Monday, November 14, 2011

Dear readers.....

Dear readers,
     I'm sorry I've been neglecting you for the sake of my novel this month. I'm sorry I haven't been keeping in touch, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, nothing. I'm sorry that I give you crummy advise on how to get through NaNoWriMo when I can't even get through it myself. I'm sorry that I'm so behind and I'm sorry that you have to hear me, and probably everyone else doing NaNo, complain about being behind. I'm sorry I haven't been thinking about stories, or plots, or characters. I'm sorry I work nearly 25 hours a week all while going to school, and working out. I'm sorry for the receptiveness of this post. I'm sorry that it's basically a sixteen year old girl complaining about everything and anything she can put her mind to. I truly am sorry....
          
                Signed,
                     A previously hopeful NaNoWriMo participant.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

NaNoWriMo (Day 2)

      Day one for me went well. My parents let me skip school, and I got to catch up on sleep and homework as well as reach my word goal of 1,667. Today I brought my laptop to school, and during Journalism when we got a while for free time my teacher let me bring out my laptop and write. I told her I was doing NaNoWriMo and she seemed impressed. Later she asked me what my story is about, her and everyone else I told said that it sounded really cool. Everyone seemed to tell everyone else in the class, and on my way to the Orch room, where I plan on doing all my writing at lunch, someone shouted "Go write that novel Hannah-Beth" that made me smile.
      I found myself telling a lot more people than I expected to. I figured I wouldn't tell many people but when they asked what I was working on I was really excited to tell them.
      Between my Journalism class, half Lunch period, and a little after school I was able to reach my goal today of 3,334.
       I can tell this is going to take work, and a lot of planning. It's going to be a wonder if I'm able to manage like this for the full month. I plan on writing strait through lunch for the month, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to talk to my few lunch friends for the whole month, but that's ok. All for the Novel.

Monday, October 31, 2011

NaNoWriMo, school, and getting behind....(quick post)

    I looked up on the 30th and was shocked to remember NaNoWriMo was fast approaching. I won't get into what NaNo is or why you should do it, you can do that here. I haven't the slightest idea about how I'm going to do this. I've done zero planning. I'm going to bring my laptop to school on Monday, then sit in the Orchestra room and thresh out my 1,667 words during lunch. I'm really hoping I can make that work because mornings are impossible, and with me working I need all the time I can get for homework.
    I'm just dreading tomorrow. I guess I've been lazy recently and have gotten behind in everything and now I'm hurting. Tomorrow a playing test, and a reading quiz in english, and a private lesson, and work after, and work out before work, and math homework I didn't do, plus a math quiz I haven't studied for. All that and I'll be running of less than 6 hours of sleep.
    It's a wonder I'm not bent over the toilet with how bad I'm treating myself. There's no sleep, no quality food, and I haven't run in almost a week now.
     Things are just bla and I don't want to deal with any of this except my nonexistent book this month...
 Follow my first ever WriMo experience at my Twitter or my WriMo account.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Cool People

     Role Models. Sure there are the Celebs and people of those sorts, but I'm talking about the guy in your english class who's not scared to say he went to the gay pride parade over the weekend, or the girl who's dad's in the hospital but still shows up to your book club meeting, those people who just inspire you.

    Being in school I've gotten a chance to get back around people my own age. People start to take on this sort of norm, a blank face in a crowd kinda thing. They all start to act the same, just people at school. But there are those few people you get to meet in your high school experience that just stand out among the rest, and not in that "Academic Excellence" kind of way. I mean in that wholesome I know who I am kind of way. I have two people in mind, and when I met them I knew I wanted to get to know them because they seemed like the kind of person I want to be.

     The first is a girl in my journalism class. She's this tiny thing and she's an amazing drawer, but she's awful shy. She's alway modest about her drawings. Once I asked to see her sketches and they were amazing. Period.

     Sometimes I feel like I'm a different person online than I am in the real world. I don't sit around talking about classical books, or understand references to underrated movies, or even drink as much coffee as I make out to. That's what's different about this girl. She seems to know what she likes and lets herself like those things wether she's with her friends or if she's putting things up online. She doesn't tuck away her hobbies when she's around her friends like I know I do. I wish I could be like that.

    The second girl is a senior, we're in three clubs together, and she's an english major. She's one of those bubbly girls that you just want to be around, but she's never annoying about it. I will admit my respect for her may be a little more fabricated because I don't really know her as well, but I don't think we should ever know our heros completely, that's what makes them heros. I'm pretty sure she's involved in almost every intellectual club our school's got to offer, has amazing grades, and looks adorable every day. (I don't really know about her grades but I imagine so)

     For me I have my spurts of awesomeness. One week I'll be all about my writing, then the next I'm all about my wardrobe, or this club, or some other thing. When I focus on something I do it well, but my problem is I have such a short attention span that I change my goals every three days or so. She's not like that. She seems all the way focused all the time. This girl knows what she wants to do with her life and I see her doing exactly that in a few years. I think I could be like that, joining all the clubs I want and things I want to do along with work and school and looking good, but it would take a painful amount of planning and probably more self control than I have.

     I look up to these girls for very different reasons, but I know I want to be like both of them in some way. Seriously whenever I get a chance to be in a group or walk to class or chat with either of them I try and take it.

    Talk of role models has been wrung dry, but I think there is one little bit of advice left to give. Our role models shouldn't be these nameless, abstract people like Oprah, or Natalie Portman. They should be people we can meet, talk to, observe, have dinner with, and learn from.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

First day of Editing

   So I've been feeling like writing recently, and today I opened up my first manuscript that I had put away until October and oh my goodness this thing is AWFUL! I don't see how I was ever proud of this thing, it's to short, it's choppy, its boring and all around bad. I have no clue how to go about editing this stupid thing. Do I even need to edit this thing? I mean I don't really plan on sending it off for publication any time soon. Besides, the story is so bad plot wise I would practically be rewriting the whole thing if I did decide to get it ready for publication. I wonder if it's been to long enough to start editing my second one. It's been a few months and I'm not really thinking about it anymore.
     I'm realizing how much November is going to kill me. I haven't been writing at all. None. NaNoWriMo is going to take some serious planning if I'm going to pull this off...

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Writing Community

         I've decided I want to join the United States Marine Corps after I graduate High school. There are a lot of reasons for me wanting to join but that's a whole other blog post in itself. In my getting ready for bootcamp I've gotten into running and health an fitness. Anyway the point of me tell you all this is because yesterday I was reading a magazine called "competitor" that I get for free from my gym. There was a except from John Bingham's new book An Accidental Athlete about Bingham's firs marathon. Half way through I realized something. People like love to write, and people love to run, and there are people out there like Mr. Bingham who are writing about running! Seriously I stopped reading and wrote that down because I didn't want to forget that. I've got these two budding loves and I can combined them into two things that feed and grow off each other. 

