A while back I did a Mother's Day letter from Farris to Gemma set after Martin Hospitality. Since Father's Day is this weekend, I thought I would do the same thing ... except with a character named Kat (whom you'll meet in Martin Legacy) writing to her father, Josiah.
Kat is a unique character. While this letter is not actually in book 2, consider it a preview! Or a bonus. ;)
Dear Dad,
You know I don't like writing letters, but Mom said I had to do my own.
I know I'm supposed to say you're the best dad ever, but I don't know whether you're the best dad in the world or not, because you're the only one I've ever had. We didn't even get to pick each other. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
I don't think I'm a disaster, though, and neither are you. That means things worked out just fine, I guess. God must have known what He was doing.
Thanks for being my dad. And especially for making me do piano lessons when I was little and Mom was tired of making me. I love them now. I'll play your favorite song after supper for you.
Love you!
xo Kat
~~~~~
Any thoughts about Kat's personality? How do you celebrate Father's Day?
It's December! Which means National Novel Writing Month is over. While many of my friends clocked insane word counts (either in total or just yesterday in an effort to reach their goals), I haven't written in several days. Because I hit my goal early! (Stay tuned for snippets.)
For those of you who are new or can't keep your 100 friends' NaNo goals straight, my goal was to write a 30k novella based off my trip to New York. I named it Simply Jane Smith.
The 50,000 words that NaNo wants me to write is a little much for my sanity (and wrists). I've only written 30k in a month once before and that was when I wrote the first draft to my published novella Andora's Folly. I figured it was time to do it again since I needed a break from my main writing project anyway.
I'm happy to announce that I finished the first draft of Simply Jane Smith on November 28th at 28,449 words. A little short of my targeted word count, granted, but it feels so good to have finished something!! I think it's been ages since I did that.
I can already hear you asking the question but was it garbage? The exciting answer is no. While it's definitely a first draft, it's got a bit of a plot and some characters I'd be happy to revisit someday.
"Someday" is the key word. I have no timeline to return to the story in the near future. So while I'm content with a finished draft, I know it stinks for you guys not getting anything published for another bit.
To tide you over, here are a few little snippets that stood out to me as worth sharing while I was writing:
Next, I'll be returning to Martin Crossroads. Right, the sequel. The sequel you all want. That refuses to be written. I've been reading about Tolkien some lately, and it was an encouragement to me that writing The Lord of the Rings took him literal eons and about did him in. But I will conquer just like he did!!! Or else.
While I'm sure I'll have plenty of life, editing projects, and whatever else distract me from my good intentions, my tentative writing plan going forward looks like this:
finish the first draft of Martin Crossroads in 2018
publish MC in 2019 at all costs!!
squeeze in revising Behind the Act so I can query hopefully over the summer
submit flash fiction for my "fun writing"
possible chisel away at the other gazillion ideas I have ...
That sounds like a ton to me, but I'm also super tired at the moment, so who knows? Maybe it'll be totally feasible. My priority will be Martin Crossroads if it kills me. Don't get me wrong, I really do love where I hope the story will end up. It's getting it there that's slowly killing me. But it will come together and I will get it to you guys! 2019 is going to be the year. ;) Which means by this time next year it should be in your hands. Won't that be a wonderful day for all of us.
Now tell me all about what you did this November! NaNo or not, what has your latest project been? What do you hope to accomplish in 2019? By all means, give me details as I certainly can't keep everyone's doings straight. ;)
I'm not sure why it took me so long to decide what to post this week because ... it's less than a week until NaNoWriMo!!!!! (I already regret this decision.) I've yet to tell the general public about the project I'll be working on, so here goes!
Should I be writing Martin Crossroads? Why yes. But I just hit the 75k marker! So I'm taking a break from it in November.
Then perhaps this mysterious Blossoms of Beaumont project in your sidebar, you ask? Ha, nope. That is totally a whenever-I-feel-like-it project. And I don't feel like it for NaNo.
What then?!
A new (but not entirely new) project, of course. Some of you may remember my little Simply Jane Smith story. It's over on my Writings page with a collage. I began handwriting it nearly two years ago, but then my wrist gave out. Originally the story was going to be about traveling to Paris ... except I've never been there.
But I've been to NYC now!! Oh yessss. I'm going to stuff my NYC experiences into a 30k novella about a girl who wins a trip and hopes to find inspiration in the city that never sleeps. (Kind of excited to try that!)
Here's the most recent mock cover I made, not that the white edges show up very well on here:
I hope to complete the first draft during November, but writing hasn't been so speedy of late, so there's really no telling if I'll hit my goal or not. Definitely not aiming for the 50k that the website automates though because I value my sanity. But I finished the rough draft of the outline last night and it's actually got me excited to give this a shot! I've still got the NYC bug, so that part should be fun at least.
