Trust // A Vignette-ish Thing

I found a ticket to fame
Held down by a cigarette butt on the corner of 4th and E.
Wrinkled, covered in greasy fingerprints, its plastic covering tarnished by years of ill use and disillusionment and suicide
But I picked it up anyway.

I found the station spotless--ample time to clean between visitors.
The conductor was a young guy, my age, with headphones in.
I sat alone in the rattling car, gold-plated seat digging into the backs of my knees
Until we stopped.

I got up but the young guy cursed over the intercom.
"Sorry for the inconvenience. We overreached our stop. Reversing soon."
My stomach lurched as the train chugged back the way we came.
I couldn't see out the gold tinted windows to our accidental surroundings and I wasn't sure I'd want to anyway
So I fiddled with my ticket, folding it over and over again until I couldn't.
Finally we stopped and I got off like nothing had happened, and
True, nothing had.
But I couldn't shake the feeling I got when we stopped and turned back from the end of the tracks.
The knowledge that this wasn't it. There was another stop later, an invisible mysterious more.
Some call it God.
Some call it the universe.
Some call it nothing.
And none can see out the window.

Random Things #5: A Poem and My Self-Imposed NaNoWriMo

Sherlock and Watson send their somewhat awkward respects.

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been scrambling to finish schoolwork, so on the weekends I've been wanting to relax instead of type. But the main reason is that I haven't had particular ideas for blogging. I feel like I've been cheating you guys with all these posts that, even when they aren't labeled "Random Things," are pretty all-over-the-place. That's because I like to type a quick draft, look it over, and send it out, rather than actually thinking about what I'm writing. 

After this one, I'm hoping to send out some more cohesive posts. These will likely range from book/movie/music reviews to thoughts on the universe to discussions of particular areas of life to guest posts, if anyone would like to do them! 

If you know me, you know that I hate commitments, so that's not a hard-and-fast promise. We'll see what happens.    :)

For now, behold, a poemish thing!

"Voices": A Poemish Thing

Each quaver represents a year
Each rise and fall calls to mind the paradox that those who fall will rise again
Like rings in the body of a tree, the vibrato reflects the age of the singer
A woman from days of elaborate curls and black and white,
A man from days of wheat and silence,
Share one thing: a voice
Aged and strident
Aged and beautiful

***

And behold, a writing thing:

NaNoWriMo…in February??? 

Yes, you read that right. I'm planning on doing NaNoWriMo: The Slow Version this February and March. By March 31, I hope to have finished a spanking new 50,000 word first draft. (That deadline will very likely change. :P  You'll also notice there are a lot of "planning" and "hope"-like words in this post. I plan to do something about that soon...)

Why this insanity, you may ask?

One word: Boredom. I'm still planning a creative writing class for myself this semester, but slogging through short writing exercises doesn't compare to the joy and drive that I get from working on one cohesive story. Also, working on an overarching project helps my life in general. Especially in this dark, cold winter, I feel more meaning in life when I can be creative in this controlled way. 

Plus, I somehow came up with two detailed characters and a plot in the past few days. A PLOT, you guys! I am so excited about this. And it's not something super crazy like saving the entire planet, which are the plots that I usually come up with at the beginning of brainstorming. This plot is much more character-driven and closer to home. 

This more personal story is probably a result of the recent media I've consumed such as Hamilton, La La Land, and The Fault in Our Stars, which prove that even a small piece of a person's life contains huge dramatic potential. 

The title may still be subject to change, but that didn't stop me from making a cover as soon as I could. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a cover with "Art3mis Took" at the bottom. (Sure, call me a narcissist. I'm a writer; I can take my righteous umbrage out on fictional characters.)

Isn't it pretty?  ^_^

So far it's a fantasy romance. That's all I can tell you for now, since I found with my last story that if I share ideas with people before the book is finished, the ideas seem less cool to me. No offense.  :)



How's your winter going? Dark and cold? And if you're interested in writing a guest post,or if you have particular topics you'd like to see posts on, let me know!

Shoveling the Deck: A Poem

Snowflakes whirl
Like planes
Shot down.

The crisp air bites against my hands
Like a dog
Insane.

I scrape snow off wood.
Endless.
Repetitive.
Pointless.

