The Miscellaneous Post

   Sorry to leave you guys for so long! With school, my little sister's birthday, and sickness(which I'm just getting over), life's been pretty crazy. But I'm back, with lots of random things to talk about.

Survey Results

   Thank you, everyone! It really means a lot. More people took it than I'd expected. Some of the results were unexpected, too.

Apparently Children of the Nameless is more popular than I thought.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! I'll get to these as soon as I can.

   My blog design isn't super popular, apparently. I really like it, though, and I spent a lot of time on it, so you're just going to have to deal with it. I got some tips about following options that I'll definitely be trying, though. If I ever figure out what Blog Lovin' is.
   Also...if you were one of the two people who didn't know who Twenty One Pilots are...tell me and I will fix this. Immediately.

Happiness Tag

   So the lovely Aimee tagged me in a happiness tag. I really like happy things, guys!!

books:  the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull // Havard by Aimee Meester // the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling // Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare //

films:  Tangled // How to Train Your Dragon(1 and 2) // The Force Awakens // Rise of the Guardians // Inside Out // Harry Potter // Lord of the Rings // The Hobbit //

words:  vibrant // enthusiasm // adventure // wanderlust // brave // daring // universe // wonder //

scents:  In-N-Out // the ocean // rain // popcorn //

songs:  Holding On To You, Twenty One Pilots // When Will My Life Begin, Tangled soundtrack // Every Teardrop a Waterfall, Coldplay // I Lived, OneRepublic // Shut up and Dance, Walk the Moon // Crazy Beautiful, Andy Grammer // Life In Color, OneRepublic // Aaron Burr, Sir, Hamilton soundtrack // Chasing the Sun, Sara Bareilles //

random:  Twenty One Pilots // concerts // music // collages // bright colors // combat boots and Converse // painted nails // art // retellings // playing the bass //

   I tag Hannah, Katie, and Caroline. :)

Big Exciting Thing

   I'm thrilled to announce that I've got something...well, exciting, coming up on the blog! I've never posted much about general writing, but that's going to change in the beginning of March. I can't wait to share this with you guys.

Character Quiz

   I'm a little surprised that I haven't shared this with you before. A few months ago, I made a "Which character are you most like" quiz, and since I'm busy with the Big Exciting Thing, I figured this could appease you until I can post normally again (because you aren't totally used to going weeks without hearing from me). Comment below and tell me who you get!

In which I make you guys take a survey

   Well, not make. That would be rude. You can ignore this post if you want. But it would be super awesome if you took this survey(that I worked really hard to make)!
   This might be a stupid idea, since probably like 6 people consistently read my blog, but whatever. When have I listened to common sense?
   So without any further ado, here's the survey. Take it if you want to help me improve my little corner of the blogosphere and feel super happy.

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In which I talk about this year a lot

   So I tried writing this on New Year's Eve, but that obviously didn't happen. I'm blatantly copying Katie's end of year post, because what are friends for if not to plagiarize?
   Love you, Katie child.
   Also, I'm linking up with The Broke and The Bookish for Top Ten Tuesday, so you have to hear about what my plans are this year. So there.

Writing

   Well. I feel like this is the first year I started taking my writing seriously. I checked and apparently I wrote about 34k this year. Someone please explain how I did that because that is a lot of words.

Me being confused and shocked

   My plan was to finish the book at 60k by the end of 2015. That's not happening. I'm a little disappointed, but I'm also very proud of myself for how far I've come. Children of the Nameless is coming along quite nicely, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
   I also wrote several short stories and some angsty poetry. Some of the short stories are on the blog and some I'm keeping to myself, because, well,

Blogging

   So, blogging was actually a thing this year. I celebrated my blog's first birthday; that was fun. I tried to be better and have a schedule, but that died quickly. My post about not comparing yourself had the most pageviews(thanks guys!), closely followed by my first Music + MBTI post about Fall Out Boy. If you liked that one, never fear; there will be more this year! (oh look I rhymed)

Reading

This is the year I rediscovered Goodreads. Now I understand how you guys can keep track of alllll the books you read. I didn't, so I don't know how many I read. I know it wasn't as many as some people, because how in heck is a person supposed to read 200+ books in one year?! Excuse me while I am confused.

