Tag: WIP

My Weekly Update – Lovely, Loving, Love

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle10 Comments

Lovely

Last week I was beautiful.  Apparently, this week I am Lovely.  I have received the One Lovely Blog Award from not one but two of my favorite blogsperts (my made up word for blog experts).

Thank you so much to Vikki from The View Outside.  Vikki posts everyday and it is always interesting and entertaining.  I just love quality combined with quantity.

I also want to thank  Nicole from the The Madlab Post.  Nicole host the Monday Movie Meme.  I can’t wait to see what theme she comes up with each week to link movies.

The rules suggest that I share 7 items of interest about myself.  I am going to share 7 interesting facts about my JuNoWriMo WIP.

  1. The book takes place in China, New Orleans, New Jersey, New York, China, Texas & New Jersey again. 
  2. It is most definitely chick lit.
  3. It is funny.
  4. There is some very hot, seductive, spicy, rated PG-13 sex scenes in it an I blushed when I wrote it. 
  5. It is over 75,000 words long.
  6. There is an evil boss in the story.
  7. It has an ironic ending.

I have decided to give the award to my oh so Lovely JuNoWriMo Hosts:

Becca Campbell

A. E. Howard

And, my 13 Lovely New Followers below.

Loving

I am in a Loving kind of mood today.  I am loving that JuNoWriMo is done (I promise, I will stop talking about it after next Friday). I am loving the friends that I made through participating in this great challenge. I am loving that the first draft of my first novel is done and there is a lot of good content in there. I am really loving that I am not going to look at it again until September. I am loving that I have another novel idea in my head; can you say Camp Nanowrimo in August.

And, I am loving that I now feel like a writer.

For me, it was a Lovely Month!  How was yours? 

Love My New Followers

Next Week’s Schedule

Monday – JuNoWriMo participant Interview Felicia Wetzig
Tuesday – Insecure Writers Support Group Post
Thursday – JuNoWriMo participant Interview Becca Campbell
Friday – A Note to My Pre-JuNoWriMo Self
Sunday – My Weekly Update

JuNoWriMo Participant Interview A.M. Schultz

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle3 Comments

Here is the next installment of my JuNoWriMo Participant Inteviews.  Please welcome A.M. Schultz.

Tell me a little about what you are writing for Junowrimo.

I had been toggling ideas for three different WIPs prior to JuNoWriMo. The one I choice to focus primarily on for JuNoWriMo has been a fantasy piece. Choosing Fantasy over the other two has had some advantages, but there is so much world building required that much of my “word count”  has been used to outline characters, nations, etc. I’m not sure I’d have made nearly as much progress without the challenge aspect, though.

Is this your first time doing this type of challenge?

Something this formal, yes. I used to write fiction pieces on weekly deadlines here-and-there, but this is my first time taking a multi-writer challenge of this magnitude.

How has it meet your expectations so far?

It’s been “different,” in the sense that I won’t have 50,000 pages of a manuscript completed at the end, but I will have a much more developed world at my disposal by the time the month is done. I started 7 days into the challenge, and intentionally took on a project that I knew would need tons of polishing either way.

What was your writing schedule like this past week; time of day, # of words per day.

My schedule has been pretty bonkers. I am a full-time student through the year and actually took the Summer off, so I assumed I’d have tons of time to just write. I still hold a full-time job, too, and between setting up a better platform for my website, redoing the graphic work, etc, and then working on book cover graphics, blog posts,  I’ve just had to squeeze writing in when I can.

I carry a pocket Moleskine notebook about with me everywhere, though, and sketch an idea down, expand it in one of my larger notebooks, then type out the ideas later. For the fantasy world, I actually used the PC game “Civilization IV” by Sid Meier to create the map (which crashed on me after about six hours of plotting the world the first time), and it has been incredibly helpful.

All-in-all, JuNoWriMo work and miscellaneous stuff, I’m logging a good 60-70 hours a week, so hopefully this all pans out eventually.

Did you do any planning for Junowrimo?  If so what type of planning and how are your plans working out so far?

I actually found out about JuNoWriMo on the 7th of the month after seeing a few friends on my Twitter feed using the #JuNoWriMo hashtag, so no planning. I was aware of NaNoWriMo, and had told myself I would consider taking that challenge later in the year. If anything, I think I realized that this isn’t the type of challenge you can complete successfully without some type of gameplan.

What is your word count as of June 22th?

I’ve got about 8,500 words, which is WAAAAAY off the mark. But, I have a better idea of where I want the story to go than had I just started writing aimlessly, so I’ll take it. I’m hoping to be sitting around the 15,000 mark by the end of the challenge.

To learn more about AM Schultz, please be sure to visit his site and following him on Twitter.

Website: amschultz.com and Twitter:  @am_sch

At the Golf Course

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle7 Comments
FILE CHAIR NEST PIRATE WINNER

Sydney always loved coming to the golf course early in the morning.  Everything was all fresh and new.  The sun hadn’t quite come up, yet and the dew on the ground and low hanging fog made the course look scary and serene at the same time. In the distance, Sydney could here the maintenance crew cutting the fairway and sprinklers where watering the green to add the finishing touches to make the course ready for competition.

