I thought about writing this tomorrow, I really did. But then I also thought about how I can sleep in tomorrow morning, and how I've already cleaned and done laundry, so I really have nothing to do in the morning. How does that explain my rationalization to write this tonight? Are you kidding me? I'm going to be in bed until at least noon, and my desk is about three and a half feet from my bed. There's no way I'm reaching over to grab my laptop. Not that far.
Anyway, I've been looking over my story and the Camp NaNoWriMo website, and realized that I wanted to do some gushing. Not for any books, because I've actually been kind of slow in that department (I've been rereading the Breathing series by Rebecca Donovan, in preparation for Out of Breath on Tuesday), but for something that I've kind of taken for granted the last seven months or so.
I bought Scrivener for Windows because it was 50% off for winners of last year's NaNo. Everyone had raved about the software, but when I tried the demo, I didn't really like it. I think it was because I was using yWriter (which is another wonderful piece of software, and totally free!) and so used to it, that Scrivener seemed like a complete foreign entity. Instead of playing around with it, though, I dismissed it and sent it to the deepest part of my computer, not even bothering to download it again when I had to clean my computer completely. It must have been around February when I thought about using it. I wanted something with a storyboard, a place where I could see my ideas in front of my face, and my notebooks tend to get a little messy. So I tried it out, grumbling and cursing the entire way. When, lo and behold...I fell in love. Once I learned how to use it, I found that Scrivener is beautiful. It keeps everything super organized and I can easily move things around. I have everything I could possibly need in one little space: chapters, scenes, characters, storyboards, places, research...Get the gist?
Now I apologize to Scrivener every time I get on it, because I was so stupid. How could I have tossed this thing away so easily? It's truly disgusting how excited I get whenever I open it and see the now familiar toolbar at the top and the chapter folders on the side. It does kind of suck when putting my finished story into Microsoft so I can format it, but if that's all I have to deal with, then I'm fine!
My love affair is now in the open and I can breath a little easier. Oh, and in case no one noticed, I changed more stuff around here. Now you can see a lovely picture of my boyfriend and me from about a million years ago at the old Yankee Stadium. I don't look anything like that anymore, but my boyfriend is still as handsome as ever. Stupid boys. There's also a widget beneath all that, where I'm planning to update my Camp NaNoWriMo word count. My story isn't actually called Summer, but it takes place during this season, so it's a placeholder for now. I'm open to suggestions! I'm truly terrible at titles. And first lines. But that's usually only with essays.
Hopefully.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Summer Madness
So, my summer has officially started, which is one reason why I'm a bit late with this post. Summer school began yesterday, and I didn't realize I'd be so tired from one little day of work. I do get home at around two in the afternoon, leaving me plenty of time for things, but I got home and kind of zoned out. I watched Mulan, which I'd never seen before, and then played FIFA 13, which I am terrible at. But I can sprint and slidetackle, and I think those two things can get my far in that game.
I also went a little crazy with the layout and fonts on this thing. My boyfriend's nephews were over the entire weekend and all they did was play the Wii, so I holed up in the bedroom and wrote, listened to music, and then played around with the blog. I like it. I wanted something summery, and the background reminds me of fireworks. Of course, living in southern California means that fireworks are a year-round event, thanks to Disneyland, but I still consider fireworks to be a mainly Fourth of July thing.
I should be writing. I really should be. But I've made so many typos just writing this post that I'm almost grateful for my laziness. There's also half a billion things I want to do, but I only have so much time before I have to go to sleep. How do you maintain a schedule in summer? I think it's hard, especially when I'm home at a weird time and wish to do nothing more than stare at a blank wall without thought. The good news is I can feel my inner OCD monster sniffing around, and I'm sure by next week, things will be back in order and I'll have some semblance of a schedule. And maybe I'll learn how to correctly spell schedule, because it took me four tries just to get the right way. Of course, that might be because I haven't written in a few days, and my fingers tend to get a little lazy when I'm not typing. They rebel against me, those little jerks.
Sometimes I wish I had Rosie, that robot maid of the Jetsons. I imagine that Jane had all the time in the world, because she didn't have to clean or even feed her children. No wonder George never wanted to hand over his money. That woman could have shopped for hours!
