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Tag: The Prophet’s Key

Subplots and Storylines – April 2016

Tracey Dyck 35 Comments
Somebody needs to tell me how in the world we’re one-third of the way through 2016. Because we can’t possibly be that far into the year! Nevertheless, my calendar usually doesn’t lie, unless I forget to flip it, which I didn’t, so it must be true.
By the by, I do realize this post is a day later than normal, and for that I apologize. But last night I was too zonked from a crazy weekend at work, and I was rather firmly imprisoned by the pages of the book I was reading . . . So I decided to put this off one day. You all don’t mind, right? (If you do, I shall unleash that dragon I keep in my basement.)
Anyway, I don’t think April was quite as flurrysome* (shh, that’s a word–I just made it up) as the past couple of months have been. It wasn’t quiet by any stretch of the imagination, but it was more normal, I guess.
*It was, however, flurrysome in the sense of wintery weather. Who gave April permission to sprinkle snow on us, then warm up enough to melt it, then snow again? Bleeeegh. I think it’s actually spring now. I’m currently sitting on my porch and enjoying the sunshine and birdsong.

Life

The month began with a retreat involving my college & career group along with my two middle siblings’ youth group. Mixing high schoolers and young adults does actually work, wonder of wonders. We rode in a bus to the same lovely camp we went to last time. It had been November (2014, I think?), and it had snowed. This time it was April, and it still snowed.
Some of the highlights from the retreat:
  • Playing Balderdash (which was an overdue delivery on my youth leader’s long-ago promise that we would play it . . . IT WAS FABULOUS AND WORTH THE WAIT).
  • Splitting up and putting on hilarious skits. My group came up with one loosely based off of this video, but with way more characters involved:
  • Sledding on an inner tube down a wooden slide in the bitterly cold wind.
  • Staying up late to watch a movie.
  • Finding out the speaker had been mentored by my late (honorary) grandfather.

On a different note, I’m buying my first car! My dad and I spent an afternoon doing a thorough cleaning of it. It’s going to be great to have my own wheels–up until this point, my parents have been generous enough to give me use of one of their vehicles for work and such, but with my brother soon graduating, he will be needing it. So finding this car at this particular time is an answer to prayer! I don’t have it in my possession yet, but it should be ready sometime in May.

We celebrated a few birthdays in the family. (April is birthday central around here, my goodness.) Thus, we had some special celebrations at home, as well as family gatherings to attend.

I sent off my blogoversary giveaway prize, which recently arrived at Anna’s place. Yay! Check out her pictures HERE. Seeing them gave me the warm fuzzies.

I got promoted at my job just last week! It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I know it’s going to be good.

That’s a little peek at the happenings of life this month. Now it’s on to all the bits of story I watched, read, and wrote!

Movies



The Help // This is the one I watched at the retreat. I quite enjoyed it! There were a couple minor things the movie could’ve done without, but other than that, it was a moving story of how black maids were treated in 1960’s America. (Hint: terribly. I wanted to punch certain characters for the way they treated their servants.) Skeeter, a young journalist, sets out to show the world the truth about the maids’ life. The maids themselves risk an awful lot to get the story out.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End // Watched this with my brother one evening. Hilarious! The PotC movies are ones you don’t really expect much depth from–just laughs and epicness, which it definitely delivered. The plot was so convoluted, I could barely follow it in the first half, but Jack Sparrow’s hilarity made up for it. “Gentlemen, I wash my hands of this weirdness.”

Once Upon a Time (4 episodes of Season 3) // It seems my sisters and I are going through this show a lot slower than we used to. That’s okay, though–we’re savoring it. Almost finished with the third season, and I do not like the Wicked Witch.

