I Can't Believe It's Not August: An IWSG Post

The Insecure Writer's Support Group was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and is co-hosted this month by Alex, Chemist Ken, S.L. Hennessy, Michelle Wallace, and Joylene Nowell Butler. More about the group.

This time, my insecurity is . . . well, time. Time and productivity. Time flies like an arrow (fruit flies like bananas) and I feel like I haven't done nearly as much writing as I could have this year, and it's already past Labor Day. Furthermore, I feel like I'm crashing on the blogging front as well, which I consider to be a kind of writing. I've been blogging, but not on The Eagle's Aerial Perspective, and I don't know for sure how to revitalize it.

I've been sinking time into Tumblr, and while Tumblr is a great deal of fun it's not the same as having to type things out and express ideas, and also to comment on other people's posts. So I suppose my insecurity is: How am I going to get back to blogging, for real this time? I've been considering jumping into some kind of prompt-influenced thing (if any of you would like to give me prompts for posts, I'd love it) or forcing myself to post every day to get me to at least visit my dash daily. I don't want to give up on Blogger, because this blog is important to me. (Much as that might not be apparent based on my lack of activity.)

What do you do when you're in a blogging slump and can't find the words? 


-----The Golden Eagle

Writing Styles: An IWSG Post

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and co-hosted this month by M. Pax, Karen Walker, and Melissa Maygrove. Find out more about the group.

My writing insecurity this month falls under the header of the subjectivity of different writing styles/voices. A lot of writers and authors these days seem to recommend, or at least lean toward, a very short, direct sort of style. Short sentences, simple sentence structure, uncomplicated dialogue. Granted, this style can be quite effective. But occasionally I hate it and I cannot really write it, or at least I don't enjoy writing it very much. My preference is for long, flowing sentences with plenty of semi-colons and hyphens, and as many variations in sentence structure as possible.

Of course, that goes against a lot of advice, particularly in terms of publication. My main question, I suppose, is whether my love of a . . . let's say, longer writing style (I'm sure there's a technical term I don't know or have forgotten) is actually just bad writing. My inclination is that it's not, but I'm wondering what your opinion is.

Do you consider a certain writing style better than others? If so, which one do you have a preference for? Or do you enjoy all styles?


-----The Golden Eagle

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things: An IWSG Post

Hello, everyone!

It's the first Wednesday of the month, so it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. More information about the IWSG is here.

My insecurity this month is trying to jump back into a story I was writing. The last edit date was 3/3/2013, according to Word--an embarrassing amount of time--and when trying to open the document, I realized I'd completely forgotten what I'd even titled it (it turned out to be National Novel Writing Month 2012, since I'd never come up with a real title sort of title). Not that I'd forgotten the characters/plot or anything, but it made me realize how far behind I am with the story.

My plan is to hit the ground running from here out: Don't reread too much, don't agonize over plot mistakes, don't worry about editing, just continue where I left off and follow the plot outline I made. That way I can finish the story faster and push continuity issues into revisions.

How do you usually get back to writing a story you've left alone for a while? Do you go over things extensively before writing again, or do you jump back in right away?


-----The Golden Eagle

Will I Ever Be Able To Do That Story Justice?: An IWSG Post

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and co-hosted this month by Lynda R. Young, Mark Koopmans, and Rachna Chhabria. From Alex's blog:

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The first novel I wrote is the first I finished--and every once in a while, usually 1-3 times a year, I'll suddenly be struck with inspiration for how to revise it. The story has a particular piece of my heart attached to it, which may just be because it is my first novel, but I'm still continually drawn to it several projects later. It's a gigantic mess right now (I divided into a trilogy with a total of around 500,000 words . . . which is not as bad as it sounds when you realize it was originally a single book) and I want to fix it.

However, whenever I think about the story after that brief moment of inspiration, I run into walls. Perhaps (probably?) they're manufactured walls, but when I think about all the things I want to achieve in rewriting the project I always feel like I'm entirely inadequate to fulfill those aspirations. To capture the pieces of humanity I imagine in my head, to make the plot as intricate as those in the stories I really admire, to avoid turning the characters (one in particular) into stereotypes.

