The Current Writing Status of a New Epic Fantasy Novel and Series and Preparation for Camp NaNoWriMo

Since I wrote the last blog post, I have scrapped the former start I had of writing Book 1 of the Cirtolia Series and have been planning, outlining, and writing. I hope by the end of this week, or the beginning of next week, I will have a title and will be able to tell you what it is about, other than a fantasy series based off of my family tree.

I have about 9,500 words written so far and have 25% of book 1 planned. By the end of the day today, I hope to have more written and planned.

Also, I have decided to take place in Camp NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Camp NaNoWriMo starts on July 01 and lasts through the month. My goal is to write 31,000 words at least during that time.

My normal writing goall is the least 7,000 words per week, but preferably 10,000 words. When I complete the gol, then I work on more planning and outlining of this novel, as well as future novels.

Refining Book 1 of the Cirtolia Series and Writing in Composition Books

CURRENT WRITING PROGRESS

Well, I have been changing the title of this first book as often as I change my clothes. Therefore, I have decided to keep it blank for now. It's probably safer that way.

I have been writing like crazy for the last 5 days and have discovered a new way to write. I am now writing by hand in Composition Books. I have filled one already of 100 pages and am working on the second one. Hence, I have 22,500 words written so far. Each composition book is about 21,000 words for the size of my handwriting.

I am not editing. Nor am I typing it up as I go. I am just writing at this point.

If I keep going at this pace, I should finish writing the first draft of book 1 by the end of August.

I would love to tell you what it is about, but I am still staying to figure it out for myself. I have a general idea, but am writing at this point to help me figure out what exactly this book and series will be about. We shall see.

I will be quite as I write like crazy and will not blog every day. But, I will sure try to make it count when I do.

USING COMPOSITION BOOKS TO WRITE

Using composition books to write is a whole new medium for me. (Medium as in a way of writing.) I have heard of others using them, but I didn't think it would be appealing for me. However, when I realized I really need to handwrite my first drafts, I decided to go on a search last week to see what I might find.

Needless to say, I headed to Walmart, but my car took me to the dollar store here in town. I figured it was on the way to Walmart, so it wouldn't hurt to look. I went to the store trying to find spiral notebooks smaller than letter size of 8.5 x 11. The spirals they had would work, but I wanted something else. But, I had no idea what that something else was.

As I squat on the aisle, looking on a tiny shelf of writing supplies near the floor, I found a composition book. The size of 9.25 x 7.5 had appeal and I loved the thick and hard front and back cover. Plus, it laid flat for easy writing and for later when I have to type up everything. Moreover, it would store nicely and not take up too much room. Huh. Those reasons appealed to me. Well, for a buck, how could I go wrong? I bought three just in case. I know when I start writing, I go tend to write fast and in large amounts. There isn't anything more frustrating than getting on a writing kick and you realize you don't have another blank book of any kind to write on, so you have to stop and go to the store. Thus, three seemed a good amount.

I started using the composition book and within a couple of hours, I was... In. Love. It seemed as though it were exactly what I needed. Hallelujah! Phew.

By the end of the next day, I realized I was hooked on writing in composition books.

I have since shopped around and found them in town for 80 cents. Hence, it will cost me about $20 with pens and paper to write the first draft of this book and the books hereafter. I can handle the cost, that is for sure.

I really recommend writing with composition books if you are a writer or a journal keeper.

Now, pardon me, please. It's time to get writing.

The Title and Cover for My NaNoWriMo 2015 Book and Planning Progress Update

TITLE AND COVER ART

This is the temporary front cover and book title for my #NaNoWriMo book:

Earthbound Adoption
The Kharis Tales, Book 1

{Picture on this book cover is by: Image courtesy of Idea go atFreeDigitalPhotos.net}

CURRENT WRITING PROJECT STATUS

Yesterday I began planning for my NaNoWriMo 2015 novel and I spent several hours working on it. Wouldn't it figure that I spent all that time--only to realize it was for book two of the series? 

Well, the good news is that I have the skeleton of an outline for Book 2, which will save me some time and it helps me to know where I am going in the story so I can stay on track. I did, however, get a quite rough skeleton put together for Book 1 as well. Therefore, it was quite the productive day all in all, even though things didn't quite work out the way I expected. (But, when do they?)

 I'm using this resource to help me plan for NaNo and all of the future books of "The Kharis Tales" Series:

http://smile.amazon.com/Outlining-Novel-Workbook-Step---Step-ebook/dp/B00P72KQI2/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1444236910&sr=1-3&keywords=km+weiland

It's about time for me to start my day of planning for book one and getting the outline more detailed. I cannot wait to see what I accomplish today on the project. It's rather captivated me already and it's only day two. In fact, I only slept about three hours last night since I kept planning Book 1 in my head. Now, I just need to get it down on the page and hope I didn't forget anything.