         I started digging into the running world, and found all these really amazing people who love giving advice, and love sharing tips, and their stories, and their goals. There seems to be this big family sense in the whole running world, we share similar hurdles and have similar goals, and that brings us together. Writing is the same way. I can think what I was like writing bits of stories in purple pen in the back of my science notebook, and I've found tons of people willing to help me get better at writing. 
         I never imagined these two entirely different things could have the same roots. It makes me wonder about all the other hobbies out there. What if I wanted to get into cooking, or scrap booking, or gardening, or surfing. There's something wonderful at work when you can take tiny parts of your life and line them up into who you are.
         My point of this whole post is this. If there's something you want to learn we're at a point in history where we've got the resources, ability, and support to better ourselves and learn everything there is to know about that thing. We've got nothing stopping us from finding out what we like, and learning about it, and getting better at it, and there's enough voices out there to drown out the discouraging words from those who think it's weird. In the words of Babe Ruth "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from coming up to bat."

Monday, September 26, 2011

back in it...

     I think I've figured out how to get myself back into writing. Sense school has started I've been reading a whole freaking lot. I wake up in the morning and all I want to do is read read read. (I was always like that when I was younger) Last summer I woke up and all I wanted to was Write Write Write. Reading is easy, you just sit back and look at one thing at a time and let an author paint a picture in your head. Writing is the same way, except instead of looking at one thing at a time you've got to create your pictures one word at a time. Reading doesn't require a lot of thinking, writing does.
    First thing I'll do to get back into writing is every time I think about reading I'll automatically think about writing and how I should be doing it. The idea is to guilt myself into it. I'm also starting up a writing spiral like I had over the summer, it's basically a doodle book about stories in my head, details I like and things like that. I'm really not liking having all my notes about writing on my ever note so I'm going to transfer them to that spiral.
   Can I just take a moment to just complain about school? Yeah? Cool.

    I hate school so freaking much. It's like it doesn't require enough work to take up all my time but it does take enough work to suck so much of my time I don't have time for anything else. This year is a lot like last where I don't really care about my classes and I'll manage with B and Cs because I can't find motivation to do better and because I'm trying to spend time reading and writing. I already don't have a social life so what in the world is taking up all my time?! Maybe I'm watching to much TV or maybe It's all these evening where I come home from school and don't feel like doing anything because I've been up for the past eight hours on only four hours of sleep.


 Now that that's out of my system...

I'm going to rethink my goals for this semester. The first weeks is pretty much over and report cards come out friday. They say the first six weeks is a mirror image of how you'll do all year, so I"ll be fine as far as grades.

    I'm vamping my goals along the guidelines of Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project. It's a really awesome book. It doesn't really tell you how to reach goals but it gives you some really good ones to research and put into action.

   This week I'm going to be putting to action my goal of going to sleep earlier.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

If only I weren't in school...

    I've had this Brain Crack for awhile now, if you don't know what brain crack is you should watch this quick video by narimon. 
      Anyway, my brain crack has a lot to do with school, and how I don't have enough time to do the things I really want to do. The thing to do is have a class period where we let kids pursuit a goal of their choice, and it would be the teacher's job to provide things and time they need to do these things. (So basically I want an entire class period devoted to writing my books). But the thing that would work is that every student would get to pick the thing they want to work on and they'd have to work on that all year until it's done or summer comes. Then the teacher would help direct the student's and provide things like books, and websites, and things to help us reach our "Big Idea" goals.
    Now I know why school's have never done this. They're thinking curriculum and standards and things of that nature. They're probably also thinking kids don't want to do anything but watch TV and surf the Internet outside of school and I'm saying that's a complete lie. I've talked to tons of people saying the only reason they don't learn that instrument they've always wanted to, started that charity program they thought about, or  edit videos for a major film contests is because they don't have enough time. 
    So many of us have these "Big Ideas", these goals of where we want our lives to go, and what interests us, and how we can make our world better, and how we can do things faster, and how we can make ourselves smarter. Most teen's think about a lot more than you realize. I've had many conversations where people my age are worried about the state of the economy, death, and so many other topics people might think as "to adult" to be discussed in high schools.
    I bet the only reason some kids who don't have a "Big Idea" or huge goal is because no one has ever sat down and asked them what they want to do with their lives and how they're going to make it happen. The class could get people interested in things they would have never tried before, help generate new and functional ideas and inventions, and help people now and in generations to come.
     I think people underestimate my generation, we've got good ideas, and motivations, and resources to really make a difference in this world. But we're all to busy with sports, work, school, homework and millions of other obligations to put our big scale dreams into action. If we had this time designated to things we want to do I think we'd have a lot better ideas in the world.
   

Monday, September 5, 2011

Two weeks of school.

     
 There seems to be an endless supply of crap that I SHOULD be doing. I'm trying really hard to keep on top of my school goals and things but I won't say it's easy. With all the homework and working 20 hours a week I'm not having ANY time to write except for my nightly journal entries. That's really not sitting well with me because I'm getting all these awesome ideas and bits from school that I'm not able to make in a story.
    The first five days of September have gone by so fast and the streak of 100 plus temperatures has finally broken. Today was actually around 85 with wind and it felt AMAZING. I'm really liking all my classes right now. My Journalism is kinda a blow off class which really sucks because I know we could get so much more done if we didn't spend half the class talking about what everyone did over the weekend. I feel like that's how all the cool elective classes are going to be. Wouldn't that be why everyone likes them so much? What ever happened to wanting to take a class so you can learn things? I'll never be able to understand how people can take a class for the sole reason of it being a blow off class.
     So far on my weekends I sleep as long and as hard as I can. I'm only getting around 25 hours of sleep per night during the week, so weekends are my time for sleep.
     I'm also having to do this crazy thing called studying now. Before I could just read the materiel and things like that and be good. Especially in my AP world history class I need to study. I think world history is the dumbest thing ever. Let's put everything that has happened EVER and spend two semesters going over it all. What sucks the most is studying for math for one reason. The only way to study it is to do tons and tons of problems. In English you can do flash cards, or read over things, or look at notes, or a number of different options. In Math all you've got are the odd questions with the answers in the back of the book and the mid-chapter quiz from the book. It's also making me mad that the math book we use for Algebra 2 doesn't have a companion website. You don't know how helpful it would be to have someone explain a concept out on a video or something.
    Sorry I guess I'm ranting about high school, but that seems to be the only thing going on in my life right now.
     I don't know how I'll manage doing NaNoWriMo come November. That GTD book sounds helpful but I haven't really put anything into pratice yet. We'll see how it goes and I'll be sure to keep ya'll updated on writing and other things in my life. Till next time :D

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I have nothing to write I have nothing to write...

