250K will help you find your way

Apology to all...

2006-10-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

As I started out with good intentions with this group, I failed miserably. Too much happened over the course of the year for me to keep up. I had surgery on both of my hands in May with lengthly healing time, a separation, and a death and all have kept me preoccupied to the point that I have not written at all. My apologies to you all for not keeping up. If this goes on next year, I'm hoping I may be able to get in and do it justice. Best of luck to you all as the year ends. I may see what I can do to add to my sad little word count before December 31! Can our NaNo efforts count here?

April Prompt (The Detective)

2006-04-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

The night had been going pretty well. And then the Prince’s lackey showed up at my office.

Sorry, let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Lykos…or it used to be, before the change. You can call me Malik now. That’s Mah-leek, not Mal-ick. I’m just your friendly neighborhood Nossie, and I’m a private investigator. I run a company called Night Owl Investigations. It’s a one detective office, and I have a secretary to handle the daytime stuff.

So back to the story. The Prince’s lackey showed up at my door. It was a guy named Steven. That was a good thing; if it were his leg-breaker Gregor, it would mean the Prince had sent him to bust me or my place up.

I try to put on my best face. Literally, as us Nossies have pretty ugly mugs, and I didn’t want the Prince’s man wigging out because he got a look at what I really look like. “Evenin’ Steven.” Hey, that almost rhymed. “What can I do for his highness?” The Prince was in charge of the city, and thus, all of us vampires. Yeah, I said vampires. That’s what I am now, same as the Prince. Steven, he’s just the Prince’s human servant, something that we call a ghoul.

“The Prince has a job for you. He wants you to meet him at his office on Creswell.”

I nod. A summons. Well, at least the Prince sent someone to do it instead of just compelling me to come to him. Not all Kindred were so lucky. “How soon?” I ask. It took a minimum of ten minutes to get to the Prince’s place, thirty if you got real unlucky.

“Twenty minutes. But you’re coming with me.”

I roll his eyes. I’d rather drive himself to the Prince’s place, but what the Prince wanted, he got. Damn. “Let me get my coat and hat.” I grab my battered fedora and place it on my head, then going to the door, I takes my stained and dirty trench coat from the hanger it often resided on. After letting Steven go out, I lock the place up and follow him to his car. The guy may work for the Prince, but he wasn’t getting paid enough. He was driving a beater that was worse off than mine, an early 70’s Datsun with a crumpled back fender and a muffler that was held on with string.

I get in the back of the car. Given a choice, I sit in the back. The driver can’t see what you’re doing, and you have a clear shot if they try anything. Steven drives like a maniac, and I find myself putting a death grip on the door handle and feeling glad I’d strapped myself in. I reach into my pocket and grab my cigarettes and my silver lighter with the eagle on it. Rolling the window down a crack, I mutter, “Mind if I smoke?” not really caring what Steven’s answer was. If we wrecked, I wanted one last cigarette. I light it, and take a long drag. It wasn’t like they’d kill me, I was already dead.

The Prince wanted us there in twenty; we made it in just under ten, thanks to Steven’s utter disregard for speed limits and traffic signals. I make a mental note never to accept a ride from him again.

The Prince’s office on Creswell isn’t much to look at. In fact, it’s really just the local sales office for Enterprise Rent-a-Wreck. I look around, then deposit the cigarette butt in my pocket before I go in. Steven leads me to the back of the building. The Prince was ensconced in what is the Manager’s office during the day. Based on the photos scattered around the room that bore no resemblance to him, it was obvious he was just borrowing the place. This office is where he did business away from the prying eyes of other Kindred, or, you could say, his ‘dirty work’. The last time I was here, it hadn’t gone all that well for me. I’d accused a prominent Brujah of arranging the creation of his adopted Childe, even though the Prince had already refused him permission to create any progeny. His adopted Childe flatly denied this, and I wound up owing the Brujah a favor.

The Prince wasn’t alone in the office. The head of my own Clan, Rolf D. was there too. That can’t be a good thing. Also present was a lovely woman I’d met only a couple times, Sara Angelina, the head of the Toreador Clan. Things were looking worse and worse. All three were standing, waiting for me to come in.

The Prince was the first to speak. “So nice of you to join us, Mr. Malik.” He says, his tone less than pleasant. Yeah, that wasn’t a good sign. “Have a seat.”

I sit down, and the bigwigs follow. I turn my head in time to see Steven backing out of the room and closing the door behind him. Crap. None of the bigwigs appeared to be armed, but that didn’t matter. They had other abilities at their disposal, same as me. I look at the Prince, but keep my eyes on Rolf. You never wanted to diss your Clan Primogen. I already learned that lesson the hard way.
I decide to talk first. “So, what’s the story?” I ask. I don’t bother to remove the coat, but I do remove my hat, since there was a dame in the room. They were vamps, like me, so they shouldn’t be too bothered by an ugly mug like mine. I set the battered fedora in my lap though, it really wasn’t fit to touch the nice desk the Prince was sitting behind.

The Prince leans forward and steeples his fingers. “We need your powers of detection, Mr. Malik.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Oh really?” I ask.

Sara Angelina is the next to speak. “Mr. Malik, the problem we have is that something has been stolen, and I want it back.” The dame was trying to keep her cool, but she was a little frayed around the edges.

“All right, what was stolen?” I ask her. “And can you describe what happened when it was?”

The dame’s hand goes to her throat. “A pearl necklace.” She replies. “It was a gift from my…husband many years ago.”

So, a sentimental item, but not terribly valuable. Still, she was hiding something. I look at the Prince. “Okay, this can’t just be about the necklace.” I say. “Otherwise, it would just be her coming to my office and talking to me. So what’s it really about?”

“The robbery took place during the DAY, Malik.” Rolf growls. “They also left a knife sticking in the back of the door.”

So, that was it then. A knife in the door implied a possible threat to the city’s Kindred. “You have the knife, and you’ve had someone check it out?” I couldn’t do it myself, but there were a few Kindred in the city that could touch an object and get an impression from it, much like a psychic could.

“I have someone working on it, yes.” The Prince replies.

I look at Sara Angelina. “Can I dust your place for prints?” Of course, our kind didn’t generally leave fingerprints, but they couldn’t walk around in the daytime either. I hoped she’d agree to it, because it could offer me a chance to track down the suspect. I also understood if she said no. Creatures like us, we didn’t want a lot of people to know where we slept.

