It’s been over a year since I’ve done one of these posts and my life has changed quite a bit since then, so I figured I’d catch you guys up on what I’ve been up to lately!
So… Where to start. I don’t really feel like going over the entire year, so let’s do a quick recap of what’s happened: I graduated in February, worked at a book shop from May until September, and started work at my first actual “proper” job just over a month ago. I’m a web editor, meaning I mostly write/translate blog posts and run said blog and it’s accompanying Facebook page. It’s a lot of fun and my colleagues are great, so I’m feeling very good about the whole work situation! Working at the book store was lovely, but it wasn’t a very steady job since I worked irregular hours. The staff discount was fun, though. But I’m so glad to finally have a routine again. I like my life to be at least a little structured. So, that’s good. I’m actually adulting. It’s weird, but also kind of fun!
I’ve finally been getting back into writing again as well. That goes for both the blog posts (I’m starting to get back into the habit of posting two times a week), but also for stories. I’ve been walking around with the idea for a story that has the potential of becoming something pretty cool, I think. I was getting a little frustrated because I never got around to actually writing it, knowing that one just has to sit down and do it, but finding myself unable to. So I decided some time during October that I’d do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and finally start writing my story.
And then I changed my mind. I don’t feel like I developed the idea for my story enough to actually start writing it already. Plus, I’ve always felt November is such a weird month to host NaNoWriMo; it’s such a busy month! Just not doing NaNo at all felt like backing out, though, so I’m still doing some variation on it. I came across this video by Ariel Bissett, in which she explains her plan for NaNo. She’s using November to outline a novel instead of writing it straight away, and that seemed like a great idea, so that’s what I’m doing, too! I’ve already come up with a couple of cool ideas by just sitting down and working on it and it feels great.
The story’s called Of Life and Dreams and it’s about a girl called Kat who’s a bit lost. She’s anxious and depressed and suffers from very bad nightmares. After a sleep therapist suggests she starts cataloguing her dreams in a dream journal, Kat becomes a little obsessed. Her dreams start to become more vivid, and the line between dreams and reality starts to fade…
I’m feeling pretty good about it! The plan is to start writing it in December, or January, depending on how busy December is and if I go through with a little plan I’ve got for the blog. I was thinking of maybe doing a 12 days of Christmas type of thing – as in, posting every day on the 12 days leading up to Christmas. It’s something I came up with today, so I’m not sure yet if I’m actually doing it. Perhaps it’s a little ambitious. It would be fun, though!
Okay, I guess that’s it for now! I could go on rambling about some other stuff, but it’s late and I have to work tomorrow morning, so I should really go to sleep! I know I’ve said this more often over the last couple of months, but I’m really glad I’m getting back into blogging regularly. I missed this! Let’s hope I’ll be able to stick with it for a while.
So, what’s new with you guys? Are you doing NaNo or working on a story as well? Let me know! I’d love to chat in the comments!
Books Baking and Blogging 
What a great idea to use nano to draft a novel. Good luck with that. Currently working on my paperback, have my first draft and hoping for release date before Xmas! After that need to think about Book 2 as The Curse of Time is a sequel!
Thank you, Marje! It’s going pretty well. I’m glad I decided not to write the entire thing, because I barely have enough time for the planning! Plus, I’m coming up with all kinds of good ideas for the outline while working on it, so that’s good too. Oh, that’s so cool! Pretty quick already as well. Good luck!
Thank you! 🙂
I definitely agree about November being an odd month to choose, for those in college or school it’s finals time and for the adults it’s the start of the busy social season and holiday parties and events so it might just be one of the hardest months to do it! I kind of like that though, writing every day even a little bit in November I think made it so that I knew I could write every day any month of the year because I’d done it before via trial by fire. Good luck on Nano!
Right?! I really wonder what made them choose it. That’s also true, though. I like that that thought of trial by fire! Thank you very much. 🙂
Good luck with NaNo 🙂
Thanks, Galit! It’s going pretty well! 😀