Books

Merlin’s Blade – Robert Treskillard // I’ve seen this trilogy around many times, and finally got around to reading the first book. It took me close to half the month to read it, which was mostly due to my schedule and only partially due to the book’s slower pacing. I feel like I would’ve enjoyed it more had I read it more quickly.
But it was pretty cool that Treskillard blended the historical and fantasy genres, and as the story progressed, I started to form theories about how things will play out in the next two books. Another thing I liked: Merlin is almost blind, which is unusual, and I felt the author dealt with it well and figured out other ways to relate setting and action. Also, I hadn’t expected that King Arthur would be an infant. Most stories seem to have him all grown up already.
Knightley Academy – Violet Haberdasher // My brother recommended it to me, and for very good reason! It’s the rollicking tale of Henry Grim, a servant who gets the chance to sit the Knightley Academy exam. He passes (spoiler alert!–not really, though, since it takes place early on and the title pretty much confirms that particular bit of the plot), and finds himself befriended by two other commoners in a school full of the sons of posh nobility.
The book takes place in an alternate history of 1700’s Victorian England, which is awesome. I loved reading about Henry and Co.’s misadventures, and there’s just something about a slightly fantasy-ish school novel that I find charming. I mean, Latin and fencing and medicine and miserly teachers and kindly teachers and creepy tapestries and a mystery and detestable bullies . . . What’s not to enjoy?
And let’s just take a minute to talk about the characters. Henry was wonderful! So practical and level-headed for a fourteen-year-old, yet with a tender heart and a lovable underdog-ness about him. Besides Henry, Adam has got to be my favorite. He’s also a commoner, and he’s Jewish, which is yet another reason for his rich classmates to tease him. He also has a great sense of humor. (Although half the time he’s funny without trying to be. His whining somehow comes off as endearing rather than annoying.) Then there’s Rohan, an Indian orphan raised by rich white parents. He has the manners of a gentleman, and his voice of reason is just what Henry and Adam need to keep them in check. And lastly, Francesca–or Frankie, as this tomboy prefers to be called. Her father is head of Knightley Academy, and she’s been kicked out of so many schools, she finally has to get a tutor at Knightley. Unladylike, spunky, and mischievous to the bone, she does her fair share of troublemaking.
I’ve gone on long enough about this book, but seriously, it was fabulous. And clean, too!
The Raven Boys – Maggie Stiefvater // You can blame this book for the lateness of S&S. I got home from work yesterday and read it for hours. I hardly ever read for so long at a time anymore, but in the space of last week, I binge-read the last half of Knightley Academy on Sunday and the last half of The Raven Boys on Saturday. So fun.
But about the actual book: Emily from Ink, Inc. and I were having a discussion (on one of my posts, if I remember correctly), and she very highly recommended I read The Raven Cycle, then proceeded to logically and passionately explain all the reasons why. Convinced by her and also by Cait’s frequent fangirling over Maggie Stiefvater, I decided to try it out.
Firstly, Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is gorgeous. She has an amazing way with words. It’s like art in word form. Not only that, but her character development is top-notch. I am thoroughly in love with Blue, Gansey, Adam, Noah, and even Ronan. Their depth and individuality were so real, which made the relationships and interactions fabulous. Honestly, they’re the reason I liked this book so much.
And, just as Emily promised, there were good themes of wealth and class mixed in. Quite thought-provoking, actually. (ADAM BROKE MY HEART, OKAY.) So all of this plus an epic journal and a small town and questing for a dead Welsh king and pretty scenery and a baby raven and ley lines made for a great story.
My only quibble is the language–I was a bit surprised to find it there, and it cropped up more frequently than I would’ve liked (though not as often as some books out there). The F-bombs especially were unnecessary, as were a couple of crude jokes. I have to admit that a smattering of the language was in keeping with Ronan’s character, but he wasn’t the only one using it, so . . . I don’t know.
Blue comes from a family of psychics, which didn’t bother me much, interestingly enough. I think it’s like what Emily told me: it’s done in more of an urban fantasy style than one of realism, so it feels more like magic than anything else.
Bottom line: loved the story, loved the writing, could’ve done without the language, and will definitely be reading the rest of the series! (Thank you, Emily!!)

