Announcing WINDSHIELDS! + NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up

In this final post of the year, I have some news to share. I mentioned about two months ago that I had an announcement to make regarding OSAI. Here it is:

The anthology for the 2015 creative writing class (which includes me) has been released.

Once more, there is a picture of each contributor and three pages worth of work from them. I have one flash fiction piece and two poems included. I'm quite proud of them.

If you would like more information about the anthology or if you perhaps want your own copy, links are on my Publications page.

Hopefully, I'll have news of more publications soon. I submitted three poems to two literary magazines on my campus and am currently waiting to hear back. I submitted a short story to a contest being judged by Ellen Hopkins as well. I don't really expect to win, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have my work read by one of my favorite authors.

I would also like to tell y'all how my NaNoWriMo went, now that it's nearly the end of December. I finished with a word count of 17,718. Of course, that's no where near goal. However, I am not disappointed. This is kind of what I expected. And 17k is nothing to scoff at. It's a big chunk of a novel, a whole beginning. Something I wouldn't have if I hadn't tried NaNoWriMo this year.

As I said, this will be my last post of 2015, but I think I'll be posting again soon. I'm currently working on my goals for the upcoming year, which involves some serious thinking about priorities and what I want. I may have some decisions to share.

My College Life & NaNoWriMo

Today is November 1, the first day of NaNoWriMo. I am currently at 1,128 words and still only about 85% sure I'm participating this year.

I've been grappling with this decision for two months, going through a series of highs and lows. At times, I was super excited at the thought of writing, of creating a novel. At other times, the mere thought of extra work, extra pressure, made me want to curl up into a ball and sleep for four hours.

Because college is different from high school. Here, it seems like the work never ends. I know every assignment I have to complete by the end of the semester, which means even when I'm caught up, I feel like I have something that needs to be done. This makes fitting in writing seem impossible.

However, for the last few weeks I've been keeping track of how much time I actually spend on homework and studying. It's about twenty-one hours a week, meaning I do school work about three hours a day. One hour on top of that for writing doesn't seem like that much.

So, I've scheduled an hour's worth of writing every day this week except Wednesday, since I have a test on Thursday. We'll see how it works out.

I might not be winning NaNoWriMo this year, I might not even come close, but I think I'm going to try.

(P.S. I should be posting another update soon regarding OSAI.)

October, the Month of Outlining

Last week was crazy. Our homecoming was Saturday night and the buildup kept me insanely busy. On Wednesday, my choir performed and Lizzie and I led the singing of our school's Alma Mater at our homecoming assembly. Then, there was the Friday football game where my choir sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before kickoff. Both performances required rehearsals. Along with that, I helped make locker decorations for those choir members who made All-Region, attended Quizbowl practices, and prepared for the dance itself.

And I don't even know where this week went. It can't possibly be Friday already.

Unfortunately, all of this means I'm starting my NaNoWriMo planning a little late this year. For those who don't know, October is my month for NaNoWriMo planning. I almost always have a concept picked out months in advance, but October is when I take the time to flesh it out. To craft plot and add characters along with figuring out my world. But today is the tenth, and I haven't started.

Not on paper anyway. I don't have the right supplies yet. But my brain has been throwing around some ideas. I haven't experienced any major epiphanies, but it's something. And the "on paper" planning will be happening soon. I'll be running by Office Depot tomorrow after my SAT to purchase the perfect orange notebook.

On top of that, the first chapter of THINK OF ME will be premiering on Wattpad on Oct. 31st and there is still much to be done. Before I continue on with the second draft, I want to revise my plot in order to fix the problems I mentioned last month. This means I'm going to have to move forward with the third draft before the second is even close to complete. So, along with my outline revision, I'll be revising chapter one, sending it to critique partners, then revising it again.

Besides working on the actual story, I need to decide what I'm going to do about the cover. I'm considering paying to have one professionally made as, later this month, I'll be receiving money for passing my AP tests. I also need to figure out TOM's posting schedule for next month since NaNo will be going on. I don't particularly want to be trying to edit and revise in the middle of such extreme rough draft writing.

In conclusion, October's going to be a month of outlining with a dash of revision. Life has been off-the-wall busy lately and probably will continue to be for an indefinite amount of time, but I'll find a way to make it work.

What are your plans for NaNoWriMo? What else are you working on? How do you like my new blog layout?

2014 - An Update

As Michael put it to me, "Hey, it's 2014. Stop being lazy and post something."

So here I am!

I guess I should start with NaNoWriMo: I didn't win. My final word count was 30,155. However, as I state on my newly updated NaNoWriMo profile, there are no regrets involved. Of course, I would have loved to have reached 50k and completed a first draft, but my reason for falling short of my goal was, I believe, a good one. Either way, I now have a pretty substantial beginning to a new story.

Nothing major has happened since then, but I have a lot of big events coming up.

This Saturday, I will be attending the third annual YAK Fest. For those who don't know, YAK Fest is short for Young Adult Keller Book Festival. I attended the festival the year before last and had a great time (read about it here, here, here, and here). I'm hoping to obtain a couple extra signed books to giveaway for my birthday on February 4th.

On February 15th, I'm going to Tulsa to audition for the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute (read about my prior experiences with the Institute here). Between now and then, I have to work on the needed portfolio. I don't have many written-in-the-past-year short works to draw from besides my NaPoWriMo poems. Hence, the next few weeks will be dedicated to writing short stories. As I choose to add and write new pieces, I may post them on Figment as I did last year (here and here).

