Full Moon!

Ever since Crystal and I started writing a novel involving werewolves, I have fallen in love with wolves and full moons. They are interesting topics to research and learn more about. Plus, I can say I'm doing research for our novel when I look up information on wolves or full moons!



Looking up the moon schedule recently, I discovered that today holds a full moon for us. The full moon should occur at 11:38am (EST), the exact time that this post is being made. So, when it grows dark enough, go outside and take a look at the moon.

When looking up information on full moons, I came across information about the names of the full moons. Each month brings a "new" full moon to us. February brings the snow moon.

February's moon is known as the snow moon because this month is historically the most snow-filled month. I believe most of us can say that this is very true in 2010. Places that rarely see snow (such as Charleston) have seen inches of snow. It has been a snowy month, which will end (fittingly enough) with a Full Snow Moon.

Happy end of February! Look for great things coming in March!

Words from a Writer: Happy Birthday Aiden!

One of the characters in a novel that I am cowriting with Crystal is celebrating his birthday today.



Image from http://www.wolfpark.org/birthday.html.

In order to celebrate his birthday, I thought I would share how his novel came to be. Below is the story of how Crystal and I came up with one of the novels we are working on (re)writing.


The journey to get our first novel written and finished has been a long and interesting one.

Let me begin at the beginning if I can figure out where that is.

Around six years ago when we were both still in high school, we first came up with the idea to co-write a novel together. We both enjoy writing and it seemed like a fun way to share this passion. We set out to write a novel about eight teens who discover they have magical powers. As we started on this novel, the story began to evolve and outgrow itself. It was no longer the simple novel, Enchantment, that it had started out as.

What started out as a single novel about eight teens quickly became a novel about the Ennea - a ruling group of nine who keep the magical world in balance. This group and magic on Earth originated from another world known as Aurum. 1000 years ago, a simple wizard named Wendel, messed up a spell bringing the Ennea on a one-way trip to Earth. Now, the latest Ennea has to figure out a way back to Aurum before it's too late. We continued working on and evolving this story over the course of our years.

With time, we found that our interest in Enchantment dwindled some. What had started out as a simple novel had turned into a much larger project that was going to span more than one book. The 150+ pages we had already were going to have to rewritten and updated. We were still very attached to these characters, but we weren't sure it was the project we wanted for our summerwrite experience.

That's the background to us writing together. Now, here's the story of how Dancing beneath the Moon came to be:

 It was all set in motion in April of 2009 when Myrtle Beach caught on fire this past spring. We were supposed to be going to see the band Blue October in concert at the House of Blues. However, with the disaster of the fire, Myrtle Beach was using the House of Blues as a shelter. We received a call the day before the concert (it was going to be on a Friday) that it had been cancelled. Our money was refunded and luckily we were also able to get out of our hotel reservations.

We weren't happy about our weekend plans being ruint so we looked to find an alternative for the weekend. We decided to return to the Georgia Renaissance Festival for a second time. We had already been once this year, but it would give us something to do. We booked the hotel and packed our stuff.

The car trip to Fairburn, GA from our house is about six hours. On I-20, they have been doing construction, so the trip tends to seem even longer. Somewhere along the interstate, we started talking about Summerwrite. I was leaning towards doing it, with hopes that it would turn out better than Nano. Crystal wasn't sure if she wanted to do it or if she had the time to devote to it with her work schedule for the summer. Plus, we weren't sure we were ready to revisit Enchantment just yet.

We started talking about how much we would love to see our names in print one day. We decided that it would probably be in our best interest if we started with something smaller than Enchantment (which looks like it's going to be a series consisting of 9 books). So, we set out to write a single novel. We started tossing ideas around.

I threw out the idea that we had talked about before - the darker side of magic with werewolves, vampires, etc. We had once discussed the possibility of them originating from another world (similar to but different from Enchantment). We set out talking about how this would work. Soon, I had a page of notes about various "dark" magical creatures and key details about them. We decided that they would all be orginated from the combination of demons and humans.

