The Trip Home

I returned back to my home state of North Dakota earlier this month to visit family and friends. We moved to San Diego over a year ago--- our first year away from "home".

I didn't know what to expect on this trip. Regrets? Guilt? Happiness? Unwanted stress? What I found was something unexpected. It was a sense of calm I never experienced before. As I boarded the plane on the way back, I realized San Diego is where I belong. It reminded me a bit of when I wrote the last scene for KIN. I knew the story was there. What I need to do now is strengthen the groundwork I laid out for the story. In the past year, I feel like I've done the same thing for myself.

I'm only getting started on the path I've chosen. One of the reasons why I wanted to move was because I was determined to grow more as a writer and as a person. I knew I couldn't do what I wanted where I was living. There were no visiting authors, writing jobs, and the closest writing community was in four hours away in Minneapolis. A few years ago, Joey and I created a list of all the things we wanted to do. It's when we realized that we did pretty much everything on that very list that we needed to move.

A homemade Tardis and working Dalek at CoreCon. Joey and I with our friend Sulu. 

One of the things on our list was CoreCon. We returned to Fargo during the fifth year of convention. Joey and I worked for four years with a very talented group of people to put on one weekend a year of fun with fellow geeks. We went back to see our many friends and to experience it as con-goers. During CoreCon's first year, there were 150 people who attended. It now has reached over 700 attendees and overwhelmed me with the love from its fans. I hold a lot of pride for this little con and the people who put it on. It's one of the few things (besides the people) that I wish I could have packed in my suitcase. However, it's nice to also know that we have something to bring us back to our roots. The party rooms with different themes from Star Trek to Mystery Science Theater 3000, a working Dalek costume and homemade Tardis, and the Rock Band contest were my favorite highlights from this year.

Joey created the Rock Band Contest and the people who run the e-gaming room play as an exhibition band. Every year, my husband decides to do something fun. This year he Rick-rolled the crowd, and then they played their actual song with something else in mind. He's the hot guy in the front playing guitar. 

I'm really looking forward to the second half of 2013. My goal is continue revision until I know my manuscript is ready for submission. I'll be working on my query letter and cleaning up my synopsis. I've started a spreadsheet of agents. Things are started to move along in ways I almost didn't imagine possible. I'm very thankful to have the time to do the work of my heart.

Look for weekly updates of my progress in June.

Natasha

Catching Up After Another Revision

I've been revising for the past three months so that's why the blog has been neglected. I can't believe I didn't post about my birthday! And book events! And gush about the books I'm reading! I've sent off the manuscript to of all my critique partners just in time for a planned break. Here's my catching up blog post before I jump into even more revision.

Revision
This is what my revision process started out with before pumping everything into Scrivener. I spent a lot of time moving things around, writing new scenes, and fixing new ones. I removed 12,000 words and added about the same amount back. I was using the Pomodoro technique, which is similar to the writing sprints. I broke my record of writing 6000 words in a day. My Muse liked me that evening.

Everyday distractions

My kitties Topher and Sophie are my co-workers. Sometimes they make me work. Other times they distract me from it. I mean, look at those faces?!?

Other times it is always good to take in the city--- or get away from it. This is actually about ten minutes from my house. We went hiking for three hours (nine miles!) and it felt like I found a slice of my hometown. Very strange to find something like this in the middle of San Diego.

Birthday
I celebrated my 31st birthday and forgot to share my wonderful week with my best friends who flew in from North Dakota. We went to the Safari Park, Old Town, the beach, Little Italy--- the fun San Diego experience. One of my favorites was meeting my favorite author, Shannon Hale. She tweeted about a Sandy Eggo so we brought her one! She loved it! We had signed the loveliest things in my book after I gushed how she is a huge inspiration for me.

Shannon Hale signing

My wonderful friends on my birthday. My bffs flew in from Fargo to spend it with me.

Bookish Events

March was when I had four different bookish events. I attended Condor where I was able to visit with Leigh Bardugo and Cindy Pon. Also, there was the Mila 2.0 and Let the Sky Fall launch parties for Debra Driza and Shannon Messenger. Lastly, I was able to swing up to Mission Viejo Library for the Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Sarah Rees Brennan event. I was so thrilled to high five Sarah while we talked about Diana Wynne Jones. I'm reading the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassie Clare and completely in love with it.

Shannon Messenger Launch party with wonderful ladies I've been so lucky to meet over the past year!

Fun meeting Maureen Johnson and Sarah Rees Brennan.