In between those two things, there's my Solo and Ensemble competition for choir. Since I decided to enter a solo, I have to practice that as well as my ensemble. I'm also a part of ANNIE, the musical we're doing at school. I have rehearsal almost every day until the end of February.

On top of all that, the AP life is about to hit me hard. Between Chemistry and English Language and Composition (side note: in this class, we are going to write haikus about whales for a contest soon), the Saturday sessions, mock tests, and homework might kill me. I'm also taking AP U.S. History, but, said nicely, my teacher isn't really up to par.

Soooo, in conclusion, I'm going to be busy.

Topics For Next Post: 1) my lack of New Year's Resolutions and 2) projects I'll be working on

Character Names - NaNoWriMo 2013

8 days until National Novel Writing Month

I love coming up with character names. I love the creativity, the thought, that goes into it, finding new names that, even if they aren't the one, speak to you, and, most of all, that feeling you get when you finally find the perfect fit. Like putting the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle.

Yesterday, I made my final decisions on the character names for my NaNo novel. I'm super excited about them and thought I'd share.

Before I get into the names, however, I should probably tell you the main idea behind my novel. It is based off the concept that luck can be a gene. Naturally, this gives people varying advantages and disadvantages in life. Due to the nature of these advantages/disadvantages, certain activities, such as gambling, have been outlawed. This has prompted a sort-of second Prohibition. Traveling gambling houses, with names like MARCO'S HOUSE OF OCCASIONALLY PROSPEROUS GAMING, abound throughout the country. When my main character, who has an acute curiosity and a draw to card games, stumbles upon this very house, she runs away with it. This is a retake on the phrase "running away with the circus."

And now...

• February St. Claude - protagonist, sixteen, lives in a compound away from society's "unluck" gene discrimination
• Erie St. Claude - February's sister, fourteen, feels like she's in her sister's shadow, lives in compound
• Rhys Baker - the boy everyone, including February, expects February to end up with, February's close friend, lives in compound
• 'Van Jacques ["Jacques" of Spades] - travels with the gambling house, helps February satisfy her curiosity about the world, love interest
• Kapri Jacques [Kap] - 'Van's sister, travels with the gambling house, becomes February's first close female friend
• Christian Hart [Ian/Kit] - frequent visitor of the gambling house, from prosperous family, good friends with 'Van, takes a small romantic interest in February
• Dillyn Elliott - Ian's girlfriend, disapproves of his gambling, slowly forms a friendship with February
• Marco - the gambling house master
• Mum [Ambrose Jacques] - 'Van and Kapri's grandmother, has large influence in the gambling house, becomes a sort of mentor to February

What do you think? Feel free to ask questions. I would love to talk NaNoWriMo with you. ^^

Now that I have the characters and their names settled, I'm going to focus more on my plot. I've begun to create this fantastic world in my mind and I want the plot to do it justice. So far, I've only done broad brainstorming. It's time to make decisions and add more details.

Also, would you be interested in reading excerpts about each character throughout November? I was thinking I might post them on my Tumblr, but would you rather read them here? Let me know!

How is your NaNoWriMo planning going?

P.S. I did a similar post to this back in October 2010 for THINKING OF YOU.

Productivity for the Win!

21 days until National Novel Writing Month

My NaNo is beginning to come together. A cast of characters has manifested and just thinking about their relationships makes excitement flutter in my chest. Prominent settings have been established. I also have the thinnest thread of a plot. And when I say thin, I mean nearly invisible. But at least there's something.

Planning isn't the only thing I've made progress on this week either. I have also added about another 1500 words to OBJECTION, putting it at a little over 45k. While this is great progress and makes me very happy, I think I'm going to have to alter my pre-NaNo goal. With everything I am trying to accomplish before November gets here, finishing the first draft of OBJECTION seems too ambitious. I am now aiming for at least 50k by October 31st. If I get farther than that, great. If not, I will have still made substantial progress.

That's not even the end to the good news. Recently, I've begun working with a new critique partner. This exchange has prompted me to take another step in my revisions of THINKING OF YOU. I completed the transfer to Scrivener and reordered the scenes to fit my new plot line. This is a big step because I can now see what I need to work on in an organized layout and tackle each task one at a time.

Overall, I am quite pleased with what I have managed to accomplish in my writing so far this week. I've gotten more done than I have in quite a while. This aura of productivity is the perfect lead in to NaNo.

What achievements, big or small, have you reached this week?

NaNoWriMo Planning Has Officially Begun!

25 days until National Novel Writing Month

It's October, my official NaNoWriMo planning month.

With me, planning isn't a very extensive process. I like to have a list of characters (including their names), a title, and a general plotline. Perhaps a touch of worldbuilding. I need a direction to head in and a few provisions for the way, but not a map of every twist in the road. As these things occur to me, I write them down in a notebook that I carry throughout October.

Planning notebooks are another aspect of my writing that is affected by my color coding system. The color paired with this year's NaNo, my untitled lucky genes story, is yellow. Hence, my notebook must be yellow.

Notebook without Strap

I had the perfect notebook picked out for this October. During the back-to-school sale at Wal-Mart, I discovered notebooks similar to the one I used for this year's NaPoWriMo but in bright colors. They were even in the clearance section by the time I went to purchase one. However, I had failed to notice the notebook did not come in yellow. I was devastated. To make up for it, I bought the notebook in every other color. Then, to top it off, once I got home, the strap on the green notebook snapped.

That was it. I took that broken notebook and made it yellow myself with the help of this video.

