Tag Archives: balancing

Prepping and Prompting

06 Friday Oct 2017

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So while I have been working away at trying to finish my short, and toiling away at trying to plan out my WIP details for the upcoming NaNo, I’ve also been scouring the internet looking for prompts to try and do a little bit of one shot, like 1k shorts to just get into the October spirit.

Because, after all, October isn’t just about being prepared for NaNo. It’s the start of Fall. It’s Halloween. It’s Dia de los Muertos. It’s Samhain. It’s the time of year where the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest. It’s where we get to dress up and be someone else for a night, or all month. And it’s where, even for those of us who don’t normally write it, we writers might want to try to craft something that goes bump in the night.

I don’t know what it is, or why it is, but my scouring the internet came up short. Most of what I found were prompts about sharing your memories of different events or emotions tied to Halloween. And that’s just not what I wanted.

So, I crafted some of my own prompts. Originally I was thinking of a prompt a day kind of list, but when everything falls into place that’s a lot for someone like me who works 9-5 Monday through Friday. So I crafted one prompt every other day instead. If you’re not looking at a calendar to count, that’s sixteen prompts.

If you’re planning to fill any of the prompts, leave a comment down below with which one(s) you’re thinking of doing. As well, if you post it anywhere, I’d love to see it so go ahead and throw a link in the comment, or tweet me @MerisCorner because I’d love to see them all written out!

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October becomes Preptober

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

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So we’ve fallen into October. Or, well, I’ve fallen into October. I’m still working on a short, it’s bad, I know. But while I haven’t actually finished writing it I’ve outlined what I want to happen. I just need to focus a little more on getting it all done. Because it HAS to be done before November. Has to be. Ideally, I’d like it to be done by next week so I can really devote the rest of this month into planning out what I’m doing for November.

What’s November, you might ask? It’s National Novel Writing Month! Where you pledge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Sounds like a lot? It kind of is, and I always succeed better when I have an outline for my novel, so I know where I’m supposed to be going.

I had briefly considered continuing the one from last year to get it done. I want to write that one and get it on paper. But there are still a few things I’m unsure of for it. So I’m going to sit on it for a little while longer to better work out some of it.

Instead I’ll be striving to do a completely new novel, and a completely new style for NaNo. My story is going to have a DnD inspired story within it. Which makes October even more important for prepping because I have double the world building and double the character creation for it. Each character is going to be playing a character within the story. There’ll be two plots, the plot of the game within the story and the plot that follows the main characters in their world. And the fantasy world within the game, and the world that the main characters live in when not gaming.

Have I confused you yet? Hopefully the answer is No.

If yes? Let me see if I can simplify it.

Basically the story will follow six people in a small Midwestern town. They’re in a gaming group together, and there will be a plot focused around them. As well, I am looking to develop their actual game, give life to the story that they’re playing out when they all meet up together on Friday nights, run the two stories within the same novel.

It’s something I’ve never done before, because it’s not like a lot of the gamer fiction where someone gets trapped in a game and becomes part of it and has to find their way to survive and potentially get out.

This will be a lot more to juggle. A Lot more to plan. Especially since fantasy settings involve a lot more as a whole as well.

Wish my luck with this journey down the rabbit hole, because I have no idea if it will end up being a great story or if it will be a cluster of not great. I’m hoping the first one.

If you are doing NaNo this year, are you dedicating October to being Preptober to get yourself set up? Are you pantsing it all the way? Let me know down in the comments!

First Day of Fall!

22 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by in Personal Thoughts, Writing

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Would you believe we only have about a quarter of the year left before it’s 2018?

Ever since my dad passed away, I feel like the days just fly by before I can grab them and know what’s going on. I don’t know where the summer went, or the other first half of the year, really. I look around and there’s not too much to track the year past doctor notes and bills. This year especially hasn’t been great health wise for mom or I. But we’re managing as we can.

I have been reading a little, tiny bit. Not enough to finish a book. But I’m hoping to finish one this weekend. So there’s that.

WIP wise, I added a little to a current work but not a lot. I need to really get in there and finish. I think my problem is I knew how it started, so I have that down. I know how I want it to end, but I never fully thought out the middle part and so my brain is kind of doing a ‘what do’ thought process as I start at the page. I’m thinking of skipping that section for a little bit and writing the parts I know and maybe the middle will come to me later. I’ve never written the end before the middle before, but hey, I guess there’s a first time for everything.