All right. I'm officially nuts. I'm going to go pretend like I'm writing when I'm really watching Pocahontas (I adore the fact that Netflix has most of the old Disney movies and will only get more). Next time, I swear that I'll be more pulled together. Maybe. Don't hold your breath.
I also went a little crazy with the layout and fonts on this thing. My boyfriend's nephews were over the entire weekend and all they did was play the Wii, so I holed up in the bedroom and wrote, listened to music, and then played around with the blog. I like it. I wanted something summery, and the background reminds me of fireworks. Of course, living in southern California means that fireworks are a year-round event, thanks to Disneyland, but I still consider fireworks to be a mainly Fourth of July thing.
I should be writing. I really should be. But I've made so many typos just writing this post that I'm almost grateful for my laziness. There's also half a billion things I want to do, but I only have so much time before I have to go to sleep. How do you maintain a schedule in summer? I think it's hard, especially when I'm home at a weird time and wish to do nothing more than stare at a blank wall without thought. The good news is I can feel my inner OCD monster sniffing around, and I'm sure by next week, things will be back in order and I'll have some semblance of a schedule. And maybe I'll learn how to correctly spell schedule, because it took me four tries just to get the right way. Of course, that might be because I haven't written in a few days, and my fingers tend to get a little lazy when I'm not typing. They rebel against me, those little jerks.
Sometimes I wish I had Rosie, that robot maid of the Jetsons. I imagine that Jane had all the time in the world, because she didn't have to clean or even feed her children. No wonder George never wanted to hand over his money. That woman could have shopped for hours!
All right. I'm officially nuts. I'm going to go pretend like I'm writing when I'm really watching Pocahontas (I adore the fact that Netflix has most of the old Disney movies and will only get more). Next time, I swear that I'll be more pulled together. Maybe. Don't hold your breath.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Waving As The Opportunity Flies By...
I'm not going with the family drama story.
Believe me, I started it. I took out some paper and started story mapping the crap out of it. But then, as I began writing, I realized that my main character is kind of whiny and annoying. She thinks the entire world is out to get her and that her family is, by far, the worst in America. So I took a step back and thought it through, wondering just what in the heck I was doing to her. And that's when it hit me: the bitter feelings were the ones writing. As I said, the story is a bit autobiographical, and I got to thinking of all the terrible things my family (and other families, without naming them) have done to me (and loved ones). It made me really angry, which I thought would be a great emotion to have while writing something like this, but it just made all the ridiculousness amplified. I walked away from the story on Tuesday and haven't looked back since.
I know that emotions play a huge part in writing and that we're supposed to have some when developing the characters (just some, not a lot, right?). But this was emotion overload. It's only been a few years since this idea developed in my brain, right around the time a bunch of junk was happening with my family. I thought that a few years would be enough time to look at it objectively, but I guess not.
That's okay, though. I found another story, one that's been festering in my brain since my freshman year of high school. I thought that it would go nowhere, really, but when I started story mapping it, I was shocked to find that it had legs. I started out with just one scene, just to see what would happen, and 10,000 words later, it's something. I'm not sure I want to share the details of this one yet, because I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I'm going to use it in NaNo, that's for sure, because I'm really excited about this one having an ending. Oh, boy, is that dangerous. But, after AYLB, I've been writing little ideas down and none of them have stuck with me. This one, however...I took to it like kids and sticky anything. I found myself groaning when I had to stop to eat or shower or push the cat off the desk because she was pressing the "+" key too much. I have a confession to make, and I don't make this lightly. Sigh.
I'm in love with this story.
I said it. It's out there.
I guess what I love most about this story is that it started off as a simple YA love story, but then developed into something deeper. In AYLB, backgrounds were kept hidden, to keep the story mysterious and going, but in this one, backgrounds are out there, because it helps the characters understand why they're doing what they're doing. And, yes, it's still a YA love story, but one that I actually enjoy writing.
Now that I've gushed, I need to get back to it. It's already been almost fifteen minutes!