Here are a few pictures of the process that go along with the steps in the video:

Step 3

Step 5

Finished

My Planning Notebook

After my notebook was satisfyingly yellow, I decided to snazz it up a bit with some stickers. I also replaced the strap with a yellow rubberband.

For the past five days this notebook has traveled with me. I have yet to put much in it, but it's still only the beginning of the month. Soon it will be filled with all sorts of planning goodness.

Are you participating in NaNo this year? How do you prepare?

Starting Today

I have reached a decision. I will complete the first draft of OBJECTION by NaNoWriMo.

Starting today. Every day this week I'm going to write. It doesn't matter how much, just that I do. I could write two hundred words or I could write three chapters. For this week, they hold the same level of achievement.

This method will work partly because I need to get used to writing on a regular basis again. Also, my All Region audition is on Saturday. One of my friends suggested I listen to my music while writing. That will help me better memorize the notes, which is great, but I can't type, look at my music (which requires turning pages), sing, and listen all at the same time.

I have yet to write today, but I plan to as soon as I sing all four songs at least once. It's already late, so I probably won't add a lot, but it will be something!

In other news, I'm already completely caught up on a third of my blogs. Now I'm working on my Goodreads as well, which requires going through all my shelved books and adding all my owned books.

I also finally finished my goal plan post. Come by Wednesday to see it.

Dudes! Two Months Until NaNoWriMo! + Some Other, Less Mindblowing Stuff

I forget what I was doing and why it suddenly occurred to me, but, the other day, it struck me that NaNoWriMo starts in just a little over two months. Two months! Sixty-five days! I don't know whether I'm excited or terrified!

Really, I don't know why this is all so mind-blowing or why I'm flipping out.

I chose my main concept already. I think I've been planning on writing my untitled lucky genes story for NaNo 2013 for over a year. (I'm actually kind of worrying about not having an idea for next year yet.) My brain has even been contemplating and analyzing plot ideas for the past couple of weeks. I guess it realized and forgot to fill me in. -grumbles at brain-

Of course, with NaNoWriMo eminent, the next question is: What do I want to get done before then? My mind instantly starts throwing things at me. THINKING OF YOU revisions. THE TRUE PRINCESS read over. Short stories to write. Old poems to edit. Blogs and other social networks that require attention. Plan, too! Good thing I don't bruise easily.

However, though I dodged most of those goals, letting them fly past for a later time, I managed to catch one. OBJECTION. If I sat my ass in my chair and buckled down, I know I could finish that draft. It's far from impossible and it needs to be done. I mean, I was supposed to have this done before last NaNo!

Nothing has been finalized yet. I'm still thinking, still considering. But it's looking very likely that finishing the first draft of OBJECTION is going to be my pre-NaNo goal this year.

Now, that I've gotten my little freak out out of the way (ha!), I have some other things I'd like to share with you.

Firstly, I should be posting about my revised goal plan very soon. I'm almost finished finalizing the changes. After that, writing the post shouldn't be so hard. I know I've been promising this particular post for a while now, but my life has gotten busy again. In a good way. :)

I'm also proud to announce that I've begun to catch up on blogs. Like really catch up. Like months' worth of catching up. So far, I've finished four out of twenty-four. And I'm extremely happy about it! I'm not letting myself get stressed out over the workload. I'm pushing through. Better yet, I want to do it. I have the motivation to do it. And beyond that, I have the motivation to search out more blogs when I'm done (I know twenty-four is low and I want to remedy that).

I'm just in a really good place in my life right now.

I get to stay in my town with my friends, at least until Christmas. (We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.) I'm enjoying my classes a lot. They provide a broad, well-balanced spectrum of learning. By the end of the day I feel almost saturated with knowledge. I'm currently learning the French numbers and conquering my All Region choir music (which entails singing in both Latin and German). I have three AP classes and I'm steadily immersing myself in Trigonometry. Friday, there's a meeting to discuss this year's musical. Saturday, I'll be hanging out at a friend's house for half the day. Even the movies I've seen lately have seemed to add to the wholesome happiness I've been feeling. (I really recommend YOU'RE NEXT, if that's your sort of thing.) It's all just amazing!

P.S. Going with excited. ;)

Letting Your Brain Babies Go

I started writing my first "real novel" when I was in third grade. My mother had put one of my birthday presents in her closet and forgotten about it. It was a journal. Upon discovering it two months later, she gave it to me.

Thus, it began.

This must have been around the time I was into ERAGON because I determined to write about a dragon. Her name was Diamond and she was black, hence the title BLACK DIAMOND. I dove into it without any real thought, being eight years old. I worked on it periodically now and then and slowly a bit of a plot and other dragon characters started to appear.

Years went by and I started it over about four or five times, never finishing a full draft. The "novel" evolved. Eventually, my story gained human characters.

In seventh grade, I started writing poetry and spending time on the Neopets writer forum. There I learned about NaNoWriMo.

Thus, other things began.

I finished my first draft of THE LULLABY, reveled in this first time accomplishment, then went back to my old story, now entitled RUBIES AND SILVER. I had begun to put at least some thought into my stories by then and the idea occurred to me that I could somehow connect the two novels. Later I, luckily, vetoed this idea.

More time passed and I started rewriting THE LULLABY and contemplating THINKING OF YOU. My friend of old had fallen to the wayside and this worried me. I went to great lengths to revive it, reworking major parts of the story, though keeping the same characters and main conflict. It became ROYALLY BURNED. You may remember me mentioning it.

You may also remember that I've never really, really done anything with it. Sure, I planned out a whole continent and attempted to start drafting, but that's not much, not enough. ROYALLY BURNED doesn't grasp me like my newer stories, doesn't hold the same appeal. I'm essentially beating a dead horse.

