Status: Chapter 6 finish; Chapter 7 not started

Oh geez, my last scene. As one review said; finally! So most of my stories have characters getting attracted right away and being all in love before halfway though the story. That’s cool, in fact I love writing that because I love attacking relationships more than I love stopping them from getting together. I guess because I love watching people gather together during hard times. It’s also because half the problems that will stop people from getting together could be solved if people just fucking talked about it and/or trust each other. Grrr, that bothers me because that’s how I solve my problems. Anyway, rant over.

Yeah, Timeless is moving slowly though. That’s mostly because Nebi has a very childish view on relationship and Jenny wouldn’t act on her feelings to save her life. She’s far too used to rejection to ‘seek it out’. Anyway I went on and on about how I was looking forward to a scene in chapter 6 and then I don’t even write it! I know. XD I wanted to write about the Heb Sed party but a lot is going to happen there so I wanted to put off starting it for a chapter at least. I planed to start chapter 7 with it but now I feel like I should show some of Jenny preparing for the speech, not to mention someone telling her to wear different clothes. Also there’s a scene I need to do that involves Najib moving on his plot.

Ether way this chapter was a blast to write, though it shows I rushed though it since I made a lot of little mistakes for it. Apparently more than normal because people are really mentioning it. Tomorrow, if I have time I’ll go over it and make edits, or maybe tonight.

Still, this weekend is my birthday weekend so I won’t be starting chapter seven for a few days most likely. I will jump right on it on Monday thought. I have so many plans for the party, which will kick off some more conflicts I have started not to mention push the relationship along. I also want to show Jenny and Nebi after their almost kiss. It will be deliciously awkward.

In a complete heal turn in topic, (I wonder where Nebi got that habit from?), I’m plowing forward in editing Beasts. I’m not much of a theme person but as I go over and think about Beasts I realize this is a romance novel with a message, one I think young girls need and maybe even young men. There’s the basic, don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover-message and the be-true-to-yourself messages but also about standing up against pure pressure and following your heart. Trite messages maybe but ones that don’t loose power. I also realize while my story Timeless is about two people fighting against their own flaws and inability to deal with people to be together Beasts is almost the exact opposite.

Beasts is a story about two people who, on the surface, don’t belong together, who do get together and their fight to find what’s beyond the surface both prefer to live. Kaylee is a social climbing whimp at the beginning and Asher clings to his Beast status to stop people from getting close to him. Nether wants to be different from that but both are forced too when they’re together. So I know in this story I need them to get together as soon as I can without rushing it, which makes me happy. I love how Asher and Kaylee are as they struggle in their relationship.

I’m also cutting a lot in the story. I almost eliminated the first chapter. I think I kept maybe one scene? Then I took half a scene from the second chapter, which dropped down almost a full 3000 words. I think I’ll do fine with my ‘Reduce pg number’ plan I have with the story. I like Beasts and I’d like to be a long novel, but I think 400+ 8 by 10 pages is a little much. I don’t even know how many pages that’d be in a regular book.

Ether way I’m trying really hard to keep editing despite my large dislike for the task. If I want to continue to write I’m going to have to edit it so I need to dig in and just do it. I can’t sell my novels if I don’t edit them and I want to sell my stories badly. I think I can.Oh, on a random note, you know what has gotten a surprising amount of reivews and mentions this week? Mantle of the Moon, I've gotten three readers contacting me about it. One IMed me, (the first person to IM me), and the other two reivewed them. Stuff like that makes me want to do that project but I have so many other on my plate. Birds in November, and Timeless and it's possible sequal. Well, we'll see when I get done with Timeless what should be next. I think Timeless will be a quickish project. It's moving a long well. Beasts was 20 chapter + epilouge and little info about plot change and it's long. So Timeless might not be that long. I don't know yet. I know I don't feel like we hit the halfway point, but it's getting close. *muses*

Status: Chapter 5 finish; Chapter 6 not started

Well, I had a busy night last night. It’s my birthday at the end of the week, so I’m having a party/sleep over which means my house needs cleaning. I’ve been working on that this week, plus I want to keep the writing up and I even managed to get somewhere with Beasts. Chapter 1 is officially done with Edit 1. Just 20 more chapters to go! Really, this is great. I’m so glad I made myself stick with it. There have been a lot of changes but sadly folks I can’t show you. This edit is for the publishers. I want to offer them something new, so everyone who loves Beasts can get something new when they pick it up. But that’s a long way away. I still need to edit 20 chapters and it’s only taken me what? 8 months to do one? Yeah, don’t need to shoot myself in the foot.