Believe me, I started it. I took out some paper and started story mapping the crap out of it. But then, as I began writing, I realized that my main character is kind of whiny and annoying. She thinks the entire world is out to get her and that her family is, by far, the worst in America. So I took a step back and thought it through, wondering just what in the heck I was doing to her. And that's when it hit me: the bitter feelings were the ones writing. As I said, the story is a bit autobiographical, and I got to thinking of all the terrible things my family (and other families, without naming them) have done to me (and loved ones). It made me really angry, which I thought would be a great emotion to have while writing something like this, but it just made all the ridiculousness amplified. I walked away from the story on Tuesday and haven't looked back since.
I know that emotions play a huge part in writing and that we're supposed to have some when developing the characters (just some, not a lot, right?). But this was emotion overload. It's only been a few years since this idea developed in my brain, right around the time a bunch of junk was happening with my family. I thought that a few years would be enough time to look at it objectively, but I guess not.
That's okay, though. I found another story, one that's been festering in my brain since my freshman year of high school. I thought that it would go nowhere, really, but when I started story mapping it, I was shocked to find that it had legs. I started out with just one scene, just to see what would happen, and 10,000 words later, it's something. I'm not sure I want to share the details of this one yet, because I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I'm going to use it in NaNo, that's for sure, because I'm really excited about this one having an ending. Oh, boy, is that dangerous. But, after AYLB, I've been writing little ideas down and none of them have stuck with me. This one, however...I took to it like kids and sticky anything. I found myself groaning when I had to stop to eat or shower or push the cat off the desk because she was pressing the "+" key too much. I have a confession to make, and I don't make this lightly. Sigh.
I'm in love with this story.
I said it. It's out there.
I guess what I love most about this story is that it started off as a simple YA love story, but then developed into something deeper. In AYLB, backgrounds were kept hidden, to keep the story mysterious and going, but in this one, backgrounds are out there, because it helps the characters understand why they're doing what they're doing. And, yes, it's still a YA love story, but one that I actually enjoy writing.
Now that I've gushed, I need to get back to it. It's already been almost fifteen minutes!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Whoops...
I showed my dad this blog in hopes that he would praise me to high heaven and brag about me more than he does (just kidding...he caught me writing the other day and asked me what in the heck I was doing). When I showed him my last post, he said, Mi hija (because he calls me nothing else), is that how you pick what book you're going to write? By using a random generator? I patiently explained to him what I'm about to explain here, and he told me that I shouldn't be wasting my time telling him! Well, thanks Dad.
Me being me, I assume everyone knows what I'm talking about when I jump halfway into a story. I don't know how many times my boyfriend has asked me, What, wait are you talking about? I think I've mentioned before that I participate in NaNo, and Camp NaNo is awesome. I hardly ever start a new story there thinking that it'll turn into something huge, because the camp sessions are mainly for me to keep writing. If I don't write every day, I kind of fall into a funk. So, no, I don't use the random generator to figure out which book I'm going to write next; I use it to figure out which story I'm going to write next. Many of the story ideas I have usually end up going nowhere, but I use them for NaNo or just to write. Then I pick one to use as a "book model", where I do everything I would normally do when writing a book, including story maps, boards, character analysis, and all that other junk.
The story that I picked (well, that the generator picked) is going to be used for the July camp session of NaNo. I've been pretty lazy lately, and I need to get back into the swing of things. I figure that this week, all I'm doing is playing games, cleaning (since my allergies have decided to make a miraculous comeback), catch up on Game of Thrones (the show; I've already finished the books), and try out some fun things I've seen on Pinterest (seriously, DO NOT GO THERE IF YOU WANT A LIFE!), I'm going to get back into the swing of writing.
Of course, it wouldn't be me without some changes.
Yes, I may change the story a bit, or a lot, or completely, but I'll know more tonight. I hate when ideas pop into my head, because then I grab a hold of some and just run with them. But we'll see. I just didn't want people thinking that I'm such an idiot I needed a random generator to pick my books for me. Like a magic conch shell.
Dang. Now I have to go watch SpongeBob.
