Well, these are the last two PrepEx's before I begin actually working on my BIAM. Not that this hasn't been beneficial, to the contrary it may have been too beneficial, because I can't wait to get started. I have decided to rework and complete a project for this, my first BIAM. I have been working on this thing for about 10 years now. Mainly because I have edited the first 6 chapters about three times each and then I don't write for months. It's time to break the cycle!

PrepEx 11 – Goal Tracker

Goal	Course of Action
75,000 Words in 30 Days	18,750 Words Per Week (2678 words per day)
Three Hundred 250 Word Pages in 30 Days	Seventy Five 250 word pages per Week (Approx. Eleven 250 Word Pages per day.)
A Completed Draft of Echo’s Journey in 30 Days	Write For at Least 2 Hours Every Day

PrepEx12 – Sharing My Goals

I Will Share My 30 Day Goal With	I Will Not Share My 30 Day Goal With
My husband	My Sister
My Followers on Blogspot	My Parents
The VBIAM Group	My Ex – Husband
My Nano Group on FaceBook	Anyone who is Negative About My Writing
My Kids	My Boss

New Years Eve....2 Hours to go in 2011...Must Finish Prep Chapter

So yeah I took a few hours of to be sociable. Everyone is fed, got Justin Beiber with Carlos Santana on the TV in Time Square, and me on the couch typing my butt off. Sounds like an appropriate start to the new year. I only have seven pages left of my prep work, so lets keep moving, because I only I have an hour and forty five minutes before the clock strikes 12. So without further ado, here is where I put PrepEx 10.

                                                           PrepEx 10 - Selling Yourself 

Now that you know who you are as a writer, and what is important to you, take that information and turn it into an overall career goal in first or third person. For example:

I want to write X stories with Y and Z. (I want to right sensual stories with suspense and intrigue.)


                                                                           or

X and Y are what writer Z is all about. (Spunky heroines and slapstick comedy are what writer Jack Doe is all about.


First person is easiest so I will go with that one first.

I want to write emotional stories with a hint of mystery and drama.

Third person is harder because it is an attempt to describe myself from say, my readers, point of view; or worse yet...a critics.

Smiling through the tears and overcoming unforeseen obstacles is what Krista Shepard is all about.

Okay...time to fess up

So here is the truth...I had PrepEx one thru seven completed prior to deciding to start this blog, which was like...yesterday. My goal is to get through this preparation chapter by Midnight tonight, as I said in a previous post. I think I am almost done with it, but I guess we will all see! Here's PrepEx 9!

PrepEx 9 – Insightful Planning

Now that you have some insight into who you are as a writer, answer the following questions to see if your current project represents a blend of your passions:

1.      If you had to describe your work as a whole in a single line, what would that line be? (Heartfelt stories that make you cry? Smart, steamy romances? Hardcore heroes who risk everything?) 

Echo’s Journey is a story of growth, strength, and survival.

2.      How would you like your work to be remembered?

I would like my work as a book they couldn’t put down and when they were done; couldn’t stop thinking about.

3.      Which genre is best for your writing styles and interests?

I’d say it would be best for Mystery and/or Drama…so if it was more Drama than Mystery it would be Drystery…More Mystery than Drama would be Mysma…Honestly, I have no clue…it is something I have been struggling with.

PrepEx 8 - Hmmm...Running out of Cute Names

Ok! So I don't want to cut into the sales of the VBIAM so I am not going to post the whole story here. However, in her book, Dr. Schmidt posts an exercise from the founder of WriteDirections.com, Beth Mendy Condy. This exercise has both a reading and a fill in the blank part...so again I am not going to post the whole story part, just the last two paragraphs and the part where I filled in the blanks. That way, you'll understand the exercise I think. If you want to read the whole story I would highly advise getting  the book, it's awesome!

I Call This One, “The Dreaming PrepEx” (pg 49)

            But with this bit of knowledge comes another – you know now, in a way you’ve never grasped before, the importance of leaving some part of yourself to the world.  You know that you were put on this earth for a reason, and while you may not know the answer in full yet, you know that in part, your purpose was in some way fulfilled by the writing of your book. You remember it with pride – how writing it demanded your best, making you draw on strengths you never knew you had.

