50k, Finally!

And, I am done too!!

I want to be clear, though. Technically, I finished my novel before Twin did hers. I just... didn't hit 50k. I got about 47k, so I have been struggling to get that up to 50k for the past few days by beefing up stuff.

Finally I gave up and just wrote two scenes from the possible Book 2 to finish off the last 2k that hated my guts.

I'm so excited to be done. My story is crazy awful (This was me, trying to go through and beef scenes: O_O This is terrible. This is terrible. Oooh, that's not so... nevermind, that's painful too. I wrote this?!), but that's okay, because I still love it. And now that I've spent a month writing it, I get to spend the next few months editing! Oh goodie! Um. Sorta?

Regardless. I'm happy. Plus, I get normality back now that the Thanksgiving holiday is over. I mean, I love my family to death, I truly do, but there are...so many of them. O_o

AND I can knit again! Well. Without feeling guilty that I'm knitting instead of writing. *cough*

I hope you all have as wonderful a day as I'm having! <3

Twin Moment of the Day: We both hate the little (1) that pops up when there are new messages in our gmail inboxes. Though, for me, it's more like, (29). >.>

On my Mind: Singing "I'm done, I'm done, oh yeah, I'm done!" to a little tune in my head.

Listening to: "Take Me As I Am" by Heather Dale

Grateful for: Being DONE. And the peace and quiet that follows the storm that most classify as "family". (I do love them, really!)

Wanting to: Sleep. Forever.

Writing: Nothing. Defiance sits, waiting for editing, at a lovely 48k!

Finished My NaNo Novel!

Well, it's official! I'm done with Draft 1 of my NaNoWriMo novel. I feel a little giddy, very much relieved, and also like throwing the novel out the window. (It's okay. It'll pass. This is normal for me!)

It's "complete" at 58,316 words! That's bound to change as soon as I get my hands on it.

Now all we have to do is wait for Constance to finish. Don't mind if I have some leftover Thanksgiving pie while I wait.

Best Part of Today: Finishing my NaNo novel. (Or the leftovers!)
Currently Craving: Pie.
Music Pick: "Cheek to Cheek" by Ella Fitzgerald
I'm Reading: Taking a break before the next Nasty Reading Assignment.

WIP: To Save Them (58,316 words)

Best Quiz Question Ever (& Other Random Things)

"The Visible Spectrum"

Wow. Long title there!

Today I had the Best Quiz Question Ever. I kid you not, it was as follows:

What are the colors of the rainbow?


Yes. It pretty much made my morning. I love colors, and I love getting easy credit for listing them. (Okay, there was a point to it. I promise.)

As for the Other Random Things, first and foremost tomorrow is an Agent Chat! That's clickable to make it easy for you to register and join me there! (Hey, just doing my Write On! duties by letting you know. Plus it's going to be awesome.)

Also, I'm about 4k away from being halfway done with my NaNo novel. And it's only the 10th! Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?

I'm still totally eating Taryn's dust.

Last but not least, I HAVE CHOCOLATE. Chocolate chips, for the win! What? Don't you eat chocolate chips straight out of the bag?

(If the answer isn't yes to that, it needs to be! Trust me, it's delish.)

The purpose of this post, aside from simply updating you about the exciting things in my life, is to offer you a picture of a rainbow as an apology, for the lack of blogging lately. I promise, I'll be back to substantial posts-with-points soon. It's been a bit crazy since NaNo started, and somehow blogging got pushed to the bottom of my list!

Heck, I even forgot to post my From The Trenches on Write On!. I'm gonna have to sneak mine in after Taryn's. (So sorry, Authoress!)

Hope you're all enjoying your Thursdays!

Best Part of Today: Chocolate. My mommy loves me!
Currently Craving: PINEAPPLE. (I'm so predictable.)
Music Pick: "Feeling Good" by Michael Buble
I'm Reading: "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater 

WIP: To Save Them (21,658 words)

NaNo Check-In #1

We're on Day 4 of NaNoWriMo '11, and I think it's safe to say, just getting started. Here are updates from the desks of the both of us! Enjoy! And please, do share in the comments how you're doing so far.

MAGGIE-

So far, so good! Actually, I had a bit of a rough day today. It was all good for the first 3 days -- a kind of honeymoon period because I was still fueled by excitement -- and then I hit my first wall. None of my subplots were interesting enough to carry the story forward successfully. RED ALERT!

Now, I know what you're thinking. NaNo is all about quantity, not quality! Which is true. This ain't quality stuff I'm writing. But I do need a story if I ever want to hit 50k. After an unsuccessful walk with my sister to try to coax my brain into Brilliant Idea Mode, the solution finally came to me whilst I was boiling a pot of water. Figures.

I'm excited to see where this takes me. 

CONSTANCE-

Day 1 was awesome! Day 2...Well, let's just say I kinda sorta didn't get any writing done. Ahem. Day 3 saw me trying––and failing––to catch back up. Today, though, has been wonderful! I've already hit my quota, and I'm well on my way to getting back up to where I'm supposed to be.

