In which I put on the hat of televison producer, and steal from Sarah Dessen.

I have (no joke) been online all day, and done absolutely NOTHING worthwhile that matters in the real world. (Before you start, let me just say that a LOT of nail polish was involved. Yeah. THAT kind of worthlessnessism) I would LIKE to think that this is just one of those creative experience things, but who am I kidding? I’m NOT writing. Aaaaand as Mur Lafferty says, I should be. Ha. ANYWAY. I was stalking reading Sarah Dessen’s blog, and saw this post. If you don’t know who Sarah Dessen is, (what is WRONG WITH YOU?) she is an AMAZING author, living in Chapel Hill (NC. Keep up) and a self professed TV fan. I’m not quite up to her caliber (both in the ways of writing and televisionfandomania) (wow, I’m really into making up words tonight) (and parentheses SPAMMING) (no more caps lock for you) but I’d like to be some day. In the above linked-for-your-ease (hehe) blog update, she wrote:

Just watch: next, they'll make a show about aspiring authors. They'll call it By The Book: The Next Great Novelist, and gather together twenty people or whatever in a gorgeous loft with pretty laptops and too much coffee and let them just go at it while they try to write drafts and tackle various writing exercises. Witness the drama of writer's block as it happens! Watch pretty people turn ugly when responding to editorial letters! FEEL the drama as they rush to finish chapters and read them aloud to a judges' panel made up of Pat Conroy, Jennifer Weiner, and, say, a critic from either the New Yorker or the NYT.

I just read that TODAY, but have been plotting a writer’s reality show all week. I was thinking it would be ten writers, and each challenge takes up a week at a time… Obviously, a ten week challenge.

The first week, their challenge is simple: write (at least) 50,000 words of a NEW manuscript in seven days. That’s just over 7,000 words a day, which is actually kind of do-able. Of course, I can get 600ish words in half an hour, so maybe that’s just me.

The next challenge, is to edit that MS, and send out query letters to agents. Two-show immunity for anyone who signs.

That next few weeks, they have to write at least 30,000 words of a specific genre, which is where the guest judges (and author-visitor-mentors) come in! Okay, so during that time, part of the voting process (you know there HAS to be a voting process) is that the first chapter (or what is best believed to represent the novel) of each MS will be posted online, and WE THE VIEWERS get to vote on our favorite.

The winner will receive a one-book deal with a major publishing house. Their big break.  So what do YOU think? I know I want to watch it!

Thanks Sarah, for the “prompt” and I’m going to go procrastinate now. BYE!

I. AM. UPDATED!

What's this? Is that a review policy, updated iBeta page, and F.A.Q. section? Why yes it is! Some fun stuff is happening in YDEland, mostly involving successful revision; I'm still alive, so that's progress. I took the SAT and don't think I COMPLETELY bombed, my friend Gloria Tangerine and I are starting a local book club, my dad has a second interview for a job, I'm planning a college road trip for late July, and had toast for breakfast. Big thank you to Blue Lipstick Samurai, for bestowing me with "The Versatile Blogger" award; I'll have a full post listing those I'M giving the award to soon. What's new with you?

P.S. Congrats to Chris Ing, for winning the first part of my contest. Good luck to those still in the running!

Revision, a four letter word.

Check out this video I just made, about what I'm doing right now, in terms of my MS. Longer post later!

Heist Society by Ally Carter- a review.

Heist Society, by Ally Carter
Disney-Hyperion, 2010, 9781423116394
Ally Carter's website
Agent Kristin Nelson’s website, blog

My oh my, Ally Carter has done it again. As I mentioned in a tweet a few weeks ago, I was able to inhale all of her Gallagher Girls series (so far!) and I am now happy to say that Heist Society followed suit- I was NOT disappointed!

Heist seems to open like a GG novel; the main character is an intelligent teenager with spy-like abilities, a notorious family, and is set in a boarding school- but this time, main character Katerina (called Kat) is a thief, seeking normalcy and a life away from the “family business.” But by the end of the very first chapter, you know that Kat’s school year will not go according to plan. She is unwillingly conned out of school by her handsome, REALLY rich best friend/borderline boyfriend Hale, who has rather grim news: a famous mobster’s high-security, practically invaluable art collection has been stolen, and Kat’s father is the only suspect on his list. The problem is that her father denies stealing the collection, and has an alibi to prove it. Kat believes her father, but the mobster does not, and he gives Kat a mere two weeks to return his paintings, or else. Kat is forced to take upon herself the task of stealing the paintings back, aided only by a unique teenage crew and belief of her father’s innocence.

I was able to vividly picture each character, and want to know them personally. Oh, to dream! There were several mysteries intertwined throughout the story that kept the pace up, although the plot was strong, and didn’t require them; thus each mystery was another topping on this really good-looking and good-tasting sundae of a book. Heist Society will leave you begging for more, at the end of each chapter, and at the end of the novel, with some questions answered, but more still lingering dangerously in the air. Thank goodness Carter is writing a sequel!
I give it five out of five espressos! 

I realize that I suck. And the winner is...

No excuses, just a really busy week. The winner I have chosen for this round is... Joanne! I honestly want to read ALL of the entries, but this is the one I've chosen for right now. BUT- the other three entries are still in the running, and on June 15th, I'll close the comments, but open a POLL for you, the readers, to vote on a second winner. Good luck, everyone!

iBeta part one- OVER!

I will be choosing someone June 1st (today), because I'll have a bit more time on my hands. Thank you to anyone who entered this first part, and good luck to anyone who enters the second! (All unselected entries are left, and are still in the running- no need to re-post)

Thanks again!

Molly

Getting ready to go up to the House floor- I'm the dias!

Page Turner.

Just a little bit of a heads up; the next week I'll be REALLY busy... There's a homeschool conference I'll be attending Thu-Sat, and then Mon-Thu, I'll be paging in the NC House of Representatives! I'm not entirely sure what my duties will be,(definitely not my regular paging job, I'll wager) but I'm SUPER excited. I'm bringing my computer with me, but I don't know how much time I'll have to write a post. I'll probably send a few mobile updates and maybe some pictures, but don't expect any real recap updates until late next week.

I WILL promise, that by (next) Friday, I'll have a review of Ally Carter's Heist Society, and some exciting news about a new MINI BLOG!
Remember, May 31st, I'll pick ONE winner of my iBeta contest, and then keep the competition open until June 15th. Enter now, tell you friends, tell everyone! Keep reading!

EDIT: I will ALSO be posting a review of Mira Grant's Feed, which her lovely agent Diana Fox sent to me. :) That's all!

Diary of a Homeschooler.

For those of you who don't know, I am a homeschooler.* I've been homeschooled for nine years now, so I've heard every question in the book. Therefore, below is a list of the top ten questions I've been asked (in no particular order), and one student's answer. :)

1. What about socialization/friends? I have friends- don't worry. :) When is homeschooling is done properly, (the vast majority of the time) a parent will make their child's education a priority. This means that they WILL get out, and be around other people. There are homeschool support groups popping up all the time, all over the country, which have resources for families, and often provide classes. Homeschooling is a quickly growing educational trend, with (it seems) no signs of slowing down, meaning more homeschoolers and more socialization.

2. Do you go to school in your pajamas? I have classes outside of the house four days a week, so I could do my school work in my pajamas, but most days I just get dressed and get to work.

