Woohoo! I'm an epic failure!

As you know, I should be nearing 50,000 words tomorrow in Smolder. So let's say that I'm really past 18,000 words right now.

Yeah, real big difference there. For the majority of the weekend, I was watching Yu Yu Hakusho. And I'll end up watching Sailor Moon and Rurouni Kenshin in the upcoming weeks. Anime seems like really like me during the winter; last year, my friend got me to watch almost all of the DeathNote series. But ... yeah, I didn't finish it.

Let's see if I can get this writing done! On Thursday, I have community service because of my history class. On Friday, I have to play for the football game, because we've made it to championships for the first time in the history of my school. And we're undefeated. So, I must suffer in 30 degree weather (I'm a Californian used to 90-100 degree weather, of course I'm going to die!) and then thaw out at home that night.

At least I don't have homework. Not with finals coming up. I just need to pull up my history grade a little to maintain straight A's. (Yeah, I'm a nerd, too.)

So, those of you who're participating in Writing Hell: Are you failing as badly as I am, or have you stayed on track?

Writing Hell 1.1

First day of the first week of Writing Hell.

How many of you have met your 2.5-5k goal yet? I for sure haven't! I've been at school, reading and doing school like things. And tonight, I can't write much, because I have a wonderful Christmas Parade to march in. Oh the joys of being in my high school's marching band.

So, Writing Hell participants, here's how posts will go (I meant to do this yesterday, but Yu Yu Hakusho distracted me):

Make a post for your first day of Writing Hell. It will contain your starting word count (example: Starting word count: 100) and beneath that, your ending word count (at the end of the day, or the next day, fill it in; follow previous example) and then you could post an excerpt. I will most likely be doing this tomorrow, and will be catching up on my 5k goal over the weekend.

For now, I will post the summary, as I don't have a whole lot of time to get stuff done.


Starting word count: 15535
Ending word count: 15535

And the summary:

Having to actually save something is the last thing on Milo’s mind. Being a demigod is a close second. Yet now she’s forced to take on these two foreign paths in hopes of keeping some sort of world order. But Milo couldn’t care less about things that don’t involve her.

Levin refuses to let her go down the wrong path. As her Guardian, he guides her as best he can. He’s able to solve many of her mistakes, until she upsets Them—the ones who granted mortals the chances for immortality in the first places. Milo should listen to them no matter what, unless she wants to lose the powers that come with being a demigod.

When it comes to change, Milo’s chances of staying a demigod smolder to dust.

I hope to near completion for Smolder by the end of these ten days.

So, how's your Writing Hell going? If you're participating, feel free to leave a comment with your day's excerpt. I'd love to check it out!

You poor little thing

It's been a while, if you hadn't noticed. But school, band, and writing have all overcome me. Kind of.

On Monday, I have an essay on Macbeth due. On Saturday, I'm going to be out of town for our last marching competition. And then I'm trying to get lots of writing done for Rush and my new idea, Smolder.

But, come Monday, I won't have to be at school until the regular time, and will start posting Writing Tips. The book I just finished and the book I'm currently reading have sparked a series of tips that I believe will help aspiring authors.

And that's my little update. See y'all on Monday!

Wanderlust!

The title of this steampunk (at least, I plan to be a steampunk) was inspired by my marching band's show, the Gypsy Life. The last song (out of three) is Wanderlust. I absolutely love our show this year, so I don't find it surprising that I've "adopted" the title.

Anyways, I have yet to post the pitches for Wanderlust, so I'll post them now.  Tomorrow, there will be a 300 word excerpt. Wanderlust excerpts will be on Wednesdays for this month.

When right and wrong collide, there’s a mess. 

She doesn’t like messes. 

The Minister ignores the poor. There is no such thing. 

The poor work and starve. They need food now. 

The Resistance is ready for change. But they don’t exist. 

~*~

Johanna grew up with the Minster’s daughter, America—her playmate for years. She learned how to act like a proper woman, yet hung out with more young men than women. And she grew up at her father’s side, following in his footsteps. 

