Yesterday Was Awesome!

Posted in Camp NaNo by

I’m impressed because I managed to get the 1667 I need 2 days in a row!  Writing most of it in the morning really helped, because I got most of it done.  There’s not much to report, and I think I might have to change a theory or two.  There’s definitely stuff that I ended up writing that could be a good possibility, so that’s fun!  

As for the million other things I’m writing, I think I’m definitely going to try spreading them out over the week.  My new plan is to do my Camp NaNo stuff in the morning, at least as much as I can, and then go on to my other stuff.  Unless I need a break from Camp, in which case, I’ll do something else.

My word count is 15,086, and I wrote an extra 1750 words!  I’m definitely going to try writing 1667 today so that I have some extra words in case I need them, since I haven’t wanted to work on it too much.  However, I might take today off.  Or maybe I’ll just write, and see what comes out.  I’ve mostly been doing just enough so that I’m not too far behind, because if I’m going to be behind, I want the gap to be manageable.  I hope that makes sense!

Yesterday, I wrote a total of 3949, if you count the 2 other novels I worked on, so I managed to get a bunch of writing done.  Honestly, it feels good to be ahead in my word count, and I hope I can keep it up, even if it’s just a few extra words.

I also got some reading done yesterday, so hopefully I’ll have a couple book reviews sometime next week.  I’ve also been doing some cooking, and I really am starting to love the whole idea of checking cookbooks out of the library. 

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Just Writing Away

Posted in Camp NaNo by

Yesterday was another day in which I didn’t want to write.  I managed to work on a couple of my HP fanfictions, and I managed to write a lot more than I expected for my NCIS fanfic.  I kept telling myself I was going to stop at a certain point, but everytime I got to that point, I decided to keep going!  I really hope I can stay on track, but I’m not holding my breath.  When in doubt, throw in Agent Fornell because he boosted my word count!

Speaking of word count, I’m at 11687, and wrote 2319 words yesterday!  Working on a couple of my HP fanfics was a nice break, so I might work on them throughout the week, instead of two diferent days.  Since I have so many different things I’m working on, it’ll be really easy to write a couple hundred words each, plus the 1667 for Camp, which is very manageable. 

I can honestly say this whole Camp NaNo thing is really relaxing, and it’s nice to do things at a not-so-frantic pace.  I kinda miss the frantic pace, so I’ll definitely be going back to that in November.  But I can definitely appreciate both.  I still need to work on previous nano’s but that’ll be easy, and I can definitely split those up over the next couple days. 

I still haven’t worked on anything else, although I suppose I should at some point.  I’ve been focusing on Camp, of course, but these ideas aren’t going to magically write themselves.

I think that’s about it, and hopefully I can be productive today!

What A Day!

Posted in Camp NaNo by

Yesterday was weird. I finally get caught up, and decided yesterday I wasn’t in the mood to write. I managed to write for one of my HP fanfics, and did write for my NCIS fanfic, but I just didn’t want to. I didn’t want to get too far behind, so at least I wrote something, which is better than nothing.  I wrote a lot more than I thought I would too. 

I saw something where most of the mole plot is going to be wrapped up in the season 9 premiere, and now I’m thinking that 2 of the people I thought it was can be eliminated.  It’s definitely someone we recognize, according to one of the executive producers, and I think that wording is pretty important, because it seems like it’s someone who made a guest appearance or two.  I wish I could find that link now, but i think there’s a few articles where it’s mentioned. 

So I’m at 9368 right now, which means I’m 634 words behind.  Honestly, if I don’t hit my word goal everyday, it’s not the end of the world, because I am writing everyday.  Once I get going, I’m usually fine, but at the same time, ending where I did worked out okay. 

I’m pretty sure I’ll get back on track today, and I’m also going to work on my other stuff too, just to give myself a break from my official Camp project.

Yesterday Was Hilarious

Posted in Camp NaNo by

It’s time to share some of the funny stuff I’ve accidentally written so far!  I managed to get all caught up, which made yesterday even better!  So here we go:

  • “so why are you here earler?” aske gibbs.  (I know gibbs is a man of few words, but you’d think he’d be one to speak clearly.)
  • “There is ziva,” tim whispered. “Mcgee’s hjere, and he looks happy wjch might not last very long if he’s sees us at his desk.”  (I feel the need to bang my head against a wall repeatedly after noticing I typed this.)
  • “You know about abby, boss,” tony said.  “She things somethings wrong.” (I should hope Gibbs knows about Abby.  They’ve worked together for years now).
  • “If I don’t have to hide someone, then I won’t.”  (I would hope you’re not hiding anyone…)
  • “I could use another set of eyes,” abgy said.   “Time are you doing anything important?” (I’ve come up with a new character!  Meet Time, Tim’s evil twin.)
  • “Chasing down leads bossy,” gibbs sais.  (This made me laugh.)

