September through December...November is the Exception

September is here!!

Wow the summer passed by super fast and with in the warm weather. Time to pull out the favourite pull over and fluffy pajama pants.

I don't know if I mentioned in past posts that I wasn't going back to school in septemeber...I could have just left off with wanting to get into Res for next semester but it's true I'm not in school.

Last semester left me with a few health problems, the travelling was getting a bit out of hand and well with my grandfather passing away, the result of my grades weren't the greatest...in fact they completely caught me by surprise and now I am going to have to redo my sememster. < the hardest part about redoing the semester is I'm kind of disappointed in myself...it's not everyday that I fail at something...and when I've always done so well in school in the past...it's a harsh blow.

But I've got a plan and I'm working on getting better. The doc says it's a great thing that I'm not going back so soon, I couldn't handle much more stress.

My Plan for success:
1. Live on campus...if not possible move close to campus or invest in a car to drive. (working on the investing in a car < I've finally taken driving lessons to get my G2 Woot! - and I'm also going to work on the staying on campus.)
2. Healthy Mind and Body...this wasn't exactly my top priority since January...in fact neither my mind nor my body was very healthy...I skipped breakfast, my classes blew through lunch and half the time I wasn't hungry anyways and dinner was always eaten around 10pm (not to mention when I did decide I was hungry besides dinner it was always out of the campus caf). Priority: controlling the stress...shouldn't be much accept for homework ...eating properly and physical excersise.

A typical Day Last year:

Wake up 4 a.m
out of the house by 5:15
at the mall and on the city bus for 5:30
At the station for 6:15
on the bus to toronto for 6:45
At transfer point for 7:15
On second bus for 7:30
At school for 8:15
Class at 9:00

Class ends at 5:05
on bus for 5:20
transfer point 5:50
bus 5:55
arrive at station 8:00
city bus 1: 8:20
transfer point: 9:00
City bus 2: 9:15
final stop: 9:50
either walk for 20 minutes or take a transfer cab 5 mins

^ doesn't leave much time at the end of the day for sleep or homework...it was usually a toss up between the two

I mentioned November in the title...November is pretty much a write off...as I usually do NanoWrimo and this year is no different than last...only this year I've stepped up to the plate with my notebook planner...the time that I've been off I've been planning the novels I want to start writing. I shouldn't have an excuse to why I shouldn't be writing...the video posted on the NaNoWriMo website on August 5th (it's now in the archive as theres a new one up) provided some great inspiration...really seeing that someone else besides myself had trouble writing. It put things in a whole different perspective and I'm going to try something new this year...usually I've been a panster but I'm a planner this year. It might prove to work out. < I'm going for the gold


As well with the time i've had off I've been working on my sketches and designs and been playing alot of sims 3...very fun!!

The Planning is…well it’s going

So the other day I ran across a forum post for something called a novel bible. This really piqued my interest because well probably like most writer’s this is the only thing my organizational mind can’t reach and that’s my writing files on my computer. I’m a clean and organized freak in every other aspect of my life but when it comes to my writing forget about it and most of the time I usually lose a file and what not and I can never find anything. Just this morning I found a whole half novel that I had started writing but thought I lost. It was covered in dust at the bottom of a file folder in something I would have never thought to look in otherwise on my hard drive.
A novel bible or binder if you couldn’t already guess is everything organized into one place for you. It includes everything that you might think you want to put in your future novel. Over the course of the last few days I tried making a hard copy of one, something that wasn’t on the computer but it go really disorganized fast and I was wasting paper which wasn’t something I wanted to do. So then I started thinking of programs I could possibly use to have it electronically. Some people keep it simple and in word or in evernote. Well point blank I highly dislike Evernote and use OneNote instead, and Word was too constricting.
Yesterday I had attempted in Evernote and made a small dent but still got frustrated when it got too confusing and then I realised I was doing it all wrong. It was me being over organizational again.
So instead of having a gizillion little uncatagorized pieces I have my binder organized as follows (it’s all alphabetical which will drive me insane since I want it organized by importance – may yet have a solution to fix that)

Against All Odds Novel Bible
Characters

• Major Characters
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• Minor Characters
• F
• G
• H
• I

