Words are beautiful. You can do so many things with them and you can mold them into these sentences to put down a certain thought. You can use them like poetry even if you're not writing poetry. You can craft them to portray a certain thought or feeling or put words to an artist who was trying to show you his creative genius.
Sometimes, the word itself looks beautiful. Like farewell. I used that Sunday while I was editing my book. According to Merriam-Webster Online, it means "get along well--used interjectionally with to or by one departing." It's not goodbye. It's more like wishing someone good health on their journey or adventure. And that's kind of beautiful, because it's not goodbye. There's so much finality in the word goodbye and goodbye is always thought of as a sad word, and goodbyes are an entirely different thing. But with farewell, it's like you're wishing them well (which is kind of literal) on whatever they're setting off to do and that you have hopes to see them again. Words are funny things. They don't look like much, but when used properly, they have the power to build someone up or tear them down. They can be used to tell an entire story in one sentence or less than six words. This is one of the many things that makes being a writer fun. Writers have an entire English language at their disposal, but they have to choose just the right words in just the right order simply to portray meaning and feeling in one line.
I know this is a little delayed, but my weekend was too awesome to go without a blog post for it. My weekend really started on Thursday (yeah, I know that's a weekday ha). It was the last day of classes for me, even though I still have to go through the summer with school (not sacrificing a social life, of course), but this means I can sleep in Monday through Saturday now! And then Friday came and I went back to my writing group that I'm in on Facebook with some friends. I took a quick break, but I'm back now and I missed them so much.
And then Saturday came along. I had been waiting for Saturday to come for some time. I went shopping with one of my best friends and her mom, and I had a spectacular time. We went to Barnes and Noble and I bought this spectacular leather bound journal. I'm probably going to use it for random story related things, but I think I'm mainly going to use it for poetry. I'm not a very good poet, so I need to practice because one of my new characters is a poet, meaning I'm going to have to incorporate his poetry into the story, meaning I'm going to have to practice my poetry. The things authors do for their characters.
After spending some time in Barnes and Noble, we went to Panera for lunch and had a fun time and then we went to Target. We looked at clothes and stuff and I tried on this cute little dress that almost had a Parisian style to it. Unfortunately they didn't have my size, so I ordered it offline. I'm excited. It's perfect for tea parties (I've never been to a tea party, and I never thought I'd want to go to one, but now I'm going to have the perfect dress for it!). At Target I bought a package of three more notebooks. I didn't necessarily need them, but I liked the designs on the cover and I figured it was my birthday, I do what I want (Thor).
After Target, we came back for a birthday party. I never knew birthday parties could be so much fun! I had such an amazing time! My friend made this spectacular cake based off of my book. It was so amazing I cried when I saw it. I just had a blast, and then afterward my three of my close friends slash writing buddies and I got some time to hang out and talk and have fun. We went for a walk and then we took pictures and it was just a blast. That night was the most fun I've had in a while and that birthday was the most amazing birthday I've had in a while. Oh, and I can't forget the amazing graphics that
And then after that, Sunday came and it was the perfect way to end such a good weekend. Church in the morning was really great, on the way home we passed by this awesome motorcycle dude pulling out of his driveway and he was only awesome because he was dressed in like this European style with white gloves, a trench coat and it was just cool, and then a relaxing afternoon in which I watched Saturday night's episode of Doctor Who (which was amazing, by the way!) and then the season finale to Once Upon a Time, which was the most amazing season finale I have ever seen. Of course I freaked out most of the time, but now I can finally like Captain Hook again, which is awesome. Season Three looks like it's going to be spectacular.
I just wanted to say again, thank you to everyone who helped make Saturday so amazing and came out Saturday night! I'm really blessed to have so many amazing friends!
