NaNoWriMo: Day Twenty-Two

I reached 37,380 words today, which means that I'm 75% done with NaNoWriMo! I'm nowhere near that percentage in the story itself. At the pace I'm going, the novel is going to be a LOT longer than 50,000 words, but I'm so happy that I've written this much. The writing is pretty horrible, actually, since I've sacrificed quality for quantity. Passive voice and adverbs galore! Come December, it'll be all about finishing up, starting the revisions, and re-writing.

I'm not worried because I've got a brand-new critique buddy (my very first)! We got paired up thanks to the amazing Lynnette and will be sharing our NaNo stories next month. I'm nervous because she has a lot more writing experience than I do, but I hope it'll be a valuable partnership for both of us.

This past week, Stephanie Thornton compared writing to running - an analogy I love. It's tough to start but once you've forced yourself into doing it, everything just seems to flow. Since I started NaNoWriMo, I've gotten a dozen new story ideas that I scribble down in my handy-dandy Moleskine. I hope I can keep the momentum going once November's over, when there's no competition to spur me on anymore.

I think positive reinforcement is going to be the key. I needed new shoes for the holidays so I went shopping for some as a reward. I got the very last pair of these amazing round-toe pumps in the exact style, color, and size I wanted. I think it's a sign!


How's NaNoWriMo / NaNoRevisMo treating everyone? Anyone else jumping the gun and rewarding themselves early? :)

Get the Point?

The bird version of me is a magpie. I hoard stuff like you wouldn't believe. These are some of the things you'd find in my closet:

- A chocolate box full of postcards from around the world
- A witch costume I wore for Halloween when I was 7
- My old sticker book collections
- A white rose corsage, dried and kind of stinky
- An antique tin box of folded notes from high school friends
- Really old homework (I found an assignment from third grade)
- Newsletters I used to write for my family
- A giant map I drew of Odysseus's journey for an English class
- Programs from concerts I played in

My closet is also a treasure trove of writing samples, some of which have never seen the light of day since I wrote them. I found this scrawled on a piece of looseleaf paper, under the heading "Get the Point?":


Night has fallen and the streets lie empty. A crushed soda can clatters in the breeze, skipping across the curb with a sharp staccato. Somewhere, a streetlight flickers on and off and finally dies. An eerie silence settles over the neighborhood as though the houses are holding their breath with us. The stage is set and the curtain has risen. Sensing his cue, he darts from the shadows, eyes fixed on the towering brick house in the cul-de-sac. Anticipation courses through his veins and when he reaches into his pocket to grasp my handle, some of it is transferred to me. I am, after all, his accomplice. He will break the lock and enter, he will steal what he has obsessed over for weeks, and when his enemy wakes up and discovers him, he will plunge me into the man's heart. But it is I who will delve beneath the fabric and the layers of skin, my pointed blade aimed for the quivering muscle like a vengeful Cupid's arrow. It is I will end this rivalry between the two men, I who will complete the final blow.


I don't even remember writing this! It was stuffed into a folder with high school papers, so maybe I wrote it in class or something. Writing from the POV of a knife definitely suggests math class. Math made me want to stab things a lot.

Anyway, I wonder where I was planning to take this story! Who is this man and what is his beef with the corpse-to-be? I wish I could remember. It seems to be an ongoing thing with me, beginning stories and forgetting all about them.

Have you ever discovered things that you wrote years and years ago? Do you expand on them or incorporate them into new stories?

What About Lunch?

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"”
A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

A good vocabulary. It's the hallmark of a writer, the power of having a handful of ten-dollar words and the ability to sort through them for the perfect one. It's choosing to say famished because it's way more fun than "hungry", calling your co-worker a sycophant instead of a "butt-kisser", and deciding to perendinate paying your bills until tomorrow. Writers not only write; most of us also read voraciously, which is where we learn new words and glean definitions from context. But how necessary are these words when it comes to our writing? Why use them when much simpler words will suffice?

I am a big fan of simple language. I want readers to focus on the story and if I'm flinging GRE-level words at them in every sentence, they're going to be distracted or worse, frustrated. Who wants to curl up with tea and a book on a rainy night and discover that they're going to need a giant dictionary as well? Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love learning new words and think nothing of looking one up, but like most things, they should come in moderation.

I recently read a short story that was strewn with whoppers like "transmogrify" and "prognosticate." They were everywhere. I remember thinking how pretentious it sounded. It was like reading a sample essay in an SAT prep book. This author - whose writing, incidentally, wasn't strong despite his fearsome vocabulary - was trying too hard to impress. I couldn't help smiling as I read it.

The average reading level of an American adult is somewhere in middle school. Is it seventh grade? (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) Cluttering every paragraph with 4+ syllable words means that the above author has already lost a huge chunk of his potential audience. A pitifully small percentage of people read for pleasure anymore. Why alienate them even further?

What do you think about so-called "big" words? Do you use them often in your everyday conversation and/or writing? When reading, do they impress you or are they a turn-off?

