Hey guys. So I know I've totally neglected this blog the past month.
But I have some good reasons excuses. Most importantly, I participated in NaNoWriMo. (For those who don't know, basically I just wrote 50,000 words of a book in 30 days and it was insane.)
I hit 50k on November 28th, which makes me....A WINNER!!
I WON YOU GUYS I WONNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!
My book is not TECHNICALLY finished yet, but still. 50,000 words of a novel is an excellent start!
Last year, after I hit 50k, I was basically just like:
And I slept for like a week and never even looked at my draft again until like February, and then only so I could make fun of how bad it was.
Last year, after I hit 50k, I was basically just like:
But this year I think I actually like my story enough to continue it. I can't stop thinking about my characters ALL THE FREAKING TIME and I actually kind of know what happens next and I want to write it. I mean, the book totally sucks right now, but once I finish it and then go back and revise it like 87 thousand times, I think it could be really good. So yay! That's nice!
Another thing that happened this month was I GOT MY DRIVER'S PERMIT!
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| I am Phoebe. Ross is my mom/dad/driving instructor. |
But then after driving for like a week I realized that driving isn't really that fun. It's mostly boring or stressful and I'd really rather sit in the passenger seat and listen to my ipod or take a nap or read a book instead of wasting all that time "paying attention to the road."
Something else that happened: I officially became addicted to Tumblr, as you can probably tell by all the GIFs. I liked it before, but in the past like two weeks I have developed a frightening addiction to it.
Here is a link to my tumblr, if you're interested. It's not fancy or anything. I basically just reblog a lot of nerdfighter stuff and Harry Potter stuff and anything book-related. :)
Another thing that happened: SCHOOL ALMOST KILLED ME.
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| Niall is me. The other guys are my friends. |
I'm a sophomore in high school, so obviously I HATE SCHOOL WITH A BURNING PASSION. This is the first marking period that I didn't get all As and Bs, so BASICALLY I AM A FAILURE AS A HUMAN BEING.
LOL JK. I'm good. I got As in everything except two classes, WHICH IS PRETTY FREAKING AWESOME IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF.
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| Self high-five! |
I got a C in algebra, but like, who even needs math, you know? WRITERS SURE DON'T NEED MATH. I got a D in...wait for it...
ENGLISH.
WHAT. HOW. I DON'T UNDERSTAND.
I can't even handle it! I got a D in English. What are my two favorite things in the entire world? Reading and writing! What are the two things you do in English? Read and write!
I should probably be concerned but I can't even stop laughing. And, I mean, it's only because of one project. I have 100s on basically everything, except the summer reading essay (which I didn't do because I didn't read the book because I was busy reading like 80 other books). So like, honestly?
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.
*clears throat* Um, I mean, my high school education is super important and it will get me places in life. And stuff.
Another thing that happened: The last week of NaNoWriMo, I'm sleep-deprived and losing my mind and stressed-out and miserable, and I have to go meet with my guidance counselor. I'm sitting there trying not to fall asleep in her office and she's all "What do you want to do with your life?"
And I was like "...um..."
And she's like "Well you are sixteen years old so OBVIOUSLY you need to have your entire future planned out or you'll be homeless and lonely and a total failure."
(Okay so she didn't say EXACTLY that. But you get the point.)
And then I almost started crying because I was just having such a terrible week and I just wanted to go home and sleep for like three days and she was like "oh you're smart what college are you going to" and I was like "I DON'T KNOW OKAY I HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA" and now I'm all scared about the future and stuff because college and money and a career and a job and money and GOOD GOD YOU MEAN WHEN I GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL THERE IS *MORE* SCHOOL and yeah.
Also she was like "why aren't you in any clubs?" and I was like "well, I don't really like the people at my school and we have like two clubs here and they suck" but she basically told me that if I don't join any clubs no college will every accept me and I was like "WELL WHAT IF I DON'T WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE? THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS YOU KNOW. LIKE WHAT IF I WANT TO TAKE A YEAR OFF TO GO BACKPACKING THROUGH EUROPE AND FIND MYSELF?" But she did not approve.
So that was wonderful.
I honestly feel like I'm having a sort of mid-life crisis right now, except for teenagers. So that's weird. I guess that would make it like a quarter-life crisis? I don't even know. But yeah, like, I'm just so done with everything right now and this whole "growing up" thing is seriously pissing me off.
Anyway. Wow. That was quite a bit of teen angst right there. Let me just channel Holden Caulfield for a second here...EVERYONE IS A PHONY. YOU'RE ALL PHONIES.
Ahhh, that felt nice.
*end rant*
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| Thanks Erika for making this. :) |
So yeah, this month has been a bit CRAZY, but things have already started to calm down. Christmas is upon on, and so we have officially entered my favorite part of the year ever.
*sings along to Christmas songs* *drinks hot chocolate* *bakes cookies* *eats cookies* *puts up Christmas lights* *trims Christmas tree* *makes paper snowflakes*
I am the happiest person alive right now. :D YAY CHRISTMAS!
