World Building Exercise

So Day 3 of the 12-Day Plan of Simple Writing Exercises is as follows ::

Write a setting based on the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen.

 A coastal beach that stretches unbroken for several miles to the south and approximately two miles to the north, where it terminates in a large outcropping of seismically and volcanically created rock, surrounded by a dense fog that obscures the summit and what lies to its direct north.  Anyone brave enough to climb the narrow, crumbling, water-slicked footholds and natural trails to the top is treated to a view like none other.  Once on the summit, the fog lifts to reveal a sun-dappled oasis of lush green grass overlooking a sparkling blue-green ocean to the west and north.  To the north, over the edge, one cans ee another seemingly endless stretch of pristine beach, dotted irregularly with pieces of driftwood.  Along the northeast of the point is a henge of obsidian and sunstone.  Fantastical creatures live here, including a gryphon that keeps a leviathan fed with seaweed and the bodies of those unworthy to step foot in this sacred space.

Character Study :: Casey Darris

So Day 2 of the 12-Day Plan of Simple Writing Exercises is as follows ::

Create a character with personality traits of someone you love, but the physical characteristics of someone you don’t care for.

At first, I wasn't sure I'd be able to do this.  In fact, I'll be honest and say that this particular exercise was a big part of the reason that I've been putting off doing these exercises in the first place.  So I kind of put it off most of the day.  Which turned out to be a good thing anyway, as I was fighting the auras associated with a potentially nasty migraine most of the day.  And then I realized how stupid I was being about my issues with this challenge and just sat down to start working out the basics of this character.

Possible Book Titles

So Day 1 of the 12-Day Plan of Simple Writing Exercises is as follows ::

Write 10 potential book titles of books you’d like to write.

 So the first ten titles that came to mind for me are below.

• Laikhostra
• Stranded in Seaweed
• Intricate Strands
• Surviving Sierra
• Set in Quicksand
• Somewhere Underrated
• Severed Lives
• Wisdom of the Heart
• Come Undone
• Where Have You Been Hiding?

Some of these titles have ideas percolating already, which is awesome.  Some may never have anything come of them.  And that's okay.  We'll see what happens.  For all I know, some of them may be used for fannish projects.  But I definitely feel better having a few ideas to kick around now.

And yes, the first title option is for something already set.  Perhaps I shouldn't have kept that one in the list, but it is for a book I'd like to finish writing.  The second is something that points toward my lesbian selkie romance idea.  The rest of them?  No idea.  And that's okay.  The idea was to write the titles now.  If stories come from these titles, that's fantastic.  If not, that's okay, too.

What's Up Wednesday :: 22 January 2014 Edition

So first things first.  It's been quite a while since I last posted anything here.  Which is just pathetic.  I could give a million and one excuses, but they don't really matter in the end.  All that matters is that I wasn't writing and should have been.  So let's just focus on moving forward from this point on, shall we?

It's What's Up Wednesday again!

What I'm Reading

People of the Owl -- This is actually a re-read, as I'm still slowly making my way through the entire series of books.

What I'm Writing

Mostly I'm doing a lot of RP over on Twitter again.

I've signed up for a few fannish challenges, which is nice to keep those muses happy.  But that won't get the money coming in for my writing, so I'm working on focusing a little more on the pro side of writing this year hopefully.

I started the 12-Day Plan of Simple Writing Exercises today, which should end on 2nd February, which just happens to be Imbolc.  In other words, the creativity sabbat that I celebrate.  Hopefully these exercises will niggle something loose for me to work on in the original fiction arena.

What Else I've Been Up To

This past weekend, I went clamming up by the Hood Canal Bridge.  We saw a pair of bald eagles there, as well as a couple of harbor seals while crossing the bridge.  And I ate a raw oyster right there on the beach after Otter shucked it for me.  [I'm still a wimp when it comes to shucking them.]  If all goes well, we'll be going back up this coming weekend for another round of clamming.  Freshly steamed clams are even tastier when you've dug them up yourself.

What Inspires Me Right Now

Hope and renewal are really big for me right now.

Abbey of the Arts did their Give Me a Word 2014: Fifth Annual Abbey Giveaway this past December. I happened across this concept when perusing one of the newsletters I get from the site, so thought I'd give this a shot for 2014.  I did the work and wasn't sure what my word would be.  And then it hit me.  This is what I wrote on their blog for the giveaway [which I didn't win].

"My word, apparently, is REVITALIZE.  I'd been down to renew, revitalize, and forgive, though creativity was bandied about for a bit, too.  But then I realized that renew, forgive, and even creativity all linked back to revitalize in ways that fit me.  I've fallen into several ruts over recent years -- emotionally, physically, creatively, and spiritually -- so it's time to revitalize everything."

And that whole idea of revitalizing is something I'm working on.  I'm in the process of making some changes now, but the big "push" toward this idea will be starting on Imbolc, when I begin a few other major projects, but more on those in a later post as we get closer to the date.

What’s up with you today?

