A Wall of Sticky Notes

Now that summer vacation has started, (It began a bit late for me due to unfortunate weather circumstances during the winter) I am beginning to formulate some ideas as to what I want to accomplish.  One I came up with a few months prior to now, however, I am now adding more specific details to this plan.

The book that I started during NaNoWriMo this year I have continued, though at a slower rate compared to that of November.  Yet, I am nearing the end, and have come up with a few ideas concerning my rewrite.  Although, the first aspect of my writing I need to correct is the organization of my research.  Or, rather, I need to conduct research.  I have a small amount of information I have compiled, and also several unfinished outlines. Wondering when the wall of sticky notes comes in?  Well, I believe now would be a good time to explain my title.

I have been researching various ideas on how I may organize the notes and outline for my novel, and one of the ideas I found was to find an empty wall and plaster it with sticky notes, filled with the information for my book.  One of my first thoughts after reading this was that I could never find a wall empty or large enough within my living quarters to cover with all the notes I would need.  Another was that it sounded impossibly confusing, not to mention the picture in my mind of some small child arriving and ripping them all down before I was aware.  Of course, such a hypothetical situation was unlikely to happen anytime soon, yet the idea was still quite unappealing to my specific style of organization.

Since then I have looked into a few online sources which I may be able to use to store my information, many of which require a disconcerting amount of compensation.  While I am willing to expend a bit of my savings on this project, I feel that there are better solutions.  One website I took a glance at was celtx, which is free provided you do not mind using only its most basic components.  I attempted to try this, however I could not pass even the sign up, as it consistently insisted something about “undefined is not a function”.  If anyone reading has advice as to how I may fix this, I would be very interested.

I occurred to me, since I am starting to look at these programs for the first time seriously, it may be beneficial to both myself and those reading to create a post open to suggestion on organizing information for one’s novel.  So, please give suggestions in the comment section below.  For example, what do you personally do to organize for your novel?  Do you use the sticky note method?  Or perhaps there is an online program that you think everyone ought to use?  Please share these in the comment section below.  Your advice would be greatly appreciated.  Have a fabulous day.

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

The Perks of Being a Writer

I am currently at Barnes and Noble and thought it would be a cool idea to write a blog as long as I’m here.  That is really the major perk I was intending to bring up; going to Barnes and Noble.  I love coming here to write, work, and also drink their wonderful, wonderful coffee.  I got a hot White Chocolate Mocha today.  I usually go for the sweeter ones.  I’m one of those people coffee aficionados may not consider a real coffee-drinker, when taken into account I inundate my coffee with a barrage of flavored creamer and spices so that it ends up looking like straight milk.

I was a bit disappointing today, as the cafe did not request my name when I ordered my coffee.  What purpose do I have for disappointment at this turn of events?  I will began explaining by saying that no, I am not so egotistical that I simply like to hear my name called.  The reason I was somewhat dissatisfied is that my friend and I recently came up with an intriguing game that demands our names be requested.  This game is rather unsophisticated; we simply buy coffees and when they ask for our names, we provide fake ones.  It can be especially amusing if one is buying a coffee with someone else, because then he or she may use the names of some famous duo, such as Sherlock and Watson.  This, of course, works exceptionally well at a bookstore like Barnes and Noble.  The past two instances they have not asked for my name, which is rather sad, since I have had an idea for one for a while.  I thought I could say Primrose Everdeen.

Get it?  B-because she is called as…as tribu-oh nevermind…

Although it just occurred to me that perhaps this may be even more interesting with a partner.  For example, I could be Primrose, and someone after me could be Katniss, so that when the employee calls for her, she might yell, “I volunteer as tribute!”  Yes…I know I am dorky.

Another reason I love Barnes and Noble is due to their impressive manga section.  It is not that they have an abundant variety, but more so than many stores.  It is rather funny to me, I did not really become involved in reading manga until this year.  Now I even own an edumanga.  Yes, it is what it sounds like; an educational manga.  My edumanga is written concerning linear algebra.  It is actually quite beneficial in understanding where formulas and the sort originate.  However, I have yet to finish it.  I am stuck at Gaussian Elimination.

One more reason I am fond of Barnes and Noble is due to the fact that it prevents me from dawdling my entire afternoon.  I feel a duty to be productive, since it would be slightly odd to sit in a bookstore just to watch a television show or daydream.  So, usually I at least do some sort of writing here if not schoolwork.  I actually spent a good deal of NaNoWriMo here.  I find it relaxing and cozy.

