Nanowrimo Poll Is Now Closed

The Nanowrimo poll that I posted the other day closed this afternoon.  The votes were tallied and a topic was declared the winner.

The voting public has chosen for me to write Sascha’s story.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read and to cast your vote.

Runaway Train

Gah! Where did this week go? I’m still working on the new banner for Loose Ends or as the www address states : Looseendings.

Okay so here is the poll or what approximates a poll. Complete with examples of writing…well all except one. Here they are before you vote:

Pulse Example

Wayward Tempest Example

Sascha’s Example

[polldaddy poll=1041471]

Teehee! The poll even has a girl at a laptop. Anyway -read and vote help me decide what to write!

[EDIT- The Poll has been closed]

Keeping Me In The Dark

Sascha Illiavanivich (It’s a mouthful I know) has a story. It’s a story that spans decades…She is a child of myth and legends. This is a tiny glimpse into what her life was like…

I am considering writing her story in full for Nanowrimo 2008.

Grey Lady of the Sea

Pull up my mates and listen to a tale of adventures on the high seas. This be a section of Wayward Tempest. A story I am considering re-writing for Nanowrimo 2008.

Late Bar

Here’s a little ditty about….oh wait…um, Nicole.  The first glimpse we get of her in Pulse. A story that I am considering re-writing for Nanowrimo 2008.

Just A Quick Note

I’m going through some blog updates. Changing the layout and such, so it may seem a little messy and my orginal graphics are currently being worked on as I have time during the day.

Mosey On Down The Road

I’d be writing up another review, but the only books I’ve been reading since my last post have been on crochet. That will hopefully change in a little while.

I’ve been thinking about Nanowrimo a lot this week. Roughly two weeks until the mass hysteria begins. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 10 years since the phenomenom that is Nanowrimo took hold of the Nation, then the World.

It will be interesting this year for me to see if I can balance writing with my new business.  Truth be told, this year feels differently to me already. Last year I felt more pressure. I’m not entirely certain why this was. I still plan on blogging daily during the month of November.  It may be a simple blurb regarding word count but I will blog about it. And naturally I have plans to cross the finish line this year. So why does it feel different?

One of my many SIL’s talked with me the other day.  She asked me about my novel, knowing that I had been working on it for some time. She was not aware that I have been on sabbatical for the last few months. She mentioned that she was thinking about writing a novel, but she didn’t know if it was going to be about friendship or dogs-as if the two were mutually exclusive. I asked her why the two coudn’t be combined. Her response was that she didn’t know how to go about writing it, then asked about my thoughts on how to do so.

Now, I have to admit, this conversation rankled me a bit. I have always been of the opinion when someone wants to write something it is because they have a story to tell. There is a need to tell it and nothing will change that. In my experience when I finally decide I am going actually write something I have a loose idea firmly in my brain. I have more than “It’s going to be about dogs”…

I told my SIL that there had to be a reason she wanted to write about dogs and to look at those reasons a bit more closely. She needed to figure out what her story was on her own. Writing is a very personal thing, and it isn’t something I can do for her. Her response: “Oh.”

Why did I mention this conversation? It made me think about my writing. I haven’t done that in some time. My idea for Nanowrimo is amorphous at best at this point. I haven’t quite settled on what I am going to write, though I may have a character or two ready to come out and play that are brand new.

Some of my ideas are things that I worked on just before taking my sabbatical. Wayward Tempest, the co-written Pirate story that fell by the wayside when my co-author lost his muse, has been tempting me. I could potentially re-write the entire thing from the female pov-which I was writing to begin with.

Another idea was to write Sascha’s story from beginning to end. She’s such a strong character and her story is, at least to me, interesting.

Or I could go into a completely different direction genre-wise. Write outside my comfort zone.

I don’t know. As I said amorphous at best. Maybe a poll is in order. But that will be for my next post.

Words To Think On

“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”

Stephen King, The Body

A friend sent me the first paragraph to Stephen King’s The Body a long long time ago. (A book I have incidently never read.) In an abstract kind of way this paragraph has always reminded me of the inherent fear that rests in me regarding my own writing. I am in awe every time I read it…

Night World No.1 by L.J. Smith

Synopsis: Vampires, werewolves, witches, shape shifters — they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.

In Secret Vampire, Poppy thought the summer would last forever. Then she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now Poppy’s only hope for survival is James, her friend and secret love. A vampire in the Night World, James can make Poppy immortal. But first they both must risk everything to go against the laws of Night World.

Fugitives from Night World, three vampire sisters leave their isolated home to live among humans in Daughters of Darkness. Their brother, Ash, is sent to bring the girls back, but he falls in love with their beautiful friend.

Two witch cousins fight over their high school crush. It’s a battle between black magic and white magic in Spellbinder.

To start off with: I have only read the first book in this three book volume so far. So this review only pertains to Secret Vampire.

Due to, at least in part, the popularity of S. Meyers vampire series L.J. Smith is enjoying somewhat of a ressurgence. I remember reading The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle when I was in High School when a friend loaned them to me. I adored them so much that I had to own them for myself. It took me 3 years to find them all.  Yeah, they were YA books, but I didn’t care. They were really well written and the story had me hooked from the word go.  So when I started to notice L.J. Smith’s books being reissued I was really really happy about it.  Thus I came across Night World.

I’ve only read the first story, Secret Vampire – the story of Poppy and James. I have to say, I was rather impressed with this story. Not only by the writing, but the way in which Smith captures the many emotions that come with dealing with a major illness not only from Poppy’s POV but from her brother’s as well.

One of my favorite scenes is when James talks to his father about Poppy being ill. In this scene alone Smith manages to convey how utterly different the Night World is from our own without shoving it in our faces.

Secret Vampire is a relatively quick read. I managed to read it over a two day period during a week that I was really busy-so it would stand to reason that it would be possible to read it in a day. If you are looking for a quick, well written story to read pick this up.