This month is almost one for the books

November almost over. Another Thanksgiving is one for the books. The turkey and fixings are the story of leftovers, if there were leftovers. NaNoWriMo is almost finished as well. I had all of the intentions of participating this year because I need to finish my novel, Magic’s Memory (tentative title), the sequel to Water’s Memory. You know what they say about the road to hell. Completing NaNoWriMo this year is just one more brick in that road.

I, however, have a backup plan. In the back of my mind, I’m going to try to keep a deadline like I had when I participated in the 100 Day Book Program. Hopefully, I will make this deadline which will be around January or Spring Break, which is in March. I’m almost 10,000 words in, and my goal is around 50,000 or 60,000 words. Sometimes I feel like I have a few too many irons in the fire with classwork and writing looming, but the ideas, especially the novel ideas seem to be steady.

I’d like to begin writing short stories again. Maybe an idea or two will come my way. I have an idea about a siren still marinating in my brain. It has been there for months. The story with this siren happens in the world that is evolving in my two novels. The nexus of the mundane and magical world will be the subject of a future post. TTFN! Happy reading! Happy writing! 😊

A Cool Book

Hey! I finished reading a book Friday. One of my colleagues recently turned me on to audio books. Thanks Marcus! Anyways, since I do lots of commuting, I have ample time to think and listen. I guess you can say that I live in my head most of the day. The radio used to be my standby but, like I said, Marcus turned me on to the app Audible. At first I thought my brain would not adjust to a book being read to me. Boy was I wrong, and I'm glad I was. Marcus turned me on to the author Steven Pressfield's book The War of Art, and it informed me on the problem of resistance, something that everyone grapples with. I know I fought with it when I was trying to write Water's Memory. Well, I enjoyed that book, and I picked another by the same author. After listening to the book, I've started to rethink some of my story and novel plots. It's got me thinking what each piece is really about. After I finished the book, I reworked Chapter One of Water's Memory trying to get to the inciting event.  I'm glad that I listened to the book and found it very useful. When I finish Shawn Coyne's Story Grid, I'll have another tool in my box that will help me better my craft. I encourage you all to pick up Steven Pressfield's book, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t. And while you're in the bookstore, be it physically or virtually, get The War of Art as well.  Let me know what you thought of the books. Until next time, keep it in the road!