Now that I have finished my rant on the wonders of Barnes and Noble, I would love to hear what you think.  Have you ever been to Barnes and Noble?  Did you like it?  Why?  Or perhaps you like another bookstore better.  What is one of your favorite spots to visit when getting work done?  Share in the comment section below.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Also, do not forget to hit that like button if you enjoyed this post, and if you want more, the follow button in the right hand corner.

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

Learning to Go Insane

So, lately, I have not been writing much.  This is clearly a problem.  I think this is partially due to the fact that the adrenaline and feeling of “Nothing needs to be good,” from NaNoWriMo has worn off.  My perfectionism is beginning to rear its ugly, annoying, obnoxious head again, and it is telling me that my characters lack depth, my plot has a million holes in it, my writing is terrible, etc.  One of the things that does not help with battling these ideas in my head are that my characters don’t make sense.  They should have more than one mission, more than one thing they want to do.  Basically, my characters are just characters.

I believe one way to combat this lack in my story is to go through little every day things I don’t talk about in the book; write the protagonist’s back-story, maybe write a typical day in the life of both of my main characters.  What were their families like?  What foods don’t they like?  Are they particularly scared of anything?

Oh yes, I haven’t gotten to how this relates at all to the title yet.  You see, one of my characters occasionally goes…insane.  She is not the one from whom the main perspective is set, so all of the description of that is from someone else’s view.  But it occurred to me the other day-if I imagined how it felt from her perspective, how much more depth could that add to her actions and her personality?  Therefore, I am learning how to go insane.  Mind you, I am not literally trying to drive myself crazy, but I have started writing a story about the first time she does, and I come up with details as I go.  Due to how much this has helped me, I have even thought of making the entire second draft of my story following her instead of the current protagonist, and then later deciding who I wanted the perspective to be set from.

What methods do you use when trying to get into the head of your characters?  Any tips you could share?  Please give them in the comments below.  Feel free to follow, comment, or like this post if you enjoyed it.  Keep on writing!

Writing Challenge: Take one of your side characters and write a day entirely from their perspective.

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

Facebook Status: Pumped

Okay, it is a cheesy title, but I do not particularly care at the moment.  My feat at winning NaNoWriMo has spurred me on to actually finish this book.  Mind you, I am no where near the end of my first draft, which is a messy one at that, but I am extremely excited.  Not only do I see many flaws in my writing, in only propels me forward.  I want so badly to pour my creativity into this novel, and to have the characters in my writing come to life and relate to the people reading- tehe, I just realized that I am rambling about writing.  And no, I did not plan that joke.

I’ve got Pentatonix pulsing through my ear-buds (a band I highly suggest), a word document pulled up, and it is nighttime.  The prefect time to write.

I honestly had so much fun writing during NaNoWriMo, and it was nothing like I expected.  If any of you didn’t do it this past month, I encourage you to do it this summer during Camp NaNoWriMo.  I await it eagerly myself.

Now I shall list the aspects of my writing I need to fix, because I love lists:

1) I need to improve my vocabulary immensely

.           Not only does any writer need a fairly large vocabulary to start with, but my main characters supposedly hail from royalty.  This requires me to write them as somewhat intelligent, well-spoken people.  Unfortunately, I am nowhere near as articulate as they ought to be.  Any tips on how to do this in an organized fashion would be appreciated.

2) My characters are unrealistic.

My characters lack details, details necessary to make them seem real.  Real people have a million aspects that influence their personality and choices.  While I cannot reveal them all, that is not necessary.  It simply needs to be shown that they have small preferences that don’t necessarily have to do with their horrific back stories.

3) Plot-holes…everywhere.

Um…I blame this on it being the first draft plus the fact that it was partially done during NaNoWriMo.

Those are a few of the problems I am facing that I must fix.  What kind of problems do you face?  Also, challenge for today is to list 5 uncommon words to signify dialogue, such as “rambled,” or “prattled”.  What?  Using you to help me expand my vocabulary?  Of course not…I simply want to help you.  If I get some better words than “said,” in the process, it would simply be a happy coincidence.  Feel free to like, comment, or follow!

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

NaNoWriMo 2013

NaNoWriMo!  National Novel Writing Month, to be entirely clear, is nearly upon us!  What is this month for, you ask?  NaNoWriMo is when people of every kind, people who have been writing since they could hold a pencil to people who hardly even know what novel means, write 50,000 words worth of a story in one month.

