Yes, it's November 2nd and NaNoWriMo began yesterday with a bang. Will I make the 50k by November 30th? IDK but I will try. I was going to work on my MG idea about a muse and a teen boy who will save the world but I just wasn't feeling it. 4 weeks ago I started an online course called F2K over at Writers Village University. Very cool place and people! For my course assignments I initially started using my work from my last year's NaNo that I'm trying to revise. But whe Lesson Two came about I used my Short Story that I completed back in April. It had alot of feeling and Lesson Two was about the senses. Well my fellow F2kers gave me really good feedback and wanted more on my saga about Amanda and Matt soooo that is how I've come to try to write 50k words on my 2k short story about death, grief and young love.

Anyone attempting NaNo this year - best of luck!

I had decided last month to enter my first writing contest to test the waters and get my feet finally wet with submitting my writing.

So it wasn't hard to pick out this Short Story contest as I already have about 10 WIP's (work in progress) and could definitely put 2,000 words together. Right??

Well, I realized that 2,000 words isn't really alot when trying to tell a story - a complete story and when you are used to just 'writing' as many words as you can. In fact, trying to STOP writing is very difficult and it's something I never imagined.

My short has taken me longer than I anticipated but it has really taught me how to fine tune my story - to cut away at loose ends and how to really 'hook' the reader with fewer words. So far, it has been my best lesson and I may actually work on another one (you can submit more than one entry - Yay!!).

Now I just have to get the courage to submit it before May 30th!!

Ok, today is the first day I've actually been nervous about my son drumming well. He's 11 so I guess I've just thrown all those compliments others give me about him into a little part of my brain labeled "It's just because he's 10 and cute".

I have ABSOLUTELY NO musical ability but my son takes after his drummer dad and at "just turned 11", he IS amazing. Now, I am not one of those "my son is the greatness thing since K-cups" because I am his BIGGEST critic. As I tell my husband, I am the grounder - my job is to keep him grounded while everyone pumps his sweet head with awesomeness. I love watching him play - like he's painting a picture as he hits each drum - he plays like his dad too which I love:)

All that said -- I'm scared -- scared that he really is THAT good and scared that those people who saw him today are going to take this to the next level. I wish I could call the Jonas Bros' mom and ask her questions so I don't mess up my kid's life - so I know when to say Yes and No to gigs, drum teachers, promoters and others who want a piece of my son.

Oh, I know that many of you who are reading this blog are thinking, "What is she crazy? Who wouldn't want this for their son?, etc." I know with this comes boundless opportunities for him - whether it's with drums or anything else he chooses. But part of me just wants to take him and protect him -- to keep him his "just turned 11 self" and to go buy him Ironman 2 toys.

Do I want to be a rockstart's mom? I don't know quite yet -- but I'll let you all know.

Since I've recently become obsessed with the song "Her Name is Alice" by Shinedown - playing it over and over and then at work... hearing it in my head for 5 hours while I make copies of tax returns I thought I would write some of my thoughts.

I like Alice better than Cinderella - there I said it.

I know that Alice is a bratty child who doesn't want to do her homework but she's real to me. Cinderella has always seemed too much of a goodie-two-shoes - 'help me' victim - but Alice... Alice is a fighter - a deviant of sorts who just doesn't want to do what she's suppose to! That's definately me and I love her for it. All that finding her one true love, blah, blah, blah isn't me -- now if the Prince was some type of vampire prince and Cindy was vamp hunter who unfortunately found out that her man was what she despised... now that may be a story I could get into (oooh I'm writing down that idea).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the movie to see what trouble Alice gets herself into now as a young adult.

So I'm finding problems with my plots... and insteading of trashing my ideas I decided to proactively find the reason why I have 'no plot'.

Found a terrific book on plots called, "Plot - how to build short stories and novels that don't sag, fizzle, or trail off in scraps of frustrated revision - and how to rescue stories that do." I swear that is what is on the cover! It's by Ansen Dibell and I have to say - fantastic in all of it's 163 pages of plot!

Sooo my question today is... what is more difficult for you as a writer -- creating your characters or plot?