Then I wonder if it's even worth going back to. Few writers seem to have their very first novel published, having written and polished several projects before coming up with something truly publishable and/or ready to submit. Assuming it is . . . I wonder if I'll be skilled enough at writing to not turn the story into another mangled pile.

Have you ever had a story that returned to you again and again over several years? If so, did you wait until you'd worked on other projects before writing/rewriting it? Do you usually feel up to the task of working on your stories?


-----The Golden Eagle

Just A Reminder . . . The Giveaway Is Still Ongoing!

Sorry to post twice in one day (my National Wormhole Day Blog Hop post is here or just below this one) but I wanted to let you know the giveaway of an online pass to the Teen Author Boot Camp is still up in case anyone is interested (or knows someone who might be interested), though it ends at 12:00 AM on Thursday, ET, i.e. tonight. Be sure to get your entries in!


-----The Golden Eagle

Blog Tour: Teen Author Boot Camp (+ Giveaway Of An Online Conference Pass)

Hello, blogosphere! This is somewhat of a different post from what I normally blog about. While I know there's a good chance you, dear reader, are an adult and not a teen, I was contacted by the Teen Author Boot Camp and asked if I'd be willing to do some promotion for them.

Since I'm a young adult myself and thought TABC sounded like a really cool event, I thought I'd jump onboard and spread the word. The TABC was also kind enough to offer to giveaway a pass to their live online broadcast (or $5 off the normally-$10 All-Pass, which gives you access to more than just the live broadcast) whose keynote speaker is Shannon Hale.

The Rafflecopter giveaway is below, after this guest post by writer Margie Jordan, of Writers Cubed.

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There is a famous line from a movie that says, “I was always a band geek. I just never joined the band.” I could relate. When I was in high school I was a president of the dance team, a singer in the choir, a hang-out-with-my-boyfriend-until-mom-and-dad-forced-me-home kind of person. But in my heart, I was a writer. This is why I tell people all the time, “I was always a writer. I just always hated English.”

Because I was a closet writer, I didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of, no one to tell me when I stank, no one to teach me how to craft a really great story. My teachers were the millions of books I read (not in a closet—but hidden away when my friends were around).  And I WISHED I could have had someone to talk to about my hidden obsession.

If this sounds like you…. Then I’m happy to say there is a solution.

The Teen Author Boot Camp, founded by the Utah-based group Writers Cubed and sponsored by Utah Valley University is one of only a few writing conferences nationwide geared solely for teenagers who have a love for the written word.  For the first time ever, Writers Cubed is offering the conference to anyone who wants to attend through Live Stream.

Interested? Here are the deets!

When: Saturday, March 16, 2013
From: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MST)
Where: Worldwide via the internet
Who: Teens, teachers, librarians, book lovers
Cost: $4.99 for the Live Broadcast; $9.99 for the All Pass

The keynote address by Newbery Honor Winning Author Shannon Hale will be free for anyone to watch. It will be on March, 16th, 2013 at 9 a.m. MST. A subscription to the Live Broadcast costs $4.99 and includes the following:
9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.—Writers Cubed: Welcome
9:15 a.m. to 9:55 a.m.—Keynote by Newbery Honor winner Shannon Hale (Princess Academy)
10 a.m to 10:45 a.m.—Tyler Whitesides (Janitors)  Class: Imagine and Create.
10:55 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.—Janette Rallison (My Fair Godmother)  Class: Bad dialogue can kill a story.
12:50 a.m. to 1:35 p.m.—NYT bestseller Kiersten White (Paranormalcy)  Class: Plot Like a Villain.
1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.—J. Scott Savage (Farworld)  Class: Finding Your Voice.

2:50 p.m. to 3:25 p.m.—Journey to Publication Panel: Agent Amy Jameson & authors Chad Morris, Tess Hilmo, J. Scott Savage, Cindy Bennett
3:35 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.—NYT bestseller Aprilynne Pike (Wings)   Class: World-building is the invisible foundation to your book.
4:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.—Writers Cubed: Winner of the First Chapter Contest and closing remarks.

If you just can’t get enough of TABC, there is also an All Pass Subscription to the rest of the conference (including more than fifteen awesome presentations, including mine--haha). That only costs $9.99 and, as if it wasn’t a sweet enough deal already, you can watch the whole conference whenever you want for an entire year.

