The MayLitWrit Writing Challenge

It's finally time for the #maylitwrit challenge! The most difficult thing about writing these past months has been the challenges I've taken on. Meeting the challenge isn't what I've struggled with so much as actually posting my daily challenge on Instagram. For instance, today I have to post twice because I didn't get around to posting yesterday's challenge. I'm not sure what if it means anything deeper, missing the Day 1 challenge, but I'll press on anyway.

Day 1 - I'm going back to work on Over Land & Under Stone during May. I want to have something ready to share on Wattpad by September or October. The photo gives you all the simple answers. Here are some more specs.

1. Genre: I really am struggling with genre. It's definitely Fantasy, no doubt about that. But sub-categorizing my work has been a nightmare. It's not your typical fantasy book. My work will always contain a little romance, but it also contains a dash of action and is heavy on the adventure/quest end. I won't ever label my work as straight-up romance because it doesn't fit that category too well, considering what most people think of as romance. If you're only looking for a romance book which includes sex, please do not pick up any of my books. They are not what you're looking for.
   
2. Progress: I haven't done much to this WIP yet. It's still in rought draft format and sitting at around 56k words. Since last Nano when I wrote it, I've been working to fill in the blanks I left open in world building and character bios when I ran out of planning time before November 1, 2017.
   
3. What's it all about?: Zec Inessi and Liha Gervell are both Genzetti and both born to influential families. Zec was born with the gift of dream-prophecy, making him a target for the Divni'I who go through rigorous training to get what he was given by the Creator. Whether or not it's true, they consider him a threat. Liha Gervell was born under the light of the mid-day suns, an ill omen to the followers of the Sekot Mundei who worship the deities of the moons. The two really had no reason to meet each other but circumstances change when Zec's life is directly threatened. To save him, a trusted guide takes him on a pilgrimage. He meets Liha who has been raised in the protection of the Guardian of Si'Yinte Falls, a holy place to the Bot'ha Clan. When they must flee intruders at the shrine, Liha must go with them or risk discovery. Together they walk the path of back trails and forest tracks, caves and underground tunnels, until they reach Gild'n Mountain Shrine. There, Zec will be safe as he learns how to use and control his gift. In the mean time, Liha returns to Si'Yinte Falls until her time for pilgrimage arrives. There, she learns about the heritage that has been missing from her life. When she returns to Gild'n for her training, what path will she choose? Will the two meet again? And the story goes on...
   

Number 3 is a great example of a rough draft. I just wrote that this morning when I posted it on Instagram. I've been trying to figure out how to write the blurb for this book and I think this is a great start. What do you think?

5/7/2018 - I didn't even have time to post my challenges during the past week. It really went by in a blur. So I created a collage that met all these challenges in three photos. Whew!
Day 2: Anticipated May Read - top right

1. I've already finished Siege & Storm by Leigh Bardugo.
   
2. I'm looking forward to the third book in that series - Ruin and Rising.
   
3. I also started reading Children of Blood & Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and I'm super into it. I started reading it Saturday night (made myself stop at chapter 5 then because it was late) and now I'm on chapter 44! This one I'm reading with others in a writing group as sort of a book club read.
   
4. An author friend gave me a copy of Huntress: Life After book 1 by Julie Hall so that's on my list for this month.
   
5. And for my non-fiction reading choice, I have Successful Self-Publishing by Joanna Penn. I'm hoping to learn a lot by reading it since I'm taking that route to publish my work.
   

Day 3: First Manuscript You Completed & Day 4: Three Things You Can't Write Without
The largest photo in the collage shows both day three and day four. My first completed manuscript was Ripples. And the three things I can't write without are:

1. Scrivener
   
2. YouTube - because music inspires me and encourages me
   
3. Journal & Writing Tool
   

Day 5: Author You Write Like - bottom right - My work hasn't been circulating long enough to get the opinions of others on this matter. But I think if I could manage a happy medium between these two authors, I'd be very happy.

1. Brian Jacques - author of the Redwall series - All his books are stand-alone stories. They do follow a chronology but it's loose. I love that! I also love the way he puts the reader into the world he's created.
   
2. Francine Rivers - author of The Last Sin Eater which was my introduction to her writing - If I can infuse feeling into my writing like this author does, I think I might cry in relief. She has a way with emotion unlike anything I've ever encountered.
   