Okay, I am now actively working on 5, yes 5 stories. Two are probably YA novels and 3 won't probably be novels and just short stories. I'm trying to concentrate on just one so I can just finish one -- yes dear God -- please let me finish at least one.

My two YA novels are about the following:

The first is a faerie story "was" at about 30k words until I started revising and re-oulining. Now it's just sitting there in a pile that I really don't want to touch.

soooooo

I started another YA novel - by accident of course. While looking through a notebook that held some notes on my faerie story I started reading some outlining on some Norse Myth story. I thought it was an outline to someone's else story because I do recall reading a book about Norse mythology a while ago called "Runes". But then it occurred to me that it was actually MY outline... and it sounded cool... so I started expanding on it and now I have my Norse Myth story at about 10k words.

My short stories are about someone wins the lottery, a girl who time travels to save her sister and my last story involves a greek muse who helps kids be artistic.

So I guess I need help.... what should I work on and how can I get organized with all my side-projects? My imagination is going faster than my fingers... Any thoughts? Help is greatly appreciated.

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog.

So I found a way to break and actually write something. I made a deal with myself. Yeah, I do this often but it usually only works with very short-term things.

Anyway, I made the deal that I could not check my email or play bejeweled or even log-in to my computer until I wrote or outlined my ending to my YA faerie story. I wrote/outlined my ending and even made some notes for some research I need to do later if I decide to make a sequel. Overall, pretty productive and as I write this I feel the need to go back and write more which is an even better thing.

Happy writing to all!!!

I want to write... I really. I'd like to work on my faerie WIP and my clumsy lottery girl WIP and maybe even my outline my Artemis WIP but I can't. I sit here at the computer and try to type and just mush comes out. Then I get my notebook and pen and try to write and... nothing. I just put the pen down and decide to check my email.

I think I'm just too sad still. I cleaned my house the other day and I kept finding Kodi things around the house. I keep looking for him in the office. My hubby thinks it's because for the last week I've kept up a good face for the kids and now it's my turn to be sad.

To all my writer friends: Any suggestions on how to overcome this writing funk?

My In-laws got us a Keurig for Christmas and I wasn't sure about it so I let it sit in the box for 2 weeks.

Personally I love coffee. I love drinking 2-3 cups in the morning and maybe even another cup with dinner. I usually make 6 cups of half-caff a day and that is good for both me and hubby. On Saturday I unplugged my trusty "Mr. Coffee" and set up the Keurig Elite. It came with a sample box to try out some different types of coffee and teas. I read the directions and got a bit confused. I think it was just too easy for me. Anyway, I ran the first cup - French Vanilla and gotta say liked the flavor but didn't like finding coffee grounds in my cup. Maybe it just needs a couple more cups to work itself out I thought to myself... so I tried it again the next morning with a French Roast. It wasn't my type of coffee and to be honest, didn't stay hot very long. But still perserved and actually showed hubby how to work it. He tried the Dark Magic and loved it. He only drinks one cup a day so it's just perfect for him. I figured I should give it more chances because hubby really seemed excited about the coffee (which is odd).

I spent the week trying to decide which coffees I liked, which I didn't and if I wanted to put the Keurig in a box and take out my "Mr. C" who is waiting patiently for me to fill it with water and coffee grounds.

Then someone at work told me about the K-Cup filter you can buy to use your own coffee. Aghhhh I thought... this could solve my problem and make both me and hubby happy. So during an already hectic morning with getting myself and 3 kids ready I decided to try out the new filter and WOW, I didn't know that any coffee machine could make such a mess. There was water spraying EVERYWHERE and if I had thought my coffee had grounds in it before... that was NOTHING compared to now.

I cleaned up my mess but still left the Keurig... while gazing at "Mr. C." mouthing the words, "I will see you soon". That morning I used my speedy backup fuel - my Dunkin Donuts gift card and enjoyed my Medium Light with 2 sugars.

Well, that was a couple days ago and I've since bought more K-Cups (French Vanilla is a favorite of mine) and have given it another week. I believe "Mr. C." is disappointed but I'm sure this phase will fade when I actually realize how much money I am spending on coffee per cup. Please don't tell me if you know... or at least wait until my week is up.