To register to watch Shannon Hale’s Keynote for free, visit www.teenauthorbootcamp.com and click on Livestream. It only takes a minute. While you’re there, check out the other presenters who will be teaching at the conference under the tab “Drill Sergeants.”

Stay tuned for details on how to win a subscription to the TABC Live Broadcast for FREE on this blog

Margie Jordan is a co-founder of Writers Cubed, a group of Utah writing activists who created
the Teen Author Boot Camp in 2010. In her spare time, like when she isn’t writing, she is a Literacy specialist for her local school district. Please visit her website at www.writerscubed.com.

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And here's the giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

-----The Golden Eagle

You're All So Dedicated, And I'm Not: An IWSG Post

The blogosphere is rife with people pursuing their writing goals. There are a lot of inspiring stories; there are many success stories, a lot of ongoing journeys, and numerous struggles to actually get a book out there. Some of you have been writing for decades. I've seen posts on what feels like practically every writers' blogs saying something along the lines of "Writing is my life!"

Me, I sometimes feel like I shouldn't be part of some discussions because I'm not on a one-road quest for publication. Getting a book published (in print! On shelves! As an e-book! Through a publisher!) would be one of the highlights of my life, I'm sure, if it were ever to happen--but it's not Priority 1.

Basically, I worry writers will dislike me for not being dedicated enough, as writing is more of a hobby for me. I worry about being perceived differently because I'm not as passionate about the craft, unlike what seems to be the majority of people who write. I'm not about to throw myself into the painful process of querying and critique partners and pitches; I don't care enough at this point to run my work through that kind of stuff.

I sympathize with the trials of the writing process; I like to learn about the craft; but literary success is not something I'm going to be miserable about if I don't achieve it before I die. Writing is something I enjoy but I've never felt like it's my "true calling" or what have you. It's just fun, with occasional blood and sweat (and epithets hurled at the computer screen, if it's a particularly bad day).

What about you? Do you see writing as something you have to do and seeing your work published as your ultimate goal--or do you see it as something you do for fun, when you can, and without the publication process as the necessary endgame?

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About the IWSG (from the creator Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog):

It's time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic.

-----The Golden Eagle

An IWSG Post: I Must Be Spending Too Much Time Around Electronics . . .

. . . because I found myself setting down a book, thinking "Where's the power button?".

You know, since everything is based on battery life. Before you go after me for having nothing to do with writing, I'm wondering if something getting lost amid all the different methods people use to write, particularly the electronic ones. I tend to write differently depending on what I'm writing with; my sentences will get shorter and less rambling when I try longhand as opposed to typing, and I know having a voice recognition program take down my words for me would result in very clunky language.

Typing is still my favorite--but there's usually more thought involved in physically writing things out.

What about you? Is typing, speech, or longhand your preferred method? Have you tried all three or just stuck to one?

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About the IWSG (from Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog):

Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

-----The Golden Eagle

Writing The Human Stories: An IWSG Post

The IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by Alex, Tyrean Martinson, and Jamie Gibbs.

About:

It's time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic.

I'll tell you right now, I'm not that good at characterization; my strength, I think, lies in plot while setting falls somewhere in between. Whenever I consider something I've written I usually think "Gosh, those characters are melodramatic drama queens", or "Gee whiz, they're robots for people", or "Heck, is that main character supposed to be bipolar?", or "Dagnabbit, I didn't mean for the poor sod to be that simplistic."

And so on. Granted, a writer can do very well on plot alone, so long as the characters have the right motivations and the main character isn't going "Huzzah!" when, say, the love interest falls into the Pit of Doom and Despair--but I really think it's a demonstration of a writer's skill when there's great emotional conflict and the battlefield involves making decisions that can change or hurt or improve people's lives, not just the fate of a galactic empire or something (though I love high-stakes stories).

I have trouble pulling off the human element. Making sure my characters are realistic human beings with believable thoughts is one of the things I have to work on; making sure they react to and behave as though things are actually happening with them, not only to them.

I guess I've got a goal for 2013!

Do you have trouble with human stories? What's your writing strong point: Characterization, plot, setting, something else? What's your weak point and how do you try making it stronger?


