My 10 Commandments of Writing

Today's Earworm:
Today's Date: May 8, 2015

So I know that I kind of died there for a while and I am sorry. Life wasn't happy with me, but that's about normal for me.

I'm kind of doing a twitchtwitchdie thing over here in regards to pain but that's about normal.

But! I wanted to get back into doing something interesting and this is what I decided to do!

My 10 Commandments of Writing

Disclaimer: My commandments might not work for you. Just so you know.

1) Practice. Practice. Then Practice some more.

When people ask me how I can write so many words in a week (on average about 5K when life isn't sucking my soul) they always give me this look when I say "Practice".

I'm not joking you when I say that. It was practice that trained me into writing every day in some way. I may write only a single side of a piece of paper a day for a week, but I'm getting words down. I don't let a block on one story stop me from writing.

I simply put that story to the side for a short time and work on another story. And while I write, I talk with a friend or two about the knot that I've found in my story. I don't stop practicing.

I write, always.

2) Write. Even when you don't want to, write.

The only time that I can't write is when I'm so drugged up that my eyes are going crosseyed and I'm falling asleep at my desk. And that's pretty darn rare.

I don't let my life hold me back. I write in some way or another. Just like I have practiced since the day that I picked up a pen and started to write horrible poems.

3) Ignore those who have only seen part of the manuscript. 

They know nothing.

I can not tell you how often someone has read a chapter or two of a story and the utterly fucked it over for me by butting into what I'm writing.

"Have you done this yet?"

"Have you changed that yet?"

It really kills an idea for me. I do continue to write on that story but I tend not to show it ever again. It has taken me years to get to a point where I just kind of ignore requests to see even full manuscripts until I'm ready to show someone something.

4) Ignore those who think they know your style and what you're trying to do.

This ties in with number 3. People tend to think they know what you're writing or how you write. They think they do and most often than not, they're wrong. And it can really mess with someone when that person tries to butt in.

Especially when it's someone who is just learning what their writing style is or what they want to do with a story.

5) Ignore the urge to go back and edit before at least 10 chapters.

This is mostly because after the first 10 chapters, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do with the story and need to go back to edit some details into the story or change some around.

Or in the case of Bad Dog, rewrite a chapter into two chapters so that the information dump is more of an information stream.

But if I don't wait, I tend to have to rewrite and edit more than two or three times, which is a waste of time and space, and I don't enjoy wasting my time when I can write on things. Thus, I wait until I have a minimum of ten chapters written.

6) Write what you want to write. 

I don't write to be popular. I know that a lot of my stuff is very niche, very small in a lot of ways. But that's fine. I write what I write because I enjoy it. I write what I write because out there someone else will enjoy it. I write what I write because I want to read it myself.

And I can't find it anywhere. Thus, I write what I want to write.

7) Ignore people who say you need to write this because it's all the rage.

This is tied to number 6. I said that i don't write because I want to be popular.

And I don't. Popularity is a fickle, fickle bitch and not something I want to deal with. If I become popular...people will just have to deal with what I write because apparently I'm doing something good.

No, I will not write some bored housewife wish fulfilment that is a badly written attempt at the BDSM world without a drop of research.

Yes, I will write (or try to) write a BDSM homo-erotic story that is researched until my eyes bleed...and then researched some more. I have connections who are willing to tell me in great detail what goes on in that world.

No, I will not write about a 'vampire' that falls in love with some simpering Self-insert to cater to the masses.

Yes, I will write about a vampire who is a smug little bastard who finds a half angel and has a stalker ex who wants to bleed his half angel out just because, hey, blood. And a cold corpse to fuck. (I never said that my stories had SANE villains, people.)

Yes, I will write what I want to write, and fill my niche with fans who like my stuff and I'll let the bullshit...be far, far away from me.

8) Don't limit yourself.

I will not limit myself to one genre, type of character, or type of plot. I will explore whatever interests me and I will learn about each thing that catches my attention.

Because I apparently like to research and learn.

9) Don't stop writing damnit! 

Nope, can't stop writing. Nope.

10) Do what you need to do to get those words.

I will do whatever I can do to get my words.

I will listen to music, or a movie, or marathon something creepy on Youtube.

I will hand write, write in Google Docs, or I will babble about a story to my friend who likes to watch me write.

I will get those fucking words!

One way. Or the other.

So! I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my world. I know I had fun with this one and I hope to have more fun with more posts like this as time goes along.

Monthly Writing Update - January 2017

Today's EarWorm:
Today's Date: January 31, 2017
Next Update: February 28, 2017

This is the first round of my Monthly Writing Up. This will happen on the last day of every month. That means if there is 28 days in a month, it will be on the 28th. If there are 30 days in a month, it will be on the 30th. If there is 31 days in a month, it will be on the 31st.

I'm sure that you get the idea yes?

Anyways, this is the first round and I'm still figuring out how I'm doing this, so work with me and comment if you find this easy to read.

Thank you.

I'm not really sure on how I will end up with the lay out but this is the first try. I'm pretty much going to do a day by day hit of what words I got.

So, let's start this round.

