So, I'm branching out a little bit and trying to post a bit more often.
I keep planning to write more, but somehow I get overwhelmed with what I want to write and sitting down and writing it so that I can post.
Well, I went and met some new people last month, people in my area from a larger group that author/speaker Jon Acuff started. We talked about our dreams and our goals, and though blogging wasn't my goal for the month, it came up in the conversation. I admitted I hardly ever blog.
They told me I should be blogging every day, even just a little bit.
They're right.
I made it again this year! My seventh NaNoWriMo, my third win (simply writing 50,000 words for those that are unfamiliar with how one wins National Novel Writing Month).
I really didn't think I'd make it this year. With moving and trying to finish a project right at the end of October, I didn't really get to plan ahead on my story. To tell the truth, I never plan as much as I would like to, but this year I hadn't even decided for certain on which story. Also, usually I get extra word count while I'm at women's retreat, but since it started on the first, I hadn't gotten into any groove yet to use my extra free time wisely.
So, that is how it ended up that I wrote on 13 different stories- mostly old stories and a few new stories that popped into my mind, whatever got the words written until I decided what I wanted to work on the most... which I never really decided. Here's a list of the stories I worked on, a description, and their word counts. (Titles in quotations are just what I call them so I know which story I'm talking about, not real titles.)
(words that don't go to a particular story) 27
Evil Ilva (2007's Nano) fairy tale- 3048
Quiet the Voices (2008's Nano) scifi- 864
"Roses" (2009's Nano) fantasy adventure- 269
Miss Nary (2010's Nano) Christian romance- 359
"Prism" (2011's Nano) fantasy- 566
Eventually trilogy (2012's Nano) fantasy- 5347
"Gaelisha" (random old story barely written on) time travel- 100
When You Wish Upon A Rock Star (story someone told me to write a long time ago) romance- 444
"Mad" (random old story barely written on) spy? romance- 16352
The Enchanted Widow and the Insignificant Other (new story) fantasy/scifi 10447
I haven't gone through to see if there are any excepts worth posting this year, but if you want to read some of the previous years: Posts #44 and #46 for Eventually, #27 for Quiet the Voices and #23 for Evil Ilva, or visit http://nanowrimo.org/participants/esthella/novels for excerpts and descriptions of all of my previous Nano-novels except Evil Ilva (for some reason it only gives the option to list the novels back to 2008 and I started in 2007).
This year was more of a rebel win, and I can hardly believe I actually made it. I somehow wrote 7500 words on the last day. I am pretty sure I've never written that much at once before. For some people the words pour out, for me they are a fight. I never would have made if I was at home the last day, but I spent the afternoon at the library with others from my region. The word wars there and on facebook were all that kept those words coming out.
To be honest, I hardly feel like I won. There isn't the same excitement with a million different stories, it isn't as gratifying. I have hopes for those stories still, but I can't look at them the same as previous years and feel like I halfway completed a book. I don't know if it's my lack of excitement that means others aren't quite as excited for me, or that I just didn't have as many friends who seemed to notice or care that made me less excited also.
Still, each year it seems a little easier to write that many words.
So, I'm trying Camp NaNoWrimo this April. I started to try it one other year but wasn't in to my story enough to really work at it, but I've a story to write this time.
I'm so forgetful, I realized that I never told you I won NaNoWriMo back in November (that is, I reached over 50,000 words, yay!) It's hard for me to write that much, I'm not a wordy person, and that makes it even more satisfying to reach the goal.
However, by the end of November I realized that my story wanted to be a trilogy... and that the story I was writing was actually the second, at least chronologically.
So, this month I'm working on the prequel so that I can figure out some motivations of secondary characters in order to be able to finish Eventually. I'm still thinking that if I ever finish the stories I'll publish Eventually first. If I do the prequel first it gives away too much of the secondary characters past, plus the main characters in the prequel and sequel are different than in Eventually.
One of the nice things about Camp is that we can now choose our own goals. 50,000 is much too high for me to aim for more than once a year, so I went with 30,000. Still a high goal for me, in fact I'm behind by about 5000 words at the moment, but I caught up a lot from how behind I was earlier today.
