Exerpt from last NaNoWriMo. (bonus post!)

So, NaNoWriMo has come and gone, and I am left with a 50,000+ word manuscript that is in desperate need of editing.

What am I to do? Start editing, of course.

So, that's been taking up a good deal of my time lately, what with fixing all my poor grammar and screwy word choices. Not to mention the stilted dialogue.
Oh, stilted dialogue, why must you plague me so... >.<

That being said, I do have some interesting words in there that for the life of me, I can't recall typing during November. I re-found my choice of "soliloquizing" at one point, and I am pretty dang pleased with that. Overall, I like how it turned out, I really do. The plot arcs in a pleasing way, and my characters (overall) are original and non-Mary-Sue like.

Now, you all, as the readers of my blog, get the dubious honor of reading the first fixed-up bits of my book.

The following is a letter, written from my main character's mother to her lover. It's one of the first bits of the book, and I'm really proud of it.

March 20, 1461

My beloved Carys.
Here I am, living with Tavis now. I miss having you next door, or the next room, or the next chair. If you could only know how often I think of you...

I am so lucky to have a husband who understands me. Tavis is wonderful, he truly is. Never pressures me for anything...as well he shouldn’t! He knows I’m already promised to you, if not in law, in heart. Oh, my beloved, if you and I could only live and marry like I can with Tavis. I long for that day.

How are your parents? How is your sister, Serilde? Is the village missing us? To be frank, I don’t miss them at all. Too many voices saying “No, no, don’t do that. Do it this way, the proper way, our way”. It’s wearing. You aren’t, of course. I miss you so deeply, and I wish...

Oh, if you could see the sunset from our house. All these fiery reds and oranges mixed with the cool purples and blues. I think of you as I watch it every night.
When do you think you’ll have enough money to join us? Another six months? A year? Two years? I’m so impatient, but I can’t help but say hurry, Carys. We’ve been building a small home next door, and then all will be as it used to be. I can’t say “how it should be” since “how it should be” would have us living together in the large house, and Tavis living in the small one next door!

You are still wearing the ring I gave you, am I right? Has Colin asked why you’re wearing another man’s ring yet? I don’t see why you can’t just tell him you aren’t interested. He’ll stop asking when you tell him once and for all that he hasn’t got a chance, but until then, he’ll keep plodding along like the ox that he is.
The air is so crisp and cool up here. Some mornings, it’s like breathing ice. Really wakes you up.

Tavis knows I miss you, and sends his love as well. We talk about you often, and we both miss you terribly. I hope you’ll recognize me when we meet again. Tavis says that I’ve grown paler, if that’s possible! It has to be the mountain air.
I must go now, my love. Thanks be to the gods that we have these letters to exchange. I don’t know what I would do if we didn’t have this.

Wishing you here with me,
Ziska Riedwyn Bronwy


If you liked it, let me know! If not, tell me why, if you would. If you're interested in hearing/reading more, let me know that as well, because I'll have other bits as I go along editing.

Cheers and all that wonderful stuff,
Whimsy

P.S.
If you did NaNo, how'd it turn out? Are you doing it this coming November?

P.P.S. Putting this out here for anyone to read on the internet is really quite nervous-making.

Wanna talk to me on Skype? Also, Banned Book Week.

It's banned book week.
I LOVE this week.
What other week can you read and feel like a badass all in one go?
(Yes, yes, yes...speaking up against censorship and all that jazz, too. Important stuff.)

Last year, for BBW, I wrote a song.
It's called "It's Raining, Annie", and it's a book-rock song about Annie On My Mind. It was the first song I've ever written, and my talent has grown a LOT since then.

I'm still very proud of it.
Here's a video of my very own self playing it!



In other news, NaNoWriMo is only about a month away. I am halfway thrilled, and halfway scared.

I'm starting up a Skype group. If you are doing NaNo, and you want a group of awesometastic people to chat with/help with plot/share written stuffness/tell you to get off the chat and go write more/do word wars with, then let me know.

I've been busybusy in my off-the-computer life, so that's why I haven't posted much.

I'll try to get another post on here in less than a week.

A friend of mine thinks I should do a meme that she posted on her blog, so that'll probably be the next post.

What's new in all of YOUR lives?

~Whimsy

BEDA, Day 31: A mishmosh; goodbye for now...

This is my last BEDA post.

I would like to thank you all for joining me on this crazy ride. It's been a month of insanity, as life usually is.

I hope that you end this month feeling like you know me a bit better than you did at the beginning of the month.

What a truly great time this has been. I am going to miss BEDA, I really am.

But wait!
Just because BEDA is over, doesn't mean that I will stop writing blog posts!
Oh heck no! I really love writing these, and there is no reason at all for me to stop.
I won't be posting EVERY DAY, but I'd like to post somewhere around once or twice a week.

Tomorrow, Hogwarts term starts. This has always seemed to me to be the End Of Summer. Since I don't go to school, I judge the time where the schoolkids are going back to school with the time where Harry Potter and company are gettin' back to Hogwarts.

For the day before September, it's quite hot here. All the cats are stretched out along the floor...hot cats are adorable. They get all floppy and melted. Sorta like chocolate. Mmmmm, chocolate cats.

Oh! I changed the way I look quite a bit from the last photo you all saw of me.
Here's an updated version of The Whimsy. Yes, that's a sock puppet. His name is Polonious. Polonious Maxwell Aldabert, if you want the full name.
Yes, yes, yes. I know that it LOOKS like I have blue hair, but it looks green in person sometimes, and sometimes it looks teal. Or aquamarine...

I suppose that's all from me.

I hope your August was splendid, and that your September shines with AWESOME.

Happy today, dear readers!

~Whimsy

BEDA, Day 27: The Master Of Darkness.

Kiwi.

