This is going to be a monster of a post, so let’s just dive right into it. I hemmed and hawed and ended up deciding that a straight up ‘top five’ or ‘top ten’ really wasn’t going to do it this year. How could I rate some of these darlings over the others? It’s impossible!

I’m going to start with books by authors I’ve already read, because you have to start somewhere. With absolutely no segway. I read three books by C.E. Murphy last year, and I wanted to give all three a shout out – Demon Hunts for the best, most unexpected, yet it totally fits, cameo, Spirit Dances for being one of those rare books that doesn’t utterly suck at depicting canines, and Truthseeker for having fae that don’t bore me or have me rolling my eyes. It might seem like scant praise, but I’m considering this a highlights reel of sorts – trying to come up with the bulletpoints that would have sold me on the books if I hadn’t already read them. All of C.E. Murphy’s books are fabulous, featuring done-right tough heroines, colorful casts, and fantastic magic building.

Deadline, the sequel to Feed by Mira Grant, came out in 2011. Feed is a hard book to live up to, but I think Deadline more then passed with flying colors. It was fast paced, mindblowing, jenga-tower plot of rage-at-the-book-yet-can’t-put-it-down. There is precious little I can say about it without spoiling it. When I finished it about killed me to wait a whole year for Blackout. In conclusion, teacup bulldogs!

Lady Pain is the final book in a trilogy that I’ve been struggling to finish for awhile. It just took me time to move past the abrupt point of view change. I’m glad I did because it brought the story to a good conclusion. I debated about including it here, but I felt like it took me so long to come around to it that it deserves a shout out.

The Hedgewitch Queen(Lilith Saintcrow) is a more or less a traditional fantasy story with some of my favorite tropes – hidden royal bastards, conspiracies, assassinations galore, and a bodyguard crush which turns quite complicated. It’s set in Not-Europe, which leads to a lot of amusement of the ‘I see what you did there’ variety.

Hat tip to Rage(Jackie Morse Kessler) for going into some dark places and bringing a light.

Now on to the new authors I’ve found. Hm, authors I’ve found, authors I’ve lost – funny how we talk about these things isn’t it? Anyway, first up is Dan Wells! I somehow managed to read all three of the John Cleaver books(I Am Not A Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don’t Want To Kill You - just try going into a bookstore and asking for those books with a straight face) in one year. They are like Dexter, except better. There’s no decline in story quality, no super rough writing, and the books aren’t afraid to dive into  the darkest parts of its subject matter, and it also doesn’t shy away from its supernatural element.

Keeping with a death theme, I also found Death Most Definite and Managing Death by Trent Jamieson. The first book is about grim reapers in Australia dealing with the worst sort of corporate take over – the kind that leaves everyone dead. The second book deals with the fallout, including the main character being put in charge, and dangles an elderich entity of approaching apocalypse over the story. I really want to buy the third book, but an omnibus? Really?

More death! This time with zombies! I’m officially declaring ‘vampire in a zombie apocalypse’ one of my favorite setups. If you dig zombies, vampires, and/or Chuck Wendig, I can’t recommend Double Dead enough. There might be a few cuss words, but at least nobody sparkles.

God’s War by Kameron Hurley showed up on my radar like a stealth bomber, on moment I run across a contest on a blog and the next it’s in my hands.  It’s ‘bugpunk’ if we want to give it a ‘punk’ label – set in the far future on a wartorn planet, where all the technology and magic is based on instincts. Add in a downright brutally tough heroine, her meditative magician partner, and plenty of interrstellar, world-changing conspiracy.

Did I meantion there were a lot of good books in 2011? There were. The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells was another surprise. Picked it up from the library, fell in love and bought my own copy. A fantastic and well build alien world, a main character with a dark past and a hidden heritage, who finds a home and possibly love. I’m currently cursing Amazon for their delay of two months on the sequel. *shakes fist*

The Black Prism(Breek Weeks) is a bit of an epic book. It took me a month and a half to read. It features a world built realistically around it’s magic system, which itself is built around the colors spectrum, including the ones we can’t normally see! The characters include the world’s magic/religious leader, that leader’s newly discovered bastard son, the leader’s  ’evil’ brother, and an ex-damsel-in-distress. It gets delightfully complicated though, with lots of political maneuvering and looming war.

Spellwright, and it’s sequel Spellbound, by Blake Charlton brought to the table some of the most ingenious wordplay I’ve ever read. The books have their rough patches, but I think the language-based magic system and a few excellent story twists make them more than worth it overlooking the flaws. A dyslexic wizard sets out to save the world, what more can I say?

