Tag: NaNoWriMo

Snapshot 11/30/20 // “Victory.”

~ Jai Lynn ~ 2 Comments

Currently listening: “Sympathy For The Devil” – The Rolling Stones
Currently watching: The Office S8
Currently playing: Hollow Knight
Currently reading: ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

November was a month. Honestly, I don’t have much to say lol. When I wasn’t at work, I was still at work at home. Writing. I didn’t do much else. I didn’t even finish reading one book this month. Wow. That is a first for me. But… I did it. I WON NANOWRIMO FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER.

50,000 words of my draft for my WIP The Lowell Saga is complete.Whew. No where near done with the first draft. But I’m getting there. Little by little. Word by damn word. As for whether I finish the draft this December… I’m going to try my hardest. 2020 hasn’t beaten me yet.

November Goals:

  1. Continue researching, world building, prewriting, plotting, outlining & WRITING my WIP! Check.
  2. Become more interactive on social media! Check. I was pretty consistent, for me, with updating on Twitter.
  3. Continue making submissions with my writing! Failure, but I’m not worried. My WIP was the focus this month because of NaNo. AND I WON THAT MAJORLY.
  4. Continue to eat healthier! Check. Not perfect but not as horrible as I could have been. So that’s a win in my book.

December (the month where Christmas happens) Goals:

  1. Continue researching, world building, prewriting, plotting, outlining & WRITING my WIP! My last chance this month to finish that first draft before 2021 hits us in the face. (Or hopefully gently caresses us instead…)
  2. Become more interactive on social media! My handle is @jaiiiilynn4 for both Insta and Twitter if you want to connect! I did better this past month but still want to continue the habit so I’m listing this goal again.
  3. Continue making submissions with my writing! I’m calling it now, this probably won’t happen cause I’ll be busy with my WIP but I don’t want to forget this goal so I’m putting it down again.

What I’ll Be Writing:

  • Poetry- posted every Wednesday
  • Writing Is Hard | WIP Writing Update- posted in the middle of the month
  • Snapshot! Monthly Recap- posted the last day of every month
  • Announcements- posted as needed

All of my fiction writings are independent of each other and stand alone so no need to read any of the previous work to understand. If you want more information about any of the above, you can check out the About page on my site or just click here.

November Round Up of Posts from Nifty People:

My Round Up of November Posts:

My Thanksgiving this year was small but still lovely. My step dad and I made an apple pie and it was the most delicious pie I had ever eaten in my life! We might need to make it a tradition. All in all I’m grateful for everything I do have and will keep looking forward to a brighter tomorrow. December could be brighter!! Let’s cross our fingers.

How were your Thanksgivings, if you celebrate? How was November overall for you guys? Did you meet your NaNoWriMo goal if you participated?

Let’s chat in the comments below!

Till next time,

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Writing is Hard | WIP Update | November 2020 | NaNoWriMo Heaven and Hell

~ Jai Lynn ~ 8 Comments

Previous Post: Writing is Hard | WIP | October 2020 | Catching All Those Falling Stars

Alright.

Guys.

You know. You are all aware. If you’ve been reading the last few of my personal updates or if you are a writer then you know.

NaNoWriMo. My WIP post this time around is dedicated to all things NaNo.

The first time I ever competed in NaNo was 2017. I had just graduated college and was working my first full time job. But life was not on my side. I wanted to be a writer but I had a degree I wanted nothing to do with and was working a job that was putting me into a depression. I don’t want to get into the gritty details but all you need to know is my mental health wasn’t the greatest. My only solace was reading in my car on my lunch breaks and surreptitiously writing post it notes of story ideas at my cubicle. At the time the story I was working on wasn’t The Lowell Saga, which is my current NaNo project. The Lowell Saga was born in the spring semester of my senior year at college. Though, for my first NaNo, a different story came to mind. At the time it was called Tricked.

For NaNo in 2018, I was working a different job. I had survived a previous bad year that I didn’t know would get a lot worse and finally culminate in the middle of 2019. Still, I attempted NaNo again. Again, I attempted to work on Tricked. I preformed word count wise even worse than I did in 2017. My different job was grating on my mental health in a different way than my first job was. This time I wasn’t depressed but I became extremely anxious to the point of nearly having a mental breakdown every Friday night. Then in December I had to have surprise surgery where I nearly asphyxiated. But that wasn’t even as bad as it was going to get. Spring of 2019 I quit my second job and then fell down another rabbit hole of sickness. It was a dark, dark time. The darkest ever probably in my life thus far.