If you haven't read either of those books, I'd highly recommend them. They are both amazing authors who love their craft. My oldest child (who's married now) hated reading...until we hit upon the Redwall series. They are the reason he started getting more interested in books. (Interestingly enough, he also enjoyed a short story on the underground railroad which, I think, started him down a path of loving history. I wish I remembered the name of the story because I'd love to thank the author...)

5/9/2018 - Day 6 - I find I relate better to Master Tor Gervell or Guardian Zim Haya Ne. (ZEEM hah-yah neh') Both are somewhat quiet. Both have accepted their calling and work daily to do it well. Both are older and have seen and experienced many things the younger characters haven't.

Day 7/8 - Introduce your antagonist/Introduce the antagonist in an aesthetic

Over Land & Under Stone has more antagonists than I have scenes for right now. It's kinda crazy, actually.

• Poten Jai Nisse - He's the second highest ranking Divini'I in Zec's hometown, Turmali City. Because of Zec's Creator-given gift at birth, the Divini'I view people like him as a threat. He can do what they've had to train rigorously to achieve.
  
• Ka Shi Malaki - He's one of the Ka, the law-keepers, of Turmali City. He's not high-ranking. He's always been jealous of Zec's adoptive father. Because of that, he looks for every opportunity to bring their whole family down.
• Ibin Etina - She's an assassin for hire and one of the best. But she has a strict code she adheres to and all her potential clients are made aware before a deal is struck. She's a devout worshiper of the Creator and won't do anything that she feels would dishonor that holy deity.
  
• The Drakmaugh - This is an underground dweller. I won't say much more besides the fact that it's a beast. The picture below will give you a better idea of the specifics.
• The Sekot Mundei - The sect that worships the moon deities has been slowly growing in power over the last few sun-cycles. Since they revere the moons, they have decreed that any baby born under the light of the suns is an abomination. Liha Gervell is one of these children and that's why she's sent to live with the Guardian of a foreign shrine.

The Sekot Mundei are more like bogies in this book. They sort of hover at the edge of knowledge for now. I'd like to flesh out the religion a little more before getting them more deeply involved in a story. So right now I'm working on the whole pantheon and when I get that done, I'll figure out the particular worship practices. It's been fun figuring this out but I can't spend as much time on it as I would like.
And as a disclaimer, I did not choose albino models because I dislike them. I think they're beautiful and perfect representations of what a god or goddess should look like: ethereal, other-worldly, beautifully unique.
Also, if anyone knows the name of the male model by the deer, that would really help. I'd like to add one of his photos to my Pinterest board but I can't remember his name. Those amber eyes, though... (PS, I'm notorious for forgetting names, anyway, so please don't be offended Mr. Amber.)

5/10/2018 - Day 9 - Yesterday's challenge asked us to share what we love most about writing. I absolutely love world building. I find having a solid foundation for a story starts with knowing what kind of world the characters have to deal with on a daily basis. I love filling in as many details as I can, though I do have to be careful. I can easily get bogged down in the 'verse and forget all about the characters and story entirely.
My second favorite part of writing is character creation, and probably for the same reason. I just love filling in blanks. I could probably go work for the military as a civilian filling in blanks...or helping others fill in blanks. Nah. I'll stick to writing. :)
My biggest struggle is sentence structure and variety. I sometimes feel like my vocabulary is over-the-top and might cause hiccups in the flow. I know the dialog doesn't always match my characters' personalities, too. And my sentence structure? It's often repetitive. This is why I /know/ I need an editor. I'm only waiting until I can find one that fits my budget.

You may be asking why I shared a photo of books when we were asked to share what we love most about writing. In order for me to fill out my worlds well, I have to research different things. These two resources were on bargain shelves at my two favorite chain bookstores and I got them for a fraction of the original cost. (My sincere apologies to the folks needing royalties from these!) I can't wait to dig into them. I knew when I wrote Ripples that I wanted to create a strategy game for my world. I'd love to create more but I'll need lots of help in that area as strategy and tactics are not exactly my strong point. The book about games will come in handy but my husband and son will also be able to offer some valuable input since they think that way normally. I found The Book of Games at BAM. The Illustrated Signs & Symbols Sourcebook I found at Barnes & Noble. (No one is paying me to link to these resources or sites...just disclaiming.)
Speaking of royalties, I'm learning more and more about how the writing process works every day. Yesterday, I learned a little about royalties for authors. It sounds like a crazy roller-coaster. I'm glad I'm going to self-publish. I know it will be much harder this way, but at least I'll know where I stand financially and be able to retain all the rights to my work.