Cassandra Clare and friends

Critique Partners
I also want to give a shout out to my new critique partners, Kaye and Amparo. Maggie Stiefvater (author of Shiver and one of the Merry Sisters) posted a critique "love connection" and we were lucky enough to find each other. Already I know that the world needs to watch out for us! Also, check out Rhiannon Paille's new covers for her books. They're amazing (as are her books)!!!

As you can see, I wasn't completely locked up in a closet with my revisions. I went out there to meet wonderful writers and readers, shared my new favorite city, goofed off with my kitties, and managed to get some work done in there. I'm so thankful for having such an understanding husband who will drag me out when sometimes I want to hide in my own imaginary world.

I'm looking forward to the next step in my process, but also in taking a little break to visit with my family and friends.

Natasha

RTW: Writing Quarterly Check-In

Today is Road Trip Wednesday! What is that? It is a blog carnival where the contributors of YA Highway post a weekly topic and participants write their responses. You can jump from blog to blog to see each blogger's take on the question. 

Topic of the week:

Where am I on my reading and writing goals?

My biggest goal this year is to do another revision of KIN and to get it ready for submission. I wish I would have shared this book with people a lot sooner, but happy with the notes given to me recently. I'm focusing a lot of my attention on fine-tuning an outline before proceeding. Happy that I was able to complete that yesterday. My next step is to write a new synopsis to see how things flow before I proceed onto hacking the away.

See, the most helpful piece of advice I was given was get the conflict to happen sooner. So I've focused on making that happen without sacrificing too much of the story I have already set in place. It was difficult since there are things I wanted to keep in place for a reason, but the advice made complete sense. This revision is about letting go of things and seeing things a bit more clearly. As I set the new events in place, I know it is for the best. (I'm hoping I feel the same way when I finally get the story together.) And it's a huge lesson that I hope to use when I step into revising future books and a lot sooner in revision than this one.

I'm behind on writing short stories, but I plan to catch up. My goal is to write one a month. I'm going to use some time when I need a break from revision to focus on that goal again.

I've read 18 book already this year. A few Buffy comic books, my usual YA fare, and research for a novel I wrote last year. It's a good mix and it keeps me sane when I need a break from my own worlds.

Happy writing and reading! Thanks for stopping by!

Natasha

Our San Diego County Getaway Weekend

Since we moved to San Diego almost a year ago, we've heard a lot about the town of Julian. We didn't make it out to the big apple weekends around October, but Joey promised we would go. He hinted we would go in the winter time, probably in February and March. He was given some ideas in mind of places we could explore from his fellow co-workers, and I left it at that. I plan a lot of our trips, and I liked that he had things in mind.

Once March approached, we started to gather some of the plans. My role? Finding a place for us to stay. That was it. Everything else Joey decided to plan on his own and in secret. 

The day before we left, I spotted this picture online:

  I didn't know what to expect until I was able to open the first envelope.

This set the whole tone for the weekend. I ignore the words and focus on the picture for the answers. Fun puzzles with no expectations for me to guess it right since they're abstract in a lot of ways. I would take the last letter of the actual answer, and this leads me to the next envelope. 

Here are the places where we ended up in two amazing days. 

First envelope (E) I found a picture of a fire alarm. It was in reference to Jeff, Who Lives at Home where Susan Sarandon's character wants to kiss under a waterfall. That is what lead us to Cleveland National Forest to the Cedar Creek Falls Trail  to see a waterfall. It was a very peaceful walk since we didn't run into any people until we made our way back. 

Second Envelope (T) had an abstract picture that kept me guessing some type of picnic and jalapenos. It took us on a drive to Borrego Springs where we ate at Carmelita's Mexican Grill. We had a delicious meal of veggie quesadilla and a large tostada. We spent some time in the mall it was located in and bought a toy for our cats. We also went to a fudge and ice cream shop where we bought a little bit of both.  

Third envelope (L) were pictures of strange statues we spotted outside of Borrego Springs. It was Galleta Meadows, a metal sculpture park. We bought a neat map that helped us find all the different type of statues. My favorites were the dinosaurs and sea serpent. 

Fourth envelope (WS) I wanted to go to the nearby state park to see the desert flowers in bloom and so we went to the Anza-Borrego State Park. We were too early to see them, but we spotted a few flowers as we took a hike on one of the trails. The picture Joey picked was of the desert flowers so it was easy to guess. 

Fifth envelope (K) displayed four photos of bowls that could be seen as ice cream, porridge or soup. It was for Soups and Such, which ended up being closed when we reached Julian. We attempted a pie place, but they use lard (non-vegetarian) so we had desserts at our B&B. So it all worked out (and we were still pretty full from lunch). 