In November of 2019, I was finally finally working a day job I loved. But, my writing was falling flat. I wasn’t inspired in the slightest and I was still trying to work on Tricked, except now I had changed the vibe of the story and renamed it Origins. I preformed worse than I did in 2018.

2020 was the year everything was going to change. And it did. For all of us.

2020 was both a terrible year and a great year. At least for me. It was terrible because everything in the world went to shit. But, I believe there was some universal divine plan to all of it. I have to believe that. I know some of you out there believe it too. Through all this garbage that is 2020 I know we have found some silver linings. I’ll start with the garbage though. I caught COVID-19 at the end of March. I thankfully didn’t have it as bad as others but let me tell you, it is very disconcerting to lose your sense of taste and smell. Honestly.

I had to take a leave from work but in that leave all of my writing inspiration came back to me. SILVER LINING. I decided to shelve Origins for more simmering and went back to my original beloved WIP The Lowell Saga. I researched the hell out of the story, I read a lot of information about story building and just writing in general and I got myself back on track. October I spent so much time prepping and starting to write that way this time for NaNo I would be ready.

Let me tell you I was ready. Still am, since by the time I’m posting this NaNo is still ongoing. This is my current word count:

Guys. Guys. Guys. DO YOU SEE? LOOK! I’m just over 36,000 words deep!!! I’m so happy I could cry. I’m doing so much better. So. Much. Better.

Guys if you don’t have the inspiration now don’t worry. Don’t. Worry. It will come. I promise. As long as you keep believing in your dream and striving it will come.

The first thing I do after I wake up and eat my breakfast is write, then I head to work. If I decided I need more sleep in the morning then I shift my writing to at night. I’m striving to make it work. And the words are flowing. Finally. You have to build that habit, it is so important. But you also have to listen to your body and take care of your self.

I’ve learned that simmering is part of my process. The Lowell Saga simmered for three years before it decided it needed to be written now in the hell year of 2020 which I’m taking as a heaven sent blessing in disguise. Origins is simmering now but I plan on one day going back to it after The Lowell Saga has its say.

Another aspect I’ve been implementing is just writing the scenes I want to write. I’m not writing linearly (which is how I always used to write) and I’m loving it so much more. I will need to connect everything later but I’m not worried. I’ll get to it. One day soon I hope to share more information about my WIP with you all. Once I finish the first draft of the first book of this four book saga I’ll dedicate a whole post about it so hopefully some of you can get just as excited as I am about it. ❤

The most important thing though, which I say all the time but always bears repeating, is just to keep writing. Keep striving. Don’t give up. If you want this dream you have to work for it. It will not be handed to you. But… fortune does favor the bold. 😉

Stay bold, stay strong and let’s finish NaNo this year.

For those of you who are participating, I’d love to hear about your progress and struggles! We are in it together and I’m cheering you all on!!

Till next time,

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word count: 36,405

NaNoWriMo, NaNoCryMo | A Pros & Cons Discussion Post

~ Jai Lynn ~ 10 Comments

Okay, okay if you are reading this and you are a writer then likely you are more than knee deep into this little thing called NaNoWriMo right now. We are either singing our victories or mourning our losses at this point.

For those of you who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is it’s basically a little event that takes place for the entire month of November where writers tackle writing that dreaded first draft and meeting a goal of 50,000 words by the 30th. But that’s not set in stone, any word count goal can be set or any other writing goal for that matter can be desired to be reached by the end of the month. Here’s the website for those interested in more information.

For this month’s discussion post I want to talk about some of the GREAT things about NaNo and some of the NOT so GREAT things. So without further ado…

PROS

(AKA The Bright Side!)

Taking Action

The whole foundation of NaNo is built on this simple concept. If you want to write a book, then write the book. No more procrastinating! No more daydreaming! Just do it already! Life is too short to not chase after your dreams and NaNo pushes you to start running.

