A Significant Switch...

Yes, it's been months and months since I've posted here, and that's for a significant reason. I've put Only by Moonlight on hiatus and have stopped reading all but a few ongoing Twilight fan fics, namely Nolebucgrl's "Getting Blitzed" and HopeSparkles' "He Came Along." (Oh, and one ballet one that I thought was called "Balancoire" but can't find under that title.) And I'll always read the work of ladylibre and Tardis19. But that's about it. 

The reason for this major change? 

I've kind of switched fandoms. 

Last May I wrote a Twilight/Regency (Jane Austen's time period) fic called "An Enchanted Evening" that bridged the two fandoms, and since then, I've been wrapped up in the world of Jane Austen. 

Especially since the school year began in mid-August, I've escaped from a tremendously-stressful teaching load through reading Jane Austen Fan Fiction (JAFF), mostly those based on Pride and Prejudice. I have become addicted to the novels written by the incredible writers at Austen Variations and have been reading their ongoing stories as well as tracking down their novels through our library system (especially those of Abigail Reynolds!) and reading them voraciously. I've also been reading P&P fan fics through FF.net, and if you're interested, here are a few of my favorite JAFF authors on FF.net:

Sophie Turner (who also blogs at A Lady's Imagination) 

Astonishment

DarcyFan1

Shaelenina

I have started to write a couple of JAFF stories--just an outline and a few pages thus far. I hope to write more over the summer when I'm only teaching one online class, a Fan Fiction course at Brave Writer where I have been teaching since 2002. I've reduced my teaching load a bit for the 2015-2016 school year by asking to teach less-intensive online classes at Brave Writer, and I'll probably be teaching high school writing for my final year at our homeschool co-op next year as well. 

Plus, we're graduating homeschooler #3 in June (I can't call him "a child" at 5'9" and 210 pounds--he's more of a linebacker and works in landscaping/construction three days a week and does his schoolwork for our homeschool and the community college on Tuesdays and Thursdays), so next year I'll only be homeschooling our youngest. But he is learning-challenged and needs lots of my time to keep his workload at grade level. I spend 3-4 hours/day schooling him directly, in addition to teaching my co-op essay-writing class and nine online courses each school year. I also have my own essay grading service, so I'm grading the work of other homeschooled kids across the country via e-mail. 

In other words, I hope to have more time to write after June, but no guarantees; my pain levels from chronic autoimmune diseases have increased significantly due to this unusually high-stress school year, so I'm going to have to rest a good deal over the summer in order to recover. 

Perhaps I'll return to finish Only by Moonlight. Or perhaps I'll return to pursue the sequel (for which I've written a few chapters) to Evening Star (which for some strange reason is evoking a ton of reads and comments on Wattpad where it's approaching a million reads and Pinned but Fluttering is nearly at two million reads). 

Or I may pursue writing some real JAFF. We'll see.... 

Anyway, this is my life right now, and I just wanted to let you all know. 

Take care, my friends!

Warmly,
Cassandra xxxooo 

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

An Enchanted Evening: A Regency Tale

My new story, An Enchanted Evening: A Regency Tale, is being published in two ways. 

On Wattpad, An Enchanted Evening has been submitted for the Wattpad Prize 2014 as an Original Fiction story. The main characters, William and Elizabeth, struggle with love and danger at the most important ball of the entire London Season during the Regency Period (think Jane Austen). The story, just under 10,000 words, has been published in six parts and has been posted in its entirety. Here is the link for the Original Fiction version on Wattpad: An Enchanted Evening.