3. What about prom/sports/clubs? Do you feel like you're missing out?

In short, no. This is partially due to the fact that I have a lot of opportunity already around me, and partially because I'm not a real party person. Because I'm at the community college for two classes,(helping with the whole socialization "issue") I have access to clubs and organizations. Then again many public schools allow homeschooled students to participate in plays, sports, etc. There's also a thriving homeschool support group for high school students in my area- they have dances, proms, sports teams, and even graduation ceremonies.

4. What about college? I plan on going to a four-year. Some people prefer to go to a community college for awhile and transition out, but I'd like to get the whole experience. :)

5. Why/How long have you homeschooled/Did you ever go to public school?

My mom is a teacher by heart and nature. My birthday was also two days before the cut-off date, so my parents held me back an extra year in pre-school. I then attended a charter school for Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades. Starting my 3rd year, my parents (and a best friend of mine's parents) decided to homeschool. I wasn't being adequately challenged for my age in my grade level, but my parents didn't want me to be bumped up a grade and fall to the bottom of the class, just for the challenge. I just finished 11th grade this past semester, and will be a senior next year- once I've graduated, I will have homeschooled for ten years. :)

6. What do you like about homeschooling?

The flexibility! I can take most of my school with me anywhere, and do it on a schedule that fits my family-great for those bitten by the travel bug! I have an incredibly wide variety of class options, as I'm able to search around and focus on what I love, or what I'm interested in.

7. What do you dislike about homeschooling?

Homeschooling requires intentional effort. I don't think that public school students are lazy by any means, but while public high schools have clubs and guidance counselors built in, homeschoolers have to go out and find those opportunities for themselves. It's not as convenient. I have to make intentional efforts to hang out with friends, as opposed to seeing them on a daily basis. Homeschoolers are also watched very closely- when we make spealling oer grammmar errers or give a bad impression, it tends to reflect homeschoolers as a group, because someone is "obviously not doing something correctly."

8. Don't you get sick of your mom?

No, of course not. I am a perfected being, and rise far and above trivial things, like disliking my mother. She and I never get on each others nerves, and most certainly never argue or disagree. ;)

In truth, past the obvious answer- YES, we do want to kill each other on occasion, my mom and I are close. A lot of that comes from the sheer amount of time we do spend together, and another part is a lot of our shared interests. Personality-wise, we're pretty much polar opposites, but give us a free afternoon in a bookshop or library, and we'll both be in heaven.

9. Can your mom just give you the grades that you want?

Technically, yes. But that does no one any favors... My mom refuses to give me anything other than what I absolutely deserve, and out of the 200+ homeschooling families I know, none of them gloss over grades either.

10. Is homeschooling even legal?

Yes, homeschooling is legal in all 50 states. Each state has their own requirements for homeschoolers, and it varies greatly depending on where you live, but it IS legal. North Carolina requires attendance records, (180 days; in NC, home schools are categorized as private schools) and a yearly standardized test. There is an organization called HSLDA, which stands for Home School Legal Defense Association; it has an extensive website which can answer any legal question much better than I can!

So that's it! If you have any more questions, fire away either on Twitter, or in the comments below!

*There is "debate" over whether the proper term is 'home school(er/ers/ing/ed)' or 'homeschool.' I choose to squish my words together. They look prettier, and save a character on Twitter. ;)

iBeta!

I have 200 followers on Twitter. This might not seem like a bunch, but I'm an unpublished, student writer. Now look at those 200 followers. That's a lot of people. (Yes, I realize some might be bots, probably a lot of them are, but stick with me here.) So in honor of little old me having a decent and growing following, I've decided that I want to hold some kind of contest. I'm not a published author, so I don't have ARC's to give out, and I'm also not rich, (by any means whatsoever) so a book or package giveaway is also out. The conclusion I've come to, is that I want to hold a manuscript beta contest!

Now, you still might be thinking, "But you're not a professional, what can YOU do for ME?" I believe I have a very good answer for that. I'm a writer, I'm a reader, and I'm a teenager. Most writers have have a target audience/reader in mind, and I find myself fitting in a lot of those target ranges.(Teen, girl, avid reader, HAS read Twilight, likes Jane Austen AND John Green, etc.) I also believe that my writing helps with this- I write because I love it, and I I have an underlying desire to help other writers succeed.

As a beta, I would give you my overall impression on how the novel flows, work with the characters, even the culture. Note this is not as full as a critique, but instead helps with the work as a whole. This means that your novel does NOT have to be complete, although that is certainly encouraged.

So, here is my contest. Beginning TODAY (May 17th) I will open the comment section on this post. Post your BEST query/pitch in the comment section of this page. I will choose ONE winner out of the comments on May 31st, and ONE MORE winner on June 15th. Winners will be chosen partially by their pitch strength, (so don't worry if yours really sucks) and partially by the novel plot. Be sure to include your email so that I can contact you if you're a winner. Good luck! (and tell a friend!)

My novel in pictures

I've seen this on a couple of other blogs, namely Abby Stevens's, and have decided to follow suit. Therefore, bits of my novel, in photographic form. Enjoy, and tell me what you think! (LONG, detailed post with some exciting news to come in the next few days!)

Neglect, neglect, neglect. IRONY.

So after my last post regarding my neglect of this blog, I've done it AGAIN. I haven't posted in NINE DAYS. *gasp* But miraculously enough, I haven't died, passed out, been hit by lightening or eaten alive by bigfoot for my lack of postage, so I think that I'm going to be okay. During that time, I have organized my "stuff" folder,



written some,



aaaaaand read this book, and this one, and this one. So I ask, what have you read, and what have you written- lately?

Neglect, neglect, neglect.

I will not bore you with my thoughts at the moment. They involve school, and writing my screenplay (Now called After Ocie) which is happening v e r y s l o w l y.... and *coughnot* editing March. I also started/embarked on another story idea (on top of the other 12, of course) about a girl moving to a small town in Washington. No vampires, I promise. In fact, I really have only one otherworld/paranormal piece- most of what I write is real-life YA fiction, though there is also another non-fic YA piece in talks at the moment. Food is involved.

It's April, fools!

So I made an unofficial resolution to NOT do Script Frenzy, because I have an incredibly hectic schedule. Guess what I did on March 31st at 10pm? Signed up for Script Frenzy. For those of you who don't know, Script Frenzy is like a younger sibling to NaNoWriMo; but instead of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, your challenge is to write a 100 page script/screenplay/anything that has lines in 30 days. I'm three pages and 4 days in. This is where I hide. I'm going to do my best to finish, (darn stubborn Irish roots) but I'm much less motivated for "Screnzy" than I was for NaNoWriMo, largely because all of my writing in the past has been written in story format, eventually to be a novel, rather than chunk format, to be acted out according to stage directions. But, no matter.

If you happen to follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed my tiny and very not-dramatic "prank..." I stated that I would no longer be working on March, as it was simply too much work. If anyone worried, don't... It's not true. Not that I've gotten any real writing done lately, but I'm still technically "working" on it.. Quotes are due in that some days all I can do is open Scrivener and stare at the words for awhile.

But, all in all, I'm writing.. I guess.

When Ideal isn't Real.