Setting Up a Habit

Our habits become us. For real. They are the hardest things to make and the hardest things to break. To reach the traditional goal of reaching 50,000 words by the end of November that equates to about 1,667 words written per day. For me a month ago that was daunting. For me today it is still daunting. But the point of it is to get you used to making writing a daily part of your life! For all aspiring authors it’s essential 😀

Finding a Community

Other writers exist out there!! (Amazing concept, isn’t it? We are not as alone as we think lol!) And so many of them participate in NaNo!! I’ve been using Twitter and my blog a lot to document my writing/NaNo journey this year and everyone has been so kind to me!! The sense of community and support I’ve found here on WordPress has been amazing. On Twitter too I’m starting to break out of my shell there more and interact. Writers are not alone. I am not alone. You are not alone. We can do this!! Also, to anyone reading this right now who needs some inspiration and support, I’M REACHING THROUGH MY COMPUTER SCREEN AND SENDING IT TO YOU ❤

CONS

(AKA The Dark Side…)

Pressure

Oh yes, one of my favorite things. (*she types as she is, legit, crying inside*) Writing 50,000 words is not easy. When writing is not fun, it is stressful. Or usually both at the same time. Especially when you have a deadline. Everyone has a different writing speed and all writers can’t be fit into one neat little box. Artists in general, for that matter, are always OUTSIDE the box. Or making a new type of box. Or floating around and have no box. Or hanging out in a crate. Or are breaking the fourth wall. You know. WE HAVE NO LIMITS.

External Validation

Everyone is different. Every story is different. But when you’ve only written 1,000 words and your friend is banking on 15,000 you can feel a little defeated. Comparing ourselves to others in today’s technological and social media savvy world is too easy. We can get so hooked on other people’s progress that we lose our own. Remember you should go at your own pace and your story is just as important as someone else’s. Be proud of what you yourself accomplished.

Life

Life’s a bitch sometimes. Yeah, as humans we are no stranger to the universe throwing us random curveballs. We have no control over what happens to us in life, only how we react to it. It’s okay to have set backs. It’s okay to miss a few days of writing if your mental health is plunging. It’s okay to not write if your house randomly gets set on fire. Please. You will make up for it later, even if you don’t reach your goal by the end of NaNo. You win by just trying in the first place, and striving to reach the goal!

That all being said I do love NaNoWriMo for all its virtues and all its vices. I believe that this one is even going to be my best one yet. For the past three years I’ve never met my NaNo goal because life got in the way but this may be my year. Don’t want to jinx myself but fourth time might be my charm. My monthly WIP update will be coming up soon within the next week and I’ll provide all the juicy details. Till then, I want to hear about how NaNo is going for you guys!!

So tell me, what are our word counts? Are we feeling inspired or insipid?

Based on your experiences what more pros and cons would you add to the list above?

Stay strong my friends and may the muses be with us!

Sending you all the love and support you need,

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Vignette #35 “Steps”

~ Jai Lynn ~ 7 Comments

I don’t know where I am. That is no lie.

I do know where I want to go. That is the truth.

As for where we will end up though, that is not entirely in our hands. You can walk or you can run. You can skip or you can stagger. You can dance or you can march. There are many ways to take the path ahead.

There are many ways to go. Miles will stretch on forever in whatever direction I take, or you take. Or we take.

All I know is no matter how dark or how bright it is we must remember to take our journeys step by step.

Step
by
step.

I don’t know what our destinations will be.

But, I’m working to make mine beautiful.

What will you do?

The journey is where all the magic is. Never forget.

Photo by Christopher Sardegna on Unsplash

©2021 Jai Lynn

This post Vignette #35 “Steps” appeared first on Jai Lynn.

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(To all those doing NaNoWriMo, good luck!! <3)

Snapshot 10/31/20 // “The Circus, At Night”

~ Jai Lynn ~ 6 Comments

Currently listening: “Season of the Witch” – Lana Del Rey
Currently watching: The Haunting of Bly Manor
Currently playing: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Currently reading: ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Cloudy skies and misty air are lingering outside my window as I type this, and it fits. October and I have been on the same wavelength all month and I am here for it. A lot of fun fall activities fell into my life these past few weeks and finally I feel good. My life feels like it is starting to come together, and honestly perfect timing because NaNo is right around the corner. Or rather by the time this is posted… knocking at the door.

