Day 4

Basic Stats: (Will do proper update later)
Pages today so far: 6
Total Page Count: 27
Location in Story: Nemesis has regained consciousness; Zack has tried a sword (which is a complete deviation from my initial plot thing); they will leave within the next two pages. Zack's mother does not want him to.
What may or may not be coming: stuff.

Back again

I know I should be cleaning my room, doing precalculus, working on my thing for NaNoWriMo, or doing something else productive. But instead, I'm here. Procrastination by blogging. About how I shouldn't be blogging and doing something else instead of being a procrastinator, like usual. What's new? I know what I'll do! I'll be a procrastinator by writing the end of the NaNo novel, in the style that I was ranting about earlier today! YAY! And all of you who want literary updates (I know there has to be at least a couple of you... anyone?), I'll do some updates when I get some stuff to post. In the mean time, READ MY OLD STUFF! It's under that little link to your right under the archives that reads "story." It goes in chronological order, newest first. So do some reading and some commenting, because you may or may not be hearing any sort of literary things from me for a while. Unless it is a rant about how annoying and/ or difficult I'm finding NaNo. And progress updates of the things thereof. :P
goodbye for now.

Also...

Okay, just an official location update (I will attempt to remember to do this every day from now on) of how many pages I have written and where the characters are and how much time I spent writing today:
I have done twenty-one pages.
Zack has just come into the picture. He will eventually be the BFF of Nemesis and the Savior of the Day in one way or another. He is very smart and generally made of awesome.
I wrote for a little more than two hours today, plus the time I will hopefully be putting in tonight.
YAY!

Day 3

Well, if I'm able to write tonight, I'll (hopefully) be able to make up for the six pages that I didn't write yesterday. HOORAY! (I wrote for almost two hours today. It made me very happy.).
I began to think about the end of my novel today in creative writing (as I so often do when I'm only a few thousand words into a story), and that led to a discussion/ brainstorm with my creative writing teacher about who should wind up falling in love with whom.
The annoying thing is that, although I greatly enjoy writing romantic scenes (I'M SUCH A GIRL), I'm also absolutely horrid at having the scenes not be completely made of cheese. This may also be because I've never actually been in one of the numerous situations that my characters have been in, including the ones where most of my semi-romantic scenes take place, involving a dance/ ball where the only dancing you're allowed to do was partner-ballroom dancing, and the implication in said dances was that if you danced with someone, it meant that you actually sort of liked them, that you wanted to just torture them because you know they hate dancing and dresses (as in the case of Shya and Tel. However, Tel does like Shya, so that doesn't really count), or you just have to be polite and suck it up and dance with that person because your mother told you to.
So that's what I have for today.
I am extremely psyched to work on this shindig. Except for my hand becoming extremely writer's cramp-y today (as will probably happen every day I write for two hours. This doesn't bode well.).

Day 2

Well, today I've only written about a page (as opposed to the 8.75 that I did yesterday), which is killing my steam here. I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I think the lack of school is a major contributing factor. Also, that I had to walk around in the cold as if it were a school day and shepherd young girl scouts to the next freezing cold station. Outdoors. Did I mention it was cold? (It was for a fundraiser. We're going to Switzerland next summer. And I think it's the last fundraiser of this type that we're doing. I hope so, anyway.)
If I want to make the page count necessities for today, however, I need to go SHOWER and then WRITE and then SLEEP (especially SLEEP and WRITE, not exactly in that order). Is it bad that I'm writing smaller than I thought I would? I guess this means that I'm technically ahead of schedule, but I still don't like the fact that I'm on page 10 instead of page 16 like I thought I should be... Okay, leaving now. To sleep. And shower. And write. And write. And try to keep ahead of my writing schedule and not die under the load of homework, driver's ed, and the ton of other things I have to do during the month of November.

Day 1

Well, so far I've survived the first day of NaNoWriMo. If my calculations are correct (please let them be correct!) I've written more than I need to today, probably due to the fact that I have more dialogue than I thought I would. BUT I'm also writing smaller than I did for the initial word count per page calculations, so there's that (I think it evens out).

