On Fabulous hair

Okay, I've debated on whether or not to show my face here. I don't have photo editing software on my phone, so I'm not showing my face.

The point of today's post is the fact that today, because I put time and energy into looking a certain way (spiking up my hair and wearing satyr horns and makeup), I get a certain result (super spiked hair, a cord with satyr horns around my head, and attention on my eyes).

It would be nice to have great hair right out of bed, but let's be real here: my hair looks the way it does because of patience, eyeliner, and more hairspray than is wise to use on a daily basis. And let's be real, here: many people don't have time to do their makeup and hair gel and hairspray every single morning. I'm lucky if I get out of the shower on time. I think that's part of the draw of Halloween: for one day, get up early to do ALL THREE AND LOOK SUPER COOL. (Or, in my roommate's case, use "hair doughnuts" and a lot of bobby pins and go as Sansa Stark).

The thing is, I do the roll-out-of-bed maneuver when writing. I'm just trying to get through the story. Though I could make it so much better if I took it a bit slower, I haven't lived long enough to see the plain writing every day in order to know how to do the important writing. I should keep that in mind during the next month.

On Reviewing Past NaNoWriMo things

Today, I will do an exercise frequently employed by athletes: reviewing old statistics and figuring out how to improve my game. By "my game," I mean my NOVELING game. I haven't been a competitive athlete since eighth grade.
According to the stats on my NaNoWriMo profile, last year I completely gave up increasing my word count at 33,550 words on November 25th. According to NaNo's Word Count Algorithm, I was supposed to hit 41,667 words that day. Obviously, I didn't. I proceeded to not update my word count for the rest of the month, for a total of 16,450 words behind the target 50,000 words. According to the graph, the last day I was on track was November 11th, where I was 92 words ahead. From there, my word count went up, but it didn't increase at the necessary rate to write 50,000 words in 30 days. In other words, I wrote every day, but I did not write enough.
Looking back at the statistics for my biggest success, November 2011, I noticed something completely different. I finished the month 10,500 words over the target; the biggest disparity between the words I needed to write and the words that I had written came at the end of the month, over Thanksgiving break. My stats were not so impressive through the entire month - I seemed to have a rough beginning, for example. By November 11, however, I had logged over 23,000 words - almost 5,000 words over the target count. How were those two days different?

Part of it was the day of the week. November 11, 2011, was a Friday; in 2013, it was a Monday. In 2011, I was still in high school, and Veteran's Day gave me a three-day weekend. In 2013, I was in college, and Mondays that semester were my longest days. I could have let my homework slip a little until Tuesday morning to write a lot on Monday, but I decided not to.
One major contribution to my success in 2011, I think, was the 11 challenge. When you write out November 11, 2011 in numerals would have resulted in 11/11/11, so some Wrimos sent out some 11-related challenges: either to write for 11 hours or to try writing 11,111 words in a single day. I forced myself to sit down with some snacks, some pens, and a copy of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare (that year, all my characters were named after Shakespeare's) and write ALL DAY to hit whichever goal came first. I didn't achieve either goal, but I did write over 3,000 words, which got me well on my way to keeping my word count ahead of the minimum.
A third thing that helped me in 2011 that I didn't do in 2013 was to aim to write more than the minimum 1,667 words per day. I always go into NaNoWriMo with the intent to write 2,000 words per day to allow for a bit of a buffer in case an emergency arises and I can't hit the word count. In 2011, I took this very seriously; in 2013, I relied too much on my ability to write 2,000 words per day that I slacked off. Eventually, my word count got to the point where even 2,000 words a day would not save my word count by November 30th.