Now, this is where you all chime in telling me it’s impossible for you to write that much in a decade, let alone a year.  You’d get bored, distracted, busy, etc.  There are a plethora of excuses not to do it.  But that is precisely the reason for the challenge!  You throw away all the excuses for one month, and write.

I, as you may be able to ascertain from this post, am participating.  I am a little nervous, but I have more than a few things to motivate me.  The major thing I’m having trouble with is deciding which story to write.  I have three I’m thinking about right now.

In closing, I hope you decide to take the challenge!  Want more information?  Here are some sources:

https://nanowrimo.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/topics/27085-national-novel-writing-month

http://nanowrimo.org/

http://blog.nanowrimo.org/

If you still have questions, comments, ideas, or anything of the sort, feel free to share them in the comments!  If you enjoyed reading today’s post, you can like or subscribe.  Thanks for reading!

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

Summer Camp

Tomorrow I’m leaving for summer camp!  Practically no electronics for one entire week-nothing I can’t do.  After all…I only spend about half the day on the computer, maybe more, you know, totally average 😛  I think the greatest challenge will be to give up music for a week.  We sing a lot there-and I love camp songs, but I will definitely miss my professionally recorded music.

This year, I have a camp resolution!  Yes, I know, technically that is not a thing, but I don’t care.  I just made it a thing.  So, every year, I have a tendency to complain about certain…aspects…of the camping experience I don’t like.  And I have decided that this year, I want to follow the advice I’ve given to others-there are downsides and upsides to every point in life, and you may as well enjoy the upsides instead of focusing on the downsides!  I am going to start by listing the some of the aspects I do not like about my camp and then talking about the upsides of them.  Here we go!

1) Mission Impossible

Every year, the campers in one section of camp are woken in the middle of the night to run around in the dark, dodge and bribe guards, and wade through a creek to get their flag and return to the bell tower before the other cabins in their section.  The upsides are as follows: A) Many of my friends like it, B) it is a competition, and once I really get into competitions I sometimes get excited, and C) we get to jump in the warm pool afterwards.

2) Being without (a lot-not all) technology

I like my music, my laptop, and my TV.  A lot.  And it will be hard to go without them.  Especially my music.  (One year my mom sent me ipod erasers to congratulate me on going that long without my ipod.  I also generally listen to as many songs I love as I can get before I leave, so that I might have them stuck in my head)  Here, however, are the upsides: A) Getting away from all those distractions, and even just because it is such a change of scenery, makes people more willing to talk to each other face-to-face, B) it helps me to focus more on God and what he has for me to learn, and C) it gets me to read and write more! 😀

3) Being away from family

I love my family, and I’m not fond of being away from them for long.  Even just a week.  This causes me to be a bit homesick.  Here, however, are the upsides: A) I get to see some different viewpoints than what I’ve been taught in my family, which helps me to reevaluate what I think, B) sometimes, it’s easier to share with people you don’t know as well rather than the people who know you the best-at least, this has been my experience, and C) while I will leave my biological family behind, I will have another family waiting for me at camp, from my cabin mates who I’ve known for a long time, to the new recruits.  And I look forward to spending a week with them.  🙂

Do you ever have trouble looking on the bright side?  I think that there are times to express our sadness and discontent, but dwelling on it too much just ruins experiences for both yourself and the people around you.  Feel free to comment on the topic below, just please keep it nice.  Not that I have any reason to expect otherwise from you ^_^  Don’t forget to like and follow if you enjoyed this post.  Thank you for your time!

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

August Updates

1) I may as well get the disappointing out right away.  I lost Camp NaNoWriMo.  I would have had to tell you eventually.  I am still happy I got started on my story-hopefully this should help me to finish it in the future 🙂

2) I began an Online Japanese course!  Woot!

3) I painted most of my room, and should be done soon

4) I am going to camp soon.  It has cabins and wonderful food.  There is one night generally where one’s cabin sleeps in a lean-to or in the forest, and another where all the cabins in one section of the camp (there are three) go on a hunt for their flag in the middle of the night and try to make it back to the bell before the other campers.  It is a surprise which night it is, too.  We generally have to venture through a creek and hide in some bushes, giving a very good chance to get poison ivy.  Somehow, miraculously, I haven’t gotten it before.  But I have always been rather reluctant to do either activity, to put it mildly.  This time, however, I am going to try to not only be positive about it, but also make the best of it.  After all, there’s no point in ruining it for the people around you, right?

