told.
So that's what been going on in my life...here's hoping I can keep up with Blogging Fridays now. I've missed blogging, and I have a lot of ideas for posts saved that I can work off of. And hopefully I can share a surprise soon. It's something I've been working on for a while, trying to get everything just so before I share it. :)

     Gearing up for another crazy month of writing...
          Liz

Looking for something to read?

So it's officially 2015, and maybe you want to start off the new year by reading something. Well I think maybe I can help with that a little... ;)
First, I would like to apologize for only now thinking of this, but hey, better late than never. I realize that I haven't ever posted anything else on here about the shorts I post on Wattpad...not anything really detailed anyway. So, I thought why not do that now? Granted, there's only a few stories posted now, but I plan on adding to the small collection very soon. A couple of them have gotten their own spotlight post before. But it's been a while since then too.
So without further adu, a little something from each story currently up on Wattpad, along with links! Enjoy! :)

The Little Mermaid: Modernized
This particular short was originally written for a contest over on Booksie. The idea was to take a familiar fairy tale and then re-write it with a more modern spin on it.
Errik knows it's forbidden to love a human. They're dangerous, and unpredictable. Yet, he still goes up to the surface every year-once a year-to watch her. The human girl he's been watching since he was 15. He knew to wait. It wasn't time yet. But now it was. She finally reached the age of 18, and he could approach her...maybe. If he could ever get up the courage. But what would happen when he finally decided to speak to her. Would she accept him as he was? Or run away screaming, leaving him heartbroken? Only one way to find out...

Clue
This is a novel-in-progress that has been on hold for far too long. But I'm hoping to be able to really get it moving again soon. I'm actually a little sad-ok, so a lot sad-that it's taken the back burner for so long.
When six friends go to a murder mystery show, they discover that it's not so much of a show, and more real than they ever imagined. A fun night has turned into someone's twisted game.

I Just Want To See My Baby (Christmas Short Story)
Is it really ever not the time for a good Christmas love story?
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?

NKB Short
This is my scene for the 4th annual No Kiss Blogfest, hosted by Frankie Diane Mallis. It's a blogfest focused on the tension of wanting a kiss so badly, and then something preventing it from happening at the last possible second.
Riley and Jordan are more than mere friends, they're practically family. To say that they were best friends and nothing more would be like an insult to them. They knew they were more like brother and sister and always had been. So what happens when the unthinkable happens and suddenly they don't know what they are to each other anymore?

So yes, this was a shameless self promotion. ;) I have plenty more in the works (more on that later), unfortunately life has been super busy and just crazy in general. But I think I'm going to stick with my New Years Resolution that I had last year and resolve to write more-and to blog more. And since I plan on keeping the Blogging Friday posts, that should definitely help. And I'm already writing a little every day with the Year of Writing thing I have going. I'm excited to see how that turns out.
Be sure to keep a look out for future releases on Wattpad, as well as the continued story of Clue. :)