         I've been in this state of bliss all day. Maybe it's because today is the first day in a while I've had a little smidgen of time to write, or maybe today was just a good day. School always seems to be unrealistically long but I always somehow manage by the end of the day, then run home where homework seems to take forever. It's like keeping up with my grades is the only thing I'll have time for later in the school year when things start getting harder. Actually this week has been good. I've spent a lot of time getting homework out of the way then reading and doing other things but just not writing.
       My deadline is today and I'm about 5,000 words short. I think I'm starting to see a pattern developing for my deadlines. I'm almost positive I'll be 5K short just before the last day of NaNoWriMo. It's really hard writing this little snippet because I'm basically finished my story by now, and I'm just going for word count.
       I've been doing this exercise recently where I write "I have nothing to write" over and over again until I really do have something to write. I've pumped out a few really good scenes doing this, but most of is talk about how my day went and how I'll never be able to finish this. I'm going to be totally screwed if none of my random ranting doesn't count for my word count...
       I'm actually really excited to start some editing. Editing seems like this whole new field of the craft that I haven't gotten a chance to explore yet. I've read a few things in my dummies book and the other ton of craft books I've managed to accumulate but I've never actually sat down and worked with it enough to feel comfortable. I guess feeling comfortable is the death of productivity but it would be nice to have a little knowledge on the whole process.
       Originally I was going to spend September working on short stories but I don't know if that's going to be very realistic. I mean I'll defiantly try some writing things and work on writing in general, but I just don't know if I can focus on something like learning an entire new way of writing while I'm getting use to school and everything else.
       Things seem totally hectic right now. I got this book called "Getting Things Done" by David Allen and I'm hoping it'll help me have more time to write. It's like this national best seller or something and once I've finished it and put some of the strategies to work I'll do a little review of it.
       I feel like it's going to be a good school year, a Long one, but good. :D

Saturday, August 27, 2011

How School kills Kids

       First week of school is done! Thank goodness. Things have already started to settle into a nice rhythm of things. Homework sucks but I'm managing to stay on top of things. Between school, and work, and homework, and working out 5 hours a week I'm seriously not having any time to write and It's starting to get to me. 
    I've noticed I'm much more short tempered. My sister and I fight a lot about things that didn't seem to matter, I get really annoyed with people easily, and I'm having trouble keeping up the happy face I have at work. That sounds really dumb but you know what I mean, like my costumer service is basically crap now.
     I don't think I'm stressed, it's just the entire idea of having things to do is beating on me. I'm surprised I"m not having trouble sleeping with everything I've got to keep up with, but it's just that I'm so exhausted by the end of the day I just crash. It was like that when I was traveling a lot last year. I would run all day and be so exhausted by the end of it I'd just be done until morning where I run again.
     I'm also noticing I'm becoming a complete jerk. In English we had this project to color this guy and have quotes about him from our book. The people in my group wanted to worry about coloring and how we'll do the feet while I was worried about the quotes and things we would be graded on. Let's just say I don't think they'll want to be in my group ever again. It's like I'm this super productive monster that's always thinking about what needs to be done and how fast I can do it, and that's awesome! But I'm not finding time to read or write like I'd like to. 
    It's a wonder to me that I'm being so productive and doing well but I just can't seem to find time for writing. :(

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A Sad thing

I managed to get through my goal of 50K before school started. I finished around 12 and was at school by seven the next morning. Right after I finished I made this video of my reaction.... SO I'm realizing how embarrassing this is but I figure this is one of those moments I'll want to remember or something like that.
    Earlier that day I made another video about how I thought I could never do it so I was pretty excited.
    I had to drop my creative writing class I was enrolled in because I need to do Journalism this year to do news paper and Lit Mag next year. I was really bummed but I guess I can always take it later on.
     Other than that I can't say to many bad things about school. I'm remembering how big my school is though. My class alone is over 900 and the whole school is around 5 thousand. I don't like the fact that I'm so busy now with work and homework and such that I haven't found enough time to write. I'm sure when my schedule settles down and when I get into the swing of things I'll manage to get more done but I don't see me getting much done in the next week or so.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

School tomorrow

        I tried going to bed last night around 4am when I realized I'd be going to school the next day. Last night I had 44K and bumped out another thousand quickly before bed. Today I'm doing 5K to reach 50K and make my goal of finishing my novel before school. I'm not actually finishing it though, I'm just reaching a wonderful milestone. The week after that, The first week of school, I need to get out 15K to finish this awful word war.
      I'm going to be so tired trying to go to school tomorrow after having worked until 11 tonight and staying up to write more if I haven't reached 5K by then.
       Sorry for the short post, but I want to get writing...

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Holy stinking Crap!!!!!

         So I just realized I've got three days until School starts! OMG!!! I feel like this has crept up on me because I've been so busy with working. I AM going to make my goal of finishing my manuscript before school starts. I'm currently at 43K and I want to be at 50K before Monday. I'm probably going to keep going to 65K because of the Word War I'm in until the end of August. I've also got to finish my summer assignment, and change my schedule, and to make things worse my tummy hurts :(
     I'm sure if I had just one solid day off before School starts I could get most of it done but I don't so that's not going to happen. I think I can manage all of this with Microgoals!
    Basically I'm going to set myself up goals, per hour tomorrow and the rest of the week and weekend for writing. It'll be like write 500 words this hour and such. I won't be able to work that out until I wake up in the morning because I don't know what time I'll wake up.
       This whole having a job thing is pretty much awful. Sure I like having money for a computer, and other things, but I'm having no time for writing between work and school. I guess there've been hundreds of people who had school, and work, and Writing to deal with and they still got their manuscripts done. I guess I'll use that to motivate me. I need like pep pills or something right now, I'm zonked :/

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Should I be a Good Writer or a Popular Writer?

I've resorted to some plotting in the standstill of my first draft. I've heard you're really not suppose to plot to much while you're still barfing up the first draft. (I've always liked that comparison to a first draft...Barfing:P) anyway, in this plotting I'm realizing two things. One, my story is getting WAY to big. Seriously I wrote out all my plot threads and let's just say I have around twenty stories going on in this book. Second is I'm realizing I've got these massive plot holes...
       It's like I need to decide wether to have a magnifying glass on my POV character or if I want to pan out over all my characters. Honestly my POV character isn't feeling like a POV character and I'm thinking about switching to an Omniesant style of writing so I can make these extra plot threads cleaner and in a better braid.
      I think I've said this before, but I like thinking of my story as a braid. I've got all these plot threads that need to be woven together to make an amazing story. Right now my braid is looking like a frayed rope though. I'll be relieved when I'm done with this huge project. I've been thinking a lot about my first writing project and have kinda been wanting to get back into that one, which is good because come October it'll be six months sence I've finished it and I can offocially start editing.
      Editing is a whole other ball game that I haven't even stepped into yet. I'm wondering if having my first writing project being connected to the one I'm working on now is good or not. I feel like I've got a better understanding of how I want things to connect between the two books, but I'm wondering if I'm looking at this way to huge. Know what I mean? Like I don't want to make it where you HAVE to read the first to enjoy the second and the other way around. I want to finish the story for my first, then have a new story with the second that is still connected and interesting.
      Cassandra clare wrote an amazing series called the Mortal Instrument series. I loved it so much! But then she introduced her prequel, and I realized even though the setting has changed completely it's still basically the same story. Even the ending is pretty similar. I don't want to ruin the books because they are good reads, but looking at them from a writing perspective I'm finding some to Don'ts.
      It's like she has a cookie cutter plot for all her books. The lady who taught that free creative writing class told us about an author who always published books where someone's terminally ill, and they are in love and they find strength in their love and end up living. Seriously and the chick's published around ten books exactly like that.
      There comes a point where we need to decide to be good writers or popular writers. Popular writers seem to make the most money. Look at Twilight, I can a I don't think we should ever write for the sole purpose of getting an emotional response from our readers... In other words I don't want the dog to die in the end of all my books.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

This sucks........