   Some of my favorites this year were The False Prince, Leviathan, The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet, and Challenger Deep. I also got Harry Potter books 2-6(I already owned number 1), and started a reread, but I only got about halfway through 4 before realizing that I was already reading about 5 books and should probably save the reread for later. It will happen eventually.
   I also read Pariah, We Caught a Vampire, and all that's written of Little Hero by the fantabulous Aimee. I'm also pretty sure I reread Havard at the beginning of the year, because reasons.

Mostly because of this face. I love this face. And this boy.

   I also started reading The Color Project by my lovely friend Sierra and The Ring Thief by my other awesome friend Carlyn. I need to catch up on all the beta reading. Because there's a lot.

Life

   I'm going to do a list of random cool things that happened to me this year, because lists are fun and involve the least amount of explanation. And it's not going to be in order, because how am I supposed to remember things like that.

• I flew to California by myself to stay with my aunt and uncle for a month. On the flight over, what should have been an hour long layover ended up taking about 5 hours. On the flight home, the stupid airport lost my suitcase. The actual visit was really fun and I got to see a lot of family, and I think that was only one day that I went to sleep before 1 in the morning. And I got to go to a baseball game, which was the best.
• I discovered Twenty One Pilots and fell deeply in love. 
• I went to EFY, a church camp. It was amazing. I made a lot of friends and had my faith strengthened when it was almost gone.
• I also participated in a pioneer trek reenactment with church. I now have a greater appreciation of anyone who had to live without AC. Or jeans. Or showers.
• I went to prom with my good friend Marcus and got to wear a pretty dress and look gorgeous. (I really like pretty dresses, okay)
• My band had its first performance(I have mentioned that I play bass in a band, right?)
• I started writing the Harry Potter fanfic that's been buzzing in my head for ages. And it's pretty fantastic if I say so myself.
• I participated in Camp NaNo and NaNoWriMo for the first time this year
• My family and I drove to Utah for Thanksgiving to see family we haven't seen in 4 years. I also got to see my best friend who'd moved away almost exactly a year before, and I got to meet my platonic wife Emily, who I met on GTW. (That was pretty much the best day ever.)
• I started my senior year of high school and turned 17(I can legally apparate and do magic outside of school, guys)
• I got to wear another really pretty dress and pretty steampunk jewelry as my costume for Halloween. Halloween is my favorite.

   Okay I'm done now. Onto my seven writing/reading/blogging related goals this year!

1. Finish Children of the Nameless and/or reach 60k by the end of February
    This is gonna be a thing, guys.

2. Edit CotN and send it to my betas
    I am equal parts nervous and excited for this. My betas are just excited.

3. Start the CotN sequel some time this year
    I'm scared, guys. SO MUCH UPCOMING ANGST.

4. Maybe possibly start writing one of my plot bunnies during the summer
    I don't know which one yet, because there's a lot. But it would be fun to write something besides
   CotN. Maybe one of my fluffy little contemporaries?

5. Start blogging more
    I'm not gonna hold myself to a strict schedule. I'm not going to try to post a few times each week.
    I am going to post more often, though.

6. Read 25 books
    Hopefully mostly new books, not just rereads.

7. Catch up on beta reading
    Adrianna, Caroline, Sierra, Carlyn, anyone else I'm forgetting: forgive me.


   Alright alright I'm done now. Anyone noticed that I like to talk about myself a lot? 2015 was kind of a rough year for me, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make 2016 way better.

Let's do the thing, guys.

How was your 2015? Do you have any goals for 2016?

In which I return from the deep dark hole that was November and talk about NaNo again

   Yes! I have returned. After a month.

   November was wild. The first half of the month was consumed with being sick, NaNo-ing, and packing. The second half was driving from Texas to Utah(a very long drive let me assure you), visiting family and friends, finding out that my dad's cousin is also a writer and getting to read her first chapter, and having almost no wifi for two weeks. That last part was not so fun.
   But I'm back now, and I'm all ready to tell you about what happened with NaNo by linking up with Cait and Sky's Beautiful Books meme.

1. On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), how did the book turn out? Did anything defy your expectations?

   Ha.
   Hahahhahah.
   Word count wise, it was awful. I got 11k instead of my goal of 25k. So that was lame.
   HOWEVER.
   I got to write some freaking awesome scenes that I've been wanting to write for foreverrrr. Including, but not limited to: kissing, almost-kissing, backstory revealing, and risking your life to save your friend.
   So I'd say seven.


2. Comparative title time: what published books, movies, or TV shows are like your book? (Ex: Inkheart meets X-Men.)

   THIS IS ACTUALLY REALLY HARD, GUYS. I've been thinking about it for dayyyssss and can't really think of anything specific. Just, any generic fantasy story meets a generic coming-of-age YA story. That makes it sound way lame but I swear it's not.