“If it helps, yes.” She replies.

“We need this matter resolved as expediently as possible.” The Prince warns me. It wasn’t necessary. If it wasn’t just a robbery, it wasn’t going to stop with the attack on the Tory.

I get up from the chair. It didn’t look like they were going to give me any more information, and I wasn’t going to solve the case sitting on my ass here. “Well, then I’d like to get started. Have Steven take me back to my office, I’ll collect my tools and head to the crime scene.” Hopefully, I’d be able to drive myself there.

After another white-knuckle ride back to my office, I pack up my evidence kit and head over to the Tory’s place. Steven wasn’t driving me, but neither was I; the dame had sent a town car to take me there. There’s a glass partition between me and the driver, and it’s so opaque, I can’t see the windshield. The side windows are also tinted, but they can’t be opened. So she didn’t want me knowing where the place was. No big deal, there was more than one way to track such info down.

The car finally comes to a stop and I step out, looking around. It looked like we were in Belltown, one of Seattle’s trendier neighborhoods. It made sense for a Toreador, but I preferred the Sodo and Central districts of my town. They were more hospitable to a vampire like me.

Sara’s place used to be a historic building. Now it was a humdrum condo of glass and steel, lacking in character and individuality. The car’s driver leads me up to Sara’s floor, and I make a mental note of the building’s address. I’m not surprised when we take the elevator all the way to the top of the building. In typical vamp fashion, she had the penthouse suite. I step out and wish I’d worn a nicer coat. The stained and patched trench was rather out of place in these upscale digs. Then again, so was I.

The apartment had a whiter than white décor. There is a pair of brown loafers set by the door, so I take my scuffed black loafers off and set them next to the other pair so they can keep each other company. The white carpet under my feet is the expensive stuff, so I feel my feet sinking into the deep pile. I turn and look at the front door. Its stark whiteness is marred by a deep puncture wound. I examine the wound and get out my digital to take a picture of it for the case file.

As I’m about to take the picture, I hear a noise behind me. I turn around and it’s Sara Angelina, dressed to kill in black with enough ice on her ears and neck to make a jewel thief salivate. With all that bling, why just steal the pearls? Good question. “Evenin’.” I say, removing my hat and doing my best to bow to the lady. “So, another question for you, was anything else stolen, or just the pearls?”

Sara Angelina’s gaze turns to focus on a point away from me. So she didn’t like looking at my ugly mug. I mentally shrug. Most Torries didn’t like to look at me, so it wasn’t anything new. “No, just the necklace.” Her hand travels almost instinctively to the diamonds at her neck.

“Were your other valuable pieces where a thief could find them?” I ask.

“They were in my jewelry box, along with the pearls.” She nods.

A normal burglar would have stolen all the jewelry, but this one just took the one item. That meant it was something different. A personal vendetta, perhaps? Or a message to the city’s Kindred?

“Does your ha-condo have any sort of video surveillance system?” I’d stopped myself before I said haven. You weren’t supposed to ask another Kindred about their haven. It was considered at best rude or at worst that you were gunning for them.

“The building has a surveillance system, but no, I don’t.” Before I can ask her, Sara starts to lead me through the apartment, to her bedroom. Her pale well-manicured hand pauses on the door. “I haven’t gone in there…since it happened.” Well, I couldn’t blame her. A lot of victims found themselves reminded of the crime when they visited the scene again, and avoided it at all costs. She opens the door for me, but doesn’t follow me inside, nor does she watch. I set my case on the bed and take out the dusting kit. I look at her perfect form standing in the doorway, facing away from me. “Where’s your jewelry case?” I ask. I could probably recover prints from that, and wouldn’t have to do the rest of the room. “And is there anyone else that has access to this room besides you?” If they did, and they were human, I’d need to get their prints for elimination purposes.

“The box is on top of my vanity.” She replies. “And no, no one else is allowed in the room.”

Impressive, really, because the place was neat as a pin. Maybe Sara Angelina had been a housekeeper back in her mortal days…or just a neat freak. I look at the jewelry box. It’s made of shiny black enamel. A good surface for picking up prints, but prints are harder to find when you use black powder. Good thing that I have powder in two different colors.

I open up the bottle of pink neon material and start to apply it. A couple prints do appear, and I smile at my good fortune. So the attacker didn’t wear gloves. How fortunate…for me. I take the prints. I can run them in APIS when I get back to my office, but I had a feeling I’d come up empty on this. I try to get prints from the door, but come up empty. Which means he had to take a different way out. I head to the balcony. Looking at the Toreador, I begin my line of questioning again. “Is there any way down from the balcony?”

The woman nods. “There’s a fire escape.”

I dust the handle of the sliding glass door, and sure enough there are prints. I collect these as well then head onto the balcony, and hop onto the fire escape, taking note of where it ended up. An alley. A perfect means of escape.

After collecting the prints and taking some photos of the scene with my digital, I take my leave of the place. I was, however, going to do a bit more questioning before I left. I tell the driver to wait for me, then head to the alley nearest the building. Maybe I could find a witness.

I focus for a few minutes and I hear a mrring sound behind me. Turning, I see that it was an alley cat. A grey tabby to be exact. It rubs against my legs and I begin to talk to it in its own language, asking if it had seen anyone of interest during the day. The cat is friendly and talkative, and tells me that a human had woken it up while it was napping. I pat my shoulder. It was better to take the feline with me to do a preliminary sketch, and I didn’t have any treats on me either.

The cat jumps on my shoulder and I pet it, telling it I was taking it home with me. The cat purrs. I’ll take that as a yes. With the cat riding on my shoulders, I get in the car. I can almost see the driver turning toward me. “Home, Jeeves.” I say, waving my hand. Okay, so I’m a wise ass some of the time.

The car starts, and I pet the cat. It rubs my face, not caring what I look like. I think I like this cat already. It needs a name though. I know, I’ll think I’ll call it Snack. I reach up and scratch it behind the ears. “Hey there Snack, what do you think about staying with me for a while?”

The cat doesn’t move. Guess Snack likes the name and the idea.

Arriving back at my office, I carry both the cat and my kit upstairs. I set the cat on top of my desk and look around for something to feed it. Obviously, I don’t need to eat, so I don’t normally keep a lot of food around. I manage though to scrounge up a can of tuna, and make a note to buy Snack some food later.

