J is for Joy

J is for Joy

The stars are singing.

It’s a song too quiet to hear, but just knowing makes a difference. The sun shines through the clouds. I can’t see it, but I feel the rays on my skin.

Raindrops fall, like seeds of hope.

And I smile.

For the first time, I know that everything will be okay.

***

I'm sorry, guys. I just have a really hard time writing, well... happy things. I guess that's why the end of books are the hardest for me to write. Luckily book 1 of The Trials is only book 1 so it didn't have to end that happy.

Anyway, I'm really joyful today because yesterday, I hit 85,000 words in book 2, currently titled Light of the Dark! So yeah, I'm really really excited!! Maybe it's because it's a sequel, but writing this book has been a lot easier than writing book 1. It took me 10 months to write the first one. (I'm talking first draft.)

I started this book in November. (November!) And six months later, I'm almost done. That's like a four month improvement!

Now, as for the song. I don't usually listen to Jordin Sparks. I really only listen to European music. People like Within Temptation, Epica, Krypteria, After Forever... you know.

But.

I really like this song. Mostly because it sort of reminds me of writing. I guess it could be for anything, really, but it means more to me because that's what it reminded me of. So, give it up for One Step At A Time by Jordin Sparks.

Because, writing can be frustrating sometimes. But we've got to keep pushing on, even if we're not exactly sure where we're going.

Have a Joyful day! And happy writing!!

--Jess

P.S.

My sister's middle name is Joy, so go check out her blog. She's also participating in the A to Z Challenge!

Three Day Countdown...

Wow, I knew NaNoWriMo was coming fast, but I just checked my little countdown meter on my sidebar and I didn't realize it was in three days. Okay, I've really got to start working hard.

I'm really not a big fan of writing without an outline. In fact, every single story I’ve written without an outline has remained unfinished. Honestly, if I don’t know where the story is going, I get really bored. You have no idea how much I wish I could just start a story without much of a plan then turn it into something that people love. I think it’s good to be spontaneous. But I guess that’s just not how I work.

So, I’ve got five days to write half of what I like to call, a skeleton. Now I’m sure there’s an official name for it, but I kinda like calling it a skeleton because I write everything down that helps maintain the structure of the story. The fancy and thoughtful language (what I like to call the muscle or meat of the story) can come in later. So until NaNoWriMo begins, I’ve got to be working on my skeleton.

All in all, writing the skeleton is really the part where I get the whole story down and out of my head. I usually break it up in bullet points and don’t write in complete sentences. At the same time, I try to be as detailed as I can be without actually and officially writing the story. And when I say detailed, I mean detailed. It kind of gets to the point of being ridiculous.

Speaking of skeletons, what are everyone’s plans for Halloween? I’m participating in Elizabeth Muller’s Spookfesta and if it weren’t for a reminder email I got, I would have totally forgotten. As far as trick-or-treating goes, I’d much rather buy a bag of Reeces Peanut Butter Cups and write all night long.

--Jess

Back In The Blogosphere

Wow, we're finally here and I'm loving the coffee and rain! Hopefully I'm back for good. Well, at least until the month in temporary housing is up, but let's not worry about that right now.


Okay, now to business.


I am exactly halfway done with editing my novel (give or take a chapter)! I can't believe I've already come this far, it's so exciting! I'm struggling to not explode from excitement because we're living in Seattle and because I'm halfway done! (Or maybe thats from the mocha latte I drank earlier...)


Anyway, I'm kind of torn. For the entire way here, we've only had one laptop (I ordered my own yesterday so that shouldn't be a problem anymore). So while my mom was writing on the computer, I really couldn't work on my current story. I was tempted to just watch the TV with my brother and sister, but Food Network doesn't hold my attention for very long. I'm not exactly the 'cooking' type. Besides, I've been feeling in a creative mood all week. The perfect time to write, right?


As of today, I've written down ten to fifteen different story ideas, all of them completely separate from my current novel. Each has about a paragraph of back-story and where I want the story to go. I'm proud of myself for that, but a little overwhelmed. What the heck am I going to do with ten new story ideas?


And that's not all. I've got the first few chapters of my sequel planned out. Like completely planned out. All I've got to do is write it.


So why don't I just go for it?


To be honest, I'm actually afraid for my first book. Am I giving it enough attention? Am I giving it too much attention? Should I start book two or just continue focusing on book one? Or should I take a break from this entire story after finishing my second draft and write something completely different? There are things in book two that would definitely help me edit book one but would I be cheating book one from my undivided attention? Gosh I'm so confused.


Do you guys have any advice? How far along are you in writing/editing a novel when you feel comfortable starting something new? Do you write the sequel right after book one or do you take a break and write something different?


I love hearing what you've got to say!


--Jess


P.S.
I'm trying to come up with a better blogging schedule. I think I'll be posting Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but we'll see. Thanks for stopping by!

Running Out of Time

Does anyone ever feel like there should be six more hours in a day? Does anyone ever feel like there's too much you've got to do but too little time to do everything? Well then you know exactly how I've been feeling!


When I was little, my mom would remark that she had no time to do anything at all. I would laugh and wonder what the heck she was talking about! Half of the day she didn't look like she was doing anything except staring at the computer screen or helping me with school work (I should have known better!). Only now I have finally discovered what she meant by that.


First of all, I've been trying to read more. During my drafting stage over the summer, I had no time at all to read (it's not like I have more time now...). So every night before bed, I try to squeeze in a chapter or two of my current book, which of course takes away time from everything else I want to be doing.

