The Ides of March

It's been two weeks since I last wrote. A lot has happened.

As you know from the last post, we bought a house. Last week we finalized the purchase after the home inspection (which was nerve wracking).

The other thing is work (day job) related. Alberta held a general election which resulted in a cabinet shuffle and a new break down of the ministries. Boring stuff to you outside folk, right? Well to us who have to work inside, it's cause for confusion. The end result being that my unit is being moved to another ministry. Joyful Stress!

So why the blog post title? Well the Ides of March is the Roman term for the 15th of March (or thereabouts since it was according to the Roman calendar). The house purchase was finalized on the 13th, the confirmation of our ministry move was on March14th, and...

Word Count:

Saturday (March 15) - 1,496 words on Ice Debt (in 2 1/2 hours)

Ice Debt is coming along really good. I'm really enjoying not having to follow a previously developed plot line. It's taking longer than I thought it would, if only because I'm not writing as much as I should, but I like what's coming together. I broke the 10,000 word barrier, which means a lot for someone who has a hard time getting past chapter 2 or 3 (I'm on chapter 4).

All in all, the Ides of March or the middle of March has been good to me. It's thrown a lot of changes my way, but they say that this time of year is good for that.

Maybe I should aim for next years Ides of March to try and get my novel published. It's always worth a shot, right?

I hope the winter months haven't been too hard on you, but you can be glad they're over. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring.

Tina

Buying a House

Remember how last week I said that D and I were looking at houses again? Well we found one... and we are putting an offer on it tonight.

We spent the majority of the last week looking at homes. Thursday we met with a realtor to help us see inside the homes we've been interested in. Saturday we viewed 5 homes and on Sunday we drove by some more homes on our own. Monday (Family Day in Alberta) we viewed 2 more homes and found the one we're putting an offer on.

Seems a bit fast, even for me, but I think it's the right thing to do. It has everything we wanted in it (except that it's not a semi-bungalow but that wasn't really on the list... it was more my secret wish). It has a huge backyard which will be great for dogs, and it has an unfinished basement that we can develop into more living space. It also has a small room I can turn into an actual writing office, which is awesome. After looking for a couple months last year during peak times and almost a month this year, D and I have seen well over 30 properties. While it still needs some work, this is the best home we've seen.

Now that I've let you all know what's new in my world I will give you the pathetic word count for the week (remember, I was looking for a home):

Word Count (Feb 11th - Feb 18th)

Wednesday - 760 words on Ice Debt

Hope you all have a fantastic writing day. I will keep you posted as things develop.

Cheers,

Tina

Feb 4 -10 Word Count

If last week was a write off... this week is abysmal....

Word Count:
Wednesday - 641 words on a new short story

That's it. I didn't work on Ice Debt (my No-Plot-Project). I didn't do much of anything really.

It's all because we are starting to look at houses again. The market in Edmonton seems to have slowed down a bit in the last couple of months. Enough at least to have a few more homes in our price range. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting happens.

One last update; I am registered to attend the World Fantasy Convention 2008, which is coming to Calgary Alberta from October 30 - November 2. I'm really excited. If you're interested in going you should book your hotel room soon. When we (my writing friend Rox and I) booked last week, Wednesday was already booked up.

That's all I've got right now. Hope you had a fantastic writing week.

Tina

Jan 28- Feb 3 Word Count

This past week was almost a write off in regards to writing.

Word Count:
Tuesday - 1,062 words on a new short story
Wednesday - 680 words on Ice Debt

I was sick on Monday and Tuesday again. I guess I hadn't healed completely from the week before.

Thursday and Friday were stressful days at work. By the time I go home all I wanted to do was relax. And over the weekend, D and I spent our time looking at houses again (and hanging out with friends).

Still... having said all of that, I started writing Chapter three on Wednesday. Not bad for a month's work on this no-plot-project.

Looks like my 'day job' work will calm down this week, so I should be able to get in some good writing days.

Hope you're having a good one,

Tina

Good Rejection from OnSpec

Yesterday was a Library day. Normally a very good day, and it was in more ways than one.

First off, let's get the word count out of the way....

Word Count:

Tuesday - 497 words (not bad for being sick)
Wednesday - 1,181 words

Yesterday was a very good day for writing, however I also got a rejection letter from OnSpec in the mail (I've had quite a few of those recently).

