I Think I've Conquered my Writer's Block...

I guess my friend's contest was the jolt I needed to get out of my writer's block completely because after I shared the poem I wrote for the contest, I spent a sleepless night writing two more poems.  Here they are:

A Lover’s Lament

“Help me save her,” he pled

As multiple ideas flew around in my head.

I would love nothing more

To do what he asks, but for

Severals months I have been blocked

When it comes to them, and time ticks by on the clock

With his latest plea

Echoing inside of me.

I want to do what he asks,

But it seems like an insurmountable task.

My characters want me to finish what I began

Several years ago, and plan

To find a publisher for.

Teasers have left my fans wanting more.

I don’t like leaving a book unread,

So I’ll have to find time instead

To pluck the ideas from my head

For The Shepherdess Princess to be finished.  Enough said!

Searching for Words

I miss them, too,

And I feel blue

When I think of them

Waiting to be written.

I may not know them yet,

But I still get upset

When I think of all the possibilities

Awaiting my discovery.

I’m searching for words

Among voices unheard.

I will have to pay close attention

To release the friction.

I know it can be done,

And my challenge will be won.

Until the time comes, I have to rely

On my talent and the Big Man in the sky.

I now have a total of 45 pages in my poetry book- The Trifecta: A Collection of Poetry.

But that's not all...

I also spent part of the last couple nights working on The Shepherdess Princess some more.  I still have to figure out how I'm going to bridge a gap I have, but I'm going to start working on that tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.  I did edit some of the story leading up to that spot, though.  Some sections seemed a little wordy, and some parts I wanted to change a descriptor.  I also broke out my French-English dictionary to change some of the dialog.  Don't worry!  I'm only using French words that everybody might know like oui for yes, monsieur for mister, mon princesse for my princess, and mon Dieu for my God.

I also wrote down part of a scene that's going to be near the end of the novel.  I'm going to be finishing that scene this weekend as well.  I had to leave it unfinished last night because I was tired, but it was also getting me a little bit hot and bothered while writing it.  *nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more*  ;) :)  I'll probably have to take a cold shower when I finish writing the scene anyway.  :D  If I had finished it before coming online tonight, I was thinking about sharing it as a new teaser.  That's only if I wouldn't get a reprimand from Google for having it on my blog.  :)  I do want to share a new teaser sometime, but that scene probably won't be it, so my fans will have to buy the book when it's finished to see that.

I have 83 pages total in The Shepherdess Princess so far.

A Contest Entry

My friend, Sara, started a contest on her blog to win a copy of her newest volume of poetry titled Alice at the Spa: Poems and More that was just published through Lulu.   The contest ends on July 31st, 2013.  I was the first entry with this poem:

Down the Rabbit Hole

Moonlight flowing in, dark as blood

How I long for its silvery light to flood

Over me, and save me

From the darkness enveloping me.

Day in and day out it's all the same

While the moon waxes and wanes.

A friend's challenge moves me to write a new poem,

And I'm finally feeling at home.

It's been so long for me creatively

That I jumped at the chance to break free.

Will this poem put an end

To the writing funk I've been in?

I've felt like Alice at the Spa

With my own rabbit hole to fall

Down as I grasp for reality

While fantasy surrounds me.

Whoever greets me in Wonderland,

Will make my life grand.

I would be more than happy to attend

An unbirthday party with all of my friends.

I had such a hard time writing this poem:  I rewrote several lines, I changed the title three times, and I had to change a word in the first line because I left something out.  I was beginning to wonder if I would ever finish writing the poem because of the obstacles I was facing.

I also feel like some people might not understand the significance of the last verse.  I was part of the drama club in High School and played the Dormouse in an interpretation of Alice in Wonderland.  My friend, Sara, who started this contest was The March Hare in the play.

Making a Crack in my Writer's Block...

The past two days I've actually been able to take time out of my day to work on "The Shepherdess Princess" some more.  It felt good to get the little bit down that I did, but I still feel like I have a long way to go.  I'm taking things one day at a time for now.