5/11/2018 - Day 10 - How do you keep up creativity? This question seems strange to me. As a writer of fantasy fiction, I don't see how the well of creativity could ever run dry. But I suppose anything is possible. If I get bogged down, it's usually because I'm too wound up in the project and not because I've lost the sense of creativity. So if I do need to refresh my mind and spirit to improve the flow of my creativity, here's a list of things I can do that are not writing related per se.

1. I read a lot.
   
2. I sometimes draw and paint.
3. I'm a musician of sorts.
4. I like to decorate and rearrange things in my house.
5. I sew.

All those things require some modicum of creativity but it's different than the type used for writing. Just doing something besides stressing over my writing helps me refocus.
So what do you do if you find your well of creativity has run dry? Or are you like me and that just hasn't happened? Do you find stress to be the main problem that blocks the flow of your writing? If so, how do you get writing again?

5/14/2018 - Day 11 - My favorite writing program before being able to purchase Scrivener was LibreOffice because it was what I had and it was open source. But since one of the families who befriended us fairly early on our return to Louisiana gifted me with Scrivener, it's become my hands-down favorite. There are so many helpful tools in the program, including the proper formats for manuscripts and options to create character and setting information sheets. It enables the writer to keep everything organized and easy to see at a glance. I'd highly recommend it to you if you're not using it yet. It's worth the cost. I just didn't have the money to purchase it at the time. God is good!
I use Scrivener almost exclusively but as a backup, I also post my writing into Open Office documents so I can read them if I happen to lose my Scrivener files or can't access them for some reason. It's the office program I have installed on my computer now.
Both LibreOffice and Apache Open Office are free office suites and they can be opened in the Microsoft Office Suite (which I absolutely hate, btw). The reason I'm not using Microsoft Office is because they've changed it so much since the last time I used it, I'd have to relearn the program. Also, I don't like that it auto-saves to pdf when I ask it to print docs. What the heck, Microsoft?

Day 12 - WIP Setting Aesthetic - Most of you have seen my setting aesthetic for Surge at least three times. I can't make such a cool one for Over Land & Under Stone since Polyvore is defunct. :( But I can create a Pinterest board. So that's what I did. Here's a sample of what I've added to my OLUS Art and Music Inspiration board. It's locked for now but I hope to open it soon. I just don't want to spoil the book for anyone.

Day 13 - Favorite Childhood Book - I mentioned this in a previous challenge but I recently found the photo of the book I loved as a kid. You can actually purchase used copies on Amazon so I'll share that link. My favorite childhood book had to be Lucky Puppy, a Disney early reader book.

I apologize for any typos. My time is short today and I have to get moving or I won't finish my short story on time. Thanks for taking the time to read and follow along as I continue on my writing journey. You guys keep on writing, too. Or creating art. Or music. Just keep doing your creative YOU.

5/15/2018 - Day 14 - Typed or Handwritten? - Hands-down, it's typed. I have dealt with mild arthritis in my hands since high school. It's worse now so writing on paper for any length of time really hurts. I still hand-write for some of the planning stages but if I can type it out, I prefer to do that.

5/16/2018 - Day 15 - MC's Unwinding Routine - Routines are good in many ways. In my life, they help keep me on track. But they can turn into a prison or become a trap so it's good to shake things up randomly from time to time.

There's no Calgon in the world I created. And the people stay pretty busy. There isn't a global war going on, though there are skirmishes within Clans from time to time. So figuring out how my characters wind down after a hard day was something I really had to think about. The info is in the story but it took me a while to remember the where/when/what of the particular situations.

• Zec finds a little grotto with an small spring and a natural skylight that allows sunshine in for a short time each day. The sun reminds him of Liha and the mosses that grow around the spring remind him of his time at Si'Yinte Falls. He also meditates. He finds both activities soothing.
  
• Liha has always run to the water gardens at Si'Yinte Falls any time she felt troubled. The birds come to her and over time she's learned how to speak their languages. The atmosphere at the water's edge soothes and calms her.
  