NaNoWriMo: Day Fifteen ... and An Award

Thank you so much to Makita Jazzqueen at Mary Eastmacott for kindly giving me this award! Please check out her great blog and become a follower if you aren't one already. Now for the rules:

1. Thank whoever gave this to you
2. Copy award
3. Post it in your blog
4. Tell us 7 things that your readers don’t know
5. Link 7 new bloggers
6. Notify winners of the award with a comment on their blog
7. Keep being awesome!

I've done the first three, so here goes. Seven more things that you don't know about me:

1) I am addicted to flipflops and I have a vast collection of them. When I was in a summer program for my youth orchestra, all of the high school seniors got fun awards. The ones I got were "Best Section Principal" and "Has the Most Shoes." (Haha)

2) I have only had one up-close-and-personal celebrity sighting in my life. My family and I were having dinner at a restaurant and we looked up to see Uma Thurman and her daughter coming down the stairs by our table.

3) I love to sing, but I hate it when other people can hear me so I try to restrict the tunes to the car and the shower.

4) I own all of the original hardcover Nancy Drew books.

5) I took horseback-riding lessons for years when I was younger. I'm dying to get back on a horse so I can see how much I remember!

6) I love stationery and office supplies, which is why I never minded going back to school as a kid! It meant trips to Staples where I could wander through the aisles and look at colorful post-its and fun pens.

7) I really love dogs and can't wait until I buy a house so I can get one!


And now some wonderful new bloggers I've recently discovered that I would like to pass the award on to:


Sarah at Sarah With A Chance
Stephanie at Hatshepsut: The Writing of a Novel
Julie C. at Diary of an Unpublished Wanna-Be Writer
Elizabeth at Mystery Writing is Murder
Natalie at The Sound of Rain
Julie at The Climb
Sierra at Sierra Godfrey


I'm looking forward to reading more of their blogs and I hope you'll follow them so you can too :)

In other news...


I've passed the 25,000 word mark for NaNoWriMo! I am officially at the halfway point! WOO-HOO!!!!!!

Rainy Day Writing

Is it bad that I don't know what genre I write? I've been asked this question several times and I never know how to respond. I'm pretty certain my novel is mainstream fiction (such a vague term, don't you think?) slash women's fiction. I have another novel that is YA mystery/fantasy, a horror short story, and ideas for a children's book. I'm all over the place! Authors usually have one main genre that they feel most comfortable with, don't they? Do you stick with one genre when you write or do you try a whole variety?

Thank you for the compliments on my music! I've been pulling my hair out, trying to add MP3s to my Project Playlist at the bottom of the page. I had to settle for getting a Google Gadget, which is the thing you see on the right. It makes a weird clicking noise when you open my blog, it doesn't auto-play, and it doesn't keep playing, but it lets me add my music so I guess I can't complain! No worries though, I've kept my original playlist and all the music information is still at the bottom. This music truly helps me write and I hope it does the same for you! (Or helps you sleep - Tina and Wendy, I'm looking at you guys. Haha!)

It's rainy and crappy out and I am in a writing mood. Perfect! Just 7000 words until I reach the halfway point. I will try to do half of that this afternoon so I can go play tonight :) Thanks for your support and your kind words yesterday. I really needed them this week. I'm grateful that I've made such wonderful writing friends in my short time here, so hugs to all of you. Have a great weekend and good luck with NaNoing or revising or whatever you are working on!

NaNoWriMo: Day Thirteen

It hasn't been a very good week for me. I've been in a funky mood where I'm bored and apathetic and take things personally that I would normally laugh off. People have been particularly exasperating and disappointing. I hate the feeling of being condescended to. I don't know whether it's because I am defensive about my writing, but whenever I talk about it to friends and family, I feel as though I'm being laughed at and indulged. I actually got mocked by a friend for having a positive attitude in my blog posts and while I usually brush off their more mean-spirited comments, somehow it irked me even more this week. If I'm going to get criticized on my writing, I'd rather have it be constructive. I'm sunny and cheerful when it comes to writing. If people are looking for snark and cynicism, I'm going to say it right now ... they'd better go read another blog.

Everything bugged me this week. I didn't get the best student award in my R.A.D. class despite kicking enough ass at the "exam" that the cops thought it was my second time taking the course. I pretty much sucked at rehearsal because I haven't had time to practice my violin. I found an awesome editorial internship that I missed the deadline for because I've been distracted all summer by a giant frog in a prince suit. And little things too: people who avoid my eyes in the hallway instead of saying hello, frost on the car windows that I actually have to scrape off, menial tasks that insult my four-year college degree... the list goes on and on.

I have a current word count of 18,103. I need to play catch-up this weekend if I want to make that halfway point on Sunday. I know I can do it. It's just a matter of sitting down, brushing off everything that has happened this week, and getting into the zone.

How's Week 2 of NaNo treating everyone? I've noticed that Wendy has already won - congrats!

(Oh and P.S. I've joined Twitter if you want to find me and buddy up!)

