Storybook Perfect

Always quirky, sometimes sweet speculative fiction

Month: October 2012

One Day To NaNoWriMo

October 31, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Happy Halloween too! From the Black Canary.

Oh, and it’s Halloween today too, so Happy Halloween all! I love dressing up and cosplay, but sadly have not made a costume this year, so I’ll reminisce about when I could pull off the Black Canary’s sexy outfit. All I have is blurry phone shots though.

With one day to go til NaNoWriMo I thought I should update you as to where I am on the NaNoWriMo checklist I put up when it was ten days to go.

1/ Finish my final read through of the altered Storybook Perfect so I can be submitting it while I work.  Done! Though the first agent I want to submit to likes a one page (longer)synopsis and my longer synopsis is two, so I’ve been tinkering with it and am almost happy enough with it to send it off.

2/ Pick my story. Certainly have done this! I was decided before I posted it actually.

3/ Set up plot outline in Scrivener. Yes indeed, if the plan is perfect (which it probably isn’t) it should be around 19 chapters.

4/ Set daily word count goals. Did it and even was so generous as to share it. The calendar is fairly simple, just a basic Excel spreadsheet, but if you’d like to use it go to this post for the link.

5/ Pre-prep a few blog posts as back up for when I’m just too busy. I’ve got a few back-ups and also a great idea to make word count posts a little more interesting. This story involves a LOT of dangerous animals, so I’ll post a mini bestiary of all the creatures met since the last word count post – does that sound like fun?

6/ Complete my other submissions for various journals and competitions since a few are due in November and early December. I’ve done one, but have one more to complete, but there are still a few more hours until bedtime.

So yay and phew, I’ve done the whole list. Now it’s just a waiting game…

I can’t wait to get started!

Gold Coast Writer’s Festival 2012

October 28, 2012 / / 2 Comments

As you probably already know I attended the Gold Coast Writer’s Festival the last two days (Friday and Saturday).  Since the first writer’s festival I attended (Brisbane’s) I only went to one seminar I didn’t have the chance to really get a taste for them, so I was determined to bite off more this time around.

Friday was quite interesting seminar-wise. The self-editing for fiction writers with Louise Cusack was amazing. I took so many notes and while a few things were already known to me there were points I had never actively considered. She also managed to explain some of the bigger concepts in ways that made them feel much more manageable. I’m definitely planning to look into her manuscript assessment services. (No she did not pay me to say that!) At one point during the lecture she said the word ‘squee’, so the nerd in me instantly bonded with her ;p Louise also made a statement witch is marvellous and oh-so true: “If your book is well written enough then no one will care if it is on paper or in e-reader.”

The only downside on the Friday was my inability to connect with other authors attending. I couldn’t seem to easily join in any conversations. I did make a few attempts with the women sitting next to me, but they seemed uninterested in replying to my questions. There were a few guys I wouldn’t minded chatting with but I have difficulty approaching men my age when I’m not in a group. Why? Because I worry they may think I’m trying to pick them up. It sounds silly I know. If there’s a decent age gap, or if I or the guys are in a group I have no qualms. Is that arrogant or paranoid?

Saturday was much better in regards to making connections. While buying some of Rowena Cory Daniells’ books (for a bargain price!) I ended up talking to her (somehow failing to realise who she was at first) and she introduced me to a guy considering joining the writer’s group I’m a member of. We had a fabulous chat and he introduced me to another guy who had some amazing cover art for his books – seriously fabulous, all I’ve been thinking about since is how I might layout the covers for Storybook Perfect and its sequels. I enjoyed another chat with Rowena and Anita Bell later in the day too.

The seminars were very informative. I learned about ‘Writers’ Web’, a website for Australian emerging authors that I will definitely join as a reviewer and if I do go down the indie path also as an author. The fantasy and sci-fi panel was great fun. I wish I could have attended even more, but I was walking between the community centre and the shops where Xander and T-J were hanging out waiting for me.

All-in-all, two very entertaining and inspiring days.

Xander and my business card

Too Many Topics For A Title

October 24, 2012 / / 3 Comments

I don’t usually blog about multiple topics in one post, but today I’ll make an exception.