What if you woke up every day at the age of 16 with pain shooting throughout your entire body? What if you were told that if you didn't stay active, you would most likely be in a wheelchair by the age of 25? That is the terrifying reality of one of my closest friends in the world, Bella. This is not a rally for money, a plea post, or anything of the sort, only a blog "plug." Bella is completely sick of feeling tired, worn down and in pain. When Ideal Isn't Real is her new blog chronicling a three month experiment in eating only raw foods. No meat, dairy, wheat or anything processed- only vegetables, fruits and teas. She hasn't posted in a few days, but I'm getting on her back to post again, and hope that this will encourage her along the way. :)

Eisley Jacobs giveaway!

To be brutally honest, I am SO in this for the prize package... Eisley Jacobs is an author, avid twitterer, and homeschooling mom! She also happens to have a GREAT prize giveaway on her blog.
Enter now, blog it, tweet about it, and comment on her Facebook Fan page to enter, in order to receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card, G2 Mini RollerGell Pens (I ADORE THESE PENS) Small black notebook with elastic closure, Choxie Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans, Ritter Dark Chocolate Bar, A package or two of PEEPS and A Random CUTE pair of socks!

Wheeeee!

Keep Breathing

I’m writing this post in a really peaceful place... It’s not physically anywhere different than where I was a year ago, and yet things are so much better- you have no idea. A year ago, my world fell apart. In one way or another, I lost two of the most important people in my life, each for scarily similar reasons. My dad lost his job. I basically failed Algebra, and it was close to the year anniversary of my Aunt moving to Seattle, which completely tore me apart- I saw her roughly six days a week when she lived in town, and spent my Friday nights (EVERY Friday night) at her house, babysitting for my cousin. I’d then spend the night and we (Aunt, Uncle and cousin) would go out to breakfast (coffee!) Saturday morning and they would take me to my theater class. It was a perfect routine, and then they were gone.

You may be thinking that this sounds awfully close to the plot of my novel. Girl has issues with her two best friends, and has to deal in any way that she can... Well, that is because most of it happened to me. Not everything, of course- and there are very few details that are exactly as they happened. A lot of things were simplified, and the characters can in some way resemble their counterparts, but are by no means exact copies.

All the time when this was all happening, I didn’t know where I was supposed to go, I was just sick of everything, plodding through life minute by minute. I sunk into a depression; I was never suicidal, I just lost any desire to do anything by lay in bed all day and cry. I wanted to seal over my door and keep the world out. I moved on in many ways, but those memories still haunt me at times, and some of the scars left over are still sensitive. But I look back on March ’09 now, 12 months later, and realize that I just kept breathing, and moved forward in any way that I could... I look back and still wonder how I got through it. But I did. I kept going, and I did extra credit in algebra to get my grade up, and moved away for three months, I worked at a grocery store, I bought a laptop that I had been dreaming about for years and years; I started a novel, stopped it mid-way and wrote another novel in 30 days.

I adapted, and I got better, and today I no longer have that sick feeling sitting in my stomach, I no longer wish that I could just seal over my door and have people feed me coffee and burritos through the hole in the bottom; and all of the people that I lost a year ago happen to be with me again. My dad found a job just last week, and I’m not failing Algebra 2. Am I back where I started? In some ways, yes. But am I stronger because of it? Absolutely.

The tweet heard around the world. Keep going, Jeremy!

I shouldn't have been up. Seriously. But thankfully, I was. At 1:32 am, Nia Vardalos (Actress, screenwriter, director, comedian extraordinaire - oh yeah, and star of the FANTASTIC My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I LOVE her.) sent out a twitter to her 33,000+ followers:

@NiaVardalos: Please send help, this man is having thoughts of suicide. JEREMY, please call 1800-SUICIDE to talk @Jeremyllynch

I thought that it might be a hoax, but twittered to @Jeremyllynch anyway. So did dozens, hundreds,( maybe thousands?) of others. At this point, I was wide awake, and worried about this complete stranger from Casselberry, Florida. So many people sent kind words of encouragement, which are heartwarming to read. He originally twittered to Demi Moore (@MrsKutcher) but I received my updates from Nia.

@ jsmisko @jeremyllynch Hope u r ok this morning. "Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes." ~ Benjamin Disraeli

@ NerdfighterAbby @jeremyllynch Hey, Jeremy. I heard about how you feeling. Hope this helps.
(She linked to this image)
Secret. 8289 by =DeviantArtSecret on deviantART


@sanginlady @jeremyllynch I am praying 4 your strength Jeremy, U can get thru this rough time, to make your life better, dont forget 2 lean on love man

@sarascaj @jeremyllynch I just wanted 2 send a ((hug)) I care.

@jrzjlo @jeremyllynch @mrskutcher I wish more people would reach out when they feel like this. It is never as dark as it seems n ppl do care! BlessU

Without internet, I was glued to my phone. Nia called the Florida police and the suicide hotline, and finally I received this update, about half an hour later:

@NiaVardalos: Just spoke to FL police again, they're with Jeremy now. He is ok, it's not a hoax. Thank u all for sending love to @jeremyllynch.

This could've very possibly been an attempt to get attention, for all we knew, Jeremy Llynch could have been telling some big joke. But he wasn't. There were complete strangers all over the world reaching out with 140 characters of compassion, which is the real power of social media. People can say that it's a waste of time, but I honestly believe that twitter saved a life, and I'm glad that I was a tiny part. :)

A post in which I whine, ramble and get link happy.

As I'm writing this, my manuscript March has 50,663 words. This means that there is tangible proof that I HAVE worked on my novel, and I haven’t just added 652 words. I’ve actually CUT stuff, followed by some re-writing and... There’s proof. I haven’t done a whole heck of a lot, but there’s proof.

Moving forward. I am mentally exhausted. (Proof, in that I couldn’t edit the fragment and unnaturally short sentence into a longer, better phrase and avoid unnecessary punctuation.) I’ve gained a rather short attention span for anything not honestly, instantly interesting... Or anything that requires me to work. Take a jump into my brain for a moment. I look at my book shelf, and a sense of dread washes over me, because reading is scary and requires me to be intelligent, and analyze characters, and... and... Then I wind up slapping myself in the face. You know why? Because while a really fabulous book challenges it’s reader to think above and beyond what is presented at face value, a good book also guides you into the identity of your characters; it holds your hand. (Unless that book is Liar by Justine Larbalestier, but that’s just a kick butt book, and that’s the point.) You should see me watch Lost. Every single one of my comments were along the lines of, "Oh look! Ben Linus has a nosebleed. Again."

I didn’t have to have this stupid anxiety of fearing the mental challenge of reading, because while reading is often mental workout, in the world of mental fitness, I am addicted to this exercise. Upon further investigation of my brain, I realized that I wasn’t really scared/weary of reading, I was terrified of writing. I was terrified about the fact, that the fates of Jackson, Olivia, Erin, Maureen, Ellen, Theo and Justin all sit on my shoulders and hard drive, and that I can screw them up if I make one wrong move. I realized that I was mentally blocking a writers’ block, refusing to believe that the honeymoon was over and that now I have to take risks with my manuscript, in order to move forward. Now I have to do the grunt work to finish the first draft, all the while, it seems like the rest of the writers that I’m following on a regular basis all seem to have their books in and out of edits (this is everyone, but, I mean, SERIOUSLY, Hannah Moskowitz?), and their ARCs are arriving, (Sarah Rees Brennan *cough*) and they’re getting Amazon pages and covers, and ISBN numbers (Stephanie Perkins- YAYYYYYY!!!!) and here I am, with barely 50,000 words of a NaNoWriMo manuscript which holds a relatively decent plot, wondering what the heck to do now, and wishing that I could just hand my manuscript over to my clone to deal with. You know what I’m talking about, the one who would work out for me and get Algebra done, and clean my room, then merge back into my head with all the sore-muscles and math benefits added to my person, no work required. Jumping from that place to a close-to-finished manuscript seemed like it would take a literal act of God.

