So, I won

Sort of.

Okay, not at all.  This year has been a bit of a fail, but I have done what I wanted to do - edit Empyrean.

Besides that, nothin' much.

S a r a h

P.S. if you can read french, or just want to look, here is my french summary of "Ailes Du Courage" - a movie.

Present Empyrean

Yes, I'm still on track for NaNoWriMo.  I'm at 31,000 words and doing fine.. or at least, I will be after the weekend.

The majority of my easy work is changing the book from present to past tense.

It's only when I come to the re-writes (the middle/end) that I get stuck.  I'm slowly, but steadily making my progress through though.  Very, very slowly.

Excerpt?  How about it.  :)

Midway Point of NaNoWriMo 2010

I'm at a tired-of-editing 25k now. 

NaNoWriMo

I'm editing this NaNoWriMo - every word I edit will count.  So far, I'm at about 200 words.  I'm really positive about completing!

Stuck.

My first step inside the building was a positive one. Maybe, things were not as bad in here as they seemed. At least to hallways were clean, and the building was nice. You could hear the air rushing around through the vents above and below, and that was calming. The halls were a dark grey, and a little dimly lit, but stairwells had floor-to-ceiling windows, as did every classroom. Somehow, the glass in the windows was impossible to see through, and blended in perfectly to the rest of the building on the outside, but in here it was as clear as day.


The room I was in was nicely decorated as well. Hundreds of sayings in all different languages lined the walls, and the desks were clean and comfortable. Kids stood around the room, awkwardly picking at their uniforms as teachers ran around the room with forms to sign and papers to hand out.

Empyrean: 29/332

Image via Wikipedia

The Horseshoe falls - Canada's side of the falls :)

I finished chapter one!  Chapter two seems a big too big to be tackled at the moment, but right now, let's all bask in the glory that I finished chapter one of Empyrean.


:)

Summer of Empyrean

My plan for this summer is to edit Empyrean.  I'll try to do about a page a day, starting tomorrow.  That should only take.... erm, 200 days?  So far, I'm on page 14.  Yes, I'm behind, but I'll try to work on more today!  I'm doing nothing today, thankfully, after a few busy days.

Last monday, I had my math exam. 

Tuesday, I had my English exam - which wasn't hard, but everyone seemed to write for ages and ages and ages while I tried to get my point across in only a few words - I still wrote 5 page legal sized pages (!) but some people wrote... 9?  I couldn't write that fast!

March Break Plans

From now until the 22nd of March, I have the March Break.  An entire week of school... I NEED this :D

I've planned to do a lot - shopping, EDITING, homework, and writing if I'm lucky.  I REALLY need to edit Empyrean.  Did you know, the average writer spends an hour on every page they write?  I need to do that.  So far, the first few paragraphs are good.  I think, I'll go slow and steady, but only do a few edits.  Or really, as many as it needs - but I'll go slow.

Other plans include sleeping and eating :)
Oh, and blogging.  I'll try to figure out something interesting....
what do you guys want to hear about?

S a r a h

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas (to those who celebrate) and happy holidays...

I hope everyone is enjoying the break from school and time at home :) I know I have!

For Christmas (which was this morning, a few minutes ago) I got AMAZING stuff!  There was everything I wanted and more, and it was a nice day and (amazingly) the cat and dog behaved - even if they were close together and wearing hideous collars (Garfield) and scary things that he had to sniff (Odie).

First of all, I got a book called the Maze Runner (left) and Wings, (above right with butterfly-thing).

What Are These Things?

What are these things?  These wierd stops in the middle of school.... weekends?  Yes, I think it's called a weekend...

Odd.

Facts About The Newly Discovered Weekends:

1. They provide dates for things like a soccer tournement
2. They provide chances to sleep in (although the chance has so far gone untaken)
3. They provide chances to stay up late (again, untaken)
4. They let you invite friends over (taken for tomorrow! :D yay)
5. They let you find time to write.  Note the excerpt below.
   