October Goals:

  1. Continue researching, world building, prewriting, plotting, outlining & WRITING my WIP! Check! My word count is up and I am so happy!!! I don’t want to jinx anything because I’m superstitious like that so I won’t share too much but… that first draft is getting WRITTEN. Mark it, guys. Making history over here, lol 😀
  2. Become more interactive on social media! Check! I’m doing it! I’m doing it!
  3. Continue making submissions with my writing! Failure…. but I’m working on it. I did more than I did last month at least! (like opened one new tab, lol…) It will probably be a failure next month too if I’m being real with NaNo going on, but not giving up!
  4. Read & finish three books! Check! Not exactly all three books that I planned but I finished my two re-reads Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. As well as Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. All fantastic reads that I highly recommend! I’m about a third of the way through reading Salem’s Lot by Stephen King and enjoying it so far! Waiting for those twists!
  5. Rewatch The Haunting of Hill House, and revisit Supernatural S4 and Gilmore Girls S1! Check! Supernatural and Gilmore Girls are like my mac and cheese and buttered biscuits. I also finished The Haunting of Hill House and loved it just as much the second time around! The Haunting of Bly Manor I’m more than halfway through and can I just say, I love Victoria Pedretti? Like, I really do. I hope by the end it hits me as much as Hill House did and right now I’m expecting it too.
  6. Watch Halloween movies! Check! Halloweentown, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Over the Garden Wall, and Corpse Bride, among others. Even Hocus Pocus. Okay, okay I relent. It’s a classic and I’m a little less bitter about Binx now. (SPOILER) He’s happy in heaven and now that I’m no longer seven I accept this conclusion. (SPOILER END).
  7. Go apple and pumpkin picking! Check, check! Even though I got EATEN and I mean EATEN by mosquitos (my ankle swelled up like a balloon and got infected, yuck!) it was so worth it. I had a blast! I posted some pics on my Insta if you are curious!
  8. Make Halloween cookies! Check. And they were delicious.
  9. Eat healthier! Mostly check. I had three bad days this entire month, but that is less than September. The other 28 days I followed the moderation plan so this is a win. Building healthy habits never felt so gooooood! One day at a time. One cookie at a time. One brussel sprout at a time!
  10. Look at the ocean one last time! Check and it was magical ❤ (I also had pumpkin spice ice cream for the first time and damn, it’s good! )

November (the month where I am alive and dead at the same time) Goals:

  1. Continue researching, world building, prewriting, plotting, outlining & WRITING my WIP! OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH IT’S ON NANO. I’M CALLING YOU OUT. My username is JLynn047 if you want to be friends and cheer each other on!
  2. Become more interactive on social media! My handle is @jaiiiilynn4 for both Insta and Twitter if you want to connect! I’m gonna try to rage on Twitter all month about my writing frustrations (and hopefully victories!). Feel free to commiserate (and revel hopefully!) with me!
  3. Continue making submissions with my writing! I’m calling it now, this probably won’t happen cause I’ll be busy with NaNo but I don’t want to forget this goal.
  4. Continue to eat healthier! Moderation and NO stress eating. (Even though I will probably be emotional and stressed all month but I will resisttttttt through mindfulness and sheer force of will.)

What I Read:

–Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. Everyone needs to read this book. I don’t care if it’s not your genre. I don’t care if your TBR list is huge. I don’t care if you don’t read. I don’t care if you are a nihilist. This book is bigger than us. It should be on the essential reading list for humanity. Everyone knows the Holocaust. It’s THE most iconic tragedy in the history of civilization. Dr. Frankl, the author of this book, experienced this terrible blight on humanity first hand. He had the option to escape, but he chose to stay with his parents who couldn’t leave and in turn all of them ended up in a concentration camp. A lot of us, thankfully, today will never know those horrors first hand. But he did. And he survived. His experience shaped the motivation and learnings in this psychology book. The main point that I took away was that man needs meaning to survive and he finds that in either 1) his vocation 2) a person or 3) courage in the face of an unimaginable situation. Meaning, meaning, meaning… what is the point of this life? Why are we here? Nihilists will argue that everything is random, there is no meaning. Some think the point of life is to chase happiness. Some think power is everything. But Dr. Frankl alludes the more you chase those things the harder they will be to find. If your life has meaning then you have the will to go on, and the success and happiness will follow. If you think everything has no point and that all is random what’s to stop you from bringing about another Holocaust? There’s no point right? Deep down we all know that not to be true. We are human, we feel, we live, we suffer. We suffer and suffer and suffer. Would it make you happier to reason it towards nothing, or everything. I only glazed over the key points here and there is so so much more. If I haven’t said it already, just read the book. 
–Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. This one was a reread, one that I hadn’t exactly planned on but one that happened anyway. This book just screams October. I read it for the first time last year and you can read my original review here. Looks like I did end up re-reading it like I mentioned in my review last year, haha!! I didn’t disappoint my past self. Maybe I will just end up rereading it every year. Who knows? Pretty much all the same feelings, but what is different this time is that I think I understand the book even more. Its nostalgia, its structure…. and its view of the universal personal conflict of being human. There is just something about this book. Something… Maybe next year I’ll be able to tell you what it is when I probably end up reading it again.
–The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I love this book, so much. My soul and this book …. I can’t even articulate it. I just love this book, so much.

