Happy Halloween and Beginning of NaNoWrimo

First off, I wanted to say happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates. It's one of my favorite holidays, though the past few years we haven't done much. This year, we hope to find a party or two and have a little fun. Please be safe if you plan to go out on the town! Some weird crap can happen on Halloween (I was actually in a car accident on Halloween several years ago).

Be sure not to get too crazy come October 31st. The next day is a special one...the first day of NaNoWrimo. What's the best way to get through the first week? Eat the left over Halloween candy, and if you don't have any left, be sure to stop by your local store to buy the crazy discounted candy they have to get rid of!

Speaking of NaNoWrimo, are you ready? Our critique group shared our ideas for plots and decided just last night which to work on. I had two ideas that are very different and wasn't sure which to pick. Both had potential, but with the girls' help, I was able to decide.

Right now, I have a basic idea of my story, and a very very very (did I mentioned very?) rough synopsis. I'm at the point where I wonder if I have enough to write 50,000 words in the 30 days ahead, but each year I go through self-doubt. Don't let it swallow you up, or you will never get past the first 5,000 words, let alone 50,000. I hope I can use my own advice.

I've been in a writing funk lately, so I hope that writing the first draft of a new book snaps me out of it so I can get back to editing my current WIP, Parlor. I'm stuck on the editing part, prodding along but just don't know where to take some of the chapters. By cranking out a lot of crappy words in the month of November, maybe I'll have them out of my system and only the good ones will be left to finish editing my book!

Here's to hoping! Next week, I'll give an update on how my first 5 days of NaNo has gone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I have around 9,000-10,000 words. I'd love to write most of my week's wordcount during the week so that I have the weekend free to not stress over it and plot/research for the next week.

What do you hope to accomplish the first week of NaNo? Do you have a schedule planned out?

Pure Speculation Festival

My hubbie, my 2 crazy labs and I were on one hell of Joy READ this week. We travelled 7 hours to Grimshaw, Alberta for a few author visits to grade 7 and 8 students (well, just me, the rest of my crew hung out at the hotel room). From Grimshaw we drove another 6 hours to Edmonton to attend the 6th Annual Pure Speculation Festival - a small (but growing!) sci-fi / fantasy con where I sat on a few panels.

As we drove around the Radisson Hotel, desperately trying to find a place to park (I swear every nerd worth his/her weight in gold was at Pure Spec), we spied a green-skinned gentleman getting out of his vehicle. "We're in YOUR world now," my hubbie announced. Yes, we were. I was in nerd heaven the entire day. Walking amongst the costumed, the gamers, the keeners taking notes and the Geek Calendar Girls was quite the adventure. I presented a session on the SKINNED Series, gave an overview of the beasties in the SKINNED world and showed a sneak peek of the trailer for SECOND SKIN. But the best part - the cool people I met during my panels.

Tanya Huff (creator of the Blood series of books, turned into Blood Ties - a 2 season TV show) is so damn smart and well read and passionate. She kicked the snot out of any point she made and yet had time to chat with the newbie (that'd be me) and enjoyed hanging with fans.

Dan Brodribb is a nifty guy - a self-professed shy comic - a wrestling referee - and all around fantasy fan. His self-effacing humour is endearing.

Then there's Mike Perschon, an English prof / Steampunk Scholar who makes the classics come alive - ALIVE! Plus, he's up on his YA fiction and even shared some steampunk titles my high school History teacher hubbie could use in class.

As panelists, we engaged in heated discussions - the sparkling vampire debate, paranormal fiction as the modern fairytale, which sci-fi title should "stay on the island", the morphing of paranormal fiction into genres like steampunk and what was next for the genre in general. I left the fest with my inner nerd fully charged.

I hope I'm invited back next year. I'm going to get me a kickass costume. I wish I had taken pictures of the wicked cool costumes, but alas - epic fail on my part. (Many thanks to my brother, Blaise, who kindly took pics of the SKINNED session for me - and my sister, Brenda - who helped me setup!) Until next year, Pure Spec.....

Fighting Distraction

There are so many distractions in life--books, tv, and other hobbies. Mix in family and friends and sometimes it's hard to get anything done and by anything, I mean writing. Times are about to get worse, with the holiday season approaching upon us faster than I can type this. Before we know it, it will be Halloween, Thanksgiving (for our US readers) and then the December holidays (whatever you may celebrate). Not only is it hard to get everything done, it's even harder to make sure you sit down and concentrate on your story. I know for me, when I'm in the zone on one of my books, my mind tends to constantly think about it, working out issues that I'm having or just living in the world I created. During the holidays it's different, I'm thinking about turkeys, vacation, presents and hot chocolate (okay, maybe a buttered rum or two as well. I'm not going to lie). Add in NaNoWrimo, and you've got a mess on your hands.

