New On-Shot: "Weeping May Endure for a Night..."

Back in April during the first Camp NaNoWriMo 2014, I was scribbling a couple of stories in a notebook while also typing away on Only by Moonlight. While one of these stories was the beginning of the sequel to Evening Star (still unnamed as yet), the other was written for a TwiFic Doctorward Contest. But I didn't have time to finish the story before the June 4 deadline, so I shelved it for a while, allowing it to simmer on my mind's back burner as I worked my (rather generous) behind off teaching both online and in the classroom in addition to homeschooling two teenaged boybarians. 

When this month's Camp NaNoWriMo came around, I dusted off Doctorward and typed him up, adding a bit here and there. This past week gave him real substance, and by the time I sent him to the brilliant ladylibre, he was nearly ready for posting. She adored the story, giving me some great revisions where I got too wordy (naaah, never happens! <grin>), and stating that this one-shot was among the best stories I had ever written. Even my husband, who rarely reads my fiction, read it and really liked it, too. 

So here is the beginning of this Doctorward tale entitled "Weeping May Endure for a Night...":

Weeping May Endure for a Night…

by Cassandra Lowery

            It was nearly midnight when I finally got home. Only the darkness greeted me as I entered and locked the door of our flat behind me. By force of habit, I dropped my keys into the ceramic dish on the small entryway table. Loosening my tie, I peered into the mirror hanging over the table, barely able to see myself in the glow of the city lights shining through the open windows.

            I looked like crap. Dark shadows encircled beneath my eyes, and my face was paler than usual, bordering on haggard.

            That’s the kind of word she would have used if she were here…”haggard.”

            I turned away from the mirror and paused in the kitchen doorway. Although I had managed to skip both lunch and dinner, I knew that there was no way that I could eat tonight; the knot of pain and grief in my stomach made the mere thought of food seem repulsive. Trying to ignore the slight dizziness that accompanied my lack of sustenance, I dropped onto the sofa—our sofa. Bella had loved it at first sight, choosing it for its comfort and for its rather shabby, “homey” appearance.

            She was so wise in such things.

            Most of my colleagues’ wives were focused on spending their physician husbands’ pay as quickly as it was earned, frittering away huge sums on designer clothing and spa treatments, decorating and redecorating their expensive homes as their main occupation, and sporting the latest model BMW, Audi, or Mercedes-Benz.

            Not my Bella.

            God, I missed her.    

            I rubbed at the persistent ache in my chest.
           She had decorated our home with estate sale finds, getting up at ungodly hours nearly every Saturday morning to comb through the eclectic neighborhoods of Chicago, dragging home a bureau, a bookcase, an end table, an armchair, or some other “amazing find”—along with stacks and stacks of ancient books that she “just couldn’t resist.”

            When I objected to the number of books she trundled home, she’d grin unrepentantly and declare that it was the price I had to pay for marrying a writer.

            How I adored that mischievous grin….

           

I hope that you'll enjoy reading "Weeping May Endure for a Night..." on both Wattpad.com and on FanFiction.net. 

I also updated Only by Moonlight last night as well, adding Chapter 14. I'm currently working on a draft of Chapter 15, and I hope to finish drafting Chapter 15 and Chapter 16 before the close of Camp NaNoWriMo. I know that I won't reach my goal of 30,000 words being written this month, but I have written, revised, editing, and polished two pieces of writing which add up to nearly 9,000 words, revising and polishing them at least four times each. 

During August, I'll be preparing for Year #18 of home education in which I'll be teaching our high schoolers in grades 9 and 12, plus preparing for three online Brave Writer courses (two of which are new Literary Analysis classes), and two courses for our home school group's co-op Class Days, one of which is a new Shakespeare class that will require a lot of preparation. But I'm still hoping to tuck more raw writing into the corners of my days (and nights) so that when fall arrives, I am hoping not to leave you hanging for two months again! :) 

Happily writing,
~Cassandra :)  

Fan Fiction Class Begins July 7!!

I am greatly looking forward to teaching the Fan Fiction class at Brave Writer this month. This will be the third summer I've taught this class, one that I proposed to Julie, the founder and owner of Brave Writer, after I started writing fan fiction novels and stories myself in late 2010. 

