Baby Steps in the Right Direction

I wrote 1032 words today.

That doesn't seem like much but that is the most productive writing I've done in I can't even tell you how long. It's been probably more than 6 months.

Before today, most work I've gotten done is staring at my computer, willing the words to come out, and editing what I have done for the 300th time. I've also been staring at my outline, constantly telling myself that I am so close to being done and then not doing the writing that would actually make me be done.

It feels good. So good to be back at the keyboard (clicky alphabet for those who read the same article that I did: 8 Ways to Fit Writing into Your Life) and see progress on that blank page. To see the words flow like I forgot they could. To be proud of the progress, as little as it is.

It's actually my birthday! Woo!

I also played around with cover designs on selfpubbookcovers.com which the glorious Sarah Buhrman, the Author Goddess, herself told me about. It's a cool website for writers to pick customizable cover art from a ton of options for not a ton of money. Authors can also work with artists to design original covers for their books. It's all in-progress right now but if I manage to pull this off, you'll get to see what I've been working on.

You see, there's a huge writing contest that closes at the end of August that I have no chance in winning but I'm going to throw my hat in the ring anyway. What do I have to lose? I get something written and you get to read something else. It's a win-win... although that $25,000 grand prize wouldn't be a kick to the teeth.

And I'm writing my first blog post in... 😐 Moving on.

Program containing my short
story and buttons I made.

See! I wasn't lying!

And guys, I totally spaced on telling you, a short story I wrote, Phoenix-Born, got runner up in a writing contest a couple of months ago! It was the annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy writing contest put on by Constellation, a local con that celebrates all things nerdy and amazing. And guys, members of the Nebraska Writer's Guild swept the short story contest! Sarah Buhrman (see above) got first place with me in second. They said they had a record number of entries this year and are looking at splitting into different categories to get more winners in the future. It's exciting to be part of something that is growing.

Someday I'll get it posted somewhere so you can read it.

Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Fantasy and World Building

This past weekend, I gave a presentation on fantasy and world building at the Nebraska Writers Guild Fall Conference. This is my power point and as much of my random babblings about the topic that I can remember.

As much as I hate using Wikipedia, I found a fantastic line “[fantasy] differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not. Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature

Fantasy is one of the oldest, if not oldest genre of storytelling (Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Oddessy, creation myths, etc) although modern fantasy was born after the horrors of WWII. Tolkien and Lewis are attributed with really getting the genre going. Summary: Fantasy is a genre where the plot could not happen in real life.

Magic- elemental, herbs, incantations, crystals, magical objects, internal power
Special powers- mind reading, seeing the future, communicating with animals. Also found in superhero stories but different origins- mutated genes, radioactive spider bite, serum, etc. Fantasy- comes from family, spells, curses, etc.
Supernatural elements- Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, etc. also found in paranormal fiction (sub-genre under Horror). Lines between paranormal and fantasy started blurring about 20 years ago and lots of elements are crossing over.
Creatures- elves, dwarves, mer-people, centaurs, basilisks
Made up setting- can be in a made out town like Hogsmead which is in Scotland from Harry Potter or you can create a whole world like Middle Earth
Not all these elements are required for a story to be considered Fantasy, except magic. It is the element that ties the genre together.

 How many fantasy sub-genres are there? Over 50. It is a constantly changing genre- sub-genres are combining and new ones are being created. Many are very similar with very minute differences.

These are the major fantasy sub-genres, you can see some of them are combined. On the right are examples of each of the sub-genre. Tolkien is considered the father of High Fantasy while Robert E. Howard is considered the founder of sword and sorcery Fantasy with his Conan the Barbarian series.
Many books can be under multiple sub-genres, ex. Outlander- Historical/Portal (Portal is where the protagonist gets transported to a different world/time ex. Chronicles of Narnia, 10th Kingdom), also time travel romance which is a much-fought-over sub-genre because time travel is traditionally in Sci-Fi while romance also claims it; all over the place.
Harry Potter is low (fantasy that takes place in the real world, similar to urban fantasy) and young adult. Daughter of the Forest- high fantasy romance/fairy tale retelling (fairy tell is The Six Swans).

In fantasy, the writer is the master of the universe which is liberating and very daunting. Nobody can fact-check you because you created it, but you also have to make sure you explain everything well enough that the reader understands your story. Ex. If Nicholas Sparks says the protagonist walks into a high school basketball game, everybody knows what that looks, sounds, smells, tastes, and feels like. When Rowling introduced Quidditch, we didn't even know how to pronounce it. She had to go the extra mile to clearly explain how it was played, what it looked like, and what it felt like to play.
Our world sucks sometimes, reading and writing fantasy is a great way to escape that because the problems that occur in fantasy are different from our own.