This one, however, was very good. No they didn't say that I was a fantastic writer but regrettably they could not publish my master piece (I'm not that delusional). They did, however, give me two lines of 'to-the-point' comments that really made me think. They asked me a question that showed me one of two things. 1) I had a serious flaw in my logic, or 2) I wasn't showing my audience what was really going on and so it came across like a had a major flaw in my logic.

Either way, I will have to go back into this story and take a good hard look at it. I am very grateful that they took a few moments out of their day to tell me what they really thought of my story. I don't think I'm very thick skinned, but I know that I need these comments to grow as a writer. Thus, the more comments I get the better writer I will become.

Thanks again to the OnSpec staff who wrote that comment.

Tonight I write some more on Ice Debt. Wow, four days in a row. Do you think I can do it?

Tina

Mondays

Did I mention that I hate Mondays?

I know today is Tuesday, but I have news from yesterday.

Got home from work and there was a form rejection letter from Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, waiting for me in the mail. I guess they didn't like "Broadcasting Live" (that's the short story that was once called "Pain and Blood"). This is its second rejection so I think I will have a few of my writer friends look at it and tell me what they think. I had a few people read through it before, but maybe it needs a little more work before I send it out a third time.

After reading the paper mail, I checked my email. There was a lovely email from the 3 Day Novel contest, announcing the winners. I wasn't one of them. I didn't even make the short list, or get an honorable mention. Oh well. I was thinking about turning my submission "Beloved Child" into a comic book script to see what happens. Now, I can go ahead and give it a try.

I had dinner after checking my emails, and then locked myself in my office (aka the spare bedroom) to write. It was one of my new writing days, so I tried to forget all the other stuff and just wrote.

Word Count:
Monday - 1,329 words

Not bad for 1.5 hours on a Monday night. It's actually really good.

Ok, so it wasn't the best Monday in the world but at least I got a good bit of writing done and I know what I'm going to do with the rejected stories that have come home.

Tuesday should be better.

Tina

Schedule and Birthday

Monday! I hate Mondays!

This past week I started working on my No-Plot project. So far so good.

Word count:

Wednesday - 1,271 words
Thursday - 359 words

I didn't write on Saturday which was my intention but two out of three days isn't bad.

This week I'm aiming for the full four days; Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. My new writing schedule. Here I go, wish me luck.

On a completely different (and probably irrelevant) note... my Birthday is this weekend. I'm looking forward to the dinner with family and friends, and of course the breakfast in bed. The gifts are fun and all, but I prefer the "make-me-feel-important" stuff.

Hey it only happens once a year, I deserve to enjoy it.

Cheers,

Tina

Writing More?

Hey, I'm posting only 4 days apart. Woo-who! or should I say W00T, the word of year for 2007 (spelt with two zero's).

Things are good. I didn't write over the weekend like I was supposed to, but we took down our Christmas decorations and etc. I still have a little corner left to pack up, but that will probably happen tonight.

On Sunday, I spent a couple of hours in a major book store chain (I'm sure you know the one). I walked out with three books on writing as a career. Writing for the Internet, writing as a freelancer, and writing with no-plot (which I thought was the most appropriate considering the recent project I've assigned myself). I'm reading the no-plot book first since I want to get started on my "lets-see-what-happens-when-I-have-no-idea-what-my-story-is-but-I'm-going-to-write-it-anyway" project. I think it will be fun... mostly because I have little-to-no expectations (the ones I do have expect it to suck). So I have licence to waste my time writing something that is junk because it is just an experiment, and no one ever has to read it.

On a different note, I've been thinking about increasing my scheduled writing days. I've been writing every Wednesday since last year (it was a 2007 new year's resolution that I kept) which has helped me a lot. However, I think I need more. I'm going to try for one & a half hours of writing on 3 weekdays and maybe 3 hours on a weekend day. We'll see if that works for me. It's still only 7 and a half hours a week, but it's better than the 2 I'm putting in now.

Well that's all the update I have for you on this lovely Tuesday afternoon. I have a writing day set for tomorrow so we'll see if something new happens so I can update you again.

