I Won!

Please don't scold me for not posting in so long! Not that you would...but...I was very busy writing. But before I tell you the good news I might as well speak of Indiana. All we did was shop, play videogames (Super Smash Brothers Melee! W00t!), watch movies (Master and Commander [W000000000t!] and My Fair Lady), and I wrote and I read. After buying Oliver Twist, I tried to finish that by this last Tuesday, but to no avail. It's a really good book, though.

I wrote mostly at night, when older cousins or parents weren't looking over my shoulder or bugging me(which usually was around 12pm-1am, after which Dad made me go to bed). I also had to work on my audition monologues, so that took time...but after days and days of researching, plot searching, and idea searching...I finally WON! With a final word count of 50,036 words on Tuesday, November 27, at 1am. I HAD to finish that day, for twas the day of auditions, but that's a whole 'nother story [check out my other blog ;)].

I wrote a few more words yesterday, bring my word count up to 50,155 to submit it to the NaNoWriMo website. Just to let you all know, though...My novel is nowhere NEAR being finished. In fact, it's probably only halfway written, not to mention all the editing I have to do. But now I can finally slow down and think! Wo0t!

So! My conclusion: The novel probably won't be touched in December, other than reading and a teensy- weensy bit of editing, for I'm fed up with it at the moment and still need waaaay more research.

Historical fiction was definately hard to do for NaNo, but I did it! And on my first attempt, too. This is my 2nd historical fiction novel. The other was also a thiller/fantasy that I co-authored with DuelDragon on DioM...It was short, and kind of...different, but fun to write with her. Anyways, I've decided I'll be writing fantasy for next year's novel and that is final! Or so I say now...Lol...;)

~A very exhausted Shadow

Day 20: Here in Indiana

Greetings from IN! We had a very long day in the car yesterday from 10:30am to 12pm our time. It's an hour later here. The bummer is that I wrote about 2,000 words in the car yesterday, once earlier in the day, and then another time at about 6. We stopped at a rest stop, so I saved, and shut off the laptop, but without selecting shut down or anything. Came back to write when we got to our relatives house and my story was completely gone. Good thing I have one of those..chip things. I forget what they're called. So at least 1,000 words that I was proud of got deleted. I recovered them, but I don't think they're as good.

I've written more and more about Josie's brothers in the Union army, but I need more research, as I have no idea where they're going at the moment. To get me in the mood though, I'm reading Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi about...heh, well, you can imagine what about.

I've finally planned a little, for tonight. I'm hoping to reach 35k before bed. Anyways, I'm excited to get writing, my laptop doesn't have internet. Wish me luck!

Moving Along...

The past two days have come through with two meager zeros. Thursday was South Heights and such, Friday was Chemistry, the PLAN test (yes, I did survive), and my orchastra concert. So, after coming home exhausted after all of that, Mom rented The Prestige for me to watch to get a good idea of a Cockney accent. (Christian Bale's role has an amazing British/Cockney one) I really liked it, though it was good in an eerie and confusing sort of way. I've never seen a movie like it, I can tell you that. I might watch it again tonight on the computer, if we don't get Amazing Grace. (Movie-watcher, aren't I? =D)

Ooh! I went to the library and got The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Return of the King soundtracks, along with the Titanic soundtrack. They're all amazing! Especially the Titanic since I've never heard most of the music before. I listen to them all the time now while writing, along with....

Amazing Grace the soundtrack! Mom and I went to Northwestern bookstore yesterday and bought it, even though we haven't seen the movie yet. It's amazing! I know I always say that, but it's true! I adore soundtracks. I almost like them better than music with lyrics, for writing especially.

So far today I've written a little more than 1,769 words. Ach, gotta go. Josh and Justin are over and they want to color...

Day Number Fourteen

I'm running out of title ideas lol.

Today I did all (most) of my school and then went to church tonight for the Thanksgiving dinner before writing. In fact, I planned on doing no writing today, just research, but I'm feeling behind! :oops:

So, a half an hour ago, I forced myself to write 750 words. I'm going to add 250, then call it a day. I need to go to sleep before midnight for once his week!

Why do I always begin my paragraphs with the word SO. I hate it! LOL

I'm going to go read the Last Sin-Eater before bed. G'night.

A Hectic, Tiring Day, But 25K!

((Hehe, that rhymes XD)) Boy, have I had a strange one. I'm just about ready to collapse, so I'll make it as brief as possible.