Also. Did you know we’re getting dangerously close to NaNoWriMo Prep month? Because we totally are. Just 8 days before Prep Month, and a month after that we’re into NaNoWriMo. I’m not sure if I want to try conquering a new project when I have two WIPs that need to edit and polish. But at the same time I don’t think there’d be enough polishing the WIPs that would get me through NaNoWriMo.

Choices, Choices.

Are you thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo? If you are, will you use October to prep for November and what you’ll be writing? Do you plan to pants your way through the month? Let me know in the comments below!

September! September! Where have you gone!

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

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Would you believe that it’s already almost half way through the month? If you didn’t know, I work 9-5 for a University. I won’t say which one, but I take care of the day to day for a small department, helping faculty and graduate students alike. And one of the most hectic times of year, there are two, is the end of August/beginning of September. We have new Graduate Students coming in, getting settled, trying to make sure they’re registered for the classes that they need to take. On top of that normal, we started a new Masters program that I’m lead contact on, so I’ve been getting the small cohort for that program settled.

Personal wise, I’ve been healing from that concussion. My being on a computer has finally worked its way out, mostly, so there’s little to no pain when on it for long periods of time any more. And the headaches and migraines that I’d been getting have slowly gone away. Mom’s been seeing doctors for her breathing issue – it’s still not cleared up at all. They’ve confirmed that she’s only getting 60% of the lung capacity that she should have, but they still can’t actually pin point what is going on to cause the decrease. So still watching over her, making sure she rests as she needs to.

My weekends have also been taken by things, though happier things. A good friend of mine got married, and that was an amazing and beautiful time. Too short, in my opinion, but that’s only because I wasn’t able to stay too long at the reception.

I’m working, extremely slowly – snails speed slowly, on my WIPs. I am. I’m trying to implement a better schedule (or a schedule at all really), where after work and dinner before TV and video games and/or crashing I write for at least an hour. Of course, a good chunk of this time has been spent cleaning my desk to be able to feel like I can write first. But I’m at the point where I should be able to write starting this week.

My cats don’t like it. They sit and stare at me, meow at me. Because after a long day of not being home they demand attention. I try to give it to them between thoughts and word flow without killing my concentration. Though, that’s sometimes hard because my one has a habit of slipping behind the computer and wiggling the power cord JUST enough to unplug it. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t pissed every time.

Here’s to goals of getting my schedule set up though. I’m hoping by October I’ll be set in my writing ways and will be far more productive on my WIPs than I am now.

What goals do you have for the remainder of the year? Or just the remainder of the month? Let me know in the comments below!

Life & Booktubeathon 2017

19 Wednesday Jul 2017

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Don’t think I forgot about you, my valued and lovely readers. I most certainly did not. I know it’s been a little over a week since I last posted on here, and there is definitely a shame on me for that, I do have a reason. I was sick. I ended up with a cold of some kind on the 3rd. I pushed through it and seemed to be getting better until I ended up with sharp pain in my ears. An Urgent Care trip, if you’ve been following my Twitter you probably saw this already, diagnosed me with a mild ear infection on the left and a serious ear infection on the right. And I’m always lethargic when on antibiotics. So between meds and healing, things just didn’t go well for me. On top of that, my mother, who I dragged into Urgent Care with me, was diagnosed with pneumonia. So I’ve been keeping a close eye on her. She, this last weekend, also ended up having her shoulder seize up, and we still haven’t been able to get the muscle to unlock so we’re trying to manage her pain as we can. But, all the health problems have meant, sadly, that no words have been typed and stored and added to the word count.

Camp NaNoWriMo really isn’t fairing well for my poor little novel. But, health is more important than words, right? Right.

I am hoping to get some time to write in. I am going to be pretty stuck at home this weekend. We’re having a contractor come in to redo the bathroom floors. Subfloor is shot, so I’m taking the ability to replace the tile in there and everything. But it means lazying about so if he needs anything I’m around. Here’s hoping that words can be done while he works.

Also, as the title suggests, I have another goal. Booktube-a-thon is next week. And I’m thinking of following lots of booktubers and readers in reading books! What is booktube-a-thon? It’s a readathon held by a booktuber over on Youtube. You can find out all about this year’s event by watching this video! The goal is to read as much as possible during the week long event. Comic books, graphic novels, audio books, ebooks, print copies, if it’s a book of some kind, it’s fair game to count.

I’m still working out my TBR list for this event, but I’m definitely interested in participating. Any suggestions on some good books? Make sure to leave them in the comments below!

