A Writing Update, and Free Webinar Info...

I didn't get my Oregon Arts Commission application submitted in time, so I'll have to wait until 2014 to try for it again because they alternate yearly the areas they are accepting applications for.

Free Webinar for Authors:

I took the time to register for a free webinar on October 30th that gives authors advice on how to turn their book into a movie.  I jumped at it when I saw the words "Self-published welcome!" in the Facebook Ad because self-publishing has been the only way so far that I have been able to get my books out into the world.  Here's the link in case anyone else wants to register also: http://booktoscreenaccess.com/webinarregistrationvoyage.  The times to choose from are 10 AM, Noon, and 6 PM your time.  I chose noon because that is when my brain functions the best.

OOPS!

I just re-submitted my registration for the later time at 6 PM because I realized after registering for the Noon slot that it's on Tuesday which means I won't be home at that time.

On Writing:

I finally buckled down long enough last weekend to get my final short story edited, but it still feels incomplete in a way.  I have an idea to expand it a little bit more, but I'm trying to decide right now if what I want to elaborate on might be another story in itself.  It would kind of be Part Two on the edited story if I separated them because they are both interrelated.

I also got to work a little bit more on "The Shepherdess Princess," but didn't get as far as I planned added to it because I came across a couple more items to research in order to make the story historically accurate.  When I couldn't find anything specific on the subject I was researching, I turned to the movie "Braveheart" because it's set around the same time frame as my story.  I didn't watch the whole movie all the way through, but fast forwarded through anything that wasn't relevant to what I wanted.  I did take notes on four scenes that had some relevance, though.

I also found another topic to research before I could move along in my story, so I've been mulling that over since I noted the information.  I even bookmarked the page I found the information on to look back on it later.

A Story Idea is Calling to me...

Written October 10th

In the next few days, I'll finish editing my short stories for my autobiographical novel.  I've been thinking about what I might want to work on next.  Do I want to go back to work on "The Shepherdess Princess," or work on something else?  Do I want to continue the start I have with "Magic In Their Blood"?  Do I want to go back to focusing on my poetry?  After giving it some thought over the last few days, I find myself being drawn to a story idea I had for a romance novel that stems from a dream I had ages ago.  I wrote the story idea down as soon as I woke up from the dream, so I wouldn't lose it.  The last time I gave it any thought at all was when I was inputting the title and synopsis into my story idea file on my computer over a year ago.

I feel a kind of fear even thinking about starting this new endeavor because some childhood memories were mixed into the dream as well.  Memories that I have tried to repress.  Even now, just thinking about the details of the dream again seems surreal.  Do I face my fears and give in to the Siren call, or do I ignore it and work on something else for a distraction?  Would I upset my Muse if I don't do as I'm being led to do?  I'll have to think about it a little bit longer before I make my decision.

Updated October 13th

It feels like my Muse, or the Fates are wanting to play with me.  Now I feel like I want to go back to working on "The Shepherdess Princess."  After talking to a writer friend of Facebook yesterday, I came to the conclusion that it's just fair that "The Shepherdess Princess" be the next book I publish.  I have invested three years of my life already getting to this point.  I can finish it by the end of the year if I concentrate on doing so, and I have several fans already eagerly anticipating its release.  :)  I can't let them down!  My brother, Ray, told me this week that he thinks it should be made into a movie!  He's helped me a lot with research along the way and other writing advice pertaining to some scenes, so of course I had to share some of the story with him.

What got me contemplating my next writing project was the thought that NaNoWriMo's coming up again next month.  I've been thinking about participating again this year, and wasn't feeling like working on the same novel for it that I have over the last three years.  If I choose to start a new project from scratch, I would only have two more weeks to flesh out the idea and start doing whatever research may need to be done for it.  I haven't fully committed to the idea yet of participating in National Novel Writing Month this year either.  50,000 words in 30 days!  I haven't been able to accomplish that yet.

Updated October 14th

I'm down to my last short story to edit before I'm all caught up with that project.  I was also thinking of trying to face my fears once "The Shepherdess Princess" is done, and start work on the story idea I brought up earlier in this post.  I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it, though.  I may feel differently about it when the time actually comes to start working on it.

Writing progress, and birthday stuff...

I finished editing my second short story on Friday night, and went to work on the third one I had printed out to edit.  It turns out, the third story didn't need editing at all after the re-read.  I printed out the fifth and final story to reread and edit on Saturday, but I haven't got around to reading the last two stories for editing purposes yet.  The novel I'm working on still has a long way to go before it's ready for publication because I have a lot of short story ideas left to add to the manuscript later on.