First, I went to Acting 2 at eleven. We played a game for the first time in weeks. Now, it was one of those games where you had to sit in chairs in a circle (only, for us, half the chairs were on the stage, half the chairs were three steps down on the floor), and say one thing that people would have in common. Ex: If you're wearing blue, stand up and switch chairs. Heh, yeah, you probably can see where this is going.

So anyways, Jesse and I are making a run for it down the stairs to the last empty chair. Well, since he's smaller and probably faster (:P), he reaches it first and I go plunging past - right smack- dab, headfirst into one of the wooden church pews, then sort of rolled on the floor. Everyone was completely shocked and were freaking out. I bet it was amusing to watch...LOL!

Carla thought I had a concussion and was asking how many fingers she was holding up and everyone else was either laughing or staring. Jesse got up and was like 'I'm sorry! You can have the chair!' I felt fine except for the pain on my head and was laughing and didn't think I needed ice. So we ended the game after one more turn and I was ready to start practicing our showcase when I reach up and feel the golfball size knot on the side of my head. :oops:

So....Jane got me ice and told me to quick lay down if I felt funny (without knocking my head on the pew, she said) and say 'something' to get her attention. I was fine, however, except my hand was cold from the ice. But we practiced our lines anyway while sitting there and I was okay for the rest of class.

And that was all before lunch! Lol...

After was flute lesson, which I got through, and then home(yay), then school pictures(ugh), then orchastra practice(double ugh). But I survived and my dad says my pupils look fine. Lol. I wonder if I'll be able to sleep on my right side tonight....

Also, Dad and Moe went to a Kutless concert without me, because of orchastra.

HAHA talk about brief! LOL! I think I'm tired, by now ya'll know I type really fast when I'm tired....ACK!

So, you probably want to hear about NANO, eh? Well, I forced myself and did it! I've reached 25k and I'm SO happy! And ahead...

Words written today: 1,448
Word Count: 25,123
Words to go: 24,877

Introducing...Who?

Ok, so I'm not even at 25k yet! *gasp* I planned to be there around Saturday or Sunday, but alas, 'twil have to wait until tomorrow, at the earliest.

I resolved to finish my school before I started to write...But that turned out to be not such a good idea. I procastinated on schoolwork and played with the cat until it was late and I hadn't finished what I wanted to. Then Mom suddenly says that if I want to watch Gods and Generals, we have to leave right after supper to go watch it with Hannah. So, that's what I did instead of homework. I did get some important things done today though, excluding Geometry. Ach, I planned on doing that after supper....<_<

Gods and Generals was very, very long, but it was also good. It was a lot different than I imagined the overall movie to be, but I loved how Jackson was a Christian, and that there was so much praying, etc, in it, though the end was quite sad. We watching it for free on the internet through Netflix, so it was really choppy. <_< I had to teach myself to ignore it after the first hour...LOL!

Aha! I've finally introduced my antagonist in my NaNo. Took me quite a while, but I hadn't really had him developed until now. I think now is when the story gets really exciting. I can't wait to write more! I don't, however, have any idea what my main antagonist's name is. I know his accomplices, or at least part of it - Edward, but I don't know anything else. Lol. *head to desk* I really need to get more organized.

The other thing that's slowing my down is research and that I don't have enough. Ack, I think I'll work on that more tomorrow, along with my history, so I can hurry up and get to the Civil War chapter. =D

Heh, it's past midnight, so I guess technically it's Tuesday now. According to mom, we're getting our pictures taken before orchastra, and I wasn't told until today. *harumphs* With those two things, along with Acting class and a flute lesson, I won't get time to anything. Oh well, I shall try....

*panics* This may be random but the PLAN test and my orchastra concert are on Friday! Gaspers. I'm really dreading that day, I hate Fridays.

Day 11

Busy day. I'm working on writing a few words before bed, but I haven't gotten far. Mom said I spend too much time on the computer, so I've resolved to stop myself from coming on here when I'm tempted. I get more school done, I've figured out. Wouldn't ya know? =P

But seriously, I went on the computer one other time today, before this and that was to check and see if Carla e-mailed me which monologues to practice for the Oliver Twist auditions. I get to do Nancy and Rose! I'm SO excited! Lol, I said that about fifty times on my other blog...XD

Anyways, the word count at the end of yesterday was 22,727. I wrote 3,602 words yesterday! W00t! We raked today, went to church, watched the football game and the food channel, and went to Chick night to see Sara Groves. 'Twas fun. School day tomorrow! Hannah and I might watch Gods and Generals together. I hope so.

