March Update (Good News-Bad News form)

Hey guys! I know it's been extremely quiet around here lately, and I apologize for that; things have been getting pretty hectic outside the blogging/writing world. Mainly, I've been loaded with homework and outside activities. Also, I haven't written in days which although is pretty sad, it's actually helped a great deal with de-stressing and managing my time. Going for a run's also helped (just a side note right there).

Good news: I've managed to finish my WIPs! Yay!
Bad news: I still haven't finished GOoD.
Good news: I'm almost done writing Chapter 4 of A Rush of Needles!
Bad news: I'm not done though. And it's been a while since I finished Chapter 3.
Good news: I've found a novel contest to enter for 2013 for young writers! Hurray!
Bad news: I have no idea what I'm writing for it. And it isn't going to be Depravity.
Good news: I've read both The Angel Experiment, School's Out--Forever, and My Soul to Save!
Bad news: I've only reviewed two of those three ^ And I still have to read My Soul to Keep. 


So, yes, I am about to end this post on a bad note. Does this mean March has been horrible and uneventful? Not really. Just busy and not as efficient as I'd hoped. Hopefully April will be different!

- E

February's update of The Ink Timeline.

What I recently found online: An article on the traits of a Mary Sue character. Basically, an article on What Not to Give Your MC. I thought it was pretty entertaining if not a little intimidating. And mind wracking (although some parts of the article are just a little weird). Because eventually during the middle of the article, you will start comparing the article's list of traits to your own MC's list of traits (or you will have a sudden revelation that your MC is, in fact, a Mary Sue). Which, I suppose, is the point. o.o

This post is going to be about me. (And something I'd [reluctantly] like to mention over what I'm about to read.)

As some of you might know, on January 19th I made a post about the Ink Timeline which basically stood as a list of writing goals I hope to make by the end of this year, labeled in chronological order with a time limit per goal. The goals of the timeline include: finishing the GOoD (Giant Outline of Dread--and I did change what the acronym stands for because after starting the GOoD, I've dreaded finishing it ever since), finishing the WAPs (Wikia Article Profiles--world building documents based off the format of Wikipedia articles), revising Depravity, and writing/revising Shadowed.

My first goal was to finish both the GOoD and the WAPs during the months of January and February. Because today is March 5th I should be done with them both, right?

Ha ha ha.
Wrong.

By my count, this is what I have finished so far:

• 16/26 WAPs
• Like 1/20 of the GOoD
• Revisions of the prologue and chapter one of Depravity
• All of the Pre-GOoD (an outline of events that took place leading up to the start of Depravity)

But look. At least I did something with my life during that time. I just didn't do enough. Which, by the way, will not happen again. I've extended my timeline so that (basically) I'll have until the end of April to finish what I should have finished by the end of February, and I'll have to write more during the July-August time span. Which is perfectly fine since I'll be on break, as long as marching band doesn't barge in and ruin everything.

The thing is though, what worries me the most aside from finishing the GOoD is finishing the WAPs. That requires a great deal of detail; I'm basically putting in whatever world building detail I can think of into one document, so I don't end up forgetting that detail or changing it up, or anything else, really, when I'm writing/revising. And it takes so looong. On Saturday, I had about fourteen of the WAPs done and I thought, "Oh, my gosh. I'm more than half way done." And for a moment I allowed myself to celebrate. And then I thought, "Oh, my gosh. If I'm half way done, then to finish it up I basically have to do it all over again."

Yeah.
So, wish me luck :]

- E

Note: On the reluctant part of this post: I'm about to read Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast. I don't particularly want to read this book because I am a little tired of vampires, but the series has around, what, ten books now? And I'd really like to know what all the fuss is about. So, Marked. Here we go.

The Ink Timeline that I probably won't follow / Another Challenge-Thing

T h e  I n k  T i m e l i n e

- AKA: the-flawless-timeline-so-I-can-finally-finish-something. Honestly.


WHAT?
Well, it's a timeline. You know, your average line with times...and events...
But the important part is that this timeline doesn't give us a glimpse of the past--it gives us (specifically me) a glimpse of the future. So it's like--like--an outline of all my writerly goals. It will include everything I hope to achieve in the year 2012 before I start junior year in high school, which is supposedly The Hardest Year. This is the ultimate timeline. So it overrules every past thing I've said about my NaNoWriMo or my WIPs or whatever (by the way, after this post, I'm updating my other post on my WIPs just to keep everything as consistent as possible).

WHY?
Because I've realized my lack of progress in everything I've been writing, and have decided to do something about it. Will I follow this timeline exactly? Probably not. Will I at least try to? Probably. And the trying matters the most. At least I'd be getting somewhere with my life.


AND THE TIMELINE IS...?
The timeline is this:
(UPDATED: 3/3/12)

January - February: Finish the Wikia-Article Profiles (WAP) and the Giant Outline of Dread (GOoD) for Depravity. 

• This did not happen whatsoever. Instead, I finished all of my Pre-GOoD (the timeline of the era before the start of my WIP series), about half of my Wikia-Article Profiles, and have only started on my official GOoD. Epic fail of the year. So far.