January 1: 1,579
January 2 to 5: No words. Busy
January 6: 250
January 7: 1,679
January 8 to January 11: No words
January 12: 1,868
January 13: 1,404, Edited
January 14 to January 16: No words
January 17: Edited, 203
January 18: No words
January 19: 1,596
January 20: 2.030
January 21:
January 22
January 23
January 24
January 25
January 26
January 27
January 28
January 29
January 30
January 31

What Is Up With My Stories?

Today's Earworm: "Beautiful Loser" or "Strangers" by William Control
Today's Date: August 8, 2016

What is up with my stories?

To be truthful, my muses are being a bit of a bitch. Excuse the language, but I'm sure that you all can forgive me.

This is kind of normal for me though so I'm not too worried. There was a time where I didn't write a single original piece for like a year, but that was while I was rediscovering myself.

It's just gotten to a point where I need to stop thinking of publishing and just write. No more contemplating the future of publishing and all that I need to know. I will get to that point, I really will. But that time is not right now.

Right now I need to turn my focus to writing and finishing stories.

On that note, I'm creating a new series of short pieces under the Murder and Love banner, with the first 16 piece set called Just a Little Murder. It's a horror mystery with a lot of dark themes and the books to come will be much more descriptive.

As it is, in Short Piece 4 there is some rather callous thinking of forced slavery in the BDSM world, but that is the character.

I keep telling people that my stuff can be dark but do they believe me? Nope. Not until I pull something like this out and show them with all attached warnings. It's highly amusing to see their reactions while they read.

Anyways. I have decided that I need to put aside the thoughts of what I'm going to do with the stories when I finish them and just work on finishing them.

With that said, I've decided to work on When My Eyes Close, which is my 2015 NaNo novel, my zombie fic that was inspired by J.A. Marlow and Honey Drops bk 1. I'm plotting them out and have what I want to happen in them pinpointed.

Mostly.

It's taking me time, yes, but then again, everything takes time to happen, so I'm not to worried really.

I am working on several interesting stories, including a "Magical Girl" kind of world, a Magical Modern world, a dystopia that is based off of my story that I handed over to Forward Motion writers for publishing, and a few others, so no worries about that. Actually, you can see the full list of things that I have in the works here.

I'll try and create a newer list here by September, so we'll see how things go with that.

As it is, tomorrow I'm going to be heading over to my friend's place after some last minute shopping for foods so we can go see "Suicide Squad" in theaters. We're picking up some chips, dips, and adult beverages. My local Albertsons has a "Build your own 6 pack" set up for like 10 bucks? Little less than that. And considering there is Smirnoff, various Mike's products, ales, beers and other goodies? Worth it.

Are we going to drink our six packs? No. I'll probably drink one or two and bring the rest home to indulge in over the next few months. I'm odd like that. I rarely drink but when I do I do it sparingly.

Yes, I'm over 21. So yes, I'm legal. More than. Thank you.

But we're going to need something to relax with on the 11th because we're going to be out ALL day on the 10th. Fun times. Really.

Anyways, I hope to see you here next week! Keep an eye out on Fridays for when I start posting my short pieces. :D

Writers Meme Tag Questions 2

Today's Earworm: Whore by In This Moment
Today's Date: May 23, 2016

And we come to the other half of the asks that I started last week. Remember you can find the list of all 50 questions on Maxkrin's Tumblr Blog along with all sorts of goodies that will help any writer.

Writers Meme Tag Questions 1


26: Which do you enjoy reading the most: physical, ebook, or both?

Physical or Ebook. Now that's kind of a tough one to answer. I like both really depending on what I'm doing. If I'm going for a long trip, I don't want to carry physical books so I'll make sure I have my chargers and bring my tablet to read my books on. But if I'm in bed, I like a real book in my hands.

I have a thing for the smell of paper and ink okay? I'm a writer. It's my kink.

27: Which is your favorite genre to write?

My favorite genre has to be Horror. Especially psychological horror. It's just so much fun to take something innocent or simple and twist it and make others wonder and fear.

28: Which do you find hardest: the beginning, the middle, or the end?

I have to say that the middle is probably the hardest part for me. When it comes to the start, I tend to know where I want to start and how I want to start by the time I want to write, and the end usually writes itself, so to speak. But filling in that point B in the A-B-C of my books tends to be a bitch.

29: Which do you find easiest: writing or editing?

Writing is actually easier for me than editing. Why? It's mostly because I don't want to sit there and read my own writing over, and over, and over again. It's kind of hard to do that, but I push through it. I usually rewrite while I write though so I can smooth a few of my issues out before I edit so that is making things easier.

30: Have you ever written fan-fiction?

Yes, I have and yes I still do. If you want to find me, I'm willing to tell you where to find me but since I would like to keep that part separate from my original writing career, it will be via e-mails or private messaging on one of my man sties. Sorry you guys.

31: Have you ever been published?

Not yet, but I am working on getting there.

32: How do you feel about friends and close relatives reading your work?

It depends on the person and the story. Most of my relatives won't understand why I write male/male pairings much less horror so I don't share it with them. But I do share most of my writing works with close friends who I know will enjoy writing them.

