Write-In San Diego

The only official write-ins I've ever been to were in Madrid. I think about five people showed up. I thought it was the most awesome thing. I wrote my first 5k day there.

Well this year, I'm in a smaller but better represented region. I went to the kick-off write-in Sunday night at the Studio Diner. It was fun starting at midnight surrounded by people who didn't think I was crazy, but it was so  different from the write-ins in Madrid.

There were about 20 people there, so you would think it would have been four times the fun. It turned out to be about four times as dull. As I said, it was fun starting NaNoWriMo surrounded by other participants, but there was no camaraderie, no conversation besides the table behind me chattering away distractingly.

I don't know. I'll still be going to more write-ins this month, I just don't know what to expect any more.


In other news, I'm around 2300 today, which is a pretty good start on getting above goal early on. The word count widget is on the right side there, right above my old winner badges.

Also, did I mention that my little brother and sister are doing the Young Writers' Program with me? We all of us made our goals for the day, so I call that a win.

Maybe I'll post an excerpt soon.

Rebekah blogs

These socks are epic! No I didn't make them. I just like socks. And I like wearing green.

What? Rebekah's blogging again?
OMG!

Yeah... I figured 6 months of unannounced hiatus was enough. Plus, it wouldn't seem like NaNoWriMo without blogging about it.
That's right! It's that time of year again.
If you've ever enjoyed creative writing, I encourage you to visit nanowrimo.org and seriously consider what you've been missing out on. It's a ton of fun even if, like me, you never plan to do anything with your novel after you draft it.

This year, My main character is a teddy bear who serves as a source of comfort and wisdom to a ten-year-old girl named Katie. Here's a picture:

Here's where you come in. Neither the bear in the story nor the model bear have names. I'm looking for a name that's both cute (as in, something a young girl would name her stuffed bear) and wise (as in, something that would sound good played-off in the title of a novel). Do you have any ideas? Post them in a comment!

And here's to a moderately thriving blog experience for the next 6 months!

P.S. I'd promise, but you know how that has a history of going. I do, however, mean to post a short synopsis of what I've been up to since I last blogged. (Since that seems to be what people want to know of a recent college graduate.) TTYT!

[EDIT: I'm temporarily going with Rufus Puddlemore. I'll still take suggestions though, and if I see one I like better, I might change. Ooh, and click the Nano '10 button on the right to visit my profile and see the working cover art!]

Excerpt: Never Say Goodbye, Ch 22

We were in the hospital cafeteria, in a little brightly upholstered booth in one corner, hunched over plates of mediocre burgers and fries in generic paperware. It tasted pretty good though, just by virtue of being greasy food in a starved stomach.

We had been gently evicted when the Quinns finally made it to the hospital from the airport. Jerry and I didn’t want to intrude on a family’s personal bonding time. Sam and Ron simply didn’t want to deal with Travis’ parents. I could understand that motive too.

...

Jerry, sitting next to me, catty corner from Sam, suddenly and without warning, shot his straw wrapper at my girlfriend. “Hey!” she shouted with a little laughing shriek, and she picked up her own straw and shot her own wrapper at the offender. Jerry held up his straw and used it to block the incoming missile.

“That’s it!” I said authoritatively, “This will not be stood for. Out, foul creature, and leave this damsel in peace!” I commanded haughtily as I whipped the straw out of my coke, sending a shower of brown liquid cascading gently on the heads of those at the table like a magical sparkling fountain, and pointed my ferocious weapon at the villain who was challenging my fair maiden’s honor. “En garde!” I shouted, causing some of the other nearby patrons of the cafeteria to turn their heads to look at us. I made a point of ignoring them. The knightly challenge at hand was much more important.

“Oh, that’s how it’s gonna be, is it?” Jerry counterd, brandishing his own makeshift weapon and cocking his head in challenge, “You wanna take this outside?” he suggested confrontationally.

“That would likely be much better,” I replied, in a terrible British accent. We both removed our jackets and exited the booth, taking positions nearby, now with more elbow room, but also in much better view of all the other patrons.

“Avert your eyes, my fair ladies,” I addressed the two princesses still seated, “Your eyes are far too fair to witness this duel.” They giggled.