One Two Punch

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

Nelson Mendela

Last month, I signed up for a six-week long R.A.D. class taught by the police department in my hometown. Designed specifically for women, it teaches basic self-defense maneuvers that can be used in a multitude of potentially dangerous situations: walking alone in a dark parking lot, being cornered in a bar by an overeager suitor, dealing with an abusive husband or boyfriend, and so on. I sincerely hope I'll never have to use what I learn, but if I need to, I'll be prepared. The class is also a lot of fun, in addition to boosting your confidence. At the end of every session, there's a mock scenario where we each get to "fight" the cops, who are armed with punching bags. With the officers yelling encouragement, the other women cheering wildly for you, and the adrenaline pumping full-force, it really feels amazing and empowering!

There are about twenty women in the class, mostly over the age of 35. One lady is well into her 60's but possibly has the meanest punches of us all! I am one of the youngest, with only two other girls in their twenties, and probably one of the smallest women in the class. Most of us Asian people are wee folk. So here I am, standing at only 5 foot 4 inches tall (intimidating, right?), slender, and small-boned. I've been kickboxing for years so I am much stronger than I look, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm tiny. Apparently my small stature has made me an ideal volunteer with the three cops, because they always pick on me when they need to demonstrate something. Last week was no different.

We were learning what to do if you are asleep in bed and an intruder breaks in and pins you down with the intent of rape. There are two maneuvers you can do, depending on whether you are sleeping on your back or on your stomach. The object in both cases is to roll the aggressor off of you, debilitate with a punch or kick, and make your escape.

One of the cops, who is shorter and stockier than the other two men, lay down on a mat to demonstrate. His 6-foot-tall, 200-plus-pound colleagues both proceeded to lie down directly on top of him, their weight completely pinning him to the floor. After a lot of giggling from both the students and the three men, the small cop managed to anchor his arms, lift upwards, and roll both of his colleagues easily off of his back. It was astounding. It had looked nearly impossible, but he had managed to do it.

"Now we need a volunteer," he announced, after everyone had applauded him.

I knew what was coming next.

He grinned and pointed at me. "You. Come here."

"You guys picked on me twice already!" I exclaimed, lying on my stomach grudgingly.

"It's because you're so pickable," one of the big cops informed me, but I knew it was because I was small and they wanted to prove a point. He proceeded to choose two women from among the students, who reluctantly piled on top of me. Just having their combined weight - probably around 300 pounds or more - on my back nearly took my breath, but it's close enough to the weight of a very big man.

"You okay down there?" asked the small cop cheerily, bending to look into my face.

"Mmmfffffhhhhhh," I responded. Even talking was difficult!

The big cop patted my head encouragingly. "Okay, kiddo. Go for it. Do what we taught you."

Can I do this? I thought anxiously, feeling the eyes of the entire class on me. But I obediently stretched out one arm and pressed it to the floor. I bent my other arm, placing the hand on the floor by my waist. Using my oustretched arm as an anchor, I applied pressure to the hand on the floor. With almost no effort at all, I rolled both women off my back in one swift movement. The other women were gasping and cheering, and I could hardly believe I had done it myself. What had appeared extremely difficult was ... very doable.


What does this have to do with writing, you ask? Well, two months ago, if you told me that I could write 20,000 words in just over a week, I wouldn't have believed you. I was so worried about failing NaNoWriMo, I only set a 25K word goal for myself. Within the space of nine days, I nearly accomplished that goal. The 50K word count - which had seemed impossible in October - now feels attainable. Tough, but attainable. All it takes is a little effort, knowing what you have to do, then ... just doing it.

Over-thinking a thing makes it harder than it really is. It's all about mentality.

I ran competitively in high school and I was terrible. All through the race I would see girls passing me effortlessly, ponytails whipping in the breeze, and I would think: I can't do this. I can't finish. Two and a half more miles, are you kidding me?! But somehow, I would pull myself together and manage to finish - even if it meant finishing dead last. If other people can do it, I thought, then so can I. That year, I completed every race I ran in.

I want to bring the same mindset to getting published, because I need to change my attitude. Instead of saying, "How the heck did so-and-so get published?" or "It seems so hard," maybe I should focus on me and my writing. How can I improve? Where are my weaknesses? What are my strengths? Instead of looking at the people flying past, I'm going to concentrate on getting there myself. Yes, the finish line is far off and it's hard to get there. But it's doable. Nothing worthwhile in life is easy to achieve. And once I get over the hurdles and the negativity, what's there to stand in my way?

NaNo updates coming this weekend!

NaNoWriMo: Day Eight

This weekend was very productive for me. I spent most of my free time writing and I am now at 13,379 words - just about where I'm supposed to be! I can't believe I'm almost 30% of the way through!

I'm starting to feel better about the story. I've finally convinced myself that it is a rough draft and that it isn't supposed to be perfect. One thing I am very thankful for is the chapter outline I made the last week of October, which has been extremely helpful. I don't follow it to the letter, but it's a terrific guide map. I'll definitely make one whenever I start a new project from now on.