Wahoo! I finally finished Storybook Perfect (again). In case you were unfamiliar with why I mention the ‘again’, I had finished Storybook Perfect, the first in a trilogy, but when I compared its 175,000 word count to my estimated 120,000 word count for the following two books I didn’t like the discrepancy and decided to turn the trilogy into a quartet. You can read more here.

So, finally re-written, revised, edited and formatted. Now onto fixing my paragraph and 2 page synopsis (no need to change the one sentence fortunately). Then to start submissions again. Is it sad that I’m excited by that?

So that’s one thing ticked off on my NaNoWriMo prep list.

Word Count Calendar

I’ve also set up a little excel spread-sheet with my word count goals. It only took me a few minutes to make the spread-sheet, though I am laughing at myself for forgetting how to make sums in Excel (a minute of thought reminded me I need to preface the word ‘SUM’ with an equals symbol). It has been three or four years since I built a spread-sheet from the ground up.

Being the generous person I am (Toot toot! Hear me tooting my own horn?) I thought I’d share it for anyone who wants to save themselves the 10 or so minutes it would take them to make it. You just click this link.

My parents read my post about winning the Nature’s Cuppa tea pack. They are currently doing the grey nomad thing around Australia (not sure what a grey nomad is? Here you go.) and asked me to save some of the chai tea bags for them. That reminded me I probably should try some of the other flavours (I was so in love with the chai I didn’t even open the other packs yet).

The earl grey is delicious. The aroma relaxes you immediately and the flavour matches the aroma to a ‘t’ (pun or not? Your choice). The chai’s scent is a lot more peppery than the flavour (other spices level out the taste nicely) hence why I mention how well the smell matches the taste in regards to the earl grey. Who knows, give me a week and I might have tried another flavour ;p

My business cards arrived too. I was going to post about it yesterday, but doctor’s appointments, broken down cars (resulting in having to drive T-J to and from work), and Xander’s refusal to leave the park even after an hour and a half (I tried the good old ‘bye-bye Xander’ and walk away trick, but he just waved to me and kept on playing. You’re too young to see through mummy’s ruse yet Xander!) meant my day was a little too full for blogging.

A shot of my business card

So here’s my card! I used a small strip of the website background to add a little colour, and I’ve been obsessed with the QR code for months. What do you think?

Lastly, I’m looking forward to going to the Gold Coast Writer’s Festival, I’ll be attending on Friday and Saturday. I’ll let you all know how it goes. I hope someone asks for my business card 😀

Well, that wraps up my crazy multi-topic post. Do you think my word count goal spread sheet could be useful for other stuff too? What do you think of the business card (try out the QR code!)? Keep your fingers crossed for me and the submissions please.

 

I won the Nature’s Cuppa prize pack but am under no obligation to comment/blog about the tea. All opinions are my own and not paid for.

Xander and my business card

10 Days To NaNoWriMo

October 21, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Philosoraptor pontificates NaNoWriMo (I am obsessed with Memegenerator ATM)

There’s ten days until NaNoWriMo takes over whatever scraps of free time I have. I know I’m going to need to prepare for this because people with less on their plate are posting how they fear they will not be able to win. No I didn’t write that line to beg for people to praise me and tell me I can do it, nor did I write it because working a full-time job isn’t tough. All I mean to say is if back when I worked a full time job I’d known how little free time I would have with a child at home I would have put in more effort to wisely use the free time I had back then. Even now I’m sure there are people reading this rolling their eyes thinking, “Jeeze, you only have one kid? You don’t know how good you got it.” So I’m not trying to say I have the biggest load on my plate either.

Whoa, went off on a serious tangent there…

Well, suffice to say, I know I need to plan this out, because I intend to knock this out of the park.

So, here’s the list of what I’m working on to prepare:

1/ Finish my final read through of the altered Storybook Perfect so I can be submitting it while I work. Ok, sure that doesn’t sound like it should be important, but I don’t want to leave something so close to finished undone, nagging away at the back of my mind. In a fit of procrastination I might go back to finish it and loose precious time. Also I’d like to be doing something to get it back out there ASAP.

2/ Pick my story. Well technically I’ve done that. If you’re already following my Facebook page you will have seen the synopsis I put up. The synopsis is still a little raw, not quite pitch perfect, but it definitely gets the idea across. Follow this link to my NaNoWriMo page and you should be able to read it. Feel free to tell me what you think.

