Dragon*Con is Coming!

I may be absent for awhile. Well, more absent than usual, anyway.

I leave for Dragon*Con on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to the craziness! Probably because I feel a little more prepared than I did the last (that would be first) time I went.

There are lots of writers workshops I want to attend, and lots of other things, too. There's so much to choose from!

I will have my camera (a better one than the thing I took last year) and I HOPE I get brave enough to use it. There's just soooo many people walking around and taking pictures (and soooo many people to take pictures of). Maybe I just need to stand next to other photographers and snap away.

My hope is to post some pictures on my blog while I'm there. The reality may not occur, though. I have to find the USB cords and such before I leave, or I won't be able to download the pictures!

One of the best things about the trip – my daughter prefers to drive. And seeing how I prefer NOT to drive, it works out great! I hope to get some writing (if not reading) done. Yeah, reading. I better make sure I have plenty. I just started Book #6 of the BDB series and I'm pretty sure it won't last the week.

If anyone out there will be attending the Convention, let me know.

Time Flies When You're Not Looking

For the past week, I've been alone in the house. My husband went down to Atlanta for some training and is expected home today.

I anticipated a great many writing hours during his absence. But days creep up on you quicker than anything, don't they? I was lucky to get 1000 words written this week (although I'm grateful I got that many!).

Of course, two of the days were spent with my off-spring, and I'm not complaining. I love spending time with them. Then there was a class I had signed up for and am struggling immensely (I'm beginning to think the class was a mistake!), so that's also taken up some of my time. Then there's the book series I'm reading (and reading and reading and reading). Well, you get the idea.

Those five days of being alone boiled down to maybe five hours of writing. Heck, I get that much time in when he's home.

But I did realize why I'm struggling with my current WIP. I'm still basically world-building. Trying to figure out what my character can and can't do – what will and won't work. With Book #3, my world was already created from writing Books 1 & 2, so I didn't have to think of anything but my characters and their story.

So, yeah, I'm happy with those 1000 words. It means I'm starting to get a handle on things. The story is moving forward. And scenes are starting to form in my head (something that was missing earlier).

Do I wish I had my world figured out earlier so I could have taken advantage of the quiet week? That would have been great, but I have a feeling it wouldn't have made a difference. This story will get written at the rate it wants to. Right now that rate is slow (at least, slow for me).

Eureka!

I wrote the back story to my female character and I think it worked. Now I just have to find time to write and not get sucked into the next book I'm reading (Book #5 of J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood Series). Yeah, like that's not going to happen!

So, that means setting some goals. I want to write, but I really want to read, too (and not just during lunch). Plus, I have other obligations (like a class I'm taking and time I spend with the family).

That means obligations first, then write until 10:00pm. I should be able to get at least an hour of writing (maybe more on those nights I don't have any obligations), which will give me at least an hour to read before heading for bed (provided I don't keep myself up longer because I want to read just "one more page"). Of course, if I'm engrossed in what I'm writing, I won't care about the book I'm reading. And I'm really hoping that happens, especially since I have a good handle on my character now.

It's hard when you're torn in so many pieces! Maybe it won't be so hard once I finish reading the series. But I'm sucked in now and there's no going back.

Obsessed

My daughter introduced me to J.R. Ward's books. I have to say, I'm now an obsessed reader of her work. As soon as I finish one, I'm into the next. And I don't just read during lunch. I read at night, too.

This has seriously affected my writing.

But I can't really blame the books, as much as I'd like.

Lots of things seem to be going on right now. Lots of things, but not writing.

The thing is: I miss it. But I'm at a point in my story where I should KNOW my characters and I don't feel I do yet. So that's requiring me to think about them more. To understand their back stories (without writing them). Maybe I should write their back stories. Maybe that's what's missing. But not for the book – for me. For me to get to know my characters better. It's certainly something worth thinking about.

For you non-plotter writers out there, how do you get to know your characters, when it seems they're distant?

In the meantime, I'll enjoy the Black Dagger Brotherhood books. Because they're really GOOOOOD!

Contests

For you writers out there – do you enter contests? Are you addicted and enter every contest you can find or choosy and only go for those that get in front of an agent or editor you'd like your work to be seen by?

I'm more of the choosy variety. Although with my first book I entered it into several contests. I thought I would get the feedback I needed. I got feedback, but nothing constructive.

On my third book, I had critique partners. They gave me the best feedback. So I didn't feel the need to enter it into contests.

Until now.

I'm curious. Will it do well? Will it make it to the finals? I just gotta know!

Hopefully, I won't be in the dumps come November!