NaNo Flop & Moving Forward

23 Tuesday May 2017

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So, it’s probably easy to tell that I never ended up finishing NaNo. The lack of posts tooting my progress, explaining my struggles, and cheering my victory? They never came. Truthfully, a lot never came.

I could go into reasons, and I could give excuses as to why the words didn’t come, why the blog didn’t get updated, why I haven’t been on twitter all that often. But really, at the end of the day, I don’t want to get caught up in the past.

I want to get back on track.

I want to leave the past in the past.

I want to move forward.

So this is me, shaking off the past. I’m going to shed it, kind of like a second skin and leave it where it belongs. Behind me. This isn’t to say I’m going to forget why and what all happened. After all, those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it. But, I don’t want to focus on it.

I have a couple projects that have been sitting by the wayside for far too long. One novella needs to be finished – a cutesy cozy mystery, and one high fantasy that needs me to actually go through and do structural and line editing on it so it’s polished and I can finally decide once and for all if I’m going to be self publishing or going the query letter/traditional publishing route.

I know people have strong opinions about both, but after attending a panel at a convention where an author basically said you can do either/or, or be a hybrid, it’s up to you and what you feel is best for your novel, I’m back on the fence with trying the traditional way.

At the same time, I just watched a friend query a book and she had three agents write her back to tell her that they loved her book, but they wouldn’t be picking it up.  And it’s left her wondering, if they loved her book enough to say so, why. Because the letters don’t say. It’s a little disheartening to hear that, and my heart goes out to her because she’s trying to take a critical eye to her story and make some changes in the hopes that next time she sends out query letters maybe someone will love it AND pick it up.

The question for me is, do I really want to go that route? Spend time querying it, potentially not get any takers, and even if I do not see it released for a year or two based on any publishers wanting it, and if they do having it fit into their schedule for release and marketing. It’s a lot of time to sit on a finished product.

Truthfully, I don’t know. I’d love to see it published by a company, and on the shelves in stores. But at the same time, I want to see it sell period. And sitting in a publisher’s cue for one to two years, that’s a long time to wait for it to be released.

Choices, choices, as they say.

I guess I’ll mostly cross that bridge when I get there. When the novel is as good as I can make it after some heavy editing.

Right now, the novella needs to be finished. So my goal, I’m setting one officially, is to be finished writing the novella by the end of May. That way I can take a breather and then circle back to it mid-June for edits. This seems like a super short timeline that I’m giving myself, I’m sure. But truthfully, the novella is about one or two chapters from being done. So I’m hoping by setting this deadline I can really strive and push myself to get it done.

Here’s hoping, at least.

The Busy Girl and the Non-Existent Updates.

11 Monday Apr 2016

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Bellville clock Back in January I set up some goals for myself. Personal things I wanted to accomplish with this blog. And looking back on everything now, I’m left standing here wondering exactly where the last three months went.

Time. It’s something that everyone wants, and we just never seem to have enough of. I’ve been told I’m bad at budgeting my time, a fact that I make no mistake in denying. Working a 9-5 job Monday through Friday means that I have very little time left for myself personally, and my downtime, what helps me to destress a lot recently has been video games – specifically Stardew Valley and Sims 4. So when I could be writing, I’m playing video games for a little bit before bed. When I could be writing, I’m playing video games before mom’s up and moving and we’re starting our day on the weekends. A end up playing a lot when I’m not entirely in the writing mood, or too tired to really do anything else. But, I do also agree, I need to get back into better writing habits. Not just for my WIPs but for these blog posts as well.

I always have the best of intentions, and I don’t always follow through on them. I’m a serial procrastinator to boot.

So all I can do is try. Try to do better writing. Try to do better updating. Try to not let my 9-5 job eat so much of my time and energy that I don’t have any when I get home. I’m kind of a WIP myself, trying to do better and not fall into the same, old, bad habits.

I’ve been reading a little more, so I’m hoping to get a few reviews up soon. And hopefully more and more as I read more, and write more. Here’s hopin’ right?

New Year, Interesting Start

03 Sunday Jan 2016

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Happy New Year 2016 Quotes Happy New Year, Everyone!

The end of 2015 went out in one of the most challenging ways possible. And, truth be told, I’m fairly glad that it’s over and that we’re starting a new, fabulous new year.