So, Timeless, well I have to say Chapter 5 is easily my most popular, seven review in two days. Damn you guys, you make me feel loved. Only the last two chapters of Beasts got same amount of reviews and I cheated on the second last chapter since I asked if people wanted an epilogue or not. Then of course, more people comment on the last chapter and well, anyway, thanks you guys. The fact that it may get even more and beat Beasts make me happy.

I can’t say for sure when Chapter six will come out. I’d like it to be soon. I’ve been looking forward to this chapter since I first got the idea, about a month before I started to write. I think this is a great place for it too. Anyway, I want to get it out soon but with the party and clean up I can’t promise it will be this week. I want it to be though. I wish it wasn’t so hot, writing is much more annoying when your laptop is making your arms sweat, but so worth it no?

That’s all from me now. Thanks to you all.

Status: Chapter 4 Finished; Chapter 5 Not Started

I haven’t updated here in a while; a week according to my livejournal bug me to post button. Anyway, that’s actually a good sign. I updated all the time with Birds, explaining problems and why I haven’t updated but I haven’t felt that for here. This is all coming out real easy, not super easy. This is definitely a write-or-die story. Every time I walk away, even for a little while, the story likes to play dead but a few good jolts and it comes back nice and easy.

I’m glad I made this choice. I’m having fun with Timeless like I haven’t had since Written. I really like, and miss, Written. I don’t know when I’ll fix it but I will. Truth is with re-writes and planed sequels, I’m not entirely sure when I’ll write anything. I definitely have a sequel planed for Timeless but I won’t go into that until we’re getting close to finishing that story.

As for Birds, I told you guys I figured out the main flaw and I’ve decided a good time to attempt to write that story is with Nanowrimo. I’m hoping that the community will help me stay positive. Plus it helped with Beasts, which was also a darker story. (Kaylee and Asher never had one moment where one of them wasn’t angsting.)

Also on the Beasts front, I don’t know if I let you guys in on this but while I feel that the story Becoming Beasts is done with, that there’s nothing I can add to their story without feeling cruel to the characters I don’t think I’m done with that universe. Those of you who have read it saw that I started with a mad scientist villain than swapped near the end because it fit the story better, but in my mind that scientist exists in that world. Technically he could even be used for a sequel. (Hmm, children, tng stuff) But currently I’m no where near the writing stage. I just want you guys to be on the look out for that as a possibility. (Way into the future though.)

That’s all the updates on my writing but I have a rant that’s kind of been tugging at my mind. I’m editing Beasts and that always makes you think of publishing. While you write you muse over it but then put it aside to focus on the writing but when you edit that’s all you can really think about it. Trust me if I didn’t want to sell Beasts I’d never edit. It’s boring, but that makes me think of how sellable it is.

I honestly think I’ll get published someday. It’s not a hope or a dream but an honest belief, like how I believe I’ll move out of my mom’s house and graduate college. It’s going to happen, the question is when. I think this way because of what I write and how I write it.

You wouldn’t be reading my work if it wasn’t good, and let’s face it, I tell nice stories but they’re also safe ones. My stories aren’t really pushing the envelope when it comes to young adult/high school/romance stories.

Except in a few choice spots; namely the POV. I read a lot. Kind of expect it right? Anyway, growing up I read more. Middle school I read two or three books at a time, and in high school I slowed down but still consumed them rapidly. So I read a lot of young adult/romance books, and looking back I see a trend.

To understand this trend all you really have to do is look at any Meg Cabot book, but most writers are like this. I’d like to state I don’t dislike Meg Cabot as a writer, and to be honest I don’t think I’m any better, just different style but there’s a certain type of young adult romance female lead. She’s whiny, most of the story is told from her complaining about how much her life sucks, how much she’s a looser, how much the popular crowd doesn’t like her. A popular crowd, I’d like to add, that while she says she doesn’t want to be a part of you can’t help but feel that yes, yes she does. She’s normally unpopular (but to be honest popular characters are hard because then you have to write up friends) and normally has some body issues. Well, most girls do have body issues, and teenagerdom isn’t a really non-whiney time for anyone.

But that doesn’t mean I necessarily want to read it.

Another thing I dislike is the males. I hear this complaint a lot in the current literary debate, Twilight, that Edward has no personality or any real outstanding qualities except maybe stalker, well minius the stalker aspect that’s a lot of teenage romance stories. Because the story is told in first person, and most of the girls are shy and are lusting after men who don’t talk to them you never really get to know them beyond the main character’s opinion which is always “He’s so great, look at what he did, he’s so great.” Because that’s how you are during a crush.