Writing

This was a rather nice month writing-wise! I wrote 12, 962 words in The Prophet’s Key, bringing the total up to 20,748. It’s kind of mindboggling to think that, if this were a novella for a Rooglewood contest, I’d be over the word limit . . . and yet the plot is just barely beginning. (Yeah. I may have some pacing issues to fix when editing. Things are happening quickly enough, but there’s still scenes I know I forgot to put in there. So obviously it will need to be streamlined somehow. But we’re saving the editing for later, aren’t we, Tracey?)
I’ve been struggling a bit with this book so far, but I think I may have found the key–oh, wait. A pun. Haha. Anyway, I think I figured out what my main problem is, which I discussed in an impromptu post HERE. I haven’t had a chance to write much since that discovery, but I’m hoping that the words will start to flow this month.
I’ve been writing in mostly small increments whenever I have the time, but I did have one serious writing day this month, during which I wrote about 2700 words. I know that’s not a lot compared to authors who do this thing all day, every day, but considering that I haven’t had much chance to work on my stamina recently, I was quite pleased.
In other writing-related news, I started that writing course by Ted Dekker I’ve talked about–The Creative Way. This month I’ve gone through the first four sessions, which is far slower than I intended. But that’s okay, because I’d rather absorb the lessons fully than rush through them. In between the sessions, I’ve been reading The Creative Way Meditations, a devotional-type book included in the course. Both the audio sessions and the book have already been so helpful. It feels like my eyes are opening and my vision is sharpening.
This first module (out of three) deals with the foundations of who we are and who God is, and what that means for us as writers. It’s incredible! I’m sure you’ll be seeing more posts in the future inspired by what I’m learning. And once I finish the next two sessions, I’ll be starting Module 2, which is all about the craft of writing.
Between all the drafting and session-ing, I somehow forgot to continue researching agents to query. Oops. I did look into one small press that I’ll put on my list, but other than that, zippo progress this month. I’d like to finish compiling my first list in May, however! My my, but I’m being ambitious. But seriously, though, it would be awesome to be ready to send out my first batch of queries in a month or two. (Hold me to it, guys!)

Farewell April, and hello to a bright May.

You know how I described life in March as running at a breakneck pace down the street? I think April loped along at a steady jog. I’m still amazed at how much can happen in one month. But there were, thankfully, moments I could stop and just breathe before plunging into the next thing.
(Still, I think someone needs to implement a three day weekend, and not just for long weekends. A two day break, often just one day because of work, isn’t long enough!)
Now tell me where your quests took you this month! What roads did you travel, either in life or on the page? Have any of you played Balderdash? Or read/watched anything I mentioned? And is it really and truly spring now–have we gained a safe distance from winter, so that we’re no longer in danger of it making a comeback? Pass around the chocolate chip cookies, and let’s chat.
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Subplots and Storylines – February 2016

Tracey Dyck 29 Comments

This month was a whirlwind from start to finish! I hardly know where to begin.

Life happenings

Well, for starters, I have an absolutely wonderful family . . . a family that takes every opportunity to celebrate each other and enjoy holidays together. So Valentine’s Day is actually a thing in our house.

We all make or buy cards for each other, my mom does her magic in the kitchen, and we enjoy said magic by candle-light. This year, dessert was candle-lit rather than supper, simply because the supper table was so full of food that attempting to eat in semi-darkness would’ve been unwise. We had one of my grandmas over for the special dinner, and afterwards we exchanged cards.

Okay, I don’t normally do this, but I feel inclined to give you a peek into the Valentine’s evening at the Dyck household:

[from Mom to me] . . . God rejoices over you with singing! He carries you close to His heart! He has a picture of you tattooed on the palm of His hand. You are not forgotten!

[from Dad to me] . . . Look back to see how far you have come. Now look forward to see how far you will go. Now look at the present and see who walks with you. He has always been with you, He will always be with you, and He is with you.

[my brother Josiah is not into crafts–nevertheless, he made one card to give to all of us. sweet guy.] 

[from Miss C to me] . . . You have a great writing voice; you are caring and helpful; you still know how to have fun even if you’re an adult . . .

[from Miss K to me] . . . Thanks for hanging out with me. I love how goofy and sweet you are.

And then a few words between other family members:

[from Miss C to Dad] . . . Some of the things I love about you are . . . your warm chuckles . . . your wisdom; your courage; and your wonderfully safe hugs . . .

[from Miss K to Dad] . . . Thanks for being there for me and being my hero. You are awesome!

[from Miss C to Mom] . . . Here’s a few things I love about you . . . your wonderful little quirks; your gentle touch; your caring personality; your encouraging words; and your prayers . . .

[from Miss K to Mom] . . . You always have a hug for me, right words for me, and you always are ready to help me . . . You are the GREATEST mom ever!! 

[from me to Mom and Dad] . . . Thank you for living out the meaning of love, for treating it as a verb and not just a noun . . . Home is still–and will always be–a safe harbor. Thank you for teaching me both how to trim the sails and venture forth, and how to sail home again . . .

[from Dad to Josiah] . . . You remind me of a superhero, an all-around nice guy who comes to the defense of those who can’t defend themselves, who does good to others even when he isn’t noticed . . .

[from Miss K to Josiah] . . . I love hanging out with you and laughing with you. Thanks for playing Wii with me, which is very fun! 

