Not a New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year, everyone!

*insert fireworks here*

So it's 2014, and for a lot of people, writers and readers included, this means it's ~resolution-making time~
I'm sure there are many of you with weekly word count goals for the new year and/or reading goals.

Maybe you'll write 2 000 words a day and read two books a week. Maybe you'll outline and write a novel or read over 100 books this year. Maybe you'll participate in NaNoWriMo or NaPoWriMo this year!

Maybe you just want to eat healthier or watch less tv or start watching that one television show everyone is always talking about. Maybe you want to go vegan or visit a different country or learn a new language or start a family!

Whatever your resolution or goal may be, I wish you the best of luck. And even if, by the end of the year, you do not reach your goal, I hope you will try your hardest to and I commend you every step of the way!

Maybe you're like me and don't like calling these goals 'new year resolutions'. Maybe they're just goals you happen to start at the beginning of the year. And maybe, just maybe, you don't have a goal right now and maybe you don't want one. That is totally fine and here's a clap on the back, you wonderful person *claps wonderful people on back*
Because you don't have to have a goal or a resolution or a plan. You don't have to read a book a week or birth a child or go to Prague or write a novel. As long as you have a good year and spend it doing what you want to do, that's what is important.

All that said, however, I do have a goal. As I mentioned before, I'm not a fan of calling my goals 'resolutions'. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because calling them that in the past has never worked for me. Perhaps I'd rather call them a goal than a resolution because resolution is a four syllable word and I am just too lazy for that. It doesn't matter, really. But I'll share with you my writing goal/plan for the year, because I have one and making it public on here might help me reach better than if I kept it to myself.

For Christmas in my stocking I got a 2014 daily planner. I'm not in school, and I'm really good at memorizing my work schedule, so at first I was not sure how I would even use it. I could write down my work schedule in it, but that's just not likely. I'd much rather fill it with something more than that, and I'd like to fill it, because leaving it empty would just be sad.

So here's the plan: For each day, I will fill in what writing I did that day or why I did not write anything at all.
This is what I have so far, to give you all an idea of how exactly I'm filling this out:

(I hope to add for today that I worked on my new WIP, but I've yet to. Hopefully I can add that in before I head for bed tonight)

Why am I doing this? Firstly, because why not? But secondly, so by the end of each month (or even each week) I can see how much time I am spending slacking off, or how my work schedule is affecting my writing. I cannot really do too much about my work schedule, but perhaps I can plan ahead. If I know I am working a late shift, I can write extra on my days/evenings off to pre-make up for it. This way I can get things done and see exactly how I am progressing.

I am thinking about writing up a monthly blog post on here to document monthly (or maybe bi-weekly, depending) what my progress is like and my plans to fix it. This will be my project for the year. Maybe I'll be cheesy and alliterative and call it 'Project Productivity'.

Hopefully it will not end up being something like 'Project Procrastination' or 'Project Wow Courtney You Sucked This One Hard'.
I'd rather avoid the last one there. It's disconcerting and potentially inappropriate-sounding. But that happens sometimes.

(I feel like the 'My Life' fits perfectly now that I'm keeping track of my writing progress. Writing is my life. Also books. But that ties into writing, so)

So this begins Project Productivity. So far it's going well enough. Wish me luck!

And good luck to all of you on your resolutions/goals/2014.

If you have any, what are your goals and/or resolutions? Do you have an action plan on how to go about accomplishing them, or are you going to wing it?
And if you don't have any resolutions/goals for 2014, feel free to share why not.

Flunked Out of Camp

Remember how I was doing Camp NaNoWriMo?
Yeah . . .
I flunked out.

I know any progress is still progress, but I still consider giving up after, what was it? Three days of actual writing? I still consider that to be a bit of a failure. Since then I have been working on my novel writing course, although I admit lately I have been a slack-master. To make up for it, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo 2013. This should get the writing bug back in me. I can't fail two NaNo's in a row!

I'll keep my blog updated with my progress when I'm having slacker moments (so hopefully I won't be posting on here too much! Haha).

Good luck in November to anyone else participating in NaNo this year! When I encourage you all by saying 'any words written by the end of the month is good!' as I am sure I will, ignore how I consider my incomplete Camp NaNo a failure. I'm just being extra hard on myself for giving up for a silly reason (which I'm pretty sure was just laziness that I blamed on work - don't let me do that again!).

