Food & Drink

Nom, Nom, Nom....

One word: Coffee.  Remember how I said that my sister and I love to go to Barnes & Noble to write?  Remember I said that she and I always get Starbucks while we're there?  The people behind the Starbucks counter know me there because that's how much we go there.  It's terrible, if you think about it...Starbucks is so unhealthy for you and think of all the money I have wasted at that place?  Sad thing is, I don't really care because it tastes absolutely wonderful!

I only write in two places: home or at Barnes & Noble.  I tend to not be able to write unless I have something else to distract my hands with...a drink.  Every once in a while I am able to give my hands that five-second break of typing only to fill my mouth with fabulous caffeine.  At Barnes & Noble, I get Starbucks, Starbucks, and more Starbucks.  At home, we have a Keurig coffee machine.  Yes, it is dangerous, but it is just as wonderful as having Starbucks.  The different is, I only buy one drink at Starbucks: it's loaded with caffeine and it's expensive.  At home, I may have up to 100 cups of coffee per day.  It's free and I can get decaffeinated K Cups to drink.

When I am at school, and I have free time in between classes with no homework to do, I write.  This is very rare, but it does happen sometimes.  I usually bring a cup of coffee with me to school.  Whether I filled up a thermos cup at home with coffee, or my friend and I stop at Dunkin' Donuts on the way, I usually have coffee.  By the time I get to sit down and write during school is later on in the day.  I get my homework done first.  This is something I hate, but it's something that I have to do.  Anyway, by that time, my coffee is either all gone or it's cold.  What do I do then?  I usually bring a water with me to school, as well.  This is in case I end up chugging my coffee on the car ride before I even get to school.  So, I'll usually drink my water.  I think it's boring, but that's what it is.  Or, depending on how much money I have and how much I actually want to spend, I'll go to a vending machine and get some Root Beer.  You know why I love Root Beer?  Caffeine free.

Despite all the Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, and coffee from home I consume, I try to get it all decaffeinated.  I'm hyper enough and never sleep, so it's not like I need caffeine in my system...

I don't know what it is, but there is just something that makes me crave coffee or something of the sort as I write.  It's like I stated earlier: I need to give my hands that five-second break of typing to grab the cup and feed my belly.

Food?  No, I don't eat while I write.  I tend to eat a lot of junk food.  I'm also very messy when I eat.  If I don't want any sort of food residue on my laptop or smudged all over the pages in my notebook, I don't eat while I write.  I drink while I write and when I take a break from writing after an hour or so, that's when I make myself something to eat and I watch TV or something before getting back into it.

This, to me, sounds like a good idea.  Eat during breaks, drink while writing.  It's worked for me, so far.

Where In The World

Shh...I'm Writing....

Do you remember when we talked about using a computer over a pen and notebook?  Well, whichever tool you prefer to write with, where do you prefer to use it?

Do you need a quite place like a library?  Or are you able to sit at home with parents and siblings able to distract you at any possible moment, no matter what scene you're writing?  Most people can write through all of the examples above, but there's always that one certain spot where we write best.

In my house, we have a basement that has two rooms.  You go down the stairs and when you go to your right, it's where the couches are and the big screen TV...so it's basically like my dad's room.  If you go to your left once you make it to the bottom of the stairs, you'll see my desk, two book shelves filled with all my books, plus another huge desk, which is where Raph's (my turtle) tank sits.  The printer got squeezed onto that desk, as well.  We call this my room because I'm the one who always down there and no one else hangs out in that room...probably because all of my stuff is there.  The only time people really go into that room is when they're passing by to go into the laundry room.

Nine times out of ten, I will be at my desk writing on my laptop or in a notebook...mostly my laptop.  Sometimes I will write in my bedroom while lying on my bed, but I tend to use a notebook in my bed because otherwise I would get uncomfortable very easily...plus the laptop would die and I would have to run down two flights of stairs to get the plug and then bring everything back down when I'm done...it's too much work for me.

Now, there's always a special place that people tend to go to when they want to write.  Some place other than their house.  My sister and I always go to Barnes & Noble whenever we both have free time...meaning whenever both of us have the day off from work, which is not very often at all, but we try.  We go to Barnes & Noble early in the morning so that we get there as it opens...the tables at that place tend to fill up pretty quick.  There's a Starbucks inside Barnes & Noble, as well.  We walk in, go upstairs, grab a table, I go down to the Starbucks and get us a couple of Mocha Frappuccinos, go back upstairs, and the two of us get busy sipping our drinks and typing away on our laptops.

Where do you like to write? 

Updates:

I would just like to let everyone know that the Reading Page has been updated!  Go check it out! 

Quirks

Everyone Has Some Sort Of Weird Thing Going On....

Take my puppy for example.  She's eight months old and whenever she runs, she uses only three legs.  Her right hind leg tends to stay suspended up in the air while her front legs do the majority of the work and her left hind leg hops.  She is extremely fast, but we try to tell her that she'll go much faster if she uses all that God gave her, but she doesn't listen.  When she had a vet appointment, we had the doctor check it out.  He said there was nothing wrong with it.  He shrugged and said, "It's just a quirk."

Quirks are usually something that someone always does...or something that they always have.  Something along those lines, anyway.  Everybody has quirks...even dogs.  And, more importantly, our characters.  When writers come up with characters, they tend to give each character a quirk.  Maybe it was by accident, maybe it was on purpose.  However, there is always something special about each individual character.  They may always have something with them, they may always being doing something certain, or it could be a certain way they speak or something.

Some quirks are easy to point out due to the "narrator" or the character themselves state it in the actual book.  Other quirks are not that easy to figure out due to them being so subtle.  However, I believe that they're there somewhere.


