November's Over, Everyone.

            IT’S ME AGAIN! I was my usual self this month and was all, “hahah what’s a blog I don’t have one of those nope”. Who’s surprised? Not me!

            I did keep a semi-coherent log of my NaNo adventures, though. You can look at it here. The link will take you to my Tumblr tag for When Summer Ends, which is full of pictures and gifs and quotes that remind me of this story, and some charming late-night excerpts and screenshots I posted from this draft. I am most likely going to regret all of that in a few month’s time but oooohhhh weeeeelllll.

            And now, onto the actual reason for this post.

            You’ve heard of NaNoWriMo, now get ready forrrrrrr….

            NaNoReMo! National Novel Recovery Month? Eh? Ehhhh? It’s catchy and you know it.

            I dunno.

            But yes. Here are my preferred ways of getting back to being an Actual Person in the aftermath of NaNoWriMo. Enjoy.

#1 – Go back to a normal sleep schedule.

You remember what it felt like to get a full night of sleep? When you weren’t staying up till the wee hours of the morning and then getting up with the rest of the world a handful of hours later and pretending you weren’t dead inside? When you didn’t require 5+ cups of coffee, or tea, or your preferred source of caffeine to keep you going throughout the day?

Yes?

Wasn’t it nice?

Go back to it.

NaNoWriMo could be named NaNoSleepMo – National No Sleep Month. When you have almost 1700 words to write a day, sleep becomes a less important concern than getting your daily word goal for the day done, and also procrastination. But now that it’s over, you’re going to want to get back to a normal sleep schedule, where you go to bed at a reasonable time of the night and get up the next morning and don’t feel like a zombie for the next twelve hours or so, until you suddenly become nocturnal and proceed to stay up the entire night writing.

Make yourself go to bed at a time that if you’re asked, you won’t be all, “Haha, well, see, the thing issss,” about it. Getting to sleep before nine at night is like, the nicest thing ever after a month of negative 599993332 hours of sleep every night.

#2 – Go back to life-ing.

            Who needs a life, anyways?

            Well. I do.

            And I mean, you kind of do too. Because while sitting in front of your laptop for 30 days straight, writing like crazy, and making a slow transformation into Gollum is super fun and all…it’s kind of nice, going back to being an actual person.

Wrimos be like

            You have a family! And friends! Hobbies! Responsibilities you shirked during November!

            It’s time to go back to those, my friends. It’s time to close your laptop, take off your headphones, put on actual clothes instead of that really comfortable hoodie and pair of sweatpants, and go be a person.

            I know for me it’s kind of really hard to snap out of the whole “Ew people no get them away” mindset that I get during NaNoWriMo, but even though you can maintain that glorious creative streak while simultaneously Gollum-ing for a month straight, it’s bound to run out. You’re going to have to start being a person again, I’m sorry to have to break the news to you.

            We’ve all been there. I’ve been there. It’s tough. But you just have to do it.

#3 – Get rid of the candy.

            My diet during NaNoWriMo consists of two things: tea, and junk food. English Breakfast Tea is the tea with the highest caffeine level I’ve ever found and it is your best friend. And junk food, oh, junk food.

            I had a basket full of chocolate and candy this past month that was full to the brim and still has leftovers in it. I did last year, too. I have jars full of Skittles and Dove chocolates, and I basically live on those little waffles that you take out of the freezer and pop into the toaster.

            But I mean. November’s over, guys.

            It’s time to move on. Those candy wrappers that are scattered everywhere? The half-eaten boxes of gummy worms and Sour Patch Kids you have on your desk? The bag of M&Ms you have left over?

            Show no mercy. Kick ‘em to the curb. Get rid of the candy.

            Okay, that may be being a bit drastic. But seriously. Cut back on the candy, alright? It tastes so good but it’s not exactly the best thing for you and it’s Christmas time, so you’re bound to be getting your fill of sweet stuff. I have three younger brothers and a variety of younger cousins; when it’s time to get rid of the candy, I’m kind of covered.

            I would tell you to cut back on the tea, too, but I cannot in good conscious tell someone to stop drinking tea. Ever. So I won’t. –gleefully drinks Christmas tea-

#4 – Take a break.

            Writing is freaking exhausting, okay. It wears you out, leaves you feeling brain-dead, takes you for a wild ride, makes you cry, and you still plow on with it. But once you reach your goal – whether that be just writing your words or finishing your draft* - give yourself a break.

            Close the laptop. Put down the pen. Recharge.

            You’ve had a month of nonstop creativity, of insanity and excitement and breakdowns and strokes of genius and mind-numbingness, and now, it’s over. Let yourself recover from the wonderful and terrible experience that is NaNoWriMo.

