December Activities 2009

Our featured author this month is the wonderful Paige, aka Kerichi!

You can find her author's page here. And you'll certainly find something to review since she has about ONE MILLION stories :D

• You must review the featured author for it to count as your monthly activity requirement.
• Post the link to your review here - you should also post it in the December review thread if you wish it to count towards your month's reviews.
• Questions in this thread are not part of the monthly requirement, but they are greatly encouraged. Also, they must have something to do with the subject of writing.

Quote:

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Changes.

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With the end of one year and the beginning of another, we find ourselves thinking not only of times past but future opportunities. So, the challenge this month is to write a drabble in which a character or characters is making a transition, and recognising what has past and what is beginning. It can be any kind of transition, from something good to bad, bad to good, or simply different or new.

Rules/Guidelines

• Drabble can be between 250-800 words.
• Content should not be any higher than a 3rd-5th Years rating.
• All content that would require a warning on the MNFF Archive should be labeled.
• This thread is for responses only. If you have a question, PM me.
• Responses must be posted by November 31st, 2009.
• Please post using this format:
  
  Title: Auld Lang Syne
  Word Count: 450 (This may be approximate)
  
  
  Quote:

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  Story Text Story Text Story Text Story Text Story Text Story Text Story Text

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• As with all activities within the SPEW forum, this challenge is open only to SPEW members.

This discussion is pretty straightforward, fun, and has nothing to do with writing or reviewing whatsoever (unless you choose to make it so.)

What are your New Year's Resolutions?
What are you going to miss about 2009?
What will you always remember about 2009?
What are you most looking forward to in 2010?
What do you want for Christmas (really, humourously, material or immaterial)?

My New Year’s Resolution should be to have no resolutions, so then I could break it by doing all the things I want to do, and are afraid I won’t. A kind of self-aware reverse psychology.

Eat breakfast that consists of nutrients, not Diet Coke. Jog more and procrastinate less. Have the same commitment and passion for original writing as fan fiction. Of the three resolutions, the last is the one that will send me into depression if I don’t keep it. I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo two Novembers in a row, half-heartedly started a script during last April’s Script Frenzy, and have nothing but a “Winner” icon and piles of dauntingly unfinished work to show for it. That has to change.

One of my Christmas presents to self is Ernest Hemingway on Writing. It’s a compilation of quotes from his letters and other writings. One quote, from a letter to a friend, mentions he’s waiting for a proof (of a book, I presume) which should be there and he hopes will come.

Quote:

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Need to read something I’ve written in order to convince myself that ever have written anything in order to eventually write something else. Maybe you know the feeling.

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I know that feeling! When a reader reviews an older story and I click on the chapter to refresh my memory, I end up reading the whole thing to relive the experience of writing as much as recall an exact moment in the story.

In 2010 I look forward to reading a completed draft of my original novel. To get there, I may have to print out another quote of Hemingway:

Quote:

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You just have to go on when it is worst and most helpless—there is only one thing to do with a novel and that is to go straight through to the end of the damn thing.

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ETA: Not a fun discussion, was it? :D I'll have to leave that to someone who's feeling more jolly and less angsty.

Review!

Where do you get all your ideas from? You're a very prolific author. :eek:
And who are your favourite authors/what are your favourite books?

-hugs-

My Review for Love in an Elevator :)

You have so many fics! Who are your favorite characters and/or pairings to write, and why?

Are there any characters or pairings that you haven't yet written, but would like to try?

My review for Tale of the Pumpkin Theif.

Where did you get the inspiration for this story? It was so cute!

-Haylee

All the questions and reviews are like unexpected Christmas gifts. :)

Since the books were from Harry's pov, we naturally never learn more about the secondary characters than is necessary for the plot. That leaves lots of room for speculation--and fan fiction!

I went and copied my NaNoWriMo profile for fave books and authors:

Favorite novels: Scaramouche, Ogre Ogre, Pride and Prejudice, Tea with the Black Dragon, The Hobbit, Sunshine, Dhampir, The Apothecary Rose, A Tapestry of Murders, Shadows in Bronze, Dune, The Mask of Ra, The Talisman, The Playmaker, Dark Lord of Derkholm, Little Women, The White Dragon and so many more I have to cease or risk carpal tunnel.

Favorite writers: Austen, Grafton, Beaton, Alcott, McKinley, Roberts, McCaffery, Asimov, King, Brooks, Doherty, Davis, Robb, Peters, Herbert, Dahl, Peretti, Sabatini--and others I'm not listing out of consideration for the eyestrain of anyone who may read.

Tonks and Remus are my one true pairing, I've written them for so long it's easy to see through their eyes when writing a story. Recently, Rose and Scorpius captured my imagination. They have a great chemistry (in my head, at least, heh). I can't think of a couple I haven't written but would like to, but that could change. :D

I wrote Tale of the Pumpkin thief because I couldn't start a chapter fic and take a month off to do NaNoWriMo, but I wanted to write Rose/Scorpius so I compromised with a pre-romance. ;)

In 2010 I'm determined to write original fiction and no chapter fics after I finish my WIP. I planned to do a sequel to Our Little Secret, but I've had to face the ugly truth that if I commit to regularly updating a chapter fic I'll never get an original short story published, much less a novel. I'll just have to satisfy my urge to write Rose/Scorpius with one shots.

Recently, I applied to join an online writing workshop group. If I hadn't joined SPEW and resolved to give fellow writers quality reviews, I never would've thought to take that step.

Thank you!