Sixth envelope (H) was our bed and breakfast, Wikiup. The picture was of space and a spacechip since we rented the Stargazer suite. We missed breakfast the next morning since we needed to be out early, but we really enjoyed everything about the B&B. I'm hoping we will return there to stay again in the future and would definitely recommend the place. 

Seventh envelope (P) was something I completely guessed as a joke. The shapes looked like animals so I wrote "Lions, Tigers and Bears-- oh my!" and we did end up going to an animal sanctuary Lions, Tigers, and Bears. We were hoping to go on our anniversary earlier this year, but it was too last minute. We've been watching Big Cat Rescue on YouTube for year and this is the closest thing to it in the San Diego area. My favorite was the tiger "Natasha", of course.

We had a bit of time leftover to we went to Alpine to the outlet mall there. I needed some new shoes and we found a Skechers stores. So happy I was able to find vegan shoes there! 

Eighth envelope (RS) we drove into the Laguna Mountain for a Laguna campground picnic. I helped pick out the food and Joey found a nice spot by a meadow where we ate some veggies with dip, bread and cheese, chocolate covered cherries, fresh strawberries, and pretzels. There was barely any snow on the mountain, but it was the first patch we walked through all winter. 

Ninth envelope (C) was a bit confusing since it was described as "the image was perfect" of an OceanSpray Ruby Red juice. I figured something with the ocean and we drove a lot around the county until we reached the historic 101 Highway where we drove up the coast through the North County beach cities. It was one of those perfect days where it was hot so lots of people were ending their day on the beach. We even spotted someone recording their dog on a skateboard. It was almost like out of movie until we reached Oceanside to walk on the pier.  At the end it is  Ruby's Diner where we ate dinner and watched the sunset. 

Tenth envelope (R) was where I rated the whole adventure from 1 to 10. I put Infinity +10. We went home to some happy kitties and crashed on the couch with lots of great memories.

It is times like this that I know more than ever that I've married my soulmate. We didn't have the radio on all weekend and were still able to come up with some type of conversation. We went from the city to country, snow to ocean, waterfall to desert. Quite an adventure! We loved exploring San Diego County and we know there is more out there to do-- with our best friend at our side.

Natasha

Top Ten Authors That I'd Put On My Auto-Buy List

I've been seeing lots of people participate in this Top Ten Tuesday from the Broke and Bookish, and I can't resist sharing my own list this week. 

My Ten Authors

1) Juliet Marillier
One of the first fantasy authors I read in college and instantly I was in love with her Sevenwaters series, and each series afterwards. Her books have me haunting the stacks days before the books come out in hopes they set it out early. She's the first author I allowed myself to buy in hardcover when I had the money to finally "splurge". 

2) Shannon Hale 
The author of the Bayern series, Princess Academy, Rapunzel's Revenge, Austenland--- I love how she writes many kinds of  books. One of the first authors I found outside of college when I tried to read more for enjoyment, and boy! I've learned so much from her writing and her talks on writing from her website. She gives me the truth, but makes me more passionate. 

3) Laini Taylor
I feel almost magical when I read Laini Taylor's pages. I believe everything from the very first word and she keeps surprises me from her Dreamhaven series, Lips Touch, and her fantastic Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. 

4) Neil Gaiman
What can I say about this writer? Sandman comics, children books, poetry, short story collections, and novels that keep me guessing. The world is seen with fresh eyes each time I pick up his books. 

5) Diana Gabaldon
I've been reading the Outlander series since I was fifteen years old and I'm always drawn back into the story of Jamie and Claire. The books never seem long enough and I'm always there to buy the next one. She makes dental work sound interesting--- seriously! 

6) Stephanie Perkins
I never read such wonderful books that leave me with such warm fuzzies as Anna and the First Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door. Whatever she decides to do, I think there will always be strong emotions pulled from her writing. Looking forward to Isla and the Happily Ever After!

7) Leigh Bardugo
Shadow and Bone was my favorite read of 2012 and this fresh fantasy series has me hooked! So much that I want to make a costume from her Russian inspired world. I'm looking forward to whatever worlds Bardugo decides to explore!

8) Beth Revis
I longed for some great sci-fi and Revis gave it to me! She used my fear of space against me in the Across the Universe series, but also brought beauty and raw emotion. I'm sad to see the series end, but also excited what comes next for her. 

9) Cindy Pon
When I started writing my Japanese inspired fantasy, I was looking to other fantasy outside of the well-known European setting. The first book I found was Pon's Silver Phoenix and I ordered it instantly. I was also able to chat with her in 2009 at San Diego Comic Con and she made such an impression on me. I've read parts of her books various times when needing a bit of inspiration in my own writing. Plus, she is one of the nicest authors I've ever met! 

