Vacation, Part One - Seattle, California

So you might have noticed, I've been a little absent on here. This is mainly because I was on vacation and had an annoying lack of internet access. But I'm back now, and I think it's about time I spill all my exploits from vacation. This is going to be cut up into several parts, because it was a long vacation and a lot of things happened.

My leave started May 26th, but because of paperwork issues (and I thought of this in advance) I didn't leave until the 27th (Tuesday). So I just had an extra day off, which I used to pack and relax. Then, Tuesday morning I ran around at a frantic pace calmly getting a bunch of things done that had to be finished before I could leave. Breakfast with a good friend was had, shots in the arm were received, and paperwork was printed off (I had to have approved Leave paperwork before I could leave the country.)

I eventually got a later start leaving base than I liked. But after a bus ride, then a subway ride, and an express train ride (that was super comfortable, quiet, empty, and wonderful) I made it to the airport with time to spare. Then there was a 10 hour flight from Seoul to San Francisco. I unfortunately didn't have a window seat. I normally try to get window seats, because I like being able to look out the window and I would much rather only be sitting by one stranger, rather than between two. But, alas, I was in the middle, between an older Korean woman (who smelled) and a young Korean man (who was adorable, and really tall, and a bit forgetful when we went through security to get to connecting flights.)

After that flight it was just a quick hop from San Fran to Seattle, and then I got a nice rental car before driving to my nice hotel. I felt yucky from all the travel, I was tired from all the lack of sleep, (I normally stay up 24h to eliminate jetlag)  but I was super excited to be back in the States, and particularly in Seattle, which I'd never really been in before. So I showered, then drove around in Seattle for a while, just taking in the sights and reveling in all the English I could see. It was great.

I then passed out early, and woke up early, but felt too lazy to get out of bed so I watched Law & Order SVU for a few hours until I had to get ready for the day, pack up, and check out. Then I drove around Seattle again, because my next flight wasn't until late. I saw the Space Needle, almost drove into the bay, parked the car and wandered around on foot a little bit, stopped at a Barnes and Noble to pick up a few books (it's an addiction. I can't go anywhere without picking up a few books at a bookstore) and even drove through Chinatown and little.

After dropping off my rental car I got on the plane to San Diego, my last flight for a few weeks. It was another quick flight, and I had a window seat, and I read practically the whole way there. Then, my family picked me up from the airport in their packed-to-the-gills SUV and we drove to Grandpa's house. It was late, but everyone was excited to see me, I was excited to see them, and it felt great to be back with my family after so long.

We arrived at Grandpa's house, everyone helped unload the car, and there was another great reunion before I passed out in bed, well past my bedtime.

In the morning we all got up early and went back to the airport to pick up my second brother, JET, who was flying in from Nebraska, then we drove to MCRD San Diego for Family Day. I got to watch my first brother, PWT, run in Marine green, then got to see him in uniform before finally reuniting after four long years. It had been a very long time, and I was so super excited to finally get to be with him in person again.

We spent most of the day with him on base there with him, talking and listening to his stories of Marine Boot, and meeting his fellow recruits and his DIs and just having a good time. Then, too soon, it was time to return him to his barracks, and we went back to Grandpa's house.

Because there was an extra person I got kicked off the bed and onto the living room couch, but I didn't mind. That's where I had stayed when I was 11 and staying with my grandparents for a month, and it was so refreshingly cool in the living room that I got some of the best sleep I've had in a long time. My dorm room is almost constantly too hot to sleep properly, and so sleeping somewhere it's cool is amazing.

The next day we went back to MCRD for the official graduation day, and it was such a wonderful ceremony, albeit kind of long in the hot sun, and then PWT was done and he was ours again. We got his stuff and left MCRD to go have lunch at a really nice Mexican restaurant near the Mormon Battalion Museum, then we got family pictures taken (by my first cousin Jessie) before going through the Museum. After that, we rushed back to the airport to drop JET off, because he had to get back to Nebraska for work, then we went to Grandpa's house from there we just spent the rest of the weekend catching up and being together and doing fun things in San Diego.

Two important things (in my opinion) happened while we were in San Diego. Because we always do touristy things as a family, we went first to Cabrillo to see the lighthouse (again.) While there a scene popped into my head. I took a lot of pictures and video of Cabrillo, thinking about this scene that took over my brain, and later I started writing it because dang it, it was a good scene. Then, the next day we went to Balboa park, and while wandering around there we stopped at the Botanical Garden, and another scene appeared, related to the first one, and when we got back home I wrote that one too. And with these two scenes, and a character that had been in my mind for a couple weeks without a story, I began putting together a story.

We also went to the beach and rode a roller coaster, and did shopping, and went to church, and other fun things, but after that, my all-consuming everything was this story, nicknamed SD Story because I had no other name for it.

Finally, we packed everything back up and left San Diego, traveling up to Utah. It was a long drive, I got some writing and reading done, and we arrived really late before staying at my Aunt's house. And that is for another post.