But on FanFiction.net, An Enchanted Evening: A Regency Tale is being published as a Twilight fan fiction story. Also in six chapters, with new chapters being posted on Wednesdays and weekends, we see Edward and Isabella at the most important ball of the London Season. This version is slightly different from the Wattpad Original Fiction story which had to be posted in a rush because of the writing contest deadline. I am adding extra details and material to the Fan Fiction version beyond the Original Fiction version since I have time to do so as I post twice weekly until all six parts are up and complete. So there will be differences beyond the name changes between the Original Fiction and Fan Fiction versions of the story. Here is the link for the Fan Fiction version: An Enchanted Evening: A Regency Tale on FFn. The third chapter will be posted tonight. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, this story started as a dream vision Bella had in Chapter 12 of Only by Moonlight. But that ballroom scene was centered in Chicago during Edward's actual lifetime in 1918. When the scene kept growing and developing far beyond what was usable in Only by Moonlight, I set it aside to later write into its own story. I struggled as I wrote it for the World War I time period as I kept imagining a Regency ball, along with the manners and speech of that time period. So I knew before I started any revisions that this new ballroom tale would be set in London during the Regency era. 

So I hope you will enjoy An Enchanted Evening: A Regency Tale, whichever version you decide to read...or even both!! 

Here is a short excerpt from Part I as the story opens (Fan Fiction version):

PART I

            Dreamily I relaxed into his arms—into Edward’s arms—as he whirled me across the candlelit ballroom. My midnight blue gown flared around me beautifully with every turn and twirl of the intricate waltz, still considered somewhat scandalous here in London because the couples danced so closely, so intimately, with one another. Smiling widely, I gloried in my proximity to Edward, my frequently clumsy feet never hesitating as I followed my partner’s confident leading.

            The most lavish ball of the Season was being held at the Earl and Countess of Allanham’s townhouse. Anyone who was anyone coveted an invitation. And through my Aunt Jane Carville’s social connections, she had been able to obtain one of the treasured cards which had graced the mantel of the blue parlor since its arrival, announcing to all visitors that we had been invited to attend the exalted engagement.

            Pushing all other thoughts out of my mind, I tilted my head, smiling up at Mr. Edward Masen, Esquire, as he grinned back almost mischievously. But too soon the orchestra drew the waltz to a graceful close, the dancers twirling to a stop and the murmur of low conversation filling the beautifully-mirrored ballroom as the gentlemen returned their partners to the chairs along the edges of the room before seeking fresh faces and feet for the next set of dances.    

            As we vacated the center of the ballroom, Edward offered me his strong forearm which I gratefully accepted after the exertions of the dance. Extending my fan to waft cooler air toward my face, I could feel my face glowing pink due to the exercise, the heat of the crowded room, and my excitement at Edward’s kind attention.

            “Would you prefer to step out on the balcony for a moment, Miss Swan?” he asked, noticing my need for fresh air.

*****

And I just sent Chapter 14 of Only by Moonlight to my lovely and talented pre-reader, ladylibre, yesterday. So I hope to post it this weekend as well--or soon after. 

Enjoy!!

Warmly,

~Cassandra :)

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

Carlisle and Bella...and Ghosts!

As much as I adore Edward, I must admit to having a thing for a good Carlisle and Bella pairing in fan fiction stories. My two favorite B/C fics have Carlisle as a university professor and Bella as a college student. 

Today I finished the wonderful "Original Sin" by BookwormBaby2580 as recommended on FicSisters. Seriously, I read this fic in two days; it was THAT good! We meet a free-spirited Bella who loves wholeheartedly and a broken, guilt-ridden, and intensely private Carlisle who meet--where else?--at the library. Because Carlisle isn't her professor, their relationship is allowed under USC's fraternization policy. "Original Sin" also features Jacob as a fellow college student at USC and Bella's best friend with few boundaries, Rosalie and Esme as minor-major characters, Alice and Emmett as quick appearances, and later on, Edward. I highly recommend "Original Sin"--it was well-worth my time.  

Until I read "Original Sin," my favorite B/C pairing was "Clementines" by Nachos4Children. An unlucky-in-love Bella literally runs into Dr. Cullen in the library where she works. In this case, Carlisle has Bella help him with a project which technically makes her his student, and their relationship comes under university scrutiny.

Does anyone have any other great Carlisle-Bella stories to recommend? As I have mentioned here often, Carlisle is my second-favorite character right after Edward, and I've always had a thing for doctors...ever since Dr. Brackett in Emergency! when I was a little girl.<grin> (Yes, I know--I just totally dated myself by citing a TV show from the early 1970's....sigh.) 