Here's the blurb that I have up on the NaNo website:
Gwyneth Grey is a successful lifestyle blogger, complete with a picturesque apartment and Tiffany's solitaire engagement ring. But Jane Smith, the girl behind the blog, has reached the end of her creative powers. When Jane wins a trip to NYC, she grabs her camera, her favorite barista, and hops on a plane. The city that never sleeps has two weeks to refresh her spirits or she might as well kiss life as she knows it goodbye. Yet Jane soon finds that inspiration is only the beginning of her problems, and the solution might require more of her than she's willing to give.
I might be getting the hang of this contemporary thing. Does it sound like your cup of tea?
What are you doing for NaNoWriMo? No worries if you're new to the scene. Just google it and then laugh at all the insane people signing their souls away for a month. :P
Also, check out my social media for a cover reveal of a friend's flash fiction collection!!
Farris Ebworthy (who is but an infant in Martin Hospitality) had his birthday on October 2nd! Just like last year, I practically forgot. Such a horrible author, I know. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have the words "Farris Ebworthy, Oct 2" in literal print for all the world to see. So since a dear reader reminded me of the event, I thought we should do a little celebrating to make it up to one of my absolute favorites.
Farris is really the best. I know you all only got to see him as a six-month-old (and younger) in Martin Hospitality, but trust me. He's turning out well. ;)
SO happy birthday to Farris. Even though you're fictional, who passes up a chance to party? A.k.a. enjoy all the party-related things like food. Or in this case presents.
I don't think I've publicly shared any official words from Martin Crossroads yet, so I thought it'd be a good idea to share some Farris-y snippets with you all today.
I'll be honest--I absolutely hate finding snippets to share. I think it makes me panic that if I can't find one line or paragraph that's good on it's own ... maybe the whole thing is rubbish. But I put myself through it anyway just for you and Farris.
The first snippet is when he's coming on five years old.
“Farris!”
“Hi, Mama.” He walked the beam a few paces as if he were in gymnastics—something Gemma had considered to get his energy out and now set her mind against.
“What are you doing? Josiah, go get the ladder.”
“It’s OK, Mom! Watch this.”
He crouched before leaping off the beam.
For one heart-stopping moment, Gemma foresaw him breaking every bone in his body as he fell the twenty feet. A stall consumed him with nothing more than a rustle for the sound of impact.
Josiah made it inside first.
She released a breath when she saw two arms and two legs poking out of a loose pile of hay. He is in so much trouble.
~~~
And the second snippet from when he's fifteen ... ish
Farris felt something stir inside him. Something beyond pity. He hadn’t thought about dying today. He didn’t have to worry about where his next meal was going to come from, and he knew the twins didn’t either. Together their fathers had harvested the most prosperous crop for miles this past fall. Want was the last thing on their minds.
Hannah set her chin. “There are kids who die every day from things like hunger and thirst. That’s not even the sad part. The sad part is that most of them haven’t heard about Jesus. People here all know who He is and lots of them still walk away. But there? They don’t have a chance unless we help them. So how will you help?”
An uneasy silence settled over the room. She curtsied and applause followed.
“Where did she come from?” Ash whispered.
Noah shrugged. Farris didn’t care where she’d come from. Through his speech and the rest of the day, he couldn’t get her gauntlet out of his head.
~~~
That gives you a pretty good idea of his personality! So excited to share him with you all. To close it all out, if I could pick one song for Farris, it would be this one.
What do you think is in Farris's future? I'm so excited to share him with you all!!
Before anything else, Gemma Ebworthy from Martin Hospitality is a mother. With everyone else celebrating Mother's Day by sharing their favorite mothers in literature, I thought I would share something more personal from my own stories. Consider this a little preview into book 2 :)
Farris is only a little baby bean in Martin Hospitality. But I'm enjoying exploring his character in the sequel at the moment. Here's a letter from his teenage self to his mom, Gemma:
Mom,
Happy Mother's Day! You're a really amazing mother, and I mean that. I know you've gotten so much more than you bargained for on the motherhood front, but you've done splendid.
I'm so glad that God stirred your heart so that I am here today, appreciating the fact that you're my mom. You've been putting us first ever since.
I love that you still read us books aloud, kiss us all goodnight, and think of every possible dangerous situation so that we stay safe.
I'm sorry for all the times I was a horrible, obstinate child. However, without my many arguments with you when I was little, I may never have discovered my love for debate and public speaking. So it wasn't all for nothing!
Thank you for shielding me so I could be a child, and for learning to let me go so that I can be an adult. I appreciate your honesty about our past and your confidence in who I am despite all of that.
