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I'm clocking along with the novel. About to finish up chapter three and dive into chapter four. Honestly, I don't know what the hold-up is. This might be one of those projects that I just don't want to let go of. I keep perfecting the plot and characters with different iterations. At least I learn something each time, and nobody can accuse me of releasing this one before it's ready!
Wordmeter for today:
Whatever this draft brings, this is it. I'm going to release this fish into the river and see where it swims! Diving in. Wish me luck! Update:
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Writing
The first part of the answer is that I find the characters and world as I write the first three chapters. These are heavily edited throughout the drafting process, but in the beginning I allow my Muse the freedom to breathe.
The second part of the answer is that the first three chapters don't have as much track laid down and are therefore easier (for me) to construct. I've only written one out of fifteen novels without having to resort to an outline of some sort at some point. When writing Urban Fantasy, I find that it's virtually impossible for me not to create a mess without the structure an outline provides. There's simply too much going on. Over the past ten years, I've honed a spreadsheet that allows me to plot at a high level while still leaving room for creativity. It's also easily edited and transferable to any genre in which I'm dabbling. I literally can't write without it. I use this template to track character and world building notes on secondary tabs as needed, but primarily I use the first tab, which has a place to track my word count, chapter progress, and high level outline. If I get stuck, need to add a chapter, or am writing a longer or shorter book it's also easy to add in extra rows to track these. If you're still searching for a way to track your own work, I provide a link to a downloadable file as my thank you to you when you confirm your email sign up. Click here to sign up! It's free and never shared with anyone but moi, so don't be shy! I'd love to hear about how you track your work. Please help your fellow authors out and share in the comments below. Stay gr8! ~K8  In the bullet journal vein, I'm clarifying my goals for 2019. (Sure, the year is 1/4th over, but that also means there are 3/4ths remaining.)
Usually, my goals are vague. Such as, "Finish writing book x." When I plan out every detail of my year, I get overwhelmed; however, I don't want to under-reach either. So, in the name of balance, I'm digging a little deeper but not getting overly specific.
Over the rest of the year, I'll check in with blog posts on each of these areas. You'll keep me honest, right? Feel free to inspire me and others in the comments with how you track and meet your own goals. ~K8
It used to hang on a window in my office overlooking the snowy backyard. I completed my first novel, a Middle Grade titled Blurb about a librarian who loves books but who never reads because he is afraid he won't be able to finish the books in one sitting. His friend teaches him about chapters in books, and that he can stop there without feeling overwhelmed. "They are tiny books within the stories," she explains. It is, to our adult eyes, obvious but, possessing an MLS myself, I have seen how intimidating chapter books can be to newer readers.
But, I digress... Stained glass making never happened, but writing did; and I still own the few pieces I collected during that time. Now, I piece together colorful words to paint pictures of worlds made of glass and fire. They come alive for me on paper in much the same way I imagine Tiffany's imagination breathed life magic into glass. If I devoted enough time to drawing, stained glass, knitting, or even gardening, I'm sure I could become at least proficient in them. I would never be a Michelangelo or a Tiffany, but that's not what matters. What matters is what medium calls to me in a way that sparks the magic of life. For most of my life, for reasons unidentified and mysterious even to me--it can't be a familial love of reading, because I'm the only writer in a family full of crafters--I have created with words on paper. Ink is in my blood. Before I leave off, I want to share a doodle-like poem I scribbled while in grad school. Sheets of color, gather shape in breath and flame. Shards of pane, shattered join with lead and iron. Heavens illuminate. Reverence fixates upon a world of glass and fire.
Nope. Turns out I hadn't somehow stumbled into an alternate Etsy-verse. Bullet journals are a THING that has taken the crafting and paper-minded world by storm. Now, anyone who has known me for long enough realizes I've got a bit of an office supply store fetish. Michael's comes a close second. I've mostly weaned myself off of buying a ton of craft and paper supplies through multiple moves and an unwillingness to lug around things that I almost never use.
