An “Okay” Writing Week | NaNoWriMo Week Three Update

Tags

book boxes, completing a project, designing game, job interviews, kickstarter, NaNoWriMo, TBR game, Wooing the Alpha, writing vlog, writing when busy

Hello, lovelies.

Check out my silly writing vlog where I freak out about how close I am to completing not only NaNoWriMo but my manuscript as a whole. Yikes! I also pack and ship my new book boxes.

This was a good week for the words, which is odd since I had a couple of low-energy days. Or to say plainly, I’m getting tired. However, I am almost DONE with story thirteen of fourteen. Yeah.

Yeah.

I’m pretty sure the looming end is the only thing keeping me going, even though I have no idea what I’m doing in story fourteen.

I also had two interviews this week for a job, and that’s made me excited and is pushing me to get the words before I might not have the time to put into it.

But y’all. I am actually keeping up. I can’t believe it.

So, let’s look at my numbers so far:

Week One | November 15-21

Words Written: 35,047

Words Ahead: 40

Words To-Be Written: 14,953

Look at that! I’m way past the hump, and if I’m being honest, I’m a bit terrified about the end of this project.

It’s so long, and it’s come together so quickly. I hope I make the right choice at the end.

As a side note: with the tired I’ve been feeling, I’ve distracted myself with some fun, like making a new reading challenge game (aka a TBR game), and it’s complicated, which I totally love. Next week, I’ll be working on my new writing challenge game.

If you didn’t know, I currently play bookopoly and writeropoly every month to challenge myself.

So with that in mind, if you have any challenges or prompts for either game, please leave them in the comments below for me so I can add them to my game. And be sure to let me know how you’re doing!

Getting Behind & Potential Burnout | NaNoWriMo Week Two Update

Tags

burnout, finish a book, grit, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, Wooing the Alpha, write a book, writing challenge, writing productivity, writing update

Hello, lovelies.

This week came with its ups and downs, but I’m actually doing nano… watch me freak out a little about it in my vlog:

I had a few days where I wasn’t feeling particularly productive, so I let myself have the day on Saturday to putz around, play games, and read after I struggled to get any words out on Friday. I did, however, return to my manuscript and bang out over seventeen-hundred words.

I’m trying to listen to my body more, and when the words don’t come after some heavy work, I might be close to burning out. A headache usually confirms it. Hence the rest day.

I keep making it back to put the work in, though. It’s all about that grit at this point.

So, let’s look at my numbers so far:

Week One | November 8-14

Words Written: 22,819

Words Behind: 519

Words To-Be Written: 27,181

With all of these words, I was able to get through story twelve of fourteen. Only two stories are left in my project, and I can’t believe it.

Unfortunately, my plotting has fallen behind, and I haven’t finished figuring out what’s going to happen between Winter and Newt. That isn’t such a good place to be in, but I have a feeling that writing Newt will help me more than the planning might.

And I also might be freaking out a little bit about story fourteen. I still don’t know who I’m going to choose or how much of that part of the story is meant to go. This terrifies me, but it shouldn’t. Afterall, I used to write entire books without a plan.

Maybe, it’s how massive this one is that scares me. I guess we’ll see.

All right, y’all, now that I’m rambling about my fears and process, it’s about time to get back to it instead of yammering about it.

Let me know how you’re doing this month in the comments below.

Preptober Reflection, NaNoWriMo Goals & Week One Update

Tags

determination, grit, NaNo Prep, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo goals, National Novel Writing Month, preptober, self-doubt, writing goals, writing sprints

Hello to all of my lovely friends.

It is NaNoWriMo season, and I have been training hard to create a consistent writing routine. Last month with my writer-opoly challenges, I got my 750 words a day—or 23,250 words for the month. I was 500 shy of that goal, so I still consider this a success. It helped me get ready for 1,667 words a day in November.

Yup, that’s what National Novel Writing Month is for: writing 50,000 words in thirty days.

We authors are a crazy lot, yeah?

Well, it’s the first time I’ve gotten to participate in the ACTUAL NaNoWriMo because November is usually the time for grading essays and midterms and readying for finals. It’s usually a time of editing stories for a December publication. And since I have neither of those things this month. I’m going to give that 50,000-word goal a genuine try.

