It's a Little Scary

I hit 40k day before yesterday, and pardon me if I say I always find it thrilling and a little scary to have less than ten thousand words left until I reach the month's goal. I'm hoping to hit 45,000 today, and then it's just a short hop to the finish line!

As for my story... I have twelve (long) chapters, and so far I'm on the... fifth or sixth? I'm not sure anymore. It's nowhere near done, wherever I might be. I did accidentally get the wrong character mad at someone, but I managed to turn that around into being some sort of practical joke/helping out thing (with some help from my wonderful mother).

I have another write-in with a friend today, and hopefully I can make some more of that number go up. To 45k and beyond!

Oh, in other news, while I was writing I decided that the word "glew" should be used as the past tense of "glow" instead of "glowed." I just don't like the way glowed sounds, when pretty much every other word in English with that structure doesn't use it. The exception being "hanged," but then, that's only used when referring to a hanging, when you're executing a person, anything the word "hung" is used.

So there! Glew it is! Unless you're referring to a "glowing," where you uh... hm. When you're dumping a person into a vat of radioactive waste in order to give them glowing superpowers? That's a "glowing," and then you "glowed" someone.

NaNo Time is Here...

...and I guess I should post something. Not that I don't like NaNoWriMo! On the contrary, it makes November one of my favorite months of the year. It's just I haven't been feeling the bug for blogging lately. It's my problem I guess.

Anyway, for a recap: I did very little plotting the rest of October, because it was virtually all done back in June (note to self: do not do that again. EVER). As a result, I had trouble getting all excited and happy like usual. My mom helped me out with that though, whens she finally signed up for NaNo and took me goodie shopping. I got candy (of course) and some fluffy socks for writing. After that... I dunno.

Day one of NaNo was rather interesting. We were out of town for Halloween to see family, and it was me, my parents, my two brothers and a friend of my brothers all staying in this one room guest cabin. I somehow manage to get my Neo and such early in the morning and go out to the car, in the cold, writing by flashlight. The worst part of this was I had caught a rather nasty cold the afternoon before, so I was rather unmotivated. I didn't get all of my words that morning, and had to finish them later. It was cold!

The whole first week I either couldn't get up early like usual, or if I did I couldn't get as many words as I'd like. On Saturday, I didn't get up early, and we mowed on top of that, but from four to seven in the evening I wrote like mad and got a good 3,000 words done. Spurred by this, I managed to write 5,000 words yesterday. 2k in the morning and 3k afterwards. 5k people! On Sunday! With church and junk taking up my schedule! So there! I'm happy.

Victory! Though a Small One

I actually did some plotting today! I have most of it done already, and I've just been trying to remember what in the world I was doing when I left off. New rule: no major plotting until October 1st ever again. At least I need to plot straight through and then start writing that same story not too long after that.

At any rate, my timeline is finished and my story is divided into chapters accordingly. All that's left is some character polishing and sub-plot that should be added. I need to think of some for that. But that's a job for tomorrow morning.

Let me see, I also have to stock up on candy and other treats, I might write myself a few letters again, and then there's always the getting ahead in school that I'm so happy I can do. Hooray homeschooling!

Of course, getting ahead on school requires me to do at least what I'm supposed to...

Vote for OLL to get $10,000!

I feel strange plugging such a thing, but I'll get over it I suppose.

All of you fans of Office of Letters and Light (bringers of NaNoWriMo and the Young Writer's Program and Script Frenzy and the like) need to go here and nominate them to win $10,000! Whichever charity gets the most votes wins that cash, runner up is $5,000 and the next ten charities after that each get $1,000.

As for my NaNoPrep, I uh... hmm... haven't really started yet. I was out of town Friday and Saturday, and of course Sunday is a day off... but I did some worldbuilding over the weekend, and tomorrow I'll do more yet, or plot, or something. I have to get my head into that mode. I've been writing on one thing for so long, and now I have to skip forward some 800 years in my world, and there's quite a bit of change between there.

A while ago I got so far as plotting out my timeline, but I'm not sure if I should return to it stright away. Those only seem to work if I have the plot in my head anyway. I'll have to read through my notes - and probably rewrite them - before I remember what's going on. Oh well, I could use the practice. I quite enjoy plotting mode when I get into it. And then there's the cleaning and organizing and setting up and various other things to be done... It's really more fun than it sounds. October is full of anticipation for November, and it's all part of the NaNoWriMo experience. I can't imagine November without any of this. Woo October prep + November madness + December relief!

Happy October!

Just one month until NaNoWriMo...

I attempted to get up a little earlier than I have been this morning, and it failed utterly. I instead got up at nine o'clock when my other alarm went off telling me it was time to start school. So the getting up thing will have to start tomorrow instead. Except for the part where tomorrow my mom and I head out west to talk at some sort of mother/daughter retreat about some Africa stuff... I don't know exactly what, but my participation will be limited... I hope. I'm not so great at public speaking is all.