[from Mom to Miss C] . . . You are such a beautiful young lady–inside and out! You have eyes that shine with the love of Jesus! God has great plans for you and your future . . . Thanks for adding such sweetness to my life!

[from me to Miss C] . . . Keep discovering the immeasurable height, depth, and width of God’s love for you! It will blow your mind.

[from Miss C to Miss K] . . . I love the way you smile and laugh; your beautiful big brown eyes . . . the way you encourage me with kind words and hugs when I’m sad . . .

 [from Dad to Miss K] . . . When God made the world, He knew that one thing was missing–joy and laughter. It took Him many years to perfect it, and when He did, He made you!

See what I mean? Families like this are rare, and I absolutely don’t say that in any haughty way. But I am proud of these special people and the bonds we’ve forged. We’re not perfect. Far from it. I hope I don’t present us in a cleaned-up light, because the truth of the matter is, we’re messy humans who sometimes snap at each other or say unkind things. But we love each other fiercely.

My sisters went all out this Valentine’s–they spent hours holed up in their room, making art for all of us. On a whim, I decided to present my siblings with sketches too.

Miss K’s drawings–aren’t they completely adorable? The otter on the left was for me.
Miss C’s drawings, which are so very lovely. Especially *cough* the Captain America she drew for me.
I drew pop star Ross Lynch for Miss K.
And Once Upon a Time’s Peter Pan for Miss C.
(Though the more I look at it, the less convinced I am that
he turned out right.)
And lastly, I drew Ultron for my brother.

A bridal shower!

A very dear friend of mine is getting married next month, and I’m one of her bridesmaids, which is incredibly exciting! So for about two weeks this month, my brain has been in bridal shower mode, with little room for anything else. From invitations to food, activities, decor, and supplies, the four of us bridesmaids brainstormed and made it all happen on a short deadline. It turned out beautifully, and I couldn’t be happier for my friend.

Miscellaneous life stuff:

  • The long weekend (February 15) was a welcome breather in the middle of the month. We went sledding with friends and had a lovely day.
  • My mom slipped on the ice while running errands, but thankfully she’s fine now!
  • Inventory happened at the store. Lots of work involved. And counting. So much counting . . .
  • There have been some health issues with a relative, but she seems to be doing better. We continue to pray for her.

On a lighter note, I fell into the behavior of the stereotypical, clueless-about-cars kind of girl. I’ve had my license for over two years now, okay, and I’ve been a working woman for about a year. And yet until recently, I’d never filled up with gas by myself. So I pull up to the pump and ask the guy to fill it with mid-grade. “Can you open your gas cap, please?” he asks.

I freeze. Because oh my goodness, where is the switch for that?! I shoot my sister a panicky look. She smirks. (Thank you, C.) I flutter my hands over the dashboard and steering wheel area. I pop the trunk. Then the hood. Finally I call out, “Um, this is embarrassing, but I’m having a blonde moment and forget where the switch for that is.” The guy didn’t know, either. Or wouldn’t tell me. I asked him to hold on, then called my dad.

“Tracey, we’ve been over this,” he says.

“I know!” I wail. “But I forgot!”

So he tells me where it is–it’s a silly little switch down on the floor, on the left side; and I’ll probably never forget that again. When I climbed out to go pay, I apologized again to the guy, who said, “No problem. Happens all the time . . .” Except his voice trailed off uncertainly, telling me that no, it doesn’t actually happen all the time, I’m just trying to make you feel better.

Screen happenings

  • Finished Once Upon a Time Season 2 and started Season 3. My sisters and I adore Peter Pan, in case you didn’t catch that with my portrait. All this Neverland stuff is quite fun, and I am ever so conflicted over certain things!
  • I SAW THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. Oh stars, it was amazing. I can’t believe I went this long without watching it! Being the extended edition, my brother and I watched it in three sittings over the long weekend (in between family activities, you understand). We were blown away. It was perfect. Soon after the final credits, I was ready to watch the movie all over again. I went from feeling cozy and comfortable to laughing uproariously at the four hobbits, to feeling chilled (Black Riders!!), to being gripped with the excitement of the quest, to– Oh, I don’t even know. It’s glorious. That’s all I can say. (Also, Aragorn.) And the Shire musical theme makes me stop and smile wistfully into the distance every single time I hear it.