Cheers,

Tina

New Year, New Way of Thinking

I haven't written since October 2nd. Sorry to leave you all hanging.

The PureSpec conference was fun. Got to meet up with a publisher friend from Calgary again, and got to see a whole new side of the writing world. Comic books have made an impression on me.

I've basically stopped writing since the conference.... so that means I'm still only halfway through chapter two of my novel. I have still been meeting up with my friend Rox at the library to write, but I haven't been producing very much. Mostly, the reason has been stress at work. I had a break down in November and had to go home that day because I was so upset. The stress and political pressure got to me.

I never did contact my tutor about the change in direction. I will have to call and thank them all for helping me out for the last year. I bought the course three years ago and my 3 year extension runs out at the end of this month. I don't think getting my novel done in less than 30 days is going to work, and I'm done trying to force myself to do something. It has to come naturally.

December my support group held our 3rd annual Christmas dinner and didn't stop talking about books and writing until 1:30am. Our Publisher friend from Calgary came up to celebrate with us, and seemed to enjoy himself. It was a great night, but I don't know many people who could handle talking about writing all night long.

The Christmas season was busy, and now that it's the new year it's time to clean up the apartment and re-assess my life.

My job has gotten better since the break down. Some of the pressure has been taking off. I do like being able to say that I make a difference doing my job, but the stress level is something I will be monitoring closely. Also, my course is over. Even though I have a month left, there is no way I will be able to get anything done in time. I think it's time to say thank you and goodbye.

And what of my writing? Well, like I mentioned before comic books have made an impression on me, and I've had a couple people tell me that my writing would translate well into the form. I already have a completed story that I am converting into a graphic novel (non-serial comic book) script and I'm looking for an artist to help me make it real. I still don't know a lot about the industry but I've got my fingers crossed.

I also have to figure out how I write best. Thus far I've always planned out my stories in such detail that it should take nothing to finish them. Yet, I'm finding that the more the story is planned out, the more I get bored with it and it ends up getting pushed aside. My latest assignment for myself is to try and write something I only have a general idea of and see what happens. I don't know if this little project is a short story, novella, or a novel but I guess that's part of it, right?

I just really want to write again. I'm tired of having life get in the way of what I want to do. I told D last night that I was planning on writing on Saturday (something I haven't done in months) and he almost started clapping saying "Good, it's about time".

And it is about time. Time that I start believing in myself. Not that I'll get published or get famous because, while it would be great, that's not success for me. Success is have a story finished so that other people can read it, whatever the form. I just want to tell my stories. To get them out of my head, and maybe make people think about things a little different. Success is me being happy.

One last thing. It has been discussed, thought about and finally decided that C. M. Hunt is an old pen name that needs to be retired. So, I will be writing under my real name from now on. No more hiding behind a pen name. I write dark stories. I'm ok with that. It just means that I have a really interesting imagination, and I'm not ashamed to write under my own name anymore. I'll be changing my website soon to reflect the name change to Tina Hunter.

So.... Here's to 2008! Hopefully a year of Success!

Tina

Week One

*NOTICE: I've changed my 30 day novel into a 40 day novel. This is because doing a chapter every three days sounded nicer to me than one every 2 and half days. I came up with this on Friday morning so I'm not trying to soften the pain of the word counts you will see below.*

I wanted to do weekly updates on my novel progress, but Tuesday's are such good days for me to blog, I think I'll cheat this week and update you on only 5 days of work (Thursday to Monday). I'll let you know right now, my word count is not were I want it to be.

Goal word count on Monday - 12,500 words

Actual words on Monday - 2,634 words (ouch)

To be fair, that is a lot of words to write in 5 days. Here is the word count break down:
Thursday - 1,001
Friday - 0
Saturday - 497 (and edited the 1,001 words from Thursday)
Sunday - 0
Monday - 1,136

You can tell which day's I freaked out. Doubts filled my head and would not leave. I sat down in front of the computer on both of those 0 word count days, but my brain was so frozen in fear of what I was trying to do that nothing coherent come out.

Even Saturday was a lost day. I tried to write, but all I could think of was how awful that first paragraph sounded. And, you know how it is. Once you go back to edit one paragraph the next one could use just a little bit of tweaking too.

