Can anyone help me?

I have discovered that I like reading political fantasy more than quest fantasy. This startled me, because I really don't like politics; whenever it comes up in the conversation I tune out or try to change the subject. But when I'm reading high fantasy (apparently this is my own classification; example, Lord of the Rings is high fantasy while Harry Potter is not,) I prefer reading about political intrigue and the like rather than a bunch of people trekking across the world to find something/stop someone.

Let me give you some examples. I loved Brandon Sanderson's Elantris. I have never finished Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule. I loved K.E. Mills' Accidental Sorcerer, but couldn't finish Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara.

Now this doesn't always hold true; I did read David Eddings' Belgaried series, but couldn't get through Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince. But for the most part I have an easier time reading political fantasy.

The down side to this, is I have a hard time finding something to read. Just like when I'm in the mood for urban fantasy, it's hit and miss, and there really isn't a list out there that tells what is political and what is quest.

So if you have suggestions, I would love to hear them.

This is where everyone thinks I'm insane

In honor of the great Kateness, I'm come up with a solid plan for having four novels written by the end of July, and six done by the end of November. You are all allowed to think I'm crazy; even I think I'm crazy. But I'm going to do it. Here's how.

Starting today (as soon as I stop procrastinating) I'm going to write 2k a day. Granted, that is barely a fraction of what Kateness writes every day for NaNoWriMo, but the goal is to work my way up slowly, so that I don't end up killing myself. By the time July and JulNoWriMo comes around, I plan on being able to pound out 7k a day. Again, not very much compared to Kateness, but that's what I can foresee myself being able to do. Anything more, and I'll just drown.

Now, the goal is to finish the next three short stories in my Monstrum Venator series (roughly 20k), write books one and two of my Reality Repair series (100k each), write a medium length fantasy, what exactly I haven't decided yet (75k rounded up), then for JulNoWriMo write two out of four of the novels in my new fantasy series (100k each). Then finish up the last two out of four during NaNoWriMo (100k each)

This is all theoretically possible if I can work my way up to 7k a day.

Now, this really shouldn't be too much of a problem. I can generally get more than 4k in a day, but not consistently. The real goal here is consistency. The only thing I'm really worried about is being able to stick to one project long enough to finish it. I've only managed to pull that off once (more if you count the short stories in MV)

Now, I'm pretty sure there is no way I will ever be able to truly emulate Kateness; I just don't have the disciple to write a million words in thirty days. But I am going to progress enough that I can produce enough to publish frequently. And publishing frequently=more money=not needing a day job=more time to actually write. Which is the ultimate goal. (Aside from marriage and family, of course.)

So wish me luck on this insane journey!

In Honor of my Hundreth Post

I am no longer really sick. I still have a slight cough and I wake up every morning feeling like my immune system has shut down during the night and is trying to reboot, but that has to do with my allergies (household dust. It sucks.) But I'm not lay-on-the-couch-and-rot sick any more.

What a relief.

I am also getting back into reading normal fantasy. For a while now, going on a year, I ignored every other genre except for urban fantasy. It was mostly because that was what I was in the mood for most of the time (why, I don't know), and I've slowly but surely run out of good urban fantasy to read. So I've forced my brain to switch gears a little. It's a slow process; the current fantasy book I'm reading, while more high fantasy is still set in a time period much like ours.

Science fiction on the other hand, is harder to get back into. I love science fiction to pieces, but there is so few books out there that I will actually read because I like list of undefinable specifics in my sci fi books. And I really can't define them, so I can't tell for sure if a book I pull off the library shelf is what I want to read or not. It's bothersome.

In other news, something I should have put last post, I cut my hair. I didn't get it trimmed, I CUT my hair. It is now very short, like a pixie cut. And I love it. I think I look much better now than I ever did with longer hair. Funny, considering the last time I cut my hair this short I hated it. But I look great now, and as soon as I have a picture I will post it. (I.E. not very soon)

Well, I really should stop procrastinating writing something. It's a bad habit I need to break...

I hate being sick

Last Friday I got home from work feeling a little ill. I thought it was just because I was tired (I stayed up until after 1am on a regular basis) but by Saturday I was feeling horrible. I had a raging headache, my nose was all stuffed up, and I just felt rotten. It got progressively worse, adding a really sore throat and a painful earache by the middle of last week, and then it got a little better. I didn't have a headache any more and my body didn't feel like I was going to collapse into a pile of goo. However, a cough replaced everything. And it hasn't gone away. I've missed the second Sunday in a row of church because I've been coughing so much, and nothing seems to help.

In other news, I... nah, I got nothing. I'm just sick of being sick. Sorry for the downer post.

Some Good News

Remember when I told you about the website Protagonize? Well, for the last thirteen or fourteen days I've been writing at least two chapters and at most six chapters a day on one story, currently called Monstrum Venator, but it's due a title change any day now. I currently have almost 30k words on it, and have enjoyed writing it so much. I love the main character, who stars in three out of the four short stories I've finished, and I love the main guys (there are two!) so much.

I have to admit though, before my conscious is ground into dust from all the guilt, it's based off of the TV show Supernatural. Now, before I get lawsuits coming out my ears, I want to say it has evolved a lot since that original basing.

Now that I got that out of the way, I can actually talk about my story. It's about a woman who's grown up with a pair of brothers (not related to her) and they all hunt the paranormal. That's where the similarities end. Well, those and the fact that they're all orphans. Other than that, the characters have differing personalities, and the overall mythos is different. And I jump back and forth through the years. One story is when the girl, Katey, is 6, another is when she's 24, still another when she's 16. They're all about how she evolved from a little orphan girl into the strong not-so-independent woman who can kick butt and track like the devil.

I actually feel like changing her a little bit, because she is so very dependent on the brothers. She's grown up with them and they're all closer than siblings, and she's always relied on them for emotional and physical support. It makes her a little weak and I'm not exactly sure that would appeal to readers. I mean, the only person I've gotten feedback on it is twelve year old girl on the Protag website. I know of one other person who has read it, but I don't know how much they've read, since they haven't commented and given me anything to go on.

Anyway.

I've kind of put Huntress on hold. Sort of. I totally revamped the plot, some of the characters, almost everything, and even tried a new title on for size; As Brightly as the Moon. But I've been so entranced with writing MV that Huntress has taken the back burning.

And Reality Repair... I'm thinking of revamping that one as well. I've thought a little bit about how, but I haven't done anything yet. Of the four (or was it five) chapters I did write on the first book, I wasn't completely enamored by the main character. Or the romantic interest, for that matter. Sure, I didn't hate her, but I didn't love her either. And the guy didn't turn out quite how I imagined him to be. He appeared... weak... and that's not what he's supposed to be.

So, now that I think about it, maybe I'll work a little on that once the next two MV stories are finished. Or maybe in between.

In other news, since I haven't written in a while (I apologize for that), I went shooting for the first time near the end of March with my younger brother and some of his friends. Let me tell you, I have never out-classed anyone MORE than I did with him and his friends.

I have recently changed my clothing style. I know favor my skinny jeans and boots with a 3/4 sleeve black leather jacket and diamond studded aviator glasses when it's sunny. So I looked cool. Classy even, depending.

My brother's friends? Black. Long, uncombed hair. Camo pants. Flipflops or boots. Basically, two of the friends (the couple) wore completely black, even had matching jackets, while another wore camo pants and a cowboy hat.

I had more fun staring at the rock formations then actually shooting.