A Detour from Books to...books?

I haven't posted much on here other than books, which is fine, because that's what it was intended for. However, I'd like to branch out a little bit here, and start including some writing stuff as well.

I've always loved to write. When I was in middle school, I'd spend hours with a notebook and a blue pen (i was very particular about that back then) and make up stories about princesses, and hero's and the like. I loved all of my stories, and kept them close, never showing anyone.

Then I got a little older. And went and re-read some of said stories. And was thoroughly disgusted. Ha! I trashed each and every notebook.

Now that I'm older still, I have come back to that love. I have a friend who is also really big into writing, and the first summer I lived in Hawaii, she came out to visit me for a couple weeks. She was 'gathering information' (I believe that's how she put it) for a novel she wanted to write, something about 'blue eyes'. :)

She had been telling me for a while about Nanowrimo, and, with all of our talking of books, and writing, it really made me want to get back in the game. So, after hitting the beaches, and all that fun stuff, we would sit in my living room, and write.

It was so much fun! It's great to have someone you can bounce ideas off of, without the fear of being laughed at. Someone who will give you constructive criticism, gently. During that brief period of time, I wrote upwards of 20,000 words.

I still have it too.

Anyway, once she went back home, I kept at it for a little while, then, life got in the way. Silly things, like having a baby :D. But I still would find myself longing for the feeling I got while writing.

Over this past summer, I got into a group online that did RPG fan fiction writing, which I really enjoyed. I got to write, with a group of fun people, about characters that I had known and loved for years. However, I never really got into it as much as some of the others. I never really fit in. I always felt like the outsider.

I was writing, but I wasn't creating. Not really. As much fun as I was having it wasn't complete. I didn't have that...one on one bounce-off-of-each other thing that I enjoy so much. And I wasn't stretching myself creatively as much as I desired.

Once my husband came home from his deployment, things got crazy, and the RPG thing got left behind. Someday I may go back, just for a little...creative stress reliever. But right now, at this point in my life, I'd like to write something else.

I was talking to my friend that I mentioned above(Caroline) recently, and in the course of our convo, we both mentioned that we had a desire to write a mystery. A period mystery. And from this, rose a challenge.

One chapter a week, to be emailed to the other person by midnight on Sunday. Which doesn't seem like a lot, but with life interfering occasionally, it can get difficult. But, a deadline is a deadline. And, so far, we've both been doing pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I find myself looking forward to Sunday's, first, because I know I'll get a new chapter in C's book, and second, because its a fresh start for me. A new chapter begins.

Anyway, this is my writing post. A brief break from reviews. And, to me, not an all together unwelcome one :).

Up next...who knows? Perhaps 'The Accidental Sorcerer' will get finished one of these days...or one of my new books from the bookstore!