Good vs. Evil is a very common theme across the entire fantasy genre which I think is amazing because you're taking one of the most human struggles and applying it to fantastical creatures and places.

Extra words! A standard fiction novel is usually between 80,000-100,000 words. You get extra words when you have to create worlds. :)
You will rarely find a stand-alone fantasy novel. Usually in trilogies but the series can go on forever. Outlander has approximately 87 books while Diskworld has around 192 (slight exaggerations may happen).
Don't get so caught up in the fantasy elements that you abandon the elements of good storytelling: plot, conflict, well-rounded realistic characters, and character development.
Nebula awards are give every year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for excellence in sci-fi and fantasy, different categories: novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, etc. I want one.

World building is creating the setting where your fantasy story takes place. In urban/low fantasy you have to figure out how to twine your fantasy world into the real world or you could go full Tolkien and create a whole world.

I have read a wide range of fantasy but I have, by no means, read the entire range of fantasy (50+ sub-genres, remember), but in my opinion, these are the best world buildings in the genre.
C.S. Lewis- Narnia
J.R.R. Tolkien- Middle Earth
J.K. Rowling- Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts
George R.R. Martin- Westeros
Terry Pratchett- Diskworld

 I'm a writer, not an artist. Please don't make fun of my map. I know it's terrible.
Geography- mountains, rivers, jungle, grasslands, tundra, etc. and corresponding climates.
Creatures:
Intelligent- elves, dwarves, humans, centaurs, etc. (have language, culture, civilization)
Unintelligent- horses, dogs, cats, unicorns, etc.
Line crossers- horse that can talk from The Horse and his Boy (Lewis)
Culture- etiquette & taboos, courtship rituals, economy (important because it helps dictate how your world looks, poor economy-mud huts, good economy-marble palaces), medicine (herbs, man-made, magic), clothing, food
Religion- involved gods (Percy Jackson, anything by David & Leigh Eddings) or uninvolved gods
Language- do all the species have their own or is there a common language that everybody uses
Cause & Effect- what happened in the world to make all hell break lose (where your book is)

Or need to (protagonist sneaking through the sewers to get to the castle/ traveling to find a magic thing on roads or wandering through the wilderness)

Do:
Make it as real as possible- this will make it more relateable to your reader and they will be engaged more. Usually, focus on making the characters realistic.
Usable- make sure your characters can function within the world, if it's too hard or too easy, it won't be interesting for the reader.
Don't:
Drown them in details- no info dumping at the beginning. Dole out details as the reader needs them to understand the story. Don't give them more details than they need.
Forget your own rules- will throw off the reader if the rules change in the middle of the book.
worldbuildingmonthly.com is a great website to go to if you need help with world building.

This is what the people in my presentation came up for the preliminary steps of world building. I thought it was fantastic and a good start to a very interesting world.

Editing Loop... of DEATH

Dun, dun, dunnnnnn.

I’m currently stuck in an editing loop (if that’s not an actual term, it is now, I claim it!).

For those of you who are not in my brain, an editing loop is the act of constantly editing the unfinished work that you’re writing instead of writing more.

I’ve been stuck in this current loop with the novel that I’m working on for about 2 years, the problem is, I just realized it this morning.

My justification this whole time has been “it’s been so long since I’ve worked on this, if I go back and read through what I’ve already written, it’ll put me in the right frame of mind to keep writing” but generally after an hour or two of editing, I get distracted or call it a day before I get any actual writing done.

This is your brain on Editing Loop...
Or at least this is what my brain does.

Happened to me just yesterday. I was going through a paper copy of my urban fantasy/twisted fairy tale that I had done edits on in pen and transferring those edits to my digital copy. I actually managed to get some things done between Facebook creeping, posting on Instagram (Toothless now has his own account: toothless_ski if you want to follow him. I have an account but it’s nothing great. Planning on doing an author one soon because all the amazing book stuff floating around needs to be shared), and Facetiming with my mom, complete with a guilt trip from my dad about still not having said book finished yet. Soon after I hung up with my parents, I realized I was hungry, got up from my computer to make supper, then got sucked into Criminal Minds on Netflix.

So much for getting some actual writing done.

It can't be all bad, right? I mean, I'm still doing author stuff and editing is a necessary evil of the writing world, so I'm actually being proactive.

Right?

