The Final Two Days

So now my Expedition is over. I still have some money left over from the $105 I got from the school and I'm not sure if they expect me to give it back or not. I mean it did come out of the fieldwork fees that my parents paid at the start of the year(I ended up returning it). Thursday I managed to get out before the blizzard got really bad because I had an appointment with the Dermatologist at Kaiser. I had two moles removed, which included the one I had on my nose. It's so wierd because whenever I look in the mirror or scratch my nose I expect to see or feel it there but all I find is a band-aid. Untill now I didn't recieve my manuscript in the mail, but since I don't have internet at my mom's house (where I stay Wednessday-Sunday morning) and wasn't able to get to the library before today (it's closed thurday's and for some reason it was closed before six yesterday) I didn't get Matt's email where (contrary to what he had promised before) he had sent me my manuscript back with all of his comments in bold red lettering. Technically he had sent it on Thursday, but seeing to the fact that I was snowed in because of a blizzard I was unable to get it. Even if I had made it to the library yesterday I wouldn't have been able to use it because of the fact that my computor uses dial-up and I don't have a jumpdrive that works with my computer. Well I do but is in a box somewhere in my dad's house and the one my mom bought my said it was compatible with Windows XP but when I plugged it into my computer it said that it wasn't compatible. So I'm thinking that I will print off my current copy when I get to my dad's house on Sunday so that I can show where I got in my expedition then (if my printer has enough ink) I will print off Matt's copy to show his comments. I'll use his comments but I will just have to use them on my own time and not be able to include that work in my Expedition.

Edited Little

Today I spent most of my time reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and writing (though not on my book for the most part). With numbers picked out by one of my friends I even got three writing prompts out a group of seventy from this site: http://theblob.org/raina/prompts/ My entire morning was spent at Peaberry (a Colorado based coffee shop chain) reading and writing a little (another possible story idea, but who knows is it's any good. I didn't get past the first few sentences). After that I treated myself to lunch at a nearby Noodles and Company (though it is so depressing to go out to eat alone. My friends and I need to pick the date when we're going to go to Bump and Grind for Sunday Brunch. Don't worry it's not a strip club). Most of my afternoon was spent at the library reading some more and getting my prompts online. I managed to get home around two so I could get some editing done before the end of the day. My manuscript still hasn't arrived and I'm having trouble contacting Matt. I've sent him two emails and left a message on his machine (though I called three times with no luck) asking him if he sent it or not. My Expedition is ending on Friday and at this rate I will have had no feedback on it other then my own, and knowing myself there are probably things that could have been fixed that I completely overlooked because they aren't easily noticed by the person who wrote them unless they were looking very hard for them (but since I don't know what those things are I can't really know what to look for and how to fix it unless someone pionted it out to me).

Didn't Write Today

I had absolutely no desire to work on my book today. Part of this, I belive, is that instead of doing all the things I wanted to do during my Expedition (like study writing styles and really taking the time to read the two books on writing that my Humanities teacher lent me) I sort of forced myself to write. Just write and not read the books on writing that could have helped me maintain my momentum and my mind. I, in my own silent way (well not exactly silent, but what ever way that can be concidered mine), said "I'm going to do this my way and see what people suggest/do later." Well later as come and tommorow I am going to try and catch up on what I didn't do. If I don't finish I may cheat alittle and take some time during my spring break to do so. This morning I did nothing but read The Mists of Avalon. I then had an enjoyable lunch at the Tattered Cover Boookstore on Colfax. The rest of my afternoon was spent there. I wrote in my journal and ended up buying a really pretty paper-back copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

So Close to 100

Today I started a little later then usual due to the fact that yesterday I attended the last of two writer's workshops (and partly due to the fact that I go barely any sleep last night). I got about a page worth of typed work out of it. The point of it was to continue the scenes we had begun last week and get our characters into trouble. Since my world has already been created I didn't exactly due this. I did write, but not to exactly to the prompt. Part of it asked to describe what a normal day looks like and that is what I wrote. The rest of the class had an easier time with the prompts then I did because their world were relatively knew and the hadn't been working on them as long as I have or fleshed their stories out as much. But I still managed to get some writing out of it. So today I added what I had written, which made my book come very close to 99 pages. If I manage to get my manuscript from Matt Davis (even if it is two weeks late getting back to me), and with a little extra work on my part, I could possibly get my book just over 100 pages by the end of the week though I doubt I will be able to do such work with my synopsis if I don't manage to get a second set of eyes on it. Other then that I read mostly. I've been struggling to get back any sort of writing momentum. I really need to get out of the house. It'll completely kill my creativity if I don't.

