09 Thursday Jul 2015
Posted in Writing
Tags
Amazon Kindle, as a seller, creativity, discoveries, fantasy, Following the Old Ways, Meri Benson, original work, published work, publishing, self publishing, writing
Some new steps in the direction of self-publishing, however small. I’m excited, and a little nervous, about finally getting something up on the Kindle eBook store that’s all my own.
Following the Old Ways is now available for purchase on its own over here!
17 Wednesday Jun 2015
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Writing
Tags
balancing, life, musings, online presence, thoughts, time management, update, what do
Sometimes I really don’t know where the time goes. It’s not just a fairly used expression, but reality for me. I really don’t know where my days go sometimes.
For starters, I can’t believe that I haven’t been on this blog in almost a year. But at the same time, I stepped away from my work in progress for almost that long after I finished the final draft, so I guess I kind of can. I guess it’s mostly just the time passing that I don’t always catch. Wednesdays feel like Mondays, and I blink and it’s suddenly Saturday. Or I get to work at 9am, and I feel like I blink from under the pile of work I have to do and suddenly it’s time to go home.
Maybe it’s because I feel like I’m sinking under more and more work and I just don’t really know how to pull myself out of it. Every second of my days seem spoken for, and not one of those seconds goes to something I have a passion for, like my writing. And my reading has fallen into a quick second behind my writing.
I get home from work, and after I finally settle in for the night after dinner it’s nearly time to go to bed. I think I’m going to have a free weekend, and suddenly I have to be at an Aunt’s house for something, or a friend has an emergency that needs to be dealt with, or there’s medium work and house cleansing to do because my mom’s friend’s husband hasn’t moved on and wants to tell her something. There’s just this never ending parade of things to do. And I’m not saying I resent doing things for friends, or family, or spending time with both. That’s not what I’m saying at all.
I just, I guess what I’m saying is that it’s hard. Adulting and having responsibilities and a job that takes up most of the day is hard. I know it’s supposed to be, it wouldn’t be life if it wasn’t. But sometimes I wish that I could find a better handle on managing my time, and being able to fit everything in that I both want and need to without feeling like I’m dropping something on the other end.
Some people would say make a schedule, and stick to it, but well, I’m just not that organized. And I’m not exactly the kind of person that can follow a strict schedule. The minute reading my To-Be-Read pile feels like work, or editing my novel (or working on a few WIPs I have on the back burner) feels like work, I lose a lot of my motivation. My creative switch gets flipped and the lights go dark and I spend more time just staring at the screen, or piece of paper than I do actually reading or writing or working.
Maybe it’s because I really haven’t had a break in over a year, and I know some of that not getting a break is because Mom and I have a LOT of things on our plate. We never really found a balance after dad died, and we’re just kind of moving day to day as we can. And the one ‘vacation’ my mom and I take isn’t really a vacation because it’s a festival that I run and coordinate, and while I do enjoy it it’s not just a vacation – it’s work too.
Here’s hoping that I can work out something. I was able to finish The Red Queen, the first book I’ve really been able to finish in at least two months. I also finished editing chapter 1 of my roughly drafted novel. I’m hoping I can keep up the momentum, continue reading, continue editing, and hopefully get the short story I have in my head out and onto paper. Though the short needs to be a little more planned out before I can really get my teeth into the meat of the story, because it’s a mystery and I want to make sure it isn’t given away too soon into the book.
16 Friday May 2014
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Writing
It’s been… more than a long time since I’ve updated my blog. Granted, to be fair, it’s been more than a long time since I worked on anything original too. I was able to win NaNoWriMo last year, adding 50K words to my WIP, which helped me come closer to finishing it by a ton. It got my main character through two of her four tasks, and set her up for the third pretty well. And then the Holidays hit. Because of everything that goes on at my house for Holidays, I didn’t really allow myself time to write. And that is on me, no excuses that I was too busy, I just didn’t carve out the appropriate amount of time to let myself when I should have. Couple the Holidays with my 9-5 job that pays the bills from December to February due to a deadline that came due, and my writing suffered more than I wanted to.
February was the worst month though. I lost my father on February 5th unexpectedly. And it’s been hard, getting through, helping my Mom through. Trying to make sure everything goes as it needs to, or where it needs to. On top of that, we had a whole business (he had a self-owned business) to try and figure out, inventory, and get up and running in the wake of his absence. And truthfully, I’ve been low enough that trying to write original stuff has been really hard, trying to focus and keep going where I was. For the first month or so, I had a really hard time writing in past tense at all, and while some people might be saying then don’t write in past tense, my WIP – all 100+ pages already written – is in past tense. So it made working on it near impossible when I kept slipping into first person. And for a while I felt like everything I wrote period was coming out pretty crap.
Knowing myself, I knew that for the good of the novel, it was better to not touch it until I was in a more stable place. Because especially when low I can be one of those temperamental artists that turns around and just scraps everything in a fit if I’m not careful. I haven’t had a fit like that in a while, a long while, but that’s partially because I’ve learned from my past, learned the signs that it was coming on, and learned to put some space between me and whatever it is I’m working on to better keep things whole and ready for me when I come back from my low.