I love having a cup of tea at the end of a long, tiring day. And if I can end it with a bit of light reading, I love that even more. What do you do to unwind at the end of the day?
P.S. So you don't have to open a new window, I thought I'd pop that Calgon ad video up at the end of my post. Enjoy!

5/17/2018 - Day 16 - This was a hard one and I thought on it often throughout the day. I finally narrowed it down to these few things:

1. Genzet is a clan divided into underland dwellers, the Tanderali, and overland dwellers, the Drositiri.
   
2. The Tanderali live in cavernous cities under the mountains while the Drositiri live in stone cottages built above ground in the more southern part of the territory.
   
3. Si'Yinte Falls is the holy shrine of the Bot'ha Clan and is located in what can best be described as a huge crater decorated randomly with waterfalls. Check out this article about waterfalls and scroll down to number 6, Plitivice Falls in Croatia, and you'll have a decent beginning of an idea. (I'm still working on the map in my head and this is DragonballZ level daunting on the magnitude scale. See video at the end or click here to watch at YouTube.)
   
4. Gild'n Mountain Shrine is the holy place of Genzet and is most like a Tibetan mountain monastery built into the sides of the highest mountain of that territory. (Scroll down this article to check out numbers 1 and 2.)
   
5. The general setting of the story: mountainous forests, caverns, mountains, tunnels, and hilly forests.

5/18/2018 - Day 17 - I read most often in my bed these days but I didn't want to share a photo. It looks like a whirling dervish swept through leaving chaos and mayhem in its wake. So instead, I shared a photo of my desk. It's my second favorite place to read because it's usually quiet. The only thing I don't like about reading at my desk is that I do get interrupted from time to time.

5/19/2018 - Day 18 - I thought and thought and thought some more before answering this challenge. I've done so many varied things over the years -- chainmail jewelry, composing songs, sewing, scrapbooking, painting, mixed media art, selling jewelry and candles, teaching piano, and more. And no matter what I turn my hand to, one thing is always apparent. All my work includes at least one flaw (usually more). It used to bother me that I couldn't seem to perfect whatever it was I was turning my hand to at the time. And then one day, it hit me. No human is perfect. Aren't you glad to hear it? I know I am! It's the little imperfections that make anything we create uniquely ours. So my writing style is Slightly Off-Center and that's probably how it'll stay. And guess what...that's OK.

5/21/2018 - Day 19 - I have said it so many times before but I love the planning process, world building and character creation in particular.
Finishing a first draft is pretty awesome, too. It's quite empowering to see that story put together, even in its raw state.
I haven't actually written a final FINAL draft yet. My first book is at the 'needs an editor' stage, but it's as final as it's going to get for now. I know there's more refining that could be done, though.
I also have a feeling my successive books will be better. The experts do say this is usually the case. I hope so. I really hope so. Not that I feel my first book is horrible, though. I love Ripples! It's dear to my heart. OLUS is also a tale I see coming together in a beautiful way.

Day 20 - I absolutely hate this challenge. I know it's meant to help me create a better blurb but when my values differ so much from the values of the masses, it's really hard to answer this. I like a book that creates a new world I can get into. I feel like Y'Dahnndrya meets that need. I also like fun and interesting characters. I believe my book includes enough characters with enough variety that readers would enjoy meeting them. And in general, it's a fantasy book and those are my favorite. I'd pick it up and check it out, at the very least, for that reason alone.

5/22/2018 - Day 21 - I don't write much humor. If there are any funny parts in my stories, they show up unexpectedly. My personal sense humor is kind of hard to get at times. I tend to write more moments of tension. I think that's probably because generally I have a more serious nature.

5/23/2018 - Day 22 - Yesterday's challenge asked us to choose between sci-fi and fantasy. Of the two, I'm more suited to writing fantasy. I just don't understand half of the sciences necessary to write believable science fiction. I do read a little sci-fi, but only if it's super-fantastical. I don't like the really technical ones that mostly take place in an industrial type setting. And I really do NOT like a story that starts with so much hope and ends in tragedy. I feel like a lot of sci-fi ends that way. I like something a lot more organic, too. My top three favorite sci-fi authors are:

1. Anne McCaffrey
2. Edgar Rice Burroughs
3. Gene Roddenberry (do screenplays count? Why, yes! Yes, they do.)

I have more favorites in the realm of fantasy but I'll give you three.