This bullet journal thing though really hit me where I live. It's pretty, creative, AND has to do with paper and writing! I spent about two days watching calligraphy videos and practicing with bad pens while waiting for an order of the suggested pens to come in. Could it be that for once I might find something that I not only liked to look at but also had fun doing? The pens came in, I played with them and have been having fun learning calligraphy from another set of YouTube videos. Today, I finally decided to create my bullet journal. I sat down with new pens, new journal, my metal ruler, and a lot of hope. I started with the calendar pages, as the videos had suggested. Of course, it's March, so I began three months into the year. I numbered the pages, made sections for goals and word count. The first three months were cool. Four, five, and six, I started to wonder what I'd gotten myself into and why I wasn't working on my WIP. By the last three, I had remembered why I keep trackers on my laptop and not on paper. They don't need an eraser or white-out to correct the mistakes. I find people who can do crafting and make pretty things inspiring. I love buying their pretty things and playing with them to relax. I'd say I'd like to be one of the gifted paper crafty types, but my craft is writing. Words are what I put my character skill points into, and they are mostly what I enjoy sculpting with. I track my word count and outline my stories in a giant spreadsheet. I'll share it sometime. It's not pretty, but it works for me. Still, watching this YouTube video is one of the most relaxing things I've done in a while. The music and the illustrations are a little slice of bliss. Oh, and my new pens aren't too shabby either. Whether you're a word warrior, artist, or crafter, how do you track your year and projects? A bujo or another method? Stay gr8! ~K8
Perhaps that's why I found the twists and turns of world building at the beginning difficult to follow. The genealogical information piled on top of new names and unfamiliar places and language are more than I'm used to. That said, I'm glad I made the effort to step outside my comfort zone.
The lush world building and luminescent writing are lovingly draped around the shoulders of a massively fast-paced and energetic plot. The barely of-age heroine, Yeine Darr, is courageous and true to herself in the the face of conniving and cunning rivals. At a time when her mother has just died, Yeine is called away from home to relatives whose power politics and sadistic thirst for bloodshed could rival machinations in GoT. Okay, perhaps I'm exaggerating a bit there. Nothing could rival that family dynamic. Let's just say it's a close second in an abundance of characters ripe with potential for perpetrating treachery and betrayal. I dislike describing plots. You can get the blurb from the back of the book, and anything else I'm likely to tell you isn't going to do anything but spoiler the book for you. I like, therefore, to keep my public posts on books to my more general impressions and tastes. I may not, for instance, have yet acquired a taste for swaths of complex world building, but I can see where I could. Jemisin has me intrigued enough to pick up more. This is a short post because I'm only about 100 pages in, but I wanted to preserve my initial thoughts and impressions anyway.Feel free to drop your thoughts about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms below. I'd love to see them! Until then, happy reading and stay gr8! ~K8
These are my musings on a book I'm reading. They are not meant to be a formal critique or review. If you use my link to buy the book, Amazon gives me a kickback for a cup of tea. This would make me happy. I like tea. However, I won't lie about my personal experience with a book to trick you into buying it. That would make me unhappy...and defeat the purpose of tea. Also, if you have a local bookseller, please consider supporting them rather than me or Amazon. We will survive. Your local bookseller might not.
A few years ago I did a random E-Bay search of "inkwells" and found this brass beauty. I don't recall why I did the search or what I was hoping to find. I might have been researching a story, or I might have been hit by a Pinterest-inspired search impulse. Whatever the impetus, I never expected to find something so intricate. I never knew inkwells could be more than little pots.
I took the inkwell to an antique store to find out how I might fix the pin at the back of the helmet. It had fallen out and I wasn't sure if I should do more than just slipping it back in place. While he was looking at the inkwell, the antiques dealer said it was probably circa 1850 and French, but he didn't know much else about it. It's definitely brass--not only is it super heavy, but you can smell the brass. I should probably shine it up, but I kind of like the patina. Plus, getting in all of those crevices would be a bear. I'm betting a guy with servants owned this thing. Looking at the face makes me smile. This dude looks so old and grumpy--like he sat for a portrait in his old suit of armor and grumbled for hours while they sculpted him. Such a character! When you open it, the feathers prop open the helmet. It's a pretty sweet design. I tried to find more like it on the internet, but haven't come across any this intricate. Do you collect inkwells or know anything about the antique variety? Do you have one you like best? Please share in the comments. And, if you can tell me anything more about mine, I'd love to know! Thanks for dipping into my post! Stay gr8! ~K8
As a side note, I've found I can often tell when a book is going to be worth my time by the resources an editorial team invests in its cover. If they think it's good enough to perform well, or if they have a personal love for the book, I imagine they assign their most talented and creative cover artists to the project. They also seem to invest in higher-end materials and finishes that draw the eye of a prospective reader. It's possible this also works better in bricks-and-mortar stores, which is where I picked up this copy, and I'm 100% certain it's not a foolproof way to pick out books. Yes, sometimes (but not always) you can judge a book by its cover.
