Squirrels & Patience

I've already checked off one of my Month of September Goals: going camping with my sister. It was way fun. With my sisters help, we built our own fire (the first one we've ever built on our own). What fun, huh?! Our tin foil dinners chuck full of chicken, onions, peppers, and zucchini turned out excellent and super tasty. We've set up tents a dozen times. That wasn't hard at all. Of course I didn't sleep particularly well, even with the blowup mattress. No problemo. It was all for the fun and to have some bonding time with my sis. I will relate this to writing, so just wait. But for now, here are some pictures:

 

The campsite was infested (in a good way) with squirrels and chipmunks.

I captured this super cute picture. Pretty dang cute, huh?

Look at the squirrel photo... Okay, now that you've enjoyed my amazing photography skills, I will expound upon it. Ok, everyone can capture a picture in some way, shape, or form. It may look different depending on the camera, the skill, the opportunity, etc... But a lot about photography is patience. I waited for about ten minutes to capture that photo. I must have taken eight or nine pictures before I got it just right.

With writing, it's the same. It takes patience. Patience to plot, write, edit, query, go on submissions, and perhaps starting all over again. But the patience pays off, even if it is just the satisfaction of completing a chapter or a first draft, all the way up to getting your story published.

So be patient, my dear followers. Be kind to yourselves. And breathe. :D

So, how do you keep yourself calm while writing in order to be patient? How have your camping trips been? Or are you a Ritz Hotel kind of person?

Writing. Jewels.

Photography Copyright Julia King 2012

Month of September Goals

Hello, followers! How's it going? I hope I find you all well on this Friday (or whenever you read this). I've got to admit I didn't do super hot on my goals this month. However, I was getting over a roller coaster ride of a crazy summer. So, I'd say all is well. Here's how I did with last month's goals:

• Move on August 18 and get settled into my new place Check. I like my new place. It's funny cuz my old commute to work took me 15 minutes. My new commute is 5 minutes total. Somehow I'm late for work even though I'm closer, when I was early before. *shakes head* 
• Read Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion by Brandon Mull. I bought it. Does that count? haha
• Edit a bit of my own works I started working on a new project. That counts, right?
• Enjoy me some Netflix and time with loved ones Super Check. I socialized a lot more than usual and spent some time with family. As for Netflix--it turned into Hulu. I met an author (Natalie Whipple) at a book bloggers/author get-together a couple weeks ago. She recommended me watch a Korean drama called "Boys Before Flowers". Oh my gosh! I watched all 25 episodes in about 2 weeks. Love it. You definitely should check it out, too. Beware, it'll suck you in. So funny story: my roommate/coworker sat in on watching the first episode with me. She is obsessed with it now, but we are both on different episodes. We'll sit in the same room watching it together but not the same episode. haha
• Beta a tweeps book if she needs my help. She's not ready for it to be read yet.

Well, now for September's goals:

• Finish beta'ing my sister-in-law's book (I'm so proud of her)
• Read Insurgent by Veronica Roth (I decided Beyonders can wait)
• Keep plugging along with my new project, SPHERICAL (a dystopian novel)
• Edit one of my own works (not sure which one)
• Go on a couple dates (I have no idea who'll be the lucky man/men, though... haha)
• Be social (writers tend to be solitary beings sometimes, or is that just me???)
• Go camping with my sister Guess what? I've already accomplished this one. I went Wednesday-Thursday of this week. Nice

So what are your goals for this fabulous autumnal month? Are you excited for fall blowing in? I am!

Writing. Jewels.

ISWG: Fourth Edition

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If you read my post from a couple weeks ago, you'll know I brought up how I lost my desire to write there for a while. Well, to be honest, I almost quit the whole writing thing altogether. The thought of continuing with my dream made me literally ill, like I wanted to crawl into a hole and die a brutal death rather than going through the writing process again. Yep, it sucked. Bad. And I became rather depressed due to the situation.

I had to give myself a break, and even shelf a project for a bit to distance and detach myself from the dreaded burden that was weighing me down. It literally felt like I was dragging a couple hundred horses behind me who were galloping the other direction at the same time. Ugh! I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

One night, I had a cathartic event that helped me, even just a tiny bit, to dig myself out of my deep hole of writing despair. I decided to start plotting out an idea for a new project, which I have started working on. I thought that if I started with something fresh and new that I'd whip myself into shape. You know what? It worked. IT WORKED! Hallelujah and jump up and down and twirl in circles like a giddy little girl!

So what I'm saying here on this #ISWG Wednesday is:

1. If you need to, take a break
2. Shelf a project for a while to distance yourself from it, to breath again
3. Work on a different project to get your writing blood boiling again

Writing is not easy for sure, but in the end it is WORTH IT!

What are your tips to get you writing again? How have you overcome wanting to quit?

Writing. Jewels.