        Sometimes I feel like I'm not up to this whole writing thing. For a while there I loved it, and keeping track of my word count and everything, but recently I've been avoiding it. I'm not going to say I don't like writing anymore, It's just starting to lose the fun like it did for my first Manuscript. I think I've spent too much time in this story I'm on and I'm starting to get exhausted.
     Stephen King says first drafts of manuscripts should only take three months. That's why I've set a goal for myself to be done with this one by the 22 of August (The first day of school) That'll be around three months.
     I think it's kinda sad I've got this all planned out...but I'm finishing this manuscript this month, then I'm going to spend September getting use to my new schedule and working on some short stories, then come November it's time for NaNoWriMo. Where I'll hopefully blast through a third manuscript. I've got some running to do lists of things I want to do before NaNoWriMo or things to prepare myself. The list has things like Make an awesome Writing Playlist, and stock my mini-fridge with junk food. I'm really hoping I'll be able to get most of my writing done during the week or so off from school I have for Thanksgiving.
     I'm just really feeling like I'm at a stand still. I know I've been this way before, Hell you could run back through my old blog posts and see when this whole writing thing got hard for me and I was really close to calling it quits. This time around I know I can manage through this and I'll get it done so It's not really worrying me so much.
     I think my solution to this whole "Writing is boring" thing is to change up my routine. Right now I chill on my bed and time myself. Maybe I need a new location or new music. I guess I'll spend this week trying new things out and seeing what works.  Until next time :)

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

New Schedule = Headache

So I literally just got my Schedule for Sophomore year.
A Day: AP World History
Orchestra Philharmonic
Pap Algebra 2
Creative Writing(semester 1) 
Humanities(semester 2)

B Day: German 2
Orchestra Philharmonic
Pap English 2
Pap Chemistry 
I'm thinking about single blocking Orchestra so I can take a journalism class so I can be on Newspaper next year, and Dropping my Humanities class for Psychology so I can do AP psychology next year too. There's also a sociology class that sounds fun. 
     I like literature and things that study human nature because I feel it helps me with my writing. I don't know yet, every time I try thinking of my schedule or something like this I get a big headache. I kinda wish the school would just tell me what classes I should take for an English Major in College or something like that. What do ya'll think? Would Journalism and Psychology really help me as a writer? What about Humanities?
     I still have no clue how I'm going to manage everything this fall. I'm thinking about starting Piano Lessons just for some more extracurriculars, because apparently sitting in your room with a computer doesn't count as a legitimate extracurricular. I really don't want to think about college. Honestly I plan on going into the Marines after High School, then getting a GI bill and getting my college paid for. 
     It's annoying because I'm seeing all these paths that I can go down and I'm having to choose one that will affect me for the rest of my life. Ok sure a humanities class isn't going to affect my future all that much, but what if I'm able to get scholarship or something for something I did in Journalism. But if I do Journalism I'd have to single block Orchestra which I've been doing as my main elective sense sixth grade. It's all just a big jumble in my head. 
      

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Liebster Blog

So one of my good Friends Fishy nominated me for this award called the Liebster Blog Award. With me being a straight a German Student who always does her homework I know that Liebe mean Love! The goal of this award is to spread the blogging love and help promote bloggers who have less than 200 followers.
    Thanks so Much to Fishy! As part of the nomination I've got to choose five blogs with less that 200 followers so here they are...

1) Velda Brotherton at On Being A Writer 
2)  Annie From The Epic, The Awesome, and the Random 
3) Ashley from Ramblings Of a Writer
4) Kelly over at Ink & Green Tea
5) Kalculator from a Ninja's Cake

So as part of the award you've got a few rules.

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!

You guy's rock and I'll see ya around

Monday, August 8, 2011

Back to School

    Going back to school is starting to really suck. I'm remembering that I actually have a life other than work and Writing. I pick up my schedule Wed. and I'm really excited because I'm taking a creative writing class for a semester, plus I'm in Orchestra with a lot of my friends.
    I know I say this every new school year, but I'm going to do better than I did last year. My grades weren't that great, and I know I can do better. As far as my goals, I'm getting through my summer reading assignments, I've journaled every day for the past month, and My sleep schedule is getting there. It feels like I've got so much more to do now with school coming back up. I don't want to spend all my time watching tv or stupid things when I'm scraping for time to write.
     I feel like this year is going to be so much better than Freshman year. I've realized people don't hate Freshman, fish as we call em, we just all hate our freshman year. Next spring break I'm going to Disney World with Orchestra too which is going to be so fun. I'm also going to try and get on the Newspaper or Yearbook staff. My friend is doing this thing called Lit Crit. Meaning Literary Critique, he said it would be something I would like.
     I really don't mind school, I like coming home and feeling like I've done something with my day, I like the responsibility, and I like getting rewarded for grades and stuff. What's really sucking though is that I'm realizing I'm not a full time writer during the school year. Summer It's chill and I can write all I want, Fall is a whole different ball game.
      I think I've got carpal tunnel from writing and dipping ice cream for twenty hours a week. I've got these compression gloves things and they kinda help, but I can't really wear them while writing because They keep me from typing. That was random but anyway.
       I've never tried writing while in school. This is my first year of actually being a writer (Not even a year actually, I started in November) and I've never had to balance work, school, and writing. It's going to be tough getting my 2,00 words out per day. This year is going to be interesting.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

The deal with Muses and How to Find Yours

       I've done a lot of research about Writing Muses. I've found a lot of weird advice, from surrounding myself with people in sync with the universe, to always using your lucky pen.
      Basically from what I can gather, muse comes from the nine chicks who inspired Greeks to write and sculpt, and sing. Really I think the Greeks came up with that so they didn't have to share where they got their ideas from, but whatever. There are about four muses that kinda deal with Writing. Calliope, owns Epic Poetry (What makes some poetry Epic and other not I don't know) Erato, rules love poetry, Melpomene, who has dibs on Tragedy, and Thalia, who's all about comedy.
      Now and days people think of Muses more as actions and things than these nine very average looking women. It's also like their crack. Not that they have to get their supply from some sleazy street dealer, in that they rely on it. It's like superstition for writing.

     Honestly I think it's all a head game. Like  "If I don't wear my hat a certain way or do this or this or this, It's impossible for me to write" Now I've found a problem with that. You start messing yourself up in the head when you think like that. You'll have a herd time writing if you absolutely can not write if you don't have a hot glass of tea beside you, because one day you'll run out of tea or break your favorite mug or something like that and psyche yourself out of writing which breaks habits and streaks.

