Sherlock, dorkiness, and NaNo songs

Greetings! First off, I just saw the most recent Sherlock Holmes movie, and I HIGHLY recommend it because it was one of the most bloody brilliant movies I have seen in quite some time (in the fast-paced way full of mind-boggling logic and observations that only Sherlock Holmes, even the one played by Robert Downey Jr., can come up with). I enjoyed it immensely.
Second of all, I want to admit to my increased amounts of dorkiness. I didn't mention this yesterday (not sure why), but I went to the National Air and Space Museum in DC yesterday, and while I was there, I found William Shatner's memoirs of "Star Trek."
Yes, I bought it.
And yes, I understand most of the "Star Trek" references that are reasonably rampant within it. It would be impossible to write a memoir of a franchise you've been a part of for a quarter of a century and NOT include references to the franchise.
Anyway, the third thing I'll mention has to do with the NaNoWriMo forums. Being the National Novel Writing Month dork that I am, I still peruse there, waiting for next year's NaNoWriMo and looking for good ideas (and often procrastinating and/ or passing the time). Anyhow, while I was looking through the forums, I found a thread entitled "the 12 days of Nanomas." Upon looking further, I found that several Wrimos had compiled a parody of the classic holiday song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
Because the song is rather awesome, I copied and pasted it here. Sing along if you want. Enjoy!

On the first day of Nanomas
my inspiration gave to me
a novel idea
that was only slightly crazy

On the second day of Nanomas
My inspiration gave to me
2 cliched characters
and a novel idea
that was only slightly crazy

(skipping ahead to the last verse...)

On the twelfth day of Nanomas
My inspiration gave to me
12 Chekhov's guns
11 heads a-desking
10 characters dead
9 cups of coffee
8 sleepless nights
7 macguffins
6 zany subplots
5 deus ex machinas
4 sequel thoughts
3 plot holes
2 cliched characters
and a novel idea
that was only slightly crazy

Holiday Greetings!

Happy (belated) Hanukkah, Merry (belated) Christmas, Joyous Kwanzaa (which isn't late!), Merry Solstice (belated, and I probably got the salutation wrong), and General Winter Holiday Greetings for whatever you may celebrate but that I may have missed!!! May the holidays be awesome to you (unless the holidays are, for some reason (be it cultural or religious), not supposed to be awesome for you... I'm not judging you if they are...)!

Personally, I celebrate Christmas, and it was rather awesome this year.

Why?

Well, we flipped up who made what for dinner this year (my brother and I normally do the desserts, but he made the turkey and I made the potatoes).

Also, I only got two articles of clothing: a hat and a National Novel Writing Month Winner's shirt. I specifically asked for no clothing, and I was happy that I didn't get any. I DON'T NEED ANY MORE CLOTHES. Everyone needs hats (especially super-awesome beanies like the one I got), and the National Novel Writing Month Winner's shirts are rather cool. Also, my mother found my fedora, which is EXCITING!

I also got "The Comedy of Errors" and "City of Bones" from my brother. "City of Bones," going from the summary on the back, sounds like the Twilight series but better, because they have demons, action, and the main character seems to have some sort of ability that confuses everyone (as in, they seem to be confused as to what this ability might be and why the main character, of all people, possesses it).

I think it's this ability that captures my interest in "City of Bones" more than my interest in "Twilight." I mean, the first book of "Twilight" wasn't bad, plot-wise, because there was the "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE???" element and the "WHO ARE YOU, EDWARD???" element, but the other books didn't (and, to an extent, really couldn't) expound on that.

Also, the end of "Breaking Dawn" (more specifically, the climactic sequence of "Breaking Dawn") was kind of disappointing. I don't know whether the author is morally opposed to writing fight sequences or something, but if she were, then she could've at least written some sort of struggle in that scene (epic arguing, someone letting their guard down or something that could have endangered EVERYBODY and made you wonder whether anyone was going to come out in one piece) but she didn't. (That non-battle scene is a major contributing factor to the Reasons Why I No Longer Like "Twilight").

Unfortunately, I have a LOT of books to read before I can get to "City of Bones," so I cannot find out what this ability is, why the main character has it, and other reasons why it's different from "Twilight" for a week or two at least. This is kind of depressing.

Well, I have all break. I can read a lot in that time. :)

Nearly-Winter-Break rantings

I'm rather excited for winter break, because it will involve a lot of free time, no homework, lots of sleeping, and a LOT of writing. Huzzah!
But I have to wait until Thursday is over before winter break starts. It's rather annoying (and by 'rather annoying,' I mean 'a major source of irritation').
What's the point of this week, anyway? I mean, really. Barely anyone assigns any homework (except for the English teachers who assign books over break, like my teacher has), and since so many people are leaving for the holidays early, the numbers are so diminished that barely anyone is around to do those corny pre-winter-break games that teachers sometimes come up with. Even if teachers actually teach, there are often so few people around that it's kind of lost. For example, there were five people in calculus today (well, there are normally 10 or 12, so that's kind of irrelevant... but the fact remains). Also, there's a good chance that many of us will forget about a lot of the stuff they're saying over the course of winter break anyway. This week is rather boring, and a bit useless, except for feeling bored and getting some writing done in the school library and things of that nature. And for musical rehearsal.
The annoying thing is, though, that I can't skive off school for this week, because I'm applying to William and Mary over break (I sent in my VCU audition request last night! WOOHOO!), and I have to make sure that my semester grades are really good so I can bump my not-exactly-William-And-Mary-Worthy GPA (but I want to finish my novel by January First so I can add that to the resume; hopefully my creds there will cancel out... not likely, but still).
Yeah. This week is annoying. Really annoying. Grades, Break, or Novel? Hmmm....
As the week goes on, though, I believe we will get an increasing number of free blocks as more and more students leave to spend the holiday in Hawai'i or somewhere equally awesome; thus, the boredom factor of the other students will drastically increase. One of my friends left for India on Friday, for example. My brother is going to the Dominican Republic in January. A friend leaves for Hawai'i tomorrow. I'll just be around, doing pretty much nothing except writing and applying to college. GRR!
I wish we had a snow day. Or something. I like snow. A lot. Especially during Christmas.
You know, it kind of bugs me that it snowed close to Halloween, but it's currently December and there's no snow in sight. Even the temperatures do not want to forebode snow (at least not last week. The temperatures are descending again, but there's some doubt in my mind that there will be enough moisture in the air to supply snow as well).
But more on that when it actually happens.
Anyway, in other news, my group of friends had a mini-secret-Santa thing today. My person gave me a Lord of the Rings piano/ voice book for Fellowship of the Ring, and a little button that says "I <3 To Sing." It's really exciting, and I adore them, especially the song book, mostly because it has songs that I have to actually practice on (as opposed to those really annoying big-note books designed for the 12-and-under pianists who are still learning to sightread, but have songs that the 13-and-ups can get in two tries), and some of the vocals are in ELVISH! WOOHOO!!
Today I have proclaimed to be a good day.
If I could get some more writing in, it would be an AWESOME day.
That remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, I am going to make a prediction, and I'm fairly certain that this prediction may come true: the rest of the week has a high likelihood of being horribly boring and rife with free blocks. I'll keep you updated; for now, I must go to class.

whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Well, the reality has finally sunk in.
I am a senior.
I did my last winter chorus concert last night. I sang the Hallelujah Chorus for the last time in the black uniform dress that we have to wear; next year, if I go, I'll be wearing jeans, probably. If I go next year, I'll be in the audience for the whole concert instead of performing for a few numbers, for the first time... well, ever. I didn't go to any of my school's concerts before I went to my school (I didn't have any reason to), so the first time I went to a Winter Concert at my school was when I was in sixth grade and I had to sing some song with the Middle School Chorus.
Yeah. This is SO WEIRD. CAN'T DEAL. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

grr.

More rantings from the wearied novelist

This may very well be the longest Friday I've had in a very long while. First of all, I was up until one in the morning last night (a new record), then I woke up about half an hour before I had to leave (which is half the time I leave myself), then I was almost fifteen minutes late to school because my parents wouldn't give me a ride (figures, under the circumstances). Then everything just kind of deteriorated for the rest of the morning. It kind of majorly sucked.

And then I got to my free blocks, and all was well. Mostly because I was in the library (as I am now), and I was asked for a book suggestion from a middle school girl who needed something to read. Since she'd read the Protector of the Small Quartet (by Tamora Pierce), I sent her to the Lioness Quartet (also by Tamora Pierce, who is probably the Master of Worldly History Tie-Ins; she has around a zillion books set in the same kingdom, and everyone knows about a lot of other people's stories, so which is kind of ridiculously cool. Also, Tamora Pierce is generally a really good writer).

Also, I was happy in the library because I like being in the library, and I had a full two hours of time in which to do absolutely nothing of consequence (except for government homework).

Anyhow, now I'm in the library again, and I'm STILL feeling tired. I WOULD go to Starbucks, but I have rehearsal today and I cannot get to Starbucks and back in half an hour or less (ditto for taking a nap). Well, closer to twenty minutes. So I'm in the library, with no caffeine, so I am blogging to keep myself awake. I'll probably write more of my novel later, once I log off.

I'm pretty sure the novel's going pretty well. I mean, it's not going BRILLIANTLY, because I'm TIRED and can't spout out two decent words to save my life, but the plot's still moving. I'm beginning the ever-steepening descent into the climax, which is really exciting because it's the climax, and also because it's the farthest I've gotten in any attempt at a literary work that I've ever made (in terms of plot, that is. I'm pretty sure what I have added to last year's NaNoWriMo novel makes that story, not this one, the longest thing I've ever written ever, INCLUDING history essays).

Well... um... yeah. I have nothing more to say to you, because I am tired and I am not in a creatively rambling mood. Were that the case, I would continue.

I am going to go write now (this probably will not go very well, because I now have ten minutes until rehearsal and no flow of creative juices). And do other things. And try to keep myself awake for a while longer. And probably get some food at some point.

Anyway... yeah.

Bye.

News and Stuff

Well, I have one item of good news and I have several items of bad news.

The solitary item of good news is this:
1. I have commenced the even more rapid descent towards the climax! Huzzah!

The several items of bad news are as follows:
1. I'm steadily running out of paper (I'm on page 190 of 200).
2. I have no cash to buy another notebook (they're a dollar from the school library. I don't have a dollar. Lame, I know).
4. I have to keep my grades up, which means that calculus and government take precedent over writing about Shakespeare and world-saving. Which kind of sucks. Shakespeare and world-saving are far more interesting.
5. For some reason, I skipped number three. I don't know how that's relevant, but I figured I'd point it out anyway. So it's noted. Moving on.