While constant editing is not totally bad, it's not great either. Over-edited work is just as bad as under-edited work. It loses it's character and voice; it becomes stilted and clinical. It turns into what that particular genre is "supposed" to look like instead of that glorious piece of art that is part of the author's soul (I'm not writing so my creativity has to escape somehow, if you think this is bad, be glad you're not my coworkers, they put up with this for 40 hours a week).

If you're writing non-fiction, primarily a textbook, being clinical is not a bad thing. It's actually what you're going for so edit away! If you're writing fiction with a fiery, redheaded main character, it is.

So how do you escape the editing loop of death?

WRITE!

How do I escape the editing loop of death?

I'll let you know when I get out.

Support your Local Library

This post started out as an ode to the library, but due to recent events, it has turned into a completely different creature.

Recently, Forbes published an article by economist Panos Mourdoukoutas with the title "Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money."

I'm not going to lie, my head about exploded.

Screenshot of the (inactive) article link from my Facebook page.

I didn't believe it at first. I thought it was one of those satirical pieces that people write that expound on the virtues of the thing they are "against."

I was wrong.

In it, Mourdoukoutas claimed that libraries no longer serve the community like they used to, basically, they cost more than they are worth. He said that people can just as easily go to Starbucks for their wifi and human contact, use Netflix and other streaming services for their movies, and go straight to Amazon for their books. Mourdoukoutas also said that physical books are a thing of the past and there is no need for libraries' borrowing services since everybody just downloads e-books.

He is wrong for a few reasons:

1) Physical book sales are steady and are actually up from a few years ago when e-books first became popular.

2) You have to buy something from Starbucks to hang out there (it's rude otherwise and you might get the cops called on you).

3) Streaming services cost money as does getting books from Amazon.

What Mr. Mourdoukoutas fails to realize is, that libraries offer more than just books, movies, and wifi (all for free, I might add, which is very beneficial to low-income families, poor college students, and anybody living paycheck-to-paycheck). They offer classes on taxes, computers, languages, writing, crafts, music, and the list goes on; summer reading programs to encourage literacy in all ages, author readings/signings, local art/historical artifact exhibits, musicians, book clubs, stuffed animal slumber parties, pub quizzes, historical documents, genealogy services, and are usually staffed by some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

The article has since been removed from Forbes' site because of the backlash they received and they have issued a statement saying,

Forbes advocates spirited dialogue on a range of topics, including those that often take a contrarian view. Libraries play an important role in our society. This article was outside of this contributor's specific area of expertise, and has since been removed.(Quartz, downloaded 7/24/2018)

While I am happy Forbes removed the article and ecstatic that so many people jumped to the defense of libraries, what does this mean for our society? That a influential magazine like Forbes would publish something claiming that something as important as libraries mean nothing in our modern communities, op-ed piece or not.

As a taxpayer, I am 100% okay with that tiny percent of my taxes going to libraries. If I can help keep the doors open and the lights on so that single-income parent with a family of bookworms can check out the entire Berenstain Bear collection or new additions to the community can take ESL classes, I am more than happy to do it.

Why are we a society obsessed with things that will make money? Encouraging kids to get into STEM subjects is fantastic, but don't shame the kids who would rather dance, sing, write, read, draw, etc. because those things won't make them money.

Just because things "don't make money" doesn't mean they are without value.

I snagged this off of author and fellow Nebraska Writers Guild member,
Sarah Buhrman's Facebook page. It's been floating around the internet
for a few days. Thank you Denise Ivanoff for putting it into words.

First, they came after our national parks. Next they came after our arts and humanities. They try to come after our libraries again and there will be hell to pay.

#HufflepuffsUnite #RavenclawsCanComeToo

Be a Cheerleader, Pompoms optional

You want to be the next J.K. Rowling? Awesome, sign me up to be a beta reader when you finish your novel.

You want to be the next Stephen Spielberg? Spectacular, can I be an extra? I'll bring Reese's Pieces to share.

You want to be the next Julia Child? Amazing, let me know if you need to borrow any kitchen stuff or need a taste-tester.

You want to be the next John Wayne Gacy? Cool, you stay right there while I go call the police and get my self-defense machete, but when you start painting clown pictures in prison, let me know. They make lovely gifts.

Growing up, I never really was told that I couldn't be what I wanted to be. My parents taught me to be realistic with my goals but to also go for what I wanted. They gave me the right amount of encouragement that kept me reaching for my dreams but kept me grounded.

That's what I try to give whenever somebody shares their goals with me (especially if it's in the arts because that's where my heart is). If they tell me they want to go back to grad school to get their masters after being out of school for 10 years, I am going to cheer, encourage, offer study help, and anything else I can, including being ridiculously excited and proud.