I've also been kicking around an idea to make some more progress in one of my volumes of poetry that I'm working on, but haven't completely decided if I want to go forward with it or leave what I have in the manuscript as is.  My idea has a lot of cutting and pasting involved.  I also have a poem in my notebook that needs to be rewritten completely.  I was having an off day when I wrote the poem several months ago, and it seems incoherent every time I reread it.  I've been thinking about working on that this weekend.

If the weather where I live isn't too bad, I was thinking about grabbing my writing materials and walking to a nearby park.  Sometimes the solitude, and communing with nature helps me creatively.  I'm also thinking of going somewhere that I could plug in my laptop for a bit, and take the time to write that way.  I was thinking the Public Library would be a good place for that, and I could use the free Wi-Fi access if I come across another subject that I might have to research.  I also might not do that because knowing I could go online would be a major distraction.  I would need somebody with me to hold me accountable, or something.

My First Writing Session of 2013!

After several months of inaction on the writing front, I have emerged a conqueror of writer's block.  I was able to add only a couple paragraphs over the weekend to "The Shepherdess Princess," but I'm still counting it as a victory because I haven't written anything new in so long.

I'm not sure yet when I'll get to make any more progress because I have to spend this coming weekend doing Spring cleaning.  Maybe I'll add a little more to my manuscript during a break from cleaning from time to time.

Beware the Inner Editor...

I've been trying really hard since I wrote my last blog entry to write a single word down in one of my novels, but my well feels like it has run dry.  I did have a few lines of a poem thought out a couple weeks ago, but I didn't have my notebook, or a pen handy.  The inevitable happened, and I couldn't remember a single word of the poem after I rushed to get a pen and paper.   I do have an idea forming in my head for the continuation of the chapter I'm writing in "The Shepherdess Princess," but that involves a little bit of a rewrite to make the transition flow better into the scene I plan on keeping and continue with the story from there.  It's not going to be a massive rewrite, but I'm kind of dreading sitting down to type it out because I don't want my inner editor to think she has free reign over the rest of the story up to that point, and she's already tried to get me to think of tidbits I could add in about one of my other characters earlier in the manuscript.  I think I will eventually succumb to my inner editor's bidding because I want to add more of a story line pertaining to a certain character, but I'm trying to keep her at bay until creatively I'm prepared to tackle what she wants me to do.  I'm also afraid if I add too much here and there in the beginning that I'll end up straying from the plot, and any potential readers of the final product would be very confused.

I have been spending a lot of my time lately reading several books.  The list is too extensive to share completely, but they have mainly been vampire-themed.  I'm currently reading "The Queen of the Damned" by Anne Rice which is the third book in the Vampire Chronicles.  I have requested book number four from the library: "The Tale of the Body Thief" since I'm almost done reading book number three.  Out of the entire series, "Interview With the Vampire," and "The Queen of the Damned" are the only ones that have been made into movies so far.

Happy New Year...

I can't believe another year has come and gone.  As a New Year and a new day dawns, I have thought of at least one resolution for myself to strive for:  I want to finish, and publish "The Shepherdess Princess."  I've been working on the manuscript for almost four years now, and I'm finally starting to "hear" from my characters again.  Last night I had a dream where my main male character asked me to help save his love.

I've been doing a lot of reading for the month of December to pass the time.  I've read: "Hidden" by PC and Kristin Cast; "Labyrinth: A Greywalker Novel" by Kat Richardson; "Twilight," "New Moon," and "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer; "Spirit Bound" by Richelle Mead; and "A Candlelit World" by Sara Megan Kay & Amanda Waley (Yes, I re-read a book I co-authored!  :) ).

So far in January, I've read "Downpour: A Greywalker Novel," and "Seawitch: A Greywalker Novel" by Kat Richardson; and "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer.  I'm currently reading "The Lincln Lawyer" by Michael Connelly.

