Just call me #Guinea – #Pig if your NaNoWriMo’ing

…my mascot is throwing down to Janet Jackson’s, “Nasty”…

There is a new heart-breaker in my world and her name is Cait Reynolds. She is an mucho-fab-lady and liaison. While I hold her in high esteem, I am afraid I still dive head-first at break-neck speeds into the #ultra #newbie category of hip and happening #AmWriting kind of peeples, deemed guinea pig and proud to wear the badge. Through her careful, non-shaming coaching and “F yeah” attitude she has taken this top-grade A #panster and shown her the light of what being a #planner is all about, or at least a fledgling dot in the outlining a novel hemisphere.

& this being the reason it is sooo important

Writing, something, isn’t the issue, but focus, laser vision, a definitive instruction sheet instead of the over-active brain stem instability I am most known for and I don’t think I am alone. Hey, but I don’t mind being on the island, believe you me. The great thing, like most manuals, is you don’t even have to follow the darn thing to a T, but use the pre-work as a guideline…(when completed it cleans up into a tight synopsis, boo ya’)

No more getting bogged down in the 30,000 word quagmire.

Here in lies the real work, for me, I whined and whimpered a bit, but my hissy-fit was a lonely dramatization for one. I doodled and assigned actors in my leading roles, classic procrastination. I was tasked with the challenge of saying NO to inking chapter 1 until I’d written the “story before the story” (see caitreynolds.com) and how my main characters interacted with each other.

If I wanted to be a part of N.A.N.O. , and she’s so stealth I’d no idea I’d be attending, I needed to honor my story-line with a sense of understanding or I’d be doing myself and my fresh “twinkle in the eye” a horrible dis-service.

W.A.N.A. International offers a variety of educational, fun and affordable classes for everyone with a slew of talented instructors.

And the great news is…I completed my challenge. Not until the final hours, because why would I ever do anything without a flair for the over-dramatic, and not without concern I’d have to start my attempt at outlining again, but I did it! 

I get to begin the real chapter 1, my golden cherry, tomorrow with a gazillion other “I think I can” writers of the world.

We will see how this new guinea progresses in the most magical month of November, but freak out I won’t. I did that already, gosh. 

In my short, 321,562 word, but whose counting? tenure I have found an incredibly fabulous group of writers, non-condescending, albeit at times cricket-like, among the W.A.N.A. nation

and their esteemed super-warrior founder/queen Kristen Lamb, who in turn led me to Cait, not because Cait needed my kind of vanilla, but because Kristen cared enough. These two are, in my mind, the greatest love affair or ice cream combination of all time. 

Now I beg all my #IWSG friends not to get in a Lizzy-kind of-tizzy over such a statement, as both groups offer support in ways I am honored to be affiliated with and writers need writers who care, remembering how the streets were paved back in their “I think I want to be a writer” days. 

November 1 question – Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

Well, I can dream, right? 

Write On! ❤ Jess

 

 

 

 

Dear Self….get your #^! SH*t together

Ummmmm…where has American Writers Exposed Gone?

Because I surely do not know…

It’s possible I do, so let us see if we can unearth this unkempt void to the beginning. 

What the triple heck? As surely as eating better, my quest to post articles in a regular, meaningful fashion became lost. Sandi has been long on tour and I languishing on holiday in the cavernous recesses of Mt. Blockheadiness. A dismal vacation I promise.

Excuses are poor and so I shan’t give one.

Let’s talk.

My three year do or die clock has struck. 

The window I gave myself to make my writing gig happen or pack up. 

There was a time I believed I never procrastinated. My littles complained I stuffed way too many stops into a single trip to town. In this day, I find it hard to prepare for a 3 o’clock appointment. My wonder woman invisible mountain blocks my way.

I mean I have to wake up, which could turn into a 2-hour event. There is showering involved, some primping and whining no doubt. My bed is never made so I don’t have to worry about that, but looking in the closet, the dresser drawers? Yikes, pressure begins to build.

