Moving!

So I have decided to move my blog across the oceans of the internet to wordpress. I just like their layouts and simplicity a lot more. I will continue updating, and assuming the transfer worked right, I will have all of my posts, comments and followers sent along with me. Yay!

Anyways the new address, shockingly enough is:

http://www.judyblackcloud.wordpress.com/

See you on the wordpress!

Excited about this!

Time does fly

Oh goodness!

Several days since my last update. The weekend, oddly enough, ate up my free time! Boo! Little writing was done but I have begun revisions on one of my short stories so it can be entered in a great contest. Here's a snippet. Again, graphic content warning.

I almost missed it, the causeof the God-awful scent, but something made me turn to look towards the canal and see it. See him. Or at least I could only assume it use to be a him. The body was leaning against a tree, already starting to melt into the soggy ground. The skin was peeling away, like paper lit on fire, curled up around the edge of what was a head at one point, though it looked like a gunshot had gotten ride of most of it. The hands were turning gray, white moving spots digging in new holes in the rotten skin-devouring everything.

Anyways, moving on from that snippet. Lately I've been having trouble with inspiration. Now I know that you can't sit and wait for the 'muse' to appear and inspire you to write. You will be waiting a long, long time for that to happen and the muse usually doesn't want anything to do with revision or finishing a project for that matter. Inspiration for me is the drive to tell a story. It has to be urgent. I think that's why I like short stories more (to write) than novels.

Something that has recently been helping me to re-ignite my inspiration for writing has been looking up quotes. I love quotes. Right now, the one that speaks to me most is from Neil Gaiman.

"Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All of the people of the world, I mean everybody. No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside, inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds. Not just one world.Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe."

That is why I write. Because there are a million stories out there. There is a story in everyone waiting to come out. I even apply this to my characters as well. There is an entire universe to create, destroy and mold into something beautiful, something horrible, into something.

It's been a struggle to keep up writing while working full-time and helping with an internship and other projects but it is what I love. Stories make the world.

So that's my 2 cents. Do you have quotes that inspire you? Anything you do to keep yourself writing?

Writing Tips

So it is November and a ton of people are doing NaNoWriMo so I wanted to put together some tips that I use to keep up writing. Remember that to be a writer you need to write everyday, not just in November so these tips apply year round.

1. End in the Middle of a Scene

I like to end in the middle of something happening. Tonight I ended with the captain of a ship in the belly of her ship, about to show someone a tour of the ship. Not super exciting, but I know exactly where to start. i don't have to stop and think I can jump right into the scene. Ended on a solid note like 'They went to sleep.' Always makes me struggle because then my brain goes in a thousand directions of what could happen next.

2. Read!

Good writers, read. You need to know what is out there, who the other writers are, what publishers you like, etc. Nothing inspires me to write more than a great (or awful) reading.

3. Talk to Other Writers

Writing is often a lonely job, slaving away for hours at a desk hoping that one day someone will read what you're working so hard on. Connect with other writers, give yourself a support group. Celebrate with one another, and mourn with one another.

4. Revise!

When it comes to revise a work, be brutal. Be totally honest. Even if you think it's the most beautiful paragraph you've ever written do you need it? Does it matter what the fountain or gate looks like? Every word should drive the story forward, if something's not doing that, it needs to go.

5. Love what you are doing

Writer's don't write to become famous or rich. Write because that is what you love doing, what you want to do no matter what. Not everyone gets to be a Stephen King or Neil Gaimen, but love what you are doing. If you don't love what you are writing it will show.

What are your writing tips/tricks? I also have a special candle I light before I write. It's a habit now.

How's NaNoWrimo going? I broke 8,000 words tonight, yay!

Some of my writing.

NaNoWriMo goal is going well though I am probably going to stop updating so much about it. Not that I'm ashamed I'm participating, I have a blast and love the thrill of writing 50,000 words in a month, but because as a writer I should already be writing everyday as much as I can.

I'm also planning on contacting one writer I admire a week to tell them how much I enjoyed their work. Writing is a lonely road and it's nice to let people know that there really is someone out there reading their hard work. On that note I have had a few e-mails, twitter messages, etc. asking me to put up some of my own work.