      Muses seem to be an excuse for your own awesomeness or your own crappiness. "Oh I only was able to do this awesome thing with the thanks of my muse." or more likely "I only did this piece of crap work because my muse left me." It's all excuses.  Now it's OK to have a little thing you do to get you into "the zone" when you're writing. Look at people who play sports, I'll give you a hint someone not like me, they'll do little things like rubbing last year's winning trophy or something like that before a game. The difference between touching a trophy and your writing muse is that your muse is a fickle thing. A trophy will always be a trophy, but your muse can alter, change and evolve little by little.

     I think a lot of people find their muses subconsciously, then when they figure out they should get one, they don't realize they already have one and they freak. Let's look at how I write. I wake up first thing in the morning, before I even get out of bed and I push out 500 words at the least. This makes me feel like I've started something and I need to finish it. So by the end of the day I come home still thinking about my story and how much of it I want to write for my daily goal. That's a muse! Another thing, I love graphs, so I'll write down my word count every day, and at the end of the month I'll write those up into a spread sheet and see visually how I've done. It's also cool to compare days in my writing log with days in my Journal to see what mood I write best in. (I've actually found out I write more when I feel like sleeping)

     Take a sec to look at yourself and see what gets you working. Maybe it's rewards (Definitely not me,) did you write 2000 words today? yes. BOOM! you get to wear a Toy Story 3 bandage on that Misquote bite that kinda hurts but doesn't really need a band aid. Or are you like me and you work best under pressure? If so Try using Write or Die, I work better with punishments than rewards (and believe me Write or die has some pretty harsh punishments,) Nothing to be to scared of though. Another thing you can do as a pressure person is wait until the last minute to do your writing. Now this won't work unless you've got a fixed deadline and some consequences. This is mainly for school work for me, I can churn out a really good paper in one night if it's do the next day but not if I do it a week before. Anyway, figure out what is working for you and stop worrying about finding your "muse" because it's all a head game. Spend your time Writing, not finding your muse.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

An odd Thing

      I'm currently in day three of a second self inflicted WriMo. My last WriMo in July failed horribly, because of lack of motivation, and lack of consistency. I feel like this month will be different.
    Not only do I want to have my novel finished the 22nd of August, because of school, it would also be really nice to finish this so I can start working on some short stories.
     I've gotten myself into a massive Word War with an author I meet off Twitter.  A word war is normally what WriMo contestants do to boost their word count. Normally two or three people set a time of say twenty minutes and see who can write the most words in that time. Me and James Tallett, author of the Four Part lands series, have erupted into a WriMo challenge of 50k words by August 31. I will say it's been giving me some super motivation to keep writing.
      While I'm writing I can already tell all my scenes are out of order, and I have these huge plot holes, and I can just tell editing is going to be a mess. It's really killing me not having things better organized. I've been trying to stop myself from going back and editing things because right now I know there's just to much for me to fix to not have the whole story written. If I start editing, I'll never finish, leaving me halfway with a story. I was up late reading all the pep talks on the WriMo site from the past years. I'm a total Nerdfighter, so I really loved John Green's pep talk. He talks about how we have follies, and writers will give up on a story half way through because they get bored, or the suckiness of their book tells them to stop writing. While I'm not at the halfway point just yet, i feel like that's what went wrong on my first WriMo challenge.
     I'm totally gonna finish this time, and It's going to be amazing, and after I write my 50k I'm going out to celebrate with bowling or something. If I don't finish I'll probably just sit in my room and hide for a few days while James soaks up the glory of winning, But I'm not gonna let that happen!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Writers are Like Whores

This is something from my Journal I wrote on the 21st. 
     "I've realized something about this writing thing, it's that I want to do this for the rest of my life. That's a very scary thing when you think about it. I feel like writing is what's really important to me, and I love it.
      It's like I know I'll publish a book one day. It may be a long while from now, but I know It's going to happen. That gives me motivation to keep writing, making a blog post, and skipping hanging out with friends to write."

  One Part of realizing I'm going to be doing this for the rest of my life, is that it gives me a sort of easiness about everything else. Like I don't have to worry about what I'm going to do when I grow up, or any of that. I mean sure I'll get some job to pay bills later down the line, but It's a comfort knowing I've got writing.
      Writing is like a tool I have, It relaxes me, makes me get excited about something. It's the best anti-depressant. It's a bigger gush of power, and freedom than what comes with having my own computer, and my own license and my own car. Honestly I don't see how people are getting through their days without writing something that they put themselves into. 
        Isn't that what writing is? Putting bits of our self into these stories so other people can experience us. It's like writers are soul whores.
        A lot of times I feel that I write for a future me, especially in my diary. I write so people will know about me, my family, the people I love, and the times I live in. I've always had this idea that we're suppose to leave this world better than we found it, and writing is my way of doing that. I'm always at my best when I'm writing. 

      On a lighter note, one of my good friends asked me if I like this one girl. Apparently every girl I sorta kinda know thinks I hate them because I'm such a loaner. Literally I've had someone ask me if I didn't like someone because I'm apparently not friendly or something like that.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Half Way Point

                                                   My 2010 Writer Resolutions and Goals:

1)Write Every Day
2) Finish and Submit a Manuscript
3)Read one book I don't think I'll like per month
4) Get a 90 in English
5)Journal Every Day
6) Read Everything I can get my hands on and stop complaining about how boring it is
7) Find something everyday to inspire me
8) stop drinking soda

This is literally my goals from my first ever blog post. Seeing as it's July, the halfway point of our year, I think It's a good time for some self evaluation.

Hmm, very interesting. Seeing as school is over I'll cross off four. Recently I've been writing everyday. Probably not as much as I should be but it's a start. I have finished a Manuscript, but have yet to submit it. (I think I'll scratch the last part of that goal because no where in there does it have editing.) I haven't been reading books I don't like at all so that one's out the window. Read everything hasn't happened either. Find something to inspire me every day. Yeah no. and stop drinking soda. I have done that one. 

    Ok so thus far this year I've done nothing but stop drinking soda, finish a sad excuse for a manuscript. Written a but load of blog posts, Journaled Everyday (Most days) and complain about how I'm not a writer yet. It's time to adjust these goals baby!!

My 2010 half way point Writer Resolutions and Goals:
1) Write at LEAST 1,000 words a day, preferably 2,000
2)Finish and start editing a manuscript for Submission
3) Read one NonFiction book about something that interests me.
4) Do my Summer reading assignments before school starts on the 22 of August
5) Continue journaling every day, add length to my entries, and start holding on to keepsakes for my journal
6) Categorize my time into Writing, Personal, work, and free time. Then spend two thirds of free time reading.
7) Find something Everyday to Inspire me, and post it online to a Tumblr or second blog or something.
8) Set up a normal sleep schedule again and stop eating fried foods. 
9) Grow my personal Library by spending a set amount of money on Books per paycheck. 

Now the question is how am I going to make these goals unlike I did the others? Well I've already taped these goals on my mirror so I don't forget them. I know it's a dumb trick but I've seen it work. I'm also starting a separate notebook dedicated entirely to my goals. 
     If anyone has any other tips, or they want to share their goals hit me up:) Ya'll rock.


Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Thing with Short Stories

   I hear tons of Authors talk about how when they were young the made themselves sit down and write one short story per week for...forever. I've tried writing short stories, I really have. I just can't for the love of my Characters have so little happen to them. See, here's the thing with my characters, I spend a lot of time modeling them, and talking with them, and thinking about them. Maybe you don't do that with short stories but I'll just say it feels wrong, It's like a one Night Stand.
    We spend all this time with our Manuscripts to a point where if feels like we're dating them. Right now I feel like I'm married to mine, and I'd feel bad moving around so much. (OMG I totally date like that too, ha who said you need a life for Life Lessons).I suppose if we're going to compare this dating thing to writing we may as well go all in.
     When you're young, you shouldn't be in these deep relationships where you spend all this time. You're still growing, and finding out what you like and don't like in people The same goes with books. When we're young we need to write stories, and write a lot of em to know what we like to write, how we like to write it, and all that junk. Eventually We'll get "Married" to a full length book, but for now It shouldn't be my main goal.
    Wow when I wrote this I didn't think I would be making this huge discovery *FacePalm*. I think I'm going to try harder with writing short stories. First I should probably start reading some short stories (Anybody got any haha) then writing them. I think I'll probably keep going with my manuscript for now, but I think after this one I'll tuck it in the vault for six months. September I'm going to devote all my writing to short stories, this is a time between when I should be done with my second Manuscript, and before my first comes out of the vault.
     Anyone got any tips when It comes to short story writing and how it's different from writing novels? I love the support you guys, and I'll see ya next time :) DFTBA

Friday, July 22, 2011

Plotting

      As far as plotting for my second Novel, I want to make sure I'm keeping a record of how I'm doing it so I don't forget next time around. I'm using Note cards cut in half so save on cost. I started out buy writing the major things that I know I want to happen then spread those all out in order. Then I started filling the spaces with new note cards with new scenes or ideas.
     Secondly I've started a chart very much like JK Rowlings for the Order of Phoenix. A chapter column, a month column, then across the top I listed all my plot lines. Then I just filled things in. Coming up with my plot lines wasn't that hard. After having thought about my story for so long I pretty much know where I want this to end up.
     Another thing I did was lay all my note cards out on a huge wipe board in order, then use a marker to draw my plot line, labeling my catalyst, climax, and other things. For that thought I mostly worked out the months of things.
     I'm really motivated to get this first draft over with before August 22, the first day of school. Stephen King says in his book "On Writing" that First Drafts of Books shouldn't take more than three months. I feel like that's what went wrong with my first manuscript. I spent so long on the first half, that by the time I got halfway I was just tired of my story and just wanted it to be over with. Besides that I like starting fresh with the new school year, I think I'd want to get back into my study habits before I really get into writing my third manuscript, just so I don't completely fail tenth grade.
      It's getting to a point where all I'm thinking about is my novel, or getting it published. I'm a little embarrassed to say all I've done this morning is wake up, put my contacts in, and write this blog post. Next I'm going for breakfast and a shower, then I'll be writing until I have to go to work tonight. Is this obsession normal?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Vlogging, Classes, and other things

     I've thought about starting up a youtube channel where I vlog about writing and share tips and things. I actually tried one video and let me just say vloging is very different from blogging. Much like blogging and writing, Vlogging takes a lot of time and planning, not to mention editing. I tried, but I just don't think I want to spend my time making videos when I could be writing. Maybe later down the line I'll start some videos but I'm just not sure I want to invest into that while I still need to spend so much time practicing my craft.
    I went to my first creative writing class tonight, held by my public Library. It was originally suppose to be for teens, but there were so few people that they let the two adults who came stay. It was literally me, my friend I forced to come with me, this old Asian lady who ended up only wanting to know how to write a how to book on dealing with your adult children, and this other lady who didn't talk much but took notes the whole time. There was also this little girl, maybe ten, who I think came with the teacher so she doesn't count.
    We started with an exercise where they had "After dinner our host told us the house was said to be..." and we had to finish the sentence. We all got sharpies and wrote our answers on the butcher paper. I said built on an Indian burial ground. Most of the answers had to do with ghosts and hunting's and things. After we did a character exercise where they showed us an old lady smiling with her dog. We all decided she was a Psychology professor who went crazy after the loss of her son in 9/11 and is soon diagnosed as cancer. After that we did a flash fiction about our character we created and all shared ours. People went very different ways.
   My friend had the lady in a assisted living center for crazy people and the dog was brought in to help with therapy for the patients. The Asian lady had the woman start her own business selling dog accessories, and the little girl had her have no friends, her dog die, her house burn down, and her be diagnosed with cancer all in the first few paragraphs.
    We didn't really write much, but we all got a general idea of how our story would play out. After we talked about plot: the three act structure and climaxes and that sort of thing, we spent forever talking about the best form of dictionary and the troubles of using a Thesaurus and other obvious questions.
    I don't really feel like I learned anything I couldn't have from my "Writing Fiction for Dummies" book or on the Internet, but it was free so I suppose I can't complain.
    After everyone else left, my friend and I stayed so I could ask them some questions about the publishing company who talked to me. They said if they ask me for money I should walk away, they also said before I send them a Manuscript I should send one to myself so I can have it post marked and unopened if any question does arise. They also advised I read over anything they have me sign very carefully, and maybe even have a lawyer look over it. Apparently the lady who wrote the Vampire Diaries signed away the rights to her entire series because she didn't look things over well enough.
    Some time next year, either first semester or second, I'm taking a creative writing class. I'm hoping it's not going to be like this one. I'm also kinda hoping my teacher will let me use his room during lunch so I can bring my laptop and write during lunch. Honestly I'd much rather do that than sit and talk with my friends for an hour and a half. I just realized how much of a loaner I'm becoming haha.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Suck long and Hard!

 This is like a huge mash up of all the advice I've ever gotten. Don't waste your time researching all this "How to write" crap because eventually it'll all start sounding the same. Save the hassle and just watch a few videos like this one and start writing, and keep writing.
Here's another from the same youtube channel, if you can't tell I really like these guys :P

and eventually we'll all become crazy playing out guitars and rambling about something while naked on our bed.

Monday, July 18, 2011

A whole New World

     So It's completly diferent having my own computer and license. I've got this weird thing called freedom and can I just say it's awesome. I feel like I've been more productive in my writing the last two days I've had my computer than the last month.
     I'm trying to get into this thing called Evernote. It's like my writing notebook, on the computer,and cell phone, and ipod and stuff. I'm not sure if I like being dependant on my internet access, or the battery life of my phone (Something no one would have a right mind to rely on) But so far I'm really liking it for organizing my writing notes.
      I've been sick the last few days so I can't wait to have things back to normal so I can actually start planning some more writing time. Till next time :)

Sunday, July 17, 2011

I've been awful

      Yesterday I was so pumped about my computer, and the publishing thing I forgot to tell you I've been feeling like complete and utter shit the last few days. Yesterday I left work early nearly crying because I felt like I was about to feint. I've been getting strep throat lately, and it seems like every time I get a cold or flu or something it pops back up. My Dr. is closed til Monday so I guess I'll be chilling for the weekend, I just hope I don't miss to much work.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

So this how it feels...