Book happenings

The Invaders by John Flanagan

I love the Ranger’s Apprentice series, so of course I’m reading his newer series, Brotherband Chronicles. In this second Brotherband book, I found myself enjoying all the usual Flanagan trademarks: smart protagonist, clever battle/weaponry tactics, and wry humor. Plus lots of sailing stuff. A good read, for sure.

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

If you’ve been reading Adventure Awaits for a while now, you might remember way back in summer when my siblings and I picked out library books for each other to read. It gets us out of our usual ruts and gives us something new to try. We just did it again this month, and A Snicker of Magic was Miss K’s pick for me. And this book is now one of my all-time favorite middle-grade novels! Seriously, Natalie Lloyd’s voice is just crackling with magic. The story has a Southern, small town, whimsical, hilarious, heartwarming, spindiddly flavor to it. Felicity, the protagonist, catches the words she sees hovering over people and places. Along with her mom and little sister, she arrives in the little mysterious town of Midnight Gulch. What ensues are new friendships, old legends about the Brothers Threadbare, an upcoming talent show that scares Felicity right out of her word-covered sneakers, and buckets of ice cream. The supporting cast is delightfully quirky, and my heart ached for poor Felicity as her mom longs to uproot and move the family for the hundred-millionth time.

The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone

Miss C picked this middle-grade book for me. It took me a little while to get into it, but I soon realized how great the author is at setting the mood. The book starts off feeling kind of hollow and gloomy as the main character (another Felicity) leaves England at the beginning of WWII to stay with her relatives in Maine. Without her parents, so far from home, the poor girl is without an anchor. Her uncle receives strange letters written in code from her parents, and refuses to let Felicity read them. But things begin to look up when she meets Derek, a boy with a paralyzed arm. Together they strive to crack the code, and in the process, begin infusing the gloomy old house with a little bit of life.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Josiah’s pick. It’s a very unusual sort of book, I must say. Artemis himself is a veritable villain, so you’re left to cheer for a handful of exceedingly strange fairy creatures. There’s Holly Short, a rebellious LEP-Recon officer (haha, get it?) . . . Captain Root, her boss, a guy with anger issues . . . Foaly, a technologically brilliant centaur who’s paranoid that the humans (disdainfully referred to as Mud People) can read his mind, and thus wears a tinfoil hat at all times . . . and Mulch, a dwarf who, ah . . . Well. Let’s just say that these dwarves can unhinge their jaws and chew through dirt at a rapid pace. And their metabolism is extremely fast. Hence, their digging pants are equipped with a back flap. Yeah. You see where this is going. This book is written with young guys in mind, but nevertheless, I found much to snicker at, and I give Mr. Colfer points for the unusual fairy elements. I’ll likely keep going with this series.

You Have a Brain: A Teen’s Guide to T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G. by Ben Carson, MD

The first half of the book tells how Dr. Carson was born into poverty, and through his mother’s guidance, God’s help, and his desire to learn, became a neurosurgeon. There are some amazing anecdotes from his career, such as the time he removed half of a little girl’s brain in order to stop the hundreds of seizures she was having every day. And she survived. And went on to graduate from college and live a fulfilling life.

The second half goes over some principles for thinking big, specifically in regards to the future. He covers Talent, Honesty, Insight, Niceness, Knowledge, Books, In-Depth Learning, and God (T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G.).

Blog Happenings

On a whim, I started a month-long linkup called Lovely Books, in which we discussed:

I have had such a great time celebrating books and characters with all of you! Many thanks to all who have participated–you’ve made my first linkup a success. And it’s been so fun to hear about your favorite bookish things! There’s still time to join, if you so desire. You have until March 5th.

Oh, and you may have noticed my embarrassing mistake . . . Whilst drafting the quotes post in the middle of last week, I accidentally hit publish. I noticed it less than half an hour later, and hurried to revert the post to draft form before anybody could read my half-formed jumble of words. To my dismay, however, the post remained on my dashboard–and the dashboards of everyone else who follow me. Clicking the link led to nowhere, of course, but still! It looked as if I had posted it half a week early. Of all the times to do such a thing, it had to be for something I’d hoped to keep secret until Saturday! And then when I did publish the post, it didn’t appear at the top of the dashboard like normal new posts–it remained waaaaay down with the other ‘four days ago’ posts on my feed.

Ah, well. Lesson learned. Keep the cursor far, far away from the publish button until ready.

Anyway, thanks again, all you lovely bookworms! We’ll have to do something like this again someday.