Author's themselves have quirks, as well.  Some writers tend to write in the same thing in every book.  Take me, for example.  So far, in all my novels, a giraffe appears.  Either one of the characters brings up a giraffe in the conversation, there's a giraffe poster in someone's bedroom...there has been no appearance of a giraffe where the giraffe has been a real one.  Although that would be awesome.


I find quirks to be quite enjoyable.  As I read, I tend to find something unique about each character which carries on throughout the novel.  I try to do the same with my characters, as well.  I don't know if this is true or even if it makes any sense...but I think that if the characters have certain things about them-like quirks-they develop more.  The readers tend to get to them as well as you, the writer, knows them.

Lists

I Need To Make A Lists Of Lists To Make....

Remember that post I made about organization a few days ago?  Well, this post kind of goes along with it...lists.  Lists are pretty much a way of organizing.  It's not organizing physical things, but it's organizing all the thoughts that are floating around in your head.  You make a list of all those thoughts and you have them neatly and visually on a piece of paper that you and read and check off.

I make a list for just about everything.  My oldest sister got me into that one.  She makes a list of everything possible and I've started to do that, too.  But in a way, I'm glad, because I feel as though I don't have to remain on my memory all the time.  I have a good enough memory, but I tend to remember the things that I want to remember...which usually isn't a lot.

Anyway, just like the sub-title says, I need to make a list of the lists that I need to make.  It sounds OCD, but it's true.  When I clean my bedroom, I make a list of all the things that I need to do before I finally deem it clean enough to leave alone.  When I help clean the house, I make a list of every room that I need to clean and sub-lists for everything that I have to clean in each room.  I work at a pre-school.  Nap time is 1-3 in the afternoon and I usually go into work around one.  That means I have two hours to do basically nothing but watch the kids sleep and get paid for it.  So what do I usually do?  I make lists.  Lists of things I have to do, I have to clean, I have to buy...lists of my writing.

Making lists for your writing (especially if you have a lot like I do) is very helpful.  Seriously, I can't stress enough that lists are the best when it comes to organizing your writing.  I have a three-page list of all the ideas I have for novels.  I have them broken down into categories: young adult novels, middle grade, children's books, essays, movie scripts, TV scripts.  That's the list of the ideas that I plan on getting published someday.  I have a separate list for the stories on my FanFiction account that is much, much longer.  Sad, but true.

You can make a list of novel ideas, a list of ideas that you want to happen in one novel, a list of characters, a list of titles, plots, etc.  You can make a list (like me) of which order you're going to write these novels and another list for which order you're going to edit these novels.  If, for whatever reason, you get stuck on something, go back and look at your list.  Trust me, it helps.

Now let's just see if you can keep track of all the lists.

Update:

So, I never posted yesterday (January 11) due to not being on the computer at all.  I was busy for the whole day.  That means that I missed a day of posting.  So, I'm posting now and then later tonight I will be posting again.  Then I will start getting back to the "post once a day" thing.  Have a good one!

Read, Read, Read!

Once Upon A Time....

Aside from writing everyday, what else do people tell you to do?  Read, right?  People tell you that if you want to become a good author, you should read a lot.  They all say that reading helps with vocabulary, story structure, etc.

My Basic Writing professor a couple of semesters ago had just read a book.  It was called, "Hole In My Life" by Jack Gantos.  It's a memoir and it's about a man who wanted to stay a writing career.  He made it to that goal, but he did a lot of bad things to get there.  You can read it for yourself, I'm not going to get into it now...my point is, my professor told us, as we read the book, to write down any words that we did not know the meaning of.  Then he wanted us to go look up the words in a dictionary and write down the definitions.  That's usually what people expect you to do when you read a story.  I don't know about you, but I don't do that.  If there's a word I don't understand, I read around it and I can usually figure out what is going on.  Of course, there are those few times when I just get flat out confused and then I will go to a dictionary or Google or something.  So, reading is supposed to help you with your vocabulary.  The more words you know, the more words you'll put into your own story to make you sound smarter.

Reading is also a good way to look at different story structures.  There are some books that have little to no dialogue, some books have people talking left and right, some have chapters that are two pages long, and some have chapters that are about 30 pages long.  Some books have plots and characters that just have to continue on in sequels and some are perfectly fine as stand alone books.  200 pages, 500 pages, it doesn't really matter.  There must be a million different ways to write a novel and the types of books we read are only just a few of them.

Reading books is basically studying how to format a book.  Like I previously stated, there are probably a million different ways to write a book.  Although, you write the way you write.  Each person has their own style, but this just broadens their writing style a little more.

So, my other New Year's resolution was to read at least 50 pages a day.  I try to get myself to read everyday during whatever spare time I have.  Usually I tend to stay up later than I want and I read for an hour before I go to bed.  When you have work and school and such, it's hard to just curl up on the couch and read a whole book.

However, like I said, I try to read for at least one hour every night before I go to bed.  That's something that everyone should try.  At least a half hour or something.  Not only will you be learning more about writing, but it'll relax your mind and put you at ease before you fall asleep.

Write Here, Write Now

How Much Longer Do I Have To Do This....

You know how people always say that you should write everyday?  Some people say to write this many words or pages each day, or they'll just tell you write for at least an hour or so everyday.  Why?  Because the more your write, the more you'll get into it.  Practice makes perfect and when it comes to writing, you definitely need practice.

Writing is hard work.  The spelling, the grammar, the characters, the plot, the setting, the development of it all...it's a real pain.  So what's the best way to get better at writing?  You need to write a lot.  That, and novels usually take the long time to write, so the more you write, the faster your novel will be finished...it'll be crap, but it'll be finished regardless.

Anyway, people say to write everyday.  This is to get your creative juices flowing through your fingers and to wake up your muse.  A lot of people use every excuse in the book as to why they don't write everyday...like me.  Most people (like me) say that they don't have time to write everyday.

