Tag: novel writing

January 2020 Update: Workshop, Writing, and Music

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Today is my first day in a Free Poetry Workshop! Last September I bought Windows and Doors: A Poet Read Literary Theory by Natasha Sajé. I read a few chapters and then looked up Natasha Sajé, I found out she is a professor at Westminster right here in Salt Lake City. Then I found out she was doing a free Poetry Workshop this Spring. To sum it up, I applied to the workshop and got in. Today is the start of this four-month workshop and I am so excited. I am hoping to get a lot out of this workshop and make progress with my poetry.

amazon.com

Besides my poetry, I have been doing my daily writing routine, a mere 1,000 words a day required. I feel like I’ve been hitting a wall lately when it comes to my writing. On the backburner is My First Novel which I talked about regularly in my posts last year. At this point, I have only one tiny chapter to write and the book is done. After that I need to have it fully edited/proofed and then I want to start submitting it to Literary Agents for representation. I have very little left to do, maybe a couple rewrites here and there and some more polishing but I have put my book on the back burner since November and haven’t had the guts to break it open again.

(More about My First Novel)

Instead, I’ve been working on my music. I’ve been researching and learning Ableton (DAW), I’ve been practicing guitar, recording, and learning the ins and outs of my midi keyboard. I’ve also lately become interested in Modular Synthesizers, so I’ve been taking a course on the basics through lynda.com and messing around with a Cherry Audio Virtual Mod Synth I got with the purchase of Computer Music magazine (what a cool find!). It’s been a fun and time-consuming venture. Currently, I have about five songs in the works. A few of these songs will finish the playlist I started on my SoundCloud, taking inspiration from Dante’s circles of hell.

Image result for dante's circles of hell
Botticelli

That’s it for this update! I want to say THANK YOU to all my followers and those that read my poems regularly, I deeply appreciate your interest and readership.

-Alina

Liked this post? Check out these:

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!(Opens in a new browser tab)

Why I Write: Poetry #1(Opens in a new browser tab)

Currently Reading: Postmodernism, 1920s, and Fiction(Opens in a new browser tab)

https://www.alinahappyhansenwriter.com/portfolio-publications-events/

October Update: The Shining, Halloween, and My Novel

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

October has flown by and with less than two weeks left there isn’t much left to do but wait for November.

Image result for the shining book
Wikimedia Commons

The famous line from the movie, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” was nowhere in the book. A creative add-on by Kubrick.

The Shining

Yesterday, I finished reading Stephen King’s classic THE SHINING. At about four-hundred-something pages this novel took me on the ups and downs of the Torrance family at The Overlook Hotel. What I loved about the book that was different from the movie (directed by Stanley Kubrick) was the building of tension between the characters through their POV’s. Seeing The Overlook from the perspectives of all the important characters added to the sheer terror of their situation while emphasizing how malicious the hotel really is. Plus the character of Danny Torrance is captivating, a clever little boy born with second-sight who has to fight evil forces to try and keep his mom and dad alive. This was a quick read for me and now I am planning on devouring DOCTOR SLEEP before the movie comes out at the end of the month, or at least before I see it.

Halloween

This year I haven’t done any ‘Halloween’ themed posts. To be honest, it is because I haven’t had any time. A little over a week ago, I finally quit my internship as an Intern for SG BOOK SCOUTING. After a month of working (unpaid) some 25-30 hours a week, I was worn out, irritated, and found myself with little to no time for my own writing or reading. Initially, the internship was for three months but I barely made it over one month. I found myself doing anywhere from 2-8 hours of work a day as an intern. On Fridays I would be given an assignment due on Monday morning, usually, this was to read an entire book (around 50,000 words or more) and write an extensive review. This weekend assignment wasn’t too bad except that I usually do doubles on the weekends at my job working 9-12 hour shifts, leaving me with little time to do the assignment. Since quitting, I’m less stressed out and I have had time to catch up on my daily writing and read whatever I want. I have been incredibly happy, enjoying my freedom again and I have decided that for the future any internships I apply to will have to be paid. My time is too precious for me to work for free.

I’m not sure if I’m going to have any time to write a few Halloween themed posts before the end of the month but if I do, chances are they will be centered around movies (of course).

My Novel

The last time I took a look at my novel it was September 9th, according to my google docs. Now I’m going to take another crack at it. Whenever I approach my novel, again and again, I do a read through from start to finish. Doing my best not to edit or change anything. I want to read it just to read it. When I go back over it to start the second reading, I will edit part by part (so far it’s three parts). I want to get a good portion of this done before November because I think I’m going to try to write another book (totally unrelated to the one I’ve been working on) for NaNoWriMo this year. I have a few story ideas and weird plot lines shifting around in my head and I think what I’d work on would be realistic fiction. A change of pace, something different, from the weird supernatural stories that are always floating around in my head.

I will keep you all updated and expect a new post soon in MY FIRST NOVEL series.

Thank you for reading!

