Wednesday Words: My NaNoWriMo Project!



Happy Hump Day!


It's a 5th Wednesday, and that means it's time for me to share with you all what I am either reading or writing.


Firstly, how did everyone do with NaNaWriMo? I set a goal of 500 words a day for myself, and started out pretty well, then petered. I'm terrible at these kind of goals, so I'm not sure why I kid myself, but on the bright side, I have the beginnings of an entirely new writing project! I've been so focused on Fractured Princess, I was starting to lose sight a little about writing. This November helped me break out of that, and I'm excited where this new story will take me.


For now, it's called The Queen's Daughters, a story based off of a dream I had (which is also how FP came to be). I haven't gotten to that particular scene yet, but some other circumstances in my life helped me put down the first few words, so I thought I would share those. They're bleak, just so you know, but here they are.




~*~*~*~

They killed our mother.

Then, they expected us to live in this place without her and be happy about it. Our father’s castle. This is not our home. It never has been. It’s just a place we visited during the off season so he could look like a good father.

Once, we thought he was.

But she was better. She was always better.

So now, we are taking her kingdom back, little by little. We may die doing it, but we will let the world know that we are Adasia’s daughters, and we will take shit from no one, not even the King.





Tuesday Tales: Ghuli is Getting A Name Change




Good morning!

This isn't really a Tuesday Tales, more like a brainstorm session that I've already gone through. BUT it's something for Tuesday, and it's about my characters, so it almost fits into the category.

For as long as I've written Fractured Princess, my main character has been named Ghulien, Ghuli for short. Now, in my head, it's pronounced JOO-lee. Over the years, however, I've had people read it as GOO-lee. It never occurred to me that in the English language, gh is--as far as I know--always pronounced as a hard g. Somehow, I thought the h would make it soft. But not only is that not how h's work haha; in the Crystalline language, h's aren't silent.

Also, I believe Ghuli was just a name I grabbed out of thin air when I needed one and don't really have much of an attachment to the name besides it's what I've been calling her for 13 years (yeesh, 13 years).

So, I've spent a couple of days thinking of names that 1) follow the rules of the Crystalline language, 2) sound good, and 3) that could be transferred into a nickname. One thing I never thought of is that Ghuli is passing for a Human, and also, her parents had close ties to their Human scholars, so they might give their daughter a nickname that sounded a little Human without anyone questioning it. Also, I still wanted to keep the j sound, so that played a big role.

Therefore, come December (so I can get back full swing into NaNoWriMo) my MC's new name will be:

*drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroll*

*cymbal*

Jonnie
(Not sure what it's short for yet.)

What do you think? I've always loved the name Jonnie for a girl, and I've only used it for a fan fiction back when I was in college, so it's a great way to reuse it.

I'd go back to all of my old posts and change the name, but that would be so tedious. Maybe I'll put a disclaimer. That'll suffice.



Wednesday Words: Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows



Happy Wednesday!

I hope everyone's doing well who is participating in NaNoWriMo. Save yesterday, I've reached my goal of 500 (I said 1000 last week, but I think 500 is a good start for me) words a day on the days I planned to write (all days but Sunday, unless I'm really compelled). The real task for me will be to keep it up but also to not touch the words I already put down. I'm one of those pesky writers who edits as she writes. It's just how I was raised. ;)

Anyway, it's the 2nd Wednesday of the month, and that means sharing with you all a piece of what I'm reading. Funny enough, I'm not reading anything that can be spoken of at the moment, but I did finish Jodi Meadows's Before She Ignites last week.




I must have spoken of Jodi before because she's in my tags, but at the risk of repeating myself, I had the pleasure of meeting Jodi via Twitter during last year's DVPit when I had a SLEW of likes from agents. Sadly, my work wasn't as ready as I thought, but I did actually receive TWO requests for my full following the initial query, so I know I'm getting somewhere. Anyway, Jodi was kind enough to look over my first few pages and give me pointers. Then, a little later, she gave me a full edit letter! In that time, she also asked me to be a sensitivity reader for the title book, and while I pointed out places she could improve, I loved this book from page 1.

Before She Ignites is about a young woman who has a treaty named after her and so despite all of her awkwardness, obsessing over dragons, and high anxiety, she has to be the figurehead for the people. She discovers a huge secret that brings danger to the islands on which the people live, and is subsequently thrown into prison. We follow her attempts to adjust to now being at the bottom of the bottom and also receive wonderful flashbacks that include dragons of all shapes and sizes. The imagery in this book is so cool, and not to give anything away, I'll just say, Aaru is everything. lol

Because I finished the book and am typing this up at work, I'm going to share a piece of my favorite scene that I still have on my Kindle and that no one will understand unless they've read it, so it's not a spoiler.


I was immense. Immeasurable. Infinite.

I bridged the spaces between stars with my fingertips. I crossed galaxies within breaths. Aeons poured through me like thoughts, and my inferno heart beat with the tempo of the end of the world.

If this was what it felt like to die, it was almost a mercy.


Are you reading anything this month? Are you doing NaNoWriMo?

Insecure Writer's Support Group: NaNoWriMo is here!



Where is the time going?! It's NOVEMBER. The first day of November to be exact. It's also the first Wednesday, and so that means it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Visit our great sensei Alex J. Cavanaugh and the IWSG site (linked in the previous sentence) to join us and visit the hosts for this month.

November also means it's time for National Novel Writing Month projects! And that is the topic of the question for this month: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

I think I've only tried NaNo once and gave up, but this year, I actually have two projects I want to work on: a fantasy piece about rebellion and a rom-com featuring demisexuals. Because of recent events in my personal life, I was actually able to write an opening for the former. The latter, I have smatterings in my head that I can most definitely flesh out. I'll just have to make the time to write 1,000 words each day, which I'm almost sure I can do if I actually focus. Wish me luck!

Have any of you finished your NaNo projects? Will this be your first year trying NaNoWriMo? Would you like to try the not-yet-popular NaNoReMo? lol