Me being me, I assume everyone knows what I'm talking about when I jump halfway into a story. I don't know how many times my boyfriend has asked me, What, wait are you talking about? I think I've mentioned before that I participate in NaNo, and Camp NaNo is awesome. I hardly ever start a new story there thinking that it'll turn into something huge, because the camp sessions are mainly for me to keep writing. If I don't write every day, I kind of fall into a funk. So, no, I don't use the random generator to figure out which book I'm going to write next; I use it to figure out which story I'm going to write next. Many of the story ideas I have usually end up going nowhere, but I use them for NaNo or just to write. Then I pick one to use as a "book model", where I do everything I would normally do when writing a book, including story maps, boards, character analysis, and all that other junk.
The story that I picked (well, that the generator picked) is going to be used for the July camp session of NaNo. I've been pretty lazy lately, and I need to get back into the swing of things. I figure that this week, all I'm doing is playing games, cleaning (since my allergies have decided to make a miraculous comeback), catch up on Game of Thrones (the show; I've already finished the books), and try out some fun things I've seen on Pinterest (seriously, DO NOT GO THERE IF YOU WANT A LIFE!), I'm going to get back into the swing of writing.
Of course, it wouldn't be me without some changes.
Yes, I may change the story a bit, or a lot, or completely, but I'll know more tonight. I hate when ideas pop into my head, because then I grab a hold of some and just run with them. But we'll see. I just didn't want people thinking that I'm such an idiot I needed a random generator to pick my books for me. Like a magic conch shell.
Dang. Now I have to go watch SpongeBob.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Ideas...
After my last post, I really hunkered down and thought about the next thing I want to write. Because I want to get going on something, since I feel a little lazy when I'm not doing anything. But in my ADD-addled brain, picking one idea is like eating just one Pringle: it's not going to happen. I thought of putting up a poll on this thing, but there were two things wrong about that. 1. No one comments, so I can only assume that the only people who come here are people who make mistakes, and 2. I have no idea how to do that! I'm not that tech savvy. Instead, I've decided to go the incredible sophisticated thing...and pick out of a hat.
Of course, I don't have a hat, so that means I'm going to number my ideas and go to Random.org. That site is amazing, even if all it does is pick a number. Yet...it helps greatly in some situations. After doing it about ten times, I got number 3 all ten times. Sigh.
Not that number 3 is bad or anything, it's just...a bit autobiographical. Aren't those the hardest stories to write? I've been wanting to write this for awhile now, but I could never find the proper backstory to go with it. Now, after last weekend, I think I have it.
The basic story is about one girl who moved away from her family because they were insane. Not clinically, but...you know, how most families are. But then her brother goes to jail and she has to come home because every one of her family members are falling apart. There's her mother, who tried to make her daughter into a friend more than anything, then got a divorce and turned against her daughter once she found that her child wouldn't support her in her wrong motives. There's her dad, a calming influence, the one non-insane one of the bunch, but he's planning on moving away to get his life back on track. The older sister who believes she's living the American dream, with her big house, two kids, loving husband...but she's never been very good at money or treating her sister like anything more than a servant. Her family is also on the brink: an alcoholic husband who is clueless about her spending, and two sons caught in the middle. Finally, there's her older brother, stuck in jail and caught between confusion about why he's there and relief that he's finally away from the family. Through it all, though, they know that they have to stick together in order to get anything done, but they all turn to the girl, believing her to be the most stable one and the glue of the family.
Not completely autobiographical, so don't think my family is this insane! I've taken bits and pieces from my family and other families that I've known, and melded them together to make one big mess. If you can't tell, I also took a big hint from Arrested Development, especially the character of Michael. I adore him, but he's such a jerk, and I think that's what a main character needs. I hate reading about main characters who are perfect and everyone around them thinks they're perfect, because we all have flaws. And I know I've been pretty flawed when it comes to my family, so why shouldn't this girl?
Okay, now that this has turned into a diary, I should stop. Anyway, that's the story. I'll most likely get started on it next week. That means story mapping this weekend. Luckily, new video games come out this weekend, so my boyfriend will be happily distracted, so I can work on it. Keep your fingers crossed, right?
Of course, I don't have a hat, so that means I'm going to number my ideas and go to Random.org. That site is amazing, even if all it does is pick a number. Yet...it helps greatly in some situations. After doing it about ten times, I got number 3 all ten times. Sigh.