But... I'm scared to let go of my very first characters. In a way, I still love them, still smile when I occasionally think about those long-ago-written scenes.

However, it's time to let it go.

And not just ROYALLY BURNED. There are two other ideas I'm shelving, at least for the near future: FOREVER, FROG and AFTER AUSTIN.

You may remember when I started the first draft for FOREVER, FROG and failed miserably. I don't know if I've ever mentioned AFTER AUSTIN in a post, but it's been up on my Projects page. They're intended to be verse companion novels.

There are a few reasons I'm dropping them.

First, as with ROYALLY BURNED, they're just not speaking to me. They haven't in a long time. I never fleshed them out, especially AUSTIN, and that might be the source of it. However, I have too many other stories to focus on at the moment to try.

Second, I don't know if I can write a verse novel. I can write poetry, and I can write novels so I don't see why I couldn't write a combination of them. Something just feels off about it. I normally wouldn't let the challenge stop me, it's always an adventure to step out of your comfort zone, but that's a project I would need to focus all of my attention on, and I just can't do that right now.

Most importantly, I'm not ready to write about these subject matters, mainly child kidnapping/molestation and rape. I don't know why I ever thought I could tackle them. They're too big for me, especially at this stage in my life. I've been thinking perhaps I could work these stories in a different angle, away from these topics, but again, that would take time I don't have right now. Maybe in a year or two.

To make a clean break with these stories, I'm going to go through all of my writing files and find the bits and pieces that relate to them. Then I'm going to buy some grey binders, just as these novels are now displayed in grey on my Projects page, and fill them with those odds and ends. Then I'll put them away, up in my closet, though I may never completely forget about them.

Have you ever had to shelve a project, temporarily or otherwise?

Birth of a Novel 2012 - NaNo #3 & Objection Completion #1

Today is not a Thursday, the day I usually post for Birth of a Novel. However, I didn't post last Thursday due to Thanksgiving and my being out of town. I'm back now though and ready to update you.

I didn't do as well with my goals as I did last time, but I still got a lot accomplished and am quite proud of these victories.

Last week's goals:
1. Write 3k for today. I wrote 3,019 words for a total of 53,448 words.
2. Write 1k on Friday. I wrote 1,023 words for a total of 54,471 words.
3. Write 6k on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I wrote 4,420 words, falling 1,580 words below my goal. However, on Sunday I wrote 6,112 words so I still partially met my goal. This gave me a total of 65,003 words.
4. Write 2k on Monday. I wrote 2,149 words for a total of 67,152 words.
5. Write at least 4k on Tuesday, continuing if close to the end. I wrote 6,014 words for a total of 73,166 words and completed the first draft of THE TRUE PRINCESS! The NaNoWriMo site's word count validator differs slightly with a count of 73,151 words. This disagreement has never happened to me before, but I still finished my story and still beat 50k so I'm not too worried about it. Word counters aren't all the same.
6. Make at least one vlog. Go here.
7. Catch up on 26/43 blogs. I managed to finish 24/43, only catching up on two of the four blogs I was aiming for. Neither of the two I finished were the "post everyday" blogs I talked about. However, I have made good progress with both of the remaining two.
8. Attach labels to posts from the past two months. This did not take as long as I expected. I finished up through September in probably twenty minutes. Just two years worth of blog posts to go. Also, I changed the widget appearance from a list to a cloud as well as retitled the widget to fit in with my sidebar's "mountain" theme.

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, it's time for me to move on to other things. My biggest concern right now is finishing my first draft of OBJECTION before New Year's. I also have a few other, smaller projects I want to work on.

This week's goals:
1. Reach 30k on OBJECTION. Right now, I'm at 27,334 words. This means I have to write 2,666 words in four days. I can do that. Hell, I could do that in one day. My only concern is that OBJECTION hasn't been as easy to write as most of my other projects and I might not have planned out this middle part as well as I should have, but I will not let that stop me!
2. Plan out THE SMILE FIXER. Essentially this is a rewrite of last year's The Chrysalis Experiment Prompt #2 story. At first I was playing around with this concept for the PERFECT FLAW anthology but ended up deciding it wasn't the one. I liked my ideas though so I'm still going to write it. I usually don't plan for short stories. However, this one is going to be a little longer and more detailed than my short stories generally are.
3. Read through The Chrysalis Experiment stories and pick one to rewrite for the PERFECT FLAW anthology or come up with a new idea. As I mentioned above, I scrapped my original idea for my submission to this anthology. So I need a new one and soon. The deadline is January 8th.
4. Write a summary for THE TRUE PRINCESS. These are always good to have and, even if it isn't perfect, it will help me with my pitch later. Summaries also usually drive home what my novels' main focuses are. Plus, it'll add to my Projects page. I already have a first line.
5. Read CALL OF THE WILD. If you're friends with me on Goodreads, you may know that I've been reading a book called MORE STORIES TO REMEMBER since February. It's an anthology that was published in 1958. I'm about halfway through it and I would like to finish reading it by New Year's. Right now I'm on THE CALL OF THE WILD. It has a total of 59 pages.
6. Catch up on 30/43 blogs. This means I will have a total of six blogs to read in four days. Three of them are pretty low key and, as I already said, I have made progress on the two higher maintenance blogs. I'm pretty sure I can do it.
7. Attach labels to 2010 posts. I published 46 posts in 2010. It shouldn't be so bad. I'm going to get started on them as soon as I get this post up.

