Today's Random Ramblings

I have loved writing from the time I could hold a crayon between my chubby little fingers. Oftentimes I still get an awkward sideways glance when I mention I'm writing a novel. (Why people think this is not a "normal" pastime, I'm still not sure.) My comment is nearly always followed by a question that I love to answer, "What is your book about?" 

I proceed to recant my synopsis and watch people get heavily intrigued by the story and delve into all sorts of questions. (Questions that actually have helped me flesh out the finer details of my story) THAT. That is why I love to write. Storytelling is amazing to me. I love immersing myself in stories that I just want to bundle myself up in and never leave it's world. I also love creating that story for others who devour stories, as I do.

Currently, I'm so close to finishing the first draft of this novel (Uh, by the way, no one ever told me how frustrating the first draft of a novel can be - coming from short story writing), that I can't help but mention to anyone who will listen at at every opportunity that I'm writing a book. I HAVE to talk about it. I get giddy when I think I can get a mention in about it and act like a 5 year old with a secret.

It's actually starting to get embarrassing. Speaking of embarrassing, maybe I should write a post about how strange it feels to promote myself. I mean, I want people to know about me and my writing. I want people to read what I write. I want people to like what I write (meaning they have to read it to like it). So people need to know who I am and that I write. But self promotion feels weird. It just does. 

Well, until I've situated my thoughts on feeling odd about self promotion, I'm outta here. My one year old beckons. And by beckons, I mean she's trying to rip our cats tail off. Later Gator.

Well, Hell. Autocorrect and Fight Scenes.

I just realized that the spelling in my last post was AWFUL! That's what I get for using swipe on my phone while trying to also feed my daughter. FAIL. I went back and fixed the typos, though!

So I actually got in some awesome writing today. I'm still working on my skills with fight scenes. Those are so awkward for me to write, but I managed to pump out a really good one, I think.

I got about a half a chapter written today, all of which was a fight scene. I've been avoiding writing for a couple days because I was so intimidated by it. So I spent every waking moment of the last three days thinking about how to write it down. And I mean every moment. In the shower, while I was changing diapers, while I did the dishes, while I was pinning a yummy chicken enchilada recipe on Pinterest, etc..

But it's done! It's on paper! And I didn't edit it until I was done writing it all down. Progress.

The deeper I get into this story the more difficult it's becoming to write it down. Some of this stuff is really brutal. Can YA be brutal? Is that legit? Well, I'd like to push the limits and go ahead and say, yes, yes it can be.

Gotta run! Ttfn!

Book banning. Well I'm screwed.

I read this article today:

 

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5152983?ir=Books

 

It's the list of most challenged books of 2013. Challenged, meaning, people making formal complaints to have the book banned from the library.

 

It is disheartening to see that even in 2013 there are still people that want to sensor our freedom of speech. But, it is uplifting to know that most of these books are the best sellers of the year.

 

These books are being scrutinized for having antagonistic situations that make some people uncomfortable because they bring to light the worst of our society or what used to be the worst of our society.

 

At the moment, I find this article almost comical. The Book is a fantasy but it touches on a very real, very uncomfortable issue that happens everyday in many many places. So this leads me to the "I guess I'm screwed" part. I'm not worried about making people uncomfortable with my story. I'm worried about people taking the right message from my story. I want to highlight the bad so that the bad will be seen and heard because the are so many silent sufferers. I don't want people to assume I'm advocating for the antagonist. WHY would anyone assume the author wants the characters they write to hurt? They want to show the protagonist succeeding and over coming the horrors that are placed before them.

 

That doesn't apply to all books, but most.

 

Well, I've just rambled on a bit. But the gist is, I'm writing something that will make some people uncomfortable. Too darn bad for them.

 

Ttfn! :)