I think I’m about ready to start trying to finish my novel now though. To start working on original ideas again. I’ve been getting some new original ideas recently, ones that give me that small smile because they just scream ‘write me’ loudly and start creating their own main character so I can work on them. But, I’ve been trying to be good, to not start another project before I finish this novel. It’s been put off, re-drafted, re-written, too many times to put it on the side burner for a new idea after everything. And I really do want to get there, to feel that sigh of relief that the first draft can officially be called finished. Maybe start a new project while I give it some space before going back to edit it and have my trusty editor help to comb through it, make sure it’s as good as it can be. And I’m ready to get back into this blog, to writing even if it’s here to keep up being active again.
12 Tuesday Nov 2013
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Writing
As many are aware, we’re currently in the flurries of National Novel Writing Month. Pens, keyboard, tablets. They’re all being exhausted as thousands of people across the world write vigorously to try and reach that 50,000 word goal. Or in some cases, surpass that 50,000 count goal.
And me? I’m completely caught up in the insanity. And so far, I’m doing good. Though, it is only a day or so into the second week. My over all goal is to write 2,000 words a day minimum in order to not only reach the 50,000 words this month, but hopefully surpass them and get my book as close to complete as possible. With the goal to have my rough draft done by Christmas so that come the new year I can start to work on editing it after the Hols are over.
I have found that sometimes it’s a struggle to get my word count done depending on the kind of day I had, but I’ve been fighting harder over all to work through it and get things done. I will say, even with occasionally fighting, there’s a mighty great feeling to know that I’ve gotten my goal completed for the day and I go to bed a little more relaxed because of it.
Today I’ve taken a slight pause in time that could otherwise be spent writing to type up this and to work out the map of my fantasy land that my character will be traveling for the remainder of my novel. I wanted to have a visual that I could go back to and go okay, they should be reaching this forest soon, or this town soon.
Though, the fault lays down in naming everything, because the map starts to look barren when you only have your plot relevant locations on it. And then I have to start filing things in with forests, mountains, random towns to speckle the land.
So. On map creation. Question for the masses.
Do you meticulously plot out each location when you create your maps or do you just kind of toss things at the board and let the land kind of form itself the way it wants to?
Do you name everything you put on the map right away or do you let some towns or forests or lakes lay nameless until they are of importance or their name comes to you later?
29 Tuesday Oct 2013
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Writing
Tags
'properly published', musings, nanowrimo 2013, ramblings, real life, thoughts, time management, writing
First and foremost? I want to know where October went. Because hell, it’s way too late for me. I feel like I should have done a LOT more with this month than I did, though honestly that’s because I had wanted to do a lot more than I did.
I never kept up with the drabbles I had wanted to do this month, though I do fully intend to continue with my plan to write for NaNo. I’m just going to have to be more careful about staying on task and not letting the month slip away from me. Because in all honesty, I’d really like to win this year. And about two weeks in I always taper out because of Holidays and family stuff, and finals and school which I no longer have to distract me.
Secondly, I had a small issue with something today while I was browsing the Nano Forums this morning. Someone in one of the regions I’m part of posted that they wanted to talk to “Properly Published“authors, and by that she meant not self-published and not ebook. And I have a more than slight issue with not considering self-publishing or ebooks ‘properly published’.
I know that a good chunk of self-publishers do need better (or any) editors. I’ve run across more than a few that the ideas were solid, but damned if they could just have had someone run through it with the editor’s comb it would have been a hell of a lot better. And I’ve run across more than a few that you sit there wondering where the good reviews on amazon came from because it’s really, really not good. But that isn’t to say that a self-publisher is bad or not properly done.
I guess my issue stems from the use of ‘properly’. I wouldn’t have bristled at the term as much if she had used say… ‘traditionally published’. Because I feel like saying that self-publishing and ebooks aren’t proper is discounting a lot of good work and a lot of good people. Especially since there are a fair few of traditionally published authors that are making their way into ebooks, making shorts available to their fans for a cheaper than paperback/hardback price that might fill in the gaps between some of their books. And I think that’s a wonderfully awesome use of the media, by the way, but does that make the short they’re selling for a couple bucks any less proper than the edition that you can pick up in the store?
My two cents anyway.
08 Tuesday Oct 2013
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Writing
Tags
joining in on the fun, nanowrimo, nanowrimo 2013, planning, preparing, prompts, weekly goals, writing
So, I’ve been working up a little bit of stuff around me and I’ve decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. Or more like again. I’ve done it for a couple years, and I’ve yet to be able to actually win it, so I’m putting a lot of will power into steaming through and actually being able to say I won this year.
I’ve even got a schedule for the month of October to get me in the writing mood a little more, working on some fics inspired by the daily prompts that are posted in the Prompt forum on the website.
And if you’re wondering what NaNoWriMo is? It’s National Novel Writing Month. Basically, for the month of November I promise to work my tail off and write 50,000 words be it a novel, fanfiction, a collection of short stories. 30 Days, 50,000 words. And the focus isn’t to get bogged down in quality so much as getting the quantity out, and then use the month of December to edit what you’ve written.