I open the can with a manual opener, and Snack hops off my desk. It must have been someone’s pet once if it knew that an open can means food. I’ll ask it for its story later. I set the can on my desk and while it eats, I get my antique computer warmed up, then start scanning the prints using a small desktop scanner. Okay, so my office ain’t got the latest and best high tech goodies, but they get the job done.

With its meal finished, Snack looks at me and mrrs a thank you…or what passed for it in cat talk. Offering it some pets and encouragement, I coax it to the computer screen and pull up the artist’s sketch program. Patiently I start to get a description from the cat and a picture of the suspect starts to take shape. No one I recognize.

The computer beeps at me. It was done searching the fingerprint database, and like I thought, it had come up empty. Well, the sketch might yield some results. Not wanting to piss off the cranky old comp, I shut the fingerprint program down and start running a facial recognition program. Okay, I admit it, my comp may be a piece of crap, but I’m a Nossie, and I’ve got access to some serious computing power through Shrek.net. My Clan, we are masters of information and secrets, which means many of us have mastered the thing called the World Wide Web. I’m one of them, but I was always interested in gadgets even when I was a mortal.

I pick up the empty tuna can and toss it in the overflowing trash can under my desk. I really oughta hire a janitor, but it’s pretty hard finding one of my kind that’s willing to work for the crap salary I can afford to pay. I decide to take out the trash because even with the server, it’s going to take my pos a while to come up with any results.

When I get back, the computer’s still working, but Snack comes to greet me, tail raised. I pick her up and let her sit on my shoulder. I can feel her claws digging into my trench coat, but I’m not bothered by it.

Finally, the pos beeps at me. The results, this time, are fairly positive. The computer had come up with a name to match the face. Unfortunately, the news wasn’t all that good. The suspect was a man named Isaac Berkowitz, and he was a known associate of the city’s Warlocks. Yeah, this could get interesting. I think as I look at the man’s actual picture. Well, they just hired me to find out who did it. It was their job to sort things out…

Two Stories

2006-03-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

This place looks pretty dead, but I won't let that stop me ;) The point of this post is, as usually, whining.

I've been working on my novel more or less diligently. Sometimes more 'less' than 'more' (if you know what I mean ;) ), but still. Sometimes I got stuck. Sometimes I got so frustrated that I kicked the wall/punched the table/cast random objects across the room/screamed on top of my voice. Sometimes I get expressive like that. But I sort of worked on my novel.

What I did yesterday was, I cheated on my novel. *sob* ;) I started writing another story. Which, under any other circumstances, would be perfectly acceptable. I don't care that I have a deadline (well, I DO care, but that's not the point), and I don't care that I probably am not going to make it.

The problem is, the second story (the younger and prettier one ;) ) is not going anywhere. And it's really cheesy. Really REALLY cheesy. If I ever finished it, I wouldn't publish it under my name because it's bloody cheesy. And the main character would probably annoy the hell of anyone but myself. The problem is, I want to continue writing it. I REALLY want to continue writing it. I even know why - because I don't feel obliged to; because I don't really care about it, so I'm relaxed; because I don't percieve it as Really Important, like I do my novel. Why does it have to be soo bloody complicated?

*quits writing in order to become a hairdresser or an electrician*
Not!

Antarctica :)

Done for Month 2!

2006-02-26T22:34:00.000-08:00

I made it to 20K already this month! Whoo hoo! I had to spend a few hours IM'ing with one of my STs, but it was totally worth it.

So for the rest of the night, I'm chilling. But I find I have more posts to catch up on. No rest for the wicked, I guess....

So when do we verify for February???

Hitting a Snag..

2006-02-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well, I went to the coast for the weekend. Got a little bit of writing done Friday, but on Saturday, we left the hotel at 9:00 am and got back around three, and stayed for about three hours, only to go out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant that was billed as 'romantic'.

Well, the food was awesome. The service and ambiance...not so much. We had a reservation, and the hostess took seemingly FOREVER to finally acknowledge us. So very annoying to see where you're going to be seated but not actually seated there.

Romantic? Well, romantic and 'family restaurant' don't really go together. Food was good though.

After that, we went to the casino. It was busy, so I hung around the edges of the casino floor rather than sitting next to my husband. Two hours later, I was able to drag him out. We didn't get home until after midnight, and then we stayed up until about one, so I didn't do any writing yesterday.

*Shrug* I'll try to make up for it today....

Week 6

2006-02-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

Progress for Week Six of 2006

35,263 / 250,000
(14.1%)

Not too bad. Slow and steady is working - only now, I have a new story idea that will have to wait for JulNoWriMo 06.

S'all good in the end, I guess. I may have to break down and get one of those voice recognition software things, or a scribe.

February: Week 2

2006-02-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't make it to 10% done last Sunday, but I did finally make it. I'm currently at a little over 11%, and have done over 9,000 words this month, so I'm a little over 10,000 words from making this month's goal of 19,180.

I am excited that I'm in the 25K Club, and at 27K completed, the 30K Club isn't all that far off.

I see that the January results are finally posted, but I'm curious to see how the other clubs did too.

I've got inspiration for a new story.

2006-02-11T21:51:00.001-08:00

If only I wasn't blocked for the end of it. V.V

Super Bowl Sunday

2006-02-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well, February has arrived. I'm not doing all that bad so far. Only one day in the red where I haven't made my goal. So far, I've written over four thousand words this month, and I'm hoping to try to make 10% today.

I really don't think I'll do it, but on the other hand, I've made it to 9%, and I've finally got my average high enough that I'll finish in late January 2007, instead of mid February, 2007. So if I can keep up the pace, maybe I just might be able to catch up...

I did finish the writing prompt for the month already. Now what am I going to do?

Coming along

2006-02-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I'm signed in correctly or what name I'm coming up under since it never asked for that or password. Oh well, I don't get blogs. I'm finally starting to make inroads. I'm managing 900 words each day. At this rate, I should be caught up by mid-March. Realistically, I'd like to be on track by May. I'm finishing up my mystery class for Barnes and Noble, which has helped boost my count. I start the Romance Writer's class on Monday. I'm on track with my fiction reading. Reading an American Romance has inspired me to not fuss as much with my wording. The book was so cheesy and so poorly written I was literally calling my husband at work to tell him about it. I figure I need to lighten up on myself. I like my story, which is making the difference. Deirdre is a twenty-three-year-old product of the foster care system just trying to make a better life for herself when she meets fourty-seven-year-old Grant, a widower with two children resolved not to squander his life any more. They meet and have a sweet romance where they help each other reach their goals, but with a bit of static from family and community over the age difference.

