One-One-OneOne.

I'm sure you've heard this over and over again, and read this over and over again on Facebook or Twitter or some other source, but bear with me here--it'll only be once.

Happy New Year!

Now one of my friends on Facebook (because I don't have a Twitter, even though I should probably get one) pointed out that no one should really say "happy" anything because we just never know. How do you know the new year will be happy? he pointed out. It's true, but saying that phrase isn't about pre-cognition or anything. Not really.

Well I definitely have no idea what I'm saying anymore. Debating on holiday phrases is not the point of this blog post.

The point of this blog post is to basically say: go for it. Do whatever you've been wanting to do, but you couldn't do in 2010. Do it now in 2011. Because even if the world does end in 2012 (very unlikely in my opinion), you'll at least have done something worthwhile, right?

- E

Winter break ftw.

(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

Wherein I finally read, instead of write.

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

December comes rolling in...

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

Being Dormant...

A quick notice before I get to writing for awhile.
This blog will be dormant until, pretty much, nano is over. I'm seriously behind and I can't afford to update anything anymore at all....aggh. Not that my updates would be lengthy anyway. They'd probably just consist of a bunch of word counts and such. Nothing too important or big.

So! If you want to know how I'm doing, just drop by on Nano. My username is, creatively put, "writerella".

Thanks a lot guys and I hope to be posting more in December!

- E

Way Behind.

Today marks, pretty much, the 7th day of Nano. And how much have I written?
Well so far: 3,600 words.

If that isn't sad, I don't know what is.

With Depravity, I had procrastinated, but I had written more than 100,000 words in a few months. But with Nano, I won't have a few months. I only have one. And being the careful planner that I am, I've realized that I need to write 1,800 words each day in order to reach my more-than-50,000 words goal. With this being day 7, I'm supposed to have around 12,000 words already.

But I don't.

I need 9,000 more, which I can't do in one day. I'll have to stretch this out again, like I had during my first draft of Depravity (when I reached 90,000 words). I'll be less busy now, at least.

- E

And Nano Begins.

It's almost 7 PM where I am, which means Nano is definitely underway. There are probably thousands of witers out there right now, writing furiously, their pencils or fingers flying across the paper or keyboard. Their minds are going at least a mile a minute, concentrating only on the goal ahead of them: to complete a 50,000 word novel in the span of the month of November.

At least, that's what I'm assuming right now, being a newbie in this whole Nano business.

I'm not sure how to take this whole entire thing--the first actual writing event I've ever entered willingly. Should I be jumping up and down, squealing in excitement and anticipation? Should I be slamming on my laptop, pounding those deep beginning scenes I've pictured over and over in my head of my novel? Or should I be writing this blog post, talking about nothing significant?

I know what I should be doing, and it's definitely not the last one.

But even with that in mind, I don't know what the heck is wrong with me. I keep on saying, Come on Ella, you need to get to Word and start typing away. I keep on telling myself that, but both my mind and body won't obey. It's pretty ironic, but I think it's my procrastinating self speaking to me.

However, once I do get everything under control, I swear I'll start writing, right after I dig up those sheets of paper and notebook that have my plans in. I don't have much of a feeling of how this month will turn out, but I hope it'll be a nice first experience.

And I wish all of the Nano writers out there luck--and enough coffee and chocolate to last a life time.

- E