Adventures in Crafting with Words

I know, you are probably waiting with baited breath, or at least pretending to, on information about that cryptic NaNoWriMo project.  Surprisingly, I haven't finished yet.  I don't have a title.  Or a cover - because of lack of title mostly.  So that reveal will have to wait. Some of you might even be waiting for an announcement about The Trouble With Chasing Aileen - The Hastings Sisters number 2.  - Soon.  I promise.  Final rewrites and Beta reads got caught in the middle of finals (for the Beta) and NaNoWriMo (me).  Now, to the point of the blog - Betas.  What are they good for.  (Absolutely nothing!) Joking.  Joking.  That's a dig at my current Beta who is only still around because she's my best friend and she's in college while dealing with a four year old.  Betas aren't perfect, after all.  They can't spend all their time reading over your manuscript.  Why?  It's my livelihood isn't it? ...

Every day that I pull out my notebook or laptop I don't plan what goes down on the paper.  I don't know quite where my characters want to lead me yet. Sometimes it's a matter of going back and seeing, 'Oh, I'm missing this...' or 'I need to add a scene to link these chapters together. Sometimes the plot bunnies invade and I have to write a scene for a part of the story not yet started. But every day I hit my NaNoWriMo daily goal, or personal goal, or even get words down on the page, is one more day I can feel good about working on this rough draft. Today I reached the halfway mark - 25,000 words.  I have more words to add.  I have more story to develop.  I have more ideas, plot bunnies, and writing prompts to work with. And then, once this rough draft is finished, I'll introduce this new story to my beloved readers (and the world). Then the real work begins.  Editing and polishing and titling and all that. Stay tuned. Alicia

It's quickly approaching and I had to pick just one project to work on.  Do I finish the second Enchanted Forest?  The third Hastings?  The College Edition of Bookworm Next Door that is taking me forever? Do I tackle one of the other five project ideas that have appeared to me? Or the non-young adult romance that has been floating around in my cluttered brain? One particular project is prodding at me, telling me to write this one.   Character names. Plot line issues.  Motivations.  Pretty much falling into place with some exceptions. This particular project has a friend prodding me as well, but that's beside the point. So... what will the NaNoWriMo2107 project be? You'll just have to wait and see. However, want to tackle a 50,000 word lightening manuscript in a month? A month with Thanksgiving in it! Know your story.  Prep. Plot. Know your characters.  The journey might change, but regardless... Be Prepared.  And most i...

You never know where it will take you. Growing up I wanted to be Sarah Dessen.  She tackled the 'issues' - as I call them - without being overwhelming about them. I've found myself doing that at least twice.  In Keeping Secrets Gwen deals with the murder of her father, Mitchell deals with an abusive father, and Rilla with an emotional drain. In my NaNoWriMo project I've found myself with an emotionally abusive and controlling character that I never expected.  I started off dealing with toxic friends and ended up with a toxic relationship. Here's the thing, folks, writing will take you and your characters in directions that you never expect. Alicia

Around October 30th or 31st I "finished" the manuscript for the mash up that I've been working on since August 2014.  The idea came to me while I was teaching Biology - interim position - and had some spare time.  I adore fairy tales.  Simply adore them and discovering their various variations.  Even the original tales have minor nuances that create five different tales from the same origin.  This was before I'd discovered Heather Lyon's The Collector's Society Series.  (Go, read the books. The last one comes out Nov. 7th!  I can't wait!)  So... what happens when a descendant of Alice finds herself in a strange land?  A land where fairy tales and children's stories were real?  Where a magic council can freeze the story's tales in a loop or allow them to continue on for generations?  I don't have the synopsis yet.  I don't even have the manuscript completely edited.  Only 54 pages.  But that will take a ha...

I am absolutely horrible about posting updates.  There is seriously 4 books on my blog list and I keep adding to it.  I have no excuses. I spend half my day tackling Etsy shop business (marketing, orders, etc)  www.abookwormcreates.com btw I spend the other half of my day writing and editing.  Add to this mix NaNoWriMo I think my head is about to spin around.  However... my next post will be about ITEF... Alicia

That is the question... Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous word count expectations Or to take my pen against a sea of manuscript pages And by opposing NaNoWriMo edit them. Okay, seriously.  I have one manuscript that is in the second draft/revisions/editing stage.  It doesn’t even have 50,000 words at the moment.  Not even 48,000 words.  It is, however, the longest manuscript that I have written and it took combining a planned trilogy to get it that long.  Book one was about 30,000 words and books 2 and 3 a combined 17,000+.  I started Keeping Secrets in 2009... What does this mean? I'm not a 40,000+ writer.  I hate adding in additional action just to further a plot and add fluff just to pad a word count. Not everyone can be novel writers.  I'm not. I'm a short story and novella writer.  That also means very few of my books will be more that $4.99 an ebook.  (Print versions via c...