I have completed two Fan Fiction novels and several short stories. I have revised one Fan Fiction story into an original novella that I entered into a contest on one of the sites where I post my writings serial-style (chapter by chapter). And my third Fan Fiction novel (now in progress at 70,000 words) will also be revised into an original novel when I complete it. Many Fan Fic authors have revised their works into original fiction, several of which have climbed (and even topped!) The New York Times Bestseller List.  

Currently my Fan Fiction novels and stories have garnered nearly 3.3 million reads/views between the two sites on which I post my work. I hope to someday turn my Fan Fiction writing into true novel writing, perhaps gaining an agent and/or publisher based of the extensive platform and readership I have built through Fan Fiction.

The Fan Fiction class has been a nice size of 8-12 students in past summers; this month I have eight students thus far, but I always get a few more joining in the fun as the date for the beginning of class approaches. 

But all that aside, Fan Fiction is a wonderful way to encourage young writers in their first attempts to write stories. They already know (and love) the characters and the world(s) these characters inhabit, so it's not difficult to come up with the plot alone. 

As Julie wrote in today's Brave Writer Daily Writing Tip:

Writing tip of the day:

Dabble in fan fiction. Pick a favorite novel or series you've read and create a fan fiction story for it. Fan fiction is a good way to start writing stories because you already know the characters and the setting; all you need to create is the plot. Also, if you choose a well-known story such as the Harry Potter series or Jane Austen novels, an eager multitude of fans is waiting to devour your story and give you helpful critique. Don't get caught in the trap of always writing fan fiction, though! Fan fiction is a good  starting point for learning to write an action-packed story or witty dialogue, but it's not a final destination. After all, making up your own characters and setting stretches your imagination and builds your confidence. Once you've given fan fiction a try, write your own story using the skills you've learned.

So writing Fan Fiction is a wonderful way to encourage a young and/or reluctant writer to get writing--yes, even over the summer!! The students in this class read and critique each others' stories and then are free to post their work on one of the many Fan Fiction websites (with permission of their parents, of course). 

Join us for the fun and excitement of writing our own stories based on our favorite characters from books, movies, TV, video games, etc.!! Hurry--the class begins Monday, July 7!!

Fan Fiction class at Brave Writer

Have a terrific summer, and I'll see you in the fall with new Brave Writer classes, my courses in Expository Essay and Shakespeare at Heritage's ECII Class Days, or here as I grade essays for you!! 

Warmly,
Cassandra/Susanne 
xxxooo

PS I've also joined Camp NaNoWriMo with the goal of writing 30,000 words this month--mostly for Only by Moonlight! My newest chapter is nearly ready to send to my pre-reader, so keep a look out for it soon!! Thank you for your patience!! xxxooo

New Story--Original Fiction??

Wattpad is hosting a story-writing contest in all kinds of genres: nonfiction, original fiction, etc., called The Wattpad Prize. Writers are allowed three entries each. I've tagged my Advice to Young Writers for nonfiction as "advice" works are listed. :)

But the fun news is that when I was writing Chapter 12 of Only by Moonlight, I wrote a loooong dream sequence that I had to jettison and rewrite from the ground up because it was swallowing up the chapter and getting too far afield from the storyline for ObM. 

What I've done is change the names of the characters, reset the setting from World War I Chicago to the Regency period in London (think Jane Austen), and greatly expanded the story. 

Currently the story is pretty much ready to post in six short chapters/parts, but I'm not sure about a couple of elements. And I need to design a cover. So I'm going to take a little time before posting to think carefully about the elements of the story (one event I'm seriously considering altering because I'm thinking it's too melodramatic). 

I'll probably post the story as a fan fic on FanFiction.net so that everyone can enjoy it. It's mostly a fluff piece, but it's cute and romantic, and William/Edward is a wonderful hero. :)  

Anyway, look for the story to start posting on Wattpad in a day or two, and sometime later on FanFiction.net as a new fanfic. 