So, I thought I'd give you a bonus scene from Eventually. This happens about a third of the way through the story:
~*~
The pirate captain was leaning off the bow of his ship, watching them carefully. Evan felt his presence before he saw him, but was startled anyway when he realized that a huge ship had appeared out of nowhere. He held tightly to Adelaide’s arm which caused her to start. She began to ask what was wrong, but as Evan began to reassure her that all was well, the pirate spoke.
“Ahoy there ye landlubbers! How fares the lady fair?”
It's November again... which means I'm so busy writing (Yay NaNoWriMo!) that I don't get anything I should done... even if I'm behind on my word count. Sadly, yes, I'm behind this year, however I'm over 30,000 which is better than I've done any other year except when I won two years ago. I still have hope of winning (if only I would focus...). Because I'm so nice, I'll give you a small excerpt from my story... I'm thinking this might be the prologue. If it isn't, it's a flashback scene. The Evan in this part, at about age 6, is the main character for a story I'm calling Eventually and this scene hints toward why.
~*~
“He’s a cute kid, ain't he ma?”
Evan stood, face pressed against the glass of the taffy shop, eyes open wide and mouth pressed, open, against the glass, as if any second someone would pop a piece of candy in, he was ready.
Our church is in the process of updating their picture directory. No big deal. However, along with the picture and address they ask what your hobbies are. Which led to me posting this on Facebook:
"Tried to figure out my hobbies for the new church picture directory. Went with the simple boring ones, because the "interesting" ones would make me sound more interesting, or at least weirder, than I actually am."
Of course people then asked what those "interesting" hobbies are, which I knew someone probably would. I figured I'd give a simple answer, but then the more I thought about it, the more I felt the need to explain everything. It's silly. But, also too long for a Facebook post.
Now, nobody on Facebook seemed to care what I actually put (my "boring" hobbies). It's the same thing I put in the last picture directory.
Not actually boring to do (most of the time, in my opinion anyway), but a bit boring sounding. They could be elaborated on to make them appear more interesting. (Well, there wasn't a whole lot of room on the form, but assuming we have a whole page to ourselves as in the past, I could have added more on the back.)
Examples I could have put: For writing- Nanowrimo. Or that I prefer to write and read fiction. Or that I usually draw on paper with a pencil, paint with acrylics, draw on myself and write on paper with a pen.
So, to my hobbies- some of these my blog knows about, some my friends, some maybe just my mom.
*I have three different handwriting styles, though I generally write in my normal sloppy one.
My handwriting. Not so oddly, when I'm not being sloppy, the print does sometimes resemble my mom's.
I consider this Jil's handwriting, just because I have to label it something. It tends to be rounder and neater.
One of my old coworker's called this my serial killer handwriting.
I also have a specific calligraphy font I combined together. (Which I used when addressing my sister's wedding invitations.)
Don't have a calligraphy pen with me, it'd look cooler that way.
*I watch Kdramas. I started mid-May last year and have watched around 30 so far. (For those who worry, Korean TV shows are usually about 16-20 episodes and don't come back the next year. Plus, I'm not quite as addicted as I used to be.) There's quite a few on Hulu, but I usually watch them on DramaFever.
I like watching TV or movies with subtitles on, even if the show is in English. I hate to miss anything.
*Ealon. I have my own code language. It's been in process since around 5th grade. I added a second layer of rules in college to make it a bit harder. I write notes in it all the time, most of the time in cursive, but I have a ... font... for it too.
Ealon
The name of the code doesn't actually mean anything in the code , but to explain it would give a hint to uncoding things.
*As the friend taking the photos for the directory put it when we were talking about what to write down- "How about "body art?" I'm sure that would make people wonder. No, I'm not into tattoos and piercings.
I usually call it a bad habit, but I draw on myself when my hands get bored. Most often designs like the flower/snowflake at the top of the blog. [Edit: removed, maybe I'll add it here later] Other times flowers like in this picture.
