Starting from Scratch (Somewhat)

It's that time again! The first Wednesday of every month is the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Click the link to sign up! And be sure to check out the IWSG Guide to Publishing Beyond, which is available now. It has a lot of great advice on writing, publishing, and marketing, and it's FREE! I contributed a piece on choosing between first and third person. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and everyone else who helped to put the anthology together.

I've got plenty to be insecure about this month. I'm not looking forward to Christmas at all. I need to really start figuring out what my next step is going to be in life because I've been slacking off way too much. And I'm still trying to figure out how to throw my muse a birthday party.

But I don't want to overwhelm you guys so I guess I'll talk about the book. Sounds ominous, right? I'm still avoiding it. I think about it all the time, but I can't bring myself to work on it or even read it. I know I have to do a massive overhaul of the last third of the book, but it's hard to figure out how to change things.

I'm trying to take on a different mindset. I basically want to start with a blank slate, at least from a certain point. I want to pretend I've never written that last third so that I can come up with some ideas that are new, and not just keep rewriting the same moments that didn't work in the first place. 

It's scary, but also kind of fun, because coming up with new ideas is always more interesting than editing to me. I still have a few scenes I plan on reusing, and ultimately the book will still end the same way, but I'm hoping for a lot of things to change along the way. When I finally adopted this mindset and started thinking about what would happen next, I immediately came up with a new scene that will help flesh out a subplot. I had this block for so long, where I knew things weren't working but had no idea how to fix them. Wiping the slate clean has helped me get through that.

Do I have everything figured out yet? Definitely not. But it's one step in the right direction. 

Jordan Takes Over: What I Want for My Birthday

**The first Monday of every month, I let my muse take over the blog. I apologize in advance.**

You didn't really think I'd miss December, did you? It's the best time of the year! And no, not because of Christmas (ugh). It's my birthday month, obviously! You read the title, right? So you're not surprised or anything. Yup, in two weeks I will be turning 19. Technically. Do muses actually age? I guess that's something that's just way too much work to figure out. Honestly, I can't think of a more anticlimactic age than 19. Ho hum. What do you get when you turn 19? Nothing! No new privileges, and you're still in that weird transition stage where you're an adult but still a teenager. So it's weird. Still can't drink (legally...).

Anyway, I'm just going to make it easy for you and tell you what I want! You were so worried, weren't you? (Yes, I'm being sarcastic. But I'm still going to tell you my list.)

• Anything music related is cool. I like pretty much everything. So, you know, concert tickets, gift cards. Some really expensive headphones! Or whatever. 
• Equipment for my band is always needed, but you'd have to talk to Eric about that. I just sing and look pretty. I'M KIDDING. I'm not that shallow. I actually write like 90% of our songs. So there. 
• Actually, I could totally use a new laptop. I can learn technical stuff, ok?! I'm sure someone out there has money to waste on me. 
• Practical things are always appreciated. Notebooks, pens, pencils, MetroCards, condoms. You know, stuff I use every day *wink* 
• CHOCOLATE. 
• Or just cold hard cash. That's what my mom always gets me since she doesn't know what I like. 

Right, so that's pretty much it. Wait, was I supposed to ask for things a muse would want? Like having my book finished? Yeah, well that's not going to happen in two weeks so I'm not gonna bother. Or something with the blog? Well, I do already get to take over once a month so that's nothing special, really.

I'm open to suggestions. Like, how the hell do you throw a birthday party on a blog? You guys can't email me cake. Or if I do decide to take over, what should I talk about? Or I could just do nothing.

Thoughts?! No, really! I want to know! I guess I'll see you in two weeks. If I feel like it...

JP

Thanksgiving Cupcakes!

So I was going to write a *real* blog post today but since I'm always out of ideas and tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I figured I'd just share a few pictures of my latest baking adventure.

So in case you didn't know it by now, I've got a thing for cupcakes. They're just so much fun to make! I don't mess around with store bought cake mix or frosting, either. I took a cake decorating class when I was 13 and learned how to make buttercream frosting, so I really just can't see myself ever slapping canned frosting onto a cupcake with a butter knife. Nope. It's just something to be creative with, really. I like to think about what cake would go with what frosting and what filling. Then making them as pretty as possible :)

Anyhoo, I made these cupcakes to bring down to my sister's house for her birthday, and since I still have half the batch of frosting, I'm making them again for Thanksgiving. It just seemed like the logical thing to do. The cupcake itself is an applesauce cake with apple pie filling and cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Everything was made from scratch and they got some pretty good reviews.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! Anyone making any special treats? And is anyone else as obsessed with cupcakes as I am? 

Out of Ideas

I know I've said in the past that ideas are everywhere, and they are. You can be struck by inspiration at any moment--watching a TV show, listening to a song, just observing people. You could get ideas from dreams or even turn something that happened to you into a work of fiction. But just because the potential for ideas is never-ending, it doesn't mean that you're going to stumble upon them twenty times a day. What if your ideas are dwindling, and you just feel stuck?

I always tend to feel like I can't come up with new ideas, which makes it even more frustrating when I don't want to work on my biggest project. There isn't anything else to work on, so I do nothing. I even have a hard time coming up with blog post ideas. Sometimes I don't feel like I have an interesting story or a good piece of writing advice to share. And I can really only say how I'm having a hard time writing anything so many times before it gets old.

But how do you create ideas when you feel like the idea making machine in your head has broken down? What if you feel like any new ideas you come up with are terrible? Or maybe you feel like you're just reusing the same basic plot over and over, just with different characters and situations? I feel like any ideas I've come up with recently are just sub-par variations of the novel I should be working on, which I guess means that subconsciously I do want to work on it, but I just wish it was easier.