I assumed a gallant stance, poised for my attack. Jerry did the same, though with a more lumbering demeanor. I made the first attack, which he parried with a quickness that his relaxed attitude did not betray. Then he came in for a jab, which I dodged nimbly, sending me much closer to a small table with an elderly couple eating fried chicken and watching us with interest. We battled on thus, back and forth for several minutes, exchanging taunts and insults with each other.

“Thou shouldst not insult a lady in such a manner as that. ‘Tis highly improper and not at all chivalrous of thee!” I shouted to my opponent as we began.

“Oh yeah?” Jerry answered, “Well your mom seems to like it!”

“Argh!” I grunted in frustration and exertion as yet another lunge of my sword found no purchase. “I admit it, you are better than I am.”

“Then why are you smiling?” Jerry asked, smiling a little.

“Because I know something you do not know,” I answered with a smirk as I blocked another attempt at my chest, “I am not left handed.”

Jerry’s brow furled in concentration as his efforts redoubled and he fought on. Then, after another minute, he spoke again, “I have something to tell you,” he smiled slyly to me.

“Tell me,” I urged, still battering him with my blows.

He paused, “I am not left handed either.”

I roared as he switched hands as well, and attached him with all my force, but we were still evenly matched. I had to resort to terrible taunts in an attempt to gain the upper hand, “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!” I shouted to him.

Jerry broke down and let out a hearty chuckle. “Touché,” he answered, lowering his weapon and raising his hands out in a congratulatory gesture.

I dropped my arms and looked at him in confusion. “No I didn’t,” I corrected him.

And my enemy took that opportunity to strike the deadly blow.

“Alas!” I groaned loudly, clutching at my chest as I fell to the floor, “What vile trickery is this that robs me of my life breath without the justice of a fair fight?” I exclaimed in an outraged voice, “Oh gods! Avenge me of this dishonorable death!” Now addressing Jerry, I continued, “And thou, unjust villain. Thou shalt I haunt all the days of thy life. From beyond the grave, even unto the ends of the earth, shalt I inflict torture upon thy life and upon thy house. Thou shalt find no rest upon this earth for the injustice thou hast done here to me and to mine fair maiden yonder.” And with that, I gurgled and collapsed into a heap on the stone cold floor, dead.

The older couple stood up first, I heard their chairs push back, and their hands begin to clap enthusiastically. And within a few seconds, the entire cafeteria, which had long ago stopped what they were doing to watch our duel, had burst into a rousing standing ovation. Jerry kicked me lightly with his toe and I opened my eyes to see him beckoning me to stand up. I complied, concentrating on the still serious expression on my face. We turned to face our adoring public, clasped hands, raised them above our heads, and took a profound bow. The cheering redoubled, and again when Sam, my damsel in distress, stood up and thanked me for my valor on my lips.

And then we couldn’t stop laughing for half an hour later. The poor Quinns, up on the fifth floor. They missed the entire thing.

NaNoWriMo is over, so I can blog again

It's November 30. You know what that means, don't you? It means that NaNoWriMo 2009 is over and I've got me a brand new novel.

I stayed more or less on track this year, and never let myself get more than a day or so behind. I had a little trouble there in the latter half of the month, and about 30,000 to 45,000 was forced out slowly word by word. But I made it!

I stayed up late last night getting ahead, and I finished the plot around 2:30 am and 49,600.

Then I had to write another 400-word scene somewhere to tip it over the line. I decided on a dream sequence to flesh out my narrator. I decided way at the end that his dad had died when he was young, so I made it a recurring nightmare about that. I find that listening to music helps me get int eh zone, and I probably could have done just fine with Lorie but I decided to really get into the mood and listen to something nightmarish. It turns out, Revolution 9 is too nightmarish even for a nightmare scene, and by the end of the chapter, I had gotten myself so freaked out that it took me a good fifteen minutes of listening to classical music to calm down.

It kind of made the the win a tiny bit less sweet, but it was still good to be done!

Plus, having a copy of the whole glorious thing helps too. As soon as I had a free moment today, I headed down to the computer lab where I printed the novel on 55 duplex pages. Unfortunately, I also accidentally printed it again on 110 one-sided pages, Using up a big chunk of my printing credits. It's a good thing there's still free printing in the language lab and that I don't have any many more assignments in English left this semester.