I had such a great morning I thought I'd write a blog post about it. Church was absolutely amazing. I love going to church and coming back and just thinking, "wow, that was a great way to spend my Sunday morning." That's basically every Sunday for me, but even more so when I actually drag myself out of bed to go to the high school service. I should do that more often. I never regret it. Anyway, another reason why I had such a great morning was because I heard some things I needed to hear. It's been tough ever since January blew in on a harsh gust of a winter wind. It wasn't a "happy New Year." But you know what? It's okay. There are times when, hands down, it is NOT okay, and especially over the past two weeks, and if you saw yesterday's blog post, there's that too. But it's okay. I may have my things to deal with right now, but God is here for me, and He's always there when I need someone to go. This is His plan for my life and He is in control, and that's pretty amazing. I may not get it right now, but someday I will, but that doesn't matter. Out of these things I'm going through, I've realized that there's more to life than just winging it. I'm not going to get anywhere without God's help. There's a great deal of comfort that comes from just letting go of all of my worries and stepping back and saying, "God, you can deal with this. I don't know what the right decision is."
Matthew 6:34 says "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own."
Another thing is that I worry. I worry a lot. About everything. Especially the future. That's really unnecessary. I don't need to worry about anything. If I just leave all of my worries for God, He takes care of them for me. Sometimes I forget this, but other times I remember just letting Him deal with the things I would otherwise be worried about. God does take care of these things, and I even stop worrying about them and thinking about them and then afterward look back and realize that they were taken care of for me, and then I have the ability to thank God for doing that for me. I think it's a beautiful thing to look back and thank God for all He's done for me.
During the week, I'm home alone while my dad and brother are at work. I do school, I write, I procrastinate writing on Facebook and Pinterest, I look forward to when they come home so I have someone to talk to. And I never enjoyed busy days when I wasn't at home and couldn't even think about writing, but I started enjoying Thursdays, even though it involved being out of the house from 9 to 6 for homeschool classes at church. Of course, I'm also looking forward to the last day so I can get a break from these busy days, but a tiny part of me enjoys them because I'm around people all day instead of being home alone. I look forward to Saturdays now. They used to be just another day, but now it's a day when my dad and my brother are home and I have people to talk to. Of course, when they're busy on Saturdays doing whatever they need to do, it gets a little disappointing. But, I think, out of this loneliness came two new characters for my new book that I just started writing. Their names are Cas Marinus and Rosemary Neaveh (ni-VAY-a). They're both orphans and they're both lonely. Neither of them have any good friends (luckily I'm not like them and I have some really awesome friends.) Cas has a few friends but no one that's available to talk to when he needs it. Rosemary has her adopted family, and she loves them, but she's looking for something more. It's kind of funny, though. I started writing this book, Archi Pelago, last Sunday, and now whenever I open up the document and work on it, I don't feel lonely anymore. It's therapy, I suppose. The thing is, these characters both believe in God. They're both born again Christians. They can't get it in their stupid heads that they're never truly alone. I have the same problem. I always have someone to talk to: God. So I guess I really shouldn't feel lonely. Oh, and I think I just called myself a stupid head. Oh well.
The bane to my existence is currently editing. It's that thing that happens after you've written a book. Admittedly, The Daughter of Robin Hood is the first thing I've ever had to edit, so I kind of put it off for a while thinking the book was so big and intimidating that it would be too hard, but then I actually started late March/early April and it wasn't so bad. I had chapter one edited, and then I printed it out and stuck it in a binder so it can be easier reading for family when I get to sharing it, and then two days later chapter two was finished. Another two days and chapter three was completed, and then came none other than chapter four. That's when it started getting hard. Chapters 1-3 only took two days each, so I figured it would go quick and easy for the entire book and I would have it finished before June and go to the next step, but boy, was I wrong. Chapter four took me about four-five days. While I marked it on my calender, I only marked what day I finished the chapter on, not what day I started. Anyway, once chapter four was finally finished, I started chapter five, which was even worse. It took me an entire week to edit that chapter. Now I'm stuck at chapter six. I'm absolutely STUCK. It didn't take long for me to get stuck. See, the thing is, currently with my editing process, the current dialogue is the outer halves of an Oreo cookie. I have those chocolately bits of goodness, but I don't have the creme in the middle. I'm editing and adding that creme in between to have a delicious thing of goodness. I need to edit, and I didn't realize how badly I needed to edit (not that I thought it wouldn't need it, there are some things that don't work anymore), but this is a hard process, adding that creme in between the cookie halves. I suppose if novels started out with that creme in between, everyone would write books. It doesn't help that I've been inspired for a new story. I've been planning this story called Archi Pelago (which means ancient sea in Greek, and yes it's usually spelled archipelago but for creative reasons my title is going to be Archi Pelago), and I'm dying to start writing it, but I'm absolutely torn. I want to edit TDRH so I can move on to the next step of trying to get it published, but I also want to start this new story. It's been tugging at my sleeve for about two and a half weeks. I have the character names, a few backgrounds, I know quite a bit about the characters, but I just don't know if I should start writing a new story. I'm afraid if I start writing something new, I'll get so wrapped up in it that I'll forget all about my precious TDRH. The Daughter of Robin Hood doesn't deserve to be left in the corner to collect dust. Oh, the problems of being a writer. Aren't they lovely? I almost started Archi Pelago yesterday, too, but I need a good opening line. So I think I'll procrastinate on everything and read a good book instead.