I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on things, but I love you. You're strong and beautiful and I hope to find someone just like you.
And thanks for the big brown eyes. I hear they're my best feature.
Love from your son,
Farris
~~~~~
I think he turns out pretty well, don't you? :) My own mom and Gemma have several things in common. I hope you all had a lovely Sunday with your mothers!
You read that right. 50 spoiler-free facts about my newly-released novel, Martin Hospitality. Enjoy the behind-the-scenes equivalent to writing a novel. Also, can we take a moment to appreciate my watercolor artist's photography skills?
I always intended to give the Martins a dog on their farm but never did
I killed off twice as many characters as I had originally planned
Gemma doesn't have a favorite color
The baby's middle name is never given because I haven't decided yet
I despised editing the first draft even though I'm a freelance editor for other people's manuscripts
The title is original to the first draft
This March will mark the 2nd anniversary of the bizarre dream that inspired the story
Gemma's middle name is Louise
The weather is based on Kansas's weather in 2015
I never finished outlining the book's plot
None of the characters are purposely based on a real life acquaintace
The baby's name was also my great-grandfather's middle name
The novel is set in no particular small town in rural Kansas
I took meticulous notes for the novel whenever we visited my aunt and uncle in Kansas
Chapter 12 was the first one I ever wrote.
I'm planning toward a trilogy following Gemma's life
I mostly drafted the novel in my room on my laptop
My greatest motivation to keep writing was my alpha readers who read as I wrote and wanted the whole story :)
Character charts are my favorite part of plotting but I only used them for three of the main characters who required the most backstory
I wrote Martin Hospitality mostly after 9pm
Most of the character and some other notable things will make an appearance in book 2
Not plotting the second half of the book gave me a messier draft but better twists and development since I just went with it
It's not perfect and it took me a while to swallow my perfectionism and be okay with that
I never chose specific car models for any of the vehicles in the book
I followed the Wichita geography meticulously
Therefore: her church, office building, and street she lives on exist
There are a couple tiny fandom Easter eggs in the book
I always intended to self-publish
It took me 10 months to complete the first draft
Gemma's last name Ebworthy was originally going to be Pennyworth
The addition of the cat was a spur of the moment decision to spice up Gemma's apartment life
The Martins' house floor plan is based on a dream. I had to draw it before I drafted so it would make sense
The entire novel was based on a dream: a blend of a Beverly Lewis novel and my aunt's move to Kansas. And a really attractive farmer ...
Figuring out what I wanted for the cover and who could do it for me was one of the most difficult things initially. Now it's my favorite
Mr. Martin was one of my favorite characters to develop because of his complexity but also the most difficult by far. He's controversial ;)
The first draft was approx 94,000 words. The final draft was approx 102,000 words.
Alpha and beta readers were the best part of the entire experience. Definitely use them
Most of the research I had to do was on corn, medical conditions, and Kansas paternity
I only hand drafted a few scenes when I was on the go but I had to pause and think much less since I write slower than I type
The Martins' church is based on Ebenfeld, the first Mennonite Brethren church in the nation
I spent 5 months on all the editing and rewriting
I only renamed one character from the first draft but unnamed several others
In order to make the Martins accurate and not too much like my family alone, I drew off some of the customs of friends
Gemma's apartment is based off a unit of apartments a local family own and I do the bookkeeping for
I made Farris a sweet tempered and fairly content baby, but he's going to be quite the toddler
Like any very large family, I had to give the Martins a van although I didn't originally
I didn't usually listen to music while I wrote, but I began to while writing this book so I could focus while writing with siblings around
Its theme could be considered redemption
I have sold around 40 copies
It's difficult to come up with this many facts ... That's a fact, right? ;)
~~~~~
Phew! Those took me forever to come up with when I did this originally on social media. Which fact was your favorite?
ALSO!! Next Saturday will be my blog's birthday blowout! Photos, giveaways, announcements ... all that good stuff. If you want a chance to win an e-book version of Martin Hospitality, design a birthday image for The Left-Handed Typist and e-mail it to me or tag me on social media (@abitheauthor) before Saturday. I'll choose my favorite and all the submissions will be featured in the post :D
NaNo has finally ended. I'm still trying to recover and jump back into life. So far, so good, except that this post is three days late. Here's a look at what I managed to accomplish for NaNo.