I've also returned to working on "The Shepherdess Princess."  That's one of the reasons I haven't been able to come online very often lately.

The first update in a month...

I  threw myself into my writing on November 17th to help me cope with the third anniversary of my dad's death.  I haven't felt so accomplished in a long time.  My word count went from 4,400 to 6,414 in a span of nine hours.  I have more to come, of course, rattling around in my brain that I have yet to commit to paper.  I finally stopped writing in my notebook when my hand started to cramp up really bad, and I still wanted to write more in spite of the pain.  Is that crazy, or what?

It wasn't even close to the 50,000 word count I was hoping for, but I'm not too disappointed because I was writing almost daily for most of the month at my own pace.  The novel has been giving me one heck of a ride creatively.  I've had the beginning of the story for a while, and a couple weekends ago I was focused on writing the ending of it.  Now that I have all that out of the way, maybe I can finally focus on the middle part for a change.  :)  It's also been interesting having one of the characters based on an ex-boyfriend because I find myself at times sprinkling in tidbits here and there in the novel of why our relationship never worked out.  That's a new experience for me as the story progresses.  I also feel like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster writing some of those parts as well, but I've safely got off the ride since then and try not to dwell too long on more emotions if they come along again.

I've been thinking about providing my blog readers with a teaser of "Magic In Their Blood," but I have yet to choose what it will be. The scenes I've written so far that I've thought about sharing seem to be giving too much away, so it may be awhile before I deem anything in the novel share-worthy!

I guess I have to continue writing "The Shepherdess Princess" soon.  I was informed by my brother that one of my loyal blog readers is wanting to know when it is going to be completed, so they could get a copy.  The teaser I shared a while ago left them wanting more!  I was heading towards the Final Conflict in the story when I worked on "The Shepherdess Princess" last.  I stopped because NaNoWriMo was starting up this year, and I couldn't use the same novel I worked on in a previous year.  I've liked having the time away from it because I was starting to get blocked the last time I tried to produce anything for it.  It wasn't a normal case of writer's block for me because I knew where I wanted the story to go, but I felt like I was starting to beat my head against the wall trying to figure out how to get there from my stopping point.  Prince Philippe and Jazelle had stopped "talking" to me for a bit, and letting me know where they want to go from there.

I had three or four books listed that I was currently reading on Goodreads.com that I can now report that I've completed reading them all.  I read a couple library books: one of which was "The Racketeer" by John Grisham.  I've been in a Vampire-mode with Anne Rice's book "The Vampire Lestat", and then I finished reading "Sense & Sensibility" by Jane Austen which I have been reading off and on for almost a year and a half now.  It took me so long to read "Sense & Sensibility" because the print was smaller than most of the books I read faster, and I would get really bad migraines when reading it too long.

I started reading "Emma" by Jane Austen when I remembered another book I was planning to read, so I'm only seven chapters into the Austen.  The other book I'm reading is "Labyrinth: A Greywalker Novel" by Kat Richardson.  Taken from the back cover of "Labyrinth:" "Harper Blaine was your average small-time PI  until she died--for two minutes.  Now Harper is a Greywalker, treading the thin line between the living world and the paranormal realm.  And she's discovering that her new abilities are landing her all sorts of 'strange' cases."

"Just back from London, Harper's convinced that the two-bit perp who killed her is a valuable cluein the puzzle of her past andte mystery of her missing father, as well as a key to figuring out who's trying to manipulate her powers and why.  There's just one problem: The man who killed her was murdered himself while she was away.  Luckily, Harper has an airtight alibi, but now to find the ghost of her killer--and rescue her father--she'll have to enter into the Grey.  And with her growing powers pulling her more deeply into that paranormal world, Harper's afraid she may not be able to come back out."

What got me wanting to read "Labyrinth" finally after reading the first four books in the series was Chaos.  Chaos is Harper Blaine's pet ferret in the series, and I was actually starting to miss her.  :)