I was at this point Wednesday night. Some complaining to Hannah Moskowitz helped, and Stephanie Perkins gave me the gift of this video, a 20 minute lecture by Elizabeth Gilbert (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) about the creative process, which I highly recommend EVERYONE watching.
(You can actually download the lecture in both video and audio form, but make sure you have a good connection; the video download is about 65 MB.)

I know that all of the authors mentioned above have been in my place, and that ultimately they struggled with their writing too. But just because they can identify with my slump, doesn’t mean that the utter and complete suckage just ends. If you’ve ever been in my place, you know that when you reach this point, two options remain. The first is to give up. The second, is to keep writing. Giving up might be the option for some people, but I have poured far too much time and energy into this manuscript to stop working on it now. Thus leaves the option of pushing through the tough parts and keeping up with my writing.

Keep working.

This is the single most irritating piece of advice any writer will give you. BUT, this is the only thing that really works. Move to a different chapter. Re-work a favorite scene, ANYTHING. Just don’t stop. You know why? Because like that whole exercise analogy, once you get back into the process, slowly you dislike it less and less. Then once your writing time is over, once your workout is finished, you have that wonderful exhausted feeling, which you should dwell in for as long as possible. Your muscles are slightly sore, but your mind is at ease, and you have that glimmer of hope again. I kept writing.

I’m over my issues right now, so to anyone who needs it, whining and complaining to me about your writing WILL work. But in the midst of me helping you not be so miserable, I WILL tell you to keep writing. When the time comes, I will most definitely need you to tell ME to keep writing, probably sooner rather than later. But that’s life, right? We help each other, we bare our souls in the hopes that in those dark and gloomy moments, someone will @reply us on twitter, or email, or even just call and say, “I feel your pain, magic book dust will be sent your way, keep writing.”

Pasta!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

Combine all three ingredients (really, it's easy) and form into a ball as best you can, basically, if you can squish everything into a ball that holds together, you're good. If you need to, add a few drops of water. Once everything is combined, wrap in plastic wrap, and let the dough sit for a few minutes. If you want to add herbs/spices to the pasta, add before you mix in the eggs. At this point, you will have a ball of dough. Cut in parts, and lightly knead the dough.

Doughy!

If your dough is sticky to the touch, add flour to the surface (Like in the picture- no, that's not dinosaur skin). This is our pasta machine- I recommend one for making pasta because you need to get the dough really thin, but you could improvise with a rolling pin.


Closeup of the pasta- this is Rosemary Basil.



Once you've rolled the dough really thin, cut it into strips (again, assisted by our pasta machine) and boil until cooked through. :)

OR
*
*
*
You can add cocoa powder to the flour (and take out the salt, replace with sugar) to create this:



To which you add whipped cream and:



and end up with:



YUM!

**********************
I am avoiding the topic of writing right now, because it hates me. But more on that little bug of a phenomenon LATER. (No, I'm not giving up, and I'm also not having writers block- I'm just having writers.. hate or something.)

Aftershock

Death is more than the ending of a life, it's the complete standstill of other lives that are all connected. I'm sorry that I haven't posted in the past while; my great Aunt died, and so I've been kinda under the weather. I'm fine, she really was tired, and she isn't in pain any more (years and years of cancer will do that to you) but it still makes things difficult, and yeah my life sortof kind of sucks at the moment. But I'm staying busy, and I'll get better soon. Or at least I'll hide it better.

How to Write. (Part 2 of 2)

The Practice (the easy part)

Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit at a typewriter and open a vein.- Walter Wellesley Red Smith

How to Write. (Part 1 of 2)

The Theory

There are a few basic requirements to actually "write." This is the hard part. To write, you will need 2 very basic things:

1. Set of hands. These are necessary to hold pens, drink coffee or type away at a computer.

2. Pen. Writing that is not in some form readable by other people is called thinking.

OPTIONAL

Paper- Paper is readily encouraged, but with a pen and hands, you can write WITH something,(hands and pen) USING something, (pen) ON something (hand). Simple logic, really. Paper helps greatly when you run out of skin.

Computer. This handy-dandy device, (best in laptop form, truthfully) helps to save trees when you run out of skin and therefore paper. Also nice in that you have a delete button as well as an 'undo' option.

On Writing, by Stephen King. This helps. (Also, THIS book is helpful as well)

A Brain- Many writers find this a commodity, I like to use mine as much as possible, but then there are those who believe in success without brain power. Most of those people are unpublished, but I know of a few who tend to succeed despite the odds.

Seven FREE (and quite useful!) applications for Mac OSX

You will rarely find me turning down something free. But even more than a love of free things, I love free things that are USEFUL. I’ve compiled this list from other lists, videos and blog posts that I have found online. I have not been paid to use any of these programs, I haven’t contacted any of the developers, they haven’t contacted me. All of these opinions are solely my own, and I actively use ALL of these programs- and find them useful. That being said, here is a list of my favorite seven free (and I’m talking COMPLETELY free- no trials or hacks) programs for Mac OSX in alphabetical order!

1. Audacity is a program compatible with both Macs and PCs, which provides a very basic audio recording experience. It is not basic in a bad way, it is simply to straight forward and easy to navigate. All that you have to do, is open the application and press the big red button to record. There is a nice list of effects that can be added to your audio recording, such as echo, pitch and speed change, as well as fade in and fade out functions. I have used Audacity to work on speeches, voice notes, and it is especially helpful when creating custom ringtones. My only issue with the application is that it doesn’t have mp3 encoding built in, but that problem is easily remedied with a download of the necessary file from their code library- and Audacity even provides you with a link to the download page!
http://www.audacity.sourceforge.net/

2. Bean is a fully operating word processor for Mac, and a what I consider to be a FABULOUS substitute for Apple’s TextEdit, a program I never warmed up to. One of my favorite features is the full screen function, which is similar to Write Room, allowing you to customize alternate screen colors, and fill up the entire screen with your text, removing any excess distractions, which is very useful for someone like... me! Bean allows you to save your document with over 9 different extensions, so you never have to worry about your formatting translating from, say a Mac to a PC. Bean is a solid program which is flexible and great for everyday use. Oh, and did I mention that it’s coffee themed? HUGE plus!
http://www.bean-osx.com

3. ByteController is like a three year old, (stick with me here) meaning that it is tiny, but powerful! Byte Controller places a small, three button icon in your menu bar which plays, pauses, fast forward and rewinds songs in iTunes. Some people use the mini player from iTunes, but this is smaller, more inconspicuous (obviously) and the buttons are fully customizable! I like the fact that you don’t have to open the iTunes window every time you don’t like a song, or need to pause. There is honestly no downside to this app!
http://www.bytetastic.com/

4. Caffeine I really love Caffeine, both the drinkable kind, and this application! Caffeine, like ByteController and the next application, Perian is small, but useful. Caffeine’s use is simple; it keeps your screen lit up to full brightness, while you’re doing something like watching a YouTube video, or reading a document, and not constantly touching a key or the mouse. It comes in the form of a small coffee cup sitting in your menu bar, and can be turned on for anytime from five minutes to five hours, and indefinitely. Again, like with ByteController, I have nothing negative to say!
http://www.lightheadsw.com/caffeine/