Wow, I can’t believe how long this post has been so far. I hope it isn’t too boring to read! You know what isn’t boring to read? The adventures of an immortal druid and his smart talkin’ irish wolfhound. How’s THAT for a segway! Hounded and Hexed by Kevin Hearn remind me of the early Dresden Files books, though I feel like they are slightly lighter in tone.  The main attraction is a well balanced Kitchen Sink urban fantasy world, and a sharp wit. Heck, they’re worth reading just for the dog!

And now that I’ve finally cover almost all the books I wanted to, it’s time for an extra special mention – my friend and writing buddy Heather has had a ton of short stories come out this year, and they are all fabulous. The special nod here goes to Bordello Secrets, because it’s a longer standalone. Also, fabulous.

You’d think I’d learn by now that I’m not nearly an accomplished enough blogger to keep posting throughout November. Actually I think I did a fairly good job of it, all things considering. You would also think that I’d learn by now that, even outside of NaNoWriMo, November is never not insane. The shit always hits the fan in November. Last year it was chemo and a busted car window, this year it was a malware attack,  crippled right hand, and chronic scheduling changes.

I made it. Another 50k in the can! A complete, very rough first draft. Over all I’m quite happy with it. I can tell it’s going to fundamentally change a lot before it ever reaches the light of day, and that I don’t see myself returning to it anytime soon. But it’s out of my head and in a file, where it can properly… ferment. Hm, I like that comparison. Ferment. Like cheese.

This book taught me a bit about reader expectation, and how to manipulate it. Among the many possible endings I found several that I had to dismiss simply because no matter how clever they were the reader would have finished the book feeling cheated, and that’s something I don’t want. A lot of this story hinges on the readers’ expectations, and there will be a need for careful balance between foreshadowing and misdirecting for the Big Twist. I’m going to start revising my pitch for it, so as not to spoil that twist. Or maybe I won’t, because the whole story would octopus the opposite direction and the story could be about something else entirely, and the current Big Twist could be a minor element of the greater whole.

Ah, first drafts – got to love ‘em. Duologies too – I’m finding that they are quite fun to plot. I’m sure that’s going to come back to bite me some day. They seem to be a hard sell, but then again I’m seeing more and more of them so maybe they are coming into fashion? I wouldn’t be surprised.

Typical me, I’m already ponder next NaNoWriMo’s story. It’s an addictive process. I’ve got an Urban Fantasy detective story with a shapeshifter that more or less strode in the front door with a chesshire grin, and several opportunities to try my hand at a sequel.

50808 / 50000 words. 102% done!

It figure my site would go down this week, because it’s release week! Sword & Sorceress 26, which includes my story The Girl Who Folded Dragons was released this Wednesday – it’s currently available at Amazon(hardcopy AND on the Kindle) and at Barnes & Noble! And last week my (very first!) interview went up on Jonathan Moeller’s website. It’s been an exciting/busy week!

I’ve managed to push through the soggy middle of my NaNo, at least I hope I’m on the other side of the worst of it, and have reached 32k! Skyward Sword is coming out this Sunday, and for the moment all is well. So I will leave you with this awesome video from the Zelda Symphony.

32450 / 50000 words. 65% done!

I’m still in that early part of the draft before I’ve connected with the characters and where I realize that I haven’t thought about POV at all. Nothing much of note has happened – I’m in the middle of establishing the ‘Ordinary World’ and have just shoved the inciting incident at the main character. So for lack of anything else to talk about I thought I’d share my starting playlist for this NaNo. It will undoubtably change a lot during the month, so maybe I’ll share it again at the end for comparison. I find I need high energy songs with strong beats to write, and that I zone out when songs don’t have lyrics. I’m a bit of an odd duck among writers for that.

• Judas – Lady Gaga
• Iron – Woodkid
• Young Men Dead – The Black Angels
• Crashing Down – Heather Dale
• Smooth Criminal – 2Cello
• Letters From The Sky – Civil Twilight
• The Queen of Argyll – Silly Wizard
• Rox In The Box – The Decemberists
• This Is Why We Fight – The Decemberists
• Dance With The Devil – Breaking Benjamin
• Runs In The Family – Amanda Palmer
• Lose Yourself – Eminem
• Bad Son – Jed Whedon and the Willing
• Wicked Blood – Sea Wolf
• You Are – Splashdown
• Rolling In The Deep – Adele
• Young Blood – Norah Jones
• Varulven – Garmarna
• Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
• What You Want – Evanescence

The steamer for today’s meeting was the special – raspberry, blueberry, and white chocolate. I’m open to suggestions for the next meeting. :)

2416 / 50000 words. 5% done!