What I’ll Be Writing:

  • Poetry- posted every Wednesday
  • Writing Is Hard | WIP Writing Update- posted in the middle of the month
  • Snapshot! Monthly Recap- posted the last day of every month
  • Announcements- posted as needed

All of my fiction writings are independent of each other and stand alone so no need to read any of the previous work to understand. If you want more information about any of the above, you can check out the About page on my site or just click here.

I might do another discussion post… depends on how much time I’ll have (not much…) but we shall see. Never say never and inspiration might strike again!

My WIP post this month will also be very heavily NaNo related FYI just so you guys are forewarned! I might check in with mini updates for NaNo every now and then too besides my big monthly WIP update but I haven’t decided yet. (More like anxiety rearing its ugly head that I am taking on too much and perfectionism screaming DO IT ANYWAY…) Well…

October Round Up of Posts from Awesome People:

I read so many fun, thought provoking and inspiring posts this month! To my fellow bloggers, great work guys!!

My Round Up of October Posts:

To NaNoWriMo my fellow writers! May productivity rain and may we all survive the storm!! ROARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Oh, and btw… Happy Halloween 😉

Till next time,

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The NaNoWriMo 20 Questions Tag! (2020 Edition)

~ Jai Lynn ~ 13 Comments

Yes everyone, it is that time of year once again. Time to shutter all the windows, grab all the blankets, stock up on all the chocolate, hoard all the caffeine and keep all the laptops charged to the nines. Yes, I fear it is that time again. NaNoWriMo is almost upon us!!

This will be my fourth year participating and because I don’t want to lock myself into any boxes I’m just setting the simple goal of working on my first draft for my WIP The Lowell Saga. No numbers, no time limits. Just the simple goal of continuing to write. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know this has been my goal for a while. As I go on, I am coming to learn more about myself and my process which is awesome and very beneficial for figuring out what works best for me. And with that hope, every year I get a little closer to achieving my dream. To one day publish a book! That’s a dream I’m sure a lot of us share.

Thank you to the lovely Sophie @ Sophie’s Corner for creating this tag (hope all is well with you Soph!) and of course to the wonderful Juli @ Kozy Words for tagging me to participate in it this year! Now, without further ado…

Rules:

  1. Thank the awesome blogger who tagged you!
  2. Link back to the creator of this tag, Sophie @ Sophie’s Corner. (I want to hear about your NaNo novels!!)
  3. Feel free to use the NaNoWriMo 20 Questions Tag graphics!
  4. Answer the questions.
  5. Tag some friends who are also doing NaNo this year.
  6. And have fun!!!

Tell me about your NaNoWriMo project this year! Give me a blurb!

(Most of this is tentative and subject to change but this is the general idea!)
There is something wrong in The Lands but it has been that way for far too long. Selfishness, deceit, and corruption are an every day part of the lives of the denizens and at this point… who cares? Lowell Ryan, fresh out of the Academy, has no illusions about the world she lives in but she is not going to let that stop her from chasing down her childhood obsession. Shizuka has been underestimated and ignored for too long in her position in The Lands police force and when a mysterious death gives her the opportunity to rise the ranks she will do anything to get what she wants. Unlike the other two, Quentin just wants a simple life but life for him life was never destined to be simple. History of The Lands may have already come and gone but Lowell’s obsession with the Gods of Old sets her heart on discovering their long lost talismans’ said to have mystical powers. If she can find them, it will set her and her comrades up for making their dreams come true. With Shizuka hired as protection and Quentin enlisted as a strategist this trio is in for a hell of a treasure hunt.

