Saturday, November 21, 2015

NaNo week 3 // recap

It is November 21 and we have passed the halfway mark!! Who's relieved?

Chapters completed: I'm partway through chapter 6!
Word count: 35, 009
Week 3 Quote:


...there were tiny beads of moisture on the grass in the ditch beside. I’d slowed to point one of these out, both of our sneakers squeaking against the damp pavement as Mike matched his pace to mine. It’s funny now to think of that moment and not know what was to follow after. If I’d known that in only five minutes my hearing would be gone forever, would I have paid more attention? Would I have listened for a thousand words to describe the sound of raindrops falling? Would I have paid more attention to the gravel of my brother’s morning words, the way he clears his throat as though his voice is locked somewhere deep inside his chest?

Or would I simply have asked him to say my name? Or the words “I love you”?


So, writing. I love it, but it can be tooootally exhausting, too.

[gif] If I suddenly became Jared Padalecki... #Supernatural
me on day 1 of NaNoWriMo


WHEN YOU SEE A SPOILER 
me on day 21
I could write you a gloriously long paragraph about word counts and chapters and the agony that is writing about real people, but 

A) eugh! more words! No!

This Feminist Twist On "The Princess Bride"  - "Patwiarchy, Patwiarchy, bwings us togever today. Patwiarchy, that cursed awangement, that scheme wiffin a scheme." #feministprincessbride
just kidding! I love words.

and B) I've stopped being able to actually communicate verbally. at all. Most of the time I'll open my mouth and "nawikjgha;iugh;aswubngs;kjng" comes out. So, the obvious solution is to use gifs!

(also, I just really wanted a chance to bring out my collection of beautiful gifs. hooray!)

 

Writing is one of those things that continually takes me by surprise. I plot and I plan and I am soooo organized that I always imagine that this book will be as easy as sitting in front of the computer and elaborating on ideas that I've already nailed down. And then... Aunt Kay decides to get married and move to Africa, Skylar suddenly becomes sassy and hilarious, Cam's nameless siblings develop personalities and stories of their own, and to top it all off, in the middle of chapter 5 he decides to be homeschooled!! 

But Martin won’t have any of that! | Community Post: Benedict Cumberbatch VS Louis Tomlinson (SASS MATCH)

(Did I decide to write a book with a homeschooled character?? No! Is it throwing me off? YOU BET. But do I love it? Completely.)

I'm at the point in the story now where I feel like my hands are barely even touching the keys anymore, that's how much this story has taken on a life of its' own. The first few chapters were me sitting there ordering little robot-characters around, and now I feel like I'm sitting in the drivers' seat of a tiny little car with about eight people crammed into the backseat, all trying to give me different directions. 

im not gonna ask

I was away from my house (and by extension, my computer! ahh!) for the whole of Saturday last week, and I missed it. Not just writing, not just the word count, I actually missed spending time with my characters, missed being surprised by their uniqueness, missed watching each of their stories unfurl a little more. And I was totally thrilled to realize that I'd stopped thinking about my characters as puppets made to do my bidding ... somewhere around day 13, they became like real people to me. Which is SO. COOL.

(gif) Me at the end of Reichenbach Fall. That is all.SO ACCURATE AND SO BEYOND ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!

And... that's been week 3, everybody! Whew! 

xx
Olivia

16 comments:

  1. HAHAHAHAHA oh my word this post entertained me greatly! You're so great and hilarious with your gifs, I definitely love the mass and diversity of them!!! Also incredibily excited for the book. :D

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    1. Yayyyyy I'm glad you like!! ;) also super excited for you to read it!!

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  2. HAHAHAHA THESE GIFS. THANK YOU.
    wait you like sherlock and merlin and the princess bride???? gah this is too good.
    jared padelecki though. also ki hong lee gif- do you like.. know the maze runner? hahaha hopefully not freaking you out too much with my fangirling ;)
    also the thing about your characters taking on a life of their own is like WHAT I ASPIRE TOO. so congratulations. you're kind of awesome for achieving that :)

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    1. YOU ARE WELCOME I'M SO GLAD YOU APPROVE

      okay yes I definitely love all of these things and no girl please there is no such thing as too much fangirling! I have read maze runner but I didn't know that that gif was related!! Too cool! Thanks for educating me! Now all the fandoms can be included

      Also WOW GIRL you are way too kind! Your comment made me way happy :)

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  3. THIS POST IS THE BEST THING EVER.
    Also your excerpt is absolutely gorgeous. Excuse me while I sob over my manuscript.

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    1. YOU ARE THE BEST THING EVER. Thank you so much for commenting! I'm so glad you like! And girl as much as I like that excerpt, there are definitely parts of my manuscript that I'm sobbing over, too. You are not alone!! And you can do this! :)

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    2. You are the absolute sweetest! Thank you for the encouragement!!

      I nominated you for a tag over at my blog, by the way. Because you're pretty awesome.
      http://totallygraced.blogspot.com/2015/11/happy-thanksgiving-gratitude-tag.html

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  4. I love this post! That car metaphor is gold and it sounds like you're having a fabulous time. Though that day 21 gif is also a very accurate description of writing. i haven't written anything since week 2 because I'm supposed to focus on a university thing, but I'm actually missing it! I think once you get into the habit it's much easier to keep going. Good luck for the rest of NaNo! :)

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    1. Thanks so much for commenting, Vlora! The day 21 gif is literally my life right now! I am so worn out and at the point in the month where I'm like, I want to be done writing this book! :p I've given myself a day off today so hopefully Monday I'll be full of energy again :)

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  5. Gifs in this post = perfection.

    I AM SO EXCITED TO READ YOUR BOOK OH MY WORD

    :)

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    1. Thank you!! I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO READ IT !!!!

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  6. Hi Olivia!

    Just popping in with a question -- I really like your blog design, the way it's very simple and refreshing, and it inspired me to re-do mine in sort of a similar way. What I wanted to ask is, do you mind if I have sort of the same theme, with the wood-look and all? If you do mind, I don't want you to feel like I'm copying you (cuz that would be really nasty of me ;-P) I felt like I should ask you!

    Good luck with the rest of your novel writing. :-)

    ~Emma

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    1. Emma, thank you so much for asking! That is so considerate of you and I'm honored that you like my layout enough to use it as inspiration for your own! You go right ahead and do whatever you like for your blog - mine is just a blogger template, so I don't own the rights to it or anything. :)

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  7. gahh man...so much respect for nano-ers! Writing with a time limit is like...knbais fvssddvd waaat. I couldn't do it, I don't think XD I WOULD CRACK UNDER THE PRESSURE. Ok, Olivia, that except though..? O_O Chills. all. over. WHEN IS THIS BOOK BEING RELEASED? WHEN CAN WE HAVE MORE?!

    Also, happy thanksgiving to you and your family, awesome girlie!

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  8. Gah, yes! I love, love, LOVE! when characters start telling you what they want to happen. They start showing you things about themselves you never saw coming -- homeschooling, say wha? It's the best thing. Some of my best friends are fictional. How is this possible? Writing is the best.

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Comments from you make my day! ♥ True story.