A (delayed) Fun Fact Friday - holiday edition!

My fun fact fell into my lap last Friday while I was at work, but I went straight from there to the airport to home and a busy weekend combined with no laptop means I will share the fact today. It's a holiday fact, and today is a holiday, so I think it works. I even carried it around in my pocket this whole time, though now I think I have it memorized anyway.

I, as an engine, am coffee powered right now. And it's faltering a little. So after 9.5 hours of traveling (about four more than it should have been) and very little sleep, I don't have much more than a fun fact to say. OH, except for saying that I read The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins this weekend and it was incredible. I love good books. Go read that one, if you haven't already!

Okay, the fun fact is....
Riga, Latvia was the home of the first Christmas tree in 1510.
Who knew?

Happy Memorial Day!

The wonders of the unknown

So, the wonderful Veronica and I were having a writing party the other night, and she was getting quite the kick out of my excitement of not knowing what was going to happen as I embark on a long work for the first time.

"I just realized, this is going to take place over Christmas, and I don't know what will happen!" In my WIP the parents kick the main character out of the house, so will they all get together for Christmas? I. Don't. Know.

It's an exciting thought.

Then Veronica said, "I usually only know who is going to die." I feel like that should be quoted again sometime down the road, when she is really famous. Because it's just awesome.

In other thoughts, I thought maybe I would have my first Teaser Tuesday. So here is the beginning of my WIP, which isn't revised anything. Just for the record. Okay, I'll just paste it now, and then hope you like it...

June 7^th

         I wonder what it would be like to pluck out my eye. It’s got to be pretty simple I figure. With this pen I’m holding, all I’d have to do is wedge it into my eyeball far enough to pull the eye out. There would be a lot of suction, I’m sure, and something inside there would have to rip. Though I think I’m conveniently forgetting the immediate pain I’d feel when the pen went in.

         It wouldn’t do any good. I realize that. I just know that it’s easier to think about using my pen for that rather than writing what I have to write.

         I’m pregnant. With you.

         I mean, no one with medical knowledge of any sort has confirmed it, but I think it would be hard for seven tests of two different brands to be wrong. I threw them away in the dumpsters outside of the coffee shop where I work, so my parents can’t find them.

         I’ll have to tell them, I know. But I just got home for summer break and I’m supposed to be celebrating surviving my sophomore year of college, not taking pregnancy tests. Not being pregnant.

         I would say that I am going to wait to tell them when I know what I’m going to do; when I have everything figured out. But I’ve been weighing my choices the past few days, when I was working up my nerve to go to a drugstore and buy the tests. And what I know is that I don’t really have a choice to make. Not everyone would see it that way, but I do.

         There’s a lot I need to tell you in the coming months; during our time together. I hope I can get through it all, because you deserve that much. You may just be a tiny thing inside me right now, but you’re still something.

         You’re everything.

So how much of your novel do you have planned out before you begin? Anyone have really intense outlines? Or do you just begin with a simple premise? Happy Tuesday!

Fun Fact Friday

So as I mentioned in my last post, I am was writing out my WIP on legal pads. I'll even prove it to you - see?

It was so enjoyable - while it lasted - because for some reason I still love writing longhand, even though I am a quicker typer. But then, yesterday, I remembered why I always end up typing it anyway. I like being able to write ideas and paragraphs that won't occur for awhile, or possibly ever. I like the freedom of writing something and then adding in a paragraph before it moments later. 

But the kicker was realizing I need to change the structure that I started with originally, and the wonders of the computer just make that so much simpler. So I'm typing up everything I've written so far and then moving forward, because I haven't been this excited about something I'm writing in a long time! Love this feeling.

So I'm new to blogging (which is probably obvious), but I notice that people follow a semblance of a schedule, so I hereby announce that Fridays are Fun Fact Friday. The inspiration comes from my father, who would listen to this radio station when I was growing up that had "Joke Fridays." Every Friday on his way home from work they would have a segment of jokes, which he would kindly share over dinner. Some were funny and some were ridiculous. I'll tell you one, and I'm going to pretend to answer for you then tell you the real answer. You just have to promise not to look ahead. Okay? Okay.

What did Tarzan say when he saw the elephants running up the hill?

(In my experience, a typical answer is huh? I don't know)

Answer: Here come the elephants!!

So, what did Tarzan say when he saw the elephants running up the hill with sunglasses on?

(A typical answer: Here come the elephants with sunglasses on?)

Nope!

Answer: Nothing. He didn't recognize them!!

Yes, this is what Fridays were like at my house growing up. I'm going to pretend like you are laughing at my joke right now.