What’s the genre?

New Adult, most assuredly, with a buckets of fantasy thrown on top. Also, a seasoning of magical realism vibes.

Describe your MC in three words.

Well… technically I have three main characters! I’ll describe Quentin though. He’s brilliant and cautious, but complacent.

Without spoilers, describe your villain in three words.

Honest, illusive, and vengeful.

What is your goal? (the traditional 50K? 20K? 5K? or……. 100K?)

Very simple goal this year! Just to keep working on my first draft. Short and sweet!

Is this your first draft? Second? Third?

This is the first draft technically. Although, I started this story before three years ago and wrote a good amount of words then. Every year since I continuously wrote a little here and there with snippets about the plot and the characters. As you can see the story never left my mind lol, but this year I started fresh and am truly trying to finish the first draft instead of prattling around. But oh, how I love to prattle.

Are you starting a new project (or draft), or continuing an existing one?

I guess you could say sort of continuing an existing one while at the same time it is also a new and fresh draft. Does that answer your question? 😉

What is your favourite time to write in the day?

Ideally, the morning. (Although, I used to be a hardcore night writer!) I’m going to try again to wake up earlier to write before work, like I did last year.

Where are you going to write?

More than likely at home (since we are in the unfortunate position of being in a global pandemic…).

Computer or paper?

Some of my notes will be on paper but most will be on the computer. The draft itself is going to be typed on the computer.

NaNoWriMo is a huge commitment!! How are you going to make time to write?

Sheer force of will.

Are you going to participate in local or online NaNoWriMo events? (e.g. kick-off parties in your city, write-ins, virtual writing sprints…)

Probably not, if I am being realistic. But I won’t totally write them off. It’s just that my schedule is very erratic as it is.

Do you write from beginning to end or skip around?

I used to have to draft beginning to end. LOL, NOT ANYMORE. I am the Queen of skipping around now. Who needs a linear time line when your brain can barely function in a straight line anyway?

Planner or pantser? (or plantser?)

Plantser, 100%. A healthy dose of outlining so I have an idea of the beginning, middle and end. Then, an unhealthy dose of let’s just get writing and see what the heck happens. (This is the exact same response I gave last year when I did this tag and it still holds water.)

What will be your go-to NaNoWriMo snack?

I don’t usually eat when I’m writing. My favorite snack though are those Snyder Sourdough Nibblers!! I LOVE those. Like, a lot. Honestly, maybe too much.

Choice of caffeine? (or no caffeine?)

Caffeine. Caffeine. Caffeine. In the form of some coffee and mostly tea please.

Any rewards for milestone achievements? For finishing NaNoWriMo?

I really should think of a reward for myself. This one is TBD.

Share a tip for other NaNo-ers!

Have fun, really. Life is weird and terrible and wonderful. If you can have fun then have fun! It will show in your writing and make the story all that much better. All my best work sprouted from when I was enjoying what I was writing!

How are you feeling about NaNoWriMo? (Excited?! Nervous!? Terrified?!)

Anticipatory. I know November will be here any second.

Share an aesthetic for your NaNoWriMo novel!

(Photos by Dariusz Sankowski, Holly Mandarich, Steve Halama, Sandeep Swarnkar, and Oleksandra Bardash on Unsplash.)

Tags

NaNoWriMo is nearly here! I don’t know if I’m ready but when am I ever ready? Sometimes you just have to grab your sword and jump into the fight. If you are participating this year I’d love to hear about the stories you’ll be writing in the comments below!!

Till next time,

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Snapshot 11/30/19 // Stuffed From Stuffing (& Starving for Gingerbread)

~ Jai Lynn ~ 4 Comments

Currently listening: “The Christmas Song“- Nat King Cole
Currently watching: Friends S10
Currently (re) reading: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
Currently playing: Sims 4

November, November
you passed so fast
I want to remember
each memory to the last

November always goes by too fast for me. Thanksgiving, the bitter cold days seeping in, and the random warm days that trick you into believing summer will be back soon. Also, NaNoWriMo. This month always reminds me of writing and pumpkin bread and stuffing. Gosh, I love stuffing.