So what does all this mean for my word count in 2014?
Firstly, it means that I should do my best to write 2,000 words per day without exception. The only day I should go to bed early is the day I have written 2500 words. There are only four times when I shouldn't be writing: when I'm in an academic commitment (class, studying, etc), when I'm eating, when I'm showering, and when I'm sleeping. I should still eat more sandwiches and cut my showers short.
Additionally, I should take at least one day to commit to just writing. I plan to do that on November 25th. I know it's a bit late in the month to do that, but it's the best day I can come up with: I'll be home for Thanksgiving break, and it's early enough in the break where I can take a day to just write and still visit my boyfriend, go to volunteer gigs, see my old friends, do some homework, and hang out with family. I shouldn't let myself rely on that day; as I learned last year, relying on one big writing session to get my word count up is not going to make my novel 50,000 words long.
Next, I should reduce the distraction capacity to the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM. This includes deleting all games, blogging apps, and possibly social media apps off of my phone and computer. I should also store all books not related to class or writing in some hidden place, because those hold a lot of potential distraction. Yarn shall also be hidden for the same reason.
Third, gym time should not be cut, but it should be monitored. I should go to the gym as often as necessary; if I decide my workout time is 8:30-9:30, I should not be starting on the treadmill at 9:15. The only excuse for this behavior is if I get a brainwave for THE BEST PLOT TWIST EVER and, instead of changing into running shorts, I'm changing the course of my novel. Trying to find a good song while I am trying to put my running shorts on counts as procrastination and a generally bad idea.

Hopefully, publicly committing to this is going to help my chances of winning this year. I know I say that every year, but I mean it every year. I hope this works.
To all the Wrimos reading this, MAY THE WORDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR.
AND ALSO THE MUSE.

Posting a Day Early

Well, here I am, posting on a Thursday instead of a Friday. I'm so daring, right? (Don't answer that.)
I have some time, so I'm posting now instead of tomorrow, because tomorrow I'd probably forget to do it, and that would be terrible. I should probably post tomorrow anyway. Just to make sure I actually post. Maybe. I don't know. I'm blathering right now.
Anyway, I'm posting today to give a little heads-up about THINGS GOING ON DURING NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH!! HUZZAH!!
Not much of consequence is supposed to be happening during NaNoWriMo this year.
Let me rephrase that: nothing much of consequence is intended to happen, outside of an attempt to write a novel during the month of November. I plan to win this year. I always plan to win, but it doesn't always work out. I'm hoping that, now that I've gotten the hang of college, I can actually win, but that remains to be seen.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I need to set some goals for myself to (hopefully) do better this year than I have in the past. These goals are the following:

1. Write every day. It doesn't matter if I only write a page. It should probablybe more than a page. I'm dealing with all my knitting commissions before and after November for the sake of BEING ABLE TO WRITE EVERY DAY.
2. Blog every day. Maybe even twice a day. I don't really know. At any rate, I intend to keep you readers updated on the progress of my novel while (hopefully) not providing any spoilers. We at WriterInCollege don't condone spoilers under any circumstances.
3. Reach the end of the novel. This is not something that I've been able to do during NaNoWriMo before, but that's mostly because I'm terrible at containing stories to 50,000 words. The only novel I've actually finished is around 100,000 words and was finished a month before my next NaNoWriMo.
4. Don't let Writing get in the way of Homework. I only say this because I hope to graduate on time and not fail anything. Contrary to popular belief, I am, in fact, in college for school.
5. Actually take time to edit, once NaNo is done. This has been the other difficult thing in my novel-writing career. I write novels by hand, and I don't like taking the time to type them up and edit them. I should probably do that if I want to actually get anything published.
6. Sleep. Sleep is important. I should do it. I should also write. But mostly sleep.

This is my list of Things I Need To Do During National Novel Writing Month. The next time I post, I should have an approximate National Novel Writing Month 2014 OFFICIAL PLAYLIST OF SONGS FOR THE PLOT. By November 1st, I should have my characters named, my plot built, and my motives in place.
Farewell until then.
To all the Wrimos out there, MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR.

Class Registration!