Carlisle has not yet entered "Only by Moonlight," but I do have plans for him to play a major role in this story. I also just realized that my first anniversary since starting to write "Only by Moonlight" passed earlier this month, March 5 to be precise. I hope to have time to work on Chapter 13 this weekend; it's about half-drafted right now. But of course, I have a week's worth of poetry lessons to prepare for my Brave Writer Playing with Poetry Workshop this weekend along with a stack of essays to grade for my Expository Essay I and II courses that I teach for our home school group's bi-monthly co-op classes. At least I already caught up on all the posts for my online poetry workshop and revised and e-mailed the handouts for starting research papers to my Expository Essay students already. If I work hard tonight, I might have some time to write tomorrow. 

But then Ghost Adventures is on TV tonight, and I consider that show to be "research" for "Only by Moonlight." Right? <wink> I am endlessly fascinated with the concept of ghosts--I have been since I was a small child and heard my first ghost story. It's just the way that God's power is so much stronger than the Enemy's that really interests me. My best friend from high school had to deal with demonic influences when she first moved to Australia, at one point waking up at 3:00 AM with a demon choking her; she managed to gasp out the Name "Jesus Christ," and the demon disappeared into the ceiling immediately. It's the epic battle between good and evil that I find endlessly fascinating. Plus, my sister-in-law can see the dead and wants to train her abilities into that of a full-fledged medium. 

So, I'd better get back to work instead of spending this Saturday writing blog posts. I wish you all the best, and thank you for reading!!

Warmly,
Cassandra :) 
xxxooo    

Pinned but Fluttering Is Up for Top 10 Fave Fics of 2013!!

The lovely people at Twi Fan Fiction Recs are now listing all of the Top 10 Completed Fics for each month of 2013, and voting is now open for Top 10 Fics of 2013!! 

And Pinned but Fluttering is in the running as it came in #8 in the January 2013 voting, thanks to my amazing readers on Wattpad and FanFiction.net. Thank you!!

You may vote ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS FROM TODAY--FEBRUARY 28TH at TwiFanFictionRecs-Top 10 of 2013. The works are listed alphabetically, so scroll on down to the P's to vote for Pinned but Fluttering!! Thank you!!! :D

And I am still (yes, STILL!!) working on Chapter 12 of Only by Moonlight. This chapter has me tied up in more knots than I ever thought possible. I'm planning to spend the rest of the weekend working on it, and I'm hoping to post it by Sunday night.

I also will be posting reviews of Jeanne McDonald's amazing The Truth in Lies very soon; I'm also doing a little proofing, too--and Jeanne is so gracious that she's letting me! :) For those of you who remember the brilliant fan fic A Different Kind of Pain by Sparklingwand on FFn, this is the first volume of the original fiction version. And Jeanne has revised it beautifully!! I can't wait to share my thoughts with all of you!! :)

So now that I just finished teaching an online grammar class in January and have NO online classes to teach in February, I hope to be seeing a lot more of all of you this month!! :)

Warmly,
Cassandra :)
xxxooo

 

Only by Moonlight Nominated for Fandom Choice Awards!!

Wonderful news!!! 

Only by Moonlight has been nominated for Best Supporting Cast in the 2014 Fandom Choice Awards!! 

Basically, the Fandom Choice Awards are similar to the Academy Awards, but for Twilight Fan Fiction. Only the seven stories with the highest vote counts in each category become nominees, and voting is going on currently. :) 

Here's the link for voting: Fandom Choice Awards: Vampire

Voting is open from December 1, 2013--January 3, 2014. I would really appreciate your taking the time to vote for Only by Moonlight for Best Supporting Cast!!! (It's Question #25 of 29, so it's near the bottom.) 

I can't tell you how very THRILLED BEYOND WORDS I am about this nomination!! I couldn't be happier!!! 

And you make YOU happier, I just sent **two** chapters of Only by Moonlight to my amazing and uber-talented pre-reader, ladylibre, tonight. :)  They need a lot of work, but I hope to get the first chapter up within a week or so, and the second one up by Christmas. :)

So I thank all of those who nominated Only by Moonlight and I'll really thank you for voting!!!! 