10) Jacqueline Carey
I was first overwhelmed by her Kushiel's fantasy series, but I let myself sink into it. I found myself growing as her characters did, and she took fantasy to another level for me. She then turned around and did sci-fi with just as much finesse.

It was really hard to round out this list, but I like seeing new and old favorites coming together! Yay!

Natasha

The Pomodoro Technique and Revision

Are there any techniques you like to use to stay on task?

During NaNoWriMo, I did a lot of writing sprints with fellow writers on Twitter to reach my writing goal. It worked very well for me since I worked with other people, but it helped me focus. I'm now in the wide world of revisions (again). This time, I might try something similar in the next part of the writing process.

I started to listening to Sara Zarr's podcast series This Creative Life in the past few weeks, and as I took my walk to help with my back pain today, I learned about the Pomodoro Technique from Sara's guest Mark Pett. It is similar to writing sprints (write for 30 minutes with a 15 minute break in between), but instead the technique requires work for 25 minutes, with 3-5 minute breaks in between. At the fourth interval, you take a longer 15-30 minute break.

I'm an Android user so I went to the Google Play store and discovered plenty of Pomodoro apps and am going to download a few to decide which ones I like more. I don't need anything to intricate and decided to go with Pomodroido. I think having something mobile, and not on the computer, could possibly work outside of the office.

Next week is going to be the big experiment so stay tuned!

Natasha

RTW: Favorite January Read

 Today is Road Trip Wednesday! What is that? It is a blog carnival where the contributors of YA Highway post a weekly topic and participants write their responses. You can jump from blog to blog to see each blogger's take on the question

I read lots this month and it always leaves me feeling great when I think of all the different things I've devoured. However, one of the books really, really stuck with me. And that book is...

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
There are just so many elements that I love about this book. A snazzy Lois Lane type character, witches, foreign (not US) country setting, a fun group of friends, creepy buildings, legends, family secrets... if there was ever a love list for a book, this one doesn't end. The writing reminds me a lot of Diana Wynne Jones, author of my favorite book Howl's Moving Castle. I love how both authors can take something so ordinary and make it extraordinary without batting an eye. In this case, an every day girl who has talked to a boy in her head as long as she can remember. She tries to hide the fact she has outgrown this imaginary friend so people don't think she is crazy. Things change once she decides to investigate the Lynburns who have returned to town. I forgot mention those details in my list, right? A mystery! Voice in a the head!

Next book comes out in August, but in the meantime, check this one out!

Natasha

January Short Story and The Creepy Doll

Have you ever found an object in real life you couldn't not writing about? 

The goal that I listed as #2 for this year is writing a short story a month. I started one--- and didn't go back to it until today. I thought I would share the inspiration of The Creepy Doll featured in the story I finally titled as "Those Green Eyes".

In Poway, there's a strip mall full of thrift stores. One after another they wait for you to find some type of treasure. In the first one, I found The Creepy Doll. She has such a jovial look on her face, but don't be fooled by her. She is The Creepy Doll. Those eyes!!! I want to know why... they keep staring at me like that!

I ended up taking a picture (as you can now see) of the doll and sharing it with people. Everyone shivers when they see it. I even ended up sending a postcard to my mom through Touchnote, but she thought it was really cute. She even tried to convince me to buy it for her in her subtle way, but there was no way I was going to touch it. I'm dramatic, I know. But I don't want that thing in the house when I go visit or be blamed for its future actions. The same reason why I didn't want to give it as a white elephant gift at Christmastime. 

In my story, I did play on the theme of finding it in the thrift store and taking a picture. From there, all bets are off. It's fun finding something in real life to write about, even if it is The Creepy Doll. 

Cheers!

Natasha

Cover Reveal: Justice by Rhiannon Paille

Remember my best reads of 2012? Surrender by Rhiannon Paille was on the list and her second book, Justice, is coming out next week! Check out the synopsis below and the gorgeous cover by artist Marc Wolfe!

Justice by Rhiannon Paille (The Ferryman and the Flame #2) -- January 22nd 2013

How far would you go to destroy yourself?

Krishani always knew he would have to go to the Lands of Men, but he never thought it would be like this. Enemies everywhere, an ancestor he can't respect, elders he can't trust, a curse he can't stop and friends he can't help but hate. Desperate to end the pain, he sets out on a quest to find the other Flames and face the enemy that took everything from him. 

Add it to your Goodreads bookshelf

Blood & Gold (The Ferryman and the Flame #2.5) by Rhiannon Paille - June 2013

This is JUSTICE from the villain's POV.