End of the Third Week

Today wasn't very eventful. I started out with reading and working on my book (not much progress there). Around lunch time I visited the school for a few minutes to visit those of my frinds that are there, to get my keys ffrom my sister (I locked the door with a key that she had borrowed from the office the day before that I returned as I left), and to drop off part of Kera's late birthday present and the little things that I brought for Didi so she wouldn't feel left out (oh how I love having kindergardeners for crew buddies). Later next week I will bring the other half of the present (yes I know I spoil them). Then I spent the afternoon looking up sites that could give me writing prompts. I found one that has fifty-something (more then enough for the rest of my expedition) and another that has a cool little quiz (made in 2004) that I can take about my book. The most exciting things that happened today were my adult cat Bella (who is about 4 years old) throwing up in the kitchen and my (well really Bella's) kitten Pepe (who is turning 1 year old in July) sitting on my torso purring while I read.

Writing again, but not as much as before

I started off my day at the school. My friend Eve (who is a Junior) left today with her class for their trip and I promised to say goodbye to her. They left around 9:20, though I left a little earlier (they were already loading onto the buses, I felt unnecessary). As I was walking away I just started crying. I didn't cry long, maybe a minute, but I couldn't fully understand why. Sure I was sad to see Eve go, but she is only going to be gone for nine days. I guess it has to do with the fact that she is, and the rest of my friends are, really important to me and I don't ever want to say goodbye to them. But that can't really explain my crying because if that were true I would have cried when they went on their mini-challenges and I went on my Expedition. The rest of my day was spent reading The Mists of Avalon and writing my book. With a little cutting and pasting, along with a few new sentences, I managed to get my book to 98 pages. Today was relatively quite and I got a good amount of work done.

Kinda Break Day

Like the day before I didn't do much work. I read some more of The Mists of Avalon and wrote in my journal a bit. My entire day was spent at RMSEL in the company of my friends and a few shadows (visiting students). A few people were surprised to see me visiting, but then again I did visit for half a day last week. It felt good to be there. The Juniors were packing out for their trip tomorrow. I always liked the feeling of packing out for a trip (GOD I MISS IT!!) but unfortunately there have never been trips for the Seniors (which is stupid) other then crew trips in the begining of the year and the whole high school (which is only about 100 kids total) end of the year trip, unless they travel during their Senior Expeditions (which I did not. Damn). The reason I didn't write today is because I have been forcing myself to write the last few weeks and have lost my momentum and motivation. The words just won't come out of me. Hopefully I will write something tomorrow, even if it is a story unrelated to my book. Oh, and Matt Davis still hasn't sent me my manuscript. It should have arrived yesterday, but didn't I will need to contact him again and see if he really sent it.

So Lazy

As the tittle of this entry shows, today I was a little lazier then usual. I managed to get through the first chapter of my book again (editing of course) but after that I had no drive to write. So I have spent my entire day reading Inkspell and The Mists of Avalon. I did make a late post for yesterday and discussed with the newly formed writers group that I joined when we should schedule our first meeting. Yesterday I even called Matt Davis and asked when I should be recieving my manuscript in the mail (he should have sent it to me last week since he has not been able to meet with me face to face to discuss it with him). He said it should be arriving tonight so I should be able to call him tommorow and, as he himself said, "Go through it" with him. Not much else happened today.

Late Report for Monday

Yesterday I started a little later then usual because on Sunday I went to a Lighthouse writer's workshop. I will spare you the details of how I got there because it was my first time in my life that I took public transportation completely alone. I know what you must be thinking "How can an 18 year old girl never have taken the bus/light rail alone before?" I'll tell you. It is because every time I took the bus or the light rail I was always with someone who knew how to use it better then me. Sure I used them a lot when I was little, but I was with my mom so I never cared to know because I never needed to know. I got so frustrated that I actually began to cry like the whiny little baby that I am. It was pure luck that I managed to get there (well, maybe not) even though I was half an hour late. Luckily the people that work there were really understanding and took the time to catch me up on what I missed (which was just a "world building" questionnaire designed to help you develop the world that your story takes place in. Yes I took a youth Fantasy writing workshop). I actually wrote some good stuff for my book while I was there, and it came much easier then before. My instructor actually opened up thoughts that I had considered in the back of my mind but never acted on. So yesterday when I added these new parts in I managed to get my book to 97 pages (the earlier post where I claimed that I had hit my 97th page turned out to be a false alarm, I deleted one awkward sentance and it went back to 96). Most of yesterday, other then adding new parts to my book, was spent reading Inkspell (about 25 pages to go!) and starting to read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I even took the time to watch Spirited Away. I know you may be saying that that doesn't count as work, but I think it does because movies are just another way of presenting a story. I have also found that certain films inspire me to write, and that inspiration can last for some time (again it entirely depends on the film).

