Taboo: Finally Using the H(P) Word

No, I'm not writing about anything racy or inappropriate. The title merely comes from the fact that I'm going to be talking about Harry Potter something that in some ways I've wanted to avoid because though the books are amazing and wonderful and have contributed so much to YA Fantasy they were not the first books in the genre and they will certainly not be the last. Yes I love Harry Potter. Yes I've read each book (and companion books) at least 10 times and am in some ways proud to admit it. I can quote full sections, destroy any challenger in Harry Potter trivia and am still battling my way towards that perfect score on the Harry Potter Sporcle quiz. So yes, Harry Potter played a huge role in my childhood, has definitely influenced how I think about writing and if I can become one eighth as successful as J. K. Rowling has I will be an extremely accomplished person. However, Harry Potter was not the first fantasy novel I read and I know it is not the last. It comes from a background and legacy, yet at the same time, has taken this legacy and made it grow in so many ways. If I tell people that I want to write Young Adult Fantasy and they need a reference point I do slip in a "like Harry Potter."
So why now? Why is it finally time to write a bit about those seven books which I cherish? Today I stumbled on a webcast J. K. Rowling did a few month ago. (http://hpread.scholastic.com/) Firstly, if you have the time watch it because it's great, especially the part where she read from Sorcerer's Stone. However, the part that stuck with me the most is when she said something to the effect that a writer's last thought is how their writing is going to influence others because they are so much within the world that they are writing. As someone who has been going on a journey to try and figure out how to write and who I am as a writer this comment was invaluable. I should be living within the worlds I'm creating and truly getting inside my characters heads. Honestly, I don't know if I've done that enough as of late. I've been writing a lot of excerpts of whatever ideas pop into my brain (check the construction zone for updates soon) and I'm enjoying the idea that I'm creating a recipe book in some ways. I now have the ingredients to create something truly special as soon as I'm ready to. Somehow though, I think I've lost track of what in some ways should be my primary concern- Guardians. I used to think about Shana, Kalynn, Ben, and Rafi all the time and now they're just fleeting worries. I'm not within Cornerstone the way I used to be and I miss it. In some ways it's because when you're editing you don't get to create the same way you do with a first draft. And in others it's just because I've been afraid to reenter Cornerstone. Still I won't be happy until it's my characters world and I'm just living in it. I guess I have yet another reason to thank J. K. Rowling and another reason to continue to love what I do.

This is How I Work: Further Misadventures in My Mind

Write every day. Practice. It doesn't matter what you're saying, just keep going and make it a routine, a habit, something as much a part of you as breathing. I've written this in some form in almost every single post on this blog. And yet I've never stayed true to my promise. Perhaps because I try to write when I have something to say, some sort of progress to report. Yet the very act of writing something two days in a row should be considered progress enough. I do try to write something every day even if it's just a phrase or a thought. Ready for yesterday's? It wasn't even a full sentence or anything that could work in a prose piece. It's actually a title: Nelson's Adventures and Some Other Meandering Occurrences. Does it make sense? I don't know yet. It sounds like a chapter in the vein of Edward Eager or his inspiration E. Nesbit (check them both out, they were writing YA fantasy before it was a thing). It's hard to know if someone will see it on the spine of a bookshelf one day (totally just got chills) or if it will somehow inspire something else. But whatever, it's ink on paper dated January 1, 2013. Sometimes I'm afraid to write because I don't know if I'll get anything done. However, in some ways it's just as important to stare at the page (or screen) in order to develop a routine. I used to do this regularly, it was a big focus of my Senior Project in high school. But now it's like I actually have to know what I'm doing in order to start. Really though, do I truly know what I'm doing? I have a measure of knowledge based on my own experience but the thing is anything I've learned has come from actually DOING something, not just kicking the can down the road and waiting for inspiration to strike. My stories don't get written by watching three movies in a day (yes that happened). They don't even get written by me writing in the blog. They'll only get written when I follow my own advice (there's the cliche you've all been waiting for) and sit down every day to write. So, now that I've laid the foundation I guess it's time to actually take pen to the page and start writing.

The Maze (And some other meandering thoughts)

Editing is like a maze. You know where you begin and the center is the ending, that final finished product. It's navigating the black lines in between that's rough. I mean, you're literally staring at black and white and trying to figure out where everything is going. There's no guarantee either that the first route you take is going to get you to the end. In fact, you're way more likely to end up with shreds of eraser marks all over the page into which you have finally rubbed a whole. 
But enough with the corny metaphors. Basically, I haven't written in a while. As soon as I was done with my creative writing class for the semester I had to stop writing and start studying for finals, which thankfully are done. When I had to put down my pen I promised myself that I would spend winter break writing and editing and creating really good pieces. Unfortunately I've done nothing yet. Part of it is pulling myself out of the lethargy of break. Part of it is creating new excuses and discarding them one by one. And a big part of this block is the comments that my professor gave me this past semester on parts of Guardians. It's amazing getting her feedback, she had some really good advice. And I should be really excited to work with her advice and make my story better. Instead though, I'm doing what I always to: putting off the inevitable and blogging about how hard things are. The problem with being a creature of habit is that quite like my frequent use of cliches, it starts to get annoying. Oftentimes these posts not only serve as an outlet for me to share my thoughts but also to motivate me. There's something about publicly posting your intentions online that make you realize that you are accountable for them.
It's New Year's Day and I guess we're supposed to be making resolutions. Funnily enough, one of the only corny things I don't do is reflect on my year and set new goals for myself. Instead, I take the corniness on step further and decide that every day can be my New Year's and any moment is a good one for reflection. I mean, look at this blog. But today is the one legitimate day that I can fully indulge in introspection so I might as well. This past year has been interesting for my writing. I went public with this blog, shifted from poetry to prose, finished my baby (that would be the hopefully one day published novel) and got into a creative writing class at an amazing college. It's been good, it really has. And looking back I realize all that I've done and all that I should be proud of. There's still a long way to do but at least I've done SOMETHING this year instead of just dreaming. Well I might not have done enough I have been working and now it's time to get a new piece of paper and reenter the maze,
Happy New Year's