Thursday, December 3, 2015

Currently Reading #1

Oh hello!

I've decided to try and revive this blog. As a college student, it's hard to find time for hobbies like blogging when you're swamped with work. I've managed to start creating blocks of time in my schedule to read a chapter of a book or two.

Right now, I'm currently reading:

Writing Down The Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
A Cheater's Guide to NaNoWriMo by Laura Roberts

Yes, one is basically a manual for cheating at NaNoWriMo. No, I didn't cheat this year. As you can see in the graph below, I did reach the word count on most days. I had gone to a sleepover one day and I didn't get to write which is why I don't have the "Updated for 30 Days" badge. I'm hoping that next year, I'll be able to get all the badges.

The other book is one of the more well known "writing manuals" that most people have read. It's been sitting on my shelf for a long time. Now that I've gotten more serious in improving my writing and finally going back to my roots, I wanted to start read it. I'm taking notes and doing the exercises for about ten minutes every other day or so. I'm still a busy college student after all.

That's it for today! Thanks for reading! 

Monday, November 30, 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015//Day 22-30

Oh hello!

I have been frantically trying to catch up on the word count each day. Since today's November 30th that means that it's officially the last leg of the journey. By 12 o'clock at midnight of your region, NaNoWriMo is officially done. It's really early in California (about 5:56p.m. as I type this!), and I usually don't update this early unless I have some content ready before the date. But I have a very important announcement.

I won NaNoWriMo! 

After trying multiple times in my short life, I've finally gotten to 50,000 words. I even exceed it by 88 words! No words can explain how proud I am in achieving this goal. I never really expected to get to this point. There's still so much I can write for the project I'm working on, and I've decided to keep going with it in December. I'm going to write as much as I can each day until the story is told. Maybe I'll participate in the revision months, but for right now, I have college finals to focus on.

While I was missing the last eight days, I did end up getting my donation package from the NaNoWriMo team. I had donated twenty-five dollars on Double Up Day! which meant that I got the fifty dollar donation pack. The fifty dollar donation package includes:

A NaNoWriMo infinity bracelet
The NaNoWriMo "Stories Matter" Sticker
"The NaNoWriMo Library" Bookmark
A donor halo for your profile
25% and free U.S. ground shipping from Chronicle Books
A listing on the NaNoWriMo Brought to You page


I opted out of the listing on the Brought to You page as I was more interested in getting the bracelet. If anyone wants to donate to NaNoWriMo and help fuel young authors' dreams and keep adults caffeinated for the entiretly of November, here's the link to do that.

Not only did I manage to donate, I also participated in the NaNoWriMo CD Swap for 2015. I got two really interesting playlists that are so different from each other, but fit me perfectly. I feel a tad bit bad though as the playlists are longer than mine since I wasn't sure how many songs I should put on the CD. If I participate next year, I'm definitely going to add a lot more songs.

And that is the how I ended up writing this post. After struggling for a few years (despite what my profile says, I had to create an new account because I'm stupid and didn't know my password), I finally accomplished what seemed like the impossible.

How did your NaNoWriMo go? Are you done with your novel? Or are you still writing?

That's it for today!

Saturday, November 21, 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015//Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, & 21

Oh hello!

I missed a couple of days because of school and other events which means that four days of writing will be compacted into one.

Long story short, I am behind. I went to my first ever sleep over last night and it was fun. But now, I'm behind on my word count. Day 21's word count is 35,000 and I managed to 34,412 words. I actually wrote about 2,200 words to be able to get to that number. I'm hoping tomorrow that I can write about the same length to catch up as tomorrow's word count is 36,666. I think I finally have idea on what the plot is and realized that I have two different stories going on. I might have to split it up after the end of November.

Tomorrow I'll try start writing in the morning and finish it at the end of the day. Since it is a Sunday, I might have to take breaks to catch up on homework and make sure I'm ready for school on Monday.

What do you do to catch up on your daily word count? Leave a comment down below!

That's it for today! Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015//Day 15, Day 16, & Day 17

Oh hello!