This week, I'm going to register for classes for spring semester. Something that I have become increasingly aware of is that I'm actually in the last half of my college career. In searching the website of Classes You Can Take, I've been writing down the various courses I might take to fill my requirements - and then I've been looking back at the course descriptions and putting a mark in my notes by the ones that say OFFERED ALTERNATE YEARS. These classes have a higher chance of making it into my roster next semester, simply because I won't be in school the next time they're offered. Two of the five classes I hope to take next semester fall under the two categories of "THIS COULD BE IMPORTANT IF YOU WANT TO GRADUATE" and "THIS WON'T BE OFFERED IN 2016, WHEN YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE THEM, SO IF YOU WANT THEM SIGN UP FOR THEM ON WEDNESDAY MORNING." These classes are Archaeological Methods (which counts for a lab science and possibly also on the Classics minor) and Communications 225 (Media Writing) (I KNOW I'm already taking News Writing, but Media Writing is for all media, so it's going to have a broader spectrum. Also, I should probably have another credit on my journalism minor while I can get one).
I still have to get cleared for class registration, though. My advisor might completely nix everything except the required courses for the English major. I could not get the Archaeology course, so I'd have to scramble to find another science course in order to graduate. I could fail a major course (I HOPE I DON'T FAIL), and I'd need to get some more English courses under my belt in order to graduate with a major on time. Hopefully I don't have to do that. I think I'll be able to do everything on time, simply because it's getting to the crunch time where I can't afford not to do everything right and on time while I still can. There's only a certain number of semesters left in college, and that means I need to get good grades. That also means I need to come to terms with my imminent graduation. Also, that I need to get a job after college, which means that I need to get an English-based internship or something in order to look good on my resume in order to GET a job after college.
You know, I should really stop now before I stress myself out too much. I'm off to go and do my homework reading and graduate on time. And by "On Time," I mean "In Three Semesters." Hopefully.

MORE NANO!

As you are reading this, I am on choir tour! HUZZAH! (I'm actually writing this on Wednesday, because this is when I have time to blog and go to the gym and do laundry and not do my homework and stuff like that).

For today's topic, I'm talking about National Novel Writing Month AGAIN! I know that my novel can't start for another two weeks. If you have been here since last NaNoWriMo season, however, you know that I have to do this NOW. (If you have not been here since the last NaNoWriMo season, let me tell you: I need to start plotting early, because I've been really bad at getting word counts otherwise).
Right now, I have realized that I have a plot mostly in place. I still need to figure out my ending, but I guess that will depend on how I build up to it. If nothing else, I can write an ending for the word count, and then write a new ending if the editing sends the story in another direction. I really do hope the editing does not send the ending in another direction, but I don't know what the ending will be in the first place, so that's irrelevant. But it's not the time to think of endings. I need to think of beginnings, middles, characters, and worlds. For example, I finally figured out what Eva and Galen have to build (if I have not mentioned it before, building this thing is kind of the major goal in the novel, so it's kind of important).
The object in question is called a unicursal hexagram. Basically, it's a six-pointed star that can be drawn in one motion. You can find a good image of what I'm talking about here. It's a really cool magical symbol; part of its importance is that it can be drawn without picking the pen up from the page and that the line crosses over itself in the center. The object that Eva and Galen have to build will be a three-dimensional version of this super-complicated star. I figure that it's difficult enough to require patience and interesting enough to figure into some kind of symbolism. If nothing else, the object can be the item that is requested by the fairy that winds up changing Galen into the dragon in the first place, since there is magical symbolism tied up with it.


I may need to set more goals for NaNoWriMo this year. By "more goals," I don't necessarily mean "write MORE WORDS THAN EVER BEFORE." What I mean is that I should set different kinds of goals. For example, I should try to have my ending be as close to the 50,000 word mark as I can - or, at least, hit my ending in November. I also hereby resolve to have at least one really good pun and to have at least two characters that are not romantically interested in each other (if they're in the same family, it doesn't count as 'not being romantically interested in that person.' Incest is not condoned in this world). If I do that, then I guess I will feel more accomplished about it. Or something. At any rate, I think this year is going to be a good year to WIN NANOWRIMO! HUZZAH!

On Writing

First, a quick computer update: I'm at home, and I can take it into the store tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.
Second, another update: I probably can't post on Friday. I'll try and type one up soon and schedule it for Friday, but keep that in mind. (not that my record for posting on time has been stellar this month, or anything.)

Anyway, this post is titled "On Writing" for a reason. That reason is, first, that the NaNoWriMo website officially relaunched today. HUZZAH! I wrote up a summary for my novel this year and put it into my profile. I finally figured out what my title is going to be. Then I fully internalized that I have two-thirds of October to get my notes together. Now I'm starting to get nervous and wonder where all my character sheets are and WHY I NEVER ACTUALLY WROTE THEM UP. GAH.
Somewhere in all of that, I found time to browse around the NaNoWriMo pep talks. And somewhere in that browsing, I found a pep talk written by Patrick Rothfuss, whose major books include The Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear. In this pep talk (which you can read here), he included the following Inviolably True Rule:

1. Yay, Verily. You Must Sit Down and Write.

1a. Thou shalt not go see a movie instead. Or watch reality TV. Thou shalt write. No. Stop. You don’t need to clean out the fridge right now. Neither dost thou need to sort the recycling. I’m not even kidding. Go and write.

