Camp NaNoWriMo // the final day

1 July 2017, 12:00 AM. I was sitting on a stack of cushions in front of the fireplace in our lounge room.

31 July 2017, (ALMOST) 12:00 AM. I am, once more, sitting in the exact same place and thinking philosophical thoughts.

You know actually I'm not thinking philosophical thoughts, I'm bouncing on cushions. But anyways.

July was a big month. I had my cousin staying over for the first week, I had my weekends booked with odds and ends, I had this and that and everything else on.

Plus Camp NaNo.

And yet right now after all the month is past (*glances at clock* technically it's still another little while yet, I guess. :P) I feel a sense of achievement. I feel like I lived this month. I feel like I took time to be with my younger siblings (and my older ones. :P I actually went to bed at a sane time once or twice so we could hang out before going to sleep). I feel like I did just the perfect thing that I needed to refocus my gaze and remind myself of why I spend hours at the computer everyday. Why I pour my heart and energy into words on a page.

It was a good month.


I actually have a story for you today (ironic, I know). At the end of May, I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to do for July Camp. I was going to write Steam Flight. I was going to have a goal of 70k. I was going to spend half of June plotting.

Haha. Ha.
Nope.

None of that actually ended up happening, but I'm so much happier with what I ended up doing. I wrote A Sprig of Green - the idea of which came into my head about three weeks before Camp. I had a goal of 40k. I started plotting three or four days before Camp, and finished with eleven hours to spare with a chapter-by-chapter plot. I then realised that my novel was actually a novella, and so I lowered my word count goal to 25k.

I had so. much. fun.

A Sprig of Green was one of the easiest books I've ever written. It was just the thing my brain needed to get out of the secret agents and criminals mode, and take a creative break to try out something else. It was an exciting adventure of writing. I finished the novella on day fifteen, at approximately 35k. And then I did something crazy.

I didn't start editing.

I meant to. I honestly planned to. But it didn't happen. And that's all cool by me. I really enjoyed being about to roll back on my insane word counts and hours of typing and delve into other things. I finished some critiquing projects (plus started and finished yet another). I learnt-ish how to do a flying jump kick (don't ask xD although if you do ask, you might get access to a secret youtube video featuring my gymnastics skills xP). I got one or two new movies to fangirl over (Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy yaaass). AND SO MUCH MORE that I won't bore you with telling. xD


At the end of one NaNo month, I automatically look toward the next. November. Actual real super duper 50k NaNoWriMo. Normally I would be starting to plan out "Ohh I'll write such-and-such project then" but right now. I have no clue at all. I don't know what'll happen between then and now. I don't know how far edits I'll be. I don't know what God has in store. But I'm excited. I'm excited to see everything that he's doing and I'm super hyped to see what he continues to do.

I have a pile of projects that are eagerly awaiting my attention, and I could do an entire blog series on what they are and what needs doing on all of them, but I'm not sure that would be terribly interesting after the first one or two. :) So currently, I'm just meandering along as God opens doors or closes them and I'm just so excited for next month. And I'm also excited to have all my wonderful blogging friends so I can bounce along and hear all the cool stuff about your life happenings too. :D

Only two minutes left. :P


What are you excited for in August?
Who's hoping to do NaNo this year??

Comparing Your Work to Others' // dealing with low confidence and fear

Do you ever feel like you’re a failure? Like you’re not as good as so-and-so? Like it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you’ll just never be enough?

Sometimes comparing our work to someone else can help. It can spur us on to work harder, strive more, learn how to be better.

But other times, it simply pulls us down.

It’s so easy to look at someone else and see their work—or even them as a person—and the compare it to your own work, your own self. The problem is that when we do this, so much of the time, we don’t measure up.

We can’t measure up.

We’re all different people, we’ve all been given different talents and gifts. Of course we can’t all be as good as each other. But we know that, and somehow it doesn’t seem to help.

So often I see people hiding back in the corner and not wanting to show their work. For some people they can pass it off as perfectionism. For others—introversion.

But I think for everyone, it’s also just that little seed of doubt.

Everyone has it. That fear that they won’t measure up. That they’re actually a failure. That, quite honestly, they’re wasting their time—and everyone else’s.

And then even worse, there’s the moments of timid bravery when the little artist (not necessarily drawing, I’m using the term in its broad definition) steps out and show some of their work. Some of the art they poured their energy and heart into. And then someone laughs. Or not even laughs, but just passes it off as ‘good’ or ‘nice.’

It hurts. It pulls down the timid hope and our little artist soul scuttles back and hides.

The problem isn’t with the person who betrayed the trust (though they are at fault—a topic I shall be rambling on next week), it’s actually with the artist.

The problem is that so often we look to man to fulfil our desires, to fulfil our identity. We look to our family, our friends, our acquaintances. But they can’t fill that role.

The One who gave us the gift in the first place can.

If you write a chapter, draw a picture, do whatever you do and look at your work and say “I’m a failure” you’re saying that God’s gift is worthless. That he gave you something that is a waste of your time. It’s a ridiculous thought.

You don’t have to measure up to so-and-so. You don’t have to be as good as anyone.

Because that’s not the point.

We need to be looking to God to find our purpose and identity, not the world around us. And when we do that, it doesn’t matter what other people think or do. It doesn’t matter if they all seem better.

Right now, God has you in a special place.

Don’t scorn it and hate it because it’s different than someone else. Accept it and embrace it because it’s a gift.

It’s not easy to accept, and the fear can still be there. But you need to go back to God over and over and over. Every. single. day. Commit it to Him.

I promise you. You won’t regret it. And it certainly won’t be a waste of your time.

#WIPjoy // A Sprig of Green

A day or two ago, Katie Grace did a #WIPjoy post all about her book Where Shadows Lie. IT WAS VERY COOL. Basically, I loved it so much that I decided to jump in and do a post of my own.