Thanks for reading!

Future Writing Problems

I hope to someday publish fiction in the urban fantasy and young adult fantasy genres. Mainly because those are my favorite genres, but also because I feel like my writing style fits those the best. However, I realized recently that I might run into some problems trying to publish in these genres. Let me explain a little, and I'm generalizing a lot to make this point.

In most, if not all urban fantasy stories, the main male character, whether the point of view character or the love interest of the point of view character, has a certain look, a certain personality, a certain feeling; strong, protective, slightly overbearing, manly.  The UF male, sometimes called the Alpha male, usually has scruff, fills out whatever clothes he's wearing, and can take care of himself in a physical fight. A lot of times his eyes 'smolder' and he makes the UF female feel both irritated at his overbearing-ness and unable to control her lust for him.

In most, if not all young adult novels, the main male character, usually the romantic interest in what I read, also has a certain look and a certain distinction that sets him apart from all the rest; he's the teen who doesn't look like a teen, he is sometimes a bad boy, and he always falls for the main girl in a way that is totally different than any of the other many girls he's been with before. His eyes also smolder. What is with eyes smoldering?

So, now that that explanation is out of the way, here's why this is a problem. While yes, some of those things are attractive -- I'll admit, if someone looked at me with smoldering eyes I would probably melt right there -- that's not what I'm most attracted too. Sure, I get a little giddy when I'm reading, because what red-blooded woman doesn't? But over the past three years my taste in men has changed, and in corresponding with that, the male characters I write about has changed as well. And unfortunately I realized today that it has changed in such a way that I'm  not sure I'd be able to get them published. Because my taste in men is so wildly different than the majority of everyone else.

Let me illustrate: I haven't come up with a story for him yet, but I've had a male character in mind for the past few days. He doesn't have a name yet, other than the nickname Deer. He's a senior in high school, he's not short but he's not too tall either, he has thick brown hair that he usually doesn't bother too much with so it does it's own little wavy thing, he's pretty athletic, so he's lean without being gangly, and he has a bright smile and quick laugh that always lightens moods and cheers people up. But here's where it gets different than what you'd find in most fiction nowadays. He may be athletic, but he doesn't actually look it, instead he looks delicate, with small hands, a thin frame, and if people didn't know any better they would assume he was younger. And he has these wide dark brown eyes that look like doe eyes. He wouldn't ever be called gorgeous. He wouldn't ever be called hot, or even handsome. Maybe adorable, cute even, but not anything else.

And a character like that would never cut it in the cut-throat world of publishing among all the tall, dark, and handsome ones out there. Which is unfortunate, because there are men out there just like him, don't they deserve to be the hero too?

I'm probably going to keep writing characters like him and others that I have, because maybe by the time I'm ready to publish the market will have changed enough to allow him a fighting chance. I hope so.

Do you like reading about characters that are different than normal? There's a lot of minority out there that rarely, if ever, gets represented. Is there some minority that you would like to read about more?

Thanks for reading!

Pirating Books and the Great Tumblr Debate

I was going to post something awesome about Star Wars since it's May the Fourth, but instead I've been thinking of something else the last couple of days that I felt I needed to add my two cents to.

I follow a lot of my favorite authors on Twitter and Tumblr. They always have something fun or inspiring to say, talk a lot about writing, and are generally fun people. And then, a couple days ago my Twitter and Tumblr blew up with tweets and posts asking people to not pirate books. And then a huge debate took over going back and forth between authors and people. And some of the things the people were saying were just horrible. And right now, I'm part of the 'people' group, but some day I'm going to be part of the 'author' group, so this one kind of hit me, and really made me think. Also, pirating books? That's a thing? Whut?

So, for this, I'm going to do something a little different, and use quotes and try to write like I know what I'm talking about, or at least sound intelligent. Because some of the things these people were saying just blew me away at how... I don't even have a word for it. Wrong? Out there? Upsetting? Entitled? I could probably go on. But anyway, here I go.

It started with a few posts by YA author Erin Bowman, who wrote Taken and it's sequel Frozen, which I admit, I haven't read either yet. They're on my to be read list, but it's kind of a long list, so it might take me a while to get there. She wrote:

I'm so tired of seeing my books  (or any book) pirated. It doesn't even get me in a rage anymore. I'm just sad, defeated, and depressed.

and

Go to the library. Request they buy a copy. DL the sample if you're "not sure you'll like it." Borrow from a friend. Ask for it for you[r] bday

and

I could go on, but in short: you are not entitled to free entertainment. You are not entitled to steal my next paycheck. STOP PIRATING BOOKS

Those make sense, right? Pirating is stealing, stealing is wrong, correct? When this and others like it starting flooding my Twitter, it really took me aback. I knew music and movies were pirated (everyone in the military seems to do it... it's really quite shameful) but I had no idea that books were pirated too. The thought of someone pirating books horrified me, because as a hopeful writer, I can understand how that would really cut into someone getting paid.

