Flying Phoenixes Flutter and Flounder

I’m late. I’m sorry. Moving on... *grins*

Last month I mentioned I was working on reading though my Videra Phoenixes. When I started, I was worried because reading and taking notes on Book 1 was arduous. But once I was past that relic, the reading speed up (as note taking slowed down). Yes, this once trilogy clearly shows that with practice, even sans reading craft books, my writing has improved.  

 

Now that I’ve gotten through all 890 or so pages, I’m transcribing my notes into word so I can put them all in their proper categories (I color coded them as I took them) to figure out how to turn this massive story into books, that maybe, people might like to read.

Yes, the characters started commenting after a certain point...

One of the first things I’ve figured out is that there are really about five books in what I originally wrote as a Trilogy:

• Book 1: Sarah’s Phoenix, needs the most work (written in 2005, edited in 2009, yup a relic)
• Book 2: Phoenix Rising, more a romantic interlude than anything and I find its plot puzzling
• Book 3: Phoenix Burning (was second half of Phoenix Rising), the plot definitely works
• Book 4: Phoenix Triumphant, again a good solid plot
• Book 5: Phoenix United (was third, third of Phoenix Triumphant), seems to be mostly romance with a euphoric ending (well it gave me a permasmile)

Now, I’m going through the joy of figuring out where Book 1 ends and Book 2 begins, because I’ve decided that I’m rewriting Book 1 for April’s Camp NaNoWriMo (my goal is at least 25,000 words to keep the stress and lack of sleep minimal). But how do I revamp the plot of Sarah’s Phoenix without having to rewrite everything?

It’s tough. When I was first reading it, I had a brilliant idea, which slowly got squished as I read the other books realizing just how important the set up in Book 1 and 2 were. So I’m trying my hand at plotting, but I’m not going to do it chapter by chapter. Unearthing Magic taught me that that method doesn’t quite work for me. Instead I’m trying a five point plot – Intro, Call to Action, Midpoint, Climax and Resolution.

Not working so well. At least it’s not feeling like it is. I could be over complicating the issue. I’m really good at that. But the plot is pretty complex, because you’ve got the political backdrop to the romance, acting as the main obstacle keeping Sarah and Hasón from their ‘Happily Ever After’. My little private Facebook group (spawned from NaNo, how I love thee) has recommended I diagram each plot so I can see where how they merge.

Do I tackle the whole Book 1 through 5 plot, or do I do it book by book? And how many plots do I have... I know my two main ones, but what about the characters? Are their character arcs another plot... Or am I, as I said, making this way more complex than it needs to be? *HELP*

I also just realized I’m turning... 36 (phew I thought it was 37, opps *grins*) in April, and I would like to have my first book published by 40. That means I only have four more years, and I figure at least the last two ought to be for the query process *gulp*

Better get to work, hadn’t I? I also better figure out what book I’d like to query first, because strangely, I’m wondering if it shouldn’t be Unearthing Magic as opposed to Sarah’s Phoenix. What do you think? How should I choose?

 

:} Cathryn Leigh

Jump Start My Blog!

Okay so the song is Kickstart my Heart (by Motley Crue), not Jump Start, but hey it was the tune in my head as I wrote the title. *grins*

So I promised myself I’d write a blog post on Friday (Jan. 4), edit it on Monday (Jan 7) and post it on Tuesday (Jan 8), but I didn’t find much motivation. At least not until I kicked my own butt in to gear and opened the file to do it.

You see, I seem to have run out of blogging steam. Combine that with the explosion (metaphorical) at the day job to super busy,  NaNoWriMo and the Holidays and my quietness can be explained. On top of all that is the business transition that my company is going through which will likely result in the fact that I’ll have worked for three different companies before 2013 is done. The last one of those jobs I’ll be hunting for. But my resume been updated and thoroughly proofed by my hubby (after all he’s looking to maximize his ‘return on investment’ *grins*). I just need to send it out and wait for the calls to interview.

But let’s not worry about that right now shall we? Let’s worry about my blog instead. I don’t want to see it die, which is what it was doing these last three months. So after a little jump start, thinking about goals and life situation I came to a decision. I’m going to cut back to monthly.

The plan is to post something on the second Tuesday of every month, aka Microsoft Tuesday*. Why that Tuesday? Because it’s handily marked on all the calendars I get from my hubby’s work. Plus I know when it’s coming around due to the amount of work my hubby has to do for it.

*It is labeled this because this is the day Microsoft publishes its monthly patch for updating its software to all users who have it, specifically related to their programs’ security.

As to topics, well this is labeled a Diary so I’m not going to tie myself down to any one subject, though it will likely be related to reading, writing, crafting or my family in general. And speaking of such things, I do have a book review for you!

 

“No Place Like Home” by Anne R. Allen

Camilla Randall thought her life had become perfect. She works in a book store owned by her best friend’s fiancé, she even has a little cottage that’s all her own. Okay so there wasn’t a hunk of a man in her life, but that wasn’t a make or break it thing. But of course life doesn’t stay perfect, and when a cute quirky suited tourist starts flirting with her and asking about homeless guys things go up in smoke. Suddenly paychecks are bouncing and her one employee accuses her of withholding money. But it’s not her fault, her friend is going bankrupt and he has to sell the store to a posh rich woman who redecorates Camilla’s house right under her nose!

But that’s not the worst of it! Beyond the missing homeless man our suited friend seems to care about, the mansion near Camilla’s friends’ house has gone up in flames, leaving the Doria, founder of Home Magazine, under suspicion and her husband potentially deceased. And it all starts with Doria going into surgery for a tummy tuck!

