Kate Rivet

I know I’ve discussed writers’ block before on my blog, but I have found, at least in this project, a new issue: I’m calling it NaNoWriMo Syndrome.

I seem to thrive under pressure.  When NaNo calls for me to write 50,000 words in 30 days, I do more than 50k.  When I had tickets to Barcelona during the last 2 weeks of NaNoWriMo ’13, I wrote 50,000+ words in 16 days.  NaNo ’14?  Cranked out my book in 15 days with 50k+ again.  The first novel I ever wrote (many years ago now!) was written in just about a month, and I think that was 70+k at the time.  I seem to be more motivated when there’s time constraints on completing my work, then I can leisurely go back and edit and expand upon what I’ve written.

I’m not saying that’s the issue with everything I write: a couple of the books I’ve written have taken well over a month, but I’ve seen them progress.  They started frantically, but eventually I just couldn’t keep up and had to step away for a little to get properly motivated to finish.

So, with my 9th book presently in my word processor, I’m trying to break out from the chains of my old habits.  I came up with an idea and got started, and got a good amount of work done before the inevitable slow down.  But there have been more than a few days since I started this project that I’ve written 200 or less words, and I’m okay with that!  I’m about to hit 18,000 words and the book is still on task to be what I set out for it to be.  Unlike a lot of the books I manage to finish, I still don’t really have a concrete layout for it, but I do see where it’s heading and how to get it to that invisible finish line.

I like my main characters and their supporting casts, I like the location, and I like where the story is headed.  When I have all of that set, it tends to be easier for me to really sink my teeth into a project.  That’s not saying that the one or two projects I had on the back burner aren’t things I might like to pick back up eventually and work on, but there was something about those, probably that I had no idea where they were truly headed, that made them much more difficult to really pour my heart into.  I’m really giving this one a good shot, though — one of my favorite books I’ve written yet was actually one that took me probably 4 or 5 months to complete, and it’s one of the ones that means more to me than some of the ones I cranked out and was pleased with.  That particular favorite was one that I could truly find myself stopping in a book store and being intrigued enough to buy it from just the blurb I imagine would be on the back cover.

So, fingers crossed that this project turns out like my 6th book did — I think this one is going to be a favorite down the line as well.

Until next time,
Kate

If you follow my Twitter page (or see the posts to your right here on my page), you’ll see that I posted this link yesterday about pop/punk/emo/whatever you’d like to classify them albums turning 10 this year.  10 years ago, I was 18/19 and this music was one of the most important things to me at the time.  Back then, I was trying to make the transition from schoolkid to real adult, and it was really a hard time for me.  See, I went to college for a semester and it was very rough.  I graduated early from high school, and I had really hoped to make some new friends, since that’s the big thing you hear about college: you’ll make some of the best friends of your life there.  That, unfortunately, did not happen for me.  I had a really tough time of it, mostly because I was at a school I was not happy attending.  I hadn’t gotten into my first (and honestly, only) choice school, and instead of working for a semester and reapplying to other schools I could have been happy at, my mom insisted I go to one that was notoriously a party place.

Now, I’m not a partier at all — I prefer to keep to myself and just go out to events that appeal to me.  As a result, on a party school campus, there’s not a lot for a girl like me.  My first roommate was horrible to me, and my second one was great, but she and I had completely opposite lives as she was a junior and I was a freshman.  I know I was lonely a lot, and I spent all my time on my computer, chatting to all of my online friends in their different locations all over the world.  Back then was when the bands I was into were still small and close with their fanbases, and it wasn’t uncommon for me to spend my nights chatting on AIM to these various musicians.  I’ve seen a good few of my friends from back then blowing up in huge ways, and I regret that most of them and I aren’t nearly as close as we once were.  There are a couple of bands on that list that I actually consider friends, even though I haven’t had a face to face conversation with them in years.

I spent last night listening to one of the albums from that list that I find to be one of the most perfect of that era: it’s Volcano by Gatsbys American Dream.  Gatsbys created an entire album around the central theme of human emotions being like a volcano (namely, Pompeii), and there is not a single bad song on that record.  As I listened to these familiar songs that I’ve still listened to often over the past decade, I found my mind racing back ten years and all of those memories flooding over me.  I felt the same pain my 18 year old self felt realizing that I was so out of my league at that school, and I felt the same joy that I felt being in the middle of a crowd and singing along to the songs that truly rescued me from myself back in those days.  After Volcano ended and after the various Gatsbys songs I played after had also closed out, I went into my current writing project and banged out almost 4,000 words.  Today, I’ve got another album on: A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out by Panic! at the Disco.  I actually attended quite a few Panic! shows over the years, including their first-ever show in Chicago (a place that I called my second home for many, many years with one of my best friends and her amazing family).  Once again, these memories are rushing over me and I find it’s hard to keep from tearing up as I remember how these musicians and the friends I had in those days really kept me together when I really could have lost everything.

I am truly, truly indebted and thankful to these musicians who helped shape my life into what it is now.  Although I may not get to talk to these friends, both musicians and the actual friends who kept me sane back in the mid-2000’s, I owe the fact that now, in 2015, I’m chasing my dreams to watching them chase and achieve theirs.  So go ahead: check out that list and pick your favorite album (mine are, obviously, Volcano, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, and also From Under the Cork Tree) and remember who you were a decade ago.  It may be happy memories, sad memories, or a combination of both, but you’re stronger now for who you were back then.  I know I had a tough time of it sometimes, but I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Until next time,
Kate

Hello once again! While I should be writing right now, I’m instead working on this website! You’ll notice a few changes up top if you’ve been here before: I took down the playlist page for now, but I’ve added a reading list page. There, you’ll find a page with all the books I’ve read so far in 2015 and I will continue to update it regularly! There’s more of the story on the page, so go ahead and check it out if you’re interested.

Other than that, I don’t have a whole lot to update about on the writing front. I read a really good book the other day, then got sucked into the series and as a result, I spent this week reading instead of putting down my own words. I’ve vowed to myself to spend this next week working on writing, though, so hopefully by the end of the week, I will have at least doubled my present 6,733 word count. I also have to constantly remind myself that this isn’t a NaNoWriMo story, though, and that I can take my time if I want!

I hope 2015 is going well for you all so far, and I hope you all read some great books this year just like I hope to do myself!

Until next time,
Kate

I have to run shortly, but I just wanted to say welcome to my new home on the Internet!  This is my new official site at KateRivet.com and if you haven’t yet updated your links, make sure to do so!  Otherwise, you will miss out on my latest news!  I’ll write another post later, but I just wanted to get something quickly written to show this is my new home!

Until next time,
Kate

As I write this entry, I’m almost 6,000 words into my next book! It’s crazy to imagine, especially since I still have edits and changes I should make to the one I’ve published, but I find that it almost always happens this way. I put a story to bed, vow to myself that I’m taking a break, but my mind gets jumpy with an idea that I can’t resist toying with.

This latest story I’ve started? Well, I think it really has promise! But I’ve also got two other ideas I really liked that are sitting at about that same word count mark. But I’m committing myself to this one; I’ve got a lot of research into it and I really want it to succeed!

If I keep up with it, maybe I’ll even share a teaser or two with you all soon!

Until next time,
Kate