3. Do you enjoy working with deadlines and pressure (aka NaNoWriMo)? Or do you prefer to write-as-you’re-inspired?

   Give me alllll the deadlines, precious. I really like the tracking-my-progress part of NaNo too. Which is why I use myWriteClub during the non-NaNo months. If I just wrote whenever I felt like it...I would never get anything done.


4. How do you go about editing? Give us an insight into your editing process.

   When I find out, I'll tell you. I've actually....never made it to the editing part? But I'm getting there, which is terrifyingly exciting.

Actually me right now

   I do have a plan though.
   1. Get critiques from my alpha readers(hint hint, you guys)
   2. Read through Children of the Nameless after a break and take note of things I need to change/fix/get rid of
   3.  Change/fix/get rid of those things
   4. Cry
   5. Wonder why I'm writing this stupid thing
   6. Remember how much I love it
   7. Send it to my betas
   8. Panic
   9. Get their critiques
   10. Repeat steps 2-9 until I find it satisfactory


5. What aspect of your story needs the most work?

Also me. All three expressions. Me.

   Lots of things. All the things. It's my first book ever; what do you expect? To be honest, though, the characters and storyworld really need to be fleshed out more, and I need more character development. I have most of a plot (read: most), so I'm pretty good on that aspect. But all in all I'm terrified excited to fix this.


6. What aspect of your story did you love the most?

   The fact that it exists? The fact that people like it? The fact that I'm 71% done?
   Okay but in all honesty, I think I love my characters most. Because in the end, that's what matters most. If someone loves the plot but hates the characters, they probably won't like the book. True, a lame plot can't really hold awesome characters, but to me, characters are the most important part of a book.

7. Give us a brief run down on your main characters and how you think they turned out. Do you think they’ll need changes in edits?

   Speaking of characters. Ah, my babies. I can never talk about them enough. I apologize in advance for the length of this section.

   First off, we have Kaleth. Pretty boy, courageous, protective, strong Kaleth. I struggle with writing him a lot, despite my love for him. I want him to come across as a strong, fearless, calculating leader, but in my efforts to make him seem like that, he became....one-dimensional. And, with help from some awesome friends(looking at you, Emily and Sierra!), I'm realizing that I need to stop panicking. He's barely seventeen! He's human! Let him write himself! Leaders can still have fun and joke around with their friends! Especially when they're teenagers!

   And then there's Barrow(who does not look or dress quite like this gif, but it's adorable and something he'd do and I wanted to use a gif). He's a player, a flirt, and an obnoxious jerk. But oh how I love him. He's gone through hell, and hasn't quite come out of it, but he's getting there(with help from *cough*certain people*cough*). He's got issues. He's destructive, and caring, and annoying, and brave. He's a jumbled mess, and I'm really proud of how he's come through in this draft. I just need to make his friendships/crushes more gradual and less out of the blue.

Why do I only have one gif for her. I need to fix this.

   Ah, Danica. My lovely precious child. She's brilliant but doesn't believe it, beautiful but can't see it. She's incredibly smart, caring, and gentle. She came across as a bit of a pushover in the beginning, instead of just shy like I'd intended, so I need to fix that. I'm also sad her genius didn't make its appearance as much as I'd want it to(mostly due to my fear/hate of writing planning meetings). I'm still struggling to figure out how exactly to write her POV, but all in all she did quite well in this first draft.

   Allorie is Cinderella. Seriously. She's had a super sucky life(sorry darling), has a nasty mother, is forced to live and work wayyyy below her station, but through it all, she's still one of the kindest, sweetest, most selfless people ever. "Have courage and be kind" is pretty much her life motto. I understand her really well...in theory. When I'm not writing. I haven't quite found her voice, or how she works, but I'm getting there. I love the child to bits, though.

   This is Katria. Sort of. She doesn't dress or look quite like this, but it shows you how gloriously kickbutt the girl is. She's violent, sarcastic, anti-social, and easily angered. She's a quick thinker and loves a thrill. She's in love with her childhood best friend, but no one(not even she) knows it. Somehow, despite the fact that she's almost my complete opposite...she's one of the easiest to write. It's weird. But I love it. I love her sass, her knife obsession, and the way she thinks about said best friend all the time(resulting in me screeching "WOULD YOU HURRY UP AND FIGURE IT OUT AND JUST KISS HIM ALREADY" despite the fact that they're hundreds of miles apart). She did really well this draft.