(If you don't know what #WIPjoy is, don't worry, I don't hugely either. XD Check out Katie's blog post though because she actually explains it. :P)

But loosely - it's a bunch of questions about your work-in-progress and I'm going to pick my favourites and throw some stuff around about my wee li'l novella A Sprig of Green.

Describe yourself and your WIP.

Me: an energetic, joke-teller, always looking for a laugh...Bare feet, outdoors, callouses on my left hand fingertips from musical instruments, always hungry. I don't even know how to describe myself. XD

WIP: A Sprig of Green, one young girl trying to save her father, one young man trying to save himself.


Your 1st inspiration for this WIP.

It started out because Kingdom Pen was having a Sci Fi themed month and I decided that I was actually going to submit something for once. So then in popped a random idea for a world with no plants and a girl who is looking for them. And it developed from there into a short story (which was then submitted to Kingdom Pen AND ALSO ACCEPTED and (after lots of edits) published *screams* READ IT HERE).


Would you rather: get trapped in your story for a week, or have your antagonist enter your own life for a day?

Can it be after the story is ended?? Because it has a happy ending and everything is all okay again, so I'D BE FINE WITH THAT PART. Before the story...not so much.

And antagonist in my life? No thank you, good sir.


What would your MC be like as an antagonist?

Okay so I have two MCs. Michayla -smol girl- and Braden -a young man. They are both VERY different characters.

Michayla would be the sweetest antagonist ever.

Braden would be confusing. He would have so many internal dilemmas that the hero/MC of the story just gave up and surrendered to him.
He's a fun character. (And technically is sort of an antagonist already, because 'antagonist' is the term for anyone who stands in the way of the plot, not necessarily the main villain.)


What would the antagonist be like as the MC?

VERY EVIL. He would be an exceptionally evil protagonist. XD Ruthless, willing to do anything at all (even deny his own family) to get to his goal.


A line you nailed perfectly.

I can't say that I nailed any line of this absolutely perfectly. BUT STILL. Some of the lines that I am the most proud of currently:

I am not worthy to be called a man.

- - -

Notes of paper money go fluttering everywhere like butterflies with broken wings.

- - -

There’s always another chance in the world.

- - -

“The first leaf means hope.”

Choose an ideal reading spot, food, drink, and music to go with your book.

Reading spot: outside on a warm (but not too warm) day, on the grass. Or, even better, a patch of clover.

Food: ohh this one is actually harder than I was expecting. *hums* How about honey jumbles (yes, I believe it's an Australian recipe (maybe?). Look it up and make them. You won't regret it.) because they're all happy and outdoors-adventure-y.

Drink: Chai tea. I can definitely see Michayla drinking chai.

Music: Rise, True Strength or Becoming a Legend - John Dreamer. Look them up on youtube if you've never heard them before. *hugs the music* But I'm also equally leaning toward having no music and just having the sound of birds and breeze in the background of reading because that also fits.


What's something you're still figuring out about this WIP?

A LOT OF IT.
I need to work out some details with Braden, and something *coughcough* slight spoilery detailish *cough* about him.
Also another character that I kinda ignored from about the midway point of the book. I need to work out what happens to them.
Plus a lot more, but those are the main important factors, I think. (Actually no, there's probably other super important things that I just can't remember right now. XD)


Would you rather: have tea with your antagonist, or be stuck in an elevator for 3 hours with your MC?

Tea is good. I'm not sure that having it with my antagonist would be good though. But still, I can imagine him being quite gentlemanly.
On the other hand, being stuck in an elevator with Michayla for three hours could be quite interesting. I feel like she has so many good thoughts on life and she's a very wise girl (though somehow naive at the same time?? I don't even know if that works, but she just...is.). We could get into some very deep conversations. Braden and me stuck in an elevator...hmm not so sure about that one though. :P


And there I shall leave it! :D Hope you enjoyed some random odds and ends about A Sprig of Green.

Here's the full picture of all the questions. NOW GO AND WRITE A BLOG POST. I wanna hear allll about your stories. Yes please. Even if you don't have a blog/don't feel like posting, just answer some of them in the comments because I'm a curious blueberry and I want to hear everything. :P


Would you rather have tea with your antagonist or be stuck in an elevator for three hours with your protagonist?

Are Your Words Working? // lagging behind on goals and schedules

We're onto the twenty-first day of the month. Only ten more days left before August. Are you on target? Are those words working just how you planned them to be?

For me, I have to admit that the answer is actually no.

Now, I know it sounds bizarre. "But Jane, you finished your camp nano goal aaages ago and you finished your novella and what's wrong with all that??" And all that is completely true but I had (and still have) a few other things planned for this month, and it was all nicely scheduled out on my dry erase whiteboard calendar. (seriously though, if you don't use one of these, you need to try it. It's amazing.) 

I aimed to finish writing on the 15th - tick that box.
I aimed to have at least 25k - tick, again.
I also aimed to have a teensy bit of an easier time - and I think I can check that off too.

But then we get to the second half of the month.

I hoped to finish one of my critiquing novels on the 17th.
I hoped to finish the book I'd been given for free from the author to read and review.
I hoped to dig right in and get down to editing A Sprig of Green right away.
I hoped to finish my rough edits + synopsis.
I hoped to start on a beta reading novel so I had plenty of time to finish it before the end of the month.
Not even mentioning that I really really hoped to have plenty of free time to read the Road Rules book and prepare for my driving test.

None of that went according to plan. And looking at that list, I can honestly see why. I had unrealistic expectations. There was no way I was going to be able to do all that and school and life. I'm an overachiever sometimes and I like pushing myself and giving myself challenges. A lot of the time, I also overestimate myself. I simply cannot fit that much in. And adding to that, all the random things that just pop up unexpectedly and snatch away some of that precious time that I'm desperately trying to balance.