So where in the life of lives of mine does my writing fit? I have acclimated into this clinging seaweed monster of advanced stall tactics smack dab in the middle of living my authorly dreams.

(This is very close to me but you must add a spin, plus another…circling in the same spot.) Annoying, I know.

Over the past 6 months, I have hooked up with some great people. A phenomenal person. A clever-witted brilliant individual with vision, excitement, and knowledge to catapult me into the penman atmosphere of global literary enlightenment. Like POW, where have you been my whole life?

And what have I done?

Froze. Deer in headlights, the whole gambit. I have no shame to admit such. What is my issue, fear? Didn’t I give that up the 1st time I submitted anything? posted on the internet? stepped forward and admitted I write romance? 

I’m doing everything I said I’d never do like a middle-aged driving disaster going 35 on the interstate and not in the right lane with hazard lights, but to the left. My personal blog and AWE have been left unattended. Don’t you like that acronym, AWE? See I’m doing it again. 

Deep down I understand my fear. When I started, I believed the hype I’d been told. Never did I dream I’d have more downs than ups. Couldn’t imagine the lack of support I’d receive from my community of related personage. Or realized my ability to be impetuously drawn into non-factorly tasks.

What a load.

So I ask the greatest community of wordsmiths in every stage of their multiple WIPs to send this block of dirt a surge of well wishes to “get er’ done!” (I hate that quote too!) Like, tomorrow, or if I’m seriously serious, today.

 

Write On ❤ Jess!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My newest girl-crush! Can’t wait to attend Cait’s classes! Join me!

My re-blogger is broken…merde!

The Coup, Day 2: Historical Research for Fiction

these things I do

Welcome to Thursday, June 8th, 2017 the day AFTER June 7th, 2017, the 1st Wednesday of the month and the official day of IWSG.

( Déjà vu…I feel as though I’ve been here before, many times, many, many times. 😦 )

It’s a very real possibility my membership has been dissolved, being tardy for the party and all.

Which is exactly why I am the perfect member for The Insecure Writers Support Group.

#Happy #June #Baby

That’s right, so let’s get up and dive in!

(The inspiration is more for me than anyone else, yikes.)

Over on my blog jessicaedouard.com, the one covered in cobwebs and filled with chirping crickets, because I’m a happenstance, infrequent visitor to a blog plastered with my name.

#WTHJ (What the Heck, Jessica) #GYST (Get your s___together, stuff people, lol) But don’t I make a cute #Kenny?

This just happened…#007 & #ThePro

There is no way in a million years you will be able to guess who I stumbled into?!

No…

No….

What day is it?

Oh’ snap!

It is the first Wednesday of the month and do you know that means? Posting for Insecure Writers Support Group, now why would I be party to such a crowd? Well let me tell you why, writing in general …

A ghastly, not gassy, career choice indeed! And yet an affliction plaguing many. Everyone is a writer, but not everyone has support – so let’s hear if for the club! Open to one and all just skip on over!

Last month, on Wednesday 1 of April, I was honored to be attending a workshop in Portland, Oregon with Larry Brooks and a great number of talented authors. His tutelage should, absolutely, be the 1st letter in the alphabet when thinking about sitting down and penning a spectacular piece of literary art. 

There are many considerations to navigate. Putting one word in front of the other is not the only talent for success. Excitement and common sense have a tendency to cross in the night and end up on Pluto. 

#Save Yourself #Your Friends & Family, too #Am Writing

Oh’ good morning my sappy writer friends and to all those who know better, lol!

What a day, what a life, what it means to surround yourself with those of a similar, twisted, like mind. Do you remember the wild ride? Yes, the nauseating thrill that beckons us forward, casting a voodoo spell until we vomit from excitement and exhaustion.

I would imagine the same can be said in all of our passions, albeit I speak of mine, writing, scribbling, dabbling with a pen, chewing the lid until plastic shards fill your mouth and your lips become covered in an explosion of red.

(Pencils, I know, dream with me, my people)

It is that gnawing creature inside inking its way out.