Me for example...I'm 18-years-old, a full-time student, a part-time teacher's assistant, part-time babysitter, and I also have a life completed with friends, a boyfriend, and attempting to help my mother clean the house.  I am still trying to get my drivers license, that's how little time I have.

I tell people that I have so much to do and not enough time.  Well, that's true for everybody.  However, there are some days when I sit down and watch TV and say to myself, "I should really be doing something productive right now." ...So I continue to sit and watch TV.  I understand that there are some times when you just need to sit back and relax, but I don't roll that way.  I mean, I do, but I hate it.

I made a New Year's resolution to write at least 500 words a day for this whole year.  Right now, I'm behind...way behind.  I have written a little bit, but I'm technically supposed to be at 5000 words right now and I am no where near that at the moment.  I thought that I might try writing at least one page a day...that will be at least 500 words everyday.  Probably more.  But then I think to myself that I don't have time to write a whole page everyday.  There will be sometimes where I can write for hours and hours and then the next few weeks I write absolutely nothing.  But of course...I have been writing one blog post everyday.  So far, anyway.  So, I think to myself, "If I can write a blog post everyday, then why can't I write at least one page of a story everyday?"  I have finished four books, so one would think that I would be able to sit my rear down and focus on one certain thing.  But if you think about it...when I wrote those books I worked at a children's birthday party place.  My hours were little to nothing and the schedule changed every week.  My hours were so all over the place, that I was able to make things work.  This is my schedule now:

Sunday: Church 10 AM - 11 AM
Monday: School 7 AM - 12 PM; Work 2 PM - 6 PM
Tuesday: Babysitting (that's up in the air at the moment...if not, then I have Tuesdays free)
Wednesday: School 7 AM - 12 PM; Work 2 PM - 6 PM
Thursday: Work 1 PM - 6 PM
Friday: Work 1 PM - 6 PM
Saturday: Usually free

You're probably thinking, "You can easily write Sunday afternoons, Monday nights, (possibly) all day Tuesday, Wednesday nights, Thursday mornings and nights, Friday mornings and nights, and (mostly) all day Saturday." Yeah, I thought that, too...except I have a house to keep up with (to help my mom out), friends and a boyfriend to hang out with, homework on the side, and babysitting can actually be any night.  If I had no life, then I would be able to write just like you said, but unfortunately I do have a life.

However, I don't care.  I am going to try to start writing at least one page of something every single day.  And lately I've been writing my first drafts single spaced...this is because I want to complete it and be surprised at how long it is when I put it as double spaced...yeah, I'm weird, I know.  Anyway, I'll probably write these pages single spaced...I'll get more done each day that way.  So, tomorrow is Tuesday.  I'm going to get up early, get done whatever is needed to get done, write (at least one page and then a blog post), go to work, and then hang out with my boyfriend (Tuesday nights are usually spent with him).

Meanwhile, all you people out there should be making the same effort as I am!  Happy writing. :)

Editing

Work With Me, Plot....

Editing is probably the most hated part of the whole writing process.  No one likes to edit.  It's a lot of work, it's frustrating, and depending on how long it took you to write the first draft, most people just want to kick their story out the door and be done with it.

You tell the plot to take a right turn and it decides to listen to the sexy girl voice on their GPS and turn left.  Your characters are defiant and ignore everything you say simply because they hate all the crap you put them through during the course of the story.  You soon realize that you have more typos than plot points in the story and you realize that you no longer have knowledge of the correct usage of grammar.  All in all, editing is a pain.

I was babysitting last night for three kids.  I put them to bed, looked at the clock, and realized that I had about 3-4 hours to myself to do whatever I wanted.  I had packed a book with me, a notebook, my 3DS with some games, and my completed novel that needs to be edited.  I decided to edit a little of the story.  I lasted through the prologue and the first chapter.  I then closed the folder and put it away.  Why?  I had no muse to edit at all.

The draft I am currently editing is the fourth draft.  As I read through the prologue and the first chapter, I realized that there were a lot of mistakes that I either didn't catch the first three times, or I made even more mistakes as I tried to correct the previous ones.  I added new words, new sentences, took out words and sentences, described things differently, and sometimes I even crossed something out only to reconsider and put it right back in.

The people I babysit for got a new coffee maker for Christmas.  I chugged practically all of their coffee down my throat as I angrily edited my story...a whole two chapters.  I've been wanting to continue editing this story for a long time and when I finally sat down to do it, I realized how hard it was and how much work that it was going to be, I stopped.  It was ten o'clock at night and I was tired.  Three kids plus one friend over was a lot of work...especially taking the friend home and then putting the other three to bed.  It was a hassle and the last thing I wanted to do was argue back and forth with my characters and my plot about what should change and what should stay the same.  If I had it my way, nothing would change and it would be a best-seller.  The writing world, unfortunately, does not work that way.  It sucks, but it's the truth.

I plan to have this draft of the novel edited by the end of this week...and it's Sunday, so hopefully I will be able to actually meet that deadline.  Not only that, but I have to write a lot, as well.


Editing is such a pain; however it's necessary.  It helps a whole lot and makes the story turn into a whole new story-a much better story.  Editing doesn't always have to be a pain, though.  It's a long process, which in itself can make it a pain, but here's what I do:

I write the story and wait a month.  That way, I can take a breather from the whole story.  Then (or maybe during my month break) I give the story to someone else to read and edit for me.  Usually, it's my sister.  When they finish, I look over it and add their corrections.  Some I take, some I don't.  Then I print it out again and edit it myself.  Once more, I edit it myself printed out only reading it out loud this time.  The ears tend to catch a lot more than the eyes do.  After that, I edit it while it's still on the computer.  Sometimes I read it out loud and sometimes I don't.  Printing it out is the best option, which is while only one or two of my drafts stay on the computer.  Sometimes that would be my last draft, but nine times out of ten it's not.  My last draft is the draft that has little to no marking on it at all.