Here’s a little comparison of my Preptober goals, and all of those nice boxes that I did not check off, with my goals for November, where you’ll see I was nicer to myself because…let’s face it, the word count goal for the month is a killer. It’s hard to do anything else.

One thing I’ve really noticed during the first week of Nano is that the sprints have been my friends. I’m doing four or five of them a day to combat with writing fatigue, and my chart is a lifesaver for keeping myself on track.

I’m off to an okay start for week one. Even with going to the dentist and the job interview that I got lost after, I’m not as far behind as I would have predicted.

So, let’s look at my numbers so far:

Week One | November 1-7

Week One | November 1-7

Words Behind: 221

Words To-Be Written: 38,552

See! I’m doing okay. I’m roughly 165,000 words into Wooing the Alpha, and that’s over 600 pages, by he way. My end goal is 210,00-220,000 words for this project, so I’m getting close.

Here’s hoping NaNoWriMo gets me to a good spot where the end is in sight.

This project has been a rollercoaster. And being in the muddy bit—the end of the middle—during a high-powered month like this may seem a little insane. I’m not running on the shiny new project high to get me through this.

This is all grit and grinding, folks.

I’ve trained all year for it. And damn it, I want to be a winner at the end of this.

So wish me luck, y’all, and tell me about what you’re working on in November. Is it Nano? Is it something else? Let me know in the comments below.

And check out my first week’s NaNoWriMo vlog:

It’s Prep-tober Time

Tags

bujo, NaNo Prep, NaNoWriMo, plan, prep-tober, preptober, routine, spread, Wooing the Alpha, writing goals

Y’all, NaNoWriMo is on its way. In less than a month, I will be participating in my first-ever real National Novel Writing Month. Typically, I’m in school right now and have been for the last seventeen years (between my education and educating others). The end of the year also usually means I’m elbow-deep into an anthology.

Well, I have neither of those responsibilities this year. Does that mean I can pull off 50,000 words in a single project? I have no idea. Probably not, but you know what? I’m going to try.

The way nano works is that authors are meant to start a brand-new project and get that first draft done in 50,000 words.

I’m not doing that.

I’m still working on my Wooing the Alpha project, which I already have 136,000 words in.

My goal for nano is to get as far as I can in this 210,000-word project. If I can accomplish this, I’ll have this baby done by January.

Let’s sidetrack for just a second and just say that writing 210,000 words in a year is near twice what I did last year.

2020 has been nutso.

Okay, now let’s talk Prep-tober.

October is the time to prep, prep, prep as much as possible to be ready to simply write in November. Here are my goals: establish a new routine, outline the rest of the story, and character website pages. I have several video and blog ideas to keep up with the non-writing prep as well.

This is my bujo spread for easy reference.

My new routine is packed with writing sprints and ways to refuel my creativity between—and of course, to complete necessary work. I want to track more, which has been fun so far this month. I want to be here more! And y’all, as always, I need to work out more than once a week. I’m so much more productive when I do.

I also have five more stories to prep before I’m done with this baby. Whoo!

Creating character profiles on my website is a great way to amp up my brainstorming and character development while adding to my author presence. It makes total sense to me. That’s why I’m focusing on stats, pictures, and synopses, which will be helpful for those back blurbs.

While I’m doing all of this craziness, and still writing, I want to find my cover photos, to build some test covers, brainstorm titles, practice vlogging daily, create teasers, relaunch my marketing platforms, and prepare my launch plan for this Wooing the Alpha series.

Nope, didn’t pile my plate too high at all!

Wish me luck, y’all, and tell me if you’re prepping this October and what you’re working on.

Want to watch me set up this spread and talk more in detail about my goals? Check out my video!

Camp NaNoWriMo Week Five and Final Update

Tags

autumn lishky, Camp Nanowrimo, NaNoWriMo, productivity, Project Graves 2, Wooing the Alpha, word count, writing challenge, writing goals

Camp NaNoWriMo is over! And wow, I pushed myself so much further than I thought I could. My stretch goal of completing two and a half cycles is done. Finished. I did it. I won!

What the shit? I wish I could write like this every month, but I’ve backed off a bit more the last few days in an attempt to recover.

My brain still hurts.

I also got through my re-read of Project Graves 2, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I had there, and that it seemed like so little at 35,000 words. The best part is, I got past my writer’s block and figured out what needs to happen next. Now, I need to double check it against the new outline and continue to revise as necessary.