March - April: Write the rough draft of Shadowed; meet the two-thirds mark for Depravity revisions (no idea where that would be). EDIT: As of now this will include:

• Finish the Wikia-Article Profiles (WAP) and the Giant Outline of Dread (GOoD) for Depravity.

May - June: Revise Shadowed. EDIT: As of now this will include:

• Write the rough draft of Shadowed; meet the two thirds mark for Depravity revisions

July - August: Revise Shadowed. Finish revisions for Depravity.


September - December: ???


Simple enough of a timeline, but as for actually meeting the goals...well, not so much.


BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE.

I'm participating in the Harry Potter Reading Challenge! Through 2012, I have to reread and possibly rewatch all seven of the Harry Potter books and movies. I don't have to post a review about them, but I can post discussion entries on my blog or on The Reading Fever (<--well, I would comment in this case). I'm super excited because I. Love. Harry. Potter. (Even though I've got to say, the Potter Puppet Pals are pretty funny.)

This might be the sixth time I've reread the series. I can't wait.

- E

I'm killing trees/The Giant Outline of Dread.

Confession time!

What does a writer/potential author do best?

Kill trees.

No matter what kind of writer you are, whether or not you write brilliant stories or crappy stories, you will have to kill trees. Well, indirectly. Words go on paper, paper comes from trees. End of flowchart.

I try to avoid printing as much as possible. Since two weeks ago, I'd done all my editing on the computer, but it had been very slow. I felt restricted, like I couldn't see the Bigger Picture. Then two weeks ago, I started printing out my manuscript at school, 10 pages each time I managed to get a computer. So far I've printed about 100 pages, and...you know. 100 pages. That's...a lot. Way more than enough to make me feel guilty.

*sigh* 100 pages. 200 more to go. *winces*

The reason for killing trees, however (at least for me) is to get ready to make the Giant Outline of Dread, or GOoD for short. GOoD will either drive me crazy or make my life considerably easier--or maybe even both. Or neither.

The point of GOoD is for organization purposes. So far I've been working on my WAP (Wikia Article Profiles--they're ideas/word building of my story based on the articles and format of Wikipedia), which also helps with the whole brainstorming ideas part of the organizing. But what I really need is GOoD:

story arcs > chapters > major events = post it notes
post it notes + more post it notes = GOoD

(^if that made any sense at all)

I hate to get all technical, but that up there is GOoD. It's time to stop spending hours trying to remember tiny details in my manuscript and start getting organized.

*sigh*

- E

Welcome back, Ella.

Remember this little picture I had in one of my posts, once upon a time?

This was on Word 2007. The blue bubbles to the right are comments on sentences I'm supposed to fix, paragraphs I had to rewrite, passages I needed to tear apart, etc.

For the past few months, I've abandoned fixing what the bubbles told me to fix. Instead, I've been working on scene revisions (as mentioned in my last post). Inserting passages, rewriting certain parts of a chapter, lengthening/chopping up chapters, and adding plot-related things that forced me to add and rewrite other scenes. For those months, I was doing that. I haven't bothered with my bubbles. Ever.

But Saturday and Sunday night, I decided that I was being absolutely ridiculous. It took me one month to write 3,000 words. One month. If that isn't pathetic, I don't know what is [at least it is for me ;)]. So Saturday, I decided that my procrastinating had to end NOW, and I worked my butt off compiling a check list--and then tackling as many points as I could on that check list in one night. At the start of the check list, I had about 93,000 words. When I was done with the check list, I ended up with 99,000.

Now, I didn't finish all of that in just one night. I had Easter night to back me up, thankfully. My word count for my 8th draft is currently 99,694, and I've added even more bullets to The Check List. The only good thing (somewhat) is that these bullets aren't as important and dire for me to add/fix/take away as the ones from Saturday and Sunday. Which means:

I'm back to my bubbles.

Honestly, I don't really like my bubbles. I have a natural insecurity when it comes to my writing that, whenever I'm changing something, I think "didn't I already do this?" or "now if I change this, then doesn't that mean I'll have to change this? and even if I do end up changing the latter, then wouldn't that open up another plot hole?" It's crazy, I know, and I tend to over think everything. Especially when it comes to my writing. And when it comes to my bubbles, it's like insecurity to the maximum. It's pathetic and ridiculous, and it's a very bad habit I can't just get rid of. Hey, maybe that's why it takes me such a long time to revise (at least that's what I like to tell myself).

In either case, I'm back to my bubbles. I might move away from them in another month or so, but for now, I'm back. And frankly, it isn't good to be back.

- E

Falling Behind.

One of the strangest things I've realized is how horribly most of my planning goes. I set deadlines for myself ahead of time, and I almost always either end up going past the deadline, or moving the deadline to a later date. In writing, the former usually happens. But in writing, the topic that's supposed to meet the deadline in the first place changes.

