It's Been a Long Time... Time for the Boss Lady Grind!

Family,

First and foremost, I have to say....I AM SO SORRY!!

I disappeared for an inexcusable amount of time and I thoroughly submit to this position!

If you are unfamiliar with this picture, this is the dogeza position, a Japanese custom of bowing that shows the most humblest of apologize. Yes that, my friends, is the level of my apology! But I think I do have some sort of excuse...

I am moving to New York City!

I'm going NaNoWriMo!

Quick side note: Many of you do not know this, but I have already finish a story of novel length.

I know, I know - you must be like, what's up Kris?

Well the reason is that most do not know about it, mainly because it's my "practice" novel. I wanted to test the waters to see if I really could do a novel. At currently at about 70,000 words in about 3 months, I think I can do it. 

I plan to put up the novel on here (look to the top tab "Second Wind"), however, there is a few caveats that I need to say. This is really to a particular audience that I created this story.

If you have never divulged into the world of Harry Potter, or have not read the last Harry Potter book,

Then I think you would be rather lost. BUT if you have done the two above things, and are interested in how I create my craft, then please do read and leave comments. I'd love to hear from you.

But back to the original topic at head - NANOWRIMO!

NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to complete an entire 50,000 word novel within the month of November. All for the grand prize - the fact that you completed an entire novel in 30 days. I am so excited at the prospect of sleepless night, gorging coffee and absolute chaos of words, characters and plots.

It'll be just like college! :)

Anyway I have two great ideas for novels that I have been dancing around in my head and I would like some input on which one to go with. I have a particular favorite but I want to create something that genuinely creates interest. Look out for the first two chapters of the ideas within the next couple of days.

Because, of course, the ultimate goal is this: 

ANOTHER BESTSELLING NANO- NOVEL

http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/10770885712

So wild, so crazy, so ready!!

Being Exposed...to Family?

Last Saturday I was out with a friend, coming back from a Sox game, when I inadvertently let out that I need to go home and catch up on writing. Of course, since he has never heard about me writing, on came the questions:

"You're writing?"

"What are you writing about?"

"Can I read what you are writing?"

You can image my absolute happiness at his asking to read my work....Uh NOT! Are you Kidding ME?!

Of course I told him I would send him a copy when inside I was freaking out! And I am going to explain to you why.

Any budding author wants exposure. Wants the ability to give others a piece of their work and have it sought after. That's how you become known, that's how you become established. And if it had been anyone else, without a face, without a true connection to myself, I would have shrugged and said, "Sure I'll send you a copy ASAP and tell me what you think."

However, this is someone I know. Someone who I would take seriously if they had anything to say about my work. It is someone who I have a regular relationship with. Do you realize how particularly scary that can be? Writing is a bit like bearing your soul - your imagination coming to life on pages. It is a transcript of how you essentially see things or could potentially see things.

They say that the people who have the most power over your actions, whatever they may be, aren't really those within the field of work but your family and friends.

Even now, as my parents watch me write or ask me what I am doing and I respond with a resounding, "writing," I wait on baited breath for some discouraging word. It may seem silly that I wonder about what is travelling through their minds as they see their daughter engrossed in the world of fiction rather than in realm of law. But I think this is battle every author has to get through.

I know they'll be times where I may write something and think that it is a masterpiece and friends/family may not. I know they'll be times where I may want them fawning over some accomplishment like writing a full novel and I may only get a pat on the back.

It is going to happen. And I can't crumble because of it.

Why?

Because I am a writer. Plain and simple. Critics including friends/family will come and go, but I have to live with myself. In the long run, this will be one of many heart-clenching moments where I ultimately fear the possible rejection. But rejection isn't the end of the world. Not writing however ....would be the end of MY world.

So I will send my friend my work....well not until I run through it about 5-6 times more, bind it together into utter perfection.

Then I will send it to him!

What to come up with?

What to come up with?

Inspiration. Such a fleeting thing. There are times when things are coming out of nowhere, idea after idea and you don't have the energy or the time to write down everything you've been given from up above.
Then other times, you are drier than Sahara Desert. You got zilch. Nada. Zip. Zero.

Can you guess where I am right now?

Some background is in order. I've been writing this story for about several months now. Nothing for publication, it's simply to get my feet wet and see if I could write something of novel length. And so far I'm at just about the 60,000 word mark (fantastic!). I've even posted it online and gotten some followers/readers, ever ready for the next chapter.

But now it seems like I've hit a dead end. I know where I need to be at the end of the story. But I've lost transition. It's like I've lost my mojo. Like Dr. Evil and Mini-me left me to rot by myself.

Then I began to ask myself, where can I get some mojo? Maybe a trip is in order. ...Yea that just ended up with me going out around Cape Cod and leaving ideas back at the cottage.

Maybe reading other materials, stories, or the like will pull out my inner editor out. ...Yea that just ended up with me enjoying the stories and the editor taking a fiesta.

Now I'm about a couple of days late with my next installation with nothing and grumbling in the shower to myself, when BAM! it hits me. Well it was more like tangent into tangent into another tangent, but then BAM it hit me!

