So, as planned, I finished the first draft of libaw on May 31st. :)
Aaaaaaaaand the dry month (June - where I couldn't touch the thing like, whatsoever) was brutal. It's a darn good thing I had Yumyum (It's All Inside My Head - the sequel) to plan, or else, as G would say, I would have most likely gone totally shitbat!
But now it's July. Which means what?
Macrorevision.
Basically, this is the first stage of editing that I have to force myself through - the part where I look over the first draft, go "Nope", and change it completely.
This should be interesting.
I'll keep you posted.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Stuff left!
Here's what I have left to do in order to finish Libaw (more to get my own thoughts organized than anything):
- That one random scene I didn't write yet in 3.10
- Scenes I haven't finished in 3.14
- Letter from 3.16
- 3.15
- 3.18
That's it! Holy crrrraaaaappp... :|
3 days to d-day, wish me luck!
- That one random scene I didn't write yet in 3.10
- Scenes I haven't finished in 3.14
- Letter from 3.16
- 3.15
- 3.18
That's it! Holy crrrraaaaappp... :|
3 days to d-day, wish me luck!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
( O5.31.2O1O )
The title links to what I have recently realized my day-to-day life pretty much consists of.
It's May 22nd, which means I have nine - or rather eight, since it's 11:02 pm - days left to write until the day of my "Life in Black and White" first draft completion deadline (May 31st). I only have four chapters left, so yeah, pretty sure I'm going to make it. Yeah. That's not the point. The point is...
EIGHT DAYS OH MY FREAKING GOD AKJDHAIOAHDJSALAKDHNSKABB HZIJSHDAJDGSJKAJDGSKALHNHCUUSZJMANADUASJAKMMBDJLZNDCNS!!!!!!!!
It's May 22nd, which means I have nine - or rather eight, since it's 11:02 pm - days left to write until the day of my "Life in Black and White" first draft completion deadline (May 31st). I only have four chapters left, so yeah, pretty sure I'm going to make it. Yeah. That's not the point. The point is...
EIGHT DAYS OH MY FREAKING GOD AKJDHAIOAHDJSALAKDHNSKABB HZIJSHDAJDGSJKAJDGSKALHNHCUUSZJMANADUASJAKMMBDJLZNDCNS!!!!!!!!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Sequel Preps
The title links to my epic Facebook page, Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month. :) Just a reminder to check this mother out if you have Facebook!
Speaking of mothers, I have started planning the sequel to "Life in Black and White" (of which there remains only five chapters yet to be written, by the way. :O Somehow that seems too important to put in parentheses, but whatever). So far, "It's All Inside My Head" seems like it's going to be just as:
- Long
- Obnoxious
- Depressing
- Overdramatic
- "Special"
as it's predecessor. :) Perhaps even MORESO in some cases (read: depressing, "special").
:3
So yeah.
One of the first steps I have undertaken in this Thing's planning stages, awkwardly enough, has been to make the soundtrack (version 1.0). This may seem a little bizarre to you, like, "wtf, she made the stupid book soundtrack before she finished excessively tweaking the whole entire plot? Who makes soundtracks for their book, anyway?"
In response to the last question, I do. In response to the first, yep, I did.
I NEED A READY-MADE PLAYLIST BEFORE (NOT WHILST) I START WORKING ON THIS DEPRESSING MOTHER. WHY? BECAUSE LAST TIME I BEGAN WRITING A LARGE BRICK OF FICTION, I DID NOT KNOW IT WOULD BECOME SUCH A LARGE BRICK OF FICTION. HAD I KNOWN THIS BEFOREHAND, I WOULD HAVE HAD A READY-MADE INSPIRATIONAL PLAYLIST BEFORE UNDERTAKING THAT ONE, TOO.
kthx.
Anyway, my soundtrack contains some epic, plot-relevant music. Which I love. I am very excited about this soundtrack. It keeps me from thinking too much about the scariness of finishing "Life in Black and White"!