Anyway, I don't have enough jokes but I've got plenty of fun facts. Today I even have two! Both related to my work in progress. (Which I temporarily titled yesterday, inspired by comments on my last post to come up with one towards the beginning. The title?? All For You. We'll see if it sticks...)

1. Did you know that nine weeks after conception a fetus' head is half of it's length?

Yes, I learned this doing research for my book, and for some reason that just seemed odd/ a little disturbing.

2. This is the first song I added to my All For You playlist. It's also just a song I love, so I thought I would share...

Happy Friday!

Titles for Goals and Goals for Titles

First, thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. All of the comments were great and gave me a lot to think about as I move forward with my WIP.

And, on the topic of that WIP, I have set a goal for myself, which I figure is more likely to be achieved if it exists somewhere beyond my thoughts. The goal is: (drumroll)... to have the first draft of my first novel length work done by the end of summer. Which, for anyone who is counting, is determined by my weird quarter schedule, meaning end of summer equals middle of September.

I did the calculations, because that's how I roll, and it's about 750 words a day, which is a very accessible number in my opinion. I don't see that and think, impossible! Although I won't have traditional word count helping me along, because I am hand writing it on legal pads, which really really REALLY excites me.

On another note, I struggle immensely with titles. I have the most difficult time titling my work, because I have no idea how to sum everything up into a few words. The title I just gave my novella is so awful I am embarrassed that it is at the top of the work that I passed out to my class for workshop.

Does anyone have a knack for coming up with titles? How do you do it? And what do you think makes a good one?

Oh story, where in the world are you taking place?

So, my WIP (which I'm just starting and really excited about) is making me think a lot about using specific places in writing, and I wonder what everyone's thoughts are.

I tend to trend towards the vague in my writing. For example, unless it is imperative to the story in some way I never describe what a character looks like, because I like the idea of each reader making the story his/her own. If it doesn't matter whether the girl is blonde or brunette, why not let the reader picture her however he or she wants? That's just my personal view, which I am sure many would disagree with.

But what I am struggling with right now is, if the specific city in which a story takes place does not really matter at all, does a specific city need to be named? I think details like those make the story more real, but they also have a limiting effect as well. For example, there are few cities I know well enough to write about with enough authority, and by few I really mean about two. And then if I do pick one, how true to the every detail of street names and such do I have to be?

When I wrote when I was younger (as in Elementary School), almost all of my stories took place in a forest. There was something so freeing to me about a forest - I felt like anything could take place there. Anything went. I believe in one story a tree had a hole in the trunk that a green glow was emerging from... Now I want to go home and find all these ridiculous things I wrote so long ago!

Anyway, this has been my musing of the week, and any thoughts on the subject would be awesome!

When work isn't work, it's just plain awesome

A few days ago I was sitting at my desk thinking, Lauren, you have two midterms next week in classes you don't pay much attention in. You don't know much about them, and you have a lot of studying to do. AND you have done no homework today.

A few moments later, though, it occurred to me that I had just spent the last hour working on my novella for my writing class. I was having so much fun, I didn't think I'd been doing work.

Now that's the kind of feeling I want to have about "work" in my adult life. I've spent my whole life watching my dad doing something he loves every day and gets paid for it, and I became spoiled by the idea that work didn't have to mean something you suffered through.

On another note, I finished the aforementioned novella. I have no idea how I feel about it, so for the moment I'm saying "YAY" I finished the major part of my writing major. Until, of course, I reread it and see all the problems and then have it workshopped and hear all the things that are wrong with it and then revise A LOT... until then, YAY!

Now for that whole studying thing...

Failure is nothing to fear

Since Kindergarten, I've always known I wanted to be an author. But lately, I had a freak out. I convinced myself that I wasn't cut out for being a writer, and that maybe I'd always do it on the side but it wouldn't be my profession. I think what really happened was I decided I couldn't do it, and I didn't want to actually have to fail.

Well, I've come to my senses. I'm pursuing my dream. In fact, I started that process years ago when I decided to go to Northwestern University with the intention of being a Creative Writing major, which, let's face it, does not lead to a stable career and salary upon graduation. Now that I was accepted into the program, have been in it for a year, and am about to be a senior, I had the "oh no what am I actually going to do with my life freak out."

Then something amazing happened. My wonderful friend, Veronica Roth, got a major book deal. Seriously. You should check out her blog, and read the book when it comes out next summer.

And what I realized is, people really DO become authors, and get published, and make a living off of it. And not just John Grisham and J.K. Rowling. It doesn't mean it will happen for me, too, it just means I need to actually try.

So, I had a hiatus, during which I was working on my novella for my writing class, and starting an internship, and thinking a lot about writing (but just not sharing it). But now I'm going to tell you everything you probably never wanted to know about what I'm writing. Hopefully you enjoy it.