Second, I've got school. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I'm home-schooled, so what do I have to worry about? Well, I'm not 'home-schooled' in the traditional sense. The school I'm enrolled in is more of a Online Public School where we've got real teachers and due dates and homework... yeah not so fun. I've got classes running throughout the day and you can't believe how hard it is to stay away from writing!

Third, I've been trying so very hard to get my editing done! But my precious editing time at 5:30am has been taken over by skating now! (Yes, where I live there are freestyles super duper early!) So I'm behind on my editing! (And it didn't help that the previous chapter that I worked on today was terrible!)

And finally, there's those new ideas sloshing around in my head that refuse to leave me alone! Despite how exciting they can be, they are also quite distracting.

The funny thing is, time never used to run so fast. (Maybe I scared it away with how much I'm trying to fit into it...) Anyway, I'm so sorry if I haven't visited you're blog in a while! I'm going to try to catch up with everyone I'm following (sooner or later) but I'll probably only be posting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday now (maybe poetry on Saturday).

Maybe I'm wrong but time seems to be short for most people these days! What are some things YOU try to cram into your day?


--Jess


P.S.
I changed my blogger template so if things seem different to you don't be alarmed! And also, my birthday is tomorrow so I've got to change all of my ages to 15! Yay!

Be Prepared!

First of all, thanks to all my new followers from the campaign and for all the wonderful comments on my flash fiction post!

Alrighty, with that statement out of the way, I can tell you some exciting news! I have a skating competition tomorrow! (In case you didn't know, yes I'm a figure skater.) I usually don't get nervous until I'm actually at the ice rink, awaiting my turn to be called in front of the judges, but I'm not exactly sure how prepared I am for this one. I've got two jumps in there that I can't land consistently and a spin that doesn't exactly spin very well. So, with that being said, yes, maybe I am a little nervous right now.

Me and Alyss after one of our many competitions!

I'm not really someone that preforms well under pressure either. My knees get a little shaky and I constantly feel like I need to take a trip to the bathroom. Not to mention, the past few weeks I've been much more interested in my writing than in my skating (which I guess isn't a terrible thing because writing is my first favorite thing ever), but it isn't so good if I want to have a winning chance.


So, I'm sure you've made this conclusion already, but no, I'm not exactly prepared for this competition. I've got a little bit of an idea of the people I'll be competing against, but to be honest, I could lose miserably, or take first place. I've got no clue how this is going to play out.


And here comes the catch. Maybe I'm not the most physically prepared person there. But from a mental perspective, I very well could be. Not because I can land my jumps or do my spins, but because I'm prepared to lose. I'm prepared to skate hard then walk away with nothing but a green ribbon saying "Honorable Participant". And I can be happy with that.


How can we take this into writing perspective? Well, we need to be prepared. We don't exactly know what we're up against. We could luck out with our manuscripts, and just happen to send it to the right place, reaching the right person at the right time! And that's awesome! But more often than not, we get a nice rejection letter (if we're lucky).


Writing can be rough and sometimes even ruthless. But we can be tougher than that! We've got to look beyond rejection and see that it's all part of the journey. People will knock us down and honestly not like what we write. But what matters, is that we'll get back up and try again! And sometimes, getting that rejection can make getting published in the future all worth while!


Have a great weekend!


--Jess


P.S.

I updated my 'Poetry' page so it's got all of my recent poems. I also got a few new story ideas, so I'm excited!

Editing (Part 1)

So, after I finished my first draft of my story I was planning on taking a break. And I did for like an hour or two then went to bed. But Saturday morning... how could I resist taking another look at it? My book needs attention like a baby and I couldn't leave it alone for a whole day! I've spend every day for the whole summer with it... I can't just let it go.
So, my schedule for Saturday turned out to be something like this: Eat breakfast, Write, Eat Lunch, Write, Eat Dinner, Write.
The only problem is, I'm really not used to editing. For the longest time I only wrote poetry. And poetry for me doesn't need major editing, except for adding a word maybe changing a rhyme, but that's all. To edit an entire novel? That's got to be quite a bit different than poetry.
Luckily, I haven't been editing all alone. My mom knows my entire story, every secret and philosophical nuance, literally everything. Anyway, I think it's been really helpful to have her look at it, mostly because even though I admit my story isn't perfect (no where near perfect, I should add) I love it. I don't know how it is for everyone else (and maybe it's just because I'm a teenager, or because I'm a first time novelist), but personally, I love my writing. Now I don't think that's a bad thing... You need to like what you're writing to a certain degree so that you keep writing! But editing becomes much more difficult when it's harder to see my own flaws. So that is what my wonderful mom is helping me out with.
I'm really glad I have a mom I can talk to and tell pretty much everything. When I discovered the end to my story (I always discover the end about half way through writing it), my mom was the first person I told. Anyway, I just think it's really awesome that my mom isn't just a mom, but a really good friend as well who I can trust to be gentle with my story as well as pretty harsh. So thanks mom!


--Jess
P.S.
I think a few of you follow my mom's blog, but if not you might want to check it out. Click here: Imagine Today

A Momentous Day!

Today is a wonderful and extraordinary day! For the first time ever, I have finished the first draft of a full scale novel! What an amazing experience and maybe slightly sad one too because from now on I won't be creating raw material which is the fun part for me. I started the book last November and can't believe that I'm already here! The fact that I'm done with the creating part of it is still sinking in.
I also found out that I've won a copy of Kris Yankee's Saving Redwind and am super excited about that as well! So thanks PK!


Today is a wonderful day!


--Jess