So here is the track list. :)
It's All Inside My Head, 1.0
1. Enya - Amid the Falling Snow
2. Elton John - Birds
3. Sarah McLachlan - Good Enough
4. Miranda Lambert - The House That Built Me
5. Eiffel 65 - Blue
6. Avril Lavigne - Slipped Away
7. Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson
8. Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
9. Beatles - Hey Jude
10. Elton John - Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes (this song inspired the book title)
11. Hedley - Perfect
12. Dido - Don't Leave Home
13. Roch Voisine - Kissing Rain (live version)
14. Coldplay - X&Y (novel theme)
15. The Beatles - In My Life
16. Sarah McLachlan - Answer
17. The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home
I tried my best to put the songs in chronological order of events in the plot. Hopefully, this will help me build the plot elements better. :)
Speaking of mothers, I have started planning the sequel to "Life in Black and White" (of which there remains only five chapters yet to be written, by the way. :O Somehow that seems too important to put in parentheses, but whatever). So far, "It's All Inside My Head" seems like it's going to be just as:
- Long
- Obnoxious
- Depressing
- Overdramatic
- "Special"
as it's predecessor. :) Perhaps even MORESO in some cases (read: depressing, "special").
:3
So yeah.
One of the first steps I have undertaken in this Thing's planning stages, awkwardly enough, has been to make the soundtrack (version 1.0). This may seem a little bizarre to you, like, "wtf, she made the stupid book soundtrack before she finished excessively tweaking the whole entire plot? Who makes soundtracks for their book, anyway?"
In response to the last question, I do. In response to the first, yep, I did.
I NEED A READY-MADE PLAYLIST BEFORE (NOT WHILST) I START WORKING ON THIS DEPRESSING MOTHER. WHY? BECAUSE LAST TIME I BEGAN WRITING A LARGE BRICK OF FICTION, I DID NOT KNOW IT WOULD BECOME SUCH A LARGE BRICK OF FICTION. HAD I KNOWN THIS BEFOREHAND, I WOULD HAVE HAD A READY-MADE INSPIRATIONAL PLAYLIST BEFORE UNDERTAKING THAT ONE, TOO.
kthx.
Anyway, my soundtrack contains some epic, plot-relevant music. Which I love. I am very excited about this soundtrack. It keeps me from thinking too much about the scariness of finishing "Life in Black and White"!
So here is the track list. :)
It's All Inside My Head, 1.0
1. Enya - Amid the Falling Snow
2. Elton John - Birds
3. Sarah McLachlan - Good Enough
4. Miranda Lambert - The House That Built Me
5. Eiffel 65 - Blue
6. Avril Lavigne - Slipped Away
7. Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson
8. Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
9. Beatles - Hey Jude
10. Elton John - Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes (this song inspired the book title)
11. Hedley - Perfect
12. Dido - Don't Leave Home
13. Roch Voisine - Kissing Rain (live version)
14. Coldplay - X&Y (novel theme)
15. The Beatles - In My Life
16. Sarah McLachlan - Answer
17. The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home
I tried my best to put the songs in chronological order of events in the plot. Hopefully, this will help me build the plot elements better. :)
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
71 down, 9 to go. Plus, deadlinneeee!! Oh boy.
Chapters of my novel, that is. Just nine more chapters to go until I finish my big disorganized heffa of a book. ;)
I skipped a chapter and a half to write a really entertaining one called "Hurricane Bertha" (72). G's in for a surprise concerning the girl he's developed a bit of a crush on, but for the time being the chapter's atmosphere is really quite pleasant, which let me tell you is a rare occurrence in a book about mental illness. G and his fellow BPs in the guys' ward at good old Perry Springs (= the most epic psychiatric hospital ever, kthx) were watching the news in the day room the other day when they discovered there was a pretty big storm on its way! To make their lives more interesting, they decided to pretend it was a full-out hurricane, which G named Bertha after his deceased schizophrenic great-aunt.
There was also an interesting, pretty much unrelated two-page scene in which G went through three moods. This was surprisingly easy to pull off, though I did have to make sure I just cruised through it in one shot. It was unrelated to the hurricane stuff, but still necessary because at the end of it, G got a call to inform him that his baby sister was born! Yay! :) He's been waiting for that for months.