Now, as for my thoughts on this book in particular. Pulley is a deft writer, fully in touch with her craft. She mostly seems to make interesting choices and so far hasn't taken the easy road with either plot or form. I'm continually delighted and surprised by her choices. She weaves a narrative from several character viewpoints, making brave choices about what to hold back and what reveal from each point of view. I believe this is her first published work, and it's all the more impressive for that. Many accomplished authors couldn't pull this off, and I've seen several NYT Bestselling Authors fail trying. One of the protagonists, Mori, is a Japanese man who lives and works in London. I won't reveal more about his past, because spoilers. However, I am wondering how I should feel about his having dyed his hair blond, and that he seems to be attempting, in some ways, to pass as Anglo in a culture that is very much prejudiced against the Japanese at that time. The author touches upon this detail from another character's point of view, but hasn't yet delved terribly deep. It's a character choice that is too important to be overlooked. I'm hoping that there is a deeper discussion about this before the end. Or, perhaps I am meant to read more between the lines? I haven't yet decided how I feel about this, and it might take another read before I come fully to grips with what I think the author was trying to accomplish with this detail. One note of critique: Lipton's didn't make tea in a bag at the time this book is set. I've given the author license, as it's not actual historical fiction but rather steampunk; however, the inclusion of and focus on that little detail at the beginning, before the world was fully established, was a bit jarring. I am hoping that somehow I'll find a time travel plot revealed at the end that will show it was a deliberate placement and not authorial and editorial oversight. Even if it doesn't pan out that way, the book is thoroughly enjoyable and the hiccup only registers momentarily. I'm about two-thirds finished with the book, and I'm finding myself intrigued by the moodiness and atmospheric buildup of tension at this point in the story. There was far more visceral tension in the first few chapters that has abated, but somehow the story didn't lose (pardon the pun) steam when that threat dialed back (Agh! Too many puns!). As we get to know the characters, their personal plights take the place of the bomb threat that was central to bringing them all together. I won't say more, because I don't want to spoil the book for you. The explanation of clockwork physics and concepts like ether are beautifully told and original. I'm fascinated by the intricate details Pulley paints around Mori's clockwork creations. She deftly paints the more mundane aspects of the world and brings them to life with skillful surety. I'm drawn in by everything from the workings of the telegraph office to the magic of clockwork pears that sprout vines when dropped. I love living in this author's imagination. I'm so glad the team at Bloomsbury gave her such a beautiful cover. And now, back to reading! Stay gr8! ~K8
These are my musings on a book I'm reading. They are not meant to be a formal critique or review. If you use my link to buy the book, Amazon gives me a kickback for a cup of tea. This would make me happy. I like tea. However, I won't lie about my personal experience with a book to trick you into buying it. That would make me unhappy...and defeat the purpose of tea. Also, if you have a local bookseller, please consider supporting them rather than me or Amazon. We will survive. Your local bookseller might not.
 The Magic K8 Ball A few years back, I started going by K8 on social media because--you guessed it--there are too many Kates and not enough internet to go around.
Some friends joked about the "magic K8 ball," and the obsession with signing my name with digits, infinity symbols, and fortune-telling toys began. Sure, it's a little cheesy; but it stuck AND it's better than GreatKate998. After a several year hiatus, during which I focused on obligations in an alternate universe, I shook the Oracle of 8 and asked whether it might be time to refocus on Urban Fantasy. Signs pointed to YES (i.e., the market for UF had stopped sucking quite so much), so, here I am. In addition to this blog, I have Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. If you really want to catch me for something, please email. There are not enough hours in the day to drink tea, write, and play on social media. If you want to find me, just look for K8. Until then, keep being gr8! |
Not another Kate!I am a word alchemist, angel apologist--no, really, I'm very sorry about them--and urban fantasist. I reside in all possible worlds. K8egories
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