In the beginning...

I am really excited about this endeavor!  For years I have wanted to start a blog, but never really knew what I should blog about.  Yeah, I've started a few, one for reviewing games that I've played, but that soon fizzled out because I would only post like once a month or so.  I had another because I take odd writing jobs as a freelancer, and from the suggestions of employers I should start one.  The thing about that is the practice of SEO.  SEO is where a writer adds keywords into a description or a review of a product.  I found that in that blog I wasn't really writing for me, but for potential employers.  I was writing things how they would want to see it, not how I wanted to write to say the least.  I write from my heart so when you have to use a word in 4% of the review, it comes off like you're trying to sell that product.  Or if you have to insert a few keywords, the description or paragraph doesn't quite flow the same.  Well, that being said, I shortly gave up on that and I haven't looked back.  I'm still hired to do odd writing jobs so I think being blog-less hasn't hindered me to much.

This time I'm doing it right!  I'm doing it for me, without any restrictions on what I want to write, so if I'm having a bad day, I'm going to write about it, if I'm having the most super awesome day EVAR, I will be writing about it.  When I'm struggling with my novel you better believe I will be posting about it.  Which is the reason for this blog.

[Back story] Ever since I can remember I have enjoyed reading.  I read so much that in elementary school I tutored older kids in reading.  In middle school, I "worked" (more like volunteered) in the school's library.  I put away the returned books and sat at the counter to help students check out the books they wanted.  But most of the time, I would sit in that uncomfortable stool and read my ass off.  I had all the books I've ever wanted to read, and the best thing was I didn't have to check out the book, I could set it aside, hide it in one of the cabinets until tomorrow without worrying about another student getting a hold of the precious book I was reading.

I tried several times to write a novel in the past, but they never went anywhere.  I am a romantic at heart, love romance books, that's usually my genre of choice in reading and writing so it is easy to see the end of the story, happily ever after.  When I think of something to write about, a character, or notion of a character pops in my mind, like "Oh, that would be so cool to have a story about a chef" (I'm cooking dinner at the moment)  Then I think more about that chef like, is it a man or woman, what does the chef look like, soon I have this character, this chef that is a man, tall maybe with sandy blonde hair, maybe he's missing an arm.  Then I think, well why did he lose his arm?  Was he always like this?  Did he have an accident?  Maybe a horrible cooking accident that involved the meat slicer.  (which also makes me think he is either a klutz or disliked and someone pushed him into the meat slicer)  Then I think, well what kind of a woman would love someone like that.  Well, I'm sure you get the picture, so I usually have two characters, and scenes start to play out in my head.  Consistently, I think about these two people and see scenes in my head for days, weeks, sometimes even months or years.  I know they want their story told, but that's where I usually get lost.

Well, I jumped off topic quite well there.  I suppose I just wanted that off my back, its been pent up for so long and I'm very frustrated about it.  I have a million and one couples like that, that scream for me to write their story down, I just don't really know how to.  Being frustrated for so long about it makes me do two things, the first being, I just forget about it and move on.  That causes my writing to go in spurts, I can start a story years and years ago, forget about it, move on with my life, then by some sort of sick joke happen to look at the folder, (or spiral notebook) and say to myself "Oh yeah!  I remember this" then all the feelings with that story come right back to me, making me frustrated again!  I'd start the novel again, or continue where I left off, (mostly just rewrite the thing) only to get stuck again because I never really come up with a conflict, and if I do, its not enough, I want more struggles in the book.  So I stop, causing the viscous cycle to start all over again.  Did I mention that it's very frustrating? (I did?  Ok good, just wanted to make sure you knew that I'm frustrated!)

About a year ago, I discovered NaNoWriMo.  Where you have to write a novel of 50,000 words (or more) in a month, November to be exact.  (That's more of a novella, but call it whatever you wish)  It was the middle of the month, but I decided to join.  It sounded like fun, because it was more about quantity over quality.  Though I pretty sure writing the same word over and over again doesn't count.  So I started plugging away at a brand spanking new, shiny concept of characters I was thinking about at the time.  Only thing I knew was I wanted a vampire, (I love vampire romance novels, more on that to come I suspect) and a human woman.  And I had this awesome scene floating around in my head where he pushes the girl against the wall and smells her neck.  Its dark and wet from a recent rainstorm, the smell of car exhaust and fresh lifted oil stains in the air.  It seems like its in a parking lot where there is a very dim orange glow from a distant streetlight somewhere.  Yep, that was the scene that lived in my head for, well, it still lives in my head, but I decided to write about that idea.  So after a quick thinking session, I developed some characters that would fit into that scene and started typing away at the novel.  I didn't do to bad, by the end of the month I was 4,000 words away from the NaNo goal.  (I was quite pleased really, somewhat disappointed that I couldn't get the rest of it done, but I was happy nonetheless.  I never expected to have that much fun, or get that far)  Soon after NaNo ended however, that idea, that novel I was working on grew.  And boy, did it grow!  I now have several novel ideas built around and with those characters that I made up on the fly.  (It also means I would have to rewrite most of the story again, because the book doesn't fit with those characters anymore, they have bigger and better roles now)

Now, a year later, a lot in the way of that story has changed, and I have better planning (for the most part) for this year's NaNo, (and I know when it starts) so I'm in a good position to start.  There have been a few life changes since last year, I started dating a great guy, he has been warned about NaNo, and he's really excited for me to start, though he says he's going to miss me, <3 you Simon.  And I started taking online courses from a local technical college again, and I have one of the hardest classes I have ever taken, Individual Income Tax.  (Tax laws confuse me!) But I still think I have a great shot at making the NaNo goal this year, which is very exciting to say the very least.  And lately my muse hasn't shut up.  Well not even lately, over the past year since NaNo, she hasn't shut it.  Beckoning me to write, so (and because NaNo's coming) I started trolling the web in hopes to find some sort of magical novel helper, to get me through where I usually get stuck, or usually go off track and stop writing altogether.  In my searches, (no I haven't found the Magic Novel Writer) I have come across several really good sites to help newbies like myself.  (I've also bought a few books about plot and details, help books about getting started and getting it finished.  I guess I'm not the only one in the world to start a novel and come up short of finishing it)  In my serches I've come across several blogs also, one in which I really like by, Elizabeth Poole, Myself, Without the Shell.  I think her blog is very informative and she's actually quite witty.  (No, this was not a plug for her, I just really like her blog)  Anyways, she is joining the NaNo this year also, and her and a few friends (fellow writers) are doing this thing, its called A Birth of a Novel, which other NaNoians (I just made that word up) update their status about their novels (word counts) and maybe give an excerpt of two.  I think this is a great idea and ultimately want in.  But upon contacting her, it turns out I needed a blog and that is what pushed me into creating this one.

In the month of November, I will be posting about my novel, word counts and my frustrations about plots or settings or themes, I will try to do this at least three to four times a week.  But after that, this blog, though keeping with that theme, will be a little different.  I'm not sure how, maybe have a "Good Locations" day to link a few places in which I have found (or will find) helpful in my progress to finally complete a novel.  I hope some of you out there in internet land will also add links to cool helpful sites that helped you or that you find helpful with tons of tips and advice.  I really don't know, I'm going to wing it.  Maybe have a group day, I need a few writer-y friends to brainstorm with, maybe bounce ideas off, my boyfriend and best friend are tired of hearing about it.  One of them even said , just shut up and start writing it  >.<  Anyways, (dinner is ready) I would like to welcome all and any who enjoy writing or reading as much as I do to my blog.