So I Hadn't exactly examined my motives before...

February 2015

Character Motivation:

What is the main motivation behind your characters?

Generally some version of protecting the people they care about. Which is generally friends and occasionally family- and I didn't realize that I did this, so thanks for the question.

Where do you come up with that motivation?

I find that it's generally intrinsic to the characters and becomes a force in the plot- even if the motive wasn't there to begin with.

Do you tend to use the same sort of motivation in every novel, or do you tend to mix it up more?

I'd say that they're all aspects of hte same thing? I have difficulty in varying my main characters, though I am working on a story that I hope will be different, but it's still in the plotting stages. The characters haven't had a chance to hijack it yet.

What is your favorite example of character motivation?

I like the selfish ones that accidentally start caring and being responsible. Oops?

Bonus: Share with us an excerpt from your current or completed novel(s) that demonstrates your favorite example of character motivation.

No bonus points for me, it's all in my head. Which is kinda sad...

Unplanned Disorganization

     Yay, "Compose" has returned to me! It refused to work Wednesday...

     Right- I'm one of those people who enjoys organizing but is constantly disorganized anyway. :P Usually its at a manageable level (Defined as: where I can find what I want with less than five minutes of searching 90% of the time). The continued disorganization is caused by two things- the reworking of systems I don't like, and well, adding more stuff. Which brings me to my current state.
     Currently- well, all except my largest pieces of furniture have been kicked out of my bedroom because the carpet is being cleaned. 

     I store almost everything in my bedroom. (Pauses to be thankful that I did not have to empty the closet as well.) My wardrobe is in three different rooms with limited accessibility, and most of my several hundred books are packed in boxes or stacked precariously atop an ottoman/blanket chest in the spare bedroom. The trinkets, makeup and jewelry, writing stuff and photos are everywhere else. And I mean Everywhere.
     *cue screaming in fear and agony*

     It took about four hours to dismantle my room yesterday, and as I wait for the last section of carpet to dry, I am dreading fitting everything back in. I finally had a (mostly) working system, and now I can't find anything. Again. *headdesk*

     I may like organizing, but I loathe cleaning. I had to scrub the walls- though that was mostly scratches from moving furniture. And everything needs dusting before it finds a home. My mother smirked and told me I might have my room back by the TWENTY FOURTH.
     Obviously, I'm unsure of how to deal with that- thus my ranting. Online, where mother can't hear me... ;)

Who gave this year permission to start so soon anyway?

January
Another year, another Blog-Go-Round. The WriYe Blog Circle is a collection of us writers who also have blogs. Every month, we’ll give you a prompt, with a bonus challenge. Write about the prompt (answer the questions or don’t - up to you!) and share your link here. Try to build up a blog roll with your fellow WriYers. We’ll start off the way every New Year starts off... Goals: What is your one main goal for this year? Call it your writing resolution. Not two. Not five. Your main and only one.
Write one draft or one story all the way to the end. Grammar does not matter. Punctuation does not matter. Plot Holes are unimportant- this is a rough draft, development is what it's FOR. Speed does not matter. Sudden personality changes do not matter. Roll with it. The year you began writing the story DOES NOT MATTER.
This is SPARTA!!!
? When did that get in here?
And why is it your goal?
Just full of questions, aren't you? It's my goal because I never finish anything in my writing, and I'm a terrible procrastinator. (I know December was a similar question, but this should be the distillation of everything you plan to do this year. It may be "Publishing a novel!" or even "Just write every month.") Bonus: Make a mantra to tell yourself all year when you feel as if you can’t reach this goal. Share it with us! One More Word

Resolved: to write words

December 2014

We made it. A whole year of writing and a whole year of blogging. Pat yourselves on the back. You deserve it. I hope you kept up with your friends blogging there will you. There may be a quiz.
But for now, there's only the last prompt of the year.
     No, I don't- cause I caught all this up in January, like the delinquent I am.

Resolutions:
After your year of writing, you've seen the good and the bad that happen as time goes on. You know your high months and you know your low months. You should know where you are lacking and where you're awesome. Take that all into account and give us five (5) resolutions for your writing next year.

Heh. This is going to be painful.
1) I am terrible at consistency. 

Resolved: to write at least 700 words a week.

2) Plots. Plots everywhere. 

Resolved: to write the dang things down, even if only on a stray sticky note, 

and keep them typed up in an idea project in Scrivener.

3) I read far too much fan fiction this year.

Resolved: Write something to post on AO3.

4) I never seem to be able to focus on one story at a time.

Resolved: Plan for this- use snowflake method for what I'm not working on,

and "multi-track" novels. Because Tatra's Excel spreadsheet is awesome!

5) I never finish anything.

Resolved: Finish one story this year, Preferably Kings Shadow

or the co-written So Funny spin-off.

Bonus: Tell us how you plan on completing each one!
     Um- I think I just did? Now all I need is a writing buddy to keep me accountable and motivated....

Gingerbread Village... Wow, I hadn't made these in years.

     So, today my boss and I made "Gingerbread houses" for the library raffle. I got to her house about 10:30, and we proceeded to decorate for about five hours, with a short break for lunch. There was so much candy.

The first house- I had far too much fun with the roof
and cheerfully overdid the red and green

Also, I added a lean to to the house and "made" a tree...

The house of Gumdrops and Good'n'Plenty- With accompanying dog
(though the younger patrons have informed me that it's a mouse...)

Build #3- Piroulines, Necco, Smarties and S'more Candy corn with KitKats and Andie's Mints.
 Definitely the on I'd most enjoy eating.
There's a marshmallow snow fort in there too, though it's hard to see.

The last house I did. My theme was chocolate and licorice.
That's one of my Boss' creations in the background.

These totally count as art projects, right? ;)

The Anti-NaNo Post

November 2014

We're going to do this blogging month a bit differently... Because it is NaNoWriMo, for crying out loud!
Progress
Every week, at the least, post a blog of your weekly word count (total and week-only) and an excerpt from your novel. We'll cheer you on.
     Um- as I am not doing NaNo, that doesn't really apply? I've got a few k, but I'm basically just taking November off writing. I am exhausted, the words are gone. I'll try to pick back up in December/ January- but really, I've been spending more time working on my craft projects.
     Though I am also working on fully plotting out The Kings Shadow with Snowflake Method. Very Slowly- I made it to Character Synopsis. Three more steps before Rough Draft....

Plans to Plot, Plots to Plan and- Who might you be?

October 2014

Challenge:
Just one month left before NaNoWriMo! That means we don't have much longer to plan... I hope you're having fun with our OctoOctober prompts!
Let's go revisit some of the planning from earlier in January, but with a new spin...

NaNo Planning
What is the most important thing for you to have done before doing a NaNoWriMo novel? I need to be excited, have driving characters and a full plot outline, though "full" means from beginning to end, not in depth.
Do you have to have it fully planned to get that 1,667 every day, or do you have a title and a main character and go? Title, MC, Idea- go.

Bonus: Show us your NaNo planning - handwritten or computer screen!
     Not really planning on NaNo this year- no inspiration- but Here's a "Planning in Progress" pic anyway...