Well, my NaNo journey started when I was on a website, I was just playing around as usual, when I saw a post one of my friends had. I read it and was quite intrigued, the post was about NaNoWriMo, the challenge to write 50,000 words in the month of November.
I quickly looked it up and made an account, I wasn't really sure if I was going to do it at that point, but a few days before November 1st, I made up my mind. This was going to be my first year of NaNoWriMo.
I started off great, reaching the first 1,667 words in one day, then I procrastinated a bit, then I caught up again. At one point (from Nov 7-16) I was ahead! Then I lost my lead. It was getting harder to write and I would go days without writing. occasionally I would have a really good day in which I would get another 1,000 words or so.
Then it came, Thanksgiving break. My siblings came home on Tuesday and from then until Sunday I didn't write much at all. I was too engrossed in Uncharted 3 and hanging out with my sibling to much writing. By the time they had left I was behind. I was discouraged and I didn't think I could make it to 50,000 words by the 30th, it was already the 27th and I only had 38,000 words.
But I really wanted to try, and try I did. I wrote 3,000 words on the 27th, that was great. Then the next day I wrote almost 5,000 words! The 29th was there and I had less than 7,000 words to go. I knew I could do it, and then I surprised myself, by 10-11 P.M. that night I was only about 1,000 words away from 50,000. Taking a deep breath I got some word sprint buddies and wrote...and long behold, a few minutes before midnight I reached 50,040 words! I validated it, then ran and told my parents. I had won NaNoWriMo, and with a day to spare!!!
Today, I wrote even more, and I am happy to say that at 1:07 on December 1st I have written 51,459 words.
My first year of NaNo was defiantly a success. Now onward to finish my novel!!!
Until next time,
A very happy Alicia
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
It's been a while...
It's been a long time since I last posted here, and that's probably because life has been hard these past two months. Things didn't go as I thought they would (but they almost never go as you think they would), and old fears came back. A post about this may come along, but we shall see.
I will try to post every once and a while, but we will see how it goes. Also, I might be writing more about NaNoWriMo, since it is an awesome event.
So until my next post,
Alicia
I will try to post every once and a while, but we will see how it goes. Also, I might be writing more about NaNoWriMo, since it is an awesome event.
So until my next post,
Alicia
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Lets do something...
What really matters in life? We go through it so fast, doing this or that, making sure we have this type of medicine, worrying about how we will do in a class or a job, and so on. But does all of that really matter? Aren't there more important things in life than just day to day things? In a regular day, we can come in contact with so many people, and we don't even smile or say hi, it's just rush rush, rush, I need to do this, I need to finish that. We can get so caught up int the whirlwind of earthly life, that we forget what we were made to do, we were made to live for God, to praise Him, to glorify Him. We were also made to serve others, and to help others. It's not about us, it's about God and living like Christ, for others.
We all get caught in the world's mindset, "I do what I do, so that I can get what I want." Just these past few days I have been so lazy, just playing on the computer, and barely getting any work done. I got sucked into the world, and to tell you the truth, it's not very fulfilling at all. I feel so much better, happier, and maybe even healthier after I have served someone, done something for someone else. How about you?
I think we need to go out and do what Christ would do. This past week there were tons of fires in Texas, and over 1,000 families have been effected. You can do something for them, even if that is just praying. There are tons of organizations out there that are having food, clothing, and other necessity 'drives' to help out the victims of the fires. All it takes is some canned food you have, a left over blanket, or 5 dollars. It doesn't have to be big to make a difference in someone's life. Even after the fires are contained, there are things you can do. Tons of other countries need food, clean water, medical supplies and more. There are lots of organizations that help with this. You don't even have to go far to help, you could volunteer at a food bank, buy a homeless person a meal, or talk to elders in a nursing home. You can make a difference, and it is so much more rewarding, then sitting on the computer for hours upon hours, or getting consumed in work or school. We all mess up, but God forgives us. We should learn from our mistakes, and go out and do what Christ would do, and let God change our lives and the lives of others around us.
Go out and do something, it doesn't have to be big, God can use anyone to change the world. Why don't you let him use you.
You can Make a Difference, but you need God, you can't do it alone. Remember to give God the glory and praise, because He is the one that does it all. He can do anything, and we have the privilege to come along side him and reach out to the world.
Alicia
We all get caught in the world's mindset, "I do what I do, so that I can get what I want." Just these past few days I have been so lazy, just playing on the computer, and barely getting any work done. I got sucked into the world, and to tell you the truth, it's not very fulfilling at all. I feel so much better, happier, and maybe even healthier after I have served someone, done something for someone else. How about you?
I think we need to go out and do what Christ would do. This past week there were tons of fires in Texas, and over 1,000 families have been effected. You can do something for them, even if that is just praying. There are tons of organizations out there that are having food, clothing, and other necessity 'drives' to help out the victims of the fires. All it takes is some canned food you have, a left over blanket, or 5 dollars. It doesn't have to be big to make a difference in someone's life. Even after the fires are contained, there are things you can do. Tons of other countries need food, clean water, medical supplies and more. There are lots of organizations that help with this. You don't even have to go far to help, you could volunteer at a food bank, buy a homeless person a meal, or talk to elders in a nursing home. You can make a difference, and it is so much more rewarding, then sitting on the computer for hours upon hours, or getting consumed in work or school. We all mess up, but God forgives us. We should learn from our mistakes, and go out and do what Christ would do, and let God change our lives and the lives of others around us.
Go out and do something, it doesn't have to be big, God can use anyone to change the world. Why don't you let him use you.
You can Make a Difference, but you need God, you can't do it alone. Remember to give God the glory and praise, because He is the one that does it all. He can do anything, and we have the privilege to come along side him and reach out to the world.