Anyhow, that is my news for today.

Surprise Of The Day: Romeo and Demetrius FINALLY kissed (well, actually, that happened yesterday, but the point still stands). Okay, it WAS a brief kiss that Romeo did to get him to get moving, but it still happened. HUZZAH! Of course, this DOES make Romeo like Demetrius a lot more (or at least it makes her more aware of him), which is kind of annoying, but also kind of funny (or at least has the potential to be). But it happened, and it was EXCITING! (and also really short and rather anti-climactic).

Actual Surprises: I didn't expect her to save Demetrius so soon, or that Jourdain would be mortally wounded (he gets better!), or that Emilia was a mage capable of turning herself into a big purple dragon, and who was indirectly involved with the death of Demetrius's parents. Also, I didn't know that Demetrius's parents were closely involved with the king and queen. I KNOW that Othello of Venice is a general, but I didn't think that he was the general of Mercanova as well. Well, turns out he is.

Also, Emilia = Emilia from "Othello" (there are several Emilias in Shakespeare, I've discovered). In this tale, she was formerly married to Iago, but she figured out what he was doing, pointed it out to the right people, and left before Iago could kill her. Now she's back, with the intent of doing Iago some serious harm. I need to figure out the technicality of how she got out of the marriage after she left, but I'll figure that out later.

Sadly, I can't really pursue a lot of that right now. I have an essay to write. And a test to study for. And a book to read (which is actually really good!).

Yeah. Writing (and not being allowed to) is really difficult sometimes.

Oh, well. I have several free blocks tomorrow. I can pursue that then.

Unless I don't finish the essay, which I'm hoping will NOT happen.

Wow...

This is depressing. My novel lag is currently set to 'maximum,' which is really, really annoying, because I'm still not at the climax, and I'm still feeling like a five-year-old waiting for their birthday party about the climax. BOOOOOO!!!!
I'm still working on the novel, but I'm only doing around a page and a half a day; this is about one-sixth of what I was doing during NaNoWriMo. That's really, really depressing, I know. I'm duly ashamed.
But something cool happened today. Okay, it was a bit weird, too, but that's mostly because it was a supermassive disconnect between what was actually happening and what I thought would happen. See, one of my teachers from Camp Shakespeare was teaching the non-AP English students how to understand and perform Shakespeare, and she was waiting outside before lunch for her ride to come. I was going to lunch late after Women's Camerata (because there is never a day when Wom's Cam lets out on time), and I was taking the outside route (as opposed to walking up 70-odd stairs to the cafeteria). And we saw each other and we talked about school and Shakespeare and stuff. It was kind of weird, but kind of awesome too. Mostly because I never expected that I'd see someone I had met over the summer at my school, and she's pretty cool.
Yeah, that's my story. The end.
I've got to go and write and do homework and do other things of a productive nature. Farewell!

Boredom, and other things

Yeah. I'm full-on in Post-NaNo Blues mode. It's kind of depressing. See, normally I'd be writing right now, because I have two free blocks and it's Friday, so I don't really have to do any homework for a while.
But I'm not writing. I left my notebook at home, which leaves me with basically nothing to do. I can't type it up; I can't finish it; I can't work on it at all. All I can do is sit here and blog about how I'm really bored and can't wait to finish my novel. And about how annoying it is that I can't work on the novel right now. And things of that nature.
I can't knit - I have some stuff, that's true, but I already finished the commission due soon, and I can't improve upon it and do the last shindigs until I get home. I NEED SOMETHING TO DO!!! GAH!!!
I miss writing.

December... WHAAAA...?

Wait... December? ALREADY? BUT MY NOVEL'S NOT DONE YET! I BARELY WROTE 300 WORDS YESTERDAY! GAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
Commence other forms of "post-NaNo confusion" and "post-NaNo blues" and other things that go along with NaNoWriMo being over.
It's actually surprising that I kind of miss it. A lot of the time, I was ambivalent about the plot of my novel. I I still enjoyed it, but maybe the first year's a lot more fun than the second year. Maybe the fun was sucked out of it the second year by AB calculus and over-plotting. Well, next year, wherever I am, I'll hopefully not be taking calculus, and I'll have a lot more free time to write. Probably.
Anyway, whatever my situation is next year, I'll hopefully know what NOT to do.
Actually, I'm going to make a list here and now. (Hey! Blog Title Reference! WIN!)

What To Do To Win NaNoWriMo And Enjoy It:
1. Have a basic set of characters
2. Allow room for adding people in
3. Have a goal for your characters (a plot, basically. Nothing too elaborate, though)
4. Do your research, if you need it.
5. Allow yourself to sleep.
6. If you find yourself freaking out, get some sleep.
7. Find friends to hold you accountable (if any of you have been to my Facebook page, you'll notice I have three friends in this with me)
8. If you want to write by hand, find a Magic Pen, a Magic Notebook, a Magic Place To Write, and a Magic Block of Time in which to write. If you're typing, find a USB/ thumb drive, a Magic Corner in which to write, and a Magic Block of Time to write in.
9. If you're an overachiever, be a consistent overachiever.
10. Allow yourself room for word-count-missing. But not too much room.

What To Avoid During NaNo:
1. Over-plotting
2. Controlling the story
3. Absolutely no goal
4. Let yourself get bogged by research
5. Coffee, if you're like me and it caffeinates your Inner Editor
6. Avoid your Inner Editor, period
7. Not doing homework
8. Thinking you have a dumb idea. (just like there are no stupid questions, there are no stupid ideas, only people who think so. Who needs them?)
9. Avoid pulling all-nighters.
10. Avoid randomly finding time to write. Like, if you're only getting in half an hour in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening, you're going to get a horrid word count. But if you get to your Daily Necessary Destination (class, work, school, etc) early, then you can leave when necessary, do all your Post-Necessary-Destination work right when you get home, and then write your sorry little fingers off. Or wrists, if you're hand-writing.

So those are my lists. I hope you like them. I expect ALL of you to do NaNoWriMo next year. If you're like my dad and don't think you have a novel inside you, write 50,000 words about you protesting to an annoying teenager that you're NOT GOING TO WRITE A NOVEL.

10 Counter-Arguments/ ways to get over the excuse that "I Don't Have A Creative Story To Tell/ I Don't Have A Novel In Me/ etc":

1. if you don't have a creative story to tell, tell an un-creative one.
2. If you don't have a novel in you, that means it's outside of you. Track it down and write it next November. It's hiding because it doesn't like your innards very much, and because your anti-novel-writing is scary to your poor story.
3. If you're worried about quality, swear to yourself that you won't let anyone see it after you're done with the book.
4. If you're strapped for ideas, look for drama (DO NOT CREATE DRAMA) at your workplace. Listen to conversations in the lunchroom and then tie them into your novel.
5. Also on the topic of work: if you don't think you can think up something, write about yourself going to work and writing a paper. Have the paper change the world.
6. If you don't think you have a 50,000 word novel in your guts (or hiding outside your guts), then there are ways to manipulate your wording so you can pad your word count. For example, ban apostrophes from your novel (the punctuation, not the lit device). Instead of saying "don't," say "do not." Instead of saying "KnitterWriterBlogger's List," say "the List that KnitterWriterBlogger wrote." Additionally, you could say "the List that Knitter Writer Blogger wrote," and making "Knitter Writer Blogger" three words instead of one.
7. If you don't think you have a read-able novel, tell yourself you're going to stash it under your bed and never look at it again.
8. If you just plain don't want to write a novel, no matter the topic or the time frame or the number of words it takes, write about how you don't want to write a novel.
9. If you don't think your life is cool enough for a novel, I refer again to the work-place scenario. You can write about something to do with your job. If your job is really complex, go into great depth to explain how the complexities work. If you really need a PhD to understand what you're talking about, then forget the explanations early on and have the plot revolve around how a novice (who doesn't have a PhD) comes into the field, and they figure out something about it, and then the villain reveals something in the Dastardly Plot that completely baffles the hero and leads to the eventual demise of one of them. Who said it had to be a comedy?
10. Write the bloody novel anyway, no matter what you want/ don't want/ think/ don't think/ wish you could/ should be doing. Just have a massive word barf/ word war/ word explosion, and then stash it under your bed and never look at it again. When you're famous for something that's "more important" than writing a novel, your biographers will come poking around your house and find a novel under your bed and add "noveling" to the list of your many merits. HAHAHAHA!

Just don't let yourself think you CAN'T do something, because will mean you can't. And that will really suck. Who wants to be incapable of doing stuff because they doubt themselves?

Day 30: um... what?

Start Page: 178

Current Page: 178

Target Page: No Longer Exists

Pages Written Today: 0 (not even ONE WORD. SADNESS!)

Pages Left To Go: No Longer With A Target...

Location In Story: Belarius is about to learn that everyone is basically screwed unless Oberon and Hippolyta agree to help.

Surprise of the Day: that would require writing...


Yeah. I haven't written today. Very depressing, I know. I kind of hate it. I'm going to have to memorize an Iago monologue or two (okay, it's technically two, because Roderigo says some stuff in between, but I've deleted Roderigo and making it one monologue) before I can do some Writing Of The Novel.

I'm still kind of in shock that it's almost December. Actually, I'm not in shock; that would involve coming to terms with the fact that it's November 30th and I'm not going to be able to write anything at all for at least another hour because I'll be studying Shakespeare's villain's monologue (and my own villain's monologue, technically, too. Sadly, my Iago is not that heartbreakingly good of a liar). I somehow managed to choose the monologue, without realizing it at the time (since I hadn't done a translation of the Shakespearean yet), where Iago specifically likens himself to things of a Supremely Evil Nature in the fact that he's going to BE a being of a Supremely Evil Nature. Not that he isn't already.

The lines are these:

"When devils will the blackest sins put on
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows
As I do now:..."


It means, for all ye Shakespearean Illiterates, that devils commit sins against humans, and when they're going to do their worst sins/ tricks/ what-have-you (the 'blackest sins'), they first pretend like they're doing everybody a favor and being awesome to everyone (the 'heavenly shows'). As such, Iago's going to pretend that he's doing a favor to Othello, but really he's kind of winding up getting Othello's lieutenant disgraced (and maybe killed? I don't remember), getting Roderigo killed, confusing everybody, disgracing Desdemona, and driving Othello to kill his own wife. Also, Iago kills Emilia. What kind of husband kills his own wife? I mean really. Okay, Othello was tricked into doing it by a sociopath who wanted to get into Desdemona's trousers and thought Emilia was cheating on him for no real reason. And, okay, Iago is a sociopath and she DID sell him out at the end, but still. I LIKED Emilia. Emilia's really cool.