33: Are you interested in having your work published?

Yes, and I'll probably end up doing indie publishing when I get that point in my career. Just takes time.

34: Describe your writing space.

My writing space is actually in my bedroom. It's pretty much just a desk that I bought from Amazon and a rather comfortable chair (now that I got a memory foam sitting pillow). My laptop sits on a lap fan with mouse and keyboard (wired both) attached to it but resting on a keyboard drawer, so that works for me.

My desk is kind of covered in stuff (tissue box, bunny, some candles, wax burner, lip balms, necklace, some rubbing alcohol, suntan lotion, aloe gel, and body lotion). The shelves are covered in notebooks and files.

35: What’s your favorite time of day for writing?

My favorite time for writing has to be around sunset when the world starts to cool down. I don't do well in the heat and unfortunately, I don't do much writing while hot. Which sucks.

36: Do you listen to music when you write?

I do listen to music. It all depends on what I'm writing that will depend on what I listen to.

37: What’s your oldest WIP?

My oldest WIP has to be the Butterfly series, but I'm going to work on creating two different stories in that world. I'm going to focus the Butterfly series as a world on it's own while I work on creating Rye and his husbands as their own world connected with my friend's world.

I just need to get her for like 10 seconds and tell her what I'm thinking of doing.

38: What’s your current WIP?

I have several current WIPs. I have my "Zombie with a brain" story, Follow Me Down, Crimson Drops, Thread the Needle, Black Veiled Saviour, Honey Drops bk 1, a prompt based horror short, and my Lex/Rose story. There's a few that I had to forcibly put down because they'll be shorter series, but I seriously don't want to start those just yet.

39: What’s the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had?

The plot idea for Honey Drops because of the fact that it mixes Mythological creatures with aliens.

40: Which is your favorite original character, and why?

My favorite original has to be Rye. He's just such a broken little mess with so much power that he's not sure on what to do with it. He has two hubbies (for the moment), a Goddess watching his every move, and Fate trying to string him up by his nuts. Not only that he's stalked by a demon he fucked for power, and he's impossible to kill at the moment.

Though people have  tried to kill him. Once by burning him at the stake. It wasn't pretty.

He's just a such a lovely little thing.

41: What do you do when characters don’t follow the outline?

I adjust the outline if I feel that it's where the story should go to. There is a good reason why I rarely have more than 10 chapters planned out for any one book. And if I do have more than 10 chapters planned, it's because I know what needs to be done. But the outline is always changing as I write.

42: Do you enjoy making your characters suffer?

Yes. Why do you ask?

Okay, look, I'm a horror writer. I have to enjoy making my characters suffer or the story never goes anywhere and it doesn't read right. If I wasn't a sadistic bitch to my characters the story would fall flat okay?

I'm a nice person to those in the real life.

43: Have you ever killed a main character?

Why yes, I have. Clary was a main character in my Butterfly series and he was killed to help the plot move along. I got some heavy cries of "NOOO" from my readers at the time.

44: What’s the weirdest character concept you’ve ever come up with?

Weirdest character concept? Not really should he's weird but an old blood demon (original vampiric beings which spawned the vampires) that I used to RP with. He was then reformed into one of my brothers for Honey Drops.

45: What’s your favorite character name?

It has to be Alexx because it's such a lovely name. And very flexible. I have a few styles of this character for various worlds and places.

46: Describe your perfect writing space.

My perfect writing space is where I have privacy, sunlight that I'm not directly under, with a comfortable seat and a lovely desk to sit at with access to a TV, VCR, DVD player, computers, music systems, water kettle, coffee pot, and a good supply of both tea and coffee with all needed additives.

I pretty much have that now.

47: If you could steal one character from another author and make then yours, who would it be and why?

One character from another author to make mine? Hmm, not sure actually. It would probably be Son'arrin from my friend who writes "A Demon's Toy" (online story that is going through some MASSIVE amounts of rewriting) but I doubt that I could do him full justice.

He's a broken character just like Rye.

48: If you could write the next book of any series, which one would it be, and what would you make the book about?

Harry Potter. I would love to do a book in the Harry Potter series and write it from Neville Longbottom's POV or from Hermione Granger's POV. Work my way through all 7 books and see how things went through their eyes. They were such interesting characters.

Or even characters like Dean Thomas or Seamus (I forget his last name). It's such a big world that there would be so much to explore even sticking to the canon of the story.

49: If you could write a collaboration with another author, who would it be and what would you write about?

A collaboration with another author would have to be with Jennifer Amriss. She is a wonderful writer and a friend that I made a while ago. So I would love to work with her on a collaboration.

Or I would love to write with Necia Phoenix. She to is a wonderful writer and I would love to see what we could come up with if we sat down and worked out some interesting story lines.

Yes, writers who are indy are the ones that I'm after for collaborations if that ever happens. But I love their writing and their style. It's just so much fun.

50: If you could live in any fictional world, which would it be?

I don't think I would ever live in any fictional world because they all have their problems and I'd rather not run into that.