1800s Ireland is a time where one can hear word about the Resistance on the street. Just the utterance of the word and hope springs within all people. Except for the Minister. This group appears to be after him, and he fears for his life. These horrible men won’t stop terrorizing the rich—the Minster’s most helpful people. Which means he needs body guards. 

For years, the Minister has looked for Johanna’s father as a guard and adviser. He’s heard of what Johanna can do, and he needs her help to keep his precious America alive. 

But everyone always has different incentives.

This is my NaNoWriMo project. I hope to reach 60000 words out of the expected/planned 80-90 thousand words. My first attempt at a steampunk.

Are you participating in NaNo? If you do write, but aren't participating in NaNo, how's the writing coming along? 

Starting tomorrow!

The last few days have been busy. And the next month will be busier.
Last Friday was a football game. (My school won, by the way. Off to playoffs.) And then Saturday, my school hosted a marching competition. Where I was sunburned, marched twice in heat that I'm not used to (we usually march during the evenings) and had only 6 hours of sleep. Then I got 12 hours of sleep Saturday night. And now I have a whole bunch of history homework plus some reading to do.

Anyways, I plan to start posting excerpts from the novels I plan to work on throughout November for NaNoWriMo. I hope to get the 1.7k for my NaNo, Wanderlust, every day. Which might be achievable when I only have one more Monday night rehearsal for band. And early outs. And two three day weekends (even though Saturdays are for band.)

I might aim for a schedule. I've got four different projects I'm working on, all of different genres. (With the help of Write or Die, of course.) I'll try to think of a good schedule today.

And, as for my reading, I'm halfway through Carrier of the Mark. Still have a lot more to read, and I hope to get a lot of reading done this month. I'm getting myself busy, which isn't very smart of me.

So, what are you reading or writing this month?
Oh, and Happy Halloween for those of you on the Western side of the world.

NaNoWriMo, here we come!

Thus begins the last few days of the month. Which is really not good for me.

Why, you ask? Well, let's see...
My novel, Deception, is in inkpop's Top 5. Which means I need to make sure it is as close to how I want perfect as I can make it. And I'm only on chapter seven of twenty-five plus chapters. Not good, being that I'm adding scenes and rewriting things.

It doesn't help that I have to play at a football game this Friday, and then my school's hosting a marching competition Saturday. So I have the rest of tonight, Thursday, some of Friday and Saturday, hopefully all of Sunday, and then Monday night (yay for no rehearsal for marching band!). Not a whole lot of time. So, I'm partially freaking out.

And then NaNoWriMo begins a week from today. I've already planned the first three chapters for my steampunk, Wanderlust, which is good. I should be able to survive the first day or two. Then I have to plan. A lot. That's between marching band, football games, and competitions. Next month is going to be chaotic.

So, anything big coming up for you? Are you going to participate in NaNoWriMo? If so, let me know a bit about your novel.

Have a good day/evening!
-Dylan

What's next?

Many things are coming up for me. Today I plan to buy Carrier of the Mark at Wal-mart. Tomorrow I have a usually Monday night rehearsal for band (we're learning the rest of our third song). Then I have to study for the PSAT on Wednesday. It's the end of the quarter this Friday, I've got a weird presentation for English, a test in Chemistry, and this year's first marching competition on Saturday. I get to spend more of my Saturday at school, on a bus, at another school, and on the bus again. Oh, and I get to listen to my lovely iPod while trying to ignore people and get some sleep. And might read on the trip to the other school. And wear my super awesome, super warm jacket.

Writing and reading wise, I plan to have all rewrites for Deception done by next Sunday. And I plan to get Shiver done sometime this week, too. That, or The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Depends on what I decide to pick up tomorrow morning.

Yes, short little post on a Sunday. Not very important, since I still need to figure out some writing tips. I might explain my ways of planning and how I motivate myself to get a whole bunch of writing done in a little bit of time.

So, until then, go listen to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It is my favorite Queen song.

And that is all.
-Dylan

It's been quite a while...