-----The Golden Eagle

I'm Still Alive After NaNoWriMo: An IWSG Post

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh (in addition to new co-hosts each month) and is all about writers and their problems. From his blog:

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic.

I don't really have any sage advice today to share with visiting members of the IWSG. Not that I usually have any great advice to share in the first place, but since I know a lot of writers have just escaped the clutches of National Novel Writing Month or are just stressed in general from trying to hack away at their stories, I thought I'd post this in the hopes of making someone laugh:



Anything happen to you recently that caused you to feel like saying "I'm still alive"?


-----The Golden Eagle

NaNoWriMo Update: Only One More Week Left

Hard to believe National Novel Writing Month has only one more week to go before it's over. Scratch that--November has only one more week to go. Good grief. October was just here, wasn't it?

(At least I'll be able to get back into blogging more in December. I feel like a terrible blogger for losing track of the recent posts of so many sites.)

But as for my NaNoWriMo progress:

71078 / 50000 words. 142% done!
71,078 words, total. I wrote 4,345 words today after about a week of writing just a few hundred to a couple thousand words, so feeling pretty good about that. I also just reached 100 pages in my Word document (8.5x11, no spacing, Times New Roman bold), which, though I know is less significant than word count since formatting can change, is a milestone I'd been hoping to reach.

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How's your writing coming? Reach any milestones lately?


-----The Golden Eagle

Oh, How I Miss You Blogfest + NaNoWriMo Update

First, The Oh, How I Miss You Blogfest!

This event is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, Matthew MacNish, and Andrew Leon.

The general idea (from a host's blog):

The bloggers we really miss...
and the ones we would really miss!

Do you have a couple blogger buddies who aren't posting as often? Those who've pulled back and seem absent from the blogging world? Do you have blogger buddies you are grateful they are still around and would miss if they vanished? Now is your chance to show your appreciation and spotlight them! List one to three bloggers you really miss and one to three bloggers you would miss if they stopped blogging. Then go leave a comment on those blogs.

The bloggers I miss:

There are a lot of bloggers who have come and gone. Maybe it's the whole electronic format and people migrating from blogs to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites--in addition to living their lives outside the internet, of course--but a lot of the people who I originally met in the blogosphere have since stopped posting.

This blogfest stirred me to look at my sidebar's blogroll, and I found many people who haven't posted in ages . . . it's been so long for some that the domain names have expired, Blogger's removed their sites, and so forth. Sadness. These are just a few of the people I miss:

Josh Hoyt from The Blog That Helps You Diagnose Your Characters.
Elena Solodow from You're Write. Except when you're Rong.
Sarah Pearson from Empty White Pages.

(There are so many other cool bloggers I want to mention, too.)

The bloggers I would miss:

This is a bit more cheerful, as these bloggers are still around! I want to just give you my main Google Reader folder or something, but as I cannot, here are three bloggers I'd really miss if they disappeared (all have been long-time followers of The Eagle's Aerial Perspective, sticking around for at least a year):

Old Kitty from Ten lives and second chances.
The Dandy Lioness from Chai Tea and Quills.
Laughingwolf from ...paws and reflect.

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And for those here for just the blogfest: 

If you don't want to bother with the personal, fiction writing element of this post, feel free to scroll down to the comments (assuming you want to comment) and ignore this bit! (Hope no one minds I'm combining two unrelated things in the same post.)


As for my National Novel Writing Month update:

I won NaNoWriMo on Sunday! Well . . . not officially, since they don't verifying winners until the 25th of November. But I'm beyond the NaNo goal according to Word.

I almost finished on Saturday, the 10th, but after writing 11k last Friday I didn't really feel like typing out 8k the next day to hit 50k. So, I finished on the 11th. Today I've written 4,233 words, for a grand total of 61,045.

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Which bloggers do you miss, or would you miss? Know any of the people I mentioned? Ever visited a blog you knew before only to find it's disappeared off the internet?

If you're participating in NaNoWriMo, how are you doing with the challenge?


