Challenge Day 2: Short and Sweet

So, my uncle offered me a job this summer working at his restaurant and since I didn't find a job once school got out I headed down to Dothan, Alabama for over a month. I figured it would be good practice for college - living without my mama for quite a long time...

I never expected it to affect my WIP*.

I started JuNoWriMo with (what I considered) a brilliant idea about a banished mermaid and an airship. I knew there was no way I would get 50k but I was hoping over the summer I would have some time to write while I was in Dothan.

I kind of added a whole background story and about ten subplots.

I've been working with some amazing people that have given me such a good picture of how a big business kitchen works. Some of these people have seriously tough lives and they're living paycheck to paycheck and have three kids to take care of - and no spouse. But wouldn't know it just to look at them... they're upbeat and cheerful so much it makes my jawbones hurt. 

I believe everything happens for a reason and one of my sweet friends has recently taught me to be intentional about believing that wherever my writing is concerned. It hit me the other day that I would never have added that extra backbone to my story -- and had so many opportunities to make new friends that will probably end up in this new story -- if I hadn't fought back all the fears of leaving home for so long and being by myself and taken a leap of faith I suppose you could say.

 I'm getting a decent amount of wordage done on this new WIP. And I'm loving the restaurant biz. :)

Love, Kenzie

Second blog post of the week guys!!! Be impressed. ;)

*WIP = work in progress 

To all the writers...

 This time of year I'm always so sentimental. I have friends graduating, friends getting ready for college, friends coming home from college... All while I sit here equally thrilled and terrified that I have one year left until college myself. Naturally, I've been daydreaming about the days when life consisted of dragons and magical castles, Jedi and lightsabers, cowboys and indians... We had our own league of super heroes too.

I miss that.

I miss the adventures, the complicated missions, the endless imagination that I possessed. I've still got some of it... but it's not the same. Now bothersome things are mixed in – logic and science and a big dollop of hopeless romantic-ness. (Yes, I just invented that word...)

But with all my nostalgia I realized I had it sooooooooooooo lucky. I started writing when I was nine. I started capturing that insane imagination and putting it to paper. And I as got older and missions to the moon of Endor got a little unpractical, I still had my creative outlet! It simply morphed into a new part of me.

At first it was a vague dream. I would think, Oh when I'm 12 I'll finish that book or I”ll be published when I'm sixteen and super old...

Well. Now I'm seventeen and those dreams seem a little silly. But I love that I've never given up.

When I was fourteen I joined a writing group and we became known as the illustrious Y5. I was the little midget mascot. We joked the other day that they didn't even know I could talk until a few months ago. I had friends my age that wrote but these kids were serious. They wrote with discipline and passion and good grammar [insert passionate music sequence here].

They were super cool. They still are. (Don't tell them ;)

I was the youngest member by several years so sometimes it was overwhelming or just plain awe inspiring to have the attention and help of those other four writers.

A couple months ago I jumped into the blogging world and found myself in the same situation. I found friends and got adopted into a few circles... and I was the baby writer. Still am. :)

At first I didn't like it. Sometimes it is a little lonely still but holy cow. I've learned SO much in the last few months. I've grown, won some contests, my writing has changed and here I am now... getting ready to write a totally new story with minimal plot development (bites nails) for JuNoWriMo. And I know that I already have a ton of support. That's a super good feeling, y'all. :)

I decided, before I kill myself writing this new story, I wanted to say thank you. So here it is: To all the brilliant, beautiful, wonderful writers in my life...

Thank you for the comments, the encouragement, the kicks in the pants, the late night meetings, the coffee, the constructive criticism, the listening, the idea sharing, the uncontrollable laughter, the delicious food, the retweets, the Pinterest boards, the general brilliance... You guys rock and I love all of you. I'm so thankful I know you guys.

Much love,

Kenzie 

FSF: Tears

Annoying droplets of water kept trickling down from my eyes and they refused to stop falling. The wind was blowing against my face, making it cool and fresh.

I wondered if the shade of my nose matched the red shoes I had put on… because everyone knows red is a lucky color. And if shoes are red, well, it might even give you the strength to tell someone you love them.

Even it meant running away to a world I wasn’t sure existed… and yes, even though he would laugh at me and ask me if it were even slightly possible that I’d been crying over him. 

A random Spring Break pic since I have no teary one...

Well. This is convenient. :) I had a writer's meeting last night with two delightful friends and we were discussing our big projects/manuscripts and the equally important "distraction projects". The project that keeps you going when you hit a rough spot and need to be creatively rebooted. 

I didn't really have one. I have plenty of ideas, they just seem to fizzle away after a few days, maybe a week. I still love them, it's just nothing grabbed me like my current project. 

Last night I remembered a fun, modern day, fairy tale that I had always wanted to write but I joked that I didn't think I would like it because it's just so... happy. Compared, at least, to my current project which is filled with some pretty messed up people. 

But I like happy stories. So I got home, pulled out my old storyboards and started flipping through all sorts of character charts and exciting plot points. I'm pleased to say I discovered that I had carefully mentioned at least one insecurity and 'greatest fear' for each character. Several have very broken pasts. I liked that. 

Suddenly, they all seemed like real people. And real people make for delicious fairy tales. So I'm kindly writing them one. I'm quite distracted. :) 

Anyway, the convenient part of this post is that, as I was writing, I hit a rough spot. Then I remembered the Five Sentence Fiction word for this week! TEARS. 

Even happy fairy tales need a healthy dose of tears. I have to make their lives a little miserable before the happy ending, right? Bahaha. 

Problem solved. 

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Cause my best friend is on Amazon. Aww yeahh.

One of my most favoritest people on the beautiful planet of earth is an equally beautiful lady named Avriel Lowry.  We only got to live near each other for about two years before she moved away to Colorado. But God used those fun years and we've been inseparable since. We have phone withdrawals when texting each other isn't an option. (Like when we're writing!) Plus we visit over summers.

Anyways, she can write. Especially poetry. Her poetry was birthed over a huge struggle in her life and her book (*squee*) is the story of how she overcame that struggle. It's pretty powerful - she used to send me bits of these poems over texts as she thought of them.

She always wanted me to help her edit them and I'm afraid I wasn't much help because I just loved it all... and my poetry expertise is, well, zero. :D

Soooooooooooooo. Even if you're just a tiny bit curious (You KNOW you are...) go check out this book:

Confessions: 

of a Hopelessly Love-Crossed Emo Child

I will love you forever if you do. And she will too. In fact, we might just have a competition over our love - but don't worry about that just go click on the link and imagine the love pouring out from our souls. :D

Avriel also blogs at http://spirit-mind-and-body.blogspot.com/ and she is a brilliant photographer over at http://www.faithavenuephotography.com/. She's also writing a novel on the zombie Apocalypse. And she's enjoying calculus. This girl is ridiculous.  

P.S. Part Two of 'A Story About a Troll' coming Saturday!! Try to contain your fright for Mary Anne and Matilda Joy's fair brains.