It's WOTY Time!

Every year about this time, I make myself a mini-pledge of a sorts.  I pick a word that I want to exemplify my writing life and stick with it like a goal, to spur myself through another year of ups and downs, stops and starts.  Last year, if you recall, my WOTY last year was FEARLESS  (with Fighting! being a close runner up, of course).  I tried a lot of stuff last year.  I also failed at some and succeeded at some.  I put out four audiobooks, I wrote some obsessive kdrama fangirl fiction disguised as contemporary fiction.  I wrote over half of Terris, the next book in my Five Tribes series.  I got a new job.  I wrote Buzz Worthy News for Cuddlebuggery while they were on hiatus.  And it was fun.  So fun.  I had a great time last year, for sure.

This year, my Word Of The Year is FLEXIBLE.

If only.  I pretty much suck at yoga because I'm the total opposite of this girl right here.

A short explanation: since getting my job, my time has been really limited in the writing dept.  I have lunch break and naptime on the weekends and that's about it.  I don't have time to sit down and lose myself in the world I've created as I did in the past.  And that's cool, you know.  I'm rollin' with it.  But I need to let go of the idea that writing has to be done a certain way, at a certain time, with a certain plan in mind.
This year is the year to let freedom reign.  Let my preconceived notions of what being a writer means GO, once and for all.  My task for myself is just to be as flexible as I can be with the writing times I've been given.  Do I have an hour, here or there?  Awesome, I'll just squeeze some words in, if I can.
Overall, my goal this year is to FINISH TERRIS.  Because of my writing, I hesitate to give an actual set in stone month deadline (as I have a feeling that will lead to epic amounts of FAIL), but here's hoping that by say... August, I've got the rough draft done.  If I can just get to THAT point, then the rest will follow.  I'm also hoping to have one more CR under my belt by then, but if it doesn't happen, then it doesn't happen.  I'm fully committed to Terris, at this point.

Anyway, that's all from me, for now.  Happy Reading, all!

Suspending Disbelief

A bookish friend of mine (a person who is only a friend in the sense that we communicate online and commiserate over books) recently read a book that I love and well... let's just say she didn't enjoy it as much as I did.

And while I try hard not to take it to heart, it does have me wondering why she didn't like the book.  Specifically, why wasn't she able to get lost in it, like I was.

The thing is, in her review, she talks about a lot of details the book has: the magical characters use wands when they don't seem to need to, the prophesied main character seems to be insanely good at everything (she plays a perfect game of cricket when she just picked up the paddle), etc.

And these are all valid notes.  In fact, when I read her notes and thought about it, I realized that I had completely overlooked all of these in my own reading.  I was so immersed in the story that I didn't care about the little plot problems along the way.  I had suspended disbelief somehow and gotten lost in the story.

But, see, I care about plot problems, too.  The book Across The Universe by Beth Revis, had all sorts of issues that drove me CRAZY when I read that book (causing me to revoke its 'scifi' label), but my bookish friend read it and loved it.  None of its issues were a problem for her.

So what is it about a story that connects with our imagination, our heart, our deeper self, and has us clamoring for more, even when the story itself isn't perfect?  And why did I read the entire Twilight series, when there are several eye-rolling aspects of it that made me want to punch the wall?

The answer?  I really have no freaking clue!  I wish I knew, because that would be a freaking gold mine.  Not the sell as many books as Twilight thing, but the 'what makes people love a book despite all odds' thing.

Something I will be thinking on for a while, I can assure you.

I have not been writing over Christmas break.  I have been planning and stewing and germinating, but not writing.  Hopefully it will pay off when I go back to work next week.  Also, the Cuddlebuggery ladies are back from their hiatus, so I'll have like 6 more hours a week to write.  This is good.

One final thing, a present for the new year...

I now have copies of Aeris to give away, too!  I've still got a few copies of Compis audiobook left, if you want to get on board with a copy of both for free!!!  The audible books cost $15 bucks a piece, I think, so this is a pretty good deal.  And already I'm hearing rave reviews about my voice actor, so that's good, too.

Happy Reading and Happy New Year!