Camp National Novel Writing Month April 2016 - Days 25 to 30

Today's Ear Worm: Billy Talent "Pins and Needles"
Today's Date: May 2, 2016

April 25:
Word Count: 0
Total Word Count: 33,622
Thoughts for the Day:

I spent the day going up to Gilbert. I'm exhausted and just to tired to do anything but crash out hard for the day. Nights all.

April 26:
Word Count:
Total Word Count:
Thoughts for the Day:

I have officially validated my novel! Yay! I hit just over 35K words which made me very, very happy. I'll work on getting more words probably tomorrow.

I do need sleep though. Still getting over yesterday's trip.

April 27:
Word Count: 374
Total Word Count: --
Thoughts for the Day:

4:33PM

I actually started kind of late today but that's mostly because I was reading through Necia Pheonix's book and seeing how it read.

Two hours, 22 chapters, and a cliff hanger as I wait for more to come my way...and I'm hooked. *sighs*

I'm going to finish off another short story today since I need to get it done.

Midnight:

I got my rewriting done but that's about it. I started on actual words but only got about 200 in. That kind of sucked.

April 28:
Word Count: 2544
Total Word Count: --
Thoughts for the Day:

I did get those words done! One long as chapter that happily feel in about 2,544 words total, so that made me happy!

I also got a friend hooked on two of my stories. Which is fun. I cackled and teased her with ideas for future chapters. She pouted and demanded more.

Now I'm just rewriting an older story and getting that off of my plate (I'm still pretty damn far from the end actually), but it's slow going since it was well over 3K when I started editing it.

April 29:
Word Count:
Total Word Count:
Thoughts for the Day:

12:31AM:

I am still editing this monster of a chapter. Seriously.

I have no idea when I'll finish this but I've gone through two cups of coffee, a cup of tea, and half a huge bowl of popcorn so far working on this thing. And the entire collection of "Duff Until Dawn" which was like 6 half hour episodes. So about 3 hours.

So much detail to rewrite! This is killer man.

1:19AM:

3 hours, 3 cups of coffee, and a shit ton of squinting and I have gotten it done! *flops* I added well over 1K worth of words to it to, so that was surprising.

Really, really surprising.

I'm going to get ready for bed, crash out for a few hours. Get up at 11 to take a shower and wait for my friend to get her ass over here so we can go do things.

See you guys later!

April 30:
Word Count:
Total Word Count:
Thoughts for the Day:

I've been pretty much working on rewriting and putting down notes for one of my stories. I am still exhausted after yesterday. If you noticed, I didn't write anything yesterday because I was exhausted after all our shopping.

So rewriting and figuring out what to write tomorrow for the final thoughts on this April is pretty much what I'm doing today.

Fun times.

Final Thoughts on Camp National Novel Writing Month April 2016:

So this month was interesting. Seriously interesting since it was so busy outside of my writing.

I had days where I didn't have a single word put down and some days where I couldn't stop writing, which balanced everything out.

I got 3 chapters of "Thread the Needle" down but I need to plan a few more chapters out before I write on it some more. I want to get it done by maybe December, or at least the first draft.

I did get some fanfiction done and I'm working on finishing up a couple of other stories before I do anything since I have so much to finish.

And so little time.

I'm thinking that I will be doing the "Story-A-Day" thing on Forward Motion Writers, level 1 or 2 (which are light versions), and posting them here come June. So keep an eye out for those!

And maybe I can figure out a few of my stories, get a few other things done. Here's hoping.

But I think that I will make sure that July kisses my ass and I work on things during that month. Don't have much else to do after all.

The Writing Process: Writing Tools

Today's Earworm: Black Black Heart (Slow Version) by David Usher

Today's Date: 

I first want to say this: the reason why these are separated the way they are is because I don't want you guys end up reading long ass posts that drive you nuts and gives you way to much information than what you need. 

So that's why I've separated them the way I have and why they tend to be shortish. 

That and so you can skip over what you already know.

Just a warning though: Due to the subject of what I'm covering, this is going to be a split post, so please feel free to skim through what I'm writing when it comes to the software. Thank you.

Let's start today's post shall we?

What are you going on about this time?

Well, today we're going to talk writing tools.

Such as?

Well, for starters, pens, pencils and paper. This will be kind of short and simple because there's really not a lot to it, but still, we must talk about this.

Why? It's paper and pens or pencils.

Because it's a way that a lot of people do actually still write by. I myself do use pen and paper to write notes, some writing of actual chapters, and a few other things that I do.

Really? But...why? Really?

Because it can help the muse. While a person puts pen to paper, it slows them down so that they have time to compose the next line that they need to write. It's also a lot easier in some cases to carry pen and paper around with them instead instead of a computer. I prefer using a pen and paper when I'm traveling since I don't need power to keep my electronic working.

I can also rewrite and organize my notes and outlines a lot easier. This way I can shift and make notes on what needs to be changed and where. 

When it comes to actually writing a chapter, I tend to be able to add more details as I type up the story, fix up lines and the such. I usually do this in the first rounds of rewrites if I'm writing on my computer, but by hand writing, painful as it is, I can pretty much write out what is really a long information filled outline. 