So, now that my novel is over, I've got an extra 1667 words a day in me. I've got a few blog posts lined up, including an excerpt from my novel tonight. It's my favorite scene, an epic sword fight with straws and movie quotes! Then a few other things between school work this week.
God bless all,

-ganchi

NaNoWriMo 2009, A Different Kind of Appeal

Hey! Everybody!

Have you ever wanted to be in a novel?

Do you have great and zany ideas?

Now's your chance to contribute and to make the world a better place!

WANTED: Characters and Plot Dares

My novel is based on a year-long road trip. My characters are all college students trying their very best to live it up in the most creative way they can think of. Hilarity needs to ensue.

If you want to be in my book:

Comment on this post or email me with who you want to be, i.e. name, occupation, appearance, occupation, etc. If I like your character and/or need your character, I'll pick him up, adopt him, love him, have my MCs abuse him, etc. Just know that due to the nature of the book, he'll most likely be a bit part, present for one chapter or so.

in kind,

If you have any ideas or dares for my plot:

Same thing, comment or email. Make it creative and funny, or moving and sad, whatever. The more specific, the better! If I like your ideas and can incorporate them in my story... I will.

Sounds great, right?

But wait! There's more!

That's right! Act now, and I'll email you the excerpt from my novel that includes your character or idea.

Plus! If I use your idea, I'll put your name in the "Thanks to" section at the front of the book, which, honestly, just adds and extra couple of words to my manuscript, but you do get a little credit.

Okay! Get crankin'! I can't wait to see all your creative input!

Fine print:

By submitting plot and/or character ideas, you consent to their being used by me (Rebekah Schloeder) in my own personal creative work.

My life revolves around my novel

It's November 5th and I'm at 7,152.
Of course, I haven't started writing yet today.
I've just about run out of outline, and I'm having so much fun already. Sure, the characters haven't taken over my head yet, but my novel has already taken over my schedule. I'm a pretty busy person this week. It's Ruah week for household, I had an exam this morning, and I have to finish three papers by Tuesday. And so I'm here to answer the most common question I'm asked by those I tell about NaNoWriMo: "How do you find the time?"
I have time to do NaNoWriMo because it's so engrossing that I just make the time. In a normal month (i.e. not November) I spend a reasonable amount of time doing things that would classify as "chilling" - watching TV, crocheting, etc. Well, this month, all I care about is my novel, and so it's all I do in my free time. It's amazing how much writing can get done in even a little bit of free time.
Sometimes though you have to alternate between staying up late to make your novel a priority and forcing yourself to do schoolwork and using the novel as the reward.
Yeah. I just wanted to blog about NaNo, but I'm really sorry that this post is so dull. I sound like a preachy grade-schooler. It's only the 5th and already my inner editor has checked out.
Yeah. We'll see if blogging happens much this month. But at least you'll know why if I'm not blogging much. And you can follow my progress on...
nanowrimo.org
facebook
twitter
...and eventually here on my blog, if the word count widgets go live any time soon.
Bisous,
-RCS

Title

I ran my NaNoWriMo title through the Lulu Titlescorer, and it said my book only has a 22.9% chance of being a bestseller.

This only makes me less sure of my title.

I really love it, but it might be a little confusing. I wanted your input.

Check out the title and synopsis here, and tell me what you think. Does the title match the story? How do you think it relates?

I'd love your ideas. Then later I'll tell you what I had in mind titling it in case you can't figure it out.

Thanks so much!

She's alive! She's blogging!

It's been over a month since I last posted a real update. Sorry.

I am still alive, though. And I'll grab my calender here and see if I can't remember a little of what I've been up to...

Yup. Nothing.

We went on household retreat this last weekend. We went to Toronto, OH and stayed at the TOR Sisters' retreat house. It was a nice relaxing weekend and a lot of fun, and we even learned a little something.

We've got two new intents now! One intented on Thursday at breakfast, and the other on Saturday, at brunch. It's exciting because now we'll actually have a household next semester. There were only three of us, and the other two are going to Austria in the Spring, but now I won't be alone. Yay!

As everyone on the semester system knows, it's midterms season. I had two pretty busy weeks, but now it's slowed down for a while. It'll take some real concentration to force myself to work on the papers due in a few weeks so I'll be relatively free come November.