Birth of a Novel 2012 - NaNo #2

Today marks the beginning of my second week of Birth of a Novel in its new format. I'm happy to report that posting my goals here in a clear fashion definitely helped me achieve them. All of them!

Also, before we dive into the official progress report, I would like to thank Lizzie for letting me spend the night at her house, even if I wrote the whole time, and for making sure I did write the whole time.

Last week's goals:
1. Reach 26k before I go to bed on Friday. I finished Friday off with 26,036 words.
2. Write 7k on both Saturday and Sunday. I wrote 7,044 words on Saturday and 7,110 words on Sunday for a total of 40,190 words.
3. Write 5k on Monday. I wrote 5,027 words for a total of 45,217 words.
4. Write 2.5k on both Tuesday and Wednesday. I wrote 2,665 on Tuesday and 2,547 words on Wednesday for a total of 50,429 words!
5. Make at least one vlog. I actually made two! Well, more like one and a half. Go here and here.
6. Catch up on 20/43 blogs. I managed to completely catch up on 22/43 blogs, putting me halfway there.
7. Decide on new labels for blog. I wrote a whole post about the process of doing this yesterday.

I reached 50,000 words! However, THE TRUE PRINCESS is far from finished. As I mentioned last week, this means this week's goals will also be mostly made up of word counts. I'm thinking I probably have 20k left to write and I want to finish before I leave for my grandparents' on the 21st to celebrate Thanksgiving. As such, my goals are aimed toward that.

This week's goals:
1. Write 3k for today. I already have a little over 1k with four hours left until midnight. It should only take me about an hour and a half to get the rest.
2. Write 1k on Friday. My parents are going out of town for the night and I will probably not be anywhere near my computer after I leave for school in the morning. 1k isn't much, but I'll probably be lucky to reach even that.
3. Write 6k on both Saturday and Sunday. These are going to be the days that really decide whether or not I finish in time. This is the really essential goal.
4. Write 2k on Monday. This is a school night. However, it's also the first day of a two day week so I might not get a lot of homework. If that's the case, I may be able to write more.
5. Write at least 4k on Tuesday, continuing if close to the end. This is the last day before we leave, but I can stay up later because I don't have to get up as early as usual the next day.
6. Make at least one vlog. This continues my goal to make a vlog once a week during NaNoWriMo.
7. Catch up on 26/43 blogs. I know four blogs doesn't seem like a lot, but two of those blogs are "post every day" blogs which means I have about sixty posts to read for each. Plus, I have words to write!
8. Attach labels to posts from the past two months. After this, I'll start from the beginning of my blog posts, but this week I don't have a lot of time for labeling and these posts are freshest in my memory thus deeming them easiest to label.

I'm not going to be posting a Birth of the Novel post next Thursday since it's Thanksgiving. However, when I return home, I will write one for the days remaining in that week and update you on my (hopeful!) success with this week's goals.

Birth of a Novel 2012 - NaNo #1

Last year during NaNoWriMo, I participated in the Birth of a Novel Blog Chain hosted by Charity Bradford (here, here, here, here, and here). This year I'm doing it again, but in a slightly different format.

Birth of a Novel isn't just solely focused on NaNo anymore. It has widened its spectrum to include any kind of writerly project. Due to this, not only will I be updating you on my weekly hopes and goals for THE TRUE PRINCESS, but on all of my ambitions for that week.

I feel like this will be extremely beneficial to me as I have quite a few things I would like to accomplish by the end of the year and this system will keep me on track to complete them in time.

Last year, I told you what my goals were in narrative form, but as I said already, I'm mixing it up a bit. I'm laying everything out in a list as I've seen others do.

1. Reach 26k before I go to bed on Friday. That's a little under four thousand words from where I am now which is entirely plausible. I'm also hoping to catch the end of a virtual write-in which may help boost my word count.
2. Write 7k on both Saturday and Sunday. I can do it as long as I stay focused. This will leave me with 40k.
3. Write 5k on Monday. No school that day so again entirely plausible if I stay focused. This will put me at 45k.
4. Write 2.5k on both Tuesday and Wednesday. If I make this goal, I will win NaNo on Wednesday!
5. Make at least one vlog. One vlog a week is my goal for NaNo. So far I haven't failed. In fact, I've overachieved with two vlogs last week.
6. Catch up on 20/43 blogs. As you may have noticed, I haven't been visiting blogs a lot lately. I just haven't been motivated to. However, I'm working to get back on track now, one blog at a time. I have to read posts for the end of August, the end of September, and then all of October, as well as any new posts for November. So far I'm at 11/43.
7. Decide on new labels for blog. In an earlier post, I talked about the things I needed to do to clean up my blog. I've completed all of those things except for one award post and reorganizing my labels. I don't necessarily have to implement the labels, I just want to have them ready for when I can sit down and fix them.

As you can see, if everything goes according to plan, I should finish NaNo on Wednesday. If that happens, my goals for next week's Birth of a Novel will be of a much different nature. However, I have a feeling that THE TRUE PRINCESS might have more story in her than 50k. If that's the case, you'll be seeing more word count goals next week. We'll just have to wait and see!

Don't Reward Yourself for Doing NaNo, Make NaNo a Reward

You hear a lot of advice on how to motivate yourself to write, especially during NaNo season. It is often recommended that you punish yourself if you don't meet your goals or reward yourself if you do. However, have you ever tried making the writing the reward?

Before I continue, it would probably be beneficial to you to know that this method probably works best when you're ahead or more toward the end of the month when there are certain things you can't put off any longer.