This year I’m going back to straight up Fantasy. ‘The Empty Throne’ is the story of what happens twenty-odd years after an Evil Overlord is defeated. It’s based on what I’m calling ‘The Princess Peach Scenario’ – what if the ‘Evil Overlord’ wasn’t that bad? Evil sure, but a gentlemen. ‘The Empty Throne concerns The Hero’s two sons, the return of the empire, and dark family secrets. I also discovered while outlining that it really solidly wants to be a duology – it breaks very neatly in half, with two complete story arcs.

My toolbox this year is more or less the same as last year, with a few notable additions that I wanted to share.

The Necessary Programs -
RoughDraft – for the actual writing. I find it minimalist and non-distracting. The notepad sidebar feature is infinitely useful, from quick notes about character descriptions to quick math after word wars, all without leaving the program.
OneNote – I don’t know how I lived without OneNote. It has all my story bibles in one place.
iTunes – *shrug* That’s where I have all my music loaded and sorted into playlists.
Spotify – Imagine iTunes injected with rocket fuel. Sit through the occasionally add and listen to just about any song you want for free.
Dropbox – There is no excuse for not backing up. Especially during NaNo.
F.lux – A simple little program that adjusts the color of the screen, reducing eyestrain and making sleep sounder. Extremely useful for nightowls like me.
Write Or Die – I’d never read 50,000 without it! The Online EditMinion is equally useful for quick edits.

Also, for the month of November I’ve set myself a mini-challenge. As I’ll be at Kaladi a lot during the month, and steamers are both one of my favorite things and one of the cheapest things there, I’ve decided I will not have the same flavor combination twice during NaNo. Last Saturday at the kickoff I had a blackberry/cinnamon steamer – better than you’d think, though it left an odd aftertaste.

7 days until NaNoWriMo. 27 days until Skyward Sword comes out. We’ll see who wins this November. :3

I suppose I should be thankful that I had 15k words worth of story in me. That was an eleventh hour miracle by itself – late Friday night I was looking over my notes, trying to come up with scenes to write, when I was struck by how my core sentence for the story could have been for a historical romance. I’ve been dipping into the historical romance genre this year, and regency romance in particular, so I’m utterly new to the field. I jumped in feet first anyway.

It was kind of fun – it’s been a long time since I’ve written so recklessly. I only had to make a few tweaks to the story, mostly with the background details. The characters remained essentially the same, the Devil getting the most change – he got upgraded to a full time character, actively meddling on stage from the beginning. A part of me rather likes how the story works in this setting, but the amount of research standing before me to make an attempt at a polished attempt is rather daunting. No decisions now – this draft is being stuck in the virtual drawer for awhile so it can settle. Or rise – I rather like the comparison of writing and bread making.

I guess it just comes down to that I won. My win streak(seven years and counting!) has been maintained, AND for all of its strife and pain this was an easier NaNo then last year.

On The Side Of Angels
Genre: Urban Fantasy / Regency Fantasy/Romance
Status: Two drafts, SHELVED.

Something about the colors sparks the creative side of me. (Note the chair I eventually stole because it was a more stable surface then my lap.)

This last week I found my new absolute favorite writing spot. Every Wednesday mom has a Tai Chi class, and with the promise of being able to hide in the back room I packed up my laptop and went along to escape the constant interruptions at home. We arrived late, so I got dumped in the back room with little ceremony, and while searching for an outlet within reach of a chair I spotted the dressing rooms. 3ft by 3ft squares sectioned off by cheap brocade curtains, each outfitted with a mirror and small foot rest/chair. The one in the corner also happened to feature an outlet, so I plugged in and got comfy.

It took a moment for the scene to settle in – secluded, quiet, well lit, and once it occurred to me to steal a nearby chair I had my laptop at the perfect height. It was just me, my thoughts, and my novel. No fussing dogs, no family demanding my attention, and no internet to distract me with procrastination/research. I can imagine a better spot to hide and write, but I doubt it exists.