Location

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E

Pre-Plan

• Rough Plot Ideas
• Rough Timeline of Events

Research
The Plot

• Uncatagorized Scenes
• Time Line
• Chapter One Scenes (Section for each chapter of scenes)

The Sequel – Pre-plan

• Ideas
• Rough Time Line of Events
• Uncatagorized Scenes
• Probable Characters
• Locations

Under each section lets say for character I can have under Character A, a page for each of the following: Photos/Character sketch, And then one for each biography category and anything else. Of all the methods I tried this one was the easiest to work out and set up. Of course the outline above for my catagories may work for myself and not for you. You’ll just have to play with it and find what way works for you.
Anyways I feel with this method I can keep track of my novels. Not to mention OneNote allows you to have many notebooks at once. Unfortunately the program only comes in the Microsoft Office bundle and costs a bunch…though if you’re a student you can get it for free.  Totally worth it. 
My last post I mentioned that I wanted to plan before I ever attempted NaNoWriMo again or writing at all  and well I’m sticking with the program, though I have started writing down some uncatagorized and totally rough scenes when an idea or two has popped into my brain. I feel this method of planning will totally work.
Laters for now,

Happy Writing!

Behind is always where I start

It's day seven of august and the seventh day of my unofficial novel writing month with a few fellow writer's on facebook and I've gotten nowhere. My word count is currently zero and will probably stay that way.

I look at my screen and I really want to write, I have a million ideas buzzing around in my brain but nothing comes out and turns into words on my page.

A fellow writer from my writing group finally finished her first book. I'm happy for her, and then I look at myself and I say that I want to feel that feeling of accomplishment from finishing one of the many novels I've got penned in my head.

I know it won't happen over night, I just wish I could make an attempt that I was proud of.

Complete Failure

So this year, I tried out for CampNaNo as I posted about a month back.  It was an attempt by a long shot but an attempt nonetheless. And as usual when I attempt at writing a novel of approximately 50,000 words in a month I failed miserable as I have each and every time I’ve tried over the course of the last few years…three I believe. Though in all the three years I’ve attempted I’ve never done one of the Camp editions.

This year I got as far as 7,850…though I’m quite proud of myself because usually when I attempt these things my schedules pretty clear. This year however I was doing a summer semester in school and it was the end of the semester month that was attempted…the busiest time of the semester as it’s the end with finals and projects. It was extremely difficult but I tried my best with what spare time I had and thus my effort got me to 7,850 words approx.

This attempt was a test for this coming November NaNo 2013 when I will be in school and ending a semester. I wanted to see if I could actually do it. And while I only made a small attempt, it was something and that’s better than nothing. But I realized something.

During my writing sessions for NaNo I usually get bored with my story right quick. And it happened this year. I made it to only 2500 words when I burned out. So unlike most times I decided to try it at a different angle. Work another plot line that had been in my head for some time and see where it goes. Well voila! another 4,350 and that’s where it ended when I became too busy to write.

My point being is that I think I’ve found my solution. I need a really good planned outline to get my through. I mean I’ve planned sure, but I mean I need every possible Idea for the story I’m going to write for November, down and into the computer. Right down to the point that all I need to do is write the words that connect the ideas. An outline so complete that it’s practically fool proof.

 

Last November I typed out over 30,000 words. It was a great achievement as before that I’ve never completed anything that high. I thought with last year I was getting better, the year before that was about 10,000 words. Last years story was lost in a hard drive that was dropped and it shattered into a million non-reparable pieces. I’ve looked at the notes before, I’ve even gone as far as to start rewriting the story but I get stuck, I head in a direction that I don’t like and I immediately reject the idea.

My plan, is to revisit any and all ideas that I’ve had for any story that I’ve pretty much tossed in my recycle bin. It’s a good thing I remember most things about my plots, because I’m sure I’ve lost most notes I’ve written about them.

I want to revisit and plan out each novel. In time of course, not right away. The first one is the novel I attempted last year. I plan to attempt it this year but I want to plan every step. I want to be able to close my eyes and be able to type. No dead ends. Leave nothing with a loose end, always have an extra exit door in my back pocket.