It helps me with some of my stories, especially when I'm trying to figure out where I want to go with them.

Are we going to go over what you do when it comes time to write?

Actually, yes, I will be. I'll be doing that sometime between now and the end of this series. 

Let's go over computers and computer programs. 

I'm going to assume that you have a well working, good computer that you prefer using. So now that you have it all set up with mouse and keyboard (if you DO want to use them) let's get down about the types of software that you can use to write!

How many types of software are there?

So. Very. Many. 

But I'm going to do a short list of the good ones that are often suggested, both free and paid for. Along with some basic writing programs like Word, OpenOffice, and Google Documents. 

So let's go over the basic things. 

Microsoft Word: It's pretty much what you get with your computer. You can open it up, create a word document and write away. There's some set up, some learning if you've never used it before, and a few other joyful things that come with this, but it does come in handy to have.

I personally don't have it because my current laptop is second hand and the guy who owned this computer before removed the program. So I use the next item.

OpenOffice.

It is a free typing program that is a lot like Word. You can save .doc files, but the default is .docx when saving, so be careful with that.

It has a pretty nice word counter on it but when it comes time to put your word count into the NaNo word count, I use the validate word count so that I can have their programs word count. I think they tend to use word counts much like the Microsoft Word does, which doesn't count certain types of words as a word.

Google Document: I'm sure that you've all heard a lot about GDocs and I love it! I use them for most of my writing personally. I have my files and I can update them or use them as I want. I love the "See Revision History" option on it. 

Especially when you lose all of your work. 

It's easy to create a file that you want and you can download them as you need to. So that's always a nice bit of help. Really it is. 

I don't have all of my work and most of what is on there is what I'm working on AT THAT moment, or the latest chapters of my writing. Especially since I only have so much room on my drive that I can use. 

But if you're willing to pay for more room, it's a lovely option. And a great way to have your work accessible if you don't have a Cloud.

Let's go over some of the better paid options, shall we?

Why should I pay for something?

Because they usually come with all sorts of neat little perks that you can't get in free stuff, or that you can get but in smaller amounts.

I actually tried to figure out what would be good software programs but really? There are just SO many choices out there that you can make your own choice. From what I've seen, Scrivener is one of the top programs that you can buy.

PageFour is also a lot like Scrivener but looks to be simpler version of it and I can't really find a site for it. So if you want, hunt around, make sure that it's what you want. But it looks promising.

There is also Power Writer and Writer's Block, which are both writing tools. Power Writer is more like Scrivener and PageFour while Writer's Block is a way to block out the computer. You set a time or words and it blocks out the rest of the computer until you hit that count or time.

Warning: With Writer's Block, you will have to reach the goal or run out of time before you can get out of it. So I suggest short bursts of 50 words if you set a word goal, or no more than 5 minutes at a time while you figure out if you like it or not.

Alright, now that I'm done with that warning, let's continue on shall we?

Free writing software!

Something that we all like, yes? Well I like it most. Even though I really don't use any software outside of GDocs and OpenOffice myself.

Why not?

It's just not my thing. Thus why I'm going over the various options here that you can do. I've taken years to figure out how best I write, so take your time in figuring out what you want and need, alright?

Alright.

Onto the free software.

The software that I keep seeing mentioned a lot is YWriter, StoryBook, and Sigil. They are all built to help you write the novel, but as with every free thing, there are certain things that you aren't going to be able to do while writing. So be careful and research it. See if they are what you want.

I don't really know them really but I've heard good things about all of them.

Okay, so we have gone over writing software, but what about the outlining software?

Well now. What to say about Outlining software? I tend to use Outliner of Giants, the free version. The bad thing about the fact that it is free is that there are some parts of it that you can't use, but if you don't care about those, then this is actually a wonderful outliner to use! It also has a five (5) outline limit, but again, it's not so bad for me really.

I don't tend to outline more than a couple online anyways. But it's a great way to get things down and you can move bullet points around as you want. It's all about testing it out.

You can also use the bullet function on OpenOffice, Word, or even GDocs to create outlines. I've done so myself.

Pen and paper also works well but you do end up rewriting the outline some days. I still do that myself.

Liftlit is actually pretty damn good from what I've seen so far. It's pretty easy to use and you can set up your entire book using it, which is kind of fun. :D

Hiveworld is another one that is a free option. It looks well laid out and will help anyone who wants to test out online outlining and noting.

Now, I said that I would tell you guys about note software but...

But?

But all of these options can actually be used as Note holding to!

Shocking I know right?

With GDocs, you can tab your bullets in and create a new line under the main line as  you want.

With Outliner, there is an option called "wiki" where you can add a bullet that is not a part of the actual outline, but has information that you want for that chapter.

You can also add information for your chapters in Liftlit and Hiveworld, so it's not that hard to do so.

Guys! It's not hard to make notes.

So for now, I hope that this helped. Considering this drove me up a wall.

And I'm talking very much up the wall.

Enjoy!