My music envelops my mind
So I don't have to think
And as the pallid sky darkens
And the light begins to shrink
I see a speck.

A flashlight under the scraggly oak,
Careless contraband cast away
By the child whom adults still envy
Because he knows how to play.

Later its light the greater shines,
And it sparkles with gleeful happenstance,
Dispersing the dark in tiny lines.

Planes go down
But they win the fight.

Creatures chew
But they dare not bite.

The darkness grows
But it reveals the light.

An Ode to NaNoWriMo

VICTORY, MY FRIENDS! VICTORY IS OURS!

Technically I finished NaNoWriMo yesterday, but between schoolwork (and yes, writing counts as schoolwork--yay homeschooling) and procrastination, I didn't have time to write a celebratory post. 

But today I'm making time because this is super exciting! 

Here are today's NaNo stats: 

On day 19, I was basically dead. I was on two consecutive retreats over the 18th, 19th, and 20th, so I got absolutely no writing done then. But somehow, with egging on from my mom, a lot of new Spotify tracks, and a miracle, I managed to pick it up and actually exceed my word count on the 28th. 

Yesterday I was really stretching my word count, so I added in a short story about two characters' backstory. That still didn't do it, so I filled up the last few thousand words with a completely unnecessary preface. Rejoicing in my victory, I copy/pasted my novel into the NaNoWriMo verifier, which promptly told me that I was a few hundred words short. 

WHAT. I put it into the verifier again, and it told me the same thing. Its word count program must be different from the Pages program, which doesn't really make sense to me--isn't it pretty clear what is a word and what isn't? 

Anyway, at this devastating news I thought of just putting four hundred "a"s in the document, but when I voiced that option to Mom she left me in disapproving silence. So I wrote a rushed postlude to my story in which three of the characters sit around drinking and complaining about word counters. Then they burst into song called "An Ode to NaNoWriMo." 

(A bit of back story: Mennorath has a telepathic cockroach named Skittles. That's really all you need to know.)

So without further ado, here's my postlude:

“There are a lot of ridiculous things going on in the writing world today,” Fnor grumbled over his cup of ale. 

“Exactly!” Mennorath agreed. “Like how our author can’t get her NaNoWriMo Winner Certificate because the word count on Pages is different from the word count on nanowrimo.org! What the heck are word counters thinking?” 

“Right!” Est agreed. “How hard is it to count?” 

“It’s sure a lot easier than writing,” Fnor said. “Our author spent a whole month writing this book. She must be pretty angry that her moment of victory turned out to be fake, due to programming discrepancies.” 

“Yep,” Skittles agreed telepathically. Only Mennorath could hear him, of course. 

“Really?” she thought to the cockroach. “You haven’t ever written anything in your life, so you can’t complain.” 

“You haven’t either,” Skittles thought back. 

“Yes, but do you see me complaining?” 

“Actually, yes.” 

Thankfully Mennorath was distracted by Fnor speaking up again. “I mean, who do computers think they are? They’re smarter than humans but for some reason they can’t figure out that humans hate them so much that it would be better off if the computer race just crawled into a cave and died.” 

There were grunts of affirmation all around the table, and Fnor went up to the bar to order more drinks.

When he returned, the three friends burst into song for no apparent reason. These were the words they sang, and the tune is no longer committed to mortal memory:

An Ode to NaNoWriMo 

(Written For Three Voices and a Telepathic Cockroach)

Estaran: 

Upon a mare in a meadow fair

Sat a short blonde writer

She waved the flies all from her hair

So that they could not bite her

All: 

And on and on and on she wrote

And on and on the flies she smote

Until, with a lump in her throat, 

She hit the verifier

Mennorath: 

And then she sat and thanked her fate 

And Spotify and coffee

Until she sat and smacked her pate:

The word count was all off (ee)

All: And on and on and on she wrote

And on and on the flies she smote 

Until, with a lump in her throat,

She hit the verifier

Fnor: 

At last! At last! There was a pause

And the writer just about died

For finally the ungainly maws 

Of word count had complied

All: 

And on and on and on she ate

(Shortbread and chocolate covered her plate)

Until, with “Good riddance!,”marking the date,

She smashed the dang computer

There you are! Writing a random song in a bar made me feel kind of Tolkien-esque. ;)

Have you ever had a frustrating experience with writing? What do you think of Tolkien's random songs?