This was great, but how to narrow things down to just one book. We decided to pick one creature and focus on it. This didn't mean that the other creatures wouldn't be in the book. It simply meant that one creature would be our focus. We quickly ruled out vampires. There's too much out there on them right now and we didn't want them to be our focus. Looking at the list, it wasn't long before we leaned towards werewolves.

We both agreed that these werewolves would be humans who turn into wolves (which I adore), not humans who turn into hairy men (which I very much dislike). Next, we set about deciding the basics of it. We decided that it would focus on a boy and girl in high school. One would be a werewolf and the other would be human. Naturally, it would be a love story.

We decided the werewolf should be a boy and the human should be a girl. The story would be told in alternating points of view. One chapter would focus on the werewolf, followed by the next chapter focused on the human. I'm not sure how we decided, but I would be writing the werewolf chapters and Crystal would be responsible for the human chapters.

Next came the issue of names, which is where things start to get freaky. I quickly chose Aiden for the boy, but Crystal was having a hard time with names for the girl. We're driving down the road and she finally says "Which do you like better, Madison or Emmeline?" At the exact same moment that she says this, I see a sign that says "Madison so many miles, Atlanta so many miles." I immediately respond with a giggle and Madison. Then, I have to explain why. We decide her name was meant to be.

We spend the next hour looking around road signs for clues to the rest of their names. Madison is glaring us in the eye from everywhere (there's a town in Georgia named Madison). I settle on Sinclaire for Aiden's name based on a sign for Lake Sinclair. And Crystal finishes Madison's name out to be Madison Faith Burbank after a long discussion and a lot of suggestions.

The story was born - it had characters and a loose plot. We spent the rest of the trip talking about it every minute we got (which was a lot). It began to take shape. We returned home and signed up for Summerwrite. We started writing our novel on May 1st with the kick off to summerwrite. With the nature of writing together, it meant that we couldn't always work on Dancing beneath the Moon when we were writing, so we each picked up various other writing projects to fill our time and help keep the creativity flowing. Among these is the short story "Howling" that I wrote. It contains the back story to Aiden's parents. You can find it over at my writing journal if you're interested in reading it.

There's been several other fun things in the adventure of writing this novel, but since this post has gotten so long, I'm going to stop here. I'll post more in the future regarding the other freaky things that have helped lead to the completion of our first novel! Also, be on the lookout for a synopsis of it. We won't be posting it online (because the plan is to get it published), but we may let some people read it after it's been edited.

Oh, and somewhere along the way, Aiden and Madison outgrew the spanse of one book, so unfortunately, their story will not be just one novel as originally planned. The good thing is that Dancing beneath the Moon can stand alone and is not reliant on it's future novel(s)!

Words from a Writer: From Barbies to Words

When I came up with the title for this blog, I didn't realize just how true it would ring down the line.

Originally, the blog title was simply supposed to refer to a growth in my relationship with my sister, Crystal. It was supposed to illustrate the way we had gone from playing Barbies together to writing words together. We have always been partners in crime, regardless of what we're doing.


Lately, though, I have found new reasons for the title. I have found that it describes our creativity style perfectly. Allow me to explain for a moment.

When Crystal and I used to play Barbies, we would come across an idea we loved and play it out in every way possible. We would recreate the same storyline over and over again until we'd worn it to perfection.


Now, I'm finding that we do a similar thing with writing. Last summer, we wrote our first novel together. When we settled down and started in on the editing process, we had many long conversations that eventually ended with a big decision. We decided to undertake the task of completely rewriting the story to make it even better. We have started and restarted this second draft several times in an attempt to find the one we're happiest with. Hopefully the rewriting process doesn't last as long as some of our Barbie storylines. If it does, we could be in for years of rewriting the same story...