I always worry about putting my work online, especially anything that hasn't been published. Many places will consider something being posted online as previously published (or so several submission guidelines have told me) so I'm going to put up a poem of mine that was published this past year. I do consider myself somewhat of a horror poet so if you have an issue with horror then please ignore the poem at the end of this post. (These are not the droids you are looking for. Anyone get it? :) )

Enjoy and keep up the writing!

Onus


When my daughter
asks about the dog
lying on the side of the road,
I will tell her he is sleeping
with his skin inside-out
because it's too hot
in the Georgia sun
to dream
with your skin still on.

In the morning
she will confess
her dreams
of finger painting
red and white
across her bedroom wall.
No matter how hard
she and I scour
the spots remain
speckled all over
our hands.



Published in The Peacock's Feet Literary Journal, 2010

11/5/10: And, by the way, just noticed and corrected a typo in this poem. Whoops! Silly typos!

And so it begins...

So the insanity that is NaNoWriMo begun yesterday and it's been amazing reading all of the people's excited tweets about writing. The trick is keeping that enthusiasm through the entire month. I'm aiming for 2,000 words a day and I met my goal last night and stopped. Yes, I could have kept writing but I don't want to write myself out on day one. I plan on getting a nice buffer going this weekend. I have to admit it is a little discouraging to see all these 'I wrote 9,000+ words today' posts but I'm happy that people are getting to be so productive. Also, Nanowrimo was #1 trending on twitter yesterday, eeee!!

Anyways, I also read a fantastic blog post yesterday about NaNoWriMo that I wanted to share! It's from Chuck Wendig and it's all about the dos and don'ts of NaNoWriMo. It's a wonderful thing to participate in, but there are some things to realize. You are not going to bang out a novel that's ready to be published on December 1st. As Chuck suggests, consider this a zero draft, a fleshed out outline to help you begin the revision and rewriting process. Realize you are not a loser if you don't win, and that the goal is to write, and be proud of what you are doing.

Anyways, I highly recommend this blog post and all of Chuck's stuff. You can follow him on twitter too (he's hysterical).

How's your noveling going? Word count sound off?

2033!

Last sentence you wrote?

"Well, when I unlock it, it will send out a blade to impale your foot. So just move fast, alright?" he smiled.

Writing Space!

So Nanowrimo begins in just about an hour! Exciting! Though I do freely admit I will be in bed before Nanowrimo begins at midnight and will begin writing after work tomorrow. I already imagine it will be the longest workday possible because I will want nothing more than to be home writing.

I believe I have figured the great war that is happening in my world and that makes me very happy (ideas in the shower are the best!) and eager to begin writing. I have my little writing corner all set up and ready to go and am including a picture! How exciting!

Notice the awesome hot pink chair and pile of papers of notes. as well as a cup of juice (yum!) and a small change jar of Grad School funds! My little memo board is full of things that inspire me and I have a picture of my friends to the side to encourage me! All in all, a very nice little writing hole.

I have also worked out my reward system. You can't really see them in the picture but I have shiny star stickers that I will out on my calendar for every day I meet the writing goal of 1667 words. I also will allow myself to have one Heritage Dr. Pepper for every 5,000 words I make. I love heritage Dr. Pepper (made with real sugar and in awesome cans too!) not to mention that they are very hard to find so that is big motivation for me.

Anyways, I am going to get ready for bed, do some reading and get ready for work. Happy November's eve and let Nanowrimo begin!

The Sleepies

So I have been struck by a horrible case of the sleepies and have dozed off at my laptop a couple times already tonight. So I'm going to call in a short blog post and then off to bed. I went to my region's Nanowrimo kick off party last night and it was so encouraging to see such a large, and excited group of writers there. I'm really excited that Nanowrimo kicks off in less than 24 hours!!

Anyways, I'm going to send you here for a blog post by The Graceful Doe that is amazing! She's listed an extensive series of helpful links to help with Nanowrimo and with writing in general. I'm really looking forward to using this list during November!

Anyways, I'm off to bed to battle the sleepies! Goodnight world!

What tone?

Yawn! Goodness I have been struck by the tired bug for sure this week! I am finally adjusting to this working full time thing. I work as a secretary (whoo, saucy secretary!) at a local college so it's a very neat environment and, thus far, not incredibly stressful so that is nice.