Either that or I scribble on paper. It feels very satisfying until the end when I realize there is still no picture. :(
That's it for the big strange ones, but here's a few that are more random, less common, more habit than hobby:
*Not so often anymore, but especially back in high school I'd make up clothing designs from things I found in the room. (I'm housesitting, but maybe I'll add a pic when I get back home.)
*I make up pie recipes. Sadly, I kind of just throw ingredients together, so I can't ever make them exactly the same again. (And I much prefer baking over cooking.)
Raspberry Lemonade Frozen Pie for Easter
*I used to walk in circles around the college quad when I got bored. Most of my exercise is still walking. I miss having a good place to walk in circles.
*My fingers have a left over habit of finger-spelling everything from when I took ASL. I'll find myself finger-spelling to songs in church, conversations I'm listening to, and even sometimes with the subtitles on kdramas. I'm most likely to sign along to songs while I'm driving, but I don't know enough words. (If I was any good at conversations I'd probably learn more ASL. Actually, I'd probably learn more languages. They're interesting. But what's the use in learning them if I'm not going to use them anyway?")
*Now that I finally have a camera again, photography is fun.
A picture!
Of a squirrel, at the park, if you couldn't figure that out.
*Occasionally, I'll crochet, knit, or sew something.
*I wrote lots of song lyrics while vacuuming in college. I'd just sing to myself and if I caught a line I liked, I'd sing it over and over 'til I could write it down. It's kind of weird to have songs you made up yourself stuck in your head.
*I like cataloging my books. I usually keep my books in alphabetical order (sometimes divided by type, depending on how my bookshelves are arranged that the moment.) I tried to keep a card file of all the books I had while growing up; it didn't work as well as I wanted. Now days I use LibraryThing. You can see what books I own (and some I've read) here.
I think part of what makes one feel boring, in spite of such "interesting" hobbies, is not sharing them with anyone.
I mean, nobody really wants to hear about my favorite Kdramas and I'm not opinionated enough to say which books I like best and why. And, as you may have noticed, all of my hobbies can be done by myself.
If only I could get paid for writing notes only I can read or for scribbling...
Anyhow, for those who haven't noticed yet, I have a blog just to prove how uninteresting I really am by trying to point out the "interesting" parts of me. Maybe I'm afraid people will expect me to be interesting all of the time if I show I might actually be interesting some of the time.
I'm thankful people don't usually think I'm as boring as I feel I am
What are your hobbies and which ones do you normally not tell people about because they are hard to explain or you worry people will think you're strange?
Well, I guess we've verified that I'm no good at blogging... and things have actually happened this fall that I could have blogged about. Like the college group's camping trip that I just barely got to go on. Or that my sister got married (Congratulations!!). Let's see... what else... Dad got laid off, my brother finished college and is looking for a job, my Mom is working with a new teacher. Awana and Bible study (this year we're studying Acts) have started up again. And I'm now addicted to Korean dramas. And maybe I'll practice being a blogger and tell you all about these things... we'll see.
But, all in all, I am still pretty much boring.
However, Nanowrimo has started again! Apparently I never did come back and tell you that I actually won last year! That makes this year a little more exciting, if I won once I can do it again, right? I am less certain about the story I ended up choosing this year. It stalled in the past (yes, I do usually end up writing a story I started long ago, however I rarely have more than five pages written) because I couldn't figure out why the main character left... and therefore, more important to the story, why he goes back.
So, there you go... I am still alive after all.
I am very happy that this year I have managed to pretty much double 2008's word count, and it won't be long before I double 2009 and 2007's wordcounts. I don't know if I can pass 50000 before the end of the month, but it is currently within the realm of possibility. Of course, as with many wrimos, that doesn't mean my story will be worth reading when I finish, but that I actually "finish" a story, well, that would be amazing. I am currently just over 21000, so if I want to finish I had better get back to work.
So, I only got to 10687 words, which is of course even worse than last year... ah well. I still haven't figured out what happens in the last half of this story.
I titled the story Quiet the Voices. Here's a summary (although what I've written for the story doesn't quite match what I wrote for the summary, it gives you an idea of where the story was going.)
