Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Pages: 435

I am settling into my comfort mode, my excited mode. I'm almost to the point where I can't wait to read more, even though I've already read them. This is good; it means I'll be reading faster. This is especially good because the next four books are pretty long. I do hope you have been enjoying this week (or I guess now almost two). Now on to the review!

You will never guess what I have discovered. While I was reading I found a mistake and it's not a simple typo. Oh no, it's a little more than that. It can be located on page 308 in this sentence: A minute later, Katie had put another penalty past the Slytherin Seeker. Except you wouldn't put a penalty past a Seeker, you would put it past the Keeper. Imagine how many people have noticed that. I find it rather astounding. Maybe it's just because I'm a nerd. XD

This book has a little more humor in it than the first two. I especially love the last two pages or, pieces of them anyway. The part where Ron holds out the little owl to Crookshanks to confirm that the owl is indeed an owl, made me smile (p. 434). This paragraph (the second to last in the entire book) made me laugh out loud. Harry is talking to Uncle Vernon about Sirius. "Yes, I have," said Harry brightly. "He was my mum and dad's best friend. He's a convicted murderer, but he's broken out of wizard prison and he's on the run. He likes to keep in touch with me, though... keep up with my news... check if I'm happy...." There were a few other lines I can't remember exactly but that was indeed the funniest.

Again, there is a great back story in this book, the one of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs (Lupin, Pettigrew, Sirius, and James Potter), and a little bit of Snape. It shows how they were friends from school and one of them betrayed the others. It also shows how and under what conditions James Potter saved Snape's life (as mentioned in the first book). They also happened to have created a tool that is very useful to Harry, the Marauder's Map. I think our puzzle's outline is complete. How I love series that are as complicated as this one.

This book is the favorite of the series among many, and I can see why (though my favorite is... oh no, I've forgotten it!). It is wonderfully written and tells a great tale. It's the last book to be less than 500 pages yet it still gets in quite a bit of the story. It is a work of art.

The next book in this Wonderful Week of Harry Potter is -drum roll- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Pages: 341

I know I've said this before but, I really love these books. As I am rereading them, it's almost as if everything is new to me but, at the same time, it's not really. I have found new love in characters I haven't thought about in a long time. Colin Creevey, for example. I nearly cried on page 180 when Professor McGonagall said that he had been Petrified trying to sneak up to visit Harry. I'm discovering new things with every page and I can't wait to share them with you.

As I have mentioned before Nearly Headless Nick is one of my favorite characters. The way he's always talking about getting into the Headless Hunt just makes him more real. I don't really know why. Besides him and Colin there is one more character that I adore, Dooby. Of course, I know what happens to him, but I can't help it. Even though he's fictional and not even human he still seems alive. Whatever you say about J.K. Rowling you have to give her a thumbs up for character presentation and development.

Another thing that J.K. Rowling is very good at is back stories. In this book you learn a little about Voldemort's past as well as Hagrid's. Voldemort, or Tom Riddle, is a half-blood who is descended from Salazar Slytherin.  He was highly honored at Hogwarts, for being a prefect and Head Boy as well as supposedly capturing the person behind the Chamber of Secrets, Hagrid. This is the reason that Hagrid was expelled in the first place. I love how these two stories wind together, a few more pieces of the puzzle click into place.

In this book there are many hints at things to come later in the series. For instance they use the Polyjuice Potion and, even though they don't find anything, it prepares you for what happens with Mad Eye Moody in the fourth book. The introduction to the Whomping Willow hints at what happens in the third book. You don't notice it until after you've read all of the other books, but things like this are hidden throughout all of them. I love series that have this sort of style.

Overall, this book is a great sequel to the first as well as a good lead in to the rest of the series. It explains more about the Vanishing Glass chapter in the first book and shows a small piece of what will happen in the others. It's well-written and a story that anyone can enjoy. I think I did a tad better with this review and being unbiased. Here's to hoping you think so, too.

The next book in this Wonderful Week of Harry Potter is, of course, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

My Poppy Ideas

In one of my old writing journals (which I call Cylic's Book One, don't really know why) I once said that I had 'poppy' ideas. Meaning they just seemed to pop into my head for no particular reason. I found I have most of these while I'm in the shower. It feels great, because I know when I get one, I'm about to get like five more. That is what happened today.