We're also looking for a new house. That takes up a ton of my time. Wish me luck!

--yogasoda

January 29th...the home stretch

2006-01-29T13:27:00.000-08:00

Well, January's nearly over, and I'm behind. Ah well, there are other months where I can try to make up for it yet, and of course, Nanowrimo should help quite a bit....

So, I did at least make my goal of hitting 12K last week. I think 16k is definitely attainable today, but maybe I should really try to hit 1K today, which I have yet to actually accomplish. So much easier to do during Nanowrimo, but I had things laid out fairly well in advance (outlines and such).

So...I guess the only thing is to just keep trying....

The WriYe update from Washington.

2006-01-24T21:33:00.000-08:00

First off, others have already said it...but go Seahawks! Being a Washington resident, it's a pretty big deal to me, I'm freaking excited. So let's cheer the 'hawks on!

On a more literary note, I'm still behind but with high hopes of catching up. I've got a new idea (I'm still keeping the other one, at least until I can get caught up in my words, and I DO plan on going back), and it's been driving me today. My mom got me a book today called, "Thirty Days to More Powerful Writing". I haven't read it yet but it looks promising. And, most exciting (but also most nervewracking), I'll be on the other side of the Cascades from April 4th to the 9th. There's a young writers conference (reading and writing, AKA r.a.w.) for high school students, and since it's not all that pricey to go, and it's right during my spring break, I'm going to be visiting there. My only problem is the five days of WriYe that I'm going to miss by being away. The solution I've come up with so far is to just work my butt off now, making sure that I have AT LEAST five days worth of slack available for when things like vacations come along.

January 22nd....

2006-01-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

And I've decided to try my hand at writing prompts. PbEM replies just don't seem to have the hefty word counts I was hoping for. Plus, I find that some days, there is no response, and I have next to nothing to fall back on.

So I've done two so far. 153 for the first, 186 for the second. Well, at least I'm improving. My January one is 3,767.

Current word count 11,661. I'm going to try to make 12K tonight...

And for all you football fans, GO SEAHAWKS!

Sublime Inspiration

2006-01-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

Imagine what this could do for our Word Counts in addition to the sheer unfettered joy of the day:

January 27th is the Second Annual

LiveJournal Rabbit Hole Day!

Because we can pretend that the world makes sense the other 364 days of the year.

D:

2006-01-21T06:05:00.000-08:00

I have 46k, but that's because I made my main character have a dream about her and an elfie dude called Johnnie. XP I'm so horrible. -hopes 'tis not against teh rules for main characters to argue about tea :ninja:-

~Retti

EDIT: Deleted most words from teh dream and now I have 12k, which is more realistic! XD

Well I just thought I'd say...

2006-01-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

Even though I'm behind on WriYe and can't POSSIBLY seem to find time to fit in writing, I've found a lot of time of MySpace, the WriYe website, and of course, Blogger. This is my new account. Check me out. ^_^

Better Late Than Never

2006-01-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

So I finally buckled down and starting writing this afternoon. I hadn't been too motivated to start writing since mid-December. I did so much writing in November and the first part of December that I got sick of my story and wanted to take a break. Plus, I got the game The Movies for Hanukkah, so writing had pretty much taken a back seat. But today as I was trying to find my way home from a job interview I found a plot bunny and couldn't wait to get home and write it down. So my word count is a measly 1832 for the year! Hooray!

Pep talk to myself....and to anyone else who wants to take it as such! :D

2006-01-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

The following's a variation on a conversation I had with myself recently - yes, I was alone and in my own place. I had to actually verbalise some of the frustration I was feeling with the way I was letting things get out of hand in my life, not just with my writing but with other things. So I sat down, looked at myself in the mirror, and gave myself a talking to. I came away laughing at how I looked and with a much more positive spin on things. If you want to take this as a pep talk for yourself, great, fine, go ahead. If not, just imagine how I thought I looked in my mind's eye talking to myself. Yes, I'm writing here to all of us, but, mostly, to me.

For all those of you who feel like you're a failure because you're behind, think positive! It's still early days, being the beginning of 2006 still. Plenty of time to catch up! I know it's easy to get down in the dumps because of things like this, but look your procrastination straight in the eye and tell it that you're not going to give in.

Of course, having said that, procrastination is still quite the tempting thing and calls to us all, especially in our weakest moments. I know this full well! But a lot of it's attitudinal, I think. At least that's what I've found for myself, anyway.

I've only just made a sliver of a dent into my 250K & I'm done feeling down about it. Yes, I'll still have my times of down-ess because of my procrastination, but, really, it's my own fault when I don't buckle down to the job at hand. I get way too lazy and just want to veg and do nothing. So I give in to that and am worse off than before, especially here where it's so dark for so long every day this time of year. However, the days are getting longer, even if imperceptibly right now, and the thought of that alone is giving me more energy and the will to actually do something besides watch TV.

Well, that's that. There was more and I was actually quite harsh with myself at some times, but I won't go into all that. This is really just the gist of what I said to myself. But would you please excuse me now? I have to go and laugh at myself in the mirror.

I'm a WriYe failure.

2006-01-16T15:58:00.000-08:00

Maybe that's too harsh, I don't know. But here I am, not having written for a whole week (even though I had plenty of time to do it before), and now I'm BEHIND. I was good, I was great until I decided to take a break.

AND THEN...not only did I FINALLY decide to come back, but now that I'm back, I've lost the train of thought that I had earlier. I don't even feel like the story belongs to me anymore! It seemed sacred, almost, but now it just seems...pathetic.

I think someone should design a writers step-by-step guide for getting back into your project. Most people don't realize that going back after a long (or even short) break is, at best, a headache.

~ ohh its AMELIA

writing with pen and paper has its benefits

2006-01-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

You know one of the problems with writing on one of those text editors?

There's no satisifying sound of ripping the paper up into tiny pieces and throwing them in the air over your head when you realise that it just isn't working, and is showing no sign of working at any time in the future, either.

(Of course, there's also the fact that I'd have to pick up the pieces of paper later, but that's later.)

Meh.

Penned in...

