Camp NaNoWriMo Finished!

I officially finished Camp Nanowrimo by putting 50,000 words into my novel (temporarily entitled Shadow of Erafel) this month! Of course, the novel is far from over-- this is only the second draft, and there is still some story leftover to work out. Even though I reached 50,000, the story hasn't found it's end yet. My deadline to finish the second draft is the day before Moving Date, September 15th. After we move, I'll be handing my novel over to my Aunt Beth, who'll edit it for me. When I get it back from her, I'll complete the third draft.

By that time, I'm hoping that I'll be done with it (unless it needs yet another draft, which it probably will). When I'm completely finished with it, I hope to self-publish it over Amazon Kindle for everyone who wants to read it.

But of course, I have to finish it first. Wish me luck! 

The Life of the Writer

The world of writing is a world that I have only recently stepped into. I've always been much better at english than math, but I never realized just how important writing is for me until about 18 months ago. I follow a lot of bloggers that talk about writing (See 12 Lessons Learned from 12 Years of Writing, and The Practice of Writing for more). They always talk about writing as if it's this giant mountain of lifestyle choices and early, isolated mornings with multiple cups of coffee; that writing is something that "writers" can't NOT do. For "writers," getting published is a life-long dream, critiques are heart breaking-- but don't let them get you down!, and your "writing time" is a coveted, sacred part of your day that must be kept clear and without interruption. A stereotype for a "writer's" blog is the concept of "Write, write, write. Write the inspired, write the crap. The only way to get better is to write for those 10,000 hours and keep up the uphill battle." I've heard that message so many times, it hurts to even type this post.

But there must be more advice to be had than the stereotypical "don't give up" speech.

Book List : "Anthem" Part 1

I have read Anthem, by Ayn Rand, twice before. But, I wanted my best friends to read it as well, and so we decided to start a book club through our vlog, SweetCranberrys. Here is the first week, of the first half of the book:

My video from Monday, August 20:

Once

Sunlight danced across the room, over the dining table and into glass cabinets, reflecting off facets of glassware inside. White tile floors bounced sunlight up to a white ceiling. Fresh, green vines hung down from pots between windows. An old ragtime piano nestled between two doors, aging further every day. Yellow keys played everything they could, now resting, waiting for someone to tune their discordant sounds. This room was beautiful in mornings, with sunrise just outside. Smells of damp earth after a dreary rain drifted in through open windows. A painting collected from long ago, from another house-- another life-- was attached above the piano, filling the space satisfyingly. A row of young, happy children filled the opposite wall.

Inspirational Video Games : Visiting Minecraft

There's a video game that I play with my brother called Minecraft. The gameworld is comprised of thousands upon thousands of blocks. They could be ore or wood or stone or dirt, or any of a hundred different types of blocks. By applying different tools to different blocks, you can mine and harvest the blocks to get items like silver or wool, tools like axes and shovels, food, or any of a number of resources. The Survival Mode of the game involves consistent hunting of chickens, cows, and pigs for food, as well as farming, mining, building, and defending yourself against hostile mobs like creepers and zombies that come out at night. It is exhilarating and educational, like the novel Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, where a teenage boy survives a plane crash in the middle of an uncivilized area of Canada, and must learn to survive the wild using only his hatchet. By mining and collecting blocks, you have the ability to build yourself a house, a farm, domesticate and breed animals, and even create railroads. My brother found these amazing renderings of creations built on Minecraft Survival Mode-- absolutely breathtaking.

Every block had to be mined from the ground (or trees) and placed individually.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

"Shut up!" Indo shouted as he launched himself at Cot. Cot went down immediately, his back and pants instantly soaked from a deep puddle, while Indo swung his leg back and kicked him hard in the rib cage.

"Stop! I'll shut up! Get off me!" Cot begged mercy as his sides locked up with pain, but Indo was angry. No one insulted his father, not to his face. He kicked him again. He wouldn't let this kid get off easy. He knew the rules.

"My dad is not a murderer! If I hear you say that again, you won't still be living!" After a third and final kick, Indo turned and stomped several feet away toward the end of the alley.

NaNoWriMo Strategies : Divide & Conquer

This month, I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. The original NaNoWriMo, in November, is an annual online gathering of amateur and professional novelists, coming together to work on a common goal: to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Camp NaNoWriMo is a summertime adaptation of that goal.

This would be my second attempt at a formal NaNoWriMo competition, although I have challenged myself to write longer fiction several times before. On my previous endeavors into novels, I've gone into the process in the same way, and I came out all dried up. I didn't like my story anymore– my plot was messy, my characters were boring, the message and themes were undefined, and I had no motivation to even begin the editing phase. This month, I hope to do things differently.

Camp Nanowrimo!

This year, I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo! The goal is to write 50,000 words during the month of August!

By sponsoring me, you'll be supporting a world-wide campaign to inspire amateur writers and novelists to write through programs like NaNoWriMo.org and Camp Nanowrimo every year!

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Usually, it happens every November, but Camp Nanowrimo offers the opportunity to write with a community of writers during the summer months too! Nano allows you to track your progress and your friends' progress throughout the month and encourages you to finish writing 50,000 words by offering amazing winner goodies! Nanowrimo is a completely free, non-profit organization, and depends on donations to keep running, growing, and inspiring young writers like me!

Click here to sponsor me: StayClassy!
Click here to read more about Nanowrimo, and Camp Nanowrimo!

Thank you for any support you can give! If you can't give anything, thank you still for taking the time to learn about this great program. Just the moral support helps!