Anne does a great job alternating between Camilla and Doria, pulling their threads together in just the right way. My suspicions would be arouse and then confirmed or denied just a chapter or two later. It was great, Including the reappearance of a character from the second book (Ghostwriters in the Sky). Yes, ‘No Place Like Home’ was definitely worthy being a two am book (aka the latest I stayed up to read it without noticing the passage of time). I even managed to read it shortly after it came out! I think that’s a first for me. So there you have it. It’s another fun Camilla Randal mystery added to my shelf. Hope it doesn’t mind its fantasy companions.

 

Toodles (till next month)!

:} Cathryn Leigh
P.s. this was supposed to post itself on tuesday and didn't soo sorry!

Let the Plotting Complete!

Yesterday, I did an unthinkable thing – I completed the plotting of Unearthing Magic.

But this didn’t happen without hiccups along the way.

The first thing I encountered was trying to think in terms of scenes. After all Save the Cat is about screenplays, so of course it’s looking at scenes. This meant, if I used Snyder’s method, that I would include on my post-its:

• Setting (interior, exterior, one per scene)
• What happens (short sentence)
• +/- (The emotional change)
• >< (the conflict, every scene has one)

My initial introduction of the characters, Snyder's way

I got about fifteen post-its in, laboring on each one for fifteen minutes or more over the course of two or three days. It wasn’t working for me, so I took a step back because one of my life’s lessons has been; people think in different ways, even if they are good at the same things.

~You see in college, I had a friend who was a Chemist, like me. We took the same classes, studied in the same group, and got the same grades, until we hit the mandatory programming class. The language doesn’t matter (Fortran77 is you must know), what does was the fact that I breezed though (creating programs on the side), while she struggled. Turns out my brain can think like a computer, but hers couldn’t.~

So instead of continually bashing my brain against Snyder’s method until I plotted the whole thing, I looked at the result that was desired – a series of steps that could be followed to be expanded into chapters of a book that moved through a plot progression – and tried to come up with my own method for getting there. Then *BAMN!* I remembered something I did during NaNo 2011:

-  To ensure I didn’t lose the flow of the story when I had to stop, I tries to always write a sentence or two, summing up my thoughts on where things were going. For Example:

"<In which Rachael and Michael deliver Transium to Terra Firma 2 and Rachael is waylaid by a couple of UCPA authorities, who quickly realize they are in over their heads.>"

Okay so it worked as a word count booster, but more importantly it helped with the flow because I ended with 82k words (compared to my 53K of NaNo2010). It was time to see if it’d work for pre-plotting.

The character introductions, my way

Clearing my board of plot (keeping title and log line), I started fresh, using sentences beginning with “In Which”. I had to do a little rewriting at one point because I picked the wrong colors to do Point of View in, but then it started to flow. I mean really flow – suddenly in two or three sittings I’d reached the mid-point. And then in two or three more I’d cascaded to the finish line.

Now, my work isn’t done. I’ve already spotted some potential weak points and are thinking about rearranging the view point order (Blue and Green are the two foreign Princes, and Purple is the farm girl). Plus who knows what the story will do once I actually start writing it. But maybe, this time, there might be more of a plot than Rachael and company in the Nueri gave me for NaNo2011.

The next step – to do a little more characterization on my main characters. So who would you like to see answer some Beautiful People questions first:

• Lori – the farm girl who finds out she a magi, from the country that suppresses magic use
• Travis – heir to the throne of the neighboring kingdom and an average magi
• Andrew – the older brother of Travis, who lives in Lori’s country and isn’t a Magi
• A random supporting character, protagonist or antagonist.

:} Cathryn Leigh

Sarah Saves the Cat! I Think...

As mentioned in my last blog post, I was going to read Save the Cat! (The Last Book OnScreenwriting that You’ll Ever Need), which is by Blake Snyder. No, I’m not writing a screen play. Just because the book is about making movies doesn’t mean there isn’t something that can be taken away and used for books.

For instance, Catherine Ryan Hyde did a guest post on Anne R. Allen’s Blog on what can happen to a book when it’s turned into a screenplay. Reading Blake Snyder’s book explains why some of that happens. I’m not sure a lot of books follow his fifteen beat plot. But, apparently that’s what makes a movie successful. After all the audience wants their entertainment in short time frame.

Not to mention I’ve seen the book pop up on other blogs, or maybe it’s just that Roni Loren (steamy romance novelist) has mentioned it, a lot. So I ordered the book, it was delivered and I’ve read through chapter four. And what all has Blake been talking about in chapters 1 through 4? I’ll tell you, using My Phoenixes for my examples. *grins*

Chapter One is about the logline – that one line that you use to get people interested in your story. He suggests walking up to strangers and pitching your idea, but, I’m not quite sure I’m up to that sort of thing, so I’ll pitch it here. Unfortunately, it’s for the trilogy and focused on Sarah. If you have suggestions to improve it, I’ll gladly take them. 

• Logline: A war weary independent young woman finds herself in a medieval world helping her future husband save it from a warmongering General

Chapter Two is about Movie types – not necessarily genres, because each type can be made into any genre. What Blake is talking about are story lines. In a condensed format like a movie, you’re pretty much going to have one (I’m beginning to see how I could apply this to a short story). In a novel I suspect you might have more than one of his 10 types. I pined my trilogy down to three

• Phoenixes Blake Types: Dude with a Problem (there’s a war to avert), Buddy Love (the romance), and Institutionalized (the sacrifice of one for many, military mind set).