1b. Thou shalt not just think about writing. Seriously. That is not writing. The worst unpublished novel of all-time is better than the brilliant idea you have in your head. Why? Because the worst novel ever is written down. That means it’s a book, while your idea is just an idle fancy. My dog used to dream about chasing rabbits; she didn’t write a novel about chasing rabbits. There is a difference.

1c. Thou shalt not read, either. I know it’s book-related, but it’s not actually writing. Yes, even if it’s a book about how to write. Yes, even if you’re doing research. You can research later. Sit. Down. Write.

I proceeded to write most of that down onto an index card, which will be posted on my desk at school as soon as I go back on Tuesday.

This rule is important because of the Major Law of Succeeding at Things: DO THE THING. In order to be good at a thing, you need to do that thing. Thinking about the thing doesn't count. Shopping for materials doesn't count. Using those materials for non-thing-related endeavors doesn't count. None of those will actually help you succeed at the the thing. All the yarn and knitting needles in the world won't make you a good knitter. You're not going to be a star basketball player if your gaming thumbs are the only things getting a workout - not even if they're getting a workout on basketball games. It just doesn't work like that.

In all, I really need to start writing again. It's the best way to success, right?

My apologies and an update

Firstly, my apologies for posting ZERO times last week. My computer decided that its hard drive didn't exist, so I've been working on unfamiliar library computers and generally adapting to computers that aren't my own and connecting to things like Facebook and Blogger through my phone. (Yes, I can access Blogger through my phone, but I've had to use my phone for a lot more now, which tends to run down the battery.) Hopefully I'll be able to sort out my computer soon; if worst comes to worst, fall break is this weekend and I can take it to the Apple store.
Right now, though, my academics are taking precedence. It's weird how something like that works. My computer was kind of a big distraction - after all, there were games, podcasts, music, and an Internet connection in my lap! Who wouldn't get distracted? The sudden deprivation of all of those at once was kind of jarring, but it pointed out where all my lost time was going. At the same time, I really want to be able to get my computer sorted out. It's partly motivated by all the music and other entertainment-based things on there that won't (or can't) go onto my phone, but it's also motivated by preservation. I have photos on there that I haven't put online; there are bits of writing and editing that aren't on flash drives. I'm glad I hand-write my novels, because I still have the notebooks; what I don't have is the typed-up versions that have been already edited. The edited versions often have notes on them - the bits, for example, that are highlighted to remind myself that "THIS IS THE FIRST MENTION OF THIS IMPORTANT DETAIL; MAKE A NOTE OF THIS NUMBER BECAUSE YOU DEFINITELY REFERENCE IT LATER."
Luckily, I do have the handwritten drafts of my novels, which is always important, and I've found other writing on the various flash drives in my backpack. I'm pretty sure I have printed out copies of some of my writing elsewhere, too - though now I'm worrying whether I threw those out in the Great Paper Purge of Summer 2014.
If I had to assign a moral to this story, the moral would be in four parts.
The first part is to back up your files in a place that isn't your computer's hard drive.
The second part would be to back up your files somewhere else. If the first layer is your hard drive and the second layer is something like iCloud or DropBox, get yourself an external hard drive or a flash drive or something. Put everything there, too.
The third part, of course, is to take care of your computer. Make sure your software is up to date - both with the manufacturer and with the antivirus company.
The fourth and final part is to hand write or print out at least one draft of all the files you hold dear, especially with something like writing. This is to have a square one to go back to: if your hard drive gets infected, and DropBox crashes, and someone steals your external hard drive, your super important files will still have at least one copy. It might not have the important updates and the edit with THAT REALLY IMPORTANT REVELATION THAT CHANGES YOUR STORY FOREVER, but it will give you a chance to take a second look at that scene that you considered deleting.