Also, I'm quite sure I'll be getting writer's cramp tomorrow afternoon at around 3 or 4 pm (or whenever I get a chance to sit down for a few hours and write). Which will suck, by the way. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that in an earlier post. But it'll suck even MORE because although I have written more than I thought I would write today, my characters also haven't gone anywhere yet. Okay, there's been mention of a prophecy, and Maa and Kela have decided to go after some stuff when it comes, but Nem and Luke haven't gone anywhere except down the hall and out the door and down memory lane a bit.

I should be starting chapter two tonight or tomorrow, depending on time constraints today or tomorrow or whenever. So that's that. YAY WRITING!!

(FYI, if I had gone by the initial plot outline, Maa and Kela would not only have decided to go after the things when they fall, Nem and Luke would already be at the palace, Spiss would be beating up Nem, Luke would be getting captured, and the whole thing would generally be more exciting. However, Nem and Luke have only just now left battleschool. Way to pace myself.)

YAAY!

Happy halloween!

Happy halloween!

I'm here with nothing in particular to say to you except for Happy Halloween and, if you're an adult, please give out loads of candy (particular crunch bars, Reese's, Snickers, and Milky Ways) to teenagers in purple masks with dragon wings and digital cameras. Thank you.

And I should be going to do my AP notes now.

I thought I had lost my NaNoWriMo notes, but I found them. YAY! I'm super psyched for NaNoWriMo tomorrow. I've started getting a lot of extra ideas for extra conflict, which isn't good, as the whole thing STARTS tomorrow.

So far, I've added extra things to be saved and warlocks to be out for them, too. And the fact that Marina is not allowed anywhere near Zazz because Marina's a naiad and Zazz is a walking electric current. That is all I'm going to say on the matter. If you want to read any part of the novel, email me in the first week of December, as I will hopefully have all of it (or at least some of it) typed up by then. YAY! If you honestly think I'm crazy for attempting this, please tell me now, so I can think of a good enough comeback for the next time I see you.

Unexpected Literary Update!!!

Well, since I'm bored, I have nothing to post, and I don't really feel like not posting anyway (and, to be honest, I'm also doing this so I can maybe get some more hits), I'm going to be putting up the next 1200 words of the Nikita story. Why ONLY 1200 words, you may ask, since I wrote 2600 words last time? Why not all 2600? Well, I'll tell you: when the literary catastrophe that I'll be beginning next week (also known as "The Crazy Adventures of Nemesis" and/ or my NaNoWriMo novel attempt) is over, and since it's being written in a composition notebook and probably won't be typed up until winter break due to lack of finishing and ample amounts of procrastination, I'll have to get back to the real world of Passing Creative Writing, and I want to have time to recover from being braindead (as I'm sure I will be after writing 1700 words a DAY) and still be able to pass (as it's probably one of two courses I currently have a good grade in). Case in point, it's only 1200 words to give me a while in December to think of what's coming next.
So here it is. YAY!


