NaNoWriMo 2009

Well, National Novel Writing Month is finally under way.  This is my 4th consecutive year of joining the in the NaNo challenge, and I’ve already got 2841 of 50,000 words under my belt.  Only 47,159 words to go.  LOL.  I’ve always had a great time doing the NaNo challenge, though I’ve only actually made it to the finish line once.

My story this year is a fantasy tale about a woman’s journey after she’s killed in a car accident.  In her quest, she finds out that there’s more to life than the physical part.  She meets people from some of the world’s greatest legends, as well as finds out that in the here-after, we’ve all known each other since the dawn of time.

As a huge ancient history fanatic, I’m always integrating aspects of those myths and legends into my own stories.  I’ve always believed that there has to be some grain of truth behind all of the world’s ancient myths.  I don’t think each and every detail of all those tales are true, but somewhere deep down, a bit of truth lies in wait.

I’m really hoping to hit the 50K mark and then some.  I had a pretty set outline I thought I could follow for the most part.  My characters always end up taking the story in the direction they want, but I try to keep pretty much on track.  However, my main character in this story, Kelly, has already taken a new direction I hadn’t thought of in the basic design.  Oh well, it’s her story.  Guess she can tell it how she sees fit.

I’ll post updates throughout the month as to where I’m at and whether or not I’m going to make it to the finish line.  I’m hoping to get there, but I won’t say I will until I get a little closer to the mark.  Wish me luck.  I’m going to need it.  LOL

Missiles To The Moon

In light of the recent find of water deposits found on the moon, NASA has decided to hit our nightly neighbor with a missile in hopes of finding larger amounts of water and/or water crystals.  WHY???  I’m sorry, I’m sure the highly educated people at NASA know what they’re doing, but I’m very skeptical about this.  Do we have any idea what will happen if they hit it just a little wrong and move it out of whack?

I’ll admit that I don’t know a lot about how the planets and their moons stay in a fixed orbit, but I’m pretty sure that messing with nature is a bad idea.  They say that over the past few thousand years, the moon has moved slightly away from the Earth.  A full moon doesn’t seem as large today as it did a couple thousand years ago.  But, do we really want to take a chance on pushing it just enough to potentially send it out into space?

Everywhere you look these days, you hear someone else talking about the impending doom of 2012.  Is NASA going to make sure it happens by throwing our fragile balance of existence to the solar winds?  I’m not going to pretend to be an expert, but I really think this is a bad idea and that a LOT more research should be done.

My First E-Book Of Christian Poetry

I’m very happy to announce that I’ve just published my first e-book of Christian poetry.  I’ve been writing poetry all my life, and during the 1990’s, things got pretty rough in my world.  I hit rock bottom and wasn’t sure how to bring myself back out of it.  Then, I started writing poetry.  I wrote hundreds of poems, but many of them were just the rantings of someone lost in the world.  I’ve titled my book Silver Cloud-Poetry for Christians, and hope that it brings at least one person in this world to the foot of the cross.

Over the past couple of weeks, I went through all those poems and picked out the best of the lot.  I went back through each one and polished them up a bit, making them more readable.  That’s when I decided to put them into e-book form and offer them out to the world.  I know the first thing everyone is going to ask is, are you charging for them.  The answer is yes, but I’m only asking $2.00 or $2.50 per copy, depending on where you buy it.

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to sell my e-book from my site, but I think that’s just a little beyond my brain at the moment.  With all the problems I’ve been having with websites and such, I decided to let the experts handle this part of the process and have my book for sale at Lulu.com for $2.50 per copy.  The reason it’s 50 cents more is due to their costs.

I’ve also added the e-book to my webidz store for sale at the price of $2.00.  I can do it for that price as I don’t have to pay someone else to sell it for me.  The problem is that because I have a free store there, I can only offer 1 book at a time.  I can relist it a thousand times, but I have to do it by hand.  Kinda sucks, but that’s life.  I don’t mind, I’m just thrilled that I finally convinced myself to do this.  I’ve been thinking about it for a very long time, but because of the backlash I’ve gotten because I write in rhyme, I almost didn’t do it.

(UPDATE: I figured out how to add more than one copy.  Thanks to the wonderful people in the forums at Webidz.)

I know there will be someone out there who gives me crap for doing this, for one reason or another, but I don’t care.  This is something I had to do for me and my family.  In the future, there will be more coming out.  I’ve got a whole cupboard full of stuff I’ve written over the years and it’s going to waste.  Keep on the look out for more poetry books coming out in the near future.  There will be one for children, one for nature lovers, and one for, well, lovers.

I’m also working on two more e-books of writing prompts, but they’re going a little slower than I’d like.  I have a thousand ideas, but I’ve also got an inner critic who talks me out of doing a lot of the stuff I think about.  Sometimes, I’m my own worst enemy.

As the other books come out, I’ll post about them here.  I do hope that you’ll run over to one of the sites and pick up your copy.  It would totally make my day.

