Update and some thoughts on Poetry

I haven’t posted here in a while. Things have been boggy as far as writing goes. I read over the unedited manuscript for Pair of Jokers and something amazing happened, for me at least. I loved the story, I loved the characters and I even liked the writing, but the best part of all of it, was I didn’t love the story from the point of view of a writer reviewing her work, I loved it from the point of view of a reader.

It’s an amazing thing when your writing reaches your reading level. Keep fighting until it gets there, only practice can make you a better writer.

So I’ve been slowly editing Jokers, and even slower writing on Sins. Sins is giving me issues, but mostly I just feel really blocked AND fogged. I have to keep pushing forward on my writing but it’s a little harder than with Jokers, but I am not giving up. Sins will be finished and then I’ll focus heavily on editing Jokers.

In other news, school starts for me on Monday. I have no idea what this will mean for my writing. It will probably make me focus more since I’ll have less time but we’ll see. I’m very excited about heading off to school, and while I don’t have any creative writing classes this year I’m probably going to start working towards my degree next year, which hopefully will mean good things for my work.

But some of you, those of you with Author Alerts, might have noticed I posted something new and rare on my profile; a poem. I do have several poems on my profile, but I’m not a poet. I do like expressing myself though poetry but I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to poetry.

My senior year I took a creative writing class that taught me a lot about poem structure and form. I loved it. I loved how it made me work hard for my poetry to have meaning. I loved trying to fit what I wanted to say into a certain form or rhyme structure, but it was hard and I’m a lazy person. So I turn my nose up to free form poetry but don’t like to write anything other than it. (Except for a sonnet now and then.)

But this poem I found in a notebook while cleaning my room. I wrote it last year I think, on a way from school. I was dealing with the break up that made me start writing seriously all together, a break up that still affects me in some ways today. As you know, I am a Leo, hence the title. The emotion is something I can still relate too as I read over the work and with some minor editing I decided to post it.

I think it’s a fine poem, not great, I still wish it had structure but it works and I like the last line.

Boy I’m glad I’m not there anymore.

Innocent Sins is up!

Okay, so it’s a day or two late, but I wrote two chapters to make up for it. That’s right, Innocent Sins is up. It was great to slide back into this story; it almost makes me look forward to editing Jokers. I enjoyed the beginning though it lacks the hook that Jokers had but not every story can have that great hook. I can only hope that everyone enjoys it. I do admit I’m a little nervous about posting my work again. I got used to writing by myself, all closed up. I might just start writing like that all the time soon, I don’t know.

If anything, this story will be up because people deserve the sequel that I actually want to write. I don’t know what’s going to happen once I finish this story. I think I want to spend this year focusing on getting some of my work polished and sent off. I’m going to put in a mental drawer some of my younger aged protagonist stuff, until I know exactly what I want to do with them, and focus more on this.

So I think my next project will be editing Jokers, getting that polished and then sent out. I find it a little ironic what a strong influence the Catholic Church is having on my two female leads. I never planed it that way but somehow religion just seemed to work for both the characters. I’m going to walk on some careful ground with Sins I think, since I have some ideas how that is going to go but I’m sure I can handle it.

Side note: If you’re Catholic, hit me up. I’d like to know more about how the church works, though I don’t think it will come into much play, but I do know I want to know more about the teachings, which I know little about. That was okay for Clara, who left the church out of disinterest a while ago once the story started but Eve is still an active Catholic.

I didn’t realize that until I started writing that Eve would be even more devoted right now than ever. So, I wouldn’t mind some help with that, though I’m not going to worry about it too much. I have a Catholic friend I can discuss things with to fix it up in later drafts. For now, I want to get the story out.

Ether way, I hope you like Sins and we’ll see what the future brings, right?

EDIT: First post of 2010. Also, first time writing 2010!