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

A Versatile Blogging Award

Earlier this week I got nominated for the Versatile Blogging Award by two totally cool people: Miriam and Charlie. Now as a recipient of this award I have some rules I have to follow.

Fist I have to thank the person (or in my case people) who nominated me.

So, Miriam (A Farewell to Sanity) and Charlie (The Leaning Tower ofPlot), thank you! 

*Aside* I think they were coordinating an ambush because they nominated me on October 15th! I certainly wouldn’t put it past them. *End Aside*

You know I love you two and will give you lots of hugs when we meet at last!

  

Secondly I have to share seven random facts about myself.

Yikes! Do I have to do fourteen because I was nominated twice? I hope not. I think coming up with seven might be hard. Perhaps lunch will help. *Fifteen minutes later* You get seven, but some of them are going to be quite detailed. *grin* 

1. Up until a month before I was born I had an older brother, Eric Benjamin Adams, who died of a rare genetic disease involving the Kreb’s Cycle. He would have been a year and a half older than me.
2. I’m an only child but my daughter will tell you I have a big family.
   
   a.  My Dad’s remarriage when I was 8 or 9 gave me a step-brother and step-sister who are 10 to 15years older than I am. He has two kids, she has three.
   b. My Mom’s remarriage when my daughter was six months only gave me four step-brothers who are not much older than me. One is engaged (or thinking about it), three are married and one of them has a daughter one month older than my son.
3. Writing became my main hobby two years ago when I joined Protagonize and found like minded people to cheer me on. The hobbies that have fallen by the wayside are:
   
   a.  knitting
   b.  crochet
   c.  beading
   d.  sewing (but I still do Halloween costumes!)
   e.  quilting
   (I guarantee that I have unfinished pieces in all of those categories, including writing.)
4. I still get the heebee geebees from dark rooms in houses. This is especially true when I’m heading up stairs in a darkened house. I can feel things creeping up behind me, and I’ve been known to start walking/running if no one else is around.
5. There are times when I also believe in monsters under my bead and jump under the covers and wrap myself up so it can’t get me.
6. When I retire, I want to be a writer and to supplement my retirement savings with book sales. I also hope to have the time to:
   a.  make costumes based upon clothing I’ve created for my worlds
   b.  travel to lots of different places in our world
   c.  be the neighborhood Grandmother (or at least have been enough of a mother to my children’s closest friends to be grandmother to their kids...)
7. I have a love/hate relationship with the [Inter]National Novel Writing Month.
   a.  I love it because it gives me planned time to write away from home in the company of other writers
   b.  I hate it because it forces me to write faster than I like, eliminating my ability to take time and walk out plot points (aka go for a walk to think through what’s going on in my plot and where it’s going next)
   c. Apparently love wins over the hate as I signed up to do it again this year!

Now, Thirdly, I have to pass this award on to five to seven of my deserving blogging buddies.

That’s going to take a bit of figuring see as my two best blogging buddies nominated me, and I’m going to try and use the no backsies (at least not right away) rule. Looks like I’m going to be subscribing to some fellow Protagonize member blogs so I can nominate them *giggles*

1. Eloosive (Daily Writing Practice)
2. Jackerbie (Crumb Trails)
3. Burndtree (Burndtree)
4. Alyssa (Literaturistic Blog)
5. Jessica M. Vazquez, aka Arwym (Crafted Dreams)

And Lastly, I need to contact those people I nominated and congratulate them.

Well if you’re one of those people and you haven’t been contacted by me, you will be soon. Just remember the rules are as follows:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5-7 deserving blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them!

May we all gain a reader or two in this whole fun process!

:} Cathryn Leigh