     Happy reading...
          -Liz

A Year Of Writing

First off, happy New Years Eve to everyone and I hope you have a fabulous year!
I was on Pinterest one day, looking through a ton of different writing related things, mostly writing prompts. I've been trying to keep those creative wheels greased in post NaNoWriMo. And there are a LOT of writing prompts on Pinterest. I highly recommend you go there for creative inspiration.
One of them I found was a very simple one and I think I've decided to use that one over the next year to see what comes from it. I won't put any sort of limit on myself, just let what happens happen. If it's only one sentence that gets done, well hey, that's one more sentence than I had done before. And those words add up. I'm adding these prompts to my calendar so that I'll see it every day and know which one I'm supposed to do. I'm still trying to think how I'm going to share each day's usage (which I think I've worked out now), but I would like to have a way to share my progress and such.
I have started up a group on Google+ for this very thing. I'm not sure that the link works directly, but just search A Year of Writing on Google + or just go to my profile and it should be there. There are boards on there for introducing yourself and for each day's prompt to be shared. You don't have to share how you've used the prompt of the day, but I plan on doing this as a way of keeping my own self accountable so maybe I'll actually write every day. But I would love it if you wanted to join in as well, there's still plenty of time. I'm planning on starting this January first (so...tomorrow...ahh!). :)
The link to the prompts list is here: 365 Writing Prompts for Creative Writing Since some of them repeat, I'll probably be substituting some of those from my own sources. That way it will always be something fresh to inspire everyone.
Have I mentioned how excited I am for this? I really do hope more writers will join me and the others already in the group. The thought sort of hit me somewhere around the middle-end of NaNoWriMo and the beginning of December. I toyed with it for a little bit and finally decided, hey...what the heck and decided to just dive in head first. Besides all that, I simply love writing communities. I've been blessed enough to be a part of several through my own close knit group of writing friends in my personal life, and then constantly meeting new writers through NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo, not to mention Twitter/Facebook also. And if any of you should be reading this, know that I love you all. :) I think really, it's that mutual love of the written word and brainstorming about the impossible worlds we can create with just a few simple words, just hearing the kind of passion one has for writing always gets me excited about writing. Which is great because it always seems to come at the right time. So please, come join in on this adventure. The more, the merrier!

     Feeling inspired...
          -Liz

Writing Prompts

With NaNoWriMo fast approaching, and me not exactly having the clearest idea of what I want to write yet, I've started looking up basically all the writing prompts I can find to get the wheels greased and going. I've already found one list of Sci-Fi prompts that do well in getting me to think outside the box. Or perhaps it's inside...it is bigger on the inside...(you're welcome fellow Whovians). I think I would rather have my "writing box" to be more like a TARDIS for that very reason, come to think of it.
One of these days, I'll eventually make it through my ever growing list of writing prompts. One day. But while I was searching, I came across this picture that said to describe it without using any of the obvious things in it (beach, people, sand, etc). Basically, the same concept for Taboo. Making that connection, it got me thinking, "Of course! Why haven't I thought of that before?" One good writing exercise is just that-to describe something and forcing oneself to not use any of the obvious words. Use the senses other than sight perhaps, how a place smells, how it makes you feel. I'll go on ahead and say it right now, that would be a fantastic exercise for me to do. I need more practice doing that.
And then I remembered this long (I'm talking 6 months here) writing exercise I've had since last year. I kept telling myself last fall that I would set aside the months starting from the summer, and go until the end of the year and I would complete the exercise. And according to what it says, "be a better writer". I remember it saying that you (the writer) would hate him for challenging you to do this, but in the end, you would be a better writer. I'm not really sure what or when it happened, but I've noticed lately that I am again going through another time in my life when I want to truly be a better writer. One worthy of having my stuff read. I want to be happy with what I write and be perfectly ok-content even-with the idea (and hopefully it would actually happen) of people reading what I write.
Anyway, I think perhaps next week I'll do my blog post on the six month writing exercise. For now though, I still can't make up my mind on what I want to do for NaNoWriMo. So from now until the end of this month, if you want to help me decide, I'm including a poll with the three options I keep bouncing between. The first is to do the third re-write of my first novel I started. I am determined to finish it one day and hopefully publish it. I love the story, but it needs serious updating. I shudder when I remember the things 15-yr-old me wrote way back when. But it is the story that made me really want to be a writer for the first time, so it's special to me. :)
The second is to start from scratch on a new story idea that I got in the past couple of months. It's not very well fleshed out at all, so I would probably end up pantsing through NaNoWriMo. A concept I'm still trying to get used to sometimes.
And the final one is to just work on a bunch of short stories I've had promised to post for a long time. If I concentrated on my list of short stories, I think I could potentially get up to ten (length of each one varying) stories done and posted on my Wattpad. Part of me really wants to do this because I feel like I've been neglecting y'all by keeping on promising I would post a new story or chapter, and it hasn't happened yet. And I feel like I would have a sense of accomplishment seeing more short stories ready and waiting to be read.
So. If you want to help me decide what I should do for NaNoWriMo, then let me know! :)

What should I work on for NaNoWriMo?