And, yes, I'm still working on Chapter 14 of Only by Moonlight which will have a quite humorous scene included...if it works out the way I'm hoping, that is. It's about half-drafted. I'll hit at least the 20K mark for Camp NaNoWriMo (my goal is 30K words by April 30), but I'm not sure how far I'll actually get. 

I doubt I'll make it all the way to 30K with really only this weekend before I have to return to homeschooling. Plus I have MLA outlines to grade today for my co-op expository essay course and a week's worth of assignments to post on Shakespeare's history plays and Richard III in particular for my online Shakespeare Family Workshop. 

So I have to write around these work requirements this weekend as well. But I'm at 18,350 right now--not as much as I would have liked to have written, but more than I would have written without setting this goal. :) 

So hang on for the new story--for which I'm still bandying about titles before I can create the cover...which I will post here soon. Perhaps even later today if I get really creative. ;)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

~Cassandra :)
xxxooo 

Camp NaNoWriMo

Okay, I'm a-gonna do it. 

Last November's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) was pretty disastrous. With a monthly goal of 50,000 words, I didn't even clear 12,000. Of course, I was homeschooling two teen boys, teaching two writing classes with our private school (homeschool co-op), and teaching a very extensive literary analysis class online. Those literary analysis classes suck the lifeblood out of me faster than the Volturi ever could; I often have to respond to 50-100 posts per day over four weeks!! So with that schedule, it wasn't surprising that my NaNoWriMo experience fell abysmally short.

But this month is Camp NaNoWriMo, and I've set my word goal at 30,000--that's 1,000 words/day. Totally do-able, right? Plus I only have one set of essays to grade for my writing classes through our private school (technically there are no home schools in California--we're all considered private schools--and our private school, Heritage Christian School, is the largest homeschool private study program in the whole state with nearly 500 families registered) as my students begin their MLA research essays. 

And while I am teaching an online class, it's a family workshop class (on Shakespeare--so fun!!) that's already prepared and will require minimal work from me--just checking in with the families as they do the various activities. And our own homeschool is taking the weeks off both before and after Easter, so that's half the month off from active homeschooling. 

So, in other words, I should have plenty of time to WRITE this month!! :)

Chapter 13 of Only by Moonlight was sent to my lovely and uber-talented pre-reader, ladylibre, last night, and I plan to start drafting Chapter 14 today. I spent this past weekend re-reading the whole book and jotting down ideas for future chapters, so now I feel more certain of the direction of the storyline. I've always known how I want Only by Moonlight to end; I just haven't been sure exactly how to get there. 

Plus, I have a few milestones to report on Wattpad. Only by Moonlight has just reached 25,000 reads!! Plus, Evening Star has topped 900,000 reads on Wattpad, and Pinned but Fluttering just passed 1.8 million reads there!! Thank you, Wattpad readers!! I have yet to check my Fan Fiction stats, but I'm so pleased with my readers on Wattpad. Thank you all for reading my novels and stories!! 

So I'm off to teach our morning homeschool lessons and then I have plans to write this afternoon!! :) I'll keep you posted on how Camp NaNoWriMo is going!!

Have a terrific April...which, BTW, is National Poetry Month, too!! Yay!!

Affectionately,
~Cassandra :) 
xxxooo

Recognition from Wattpad...and Apologies

Yesterday I received a very cool recognition from Wattpad for being one of their most-read authors! Here's the little widget they sent. As I couldn't fit it in my sidebar (darn!), I thought I'd share it here.

And I apologize for not updating Only by Moonlight. I had grand plans for writing my heart our for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and generating chapter after chapter of raw material for the story. I got a good start going...until I saw my class list for my new online class: Literary Analysis: The Great Gatsby. Most of my literary analysis classes have 8-10 students, occasionally 12 at most. But this class was FULL. At capacity.

Twenty students.

20.

The big 2-0.

Crap was my first thought. There goes NaNoWriMo.

And I've already pulled two all-nighters since class began on November 4, trying to keep up on all of our amazing discussions of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel--perhaps the most important American novel of the 20th century--and perhaps of all American literature. The students are incredible. Ranging in ages from 13-17, they are wonderful and insightful writers. I adore them all.

But they are keeping me far busier than I've ever been in teaching any class in my nearly twelve years of teaching online classes to homeschoolers.