    So I've finally got my computer and can I just take a second to say this this is freaking amazing! But back to more important things. I got an e-mail from someone interested in publishing my manuscript. They haven't asked for money, or anything else that sounds specious so me and my parents are thinking this is the real thing. They found my manuscript on Inkpop I think, because it's the only place I have it up at, and they're looking at publishing it.
      I'm just in a state of complete and utter amazement at the moment. They haven't said they will so I don't want to set myself up for a letdown but they said they'll review my manuscript and decide if they want to publish it. I've found only one problem...
     I've got to finish the darn thing.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

How's it feel to be 16?

     To be honest it feels like shit. No, not being 16 in general, just being up is shit. I know I know, I'm young and I shouldn't be loathing my birthday until I'm at least late 20's but I'm just thinking I'm 16 now, and I should be so much better at writing than I really am.
    My self moto Wri Mo was a complete bust. I have no clue how I'll manage this come November. I still haven't gotten my computer because my mom and sister decided to start selling Mary Kay which requires $800 dollars of merchandise to start. So I don't get my computer until next payday.
   I am proud to say I finished my first Mokeskine Journal. I plan on putting up a video of me flipping through it once I get my computer. Before I got mine I was always interested what a Writer's Moleskine would look like and I could never find videos or pictures of one so I'm hoping a lot of people will feel more comfortable about writing in them before buying one. I'm on of those researchers. I love looking up reviews and stuff of things I'm going to buy. I'm making mom take me to get a new Mokeskine (Plain large hardback) with $20 dollars I got from my grandma. I can't wait to start journaling again.
     Until I get my computer I'm calling that my excuse to not write. Somebody please knock some since into me for not writing. I've read all the craft books I can afford and they are all starting to sound the same. I just don't know how much longer I can call myself a writer if I'm not writing.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

My Own WriMo

        July is my Wri Mo! Last blog post I talked about how I would wait until my birthday but I sorta jumped the gun and started ten days before that. Today is day four and I need to get my word count from 5,001 to 6,668. I love the momentum that's coming along with this.
      My story seriously has no plot so far but I can see it going pretty far. I want to keep this post short so I can get to writing. I just wanted to give ya'll an update on how this is going. Hard times ahead. See ya later

Monday, June 27, 2011

My day Off

    I don't work today, so I thought it would be a wonderful idea to stay up late last night. I "Went to Bed" around nine, I didn't turn off the light til three. I stayed up reading these two books my dad bought me from half price books (which is be best store ever) One is Note To Self by Samara O'shea. It's about journaling and "other dangerous pursuits". It's a cute little book and I finished it last night.
     The second book I got was "No Plot? No Problem!" by Chris Baty, and oh my freaking goodness is this book good. It doesn't talk about qualiaty, it's all about quantity. You're only goal of your self inflicted NaNoWriMo is the thresh out 50,000 words. I Love this book because It's not like some stuck up writer talking down to us, it's this real guy telling us how to write our book. But this isn't all about writing, it's more about HOW to write: finding your space, snacks to have on hand, how to tell your family to leave you alone, and so much more. But it also gives you tips and motivation during your month of writing. As you've probably guessed I am totally doing NaNoWriMo in November but I'm going to give this a whirl in July after my birthday to see if I can set up some writing habits.
    Unlike NaNoWriMo My July WriMo is going to start off from that 5000 word manuscript I haven't finished. My two main goals of my WriMo is to get down 50,000 words and set up a writing habit. I'm waiting til after my birthday so I'll have my computer and don't have to be bothered.
     I think NaNoWriMo isn't going to be that hard. Two words; Thanksgiving Break. But we'll see how that goes when we get there.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I really want to

     I really want to write, I've been reading a bunch of crap and all it does is make me want to write something better. There's a problem though. I can't, I think I've said this before but there's only one working computer in my house at the moment and I maybe get an hour or two on at a time. Now I know what you're saying, "But wait, Hannah-Beth you could always write with a pen and paper!" I say shut up because I've tried that and I've only gotten through about ten pages in the last month.
    But guess who's birthday is in two weeks?! And guess what she's getting! That's right my very own computer, a Macbook Pro 13inch i5. My parents agreed to pay for half of it, about 600 dollars. Then I HAVE to write everyday. Or Else

Monday, June 20, 2011

Old people are weird

      My grandmother is in town, she's like the cutest lady you'd ever meet. After dinner tonight she and my parents are sitting around their empty pie plates quizzing each other over US presidents. I swear the only time I've ever heard of some one quizzing each other is in books around the eighteenth century. I don't really know what that has to do with writing or reading, maybe it has to do with being young.

Friday, June 17, 2011

The standstill

I feel like noting of importance has happened in the past week or so. It's one of those things where I know I'll forget this week completely. I like to think of things like that, knowing I'll never remember them. Like my biology class last year, me saying I'll forget it made me remember it. I don't know if I will remember anything about anything this summer because this is the summer I worked and wrote (OK fine now it's working and writing but you know what I mean) I haven't written as much as I would have liked, but I think the stuff I'm writing is better than most other stuff I write, Quality not quantity, yeah let's go with that.
    I read that article "10 things teenagers should know about writing." and a LOT of young writers are pissed because the guy says our writing sucks. I don' care, let my writing suck. I'm in a learning phase right now. I'm learning how to make a story, how to create characters, and how to make myself do something I care about. As young writers we don't like telling people we aren't good, or that we haven't written in four days, or that we decided to completely give up on a story we've been working on for the past three months. It's all a pride thing. Until I'm able to admit my work needs editing and time I won't be a writer.
    I've always kinda wished there was a sort of daily checklist of becoming a writer. I think when I'm old and all my readers want to know how to be a writer I'll write a book with a kind of daily devotional. I'm a checklist kind of person, I like knowing what I need to do in what time and how I'll do it. I thought I was getting that with a book called "Novel in a Year" by Louiese Doughty but it's more of a week by week thing. Don't get me wrong it's a good book, it's just not as In-Depth as I would have liked. If you know a good book like that please let me know.
  Anyway, have a good one and if you have any tips or tricks or just wanna chat hit me up a follow.the.journey.now@gmail.com

Monday, June 13, 2011

Where am I going?

      So with my new story idea I've started the same old problem as my last one. Where do I go from here? I'd hate to plot things out like I did in my first manuscript because that destroyed the whole thing for me. At the same time though I don't exactly know what I'm doing here. I've got characters, and motives and little things that happen along the way, I just don't know the big idea, the central conflict.       It seems like I'm getting lost again and I'm to scared to go forward or backward or any way at all. I'm still sure that's what killed my last project and I'm worried that fear is about to kill this one too. Is it OK if I keep going with a story when I don't know what it's going to be about? Or should I sit down and brainstorm and plan conflict?
     There are a lot of differences with this project and my last one. My last one I did on the computer. This one I'm writing it all out in pencil on the back of my old manuscript and it's in first person instead of third. I've seen a lot of successful books written in first and I've just never tried it. I'm not really sure how I'm doing with it but I guess we'll see. I'm wondering if I should switch POV characters like Kathryn Sockett did in "The Help" but I'm just not sure how to go about doing it.
    On a side note can I just say "The Help" is an amazing freaking book. I really hate bandwagon books but I read this and oh my freaking goodness. I judge good books on if I could see myself writing them and I could never see myself writing something this dense and awesome. You should read this, like right now.