I have so many new ideas for The Switchers that I think I may just explode. Well, really, that's how I felt just before I wrote them down. I'm feeling slightly more relaxed now. I'm so glad that I got ideas for all three books, since I didn't know as much of what was going on in the third book as I did in the first two. Speaking of the first two, I have both of those summaries up now, so go check them out.

My world is starting to expand. People are starting to have motives, and more complicated problems, if that's possible. It's amazing. My writing is sort of smoothing out, and coming a little faster. The scene I'm writing currently isn't really helping with that though. I have to be very cautious writing it; I feel like it's very important. Everything is very important, it seems. I'm planning on making a huge outline of all three books to help determine the important things from the non-important, soon.

An update on Harry Potter real fast, as well. You know what has always bugged me about the cover of the second book? The spiders aren't on it! For some reason, I always had it in my head that on the back, where the cat is standing in the window, should be a trail of spiders. I mean, they are a big part of the story, don't they deserve some cover space?  I know, it's a miracle, I have found a complaint about Harry Potter. There's also a bit of happiness, too. I completely forgot that Nearless Headless Nick's (who, by the way, is a character I absolutely love) deathday party is in this book. For some reason I was thinking it was in the sixth book, where Harry takes Luna, but then I remembered that that is Slughorn's (I think that was his name) party. XD Oops.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Pages: 309

I must admit, I'm a little nervous about this review. It's my first one in over a month, and my first one ever for the Wonderful Week Of feature. It's also on Harry Potter which might make it rather difficult. I mean, everything that could possibly have ever been said about it, has been said (written?). So why post one at all? Harry Potter affects me differently than it does other people, that's why. No one can feel and express, how I feel and express, exactly as I can. Right? Here goes (whether it's right or not).

This book has so many little details that really not  that important (or are they?), but are fun to read anyway. Every person has a last name, down to Adalbert Waffling (a.k.a author of Magical Theory, one of Harry's textbooks). I love how J.K. Rowling goes into detail over everything, Harry's school supply list, the inscription on the Gringotts doors (which by the way, I memorized), things that don't really have to be written out completely, but it's nice that they were.

This book is written in the same style as the May Bird books, but frankly better. As I have mentioned, I love this kind of book. In case you don't quite remember what I'm talking about, here's an example (pg. 1): Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.  The last part of the line, thank you very much, gives an almost homey feel to the book. If it's possible to give a homey feeling to a book.

Character voice is a hard thing to perfect, I have trouble with it, but Hagrid's voice patterns are amazing. The way he says 'yeh' instead of 'you', the way he barely ever pronounces his g's, it just adds to who Hagrid is. There are little things like this throughout the book for all of the characters. Ron's ears turn pink, Dumbledore's eyes twinkle. It's truly amazing.

Overall, I think I'm a little biased on the subject of these books and in this review. I try hard not to be but, it's hard. I love these books, I really do. Everything in the stories just all clicks into place, it's wondrous. These books, this first one in particular, are a piece of my childhood and my life as it is currently. It's Harry, Malfoy, Hermione, Ron, Snape, all those people who I have heard and read about for so long, it's the magic inside these books, as corny as that may sound, that makes me truly happy.

The next book in this Wonderful Week of Harry Potter is no other than Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Slowly but Surely

Yesterday, I started in on the rewrite again. I only wrote about a paragraph and a half, but it wasn't that bad. Today I've written another two paragraphs so far. I'm being very careful to make sure I get the words right. I want to make sure my NaNo mode isn't sneaking in. Something else is troubling me as well. Thinking of You is in a slightly different style than The Lullaby, being in first person and all. Things that Rebbsie thinks are starting to creep into my mind. For instance, the millions of questions she's always asking. Another thing is how her thoughts are just spoken as they are thought (i.e. "No one ever wants to die, dipshit."). I usually don't do that very often in third person writing, but today I have been wanting to. So I've been moving (very) slowly but surely onwards. Here's the last paragraph I wrote. I would like feedback on whether or not it goes along with the other excerpts from The Lullaby.

He reached for the doorknob. There was no more time for indecision. They could notice he was gone at any time. Then they would come looking, and when they found him, they would know. Know that he was trying to leave, know that he was going to the place that they feared most, and they would not know why. The worst would be assumed and then he did not know what would happen to him. He dreaded even thinking of it.