1. J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Brian Jacques
3. Stephen Lawhead

So who are your favorite sci-fi and/or fantasy authors? Which do you prefer? Do you think writers in each of those genres should cross over once in a while, just to try it?

5/24/2018 - Day 23 - I had to dig for a while before finding a first line I felt comfortable sharing. There is so much work to do on Over Land & Under Stone. I'm looking forward to it but I can't even touch it right now. If I'm going to knock out that short story before July, it takes precedence. Anyone else have writer problems like this?

5/25/2018 - Day 24 - I have to confess to some major dragging of the feet on this challenge. There's a reason I write fantasy books. I'm trying to steer clear of the 'real world' for a little while. But once I got started, I found out some really interesting things.

If Zec lived in the real world, his name would probably be Zach, short for Zachary. He'd look similar (but not exactly like) Ethan Hawke in his younger years. He be partial to gray coveralls. And he'd probably be studying gemstone carving. Yes, that's right. Did you know that exists today? I thought it was something lost in the past but apparently there are several places you can go to learn how to do this. My hands are itching to try...but the thought of ruining beautiful gemstones because of my inherent clumsiness would definitely hold me back. I'll stick to writing, I think. Touring one of the schools would be fun, though.
If Liha lived in the real world, her name might be Lisa, though I'm not overly fond of that name for writing. She'd probably be vegan or vegetarian and love gypsy and bohemian clothing. She'd be interested in holistic health and living and probably be studying to be an entrepreneur herbalist. She might not have very many friends but those she'd choose would be the kind that last a lifetime.
I wasn't sure if this was what the challenge creators meant but had fun looking things up. And for the record, I would love to be an affiliate for different stores and websites, but I haven't had the time to get it all together. So NONE of these folks paid me for sharing their links or products. I shared them mostly for reference.

5/30/2018 - Day 25 - For me, it's fantasy all the way. I'll pick up a sci-fi or romance novel but only if it's not too technical. I like to see more imaginative things, fanciful things, when I read. And I'm not a technical sort of person so writing a good sci-fi might be beyond my skills at this point.

Day 26 - I like happy endings. Yes. We do not always get a happy ending in life. But I don't write reality. I write fantasy. I do want it to have some believability, though, so struggling to overcome obstacles needs to take place. How can the characters grow otherwise?

Day 27 - My favorite place to write besides at my desk is our local cafe, Cafe Mosaic Coffee House. I like the ambient noise and the music's always good. It's a bonus to have ready access to my favorite go-juice, too. :) Yea, coffee!

Day 28 - I had a bit of trouble with this one. I never discuss the particulars of the full morning routine for either of my main characters in OLUS. I had to think about it and come up with something I thought was a probability for both.

Day 29 - This is always my love/hate challenge. It's a challenge because stuffing your 100,000-word story into a 5-700 word blurb is hard, much more selling it in ten.  But I managed it. I think I did well. I got a rather encouraging comment on Instagram. Yea!

6/4/2018 - Day 30 - I finished up this particular challenge a day late but it's done. I felt like I couldn't give it my all, though, since I was focused on a different story than the one I was using for the challenge. I'll have to go back over my answers while I'm revising this month.
Day 30 - MC's Bookish Bestie - This was a tough challenge because Liha doesn't really have a best friend. She's pretty isolated because she's a special case. And Zec isn't really 'bookish' so I couldn't count him. The closest I could come to this challenge was Guardian Zim Haya Ne of Si'Yinte Falls. She's taken care of Liha all her life and since she guards the holy shrine of the Bot'ha Clan, she has access to all the written material for that clan.

Day 31 - May Wrap-Up - Well, I think I've done that pretty well in this post. I did get a lot accomplished this month. I have a solid rough draft of my short story to work on during this week. I've given some serious thought to how OLUS is set up, from character profiles to setting and plot. I learned a lot about different areas of writing I never thought of before. I participated in a book club for the first time and really enjoyed that. And I read at least four books in my genre. All in all, May was a fairly productive month.

And now for the slideshow. I apologize for the length of this post, but I hope you will enjoy the many links and tidbits in spite of how long it takes to read.