            I read a lot in the aftermath of NaNoWriMo, because usually when I finish things, I’m in a sort of slump, where my brain is mush and the idea of creating anything at all makes me want to throw something. So I don’t. I read a lot, I catch up on TV shows that I missed during November, I watch movies, listen to music other than my novel playlist, play games, have actual conversations that go beyond “Could you please bring dinner to my room kthxbai”.

            It’s so worth it.

#5 - Regroup.

            Chances are, now that you’ve finished, you’re at a bit of a loss. If you’re me. Or like me.

            Or maybe you’re organized and confident and have your writerly self together. If so, go you!

            But I’m not. I’m usually that person who, as everyone else is starting to Do Things again, decides to forgo this and curl up and sleep for about a thousand years and cry because I have no idea what I’m supposed to do now ugh.

            So I take December to regroup. Do I want to edit that beast of a novel I just wrote? Do I want to start another one? Return to whatever I was working on pre-NaNo? Give up the writing life entirely?

            Hahahaha. That last one. I’m so funny, guys.

            But seriously. December is my get-myself-back-together month. My month where I don’t put any pressure on writing and kind of take a chill approach to it. The month where I attempt to decide what I’m going to do in January, when I’ve had sufficient recovery time.

            Everyone’s different, so maybe you only need a few days before going back to writing, or maybe you don’t need any at all! I know for me, after NaNoWriMo, I kind of need a break to let myself get back to normal and to try and make sense of a jumbled mess of thoughts, and all the things I want to work on.

*I’m in this boat. I am so in this boat. When Summer Ends has maybe 20,000 words left on it but at this point I have no idea. It keeps getting bigger. And bigger. And bigger. I have a deadline of December 7^th to be finished with this draft, and I’m spending this week doing just that. So I mean. My NaNo recovery process kind of starts on the 8^th, but whatever. I’m going with it.

     Aaaaaand...that's all! Now, if you'll excuse me...I have a novel to finish.

In Seven Days

Hi.
I'm back.
I hope?
I know that since...well, basically since sometime early this spring, I've been trying and failing to be consistent with this whole blogging thing. I do want to be on here, guys, I promise. I love blogging. It's loads of fun, I love the community, and I like getting to type up a bunch of thoughts and post them somewhere, not really knowing if anyone is going to read them, but just to get them all out. It's nice, you know?
Still, as much as I do love it, I don't seem to be all that good at it. I'm not so good with posting weekly, or even bi-weekly, although I seem to do alright at once a month. But.
I'm really, really hoping to change that. And with any luck, this time around won't crash and burn so spectacularly as my other attempts. Why?
In seven days, you few people who read this blog, November begins. And with November comes the season of notebooks and sticky notes and desperate 1 A.M. writing; tea, coffee, or your preferred source of caffeine far too late at night; the time for attempting what seems to be an impossible, and insane, challenge. NaNoWriMo* is almost upon us.
And my gosh, am I excited.

So, okay. If you've poked around on this blog for any length of time, you'll have stumbled across a series of posts I made last November, creatively titled 'NaNoWriMo 2014 Log'. Basically, I took about fifteen minutes out of each day to write a quick post where I wrote down my word count for the day, my total word count, and my favorite few lines that I'd written that day. Usually, these posts included a lot of gifs, because I was pretty exhausted by the time I got around to remembering to post, and they didn't make much sense. The excerpts I shared now make me cringe a little, because ew first draft why, but I'm so glad I did it! Number one, sharing those little bits of my writing was fun. I love getting to show the parts of my stories that I really love - I love sharing my words, usually, unless it's something obscenely atrocious or close to my heart (basicallyallofEmptyAlibidraft2? Which oddly enough, more people have read than the first draft.) 

Number two, I actually blogged! Consistently! Daily, or at least every other day! For an entire month!

It's still my proudest achievement on this blog. 

I'm going to be doing the same thing again this year, because, surprise to no one who knows me, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo again this year. 

This year, I'm writing the first draft of Letters To The Dead, which you can see a bit of on the My Writing tab up top. Letters To The Dead is the first of four books in a historical paranormal series, taking place in New York from 1946 to 1950. 

I'm so excited for this story, guys. So, so excited. 

Just.
Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

So in seven days, I will be making my first NaNoWriMo 2015 post. It will officially be November. 

I'll see you all next Sunday. 

* Back at the beginning of the month, I was going to make a nice lovely post about NaNoWriMo, tips for first timers, my experiences, my ways of preparation this year....obviously, that didn't happen. And while I still could make that post, I'd much rather spend this last week working on my outline and making sure I'm prepared for this year. So you should go look on their website or at this post that Mariesa wrote if you're curious!