I’ve also started the branding and marketing plans for this series, which is super freaking exciting. If you’re interested in this wolf erotica series, and similar things, here’s my website for Autumn Lishky. I don’t typically cross-promote, but it’s my Nano Project, so we have some overlap.

I did fail, however, in most of my writer-opoly prompts, but I’m working on that for August, adding them on to my new rolls. Yay for me! I definitely beat that word count goal though.

Anyways, let’s look at the numbers!

Week One | July 26-31

Minutes Completed: 736/720

Minutes Ahead: 2

Words Written: 8,045

That brings me to 39,067/20,150

I’m halfway through Marsh, and he’s my midpoint for the series as a whole. Yikes! I need to get planning the next few bits so I can keep up the productivity.

Especially since I’m planning to have this series launch in January 2021.

Want to watch me do all the things, like making banana muffins and play with cats? Check out my camp writing vlog:

 

How did your July go? Let me know in the comments below!

Camp NaNoWriMo Week Three Update

Tags

Camp Nanowrimo, creativity, grief, increasing word count, productivity, Werewolf, werewolves, Wooing the Alpha, writing goal

This week has improved! I’ve been able to get back to edits, post videos on YouTube, and contact my authors. Life is getting a little bit closer to normal.

Productivity in the rest of my life also means more ups and downs in my daily wordcounts.  Or maybe that’s the headache I’ve had since last Monday…

Anyways, let’s look at the numbers!

Week One | July 12-18

Minutes Completed: 853/840

Minutes Ahead: 55

Words Written: 9,253

That brings me to 24,567/20,150

Y’all, I’m on the brink of 80k. What the freak is happening?

I might just get through two cycles this month. If I keep this up, I’ll be done with this beast in…another four months. I’m nearing halfway through.

I don’t think that’ll happen, but I can hope, right?

Want to watch me figure my shit out? Check out my camp writing vlog:

What have you been working on this July? Let me know in the comments below!

I Finished an Old Half-Written Story

Tags

crying, half-finished story, old writing, tatiana's diary, the broken world series, upcoming anthology, writing about death, writing experience, writing vlog

I’ve forced myself to dig back into an unfinished story. I didn’t stop writing it because I didn’t want to finish it. I stopped because life got crazy, and I needed a different distraction, which was my new novel that I also put aside for similar reasons.

Funny how that works.

At the time, I was editing my fourth book in the Broken World series, the end of the semester was upon me, I had the flu and food poisoning and something else, and my kitty died.

So yeah, this got pushed aside.

But now, I’ve reopened the file for an official review and push to finish it. It is my story for my upcoming anthology after all.

I sat down to the first twenty-four pages. And I cried…six times.

Then, I sat down to write, and I cried for nearly an hour as I wrote.

To clarify, this is the diary of my main protagonist’s mother, Tatiana. The one who dies to give birth to Ria. Her death is no spoiler, but as I experienced in writing her father’s story—also dead—their inevitable deaths didn’t hamper my emotions.

I might have gotten this response on video, too, up on my channel via a writing vlog. It’s pitiful, but I didn’t edit out the crying. It was, like, three-quarters of my experience.

Overall, in my review and continued creation, I hope it affects others even a quarter as much as it did me while I was writing it.

I feel crazy sometimes, having these kinds of experiences while I write. But what else am I to do when people inhabit my head?

 

Do you ever have this kind of response when you write? Let me know in the comments below.

A Brief Look at Poetic Justice

Tags

crafting morality, Disney, dystopia, Equilibrium, good verses evil, karma and dharma, poetic justice, shakespeare, The Hunger Games

Poetic justice rewards the good and punishes the bad at the end of a story.

In a similar way to karma and dharma, we respond with phrases like, “she had that coming,” and “he got what he deserved,” thus developing a moral compass for the readers. Behave well and be compensated or behave poorly and be admonished.

Essentially, this prompts reader to see certain actions as a code of morality to set up easy identification of good characters and wicked ones so that we can connect with them appropriately.

Disney, for example, is great at wrapping up their movies with poetic justice: the prince and the princess fall in love, the villain is thwarted in the final battle, and those who clung to evil’s coattails are thrown under the bus.

