I Find This Out Now?!

Great.

Funnily I was assuming that my backpack, which I used for carrying my laptop to NaNo meets last year, was lying safely forgotten at the back of my closet unused. But last night I sort of got thinking, "Hmm, yeah, the backpack. Should probably start getting it out right about now. Just a week of preps left." And then it hit me, shoot, it's not here!

And it's not just a matter of "oh I forgot it at grandma's." No I didn't forget it at grandma's. I didn't forget it at work. I didn't forget it in the car. I forgot it abroad.

Yes. Total shoot-yourself-in-the-foot moment, innit? So unfortunately it isn't a simple case of just popping next door and picking it up.

I've got a small job from which I should be getting a bit of coin so I can pay the public transport for November. Hopefully I'll get that in time, and then it's just a case of dashing out like a mad chicken to find another bag. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping (and I mean really love shopping). Just kind of annoying. I could use that same money to buy something more useful, like...the next Kingdom Hearts game or the latest DVD installment of Naruto.

Last week of October is turning out to be the most hectic. I'm not 100% if the money will make it in time, if I'll find a decent bag in time, and also I haven't gotten in touch with my writing rival yet. I wonder if he's doing NaNoWriMo this year?

Besides that, and it was probably kind of inopportune, but I've re-discovered the magic of my PS2.

Oh man, I wonder how November will go... LOL ^__^

Oh-ho-ooh Dear...

Yeah, umm...last post when I said I was halfway through my plotting...yeah, I kind of lied. That's what happens when you post before counting the actual pages that you've been plotting on. I'm not halfway through. In fact I think I'm more like a quarter of the way through. Yikes!

And I have *mutters while counting off the calendar* oh, just about 10 days left...

Yikes!! O_o

However, after some weaving and sewing and a bit of knitting together of the plot threads, Arkanos is still holding together and I'm daring to believe it will pull through the madness of November.

I've actually gotten into chapter four of Mistborn Book One as well, which I'm pretty dang happy about since I'm not as active a reader as I probably should be. I admit, I take a lot more inspiration from anime and manga than I should. Reading Mistborn really brings into view how much benefit reading literary novels instead of graphic ones brings to my writing. I've already discovered several answers to simple questions and confusions I had, mainly about writing style. So if I were to read a few other kinds of novels too... My general tripping point is the fact that I just take ages to read. It's not that they aren't interesting, it only that I know it will take forever. Although Mistborn is right up my alley, which is the reason I know I'll finish that one.

Dang...I never know quite how to end these things off. Same freaking thing with my novels. *Sigh* Better get back to typing stuff up then...

50/50

So October is going fast.

We're pretty much halfway through the month and luckily I'm about halfway through my prep book! Well...sort of. I'm honestly relieved though that the story is jelling as well as it is. At the start of October my biggest fear was that right about now the plot would resemble a ball of yarn after a kitten has gotten to it. Just about that level of clarity and order.

But it's actually going well. And for one, I'm not bored with it (another massive factor in whether or not a novel will die or live with me). Honestly, if all I can keep thinking about while writing is, "why are my characters bothering with this adventure?" then I just can't find the determination to get that 50k out of me.

Finally managed to clean my room as well, which is nice.

Hmm...I'm running out of stuff to say. I guess I'll leave it at this and write something giant another day.

Burning the Midnight Oil

And a bit of the wee-hours oil while we're at it.

I don't know if my being on the computer has gone a bit too far, but at least last night's late surfing was for a good reason.

Since now comes one of my equally favourite parts of NaNoWriMo, the ART!

Last year went by mostly amidst my manuscript, since I'd decided to go with a not-yet-my-darling story idea for my first time. And I didn't really get any illustration done on time. Well, actually I still haven't finished it, but why get caught up in the details...heh.

Anyway, after some toiling and three different variations, this is the banner I chose as a banner for the NaNo forums.

Only annoying thing was that I had to use the JPEG version, which came out a little...scruffy-er. But sadly, even with reduced dimensions, the next smallest file type already fell about 20KB above the max limit. Oh well, even though a new year with new toys (graphics) is a fun idea to play with, in the end it's the story itself that's the most important, isn't it?

Which reminds me, I still have to write that synopsis!

It's been fun getting back in touch with all my NaNo buddies and competitors from last year! The more I chat with them again, the more I start to itch for this coming month. Last time I had some really even and tough competition from some, and quite simply ate the dust of others. And it was fun as anything the whole way through!

So on that note, I'm going to end off on a little plug for those guys, and say that everyone on my Writing Buddies list on NaNo is a tough and awesome writer! ;)

Okay, Deep Breath, Stay Calm...STAY CALM!

Getting into the swing of actually doing something after a streak of wanting nothing more than late nights with chaining Bleach episodes, is curious but not as hard as I thought.

Okay, maybe it has something to do with the fact that NaNoWriMo is only 21 days away *whiskey shot in here*, I admit it. But still that "actually doing something-ness" carries the freshness of a tangy lemon drink :D

All joking aside, it feels good to be active in my trade again. I've mobilized from my bat cave and finally gotten on with "healing" the broken plot of Arkanos Memorycatcher. Alongside that I've updated some of my files on my magic system, made copies of my calendar pages for October and November (want to cross those days off, but don't want to mess up my awesome manga calendar XD), started posting again on the NaNo forums and eaten 15 yogurts and 32 jelly beans.

I should be reading more of the first Mistborn book too, for pointers on fight scenes and just because I think it's the cat's PJs, but one baby step at a time I guess. Haha!

I'll update the synopses and excerpts of Arkanos soon as I can during November.

And now I better get back to procrast— I mean novel related plot and writing style research.

Teehee? ^__^;;

NaNoWriMo 2010!

Yes, that last year went a lot faster than I was expecting last December. And yet, here we are! NaNo 2010 will kick off very soon and thus now begin the preparations of hoarding food and writing materials into the place that shall become one's Den for the month of November. And without a doubt, I am definitely going to bring home another certificate for my budding Wall of Stuff I've Actually Finished. Wohoo! :D

Okay, I admit it, I'm definitely a bit more nervous than I was last year. I'm going to be working on Arkanos again and now I'm untangling the plot which gave way during JulNoWriMo. NaNo is definitely bigger than its spin-off companion, but still I remain slightly worried and keep hoping that the plot will not drop off so drastically that I lose interest to write or strength to fix some barrier. But chin up, stomach in and chest out! There are definitely more up sides than down sides.

I'm truly happy about the fact that NaNo is so international now that even here in Finland there are NaNo meets which can be attended. And let me tell you how encouraging they can be! And besides that, funny and unexpected stuff can happen. Last year, when we all gathered at a café called Wayne's, a guy approached us and asked to take a picture since he'd "never seen so many computers in one place at the same time before."

Surfing about the forums, I see that the buzz is already growing! If anyone would like to get in touch and have a word war or just otherwise chat, feel free to visit my NaNoWriMo page.

May the games begin!!