IT'S NANO TIME

Anyone else joining me in this month long writing party?

I'm going to do my best to win again. My plan is to use the energy of NaNo to finish DARK REDEMPTION.

The only things that might stall my goals... edits for DARK PARADISE AND DARK SACRIFICE.

As you can see,  some exciting things have happened since I last updated my blog. I have new titles, yay!

And release dates.

DARK PARADISE, DARK SACRIFICE, and DARK REDEMPTION will be published on 07/01/14, 08/05/14, and 09/02/14. It's going to be a busy summer.

I've also completed the first pass edits for Dark Paradise, and I'm waiting for the second.

I'm also expecting my first pass edits for DARK SACRIFICE to arrive any day now. 

And it that's not enough, I'm also editing QUEST FOR THE GOLDEN APPLE for my awesome agent.

So, there you go. Wish me luck with NaNo. I think I'll need it.

Random Post

Yes, this is a random post.

It is to check to see if I fixed the problem of dual posting of my blog on Twitter and Facebook.

Other than that, I don't have much else to say.

Oh, my daughter signed up for the National Novel Writing Month Young Adult Program. So she's NaNoing with me this year. Go, Kiwi!

40 WEEKS OF ME- Week 14, FALL

You may be wondering why I'm showing pictures as a 40 weeks post. Well, I'm sharing my love of nature and my love for photography. Autumn is my favorite season. I took these pictures last Sunday during my bike ride. My father-in-law later complained to my hubby that I stopped to take a picture of every tree in the park. Not true.

As you can see, fall has taken its sweet time arriving in Northern California. Not that I'm complaining. That would be foolish.

5 Mile

This is one of the stops on my bike ride where I get some water and stare out over the creek. Today the Tai Chi group were already gone, so I was able to get a picture. Peaceful.



This is one of the many redwood groves in the park. The branches brush the ground so when you're beneath its cover you're in a secluded hideaway that is infested with mosquitos. Enter at your own risk or spray on insect repellant. Pretty though, so in my opinion a little itchiness is worth it.

The last three pictures I have returned to my favorite Teichert Ponds. I took pictures of the area in July. I wanted to show it to you in the fall. Next week will probably be prettier, but who knows what the weather will be like at that time.

Aren't the colors beautiful? I think this last picture is my favorite.

With this being NaNo month, I won't have time for in-depth posts. I'm pretty determined to get my 50k this year. I'll try to keep up with my blog posting since I'm getting better at not going MIA. If I do disappear for a while, it's because I'm lost in my wip. I apologize in advance.

NaNoWriMo WITH ME?

Are you ready for the 30 day challenge?

 

If you're up for it, let me know. We'll go through this together, motivating each other to the finish. I didn't "win" last year. I tried, but I came in at 46k at the end of the thirty days. If you're interested, here is the link to my 2011 NaNo experience. 

 

I finished QUEST in January, and I'm super excited about how this story came into being. I took risks I wouldn't normally take because it was a NaNo project. I'm so glad I did.

 

 

 This year I'll either be working on the sequel to QUEST or the sequel to Juju's Child. FIXED starts where JC ended, but I think the rollicking fun of Quest II will get me through 30 days. One of the idea's I'm toying with is writing QII through the last book's side characters. I think it's time for Raphael and Dominique to have a voice.

 

As you can see, I'm pretty excited. I have outlines for both stories, so I need to decide which will be my NaNo project.

 

 After spending the last two months editing, I'm ready for the creative spark to shoot lightning out of my fingertips as they fly across the keyboard.  

 

If you're participating this year, please leave me a comment with your NaNo user name, and I'll be Writing Buddy. Also, for those who have read Quest and Juju's Child, maybe help me out. Which story do you think I should write?

Good luck and happy writing.

UPDATE: after brainstorming with my daughter and critique partners, I've decided to go with FIXED:)

 

40 WEEKS OF ME- Week 11, UPDATE

I’m back. I say this with relief. My descent into funky town last Friday morning was a precursor to a weekend spent in bed with a cold. Achy, tired, sinus headache, yuck! No bike riding for me at all this week.