In Frozen, Elsa and Anna are rewarded with the kingdom and family in one piece (kind of), their helpers also prospered. The villain, Hans is humiliated and exiled.

In Beauty and the Beast, Gaston is killed by the Beast, in part, due to his own arrogance, pride, and malice, while the Beast is rewarded with the love of a fine woman.

In Aladdin, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin gain love and the promise of a better kingdom. The Genie gets his freedom, and Jafar gets trapped away with the power he wanted so badly but no means to use it.

 

In The Lion King, Simba regains his kingdom, brings prosperity back to the land, and gets to create the family he’d missed. Scar is killed, not by Simba, but by his own minions, the hyenas.

I could go on, but I won’t.

We see this trope happen in dystopian stories where the rebels fight the dictators and win, usually fating them to death and their heroes to glory—or at the very least, to peace.

Think The Hunger Games, Katniss and Pita get their quiet life and family as both President Snow and President Coin die at the end for their corrupt natures.

Think In Time, Will steals an elite young lady, Sylvia, and they work together to topple a corrupt system. They’ve created an impact by shutting down factories by giving people enough time to quit their jobs, and the good guy duo go on to rib larger banks and destroy the system. The bad guys, at least the ones who come against them in the movie, die. The larger villains are no longer able to horde their riches with absolute security.

Think Equilibrium, Father dies, the rebellion defeats the dictatorship, and the people gain their freedom to feel.

Shakespeare has plenty of examples of poetic justice in his plays, although a great deal of terrible acts befall good people, the Montagues and Capulets lose their children for their feud, Lady Macbeth’s plot falls apart and haunts her, Othello’s death is justified for his lack of trust and violence toward those who loved him, and Iago is tortured and executed for manipulating Othello, and etc.

Beyond the fact that authors use poetic justice to create morality and paint potential punishments for when we don’t behave, how do we ensure that we properly craft this kind of ending with a lack of preaching to our readers while creating universal ideas of good and evil? There are varying degrees of what these concepts mean after all.

 

I’d love to know your take on poetic justice and its role in society. Tell me what you think in the comments below.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.literarydevices.com/poetic-justice/

https://literarydevices.net/poetic-justice/

http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/literary-devices/poetic-justice

https://writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/poetic-justice#Modern_Examples_of_Poetic_Justice

https://www.softschools.com/examples/literary_terms/poetic_justicel_examples/332/

https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/globaldrama/poetic-justice-in-othello.html#.XrMvfC-z1Bw

 

Last Month, I Won Camp NaNoWriMo

Tags

Camp Nanowrimo, chronological, crafting character, erotic stories, hear our characters, lose control, pantser, winner, Wooing the Alpha, writing craft

So, I pretty much spoiled it, yeah? I won camp. I wrote over 15,000 words, which was my goal—aka 500 words a day, and I was reminded of a few things about my writing process.

Mostly, I learned that I have no idea what I’m doing at any given moment. I mean, I like to think we’re all in that boat, so if it’s not true, don’t burst my bubble.

Essentially, as much as I want to plot and plan a story, I am ultimately a pantser. I also have to follow my story chronologically, even when other characters are screaming in my head.

No, it’s not your turn. You have to wait.

Why? Because what happens before you affects her time with you! Now, calm your ass.

I sound like a crazy person, right?

My husband recently read an article that described how authors described their interactions with their craft and their characters. Some of us “hear” our characters. Some of us “lose control” of our characters.

And some of us, experience our characters.

I’ve done all three. But most of the time, I hear them…like a schizophrenic. They have their own minds, and I wonder how crazy that makes me.

The funny thing about this is, as loud as Thunder and Torrent—my first and third male protagonists—were, North—male protagonist number two—was silent until I dropped into his perspective. Then, wham, his personality hit me like a battering ram.

Why? Because he’s quiet and polite and knows how to wait his turn!

I’ve rather rambled in an odd direction, haven’t I?

Okay. So what camp reminded me of most importantly was how much love I have for writing and creating and how much fun it can be when I don’t take it too seriously.

I plan to continue writing in this fun, erotic set of stories for May as I learn to re-outline and plan my sequel to the Graves series. It’s going to be a lot of work, so it’s nice to have Wooing the Alpha to keep me sane.

Fun times.

Want to see my process? Watch my Camp Nano vlogs here:

What have you been writing in April? Do you have plans for May? Let me know in the comments below!