So, editing is long, yes.  Editing is also a pain, yes.  However, if you know what you're doing, know where the story is supposed to be leading to, and have enough patience to stick with it, then you're golden.  How do you edit?

Outlining

This Will Happen At This Time At This Place....

Show of hands: How many people actually think that outlining helps?

To me, outlining helps.  I don't always do it for my stories (even though I would like to), but for the stories I do outline for helps.  It helps a lot, actually.

Not only does outlining keep my mind on track and helps me remember what I was going to do with my characters and plot, but it also gives me a chance to come up with new ideas.  I outline with the first few ideas that I come up with, but as I write, I might make my character say something that could lead to a totally new idea that's completely different than what I wrote in the outline.

I think that it gives my mind a good opportunity to think.  Even though I have everything planned out, the clockwork in my mind still ticks away at how to make the ideas even better.  Sometimes the ideas stay the same, but most of the time it changes. 

Well, if the whole outline is basically going to change as you write the story, then why bother outlining at all?  I don't think of outlining as though they're rules.  I think of outlining as though they're guidelines.

If I have a few ideas, then I jot them down and try to put them in order.  I come up with a beginning and an end.  Then I have to try to connect the two of them together, forming the middle through the outline.  This is where most of the ideas change.  The beginning stays the same because I have to start somewhere and if I come up with an idea for the beginning, then most likely it's going to stay that way.  I tend to always love the ending that I come up with, so those never change.  I connect the beginning and the ending with any ideas that I come up with.  If the ideas make sense, I use them for the outline.

Of course, as I write, the beginning stays the beginning and practically the entire middle changes.  A characters will say one thing that would change an entire idea.  Or maybe I'll change the idea purposely.  If a character is supposed to be in his bedroom and I decide that the conversation he's having would be better suited in the living room, other ideas will change...even if I just make that one little switch.

It's like changing the past.  You know how you want those movies and someone will go back in time to change something in the past?  They come back to find that their entire future is completely different.  Then they have to go back in time and fix whatever it was that they changed in the first place.  That's basically how ideas go when it comes to writing.  You have a whole novel planned, but you change one thing and the whole rest of the novel changes in some way or another.  It's one big chain reaction.

Having the rest of the novel change might not be a bad thing.  Maybe it'll make the novel all the more better.  Plus, you change one thing, everything else changes and you might even come up with more ideas, which will change everything else even more.

Of course, there is that slight chance that you should have just left the idea alone in the first place.  You might change one thing that will change everything else for the worst.  Take my novel, for example.  I completed it.  I edited it a couple of times.  After doing that two or three times, I changed a scene.  Everything else changed.  I edited it a couple more times after that.  I changed that scene once more back to the original plan, which caused everything to change again, but not back to the way it was in the first draft.  It made the novel a whole lot better.

See, that's the other thing.  Not only do you have to be careful changing ideas around and making sure that they make sense and the whole novel comes out the way you wanted it to, but you also have to make sure that you change the right idea.  How do you figure out which ideas you have to change and which you have to keep?

Well, that's why editing exists.  You write the novel, edit it 600 times and eventually you'll get every scene to make sense and the novel will be perfect, just the way you want it.  No one likes editing, but to me, an outline will make it a lot easier in the longer run.  Because, if you think about it, you'll be editing as you write the novel the first time.  There might be something in the outline that you change your mind about and fix it as you write the first draft.  Outlines are guidelines and they really do help in the long run.

As you edit, you might find you don't like something you changed.  Guess what?  You can go back to the outline, put in the original idea, and see what happens.  Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.  However, it'll give you something to go by and it'll be a big help when the hard part comes...editing.

Motivation

I Have To Do This and That and...Eh, I'll Do It Later....

Do you know what really bugs me?  Is that when I want to write, I don't have time.  When I have time, I don't want to write.  Am I the only one that this happens to?

I just don't have the motivation.  I want to write, I want to get published, but sometimes I just don't have the attention span for it.  I know how I want to story to end, but sometimes I don't know how to get there.  I know how I want to start the story, but I feel like writing something completely different.  As I'm writing something, I'll come up with a completely new idea for a whole new novel.  I start writing that and never get back to the previous one.  That cycle continues on and soon I'm stuck with 100 half-written stories and me feeling like crap because I can't seem to get anything finished.

I looked up my horoscope the other day.  I'm a Virgo.  Apparently, Virgos are known to not finish what they start.  What luck I have!  Of course, I'm not all that into that superstitious stuff.  I like looking up my horoscope for fun purposes.  But the one thing that happens to be true...

I reflected back on my life once I read that small piece of information.  I realized that I have never ever seemed to finish anything in my life before.  All the things that I had to finish, I procrastinated with.  You know, you have a project to work on for school and you're up all night the night before it's due and you're only just starting it.  Well, I think everyone does that just because it's school, but hopefully you get my point.

I also realized that my problem isn't motivating me to write.  It's motivating me to finish.  I have finished two children books and two young adult novels.  That's something, at least.  Except I can't get anywhere with them because I won't edit them.

I figured out something that gets my motivated, though.  My sister and I always go to Barnes & Noble to write.  There's a section of books that's for writing and publishing and such.  I always go to that area.  I flip through a couple of the books and I say to myself, "I can do that, I can do that, I can do that."  Truth is, I should really be saying, "I want to do that."  More truthfully, I really can do it, I just don't.

I am on a bunch of different writing websites.  One of them being NaNoWriMo.  Click on the name if you have no idea what it is.  I have been a part of NaNoWriMo for three years.  I only won one year, but I've still tried the other years.  NaNoWriMo has forums for the members to chat with one another about many different topics before, during, and after November.  I usually look in there.  I read what everyone else writes, especially the "Self-Promoting" section.  A lot of people have had their NaNoWriMo novels published.  I want to do that.  That gets me motivated to write because I want to be just like those people.