--- Almichaeli's college professor and mentor has come to him with a problem. In his research to destroy the segregation between those with 'voices' and those without, he has removed the 'voices' from his own mind. Mike attempts to keep Bob from slipping into the typical (non-voice) depression and drugs while he and Tasha attempt to continue Bob's research, despite being watched by the government.
And here are two of my better scenes (one is currently at the beginning, the other about halfway through.):
It was cold that night, Tasha had walked the four blocks to work like normal and now she was wishing she had not. Home might be close, just around the corner, but her thin brown jacket did not keep the wind from getting under her skin.
"Hey, Tasha!"
She stopped, startled, and turned to face the voice. Her neighbor, Sid, sat in his fancy black car with his fancy black suit and pulled his fancy black briefcase off of the seat beside him.
"Here, let me give you a ride. You look like you are about to be blown back to where you started."
"Thanks!" She shivered.Her reliable white nurse shoes crunched over the leaves as she stepped off the curb and walked around.
"I cannot believe how fast fall is flying by. This jacket is not near heavy enough."
"Do you really think it is safe to be walking this late at night?"
"Well…"
"I mean, I assume you may have chosen this neighborhood, like I did, for it is safety record, however, a young woman such as yourself really should not walk alone after dark. That is my view in any case." He smiled kindly, indicating he was not considering her dumb for doing what he would not advise. His shiny white teeth annoyed her however. Sid was just too polished.
"I agree really. One day you have plenty of time to get home before it is too dark and the next it was too dark hours ago. I need to start driving. It is such a waste of gas for such a short distance."
~*~
"Dr. McGee."
"Ms. Ralt."
"What brings you here today? Another conspiracy theory?"
Idan bit his tongue. He had once tried to tell Ms. Ralt a story, when he was really nervous and not thinking clearly obviously. This had backfired into the closest thing to a joke Ms. Ralt ever said. The story was meant to be funny, playing on the fact that in this job it was rather plain to see that most conspiracy theories were based on truth.
"Not today Ms. Ralt. Today I have information on a couple people losing their voices, and the fact that one does not seem to be affected."
"That's nonsense!"
"You remember Sidney Burnell."
"Ah yes, the idiot that cannot drive. It is such a waste of money to fix such people. Why cannot they just crash and die?" She paused. "So, it cannot be him. There would be no need to fix him if he were not affected."
"No... it is his neighbor who was in the car with him at the time."
"Wait, let me look this up in his records.
"Ms. Ralt snapped her fingers outside her door and a small squinty-eyed man rushed over from his cubicle.
"I need the employee record for Mr. Sidney Burnell. Yesterday."
"Yes Ms. Ralt." Away he rushed.
"Dr. McGee." She turned back his direction and inwardly he cringed. "How did you come across this information?"
"Mr. Burnell called me a few months ago and told me he was having a few problems adjusting still, and felt there was things that he needed to talk over with someone. I did inform him that if I felt he had something to discuss he would rather the government not know, he should not come to me because I was required to pass the information on. He did not feel it would be an issue. I'm not sure why he felt that, because I do feel slightly uncomfortable with passing this information on."
"But you believe it to be important?"
"Yes, I do. The reason I find it more important has to do with a report from the mental hospital. This same neighbor has changed jobs to this facility, especially to care for a Dr. Robert Gibbs, Professor of Psychology at the state university. Have you read of him recently?"
Ms. Ralt pursed her lips. "No, should I have?"
"I think you would find it pertinant to the information I just passed on."
"All right. I suppose after I have refreshed my memory on these two men I will call you to explain in further detail why this is important to me."
"Good. I will be ready."
"Dismissed."
Idan quickly left the office, and leaned against the wall. His heart had been beating much too hard and it was a great relief to be out of there, even if just for a short while. He hoped he had made the right decision... but it was too late now if it was not.
So, I tried Nanowrimo last year as mentioned in my conversation with Marshall under post 19. I am trying again this November, unsure yet of my story so I won't tell what it is. I thought I'd give you a glimpse of last years story though. It's a fairy tale, mostly based on snow white with mish-mashed bits of others in it. Also, pardon my... (I forget what word I want.) the way I phrase things. I'm sure it's noticable in my blogs, but it's even more noticable in my unedited fiction. I don't speak that way so I don't know why I write that way. Also, I just randomly picked names, so... yeah.
