Saturday, January 22, 2011

...And an update in general

So...I realized the other day that I haven't written anything here in awhile, and that I really should make another post. January hasn't been very exciting - let's face it, it's bitterly cold and quite boring, especially if you live in rural Pennsylvania - but February is shaping up to be one heck of a month.

Let's see. On January 31, we're leaving for Key West, Florida, and will be there for a week. I'm extremely excited about this, but I'm really hoping that the weather will be WARM - and when I say warm, I mean 80. I know that I should be grateful for even 70 degree weather, since it's been 15 or below for awhile here and is about to get even colder, but I am a very summer-oriented person and I plan to spend my entire time in Key West laying by the beach/pool/ocean in the sun. And I would really prefer to be in a bathing suit and not a sweater while I do so.

Then, on February 18, I leave for Youth Retreat with my Youth Group, which is always fun. (Although greatly lacking in sleep.) After that, I don't think we have anything - except planning for Script Frenzy in April and finishing my novel.

Which is going well, by the way - at least my NaNoWriMo novel. I'm writing the climax right now, so if all goes well I'll be able to finish it sometime this week - if I have time between school and preparing Florida. I'm planning to use the plane ride to get some more writing in on my other novel, and hopefully that one will be wrapped up by the end of February.

Yeah. So...when some of these exciting things actually happen, I'll be able to write a more interesting blog post. This was just sort of a, "hey, this is what's going on, if you care." *shrugs*

Hoping for a heat wave in Florida,
~blackandwhitedreamer

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A Writing Update

If you've been reading my blog over the past few months, you know that I wrote a fantasy/comedy novel entitled "Pen and Sword" for National Novel Writing Month in November. NaNoWriMo may be over, but my novel wasn't quite finished. So I'm here to give you an update on how the finishing process is going.

First, I was unfortunately delayed by the inability to access my notes - after the free trial expired, Scrivener exported my novel but not any of my notes. I managed to write a bit here and there, but I always assumed I'd be able to export the notes, so I didn't bother to remember them.

I've finally bought Scrivener, which means I have it now and forever. Hooray! As I've said thousands of times before, it's the most awesome writing software, ever. I was able to access my notes again, and so I started writing

Okay, so, erm, since NaNoWriMo ended, I've written about 7,000 words. Embarrassing, I know. I write 50,000 words in one month, and then just...stop? Apparently. But, I'm going to get back to writing every day, making sure I get at least 1,000 words in, and I should be able to finish this novel by the middle of this month.

As for the plot, things are really heating up. For those of you who've read my earlier blog posts: My character have succeeded in their quest for a fifty-thousand word adventure, but they're left stranded on the far side of a mountain range from their home, without any food, supplies, or horses; they've lost most of their weapons and are left only with Katarina's knife. The wizards that were chasing them are gone, for now, but they're in unfamiliar territory and they have no idea what they're going to run into next.

As for Eleanor and Ferdinand, they managed to track the characters far enough to find the note The Authoress sent them, telling them they'd reached fifty thousand words. Eleanor and Ferdinand are overjoyed at this; they leave the characters world to congratulate the authoress, but not before another run-in with the travelling-shovel-of-death-weilding gang that was chasing them earlier.

Ferdinand collects his 500 dollars from IE, since he won the bet, and as the muses and the authoress are getting ready for their own TGIO party, I.E. hangs out for awhile. And then, he pulls out a gun.

Yeah, remember a couple of blog posts ago, how I saw he was going to take a sinister turn?

So, as of right now, Katarina and Benjamin are wandering and hoping to hit civilization, Ferdinand, Eleanor, and The Authoress are tied to chairs and being held at gunpoint by IE, and the kingdom where the characters live is about to be attacked by enemy knights. Appearing within the next chapter or so - Plot Ninjas, the staff of the Offices of Letters and Light, and more from the Traveling Shovel of Death.

This novel is going to be....interesting when it's finished, if nothing else.

~blackandwhitedreamer