To get back at Othello's Iago, I'm bringing back Romeo's Emilia and having her kick Romeo's Iago's butt.

That made no sense out of context. Oh, whatever. I have a monologue to memorize and a novel to write. I'll explain this all later when it actually makes sense to me and to everyone else.

Perhaps when the novel is done. And when I'm done with this monologue.

Day 29: WHY AM I PUTTING IN NEW CHARACTERS NOW?!?!?

Start Page: 172

Current Page: 173

Target Page: I really don't know anymore...

Pages Written Today: 2 (very top of 172; I was starting a new chapter)

Pages Left To Go: um...

Location In Story: going to consult the faeries of Puck's tribe in order to get some help on the epic battle of epically epic epicness. Did I mention it was going to be really epic?

Surprise of the Day: faeries are very proud and more temperamental than I thought they were. Even (especially?) Oberon and Hippolyta. And no, I'm NOT sure if I spelled her name right. But whatever.


Yeah. Romeo's about to meet with Oberon and Hyppolita about maybe possibly getting some extra numbers with which to fight the Tyrant and Iago. I don't know what they're going to say. I haven't written that part yet. But I'm pretty sure it's going to be a fun scene.

See, these faeries aren't the faeries people normally think of - they are really tall (Puck, for example, is 5'10" and he's considered a runt), and they're really proud and powerful and stuff. Though they are usually kind, they don't go out of their way to help humans; they prefer to keep to themselves. They're not violent to the humans, but they're not exceedingly nice to them, either. And if they get asked for help very, very nicely, and they like the person who's doing the asking, and they see something in it for themselves, they'll help the person asking them for aid.

I don't know how well Romeo is going to handle this. I kind of want to find out sooner rather than later, so I'm going to log off soon and go write.

But my main thing is: WHY AM I ADDING NEW CHARACTERS NOW??? This is kind of majorly bugging me. I'm about ten pages from the climax, and I have added new people. Or, faeries, rather.

Within the last two or three days, I've added more characters than I thought would be in it, and I foresee introducing at least two more in addition to Oberon and Hippolyta. Well, actually, Ophelia has already been mentioned. But Emilia will be entirely new. Actually, I've mentioned her as well, but she has never actually made a physical appearance, but Ophelia has.

A lot of people (okay, two) are supposed to be dead, but they're not. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

Noveling is such a confusing business. At least this novel is. I really hope I don't see any other chances to add in any more characters, subplots, and other things that will delay the climax. Because this is getting rather annoying.

But the climax is nigh! HUZZAH! I just have to get there. And then write it. And not introduce anyone else along the way. Because that would be ridiculously frustrating. GAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Okay, I'm going to go and write a novel and stuff now. If I don't die from suspense and waiting and trying not to go insane from not being allowed to write the climax.

See, I can't just skip there already. I have to wait to see what the faeries say about the proposal to help Romeo and Company. See, the entire outcome of the climax may depend on the presence of the faeries and the pirate crew that Puck and Imogen were a part of. And maybe the crew that Jack was a part of as well. I don't really know. But Romeo is dealing with the faeries, and I have to know whether they are in before I go on to writing the climax, because I need to know who's in the fight and the fight's part of the climax. I can't write a scene if I don't know who's in it, so I can't skip ahead. Even though I really, really, desperately want to.

Okay, going to write stuff now.

Goodbye.

Day 28: looming deadlines and the nigh ending

Start Page: 169

Current Page: 170

Target Page: um....

Pages Written Today: 1

Pages Left To Go: um...

Location In Story: basically the same as yesterday.

Surprise of the Day: I don't know yet. Come back later.


Yeah. Very little progress today. It's kind of annoying.

Though I did find out, since I started typing today, that my words-per-page average is a LOT higher than I thought it was (okay, not a LOT, but enough to be pleasantly surprised). I'm now declaring my words-per-page average to be 340 words, not 332, as I previously had decided and had been going with for most of NaNoWriMo. So that's kind of cool, to know that I've been writing more than I thought I would. I didn't see that coming.

Okay, yeah, it DID happen last year as well, and it's not as dramatic a change as last year's was (because last year, my handwriting was bigger on the Word Count Test Day, where I guesstimated my average word count, and I elaborated a LOT when I was typing). Last year, I went from saying I was doing 250 words per page to realizing (with all the elaborations and everything) that I was doing 305 words per page. So that was kind of exciting and stuff. This year, it wasn't as dramatic a change, obviously (8 words versus 55), but it's still a change, and it's kind of cool to know that I did more than I thought I did.

I'm still feeling like an over-achiever, though. Ridiculously like an over-achiever. It's not even funny how much of an over achiever I'm feeling like right now.

Why?

Well, I'm already into one college, I validated my novel (albeit with a Lorem Ipsum generator) on November 25th (the first day you could do it), AND I'm still ahead of the word count because I'm STILL not done. To be quite honest, feeling like an over achiever isn't that great. Actually, it's kind of lousy. It's boring, being good at stuff. I know that sounds really weird, but it's true. I mean, what's less entertaining than being fully capable of doing everything? Where's the fun in THAT? Where's the CHALLENGE? WHERE'S THE ADVENTURE!?!?


Wow. I AM weird.

Okay, going now to write a novel and do calculus and read stuff and stuff. And type. And calculus. And do whatever else I need to do.

Yeah.

Bye.

Day 27: people who are supposed to be dead... aren't

Start Page: 165 (very top)

Current Page: 169

Target Page: 175

Pages Written Today: 5

Pages Left To Go: 6

Location In Story: Imogen is not dead! (Puck's friend, who is a lesbian) She got reincarnated, and Jack Cade (with whom she has to hang out because he's the only way for her to get back to hanging out with Puck) is turning out to be a total butthead who flirts with every single girl he comes across (including Romeo, who had to turn him into a codfish to get him to stop, and Imogen, who has had to explain to him thirteen times so far that she's not attracted to boys and does NOT want to sleep with him, but he still somehow doesn't get it).

Surprise of the Day: Jack Cade is a total butthead. And not a butthead the way Demetrius was, once upon a time, a butthead. Demetrius got over it. Jack shows no signs of doing so. Also, Romeo finally called someone a lily-livered codfish with total intention, and someone finally became a lily-livered codfish. Huzzah!


Yeah. That's where I am. Nothing too dramatic, I know. The only important things that have happened recently are that I introduced another subplot (romantic tension FTW! Even though I really don't need any more subplotting or anything...) and that my purple pen, with which I wrote almost 162 whole pages, died last night. It was very saddening. I've moved on now to my green pen, which is just as cool as my purple pen, though just not as purply.

Is that even a word?

Whatever.

Anyway, my wrist is starting to hurt, and the end is still nigh. I wish it was no longer nigh, or even a little less nigh than it was five pages ago, but that doesn't seem to be happening. That's really, really annoying. If you've ever tried to get through something and the end keeps getting farther and farther away, you might know what it feels like right now.

HURRY UP, CLIMAX!!

I need to write more often, and also do homework. Otherwise, I'll fail at school and finishing a novel before my January college apps are due, which will be very, very, VERY annoying.

Yeah. Going now.

Day 26: write-ins and frustratingness

Start Page: 156

Current Page: 161

Target Page: 170

Pages Written Today: 5

Pages Left To Go: 9

Location In Story: Romeo and Sebastian are going to a pub (called the Orange Curtain, I don't know why) to start a revolution with the help of Jack Cade (props if you get the reference to Richard II or III, I don't remember which), and maybe Emilia, Ophelia, and Imogen (even though Imogen is dead, Emilia is MIA, and Ophelia is missing presumed dead).

Surprise of the day: there is a nice gate keeper and there is a pub in the capital of Mercanova (a city which may not have a name) called the Orange Curtain. I was considering making the curtains blue, but then I didn't.


I'm kind of annoyed right now, though. I'm VERY close to the end of the novel; I can feel the climax waiting to occur. But I can't seem to get there fast enough. There's the whole potential Ophelia sucicide to work out, and the Tyrant (this evil overlord guy) is coming into town as well. Though I can deal with figuring out a come-from-behind victory for the Prophecied and Friends (including Romeo, Demetrius, Puck, Belarius, Hamlet, Sebastian, and Jack Cade, with the additional help of Jourdain the Dragon and possibly the aid of Imogen, Ophelia, and Emilia, and a crew of pirates and a tribe of faeries) against Iago and the Tyrant, I don't know WHEN this revolution is slated to occur. And it's bugging me to no end.

Why?

Think of it this way.

It's nearing the Holiday That You Celebrate. You cannot WAIT for this holiday, and you cannot WAIT to open presents and give presents to people and spread Holday Cheer and all things wonderful and awesome. But first, you have to decide what to do/ give/ make for everybody, and help your dad decorate for the holiday (especially if he tends to get very excited about putting up holiday decorations), and do all your homework,make sure that a million other things are completely over with before you can actually chill in the knowledge that your Winter Holiday is Nigh and all that stress can go die.

Well, think about adding in several extra people that you feel obligated to give gifts to even though you didn't think you were going to have to give gifts to them, and learning that your dad bought about a zillion extra lights for you to put up this year, and that you want to deal with all those gifts you're behind on, except you can't because your dad is EXPECTING you to deal with the lights.
Well, the lights are my additional supblots, which keep showing up unannounced; the gifts are the extra characters, who are awesome but may not really need to actually be there; the Winter Holiday is the climax of the novel, which I'm TOTALLY excited to write if it actually decided to be assertive and come NOW. Everything is sure to explode in a big bomb of awesome once I actually get there - the subplots will resolve and twinkle all nicely and prettily and well and stuff, the new and old characters will get their dues as they do whatever it is they do best, and the Tyrant and Iago will get their totally necessary punches in the face in an awesomely well-written battle scene that will hopefully wind up as an epic battle of epicness that gets no justice except in a well-thought-out and brilliantly choreographed film sequence.


That's what I HOPE will happen, anyway.

Whether it actually occurs is another matter entirely, and is best left to the plot to get itself figured out.


Anyway, in other news, I had a write-in with a friend today. Though I am way ahead, she is way behind, and did succeed in adding around 2,000 words to her novel in the three and a half hours we were writing (HUZZAH!). I added about six pages to my novel, which was awesome as well. HUZZAH! My plot hasn't advanced much, but it's advanced, which is EXCITING!

I'm going off to go write and stuff now.

Huzzah!

Day 25: Wins, winds, and writing

Start Page: 151

Current Page: 151 (no, I haven't written at all)

Target Page: 160-ish?

Location In Story: Romeo is messing with Iago. Still. I haven't budged since last I posted.