Between writing that and finishing Thinking of You, I was not completely dormant. I did get something done, even if it wasn't exactly writing. Planning is just as important. Well, for me anyway. I wrote out all of the main conflicts for all of my books, plus came up with titles. It only took me two days. which somehow gives me this weird feeling, like I didn't do it right because I did it so quickly. I like all of the titles I came up with, though, and my conflicts aren't that bad. They just need to be fleshed out a tad. You can see all the titles under the tabs at the top, I just need to get to work on the summaries (speaking of summaries, I apologize for my lack of talent in writing them). Keep checking back, though I'll probably tell you when I post one anyway.

For our Harry Potter tidbit of the day, I'm still working on the Sorcerer's Stone because I'm slow (and I've been playing Pokemon like all day, I'm such a nerd). I'm reliving all of it. Half the time I know what's about to come next but I love reading it anyway. I can hear their voices from the movie, from where they said the exact line that I'm reading. And you know what else is awesome? I memorized the inscription on the second set of doors at Gringotts. I would post it in case you don't know it, but I'm not entirely sure that I'm allowed to do that. Copyright laws, you know.

The Wonderful Week of: Harry Potter

I have had this idea rolling around in my head for a few weeks now, an add-on to the Reading Trail. It has occurred to me that there are many series nowadays. Especially with the genre that I read. Few books seem to stand alone anymore. The Wonderful Week Of idea is a tribute to this. Basically, it's a whole week (possibly even two or three depending) of reading one specific series, or books by just one author. Reviews and thoughts will be posted on anything and everything having to do with the reading material. This will not be happening every week, regular Reading Trail affairs will still be held, but it is a slight change in pace for every now and then.

This week, as you probably figured out from the title, is the wonderful week of Harry Potter. I know that everyone's been talking about Harry Potter lately, with the movie coming out and all (which my dad let me go see at midnight because he loves me), and you may be getting tired of it. I'm usually not one to go with what everyone else is doing. I mean, I'm one of the few people who wants to stay in my hometown because everyone else doesn't. I don't just say that either, I really do. It's just the kind of person I am.

Harry Potter, though, is different. I started reading Harry Potter the summer before third grade. I might have even started sooner, but somehow, I had gotten into my mind that I didn't like Harry Potter. What a strange thought, yes? My very first experience with Harry, changed my mind about that though. Surprisingly it was not through the books. It was the movies that did it. I remember, my uncle was at our house. He was watching a movie and I was curious. I watched for a bit and then asked him what it was. When he told me it was Harry Potter, I almost left the room, but I had already gotten caught up in what was happening on the television. My first Harry Potter movie sighting? Aunt Marge floating off into the sky. It was magical and I loved it. So guess what happened the next time we were walking through Wal-Mart, down the book aisle, and I saw the Sorcerer's Stone? Somehow, I convinced my mom to buy it, the very book that's sitting in my lap right now.

It seemed forever until I finally got books two through five once I had finished the first one. My mom had put them on layaway and I remember the endless waiting. Finally, I got the second one from the public library and the third from the school's, though my teacher had some problems with that. I got them all for Christmas, I think. I don't really remember receiving them. Funny how, after waiting so long, that I don't. I read them over and over; they never got old. I know I've read them all, besides the seventh, at least three times, probably way more. Somehow, though, after the seventh book came out and I read it in a matter of hours, a curse seemed to be placed on me. I don't think I have read another one since then, though I started to read Sorcerer's Stone a few months ago. This troubles me to no end. It makes me feel guilty, like I haven't visited my best friend in years. So, hence, we have the wonderful week of Harry Potter. I cannot wait to jump in.

Returning to Normal

The only thing that I think has changed since I finished Thinking of You (you know besides finishing Thinking of You) is that I now listen to some kind of music that is not country related. The only thing that I think I gave up and now am extremely glad to have back, is reading. How I missed thee. I'm already back to it, one day after my great task has been completed. Things are back to normal, or getting there.

I have considered writing another novel this month, to go along with my Nano, I even have a title, point of view, and a main conflict picked out. I thought I had a last line (I need to have this ready or the story will never end) but I think I may have forgotten it. Darn. The idea has been vetoed though, I think. I just don't really feel like writing another one. Not that NaNo really felt like a hassle (amazing, huh?) but I think my brain is tired out. Plus, I still have The Lullaby to rewrite, a short story series to start (I'm thinking of calling it just 'City in the Sky'), a poetry project I want to try (I won't tell you much now, but I will say that it has to do with the alphabet), and a new series I'm making out of a really old novel (never completed) of mine. I'm going to be very busy and it may not all turn out well, but hey, as this quote I found by Stanley Tucci  says, "If you find that thing you love, it doesn't necessarily matter whether you do it well or not - you just need to do it." I promise to make a list in the sidebar so you can keep up with me. Here's to hoping that there will be stuff to keep up with.