Deaths: 5
Dream Sequences: 3
Trebuchets: 1
Loving Descriptions of Food: 3
Traveling Shovels of Death: 0

Unfortunately I seem to have skipped a week, because my Week One looked an awful lot like a Week Two. I’m not sure what caused that exactly, but it is most likely a combination of factors – stress, sickness, lack of sleep, lack of time for de-stressing activities[1. Fable 3 just sits there and taunts me.], pacing problems, a general disinterest in the first half of my story[2. Outlining backwards came back to bite me. Lesson learned.]… Whatever the cause, this last week has been has been tough going in the extreme. I think if I didn’t have an outline I might have just called it quits days ago.

Oh, and then there were the profile stats on the NaNoWriMo website. They literally drove me neurotic until I had a moment of clarity and started lying about my word count. I’m not proud about doing that, and now that they seem to have taken away the stats that were driving me the most batty I can stop. My goal for this week is to get caught up with what I say my word count is so that I can celebrate my word count victories again. Totally doable.

Well, hopefully having a bad start means things can only go up from here, and that the actual Week Two turns into an early Week Three, which means I can crazy amounts of progress in. Wait, does that mean I’ll get a Week Five?

Deaths: 3
Flashbacks: 2
Dream Sequences: 1
Repetitive Sentences: Repetitive
Trebuchets: 0

My NaNo for this year is a little project I’ve been tossing around for about a year now. At least that’s the date on the idea file entry for it. It’s had sort of an interesting development, considering I basically outlined the premise twice after forgetting that I’d come up with the idea at all. Outlining is both the most important and most frustrating step in writing for me. Forcing myself to work through it and come up with at least a logical Point A to Point Z progression before I start writing is like pulling teeth, but the final result is so much better for it. During NaNoWriMo I find nothing more useful then a road map, even a vaguely sketched one, in the dark, murky depths of the middle of the marathon. An outline also helps me find the plot lines that dead end before they become a problem.

For this NaNo I’ve even taken the extra step of outlining a third time – working my way through a story from both the main character’s point of view, and her brother’s. It’s been a rather enlighting process to look at the story from both angles, and has shown me several places where the antagonists were either not antagonistic enough, or just plain holding the Idiot Ball. I managed to dig up enough loose plot threads to tie up the ending with a reasonably neat bow. I’m putting in all this extra work with the hope that I’ll come out of this November with a reasonably complete manuscript, like Fväria was.

But no plan every survives the first encounter with the enemy. The best I can do is make sure I have all the resources within reach, and backup plans lined up when the shit does start to hit the fan. This is going to be a fun November.

1 – Eight hour writing meetings are counter productive. You’d think you could get a lot of words in during eight hours, but put enough writers in a room together for that much time and it ceases to be a work session and instead turns into a party. As an ML it was even worse – I had to hurry to get there to secure the room, so I started out tired, and then I’d catch my breath in time for one or two hours of decent work before the whole thing wore me out. The up side to being an ML is that I can make sure that eight hour write-ins never happen again.

2 – I don’t do fairies. Back when I came up for the idea for last year’s novel I was really into Fairies. Then the post-Twilight Urban Fantasy/YA boom happened and pretty much ruined fairies for me via over saturation. In theory I still like fairies, but in practice I’ve thoroughly lost my taste for them. I thought maybe I’d like them if I wrote them, but unfortunately that’s not how things turned out. I think I’m going to stick with vampires for now.

3 – Make sure there is enough story for 50,000 words. I intended for Fairy’s Book to have a sort of serial/anthology/monster-of-the-week story, and in it’s first incarnation it was a manga. Going into November I had only outlined the beginning and the end, figuring I could pull from folklore for the middle as I went along. That turned out to be a big mistake. I ended up wrapping up the story at around 25,000 words – halfway to the goal – and I filled out the remaining words with a hasty rewrite of a fanfic. It wasn’t pretty.

4 – Don’t slack off. I didn’t even realize that I was running out of story until the later half of week three, and the idiom ‘skin of my teeth’ comes to mind for the last day typing frenzy that just barely put me over 50k. This year I’m going to put my family on notice – 2k or no dinner.

5 – Love your idea. My biggest failure during last year’s NaNoWriMo was the sheer injustice I did to a perfectly nice idea. A lot of the struggle and slacking off came about because I simply wasn’t in love with the idea I had come up with. I didn’t have any drive to explore it’s world or characters, and the story and I suffered for it.

Perhaps some day I’ll come back to Fairy’s Book and find the missing element that is needed to make it all work. But for now I’m taking these lessons to heart. I already have my story for this year lined up and partially outlined, and very idea of it makes me giddy. Angels and demons and conspiracies oh my!