Writing Time

The end of the year brings family fun, holidays and parties, but also less time to spend doing things you would like to do.  For me, that is reading and writing.  With the busier times at work, and everything involved in the holidays like shopping, baking and wrapping, I have gotten VERY behind in my word count.  Many of the women in my writing group have finished their first drafts and while I am SO excited and happy for them, I guess I am feeling a little left behind.  And the only person I can blame for that is myself.  So, where does that leave me?  With a goal.  I am currently at 27,474 words.  My goal is to get to 30,000 words be tomorrow evening.  The only way I am going to do that is to start writing so... it's writing time!  I will check in tomorrow night to let you know if I made my goal!  Laters!

Helpful Website

Today I wanted to talk about one of the web-sites I found extremely valuable while writing my first novel: Writers Helping Writers.  This website has a lot of valuable tools, but what I used the most is the Thesaurus Collection.
This section includes "hundreds of descriptive entries to help you add incredible texture and authenticity to your writing".  There are multiple topics to aid you including character traits, physical attributes, emotions, settings, weather, symbolism and more. If you are stumped on how to convey an emotion just right or need a descriptive term for a trait your character has, this is the place to go.   Angela and Becca have put together a good website that includes writers tools, webinars, workshops and other resources for writers.  I definitely recommend you check it out!

I'm off to write now.  With my move, I've gotten completely behind and need to catch up on word count.  I know I have to just keep writing!

Moving On Up!

Well, that was crazy!  Moved my whole home in 5 days.  Now I am physically exhausted, but ready to get back to writing. Sorry for the delay! 

As I said, I'm currently working on writing my first young adult paranormal novel.  I've actually been writing my entire life, from short stories in grade and high school to attempts at novels after college graduation.  I have a lot of ideas and I get really into a story, but then for one reason or another, I stop writing.  This time I am determined to finish.  I have written approximately 25,000 words and am about 1/3 into the story I want to tell, so I still have quite a bit left to go.  This time, I have a support system.  My friends and family, although I love them dearly, just don't understand what this is like.  I have been lucky to find an online group of women all writing their first novels as well, so we are doing this together.  And they are so very talented they make me have to up my game, which is great!

So here is the back cover blurb for my work in progress...

After the death of her parents, sixteen year old Sophia Morganthal is surprised to find out that she has family she never knew about.  And that’s not the only secret.   Sophia comes from a long line of witches and she needs to train up fast or lose her place in the coven.   Between her training, her strange family and the cute boy at school, she might be over her head.  When things take a turn for the worse, will she be ready to handle the fight of her life?

Let me know what you think!

Clean Slate

Ah... post number one, a clean slate.  Not for long!  I'm Kat and I'm attempting to write my first YA fiction novel.  I'm also married, with a nine year old son and work full time.  You might think I'm crazy, but this has been a dream of mine since I was little.  I am determined that this time I will complete a novel and work through the process to self-publication.  Also, I am hoping that writing this blog will keep me on track as well.  So, welcome, follow along and see what happens as I try to pursue my dream of becoming a published author!