They're writing three major responses to discussion questions per week, then commenting on each other's responses as well. Multiply those six posts (minimum) per week times twenty students, and I have a minimum of 120 posts to read and comment on per week. Plus I still have my Expository Essay I and II classes I teach at our homeschool co-op and--oh, yeah--my own two teen boybarians to homeschool.

It's crazy. Fun, but crazy.

So that's where I've been this month--NOT doing NaNoWriMo and NOT working on my stories very much. But teaching my own kids and other students is my other passion, one that was confirmed to me in a very unusual way last night.

So I needed this affirmation from Wattpad about my writing during a month when I've felt disappointed and a wee bit guilty for not being able to pursue NaNoWriMo and Only by Moonlight (and a second story I've started writing by hand in a composition book with my trusty fountain pen). So, thanks, Wattpad, for being so good to me!! :)

So back to writing in December, I hope!! 

Love to you all,
~Cassandra 
xxxooo

Wishing and Hoping and Thinking....

Well, this fall has been absolutely, mind-bogglingly crazy. With teaching an online Literary Analysis class in American Poetry (and having to grade 200+ essays over three weeks) which overlapped with the online MLA Research Essay class (first drafts are due tomorrow), plus teaching the high school Expository Essay I and II classes at our homeschool group's co-op Class Days (we are part of the largest private homeschool group in the state of California), and homeschooling our two younger boys in grades 8 and 11, I've been buried.

So why in the world am I wanting to try National Novel Writing Month again?

Because it really works. It's an amazing rush to freewrite a 50,000 word novel in a mere thirty days, and I'd love to pick up Only by Moonlight and push through, accompanying the characters on their journey.

But the cold, hard reality is that I have another online Literary Analysis class starting November 4 on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. And Literary Analysis classes are super-duper labor-intensive. We'll be discussing the novel for three weeks, each student submitting responses to three discussion questions per week plus detailed comments on two responses by other students in the class. So that's a total of 27 short essays written per student over three weeks. Then in the final week, the students will be watching a film version of the novel (either the new Leonardo DiCaprio movie or the 1974 Robert Redford one) and then submitting a Final Writing Project: a formal essay written from four choices: a letter from one character to another, a formal movie review, a five-paragraph essay comparing or contrasting two characters, or a less formal exploratory essay focusing on one of the themes of the book. I'll have to track all of the points for the nine discussion question essays, the eighteen comments on other students' discussion essays, and the grade for the Final Writing Project--all within one month.

And I'll still be teaching and grading essays for the Expository Essay I and II courses at Class Day plus teaching my 8th and 11th graders at home.    

So I don't know how much (or how little) I will be able to write for NaNoWriMo, but I will try. Since I offer extra credit points for each 1,000 words logged for NaNoWriMo for my Expository Essay class, I need to be writing at least something myself. And I guess writing anything for NaNoWriMo is better than writing nothing at all, right?

We also do NaNoWriMo in our town's little writing workshop which meets on a monthly basis, so I'll need to at least try for them as well.    

So we'll see. I am hoping to send Chapter 10 of Only by Moonlight to my amazing pre-reader, ladylibre, later today and then post it by Sunday (despite having first drafts of the MLA research essays to comment on and the first five-paragraph essays for my Expository Essay class to grade this weekend).

And then...NaNoWriMo!!

Onward!!

~Cassandra
xxxooo

Nearly There!

I have drafted the remaining chapters of Pinned but Fluttering during the craziness that was National Novel Writing Month 2012. Now I only have the epilogue left to write.

My posting schedule for PbF:

Chapter 53: Thursday 12/13

Chapter 54: Thursday 12/20

Chapter 55: Christmas Eve

Chapter 56: Thursday 12/27

Epilogue: New Years Eve

Because I'm not really into writing lemons, I'm saving the intimate scene for the epilogue so that readers who don't care to read lemons can merely skip it and be satisfied with the end of the story at Chapter 56. But for those who don't mind or enjoy reading such scenes, they can enjoy the epilogue. 

I have never written a lemon, so we'll have to see how it turns out. ;) 

But I'm really proud of all that I've accomplished with Pinned but Fluttering. While Evening Star, my first fan fiction story, enjoyed moderate success, the clamor over Pinned but Fluttering has been simply mind-blowing. 