I was so busy with college and life in general that I didn't get to update you guys on how I've been doing in NaNoWriMo!

Day 15
I wasn't feeling it that day, but I did pass the 25,000 word count with 25,560 words. I was only able to reach 1,230 words for my daily word count.

Day 16
I was frantic yesterday about getting past the word count. 26,666 was the goal and I was able to get pass it with 27,264 words. I wrote about 1,600 words which made me very happy.

Day 17
Today's word count was 28,333. I wrote 28,944 words today which was surprising as I had to tweet to get my cousin off my back about helping her get her favorite band at the top of a contest. When I get distracted and don't feel like writing, I try to remind myself why I'm doing this. I have something that I want to share and I think it's important for me to get it out. Even if I don't get anything published, I want to be able to look at something I wrote and be proud about it.

What do you do to get yourself motivated to write? 

That's it for today! Thanks for reading!

Saturday, November 14, 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015//Day 14

Oh hello!

The word count of today is 23,333. I was able to get to 24,123 words! I'm really proud of myself. While I was writing, I decided to watch MineCraft videos with my younger brother. Yes, I said MineCraft. I find some of the YouTubers amusing and adorable. I do wonder how MineCraft YouTubers gain so much popularity, but I guess it's because there's a lot of people who like to watch other people play. I prefer to watch PewDiePie for my gaming needs with a little bit of Markiplier, Minx and Crystal thrown in.

Besides watching YouTube with the little brother, I also have a few comics on hand to help draw inspiration or motivation in trudging forward in writing. I like to read Harley Quinn and Bitch Planet when I'm not sure what to write. Somehow, Harley Quinn's personality really gives me a lot of inspiration in writing the guy who's the potential love interest or murderer. I still don't know how he wormed his way into the story. There wasn't even suppose to be a guy in the novel. I guess he just wanted to be written.

Do you have any surprising characters show up in your novel? Have they changed the entire plot? Leave a comment down below.

That's it for today! Thanks for reading! 

Friday, November 13, 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015//Day 12 & Day 13

Oh hello!

I thought I posted Day 12 yesterday, but apparently I didn't. So here is Day 12 and Day 13.

Day 12
Today's word count was 20,000. I currently have 20,604 words. I am definitely on a roll. I had accidentally copy and pasted my novel twice in one Google Docs. I was confused about why I had seventy pages until I realized the problem. I fixed it before I made a huge blunder.

NaNoWriMo is making me forget about doing some important tasks for some of classes. It's a good thing that I started to use MyStudyLife to help me remember assignments. I also use it to help me figure out how much time I have between classes to write. I started to use Evernote again after the whole fiasco with stolen passwords and having everything in my journals deleted and erased. That's one reason I have trust issues. I lost years of work because of that which is why I have a lot of backups now.

Day 13
The word count was 21,666. I was able to get to 22,271 words. I'm hoping to get to at least 24,000 words tomorrow since it's a Saturday. I'm going to treat myself with a new episode of one of my favorite shows to be able to reach my word count goal.

Have you ever accidentally deleted something and couldn't get it back? How do you backup your work? Do you treat yourself when you reach your word count goal?

That's it for today! Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015//Day 11

Oh hello!

18,333 was the word count for today. I have written down 18,947 words as of this moment. I feel really proud. I didn't think I'd get this far. The last few times I attempted NaNoWriMo, I failed miserably each time. I'm not sure what's different.

Actually, I do think I know why I'm succeeding this year. This year I have a notebook and a laptop to help with NaNoWriMo. I try to write whenever I can during school and if I'm not up to writing, I read a bit to give me inspiration on what to write. When I use my laptop, I always open a new doc in Google Docs and aim for at least 1,500 words each day. Doing that really helps my mind focus on what needs to be written. Sometimes I check back on what I wrote the day before for inspiration, however I usually just spew out word vomit. That helps a lot in making sure I hit my word count goals.

Do you have a daily word count goal? What do you like to do each day that helps you write?

That's it for today! Thanks for reading!