Welp, I'm beat.

I WON NANOWRIMO!

*applause*

I finished a day early, too. Now I just have to order my winner's T-shirt. My mum is letting me purchase one as a reward for my efforts. My best friend baked me a whole batch of brownies to celebrate my victory. (They were unbelievably chocolatey. It was insane.) My dear sister didn't even complain when I stayed up late on the 29th to just get the gosh darn thing over with. I've got an awesome team behind me, that's for sure.

If you're wondering why I haven't posted all month, I would think it's obvious. I've been NaNoing! That, or watching Doctor Who and Downton Abbey. Or doing homework. Basically, a cycle of stressing over NaNo, completing college apps, doing homework, and then de-stressing with some quality British television. And if anyone wants to talk Downton with me, I'd be happy to oblige. Next up is the Christmas episode, and I'm still upset over the last one. I mean... LAVINIA? WHY!? I hate writers. Oh wait, I am one. *blush*

Dude, check it.

 

You can see where life got crazy, and the insane sprint to the finish line over the last few days. Three days in a row, I came home, sat down at the computer, and did nothing but write for hours on end, taking short Facebook/food/run around the house breaks. It was intense. The writing was awful. But I DID IT. Huzzah for yours truly!

Now, for your reading pleasure, the best and worse of my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel, If and When.

Obviously, this is all copyright of yours truly. Anything plaguerized is ILLEGAL. Not that it's good enough to steal. *sigh* Forget it.

THE GOOD 

• "Try to look inconspicuous, she thought. She wished she could say the last word aloud. Inconspicuous. It tasted like chocolate; New words always did." 
• Why I like it: I used the image of words have flavor several times in the novel, and I thought it really worked well within the context of the book. Not to mention Anthony has chocolate brown eyes. Coincidence? I think NOT! 
•  Aubrey’s mouth clamped shut. Words, words! Her mouth opened up just enough to let one tumble out of her mouth.
      “Inquisitive.”
      Dimitri’s eyebrows managed to go up even higher. “Excuse me?”
      “Yes. I... I read. Books, I mean. I read books.” She gulped.
• Why I like it: I thought it was funny. You're allowed to disagree.
• Aubrey looked up and into the pale face of the sky and wondered what stars looked like. She had read so much about them… They were supposed to be bright, twinkling orbs of light. There were so many poems about them. If Aubrey remembered correctly, they were supposed to be romantic.
• Why I like it: In my story world, there are lots of factories. It occurred to me when Aubrey went outside with her friend, Anthony, that the pollution would block the sky... and the stars. Anyone who reads knows that stars come up a lot. The writing here wasn't splendirific or anything like that, but the concept was cool.

THE BAD

• Suddenly the shacks around them weren’t just unsightly, but eerily still.
• Why it stinks to high heaven: Sometimes my grammar faltered during the month. 

 

• The sky was a bruise, black and blue and bordering purple, while streaks of smog streaked across the sky like scars. 
• Why it stinks to high heaven: The concept? The sky is a combination of black, blue, and purple. Bruise! Dark clouds. Scars! Brilliant! Except... Ew, now everyone is thinking about wounds, oozing puss and nastiness. Gross.

More on NaNo later. Our football team made state play-offs for the first time in history, so I've got to get up bright and early to cheer my little heart out and play my xylophone like there ain't no tomorrow. Until then, I leave you with the most adorable thing ever. And before you ask, I didn't go looking for it. David Tennant is a pure coincidence. Although I'm certainly not complaining...

I mean, I could have played fish girl.

Soak up the adorbs. You're smiling. Admit it. No matter how cheesy that was, you're smiling. Don't hide it: EMBRACE THE SMILEY FACE. There you go. :)

* FOR AFTER YOU'VE WATCHED THE ABOVE VIDEO: Don't you love how the sign beneath the girls apartment is Juliet's Something-or-Other, and then the sign behind him switches to Romeo? Too. Cute.

     

NaNoWriMo Day No. 13

Haven't posted in 2 weeks. Deal with it.

Sorry, don't mean to get nasty. All I know is that I am positively swamped with college applications and Forensics and Drama Club and County Chorus and District Chorus and NEVER MIND YOU DON'T CARE. Really, I'm not cranky. Promise! In fact, as I write this, I'm getting my first listen to Taylor Swift's new album.

She is so my guilty pleasure. She averages about 2 non-boy songs per album, but I don't even care. Something about T-Swizzle makes me want to do cool stuff. Like write a novel.

Do you know how behind I am? Very. I was *ahead* last year. Now I am limping behind the better prepared WriMos, dragging my overly complex plot and contrary characters and wishing I could just give up and watch the rest of Downton Abbey which conveniently just arrived in the mail to tempt me. (I caught up my sister to Episode 5, and we are in mourning together.) I have a stockpile of chocolate and the nagging desire to lose weight. In other words, I've got November problems.

Now as I rush off to finish up college essays and try and bump up my NaNo word count, I leave you with some of the songs that are helping me to power through this little novel. Read the descriptions --- some of the songs seem a little "out there".

My book is noticeably lacking in the drug addict-forced-to-be-a-prostitute-to-fuel-addiction area, but this song is so positively sad, I feel like it captures the sadness that sits in my MC's heart.

What does it have to do with my plot? NOTHING! What does it have to do with getting me in the mood to write? EVERYTHING!

Realization moment!!!