5. Perian is the only program that I have listed here, which runs fully in the background. Perian is a group of “plug in” type codes for Quicktime, allowing you to view nearly any file type without downloading extra players. Perian has saved me money and time that I would have spent buying other players, or converting files. A must have!
http://perian.org/

6. Quinn Do NOT download Quinn if you like games, especially Tetris... and have a tendency to become distracted. Quinn is Tetris. For free. With full customizations. (Can you tell I really like personalization?) Yeah, it’a addictive, and you can basically make it as pretty as you want. Downside? Three hours later, you wonder what on earth happened to your afternoon!
http://www.simonhaertel.de/

7. SketchUp can be downloaded from Google, and us available for use on both Macs and PCs. SketchUp is a full-scale digital 3D modeling software. It lets you design the exterior of houses and buildings, down to tiny things like pens and books, and furniture. It takes awhile to really get the hang of the program interface, but once you’re familiar with how things are laid out, you can create neighborhoods and cities... Whee!
http://sketchup.google.com/

So that’s it! Those are my seven “staple” programs. There are a few others that I like as well, but this “Super Seven” will get any Mac user (new or old) on the way to creating and listening to music, creating and editing documents, designing 3D models, playing games, and watching videos, with both obscure file extensions and for long periods of time without the screen dimming. If you know of any other freeware programs, post them in the comments, or let me know via Twitter, at ‘theknittingnerd’. :)

Pages!

Blogger is OFFICIALLY my favorite blogging service. My one complaint about blogger in the past was the lack of pages, but there they are, and I am one happy camper!


EDIT: I'm going to have my Harry Potter recaps up within the next few days, as well as top seven Mac OSX program picks, to be posted Monday morning. :)

Questions.

I found a list of questions on a few of the blogs I follow, and thought I'd take a stab at them myself- the trick is to answer with only one word. Off I go!

Your Cell Phone? Lifeline
Your Hair? gross
Your Mother? Smiles
Your Father? Listens
Your Favorite Food? Chinese
Your Dream Last Night? Dream?
Your Favorite Drink? Coffee
Your Dream/Goal? Novel
What Room Are You In? Bella's
Your Hobby? Kniter
Your Fear? Failure
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Writing
Where Were You Last Night? Here
Something That You Aren't? Math-y
Muffins? Blueberry
Wish List Item? Books
Where Did You Grow Up? America
Last Thing You Did? Psych
What Are You Wearing? Nailpolish
Your TV? Nonexistent
Your Pets? Oreo
Friends? *points*
Your Life? Busy
Your Mood? Happy
Missing Someone? Angelboy
Vehicle? Bus
Something You Aren't Wearing? Socks
Your Favorite Store? Starbucks
Your Favorite Color? Green
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? Earlier
Last Time You Cried? Yesterday
Your Best Friend? Birdie
One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? Indie
Facebook? Poke
Favorite Place To Eat? Delmer's

The influence of Twilight, aka Confessions of a library nerd

Twilight is the first in a series of books involving an older-than-dirt Vampire named Edward Cullen, and a teenage human named Bella Swan. The two of them, despite Edward wanting to drink Bella's blood, fall in love, and don't "do it" until they get married. Add in a werewolf best friend, Bellathirsty Italian Vampires, a life-sucking baby and a few other characters, and you have the series phenomenon that swept the world. For a little while, anyway.

I believe that the Harry Potter phenomenon truly made reading among teenagers popular again. It forced non-readers to realize that we bookish types *waves hand* are not crazy due to our literary habit. Harry Potter is certainly not for everyone, but I believe it opened the eyes of my generation (and older generations, certainly) to the power of the written word; allowing a person to travel to new worlds, through words on a page.

Twilight has also captured another branch of that audience, and continued on with the fine tradition of exciting non-readers. I have friends on both sides of the fence, some believing that Twilight is fantastic, others believing that it is somewhere down there next to heroine and... ear infections? Twilight is criticized for it's lack of fancy-pants language, lack of hanky panky, too much hanky panky in the last book, Edward's controlling personality, Bella's lack of spine, a relationship between a 17 year old and an undead guy who's 112 (however old- I really don't care, nor remember) and a wide variety of other issues. This all goes to say, that Twilight opened up a new market not only for readers, but for authors. My demographic is small and rather selective, but the wide and vast majority of books that appeared on the shelves of our YA section for 2009 were vampire books. Yesterday, while I was shelving, I noticed that there are FOUR copies of Twilight in our system, sitting on the shelf. This was completely shocking, in that for the past several YEARS, there has been MAYBE one copy on the shelf at a time.

So, you may be asking... what’s the next big trend? I think it's going over to the Paranormal genre. Paranormal still encompasses some vampirism, but it's expanded. Paranormal mostly deals with ghosts, spirits, and things that should have stayed dead. Ghost hunting, encounters with ghosts, falling in love with ghosts, being haunted by a ghost wanting revenge, you name it. Why does this matter? Like the surge in YA literature sparked by Harry Potter, Twilight has sparked a new generation of readers. People finish the Twilight trilogy wanting more, so they go to their library, go to their book store, and pick up a new book or a series. Paranormal is an expansion of the vampire market, allowing readers to expand their horizons a bit, and a bit more... These new readers then explore other genres and authors, and are transformed. They’re reading books because they realize something that I found out a long time ago. Books are interesting. Books are not just black letters printed in succession on a page, books are moving and powerful, and exciting. "Books are a uniquely portable magic."

***********************

A couple of things to mention/clarify. First off, Paranormal is not the ONLY growing trend in YA literature. I've seen a lot of real-life fiction books pop up, (and now my brain is thinking that I just wrote about pop-up books. ugh.) and know of several more to debut in the coming year. Secondly, people might comment that the next growing trend is fantasy (as in unicorns, and fairies, or faeries, or elves and... dragons). Fantasy is ALWAYS growing. Fantasy has always been there, somebody is always coming up with a new spin on how a person stumbles onto a leprechaun or a colony of elves. That's how it is. Thirdly, the cover image is copyright Stephenie Meyer, (who I am NOT) and the quote in the last paragraph, "Books are a uniquely portable magic." is "property" (can we own words? really?) of Stephen King. That is all!

New Layout

I feel SO much better about this layout... I'm finally not stuck with the icky white and brown one!

Stephanie Perkins and the AMAZING book giveaway!

Hello book nerds and bloggers alike!

Local author Stephanie Perkins (Naturalartificial.blogspot.com) has a book give away on her blog! Enter for a chance to win a really cool copy of Pride and Prejudice, a copy of the book Scrambled Eggs at Midnight, and Orange Blossom marshmallows from
Laduree, fondly known as HEAVEN. All you have to do, is visit the blog, and post your favorite romance scenes from books or movies (kissing scenes with video clips encouraged) and you're in! *crosses fingers*

When was my insanity chip get installed? #HP marathon, BABYm

It snowed. Again. Because of the snow, best friend (see last post) was unable to fly to Florida, because her flight was canceled. Several re-schedules and cancellations later, she wound up on a bus headed to Charlotte, which is where she will be until 4pm this afternoon- THEN she'll fly to Miami.