BUT. That's not where the story ends. We're only just getting to the best part.

I'm actually okay with this. I can see that I'm not up to the level I was hoping for, but that's okay. Maybe I don't need to be. I'm right where God needs me at the moment. Because when I'm here and I'm falling behind, I can look up and know that He's got a plan and, my goodness, it's better than ANYTHING I could ever come up with.

And sometimes it's in times like right now, when I stop and look at my goals and what I had hoped and planned to get done, that I realise that it really is better this way. I didn't finish a lot of those things because I was busy.

I was busy living.

So today, I want to encourage all of you, whatever you're doing - whether you're falling behind on goals, whether your striving insanely to reach them before you run out of time, or whether you're sitting right at the top and relaxing already. Whatever place you're at, stop and take a breath.

Take time to look up to God and just smile. Smile because what He's done. What He's doing. And what He will do.

Take a moment of every day and live.


How are your goals and plans working out?
Do you have any methods for keeping on track or scheduling out your plans?

Camp NaNo Update // inspiration, pizza, and snippets

WHY HELLO THERE. We're almost halfway through the Camp NaNo month, and I think this is the perfect time for a midpoint update and some pizza and hopefully maybe inspire some more words?
That would be a bonus anyways.

- My Novel Stats -

Chapters written: 20
Chapters remaining: 4
Current shortest chapter: 988 words
Current longest chapter: 3,548 (I think I'll be splitting this into at least two though)
Current word count: 29,152
Estimated completed word count: 35k (give or take a thousand words or so)
Estimated completion date: 15 July

And may I just say how proud I am of my cabin?? They're all doing so well, and having a great time. Shout-out to all you wonderful people in the Fellowship of the Keyboards. Your combined effort makes it a great cabin. (I might be a superhero, but I'm not that much of one that I could keep an entire cabin alive if no one helped :P)

In more conversational tones, my story has been going pretty well (and, as you can see, I reached my camp goal of 25k with ease on day #11). It's been behaving itself fairly decently and I've been enjoying writing it, that's for sure. The style of the story has been a nice break from Rogue Escarlate and all that - what with it being 1st person, present tense and the characters...rather different than Will and Ben and their crew.

- Inspiration -

Over the past half-month, I've had some random quotes or snippets that have drifted past me completely by 'coincidence' and yet they were always the perfect thing that I needed to keep pressing on. So I thought I might share some of them with you, and just maybe they'll inspire you too.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

- 2 Corinthians 12:9

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God."

"We aren't called to walk in our own strength - we're called to walk in his"

"We're all on a journey. We're all working at it. We're all falling down and climbing back up again."

- Jonathan Trout

"I laugh a lot

for no good reason

sometimes

I just catch myself doing it

and then I grin

and keep on laughing

cuz I'm happy

I'm blessed

loved

and suddenly I'm laughing

for a good reason"

- Joy, Julia Ryan

I'm so blessed to have people in my life who say these amazing things, and I'm even more blessed that I have a God who is always there encouraging me along the way.

- Snippets -

(from A Sprig of Green - my Camp NaNo novella)

Please someone help.

My limping run slows quickly, but I get far enough away from home that I don’t recognise where I am. I lift my eyes from the blurring road beneath my feet, dashing one hand across my eyes and blinking around.

There are streets and buildings and people.

Greys and browns and blacks.

Why isn’t anything green anymore?

The hot road hits my knees and I cover my face in my hands, trying to hold back the tears between my fingers. My shoulders shiver and I hunch over as Venys’s words echo around in my skull.

Get out…you wretched freak…and never come back.

- - -

I extend my arm all the way and can’t lower her any further. “Now you need to swing and jump,” I call down, trying to swing my arm inward toward the balcony.

“I can’t.” Her fingers start to loosen.

“No—don’t you dare let go.” My heart starts thundering, echoing the clouding sky above. “I’ve got you. Just swing in and jump.”

Her fingers stop sliding from mine and I feel a sort of rush as she kicks her legs out and then swings forward. I let go, but she keeps clinging to me, starting to swing back out again. I grab at her hand, the unexpected weight throwing me off balance and starting to slide forward.

Michayla starts forward again and her hand slips away from mine. I topple forward, snatching at the edge of the roof to save myself. My elbows hit the hard surface and I scrabble for grip. I jam my fingers into a tiny gap and manage to stop my fall. My pulse roars in my ears, and I heave in shuddering breaths, my body suspended over nothing by only my own strength. Michayla might trust me, but I don’t trust myself.

“Braden,” Michayla’s cry comes from below. “Swing and jump. You can do it.”

I register her words, but my entire body is frozen up, immovable even if I wanted to. I can’t do this. What was I thinking?

A heave of cold air rushes over me and then the Raining starts.

The sky cracks open and water deluges down onto me. It’s only seconds before I’m soaked to the skin, and then my grip begins to slip.

“Braden!” Michayla screams over the roar of water. “Jump.”

- - -

I close my eyes, pressing against the inside wall of the pod. It’s going to be okay. I repeat it over and over to myself. Everything is going to be okay.

A scrape of fabric brushes against the outside of the pod and I cringe lower into myself, trying to hide in the foot space but there’s no cover anywhere. Someone swings up and pauses above me and I squint up. Braden’s eyebrows are arched above his dark glasses and I sit up instantly.

“Come on,” he says, beckoning to me. “I can get you out of the landing bay but after that, you’re on your own.”

I scramble up onto the seat. “Braden,” I know I’m begging, but I don’t care. “I need your help.”

He is silent for a few moments and then tips his head away. “I can’t.”