An Updated Writing List - As of 2/1/2016

Today's Theme Song: TLC - Girl Talk
Date: February 2, 2016

Okay so this is an updated writing list, including everything that I'm working on building. I'll be posting another post about what I'm going to try to get done during the next couple of months. So look for that around the 15th.

This month I just want to get through the last of the month, finish some rereads and note taking on three of my stories.

This round I'll be writing out genre's/whatever I think they fall into at the point and time, along with pairing styles and the such.

Pretty much each series/story (if it's just a single story) will look like this.

Title:
Genre:
Pairing styles: (M/M, Poly, F/F, M/F, none)
Books in the series (if a series):
Notes on the story:

So let's get to this shall we?

Rewriting/Editing/Note Taking

Title: Untitled
Genre: Romance
Pairing styles: Male/Male (M/M)
Books in the series (if a series): 1
Notes on the story: I call this my Lex/Rose story and it's about 13 chapters at the moment. I'll be filling it out with more chapters to flesh out the main story line without seeming like it's rushed.

There will be sex, but not an overwhelming amount. It'll mostly be focusing on the characters, their building relationship, and the troubles that they have with their neighbors.

Title: All You Need
Genre: Romance
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): None
Notes on the story: Again, this one will be expanded. There's only about 5 chapters in the current version and I want to build it up to at least 10 chapters, but I have no doubt that I can get it up to 20 or 30.

Title: Untitled
Genre: Romance
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): None
Notes on the story: This one will be really heavily rewritten and edited because it's one of my oldest stories. It's going to be rather fun to write but I just need to get around to actually rereading and writing down my notes on it.

Planned/In the Works Series

Title: Shades of Red series
Genre: Horror/Paranormal Horror
Pairing styles: M/M, F/M,
Books in the series (if a series): Planned so far is 3
Notes on the story: This is actually an older series that I had to drop and have just came to the point of where I just made it into it's own series of stories when the plot went a different direction. The first book, "Crimson Shadows", was actually written as a Nano project back in 2010, I think, but has since then grown and changed. I'm rewriting the entire book, fleshing things out, creating two books instead of just one book, and expanding the series.

It's looking good so far.

Title: Honey Drops Series
Genre: Romance/Sci-fi/Fantasy
Pairing styles: M/M, F/M, Poly, F/F
Books in the series (if a series): 6 books planned plus a book filled with bits and stories that didn't make it into the main story line
Notes on the story: Originally this series was only 3 books planned out but then I spent time with J.A. Marlow and found myself infested with more ideas for this world.

It's taking the "Gods are Aliens" and adding a twist to them. It's turning out rather nicely and so far Book 1 (no title yet) is about 5 chapters and I'm plotting out more chapters as we speak.

Title: "Magical Girl" Series
Genre: Fantasy/
Pairing styles: F/F, M/F
Books in the series (if a series): 2 books
Notes on the story: This actually started out as a Sailor Moon Fanfiction (thought about right around Sailor Moon Crystal, episode 12), but then I really thought about it and decided that it would make a lovely duology, at the least. So now I'm having to plan out this ENTIRE story line and make sure that it reads right.

It's still in the world building stage.

Title: A Living Zombie series
Genre: Dark Comedy/horror
Pairing styles: various
Books in the series (if a series): 2
Notes on the story: This was another story that was created by just hanging out with J.A. Marlow.

A weekend was all it took okay?

This one is probably going to be a pantsed story line with only a few chapters planned for and some plot points written down. It's looking to be fun though.

Title: Don't Look Series
Genre: Paranormal Horror
Pairing styles: Various (but not really a focus)
Books in the series (if a series): 4 books
Notes on the story: My current baby along with Honey Drops bk 1. I'm working on book 1 right now and getting through it slowly. Here's hoping that I actually get this written and build it up just right.

Title: A Magical Taste Series
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Pairing styles: Various
Books in the series (if a series): 2 books with possibly 4 total
Notes on the story: This is one that I want to do. Scanning through Tumblr has helped this world grow and build into what it will be.

It to is in the planning and world building stages.

Title: A Family Pack
Genre: Romance/Supernatural
Pairing styles: various
Books in the series (if a series): 3 with a possible of 5 books
Notes on the story: Again, this is another tumblr scanned built story. It's currently in the build up of the world and I'm hoping to have more planned out by 2017.

Title: The Ages Series
Genre: ...superheros?
Pairing styles: various
Books in the series (if a series): 7 books
Notes on the story: This one started because of a story that a friend asked for for her birthday. It just kind of grew from there.

I've got about 11 chapters of the first book (with 36 chapters planned) and I know that I'll be rewriting this story heavily so that it doesn't read like a comic book in book form.

Title: A Twist of Fate series
Genre: action/adventure/survivalist/romance
Pairing styles: various but not the focus
Books in the series (if a series): 2
Notes on the story: I started this one as a oneshot for the 2015 Anthology for Forward Motion (it's not out yet, the one who is editing it had family problems but she's working on getting it out here soon) and it grew into two books.

This is a twist on the post-apocalyptic world story and I'm hoping that it comes out rather interesting. :D Here's hoping.