I am getting very excited about NaNoWriMo and cannot wait to get going! My story is not fully plotted out and my characters are still only sketches but I'm a pantser when it comes to NaNo. (flying by the seat of my pants as opposed to plotted out ). I know when/where my story begins. I know most of the major elements I want to happen. I know the characters and their general shape. The thing I am actually struggling most with is the tone I want to tell the novel in. I'm going back and forth between a Young Adult novel or a Horror-style novel. I'm fairly certain at this point I am going to go with Young Adult. That's something I don't have as much experience with but that I really want to learn more about! So, what better way to learn than by doing (or attempting?) Anyways, I'm going to sign off early, get my writing in and then watch Project Runway!

I live such an exciting life, huh? :)

GA Literary Fair Rundown!

So here is finally a rundown of the awesome people I met at the Ga Literary Fair this year. This is a list of mainly just the people I was able to talk to and get to know, not the only people there.

Nick Valentino, author of Thomas Riley:

Blog: http://nickvalentino.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SirThomasRiley

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000806797682

So, oddly enough I follow him on facebook and had no idea he was going to the Ga Literary Fair until the night before when I saw a facbeook post saying he would be there. Needless to say I flipped. I'm a big fan, and supporter (bought both books, they come with really neat stamp signatures) and he really is just a super nice, super friendly guy. He was a blast to talk to and he had the coolest table set-up of anyone there. All kinds of steampunk gear all over.

Anyways, his novel is fantastic and his short story in this collection of Steam Punk work is also amazing! All in all, go buy and support. End of story.

Wright Gres, author of Macedonia Passage

Website: http://www.wrightgres.com/

Next was an author that I hadn't met before this festival but after he offered me candy we became new friends. His passion for what is writing about is so inspiring, and he has a fascinating life story. His thriller, Macedonia Passage is inspired off of real trips he's taken across the ocean. He had a series of amazing pictures that played while he talked and it's incredible where he has been. He's also incredibly humble and really a nice guy. I highly suggest his novel!

Raven Hart, author of the Savannah Vampires Series

Website: http://www.ravenhartbooks.com/

Probably the most entertaining author that spoke. She was full of funny stories about her adventures with publishing, not to mention a red neck vampire just cracks me up. She's down to earth and incredibly open to helping. She spent almost half of her hour long session answering questions about how she was published and giving advice. She's a passionate vampire fan and her novels are just as entertaining as she is! If you're looking for something to sink your teeth into (hahah I'm so punny, aren't I? Man I need sleep), then I highly recommend Raven Hart's series.

Mason Dixon Publishing

Website: http://www.masondixonpublishing.com/

Last is a wonderfully friendly, newly started publishing house. I love the name because the VP of the company lives in Ga and the President lives in Ohio, hence Mason-Dixon. I thought it was clever. They currently have just published a short novella and a collection of poetry but are excited about getting more material. Check their website out and learn more about them. They are both very passionate about writing and I look forward to seeing much more for Mason-Dixon!

And that's all for tonight! I'm hoping to get some Nanowrimo outlining done and even get some reading knocked out.

Monday!

Working on revising my fairytale short story and it has totally shifted major plot points which I'm very happy about. The transformation of the characters from person to animal makes more sense now and is more fluid with the rest of the context. I'm hoping to have a draft of it ready for review by my small writing group tomorrow. I really want to have it done soon, hopefully by Friday.

I also have now worked out a full character sketch and basic plot skeleton of my NaNoWriMo novel and am very pleased with the direction it's heading. It's going to be an awesome ride!

I am also loving twitter more and more . Today I participated in a #litchat about horror and got some wonderful opinions about what horror is and why people read it. Horror is a genre that I love reading and writing so it was very informative and I highly suggest you check it out, search for the hashtag #litchat and you can pull up the whole thing. It will happen again on Friday at 4pm EST and lasts about an hour. It's really fun!

Anyways, I'm off to get some last minute edits to the story then bed. I think I'm going to get up early to do some morning editing too.

Festival!

The GA Literary Festival was absolutely the most amazing weekend I've had in a long time. I left feeling totally inspired and ready to write. The 2-hour drive to and from also provided plenty of NaNoWriMo planning and I am going to plan on writing a Steampunk adventure novel instead of my planned Paranormal Romance piece. I'm really excited about this change and am very confident about it.