Surprise of the Day: see "location In Story".


Yeah. I haven't written today, though I DO plan on it. I can't NOT write today.

But I'm not getting to that now. Why? I'm still too pumped. I just got my first college acceptance letter (okay, I opened it an hour ago), and it was EXCITING! I got in to my 1.5 choice of the ones I'm likely to get into (I'm not likely to get into William and Mary, but if I do, that will be awesome), and it's close to top, but it depends on whether I get into my #1 of the ones I'm likely to get into. Either way, the letter resulted in a scream and a very bad happy dance.

Unfortunately (almost ironically), I am now in too good a mood to write anything depressing, and it is too nice a day outside to write anything depressing and dark and motivated, and that is the bit I have to write: quite a few pages of something not-exactly-fun. I'm kind of annoyed, but then I remember that I actually got into college! WOOHOO!!!! If I don't get in anywhere else, I will be EXTREMELY happy to go to this school. I will be quite willing to go to this school even if I DO get in other places. At least I got in somewhere I liked! That's a WAY plus!

Okay, I'm off. I need to go drop off some library books and write some annoying stuff of an annoying, depressing, not-exactly-happy nature. I may or may not post later.

If I don't, I will post tomorrow.

Farewell.

Oh, yeah. Also, I validated my novel using Lorem Ipsum today. It was exciting. I got a winner's certificate and a video of all the OLL (office of Letters and Light, which runs NaNoWriMo) cheering and stuff. The cool publishing stuff (yes, free publishing services are part of what you get for winning) doesn't come for another ten days - it's a certain code that you can put into the website of the publishing thing and get free services for six months or something.

Though my novel is currently incomplete, I validated anyway.

Yes, today is a good day.

A very good day.

And I am going to go write and stuff now.

Farewell.

Day 24: day of thanks, goals reached, and nigh endings

Start Page: 147 (very bottom)

Current Page: 151

Target Page: well....

Location In Story: Romeo is arguing with Iago/ messing with his head (not really), and Iago is freaking out about impending visits and other annoying things.

Surprise of the Day: Romeo can mess with Iago's head. They also met a lot earlier than I expected. Also, the Tyrant (this evil overlord guy who keeps all of the other evil guys in line) is coming to visit Elsinore, and Iago is freaking out about it.

Awesome News Of The Day: I am DONE with the official NaNoWriMo challenge! I hit 50,132 today - about half an hour ago, in fact. Huzzah!

Annoying News Of The Day: I am not done with the novel. BOO!


I would hazard a guess to say that I'm about 10,000 - 20,000 words away from the ending, but I can't be sure until I actually hit the ending. I'm not sure I'm going to pull off the ending or even pull off GETTING to the ending; I'm not sure I'm even going to get beyond my current word count. I'm not even sure I'm ACTUALLY at 50,132. My handwriting (and my word-counting ability) is very bad, and my writing is very tiny. Either way, I'm going to Lorem Ipsum tomorrow and validating whatever words I have. I might hold off validating until November 30th, but I don't know yet. Tomorrow is the earliest I can validate; November 30th at 11:59:59 is the latest I can do it. But more on that later, when it actually becomes Novel Validating Crunch Time. Either way, I'm well above the word count necessary (I'm counting 132 words as "well above the word count necessary").

At any rate, I am DONE with the necessary word count. However, I am not DONE with the novel. This means that I'm going to be ensuring the permanence of this Ink Tattoo on my finger (it actually hasn't survived a shower yet. This is depressing), and I'm going to be writing to the very end of the journal.

Like last year, I'm not going to know EXACTLY how many words I've written until I type the novel up, but I'm kind of hoping that, unlike last year, the novel does not remain untyped for a year.

Maybe next year I WILL type the whole thing.

Whatever. I'll deal with that when next year comes.


Anyway, in other news, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I am thankful for my awesome friends and family and the fact that I was able to hit 50,000 words today. Huzzah!

Right. I have to go and clean my room now. And maybe sneak in some more words before my friend and her family come for dinner.

Farewell!

Day 23: so close but...

Start Page: 140

Current Page: 144

Page To End On: 150 (will elaborate later)

Pages Written Today: 4

Pages Left To Write Today: 6

Location In Story: Puck is coming into his abilities. He can also give orders to a dragon, now, apparently, which is exciting. He can also talk to animals and make stuf come and go (like telepathy or something). Romeo is a bit jealous of this, to be honest. To be honest again, I am too. That would probably be the coolest thing EVER, to control (or at least give orders to) a dragon.

Surprise of the Day: Puck and the Dragon. And his magic style. And the fact that they can communicate with Demetrius now, since Puck can send and recieve messages on paper, because he can do that.

So that is where I am.

According to the NaNoWriMo Stat counter tracker thingie, I will probably hit 50,000 words tomorrow. Maybe even today. I don't know. It depends on whether or not I hit page 150 today. See, I want to hit 10 pages a day so I can get to the end (finally), but at the same time, I want to be able to tell the story. I don't know how that makes sense. Darn you not-editing-anything challenge!

Okay, let me try this again.

Um... 50,000 words might not be enough to tell the story.

Actually, not MIGHT NOT. It DEFINITELY isn't. And I am trying to hit 10 pages a day from now to the end of the month so I can tell the story to the end, which is a big accomplishment for me. At the same time, it is going to be hard.

Why?

Well, I have suddenly lost interest in my novel.

Puck got the dragon, and it bugged me to no end. I mean, it wasn't the fact that PUCK got the dragon. It's just that Puck got the dragon AND he seems like he's going to be the Reluctant Leader guy who saves the day. But that's supposed to be Romeo.

And also, Romeo's starting to be kind of bitchy, which is kind of annoying as well. I think she's feeling a lot of pressure, or something. I don't really know. But either way, she's kind of annoying right now.

Yeah. I though this was good, but it is going to need a LOT of editing before it can go anywhere. Especially if 'anywhere' means 'a publishing house.' I need more consistency and more life and a lot more other things.

That was horrible grammar. GAH!

Yeah. I need to become a hermit and regain interest in my novel. Or something. But tomorrow's Thanksgiving, and I'll be thankful for the novel itself and the fact that I have an excuse to become a hermit.

I think my problem is that I'm trying to control it too much. I'm trying to guide the story too much instead of trying to let it run its course. Maybe I should give up the challenge. Maybe I should give up the novel. Maybe...

No. I REFUSE to give up now.

Going back to being a hermit. Bye.

Day 22: GO AWAY I'M WRITING.

Start Page: 130

Current Page: 131

End Page: 133

Pages Written Today: 1

Pages Left To Go: 2

Location In Story: Demetrius has left; Romeo is annoyed; she and Puck are about to work on her training with the supremely awesome sword that she gets for being a Prophesied Hero and stuff (the one with the supermassive bird).

Surprise of the Day: Don't know that. Come back later.


Yeah. Not much to report from whence last I posted. I know I'm way ahead of my necessary word count, but I don't want to slack off now. I CAN'T slack off now. This is the time when stuff is about to get good. Now's the time when people have to go after other people and kill the villains and save the day and feel bad about hard choices and fall in love and meet the right person and stuff.

So, yes, I'm procrastinating, even though I shouldn't. I'm trying to decide whether I should start typing now or hand write now and type it all up in December. I can see the merit in both options; however, I want the story to go on. After all, a supremely large part of NaNoWriMo is to NOT EDIT AS YOU GO, which I kind of do anyway. Yeah, I'm lame.

Anyhow, I need to go write. Or type. Or relieve a moment of tension. Or update my word count. Or procrastinate in the forums. Or continue blogging.

Yeah, even though I have four hours of free blocks today, I don't know whether I am actually going to get any writing done. I want to get writing done. I NEED TO GET WRITING DONE. But WILL I get writing done? Hmmmm...

I'm also trying this exercise along with NaNoWriMo. It's to not edit as you go, or go back and edit soon after something's been written. I'm going to try it with all the rest of my NaNo posts (kind of late to stop editing this now). So all the things that you will see on the blog that aren't as they should be... I'm sorry. I'm going to try to kick my Inner Editor in the butt one last time (or at least I'll try to). He needs to get off my back. I'm thinking about this way too much.

Sooo BACK TO THE NON-EDITY WRITING! WOOHOO!!!

Before I go, one thing: if you know me in person and you see me over Thanksgiving break (which starts this afternoon) and I don't have my notebook with me and I'm not writing, I'm just walking around and doing stuff that normal people do, feel free to come over and smack me upside the head (okay, maybe not actually smack me, but you get the idea) and order me to get back on track. This is crunch time, people. I need motivation.

Also, for all of you who want to read the novel when it's done, I apologize if it takes me forever to get it typed up and emailed out. And I apologize if it never comes; it doesn't mean I don't love you. It means I don't know who you are or that you wanted to read my novel.

If I don't know you in person, then I'm sorry, but you'll have to read it if and when it gets published. Which won't be anytime soon. But you'll know it when it's awesome-er than it is now, so think of that before you kick my butt over my not letting you see it.

But if I know you in person and you want to read it, email me.

Day 21: Ink Stains and Nigh Endings

Start Page: 123

Current Page: 128

Target Page: 127

Pages Written Today: 5

Pages Until Quota Is Met: -1

Location In Story: Romeo has the Super Awesome Sword of Heroes (which is supremely awesome and gets delivered by a supermassive hawk/ raven/ eagle/ crow bird thing); Demetrius has just left. Puck and the bird know about this; Romeo isn't going to regain consciousness until he's well away from the clearing (so she can't come after him and murder him).

Surprise of the Day: the sword entered the picture a lot earlier than I thought it would, but that is OKAY! I'm pretty sure the thing is entitled to show up whenever wants. I hadn't really had a set plan for its entry, just after everyone but Romeo and Sebastian are either in the Royal Apartments or in the Dungeons. Also, I didn't know that the sword got a really big, immortal bird just for the sake of delivering it to the right person. That kind of makes the sword really, really important, if it gets an immortal delivery bird along with it. Also, Puck came out to Demetrius as being gay (GO PUCK!), and Demetrius told Puck that he was leaving (originally, Demetrius was ging to leave in the dead of night with nothing but a note left to tell Romeo and Puck where he is). If any of you ever doubted that literary characters write their own story and my pen is just a means to do that, now's the time to stop thinking that and move on to more important things.

Anyway, moving on.

The ink stain on my ring finger is getting darker; I think it will soon become an ink tattoo, which is exciting. Not only does that mean that I'll have a tattoo (at least for a while), it means that I'm making progress, which is always fun. Well, at least it is MOST of the time. Sometimes making progress just sucks.

