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