Speaking of the sidebar, I have decided to take down the NaNo part, including the pictures. I know there are still days left in the month but since the actual writing part is over I don't think anything else would be very interesting or worth taking pictures of. I am however posting my 'victory' pictures in this post so that they will be always be available to see.

I really think these were the best ones anyway. They show the most about my adventure. After this one I don't really know where I'm at on the mountain. My first ledge was to rewrite The Lullaby, so it's actually worth reading but now I've written another novel that may not need a complete rewrite (thank goodness) but will still need a lot of editing. How about we say that the first ledge is just bigger now? I can rest on it longer that way. XD Really, though, I think that's how I should put it. The first part of the ledge will be the rewrite then to scoot along it I have to edit Thinking of You. It sounds good to me. Here's to hoping it looks that way to you, too.

As for rewriting The Lullaby, I haven't started work on that just yet. I'm waiting to make sure I'm completely out of the NaNoWriMo mind set. I'm writing a second, better, draft now, not a first draft. I don't want to start writing like I'm still at the beginning and just getting it on paper. So I'll wait a week or two. I'll be sure to let you guys know when I start on it again, though.

And for the last order of the day, you may have noticed the extra links in the navigation bar. They're still slightly under construction but those two pages are each dedicated to a different series that I'm working on. You can find novel synopsizes, how many books are planned to be in each one, and the history of how the series started. Check it out when you have time, you might just learn something new and enjoyable.

Where's The Finish Line? -Pointing- It's Behind Me

I am done!  My novel is finished and my goal has been reached at 50,006 words, more than I have ever written on a single project. Right now I am listening to The NaNoWriMo Song by ALL CAPS as high as I can without my father coming in to yell at me. Actually, I think he may be being nice about it since he knows I just completed my NaNo. He just peered into my room, but he didn't say anything, so I guess I'm cool.

I just finished taking pictures of my officially full word count bar (you can see it in the flesh here) and the graph that has been recording my progress after the past two weeks. I'm about to start making this poster that will feature in another of my pictures and then place my novel in a nice little stack and take a picture of that too. Picture madness has overtaken me, but that's okay. You'll be seeing them all soon. Don't forget to check out the captions on them when they appear.

Another thing that I have done to celebrate (sort of) is I finally broke down and signed up to the Teen Ink website. I've decided that I will post only the poems that I would want to be published on there. As a matter of fact, at this very moment, my poem Orphan Questions is pending for approval to be posted on their site. This is also the time that they will be considering if they would like to publish it at a future date. I think. I'm not one-hundred percent sure on how all of this works but so far I seem to be doing everything right. Click here to see my profile. And yes, I did choose for my username to be the same name as my NaNo, it's in celebration of it after all. I'll be posting an avatar picture soon but you won't have to go there to see it because it'll be in the sidebar. It's the one my poster is going to be featuring in. Speaking of which, I should probably get to work on that. So while I'm doing that, why don't you check out The NaNoWriMo Song for yourself?

30k Landmark Reached

Last night, I reached 30,000 words, right before midnight. I don't know why it was so important that I get it done before Thursday (today) but it was and I got there and it made me feel happy. NaNo has been doing a lot of things to make me happy lately, I've noticed. This year it has also greatly increased my word count output. It has raised my confidence to a whole new level and that is why it is such an amazing program.

So far today, I've reached a total of 32,437 words, and it's only three o'clock. If I really pushed it, like to the extreme I could get to 40k today but I doubt that that is going to happen. My sister has soccer practice, and though I still write while I'm there I don't write much. Then there's dinner and a shower and all those other little things that go along with good hygiene. I'm reaching for somewhere between 35 and 37k. Here's to hoping I can get there.

P.S. Go hover over the NaNoWriMo pictures for captions.

I Will Think in the Terms of Half Full, I Will!

I got to 25,089 and that is great, I'm halfway through. That also means I have to do everything I just did, all over again. It's kind of scary when you think about it that way, as if the cup is half empty. I have determined, though, to look at it as if it were half full. It's kind of hard to do that at times but I must or I might just stop and that would not do!