Remember how I was worried about jumping around on the timeline and switching character viewpoints? I'm relieved that it hasn't been much of an issue. I have one main storyline that proceeds chronologically and is seen from the eyes of Lauren, my main character. Every other chapter switches from Lauren's viewpoint in 2010 to the viewpoint of someone in the past. The chapters that take place in the past are the ones that aren't in chronological order: sometimes it's a scene from 1962, sometimes 1974, etc.

I think it's working pretty well because I make sure to keep a thread of continuity going between the past and the present. For example, in one scene in the present, Lauren's cousin is getting fitted for her wedding dress and their aunt mentions the dress that their grandmother wore to get married. In the next chapter, which takes place in 1968, there is a scene involving the grandmother's dress.

So all in all, it's going pretty well! I'm still getting the urge to edit, but I find it easier every day to resist. Seeing my word count go up and up and up is so much more rewarding!

The One Lovely Blog Award

Thank you Natalie at The Sound of Rain for this award! I'm very proud and flattered that you nominated my blog :) I am supposed to pass this award on to some brand-new blogs that I have discovered and that I think are lovely, so here we go! The award goes to:


Jennifer Shirk (Me, My Muse, and I)

T. Anne (White Platonic Dreams)

Belle (MsBookish)

Tina Lynn (Sweet Niblets)

Sherrie Petersen (Write About Now)

Roni Griffin (Fiction Groupie)


These are all blogs that I follow regularly and they truly are wonderful. Please check them out and follow them if you aren't doing so already!

I plan on doing a lot of writing during the next two days so stay tuned for a NaNoWriMo update. Hopefully I will have good news to share with all of you. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

NaNoWriMo: Day Five

I'm 13% through my story and still feeling good. The running shoes are still tied, I don't have shinsplints, and I'm staying hydrated :) I didn't have time to write on Monday or Tuesday, so last night I was lagging behind by about a day's worth. I turned off my phone and signed off of Facebook, and managed to bring my word count back up to where it should be. Currently sitting at 6684, which isn't comfortable yet but at least I'm keeping the pace.

My iMac didn't come with a built-in word processing program, so I downloaded one off the Internet. It's called Bean, it's free, and it has this really cute coffee icon. It's simple, simple, simple with only the basic tools I need. (A program like Scrivener would be pretty sweet, but it's too fancy for me.) Best of all, you can have the document read aloud to you - albeit in a computerized monotone voice, but I find it helpful because I catch different errors by listening to the story as opposed to just reading it.

I wanted to listen to what I had so far, and what I heard was ... well, not that great. Maybe if I changed that word, tweaked that sentence, or rewrote that paragraph... But I knew I couldn't give in, so I didn't. Crisis averted. (For the moment.)

I can tell dialogue is gonna be my buddy. The 2500+ words I wrote last night consisted of almost all conversation between characters: what he said, what she said, the nuances, the inflections, the dialogue tags. A big chunk of it is going to be edited right out in December, but for now I will keep everything and continue chugging along.

Everyone's astronomical word counts are inspiring! Not to mention the enthusiasm. You guys kick serious butt! I'm glad I decided to do this. I can't believe I'll have thousands of words of a rough draft by Thanksgiving.


Hey Mr. Grumpy Gills.
You know what you gotta do when life gets you down?
Just keep writing, just keep writing
Just keep writing, writing, writing...

An Award and More Rambling

Thank you Roni at Fiction Groupie for this Helpful Blogger Award! What a compliment, I really appreciate it! I have found so many helpful blogs along the way that it's really tough to pick just seven. If you're in my "Writers on Writing" link list (basically, if I follow your blog) please consider yourself an awardee. You've all helped me grow so much already as a writer and a reader.

Now I have to share one thing that no one knows about me and a quote from my favorite book. Here goes!

One thing that no one knows: I never really learned how to swim. I know enough to survive if I ever fall in, but I'd love to take a class someday and become a stronger swimmer.

One quote from my favorite book: I have so many favorite books, but I truly love Austen's Pride and Prejudice. "Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."

This quote is actually a really good segue into what I wanted to write about today, which is being proud of yourself. I think it's important to know your self-worth and be confident enough to trust your own judgment, especially when it comes to writing.

When I was a little girl, my mom used to tell me stories that were short, to-the-point, and moralistic, usually containing messages like "Respect your elders" or "Hard work is its own reward." One of them has stuck with me throughout the years. This is how it goes:


A man and his son set out from their village to deliver rice to the market, loading goods on the back of a horse.

An old man watching them pass by laughed. "You're fools for walking on foot. A horse is made to be ridden." So the father and his son both climbed on the horse and continued on their way.

A woman stopped them on the road. "Aren't you ashamed of yourselves? Loading this poor animal with two heavy people?" So the father climbed off the horse and they proceeded onward.

