NaNo Week #2 - NIGHTFALL LAUNCH PARTY and other, less important things

Hi everyone!!
Can you believe we're already this far into November? I feel like I'm still at the beginning of October, but no we are ACTUALLY here and it's SOMEHOW BY THE GRACE OF GOD IS IT ACTUALLY COLD. O.O

Somehow. O.O

God knew. O.O XD XD XD

Last year it was all warm and gross, but now in California it's actually like in the 70's so we can wear normal clothing and sometimes sweaters! 

*dies of amazingness*

So, yeah! Let's get right into this awesome week of NaNo! :D

Day 5!

45

So, this day wasn't the best day...this always happens to me where I get ahead in my writing THEN TOTALLY DROP THE BALL AND DON'T WRITE LIKE I SHOULD. XD

But my goal was to write every single day, even if it was only a little bit, and considering the fact I had a church service to sing at (I had to go to the bathroom so badly during the service, and I was on stage, so I HAD TO LEAVE TO GO TO THE RESTROOM, AND I WAS SURE I WAS GOING TO BURST). I somehow got back in time to sing the last song we had to do, thankfully. O.O

Then after that I had a super long rehearsal for my church's Christmas tea, so I didn't get home until late. Plus I had (and still do have) a cold, so I was very unimpressive today. XD

Day 6!

955

I was still ahead at this point, so I only wrote some before I went to bed and somehow managed to write nearly 1k!

Although it wasn't my daily word count goal, I was kind of busy drawing this picture---

So, I guess it was pretty productive. :)

Day 7!

0

A COMPLETE WEEK OF NANO AND HOW DO I CELEBRATE??? By not writing a single word, but let me explain why, my friend...

NIGHTFALL WAS RELEASED!!!! And like every year, we went to the launch party!

Let me share with you some pictures of the experience!

 THERE'S SHANNON! Ugh, there's nothing more inspiring than hearing an author talk about their writing experiences and what's happened for them to get where they are now! 

We played this fun game of if we thought Shannon was lying or telling the truth, and because of it I learned some fun things...

*Sophie's original name was Agnus McWeeney*

*Fitz was the first character created*

*Keeper of the Lost Cities was originally made as a short story*

*The name given to KotLC by Shannon was Chasing Everblaze*

*Shannon had intentions to kill Sandor in the first book he was in*

VERY INTERESTING, RIGHT. I really loved hearing about it all, even though I knew some stuff from the first couple times going. :)

And then a selfie of Kendra and I waiting for Shannon to show up. Sorry it's a bit blurry, I couldn't get a very decent picture. I guess I was shaking... XD

By the time I got home and was about to write something for NaNo....

It was midnight. O.o

So, I was like- WHATEVER. IT'S A NEW DAY SO IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYWAY.

Day 8!

277

The day after, I was really reading a lot, although not as much as I wanted to, because I was thinking- I NEED TO WRITE. SO I WILL WRITE.

Or more like, not write, not read, and not do anything worth my time, so the whole day was basically ruined, and I should have just read Keeper while I had the opportunity. O.O

Day 9!

3,503

I wrote a lot this day. OuO

AND I WROTE DOWN NOTES FOR THIS POST TO PUT IN SO YOU KNOW IT'S GONNA BE GOOD.

"I reached 25% done! Me, being the most easily scared human being on the earth, nearly jumped out of my seat when the trumpets pumped through the speakers while I was writing. #scaredy-cat #heartwasracing XD XD XD XD"

"ALSO. WHY ZACK. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO AGAINST MY PLOT POINTS AND DO SOMETHING CRAZY STUPID NOW THINGS ARE DIFFERENT THAN I PLANNED. STOP TALKING TO PEOPLE. (Be like me and be a hermit then it'll be easier okie.)"

Wow, okay. XD

But this day was pretty awesome for writing! I got a lot done, regardless of Zack, my MC, going off and talking to his father and making me panic. -.-

Day 10!