Words from a Writer: Celebrating a Character's Birthday

Next Friday is the birthday of one of our (Crystal and my) characters. His name is Aiden and he's a lead character in the werewolf novel that we are currently in the middle of rewriting.



As this is a character that I'm strongly attached to, I want to do something special to celebrate his birthday. I've thought about it for the past week and I have lots of ideas on how I'm going to celebrate. The best part? You could benefit from the celebration!

Some of the things to look forward to next week:

Around Charleston: The novel that Aiden is from is set in my hometown of Charleston, which is actually quite perfect for this month. Next week, I will be wrapping up my "Around Charleston" posts.

Words from a Writer: Next week, I plan to talk about the similarities I have found between playing Barbies with my sister and writing with my sister. I will also share the story of how this particular novel came to be. It has an interesting story behind it.

Sister Time: Look for an update detailing how we chose to celebrate the birthday of Aiden.

The Reading Chair: Expect a long overdue review! I'll be reviewing a werewolf novel. You'll have to stop back by to find out which one!

Songs of Aiden: Look for a new playlist at the top of the blog to celebrate Aiden! I might even give some reasoning behind a few of the choices.

Contests & Giveaways: On February 26, I will be kicking off a big contest in honor of Aiden's birthday. There will be several prizes with many different ways to enter.

Looks like next week is going to be a busy week around the blog. So, I'm going to head out now and start getting things ready because next week is also a busy week with grad school!

Words from a Writer: The Perfect Night to Write

Tonight is a full moon, which makes it a perfect night to write. The novel I am currently rewriting with my sister is about werewolves. In our novel, the werewolves phase for three days - the day before the full moon, the day of the full moon, and the day following the full moon. Therefore, full moons are great nights to gain inspiration.



Tonight's full moon is more perfect than usual because the full moon is also known as the Wolf Moon. The Farmer's Almanac (http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names) gives a story of why this is. Most full moons derive their names from Native Americans. The moon of January is named for the howling of hungry wolves outside villages during cold winters.

I don't know about you, but tonight, I'll be writing about wolves...

Song of the Day: "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revivial
Need I explain? This entire post is about the moon...

New Features Coming

Just a short description of some of the new features coming to the blog:

Obsessed: My sister and I are all the time finding new things to be obsessed with. I'll keep abreast of what we're "obsessed" with and why. This is your chance to learn a bit more about me.

Opinionated: This one's for everyone out there who has a desire to share their opinion! Periodically, I will make a post about a specified topic and ask for your opinions in return. I want your honest opinions. This is about learning about differing views and seeing where others stand. Feel free to comment under annonymous on these posts if you would like!

Sister Time: Sisters (at least Crystal and I) share a bond that is extremely unique. I'm going to try to share some of those "sisterly moments" with you.

Words from a Writer: Similar to my previous Writerly Wednesday, this section will focus on writing and my thoughts on it.

Contests & Giveaways: Contests will require a little bit of effort to gain extra entries (mostly advertising the blog), while giveaways will allow for one entry and no extra effort. I'm hoping to host the first of these in February. Occasionally, I will also use this section for contests and giveaways of others.

Song of the Day: I am going to continue this feature with future posts, so keep an eye out for this section at the end of every (okay, most) posts.

Fun & Games: I will be hosting fun games in an effort to get to know my followers better. With each thing I host, I will invite you to host the same game on your own blog. Let's get to know each other better and have a little fun doing it!

Project Organize: I would say I'm systematically unorganized, meaning that I'm quite disorganized, but I know where to find things. One of the things I would like to work towards in 2010 is becoming more organized. I really think it would help in the future.

TV Talk: There are certain television shows that I watch each week. From time to time, I'll post snippets about them on here.

Movie Mayhem: Essentially the same thing as TV Talk, just with movies.

The Reading Chair: This one will be all about reading! Expect to find reviews and comments on books and other things that are reading related.


Hope you're as excited as I am for these new features!!