When It's Time To Step Back

     Hi there.
     I'm quite aware of the fact that, basically, I died over summer. There were no posts on this li'l blog of mine. I don't really have a suitable excuse other than I was busy and I was working on other things. Pathetic? Maybe. True? Yes. Definitely.
     So, in the past four-ish months, a lot of things have happened. Just before I went on this unintended hiatus, I finished the second draft of Empty Alibi. I've spent the summer working on that novel. Trying to get through draft three. Writing and rewriting and rewriting the first chapter, replotting things in the middle I knew were messy, introducing and removing characters, introducing and removing entire subplots, chapters, scenes, you name it. I had plans to enter the OYAN Novel Contest back in August...which I ended up not going through with.
     I've still not written draft three. My document is sitting there, at 13,000 words, and it's been removed from the little 'pinned documents' section of Word. I've still got all of my character pictures and doodles for that story taped up on my wall, but I'm no longer aggressively making sticky notes for it. At least not right now.
     I don't know. This post is going to be...weird. Rambly. Probably not going to make any sense. In fact, I may end up typing this whole thing up only to get to the bottom and think, "Nah, better not publish that." But I need to type this up so bad, and you know what, I need to get over myself and actually get back into blogging, because gosh darn it, I've missed this. I like rambling into a void where people are possibly reading what I'm writing or possibly not.
     Who knew?

When It's Time To Take A Step Back

      I am not a very experienced writer. I mean, I like to think I am. But in reality I've only been writing seriously since last October or so. I only ever finished a first draft last November. I've since written nearly 200,000 words on that story, not counting the scenes and entire chapters in various junk pile documents for each draft. So I mean, I've done some stuff, but I'm not super experienced.

      I haven't been with this story when I was really young. I only just had the idea last spring. I haven't been working on it for years and years; only about ten months. There are a handful of people that have read this story. I've only finished 2 drafts. It's a mess.

      But it's so important to me. 

      I don't know what it is about Empty Alibi that's got me so tight. Because I look at my other stories and I see so much more of me in them. I see the things that I struggle with in Rose and Miles and Olivia and Charley; I see the lessons I'm still learning in Leona and Jo and Walter. Empty Alibi isn't exactly a 'me' story, you know? There's a lot of family drama, a lot of friendship angst, a lot of a certain someone thinking she's a lot smarter than she is and then falling hard when she realizes she isn't.

     Oh, wait a second. That sounds really familiar.

     So maybe there's a lot more of me in Empty Alibi than I thought. 

     I dunno. It's just one of those stories that seem kind of...different. I don't really intend to stick with mystery as my genre, because it takes a lot more plotting than I like and it's not where my heart lies, but I love this story still. Maybe it's because these characters are the reason I ever finished a novel to begin with. Maybe it's because they saw me through my 15th birthday, getting my learner's permit, losing my grandmother, a second workshop, and countless lonely weekends. Maybe it's because this story, with its ins and outs and its messy plot and even messier characters, has been my semi-haven. It's where I've went when I'm standing in a crowded room and I still feel lonely; it's the thing that I do when it's late at night and I can't sleep and instead of staring at the ceiling I pull out a notebook and start writing a scene. This may sound weird, but Bethany is how I've processed countless awkward, embarrassing, frustrating, and exciting moments in the past ten months. I look at the things that happen and I think, "Okay, how would she deal with this?" And then I go and plot some more.

     All that to say, this story is so important to me. It has my heart. I think it always will, in some form, even if it's just a tiny little corner that's collecting dust and is mostly for nostalgic purposes. I think that in twenty years I'll look back at the things I wrote for Bethany and Elliot and Jules and Chapman and I'll smile, and I'll remember how important it was to me, and it will still be there, faint and almost forgotten. 

    And even with all of that, with everything that this story is to me, the idea of sitting down and trying to write it makes me want to go curl up somewhere dark and cry. It makes me want to hit my head against my desk repeatedly. I don't know why. I really wish that this wasn't like this because darn it, I actually want to write this. I want this story to get better and become what I know it can be, but I sit down to write it, and nothing happens. It got to the point where I was actively avoiding writing because I did not want to try and suffer through another unproductive afternoon. 

     I was starting to get to where I didn't like writing. It hurt, and not like writing should hurt. It was me sitting there, typing out 50 words, 100 if I was lucky. And it's been like that since...July, I think. Mid-July. 

     So here I am. It's mid-September, and I've been sitting at 13,000 words since this time last month. At this point, I'm not even working on Empty Alibi. I'm writing a modern retelling of Emma by Jane Austen. 

     And I needed this, I think? I needed to step back from that story even as much as I love it and work on something else. I needed to stop thinking of everything as "How would Bethany approach this?" and as "How do I approach this?"