Diary of a Workaholic: the Funk Follows Me to 2020

Tags

burnout, changing focus, editing habits, fitness habits, pandemic, quarterly goals, quarterly review, reading habits, workaholic, writing habits

The funk of 2019 befell my first quarter of 2020.  Get sick for a couple of weeks, lose some loved ones, and fall desperately behind, and I suppose it will linger for a while.

Now with the world the way it is, I have to admit that the last month of quarter one hammered me with some more setbacks.

Since I’m not one to complain too vehemently, I want to focus on my lessons and what I did accomplish instead of focusing too greatly on what I didn’t. So, let’s get the icky bits out of the way.

Honesty: I gave up trying to write in my current project because of the state of the world and the stresses it caused globally, nationally, locally, and personally. Two weeks of no words means a loss of  roughly 7,000 words. Sigh.

I also had to give up on my edit catch up for two weeks as I graded papers and replanned the rest of my semester to film, edit, and add participation for my new online classes.

Finally, I back-burnered my fitness goals and my marketing/ad/sales planned for the quarter.

All right, let’s get on with the positive and lessons learned over the last three months.

First, I finally finished a project that I’ve been trying to complete since July of 2019. Something that should have taken me three months stunned me with its difficulty. I hated writing in it most of the time. Then…I read it.

Holy shit. It’s good! I’ve impressed myself. The consciousness I had during the process really paid off, even though it seemed like torture at the time. And now, I have a cover and just need to set up a landing page to shove it out into the world! Quarter two, I have plans for you!

Speaking of quarter two, I had planned on finishing my new novel, the sequel to The Girl with the Glowing Hair, dubbed Graves Two currently. But since I tabled that, needing a serious amount of my brains to fix some of the outlining problems I’m currently experiencing, I’m trading it in for a new idea in April. One that’s fun and not so serious that I can crank out and let consume me at times. 

It’s seriously necessary at the moment. And May will mean picking up Graves Two…unless I get hooked into finishing this project, which could happen.

Back to last quarter, I wrote a nice 29,500 words. That’s nothing to scoff at given the amount of work I put on my plate. Was it the 45,000 I wanted? No, but you know what, that’s 29,500 words that I didn’t have before, and I’m excited about it.

I also made SOO much progress on my freelancing project. The website almost done, pitch written, a loose cover letter and  resume on standby, and my scripts are ready for me to film. I was so scared to do this for so long, and it feels nice to see some actual, tangible progress. Woot!

Now, the real successes have come in my reading. Three books a month!? Are we serious right now? I went from three last year to three a month. I am loving it. And it’s taking the place of my work when I get overwhelmed. 

This has lead me to making more videos, too. Almost enough for two videos a week, and it’s tailspinning me into an addictive line of thinking for the summer when classes are over….daily challenges. But this isn’t the time or place for that.

Not yet. We’ll get there.

In any case, this last month has been a great reading month, and I’ve enjoyed each of the books I’ve read so far. And even the books that I struggled with, especially in February…cough cough, Lord of the Flies, cough cough…I’ve appreciated pushing through until the end. Poor Piggy.

I’m really hoping that I can build my reading up to four or five books a month, but if we’re being honest, which of course we are, I’m not sure how realistic this is with the amount I read otherwise. We’re talking up to 650 essays a year, 300-plus short story submissions, plus editing the ones I accept at least twice, thousands of articles from research, hundreds of thousands of emails, and I’m sure I could keep going. So, I’m  just setting myself up for failure. 

But still, books. I want to read more of them.

Finally, quarter two is going to refocus me on my health. I’ve restarted my favorite work-out regime, Chalean Extreme. Weight lifting makes me happy. I’m going to refocus my writing, participate in Camp Nanowrimo, and jump on my #100daychallenge to write 500 words a day for 100 days. I want to publish at least three new shorts during this time. I plan to build my online course for college students and new writers. I will absolutely finish up our On Time anthology, Kickstarter, and hardback book box. And finally, we will be cleaning and fixing our house. I have the summer set up for this, so we will at least be starting if not finishing this project.

So, am I crazy? Yup, probably. Welcome to the diaries of a workaholic.

Tell me about how your quarter was, your plans for quarter two, and let me know how you are otherwise.