I reach up and catch hold of his sleeve. “Please. I can’t do this alone.”

Braden freezes and looks down at my hand on his sleeve, then he slowly pulls his arm away. “Okay,” the word slips like a soft breeze through his lips and I relax, the pounding in my chest lessening instantly.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

He nods, looking down for a moment before offering his hand out to help me from the pod. I slip my hand onto his palm; it’s cold and damp with sweat, but firm beneath me. I trust my weight against his grip and slide down to the ground, his hand steadying me.

“All right.” He nods his head toward the side of the huge room. “Everyone thinks I’m taking you in as a maid, so try to act like you’re old enough to work here.”

I nod, twisting my fingers together in front of me. How could anyone look at me and think I was old enough to work somewhere this important? I swallow, the back of my throat dry and scratchy. “I…I’m not sure I can do this,” I whisper.

Braden looks down at me and then shakes his head. “You have to.”

He’s right. I have to do it, for Father.

- - -

I think that in summary I can fairly well say that camp is going wonderfully for me, and I'm even getting time to chill and do other things. It's my most relaxed schedule since July last year, and I'm pretty happy that I can have a chance to do some stuff other than writing. (I should do that more often actually)


How is your writing going?
(any snippets to share?)
*hands out pizza to everyone* Keep on writing, guys!! :D

July Camp NaNo // I interview some cabin members

One of the things I find fun about family, is that sometimes they jokingly agree to something when thinking that I'm not serious at all. And then when they discover that I was entirely legit, they can't lower themselves to back out. (looking right at you, Jess. :P)

So today I've got a vlog for you all featuring two members of my family (and my cabin). In which they have to answer the quiz questions or I will whack them over the heads with my notebook.

I would also just like to applaud their skills of talking on camera because it was me - the one who has done four vlogs so far - who started talking backward and inside out first. The others were actually decent. *applauds them*

Also notice: I'm not wearing a t-shirt. Finally. XD (I told you I owned other shirts. :P)

Tell me a bit about what you're working on for camp??
(pretty please?)
What's three quirky things about your characters?

Wisteria Writer's Tag // apparently it's tagging time

And after ages of silence in the tagging realm SUDDENLY TWO TAGS WITHIN A WEEK OF EACH OTHER.

Boom.

This time it's the Wisteria Writer's Tag which is perfect because it's Camp NaNo and this should fit right in.

and yes I know they're Rain Lillies or something like that, not Wisteria, but shhhh. Still flowers. :P

Thank you to Brianna for tagging me! (everyone go check out her snazzy new blog)

Rules:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Answer the ten questions asked.
3. Add ten (writing or book related) questions of your own.
4. Nominate people.

1. Why did you start writing?

Because my older sister started. And older sisters always do the cool things.
So naturally I copied her.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into.


2. What is your favorite book on writing?

Creating Character Arcs - K. M. Weiland
BECAUSE YES. GO BUY AND READ IT RIGHT NOW.
Also I won this in a giveaway and that was so cool because the giveaway hosts actually bothered to make the effort to send an actual paperback copy all the way to Australia. How cool is that??


3. Who's your favorite character to date?

How can I choose between all my precious babies??? YOU CAN'T ASK ME TO DO THIS.
I think maybe- BUT NO. I cannot do this. *curls up under a blanket and hides from the question*


4. What's your favorite way to write? (pen and paper, computer, typewriter, dictation, etc.)

Usually just computer/laptop, because that's the easiest and quickest. ALTHOUGH I do want to try a just pen-paper novel sometime because that would be super cool.

But can I just bring up that dictation is an option?? I WANT TO MEET SOMEONE WHO USES THIS METHOD. I could not possibly do that. Whenever I try tell a story out loud my brain goes on strike.


5. Plot first or Character first?

I have this thing called an obsession with theme and character arcs. Theme first. Always.
In plotting my Camp NaNo novel at last minute, I did it in the order of 
1) characters 
2) theme 
3) character arcs 
4) world building 
5) oh wait yes I also need an actual plot. 
(step five was completed 12 hours before Camp NaNo began)


6. Writing essentials? (coffee, a blanket, chocolate, etc.)

Basically the same list that I gave in my post last Monday. XD But just to change it up a little, another thing I like to have when writing (I've discovered this in the last week) is physical things. I printed out my face-claims for my main cast of characters, and it's been SO COOL. Also I did all my theme, character arcs, character profiles, world building, and plot stuff in one notebook. And that's been really good and I'm definitely doing it again.


7. Favorite quote about writing?

That has got to be one of my favourites. I think it's such an important thing to remember, and it's what I keep reminding myself as I'm writing my first drafts.

And right now I'm SURE there's some really really cool quote about writing that I have written down somewhere but I can't remember. So this'll have to do. :P


8. What's your current work-in-progress about?

OKAY YES. *grabs out handily written synopsis*
Actually no. I have no synopsis. Or pitch line. Or any of that stuff.

Basically it's a sci fi novella with hints of fairy tales, not very much green, a smol determined girl called Michayla and a stiff, logical and secretly insecure guy called Braden (who also happens to wear a suit and sunglasses constantly)
Oh yes and it's titled A Sprig of Green if I hadn't already mentioned that.


9. Music or silence?

It honestly depends on my mood. Usually I'm a very music-y person, and I've got playlists for all my characters. But then sometimes I just don't want to have music. And particularly editing, I'm not keen on having music. But again, it depends. Sometimes I like it with editing too.


10. What is the one thing you wish you'd known when you started writing?

Sometimes I think about going back in time, calmly placing my hand on my younger self's shoulder and saying: YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO BE PERFECT, JANE. DEAL WITH IT AND KEEP DOING THE THING. YOU'LL BE FINE.
Also maybe: JEEZ DO A BIT MORE RESEARCH.

