ANOTHER A to Z Challenge!

Hello again, fellow bibliophiles!

This year, I am challenging myself even further by doing a second A to Z Challenge. Please note this one is completely personal, and is not affiliated with the wonderful folks who host the annual A to Z Challenge in April.

National Police Week takes place in May, as is National Peace Officers Memorial Day. So in honor of that, I want to do an A to Z challenge with Trajectory.

Now you might be wondering why I'd do a challenge with a short story I wrote a few years ago. Well, I have some big news for you. I am currently reworking Trajectory to be a full-length novel! Call it an overhaul, if you will, but this story will be bigger and better than ever.

So to revisit the story, the characters, and to give you a taste of what's to come, we're going to do a May A to Z with Trajectory. We start tomorrow with the letter A. See you then!

A to Z Challenge - N is for New

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

It's time for another A to Z Challenge! This year, I want to tell you about a story that is currently a WIP (work in progress). It's the story I'm writing in honor of my baby lovebird, Robert. It's a fantasy story, but it's really a story about emotional healing. So let's examine it by going through the alphabet!

N is for new.

New, as in this story is new.

New, as in writing fantasy is new to me.

New, as in this is different from any other fantasy story you've ever read before.

New, as in this is also different from any other emotional healing book you've ever read before.

New, as in the characters of a pirate bird, a girl named Emmalee, and a crew of all sorts of creatures are new to you, and the literary world.

New, as in this book is so new it hasn't even hatched yet. ;)

New. New is good.

Monday, we will pick up again, starting with the letter o. Same bat time, same bat place. See you then!

A to Z Theme Reveal

Okay kids. It's the day you've all been waiting for! It's time for my A to Z theme reveal!

This year's theme is...

The Good Pirate, Robert!

This is a current WIP (work in progress). It is my first shot at a fantasy-type story.

I want to give you a little background on this. Robert was the name of a bird we had. We have a few birds, including a pair of Lovebirds. They had had clutches (babies) in the past, but Mom (CJ) hadn't laid any eggs in a few years. That is until last summer.

She laid 7 eggs, 4 of which were viable. All 4 of those hatched. Unfortunately, we lost one pretty early on. The other 3, however, seemed to be thriving.

Robert was one of those babies. He had a brief encounter with one of our dogs. He survived, but there was obvious brain damage. Within hours, though, he showing us how tough and resilient he was.

One of the "symptoms" he showed was that he kept his right eye closed (he was able to open it after some time, but it seemed that he preferred to keep it closed). So I always said that he looked like a little pirate. That's where things kind of took off.

Daily, I shared pictures and videos of him and his siblings as they grew up. His siblings developed more quickly than he did. For example, when they were learning to fly, he was still learning to climb. Nothing kept him down, though. He was so determined; he seemed so bright and happy.

One night in September, I went to get him for his evening feeding, and he was dying. We're not sure what happened. We can only assume it is somehow related to the trauma and injuries. Perhaps he threw a blood clot, we don't know. It was a devastating loss.


Robert was such a happy guy, and when I announced his passing on Facebook, I was floored by the number of people who were saddened. People I had never met - people from around the globe who were touched by this little baby Lovebird. At that point, I knew his life wasn't in vain, and that there was something greater to him. That was when I began writing his story.


This book is not complete, in fact, it is very much still a rough draft. I want to use this month to honor Robert, to share his story, and to help this book improve.


So please join me in this fun and unique journey.

Trust me, you're gonna love it!

See you April 1!

First blog post of 2016!

Happy New Year!

With 2016 waiting like a blank canvas, I think it's a good idea to discuss my goals for this year.


I want 2016 to be a big year, full of big changes, big successes, and big stories.

Big changes. I'm coming into 2016 working on stories that are unlike anything I've written before. If you follow me on Facebook or have read my WeWriWas in November, I am working on a magical story based on my baby Lovebird, Robert. I'm attempting to emulate J. K. Rowling by writing something that could be deemed a childrens' story, but is written in a more mature voice so that even adults will enjoy it. It'll be very exciting to see where this story goes, and to watch it come to fruition.

Big successes. I  have goals of seeing my stories - old and new - reach bigger audiences. I have goals of seeing my stories receiving more reviews, and watching my rankings go up. I have goals of continuing to publish great stories for you to enjoy. Everything that I do that is positive, that is helpful, that creates movement and momentum, everything that I can achieve is a success. 2016 will be a year that is chock full of them.

Big stories. I'm working on a few pieces, and I plan on writing many more. I write stories of love and life without boundaries. Stories that will touch your heart. Stories that will stay with you, long after you've closed the book. Stories that are powerful, poignant. Stories that are educational as well as entertaining and enjoyable. Stories that you will love.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks. 2016 is going to be one heck of a year!

Happy new year, and happy reading!

NaNoWriMo: The end is just the beginning!

Happy November, everyone! For many people November equals NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. It's a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. I want to take this opportunity to go through NaNo with you, and to look at the writing process in great detail.

It's the end of the month, so it's time to look at the end of NaNo and where we go from here.

The end on NaNo is not the end of your story. In fact, it's just the beginning.

                                           

We've talked about quantity and quality, and the importance of editing and polishing your piece. The end of NaNo marks the beginning of that.

But I don't want to beat a dead horse. I'm just as sick of the repetition and redundancy as you are.

Let's look at the other beginning the end of NaNo brings us.

Having accomplished NaNo, we can say that we have written a novel. It doesn't matter if we're seasoned or not. We've done it. That's an accomplishment in and of itself. It's the beginning of feeling pride in our work and our victory.

It opens the door for us to write more. Novels, short stories, poems, whatever we want! NaNo opens up our creative channels to write and write and write.

If you discover that writing isn't your thing, it still opens up those creative channels. It encourages us to try new artistic endeavors - to begin other challenges and begin learning other art forms.

The end of NaNo is not the end. Not even close. The end of NaNo marks the beginning of many wonderful things!