Oh, I guess I should update you on my progress. As those of you who have been following my 40 weeks posts know, I started this series on my 40^th birthday. I gave myself certain goals that I wanted to accomplish.

1. Quit smoking.
2. Start exercising
3. Be more open

I have now been cigarette free for 11 weeks. I had tried three or four times over the last seven years to quit, but I couldn’t. I think the difference this time is that I mentally prepared myself to quit. I set up a plan for myself to follow. I researched how nicotine withdrawal affects the body so I knew what symptoms to look for during each stage. This helped me to find ways to counter the psychological and physical aspects of quitting, like depression and cold symptoms.

I used the patch for three days, then went cold turkey. I had the mega pack of spearmint gum to help with the oral craving. I still have days where I really wish I could smoke a cigarette, but I know if I have one cigarette, I’ll convince myself it’s okay to have another. Then I’m stuck again.

I also started biking again the same weekend. I had five days off of work so each morning my father-in-law and I hit the road. For those who are bike riders you know that in the beginning it’s not so much the actual distance that is difficult. It’s that each day, you have to contend with the bruises on your posterior. Padded bike shorts are a life saver.

 

I am now riding three days a week. We rotate from fast days where we do the 8 miles through the park as fast as we can. Long days are where we try to go at least 15 miles. Speed isn’t a factor. I’m a huge fan of the “lets stop and take pictures of the wildflowers” portion of this ride. Hill days are brutal. ‘Nuff said.

Being open. Well, I’ve definitely done that. My rant last week was proof of this. I’m still having a hard time coming up with topics to write about for the blog. This may have to do with my having two stories in my head that are wanting to come out. I’m trying to decide which to go with for National Novel Writing Month (NaNo). I haven’t fallen in love with one idea over the other yet.

I have finished up most of my editing projects for my critique partners. They’re such talented people and their stories are so much fun. This last project, well, I honestly don’t want it to end. I’m so entertained by this world I’ve been sucked into. I even dream about it. Thanks, Joyce.

So, is anyone else gearing up for National Novel Writing Month? Have you made any goals for yourself for this year? How are you progressing on them?

QUEST & THE PERK OF DUAL POV'S

I received my awesome edits for QUEST from Kate Evangelista. I'm so excited. I can't wait to get started. In a previous post I introduced my protagonist Malik, and his friends, Books and Raphael, but boys aren't the only ones who can go on an adventure. It’s actually my girls, Nevan and Dominique, who rescue the boys whenever they jump into something feet first without waiting to see if it’s quicksand.

When I started the story, I knew going in that at times the group would split up. I wanted a way to show the entire story, not just what Malik sees. My goal was to have Nevan have a unique voice that is so different from Malik that you know you're in her narrative point of view without having to look at the chapter title. I also wanted a character who would round out Malik, who got pretty obsessive in his desire to save his mother. There were times when he put this goal above his friends wellbeing.

Nevan models by example. She’s not flashy like Dominique. Or bold like Raphael. She’s not as intelligent as Books, but not many people are. But, she has common sense. She's also fierce and passionate underneath her shyness. She would die for her friends, but she’s smart enough to figure out a way to survive against crazy odds.

I’d like to introduce you to my second narrator, Nevan Callahan. The excerpt begins in Nevan's chapter after the kids come up with a plan to find the golden apple.

by Kiwi Sandro

Plans swirl around me like hair in a drain. It’s kind of cool to be included. And it felt nice to have them listen to me earlier since that doesn’t happen a lot. Most kids ignore me. The curse of being so gosh darn shy means I’m invisible. Grandma calls me a dandelion hidden in a patch of daisies. I think she only says it to make me feel special so I’ll stop crying over getting teased at school. She loves me. She couldn’t know that with my hair, being compared to a fluffy dandelion kind of hurts.


My head dips and white-gold bangs hide my eyes. I pretend to study the ants marching two by two across the floor, but really, I’m spying on my friends. Dominique’s doing that creepy, mind talk thingy with Books, and Malik’s watching her like she’s a bouquet of roses—beautiful, sweet smelling—the total opposite of a dandelion. The glow on his face makes my tummy burn. It’s so not fair. Why do I have to be a snot-making weed, waiting to be yanked out by the roots and thrown in the compost pile? Why can’t he see me as a flower?