Or if they say they're about to give up on their book because they've been working on it for five years and it isn't going anywhere.

Oofta.

You want to see some beat-you-over-the-head encouragement? Tell me you're going to give up writing because it's too hard/somebody said your writing is terrible/*insert stupid reason here*, because I will encourage the shit out of you.

This is my level 5 crazy face.

Do you know why?

Because you deserve it.

I have a few special cheerleaders in my life. They know and understand that I can easily get caught up in pipe dreams and instead of crushing them, they calmly bring me back to reality with questions about how exactly would I go about dropping everything to move to Brazil to own a llama ranch when I don't speak Portuguese, nor do I know the first thing about llamas. But they are champs with my more realistic dreams like becoming an author, moving to Lincoln, adopting a cat, and living up to my Worlds #1 Aunt tee shirt.

A few years ago one of my best friend's daughter's teachers told her that her daughter wasn't very creative and that they should work on that at home. My friend was floored because her daughter was one of the most creative kids she had ever known. She loved coloring, crafts, making up stories, and decorating their living room. I remember my jaw hitting the ground when my friend told me this because she was always bringing me pictures her daughter had colored for me. I still have them and one is on my fridge right now.

With less encouraging parents, that teacher's one comment could have stifled that little girl's creativity and artistic dreams for the rest of her life. But my friend did something awesome. She blew off the teacher's opinion and kept doing what she was doing. When a paint your own pottery place came to town, my friend took her daughter. They now go once a month to do all the projects that the place offers and her daughter's skills are growing by leaps and bounds.

I guess the point of this whole thing is encourage, don't discourage.

How do you keep writing after a huge life change?

That's the question I've been asking myself for about as long as it takes for a baby to cook (nine months gestation, guys. I'm not actually cooking babies. If you think lobster screams are bad when you drop them into boiling water... kidding).

Be it marriage, kids, or, like in my case, a new job and the subsequent life upheaval that came with (my last day at my old job was six months ago today), how do you keep writing?

I went from a town where I had a solid friend base, a full time job I hated, and a part-time "job" that I couldn't spend enough time at. Now, I have a job I like, in a city with a ton of things to do where I know approximately 6 non-work people and regularly see two of them.

Writing was my escape. It was the happy place that counteracted the 40 hours a week that drained me. It gave me the control that "superior customer service" robbed me of. I've had the thought more than once that maybe I can't write anymore because I'm not miserable. Such a cliché artist thing to think but some of the greatest artists were the most haunted people. Not that I'm putting myself on the same level as Dickinson or van Gogh or anything.

I keep trying to tell myself that it's simple paranoia and panic. One of these days, I'll start believing it, for no other reason than the fact that my liver could never hold up to Hemingway's "cure-all".

But seriously, now that I am in a good place mentally and emotionally, how does writing fit in?

Honestly? I'm trying to figure out the answer to that and I may have found a small piece of it.

This past weekend, I road-tripped to Denver with my best friend to see Hamilton (it's amazing, drop everything and see it right meow) with my sister and brother-in-law. Denver has always been a bustling city but it has grown exponentially since the last time I spent more than a few hours there, which, interestingly enough, was pre-marijuana legalization.

I was terrified about driving in the city and all the tru-crime podcasts I've been listening to have made me hyper-aware and slightly (depending on who you talk to) more paranoid. All these things considered, we all survived, nobody got more hurt than when they arrived (Walt, I'm looking at you), and we got to see some pretty amazing things: from the natural beauty of the Rockies, to incredible art at the Denver Art Museum, and of course, Hamilton.

I'm not obsessed. You're obsessed.

Monday at work, I was struck with the strongest desire to write. I don't know if it was the dreary weather, the ghost stories on a podcast, or something else, but I just needed to work on a story that I had started last summer from a writing prompt for writers group. (The prompt was "take a folk belief and write a story where it is true" if you wanted to know.) I wrote more on Monday (including majority of this post) than I have since NaNoWriMo, if not before.

So what was different about Monday?

We've had more cloudy, dreary days than I can count and creepy shit on a true crimp podcast is nothing new. The only thing I can think is, this people-en-mass hating, run-away-and-hide introvert needs to get out among people more.

*car crash, screams, sirens, and somewhere in the distance, a baby cries*

It was a terrifying realization and one that shouldn't be surprising to anybody, especially me. I love people watching and people studying. I label myself an amateur anthropologist because I love learning about people and cultures. I am a very character-driven writer and need the fodder that being around people provides.

Meanwhile, I was trying to write with the lowest level of human interaction I've probably had since I was in diapers.