     I don't know. Can you love something too much? Is that possible? Is it possible to be so completely in love with a project - a novel, an art piece, a song, whatever your choice of medium is - that working on it ceases to be a good idea?

    I am not in love with the words that I wrote, or with the scenes I was pounding out. What I love is the essence of that story, the characters, their struggles, their relationships. I think I am too close to that story to do it any justice right now. 

    For the past ten months, I've worked on it. I've had little pockets of time where I did other things - in between drafts 2 and 3 back in May, I plotted Letters to the Dead big time. I've done a lot of development on other stories, too, in between scenes and in spare time. But for the most part, it's been just Bethany for ten months, and I've gotten too close in. I know the story too much, maybe. 

    I don't know. I don't know. I don't think any of this makes sense. And maybe I am wrong about all of this. Maybe it would be better if I kept plugging away at Empty Alibi, in the long run, but I don't care. I don't care. Does that make me a 'bad' writer? 

    Right now, I am going to write Love And Other Impossible Things. I am going to let myself get back into first-draft writing - that feeling of exploring a story at its most basic, knowing it doesn't have to be perfect, knowing nothing, really. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to write the first draft of that novel and I'm going to plot Letters to the Dead, and in a couple of months, after I've had time away and I've let myself work on other things, I'll come back. 

     So this isn't me giving up. I want to want to work on Empty Alibi again, and at least right now, I don't think trying to keep working on it is the answer. It's time to step back, turn away, and let go. And it will still be there in two months. It will still be there in two months, six months, a year, two years, because at the end of the day it is my story, and it always will be. 

     Pardon the rambling in this post, and the probable nonsensical analogies and descriptions. I needed to write this. 

     And also, I now have something to point people to when I say I'm not working on Empty Alibi at the moment. Blogs are nice like that. 

/May 27th, 2014

I'm covered in sand, still in my slightly-damp bathing suit after a day at the beach. My scratched up sunglasses are perched on top of my head and my legs are curled up beneath me on my seat. I've taken a break from Falling Dark for just a few moments, just to let myself write this tiny little idea down.
That tiny little idea turned into over 800 words of the first scene I ever thought of for Empty Alibi. Those 800 words led to Bethany, Elliot, and Harris. Jules and Chapman would come later.
May 27th, 2014, at 11:57 PM, I closed out the document after saving it as "Bethany Wilson and a Rather Gruesome Murder (Early Twentieth Century Mystery Idea Thing)".
I would spend that whole summer thinking of that story. It would be pushed to the back burner for a while, but I'd always come back to it. I drabbled for it over and over again, I tried to write the beginning. I started a Pinterest board.
In October I was trying to pick between that (which I was still just calling Bethany Wilson Story) and Project Orion (which has been put on what looks like a permanent hold - not my genre anymore, not something I really want to write). I was leaning towards Orion, and at the time, I didn't think much about historicals.
As far as I was concerned, Bethany was the exception to my streak of (admittedly, cliched) dystopian story ideas.
I wrote up synopses for both, though, and since I couldn't decide, I let my mom read them.
"Which do you think I should write?" I'd asked her.

She said Bethany.
Why?
It was outside of my comfort zone.
It was different than what I'd usually written.
And so I started pinning more onto my Bethany board. I came up with a title (Empty Alibi). I renamed Thomas Elliot as Elliot Henry, and gave the name Thomas to Bethany's older brother. Jules and Chapman were the product of character lounges with Sam.
Jules was created solely for the purpose of teasing/scaring/annoying Ashford Clarke (actual perfection) (jk) (not really). Chapman was how, in the Ellyn!universe, Bethany ended up bringing down the villain. He was a detective with the NYPD who helped her in the end.
I moved the story from 1913 to 1919, then to 1921. I can't remember why, now. It was probably a combination of Downton Abbey and various 1920s things I'd seen on Pinterest.
And just before NaNo started, I nailed down a year. 1924.
I documented my draft-one adventures all throughout November (here).
I'm spending the rest of the summer with Bethany and co. I've written roughly 136,000 words total for this story. I've spent hours on end brainstorming, developing, writing, thinking. I've made collages and written complete fluff just to make myself happy.
So here's to that hint of an idea I had on May 27th, 2014. And for once I'm going to congratulate myself for procrastinating.
Because if I hadn't been seriously stuck on Falling Dark, Empty Alibi might not have happened.

Historical Fiction: The Basics

     Hello everyone! Since the last time I've posted, I've finished the second draft of Empty Alibi (!!!), finished my read-through of the second draft, and started my third draft. In addition I've began plotting for Letters to the Dead (see the My Writing tab at the top for more info on that story).