I'm going to Mexico on mission over Spring break! I was accepted to the team two weeks ago, and we've had two meetings since then. It's a big group, so it's taking a while to learn everyone's names. I think it's going to be a good team. I'll probably be posting in a few weeks to let you know how you can help.

Fall break is in two weeks, and I'll be going to visit my friend at Notre Dame. AM, if you're reading this and haven't checked your facebook in a while, there are details there. I should probably email you...

I'll be getting a ride from the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration in Mishawaka, IN. There are two sisters studying here in Steubenville, and they've got extra room in their van.

I'm also planning to go back to Mishawaka for a retreat mid-November. I'm really looking forward to that too.

And guess what? I get to go to Phoenix for Thanksgiving! It will be my first Thanksgiving with my family in three years. (That means I wasn't there the last two years.) Plus, I'll get to see my uncle and aunt again, whom I haven't since summer 2007.

So, you have all heard about NaNoWriMo now. :)

I'm starting some outlining, but I don't want it to get too detailed before I actually start writing. Part of the fun of NaNo is finding out what happens next as you go. I've got a brief synopsis and cover art on my profile page, though. Check it out! Let me know what you think.

And... My keyboard broke. I dropped a book and the R and T came off. The hinge for the T key broke, so now I've got a funky keyboard until the replacement I ordered comes in. At least it still works, though.

All right. That's it for now. Talk to you soon,

-Ganchi

NaNoWriMo 2009, An Appeal

Friends, Romans, countrymen, Mesopotamians, foreigners, faithful blog readers, dear facebook friends, and everyone else who reads my blog or my facebook notes,

I write to you today, breaking the silence of an unnecessary blogging hiatus, to ask you to consider something.

What will you make of your November?

Will it be, as many a November in the past, just another month? Will you, having reached yet another Christmas season, look back and have nothing to show for those thirty days but some extra Thanksgiving weight?

I want to propose an alternative. I want to beg you to consider making your November extraordinary. This November can be one you can look back on with pride, nostalgia, variations of disgust and anger, and lots of exhaustion, and say to yourself, even outloud, "I am awesome."

In short, it can be a truly epic month.

I know you're all asking yourselves now, "That sounds amazing. How can I become such a kick-butt ninja?" Well, the answer is simple, though it's name is not: NaNoWriMo. It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it's the greatest thing since freewriting.

As I said, the principle is very simple. You write a 50,000-word novel in a month.

Yeah, I know. It sounds impossible. But it's really not. That's 1,667 words per day, This blog post is almost 500 words and I wrote it in under an hour.

It's not impossible, but it is hard. And it's most likely going to take over your entire life for thirty days. But those thirty days are some of the most amazing, challenging, creative, and just plain downright fun you'll ever have. 'Cause it's not just you and a word processor and a half-thought-out whim of an idea for hundreds of pages. There's a website with forums and tips and dares and motivational emails. There's even a twitter hashtag with its own 140-character bits of encouragement. And there's a huge world-wide community behind it all cheering each other on to the finish line.

You get to know an amazing cast of characters really well, to the point where you're not even sure this creation could have originated in your own brain. Plus, and this is really my point, there are actual people out there who do this thing.

I want you all, and I really mean you now, to consider trying out NaNoWriMo. It's really a ton of fun, and I want to have friends to share it with this year. You've got a month to start brainstorming and outlining. Check out these pages for more detailed info, and friend me here when you sign up!

What will your November be? I know my answer. And I'll see you all December 1 waving a couple hundred pages of terrible prose over my head with pride and calling myself a novelist. Won't you join me?

If you're younger or have a young writer in your life, check out NaNo's Young Writer's Program for more information and inspiration.

Frenzied

Yeah people, I'm hooked on NaNo.
And this is the official announcement that I'm going to participate in Script Frenzy next month. (I don't feel like putting a link here, but there's one on the right side of the page.)
I'm going to try my hand at a TV script and, I think, though I haven't decided officially yet, that it will have something to do with guardian angels...
That will be your teaser. But why don't you all look into the challenge yourself? I've never written a script either, but I can pretty much guarantee that this will be the most fun ever!
See you at the red carpet!

