The Last Day of Freedom

Going through the last stages of editing my outline and figuring out characters.  I am scrambling through this process because beginning at midnight, NaNoWriMo starts.  The intensity of butterflies in my stomach matches that of six F-16's breaking the sound barrier.  I am nervous and thoughts of doubt keep pulling me back but I am determined to beat them down and show them who is boss!

Writing has never been too difficult for me.  But writing with a deadline, now there is the problem.  It may be challenging and sometimes even tiring but I feel like this is a story that I want everyone to read.

My story follows a teenage girl who grows into woman-hood with a tragic past and new memories to gain.  She loses her parents and her memory to a deadly plane crash.  After stumbling away from the site, dazed and confused, she wanders the quiet highways during the night.  Eventually she is found and taken to the hospital but no one can place who she is. And so, her new life begins.

This is just the start of my story, and little by little, it is taking form. Sooner or later, these first steps are going to be looked back on as fond memories.

So, even though there is still so much to do, I am taking this last day of freedom, and enjoying time to myself before I finally commit to a blank screen and a world full of words!

Colder and Colder the Days Have Been

You can tell winter is coming by the feel of your newly acquired alligator skin.  It is rough and unpleasant and seems that no amount of lotion will help sooth it because throughout the following months you are constantly washing your hands.  Keeping your hands free from germs is in the back of your mind because with winter usually comes colds, and flues, and other uncomfortable pleasantries! At least, that is how it usually happens for me.

I cannot really complain about winter except that it can be so cold.  Other than that, I love it.  I love the way the snow falls especially when you hold your hand out and individual flakes start to speckle your gloves. Each flake is unique and beautiful and so intricately formed.  Seeing the snow reminds me of living in northern Ontario.  My childhood memories come flooding back and all of my adventures start to fill my mind.  Exploring the woods, sledding down steep hills and even over rock edges!  Snowmobiling, and ice fishing! Ice skating and hot chocolate! Snow forts and fun-filled imagination!

Last year, when I arrived in Montreal after a long bus ride from Ontario, I arrived on one of the coldest days.  Of course, my arrival was poorly planned out because I ended up waiting for my sweetheart for almost two hours due to traffic.  It was my first taste of true Montreal!  When finally in the warmth of my sweethearts car my bones were given the opportunity to melt. I felt like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz. How sweet the warmth is when it is taken away from you.

This year, now after moving, I am getting nervous about the coming winter.  We have not seen any snow yet but already the temperature is dropping.  I am not prepared.  I still need to get a few new sweaters to wear all at once for when I walk to the store to get my slushy!

NaNoWriMo Preparation!

The whole purpose of NaNoWriMo is to have fun while writing.  In these mini envelopes is a hint to overcome any writers block I will probably encounter throughout this challenge!

Rue D'Amours

There is a street in Longueuil that my sweetheart calls the street of love  and at first I was skeptical.  Thinking that maybe this is a popular secluded area for young lovers.  It was not until we pulled up to the street sign that I realized that the street was actually named after love!

My sweetheart proceeded to tell me that only a hand full of people in Longueuil really know of its existence.  It is hidden by a miniature forest of trees and shrubs and almost looks like someone's driveway at first glance.  The only way someone would stumble upon it is by just driving around or exploring.  I was quite amused by this and wondered what other hidden streets are waiting to be discovered?

I found that after living here for even this small amount of time that the street names are numerous.  They range from animals, to plants, to bugs, and to people.

When exploring the streets named after birds, my sweetheart told me that there was no street named after pigeons.  He explained that they were not of the right class.  I thought for second about structural systems and could not help but be amused.  Then I asked about eagles and wondered if there was a street named after them.  He answered that they were too high of a class.  So, I concluded that depending on the location in Longueuil, the name will reflect it depending on its own class! Who knew that animals, and birds and such would have these social classes as well!

Still, I never would have imagined a street that was named specifically after love!

National Novel Writing Month

For the next month I am going to busy writing a young adult novel based on a teenage girl who encounters many problems in life.  Her battle with depression is just one of the major issues that will prevent her from recovering who she is. My aim is to write about the different faces of people and the masks they sometimes wear to go through life.

NaNoWriMo is a non-profit organization that challenges people from a variety of backgrounds to write a novel within a thirty day time frame.  The novel  must contain a minimum of 50,000 words which averages 1,700 words a day....it reminds me of my high school days when we had to write essays with 500 - 1,000 words, the only difference is, I will have to write about two essays a day!

Even though this is going to be a huge challenge, I am looking forward to finally being able to have the chance to write a novel.  Two essays a day? No problem!! Okay, maybe a little problem since my major issue is procrastination.  If you have ever attended school with me then you would know that I was always struggling to get things done on time. You would often find me finishing homework the day it was due. With NaNoWriMo, my due date is going to be everyday for thirty days and that is going to be my own personal challenge.