I don't know if I want October to go quickly or slowly. There's so much to do, and yet NaNo is so close I can almost taste it. I don't feel at all ready. I should fix that.

Finishing and Plotting

One thing straight to another... Good news though (that I should have posted before)! On the... 22nd of September, I finished up my current project, at least as far as first drafts go. It came in at about 98k. Not bad for under two months, eh?

I've been sleeping in during the mornings since I finished, as a treat to myself. I'll have to get up again in October to start on my NaNoWriMo prep - aka NaNoPloMo. I've got a to-do list somewhere, I'll have to put it up in a while.

I meant to put up updates with my goals, didn't I? Sorry. Um... I don't like the Italian program we have right now, because despite the fact that it brags of lots of grammer, I don't like when it tell us - after we do all of the exercises. I don't know... I want to be told the rule, and then I'll be all right. I might fiddle with the different modes of it a bit, and we'll see how we do.

Writing's been going all right, since I managed to catch up and all. I'm just taking a nice break, like I said, and I'll put my nose back to the grindstone in October and get plotting.

Speaking of... It's not cheating if I do a total rewrite during NaNo, is it? I won't be saving a single scrap of manuscript from my previous novel, but I'll be using it basically as plot, so I should be all right, right?

Drama: A Rant

I'll have an update on my writing in a moment, but first I'm feeling rather ranty, so I'm going to have a nice little rant about drama.

I'm not talking about plays and theater and such, that's perfectly fine. I'm talking about people in life who seem to feel like it's too dull and have to go around hacking people off so that things are harder for everyone, but apparently more interesting.

I find this most at internet forums. People will bring up something about a brand they like or don't like, and then everyone loves to come and join in a big fight about what's good, what's bad, and why. And the original issue brought up was something totally stupid. And all that gets done is people look like idiots, people get mad, and a point is maybe made that's been made many times over on that very forum. Who wants all that trouble?

I guess people on the internet who are apparently anonymous, so they like to cause all sorts of grief. But what can you do with a drama-free afternoon? You can go for a swim, you can talk nicely to friends, you can write a book (or at least work on writing a book, maybe not a whole book in an afternoon...), you can enjoy the product of the brand you like, and stop caring about the brand you don't like. And I'm sure it's better for your blood pressure. It's not boring. It's infinitely more productive than getting people mad who odds are you've never met before, and you'll never meet in your life. Why bring the grief?


-ahem- Ok, now I'm done. On to the update!

I started on that Monday, as I planned, and things went well until the... 11th of August. Then I started getting behind. It took me three days (the 11th through the 13th) to write two thousand words. After that, it took me another three days to write another two thousand words. I have reasons for the second set, what with stuff going on over the weekend, but still. I wrote a few extra words today, so I'm only (only, heh) five and half kays behind now. My challenge runs through September... I can catch up, right? Right?

At any rate, I'm going to do my best not to miss any more days, and to do plenty of extra to catch up. I've never been this far behind before though... I'm just glad this didn't happen in November.

The Start Looms...

I think I really do like deadlines. This Saturday starts my personal writing challenge... 2k every day. I need to finish up my plotting so I can have a day or two of break before I start.

I had to put a few of them on the rack, but I finally got my main characters to talk to me, and I think I know a little more of what goes on in their heads. Enough to be getting on with anyway. I just need to set up my timeline then, and I should be ready.

Deadlines though... They're such good motivation for me with writing. My deadline for plotting is Friday, my deadline for writing this is every day, in a way. I have to write 2k every single day. That's my requirement. The goal is either 116k by October, or a finished story (preferably a finished story. 116k would a little long of a manuscript for me). Hopefully I can make it.

Plans

It was about this time last year that I started training for NaNoWriMo. 2,000 words every day, except Sundays. Day of rest ya know.

Anyway, I've been thinking that it's about time I started with that again. Maybe I should plan for JulNoWriMo like I know people do... Anyway, all sorts of things got turned upside down in my head. I've been plotting on Crystal Glare so I can rewrite it, but now I'm thinking that if I wanted to do my other idea for NaNo, I would want to wait until afterwards to write on CG, since I excell at setting stories down and never picking them back up again, or when I do, not remembering what to do, despite my plots.

My brain hasn't been working lately. Usually I'd see the solution instantly. Since Crystal Glare is so long, why don't I do it for NaNo, and this other shorter piece as prep? I don't know what's up with me. My habits ran away, and apparently so did my brain. Anyway, I've set myself a challenge: Even with Sundays off, if I write 2k every day starting the 25th, I should be able to write 116k of story. That should be plenty for what plot I've got right now. So I'm plotting until that day, and then I set off on another insane pre-NaNo journey!

The Power Went Bye-Bye...

We had a nice storm on Monday night that knocked out the power for most people in the area. It was amazing though. We got a few limbs knocked down in our yard, but out neighbors across the street... their yard was completely torn up. So Tuesday was spent cutting and hauling trees. It was fun actually.

