So my writing on this blog has been extremely sporadic. In the beginning I didn't like to blog, so it seemed like a chore. In fact, with this blog in particular, I felt like I should be writing my novel instead of writing a silly blog about writing my novel. I think occasionally writing this blog helped me stay on track with my novel though, so it isn't silly, but a tool to help me finish it. Since I've copied all of the old posts from an old location, I'm glad I didn't write too much previously. Recently, I've come to enjoy blogging.
LIFE
Life has been pretty crazy. In November 2011, I suffered a loss that was very difficult to bounce back from. It was something that only another woman could truly understand. There are few things in this world that I would say that about.
After the divorce, I continued to live in the same house with my ex for about a month and that had its own unique stresses. Despite how everything turned out, I don't hate him and I don't think he hates me either. We grew up together and part of that growth included discovering that we couldn't be what each other needed in a partner and staying together any longer would have destroyed any chance of a future friendship. I'm not meaning to speak on his behalf, but just stating how I see things.
I moved out of the house eventually into a condo in my hometown, which was hard to fit half of a house into. I downsized my belongings. During that time, my workplace was being divested, and I was reacting to nearly everything I ate. Food had become the scariest thing to me. I was starving often because it got so difficult to find anything to eat. Because I was reacting to so much and I'm a fairly logical and analytical type, I was looking at the things they had in common. I wrongly supposed that I was reacting to one thing rather than a combination of several. The one thing that just about everything has in common is corn. So I avoided corn for quite some time. I'd still have wicked reactions involving me writhing in full body pain wanting to scream from simply having something like a soda. There were days where I would go to the grocery store and leave empty-handed because I was terrified.
The thing that helped me get through those times was watching hockey. I became a Montreal Canadiens fan in 2013. I chose the Canadians for many reasons. My dad grew up watching Jacques Plante, so I could talk to him about hockey a little. We didn't talk hockey too much because my dad grew to hate it since it was the only thing that was on TV when he was a kid because of the limited channels. Yeah, my dad is getting old. I also like the Canadiens because they're not the tallest players in the league and they love to scrap. Scrappy underdogs. I also had a crush on someone who's favourite team is the Canadiens. I'm human, sorry if that fact shocks anyone.
One of my friends asked me what I was sticking around my home town for? I was single, my job was being divested, and a bigger city would have more help for my food issues. The girl I was in high school would have already have thought of that on her own, but I was a broken shell of myself. I started considering leaving, but where would I go? I didn't like the idea of Toronto at all. Every time I visit that city I nearly get attacked. I'm also not big on skyscrapers as I like looking at the sky. I contemplated Waterloo, but I felt like there wasn't enough lifestyle there for me. I wanted a place that was small yet big and that led me to Ottawa.
I managed to find a job in my field that didn't require the ability to speak French. My first out of town move was hard. I still had too much stuff and early on I had to move in stages. I moved close to work into a place with roommates. I lived at home during college, so it was my first roommate experience. It wasn't horrible until the land lady started going crazy. Part of me feels like I could have done without this experience as I was still reeling from the divorce, food issues, and I was pretty sick in May. It was an interesting learning experience that I am thankful is done with.
I started looking for a place I could afford to buy with the assets I had, which wasn't much for the Ottawa real estate market. I briefly contemplated moving to Rockland, ON as the houses are quite affordable, but it felt too far away to be working in Ottawa. I briefly thought about Gatineau, QC as it's also affordable, but I felt it was far and strange. It's also confusing to work in one province and live in another come tax time and with the divorce I wasn't sure how taxes would be.
I made one last temporary move to get away from crazy lady and thankfully those roomies were cool people. Prior to leaving the house of crazy, I joined roller derby because though most of May was crappy, attending Comiccon lead to me braving the bar alone and I met AxxiDent's sister. It was an interesting experience as I had never been to a burlesque show before. Browncoat's is a fun troupe. I dig how they make the ultra nerdy sexy. At any rate, my new friend told me that she thought I should join roller derby as it would help me meet more people in Ottawa and she thought I may make a good jammer someday. My response was, "There's roller derby in Ottawa?!"
So, I went to a bout at Barbara Ann Scott arena. Slaughter Daughters were playing. I found the info for fresh meat on the wall and I've been doing derby ever since.
NOVEL
On the book front, I was stuck for quite some time. I had two versions of the start of my second half and had trouble deciding where to go from here. I'm still working through that.
The thing with writing a novel is that each decision you make creates new challenges and closes doors potentially. Extra complications come in when you intend to write a series as is my intention because there are many more things to be mindful of. Consistency is a big thing with a series. Some might say, "just write", but there's more to it than that. Today's publishing world is big on having work pre-edited, especially by new authors. If I don't want to spend a fortune on an editor, I need to get it as polished as can be before getting an agent and having them get me a publisher.
I say all that, but there is some value to, "just write". Recently, this part of my book has been difficult because I had been trying to get too detailed in an area that doesn't matter. A hurricane or tropical storm hits on the open water and makes things bad for my characters, but I was trying to pick which storm and it really doesn't matter because so many were in that area over several months that I can leave that bit to Hollywood if it ever gets there. The readers won't care whether it's Hurricane Florence or Hurricane Sandy. What's important is what the characters do, how they feel and experience the storm, and what happens after it. I'm still working on what happens after it, but hopefully it'll be something awesome.
Given all of the life stuff and moves, I haven't gotten a whole lot farther if you go by number count, but I've had a lot of experiences that can only improve my writing.
So what's my novel about? It's a soft sci-fi tale about a boy who's alien and yet not. He has to leave his home in order to stay alive because he's a pretty big deal.