6. They bring about boredom which I suffer from right now.

So, I'm bored.  This morning I had a soccer tournament, in which the previously last team came in first, and the second last (my team) came in second!  Whoohoo!!  I rocked at soccer today, despite the headache, sun, wet grass and hurting all over.  Ouch, but it was still fun.  Plus, I get this pretty metal.  Go me!

Tomorrow I think one of my friends is coming over... not sure what we're doing - but I know before he comes, I'll need to spend at least 4 hours cleaning my room.  During the school week I don't have time to clean it, and now the floor has gone missing.

Also, I've written an added bit of Empyrean - now 47,000 words.  This happens at the beginning, when she's in a burning building, 6 years old, and about to discover her power.  I think it's pretty good, especially for a situation I'd deemed impossible to add on to earlier.  Who knew?

Read More >>

Almost There...

So, I found the time to write about 1,000 words more of InVincible last night, but that's been the first time I've been able to write in a while.

Tonight, I'm leavng for Vancouver and won't be back for about two weeks. I'll miss all you guys! I promise to get more on track with my blogging when I get back, and to get back to my writing too.

On another note, Empyrean has finally been returned by my teacher! I can't wait until I can edit it, but the steps after that? It's terrifyingly exciting... I'm not sure how to feel.

Oh, I just finished reading all of the "If I Told You I Loved You Than I'd Have To Kill You" series - really, really, really good books if anyone wants to read them. "City Of Bones" is also a really, really good book - slightly more mature and less romancy in parts, but I like them both the same, lol. I guess my choice in books (and movies!) depends on how I feel - sometimes I want Eragony guyish war, and then sometimes the really sweet, lovey stuff is good (OK, this is just too cute to not mention: in "If I Told You I Loved You Than I'd Have To Kill You" then Ben and Cammie kiss in a gezeebo thing! Isn't that really sweet? I think so). Like, right now, I'm planning a scene in InVincible to happen in Ottawa, with the Parliment buildings - simply, Vince jumps out of a plane, is shot at from his brother who is hiding in the Peace Tower, and then hides in a parking garage (but is caught because this big oafish dude who is forcing his brother to be evil reads the sign "Up Here" and finds Vince).

Well, I'll be off, thanks for reading! Seriously, I have the awesomest bloggy readers ever. I feel so special!

Sarah

EMPYREAN!!!!

I'm exstatic. Totally, 100% exstatic. I'm to happy to even care that I probably spelt exstatic wrong.. and the three errors are glaring up at me with those evil red eyes. I'm too happy to care. I think you might be able to know why, but if you dont...

Well, a while ago I have my book, Empyrean, the first book I've ever started, middled and finished, not to mention a really crappy editing (by yours truely), and get edited by other people (much less crappy edits).

So, I waited, and waited.. for a whole two weeks. And now, I just got it back. I think my teacher read the whole thing and now is editing from the beginning.. most likely. But I got it back!!!!!

The first five pages. And they just happened to be delivered in the middle of my music class. I think most people, or at least my friends, knew what the white envilope was. I did. But I had to finish playing my sucky clairinet, go play an hour of badminton (which wasn't the best because I was preoccupied) and then get home. Luckily, my dad was on time so I got home pretty fast.

And now I'm here.. with five pages of writing with all these green pen. My favorite colour is green (and it has been for years, not just cuz it's what this is marked in).

But anyways, amazing, happy... you get the idea. I'll give you a page.. and only maybe more later - I've got editing to do! (Yipee?)

Anyways, here:

Emprean: page 1



Fire. Fire surrounded my body. Angry flames licked at the small space that had yet to burn to cinders. That small, uncharred space was the one I was crouched on, watching the flames crawl closer and the heat burn higher. Even at six, I knew I was there until my death. There was no way I could get out, no way to survive. I was unable to stand because of the smoke, unable to scream (my voice had given out ages ago), unable to move, frozen solid in fear while the burning heat froze me in a different way.