Over the next few days, it got noticeably less fun. It's been hot, and without power we were without AC. And more importantly, our house runs on well water, so no power means the pump on the well doesn't work, which means to water for us. We have a generator, so sometimes we'd run water, and for a lot of the rest of it we'd plug it into the fridges so the milk didn't go bad. But it wasn't very fun...

We had just borrowed another generator from some friends so we could have a few things running at once, and that night, the power came back on! Yay! It's one of those things that always happens like that... Ah well. That was the adventure for the week.

My good habits still have not returned, although I got a little plotting done on Crystal Glare. I have a general idea of the sections it's going to be in, but I have quite a few new characters to create, as well as a lot of specifics to draw in. Maybe I can do a bit of that today yet...

Once Upon a Time I Had All of These Good Habits...

I wonder where they went. I would get up, write on one of my many stories, or maybe edit one of them, and then I would write a blog post. Now look at me. When I do get up, I don't really write, and I haven't written a post from the computer since I don't even know when. So anyway, -waves- I'm still alive! Hi!

Let me see... Things have been all right I guess, recently one of my family's dogs died. He was really sick with a belly full of fluid and such, so not a great thing. We ended up putting him down on Thursday. The day before we left on a church canoe trip (which was fun by the way).

As far as writing goes, I was doing well for a while, getting up and writing on one of my stories, but I hit a little block at one point when I couldn't remember something, and then I got all thrown off. I'll have to see if I can fix that.

Right now... Since I can't be motivated or bothered to do anything actually productive, I'm loading a bunch of CDs that I pulled from my dad's collection at semi-random. To the computer, and then to the mp3 player! Woo.

I have made a little bit of progress on reworking Crystal Glare. If getting a few more thoughts about it swimming around my head can be called progress. I'm just hoping right now that the sit in my head won't kill them, and maybe it will make them better. Like fine wine. Or even cheap wine, since it probably gets better with a little age on it too.
Lemme see... I finished my beginner Italian course a little while ago, and there should be a spiffy computer one winging it's way towards my Italian partner's house right now... If it hasn't arrived already. It's not Rosetta Stone, but it's got some cool voice recognition, and it seemed to be a good course. As if I really know anything, but I need to work on something, so it might as well be this.

I'm off to try and find my good habits!

On the Way to Texas

I've been sitting in the car for about... Close to 7 hours now actually, with my dad driving on the way down to Texas. It's just three of us this time, instead of the usual four. My poor brother has finals to study for, so he couldn't come. I don't mind sitting in the car for long periods of time actually. I've gotten used to it I guess from 12-hour days of traveling I've done before. My family is also nice to spend time with so that helps.
While I've been not blogging, writer's block has come and gone. Yesterday I hit the low point of me not having any interest in any writing whatsoever. Today my mind apparently decided it was done and let me write 2k again. I think that puts my total so far to about... 13k of 50k? Somewhere around there.
I went back to my original plan for this month: finish up a story that's been waiting far to long. I've left alone my new effort for now, although I think maybe I just need to push it until I get it to do something that's all it's own. We shall see.

I Have Done Nothing Today

And yet I feel so productive. By the general populace's standards though, I haven't really accomplished anything. I got up at about.. 5:15, started writing at about 5:30, got to 2k the fastest I have in a long time (finished about... 7? 6:45? Really fast for me), and made an origami something (a modular something of twelve pieces to be exact), and ate breakfast, all by nine o'clock. And yet I haven't really done anything to earn money or really move my general education forward.

And you know what? I don't really care. Because I have virtually all day to do school and other less important things like school and exercising and such. This morning, I wrote and played with little pieces of paper. And I am satisfied with that.

2,000/50,000

Rather Useless and/or Unusual Skills

Since I haven't written a post in a while, and there's not that much for me to say, I'm going to do one of my "fun" rambles. Topic: Useless Skills.

I recently acquired a new one actually. Now when my alarm goes off I have this magical power to not fall back asleep. It's amazing! And annoying sometimes when I forget to turn it off and then I can't sleep in... And it only took me... what? About 8 months to train myself this way? Next up comes waking up at about 5:30 without an alarm. Or maybe not.

Next month I'm going to do a little personal NaNoWriMo with a friend of mine, since I'm having such a hard time focusing and writing or editing. I was going to work on a story that's been asking to be finished, but silly me decided to write a drabble as an exercise and now it's turning into a whole plot of it's own. Why do I do this to myself?

As for Italian, my friend and I are almost finished with our current book, and I've been browsing online for what we wanted to do next. We wanted something with more grammar, since that's what we struggle with most, but then I also think we need some vocabulary expanding books, and and and... The list could go on. Basically, we don't actually know very much Italian yet. So next up is more studying!

Maybe I had something to update on after all xD

Outside Again!

