Sailing and Writing Thoughts

{Via}

Hello again!  I realize I've been gone for far too long, once again, but I'm back!  I was sailing over the weekend, so I couldn't post, and I had a lot of homework due to the fact that I wasn't here two weeks ago, to make up for at school.  So that's my excuse.

In other news, I spent my weekend working to memorize "Big Bang Two" by Chameleon Circuit.  Yay for being a Whovian!  I have eleven of the fourteen stanzas memorized, and I can sing them pretty fast.  And now I'll probably be singing it for the next week or so.  Not that that's a problem.  I can't sing it fast enough to keep up with Charlie McDonnell (who sings it for Chameleon Circuit).  I also read a ton, and finished the books "Evil Genius" by Catherine Jinks, which was much more interesting and intelligent than I had expected, and "The Wizard, the Witch and Two Girls from Jersey" by Lisa Papedemitriou, which was just as silly as I had expected-- though quite good, too.

Sailing was fun.  We went to a few nearby towns, and anchored each night.  Twice we put up the hammock, which was fun, and on the last night, apparently there were a lot of parties in the marina (we were anchored in the harbor) and we kept having dinghys zipping past our boat, with engines fast enough to make the whole sailboat rock.  Very loud dinghys, too.  You could hear them from way across the harbor.  Also, some crazy person was water skiing.  To some, this may not seem strange, in May.  But here, it's ridiculous, as the water is about 45 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just so cold.  You can get hypothermia within minutes, in this water.

In writing news, I have decided I'm not going to do Camp NaNoWriMo... at least, not in June.  August, maybe, but for June, I just don't have the time.  School is finishing up, and I have exams to do, and things to wrap up, and my teachers are trying to cram as much as possible in right now, so sadly, I won't be able to do it.  If my school ended in early June, I might have been able to, however my school doesn't-- it ends the 22nd of June.  *sigh*  So I've decided not to do it this time.  Also, I don't have an idea.  Hehe.  But I'm doing a two week long writing camp over the summer, so there's that.

I've found I've stopped writing as much.  I went on a kick where I wrote constantly... and then it just sort of died.  My writing amount daily dwindled, until I find that there are days when I don't even think to open up my word document and keep on writing.  I actually quite enjoy the story I'm currently writing, and I've gotten some good advice on how to adjust it, I just... haven't started writing on it.

On the twenty-eighth of March, I posted this post:  Time to Write.  I talked about all the things I wanted to do, all the writing related things I wanted to complete, and get done.  And I haven't done that.  Once again, I pushed it off.  Since then, I have started a new story.  But I'm still hovering around 9k.  Why haven't I added more in the last few weeks?  Why haven't I gotten back to writing?  I don't know.  At some point, I'm going to come up with a way of making myself do the things I outlined in that post.  Maybe I'll make a checklist, and once I've gotten something done, I'll check it off, or put it in a prominent spot, or something.  I don't know.

Anyways, I'm rambling again.  I don't have much more to say, other than that everyone should watch this speech of Neil Gaiman's, which made me think about all these writing related things.

The Dandy Lioness

A Returning, and A Request

{Via}

Hello, loves!  I'm back!  For those wondering where I went, I went to Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania for a short time.  I didn't end up posting, obviously, though I did keep up with blogs.  I think I've been feeling a bit writer's-blocky recently.

I had a lovely time on my trip.  It was pretty warm in D.C., which was really lovely.  Here, it doesn't really get warm until June, so it was just fabulous to wear shorts (almost) every day.  I don't know if I'll post pictures, but if I do, I'll probably post them soon.

I keep coming to this post, and trying to write on it, but it just doesn't seem to be working.  I did write a big long post, but I think that if I do end up posting it, it deserves its own post entirely.

For those of you who are wondering how my writing has been going... eh.  It's okay.  I didn't write much at all when I was on my trip, but I have managed to hit 9k on it, which is exciting.  However, I seem to be having the problem of "telling" rather than "showing".  I keep launching into long paragraphs of what's going on in Alea's life, but not actually showing what happens.  The problem is, it's just her and her horse at the moment, and so there aren't many dialogue opportunities.  I mean, I can have Alea talk to her horse, but is the horse going to respond?  No.  Making it a very one-sided conversation.  And I always find it difficult when writing a dialogue to not have another character around.  There's just not as much that one can do with it.

