I Hate Research

I rather hate it. Especially when it deals with laws and emotional repercussions. I've been putzing with one of my novels again, about a man who was abused by his mom and step-dad until he was 12, when he ran and ended up in the hospital for six days after a particularly bad beating.

It's 18 years later, and I don't know if his parents would still be in prison for that, or if they would have been released, since they also had a full-blown meth lab in the basement at the time of their arrest.

I don't know what kinds of mental and emotional effects this would have on him.

And I don't know anything about prisons and how they work. Does the "you've got a visitor" thing really happen? I can't imagine they would allow last minute visitation by anyone other than lawyers/legal representation. And I've seen it a couple of ways in movies/TV, where they're put in a big room with tables and no barriers between them, or at a bank of little desks with a pane of glass between them, and phones to speak, or the little ticket booth vent to speak through. Could it go either way? I just don't know.

So... it's off to world wide web, where, with any luck, I'll find the information I need to know, to make this novel the best I can. Because I want the best I can to be better than the best I thought I could do.

Now what for the ADD in me?

Now that NaNo is over, I've got some decisions to make. Now what?


Now what, indeed! I think I have the basics for a good novel in my fantasy anyway, and am working on developing that. I've pulled out my bubble board and have gotten the key events that must take place down; now it's a matter of breaking each section into scenes and really mapping it out (I know some will call it an outline, but I know I'll jinx myself in doing that because I hate outlines, plus, I'm a very visual person. So it's a map.)


Hopefully, I'll have it figured out by the end of the month, and I'll be able to start writing again on it! I've also got a couple other WIPs to work on, so I can readily bounce around between them as my mind wanders from a NASCAR romance to the fantasy, to an East Texas cattle ranch to my cross-country mystery.


But I like to go from one project to another on a whim, as ideas come to me. So... maybe I'm a little ADD. But it works for me.


Let the words flow like a fast-running river, and here's to the beginning of a great holiday season!


-MG

NaNo: An Update

So after several more days of writer-block issues, I'm here, putzing away my last few hours. With 17,356 words left to write to "win" NaNo, I'm left in serious doubts that I can do it. Stranger things have happened, yes, but this one is highly unlikely. Can I do it? Mmmm... no. Am I going to continue cranking out the words on this thing? Sure am. So... for the rest of the day, I'm going to try to be incommunicado, so I can get this done.


To all my fellow NaNo-ers, good luck/congrats and keep writing!


-MG

So Far. A NaNoWriMo story

For those of you who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, it is National Novel Writing Month. Why November? No clue. But it's a challenge to any writers willing to accept it to write 50,000 words (a hallmark considered to be the starting point of a novel as opposed to little sister Novella) in 30 days.


I have chosen to accept this challenge.


To date, I've written over 17,000 words toward my NaNo novel, called Ricochet Rock. It's a romance novel set on an East Texas cattle ranch. Right up my alley, fits perfectly with my usual style. Cowboys, or at least southerners, someone from "up North" (read, Minnesota. Sometimes Wisconsin, Iowa or one of the Dakotas, Michigan and once, Montana) and lots of wide open spaces. Two strong characters that may or may not take the entirety of the novel to figure it all out. Things based in reality.


My first few days had me off to a great start. I was popping out 2k or more per day. But then I hit a slump and couldn't come up with anything new to write.


I sat there in front of my computer for hours on end, barely getting more that a few hundred words a day - if I was lucky. I got my groove on again, and cranked out another 10k.


Then something happened. I had an idea for another story. No biggie. Make a note of it, set it aside, and blast through the rest of NaNo and finish spinning yarns about Rae and Trick, my two reluctant love-birds.


New Idea had different ideas. It decided it was my best friend, and any time I sat down to work with my prose on the Rock, as I've dubbed the fictitious ranch, this other idea would squeeze in between us, forcing me to ignore the Rock altogether. So now, instead of writing about moody cowboys and know-it-all city-girls, I've settled in with dragons, elves and witches.


This is fine, in and of itself, as I do enjoy reading fantasy. However... not (I cannot emphasize this enough) my genre to write. Fantasy? Really? Dragons? (Don't get me wrong, dragons are my favorite part of fantasy.) Elves? Witches? Other mythical and imagine creatures like Silkies and shape-shifters, ogres, giants and goblins? Hmmm, I thought. This might require a little more thought. Or... in classic Milli style, I can just say 'screw it' and go with the flow.


So, naturally, that's what I'm doing. Going with it. I've already cranked out over 1k, and haven't been writing more than an hour total on this particular project. It should be interesting to see the names I come up with, and how the plot unfolds.


In the mean time, over and out. Must crank out some more words about the Earth Dragon! (It's a working title, and not likely a name that will stick, but for my own sanity, I cannot  call it, 'Elven Princess on a Quest to Find Her Dragon Guide.' Although...)

Midnight Solitude


I scramble to scribble
The words in time
Before they’re lost
In the abyss of my mind.
Words and phrases
Tumble through
During this midnight
Solitude.
Fast enough, I
Cannot write
In the darkness
Of twilight.
Lost forever
They may be,
They’re still there,
Though hard to see.

Dragons

A wish goes up into the night,

For no more dragons left to fight

 

The pulsing flap of dragon wings,

Up in her room, the princess sings.

Captive there another day,

She knows her knight is on his way.

 

Ever winding up the spire,

Weary legs refuse to tire.

Gnashing teeth against steel blade,

A battle for true love forbade.

A princess still to defend,

One final thrust to mark the end.

 

To break the spell, a gentle kiss,

A vow of love from the rescuing prince.

Fast across the endless plains,

Finally free of binding chains,

Together on a great white steed,

Two hearts at long last freed.

Stars sprinkle the heavens in the night

With no more dragons left to fight.