On Saturday, my partner-in-crime came over bearing early birthday presents for me: a funny b-day card, a purple sun hat, a stainless steel water bottle, a pair of shoes, and a Grande Soy Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks!  The coffee was yummy, and helped dull the pain from women's problems.  I wore the shoes for the first time yesterday, and they are really comfy.  They're a size too big for me, but I didn't notice the difference after I walked around in them for a bit.

My mom gave me a card with $5.00 in it; one of my brother's supplied the cake, ice cream, and birthday pizza; and another brother gave me $8.00.

I also got to watch a couple movies we got from the library:  "Becoming Jane" which is the story of Jane Austen's life up until she published Pride & Prejudice (Anne Hathaway did a good job playing Jane Austen), and "War Horse" which is about a boy being separated from a horse he raised and trained from a colt during WWI, and they spent the whole movie looking for each other.  Some of my family members and I definitely needed tissues at the end of it.  Ugh, happy endings! :)

I've had a song stuck in my head throughout the day with my own little revision tagged onto the end of it:

It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to,
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to.
You would cry to
If you just turned thirty-two!

LOL

Aside from being my birthday, it was Thanksgiving Day in Canada and Columbus Day here in America.  One of my brothers and I spent some time the last couple days discussing why Columbus was credited for the discovery of the Americas when so many other explorers found it before him.  I joked that when the Native Americans saw the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria there reaction would be like "Not white men again!"

I also brought up the debauchery that would take place among the sailors because they were men with needs spending months or years together stuck on a floating pile of wood.  Some ships would smuggle on women, but there wouldn't be enough to go around.  Also, having women on board was considered bad luck at one time and some sailors were extremely superstitious.  I blame the topic of discussion on the crazy hormones running through me at the time.  :)

A New Writing Project, and Other Stuff...

I haven't had a lot happening on the writing front lately, but I crashed through my writer's block last weekend with an ongoing project of mine.  I have an autobiography type book full of short stories about events in my life that I've been working on from time to time, and I cut and pasted some new stories into the manuscript on Thursday from a separate file I had them in.  I started editing the four stories I added on Friday and part of Saturday because I know they can be expanded on a little bit.  I had previously submitted the four short stories to "Chicken Soup for the Soul," and had a certain word count to adhere to which made it difficult to get onto paper everything I wanted to say.  Now that I don't have that constraint, I could edit it to whatever length it needs to be to tell the rest of the story.   It's helped me get rid of writer's block in the past when I decided to take time out to focus on another book I want to write, and eventually publish.  I have over ten story ideas to choose from if I want!

I got done editing the first story I worked on, and started editing a second short story right after the first story was fine-tuned.  I have a total of five short stories I want edit when I have some time again.  I think the second story I'm still working on doesn't need much more added to it, and have been thinking about sitting down to continue editing in the next couple days.  It may have to wait for the weekend to come again, though.

On Another Note...

My birthday is next Monday, and I have no clue how I want to celebrate it.  I'm going to be ordering the cake from a local store's bakery after volunteering at the library today.  I know I want to have Rocky Road ice cream for sure, too.

I still can't fathom how time seems to fly by when birthdays come around.  It's like the last year has gone by in a blur, and I still can't believe I'm going to be a year older than I am now in a few short days.

Another Fellowship Opportunity...

After some consideration, I've decided to try for the Oregon Arts Commission's Individual Artist Fellowship that's due on October 15th, 2012.  The Fellowship award amount is $3,000.

Here are some of the guidelines for any other fellow starving artists/Oregonians interested in it:

Eligibility
Eligible artist applicants must:
• be a current Oregon resident; and be a current resident when an award is made;
• have been an Oregon resident for one full year prior to the application deadline date;
• have not received an Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship in the five (5) years prior to submission of an application.
Full‐time students and non‐professionals who produce art as a hobby are not eligible. While the Commission acknowledges that many artists work collaboratively, each Fellowship will be awarded to only one individual artist. Individuals may submit one application per year.

Eligible Artistic Disciplines
The Oregon Arts Commission offers Fellowships in various artistic disciplines in alternating years:
• October 15, 2012 : Literature (creative non‐fiction, fiction, play writing and poetry) and Performing Arts (choreography, dance, music composition, music performance, theater and performance art)
• October 15, 2013: Visual Arts (crafts, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media and new media) and Design Arts are eligible to apply.

Deadline
Completed applications must be submitted online by 5:00 pm, October 15, 2012. Applications that are late for any reason will not be reviewed. All applications will be completed and submitted at http://oregon.culturegrants.org/.

I almost didn't go for this one because I haven't had much luck with other fellowship applications this year, but I figured I won't know until I try.  I could be surprised, and finally be awarded something.