It's our first nice day in a while here in Kansas, and so I'm trying to spend as much of it outside as I can. It has nothing to do with wanting to avoid cleaning the house. Nothing at all.
I read my last NaNoWriMo effort the other day, and I have good news: my writing has improved since writing Crystal Glare. It's bad news for CG though, since now I've looked at what I can maybe do. At any rate, NaNo 08 doesn't need any shuffling I don't think, and although I forgot to follow up on a small detail I started, the only major rewriting that needs doing is one scene that somehow got lost as I was uploading it from my Neo. At least, I think everything's ok. The first read-through was just such a relief that I might need to read it again. And then there's line-editing. I need practice on that. I do have some drabbles I wrote sometime last year, maybe I could do those for practice. They're each well under 1k. I think I'll warm up on those.

Changing Gears

Only slightly I guess. I got tired of waiting for responses from friends who have no time, and I think I’ve got to rewrite Crystal Glare anyway. I’m just so unhappy with it…

I started reading through my 2008 NaNo (which badly needs a title, don’t let me forget that), and it’s made me realize all the more how bad Crystal Glare is. I guess it’s a good thing that my writing’s improved, but I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me on that monster.

I haven’t finished reading through it yet, but I’ve been thinking that’s it’s not going to take as much work. It won’t need shuffling around as far as I know, since I planned it out way better. I need to check on my characters to make sure they’re realistic, and of course just everything in general, but I might be able to go almost straight to line-editing. That’s my hope anyway.

Crystal Glare… I think it has some potential, but it just needs so much work that I don’t want to think about it right now. I want to write out the plot again and remember what I want it to be, and then I think I’ll just draft it again. For the most part anyway. I’ve got some stuff that ended up popping up later that would be better if I meshed them in with the beginning more, and my characters just are… more cardboard than I think I have the skill to fix just line-editing. Some of the stuff I inserted might be able to be left alone fore the most part though. If I’m lucky and don’t change things too much in the beginning.

All in all, I think I want to warm up on my more recent writing attempts before I try to really tackle that thing.

Or am I just wimping out?

March Summary

Sorry I'm late! I keep thinking of it, but never at a good time, and so I forgot... anyway, on with the routine!

• Grow closer to Christ Like I seem to keep saying, this is just hard for me to judge on, no? I like to think I grow closer day by day, but it's hard to know if that's really true.
  
• Win NaNoWriMo 2009 Still waiting on working on my plot inkling, although I'm about to start working on it just out of boredom.
  
• Edit my 2007 NaNo On a standstill. I really want to rewrite the thing, but I'm still waiting on my second opinions. I need to pester those people into finishing up.
  
• Edit my 2008 NaNo Still waiting, although I'm about to just go ahead and start on this, or my plot. I need to keep moving on something.
  
• Learn Italian to a conversational level Moving along I suppose, though I only got like one lesson done in the month of March. I couldn't get together with my learning partner for most of the month, so it was difficult.
  
• Learn at least one fancy musical piece for flute I still haven't picked out my piece yet, and in fact haven't practiced my flute hardly at all. I need lessons and time slotted for practice.
  
• Learn to drive (driver's ed, permit, restricted, license) I'm going to make a point to study for that test and get my permit this month. Hopefully.
  
• Get to the point on my flute that I'm capable of playing in church See above flute goal. Practice practice practice. I think I'd do way better with formal lessons than as a self-taught flutist.

So, all in all, I need to put more effort into my day. It didn't help that I caught a nasty cold last month, but I'm out of excuses for that by now. So my list includes the driving test, flute practice, editing on something, and hopefully I can keep up/catch up on school doing all of this. I also need to make more effort to putting some real posts on here...

I will feel happy about my Italian though. Despite not getting to review and learn with my friend, I feel like I've advanced in my Italian some. I'm nowhere near fluent, but I think I can make sentences on my own. I just hope I'm not doing it wrong and messing myself up.

Maybe sometime this year I actually will be able to carry out a conversation in Italian...

Waterfall!

First of all, sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Second of all, look at that picture! It's been warm recently, and then just last night it snowed. This being Kansas, it melted again today, making our creek run and the waterfall with it.
NaNoEdMo has... Failed. I had all sorts of doubts about my story, and I've sent it to a few friends to get opinions on it. So far, nothing back. I think it's gotten close to impossible for me to get the hours now. I guess I have to fail the first year with anything starting with "National Novel." Oh well. I feel like I want to start over again. But that could always be me just avoiding commitment. And now I think I'm repeating myself from posts I've already written... Oh well. I'm just sitting here enjoying the sound of that waterfall in my awesome treehouse my dad built me...

Thoughts in the Middle of Editing

I've been ever so slowly line-editing CG, but all of a sudden yesterday it struck me that the beginning just needed plain rewriting. And the next thought is that I should just rewrite the whole stinking thing and turn it into a series, 'cause all of the stuff I can imagine putting in there would make it way too long for a single book. But I'm thinking I really want to just trash at least the beginning and restart. If I were to do that, I would probably set this aside and really worldbuild and carefully and fully plot the thing out. If I'm going to rewrite the thing I want to do it right. But the thing is, I was planning on line-editing and then coming back when I was a better writer (I'm hoping I'll get better) with maybe a little perspective and rewrite it then. But... now I'm wanting to rewrite it now. Which I don't know if I should do it or not.