National Novel Writing Month is 24 days away and I hope to be ready to write at least 50,000 words. Truthfully, I hope to get more than that accomplished, but we shall see.

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE? (AM WRITING FOR CAMP NANOWRIMO)

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE?
For over 15 years, I have wrestled with this question and I keep asking it,thinking I have answered it, only to ask it all over again. Repeat. And repeat.
Look at how many times I have changed my writing genre and ideas on this blog. It's full of hundreds of ideas I have not followed through on or finished. All of my writing seems to have been for a season.
However, I keep coming back to a few core values that I know I should write about:
1 Journaling
2 Prayer Journaling
3 Christian Living
4 About the history of the USA
5 About the politics of the USA
6 About current events
7 The War on Terror
8 Fantasy/speculative fiction
9 Fiction writing to show #1-7.
Now, I think I have figured out how to encompass #1-9.
Hence, it's the fantasy or speculative fiction series of "KRAIMORA" I have decided to try to write.
Stay tuned.
I am writing it for CAMP NaNoWriMo.
Also, I will continue to write about current events, prayer journaling, Christian Living, the Bible, and praying for our world on this blog.

Book I Read Yesterday

A Cast of Stones (The Staff and the Sword Book #1) [Kindle Edition]
Patrick W. Carr (Author)

http://smile.amazon.com/Cast-Stones-Staff-Sword-Book-ebook/dp/B00AHY0RLQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1428504760&sr=1-4&keywords=patrick+carr

I read a fantastic Christian fantasy yesterday. I highly recommend it. If you want a fun, fantasy advtenure and quest story, this book is for you. It's excellent escapism.
It felt really good to read to read it with an obsession, curious to see what would happen next. It's been a while since a book captivated me so.
There are two other books in the series. I can't wait to read them.
What was the last book you read in a day?
I read the book for research and was thoroughly blessed.

Blessings,
--Stacy Duplease

Email:
agodlyvision@gmail.com
rememberingyourpresent@gmail.com
Blogs:
http://rypstories.blogspot.com
http://2chr714worldprayer.blogspot.com
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablet

MY FANTASY SERIES AND PROJECT

This is the fantasy series and project I am working on writing as we speak. I am currently in the planning stage, so stay tuned for more information.

Cover Image Credit: Image courtesy of sattva at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Cover Credit: Layout only by Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present, LLC 2014. 

NANOWRIMO DAY 5

Today is Day 5 of NANOWRIMO.

8,335 is minimum word count due on my novel.

My personal ideal word count is 10,000.

So far, I'm  quite excited for this book and series. I have more ideas than I could possibly get down on the page at this point, which is the direct opposite of writer's block. (Thank God.)

I'm exhausted this morning after being up late watching the elections and getting up early, never mind sleeping poorly. Sigh.

I cannot wait to see what CRAIMORE reveals to me today as I write.

I've participated in NANOWRIMO every year since 2009. I've won it twice and have failed miserably the rest of the time. I think I have a good shot this year with accomplishing my goal. Time will tell.

NANOWRIMO 2014 and Writing Progress of CRAIMORE

I have 7,006 words written so far for NaNoWriMo and am actually ahead of schedule. (Yay!) Which isn't bad since I started to this book yesterday morning and I was two days behind.

Which book? This one:

Which series? The one listed.

The truth of the matter is I have more ideas than I could possibly get down on the page, and not enough time or fingers for fast typing. This series offers a plethora of ideas, which means this series could be limitless.

I will now stop writing, since I am ahead of schedule, and I will actually work on planning and outlining this book and series.

I do not think I have ever been so excited for a book or series. I cannot wait to see what happens.

What am I thinking so far of NaNo? I think this may be the most successful NaNo I've had yet. Time will tell, though. Hopefully this isn't wishful thinking. (And, that's why I want to do some planning and outlining to make sure this is real and isn't but a dream.)

Stay tuned. I will share with you what this book and series are about soon.

WELCOME TO THE CRAIMORE SERIES AND NANOWRIMO 2014

Welcome to the CRAIMORE website and blog.

This is a blog about a new fantasy series. It is a fantasy, rooted in history, archaeology, and mythical creatures. Think INDIANA JONES, NATIONAL TREASURE, THE LIBRARIAN, and SLEEPY HOLLOW, with its own individualistic twist. Then, you have CRAIMORE.

This is the cover for the first book in the series:

I'm taking part in NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) 2014, which is during the month of November. It's the goal to write at least 50,000 words in November.

Stay tuned for more information about this book. 

(Image credit on book cover: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present, LLC 2014.)