Raphael stretches upright and bounces up and down on his toes. His cat-like green eyes flash. He’s up to something, and I don’t want any part of it. He’ll get us busted, because his plans always flop. He never thinks them all the way through. Like when he tried to rescue the stray dogs in the neighborhood. He totally should’ve realized the Brute would try to bite his face off.  I mean, duh!


He gives us a grin so full of wickedness that if he’s not careful, horns will sprout out of his forehead. “Eduardo saw me come in here. He’ll be waiting for us to bounce.”


“Seeing you this happy about Eduardo makes my spidey sense tingle. Have you given into the dark side of the force?” Malik asks, eyes narrowing as he rubs his hand across his forehead, smearing a streak of dirt across his cheek.


I dig into my pocket, pull out a bacterial hand wipe, and pass it to him. He stares at the little square for a minute like it’ll bite him then awkwardly takes it.


“Thanks, Nevan,” he says with a slight smile.


I ball my fingers into a fist, trying to hold onto the warmth of his fingers brushing against mine, and smile back.

CRAWLING OUT OF MY CAVE

I blink up at the sun, wondering why it’s so gosh darn hot inside my cave? It is 86 degrees with the air conditioner struggling to bring it down a measly six degree. Hell fire, it’s cooler outside than it is inside.

It’s too hot to keep hibernating. I have no excuse not to finish the last hundred pages of edits for QUEST. And frankly, I’m ready to move on to a new summer project. Not that I’ve decided what that will be yet, but I think I’d like to work on the sequel to QUEST since the characters are so much fun. I’m not quite ready to abandon them.

Here is a short blurb: Twelve-year-old Malik Ross is having a horrible week. His mother is in the hospital dying from cancer, he's on the run from Children's Services who want to put him in a group home, and the stupid rat in the dumpster he's trying to find his dinner in just stole the last foil wrapped chicken.

The only bit of hope he has left are his friends who agree help him in his quest to find the golden apple-which is rumored to be able to heal any illness. But to find a mythical apple means he has to believe in magic, and it’s pretty hard for Malik to believe in anything these days.

Poor Malik, he’s desperate to save his mom. Lucky for him, his friends are willing to brave anything to help him out.

Excerpt:

 Books sticks a finger in the crease of the page he’s been reading from and lays the book carefully on his lap. “I was just about to mention that to the guys. We’ll need alibis for tonight if what’s in the diary is true.” He frowns slightly. His eyes lock with his sister’s before he shakes his head. “No, don’t worry about that, Domi. It’s not important.”

I glance at Raphael who shrugs at me in confusion. Twin connection in progress. Dominique and Books have the bad habit of speaking to each other as if finishing an earlier conversation without actually explaining what is going on to the rest of us. It’s a wicked cool skill, but it still sort of freaks me out when I see them in action ‘cause it’s not normal. Someday, one of their heads is gonna swell up like a balloon and pop telepathic brain goo all over the walls.

Raphael puts his back to the window. “What’s not important, Wonder Twins? And how’s some old dude’s diary gonna help us?”

Books grins, raising the book in the air and waving it like he’s the one who’s captured the flag. “That’s just it. The guy was ancient. Nobody lives to be a hundred and twenty-four nowadays, and certainly not back in ancient times when they had all those nasty plagues and diseases floating around to off you. Old J.J. talked about a golden apple that has the power to stop death and give health. Don’t you get it? The golden apple is what we need.”

“Yeah, but the guy’s fertilizer,” I say. “How are we even supposed to find this golden apple? Wouldn’t it be dust by now like the dead dude?”

“Okay, the plan has flaws, but at least it’s a start, right? I mean, I went online at the library and found a bunch of websites dedicated to the mythology of the Golden Apple and its magical healing powers. I think of mythology as a religion that is extinct… you know, like the dinosaurs. The golden apple is a fossil, and we have to find it. I think J.J. knew where the golden apple could be found …” Books trails off. “You guys don’t look excited.”