So, what does this realization mean? That I will be fully immersing myself into society for my craft?

Ah... no.

Because I still hate being around lots of people, but, now that I know part of the problem, maybe I will sojourn out of my apartment more to recharge the creative batteries.

More importantly, what does this mean to you?

Probably nothing, because no matter what all the writer help books and articles (and blogs) say about defeating writer's block and finding your muse (which you shouldn't be hunting anyway because they follow the writing, not the other way around), it all really is person- specific. What works for me might be detrimental to you.

All I'll say is, figure out what makes you tick as a writer and try to make it happen as much as necessary. Whether it's taking trips to exotic places, reading every book at your local library, or forcing yourself to leave the safety of your apartment and the painless judgement of your cat to sit at the mall and creepily watch people for a few hours, do it as much as you are able.

As for sitting alone at the mall with a notebook and a pen, a shirt that says "I'm a writer, not a creeper" couldn't hurt, right?

From Zazzle.

2017: A Year in Review AKA Better Late than Never

That was kind of a crazy year wasn't it? A lot of stuff happened, some good, a lot bad.

Lots of famous people died.

Even more non-famous people died.

Donald "You're Fired" Trump took office as president of the United States.

Rompers for men.

Brexit.

Irma, Harvey, and Maria.

Chris Pratt and Anna Faris split.

Still crying about that last one.

Millions of dollars in donations flooded (probably a poor choice of words) in for the victims of Irma, Harvey, and Maria in one of the largest outpouring of support I have ever seen.

Disney and Amazon now own approx. 106% of all the things.

Leia Organa is officially a Disney Princess, so is Ironman.

We lost both Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.

More broken up about that one than all the others.

All of this and more happened last year for us as a whole but 2017 was pretty groundbreaking in my own life.

The first half of the year is pretty hazy, probably erased by everything that happened after. In June, I decided to move out of Kearney, NE where I had lived for about 8 1/2 years and chose Lincoln, NE as my new home. I gave myself until the end of September to find a new job and apartment. It was one of the most nerve wracking things I've ever done, but I managed to pull it off and I feel like I earned the "I Adulted" first place trophy. I have a tiny apartment that suits Toothless and I just fine and I have a job that I actually enjoy where I don't talk to people for most of the day. It's fantastic!

It was also probably my most successful year as a writer. In September my short story "The Vaults" was selected to be included in Below the Stairs: Tales from the Cellar, a horror anthology produced by Oz Horror Con, I released my sixth e-book, Shenanigans & Jello Shots, and an excerpt from my work-in-progress, The Whiskey Widow, was selected to be included in the Nebraska Writers Guild's first members-only anthology, Voices from the Plains.

Find it on Amazon.

Find it on Amazon.

Find it on Amazon.

Oh and my best friend and I nearly completed the Nebraska Wine Tour, I had a sister get married, and another give birth to another absolutely adorable little boy.

Just a little busy.

I also attempted my own challenge of only reading books by Nebraska authors, Operation: Nebraska Author. I didn't do as well as I wanted but I don't think I did too bad either.

Operation: Nebraska Author Books:
Blissfully Married by Vicotrine E. Lieske
In Cold Storage: Sex and Murder on the Plains by James W. Hewitt
*All the Gallant Men by Donald Stratton and Ken Gire
Sky Rider, the Story of Evelyn Sharp, WWII WASP by Dr. Jean A. Lukesh
*Steam on the Horizon by Melissa Ann Conroy
The Meaning of Names by Karen Gettert Shoemaker
*The Reluctant Canary Sings by Faith A. Colburn
The Marrying Type by Laura Chapman
The Clearwater House by Tammy Marshall
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Ogalala Sioux by Nicholas Black Elk and John Neihardt
(* indicates my three favorite books of the year, in no particular order)

I had so much fun with this project. I read a lot of books outside of my normal genres and I really got to see the amazing talent we have here in the Cornhusker state. My stack of books by local writers more than doubled in 2017 so I've decided to extend my project into Operation: Nebraska Author 2018. I gave up TV and Netflix for Lent so we'll have to see how many books I can plow through in the next 40 days.

I think 2017 was the perfect shitstorm of good and bad that allowed me to grow as a person and get me ready for whatever life will throw me next. I don't know if we, as a society, will recover as quickly or as well as I did (hello Tide Pod challenge), but I do know there are millions of people like me who decided that they were going to stand up from the mess stronger than before instead of burrowing deeper into it. I just hope their voices rise to be heard over the moaning of those who chose to stay down.

2018, don't let me down.