I'm no where near my goal.... but I'm almost done my first chapter and that is something to be proud of. And it's something to keep me going. I can't keep freaking out because I'm trying something new, so I've told myself that I'm just going to try. There will be no consequence if I don't finish on time, because this is just an experiment.

Surprise, surprise. Once my subconscious believed me, I was able to write out over a thousand words in less than two hours yesterday. I'm slowly getting back up to my 1000 words an hour, and that is also something that will make this 40 day novel adventure worth it.

"Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking across the floor". One week down, five weeks to go.

C

A 30 day novel?

I have exactly 30 days... from today until the October conference, Pure-SPEC.

What am I going to do with those 30 days? Well, I'm going to try and write my novel.

I'm sure you've heard of NaNoWriMo (you write a novel during the month of November), and several of my writing friends are thinking of signing up for it. I really wanted to, but I wasn't sure if I should wait until then to start the novel I'm working on now, or start now and work on something else for November.

(Side note: I finished my outline for LLR last night, and I'm ready to go.)

So, I've decided to give writing a novel in a month a try... right now. While NaNoWriMo has you aim for only 50,000 words, I'm aiming for 100,000. Is it possible? Of course it is. Will it be hard? You bet. If I don't finish in exactly 30 days its not that big of a deal, but getting 90% of it done is where I'd like to be as a minimum.

I just feel the need to finish something big. Yes, I've done short stories, and even a novella for the 3-day novel contest... but I want to say, "I've written a Novel." I'll worry about it getting published later, right now I just want to have something I could even submit.

So here I go. I wrote the first 50 words last night, just to get a feel for it, and now I'm jumping in. Day One, Chapter One, let's start this word count going.

C

So Close

Ever feel so close you could taste something?

I'm stressed out. I've got too much day job work, too many family events, and D is thinking about going to school in a different province next year. Too much stuff is going on. I want all of it to stop... because I'm so close to being finished my outline, I'm itching to just start writing.

I know better. If I don't have a complete outline of how things are supposed to go at the end, I'll mess up the beginning and have to rewrite it anyway. Sounds odd? That's just how it works. I have to know the end before I can write the beginning. So, I wait for tomorrow.

Wednesday, Library day. The day were I get to take a few hours out of my life and just focus on writing. It's a permanent fixture in my week, and I honestly can't remember how I got by without it. Tomorrow, I should be finished my outline, and then I can start my novel.

I want to have a couple of chapters done really quickly. Not only do I have to get back in touch with my tutor (from my novel writing course), but there is another conference coming up in the middle of October and I want to have a few chapters done by then. Not that I'll actually show them to anyone, I just want to be able to say that I am on Chapter X, and I started writing in mid-September. I've got a month. Think I can do it? Hmmm.... Maybe, just two chapters...

Still, plotting can be really fun. Who knew the Galder Elves seeking revenge on their Pure Elf cousins, would play such an integral role in my novel? (Galder Elves are creatures of my invention, and no I won't go into an explanation right now).

I hope you have a fantastic writing week, and I'll keep you posted on the progress of my novel (Love Light Rising) as it unfolds.

C

(PS: I only have three more boxes to unpack before I can say that I've officially moved in. We've only been here for a month and half, so that's not bad at all.)

3-Day Done

I did it!!!

This weekend was intense. I wrote for long hours, had minimal food and sleep, but somehow I completed a 75 page novella that's not that bad. The weekend went something like this:

Saturday - Got up at 8:30 ready to go, but the writing came hard and slow. It started picking up in the afternoon and evening, but my new-old laptop (new for me but actually old) decided to break... yeah, Ok, I broke it accidentally. I finished off the day around 8pm.

Sunday - most of the day was spent looking for, buying, and setting up a new laptop. I didn't get started until around 4:30 in the afternoon. (yikes) So I pushed my sleeping limits and wrote right into the wee hours of the morning.

Monday - Starting writing around 9:30am. By this time my body was sore from sitting, so I tried writing standing up with my laptop on a bookshelf, kneeling on the ground, even on my stomach (which I won't recommend). I wrote for 15 hours in total and came in just under the wire (meaning I wrote right until midnight).

