so, i'm behind on writing out my conference notes. i'm sorry about that, people who want them. i've been busy with school and NaNo writing and writing class writing.

last night i got to the point with the NaNo writing where I didn't like what i was writing, which meant i needed to get to bed before i got really annoyed with it. i'm kind of still in the same frame of mind, but i think i just need to get it all out of my brain. and i need to find a test reader for when i finish it.

i also got to the point where i thought i should be writing something YA fiction related, since that what my writing class is all about, but i already had an idea in my head. *sigh* my brain's all jumbly right now.

so, today i'm going to do some NaNo writing (and hopefully like it) and try and get it all out of my head before it explodes. it's possible that tomorrow will be spent going back over what i wrote to edit and fiddle around with it.

happy weekend, peoples.

where are all the comments? are people just really busy right now or what? i wouldn't be surprised.

so, my conference weekend is over and i'm now in withdrawal. it was so much fun. here's a list of the workshops i went to so you guys can decide if you're interested in me typing up notes. i tried to write this up a couple times already and got annoyed, so maybe it'll work this time.

#1: "The Undead Can Be Sexy, Too" with Richelle Mead, adult and YA paranormal romance and urban fantasy writer; discussed was the difference between PR and UF, current authors writing in both genres (adult and YA), pros and cons of PR and UF, pros and cons writing for YA audience, and list of current and credible literary agents looking for PR and UF.

#2: A panel on genre fiction featuring three literary agents, one editor, and one author talking about the do's and don't's of writing genre fiction, as well as what agents want in manuscripts.

#3: "You Think That's Funny? Humour in Writing" with Eileen Cook, romantic comedy and YA author; talked about types of humour, why we put humour in different genres, and where humour doesn't quite work.

#4: "His Dark Materials" with C.C. Humphreys, historical fiction and YA author; discussed horror and how to write it, what the purpose of a scene is, what an author want to do to the reader, how much horror is too much, and having to deal with writing the dark stuff in a scene.

#5: "Serious Serials" with Richelle Mead; talked about series vs. stand-alone novels, pros and cons of both, genres that work and don't work with series, endings found in both, how to pitch a series, and how Richelle ended up currently writing three series at the same time (two adult, one YA).

#6: okay, so i didn't go to a workshop late Saturday afternoon. it was half because none sounded interesting and half because my butt was numb from hard hotel business-type chairs.

#7: "Spec-Fiction Double Bill: Hard Science vs. Fantasy" with fantasy author Terry Brooks and sci-fi author Robert J. Sawyer; discussed differences in the genres, what's missing in current sci-fi and fantasy, marketing/mixing genres, and what's been done too much in both genres.

#8: The "Writing for Teens: Tantalizing or Terrifying?" panel with four authors who write and have written both adult and YA fiction (Eileen Cook, Meg Tilly, Richelle Mead, and C.C. Humphreys); discussed the differences in writing for adults and teens, that both groups will read the same story but that teens are more intense when discussing books they enjoy, what characters to write about, the concept that teens read so they don't feel alone, how to write in a teen voice when you're not one, and that YA novels often have big emotional reactions that adult fiction doesn't.

so, this is what i listened to for three days. so, comment on if you want me to type all this up. keep in mind that if you want my notes, you'll get them all cause i don't have the time to copy and paste parts into different files. say you want it, tell me what your e-mail is, and you'll get it soon (maybe by the end of the week) in a .doc file.

i think i took away a whole lot more this year than i did two years ago, and i think i'll save up some more so i can go to the meals and talk to people next year. the last one i went to helped the most, possibly because my writing fiction for teens course starts on Saturday.

so, NaNo starts next week. it's possible i'll write something urban fantasy related and not link it to my creative writing course. i've got a bunch of ideas and i want to get them out on 'aper' before i go insane.

Lindsay

after listening to a bunch of different people over the past two days at the SiWC, i've learned some things.

#1: i need to get writing again (like serious writing) and not just fiddle around on the computer.

#2: once i get writing seriously again, i can't take forever to do it, which means lots of writing and not so much TV (but i love TV).

#3: it might help if i either stopped ItM at volume 2 or took a break to write something else. i think it's been my main focus for too long, and i need to work on something else before i go completely insane.

#4: i have no idea if what i decide to write next will appear on dA. i don't know if i should write something totally different, just for fun and just for dA, while having something serious going as well. i could turn ItM volume 3 into that something fun, if i figure out what i want to happen in volume 3. i really do think that i made Erin and Simon either too young for paranormal romance or too old for young adult fiction.

#5: 2 years after getting some advice on my first actual book/manuscript/draft, i think i know what i'm going to do to split up my weird werewolf secret agent/spy-type story into more than one book.

this conference has a way of making me think about writing as a serious job and not just something for fun, which is good because i'm 8 months away (hopefully) from graduation and i need something to do with my life that's more than random tutoring and nowhere near enough money to live off of.

of course, this conference also sucks, cause i'm not ready to be a grown-up yet and think about business and job-type crap.

lindsay e.

i'll be at the SiWC all weekend, so i won't really be online during the day. maybe this will give me some ideas and get me writing some more.

so, don't do anything weird or illegal while i'm gone.

lindsay e.