How did you guys do on NaNoWriMo?  Doing anything crafty?  Finally, is there any tips you gave for my camping experience, for example, what to bring, what to do, ect.?  I’d be happy to hear them in the comments below!  Don’t forget to follow and like if you enjoyed this post!

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

Making Your Experience Better

Hello all!  So, when I started this blog, it was really something fun for just me to do.  Then I started getting all of you wonderful followers.  Though this may seem to be a small number to others. the fact that you take an interest in what I have to say is very encouraging, especially in respect to my confidence in my writing ability.  If you have time, I would like to ask a few questions on behalf of your reading enjoyment 😉

1) I have been playing some visual novels lately, especially otome games, and I was wondering if you would like me to begin reviewing games.  I admit-I’m not an expert when it comes to games, but if you want me to, I’d be happy to provide you with a different perspective!

2) Are there any topics you would prefer I not talk about as much?

3) Are there topics you wish I covered more?

Comments would be especially appreciated on this post, as feedback is crucial.  I will also take every like on this post as a yes to number one.  If I get enough likes, I will begin reviewing games as well as books.  Thank you for your time, your support, and your continued interest. 🙂

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

Camp NaNoWriMo

10,000 words.

I know, it’s really wimpy.  But that’s how much I plan to do.  Especially since it’s already halfway through the month and I haven’t done…anything.  Unless the start to my story counts.  I suppose that counts.  I did write it this month-I think.  I was waffling on the issue of whether or not to actually do this, because while I have tons of free time, the word ‘NaNoWriMo’ tends to elicit a stressful response from my brain.  I’ve done it a few times during November, which is much crazier, so why I am so afraid to do it during the summer is beyond me.  I think part of this is due to the fact that near the end of the school year I started to get kind of crazy with stress, to the point at which I just kind of went, “Um, yeah, this is ridiculous,” and gave up choir and vocal ensemble.  Of course I am also planning to take two languages next year, so that only shows my good judgment on how much stress I can take 😛  Oh yeah, and no study halls!  Yay!

Anyway, back on the subject.  I found that to make my 10,000 goal all I have to do is write about 667 words a day, which sounds fairly doable.  I will up the word count I am aiming for if I feel that I can, but I’m just trying to make sure it doesn’t become a super stressful activity every time I sit down to write.  If you guys have any tips about Camp NaNoWriMo, not just for me, but for anyone reading, please share them in the comments ^_^  Also feel free to share your word counts, your goals, and what you’re writing about.  Even if you have a website or blog about this experience, you can share it below, but please no spam, as it will be removed, which includes any website not relating to Camp NaNoWriMo.  Alright, start writing! 😀

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉

IT’S SUMMER!!!

-Picture thanks to editing software of pixlr.com and original picture from avatar.wikia.com

It’s summer!  3 months of fun, friends, and frolicking among the flowers.  OK, maybe not that last part.  To ensure that there is fun, however, I have begun on a list of things I could do!  No doubt you’ve noticed by now I like to make lists 😉  Here I will share some of the things I am doing that may be fun for you as well!

Summer Fun Times List!

  1.  Geocaching

          I don’t know how many of you already do this, but I have never done it before.  It seems rather strange to me.  I still don’t quite understand it.  But I’d like to try it at least once, maybe with some friends.  If anyone has any tips on how to geocache, please share them in the comments below ^_^

  2.  Cooking and Smash Booking!

          I have planned to cook more this summer–I have cooked before but not very complicated things. Also, due to an idea my sister gave me, I got a smash book for the crafts and food I make.  I have made a playlist on youtube called “To Cook” which basically consists of feastoffiction videos.  If you don’t know what feastoffiction is, it is a channel on youtube that makes videos on how to make foods from different media.  Check them out for yourself 😉

  3.  Go to a drive-in movie

          I got this idea from a badge on Lifescouts.  I’ve never done it before, but it sounds like a ton of fun.

  4.  Learn something new

          I have several new things I would like to learn this summer, even though I’m not sure if I’ll get to all of them.  Some of them are Morse code, fencing, and martial arts.  

  5.  Write, write, write!

          While I have wavered on the idea of doing Camp NaNoWriMo, I’ve been thinking about doing something better.  If I write for at least 10 minutes a day the entire summer, no doubt I’ll get rather far with the book.  I might still do Camp NaNoWriMo, I’m just not sure.

So, what are you doing this summer?  Anything exciting?  Share in the comment section below!

DFTBA,

Rambling Writer 😉