200

200 pages complete....




Ive been working lottts...but everyday Ive been reading and writing (no more t.v. for me!) Ive finally hit 200 pages! Im almost half way done, just have to edit it after this... CRAZY!
If I can keep up my pace Ill be editing my book in a month and a half. Alright, well I have to work at 4am...so I'm going to read myself into a coma.

Adjectives

I'm happy.  

Now let me explain...
I have already found my soul mate and live with him.  I already have a stable career that has put me on the road to success.  I am writing.
The last is what makes everything complete. Im writing.  Im about half way done with my first novel and Im breathing words.

My schedule is quite busy, especially during the school year which is about to start.  My goal for the summer was to start weaving in an exercise routine into my daily schedule.  So as marked on my new shiny planner, I went on my run today.  Within my first couple steps I was seeing adjectives.  I breathed in and the air was heavy on my tongue, flowers called out to be described, tangled trees gasped of life, houses whispered to me their secrets and gates told a history untold.
I had no choice, so I named them all. 
As I ran I found trees, houses, branches, leaves, cars, abandoned toys, paint, mountains, sand ..anythinnng and then I put adjectives to it.  Rusty, red, bright, tall, giant, monstrous, round, full. I added metaphors to ordinary flowers, tear drops, blueberries, cherries, totems, etc
Best run I have had, by far.
Everything ached for me to describe it and I happily strung together adjectives as I ran by and dubbed them.
But the best part of it all was in the midst of my run a word jumped out at me, carved into a piece of wood was the word ..Gypsy. 
Yupp. Gypsy....its like nature was talking back. Crazy right? Gypsy??? Its not a common name like Sarah, Sandy, Jessica, or something.... :) I admit I laughed out loud, yupp as I ran, I laughed.  Twice actually. (I laughed the first time because in the beginning of my run/ adjective game a really attractive guy came running buy and a lot of adjectives popped into my head then :P)
Okay, well its time for me to go back downstairs to my reading nook.  I have successfully exercised today and exercised my brain as well.
GYPSY

The Words On My Breath...

I have been avoiding updating because I did in fact see Johnny Depp and I even have a video of it...but seeing as its not on MY camera I couldnt download it to my computer correctly and Joes mom still hasnt uploaded it and transferred it to mine. SO i give up waiting.  Youll just have to take my word for it.  Heres some pictures though...  So I didnt take these photos.  I have to admit this was on a different night posted by my aunt who worked special duty as their police officer.  And of course the night I went Johnny wasnt hugging people and shaking hands with them....so Im thinking  I might try to go again, hes a real sweetheart that man.


BACK TO MY LITERARY LIFE NOW...
Ive done good.  Ive read 2 books recently, the third Harry Potter and the book Shiver.  Of course...these were completely out of order and I SHOULD have been finishing off World Without End which I started awhile ago.  I cant help it though, im just stuck in this fantasy world, all I want is dragons, werewolves and wizards who can fly on brooms.

Ive been writing 10 pages a day on and off and Im really excited about how far Ive gotten. Im about half way done with this novel. MY first complete novel. Ugh what a relief it will be to just be done with the whole idea.  Ive been trying to accomplish this for ....hm 10 years now? I started when I was 9....Obviously, not on the same book, but I started attempting to write my first novel at nine - which I regret throwing away when I was about 12 and angsty. What Id give to go back and read what I wrote. Thats the best right?  When you pick up your old notebooks filled with pages upon pages of writing that you don't even remember.  You start reading your own work and suddenly your drawn in by these words you didn't even think you knew. I get giddy, I always think,... I wrote this? Really?  Of course in the middle of a project thats not how your writing looks to you.  It looks young and thin, and you are constantly adding words and description. You go back to edit and end up throwing away pages of words because it just doesn't feel good enough. Thats how I get anyways. I have to admit I am extremely nervous for those editing stages, I have a feeling the first two chapters will take about a year until I feel satisfied.

Do you ever have those days...where you look at something and you feel like you could write five paragraphs about it?
Whenever Id be driving to school there was just this one tree that sparked something in me and Id start writing out descriptions in my head of every little leaf, tree, shrub or cloud I saw. This happens often to me...someone I work with makes a face or a gesture and I immediately collect it into my bank of memories to pull out when I describe that action in a story.  

The seductive words of novels pull me in and when I'm there I feel complete - I feel happy, like I belong.  I just cant stay away....I need words and they need me.