Eep.
Here's hoping for another successful NaNo! I completed NaNoWriMo 2012 with a come-from-behind. Let's see if I can do it again this year. Er, without the 'oh crap, I have one day left and 10k words to write' stress, haha!

Camp NaNoWriMo

It's happening again, guys!

I will be participating in another NaNoWriMo! Last year I successfully completed November's NaNoWriMo, and in an attempt to seriously kick my motivation in the butt, I have signed up for this July's Camp NaNoWriMo.

I will be slightly cheating, meaning I will not be writing an entirely new novel. This July I will be writing a second draft to a novel I wrote last year, but I will be typing up each word all over again (and eliminating some/adding some), and I've upped my word count goal (I hope to do the entire second draft in the month, so that's 80k words for me, minus the first chapter, which I've already re-written).

Here's hoping it will not be too crazy, considering I'll hardly be home on July 1st, and I'll be out in the sun (I love the sun, but being out all day in it really does my head in!).

Wish me luck! And if you're doing Camp NaNo this year, I wish you the best of luck also! I'll be updating on here each time I reach a word count goal or just with updates on my progress. Feel free to share the pain/joy of writing in the comments.

AND if you are looking for a writing partner (I like to do one hour writing 'sprints'), look out for my on the #1k1hr tag on Twitter (or simply just post a comment on here or tweet me @courtvents to see if I'm free to write like a demon for an hour). Sometimes (most of the time), a little extra motivation really helps!

My Writing Buddy and Inspiration (But mostly inspiration)

Writing Buddy

*salutes all*

So today I want to talk a little about what inspires me (writing-wise, of course), but first I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. He's black and grey and stuffed and adorable. And nameless.
Actually, I think he has a name, but I have definitely forgotten it. I'm a terrible friend-of-a-mini-stuffed-raccoon.

(I'm sure I gave him a cool name, but my forgetfulness has made me, well, forget. It will come back to me, I'm sure. But just in case, if you have any name suggestions, feel free to post them in the comments. Something literary/book-y is preferable, as I'm sure that's what the name I gave him was like... I think.)

I saw him at work, decided I needed a writing buddy - that was not a cat that liked to interrupt my writing with incessant meowing for attention or walking across the keyboard. Scary things happen when a cat walks across a keyboard!


Inspiration

What inspires you?

For me, it's a few different things. The surest way to make me want to write, is if I read. Or if I'm at work or doing anything else that makes it impossible for me to sit down and write, but that's a whole other story.

Nine times out of ten, if I'm reading a book, I will want to write.
Ten times out of ten, if I'm reading a book of the same genre as my current WIP, I will want to write.

I tend to get a lot of ideas when I'm reading a book of the same genre as my WIP, and the oddest thing is that the ideas rarely have anything to do with the text in front of my face. Reading fantasy novels right now, for example, seem to make me want to dive back into the world I created. This does not mean I am not enjoying the book in my hands; it just gives me the itch to want to write. Usually at the same time as I'm reading. Sadly, that's not possible, or else I'd get a LOT of reading and writing done!

Other than reading, a few other things that get me inspired to write are:

• When it is not morning
• Usually anytime between 5pm and 4am, which never seems to work with my work and sleep schedule - but who needs sleep, right? Ha. Haha. If only!
• Rain
• Especially thunderstorms
• Especially in the late evenings between 5pm and 4am!
• Loud music (generally a playlist with a mix of rock/pop rock/country rock) - But not while I'm writing! Because then all I end up doing is singing along and bouncing around in my desk chair.

So that's that.
What inspires you to write?

PS: Haha - maybe I should call the raccoon 'Inspiration' =P

And the Writing of Draft 2 Begins! (After some necessary/not-necessary-at-all procrastination)

I'm going to have to keep this short, because I should be writing. Not a blog post, mind you. Draft 2.

With the first draft written a year ago, I'd say it's a good time for draft 2 to begin. I took a few months off after completing the first draft to clear my mind of draft 1 so that when I began my revisions, I would be looking at my novel with a fresh eye. Eyes. I have two of those.

Right.

Write.

(The carpenter ant that decided it was going to live on my desk and make an appearance only as I began to organise the clutter - clear space = clear mind, right? Not when there's a gigantic wood-eating ant climbing your white board! Special bonus: Lydia Kang, author of upcoming debut Control, magnet!)

