Ahh, Writing, My Old Friend

So, yes, I'm behind.

On what? Why, just about everything. And what am I currently doing? Trying to get the CW website to play last week's episode of Vampire Diaries (don't judge me). Anyhow, my point is, I actually have plans for "after" this horrid site finishes with me.

After chatting with Trish, I've decided that one of my YA stories, the one to be written in 1st person, might not require the full on outlining that I usually do for my stories. Though it's speculative fiction, it's raw and character driven. So in order to get more into the story itself, I'm going to focus on writing scenes with my FMC. Hopefully, once I get to know her, I'll get to know the world she lives in.

YA Woes

When the real world becomes, in Marty McFly wisdom, too "heavy," I zone. I zone often, as you might imagine. And sometimes, zoning even gets in the way of my passion, writing. Why? Well, zoning leads to second guessing.

Currently, I'm working on several different projects. I'm making my first full out attempt to get a novel written for publication purposes. In fact, I've quite the goal in mind (inspired by my writing buddy, Trish, of course). I want a novel agent-ready by December. Sure, not an impossible task, but... We're talking about me here. I'm the girl who rewrote a first chapter nearly a dozen times because of my "second guessing."

So, here I am, formally announcing this little goal. And hoping that, by doing so, I'm not making a fool of myself.

As for the projects themselves, several of them are Young Adult. Which leads me to the subject of this fair blog entry: YA woes. I have moments, really dorktastic moments, where I stop thinking about these project entirely because I'm worried my stories have too much gore, too many curse words... Then I remember my favorite young adult novels. Almost all of them have deep, resounding themes, deal with death, deal with the monsters of both the real world and the fantasy one. And I realize that having a Young Adult audience doesn't necessarily mean that I need to take a step away from my story.

I started out as a young adult writing for myself. I was writing YA stories, whether I knew it or not. Writing YA isn't about toning down the volume. It's about cranking it up.

So, yeah, about those "woes"? Who needs them.

Hopefully, next time I blog, I'll be well into one of my projects, be it for an adult, child, or young adult audience. I try to keep you updated.

The Procrastination Tamer

Yes, as in, lion tamer. 'Cause, frankly, procrastination can be a six-hundred pound, clawed killing machine for writers.

Readers of my fanfictions probably assume that I'm dead, but I'm not. I just wish there was a way I could tell all of them that I've been concentrating on a different spectrum of the writing world over the past few weeks: freelance.

A few weeks ago, I got my first check for writing articles. It was downright tiny compared to the work that went into it. But, I've got to say, I was glowing on the inside. I really was. Finally, after all these years, I'd gotten paid for writing something. And, obviously, a small number of people out there were reading that something.

It occurred to me that the check was a symbol of the future. While I expect the checks in months to come to get larger, and I expect also to not only be working for Associated Content but other sites as well at that time, I can't help but see what that tiny check means.

I suppose it's the same for any writer who doesn't strike it lucky the first go-around. The check means that someone can get paid for their passion. I can get paid to do what I love so much. But, if I stick to this course, the monetary payment is always going to be smaller than the work that was put into it. No matter how successful I become as an author or freelance writer, I'm always going to have to put more effort in to it. Because it's what I love. And if you love something, that's what you do.

And it'll be worth the hard times. And the lack of nifty gadgets. The possible second job that bores me to tears.

It'll be worth it to be doing what I adore.

Love means sacrifice. But the rewards are always far greater than what was given away.

So, in order for me to pursue this love, I must make that sacrifice, and the lamb will have to be my other personality, the one who can procrastinate herself out of going to the bathroom for an hour.

This procrastinator plans to be very, very busy in the months to come, as she attempts to take hold of her old faults and use them. I will continue my fanfiction. I will always be writing on my original fiction (I write on it nearly every day, I simply do not always form enough of it to post on a site or to talk about). And I will take control of my freelancing and produce the articles I need to produce to get to the next level.

Before Brunch

Tis the season for exams and crying.

