To Answer my Friends Question

My friend asked me a simple question when I secretly sent her the last chapter, which was of course, "Are you being sexy and writing more again?" (Words may have been added or removed to dramatize that last sentence) My simple answer to those that read this blog is yes. Yes I have continued writing my story again and yes I am finding it very much enjoyable. Maybe its just something about the month of July that gets me all writing happy, maybe I'm just kind of in the mood for something kind of horror-struck (Actual horror content of this novel to be decided/determined/decimated). I think its a combination.

I've moved onto chapter ten, which has the most original title ever, though I'm not ready to post it yet so tough luck to all those kids caring (That's like what, three and a half of a stump. Man I have an awesome fan base). Unlike previous chapters, chapter ten is a little bit of everything. Things move forward, plot moves forwards, things are introduced, plot moves forward, things get closer to chapter eleven, plot gets faster, things get faster, people get faster, faster gets faster, and so forth. I know that's not telling much, but I literally just got off of a chapter that was like full-pace run (wait, that sounds wrong) and had to actually slow it down to capture the moment. I know, that goes against everything I said I was going to do, but now we pick it up again since the next chapters are more about the ending. That's right, the past chapters were really all a nice set-up and now comes the action-packed, thrilling ending where suddenly thoughts I had come to closure and thoughts I want to leave open... well obviously stay fairly wide open.

And that's where Book 2 comes in... which will of course be titled (that's the actual title... screw the public I want something weird and eye catching). In continuing this blog to continue with my writing, I will now change scope to be different. First of all, the count at the bottom of the blog will be of what I've written since the last blog followed by the current total. Why am I changing this? Because I don't really want to go through the math of figuring out how awesome I've been doing each month and I'm still very much busy and unable to spend time on such things. Instead I'd rather rant (that's what blogs are for). So I'll try to post updates on a regular basis (which for me is what... once every three months maybe except for when I first started) and I'll try to keep the word-counts up to at least 1,000 words, which is about a page and a half of microsoft word single space writing. To my friend, this is good considered its about 10,000 words to a chapter (roughly) and 40,000 words until the end of the book (un-roughly).

So lets get that pace-maker back on and roll through some pages!

Tonight's Count: 1,536
Total Words: 100,511

Change of Plans

Change of plans (Gasp, didn’t see that one coming), but I may not be doing the NaNoWriMo anymore. Besides the fact that I’ve been stressed to hell and thus have not been writing, I also got torn away from Colorado to go visit my Grandmother’s grave in Connecticut. I did enjoy going to Connecticut and seeing her grave, but I did so without my computer and thus greatly lost time in the NaNoWriMo as well as lost ideas/interest in the story I had.

However, I did randomly decided to start writing something else. To what effects it might be, we’ll have to see, but I’m going to send a small portion of it to one of my friends and see what she thinks. It should be weird.

A New Story Now Named

So I know this is not the greatest of ways to start a new story, but it is a start. I have come to the conclusion on what the name of my story will be along with how the entire thing will be written (which is, of course, different than anything I have done before). As promised this is a comedy, though maybe darker than originally planned. At any rate, here is the name of my story for the NaNoWriMo.

The Deathly Letters of Collin Millstone

That’s right, its a book that of course has death involved. Because I plan to make this strangely legible yet easily findable on any aspect to the book, I’ve decided to throw in a “Index of Chapters” (also known as a table of contents). In this way the people that want to read my book will be able to quickly see when a new letter will appear along with what chapter it will appear in. All done by word of course (because I am lazy).

So its a small, short, very slow start, but it is a start. Also please note that I’ve changed the statistic from Total Chapters, which is very vague and hard to understand as to what I might mean to total chapters completed, which gives me a much more easy value to place there. As I finish them I will say so there (of which I currently have not done even one). It’s a start as I keep repeating.

Words for the Novel: 195 / 50,000
Total Chapters Completed: 0

The Time is Now Midnight!

I did it today, I accomplished writing more than ten thousand words in two days flat. That's really impressive once you consider I normally spend a week writing that many words for my story. Then again, I've felt really involved with this chapter and I've been really proud of the artwork it has become. That's right, I said artwork.

This chapter has changed so much from my original idea that if I read it to myself from ten days back, I'd have hardly known it was the same thing. The basic principle I had so many days ago is still very much present in the chapter, but what happens has become something much more grand than I could have imagined. And maybe this is all because of the process of writing, I really can't be sure, but I am pleased to say that this is by far one of the best chapters I have ever written.