I have this gremlin following me around and it's name is Writer's Block. Ever since I finished TDRH, I haven't been able to get rid of it. I thought I'd take a break from my characters and work on something I started before November, but put aside for TDRH, but I just can't let go of my beloved characters. I've tried starting the second book, but I'm not very confident with it. I love it so far, but I don't want to start it unless I'm absolutely positive. I should edit, I really should, but for some reason Writer's Block won't let me even try to begin editing.
Maybe it's not Writer's Block that's the problem. Maybe it's fear. I've never edited anything before because I've never loved anything I've written as much as I love TDRH. Maybe I just have a certain mindset that says "it's already good enough, you don't have to edit it," but I know of some things that need to be edited and taken out and just...fixed. It's three-hundred and eighty-eight pages long, too. I can't even begin to think of everything that happened between page one and page three-eighty-eight. Because of my furry little gremlin (I'm just going to say he looks like my cat because my cat is a creep that sits in dark rooms for no apparent reason), I've been thinking that I need to read a book on editing before I start editing. I think that's called procrastinating.
While I was taking a break from writing an alternate universe short story that I'm writing for my writing group (possibly they might get a post at some point, but I can't make promises :)), I took a walk and I was listening to Silhouette by Owl City. It's a super depressing song and I almost feel like I shouldn't post it because it's so depressing and it fits right now for more reason than one, but I can't help but think of how much it fits where I'm at with my writing right now. Or write now. Or edit right now. Ha.
Anyway, the whole song is absolutely sad and beautiful and Owl City is spectacular, but the whole song doesn't particular fit for me or my writing, so I'll just break it down.
"The fire I began is burning me alive, but I know better than to leave and let it die." - I have so many ideas for other story ideas that I'd love to start working on, but I don't want to put TDRH in a corner to let it collect dust. I love those characters more than any characters I've ever created, so I can't just let them go. Not yet, anyway. Someday I want to try to get TDRH published, too, so I can't spend my time working on other things instead of editing.
"I'm a silhouette chasing rainbows on my own, but the more I try to move on, the more I feel alone." - I've tried moving on and working on the sequel which is tentatively being called "The Prince and The Lionheart." I have no plot for it yet, which I think my subconscious is just hiding it from me in the crowded depths of my mind, but I love all of the things I've written on it so far. I also feel like I'm the only one with a completed novel that hasn't started editing yet. I'm not going to start making excuses as to why I haven't started editing yet because I honestly have none. And I hate making excuses to justify what I know I should or shouldn't be doing. Like procrastinating. It's not going to make it any better, it's just going to make you feel better that you're procrastinating.
"I'm sick of the past I can't erase, a jumble of footprints and hasty steps I can't retrace." - I can't erase the time I've spent working on other things, not writing and not editing. TDRH is a jumble of events from point A to point B and back to point A that I can't retrace. So much happened from the starting point to the finishing point that I can't remember all of those events. That's why I need to read through and edit and whatnot.
So, there you have it. It's kind of a sad song with more to it than what I'm getting from it, but to each his (or her) own, right? :) Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I should probably look at this little motivational speech I just gave myself and start doing something productive. Like editing. It all comes back to editing, doesn't it?
