Take a Deep Breath

NaNoWriMo is over. The school week is over. Unfortunately, the insanity is never over.

I managed to finish NaNoWriMo in the car on the 30th, which felt wonderful despite the fact I didn't actually finish the story.

Via ywp.nanowrimo.org

In fact, as far as story arcs go, this was probably the worst year of NaNo I've had. I completely lost the plot a few days in, and my characters decided that it would be fun to switch personalities, randomly leave entirely, and have fluctuating ages I gave up trying to keep track of. I managed to write plenty of great slice of life scenes in the not-quite-dystopian society I created, but slice of life is not really good novel material.

Although I am a little disappointed that my idea went out the window this year, I'm incredibly proud to have met the 50k goal for the first time within one story. (The first year I finished at 40k, and the second I had to write a novel and its sequel which never saw the light of day.) I had a crazy November to boot, and so the fact I was able to keep up with a rigid writing schedule impressed me. I've now been taking December off, but once the holiday season is over I'll probably start back up again, either to rewrite this story or start another one.


Speaking of the holiday season, my family and I roadtripped to Texas for Thanksgiving to visit family. It was a wonderful trip, and I learned a great many things (the American Banjo Museum is in the Bricktown portion of Oklahoma City, for example) but never shall I ever enjoy eighteen hour car rides. I managed to not only knit an entire scarf, finish the majority of my homework, and read an entire novel, but finish off NaNoWriMo in the car and watch more than eight hours' worth of movies and TV shows. If anything, car rides are great for my productivity, I suppose.


Now that the school week is over, I can finally get a bit of a reprieve to recollect myself and get back into the groove of things for the two weeks before Christmas break. I'm planning on reviewing a bunch of books soon, so you all have that to look forward to! Hopefully I can think of something creative to blog about over break.

The books I'm planning on reviewing are as follows: The House of Hades by Rick Riordan, Allegiant by Veronica Roth, and The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.


Until then,

Hailey Jenkins

Life is Crazy Sometimes

A combination of crazy classes with crazy homework, NaNoWriMo, and the publication of two books I've been dying to get my hands on for a long time has resulted in me having absolutely no time for blogging. I doubt I'll get another post in before November is up, so I'll consider this my mid-NaNo update.

My NaNo novel is coming together. At the halfway point, I've determined that the book is really for my own enjoyment than anything else. I'm playing with the characters, writing a lot of scenes were they simply life, rather than actually accomplishing anything. And right now, I'm kind of enjoying that, because sometimes the best practice is learning how to write real people, as opposed to getting some action-packed, well-thought-out plot together first.

I've also, as I mentioned, finished reading both The House of Hades by Rick Riordan, and Allegiant by Veronica Roth. Once NaNoWriMo is over, I hope to review one or both of them, because I enjoyed both so much. (Allegiant in particular blew me away. It has one of my favorite series endings of all time currently.) 

In the meantime, I'm going to keep writing and learning, because that's what I do. 

Speaking of learning, I learned how to sort-of knit (I use this loom thingy that makes knitting easier) so that I have something to do with my hands while I watch various shows. I finished my first project, which was a scarf to keep me from freezing to death on my short walk to the bus stop in the morning.

So pretty!

It's a bunch of different colors, since I used the remnants of yarn we've had for years. I quite like it, and it keeps me warm, so I'm happy! It's also very long (if I hold it upright, it's a bit taller than I am) which is even better!

How about the rest of you? Any fun projects you've completed despite being busy with NaNoWriMo? Speaking of, how is your writing going?

Until next time,

Hailey Jenkins

A Short Notice on NaNoWriMo

This past week has been absurdly busy, what with my choir concert on Wednesday, Halloween shenanigans at school on Thursday, and then NaNoWriMo starting yesterday and a handful of insanity tossed in at school. Still, I've finally found time and so I intend to blog!

Since it is November (which is questionably my favorite month of them all) I feel it is only proper to usher it in with a little NaNoWriMo chat. This is my third year doing NaNoWriMo, and let me tell you, it is the hermit's version of a party. I first discovered it via Scott Westerfeld's blog, and since then I've never looked back.

This year, I went into it with a few ideas, but none that I felt totally dedicated to. I ended up using a sort-of plot idea, which I sketched out in Biology yesterday in twenty minutes of free time. (Honestly, I spend more time doing Not Science than Science in my Bio class this year. It's kind of nice.) I figured out roughly what I wanted for a beginning, middle, and end. The characters were named and their appearances described vaguely, and I was good to go.

Right now, I'm using the title These Things I Know, but I don't like it very much so I doubt it'll stay for long. Considering my characters are dictating the story a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if I go through a lot of different titles.

Anyway, the story right now seems to be about a girl living in the New Holy Roman Empire who gets kidnapped and proceeds to question whether or not she has free will, except not nearly as deep as it sounds. (NaNo ideas always sound this crazy, trust me.) It's still too early to give much more detail than that.

Expect a little less blogging from me this month, and all the best wishes to those of you joining me in the insanity!

Until next time,
Hailey Jenkins

Of NaNoWriMo and Shakespeare

Today's post is a bit two-fold.

Part the first.

As October comes closer to its goodbyes and November's birth approaches, I find myself still lacking a steady plot for this year's NaNoWriMo. (For those uninformed, National Novel Writing Month is November, and a portion of those on this earth dedicate it to writing a novel. I am one such person.) I've got two that are steady, with beginnings and ends (though not quite enough middles) that I could easily toss one onto paper and start the journey, but for neither does it feel like the time has come.

Mostly, though, my father and I were brainstorming and we came up with a completely crazy, barely-hashed idea and it is so much more intriguing to me than those other stories I've been slowly coaxing into existence through time lines, sketches, and notes in my phone. I don't even have a title for said idea yet, which is odd, since for me, the title's the first thing to come. (What can I say? I tend to keep my project titles, however stupid/silly/unrelated they may be.)

Still, I like this idea that's vague and unformed with no beginning, middle, or end. It's very pretty to look at. It's not too far out from my previous works. The plot should carry out to my 50,000 word goal. I would be able to write it in first person, which I find much more easy than third or omnipresent or whatever the world wants to call it these days.

We'll see. I've got roughly two weeks to finalize my decision.

In the meantime, I leave you all with a question that's somewhat vague. Dystopias, Nancy Drew-esque mysteries, or aliens?

Part the second.

In other news, since school let out early today, I spent my free time watching the new Much Ado About Nothing adaption directed by Joss Whedon.

Via the ever-magical Wikipedia

Much Ado About Nothing is, and has been since I started reading Shakespeare, my favorite Shakespeare play, though up until a few hours ago, I had only read it, not seen it. I love the humorous relationship between Benedick and Beatrice, as well as the more dramatic affairs of Hero and Claudio. To finally see it performed was wonderful. This adaption certainly did not disappoint!

I loved the cinematic choice to film entirely in black and white. Not only was it beautiful to look at, but it made the whole thing seem not quite modern, despite its setting. Mixing both old and new, so to speak. Also on this thread of thought, the lighting impressed me. Maybe it was the black and white, but the light seemed so natural.

I also liked the choice for the actors. Each played their roles well, and their roles suited them. They really became their characters to me.

Anyway, it was such a joy to finally see my favorite Shakespeare play in a format other than words in a book. Someday I hope to find more gorgeous adaptions of it!

Until next time,
Hailey Jenkins