Venting...

I've spent all week going over my new poem's title in my head.  Every day, it repeated itself at least once.  This afternoon as I finally took the time to work on it, I got through writing two verses and stopped.  I just couldn't go on anymore because there was so many directions to take it rattling through my head as I envisioned pages upon pages of emotions pouring out of me.

The subject matter of death and destruction still hard to deal with eleven years later as I thought of the people who went to work on a typical September day, and never returned home to their anxious loved ones.  Some families stuck in limbo, and still hoping for that front door to open and their mom, dad, sister, brother, wife, or husband to walk in like nothing even happened.  Safe and sound!

Then I thought of the Firefighters and men and women of Law Enforcement who rushed to the scene of the crime, and selflessly gave their lives to try to save someone they might not even know.  Thinking of the firefighters and other first responders I heard about contracting cancer and either passed away, or still waging a battle against the disease who got it by inhaling particles of asbestos and other chemicals through their breathing apparatuses and by other means at Ground Zero that I learned about on the season finale of  "The Secret Millionaire."  The Ladder Companies, and their families are still suffering the ramifications to this day!

Finally, I thought about the Servicemen and Women fighting a war in a foreign land, a million miles from home and their loved ones not knowing if they are going to return home in one piece, or in a casket.  All because some terrorists hijacked a few planes, destroyed buildings, and killed hundreds of innocent people.

I remember my own dad's memorial as my sister was presented with the American flag after he died from cancer almost three years ago.  Yes he made it safely home from Vietnam, but not a day goes by that I wouldn't rather hear his voice, and feel his warmth when I hugged him more than anything in the world.

I have to end this now.  The tears are starting to flow...

Lots to be Updated About...

The Authors Fair went as expected in the fact that my friend and I didn't sale any of our books.  We had several looky-loos that complimented us about our book titles and cover designs.  A few even went so far as to read the synopsis of our fiction novels.  We left the apartment later than expected, and started setting up our table as the event was officially beginning.

I knew one of our old classmates joined the event nearer to the date of the Fair, but I was surprised to see him at the table directly across from me.  He inks a comic strip for a free local magazine called Oregon Coast Today, and click here for a direct route to the comic strip itself.  Anyway, he stopped by our table and we got caught up on part of each others lives after High School.

I also ran into a few more friendly faces I knew that stopped at our table to say hi to me.  One was a local librarian from where I volunteer weekly, and another was a fellow author/former boss of mine that had a table somewhere in the row behind us.  I saw another local librarian there, but she was in a hurry and didn't stop at my table to talk.  My friend finally had a familiar face near the end of the event stop by to say hi and see how everything was going: her mom!  I counted her as my fifth friendly face because I know her mom too.

The best part for me about being stuck in traffic was the white  limousine that got ahead of S's car as we were halfway through Newport, and lost it somewhere around Lincoln City.  I referred to it as "Stretch" and I kept wondering who the chauffeur was because they were booking it.   We would see it rounding the next bend once in a while, but for the most part we kept losing then regaining visual of it.  S wondered who was riding in it, and where they were going.  I wanted to find out who the chauffeur was, so I could hire them when I became a millionaire someday.

My First Video?

I was thinking today about the anniversary that's coming up next Tuesday, September 11th, and might make the poem I wrote on the first year anniversary of the attacks my first video since finding my microphone for my computer.  I haven't made any videos before now because I've been trying to figure out what I want to read, which book to choose from, and so on.  I'm feeling hesitant to make this video because I get hit pretty hard emotionally every year by the commemoration of it.  I have to think more about it over the weekend before I decide if it's a for sure thing I'm going to do.

I'm also thinking about writing a new poem to commemorate the day, and to vent the last ten years of emotions I've been feeling.  It's been eleven years since the attacks on the World Trade Centers, but ten years since I wrote my last poem about it.  I just thought up a title for the poem, so I'll probably work on that  sometime today.

Other Writing Projects

After having a couple weeks of no writing, September started with an idea to further my novel.  The problem was in stopping to do some research on a topic to make what I planned historically accurate, I now have to do a rewrite.  I've been spending time this past week rethinking where I want the story to go and how to get there from where I'm at in the process.  Don't worry, I have a firm grasp of where the story is going to lead, but I'm just trying to think of a new way to bridge the gap right now.  I have an inkling of an idea in the back of my head, but I'm still trying to get a clear visual of it before I write anymore in the novel.

I have thought about taking some time this weekend to add a scene to my splice file to be inputted into the novel later because even though I haven't been able to think of a way leading up to a scene, I have thought of something that will happen later on in the book.  This scene keeps popping up in my head begging to be written, so I must obey the voices in my head!