Wow, it's been a while

It really has. Ever since I came away to college, even after I bought a brand-new lappy(that's laptop to the less squeally-minded) and got a lan-cord, so I could surf--with the exception of ALL the fun sites(The IITB internet facility is designed to cater to your ACADEMIC needs!)

Day 6 of serious JulNo writing: Progress

Is it just me or is that cheery little meter filling up substantially?

I know, I know. I'm pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I'm still behind the official minimum by about 4K words. But what can you do? In my case, write more. Maybe word war. No one really wants to word war with me, I've found. Too bad. I'll just keep using WoD(Write or Die) and keep increasing my word count slowly. Meanwhile, I used the snowflake method to hash out a plot of sorts. So maybe this novel will have an eventual point after all.

*Squints*

Nope, can't see it.

BdK

JulNo Progress Report! Day 5

So this is where I am so far: for those who do not want to squint at the Write or Die meter, it's 8960 words so far. I confidently expect to write about 1.5K words more today (right after I drink my tea and check my mail/update my facebook/twitter and go on the forums to play a word game and read 'The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest' and maybe taking a little nap) :)

Not too shabby, but imnottelling, the user I've chosen to decide to beat, is a full 3K words ahead of me. I figure if I write 3K per day for the rest of the month, I'll coast into a spot ahead of him/her. So that's my plan. Also, Vrushang's agreed to join me in trying to write as many words as possible and annoy as many people around us as possible by obsessing on our novels; so let's give him a warm welcome, people!

I started this story with just one character. I made the other one up racing against the Write or Die red screen. So far, I'm thinking hard decisions, slice of life. Following your dreams? Forgiveness? And these are just the values I need to get across. Now for the actual story. Scroll down, please.

...

...

...

...

A computer geek who wants to get into a good university takes up a sort-of-job with the girl she used to idolise in high school. There, she teaches her a thing or two about life and the living. Also, this scary guy keeps showing up. End summary.

I got nothing else. Someone kill me now.

BdK

So there! I've decided(a little late, I know) to do JulNoWriMo. For those of you not familiar with it, it stands for: July Novel Writing Month. You're supposed to start on the 1st, but I've started on the 4th; and end on the 31st, with at least 50,000 words written until midnight on the last day. Things are looking good, I think, mostly because of this site- Write or Die. It's awesome. By awesome I mean it starts deleting your words if you stop writing. Cool, right? So you keep writing, and writing, and writing, and writing... well, you get the picture. So far my basic story revolves about Ria, one of my favourite characters. She's Japanese, and sweet and kind and more than a little naive. She's just inherited a lot of money, and hired a friend of hers to help her(the friend) out of her financial problems. That's what I have so far. Not bad for half a day's work, some would say. My goal is two sessions, about 45 mins each, of 1000 words each, so a total of 2000 words written every day. That would mean 27*2000 = 54000 words, a cool 4000 words above the winning word count. Yeah. That would be great.

BdK.

PS, my actual word count's : 2147 words!

Vacations!

Hey all!!

Might I be sounding full of pep to your delicate ears? Well, the ears would have it, since I've been (insert drumroll here) on vacation!

I went to Binsar. (Is proud for a moment, before someone hesitantly raises a hand and asks, 'Where?') It's this place 200 kms Northeast of Jim Corbett National Park, in the state of Uttarakhand. Oh, and for those of you not in the know, that's in India.

Now that we've got that out of the way, here's a pic:

Not that Binsar was all flowers, just most. And besides, I can't get the thing to upload any more and it's 12 o'clock, time for beddy-bye.

Good night.

IRL: Real-ness

Hey,

So this is a real life topic, something I don't usually go into.

Why?

Because: Reality's a nice place but I wouldn't want to live there :)

Just drop in to visit every once in a while. Sometimes I actually feel like I'm living underwater--which happens to be one of my favourite places. And whenever there's something important going on in real life, like an exam or result or family function, someone tosses me a line and I have to break the surface. But I can't take it very long, and I'm always anxious to get back underwater again. Back in my own world, snug and safe and surrounded by words and music.

What is my world?

I've never defined it, but it's whenever I sink so deep into a story that I forget what's real and what's not.(There I go, sounding like Leo in Inception--love that movie :))

But it's true. My world is whatever world the authors that I read, the movies that I watch, even the songs that I listen to, create. I'm safe there, because I'm the only thing living in it that can think for myself. Everyone else has a set pattern of thinking or doing that I am aware of. In a movie, it might take till the end to find out what drives a character, but you do find out at some point.

As I was writing those words, I just realised--I'm not like that. I don't really have any motivation, any real drive. Not in real life. I mean, my dream is to write and have my books read. That's true enough. But it's not a true dream, not considering where my life is going. I'm supposed to be an engineer, or a scientist, whatever it is that I finally become. But I've never woken up in the morning, the ecstasy fading as I realise that what I dreamt wasn't real, to recall the dream being where I was this great scientist. Writer, yes. Scientist, no.

((Though on a side note, I do love to teach. I've taught; well, handled a class of kindergarten students, and other imaginary classes consisting of most of my stuffed animal population, and I've loved every second. But I refuse to be a schoolteacher in this age of complete and utter disrespect for rules and ...well, you know...))

Disillusionment

Hallo, again!

Like I said in my first post on the difficulties of writing, stories I write usually go through approximately the same phases- I start out loving the idea or scene that I felt like portraying, then I write and write and hope and pray that it comes together cohesively. Since I've never written long pieces of writing, over 30 pages, anyway, I'm not always sure how to write, say, novel length stories. So I mess up. My first chapter doesn't grip the readers enough; the characters don't suggest themselves to the audience--somehow they never love them quite as much as I do--or a million other things. Maybe the way I'm writing it isn't good. Maybe I'm using flashbacks too much. Maybe I'm using them too less and incorporating stuff into the present story which I should've just left alone. I want to edit when I realise what's wrong with it, but by then I've lost interest in the idea. Or I feel that the damage done to the story is irreparable. So I take another story and continue with the cycle. Sometimes I feel like it's a normal part of writing; other times I hate myself for giving up so easily.

You just can't win.

Love,

BdK.