So on Tumblr you can post something, and people can repost it with their added comments. After these three Tweets were compiled and put on Tumblr, everyone started reposting and adding their thoughts. The  first couple were nice. But then someone said something that started it all.

Whoever it was, wrote some excuses for reading a pirated copy; own the book but can't find it, don't want to support the author (and proceeded to name Orson Scott Card who apparently is hated on the internet for bigotry against homosexuals. Huh?) but still want to read the book, etc. The next person rebutted that with a post about not being entitled to steal something, even if you have the aforementioned reasons. That person talked about how reading pirated books supports piracy. And then they talked about how it's okay to not support an author of you don't like them, but pirating is not the way to not support someone.

Next up, someone brought up the issue of the economy and how the average (young) reader doesn't have the money to buy books or the time to go to the library [which I call bullcrap on]. Then they said something about it isn't a good idea to spend $10-$20 on a book that you MIGHT like, because if you hate it your are stuck with it. [What? Since when? Have you never heard of donating to a library? Or a thrift store?] They continued on with more examples and 'factors' that could lead a person to pirate a book, and ended their little thing with 'we can't always support you financially, so we'll just support you with social media.'

Then someone put her short bit in, by taking "issue with the excuse that young readers don't have TIME to go to the library." And I agree with her, because it's not that pre-teens and teens don't have time to go to the library, it's that they chose to use their time for other things. She then asked if everyone could stop excusing the pirating behavior by removing personal responsibility.

Then someone else came in and started ranting about "how telling somebody to just go get the book from the library is a laughable joke," and went on to list a whole bunch of reasons libraries are not a good way to get books. [This is the sound of me staring dumbly at that statement. Duuuuuuuh.] There were a whole bunch of reasons, and they all were all very stupid interesting to read.

After that, thankfully the debate went back to someone with sense. This time, they talked about waiting, and how the society of instant gratification has made waiting a foreign concept. And that they have no patience for the impatience argument. [I'm cheering now. Someone with sense! This is the truth!]

The good sense didn't last long, however, as the very next person said something about how "having your books pirated makes the authors more money." [Jaw drop, because whut? What planet do you live on?] And then they talked about how they don't read books by selfish authors, i.e. authors who complain about their books being stolen, authors who don't like fanfiction, authors who cause trouble, etc. And then they tried to remind authors that "your reputation matters. If you aren't grateful for what you have, no one is going to want to give you more." [I can't even...] In conclusion, they finished up with the argument that authors are paid in advance, and so even if the book bombs or people steal it it doesn't matter, because it's already been paid for.

Next up someone took the time to correct the 'paid in advance' misconception, and said that yes, we get paid in advance, but not very much and we have to pay it back in royalties before we see anymore money. Which makes sense, because it's an 'advance.'

Then someone went on this really long tirade about how you chose your job, you shouldn't quit your day job if you aren't making enough money writing, don't blame the readers, etc. Then compared writing to a bunch of different jobs, and different amounts of words for different 'levels' of writers. e.g. 1k every day is part time. 3-5k every day is full time. Which I call BS on, because I know for a fact that 3-5k is really hard for novel writers to write on a consistent basis. My all-time favorite writer, Brandon Sanderson, has said he averages about 2.5k every day. And he's most definitely a professional, full time writer with more than a few hefty books under his belt. Of course, every writer is different, but to arbitrarily put daily word requirements for whether you are part time or full time is not correct, and not being fair to all the professional writers out there who do write full time and don't write that many words in a day. It's not how many words you produce, it's the quality of words you produce, and the amount of time spent. You don't see cashiers being paid according to how many customers they helped in a day. Yes, there are commission-based jobs, but writing novels is not really one of them.

Anyway, that wasn't the end of their really long post. they went on to talk about how it's really the poor people who can't afford your books who are pirating them, because otherwise they wouldn't get to read them. The person really talked about how the original author, Erin Bowman, was saying " 'Don't read my books unless you have money or your community has money!' " And since I'm trying to be nice in this post, I can't say what I want to say about this.

Then the original poster, Erin Bowman comes in and corrects the person [as she should have, the person was putting nasty words in her mouth.] She said "no one is entitled to STEAL entertainment," and called books a luxury, not a necessity. Which is absolutely true. She then went on to set the record straight even more about how advances and royalties work, and to be honest it was very eyeopening. She also said she was "getting so tired of feeling like the bad guy in this conversation," and I really feel for her.

The last person on the very long list of reposts was another author who talked about the sense of entitlement and how the argument that 'poor people need to resort to piracy in order to read anything' was appalling, in poor taste (pun not intended) and needed to stop. She then went on to talk more about advances and royalties, [wow, that's an awful small amount to live off of for three years... good thing I'm not doing it for the money...] and finished with another thing about how there are other ways to get books and that "paying for things and waiting for things never hurt anyone." [Well said.]