Alicia
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Lets start this thing off with a story...
Well, it's my first post, and I thought it would be cool to start it off with a story. No, I'm not talking about a made up story about cats (Warriors anyone?), or medieval creatures, I'm talking about a true, down to earth story about real people. Or really a real person, Alicia, aka, me the writer of this blog.
So anyway, if you read the little about the thingy on my blog you will see that I recently picked up the guitar.
This happened not that long ago, Friday to be exact (for those you you who a reading this months after this was posted, that is Friday, August 26th...2011). I had just spoken to my aunt and cousin about an English class I am taking. Long story short, what we talked about made me doubt this class, and I got stressed. I ranted to my parents a little bit, and when they left, I was sad. I felt alone, and somewhat depressed, you could say. I sat on my brother's bed (he just left for college, so I didn't have to worry about him walking in on me) and I cried, not for too long though. Then I got up and flipped though some of my brother's art from when he took a design class. When I had looked though all of them, I still felt sad, then I saw his guitar, and some guitar books he had left at the house. (Just as little background story, my brother had started learning guitar when he was in Jr. high...I think...He learned some song and chords, but when he didn't go very far with it. Then this past year, me and him joined a Praise and Worship class, and he started learning the bass. It ended up that he got decent at it and got a bass guitar for Christmas. That meant that his old acoustic guitar was left in the dust...until I saw it, now on with the story). Now, I had always wanted to play the guitar (if you looked, you would see that some of my favorite music it country music, and the guitar is the main instrument in country music) so I grabbed my brother's chord and music book and started teaching myself the chords and what not (I remembered a little bit from the Praise and Worship class I took with my brother, but not enough to just pick it up and start playing). After playing a few of the chords, I tried playing "Open the Eyes of My Heart." It didn't sound the best, and it was very choppy (I had to find the chord, get my fingers holding the string down correctly, and making sure it sounded good before I could continue with the song), but I played it, and it helped me relax. I also played "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North, which is one of my favorite songs. After playing those songs a few times (and attempting playing a few other songs) I felt relaxed, calm, happy, and ready to praise God. I had a skip in my step (literally) and I wasn't worried about my class anymore. My mom even came in and I played her "Open the Eyes of My Heart" I was so happy, she even said I played the chords really well (even though i didn't have a pick to strum with). I was so glad I started learning the guitar that night, and I still am.
Yesterday my mom went out and got all of the strings replaced (I broke one of them while trying to tune my guitar...tuning is one of the things I still need to work on) and she even got me some picks (I actually prefer strumming with my fingers, but I know it's good to strum with a pick too). I also came up with a name for my guitar. When my mom went to get the broken string replaced, the guy that fixed it said the other strings were rusty, so he replaced them all with new, easier to play strings. When my mom came home and told me this I thought of a name for my guitar, Rusty. I like the name, that might be partially because the main cat in the Warriors series was named Rusty, but that's beside the point.
Now I can play Rusty when I'm sad, or happy. It's just fun to do!
Thanks for reading!
Alicia
So anyway, if you read the little about the thingy on my blog you will see that I recently picked up the guitar.
This happened not that long ago, Friday to be exact (for those you you who a reading this months after this was posted, that is Friday, August 26th...2011). I had just spoken to my aunt and cousin about an English class I am taking. Long story short, what we talked about made me doubt this class, and I got stressed. I ranted to my parents a little bit, and when they left, I was sad. I felt alone, and somewhat depressed, you could say. I sat on my brother's bed (he just left for college, so I didn't have to worry about him walking in on me) and I cried, not for too long though. Then I got up and flipped though some of my brother's art from when he took a design class. When I had looked though all of them, I still felt sad, then I saw his guitar, and some guitar books he had left at the house. (Just as little background story, my brother had started learning guitar when he was in Jr. high...I think...He learned some song and chords, but when he didn't go very far with it. Then this past year, me and him joined a Praise and Worship class, and he started learning the bass. It ended up that he got decent at it and got a bass guitar for Christmas. That meant that his old acoustic guitar was left in the dust...until I saw it, now on with the story). Now, I had always wanted to play the guitar (if you looked, you would see that some of my favorite music it country music, and the guitar is the main instrument in country music) so I grabbed my brother's chord and music book and started teaching myself the chords and what not (I remembered a little bit from the Praise and Worship class I took with my brother, but not enough to just pick it up and start playing). After playing a few of the chords, I tried playing "Open the Eyes of My Heart." It didn't sound the best, and it was very choppy (I had to find the chord, get my fingers holding the string down correctly, and making sure it sounded good before I could continue with the song), but I played it, and it helped me relax. I also played "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North, which is one of my favorite songs. After playing those songs a few times (and attempting playing a few other songs) I felt relaxed, calm, happy, and ready to praise God. I had a skip in my step (literally) and I wasn't worried about my class anymore. My mom even came in and I played her "Open the Eyes of My Heart" I was so happy, she even said I played the chords really well (even though i didn't have a pick to strum with). I was so glad I started learning the guitar that night, and I still am.
Yesterday my mom went out and got all of the strings replaced (I broke one of them while trying to tune my guitar...tuning is one of the things I still need to work on) and she even got me some picks (I actually prefer strumming with my fingers, but I know it's good to strum with a pick too). I also came up with a name for my guitar. When my mom went to get the broken string replaced, the guy that fixed it said the other strings were rusty, so he replaced them all with new, easier to play strings. When my mom came home and told me this I thought of a name for my guitar, Rusty. I like the name, that might be partially because the main cat in the Warriors series was named Rusty, but that's beside the point.
Now I can play Rusty when I'm sad, or happy. It's just fun to do!
Thanks for reading!
Alicia
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