EDIT: Check newer posts for updates.

NaNoWriMo final thoughts

It's December.

NaNoWriMo officially ended at midnight last night, but I finished my novel on Friday, and I crossed the 50,000-word mark Tuesday night (Wednesday morning). It ended at 55,197 words.

Today, I printed it all out. With single-spacing, 10 point font, tiny margins, and no page breaks, it worked out to 40 pages. (Formatted like a paperback, it's about 200 pages.) It's amazing what a thrill you get out of a stack of warm paper, knowing that you wrote all 55 thousand of those words, and in only 28 days.

It's really been a life-changing experience, much more so than I had originally thought it would be, maybe even more than for most other participants. Not to belittle their accomplishments. All 21,683 of them are incredible. And the community is one of the abolute best things in the world, especially on twitter.

But I never really liked writing. I've never been bad at it, but I've always kind of looked at English majors and aspiring writers as over-artsy dreamers. Sure, I admired their dreams, but I never understood the allure of writing, so the idea never made sense to me.

This past month, though, has opened my eyes. I have to say this has been the most fun I've had, like, ever. The thrill of creation. And it's even cheaper than crochet and cross-stitch. Especially near the end, when my plot and my characters started to take over every moment of my thoughts. It took on a life of its own for the last 25,000 words or so. It was a real thrill, and something addicting. NaNoWriMo has become a part of me. I don't think I'll ever get over the writing bug.

Yet I just wrote a bunch of sentence fragments.

'K then. I hope some of my dear readers will consider writing their own month-long novel next November. Check it!

Much love,

-Ganchi

Who am I fooling?

I'm not going to blog about anything worthwhile until December at least.

I've got a backlog of weekend excursions to tell you about, but the only thing I can think about until it's over is NaNoWriMo. So, if you want to hear about that?

I went to my first write-in tonight! Spain is a sparsely populated NaNo region, but there are a few of us in Madrid. Unfortunately, they meet up on Saturdays, which isn't itself a problem, except that I was out of town last week (Salamanca) and will be next as well (Granada) which is especially unfortunate, as it's the last few days of the month. But!

Yesterday I wrote >5000 words, and tonight I wrote >3000, so now I'm at 40,360 - more than two days ahead!

So... write-in. It was at Starbucks on C/ Las Infantas, and it was the first time I've been to Starbucks in Spain (really I don't think I've been in like 6 months, but I'm just as happy with café con leche) Anyway, we were 5 writers, taking up the couches in one corner of the lower level lounge with laptops (see what I did there?) except Excalibor had this spiffy ancient-looking typing machine. So... they were all really nice, and we had a great time racing our word counts in ~hour-long spurts from 5-9 pm. And I got 3,703 words written and crossed the 40,000 word line, which was more than my goal for the day. And I got to witness Excalibor win! That was also very cool.

The only things that would have made it better - mint mochas, and not having the gay guys making out to distract me from my last 300 words. That was awkward and disturbing and I'll stop talking about it.

'K then! Hope you don't mind my absence too much. Why should you? I've been sending postcards every other week or so and I have recieved 2 pieces of mail in almost three months. Seems a tad disproportionate... </rantito>

Hasta luego, un beso,

-Ganchi <3

(short for ganchillo, spanish for crochet, short for crochetgrl, my u/n = it makes sense)

What I've been up to the last few weeks.

Since I last posted on my blog, which I know was quite some time ago, I have in fact been doing some things. In general, weeks are spent at school and I haven't had a free weekend in five weeks.

So, first, a list of where I've been since Alcalá:

• Avila
• Valsaín and Segovia
• Zaragoza
• Fatima

Don't worry. I'll get to each, along with pictures, soon.

Other than that, and what's been taking the majority of my time, is NaNoWriMo. If you've never heard of it, click the link to get more info. But in a nutshell, you write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November. If you've been following my twitter feed at all over the last week or so, you'll have noticed that It's been coming along nicely and that I'm really enjoying it. I'm on schedule so far with more 16,845 words! And, yes, I do plan to edit and publish (in some form) my book if I finish it. But for now, there's an excerpt on my NaNo profile page. Click the widget in the sidebar.

That's sort of it for now. Soon I will post about some of my weekend adventures. Until then,

-Rebekah