The best thing I noticed from yesterday was the fact that I named my novel July 2010!  Which made me laugh, because I laugh at everything.  I’m going to keep it as is, because it’s too funny to change!  Yesterday’s final wordcount was 8344, and hopefully I can stay on track.

Word Can Be Very Evil!

Posted in General by

Microsoft Word is evil!  Evil, I tell you!  Yesterday morning, I managed to write 800 words so, saved it on my flash drive, and when I went back to work on it later…the document was corrupted!  It was really frustrating, but thankfully I backed up my novel to dropbox after I finished writing yesterday, so I only lost 800 words.  I think I managed to cover most of what I wrote in the morning, and I’m pretty sure I forgot to throw in a few things.   Besides, I got the important stuff back in there, so I think I’m good to go! 

Let this be a lesson: always back up your work, because you never know when you might need that back-up copy.  I’m definitely going to keep a text file saved, just in case.  I’m pretty good about backing up my work, because if I ever lost any copies of my novels, I’d be so sad!  And honestly, it worked out a lot better, because I got to expand on a couple of pretty important things.  The re-write pretty much doubled what had I written in the morning, so that was awesome!  Plus, I liked this version a lot better than the one I previously wrote.

I was on such a roll that I’m almost completely caught up!  I’m glad because I can worry a little about getting to where I need to be.  It is weird writing one novel, because it’s been a while since I’ve worked on one novel.  It is a lot more relaxing, but at the same time, I really like having more than one thing to work on, which I do…it’s definitely interesting though.

So, my word count is 6412, which means that I just need to write an extra 256 words.  So I should be able to catch up today, which makes me happy.

Things Are Getting Interesting!

Posted in Camp NaNo by

Here’s my Camp NaNo update!  I’m still behind, but slowly catching up. 

It’s certainly getting interesting, and Gibbs is certainly suspicious of DiNozzo and Vance.  He also knows they met with SecNav, and doesn’t believe the answers Vance and DiNozzo gave him.  I’ve narrowed down who I think the mole is to 3 people, so that helps a lot.  Plus, I have a few other things that I’ve written down.  Unfortunately, I keep coming up with more questions, so I’ll try to solve as many of those as I can.  I have come up with a few ideas that are very plausible, so I’ll have to work on those a little more. 

I haven’t mentioned my word count yet, which is 3386, putting me a day behind (according to my handy-dandy spreadsheet), so I definitely have to write as much as I can in order to catch up.  If I can add 53 words, then I should be okay.  But if I so happen to write more than that, I’ll be pretty happy.  In fact, if I can write as much as I can everyday, I should be good. 

I also have plenty of typos to share- we’re on day four, and there are a bunch of them.  They really are entertaining, and they become even more funny when I write when I’m tired. 

I think that’s it for today, so happy July 4th everyone!

Camp Is Fun!

Posted in General by

Camp NaNo is going well…kind of. I still have no idea on theories, so I definitely need to do that. I have some general notes, on spoilers I found, so that’ll help.  I’m pretty sure that I can reason my way through who the mole might be.  It’ not hard…I just don’t want to do it.  Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow.  It’s not likely, but I’ll try!

I’m definitely going to get back on track for camp nano, since I only wrote 456.  Gtting the fanfiction written was pretty easy, but I didn’t really want to work on my original stuff. I managed to, and once I got going, I was fine. It just took a while for me to actually sit down and write, so hopefully camp nano will help out with that, since I’ll be writing everyday.  It’s just taking me a while to get settled in.  I did some reading- and I finally decided to start re-reading Harry Potter.  Not sure if I’ll get through the whole series in the next couple weeks, but I should get through the 1st three, and I’ll probably read Deathly Hallows while watching the movies in preparation.

My excuse for not going to the gym last week was the fact that it was really hot outside, and working out was the last thing I wanted to do.  Yet I somehow managed to lose almost 2 pounds.  I swear I’m going to start up my food journal, and do some kind of exercise, whether it be at home or at the gym.

I think that’s about it for today, so have a great day!

Day Two Of Camp NaNo!

Posted in Camp NaNo, FanFiction by

Camp NaNo started yesterday!  I’ve been waiting and waiting for it, and now it’s arrived!  For anyone who’s not familiar with it, it’s NaNo…year-round.  It’s great for people who can’t/don’t want to do NaNo in November or for people who want to do more than one novel in a year.  While I’m a big fan of multiple novels going at one time, I know it’s not for everyone, so it’s a good way to get all of those ideas out.  Plus, last year, I learned that 2 50k novels is the most I’m willing to do, so it’s perfect for me!.  This month, I’m doing an NCIS fanfiction, and it’s based off of the season finale.  The timing of Camp NaNo is perfect, because I’m hoping to have this thing (mostly) written by the time the season 9 premiere rolls around in mid-September.  I think it’ll also be a good test run for NaNo, because this month, I’m planning to keep up with my other novels while writting a 50k novel.  I’m not sure how completed they’ll be by November, but at least one should be done, maybe 2 or 3 if I’m lucky.  Anyway, it’ll be good to see how it works out.