*bows* And then my younger self would be terrified and quit writing right away. So I'm not sure there'd actually be any point at all.

Time travel makes everything complicated.


Now I get to think up questions and tag people and ack isn't it exciting?? I'm actually following the rules. *cue shocked gasps from all the readers*


1) What inspired the idea for your current WIP (work in progress), and how long have you had the idea?
2) What are you most looking forward to about this WIP?
3) Have you ever dreamed about your characters?
4) How do you go about naming your characters?
5) Do you plan out your theme?
6) Do you discover the MBTI thing of your characters? (if so, what are the types of your WIP protagonists?)
7) Have you a favourite genre to write in? (or do you like switching it up randomly)
8) What is a big inspiration for you in writing? (a person, book, quote, scenery, ect.)
9) Are you competitive in your word counts, or more chill and relaxed?
10) Do you like sharing small snippets of your work? (*hint hint* :P)


AND THE PEOPLES I AM TAGGING:
(note to said tagged peoples: if you don't want to do this that's fine by me I only spent half the day thinking up these wasted ten questions ahem)

Sarah // Novus Papilio

Clare // Clare's Spot

Quinley // Adventure Awaits

And everyone else who I didn't mention because really I just don't want to make you feel obliged to do this because you mightn't want to. If you haven't done this before, please consider yourself tagged. Like, honestly. Do. Please. I want to see your answers. DO ALL THE ANSWERING, OKAY? :P

Or else you could just answer them in the comments, because I'm a curious person.


Do you make character or story playlists?
(drop me a link if you do!!! Mine are on my youtube channel: here)
What's your's or your character's MBTI??
(as I said, I'm curious. :P)

Camp NaNo 2017 // Fellowship of the Keyboards // what am I writing?

For those of you that have been around for a while (a year at least) you might remember my post last year by the name of 'The Fellowship of the Keyboards' and thus may be experiencing a random flash of déjà vu.
And here we are again and it's a full year later. And the Fellowship of the Keyboards has free spaces again. (if you're interested in this, shoot me a message on Camp NaNo (Jane Maree) or comment here or whatever. Just contact me in some way and we can sort stuff out and woot you could join the fellowship) But this time I'm not going to rave on about how epic the cabin is because you've probably all heard it before. Because I have a certain habit of repeating myself. Ahem.

Today I'm going to be -sort of- organised and randomly, spontaneously join in a Camp NaNo Countdown linkup whatsit. Spontaneously as in, I decided five minutes ago that ohey I'll do this thing actually.

But before I ramble on for too long, I'd best get to the actual point.

I'm going to be writing a story called A Sprig of Green. It's sci fi, and sort of fairy tale retelling-ish? Nothing specific though, it just has random hints of lots of random different stories.

I think.

I DON'T KNOW ACTUALLY.
I need to plan some more about this or else July will come upon me like a dragon and eat my vegemite - jars and all. And then I'll have nothing left for lunch.

But I am hoping to have some brainstorming sessions with friends to see what we can come up with.

A Sprig of Green was actually originally a short story. But then I ended it, gave it to my friends to read and promptly received requests that I write the rest of the novel. (note: most of these requests included broken hearts and sobbing and lots of caps, so I could hardly deny them) And I myself was rather curious to know more about the story. And therefore more is coming.

I have worked out some vague parts. Friendships, betrayals, backstory. All that fun stuff. And honestly I'm really looking forward to seeing where this story will go.

It has a hugely different protagonist than Rogue Escarlate. She's a smol dark-skinned girl with springy hair and very low self esteem and very high sense of determination and loyalty. I also have half-baked plans of an ally character to go with her. And if he works out, it'll be a split POV, first person, present tense novel. WHICH I'M EXCITED ABOUT because I love exploring different ideas and styles and ways of writing and I haven't done this one yet. New things just excite me and I'm very hyped about this one. I think it'll be just the experimental creative change my brain needs. (It's sci fi, so not as big a change in setting as I was originally planning for, but I think the characters and 1st person/present tense thing will make a big difference *nods*)

And WOOT. I'm going to randomly slap a snippet on you BECAUSE IT'S FUN AND I LIKE DOING IT. (even though somehow it also terrifies me at the same time?? Humans have very strange brains.)

“See look, Michayla.” Mother takes my hand, splaying my fingers open and gently placing a thin blade of dead grass on my palm. “Just imagine that as a bright green, and covering this entire plateau.”

I stare at the grass for a moment and then lift my eyes up to the red-brown clay of the plateau in front of me. For a flash, I can see it swaying with green stalks in my mind. Then a puff of wind brushes the grass off my palm and a cry slips between my lips.

Mother pushes to her feet and snatches the grass back from the playful grip of the breeze. “Don’t worry.” As she smiles, her teeth flash pale against the brown skin that matches mine. “I’ve got it safe.”

I run forward a few steps and wrap my arms around her waist, nestling my face into the fabric of her skirt with a happy sigh.

“I’ve got you safe too, Michayla.” She crouches again and pulls me onto her lap, pressing her lips briefly against my forehead.

“For always?” I tip my head back to look up at her.

“For always.” She nods and I lean back against her.

Safe. For always.


Are you in a cabin yet?
(if not and you'd like to join the Fellowship YEET. Shoot me a comment or something and I'd love to have you)
What are you writing?

April Camp NaNo // I flail about first drafts

April 2017 Camp NaNoWriMo went kaboom.

It started and then was over waaaay too fast. But even with all the craziness of time doing it's thing and life being busy, I had a pretty super time and really enjoyed myself.

So today I'm going to throw all the stuff at you and then give you a compass and a paddle and good luck maybe you'll find the end of the post before July Camp NaNo and I start going on again. xD (Although on that note, I'm not sure what you're going to do with the paddle seeing as I didn't give you a canoe or a log or anything. Maybe try surf on the paddle.)

