I write because my passion is to tell people stories.
Stories of love and hate, of fear and hope. Stories where good people do bad things and bad people do good things. Stories of lives that are unexpected, horrible and beautiful.
I write these things because I believe they are true in real life, therefore should be in fiction too. But not matter what I write, I always seem to be asking 'why'?
4 years ago, on August 23 2006, I started blogging. It was a way of telling the universe that I was committed to writing – for real this time.
I started on blogger, and you can read from the beginning up until August 2008 (when I moved to WordPress) @ http://dustandstrangerthings.blogspot.com/ – but only until the end of January when I’ll finally be taking it down.
That first post was anything but elegant, but it made it’s point:
So why start a blog?
I know people who have blogs. Many people who have them say they are a good release for what goes on in their lives. Others, who I’m sure I’ll relate to more, say it’s a good excuse to not write.
You see I’m an author. No, I’m not published yet, but stranger things have happened. I’m part of a writing group, I try to write part of my novel everyday, and I’m serious about what I’m writing… doesn’t that make me an author?
When I started blogging I was on Chapter 5 of my very 1st novel, a science fiction novel that took place on another world and tackled issues like genetic alteration, racism, and coming of age. It didn’t have a title but I called it Mikayla’s Story. It turned out to be a very bad first novel, but I learnt from it and my writing grew.
More importantly, 2006 was the year I started to make plans and goals about my future. On my birthday of that year (which is in January) I wrote down 4 goals that I wanted to have accomplished in four years – by the end of 2009 or by January of 2010. They weren’t all writing goals, in fact only one was, but it was a good starting place.
These were the goals: By the end of 2009 I will…
1) …Be Published (once, and on my way to #2)
2) …Have gone on a warm-local vacation (Several if at all possible)
3) …Have bought a house/ condo
4) …Be engaged
So this is how I did:
1) I have been published 5 times, all in 2009 (in my timezone). All of them were short stories.
2) I went to Cuba. Only one warm-local vacation in the last 4 years but it was good.
3) I bought a house with my (at the time) common-law boyfriend in April of 2008. We also bought two dogs from an animal rescue society. It’s not part of the goal but they are very happy additions to the house.
4) I got engaged to my long time boyfriend in September of 2009.
I accomplished all of my goals. Now to set some new ones.
By the end of 2013 (four years from now) I will…
1) … Have two novels published.
2) … Have several smaller works (short stories, novellas, etc) published.
3) … Be married.
4) … Have quite my day job.
#1 & #2 are what being a writer is all about, gotta get my work out there.#3 will be easy (the date is already picked) and #4 will be very hard but I think do-able.
The Digest Version of “2009 in review”:
Projects Started/ Finished: FINISHED – the novel “Ice Debt”, my first script for a short animation film, several short stories.
STARTED – the novel “Riot Girl” will be finished by the end of January.
Event Highlights: – I was interviewed on CityTV news in April for the book launch of “Seven Deadly Sins”.
- I attended Con-Version 25 in Calgary and was on a panel called “Women who don’t kick butt: can they still win hearts and minds.”
- Live interview on Absolute Xpress’ BlogTalkRadio Show for Creatures of the Night Chart Rush
Submissions: ACCEPTED – I submitted to the first and second Flash Fiction Challenge’s by Absolute Xpress, and I submitted to the first ever Chinese Whisperings Anthology.
REJECTED – Submitted 2 stories to OnSpec and Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, I also submitted a Novella to Writers of the Future.
Personal Events: I got engaged, I think that’s the biggest highlight of the year.
Well the count down has begun. A little over three days until Christmas eve and whether you celebrate the day or not we all have a few vacation days coming up in advance of the new year.
Just wanted to take this moment to wish you all a wonderful end of the year.
Pre-Xmas Updates:
Ice Debt (novel) – Draft One complete. Draft two underway
Riot Girl (novel) – Draft one 98% complete.
Wall of Night (script) – to be blessed by exec before new years eve.
Chinese Whisperings: Red Book (Anthology) – will be released on January 1st.
We’ll chat soon.
PS: 2009 marks the end of a five year goal list for me. I’ll tell you all about them in my “2009 in Review” post.
Both of the flash fiction stories that I submitted to the Absolute Xpress Flash Fiction Challenge: Creatures of the Night, have been accepted for publication.
That means that by Christmas I’ll have 5 short stories published this year alone. How awesome is that?
Here is something else that’s awesome. While I was at Con-Version (Calgary’s Science Fiction and Fantasy conference) I met a very nice man named Mike Plested. He runs a podcast called Get Published on his website The Irreverent Muse.
