Novella Complete - kind of not really...

Dust of Danika is done with the hand written portion! Now I just have to type it up, double the length, then edit it a couple hundred times!

I LOVE finishing a manuscript. Even if it's just finishing the very shitty very first draft. I'm not sure how long it is yet. When I finish typing it up I'm sure I'll feel even more like I've finished it. Then it will be three novels under my belt. They all need so much work but I think they're all different and I'm feeling good!

Well! Back to typing it up!

--
Ashley

Fiction piece I wrote a year or so ago, before I learned so much! I may continue the story but I'm not sure where it'll go

My name is Lana. I destroyed the world.

I stand amidst the falling white grey ash falling around me. I am tempted to brush it away as it gathers on my skin, a reminder of what it was. I resist the urge, instead welcoming it, a prize for my accomplishment.

Flakes create fog around me, cascading in a blurry haze. I walk away from the still smoldering ruin that was a city, the heat of it stroking my back looking for comfort, for a reason why.

Maybe I regret it. Maybe none of it was deserved. Still I walk slowly into a cloud of soft destruction. My hands now empty, like my heart.

I was once happy. I thought I had everything I needed and that I could love the world with all my heart. I was betrayed. In return I ruined everything. What holds more power than a broken soul? All the energy of my broken self released into chaos and torment. Revenge.

I stop when I hear a voice. A figure is running toward me, from the piles of ash and stone.

“Hey!” the voice grows louder, rougher, angrier.

I turn and run. There shouldn’t be anyone left. How could there be?

“Wait, stop running!” A man.

I hear his heavy footsteps gaining on me. Fear pumps through my veins for the first time in over a year. A hand grabs my arm. I try to yank it free but it only grips harder causing me to lose balance. I tumble to the ground.

I yell as I awkwardly hit my left hip. The man falls on top of me, his elbow digging into my ribs pushing air out of my lungs and bruising my side. “Ughh,” I groan.

“Shit.” He doesn’t move so I have to shove him off. I stand quickly, blood rushes to my head but I refuse to wobble or fall again. He grabs me, pulling me down. I give up, there’s nothing to lose anyway.

“What happened?” He says.

What? He doesn’t know? He doesn’t know I did this…How could he?

To him I’m another survivor.

As the ash continues to fall, coating my throat again, making it hard to swallow, to breathe, I start to cry. I did this. I ruined it all. Selfish, greedy, hurt. I have nothing left. Nothing except this man, a man who will surely kill me once he finds out I did this.

I cry. On my hands and knees at the end of the world, with ash coating the entire inside of my being, breathing in the particles of everyone that just died, becoming one with the world. I sob for everything did and lost.

The man mistakes my pain and crying for grief, for the loss of our world. He hugs me without question and I sink into his arms, grateful. Still I am selfish.

© Ash Huntley

Sunday Morning Cake

Morning chocolate cake to motivate my creative spirit! Time to edit and maybe write something on here later!

Back into the swing of things...not

As excited as I am to get back into the swing of things, into editing my novel and work on writing more. To work with my editor and polish up my novel, I for some reason can't quite get into it. I want to so badly. I think for some reason, I'm nervous.

Not some reason. I believe I know why I'm nervous. Since I got it back from my editor, a third of it edited, I've been supposed to be working on it. December was an easy excuse to be distracted and not work on it. But, I can't do that anymore. I'm nervous because I haven't done editing like this before. It's intimidating and there is so much work to do. I have so much to learn and so much to do for it. I am so excited to make it great, and I can't wait for it to be a million times better than it is right now. All I want is to feel proud and feel like I have a chance when I start sending it to publishers in 2013.

I'm not sure how to motivate myself at this point. I need a big push, to be inspired and determined. I think I just have to force myself to start, and then work at it every day until it's part of my daily routine.

Any thoughts or suggestions? How do you keep yourself motivated to keep working through the tough parts? Is it the tough part for me because I haven't done it before? Will it get easier? Will I feel better about it once I start digging my way through the disaster zone of my novel?

Help?!

--
Ashley

Writing Goals of 2013

 My number one priority and goal is my writing. I have written a novel this year and I am currently working on editing it. I admit, I have not worked on it at all this past month, December has been busy and distracting as much as it has been fun and wonderful. But, time to get back to the grindstone, the grindstone I call work. That is to say, my job is my writing, I want to be a writer and so I need to write. I have story ideas I would like to attempt to make short stories, but first and foremost is the novel I am currently working on. I am VERY excited about it. I can't wait to really get into editing it. I thought December was going to be my big month for it, but I was so wrong. On to January! The month of my editing!

I don't know how long it's going to take, but I think it will take a long while. I have a lot of work to do on it. The first round of editing is going to be a real hack job! Then there will be edit rounds after that, until it's polished to near perfection! The grammar will be great, the story and plot will make sense and move smoothly, the characters develop well, and it all make sense. Mostly, I want to be proud of it. I want to send it to publishers feeling hopeful.

That is my ultimate goal of 2013.

But, I have bills to pay and will need other hobbies. I can't let one thing I love become my entire life. Etsy will help with that. I also got a bow and arrows for my birthday and am very excited to get into that. A healthy new hobbie to try. I also go snow shoes for this winter season, how fun is that?!

I wouldn't call this a resolution. I just have plans and goals for this new year. I had them for this past year as well, things sometimes move more slowly than wanted. It's kind of to be expected too, though.

Since I'm talking about goals for 2013 I might as well point out I hope to lose at least 30 pounds this coming year.

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Ashley