At this time of the day, you never know what could happen at the golf course.

Sydney started setting up the tent for the days lessons.  Chair, table, flowers, books;  she repeated this set up 6 times. She took pride in creating a warm and calming atmosphere at the Academy for the executives.  Because once they stepped on the driving range, the frustrations and stress of trying to learn this game, set in.

The golf swing is such a beautiful motion, unfortunately, most of these guys look like pirates wielding  swords.  All tight and tension, no rhythm and flow.  Not like the professionals.

Sydney looked through a file on her computer and printed out the appointment sheet for the day.  His name caught her eye and she was smiling before she could stop herself.

2:00 – 2:30: John Osha.

She was really looking forward to seeing him.  Even though they only had one conversation yesterday and a series of flirty texts last night, Sydney couldn’t help but admit that she  really like him.  And, she hadn’t felt this way about someone in a long time.

She couldn’t quite figure out what it was about him, though.  He was a winner and people gravitated towards him.  That trait made him confident, but not  cocky.  The way he looked at her and asked the right questions made Sydney feel special.  She wanted to feel that again.  If even for a minute.

Sydney started to move tables and chairs around, again.  She was anxious. She felt like a mother bird tending to her nest.  She just couldn’t sit still.

To calm herself down, Sydney took a walk out of the tent on to the driving range.  The sun was fully up now and it was warm.  No one was on the main driving range so she could walk out as far as she wanted.  It was so peaceful out here.

She closed her eyes and just felt the warmth of the sun on her face.  She took a deep breath and calmed herself down.  She turned around and opened her eyes.

And, there he was, standing in the entrance of the tent smiling at her.

Early mornings at the golf course are just the best.  Everything is fresh and new and you never know what can happen at the golf course.

Thanks so much to Carrie for picking this picture.  It allowed me to particpate in Writer Wednesday Blog Hop even though I am neck deep in JuNoWriMo. I am currently working on my first novel and this is an excerpt from my novel where part of it actually does take place a at a golf club during a tournament.

My Weekly Update – What do I expect from JuNoWriMo?

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle8 Comments

I am participating in JuNoWriMo this month.  With two days done, I am feeling pretty happy with myself for deciding to do this.  When you look at the task at hand, 50,000 words in 30 days, it seems a bit daunting. But, I am happy to report that after two days and over 6,000 words done. I can do this.

But, it is not just about getting in the word count.  I have additional expectations from JuNoWriMo that go far beyond just getting to 50,000 words.

1.  I expect to get a book out of it.  Not a book deal, I am not that naive or that optimistic, but I do hope that I will have completed the first steps in getting an actual book written. I don’t know why, but I image that saying I have written a book will make me all warm and fuzzy inside. And, I will have finished something.  The book may suck, but it is written.  I will worry about step two of the process in July.
2.  I expect to figure out my writing style. The book I am writing started out having several characters, taking place in several locations and dealing with several issues.  But, after 6,000 words, one character, one location and one issue it appears that it will take awhile to get this stuff sorted out and it is much more interesting to me to write from one persons perspective.  Now, just as long as I don’t run out of words to say about this one character, I should be good.
3.  I expect to determine my writing process.  I can already see how valuable the time I spent outlining last month has been.  It has allowed me to get in writing mode (or mood) easier every time I sit down to write.  And two day in, the words are still flowing and that pressure of figuring out what to write is eliminated.  What a relief.
4.  I expect to learn from others who are participating.  The JuNoWriMo isn’t just a challenge.  It has turned into a community.  Just in two day we have shared ideas, asked questions and motivated each.  It has already made me a better writer.
To continue with this theme of learning, four very talented writers and JuNoWriMo partipants have so generously accepted my invitation to be interviewed about their progress in JuNoWriMo. I will feature a new writer each Monday starting on June 10th.    
Week 1 – A.E Howard – one of our lovely and talented hosts.
Week 2 – EM Castellan
Week 3 – Juliana Haygert
Week 4 – Felicia Scotzig
In the mean time, check out their sites.
 
5.  I expect to take that “writer in training” description out of my profile.  One thing I have learned already is that writers are always learning, always growing, always getting better.  In that sense, we are always in training.  But, I just feel that I need to get this one project in the can and I will feel more comfortable calling myself a writer.  
Congratulations to all of you who have taken on this challenge.  I wish you all the best of luck and if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.
 
Next Weeks Schedule
Tuesday – Writer Wednesday Blog Hop – I actually fit in a scene from my Junowrimo project, edited of course. 
Wednesday – Insecure Writers Blog Post – I have a few questions I would like to ask my fellow writers. 
Friday – General Blog Post
Sunday – My Weekly Update
*I will get back to Blog Love and recognizing my new followers later or in the general post on Friday.  
 

What do you expect from JuNoWriMo?  Day two done, how is it going so far?