This week has encapsulated Sandi and me with a solid core, a safe zone of inspirational minds who have left their egos at home. (hallelujah) Portland has welcomed Larry Brooks an amazing story coach and writer, and you would almost say, friend. He is hard-core, yet genuine in his honesty, speaking those nasty words you truly need to hear. Logic, structure, placing a skeleton behind the myriad, fleshy jumbled literary maze, that would be our mind, and asking in simple plain terms,

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Simple questions, like, “What is conceptual about this?

What is your core dramatic thread? Your premise?”

And you stop and say, yah, I just wrote 20,000 beautiful, pain-staking words of… let’s be honest, not much, equaling a chalk board void of scribble. What he lays out may seem simple to some, but this is complexly clear and offers…

FOCUS…FOCUS

Substance, sprinkled appropriately, given straight.

The beauty of dissecting our thoughts saves us time and sanity.

As a glorified rambler, babbler, pantser, sitter down and jumper in, I recognize the need in myself for this framework, before.  

If I am truly serious, this I will do.

Insecure Writers Unite –arm yourselves with the appropriate weapons to slay these inner gremlins, ultimately, holding us back, allowing clarity of our vision to be seen, when planned appropriately.

 Skip the 18 drafts and cut that time in half, reach for the light!

Write on! ❤ Jessica

#Twitter #PitMad #BrendaDrake #2016 #AmWriting – Are you ready to Pitch that #MANUSCRIPT?

You’ve guessed it and you still have 2 days to perfect your pitch! #140 Characters here we come! Go to Brenda Drake’s Page for the VERY Important Details…See you there!

http://www.brenda-drake.com/pitmad

Have Writers forgotten how to Respectfully Read?

Put down that red pen.

Pull off that critiquer’s hat.

Can we as wannabe professional authors remember what it is to enjoy a good story without comparing it to our own or ripping it apart? It doesn’t matter how cute you may be (see above photo) a smart ass is still an ass.

When do these Rules we try to adhere to begin to interfere? And who can agree on what these ‘rules’ are, anyway.

We have all heard of Ancient Aliens and binary code.

Basic grammar is a given.

But let us dive into the magical, mystical realm of the elusive POV. Here is where you may want to slip into your armor, rubber suit or invisible cloak. Pull on those hip-waders and get wet.

Seriously, we need to learn to relax and remember how to enjoy the ride.

And I am speaking of the joy in being whisked away through the art of storytelling not proving to ourselves we are the master of all writing evils.

Over the past year and half of writing, I have encountered the term head-hopper, POV switching, etc. A term that was never acquainted with me in my writing group until after I entered a contest and received my review. All’s good I am willing to adapt. Sooo…Just when I believed I had the real 411 on the situation, the controversy still slaps me along side the head.

“I QUIT,” my 4-year-old granddaughter says when the time calls to toughen up. You are allowed to switch character heads within the same scene as long as it is defined. This is the hang-up.

In my short career, as a very non-professional, debut author, I believed I wrote in omniscient third person. I never enjoyed reading stories written in the first person nor did I personally like a his chapter and then a hers chapter. For myself as the reader, because this is all that I was, it pulled me out of the given story, and I was oblivious to the debate.

Now I begin to understand.

To do so ends a needless migraine of putting your writing in question.

I have opened myself up to reading multiple genres, different POV’s, and broaden my limited exposure on all literature. I have learned to appreciate the dedication and honor a writer’s accomplishment, no matter my personal preferences because I long to grow, to get better at my chosen craft. When I am called to be a reader, I read.

So after the multitude of  stressors, ending in needless sleepless nights and crunchy Cheeto eating binges,

I am going to settle with agreeing to disagree. How simple, right?

And, I will use this great article as my bible of reference.

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2014/04/30/head-hopping-fiction-writing

I opt to write clear and concise. When my publisher calls for a specific change, I will then gladly accept the assignment.

Write on…<3 Jessica

PS…Yes, I still write 3rd person omniscient.