Something that has put me in a little bit of a downside mindset, I think, is the chapter on Week Two in No Plot? No Problem! It makes it sound like you automatically won't feel like writing in Week Two, like you'll run out of steam and feel overwhelmed and not know what to do. I don't really think that's the way to look at it. I know it still encourages you to write anyway, but it makes you sort of think you have to feel down to get into the real NaNoWriMo spirit. I guess the power of suggestion is strong because after reading that I didn't really feel like writing all that much. I didn't let that stop me though.

I've also decided that for pictures I'll just make sure to have seven a week and thirty by the end of the month. It's easier that way, for me. I won't have to remember to take a picture everyday. I've also decided that the pictures can be of anything pertaining to NaNo (meaning it tells the story of my NaNo experience) not just pictures of me writing because that gets a little boring after a while, you can only stand so much of seeing me. XD I've been making lots of changes to this feature but it's better like this. It's easier anyway.

20k Landmark Reached (Already!)

My goal was to reach 20,000 words this weekend and I have achieved that goal! It makes me so incredibly happy because last year it was November 19 (or so) before I got this far. Though last year at 20,000 words I was two-thirds of the way done. This year I'm only about one-third. That's perfectly fine though because I got there in only 7 days! (NaNoWriMo = excuse for lots of exclamation points)

The only thing that hasn't been going quite so smoothly is the picture taken. My picture for the 5th was taken by my mom (as was the one on the 4th) and for some reason I have still not gotten the e-mail containing it. We're working on it though as we have to take today's picture with her phone as well. My picture for the 6th wasn't even really taken on the 6th though it does look like it because I'm at the right place and wearing the right clothes but really I took it today because I forgot. I just switched clothes for the picture to make myself feel slightly better. Also, I think the karma gods were looking down on me because the picture is on Lizzie's phone and she got grounded from it. I guess that's what I get. It will be up eventually though. I have a spot in the sidebar all set up for it. I also put in a temporary picture that says 'Coming Soon' on it so I don't loose track of which pictures go with which days (because it would so be like me to do that).

Speaking of the sidebar, you may have noticed that I've added another person to my word war widget. It's my friend Leo. She, Madeline, and I are all good friends and since we're all doing NaNo (I just found out Leo was doing NaNo today, great friend huh?) I decided to stick her on there too. Don't be fooled by her low word count, Leo isn't one of those people who updates her word count very often.

And speaking of widgets, I stuck the first 20,000 words of Thinking of You into the I Write Like website and got this:

I write like
Stephenie Meyer

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

And just for kicks I stuck the first draft of The Lullaby in to and got this:

I write like
Neil Gaiman

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

I'm thinking my writing style may just depend on what I'm writing, or maybe what POV I'm doing it in. It may also be that I've changed a lot in the last year. I also hope as the novel progresses it'll be less like Stephenie Meyer. Not that I'm one of those people who like hates her guts or anything, I mean she's a bestseller after all, but lots of olderish people do not like her style of writing and I want people to enjoy my writing. What author wouldn't? To let you decide for yourself if I write like Stephenie Meyer or not, here's an excerpt. Please note, this is in the middle of a flashback.

When I woke up, I knew what they would tell me, that she had been stillborn, that the little girl who I had carried around for 9 months was gone. That the birth certificate that had been set and ready with the name Ariel Lanfeld written across the top, would never be sent in. They had offered to let me keep it anyway. The doctor had signed it with the date and time of birth written down, and I had clutched it to my chest.

I can admit to myself know, that half of the tears I cried were ones of relief. I was only 15 with a full life ahead of me, a great career. I had done something stupid, and this was the consequence. And somehow I had been lucky enough for it to go away. I kept that birth certificate. I framed it at home, but lately I had taken to carrying it around with me, close to my heart. It was in my bra always, even now. They hadn’t given me any new clothes to wear or anything.

I never got to see her. They wouldn’t let me see the body, they said it would be too hard for me, in my adolescence. And I went with it. I didn’t want to see what a horrible person I was. The little baby corpse that I was relieved was that way.

In later life, after Clarence was gone, I would wish so desperately that I had persisted, that I had looked, that she had lived above all else. No matter what I thought I saw, my team, our missions, I never once saw her, and I always remembered that she was gone. That pain never went away no matter how bad I wished it would.