That is all said, in that the weather here has drastically affected function in everyday life, and not-everyday life. I developed a cold or something over the weekend, and was stranded by the snow, with nothing interesting to do. The idea struck me at 8pm Friday: Why don't you watch all 6 Harry Potter films back to back, ALL night, and Twitter about it! The sane part of my brain was out on a date at a coffee shop with the "you need sleep" part of my brain, and so I made a nice, rash decision (as in steady, hasty- not, "apply two times per day to the affected area" rash) that I would follow through with my challenge, to be hashtagged on twitter, #HPmarathon.

A couple of people have commented something along the lines of, "GET A LIFE!" I ask, what would you have done? I'm holding off on starting another book, because Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson is coming out TOMORROW (to be shipped to my house soon) and the closest business to my house is a gas station three miles away... No one has had any better or more productive suggestions. :)

My #HPmarathon began at 11pm Friday, and finally finished up at 12am this morning. Yes, that means that it took me 25 hours to watch 15 hours of film. Where did the extra ten hours go?

Well, first off, I twittered roughly 650 times throughout all six films. That's about 107 twitters per movie, equating to about 44 twitters per hour, or a tweet for every minute and a half. THAT's a LOT of twitters! I also did a roughly 3 minute video blog after each movie, preparing for the next installment.
During that time, I only consumed 2.5 cups of coffee, (never finished to graduate to a third cup) and took a 20 minute nap, but I also ate lunch and dinner, and was forced by my mostly well-meaning mother, to hike down the mountain in the snow, which took close to two hours. WHEW! Corny as it sounds, I feel like I actually learned some things.

1. Never hesitate to thank your lucky stars that blog posts are not limited to 140 characters or less.
2. Always choose as short a hashtag as possible. #HPmarathon really could have been #HPrace, #HPdare, #HPfor24, all for less characters. (That's a lesson for next time! ;) )
3. Perseverance pays off. I slept REALLY well last night.

I've decided to expand this post- to do a review of each movie, largely based off of each movie's tweets. In the mean time, check back often and follow me on Twitter! (@theknittingnerd) Later!

She's Leaving!

Alright, we all know those fabulous stories of Hollywood nannies who are taken on vacation, and flown all over the world to watch some celebrity's kid- my best friend IS ONE OF THEM. Okay, she's not being flown to some deserted island, anddd she's only babysitting for her aunt, BUT, she IS being flown down to MIAMI just to watch her cousin. How awesome is that? She's flying just for a babysitting job. Why can't we all be that lucky?

I don't like it!

I tried. I thought, "Streamlined! Simple!" but I just don't like it. I thought that my new layout would be nice, slightly soothing (not like, *snore* soothe, but, Oh, this is cute! And not neon! soothe.) It's boring. So, I am going to change it. *Stomps foot in determination* Right now, I'm going to stick to a general (probably widely used) template, but in the future, watch out! The next will WOW, I assure you. Some things to look out for:

My favorite (FREE) programs for Mac OSX
A book review of one of my new favorite novels EVER
Update on MY novel
Annnnnnddddddddddd

More of my life in general.

:)

Miss Marple at Glamis

My English course for this year is Shakespeare. So far, we have covered Henry V, Hamlet, touched on a few sonnets, and now are working on Macbeth, a work of which I am incredibly familiar. At the end of each play, we are assigned a paper or project. One of the options that I have, is to write a fictional story involving the plot of Macbeth, and what would happen if a famous detective visited the castle in order to solve the murders of Duncan and/or Banquo. I have chosen the fabulously British Miss Marple as my detective! This is why, instead of more educational tasks, I am going to be watching Miss Marple DVD's, and reading a few of the works by the creator of Miss Marple, Agatha Christie, instead of, say doing another lesson of French. (I can order coffee, so what else is there?) Isn't the castle lovely?

Haiti Relief

Anyone with a television, internet or radio knows about the dire situation in Haiti- this is not a place for me to beg for support, I'm merely supplying a really quick and easy way to help out. If you read regularly, you'll notice the new red cross image with "HAITI" written across, located on the upper right side of the page, in place of the poll. Clicking on the cross leads directly to the Red Cross website's PayPal donation page. All you need to do is type in your donation amount and PayPal account information, and you're all set! Keep praying for this nation and her people as they work on rebuilding their lives, and finding lost loved ones.

-M

My 2009 Accomplishments

Alrighty readers and bloggers alike, finally, I’d like to talk about my accomplishments for 2009- that way I can stop this from hanging over my head, and move on to more fun things, such as my sore lack of cash, or my mind-boggling, dizzying choice of colleges, all of them swimming around my head, saying, “Pick me!” Ultimately, it will all come down to cost... I’m in a finance class for school, and while I don’t like limits, Student Loans are not going to be part of my “college experience” if I can help it. Ramen Noodles yes, high interest rate payments lasting until my 30’s or beyond, no. If I was going to medical school, law school, or maybe something in engineering, perhaps loans would be more of an option. But I’m not a science or a math person, and even though I’ve been told by many people manymany times that I should consider law, my,“But that’s not practical!” mindset would not work well in the courtroom. I want to write in some capacity, somehow, which is not a clever cover for, “I want to get rich quick!” MOOOVING on!

My 2009 Accomplishments

1. Seattle. This was a big step for me- moving away from home for roughly four months, leaving behind my family friends, and four, two day old puppies. I was forced to make challenges, balance some form of budget, and push grocery carts in 108 degree weather. But was it worth it? Absolutely.

2. Kennedy! Kennedy, for those who may not know is my 13” White MacBook laptop. This is important largely for one reason. When I was twelve or so, I told my friend Abbey that I had three goals in life. (Hi Abbey! Was it three? I think it was three!) The first, was to go to American Girl Place- which I did in July of 200something (around 3 or 4). The second goal was to buy a laptop. I thought it was SOOO cool that there were these really tiny computers that you could CARRY WITH YOU! It took five years, but she is proudly what I type on today! Number three was to go to Hawaii, but that really isn’t something that I want anymore... Think Europe!

3. March. Until mid to late 2009, writing a novel was not something I had ever thought of doing myself. I’m a reader, always have been, always will be. Sure there were ideas in my head, but I never actually thought to myself, “Hmm! Lets write a novel today!” and actually wrote. But come September, when I accidentally stumbled upon NaNoWriMo via Facebook (yes, Facebook) I walked into November with an idea, no plot, minimal sanity, and lots and lots of coffee. 30 days later, I had a novel.

4. Macbeth! Shall I compare thee to a horror film? A Sudoku puzzle? Thou hast the capacity of a challenging terror, not a terror which cannot be overcome, but one conquered like a knightess, plunging her gleaming silver sword into the breastplate of the fire breathing and bone crushing dragon, ending the sorceress’s life and saving the kingdom. I greatly enjoyed my reign as “The Second Witch,” stumbling through Shakespeare’s complicated, albeit beautiful script, emerging whole with an excess of hairspray still stuck, streaks of fire in my tangled and sprayed mane, a cast of colorful characters I am proud to call friends, and an experience to last from here to eternity.


5. McBolinelli Sweep. This was my third campaign, and I had a blast! It was an accomplishment for me, when several staff members asked for my opinion on lit drops and the like… I also managed to start March during that period, and survive a bus breakdown in really cold weather.