Unfortunately, the paranoid personalities in Hall B got wind of the "Hurricane Bertha" fabrication, and as a result, they are all royally freaking out and watching the news like their life depended on it. That means there's no room on the couch anymore for the BPs, but then again they kind of asked for it, didn't they? :P
In other news, I own the Facebook page for Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month, which you definitely want to check out if you have Facebook. Randi Kreger, the author of two of my FAVORITE BPD research books, recently asked me to write an article on BPDA Month for her blog on Psychology Today's website (yes, the magazine). Of course I couldn't pass up this amazing opportunity, so I took a bit of time away from writing G's life story to compose that. The title of this post links to it, so feel free to check that out too.
May 31st, 2010 is the deadline I'd set for myself to have the first draft of "Life in Black and White" completed - I'm going to get to work now, because that date is fast approaching and I hope I can make it!
I skipped a chapter and a half to write a really entertaining one called "Hurricane Bertha" (72). G's in for a surprise concerning the girl he's developed a bit of a crush on, but for the time being the chapter's atmosphere is really quite pleasant, which let me tell you is a rare occurrence in a book about mental illness. G and his fellow BPs in the guys' ward at good old Perry Springs (= the most epic psychiatric hospital ever, kthx) were watching the news in the day room the other day when they discovered there was a pretty big storm on its way! To make their lives more interesting, they decided to pretend it was a full-out hurricane, which G named Bertha after his deceased schizophrenic great-aunt.
There was also an interesting, pretty much unrelated two-page scene in which G went through three moods. This was surprisingly easy to pull off, though I did have to make sure I just cruised through it in one shot. It was unrelated to the hurricane stuff, but still necessary because at the end of it, G got a call to inform him that his baby sister was born! Yay! :) He's been waiting for that for months.
Unfortunately, the paranoid personalities in Hall B got wind of the "Hurricane Bertha" fabrication, and as a result, they are all royally freaking out and watching the news like their life depended on it. That means there's no room on the couch anymore for the BPs, but then again they kind of asked for it, didn't they? :P
In other news, I own the Facebook page for Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month, which you definitely want to check out if you have Facebook. Randi Kreger, the author of two of my FAVORITE BPD research books, recently asked me to write an article on BPDA Month for her blog on Psychology Today's website (yes, the magazine). Of course I couldn't pass up this amazing opportunity, so I took a bit of time away from writing G's life story to compose that. The title of this post links to it, so feel free to check that out too.
May 31st, 2010 is the deadline I'd set for myself to have the first draft of "Life in Black and White" completed - I'm going to get to work now, because that date is fast approaching and I hope I can make it!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Why did the pigeon cross the street?
Today I went to write at the cafe for the afternoon. I go to a pretty wonderful cafe called Cafe Cognito. It's on Main Street and it's located just inside an old dinner theatre; the atmosphere there is quite wonderful. I got there by bus around 1:30 if I remember correctly, but since the bus passes on the wrong side of the road I had to walk over to the intersection to cross the street. As I pressed the button and prepared to cross, I saw a pigeon calmly standing on the other side. When the light turned green and the crossing light appeared, the pigeon and I both began crossing the street.
As I passed the pigeon, I began chuckling to myself despite the cars waiting on either side of me. I got to the other side and looked back - sure enough, there was the pigeon on the other side, making its way down the sidewalk.
Somehow, this isn't even a joke.
Apparently, this pigeon is smarter than quite a few people I know, who amuse themselves trying to jaywalk across busy streets at rush hour... at least it had the sense to wait at a crosswalk!
In other news, I am now well into Part III and currently writing Chapter 65. I had to revamp the entire plot of Part III from the end of NaNo till now because it took me one chapter of it to understand that the plot I had wasn't going to work. Fortunately, I bounced back and I'm now more into the writing than I have been in a long while, so it works out. :)
In OTHER news, I got a job. Check it out. It's epic, just saying. :)
My new job (and therefore source of income) has allowed me the financial stability to sign up for this writing course beginning on March 16th, which I am REALLY excited about. It's offered by a business woman that my esthetician - also a business woman - knows personally, and so I found out about it quite early. It's fairly expensive to me but I think it's worth it, since one can never learn too much about writing!