Anyway, at my current situation, I'm thinking that maybe 50,000 words isn't enough to tell the story of Romeo, Demetrius, Puck, Belarius, Iago, Sebastian, Hero, Hamlet, Hecate, Ipsratch, Chargoth (though they haven't shown up for around ten chapters), maybe Ophelia, maybe Emilia, and maybe Imogen (yes, I know she's dead, but she may not actually be DEAD, just ALMOST dead).

Why?

Well, let's start with the fact that I'm at approximately 42,500 words, and I'm nowhere near the climax. Actually, I'm SORT of near the climax, but I think I need around 10,000 words (maybe a little less) to get there. And that's without the climax and the resolution.

There's also the possiblity that my words-per-page average is a LOT more than 332, which would mean that I COULD already be above 50,000 and not realize it (though I don't want to push my luck on this; I'm sticking with 332 until I type it up and verify what it is).
So, once again, I face the threatening possiblity that I won't actually finish my novel this year. I'll hit the word count - there's no doubt about that - but I don't know whether it's enough to tell the story.

Well, I'm not going to shut up about the story, and the story isn't going to shut itself up until it gets finished. I know that much.

Well, that being said, I am OFF to go and write a novel.

Goodbye.

Day 20: Word Count Is Nigh! (but not the end of the novel)

Start Page: 115 (at the bottom)

Current Page: 122 (very top)

Target Page: 121

Pages Written Today: 7

Pages Left To Go: -1

Location In Story: the true identity of Belarius has been revealed; he's now in the dungeon being "taunted" by Iago. Belarius doesn't really fall for it; he's close to 100 years old and has been in this situation many times (he's the adventuring/ advising sort of wizard who ages at one-fourth the speed of humans, so he looks like he's around 25 years old). He does pay attention to the last bit of information that Iago discloses, that Hecate (alias Purrabella) is helping Iago and it's ALL THE WIZARD'S FAULT (he didn't INTEND for Hecate to wind up in the possession of Hero, but she did. Hecate CHOSE to ally herself with Iago rather than with Hamlet and Belarius).

Surprise of the Day: um... nothing too dramatic, actually. Just that Romeo sided with Hamlet and Puck in deciding whether to have Sebastian and Hero stay in the castle or leave the castle. They're staying, much to their dislike. But it gives Demetrius cause to act like a lovesick idiot and go back to save Hero. But THAT bit isn't a surprise; it's an important plot point.

So that's where I am.

Anyway, I'm getting an ink stain on my finger again from writing so much and dragging part of my ring finger through the ink of the words I've written. It's not at the point where it's going to become permanent, but it's well on its way to a proper place of permanence on my finger. Last year, I think the ink stain became a tattoo a bit earlier than this, but I was also writing with my legs propped up last year (the seat I was on was on the floor), whereas this year I'm usually sitting at a table or a desk or something. Yes, where and how I'm sitting DOES affect how much ink gets onto my finger.

If the ink stain becomes a proper tattoo this year, I might take a photo of it and post it. It's actually not that interesting, and the purple ink might just make it look like a bruise, but whatever.


To be honest, I'm rather excited for Thanksgiving break. It means that I'll have more time to write, more time to watch Star Trek, and that I'll have an excuse to eat a lot of food! (And to be thankful for the awesomeness that is writing and Star Trek and food!) Huzzah!

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is probably the leftovers party. It usually happens on Friday night with my family and my parents' friends. I'm the only one of the three kids (well, teens. Actually, not teens... the oldest one is now 20) who still sticks around for it, but I really don't care, because playing Scene It (this movie DVD game thing) is probably the most bloody hilarious thing I do all year. This year, mom bought a new version of Scene It because she thinks we've answered all the questions on the original game during previous years, but I'm pretty sure there's still some uncharted territory in the game. But I really don't mind the new version, because it's Scene It Comedy, which is extremely exciting and is probably going to be even MORE bloody hilarious than in years past.

So I'm VERY excited.

And I'm going to go write now.

Goodbye.

Day 19: In Which I Write About Fighting

Start Page: 109

Current Page: 112

Target Page: 115

Pages Written Today: 5 (started at the top of 109)

Pages Left Today: 3

Location In Story: FIGHTING! Romeo has officially met Sebastian and Hero; Hero and Demetrius have made out (this annoys Romeo, but she ignores in face of the fact that they're getting ATTACKED); Romeo takes the lead in organizing a retaliation to the attack; Romeo officially kicked some serious ass (sorry, mom) in the ensuing fight, taking out six guards with well-placed shots to the knee and other critical areas, and took out four more with a knife/ kick/ punch/ awesome combo. The night guard wasn't around when Romeo, Puck, Demetrius, and Morgan were sneaking in, which made Romeo suspicious; it turned out that the night guards (the ones who watch the castle at night and raise the alarm if someone of an evil-looking nature passes by/ enters the castle) weren't actually being deployed anywhere, because Iago's an idiot and doesn't NEED night guards, because he's cool like that (but mostly because he's an idiot). Anyway, Iago found out that Romeo and Company were in the building/ castle/ Elsinore (yes, I DID plan that... actually, no I didn't. But it WAS an intentional Shakespeare reference once I learned that a castle had a name in a Shakespearean show), and he sent the no-longer-night not-exactly-guards after Romeo, Puck, Demetrius, and Morgan, with the intent to inflict misery.

Surprise of the Last 24 Hours: Hero has a cat that she had named Purrabella; the cat's really Hecate (obligatory Macbeth/ Mythology reference), Greek goddess of magic, trapped inside the body of a cat, and communicates with Iago via hand/ paw signals. Also, Romeo has done tae kwon do and knows how to fight without weapons.


Anyway, Iago now has a lot of reasons not to like Morgan/ Belarius (whose true identity is about to be revealed to Puck and Demetrius): he escaped from Iago's clutches, he helped the Prophecied, he trapped Hecate inside the body of a stray cat...

Actually, he should probably be THANKING Belarius that Hecate is now Purrabella and that the cat wound up in the possession of Hero, but whatever. I guess Iago thinks Hecate would be more useful to him in the form of a goddess rather than in the form of a cat (though he seems to forget that, were she not in cat or reduced goddess form, she would kill him with her goddess awesomeness, because gods and goddesses in their true form are too awesome to be viewed by mere mortals, according to Greek mythology).

At any rate, Iago has good reason to be mad. I'm pretty sure he has several other reasons to be mad at Belarius, but I can't remember them at the moment. But these reasons will cause Iago to have the guards capture Belarius, reveal his true identity to the Prophecied (Romeo, Demetrius, and Puck), and keep him in the dungeon until further notice. Further Notice will be just longer than the time it takes for Romeo, Demetrius, and Puck to land in there (actually, just Demetrius and Puck. Romeo never goes to the dungeon unless it's to rescue the guys).

In all, I'm extremely glad that I am back on track - the novel is now EXCITING, and I'm kind of itching to get back to it, even when I'm procrastinating, like now. It makes me wonder WHY I procrastinate in the first place. Whatever. I'll figure that out later.

Farewell!

Also

Yeah, I'm trying to write more than 3000 words.  Since I'm going to become a hermit for all of Thanksgiving break, please do not expect regular posts for the last week of NaNo.  I will TRY to post, though.
But mostly, I'll be writing a LOT.

Day 18: catching up

Current Page: 102
Start page: 98
Target Page: 109
Pages Written Today: 4
Pages Left Today: 7
Location In Story: Proceeding into the castle.  I haven't written very much since last I posted, so I'm going to go and write now.

Day 17: In Which I Am Behind

Start Page: 94

Current Page: 98

Target Page: 103

Pages Written Today: 4

Pages Left Today: 5

Location In Story: Hero has been spotted and (not really) seduced, but Romeo successfully dragged Demetrius away and put him back on track. Hero decides that, after waiting around for a while, that she is going to go off and find Romeo and Demetrius and Puck and Morgan. With the help of Sebastian, of course. She wouldn't go without Sebastian. However, now I can't think of what to have Romeo and Puck and Demetrius and Morgan do. I'm kind of at a roadblock, but I can't exactly do anything about it right now because I have to blog and do calculus and government and go to rehearsal today, and tomorrow will only be aided by the fact that I have time to sleep in the morning.


Anyhow, moving on.

Well, there is nothing really to move on to, except homework and writing, and I have a government test tomorrow, a hike to go on with Earth-Space, a novel to write in a month, calculus to review, and a musical to rehearse. All tomorrow. Today I have to do basically the same thing, minus the hike. I DO have to review government and do calculus homework and write a novel. Even though writing a novel is optional, it's the thing I want to do most. Even though there are a lot of things I SHOULD be doing. And even though it's the one thing I don't HAVE to do. And even though I'm having another bout of writer's block. GAH!

Funny how that ALWAYS happens. The one thing you don't have to do is the one thing you want to do most.

For all of you non-writers out there, I dare you to write a novel next November. You don't have to publish it; it doesn't have to be the next Supremely Brilliant Novel That Will Forever Change The World. But I dare you to do it. I dare you to let your life be changed by words. And to let me know that I'm not the only lunatic doing calculus and National Novel Writing Month and the musical all at the same time.

For all of you wimps out there who aren't doing all three, I dare you to try a month of complete insanity. It will be the strangest thing you have ever done, but it will also be the coolest thing you will ever do. Why? Well, it means that you have gone to the edge of glory, as Lady Gaga would say. You have done what no mere mortals do.

In other words, you can go to the breaches of utter ridiculosity and come out alive, should you dare to venture out to the horizon of Sleep Deprivation and Utter Creativity.


Wow. I sound really poetic when I only get six hours of sleep two nights in a row.

Yeah. Okay. I need to go get food and write maybe twenty words before I go to rehearsal.

I will see you all on the other side of tomorrow.

Wow. That also sounded really poetic. Though I write poetically when I'm tired, I REFUSE to lose more sleep than I already have. I slept in for 20 minutes this morning; I dreamed that two guys I know had met each other like forty years ago even though the older one is 19.

Yeah. I hate stress dreams, too.

ONWARD!

Day 16: past halfway!

Start Page: 89

Current Page: 92

Pages Written Today: 3

Target Page: 97

Pages Left To Go: 5

Location In Story: Demetrius is about to spring from his cover and start soliloquizing to Hero, who, despite the fact that it's DAWN and she should be ASLEEP rather than staying up and WAITING for them to come (even though she knew they were coming to save her; Belarius told Hamlet via MagicSkype), is waiting for Demetrius and Romeo and Puck and Belarius on her balcony. She's doing nothing of consequence on said balcony, except for standing there and looking pretty. And maybe saying a bit of a sonnet or two, for good measure.

