Saturday, October 30, 2010

Preparatoriness is...failing...me... lol

This is, supposedly, my last free weekend until after November 30. Makes me feel restricted -_- and I don't like that. But writing for NaNo is going to be fun and very, very good for me. All sides of me. Particularly the side that is procrastinatory :P (I made a new word. Like it?)

I've been planning stuff for nano for almost a month now. I have a writing nook set up, my laptop is geared to go (my Facebook addiction is going to have to get knocked out the window...), my plan for 2000 words a day is all laid out...inspirational notes are tacked on the wall :)

One thing I did not plan for, however, was getting sick. I have a cold. Two days before November 1st, and I GET A COLD! Seriously? This is not helping.

Relax. It's all in God's hands. I was already nervous before this; being sick certainly isn't going to improve my determination and focus on writing. Or maybe it will. Maybe I'm just acting like an over-concerned parent about something that is supposed to be an enjoyable, expressive, and learning experience! It's a hobby! Haha, it's more like my life ;)

But there should be absolutely no stressing out over this. Right? Are we all in agreement? All who agree say, "Aye!"

Another thing...I don't even have a stash of nano snacks :(

I will survive. I will write. I will live and learn the whole way. And I am just going to go with the flow...as I dream of snowflakes and snowboarding. Heh heh.

<3 Elizabeth-Marie <3

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Countdown Begins

FIVE DAYS TILL NANO!!!!!

Pardon me. You wouldn't believe how long my computer has been waiting, patiently, to get put on CAPS LOCK. He just enjoys it so much, you know? You really can't blame me for indulging him in it every once in a while.

FIVE DAYS till my writing abilities are PUT TO THE TEST!!!

The excitement is building. I've been waiting for only a month, but I still feel as if I've had to much time to build up my expectations of how NaNo is going to pan out for me. It will either exceed my expectations, or it will considerably disappoint them, because there is absolutely no way that I would be dead right on my assumptions.

Take it from me, I've been wrong before. Wrong before a lot. But that isn't important right now. What's important is...

OH LOOK A SNOWFLAKE!!!

(Not really. Mr. Caps is just getting annoyed again, since I started using some italics there for a minute. Italics and CAPS and bold are all at war. Didn't you know that?)

Everything in life is at war. Negative numbers vs. positive numbers (that's one war I seem to be losing *sniff*). Cake vs. pie (cake is sooo much better!). Winter vs. summer. Girls vs. boys.

Lots of wars. As long as we're just talking about friendly competition, and only a few casualties ;), I'm in! I enjoy a good war (just not the ones our country seems to be participating in...but that's a different story entirely). Please tell me I'm not imagining all of this. You do remember cheering for the positive numbers as you worked your math problems, right?

Oops. Never mind. I'm revealing far too much information about my crazy, mad-hatter imagination. You know, if I was talking like this back in the 18th century, I'd be locked up by now O_O in an insane asylum *gulp*. We don't do that anymore in America...do we??

Tell me I'm not on the same scale of delirium as the guy who wrote Alice In Wonderland. His characters are quite fascinating, though...

YIKES! that was an *epic* rabbit trail x)

Anyway, I'm counting the days till NaNoWriMo. Ahem. Drumroll, please. DRUMROLL! Fine. Be that way. The days are slowly slipping away; I only have so much time to do a quick sweep of research so I can get down to the fun part - writing!! :D

Are you counting the days down till Nano?

<3 Elizabeth-Marie <3

Monday, October 25, 2010

Season's Splendor

Have you ever noticed how different all of the seasons are? Obviously, if you live in Florida, or some other southern area where the heat is generally rampant, you don't have much to choose from. Not to boast, but you are missing out! Because watching the seasons change is something truly inspiring and special and...just all-around fantastic.

But back to the major changes.

Each season has its pros and cons. It's more than just a change in temperature and form of precipitation. It's a feel in the air, a flavor in the wind, a color in the sky, a texture in the grass, a sign in the trees, and a mood falling upon the animals and people of the world. Autumn holds both bright blue skies and pewter-gray clouds, rain and sunshine, smoky scents in the air, fog in the mornings, crackling leaves, frost on the grass, and a million other delicate details that, combined, create the image that lasts beyond the life of a deciduous leaf.