The long of my last week of 2015 under the reader’s cut. If you want to skip it, the end is, I’m glad 2015 is over, I’m glad to have my internet back, and I am excited to start 2016! Stay tuned in the next few days for my goals and hopes post!

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Days of Winters Past

21 Monday Dec 2015

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kittne December has passed in a whirlwind of no snow, which for Chicago is very unusual. December is a very busy time of year for me. Not so much in the way I would like, because I wish it was more writing intensive than it actually is. Work gets very busy, because we have fellowships that are being worked out, and interviewees to fly in and all that so I spend a lot of time working on travel things for my work. And then there’s my office’s Holiday Party. I’m in charge of it, from drinks to food to decorations to music to room reservations and all that’s in between. The only think I’m not in charge of is the alcohol. But naturally, all that needing to plan out, and then actually do day of, means that I’m running lots.

All the running means that I’m not really doing much in the way of writing, because I don’t really have a lot of time to think. But at the same time, after NaNo and all that push, it means that I get a small break in my life so I can kind of recharge on the writing front. I still have high hopes of finishing my NaNo novel before the new year begins.

And later this week (or the way my life goes, next week), I’m looking to post about my goals, both reading and writing wise. Because I want to try and really stick to with more of each.

Are you going to post goals for next year for writing or reading? Let me know in the comments!

Days After NaNoWriMo

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

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writing

So, we’ve had a whole week since NaNoWrimo finished. Usually it’s a time of celebration for finishing word counts – which I totally did! – and getting into the groove of editing.

But, I always am amazed sometimes at my family. During the month of November, because I’m participating in NaNoWrimo and I’m pretty vocal about it to anyone that will listen, I’m given slack on things like house chores, or the want to wander off after household duties are taken care of because ‘she’s writing’. But any month other than November, and it’s always the ‘oh no, you need to help with this or that, or oh no, we need to be shopping or socializing’.

My biggest problem is, I’m not just a once a month writer. Yes, I put a little more heavy handed emphasis on my writing in November because I’m trying to get 50,000 words in 30 days, but that’s not where my writing lives and dies either. I’m an aspiring writing. I still have a novel to finish because the conclusion didn’t wrap up during November. I also have a short I’m looking to publish once I finish it as well – because my brain had to come up with an entirely different story set in the last week of November but I think it’ll do well as a couple shorts.

Not to mention, I have to edit the novel I finished last year, the one that’s been re-plotted twice, rewritten three times, and took two NaNoWriMo’s to finish. That novel. It’s only in first draft form. Still needs a LOT of work, and if I’m going to get to it anytime soon, I need to be able to sit down and finish this novel – and short.

I will blame my brain occasionally for things, because as soon as I start to wrap something up, it rolls into a sandbox and starts to design new characters and plots. Which, I’m not exactly complaining about, I swear. My cup runith over when it comes to plots and characters. It’s just the timing. I’m about four chapters from finishing my current WIP novel, and now I have this new plot to run with in short stories that’s wanting to distract me. And it’s not just sitting down and jotting the plots out to look at later. No, if I don’t run with the plot right this second, write down where it leads me – through usually a minimum of four pages typed – then I can’t have the brain power to work on said older project. Because my brain prioritizes like that.

If I’m being honest with myself, and you my lovely readers, I actually have five WIPs that are currently in various stages of Draft 1, and one WIP that’s drafted and on the editing board. My High Fantasy novel needs edits. My Cozy Mystery novel needs me to wrap it up now that I’ve run through the mystery climax. My Horror Short Anthology needs a LOT more attention, as that has five to six stories in it. My Modern Mythos short needs me to hammer out the plot so it’s more coherent, and will run for a few books at least. My Space story is patiently waiting for me to just focus and continue. (All of those were in the works before NaNo – though it’s the Cozy Mystery that got written during NaNo) And now I have this I’m not even sure what to name it short that I’m guessing will run for three to five books if I’m careful and don’t run myself into corners.

Six projects I find myself wading through after NaNoWriMo. And not a lick of give from family now that the month is over. I get that I don’t make as much noise during the year about my writing to them, because at the end of the day it’s still just me toiling around with my words and my worlds. But, it’s not any less important for me to do either.

Since NaNoWriMo, I’ve worked on the Cozy Mystery a little, but not as much as I’d like. That and the random short that butted in are my two priorities to wrap up so I can hand them over for edits while I work on other things. At least once they’re done and off to my trusted editors, I can rest easier knowing I only have four WIPs running then.

How many WIPs do you have on your plate? Leave the answer down in the comments.