Katie Runyon

I just can’t seem to help myself, so here’s an updated progress meter (I think it’s the changeable mood that attracts me the most). Only a sentence down so far today and it’s already afternoon (I had a few shows that I needed to catch up on). But yesterday I did very well, once I got over my sleepiness. In fact, I did more than 2,500 words. My goal is about 1,000 a day, which could allow me to work Mon-Fri and get my usual 5,000 word chapter done. This is all good, since I have about two chapters I need to edit this week…One week off and I fall far behind! I don’t know how much writing I will be able to do tomorrow, since someone is coming to the house in the early afternoon (I didn’t get to pick the time or day unfortunately). I will try my best. I hope to be able to get this next scene done today, before I have to move on to my other duties. I should be done by Friday and ready to edit, with everything going up by Saturday. At least, that’s the plan!

I’m procrastinating a bit right now, which brought me to a site called Writertopia. I’ve seen the little progress meters a few times now, so I decided to make my own. I’m not positive with that final word count, but that’s about my target at the moment. Since this book will basically be a two-parter, I don’t plan on it being too large (I need something for the next one). Every week when I post a blog entry, I should post an updated one. Not sure if I will place it anywhere else but here for now.

And so this post seems a little less empty, I’ll just add that I read a pretty good book yesterday (stayed up until after 2am to finish it). The book was Water, Carry Me by Thomas Moran. It had romance, intrigue, drama, a bit of suspense. The ending was a total surprise and done very well. Although, I wish he would have written a bit further, or added an epilogue. There were so many questions still unanswered, but sometimes its better that way. It was a very character driven novel and actually had a purpose. I read a book recently that seemed to have no point at all and had me feeling like I wasted hours reading a few hundred pages of drivel about a few boring lives these people led. There was a time or two in Water, Carry Me where the non-linear timeline messed me up a bit. It was like a retelling in parts, where the character was reminiscing about a time long ago and added some bit of future knowledge to it. It was a great story and very real, which I liked the feel of. It also made me think about my writing a bit. Especially in my first book, I was a dialogue whore. I was never comfortable just blabbering on for pages about the character, without anything actually happening, but I’m getting a bit better at it (not blabbering about nothing, but having a good balance between dialogue and narrative). I’m realizing that everything doesn’t always have to be “Go! Go! Go!” and digging deeper into the characters can be a very rewarding thing. When you are reading a novel and your heart starts thumping and your eyes scan the page, but don’t really read it because you just want to jump ahead to see what happens, that’s a sign of something great and what I felt on the last few pages of that book. It’s a great thing to read an enjoyable book and I’m glad I’m taking the time to get back into them, as I’ve been away from them for too long!

Well, even though I feel like doing nothing else but taking a nap (it’s a very tense struggle right now trying to keep these buggers we call eyes open) I have work to do. As they say, there’s no rest for the wicked!

This week is one without anything new to add. I decided to take a week off (which was a bit harder than I thought). But I figured that once you start mentally adding dialogue tags to your own conversations, you better take a breather before they send you to the nut house. It wasn’t a total waste though. I figured now would be the time to do a timeline to map out what I could of the rest of the story. I wrote a few pages and will be finishing the rest a little later on. There really needs to be some additions…the middle of the book is always a bit blank for me. Sunday, I might edit a chapter from Foreseen, but I can’t promise anything. A week from now, there should be a new chapter for The Dark Within (and an updated version of chapter 4 from Foreseen, if I don’t get it done sooner).

I finished Talyn the other day and it was a good book. I wasn’t sitting there picking out all of the mistakes or writing ploys, which I usually can’t help doing while I read now. I was able to get lost in it and enjoy it, with no real parts where I could predict what happens next. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that I didn’t want to put down and stayed up longer than I usually do to read just a little more. It felt good. And that is what I wish to do and hope someday I can pull it off. If any of you are wondering, the author is Holly Lisle and it was my first time reading any of her books.

My week wasn’t as carefree and nice as I was hoping it would be, but nothing ever is. The first few days of the week, I was exhausted and just wanted to do nothing but lay in bed. Thankfully, I could since I was mostly reading. Then, came Wednesday and our oldest cat, Molly, passed away. It was a sad day, but she was old and we knew it was coming. After my grandfather had his stroke (she was my grandparent’s cat and my grandmother died many years ago) she was never the same. Now, there are just my two babies, Caleb (just turned 2 a few days ago) and Serena (5). I can’t really count the two strays living outside, though I’ve grown very fond of them. We’ve had bad luck taking in strays. My mom saved a kitten from being run over and it gave our two cats feline leukemia (and attacked our faces as we slept). Soon after, they died. It was a hard thing for my mother, after that day we never had any cats again, until mine. When I was growing up we always had cats and other animals.

I might take some pictures while I’m outside today and update my gallery since it has been so long since the last time, which would be a little something. What I can do right now, is tease that in the next few chapters of The Dark Within, you’ll learn something about the people in Onisepla’s army that will change Kari’s mind about them and Ryker/Granger/others will talk about a mutiny when Kari makes some decisions they don’t agree with.

UPDATE: I added some pictures from my cellphone, I hope you enjoy! It was an interesting time trekking through the woods in my flip flops!