Chapter Three is whom the story is about and the Primal urges that connect it with the audience. In addition, there is an emphasis on growth of the protagonist. Someone once told me that Hasón was too perfect. They might be right. He has no growing to do, while Sarah has loads.

• It’s about a Guy Who:  Sarah’s a war weary, independent young woman. Hasón’s a staunch commander who follows his gut. Wholwaski is a conniving war mongering General.
• It’s Primal Elements Are:  Survival, Protection of Loved Ones, and Fear of Death

Chapter Four is about Blake Snyder’s beats. One story, split into Three Acts, that are broken down into a total of fifteen “beats”. Each one to be placed in the script at specific point for maximum effect. Let me summarize them in my words, as best I can.

1. Opening Image: Shows us where the hero begins, his life before the story happens
2. Theme Stated:  Someone states something that clues us into what the story’s theme is
3. Set-Up:  Where we meet everyone in the A Story, showing what needs fixing in the hero’s life
4. Catalyst:  The thing that turns the Hero’s world upside down and starts him on his journey
5. Debate:  The answer to the question of – can the hero handle what he’s been tasked with and how?
6. Break Into Two:  The hero takes the action that leads from his life onto the path of his new life
7. B Story:  It’s a break from what’s been going on and introduces new people to the hero
8. Fun and Games:  Slightly lighter in tone than the rest, it’s the fun part – the part that trailers take their clips from...
9. Midpoint:  Halfway through, the hero gets a small, or false full, victory though sometimes it can be a down as well as an up
10. Bad Guys Close In:  Everything begins to align against the hero as the bad guys close in for a win
11. All is Lost:  There is a whiff of death, be it metaphorical or actual, where it seems the hero has lost
12. Dark Night of the Soul:  This is how the losing affects the hero, how it manifests itself
13. Break Into Three:  But now the Hero has a solution taken from both the A story and B story
14. Finale:  The hero wins and his old world has  now completely transformed into his new world
15. Final Image:  A mirror image of the opening image, showing us how far the character has come

Art by Gabriel Morrison

I tried beating out Sarah’s Phoenix and found myself mixing it with Phoenix Rising – clearly a novel can have a lot more going on in it than a movie can – that’s why books are so often better. It’s also helped me realize that the story revolves very much around Sarah – after all it’s all from her viewpoint right now. But, I’m going to change that and Hasón is going to become less than perfect so the two of them can grow together.

At least that’s what I’m hoping.

But, for NaNo2012, I’ve decided to pick on ‘Lori and her Boys’. You’ll be hearing more about them as the march towards November continues!

:} Cathryn Leigh

Foibles of Plot Straightening

This weekend I finally did what I kept meaning to do (months ago). I upload my trilogy into Scrivener. Yes, they are now all in the “Book with Parts” template. I did this because I’ve become very aware that my plot needs work. Book 1 doesn’t really contribute much to the overall story and no one gets anywhere near death...

(Okay I do kill off one of Phoenix’s scouts and one of Griffon’s scouts, but Sarah didn’t witness it because she was out for the count. Still, it’s more romance than action/adventure while the other two are a much better mixture.)

Anyway, once I had the three books all in one place, I began to split apart the chapters. I did this for Book 1, since it has so few and then I went looking at Book 2. Splitting off the beginning of Book 2 and adding it to Book 1 does an amazing remedy for the lack luster plot. Now there’s a climactic fight scene, in which a villain dies after mortally wounding the Heroine. Of course I’ll need to edit it a bit, since it needs make you want to read the next book, not the next chapter.

So, I moved on to Book 2 and stopped to ponder something. No villain dies in this one, though our Heroes manage to save the Royal family. I read some place that a villain, even if he’s not the main boss, should die. So do I make up a villain to die in it, or make it seem like the villain is dying? Or leave it as is?  I’ll have to come back to that question later*, since the ideas is to get down what I have, not what I will have. I did decide that leaving the book off with our Heroes in a coma wasn’t nice, so I move some of the beginning bits from Book 3 over.

I haven’t started on Book 3 yet, aside from moving the beginning bit over, but I know one thing for sure; the climax doesn’t happen as close to the end as it should. There’s a lot of winding down the killing of the Master mind Villain to the marriage of our Heroes. I’m contemplating turning that into Bonus Book 4, for those who really want to see them happily wed and bed (and no I don’t go into details, thank you very much). *giggle*

One of the things I’ve suddenly realized. Having looked at all this – my Phoenixes of Vervell Trilogy need a lot of work. And I’m suddenly wondering:

• Should I consider them to be my practice novels and shelve them for eternity? (Be still my beating heart! Breathe my hyperventilating lungs!)
• Should I shelve them for now, until I’ve learned more about plot and structure? (But it’s already been at least five years since I wrote the first book!)

No matter what option I go with, and I lean toward the second for I love Sarah and Hasón and their tale, I’ve come to realize:

• I’ve gotten pretty good at creating characters. I’m not an expert, but the ones I have been working with for a while are living beings in my head.
• I could use a hand with plot and structure, perhaps with some practice in pre-plotting given how discombobulated last year’s NaNovel went. (Not that I’ve bothered to read it since then)

NaNo! Why that’s only four months away *gulp* and I plan on participating *double gulp* But I think I know what I’m going to do...

• Buy “Save the Cat” and read it – several people have said it’s great for helping pantsers plot
• Pick a story to plot - Alethia’s Lament? Rainbow Island? Another story off my hard drive? Something completely new? – yikes, this’ll be the hardest bit!
• Tell you all about it! (So erm... what would you like to know about my process leading up to NaNo?)