Later, gators. And if I don't have a spare moment before then, Happy Turkey Day! I can hardly wait for the pumpkin pie, the family togetherness, and the post-dinner crash. :)

NaNoWriMo, Day No. 4

I don't know if I mentioned this, but I ever tell you that I have successfully dragged three people into this writing frenzy?

Well, I have. Things 1 and 2 are my two youngest sisters. I don't quite know what gave them the desire to partake in this madness, but they both signed up in October, described their plots to me over cookies, and have been dutifully typing away for four days now. Thing 1, who is 13 and qualifies for both the regular NaNoWriMo program as well as the Young Writers program, is writing a sort of fantasy adventure. Thing 2, who is 11 (I thought she was 12 until she corrected me this morning, she does act so positively grown up) is also writing a fantasy and has set a reasonable goal of 30,000 words. I am quite impressed with how responsible they have been. They are both hovering around their word goals and working hard to keep it up.

Thing 3 is my best friend, and I don't really know how she's doing. A part of me thinks she's quit already. I invited her to my mind palace for a brainstorming session (see below), which received a meager "like" on Facebook. She always comments with something witty and delightful. Particularly in matters concerning Sherlock Holmes. Even if it falls through, this is the closest I've gotten to dragging her down Novelist Lane, which is an accomplishment in and of itself.

Now comes the part of NaNoWriMo where my inner editor gets nasty. I had a brilliant session yesterday. Banged out almost two days worth of words, making up for the time lost on Friday, and surprised myself with my own characters. That's when the voice came for me.

Give in to the siren song of inner editorness and you turn to dust. Well, actually, it's a little more complex than that, and the siren is actually a doctor of sorts, and there's this other universe and human bacteria and I WATCHED DOCTOR WHO LAST NIGHT, OKAY? For sake of argument, let's just pretend that my inner editor is a siren waiting to lure this sailor to her doom.

So what do you do?

You write.

You keep writing until you can't write any more. There will be at least a million times where you are tempted to give up. If not, you're not doing it right. I fear for the writers who are totally in love with their work, 24/7. Because then it can never be edited. It can never be improved. It's stuck at where it's at and it can't move or breathe or grow or change. The writer will think that's it and it's all over. Writing is like being in love. Sometimes you feel it. Sometimes you don't. And if you quit on love when you're not "feelin' it", then it isn't really love at all.

Now I'm on to write another 1,667 words. Do I want to quit? Sort of. However, I would never be able to forgive myself if I gave up on Day 4. Certainly I have more stamina than that.

Had to add this. Brilliant episode. Just brill. Did I mention I am very close to having watched all of the new Who? Suppose I'll be watching some more of the ol' show then. I do love those ancient effects. They add to the charm!

NaNoWriMo 2021, Day No. 3

My posts are going to change format a bit this month. Because all I want to talk about it...

Get this Facebook timeline banner here.

The month has begun and on November 1st, I surpassed the daily 1,667 words with a grand total of 1,751 words!!! So exciting! So far, I've only botched all of my chances at good description, successfully deleted half of a chapter (I blame our funky new laptop), and made the wretched mistake of comparing the sky to a bruise. Actually, I kind of like that bit, but nonetheless! Day No. 1 went swimmingly and I was quite pleased.

Day No. 2? Not so great.

I had a very full day yesterday, with a football game in the evening and whatnot. It was SENIOR NIGHT, which meant I got walk across the loooooooooong football field with my weepy parents and hold flowers and get my picture taken. And I got chocolate! Did I mention the chocolate!? Anyways, I only got in a little over 500 words. The NaNoWriMo website wouldn't let me on at the time, so my word count today will look a little funky.

On the bright side, it looks like the Muses have taken pity on my immortal writing soul.

This is what I think when I think "muses". Yes, yes. The Disney movie is not historically accurate in the least. But you know what!? It has cool gospel music and I know the words to some of the songs and goshdarnit, I learn most of my Greek mythology from Percy Jackson anyways, so I can never be truly sure what's really true. So just accept this image.

A lot of my book has to do with books and their impact. It's a dystopia, I will remind you, one that has a plot that resembles Fahrenheit 451 a little, which I just finished, but did not read when I was plotting the book. Really, the equation for my book is like Fahrenheit 451 + 1984 + The Hunger Games + Karol, The Man Who Became Pope + This Inkpop Book (Back When Inkpop Existed) That Was Really Cool and About Concentration Camps in the Future. ANYWAYS.

I needed to pick a random book for my character to read to her sister. I wanted to pick something that was accessible to both of their age groups, was old and sort of classic-ish, I wasn't overly familiar with, and would still be somewhat familiar to a modern reader. I picked The Little Princess. It's a delightful story, although I only read the abridged version as a kid. And do you want to know what passage fit perfectly into my book?

"But you will not have to stay for a very long time, little Sara," he had always said. "You will go to a nice house where there will be a lot of little girls, and you will play together, and I will send you plenty of books, and you will grow so fast that it will seem scarcely a year before you are big enough and clever enough to come back and take care of papa."

She had liked to think of that. To keep the house for her father; to ride with him, and sit at the head of his table when he had dinner parties; to talk to him and read his books--that would be what she would like most in the world, and if one must go away to "the place" in England to attain it, she must make up her mind to go. She did not care very much for other little girls, but if she had plenty of books she could console herself. She liked books more than anything else, and was, in fact, always inventing stories of beautiful things and telling them to herself. Sometimes she had told them to her father, and he had liked them as much as she did.

It's so delightfully perfect!!!

Now, onto that dreadful word count that awaits me. Making up for lost time today...