Sunday, December 4, 2011

Happy Holidays

You know how I said that I was going to NaNoWriMo this year? Yeah, that didn't happen because I got sick the first week. If you fall behind the first week...well... :/

I'm going to just make an attempt to continue dabbling at my project for a bit. I'll see where it takes me.

This is a tiny, short, not so fun update. Mostly it's just me reminding myself of my failure to NaNoWriMo this year- it helps to have these kinds of goals and failures in writing somewhere because it serves as a reminder to myself how I need to stick to my goals and make time to write if I am serious about improving my writing skills.

A side note: I started listening to Christmas music right after Halloween. As in November 1. When most stores are just starting to put up their Christmas stuff. I know some people say it's too early and some folks are with me. I'm curious as to why that is. Most of the naysayers say that it's because Thanksgiving hasn't even come around yet. To me, Christmas music is more than just about Christmas. It's about the holidays. And the holiday season really starts right after Halloween when the harvest season is coming to a close, everyone is using up those last few apples to make apple pies and turnovers and streudels, and the hot chocolate and peppermints come out.

The thing about waiting for Thanksgiving is that Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of the month, which is usually the last Thursday of November. Suddenly it's December with lots of frantic Christmas shopping, purchasing of boxes to mail packages to loved ones who are out of state or country, and everyone is listening to Christmas music nonstop to get their fill. I don't like to rush the holidays. I want to remember each cold morning, every pot of mulled wine or cider, each bowl of stew and chili and warm cookies and pastries out of the oven.

What it all boils down to is that YEAH, I like Christmas music. I listen to it early because I enjoy it. I listen to it early because I love the holidays and I don't mind starting that holiday feeling earlier than everyone else. If you don't mind waiting until December to start listening then that's fine. But don't expect me to do the same.

Happy Holidays

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

NaNoWriMo

I've decided to do it. I've completed NaNoWriMo plenty of times before and I think I'm going to use this story that I've been working on right now as my NaNo plot. I know you need to use a new original work, which is why I'm going to start from SCRATCH when I start NaNo. And I think it's somewhere in the rules that you can use a WIP or a previous idea if you've "won" NaNo before.

Anyways, I'll be blogging about that during this upcoming month. Mostly so that I can go back and read up on the crazy that was me during that month.

In other random news, I've been slowly getting through Doctor Who. I am currently on season 3. It's fun but not quite as addictive as I had hoped. I've been watching Buffy from the beginning this week and got through all of season 1 over the weekend and started season 2.

Anyways, enough of this rambling. Back to work.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The holidays are coming!

In the time between my last post and now, I moved into a new apartment and started a new job. That means there is very little time for fun things like writing because I have to go furniture shopping and grocery shopping, and I keep thinking of things that I need to buy.

Now that I've settled into my new place I am hoping to be able to find more time to write. I managed a little bit of writing today. Well, I rewrote part of what I already had and I'm added some new stuff. I try very hard to not go back and rewrite but sometimes I just need to go back and redo it so that I can keep my head straight with the rest of the story. But I have made progress and added new content. My goal is to finish chapter one and move on to chapter two by the end of this week. We shall see how that goes!

In other news, I visited the countryside last week with two good friends of mine. This time of year is apple picking season and a lot of the farms in this particular area open up their orchards and berry patches for people to come and pick their own apples. Their stores are open year round and there are all sorts of really fun, quaint items in these shops. All of them have the staples: apples, mulling spices, and cider. I got a beautiful set of measuring teaspoons for my mom and am going to go back to get a gorgeous hand crocheted scarf from one of the vendors. My friends and I enjoyed a delicious, hearty lunch and we topped it off with a slice of the traditional apple pie with a huge scoop of ice cream.

My friends and I are going to go back sometime during the next few weeks, before the apple picking season is over. I want to get some fresh apple cider so that I can make spiced cider, I want some apples to make apple turnovers and pies with, and I want to go and just enjoy the fall season and the cooler weather. There's a candy shop we missed the last time we went so I'll definitely be making a point to stop there. And there is a bbq joint I want to try.

The first day of fall was Friday. It's officially the beginning of the holiday season and I have already begun lighting my scented candles and soon I will begin cooking up harvest foods and cold weather comfort foods!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Chapter 1

I wrote 769 words today. It's not a lot, but it is a definite start. And look, I'm even blogging!

Chapter One started in a somewhat unexpected place today. This particular idea falls into the YA Urban Fantasy genre. My intention was to have the first chapter start with an introduction of our protagonist opening her locker at school. Then I did something that I felt stupid about. And I took that something and used it as the beginning of my story. I'm a little anxious as this is not how I planned it to start but at the same time I'm glad I started it differently than how I had planned. I have just now realized that a lot of YA novels start with the main character at their locker at school at a random time period during their day. Probably because it's practically a blank slate- easy enough to start a story from that point if you have no idea where it should start, and you can build and create your story from that blank slate.

Unfortunately, this weekend is going to put a bit of a damper on my writing plans as I am going to be traveling. But I don't need internet to type on a word document so maybe I'll find a quiet corner during some spare time and pound out a thousand words or so.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Beginning

I was driving home from the supermarket and had a lightbulb story idea. That's one of those ideas that just pop into your head all at once.

I got home, put away the groceries, and sat down and typed out notes and fleshed out the story plot and the main character. I have not been this excited about an idea in a LONG time. In fact, I haven't written anything since NaNoWriMo 2009. So I am really happy that I've had an idea for a writing project that I am excited about.

That is why I am going to start blogging again. I am going to make myself write regularly and blogging is one way of helping me keep to a schedule. I think writing daily is a bit of a stretch, but I can try blogging a few times a week and make myself write on this story on the days that I don't blog.

Hopefully this is going to work out and I REALLY hope that this excitement is going to rekindle my love for writing.