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

Popping in on the Classics.

This blog's been pretty inactive lately, but I guess it's just because I've been extremely busy with school work--and the like.

We're currently reading A Tale of Two Cities in English, which a lot of people find boring, and stupid, and annoying. I'm not one of those people. I actually find it interesting, and I'm actually reading ahead (which is pretty bad on my part, since reading ahead had almost always resulted in bad things happening to my grade). But the thing is, I don't understand it very well.

I mean, I do. Because if I didn't, then I wouldn't be saying it's pretty decent. But it takes me awhile to get past one page, especially one page without much dialogue, and I've found myself rereading paragraphs and lines just to figure out what Dickens is trying to say. This is probably just because it's a Classic, and was written decades ago. But one of my friends told me that, as a writer, not being able to understand a Classic made her feel kind of...suckish. Does this mean I've been reading way too many YA novels? Does this mean I should expand my range of reading, and start picking out all the other Classics? Does this mean my overall writing knowledge sucks?

Hopefully not.

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On my own writing, I've progressed to my 8th draft. Yesh :P Draft 8 means going through all my revision notes and visiting all those revision-based web pages to get a good feel on how to, well, revise my novel. I can't believe I'm saying this, but: this is going to be so much fun.

And I also present you this article I found on Let The Words Flow: Overused YA Themes . You can find another similar article in The Writer. Pretty interesting.

- E

Mer.

Hello out there. Just thought I'd pop in and say a few things.

I've been pondering several questions lately, that all refer back to my writing. How do you stay organized with your ideas? How do you keep your ideas from blending with one another, and ending up turning all of that into another idea? How do you sift through all your subconscious mind's babble, and try to keep everything straight?

Doesn't it just drive you crazy?

Well, maybe it doesn't. Maybe I'm just the crazy one here for thinking all of that. :P

- E

The different types of drafts (for me).

At the very beginning, it's what most people would refer to as the "first draft". First drafts for me are drafts where I just write with one primary idea, but nothing that branch out from it. At the end, I can't say it really sucks. I mean in the general scheme of things, heck yes, it sucks. But if I'm concentrating on where that draft took me, it doesn't suck. Well. Maybe that's pushing it a bit. First drafts tend to be the longest drafts of the novel's history.

After that, there are the "plot drafts". The number of plot drafts last as long as they need to, until my plot and characters have fully developed. This is where I write and fix the plot and scenes in my manuscript, and toy with them to find the perfect one(s). Not really revising them, but trying to figure out what I'm supposed to actually put down on paper. They kill. They sap up my energy and patience like...I don't know, leeches. Either way, I hate them. And I'm sure plot drafts also hate me.

Next, there are "revision drafts", which are about two or three. I start at the beginning of these (in Depravity's case, draft 7 was my first revision draft), thinking of all the things I needed to finish. I've already compiled a mental list of things-I-have-to-fix, starting with holes and writing issues and the like. While revising, I always feel accomplished. I always feel and know that I'm one step closer to my goal (as cheesy as that sounds), and that motivates me. That makes me...happy. Ish. I like revision drafts. These revision drafts also include revisions from my critique partners.

Finally, the last draft is called, well, the "last draft". This is where I finalize everything, reread it until I'm satisfied, and maybe tweak little things here and there. And then...it's usually off to My Documents, where I never see them again.

Depravity has the first manuscript I've ever written that I don't plan to keep away. I'm not quite sure what I'd really do with it, but I'm definitely not going to shake it off. Depravity's the longest novel I've ever written (the other novels, or I should say short stories, I've gone through with complete drafting lasted only a few pages long). I'm not leaving it. Nope.

As you can see, I have a really complicated writing process. This might not be the smartest thing to do, but I feel the most organized and I write the best this way. If I try anything else, and I have tried some other ways, I get confused and everything is reduced to a mess. I have to take one thing at a time when I write.

Strangely enough.

- E

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