The Home Stretch (In Which I Break My Long Silence)

As I labor desperately to finish my rushed, 50,000 word magnum opus, I'm listening to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" on Spotify (the program which has saved my word count). The lyrics are strangely suitable for how I feel about my book so far:

          "MAMAAAAA, I KILLED A MAN."

Before you think you might want to read my story, be warned that it started out somewhat dark and just went downhill from there. I realized this when I was summarizing my story for a friend and I remarked that the plot for no apparent reason had turned rather dark after the first few chapters.

To which she pointed out, "Wow, after *insert depressing backstory* and *insert various terrible inciting events*, then it got dark."

Sarcasm is fantastic, especially how it reveals the truth better than just saying it directly. Maybe that's because sarcasm demonstrates how your train of thought instinctively doesn't make sense, rather than just stating the truth.

Anyway, that's how my story's going. It's kind of a downer (depending on what kind of books you like to read), the character development leaves me confused, and the plot holes are big enough to drop the main character's ego through.

So I'm very pleased. It's looking like I'll finish my 50,000 by the 30th, which is the main thing that matters right now. Right now I care more about writing a story than about making it perfect, which I think is the goal of NaNoWriMo.

Well, I'm off to listen to more eclectic music and to blow up some fictional ships! (The sailing vessels, not the pairing up of fictional couples).

Or maybe I'll just watch tv and keep writing later. Because that's how my writing process works.  :P

If you're interested, you can keep up with my word count with the widget on the left-hand side of my blog.

And for those who are also struggling to finish NaNo, best of luck.

Random Things #4: Obsessions and Odd Stories

Here's an example of how this week has been going: 

Me: Hey Mom, I know Bluetooth isn't working in the car right now, but can I bring a  speaker to play music while we drive?

Mom: If by "music" you mean Hamilton, no. 

Me: Ok, never mind then. 

I think this past week was the first time that I was so obsessed with an album that the songs were constantly playing through my head. It actually got a little annoying but I'm still enamored with the musical. Here's a little background info:

Hamilton is a rap/hip-hop Broadway musical that describes the life of the founding father Alexander Hamilton. If you think it must be really weird, you're right. It is. But the lyrics are so compelling and the songs are so catchy that the weirdness fades away into awesomeness. (Ah, how eloquently phrased.)

CONTENT WARNING: The bad thing about the show is that it has an explicit rating because some of the songs have language (and some suggestive content), and even the clean version leaves in some of the content. So be careful which songs you listen to if you decide to look it up--"You'll Be Back" and "One Last Time" are a couple good ones to start with.

From "You'll Be Back," a breakup song
that King George III sings to the colonies

Aaaah, so bitter and inspirational at the same time.  :')

Now for NaNoWriMo: per the official site's instructions, I posted my book cover, a short description, and a truly careless excerpt that I wrote in about 5 minutes (How are we supposed to write excerpts if we aren't allowed to start our books yet?). Anyway, here's the cover:

I like how it turned out--in fact, once I designed it I opened the file a ton of times just to look at it. I hope I can make the book as exciting as my subtitle makes it sound.  xD

Synopsis: 

Dragon-worshipping pirates have lived off the townspeople of Parthan for as long as anyone can remember, until a bitter orphan joins forces with a dragon hunter in a desperate attempt to change everything.

Excerpt:

When Estaran slid down the rope of the Tree for her first training session, no one was there. Way to go, Doranth. So much for being a benign mentor figure. Est didn’t want to go back inside and endure the stench of last night’s burnt dinner so she plopped onto the dewy grass and watched the sunrise.

The pastel sunlight began to shine through the trees and illuminate first Est’s feet, then her clasped hands, then her messily stitched bodice. For the first time in the last few days, Est relaxed. She could feel the sun’s warmth immerse her, and she closed her eyes, leaning back and spreading out her hair on the grass.

Breathing deeply as the chickadees chirped in the Tree, she decided that the life of an outlaw wasn’t so bad after all.

That is, until she found out what she was training for.

Odds are high that this scene will never be in the book, but there ya go!

Anyway, have a wonderful fall/winter (depending on where you live)!

