I Did It! And New Things

Holy Freaking Cow, I actually did it. I finished NaNoWriMo. And my final word count was 57,091. I pumped a lot of words out the last couple days of November. I've done this thing off and on for about 5 years now and this is the first time I've come anywhere close to 50K. So you know, I'm pretty thrilled. :)

Of course, Moon Dragons isn't quiet done yet. I still have 20 scenes to write, but I'm in the home stretch and about 75% done with this sucker. I figure I can finish this first draft by sometime in January, so that's the new goal.

And now, moving on to some exciting announcements! If you turn your attention to the top of the screen, you will notice a new tab called "Writing Resources". In it you will find links to some useful writing related web sites and I'm in the process of compiling a list of writing books that I have found useful.

In the vein of useful writing help, I am also going to be launching a new series here called Kricket's Writing Tips For Beginners. I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time, but just didn't know how.

So, I want to start this series by introducing myself (for those of you who don't know me yet), because I know when I'm looking at someone giving writing advice, I want to know their credentials and their experience, to see if I deem them qualified to give me advice.

I have been writing since I was 13. I have two completed manuscripts under my belt. I worked on the school newspaper in high school. I'm an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction and I'm fascinated with the publishing process. No, I have not published anything, haven't even tried. I'm not at that step in the process, yet. So what am I qualified to tell you about?

Next to nothing.

Honestly. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I know everything because I feel I'm just at the beginning of the path to becoming a serious writer. BUT, I do feel like I've learned a few things on my journey so far and I want to share them, and that's what I intend to do.

So here's a layout of how this series is going to go. I'm going to post every Wednesday and here's a brief overview of what I'm going to talk about.

• Writing Mojo: The Why, What, Where, When and How of Writing.
• Your Routine: How to Make Writing A Part of Your Daily Life
• Goals: Setting And Meeting Writing Goals, Big And Small.
• The First Draft: It Sucks.
• Writer's Block: A Few Thoughts.

As this series goes on, please, please feel free to comment with your thoughts and suggestions. Also, if you know of any other resources out there for writers that I haven't mentioned, please share! You can either leave a comment or email me, there's a form just to the left.

Thank you for reading and I hope you come by again in the weeks to come! Happy Wednesday! Go Write Something!

Shiny New Changes!

Hello Awesome Readers! Thanks for visiting my updated Writing Blog.

You'll notice a few new things, like the background and some new links and things on the side. But the part I'm most excited about is the "Current Projects" tab. In there you'll find a list of what things I'm working on, what stage they're at in the writing process and I've even thrown in some pictures I've made of some of the characters. I can't draw worth beans, but I really like playing with other people's art. There are links on that page that take you to the site were I created all the images.

Beyond that, not much here is changing. I'll still be updating every Wednesday with "What's Up Wednesday" with an added effort to include writing news or advice that I find around the web. That way, we can learn together.

Also, there have been some changes over at my normal blog which you can find here.

So tell me what you think of the changes. I LOVE reading comments, it makes me feel loved. :)

Happy Tuesday!

What's Up Wednesday #1

So I've seen a few other writing blogs that do a Writing Wednesday or a WIP Wednesday and I wanted to do something similar but different. So here you have the first What's Up Wednesday!

And what will I talk about in What's Up Wednesday. What's up with my writing of course. This is a writing blog after all. ;)

Well, I've given my current WIP a new working title of Moon Dragons. Sounds a lot better than Dragons in Space space space space! And I'm currently up to over 30,000 words out of about 70,000. I really have no clue how long this is going to be but I'm pretty sure I'm not quiet half way through the story yet.

I was hoping to get a lot more words on the page the last few days but I got caught up in the beginning stages of developing two of my main alien characters. At first I wanted to make them "simply evil" but after reading that character book I reviewed last post I realized that would not be a good idea. So I had to come up with some basic motivations and reasons for why they do what they will eventually do, which I'm not 100% sure of yet. :D

And now for a few lines from Moon Dragons:

Sonya looked over her shoulder at her teacher Master Abdul... “I don’t think I can do it, sir.”

“And why not?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m afraid of heights, sir,” she whispered.

Master Abdul let out a belly laugh. “You want to fly in space but you’re afraid of heights?”

Sonya shrugged. “There’s no gravity in space, sir. No falling down.”

Also, some links about writing awesomeness I'd like to share.

First, Chuck Wendig dispenses awesome writing advice. The first I'd like to share is this: 

HOW TO PUSH PAST THE BULLSHIT AND WRITE THAT GODDAMN NOVEL: A VERY SIMPLE NO-FUCKERY WRITING PLAN TO GET SHIT DONE (his title, not mine)

And this: 

25 WAYS TO BE A HAPPY WRITER (OR, AT LEAST, HAPPIER)

He's a smart man and he writes good books. I just reviewed one this week in fact. :)

And that is all for now friends! Have a Happy Writer's Wednesday!