Updates forthcoming

Awww yeah I actually followed through and have been writing. Though it's weird cause I'm writing this book on my laptop, on my desktop, and in a notebook at work when I have down time. So trying to keep all of the documents up to date and like organized is actually a challenge. Luckily, I have drop box (even on my phone) so I throw it in there and then download the latest version on whatever computer I'm on and save it again. It'd probably be easier if I only wrote in one place but that would be smart and simple and make waaaaaay too much sense.

This next part is going to have um...well I guess some spoilers? Not like plot ones or anything but location. And stories about why I chose it and whatnot. Cause I couldn't think of what else to write about since this is the part of the book I'm currently working on I figured I'd give some info on it. So....I guess if you don't want to know the road map for it, you could stop reading here.

So, let's see. Updates include actually beginning the road trip sequence of the book. Yup, book two is a road trip. First stop, Washington County, Maine. Ok personally, never actually been there. It's like in the middle of the wilderness. However, my parents go there like a ton. Something about liking the open space and not having neighbors and maybe taking up serial killing or something, I don't know. In any case, they told me once they were sitting on the porch when a black bear just came up out of the woods and like crossed the road all being a bear. And there's moose crossing signs everywhere. And like a ton of people actually choose to live off the grid, no power no internet no city water no nothing. Like wow. So, what better place than the middle of the woods off the grid for a werewolf family to live?

Ok that one actually was a spoiler. Werewolf family. I'm not gonna say any more about that. Nothing to see here, move along. I'm not sure if I'm gonna do the NaNoMoWri thing again this year (or well....attempt cause I totally didn't finish last year). I like the concept because it sort of pushes me to write more. But also I sort of get stressed about it and then real life comes in and I kind of procrastinate. As usual. So I think instead I'm going to focus on writing regularly instead of trying to pump out like 5k words a day.

Awww yeah consider my year MADE

Riiiight so, guess who hasn't been updating anything? Or really writing? Or much of anything besides work and minecraft and working out? Hey PS did I mention work? Like actual money creating job, which is awesome in that money but not awesome in that, I have to wake up at like 7:30. Who does that. (Hint: basically the rest of the world)

Right so anyway, what brings about this random new splurge in updating? I totally randomly checked out my Amazon page for the book and...lo and behold there was a new review there. As in one I hadn't ever seen. And what's more it was totally from someone I didn't personally beg to write it. Which means...someone I don't personally know actually read the damn thing and then actually liked it enough to write a review about it. Like whoa. Really? That's fucking amazing. Like that was the ENTIRE reason I even bothered going through the whole thing. Totally just made my existence.

So now that I know someone besides me actually read it (and I didn't pay them to haha) I now totally want to get back to the sequel. Which is ever so slightly hard to do because I've been like...stupidly happy. Boyfriend, job, working out, like....I haven't got time to be depressed and write twenty pages a night. Which is possibly the best excuse why I haven't been writing (sorry can't write today, life's too awesome....) but again really any excuse is kind of a cop out. My bad. So I am going to go back to trying to write every night and get some real progress made on it. Writers should be able to write in any mood really, and also it'll give me something to think about at work besides well...work.

Off and running

Right so, after a slightly rocky anniversary on the first (yeah...fun) the time to actually buckle down and work on this thing has come. Which means...I just totally copy pasted everything I had of my sequel into my NaNoWriMo account (username: Misszaius, book title: Hounds Thorn) like today. Which means the 10k words I had struggled to write for ages and ages are totally like already out there for all to read. And that means that I only have 30 days to write another 40k. Considering the time it took me to write the first fifth of the thing...this is going to be a crunch. A mad crunch.

Alright so I haven't yet added any of my possible friends that are also doing this because ah, I am technologically incompetent. Super secretly true, I totally didn't even know where I was supposed to put the damn novel to begin with. BUT that is not going to deter me from totally working on this today. Which is to say that after I go to the doctor's and paint a commission for a lady I'm going to write. No more "oh it'll be fine if I write ten words as long as I write something". Now is the time for writing like a damn 1.6k words a day. The horror. Procrastinator me, meet your nightmare.

This'll be fun.

Well this is embarrassing...

So I haven't died. I have been in fact going to physical therapy. And looking for work. And other hobbies. What I have not been doing...is writing. Which I intend to totally start doing again. For real. Know why?

