*Insert Picture Of Head Hitting Desk Here*

The first two weeks of November have been JAMMMMMM packed, because it is that nano time of year and I decided that this would be the perfect time for me to get myself started on Ignis.  Last year I did a side project (that I'm still currently revising) and even though I do have another side project about 1/2 way planned, I wanted to get right back into all the Five Tribes stuff this year.

Originally, when I started this, I gave myself one year apiece for these suckers.  That was gonna be 5 books in 5 years.  But... yeah, I keep getting caught up in other things: books, plot bunnies, LIFE.  And well, I failed utterly.

But we're getting close to the end here, folks and this book number 4 is gonna be a DOOZY.  Like, I've been wanting to write this particular book since the very beginning of the series and pretty much every tiny seemingly insignificant detail you may or may not have noticed over the course of the books so far will be brought back into play for this book.  Did you notice perhaps a sword or a figurine or a character and thought, "Why in the heck did she talk about that only to drop it and never bring it up again?"  Well, all your questions will be answered in this book and then some.

Of course, me being me, I will only end with more annoying questions.  Because there is still one more book to be written after this one.

So far, thanks to the awesomeness that is nano, I have written about 30,000 words (about a quarter of the book, if you can believe it.)  So, by the time nano is over, I hope to have almost half of the book finished (in draft form).  My estimate for the book this time around is about 120k.  That's modest by Kate standards, but don't worry.  This book will be action packed!

So yeah, by the time nano is over, I'll have Nikka & Zyander 2/3rds of the way done.  My plan has been to only write those two perspectives for this book and then work on Luka.  If you finished Terris, you already know why I would write that perspective completely separate from the other two.  If you haven't read Terris, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

So there you go.

In summary: 30k and 9 chapters into Ignis.  Will be almost halfway done with the book by the time nano finishes.  Halfway done with my final edit for the side project and halfway done with the planning phase for the OTHER side project.

And somehow I'm still supposed to get all the other crap in my life completed.  Which is why I'm regularly up at 4:30 in the am, guys.

Happy Reading!

The Best of the Peps

I love the Nano Pep Talks.  As I mentioned before, they are really why I love Nano.  Nano is HARD.  I've participated 5 times and finished 3.  1667 words a day, people.  Some years are easier than others.  This is one of the others.
But there is something about a pep talk written by an author.  No, it's not the blatant appeal to authority.  Or the cache of having one of your favorite authors (Kristin Cashore, anyone?) speak their best words of wisdom and enthusiasm for your eyes only.  For me, it's the camaraderie I feel, realizing there are other people out there, like me.
There are other authors who get lost in the plot, who get stuck in a rut, who over think their writing, and who can't seem to write an outline to save their lives.  These authors share their darkest fears and their greatest moments of clarity with us.  And I deeply appreciate the vulnerability that entails.  It's also one of the reasons why I love ROW80.
It's so great to not only read about others who are struggling like me, but so fulfilling to see their triumphs and successes.
So in the spirit of Nano—which is halfway over already—here are my favorite bits of advice:
1) Don't cheat! Don't let yourself get caught up in the seductive attraction of a new story!  Finish your book and then move on to another idea, otherwise you will end up with a box full of starts and no finishes.  (Courtesy of Meg Cabot.  Side note, this one pep talk gave me the courage to finish Six Keys so long ago.)
2) Figure out what's next.  When you get to the end of your writing day, take a few minutes to think about what happens next, so you don't find yourself staring at a blank page when you start again the next day.  I tend to do this at night before bed.  When I'm not dying of exhaustion, that is.  (Courtesy of Holly Black.)
3) Write for your reader self, not your writer self.  This is probably one of the best pieces of advice out there, and it goes hand-in-hand with "write what you read".  If you LOVE YA fantasy, and you read a ton of it, then you know exactly what people like you want to read.  Write for the you that reads YA fantasy, and the others like you will follow. (Also courtesy of Holly Black.)
4) The only way out is through.  When you get to the point where you despair of your story, where it seems like nothing but a BIG GIANT TASK, remember not to quit.  The only way to finish that story is to sit down and write it, warts and all.  (Courtesy of John Green.)
5) Writers are dreamers.  Being a head-in-the-clouds dreamer is a fine thing.  Dreamers see possibilities where others see a blank word doc or an empty notebook.  Dreamers give people beauty, hope and a few minutes of wondrous entertainment.  They make people happy (overall, that is.  I know you've all had some one star moments.  I certainly have.) (Courtesy of Piers Anthony.)
6) No one else can write the book for you.  I mean, they could... but it wouldn't be as good.  Imagine JK Rowling had a ghostwriter for the last Harry Potter book.  Would it have had her great sense of humor?  Would the story have ended the same?  (Courtesy of Neil Gaiman.)

So, I know I've been radio silent over here, but I've had good reason.  I've written 15,500ish words so far this month.  For me, that is practically a miracle.  Of course, there were some setbacks and some successes. I have rewritten Zyander's first part about 3 times.  I know what I want to say, but I just can't seem to say in a way that I like.  hahaha  I also finished my super secret project that I started... oh... 6 mths ago, I think.  This may shock you, but I don't write everything under my own name.  I follow Dean Wesley Smith's advice and put different genres under different names.  Nothing I'm ashamed of, but I've found that fans of one or the other genres don't tend to like crossovers.

Anyway, I'm making good progress and feeling happy with where I'm at.  I'll let you know when I finish Zyander's first part.

Happy Reading!

I'm Just Here for the Pep Talks!

I got my NaNoWriMo email.  *cue ominous music*  How I long to join nano this year.  Such a great motivator and a fabulous way to rack up a bunch of words (50,000 to be exact)!
Alas, I know that if I join up, I won't make it to the goal.  Not enough sleep.
Still, I'm considering signing up anyway, simply because some of the best pep talks I've ever read have been from the authors who participate in nano.  One by Meg Cabot, I swear to you, changed my writing career FOREVER.
I'm going to think on it some more.  I have 22 days, according to the letter, before it starts, so I have time to make up my mind.

I actually got some writing done in the past week.  Yay!  Not much on Terris, but some is better than none.  Terris: 23,968.  Tues./Thurs. side project: 5,583.  I think I've gotten about 5,000 words total in for the week, I think.  For a person who has written in the hundreds of words in the past couple of weeks, it is a major victory.  Next week I'm off to my parents' house while my oldest son goes off to visit his grandma.  The last time this happened I was able to finish off Aeris.  My goal this time around will be 20,000 words.  In two weeks, that should be quite a goal, but I need to make up some ground given my utter failure to write in the past month and a half.

Right now, I'm hopeful and determined.  I'm wishing progress on all my fellow ROW participants!  Fighting!(It's a Kdrama thing, hahahaha)

Happy Reading!