Absentee Authors & Where to Find Them.

Hello again, did you like the Harry Potter pun in the title?

As I’m sure you already know, it’s been a little over a week since I’ve last posted anything.  This is for a number of reasons, the most prominent as I’m sure you’ve guessed is that Angel has finally returned back home to Canada.  While I have quite a few feelings on that, it isn’t what I’ve come here to talk about today.

You’ll learn all about that in my next post, I just need a little bit longer to adequately access and collect my thoughts on the matter.

One of the things I most wanted to talk about, aside from life without Angel, is my writing.

For the rest of this month and next, I plan to be participating in Preptober. 

(Preparing for NaNoWriMo in November.)

However, I plan to put my own little spin on things and start early.  So, in honor of my little “Preptember/Preptober” project, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about what I’m doing, what I’m planning to do, and what I want to do with the time I have.

So far, I’ve put together a to-do list for myself, as well as started putting together a “Survival Kit” to help me through the next couple of months.

The list includes:

• Picking a Project.
  • I’ve already chosen to do Something Wicked.
• Choosing a P.O.V.
  • As it stands, I’ve already chosen first person however, that could change.
• Writing a Skeleton Draft.
• Character Lists.
• Character Profiles.
• Research Notes.
• Recourse Pages:
  • Names for Future Characters
  • Character Traits
  • 3-Act Structure.
• Worldbuilding
• A Wordcount Tracker.

I’m sure I’ll end up adding more to that list in the near future but, it’s a start, right?  Rome wasn’t built in a day.  I can speak to that firsthand, as I first started writing Something Wicked under a different name in 2012.  However, while the idea itself was started via a Writing Prompt on Pinterest, the story itself wasn’t ready to be written yet.  It needed to marinate a little longer, and over the years, my notes grew and grew, until finally I could really start seeing the life and heart of the story.

So, now that it’s finally ready to be written- despite years of me trying to force it into reality- I think that now is the time.

As for my Survival Kit.. well, that’s a much shorter list.

Survival Kit:

• Writer’s Notebook. (I made a whole post about that, and you should go check it out!)
• Calendar.
• Pens & Highlighters.

Will I need other things?  Maybe.  Probably.

But, for now this will do.  I’m also thinking that maybe, I’ll write myself a nice little “Rewards” list.  Even if those rewards are just small, silly things like a new pair of fuzzy socks, or chocolates from the Dollar Store by my house.  It’s taking pleasure in the little things that counts, isn’t it?

So, in the following days/weeks you’ll be getting quite a bit of writing related content from me, as well as some touchy subjects that I didn’t want to have to talk about but, I’ve been given no choice.

In other minimal news for now, my family may be adopting a cat.

All we know about this cat so far is that they are a black cat- they are a stray in the neighborhood with no collar and may be feral.  They have been coming around for the past 6-months and they look incredibly young and skinny.  We’re calling “him” Binks like Hocus Pocus, and are now officially feeding him, trying to befriend him, and then if he has no home, we may adopt him!

-S.N.L