On Wattpad, Pinned but Fluttering will reach 1.3 million reads by this weekend (officially it's at 1,298,880 reads as I compose this post, with over 8,000 votes and 6,235 comments). Its success on FanFiction.net has been more mellow but still flattering at nearly 150,000 hits and almost 1500 reviews between the regular story and the separate outtakes. 

Evening Star remains somewhat popular with over 750,000 reads on Wattpad and nearly 40,000 hits on FanFiction.net. I'm toying with writing a sequel to this first story, starting with Edward and Bella's reunion in Volterra, then covering the gap between New Moon and Eclipse. We'll see. 

I also have an idea for an original paranormal-type story. A few ideas, actually. We'll see how they pan out. One idea is such that I can write it as fan fiction but easily change the names and details later to make it original. Again, we'll see. 

But right now I'm thrilled to be almost finished with a story I started in August 2011. Yay!!

Thanks for reading!!

~Cassandra 
xxxooo

Racing Toward the Finish Line....

Well, I picked a very busy month to attempt to write 50,000 words before November 30th. Unfortunately, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) occurs every November, right in the middle of one of my busiest months of the year. 

So what have I been doing this month?

I've been inundated with essays to grad for my co-op high school writing class--two sets of essays from a class that's full past the class size limit. And the essays required a lot of commentary from me--corrections, encouragement, suggestions, praise. 

In other words: time-consuming.

Then I also am completing my online high school MLA research essay course with twice the number of students I had last year. And this month they submitted outlines, first drafts, and final drafts of their research papers, all of which required detailed grading not only of content and usage but also of all of the nit-picky details of the MLA format. 

In other words: crazy time-consuming. 

Then, add to that the fact that I'm trying to finish editing the first draft of an e-book on grammar for work, and we have complete and utter chaos.

And then I decide to try to finish my novel and write 50,000 words during this insane month?

I really should be committed. 

There are two days remaining of the NaNoWriMo challenge, and I have 13,000 words left to write. 

Well, that's a vast improvement over last year's challenge in which I posted 14,000 words on the final day, making the midnight deadline with a mere eight minutes to spare. 

This year my goal was to complete a first draft of Pinned but Fluttering while still posting weekly chapters (the editing along with the writing is positively killing me!) and perhaps finish a couple of one-shots I've started. 

I doubt I'll be getting to any of the one-shots. But I am starting the final chapter of Pinned but Fluttering and the next chapter is ready to post for tomorrow...I mean, later today.

And I have time to write tomorrow (Uh, I mean, today) both before and after teaching my writing class, and Friday is fairly clear. I still have the grammar book to work on and a chapter of Pinned but Fluttering to post online, plus three teen boys to homeschool, but I am finally seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the NaNoWriMo tunnel. 

 Even if I am writing this post at 2:00 in the morning. 

Okay, going to sleep now so I can teach and write tomorrow--uh, I mean, TODAY. 

Yeah. 

Writing furiously,
Cassandra :)

Photos to Accompany PbF Chapter 48

Chapter 48 of Pinned but Fluttering requires illustrations, so here they are:

Part of the cottage

This stained glass window was designed and created by my husband, K, as a commission for our doctor. It looks amazing in their home, and we had it hanging for a couple of weeks in our house, too, before the installation. It's quite large--four feet by five feet.

Another view of the cottage...inside the picket fence

The fireplace in the cottage--which is actually the fireplace in our mountain cabin (pine walls and all).

Painting of the grapes inside the cottage--a watercolor painted by my mother-in-law and hanging in our home (on the pine walls)

I'll post a photo of the ring when I can--it's on my finger and belonged to my great-great grandmother, and yes, it dates back to the 1890s. 

I hope you enjoyed Chapter 48!! I am currently drafting Chapter 51 of PbF, so NaNoWriMo is really helping my productivity!! 

Have a wonderful week!!

~Cassandra :)
xxxooo

To NaNo or Not to NaNo....