:} Cathryn

P.S. And what would you think if I slowed down my posting rate - this posting weekly is taking too much precious writing time at the moment. *sigh*

Stepping Towards the Stars

So last week I talked about my dream goal. But you can’t just stop at dreaming. It would be nice if we could, though. Life would be so much easier, but as most of know life isn’t easy and it’s going to throw up road blocks of all sorts. So to obtain that dream goal you have to keep working towards it. In my case, I’m taking what I consider baby steps.

  

These baby steps are my goals for this year and I’ve tried to make them SMART. That means they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Or at least I’ve tried to make them that way. Let me give you some examples of what I’ve created.

Example 1: They say that part of being a good author is to read, read, read, so I’ve created a goal around this.

• Read at least one novel a month
• Read at least one short story a week

So by the end of the year I expect to have read 12 Novels and 52 short stories. That seems pretty specific and measurable. Is it attainable? I think so. I’ve already read my short story for the week and I’m currently working on that first Novel. As far as realistic and timely goes, well you have to remember I’m responsible for the feeding and clothing of my family, plus my own writing, so I think it is.

Example 2: the other part of being an author is to write, write, write. Needless to say I have a couple goals around that. I’ll show you the one related to The Phoenix of Vervell Trilogy

• Complete the editing and posting of Phoenix Triumphant (February)
• Complete the “Massive Revision” of Sarah’s Phoenix to align it with Phoenix Rising and Phoenix Triumphant (August)
• Send Sarah’s Phoenix out for critique and beta reading (September)

I’ve made these as specific and measurable are as I could. I haven’t been through the editing process enough to know how to measure revisions, but I suspect I’ll know when I’m done. Sending it out will be the easy part to measure. Again they are as attainable, realistic and timely, as I can make them. I gave myself an extra month on editing Phoenix Triumphant, just in case life throws some curveballs at me.
 

I also have some goals related to this Blog. The first is to continue weekly postings and the second to turn it into an Author Blog. The first is getting harder as I struggle  for topics each week. The second entails changing the name, and probably other stuff that I'm not entirely sure of. I do have a few ideas though. Some are more specific to this year than others.

• 30 days of World Building – Starting on April 11th, I’d lead you through the exercises as I flush out my own for NaNoWriMo 2012
• Setting a topic for each blog post such as: First of the month is a book review, last of the month is a goal review.
• Inviting some guests over to blog (yes Charley and Miriam I’m looking at you)
• Finding a book on writing with lots of exercises that we can do together. (could be one a month?)

I want to tie into my fellow writers as well as my readers without having to maintain two blogs (or a website), so please, let me know your ideas, comments and questions you have on how to make my blog better. Believe me I’d appreciate it.

:} Cathryn Leigh

I’ve got the Post NaNoWriMo Blues

“Writing a novel is like giving birth to a baby, complete with post-novel-ing depression” – me spoken to my husband.

Yes, NaNo is over and though by the end I was done fed up with writing about Rachael and her crew (they went everywhere without trying to forward the plot), I do miss them. But it is time to set them aside and get back to work on my other projects. I have three, writing ones that is. I also need to prepare for Sunday School (on Sunday) and Girl Scouts on Monday. Why’d I become a Co-leader? Oh right, because if no one stepped forward my daughter wouldn’t have a troop and she really wanted to be a Girl Scout. But back to my writing...

The first project is, of course, Phoenix Triumphant. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble getting back into it. It’s getting easier, especially after reading the comments from its biggest fans who were all dancing with joy upon reading the first chapter posted after NaNo. I would never have gotten nearly as far, nor had the drive to really take it to the next level if it wasn’t for those girls.

My second project, and I know at least one blog reader will be jumping with joy, is Faerie Bound. Beware if you click that link, the story is over 200 chapters long and you have to go back and forth between two stories to get the full picture. My mother stayed up till 3 am reading it. Anyway I know Morgan is excited to get back to it. I’m sure Ash will be as well. Those are characters, by the way, but my co-conspiring authors are Moonwalker, SpookOfNight and Anna’s. Anna’s been a little recluse lately, having hit the hard years of school, but I’m hoping she can help even if she doesn’t have time to write from Mike’s perspective.

And my last writing project is The Prisoner, which I blogged about in August of this year. For this one I have Moonwalker (again) and Burndtree. We’ve each taken on the role of one of the characters to write for and decided that giving them genders would make it so much easier. Jordan is a female, spoiled brat, teen. Peyton is a male, adventurer for hire, adult. And Riley is a scrappy senior sorceress. That’s going to be a fun cast to work with don’t you think?

I also think I‘ll take a break at some point next year and finish my Dragon Queen costume. Perhaps I’ll make it my birthday present for myself so I won’t hit the OMG I have to make costumes for the kids deadline.

:} Cathryn Leigh

It’s NaNovel Update Number 5!

Here we are on the last day, Day 30 of NaNoWriMo and I have written “The End” on my story!

First, we have the FINAL Statistics:

Total Word count:  81,202

Total Page Count:  275

Total Time Spent:  60.39 hours

Average Words per minute:  23

Average Pages per hour:  5

Second, we have the Write-Ins:

Yes, I FINALLY made it to the write-in in Columbia, like I’ve always wanted. It was good. I got in over 5,000 word written and though I didn’t win any word wars, I did get some word counts up in the top spots. And, as I said I did finish the novel while there. It was cool and I am sad I won’t be going to the TGIO party; however I can’t be too sad because it’s my hubby's company party and they throw awesome bashes!