Ouchy. Ok, so I think I might take today off and think about it (or not and let it just stew in my head), and make my decision later...I have another novel waiting to be edited, and I'd like to get to it sometime this year if possible, and to be honest I think it'll take less work than this monster. For one thing, it's shorter. For another thing, I plotted it better and managed to stay on track more with it.

Blechy.

Absorbtion and Regurgitation

Not in the gross way of course. But I've been thinking. When someone starts writing, they're doing a lot of copying. Not on purpose of course, but they still do it. I'm not really excluding myself in this, I think maybe I still do it some. It's like... you read in a book how a crossbow is described and explained, and then when you decide to write about it, no matter how you try to do it, it sounds a lot like how it was in the book you read. You might not notice it, but often it's like that.

I think it's because you don't know enough about your own writing, so you're just regurgitating bits of information. Proper research of say, a crossbow would help you too, so you actually know how it works, but it's partly just because you don't know how you would really explain it. Developing your own style seems to just be a thing of learning to type down smaller and smaller bits of information that you hear, until they can be so shuffled up that no one can tell.

That's what's been floating around my head anyway. I've been meaning forever to write a post on it, so I finally did - when I'm supposed to be editing no less.

My Bad!

-smacks self- I've been meaning all day to write a post and I've never gotten it done. I feel like I have to write how my line-editing went, so I'll just jot this down before I trot off to bed.

This morning I got up and printed off the first part of my book, and settled in with some different colors of pens to start marking it up. Red was deletions and grammar/spelling, Purple was for inconsistencies and fact changes, Green for overused words and phrases, and Blue for stuff that needs rewriting, whether it be something that doesn't sound right or something that person wouldn't say or do or think.

There's a lot of blue. And I'm sure there's more to be seen. Now, I edited on paper today, but I think maybe I'll try editing on the computer a bit, to see which I like better. Computer saves trees, but I wonder if it'll kill my novel...

I just have to remember to always ask: is that the very best way to say that?

And this is going to take several trips through each scene I'm sure. I've already gone through my first ten pages once or twice, and I keep finding new stuff. I need to put it into the computer soon though. Tomorrow!

Dun, dun, DONE!

So! This morning I FINALLY finished writing in the scenes that needed to be writing in. So now I can begin line-editing. I think.

Actually, there might be a few more spots that need to be redone or maybe split up and stuck in other places. But I don't want to bother with that now. I think I'll just deal with that when I come to it.

But now I come to a billion choices all at once. Do I edit on paper or on the computer? What exactly do I look for? Do I highlight or underline what's wrong first and then go back and correct it later? Or do I just correct it as I see it? At what point could I give it to my friends to beta-read? On and on it goes.

Let me see how much time I spend thinking about this I can count as editing.

Almost done!

I'm just about finished writing in my missing scenes. It's taken me long enough. I mostly just have to finish this one up, write one more that shouldn't be too long, and then I think I can start line-editing.

Which scares the snot outta me. I'm not the most grammatical person, and I'm little afraid of what I'll skip over deciding "oh, that's good enough." Or maybe I'll just end up rewriting the whole thing scene by scene when I read it's awfulness with a critiquing eye. I suppose that's what multiple passes are for. These things still scare me though.

Off to the internet to read about line-editing!

Thoughts on EdMo and Editing

So now that I'm a few days into NaNoEdMo, I thought I'd post a little of what I'm experiencing and what I think about my editing so far (as if I haven't talked about that at all).

So far things are going all right. I've gotten two hours done every day so far, and right now I'm 1 hour and 19 minutes ahead of schedule. It's strange going by hours instead of words or something like that. It's strange...usually I have no problems sitting still for two hours to write in the mornings, but now that I'm paying attention to the clock I find myself turning into a little ball of cramped-ness after an hour. I don't know, I probably get up around then when I'm writing anyway to get a snack or something, but I have to think now to stop my watch to avoid cheating.

I'm still working on writing in scenes, but I'm getting close to being done with that I think. I have about... two and a half scenes, not counting the epilogues? If I can finish that up this week, I'll be happy.

And then I have one more decision to make...I'm thinking of moving the very beginning of my novel to a little past the beginning and splitting it up into flashbacks or internal thinking flashback-type-things (like a flashback without the flash). That would involve yet more rewriting... but I'm thinking it would make things flow a little better. You know how someone said that to find the beginning of you novel you just rip off the first 30 pages and what's left is where you should actually start? I guess that's the kind of thing I need to do.

But I want to start line-editing! It would make a mile-stone for me. Of course, if I work on the first few scenes and then end up deleting them and splitting them up and putting them elsewhere, I'll be kicking myself.

I guess I have until I finish the rest of these other scenes to decide. And pondering this counts as editing time, right?

Let the Games Begin!

Can editing be considered a game? Anyway, I got up at 4:45 (eepers! That's early for me at least) and started to continue to fill in the scenes. It seems like having an aim definitely helps. I had no troubles getting up this morning. Maybe it helps I had definite timeframe that I could edit this morning.