Hello, my name's Christina. I'm a writer. I've had a love for writing ever since I was little, but I wasn't serious about it until 2012. Prior to 2012, I would never have considered myself a "real writer," but in 2012 I started writing more and more and actually started falling in love with my work. Over the past few years, I had heard about this writing competition called NaNoWriMo, but I had never been serious enough about writing to participate. In 2012, I decided to participate--for the first time ever. It was probably my best friend that led me to finally do it. We had actually met in a creative writing class in middle school and we were instant friends. A week before NaNoWriMo started in November 2012, I told her about the story I had originally planned on writing during the month of November, but I also mentioned to her that I was thinking about restarting my story, The Daughter of Robin Hood (or TDRH). It's about Lenora "Lee" Hood. She had run away from her father and started her own band of thieves. Three years later, she's ready to scatter and go into permanent hiding, after she steals the prince's fortune. My friend greatly encouraged me to restart TDRH. I'm so glad she did! In the week before November 1st, I created all of these little posters on giant pieces of paper so I could have at a glance information when I needed it. They're still on my wall nearly four months later and I don't think I'm going to take them down. There were a few times in the two to three days before November 1st where I almost felt like chickening out of writing TDRH. I kept seeing that people had had the idea before me and "the daughter of Robin Hood" kind of story had already been thought of. I was discouraged. I thought that my idea was one of a kind unique, but then these things appeared in my bank of knowledge and I realized I wasn't the only one with the idea. My mom told me to stick with TDRH, and I'm glad I did. Before November started, my friend added me to a writing group that's now called The Tea Spitters. I think having them to spend my first NaNoWriMo with made the month so much more enjoyable. Throughout that month, I actually started sharing excerpts with them and getting so much wonderful, sweet feedback from them. Sharing was a new concept to me, but now that I've gotten comfortable with a few people reading my work, I want everyone to read my work. Sharing it became addicting, but the good kind of addicting. Throughout the NaNoWriMo adventure, I kept falling back in love with TDRH. It was the best feeling in the world, about a week or more into the event, realizing I was falling back in love with a story I had given up on. I had previously given up on TDRH because it was so boring, so that's why I needed all of the encouragement to get back into it, but I'm glad that this second time I stuck with it. I fell in love with these characters that I had previously created. They weren't just these drama-centered selfish thieves. For me, they were people with heart-breaking back stories that breathed to life off of the page. They had grown up from being stiff characters to characters with reasons behind their actions and actual personalities. All of them have their secrets and all of them have their quirks. Some of them are hot tempered while one of them in particular likes messing with everyone for the fun of it. Some of them are brokenhearted and ready for a change while some of them are happy with who they are and content in their life situation. I'm happy with how these characters developed as I started writing because they all have their motives and everything has a reason behind it. The first part of Lee's story came to a close quite recently, but it isn't the end. I'm looking forward to two more books, quite possibly more, with her and my other beloved characters, quite possibly more. I've begun to feel like TDRH is the first step in my writing journey. I turned the first page in November when I started rewriting, and retelling, this story. It turned out quite different than the first attempt at it, but I'm happy that these changes were made. They were major improvements compared to the first attempt that has been collecting dust since I stopped working on it. In fact, only a few certain lines were kept, partly because I didn't have time to reread the whole 99 page document before NaNoWriMo started, but also because there weren't any lines that fit in with the new course of events. That's just a little bit about my writing. TDRH is the first thing that I've actually finished, so for more reasons than one, it's very dear to me. I'm even more attached to the characters. I fell in love with all of their personalities and flaws. The realest characters, to me at least, are the ones that have flaws, and mine do. None of them are perfect. I think that's why I'm so proud of TDRH, because none of the characters are perfect. They lie, and steal, and cheat, and they keep their secrets from each other whether it's for the right reasons or not. Those things are all wrong and shouldn't be done, but they're thieves and that's what they do. Even the prince who is supposed to have a perfect image stoops down to their level because, let's face it, nobody's perfect. Perfection is virtually unattainable unless you're God. He is Perfection. Before I go any further, this is only the second blog post I've ever written. I don't know what this blog is going to be about, but I'm certain that it's going to be about my writing journey. There's definitely going to be some Christian messages in there at times because that's just who I am, but other than that this blog will probably be a jumbled collection of random thoughts in the convenient form of an organized blog. Until next time, Christina