-----The Golden Eagle

National Novel Writing Month: In The Throes Of Week 2

Day 9 of NaNoWriMo. As promised, here's an update on my progress:

42,330 out of 50,000 words written. I wrote 11,041 words today, which is the most I've written in one day. Ever. The last record was 10k, and that almost two years ago. I am feeling quite satisfied and excited and a little tired from writing for over five (or was it six?) hours--though it wasn't all at once, and I'll admit I got carried away listening to Vivaldi instead of paying attention to the words a few times. But yeah, I'm  feeling a little triumphant from those 11k.

Fellow NaNoWriMo participants, how are your novels coming? Non-participants, what are you working on, either writing or otherwise? (Really, I'm interested.)


-----The Golden Eagle

Defining The Genre Of A Novel: An IWSG Post

About the IWSG (from Alex J. Cavanagh's blog):

Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic.

Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling.

With the onset of the National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo, as it's called by a lot of writers, though I'd love it if someone told me why it's not shortened to the easier-to-type NNWM) I've been hammering away at my untitled project. And it's kind of undefined in other ways than just title: I'm not sure what genre it is.

My original intention was Steampunk; indeed, I think that with changes it could fall into the Steampunk genre. But while I'm describing the character's surroundings and interpreting them through her perspective (I've changed my main character's gender, too, because hey, everything else was up for grabs) I'm not giving it a ton of emphasis. This is hardly my normal method--I'm attracted to Science Fiction and Fantasy for its world-building, and then here I am, doing hardly any at all.

Does it bother me now that I can't see a defining factor in setting? Yes. Does it worry me in the long run that I have no specific category to fit my novel into? No. This is NaNoWriMo (NNWM! I tell you) and while I may not be sure if it's a Contemporary Science Fiction/Steampunk and Action/Adventure or actually a Steampunk novel masquerading as a rather Literary novel with an overdose of Action/Adventure (or maybe just a story about ninjas that's so stealthy it's invisible), I am going to keep writing the way I have been for the past 28,000 words. Because pigeon-holing can come later (or not at all) and I'm going to have fun with this first draft. It's not every month one has an official challenge to which to rise.

Do you have fun with your first drafts, or do you prefer the rewriting/revising/editing stages that come later? Ever had a project that didn't immediately tell you which genre it was?

Also: I'm sorry if I haven't gotten around to your blog in days, or even for over a week. I know I've replied to comments over a couple days old and Google Reader has exploded into the 1000+ posts state, with 600+ in the folder I frequent the most often. Basically, I'm spending hours writing every day for NaNoWriMo and I just can't keep up with everyone. I do promise to visit your blogs as often as I can this month and in December I'm sure I'll be back in force, assuming I escape the clutches of NaNo alive.


-----The Golden Eagle

National Novel Writing Month Is In Full Swing

It's Day 2 of NaNoWriMo. For those of you who are participating, how're you doing? Typing away and wishing the internet would shut down so you can keep going distraction-free? Haven't started your project yet and are doing some last-minute brainstorming? Right on schedule, neither behind or ahead?

Me, I'm currently at 7118 words. I wrote over 5000 this morning which makes me feel fairly confident in my story (and the outline I'm using). I'm sure I'll be tearing out my hair somewhere around the 20-50k mark (always happens, I tell you) but for the moment, I'm enjoying my lead. Might even get some more writing done this evening, if I'm lucky. Or maybe I'll just work some more on the rather large hole in the middle section of my story . . .

What about you? If you're not participating in NaNoWriMo, what's your current project, if you have one?

(I'm planning to post status updates on my NaNoWriMo progress every Friday, by the way. If there's anything that will motivate me to keep writing, it's having to post my word count in front of an audience.)


-----The Golden Eagle

My Novel Is The Next Big Thing!

Well, okay, maybe not. But Chris Kelworth (of The Kelworth Files) and David Powers King (of The Cosmic Laire) both tagged me in the Next Big Thing, or Be Inspired, meme-whatsit that's been circulating in the blogosphere and asks people about their current works-in-progress. Thanks for tagging me, guys!

The questions are a little different for each tag but basically ask the same things, so I'm going to mix and match from both. The WIP in question is my upcoming NaNoWriMo novel since I've pretty much decided what I'm going to write about. This will help me flesh out my ideas, at any rate.

On to the tag!

1. What is the title of your book?
I don't know, actually. It's just half an outline and an underlying concept at the moment.