After I got two hours in I went early to church, and now I'm home...messing around on my computer. I should see about making myself edit some more today. Buffer = good. And I don't actually know how much I need per day to make it. Let me think about what math that would take...

I don't know why that's always so hard for me. 1 hour 36 minutes per day, so I've already got a little bit of buffer. Sweet.

And now I go dashing off to make a spreadsheet to stay on track! AWAY!

Monthly Summary

Summary...I guess that's the right word. I keep wanting to use synopsis too, which I'm not so sure if it's as fitting.

• Grow closer to Christ - Again, it's hard to say as I'm going through my growth whether I'm actually growing or not, but youth group started up again this month, and it's been a wonderful experience. We've had more people than I ever remember before there, and things have changed a lot (for the better I believe).
  
• Win NaNoWriMo 2009 - I still have my inkling, though it's in no way set in stone yet. Waiting for November to come and scream at me a bit more.
  
• Edit my 2007 NaNo - I think it's coming along... NaNoEdMo starts in March, so I should have at least 50 hours with that. Surely that's enough to finish writing in those scenes and start line-editing?
  
• Edit my 2008 NaNo - Hoping to start on this one by about June. I'll start as soon as I finish my '07 NaNo for sure.
  
• Learn Italian to a conversational level - Going to do lesson 10/15 next week... Maybe I can finish sometime before the end of April? It's hard to say sometimes. And of course that's no guarantee that I'll be able to carry out a conversation with anyone.
  
• Learn at least one fancy musical piece for flute - Um...not picked out yet? Still?
  
• Get up early (6 or earlier) at least 60% of the time - I dunno about this one... I might have already missed too many days, and I've totally failed to keep track as well. I might just mark this one missed.
  
• Learn to drive (driver's ed, permit, restricted, license) - No change in this one, unfortunately.
  
• Get to the point on my flute that I'm capable of playing in church - And I need to practice my flute some. I've barely played it this month. Although when I did pick it up a bit ago I somehow magically had vibrato, which I never had managed before. Maybe the ocarina I got is helping me out (I have been playing that thing quite a bit).

So, my plans for March are mostly EdMo, maybe get another driving lesson, keep attending youth group and having daily quiet time, actually practice my flute, keep going on my Italian. Maybe things can settle into a bit of a routine. A good routine.

Breaking

So, with all of like 3 days left before NaNoEdMo, I've finally decided to stop feeling bad about the editing I'm not getting done and take a break before it starts. And hopefully then I'll be able to be focused and such and get some work done.

Or maybe I'll just stay re-obsessed with Twitter and get absolutely nothing done whatsoever.

-pokes new Twitter widget-

To Break or Not to Break?

So EdMo starts in about a week. And hopefully I can get my rear in gear during March to get the hours in.
But the question is: should I take a break, relax for a week, before going at it with a fresh mind? Or do I try and finish up these scenes so I can work on prose-polishing next month? It's so hard to decide...

Committed

Well, next month is NaNoEdMo, and now I'm all signed up. I think I do want to try and have this storyline finished up, so I can be line-editing through March. Or maybe not... I'm not sure how much longer this is gonna take.

I need to clear some stuff off of my plate. I have Crystal Glare, and my '08 NaNo waiting for me, and then I have that start of a fanfic going, and then that other story I was working on before NaNo, and now somehow I stopped thinking and went and decided to do a big collab story with a friend of mine.

And none of this is going to be short. The thing I have closest to being done is my pre-NaNo story, but I haven't been working on it 'cause I've been editing as much as I can. I might try and finish it up so I can leave it alone and stop worrying about it.

But March approaches...

This...is Kansas

After a weekend of days that were hot for February, it is now snowing outside. Or at least it was a bit ago.

This is Kansas. If you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes and you'll have something else.

On subjects more related to what this blog is about (like writing?), I actually got up this morning and worked some more on the scenes that are yet to be written in Crystal Glare. I dunno if I'll have them all done by the end of the month or not... it depends on how well I do on the getting up thing, since I can't really write any other time of the day anymore.

Second 60-70 Degree Day... In February!

Take note of the date. This was taken TODAY. February 6th. It's like 60 degrees outside! I'm without any kind of jacket, and it's as nice as can be.
I actually got some writing done today, although I had the usual battle to get up, it's better than getting up and not writing. So far it's been a pretty good day, especially since I don't feel sick like I tend to in winter, although today looks like spring. Which is the best^^

Goals For February

I gave updates on what I've done, but I forgot to say what I wanted to get done in February!

• Grow closer to Christ - Keep reading my bible and praying, Youth Group is starting up again, and it's always a great experience.
  
• Win NaNoWriMo 2009 - Come up with a few basic ideas on where to go with my NaNo plot...maybe. No rush yet.
  
• Edit my 2007 NaNo - Finish writing the scenes and start line editing
  
• Edit my 2008 NaNo - Continue waiting until I finish editing my other NaNo.
  
• Learn Italian to a conversational level - Keep working on the Italian book, finish this month or the next.
  