The best part, the scenery is actually really simple and easy for anyone to imagine. It was what I did with the surrounding atmosphere that makes it so sophisticated. I could have written this chapter a thousand different ways, but I'm not sure I would have been as proud as I am. Not only that, but to my readers (to which has now become three people...) I hope they see all the symbolism and symbols I gone to lengths to throw into each place. I think this one might also send a few shivers up their spines.

So am I done now that ten thousand words have passed, the normal average length of my chapters. I think not and I might actually be far from it. I'm not certain that I will need another ten K to do the job, but for sure I will need a few thousand more just to finish the explanations I have ended up in. And yes, I thought about breaking this part up into two separate chapters, but the problem is that the whole thing lies in such perfect unity with itself that I thought breaking the pieces apart would only ruin and not strengthen the value anyone will find by reading it.

To tomorrow I will write more, the ideas are still flowing vibrantly through my head and I have probably enough to keep writing peacefully onward for some time. I wish I would have known how much joy I'm getting out of writing this a few days ago, but then again I probably would not have developed the ideas I have. It's that strange state where I wish I had done so sooner while at the same time it would not have been as great had it been performed before the best time. There has to be a word to describe that, someone out there probably knows it.

And for now, have a wonderful night!

Words for the Month: 12,445 / 40,000
Total Words: 92,504

Day Two of the No Video Games Program

And so I failed to make 5,000 words in my wake of what was yesterday (I don't honestly count it to be the next day until I sleep, the only exception of which being that I need the number of words completed before everyone else considers it to be the next day at midnight) and I haven't played video games yet. This of course makes me sad, because I love video games.

SO I started the program again today, 5,000 words to start playing video games. I figured that it helped me get 4,700 or something words yesterday so it wasn't a complete failure and already today I've made headway towards the final goal. Also, I might have to work a little faster if my friend calls me and wants to play and five... Anyway, it seems to be working really well so I think I'll keep this program in action. Next month I might keep it but I will lower the amount required each day so that I don't finish in the first eight days and then wait to play all month long. I'm not saying 5,000 words isn't a bit too much, just that I've gone into crisis mode and need to fix the problem that video games has caused this month

On a different note, the evolution of chapter 8 goes well. I've had a lot of interesting things to write about and kept the pace fairly forward for someone who is basically alone in the world I am describing. That's about as much as I can say, really. Actually I'm really looking forward to what happens after this chapter, there are some funny thing I want to say and some interesting points to make before the next stop on the list.

Well, gonna take a small break and then hop back on it.

Words for the Month: 9,206 / 40,000
Total Words: 89,265

Chapter 7 is complete!

So I'm getting back on the fun bus and writing again (after a week long break from writing). I hope to hit this month running, but that seems to be not happening yet. Oh well, at least I'm getting back into and today is far from over yet as well!

I'm surprised that I didn't need as much as I thought I would for this chapter, but the next one is even more confusing and strange and, if I left the chapter off just right I should have yet again succeeded in pissing off my friend who hates drop endings. More things are just ahead of the main character and I've been ever so kind as to hint at what is about to happen, though we'll see if the clues are easy to pick up on.

I think the name of chapter eight can be revealed as well, since it offers no more help to my poor friends reading this. It's called The Home She Grew Up In and although I'm telling the name right now, like I said it really doesn't offer a whole lot more to them. I can easily say this will be an interesting and confusing chapter to write and the ending will, of course, leave my friend hating me (I've got this one pretty much planned out as well). Actually, I've been thinking about this story for a while now and I know exactly where I am going with it (though there are still some details I need to work on when I get there). The way the first book will end is pretty much set in stone, it answers a few of the mysteries I've opened and leaves my friend hating me for ending it that way, which is perfect.

I'm going to write more later, but at least I got started on this chapter! Also, my friend Wyatt should stop distracting me...

Words for the Month: 1,005 / 40,000
Total Words: 81,064

An Important Achievement

So I know that this should be where I post something about how wonderfully I've achieved 80,000 words in a single story right here, I mean it is the very last day of the month and that is where I should be. However, this blog post is to actually celebrate the achievement of making 100 pages of story.