Meeting Johnny Depp

Blah. No time for real entries these past couple of days. I feel really sick and I have a bad headache.  Regardless Im going to leave in about an hour to go watch some of the filming for Pirates 3!!!!! Johnny Depp is also going to be there and Ive heard lots of rumors about being able to meet him if you go to the site... so Im going to do it...as loser as that is. .... IDC!

Dear Johnny

This entry is small and is an exception to my normal way of things, but my excitement cannot be contained!!!
Johnny Depp IS here on Oahu...not only is he here in Oahu...he is filming in the same town I work in!  The Black Pearl is also parked nicely in the bay in which I pass daily.  One day ill look back on this and roll my eyes at how stupid I am being right now, if I even met Mr. Depp I would have absolutely nothing to say, so whats the point of being so excited? What is this thrill I seek to see this character of a person in PERSON? I wish I knew....I only know that it is my desire, but if it happens Im sure ill be embarrassed with how the event turned out.  Its probably better to dream an event like this than to have it actually happen, since Im quite sure Johnny isnt going to see me and say *Hey there little lass you look like you're smart and witty, why don't you become my pen pal? Ive been looking for a good friend lately who I can share my hardships with.*
hahahahahaha
on that note Im going to go.....

A Message to the Serial Killer in my head...

Dear Arthur,
I know you are just a young 15 year old boy who loves to mutilate and kill people.  You have some sort of problem with your brain, the nice burly police officer tried to explain it to me, how seconds feel like years to you.  So when you said you would try to kill my aunt one day, you actually meant within the next couple of seconds and I was too late.  I know its hard for you to stay out of my brain, for some reason you've found a cozy little corner in there that you don't want to leave. And you've begun to slowly kill off the nice people in my head, along with a couple little children I never got a chance to meet, but I'm here to extract you, I'm here to murder you, I'm here to rip you from my pure brain and never let you come back. I'm sure you were behind those creepy goo monsters too, that took over all of Hawaii.  Well that's all about to change. When I go to sleep trying to dream of a land of unicorns, I really mean it, you got it? Good.  Okay Arthur I'm going back to bed now and you my friend must go find someone else*s mind to torture.
Farewell,
Gypsy




(Note:  Although Arthur if fictional, he really did torment my mind tonight and is the reason I am now sitting up trying not to go back to sleep. And for the record, I DO try to fall asleep with unicorns and dragons in my head, so why the hell do I get killers and goo monsters?)

Whipped Strawberries

 90 pages = roughly 18,000 words

Writings been going very well.  Ive been hitting my target of 10 pages a day, almost every day. I'm currently at 90 pages :) Tomorrow ill hit my first 100 mark, I'm so excited.  Coming this far on one of my novels has really motivated me and brought me to a new high.  I think Ive finally gotten past the bad humps and will write whether I think its good or bad.

My first draft is written in longhand which I find intimidating, only because I fear I may never go back and type it all in -.-, but hopefully, the excitement of having a novel actually complete will compel me to take the final steps in my editing process. Once I have my rough draft complete (probably in a couple months if I can keep up the rate) then I can refine my writing and add sprinkle in the flowing sentences and paragraphs.  I think if I end up writing 500 pages longhand I could probably get like 600 in type only because of how rough this draft is I'm writing longhand.  Sometimes I just write a sentence of a noun and 3 adjectives strung together to get the general feel for things and move on.  Im also having a little bit of trouble with the third person, although, I think its getting better.  I went back and read some of my first person and I feel like its so much easier for me to write from, but for this book first person isn't really the ideal.  Id have to do my first 3 books in first person and my 4th in third person to tie it altogether, sounds interesting, but it could also completely lose a reader and ruin the end entirely for them.  I think I should stay consistent. 

A quick note on longhand and then I'm wrapping this rant up-  Ive been searching for a blog entry or somebody to talk about longhand and the editing process.  I'm SURE I haven't looked thoroughly enough, but I'm really curious. If you were to write a novel longhand would you write it all first and then go back and type in? Or would you write /type/ write/type...so the project isn't so daunting?  Ive tried the write/type/write/type which I feel like makes sense so the overall project isn't so bad,however, it also gets me (personally) stuck in the editing process and the rest of the story never ends up coming out because by the time I'm done typing out /editing the first chapter I'm over it all.   Am I crazy?? So I'm writing the whole thing by hand first and THEN typing...blah..

Strawberries + Whip Cream + Sugar = Delicious