Written Happenings

I made a game plan for my 2016 writing goals, if you’ll remember from January’s Beautiful People post. I planned for February to be my research month, so it’s harder to gauge whether I reached those goals.

I started out by taking a deep breath and diving into the murky waters of . . . gasp . . . querying agents. No, I haven’t actually sent out any queries yet. But I did begin researching, looking online for agents who represent my kind of work, reading some articles on how to query and what agents look for, etc. The amount of information, ambiguity, and general unknown-ness of it all is daunting, but I’m excited to rise to the challenge.

After reading Jenelle Schmidt’s comment on Christine’s BP post, I spontaneously chose to purchase a book Jenelle recommended: Guide to Literary Agents 2016! The things I’ve learned from even just the beginning articles are so, so helpful. I haven’t yet delved into the listings of a thousand agents, but I know it will be an invaluable tool in the coming months. Thanks, Jenelle!

I did a little bit of research on different locations featured in my fantasy book 2, which I plan to start redrafting next month. This is where I didn’t get far at all, so I foresee much more Googling and librarying in the future. I want to look into British Columbia, Ireland, Greenland or Iceland, Russia, and Australia. Yes indeed, this book includes a fair bit of globe trotting on our world, followed by daring escapades in the other world!

And I felt rather officially author-ish this month, questers, because I actually interviewed someone for book research. A certain character in book 2 gets diagnosed with a mental illness–which is a complete error, because the wild tales he tells are 100% true–so I needed to know how this process would work. What would he be labelled as? What would treatment look like? How would others respond? How would the family be advised to act around him? Would he be medicated, counselled, taken out of school?

All these questions and more were answered by a fellow my dad knows through work. As a Christian working in the field of mental health, and as someone with a big enough imagination to accommodate my fictional situation, he was the perfect person to talk to. So we chatted over coffee one Saturday, and I scribbled three pages of notes and wound up borrowing four books from his office. Armed with all this information to make my character’s life miserable (and believable), I am most excited to start writing next month.

And that, my friends, was February.

Like I said, it was a whirlwind! There was so much happening, at least in my brain, that I found myself identifying with this amazing song:

March looks like it will be full speed ahead as well, but I hope to catch up on your Lovely Books posts–and blogging in general.

So many things to look forward to in the next thirty-one days! My friend’s wedding, delving into book 2, more agent research, and who knows what else? Actually, there is one thing pressing rather insistently at my mind tonight, and that is . . .

THE FIVE MAGIC SPINDLES WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW MORNING. Ack! The suspense!

For all of you who entered along with me, I hope your hearts are prepared for whatever the results may be. Know that you accomplished something crazy awesome with your novella(s). You crafted a story, a living, breathing tale of wonder. You finished it; you got all the way to the end and most probably edited it many times over. And no words written are ever a waste. You learned something with this novella. Maybe how to retell a fairytale, or how to write a better plot twist, or how to be concise (looking at myself over here!). Maybe you refined your dialogue skills, or fell in love with a genre you’ve never written before. Maybe you discovered the camaraderie of fellow writers through this contest. Maybe you conquered the fear of letting others see your work. Well done, I say! Well done!

How were your February quests? Was your month a hurricane too, or more like a quiet breeze? What do you think of the Lord of the Rings movies? Have you ever sought people out for research purposes? And do you think you’ll survive till tomorrow morning?!

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Beautiful People – 2016 plans

Tracey Dyck 32 Comments
It’s time for Beautiful People! I’ve missed doing these link-ups. I skipped the last three months, partially due to the Nano focus of the questions, but at last I’m participating again.

This round of questions is about writing plans and goals, which is perfectly timed. On my way home from the city earlier this week, I was talking out loud to myself and making plans for this year’s writing. (What? You guys don’t talk to yourself when you’re driving alone?) They’re rather ambitious, and I have to wonder if it’s insane to ask so much of myself, especially when 2016 is full of so many unknowns. But I want to aim high, and if Life has other ideas, so be it. Contrary to my usual thinking, goals can be adjusted.

Hosted by the lively gals Cait & Sky!


What were your writing achievements last year?

I finished up a couple rounds of edits on book 1. I read over book 2, outlined a new version of it, and had way too much fun masterminding stuff about the series as a whole. I completed a novella-sized retelling of Sleeping Beauty and entered it in the Five Magic Spindles writing contest. I also helped both my brother and a friend of mine edit their entries.