I blink hard. “I just thought you’d have more than dinosaur fossils in your backpack. How’s any of this gonna help my mom? You know, the one who’s in the hospital dying of cancer,” I pause to get control of my emotions, “I can’t take much more of this, Books. I know you’re trying to help but…this is crazy.”

Aren't the kiddies CUTE?  

I’ve said many times, and I’ll be redundant and say it again—I love QUEST.

My CP’s (including Kiwi) expressed their excitement about the story, which motivates me to continue for them. Don and I have been brainstorming about what will happen to the kiddies after the resolution at the end of the book, and the new plot is sorting itself out. They have a whole new world to explore with many new adventures to keep them in a whole lot of trouble. ‘Cause they’re tweens, ya know.

HIBERNATION COMA, WAKE ME WHEN IT'S WARM

I'm sorry to say I don't have a Sharing Our Voices Post today. I love learning about what inspires my fellow writers. If anyone would like to volunteer and share, please email me.

I've been hibernating. For some reason, March puts me in a foul mood. I always catch some nasty virus. Right now, I'm fighting off a sinus infection. Hopefully, it won't be a repeat of last March when I was down with bronchitis for a week and had crazy fever dreams featuring the cast of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels. Wicked crazy.

I haven't felt inclined to start a new writing project. I still need to finish editing the three wips, DJINNI, HOUND OF ANNWYN, and QUEST lounging about in my computer. I rotate my efforts between them, because I'm always thinking of new ways to improve upon the existing storylines. A story isn't done until the ideas dry up, right? Or until it's published.

I've been critiquing for my partners, and they're reciprocating by reading my latest wip, QUEST. I still love this story, and I’m learning more about the elements needed to make it middle grade. I'm still trying to convince my daughter to draw character sketches. She started one last week, but got distracted by Naruto (she's totally addicted now). Maybe I should just do it myself. Sigh.

So, how’s everyone doing? Any new projects?

I'm Back!

Did you miss me?

I have to admit, I've missed posting and my responses from my readers. Thank ya’ll very much for supporting me.

I spent the holidays in Virginia and Washington DC. If I ever find my camera, I'll post pictures. I had a wonderful time and the weather was beautiful. After we returned, I spent the rest of my blog hiatus editing.

Yeah, typically I’d say I’d rather be doing anything but editing. I include poop scooping during my dog’s evening walk in this list. However, do you know what I’ve noticed during this last round of editing—I love it.

How the world did this happen?  

I’d like to think it’s because I’m better at self-editing while writing the story. I tend to catch my tense slips, run-on sentences, and lapses into telling not showing. I’ve also learned a ton from my critique partners. They tend to catch the invisible words in the ms. You know, the words my brain tells me are there, but not. See, I forgot—they’re—in that sentence. I’m still sketchy on comma placement, but I’m learning.

I finished editing Djinni. It’s ready for my critique partners, but I’m holding off sending it to them for the simple fact that I’d prefer for them to read Quest for the Golden Apple first. I so totally love this story.

Yes, I’m biased. A bad mommy to play favorites, but this story has wiggled its way into my heart, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Still, I have a wee bit of a problem. I think subconsiously, or rather consciously now I've figured out my issue, I love Quest so much that I can't bear to finish it. I still have one last chapter to write. I've put it off for two months. It's outlined in my head. I know exactly what needs to happen, but I haven't put The End down on paper.

It's purely a matter of not wanting to abandon my characters. How can I say goodbye?

I guess I'll have to come up with a sequel.

NaNoWriMo UPDATE

I’m still working on my NaNo project, which is why I haven't had any new posts. I'm totally enjoying this story. The best validation I've received for it is from my whip cracking daughter who doesn’t let me slack off.

She eagerly awaits each chapter, to the point where I have to fend her off so I can edit it before she reads it. It’s a wonderful feeling since I decided to have some fun with it by playing around with a different style, genre, tense, and pov’s.