Friday, June 10, 2011

What's This?

       I feel like Jack when he's discovering Christmas land in "The Nightmare before Christmas" I just started writing on what ever paper I could find when this Idea came into my head, then I continued writing for the next three hours. I'm not going to plan plot anymore than I have to make this like a discovery, I'll try and see where the characters take me. I think that was the I'm pumped. I think this is my outside force. We'll just have to see how far I can keep this up.
      I had plans to go to six flags today with some friends but the call of my new project is keeping me from the heat.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Something about This isn't Working

There's only one computer in my house. Well, actually five but only one works at the moment. So the only time I'm able to pry the computer from my bored little sister is Early in the mornings when she's not up. OK OK I know it's an excuse for why I haven't been meeting my word goal, but I don't know what else to do. Options 1) Stop whining and actually write or 2) keep whining.


The Other day I had a dream that would've made an amazing story. There was setting and amazing plot and well developed characters and emotion. Straight up awesome. Here's the problem, I woke up and tried to write everything down from it but I found I couldn't remember much. I felt really dumb because last night I tried reenacting how I went to bed the night before. I played the same music, I went to bed at the same time, heck I even wore the same clothes. I wanted to relive that dream, get a chance to remember it. That dream was motivation.

So you're going to laugh at me but I think I found a muse for me. My dad, uncle, grandfather, and brother were/are all Marines. When I'm older I plan on joining myself, so I've started running to Marine Cadences. It's really easy to write to these because they're rhythmic and they talk about Motivation, Dedication and Determination, all the the kind of drone of running footsteps. Try listening to a cadence, then imagine hearing that for thirty minuets straight...It's Awesome.

Instead of writing I've started these little projects to avoid actually doing what I need to. For example Today I plan to paint our kitchen cabinets with my mom, tomorrow I'm going to 6 flags, then the day after that I'm cleaning out my closet. I've also started caring about my health more. I've started running in the mornings with my dad. Mainly it's so I wake up in the mornings and don't sleep all day but I'll count that as one of my excuses.

I'm going to start this thinking I read to help increase production. You're suppose to write down every excuse you can think of the instant it pop into your head, then write down all the reasons why I need, want and have to write. The idea is to trump the excuse with reasoning. We'll see how it goes.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Blogging is Easy



I really like blogging, it's like keeping a journal. I don't really have to think much and I can do it in the few minuets between coffee brakes. I really wish my writing could be like this, having fun with it. In December I was writing for fun. I didn't have a schedule, or a checklist, or anything to make me do it. I just did it because it was fun. I'm starting to question where that fun went. It's like I've been worrying about when and how and where I'm going to write but I haven't been doing much of it. It kinda seems like the only way I'll actually do it is if I make a check list, and make sure I do it, like a habit I have to develop. I'm just hoping the fun will come back before long.



An object at rest stays at rest unless an outside force acts upon it. I need an outside force.

Monday, June 6, 2011

First day Horray!



I woke up around 6:30 this morning, ran with dad, had some coffee and took my dog (Chloe) on a walk. I won't say I'm excited or anxious to get writing after having not done it in so long, but I might feel differently after I start. Tomorrow I'm going to six flags and a baseball game with some friends and Wednesday I've got work noon to four.



It's going to be hard staying on track, I've looked things up called muses and I'm still really confused as to what they are. I know about the nine muses from Greek mythology (Thank you 9th grade English) but I'm not sure exactly what they are and how to pick one for me. Could someone please explain or recommend a book or something?

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Schedule as Follows...

So here is my summer schedule! Obviously if I work things will be shifted around by importance but on the days I don't work I'll be golden. I'm really resolving to sticking to this.

6:00 am wake up, with no alarm because I'll actually go to bed early. Brush teeth, shower, get dressed (including shoes). I don't know what it is but having shoes on makes me think it's time to work.
7:00 breakfast with my normal multivitamin and junk. (real breakfast, not just granola bar or something)
8:00 Make a daily To Do list, daily goal list and keep it on hand so I stay on task.
8:30 Start writing toward Novel, that's with no getting up for more coffee, no I'll just take a ten minute break or anything, this must be solid writing.
11:00 Quick little snack while I write, something healthy nuts that I'll probably keep close to my desk or bed or where ever I decide to write.
11:30 Take a walk with the dog (I say three hours of writing because that's what I can normally do without becoming totally brain dead before a break)
12:00 BoldRead over what I've written and NO EDITING
12:30 Lunch, Maybe something healthy
1:00 Head to the gym for a 30 min workout on the good old elliptical machine
2:00 run any errands, if none back home for some reading.
3:30 snack it up
4:00 work on some reviews for inkpop or blog posts or some kind of writing not related to my novel
6:00ish dinner with the fam, little TV, texting, calling, reading what ever to chill
9:00 shower clean up a bit and get ready for bed.
10:00 I had better be asleep.

cool.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Ugh.

I know it's just starting to sound like I'm whining, but school jut needs to be over! My schedule is worked out and It's actually pretty realistic. I really really am just waiting til I get my own computer and I start driving because that is going to be amazing. I won't waste your time with my complaints so I'll keep it short.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

I should really send ya'll a gift or something.

I know I know I know I've been a terrible blog host. This was the next to last week of school and all I'm thinking about honestly is finals, next year's schedule, and how in the world I'm going to finish everything I have to do by the time it needs to be done. I'm seriously burned out on everything. This Monday will be my first actual day off where I didn't have to go to work or school or something like that that and that's when I plan to plan (goodness I sound like my mom) how my schedule will go for summer. I'd like to be up early because I've been told the best things are written in the morning, and honestly I'm a morning person when I get enough sleep.
Today I wen to to library and pulled four really good looking books, I need to finish the two I'm on now before I start those but my dad offered to take me and I've learned to never turn down a trip to the library. I got this flier thing and my central library is hosting two creative writing classes for teens this summer and I DEFIANTLY plan on going to those, which happen to be during a German immersion camp I'll be doing. Luckily all this is after my birthday so I'll be able to drive myself. I'm kinda liking this independence idea, not having to sit around or ask if I can go somewhere or anything like that. I also like having my own money because I always felt bad asking my parents because sometimes they wouldn't seen the need in my asking. I can already tell this is going to be an amazing summer, I just need to make sure I don't ignore my friends to much and come back next year with all my friends hating me.
Tangent: I broke my phone today. I dropped it on the tile while I was trying to flip an egg without a spatula like they do on iron chef. The screen is shattered and little pieces of glass came off when I pulled the protective screen from it. Looks like that's $50 I'll have to pay. I really don't like spending money.