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?
A bit of a long story. You see, I was feeling destitute of good ideas, and in hopes of jogging my creative side I decided to write down ALL of the things I liked in fiction onto slips of paper (separated by category, such as Writing Style, Plot Element, Point of View, etc.) and then randomly combine a few from each. One of those combinations inspired the idea of a ship traveling to a new planet. Then, editing the idea, I thought:

"What if colonists decided to land on a known and as-yet-unexplored continent, but while journeying to their destination were plagued by mysterious disappearances and tragedies onboard an airship? And what if the main character befriended the saboteur behind their problems?"

Yup. That's the stuff that comes out of my brain.

3. In what genre would you classify your book?
Science Fiction/Steampunk. I love reading Steampunk but I've never actually tried writing it myself. I'm not positive about the age group, though I think the protagonist will be from 15-20 years old.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
Other than the obligatory Alan Rickman somewhere, no clue. I'll probably have more of an answer after the book's been written.

5. Give us a one-sentence synopsis of your book.
On the way to a new world, the son of a prominent airship captain becomes tangled in the beginning of war that could lead to the destruction of his family and his career.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
My dream, at the moment, is to have my work represented and traditionally published. I think self-publishing is a great and highly viable alternative, but I think I'd try submitting to agents first. Just to see if anyone liked what I had to offer.

7. How long did it take you to write your book?
Seeing as I haven't written anything yet, I'd estimate this novel to take around two months. I finished last year's NaNoWriMo novel during December.

8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to?
I am hoping for a Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld/Airborn by Kenneth Oppel/Jules Verne-ish feel. I'm sure it will fall far short of such works of fiction, but those are the novels with a Victorian Era setting that come to mind. Though it's not exactly Victorian Era; the world isn't Earth and the society has key differences.

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?
All Steampunk authors influence me, but other than that, there aren't any specific people.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
I'm contemplating adding a few steampunk dragons--and other animals. Hovercraft, cyborgs, and sentient trees are already in there.

11. Tag five people!
I'm going to do the same thing David did here and tag the last five people who commented on my blog (though if anyone I list would rather not do the tag, that's fine with me):

Ellie Garratt
Nutschell
Patricia Stoltey
Rachna Chhabria
Anthony Stemke

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What are you working on right now? Are you gearing up for NaNoWriMo or brainstorming for some other project?


-----The Golden Eagle

Time To Begin Worrying About NaNoWriMo: An IWSG Post

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. From his blog:

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic.

I'm sure most of you writers know about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month, or about 1,613 words per day. I've done it for two years in a row and have every intention of participating in 2012, but now the questions are: What the heck do I write about for those 50k words? And when am I going to find the time to write for hours every day for a month?

As for the first, I have a few story ideas. For one I've written half a detailed (and maybe even decent) plot outline for, and the others are vague-ish notions floating around in my head. Not the most pressing, since I can always write about marauding squid or psychedelic ninjas or whatever if I'm absolutely desperate.

But for the first time in a two-year NaNo history, I'm worrying about time. I'm sure you know what I mean: Getting the most important or unchangeable things done and then discovering the day's almost over, or feeling like you do stuff all day and finding out at the end only half the list's been crossed off. I'm already having trouble keeping up with the blogosphere, and I'm not even writing as much as I did last year during non-NaNo season.

I think I'll be able to swing it so I have time to write. But something will clearly have to go, and I really don't want it to be The Eagle's Aerial Perspective for the entirety of November.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo or thinking about participating? Doubtful if you'll be able to find the time to write everyday and reach the 50k goal, or do you already have a schedule down?


-----The Golden Eagle

If You Had To Avoid A Common Literary Technique, Which Would It Be?

By Jonathan Joseph Bondhus, CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

And what I mean by "common literary technique" can best be explained by examples: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, which has no dialogue; Gadsby, which has no letter "e"s; the multitude of books that don't have an actual main character/protagonist (per se); the many novels that have no chapter breaks or even scene divisions; the stories that never give the main character a name; books written in only dialogue with no explicit author voice.

Personally, I think it would be quite interesting to try writing a story without any references at all to the setting. I love setting--my favorite genre is (as you probably already know already) Science Fiction, with Fantasy very close behind--but working only with characters could be a worthwhile experiment. Haven't tried it yet, but who knows. I might.