2,095

I really need to just make notes for what I did everyday, so I can recall it better. XD XD 

This day.......hm......

I don't remember everything that happened cuz it was just another day at home...BUT IT WAS GOOD REGARDLESS AND I WROTE A LOT. XD It felt like a Saturday cuz Kendra and I just watched My Little Pony all morning and I slept in late... XD

Day 11!

1,722

So, this happened today--

If you don't know what Zevelyn is, it's the ship of my character and Jaclynn's character and IT'S OUT OF CONTROL HALP.

So, I drew them. Again. Even though I thought that they were over. And really, now they are. O.O BUT THE SHIP STILL LIVES ON. 

Altogether now, I have reached 19,079 words and am getting super close to the halfway point!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

So, yeah. That has been today and now I'm off to make sundaes with my mom and binge watch TV. XD

***

How is your NaNo going? Are you ahead, are you behind? What's your story about? Is it going well? TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT! XD

-Emma-

AND THIS POST IS TOO LONG AS IT IS. I SHALL MAKE A SEPARATE POST SOON FOR NANO SNIPPETS OKAY DO NOT BE MAD

My NaNo Prep So Far...

It is officially the last month before NaNoWriMo.

*dies*

If that doesn't freak you out, I don't know what will. NaNo is amazing, but INSANE!!

I've basically procrastinated my prep for it all this time, after struggling through two failed book ideas, I finally found an idea I liked. And that would work.

I think.

But just because I have this idea doesn't mean I have a complete plot- there are so many more things I'm nowhere near figuring out! So that means---October is the prepping month.

I have to kick my non-motivated butt into action!!

This is my idea journal or whatever you wanna call it! This is basically all I've touched concerning prep. All of my ideas and brainstorming go in here!

I have a page that has the start of what I think my novel will be on it- but I need to fill up way more pages.

*sobs into the floor*

I have the best understanding of my main character...which...happened....because...

*nervous laughing*

Because innocently, Jaclynn and I decided- HEY! Let's write our characters together as a writing exercise to get to know them more!
So of course we did that.

She had a girl character (since then her NaNo novel has changed, but that was originally her character).

And I have a guy character.

Can you see where this is heading? XD

We started out writing really awkwardly because I had no inspiration, but soon enough we were writing like crazy...the writing exercise went over the span of a couple weeks...And...the inevitability of us TOTALLY SHIPPING OUR CHARACTERS TOGETHER HAPPENED.

I've drawn some fan art...

This was just the start of all the fan art to come afterward. I think in total I made...eight drawings of these two love birds...XD XD

(edited by Jaclynn)

But besides us making a huge ship for our two separate characters, I learned a lot about my character Zack! I think it'll be easier to hear his voice now when I write him in the first draft. If he would just shut up about how he's made for Evelyn, maybe I could focus. XD LOL!

(picture does not belong to me. I found it on Pinterest. XD)

This is a real life, not drawing of what I imagine Zack to look like! If he was one hundred percent accurate, he would look just a little different, but this is pretty good. ;)

This was a drawing I posted on Instagram of another one of my characters! She is the actual love interest of Zack's, even though once again- Zack is yelling about Evelyn. 

*sigh*
BE QUIET, ZACK, I KNOW.

Basically my NaNo prep has involved too much drawing and not enough deciding what my PLOT IS EVEN ABOUT.

(That's how you know I love drawing more than writing. XD)

So, tell me! How is your guys' prep going? Have you ever drawn your characters before? :) I love to do it, I feel like I get to personally figure out more about them from it. ;)

Thank you for reading my post! :D

-Emma-

P.S. Tell me if you want to learn more about Zevelyn...I have multiple screenshots of our texts and how their story all went down. Plus an abundance of drawings. XD

NaNo Week #1 - Colds and Wishing It Was Cold

Hi everyone!