To be quite honest, I thought this time would come a LONG time ago (on maybe Day 7 or 8), but I'm quite glad that I've had the time to pad my word count, because I don't think the story would last for 50,000 words if I hadn't had the time to establish the characters and add some Chekhov's Guns that I did not know existed in the story (for all of you who do not know what a Chekhov's Gun is... it's that cliche of EVERYTHING that if you mention a weapon in the beginning of something, someone will die because of it at the end. If a knife is shown in Act 1, someone will die in Act 2 or 3. If there's a gun hanging on the wall in Act 1, someone will fire it in Act 2 or 3. It also applies to offhand statements, notation of the little details, and other things of a seemingly inconsequential nature; all of these will come back and bite you. In the world of literature, nothing is ever unimportant). So that's all good.

Now I'm just procrastinating on going back to studying. I do NOT have to do calculus homework today, which is VERY exciting. I wasn't looking forward to doing MORE mind-numbing equations. It started to make sense last week, but then this week came along and the teacher introduced the chain rule, and now everything's confusing again. I'm starting to make sense of it once more, but I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong and that something will be introduced on Friday or Monday that will throw me off. Whatever that source of confusion might be, I can guarantee that I'm not looking forward to it.

In other news, rehearsals have begun for the musical. I have all of ONE LINE and ONE SOLO!!! WOOHOO!!! Sadly, I'm not playing one of those awesome multi-cast musical ninjas who can do anything and makes everyone else look good, but this is the next best thing. Sadly, a musical like "Oklahoma!" is not the sort of musical that takes kindly to ninjas, multi-cast and musical or not. "Guys and Dolls" needed a few ninjas, but "Oklahoma!" isn't a very ninja-friendly musical, since it's set primarily in one area among one group of people (as opposed to "Guys and Dolls," which has Cubans, gangsters, New Yorkers, Hot Box Girls, and Missionaries).

So that's what's happening right now. Nothing of significant consequence.

Except my voice is dying from yelling over the music during Fall Formal on Thursday. I was horrible on Friday and I improved on Saturday and Sunday, but Monday I started to sing again, which utterly killed my voice. Now I'm trying to keep hydrated and eat lots of oranges.

Now I must return to the darkness that is studying for government and vocabulary tests and writing about how Demetrius thinks he's Romeo Montague. And do laundry.

I am excited.

But not for vocab.

Or government.

I cannot tell you how supremely pumped I am to write this scene.

Day 15: the return of plot!

Current Page: 88

Start Page: 85

Target Page: 91

Pages Written Today: 3

Pages Left To Go: 3

Location In Story: It's the Eve of the First Time They Go Into The Castle To Do Things Of An Important Nature. I've decided that the reason they are infiltrating (or whatever it is they're doing; I don't know whether it's as cool as infiltrating, but they're only four in number, so they're not storming the castle... what do you call this, anyway?) is to find and rescue Prince Sebastian and Princess Hero. And bring them out of the castle and have them help Romeo and Demetrius and Puck and Morgan/ Belarius to complete whatever it is they need to be doing (here meaning overthrowing Iago and saving Mercanova and restoring the rightful king to power and thus fulfilling the Prophecy. Also, getting Romeo her sword). I don't know WHY they are doing a rescue mission first, but they are doing the rescue mission.

So that's where I am. Huzzah!

This juncture in the novel signifies the Return of the Plot, which was hitherto absent. Now it's returned, and it's being cherished and appreciated, because I've greatly missed having a direction in the novel. Now I have a direction within the novel, and I'm happy.

Of course, the whole Palace Invasion Mission will go horribly awry and Morgan/ Belarius will get captured and nobody gets saved, but they don't know that yet. If they knew, wouldn't bother going into Elsinore in the first place.

But, since they don't know that stuff of an annoying, horrible, dramatic, and potentially destructive nature are going to happen, FULL SPEED AHEAD!

Of course, Romeo, Demetrius, Puck, and Morgan are all very nervous about this whole infiltration/ invasion/ raid/ rescue mission/ whatever it is, but none of them are going to admit it. I want to give the scene its dues, so I'm not going to write it until after Conservatory.

Instead, during the rest of my free afternoon, I'm going to read "Othello" and look up some stuff for Conservatory and maybe get a new monologue (I have to make sure that the one I'm using for my comedic monologue for my VCU audition is actually legal under the stipulations). I have several stock monologues that I can use for a variety of situations, but only one of them might work for the situation at hand.

So, until another time, farewell. I must go and perform things of an academic and required nature.

And also write a scene in which things of an annoying, horrible, dramatic, and potentially destructive nature (aka failure) may or may not occur.

But first, I must read about a jealous and manipulative bad guy who shares the name of my NaNoWriMo villain, and I must locate monologues that I'm absolutely certain that I can use whilst auditioning for colleges for the performing arts (and other things of an artsy nature).

Farewell.

Day 14: Musical Madness

Start Page: 79

Current Page: 82

End Page: 85

Pages Written Today: 3

Pages Left To Go: 3

Location In Story: Romeo has caught the first glimpse of her father. Morgan basically pulled up a magical Skype session to check in with the king (he was acting on Royal Orders), and Romeo, who was thinking about 'Cymbeline' the night before (there's a character in 'Cymbeline' who goes by Morgan, but whose real name is Belarius, and he's a banished lord who doesn't like the king and has 'adopted' the King's oldest twins), thought he might be up to something and decided to follow him into the woods when she saw him leaving their clearing to go and do something (she had fallen into a doze by the fire ring, but she had not really fallen asleep because she'd gotten around 20 hours of sleep in the previous 40 hours, so she was reasonably awake when she saw him leave). He was only checking in with the King, however. And Morgan IS really Belarius in this novel, but Morgan/ Belarius IS well-intentioned and King Hamlet DID send him to look after Romeo and Demetrius and Puck, and Morgan/ Belarius DID volunteer, so there's no motivation for anger on his part. Romeo didn't actually get to speak to her father, because she didn't want to incur Morgan/ Belarius's wrath by randomly showing up from behind a bush when it was only like an hour past dawn and when he was trying to be secretive in his initiatives to go have a magical Skype session with the king.

So that's where I am. My plot has gone out the window, in other words. Right now, Romeo and Demetrius and Puck and Morgan should probably be storming the castle for the first time, but they won't even START combat training for another thousand words or so. Also, Romeo was not supposed to know Morgan's real name until they stormed the castle, but now she knows, and she's forbidden from telling the other two about it.

I just hope I'll get to SOMETHING significant by the end of the week. Right now, I have so ridiculously little plot initiative, it's ridiculous.

Anyway, TOPIC CHANGE! Onto discussion of the musical, "Oklahoma."

The first musical rehearsal was today, and I didn't get a ton of homework and writing done beforehand (I still have some calculus (which has stopped making sense) to do and I have to read some of "Othello" and I have to write three more pages for NaNo), so I still have around an hour of homework to do. Actually, more like an hour and a half. Maybe two hours. I'm not sure.

Apparently, my character in the musical is made up. That's right, I don't actually exist. I am, according to the director (along with some other kids whose characters were NOT made up), part of the AP ensemble. This means that I get to sing and dance with six other people (including the female lead) in ONE song, and then I'm part of the crowd scene in the rest of the show. I have all of ONE line, and since my name is not mentioned, it's just a line for a character labeled "Girl."

So that is what is up with the musical.

Okay, I have to go now. I must go forth and further my plot and write my novel and do my calculus and read about Othello and how Iago is a complete jerk to him because Iago's a really jealous type of dude. I shall not return until I've done something of and extremely productive nature.

Farewell.

Day 13: unlucky?

Start Page: 75

Target Page: 79

Pages In Between: 4

Current Page: 75 (I HAVE written a little bit today, I swear! True, I've done only about four lines, but that's better than writing nothing at all!)

Pages Written Today: less than one

Pages Left To Go: 4

Location In Story: Romeo is speculating about how her tale will end using references to Shakespeare. She's considering "Hamlet" as a distinct possiblity (the only thing missing is a dead significant other, a deceased parent, and visions of said deceased parent repeatedly haunting her until she does something about the deceased parent's death, which was brought about by her jealous, murderous uncle, who is only jealous but not murderous in this). "Othello" has been ruled out because Othello and Desdemona were Demetrius's parents and they're already dead. Right now, I'm basically just giving Romeo an internal monologue because I need the words and I don't want to end the chapter after only one page. And also to give myself ideas about how to fully transition into the next bit of the novel. And I'm pulling up all the potential Shakespeare references that I can think of without doing a full spoiler of the rest of the book or completely confusing myself.

So that's where I am.


The hardest part about long weekends is all the homework that I've procrastinated on during the entire weekend is starting to catch up with me. Since the days are getting darker earlier, I keep thinking the time is closer to 8:30 than 5:30, so I keep thinking I have less time to do all my homework than I actually do. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. I'm sort of freaking out about the amount of stuff that I have left to do, which is kind of bad, but then I remember that I have three more hours to do it than I thought I did, which is good, I guess. It doesn't take away from the fact that I have to do it, but at least I have more time than I thought I did.

But the homework still exists. The pressure still exists. I still have to go to rehearsal tomorrow and study for government and do some calculus corrections and read "Othello" and email some stuff to my Earth Space teacher and write and write and write.

So, rather than blogging further (since I've completed the mandatory part of that task and I've very little left to say,), I must go forth and do homework, do my writing, do my reading, do my emailing, and live my life. And do calculus. Grrrrrr.

Farewell!

Day 12: In Which I Hardly Write Again

Start Page: 70

Current Page: 72

Pages Written Today: 2

Target Page: 73

Pages Left To Go: 1

Location In Story: I am currently having all my characters stall so I can figure out what to have them do next. They could maybe discuss battle strategy. I'm not sure yet. So I'm have them stall the story until I figure it out by having Romeo and Puck and Demetrius and Morgan discuss what they next should discuss. They'll most likely go with discussion of battle strategy and other things of a reasonably important nature.


As you can tell, I did NOT succeed in the 11,111 word challenge yesterday. I find my lack of success in this endeavor rather depressing. However, I DID set a new personal record for Words Written In A Day for this year (I'm not sure if I trumped anything I did last year; I don't remember any of the records I set last year). So that's a good thing, since I can relax on word count later (and/ or today). I'm going to try and write past page 73 today so I can bump my word count for later, when a time comes when I get super stressed and incapable of doing 2,000 words a day, but if I don't get past page 73, then whatever, since my word count is already about what it should be for my target of 2,000 words a day. That in itself is a sort of padding because I will have time to catch up on word count if I fall behind (if I continue to do 2,000 words a day, I'll finish 50,000 words by November 25th). I have no idea whether 50,00 words is enough to tell the story, but if I keep up doing 2,000 words a day, then I'll have time at the end of the month to write accordingly.