     With the school year winding down and Camp Nano finished, I'm hoping to post more on here. I'm starting a series on historical fiction -- I'm not claiming to be an expert on writing it, but a lot of this will be what I've learned since I started and resources I've found. Wee!

         If you've been here since pre-NaNao last year, you'd remember a post I made talking about my NaNo project - a historical fiction mystery. At that time I had not written any historical fiction or mystery ever, so the whole event was one big learning experience.

     I went into my first draft knowing the very basics about my era and winging most of it as I went. A lot of late night research and frantic checking of EtymOnline and my trusty 1920s guide was involved. 

     Honestly, I could call this post Historical Fiction: How Not To Do It, because trust me, I know. I used to think I wouldn't write historicals for two reasons: a) I considered myself a dystopian writer (*cringing because PAST ME, ALMOST ALL OF YOUR DYSTOPIA IDEAS SUCKED, WHY DID YOU NOT SEE THIS*) and b) historical fiction, quite frankly, scared the crap out of me. 

      Research? Historical accuracy? What? Never? In any universe? It always seemed like such a big commitment. And for some reason I always thought of historical fiction as being set in the 19th century - and I didn't really want to write about corsets and courtships. 

       Again. *cringes at past me*

       So now that you know my background concerning historicals...we can talk about fun things, like deciding how to nail down location and time, and incorporating historical details into your story, and FASHION. Pop culture. Edumacating yourself on your era. 

       Can you tell I really love historical fiction?
      I don't even know what this post is gonna look like, guys, so bear with me.

Feat. one of my favorite 1920s photographs. Because. '20s.

Historical Fiction: The Basics

     So you have a historical fiction idea. Or you like the idea of historical fiction, but don't yet have an idea. 

      Honestly, the thing I'd say is most important is to immerse yourself in history. I am a huge history nerd. I love it. I love history. 

      Pay attention during history class. Look up things that seem interesting afterward. 

      Something I've always done (even before I knew I liked his-fic) was to think about what people my age were like during that time. What was it like to be a fifteen year old on the American Homefront during World War 2? How did girls my age spend their time in the '20s? What did teens do for fun around the turn of the 20th century?

      Historical fiction - at least to me - is about bringing history to life. The best historical fiction I've read makes me feel like the people in the story could have been real.

      Code Name Verity. I can see Maddie and Julie. I can see them being real, I can see girls in the '40s who had lives similar to them.

      Mattie in A Northern Light. How many other Matties were there? She felt alive.

      Henry in Across a War Torn Sky. There must have been a thousand other Henrys, right? What was that like? 

      So now that I've waxed poetic about history...

      What happens next? (Or, in my case, what should happen next?)

      

       You have the idea. You have a character, or two, or three. You might not have a plot yet, but it's a story, and it won't leave you alone. 

       What next?

        If you don't already, start trying to pick a decade for this story to take place in. Eventually (obviously), you'll need to narrow it down to a year, but right now, a general idea is all I ever need. I knew I wanted Empty Alibi to be set in the '20s after seeing some of the dresses from that era. Letters to the Dead was set in the 40s because the music from that decade really seemed to fit the characters. 

      Start reading about your era. Watch films from it if possible. Pinterest has a History section - take advantage of that! Start yourself a Pinterest board, if that's your kind of thing. 

      More than anything, start trying to get to know your decade. I don't know, maybe I'm weird, but I love getting to know eras of history. It's like making a new friend, if you can pardon my strange analogies. 

       What was the music like? The fashion? What movies, TV shows, or radio programs were popular? 

        My advice would be this: do not do what I did in November. Seriously. Take your time with your research. Find out what your characters are like, and how their culture and time period affects them. Get to know your setting and era before you write. 

        I mean, it will turn out okay in the end. Empty Alibi is on track now. I have my research done. 

        But it will save you a lot of time, headaches, and late nights spent researching. 

        So that's it. That's the 'basics' of historical fiction. I'm not sure how much sense this post made, but I am hoping to continue this series. I've got several posts planned following this same idea -- if there's one thing I love talking about, it's history and writing. 

        

        

      

64,000 Words Later

Story time, guys.
It's the beginning of the month. I'm hopeful and sort-of on target, maybe a bit behind, but hey, no biggie, right? I can catch up, totally. And I'll still be blogging once a week with an update like I said I would.
But wait!
I get sick.
Twice.
Family stuff happens quite a lot.
And I'm steadily getting more and more behind.
At this point I'm not thinking about my blog (sorry, guys), only thinking of catching up and getting ahead on my word count so I don't have the NaNo sight mocking me and saying I'll finish on May 11th at this rate. (The joke's on it, guys. I broke 60k a day and a half early.)
So anyways. This NaNo wasn't quite as carefree as November's; maybe it's because my word count was 10k higher?
I don't know. But even though I completely failed the blogging thing this month, I did some stinking awesome things writing-wise.
I wrote just under 3k as much words as I did last November, and in less time.
I accidentally made the book bigger (like, 15-20k bigger .-.).
I seriously developed some of my minor characters.
Foreshadowing, guys. I can totally see the advantages of actually knowing what's happening and when in your story now. Foreshadowing rocks.
Dramaaaaaaaa.