Anyway, goodnight!

The 10th Day of NaNo

Normal Saturday at home for me today. I just sat here and wrote, worked on school, read, etc...Moe and I watched two movies: Fievel Goes West, a movie we watched countess times years ago. I was cleaning up the DVDs when I found it among the videos. It's hilarious! And then we just finished watching Annie, the older version. Mom said we can rent one of the Civil War movies tomorrow.

My current word count is 21,326.
28,674 more words to go! Boy, that makes me want to write more...Heh, I can't help feeling that I should have written more words than that, but it's just my confoozled old brain playing tricks on me. =P I am going to try and write a bit more before going to bed...

Josie has Scarlet Fever! =O That's all I'm going to say...:oops: *hides*

Day Nine

I'm almost positive I'll get no writing in today, but I'm happy. Tomorrow's Saturday! And yet, I still have more school to do...

I just got back from Chemistry class. I almost fell asleep again! :doh: Seriously though, I think I have a listening problem. <_< I got 100% on the quiz, but I messed up on the extra credit problem. Oh well...

Next is soccer, then I guess I'm going to Hannah's to babysit with them and then we're going to watch Pride & Prejudice. We were going to watch Gods and Generals, soon I hope. They are no doubt going to ask me to sleepover, like always. But I need to get some writing done. I'm trying to decide if I want to go to the write-in at the Mall of America with a laptop or not. I don't write well at all with paper and pencil...=P

Ahh, I really want to go though! Maybe I can check and see if they're doing it any other weekends...

Day Eight

Yayness! It's a week since NaNo started. I wrote 2,000 words last night, so I'm satisfied. I'm just having trouble writing this one scene, but I think it's because I don't have enough research. So I have to get going on that today...

Is it just me, or has this week gone by really fast? I just feel like school has whizzed by but maybe that's because I don't have as much to do.

A friend of ours was going to come and bring my laptop over, and then maybe see if I want a different one, but he never did come. So here I am, a week later, without a laptop. <_< I want to go to Caribou Coffee and just sit there and write. Or Starbucks, actually, they have better hot chocolate. XD. Because I keep procrastinating on the internet on DioM, CP, NaNo site, e-mail, etc...

And on here! LOL! Like I am now...*hides*

Behind on Day 7

Well...not exactly behind, but not where I want to be. According to what I have to be at to reach 50,000 by the 30th, I'm right on track. But I still want to be ahead...

I didn't get ANY more time to write yesterday! My word count of the day was a sad, meek 609 words. Meep! So yeah, heh, I'm mad at myself. But I had fun at Jane Eyre, so it was worth it.

Now, today I won't be going anywhere, except church perhaps, so I'm hoping I shall get caught up in my school and write at least 2,000 words.

My story's at an extremely boring part, and right after will be the great conflict that sets the story in motion! (Wow, took me long enough, huh?) Lol, but the research will now come into play, so I have to get going on that...

Tootles!
~Shae

Day Six

ACK! I just realized I spelled Nanowrimo wrong in my URL! I hate the url, I want to change it anyways.... But I used to pronounced NaNoWriMo differently, so I guess that's how I spelled it...:oops: I wish I could find a way to change the URL...

But anyways, I haven't written yet, I just wanted to lay out my day. But now that I think about it, I have no idea what I'm doing, other than Acting 2 class and a flute lesson. The rest of the homeschool group is going on a field trip, but I get to stay behind! (yay! I get to write)

EDIT: Ooh! Jane Eyre the play is tonight! I'm sooo excited!

So...yeah. Hehe, will post later.

Word Count

http://picometer.writertopia.com/words=14019&target=50000.gif

^^ Neat word widget. I'm using it on CP, but wanted to paste the url here so I wouldn't forget it...

14,019 words! I thinking I'm quitting for the day. I'm not particularily happy with what I wrote. I introduced the charries I needed to, but all they did was talk about random stuff. Ooh, and I added some German and French phrases, ones that Franz speaks. It helps my word count because he has to repeat every one of them in English =P

So, word count for today is 2,202 <_< Oh well...

Day 5!

I was too tired to give a final update last night. The final word count was 11,817. I was pushing to reach 12,000 before their movie was over and I had to go to bed, but I had a small wordblock and my eyes could hardly stay open. =-P

So here it is! Day 5, and I'm already ahead of the game. I hope I can keep it this way, today's school, after all. Gotta go get to work.

My cat wants to play...