Megan and I should be posting a whole bunch of blog posts in the next few weeks, so look out for them!
(Also, this will be relevant to one of you, so hopefully you're reading this: THE GUEST REVIEW WILL BE WRITTEN SOON. I PROMISE.)
So, how did YOUR November go?!
-Rachel
First of all, congrats on finishing NaNo! Definitely keep writing until you're done!
ReplyDeleteSecond of all (I have a whole list, ok, I'm sorry) OMG if I was your English teacher I would totally be going home at night banging my head against the wall. I mean, as someone who hated assigned summer reading and frequently threw her books across the room, I totally get you. But as an English teacher--ack! It makes us bonkers when smart awesome readers don't get good grades in our classes. But hopefully from here on out your grade will be fine. (Did you tell your English teacher you wrote 50,000 words this month?)
Third of all: get your driver's license. Do it now. ASAP. Otherwise, you will be like me: a 27-year-old with a learner's permit. It is the subject of much mirth and teasing whenever I need to pull out my ID. It's way less scary to learn to drive at your age--what I learned in my adolescent psych class that I had to take to be a teacher is that you have what we would scientifically call a BIG HOLE IN YOUR BRAIN right now. It's the part that will eventually process possible consequences. It's why teenagers sometimes make bad choices but also why it's a lot less intimidating to learn to drive when you're 16 than as an adult. (It is so scary now, OMG.)
Annnnnnnd fourth of all: college apps were the most stressful part of my life, hands down, including my first year of teaching where my students spent the entire YEAR acting horrible so that I would not come back the next year. (It didn't work. I came back. They mysteriously decided I was cool and from then on I loved my job. But they actually told me in the fall of my second year that they had deliberately tried to get me to quit. Sigh.) In retrospect, that was probably silly. I did get into my first choice school, but I had friends who went to private school, state school, community college, big schools, little schools, no schools at all, whatever whatever...and they all, for the most part, figured it out and are now productive happy-ish citizens. I'm pretty sure I would have had a similarly excellent life if I went to the SUNY school that my mom worked at (which, at the time, seemed like The End Of The World.) So, I mean, keep your grades up, for sure, but DO NOT FREAK OUT. Maggie Stiefvater just posted an excellent video on this like yesterday; I highly recommend that you take a look at it. (And re: extra-curriculars--can you guys start a book club? A blogging club? A writers' group? It could be at your school or in your community somewhere (library?). Or could you look into maybe doing some kind of reading/writing program with younger kids, if your school is really a cruddy wasteland? I had some students ask me to do a book club with them over email all summer, which we did, and they all have things like "Virtual Book Club President" on their applications now. Plus, this blog counts, I think. Like, you should definitely list it on apps.)
ANYWAY, it's not like you asked for any of this, so sorry to hijack your comments section with a post of my own. But it will be ok. (I mean, for Pete's sake, do your English homework, but I don't think one D, a lack of clubs, and uncertainty about your future will End Civilization As We Know It or anything.)
Hahahahaha thank you for all of this!
Delete1) AWESOME about the hole in my brain thing. Lol. And yeah, I got my permit as soon as I was old enough to and I'll be taking the test for my license on my birthday next year, so I'm set. :D
2) I'm pretty sure my teacher is convinced I have become A Delinquent. I was a great student when I had him last year, but I came back with purple hair this year and missed the one assignment and he's like "OH NO WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU THERE IS NO HOPE ANYMORE" which is a bit annoying, but whatever.
3) Actually, yeah, Megan and I are in the process of setting up a book club at school right now. So hopefully that will work out and my guidance counselor will be all "YAY A COLLEGE WILL ACTUALLY ACCEPT YOU NOW" and it will be wonderful. :)
4) I've seen the Maggie Stiefvater video floating around, but my computer won't play it for some reason! *sighs*
But yeah, this whole "worrying about the future" thing is irritating. I think I'm just going to go eat ice cream and read some books and not think about it for a while. Hahahaha.
Thanks again. :D
-Rachel
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DeleteOh my gosh I was laughing so hard at this. I totally understand the whole writing thing I really just want to throw my novel onto a flash drive, hide the drive in a box and tell someone to bury it so I never see it again, but then of course I would have any proof of my novel now would I? And the school stuff. YES. AGREED. AHH. *hides* oh and the driving. I totally get the whole "I prefer to sit in the passenger seat" thing. I seriously do. So much. I think we're putting up our xmas tree today! *excitement* okay. Awesome post. I wrote something like this but it wasn't nearly as fun. I love the pictures and everything!! Hopefully we'll still be doing some twittering or whatever now that NaNos over! Great post!!
ReplyDelete~Erika
Hahahaha "THE GUEST REVIEW" *cue dramatic music* No worries, I get that NaNo makes it impossible to do normal people things. I gave up in, like, a week. So, um: CONGRATS ON WINNING! I hope you bought the t-shirt.
ReplyDeleteOh, and chill about the whole future thing. I'm seventeen and I still haven't decided what the heck I'm doing with my life. My teachers hate me. But at least I have an A+ in English (muahahahahahahahaha)