   And last but not least is Egin. He is a "Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good For This World, Too Pure". Literally. He's got asthma and really bad social anxiety. He can do a little magic, mostly just making pretty things to calm him down when he has panic attacks. He loves his family, especially his little sister, who he'd do anything for. But...he came across as really really really whiny. He's only had a few chapters but he has a panic attack in each one. Yeah, he's not as brave now as he will be in later books, but I don't want him to seem like an obnoxious wimp. And the traditional writing structure kinda goes out the window when I'm writing from his POV, and I'm afraid that'll annoy people. So, Egin as a character is perfect. The way I write him is not.

8. What are your plans for this novel once you finish editing? More edits? Finding beta readers? Querying? Self-publishing? Hiding it in a dark hole forever?

   Edits! All the edits! I wanna get this baby published eventually(in which case I might actually cry).


9. Share a favourite snippet!

   Oh boy. I shall attempt to find something not full of spoilers.

#Ishipit

I got to write an entire chapter of her daring stunts. It was glorious. 

10. What are your writing goals and plans for 2016?

   Originally, my plan was to finish the first draft of Children of the Nameless before the end of 2015, but I don't think that's going to happen. Sadly. I want to finish it as soon as possible, and then get started on edits before I start writing the second book at the end of next year. Someone hold me I can't believe this is happening.

   So there you have it! A basic rundown of my November. I am so ready for Christmas break(which will hopefully translate to "lots of writing time").

Did you do NaNoWriMo? How did it go? Are you excited for the holidays?

Beautiful Books #2

   Hey guys! I'm back with another post about NaNo. I'm almost to 10k! So please forgive any mistakes in this Beautiful Books post, since I wrote it as quickly as possible to allow more time for writing Children of the Nameless.

1. Is the book turning out how you thought it would be, or is it defying your expectations? 

   I don't know what to expect. I don't know what I was expecting. But it's turning out great. My word count is slowly increasing. A little too slow my my liking, but I'm writing more than I usually do.

2. What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)? 

 First paragraph of the book:

"It was a time of war. No one was safe. It was a time of blood, but the only glory came to those who delighted in death. Some fought for power. The rest fought to keep themselves and their loved ones alive."

First paragraph that I wrote for NaNo:

 Katria couldn’t help being slightly relieved that the two idiots were still alive. She’d thought Kaleth had lost his mind when he’d jumped off the ship, until she realized Barrow wasn’t on the ship either.

3. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Have you ever tried both methods and how did it turn out?

   Plonster, definitely. I have to have a basic idea of where the chapter is going before I start writing or I panic. And can't write. At all. But when I have an idea, I use it to guide me, and the characters just do whatever they want. Which sometimes involves broken arms. I'm not too happy about that one.

4. What do you reward yourself with after meeting a goal? 

   A piece of candy for every 500 words I write in a day. 

5. What do you look for in a name? Do you have themes and where do you find your names? 

   Most of the time, I look up traditional names from the real-life country I've based the fictional country on. It's a lot easier than making things up(which i did for all of the main characters). I like the names to have meaning, too.

6. What is your favorite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why? 

   So far, I like the middle best. I get to write things that I've been planning for years no joke. Things are finally starting to happen!

Things not unlike this.

7. Who’s your current favorite character in your novel? 

8. What kind of things have you researched for this project, and how do you go about researching? (What’s the weirdest thing you’ve researched?!) 

   I...don't really research that much? Usually I ask on my writers' group to see if anyone's already done the work for me. I do look up things sometimes though, like mental disorders and weaponry.

9. Do you write better alone or with others? Do you share your work or prefer to keep it to yourself? 

   I can't write when other people are doing distracting things in the room, and I abhor when people watch me write, but I love love love word warring with my writer friends! You know who you are.  And I absolutely have to have people read my stuff. Even though it sucks sometimes. I'm really pushy about getting my alphas to read stuff so they can tell me it's not too horrible and/or flail with me.

10. What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!

   Always music. Always. And I can write whenever, pretty much. My favorite place to write is on the comfy couch in my living room right next to the window.

It is the comfiest of all comfy chairs.

How is your November going, my blogglings? Any plans for Thanksgiving? I'm driving up to Utah on Saturday, and I don't know if I'll have wifi there, but I'll be back in December with all the details about how NaNo went!