He decided to interview me as an up and coming author and get my impression on how going to Con’s can help writers make connections and “get published”. The podcast is now live on his website and I would love to know what you think of it. Click here to go to the podcast. Pointers are greatly appreciated because I’d like to do more of these podcast interviews.
All in all, August has been a wonderful month for my writing. I hope September is just as good.
Starting on Sunday, author Lynda Williams and I are doing a continuation of our panel from Con-Version: Calgary’s Speculative Fiction Conference.
At Con-Version, I did a panel with Lynda called “Women who don’t kick butt: Can they still win hearts and minds?”. We discussed how women have been portrayed in genre fiction and how our society changes have affected how we, women, perceive power and strength. It was a great panel and it’ll be an interesting adventure as a week long blogging event.
Starting on Sunday with an introduction, Lynda and I will be posting articles and responding to each other on this topic. I will be posting on Tuesday and Thursday, with Lynda posting on Monday and Wednesday. Friday and Saturday are days to pick up on topics that have come up through the comments – because I hope you will comment
Lynda will be hosting this unique blogging event on her blog “Reality Skimming“. I will be posting summaries on my blog so you can follow along. Any comments that you post on my blog during the week, I’ll transfer over to Lynda’s so there is one central place for the whole conversation.
This is going to be fun. I hope you will follow along.
So perhaps I wasn’t as ready to start a new novel as I thought, but I needed to do something while I wait to see what happens to my novel “Ice Debt” (see this post – update 7).
But I was stuck. I love building worlds but it wasn’t coming to me this time.
I tried the normal routes. I tried answering a questionnaire someone sent me once to help you build your world, but I couldn’t answer any of the questions. I made a map, a pretty cool one too, with names of cities and places, but it wasn’t telling me anything. All I knew was that I wanted to write a Fantasy story since “Ice Debt” had been Science Fiction.
So I turned to my trusty old friend, the Magic 8 Ball.
I decided to start off big. I needed to know what kind of magic system this world had before I would know how it affected cultures and people.
Does this world have gods?My sources say no.
Ok. So if Magic didn’t come from gods bestowing it on their followers…
Does the magic come from the land?Outlook not so good.
Well where else?
Does it come from the animals?Definitely.
How about the plants?Signs point to yes.
Interesting. So I have a world where the magic is tied into animals and plants. But I needed more detail.
Can anyone tap into this magic?It is certain.
Well I couldn’t have a world where everyone had Magic. That would be boring wouldn’t it? But if Magic 8 Ball said everyone, then that’s what it would be. But…
Do different animals give different abilities?Reply hazy, try again. (damn)
Do certain animals have different gifts to give to people?Definitely.
Alright. So it sounded a lot like shamanic beliefs about Power Animals. I would need to do research on that, but I still didn’t have enough information.
Is the magic from the animals and plants limited in some way?Outlook not so good.
Limitless power that any human can tap into? There had to be a catch.
Must an animal or plant agree to give the magic?Absolutely!
Now things were getting interesting.
Are the plants and animals in this world sentient? Maybe.
Hmmm, maybe they are in a different way. Like spirits or something. Maybe sentient was the wrong word. But if they have to agree to give Magic then they must be aware, but perhaps not like talking animals from Disney.
Alright, so what did I have? I have a world where magic comes from plants and animals, and they must agree to give this magic to a human before the human can use it. This magic is limitless but is different for each kind of animal or plant. And any human can access the magic.
I think I can work with this. But I needed to ask about the opposite of this magic.
Is there something that can defeat the magic of this world?Absolutely.
Is the thing that can defeat this magic man-made? Maybe.
Is the thing that can defeat this magic from nature?Maybe.
Are there sentient creatures other then humans in this world?No.
Well, what the hell. That’s not helpful. There is something that can defeat Magic that might be man-made and might be from nature, and to make sure things aren’t too easy for me, there are no other sentient races on this world that might hold the answer. Maybe robots can defeat it.
Just for the hell of it Mr. Magic 8 Ball…
Are there robots?Absolutely.
Crap. Now what have I gotten myself into. I was hoping for Dragons not robots.
Are you telling me that there are Dragons and Robots in this world?Definitely.
Bloody hell. Next time I think I’ll use Tarot cards where the interpretation can be bent a little. Just to be sure…
Mr. Magic 8 Ball, am I writing a Fantasy?Outlook is good.
But Robots… Does the story have a touch of steam punk? Yes.
Well, there you have it. I’m off to build a Fantasy Steam Punk world with Robots, Dragons and Magical Animals. I’ll keep you posted.
Starting on Sunday, author Lynda Williams and I are doing a continuation of our panel from Con-Version: Calgary’s Speculative Fiction Conference.
So perhaps I wasn’t as ready to start a new novel as I thought, but I needed to do something while I wait to see what happens to my novel “Ice Debt” (