And man, I am LOVING my story. I spent a month thinking about the characters for this, and how'd they'd interact, and worldbuilding, so now that I'm actually writing, it's just so... easy. I don't have to think about how things should be, aside from a few almost-uses of modern phrases that just wouldn't fit in a fantasy. Even on the slower scenes, I'm enjoying writing it. I hope it stays like this the whole time!

Happy writing, y'all. :)

Tomorrow is NaNo!

Well, tomorrow's a big day! Tomorrow, it all begins.

As you all know, I haven't written anything since my big revisions on Blink. And now suddenly I'm faced with a month of pretty much nonstop writing-- unless, of course, I manage to finish To Save Them before deadline. 

In any case, I wanted to throw out a couple links to you guys just to make sure we're all plugged in. "All" being fellow participants.

I'll be tweeting here throughout. Half of them probably won't make sense, but the other half will be at NaNo buddies. We're all going to hold each other accountable and keep each other sane. Well, partially sane.

I'll also be hanging out here, in the Write On! support group. (You need to be a teen to do this)

My NaNoWriMo profile is located here, and please don't hesitate to add me as a buddy. (You do not need to be a teen to do this.) 

To those of you who will be with me, good luck! I believe in you all. You're totally going to rock.

Happy writing!

Best Part of Today: Umm. Jazz?
Currently Craving: Hot chocolate. (Or ice cream is fine. Chocolate, please.)
Music Pick: "Feeling Good" by Michael Buble
I'm Reading: "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater + "Beowolf"

WIP: To Save Them (NaNo novel -- not started yet)

Timed Writing

So, today has been a full day for me. I started by waking up late, and nearly DIED, since today is Midterms Day for two classes. O_O But I made it to both, and I think I did pretty good. Following that up with being almost done with reading an MS someone sent me (not to mention the knitting I shall do tonight), today's a day of Things Getting Done!

Buuuut anyway. Someone should poke me when I start getting sidetracked. *pokes self*

My second midterm was for English, and we had to write a timed essay. It made me think of NaNo (also "timed", for those that have been living under rocks like the guys from that Geico commercial).

What is so magical about timed writing, eh? It's used frequently in our society, for both happy reasons (NANO!!!!!!!!!!!!) and tests (...midterms...). I see where both are coming from; for NaNo, you hope the tight deadline will produce results, despite their probable crappiness. For tests, the prof is hoping a deadline will force you to use your brain, and that such a test will show your level of... something. Okay, so maybe I don't get it in the test case.

Ahem. But what I do get is this: the two different uses of the same method have the same magical non-fail solution! And that is...? Come on, guys, say it with me! Yup. Pre-prep. Doing as much as you can beforehand so you spend less time later staring blankly at the page. What does this involve? Outlining. In fiction's case, world/character/plot building. In essays, thinking your thesis statement and all your arguments through till they're as tough as nails. You do whatever you can to be as ready as possible to start throwing your words on the page, to form thoughts and pictures, when the timer starts.

Can you think of any other instances where you've had to do timed writing? How about what you do to prep for such a task? Hope y'all are having a fantastic fall in your part of the world. ^_^

Twin Moment of the Day: We loves us some Dad time.

On my Mind: The MS I'm reading. I almost missed my midterm because I lost track while reading it. >.>

Listening to: "Suddenly" by Bo-Kyung Kim. Seriously, I have this song on repeat I love it so much.

Grateful for: No more midterms!

Wanting to: Do many things, like knit, read, or go poke a random stranger.

Writing: Selfish [on hold for NaNo prep]

Gearing Up for NaNo!

I'd be happy to share my photo. Just don't steal it.

This November will be my first time participating in NaNoWriMo. I know, it's crazy. But in my defense, I didn't really step into the online writing sphere until early February this year, so I never heard tell of it 'till then.

I'm totally game, and I fully expect to meet (and possibly surpass) the 50k mark. In other words, finish a novel. It might be a little crazy, being the school year and all, and with Thanksgiving and relatives visiting, but I'm going to do it. Even if it's midnight and I'm exhausted, I'll be getting words in every day.

I already have my story beated out ("beated" meaning "beat-sheet-ed" -- if you don't know what I mean by a "beat sheet" please ask! I want to share the love!) and, while it might be a bit hard to let go of my revisions/WIP, I think it'll be fun to write!

Also, just as a side note, my wonderful, kind, attentive, loving (I could go on!) mother bought me chocolate today. Boy have I needed this!

The picture is just to make you jealous.

On that note, I'll leave you with a fill out and some questions: Are you doing NaNo? Have you before? Won or no? What are some pointers you can offer to a newbie?

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday!

Best Part of Today: CHOCOLATE!
Currently Craving: Tea. 
Music Pick: "Something To Talk About" by Badly Drawn Boy
I'm Reading: "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens 

WIP: Fire [on hold!] (11,261 words) + Blink Revisions (Chapter 19/23)