Tell us about your top priority writing project for this year.

I have three, actually! And now’s as good a time as any to whip out my 2016 Writing Goals.

January: Finish editing book 1.

February: Begin querying agents for book 1. (Yipes!) Review the outline of book 2 and do some research.
March-May: Draft book 2.
June: Draft Rooglewood entry.
July: Edit Rooglewood entry and send it off. (I’d like to be much more on the ball this year, so I’m going to try finishing it in two months. Two and a half, tops.)
August-December: Finish drafting book 2, and if I’ve actually managed to meet my monthly goals, I’d like to do a round or two of edits on it as well.
So to directly answer the question, my writing priorities are books 1 & 2 plus a fairy tale novella. Because these plans must be balanced with things called Work and (very hopefully) School, I’m trying to remember to take my own advice and have grace for myself if circumstances change and crowd out writing.
List 5 areas you’d like to work the hardest to improve this year.

Efficiency. I’d like to write more often, and write better when I do write. Even if all I can do is a little bit here and there, I want to be more consistent.

Moving forward. I’d like book 1 to be ready for the next phase.

Writing first drafts that aren’t littered with dragon-sized plot holes. It’s been about four-ish years since I’ve actually written a first draft for my fantasy series, and the most recent was possibly one of my worst. But I’ve grown since then, and I know a lot more about my fantasy world, so maybe the new book 2’s first draft will be more structurally sound. We can hope.


Continuing to cultivate my writing craft in general. One should never stop growing, after all.

Poetry. I wrote only seven poems last year, but I’d like to do more this year. Stretch my poet muscles. Try new techniques.
Are you participating in any writing challenges?
Only if you count the annual Rooglewood Press contest. Nano might be a possibility this year, but I’m not putting any expectations on myself.
What’s your critique partner/beta reader situation like and do you have plans to expand this year?
I stumbled into a wonderful Pack of writer gals online a year and a half ago, and have since had the pleasure of beta reading a number of their stories. Some of the girls have been betas for me too, which is heaps of fun. (My goodness, that sounds British: heaps of fun.) I’m quite content with my current situation, so no, I don’t have expansion plans.
Do you have plans to read any writer-related books this year? Or are there specific books you want to read for research?
Finish Gail Carson Levine’s “Writer to Writer,” which I started last year. I’ve heard that “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon is good, so maybe that too? I don’t have many specific titles in mind. I’ll probably look for some good books on mental illness (specifically delusion-related stuff, though there’s probably a nicer word for that). I have a character whose parents believe he’s crazy, resulting in psychologist appointments. I’d like to at least sound like I know what I’m talking about.
Pick one character you want to get to know better, and how are you going to achieve this?

Basically my entire supporting cast of book 2! Aileen’s and Josiah’s family members. The Shifters, a group of five elementals. Rex Nelson, the pilot. Yeah. Basically everyone. I’ll get to know them better by writing their story and doing character sketches.
Do you plan to edit or query, and what’s your plan of attack?
Some of both. See question #2. As for a plan of attack . . . with editing, it’ll be the usual process. With querying–well, that’s a whole new arena for me. So I have no idea!
Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”  What are the books that you want to see more of, and what “holes” do you think need filling in the literary world?
More clean, excellent fantasy. Whether it’s Christian or not is almost besides the point. I want to see good fantasy–without all the foul language and sleazy content so many of them seem to carry.
More steampunk, because the genre is awesome and quite underrated.
And I don’t know if this is a hole, exactly . . . But I want to see an off-kilter story that plays with mind. One part crazed humor, one part creepy, and one part deeply hidden meaning. I have something like this cooking in my brain, but it’ll be a while before it’s ready to be written.
What do you hope to have achieved by the end of 2016?
I hope to have book 1 actually, for real complete–and if all goes well, I want to either have an agent or at least be actively querying. I hope to have another fairy-tale novella completed, and I also want to have book 2 drafted. Somewhat edited too, if I have the time. Like I said before, it really depends on how these next several months pan out.
If nothing else, I want to be able to look back on 2016 and say that I made good use of the writing time I had. (But if I’m honest, I’d really, really like that whole querying thing to . . . you know, be a thing.)
What do you think? Insane or doable? (Wait . . . don’t answer that.) What are your writing plans for the year?
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Subplots and Storylines – June 2015

Tracey Dyck 10 Comments

I have accidently discovered time travel. How else could I have ended up on June 30, 2015 so quickly? Because, excuse me, last time I checked, June was just starting. So my theory is that, in my sleep, somebody threw me into a time machine and I ended up here.