Not that number 3 is bad or anything, it's just...a bit autobiographical. Aren't those the hardest stories to write? I've been wanting to write this for awhile now, but I could never find the proper backstory to go with it. Now, after last weekend, I think I have it.
The basic story is about one girl who moved away from her family because they were insane. Not clinically, but...you know, how most families are. But then her brother goes to jail and she has to come home because every one of her family members are falling apart. There's her mother, who tried to make her daughter into a friend more than anything, then got a divorce and turned against her daughter once she found that her child wouldn't support her in her wrong motives. There's her dad, a calming influence, the one non-insane one of the bunch, but he's planning on moving away to get his life back on track. The older sister who believes she's living the American dream, with her big house, two kids, loving husband...but she's never been very good at money or treating her sister like anything more than a servant. Her family is also on the brink: an alcoholic husband who is clueless about her spending, and two sons caught in the middle. Finally, there's her older brother, stuck in jail and caught between confusion about why he's there and relief that he's finally away from the family. Through it all, though, they know that they have to stick together in order to get anything done, but they all turn to the girl, believing her to be the most stable one and the glue of the family.
Not completely autobiographical, so don't think my family is this insane! I've taken bits and pieces from my family and other families that I've known, and melded them together to make one big mess. If you can't tell, I also took a big hint from Arrested Development, especially the character of Michael. I adore him, but he's such a jerk, and I think that's what a main character needs. I hate reading about main characters who are perfect and everyone around them thinks they're perfect, because we all have flaws. And I know I've been pretty flawed when it comes to my family, so why shouldn't this girl?
Okay, now that this has turned into a diary, I should stop. Anyway, that's the story. I'll most likely get started on it next week. That means story mapping this weekend. Luckily, new video games come out this weekend, so my boyfriend will be happily distracted, so I can work on it. Keep your fingers crossed, right?
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Promises, Promises
After publishing my last post, I thought to myself, gosh, Bree, you should really have a schedule for this thing. Because sometimes I get a little crazy and have to have schedules for everything (those promptly go out the window, except when it comes to things like reading, watching TV, or writing). But I promised myself last time that I would try Monday and Friday blogs, beginning of the week and then end of the week, just to see how I spent my time (weekends don't count, because I sometimes barely get dressed on Saturdays and Sundays, so how can I expect myself to even turn on my laptop?). Well. More than a week later...
In my defense, I had kind of a stressful weekend, what with my cousin's graduation and driving around California and figuring out just why Marriott sucks. And then yesterday, my boyfriend kept inundating me with E3 information that I rolled my eyes at, but secretly coveted like a new book. Enough with the excuses, though! I'm going to try this schedule thing, and I may even get back to writing, since that's what this whole thing is supposed to be about. Authors should stop publishing good books. For awhile, at least, until I can catch up. Because it's really rude of them not to take my schedule into consideration (yes, sometimes I am delusional, why do you ask?).
The good thing is that next week I get a (drumroll, please) vacation! I'll be off work starting this Friday for an entire week (technically nine days, but weekends, you know) and I'm going to use that time wisely. Maybe. Hopefully. Sometimes my mom would complain that there weren't enough hours in the day and I would think she was nuts, because I thought there were too many hours in the day since I finished everything so quickly. But now I understand, although not for the same reasons (she had to clean and cook and work and all that other boring stuff).
So we shall see. I'm making a promise for the schedule, which really benefits me more than anyone, but I'm also making a promise that on Friday, I'll have an update for the new story. That gives me a week to concentrate on one idea. Wait, it's Tuesday...I'm already a day behind!
In my defense, I had kind of a stressful weekend, what with my cousin's graduation and driving around California and figuring out just why Marriott sucks. And then yesterday, my boyfriend kept inundating me with E3 information that I rolled my eyes at, but secretly coveted like a new book. Enough with the excuses, though! I'm going to try this schedule thing, and I may even get back to writing, since that's what this whole thing is supposed to be about. Authors should stop publishing good books. For awhile, at least, until I can catch up. Because it's really rude of them not to take my schedule into consideration (yes, sometimes I am delusional, why do you ask?).
