The Process of Writing a Novel

What is it like to write a book?

Well, it is quite difficult to put into words what it is like to write a book so I thought I would mirror my last blog post and use GIFS to properly explain what really goes through a writer's head when they write their novel. This is to all my writer friends out there!

The Dreaded First Page

The struggle is so real. 

Getting into the zone

WRITE, WRITE, WRITE

A character does something completely unexpected.

A character dies.

Writer's Block

You have to explain to your friends why you can't go out because you have to find out what happens in your own book.

But let's be real, you didn't want to go out anyway. 

Coffee break

More coffee

You write 2,000 words in one day.

You write zero words in one day.

Trying to figure out the title.

When someone asks you what your book is about.

When someone asks to read what you have so far

When someone asks you to write them into your book

 When you finish your book.

Then you begin to edit...

But then you remember you wrote a book.

YOU DID IT!

THE END

Graduation, Graduate School, and Book Three, Oh My!

Hello my lovely readers! I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update this blog. Senior year of my undergrad has been so busy, but I am happy and proud to say I did it! I graduated a week ago today with a Bachelor's in English-Creative Writing and a Bachelor's in French. YAY! 

WE DID IT!

I am so happy to also say I am returning to school in June to obtain my Masters of Arts in Teaching with a concentration in English. I am so thrilled to continue my studies and become certified to teach English and French at the middle school and high school level. Many of you already know that my novels are young adult, so being able to work with the age group I write for as a teacher is so exciting!

Now that I have graduated, I am excited to be able to focus more on writing (especially the third book in my trilogy) and begin blogging again. I hope you all are excited about this third book. So many twists and turns have been coming about since I have gotten back into my writing routine. I am so excited to finish up this series and share it with you all! 

Since I have some time off before I begin graduate school, I wanted to let you know what I am currently reading and loving at the moment. (P.S. It feels so good to read for fun and not for class!!) Right now, I am reading "Broken" by Marianne Curley - it is the second book in her Avena Series and it is fabulous!! I have already pre-ordered "Fearless" and I cant' wait to see how this story finishes. Ebony and Thane are my favorite characters and I'm loving what Marianne Curley is doing with the idea of Angels. It's a great read! 

I have more blog posts to come, but for now, I will get back to writing book three. :) 

How To Make Time For Writing

I've decided to write a blog post that I think many aspiring writers need to read and one that I especially need to read. It's also a blog post about a question that I am often asked.

How do you make time for writing?

Well, it's definitely not easy. Being a full time college student who is also super involved with extracurriculars such as my university's literary journal, an online magazine for women, honor societies, sleeping, eating, AND writing a third novel....yeah, it's not easy.

However, it is not impossible. I know so many other authors who are just as busy or even busier than I. While it is difficult to balance everything, it is definitely doable. So I want to share with you all a few tips I try to follow to keep my creative juices going and to keep writing.

1. Give yourself a due date. 

While you may not have an editor or publisher giving you deadlines as you write your novel, that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Give yourself reachable deadlines as you write. For example, write 20,000 words by the end of the month. Or tell yourself the first draft will by done by summer. Whatever it is, write your deadlines down and keep them somewhere, like in an agenda, where you will see it often.

2. Give yourself small, reachable goals

While the first tip is helpful, don't give yourself a due date that is impossible. Therefore, it would be also helpful to give yourself little goals that you can meet each week or even every day. For myself, I have created a goal of writing at least 500 words per day. While I haven't been consistent with that goal, it is still something I can remember and attempt everyday. Now, if the words are flowing and you go over 500 words, great! If not, just know that writing something is better than writing nothing at all.  

3. If you want writing to be your job, treat it like one

This goes back to my previous points. If writing is something that you want to make a career out of, then you should treat it like a job. Make deadlines, goals, and put hours in. If you love to write, then it deserves your time. And more importantly, your characters deserve your time.

4. Make an outline

If you are writing an in depth, super complicated multi-book series, then you may want to think about an outline. It isn't fair to you to expect yourself to bust out three books in a year (if you can, then kudos to you my friend!!). However, making an outline so that when you can sit down to write will help you be able to focus and write the scenes and characters you need to write. 

5. Drink coffee... lots of it

I think this tip is self-explanatory. Whatever you drink, coffee is always for me, make some while you write! Whatever keeps you awake, gets the creative juices going, then drink and write my friends! 

6. Don't beat yourself up

This tip is very important. If you dont' meet every small goal you make for yourself, don't freak out! Life gets busy and sometimes writing has to take a back seat. However, don't be so discouraged that you give up. Writing a novel takes time. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day! 

I hope you all found these tips and hints helpful! Happy Writing everyone! 

Also, for more information about my series and my inspiration, please follow me on my Pinterest account here!

Why Writing Matters

I realize it has been far too long. Life has been a constant blur of places, people, and things. I recently found myself wondering why I do what I do. Why do I write? Why do I try so hard to make time for something like writing? I have been writing a daily writing journal for one of my genre workshops and I thought I'd share one of my writings. Remember, this is rough, but I feel like it shows, at least to myself, why I write.

"To write is to breathe. To put words on a page is to live not once, but twice. To read the words on the page is to live an infinite amount of lives. Those who do not write surely live, yet never quite fully. Like lungs only half full, the breath is shallow and therefore the life can only be half lived.

Writing is necessary. As necessary as breathing, as water on a humid day, as sunlight in the dark. To write is to know who you truly are. Without writing, we are lost creatures, unable to learn from the past, unable to live in the present, and unable to safeguard our future.

Writing is silent screaming, bloodless bleeding, and dry sobs pouring out onto the page, like messy finger paints of a toddler. The writer has only one option and it is to write. To ignore the urge, to stifle the passionate longing within oneself is almost equal to a quiet death. Words must flow, must be written. For if we, the human race, forgo writing and pursue the sciences, the nine to five jobs. To be doctors, lawyers, teachers, students – all honorable, all needed and beautiful aspects of the human existence.

Yet if we forgo writing. If we strangle the passion with reason. If we delete and backspace our needs, our wants, our desires…

If we forget our past in the pursuit of our future. If we no longer write, then we can no longer live. If the human race goes on, but does not write…

Then we are lost."