It's been cold, overcast, and rainy for the past couple of days. The leaves are really vibrant, and I feel like the cloudiness enhances all of the color. I went outside for a few minutes today to take some photos.
I'm playing a major catch-up game with my NaNoWriMo word count right now. I wrote over 3k words yesterday, so if I can write close to the same amount today and tomorrow, I'll be good to go. I'm pretty happy with my third novel so far! If you're participating in NaNoWriMo, how's it going? Anyone having any nervous breakdowns yet?... Have a lovely day, friends- and stay warm. -Anna
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Hello friends, How goes life? Many of you who are bloggers/writers will already be aware of the fact that NaNoWriMo 2k17 is fast approaching... We're a week away, in fact, Gahhhhh. In case any of you are wondering, NaNoWriMo is a challenge that many novelists/writers/bloggers take part of every November. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Seemingly impossible task? Yes. Impossible?... No...? (To find out more, visit the NaNoWriMo site.) This will be my third year participating in NaNo. In November of 2015 (my first year) I was able to reach my goal of 50,000 words by the end of the month (this was when I wrote the rough draft of Continuing Forever, my first novel). The next year didn't go quite as planned... I wrote a total of ten chapters of Infiltration (book II) during November 2016; my word count was around 12,000 words. Yeah, to put it simply, I failed. Something about that month made it definitely not my month as far as writing went. Thankfully I was still able to complete the rough draft of Infiltration by the end of the year. So, here we are. Twenty-seventeen. Mission: Continuing Forever III. I'm determined to reach my 50,000 goal this year, but that will only be roughly half of the book- I have a lot that needs to happen before this series wraps up. It's gonna be a bit tricky honestly... my college classes aren't terribly strenuous or time-consuming right now, but they are another time comittment/task added to my schedule since last year. Also, I'm supposed to be SAT-prepping like crazy in November...so.... Yes. It will quite possibly prove difficult. Nevertheless, there is going to be a worthy attempt made on my part. I've already begun to take steps both in planning the actual novel and in planning how to WRITE ALL THE WORDS, so I thought I'd share a few of them here for any fellow WriMos. 1. Finish (other) projects ahead of time. I'm a natural procrastinator, so I've been trying to finish a few projects that I've started this year but haven't quite finished yet. If your novel is your only ongoing project (or at least one of just a few), your brain will be clearer because you won't have nagging thoughts about things you haven't finished, and there will be less to compete with you writing a brilliant rough draft. 2. Have scheduled times to write every day. Look at your weekly schedule day-by-day. Start with Monday, figure out what time of the day would work every (or at least most) Monday for you to sit down and write for a solid half-hour or so. Then do the same for Tuesday, Wednesday, and so on (unless you want to give yourself one day week to not write; you do you). I'm not saying that these allotted time slots are the only times you should write, but this way you know you'll have some time to write every day. And do your best to stay committed to keeping these times free for writing and nothing else. 3. Plan to change location a bit. Maybe some of you feel like you have one particular spot where you do your best writing at, but for me, I feel that I write best when I switch to new locations. Sure, writing at your desk is fine, and writing in bed under the covers sobbing violently at 3am is to be expected, but going to a park (unless it's cold) or some other outdoor location, the library, or a friend's house will give you new surroundings to take in while you're writing/brainstorming. I enjoy writing while riding in a car somethings, but it does make me feel carsick after a while. 4. (If your book is a sequel or installment in a series) Refresh yourself on your previous novels. I've been spending as much time as I can lately re-reading Continuing Forever and Infiltration. When you're writing a series, it's sometimes hard to keep all of the details, names, characters, places, rules, laws, etc.,etc. organized in your head. Giving yourself a refresher before delving into your newest installment will help you remember where the story has already gone and a bunch of important details. Also, keep previous installments on hand for quick referencing, as well as lists of names, etc. 5. Get excited. Last year, part of my problem was that I just was not excited for NaNoWriMo. And you can't be ecstatic over everything all the time, but still, try to get yourself looking forward to the epic novel you're about to draft. Ways to do this include doing some writing exercises to get yourself excited about writing in general (I found a book @ Barnes & Noble recently called Just Write One Thing Today. It includes very random daily writing exercises, and I've been enjoying it. It helps you to work on different styles and techniques. Also, get excited for your story, and if you're not excited for your story idea, you can change it. So if you aren't happy with it, do change it.