`ATrue wrote an article about this: [link] I figured it would help with the cover letter I need to write about my background in fiction to get into a 3 month long creative writing seminar in the spring.

ABOUT ME:

Off-dA, I’m really quite boring. Single, no kids, and a small social life. I like being at home most days; the world can be bizarre (and I would know, I take public transit). I’m currently in my 6th () year at university working on my B.A. in English (literature), and with some luck I’ll be done in the spring and graduating next June. I’m scared with what I’m going to do afterwards, if I should just stick around and try and get into the teaching program, but I’m afraid my grades won’t be high enough (I had some personal problems 3 years ago, which lead to some depression and me almost flunking out). I would like to get into a creative writing program, but I won’t be able to apply next summer for the 2011 session, and who knows if I’ll even get in. A few years ago I wrote a 104K+ word novel and plugged it to a literary agent while at a writers’ conference, but I never went back to it to revise and polish, and she said she liked the idea, too. It sucks. Maybe I’ll get back to it soon. I’m headed back to the conference next weekend, and I’m enrolled in a creative writing class that will focus on writing fiction for young adults. I’m thinking of tying it in to NaNoWriMo this year, since the class starts on the 31st. Ideally, I would write for a living, but it could take a while. I’m kind of a slacker, and it’s hard for me to edit and ‘kill my darlings.’ I need to take an editing class.

On dA, I’m a goober. I joined almost 2 years ago in November 2007. My username comes from my enjoyment of the Twilight books. I’m not an outrageous fan girl, I just like reading. My main project here is Into the Moonlight, or ItM, my long serial novel. It’s a mixture of urban fantasy and romance and YA and narrative and biography, telling the tale of a vampire and her werewolf trying to figure out a world that doesn’t really want them to be together. Volume 1, the start of their romance up to their wedding, was finished last August, and I’m slowly working going back through it in an attempt to edit and polish it so I can self-publish it through Lulu.com. Volume 2, which starts 2 years after the wedding and focuses more on their family, is a work in progress, mostly because I keep putting off finishing it. I randomly write poems and little short stories, and sometimes post pictures I take of our backyard. I tried to start another novel project, one titled Onto the Wings of Life, but I soon lost my muse for the story. I’m currently considering how to revamp it in a more modern day urban fantasy context. I wrote a short story for =bekkia once titled The Big, Bad Wolf. It was my foray into erotic literature, and I think it came out okay. I know she enjoyed it. Usually I wander around on dA when I’m at home, wondering who’s written what and who’s doing what. I’m currently DD-less, but that could change one day (I hope). 2 of my suggestions have been featured, one by =SpideyGeek and one by *za-zen. to ^StJoan for featuring them. And I think I’m the one to blame for getting *Kira73 hooked on writing erotic werewolf stories.

WRITING PORTFOLIO:

I write a lot of prose, and that means a lot of fiction. Sometimes I do a non-fiction piece, and sometimes I do random poems, but I’m a fiction girl all the way. Often it’s genre fiction, because I find it to be the most exciting. It makes writing the story that much better, and that much more unpredictable. You never know what’s going to happen when you write about supernatural characters. I think I suck at poetry, so I’ll leave it to my mother (she writes her own stuff every now and then, and I think was published in a couple small journals more than 10 years ago). I’d like to think I’m good at writing genre fiction. People keep telling me they like my stuff, that it’s like life but with some extra stuff mixed in. If writers can make a living doing that, then why can’t I?

Examples of my work:

ItM Chapter 1: Work as Life (Prose>Fiction>Romantic>Mature, 1794 words)
The start of ItM. ItM actually came about when I was sitting in a workshop/panel at the writers’ conference 2 years ago when I was brainstorming. It sat around in my head for about a month before I actually wrote this.

ItM Chapter 2: Life as a Mess (Prose>Fiction>Romantic>Mature, 1784 words)
The start of Simon’s consciousness. I think the Simon voice in my head is far too easy-going and funny to be a werewolf, but hey, it happens. There have been many comments after Simon chapters about how readers (female ones) want a Simon for themselves.

Twenty-Ten (Prose>Fiction>General Fiction, 1822 words)
The first 300 or so words [link] were featured by *DailyLitDeviations in May when I first wrote it. This is the finished story. I don’t usually do straight contemporary pieces with no supernatural element, but I think it came out nicely.

ItM Chapter 5: The Smoke from the Fire (Prose>Fiction>Romantic>Mature, 1751 words)
Erin and Simon’s first kiss. It’s so cute, cause he wants to kiss her but she doesn’t want him to.

Love (Poetry>Romantic>Other Romance>Open, 56 lines)
A random attempt at poetry. I wrote this for Valentine’s Day 2009 when I was single and bitter (like every other year). I think it’s a good example of my style of poetry: jumbly.

MY ONLINE PROJECTS

In September 2008 I ran the Vampire and Werewolf Lit Event with =bekkia. There were lots of great stories that came out of those 4 weeks. I’d love to do it again sometime, maybe get some visual artists involved and mix together the different sides of dA.

so, that's me.

lindsay e.