And I especially thank ladylibre--this story would literally not exist if it weren't for her stellar and clever ideas. And I also thank all of my incredible readers on Wattpad.com and FanFiction.net--you all inspire me!! 

Doing a definite Happy Dance,
~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

Buried in Work (Again)

It's that time of year again.

Yep, I'm back to work after a busy and exhausting summer. This is what I'm up to now...

I'm three weeks into homeschooling our younger two kids in grades 8 and 11. I need to grade their quizzes, tests, and essays for this week and schedule their assignments for next week...today.

I'm two weeks (and about five days behind) in teaching an online class in analyzing American poetry. Not only do I have to respond to about 100 posts, but I also have to write and post their next five assignments...all today.

I have another online class on the MLA research essay starting tomorrow, and have to post their first week's assignments...today.

I have a literary curriculum on Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan to write...today.

So, needless to say, I have only written about 800 words of Chapter 10 for Only by Moonlight...which I should be posting...today. It obviously isn't happening.

(But I can tell you that I've written right up to the beginning of the Halloween party....)

In addition to all the work pressures, three of our four kids are struggling with some kind of chronic health issue, one quite serious (as in seizure-serious). And all the stress about their health has affected mine so that I'm in much more pain than usual from rheumatoid athritis and much more exhausted than usual from chronic fatigue syndrome. I've been up working until 2:00-4:00 AM almost every night for the past two weeks.

I hope to get back to writing as soon as humanly possible--not only for you my readers, but also for my own sanity. I need to write in order to remain mentally healthy, and I hate being unable to express myself creatively. I need that.  

Thanks for listening to me whine a bit--and thanks for understanding my schedule. I'll write as soon as I can--for my own sake as well as for you all.

Take care, my friends, and be good to each other.

Warmly,
~Cassandra
xxxooo 

Summer (Almost) Past

Sigh.

I had such major plans for writing this summer. I had hoped to produce 30,000 words in July via Camp NaNoWriMo and to post weekly chapters of Only by Moonlight.

But then a fire scare right after July 4 put us in an uproar. Our small town (pop.1200) is surrounded on all sides by national forest and is located in a valley at 4,000 feet elevation at the base of Mount Laguna--about an hour's drive east of San Diego, California. A raging fire started in the desert, climbed the backside of the mountain range, and then threatened Mount Laguna which is a tiny town of fewer than 100 full-time residents but boasts many campgrounds and hundreds of part-time residences (i.e., cabins that can't be lived in as a primary residence as they're on forestry lands).

My parents bought such a cabin in 1997, and we cram as many as 25 people into the 600-square-foot cabin for Christmas Dinner every year. Major holidays are usually celebrated at the cabin--in fact, there have been several "White Easters" in which we were tempted to NOT dye the eggs and make it really fun to find them in the snow.

The Chariot Fire endangered all of Mount Laguna which was evacuated, including my parents' cabin. When the fire jumped Sunrise Highway, we knew we were in for trouble.

Eventually the evacuation zone came within a mile of our home and the fire burned up to the mouth of a canyon that ends at the north side of our town. Fortunately, the winds shifted suddenly, and the fire started burning back on itself rather than barreling down the canyon. Still, with the fire burning six miles away, it was scary.

We were warned to prepare to evacuate, so the kids and I gathered photo albums, important papers, and packed suitcases with clothing for a few days.

And did I mention that my husband wasn't home during this time? I was left at home with four kids and a '91 Toyota Corolla which wouldn't hold much should we be evacuated. He did make it home briefly to switch cars with me and leave me the minivan. Whew--that was one blessing.

Another blessing (besides the winds shifting--yay!!!) was Facebook. I stumbled across a Facebook group for fires in our area, and they posted links to the CalFire audio feeds, constantly updating maps of the burn area, eyewitness reports via Facebook and blogs of what was happening on the mountain, etc.

Over 7,000 acres burned and 150 structures were destroyed, most of them cabins on forestry lands which then cannot be replaced. Five firefighters were injured, none seriously. And at the end of the week, rains came and soaked the ground, helping firefighters to gain the upper hand and douse the monster that had just seemed invincible before.