A farmer interrupted their journey. "What's this? A strong young son riding while his old father walks! What lack of respect!" So the father made his son dismount before climbing on the horse himself.

They hadn't gone far before they were stopped by another man. "What kind of a father are you? Your son can hardly keep up with the horse and there you are, riding as comfortably as can be."

The father and son were now at a complete loss as to what they could do. Finally they cut down a pole, tied the horse's legs to it, and carried the animal to market. Unfortunately, as they were crossing a bridge into town, one of the horse's legs came loose. The horse kicked out, forcing the son to drop his end of the pole, and fell into the river. The animal drowned, taking the sacks of rice down with it, leaving the two men with nothing.

The moral is: "Try to please everyone and you will please no one." If the father had chosen what worked best for him and his son, instead of being swayed by other people's opinions, they would still have their horse and they would still have rice to sell! I am learning more and more how true this moral is and how it really does apply to everyday life.

Photo by Thiago Lopes at this site

I'm in that sort of weird gray area between childhood and adulthood where I - along with everyone else in my age group - am exploring the "real" world outside of school and everything that comes with it. We now have employers to deal with, bills to worry about, and relationships that actually begin with the future in mind. Everywhere we go, people are trying to tell us what to do. Buy this! No, invest in that! Go back to school! No, wait, get another job!

It's easy to lose sight of yourself when there are so many different versions of "you" that you could be: the "you" at work, the "you" when you're with your parents, the "you" when you're with your significant other.

Making other people happy, to me, is one of the greatest joys in life. I love knowing that someone is smiling or having a better day because of something I have done. But sometimes I forget myself in the process. When is it my turn to listen to me and to make myself happy? Usually the answer is: when I'm writing. But even then, I can get caught up in what other people think: if I write this kind of story, will so-and-so like it? If I add this character, what will so-and-so think? What if so-and-so doesn't approve of where I'm taking the plot or how I write the villain? Again, there's that whole "trying-to-please-everyone" mindset that is counterproductive.

Success in writing, like all forms of art, is a highly subjective business that depends on the opinions of others. But what if we focus on writing what makes us happy, what we really care about and believe in, and just let the chips fall where they may?

This is what I love to do. I told myself that if it's meant to be, I will get published. But if it's not meant to be, at least I can say that I tried - that I stayed true to myself and believed in my own writing. I won't look at it as a dream to be shelved, because the end result shouldn't be the one thing that defines me; it should be my passion and my journey.

(I warned you I was a corny person, didn't I? Are you getting a toothache from this?)

Anyway, I'm so thankful to be able to share my thoughts here! All of you followers in that right-hand sidebar over there ... yes, I'm talking to you ... I didn't put you under the heading of "Awesome People" for nothing. Thanks for listening to my corniness :)

NaNoWriMo status update coming soon!

NaNoWriMo: Day One

Well, I made it through my first day ever of NaNoWriMo! It went a lot more smoothly than I had anticipated, thanks to my notebook full of story plans. I got home from Halloween festivities at about 2 AM, realized that it was actually only 1 AM because of Daylight Savings, and decided, "What the heck, let's start writing!" I began typing out the prologue and within an hour, I'd written almost 2000 words. The story just began flowing right out from my fingertips and onto the screen; it was an incredible feeling.

Today I fought my first battle against myself because in the afternoon, when I picked up from where I had left off, I had this urge to start editing the 2000 words I had written. It was a really, really strong impulse, but I told myself I'd never get anything done if I make a habit of revising as I go, so I hurtled on. With my first day over, I now have 3,990 words written in total!

I'm going to stop because I don't want to burn out. I might just be going for the official goal of 50,000 after all, if this keeps up!!

I've heard that it only gets harder from here so hopefully I can keep my endurance up. This really is like running a marathon, isn't it?

But so far, so good. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I am registered under juleswrites if you want to find me on the official NaNoWriMo website and friend me!

I hope all of you who are participating are having a good first day as well!

Hi I'm Mary Sue and I'm Obnoxious

What is a Mary Sue? Wikipedia defines it as: "a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors or readers." I don't remember where I first heard this term, but I'm glad I did because I know what to avoid in my writing!

I recently read a book that made me really think twice about characterization. It was one of those stories where the premise is a total cliche yet could be entertaining if done well: a socially awkward girl from a poor family attends a college full of rich kids, gets romantically entangled with one of them, and struggles to remain true to herself while she's playing out the role of Cinderella. The book passed my three chapter rule (explained here) so I kept reading, but not without cringing and groaning during the process.

For one thing, redundancy in writing is annoying. It's even more annoying when you consider the fact that this author has had countless other eyes to help edit and revise her story. There is no excuse for something like this: "He made a joke and grinned charmingly at me. I laughed, because I thought the joke was funny." No, really?!

