Friday, December 24

Winter break ftw.

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(Photo from Weheartit.com)

I finally get to sleep in! Well, that's definitely not the only reason why I love winter break (even though the winter break this year is only about a week and a half long), but it's definitely a primary reason. I've been staying up late all night catching up with my favorite TV shows. Oh, and revising Depravity. Of course I was doing that as well.

No, really. I was doing that. I have less than 100 pages left to revise, which is making me seriously happy.

Winter has never been my favorie season. In fact, it's my least favorite season. The only good part of winter is New Year's, the holidays, and the school break. That's about it, really. Summer beats winter by a whole lot of points (summer break's longer, my birthday's in the summer, it has better weather, etc.), but I still have to give winter some credits. I mean, seriously. I've never gotten so much episodes through writing done before. So thank you.

Have a good holiday everyone!

- E

Sunday, December 12

Wherein I finally read, instead of write.

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I know this sounds sort of...off for a writer. Arguably, writing should always come before reading, right? I mean, writers write. They read, too, but they primarily write. It's what they do.

Lately though, I've been reading a whole lot and not writing at all. I blame school for this. There's been an abundant amount of homework lately to prepare us for our finals, I suppose, and a bunch of activities to fit in before winter break. Plus, the snow. Oh, snow. I hate it. Sure, it gives me an excuse to drink hot chocolate, but snow comes along with colds (which I've gotten twice, one after the other in the time span of only two weeks), and shivers, and a bunch of coats and what-not that makes me look like a burnt marshmallow, and my hair all crazy with static.

All I've wanted to do was curl up with a book, Iron Chef America playing on the TV, and drink my hot chocolate. I suppose I could curl up with a laptop, too, but still.

Except winter has always been my best writing time. I don't really know how to describe it; sort of like the smell and the air and the whole atmosphere--it helps me concentrate and just...write. Not read well, but write well. I've often made more progress in my WIPs than my books. But, you know, I love reading, and I've been craving a lot of Meg Cabot lately for some reason. Reading always spurs inspiration for writing, anyway.

I guess what I'm trying to do is make up petty excuses. No, there really is no true excuse for me to skip out on writing. I've made little progress with revising Depravity, or writing Incandescent, or planning out Book 3. Which is just really sad.

- E

Thursday, December 2

December comes rolling in...

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First and foremost, I'd like to say one thing:

I really didn't enjoy NaNo.

From what I've heard, most of the population of NaNo writers love or loved NaNo. I guess I'm not of the majority. Not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. But the truth is, I suppose I just didn't really get into the writing zone, or my NaNo novel. Everything felt dull and pointless, and I wasn't motivated at all. It didn't help that schoolwork (a whole lot of schoolwork) was in my way. I suppose either Shadowed or Thumbelina didn't work out for me. Or maybe, it was because I was still so caught up in Depravity and Incandescent that all I could think about were demon slayers and not faeries and shadows. And what-not.

Which is why I finished NaNo with a messed up 30,535 words.

Am I going to start back up on Shadowed again? Maybe. I've never gotten such a creative idea before, and I'm still somewhat excited about it. But I'm not known for going back to old, unfinished novels. So maybe not.

As for Depravity, I'm doing fairly well. I'm more than a third in with my revisions, which are really tedious and annoying, but interesting all the same. For Depravity's sequel, Incandescent, I haven't written much, but I've gotten some pretty good ideas. This must mean something, right? I might not have won NaNo, but I at least had gotten somewhere with my Ascendancy Series.

Along with Depravity and Incandescent, I'm starting a third, 8,000-word novel for a Fiction Novel Writing Contest. Winner gets $1000. I'm not doing it for the money though. Not...really. I'm doing it because I'm just curious. I've never entered a contest before. It'd be good experience, wouldn't it? I have some pretty good ideas for my 8,000-word novel, but I don't have at title, and not many character names. Ah well. It'll happen soon enough. The submission deadline is January 15th, so I better get a move on.

Oh. And it's snowing over here...unfortunately.

- E