The good thing is that next week I get a (drumroll, please) vacation! I'll be off work starting this Friday for an entire week (technically nine days, but weekends, you know) and I'm going to use that time wisely. Maybe. Hopefully. Sometimes my mom would complain that there weren't enough hours in the day and I would think she was nuts, because I thought there were too many hours in the day since I finished everything so quickly. But now I understand, although not for the same reasons (she had to clean and cook and work and all that other boring stuff).
So we shall see. I'm making a promise for the schedule, which really benefits me more than anyone, but I'm also making a promise that on Friday, I'll have an update for the new story. That gives me a week to concentrate on one idea. Wait, it's Tuesday...I'm already a day behind!
Monday, June 3, 2013
Rejection!
Why the excitement mark, you may ask (and why on earth would I call it an excitement mark and not exclamation mark? Because I'm a dork, duh.)? One of the main reasons why I never seriously entertained the idea of publishing my book was the whole getting rejected part. I envisioned this big, messy scene, where the agent would actually call to yell at me for wasting his/her time with this crap. I didn't really understand how queries worked back then. But now that I've sent out a minimum of a million queries, I get it. And I don't know why I haven't done this earlier!
Sending out a part of the story isn't so bad. It's not as heart-pounding as I thought it would be. Many of the agents ask for ten to twenty-five pages, so it's enough for them to get a sense of me and yet not enough for them to be like, wow, this girl can't write to save her life. So hopefully my first few chapters are the best things I've ever written.
I started sending these things out last week, I think around Thursday. I've received two emails back, both rejections, but it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I guess the scariest part of this deal is putting myself out there, the actual act of sending out my words. It's one thing to write a query and describe what my story is about, but it's quite another to show these strangers words that I've spent months, years, really, on. I'm not sure if it's the wisdom that comes with age or what, but thinking about all these people sending back my manuscript and saying, nope, sorry, doesn't scare me as much anymore. I have other options out there, and I'm going to take the advice of the first rejection email: don't stop. And I don't plan on it.
Now that all that mushy, weird stuff is out of the way! Summer is almost here, and with all the things I have planned for it, I don't know how I'm going to do these things in three months. I usually have themed reading summers (because I'm a dork, remember), and this year, for some strange reason, I picked Summer of Russians. You know, the super depressing authors who write eight million page long books? Yeah, those Russians. And I realized that I have more than a few Russian books on my shelf, so I may get through one or two of them! Of course, that is if I ever take Valley Girl out of my DVD player (and if you know what that movie is, I love you). Plus, I have five books being held for me at the library. Yeah, I went a little nuts. Oh well. Luckily summer school schedule means I only work from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon, leaving me plenty of time for strenuous activities such as laying in bed and reading. I love summer sometimes.
Sending out a part of the story isn't so bad. It's not as heart-pounding as I thought it would be. Many of the agents ask for ten to twenty-five pages, so it's enough for them to get a sense of me and yet not enough for them to be like, wow, this girl can't write to save her life. So hopefully my first few chapters are the best things I've ever written.
I started sending these things out last week, I think around Thursday. I've received two emails back, both rejections, but it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I guess the scariest part of this deal is putting myself out there, the actual act of sending out my words. It's one thing to write a query and describe what my story is about, but it's quite another to show these strangers words that I've spent months, years, really, on. I'm not sure if it's the wisdom that comes with age or what, but thinking about all these people sending back my manuscript and saying, nope, sorry, doesn't scare me as much anymore. I have other options out there, and I'm going to take the advice of the first rejection email: don't stop. And I don't plan on it.
Now that all that mushy, weird stuff is out of the way! Summer is almost here, and with all the things I have planned for it, I don't know how I'm going to do these things in three months. I usually have themed reading summers (because I'm a dork, remember), and this year, for some strange reason, I picked Summer of Russians. You know, the super depressing authors who write eight million page long books? Yeah, those Russians. And I realized that I have more than a few Russian books on my shelf, so I may get through one or two of them! Of course, that is if I ever take Valley Girl out of my DVD player (and if you know what that movie is, I love you). Plus, I have five books being held for me at the library. Yeah, I went a little nuts. Oh well. Luckily summer school schedule means I only work from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon, leaving me plenty of time for strenuous activities such as laying in bed and reading. I love summer sometimes.
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