Wanna join the craziness? http://www.nanowrimo.org is the place to go. Sign up is open, and the forums are already a flurry of fun and talking as people prepare for the insanity that is November. If you’re new to NaNo, there are also regional forums where you can see if maybe someone is hosting a write it, or other fun plans to keep people in their area on track. You might make a new best friend.
And if you want to add me on there? my handle is kougerkat
03 Thursday Oct 2013
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Writing
I really don’t know why it’s so hard to get me to sit down and write out blog posts, or update my twitter for that matter. I always have great plans to, and then they fall short of my wants because something or another gets pushed in front of me.
Though, in my defense with blogging, I’ve been vying for a full time desk job that will pay the bills. Something I deeply need in order to survive and all. It’s going well too, and I’m hoping to have the job secured by the start of the new year. So here’s hoping.
In other news, I am in the process of writing up a review, though a couple days ago, as I was finishing up the book I was directed by Kindle that since I was reading A, I might like B. And B turned out to be book two of a series named after the book I was currently reading. But by a different author. Color me confused at that point.
Apparently two different authors used “Easy Bake Coven” as their title, only five months apart. So while the newer of the two’s review will be posted hopefully tomorrow if today pans out as I want it too, the older of the two “Easy Bake Coven” books will be jumping my reading list to top so I can read and review that one too.
Which leads me to a poll of sorts, dear readers. Have you come across this before? And I’m not just talking about similar titles, because I have stumbled across similar or same titled books but what was inside, and the genres tended to be different. Both of these books are about witches, and from the description of the second one, they’re both slipping into some mystery as well.
And for those that write and publish, do you search to see if anything on amazon, B&N, smashword, etc. has the same title as what you are hoping to name your book? Or do you just publish it without looking?
26 Monday Aug 2013
Posted in Writing
It’s finally here! My very first published work (not counting the freebie I did for Earth Day)!
It’s part of an anthology called Sacrificed.
I’m one of four authors in it. It can be found here for purchase!
Kassandra’s town is committed to Following the Old Ways in that every few years they round up the virgins of the town and one is picked by lottery to sate the demands of the dragon. But what happens when the dragon finds out that Kassandra is not as virginal as she is supposed to be?
14 Wednesday Aug 2013
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Writing
Tags
book release date, camping, learning new things, rambling, randomness, self publishing, update, writing
It’s oddly nice sometimes to get offline, hang out with friends, and just… relax unplugged. Well, I was a little plugged in until my best friend joined me out in the woods for the festival last week, but that can’t be helped when my smartphone gets better internet service than cell service out in the middle of no where. But the crux of it was, it was nice to be unplugged for a while.
Get back with nature, just have some good time with friends, campfires, and some crafts. And when there’s time, get back with the old pen and paper and just… get to the essence of writing without all the distractions from the internet that can crop up. Seriously, writing with a computer that has online capabilities is sometimes like ordering a new ebook from Amazon. I go for the free book, but suddenly, ten bucks later, I have a small arsenal of new reads and I’m going ‘no, get me off here!’.
Can you tell I have a very ‘Oh! Shiny!’ kind of personality? Heh. I tend to get distracted easily if I’m not careful, and even sometimes when I am careful.
This week is a get back into the swing of going to work kind of week over all. Though I’m hoping that I can get back into the swing of writing as well. As per my friend’s suggestion, I need to see about putting aside one hour to write a day so even if I don’t get the thousand word (or more) goal, at least I am getting some words out. And in that hour I won’t do things like play on tumblr or poke around on facebook. Dedicated purely to writing. I want my Fae story out, damnit.
And in other news this week, hopefully the anthology I’m part of will be released Friday, fingers crossed at least.
And did I mention that while at the camping trip, a friend of mine said that she would help me to figure out how to format a word document so it’s all ready to self publish at create space? Because I really am seriously thinking of doing some shorter, novella length works for kindle/create space while my novel is being pushed at some big publishing companies. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for, for this Fae novel of mine. Big house publishing company. Hopefully it’s got enough potential and punch for that.
01 Thursday Aug 2013
Posted in Writing
Tags
I really, really can’t believe that it’s been so long since I’ve been on here. And believe me, it’s been just about as long since I really touched my WIP. Well, not counting two days ago. I ended up getting sick with Strep. And then taking a little bit to actually get into the doctor for them to diagnosis it, and that lead to them not believing it was strep because the quick culture came back negative and my throat while looking irritated looked fine. Four days later, my long culture is positive. (Which is what I said would happen the moment I stepped into the doctor’s office.)
I’ve gotten semi back into writing. Slowly. It doesn’t help that in two days I’ll be headed to the middle of no where for a week long festival that I run. Doesn’t add up to a lot of down time to write, but I am hoping to put the old pen to paper and see if I can’t get a little bit written while I’m there. And my phone has a talk to text feature that I can probably utilize to get it transcribed a little faster once I’m back.
Wish me luck on trying to catch up on my word count, because I’m so far behind I’m gonna cry if I think about it.
Meri's Corner 