Lastly, we have my notes

So let’s see... I’ve got one revolution started... a load of illegal Transium shipped of planet in exchange for weapons for the revolutionaries. One ancient general who’s changed sides to help the ones he once suppressed. Have I finished the revolution? Nope, maybe next year... or whenever I actually turn The Nueri into a real novel, or series... It’s pretty haphazard right now. Anyway, let’s see if I can get some sort of quote for you.

Here we have Rachael playing mind games with the psychologist Michael’s father (Ivan) hired to try to prove she is crazy so he can fire her. Yeah... I don’t think so Ivan. ;}

“Do you know anything about Vidal?” Rachael asked as she spun in the seat the woman had provided. “it’s a very intriguing drink you know.”

You with to talk about the drink that is the most expensive of the 18 planets?” Alison asked, as she took notes upon her tablet.

“Yes, I think it explains a lot of things. Like, Michael for instance.”

“And how is Michael explained by Vidal?”

“Well you see,” Rachael stated, “Vidal is made from this one particular plant, the Vidallia, that grown ONLY on the twin sun planet system of Terillax Nine.”

“Alright so, Michael is grown here on Beta Vegas Five?”

“Well he was born of one man under very specific condition here on Beta Vegas five. But it doesn’t just stop there.” Rachael stopped spinning to look at Alison. “You see, he’s like Vidal in that he has a duplicity. One side will kill you and the other a mild mannered man. But it’s the side that will kill you I find most thrilling, just as in Vidal it’s it the D that will ive you death, but also tastes the best upon the tongue.”

“I’m not sure I follow...” Alison stated and Rachael leaned forward to look into the woman’s eyes. She smirked.

“You really don’t know do you?” Rachael sat back and laughed. “Oh this is so precious.”

“Cut the crap Rachael,” Alison stated. “You and I know what happened in the past your being as difficult now as you were then.

“See then that means I haven’t changed.’ Rachael did another spin, reveling in the power she currently held now. “He asked you to find me insane didn’t he?”

“You are insane.”

“No, I beg to different,” Rachael smiled. “You see I’m completely sane as I can be. I know exactly what I am doing and I have control. I’m not the one expecting this counseling session to be anything different than what it was before. If you do then that means you’re the one who is insane. Isn’t that the text book definition?”

“No,” Alison stated flatly.

“No, that’s right that’s a literary reference you probably wouldn’t get. Pity I can’t say whose quote that is as they passed away long before the record were backed up and we lost a lot of names to the great computer glitch.”

“The computer glitch is a child’s fantasy to explain the origin of the faster than light drive.”

“Tell that to the Trekkies or the Star Wars fans. Have you seen a millennium flacon today?”

“Enough!” Alison’s voice rose in pitch and Rachael knew she’d hit home.

“Look, you best get out of here, as fast as the ship that brought you in can take you.” Rachael once more leaned forward. “I think you know the dangerous life I like to lead and the line I’m probably going to walk and cross.”

“If you mean you’re going to go planet side and look for Nueri....”

“Oh but I’ve already been down there, spent the happiest portion of my life there. But, Ivan doesn’t remember does he? Oh no, his mind is slowly degrading from overuse of Deep Sleep.” Rachael smiled. “Oh yes, he’s on that drug. He has a son over one hundred years old... Tell me Alison.” Rachael brought her face next to the councilor. “Ever been with a woman before?”

And what about you, my readers, how are you doing? And are your NaNovels done?

:} Cathryn Leigh {:

It’s NaNovel Update Number 4!

Well we’re heading down that long slippery slope to the end, it’s Day 23 of NaNoWriMo!

First, we have the Statistics:

Total Word count:  56,607

Total Page Count:  192

Total Time Spent:  42.50 hours

Average Words per minute:  21

Average Pages per hour:  4

Second, we have the Write-Ins:

Well this week, rather than the family or work getting in the way of my Writing-In, it was my own health. Yes the, since you’re doing NaNo and got a flu shot (okay that may or may not be a factor in this), you’re going to get sick has hit me. Last year it was a twenty-four hour bug and no real biggie. This year – Pneumonia – yes that lovely chest infection took me by storm Sunday night and on Monday night went to the doctors, was prescribed three medications and told to stay home until 11/24 (Thanksgiving Day). Well Phooey. *pout*

Lastly, we have my notes

I’ve finally introduced my last main character. I know it seems a little late in the book to do so, but this puppy won’t be done when it’s done. It’ll be more like a purposeful To Be Continued... If I write the thing right, Rachael and her ‘crew’ may become my serialized fiction novellas. She seems to like that idea, and so does the rest of the cast.

Now on to our excerpt for the week. This one comes from something I wrote today. Michael’s memory block that has kept his Nueri half from his Human half separate has been removed. Poor guy is two in one. Makes for an interesting write. On second thought we’re going to make it two. Rachael wants to brag about her kids. :}

Rachael clicked off the communication unit. Michael was not going to be happy about this, if her and Traverse’s son had survived. What a wacked out family she had. More whack out than her own family had been when she was growing up. At least all but her had been normal humans. Now she was married to a Nueri, had a Nueri daughter, had an affair with a Pirate and born an aborted baby who’d been sold to the cyborg program. No she definitely didn’t put that past Traverse’s father to have done so.