It's really a pretty simple idea.

Say you've got some giant assignment that's worth thirty percent of your grade or you need to clean your whole house before the fam comes over for Thanksgiving or you need to do something for work (sorry for no specifics, teenager who's never had a job here). Basically, you have something that has to be done, but you'd rather be working on NaNo instead.

You break up that thing into smaller parts. At the completion of each part, you get to write so many words. Get is the key word here. Not have to write so many words. Get to.  This makes your NaNo something desirable as well as helping you complete tasks you may not necessarily want to complete. It's a win-win.

What are your NaNoing tips?

Current NaNoWriMo Word Count: 16,204 Words

I love my novel.

That statement deserves its own line. It is a thought to be savored. I love my novel.

I don't know if it's a feeling I have ever felt so thoroughly. Of course, I adore all of my novels. Each of them brings me great joy and excitement, but I don't think any of them has ever brought me this much of those two things.

I have no idea what makes this story different. Maybe it's how the plot line formed so perfectly or how my characters developed into people so quickly, but I don't think either of those were lacking from my other stories. It's not even that I'm getting more words down. I'm not rushing to write anymore than I usually do though I do seem to always know what I'm going to put on the page when I sit my butt in this chair.

Still, I'm getting an itching feeling that this just might maybe possibly be the one.

To see if you agree with me, I'm going to leave you with a short excerpt of exactly 266 words. Keep in mind that it is a rough draft. Note also that the words "agts," "ymsir," and "geya" are gEyarian words, which means the second letter is pronounced first.

I have also included my latest NaNoWriMo vlog at the bottom of this post in case you were curious about the technicalities of my journey.

So Zoie looked over the banister down at the tree. She saw a most peculiar thing.

A man was rapidly growing from one of the lowest branches. Squeezing through the tiny stems could not have been comfortable because he was squirming terribly, thrashing about and hitting the trunk, which had caused the groaning noise Zoie had heard.

Deciding he was no immediate threat, Zoie leaned one of her elbows across the railing, her sword hanging down at her side and watched. It took quite some time before he was completely out, but he was still attached to the tree. He was grasping at the top of his head madly, his face swelling with the pressure of not making any noise.

Zoie decided it was time for her to move. Making sure she could not be seen from below, she moved to the stairs that curved along the outside of the building. She passed through the middle two floors while the man was still trying to detach himself from the tree. Her foot had just touched the tile floor of the bottom level when the man finally fell to the ground.

He jumped straight back up again, straightening the very expensive suit he was wearing. His back was to her and he did not even bother to look over his shoulder.

“aGts,” he breathed.

She touched the very tip of her sword lightly to his back, right between the shoulder blades. “Watch your language in my house, ymsir.”

“aGts,” he said again, much louder this time. He glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled. “Sorry, geya.”

(If you would like to see more, shorter excerpts, please remember to check out my Tumblr: brookerbusse.tumblr.com.)

11 x 4 Questions Finally Answered

Current NaNo Word Count: 8,509 words (full post on Monday)

Something we all know is that I always take forever at getting around to accepting awards and answering tags, that sort of thing. An example? I got two awards at the end of 2011. I got around to posting about them in May 2012. This procrastination is the reason I'm just now getting around to answering the questions I got tagged with during the Fourth Writers' Platform Building Campaign. And boy, are there a lot of them.

Carrie-Anne was the first to tag me. She left me with these eleven questions:

1. What is your dream car? It could be either a current car or a classic or antique car. I don't exactly have a specific dream car, but I would like a rather large vehicle with a bench seat.
2. Are you interested in illustrating your own books? Have you ever drawn pictures of your characters? I wish I could illustrate my own books, if just the chapter headers. While I can draw, I unfortunately lack the ability to visualize things. This makes it hard to draw things like my characters and settings.
3. What is your favorite flavor of jelly? Grape.
4. What animal would you most like to be? A brightly-colored poisonous butterfly.
5. What foreign country would you like to live in? Ireland. It's where the leprechauns live.
6. Do you prefer the countryside or the city? It depends. What am I doing there and who am I doing it with?
7. What is your favorite ice-cream flavor? Chocolate almond.
8. What character from mythology (any mythology) would you most like to meet? Pandora. Imagine her face when a 5'2" blonde girl comes up and slaps her.
9. Do you have a favorite or well-liked name you haven’t used on a character yet? Rhine. Mostly because it's the name of the main character in the Chemical Garden Trilogy. Also because I think it would be a nice name if I ever have a daughter.
10. What is your favorite amusement park ride? Any rollercoaster!
11. Would you prefer to live on the beach, in the forest, in the mountains, or in the desert? On the beach.

Susan then gave me the next eleven questions.

1. What is the name of the book you are currently reading? CLOCKWORK ANGEL.
2. What type of music do you prefer? Favourite song? Country is my top choice, though I've been getting into more indie YouTube artists lately. No favourite song. I'm usually pretty bad at having favourites.
3. If you could go anywhere in this world or a fictitious one, where would you go? I know it's clique, but who never wanted to go to Hogwarts?
4. Do you currently have any pets? Yes. One dog and one cat that is missing. :(
5. When do you usually set aside time to write? I'm definitely an evening/night writer though, if I have to, I will write anytime.
6. What is the most interesting way in which you (or some other author) has killed off a character? Crushed by an elevator.
7. Have you ever written a piece of fan fiction? If so, for which show/movie? No.
8. Do you have a specific place in which you do most of your writing? At my desk. I know, exciting, huh?
9. What is your favourite meal? What am I in the mood for?
10. Do you have any non-writing hobbies? Does reading count even though it's considered very important for a writer?
11. If you had a time machine, when would you go? To the library of Alexandria before it burned.