I know there’s been many fairy tales, and some of them claim to be rightly true, but sometimes we can just tell they aren’t. I make no claims; you may judge for yourself if my tale is truth. It begins long ago in a land far, far away (as it must), and hopefully ends happily ever after, but I cannot give away the end before the full beginning.
Long ago in a land far away there ruled a beloved king and queen. If this is a surprise to you, remember that this tale might be quite old, and more oft than not, if the rulers are generally good and just, the wrongs will be forgotten and they will be remembered as beloved. So it was with King Bob and Queen Marilynn. The citizens of this small kingdom, which we shall call ___ (no sense telling where, else you figure whether this tale be truth or tall), have long forgotten the tragedy in favor of the beloved memory.
King Bob and Queen Marilyn wanted a child and after many years of waiting they had a daughter. As many kings and queens are to do throughout history, they avoided inviting the person they should have never skipped. The evil wizard The Great “peter”. He arrived before the party began, just barely, as you watched out the castle tower you could see the man pushing through the crowds on his horse. Just as he arrived, minutes ahead of the crowds, he forced the gates closed and rode into the throne room alone. “All hail the stupid king. Good morning madam.” He bowed. “Four leaf clovers and whimpering dogs! What are you doing in my castle!” “To curse the cursed, to bless myself, and all in all to rid the world of a grand family such as yourself. “Cursed to wander, cursed to roam, this place shall never again be your home. Your child, though small she be, will walk in circles for eternity.” So, though known only for a short time in this story, the king and queen were remembered with love. Their daughter the wizard locked in a tower. She shall enter our story again after a while...
A bit strange, eh? And kind of hard to see how snow white fits in. Any guesses? There are dwarves, woodsmen, mines, an evil queen, a magic mirror and a princess in a glass coffin. Promise. Not that you're likely to ever see any of it. :)
So, if anyone is reading this, you may be wondering why I really started a blog if I don't intend to tell people I have a blog. (See first post.) Well, I did tell one person, but as he's an online friend that doesn't really count. Well, most likely you don't care, but since it's my blog and there is probably nobody reading it, I can write about what I want. (You may be thankful I have to leave for work in 20 minutes.) I'm not really a blogger mostly because I can't write and think while online and on the computer. (I am copying something already written on paper, it's sad.) However, sometimes I'd like to get my thoughts out where people could read them. I just don't want the people I know to read them. You know what I mean? I guess I want the me- the real me and the me I want me to be to show- instead of the fake, apathetic me. Anyhow, reading a blog (by someone I don't know, linking from another blog of someone I don't know, linking from someone's sorta blog that I sorta know), well, she has some inspiring blogs and it made me feel like I should be writing one too. (of course, this is silly since I'm unlikely to blog anything inspiring or all that interesting) Or maybe it's the fact that I owe God (don't ask, I know there's no such thing as bargaining with God) and this could help fulfill it leans on my mind, but mostly I think I just want a place to alternate between showing off and being "real" with the chance of changing lives- without the people I know knowing I'm "not really me". It's ridiculous. What would I blog about? The everyday stuff? The life altering stuff that hasn't altered my life? That is, I have a tendency to be apathetic in most of my life, but I'm actually afraid to stop being so because then other people might realize how really apathetic I am. Ouch? Therefore, I guess the point of the blog is to make me express my opinions and thoughts, to be bolder in my beliefs and my goal is to carry this over in my actions and reactions. And if anyone read that and cares, yay. :) And if anyone doesn't, that shouldn't effect the results (if there are any.) Well, off to work go I. [sigh] Cya!
However, Nanowrimo has started again! Apparently I never did come back and tell you that I actually won last year! That makes this year a little more exciting, if I won once I can do it again, right? I am less certain about the story I ended up choosing this year. It stalled in the past (yes, I do usually end up writing a story I started long ago, however I rarely have more than five pages written) because I couldn't figure out why the main character left... and therefore, more important to the story, why he goes back.