However, I've still got a bit left to write. Well. I say a bit. 20k is my lowest estimate, but I'm scared it's going to end up closer to 30k. Ow.
Oh, did I mention? I've got to have this done by the 5th. Hahahhaahahahahaha *cries*
That's roughly 4-6,000 words a day for the next 5 days.
That's going to hurt.
I don't even want to think about that.
But I've got the weekend to get ahead, I suppose.

So. 64,000 words later, here I am. I have an almost finished second draft and a renewed love for this story that I'm sticking with all summer long. I'm quite proud of myself.

I'll see you all after typing The End for the second time.



(Also look, I made a shiny MBTI type chart for my characters.)

Who are you? I'm the same as Samantha.

Camp NaNo Update #1

 
    Today marks the start of week 2. I am at 12,571 words as I type this post. And I am exhausted.
     Like.
     I remember being tired in November, but not like this. I don't know. Maybe it was like this and I blocked it from my memory.
     Tired or not, however, I am having so much fun with this draft. There are sooo many elements about this that I love. I've been doing a lot of research in the months since December, as well as plotting things and answering questions that should've been answered already. .-.
     I've been behind this week but I have finally caught up. Ohmygosh, I'm caught up. I've been about a thousand words behind my goal for each day, but last night I resolved I would not go to bed until I reached 12,000. AND I DID! :D
     Alright. I'm done rambling for now. :3

Today's word count: 2,009 (counting my words from 2:30 AM this morning :P. I will be writing more today. :33)

Total word count: 12,571

Favorite line(s) written: You had been in this city for two days, and you still didn’t know where you were. You thought of the address she sent you, together with her last letter and your ticket.

     “Can I help you?”

     The sound of the man’s voice startled you; you were as an animal in a menagerie, a sideshow in a circus act. And he was the child poking at you between the bars and taunting you. Daring you to react, to lash out. Knowing you wouldn’t. Couldn’t.

     “Yes,” you told him. “Please.”

     “What’s your name?” The stranger held out his hand, tucking a thick folder under his other arm.

     You swallowed, shook his proffered hand, and lied to his face. 

     Longish-excerpt because I forgot to do any updates this past week. :P I'll do better this week; I promise. *waves goodbye*

*blasts imagine dragons* I'M SO SORRY

Hey guys.
Remember me?
Remember that hopeful, optimistic writer from the beginning of March who proudly announced she would be participating in DOOM, who would have 25,000 words on her WIP by the end of March, who would emerge from the end of April victorious and with a complete second draft in hand? Remember that girl?
Hi. *waves*
I totally failed at writing things this month - I'm at a grand total of 4,733 words. Woo.
*heavy sigh* Guys, I totally failed this month. BUT. Tomorrow? Do you know what tomorrow is?
April 1st.
Why is this significant?
Camp NaNo, baby.

*epic music plays in the background*

Camp NaNo is basically NaNo, but with adjustable word counts and cabins and a super cool camp theme. And I, my small group of readers, am participating.

Is this giving anyone else flashbacks to November, or is it just me?

So. I'll be working on draft two of Empty Alibi - which is going to be EPIC - in hopes of having it ready for Summer Workshop. 

Did I mention?

I'M GOING TO SUMMER WORKSHOP THIS YEAR. 

Anyhow. Back to the original topic. Camp NaNo is a thing. Empty Alibi draft 2 is a thing. Why am I saying thing so much. 

I'm really derpy tonight, can you guys tell? 

So. I'm sorry for being such a turtle and randomly disappearing like that. Not cool. 