As I've mentioned here before, I got into crochet about a year ago. It helps me relax, concentrate on something theraputic and fun. I love it because I can take it anywhere, I've met amazing people and it gives me something to do when my husband wants to watch really terrible movies. I even started a crochet blog, Tami's Amis and Other Crochet. It started as a hobby, but now it has crept into my thinking of writing time and even my actual writing time. I hope that NaNo helps me set my priorities back to where they should be. I'm not saying that it has taken over my time writing, but it has slowly moved into that space. It will be a huge test for me come November. I will be working on a new book for NaNoWrimo (I have two stories brewing and I'm not sure which I'd like to write yet), the holidays and on top of all that, I've decided to make many of my gifts this year. I'm excited about that, but to be honest, it's a lot easier to go out to the mall and purchase something. I hope to accomplish so much during November, more than just writing a first draft of a new YA novel.

What do you hope to accomplish with NaNoWrimo, other than 50,000 words?

NANO Attack!

With NANO a few weeks away, participants like Tami and I are busy jotting plot notes, character traits, researching settings or time periods and seeing inspiration shining around every corner of life. I call it the hunter / gatherer stage, we're like bears getting ready to den for the winter - gorging ourselves for the ordeal ahead. Prepping for the inevitable dry spell (which should strike at about Day 19, just beyond the half way mark) when NANO seems like a freakish experiment in self-mutilation and the next word is the equivalent of the next drop on your forehead a la water torture.

Let's revisit that bear analogy. It resonates with me at the moment, since my yard was recently invaded. I took the dogs out early one morning, it was pitch black and they FREAKED out, barking, snarling - and frankly, scaring the crap out of me. I managed to get them inside the house, though they fought against their leashes the whole way. When the sun came up, I found out why. A bear had busted down a section of our fence to access our overripe crab apples and ripped down several branches for easy munching. Here's a pic of the damage:

The bear came back a few nights later, so we eliminated the problem - shook all the apples down and got rid of them. We've since fixed the fence and all's well. But, being a paranormal fiction author, I had to question - since we never really saw the bear - what if this incident didn't have an easy, natural explanation? What if something paranormal was at work? What if, instead of a bear, our house (which backs onto miles of woods) was encroaching on the territory of some other creature? Something old, something evil? A starving thing, desperate and hungry?

Like I said, me and that bear have a lot in common. We're both hoarding up all the nutrients we can - only in my situation - it's writerly goodness. And from the bear came the the geniuses of my NANO project. A busted fence, branches down from a tree - with huge claw marks carving up the trunk - black oozy liquid on the frosted lawn, leaving a trail to the woods, and a frazled single parent who poopoos her imaginative teen-aged daughter's foreboding feeling away.

Then things get worse....much, much worse.

Good luck to all NANO participants - here's to hunting down a wicked plot and characters to DIE for!

Preparing for NaNoWrimo Part1- The Idea

As I mentioned in last week's post, NaNoWrimo is right around the corner. Despite saying that I wasn't going to participate, I changed my mind. Why did I change it so quickly? Sunday I was laying in bed being lazy, reading my Twitter feed, when someone tweeted something totally innocent. It had nothing to do with books, writing, stories or anything you would think it would, but just a random life observation. Those 140 characters (actually, it was less), gave me a whole book idea. It just wasn't any old book idea, it was something that I instantly needed to write...like right now. What perfect timing right?

I quickly sat up, grabbed my Moleskine (that is always by my bedside) and began to write the idea down before it slipped away into the abyss of great ideas (and trust me, I have a LOT of those floating around, lost). After i wrote down the basic idea, my mind still raced, trying to put it all together. My husband was in the next room, so I ran (yes I literally ran) to him and told him all about it. I wanted to make sure I wasn't nuts, that this could really work. The great part? He agreed!

Now comes the hard part, building a world, characters and plot around this basic idea, all before November 1st. That's what I'll be working on in the days to come, trying to get enough of a platform, so to speak, to know where I'm taking the story. The first few years I wrote for NaNo, as I mentioned before, I just ran with it. I didn't know what I was writing until I sat down for the first time in November. The last few I had a plan. It worked out so much better and my first draft was much improved because of it.

Be sure to get as much down about your story, even if it's something as simple as your main character being allergic to strawberries. You won't regret it!

If you want to be my writing buddy for NaNoWrimo this year, my user name is Seeker4.

The Crossroads Blog Tour: Press Release

If you love paranormal YA, you won't want to miss this tour:

This Halloween meet 16 YA Paranormal Authors at THE CROSSROADS! From October 16-31st, bloggers and authors will meet at a virtual crossroads, sharing their love of the paranormal and things that go bump in the night with readers.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 12, 2010 – Canada, United States, Worldwide:

What’s dark, delicious and READ all over? Young adult paranormal fiction, my FIENDS, and what better way to celebrate debut and established authors in the genre than a blog tour frenzy? Over sixteen days this October (October 16-31) bloggers and authors will meet at a virtual crossroads, sharing their love of the paranormal and things that go bump in the night with readers.