But this is boring. Where’s the three dimensional guys? How can we learn more than he’s hot, and sweet and hot? Even when I look over Fictionpress it seems like to get a good story with a strong, flawed male lead you normally need to go to a slash fic. Which isn’t for me.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, in a romance story you have two goals when it comes to characters. Make the girl relatable and the guys someone the reader can fall in love with. You can’t love cardboard. I try so hard to get flawed males, they’re more fun. Isn’t it more fun to watch a guy sweat because he really likes his girl but one of his issues is in the way? Or do you just want him to show up at the end with a rose and a happy ending?

For my stories I want the sweat, but that’s just me.

Status: Writing Chapter 2; 1500 words in

So my first little nibbles on Timeless Bonds are positive. That makes me happy. Nebi didn’t get much of an introduction but this novel is going to start pretty Jenny heavy, I kind of expected that since it needs to be about Jenny getting used to this new strange world. My first scene is also Jenny heavy. Nebi will slowly revel himself. I just love him a lot. He amuses me, and I like to see that Jenny is staying strong against him. My secret fear is that a girl will fail once put next to my male.

But I haven’t gotten THAT far in Timeless Chapter 2 because of homework and the 4th. I had plans last night and without a license bus makes it take up most of the day. It was fun though and I have to say, 4 hours of sleep did something good I guess because I think I had a break though on Birds.

Yeah, yeah, I know; too little too late right? But not really. I felt really bad about Birds. I felt all this creativity on it, I tried hard to work out the issues and then I sit down to write and it dies on my fingers. Like I said, it’s a darker work and that did have a big effect on me. You notice I talked about it a lot when I wrote it but also there was more than it just being a dark and hard work. I might have been able to go though that if it wasn’t this nagging that bothered me every time I sat down to write.

A little nagging voice spoke up every time I sat down. To be honest, writers are used to this voice. It could be our inner editor or just simple self doubt that tells you everything you write is crap but it wasn’t that negative, or that absolute. It was this little voice that whispered, “It doesn’t make sense. WHY are the characters doing this? Are those reasons really IN character?” I had reasons for them doing it but I can’t help but feel those were MY reasons not theirs. It never felt completely right.

And I think I realized why. Jenny made me realize I like her strength and her weakness. Aisling had many weaknesses and not a lot of strength. While it works with Korbin to have a weaker spirited woman, just because of his own weaknesses but I also realize that even though I could see Korbin and Aisling fall in love I couldn’t see them sticking around each other long enough to do it.

So I started thinking this morning, while I zoned on my friend’s couch, staring at a light. I made a new female character for an RP, and she has this interesting mix of strength and weakness. When I thought of her with Korbin I realized it, just how I wrote Caldur with Tai originally, Korbin needs to be with Clara (my new character) not Aisling. I already have a lot of little changes in my head and I’m planning on outlining it to make sure it I don’t end in the same corner I did before.

Now don’t think this means I’m doing another quit. I want to stick with Timeless, partially because I did all this research and I want to use it. More I like Timeless, Nebi and Jenny. I want to write their snarky romance, I want a happy story again. I really enjoyed Written in the Sand, it just got all tangled up in itself. I will do that again, once I fix it. I’m kind of sad I will most likely have to start over but it will be okay

But because of how early Birds of a Feather ended it won’t be as hard to restart as Written is. When I restart Written it’s a lot of chapters to possibly re-do, not to mention no fix has magically hit me. Birds has mostly fixed. I may work on it now. Not writing most likely, but the pre-writing stuff, or it may wait, but I want you to know that it will live again.

But first I have to get back to Timeless. I’ll definitely update this week but no promises when.

Status: Chapter 1, 4,184 words Writen

That’s right patient readers, I’m finally writing again. So yesterday I powered out (by which I mean ignored and skimmed) the last hundred or so pages of my story. I still have more stuff to research, but I’m now doing that on a need bases. So my story of love in Ancient Egypt has started. A little warning, one I’ll post with the rest of my story. This won’t be very historically accurate. I’ll twist around what was to suit my story first. Hopefully the characters and stories are enough.

I forgot how many doubts hit you with writing. I get them all the time. This is my first historical story I’ve written if you don’t count the generic medieval stories I wrote as a child. Those don’t really count because they were my own world and I didn’t really research. Also, they were crap. XD Ah youth.

Anyway, it’s a good start. I had some worries with my main female being a bit passive, which won’t work with my main male but she isn’t. That makes me happy. I also, as I mentioned before, outline a good portion of the story. So I can’t get tripped up and have no where to go. I’m going to try to keep the romance a slower pace in this one since that tripped me up with Written.

Well, that’s all I really have to say. I may have images of Nebi and Jenny up soon, but I should have my story up sometime today. I may even start on chapter 2. I hope you all like it and thank you for sticking with me.