NaNo has officially been going on for a whole week. I can't believe it!! November is going to go by so dang fast! Like, seriously, it's already a week in. *shudders*

But you don't want to hear about my constant gawking of how fast time flies, you wanna know how I'm doing with NaNo!

I think...

If you're reading this then you must be...

Day One!

2,157

Other then the fact that I had such a hard time falling asleep on the night of Halloween, which means being really tired, DAY ONE WENT WELL! Tuesday's one of the busier days of the week, but I managed to write lots in between activities. Especially the biggest activity---

THE LODESTAR LAUNCH PARTY!!XD It was so awesome, but my sister, my mom, and I had to wait in line to get Shannon Messenger to sign our book for two whole hours. STILL, IT WAS FUN! And I got the book, so...XD LOL!

Plus, I got a supply of the best soda ever--

Yes, so good.XD

So, although lots of people started off their days with like 10k or something crazy, I only got my daily word count in!

Day Two!

1,998

Getting up early and having to go to work is definitely not going to help get you in the writing zone, AND I didn't get to FaceTime Jaclynn when I was writing, so this may or may not have been my face when she rejected my FaceTime invitation-

Then again, she could FaceTime later, and I said no because I was done writing for the day.XD

AND CAN I JUST SAY HOW HARD IT IS TO WRITE WHEN YOU HAVE LODESTAR RIGHT NEXT TO YOU WITH ALL OF ITS AWESOMENESS?!?!?!?

Day Three!

2,104

Today was the day of two things- READING SO MUCH and pure I DON'T WANNA WRITE.

Later on, I FaceTimed Jaclynn as I drank my soda, but wasn't writing. I had a legit sad face going on while I sat on the bottom steps of my house's staircase, yet once I asked Jaclynn to take a screen shot, I couldn't keep a straight face. This was the closest I got-

Yup. Me on the stairs. But some way or another, I managed to write over my daily word count!

Guys, I'm just saying that it would be a lot easier for me to feel up to writing if it was cold. SERIOUSLY. IT'S GONNA BE IN THE NINETIES TOMORROW.

Day Four!

2,549

I'm pretty sure I made it to my inciting incident in my story on Friday, so words just FLEW OUT OF ME! It was awesome and is definitely the best feeling as a writer. I watched Pirates of the Caribbean "At World's End" (SO SAD BUT VERY INSPIRING) as well!XD Even though I did write a lot, something else happened. I finished Keeper.

You have no idea how scared I was. GUYYYSSS!!! THE CLIFF HANGER!!!O.O

Day Five!6,212

This was the most epic writing day!!! I am pretty positive it's the most I've ever written in one day! I was so close to writing 5k when I was winding down my writing time, so I decided to keep on writing for a while, and then BAM! It was bed time, and I was like 100 words away from 6k. So, I furiously finished the 6k on my phone as I got ready for bed. AND I MADE IT! It was so awesome to do the math and find out that I had written so many words!

Day Six!

14

HAHAHAHAHA. I only wrote two sentence yesterday.

*clears throat*

I got home from a long rehearsal at 4:00 pm though, so I guess I had an okay excuse, yet I still didn't write. I was just so drained from writing so many words the day before! I'm still recovering.XD And things are getting a bit complicated with my character's emotions, meaning I am having a harder time figuring out what they are going to do next. Haaa...I need to figure it out.XD

I'm not gonna lie, I spent the vast majority of the rest of my day doing this.

I have, like, no self-control.

I could also use the excuse that I AM SICK AND HAVE A COLD. Which usually I wouldn't be that upset about, but I JUST HAD ONE LITERALLY THREE WEEKS AGO!!!

*cries*

I need to get better...:(

BUT ANYHOO...I don't have a word count for today, because I haven't started writing, but I hope to get lots of words in and get over my rough patch of story.;)

All in all, I have reached the grand total of  15,034 words! I am at the 30% goal!!! YAYYY!!XD

So, my fellow NaNoers, how is NaNo going for you? What's your grand total of a word count?:)

-Emma-