A sudden thought struck me. If she had still been alive she had to be around here somewhere. Could I walk around in parts of a memory I didn’t remember? Could I see her at last? It was worth a try. I stood up from my chair and drifted from the room leaving me behind.

I drifted down the hallway looking for a door labeled Nursery or a large window looking into it. Finally, I found a nurse carrying a baby and I just followed her. She led me into a room full of heated baby beds. I searched for my baby. Her name on some kind of tag. I finally found it but a blanket covered her almost completely. All I saw was a dark head of hair poking out of the top. [No blonde hair like Clarence.]

I lifted the blanket slowly, amazed I could touch something in a memory. Her face slowly was revealed to me. I leaned forward with anticipation, finally, after eight years. Then my joy and hope crumpled inwards. I didn’t know whether to scream, cry, laugh hysterically. So I just stared there shocked. In a movie quiet dreamy music would have been playing. But this wasn’t a movie. My dreams were crushed and lay in ruins all around this baby nursery. One of them started to fuss, and a nurse hurried to check on him or her. I barely registered any of it. I was focused on one fact.

My daughter had no face.

10k Landmark Reached

You read right, I have reached the 10,000 word mark, and it's only the fourth day! This makes me so happy because last year at this point I was only at 4 maybe 5 thousand. That's a great improvement as Josh said. I'm making a lot of great improvements lately, and not just in writing.

Today was our first Academic Team meet, and my team came out on top with an undefeated score and a total point count of 630. It's amazing and makes me so excited as I actually got to help us get there unlike in previous years where I pretty much just sat and watched the whole thing. I played for the whole time for all three games and I must say I did great. This really lifted me up (the two cans of Coke may have also had a part in it) and I got home ready to type up the words for the day and write however much more I needed to get to 10k. That's what you're seeing in today's picture.

Don't I look so intent? It makes me so proud of myself and I believe that that is great for my writing. It allows me to write much faster and possibly even a little better (though it's NaNo so that's not really that important at the moment). Also, if you missed yesterday's picture check out the sidebar under NaNoWriMo. I decided to post all my pictures for the month there in miniature form. If you want to see the full size version just drag and drop the miniature in the URL slot-thingie.

I have a treat for your guys as well. Since I unintentionally started Poetry Peak a little early I know you may be a little disappointed about missing it this week (ha, I wish). So, even though I didn't write a poem, I do have this cool video for you to watch that my English teacher showed me. This poem that it's showing is amazing. Maybe I should try something like it sometime. Of course, not during November.

(Still) Floating on Air

I don't have to post the word count at the top of the posts anymore because I figured out how to get the word count widget in the sidebar thanks to Heather. As you can see, I'm trucking right along. I'm ahead of the game by just a little more than a day. I'm hoping to eventually get two days ahead which I will if I keep a steady pace. Here's to hoping that will happen.

You may also have noticed while checking out my word count that there are two different widgets, one that shows my word count bar plus a little calendar that shows how I do on separate days of the month and one that shows me and a mysterious someone else. This is my friend Madeline. She and I are sort of competing to see who can get the most words, or are we competing to see who wins first? Maybe we're just comparing and having fun together. Yeah, let's go with that one. She's a little behind but knowing her she'll probably catch up to me when I'm least expecting it.

It's the second day of NaNo which means I have a new picture of me to post which was, of course, taken by the wonderful Lizzie.

I have this weird habit of holding my ponytail (if I'm wearing one) while I'm concentrating so that's what I'm doing here (besides writing). You see that book in the side slot thing? That's my copy of No Plot? No Problem! And that shirt I'm wearing? My grandparents brought it to me all the way from Rome. Just a little piece of pointless information I felt like sharing. XD

I have noticed one major thing that I keep messing up in my NaNo novel. I keep switching my tenses. I'll be writing in past and then I'll glance up and I've suddenly started writing present tense. For some strange reason this makes me happy. My novel has a flaw (besides the many run-on sentences that I've accumulated already) and that is awesome because it's supposed to be that way. I'm also happy about it because it's not bugging me and I'm not itching to fix it. This is incredible for me because I might just have a smidge of OCD. You should see my room. It's probably the cleanest and most organized room of any thirteen-year-old ever.