Not a lot happened

Today I began the second self-edit run through of my book. Since the mail doesn't come to my apartment until five or six at night I won't be able to dicuss my manuscript with Matt Davis until Monday. The up side to this is that I will have more time to look through his comments before talking with him. I spent a lot of time reading as well. I also went through a boook lent to me by my teacher titled Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg. I didn't really do much other then that.

Twice canceled

The last two days were slow and a little disappointing. Yesterday I spent most of the morning reading and thinking about the meeting that I expected to have with Matt at 12:30. Since storytelling is not limited to "normal" books I read the graphic novel Sunny Side Down (I forget the author's name) most of the morning instead of Inkspell (125 pages to go! In about two weeks I'm almost done). I also read another one that I can't remember the title of but it was written by the creator of Goodbye Chunky Rice (my absolute favorite American comic book). His name is Craig ... something, it starts with a T. So I ended up at the coffee shop where I was going to meet with Matt about 10 minutes early. He wasn't there yet so I had a quick lunch while I waited (chicken sandwich and chai, yum). I waited... and I waited... and I waited. It wasn't until it was already 1pm that I finally received a call from Matt saying that he would have to cancel because he was running late at his accountant's and probably not going to get away until 2pm. SO we set up our meeting for Thursday. I spent the rest of the day at home with more reading and some writing. Today started off similarly. I read and then I finished up with the first run through of editing in my book (yes, I finally got through it all). Then, just as I was preparing to leave for my meeting with Matt, I received another call. This time his excuse was that he was busy trying to get a book out by the end of the week and wasn't able to make it again. That makes three days in a row (Tuesday, which was our original meeting day, Wednesday, and Thursday) that meeting with him were canceled. However today he did promise that he would send me my edited manuscript to me via priority mail and once I get it tomorrow that I should review it and then call so that we could go through it together. Thus afternoon was spent reading Frederick Douglass' autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom and visiting with my friends at school along with picking up a writing book from my Humanities teacher Rachel.

Almost all reading

I spent very little time on my book today. I did manage to break into the 97th page, but only by a few lines. Most of today was spent in the way of reading Inkspell and working on the little story that I started yesterday in the first person (though I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with it). Today I interviewed John Balkcom, the second of the two writers that I decided to interview to help me attempt to answer the quiding questions to my expedition (he is also the dad of my Humanities teacher). I have to admit that he was an interesting man to talk to and couldn't help thinking that he was one of the coolest men over 50 that I have ever met/talked to over the phone since they live out of state (not that I have met many men in that age group, and yes I know that I'm lame). Tomorrow I'm meeting with Matt Davis, the editor from Ghoust Road Press who offered to help me edit my manuscript (he is also the step-dad of one of my classmates). I don't really have much more to say right now. The words used to flow more easily then this and it concerns me a bit. It's probably just a slight bit of fatigue and I should get over it soon.

A very productive day

Today was very relaxed. I started out by just reading Inkspell for about an hour. I just can't put it down. Like other books in its genre (FANTASY!!!!!) I am completely hooked, but it doesn't always start out that way. There are times when I find it to be really hard to start a book, even if I picked it and it is in a genre that I enjoy. For some reason it doesn't grab my attention and reading it ends up being like trying to swallow a pill that is just too darn big; I have to do it but I just don't wanna. Usually the book ends up sinking its claws into me in later chapters, but there are those rare books that never really got a good hold on me (like Life of Pi, over all good book but a little bit of a boring read. At least in my opinion). After reading I re-edited the chapters that I had gone through at the end of last week, I managed to extend my book from the 94 pages that it had become last week to 96 pages today (two more pages, just from editing! Whoo hoo! New Editing Record!). This took me about three hours. The rest of the day was spent with more reading and the beginning of a story in the first person narrative (as a little experiment with the style).

