It's That Time of Year!

Some people get excited about Christmas.  Others really wait and plan for that summer vacation. Personally, I am a fan of Halloween.  I mean, how many holidays encourage you to let your inner child out?  This year, my friend and book promoter/editor/inspiration-when-I'm-not-feeling-the-whole-book-thing, Jackie, and I decided that we had to celebrate the holiday by releasing my vampire-themed book First Bite (also with werewolves, elves, werecats, and more).  That was an adventure all on its own.  While I was pushing to finish the book's corrections and get the formatting down, Jackie was busy making sure her oldest boy was dressed appropriately to be what else but a vampire?  I promised her a shout out for her ingenious cape, and here it is:

However, in recent years, I've found even more reason to be excited by Halloween.  It is the last day of normalcy before the chaos that is NaNoWriMo.  My first endeavor with NaNoWriMo lead me to the fascinating world of Caitiff Academy.  I had always enjoyed a good super hero movie, but I had found myself wondering about the other side of the coin.  After all, a villain is only defined by her choices, and in the mind of a villain, she might be the hero and the hero the villain.  This idea spawned a universe where children of different backgrounds explored just what it meant to do what was right.  I fell in love with Annie Poe, the heart of the series, even as other characters came to life around her. 

This year, I was so busy from the end of July through October that all of my characters were bottled up inside of me.  It hurts to be a writer and have no outlet.  It also hurts to be a rider and be trapped by physical issues to turn a passion into a hobby.  But to have both held from me for three months led to waves of deep, unpleasant introspection with no real way out.  I wouldn't call it full depression, I don't want to take away from those who truly suffer, but I would have moods come upon me where there was nothing but darkness around me.  I was once surrounded by such thoughts all the time in my youth and massively unhappy all the time.  I was a certified pessimist, but somewhere in my seventeenth year, I found a freedom.  I broke free from a lifetime of self imposed expectations and began to take the first steps to becoming the person I was meant to be.  Slowly, I learned to let out my characters - to let them breathe and have lives and adventures all their own.  It took several years of trial and error to be able to let them out when I was able.  Being the quintessential struggling artist does tend to mean one must have a job to pay for life, but my characters didn't always work around my own timetable.  Finally, I reached a compromise to be where I am today.  

When I finally  had the freedom to write in the evenings, I unleashed a story that had been waiting to be told for nearly five years.  My first in the series, The Other Side of the Looking Glass, had been set aside for other characters like Annie and her friends, or the universe of Scarlett in First Bite.  But Nora finally prevailed, and I had a time crunch to complete her second story in two weeks - just in time for today, November 1st, the beginning of NaNoWriMo.  I am so happy to report SUCCESS!!!  As of today, Through a Rabbit Hole is complete in a rough draft.  

Now I can let the accomplishments sink in as I feel my Caitiff characters come back to me.  This year will be a busy one, and I don't just mean juggling's life's expectations with a book in a month.  No, this year is the year of Caitiff Academy: Gemini.  It's time to let the twins out, and it'll be hard to hold them in check for the forty hour work week.  I just hope that the life lessons that have led to this moment mean I'm up to the challenge.

GOOD LUCK to all fellow NaNoWriMo participants.  You can do it!!!!!!!