Jenni Merritt's debut novel...PRISON NATION!

My blogger friend Jenni Merritt has just released her debut novel, PRISON NATION. You can read all about it here. I haven't bought my copy yet, 'cause I'm waiting for information on autographed copies. heh heh. I've been following Jenni's blog for a while now, and I'm so excited for her about this release! And just look at that cover...which is a DIY cover, by the way! Special, huh? Anyway, congratulations Jenni and I can't wait to get my hands on a print copy! Yes, I like my books physical, what can I say? ;)

I will finish this post by mentioning that I did actually do some...revision... gasp! Not last night, but the night before. And now we have all our prompts up to date for Chrysalis, so I have no excuse for further procrastination there! I better get a move on with December's goals!

What are those words for?

"My tale is done. See the mouse run. Catch it, whoever can, and then you can make a great big cap out of its fur."

Is it just me, or is that a totally random way to end "Hansel and Gretel"? I mean, there was no mention of a mouse in the rest of the story. Unless there was and I've forgotten.

I love the Grimm fairytales how they always get straight to the point. If there's ever any poetic description, i.e. "The moon was shining very brightly, and the white pebbles glittered in front of the house like pure silver coins", it's because the pebbles are going to play an important role in the story very shortly. In my story if I've described a beautiful sunset, it's not because the sunset is going to be of any use to the characters. It's just to put an image in the reader's mind.

With the fairytales, there is nothing said that doesn't need to be said.

At least, that was what I believed until I read about that mouse fur cap!

Soooooo unmotivated (and belated blogiversary)

I think for December I shall skip trying to find a photo or artwork or whatever to put in my blog entries. Perhaps I will go back on that decision after this horrible crappy day is over and I start a new and way less crappy day. Or perhaps not. I guess the best advice is to be prepared for boring bare-bones entries from me, entries that are just words. But we like words, right? So it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Anyway, since this blog is meant to be about writing and so on, I may as well give a writing update. I haven't done anything since writing that last Chrysalis story. I haven't even opened the file for NAUSICAA, and at this particular moment I'm not too bothered. I did start reading the Grimm fairytales, and I keep laughing out loud in amazement at the gruesome things that happen. I find it hard to believe a wolf, even a lazy one full of food, wouldn't notice his belly being cut open and then sewn back up. Stayed asleep the whole time! Anyway, so far most of the tales have had happy endings (of sorts), but one or two perhaps have ended not so prettily for the main characters. All in all, I'm enjoying myself so far.

I hope everyone is enjoying their December!

P.S. I missed my blogiversary. It was on December 1 (my first post was here). Boo. Oh well, I've been here a year, folks! Yay for me! (and of course for you who get to listen to me ramble the hell on)

December goals

I've really enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to write anything for NaNo yesterday. Nor do I have to write anything today...or this month. Well, for NaNo at least. I also don't have to write in this blog every day, or every other day. I do, however, still have some goals to achieve by the end of the year.

8. Write 52 short stories, one per week, for the Chrysalis Experiment

9. Write at least once a week in writing blog

12. Complete a preliminary read-through/edit of NAUSICAA (NaNo '10 novel) - as of March 6, opening chapter has been worked on/critiqued

Of those, writing in this blog is definitely the easiest. As for the others...I have fallen slightly behind in Chrysalis, partly because we are missing prompt #46, and partly because I haven't written this week's story. But I'm not too concerned about achieving this one. Writing 1k a week seems like absolute peanuts after what I just went through with NaNo. Even writing 1k a day would be comparative peanuts.

As for the read-through of NAUSICAA...I think I can do it. I don't need to actually do any serious editing. It's just a read-through and some note-taking on what will need editing later. That's how I'm choosing to interpret my own words up there, anyway. I have to say, though, that while 2011 is not yet over, I've been thinking about my to-do list for 2012 for a long while now. The Goals page is under construction. I shall unveil it probably on Dec 31st, or January 1, or somewhere around then.

But let's forget next year... What are your goals for December?