Two in One

Thursday and Friday were much more productive then the rest of the week (even with my turning 18 on Friday). During those two days I managed to get through several chapters of my book, so many that I am almost at the end (though I do admit I could have done a better job at editing so I may need to go through them a second time like I did with my first chapter). I also read a lot more of Inkspell,which I believe I gave a little too much time to. Unfortunately, though I got quite a bit of work done, I still manged to be distracted my my mother's two cats (mostly the nine month old kitten) when I should have been focusing on my work. My sister also watched some TV which just served to distract me even more from my book; even though they are the stupidest things in the world, and I think that they serve no real purpose, I find myself struggling to resist watching shows where people yell at each other and there are so many bleeps you would think the producer is just doing so to make the show more interesting (I mean they are literally like "You *bleep* mother *bleep* *bleep*! I hate *bleep* *bleep* *bleeeeeeeep*'s like you!" Who curses like that? Really?). On Thursday I interviewed writer Rob Wilder and asked him questions like "When did you know you wanted to be a writer?" and "What sort of traits does a writer need to have?". My favorite thing he told me was (this has to do with the second question that I mentioned above) was "Put your ass in the chair and write". My sister in playing Joy Division right now. This past week I actually thought a bit about music, and how it also tells stories. I mostly thought about this when I listened to Martin Carthy. Three of his songs that I have of his seem to old folk tales that were adapted into songs. Because of this I have come to think that stories are very flexible: they can be put into so many different forms (songs, books, poems, etc) which only makes them more accessible to more people.

A day of reading and little writing

Today wasn't much different from the last two days (yes I know I'm boring). When I began I found myself struggling to get through a single page; I struggled immensely with the editing of my book. So today I spent most of my time reading Inkspell and I even went to Lollicup and free wrote for a time. I did do a little editing, but as I said before today was just not my day. In all honesty I expected the last two days to be the same. Ever since writing a massive botany paper for my science class (my class has been doing college level science this entire year even though we're still in high school; talk about tough) I have been suffering from fatigue and haven't had much stamina for writing. It has been getting better, but once in a while it resurfaces. Now I know that I can't blame my problems on this one school paper, but it did cause me a lot of stress and the final draft was due only about two weeks ago so I can still clearly (or relatively clearly) the stress that I was put under to complete it to my teacher's insane standards.

Another day with hours lost

I didn't get much more work done today then I did yesterday. Today was my step-mom's last day here before returning to California so a lot of my time today was given to her. She says that she'll come back and I hope that she's telling the truth. Luckily I got a lot of editing done. I was intending to research and practice with different writing styles but that didn't pan out. I noticed that yesterday I didn't really take the time to read my manuscript so I went back through the first three chapters and I managed to catch a lot of typos. There were so many that I felt incompetent and illiterate. The upside is that I managed to move my book from 92 pages to 94 pages in a single day. I know that may not be much, but to me it is because I did it all on my own without any outside help (and I miss things like typos and the like easily, it usually takes me several tries to find them). I read some more of Go and Come Back and I even read some of Inkspell by Cornelia Funke. Hopefully Matt will have emailed me back about working together on this project (I haven't managed to check my email yet). Hopefully I will manage to get more done tomorrow. I may drop by my school to check up on my request for funding for the Expedition.

The First Day

My Expedotion has started well enough. I spent most of the day going over the first few chapters of my manuscript. A few hours of my day were lost to spending time with my family. My step-mom came to visit for a few days after a year of being in San Francisco with two of my three step-sisters (including my biological sister, I am one of five daughters. Hey! Fiddler on the roof!). But I have to admit it is not the worst thing to loose my time to. I even spent an hour with my dog in the park playing fetch. I think that the time out of the house allowed me to maintain a clear head during my time at the computer, and is probably the reason my eyes don't sting like hell right now. I spent some time this morning writing/editing while alternatly watching The Darjeling Limited (many of you are probably saying "Pffft! Yeah right! She was totally watching the movie." and you may be right). I also spent some time this afternoon re-reading one of my favorite books Go and Come Back by Joan Abelove (may be misspelled) because how can you write if you don't read. My book is titled The Last Dragon. I have been working on it since the 7th grade (a total of six years). When it comes time to finish it (because the time has to come eventually when I can't work on it any more) I will be more then sad to see it go. This book has become such an important part of my life that I can't think of one where I am not working on it. It has literally become my baby (well not really, but you get the point). I emailed an editor of a publishing company (who also happens to be the step-dad of one of my classmates) that offered to help me edit my book only about 30 minutes ago to try and figure out a plan of how we are going to work together over the next month. Hopefully this Expedition will go well and by the end of it my book will be in a place where I can be proud of it (not that I'm unhappy with the way it is now, but it could be better).