Ella made it a total of thirty-three questions.

1. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why? The power to copy other people's superpowers. I can't be the only one who has one right?
2. You are walking in a forest and you come across two different paths. As the poem by Robert Frost goes, the first path is one that appears to be worn and familiar. The other path appears new and unused. Which path do you take? It depends. Where am I headed? And am I in the mood for people, no people, new discovery, or calming routine?
3. What is your opinion on love triangles? They don't bug me in stories like they do some people, but I dislike it when it's too predictable and you know who the person is going to pick. Love squares are more fun.
4. What is your opinion on vampires, faeries, and werewolves being used in YA fiction? Love faeries. And I don't dislike vampires and werewolves. But maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if we all cut back a little bit on them.
5. What are some amazing books you have read this year (so far)? -pulls up Goodreads- THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, ENTWINED, THE HATING GAME, FEVER, CINDER, and KING OF THE SCREWUPS.
6. Which is more important in a novel: the plot or the characters? The plot with just a dash of character because while the plot entraps you and keeps you reading, those motions don't mean anything without the character's reactions to them.
7. If you went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which of the four houses do you think you would be sorted into? Probably Ravenclaw. Though I would hope Hufflepuff. Pottermore tells me I'm a Slytherin. -.-
8. What is one book and one movie you are looking forward to reading/seeing in 2012? Book: THE LAST GUARDIAN Movie: Gone.
9. One book you would most definitely read again, and one book you would never read again? Would: PRINCESS ACADEMY Wouldn't: LEFT BEHIND
10. What is your favorite comfort food? Cheddar pretzels. Maybe. Refer to set two's number two.
11. If you'd been on the Titanic, would you have been: a) one of the first people to jump into the ocean, b) a person who waited and ended up in a small lifeboat, or c) someone who sunk nobly along with the ship? B.

Finally, Kadie was kind enough to leave me with a total of forty-four questions.

1. What’s your favorite childhood memory? From the ages of about three to five, I lived in a trailer park in Alabama. My best friend lived one down from me. When we moved I had no way to keep in contact with her. We took a trip to Disneyworld when I was about eight or so. In order to get there, we had to pass through that Alabama town. We even stopped and ate dinner in it. And she was at that restaurant! That has always been so mind-blowing to me.
2. If you could teleport from any Wal-Mart in the country to another Wal-Mart in the country, where would you go and why? (My husband and I have a great idea to place teleporters in every Wal-Mart in America and then charge people to transfer to another one… Now we just have to invent a teleporter. One day…) To the Wal-Mart in Buffalo, Missouri because it's so small it probably will never install the teleporter and then I would be stuck in limbo where I would have eternity to write all the books I'm scared I'll never have time to write.
3. How many times do you brush your teeth in a day? One or two. Depending on how tired I am at night.
4. What’s your biggest fear? The horrible possibilities of what people can do.
5. How many times have you dyed your hair? Zero.
6. What’s the absolute WORST book you’ve ever read? I don't think I have one. I have books I really liked, books I just normal liked, and books I didn't really care for at all. But I don't have a worst book.
7. Where do you find inspiration? Various things. Usually, by chain reaction, thinking about one thing will lead me to an idea.
8. Have you ever broken a bone? Which one and how? No.
9. Chocolate or Caramel? I only like certain varieties of both. With caramel, it usually has to be hard. And with chocolate, it usually has to be paired with something else (like caramel). So I'll pretend this is a syrup question. Chocolate.
10. Guyliner? Hot or not? (Besides on Johnny Depp, that’s a given.) Neither.
11. What’s your birthstone? Amethyst.

Since this tag was created to get to know people during the Fourth Writer's Platform Building Campaign, I'm not going to be coming up with eleven more questions or tagging eleven more people. However, if you want to answer any of these questions in the comments, I would love to hear your answers!

Tomorrow

It all starts tomorrow. The great noveling adventure. National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo.

This will be my fourth year participating and I will again be implementing the strategy of going to bed early then waking up in time to start writing at midnight. After about an hour, I'll go back to sleep. I plan to wake up a little bit earlier than normal and get some words in before school. Then I will be carrying my writing notebook from class to class, writing as much as I can. After I get home, I've calculated that I will have about four free hours to write.

I hope to end tomorrow with 7k on THE TRUE PRINCESS, my newly entitled princess clone story.

I'm about to head off to bed, but I've prepared this vlog with a little more information about this year's NaNo experience.

Overcoming Fear

Do you ever get scared? Scared that you'll never write about that big shiny idea of yours? Scared that you'll never finish the writing? Scared that you won't know how to revise it or make it good enough?

It's okay if you do. Everyone does.

And don't think you're an exception if it hasn't happened yet. It will.

Those aren't the only fears either. There's a whole universe of them and everyone has different ones at different times. My current one? Losing NaNoWriMo.

I tell myself that it's unfounded. I felt it last year too and look how that turned out. Over 100k written and two finished first drafts. I've never even come close to losing.

But that doesn't keep me from being scared.

Mostly I think it's because I kind of bombed Camp NaNoWriMo. Didn't even get halfway done though I did do better than last year. And I haven't worked on OBJECTION much since, however much I said I was going to.

That changed today. I sat my butt in my chair, put my head phones in, and typed away for about an hour and a half. Even tried Write or Die. I ended up adding about 2300 words for a total of 26,025. And it feels good.