The woman who gives the course owns a self-publishing company. You can check it out on her website if you're interested in self-publication. :) I personally am not, but you can still take her courses if you're going down the agenting route, so that's good. She said we were going to be talking about editing at parts, which is one of the major reasons why I signed up. I'm at that highly fulfilling yet highly SCARY point in my novel where I realize that I'm kind of almost done. And this scares me, mostly because it's like, yeah, and then what?
Then, EDITING. And lots of it. And do I know the first thing about editing? ... Well, maybe the first thing... but not the second and third for sure! I need help, and this course will give it to me. I know this in my heart. :P
The other day I had a break of musical inspiration and decided to sit down for an hour and recompile my novel soundtrack. A soundtrack with songs applicable to my project has always helped me with the creative process, since music and I are pretty much besties. The story of Life in Black and White has changed a load since I last compiled my soundtrack (in like, Part I), so I decided it required some updating.
If you're reading this and think a novel soundtrack is kinda-sorta a good idea, or you're thinking it might work for you, I HIGHLY recommend you try it out. It helps loads I find!
Here's mine. I highly recommend you listen to all of the songs on my soundtrack, because they are truly beautiful songs whether or not you relate them to my book. :)
Life in Black and White Original Soundtrack
Version 2.0
1. Annie Lennox - Walking on Broken Glass
2. The Beatles - Here Comes the Sun
3. Matchbox 20 - Long Day (The acoustic version works better with the ambiance of my novel, but they're both great.)
4. Gordon Lightfoot - For Lovin' Me
5. Coldplay - Clocks (Main theme)
6. Natalie Merchant - My Skin
7. MIKA - I See You
8. Gordon Lightfoot - Circle of Steel
9. The Beatles - Hey Jude
10. ABBA - Mamma Mia
11. Tegan & Sara - Fix You Up
12. Elton John - Ticking
13. MIKA - Happy Ending
14. Elton John - Dark Diamond
15. Madonna - Borderline
16. Massive Attack - Teardrop
17. Marie-Michele Desrosiers - Ave Maria (There are many, many versions of this - I chose my personal favorite for the soundtrack.)
Have a good weekend, everyone!
As I passed the pigeon, I began chuckling to myself despite the cars waiting on either side of me. I got to the other side and looked back - sure enough, there was the pigeon on the other side, making its way down the sidewalk.
Somehow, this isn't even a joke.
Apparently, this pigeon is smarter than quite a few people I know, who amuse themselves trying to jaywalk across busy streets at rush hour... at least it had the sense to wait at a crosswalk!
In other news, I am now well into Part III and currently writing Chapter 65. I had to revamp the entire plot of Part III from the end of NaNo till now because it took me one chapter of it to understand that the plot I had wasn't going to work. Fortunately, I bounced back and I'm now more into the writing than I have been in a long while, so it works out. :)
In OTHER news, I got a job. Check it out. It's epic, just saying. :)
My new job (and therefore source of income) has allowed me the financial stability to sign up for this writing course beginning on March 16th, which I am REALLY excited about. It's offered by a business woman that my esthetician - also a business woman - knows personally, and so I found out about it quite early. It's fairly expensive to me but I think it's worth it, since one can never learn too much about writing!
The woman who gives the course owns a self-publishing company. You can check it out on her website if you're interested in self-publication. :) I personally am not, but you can still take her courses if you're going down the agenting route, so that's good. She said we were going to be talking about editing at parts, which is one of the major reasons why I signed up. I'm at that highly fulfilling yet highly SCARY point in my novel where I realize that I'm kind of almost done. And this scares me, mostly because it's like, yeah, and then what?
Then, EDITING. And lots of it. And do I know the first thing about editing? ... Well, maybe the first thing... but not the second and third for sure! I need help, and this course will give it to me. I know this in my heart. :P
The other day I had a break of musical inspiration and decided to sit down for an hour and recompile my novel soundtrack. A soundtrack with songs applicable to my project has always helped me with the creative process, since music and I are pretty much besties. The story of Life in Black and White has changed a load since I last compiled my soundtrack (in like, Part I), so I decided it required some updating.
If you're reading this and think a novel soundtrack is kinda-sorta a good idea, or you're thinking it might work for you, I HIGHLY recommend you try it out. It helps loads I find!