So, I get myself motivated, I go home and write.  Now let's just see if I can follow through with it like I have with the four books I have already completed.  What gets you motivated?  Because just maybe it'll help me.... 

Computer Versus Notebook

Flash Drive or Pen...?

Do you prefer to use a computer for your writing or a notebook?  I think that there are pros and cons to using a computer and there are pros and cons to using a notebook.  However, no matter what the pros are or what the cons are, people will most likely choose one certain one over the other all the time.

A computer has its advantages.  Nine out of ten people type faster than they write, so typing would be an advantage over hand writing.  Plus, there's spell-check.  If you write on the computer, the computer will tell you whether you're right or wrong-of course, the computer is sometimes wrong, so you have to watch out.  If you use the computer, you can check to see how many words you have written and you can see how long it is.  I'll use myself as an example.  A finished manuscript is typed and double-spaced (most of the time).  During my free time in school, I wrote in a notebook.  By the end of the semester, I had filled up an entire one-subject notebook of a story.  When I typed it up on the computer, the manuscript was less than ten pages.  Of course, the story was not nearly complete, but my point is that if you use a computer, you know exactly the length of your novel.

Now there are disadvantages to using the computer.  It's one word: Internet.  Yes, if you need to research something on Google, then that's okay.  However, for most people, when they log onto the internet, they stay on the internet for a good few hours.  They forget what they're doing and then when their laptop dies or they need to leave to go to work or whatever, they remember, "Oh, yeah.  I was supposed to be writing." Of course, there is nothing that they can do about it.  They shut down, go do whatever it is that life needs them to do and do they get back to the story?  Eventually, but not likely that same day.  There is also the disadvantage of the computer crashing or getting a virus (which, I would say is technically the same thing).  Once that happens, you're screwed.  You may be able to get rid of the virus, but all your documents are now infected.  That is, if they even made it through the whole crashing process.  You might have lost them forever.  And yes, that is why we have flash drives these days.  You pop it into the computer, save everything onto that and (God forbid) your computer dies tragically you still have all your crap.  It's magic!  It's saved!  However, a flash drive is only good for you if you actually have it.


Let me tell you this story from a couple of semesters ago...I was at school.  My sister and I arrived in the early morning, we went to our classes, and then were were gone by, I think, noon.  Maybe later, I don't know, but the time is irrelevant.  The time you need to know is that at seven o'clock at night, yes 7:00 PM, I decide to write.  I turn on my laptop, I get my flash drive.  Except I don't.  I look in my bag, all the drawers in my desk, in my room, everything.  No flash drive.  Then it hits me: I used my flash drive at school.  Guess where I left it?  That's right, I left it connected to one of the school computers in the library.  I was completely panicked.  I was distraught.  I had convinced myself that I was never ever going to see my flash drive again.  I thought to myself, "Well, that's it!  All those stories...all that hard work...wasted!  I am never going to write again!" No, seriously, I vowed that I was never going to write again if I didn't get my flash drive back...I'm a very sensitive person.  Anyway, I run up to my bedroom, probably crying I don't really remember, and I tell her everything that happened.  Well, thank the lord that my school library added a new feature.  We can IM the librarians now...if the library is open and someone is on duty, that is.  Lucky for me, there was a librarian online.  My sister spoke with her and apparently a very nice man found it and turned it in.  The next day, we went to school to the Lost and Found and I got my flash drive back.  I don't know who that student was who returned my flash drive, but I would give him a big bear hug if I ever found out.

So, computers have advantages and disadvantages...more advantages than the disadvantages.  Notebooks also have their own advantages and disadvantages:

Hand writing may be slower, but think of it as a first first draft.  If you hand write and then type it, believe me because I've done it plenty of times before, as you type you'll be editing.  You will notice spelling, grammar, and even sentence structure mistakes.  As you type, you will fix these mistakes so it's as though you're getting a whole draft edited as you format it.  Another advantage: they are portable.  As long as you have a pen that works with you, then you can write wherever you go.  Sure, laptops are portable, but then you have to lug around  a heavy laptop, a flash drive (if you need one) and the cord...remember, laptops die.  Notebooks don't.


How are notebooks not a good idea?  Smudging.  I guess it depends on the type of pen you use, but when I write, my arm tends to smudge all the previous words I wrote.  And I'm right-handed.  The other problem would be messiness.  It depends on you and your hand writing and it's not like it your fault if you have crappy hand writing or not, but still.  I hand write fast and my hand writing isn't the best, to begin with.  When I try to re-read over the things I wrote, I get stuck every one in a while trying to read my own writing.  People may not see this one as a big deal, but to me it is.  Once you start writing in a notebook and then you take it somewhere with you to write in your spare time (like I do when I go to school), you need to make sure that you'll have enough paper left in the notebook to last you through the day.  The majority of one-subject notebooks only have 70 pages.  If you use them double-sided (which I think everyone should) then you technically have 140 pages.  However, it also depends on how big you write...I write like a giant, so I don't always get the most words down on one sheet.  The point is, a computer has an unlimited amount of pages, whereas notebooks don't.


And there you have it.  I'm sure that there are more pros and cons to both computers and notebooks, but those were the ones that I could come up with.  I think that it depends on how often you write, where you write, how you write, etc., should depend on what you use.  Then again, you need to use something that you're comfortable with.  Me?  I couldn't tell you which I prefer.  I use the computer the majority of the time.  That's mostly because I have an unlimited amount of paper, plus the words get down faster.  However, you will sometimes catch me writing in a notebook.  I need a notebook to write in whenever I can't get to a computer and it makes me feel relaxed.  It's quieter because I don't have the typing noise in the background as I think and try to come up with something to write next.  I usually listen to music when I write whether I am on the computer or using a notebook, so I'm not really making much sense right now, but that's just how I work.  Which do you use?

