Overcoming Her Obsession

Dear Overcoming Her Obsession Blog,

I have really missed you. I remember when I used to look at you everyday; it seems like just yesterday you only one follower (me). It seems lately that I have neglected you, and I'm sorry. I don't mean to, it's just that there are so many other things going on in my life right now, and I'm having a hard time with this creative block; it doesn't seem to be going away. I know that these are all just excuses, and I'm sure other blogs have heard them a thousand times; but I'm sincere when I say that I will give it my best effort to visit you at least every few days, and update you at least once a week, hopefully with some interesting and worth-reading content.

Dear Readers,

I must extend my apology to you as well. I realize that a whole point of a blog (or one of the points) is to keep it updated with the current goings-on of my life. This is something I have failed in doing, and I promise to do my best to not let it happen again. You are all so important to me!

Love, me.
Whew I feel so much better now. Moving on.

The first week of school is over, and now I'm on to the second. I do have lots of time during the day when I can get work done (schoolwork or writing) so I'm hoping to get back on track soon. My goal used to be one chapter a week, but that hasn't happened. It's difficult when your brain suddenly quits sending signals to your fingers...the type of signals that allows me to write, anyway. It's amazing how life's little distractions can pull someone away from her beloved hobby. For awhile, my characters had left me, surely wandering in some dark silent room with no direction or guiding light.


Slowly but surely, they are listening to the sound of my voice...or perhaps I am listening to them...and they are making their way back to me...or the other way around. As they are fictional, I suppose the responsibility lies completely with me, not them. And here I am talking about them as if they were standing right behind me...That would be *so* cool if I could go have a coffee date with Corvin. He's so handsome :).

I am anxious and excited to get back to work, so weave the lives of my characters, especially Vyla. She has got some surprises coming, and they're not all good! *mwahaha* The fun part about writing is that I can be totally evil and get away with it....but sometimes I feel guilty.  But then I'm like, "Oh, wait! I'll just delete it!" But sometimes I don't even want to delete what I've written, so I save it for something else.

Well I will be seeing you again, soon Blog. I swear.




this is me without proper sleep. Minus the bunny slippers.



Back in....oh let's say last fall...close to a year ago, my boyfriend found this video game on clearance at Target called Dragon Age: Origins, done by Bioware. It looked fun so we each took turns playing. Not only was it fun, adventurous, creative and addicting (this coming from a non-gamer), it was also inspiring. There are several specific story lines from which you can choose, and the second time I played (I've played thrice) I chose the human noble story line. This is the basis of the Ashehill Saga. I cannot give away too many details but if you are familiar with this game, then you'll probably know in what direction the book goes.

During the month long break from college, I began writing down names and descriptions of characters, names of villages, names for the country, and so on. It wasn't long before I began typing up the first chapter. Six pages in and my laptop crashes. For good. I started over once we got the new one, and oddly enough I prefer the newer version...so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

Now I didn't take any other plot lines from the game except for that very basic one, and then I embellished greatly upon it. Two characters are loosely based off DA characters (appearance, personality) but they are still very much their own person. Something strange happens once you start creating characters and a world...there are certain things I thought I wanted to do to a character (ex. killing them off) but then something happens and I don't have it in me. It's easy to become so totally attached, especially to my heroine, Vyla. I certainly don't wish evil upon her, but sometimes....it just has to happen. And oddly enough, it's out of my hands. Strange thing to say since I do indeed possess the control, but it's easy for the story to take on a life of its own. The characters evolve of their own accord. (Are you a writer? Then you probably know what I mean.)

Anyway, that's really how everything got started. And now I'm so close to finishing this first one. Initially, I only wanted one book, but a three parter seemed to flow better. Of course it could be one long book, but I'm writing like I prefer to read--shorter books, with lots in a series. I like my stories to be broken up a bit. The same can be said for chapter--I don't like reading long chapters, and I don't write long chapters (average 10-12 pages per chapter. Some more, some less).

The writing process itself has been fun but long. Often times original ideas I have never make it into the storyline, or are changed slightly. I worked on it when I could, since I was (and will be again soon) in school. When I wasn't in school, I was home with my daughter (and will be). I really only had a short window per day or per week that I could write. This summer has been a little easier, but again, I can usually only write for an hour or so, and somedays I don't write at all. Take today for example...this is what I've gotten accomplished.

So that's really all there is to it. I'll let you know once I'm finished!

p.s. There are zero dragons in my book.

Some of my best days are when I can just sit at my laptop with some coffee and write. Sometimes it goes smoothly, sometimes it's jagged and, well, unfocused. Today...it's unfocused. So instead of forcing my toddler to take a nap (which doesn't work *ever*) I'm letting her watch a movie on the couch next to me. I'm hoping this will lull her to sleep.

Anyway my progress thus far has been, in a word, interesting. I have days where I have all these ideas in my head, and days where I literally have nothing. I have days where I think I've just written the most boring and uninspired chapter ever, and that surely no one will like it. Will anyone even like this book? Will people think it's boring or too wordy? Everyone is a critic, but I'm sure I'm my own worst enemy, as the song by Lit goes. There is a lot of competition out there, just like there is for any market, and it's a challenge to get people to think that yours is the best above all others. How am I going to do it? *thinks for a minute* I'll get back to you.

Where was I? Oh yeah, being unfocused. See what I mean? I need another cup of coffee, and I can tell that Ripley is looking very very sleepy....

Welcome to my first ever blog! Forgive me for the lack of content and state of disarray; I am just starting but I hope to have things cleaned up soon! I am not terribly familiar with editing, but I will do what I can. My ultimate goal on here is to give you a little insight into not only who I am as a person and writer, but also to give you an idea about my first novel. My plan is to put up links to character descriptions, as well as put out a diary entry of sorts from the point of view from a random character.

So check back on occassion! My time is limited so I don't know how much I will be able to accomplish but I sure hope you like my blog.

Thanks!