Some Awesome Facts Tuesday

I'm making up a new meme for my blog. Sure, there are some other memes like it, but this one is because I'm lazy and want to make up my own days/names for them. Laziness wins every time.

So from now on Tuesday's will have 5 facts. About me, the blog, my WIP, my friends, food, my cat, crafting, anything and everything. Awesome, right? Awesome.

Let's get this started with some facts about moi.

1. I can't whistle. Seriously. And every time I tell someone they start whistling and try to teach me. I've tried. I've even looked up tutorials on the net. Not gonna happen. *sigh*

2. If I see a bug in the house, I try and save it and let it back outside. It's bad karma to let 'em die I say. But to be honest, they crawl on me they are squished in a heartbeat.

3. My first word was cheese. Can't live without cheese, and yet, I hate cheesecake. Whaaat? I know. Shocker. But everything else has to have cheese on it. Everywhere. Extra extra cheese.

4. My fave tv show of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You got action, comedy, suspense, romance, drama, horror, and all the teen drama you'll ever need. I've seen every episode at least 5 times, and I have marathons all the time. In fact, just talking about this makes me want to start another marathon.
<- my fave cast photo, well, maybe less bleached...

5. I name my favorite things. My car? No name. My ipod? Oz (after Buffy, of course). If it's important and I love it, it gets a name.

So there we go, 5 facts about me. Educational, informative, and now I want to eat cheese and watch some Buffy.

And 4 months later...

I brought the blog back. And this time, I'm going to try...REALLY try this time to make it work.

There were many reasons why I stopped, why I didn't try at all, why I ignored it all together. But the main reason is intimidation. With all these huge blogs of writers or soon-to-be writers or want-to-be writers, I didn't see my place. I would think of how awesome they had their blog, how many followers they had, how witty they were, and I got lost in it all. How do I stand out in the blog crowd?

And you know what? Last night it hit me. Really hit me. I don't have to be anyone's favorite blog. I don't have to offer amazing advice that people bookmark for inspiration in the future. I'm just going to be me, and write what I want to write. Followers, no followers, it's not going to bother me anymore. YAY!

*takes a sigh of relief*

It feels good already.

Now on to awesomer things. I finished my outline yesterday. Changed a ton through the months when I had an idea, and this time I really am done. I might tweak while writing my first draft of course, but for now I'm finito. Is that the right spelling? Eh...

Tonight I am equipped with my writing tools. I've got on sky.fm "Classical Piano Trios" radio station to put me in the Victorian mood, I've got a giant glass of Hawaiian Punch (my current drink o'choice), and some writing fuel. AKA, red seedless grapes. They are my fuel. Weird something healthy is a fuel, hmm? Tasty and full of awesomeness.

So tonight even though it's 1:30am, I'm going to get SOMETHING down on my draft. Because once you start, it makes it easier to keep going. Good luck to me! *crosses fingers*

Almost There...Right?

So yeah...still outlining. But I've had a ton of busy stuff this week, so I knew I would be going slow. Plus, in taking my time I changed the first two chapters and I didn't have to rewrite the whole thing, just the outline! Phew, that would have killed me.

But I am to chapter 19, that's 3 more closer to finished. Yay! That's 2 revised chapters, 3 extra, I'm almost done. I'm taking my time, I'm really happy with it.

Plus I shared my synopsis with my writing partner and a close friend and they both loved it. That makes me even more excited to start this thing.

I'm determined to finish before Monday. Wish me luck!

How is your writing coming along?

Why I Outline, and Why It Hurts

Today is the day. I have researched for 4 days straight, I have written over 100 pages of notes in my notebook Petunia (see yesterday's post for that), and I am ready to GO!

So I get my laptop set up, a giant cup of green tea, some grapes (my writing munchies, red grapes only), and Petunia is at page uno.

And then it hits me. I am actually outlining this.

And.

It.

Is.

Hard.

I know what I want the outcome to be. I know the intro, I know the middle, I know the characters. But how do I get there?

I spent all day outlining, I'm on Chapter 16, aka, not even halfway there. I'm ripping my hair out at this point! I just want to write it already!

But listen, gather round. Outlining is important for a writer like me. Some people can write a whole book without outlining, some can write the intro and go from there and have the perfect novel. I'm not that kind of gal.

Here is why outlining is for this gal *points to herself*:
- I have the memory of a fish. I can hear or see something and minutes later forget what I heard or saw. If I thought of a genius idea and then didn't write it down in my outline, I know I will forget.
- In writing the outline I never get stuck when writing my first draft. I will never say "what now?" because it is right there in my outline where to go next.
- I have an idea of how the pacing goes before I even start. If there is so much detail in the outline in one chapter, I might reconsider taking some of it out to make the pacing stay at a steady pace.

Another reason I like to outline is when I get a final draft done, I can look back and see how it all original went down. And laugh. And nod. And think "oh yeah that's how it originally went." It's cooler than you think, trust me.

So...I'm going to work on the outline again tomorrow. I'm going to work on it the next day too if I have to. I may want to scream, and cry, and throw my grapes on the wall for something to look at other than my laptop screen, but it will be worth it.

What about you? Do you outline? Why or why not?

My Notebook, My Love

I had an idea 3 days ago. An idea so epic, it trumps anything I've done with my writing and I had to work on it right away.

A YA steampunk mystery with romance, suspense, drama, and epic adventure. I know, right? I was impressed with myself, believe me.

From this incredible idea, I had to get everything down. That's where my love comes in.

Here is where I exclaim my love of my notebook. I buy a small five star notebook for each of my book ideas. Each one a different color, and I'm a dork and decorate the front with a theme. I use the whole notebook for ideas and research.

I bought a new one, she is pink and I've named her Petunia. Petunia is my new best friend and I think she will be for a long long time.
Here are some of the things I wrote down inside:
- character name ideas, surnames, and name meanings
- clothing of the nineteenth century for men and women
- history of new york city, Victorian era, and Ireland in 1800s
- definitions of Victorian titles such as Marquess, Rakes, and Governess
- character bios of MC and love interest
- riverboats!
Petunia is over half full in three days. She and I are exhausted, but hey, this idea is worth all the effort and more.

When it's not 2 in the morning I will show you Petunia and her greatness, but for now just know from my crazy rant she is amazing.


So do you carry a notebook? How do you organize your notes? Are you weird and name your notebook like people name their car too?