6. Blood donation. If you know me, you are probably aware that I’m not a huge fan of needles. I don’t pass out at the sight them or anything, I just don’t care for long sharp pointy metal objects being injected into my arm to play a modern metal and plastic equivalent of a vampire. Nevertheless, I also know that blood donation is important, and so I walked in, and shortly after walked out, minus some blood, but without dizziness or nausea... I’ll be donating for a second time this week, in fact.

So those are my big accomplishments for the year… There are so many others, but those in particular are events that I’m really proud of. I have several posts coming up that are pre-planned, but I would love to hear what you think, what you want to know, or want to ask me! Comments absolutely make my day, but @ replying me on twitter gets my attention, and I check my formspring pretty regularly. I know you’re out there, readers!

The Novel Website!

I recently threw together a website for March, just something simple and book focused. You can find that page at http://marchthenovel.weebly.com

Go ahead! Visit!

Resolutions.

I will be quite honest and say that I don't really like resolutions. I like the thought of making choices that will affect your year, but I feel as if they are set in stone so that you are set up with almost an expectation to fail. Instead, I believe in dreams. Some of the dreams are much more attainable than others, but dreams are also (I believe) passions. I think that following a passion is always more enjoyable and easier than following something you have resolved to do. So, in no particular order, these are three of my dreams (some of them more goal-oriented than others) for the year 2010.

1. Read my Bible daily. I have found that constantly having the creator of creativity and designer of love floating in my brain, I am more capable of being a decent human being.
2. Edit my novel! If I haven't mentioned it in the past, my writing/editing schedule is as follows:

January: Write, read, edit, rinse, wash, repeat.
February: Let A and B (real people) read it as is.
March/April: Work on their thoughts/comments/suggestions. Write more, not die.
May-Mid June: More outside critique/work. Receive proof copy from CreateSpace
July: support my coffee habit
August/September: Pass proof around to friends, take criticism, work with a local writers group.
October: (This is probably my biggest dream for the entire year) Submit to an agent.

I should also mention that I am hardly expecting any of this to go according to plan. Life happens, which is largely why I believe in dreams. For all I know, my editing could take a bajillion months, and October will get here REALLY fast.

3. Turn old. I will turn 18 in 2010! This means that I can buy things off informercials, and get cigarettes, (no, I don't smoke, and I never will- I'm just saying) and I'll be LEGALLY able to get a credit card (not that I would, OR my mother would let me) and other..schnazzy things like go and... Whatever. I'll be legal. Enough. Now you may be thinking, "How would she avoid becoming "old?" That process involves staying alive through school and novel editing, a feat I hear is increasingly difficult!


Well, that's it for now! I have a list of accomplishments to post, as well as a LOAD more dreams, but most of them are silly, frivolous things like, "drink more coffee!" which will happen no matter what. Please keep reading, please comment, please reply, ask me questions on formspring, confirm in my mind that I'm not just talking to empty cyberspace.... Happy 2010!

This is honestly the longest time I've gone without posting in awhile...

But I have a very good reason- watch and see!



More soon!

Poll!

I added poll- tell me what you think! :D

When the hurly-burly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won, ‘ere will be the set of sun.

[This post is long overdue, I realize. But I've been so busy lately!]

I hate to say that this has been an unnaturally good experience, because every show or production should (in my opinion) aspire to run as smoothly as this production of Macbeth has. But the facts are that we started out doing a production of Macbeth, which should doom you there and then. But instead of prickling thumbs and danger around every corner, the biggest drama was in fact not on stage, and had to do with some idiotic production students who happened to decide that they wouldn’t show up for tech rehearsal. Said students were quickly replaced, and the production proceeded smoothly. Nobody was injured that I was aware of, there was one case of swine flu, which the actor recovered from in two days- and this was still in the rehearsal stage! There were no real fights, and the entire cast got along well. I had an amazing experience, and hope to work with the same group again sometime. :)

Curling up with mom, a cup of peppermint espresso, and the movie White Christmas. :)

Timeless Thursday

I know that I did music last week, but this week is worth it just as much! Simon and Garfunkel are hands down fabulous. Not terribly unlike The Beatles, they have paved the way for music makers around the world. Here is one of my favorites of their songs, (mentioned in my novel, actually) called The Sound of Silence. Ignore the Portuguese.

Writing.

NaNoWriMo is an amazing goal for any writer who wishes to one day write a novel. That novel may be something that they write and then put away in some folder to stumble upon in a few years, or it may be something that they will continue to write, edit, and eventually publish. I hope that my novel will be more of the latter. That being said, I have learned so much from NaNoWriMo about the REAL novel writing process, and this is very limited knowledge, from only one month of real hard core writing... Take it from me, the process is not glamorous or sweepingly romantic- there are moments of course, but those occur on the inspiration roller coaster high, most of the time when you’re sitting in a cozy cafe, coffee in hand and Frank Sinatra softly playing in the background. That’s about the time that you blink, and see that your hair is frizzy, you smell like something slightly burnt, and notice that you have a fantastic 154 words, with only 99,846 words left. You are small, and trying to achieve a goal that many others have tried and failed ahead of you. On the good days you sometimes hear the ghosts of authors past cheering you on, “What’s that Tolkien? Lewis? Austen?” and then other times you just hear the washing machine and the car alarm going off in your neighbor’s driveway.
I learned that writing is largely a process, and less of an inspiration explosion going off inside your head, trickling out through your fingertips. It often times means sitting down somewhere relatively comfortable (or uncomfortable, whichever you might prefer) and writing about your character’s irritation with Zombies (oh, you had better believe I did) or maybe perhaps coming up with a model of your character’s bedroom, which will allow you to accurately describe every detail as it’s right in front of you, but not accomplish any real purpose at all. (Oh yes, I had a productive month!)
It’s hard, and sometimes really, really sucky, and you will absolutely NOT want to write any more.
The process is also REALLY REALLY LONG. Yes, I wrote the bulk of a novel in 30 days, but I still have tens of thousands of words to write before I even complete the first draft.
In movie terms, (who doesn’t love movies?) the first draft is the equivalent of some dude (or dudette) thinking, “hmm. I like this idea that just popped into my mind!” and then scribbling that idea on a napkin, or whatever is handy. The information written on the napkin is changed, edited, unused, tossed away, before it becomes a usable building block. That is the first draft. From that napkin scribble, plot, characters, and a story need to develop; this is REALLY where you no longer recognize the brief note that you wrote down some time before. There is then the arduous process of pre-production, producing the napkin scribble for the screen, finding directors and producers, and people to play your napkin scribble characters, shooting the film, and editing, and... it’s a lot.
The biggest question I seem to be getting lately is “when can I read it?” (it being my novel) My response is to laugh, look down at my napkin, and laugh some more.

Formspring!

Hey everyone- I now have a formspring! What is a formspring? It's a question box which allows you to ask me anything.... Literally. :) Check it out at http://www.formspring.me/theknittingnerd

Timeless Thursday! ABBA edition!

Here is your Timeless Thursday post, even though it's appearing on Friday... :)

ABBA!

I'm slightly preoccupied, so Timeless Thursday will be posted on Friday.

The Sound of Silence

SO. I finished my novel. ... ... ... It's kind of funny to me how I can write 50,000 words about something relatively specific, and yet here I am with an entire blog at my disposal, the world simply at my fingertips, and I can't think of much to say. I have a lot of school obligations, so please forgive my lack of posting- I should be back to full strength by the holidays. Happy December!