Marching band + school + history homework + writing = busy Kelly

My blog is being neglected, which isn't surprising when I get up at 5:50 in the morning  (Monday-Friday), then come home around 4pm, do my homework until 5pm, (on Mondays) go back to school from 6-9pm, and then try to get some sort of writing done before my self-set bedtime of 9pm. Lots of things for me to do during the week. I even have homework on the weekends.

But enough about the majority of that equation, let's talking about my latest projects!

The first thing would be that Rush is now titled Deception. I find that this new title fits much better. Another fact about Deception is that it's being completely rewritten and is currently ranked at 7 on inkpop. Unless it goes up two more ranks this month, it'll be hitting the Top 5 in October, which means I need to finish my rewrites for the story. So far, only the first chapter is rewritten, and I'm finding that I like this version better.

Next is the two ideas I've written pitches to. The first is a dystopia set during the events that lead to the dystopic world. The other is a paranormal that might have some romance.

Day One

The world will fall, but God will save it.

Olive is blamed for the end of the world after reading a single sentence.   No one knows she did it, except for a group of teens following a young man calling himself “God”.  His plans for the United States involve Olive, leaving her to choose between the chaotic streets or his side.

Around her, she watches the world crumble, not knowing what to do.  Only one solution comes to mind: do whatever God tells her.  She fears her position in this new monarchy, believing that the divine right excuse won’t last long.

A few weeks pass before her threat appears—a single man who leads a group of rioters, ones who know the lies for what they are.   

Hitting inkpop on October 1st, 2011

Fright Nights

Once the night sets in, the real games begin.

Alex and her friends are the jokesters in Amity Heights.  But when their recent joke results with an outbreak between human and monster, there reason something’s wrong.

 

The humans and monsters lived years with each other, the humans always knowing that the man they walk alongside could be a werewolf when the full moon comes out. A peace once rested among these people, but when outbreaks of dead humans rattle the city, attention lands on the creatures of the night.

 

Alex, her distant cousin Troy, and her five-hundred-year-old vampire friend, James, are only three pawns in the wars to come.  Both humans and creatures turn against each other, waiting for the others to fall.

 

With no one to trust, the trio of friends relies on the help of each other more than ever. Until one of them changes sides.

Might hit inkpop on January 15th, 2012

I've also got another idea, but it doesn't have a pitch just yet. It's mostly likely that this project (entitled Trapped) will be my NaNoWriMo project. 

And now that I've typed this up, I believe I shall return to rewriting Deception. I want it completely rewritten before the end of the month, just in case it slips into the Top 5 and stays there. Plus, it'd be nice to just be able to edit for next month, instead of rewrite and then edit.

Hope you all have a lovely day!

So...

This is really a random post, since it's been a while.

First off, I've started school once again. (Go class of 2014! ... not really.) And I've had homework from the first day. Add marching band to that (waking up before 6am and Monday night rehearsals from 6pm-9pm) and I'm a busy child with not much time to write.

But, on the second day of school, and I had a new idea for a dystopia. It came to me while studying the Roman and Greek politics in World History. So, I decided to start writing it once Chemistry came around (because my Chem teacher is boring). The next day, more ideas came from studying came when we studied the first monotheistic religions. Amazing how school can influence writing, huh?

As a result, I now have a story (titled Day One) that involves a girl living in America a few years from now. America's economy currently suffers from many things, resulting with everyone moving to "cheaper" places. The story starts with the main character finding a note that eventually leads to her being said to have started "the end of the world". (Yes, this story revolves around the events leading to a dystopia.) The more religious part comes in when a young man having deemed himself "God" forced the main character to lead the new world. And, that's all I've got/willing to share as of right now.

That's one new idea that I plan to finish before the end of the year. The other new idea I have is a paranormal story (might have some romance) that was inspired by a picture I found on deviantART. That has yet to be developed, but I know a bit of what will happen.

So ... who of my little followers has gone back to school? New idea maybe? Where do you get inspiration from?

Hope your writing days go well!

-Dylan

P.S. The new blog title was inspired partially by my current English assignment: write an essay about your literary history. Yay for me.