Category: Writing Life

Short Reviews & Sundry 02

This is going to be more sundry than reviews. I still have the writing project for NaNoWriMo on the brain. I have not reached my personal word count for the project and I am still about 2,000 behind the NaNoWriMo official word goal. On Thursday or Friday morning I am going to do my best to catch up. I think I should pause for a moment and look over what I have in my outline for my characters. Romance may seem like an easy genre to write in however, looks are very deceiving. I know that for this event, done is better than perfect. I have come to realize that I am more linear than I would like to be. I can skip a scene every now and then but there is an internal narrative I follow. In Star Crossed II, I feel a little disconnected from my characters. I think if I don’t address it, it can grow to be a bigger problem and I don’t what that.

The distractions for this week have come in the form of Webtoon comics. I have been a member of the service for 3 or 4 years. There have been a number of notable comics, some that have even become hardcover books. I have subscribed to many comics on Webtoon but the two I am going to write about today are – It Was All You, created by I Soon Ki, and OH5HO, an original story by Jake Lee. It is set in future Korea. Clones are possible and a luxury item for the wealthy. We follow a woman who works for the company as an engineer and tester of the products which are the clones. While testing the newest model of clone, her marriage falls apart. She does all that she can with the help of the new model to exact revenge. The title gives me pause. I feel that she is being led to something more nefarious.

The other comic that pulled me away from Star Crossed II was put in the romance category. Perfect Marriage Revenge, original story by Yibambe, webcomic creation by So Young and Jerryball. This story is about a woman given a second chance to fix the things that went wrong in her life starting with her marriage. The main character dies in the first chapter in distress after realizing an ultimate betrayal. She wakes up a year before the incident with the opportunity to make different choices.

Neither of these comics is complete. It Was All You has been out longer than, it has over 30 episodes and Perfect Marriage Revenge has about 6 that are free and 2 or 3 under the coin paywall. One of the good things about Webtoon is that each episode or chapter eventually will be free to read. If you can’t wait coins are available for real money. I reward myself with a chapter when things in Star Crossed II go well.

There isn’t much going on with me besides the dash to write. I hope things continue to go well for you all. Please leave a comment, like and subscribe.

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The real Universe is against me

Third day of NaNoWriMo and I and doing well. I hope you all are too.

My first day of Nanowrimo was a slow day, I didn’t think I was going to make my first 1600 words, much less the extra 500 I challenged myself. I know I won’t be able to write every day, for the next 30 days, I only have 25 days to win. My personal word count was adjusted to 2100 a day.

I made the 1667 word count and got the badge. I stopped writing on the project for that day at 1760, 20 minutes after midnight. I was tired and happy not close to my personal goal but better than my previous first days. In fact, I don’t think I have ever updated my word count on the first day of Nanowrimo. So happy dances all around.

Late nights for me these days, lead to late mornings, November 2nd in New York City was a cloudy day. I heard that is the day of the dead, for those that follow that culture. It was also Election day. The media was focused on Virginia. I live in New York City and we have a new mayor. My plans were to catch up on my word count.

I set up my area to start writing, getting into the story has been difficult. I was also preparing a meal to eat for brunch, an Amy’s vegetarian frozen dinner. While sipping a coffee, and reading what I wrote earlier that morning. Then the oven, the lights and the fridge all shut down. At first, I thought it was a breaker for the kitchen only. But then I realized as I moved around the house, the modems in the living room were off as well, so no internet or phone service. The house was completely dark and eerily quiet. I used my cellphone’s flashlight to check the breaker in the basement. There was nothing I can do there. At the time, I had limited service on my cell, I had to find some free wi-fi just to make a phone call. I was totally cut off from everyone and the feeling was odd. I would have been fine if I knew what was going on.

I was able to turn my cellphone into a hotspot. However nothing was reported in the news or the Con Edison website. I found out that this problem was not only in my house. The neighbors were suffering as well. There were no traffic lights at a major streets. Businessess had to shut down b/c their computers were not working. I empathize with the people who were washing their clothes at the laundromat. The lights were on but the machines were dead. The service was gone for four hours. I was looking around my house for flashlights, candles etc. What I learned was that we were not prepared for any real emergency. It was sobering realization, especially when other disaster have happened, warning those who are save to get prepared. Once the service was back on and stayed on, I mellowed out enough to write. I am still under my personal goal but that is okay.

I had enough time and mental energy to relate this story and keep my goals to post 4 days a week. I know that later on this month it might be more difficult. but I will persist. Because there will always be something attempting to hinder me from writing. The 3rd day official word count is 5001, my goal is 6300. I am hopeful that at the end of the day I will be closer to 6000. Good luck to everyone that is participating, officially or unofficially.

Go, Writers Go!

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