After not taking part in NaNoWriMo last year, and regretting it, I’ve been convinced to take part in Camp NaNo next month!
I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’m very excited for it! I’ll be working on the sequel to Rise of the Sparrows as well as Immortals (temp. title), with a word count goal of 25K each. I’m a little worried that working on two projects is going to be too ambitious, but we shall see ^^ Prepare yourself for lots and lots of excerpts during April!
Speaking of which… I do have an excerpt for you today! But unfortunately it’s neither for Book 2 nor for Immortals (temp. title). Last week I received some new meds (or rather I received the same meds as before but on a higher dose) and it’s been draining my energy all week. Apart from Tuesday, for some reason. I had all of the energy on Tuesday.
My mascot didn’t help when she did this:
The second she sees a notebook she knows my attention is going to be elsewhere, so she sat on it. I did plot both books this week despite her best efforts, and have quite a lot planned for the sequel already. Mostly for the first half, but I trust that my characters will fill in the rest again like they did with Rise of the Sparrows.
Plotting Immortals (temp. title) didn’t go quite so well. I can’t figure out what’s going to happen when or why and barely know how it starts, which scares me. Usually when I write something I’ve got a lot of the story planned out in advance, but this time I feel like I’ve got nothing. I’m not used to going in without a plan, but I think I’ll just go for it and see where it takes me. Dena is a strong character and it looks like I’ll have to trust her lead. If any of you feel like bouncing some ideas with me, let me know.
Since I couldn’t wrap my head around either story this week (and I blame the meds and nothing but the meds) I thought I’d write something different, to give my mind a break. I started to expand on an idea I had a while ago, and before I knew it I had 2,557 words written! I do like this idea a lot, but I’m undecided whether I’ll turn it into something more. Since Camp NaNo is coming up I probably won’t have time to think about it again until May, and Rise of the Sparrows is out in May so I’m not sure about that, either. Which could very well work in its favour!
Excerpt away!
Because, while every other person I’d ever met was restricted to this world, I could jump between universes. You might have heard of parallel worlds. Parallel universes, where life is exactly as it is here apart from one decision made, one mind changed, one phone call never answered. One baby never conceived, one word said at the wrong time, triggering the gun in the jealous wife’s hand. I’d been to worlds where my Grandma was still alive, to a world where my father decided against cheating on Mum, and ultimately never left us. I loved staying for a while and observing the life I could have had, the life another me did have, in this other reality which was so much like mine and yet so different. I can’t go physically, so while my mind explores endless possibilities my body stays put. It still needs food, and it still needs to pee, so sooner or later I need to return and take control of my life again.
It had never been a problem, either. Not until now.
A good weekend to you all!
~Sarina
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All content belongs to the author, Sarina Langer.
The gifs came from Giphy
For all previous updates on Rise of the Sparrow‘s progress, click me!
For Cookie Break’s front page, take a look here.
March 18, 2016 at 10:19 am
I’ve been considering doing Camp Nano too. If I do it, my goal word count will be a lot less than NaNoWriMo. I don’t have the same kind of free time in April. But still, I’d be excited to get some more words out! Editing is a challenge, and I’m itching so badly to write again.
If you want help bouncing around ideas, feel free to contact me. Plotting can be tough. But even without a plot, I think Dena will take the story good places! I liked her a lot.
Congrats on plotting most of Book 2 and 3! That’s impressive. I’ve started plotting Book 3 of my series, but there’s still so many holes to fill in. (I did write out a few scenes though to get a feel for it, and I’m quite pleased with them!)
Good luck with writing and plotting! Have a great weekend. 🙂
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March 19, 2016 at 12:04 pm
It’s the other way around for me – I didn’t have the time for it last year November but it’s great motivation for next month! Getting more words out is always exciting, challenge or no 🙂
I agree, the edit was fine, I didn’t mind doing it, but I missed writing and plotting. You’ll get there, Kay! I might have to take you up on your offer 🙂
I haven’t done any plotting for Book 3, I’ve only written down what little I know about it 🙂 I did have quite a few holes to fill when I started writing Rise of the Sparrows, but my characters filled all the holes.
Thank you! Happy writing 🙂
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March 18, 2016 at 10:33 am
Loving the excerpt! I considered Camp NaNo, but I’m holding off until November, when perhaps I’ll have a new series to start 🙂 My writing’s going well at the mo, but as soon as I sign up to take part in Camp Nano you can bet it’ll dry up haha.
Looking forward to the excerpts throughout April!