On the plus side, she smiled, her kids had balls. One was leading a revolution that she thoroughly supported and the other had given the UCPA a big F* you by tracking down his parents. No child, donated to the cyborg program was ever allowed to know where they came from. They were supposed to grow up in their own family loyal to the scientist that raised them. She highly suspected that half those scientist hadn’t any clue on how to raise a child. Then again neither did she. Probably better for both her kids to have been raised by someone else. Though who knew, maybe she’d have figured it out before she completely messed up. Still, Rachael reeled her thoughts in, they weren’t namby pamby kids. They grabed their destiny by the balls and shook it. That was reason enough for her to be proud of them, even if she’d never had a hand in raising them.

Now that the glowing mother has had her turn; let’s peek at Michael’s duplicity, despite the fact he is asking me not to.

Michael slept in the blissful silence of darkness until a gentle shake woke him.

“How’s the head?’ Rachael’s voice tickled his ear.

“Still horrid,” Michael groaned as he rolled to one side. His head still pounded, though not quite as bad as before. He could use a serious neck massage though.

“Here,” she handed him a pill and some water, “take this; Mom’s cure for migraines. We’ve got to lift off in four hours or we’ll be late.”

“Late for what?” Michael asked as he sat up to take the medication.

“Rendezvous with the good Senator to pick up my wayward son.”

“Who?” Michael was still puzzled. His memory was seriously foggy.

“I’ll explain more once we’re on board. The surgery’s probably taken a bit out of you. Medications still wearing off and such.”

Rachael helped him into a ships suit after carefully taking all the IVs and sensors off his body.

“You know for a hospital supposed to be the best, that was a little archaic.” She shook her head and then took his hand. “How’s the head now?”

“Better actually,” Michael felt surprised.

“Probably should have taken out the IV first, who knows what they were doping you up with.” She laughed slightly. “Good thing I know who to make friends with, I think they wanted to keep you for studying.”

“I think I’ve had a life time worth or more of  being studied,” Michael stated harshly.

“I know love,” Rachael embraced him with a kiss. She pulled back into his eyes. “I know,” she whispered.

Her eyes spoke of memories and times gone by, of the things they’d done and didn’t. He saw images of his own past reflected in them, testing, drugging, torture, and he nearly collapsed.

“S---t,” the swear came to her lips as easy as love, “Come on let’s get you to the ship before that temporary block totally dissolves.” She straightened him up and brushed him off. “Come on and follow my lead.”

The halls were quite and Rachael walked through them with confidence. Michael followed trying to imitate the bravado she seemed to ooze, probably not making as much of a go at it given his head still felt like shit. S---t? Since when did she start swearing?

Since you let me out, a little voice responded.

Who are you? his mind wanted to know.

Your other self, the one that’s been blocked from you.

Michael shook his head trying to jumble his thoughts back into one. He wasn’t two people. He was one person, who happened to have the annoying problem of being Nueri.

But it’s not a problem, that little voice came back, it’s a boon.

“How the...” Michael clamped his mouth shut as Rachael looked back at him. He internalized the dialog again as they exited the hospital. How the hell is it a boon?

If you weren’t Nueri you would never have met her, never have had a child, and Transium would drive you crazy.

I killed my wife and child! Michael felt like he was exploding.

Elizabeth is there before you, can’t you see her, she’s leading you to safety.

“Ah, right on time,” Rachael interrupted his internal dialog.

They were a good distance away from the hospital now and had been walking down the street arm in arm, Michael wasn’t sure when that happened. But, as they got to the next corner a car pulled up and stopped. Rachael opened the door and pulled Michael in with her. Neither voice said anything in his head as the car pulled away.

And what about you, my readers, how are you doing? And how are your NaNovels going?

:} Cathryn Leigh {:

It’s NaNovel Update Number 3!

All right we’ve gotten over the midway hump and we’re now at Day 17 of NaNoWriMo!  

First, we have the Statistics:

Total Word count:  42,805

Total Page Count:  146*
Total Time Spent:  34.55 hours
Average Words per minute:  20
Average Pages per hour:  4

*by the way, I’ve got my pages set up with double spacing, that why the page count might look a little high. I’m planning on printing this for editing by hand, rather than the electronic method I’ve been using for Phoenix Triumphant.

Second, we have the Write-Ins:

Well the family and my husband’s work have been conspiring against me. Still after a failed attempt at making it to the local library on last Wednesday I made it last night! I even found a fellow Writer there, trying to make up for lost days. I averaged 28 words per minute in the hour I was there, so I’d say it was successful. Still hoping to get to one of the big Write-In’s that happen closer to my work.

 

Lastly, we have my notes

Okay, so Light Speed is pretty slow when you have to travel 1,000 light years. I’ve discovered some interesting things about space travel. There’s a lot, and I mean A LOT of time spent twiddling your thumbs. Thankfully Rachael has an over a million books on file and has Michael to translate some of the more ancient works written by me, Miriam and Spook in the 21st Century A.D. Remember Rachael and company are living in the 41st Century A.C. (After Colonization).

I have gotten around to introducing Michael’s half-brother, Kron, and Rachael and Michael’s daughter, Lupita. In fact she’s got the best line written so far, so I think today’s excerpt will feature that. I’m looking forward to introducing Adam soon, the cybernetic aborted baby of Rachael and Traverse. Let me tell you. This is a fun cast!

 

“I think I’ve found a solution to your problem on how to fund your revolution,” Kron stated.

Lupita sipped the tea, but was wary of the Vidal. Kron had warned her about the stuff when he’d first stashed it in his house. To have him bring it out was a sign that something big was up. Bigger, she suspected, than his off handed comment about funding.

“Is it legal?”

