100th Post Celebration

I can't believe this is my 100th post! I started this blog way back on Halloween of 2012. My first post read like I was all hopped up on candy, which I may very well have been, and overly excited. For anyone who is keeping score that is the day RIGHT before NaNoWriMo and I did participate that year. I lost a lot of steam in 2013 only posting 26 times even though I was participating in ROW80 and should have made like 90. Best, or rather worst to the point of being entertaining, post from that year. Then I fell off the face of the blogging world in 2014. Times were super hard and I completely stopped writing. However, in 2015 I found my way back to writing and ROW80 remembering what an amazing community of people hang out there. I wish I could run some awesome contest to celebrate, but I am truly strapped for cash to buy prizes and I didn't even realize it was coming up until a few days ago. So instead I will just say thank you very much for stopping by and reading. Enough about things a long time past, on to what's been going on the last few days.

I was calling a character by the wrong name. I did it 28 times. When I went to talk about the character who's name I had been using and I wrote "I'm sure you miss Evelyn very much," said Evelyn it hit me. Now the hero's mother is talking about her self in 3rd person. She's not Napoleon and I don't want her to have that big of an ego. I know you aren't supposed to edit until Camp NaNo is over, but this bugged me SO much I had to fix it. Of course with the find feature and control V it was done in no time, but REALLY.

Today's Mascot: Rampaging Dinosaur

A few people asked if I had any proof that I had to deal with a rampaging dinosaur. The truth is yes, yes I do! I edited the photo to remove the name of the school in an online photo editor, but the rest was done on NUKE 8 which is an awesome rendering program that is node based. Or at least that is what the instructor said several times. Who am I to argue or interpret? As for the odd expression on my face. She didn't tell us what the pictures we took on the green screen were for or that she was taking a second shot of me when everyone else just got one. This was the best one and that makes me sad. Also, apparently I just make faces all the time. Incidentally I was the only person who didn't look as much like they were in a line up and I made up a backstory. The rays of light around my head are divine powers (They are not a result of my failure to follow instructions and desire to push ALL the buttons.) that have been granted to me to help me defeat the rampaging dinosaur. The look is my and you think you're tough do you look. In the next frame I will shoot some sort of ray out of my palms to destroy it or at least give it an all mighty sun burn.

ROW80 July Goals Rundown

1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
I have hit this goal every day since last Saturday, but I am not sure if I will make it today. I wasn't able to focus on writing once the kids went to bed because I had to find some paperwork and for some reason I put on a book shelf instead of the dedicated file in the filing cabinet. Luckily I found it, but it took me about 5 hours. The moral of the story is always take the extra few minutes to put things back where they go. You will probably not remember to come back to them later and when you need them you won't be able to find them.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
I'm here and so happy to share this 100th post with you all.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I over did this a little, but you all had such interesting titles and I wanted to see what was gong on with you.

4. Post to Twitter every day.
Oh, darn. I was dong well at this, but just realized that I forgot to post Tuesday.

Photos by Pixabay.

Tricky Like Jareth

Today has been like the Labyrinth. Where everything seems possible and nothing is what it seems. I had so much planned for today and got a ton done, but not anything I planned.

How dare you sneak up on me Wednesday!

Today has been such a handful I am ready for a nap, luckily it's almost my bed time. I think I've got one  more pom in me before I head that way.

Is it stressful for you when things don't go as planned or do you just roll with it? I would love to be a go with the flow kinda gal, but I have always hated when my plan was totally disrupted. A slight change or modification I am fine with, but throwing it totally out the window makes me nervous and stressed. Leave me a comment and don't forget to let me know where you came from so I can follow you back.

ROW80 Rundown:

1. Spend 2 poms on plotting using Hiveword.

Monday: Plotting galore! I added 2 new characters to my Hiveword. They aren't completely fleshed out, but I am getting there.
Tuesday: I worked on items. What is a fantasy novel without magical items? I'm a little worried about the amount of items I have to keep track of. I am already to 11.
Wednesday: No work on The Most Magical Place today, but I have plans for tomorrow night that I am very excited about.