Guess what musical this is from...

If you've discovered Hamilton already, what do you think of it? What's your favorite winter activity? (Mine is watching the snow fall in the light of a street lamp.)

Random Things #3: NaNoWriMo and Returning Home

Those who are longtime acquaintances know that I have the Sherlockian habit of forgetting to tell people, even the friends I see every day, about little things such as going to Hawaii for 2 weeks. I do, however, remember the important things, such as release dates for new Brandon Sanderson books, or old songs that I just discovered on YouTube and that I think are the coolest things ever.  :P

Speaking of songs on YouTube, have you heard of Steve Moakler? The youth minister at my parish
(who is awesome, by the way) looooves his music, and because of her I just recently discovered his
song "Slo Mo." It's hilarious, and so chill! I can't say anything about the rest of his music because I've only listened to a few songs, but "Slo Mo" is clean and cute. Hehe, cute like the music artist...in this picture, doesn't he look like a mixture between Orlando Bloom and Jordan Taylor (for those who watch Blimey Cow)?

Oh yeah, I was talking about vacation. Well, Mom, Dad, and I were just on vacation to Hawaii and it was fantastic. Swimming in the surf, boogie boarding, teasing my dad about how much I love Ed Sheeran (because Dad can't stand him), practicing the ukulele and actually going to a ukulele festival (!), eating lots of pizza, hanging out with my sister-in-law who joined us for a few days, watching Lilo and Stitch and stranger sci fi films, sleeping in (sometimes), reading, racing for quarters at the bottom of the pool, working on my novel for NaNoWriMo...it was tiring but enjoyable.

For those who haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and it's a celebration in which maniacs challenge other maniacs to write a 50,000 word novel (novella?) all in the month of November. The official website lets participants log word count progress and win badges on the way to the finish. It sounds ridiculous, but this competition has actually produced rough drafts for published novels such as Cinder, the first book in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles.

So I, being another maniac, have decided to take up the challenge. This decision was perhaps aided by the fact that I'm homeschooled so I'm creating my own writing program this year. Guess what I have scheduled for the whole month of November!  :P



Anyway, I'm allowed to plan as much as I want as long as I don't actually start writing the book. So far my plot consists of a few hastily scrawled notes in a planner purchased at a Hawaiian ABC store, and it involves dragons, pirates who zealously worship said dragons, villagers, and a super cool dragon hunter. I'm not sure how he's going to be super cool, but he will be. Oh yeah, and an old guy who sells explosives. In short:

12% is optimistic.  xP

If I have time in November I'll give you a few updates on how the story's going. I've dabbled in short stories, but I've never endeavored to formally plan something this long and actually finish it. Hopefully it works out between school and work.

Also, my parents generously gave me a ukulele for my birthday so it's one of my favorite instruments now, as you may have guessed from the Hawaii description. It's much easier to play than the guitar, but there are still a ton of possibilities for songs. Heck, I started playing "Hotel California" on it! The intro is a lot of fun.

In Hawaii Dad and I sang Will Smith's "Men in Black" rap while I played the chords on the uke. It was fantastic. I tried doing the rap part, which was not the most beautiful and I ended up dissolving into giggles, but it was a good time. We're thinking of starting an informal YouTube channel where we can post random covers, and our band name will be the Bad Cover Bandits. I'll keep you posted on that.  xD

That's what's going on right now, although I'm pretty sure I must have forgotten something important like an alien invasion. Ah well, you'll find stuff like that on Facebook when it becomes a problem.

P.S. I just received Hamlette's gorgeous bookmark from the Tolkien Party giveaway! Thanks again, Hamlette! I'll have to post a few action photos later.   :)

Have you tried NaNoWriMo before, or heard horror stories about it? Is writing something you enjoy? Bonus question: what's your favorite song on the ukulele? 

Hands

Two holes, crimson, the blood flowing like wine

And they gently, slowly--

No, they don't touch mine.

But they wait

Held before the heavenly gate

To the One that will read the writing on those hands

That have sifted through sacred sands

And hoisted men from the grave--

But a single touch needed to save--

Then with a sideways glance at me

He gives a nod of victory

And offers me both of them.

For His Father shall not condemn

My hands in His.