I've taken part in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)several times in the past few years.  NaNoWriMo involves writing a 50,000-word novel during the month of November; the fun part is that NaNoWriMo is a global effort; participants do the challenge with over 300,000 other writers around the world. One can have Writing Buddies, and participants also receive encouraging e-mails from some fairly impressive authors; participants may update their progress daily. NaNoWriMo provides some fun bells & whistles that allow progress to be posted on blogs or websites.

With a bunch of my online friends, I joined up in 2008 and managed to write half of a highly-autobiographical novel called The Pilgrim Pathway that I doubt I'll go back to edit; it was a decent first attempt at writing fiction, but it isn't really interesting or publishable. In 2009 I completed the second half of  The Pilgrim Pathway. I took a break in 2010, participating in a poem-a-day challenge on the Writer's Market website, hosted by the editor of Poet's Market. I don't think writing a poem a day was much of a "break"; it was actually more taxing than writing the 1,667 words daily to complete NaNoWriMo.

In 2011 I returned to NaNoWriMo, challenging the students in my homeschool co-op expository writing class to join me for extra credit. Between teaching two co-op classes and an online course through Brave Writer, plus homeschooling the boys, it wasn't easy to find time to write 1,667 words per day...which I rounded to 2,000 words/day to keep it easier to track plus allowed me to take off Thanksgiving and a few other days (such as teaching days). But I still ended up posting 14,000 words on November 30, verifying the completion of 50,000 words with eight minutes to spare. Whew!

So, with only one co-op class to teach (but with more students than last year) and the same Brave Writer online class going, plus the three boys to teach, should I attempt NaNoWriMo this year or not?

Last year I completed one of the novels I was publishing online in weekly installments, and I managed to get several chapters ahead on another novel I was also publishing online. If I attempt NaNoWriMo 2012, I will be completing the second online novel and then either starting a new novel or completing several unfinished short stories. I would love to be that productive!!

However, the problem I ran into last year was that as I post a new chapter online each week, I have to go back and edit that chapter for publication. Yikes! That's a lot of extra writing!!

I am offering the same extra credit incentive to my co-op writing class as I did last year, so I will need to participate somewhat so that I can track their progress. Plus, at least one member of our small town's writing group is participating, and we meet once a week during NaNoWriMo to write together in the library.

In addition, a lot of writers in the online communities where I post my fiction are doing NaNoWriMo, and I've made two NaNoWriMo accounts, one under my real name for my students' benefit, and one under my pen name for chatting with my fellow fiction writers.

So, should I participate in NaNoWriMo or not? I'm hoping to, but I suppose we'll see if it's realistic to actually finish. So I suppose at this point that I will TRY, but know that I may not finish this year. 

If anyone is doing NaNoWriMo and would like to become a Writing Buddy, you can find me under the user name of Cassandra Lowery--I love having writing buddies!! :)

Writing with you,

Cassandra :)

Evening Star Now Available for Downloading!

Well, with Evening Star now completed, I thought I'd set up some free downloads for you all.


I formatted Evening Star in two ways: 1) a PDF with a regular font (14 point) for reading on a PC/Mac, and 2) a PDF with a much larger font (24 point) for reading on E-Readers like Kindle, Nook, etc.


Basically, these PDFs are the same as the original postings on Wattpad and FanFiction.net (see sidebar for links), with the exception of the last few chapters which I edited from looooong chapters into multiple shorter chapters. I didn't remove any wording (or fix many typos--sorry!) but just added a few chapter headings for a total of sixty chapters. The PC/Mac version runs to about 340 pages, and the E-Reader edition comes out at 925 pages. The text of the story itself is 140,000 words.


Trying to get my PDFs uploaded was not easy. I Googled and searched and found DocStoc where I was able to upload my PDFs and have them available here. But if anyone knows of an easier way to upload PDFs into Blogger, I'd be thrilled to learn how.


Anyway, scroll on down to the bottom of my blog, and you'll see the two versions available for downloading, the E-Reader Edition first, then the PC/Mac Edition.


Please let me know if there are any problems with downloading either edition; I haven't used DocStoc before and am hoping it will work well. :)


Consider these downloadable versions of Evening Star as early Christmas gifts to all my wonderful readers!! Enjoy!!!!


