So Behind

I am so behind! I'm only at about 18,000 words at the present, and there are 4 days until the end of the month. Yippee! I don't think I'll hit 50K, and it kind of makes me sad.

But, on the positive, at least I'm writing again, right? I am still thinking about the novel, even if I'm not writing on it every day. It seriously has been haunting my thoughts. How am I going to get to the awesome ending I have planned for it? What are my characters going to do to change the pre-conceived plot I have?

The bonus is that I'm just over halfway to what I wrote last April, so I figure as long as I beat my 2014 numbers, I'll be okay. And, if I don't make it to 50K, I can always try again in July.

Maybe.

Life has been pretty crazy.

So we'll see.

Until then, wish me luck! Send me all the good writing vibes you can.

XOXO,

JP

How?

How?

How do you come up with your ideas of what to write?


I get asked that a lot, and my answer might actually surprise you.

I dream novel.

Yeah, you read that right. I dream most of my books. I know, it's totally weird. I don't dream very often, but when I do, I dream so vividly. I can see the characters, I can hear their voices so clearly.

Don't believe me?

I had a dream when I was in high school. It festered in my brain for years. Now? It's the main plot of Escaped.

True Story.

About six years ago, I had another dream. It was totally crazy and full of all these really weird sci-fi elements. Totally not my normal thing. But, with a little tweaking, it turned into The Sector.

I have countless other unfinished projects that all started out the same way: in a dream. Some of them might get written. Some of them are just scenes, glimpses into a moment between characters that have stuck with me for years, and need a ton of work to actually make a good story. Some of them will just be jotted down as an outline on paper, left behind for me to smile at and remember (like the one where that one guy who plays Superman - yeah, the hot one - moves in next door to high school me and wants to be my BF. Yep, that one is staying. haha). And then there are some dreams that no matter how hard I try, they just aren't good novel material.

But others? Others turn into a six-book-long series all partially written and waiting to be finished and sent off to the beta readers.

True Story.

Every author is different. No one will have the exact same answer to the "how" question. But we all have an answer.

So what's your how?

It doesn't have to be just about writing. It can be anything.

How did you come up with your awesome Lego creation?
How did you decide what subject to paint?

How did you come up with your creative idea, be it quilting, sewing, designing, architecture, painting, etc. Let me know in the comments!!

XOXO,

JP

The Why

WHY?

That's a question I get asked a lot. Second only to "How did you come up with this?" - but that's another post for another day.

To get back to my #2 question:

Why?

Why do you write?

Honestly? It's kind of a compulsion. Even if I'm not writing at all (like this past year - dark days, people, dark days), I'm constantly thinking about where the story is going or what my characters look like. Last week I even gave one of my main characters a drastic hair cut and color.

Yes, they are fictitious.

Yes, they really only live in my head - for now.

But when they are finally ready to meed the world, it'll be great.

Again, back to the "why?" and the compulsion to actually write a novel.

A) I love it! Seeing something I've dreamed up come to life on paper/my computer screen is amazing. There's this giant bundle of mixed emotions once I type the last words, but it's totally worth it.

B) Hearing people's reactions - even the bad ones - is awesome. At first it's totally scary.
What if they don't like it?
What if my book totally tanks?
What if I fail?
Don't listen to the what ifs!! I know, it's hard. That's why I took a year off: too many what ifs. But once you block them out and accept the good, the bad, and the "it was just okay" reviews, you're set. My philosophy? If they wrote a review - or even gave it some stars - you touched the reader enough to elicit a response.

And that's what's important.

So now, when people ask why, I respond:

"Because I love it."

It's as simple as that.

So what's your why? Tell me why you do what you do in the comments!

XOXO,

JP

Camping in April

So I'm writing for Camp Nano again. This time I think I'll finish. My goal is 50,000 words - a lot, I know - but I'm working on something I've been thinking about for a while. It's got a lot of mystery to it. It's going to be really interesting seeing how it all plays out in the end. I'm actually really excited about it.

I started off slow. Only a couple thousand words the first few days, then ending with just over 5000 last week. Well, when I logged into my server to get my file, it hadn't updated last week. Nope. I lost approximately 1000 words.

It was really hard on me.

But I got them back, and I think they're even better this time around. I honestly can't really remember what that other 1000 words was about, just that it was kind of boring. I might have been making my characters eat. I hate writing about eating. It's kind of obnoxious. Can't we just assume that book characters eat? Unless it's totally pivotal to the story, and then by all means, write the eating in. But, in most cases, it seems like it's just a filler. I have a friend writing a novel, and she said to me once that it felt like her main character was seriously eating every time she wrote a scene. So, whenever I write a food scene, I try to remember that conversation and then I pare down the eating. Because eating is BORING.

Anyway, I'm really digging the mystery that's suddenly popped up into this project. There are several characters I just started writing into the story, and they're really going to make a mess of things I think. Which is good. It keeps me on my toes. I mean, I know where this book needs to end up, but for the most part I haven't planned anything out.

I posted an excerpt over on the Facebook page, so head over there and let me know what you think! Seriously, I want it all: the good, the bad (but please keep it clean; it's a family-friendly page). Leave a comment. Or you could like it. You could even share the post if you wanted to. I'd totally let you. Whatever you do, keep in mind that it's a totally unedited piece of what I wrote tonight.

And with that, I'm going to call it a night. I'm only at just under 7500 words so I need to rest and let those creative juices flow so I can catch up on the ever-elusive word count goal.

50,000! What was I thinking?! (No, but seriously, what was I thinking?)

Thanks for following and for all your support!

XOXO,

J.P.