All Is Not Lost

December 2017 Blog

All Is Not Lost

Although the future is never guaranteed, at least the illusion of it appears with the possibilities of redemption.

Saving Grace: A Haiku

E’en as this year is

Weighed, found wanting, the next looms

On the horizon.

Besides surviving the year (so far), on my very short list of accomplishments in 2017 have been the posting of my daily Haiku daily and the posting of my monthly blog monthly.

     As 2018 looms, I feel the need to plan for a much brighter year with a far longer list of finished projects.

    Perhaps the new year will be my “year of the charts”. Maybe such visual reminders will help me focus. I might even get some of those tiny star stickers they used in schools to reward students for their good behavior. (We were such suckers for those little gold stars.)

    In addition to making charts and schedules this month for use next year, I need to finish the manuscript for this year’s NaNoWriMo ( https://nanowrimo.org ). I managed 54,000 plus words and another WriMo win. Now, during NaNoFiMo ( http://nanofimo.net ) I’ll write another 30,000 words for a good-sized novel I can edit in January and February for publication in the spring.

    Hopefully, 2018 will usher in a kinder, more gentle world, but I hold little hope for that. 2017 has seen an incredible amount of inhumanity among humans – both toward themselves and the other inhabitants of this Earth. Actually, we haven’t been very kind to the Earth itself, and Mother Nature has taken us to task for it.

    Climate change deniers aside, even believers are not doing enough to right the wrongs we are daily heaping upon an Earth that is nearing the tipping point. Once past that, it is my understanding that nothing we do will reverse the damage we have done.

    In my lifetime, the world has gone from the brightest of all possible futures to the bleakest of all scenarios – from unlimited riches available for all industrious peoples to a dystopia where there is no hope for the future of the world or its angry, angry populations.

    We have managed (in the span of seventy or so years) to send an Earth that has survived for millions of years into a tailspin that will leave it desolate and uninhabitable for any form of life. Thankfully, I will not live to witness its demise, but future generations (and not too distant future) will experience the ravages of the sun and the storms that we have only begun to feel.

    This is starting to sound like a dystopian novel. I’m starting to get an idea. I need another sequel to “The Chronicles of Acqueria”. I’m sure I can work in a lot of mayhem and destruction. After all, the not-so-dead volcano its inhabitants are sitting on has hinted at its own resurrection. I could have a few villains help it along.

    Oops, there’s that shiny object distracting me again. Gotta love all those shiny objects, but they do take a toll on my plans and objectives.

    I need to find a way to incorporate all my new shiny ideas into my charts, plans and schedules so I don’t have so many loose ends out there. I keep tripping over them. Then I fall down and have to start all over again.

    Distraction, thou art mine enemy. But really, where would a writer be without new ideas? I simply have to develop some discipline to keep progressing and actually finish some of these myriad projects I have started.

    So far, for next year, I can anticipate to continue my daily Haiku and look forward to publishing at least three collections of same.

    I also look forward to continuing my blogging on a regular basis. See, I have developed some sense of discipline. I must also release my darlings into the world and let them live lives of their own in the hearts and minds of my readers. My favorite people in the whole world. The people I love to share my ideas and my stories and characters with.

    I must remember that I write not only for myself, but for my readers, too.

    Oh wait, the characters in my head have just reminded me that I write for them – to give them life and being outside of myself. They are becoming very vocal. So before I’m accused of being schizophrenic, I better give them their own lives. There, that should keep me on track.

   But then, there’s…

  Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to my current blog. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Write Away

November 2017 Blog

Write Away

Today is the first day of the rest of my writing life.

Write Away: A Haiku

NaNoWriMo reigns

Supreme, demands I fulfill

Declared prophesy.

Today is November 1, 2017 – the first day of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month – https://nanowrimo.org) for this year. I will be participating for my seventh year in a row – at least. Could be longer, but that’s as far back as their records go.  Every November since 2011, I have penned at least 50,000 words, literally, since I still write with pen on paper.