Um... I do not know what else to say right now.

Nothing of great consequence happened today.

I didn't write much, which I should probably fix right about now (or very soon).  I am also going to have to do calculus after dinner, as well as other homework things.  For example, I have to read 'Othello' today as well.  And email some Earth-space stuff to my teacher.  And study for a government test.  And finish my word count.  And possibly exceed my word count, since musical rehearsals start on Monday and I do not want to get to the point where I have to go to sleep at around two in the morning every single day I have musical rehearsal.  Because going to sleep at two in the morning on any day really sucks.  Especially when you have a novel to write, calculus homework to do, Shakespeare to read, Earth-Space to email, and government tests to study for.

So yeah.  I am going now.

Farewell.

Day 11: when I attempt lunatic word counts

Current Page: 64

Target Page: 95 (will get to this in a minute)

Pages Written Today: 4

Pages Left To Go: 31

Location In Story: Romeo has just knocked out about 300 orcs (she put them to sleep with her wordy awesomeness, because she can) and has now passed out from the strain.  Also, King Hamlet is speculating how he might meet his daughter, and what she might look like.  (King Hamlet is Romeo's father).

Before I get to Why I Am Writing 35 Pages In One Day, I would first like to say: THANK YOU VETERANS FOR YOUR AWESOMENESS!

Now onto the Topic of Today's Post: Why I Am Attempting To Write 35 Pages In One Day.
Well, as you all know, today is 11/11/11, the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of the twenty-first century.  Yes, I DID wish at 11:11 AM this morning as well, because the 11:11 wish would obviously be more potent today than on other days.

Anyhow, as it is 11/11/11, there are two potential National Novel Writing Month Challenge Options: write for 11 hours today (no WAY will I be able to do that), or write 11,111 words today. Since I can't sit still and write for 11 hours straight (not that I have tried, because I can barely do 1-2 hours, AND I am feeling lousy, so that makes me even more distractable than normal), I am trying the 11,111 word challenge.

Although I am already ahead on my word count, I want to get to a point where I can actually get to a reasonable plot development, instead of having a bunch of minor plot developments.  I need to get myself to the first Super Epic Plot Development.  If I do that, then I will for sure finish the novel in a month, because I will be fully interested in what is going on.  Because things of an important nature will be occuring.  Huzzah!

Yeah, I am not doing a lot of homework today.  I thought I would, but I am not.  I AM out of bed and dressed and showered and I have fed myself twice today, which is an accomplishment.  I have also written about 1400 words, which is also a good accomplishment.  So it is a good day in most respects.

Obviously, I am going to have to take a break from writing a TON tomorrow and Sunday because I will have procrastinated so much on homework and such, but if I make the 11,111 words today, then I will be able to afford to go easy tomorrow and Sunday.

Week three is going to be the hardest of the month, though.  That is because Week Three is the only week in November in which I do not have any additional days off of school.  Which is annoying.  Also, I do not know how far I am going to get today, and my progress today will determine a lot of my progress for week three.  I will either be forcing myself to write and only be getting like 1,000 words a day, or I will be finding every spare moment to write because I am fully interested in the novel, because things of an important nature are happening, which is exciting.

Okay, time to stop procrastinating and start getting a purple ink stain on my finger and writer's cramp in my wrist.  Farewell!

Oh, yeah.  Fall formal last night?  It was awesome.  Finally, a GOOD year.  Huzzah!  Except for my shoes.  I am still debating whether my shoes were a win or a fail - they were 3.5 inch stiletto-type shoes, and they were bright orange and slightly painful.  I enjoyed being 5'10", but my toes did not enjoy it.

Okay, really.  I am done procrastinating.

Goodbye.

Day 10: in which I am on a reasonable track and worrying about the musical

Current Page: 57

Pages Written Today: 1.5

Target Page: 61

Pages To Go: 4

Location In Story: Iago plans to send orcs after Romeo (he doesn't know that Demetrius and Puck are alive and he doesn't know that Belarius is with them). He intends for the orcs to take Romeo by force and then bring her back to the palace; he plans on torturing her and then tempting her to come to the dark side (maybe he'll bribe her with cookies); if she refuses, she dies. He's sent out the orcs, and now he's just waiting for them to come back. Romeo's father, Hamlet (who's NOT, emotionally unstable, nor is Ophelia), isn't happy about both the torturing and potential death thing, AND the fact that none of Romeo's family will be able to see her or meet her before she's subjected to things of an extremely unpleasant nature. Now, BACK TO DEMETRIUS AND ROMEO AND PUCK AND MORGAN/ BELARIUS! (that's the bit that I haven't written yet). Also, Demetrius and Romeo... they aren't exactly friends, and they haven't bonded at ALL, but they've reached a truce. And they both agree to honor the truce. Which is a very good thing, I guess. Once Romeo gets more control over her words, they will be doing that sort of argue/ banter type of thing that some people do when they may or may not be flirting (or are masking their flirting by arguing, or are arguing because they don't think they are flirting because they don't like the other person. It's the third one that Romeo and Demetrius will be doing when I get to that bit).

I think I'm reasonably on track for my personal word count. I only have about 1200 more words to go until I hit my personal daily word count, which is exciting. I should be writing right now, because fall formal is tonight, but I can write during my third free block today. Besides, the dance starts really late tonight, so I can write some this afternoon as well, since today is basically a Friday, since there's no school tomorrow.

Anyway, in other news, cast lists for the musical have NOT gone up yet, which is annoying me very much. The director said they'll be posted next block, but the chorus room is in the basement, and for the next two blocks after this I have classes on the third floor, so I can't go down in between classes because then I'll be late to class (both of which are AP and, although an AP grade is weighted, I don't want to flub more than I have to on them), and neither of the next two teachers I have are the sort of teachers who condone lateness. This means I have to wait until 3:15 at the earliest before I can see what part I got (or if I even got a part, or whether I'm in the ensemble or whether I'm one of those nameless ninjas who plays all of the important supporting people who nevertheless has all of zero lines, like I was last year). I wouldn't mind being one of those nameless ninjas who do everything, but I want to know whether I'm actually a ninjas or whether I am someone important. Or whether I'm someone unimportant. All of the above are very viable options.

I just really want to know.

GAAH!!!

As you can tell, I'm very bad at handling suspense. Especially when it's something that I actually think I did well on. In theory (and mostly in fact), that's always the case - I thought I did well on it, and I want to know whether the people who were supposed to be judging me think so. I don't care about how much everyone else is judging me, but if I disappoint the directors, then I'm screwed. Which is not fun.

And I'm getting myself to the point where I am too nervous to write well.

Despite the fact that writing well is not a criteria for succeeding in NaNoWriMo.

There's a difference between writing well and writing coherently. Writing well means that you understand it and it sounds cool. Writing coherently means you can understand it. Right now, I can't do either.

I think I did well on the call back, but what I've noticed is that I'm the sort of person who is an infallible optimist. I hope for the best, and I think I did well, but then it turns out that I didn't do well at ALL (or at least not as well as I thought I did), and then I'm all annoyed and disappointed. Which is really depressing. Literally.

Okay, I am going to sign off now. Hopefully I got a good part. And hopefully there will be something for me to kick if I am not entirely happy with my part.

GRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 9: In Which I Get Lagged

Current Page: 51

Target Page: 55

Pages Written Today: About 1

Pages Until Completion: 4

Location In Story: Demetrius + Romeo = friends? No, I don't know, either. I haven't written that part. (I'm about to, however, and it something that I should be doing sooner rather than later, so I can pad my word count for today). Also, Puck + Morgan = love? Not sure about that either. In the train of thought that is commonly maintained by people of a creepy nature, Puck and Morgan are in each other's trousers right now. However, I control the pen, which means they're not getting into each other's trousers until I say they're getting into each other's trousers. (I don't even know whether they're ACTUALLY going to get together or whether it's just me and the creepers having wishful thinking. That also remains to be seen, along with the whole relationship with Romeo and Demetrius. Oh, speculation. Thou annoyest me greatly. Grr.)

Anyhoo, I need to stop blogging and start writing, like, NOW.  I KNOW that I am ahead of the necessary daily word count, but I am not of the necessary ME word count (read: I want to be able to type during Thanksgiving break, so I need to be writing the rest of the story pronto.  AKA now).

But the one thing that has been holding me back and messing me up is the fact that I had a day off yesterday and I have another one off on Friday.  It is completely throwing me off because I have school, and then I do not, and then I do again, and then I do not, and then I do!  GAAAHHH!  Theoretically, the spare time is brilliant for writing, but I am such a world-class procrastinator (like I am *ahem* not doing now) that it has been hitherto completely lost on me (also, homework has been hitherto lost on me.  I am vacillating between comprehension and insanity when it comes to calculus).

Another thing: fall formal is tomorrow.  I am the only one of my group of close friends group who is going to fall formal.  This is rather depressing.  I, unlike many of my friends, actually reasonably ENJOY these things.  Sometimes, though, I wish I was not the only one, even (maybe even 'especially') since it is the last year that I can go to fall formal - so why not go?

Whatever.  If worst comes to worst, I will make myself find a way to shove my National Novel Writing Mont journal into my bag before I leave (a feat that is doubtless going to prove difficult, as the bag is miniscule and the journal is a regular-sized composition book), but I hope that will not have to happen.  Mostly because I cannot write with loud music pumping into my head from all sides.  But maybe I can send the characters to a high school dance or something, and then things would fit perfectly in the situation.  WOOHOO!  (okay, that is not going to happen.  First of all, Romeo would rather physically punch Demetrius in the face than let him see her in a dress at this point in time.  Second of all, everyone except Romeo would be freaked out by the manner of dancing exhibited at school dances, at least the ones at the school I go to).

Also, I had callbacks today for the musical.  I think I did reasonably well, except my accent was horrible.  It barely existed.  But, all in all, I think I performed well.  I could have had more character when I was reading for Ado Annie, but the decision is no longer in my hands; I will be perfectly fine with doing ensemble.  Okay, I will be SORT of pissed if I get ensemble, since I got this far in the audition process and I liked how I performed, generally.  But I will have to deal with it if I get ensemble, because that is the way life is.  Even if life sucks, life still has to go on.

Right.  On to writing!

(and, thankfully, not calculus homework today.  I do not have to go to another calculus again until Monday (hallelujah!), though I DO plan on doing my homework on Friday.  Really.)

Right.  Time to go forth and conjure characters from places hitherto unknown by me!