• Learn at least one fancy musical piece for flute - Pick out a piece to start working on.
  
• Get up early (6 or ealier) at least 60% of the time - Actually get up more often.
  
• Learn to drive (driver's ed, permit, restricted, license) - Study book and take test, recieve permit. Drive some.
  
• Get to the point on my flute that I'm capable of playing in church - Practice my stinkin' flute. Work on vibrato. Get flute lessons.

We'll see how it goes. I really want to get those scenes written, so I can move on. The other day I think I had some plot ideas for NaNo, but they've fled my mind now...was it going to be something way back in the past of Yavn? That might be it. It wasn't too formulated yet.

BFS Update

I AM still alive, and I'm posting some ramblings to prove it. And also an update on my goals.

• Grow closer to Christ - It's hard for me to say on this one...I hope I'm doing it all the time, but lately I've been bad about having a quiet time. It's not like I don't have time...
  
• Win NaNoWriMo 2009 - NaNoWriMo isn't until November, so I think it's ok that I don't have a plot or anything yet. I might start thinking on it though.
  
• Edit my 2007 NaNo - I've done some work on it, but I still haven't finished filling in the scenes, so I can't start line-editing yet.
  
• Edit my 2008 NaNo - Haven't given it a thought yet. Probably won't until I finish Crystal Glare.
  
• Learn Italian to a conversational level - On lesson 7 of 15 (I think), going well enough as far as I can tell. I don't think I can form my own sentences yet though.
  
• Learn at least one fancy musical piece for flute - Not picked out yet even.
  
• Get up early (6 or ealier) at least 60% of the time - Well, I haven't gotten up enough this month I don't think. And I've forgotten to keep track. Why is it that it's so tough? I've done it for so long now...
  
• Learn to drive (driver's ed, permit, restricted, license) - I've had a driving lesson in the old blue truck, and next up is me studying the handbook so I can take the test for my permit.
  
• Get to the point on my flute that I'm capable of playing in church - Not enough practice. I haven't progressed as much as I want to in my flute. I need lessons, no teacher found yet.

In other news, the ocarina I ordered from Maparam came on Saturday. I've been doing almost nothing but playing it since it came out, and just the other day I found the basic music for this song by Mannheim Steamroller. Well, the song is an old Spanish Christmas Carol, but with the basic music, I'm trying to figure out by ear the variations Mannheim puts on it. So far I've got all most all of it, but the very last fancy bit on my new Double Alto C. I've had to get a lot of help from my mom though, who has a much better ear than I do. Hopefully I can get it.

In the song, that's not actually an ocarina by the way. I'm pretty sure it's a pennywhistle, what I'm pretty sure is originally an Irish instrument. It sounds fairly similar to an ocarina however.

Oh, and as for the rambling part of my post, I was thinking the other day. I live in Kansas, named for the Kansa indians who either lived here, or were chased here after being chased out of the east by settlers. The interesting this is that the name Kansa means "People of the South Wind." The company I bought my ocarina from is called Maparam, which in the pure Korean means..."South wind." So I own a South Wind ocarina in the land of the People of the South Wind. Interesting? Maybe. Particularly useful? No, not really.

I like my ocarina though.

Italian and Plotting and...um...

I guess I don't get to do the "three things and oh my" thing today. Truth is, I've had a cold, which makes me want to do absolutely nothing. I did get into my head that I want to write a fanfic of some sort, and I kinda have a plot for it, and I haven't finished writing those scenes yet so I can't even get started on line editing Crystal Glare, so I can't start editing my '08 NaNo, so I can't go back to the story I was writing before NaNo!

I have found time for Italian though, which maybe is my problem. Anyway, I can't form too many sentences yet, but I'm getting closer, and I don't feel like I'm learning just phrases and such. Syntax is going to be weird though I think...for a while anyway.

Hey, I have a question for people who are good at editing, or have at least done it before. Is it even possible to write a story and edit another one at the same time? Or do they tend to mess with each other? And what's it like to edit two stories at once? Then again...I don't know if I should anyway, since all three of these things are related in their ways...I'm just impatient.

Driving Lesson: Check.

Yesterday I finally got myself the traditional first driving lesson in the blue truck. Now, I have to tell you about this vehicle. It's a '73 Chevy blue pickup truck, bought new by my mom's dad. He was a farmer, and I think that was probably the only vehicle or farm implement they bought new. Eventually it got passed down to us, and we use it to haul wood and stuff like that.
Since this thing is so old, it's a stick-shift, and not the most fun car to drive. It's kind of nice that I'm last because it used to have a problem that the clutch didn't want to come up all the way, and you'd have to pull it up the last new inches with your toe. My dad took the time to get that fixed a while ago, but my brothers had to deal with that. I got a long lesson though, with one driveway to back into and one to back out of. And driving to try not to fishtail on. Fun.
Anyway, it should be easier to drive pretty much any other car now. And I got my lesson.

Yet Another Goal?