Emotional Scenes

Oops, this was supposed to post tomorrow. My human error for not scheduling it. haha Anyway, I'm obsessed with the SYFY show, Warehouse 13. I've watched up to the current episode in the 4th season. So, if you like sci-fi stuff, you'll definitely like this show. One of the closing scenes in an episode sure incited some major emotion in me. For one, I'm way attached to the characters and plot line. Also, the closing scene has a song in it called "Running Up That Hill" performed by Placebo (originally by Kate Bush). Here's a clip from the episode. Beware: If you haven't finished the third season of Warehouse 13, YOU DO NOT WANT TO WATCH THIS!!! *Spoilers*



Anyway, the music at the end of this episode made it an emotional rollor coaster for me. I almost cried. I think I stopped breathing. And the world stopped spinning for a few minutes (at least for me).

Well, here's a list of book scenes that have incited intense emotions in me, be it laughter or crying (Warning: There may be spoilers):

• These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner. One of the end scenes that has to do with Jack. I cried all the moisture out of my body because of it. My nose was dripping snot, too *gross*
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett. The part where all the toilets are placed on a certain person's front lawn
• Delirium by Lauren Oliver. The super-I-growled-at-the-book-for-at-least-30-minutes cliffhanger ending. Super Grrr!
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: The end of course, but the part where Liesel and Rudy make the food delivery boy's bike slip on the ice and they steal the food. I couldn't stop laughing. At all
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Katniss singing when Rue dies
• Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. The troll farting scene in the first book. I was listening to the audio book while driving and almost had to pull over because I was crying so hard from laughing. Almost peed my pants, too. Oh, you know you want to read this book now, huh?
• The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale. When a certain person dies. I'm not going to spoil this one too much
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. Fred and George making their amazing departure when they decided to leave Hogwarts for good. Hilarious with all the magic tricks and fireworks they conjure up
• And of course, when Harry Potter dies (uh...Dobby, too. Probably more so than Harry)

So, what movie/TV/book scenes have incited intense emotions in you? What's your favorite TV show as of late? Is there a song that's been played in a TV show/movie that has made it all the more amazing for you?

Writing. Jewels.

Success is in the Squiggles

Take a look at this picture--another one of my Instagram creations.

The following question was posed in a class I attended the other day: Which line represents success?

So, which one do you think represents success? The straight line or the squiggly one? I suggest it's the squiggly one. Why? Because success comes from a tricky process of trial and error, failure, mistakes, ups and downs, and the list goes on and on. Anyway, what I'm getting at is writing is a process of squiggles--that is what produces success in this industry. 

I've got to be honest. The whole writing thing has been rather difficult lately. I lost my mojo to write there for a while. There was absolutely NO motivation to write in my soul, bones, fingers. Yet, over the last few days, it has been coming back. I want to write. I want to be in the thick of my words again. I have to create! But the fact is that I have to open up Word and type. And I will!

Lately, my journey has been stuck in one of the curves of the squiggles. It has been very hard. But this is just one of the twists is in the process. Embrace the curves. Success is at the end of the rainbow with the pot o' gold glistening a shinny gold. Uh, pardon my cliche usage.

I hope my difficult time can help you get through your squiggly road. That's what we are here for--to support and help each other. Keep going strong!

How has your road to success been? Is it squiggly for you? Have you ever lost the desire to write? How have you overcome it? 

Writing. Jewels. 

Settings

Instagram Pic by Julia King

When I was eighteen, I traveled by chartered bus with a group for three weeks across country and back again. During that time, I hit up seventeen U.S. states. Supercool. And way fun! I enjoyed the entire trip, however, there was one city that stuck out to me the most: Boston, Massachusetts.

The strange thing is that I spent all of maybe four hours there. But, the essence of the New England state penetrated my soul in a way that has drawn my heart back there ever since. Yes, for twelve years, I've been itching to get back there but have yet to make my pilgrimage back. I'd love to live there. The thing is I'm too practical to up and move without securing a job. I'm a planner, you see. I've got to make sure I can survive. :D But the adventure is so desirable to me. And, of course, scary too!

Anyway, because of this intense pull to this beautiful area of the United States, I set my second book, BOUND, in a city near Boston called Wrentham. There is a scene that takes place in Boston, and the beginning and end takes place outside of Dublin, Ireland. Intrigued yet? You better be!

Although I spent a brief period of time in Boston, I didn't know anything about it other than I know it's gorgeous. I spent a a fare amount of time researching Wrentham and Boston. I don't know what I'd do without the internet. Sheesh, I'd be lost. Luckily, I've been to Dublin, Ireland, so I didn't have much of a problem there. Plus, the scenes set in Ireland are supernatural by nature, so I used my creative license to build the setting/world there.

Anyway, have you ever set a book in a city you've never been to? Or one in which you've only spent a short period of time there? How do you go about researching your setting? Internet? Library? Actually going there?

Writing. Jewels.

PS: Happy Wednesday!