This April, my goal was 50k. Because I'm a little bit crazy, but not quite crazy enough to have a higher goal than that. Yet.

My cousin and I were talking online almost every day and word warring like crazy for half the time. And on day five she (jokingly) challenged me to a 10k1day thing and I (not realising that it was a joke) said something along the lines of "OKAY LET'S GO." And we ended up totally smashing it. We got our 10k each and had a ton of fun doing it.

And then between day 7-17 we actually got together and she was at my place for a weekend and then I was at her place for a week. We didn't actually get an insane amount of words that week, but it was still a huge lot of fun involving groaning (about stupid main characters who won't do what they're told), brainstorming, camping, laughing, telling jokes, telling spoilers, and allll the fun stuff.

During this week I learnt two things:
1) People just like volunteering me for things without asking me first. 
(I was volunteered to play in their church worship team for that Sunday)
2) I'm a biplane nerd. 
(I don't even know. Apparently I sounded very nerd-y when I was ooh-ing over a diagram of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane.)

Also notice the cabin stats next to mine, WE GOT TO 104.7 %!!!!

And then two days onward after getting back home I hit my 50k on day nineteen.

And from that point onward I had a new goal. I'd reached my official word count goal, but what I was really aiming for...
Finishing the first draft of the final book in my trilogy.

So the rest of the month I was creeping along, smashing the keyboard and freaking out several times every few days.

And then

on day twenty-nine

I did it.

I finished.

I finished the last book. And therefore I finished my trilogy.

-ahem-
The first draft of it anyway.

BUT it was a momentous event so I flailed excitedly and freaked out and started thinking about edits.

*cue distant screaming*

WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET INTO THAT NOW, THOUGH. >.< My next few months are going to be full and I might do a blog post on my plans some time in the near future (when it isn't after 10 pm and I haven't completely forgotten to write up the blog post for the day...cough cough. No this totally didn't happen today...)

So anyways. Time to toss in a few pictures that I made in honour of the characters and story...

Precious Ben. *hugs him forever*

Gloomy, yeah I know. But that's actually -sadly- what quite a bit of the book is. Depressing.

And this one was because Clare was complaining that all my collages were depressing and dark colours *happy sighs over all the smiles*

Now that I've dumped those on you, it's time for...
SNIPPETS!!! 
Now now before you can get too excited, I can't give you very many snippets. For several reasons.

1: It's book three and spoilers for book one.
2: Spoilers for book two.
3: Spoilers for book three as well.
4: Alllll the spoilers basically. xP

But on the other hand, I can still give you some because I'm so excited and want to throw them at all of you just nice like that. *wise nod*

Note: Yesss some of these are purposefully obscure and don't have names. But that's because extra spoiler caution. Although if you know my characters very well it should be faaairly obvious who does what.

---

“Code Echo Foxtrot Charlie…Repeat: Echo Foxtrot Charlie.”
“Unaccessible to this user.” The cool voice buzzed smoothly in his numb ears.
Jonathan Flint growled in the back of his throat. Stupid security programing, he was wasting time. Time he didn’t have to spare.

---

Milson’s pizza had gone floppy when he’d heated it up.
He hated floppy pizza.
Scowling to himself, he slumped back into his chair, wishing he’d had enough time to shower before coming down to the office. But no. And he’d barely gotten four hours of sleep the night before. 
Actually, come to think of it, he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep for ages. Weeks. Maybe months.
It was all the General’s fault. Obviously.

---

“Lie down.”
He chose not to hear her. “Where am I?”
“Lyon, France.” She picked through the box, pulling out a needle and sterilised thread.
“Lie on…France?” He couldn’t work out what she was saying. Something damp dripped down his arm, warm and sticky.
The young woman nodded, threading the needle.
“How the heck am I meant to lie on France?” He squinted down at her.
She stared at him for a moment before her cheeks flushed a sudden pink, stammering awkwardly. “Oh I don’t mean— that’s not— I meant—”
His brows creased, watching her in confusion. “You what?”
She blushed fiercely. “I meant the town called Lyon. In France.”
“Oh…” Idiot. His brain was still fuzzy, obviously. “That makes sense.”
“Now, lie down,” she repeated.
“Should I lie on France?” he mumbled, not really thinking before the words came out.

---

Jonathan glanced down at the murky water of the Moskva River, the current dragging past with slugish sludge. No way of knowing what sort of disgusting things were in that water. It could be sewerage for all he could see. “No way I’m ever going in there.”
Will shot him a glare. “What’s a better plan then?”
“How about we walk along the bank wall?”
“Yeah and be shot full of holes like a darned pasta strainer. Good plan.” The sarcasm in the outlaw’s voice almost stung physically.
If anyone else in the world was more sarcastic than Will was, Jonathan never wanted to meet them.
He scowled. “I’m not going in that water.”
“Yes you are.” Will was suddenly beside him. “Look, Techo. This is for your own good. I’m just saving your life here.”
“You aren’t—” he didn’t get any further, cutting off abruptly as Will’s hand wrapped around his upper arm and shoved.
He yelled, grabbing for something, anything, to hold on to as he overbalanced and started slipping backward. For a moment he grabbed onto Will’s jacket cuff, but his fingers slipped and he lost his grip completely. The water smacked him hard in the face, taking his breath away with the stunning cold that enveloped him in a moment.

---

“Keep the noise level down, would you?” A voice grunted from above. “Climbing a brick wall isn’t actually that hard.”
“Yes it is,” he replied bitingly. “I’m an IT agent. I don’t do push ups and stupid things like that.”
“My bad. Just hurry up then.”