I totally signed up to participate in the 2012 NaNoWriMo. I am 100% taking a write a novel in a month challenge to get me to work on my sequel. And, for extra fun, you can totally follow me and my progress and whatnot at http://www.nanowrimo.org. My handle is Misszaius. Right like Dr. Zaius from Planet of the Apes only Miss cause I'm a girl, right? So you can add me, follow me, stalk me, yell at me for being a major procrastinator, whatever you like. And of course I will attempt to update this blog with my progress from this whole write a damn novel in a month challenge. Cause holy hell it took me a year last time and they want fifty thousand words in thirty days? The math on this makes my brain hurt. And if the sequel is anything like the first book (hint: it is) it will be closer to double that size. Which I guess means I need to stop obsessively watching Honey Boo Boo and actually get to work.

For anything else taking the whole NaNoWriMo challenge, holy shit good luck. And good luck to me. Cause I am totally going to need it.

Proof that I am sometimes productive

Ok besides like, making Christmas cookies and getting to level 50 in Skyrim and such things. And also besides cussing out the guy at Sprint for his complete and utter inability to fix my broken broken phone (side note: they're terrible terrible people and next time I'm just going to smash my phone with a hammer to get results).

But I digress. This is the ever so tentative first chapter of Book 2 which, as of yet, is sort of untitled. I'm sticking with the flower theme but haven't quite figured it out yet. Yes ok so the obvious choice here is Wolf's Bane. No I am not going to name it that. Do you know how many books are already called that? It's a lot. It's like more than five. That is a lot. And if I name my sequel that how are you going to know it is the correct one instead of like some other weird werewolf book that wasn't written by me and doesn't have snappy commentary and funny dialogue?

Ok so...it's really only PART of the first chapter. But still, a sample.

“What is counterproductive?”

I was sitting on my couch, two day box of pizza on the floor, empty ice cream carton next to me, watching Jeopardy in sweatpants and a tank top. I’d done the same routine for longer than I strictly wanted to admit. I hadn’t taken a shower just yet, but I was pretty sure I’d taken one yesterday. That was still pretty good in my book.

“Hey Rose.” Celia walked in, her leather bag slung over her shoulder and holding a paper cup of coffee in her free hand. She was wearing a mini skirt over black jeans and a black t shirt today. Yesterday had been short shorts over leggings. I was almost positive Celia never showed her legs to anyone. Including her boyfriend.

“Hey Celia.” I didn’t even get off the couch to greet her now. After the incident with Jenna in the shop and the very real fact that Celia had shown up for work and instantly known that something was up, I’d come clean and explained what had happened. About Jenna at least. I was keeping the lich business a secret to approximately everyone.

“You get that circle yet?” Since finding out about Jenna and the vague, poorly informed story I had come up with about how we had killed her, Celia had been tutoring me in magic. Which was surprisingly useful since I had next to zero knowledge and Miss Eleanor’s grimoire, while helpful, was also kind of assuming that the person reading it knew how to control their magic already. Which was not me.

The spell we’d been practicing was some sort of protection circle. Like basic witch-101 stuff. Draw a circle, use your magic to cast it into being, stay in said circle and be protected from the bad shit outside the circle. I had parts one and three down but the bit in the middle was eluding me like a needle in a haystack. I tried three times with Celia watching me a few days earlier. On the first attempt, nothing had happened. The second I’d managed to blow every light bulb in the house. And the third had singed the rug so badly I’d gone to Target to buy another rug to hide the scorch marks with. We’d called it a day after that one.

“Nah I ah…haven’t tried it since.”

“I figured since the house is still standing.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” In the few weeks since the succubus problem, I’d actually gotten pretty fond of hanging out with Celia. She was dry to the point where almost everything she said was funny. Even if she didn’t mean it to be. Which made it funnier to me but sometimes I had to hide the fact that I was laughing. Especially if she wasn’t laughing with me.

“So how long are you gonna wallow for exactly?”

“I’m not wallowing.” Minus the fact that I was wearing the same thing I’d worn yesterday and possibly the day before that. And the fact that I hadn’t been to the shop more than twice in the three weeks since the fight. One, to assess the damage. And the second time to tell the construction workers what I wanted done to fix it. Mr. P had left me a substantial amount of money with the shop and I figured, if I had to get it fixed anyway, why not make some improvements? And by improvements I mean also buy the café that closed next door and more than double the space we had to work with because hello, golden opportunity and the cash to make it happen.

Celia just shot me a look that cut through my thin excuses and just slightly stained attire. “Ok fine. I am wallowing.”

“Good. Now it’s time to move on.”

“How exactly am I supposed to do that?” Damn Celia and her practicality. I had at least another week’s worth of wallowing in me.

“Take a shower and come see the shop with me.”