Going camping next month!

 I'm using Camp NaNoWriMo in April to continue writing episodes of Holyoak Five every week (at about 3000 words an episode) as well as doing at least 500 words a day on my current WIP novel.

Holyoak Five: http://holyoakfive.blogspot.com/

Current WIP novel will be Grave of the Goddess until it is finished, at which point I'll move on to Chaos Waking. (Make with the link clickys if you want some more fun details about the characters in said novels.)

Grave of the Goddess: Two teenagers search for the grave of the long-dead Moon Goddess who used to be the mate and counter force of the now mad Sun God.

Chaos Waking: A goddess of chaos is exiled and buried by her brothers and sisters. Centuries later, two grave robbers wake her up.

As always, my camper/NaNo username is greenandgrey.

Who doesn't want to go camping in April?

That's right - camping in April.

CAMP NANOWRIMO THAT IS!

A-hem. Pardon the overly enthusiastic announcement. My life has been full of enthusiastic announcements lately, but this is the only one that's entirely about me. Today I embark on my quest to finish what I began in November, namely my novel Grave of the Goddess. By April 30, I hope to have my first draft of this YA fantasy-adventure-romance-quest-thing all piled up on my desk and ready for the red pen of doom. After that, who knows?

(Well, actually, a lot of query letters to agents and publishing houses. That's what comes after.)

So join me in camp if you have a writing project you need an extra kick to get started on. Or just come and hang around the campfire with us. The marshmallows are toasted to perfection!

Actually it's a lot like this....

And also this....

....as for other enthusiastic announcements, here is a brief rundown.

1) My younger brother got married! And he's having a baby! It's a girl! I'M GONNA BE AN AUNT! WITH A NIECE! Words can't express how much I already love this kid.

2) My older cousin is having twins! TWINS! And they're going to be the best nerds of all time. Woo, nerds!

3) The boy and I just got our offer accepted on a house. I'M GONNA BE A HOMEOWNER!

Holy crap. Is that enough? I don't know. Oh, and my ickle bro is graduating Army Basic like.. tomorrow. Woo hoo! Now if I could just become a full-time worker at my new job and simultaneously find a great deal on a new laptop life would be just about perfect.....

Novel Roulette

I don't presume to know how many other novelists out there are like me and constantly playing roulette with their projects.

I figure I've got seven fiction novels that I've created detailed worlds for and written large portions of their plots. Seven. And I am not the most productive wordsmith in the world by a long shot. So I end up focusing on maybe two of these projects at a time, only one if I'm either extremely inspired or if I'm being perversely focused, but usually two so I can world build for one (which is fun and relaxing) when I'm stuck in actually writing the other one.

For example, here's how the past five months of my writing life have gone:

October: got wicked excited about plotting Grave of the Goddess and decided to write that while waiting for NaNoWriMo to start. Pretty much focused exclusively on this world even while nominally working on some kind of plot and characters for my planned NaNo, Solemn Vow. Also spent a ton if time in the NaNo forums soaking up all things writing.

November: ditched the chick lit idea immediately to write Grave of the Goddess for NaNo. Worked only on this all month. Wildly successful except for one week where I got bogged down by a slow part of the plot and the presence of relatives.

December: relative crash and burn. Set everything aside for several weeks. Wrote nothing, not even journal entries. I still can't decide if I did this to recover from NaNo or if the bad effects of unemployment were starting to gnaw at my creativity.

January: slow slow slow. Set Grave aside entirely. Instead, spent all my creative time invested in rereading and thinking about how to restructure A Hunter's Fire, and also creating ridiculously detailed history for my Stormwatch series.

February: got a freaking job! Also completely lucked out as the job has copious amounts of free time where no one cares if I'm reading or writing my own stuff. I've finally come back to Grave of the Goddess, just as enthused as November. But Face the Flames and Stormwatch are at my fingertips too.

I don't know if there's something wrong with me that I operate like this - with a writing backup, waiting to see where the ball lands today. But that's how it seems to be.

Fight evil. Read books.

Gloomy weather today. I'm glad for it because it means I'm not currently staggering through the woods on little sleep and wondering when the day will be over. (Wow, that sounds weird if you don't know the context.) So I get to write all day! Good, because I haven't been doing as much of that lately as I'd like to be.

This week has sucked. Feeling physically horrible - though yesterday things turned around a bit. And Wednesday night in particular my brain decided to do that INTP typical torture itself thing. So I pulled out my typewriter and decided to use it to write in bed for awhile to figure out exactly what the hell my problem is. It didn't go great. I covered a lot of white space with words, but I don't think it really meant anything. I hate when that happens.