My November goals were:

  1. Write 25,000 words for my WIP. That was a failure, but a failure I am very proud of. By setting my goal to work on the story I found out exactly what was wrong with it and why I was struggling so much with it. It needed to be expanded upon. I need more information and to do more research (which I’m doing now). The original WIP I intended to write for NaNo was just a small cog in the machine of a trilogy that this story is turning into and I am so excited.
  2. Post at least 1 Living Life vignette again this month. I did do this one.
(smirk)

December goals (and candy canes, not coals):

  1. Research, research, research! I’m going to keep digging down deep into the black void of the internet for this new expanded WIP. If I don’t come back you know what happened lol.
  2. Post 2 Living Life vignettes this month. I think I can do this. So I’ll put it on here.
  3. Redesign my website a bit. I’ve been meaning to update somethings and move a few bits around. So, why not now. The present is always the best time to do something. That way it will look better for 2020 too.
  4. Play my violin more. I’ve been neglecting my beloved instrument because of work and laziness which is no excuse. I’m actively going to try to practice more this month.

Also can I just say I love Christmas so much. I’m just gonna throw that out there so be prepared for many holiday themed vignettes and poems. I’m warning you they. are. coming.

Also I had a great dream where I got to co-write a book with Maggie Stiefvater. I wish that would really happen omg. Just throwing that out there universe, if you are listening. I also got the opportunity to see Frozen 2 on its opening night. Let me just tell you guys I loved this movie so much. If you loved the first one you definitely need to see the second. It doesn’t try to upstage the first movie at all but continue it on, if that makes sense, and the music and growth of all the characters is just fantastic. (SPOILERS AHEAD) I loved the scene of Elsa fighting the Nokk and the song, Show Yourself, is also BEAUTIFUL. Elsa shows that she only needs herself to be complete and that is the absolute truth. Romance and partnership is perpetuated in society as something that we all need to feel “complete” and “loved” but all you really need to feel those things is to be yourself and love yourself. Just like Elsa, who knew she was different and fought it until she decided to accept herself and her powers and ultimately find the greatest happiness within herself. Olaf was also hilarious AF and who doesn’t love Anna and Kristof 😀 It is said so much but it really is true, just BE YOU. Unapologetically, wholly, wonderfully, unforgivably YOU. That is the way to achieve the greatest sense of peace. THANK YOU DISNEY<3

What I Read:

–Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. I… I loved this book. It was real, it was raw. I got SO attached to Alex and TOO attached to Darlington. Man. And Dawes, Dawes, Dawes and college me live on the same plane of existence. The magic was so real to me. The history and references in all of the tombs of the Ancient Eight, the privilege problem. My goodness this book. 100% worth the read and I can’t wait till the next. It’s not for everyone definitely (lots of heavy and traumatic topics are explored) but to me this book was excellent in how in handled everything. The right amount of dark side without becoming depressing and all this magic so grounded in reality. I- dang. Five stars, hands down.
–All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater. I really enjoyed this book and all the magical realismness (is that a word?) with the personifications of the character’s darknesses, and how they overcame them. It’s an atmospheric, simple story with a very important lesson. When the characters’ darknesses manifest that is the first miracle, and the second miracle will occur when the character knows how to overcome their darknesses. The magical realism in this book is very well done. Maggie always does a great job in all her books of making magic seem touchable. Daniel was my favorite character but all of the cast was real and alive. I recommend reading it!
–Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. This is my favorite series of books of all time. This is my sixth read through of Clockwork Princess and it won’t be the last. We all have those books that we will never, ever grow tired of. No matter how many times we read them. The Infernal Devices are my books. What does Tessa say? “‘Words have the power to change us.‘” Yes, yes they do.

What I’ll Be Writing:

  1. Living Life vignettes
  2. Holiday poetry (joy to the world, you lucky lot lol)
  3. WIP snippets
  4. Monthly Snapshot! post

As promised last month here is a snippet from my WIP:

Rue scowled. “I don’t like you.”
“The feeling is mutual.” Evans replied.

Haha, yes short and sweet but I kept my promise 😉

Some posts I enjoyed this month:

My round up of November posts:

Bring on the holiday cheer December, you are the only think that is going to keep me going till summer is here again. I wish you all lots of hot chocolate, thoughtful presents, great company and happy holidays to come!!

How were all your Novembers? (Do they go by as fast as mine?) What are the books that you will never tire of (that are part of your soul)? I’d love to hear about them!