2006-01-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

Well, according to the neat word tracker that someone sent in to the forums (thank you so much!), I should be finished with my 250K by 17 January 2008, which is way better than the 2025 date that it was giving me as of two days ago, right? As of today I have a paltry 3,350 words. I am behind. I have been so brainless lately that I didn't even turn my computer on for four days! I never, unless I am not home or so sick I can't move, never, ever go a day without turning my computer on. So, does that mean I win the prize for procrastinating??? Cool! Okay, time to get serious and get to work. I know I have a plot bunny hanging around here somewhere--I just have to find the silly little thing. I'd even settle for a plot weasel right now!

WHEE!!

2006-01-10T22:42:00.000-08:00

I FOUND MY PLOT BUNNIES!!!

~The Fluffball

I have been a naughty person.

2006-01-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

I've only done 3K and I missed four days of writing.

>.>

<.<

*Runs away, ducking flying tomatoes*

Goals and Life

2006-01-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

Reading this blog has shown me that I'm not the only one who has had problems within the first two weeks. I kicked off to a great start with 3500 words in the first two days on the end of my NaNo Novel. That's where things went south, tho. I set aside two hours a day, one mid-afternoon, one late night, two write. The catch is, the world decided that it would interfere and steal my muse away.

I want to complete my NaNo Novel, and I've got another Novel idea that I've started on, but it seems like the only things that want to be written are stories based off prompts. Not really a bad thing, since my 3rd project for the year is a collection of short stories.

I've been productive, however, and have a decent word count. I'm sitting at 8109 words in my January file, so I really can't complain too much. My daily word counts bother me tho. I've had days as low as 210 words, while my highest is 1944. I know that I can do more, so it disappoints me when I can't even reach my daily goal of 700.

MzSerena

Typing along into Week 2...

2006-01-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

Well my goal of daily writing has not been met, life just seems to keep getting in the way of this. I am now writing just about every other day. My current word count is at approximately 5300 words. I keep seeing other people's word counts and wishing mine was larger. We all know there is only one way to fix that problem...to keep typing along!

I've also come up with an idea for another project so I'm taking notes and creating an outline for that story, just trying to see how it would work out. I'm torn between working on just the one novel project now, and sort of jogging between the two projects for awhile. But my big concern is that by taking on two projects I won't get as much headway on either and I might not finish one or both of them. But the benefit of working on two projects would be that I wouldn't get bored of just writing the same old story, I'd have some variety. I also have this idea in my head that just keeps sort of poking at me, and I feel like I should try to do something with it. So I'm at least going to take my notes about it, get everything on paper so if I do put it on the backburner for awhile - I have all of my little thoughts about it somewhere I can see them again. Some people doing this NaNoWriYe have so much more experience writing than I do. This past November was the first time I tried to write a novel, so there is a lot that is brand new to me. It also seems from reading forum posts that everyone has to find their own way, that there is no single "right way" to do things. This is good to know but it also makes it feel all the more challenging. I feel like I'm still finding my way. And now we are into week 2! :)

First Goal Met

2006-01-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

Today, I reached 10k. To be specific, 10,681.

Since I measure my goals by the 10k marker, this would make it my first goal, and I did it in a little over a week. Not bad, considering that there were medical issues and at least a day I slept away instead of writing.

I'm not participating in JanNoWriMo (or whatever it's called), so more than anything, this has caused me to pay attention to my writing habits. I write more fanfiction than I realise I do, and those 100-word drabbles that pop into my head add up over time. Not to mention that nothing had gone according to plan.

My chosen novel projects have all gone somewhat south. My "Figments" muse isn't putting out the wordcount output that I was expecting for her to, and since it's in first person perspective, that's putting a damper on things. Crystalline isn't working well at all, and the short story that I was going to do isn't exactly going the way I thought it would either. Only, where the others are a bad sign for word-count, the last is a good thing.

Two of the other (and more minor) characters decided to hijack the story from Julie, my original muse. Sort of. The original story is still going to hold, but the two minor characters are filling in some of the background details of the universe in the form of answering prompts for the Body and Soul original character 100 story challenge.

This is good for world-building. Good for word-count. Bad for my chosen plan.

I also haven't been spending much time on the forums. Or checking on the blog. Oops. Sorry, y'all.

-Lunae

JaNo Getting Me Ahead

2006-01-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm doing JaNoWriMo right now, so I'm pushing to get 50k done this month. So I'm ahead for WriYe right now (say that five times fast) I have just under 24,000 words (I mean w/in fifty words here people) and hopefully I'll get 50k in before school decides tokcik me in the head.

I used to write all the time, but I hadn't written very much at all the last couple years, so I decided to do JaNo to get me in the groove of writing again and just to see if I could. So I am and I'm loving it. And of course, I joined WriYe just about the same time as I did JaNo so that way I can't just write one month and then not write anything again for the rest of the year.

Anyway, things are going good because I'm ahead of scheldule for both WriYe and for JaNo... so good stuff man

Just wanta say good luck to all.

--Lyeshea

Week One....

2006-01-08T20:09:00.000-08:00

Behind! I'm only at 4132 words right now. I might actually add the other 1300 or so I need to round out to today but it's probably not likely tonight. I'm getting pretty tired and I really need to get some other stuff done! *sigh* Sometimes I really hate teaching! Only for the paperwork!

~krazikrys

Progress for Week 1

2006-01-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

I am doing pretty well with my word count, I believe. 13,373/250k. Not too shabby, unfortunately school begins tomorrow and I am running out of steam already, I'm just not entirely sure where I wish to take my story. I am going to think hard about it and then just force myself to write one night when my boyfriend isn't raiding so I can have the computer uninterrupted for the night, hrm. My biggest fear is burning out and the lack of a computer at my house, meaning weekends when I'd have ample time to write I won't be able to write as much because writing by hand is a weakness of mine, oh bother.

Oh well, I am going to relax. I don't want to start panicing yet, it's just the start... I figure I'll save the panic for the halfway point and near the end, hehe.

Well.. I'm done rambling.

Progress Week 1

2006-01-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

Progress for 01-07 Jan 2006:

7,401 / 250,000
(3.0%)

ETA: Am I doing anything now? Nope. Sitting on my bum, eating M&M's while defiantly looking at the exercise machine, and thinking that this is an auspicious start to Week 2.