Writer's Block or A.D.D?

All These Characters In My Head Won't Sit Down and Shut Up....

What is writer's block?  Basically, it means that a writer has run out of new ideas.  They cease to write for a little while due to lack of idea, inspiration, whatever you want to call it.  This could happen in between writing books or it could happen while you're in the middle of writing a book.  It can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone.  To put it simply: it sucks.

What is A.D.D?  Attention Deficit Disorder.  You may have impulsive actions, find yourself to have a high hyperactivity level, or lack a high attention span.

The difference between writer's block and A.D.D is that you can be diagnosed with A.D.D and...let's face it; writer's block is all in your head.  My point is, if you're a writer, how can you tell what you have?  Regardless of being diagnosed with A.D.D or not, we can pretend to diagnose ourselves (if we assume that we have it).

Anyway, writer's block means that you're fresh out of ideas, correct?  Well, I don't have that problem.  If you read the Writing tab at the top, you would know that I write young adult novels, middle grade novels, children's books, and I have a few ideas for scripts.  Now...if I had writer's block, would one think that I would have ideas for 6 scripts (4 being movies and 2 being TV shows), 4 essays (yeah, I don't know where the whole "essay" thing came from), 5 children's books, 1 middle grade novel (but it's a series, so there will be more planned), and 98 young adult novels?  No, I don't think so.

Now, I self-diagnosed myself with A.D.D a long time ago, but I was never tested for it.  I don't know for certain if I really have it.  So, let's assume that I don't have it since I was never tested for it...17 out of 114 ideas I listed above have been started.  Only 4 of those 17 ideas have actually been completed...two of them are children's books and two of them are young adult novels.  The sad part is that one of those children's books would have never even been thought of if I didn't have to write a children's story for my Child Development class in high school.

Now finally on to my point...how do you know if you really have writer's block or A.D.D when it comes to writing?  The answer?  You don't.  In one case, you could be in the middle of writing one story, but stop and move onto the next because you may have ran out of ideas on what to do next.  Then you would have writer's block.  In the other case, you could be in the middle of writing one story, but stop and move onto the next because you lost interest in the story.  The plot is moving too slow, you hate your characters, or you simply have an idea on what to do next, but you don't like it.  Either way, that novel is not getting done.

So, what is it exactly that I'm trying to say?  Whether you have writer's block, A.D.D, or your pen just ran out of ink...that novel is not going to write itself.  Ideas or no ideas, new ideas or old ideas, keep that pen flowing or those fingers typing because believe me; once that first draft is done, a huge relief of accomplishment will surge through the veins in your body.

It took my nine months and seven days to complete the first draft of my young adult novel.  It was the very first novel I had ever finished (aside from the two children's books).  I felt so relived that I had actually finished something.  Sure, it was just the first draft and it was crap, but now I get to look forward to editing it and then finally kicking it out the door to get published.  I have edited it a couple of times and believe me, it still needs a lot of work.  The other young adult novel I completed took me two months and three days.  That one turned out even worse than the first novel I finished.  However, I got it done regardless of if I had ideas or not.  My main goal was just getting it done.  Now when I edit it, I will catch errors, plot holes, and come up with new and better ideas for the story.  Believe me, it's a lot harder working with something crappy than it is working with nothing at all.

Now, most people say that some novels can take up to a couple of years to write.  I believe that, but even though my first novel didn't take me a year to write, I found that I felt much more accomplished with the novel I wrote in two months than I did with the novel I wrote in nine months.  So, it may be better for some people to write their novel slowly and carefully.  But, if you stay in character, keep the plot moving at an okay pace and actually have a beginning, middle, and an end; I think writing a novel as quickly as possible is the best bet.  Sure, editing will be harder than actually writing the story, but that's how it should be.  When you write, have fun.  Then when you edit, then you can curse all you want...what better way to take out your frustrations on a novel than to scribble all over it with red ink?

Don't get frustrated because the novel isn't finished; get frustrated because the finished novel isn't polished to a sparkling shine.

Updates:

I added a few new things to the site...please check the Navigation page for more information.  Also, as you may have noticed, on the right side of the blog there are three word counts.  Instead of updating my word counts after each post, I will just update them straight through the counters.  I also decided that after each post, I will add an update (kind of like what I'm doing with this post...).  It might not be every day, but I'll try to keep you guys updated on everything. 
   

It's All About Organization

I'm A Hot Mess....

Some people organize themselves in a very prim and proper way.  When you walk into their house, it looks organized.  They yell at you not to touch anything, they're DVDs may be alphabetized, and everything has it's own spot in which nothing else may invade that space.  You may call this OCD, but to them, they're organized.  Then you have those people who look as though they are slobs.  Everything is all over the place and when you walk into their house, you can't even see the floor.  However, if they can find what they are looking for then they would call themselves organized.

It doesn't seem like it, but I believe everyone is organized.  It may not look like it on the outside, but on the inside they really know what they're doing.  Of course, you have those people who lose things all the time and don't find them until a year has passed.  I have a solution to that: Whatever it is that they lost simply grew legs and walked away.  No, of course not.  However, some people just have too much on their mind.  They're organized, but simply forget where they put certain things.

I call myself a hot mess.  I'm organized, but to a certain extent.  Well...when it comes to my writing, anyway.  Remember I said that I have 114 ideas for stories and scripts?  Yes, that's how many file folders I have.  Plus more because I'm sure that I'll come up with more ideas.  I don't know how much money I spent on those file folders, but to me, they help.  A lot.