But the thing that got me was the protagonist (let's call her Nancy). A klutzy, shy bookworm of a girl, struggling out of a tough family background, could be really endearing. Instead, I wanted to punch her in the face. Despite dramatic drawbacks in her social skills and family affluence, it turns out Nancy is none other than a Mary Sue in the guise of an unfortunate. She's pretty much perfect in every other way: she's drop-dead gorgeous because every hot frat guy wants to get with her, she has curves in all the right places, she wows her professors with her knowledge on obscure history, and she even befriends the popular girl and - gasp - magically "de-snobs" her into a decent human being. Look, if the character is a Mary Sue, the character is a Mary Sue. That's fine. Just admit it.

Every other page, I found a sentence like this: "Guys found my face attractive, but I hated it. I wish I were an ivory-skinned blonde." Or this: "Max thought my long brown hair was beautiful with its glossy chestnut highlights, but I detested how thick and curly it was." Or: "I could see them all watching me as I entered the room and I heard them catcalling, but I slunk into a corner feeling ugly and self-conscious." Boo-hoo-frickedy-hoo.

Phew! Ranting feels good. :)

Have you ever come across any Mary Sues? Did you stop reading? Did you end up finishing the book and what motivated you to do so?

The Kreativ Blogger Award

Thank you so much to Tina Lynn at Sweet Niblets who gave me this Kreativ Blogger award! I love it!


The rules are:

1. Copy the Kreativ Blogger picture and post it on your page.
2. Thank the person that gave the award to you and link back to their blog.
3. Write 7 things about you that we don't know.
4. Choose 7 other bloggers that you would like to give the award to.
5. Link to the bloggers that you chose.
6. Let your winners know that they have the lovely award!


Here are the seven people I am passing the award on to. These are all blogs that I follow regularly and they're all fantastic. Please check them out:

Wendy (Where Ladybugs Roar) - Her blog is beautiful and I love her writing!
Matt (Pensive Sarcasm) - His posts are very amusing to read. The Halloween theme is awesome.
L.T. Host (Quest: Published) - I really enjoy reading her blog, especially the Mad Libs!
Abby (Abby Annis) - I have so much fun following her blog, which is very festive for Halloween.
Kristen (Write in the Way) - Her posts are incredibly helpful and insightful.
Anissa (Anissa Off the Record) - She's a wonderful writer and I love her sunflower theme!
Holli (Holli's Ramblings) - Her blog is one of the most interesting I've come across.

Okay, seven things you didn't know about me:

1) My favorite color is purple. (Okay maybe that was an obvious one from the colors in my blog, but...)

2) I love to bake and I'm pretty good at it. Cookies, cake, cinnamon buns, pies, you name it, I've probably made it.

3) I still like to watch cartoons. Disney movies are my favorite.

4) I am a big Red Sox fan but things didn't work out too well this year obviously :(

5) I am the oldest of three and I love my brothers to death. They love me too when I don't hug them in public.

6) I am afraid of clowns, vampires, and spiders. In no particular order.

7) I've been playing the violin for a long time and I'm not great, but I love it! So relaxing.


Thanks again Tina, this was a lot of fun :)

Waiting

Two posts in one day?! I know, I know. Let's just say I'm making up for November when I'll be knee-deep in my novel. I found this on my computer and just wanted to share it with you. I wrote it in college, always an emotional and melodramatic time in a girl's life (haha). Poetry is definitely not my forte as you will see, but it's fun to try sometimes. I also found this really beautiful photograph that seems to fit; it's from this site and was taken by a photographer named Thiago Lopes.

Waiting

We spend our lives in waiting.
Wrapped in curving numbers that parade in an endless circle,
each exacting hand a slave
to the dance of sun and moon.

Waiting
For lives to begin.
For dreams to come true.
For the promise of the future.
For the oblivion of tomorrow.

But mostly we wait for people
A flash of brilliant light, one ray of sun
To brighten dusty forgotten corners -
A heart to beat against our own
Or a small hand to hold
The sound of laughter like wind in the eaves
The warmth of a smile like sunlight on leaves

The numbers rise and fall
With the coming of the night
With the ebbing of the tide
And still we stand, eyes lifted to the stars
Wondering when this waiting will end.

The Heartfelt Award

I got my first blog award ever, thanks to the very sweet Melane at Chasing the Dream! I love it! Your kind words completely made my day.



Here are the rules:

Do you reach for a cup of cocoa or tea when you're relaxing, seeking comfort, sharing a plate of cookies with family and friends? You know the feeling you get when you drink a yummy cup of cocoa, tea, or a hot toddy? That is what the Heartfelt Award is all about, feeling warm inside. Rules: put the logo on your blog/post. Nominate up to nine blogs which make you feel comfy or warm inside. Be sure to link your nominees within your post. Let them know that they have been nominated by commenting on their blog. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

Here are my nominees!

Melane (Chasing the Dream): She kindly gave me the award. Her blog posts are helpful and insightful, and her comments are always very encouraging.

Jessica (BookingIt): She was my very first follower and started commenting since Day One. Not only is she always cheery and supportive, she's an amazing, inspiring writer herself.

Tamika (The Write Worship): Tamika's blog posts are deep and insightful, and she has such a positive outlook on life and writing.