My workload is about medium level hard for this week. Not so much that the result will be hair loss, just enough that I might cry (if I fail...especially if I fail editing). This weekend I have an eight page Chaucer paper due. Later this week, I have an art exam--don't laugh at me, it's harder than it sounds--that will involve talking the talk after I've walked the walk. Go figure. I also have the dreaded Tech Editing exam. However, as far as editing goes, I believe I've done almost all the damage I can do to my final grade by turning in my comprehensive edit last week. I can only go up from there. I hope.

So, I've been a bit dead lately.

I've missed my chance to talk about the abyss that was my Thanksgiving Holiday. The food was awesome (I used a recipe for a pumpkin cheesecake with a marshmallow/sour cream topping that everyone loved). A primal part of me even enjoyed Black Friday. What wasn't fun was getting my tuition and fees bill from the university. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, UNA. It's so nice that I have to borrow and empty my account before Christmas. Really gives you the warm'n'fuzzies, doesn't it?

Over the holiday, I also found our Christmas tree out in the garage. It hasn't been used in a while, so it was hard to find under the glorious junk trove. I was happy just seeing the big green naked thing up. We didn't have a tree last year, since Mom was hospitalized. Actually, the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Years sort of didn't happen fully. I don't remember them; except, I do remember cooking for both and finding the chore way too much fun. That was it. This year there will be decorations. Just as Jigsaw has his blood, I will have my pinecones and nativity. So there.

My only problem is making sure my little chihuahua, Yoda, doesn't think that a tree means that he's outside and that it's time to drop a surprise. But let's face it, Yoda would drop a surprise on anything. Guarding the Christmas decorations from my lovable poop machine is a human sized Santa who dances and sings. Santa scared the hell out of Yoda. He also hit me in the mouth when he popped up out of his box on springs of steel. I seriously saw stars for a moment. My brother, Abe, was laughing his ass off. Then he got up to make sure I wasn't bleeding. Then he laughed his ass off again. It was all very funny. Note my enthusiasm.

A very primal part of me enjoyed Black Friday. Well, actually, it didn't. But I did go through the store with a smile on my face. I have this little devil that lives inside of me. We laugh at other people. How could you not laugh at grown adult who are fighting over vacuums and towels--seriously! I'm not kidding. I was laughing. People looked at me as if I were insane. Obviously, I should look bloodthristy, like them.

Funniest moments at Walmart came from Electronics. You know, over in the Groceries (oh, that the Powers That Be Walmart Employees could be any more mysterious). About fifteen minutes before the actual 5am kickoff, I, in Housewares, hear this insane sound. Apparently, everyone around me hears it as well. If you've ever seen a zombie movie (reference, Dawn of the Dead in front of the mall) where there's a huge mob of the undead groaning. That was the exact sound. I turn around to see the big screens in their cardboard boxes crowd surfing like rock stars over the heads of the zombies. Hilarious. Walmart employees were running from across the store, screaming that their purchases would be denied. Once again, hilarious. There was also the equivilent of a fist fight over X-Boxes that led to a major hold up in the actual Electronics section. Seriously, more people should have been laughing at themselves. Why behave like insane children in a candy shop when the sales aren't even that awesome? They act like golden apples were falling from the ceiling. Did everyone hear about the employee who was killed up in NY? Yup. Insane.

Anyhow, I rounded out the holiday by coming back to the dorms to finish up my NaNoWriMo. Because, apparently, one cannot be given time to write at their own home. I soooo look forward to writing over the X-mas holiday. I finished up with the NaNo word count goal but I really didn't get to reach a conclusion for the actual story. Maybe it will work out in the rewrite. In its present skeletal state, I really can't tell if it's going to be worth working extremely hard on or if I should post it online at FictionPress for a writing exercise.

I've invoked a pre-New Years wish to be able to update all of my fanfiction. As soon as that Chaucer paper is finish. I really, desperately want to finish some of those fictions. Believe it or not, I learn a lot about my original writing when I'm working on those works. I experiment with writing styles, flesh out characters, and play with action and setting that would take a long time to get around to in a novel sized story of my own. It's really an interesting process. And it renews my love for writing, most of all. Now that I know that, if set my mind to it, I can get around 10k written in a weekend, I also have no excuse for not updating those fanfictions.

I think that over the holidays I'll renew my love for angsty poetry. That's something to think about. I also plan on reading several books. It could happen.