Each story has its own separate folder.  I made up these "progress" sheets.  It says the date I started writing the novel, the date I finished it, when I started editing it, when I finished editing it thinking it was worthy enough to be published, how many pages, how many chapters, how many words, etc.  That page is filled out (not completed on most of them, obviously) and stapled to the inside of the folder.  I also made up a "title" sheet.  The title of the book, the genre, the type whether it be a novel or script, and a big spot for a summary.  That is also stapled on the inside of the folder.

What actually goes inside the folder?  Lists.  Lists of the characters, their descriptions and backgrounds if I need them, an outline of the whole novel, and when finished, the first draft.  Of course, once edited, I move it to one of those filing folders that have seven pockets.  I fill that up with all the drafts of the novel.  It gets heavy and it gets fat, but it holds all those pieces of paper.

Where do I find all the space for this stuff?  Excellent question.  I don't.  Yes, I have three bins that stack on top of each other.  The bottom is filled with notebooks.  The middle is filled with notebooks.  The top is filled with notebooks.  I have three other bins that are normal bins that have covers.  All three are filled with notebooks.  Are all these notebooks filled up?  Not at all.  However, I do use them; therefore, I need a place to put them.

If I wasted most of my space with empty, half-filled, and filled notebooks, where do I put the file folders?  Where do I actually put my novels?  They take up pretty much my whole desk space, so they are currently making themselves fit on my bookshelves which are completed loaded with books.  Do I need a filing cabinet to put these folders in?  Absolutely.  Does my mom have one that she can give me?  Yes, which is perfect because I save money.  Do I have room anywhere to put this filing cabinet?  Not at all.

Well, even though I have no room, I am still organized.  Technically.  I have everything in a neat pile.  When I get that filing cabinet and maybe clean up a little bit, I will be organized to the extreme!  How do you organize?

And there you have it.  That's not even all of them, either.

New Year's Resolution Stats:
Words Written: 0/183000
Pages Read: 177/18300

Anyone Can Do It

Easy as 1, 2, 3....

Anybody can write.  If you have a good enough plot that's fresh and original, you know how to spell, great interactive and lively characters, and pretty decent grammar, anybody can do it.  Writing is, for the most part, pretty easy.

My cousins (Jackie, 9 and Katherine, 7) like to write stories about my cat, Hunter.  They also incorporate our neighbor's cats, Socks and Mittens.  Plus, they made up a new character and named him Hunter Jr., who apparently is Hunter's son.  Hunter is also apparently married; however, aside from "mom," she is a nameless character who only appears in the story when she is nagging Hunter Jr. to clean up his room.

The two of them write their stories down on normal white-lined paper.  They draw illustrations to go with each page and then staple the pages together to look like a book and include an illustrated cover.  They actually come out pretty well.  I'm creative, but if I was their age, I would have never thought to put it in "book format" like that.  Actually, I'm 18 and I still wouldn't have thought of something like that.


Their stories are all dialogue (yet no quotations), repetitive with "he said/she said," each story is only about maybe five pages long (but with the illustrations, it's technically less than that), and if you did not have the illustrations, you would have no idea what was going on in the story.  I will give them some credit: for the most part, you can make out where the story is going by just reading the words (even if they are spelled incorrectly), the illustrations are pretty good for a nine and seven-year-old (better than what I would do), they definitely each have a creativity bone in their body, and they're trying.

Now, whether you write like Jackie and Katherine or you write like J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter), you could get something published.  This is simply because of self-publishing.  I bet that if I took one of my cousins' stories, edited it a little, and sent it to a self-publisher, people would buy it simply because little kids wrote it and it's "cute."  You could do the same thing-whether your story is good or bad-you could self-publish.  If it doesn't sell, well maybe you haven't promoted yourself that much...or maybe that novel just sucked.  Try again.

I don't know a lot about self-publishing or big publishing companies or even getting an agent.  But I'm trying.  How am I going to do it?  I don't know.  Where am I going to start?  I don't know.  Will I become as big as James Patterson (Maximum Ride series)?  I don't know.  There are a lot of unknowns in this world and believe me, trying to become a published author is definitely one of them.

I can't stress this enough: I don't know much about agents, publishing companies, or self-publishing.  One could probably say that I know little to nothing about it.  Sure, I have written and completed a couple of novels, but I am not published.  I have not gone on that journey to seek out an agent or gone through the process of self-publishing.  But based on my research, this is what I know.
 
Let me tell you something: I finished a young adult novel.  Good for me, right?  Yes, well, there is an accomplishment is simply finishing a first draft...actually, it's quite a big accomplishment.  However, whether you are planning on self-publishing or looking for an agent or skipping over the agent to try to publish with the big publishing companies on your own, you need to edit.  And edit.  And edit and edit and edit some more because guess what?  Nine times out of ten, that first draft is going to be crap.

When I finished that novel, believe me, I was beyond excited.  I edited it once.  That's right.  Just once.  I was so excited that I just said to myself, "It's done.  It's ready and it needs to be put on those bookshelves immediately."  Of course I was wrong.  Due to my lack of knowledge on big publishing companies, I decided to look for an agent first.  I didn't even consider self-publishing because I wanted my book to be published by a big name publishing company that everybody knew.  Like Harper Collins or Random House.  I also wanted my book to be on bookshelves in stores and not just sold online.


So, I sent this novel to about...ten agents.  I heard back from all of them.  Can you guess what all the answers were?  A big, fat no.  Was I discouraged?  Honestly, no.  I've heard the saying, "be excited when you get rejected" and in a way I was because I knew that I had tried.  I knew that the agent(s) have at least looked at it.  However, if I told you that I got discouraged, you all would think I'm some sort of cocky jerk.  Let me guess: you're laughing at me right now.  You must think that I'm a big idiot.  In some ways, I am an idiot.  After collecting all the rejections, I looked over my manuscript and I thought the same thing: "I must have made myself look like an idiot in front of all those agents.  This novel is no where near ready!  What was I thinking?" I was thinking that because I actually finished something, it was the best in the world, every agent would want to represent me, the first publishing company we asked would fall in love with the book, publish it right away, and then I would be on the Oprah Winfrey Show because I wrote such an "amazing" book.  Or, to put it short and simple, I wasn't thinking at all.