Following one of the suggestions given by the NaNo staff I've found ways to reward myself for reaching my word count goal. For instance, today we (my father and I, majorly shocking) went to Wal-Mart and I got a pomegranate. I really love pomegranate seeds, or more accurately the little juice pouch things they're enclosed in. So after making a huge mess extracting all the seeds, I promptly put them in a container and shut them away in the fridge. I told myself I could eat some of them once I had finished typing my words for the day (I write in a notebook during school, as you can see in the pictures). Another reward I give myself (or that I will) is watching Total Drama World Tour (I'm a nerd, okay?). It comes on on Mondays. I've set the DVR to record all new episodes and I've determined that I will not watch it until Friday, if I'm caught up on my word count goal. If I'm not, I have to wait to watch it until I am.

And now to see you off I have a video (I figured it out, so many discoveries today) and a small excerpt from my NaNo. Here's to hoping you won't run away screaming after you read it.

 

And that’s when I remembered and realized my biggest mistake.

Tass wasn’t going to be at my back, at least not until I lapsed and forgot again. Forgot this horrible detail that was burning straight into my brain, leaving a brand that I knew wouldn’t be permanent. Suddenly one of Clarence’s many drills resurfaced in my mind, bubbling to the surface. [Never go on a mission alone. Never. Do you all understand? If you ever do such a thing, and actually managed not to get killed, it won’t help you in the slightest because as soon as you get your ass back here, I’m going to kill you.] I’m on the edge of bursting out hysterically laughing. And why not? I’ve already been shot. [Does it count if I went alone unintentionally?] I can imagine Clarence pondering this question. It’s an image I should probably work hard to remember. I won’t be seeing it again any time soon. My shoulder throbs painfully reminding me of my situation. Or maybe I will.

Star’s laugh bubbles through my head, how I used to think it was the most annoying sound ever. Now I’m on the edge of tears, if only I could hear it for real now. Outside of my head, through my ears and not my mind. [Oh, Star, you little blonde bubblehead, how I’ve missed you. Why? Why did those stupid bastards do it? How could they bring themselves to do it?] Laughter is bubbling up again. Her waves were manipulating my feelings again, tic for tac, as she used to say, for my waves manipulating her thoughts. But then it’s not her real waves anymore, just the empty memory of them. Empty cold memories that are eating away at my mind. How could they do that to me? Wait, it’s not their faults, it’s those government dicks, the same ones that are standing right in front of me. And rage is suddenly the dominant emotion.

These fuckers are staring at me like I’m crazy, which I know I am. Just to freak them out more I allow a slow smile to creep across my face, knowing it makes me look almost vampirish, I’ve practice it in the mirror tons of time. My body is screaming at me and even as laughter starts to bubble out of my mouth, I start to fall. I’m on the ground and the man with the strange hat is standing over me with an expression between joy and fear on his face but I don’t care.

Because the truth is, the thing I’ve finally remembered is that Tass, Clarence, Star, all of my team, are dead.

Victory from the Start

Word Count: 3,006 words

I am feeling awesome right now! I wrote more words so far today then I have during any other day of my life. Maybe that's kind of sad but it's a great achievement for me. (Plus according to the YWP site I'm already 6.01% done!) This also means I'm already almost a whole day ahead (I might actually be if I get to writing now, I have about an hour before I need to get ready for bed).

I sent out a text to most of my contacts informing them I reached this goal. Some of the responses were pretty funny (I'm still waiting for about four people to reply) so I thought I would share them with you.

Josh: Kewl (There he goes with his text talk again. -rolls eyes-)

Christine: That is awesome!

Katie: What is NaNo? (How on Earth does she not know? I couldn't have forgotten to tell her, could I?)

Rylie: Thats great i guess! But whats nana?! (Nana? Really Rylie? At least you used punctuation.)

Allie: HOLY MOLY BROOKE (Yeah, she actually sent it in all caps.)

Nick: Holy Shit (Ha! I'm so awesome he had to resort to profanity. XD)

Lizzie: Go yo u!!! (Now your typo shall forever be remembered. Mwahahaha! Love you.)

Nana:  Wow! that's lot of writing. sounds lke it is going well (When I was typing the name I accidentally posted NaNo at first. XD)

Such were the first responses of my friends and family. It made me almost float on air. Along with all of the awesome youtube-found songs I've been listening to lately. When I have time to figure out how to post them in a post I'll do that. Hopefully, that will be soon because one of them is actually about NaNo. How awesome is that? Another thing that is awesome is this:

Courteous of the great Lizzie this is my November 1st picture. Don't I look just so writerly?