Correction: make the characters do stuff that is hitherto unspecified, since they have already deviated enough in past nine days that I cannot afford to force them back on track now.

Day 8: In Which I Realize That I'm Farther Than I Thought

Pages Written Today: 1.5-ish

Current Page: 45

Target Page: 49

Pages In Between: 4.5

Location In Story: Romeo and Demetrius and Puck now know WHY they are in Mercanova and WHY Morgan sent them there. It's now the next morning, when nothing of consequence is scheduled to occur. Huzzah! (okay, not really huzzah. When nothing's scheduled to occur, it means I have to clean my room, do homework, and stall for 2,000 words until something important happens).

I have now thought of a long and extremely complicated back story for how the Prophecy came to be said/ how they figured out it was going to happen SOON/ why Romeo and Puck and Demetrius are the people mentioned in the prophecy. However, I don't want to go into that right now, because it's rather confusing and I don't remember a lot of it, so I'm not going to say it. But it DOES involve Romeo's father being called Hamlet, and Iago acting just like Iago does to Othello (except not at all like how Iago actually acts. He IS the misunderstood guy who gets passed over for a boon, but he doesn't kill Hamlet or Ophelia. He just deposes Hamlet. And in this Hamlet-Ophelia relationship, stuff works out and nobody dies), and Demetrius's parents being Othello and Desdemona (and Othello kills Desdemona because he thinks that Demetrius is an illegitimate child and blah blah blah, and then Demetrius is sent off to live elsewhere and Othello kills himself because of someone telling him that his son was legit and his wife was legit, and then Othello becomes suicidal and dies). And Romeo finds out that she DOES have a twin brother, and the way she was able to not be killed by Iago is by her parents telling Iago that they had two boys and one of them died. And they named her Romeo to back up the story.

Soooo yeah. That's where I am right now.

I did a word count calculation for some of the earlier pages in the novel (the ones that I had already gotten words-per-line counts on), and it turns out that my word count average is WAY above what I thought it was, so I do not have to be on page 50-something by the end of today. I have to be on page 49 (and I don't at the end of page 49, either. I only have to be about halfway down on page 49, which means I can spend time doing things that my mother would yell at me if I didn't do. Like homework).

What a way to spend a day off.

Right, well, I have to go forth and clean my room.

Farewell.

Oh, yes, one last thing: last night, I think I had the most brilliant line/ joke/ writing revelation ever. And I wrote it. (I don't remember whether I posted about it or not; if I did, post, ignore this).

Last night, the reason Demetrius stopped being a completely tease-Romeo-to-annoy-her-and-for-no-other-reason type of annoying butthead was because Romeo threatened (in a very serious manner) to use her word power to shrink his genetalia if he bugged her.

And she said it with a straight face.

And then he backed off.

HAHAHAHAAAAA!

Okay, I am going to go clean my room and do my homework now. Goodbye. I'll hopefully post later today, when I am actually caught up on my word count and stuff.

Farewell.

Day 7: In Which I Write More

Current Page: 38

Target Page: I thought I got rid of this... Oh, whatever. Approximate-ish target page: 44

Pages In Between: six-ish

Location in Story: Morgan/ Belarius is around and explaining how Puck and Demetrius and Romeo have all come to Mercanova. And WHY they've come to Mercanova. And everyone got mad at each other (well, Puck just started asking questions. Romeo and Demetrius got mad at each other). And Romeo has succeeded in slinging two more Shakespearean Insults (this time from 'Hamlet') at Demetrius. Right now, Demetrius is now on the planned character course of 'annoying source of irritation for a variety of reasons,' including his sexism and his constant arguing with Romeo. But at least he's not.... wait, yeah, he's still a butt head. Alas. But at least he's now a general butt head who gives Romeo someone to argue with, rather than just someone who gets on my nerves.

Anyhow, Romeo has so far informed Demetrius that he's dirt and asked if he took her for a sponge. Why those two insults? I have no idea whatsoever. I liked them, so I put them in. And because they seem to fit the situation. I have an entire book of Shakespearean Insults to provide the arsenal of Romeo's Insults. I might as well use the arsenal when I can.

Anyhow, that is where I am. And that's what I am doing. And... yeah.

Currently, I'm doing nothing of consequence. I SHOULD be working on the 2,000 words I've left to complete today, but I'm not. Though I will be. At some point. Very soon. Most likely.

For example, I can write tomorrow. I have the day off from school tomorrow, because it's a teacher work day and election day and stuff. I'm going to write a LOT tomorrow because of this. And also clean my room and maybe hang out with some friends.

But mostly, I'll be writing. If you want to find me, I'll be locked in my room (or in my house, or at Starbucks). I'm the one with the composition book and the purple pen who is scribbling as if their life depends on it. Even though my life does NOT depend on it.

Yes, I'll also be doing homework tomorrow. For example, I'll be doing calculus homework tomorrow (or maybe today; I don't know yet). And I'll be studying for a Government test next week (even though I AM ahead on this, I still need to work on it). And I'll for sure be reading "Othello" (YAY SHAKESPEARE!) for English. And I could work on an Earth-Space research-y thing, but that can wait. It's not due on Wednesday.

Mostly I'm going to plan on writing a LOT and meet my word count and not fail at NaNoWriMo, because failing at NaNoWriMo would make me VERY sad. And it would also mean that I'd disappoint a LOT of people, including myself, which is never a good thing. Especially if I get really super mad at myself and try and do something stupid.

But whatever. ON TO OTHER THINGS!

I didn't get into districts for the FOURTH year in a row. To be fair, I DID score the highest I've ever scored (168 out of 200), but I was still 10 points away from getting in. I'd have gotten with that score in if I were a freshman (the freshman and sophomore girls have a different choir because so many girls audition for District Choir every year). But alas, I'm not a freshman. Well, actually, I don't know whether that is an 'alas' or 'hooray,' the fact that I'm not a freshman.

ON TO WRITING MORE, AND MAKING DEMETRIUS NO LONGER BE A BUTT HEAD! (and other stuff... like plot... and conflict... and exposition... and character introduction... and moving the story along... and other stuff of an important nature).

Farewell for now.

I will see you again when I have a better word count than I do now.

Day 6: In Which I Don't Write

So... yeah. I haven't written at all today. It's theoretically okay, because I'm still 98 words ahead of the necessary word count for today, and I THEORETICALLY could have used the time I would have used to write to work on calculus homework and government homework and cleaning my room and stuff, but to be honest, I've only done about five problems of calculus and I haven't done any government whatsoever. And I haven't done any writing, either, because I've been procrastinating on homework. Which really kind of sucks. I'm a horrible procrastinator and I need to stop.

Anyway, I plan on writing later today, when I actually have time to write. And after I've done calculus and government and straightened up my room. And after I've done other things of a productive nature.

Okay, going to go do stuff of a more productive nature now.

Farewell.

Day Five Again: In which Demetrius Stops Being a Butthead

Current Page: 30

Target Page: um... something that isn't page 30. Maybe page 32? I don't know. Something later than page 30 that will have me at around 10,000 words. So... yeah. That would be around page 32.

Location in Story: Sebastian is narrating; he is telling what happened after Romeo saved Demetrius's life by calling off the gargoyles, who had been sent by Iago to try and halt the mission at all costs. (Romeo talked them down using the Words of Awesomeness; she told them to go back and SAY they had succeeded when they really had not and to not say that their quarries were still alive.  Sebastian is narrating and telling the readers what Iago does and what the gargoyles are doing and stuff).  I did not intend to introduce Sebastian into the story until a little bit later (okay, a LOT later.  Like, five chapters from the climax later.  This is like, fifteen or twenty or more chapters from the climax), but here he is, telling the next bit of the story.  It will still be reasonably ambiguous WHY Sebastian is potentially somewhat important until Chapter Ten at the very least (and Chapter Ten is next chapter), so he can still be there without everyone knowing WHO he is and WHY he is important.  At least for now.

And guess what!?!?  DEMETRIUS STOPPED BEING A BLATANTLY SEXIST BUTT HEAD!!  WOOHOO!!!!  This is EXCITING.  REALLY EXCITING!  I am super excited.  Though he still deserves a punch in the face (even more than Iago, sometimes) for saying sexist things, he is still, at least for now, no longer blatant and annoying.  He is just kind of annoying.  And self-righteous.  And kind of arrogant as well.  But he will get over it.  I think.  Maybe.  Hopefully.

Okay, he's still kind of sexist and he's still SORT OF a butthead, but at least he isn't horribly blatant about being rather sexist, and he's not horribly blatant about being a butthead. He keeps the sexism to himself, at the very least.

On the other hand, the whole being a butthead thing... it's hard NOT to blatantly be a butthead sometimes, even if you're normally not a butthead. But it's especially hard not to be a blatant butthead on very frequent occasions when your name is Demetrius Orsyn (and if your name is actually Demetrius Orsyn... I apologize. You're also a character in my novel, and he's the being I was referring to).

But at least Demetrius is no longer blatantly sexist. He isn't going to APOLOGIZE for stating to Romeo's face that girls are dumb and powerless, even after she saved his neck smartly and powerfully and not idiotically, and without killing him or the gargoyles, but he won't even TRY and change his views about girls, even though Romeo's exceedingly competent. Well, the view isn't changing yet. But I (and Romeo) still have some stuff to say about that, so that SHALL happen later.

Anyhow, I'm now well ahead on my word count, though not as ahead as I would like. I only have about 300 more words to go until I hit my personal word count goal for today. I'll be doing some writing after dinner, and maybe be watching some Star Trek as well.

Speaking of "Star Trek," I'm way behind. I haven't watched for the last few weekends, and I need to catch up if I want to see all of TOS in a reasonable amount of time (read: before I leave for college). But that's what school breaks and summer vacations are for. And also Saturday nights when I should be writing and doing other things of a productive nature. But whatever.

Now, I'm going to go and do stuff now. Like write. And knit. And write. And ask when dinner is. And write. And knit. And consider watching TV. And doing some other stuff. Maybe.

Anyway, I am off. Farewell.

Also, another thing I need to do: find out more Shakespeare quotes. I went to the library today, but they didn't have "Midsummer Night's Dream" OR "Romeo and Juliet," and those were the ones that I wanted to quote out of most. I'll just have to find some other stuff to quote until then.

And then watch "Star Trek" on Netflix after Dad has his TV time if I hit 10,000 words or more by the time Dad's done on the TV. Because "Star Trek" is awesome and might actually give me ideas. The ideas might not be GOOD ideas, but they'll still be IDEAS. And I'll be able to catch up on "Star Trek" episodes in the process.

YAY FOR INCENTIVE STUFF!

Huzzah!

Okay, going now.