November is NANOWRIMO . . .

. . . and it's been kicking my ass.

I spent much of October plotting and taking notes, writing down ideas.

I did really well the first week. I've been pretty lucky because I have a job where I can write at work as long as there isn't something more pressing to do (i.e. - guest at the desk, ringing telephone, etc.)

Today, I forgot my flash drive. So I'm unable to work on the project. I have a backup document in my email but it's a few days old and won't do me much good. I wrote over 3,000 words yesterday. I'll try to write when I get home, to make up for today, but I'm afraid I won't hit the 50,000 word goal.

And that's okay.

Why?

Because the story is crap.

Let me rephrase. The plot is good. The story is crap. I've just been mindlessly writing whatever to up the word count. I've even used a NANOWRIMO plot device this year: The Traveling Shovel of Death.

It's an ingenious idea and I'm quite happy with it. The idea is this: someone dies by shovel. I don't know the origin of it, but it was quite fun to use. It's something I plan to put in next year too, if my story will allow it.

This project will be my longest draft to date, but it won't hit the 50,000 word count by the end of November 30; and like I said, that's okay. It's okay because when I'm done with this draft (whether you consider it draft 0 or draft 1) I'll get to take what I've done so far and . . . fix it.

I'll go back and add details, take out huge, disgusting paragraphs that I wrote when I was hopped up on caffeine and fretting under pressure.

It'll be a relief, quite frankly.

So why do I continue to put myself through this? Because it forces me to write. Sure, I come up with an idea and I work on it for a while, but the inevitable happens: I either get bored with the story or fed up with the characters. It happens every time. And yes, I've been known to go back and work on a story but it tends to get saved on a flashdrive, that I carry around, and there it will stay, collecting virtual dust.

So I've spent nearly the whole of last month putting words on the screen, most of them will be deleted and/or changed by the time I go through it again, after NANOWRIMO.

And that's okay.

Because I was writing.

Happy NANOWRIMO kiddos, let the insanity start all over again next year.

Demon: Summary and Snippet

It's not a very big or particularly well written summary, but honestly, I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to navigate this story. I have a pretty good idea of the ending, it everything up to that point that may be the problem. :)

WIP Summary and Snippet

Summary:

Bridgette goes home for her little sister's wedding and all hell breaks lose . . . literally. She must maneuver through her former life in Ohio, trying to handle relationships, friendships, and her empath best friend . . . not to mention her new Demon . . . fiance?

Snippet:

Someone was screaming.

I rolled off my bed and fell on the floor. My cousin, Aaron, and his wife Julie were standing in the hall when I opened the door.

“ 's' matter,” I asked, clutching the door frame tiredly.

More screaming.

Suddenly out of my stupor, I ran down the hall and stopped in front of a door. I had heard voices before from this room – Simone and Mary. Light shone from under the door.

I flung the door open as Mary started screaming again.

I blinked twice to make sure I wasn't imagining the whole thing.

A portal was opened in the floor, inside a circle of candles. Simone sat in the corner crying while Mary was crying and screaming being held in the air by her arm. She must have been standing too close. “Put her down,” I said, Aaron coming in behind him wielding a bat. I raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged.

“Look, I'm tired and I'm pretty sure that I'm still drunk,” I said to the room at large, “put Mary down and everyone can go back to bed or I won't make it til tomorrow afternoon.”

“I am not leaving without my compensation,” the tall man shaped demon standing beside the portal told me, holding Mary up higher.

“Hey,” Aaron said, pointing his bat.

“Step back, Julie,” I whispered. I heard her step back into the hall. “Take Derek Jeter here with you.” I took the bat from him and waited until I heard the door shut behind me. “Now listen here, I am so not in the mood for this crap. Knock it off.” Too bad he was a demon, he was kinda cute.

“I will not leave without . . .”

“Yeah, yeah, you want compensation,” I interrupted him. “Can this wait until tomorrow night? What do you want anyway?”

“The summoning spell required my obtaining a bride,” the demon told me steadily.

I glanced at the bride in the corner before turning back to glare at the demon. “Which one,” I asked him. One of them had to initiate the spell, meaning that one was responsible for payment.

“Mary invoked the circle,” Simone spoke up.

“I didn't know,” the twelve year old squeaked. I sighed.

“Put her down,” I told the demon.

The door opened behind me. “Sweetie, what's going on,” Mom asked. I closed my eyes and counted to five. My Mom is irritating on the best of days but with this wedding she has been driving me crazy.

“I don't know,” I told her honestly. I've had more then my fair share of dealing with demons. I was so not wanting to have to deal with one know. “Is Dad home yet?”

“He won't be back until morning,” Mom told me. The demon looked at me questioningly, trying to figure out what I was doing. Well, good luck to him, because I sure as hell didn't know.

Bad choice of words.

I had a feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

Simone sat huddled in the corner. I had a feeling she was the one behind all of this. She usually was. I glanced at Mary, looking frightened and ready to piss herself.

“What about a trade,” I asked.

I then promptly told myself to shut up, but as per usual, I didn't listen.

“A trade,” the demon asked, tilting his head to the side and looking me up and down. I made a face. “You,” he asked, nodding in my direction.