End Of The First Week

2006-01-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, well I'm less than 6 hours away from midnight, marking the end of the first week of NaNoWriYe 2006. I've gotten a decent amount of writing done (7,742 so far) and actually feel pretty good about the year to come. I was crazy enough to sign up for both JanNo and FebNo, and if I win both of those I'll be 40% done with my yearly word count in just the first two months. I really don't know if, realistically, I can do that. But I'm very confident that I will hit my 250K mark, most likely with lots of time to spare.

As for WHAT I'm writing... well, I go through ups and downs. Sometimes I think it's absolute crap and there's no point to even writing it. Other times I'm able to remind myself that it doesn't really matter. It's just a draft. The important thing is getting the story down.

I think I may have to create a NaNo*ED*Ye for 2007. It's really that bad. Of course if I stay as far ahead as I am so far, I'll have plenty of time to write and edit 250K words in 2006. But only time will tell.

~FreeWriter

Amelia the Slacker

2006-01-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess that in the OVERALL scheme of things, I'm not that big of a slacker...I've got 6,325 words (which I think is a thousand or so above my goal so far) but I just don't do that much daily work on it. I think I've actually sat down and written a lot only two days so far (does that make sense? It doesn't sound right, but oh well).

And I've started a new school, which makes it even crazier, all of this writing. I actually have two writing-type assignments for my school so far: I'm writing an article for our school paper about the Chronicles of Narnia (awesome movie) and I'm writing three short stories. All this weekend! I've already decided to not count them in for my word count (which sounds stupid) because mainly, they're SCHOOL. I have to do them or else I fail. I don't have to write these stories I'm working on.

To me, it just didn't seem fair.

~ ohh it's AMELIA

Well...It's Saturday

2006-01-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

That means I get to write!!!!!!! Well, after some yard sale-ing and book covering. Fortunately I got MOST of my books prepped to be covered. I also need to plan out this week. Which really sucks, but that's okay. And get homework entered and progress reports done! *sigh* so much to do, so little time.

At least I found out some good news! March 10 BRIAN goes on tour! Or at least that's what he's saying at this moment. I'm still hoping for a CD for my birthday and if possible him playing somewhere near me! (Vegas on the 14th of April would be AMAZING!) In case you're lost, the BRIAN I am talking about is Christian artist, BRIAN LITTLRELL. (Yes the same BRIAN in the Backstreet Boys.)

So now, I'm off to go to yard sales! Hopefully some inspiration will hit soon!

~krazikrys

Hello, world!

2006-01-06T01:15:00.000-08:00

My first blog post! :O

I would first like to thank the 250k club for already making this such a wonderful experience for me. I would not be half as motivated to work this year if it were not for all of you. Thanks again.

I would also like to congratulate myself on figuring out how to use the blogger system. I pat myself on the back.

In other news, my word count is at a decent 3,003 right at this second, and if I get my way tomorrow schedule-wise, the 1,107 that I owe my story will be a cinch. I find that I have been skipping days and finishing the word count (with a little ahead) by twos. One day I'll write and get ahead, the second day I slack, the next day I write for two days, and so on. It's not too bad. It might work better for some people, even - I need it because I can't finish a scene in 685 words, and coming back to it in the middle throws me off.

I think I'm just rambling about nothing at this point. I'm sorry, it's 3:00 in the morning. After, even. Whoo.

If anyone is interested in my works, you can find updates on my LiveJournal, and from there links to the beginning of the work-in-progress.

My goals for this year: Not to be as distracted as I usually become. That means cutting back on video games. D,: Sigh.

I leave you all for now! Goodbye, So long, Adieu. :)

~Liatris

The Sloth Sets Out!

2006-01-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

Well, the sloth has set out on his journey. Trying to accomplish the quarter of a million words in a year feat, I have probably set a record for falling behind in the first 5 days!! Broken down in to month segments, 250k is 20,834 words/month. I have a paltry 1,468, which is on pace to barely scrape 8k this month. I NEED motivation!! Hopefully, I'll hit my stride soon. I refuse to be behind at the end of the first month, that would just suck! Anyone want to race? *smirk*

Signed,
OnlyGrinch

1,468 / 250,000
(0.0%)

Well, it's been decided!

2006-01-05T05:14:00.000-08:00

That's it! I'm going to write on the weekends! There's no reason as to why I should push myself to have all my work done as well as 685 words a day... I'm just going to focus on the week stats of 5,209 words. I'm not going to kill myself! Yeah, that means I need another 3,000 words this week, but I'll live!

~krazikrys

2006-01-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

I think my plot bunnies got washed away in the flood--which happened two days before the official writing began. Sigh. I'll have to go out and find them, I guess. Until then, my mind is a blank page.

TangoDream

Sniff

2006-01-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

I still haven't found my plot bunnies. ;_; They're summaries of story ideas I put on palmcards. Last time I saw them they were in my rucksack, but it's kidnapped my plot bunnies. ;_;

Calm down, I won't need them til November...

I'm procrastinating by paying attention to my sims and looking for my plot bunnies.

~The Fluffball

Organised

2006-01-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

I've gotten myself pretty much organised and ready for some serious work, and I can only wonder what in the world I've gotten myself into for this year, because it feels a lot like a lifestyle change. The gory details are catalogued here.

Yes, I think that I shall now style myself as a lady novelist and not an archaeologist any more. Which of course reminds me of Pan.

"There's nothing so difficult to marry off as a lady novelist."
~No worries there, I'm already married.

"It's very difficult to make a good living as a lady novelist."
~Try being an archaeologist.

Back to the work-a-day world.

TTFN,
Bellatrix

Skipped This Morning

2006-01-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I skipped this morning's writing session. It'll probably take me a little bit to fall back into my old routine. It has been two weeks. I'm not worried about it. I did enough writing over the last two days to skip today, well at least this morning. I'll have to see what comes out later. Well, I'm off to start my day! =)

~krazikrys

1% Done

2006-01-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I made 1% done today! Yeah!!!! It puts me almost 2 days ahead, of which I seriously need if I'm going to be going back to school tomorrow and I'll have all this stuff to catch up on becaue I'm always behind! *lol* I managed to do it off of two stories actually. 1972 from the one of I've been working on since yesterday and then 602 from a fifteen minute writing prompt. You all should try it! I love word based writing prompts. There's a couple different communities on LiveJournal that have them. There are also other places too. I'm going to keep trying to write some more today, but I plan to spend some time in my classroom, organizing! =) God, I hate this stuff sometimes! I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to over this vacation! But when do I ever? At least I've gotten some writing done!