In case that didn't make any sense at all (and it probably didn't considering I'm writing this at eleven pm after a long day on trying to figure out how to write my AP essay), let me explain further.

Months ago, when I was writing draft 5 of Depravity, I've already set "draft goals". I knew draft 6 was going to be finalizing my scenes, draft 7 was going to be finalizing dialogue and grammar, and draft 8 was going to be finalizing everything else. Now I'm at draft 8 and what am I doing?

Still finalizing the scenes.

Now, I'm not discouraged or anything. I tend to change my mind a lot about things, especially if I care about the "thing" a great deal. When it comes to writing, I always have all sorts of ideas, and those ideas always change from time to time. I could have one idea one day, and the next I could wake up with an even better idea, although it might mean adding another short passage or altering one I've already written. Add that in with the fact I get distracted easily--and I tend to procrastinate a lot--and it basically means that my "draft goals" will be slowed down and I'm going to end up taking forever writing my next draft. AKA draft 9. In fact, I'm still taking a long time writing my eighth draft.

I'm not sure how long it's going to take before I am absolutely proud of my work, until my manuscript is agent-presentable. It might take another few months, or even another year. All I know is that I'm going to take my time. I can't rush these things. I only get one debut, and I might as well make it the best it can be (if of course I do end up getting published).

- E

Wahh.

I'd like to say I've been too busy to blog or write or something, except then I'd be lying. Truth is, I've had plenty of time to write a blog post (except today, which is just really ironic), and I was close to sitting down and getting one finished a few days ago. But then I decided against it, backspaced everything, and exited out the window. Because my life hasn't been very interesting lately. I mean, just look at the title of this entry. I couldn't even think of something half-decent to put down.

In my last draft of Depravity, the manuscript was around 84,000 words. Now though, it's 87,000 words, after I did some substitution and added in more chapters. Except I'm still not done. I have about another chapter to go, and more revisions to carry out. So far, I've gotten to around 131/333 pages. In other words, that progress-notice thing to the right is completely wrong. I haven't changed that for a long time, and I'm not going to for another long time. Mainly because I'm getting lazy marking my progress, at the moment. All in all though, my manuscript should reach around 90,000 words, if not more.

I've just realized how pointless this blog entry was. It's like a filler post, almost. But I guess now you know I'm alive xD

- E

Revisions Commence

I was supposed to have started my 7th daft a long time ago, but decided against it through all of homework and other sorts of things that just got in the way. But right now, I'm going to start. I'm going to read Depravity from start to finish, without taking down any notes. I'm going to focus only on what I have right now.

And then I'll figure out what to do from there.

I think it's a pretty good plan, although I've never gotten this far on any novel before. Hopefully I'll also get this far with Shadowed, unless I finish the revisions way before draft 7th. Depravity is, in a way, much more complicated than Shadowed. Which is good, because it took me 2 years to write Depravity's 1st complete manuscript. And I only have 1 month for Shadowed.

So here I go. And wish me luck!

- E

Draft Number Seven.

Any second now, I'm going to open up Draft 6 of Depravity and read through it from the first page to the last page.

I'll be making notes.
I'll be straining not to change anything.
And I'll be busy looking at a few other articles on novel revisions from Let The Words Flow and the like.

All for Draft Number Seven, which might as well be my most important draft yet. Why? Because it's the draft where I'll make the final writings, the final add-ins, the final shape up of the whole entire plotline, so I can later on edit the structure of the manuscript.

I've procrastinated far long enough, used a great deal of petty excuses. But now, it's finally time. I'm doing it.

Draft 7.

- E

Putting off Revisions.

A month ago, I decided to go on a revision break for my current WIP, Depravity. After searching through more than just a couple of writing articles, it's been clear to me that taking a break from one's novel, and then attacking it later on, refreshes the mind and makes it easier to point out flaws in the manuscript.

So that's what I did.

September 9th was my first end-of-the-break date. But when I realized that the 9th was a Thursday--a day of the week that, annoyingly enough, is the busiest for me--and I was already overloaded with homework and other activities, I realized September 9th just wouldn't work. So I'd moved it to the 12th, in full hopes that I wouldn't have any messed-up weekend events on that day. Because the 12th was a Sunday, and that's usually when I'm the most free.

But the 12th was the day after one of my most exhausting events of the month. Which means I couldn't do anything at all on the 12th, either. In fact, I'd completely forgotten about my revisions.

I dunno, but is high school supposed to be this stressful? Is it supposed to suck so much out of a student's "other life"? I mean, seriously. Jeez.

Now today, the 18th, almost a week over when the break should've ended, I'm still too busy working on my AP Geography project to do anything. All I know is that I'm particularly exhausted from high school. I miss middle school so much. The whole entire time I was just floating around, earning straight A's with ease. Now...it's much harder. And I'm finding it extremely messed up that I can't write and balance my school activities.

This is literally procrastination to its max--at least for me, it is. Months ago, I'd wanted to finish Depravity by December, and then send off my query letters. Now? I'm not so sure anymore.

On the otherhand, Incandescent is coming along nicely.

- E