Nerd nerd nerd NERD ALERT

I may have mentioned it before, but I wasn't always going to be a writer.

When I was growing up, I vacillated between becoming a professional author, becoming a professional musician, and becoming a scientist at NASA.

It seemed to depend a lot on my teachers. In elementary school, it was NASA all the way. I was a junior volunteer for the National Science Center in in Augusta (before it moved to Port Royal). By 7th grade, when it became apparent I was no ordinary bookworm, it had tilted strongly over to the literary bent. Ms. Jenkins, my 8th grade lit teacher, encouraged me by sending me to the library on Fridays to write (since I had tested past the SRA reading kits the rest of my classmates were still slogging through.) I completed my first sci-fi story then, as middle school was also the time I discovered Asimov and Heinlein.

By the time I reached high school, however, it became apparent I was also a fairly talented musician. I could play trumpet and violin, and sing. I was a true Renaissance woman.

But the fine arts school I attended also had a rigorous academic curriculum, and Mr. Manly, who was my physics and chemistry teacher, reignited my love for science.

I was accepted to GA Tech. I almost went, but my father was a Bulldawgs fan, so I found myself going to UGA instead to please him. It turned out to be the correct decision.

So I started out a physics major. A series of unfortunate events, bad advice, and bad choices on my part in my freshman year taught me that as much as I loved science, my dream of working for NASA was not to be. (Someday I shall defeat you, integral calculus!) By my second semester I had changed my major to ethnomusicology, but it was too late - the School of Music rejected me. I was too rusty on trumpet and violin, and I kept getting a cold for my vocal auditions.

Although I loved science, I was bad at the math. Although I loved music, I had waited too long.

That left the English department. Home sweet Park Hall home. I was able to slack off and write about anything I wanted in many classes, and I learned the valuable skill of writing about things I didn't want to write about - often on a tight deadline. There were no auditions, and since I'd scraped out a D in Honors Calculus II, I didn't have to take any more evil math classes, ever. (Now that I'm eying graduate school, I did have to study for the math portion of the GRE, but that wasn't so bad.)

The most wonderful thing about writing is that I can channel my love for science and art into my stories. Most of my characters are artists or scientists or musicians. And it's okay - it turns out I'm better at writing about science and art than I am doing it myself.

That humbling feeling of losing a bet

Long long ago, during one of the many frantic and fun parties hosted at our old house M.I., my friend Rachel Aaron and I made a bet.

We were both pretty toasted so I'm not sure she even remembers, but it was an agreement of two English majors graduating in the class of '02 to see who would get published first.

We both got distracted by real life - we both got sucked into MMORPGs, we both got married, and she started a family (in my case I have no excuses, just a cat.) It's been almost 8 years since that party back in Maison Ikkoku.

Well, as of September 28th, Rachel will have officially won the bet.

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Thief-Legend-Eli-Monpress/dp/0316069051

Her first book, The Spirit Thief, will be available for sale. I've got the first chapter that my friend Laura picked up at Dragon*Con for me, and I can't wait to read the whole thing.

Congrats Rachel! And now... Um. What exactly do I owe you again?

Okay, now let's talk about fanfiction

I believe that fanfiction is a healthy outlet.

I believe that, when a new author joins a fanfiction community that has more experienced writers in it, they can get valuable feedback to improve their writing.

I do not believe fanfiction should ever be done for profit. It is, at its core, a derivative work, and should never be anything other than free.

I believe fanfiction authors should respect the wishes of the author of the original content. If an author says "No fanfiction" then there should be no fanfiction. If an author says "Go for it" then go for it. (Personally, if anyone ever wrote any fanfiction of my work, I'd be immensely flattered, but I probably wouldn't read it if it was a series in progress.)

I believe that you can learn to write by writing fanfiction, but only if you do it with a full slew of beta readers and accept constructive criticism. The only way to learn to write well, of course, is to write and keep writing and write some more.

Someone once said, "Draw 5,000 pictures, then you will know how to draw." Writing is the same. Write 5,000 stories, and then you will know how to write.

It doesn't really matter if it's fanfiction or if it's original works - good writing only comes from practice.

The Magic D20

I have a lot of projects that I work on at any given time. There's the writing, of course, which occupies a good chunk of my free time (as it should.) I have one novel being queried out, another halfway done, and five more that are in some stage of outlining or completion. They range from a YA with romantic elements to a spicy paranormal erotic, but most of them are the sweet steam punk romances I started out with. (And then there's the fanfiction, but lets not talk about that particular guilty pleasure.)

Then there are all the other projects that come with being a housewife, which range from the normal daily chores involved in keeping a house with four adults in it, to wild and crazy projects like refinishing a 1940s desk. (Let me just say, chemical paint remover is some seriously vile and nasty stuff.) Then there are my video games, which take up too much time. (Nothing wastes an evening like The Sims!)

In order to motivate myself, I have a list of 20 things in a spreadsheet. And a special D20.. For those not familiar with tabletop gaming, a D20 is a 20 sided dice. Mine is a pearly purple. It was the first thing I bought when I came to college that I still possess.

I roll the magic D20 dice, check on my spreadsheet, and do what it says I can - or have - to do. Even numbered items are fun things. Odd numbered items are work. So while #12 is "read a chapter of someone else's book" #13 is "Make a blog post."

If one of my books come up, I have to do at least 500 words, or some serious planning in it in yWriter. The net effect is an output of around 2000 words a day . . . just not all in the same story.

I'm only allowed to do stuff once a day, so near the end, I end up rolling the dice many times in a row. #14 just came up, so unfortunately, it's time for me to go work on that 1940s desk some more.