“Not in the least.” Kron shook his head as he sipped his Vidal and then his tea. “Might involve Pirates too.”

“Space Pirates?” Lupita leaned forward, eager to know more.

“And you’re mom.” Kron sipped his Vidal and then his tea. He chuckled. “You can close your mouth now.

“Sorry,” Lupita sat back and nearly drank her Vidal in one sip. Luckily the burning stopped her and she spit half of it back. She gulped the tea, though it burned in a different manner going down her throat. “You could have been a bit more tactful.”

“Yes, but I’d say that expression was worth a kilo of Transium.”

Lupita snorted. “Don’t make me go Transition on your ass.”

Kron frowned. “You’ve been hanging around them boys too much.”

“Them boys, are going to be my army, if I can get them some weapons,” Lupita spat back. “So how’s this funding, my mom and Space Pirates linked together.”

“Not quite sure yet, but you know that spacer you’re Dad’s been traveling with?”

“The ‘Spacer bitch’?” It was the term she’d heard thrown about by her grandmother the few time Kron had gotten her close enough. Just glimpses of her father, but she’d known it was him. Whatever pack instinct came with being one of the Nueri Nin Ni, told her that he was family, close family, just as it had told her that Kron was related, though it’d taken longer to figure out how.

Kron leaned forward and Lupita reeled in her thoughts. “Well that ‘spacer bitch’ happens to be your mother.”

Luppita’s jaw dropped once more, but this time she kept enough cool to quickly close it before Kron could comment. “Are you sure,” she looked at Kron sideways, looking for any hint that he was pulling her leg.

“Your father just about came out and said it... How did he put that to me?” Kron sat back as he sipped the last of his Vidal while thinking. “Something along the lines of they got hitched when they were teens, only she went by a different name back then.”

Lupita froze, tea cup half way to her lips. “You’re not joking one iota?”

“No,” Kron looked dead serious. “And she’s got an in to the black market, IF we can supply the Transium.”

For thsoe of you who know Spook and a little bit about her NaNo Project, the Vidal drink, a gin made flavored with Vidallia from the twin sun system of Tellirax, was indeed named for her character, Vidal. Don't worry, they gave me their seal of approval.

And What about you, my readers, how ar you doing? And how are your NaNovels going?

:} Cathryn Leigh {:

It’s NaNovel Update Number 2!

Well NaNo has begun and I’ve set up a little NaNo update template to minimize time spent away from my NaNovel. So here’s what I have to say on Day 9 of NaNoWriMo.

First, we have the Statistics:

Total Word count:  25416

Total Page Count:  90
Total Time Spent:  22.22 hours
Average Words per minute:  19
Average Pages per hour:  4

Second, we have the Write-Ins:

Okay I went to a Write-in at a public Library in MA. It was odd not being in a coffee shop but I did accomplish one goal – get my mom back into writing! She went with me and since that Write-In she has utter reorganized her writing space so that she can write at night and not disturb her husband (who is an early bird).

Next up – trying to organize my own write-ins at the Eldersburg, MD Library. I’m going to make it an informal thing tonight. Maybe next year I’ll get the Library involved.

Lastly, we have my notes

The wood stove cooking didn’t go so well for me. My bread didn’t cook all the way through. I really ought to have followed the instructions better. But enough of Non NaNo stuff.

Things are traveling at light speed, which should be expected of a Sci-Fi universe that covers about a 2,000 Light Year size glob of space. Our next quote from what I’ve written this week was chosen based upon a Facebook conversation with Spook. Apparently one of her characters got a gender change mid way and it reminded me of a hilarious conversation between two of Rachael’s lovers. Keep in mind that Rachael is pretty insatiable as it is.

“Alpha Foxtrot Bravo Dash Zero One Niner responding to the communication request from Bravo Tango Sierra Fifty,” a male voice came over Traverse’s communication unit.

“What the...” he flipped the response switch, “Either you’ve had a sex change or this isn’t Rachael.”

Of course as soon as he said that Traverse wanted to hit his head against the wall. He had known there were others ship board with Rachael, he just hadn’t expected them to be awake. Thankfully the man obviously had a sense of humor because a chuckle came across the line.

“I’d fear for the women of the universe if she’d had a sex change.”

“Amen to that,” Traverse chuckled to himself. “This is Captain Traverse of the [to be named Pirate Ship] requesting instructions for landing.”

Oh and see that underlined phrase, yes I need a name for my Pirate Ship. Rachael’s Frisbee 100 (that’s a space ship designed based on the Frisbee and 100 feet across) is the Alfa Foxtrot Brave Dash Zero One Niner (AFB-019), nicknamed Cilla by Captain Robert (who apparently had a huge influence on Rachael as she keeps referring back to him.). I was thinking something along the lines of Juliet Romeo (JR for Jolly Roger?). Use the FAA/Military alphabet and you could come up with some interesting letter/word combinations :}

And so dear readers, I conclude with these three questions for you:

1) Have you a pirate ship name to suggest?
2) How are you NaNovels going?
3) And how are YOU doing?

:} Cathryn Leigh {:

It’s NaNovel Update Number 1!

Well NaNo has begun and I’ve set up a little NaNo update template to minimize time spent away from my NaNovel. So here’s what I have to say on Day 2 of NaNoWriMo.

First, we have the Statistics*:

Total Word count:  6327

Total Page Count:  22

Total Time Spent:  5.31 hours

Average Words per minute:  20

Average Pages per hour:  4

*Don’t worry I’m not calculating that every time I post. Nope, I already have a spreadsheet that I log my start and end time, as well as the total words and pages. Then Excel does all the calculations for me. If you think that’s organized you should see my Nueri binder...