Maleficient

This is a must see. What an incredible, imaginative, beautiful, spellbounding, inspirational (for a writer of fantasy), and grabbing movie. It does. It grabs your heart and won't let go.

I will write more about this movie. Stay tuned.

If you like fantasy, and if you write fantasy, go see this movie. And, if you don't, go. You will miss out if you don't.

I will go see this movie two more times while it's in theaters so I can memorize as much of it as possible since it won't come out in video until October 14. It will be a movie I can watch again and again. So, that should tell you something.

Now, confession time... When I heard about this movie, I didn't want to see it. It didn't sound very good to me and I don't care for Angelina Jolie. I went because I was asked to see it by a friend. I went with less than stellar expectations and was blown away by the movie and cannot imagine anyone else playing the character than Jolie.

Go see this movie. even if you have to see it alone. It's worthwhile and well done.

If you want to go to another world for a while, go see it.

WARNING: Do NOT take young children to this movie. It's a Young Adult movie.

And, by the way, there are two books based off of this movie:

1 Maleficent 

2 The Curse of Maleficent

Writing Status

Day 1 of writing was June 01, 2014.

Writing goal per day is 3,637 words per day, 7 days per week.

Total word count goal is 200,000 words or so.

As of right now, I have 8,751 of 11,803 words due today of 200,000 total words.

Writing Marathon, Camp NaNoWriMo, and a New Epic Fantasy Series

Writing Marathon
I've started, as of yesterday a writing marathon, where it's my goal to write at least 3,500 words per day June 01 to July 24, 2014. That's 55 days of writing like a madwoman, as I've coined this crazy adventure.

Camp NaNoWriMo
Also, it's my plan in July to join Camp NaNoWriMo from July 01 to July 23, for I will then be on vacation for almost three weeks. Camp NaNoWriMo is Camp (like what you do with a tent, fire, smores, ghost stories, gazing at the stars kind of thing. Camp National Novel Writing Month where crazy people like me camp out and write a novel for a solid month and forget about everything else--housework, cooking, socializing, you name it. We write a novel. Period. End of story. (Or, at least we try.)

A New Epic Fantasy Series: A WITCH'S DIARY
Yesterday, I started to write a new inspirational epic fantasy series. Over the next 55 days, I'm going to try to write book 1 of this series. (Please, Lord!)

Also, don't judge the book by it's title or the series name (or cover for that matter). It's meant to be a tease or hook and grab attention.

Christians: It's not what you think. Stay tuned. More information to come. It's about the dangers of turning to other religions when we don't even realize that is what we're doing.

Non-Christians: This is series talks aobut all of the major world religions, along with several races, and whether it's possible to develop peace among the different religions or spiritualities, races, nations.

~**~

(Top image credit: Microsoft images online 2009-2014.)

(Bottom 2 Images Credit for Book Cover:
The largest picture of a building, arch, water, and bridge: Image courtesy of sattva / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
The old book in the bottom left corner: Image courtesy of dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Updated June 02, 2014 855 a.m. 

The Book of Daniel

I am in the process of writing Book 1 of the Land of Risina Series, which is a parable of the Book of Daniel. Needless to say, I'm doing a personal Bible study of the book of Daniel. I've been working on Daniel 1 the last five days and will continue to study it for a while longer. It's what Book 1 of the Land of Risina will be based off of and is quite an interesting and motivational chapter.

Speculative Fiction Reading: Cassandra Clare

I read a combination of Christian and mainstream speculative fiction (fantasy and sci-fi). This includes the series, THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS by Cassandra Clare. Book 6 of the series came out today. Once I finish reading the two books I am reading now, this will be on my list.

Have you read her books? What do you think of them?

I'm rather excited to read this book: CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE. I'll keep you updated as to when I do.

CAMP NANOWRIMO, Writing Progress, and Skydoor's Book Description

This changing the idea for a book in the middle of CAMP NANOWRIMO was probably not my best move. But, I felt almost dirty for what I tried to do in writing the Bible story, and the story of the life of Jesus, in a different time and in a different world. I didn't want to write something that was so obvious and intentional about showing I was doing so either.

This now puts pressure on me to write more and write fast.

Yesterday, I lost a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted this book and series to look like, and it's frankly still a little fuzzy, so I didn't even get the daily minimum word count done (which is now 3,000 words per day for the month of April for CAMP NANOWRIMO).

So, today, I need to write 4,000 words minimum, let me add, in order to get caught up. No pressure. However, it's more complicated than that. I will need to spend the rest of the month getting caught up since I changed my story. After all, I have a grand total of 2,000 words so far and need to be at 11,666 in order to reach my goal at the end of this month.