Until next time,
Ariyana

Let the blood drip from the forehead: NaNoWriMo Begins

I haven't quite sweated blood yet, though my character is feeling that level of stress at the moment. I'm having fun with it this year. I got to know my characters before I began, and it's really given me a boost. I reached 10,500 last night, and it was a great feeling, only three days into the game. Plus, my school work hasn't suffered yet, so that's an added bonus.

I'm very excited about this year's story, and I've been using a few methods to keep it going on track. I didnt' get a chance to outline, though I basically knew what I needed to write for my Prologue and first chapter. I've begun outlining as I write, only one chapter ahead, so that I don't ruin the future chapters for my over-excited self.

Tonight I'm planning to pass the 12,500 mark. Here's hoping.

I'm having fun, basically. Plus I washed the dishes. I'm feeling so very productive.

I'm also extremely happy that my friends are participating as well. You can smell the fiction in the air. I feel like M. Burns: Exxxcccccelllenttt.

Excellent, indeed, crazy old man. Excellent, indeed.

NaNoWriMo: All the Cool Kids are Doin' It

Well, I'm breaking in my blog for its first post of the NaNo season.

It's that time again. The coffee bags are sitting anxiously in my top drawer, candies await on my roomie's side of the live-in closet we call home, my laptop wallpaper is presenting a word count a day calendar for the month of November, OneNote is hosting a new folder with pre-NaNo notes...Yes, indeed, National Novel Writing Month approaches.

My project this year is an idea I had four or five years ago for a young adult novel, The Last Crusader. I'm excited. I could vomit. Character sketches, plot outlines, and writing soundtracks are all in the works this week as I prepare for a month of novel writing. I'm especially excited about this year. Not only do I have a solid idea for a story, I'm going to have several friends participating. That means the pressure to finish is on: a great thing for a struggling novelist.

So here's wishing my fellow novelists good luck. I won't promise, but I'm pretty sure the procrastinator inside will make me its whore this upcoming Nov.--which means several blog updates for my handful of readers. Actually, I'm pretty sure that handful will also be procrastinating by writing blogs about their novel writing process....

Well, happy reading...and writing, everyone

Goals Down the Toilet and Other Depressing Complaints with No Relevance in the REAL World.

I had a plan. I really did. It was a good plan, solid, with a schedual and dates and times. Good plan.

It was my summer plan.

The first half was dominated by visiting a dear friend for her birthday and taking on a job as co-RA in charge of an army of teenage girls (talk about gathering dramatic material). This was in the plan. Check. Fin. Done deal.

The rest of the plan. . . Well, suffice to say, it did not work out. As planned. It was simple really. I would reach a certain writing goal, a certain art goal. I would read a certain number of books, clean the house, exercise, diet, train my little brother to be a half-way decent essay writer, plan out my future. . . You know, the usual. However, these plans came to a screeching hault after about a weeks time. I have read only a handful of books. The house is a disaster zone. I have been walking every day but my diet is somewhat lacking and has not resulted in anything significant. My brother has far more interest in video games. And my future. . . It's in the future.

So I had a new plan involving the last two weeks before dorm move-in. I was going to attempt twenty-thousand words. But, before this journey began, I was going to tack the tail end onto a few of my short stories.

The every evening that this was to begin my mother became very ill and had to be rushed to a doctor. Kidney stones. Again. This is still not resolved but the infection is being dealt with and she hasn't felt that sort of pain again. The next day nature decided to add to this by giving me a tooth infection. Thank you very much, Mr. Wisdom Tooth, for the ringing ears and locked jaw. Mr. Wisdom Tooth waves at the bright new world from a somewhat sideways position and should probably be extracted, but, alas, lack of money and insurance. A few antibiotics cleared up the infection, thankfully, and I can now open my mouth again and chew "big-people" food. And now, you ask? Now writers' block. Simple.

Fine, Nature, fine. But I will not give up my planning. So there!

Here goes the planning again. To hell with the 20,000. I'm going to finish those two pieces and clean my bedroom. I'm going to get through the three books I'm in the middle of. It's getting done. And my dorm things are getting repacked.

As soon as I finish procrastinating.