And, on the Pinned but Fluttering front, with Chapter 15 uploaded on Wattpad, the story made #1 on the Thriller List, #2 on the Fan Fiction List, and is currently #86 on the What's Hot List...which encompasses the entire website!!! I'm quite thrilled to have made it into the Top 100 for the first time since Evening Star's early days. Yay!!!


Well, I'd better start editing Chapter 16 of Pinned but Fluttering if I want to post it tomorrow. The rough draft was composed on the final day of NaNoWriMo and was extremely rushed, and thus needs a great deal of revising and editing! :)


Merry Christmas again!! Enjoy those downloads!!!


--Cassandra

Pinned but Fluttering Milestone...We're #1!!!

Yes, it's Darkward!!!

Well, I did finally win NaNoWriMo...with 14,000 words posted in the final 24 hours. It was exhausting, and I verified my word count with a mere 14 minutes to spare!! Whew!!


But the big news came today when I arose, bleary-eyed after two night this week of grading essays until 3:30-4:00 AM, and checked my Wattpad profile.


And...WOW!!!!

A screenshot right off of my Wattpad profile!!  

Pinned but Fluttering was ranked #1 in the Thriller category (which has happened before) and, the big surprise, #1 in the Fan Fiction category!!!! And Pinned but Fluttering was ranked #111 all together on the entire site under "What's Hot!"


In addition, Pinned but Fluttering also passed the 1,000 vote mark and the 1,000 comment mark as well...just yesterday!!! And it's just passed 40,000 reads, too, on Wattpad alone.


So while Pinned but Fluttering only has sixty-some reviews on FanFiction.Net (almost half from two faithful fans who have reviewed every chapter), at least Pinned but Fluttering is receiving lots o' love on Wattpad.


Plus, one of my favorite fan fiction authors, Aleeab4u (who wrote the amazing, incredible Falling Beyond Redemption, pimped Pinned but Fluttering on Twitter earlier this week!!! Yay!!!


And...Chapter 15 of Pinned but Fluttering will be up tomorrow (Saturday)!


So, thank you to all of you delightful readers and faithful reviewers/commenters/voters who have done so much to share my stories and spread the word!!! THANK YOU!!!!


You're the BEST!!!! Love you all!!!!


--Cassandra

NaNoWriMo Update

Well, here it is. November 30th. In previous NaNoWriMo years, I've been done by now. A couple of days ago, really. Finished. Waving my "winner" banner in everyone's faces. Savouring the triumph and all that jazz.


Yep. Here it is. November 30th. And I'm at 38,224 words. That's 11,700+ (not doing math right now--sorry!) words shy of "winning" by writing 50,000 words by midnight on November 30th...yeah, in a mere 21 hours.


So, the question is: Is it possible to write 11,700 words in 21 hours, get a few hours of sleep, homeschool three boybarians, and complete the remainder of my extensive "To Do" list, all by midnight tomorrow night?


Sigh.


Why am I lagging, you ask?


Let me count the ways...

1. I was sick with a nasty cold and sinus infection for a complete week...


2. We did a lot of entertaining at the beginning of the month, which included a lot of cleaning of a very dirty house...


3. My Brave Writer class (Literary Analysis: Anne of Green Gables) has sucked a great deal more time from my writing than I had planned. It's a hoot to teach, but it gives me little time left over for writing...


4. Almost everything that I have written has also been edited at least once and posted online, so in a way, I've done double the work...


5. I've had a huge upswing in my own essay grading business, so that's taken a good deal of time, too...not that I'm complaining...


6. My chiropractor was out of town for two weeks, thus my neck and upper back are in constant pain, making typing difficult....

So, yeah. I'm not done. Nowhere near. Either I can take all day tomorrow (well, today really since I'm writing this at 3 AM. Don't ask) and type my little heart out (and drive both my chiropractor and my family up the wall), or I can resign myself to abject failure.

Plus, I wouldn't get one of those cool winner's button thingies. I've gotta add 2011 to the collection, right???

So, type my little heart out or abject failure? (And no cool button, either.)

Which one would YOU choose?


Okay, okay already--I'm getting offline to go write more of my novel. Sheesh. Who knew you were so pushy?