Stephanie (Chronicles of a Novice Writer): Stephanie has great advice on writing and her tips have helped me out so much on characterization. She's a fabulous writer as well.

Susan (A Walk in My Shoes): I love her funny, honest, well-written blog posts, and the way she supports and encourages all her writing friends. Plus she loves shoes!

Tabitha (Through My Eyes): Her writing is some of the most beautiful I've ever read. I also love the gorgeous photographs that she posts.

Shelley (Storyqueen's Storycastle): Shelley's posts are hilarious and so helpful to read. I want to be the kind of author she is when I grow up. She's the Storyqueen!

Eileen (A Christian Romance Writer's Journey): Eileen has fantastic posts about her journey to publication. I also like the music on her blog!

Suzy (Tales of Extraordinary Ordinariness): I've fallen in love with her writing. Her blog posts are always well-written, moving, and oozing with talent.

That's nine, right? I never was very good at numbers. :)

Have a great day everyone!

Going InsaNaNo!

NaNoWriMo is less than a week away. Am I allowed to freak out yet!? I'm neurotic, I'm afraid of failure, and I have OCD. Probably not the best combination to be in when I'm about to start a month-long writing marathon, but don't you worry: I come prepared. I am one of the most "prepared" people you will ever meet. I was that seven-year-old on the school field trip with a backpack of Band-Aids, a flashlight, and Tylenol that I had packed myself. When I took the SATs in high school, I was the girl with the extra No. 2 pencils, sharpened and ready to go. I am the friend who makes packing lists for overnight trips and asks you if you've remembered your passport and suntan lotion. Just call me "Mom-in-training."

I have a notebook that I've been steadily filling up since last week. It doesn't have a table of contents (... yet), nor does it have an index (I know, right, what's wrong with me?), but it does have six separate and distinct sections:

1. Titles
2. Basic Premise/Synopsis/Direction
3. Characters
4. Settings
5. Timeline
6. Chapter Plans/Outline

As of last night, I've planned out the first sixteen chapters to within an inch of their lives. I have named all of my characters (thank you BabyNames.com) and I have a two-page handwritten summary that might as well be part of a query letter. This week I'm going to draw out a timeline (since my story deals with two narratives about forty or fifty years apart) and determine where exactly everything takes place.


I really respect the authors who are confident enough to be spontaneous, to sit at the computer on November 1st, and just let 'er rip. But I cannot even imagine starting something like this without some kind of outline - even if it's just a tiny list! I like maps. And schedules.

Being a NaNo newbie, I have no idea what to expect. What if I burn out after a couple of chapters and realize that there's really no substance to this story after all? I know that there's no realistic way for me to hit the 50,000 word goal because of my packed schedule and the fact that I don't function without sleep, so I've set a much more attainable goal for myself: 25K. That's it. The novella range. That's less than a thousand words a day if I wrote every single day. Totally doable and I won't kill myself trying to reach it.

But all overanalyzing aside, I really am excited for this and happy to have found so many other writers doing it too! It's going to be nerve-wracking yet fun, I can tell.

What are your NaNo preparations like? Any veterans want to offer a word of advice before I jump in the deep end?

Sugarplums ... and Weird Stuff

I am a very vivid dreamer. I have the strangest dreams of anyone I know. Most of the time they aren't good dreams or bad dreams, they're just ... strange. Sometimes I see people I haven't thought of in years or even places I haven't been since I was a little girl. There are bits and pieces of anything and everything thrown in together, like a mushy goulash of memories with a pinch of crazy.

Take Thursday night, for instance. I was working on my scary clown story right before bedtime (smart, no?) and gave myself a nightmare. I dreamed about walking through an empty carnival at night, no one around, all of the rides and lights turned off in this kind of dark eerie silence. I really wanted to ride the carousel but couldn't figure out how to turn it on. It was all very Ray Bradbury, very Something Wicked This Way Comes. Then I came to the midway where all the games are - you know, like the one where you have to shoot water at a target to make your horse go faster or throw rings around rubber duckies - and suddenly all the lights came on. I was playing this game where I had to throw stuffed animal frogs into a laundry hamper. I must have lost because this cannon appeared and began shooting real live slimy frogs at me. I freaked out and started running, and somehow I managed to get my car and drive away into the night. You know how sometimes you get this sixth sense in dreams, like you know something is about to happen? Well I knew that I wasn't alone in the car, that someone or something was sitting in the shadowy backseat. So I reach back there without looking and I'm touching the head of a child, crouched silently behind my chair with her head bowed and her hair covering her face. I flipped out again, screamed, and woke up (phew!).

Thankfully I didn't have nightmares again last night, although I did have another weird dream where I was shopping at Macy's and I ran into my best friend from high school. I was really late for an appointment but I stayed and helped her pick out lipstick, and then I went to the pet store and bought a cat. All of the cats they sold came with balloons, so I walked self-consciously out of the mall carrying a cat and a bunch of balloons.