2. Spend 2 poms on posts for this blog.

Since I allotted time to working on posts everyday I put in the things that are regular parts of the post yesterday. As for today, like I said, nothing I had planned happened and here I am at 10 at night still trying to get this post out.

3. Spend 1 pom on social media for blog posts.

This is still hit or miss, but I have done better than last week. There are so many awesome authors posting cool stuff that pops up on my feed. I need to get back over there and learn something new.

4. Spend 1 pom on visiting other ROW80 bloggers.
I was able to visit Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Today isn't over so may make it today as well. Look out here I come.

Photos by Pixabay. (Can you believe they had that awesome labyrinth.)

Plodding Away at Plotting

OK, so bullets, plotting or pantsting? Not looking for someone to change my mind, I am just genuinely curious about how other people work.

Well, I am a methodical plotter in life so I don't see that changing in my attempt at writing. I have a notebook that holds all my To Do's for the foreseeable future. At present it is 83 items long. This does not include repeating tasks like dishes, laundry, school work, etc. They are on a separate list. What I am beating around the bush at saying is that I got a lot of plotting done or at least planning to plot. I don't really remember how, but a while ago I found Larry Brooks StoryFix (now in 2.0). He recommends something he calls story architecture. He also has books about Story Engineering and Physics which I haven't gotten to yet, but will probably read soon. On his blog Larry has a 10 part series on story architecture. I found is writing stile to be sometimes vexing because it felt like he was talking down to people who disagree with him, but the information has already been very helpful to me. I especially liked the 1 page writing tool.

So where is my point? My father always told me it was on the top of my head, so I wear a hat. Just kidding, mostly. I took a break to watch Big Hero 6 with Rowan and there it was. The story structure was present. My notice of it made my thoughts a little distracting, but it was fascinating to "see" it and it kinda smacked me in the face. I would also like to say that I really enjoyed the movie even if it got a little violent with me. No spoilers here, but I am glad we purchased it.

Thanks for all the well wishes for my cousin Drew. He is doing better and it is looking like he may be heading home very soon to continue his recovery. I was thinking that they would have to keep him longer, but he seems to be making good progress.

ROW80 Rundown:

1. Write 500 words per day on any project.
Monday and Tuesday: Combined because I forgot to check when I finished on Monday or when I started Tuesday was a whopping 2082 words. Most of them were questions that have yet to be answered, but I think if I have at least identified the questions I need answered then I am heading down the right track. If I'm not, maybe don't be too harsh when you tell me because I am excited about this shift in focus that allowed me to spend much less time on the Facebook and more on prewriting stuff.
Wednesday: 715 words on this post

2. Blog at least every Wednesday and Sunday.
I keep this goal because it is the only on I seem to be able to hit more often than not.

3. Check out at least 10 posts from each new ROW80 linky before the next one comes out.
I made it to 5 so far and plan to check out some more once I am in bed. Technically it will probably be after the linky comes out, but hey sometimes mostly there is as good as it gets. Yay for the convenience of having the interwebs on our phone in the palm of our hands.

4. Use Twitter at least once per day.
I have been doing this, but not with original content. There is a lot of awesome stuff out there to retweet, though.

5. Post on my author Facebook page at least 3 times per week.
That's it! I am putting the hammer down on this goal and not stressing myself out about it for the rest of the month. I will only post on my author Facebook page 2 times per week when I put out my ROW80 check-ins.

6. Read 1 book per week.

I was steadily getting closer, but have made no progress on this front for the past few days. It was interesting to notice that there have been 4 references to The Picture of Dorian Gray in the past 3 days. Coincidence? The jury is still out.

photo credit: Pixabay

photo credit: To-do list book. via photopin (license)

What's in a Name and ROW80

Monday night after meeting my word goal and making some effort to brain storm a place where I was a little stuck I was getting a frustrated. At this point I gave myself permission to watch some TV. We don't have cable and don't watch TV often, but when we do we turn to Netflix. I was flipping through the suggestions not feeling too thrilled about the offerings. I had almost decided to rewatch Charmed for the hundredth time (which I would happily do) when I stumbled across Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. I had never seen it or the remake from 1995, but remembered it had been mentioned in another of my favorite shows, The Gilmore Girls, so I decided to give it a try. I really liked it, but Oliver Larrabee's character said something like who gave Thomas Fairchild the right to name his daughter Sabrina which got me thinking why would he "not have the right" to choose that specific name and what does the name of a character say about it?