A Few Updates (Day 4)

Lol! I accidentally posted this without writing anything =P

So, here I am again. Daylight Savings Time ended, I think, so I gained an hour. I sleep in this morning and when I looked at the clock, it said 10. Panicking, I thought we would miss church, but it turns out I hadn't changed the time on my clock. So I had at least an hour to write before church, but then we didn't go :(

I got a lot of words written though, and I've been through almost every soundtrack I have. The one that fits the best is Narnia. Pirates of the Caribbean does not going along with my story well, LOL. Pride & Prejudice is alot better, it lets me think. XD. I wish I had more...

Word count as of now is 9,765. Wootness, I'm almost at 10k!

Oh, also, I've changed around my MC, Josie. She's not exactly a Christian anymore. I needed more conflict in my story, so I made her a lot different than I originally created her, but it fits along with the story better, I think. The story's going to be mainly about how she changes now, into a Christian.

Well, we have family over for Moe's birthday today, better go soon.

Day 3

Today's been such a long day. I woke up at about 9 (yay, sleep!) and then wrote until 11:30, or noon. (1,500 words)

I had a word war with Legossi (she won by 72? words =D) and ate lunch. Then Moe and I went to Tyler's house with Hannah and Carrie to talk about their movie. It was the most pointless thing I've ever agreed to do with them. Why I let them talk me into writing the script this past summer, I don't know...

So, we got at least 7 scenes written out. Most of the time they were goofing off. Heh, we played a game of cards, then this weird hand game but then Mom came to pick us up to go home for Moe's birthday party, which was as follows: watch chipmunk videos on YouTube (LOL), eat supper, do something without the computer (this lasted 5 minutes), open presents, have brownies and ice cream (yum), make pillowcases (draw on them with colored, permanent markers), the go bowling. (Cosmic bowling! =D)

I'm too lazy to write any more than that out. XD. Cosmic bowling was fun, I've never done that before. Oh, and I bought Mr. Batson's new book, Isle of Swords, for Moe. I wanted to buy and read it first, but...It's her 13th birthday. lol.

So here I am, not getting another chance to write until about midnight. Or is it one? I'm so confused already, when does Daylight Savings Time start? *sigh*

Word Count: 8,120 (been stuck on this for the last 30 minutes <_<)
Sleep Count: None

Goodnight. XD

Day 2

I'm so excited. I didn't know this was so much fun. In the past years I've thought it was just hard work. XD I probably won't be thinking that in a few days though, I daresay. ;)

Word count as of now: 4,430. I'm hoping to get to 5,000 before bed, but I have to finish my geometry first <_<

Research, research! It's coming along fairly well, though I haven't come to any hard parts yet so, we'll see. We went to Barnes & Noble, but there was just too much information to sift through there so it didn't help. But I did do something there...;D

I also had Chemistry class and soccer today, which I almost fell asleep in Chem and fainted in soccer. =P Almost. I really need some sleep...Ahh, calm day tomorrow, hopefully. Maybe I can get a good boost on my WC, I hope. Later!

Continuing on...

I've had a great day. I didn't expect to get so much done at first. I was hoping to get to 3,000 words, but we're going to watch Spiderman 3 for Bree's birthday so I thought I'd call it a day.

I went to classes, Spanish and American Literature, and tried to read during Study Hall (but to no avail). I forgot my notebook, so I couldn't really work on NaNo stuff...

Mom stopped unexpectantly at Dairy Queen on the way home, so I had a Chocolate X-treme Blizzard to boost my energy. (Yum! =P) After getting home at 4, I've written... maybe 1,000 words. So now my total is: 2, 635. And I haven't even finished Chapter One! Heh...

I'm happy, I finished Little Women. Now I can read more Historical Fiction! I have to finish my book on Phillis Wheatley before I get anything else though...

Until tomorrow!

First Day of NaNo!

Yippee! It's started! And I have exactly 1,372 words written. I started last night, right after midnight and wrote about 700, got maybe 6 hours of sleep, and have now written the rest. I must flee to school now, but at least I'm mostly done for today. =D

Ooh, and I've finished Jane Eyre. So that's quite a relief. I just have 2 more chapters of Little Women, then I'm going to read Historical Fiction until I cannot stand the genre anymore. XD I'm hoping to find some short books that are about the Civil War but I can't spend alot of time reading.

Anyway, so I'm fairly happy with what I've written. I'm so much of a perfectionist, so no-editing is hard for me. I hate writing things I'm not satisfied with...Oh well. =P

~Shae