Maybe when we run out of ideas it's because we're trying too hard. No story is going to be perfect at that first moment of inspiration. There are so many details that will take time to figure out. It may not be easy, but we shouldn't let that stop us. And just because you don't have the entire complicated story mapped out in your mind doesn't mean you should give up.

Start with what's easy. What kind of characters do you want to write about? What kind of conflict do you find interesting? Find some detail that you find so exciting you just have to write about it. That's how I started my current WIP--with a very simple story idea. I basically thought, "oh, I'd really like to write about that." Once I committed to it, then more details started developing. Suddenly my characters seemed very clear, then more plot details, and pretty soon I had a complicated story idea that I was really excited to write.

So find something, just one tiny detail that intrigues or inspires you. Maybe you'll realize you're not out of ideas after all. You just need something to spark them.

Know What Your Character Wants

One of the most basic things you need to know when describing your own book is what your character wants. I can't even begin to list how many times I've read this when looking up tips for query writing. What does your character want, and what stops him from getting it? That's your basic conflict, and that's all anybody really wants to know when you're summarizing your book. But here's my issue with this concept: at any point in your life, whether you're making a big decision or a little one, do you always know what you want? So what if your character doesn't know what he wants? Is your story set up for failure?

I'm still avoiding my book like the plague, but I have given it a bit more thought, and I've broken it down into three parts. I've mentioned before that I feel the third part is the weakest, and it's not just because I can't write the last chapter to save my life. I think it has something to do with the fact that my MC doesn't know what he wants. In the first two parts, he didn't exactly have everything figured out, but he at least had a good idea about what he wanted. He just had to figure out how to get it, and how much he could get. But as the story progresses and things get more complicated, what he actually wants is hard to figure out.

I don't necessarily think this is going to kill my story. Whenever you're reaching the end of a book, the characters are probably going to have to make some decisions that help wrap up the whole story and bring it to its conclusion. If your story is about a love triangle, then your MC is going to have to pick one person. If it's an epic quest, then your hero will probably have to choose whether or not to complete it even when it seems impossible. A lot of stories will have decisions being made in the final act.

This thought process has helped me feel a little better about the fact that my MC has a hard time figuring out what he wants in the final act. Where I think I went wrong was in the execution. He's very wishy-washy about it, which just doesn't fit his character at all. He also doesn't seem to realize that a choice even needs to be made until the very last minute (which is a big part of why I think my last chapter doesn't work). Maybe what he wants is just to figure out what he wants, which is ok, but it can't just dawn on him out of nowhere. He has to be constantly aware of it, which I don't think I pulled off.

So a decision may be a big part of the final chapters of your book. Even if your character knows what he wants in the beginning, things can happen throughout the story that make it harder to figure out exactly what he wants in the end. But as long as he knows a decision needs to be made, then it won't throw the reader off when he finally makes it.

Your character may not always know what he wants. It isn't the end of the world for your story. You just have to help him figure it out.

The First Step

I'm going to keep this short, because as usual, I'm stressed out beyond belief. I have to take Gizmo back to the vet AGAIN, this time for blood work just to make sure he can handle an anti-inflammatory medication. I didn't even really want to blog today, but I also didn't want to not blog. So yeah...

I want to take this whole getting back into editing thing one step at a time, and I think I figured out the first step. It's pretty easy--just read. I want to read the first five chapters of my book, because I think they're the best out of the whole thing, and reading them usually gets me excited about the story. I've also pretty much edited them to death and there isn't much more to do with them, besides maybe a few tweaks here and there. So I'm thinking reading this section will give me a boost of confidence and hopefully a feeling of excitement again.

The next thing I want to do is piece together a draft that I can send to a few more beta readers. It shouldn't take me too long (I hope) and I'd really like to get some more input. But of course, I'm getting ahead of myself. Today I'm just going to read. If I finish that and want to do more, then that's great. If not, that's ok, too.

A Week to Myself

First off, on the Gizmo front, the Most Uncooperative Cat Award goes to...THIS GUY...

...who is very tired because he spent 3 hours at the vet on Wednesday and then had to go back on Thursday and stay 4 more hours all because he was very determined to not give them a urine sample. They finally managed to get it and are sending it out to see if there's some reason why he keeps getting sick. It could also be stressed related, although I don't know what he could be stressed about. We'll see, I guess. 

So! My fiance just left on a trip to LA, which means I'll be home all by myself for an entire week. This is both good and bad. I'm gonna miss him like crazy and worry about him being out there by himself all of the time, but I also have all this time to myself and I'm hoping I can get a lot done. I'm really a night owl, especially when it comes to writing, so I'm planning on staying up late all week and working on some stuff. 

But here are some goals for the week: 

• Read, read, and read some more.
• Watch lots of movies. I don't think I can reach my goal of 100 books for the year, but there's enough time to reach my 100 movies goal. 
• Edit! I had some trouble sleeping around 3 AM and actually got some brainstorming done. I think the last third of my book is the weakest part, and I thought of an underlying thread throughout the book that might help it out. 
• Outline and possibly start writing the book I was supposed to write for NaNo. It's still on my mind so I'd like to get a little work done on it before it flutters away. 
• Start planning out my A to Z Challenge posts. I've jotted down a bunch of ideas but I need to start actually planning which ideas can fall under what letters. Still not sure about X and Z, though...
• Look into getting some small things published. I've been sitting on one good short story and a bunch of poems and I'd like to actually doing something with them. 
• Because I also eat my feelings, I bought all of my favorite snacks and junk food that I can eat while my fiance's gone. There will be baking involved. 

That's it, I think. I'll let you know in a week how it goes.