I hope you guys found this somewhat helpful and that you're all excited for all of the amazing novels that will be born this November! What are your favorite ways to get prepped? Thanks for reading! -Anna Hello, friends! Where I live, temperatures have been in the upper 70s/lower 80s for about a week. Uuuuugh. This is not Fall. Nevertheless, the leaves are starting to change colors and everything outside looks like October, so that's a blessing. Autumn can be enjoyable in athletic shorts and tee shirts or jeans and flannels. Whether it is 50 degrees or 90 degrees, I love Autumn so freaking much. Yes, the cooler weather is usually one of the reasons I love it...but even when you take that away, it's still a wonderful time of the year. First of all, the leaves. I don't really need to explain this, but the leaves are always so beautiful when they start changing colors and I love walking through the woods during the color-changing. The sky seems bluer in October; it's crisp and clear and never-ending and magnificent. My taste in music never really changes (because I listen to nearly every genre out there), but I do find myself leaning towards classical music (particularly piano/violin instrumentals) during the Fall, as well as bands like Train and Plain White T's and Secondhand Serenade. I'm not sure why. Food must be mentioned briefly, because for me, October officially kicks off apple cider & hot chocolate & chai tea (well, tea is pretty much year round...) & pumpkin muffins and pancakes and cookies & apple pie. October to December is the best-tasting time of the year, no? Autumn to me always feels calm, but there is definitely an underlying feeling of excitement/anticipation. The specifics vary year-to-year, but it seems that October is always full of busy happenings. Every year, our clogging team competes at the State Fair, so October is filled with preparation for that. It's less than a week away! Two more exciting things: Riverdale season 2 (todayyyy!) and STRANGER THINGS SEASON 2. So yes... This is just a short and rapidly-typed note about Autumn and some of the reasons why it's my favorite season. What's your favorite season? What are some of your favorite things about Autumn? Have a great day, -Anna It's been pretty warm here (80-90 degrees most days), which isn't very Fall-ish weather. Nevertheless, the scenery is starting to look a bit more Autumnal; a lot of greenery remains, as well as a few late-blooming roses, but there are also leaves starting to turn beautiful colors. Not to mention an unknown type of berry that seems to show up every Autumn + those yellow Autumn wildflowers that are pretty but also equal terrible allergies. Have a great day, -Anna Hello, friends!
...It has been a shameful amount of time since my last post. To be exact, it’s been… Erm, nevermind. No need to be exact after all. *cough* It was July 26th *cough* that was more than a month ago *cough* that’s terrible. I don’t really have any excuses for not posting. I didn’t get around to posting my July wrap-up (which sucks because lots of fun stuff went on in July) because my family was on vacation the last few days of July and the first few days of August. Then when I got back I was caught up in getting ready for school, and I never got around to posting pictures from our trip, and then I decided to take advantage of my last week of freedom to do a lot of recreational reading, so I didn’t post… and then school started, and basically I haven’t had time or inspiration to post. BUT HERE I AM NOW. Back and better than ever (or here’s hoping, anyways…). There’s a lot that’s happened in the past couple of months, but I thought I’d touch on just a few things in this post… INFILTRATION- The second installment in my trilogy (The Continuing Forever Trilogy), Infiltration, was released on July 29th. I’m so excited to have two-thirds of the series complete. It’s only available in eBook format, but I did get a few hard copies for friends/family/me and it’s really cool to see it in print (even though the formatting isn’t perfect; transferring it from eBook to regular paperback format proved more difficult than I had envisioned). To learn more about the series and read the book, you can visit the site by clicking here. I finished the (brief) plotline of book #3 last week and began writing a bit; I’m getting really excited for the conclusion! THE BLOOD RACE & FARRYN- A fellow blogger and writer, Katie, recently released her debut novel! I got a chance to read the