I'm Back. . .

Ah. . . Well. . What do I say?

It all started with that Kony 2012 post. While I was posting it, I knew I shouldn't post it because I never post about things like that on my blog. But I put it up anyway and found out that there was some shady stuff about the Invisible Children Organization. And then I think I heard something on the news about it too. I decided that I would take the post down and put a quick comment about why in my next post, but I kept putting it off.

And it was cause I was embarrassed. 'Oh no! I posted something wrong! I'm going to have to delete it!' And so I kept putting it off and kept procrastinating and the longer I was away the less I wanted to post anything. I wanted to put it in the back of my mind and never think about it again.

But I still wanted to blog. And so finally, today, I'm doing what should've done months ago.

To everyone who read my blog I apologize for just leaving you hanging without a word. If I ever find myself away from the blog for too long I'll leave a note next time.

For now, I think I'll start blogging again, probably next week though. And I won't be posting about things like Kony again unless I really know what I'm talking about.

NaNo Day 15

Wow. It has been so busy! I've had like three violin lessons in addition to my usual weekly ones in preparation for recital and then (though this is entirely my own fault) had a Harry Potter marathon which I just finished yesterday.

Actually, finishing the Harry Potter marathon and watching the last movie in my own home, it's really really hit me that Harry Potter is pretty much over. I'll always be able to read the books and watch the movies but there won't be any new movies or books to look forward to. I'm feeling sorta sad about it, I'd never thought before that I'd feel so sad about Harry Potter ending and yet. . . I'll probably watch the last movie a couple more times over the next few days. I would turn it on right now if I didn't have to wake up early tomorrow.

So I haven't written anything at all since the 10th, I think. I know, it's horrible! I've gotta catch up! My word count is currently 27,242. I've gotta get writing again!

And of course I'll be getting the video game Assassins Creed Revelations tomorrow and therefore waste more precious writing time. Why? Why did it have to come out this month? Of all the months of the year, this one?

At least there's a write in this week. Maybe I can make up a decent chunk of wordcount there?

I hope everyone is writing exciting things and that your muses are being kind to you (probably not to your characters though ;p)!

A Somewhat Major Breakthrough

I have belatedly realized that my series needs a lot more work than previously anticipated.

A lot more.

Though, really, this shouldn't be so surprising to me. After all it was a NaNo and everything. But really, I don't think I could ever have expected the sheer amount of work that will need to go into this story. The research and the reworking and everything. Last night, I discovered that every single one of my characters are as flat as the paper they're written on, and will continue to be so unless I work on them. I learned that the world needs a lot more work, and not just the history and legends and that kind of thing,  but the lay of the land. Mountains, forests, things like that. Even the cities themselves are flat. The cities I wrote about have no character, aren't unique in any particular way. I didn't differentiate very much of anything between countries and the like, I actually hardly even mention them.

And then there is the magical system which needs to be much more defined and developed than it is at the moment. It's really quite pathetic right now I think. I've still gotta figure out the rules for the magic and so many things.

So, in short, my book is a pile of slush at the moment and is in desperate need of revisions and research.

But, even though I am a bit put out by this revelation, I am actually excited. Like, really excited. The only problem is that I'm not entirely sure where to start. I mean, I know what I need to research, but I just don't know where to start with it all.

But I did actually do something substantial regarding my story today. I greatly expanded the small map I had previously. I really like it, I want to take a picture of it but am wary of doing so. I had to break out the giant floor pad paper that we got years ago for my baby cousin. This thing is like two and a half foot wide and two foot tall. I traced my previous map onto here and then added to it, bringing more of the world onto the page. It's fabulous but still only a small fraction of the world. I have a very strong urge to tear out a bunch of these large pieces of paper and tape them together and draw until I have all the world finished. I might actually do that tonight, it sounds fun! But I have a feeling it will be ridiculously large. . .

I have decided that it is a near waste of time to read through my book any longer at this point because so much of it needs to be trashed and I already have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done. I'm going to get all this research and stuff out of the way so I can have a more developed world and more developed characters and then I will start over, write everything from scratch again. I have a feeling that by that point the whole story will be different, but I know that it will be a better different, and that it will be so much better than what I have right now.

And also, has anyone read or heard of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss?

I remember finding it awhile ago and thinking it might be good but I never bought it or anything, just put it on the wish list. But the other day Ted Cross mentioned Patrick Rothfuss's blog and I checked it out and remembered The Name of the Wind, read the excerpt and have decided that it will probably be one of the best books I will have read.

I had totally forgotten about this book until the day before yesterday, but since then, I have been obsessed with it and made the mistake of tacking it on to what I want for Christmas. So now, I can't really buy it until after Christmas because someone may have bought it as a gift. I so wish I had said nothing.

And another awesome thing is that this is a BIG book. Like nearly 700 pages big. And his second book (which will be out in march)? Well, it's just over 900 pages long.

So, if anyone has read this book, please let me know what you thought! (Spoiler free, of course.)

30k Behind (Day 20)

Well, believe it or not I'm actually writing today! I haven't made my 5k goal yet but that's what I'm aiming for by 12 am. To be specific I only have 2,100 done right now, so I better get writing, after this blog post though.