Title: Untitled Story
Genre: Horror/Paranormal/Supernatural
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): 2 books
Notes on the story: This started out as a Stand alone story but then Bellamy (one of my characters) ended up on the road to redemption and the plot expanded into a duology on me. It's going to be twisted and filled with a LOT of death. I'm having fun with it.

Stand-Alone Stories

Title: Follow Me Down
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): just the 1
Notes on the story: This story started out as an "Alice in Wonderland" derivative, but it then turned around and changed. A lot. I've since gone in a different direction with the plot and have been reworking out my outline and my plot points on this story.

It's going to be fun to write.

Title: Black Veiled Saviour
Genre: Mystery
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): standalone
Notes on the story: Another one that is an older story but I'm also getting through this one. I want to get Honey Drops book 1 done before I finish off this one.

Title: Untitled Prompt Story
Genre: Horror/Paranormal
Pairing styles: nothing truly important
Books in the series (if a series): stand alone
Notes on the story: My friend gave me a list of prompts and told me to write a story around it. So what did I do? Created a horror murder mystery. This one has been in the works since about 2014, and then I lost a bunch of files due to a rewrite of my flash drive. I found it late last year and have been rewriting and working on it again.

So that's my current list. So, total books that I have on my list so far?

36 books.

And I have NO doubt that I'll be creating more stories to write.

Well, I hope that you all enjoy your day and I'm going to do things.

Have a good day.

Bi-Weekly Writing Update 2

Today's Ear Worm: David Bowie "Lazarus"
Date: January 29, 2016

Ever since I learned of David Bowie's passing on the 11th, I've been doing nothing but alternating between listening to his last song Lazarus, knowing that it was his goodbye to the fans that he had through the generations, watching Labyrinth, and listening to Youtube playlists of his songs.

It...hurts knowing that this amazing man who was everything that was amazing about the world around us, has left us. Left his family. Left so much to do but never able to do it.

Then of course we lose Alan Rickman. Which just hurts even more.

But these last two weeks have proven productive, my muses taking inspiration from these talented, wonderful men who were taken from us.

January 15: Wrote chapter 4 of Honey Drops book 1, finishing at 1,433.
January 16: Wrote  chapter at 1,431 and edited another, adding 533 words to it
January 17: Rewrote a chapter and added 293
January 18: Nothing
January 19: Wrote a 1-shot at 1,905 and rewrote a chapter, adding 397 words to it
January 20: Wrote on my "Ages" Series, chapter 11, falling at 1,534 (The "Ages" Series is my superhero book series)
January 21: Rewrote 3 chapters, adding 178, 313, and 353 words

January 22: Wrote a chapter, ended with 1,401 words
January 23: Wrote a chapter, ended with 1,365 words
January 24: Wrote a chapter, ended with 1,298 words
January 25: Rewrote a chapter, added 434 words
January 26: Wrote a chapter, ended with 1,484


Bi-Weekly Writing Update 1
Bi-Weekly Writing Update 3

The Writing Process: Settling Down to Write 1

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on anything. I do not expect you to take my words as the gospel of writing. What I do expect is for you to take some time and think if my words lead you to where you personally need to head to. Or if they help you at all.

All sources are linked at the end of the post along side the links to other posts are a part of the series. Thank you.

So, now that the disclaimer has been taken cared of, I thank you for coming to my first official blog series. This post will start that series by going over what I'm hoping to cover in this series.

The following list is what I'm hoping to cover.

1. Setting Up Your Work Space
1. Area
2. Utensils/Writing Tools/Note Taking/ect
3. Lighting
4. Sitting
5. Keyboards/mouses 
6. Music/Shows/Movies
7. Internet access/Tabs opened
2. Types of Writing Tools Available 
1. Pen and paper
2. Computers
1. Types of software offered to write on
2. Outlining software
3. Note software
3. Drinks and Food
1. Types of food
2. Ideas to think about
3. Drinks 
4. Plots and Outlines
1. Preparing the plot
2. Preparing the notes
3. Preparing the world
4. Preparing to outline

I'm sure that I will come up with more as I go along and depending on how long each post turns out to be will depend on how many posts there will be about them.

Do you have a question or suggestion that you would like to see covered over this first series? Comment below and I shall add it to my list if I haven't already covered it before hand.

Do you have an question or suggestion for future series or parts of series that you would liked covered? Again, please comment below and I shall figure out where to put it on my list. 

Enjoy all.

Links:

The Writing Process: Settling Down to Write 2

Note as of 1/18: I actually have a total of 3 of these written out. This is the first one and I have the following two written out. I need to edit and fiddle around with them before I post them but I'm hoping to scatter these out among other posts as we go along.

And hopefully have something out ever Monday. Cross our fingers!

Bi-Weekly Writing Update 1

Today's Ear Worm: Kesha "Die Young"
Goes from January 1, 2016 to January 14, 2016
Weeks: 1 and 2

So what exactly is this? Well this is to keep me on tract and to give you an idea of the day to day life that I live in regards to my writing.

Mind you there are some things that I won't label in regards to what I'm writing but that's because I have another line of stuff that you won't be seeing any time soon.

Anyways, let's get down to it.