I swear, some of these dreams would make really good stories! I usually remember them pretty well and I write them down in a dream diary next to my bed. There are some serious whoppers in there...

But the point of this post was, I also dreamed about my NaNo story last night! I dreamed up a title and a book cover. I'll have to sketch it out and post it here sometime :) I guess these messed-up visions of mine can have a purpose after all!

Are your stories ever inspired by your dreams? Do you dream about what you write and does it ever change the story in any way?

Other Writers Exist!

I'm relatively new to the world of blogging, having only written consistently this month, but I am loving it. What a great way to network and discover others out there in the same boat! I have heard people say that writing is a lonely hobby, but I disagree. Maybe it's because I enjoy being alone and I consider it solitude, not isolation. But occasionally I've wished for other writers to talk to and bounce ideas off of, and I've been hard-pressed to find a group nearby that is prolific enough and isn't creepy. I'm really glad that I've been putting more time and effort into exploring the blog world, and I have a feeling that good things are going to come of it. Just this month alone, I've come across so many amazing writers - both aspiring and published - with equally amazing blogs.

I gotta say, it's incredibly humbling. To see authors as young as fifteen - fifteen! - rocking an agent, publishing books, and scoring interviews is a real wake-up call. When I was fifteen, I didn't even know that literary agents existed! Reading about other writers' experiences is also forcing me to be a lot more realistic about getting published. I think the scariest part for me is realizing that this is no longer just a dream. It's easy to sit back and say, "Oh yeah, I want to be an author someday." But by publicly putting my name and my work out there and making a commitment to write, I am now actively trying to reach this goal. I don't know whether I'll fail or succeed, but either way I have embarked and there's no turning back. Eek!

I did a happy dance today when I reached 14 followers! It's a big number to me, considering I started the month with 2! I think you are all wonderful for wanting to stick around and read my naive ponderings, especially Jessica, who has been commenting since day one. I seriously need to make her an award for being such a kind, positive influence from the very beginning!

I haven't really started a blogging schedule yet. Is it common to have one? I've been posting two or three times a week and on my off days, I go through my blog list and leave comments. (Sorry if I miss some of your posts!)

Any rules of blogging etiquette I should know? What are your blogging schedules like?

Bridging the Gap

I know what I'm writing in November! I looked at my story ideas this weekend and one was the clear winner. Unfortunately it requires much more research, parts of it being set during the Vietnam War, but I truly enjoyed reading up on the subject. I spent hours poring over firsthand accounts of what had happened on the day that Saigon was captured. I could see it all so vividly in my mind and many of the stories brought tears to my eyes.

I've always felt guilty about being so disconnected from my own culture. Being born and raised in America isn't exactly conducive to a true understanding of what my family went through to get here. Compared to the terror and trauma of what they were forced to suffer, I live a pretty charmed life that I completely take for granted. I never think twice about filling up my car with gas or spending money at the mall. I even complain about going to work on Monday! I hate feeling ignorant and ungrateful, and I think it's time to rectify that.


On my dad's family, there isn't much to know: they were a wealthy, educated clan in the North who made it to America uneventfully. But my mom's family lived in the South and she was 13 when they evacuated Saigon in April 1975. All I know is that they fled to Thailand and eventually came on a boat to America. I wish I could talk to her about the experience, but she always changes the subject when I try. She will only say that it's a "sad story." She left so many painful memories behind and even some family members. To the best of my knowledge, she never spoke to either of her parents again; my grandfather, a high-ranking police officer in the city, died many years ago and my grandmother, who had abandoned the family to either pursue a life in the monastery or to be with another man (the story changes depending on who you ask), for all intents and purposes simply vanished from all knowledge.

If I could only find a way to understand, to at least learn what it was like to leave death and danger and heartache behind for a terrifyingly new country, maybe I'll be able to bridge that gap at last. I hope that researching and writing about the topic will help me.

Anyway, this long-winded preamble has finally brought me to what I wanted to explore: the semi-autobiographical novel. I want this story to be based on my family's experience, but as I've mentioned, the puzzle pieces I have are far and few between. Basically I have 1.) books, 2.) the Internet, and 3.) my imagination. (Other family members are a possibility, but the stories change so often that it's difficult in the interest of consistency.) I will have to substitute a lot of pieces of the story, both factually and fictionally, but essentially I'll be basing many characters on real people. I'm not sure how to do it in a sensitive way that won't offend anyone; how horrible would it be to read a relative's story and recognize yourself in a less-than-flattering characterization?! Yikes! I'll have to change them up enough that they won't be so obvious, yet keep them as true to life as I can manage.

Another factor I will have to consider is writing the flashback. Since my story will deal with three generations of a family, I'll be moving back and forth on the timeline. I need to figure out a way to do this smoothly without causing a lot of undue confusion.

Any advice on writing the semi-autobiography or on writing flashbacks? Any suggestions or criticism you can think of on the story premise and research methods?

I can't tell you how excited I am to finally do this! It's been a long time coming for sure.