I’ve written an odd assortment of novels, some finished and published – some not. Actually 50,000 words is not enough for a full-length novel. So I try to finish in December for NoNoFiMo (National Novel Finishing Month – http://nanofimo.net).

There has even been a NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) in March. Not certain that one still exists as my attempts to access it give me an unsecure site warning and tells me I do not exist.

Writing 50,000 words in 30 days requires at least 1,667 words a day to finish on the 30^th.  I try to finish by  November 28^th , which is my birthday. Kind of like a present to myself.

I find it requires a good two-and-a-half hours of dedicated writing to accomplish. I seldom split the time up, because I don’t want to lose my train of thought and have to go over what I’ve written. I reserve that for the first few minutes of my writing session.

I pretty much isolate myself as I don’t like distractions. For background noise, I listen to classical music. I can’t have regular TV on or any music with lyrics I can understand – my mind will start to wander.

I love the idea of getting lost in my story. I find it’s the best way to write. Also, it gives my characters the chance to jump in and maybe tell me something about themselves I didn’t know.

     I usually start with an abbreviated outline of where the story should go, But I have no problems taking it elsewhere, if my characters tell me it needs to go there.

The year I wrote “The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery”, my main character, Sentia told me she had a younger sister, Petra. The sister became an integral part of the story and is featured in the sequel on which I am still working.

My favorite novel so far has been “The Seasons of Sam Rock”, a 1940’s  Hollywood detective novel that does not follow the detective genre rules, but becomes a horror showcase. In this noir novel set in sunny Southern California, I commit two of the novelist’s cardinal sin by killing a little old lady and a cute little dog. The culprits? A murder of ravens, controlled (or not) by a red-headed French woman named Marie Delacroix whom Sam Rock does not find hard to look at.

My favorite heinous killing come from my Western novella, “Black Oak: Town of Joy”. It’s a woman on woman axe murder, and I smile every time I read it.

Okay, so by now, you know I’m an introverted psychopath who loves to write horror, although I also write in the science fiction and fantasy segments of genre fiction.

This year’s NaNoWriMo will be a sequel to the Black Oak novel. If I stay on schedule, I should be able to publish in late spring. Although, the best laid plans of mice, men and writers oft gang awry. We’ll see if I can stick to that schedule.

Actually, I might be able to better it, since a novella can be around 43,000 to 50,000 words, so I might be able to publish early spring.

I find myself looking forward more to NaNoWriMo than to the holidays. I ‘ve never been much of a holiday person (any holiday) but writing in November is something special I do for myself, and of course, I love sharing my work with my loyal readers.

I will do my best post excerpts from the day’s writing on Twitter, so my readers can see what I’m up to. Maybe a sentence or two. Maybe every couple of days. Wouldn’t want to give too much away.

In the meantime, I will keep writing and posting my daily Haiku on Twitter and on Facebook, and I will endeavor to publish my next collection of Haiku before the end of the year.

Hopefully, with my computer problem behind me, I will get back into some sort of routine and start the New Year on a more productive note. Yep, I’ve pretty much chalked this year up on the non-productive side. I don’t know where it went; it just went, and I know there’s no do-overs for time gone by. It’s just gone.

So, here’s to NaNoWriMo and here’s to my mascot for the month.

And here’s a big salute to the coming year – a year of frenzied productivity.

Now y’all, don’t laugh too hard. It is possible, you know.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to my current blog. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

8 Days and Counting: NaNoWriMo

One week from tomorrow, I will not be watching a lot of TV. I will have classical music on - no words, just music. I will write for 2 1/2 hours straight. This is a recipe I will repeat for 30 days.

This is one of the pledges to myself that I actually keep every year. Since 2005, I've started 5 manuscripts during NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. Two of them are completed and published: The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery & The Seasons of Sam Rock.

How do I complete them? There are other sites that help after November, like NaNoFiMo - National Novel Finishing Month in December and NaNoEdMo - National Novel Editing Month in March.