All I could do was wait. Wait for death, wait for a savoir who wasn’t coming.

I felt the heat sinking through the top of my shoes and the plastic on them began to melt. It dripped onto the floor like an ice cream cone in the sun, but far less delicious.

This wasn’t delicious at all. My mouth was dry and tasted of smoke and ash. The air around me was so thick with the fumes from the fire, I could hardly breathe. Sitting there, watching the rubber melt off my shoes, while the pain of the heat still tolerable, I should have known something was up.

But at that moment, my mind was calm and clear. I took in things as they happened, when they happened, calmly and sanely. I didn’t look for ways out, I didn’t question the things happening; I stood, eyes wide open taking in everything, calmly and sensibly. All I could imagine was what the outside of the building looked like - most likely similar to all those other awful, grey, smoke fires. We passed them sometimes on the way to school, still smoldering from the life-taking ‘accident’ that had been caused the night before. Those fires happened almost every day, and no one knew why. But for some reason, the fire fighters never came, and the fires where left to put themselves out.

My sister, Alexa, once said that the fire fighters, loyal and diplomatic to our small and powerful country, were not supposed to come. She said that someone had told them not to save lives in those big fires, and the poor fire fighters weren’t allowed to break that person’s rule.

She’d whispered that in my ear as the house beside me had burnt down, killing one of my family’s best friends. I remember thinking of the mother and hearing a single scream. She had given me cookies every day on my way home from school. Now, she was gone. My parents caught us watching the blaze, and quickly ushered us away from the windows, telling us in strict, severe tones that we were never to talk about that family again.


Yup.. maybe not that different, but to me it is. And it's a start too.

Haha. Right now my cat is sleeping on the papers. If he shreds them, I'll shred him (not really. I love him).

Sarah.

Introduction Of Sorts

Hey, so this is my blog. Hi.

Today... today was a bore. First day back, brains dead. Plenty of laughing, a little learning, and one big email.

I emailed my story to my English teacher. He sent back, being formal and weird, making me think "cool" wasn't the best word to write. Oh well. If I die tomorrow, once again, my books go to Cam, money equal between all friends, and room/posessions.. friends and family. Like I have anything of importance.

Anyways, I'm pretty proud of my editing job of what I could without dying of boredom - namely, the first few pages. I'll upload a short little bit on here for you to see.


Empyrean - Page 1

Fire. All around me, fire surrounded my body. Angry flames licked the small space that had yet to burn to cinders. That small, uncharred space was the one I was crouched on, watching the flames crawl closer and the heat burn higher. I even at six, I knew I was there until my death. There was no way I could get out, no way to survive. I was unable to stand because of the smoke, I was unable to scream, my voice had given out ages ago, I was unable to move, frozen solid in fear while the burning heat froze me in a different way.

All I could do was wait. Wait for death, wait for a savoir that wasn’t coming.

I felt the heat sinking through my top of shoes and the plastic on them began to melt. It dripped onto the floor like an ice cream cone in the sun, but far less delicious.

This wasn’t delicious at all. My mouth was dry and tasted of smoke and ash, and the air around me was so thick with the fumes from the fire. I could hardly breathe. The heat around me was sickening, but watching the rubber melt off my shoes, the pain of the heat still tolerable, I should have known something was up.

But then, at that moment, my mind was calm and clear, taking in things as they happened, when they happened calmly and sanely. I didn’t look for ways out, I didn’t question the things happening; I stood, eyes wide open taking in everything, calm and sensible. All I could imagine what the outside of the building looked like - most likely a lot like all those other, awful, grey, smoke fires. We passed them by sometimes on the way to school, still smoldering from the life-taking ‘accident’ that had been caused the night before.


Good? Not? You're already dead, my writing's killed you? I don't think anyone one is there to answer, so I won't really expect an answer.