Book and Series Description
Eighteen year old Cecily has just regained her memory, but not all. She really isn't from Earth, USA, Las Vegas in today's year. Rather, she is from another world, in another dimension, and she is the heir to the throne from her land of Cranvor.
Years ago, she, along with her two most trusted protectors and advisers, were sent to Earth to hide. They all took on different ages on Earth in order to hide and blend in and hopefully not be caught by her enemies who searched the universe, and all of its worlds and dimensions, for her. She started over again as a first grader and it was graduation day from high school when she regained her memory.
The one she was matched with to marry one day would find her when it was time, when their world was either most ready for her to take the throne, or most desperate. When he found her, her memories would be regained. He wasn't just her match, but they loved one another deeply. She remembers she was matched with someone, but does not remember him at all, and frankly doesn't really like him now. But, she sure likes her knight and the one least likely. Never mind how Josiah accidentally overhears everything going on and becomes intertwined in this adventure to find the four who are also living on Earth since they, too, were in hiding.
She is to return to Cranvor, but there is a series of things she must do before she can even think of taking the throne. When Wizard Rufus set the three to Earth, he also hid all of the most important relics of the kingdom of Cranvor and the very things she needed to take the throne most successfully. A group of six must go on a quest throughout Cranvor in order to find these relics and take the throne.
As they go on the quest, Cecily learns just how corrupt the crown and nobleman have become, and the desperation of the people to find a way to save them from the darkness of their world. The old ways have been abandoned since they felt everything good had abandoned them. The people did not know what was done to save them.
Several choices have to be made and a quest helps her to regain more memories, figure out a new way to rule, which goes against the history of the kingdom of Cranvor's old nobility. After all, she learned about the world history from Earth and has learned a great deal of what works and what doesn't, what endures and what doesn't, and the best way for the people to live freely and thrive. Hence, Cicely find her way as she establishes a relationship with the five who join her on the quest. She falls in love with her world and all of the people as well.
However, none of this is easy. She has every adversary out there who want to see she fails or dies. The dark of Cranvor have everything to lose when she returns and they sense an uprising.
Also, she has to survive leaving Earth before she can even think about going back to Cranvor.

Skydoor Book Cover Image Credit

The largest image:

Image courtesy of Tina Phillips / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The smallest image:

Image courtesy of sattva / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

UGh! (Ugh! UGH! UgH!): A New Idea and CAMP NANOWRIMO

A new book came to me over the last three days.

And, the truth is, MATTHAN seemed a little blasphemous to me. I want to write an epic fantasy that deals with world religions, politics, adventure/quest, treasure hunt, and a love story all rolled into one.

So, here is the new book and series:

I will do this for CAMP NANWRIMO as well. I just need to write more and write faster.

You can find the book here:
http://campnanowrimo.org/campers/agodlyvision/novels/skydoor

This will be a retelling of the King Arthur, Merlin, Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur, Quest for the Holy Grail, but in a different way. In a different time. In a different world.

Welcome to the world of Cranvor.

Ugh! Spec Lit and More Changes

I've decided to split up Stories by Stacy into two different blogs. Please sign yourself up as followers for each (you do not need Google to do so) and can do so on each blog's site. Even those who normally despise speculative fiction of fantasy or sci-fi have said that they like my writing. Therefore, give it a try even if you aren't a fan. It would mean a great deal to me and I just might make you a fan. (Or, I may be delusional or an eternal optimist.) However, in case it's an automatic turn-off, that's why I'm putting it in another blog.

Therefore, my books of: Cammi's Story, Tanpres, and Zeagar will be moved to the other blog at: www.speclitstoriesbystacy.blogspot.com/

My other writings will stay on this blog. This will be my main blog. If you want news about me, the drama books, and my random thoughts, please still tune in here.

If you want to escape for a while, go to the other blog as well. Everyone needs the chance to escape and this was does not cost any money. Reading a book is free. Escapism is essential for self-care and keeping one's sanity. If you can't get away, reading about a world not like this place can be a good way to runaway and forget about it all. In fantasy and sci-fi, you're able to travel to different places, talk to English with animals and fantasy characters, explore the universe, participate in a battle of good vs. evil, and find a prince or princess to marry or even be royalty.

The Spec Lit blog will be up and running in the next two weeks. (I hope.)

Thank you so much for bearing patiently with me while I figure out how to do this blogging thing. Have a great day.

Blessings to You,

Stacy D.

*******

Please see my other speculative fiction blog at: www.Speclitstoriesbystacy.blogspot.com/

You can also find me on twitter at: Storiesbystacy and email me at: Storiesbystacy@gmail.com

While each blog will be a stand-alone, if you're new to this blog, you may want to go back and read the previous posts in order to get the most out of the blog.

Blog Vol. 4 SBS