In case anyone missed the earlier post, this is Middle Grade, and is written in present tense with dual points of views. Not a very popular style and difficult to pull off, I hear. I can't deny it's been a challenge.

I think it’s finally becoming second nature to write in the present tense without constantly slipping into past. The POV's are male and female. They are very different kids. Malik is rough and tumble, but emotionally needy and selfish at the moment. Nevan is sweet and shy, but also has a core of steel underneath her frills. They're view of the adventure they're on is completely different, yet also the same.

Now, for my project goal.

I started the project a week early. On November 1st I had 9781 words written, so I'm deducting those from my total. So while the word count is now at 35,286, I'm only at 25505 for NaNo. I hope to be able to make this up over the holidays, except Black Friday when I'll be shopping, ha ha!

So that's where I am at the halfway point.

Please, wish me luck.

National Novel Writing Month

So it begins!!

I decided to go with the The Quest for the Golden Apple, my middle grade project. Last week, I was so excited about this story that I caved in. My inner plotter cracked its knuckles and pounded out 9,000 words (which I'll deduct from my total word count at the end of the month). The story flowed onto the paper without much effort. It felt absolutely lovely.

It turns out that I will have two pov characters--Malik Ross and Nevan Newquist. They're very dissimilar and have unique voices. It will be written in past tense, 3rd person limited. Although, I'm still toying with the idea of trying out present tense. I've never written a ms in this tense, so it would be a challenge.

Which is exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for in my NaNo experience.

So, yeah. Why not. Present tense it is (weird how I tend to make split second decisions while writing my blog, thereby setting myself up for failure). So instead, I'll say that I'll try out present tense and if it doesn't work for the story, I won't force it.

What about you? Are any of you participating in NaNo? What type of story are you working on? Are you trying something new and different? Is this a story you've been wanting to write for a while, but had gotten too busy with other projects to work on it? Have you participated in NaNo before? Or is this your first time?

May the muse be with you.

WAITING STINKS!

I’m biting my nails.

I finished the rough draft of Djinni. Now, I’m waiting the prerequisite couple of month (which I can never get through without cheating) before I edit the manuscript. I thought I would do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or Nano) in November as a way to keep my mind busy.

Which leads to my dilemma.

I have two stories that are vying for attention. Both are equally exciting and challenging. Either would stretch my writing skills and be a fun project. But there can be only one. Cue the Tina Turner in Thunderdome voice--TWO NANO PROJECTS ENTER, ONLY ONE LEAVES.

I’m leaning toward choosing the middle grade action adventure—think Goonies in the Hood. It’s called THE GOLDEN APPLE and is based off of a short story I wrote in college. It has a twelve-year-old boy protagonist and his friends who help him in his quest to find the golden apple.

Writing from his perspective and his voice will be a challenge. Also, I’ll have to dial back the horror a bit. Not much ‘cause it has giant spiders, mummy’s, cemeteries, fairies and magic swords. Oh, there might also be a dragon for my son. He’s obsessed with dragons right now. There's also gangbangers, drug addicts, and the love and strength only good friends bring to you when you're down and out.

The other story is YA, and it’s also a different sort of project for me in that it has four points of views--three boys and a girl. Which means four very different voices, personalities, and perspectives to experiment with. YAY! It’s a full blown horror; although, a bit tongue in cheek. I’m having fun with it as evidenced by my working title STINK. 'Nuff said.

Choosing the project is not the main issue. By November 1st, I imagine one of the projects will latch itself into my psyche like a sucker-jawed parasite and won’t let me go until it slurps my creativity dry.

No, I’m having a hard time waiting for the big day.

I wish instant gratification came in can, like cheese and whip cream. I could just eat it with crackers, or to save time, hold the nozzle over my mouth. Yeah, I really hate waiting. And to be perfectly honest, I highly doubt I’ll be able to withstand the temptation of dabbling.

Maybe for my Nano experience, I can just deduct the words I end up writing before the big day from the total word count at the end of the month. Or give up on Nano all together and do my own thing.

Well, okay then. I guess my problem has been resolved. Now that I’ve absolved my guilty conscience by busting myself out to everyone reading, I’m off to go write.