Actually, I'm going to post one of my more "telling" paragraphs here, and see if you guys have any suggestions to how I can adjust it, and make it more of a "showing" paragraph, something more interesting to read.

Alea clicked her tongue, and Mira trotted into the forest.  They’d been stalled on the edge, having lunch, but it was time for them to move on.  She had gone a long way in the three-quarters month she had been travelling, and knew that she would, sometime soon, reach the swamp that bordered the Hiekka Maa.  However, on the way there, there was a lot of forest to cross, and farmland.  Farmers were, for the most part, quite nice to her.  A bit wary, of course.  A single girl, relatively skilled in the arts of fighting and riding, traveling across the country toward the desert? She’d been called a witch by more than one farmer.  But she didn’t mind.  She knew they were simply wary of things they didn’t know or understand, and she was certainly one of those things.  But it got a bit weary, after a few days, with farmers pushing her away in fear.  Their wives tended to be nicer, and once, even after her husband had pushed Alea away, his wife had secretly allowed Alea to sleep in the barn.

I just really don't like the feel of this particular paragraph.  It seems very jumpy, and I don't like the way it tells so much more than shows what's going on with Alea.  So does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can adjust it?  I would really appreciate them.

The Dandy Lioness

Time To Write

{Via}

Sometimes, you just have to sit yourself down, and write.  Maybe your story isn’t seeming too interesting right now, or your characters are fighting.  Maybe you’re not sure how you want to continue.

But you have to.

You have to just settle down, avoid distractions, and start writing.  Let the characters take hold, and see where they’ll take you.

And even as I type this, I realize that I haven’t been doing this.  I’ve been pushing away the thought of starting a new novel.  I’ve been pushing away the thought of continuing work on a novel I was working on over the summer.  And I don’t know why.  Maybe I’m just unsure of my writing abilities at the moment.  Maybe I’m scared.  I don’t really know.  But what I do know, is that I have to sit myself down, and start to write.  I have to start that new story I’ve been working on—sure, I’ve been saying I’m almost ready to start, but have I been pushing myself to finish the final stages of planning?  No.  I’ve been letting myself get distracted, letting my attention wander.  And I can’t do that.  I want to write.  No.  I need to write.  But have I been writing? 

No.

And how is this possible?  In November, I had words flowing from my fingers.  I was happy, and writing away.  But right now?  Nothing.  The occasionally story idea hits me, but it soon fizzles out.  And because of that, I’ve gotten scared.

What if this new idea doesn’t do anything?  What if it fizzles out, like all those other ideas I had?  What if… What if… What if…

And I know it’s cheesy, and people say it all the time, but I have to stop thinking about the what-if’s, and just start writing.  Because I can’t just keep doing this, pushing away my writing.  Because writing is something that I feel lost without. 

So, I’m going to make myself start writing again.  Writing is something I love, and I need.  And I need to teach myself to write every day.  Writing every day is part of why I love NaNoWriMo.  It gets you to just sit down, and write, even if you aren’t really sure if your story makes sense, or if you like it, or whatever.  It gives you motivation to write.

And I need motivation.  I have to start writing again.  I use school as an excuse to not write, saying, “Oh, I had a lot of homework.”  But you know what?  If I can spend hours lollygagging on the internet on school nights, I can most certainly put away half an hour, or an hour, and just write.  And sure, there will be some nights when I can’t do that. But that's okay, because most nights I can.  

So, I’m going to start writing again.  I’m going to either do a rewrite, or just a revision, I’m not sure, of my NaNo10.  I’m going to do a read-through of a novel I started over the summer, that I abandoned about 20,000 words in, and perhaps start writing on it again, after having read through it.  And I’m going to start a new novel idea I’ve had filed away in my brain for a few weeks. 

So I’m pushing away this writer’s block that has settled over me like a blanket, since November.  I’m pushing it away, and I’m going to start writing again.

The Dandy Lioness

P.S.  Sorry if this post is kind of ramble-y and repetitive.  I just needed to get this out of my system, and write it down.

Snippets of Story— March

Hello, all!

I'm linking up with Katie for her Snippets of Story link-up.  I've been lagging on writing recently-- though I have tons that I could be working on, I just... haven't.  I've been busy with school, and my sister coming home, and several other things, and somehow, I just haven't been writing as much.  But I'm doing Snippets anyways, with a few excerpts from my WIP's at the moment.  I think I may have writer's block.

