Progress Spreadsheet for NaNo and Other

Shall we say I'm amazing?  It took me a morning to make this amazing spreadsheet for NaNoWriMo.

And trust me when I say it's amazing.  I was working on it for 4 hours; perfecting every last formula and testing it half a gazillion times.. and now I absolutely love it!

In case you want to see/use it, you can open it by clicking here or for non-Vista (I hope this works) here, and then for both clicking the link again (needs Excel to work).  It doesn't exactly work as a page because the formulas don't really show. 

Still, I think it's amazing.  I added in comments because I got bored, and didn't want my future self to screw it up.  But the rest of it is pure genius.

Anyways, still on the NaNo note, The Reincarnater is becoming pretty well planned.  I think I might lay off the planning a bit though, and just have one event per day instead of one for every odd paragraph.  That could take the fun out of writing... if that's even possible!

Yesterday and the Friday before that I went skating with my boyfriend - no falling for either of us!  I was proud.

Also, I've discovered a way to wash my dog

Music + Autre

(autre = french for other)

So, I'm starting to get busy.  Most of it's self-induced business - extra homework really just anything to keep my mind of the downward spiral of my life.  But moreover, blogging has been getting hard.  I also just don't have anything to write about!

Sure, I could tell you that in The Reincarnater, Echo G'Allen looks like this:  ('cept slightly see-through and greyer)

Homework: Business Tech News Scrapbook

Hi again!

For Business Technology, our term project is to find 20 articles about information technology, write a summary for each, and present in a scrap book.  Because November will be pretty busy for me, I've started early on the assembling part of this project.  The more I get done now, the less I'll have to rush in December.

Here are the pages I have so far:

Titles For NaNo And Such

Lately I've been getting busy. Really, I should be more busy, but I think this is busy enough for me.

I have had the time to get a for-now title for my NaNo - The Reincarnater.  I named it that (with the help friends) because there's a legend about the No-Zone, the all ghosts know - kinda like Little Red Riding Hood, but it's about a group of people that live in a No-Zone and know the ancient ways of wisdom, how to make sense of all things ghost-like and human, etc.  That's why Echo goes to the No-Zone nearest her in the first place - but that’s a different No-Zone, not the special one.  Still, almost every No-Zone has a group of escapees in it, so it’s fine that the legend goes unfixed because it’s a secret way of telling them to go to a No-Zone.  Also, in another No-Zone the legend is real, because that's where the Reincarnaters - the people Echo becomes on of at the end to save all ghosts - hang out between their journeys around the world reincarnating people.  That's where she meets the last Reincarnater (should I add the Last in to the title?) who says that she is the only one he's found with the right personality and beliefs for the job (not even Nike) and in his dying breath gives her the power, which she activates sending an old ghost back.  From then on she gets a slight tug where ever a ghost is, because all ghosts need to be reincarnated.  Even people who don't want to leave tug, like Nike.  But Nike decides to follow her (trying to avoid that decision whether he should or not, though) and such... etc.

Sure, it's not great... but it's InVincible!

I, proud to say it, have updated InVincible with a sweet 2-page segment about death.  Uh-huh, I rock.

The story about writing it goes like this: It's the girls change room, and the grade 11 girls are back 10 minutes before the grade 9's.  10 minutes, and all of the little niners stuff is thrown all over the room.  Ransacked.  Wallets missing, ipods, iphones, everything.  Even a sweater went "missing".  It must have been a pretty amazing ten minutes, because one of my friend's wallet and iphone were stolen out of the bottom of her backpack, and someone took my ipod, Iggy, out of my bag where it had been in a zippered pocket.  That's two zippers, a binder, clothing, paper and pencils they went through to get a $50 ipod.

Whoohoo.  Congradulations.  You just won some Billy Talent and stalker-like photos of a girl's life.

I hate you.

With passion.

So, frankly, I was depressed last night.  Very, very depressed.  And, when I get depressed, a great way to get out the depressed-ness is too write.  So I did.  And it ended up being InVincible I wrote, because it's my violent book and I thought this would end up violent.  Excerpt below.

(k, so I'm trying out the 'Read More' thing  -- IT WORKED!!! --)

New Design!

Haha. I had to add to the list of New!'s.

This design is different, obviously, and I like it more - this sort of thing can never be perfect, but it's close. I think it's pretty "caliginous" too, lol. There are some "Home", "Comments RSS" and "Posts RSS" links at the very top, and links to Empyrean, InVincible and New Story at the posting-top. PLEASE give me your thoughts and ideas about the new design!

On another note, I saw Fame, a movie about a preforming arts school.  It's pretty good, if not a little rushed into 1 hr 47 minutes.  In it, from one of my favourite TV shows So You Think You Can Dance (of which there is also So You Think You Can Dance Canada!) is Kerrington Payne, a dancer.  It's pretty cool.  My favourite character is Jenny Carrison, played by Kay Panabaker.

Editing Empyrean is at 5 pages...  whoohoo.  I think I'll have to re-do page 5 though, because I edited it worse, not better.

Later!
Sarah

P.S.  For NaNoWriMo, I've decidedly chosen my New Story.  I have about 2 pages of overall event jot notes, half a page character profile for 1 or the 2 main characters and slight world-building.  Will update with more character/villian and worldbuilding stuff later.  27 days will NaNo!

New Story!

Going along with the "NEW!" idea...

I have a New Story!

Not exactly sure about all the details right now, just that it'll be written for NaNoWriMo this November.  If you haven't checked out NaNo already, do so now!  I did it last year, and that's the reaosn I started blogging, how I met Kori, and got my very first novel out.  