Dunno for sure yet...but I feel like I really want to do it, so I might add this to my list. I want to work on pixel art and then maybe start using it to illustrate one of my stories. I do enjoy it so far, and I seem to be better at it than drawing. And I've been doing it when I should be writing/editing -.- I'll have to fix that.

And just because I seem to be better at it than I am at drawing doesn't mean I'm good at it all. So far I'm...lacking in the skills department I guess. We'll just have to see.

And my new ocarina still hasn't arrived...of course nothing get delivered on Sunday, but still.

Second Thoughts

I've been thinking about the CreateSpace offer I was thinking of going for, and about what I've heard about it and it's terms and such. And I don't know if I really want to do it. I mean...I want to do it. I want a paperback copy of my book, it would be awesome to think of myself as published, but...is it smart for me to be published at this age?

I mean...if I do this, I'm published. On one hand, that's awesome. I'm published at the age of 15. On the other hand, it's going to stink. There's no way around it. Anything I write today won't be as good as what I write when I'm older, almost certainly, especially if I keep writing. So if I publish now, I probably won't get a chance to return to my stories and rewrite them into more masterful pieces of art. It's happened before with something I wrote years ago, and rewrote last year. It went in a different direction, but that's ok. I think it's better now.

So if I go and get the ISBN, all of that goes away for that story. Getting my book in print would be fun though...but there are other ways for me to get a book bound than publishing.

So I guess I need some advice (from the all of three people that read by blog). What do you think? Should I do this, or not? Personally I'm going to pray about it more to know what I should do, but advice is welcome here.

Progress

I've gotten up early a few days now...and I've gotten the scene's I've finished writing into yWriter. So I just have a few more scenes left to write really (a few as in five or six...), and then I'll be done with that and I can move on.

I also got my flute back from the repair shop since I dropped it before Christmas. And I got some information that's interesting to me. I didn't go along when my mom dropped it off, but when she came back she said that the guy said it was a student line flute, but it had a solid silver headjoint. Which actually greatly increases it's tone next to just a silver-plated headjoint. But when we went to pick it up, he amended his statement. All of the tubing on the flute is solid silver. He says it's unusual, because really the only flutes that are solid silver are open-hole flutes with a B foot. Only professional flutes. So this is a student flute that's solid silver. It makes the tone much better. He said that it wouldn't hold me back certainly. And that someone had paid a lot of money for that flute.

So anyway, it sounds much better now, even before I dropped it. He replaced some of the pads, and he said the others would probably have to be replaced in a year. It's a lot easier to hit high notes now, and it just sounds sweeter.

Also flute-ish related, I've been really back into my ocarinas lately, and yesterday I ordered myself a professional-grade double ocarina. This one actually. I've never played a 12-hole (a double ocarina like this one is basically an extention of one), so I've got a lot to learn, but I think I can do it. Whenever it arrives.

Oh, and another goal! I want to get to the point on my flute so that I'm actually deserving of playing in church. Capable...whatever the word is. The way things will probably go is I'll play even though I shouldn't be, because there are people on the team who like to add all sorts of things in. But as I am now I have no business playing flute in church every Sunday.

Um...what else is there...no progress on driving, no progress on editing my '08 NaNo...a little progress on my '07 NaNo...no progress on picking out a flute piece. Italian...I have yet to get together with my friend again, and I want to see where she is before I go on, so I'm just flashcarding right now.

Planning

So here's what I'm going to do. I've figured out how many days in the year I have to get up early in order to make 60%. It comes down to me being able to miss 146 days in the year. Taking out what I suppose is 52 Sundays that I'm scheduling as my day off, that means I can miss 94 other days.

As for keeping track of what days I get up and what days I don't...how about I keep a widget on my blog saying how many days I've missed and such. What's disappointing is that I've failed to get up every day so far this year. I'm defining early as 6:00am or earlier. Ok, one less thing to sort out.

I got some good writing done the other day in the car. I was in the back all by myself, and just plugged in my mp3 player and wrote a good chunk of a scene. It felt nice to do all of that really. I need to finish that beast up so I can go on to my micro-editing. Which will probably still be kind of macro. I still need to hack at a few places before I can start in with the nail file.


And then when I finish this one I can start on another...if I don't get these done in time for their CreateSpace deals, I at least would like them done by November...we'll see though.

At any rate, at the end of each month hopefully I can post and say how I've gone about completing my goals and see how I want to progress in the next month. This month...I'd like to finish the scene set I have to rewrite, and then start with the micro-editing. Once I think I have the biggest kinks out, I think I'll send it for someone else to read it and tell me what they think about the thing and what my issues are, and then I'll keep on going with it. I dunno if that'll happen this month though.

I'll probably ask for a driving lesson from my dad this month, if I can muster up the courage, work on finding a good piece for flute, and keep getting up early. Quite a few of these are kind of on-going, aren't they? I guess that's good though. Maybe it'll help me keep them in my mind.

And now I'm off to see about maybe doing something productive! Or maybe I'll just sit and play my DS. Who knows?