Tag: creativity

February Results and March Goals

February Results

Finish the NaNoWrimo Novel from 2020

I finished the NaNo Novel from 2020 pretty early in the month. I put the last words down on February 4th, and for at least the next day or two, it didn’t feel like I had finished the last book of the series. Granted, there’s still work to be done, so I’ll still be writing and editing for a while!

Start Official Edits on BOOK A

Edits officially started on BOOK A the day after I finished writing the last novel. So far, I haven’t been able to get in as many edits as I would like, but progress is being made.

Continue to Work on open Projects

I made some decent progress on my open writing projects. While I didn’t get in as much writing as I would have liked (that’s typical around this time of year), I still made progress and that is quite a win for me.

In February, I also finished Piece By Piece by Tori Amos and Ann Powers. I’ve been a fan of Tori Amos’ music for quite a while, and I finished Resistance in a few days last year. For being more of a fiction reader, I have to say I’ve been enjoying a lot more non-fiction lately. There is so many interesting voices out there and I’m ready to start reading more of them!

I also watched Soul this month and it made me cry (in a good way). It was exactly what I needed during these tumultuous times in my creative and occupational life. I’ve been struggling to find balance and trying several things for personal growth, and Soul definitely helped to put a lot of things into perspective.

Not really one of my goals when February started, but I’ve also been working on personal growth in the form of mediation and exercise. I’ve started picking up exercise again after some waffling (The second dose of the corona virus vaccine knocked out a lot of my progress) and now I’m doing my best to run a mile (or most of it) on the days I’m off. I’ve been doing my best to meditate via an online meditation class/retreat. Within 3 days I saw some differences, and I’m so pleased I can finally make changes to be healthier and happier.

Word Count: 22,500

March Goals

Continue Edits on BOOK A

My dream goal is to finish edits before April, but based on the pace I’ve kept in February I’m not sure that will happen in March. Changes are happening in my occupational life (and they’re not very fun ones), so I will be happy with any kind of progress in edits during March.

Continue to work on Open Projects

Again, I had a lot of plans for making progress in (and finishing) projects during February (which didn’t quite happen) and March (which might happen and might not) but I’ll be happy if I make decent progress in everything I have open. Even small steps are steps in the right direction right now.

Attend a Writing Conference Online

I’m quite excited for this writing conference. It’s the Women in Fiction conference. By pure luck, I stumbled upon it while scrolling facebook. I looked into it and it sounded like a great idea, so I’m going to see how it goes. I’m relatively new to the writing conference scene, only going to one local conference for the past two years. I’m excited to branch out and take a leap and see what happens.

Prepare for Camp NaNoWriMo

Even though life is wild right now, and I have several projects still open, and absolutely no idea what my project will be in the April session of Camp NaNoWriMo, I am still going to make preparations and hope for the best when April arrives. Hopefully I’ll be finishing some projects and can start something new!

Wednesday Works: A Letter to the Inner Child

Adulthood is where dreams go to die. Where the light of desires and wishes is snuffed out by the heavy demands of adulthood. Silently, they die, screams unheard between bills to pay and the green desire of more more more!

Adulthood is where dreams go to die. Snuffed out in youth by the distractions of the old man screaming for you to meet him, the old woman content to shout and scream, demand your attention now in the brightness of your potential, only to snuff it out as easily as blowing out a candle.

So dream now.

Create now.

Feel something now and do something silly now.

Before it’s too late.

Day Eight: Creation

To create is to defy. To make in a world that only wishes to destroy is an act of defiance. To create in the world as it is now, is an act of courage and strength. To build instead of destroy, to give instead of taking away, is a privilege not many people have. The world is a mess, and through every act of creation, if we can make it right for just one person, then it becomes worth it.

“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation”- Jonathan Larson.

What I Learned Writing a Prequel

Prequels are a sticky subject. Some people enjoy them, some people can’t stand them. For the first time, I wrote one, and finished it.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

Prequels Vary:

For some prequels, the main characters are the same as in the rest of the books in a series. For this prequel, I decided to go further back, and only keep a few of the characters, mainly the villains, to explore their backstories. I could have kept the same characters, but it was fun to explore the villains.

Prequels Reveal A Lot:

In this prequel, it was fun to explore the villains before they became the villains, and the main characters that were not in the series for one reason or another. For a while, I wasn’t sure what the motivation for the villains were, but writing them out I found the perfect motivations for them, which will make every other book in the series stronger.

Prequels Can Be Complicated:

Several characters had to meet and change for the series to take place. There were certain instances where it felt like pulling teeth trying to get two characters together or even to get them to meet.

Prequels Can Be Calming:

Writing a book series can vary in ease. As a writer that enjoys writing from start to finish in a novel, it was wonderful to know where I was going and what needed to happen at the end. It was amazing to explore the twists and turns of characters and determining how they get to the end.

All said and done, it was a wonderful experience to write a prequel and see what I could do with characters I hadn’t explored yet.

#13: Looks Like A Baby

The archeologist wiped the sweat from her forehead and returned to brushing the dirt from the skull in the dirt. She had pitched her project to find one of the congregations of the last known races to quit reproducing and all die of old age in the Rangu desert, and so far her findings had been correct.

So far, all of the remains they had found were all over the age of fifty, riddled with arthritis and osteoporosis and age. She was about to make the biggest discovery of her career, her name in all of the journals and research studies on this race of elderly people.

“Miss Areon!” One of her assistants called out from another quadrant of the dig, “We’ve found something!”

It had to be something interesting if they were calling her over. As the head of the dig, they were instructed to call her with anything even remotely interesting. She stood over the assistant as he carefully brushed the dirt away from the tiny skull, to reveal tiny shoulders.

“Were the Maricai known to have dwarf features?” her assistant asked. “Because it looks like a baby.”

She shook her head, her mind reeling with the possibilities. How could she have been so wrong?

“It is a baby,” She answered, grumbling internally about how wrong she had been. “See how the skull hasn’t fully formed into one yet?” She asked, pointing out the feature on the tiny skull.

Now she knew she had a choice to make. Continue with the dig, or give up and search somewhere else for the Maricai people.

“Keep digging,” She instructed the rest of them. These people, whoever they were, had a story to tell too.

 

Return the Favor

She folds her hands so you don’t see the bruises.

The hides her gaze so you don’t see her bloodshot eyes. 

She tries not to wince when you take hold of her and show her something you’re proud of. 

She covers up so you don’t see the scars and burns. 

Your muse has been fighting for you.

Isn’t it time you return the favor? 

Fight for your art!