Category: prep

Midlife Updates (Oct 2023)

On By Katness HarrietIn prep, WriMoLeave a comment

OCT = Pumpkins and Preptober!

This season, the powers of light have bestowed upon our region…an additional Municipal Liaison. *insert hysterically happy tears here* In case you missed the three years of failed updates over here (cough, cough), I’ll fill you in:

LIFE HAS BEEN WEIRD! And busy. And…shutdown-y. 

And if all that wasn’t enough, I decided a toddler and a new business weren’t keeping me busy enough in 2021 — so I applied for (and was accepted into) the lay preaching class in my diocese. It was a two year long commitment to learn how to faithfully and accurately deliver the gospel according to the lectionary calendar, as well as how to minister to our communities in the ways that best aligned with our gifts. It was amazing, and…not a walk in the park.

Now I finally feel like I can give energy back to my writing in the way I always meant to previously, and sometimes actually was able to do.

I have been mentally planning my November NaNoWriMo project, which is even less #pantser of me than usual. I still don’t have anything written as far as a plan, outline or characters but considering that I haven’t written anything for my own heart and soul in the last four years, I’ll take it.

This year’s project will be a fantasy genre novel with themes of love, death, identity, mental health, and time/lines. I haven’t decided yet if it belongs in the as of yet unnamed anthology of recent years’ works. I guess we’ll find out when we start laying words to the page.

See you soon,

KHS

Day 8 – WIPtember 2020

On By Katness HarrietIn prep, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Day Eight – Writing Advice

The idea of giving writing advice seems self serving to me, but alas we find ourselves at this place so I shall comply. The type of advice requested depends precisely on where in the process a writer finds oneself. There are stops along the way where I could actually have some potentially helpful advice. There are many more bullet points that I have not yet reached in my own writing journey. That said, I’ll share what has actually been helpful to me.

1) Just yarf it out.

No excuses necessary. Just grab your favorite method of recording – pad of paper, computer, audio transcriber – and spew that story. It doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t have to be complete. It doesn’t even have to make sense – yet. But you do have to get it out of your head and birth it into existence.

2) Read as much as possible.

Good writers, read – and broadly. Read the genre you want to write. Read a genre you have no experience reading. Read outside of your preferred age range. And while you are reading, take notes. Mental notes are good, if your brain works that way. Most people seem to have better luck taking actual notes to reference later. Notice how stories are constructed. Pay attention to how story and character development happens.

3) Find a mentor.

You are probably surrounded with people just like you. Many people think about “writing a book” but never tell anyone, and fewer still even bother to start. Put the word out and you’ll be surprised who jumps out of the woodwork to share their experiences. If you don’t have anyone IRL who can – or is willing to – be a mentor, find a virtual one. Twitter is a mine field, but there are a lot of talented and helpful people tucked away over there. Instagram has more writers camping out these days, and they are slightly more …friendly. If those options fail you, get a book by one of the Big Guns. I can personally recommend On Writing, by Stephen King – but there are others that a simple internet search can lead you to.

Day 6 – WIPtember 2020

On By Katness HarrietIn Book Reviews, prep, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Day Six – #readabookday

Today, I finished Get Over Your Damn Self, by Romi Neustadt.

It is a fairly quick read, if you’re in the self-motivation #wahm business. It was only slightly distracting how often she mentioned the perks of her company, but mostly because I was trying to figure out who it was that she works for. (*spoiler alert: they tell you at the end, in the acknowledgments) I found this book to be a little too heavy on the recruiting focus for my needs. I am in direct sales as a sales consultant for a group publishing company, but we don’t push recruiting. I listened to it on Audible and her speaking voice was grating at times. Not awful, mind you, but a little touch of “give me a break” occasionally. The tone of her writing was a tinge out of touch for the average person in spots. Overall, not a bad read. I don’t regret reading it. I just didn’t get as much out of it as I had hoped.

P.S. I guess this is an unofficial review. Take from it, what you will.

Day 2 – #WIPtember 2020

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DAY TWO – Introduce #wip

TW: death, loss, suicidal ideation, religious themes, mental health

My current WIP (work in progress) is the final book of an accidental trilogy. I thought it was going to be my #nano2020 project but I’m not sure I can hold off that long. It has been haunting me for about six months already.

So far all I have is that the Main Character is male, and we already met him in last year’s #nanowrimo project. He is on a journey of spiritual discovery after losing his family to a medical incident. This has put him into a tailspin of questioning and pleading with a God that may or may not actually still exist, for him. He feels that something is not right with his life and figures out by chance, that he has possibly ended his life and thrown himself into an alternate reality.

#WIPtember v.2020

On By Katness HarrietIn prepLeave a comment

Welcome to WIPtember. If you’re new to this concept, I’ll give you a little lowdown: prompts, daily ones.

I started this endeavor last year, but never finished. I got completely overrun by NaNo Prep and abandoned ship. But this year, nay nay I say. We shall finish.

So, let’s go. Day One. Seems a little odd to do an intro on *my* blog, when you clearly could click my Bio link, but for the sake of continuity…

WRITER INTRO: Aging punk rocker with two adult kids and a toddler, living in rural New York. I used to write to fight the patriarchy. Now, I write to keep my sanity. My style is paranormal voyeurism.