Blogging when I should be NaNoWriMo-ing,


--Cassandra

Chapters 52 and 53 of Evening Star Are Now Up!

The two looooongest chapters of Evening Star are now up on both Wattpad and FanFiction.net. Each chapter is over 4,000 words!


FanFiction.net is still having severe issues with italics. Somehow all spaces between italicized words just disappear so that the words are all smushed together. It's really annoying. I even edited all of Chapter 53 before uploading it, placing **two** spaces between each italicized word, but it didn't help. And I use italics a lot when Edward is reading people's minds.


I'm beginning to get really peeved.


Now only two chapters remain--one covering the time between Bella's birthday and the last day they're together, and the last one in which he leaves.


They're not going to be easy to write, but I want to finish preferably before the release of Breaking Dawn Part 1 next Friday, and definitely before November 30, the last day I can post if I want Evening Star to be included in the Watty Awards, the annual award for the best stories in each category on Wattpad. I know I really have no chance, but I do hope to at least place. It's a long shot, thought.


With house guests from Boston this week and way too many essays to grade, I'm only at 12,000 words for NaNoWriMo. If I can write another 2000 words tonight, then I can make it writing 2000 words every day (no days off!) for the rest of the month. We'll see.


Part of the problem is that I'm not just writing but am also editing each chapter before I post it on Wattpad and FanFiction.net, and NaNoWriMo is all about NOT editing--just writing with abandon.


So we'll see if I have Evening Star completed by this time next week, shall we?


And let's not talk about how many Wattpad readers are upset about my not posting to Pinned but Fluttering this week. It simply wasn't possible.


And I've pushed myself so far now that I'm getting sick. Ugh. Hate that.


But I have been entertaining myself with drabble fics by CaraNo and Amethyst Jackson. I am so addicted to Cara's River that I can't see straight. ;)


So have a wonderful week, my fan fiction friends, and we'll see how much I can get accomplished in a week.


And enjoy Breaking Dawn Part 1. My daughter and I have our midnight tickets. Do YOU?


--Cassandra

Chapter 51 of Evening Star Posted!

Evening Star cover created by Fusiee on Wattpad

A very kind Wattpad fan created two new covers for Evening Star this week--isn't she a dear thing? I've posted my favorite of the two above. So many thanks go to Fusiee (Rachel) on Wattpad--thank you, sweetie!! :)

Last night I posted Chapter 51 of Evening Star. Over the weekend, I completed Chapter 51 and roughed out most of Chapter 52. Now that I'm nearing the end of the story, I think I'll end up with 55 chapters total.


I'm also incorporating elements of another story within Chapter 52. With the kind permission of FanFiction.net author AllTheOtherNamesAreUsed, I am weaving in some poetry from "Bella's favorite poet" as revealed in her story Midnight Sun Bridge. I am quoting a short portion of dialogue and will be working in a poem by "Bella's favorite poet" into a future chapter...when it will be extremely poignant (I hope!).


I think I have the overall picture worked out for the conclusion of Evening Star, so much so that I'm planning to devote the first few days of NaNoWriMo to completing Evening Star before I start drafting Chapter 8 of Pinned but Fluttering. I know that I'm not quite following NaNoWriMo's rules, but hey--as long as I write 50,000 words by November 30, I shall consider myself successful.


Currently my goal is to complete Evening Star by November 15. I have entered the story in the Wattys (the annual contest on Wattpad.com), but although I have a loyal fan base, I doubt it will win anything. I'd just love to place third or something. Ah, well.


I remind myself that I'm not writing to win prizes or a popularity contest; I'm writing because I love to write and because my readers on Wattpad (and two or three on FanFiction.net) are demanding more chapters and a sequel to Evening Star. I'll think about that prospect after I've completed this story and have a good deal of Pinned but Fluttering written.


I'm teaching a new literature class online starting today, so I'd better return to my "real" job, LOL! How I wish I could just write fiction all day...and that's a very odd desire coming from ME, the non-fiction writer before NaNOWriMo and fan fiction came along....


Have a wonderful week, all!! Love you!! Mwhaa!


--Cassandra :)