Choosing a project for NaNoWriMo 2013

For the twelfth year in a row, I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo and have decided to revisit and "reboot" one of two ideas I've worked with in previous years.

In the previous two posts, I listed excerpts from each project to give you an idea of which things I'm considering.

What I'd like now is for you to read over those excerpts, linked below to make it easier, and then go fill out the handy-dandy survey to pick which one you'd rather see I focus on for the month of November.

Laikhostra
Untitled Lesbian Selkie Romance

Vote for your favorite here.

The poll will be open until 31 October 2013, so that I can begin writing on 1 November 2013.  

Thank you for your assistance in helping me choose the project to reboot and attempt to finish this year during NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo 2013 Possible Project :: Excerpt #2

I first worked on this project as a fanfic idea for Addison Montgomery of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice fame, then chose to change it to an original novel project instead in 2008.  Both versions are set in the Puget Sound area, more specifically at the Point No Point Lighthouse in Hansville, WA.  The final version may or may not have the town/distinguishing features changed.  I haven't decided yet.

This story does have a supernatural bent, as it involves a female seal-shifter, or selkie, specifically shifting into a harbor seal.  I am still doing research into local indigenous stories and legends that involve skin-shifters, particularly of the pinnaped variety, but am willing to entertain changes in that vein if necessary.

There's no title on this piece yet, as I'm still waiting on that information from the story itself.

NaNoWriMo 2013 Possible Project :: Excerpt #1

Laikhostra is a project I've been working on since 2002 and the very first year I participated in NaNoWriMo.  There are actually several other excerpts from this universe here in my journal, so you may be familiar with the characters.

 

Fiction Friday :: "At First Sight"

Yes, I'm a day late on getting this up, but considering I let a whole month go by without posting anything, I think I'll let that slide.  *g*

Note :: This was originally written on 31 October 2010.  This one delves into the background of Kerai and Zandra's relationship in the Laikhostra universe.

Where did July go?

I cannot believe that it's been a full month since I last posted anything here.  Strange things have been afoot, to say the least.  So I'll take this opportunity to get caught up and start over again.  This is going to be based on the What's Up Wednesday posts, but with a slightly different structure.

What I'm Reading
I've been reading a lot of books on art journaling this past month.  I'm not sure I'll actually do a lot of it, as it seems beyond my skills level, but I'm getting interesting prompts for things I can try in my own art journals.  I've also been doing a full series reread of the First People books by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear in publication order, as I'd initially read them out of order.  The overlying themes make much more sense when they're read in order.  I'm currently halfway through People of the Lightning, and remembering why I love these books so much.

I'm thinking of doing a reread of Sea Magic: Connecting with the Ocean's Energy by Sandra Kynes and a couple of my writing books, just have to decide when and all.

What I'm Writing
My July writing word count totals got quite a boost.  In fact, I had the highest total word count month in my life for July, to the tune over just over 100k words written in various projects.  The background work on one of the stories I'm co-writing got a whole lot of new information, thanks to my RP work over on Twitter.

I finished up the poetry for codename: Podfic Poetry last week.  Just over 1000 words of poetry in three different styles.  Now it's just a matter of waiting for my partner to do the podficcing for it.

The rest of my projects are still behind, but I'm planning to make up for that this month.

What Else I've Been Up To
I've been doing a lot of crafting this summer.  Lots of ATCs being made, mostly of the Zentangle variety, with or without watercolor accents.  I worked on a few crocheted projects, too, mostly a couple of hat patterns.  And work is still slowly apace for the redoing of the office with BD.  Once that's done, I'll start on my bedroom.

What Inspires Me Right Now
Well, I suppose life is still inspiring me.  And the Zen of lines in artwork.  Told you I've been doing a lot of Zentangle work lately.  LOL!

What’s up with you today?

What's Up Wednesday for 3 July 2013

It's What's Up Wednesday again!

First, an update on my goals from last week.  I managed to accomplish four of my ten goals from last week.  Between the awful heat causing mini-migraines and the BFF stress, a lot of my concentration and productivity was utterly shot.

• Final word count was 7125 words
• Went through my "possible submission options" folder and did a major cleaning.  I even have a couple of options to work on for submissions now.
• Got my Ons/Offs posted & updated my profile over at Elliquiy
• Posted two sneak peek ficlets for Laikhostra.  A day late, but got them posted.

What I'm Reading

• Journalution: Journal Writing to Awaken Your Inner Voice, Heal Your Life, and Manifest Your Dreams 
• The Art Journal Workshop: Break Through, Explore, and Make it Your Own
• People of the Lakes

Nope, haven't progressed beyond these same three books. I need to be fixing that ASAP, if only because  two of those books are due early next week [along with like 6 others that I haven't touched yet].  I'll have to see if reading gets done this week or if I have to renew them again.

What I'm Writing
Other than the RP that is going pretty swimmingly again, after a bit of a dry spell due to the aforementioned stress and heat, my writing's been pretty slim again this week.  But we seem to be in a lull week, so let's see if we can get it going again, yes?