~krazikrys

Eep!

2006-01-02T04:46:00.000-08:00

OK, I shamefully admit to not getting to my 10K goal already, despite it being summer holidays, and... I'm ok 1.5K. *Cringe* I was hoping to be WAY past that by now! I've been slacking off in my writing. ._. Damn.

Anyway, as an update for Aussie weather - a cold front came last night, so it's not 43C anymore, thank god. It's quite a cool night, so I'll actually be able to get to sleep. Last night I didn't even notice it come - despite ALL the windows being WIDE OPEN, the cool air didn't come into my bedroom! @#%@#$@#$@!!! I had to get up, and the SECOND I stepped out of my room I felt cold. ._. So I was suffocating in my bedroom whilst my lucky parents and LB (Little Brother) died of frostbite. ;_;

(Not being serious of course)

Also, I'M SEEING NARNIA ON SATURDAY!! :D If I get up to 10K by then I'll let myself bring some money for lollies. :3 Then I'll see it again with my friend when she comes back.

EEP, I'm getting off topic! e.e

Well, sort of.

On other (writing related) news, I'm doing a sims 2 legacy story. That'll help me with my wriye. Other projects do that to me.

The only thing I'm afraid of is slacking off to play sims. XD

~The Fluffball

Helo.

2006-01-01T23:35:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is doing splendid. I just did my first bit of writing for the new year, it isn't good but it's also not horrible, so there is some hope that as soon as I get flowing, things will be promising. Hopefully that made a bit of sense, hee. I'm rather worried about keeping up with this once semster begins and once I go home, as my computer is dead (My little brother killed it, but I swear I'm not pointing fingers) and so the only computer access I get is at the boyfriend's house.. I hate writing by hand as half that time I cannot read what I wrote... but here is to slaving away by hand until my family and I can afford a new computer.

Eventually I plan on purchasing my own computer so I will not have to fear the roughness with which my little brother treats everything. I'm rambling away about computers...hee.

What is everyone's stories about? Mine takes place in an invented world of mine, a fantasy-type novel because it's the kind that intrigued me during NaNoWriMo and I wanted to continue with the world I had created for it, it's hard letting go of characters once you create them and so I will continue to let them run amok.

Well... that's about it. Hope everyone is doing splendid.

- Miss Siriuslyrad.

Well, I made my goal for the day, but it sucked!

2006-01-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

Yeah... 935 words of suckage. But that all comes out in rewriting, right?! Right?! Actually, I really enjoyed writing those 935 words, because they were the first of the year, and the first of the challenge. It's going to be a long, but fantastic year.

Good luck, everyone... and I hope we all make our goals... whether the writing sucks or not!

Day One and Already Procrastinating

2006-01-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

Well, 2006 is here, and about time too.

I was starting to get antsy.

Neither of the original pieces I'd planned on writing are quite cooperating yet. Well, Figments is, but it's taking a little while to get the narriator for that one awake. I'm sure that once I do get her awake and get the story moving along, then it'll be impossible to shut her up. I did get 500+ words on that one, so at least that's some progress, I suppose.

Oh well.

Until then, I've been playing around with some fanfiction that needs to be finished (badly) and some other original pieces that are already in the works. So far, I'm just at over 1100 words, and not anywhere near the goal of 3,000 that I'd set for myself. Then again, I seldom hit the daily goal for NaNoWriMo this year and I still finished that one, so all hope is not gone.

And there's still a few hours left to go yet.

Provided I don't continue to procrastinate, that is.

Whee!

2006-01-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

Hi, this is The Fluffball from the nanowriye forums! :D Go the 250K club!

Yesh, I have already done 1K... or close to it, at least, let me check... sorry, I was wrong, I've done 997 words. What's the difference? Just three words! :D

Anyway, somehow I don't think I've got enough on my plan for 250K, so I'm going to have ALOT of wordpadding! *Faints* I hope to publish this someday, though, so most of it will go during editing. Luckilly I managed to put some extentions on it, AKA only half of it was meant to be the original plot, but then I put a twist in it to allow for more plot. Hopefully it's enough.

How many people here are going to do this AND Nanowrimo?

Anyway, (I use that phrase too much) I live in Australia and the temperature today is in the forties, which (I think) is in the 100s farenheight. (Sp?) I don't know exactly what it is in F, but all I know is that IT'S BL**DY HOT!!! (Sorry, I'm not sure if we're allowed to swear on this.) Thank the gods I have a pool!

Anyway (AGAIN!!! ARGH!!! If anyone has synonym suggestions, THROW THEM AT ME!!) how is everyone doing so far, and how is the weather affecting (effecting?!?!?!) you? The heat is making it so hard to concentrate. *Faints*

Sayonara! I'm off to have a dip in my NICE, COOL POOL!! *Has no hope of rubbing it in if you're in the Nothern Hemisphere*

~The Fluffball

YEAH!!!!!

2006-01-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

Well, so far so good...I've already got over 1000 words!!!! I hope to have more by this evening, but we'll just have to see how things go. I'm working on cleaning my house, something I haven't done in way too long! But hey, I have a kitchen! =) Okay, back to cleaning.

krazikrys (who has an acct for her dog...that's who Sadie_Mae is)

Ready to take a flying leap!

2006-01-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

This morning I pulled a tarot card and The Fool came back, staring at me. I thought this card was so appropriate for January 1st. The Fool is a card of new beginnings and starting fresh. It is also the card of starting a journey. And starting NaNoWriYe is certainly a journey of one type. I've never consciously written 250k words before. The only time I ever wrote a novel was for NaNoWriMo this past November, and I have to admit that I did not think my novel was really anything that special - so here's hoping that future efforts will be more creative and have better writing.

Today I actually can't write anything until much later tonight and its really frustrating me. I have to go to work in an hour, to cover someone who wanted the day off. At least I get paid time and a half for going in. I didn't have special plans for the day so I was happy to earn a little extra money. But I won't be home until eight o'clock and then I'll eat dinner - so I think I'll be able to finally think about writing at about nine o'clock. I wonder if I'll really be in the mood to do so? Maybe just a page or two...

Tommorow is going to be even more hectic. I'm going to see family that I did not see on Christmas because their daughter was giving birth ON Christmas. She had two beautiful twin baby girls. But as a side note, we never got to see these relatives and celebrate the holidays with them. So we are doing that tommorow, and we'll exchange gifts. It will be a wonderful day, but I know my family and quite frankly, this means the whole day is going to be taken over with this event - so no writing tommorow, at least not until later that evening.