“Well, part of it,” I admitted. “Part of it I just figured out on my own.”
“Which parts?”
“Well, the trees told me the part about Sonru and his army…”
“The trees told you about Sonru,” Sparraben repeated bemusedly.
“Yes, sir.” I decided that it would be best to at least address him politely now that he was the one asking questions.
“Trees told you that one of the darkest Dark Lords in the history of dark lords is forming an army,” he stated.
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you sure you weren’t sleeping?” Sparraben said doubtfully.
“Quite sure, sir. My legs were still hurting from walking.”
“Care to explain how the trees were able to communicate this information to you?” he asked.
“You see, my grandma was an Elemental, and…”
“What was her name?” Sparraben interrupted.
“Rhyda Shynade. She was one of the last full elementals left.”
Sparraben’s expression finally changed to something other than anger for longer than a few seconds. He now looked pensive. “Has anyone told you that you look just like her?”
“No,” I said quietly. “Mum never knew her, and Dad died before he could tell me a lot about her.”
“How did your father die, exactly?” he asked next.
“Blue Fever, according to Mum,” I answered.
“Do you remember whether anyone else in your family caught it that year?”
I paused, pushing my memory back. “No, I don’t think anyone did, no,” I said. “But I remember that he came in from the fields one day and his face was all red, and there was a bloody spot on his shirt near where his heart was. And I remember thinking that it was weird that he had died of the Blue Fever when you get boils and spots on your arms, not your chest. And his arms were clean.”
Sparraben’s face was unreadable, but I could tell he was still thinking. “His arms were clean,” he said slowly, “Because more likely than not, he was killed by something that wasn’t the Blue Fever. Did he have an Elemental trait?”
“Yes, Earth and Water,” I replied.
“Did you ever find out how your grandma died?”
“No,” I said quietly. Why did he suddenly want to know how my various deceased relatives met their ends? It wasn’t significant, was it?
“Hm…” he muttered, more to himself than to me. After a long pause, during which I waited very nervously for his verdict, he said, “All right, I’ll do it.”
I couldn’t help grinning a little bit, but the grin faded as he added, “But under the condition that you do a two-month crash course of Ranger Training.”
“Two months?” I repeated, aghast. “Isn’t that a bit LONG?”
“No; in fact, it’s rather short,” Sparraben replied. “Any shorter a time, and you would miss an important point.”
“But… But…” I stuttered. A million reasons WHY two months would be too long – the mysterious Sonru’s growing presence being a significant factor in most of them – raced through my mind, but Sparraben’s height and obvious strength stopped me from voicing my doubts.
“Well?” he asked.
“is there any way you could make it any shorter?” I squeaked nervously.
“no,” he replied shortly. “It’s this way or I’m out.”
A battle was going on in my head – figuring out where Sonru was, WHAT exactly he was, what he was doing, and how I could stop him, all on one hand, and getting Sparraben’s vast amounts of skill and knowledge to do so, which would probably prove to be the wiser course of action simply because of his experience.
“Um… Okay,” I said.
“You are impatient to defeat Sonru,” he observed bluntly. “I can see it in your face. But the first lesson you must learn is patience. Being too hasty can cost you a kill; cause you to overlook a chance. Moving too soon can cost you your life. Get it?”
“Yes, sir,” I said timidly. If he was trying to intimidate me, it was working.
“Good,” he said. “Your training begins now. Remember that this is a crash course – you won’t be able to do anything really well, but you’ll be able to do a lot of things well enough to survive. Understand, girl?”
“Yes, sir.”

And so the real adventure began – the first day of the rest of my life, you might say. The first thing I did as a trainee was to surrender my bag and to begin doing pushups.
 
Chapter 3

Two months? Sparraben had told me that that was my time frame for training. He had decided, however, that I was either terrible at doing combat or great at it, and had insisted that I extend the training period to seven months if I wanted his help on anything.
Although this gave me a lot more time to develop every skill I had to learn, it also freaked me out slightly. Two months after I’d left home would mean that there would be a chance that Sonru would only have a body and little more. Seven months, however, would probably guarantee him not only a body but a sizeable killing force as well before the only person who knew he was on the rise – also known as me – would have a chance to alert anyone who appeared to care.
Although Sparraben had lectured me on the first day about not jumping into things too quickly, I hadn’t learned that lesson well enough when he said my training should probably be extended for another five months. Two months after Grampa’s death was when the trees just began to change color and the weather grew cool. Four months after his death was when you couldn’t go anywhere without freezing, but the boots and the Ranger cloak I had been given would reduce the cold enormously (although the only times I was ever truly warm was when I had to practice with a sword non-stop for two hours). Five months after was not only in the middle of the winter holiday (usually celebrated with gifts, but the only one I got that year was an order to do more target practice, which wasn’t really a gift at all), it was right in the middle of the worst part of the snowy season. It was also just my luck that that year was the worst winter that any part of Illindara had seen for more than a century. Snow didn’t fall once: it fell three times, each dumping out almost a foot of white powder.
Either way, before I knew it, the trees were budding again, which was sort of alarming. Although I was not more physically fit than I had ever been and I had acquired more skills in almost seven months than I had in thirteen years, I was scared that the trees would wake up from their hibernation and tell me that Sonru was on the brink of annihilating the Three Cities – the general center of Illindara in most senses of the term.
One morning, soon after the trees had began to bud again, Sparraben announced that soon I would be getting my horse, and then we would review all the things I had learned.
“After that,” he added, “You only have about a week of training left, and then you’re free to go save the world or whatever it is you wanted to do.”