---

And I will resist the urge to keep going. Because aaaack there's so many more snippets that I want to show you all but I can't. Because allll the spoilers.


So now, because I wrote this in the crazy of Camp and because my first drafts are a little bit insane...I thought it would be amusing to give you a few shots of sections of my story. That may or may not have me yelling at myself in caps for no apparent reason.

Here you are. The collage of random Jane first draft-y-ness that only I get to see normally. For a good reason. *snickersnorts* Anyway. I hope you enjoy:

Note: YES THAT MIDDLE ONE IS LEGIT AND UNTOUCHED ORIGINAL. That's what some sections of my writing look like. All the heared hima dn jist Gjere makes me crack up every time I look over that bit. It's one of the worst. I haven't even worked out what that 'Gjere was a surprising amount considering the time of night' actually is meant to be... Like, it doesn't really make sense in the context of the rest of the scene.
And I accidentally called the villain 'King' instead of 'General' here, too. *pats poor sleepy Jane* My brain was a mess.

Fun fact of the month: It is possible to fall asleep writing (and sitting up) and actually keep typing the thoughts/dreams/VERY VERY WEIRD STUFF that goes through your conscious brain. *cough cough* Totally not speaking for recently discovered experience or anything...*cough cough*


And that about wraps me up for now. (I'm running out of time to finish writing my post so I can publish it before midnight and it's no longer Monday xD) I've rambled on about my novel for long enough (and adamantly avoided the topic of editing) BUT NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!!


How was your April??
(writing/life/basically everything. Just tell me whatever.)
Feel free to share a snippet (or two dozen, I'm not fussed xP) of your WIP in the comments!!
(I'd love to read them alll.)

The Adventures of Lando Erif :: The Day I Feel for Roast Potatoes (Pt. Six)

Camp NaNo though guys.

I can't believe it's been a week.

It seems so much longer and so much shorter at the same time.

But guess what happened yesterday. I was talking with my cousin Jessica and this came about:

Jessica: Okay I'm going to reach 15k total for the month by...8:50.
Me: Nuuuuu. xD I need to finish making these Lando Erif header images and write so I can stay ahead of you.
Jessica: Hmm...Today’s rainy, and I think I’ll go for the 10k challenge.*Grins again at the probable dismay on your face*
Me: I'M IN. SCRAP THESE PICTURES I'LL DO THEM TOMORROW.
Jessica: *dies of laughter*

I tell you. That evil cousin of mine knows everything when it comes to getting me into crazy stuff.

BUT GUYS. I DID IT. 10K IN ONE DAY. *screams* (And woohoo, Jess also did it too. She actually managed it half an hour or so before me because I was busy eating dinner at the time. xP)

So, of my 50k word count goal, I've now got 25.6k written. I'M PRETTY HAPPY WITH THAT ACTUALLY.


Aaaanyways. You're here for Lando Erif, not me screaming about Camp. *bows* Onward to story/fairy land!

So much heat.

It tingled my whole body until I felt like one big, hot, roasted potato.

With chili sauce on top.

And a sprinkling of pepper.

Apparently I was alive after all.

I guess that’s a good thing?

Cracking my eyelids open, I found two bright red-brown eyes right in front of mine. Zana Bradford. I shut my eyes abruptly, hoping she hadn’t noticed.

“I saw that,” she said gleefully, jabbing something hard into my ribs.

“What a letdown,” I mumbled, or rather, tried to mumble. A sticky strip of something was wrapped across my mouth, stopping me from saying anything more than unintelligible noises. Duct tape? Really?

Zana drew back a little. “Oh yes, I thought the gag was necessary, just in case you felt like playing that ice-fire trick like last time. And besides,” she added, “I always like finding new uses for duct tape.”

She tapped a thin metal rod on one palm. “Tying broken things together so you don’t have to fix them, gagging annoying boys.” She spread her hands with a mischievous grin. “The possibilities are endless really.”

I rolled my eyes, putting on my best ‘oh yeah?’ expression.

Zana smiled sweetly in my direction, poking her wand into my ribs again. “Anyway. I hope you enjoy your stay in the dank dungeons of D’feord.” She giggled and then stood up. “I wish I could tell you my plans, just so I could see the look on your face. But I won’t. I do rather like to keep things a surprise. You don’t have to wait very long now.”

Well darn.

I rolled my eyes again. What did she expect me to do? I couldn’t very well say anything.

She tossed her hair back over her shoulder and stepped toward the door. “I’ll be seeing you. Hope you don’t mind that I won’t be feeding you very much either. I mean, I figured you wouldn’t mind, seeing as I’ll be killing you soon anyway.”

I couldn’t quite muster the courage to roll my eyes at that. The heat throbbing through me built up a little higher. She was going to kill me. No surprise there, I guess. 

But…I didn’t want to die.

“Oh good, I knew you’d understand.” The fairy pranced from the room, the door slamming shut of it’s own accord after she slipped through, the rattle jarring through me painfully.

Well.

I grimaced, working my jaw in an attempt to get the duct tape off. No good. Moving on, I discovered that I could move my hands a little bit. Twisting to a better position, I managed to get one thumb beneath the tape around my wrists, pulling and struggling against it. No luck, but I kept going.

I wasn’t just going to sit here.

Zana had a plan, and I needed to find out what it was. And I wasn’t going to find out what it was by sitting here and feeling sorry for myself. She wasn’t stupid enough for that to work out.

I felt a sudden flash of anxiety. What had happened to the twins? Had they actually been transported through the fairy ring? Where were they? Did Zana have them locked up too?

With a last twist, I yanked one of my arms free, yelping in pain against the tape across my mouth. My wrist and forearm were red when I lifted my hand and peeled away the gag carefully, grimacing as it stuck painfully to my skin.