It’s off to a really slow start, and my own theories about what’s going on aren’t thought out at all, so I’m winging it.  I’ll definitely have to write those down as soon as possible.  I’m not sure if it’ll reach 50k, but I’m going to try!  And if I have to word-pad, I will.  Since I didn’t do any planning, I am having some trouble with it, so once I come up with my own theories, it’ll (hopefully) get easier.  I think part of it is because I’m so used to doing Harry Potter fanfiction, and it’s a lot easier to reference Harry Potter than it is to reference NCIS.  I’ve seen bits and pieces of the first 7 seasons, and only the second half of season 8, so I’m not completely caught up on it yet.  I feel like I have a good handle on the characters, but still, I feel like I’m missing a few things.  There is this fan wiki site which looks like it’ll be really useful, and I’ll probably refer to it quite often this month.  I’ve already learned something: if you’re doing a fanfic based on your theories on what might happen in the next season, it’s a really good idea to write them down before you starting writing the actual fanfic!  Since it’s only day 2, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

It’s strange to novel in a non-November month, but it’ll be a good way to narrow down the field for November.  My last (and only) attempt at doing a novel that’s not during NaNo failed- I did get 10,000 words or so, so it wasn’t a complete loss.  I definitely got into the mindset that November=writing, but I’m slowly trying to change that, so maybe I’ll get farther along in noveling the rest of the year.  I can do it!

So, yesterday, I wrote 1746, which was rather surprising, considering how much I didn’t want to write.  I struggled with the first 800-ish words, and after that it got slightly easier.  Maybe today will go better.

Food Update Plus Harry Potter!

Posted in Food, General by

I didn’t cook nearly as much as I had hoped, but at least I made a couple things.

Brown Butter Blondies

I made Brown Butter Blondies, which I found over at My Baking Addiction.  They were pretty good, although I’m not the biggest fan of butterscotch.  It was also my first time making blondies, and I’m definitely making them again.  I don’t know if I’ll use this particular again soon, although I probably will just to get rid of the butterscotch chips.

Rotini With Salsa Di Limone

I also made Rotini with Salsa di Limone, which I found over at the food network.  I didn’t have any tomatoes, so I opted not to use them, but it still came out yummy.  I guess you can’t really call it Salsa di Limone, since there’s no tomatoes in it, but the oil and the cheese and the lemon made it yummy!  After spending some time recently watching the food network, I’ve decided that I like Giada.  I checked out a couple of her books from the library, and I’ll probably review those in the next few weeks.

And of course, I have to talk about Harry Potter!  I finally got my tickets for it- I had a slight change in plans for it though.  I was going to go with friends, but I waited too long to get tickets at the theater we were going to, so they sold out.  😦  But I still want to go at midnight, since it’s the last Harry Potter movie ever, and if there’s a good time to see a midnight movie for the first time, it’s going to be for Harry Potter!  So I’m going with my mom instead.  I’ll try and get some pictures.  At the very least, I’ll bribe my mom with cookies or something to get her to take a picture of me, because I’ll be going in costume!  I’m super excited!  So excited, in fact, that I may see it twice, which is something I so rarely do.

Fruits Basket, Volume 4

Posted in Books by

Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 4 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages And Format: 216/Paperback

My Thoughts: This installment of Fruits Basket was another fun read.  We finally get introduced to Akito, the head of the Sohma family.  The rest of the family wonders how it’ll affect Yuki and how he’ll deal with Tohru.  We also meet Ayame, who is the snake in the Zodiac.  Ayame is also Yuki’s older brother.  They don’t get along, and there’s a definite contrast between the two brothers.  Tohru also visits her mother’s grave on the one-year anniversary of her mother’s death, and Kyo and Yuki are surprised when Arisa, Hanajima and Tohru have a graveside picnic.

There’s a page at the end devoted to the year of the dog, and the interview with the author that started in volume 3 continues in this volume.  She mostly talks about her love of video games, which any fan of the manga knows because of the random notes scattered throughout the series.  She also talks about how she came up with the idea for Fruits Basket- Tohru just appeared one day while she was finishing up her last series.

I really do like Fruits Basket, and I think everyone should read it!  The artwork keeps getting better and better.

My Rating: 5 out of 5.  The artwork keeps getting better, and I love the story.