Poetic Happiness

Don’t you just love it when something wonderful happens to you out of the blue?  I had something wonderful happen to me and it was totally unexpected.  I stopped here at the site to check my stats.  Personally, I didn’t think anything exciting would be waiting for me, but boy was I wrong.  I noticed that there was a linkback that needed either approved or deleted.  I almost hit delete out of habit, but something told me to check it out first.  Good thing!

I found that a gentleman by the name of Ollie Lind had read one of the poems I’d posted here and not only liked it, but offered up the link to his own readers.  How cool is that?  So, I spent a little time at Mr. Lind’s site and was amazed at what I found.  Ollie Lind is quite the poet in his own right, and has even released his first book of poetry titled Reflections of Life.

Now mind you, I was a little intimidated about reading Ollie’s work.  Several years back, I’d posted some of my poems to a critique group and almost quit writing poetry all together.  I write in rhyme.  One of the people in the group had told me that it was a sure sign that I was nothing more than an amateur.  I was devastated.  I’ve tried my hand at free verse, but I have to say that I totally SUCK at this form of poetry.  Everything I wrote in free verse sounded forced, so I just gave up.

Anyway, I decided to read a few of Mr. Lind’s poems and fell in love with his writing style.  He’s a rhymer.  His poems come together in a magical way that dances across the heart.  It gave me hope that my poems might not be dead after all.  It also caused me to pull out my dusty old book filled with the poems I’d written so many years ago.  And, it made me realize that just because one person in this world didn’t approve of my style, someone else out there might enjoy it.

Thank you, Mr. Lind.  You helped put a spark back into my soul that’s been silenced for a very long time.  They say that all things happen for a reason, and I believe that you reading my goofy little poem was no accident.  May all your writing dreams come true.

Mindless Fear

A passionate kiss.
A frightening scream.
At first I thought,
it was merely a dream.

A shot was fired.
A car sped away.
I heard a siren,
and started to pray.

I felt a hand,
glide over my side.
I couldn’t move,
though I had tried.

I then heard a voice,
whisper to me.
“It’s after midnight,
shut of the T.V.”

How To Write A Cinquain

In the world of poetry, there are several different types of poems.  I personally like to write in verse, or rhymed poems.  Then there is also free verse, which is a highly stylized poem that has no rhyming words, but lots of imagery and descriptions.

Then there are all the styles of poems.  One of these styles is known as a Cinquain.  The cinquain is a very simple style of poetry, based on syllables instead of stanzas.  Cinquains are made up of 5 lines of verse.  It will look something like this:

Line 1=2 syllables
Line 2=4 syllables
Line 3=6 syllables
Line 4=8 syllables
Line 5=2 syllables

The thing about cinquains is that they can be based on any topic or theme.  They can be totally silly:

Pork Chops
Each night at six
Father demanded them
Just once I wished we could have
Fish sticks

Or they can be completely serious:

Soldiers
Freedom fighters
Sent to lands far from home
Protecting the lives of millions
Bravely

Cinquains can have a nature theme to them:

It’s cold
The winter storm
Creeps in without a sound
Laying down a blanket of snow
Frigid

Or they can have a love theme to them:

For you
The one I love
I’ve never known just how
To tell you of my true feelings
For you

They can even have an artsty feel to them:

Moments
Like living art
Each person around you
An actor in an unknown film
Captured

The cinquain is one of the easiest poems you can write, and they can be written by anyone.  It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a creative writer, or just looking to release a few pent up emotions.  The cinquain is a great way to let your emotions flow.

Creating Your Own Writing Style

The one thing that sets each writer apart from the rest of the world is they’re own unique style.  Some write with an authoritative voice, much like a teacher would speak to a class.  I, personally, try to write as though I’m sitting with my readers, chatting over a cup of coffee.

In order to really make your writing stand out in the crowd, you need to find your own style.  If you try to write like anyone else, your work will may have a stale feel to it.  By putting your own personality into your work, you make it fresher and more exciting.

There will be many experts who will tell you that you should write in a certain tone, depending on your topic or chose genre.  This may work for them, but that doesn’t mean the same is true for you.  The best writing comes from your heart, not from what youve learned from the experts.

I learned this many years ago, when I had some of my poems critiqued by poetry experts.  I’ve always enjoyed writing verse poetry, or poems that rhyme.  According to these experts, my poems were clearly written by an amateur who had no business writing poetry, simply because they rhymed.  I was so devastated that I didn’t write another poem for nearly a year.  That’s when it hit me, I needed to write for me.

I decided to keep writing in my own style, no matter what these experts thought.  I felt that if I changed my style to fit their ideas of what a perfect poem, it was no longer mine.  Since that time, I’ve written my poems in my style and though the experts may hate it, they make me happy.

Don’t let anyone else out there tell you how your work should sound or be written.  Always write in your own unique voice.  Your readers will know the difference and appreciate your efforts.