I pwomise not to do zat again, 'kay? I shall see you all tomorrow with the news of how Camp NaNo Day 1 went. :3

DOOM 2015 Log: Week 1, Day 3

     You guys remember how, back in November, I was pretty good about blogging everyday and updating you on my NaNo progress? Those were the days. :P
      Also, back in November, I was writing. A lot. I'm pretty sure I was averaging 2k+ a day up until the very end - where I went from 1400 if I was lucky to about 4,000 on December 3rd (that WONDERFUL day when I finished the first draft of Empty Alibi!)
      Yeaaaah, guys. My writing and blogging have both been kind of pathetic since then. But yesterday, I stumbled across a lovely thing called...DOOM.*
       It's not as intimidating as it sounds. xD
       DOOM, from what I understand, is basically NaNoWriMo without as much of the stress and insanity and whole 50k-in-a-month thing. No, it's 50k in two months. I can definitely do that. Another thing about is is that it doesn't have to be a new story you're working on - which means Empty Alibi draft 2 is going down in the next two months.
       I've been trying to edit this monster of a novel for two months, guys. Three if you count the plotting and character development I did immediately post-NaNo. But I keep getting stuck. And I'm hoping that this is something that will help me get going.
       I love this story. I love it with all its flaws, all its messy sentences, all its confusing plot twists and inconsistent characters. Bethany and co. have been on my mind since last April, and when I finally began to try and understand their story back in October, they promptly took up residence in my heart. Stubborn bunch that they are, they won't be leaving soon. :P
      And I'm quite alright with that. I mean. Look at them!

They're smiling because they don't know what's coming in the last quarter of the book. ;)

     So I'll probably be doing a weekly update this time 'round. See you guys next Tuesday!


*DOOM started three days ago. Oops. But I didn't find out about it till yesterday? xD

I'm So Happy I Could Melt! (Alternatively, I Couldn't Be Happier)

     As I write this, I am sitting in a small armchair in room 419 of the Georgian Terrace Hotel, in Downtown Atlanta. It is freezing outside, my hair's wet from a shower, and there's a dress laid out on the bed. 

     Why?

      I'm going to see Wicked. 

      *cue explosion noises*

      I got Wicked tickets for Christmas - Sam got them for her birthday - and this morning at nine o'clock, my parents, me, and her left Callahan bound for Atlanta. At 5 we've got dinner reservationsat The Livingston and...at eight...

       THE SHOW STARTS

      I'm really excited and I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SEEING WICKED. I've been dying to see this for months, and now it's happening. 

       Yes...

       I couldn't be happier...

      Simply couldn't be happier...

      Look what I've got

      tickets at eight o'clock

      my very own happy endingggggggggggggggg

    You're very welcome for that Wicked pun. ;) As I've still got some things to do before I can flop down with a book and WAIT IMPATIENTLY, I'll cut this short. BUT. I am going to have a post tomorrow about - you guessed it: Wicked. :D 

     

It Has Begun (AKA I Have No Idea How To Edit This Mess)

BIG NEWS.

GUYS.

THE EDITS. THEY HAVE BEGUN.

      To celebrate, I used what few pictures I have of Bethany looking happy! (Okay, okay. That was a bit uncalled for.) If you watch Downton Abbey, you're recognize her as Lady Rose. I swear, the two of them are like, identical fictional twins. *nodnod*

      I'm not really sure what I'm doing, but I'm having fun! I've rewritten parts of chapter 1--which is now considerably longer--and an opening I'm absolutely in love with. 

I won't say what's important about number 213. :P

    Right now I'm working through a read-through of my first draft (and trying not to cringe every few seconds), along with reading Go Teen Writers: The Book and doing some of the worksheets in it! It's super helpful, as is their blog. I mean, it's not like I've been stalking the editing tag on there or anything. *whistles innocently* Nope, don't know what you're talking about. :ninjaface:

     Also: research. And lots of it. Because I decided to write Empty Alibi about a week before November 1st and didn't have nearly enough time to research, I'm getting around to some of the things I should have looked up before. Namely...

• NYC Geography. In general (I mean, it might be good to know where, exactly, Brooklyn and Manhattan lie in relation to Long Island) and also, specifics. For example, I spent this afternoon on Wikipedia reading general histories of different neighborhoods in NYC that were upperclass in the '20s. I also found a closer alternative to Long Island: Port Washington. It's gorgeous. You should look it up. 
• Popular films, music, books, etc in 1923/early 1924. In the first few pages of Draft 2, I got to reference Yes! We Have No Bananas (an insanely popular song of the early 20s) and Ain't We Got Fun? (another song). Also, a minor character may or may not have fangirled over Douglas Fairbanks. :P

      I also constructed a broad outline using my first draft as reference. There's a lot of things that are changing, and a lot of key scenes are getting booted out (as much as it hurts me to do so). BUT, there are some really fun elements I'm looking forward to putting in! Like, a completely new character is getting...well...poisoned. But don't worry! There's no death as a result of this. Maybe. Hopefully. I'm not sure. .-.

    ALSO. I'M MAKING CHARACTER COLLAGES AGAIN. I HADN'T REALIZED HOW MUCH I MISSED THIS. 

Ouch. 