The main idea of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month - November.  There's lots of ways to do this, and lots of cheats too ;) (like loooonnnnggggg chapter titles, would not 's instead of wouldn't's, etc... although I, of course.. didn't use any.. *coughnocough*).  So, it's pretty hard, but the satisfaction of winning is just too good to be true.

Anyways, the New Story! 

Here is my 10-minute summary:

It's 3013, the world has reached overpopulation and near destruction.  Now, it's controlled by one single Government - a highly efficient system in which every living being's voice is heard.

But what if you aren't living?  Over time, the ways of the ghosts has been forgotten, and now the passage to a new life has been forgotten entirely.  For the first time, ghosts have shown themselves to not only a few humans, but the entire population and government.  Now allowed to live like citizens in small highly-guarded villages, the government says they will be safe from the companies who want to control and experiment on them. 

But things are no longer so safe, and in Echo G’Allen’s town of 50 ghosts, there are daily attacks by annoyed humans who think the ghosts should go back into hiding – or leave forever.  Unable to explain why they can’t leave, the government is becoming more and more distrusting to the ghosts.  After her family is killed, Echo realizes she can’t stay any more.  Leaving her town, she sets off to the infamous No-Zone, a radioactive, nuclear-testing site that’s found its way into all of the ghost’s legends and fairytales.

It's not finished, and definitely not final, but that's what I have right now.  The main character's name is Echo G'Allen (the G was added because she's a ghost family) and she goes out of her village and meets Nike (n-EYE-k) who doesnt really like ghosts, but joins her anyways.  After getting to the place, there is a village (after a while of dissapointed looking) but Nike dies in the process.  He becomes a ghost, which he isn't happy about, especially because he's supposed to have special powers - the reason why he was on the run and met Echo in the first place).  He does, only after he gets kidnapped... he can make things just materialize out of thin air, which is amazing.  Echo can sometimes control electric currents, but after experimenting can cause lightning and extraordinary things - with extreme pain and such as the verdict.

Here's some of my two-second plotline notes:

·         Ghost girl in a ghost world

·         Ghosts used to hide, or use special ways to get back

o   Now with pop. They are running out of ghost space

o   Ghost towns are guarded and imprisoned

o   If they leave, there are agencies going to experiment

o   Some ghosts have special abilities, some more

§  Mother – healer

§  Father – animals, vegetarian family

§  Brother – nothing

§  Most powerful in village – only rumoured, but an old druggie geezer can occasionally cause some sparks to fly

·         Wants to get to Nowhere, a past nuclear testing site, where all the ghost fairytales and stuff takes place

o   She can occasionally stop an eclectic current, so she can get out – had to keep that power HIDDEN from everyone or else they would do something bad – a friend of hers said it out loud and was taken away

o   Meet dude along the way, become friends

"Now, you can do one of two things. You can run, or you can hide."
"I really don't see why I can't just punch you in the face."

§  He dies in the end, but becomes a ghost

·         They were trying to keep him alive because he’s supposed to have special ghost powers

o   Because of that people trying to kill him

o   Equals out = ghostgirl is wanted to be captured/tested on too, so they stick together

o   Get to site, see one hazy form – part 1 end

·         There’s a whole community of people – maybe 200, compared to the 50 of her last village

o   It can take up to a month for the ghost to rise out of the dude

§  Girl must wait, become part of village life

·         Hears people talk about other groups, more secret ghost villages rising

·         Ghosts shouldn’t have to hide, this isn’t right

·         Revolutions are in the planning – raids are organized to go out and get ghosts out of the prison towns

o   Girls wants to join, trains like most people her age

o   Goes on raid back to homeland, guy wakes up

§  Freaks and goes looking for her

§  When she comes back he’s gone, must go looking for him

§  magical disturbences lead to him getting captured,

"Don't you ever shut up? No wonder your friends aren't coming to rescue you."

§  she gets herself captured

§  meets him, crazy things going off, kiss and there’s a heart-shaped bed, which turns into a rampant cow with heart spots

·         can make things appear if tries really hard

·         gets gun and gets out!

§  Can’t go back home, big settlement found out, whole area unsafe  see after coming over last hill

I was only two dozen feet from sanctuary, and standing in my way was the man sent to kill me.

"Okay, maybe I can technically survive its loss, but I still happen to be rather fond of my head; specifically, how it's attached to my neck."

§  Turn around, where now?

·         Meet a dying ghost - usually never done, he says hints only on how to die themselves, find it (way) for the rest of the ghosts

  That's my really, really, really quick idea-mode session.  Girl is Echo, boy is Nike,and the quotes are quotes I found on the Adopt-A-Line which I would love to use.  It also didn't copy&paste all too well, so bare with the bad formatting.  I had layered bullets in the real thing, lol, because I'm a weirdo organized nerd.  

That being mainly what I have at the moment, can you guys think of any plot-fixes and such to suggest?  I'm open to suggestion ALL the time with writing, and I have a pretty thick skin so dunt worry :)  


(Weirdly enough, I like it when I get essays back with red pen ALL over)

Sarah

P.S. will update with photos I find later, probably tomorrow or Monday.

New Blog!

Okay, going along as a conformist here, I've made a new blog.  I've called it Insight and have turned off the comments.... I have my reasons.  I'm planning for it to be not only different than this one, but also shorter and more about my thoughts, so this one can be more about writing and my life. 

That's pretty much it folks :)

Also, I'm on page FOUR of editing Empyrean!  It's amazing!  I've looked up agents too, just in case ;)  - although I have a long way to go... about 2 years of editing... but the morale is good :D