The fear has subsided a bit.

What is your most recent fear?

A More Specific Beginning

Beginnings are one of my favorite things. The beginning of a week (Sunday, people, Sunday), the beginning of a month, and especially the beginning of a year. And today happens to be all three of those. Why do I like beginnings so much? I'm explained it before so I won't waste words.

"...everything is suddenly fresh, like everything has been wiped clean and I can just start over. It also sort of feels like a jumping off point."

-A Hopeful Beginning (January 1, 2011)

Of course, beginnings lead to endings (right after middles) lead to beginnings. And seeing as the post quoted above was a beginning and this post is a beginning, an ending had to occur in there somewhere. The ending of 2011. With that ending comes the fact that the year to accomplish the resolutions I expressed last New Year's is over. Before I move on to 2012, I would like to wrap up all things 2011.

I will be using the same format I used at my Midway Point report.

1. I will write everyday. I didn't do this. I didn't even build up to doing this. However, I have greatly improved my writing habits. With The Chrysalis Experiment I have managed to write every week excluding a few in the summer. With NaPoWriMo and NaNoWriMo I wrote everyday in April and November. And with Camp NaNoWriMo I wrote the majority of days in August. B
2. I will write a blog post or in my journal every day. I'm just going to give up on the journal. I've never been able to keep a steady one going and I hate what comes out when I write in them. Journaling just isn't for me. Blogging is more my style and, while I haven't done it everyday, I have erected a schedule for every third day (even if I kind of fell of the wagon the last month or so). Also, I have 169 posts for this year, just shy of a post every two days. B-
3. I will learn to vlog. I made two videos the whole year. Two. And only one of them was a vlog. I tried to make another video, but I failed because I didn't have the right editing software or knowledge. Editing is very essential to making good videos, vlogs or otherwise. D
4. I will become more organized with when and what I write (or edit). I really don't know how to assess how I did for this one. At the beginning of the year, I was pretty persistent and organized about how I "edited" THINKING OF YOU. I knew when I was going to write poetry (NaPoWriMo) and when I wanted to focus on a solitary project (ie. Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo). But, I don't think I really accomplished what I was going for. C
5. I will become better at critiquing others work. Not only am I still a part of the blog Unicorn Bell that I mentioned at my Midway Point report, I also have two new critique partners. Steph Sinkhorn and Christina Bejjani. A
6. I will not give in to peer pressure or do anything that I don't want to do (excusing homework assignments). Haven't experienced any serious peer pressure. N/A

I suppose I didn't do too terribly bad, but I won't dwell on it. Instead I'm going to take those mistakes and achievements and move on into 2012 by jumping straight into my goals with a vlog stating this year's New Year's Resolutions!

And for those that can't see the video:

1. I will have THINKING OF YOU ready for query. I need to get serious about my writing. I'm focusing on one project, part of that whole "organized" thing. This is the project I chose because I know what direction I want to go with it and I feel closest to it right now. As an add on to this goal, I also want to have a brief outline of the sequels.
2. I will have two new first drafts. One from Camp NaNoWriMo (probably doing August) and one from NaNoWriMo (November). One being my untitled princess close story (which I've mentioned once) and the other being a dystopian based around marriage. I wrote two new first drafts in 2011, I can do it again.
3. I will win National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). I haven't written much poetry since I did this last year, unless you count FOREVER, FROG. I really enjoy poetry and want to get back into it, plus this definitely helps with writing habits.
4. I will submit at least two short stories to anthologies and/or contests. Last year, I submitted my first Chrysalis story to an anthology. I rushed into it, forgot to put a title in my email and used a casual email address. I also entered a contest hosted by Seventeen magazine. This one I put a bit of thought into and I feel like it's turning out much better. It's still going on (my entry here and instructions on how to vote here). I want to continue to do these things and to put myself out there.
5. I will read at least one hundred books. I've talked before about how many unread books I have. That number hasn't gone down (quite the opposite in fact) and I would really like it to. I will be using GoodReads to keep track of this goal.
6. I will post at least one vlog a month. This is a more specific goal than last year's and, I feel, easier to keep track of. I've already started on this particular resolution. -pokes video above-
7. I will exercise. I talked about my lack of muscle in my summer's goals post and since then we have obtained a Kinect. Exercising while playing games is way funner. Those dancing games really burn after a while. This is my more personal goal.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

Close Enough to Taste [Birth of a Novel Blog Chain]

It's so close I can taste it. I'm almost there. Only one more day. Then I can stop and take a break. I can go to bed before twelve. I can read again. It will be glorious! And made all the better by the two new first drafts that will be sitting beside me.

Current word count? 97,053. That leaves 3,138 words until I'm finished (the count is a little off because SHADOWMAN was completed at 50,191 words). Completely manageable compared to other days.

I'm afraid my story might exceed 50k. Though it would be awesome to actually write a longish novel, I would really rather be finished with everything NaNo related before December. However, a few of my plot points have fallen off the wagon so perhaps I won't be that far over.

Tomorrow might be a tough day for writing. My cousin is coming home after quite a few months away and we're celebrating with a family dinner. I'm even going to get out of school a little early to go pick him up at the airport. Well, I guess that's what notebooks are for because, no matter what, I am going to finish this thing tomorrow.

The Rest of the Blog Chain

Charity Bradford Angela Brown Brooke Busse Tessa C Elizabeth Davis Miranda Hardy Mia Hayson	Lena Hoppe Huntress Fida Islaih Jen McConnel Anna M. Nyxie Moon Elizabeth Pool
Zoe