 

Another NaNo participant outlines the same way and each year she gets at minimum one and a half novels out each November. I think it’s bloody amazing to write that much and its not because they have an abundance of time. It’s all in the planning and I’m sure fellow writers will agree, it’s not the amount of time you have…although I’m sure that does help to have an abundance of time.

 

On other writing things; I did want to give writing another novel in thirty days another shot now that I’m off school. A few people on Facebook in the NaNo writing group on their were gathering forces so to speak and gear up for writing in August. I’m not so sure now as I will only have August to plan as another school semester is coming up in September. I want to be ready to dive into November guns blazing.

The Tunnel

For Ralph the day started out like any other, minus having a wife around to nag him from the second he got out of bed to the moment he fell asleep, and even then she would find him in his dreams. For the first time in thirty-odd years it was quiet, peaceful like. With a smile on his face he began his morning routine; getting up, and getting dressed for work, wandering down the stairs and into the kitchen to prepare his breakfast and later his lunch. He took his seat at the old kitchen table with the faded and worn with age blue and white checkered table cloth with the vase of artifical daisies that had started to collect dust, making them appear more gray than white. The table wobbled in response as he set down his meal. He paused for a moment and decided to reflect on how he had gotten to this particular place in his life.
Ralph Biggs was a quiet man in his early fifties. he had been married to Emma; his highschool sweetheart at the age of twenty-three and was divorced from her just after thirty something years. The reason for the divorce if any remained unknown to him. Upon file for divorce, he lost his relationship with his children, the youngest of the two he had visitation rights on weekends but didn't bother to make an effort anymore because the situation never changed. He believed that from his children's actions that they believed the reason for the divorce was his fault.

Ralph shifted his view back down to his meal of reheated oatmeal and a glass of milk. The oatmeal turning cold and lumpy with each passing second. After a long pause of contemplation about whether or not he wanted to eat the bowl of stuff that appearently lowered his cholesterol levels according to the label on the package of Quaker Rolled Oats, he began to shovel the stuff into his mouth.

The day passed by at a moderate speed. He'd been to work and was now pulling into his driveway at six o'clock pm on the dot. His car made an unattractive noise as he shifted her into park. A noise that would have worried him if it had only been the first time it happened, but since it had been happening on a regular occurence for the last twenty years, he solemnly shrugged his shoulders, turned off the vehicle, peeled his body out of the drivers seat and slammed the door shut. The car in response shuttered and a chunk of rusted metal from the bottom of the door broke free and landed on the cracked tarmac of his driveway.

Ralph sat in front of the television in his pajamas, with his glass of milk and TV dinner that had been put into the oven to cook thirty minutes ago. The evening news was on, but Ralph paid barely any attention to the TV. He focused on solving the crossword puzzle that had been in this mornings newspaper, solving a word between each mouthful.
"This just in..." Dave the news reporter stated. Ralph looked up at the television. The screen had switched from the news room to a live report. A fire blazed in the background while fire fighters fought to put out the blaze. He tried to listen to the annoying female voice of Erica Marsh.
"...the tunnel that the man had dug, that his wife never wanted saved the man and his families life..." Erica reported. A tunnel, Ralph had wanted to build a tunnel, but that had been a long time ago. He wanted to dig it to the neighbours basement. He and Fred his neighbour had drawn up the plans after they became friends, shortly after Ralph and his family moved in. Of couse Emma wouldn't allow it even after Ralph had laid down plenty of reasons why it was a good idea. Why would Emma who spent the day keeping thier house clean, want a tunnel leading from her basement to her neighbours. Especially when she hated Fred and his wife. It had irritated her that Ralph had been friends with them. Ralph knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to dig his tunnel. And he was going to start tonight.
Ralph already had most of the tools he needed in the basement. He hadn't moved his tools to the garage yet. Emma had always insisted that he park the car in the garage and of couse there hadn't been enough room for both, so his tools ended up in the basement. The only thing that wasn't in the basement was the shovel, which was stored in the garden shed. He did find the shovel, but it was hidden in the back of the shed in pieces, broken beyond repair.