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww<3

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

     Alright. I'm out. :P

2015: A Year of Exploration (AKA A Very Late New Year's Post)

     I wanted to do a New Year's Post on New Year's Eve, but on the 31st, I was burrowed under blankets and running a fever. So not much happened. And then on the 1st, I went and saw Into The Woods with my cousin, a friend, and their parents. And then a bunch of stuff happened and this morning I remembered: hey, I wanted to do something for 2015 before it gets too late!
So here. Have a (sort of maybe super late) New Year's post!

     Last Sunday, my Sunday School teacher asked us all a question: what is your word for 2014? I thought this was kind of funny, since I’d come across this same thing the day before and thought of my word.

     In 2015, my word is Explore. I want to explore a lot of things, but mostly I want to explore in my writing, my reading, my art, and in God. I want to push myself with my writing—blogging included. I want to read more of what I love and more of what I haven’t tried before. I want to explore new styles and techniques with my art (photography, classic art, and piano). And, lastly, I want to grow in my relationship with God and explore different parts and questions about God and Christianity.

We may be crazy but we have more fun. >:D

     2014 was wonderful. I made one of the best friends I have and really got to know another. I spent time with my family (well, less in November) and I got to do some pretty great things with my cousins. I wrote a novel. I learned so much on piano and am finally able to sit down and play without having to do a lot of practice before hand. I read so much. I actually made some okay art. I took a photography class and I’ve got a lot
of pictures on my computer because of it.

     2014 was a big year for me. It saw my first workshop, the finishing of my first novel, two piano recitals, and an action-packed summer. I changed in a lot of ways in 2014, and I stayed the same in others. Looking back at the past year feels really weird—wait, it’s 2015? But it was just 2010! And then it was just 2007! It can’t be 2015! I can’t be halfway through my freshman year of highschool! Or have my learner’s permit! No way.

And yet, I am. So here’s to another year of starry-eyed adventures and exploring new worlds.

[Book Review] The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

     The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

     With a name like that it’s impossible not to be interested. It begs to be read; and once you open it, the begging gets more desperate.

     Read me! It cries. I’m a book of letters! I feature a writer and a loveable farmer and an only-slightly-crazy islander/potion brewer! I’ll make you laugh and cry! You’ll have a peculiar urge to visit the English island of Guernsey after reading me!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Genre: Historical, Epistolary*, and if it were a genre, Home.

Author: Mary Ann Shaffer

Content: Often people talk of the horror that came with living on occupied Guernsey during World War Two. Mentions of concentration camps. A woman has a child before marriage. A Ravensbrück survivor spends a good deal of time in the letters.

Memory: "And then Dawsey, dear Dawsey, swore. He took the Lord's name in vain. "My God, yes," he cried, and clattered down that stepladder, only his heels hit the rungs, which is how he sprained his ankle."

Rating: 5 stars.

Overall

     I love this book. I love Isola Pribby with everything and I adore her parrot. Dawsey Adams has taken up residence in my heart and Juliet Ashton will forever be one of my literary role-models. I want Amelia as a grandmother, or maybe just a good friend.

     I want to be a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

     After reading this, I get the same feeling I remember having after finishing the Anne of Green Gables books. I wanted to live in Avonlea more than anything, and I wanted red hair, and I wanted a Gilbert Blythe. Finishing this felt like walking through the doors and into the brisk air conditioning of the Bell Center Lobby this past summer.

     It felt like Home.

Characters

     This isn’t a plot driven book at all, although there was a tiny plot that I was rooting for and seriously flopped back on my bed and laughed when everything tied up with it. No spoilers here though. ;)

     Back to what I was saying. This is not a plot book; it’s a character one. You don’t pick up Potato Peelers to read about the German Occupation of Guernsey or an author’s struggle to find a good plot for her books in 1946, you do it to hear Juliet become pen pals with the members of the Society. To listen to Isola Pribby’s hilarious stories, to hear Dawsey talk about Charles Lamb.

     You read for the characters, and they are amazing. They’re so real, it almost feels like this is a collection of letters from 1946, not a story. I picked this up and was taken to Guernsey even when Juliet wasn’t there yet. I was, for a few hours, a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and it was amazing.

     There’s one character I haven’t talked about yet, and that I don’t want to say much about because I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone. But her name is Elizabeth, and she is one of my favorite characters in any book I’ve read.

Buy it?

     Yes.

      Oh, yes. If I didn’t already have a wonderfully beat up copy from Mariesa, I would order a hardcover from Amazon right now.

     And, finally, this book is so quotable. I think I spy some new canvases on my walls in the future. ;)

*I only just looked up the genre epistolary, because I saw it on Goodreads and thought it looked good. ;) It's a book of letters, in case you couldn't tell from its being put with Potato Peelers.