Winter will soon break upon us, sweeping away the remnants of dead leaves with its icy arms. Ice and snow and sleet will rush some of us indoors [and the braver ones of us will take the hint and rush for the ski slopes and snowball fights ;)].

Each season holds a gift for us. Even if you would prefer a different season, a different temperature, or a different weather pattern, there is always some little joy to be found in the season.

I love autumn <3 I can never take enough pictures of the color, the vibrancy, the decay...every part of it fascinates me! Except for the ladybugs. I think I could manage my life without those bothersome beetles.

~ "When it feels like this is as good as it gets...just take a second, catch your breath, and realize this isn't over yet. It just feels that way sometimes." :) We look at the day and everything gets complicated and huge. But...it isn't. So calm down. Think it through. And try to see your world through the eyes of a different perspective ~

Sunday, October 24, 2010

...isn't feeling like putting a title here....

My blog has undergone yet another change. No one's really been keeping up with the morphing evolution of my blog, but if they were, I'm sure they would have been annoyed by now. As it is, I can just keep fiddling with it as much as I like till someone says something =)

Ah, a gorgeous day! The Lord's day! ~ Rejoice ~

...Why am I on the computer?

I told myself today that I was going to STAY OFFLINE and only use my computer to a) listen to music, b) listen to sermons, or c) do something important that couldn't wait till tomorrow.

Whoops.

But I couldn't risk someone seeing my blog in its awful, two-day state of airy clouds that posed an image of superficiality. So I simply had to change it!

Excuse moi. I'm being awful. I'm getting of this stupid, tempting little machine RIGHT NOW and I am going to do something worthwhile with my time! So good bye. I'll see you tomorrow, most likely (unless for some odd reason I just can't stay away from my laptop for twelve whole hours and I show up later tonight, dancing my fingers across the keyboard again).

Au revoir! <3

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Relative blogs and truth

I'm thinking my blog's new skin is a bit too...airy. Almost as if it's just going to float off the page when you're not looking. But then again, I'm prejudiced ;) - I love anything dramatic...

Nano is getting closer every day!! :D *Cue jumping up and down and waving a pen in the air* I really hope my happy little excited bubble isn't popped by the evil Editor within me that simply refuses to let unchecked babble litter my pages...soon, I will let the spontaneous and babbling parts of me loose! "Freedom!" they cry, as they attack this adventuresome project with anticipation.

Except, right now I have some research to do. Since my book is going to include a couple of places I've never been to (like Alaska and Shanghai, China - random, I know), I have to look them up and try to get a general idea of what they are like. It's really interesting, though, and I'm enjoying it =)

I just hope that a) time, b) research, and c) writer's block don't curb any of my enthusiasm. No use worrying about it, though.

God is the lord of my life. Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes, I start to think that it's all about...well, me *sheepish look*. Stupid little me. So if I start sounding completely self-centered, please give me a slap. Or a splash of harsh, cold reality. Or maybe...just a little truth. Because the truth is what's keeping me alive these days.

When you write about anything and everything, you start to dream of the impossible (not a bad thing, really). And you start to live in a world that's not real (which can be a very, very bad thing. So, pardon me, if I slip away into a nonexistent place, or start talking to invisible (aka nonexistent :P) people. Heh heh.

It's okay to imagine and dream and create new things. But it's God, my lifeline, my truth foundation, that I hold onto, that I count on to keep me from being swept away in the flood of Relative Truth. To Him I return after I forget about Him - and He always accepts me back into His arms :)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Writing to Save My Life

Or...something like that.

This blog needs a purpose. Erstwhile, it was a form of expression for myself, an outlet for my creative ramblings that are so random and disjointed that they cannot be used in any reasonable form of authorship (poetry, novels, how-to manuals). But because it is simply that - a network of rabbit trails - no one will benefit from it or be interested in it.

Therefore, it will have a NEW purpose. For the month of November, I will be documenting (or ranting or sulking or all other moods that I am likely to encounter over the thirty-day period) my journey through the Land of NaNoWriMo, which I mentioned in an earlier post.