{Via}

Farren stared out her bedroom window, looking out onto Old London.  The sound of carriages on cobblestones below, and the roar of airships overhead filled her room.  She flopped back on her bed, and gazed at the sketches and drawings that covered her bedroom wall.

Airships.  Hot air balloons.  Anything that flew, really.

It was her one big dream.  To one day look down upon her city, London, from the sky.  To fly high above the ocean.  To simply fly.

She sat up again, and stared upward toward the airships floating across the sky.

“Farren!  I’m heading out!”  Sebastian, her older brother, poked his head into her room.  “You want to come?”

Sebastian worked in the airship yards, fixing up the ships that came through London, and needed fixing up.  Oftentimes, he would take Farren along with him, as she adored the airships—and maybe partly to keep her out of trouble.

-Steampunk WIP, currently untitled

Their eyes were all drawn to Mel, the mysterious new girl, who was sitting next to Eiffel—the one person who always sat alone. 

“Who’s that?”

“Is she new?”

“I’ve never seen her before.”

“Why’s her hair pink?”

“She looks weird.”

“Wonder what her name is…”

“Have we just missed her all year?  Or is she new?”

“I’m not sure…”

The bell rang again, and Mr. Fuller walked to the front of the room.

“Hello, class,” he said, scanning it.  He spotted Mel.  “Ah!  Yes, we have a new student.”  He grabbed his attendance sheet, and scanned it, looking for the unfamiliar name.  “King, Melon,” he said.  “Umm… Melon, would you like to stand up and tell us a little about yourself?”

“My name is Melon.  I go by Mel.  I grew up in Seattle, and now I’m here.”  Mel sat down again.

Mr. Fuller opened his mouth, but quickly shut it again—judging from the look that Mel was giving him, that was the best choice.

-Building Eiffel

The coffee shop was crowded.  Important looking business people stood anxiously in line, checking their watches and tapping their feet.  Teenagers hung out in a corner, talking and laughing loudly over their drinks.  Harried looking young adults sat huddled over their laptops, coffee sitting abandoned on the tables next to them while their fingers flew.

Mel felt out of place in the environment, but it was clear that Eiffel didn’t.  “Hey, Eiffel!” said the young man working behind the counter.  “Fancy seeing you here,” he said, grinning.  “And with a girl?  Shocking.  I was beginning to think you didn’t know they exist.”

Eiffel rolled his eyes.  “Mel, this is Will.  Will is a… friend, I guess.”

“I see,” Mel said, surveying Will. “Well, hi.  I want a double-tall chocolate mocha.”

Will raised his eyebrows.  “Bossy,” he said.

“I am the customer, and you are the worker,” she said, her eyes flashing.

“Your girlfriend’s feisty, Eiffel,” Will said, looking her over.

“Oy.  My eyes, they’re up here,” Mel said, snapping her fingers.  “And I’m not his girlfriend.  We only met today.  I just moved here.”

Eiffel stifled a laugh.

Will didn’t look disappointed at all.  “Well,” he said, winking at her, “I guess that means maybe we could go out sometime…?”

“No.  And winking is for serial killers, and people who stick bombs under your car.  Now, give me coffee, and I won’t kick your butt.”

-Building Eiffel

So those are my Snippets.  Are any of you linking up?  And has anyone else been feeling a case of writer's block?  I'm just going to get back to writing.  My stories are missing me.

The Dandy Lioness

Writer's Block

Recently I haven't been feeling very "write-y".  Or creative.  Just sort of... blah.  My mind isn't racing.  It's weird.  I think I have Writer's Block.  It makes me sad.  And NaNoWriMo is just around the corner... WHAT SHALL I DO?????  Ah hem.  Mini freak out.

I just haven't been feeling very inspired.  I have several airship books checked out for my possible Steampunk NaNo idea, but I don't know if that's what I want to do.  I haven't written more than a thousand words on my current WIP in over a week-- though yesterday I wrote about 600 words, which is the most I've written recently.  Basically, I'm freaking out.

Also, what do I do if I don't have an idea for NaNo?  I mean, I have several-- but none seem quite interesting enough.  Then again, mine last year didn't either.  Still.  Bleh.  Okay.  This is short, but I'm posting it.

Writer's block makes me unhapppy!  Anyone got any good tips on making it go away?

The Dandy Lioness