Now let me put in a quick little thing before I finish. I did not grow up with money. Sure, we had what we needed, my dad made at least that much for the first half of my life, but we were always in so much debt that when my dad was in school and we were just living off his military pension things were really tight. I had to earn my own money if I wanted anything extra, and I don't think I ever bought a brand new book until I was sixteen or seventeen and had a job of my own. But before that, I earned money through baby sitting, and it wasn't very much.

But I loved reading, and wanted to have books, so I had to get creative. I went to the library as often as I could. Before I was thirteen that meant waiting until the family trip to the library, but after that we lived close enough to walk to a library in all the houses we lived in. And I put my legs to good use, walking to the library and hauling home backpacks full of books to read. I shopped at thrift stores and always made a beeline for the book section (I still do.) I bought books at yard sales where they were ten cents a piece, or at books fairs where they were under five dollars.

So a lot of trash-talking went down, and I learned a lot of interesting facts. Readers apparently pirate books. Writers don't make a lot of money [I knew that already, I just didn't know to what extent.] And a lot of people on the internet and in this fast paced society of instant gratification don't have any common sense or sense of guilt for breaking not only civil laws against piracy, but also laws of decency towards fellow humans and the laws of God, which are very clear and ultimate.

Sorry this was a long one.

Thanks for read.

Writer Problems

This month I haven't read much. The largest reason for that is I've been busy with class, but another reason has been I've been working on a story. And I've been working really hard on it, took. It's a great story that has evolved a lot from the first story-starting idea, and I'm really excited for it.

The problem, though, is this story has decided to let me know I'm writing in the wrong perspective. *flips desk* And so now comes the momentous task of trying to switch the point of view around so that it works better, while still keeping as much of what I have already written intact. Oh the things we writers go through to create a novel.

Sorry I wasn't able to post anything more about the speech contest. There was no one there to record it, and I lost -- which made me more upset than I thought it would -- so I didn't really feel like talking about it much. It was fun, I made some Korean friends, and I learned that no matter what I do, because I have no comedic timing whatsoever I will never be able to win. Le sigh.

Thanks for reading.

Ten Things About How I Write

Well, first off not very well, pretty inconsistently, and usually by the seat of my pants. But, other than those things, there are some points that I've noticed I follow over and over again, and while I have yet to finish something, these points have worked so far.

Some of these are things I've learned through trial and error, and other things just come naturally.

1. I don't ever share my story with anyone until I have written the last word of the first draft. This one has been one of those trial and error things. And I have only recently figured it out, and so I have lost a lot of good stories and hard work to the problem of sharing it with others. What usually happens is I get excited about something I'm working on, so I want to share it. I love it when people compliment me on my writing, and that can only happen if they read what I've written, so I share. Except, while they do say good things about my writing, they usually have ideas and thoughts about what I should do with the story, and try to interpret things, which in turn changes how I thought about things and. Other times they take one thing they read, one thread that I hadn't finished writing about, and then they make fun of me for it for weeks and weeks, until I can't stand to think about the story anymore and toss it.

2. I don't listen to any kind of suggestions, except from Artemis (my inner editor who I talk to like a crazy person. Seriously, my inner editor is a real persona and she can be pretty mean sometimes, but she always steers me in the right direction.) Usually the suggestions of others don't mesh with my original idea, but they sound cool anyway so I add them to the story and then they multiply like plot bunnies until the story is so overloaded that I scrap the whole thing.

3. I pick one method of writing and I stick with it for the whole story. Sometimes that means I'm writing with pen and paper, sometimes with my laptop or my desktop, and sometimes that means I'm forcing myself to not be frustrated with the crappy keyboard on my phone or iPad. Either way, the story gets put onto paper (literal and figurative) the same way for the whole story. It is my way of setting my brain up for writing, because I don't really have a specific place I write. So as soon as I pick up my laptop or iPad, I know it's time to write.

4. I write when the inspiration strikes. This kind of means I'm a fickle writer. When I'm in the middle of planning for one project and a brilliant idea strikes me, then I have to immediately sit down and start working on that. This is something I need to change, because I need to figure out a way to finish something.

5. I don't write anything plot related down. Ever. It's hard for me to get the right words down no paper, because I don't create the stories in my head with words. It's all a movie up in here, and translating that to the written word can be challenging. So when it comes to plot and things, I usually leave it up in my head, where I can understand it better, and just let the writing flow. If this means I forget a few minor details, that's fine. But so far, I'm pretty good at remembering everything.

6. When I'm working on a writing project, I don't read, I don't watch movies or TV, and I try my darnedest to stay away from music videos. Because all of those things are idea machines for me, and when I'm trying to work on something, getting more ideas is usually not a good idea.

7. When I'm looking for story ideas, the first place I look is K-Pop music videos. This may seem kind of silly, but a lot of times my greatest ideas have come from a music video. I usually take the basic idea, or maybe create an individual scene from the video, and then my brain takes it in a completely different direction so that the final product is usually completely unrecognizable when put next to the idea or video.