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March 19, 2016 at 12:06 pm
Thank you! I don’t know if I’ll take it further, but it’s encouraging to see that it’s well received 🙂
What’s this about a new series? 😉 Do tell!
Happy writing!
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March 19, 2016 at 12:14 pm
All will be revealed once EVO ghost is done and dusted 😉 The characters keep calling to me, but I have to keep them at bay to ensure the EVO Nation Series is completed.
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March 19, 2016 at 12:15 pm
Is it one of the name writing prompts you did?
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March 19, 2016 at 12:17 pm
No, this series has been in my head since I released EVO Nation 🙂 It’s sci-fi, fantasy with a touch… just a touch… of dystopia. My Pinterest novel inspiration board may give some clues 🙂
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March 19, 2016 at 12:19 pm
I’ll head on over there as soon as I get a moment! 😀
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March 18, 2016 at 6:01 pm
I just decided to do Camp NaNo myself and so far I like it. It’s different from November NaNo, but in a good way. Good luck with your project, and your medication. : )
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March 19, 2016 at 12:07 pm
I haven’t done November NaNo or Camp NaNo before but I know you don’t get the same flexibility in November. If this goes well I might give NaNoWriMo a go, too 🙂
Thank you! So far, the plotting is going well 🙂
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March 19, 2016 at 11:28 pm
What an amazing excerpt!! It’s very A Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Grey and I absolutely LOOOOVVEEED that book! Ohhhh, *grabby hands* I know it’s still a concept/wip but oh I want it! I love mutiverses! 😍😍😍😍
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March 20, 2016 at 12:05 pm
Thank you!! It’s more a concept than a wip, but if that changes I’ll mention it here 🙂
I haven’t heard of A Thousand Skies Above You! I’ll have a look on Goodreads.
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March 23, 2016 at 10:03 pm
I totally love the concept sooo great!!
I also totally got the title wrong of that book, I get it mixed up between books 1 and 2. It’s A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. The sequel is Ten Thousand Skies Above You. It’s really great. ^.^
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March 24, 2016 at 9:19 am
No worries, I found it on Goodreads and added the first one 🙂
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March 24, 2016 at 1:25 pm
Oh good! 🙂
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March 20, 2016 at 9:19 pm
I’ve never done Camp NaNo before but I’m looking forward to it. I really enjoyed NaNoWriMo this past November and hope for the same productivity that I discovered there 🙂
I love this excerpt. Of course, I’m hardly surprised that it’s so amazing considering the talent behind it!
I hope inspiration strikes for Immortals. I wouldn’t worry though. Once you get into it, the idea will probably take off.
Best of luck with all those projects 🙂 I personally can’t wait for Book 2 🙂
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March 22, 2016 at 1:44 pm
We’ll do it together, Faith, it’ll be brilliant! We’re in a very creative cabin with great people, so I’m excited for it 🙂 I’ve never tried NaNoWriMo, either – last November Rise of the Sparrows was resting and I was too thrilled to have finished a draft to be thinking about any other projects! Maybe this year. I’ll see how Camp NaNo goes.
Thank you! I’m not sure if my excitement for that idea is starting to wear thin, but I don’t have the timer for it right now anyway.
Me too. I’ve been mind-mapping, list-writing, and idea-bouncing with a friend yesterday and while I have a lot of ideas for it I can’t figure out how to start it! I’ve written several openings for it now and I’ve trashed them all. I have a feeling it won’t be the smooth ride Rise of the Sparrows has been 😛
Thank you!! I’ve got so many ideas for it, it’ll be quite a bit darker than Book 1 🙂
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March 21, 2016 at 6:36 pm
Good luck with the Camp! So excited for you and looks like it will be interesting times..and fun.
My cat does similar things and they do the best to intervene and grab the attention. I loved the excerpt and can’t wait to read much more of this story. You are a great writer and can’t wait to read more from you!
Yay!
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March 22, 2016 at 1:45 pm
Thank you. I hope it’ll be more fun than stressful but it’s a big word count for one month. We’ll see 🙂
Thank you! I can’t promise more of this story, though, at least not any time soon.
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March 23, 2016 at 11:48 am
I am sure you will have lots of fun and you will be great 🙂
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March 22, 2016 at 10:14 am
Great excerpt! Good luck with Camp!
My cat used to do that to me all the time.
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March 22, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Cats are great/awful writing buddies, but they do try! Mine is rather forceful so I can’t just set her aside easily, she’ll persist! 😉
Thank you! I don’t know if I’ll write any more of it. I’ll be focusing on my two current projects during NaNo, so progress WILL be made!
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