ARC; there was a blog tour going on and unfortunately I was not able to finish the book/write a post in time for that, and I'll be posting a full review at some point, but for now I have to tell you guys: The Blood Race is freaking amazing. You’re definitely going to want to check it out! Visit Katie’s site to learn more about her book and get your hands on a copy! My amazing friend Joy just released her first novel as well! It’s called Farryn and it’s a super-freaking-amazing adventure story; she’s such a talented writer! I got to read it nearly two years ago (HA!), but it’s finally available for all of you… ;) So go check it out by clicking here. Learn more about it, grab yourself a copy, and proceed to thank me later. SENIOR YEAR/DUAL ENROLLMENT- My Senior year of high school started on August 14th. I am so close to being done with high school (Hallelujah praise the Lord Amen and thank you Jesus!) which is a little weird to think about it but mostly really exciting. I’m also dual-enrolled at a community college, so I’m taking a couple of classes there as well as the subjects I’m still doing at home. I’m enjoying my classes for the most part (though one of them is disappointingly unchallenging and group projects are my new least favorite thing). It’s odd to be going to college and surrounded by college students… and even more odd to realize that I technically am a college student. But like I said, I’m enjoying it and there’s a certain level of excitement involved with it. Plus it makes me busier, and I like my life to be somewhat busy. I don’t know why exactly; I just enjoy the busyness. OTHER RANDOMNESS- You guys have probably noticed this since I’ve been mentioning it from time to time on this blog, but I’ve been reading the “Temeraire” series by Naomi Novik for over a year now. It’s not that I’m not enjoying it (if I didn’t enjoy it I’d quit reading it); it’s just taking me a very long time for some reason. The books give you a lot to take in + I haven’t had a ton of time to read + I have taken a few breaks to read other books/short series. I’m not done quite yet; I just finished Crucible of Gold (book 7/9) this morning. So. Freaking. Close. I don’t really want it to end, but it does start to annoy me when I spend forever plus a few weeks reading one series. (But seriously, if you want a nice long series to read, I definitely recommend these books.) I’ve been really into art journaling this year. I started my art journal at the beginning of 2017, but I haven’t really mentioned it much or posted pics from it on le blog. I’d like to do a bit of that soon though, so keep an eye out. I’ve really been enjoying the Bible reading plan that I’ve been following this month, so I wanted to mention that. It’s centered around joy, and there are so many good passages included in it. If you’re interested in that, view it on Pinterest here. My clogging team is in the middle of preparing to compete at the State Fair next month! It’s all coming along pretty well and I’m getting so excited. This is one of the reasons that September-October is quite possibly my favorite time of the year. We have a new routine (The Devil Went Down to Georgia) that’s really really cool and a lot of fun to dance. Speaking of Fall-ish happenings, FALL IS PRETTY MUCH HERE AND I AM SO HAPPY. The weather has been cool (it did get hot enough to make me put on shorts today but for the most part…), the leaves are starting to change, unlimited pumpkin foods are available, and gahhhh. I just love Autumn so much. Okay, so to make up for the lack of posts in recent weeks, I’m going to be very diligent about posting at least weekly throughout the rest of September, and then in October I’ll quite possibly be posting every day. Granted, I won’t be writing a new post every single day; that’s just not humanly possible (for me). I’ll be writing some of the posts beforehand so that I’ll be better about keeping up with it. I’ve put together a “Blogtober” challenge which includes challenges from past Blogtobers I’ve seen, as well as a few entries I came up with. If you’re interested in seeing that let me know; I’m not sure if I’ll post it on here yet but if not, I could definitely send it to anyone who’s interested. :) I think that’s all I have to mention for now… I’ll be posting pictures from my family’s vacation early next week. How have you guys been? What are some of your favorite (or least favorite, if you prefer) things about Autumn? Thanks for reading! Have an amazing day. -Anna |