8. I agonize over character names. I have been told that it's okay to have placeholder names for while I'm writing the first draft, but to me, names have a lot of importance in the character's development, and if they don't have the perfect name to begin with, then their development is stunted considerably. I have two characters that I have had to change their names for various reasons, and I still struggle to call them by their new name, instead of their real old name. So if I have to break my writing flow to find the perfect name, it's a worthy sacrifice.

9. While I'm writing, I try to listen to things that won't interrupt my writing (like k-pop). My current favorite writing sound is MyNoise's Flying Fortress, set on The Real Thing, which is really REALLY loud, but relaxing to me, and usually creates the perfect mood for writing. But occasionally I have to work a little harder to get in the right mood, and I'll listen to specific playlists I have like "Fighting" or "Romance" or "Depressing".

10. When I'm writing, I sometimes forget to eat. Or I decide not to eat so I can write instead. It's not really healthy, but specifically when I'm in class and only have an hour for lunch, that's an hour I could write, or an hour I could got get food. And I usually choose writing over food.

So, there you have it. I don't have the best writing habits, but I'm working on it. For your information, I am currently working on a pretty exciting idea (on my iPad, which can get annoying) and while I don't expect to have it finished anytime soon, I do hope this one has the right staying power for me to make it to The End.

Do you write? If you do, what are some habits you have that help you get the words on paper? Tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading, and sorry for missing Sunday.

Adventures

Tomorrow I start a new adventure. And the day after that, I start another new adventure.What are these adventures you ask? Well. Tomorrow, I start language maintenance class. It's been a really long time since I've REALLY studied Korean, so it's definitely going to be an adventure. And the day after tomorrow (we really need a word for that) I start Camp NaNoWriMo April. This will be my first time doing a Camp, and I'm pretty excited. I have my story all laid out in my head, my cast of characters keeps developing to be better and better, and I'm actually excited about this one. It's going to rock.

Do you have any upcoming adventures? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Things

Sometimes life has an annoying way of getting in the way of things.

This week has been a bit stressful at work, more so than usual, and it's carried over into my off days, where I've been too overwhelmed and stressed to do anything more than sit and crochet while watching movies. I've progressed a lot on the lap blanket I'm making, but other than that nothing has gotten done. Which is why I missed three days of blogging. I'm really sorry about that. I knew it was bound to happen at some point, but I'm still sorry it did.

But like all things in life, it's best to just acknowledge the mistake and move forward. So here I am, moving forward.

I've been in a really bad writing slump recently. Nothing seems to be able to pull me out of it, and while this is really good for my reading (I'm reading a ton nowadays) it's really bad for my future as a writer. Today I picked up my first novel and started re-reading it. I wrote it for the 2008 NaNoWriMo, and it was my first winning year. It's a great story idea, about a teenager girl who learns she is the Greek goddess Artemis, although at the time I wasn't the greatest writer. It definitely been a laugh, reading what I had written as a 19 year old. It's almost like taking a peek at my state of mind at the time, like a time capsule.

Someday, I'm going to finish getting this story publishable.

Starting today, I'm going to be back on schedule, so look for a post on Thursday, and again on Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks for reading!

Coming Soon

I need to write more. And not only do I need to write more, I need to include writing as a topic on this blog more often. Technically that's what the blog is supposed to be about, but I got a bit distracted. To fix this, I've come up with an idea. I already do regular posts on Sunday and Thursday. I never thought I would actually be able to keep up with that, but so far I have managed it pretty well. There have been a few times where I've slipped up on writing something interesting, but there's always been something to read on Sunday and Thursday.

So here's my idea: Once a week I find myself a writing prompt, either on creativewritingprompts.com, Sunday Scribblings, or the Brainstormer app on my iPad, and spend half an hour writing something based on that. I will then post that something here on Saturday, which will hereby be called Story Saturday. I will also include at the beginning what prompt I used, and you are welcome to take it and use it to fuel your own story-writing.

My goal is to improve my writing craft on a more regular basis, as well as give you something fun to read other than my sometimes ramble-y or dry posts.

Then maybe to even things out, I'll find some kind of series or other to post on Tuesdays, like Korea or food or something. It's going to be great.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: This is going to start next week, because this week was kind of hectic at work.

Something New

I was going to have a fun post about the crazy weekend I had the last weekend, but time got away with me and it's not ready yet. So instead, I'm going to talk about something new I want to try. This will be a short one.

So, I have a new story idea that I'm working on. I've started working on a couple of scenes, and I've done quite a bit of worldbuilding for it. I'm pretty excited for it. But while writing the long novel, I want to try my hand at writing short stories set in the world. It would help me flesh things out, and it would give me a break from the big picture when I needed it. And not only that, but I also want to have these short stories available online, so that maybe I can garner a bit of a fan base before I actually try to publish.

So, these short stories are going to going on a site I've used before, called Protagonize. And I'm going to share links to the site and stories here, so that you readers can see them too. It's going to be a fun, interesting experience, and it's going to be awesome.