Finally know where to go! Thinking on it now, I've had my first writer's block. Kind of a milestone I guess. I've never had something frustrate me to no end but couldn't be abandoned for something else either. My story (which I might put up here at one point or another) has become a friend in a sense. All the characters have "lives" and they deserve an ending.

I guess this bout of writer's block was to show me persistence is going to be key in getting what I want out of this.

So, I'll raise a toast to writer's block: May you visit periodically but leave quickly.

OK! ...Where Do We Go From Here?

One of the most amazing things that we have been blessed with on this earth is imagination. The ability to think and see things beyond your immediate realm. To take leaps and bounds beyond any limitation your body may have. To push past barriers others may have placed in front of you. I thank God everyday that I am such an airhead. Airhead in the most endearing way of course. Take me anywhere and I am already somewhere else. However... sometimes it can take us places we might have wanted to go. Kinda like the unnecessary stop to Kansas on a flight to Hawaii. Let me explain...

As I have said before, I am an avid reader of fiction. I've pretty much have touched every genre there is. Romance, sci-fi, supernatural, fantasy, action, suspense...the list could go on forever. And I see myself tapping into about everything. I am brimming with ideas that are screaming, Take me there! I want to go first! I'm the best!.

But for someone who initially didn't make it their life goal to be a published writer, the question that needs to be asked. Ok, you have ideas. Now what?

I may not know what exactly to do, but something tells I should just start writing. Plan, outline and write.

But I'm a lawyer, and that seemed to be too easy to be true. Let's do some research first, shall we? Research I can definitely do. Before I knew it, I was bombarded with books on How to Write Fiction, Fiction for Dummies, So You Want to Write a Novel, and whatever laffy-taffy title you could think of. Then I learned that no one will take you seriously until you've had some publishing underneath your belt...Does writing for law review count? No?...Ok...The research continued...who would give a nobody a chance to write? What do they want to read? Are my ideas any good for this? What in blazes do I have to create?...THEN it hit me.

I'm in Dungeons and Dragons. 

Before I lose you, hear me out. From what I know of the game (which isn't much), from the very beginning, you hit these doors or quests and have to make choices as to where you will go. Where you begin will dictate where you end up. I don't whether the creators of D&D meant this but it's actually pretty philosophical. Choices you make dictate how you end your journey. But I think the most crippling thing is harboring on whether you are choosing the right door. The point should be JUST GO! No matter what the door may be, you need to move forward. 

So that's me. Here I am, in the whatever eflin costume (with pointy ears), and I am just staring at the door because I don't know what is the best way to get in. For a moment, I forgot who I was. I am me, doggone it! I'll kick in whatever door that's in front of me if I want to finish and get publish! I might have the "author-baddies" tell me wrong way or have "fire-breathing agent-dragons" telling me I'm stupid (liking the analogies?).

But no matter what, I'm just going to get in, my way with my thoughts. 

So I'm just going to start writing. My ideas are calling to me. It's about time I answered them.

And It Starts...You Think You Know a Guy...

A line from one of my favorite Disney movies, the Lion King. It's the part where Timon and Pumba walk away in shock after Simba sends them away to discuss with Nala kingdom matters. Believing that they knew everything about Simba, to be sent on the merry way was enough for them to start questioning, who is this guy? I mean sure we've lived with him for god knows how long, but do we really know him?

Can you believe it I am my own Timon? To think I actually I want to write a novel. Not just any old novel or one novel but several novels! It's amazing when you finally start clearing the clutter in front of your eyes that you begin to see what really makes you tick. What really makes you smile. What really makes places you in that utter bliss.

For me, it has become writing. Or is this really a recent occurrence?

Since I can remember, I have had the most torrid love affair with books. Fiction. The stories that can take you from your mundane existence to different worlds. Worlds you were taught never existed and never would. Worlds and characters that only existed in dreamlike fantasies. Characters you wished from the deepest parts of your soul could be in front of you and interact with you. Everything the real world told you became non-existent with the story before. That story was the only truth you needed.

Some of the best afternoons and nights I have had have been with a toe-curling, gut-wrenching, breathtaking, eyes-popping book.

Sure, it sounds like something completely orgasmic, but a GOOD book can do that. Imagine the imagery words can illicit. The feelings that can swell in your heart. The sense of justice that can take root in your mind. That's what a good book can do. Turn your entire world upside down.

Is it amazing that people get to do that everyday? That people can draw up the power of fiction writing and change mindsets, change lives? Can you believe that simply with words, someone's life can be turned for the better? Get you to smile? Make you laugh or cry?

That, my friends, is my love affair with fiction. It constantly kneads my heart, massages my soul and enlightens my mind. It feeds my desires and enraptures my attention from beginning to end. And the best part? It happens over and over again with each book. Each book comes its own experience, its own passion, its own joy.

Again, I've always been the avid reader. My imagination knows no bounds and I have finally realized that I can't be alone feeling the way I do. Why not impart my passion to others who love to have the same experience I do?

So it starts...The "no-nonsense fact" lawyer by day becomes the fantasty-romance-suspense budding author by night.

Hmmm....You think you know a Girl...