Another week, another blog post. This week, something amazing happened. It was time to write chapter 6, which was yet another difficult chapter (they don’t seem to be getting any easier unfortunately). On Wednesday, I was beginning to think that I wasn’t going to be able to finish it this week. Then, something miraculous happened. I began to write and I just kept on going. After abysmal word counts the two previous days, I wasn’t expecting anything different. But it all just seemed to come into place and I knew what was going to happen for the rest of the chapter and I couldn’t seem to stop myself from writing it. So, to my surprise, I completed it in 3 days. I even had time to edit a chapter before my work time was over. So, Thursday, I let myself sleep a few minutes later and edited the second chapter I wanted to edit this week. After a bit of brainstorming for the next chapter, I even had a few hours to read, which I haven’t done much of recently. Between concentrating on my own writing and the book on my nightstand being ho-hum, I just haven’t even thought about it. I tried to read that book (The Elfstones of Shannara), but I just couldn’t do it. Finally, I decided to move on to another book (Talyn), and I spent a few hours reading. All together, this week was a good one, which I don’t have very many of.

My plans for today, are to attempt to start chapter 7 (starting a chapter, or even a scene is always the hardest for me) and maybe do a bit more reading. The weekend is usually family time, but next week will be more writing/editing/reading. While sometimes writing can feel a bit like work when I force myself to do a certain amount a day, writing a really good scene/chapter or just the feeling of having another piece complete, being one step closer to finished, is worth it. I love telling these people’s stories and seeing where they take me. Getting into their heads and fleshing out a great character. I especially love it when someone reads it and gets excited, because that gets me excited. By no means, do I think my work is perfect or for everyone, but I like it and to me, that’s what matters the most. If others like it, all the better.

So far, there is one scene in the book I’m writing that I like best. It’s the last scene in chapter 4, from Onisepla’s POV. I just really think it shows how torn he is and really sets up well the rest of the story with him. This push and pull is a big influence on everything he does in the book. While he does what he feels needs to be done in order to save his people, he will also do what he can to keep as many of the people alive from Maharan. This is a big portion of why he gives them the choices. It benefits him in many ways, but really, the reason he is doing it is because he doesn’t want to kill them. Chapter 6 didn’t have any of his scenes for me to write (Medwin, Kari, Ryker, and Granger all had their own POVs), but he will be in chapter 7. While the first book had gruesome and dark parts, I think this book will be a bit darker and a bit grittier. Chapter 6 really shows that (but I always add a bit of humor and brightness). Of course, I try to write all of these blog posts without giving too much away for those who haven’t read it, so check it out if you would like to know what I’m talking about!

As for the editing of Foreseen, its going well I guess. I edited chapters 2 and 3 and the newest versions are up. I’m not sure how much into the process I will be when I stop updating it. I might set the limit at the fourth draft, which is where chapters 1 and 2 are at now. After I get everything to draft 4, I’ll probably be finished with the first draft of The Dark Within and can fully concentrate on Foreseen. I’d like to really go over it and make the characters as in depth as I’ve been trying to do for TDW. But only time will tell. Right now, I should finish TDW sometime in August. (Then it will be even stranger sitting outside in the hot sun, writing about how it is freezing cold in Maharan. Or maybe we’ll at least be on to spring by the end of the book.)

If you like my books or my site, I encourage you to sign up on the forum, it only takes a minute. There are lots to talk about there, even if you don’t want to discuss my books, you can post in the General Discussion board and talk about anything. You could even use the chat room to talk with some friends or use the gallery to upload your own photos. I’m open to any suggestions anyone might have on including more or improving what’s already there. So join up and tell your friends!

This week was a pain in the butt as far as writing. I thought my last chapter was giving me troubles, but this one proved to be even worse. Usually when I start writing I can write quite a bit before I even realize it. But I struggled all week to even get started. Yesterday, I was so tired I had to take a nap and I don’t take naps. I know I’m tired when my eyelid twitches and boy was it ever. Finally after my nap, I was able to finish the chapter. Then I stepped away for a time, but ended up feeling sick before I could do a quick proof read and put it up. I felt horrible all night and, in part thanks to Stargate sg-1, I didn’t get to sleep until sometime after 4am. Usually I shut the lights off at 1am and nod off. But not last night. Oh well. Super tired today, but I proof read chapter five and added it for those waiting for the newest installment. This also marks about the quarter way mark, which I’m super excited about! I still feel like crap, but there’s no rest for the wicked. The weekend is usually my relaxing days, where I’ll brainstorm a little and catch up on any notes I neglected to add into my notebook on the computer. Tomorrow I might just actually do some writing. I just can’t wait to get this book/series done. And if it’s my laziness that’s stopping me, then I need to shape up.

There is nothing new for the first book at the moment. I’m waiting to hear back from my beta reader and have my chapter finish its cycle on a critique site. Hopefully, next week I will make it up by having an updated version of both chapter two and three. Here’s hoping!

I think the second book is coming along nicely. I have evil plans for everyone and an actual ending for this one. The first book I only knew that Kari was going to defeat Edan, otherwise I was in the dark. But with the second book, I know how it is going to end. It’s not quite an ending though. Since things will continue with the third book. But you’ll just have to wait and see. As excited as I’ve been, I’m not even leaking some things to my family, since I want them to be surprised when I force them to read it. I am the only one in this household that even owns a book, none the less is willingly read one. My mom says within a page, she is out like a light. My brother would rather play his video games and watch inappropriate cartoons. And my step-father, let’s just say that it takes him forever to read just a chapter. So, the only way to get them to read is by force! But I’m okay with that. I am beginning to not want them seeing it until it is in a semi-polished state anyway. Which I hope won’t take too long.

But now it’s time to take me and my sick self and actually do something. But I’ll be back next week.