Thanks for reading!

Epic Fantasy and Setting

Ever since Tolkien published The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the epic fantasy genre has pretty consistently followed the standards he set up. The same general type of races, the same general type of quest plot, the same good struggling against almost incomprehensible evil, and the same sweeping European Medieval-style setting. There are plenty of exceptions out there, but for the most part, those exceptions are not the ones people think of when they think of 'epic fantasy'.

Even in the past, the traditional Medieval Europe setting hasn't really interested me. I was always more interested in Greek and Roman, and Egyptian mythology rather than Norse and, and I've never been very good at getting through the epic fantasy novels, although I love reading epic fantasy. Admittedly this is partially because they are usually door-stoppers and I don't have that kind of patience when it comes to reading, but it's also because of the completely overused and unoriginal European Medieval settings.

And then I started learning more about Korea and China and Japan and the rich history and culture they collectively have. It was love at first sight, for the Eastern part of the world. True, I'm a little bit biased towards Korea, but I still love the history and relationships the three major Asian countries have with it other and how they have influenced each other, the effects of which are still see today. And I started wondering why there weren't more epic fantasies set in this part of the world, when it is so obviously just as epic and sweeping and grand as Medieval Europe.

I still haven't found an exact answer to that, nor have I found an epic fantasy series that is set in this part of the world, not as the 'exotic' part of the setting but as the 'normal' part. Because Asia does pop up, but only as that 'exotic' element meant to give the world a more diverse feeling to it, and meant to show the differences between the main culture and kingdom and the 'other' parts of the world. Tamora Pierce's setting of Tortall is a good example of this.

I want to change this propensity towards Medieval Europe. I want to write an epic fantasy that breaks the mold, one that changes people's idea of what an epic fantasy setting can be. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do this, but I'm working on it. And maybe someday my  name will be among the great ones, the ones who defined the genre for what it is. Is that a little too greedy? Well if it is, I don't care, because I want to shoot for the stars.

In the books you read is there a certain setting you're tired of seeing used over and over again? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

A Ramble on Reading, Writing, and Life

Most of my life I have been a very avid reader. According to my mom I always had my nose stuck in a book after I learned how to read, and my favorite place to go was the local library, where I would literally check out armfuls of books, sometimes so large I couldn't carry them all. I loved books and libraries so much as soon as I was 14 and old enough, I signed up for volunteer work at the library, then tried to get a job there when I was 16. When I did get the job on my second try, I quickly discovered that it was not the job for me. A lot of the time I got caught up reading the books instead of shelving them, especially the kids books.

Almost as long as I have been reading, I'm been writing and telling stories. A lot of my earliest stuff has since been erased from anything and everything because they were so embarrassing, but I have a portable hard drive full of all the different things I've tried to write over the years. Probably even before I knew it was an option, I've wanted to be a writer. Usually this was along side my other widely varied career choices, such as marine biologist, journalist, librarian, crime scene investigator, etc. But being a writer has stuck around the longest.

Of course, I'm not the greatest at writing. Sure, I've heard more than my fair share of good things about what I do write, along with a good deal of constructive criticism that has helped me along the way, but I have zero completed projects, even after writing for as long as I have. It's sort of been an on again off again hobby with delusions of grandeur.

And everything sort of fell apart when I discovered the time-consuming world of the internet, specifically YouTube. Suddenly I was spending all my time watching things instead of reading or writing. And then it got worse when I discovered K-Pop and Korean Dramas. Because then instead of reading and writing I was spending hours and days staring at a computer or TV screen watching TV or music videos. And then the Air Force happened and suddenly even time to do that was gone.

Last year I read an embarrassing grand total of 25 books, most of them in the last three months. And the novel that I have been working on since I was 16 still doesn't have a single usable word written. Essentially  my life has kind of stalled, again.

My life happens in fits and starts. Sometimes I'm progressing forwards with a lot of momentum, and other times it feels like my life is going no where. While I was studying Korean in California, my life was moving forward. I was progressing with a goal, and I was getting things done, at least in one aspect of my life. Now that I'm not doing any kind of training anymore and I'm just working, my life has become stuck again, much like how it was before I joined the military. And I don't know how to jump-start it again. It's not like I can join the military, since I'm already in.

I've been thinking about this a lot this last weekend, mostly because I was bedridden with some pretty nasty cramps and had nothing else to do but think of how my life reached this point. I still haven't made a decision, but I feel pretty close to one. Like it's sitting at the tip of my brain, just waiting to come out. Much like when you're trying to think of a word but can't quite remember what it is.

I want to get my life going again. I want to have a life that is full of progression and forward movement and excitement. I just have to come up with a way to bring that back.

Any ideas?

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you felt static? I'd love to hear about it and how you got through it!

Thanks for reading!

I Should Have Known

So sometimes I bite off more than I can chew. I'm just going to go ahead and say that right now. Chances are, I'm probably not going to end up finishing 2014 with six novels. I'm going to try, but as commenter Melody pointed out, I'm at a pretty exciting time in my life and I should be LIVING life, not sitting holed up in my dorm room all day every day.