3rd Re-write of Old Novel

Something New

Short Stories

Other (Leave a Comment)

pollcode.com free polls

Well, I think that's about it for this week. I'm sorry today's post is so late in the day, today's been an off day. But the important thing is the post is up now for the second Blogging Friday. Here's hoping I can manage to keep this consistant with how crazy life is, lol.

          Liz

The Blog Life

So I recently went back to look over my blog history for how often I've blogged since I first started a few years ago. I know it's been extremely sporadic the past year or so, to say the least. And I want to do better about that. But life's been crazy with everything going on in the family, so it's hard to balance everything and keep writing, let alone blogging. Of course, I will be trying to focus on writing a lot more for NaNoWriMo. I mean, in my mind, that's my writing month. It might as well be called Writember instead of November, lol.
But anyway, I realized that the first couple of weeks of this blog was pretty much just non-stop blogging. I would blog once, even twice a day for a week straight. That's definitely a lot more than I've been doing since. So I've been thinking it over, and I think I'm going to try to designate a blogging day. One day a week, I will set aside some time to update a new blog post. Hopefully over some time, this will become a habit I don't even need to think about. I would like to have maybe two a week eventually, but we'll see how this goes. I have to get one habit started first. While I'm at it, I'll probably just have a day set aside for writing as well, that way I'm more guaranteed to have at least one day out of the week to write. Right now, with things as they are, I'm getting less than that done. Maybe it's just NaNo Prep, but I've had that writing stirring inside me and on the brain a lot more than it has been. I still don't know exactly what I'll be working on come NaNoWriMo, I may very well end up trying to multi-task as I tried doing in July Camp NaNo. There's so many ideas stirring around, and I've discovered in the past year or two that if I let that energy build up, then I'll have more excitement and drive when I actually get to writing. If I jump on whatever pops in my head, then my energy and ideas run out fast. Perk of waiting: most of the ideas I have are one little piece and tend to be a bit on the obscure side, so in waiting for my idea tank to fill up, the words generally pour out more at a time. And it's better that way. I can flesh it out a little better having thought it out a little more.
Chances are, once I decide on a writing day, you'll probably see posts about no interruption days or #WritingWednesday...something like that. I rather like Writing Wednesday, now that I think about it. Anyway, whenever I decide on a set day, there will more than likely be posts popping up here and there about it. Heck, I may even have a daily total at the end of Writing Wednesday (or whatever day I pick). That is...if my total word count isn't embarrassingly low, lol. Then again, anything is a step in the right direction. And it would be more than I'd have gotten done the day before. I think while I'm at it, I'll go on ahead and say I'll start today with Blogging Fridays. I'll start trying to get a new blog post out each Friday. The November posts will be the same as usual-stats at the end of each week, then it'll go back to normal posts. I rather like this designating a day thing. I'm thinking maybe I should've started that from the beginning, but back then I was blogging all the time. It'll be nice to get back to blogging more often again. Who knows? Maybe I'll even break my previous record for posts in a year (grand total of 20).
So here we go, first Blogging Friday in what will hopefully be a long line of Blogging Fridays. I'll say it now, if I don't make it one week, I probably have a very good reason. And I'll announce when I finally settle on a writing day as well.
One last thing...I just want to take a minute to thank anyone who's read anything of mine-whether you're a first time, or returning reader of this blog. Or maybe you're a reader on Wattpad/Booksie. Or a follower on Facebook/Twitter. Whatever it may be, I thank you, and I am flattered that anyone would take time out to read whatever it is. Lately there's been a peak in Twitter followers, and I just want to say thank you everyone! I've watched that number slowly climb since I started on Twitter, and seeing it climb higher since this summer just reminds me that my dream of writing is happening. Slowly, but surely, one day I will hold in my hands the proof copy of my debut novel. And a lot of the reason why will be because of you, dear readers. Because your support and encouragement-whether voiced or not-will be a big thing that pushes me to really go after writing. I'm getting there more each day. So thank you, everyone, anyone who has been there through all of this so far, and whatever may come. You mean more than you could know. :)

     Love always,
          Liz

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