Did anyone else donate to the Office of Letters and Light on donation day? I did, and I got my spirit animal from Chris Baty on twitter. Apparently it's a Japanese macaque, or a snow monkey:

(I think they're kinda cute ^^)

So, back to the writing aspect, I will be 30k words behind if I can get my 5k in today, that is a lot! I don't know if I'll be able to catch up but I can give it a try. But that a lot of words! I never meant to get so far behind, it all started with the internet freaking out on my laptop and not working and then it just took a nose dive from there. Yes, I could have written all the days that I didn't but I was just sooo not into it and when I tried to write I just couldn't think of anything to put on the page, it was like my brain, as well as my muse, decided to take a leave of absence! But, the only thing I can do is try to catch up which will take a lot of work if I can do it, so. . . Here I go.

20k BEHIND!!! D: (Day 16)

Well I finally wrote some stuff today! About 3,500 words! I'm gonna take a short brake before I start to write again :D

But despite this good news I have made a very disheartening discovery: I should be at 80k today and I'm only almost at 65k. That makes me nearly 20k behind! I can't believe this! I didn't think I was so far behind and yet. . .

But I'm going to do my best to catch up! I think, after I'm done writing today, I'm going to sit down and try to outline book two cause for right now I've been writing without one (cause there isn't one) and that's been fine for now but I know that once I get in further it'll get harder cause I don't know what's next, I at least have to get my wipey board outline good cause that was tremendous help with book one!

So that's all I can say today: I'm tremendously behind and am trying to catch up. Wish me luck? o.o

No Wordcount, New Idea (Day 14/15)

Well, I missed yesterday. Mostly because my laptop wasn't connecting to the internet, but kinda not since I could have done it on the desktop. Just wasn't the same though. . . Anyway, laptops working now so all is well.

Well, except for the writing. If you look a bit to the right of this post you can see that not a word has been written yesterday or today. My laptop getting unconnected with the internet is a contributing factor cause it put me in a bad mood yesterday, but that's no excuse cause I don't need the internet to write. But it sure is nice. So I took it up to apple today to get it looked at, the guy clicked around at some stuff and now it's working again, miraculously! But then, as if to laugh at me, the electricity went out for about and hour or two before turning on and off every few minutes. It seems to be working well now, but you never know. . . It might go off right now.


But, I think I'm gonna get back to writing now, the break was fun while it lasted, I even read a whole entire book last night, The Giver by Lois Lowry which was a very very good book, I totally recommend it! Anyway, break over, now I need to start writing again! I might be able to get in a thousand or so tonight if I get going.

Oh, and today, I got this awesome idea for a new book! (No I wont be writing about it until the Chronicles of Siron is over, unfortunately) I was thinking about one of the things someone posted in the Adopt a Plot Twist over in the adoption Society at Nano. It said this: Main villain succeeds(or doesn't) at the end and a new even more evil villain enters the room and kills the first villain easily, hopefully surprising the reader. And I was just thinking about and then it hit me! I'm a bit tentative to post the idea here but by the time I actually start writing it it'll probably be something completely different anyway. So I was thinking what if the villain does win but another more powerful villain comes along and tries to take over, and with no one else to turn to all the good people have to go to the old villain for help to get rid of the new one, and the old villain also needs the good guys to help him?

I think that can make a very good story and I already can't wait to start planning it and everything. But after the Chronicles, of course.

And since I haven't posted my twitter account I'll give it here until I make a little sidebar button for it.
My twitter is: http://twitter.com/WritingBookOwl

Bad Writing, Inspiring Video (Day 12)

Well, I've been busy all day and have only gotten 500 words written from when I woke to this moment. This sucks. Horribly. And now that I have time to write I don't exactly want to. This is bad.

But at this point I'm not going to push it, I'm just gonna have to make up for whatever I don't write today, but I am still going to write, I at least want 2,000 words in before I go to sleep tonight, so I best get crackin eh?

And also, since last nights epiphany and since I'm nearing the end of the first book I'm pretty much pantsing it now until I make my word count cause the whole entire book 1 needs to be re-planned and outlined, so I'm just going with how I know it must end and then trying to merge it to how the book should have been in the first place, if that makes any sense :p Anyways, so far so good.

Hey, this blog post is doing me good cause talking about my story is making me want to write it! This is good! I hope everyone is having more luck and that you all are writing the living daylights out of yourselves!

Also, watch this video, it's inspiring and full of awesome!

Oh, Thanks, But I Would Have Liked To Know LAST MONTH!

I have just had a very important epiphany today regarding my story. Very important.

Almost everything I've been writing about should be in book two.

I feel sucker punched.

How the heck was I supposed to know!? Remnants - title and all - is book two! Only a small part of it is still book one, this is a absolute disaster! I'm supposed to be starting book two in a few days! Oh my gosh, this is just. . . I don't even know what to say.

Okay, let's see. The whole careful placing of plot points that I've written and carefully situated was all for naught because that should be in book two and I should have been concentrating on a whole other aspect in this book, and I can't believe I didn't see this earlier because now I've written 55,000 words of things that must go through superhorrificmajor changes! And then I have to recycle a lot of it into book two and make the mc all surprised/scared/etc. about the same thing all over again!

Well, I guess this is how it goes when writing a series. While I'm finishing up book one I guess I'll have to do my best to concentrate on what the book should have been leading up to and everything. And then book two shall be the way it's supposed to.

*sighing*

Well, I guess it's better to find out now than when I thought I was done with book two :] ;_;