Second, we have the Write-Ins:

There are five weeks to NaNo this year, so I’m giving myself a goal to attend four Write-Ins AND the TGIO Party. I’ve already made it to the Kick-Off party, which was a blast. Being at my mom’s for this first week I’m going outside my region (and taking my Mom with me) to attend a Write-In on the south shore of Boston. We’ll be attending that tonight.

Lastly, we have my notes

I won a binder at the Kick-off party and spent the last week filling it with my map of the galaxy and the starships I’ve designed. Funny part is next year I’ll start work on designing one for my mom’s story that I’ve just about convinced her to do for NaNo next year.

Now as to how my story is going. I am having a blast. So is Stowaway, the large tabby feline, who gets to do the Cheshire Cat act because he knows he’s in a novel (this is Dare 1) and he’s decided that’s his purpose for being there (double dare) and he’s going to be trying to convince them they are in a novel (double credit). Only I think he’s doing that more for his own entertainment than anything else.

Oh, I’ve also managed to find a way to mention a few trilogies that my friends and I have written *grin*

Rachael let out a swear as the deceleration made her mess up her course.
“Have you down loaded anything new to my tablet?’ Michael asked.
“Death and Fairies, Aeserion and The Phoenixes of Vervell.” Rachael spoke responded with out paying much attention to what she said.

That’s right through out the story I get to make references to these three book as Michael works on translating the ancient Latin alphabetic texts to the oriental like character language now used. Apparently, Rachael’s father used to read these trilogies to his kids. She can’t read the Latin alphabet and translation keeps Michael out of her hair while they’re out in space.

Now, should I start counting the number of times Rachael beds someone? I could include Michael too, to increase the count. He’s not nearly as bad as her though and only beds others out of necessity. (What happened to those anti harassment laws? I have no idea!)

And now I’m off to do some old fashioned cooking on a wood stove. *giggles* It’s back down from the year 4000 AC (after Colonization) to 1800 AD. I’m just a century hopper!

Oh and how are you NaNovels going?

:} Cathryn Leigh

Count Down to NaNoWriMo

In less than a week, November starts and with it the [Inter] National Novel Writing Month begins. Never heard of it? (Though I’m thinking all of my blog readers probably have.) Then you can check them out over at the NaNoWriMo website. As they put it NaNo is “30 days of literary abandon”. It’s the one month you’re allowed to write crap in, so long as you remember to edit it out before submitting it to anyone... Well unless you all want a laugh over NaNoisms; Miriam has some good ones on her blog.

Anyway, this year I’m going for my Science Fiction story, which is centered around Rachael Elizabeth Anderson. I’ve dragged her and her lover/husband Michael Rembrandt Brocktovitch over the coals in a draft story that a few people have read. Let’s see what have I done? Well I have:
*  Made them fall in love, get married and have a child all before the age of 16 then separated all three of them by force when the child is six months old
* Given them temporary and permanent memory blocks so that they don’t remember their past (aka the above statement)
* Killed off Rachael’s family and made her think she did it
* Brainwashed Michael into thinking he killed his wife and child
* Had Rachael become indebted to space pirates who forced her to get an abortion and then sold the embryo without her knowledge
* Had Rachael and Michael reunite and fall back in love

Well, when I first thought about doing this I was going to try and do an utter rewrite on what I’d previously written, but that’s kind of cheating. Plus I’ve discovered that doesn’t necessarily work so well. Or at least I don’t think it would for me.

Instead, I’m going to take off from where I left off. Essentially Michael and Rachael have entered into a contract to work for this particular planetary government. It’s highly lucrative and Rachael’s got the qualifications as a space courier. Some of the things I’m going to throw at them:
* Reappearance of the United Government Rachael’s parents used to work for, they’ve finally gotten around to tracking down her ship, which used to be theirs
* Recovery of memories, at least on Rachael’s part, and the unraveling of their convoluted past
* Reunion with the Pirate’s son, who was the father of the aborted baby
* Appearance of the aborted son whose mind is very human though his body is mostly machine
* Contact from the daughter Rachael and Michael thought were dead

Yup, so I think I’m ready. Once I’ve printed out all my space diagrams, spaceship diagrams, spaceship specifications... What? I have been working on these since 2003 you know. :}

But what about you guys? Are you doing NaNo? Are you ready?

:} Cathryn Leigh

P.S. What’s going to make this fun and difficult is the fact that Rachael is a Nymphomaniac, Adrenal Junkie and prone to mood swings. Oh, and Michael is a werewolf (as is their daughter and Rachael is half one) with a six month cycle. *grin*

Poetic Excuses

I'm sorry blog,
I've ignored you so.
My momentum has been shot.

I've skipped a week,
nearly made it two.
I forget an awful lot.

You see we've come,
To that time of year,
When we're busy as the bees.

First October and its spooky night.
Two children's costumes, what a pretty sight.

Next is November, that writing spree.
A whirlwind of words to be set free.

Then comes December with its celebration.
Can I send my baking to more than one nation?

And should I also dare to mention,
That I’ve gone and volunteered?
To help lead my daughter’s troop,
Of Daisy scouts so dear.

There’s also this class I’m taking,
For the writing mother.
Volunteering for the church
No wonder I’m all a flutter.

And last, but certainly not the least,
Phoenix Triumphant goes on,
Some writing and some edits,
Until the story’s dawn.


:} Cathryn Leigh