~ The Glorious NaNo Chat ~
26 people. One Google Hangouts chat. It was supposed to be for #5k1days and became the cabin and now the recovery group. In short: awesome insanity and many crashing browsers. Here's a peak at the deep topics we covered:
1 ~ Sanity
2 ~ Murder
3 ~ Fiji
4 ~ Distractions
5 ~ Motivation
6 ~ Determination
7 ~ Baking
8 ~ Superiority
9 ~ Writing
10 ~ Stealth
~ The Snippets ~
In no particular order and often quite long, sorry ... I now know that finding snippets is not a skill. Ignore any typos :P
~ The Stats ~
Phew. Burned out at 30k, but pushed through thanks to so amazing war buddies. MyWriteClub has the best sprints ever, so be sure to check them out! I intend to shelf the draft of my Christian Dystopian novel that I drafted about 60% of during NaNo and I'll revisit it when I feel like it's feasible. Details on My Writings page :)
~~~~~
I'm glad to see you all survived NaNo as well, even if you didn't win! Words got written and that's what matters :)
In other news, my November newsletter went out yesterday! If you thought you subscribed and didn't receive it, check your spam folder and then e-mail me if you don't find it :) You get lots of first news and experimental ideas and personal updates, so be sure to subscribe if you want to be 100% in the loop.
'Tis the season for all bloggers to either post on NaNoWriMo or comment everywhere trying to figure out what this thing is. I first heard of it in April 2015 when a woman overheard that I was writing and recommended it to me. Basically you make an account through nanowrimo.org and update your word count for a novel there. Your goal is to write 50K in just the month of November. Here's my plan so far, numbered, and in no particular order.
1~ WIN
My first goal is to win this thing. Have I ever written 50K before in a month? No. My record is 30,010 words, and that was reached during Camp NaNo in July. Nearly doubling my all-time monthly record? During the holidays? While publishing a novel? Nothing to worry about, right? (This is where you say "Of course right!")
2~Conquer a new genre
In case you're wondering I have the tendency to get over-ambitious. I've only one completed Christian Contemporary novel and one Christian Fiction Retelling novella. In November, my goal is to draft at least 50K of a Christian Dystopian novel. This reveals a lot about my creative thought process: it's everywhere.
3~ Plot
I cannot go without some sort of planning (even if that's just talking out loud until it makes some sense) because I will go crazy on day 1. You guys don't want that. So I am currently giving a half-hearted attempt at plotting. The good news is that I'm reviving an idea from years ago and have managed to add a plot to it. As long as I complete some characters sheets before November, I think I'll feel comfortable. I don't see the point in ultra-planning this since I'll be writing faster than my brain can generate coherent thoughts anyway.
4~ My survival tips
Judging from Camp NaNo alone, some tips:
don't read what you write
do NOT edit what you write (the goal is quantity, not quality. I know :'( )
silence your inner voice of perfection. Call it conscience if you must
write and write a lot. The average number of words you have to write a day to succeed is 1,667
create a playlist for your novel(mine's on Spotify) and listen to nothing else as you write
chisel out chunks of time in which to conquer chunks of words
sacrifice some sleep. Actually, lots of sleep
do word wars with your friends. Competition for numbers is excellent motivation.
update your word count on NaNo daily (don't spend too much time on the website loafing)
do a #5k1day That's 10% of what you have to write conquered in a single day. If I have done this, I promise you can. If you do it on Tuesday, November 1, I'll do it with you via my Facebook event. I can also create a Google Hangouts group for non-Facebook people who are interested.
5~ Introduce my NaNo novel to all of you before November 1
Yay! This is where I get to share the blurb and pictures about this story which I am getting super psyched to write about. I think this is going to be really fun. Especially since I've found some really awesome buddies.
Imogen North struggles. But so does everyone else in the crumbling East Side. Yet Immy is convinced that no one, not even her twin, shares the struggles of her secrets: parents who were exiled for treason, a crippling fear of the dark, a desire to learn about the outlawed Followers, and now knowledge of the corrupted inner workings of her own government. When faced with the coming-of-age rite of accepting her designated role under Lord Luci, will she have the courage to stand up to the truth like her parents did and face the consequences? Or will the carefully cultivated darkness inside of her win? And is she prepared for what either decision could mean?
I have high hopes of this being an mid- and post-tribulation analogy, but we shall see . . .
Christian Dystopian, 3rd person, past tense, single POV. The book will follow Imogen North, her twin sister Ivy and friend Tristan Hodges also being focal characters. There's a full Pinterest board if you're really interested.
As with many of my other stories, this was inspired by a bizarre dream I had where "I" lived in a crumbling brick courtyard in freezing weather while being pursued by the government. No wonder it's taken me so long to find a plot, right? (Of course right!)
~~~~~
Are you doing NaNo? Leave me your username if you are and I will add you to my buddy list (apparently I'm hard to find). Are you going to participate in my #5k1day challenge? Will you use FB or Google Hangouts for updates, word wars, and motivation?
Also, if you enjoyed the Tolkien guest post of last week don't forget to check out the rest of the series on Evan's blog!