Here's mine. I highly recommend you listen to all of the songs on my soundtrack, because they are truly beautiful songs whether or not you relate them to my book. :)
Life in Black and White Original Soundtrack
Version 2.0
1. Annie Lennox - Walking on Broken Glass
2. The Beatles - Here Comes the Sun
3. Matchbox 20 - Long Day (The acoustic version works better with the ambiance of my novel, but they're both great.)
4. Gordon Lightfoot - For Lovin' Me
5. Coldplay - Clocks (Main theme)
6. Natalie Merchant - My Skin
7. MIKA - I See You
8. Gordon Lightfoot - Circle of Steel
9. The Beatles - Hey Jude
10. ABBA - Mamma Mia
11. Tegan & Sara - Fix You Up
12. Elton John - Ticking
13. MIKA - Happy Ending
14. Elton John - Dark Diamond
15. Madonna - Borderline
16. Massive Attack - Teardrop
17. Marie-Michele Desrosiers - Ave Maria (There are many, many versions of this - I chose my personal favorite for the soundtrack.)
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Monday, February 8, 2010
What's new?
I've been really busy with other goings-on lately (read: school and being a complete bum), which is why I haven't had much time to update lately. But I won NaNoWriMo! So that's a start. c:
HERE'S THE 411 ON MY BORING LIFE:
- I might be getting a job at this epic tea place, which would be nice, since I love tea. And money.
- I started a new collection of short stories (mostly horror) to work on on the side. It's untitled as of now, since I'm having this weird... title-block... thing. At the moment.
- School is being absolutely retarded. I guess that's usually what happens when you go take six courses in the same semester, but yeah. I'm ambitious. So I'm studying a lot.
- I've started painting again. Which I haven't done since I was in high school art classes, yo. But I like it, it's fun.
- "Life in Black and White" is... well, it's going a bit slowly atm because of school, but I most certainly have not given up on it. It's progressing (like a snail). G will soon need shock treatments, which I'm both looking forward to writing and not looking forward to writing. I'm weird. Yeah, and J's birthday is not this Friday but next (the 19th) and I've decided to make a little cake in celebration and to paint a picture of him on another canvas which I shall go out and buy shortly. Which works because I really need recent drawings of him and G. Because the ones I have look like they were drawn by a twelve-year-old. Just saying. c:
- That's pretty much it.
I'm not able to update much at the moment, but if you'd like to check me out some other places on the web, here are some links to the places where I'm active:
- My art
- This awkward parody blog I'm doing with my writing group. I'm following most of them on it, so check out their parody-blogs too!
- I'm planning on possibly opening up a Youtube account, so stay tuned for that.
- You can always e-mail me at nlleblanc@ymail.com if you have something to say.
What are you guys up to? :P
HERE'S THE 411 ON MY BORING LIFE:
- I might be getting a job at this epic tea place, which would be nice, since I love tea. And money.
- I started a new collection of short stories (mostly horror) to work on on the side. It's untitled as of now, since I'm having this weird... title-block... thing. At the moment.
- School is being absolutely retarded. I guess that's usually what happens when you go take six courses in the same semester, but yeah. I'm ambitious. So I'm studying a lot.
- I've started painting again. Which I haven't done since I was in high school art classes, yo. But I like it, it's fun.
- "Life in Black and White" is... well, it's going a bit slowly atm because of school, but I most certainly have not given up on it. It's progressing (like a snail). G will soon need shock treatments, which I'm both looking forward to writing and not looking forward to writing. I'm weird. Yeah, and J's birthday is not this Friday but next (the 19th) and I've decided to make a little cake in celebration and to paint a picture of him on another canvas which I shall go out and buy shortly. Which works because I really need recent drawings of him and G. Because the ones I have look like they were drawn by a twelve-year-old. Just saying. c:
- That's pretty much it.
I'm not able to update much at the moment, but if you'd like to check me out some other places on the web, here are some links to the places where I'm active:
- My art
- This awkward parody blog I'm doing with my writing group. I'm following most of them on it, so check out their parody-blogs too!
- I'm planning on possibly opening up a Youtube account, so stay tuned for that.
- You can always e-mail me at nlleblanc@ymail.com if you have something to say.
What are you guys up to? :P
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