On a happy writer note, I've made up for my missed time that past two nights. I worked for about an hour and a half tonight and finished a short story I've been working on for a week or so. It now needs heavy revision but I'm pleased with the direction it took. I've found that to get writing down I really have to lock myself in my room and sit at my desk, however, my desk chair is horribly old, rickety and uncomfortable so I think I'm going to take a part of my paycheck and get a new chair tomorrow. I feel certain there will be pictures posted too.

Well, I'm going to head to bed early and plan to get up early to get some NaNoWriMo planning done tomorrow morning.

Vampires!

So I'm at the Literary Festival and having a grand time! I went to fascinating panel about vampires and their history and future. It was really interesting to hear about the origins and evolution of vampires both through literature which was really inspiring.

Anyways, writing is going slowly. I've been struggling with getting anything written that I'm happy with but I'm working through that and looking forward to NaNoWriMo. I am planning on writing a Paranormal Romance which is (maybe) the beginning of a series. I'm also trying to finish a short story for a Fairytale Anthology. I'm hoping to finish it before November so I can edit it during November, that way my desire to edit can be taken out on it, and not on my NaNoWriMo piece. Genius right?

Anyways, I'm off to (hopefully) get some serious writing knocked out tonight and then get to bed before going back to the Festival tomorrow for some author discussions.

Missing The Quota

Ugh! I'm bummed because I didn't get in my writing time today. I had to run errands in town and from there time just disappeared. It's amazing how one little thing can make such a difference. it doesn't help that I am a Project Runway addict and it came on tonight and distracted me even further.

I did get some character sketching done earlier today. I've been working on my NaNoWriMo characters and now I have my main character and the beginning of his rival drafted out and forming. Creating characters is probably one of my favorite things to do when creating a new story. I love the variety of people that I get to 'become' when I'm writing.

As a base profile I've been using the Gotham's Writer's Workshop's Character Profile sheet provided online here. I think it's a great beginning for a character though you need to also consider a lot more traits, like religion, history, Likes, Dislikes, etc. One great thing to do is to pretend to interview your character. Invite a conversation (you might feel a little crazy, but all writers are to some degree, right?) with your character, ask questions and wait for the answer. Don't try to force your character into a mold give them a chance to speak for themselves.

Well, I'm off to pack and get ready for work and then the Georgia Literary Festival! I'm super excited and hoping to make all kinds of new writers and friends!

Writing away!

Met my goal for writing today, just barely. Man am I sleepy! Working a full time job and trying to write as much as possible is draining me. Anyways, I'm really excited about upcoming NaNoWriMo, I think I've finally settled on my basic plot so now I just need to work on characters and a more detailed outline. I like to at least have a set idea of major events that I want to happen so that gives me something to aim towards when I get stuck.

Another idea to keep writing is to not always worry about sticking to chronological order. When you are done with your novel (or short story or poem or whatever) no one is going to know that last paragraph was the first thing you wrote. Writing the ending first gives you something to lead up to, and can be great fun.

On another note, first drafts really feel like glorified outlines to me sometimes, so disjointed and awkward. Sometimes I totally doubt I can write and then I'll read some polished work and think 'oh yeah, that's right. I can write, but nothing's ever perfect the first time around.'

I'm really excited because this coming weekend I am going to the GA Literary Festival. This will be my first Literary festival and I'm really looking forward to getting to meet other writers and book enthusiasts.

Well that's all for tonight, I need to get my things together for work tomorrow, whoosh and away!

Writing!

So I've managed three days in a row of at least thirty minute writing blocks, woot! I always struggle with it because I start to doubt what I'm writing and just want to stop and rewrite right then. It's a matter of gagging my inner editor long enough to let me write. Today is the first day that I've actually been pleased with what I've written.

Anyways, today i wanted to share my favorite site to find places to submit, Duotrope. It also makes it super simple to keep track of what you submitted to where and when (that's a mouthful, editing nightmare of a sentence, good thing my editor's still gagged. But you basically can search for genres, or styles and based on what kind of submissions you are looking for. It's really helpful and simplifies the entire search process. So, check it out!

And if you haven't signed up for NaNoWriMo yet you absolutely should!