Sorry for the essay. I had a lot to say. Geez, if I could write this much on my book every day, I'd be done by the end of February. It'd be nice, but highly unlikely. I'll update soon with a word count and the like.
Ciao
R~
LIFE
Life has been pretty crazy. In November 2011, I suffered a loss that was very difficult to bounce back from. It was something that only another woman could truly understand. There are few things in this world that I would say that about.
After the divorce, I continued to live in the same house with my ex for about a month and that had its own unique stresses. Despite how everything turned out, I don't hate him and I don't think he hates me either. We grew up together and part of that growth included discovering that we couldn't be what each other needed in a partner and staying together any longer would have destroyed any chance of a future friendship. I'm not meaning to speak on his behalf, but just stating how I see things.
I moved out of the house eventually into a condo in my hometown, which was hard to fit half of a house into. I downsized my belongings. During that time, my workplace was being divested, and I was reacting to nearly everything I ate. Food had become the scariest thing to me. I was starving often because it got so difficult to find anything to eat. Because I was reacting to so much and I'm a fairly logical and analytical type, I was looking at the things they had in common. I wrongly supposed that I was reacting to one thing rather than a combination of several. The one thing that just about everything has in common is corn. So I avoided corn for quite some time. I'd still have wicked reactions involving me writhing in full body pain wanting to scream from simply having something like a soda. There were days where I would go to the grocery store and leave empty-handed because I was terrified.
The thing that helped me get through those times was watching hockey. I became a Montreal Canadiens fan in 2013. I chose the Canadians for many reasons. My dad grew up watching Jacques Plante, so I could talk to him about hockey a little. We didn't talk hockey too much because my dad grew to hate it since it was the only thing that was on TV when he was a kid because of the limited channels. Yeah, my dad is getting old. I also like the Canadiens because they're not the tallest players in the league and they love to scrap. Scrappy underdogs. I also had a crush on someone who's favourite team is the Canadiens. I'm human, sorry if that fact shocks anyone.
One of my friends asked me what I was sticking around my home town for? I was single, my job was being divested, and a bigger city would have more help for my food issues. The girl I was in high school would have already have thought of that on her own, but I was a broken shell of myself. I started considering leaving, but where would I go? I didn't like the idea of Toronto at all. Every time I visit that city I nearly get attacked. I'm also not big on skyscrapers as I like looking at the sky. I contemplated Waterloo, but I felt like there wasn't enough lifestyle there for me. I wanted a place that was small yet big and that led me to Ottawa.
I managed to find a job in my field that didn't require the ability to speak French. My first out of town move was hard. I still had too much stuff and early on I had to move in stages. I moved close to work into a place with roommates. I lived at home during college, so it was my first roommate experience. It wasn't horrible until the land lady started going crazy. Part of me feels like I could have done without this experience as I was still reeling from the divorce, food issues, and I was pretty sick in May. It was an interesting learning experience that I am thankful is done with.
I started looking for a place I could afford to buy with the assets I had, which wasn't much for the Ottawa real estate market. I briefly contemplated moving to Rockland, ON as the houses are quite affordable, but it felt too far away to be working in Ottawa. I briefly thought about Gatineau, QC as it's also affordable, but I felt it was far and strange. It's also confusing to work in one province and live in another come tax time and with the divorce I wasn't sure how taxes would be.
I made one last temporary move to get away from crazy lady and thankfully those roomies were cool people. Prior to leaving the house of crazy, I joined roller derby because though most of May was crappy, attending Comiccon lead to me braving the bar alone and I met AxxiDent's sister. It was an interesting experience as I had never been to a burlesque show before. Browncoat's is a fun troupe. I dig how they make the ultra nerdy sexy. At any rate, my new friend told me that she thought I should join roller derby as it would help me meet more people in Ottawa and she thought I may make a good jammer someday. My response was, "There's roller derby in Ottawa?!"
So, I went to a bout at Barbara Ann Scott arena. Slaughter Daughters were playing. I found the info for fresh meat on the wall and I've been doing derby ever since.
NOVEL
On the book front, I was stuck for quite some time. I had two versions of the start of my second half and had trouble deciding where to go from here. I'm still working through that.
The thing with writing a novel is that each decision you make creates new challenges and closes doors potentially. Extra complications come in when you intend to write a series as is my intention because there are many more things to be mindful of. Consistency is a big thing with a series. Some might say, "just write", but there's more to it than that. Today's publishing world is big on having work pre-edited, especially by new authors. If I don't want to spend a fortune on an editor, I need to get it as polished as can be before getting an agent and having them get me a publisher.
I say all that, but there is some value to, "just write". Recently, this part of my book has been difficult because I had been trying to get too detailed in an area that doesn't matter. A hurricane or tropical storm hits on the open water and makes things bad for my characters, but I was trying to pick which storm and it really doesn't matter because so many were in that area over several months that I can leave that bit to Hollywood if it ever gets there. The readers won't care whether it's Hurricane Florence or Hurricane Sandy. What's important is what the characters do, how they feel and experience the storm, and what happens after it. I'm still working on what happens after it, but hopefully it'll be something awesome.
Given all of the life stuff and moves, I haven't gotten a whole lot farther if you go by number count, but I've had a lot of experiences that can only improve my writing.
So what's my novel about? It's a soft sci-fi tale about a boy who's alien and yet not. He has to leave his home in order to stay alive because he's a pretty big deal.
Sorry for the essay. I had a lot to say. Geez, if I could write this much on my book every day, I'd be done by the end of February. It'd be nice, but highly unlikely. I'll update soon with a word count and the like.
Ciao
R~
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