My novella (because it's a bit too short to be called a novel) is called "Beloved Child", and has 6 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue (it's sitting at 19,108 words). And unfortunately, I'm submitting this is unedited, because I pushed the midnight deadline just to finish. I did go through as I was writing to make sure things were spelt correctly and such (and it's very possible I missed some), but I did nothing of real editing.

I read through it last night before bed (yes, between midnight and 3am). There are a couple of choppy bits, some bits that don't seem to make sense, but over all it's not half bad. It's really fast paced, more than I'm used to, but hey... it was written in three days, so of course it's going to be fast paced. I also wrote a little blurb after "THE END" that goes over what I've learnt from this. This truly was an experiment in trying to write an entire story from the bad guy's point of view, and I did that. I also manage to write my very first (and second) fight scene, and I don't think I did too badly.

I must have needed the sleep today though. Yes, I went to bed at 3am, but I slept until 2:30pm this afternoon. I haven't done that since I was 15 years old.

I'm glad it's over. It surprisingly painful to write for that long every day, but at the same time, it was very rewarding. Because this was an experiment for me, I pushed my limits. I got really depressed at one point because writing from the bad guy's point of view doesn't give you a lot of hope. Yet overall, I found a way to push passed it. I think the end result turned out pretty good. (oh, I also found out that I love short sentences right now, and I think I used them a bit too much. Oops)

If you get a chance to do it next year, I would recommend it. I might even join you.... Hmmm, do I really want to do this more than once? Probably :)

Have a good one,

C

3-Day Count Down

5 more sleeps until it's time to play the 'lets-write-a-novel-in-3-days' game.

I'm excited... and nervous... and wondering what I was thinking when I signed up for this, but I'll be fine. This is a great experience, and have a great idea, and all I have to do now is sit down and write.

So way does it seem so hard?

Update: In the past week, I have created an entire species history for the Vinlue (my alien race in 'White Cats and Suicide'). I have also plotted out the first 7 chapters of 'Love Light Rising', but the rest of it will have to wait until after the weekend. For the rest of this week, I plan on plotting out my 3-day fantasy novel idea 'Beloved Child', and preparing for the 3-day. Busy, Busy, Busy.

On a side note, check out this website http://live.zeros2heroes.com/. This Canadian site lets people vote on comic book ideas that they would like to see developed. I'm not normally a comic book fan, but this looks like a pretty cool interactive site.

Have a great writing day,

C

Changes

Well things certainly have a way of changing rather quickly.

It's still too soon to go into all the details from the conference, there was just too much going on. However, there was something that happened that was quite profound.

My novel "Athea", the one I have been working on forever, has officially been set aside. I have grown too much in the last while for the writing in it to have kept up, and plot is now too slow and boring for me. I know I can do better. So it is with great respect for everything this novel has helped me learn, that I set it aside. I will come back to it later, but I think I will have to re-work the entire plot.

So, this means I have decided to take on my second novel idea, as my first. "Love Light Rising" needs to be plotted out a bit more, but I think I can start on it soon. Maybe even tonight. Things are exciting. I can write faster now then a could before, and I have a set schedule I can implement to get it done. This novel will not take me very long to finish, and that's a good feeling.

I'll keep you all posted on the developments. (hmm I wonder how my tutor will take this shift in my choice of novel?)

C

An Update...

Well I certainly let this slip a bit didn't I? Thanks Capt'n for the nudge.

A month has gone by. WOW. Well, what have I done...

I moved, that one should be obvious. We haven't finished unpacking yet but it's starting to feel like home.

I finished 2 short stories. The 1st one, a fantasy, was sent out to a magazine. I should hear back from them in a week or two (they are in New Jersey). The second one is out to my readers, and once I have it back I'll send this one out too. Time to get my name out there.

I've been working on my novel edits as well, but not enough to send chapter 2 to my tutor. Sigh, I'll get on that.

I've also been working on my novella. I'm going to rework the angle a bit and send it to the Writers of the Future contest. Should be interesting. The first place winners (and some times 2nd and 3rd place depending on size) get published in an anthology and all finalists win money. Can't go wrong.

Last, I became a board member for the newly formed Edmonton Writers Centre. I won't write too much about this on here since this is supposed to be about my writing, but I'll direct you the Centre's website once it's up and running.

I think that's all I've done over the last month, writing related. I did go to two weddings, and enjoyed a pig roast weekend with the small community at my step-dad's cabin on the lake, but that's about it.

