Reaping The Rewards

Well that's that, then. I'm a published author...sort of. Not really. More on that later.


Last November I worked insanely hard to write 50,000 words in 30 days. And I did it. CreateSpace was kind enough to give me a code to receive a free proof copy of any given thing I chose to upload. Which I did.

See? It just came in the mail today. I didn't expect it to arrive for another week at least. It's a present for my grandparents, so I won't be taking it home with me, but Mom's going to let me order another one for myself (it's registered with her credit card.)


Yes, it's just vanity publishing, so it doesn't really count and it shouldn't go in query letters or anything...but I still think it's awesome. I plan on compiling the stuff I write in the next year to give to them in a "Volume 2." But don't say anything to them. Of course, I include the link to this blog in it, so maybe my grandma will check it out and find out, and none of you know how to contact her, but let's not push it.


It's about 120 pages.


I'm sort of afraid that if I've had this reaction (which you hopefully won't be able to glean via this post- it's been a lot of staring at it and giddy smiling) to this, how will it go if/when I get something "properly" published? I think my reaction is completely valid, but still...
Plus, my sisters have been laughing at me.

An Actual Post About Writing...With More Doctor Who Gushing

This blog is supposed to be about writing. It hasn't been. This post is to bring it back to center, at least a little bit.

I was going to start working on my NaNoWriMo (The Clockwork Experiment) again today. Really. I was. Something came up. Two things, actually.
The first was that my mom gave me some stuff I need to do today. Chores.
The second was the discovery that BBC America is playing Doctor Who ALL DAY up until around 10:00. This means that I will eat lunch, do the chores, and then be happily seated in front of the TV from at least 4:15 till the end of Part 2 of the End of Time. Unfortunately, this will probably not work out to ideal perfection. Dinner has to fit in somewhere, and my mom prefers us all to sit down and eat together at the table.
About this forthcoming epic finale: I will cry. I will most definitely cry, seeing as how immersed within any given episode I usually become. I cried when Rose got trapped in the parallel world. I almost cried when the Doctor was treated as the Master's dog. I teared up when he was painfully human in the Family of Blood (and whatever the first part of it was). I am not ashamed of this. It means that I enjoy the show. I'm bracing myself for whatever there is to come, and my fan gene is getting excited for the next season. I've dilligently stayed off of YouTube and away from spoilers. Tonight is going to be great.

But this is not supposed to be a post about me crying over the death of my doctor (yes, another is coming and he will probably be awesome, but too bad). This is supposed to be a post about writing. So here we go:

I've been rewriting the beginning of The Family Business (since all that there ever was of it was the beginning). It has gotten considerably longer, but still covers the same amount of plot and information. I read it to my sister (since I also read her the original). She was sad over the changing of a few minor details, but still liked it. More importantly, I am far more pleased with this new version than the old one. It reads better, has less tangents, more dialog, and is generally better. There's just one or two sentences I need to change before I bring it to writing club to read, since you can't turn on lights when there is no power.

On reading, I've started The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. It's fascinating, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I just have to wonder how much of the stuff is true (which is why I plan to read one of the books written precisely on that subject). Noetic Science is an extremely interesting topic.