The word isn't frighting, it's simply a fruit. Just a brown fuzzy fruit that is oval and green in the middle. Nothing terrifying.

Or is it?

Dear readers, do I have a tale for you.

My Pepe has a bird. It's a green parrot-thingy with a yellow patch on the back of his neck. This bird is the Devil Incarnate.

Not going to lie, that bird scares me. It's name? KIWI, MASTER OF THE DARKNESS.

Fine. The bird's name is just plain old Kiwi, but it should be KIWI, MASTER OF THE DARKNESS.

When I was little, I was walking past The Master Of Darkness, when he went for my eyes. THE BIRD WENT FOR MY EYES. He squaked, and tried to attack my face. I was really young, keep in mind, and I had this big bird in my face, screaming bloody murder and going for my eyes. Needless to say, Kiwi stays in his cage when I come over now.


The Master Of Darkness is also very, very noisy. You try to have a normal conversation and instead you get this sample conversation:

Me: "...so there I was paddling through the woods, in a canoe, composing my obituary and freaking out.**"

Other Person: "You actually started your obituary? That's so funny!"

Me: "Yeah, the water was sweeping me away downstream and I was taking my paddle and attemp-"

The Master Of Darkness: *Gurgling cry like he's dieing*

Other Person: "What were you saying, now?"

Me: "...and attempting to hook it around the nearest tree becau-"

The Master Of Darkness: *another gurgling cry, with added whine of death*

Me: *grits teeth* "BECAUSE there is a waterfall downriver, and I don't want to d-"

The Master Of Darkness: *Nearly yodeling with evil cries of doom*

Me: *squacks right back at him*

Truly, this conversation has been lost.


Another thing The Master Of Darkness does is this: You sit down next to his locked cage, and he will just STARE at you. And then, slowly but surely, he moves over to the edge of his cage, and sliiiiiides down, looking at you, not blinking a bit, and still with murder in his gaze. Then, he fluffs up his neck feathers (as if he needs to be MORE frighting)and lets out a long low rumble.
To complete the terror, he will then take his hooked beak and attempt to BITE HIS WAY OUT OF THE CAGE.

This, combined with the staring and general creepage is the reason why I call Kiwi "The Master Of Darkness".

Actually, I have never called Kiwi "The Master Of Darkness" before, but now I shall.

Damn, that bird is creepy.

~Whimsy

P.S. If you have questions about anything at all, don't forget to put 'em in the comments so you can be included in the answers post!

**True story, this actually happened. It's funny, looking back on it, but it WAS NOT at the time.

BEDA, Day 26: Conference, and The Whimsy Code.

So, once more I come to you in a pre-packaged form. This time, I am off at an unschooling conference, where I am (presumebly) either frolicking, making merry, meeting awesome people, seeing old friends, and/or generally having a grand old time.

I'm leaving today (Thursday, tho' I'm not writing this on that day), and I won't be back until late Sunday/early Monday, so replies to comments shall be picked back up on that day.

Here is a bite of the conference:



You can't see me in that video, because I went home before the photos and such were taken. No Whimsy-sightings there. (The Whimsy is an elusive creature, prone to making goofy faces when it is being photographed. That is why there are few genuinely "nice" photos of The Whimsy.)

That being said, we continue with our regular blog posts.

I have a plan, dear readers. Here it is. I am putting out a call for questions that you would like answered, and I will compile an answers post after I return from my excursion. Sound like fun? Just leave a comment with your question, and I shall reply to it. ^_^

I'd love deep questions, questions about my life, myself, goofy questions, anything. You ask it, I'll answer it. (Providing that it doesn't break The Whimsy Code*, that is.)

August has been a lot of fun, but also a LOT of crazy. I guess I never realized quite how nutty my life was until I attempted to write daily blogs about it. Gadzooks.

Since I have nothing more to add to this post, I shall say farewell for now.

~Whimsy

* The Whimsy Code is thus:
I do not respond to spam, hate or anything like that.
If I would be giving away something about my life that I don't want broadcast across the internet, again, that's a no.
Rude/nosey questions will be appraised on a question-by-question basis.
Genuine curious questions will always be appreciated.
And hey, it never hurt to ask, now did it?

BEDA blog 7: Dear Reader...

Oh. My. God.

I missed a day of BEDA. Let the flogging commence.

...

KIDDING.

Anywhozer...

I have honestly no clue about what to blog about. I feel like it's kinda lame of me to just make a list of god-only-knows-what, so I shall attempt a coherent blog.

Let's talk, y'all. (I am not southern, yet I use y'all when I type. Go figure.)

I have come to the conclusion that I need a name for my audiance. Something short and sweet, so I can call you something other than "dear reader(s)".

First, I thought that since I am a blog-ger than you as the reader might be blog-ees, then I changed the spelling about a bit and came up with bloggies.

I then realized that "bloggies" seems like a four-year-old's name for plural blogs. ("Mama, mama, lookit mah bloggies!" Why a four year old would have a blog, let alone two or more is beyond me)
So, scratch that.

Bloggetts sounds to feminine and bloggles sounds just plain...dumb. (You'd stop reading if I called you bloggles, wouldn't you? Yeah, thought so.)

What to do, what to do...

And then I realize, with a blinding flash of realization, this:

if this is the most I have to worry about/make decisions about/freak out about, my life is pretty dang good.

And it is.

So, after all that, I guess I'm back to "dear reader(s)" and I guess that's okay with me.

So what if it makes me sound a bit odd, or old fashioned, or what have you, my other linguistics point in that direction as well.

There was no point to this post. I have ended where I began, calling you all my dear readers.

I don't mind if you don't. ^_^

Off to enjoy today, and hopefully write another blog before bed tonight so that I can be caught up with BEDA,

~Whimsy