This month I'm going to the Calgary science fiction and fantasy convention "Con-Version 23". My first Con. I'm very excited. It's only a little over a week away. I'm going to be surrounded by science fiction geeks, H. Potter lovers, fantasy obsessors, and costumed fans. It's going to be great.

I'm also taking part in the 3 day novel contest. It's a crazy event that starts at midnight on August 31st (September 1st really) and lasts until midnight on Monday. The whole labor day long weekend is spent writing a novel. Granted it's a short novel (novella), but it's should be a really neat experience. I already have an idea in place.

Things are really heating up. I get my "Author" picture taken soon, and I'll post it on my website as soon as I have it. I just can't believe how productive I was this past while, even with the stresses of moving. Things are looking up.

I hope you are having a fantastic day.

C

Cooking with Fire

Tuesday (today) - 895 words on WC&S, edited my short story, finished unit 10, and rewrote Chapter 3. (Library days are sooo good)

That's right folks. I have completed yet another chapter, and I am still moving onwards in the novella department (which I will eventually have to cut down, massively, but not today).

My writing friend shared the same feeling with me today. Its like we are on a sports team, and we just keep winning. Now we can see the playoffs in sight and we want that cup. Think of the playoffs as a finished novel and the cup as getting published. That's how I feel. Like this is how it should always be. Work hard and get rewarded. Put pen to paper enough and it gets to be a habit... and this is a really good habit.

It might sound like I'm getting worked up about nothing, but it's something to me. This is my dream, and I can finally get a taste for what it's like to be on the other side. To write full-time. To have my writing be my career and my only career.

... sure, I'd have to have a part time job because I would go Insane if I stayed inside the house all day, but still...

I'm sure you've had enough of my rambles for one day. Have a good one,

C

Keeping it up

Things have been really good lately.

On Thursday I wrote a short story. A real one this time. It's 1,887 words. Under 2000. That's pretty good for me. I've sent it out to a few readers to see what they think. I can't wait to hear their responses, so I can edit this thing and send it out. My first submission. It'll be good. I'm expecting to be rejected at least a few times. No author goes without getting a few of those.

Today, Saturday, I've been working on my novella and rewriting my novel. It's going good. You can see my word counts below on how much I did on WC&S. But I also finished rewriting Chapter One in my novel. Onwards to Chapter Two! Things are cooking.

I haven't heard back from my tutor on unit 9 yet, but that's ok. It did take me almost 3 months to finish the silly unit, I can give him a week or two to get back to me.

I think that's it for now. Keep plugging along. I will.

Word Counts

Thursday: 1,887 words on Freedom Fire (short story)
Friday: 0 words
Today: 510 words on WC&S, finished rewriting Chapter One

C

Step One - Complete

My novel outline is finished, which means step one of my three step plan to finish my novel is done.

On to step two, reworking chapters 1-9 in my novel to fit the new outline. I'm feeling good. Things are coming into place. This nagging, urgent NEED to write is actually helping out quite a bit. (Check out my blog post May Long Weekend to see my full three step plan)

I also finished unit 9 in my writing course and I'm sending it on to my tutor as we speak (or type rather).

I know this is a short update, but come on... I'm writing a novel here. Gotta keep the momentum going. I won't have any 'new word' counts for you in my next update, but I will keep you updated on how much I've reworked.

Happy writing,

C

Novella & Novel

I've been working on my novella at the same time as I've been working on my novel outline. So far, so good.

Yesterday was Library day, and a really good writing day. I wrote 1,001 words on "WC&S", and still spent an hour working on my outline (which is getting closer and closer to being done). I've been outlining Chapters 6 - 9 the last few days, but I'm finding that by finishing the beginning, things at the end HAVE to change.

Your thinking, "um, duh!" right? Well, I guess in a way I knew this, just like anyone reading this would in theory... But its different when you're staring at your whole novel, seeing all the plot lines and obstacles and problems, and finally see all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. To finally see what was meant to happen here, not just the general idea of it. It's no longer about what I've changed here or there, it's about what this story has become... and it's AWESOME!!!!! It really is so much better then what it started out as.

Anyway, I just thought I would leave an update. Hope you're having a good one.

C