What do you think? Would you ever try breaking the rules this way? Have you already tried, and if so, how did it work out?


Also: I know I've been relatively inactive in the blogosphere recently. A busier schedule--including, just this week, a stint of visits to the doctor, plus a cold (the latter of which is possibly related to visiting the hospital three days in a row despite getting a flu vaccine; or maybe my cold is because of the flu vaccine)--has confused my blogging time, but I'll try to stick to a better regimen so I can get back to reading your blogs on a regular basis.

And in case you're wondering, yes, test results were negative and I'm fine. Except for consuming too many cough drops.


-----The Golden Eagle

Kismet Blog Tour: Guest Post: Why I Decided To Self Publish

Last Thursday I posted the cover for Beth Fred's Kismet. Today, I have a guest post by the author about why she decided to self publish.

Take it away, Beth!

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Eagle, thanks for having me today.

For me, deciding to self publish was a bit of a process. It’s something I always wanted to do, but never had the confidence for. Then I wrote a really cute "sweet romance." It got full requests and revision requests from multiple small presses. I vented about the revision requests as they came in, took a week to think, made the revisions and responded. But then I started getting round 2 requests for revisions, and at this point was un-changing things. True, it’s because each editor is looking for something different, so something one editor had me changed another liked, but still, it was maddening. And in addition to un-changing things, there were new changes that I didn’t agree with. Royalties have always been higher self publishing. Big publishers don’t buy short stories, and marketing budgets are about the same for a self published author and an author with a small press. And it allowed me greater controlled. I did un-change things, because I wanted to. I changed something no one told me to. And I didn’t change anything else. I wrote a beautiful story that could have perpetually changed or stayed dormant on my hard drive. Instead, I’m sharing it with the world, still intact. I hope people enjoy Kismet.


About Kismet:

When twenty-four-year-old Tiffany escapes her sister Kammy's too wild Cancun bachelorette party, she finds herself in a bar with the unwanted attention of a gorgeous local named Luke.
   Luke may be charming but Tiffany is leaving in two days and doesn't need any complications. But complications are exactly what she gets when the cops show up to raid Kammy's party. After Kammy is arrested, Tiffany agrees to have dinner with Luke, so he'll help her get Kammy out of jail. Kammy's arrest forces her to spend an extra day in Cancun, meaning she'll miss a crucial meeting, and as an accountant in tax season, she is already drowning in work. Not to mention, every second she spends with Luke makes it harder to leave. With Luke, Tiffany can forget about work.
   But will the airport be their final goodbye?

And for a limited time it includes an excerpt from best selling author Lizzy Ford! Available at amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.   

About Beth Fred:

Beth Fred lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their little ELF (Emily Lace Fred). She spends her time bringing her day dreams to life on paper, and blogging about bringing day dreams to life. You can find more about that at www.bethfred.com.

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Any of you considering self-publishing? Have you already self-published your work? If you're a writer who's gone the traditional route, would you ever try self-publishing?


-----The Golden Eagle

Combating Outside Influences: An IWSG Post

The Insecure Writer's Support Group, founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh, is here again! This monthly event, in case you haven't heard of it before, is a day when writers across the blogosphere post about their insecurities, worries, problems, questions, and other things that quietly undermine their writing efforts.

You've probably guessed my issue from the title.

Sometimes, I think I should avoid everything like the plague and hide in a cave when I'm working on a project. It can be so easy for another person's style to influence what I'm trying to do, or for a concept from another work to slip itself into one of my projects, or for a plot twist to emerge in a slightly-different form. Not as a conscious decision, of course, but because my imagination liked the idea and thought "Hey! Let's do it again!" without proper authorization.

Problem is, I like to read (and watch things) when I'm writing a story. I feel more creative when I'm absorbing other fiction, finding out what other people are doing in their genres--you know, actually being a consumer. Hence, the conflict between wanting to experience the good ideas but not wanting to unwittingly copy them into my own projects. It's only on very rare occasions that I actually want someone else's style to leak through into my own.

Do you find outside influences to be a problem when you're writing? Developed any methods of avoiding them from getting into your own projects?


-----The Golden Eagle