I will get to that. Now that my procrastinating for the day has completed (I hope). I downloaded a twitter desktop app so I would stay off the internet (guess that didn't work, since I'm here typing this, huh?), organized my desk (and had a run-in with a gigantic carpenter ant - see above pic), and clipped a small hair clip to my nose (spoiler: it hurt, but the fun factor was still there).

(In case you did not believe me... We never need speak of this picture again, however.)

And then this. I suppose this also counts as procrastination, but this blog is very quite sadly empty. And I felt bad.

This is not a quality blog post, I know. But it does have an ant and a hair clip! Neither of which are in my novel, which I am going to write draft 2 of. Right.... now.

A Snippet/Teaser

For absolutely no reason at all apart from the fact that 'I want to', I have a snippet/teaser to share with you all.
It is from the mythological contemporary novel I wrote during NaNoWriMo last year. I haven't touched it since then (I am focusing on another WIP at the moment), so the first draft (including this snippet) is still unedited.

Enjoy!

After Derek fell asleep, I willed my body to follow suit, but sleep never came. My mind reeled with worry; Derek’s distraction had only worked until it was over. I lay on my back with my arms crossed over the blanket covering my chest. I stared up at the ceiling, my mind replaying what had happened in the kitchen earlier tonight.

My attacker had not seemed surprised when my wings sprang free, and that made me feel uneasy. I almost preferred that he had panicked and the sight scared him off; that would be normal. But it seemed to only fill him with more hatred and determination to end my life with his blade. But why? Was my theory from my eighteenth birthday correct? Was I something dark that he had been trying to kill? Derek was convinced I was some perfect and beautiful and good and angelic, but what if he was wrong? The idea ate at me until I could lie still no longer. I got out of bed and walked over to my mirror, ignoring how cold the wooden floor was at my feet.

Standing before the tan-framed wooden floor-length mirror, I brought out my wings – this time on my command. I assumed they had come out while I was being attacked because I was panicked. Once again I remembered the un-shocked expression of my attacker, and turned to rouse Derek. He was surprised to see that I was awake and not in bed beside him, and he blinked groggily at me, wiping a bit of drool from his mouth – at least he didn’t snore.

“What if that’s why he broke in?” I said, rushing right into it without much of an explanation. “The attacker. He didn’t try to take anything. He went straight for me with his dagger. What if he knows what I am?”

Derek’s eyes focused for a moment on my wings, a confused expression knitting his thick brows together. “No one is going to try to hurt an angel, Chloe. Come back to bed.” But I was not satisfied with his response.

“But if I’m a dark angel? Why wouldn’t anyone want to hurt me then?” I persisted. Derek sighed and sat up, the blanket sliding off his torso and settling onto his lap. For once I was too worked up to allow myself to be distracted by his sculpted chest and abs.

“Chloe, you haven’t done anything wrong,” he reasoned, his blue eyes searching mine. “Besides, how would he know about your wings? Only you and I know about them.” He sounded impatient, and I knew he was just tired, but it angered me. Why was he not taking this seriously?

“Exactly. Only you and I know.” He has a point, and I hesitated before turning on him. “Did you tell anyone?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. My wings ruffled slightly and Derek look alarmed.

“What? No, of course I haven’t!” he replied with indignation.

I folded my arms over my chest, anger flaring through me. “Well are you sure you never mentioned it while you were drunk? Like when you were all over Mercedes last month at the club? Don’t look at me like that,” I snapped when his eyes widened in shock and his mouth flapped like a fish out of water as he searched for the words to reject my claim. “I know,” I told him, confirming the fear in his eyes. “I don’t know why I let it slide until now, but...” I sighed, retracting my wings and pointing to the door. “Get out.” I spoke calmly now, but I felt dangerous. A raging anger welled up inside of me and my eyes bored threateningly into Derek’s. His ocean-blue eyes no longer swept me away like a raft on waves. I wanted to gauge them out with my fingers. I wanted to rip his head from his shoulders and watch as he screamed in pain. The anger boiled up inside of me, ready to spill over the brim. A part of me wanted very badly for Derek to argue again. To refuse to leave so I could show him I wasn’t one to be messed with. To prove my black wings were not those of a harmless angel. But he shut his mouth and nodded, seeming to decide that it was best not to argue with me. He dressed almost robotically and said not a word as he left. I waited, nostrils flared as I controlled my anger, until I heard the front door close and lock behind him. I let out the air I had been holding in.