Writer Woes…

Puff: How can you tell if a writer is avoiding writing something?
Stardust: I don’t know, how can you tell if a writer is avoiding something?
Puff: The house is clean.
Stardust: I don’t get it… it’s not a very funny joke.
Puff: Look around us, Stardust…
*The Crafting Muse looks around the room they are in.*
Stardust: It’s clean… *she dashes out of the room and around the house then returns*… the whole house is clean; even the art stuff on the dining room table has been cleaned up.
Puff: Exactly…

Ok, I exaggerated a little, the house isn’t really all that clean (yet) but it probably will be by the end of the day.
Yes, I’m procrastinating.
I’ve been painting and crafting my heart out. If you’ve seen the video I put up on my Youtube channel – HERE – then you know I’m putting together a Spring Tree for the dual purposes of a story prop and a Spring Holiday decoration. Well, that’s almost finished and I’ve also done two Fairy Door pictures:

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What am I procrastinating about?

It would probably help if you knew that next month (April) is the first of the Camp NaNoWriMo. Most writers know about NaNoWriMo but, unless you’ve participated in NaNo or know someone who does, you wouldn’t have heard of either.
(Go through the links above to discover what those odd words mean…)
NaNo is when the writer in me goes crazy and tries to write 50,000 words in thirty days. Puff loves that month; he has complete control over my mind and boy does he show it…
Camp is one of his favourite things too. He doesn’t have as much control, but when I am writing anything is his favourite time, so while Camp isn’t as frenetic as NaNo, it is just as important to him (and me of course).

This April, I am working on two different projects. I am essentially trying to finish two WIP’s.

The first is “The Curse of The Jade Cat”, a sequel (but not directly) to “The Heir of The Dragon” and I’ve been working on it for far too long now.
I hit Chapter 30 recently and for some reason that blocked me… so I went to finish a couple of other things in that world.
One of those is “The Private Detective” – a story that I started in Creative Writing class as part of an exercise I was doing. It kind of exploded on me and is now the story that (once I’ve finished editing it – again this is part of my Creative Writing class) will be included in the new edition of “The Heir of The Dragon” as an extra.

While I’m thinking about it, “The Heir of The Dragon” is getting a complete makeover, in order to bring the series into line with each other and to enable me to expand the World a little more. So keep your eyes open for that one…

The other is “White Snow“, a story that came to life from a broken chapter of “ Jade Cat” and is spawning all sorts of different ideas in my head for a whole set of different characters in another city entirely. So in order to keep myself from getting side tracked, I want to finish that before April and get “Jade Cat” finished at Camp so I can get it edited, formatted and published before the next Camp NaNo in July.

Oh and both those stories will be included in the “Dark Cities Chronicles Collection” – a set of side stories that keep popping up while I am writing the main books; as soon as I have enough words for it to be a decent sized read, I’ll publish it…

The second story that I am working on as part of Camp in April, is another story that I started during Creative Writing Class…

Yes, another one! My tutor Rachael Lewis has a lot of brilliant teaching techniques that is spawning all sorts of things in my head – Puff is alternately happy and irritated with her… mostly because she also gives Stardust and Salvador ideas as well (but that’s during her Art Class)… so I have a lot to thank her for. She’s also partly responsible for the creation of “Author & Muse“

…Anyhoo, as I was saying, the second story is “Blood & Kitsune“, one of the Kitsune Tails stories – the world that “Blossom & Kitsune” is set in.
It’s actually the third story in that world; the second one, “Snow & Kitsune” is finished, it just needs editing and a cover before I can publish it.
I have the start done, about 7,000 words or so, but in order to get it finished, I will be working on that one during Creative Writing and once I’ve finished “Jade Cat” I will continue with it as part of Camp.

If you’re interested in those stories, there’s a blurb and excerpt for both of them on my Camp Profile – HERE – go take a look…

I’m not actually procrastinating about those though…

Puff: She’s finally getting to the point…
Stardust: Give her a break, Puff.
Puff: No… never.
Stardust: *shouting* Patches! Get the oven ready, Author will be baking Banana Bread today by the sounds of it!
Patches: *from the Kitchen* Will do!
Puff: She has to do it. It’s her Creative Writing class homework and it’s going to help her in the long run, to be a better writer.
Stardust: But you had to go and pick that particular memory to write about??

They’re right, I do have to stop procrastinating about my homework. I deliberately picked a memory that has a lot of emotion attached to it, and I am not keen on revisiting it.
This whole blog post, while being (I hope) an interesting and informative piece about what I have been doing, what I am planning on doing and my whole thought process… has been one long procrastination station.
I have to get that piece of work done…

…Once I finish the Spring Tree and bake some Banana Bread… and I need to check my email inboxes and on my Facebook pages / Group…I have to do some cleaning too – this place is a mess!

Ooh… what’s that shiny thing on the internet….

Puff: There she goes again.
Stardust: She’s never going to get her homework done.