-Alina

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My First Novel: Breaking Through (5/12/19)

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

A few days after my last post I had a breakthrough. I was working on my daily writing one morning and finally got up enough courage to look over the rough draft of my book I’ve been working on. I ended up editing and rewriting a few pages and before I knew it I had worked my way all the way to Part 3 of my book. I was surprised, after more than a month of struggling I had just slipped back into working on my book. After a couple more days I finished my third rough draft of my book at a local coffee shop. The final chapters still need quite a bit of work and I need to solidify a final ending but the climax action scenes (the most important stuff) is all done.

I am so relieved that I was finally able to break through my wall, whatever it was. The expectations, the stress, the pain of doubting myself and my work. I know there is still more work to be done and I’m barely even close to having a finished manuscript but the progress I’ve made this last week pushes me to continue.

What else have I been up to?

I’m currently reading Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin, I forgot that I have read this book before and I get a sneaky feeling it might’ve been last year. I love the way this story is written and Levin’s style is something that I respond to, how he synthesizes facts and real-world events with the otherworldly and supernatural. By grounding his horrifying story with descriptions pulled from the real-world, he creates a foundation in which I can easily find myself falling for the trick of ‘is this possible?’ (of course not).

I”m also reading, Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers. This work feels like a surreal dreamscape interwoven with sex. It is compelling, funny, and a little disorienting but I like Cohen’s writing. His style is different, free-flowing and almost scattered but when I take a closer look, I think it only feels ‘scattered’ because Cohen wants me to think it is.

What I’m listening to:

Thank you for reading and following me on my journey,

-Alina

 

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My First Novel: Hitting the Wall (5/2/19)

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I’ve been in denial for a while now but I admit it, I’ve hit a wall. For the last month or so I have barely worked on my novel. Opening the googledoc and looking at a chapter, fiddling with the dialogue in another chapter, I always end up ignoring my book after about fifteen minutes. At the beginning of this year, I would spend hours a day and sometimes a whole day working on my book. Pumping out chapters or reworking them at break-neck speed, trying to get everything down on the page as fast as possible.

But I’ve felt stuck for a while, distracted by everything else going on in my life. I think I’m also distracting myself, starting and finishing new books while I have a whole pile that I’ve been meaning to finish for a couple months now. How does it feel to hit a wall? Like I can’t get anything done and the world is leaving me behind. I just can’t get back on the fast track to finishing my book right now.

There is also an overwhelming feeling of pressure whenever I think about my book. I know I need to work on the ending and solidify each chapter, rework dialogue here and there and round out my characters but I am worried about what comes after. Will I ever have a final product? Is it even worth my time to look for a publisher or should I think about self-publishing through kindle? I think I’m getting too caught up in my doubts.

I feel like I need a reset to clear my mind and get back to it.

My distractions:

Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays

 like my Patti Smith bender, I think I’m gonna dive deep into Didion to keep my mind fresh

Listening to:

good music is always required 

Overall, I already know what I need to do, just write. I’m sticking to my daily writing schedule and for last month wrote over 31,000 words. My daily writing consists of writing 1,000 words minimum a day, doesn’t matter what I’m writing, poetry, fiction, non-fiction as long as it is writing. I try not to make my daily writing into journal entries if I am lacking a focus and this is one of the hardest things to do. I know that as long as I stick with my daily writing, I can eventually get back into the groove of working on my novel.

To all my followers/readers and you, thanks for sticking with me,

-Alina

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My First Novel: Moving, NaPoMo and Tidying-Up (4/18)

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

This month has been crazy. With all the moving and changes happening I’ve been trying to keep up and finally feel like I got a foothold. Now that I’m more settled in my new place and I have a little bit more time on my hands, I can get back to business.

Working on “Part Two” draft of my book is difficult, there are so many places where I want to cut out whole chapters or rework certain aspects of characters but I’m holding myself back from completely tearing apart what I have. I miss my characters, in a weird way, it’s like I haven’t hung out with them in a while. I also need to get a quick refresh and reread my manuscript.

The Ending. I scratched about three to four different endings of my book a couple months ago before I finished revising the first draft. Now I’m left with an extremely rough outline of the ending I’m thinking of, still, it doesn’t feel exactly right. It seems like the ending won’t really be “the ending”, there could be a sequel which is scary.

It’s Na(tional)Po(oetry)Mo(nth) and I almost forgot, I admit it. I have a couple poetry books that I am trying to finish right now and I’m planning on focusing on those until the end of the month as a sort of mini-celebration.

William Carlos Williams Selected Poetry

Poetry Magazines April 2019 Edition

What else I’ve been reading:

Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem

I need to read more Didion, or at least I’m in the mood to now. I feel like after my Jane Austen binge I want to get back to reading more modern works. And I am holding myself back from rereading some of my favorite Patti Smith books right now. I have read a couple other Didion books and I love her style and approach to content. This one is no different and presents a very specific slice of time that I’m able to tap into as a reader all because of Didion’s writing.

Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up

Curious about this popular trend, I got on the bandwagon about a month ago when I knew I was going to move. I didn’t follow Kondo’s method to the T but I managed to get rid of over half of the things I owned (and didn’t need). After watching the Netflix series I am now almost done with her book. It is has a simple format and it’s an easy read. 

What I’m listening to:

Thanks for reading!

-Alina

 

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PATREON