Today though, I am swimming through my fictional worlds with my muse at my side. I love it when he decides to grace me with his constant presence. So I thought I'd make a little update so you all could know what I'm working on.

Luca has trained with the Southern Sun Sages for as long as he can remember. Someday soon he hopes to become a full member of their order, pledging his life to the service of the ancient and eternal Sun God.

Kai is the oldest of seven brothers and sisters. Living on the edge of the Sun Lands, all her family has ever known is strife and the struggle to stay alive in a harsh landscape. With her parents and extended family tending to their failing farm, Kai does all she can to bring in food from hunting in the nearby forest - a place few dare to venture.

When Luca shares his vision of a young peasant woman, his masters reveal that his destiny is much different from that of the priest he hoped to become.

With her family's lives in the balance, the Sun Sages convince Kai to accompany Luca on a journey to the ruins of the Moon Kingdom. All they know is that they seek a grave... The grave of the Moon Goddess.

That would be the basic introduction of the YA fantasy I'm working on right now (The Grave of the Goddess - shocking title, I know). And here's a little summary of what I plan to do for NaNo - a chick lit novel called Solemn Vow: 

Melanie Fitzgerald is perfectly happy. And why shouldn't she be? She has a loving husband, plenty of friends, and a great blog. But when she strikes up a friendship with a one of her fellow bloggers, suddenly she's questioning things she thought she decided long ago. As the friendship moves toward something more, Melanie's perfect little world starts to crack.

I've got all kinds of characters for it so far, but not much in the way of a concrete plot. Of course, I've always been more of a "flying by the seat of my pants" NaNo-er, but I've also only won 3 out of the 7 times I've played this game, so..... No, this is my year! I'm gonna rock it out. I've even considered working on both this and Grave of the Goddess next month. I'm so embroiled in the fantasy right now, that I can't imagine it all just evaporating on the first. 

It's that time of year again!

It is definitely my favorite time of year. All of the trees are exploding with color. Fog and rain are normal weather. I can wear jackets and curl up in oversize sweaters and wear scarves again. Soup is back on the menu.

And all of the novelists on the Internet are gathering in one place.

I'm so happy that I got my writing mojo back before this season hit. Now I'm fully geared up for National Novel Writing Month (November!) in addition to writing a pretty little YA fantasy this month.

Anyway, just dropping by to say - NaNoWriMo 2012: do it up!

NaNoWriMo and ALB

Anyone who knows me well these days knows that the month of November is largely dedicated to the crazy trip that is writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

This, along with the fact that I spent the majority of last month finding a place to live, furnishing it, and delving into the realm of real adulthood is why I haven't posted for nearly a month.

So a brief update is in order.

I have started my new job as an Inventory Arborist. I'm in training right now - but the job consists of surveying trees in the Worcester County area for signs of the Asian Long-Horned Beetle. As you may or may not know, this invasive beetle causes terrible damage to our native trees (maples in particular). The USDA has launched a huge effort to get this beetle under control here on the borders of rural New England before it can get away from us and invade our hardwood forests, causing untold numbers of dollars in economic damage - not to mention irreversible aesthetic damage. The ALB arrived in this area in 2008 and since then the government has cut down nearly 30,000 trees in an effort to eradicate it. The contractor I work for is responsible for closely monitoring and indicating where damage remains or is spreading.

Above: Damage caused by the ALB - perfectly round exit holes and chewed areas where the female lays her eggs in the tree.

Below: The adult Asian Long-Horned Beetle. 

Alert the USDA immediately if you notice any of these beetles in your area or see this sort of damage on your trees! www.mass.gov/agr -or- 1-866-702-9938

So I've got that going on. And it's going well. I love that I'm working a job where I feel like I'm making an actual difference in the world. Wish me luck cause my first USDA test (only get two chances to pass this thing) is this Friday!

National Novel Writing Month is the other thing dominating my life right now. I've got what I think is a fantastic story this year. Mortal Coils is about a family of witches living in an old New England town. Told through the eyes of Noah Macpherson, a male scion of the family, there is lots of family drama, the problems with growing up different from everyone else, and mysterious dreams that seem to be plaguing Noah and no one else. Did I mention that he falls in love with a girl who houses an angelic spirit determined to kill him and his entire family as demon worshipers? It's crazy stuff. I've fallen behind this week due to adjusting to new work schedule and other things like an all day Lord of the Rings extended edition marathon on Saturday. But I am catching up today. 

I hope. 

Hopefully more normal posting will soon resume - that way I can feel like I really have a life again.