Week 1 kind of sucked for me.

But I did get some stuff done.

January 2: Wrote 1,181 words on book 1 of my "Hero's" series.
January 4: Edited a story and added 842 words.
January 7: Wrote 1,698 words on book 1 of my "Hero's" series.

Week 2 looked a little better.

January 9: Wrote 1,321 words on a story
January 10: Edited a chapter and added  words.
January 13: Edited chapter, added 152 words, Wrote 1,460 words on another story
January 14: Wrote 1,452 words on a story

So all together these last two weeks, I've gotten 8,746 new words and spent 4 days editing some chapters.

All together not bad. So here's hoping that next weeks round will treat me better yes?

2016 is my time to Write and Live!

This is actually a post on another site but I thought it would work best here to. There are some edits to it to flesh out the information and get it out.

Ear Worm: Unknown Man "E": The Most Mysterious Mummy in the World Documentary

Okay, I think that it's time for this writer to get going on some of the things that have been sitting around and mocking me.

More than time actually.

It's 11 days into 2016 and already I've been triggered into a near panic attack 3+ times, written very little due to said panic attacks, and want to drop the whole world down a hole while I get some actual sleep.

So what do I do? I go for a walk, Slipknot's "Snuff" in my ears and the cold buffering at me so I can clear my head and think of what I really truly want in my life this year.

Time to break it down into easy to bite pieces so I can learn a new routine. Which will help my mental and physical state.

January:
1) Plot out a few more chapters of Honey Drops series book 1
2) Maybe actually give it a working title?

3) Plot out a few more chapters of A Delicate Thread (Don't Look Series book 1)
4) Write out at least 2 chapters of both Honey Drops series book 1 and A Delicate Thread

5) Plot out some more chapters of the book that I started of Nano 2015. Let's call the mean little bugger Mean Bunny or When My Eyes Close.
6) Figure out Bellamy (from Mean bunny) and what his story in the book will be.
7) Write out at least 2 chapters of Mean Bunny

8) Create book bibles for Don't Look series and Honey Drops series

9) Buy more composition notebooks for other book bibles.

Feb
1) Repeat without 8 and 9

March
1) Repeat without 8 and 9

April

1) Repeat without 8 and 9

2) Do Camp National Novel Writing Month Round 1 (might work on When My Eyes Close)

July

1) Do Camp National Novel Writing Month Round 2

Sometime in the next 6 months:

1) Talk with friend about shared world (Her series A Demon's Toy and my series A Butterfly's Life) and get some kind of headway into that full on rewrite.

2) Plot out a bit more/write more on A Butterfly's Dance.

3) Plot out a world I'm currently calling Magical Girls.

Please see below at the very bottom about the stories that are mentioned here.
 

That's about all I'm willing to plot out for this year so far, but I'll probably add more as I go along.

For my personal life...I just have a general list. And I'm sure you've seen some of these in my post New Years Resolutions of a Creative Mind

1) Go back to therapy for the depression and see if I can't find something to help me when I have panic attacks.
2) Get rid of the toxic people in my life.
3) Ignore the idiots. They cause me stress. I have enough stress.
4) Put in SSI paperwork (I'm unable to work due to a variety of reasons)
5) Go in to the doc to find another type of pain killer that will help me control the chronic pain and won't cause more problems.
6) Get new asthma rescue inhaler since the ones that I had I have a 50/50 chance of having a reaction to. Which send me into panic attacks. Which is just a nasty cycle.
7) Get a desk.
8) Get a new chair.
9) Recreate my safe space. I need to do this for my health and sanity
10) Clean my safe space. *nudges aside notebooks*

Let's just hope that I can do this yes?

I have word goals of about 5k a week, if not more, and editing and/or rewriting once a week.

Let's see how this goes.

*rolls up sleeves* *pulls on comfy clothes* *gets to it* Charge!

Honey Drops series: This series is a kind of fantasy sci-fi with elements of romance. It's slated to sprawl over about 6 books, 3 of those books about brothers, two about family connected people, and the last one is to wrap things up. I have a 7th but that's going to be all the side bits that didn't make it into the actual books but help fill in details. 

That book shall come out around the second book when I get around to putting them out. 

When My Eyes Close: This one is just horror and death. I grew up on a killer killing off the stupid people kind of movies. I wanted to see if I can translate this into a book. It's going well so far. 

Magical Girls: This one actually started out as a Sailor Moon Prompt fic for a friend (she love's sailor moon just as much as I do), but it kind of took on it's own life. 

I'm currently thinking out the plot, how to change things around, and characters. It'll be fun, to say the least. 

Don't Look: Another series that started out as something else and turned into a full on story line. I have 3 books thought of with the possibility of more. I hope to get things going on this one but it does take time. Here's hoping.

A Butterfly's Life: Dream is book 2 of the series but I'm working on book 1 right now so I can figure out where I'm going with this story. It'll be interesting, to say the least. *sighs* *headdesk* We'll have to see how it goes. 

I just might take the plot and create a new world based off of it while keeping this story line as an online thing. 

We'll see how it goes in the long run. Cross your fingers.