Novels and Stardust

Well, I know I'm being annoying for bringing up NaNoWriMo again, but I'm getting very impatient with this whole time thing. Six days and however many hours and minutes and seconds will not get here fast enough!!! (I know, however, if I say that, it'll pass too fast and then I won't get anything done because I'm so surprised that it's already November).

HOWEVER, between sitting around bored, procrastinating on homework and doing maps of the Kingdom of Wherever and the Dark Doom Fortress and stuff, I found the time to watch "Stardust," and for the record, I highly reccomend you read the book first, because then you'll know almost exactly what happens in the movie, and you'll leave wherever you saw the movie with the nice feeling that the writers and director didn't deviate from the book as much as you thought they would. And that was really nice, because Stardust was a really good book. The movie did devaite a bit at the end, but that was worth it because they added in a showdown and some good plot points.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!

And now I'm putting stars into my NaNoWriMo novel. And I'm excited. YAY!!

Early release!!!!!

We had an early release from school today. YAY!!! This is very nice, as it gives me ample time to play video games and research the history essay that I should have started on Monday. Anyway, I'm SUPER glad it's an early release.
Now I should probably be going to do that homework or that essay or something productive like that.
I wish it were Friday. I have no idea why the early releases are always on Thursdays. They always feel like Fridays to me. It was nice that 8:20 was cancelled, but I still went in early. And it was annoying. And I still have to do that essay. Darn. I really don't feel like doing any sort of homework right now.
General Poll because I'm bored: have any of you ever tried NaNoWriMo? And do you think I'm insane for trying this?
Well, if your answer was yes to the first one, PLEASE COMMENT AND SHARE SURVIVAL TIPS!
And if your answer was "no but I'm going to try this year," READ THE SURVIVAL TIPS!
If your answer was yes to the second one, suck it because it's a creative writing assignment.
Okay, I'm going to (try) to be productive now.

hello!

Greetings! I'm truly sorry that I don't have a Literary Update for you, but for the sake of grades and due dates, it would be rather annoying to post it. I won't be posting a Monday/ Tuesday Literary Update next week either because of the current assignment in creative writing (which is to read and critique some stuff that the rest of the class has written anonymousuly). The next week, however, I may post what I have (which will hopefully be 2000-3000 words) of my NaNoWriMo novel, which will be very, VERY bad, but that's only because I'd only been working on it for two days. I may not, though, and just wait to type it all up until the last day. THOUGHTS ON THIS PLAN? Anyone?

I'm aware that I could type it all up and come to the realization that "OH NO, I am ___ words short, and I have ___ hours to finish!" However, I'm willing to risk it. I think.

ALSO, may I remind everyone (including myself) of the cool thing called THANKSGIVING BREAK, during which I'll (hopefully) have ample time to write for hours and hours and hours. YAY!

NaNoWriMo again

Well, if I wasn't already kind of pumped for NaNoWriMo, I'm ACTUALLY pumped now (probably partially because I had sugar of the fruit variety, and it probably helped my mood. Also, I found my cross, which I was feeling sad about forgetting this morning, along with my phone and almost my glasses). I was just looking at some other people's "NaNoWriMo Survival Kits" (it's a list in the forums on the website), and so I'm going to be weird and tell you what mine is:
1. a notebook. Haven't bought it yet, but I'll have one. I hope. This is very important because I don't want to type up stuff until the end of the week, so I'm going to have to have a notebook around a lot. Also, I like notebooks a lot.
2. Pens and pencils. Lots and lots of pens and pencils.
3. that seat in the school library in the Manga section. No idea why I always happen to sit there, but it's a corner and it's secluded and I can write my hand off if I want to (or until I get kicked out because the library is closing).
4. iPod for when I decide to be braindead.
5. free blocks and school holidays - if it weren't for these, I wouldn't even attempt NaNoWriMo. But both exist in good quantities. And I am happy.

So that's my list. HOORAY!!!