Right?

Okay, no, June was just so full and intense and amazing that it zoomed right by. But the time machine sounds way cooler.

Work has jumped from moderately busy to almost-fulltime-how-DO-adults-do-it, and back to moderately busy again. I had a little stretch in which I worked six out of seven days. Great for the paycheck; a stretch for my hobbit (read: I love home) self. But I can already see personal growth, so that’s fantastic!

And I have been writing, but not nearly as much as I wanted/expected to. My writing progress notebook tells me I only wrote eight days this month. The result: a whoppin’ 5800 words collectively. Let’s hope July cooperates better, yes? I worked a little bit on book two early this month, but then, of course, that Rooglewood contest was announced and of course I had to start brainstorming for it! (I just realized that I have enough to say about that process to fill another blog post. Maybe in a week or two?)

Anyway, it’s going to have a very classic fairy tale sort of feel, but I’ve got a few twists stewing in the ol’ inspiration bog. As of now, I only have the first two chapters written. But my goal is to have the first draft finished before the end of July! When I set that goal, that broke down to an average of 500 words a day. So it’s quite doable. I’m just . . . heheh, a little behind at the moment.

Speaking of writerly things, I read some good books too!




The Chance by Karen Kingsbury: a heartrending story of forgiveness and restoring relationships. Allegiant by Veronica Roth: as I have stated before, I have no words for how this series ended. There were aspects of the series I disliked, but all in all, it was a great ride! And excuse me while I scrape my heart off the floor. The Anatomy of a Miracle by Dr. James B. Richards: I’ve been going through this one slowly, and happened to finish this month. Really eye-opening! So many things just finally clicked for me.

Eyes Wide Open by Ted Dekker: Wow. How does this guy manage to write such mindblowing stories? On one level, it’s a creepy, suspenseful tale of how 17-year-old Christy Snow and her friend Austin are mistaken for psych patients and get trapped in the ward–and on another level, it’s a sucker punch right to the heart, with raw messages on identity and perception. Go read it. Right now.


Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry: A quick dystopian read, and pretty neat too. I liked the worldbuilding, and how you could tell a person’s age by how many syllables were in their name. This is a sequel to The Giver, but I haven’t quite figured out the connection yet. Maybe the next two books will tie them together . . . ?

Life things. Those happened too. The first half of the month, I was “catching a healing” (as I like to call it) from a cold. So were the rest of my siblings. And then mid-month, my grandma developed an infection that resulted in multiple trips to the hospital and many hours waiting for doctors. So thankful that it didn’t end up being too serious. She’s well on the way to full recovery now!
A couple weeks ago, I went to the city with two close friends of mine for a girl’s day out. We went mini-golfing, which I haven’t done in years . . . went shopping and tried on pretty dresses . . . had a fancy dessert worth wearing heels for . . . had a BBQ supper at one girl’s place and then watched Pride and Prejudice together. Such a wonderful day! We had an amazing time. I always feel uplifted after hanging out with them.

(Now I see what the big deal is about Mr. Darcy.)

Just last week, one of those two girls and I went out for supper at a great new restaurant in town. She’s moving to Mexico in a matter of days, so having that one last (for now) outing together was perfect.

And I was going to get some more writing done yesterday and the day before, but . . . I succumbed to the pull of a story I’m beta reading, written by Mirriam Neal–an insanely talented girl with a penchant for heartbreaking backstories and vibrant characters. Needless to say, I was glued to her Alice in Wonderland retelling, This Curious Madness, and could. Not. Leave. But I caught up on roughly twenty chapters. Yippee!

Random other thing about this month: we painted our front door. No longer is it white–it now gleams burnt orange. Our home exterior renos that we’ve been slowly working on are looking more and more complete. Maybe I’ll post a picture of that eye-popping door once the second coat is done.

So that was June. A conglomeration of books, coughing, social outings, paint, general busyness, and a dash of writing. How was your month? Any plans for July? Have you set any goals for yourself, writing or otherwise?

I will leave you with a collage of the gorgeous flowers blooming at my place. May your eyes be open to see the beauties God is displaying right in front of you, even through the veils of sorrow or weariness.

And to all my fellow Canadians, in anticipation of tomorrow:

Happy Canada Day!

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