Fighting off editorial thoughts, battling with procrastination and writer's block, and encouraging the constant flow of the River Babble locked inside my Imagination, I'm going to put 50,000 words on a piece of paper and hope that they become something more than black-and-white graves.

I'm going to write a novel in one month.

It seems almost as frightening as Jack Sparrow's plight: sitting on a deserted island, surviving on rum, and left with nothing but ponderous thoughts and a gun to shoot himself. If I wimp out, if I give up halfway through my mission, then I will have given in to suicidal thoughts against my writing career (meaning, shooting my intended authorship lol). But if I complete it...there's no surety that I will actually have a publishing-worthy manuscript; in fact, I can nearly guarantee that it won't be anything close to publishable. If i succeed, though, I will have gained experience.

Which, as we all know, is invaluable.

I dare you to join me on this crazy life-journey to no foreseeable end in a place where anything can happen - and generally does ;). You can laugh at my blunders, wail with me when I fail, and cheer me on (silently, of course) as I blog about writing, writing, writing.

Writing *gulp* 2000 words per day.

But hey, I can do this...right?

Or, you can choose to go on your own adventure and join us nanoers at .

<3 Elizabeth-Marie <3

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Let Down :(

In case you haven't noticed already, I'm a pretty forgetful person. It's something that I'm certainly NOT proud of (because it means that I seem very undependable). I mean, I keep forgetting entirely about the Word of the Week!!

Sorry favorite bloggers :(

...I don't really have any, do I?

Right. So...no one's disappointed. Oh well. What matters is, I'M DISAPPOINTED IN MYSELF.

Maybe I need to do less. Or maybe I just need to have more discipline. Either way, I realized that dictionary.com has a Word of the Day thing that will be much more organized and *dependable* than mine, and it's free (obviously); it's what I'm going to be using :)

Also, I found this great thing called NaNoWriMo!!! :D I'm extremely excited about it - pumped, actually! It's this great thing where every November, writers get together over the internet and spend the whole month writing a novel. 50,000 words in one month. Think I can do it??

Well, that's okay if you don't, since I'm not entirely sure I can either :P but it would be awfully nice if I could have some SUPPORT from you guys!

Never mind. That's really selfish of me. I am excited, though, and I just thought I'd tell all ya'll :) And you might want to check it out, as well.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

....and...I'M BACK!

I took a short hiatus from the blog...sorry. But, oh man, you missed a lot! :P

I do have a reason for that *little* break of, er, almost two weeks. I was on vacation!! And it was amazing! :D

We went to Outer Banks (OBX for short - doesn't that look cool?), North Carolina, which meant a very, very long drive there...and coming back was somewhat worse. But I will brave travel just to get someplace other than where I'm at - and I know that there's a lot of people who do the same!

The people I went with were great, and so was the huge house almost right on the beach, but the real reason I went was the ocean. I just love the ocean. Waves crashing on the beach, washing foam and shells onto the sandy shore. Rhythmic beating; it's a sound that could never be replicated. Sand getting in everything - shoes, clothes, carpet, swimming pool, bed, shower - and instead of hating it, I enjoy it, because where I am, there's just not that much sand to go around.

Ghost crabs are HILARIOUS! They get so freaked out...and they're creepy. But also kinda cute. I know, I'm not making much sense. But this is crabs we're talking about; how can anybody be expected to have a normal reaction to crunchy little fragile things that pinch you and have eyes that stick out the top of their heads??

I saw dolphins swimming way out in the ocean (so amazing) and a whole flock of pelicans flying overhead. Nothing like getting greeted by the natives to feel as if you belong :)

There's a whole lot more to tell about what I did, where I went, etc., but there's something more important in all of this that I need to confess. The whole time I was in NC, I didn't read my Bible at all. Maybe that doesn't sound so bad. But the thing is, I didn't pray or anything. I took a vacation from home, from myself, and from God too.

I ignored Him.

How can I be such an idiot sometimes?! What reason did I have to ignore Him? None, absolutely none. I just wanted to be self-centered for an entire week.

And now, getting back together with Him is harder. Figuring out how to enjoy Him again. And every time I sing a praise song or open the Bible now, I feel like I'm not really connecting to Him. That our relationship is not sort of fake.

Not cool =/