He Will Never Truly Be Gone

Ana pulled the door open and slid into Monica's car. Both girls avoided meeting each others eyes.
"Hi" Monica stated, her voice quiet and soft. Ana buckled up her seat belt and looked up finally meeting her friends eyes.
"Hi" Monica backed her car out of Ana's driveway and Ana's house disappeared as they drove toward's their destination. "Thank you Monica, for today. I didn't think I'd be strong enough to ride with my family. James and I would have arrived together but he was asked my Mrs. Jenson to be a pallbear, and had to leave early this morning". Ana pushed her hair back behind her ear and folded her shaking hands, placing them in her lap.
"It's fine, Ryan was asked as well. I'm glad you called, I didn't really want to arrive alone" Monica bit on her lip. Ana continued to stare out her window while Monica concentrated on the road.
"How is Ryan taking it all?" Ana rolled down the window a crack, and breathed in the fresh autumn air.
"He won't talk to me about it" Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before Monica turned her attention back to the road.
"Well Ryan and Sam had been the closest of friend when they were boys. I haven't seen James all week except for last night, he's been at the station on call. He wouldn't take the three days his boss gave him or talk about it at all either. Not that I could blame him. I mean we all knew Sam and we all have been friends since grade school"
"How's your sister? she recieved the news first didn't she?"
"My mum was over when the officers came to the door. She's broken. Were all trying to help her out as best we can. Tori's been spending the last few nights at my place and I think I'm going to keep her for a few more days" Ana wiped a tear that had fallen off her cheek. She pulled down the visor and opened the mirror. She dried her eyes to fix her appearance. She reapplied her mascara as neat as she could in a moving car. "It was just so sudden you now? I mean one minute he's gone on tour and Gwen's recieved his letters and sending the one's she writes back and then..."Monica placed a hand on top of Ana's to calm her nerves.
"Damn these tears" Ana grabbed a tissue from the box on the dashboard and hastily wiped away the tears that kept falling. "I told myself I wouldn't cry"
"It's okay to cry. He was like an older brother to you and your brother-in-law" Monica grabbed Ana's hand and gave it a soft squeeze. Ana sighed. "Everything will be okay, we'll all get through this together. After all he'll never truly be gone, because he'll always live on in our hearts".

Now Or Never

The snow fell heavy making promise of a good storm as Ana pulled into the snow-filled driveway of her families cabin. Memories invaded her mind as guilt for leaving flooded her heart, mixing in with previous mixed emotions about the situation she was in. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel hoping that maybe she was smart enough to put super glue on the backside, giving her reason enough to turn around and go back to the airport; that sat a good three hour drive away. Three if the weather was in your favor; ironically it wasn't, and there was very little traffic. If both things were not in your favor then what you had hoped to be a three hour drive could very well turn into a six hour drive. It didn't help that her daughter was bound to wake up cranky and hungry or that periodically she had to stop and let her puppy out for a pee, or to have a drink. She picked up her cellphone in contemplation, flipped it over and stared at the blinking email icon. A small smile formed on her lips. Her index finger hit the blinking email and the unread text message appeared.

Will (Sent at - 6:37pm) - Your probably driving still but when you get to your moms just take a deep breath and move forward. They miss you and will be glad to see you. Call me if you need me, I'll see you up there in a few days

Ana closed the text message and shoved her phone inot her winter jacket pocket. She looked up at the cottage before her. it was like she had rememebered it in the winter. Smoke billowed from the chimney's of the fireplaces that kept the temperature toasty warm. Lights from the naked christmas tree in the family room danced across the pristine white blanket that coated the front lawn. Ana glanced back into the rear seats. Her daughter slept peacefully. Her winter hat sat atop of the backpack Ana had packed for the road. The animal carrier that held her golden retriever; Milo remained silent except for a soft snoring sound.
"I guess it's now or never" Ana pulled on her gloves and her hood. Before her brain could persuade her to stop what she was about to do and instead drive far away into the oncoming storm that could very well keep her here for days, she pushed open her driver's sidedoor and stepped out into the winter wonderland.

...to be continued

Camp Nanowrimo

Fellow aspiring writer's if your looking for a fun filled writing event to join in on, then I suggest you go on over to Camp Nanowrimo and sign up. The event is much like Nanowrimo in November only we have 31 days and it takes place through the month of July. Your still writing 50,000 words but it gives those a chance who are in school or if life got in the way in November to try their hand at writing a novel in a month.