So I feel frustrated that this journey has begun and I'm spending two days sitting on the sidelines watching others' wordcounts rise as mine probably stays at zero. But hopefully in time I'll be able to keep a steady pace.

Happy New Year everyone!

bottleblonde (on the 250k board)

Happy 2006 & geting started

2006-01-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

HI all! Happy New Year! I hope all of you have beautiful, productive, and awesome days ahead!
This was an excellent idea. Anyway, I am getting started by doing something totally different. I normally hate planners.. I never use them. However, I decided to get a planner ** not for the typical schedule and all that crap.. but for writing. I thought it would be a good way to log and write and keep it all together (although I love my computer, I'm still very much a paper/pencil chick!). Since we are all in this 250K and have to keep track by month.. why not!
I know some peopel think Walmart is the devil.. and most likely true.. however, I bought a Fleetwood Organizer- undated, zippered, 5.2 by 8.5, brown faux leather. It's perfect. Of course I have to design my own writing pages (all that white lined paper blinds me LOL).

Anyway.. I'm thrilled. Look forward to reading adn writign with all of you lovely people ! GO 250K CLub.. we rock !!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well, we rang in the New Year by attending a hockey game. My company sponsors the team, so we had free tickets.

So, all in all, 9 goals (six scored by our team), 4 fights (one involving all the players on the ice), two party hats (purchased by my husband...money went to the Humane Society.), and 1 marriage proposal accepted in front of 10,ooo plus fans. Awww....

I do a fair amount of play by post RPGs, and I managed to make one post at exactly midnight. (well, it doesn't count seconds) I'm not going to count it as part of my January word count though.

I'm working on another right now, and it most certainly will....

Good luck to everyone!

JadeMage

Happy Writing

2006-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year to all, and Happy Writing. The ideas are just about tumbling over each other as I type, and I might switch to pen and paper for a bit to spare my wrists ;)

I made a blog here, but am going to post pretty much in this forum and at WriYe more than this blog. I'll still update the GJ and LJ though.

You know, I might just go take a nap and wait for coherence to return for the day.

Cheers,
Bellatrix

The first day of the rest of our lives...

2006-01-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

And so it begins. 365 days of writing. Some of us will be working on major works, some on short stories, some on fanfiction, and some on a combination of the three. I personally am using this year to complete 5 novels (hopefully) and a short story each month.

So good luck to each of the 250K club members on this, the first day of our great adventure.

8:45 and already procrastinating

2006-01-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's 8:45 on January 1, 2006. I'm already procrastinating. Instead of sitting down and actually doing some writing, I'm sitting here blogging. Yeah! Yeah, I'm going to make 250k, right! And the sky is going to turn purple! *lol* Well, I guess I'm off to go try and get some writing done. At least for an hour. That's my New Years Resolution. Write for an hour every day. And then it's off to get the coding done for my WriYe Page...That'll take forever! Don't expect a lot from my website anytime soon! =)

krazikrys

A (Mid)Night To Remember

2006-01-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

Well I rang in the new year in an interesting way. We had a party at my apartment. Nothing huge, just 10-15 people, all but two over 21, and one of those is turning 21 today (the 1st). Well the boyfriend of the birthday girl had a bit too much to drink. (He actually was drinking before they got here, and failed to mention that to anyone.) But... yeah. We were all freaking out, and didn't know what to do. Some of the more experienced in taking care of drunkies stayed with him, trying to get him to drink water and all the other stuff you do... nothing seemed to help. So we finally called 911. But just to be safe, I took the other minor (who is very obviously a minor) into my room and shut the door, so there'd be no chance of her getting in trouble. We didn't think it would be an issue with the paramedics, they'd pretty much just be concerned with the drunk guy. But better safe than sorry. So we were hiding in my room for about twenty minutes, including the moment that WriYe started for those of us in Central time.

But after all that died down, I did manage to get in some writing. Two hours and 726 words into the new year!

Good luck to everyone else as you begin! (Hey, even you West Coast-ers are in 2006 now!)

~FreeWriter

Just an hour away!

2005-12-31T22:49:00.000-08:00

WriYe is just a little over an hour away (at least for us over here on the West Coast) and I've gotta say, I'm getting insanely excited.

It sounds weird to nonwriters, probably, but something like WriYe is one of those things that just gets us excited. Maybe you could compare it to the excitement that an Eminem fan feels when his latest CD finally goes in stores? I don't know, because I'm not an Eminem fan. But it's something that you really anticipate, and you just can't wait until it happens. Maybe you'll be let down after it happens, but just waiting for it...that's where the real excitement comes from.

And so I ask myself: what is going to happen an hour from now, when WriYe officially begins and I can start counting my words? Will I get to it, like I really want to? Or will I procrastinate, like I can actually see myself doing? Will things be as picture-perfect as I can see it, or will I disappoint myself just within the first hour?

I feel like I'm giving this an awful lot of thought, when what I know I should do is just shut up and let things happen.

But then again, I'm an overanalyst and that's how things work.

In conclusion, I'm just really excited for WriYe to start...no matter how it's gonna go, I'm still really psyched because a lot of the other 250K-ers are gonna do really great, and that's part of the fun of this all--cheering everyone else on. :)

Amelia (ohh it's AMELIA from blogger.com)

Yay!

2005-12-31T18:50:00.000-08:00

Yay! It's 2006! I started on my story already, and it isn't going too bad, thankfully. I thought I'd lost my writing flair after NaNoWriMo last year, but it looks like I haven't yet! Yay!

I got so excited I even made a cover for my story. It's not finished yet, but if you want to see it anyway, here it is:

I made it with Paint, and, as usual, got a lot of "HA IT'S SO COOL I COULD NEVER DRAW LIKE THAT WHEN I WAS ELEVEN." comments from fellow... dudes. :o [Yes, I'm eleven x.x Ummmm.... yesh.]

Hope I'm allowed to post images ^^; If not, I could take it down.
Yeah, happy and all that, blah blah, blah blay.

~Retti

The Beginning

2005-12-31T16:47:00.000-08:00

This is the first post of the blog for the 250K Club participating in NaNoWriYe 2006. We will use this blog to share our struggles and triumphs as we attempt to write 250,000 words in one year.

- AngelSong76, Club President