Till next time,

NaNoWriMo 2019: (mini) Update 3

~ Jai Lynn ~ 6 Comments

November 17, 2019

Just a quick update! (Like fo’ real.) My research is coming along for my new project, this expanded version of WIP from my original NaNo 2019 novel, this year. I’m having a lot of fun with it and as I research I’m handwriting the notes. This helps my mind digest and engage with the material more, and from that comes ideas upon ideas upon ideas!

I have also been writing little snippets about the characters to get into their heads better. Just quick, short paragraphs that are fun to write and fun (for me at least) to read.

Hopefully when I get more of the details down I’ll be able to share a bit 🙂

(told ya it was quick!) How are all your NaNo novels coming?

Till next time,

NaNoWriMo 2019: Update 2

~ Jai Lynn ~ 1 Comment

November 10, 2019

I reached 12,022 words. That is nearly to the halfway mark, when my goal was just to get 25K. Although, I still have a lot of work ahead of me. A lot more than you would think and I’ll explain.

This week as I came to reach the near middle of my goal for my story I realized something. About 12K in, I found it hard to write. I was struggling again to fill the space on what should happen next and most of my characters were falling flat. Some were jumping at me though from off the page (in my head at least) and trying to grab my attention. The problem I came to realize this week was that I was coming at my story from the wrong time in the plot. I needed to go back farther in time in order to fully give the this story its proper way of being told.

Also I needed to lighten it up a bit. It was getting pretty gritty and philosophical so I needed to tone that down immeasurably. But, I would not have realized all this without first attempting to write the story. So NaNo was not a loss in the least. But a win.

That 12K that I did write is also a win. Those words will hold a place, just a smaller, better paced space in the new draft. In order to write that new draft though I need to fall down into the research hole. I’ll still be writing everyday as I do the extra research but not as quickly as I was going. I’ll be doing character sketches because the original ones I had planned are either taking on a larger role or moving to a smaller one, all still important but in a better place for their stories to be told. I’ll also be doing some world building exercises to get a feel for the different vibe I want to go for. So not really traditional NaNo writing but still writing nonetheless and that is important.

I’m choosing to look at this as a win but when I first realized it I felt such a huge crushing despair. That was because I had already done so much work and now I had to start over again. Also because it was November now and everyone was writing their stories now. But that was the wrong way of looking at things and when I changed how I thought I felt so much better.

I’m still writing, just slower, and every step leads to making this story the best it can be. That’s something I’m proud of now and still will be when it’s finished.

Writing is hard. I knew that. Susan Dennard, an accomplished and published author, said it to me too. Every true writer knows. No matter how much you’ve achieved or experienced writing is still hard. But that is what makes it worth it. Let’s keep going guys!!! How are you NaNo novels coming?

Till next time,

NaNoWriMo 2019: Update 1

~ Jai Lynn ~ 4 Comments

November 3, 2019

Another day done, another day done, another day bites the dust.

So, it is Day 3 of NaNoWriMo and…. I’m tired. Also, worried and hopeful and sad and happy and lost and also very cold ALL at the same time. So that’s something, right? Good? Maybe?

My project for this year is the same story I’ve been trying to sing for nearly three years now but finally I think I found a few of the right notes to turn this WIP into a finished song. (A lousy first draft of a song but STILL a song!) I’m determined and I won’t quit until I get it done. (It’s been three years and I still haven’t given up lol.) Metaphors aside, my goal this NaNo is to go for 25,000 words instead of the traditional 50K because from prior years experience I have never reached that goal. So this is much more realistic and attainable for me because, as I have learned through experience, I am a slow writer.

So far I’m at 5,008 words and honestly, I AM VERY PROUD OF MYSELF. I’m above my target word count and I just hope I continue with the momentum. In years past I usually die down at the middle of the month unfortunately and this year I’m hoping to counteract that. Starting out strong is a good indication so far. (Hopefully my curse will be broken!)

This is just a mini check-in since my posting is going to be sporadic throughout the month (because of NaNo) and my mood is going to be erratic throughout this month (because of NaNo). Crossing my fingers I’ll be in a pleasant state of mind to do more check-ins throughout November but no promises.

Are any of you participating in NaNoWriMo? How’s it going so far? (Are you also a mess of emotions?)

Till next time,