3/ Set up plot outline in Scrivener. Since the idea isn’t brand new I’ve got plenty of ideas of how I want the plot to go and the themes I want to bring up. It’s been rolling around in my head for a year or two, but has always been on the back-burner because I have so many stories I’m desperate to write that it hasn’t had a chance to come to the front. I have a very large, very active back-burner.

4/ Set daily word count goals. 50,000 divided by 30=1667(why do keyboards have no division sign? Is there a HTML way to make them?). But I intend to goal more heavily in the early weeks so I have a buffer for busy days/writers block/illness that may strike later on. Being a mum has made me very safety conscious ;p I want to make a tickable calendar so I can track days I was under and over. I already track word counts(when writing) and page counts (for revision) in my five year diary, but I want something I can absorb in one glance. edit 24/10/12: I’ve done this now, and I’m sharing it. The calendar is fairly simple, just an Excel spreadsheet, but if you’d like it go to this post for the link.

5/ Pre-prep a few blog posts as back up for when I’m just too busy. No phone-ins though! I’m going to want to keep focused on my NaNo and even though I love my blog, I can see it being a distraction. I’ll keep thinking of really cool things to post and keep writing here instead of in the novel. Sadly, blog posts do not get counted toward your NaNoWriMo total.

6/ Complete my other submissions for various journals and competitions since a few are due in November and early December. This is the bottom of the list because I’m not sure how much time I can create. I’d love to get this done, since this will hopefully get my name out there, but if I can’t then I can’t. I’m still going to strive though, because that’s in the spirit of NaNoWrIMo.

Can you think of anything I’m missing?

I Won Tea!

October 19, 2012 / / 3 Comments

a big box of tea

I love tea. I’m not sure I would be capable of writing if there wasn’t a tea cup within arms reach. When one of my favourite blogs, Stuff With Thing, did a contest where all you had to do was comment on the blog about what you snack on while reading I had to confess there that I drink tea. To my surprise (even though I thought my entry might be a little dull for the judges (Marita’s lovely daughters Annie and Heidi)) I won the prize pack of Nature’s Cuppa organic tea.

When I came home from work today there was a package on my door. Since it was way too large for the business cards I ordered (yes, I have made myself some business cards, I promise to talk about them soon) I knew it had to be the prize pack. Since generally I don’t win things (I have good luck, it just tends to manifest in different ways) I was very excited. I proceeded to take a photo of the box before opening, then of the contents, then of the contents of the box within the box! (A bit like pass the parcel, and just as fun.)

All the different flavours of organic tea – even some organic coffee

I haven’t had the time to try all the flavours, but I have enjoyed a cup of the chai (I am a chai addict at the moment, a passion I share with one of my sisters in law). It was rich and peppery and delicious. Quite strong too since I let it brew for the 4 minutes the box recommended. If you like a gentler flavour perhaps don’t allow the tea to steep quite so long, but it was still wonderful.

There is a lot of tea in here. I won’t have to go buy tea for a long time. Thanks Marita and Nature’s Cuppa for your generosity!

I won the prize pack (as I mentioned above) but am under no obligation to comment/blog about the tea. However I am very excited and have loved my first cup, so wanted to anyway. All opinions are my own and not paid for.

 

A chai tea and some novel revision? Sounds like a good day at work to me.

Jumping On The Social Media Band Wagon

October 17, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Some of you may have noticed that little blue ‘F’ up near my red ‘P’(that doesn’t sound healthy…) and my paper white ‘G’. Yes, I have finally created a Facebook author page. The reason it took me so long was because I honestly saw no point if I had nothing to say on it. With my recent joining of NaNoWriMo I will be able to post word count updates and things related to the story so I feel like I finally have something to say. Hopefully one day soon I will get to thrill you all with news about agents and publishing contracts.

I also felt like I needed something else on my business card template, it was looking a little bare ;p but more on my business card later.

Anyway, head on over and have a peek. I’m still wondering what to do as my cover. I’m thinking of making an original header for this site and using it there as well. Aaaah symmetry.

NaNoWriMo – First Time

October 15, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Challenge Accepted

I just finished signing up to join in with NanNoWriMo officially. For those who don’t know, it’s a challenge during November in which writers try to write a whole novel (well, at least 50,000 words of one) in just one month.