The Daed are pawns to one of the most powerful members of the Valtanyana. Crestaos is insane, his hunger for the Flames insatiable. The closer the Daed get to achieving his goal, the more expendable they become.

Add it to your Goodreads bookshelf

AUTHOR BIO

Rhiannon Paille

Rhi was never a normal girl. Her life was an urban fantasy wrapped in a paranormal romance and served with a side of horror. To escape her everyday weirdness she began writing fantasy. She studied at U of Sedona and MIMT, obtaining a PhD in Metaphysical Science and Parapsychology. She's married to a chef/comic book shop owner and has a fondness for architecture. She frequents twitter and facebook, but if you really want to get to know her you should visit her site: www.yafantasyauthor.com

Author Links:

Website: http://www.yafantasyauthor.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4653530.Rhiannon_Paille

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RhiannonPaille

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rhiannonpaille

JUSTICE: Art by Marc Wolfe (www.marcwolfeart.com) / Typography by Frankie Rose

BLOOD & GOLD: Art by Paragraphic Designs / Typography by Rhiannon Paille

Make sure to check out Rhiannon's first book Surrender and other great reads by her listed on her Goodreads page!

Cheers!

Natasha

2013 Goals and 2012 Review

This year was big, no, it was HUGE! My husband applied for a job in San Diego in January, and at the end of March, we were out of North Dakota. It was a major game changer since I'm now able to stay home to work on my writing full time and we get to live in this amazing city. I've attended many author events, played to my heart's content in Disneyland (well, it is a start), geeked out at San Diego Comic-Con (Firefly!), kicked NaNoWriMo's butt, and have fallen for the peaceful ocean. I miss my family and friends, but we really feel like we're living in a dream.

So, that brings me to my simple goals for the year. I didn't want to overdo it and it is a bit strange to re-read them now. 

2012 Goals
1) Finish revisions on KIN and submit. I've done three different revisions on KIN this year. I have it currently sent off for a critique, and I'll go through the process again when it is returned. I would have loved to have it sent off, but it just didn't work out.

2) Write another novel.Now this is where I excelled I wrote not just one, but TWO novels this year. I wrote BRIGHT WORLD from March -May and MIRRORSPEAK for NaNoWriMo. I'm currently revising BRIGHT WORLD.

3) Submit a short story for publication.I wrote a short story that is now ending up in a book. I've focused more on novels this year, but I think that might change. 

I used to be really good about keeping up without my goals when I have them out of sight and out of mind. I'm thinking of changing that this year.

2013 Goals

1) Organize writings. Make a Scrivener document with ideas and clean out my Google Docs. Let's see what kind of treasures I can find!

2) Write more short stories. Once a month I'm going to open a Scrivener document to write a short story and they will be collected in this file, along with first liners and ideas. The Merry Fates book, The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories persuaded me to try something different now that I'm writing full time. It'll also keep me writing even when I'm revising. 

3) Submit! I feel I'm very close to having something ready for submission and this is the biggest (and scariest goal) I want to see happen this year.

4) Climb a mountain. I grew up on the prairie and surrounded by hills. Fargo was flat. It's strange living somewhere with mountains and I would like to go hiking. It will also help me continue to get my health on. 

5) Rewrite my life list.I found my old one and was surprised by how much I crossed off since getting married seven years ago. It's time to look at the bigger picture. 

6) Attend a writer's conference. Now that I'm on the West Coast, there are more to choose from. I would love to go to the summer SCBWI since I'm less than two hours away. Let's see where I'm at in eight months! 

7) Get involved in a writer community like AbsoluteWrite. I'm finding YAHighway as a wonderful resource in the meantime, but would love to get in more discussions and ask/give help.

Seven seems like a good number for this year, especially since I'll be married for seven years to my favorite person ever. 

Our holiday card

There are other things I would love to write goals about (like selling our home in North Dakota), but sometimes you can't control life. I've had my share of bad days this year, but I'm trying to see the positive as much as I can. I've spent too much time worrying about things out of my control. I still do, yes, but not as much as I used to. I feel I've come a long way in that regard. It's one of the reasons why I love writing and books so much. It transports me somewhere else for a while, and sometimes, gives me perspective on what is bothering me. Some problems are bigger than others, but it doesn't always means they don't matter. I'm reminded things can get better and to not waste the time I have. It is a big challenge I've never posted on a goal list, but it exists. 

2012 blessed me in so many ways and looking at this list for 2013, there is much more to look forward to in the new year. Let's see what I can do!

What is your most challenging goal for 2013?

Natasha