I'll give you a quick example of how things usually go.

For NaNoWriMo last month, I hit the 50k mark on the 21st. It was pretty exciting, but it was also a little depressing, because I wasn't even halfway done with the story and I only had a week and a half left in the month. Since I wanted to finish the novel before the end of the month, I set up this elaborate plan that involved writing between 6,000 and 9,000 words a day so that I would be able to finish on time. It was a little bit intense, but I figured I would be able to do it.

I was able to keep up with this plan for maybe two days. And that wore me out, so the next couple of days I wrote nothing. Which put me even further behind. So I set new, crazier goals to finish on time, and that worked for one day. And I exhausted myself and didn't write for another few days and then the month was over.

And since the end of the month, I haven't really touched it again. I need to, because I have to have it finished before the new year so that I can start my new story, but I have to recognize that I can't set ridiculously high goals for myself, because I won't be able to reach them.

And I think that is a good thing. Even in life, I always have high expectations and plans for things like college and jobs and stuff like that, and I usually make it too hard for myself, and nothing ends up actually getting done. As in everything, moderation is the key.

So I'm setting a new goal for myself and for the coming year (a little early, I know.) From now on, I'm going to do my best to keep my goals realistic so that I can actually reach these goals. If this means I have to adjust previously made goals (like my Six in 14 Project) then so be it. Because I want to be reached goals, and it is so much better to surpass goals than to fall short.

What are ways you keep goals realistic? I would love to hear about them in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

And For 2014...

As I have said before, I'm starting to set some goals for my writing that will help push me towards my ultimate goal of being a published writer. This is going to be hard with my job, because I work 12 hour days when I do work, and my weekends tend to be full of things that have to get done while I have free time. But if I'm ever going to be a published writer, I have to bite the bullet, put my shoulder to the wheel, my nose to the grindstone, etc., and just write anyways.

I've thought about trying all different NaNoWriMo related or inspired challenges. I've even thought about doing milwordy, which is an insane challenge to do one million words in 365 days. Now THAT is a challenge. But I have to be realistic with myself, and as much as I want to try milwordy, I already have a full time job, and I can't add a second full time job into the mix. It just isn't going to work.

So, working with my limitations and abilities, I've come up with my own project/challenge for 2014. I decided to call it 'Six in 14', because I'm going to attempt to write six novels in 2014. That comes up to a novel every two months, which is doable. If I write on all my days off, of course.

The biggest reason I decided on six novels instead of a specific word count for the year is my favorite author and my hero, Brandon Sanderson, wrote six novels before publishing his first -- his sixth was Elantris. I can't consider myself on the same level as him -- because I'm not even close -- but I figured it was a good place to start. If anything, at the end of 2014 I will have six un-publishable novels and a better understanding of what works and what doesn't, as well as the knowledge that I can sit down and write novels.

Of course, this will also be accompanied with my attempt to get back into reading again. Because writers have to read. And I haven't been very good at reading -- finishing, really -- anything for the last couple of years. So I want to try to keep it a decent, doable amount of four books a month. Minimum of course, because I can read more than that. Which should come out to about 48 books for the whole year. So six novels written, 48 novels read. This is going to be an interesting year.

NaNoWriMo, a history report

As someone who wants to be a published writer, I take every opportunity I can to find an excuse to write. For the last seven years one of the biggest excuse has been NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a month long 'event' that started in 1999 with the goal of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. It started out with less than 30 people participating the first time, and this year over 300,000 people have made the leap into writer-dom.

Like I said, I've been doing this for seven years. I started in 2007 when I discovered it while looking for writing contests on the internet. I didn't do so great that first year. I was still a teenager, and back then I had almost no stick-to-it power. I think I wrote maybe 600 words on a story about a young girl who discovered she was a witch -- after dressing up like one for Halloween -- and she traveled to the Witch World, which was very much Halloween inspired. Needless to say it was a failure, but I hadn't really invested much into the NaNo-ing community and I quickly put in out of my mind.

2008 was the first year I won. I wrote just a little over the required 50k about a girl who discovers that she is the reincarnation of the Greek goddess Artemis. I even named the novel Huntress. It was a fun story to write, and a lot of my friends liked it a lot. And this was around the same time that Greek mythology was all the rage with the Percy Jackson series, so theoretically I could have done something with it. But, again, I was still young and in an attempt to actually reach the 50k, I had padded the story like crazy. There were descriptions of books the main character was reading, the most elaborate birthday party I could think of, I refused to use contractions, and because I finished the actual story before 50k, I started the -- horrible-- sequel to fill in the end. When I went through and took all the fluff out and fixed the lack of contractions, I reduced the word out to a poor 20k. I still consider it my first completed novel, but it has gone through so many revisions since the beginning that it is barely recognizable as the same story.