Judith Graves, an Alberta based YA author, (Under My Skin. Leap Books, 2010) has organized the event, the first multi-author blog tours of its kind. She’s wrangled in New York Times bestselling authors (Tonya Hurley. Ghostgirl series. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) and newbies alike for the sixteen day promotional GOREfest. Participating bloggers will giveaway generous amounts of SWAG donated by the authors, as well as signed copies of Crossroad author titles.

Paranormal authors deal with the fantastical and the yearnings of their readers. “It’s a once a year opportunity to be anything and anyone you want to be. Anyone can be a princess, a superhero or a villain- all in one night.” Says Jordan Deen (The Crescent. Black Rose Writing, 2010). Joy Preble (Haunted. Sourcebooks Fire, 2011) agrees, “Halloween is a time for unloosening – of spirits and self.” Why not indulge in the spirit of reading? “[Halloween] is a time where the veil between the real and the unreal, the living and the dead, thins until you think you see strange shadows following you under the pumpkin-orange moon…” adds Karen Kincy (Other. Flux, 2010)

Besides the usual deal with the devil lore, crossroads symbolize so much more, as Angie Frazier (Everlasting. Scholastic Press, 2010) shares, “Literally or figuratively, a crossroads is place where a single decision will change everything. For me, a crossroads symbolizes choice and loss, and sometimes even bravery—when you choose one path, countless others are left behind, unexplored.” Amy Brecount White (Forget-Her-Nots. Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2010) expands, “A crossroads symbolizes new possibilities. We can’t see what’s going to happen in either direction, but a choice is unavoidable. We are our choices, which is both exciting and scary.”

This Halloween, choose to explore new stories, new voices. “It’s the only holiday that encompasses imagination to the fullest. A night to be whom ever you want to be, try someone’s shoes on for size…experience magic.” Encourages, Kitty Keswick (Freaksville. Leap Books, 2010).

How the tour works:

From October 16-31st, readers, under the thrall of Wade Gervais, a dark-side vampire from Judith Graves’ Under My Skin, hunt for answers to a new paranormal trivia question each day. The answers are hidden within a different blog post daily, encouraging readers to visit each blog, each day of the tour. Bloggers will be giving away a bevy of tricks and treats donated by Crossroads Tour authors. At the end of the tour, on October 31st compiled answers are sent to Graves and a grand prize winner is randomly selected from those with correct and complete entries. There will also be two live chats on October 31st and November 1st, bringing readers, authors and bloggers together for a final celebration on Halloween and the Day of the Dead.
For the full list of participating authors, bloggers and giveaways, check out The Crossroads event page: http://judithgraves.com/events/the-crossroads-tour/

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To book an interview contact:Rachel Sentes/PublicistRachel@gal-fridaypublicity.com/604-366-7846
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gal-friday is a publicist, and freelance writer She works with authors, agents, publishers, businesses and cool arts causes. She is partnered with Brian Wood- a non-fiction literary agent in Vancouver to maximize publicity exposure

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NaNoWrimo is on its Way!

I know that we're only a week into October, but don't forget, NaNoWrimo is right around the corner. Despite not taking part in it this year, YAedge is always a huge supporter. I've done five out of the last six, and each year that I don't, it makes me a little sad.

To me, NaNoWrimo is more than 1,667 words a day or 50,000 in a month. It's a lesson that every word doesn't need to be right, the first draft doesn't need to be perfect. It's a community of writers, online and in my hometown that I may not have met otherwise. It's motivation to prove to myself that I can work every day, and still have time for other things in my life that I love to do.

This next month, I won't be focusing on a new story, but continuing my work on Parlor, my NaNoWrimo book from last year. As I did the last 1k-a-day, I will be focusing on editing. This time, I'm not going to give myself a daily word or edit count, but a challenge to myself to work hard each day. It's easy to get distracted, even when I have the whole day to write, by other things.

For those of you participating in NaNoWrimo this year, be sure to start thinking about your story, plotting it out and developing your characters. I usually fly by the seat of my pants to some extent during NaNo, but you will thank yourself for any pre-NaNo work you can get done. On the days where you don't have much time, or are having a tough writing day, having a plan and really knowing your characters will take you far.

I'd love to hear how many of you plan to participate this November, and what you've done so far to prepare.

On an off topic note, for those of you keeping track, I've started reading Frankenstein for my One Classic a Month Challenge. So far, it's not what I was expecting, but I'm enjoying it. I plan to continue to read modern YA while enjoying the classics, so it will be a little slower than my normal pace. As long as I finish in October, I'll be set!

Did anyone decide to join us in reading a classic a month?