Why do I find this to be so damn important? Because I write single-spaced and with one inch margins (where words normally keeps the margins at one and a quarter on each side, so I gain half an inch). I also don't go onto the next page unless I'm at the next chapter. Well, I've filled 100 pages with words that somehow come together to make a tale of about a man's journey. That's amazing.

Let me put this into perspective. A ten page paper written for school would have been double spaced and with a title page. Now, on a double-spaced page you can normally fit about 350-450 words with a 400 word average if you don't space the top margins too much. This means for a single-spaced page my average number of words per page is 700-900 words with an average of about 800 (though I found I'm about 820). That means I've written about 200 pages worth of paper space in comparison to any of my academic friends currently writing thesis papers. And that doesn't include a title page. Make sense why I see it as an achievement now?

To my friends that are reading the book, this means that I've actually given them a somewhat decent in length read. I mean, let me be fair when I say it sucks when you book ends at about page 20 and then the damn author doesn't continue. Also, it means if they were putting all of this together in a word document (which if they were smart they could just ask me to send them the full document, though that is turning out to be a much large file with each time I'd have to send it), they would have something that causes my computer to keep saying "OVERHEAT" and then explode. Thank God the save button works so damn well... and it auto saves like every minute. (Note to readers: actual computer has never overheated and then exploded... except when playing the video game Starcraft 2).

Just one last thing, it will be at least another 2 months of dedicated writing like I have been doing for these past 2 months just to get another 100 page achievement marker. If I was doing this by pages, I'd be done for the night because I would probably go every 50 pages. My friends should be thanking me I'm doing it by words and not by pages (and also, that makes me fell more inclined to make the paragraphs longer... where as if done by pages I would chop them up to make more pages faster).

Now back to working for my other achievement, which is just over 3,000 words away. For those that don't remember me posting this a few days ago, that is somewhere between 2 hours and 4 hours of work based on how many words per minute I can write. I'm going to write just a bit more for tonight (because yes, 1 in the morning is still just getting to sleep time for me) and then I'll finish it up in the morning.

Words for the Month: 36,834 / 40,000
Total Words: 76,877

A Good Day

Today was a good day to write. I actually did really well too, I mean considering that recently I've either written a lot of stuff in a single run or absolutely nothing all day. Best part yet is that I'm just barely under the halfway point for the month. Okay, I know saying that with 7 days left (including this one) is not exactly the best of things. I'm just trying to stay positive is all.

If you want to know the math but don't want to do the math, I technically have to write approximately 3,000 words a day to finish this month. In actuality I think it is a little bit below that, but who keeps track of that. Anyway, writing that much in a single day is not that bad and especially considering that about 24 hour ago I was down 5,000 words from where I am now. I don't know... maybe if I can make another 5,000 tomorrow I'll shoot for this month too. It is definitely exciting to see this coming together.

As far as the story goes, things are starting to go further into where I really wanted to take my readers when I first came up with this idea. By this I really mean that although I have a plot to tell (one that is currently very loose and nondescript in my head), I had a major theme that I wanted to hit. This chapter really starts to open it up into that place and show off what I was heading for. Hopefully I can keep this idea going, I'm really happy with how this story is coming out.

Also, I thought I'd just say to one of my friends that I am going to finish this story and not because I have to but because I want to prove to her that she is wrong. Sure, I've started at least ten ideas since I first started sending her stories and, sure, she won't pick up this one and read it unless she knows that there is going to be an ending. Well, almost double the length of my previous longest story and still going fairly strong. Lets see who wins in my own personal writing contest. Me or shut the hell up, me. And for the record, I know that didn't make any sense.

To my other friends that are reading this, any comments?

 Words for the Month: 19,526 / 40,000
Total Words: 59,569

Hmm... this month might be too far gone now...

I'm not sure I can pull myself out of the hole this month and save the book. If only life was less stressful and I had more things that made me want to write in it. Oh well, I'm not going to give up. However, if I don't make it, should I put myself in the negative and try to get out of it next month? Just a random question I wonder...

So I started working on Chapter 6 today, much to my friend's delight, and I'm actually pushing myself to see how far I can take it before the end of the day. If everything goes as not planned, then I might actually finish it today. No fingers crossed please, but that would be amazing and put me back on track, which would be crazy. Seriously, crazy!

Words for the Month: 16,851 / 40,000
Total Words: 56,894

Chapter 5 is Done!