“Would that be okay,” I asked, crossing my arms. Was he really going to be this picky? What was wrong with me anyway? Alright, so I'm not twelve like Mary or super skinny and super bitchy like Simone, but . . . wait, was I really going to get upset if he didn't want me.

Apparently.

I should have had more to drink.

He ran his forked tongue across his lower lip. I suppressed a shudder. I sighed in relief when he released Mary, who ran at full speed and launched herself at me. “No, don't go, Bridgette. Don't do it.”

I shushed her, pulling her arms from my waist and passing her back to my mother. “Well?”

He glanced at Simone and then at me. “Alright. Let's go.”

“Now,” Simone asked, jumping up. She skirted around the portal and to the door. “I'm getting married! She's Blake's Best Person. She has to be there.”

“You have a date,” he asked.

I scoffed at him. “No,” I said.

“Now you do,” he said. I groaned. “And afterword, we'll go home.”

“Home,” my mother squawked, gripping my shoulder.

I'll admit it, at the moment, going to Hell sounded like a blessing. And I was tired. And I was still buzzing from the alcohol. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Can we figure the rest of this crap out later,” I asked the Demon. “Do you accept or not?”

He nodded. “I accept. Till the morrow, then.” He had the nerve to tip an imaginary hat to us. “Ladies,” he said before disappearing. I sighed when the portal dimmed and then closed.

“What did I say about magic in the house,” my mother asked Mary.

“It was Simone,” I said, quietly.

“And now look what you've done,” my mother continued on.

I moved my head around, trying to relieve some of the built up pressure in my neck. “It was Simone,” I said, louder this time, making sure I didn't look at my little sister. In fact, I had my back to all of them, looking out the window into the night. “Simone set the circle up. She probably talked Mary into invoking the circle though. And, of course, Mary took her up on it, wanting the experience.” I turn around and walked past them. “I'm going to bed.”

I locked the door behind me for good measure when I got into my room. I grabbed my cell phone off my nightstand and made a phone call.

*******

If you take the time to read this, please let me know what you think. So far it's one of my favorite scenes, except for maybe the scene I wrote earlier today. Anyway, some feedback would be great.

Thanks,

~M~

Reality Bites: Distractions & New Adventures

Reality Bites: Distractions & New Adventures

Today is the last day of August. On the 21^st I made myself some goals. Let's see how I did.

Goal One was make my overall word count 5000. At the point, I'm at 5,024. Goal accomplished.

Goal Two was post a summary and a snippet of current WIP. That will be a separate post. I just need to decide on a snippet. Goal accomplished.

Goal Three was a Playlist and a Pandora channel to write by. I have several Pandora channels, so I consider that a success. I do have a writing playlist though that I did last week. I bought several CDs of new music, so the list will be changing again soon. Either way – Goal accomplished.

So there's an update on my goals from the last post. I'll try to post a new set of goals soon.

I've been distracted from my writing though. Baking and cake decorating has been a hobby of mine for over a year now. I've been inspired by Food Network's Challenge and Ace of Cakes. Anyway, I've signed up for the Wilton Basic Cake Decorating class. A friend of mine, Lisa, whom I also work with, has signed up with me. We're very excited.

If all goes well, I'll also be able to sell beautiful cakes out of my home. I'm excited about this. So I'm sure to get distracted as I start going to classes and spend time practicing my newly learned techniques. I just have to focus and I know that I can do this and keep my monthly goals.

Keep an eye out for the summary and snippet and I'll try to have the new goals posted by the end of the week.

Keep writing!

~M~

Salutations & Objectives

OR

Introduction & Goals

My name is Megan. I go by storywriter84 on most places on the web. I write so, by definition, I am a writer. ;) Feel free to follow me on Twitter. If you decide to, please drop me a little note and introduce yourself.

There's a little snippet along the side of this blog, if you want to know some specifics. For some reason, I am ecstatic that I was able to put in the line about drinking Coke. Most people in the area that I live tend to drink Pepsi. Yuck. Although Mountain Dew is okay.

I have every intention that this blog will be all about my writing and writing in general. I have a feeling that will fall apart rather quickly.

Starting in September, I want to make a post about my goals for the month. Since we're already past the halfway mark for August, I'm going to wait until the end of the month or the very beginning of next.

To start us off, though, I'm going to set one goal. Ready? Here we go!

GOAL:

My current WIP is 4,789 words long.

My goal, to be completed

by the end of August is to make

the word count 5,000.

Should be easy right? We'll see. I'll post a summary and a snipped soon. Hopefully be the end of the month. Is that another goal? Seems like it to me. So:

GOAL 2:

Post a summary and snippet

of current WIP

(currently titled DEMON)

by the end of the month.

It's been rough going the last couple of weeks with this story, but I'm planning on powering through. I think I stop to the grocery store for some candy is in order. I also need to get some new music to write to. I'm currently using all my music from Glee, but I don't think it's doing the trick.

So, my next goal will be:

GOAL 3:

Compile a playlist from iTunes

to listen to while writing.

(AND create Pandora channel)

I think three goals are enough for right now. I'll post stuff as I go along. If I start slacking, feel free to send me a message to kick my butt along.

~Megan~