So with packing, days of tense watching and waiting, and then unpacking again, my autoimmune issues reacted to my stress and flared up painfully. Plus three of our four kids are not healthy. Our daughter has a gene mutation that causes chronic fatigue and depression. Our eldest son has been having pain and swelling in his joints and muscles, culminating in a seizure last week (we're waiting for a call from the hospital to schedule an EEG), and our youngest son may have a congenital hernia which is messing with his digestive system and needs imaging done.

Did I mention that my husband is self-employed and we have no health insurance?

Plus I taught an online fan fiction class for four weeks which took a good deal of my writing time away. I had eight students ages 11-14, with one from Australia and one from Canada; the rest were from the US. It was intriguing that several of the students were not homeschooled; they were taking the class for fun because they were devotees of writing fan fiction stories. It was a great class.

Here is the class description from the transcript forms I send out at the end of class:

Course description: The Fan Fiction course focuses on the writing of three fan fiction stories over four weeks: one flash fiction story of fewer than 1,000 words, a second fan fiction story or chapter of 1,500 words minimum, and a third story or continuing chapter of a multi-chapter work of fan fiction with a 2,000 word minimum. After receiving written feedback in detail from classmates as well as from the instructor, students revise and resubmit their final two stories at the end of the course. In addition, two character-preparation freewrites are assigned early in the course to aid fan fiction writers in developing believable characters. In addition to exploring and defining the genre of fan fiction writing, students also read and offer an informal written analysis of several fan fiction stories from different genres (books, films, television, video games, anime, etc.) in addition to offering written feedback on a minimum of six stories written by classmates. Problem areas of fiction writing are also addressed and discussed, including: learning terms and techniques of literary analysis, analyzing story elements, writing convincing and compelling characters, plotting and mapping strategies for stories, writing believable (and correctly punctuated) dialog, following the steps of the writing process, revising and editing stories, overcoming writer’s block, completing a multi-chapter story/novel, and preparing to publish fan fiction online or in print form.   

I still have to grade the final stories this week, but they should go fairly quickly since the students have revised the two main stories (1,500 and 2,000 word minimum) that they wrote earlier for the class.

 

So Camp NaNoWriMo fell by the wayside pretty darn quickly, but I have posted a few chapters of Only by Moonlight  and am currently working on Chapter 8 which I hope to send to my brilliant and invaluable pre-readers ladylibre and EmmyDana tonight. :)

 

Year # 17 of home schooling begins in just over two weeks with our younger two starting eighth and eleventh grades. I'll also be teaching my new online class Literary Analysis: American Poetry (which I still need to write and plan) starting September 3, and my co-op high school Expository Essay course starting September 12. My Essay Grading Service for homeschoolers is also picking up speed as I just added a family with tenth grade triplets to  my client list, so they'll keep me busy.  

 

I hope to keep up with regular chapter updates for Only by Moonlight, but with these chapters being quite a bit longer than my chapters for my other multi-chapter fics, I may have to post a chapter every other week. My chapters for Evening Star and Pinned but Fluttering were around 2500 words while chapters for Only by Moonlight have been 4000-5000 words. 

 

So with summer ending soon, I just wanted to let you know what I've been up to and what's ahead. And I'm both ecstatic and sad that pattyrose's brilliant The Cullen Legacy completed today with the epilogue. I'd have to rate this story in my Top Fan Fiction stories along with (in no particular order):

• solostintwilight's In Your World (pulled to publish but some outtakes still remain of Amishward)
• solostintwilight's Letters to Corporal Masen
• Sparklingwand's A Different Kind of Pain (also pulled for publication)
• TwiloverSue's A Forbidden Love (also pulled for publication--one chapter remains up)
• TKegl's Beyond Time 
• twilover76's No Ordinary Proposal
• Aleeab4u's Falling Beyond Redemption 

So, I wish you a wonderful final weeks of summer!! Now I'm going to grade final fan fiction stories for my class and work on Chapter 8 of Only by Moonlight for all of you!!

Writing for you,

Cassandra :)