Change of Pace

So after a long pause, I am returning to blogging. I am looking to begin dedicating more of my time to writing and attempting to get published. I recently had a poem accepted into The Battered Suitcase and the excitement has made me start thinking more and more that writing is what I want to go into. So what better way to get into writing than by... gasp! writing!

I am currently looking into MFA programs but I'm not really sure if that is what I want to do. I like writing in several genres (poetry, short fiction, long fiction, non-fiction, etc) and I also have a tendency towards more 'horror' style writing which many programs frown upon.

So far I've found Seton Hill's MFA in Writing Popular Fiction which is a low residency program (awesome for someone like me, with a job) so that's an exciting option. But for now I am going to try to stick to a routine of writing for thirty minutes a day, eventually working it up to an hour a day.

I'm going to try to update this blog at least twice a week, maybe more than that! What are your writing goals?

Homeland

Apologies for so few updates, my home was struck by lightning and everything was fried. I am now happily back up and running. Anyways, on to the review!

I have rarely charged through a book (actually the entire trilogy) in such a short period of time as I did with R.A. Salvatore's Homeland, the first book of the Drizzt saga. This book captured my imagination by crafting an entire new world. Salvatore delves into the inner most workings of the drow society and makes it believable. I wanted to know more about this horrid and evil world he has crafted and that kept me reading.

His characters are equally engaging, and I found the emotional conflicts some of the most interesting aspects of the entire book. Despite the fact that this book contains a lot of intense battle scenes, and graphic depictions of violence, the main conflict is an internal one.

On occasion Drizzt did flirt with becoming an all powerful character. He defeats every foe with only little difficulty, he masters everything very quickly and innately has a great sense of justice and honor. When compared with the rest of his race of drow he seems very God-like and at times I struggled getting past that and continuing to sympathize with his character.

After a few battle scenes I actually started skipping ahead to the end, not that the scenes were poorly written, all the battle scenes are beautifully detailed, but simply because I knew Drizzt would ultimately win.

Altogether, I really enjoyed the book and have read it over and over already. The entire series was wonderful (though this review mainly is focused on the first book of the series) and I highly recommend to anyone.

Rating:

4/5

A Cabinet of Wonders

Having a fascination with 'freak shows' of the past, I was immediately drawn to Renee Dodd's A Cabinet of Wonders. I was drawn in from the very beginning and the story kept my interest through to the very end. I would read for hours at a stretch because I was so involved with the story and the characters. Dodd creates a vibrant, and fairly accurate, picture of the a traveling circus. The characters are beautifully written and are fully developed as people, not just freaks.

The opening, written in an engaging second person, drew me in just as if I were at a fair being pulled into a tent for a nickel. It gave me a quick snapshot overview of the characters in the novel. The novel manages to allow each character to develop as an individual while still retaining the feel of 'the family' they have created. The character's interactions with one another leads to immediate understanding of their relationships.

The most powerful aspect of the novel is the characters themselves, they keep the story interesting. The story and plot of the novel itself is weak, there is no driving quest that keeps the story moving, it is entirely based on the character's growth and development. The beginning through the middle is strong and the actions believable, however, I found the ending too great an effort to tie up all the loose ends, and force an end.

All in all though, I greatly enjoyed this novel and have now read it three times, always finding something new and more exciting. Renee Dodd has certainly become one of my favorite authors and I will be on the look out for more work by her.

Rating:

4/5

Classic Wisdom for the Professional Life

As a brand new college graduate I was excited about a book giving me wisdom on starting a professional life. Just from the title and cover I was not anticipating a book of quotes and was a little disappointed by this. I really enjoyed the introduction (the only part of the book that is not quotes) and found myself hoping that this narrator would return and help guide me, maybe explain how some of these quotes have applied in other's lives.

That being said, this book is filled with great quotes that I did find very inspiring and motivating It is also very convenient to have a collection of quotes based on professional life that I can flip to when looking for a quick boost of inspiration. The organization of the quotes could be improved on, having a table of contents and sorting the quotes into different categories (leadership, dedication, hardwork, etc) would make for easier reference when looking for a particular quote. I also would like to see an Index at the end of the book to locate quotes from particular people.

Thanks to BookSneeze, I received this book for free which is a huge plus because I do not think I would be willing to pay the suggested retail of 16.99 for a collection of quotes that could be found online with some research.

Rating:

3/5