At the TGIO party! :)

The second batch of info!

Here are some other facts that you might enjoy!

There are six guys mentioned in my novel by name, four of them have a name that starts with the letter 'J'. I only recently realized this, and it was not intentional.

The official "final" scene that I wrote yesterday (the scene that put me over my 50,000 word goal) involved Chinese food, tubes of cookie dough, and the movies Pretty in Pink, starring Molly Ringwald, Breakfast at Tiffany's, with Audrey Hepburn, Sleepless in Seattle, with Meg Ryan, Vertigo, with Grace Kelley, and While You Were Sleeping, with Sandra Bullock- the scene is only about 200 words long, and is towards the beginning of the book. I actually wrote the ending of the novel, or what I think is the end of the novel, early on in the process, within the first or second week of NaNoWriMo.

My novel is comprised of two dream sequences which make absolutely no sense, a road trip to the beach, a bus ride to Washington, DC, countless emails, it mentions football more than I'm quite comfortable with, and a portion of the book is set about five miles from my house.

One of my dogs is also thrown into the novel exactly as she is, simply renamed.

Roughly 166,700 people signed up for NaNoWriMo this year, and a whopping 32,000 people won, roughly 19% of all participants, a NaNoWriMo all time high!

*collapses*

So, I did it. You cannot imagine the relief and sheer joy that I felt when I looked at my word count and saw my total of 50,011 words, which came out to be 268,544 characters. I also have some other statistics that my readers, who or whomever you/they may be might enjoy.
March was written in three states. I began in Virginia, wrote some in South Carolina, but the bulk in North Carolina where I also technically finished the novel for NaNoWriMo.
There are at least seven more scenes in my head that need to be written down that I ran out of time for tonight. There are some not TOO gaping plot holes, but I definitely have more to do!
I wrote March on my iPod Touch, my Cell Phone, and my laptop. Very little of it was written on paper, I think I type faster than I write, but as a whole, writing it out took too much time to type up later, thus the cell phone and iPod.
I have gained more than 30 twitter followers from NaNoWriMo participation, and finally for tonight,
I have thoughts of a sequel. :)

I wrote 50,011 words in 30 days, with more to come. I also happen to be completely exhausted, but it is SO worth it. :) #nanowrimo

I WON!!!!

Three hours, 2,500 words to go! :)

Has four shots of espresso pulsing through my veins, and 4500 words left. I WILL WIN.

Going to bed- word count of 41,181. That's just under 9 thousand tomorrow- VERY do-able! :)

At 37k- at the rate I'm going, I will be well into the fourty thousands by tonight, with just enough time to finish up tomorrow. YEAH!!

Just watch. :)

This really is what it means to be a writer.

What December 1st will be like for me:



I find myself awake at *glances at clock* 6:03- wait 6:04 am.
"Why Molly, why on earth would YOU, YOU who is KNOWN for liking this whole sleep principle, why did you wake up at six in the morning?!" You may find yourself wondering. I tell you, dear readers. I did not get up. I never went to bed. (it's 6:05!) you also might be asking, "Why on earth didn't you go to bed! Sleep is good! Yay sleep!" I say,
"NaNoWriMo trumps sleep right now! Not that I've gotten TOO terribly much written, but I have stayed up with at least the INTENTION to write! Anywhoo, I need more coffee and AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!


Later. :)

You know you're a writer when you bring your laptop to a restaurant, and write while you're waiting for a table. Thank you #nanowrimo!

Soooooooooo.

Not much writing today. I'm tired, and a bit overdone.. I've written thousands of words daily as of late. Tomorrow though, after mom and I come back from our unnaturally early, coffee-enhanced black friday shopping, I will most likely be awake and type happy.

New Series!

I have decided to start a new series on this blog, called Timeless Thursdays. Timeless Thursday is a new regular post which will have a classic and timeless clips posted for the world to watch and enjoy- get your culture for the week in ONE video! So first up, the ULTIMATE Timeless Clip, I would like to introduce you all to a friend of mine, Lucy! (just a note- the clip may take awhile to load)

I'm tired. More tomorrow.

The nice people in the NaNoWriMo chat room told me that I should probably sleep, and then most likely the idea of writing more tomorrow would not be on my list right next to eating mushrooms and having an impromptu lobotomy. It will also probably make me not so terribly inclined to laugh at the cleverness of that last sentence, like I just did a moment ago. Happy Turkey Day lovelies!

Final Word Count of the Day: 32,216 words, 17,784 words left to write in five days, a very achievable goal!

Finally Finally, I leave you with this video, one that has been sustaining me these past two days.

31,099 words! :-D

In the car on our way. I sure hope my cat isn't inside.

Closing out the night with 29,580 words. Sleep well, world! :)

Truly recognizing the value of a "first draft" basically, they are almost NOTHING like the final product.

Writing and Such

As I sit here, absolutely father along in my novel than I was, say two hours ago, I think to myself (no, not "what a wonderful world...") about what I have actually accomplished this fiiine month of November. (pronounced Novembuhhhh) I have written what could very well turn out to be a novel. (insert a DUH here) At this point in time, I only have (I love how I'm now practically sneezing at these numbers) 28,500 something or other words, leaving 21,500 something or other words to write over my next six days. This may sound challenging, but equals out to say, 5000 words per day. You may remember that two Saturdays ago, I was able to survive writing 8,000 words in one day, and I actually procrastinated quite a bit that afternoon! Tomorrow, I will be in the car for five and a half hours, blocking out a decent amout of writing time then and there, PLUS, that 5.5 hour drive is taking me to the beach, one of my favorite places in the world, largely due to the fact that it is quiet, and relaxing, and I have no structue outside of spending my hours writing and dring copious amounts of coffee. Whee! While I'm thinking, I'm also randomly browsing the blogs of published authors who I find myself aspiring to one day follow -follow in their published footsteps, follow in the tradition in that they sat down at some time or another and managed to cough up a few sentences, and with those few sentences, lots of coffee and several dozen other people, eventually formed a novel. I'm halfway there already.

Presents, gifts, prizes for the starving author/writer/blogger would be appreciated on an incredible scale, and I will see you dear blog readers, whomever you may be, sometime ideally tomorrow. Any other news or major word count milestones will be posted throughout the night in brief, short posts. Oh, and by the way, comments are FREE to the author, and appreciated ALMOST as much as chocolate!

I hit 25 THOUSAND! :)

MacBeth is done! Not entirely sure how to feel...

Turning in with 22,777 words. Good night!

Hey Twitterers! (Tweeps just seems rude.)

Did you know that anyone, and I mean ANYONE who is on Twitter OR Facebook can vote on Mashable's 2009 Open Web Awards? The preliminary voting rounds have already ended, and now the real voting begins. I am writing this post, avoiding homework and writing my NaNoWriMo novel, to beg for your vote for the ever-fabulous, trapeze-conquering authoress, Maureen Johnson! Not only should you follow @maureenjohnson on Twitter, but vote for her (@maureenjohnson) in the categories of "Most Interesting Twitter User To Follow" AND "Funniest Person to Follow " Time is running out! Go vote- NOW!

(Please?)

Just totally cheated on my NaNo.

Editing a pre-Twilight vampire novel for my friend Megan. :)

Final word count of the night coming in at 20,024 words!

This puts me NINETY TWO words away from a 20k goal of mine!