I’m in two minds as to whether I can actually do it. I did write a 65,000 word first draft in two months (and a couple of days) so it is achievable if I goal it seriously, but I have the typical ‘artist’ lack of confidence popping up reminding me I have a full time job (mum) and part-time job(shop assistant) that can destroy my writing time whenever. Of course ‘winning’ isn’t all that this is about for me, it’s a chance to get some more words on the page as fast as possible and an opportunity to do something very writerly.

The really tough part is which idea to use. I have a couple that have been begging me to focus on them. T-J thinks I really need to write one of my ideas which isn’t cross-dimensional. He’s got a point, I might end up pigeon holing myself. So, do I go with the urban fantasy story about a single mum, her son and the ghost they live with, or the high fantasy story of a quest being done for all the wrong reasons?

Well I’m on record now as saying I’m going to tackle this challenge seriously – so all of you have to hold me to it! You can check out my participant page here.

Is anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? Do either of my very vague sentences strike you as particularly appealing?

Rainy Days – Pros and Cons

October 11, 2012 / / 2 Comments

I know it’s a window, but maybe I can climb through to outside.

Pro: When it’s raining everything green becomes much richer in colour, so vivid and verdant. I wonder if it is something to do with the clouds blocking certain rays of light, or if their colour creates an offset which makes an illusion of a much brighter green. I don’t know, but it’s beautiful none the less. My camera really doesn’t do it justice.

Con: Your toddler keeps grabbing your hand and taking you to the door, insistently pointing to his sand-pit, swing and outside in general because he’s sick of playing inside. You have to keep trying to explain to him that we can’t go outside because it’s raining. Two minutes later he grabs your hand and leads you to the door again.

Take a Chance…?

October 8, 2012 / / 0 Comments

I may have to

I want to take chances.

I want to write some interesting things. For example ideas rolling around in my head of late have included writing a novella to self-publish (just to see how self-publishing and I work together), a character blog from the perspective of a girl who travels into a video-game world, and writing stories from many different genres just because I love the idea that’s in my head.

I worry since my ultimate goal is to be traditionally published that these things failing may look bad on my ‘resume’ or leaving them off my resume would be found out and prove to be even worse through omission.

I wonder, would an agent care about tanked experiments? Would a publisher? Or can I feel free to dabble in whatever project takes my fancy? Don’t forget what they say though: “once something is put on the internet it lives there forever”.

Every Day I’m Jugglin’

October 3, 2012 / / 5 Comments

Just for laughs

It’s very easy when taking on projects to have too many balls in the air. Between juggling writing(and revising) my novels, writing this blog, being a mum and making enough money with my part-time job I’m kept pretty busy. I prioritise with care, obviously Xander comes first in everything I do (even over sleep sometimes – such is the life of a mum).

I thought I was doing a good job. Okay maybe I wasn’t writing on this blog as often as I initially goaled to (my goal was every two to three days, but it more like every four) but I was keeping on track. Then I remembered my emails.

I – like some people – have several email addresses. There’s one for things I sign up to, newletters, forums, websites. I call that email my spam-mail because more often than not the emails aren’t all that important. That address has a silly name I made up when I was fourteen, you can tell, because it’s Sailor Moon themed. I check that email every few days, just when I have the time and tend to delete half of my messages without reading.

Next there’s my professional email, which I use for querying agents, sending emails related to my other job (not many of those now I’m part time though) and important writing things. I check that inbox multiple times each day.

Then there’s the email I was given when I paid for hosting this blog. The one in my ‘contact me’ section. I diligently checked it multiple times a day as well, but after three months of receiving absolutely no mail on that address I set up a re-direct to my professional email. At least I thought I had. Apparently I’m not as tech savvy as I thought because my redirect didn’t work and I missed an email letting me know I’d been nominated for an award and how to join the voting. The voting finished a month ago. I only discovered this because I accidentally clicked open Outlook instead of Notepad and it loaded.

When I looked a little closer my blog probably wouldn’t have won since the award was for blogs of a particular content on which I’ve only posted about once or twice, but it is not so much the award that matters as the opportunity.

When you have too many balls in the air sometimes you can miss an opportunity because you’re too busy juggling.

But how do you know if the ball you chose to put down to make the juggling easier wasn’t the one which had the opportunity?

 

Joining Picklebums for Real life Wednesday.

Real Life Wednesdays

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