Pulling in a deep breath, I relaxed somewhat, running my tongue over my dry lips. Water would be really good. On the bright side, I no longer felt like a helpless roast potato. Just an ordinary roast potato sitting on a tray in the oven.

Yeah okay, maybe I’m not very good with analogies.

It took me a fair while before I managed to get the rest of the tape off, and when I finally had, I slumped into the corner, closing my eyes with a huff. The heat was seeping my energy, and I honestly didn’t want to move at all.

No. I shoved myself upright, staggering and almost falling down again, but catching myself against the wall and remaining standing.

I couldn’t give up now.

Stumbling across to the grating door, I peered at it closely, wondering if I could possibly squeeze through. Nope, that was asking a bit much. I might be skinny, but not that skinny. Pressing up against the iron bars, I looked as far down the corridor as I could. No one in sight. I glanced the other way. Same there.

No harm in trying the lock. I reached through, my fingers finding a padlock. “Ugh.” I dropped it again. I couldn’t pick locks, I couldn’t break locks, I couldn’t do anything useful.

Then my foggy brain gave me a nudge. 

Oh wait. I could breathe fire. That had to count for something.

I puffed out a breath, a small curl of flame appearing in front of my nose for a second before flickering out. Okay. There had to be something flammable withing reach. I glanced round, searching for anything that might catch on fire or be any vague use at all.

My gaze fell on the rusty hinges and I stepped forward, squinting closely at them. Well…may as well see what happens. Pulling in a deep breath, I steadied myself before shooting a stream of fire over the rusted metal. My breath ran out a few moments later and I coughed to a stop.

The wood was blackened around the hinges, but that was all.

Still, it might be enough.

I backed up a few paces to give myself running room and then charged forward and smashed my shoulder into the weakened door, the hinges gave way, sending me reeling out into the corridor. I crashed into the far wall, just managing to keep my balance. The door hung off one hinge, looking like it would drop to the floor at any moment.

Time to go before it actually did.

I turned and started running down the narrow corridor, soon coming to a stairway and spiraling down them without a hesitation. I might be to late already. What did Zana count as ‘very long?’ And what was she even planning anyway?

Tripping down the last step, I paused, glancing around the room. What I really needed was a GPS. Or a map. Or just a evacuation ground plan.

But presumably there wasn’t a handy copy of the castle blueprints lying around.

The dungeons were obviously in a tower, but I had no idea by now which floor level I was on and how far above the ground I was. Window. I needed to find a window.

I started along the huge hall, my converse squeaking on the sheen smoothness of the floor. Reaching the top of a grand staircase, I paused, taking the first step cautiously. A sound from below, sent my heart beat pounding through my ears and I jumped back, spinning and bolting away, ducking down the first side hall I came to.

It was a lot narrower than the imposing hall I’d just left, but still wide and open. I slipped through into a half open door, pushing it shut and taking refuge behind a stack of books, just in case.

No sound.

I crouched, waiting tensely for a long moment, but no warning of approaching footsteps came so I straightened, looking around. One wall was taken up by a long window, the spotless glass gleaming in the sunlight. I stepped over to it, squinting out. The light reflected back at me off everything so that I couldn’t actually make out anything. Tears started pouring from my eyes, and I blinked them away, turning away from the brilliant light.

Maybe that wasn’t a good option then, since I had no clue how high I might be.

A desk against the wall was stacked with books, and I padded back over to them, glancing over the titles. Several lay open, and I paused over one with a sketch of the rabbit-bird creature. I skimmed the text. Species: Skvader…Temperament: Bad…Power: teleportation via books. I stopped, rereading a small note at the bottom of the page, written in a curly hand script.

Silly Fluff Ball can’t travel through the right books. Only use in greatest need.

So that was the deal with the creature then. The rabbit-bird, or Skvader, had teleported through a book in this castle and somehow ended up coming out of my history book by mistake.

I carefully flipped the book shut. Just in case. I didn’t need a bad tempered Fluff Ball attacking me without warning.

I glanced over a couple of papers, trying to make sense of the fancy handwriting. Zana had the most neat illegible writing I’d ever seen. Not sure if that was a step up from mine or not. Mine was just plain illegible, skip the whole neat thing entirely.

Turning away, I groaned softly, kneading my fingers into my forehead, trying to ease the pounding ache. Zana had evil plans. Zana might be carrying out those evil plans right now and I was stuck somewhere in her castle without a clue what was happening.

But if she had any plans, she’d be sure to keep a copy of them somewhere. I glanced back down at the desk and started searching frantically through the books and papers. There would be something there. There had to be. I heaved a stack of books off onto the floor, scanning through a few papers that had been jammed beneath them.

How to cast spells without a wand.

101 Different uses for Duct Tape.

Those ones weren’t going to be any use to me, but I shoved them into my pocket anyway just in case. The next one stopped me short though. It had no title, but for a short word: Plan.

Beneath, it held a single paragraph. Straight and to the point. Everything froze around me as I darted my gaze across the words.

I will make war with the humans. The Fairies will follow me as I lead an army of dragons and warlocks. I am playing the game of annihilation now.

The door swung open.

I glanced up.

Zana stood framed in the doorway for a moment, staring at me in silence. I couldn’t move, shock gluing my feet to the floor.

“Foolish boy,” she hissed, her eyes darkening to a glowing golden red.

Not good.

I dived for the window, shoving the plan into my pocket. A surge of heat battered me from behind, throwing me forward. 

In the end, I smashed through the glass elbow first.

- - -

I hope you enjoyed!!

*scampers of to keep writing all the wooooords*

How is your Camp NaNo going??
Or your April in general?

[NOTE: a Skvader is an actual mythological creature. Google it if you don't believe me. If it had invented it, I'd have called it a more pronounceable thing. xP]