            You remember too that while your book may not have changed the world, it touched lives. Certainly, it touched yours. It was, as you now know, your way of leaving your mark on the world, your way of saying, “I was here, I mattered.”

The title of that first book was: Maiden, Mother, and Crone: The Life Path of a Survivor

And it was about: One woman’s story of success and survival while walking the paths of life. Her experiences drove a passion within her to change the way the foster care and child protective services worked in Colorado.

Really I didn't just forget to do PrepEx3

No...I did not forget Exercise 3...somehow I deleted it. My loving husband says its because I didn't save prior to closing the window. (Insert grrr face here.) I had saved it I know, I saw it on the blog page, and doesn't this auto-save? Well, anyhow here is PrepEx 3...

1.      Write down a list of your main priorities so you will know where to draw the line when requests are made for your time.

·         Keeping my kids on the right track (i.e. attending school functions and meetings)

·         Feeding my children well balanced meals

·         Keeping my house and laundry clean

·         Keeping my marriage strong and intact

·         Exercising

·         Getting a job

·         Nurturing old and new friendships that are beneficial to my life.

2.      Now that you know the priorities in your life, write down a list of things that take up your time and are not on your priority list.

·         She who's name shall no be mentioned's b.s and everything that it involves.

·         Fighting with my kids about things I can’t make them change

·         Facebook

·         Television, just for the sake of not writing

·         Surfing the web for things not related to writing

·         RIFT!

PrepEx 7 - Values and Beliefs

Values, Characteristics, and Beliefs (pgs. 46-47)

1.      What are you passionate about?

Most of my passions revolve around families. I think every child should have a family they belong to. I think everything should be done to keep a family intact. I also know that the policies in most human service departments regarding child and families are horribly broken and need to be rebuilt from the ground up. It has become very political and is not in the best interest of the family as it claims to be. It is a cover our asses and pay our people the least we can, while underfunding every program available business. An underpaid and overworked population of people who love what they do regardless of the red tape.

2.      What gives you energy and motivates you?

Fixing things and helping others to fix things in their lives in order to be successful. It makes me feel as though I have a purpose. I also love a good righteous fight, whether the rules get broke or not don’t matter near as much as people treating each other the way they ought to. 

3.      What keeps showing up again and again in your stories or the stories you love to read?

Just going to make a list because this could take a while:

·        Adoption

·        Children needing guidance

·        Parents needing guidance, or learning to parent well.

·        Fighting “the System” in a very passive aggressive way.

·        Romance and long term relationships

·        Family

·        Development

·        Trauma recovery

·        Humor

·        Emotion

·        Police/Detective work

·        True Crime

·        The super-natural (i.e. ghosts, spirits, communicating with the dead)

Values, Characteristics, and Beliefs Pt.2 (pgs. 47-48)

1.      What is important to you creatively? Do you want to educate? Entertain? Scare?

I think most of all I want to entertain. I love getting lost in a world that only exists on paper wrapped up in a warm blanket in my favorite seat in the house at the time. I want to provide that for my reader. At the same time I want to educate people about how broken the system truly is. 

2.      Do you have a personal cause or agenda that defines you? (Feminism? Animal Rescue? Global Warming?)

Family Law and legislation re: Children and Families

3.      What types of books do you enjoy? Movies? Music?

I love books that come in a long series, I hate when a series ends; I always have questions about things that happened. I love books that make me laugh out loud, as well as ones that make me shake my head and shed a tear. I like reading about people I can relate to, or could have related to at some point in my life. Movies…I like movies that make me think or rethink a topic. I love comedy/action and romantic comedy. I like drama and supernatural drama movies, movies based on true stories and stories about serial killers. A wide range really. Same with music, my writing play lists contains Country, punk, popular rock, 80’s hair band rock, and 80’s pop, punk cover bands. My musical interests run the gamut.

 

4.      What types of stories did you like as a child? 

When I was really young I liked Babaar and Curious George, a few years down the road, as a tween and young teenager, it became Judy Blume, then I jumped to VC Andrews and Jackie Collins when I was in my later teens.