I finished chapter 5 as promised for my friend and I have already sent it out. So have fun reading that and enjoying all of the things that happen in the chapter. Honestly, that was probably one of the more interesting ones, but more so my friend is going to hate me because it ends on a cliff hanger yet again. Oops, didn't mean for that (yes you did, don't lie), but it happened. Also, happy birthday to one of my friends!

As far as me being behind... dang, I am so damn far behind. I fear I might not make this month, but I also blame that on my family for making this month so damn stressful. Hopefully in these last ten days I can really kick out some amazing stuff. I'd really hate to fail my own goals for the month, but it is a possibility since my family drives me crazy.

Good luck and good night... no wait that's not mine.

Words for the Month: 14,459 / 40,000
Total Words: 54,502

A Special Update just for my Friend

Well I said no more updates until Friday, but I feel like I owe my friend a special one since she is apparently really enjoying the book. Also, I'm going to admit it that the last update was kinda just a "there you go" thing for my friend and that was really mean. And I don't mean like the type of mean that is just plain satirically funny, which is not usually me anyway, but more like the type of mean someone like me shouldn't do.

First off, went and visited two of my friends in Broomfield. It was like a spa vacation that I desperately needed. Hard to believe, but my Dad sucks the energy out of people and then makes them want to vegetate all day long. So, until I went and saw my good friends in Broomfield that is what I had been doing. Which also explains the lack of updates that was going on in this blog and with the story (and also why I am so damn far behind). (random side note, ever notice how many transition words I use? I try to dodge them while writing because I do use so many) Anyway, my two friends were able to re-center me in one visit and then in the next day I was able to break out of that relaxing vacation-spa feeling. The end result was I now feel really recharged and ready to write.

And remember, if there is one thing I have been truthful with when writing this blog (besides that it is about a story I am writing), it has been the number of words I have written. I've been following my rules very strictly on how the numbering goes and even with my mom wanting to watch 30 Rock (which strangely is a show that makes me want to write... I haven't found any other that cause the same effect yet though Arrested Development might work) I have managed to get more words added from what I was previously at today. I'm not done yet, I want to finish Chapter 5 and start Chapter 6. This might be because I promised my friend Chapter 5 and I don't want to be a jerk on her birthday by not delivering the next piece I know she wants.

Also, the name of the book has changed. The series is still going to be called Broken Falls, but the first book in the series is now known as Shattered. I'm thinking I might do something with all of the books being similar except the final one where all of the twists and plots come together in an epic ending that will make my friends go Oh My God!. Still just an idea, but the new name is better than what I had.

Speaking of my Dad (wait, no I wasn't), he's back at work during the day. Hurray! I only see him after 6 PM again like things should be. Best part yet is he has to work for the next month! This means no taunts during the day I will not be trying to recover from him being negatively around me all the time and I will write more during the day. And also, I seem to have cycled on my sleep schedule because I now go to bed at 9 PM and wake up sometime between 3 AM and 5:30 AM. Whatever. And also also, my little brother is going to college soon. This means no more of him interrupting my thoughts mid thought/sentence and that I might get more done.

And now, like every time I write in this blog, I'm gonna do something besides write for a while before hopping back on to write some more. It is kinda ironic, but whatever. I hope this update was better than the last.

OH YEA, and Chapter 6 is pretty much planned out now after some crazy thinking that happened right before I fell asleep last night and when I woke up this morning and tried to get back to sleep. Crazy stuff. Crazy. And just one more for the road, Crazy McCraztastic.

Words for the Month: 11,939 / 40,000
Total Words: 51,982

Chapter Five is AMAZING!

I don't like to gloat except when I think certain friends are annoying me (hint hint hint friend who wants this chapter so badly), but oh my GOD this is probably one of the best chapters I've written yet. I mean, chapter one and two were really about setting up characters and dragging my readers into the story (as I am so damn good at doing). Chapter three and four are all about moving forward with the plot, getting the main character to actually go places and do stuff that hasn't been done before and really setting things forwards. Chapter five is really the first chapter where I start to really dive in and play with the world I've now created. I mean, for the most part the reader has been given sort of a weird place and a lot of separate mysteries. Chapter five kind of stays away from making more mysteries and dives into really adding to previous ones we've already seen.

I guess what I'm saying is I really get to do some awesome stuff (artistically and literally) with the wording and really show that I have fun when I come up with things. Now I'm not saying everyone is going to love chapter five, I'm just saying that I think in comparison to what I have written already it starts to really build on everything I'm working on setting up.