I am having trouble naming some of my characters. The FMC and MMC had their first names almost immediately, but I haven't even thought about last names. While I was writing I got tired of writing "the father", but told myself just to keep moving and then the MMC's parents were in the same seen with the FMC's father which made things a little confusing and now I am thinking it may be time to give those poor characters names. I stand behind my decision even if I have no idea how or what to name them.

My first move is to Google it and there are like a billion pieces of advice on tons of posts. There are standard things that many people do when naming a baby like check out a what is the most popular baby name site and what does a name mean site. You also have the Social Security Administration site that lists most popular first names in any given year or decade after 1879. Though remember to look about however many years before your story begins your character is old.

My story is taking place in the United States, but these characters would be much more likely to choose English, Welsh, Scottish and such names. It is an urban fantasy, current setting with a magical overlay so I have some other choices as well. New Age names could be interesting and a fantasy name generator which I used often in my roll as DM during my extreme D&D time. (Other generators)

My daughter is OBSESSED with Homestuck and I have heard more than enough about it today, but for some reason during my research I ran across a reference to it. In this universe humans have 4 letter first names and 6 or 7 letter last names. This is interesting because he has found a way that works for him and it provides something unifying for the characters which can be comforting for readers.

These are some tips and tricks I have found that I thought would be most helpful. So now all that's left is get down to the business of actually naming them. What do you do to give your characters that prefect name?

ROW80 Rundown:

1. Write 500 words per day on any project.

Monday - 527 on my WIP. On a side note I am really tired of calling it WIP. Technically I already posted it's working title in the Hiveword graphic, but I wanted to share it in a more digestible form. I feel like I need a drum roll, but it could be nerves making me stall. I have taken to calling it "The Most Magical Place". What do you think? What does it make you think of? I would love to know what images and concepts the title brings up in your mind.

Tuesday - 300 words typed on The Most Magical Place and many others scrawled in a notebook while my husband was driving so I wouldn't scream, wet my pants or criticize him while he was driving.

Wednesday - 1,134 on this post

2. Blog at least every Wednesday and Sunday.

Still going strong on this one. I almost forgot that it was time to write another check-in, for some reason Wednesday seems to sneak up on me more often than Sunday. I was saved by my amazing daughter asking me if I was going to work on it. I am trying to convince them that if I am working on my laptop they should ask for my attention and then wait until I acknowledge them. I am having varying degrees of success, but the process is just beginning. I feel it is also important for me not to wait too long to get to them. So many things to remember I kinda feel like my head is going to crash.

3. Check out at least 20 posts from each new ROW80 linky before the next one comes out.

Not great here, I was only able to get to 10. I think I am going to have to revise this and aim for 10 with comments because I have been commenting on most anyway. No shame or pressure just a readjustment which is the best part of ROW80.

4. Use Twitter at least once per day.

Hitting Twitter once isn't a problem, but there are so many things that I want to look at that I am loosing significant chunks of what could otherwise be productive time.

5. Post on my author Facebook page at least 3 times per week.

Not so far, but there is still time because I am measuring this from Sunday to Sunday for this goal.

6. Read 1 book per week.

Things and stuff have come between me and my reading. I started the Sherlock book but didn't read the description well when I downloaded and it was just a sample. Which is really irritating, but what you get for not reading things thoroughly. I went to Project Gutenberg and found a free copy there, but my Kindle app won't open it. So I went to the Google Play Store, as a dear friend suggested, and they only had a sample as well. So back to Project Gutenberg and download another file type. Now it is opening in a program I don't know, but it is uploading and downloading repeatedly. So the possibility that I have a virus or something of the sort is creeping up on me, but there is also the real possibility that my technology has simply outstripped me.

Jaume Plensa, See No Evil via photopin (license)