Write Quickly!

Hey Everybody! Just wanted to give a quick update before I go to a holiday party (although I live where the party is, but never mind).

I just renewed my domain name this morning, so RealmsQE.com is mine for another year. I am teaching myself some deeper web programming and I'm toying with the idea of game development, though I'm not committing to a project just yet. Should I commit to making a game, I'll invest in some web hosting.

As far as the book goes, progress is excruciatingly slow. The most work I've done in the last week is draw four lines to make names for two characters. I've decided to give my pirate leader the first name Decebal, but he still needs a last name. Washington doesn't have a new name yet. Blame my third shift schedule.

I still intend on entering ABNA, but in order to do so, I need to step up my game. I'll keep you posted. My next update will be in a week!

Happy Reading!

Pitching a Curveball

Progress on The Book of Water  has been minimal this week. My third-shift job has me sleeping most of the day, which has left me drained of energy.

On the plus side, I know I can renew my domain name this month. I'll be putting in the order next week.

Also on the plus side, I have a rough pitch done for ABNA. I received a few critiques over at the Nerdfighters NING and I am making changes accordingly. Among these changes are those to character names. Daniel Beardfree (Pirate) and George Washington (Fleet Admiral) will no longer have those names. Also, I'll be working to change of the tone to something more serious. I should have a second draft of the pitch up by next week.

Another goal for next week is to have my unsorted material placed into appropriate chapters. Once this is done, I can go chapter by chapter for my first read-through.

Happy Reading!

An Excellent November

It's been a while since I posted here, so I just wanted to give a quick update on the past month.

All in all, this November was a good month to me. I got a job (although not my science job). I also won NaNoWriMo for The Book of Water, on the last day no less. Perhaps the most surprising to me is the fact that I finally made my first royalty as an author!

My goal for next month is to edit The Book of Water so that 1) it has a preface, 2) all unsorted text is put into place, and 3) any storyline gaps are filled. I can't pin an exact release date yet, but it will probably be a similar release date to The Book of Earth. There will most likely be a post about pre-orders when the time comes.

My goal for NaNo 2013 is to win before it's cool. By this, I mean winning before November 25. I may also do Camp NaNo in 2013, but it won't be a Realms Quintessential book. I have an idea for a super-natural crime fighting book that I need to write down before it blinks out of my mind.

Finally, I am going to renew my domain for another year. There will be plenty of celebratory tweets from my (face-lifted) profile!

Until Next Time, Happy Editing!

WriMo, WriMo, WriMo!

It's November! NaNoWriMo is officially here, and after three days, I have written a respectable 5,848 words. At this rate, I will be finished by November 25, which I think will be my fastest win to date.

Here's just some of what's happened so far in The Book of Water:*inhales* Pirates, miniature fleet admirals, giant hammers, naked Janie, smelly Jimmy, and Rocky saves the day. *exhales*

I feel like I'm forgetting somebody though... That's right! I forgot Maya Threads! She's only been mentioned once so far, but has had no scenes or lines. That is one way to boost word count. Another way to boost word count would be to detail (and name) the Pirate captain. Maybe he is out to prove something or is out in the ocean for the experience. Either way, I am going to add another 2,000 words to The Book of Water tomorrow (and there's nothing you can do about it >:3 ).

As far as teasers, I post short quotes on Twitter from time to time, but I do plan on having an excerpt posted on my novel's NaNo page after I cross 25,000 words. I look forward to sharing more with you soon!

Happy Reading!

The Power and The Powerless

It's almost here! Day one of NaNoWriMo! What's that? A hurricane is heading for me? Damn.

That's right. Almost one year to the day after Snowtober, Hurricane Sandy is barreling down on the East Coast. It threatens to knock out power for 7 to 10 days, putting us right into the first week of the writing challenge. Without electricity, my laptop would last less than half a day. Troubling times in Viribia indeed.

On the bright side, this may be an opportunity to use up my stock pile of lined paper. Each year, for as long as I can remember, I disassembled my notebooks at the end of the school year, so I've developed quite the stack. Who knows, if the power goes out, maybe I can give away hand written pages with pre-orders of The Book of Water.

But once again, who knows? One day at a time. If I have power, I'll post on Tuesday. Otherwise, I'll post when power comes back.

Happy Reading! 

The Bridge to Oceana

There's about two-and-a-half weeks until the start of November, so I wanted to start laying out some ideas for The Book of Water.

First off, I want to lay out the military and government. Each Realm has it's own service, and the Water Realm is unique in that it has a Navy. Likewise, it has a Fleet Admiral as its top officer instead of a General. I'm leaning towards a monarchy that has a role as the executive branch. In that case, there will be some sort of congress or parliament to bring laws to the monarch. These details will be smoothed out in November.

Another thing that will be smoothed out in November is the relationship between Janie and Jimmy, more so how the Merlins deal with it. I have a scene in mind where Janie's father and Jimmy go fishing so the father can get more details on the boyfriend. I do have a couple battle scenes in mind for the twins, but I don't want to divulge too much information yet.

I am very excited for this year's NaNoWriMo as I already have a list of plot lines and details written down. This should be a successful year, and I look forward to sharing it with you!

Happy Reading!

Funeral March

This will be a short post. This weekend has been very rough for my classmates and I, as we have lost one of our own. His funeral is tomorrow and most of us will be there. It's definitely not the circumstance we wanted to reunite under.

Currently, I am debating if I should dedicate the next book to his memory. I would have had a tough time getting through college without him, as would many of my classmates. He was a brilliant and witty guy, and I can only hope in dedicating The Book of Water to him, I can honor that brilliance and wit.

I'll post again on Saturday, hopefully with some brighter news. We can only go forward from here.