2009 and 2010 were not the best years. Life got in the way a lot, and even though I had finished a novel before, I somehow was unable to recreate the magical circumstances that allowed me win previously. In 2009 I tried my hand at a mystery with a generous dash of fantasy. It was about a detective whose -- unknown -- younger sister could see the past because walls kept echos of everything, and she could see those echos. I got maybe 25k into the story before I gave up. It wasn't entertaining, and the characters were all too much like cardboard cutouts. So instead, I tried switching to something else and jumped around maybe ten different stories for the remaining 25k. I sort of considered it a win, because I reached 50k, but I didn't finish a novel, so it wasn't the same.

Then I did about the same thing in 2010. Only this time I was trying to work with high fantasy. The story was interesting, about a young lady who -- through her various adventures -- becomes the Shieldmaiden Empress of the land. If I had a better understanding of writing and plotting and important things like that, I suppose I would have been able to finish this story. But, I didn't get more than 10k, and probably not even that. And like in 2009, I finished the rest of the month jumping from story to story, unable to stick with any one idea. It was another disaster, and I ended the year feeling like a fraud.

2011 was when life decided to really kick things into gear and I joined the United States Air Force. This has been one of the best decisions of my life, but it meant that for a few years I wouldn't be able to write with any kind of consistency. 2011 I was learning Korean for my new job, which didn't leave much time for writing. I tried, because the siren call of NaNoWriMo is hard to ignore. But the story I decided to go with was not the best thing I could have gone with. It was about a group of people who accidentally get sucked through a wormhole into a fantasy world, and all the dangers they face there. Half of my characters were based on real people, which made them incredibly hard to write, and while I probably would have finished it, my homework load at the time was such that I had zero time left over to write. Because homework had to come first. It was my job, after all.

Then in 2012, I was determined NOT to do NaNoWriMo. All of my learning and studying Korean was heading for a major test in the middle of November, and if I didn't pass this test, my life would take a horrifying nosedive. So, I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to do it right up until I was doing it on November 1st. I'm telling you, it's hard to say no to NaNoWriMo. So in between studying for this test and my homework, I tried to write a story about a group of farmers and fishermen in a little bay being the only thing that is stopping a massive invasion from a land across the sea. I broke personal records with this story. The first Saturday of the month I wrote an amazing 17k, the most I had ever written in one day. But after that day, I couldn't get myself to write anymore. I hated the main female character more than I had ever hated a character before, and I had no idea how the farmers and fishermen were going to repel this army that was supposed to come through. So I stopped and just focused on my studies.

This year, 2013, has been an amazing year. I passed all my tests and graduated from my two schools, then started working at my real job with the Air Force. I moved to a new country, and FINALLY had time to really write. So this year, I was determined to win, for real like in 2008. And I tried something new.

For the most part in the past, I've been more of a hobby writer, and a pantser -- which is a term used in the NaNo community to mean someone who writes by the seat of their pants. Just pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and writing whatever comes to mind. While thinking about my writing and during a particular writing crisis I had -- did I really want to write and publish for a living? What was I doing to accomplish this? -- I decided that pantsing was not working for me. And while I had always kept it in my mind that I wanted to publish, my real attitude towards writing has always been leaning more towards hobby instead of profession. So this year I wanted to work towards being a real writer. So for NaNo 2013 I sat down in October and spent the entire month plotting and outlining and getting things ready so when November came around, I just had to write the story. I wouldn't have to think about what happened next, I would just have to write.

And it worked. This year I chose a story about twin brothers who live in a modern era of a fantasy world. And these twins get sent back in time with the goal of stopping a Godwar from happening. And because I had plotted everything already, it was easier to write. Of course, I let myself do a little pantsing, because where's the fun in just following the outline, so some things I wrote ended up surprising me. But overall, it's been loads easier than any year I've done before. And I reached 50k on November 21st, which made me giddy and excited, even though the story wasn't even halfway done.

And then, because I had reached the month's word count goal, I stopped. I knew I still had to finish the novel, but I spent a few days recovering from my intensive writing days and just basking in the wonderful feeling of reaching 50k 9 days early. Then I dove back into the story and tried to finish. Of course, life still got in the way with a major Doctor Who event, and Thanksgiving and the like, but I pushed forward and kept moving towards that goal of finishing the novel.

Unfortunately, I haven't finished the novel. I went too many days with writing nothing, and was over 20k left in the story, it wasn't possible to finish in time.

But I learned something this year, something important that makes me want to keep writing no matter what. I learned that even though writing is hard -- which I knew already -- writing and reaching goals and finishing things is so rewarding and worth doing. I learned that -- despite my misgivings in the past and my 'do I really want to publish' crisis -- I do want to write and publish and that if I just work hard on it, as hard as I have worked at my job in the Air Force, then I can reach my goals, and I can fulfill my dreams and I can become the writer I want to be.

So this NaNoWriMo has been an amazing year of discovery and learning, and I can't wait for next November so I can keep learning more and more.