I guess I'll know if I succeeded when one of my readers gives me feedback. Which this might be a hint to my readers...

Regarding other things, I will now have a monthly poll on my blog for everyone to go and click buttons on. I think this will help me with maybe directing my book a little bit more since I am creating a person and not a robot. I hate it when books make robot people who do amazing things. Also, I'm getting back into my groove of writing and so we might actually get to see 2/2 successful months for me to be proud of all I've accomplished with writing. Then September comes and we'll see what happens.

I'm not done writing yet for the night (I mean, when you are having as much fun as I am writing this out... you don't quit), but my computer is bugging me to update it. So I'm going to take a small break, get some more delicious fake coffee, maybe unload the dishwasher, and then get back to work. But even so, look how much I've written already!

Words for the Month: 9,212 / 40,000
Total Words: 49,255

Damn, almost 10,000 words in the seconds month! Cheer my friends, cheer hard.

Woops, Lost another Night....

 I was up all night, but I spent it playing video games again. Damn me and my procrastination, that's the real reason that 40,000 words is such a challenge.

To my readers I am happy to say that chapter four is completed. Unfortunately, I also have to inform my readers that I'm not releasing it just yet. Why? Because as I got to the randomly and newly decided ending, I also decided that I needed to go back through the very last few pages and add in about a billion details that change the way the reader interprets everything. Why? Because in the long run I know that this is one of the more important scenes in the book and I don't want it to just be slashed over with words and not with the full RJ effect. Seriously, I may procrastinate a lot of the time, but I don't put things out that I'm afraid will be terrible for the sake of being terrible.

Anyway, if I'm lucky I'll have the chapter re-finished by the beginning of today. That begin said, I think I'm going to go back to writing. I made 2,000 words yesterday (yes, I added almost a thousand already while re-reading that damn ending and discovering that I really REALLY needed to reword certain parts). If all goes to plan, hurray!

Words for the Month: 2,941 / 40,000
Total Words: 42,984

Final Day of the Month

Today is the final day I can write for my book, and in less than twenty four hours I will have finished the first month with my book. I'm not done yet with this month though, I still have a few thousand words to write before I can call it achieved. I thought it just needed to be said that I am almost there and I've almost achieved something for the first time.

A little bit more than 3,000 words to go and I have a lot of stuff I want to write about. This should be easy.

I'll post again when I finish...

Words for the Month: 36,829 / 40,000
Total Words: 36,829

Ah Yes, the Fun of the English Language

Just to be clear on my retarded sleep schedule, I woke up at three in the afternoon today. I have slept every night on time, yet for some reason my special internal clock said that last night I should not go to sleep until after five thirty in the morning. So I didn't. Then I do get some rest and BAM, out forever.

I woke up tired (because sleeping for long periods of time, like lets say ten hours, tends to do that) and wanted to just take a nap. Instead I forced myself to get up and wonder where the hell everyone in my house was. I managed to eat something, then went back to my room and worked on email or something. About four or four thirty I found my brother and called my parents. Made dinner. Fun. Then time passed with me playing my new arcade game. (I recommend it, it's called Limbo and only available on the Xbox. Though it was short, which disappointed me.)

Well, got into the spirit of writing a little bit later (after everyone was asleep and I could focus better) and decided to write because my friend had just gotten online. She was reading the second chapter, unedited and barely finished, and I was started the next chapter. She gave me some advice, to which I gladly too most of it and made some quick changes, and then we talked about the book for a bit. That's what friends are for.

So where am I going with this ridiculous story. Well look at the time now, four in the morning and I am not tired at all. Curse you insomnia for giving me the ability to live in a 28 hour day instead of our 24.

Okay, back to what this completely strange, I-don't-know where it's going sort of blog is going. I'm going along, writing my book, when I suddenly realized that the English Language sucks. Who the hell made words that sound like other words but are spelled differently. Seriously, that stuff pisses me off and we as people should have made them different long ago. Nothing is equal, not even people, so why are words so damn hard to spell. And now I lost sight of what this blog is about.

Lets just talk about the story since I'm going off onto to many random tangents. The plot thickens, people do stuff, things happen, characters are awesome, more characters are weird, even more are evil, and then less actually turn out to be evil. There you go, update for today completed. Now I'm gonna just go back to writing because that world makes sense to me right now, even if my writing doesn't.

Words for the Month: 23,176 / 40,000
Total Words: 23,176