I have edited that novel a few more times and I'm still editing it.  I'm on the seventh draft.  Yes, you read correctly.  However, I can't edit all the time and stop all my writing simply because of that one novel.  So, I wrote a completed two children's novels and another young adult novel.  Have I tried sending any of them in to any agents?  No.  I want to make sure that the manuscript, whichever one it will be, is ready.  Really ready, not fake ready.

I have looked through books at Barnes & Noble listing agents.  I wrote down all the ones that would represent the types of novels that I write.  Then I remembered something...before I sent in that novel to all those agents, I researched how to write a good query letter.  Every bit of information I found on query letters said, "list previous publications." And I say that if I had any previous publications, I probably wouldn't need an agent in the first place.  So, all my query letters never listed my previous publications because they are non-existent.  I researched some more...specifically that question.  Apparently, most agents wouldn't even think about representing you unless you have some sort of background in publishing.  It shows them that you can meet a deadline, your writing must be somewhat decent if it was published somewhere else, and you must have some sort of knowledge on publishing if you really did publish something.  Even if it was only in the local newspaper.

I looked up magazines.  I figured that I could write a short story, send it to a magazine and if they like it, they can publish it.  I might have written a couple of short stories to publish in different magazines.  That way, I would have something published and a little publishing knowledge under my belt.  Of course, magazines are a long process.  One magazine said to wait six months to hear back.  January 2012 ends the six months and I still have not heard back from them.  Of course, I'll keep trying.  Write different stories, try different magazines...but then I had an epiphany.

Alright, so this "epiphany" is only from what my sister told me, but I sound smarter when I say I had an epiphany.  Anyway, apparently self-publishing is a great way to get your foot in the door.  I know a few people who have used a certain self-publishing company (I don't know these people personally...they're all from a writing website that I am apart of), but I at least know that this self-publishing company is legit.  However, I still researched it and some people like it, some people don't.  Some people say it's a scam, some people don't.  Some people say it's cheap, other think it's expensive.

I've also heard the saying, "if they want you to pay them, chances are it's a scam."  However, self-publishing is a little different than publishing through a big company.  I still have to do my research and possibly take a look at other self-publishing companies, but my point is that I'm going to try to get a novel self-published (and/or a short story published in a magazine or something) before I start searching for an agent.  It will still take me a while to get an agent, but at least being published will increase my chances a little.

You're probably thinking, "The title of this post says that anyone can do it, but all you're doing is talking about failures of the publishing process." No, I still stand by what I said: anyone can do it.  It's a hard, long process, especially if you don't really know what you're doing, like me.  My point is, if you take it seriously enough and really try and believe in yourself...you could publish something all on your own.  From there, you could get an agent and sell a lot more things through big publishing companies, or continue self-publishing depending on how well the first one turned out.

I told you everything I went through with the publishing process (everything I went through so far, I mean) because if you really want to get somewhere in life with your writing, you can't get discouraged at every little thing.  The road is long and you don't know if you're supposed to go left, right, or straight.  A lot of detours will pop up unexpectedly and you're most likely going to make a few wrong turns here and there in which case you'll have to turn around and go back to retrace your steps in order to get back on track.

You can't let that stop you.  If you want it bad enough, believe you can do it, and keep at it, you'll make it.  Get excited when you receive a rejection.  Take both good and bad critique to heart.  Don't get discouraged so easily.  Certainly don't give up.  You may make thousands of dollars off your novel(s), have your novels turned into movies, and/or just be one of those laid-back authors who make enough money to get by, but aren't that big.  Either way, you'll make it because, well...anyone can do it.

New Year's Resolution Stats (based off of the whole year...not day by day):
Words Written: 0/183000
Pages Read: 140/18300

Happy New Year!

New Year, New Beginnings....

I remember January 1, 2011 as though it was today.  I remember that I made a resolution to read as many books as I could possibly read throughout the whole year.  Would you like to know how many books I read last year?  I couldn't tell you.  I never kept track and I don't read too often (which is why I made the resolution in the first place).  I probably read about two or three books last year.

However, for 2012, I made quite a few New Year's resolutions.  I am going to read at least 50 pages of a book a day.  I actually started that one on December 31st.  So far, I have been keeping up with it.  I'm going to actually keep track of what I read, too.  My second New Year's resolution I am doing with my sister.  She and I are both going to try to each write at least 500 words on a story every day.  I calculated that we should each write at least 183,000 words this year.  That doesn't seem too bad, huh?  Of course, those calculations are based on 366 days and not 365.

Yes, 2012 is a leap year.  That means each and every one of us gets an extra day to push forward toward our goal(s) or simply do whatever it is that we want to do.  Of course, for me, this means that I have to read an extra 50 pages of a book and write an extra 500 words of a novel.  Plus, since I started this blog, I would like to post at least once a week...every day would be nice, but I have a feeling that that might not happen.

Unfortunately, I have a life.  It's sad, but true.  I work part-time three days a week, babysit here and there, I'm a full-time student, and I have to help out my parents with things around the house, my two younger cousins that stay over, and I also have friends to hang out with.  Otherwise, I would be writing day and night all around the clock.

Speaking of writing...if you read the "Welcome" to your left, then you should know that the whole reason as to why I started this blog was to keep track of my writing.  However, I will get more into that later on.  The more you read this blog, the more you'll know about me and my writing.

Happy New Year, everyone!