In preparation for this event, I am going to purchase all sorts of snacks, because working without snacks just sucks since another one of my traits is eating and eating a lot. Surely, this is going to be the best thirty days since it will be filled with snacks and wine! It might also be the worst because my usual hobbies are probably going to suffer as a result to the stress of reaching my 50,000 word minimum.

So, despite the challenges, we are allowed to have an outline and I believe that this is going to be the crucial tool to reaching the winners circle! A book in thirty days! We got this fellow participants!

Test subject 001

It has been a very long time since I have even bothered to attempt to draw.  I do not really know what has inspired me this time... perhaps it was the fact that I was looking at dreamcatchers and I have been in a dilemma on whether or not I should start making those again too!  My drawing is nothing special but I do enjoy gliding my pencil across a blank page. Then later finding out that my hand is smudged with pencil!   Now that I think about it, I had a dream about drawing.  Of course,  in my dream I was horrible at it and all the people around me were at least ten times better.  These people were of people I grew up with and have often admired their talent.

Inspiration from the Dust

There is nothing like staring at a blank screen and wondering what to write when all of a sudden you actually look at your screen and realize that it is in desperate need of cleaning.  Then, that is when it hits you.  Inspiration.  It just pops out of the blue.  Pop! Great, I have a dirty screen and I cannot leave my computer because if I do then the idea is gone just as it came. Pop!! Damn that pop! So, what are my options? Remain seated at my workstation and start typing while using the sleeve of my sweater to temporarily clean the screen, of course, making a mental note to clean it properly later. Despite making the mental note, it is very probable that the screen will be forgotten later.  The other option, well, that idea has still yet to come because at this point I have already begun to write.

In life, I have realized that inspiration often comes and goes as it pleases.  I will look at people in different ways and try to see different perspectives from an unbiased point of view.  At least, that was part of the challenge when I worked in customer service.  I still remember some of the customers and I guess I should be grateful, in a sense, for the difficult ones because they have offered me a way to write about their behaviors.  After awhile I began to look at people as specimens in my science projects.  I do enjoy playing the evil scientist and laughing maniacally in my mind.  While working in customer service, I did notice other people as well.  I noticed how good a person could be.  I found that a source of inspiration.

It is the middle of October and Halloween is coming fast.  The leaves are turning a beautiful orange-red-yellow and the air is so nice to breath in as well.  It brings back memories of trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving and of course zombies.  For those of you who had not guessed it, I am a huge fanatic of zombies.  If there were ever an outbreak of zombies, I would be prepared and ready to embark on a journey to rescue my family with my pan...only because I left my katana in K-town (a.k.a Kitchener).  I suppose my katana would not have come in too much of use because it was not even sharpened!

I would like to say that my favorite season is autumn because of the changing leaves and Halloween and the wonderful memories it brings, but the truth is, I have so many powerful memories in every season.  How could one season be better than the others when there is so much to appreciate about all of them.  In winter, I appreciate the snow because of tobogganing, snowman making, and snowball fighting (even though it was forbidden in school playgrounds, I think it was even more fun because of the restriction).  In spring, after all the snow has melted, everything is brought back to life.  The leaves are bright and full of life.  In summer, even though it can be smoldering hot, who can deny that swimming and camping are not favorable past times?

When it comes down to it, there is nothing that is short on inspiration as long as you try and find different ways of looking at things.  Sometimes all it takes is a walk in the park, and other times it is just sitting in front of a computer.  However it comes, I welcome it with my pen at the ready and a journal to record them.  Bring on the inspiration!

My Life in a Bubble

It was late August when I quit my job and moved to Montreal to live with my sweetheart.  The season was starting to change from summer to fall so quickly and my life started a new chapter.  The biggest challenge was language and after many futile attempts of learning everything at once I decided to take the opportunity to just sit down and write.

Slowly but surely old stories started to take form and writing became a necessity to life.  I have often been accused of daydreaming and now I have a reason for it.  Nothing escapes my notice and any new idea gets turned into some sort of writing material.

Lately I have succumbed to re-watching anime or dramas that I had previously enjoyed.  Of these are "Skip Beat", "Another", "Boys over Flowers", and "Death Note".  It was watching these that I decided to try my hand at converting my old ideas into actual stories, and I have so many.  I am infamously known as a procrastinator and the very fact that I have managed to keep writing everyday has astounded even me.  Everyday my full time job has become writing.  I seek inspiration in many things whether it be music, reading, or watching films.

I have been training, so to speak, for a marathon of sorts. In November it is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).  Basically, write a novel consisting of at least 50,000 words from November 1st to November 30th. Here I will get to test abilities as a potential novelist...we will see what happens.  So far I have a few ideas to write about but at the same time I feel caught in a web.  The ideas just keep pouring through my mind and they are just one grasp away, however, they are tumbling too fast.  My key has been to write as many of them down as possible and pick the best one, or the most complete one. 

One story keeps returning to me in  small spurts.  It is this one or I write about zombies which reminds me, The Walking Dead will be starting soon!  Perhaps I will be more inspired with zombies as the potential novel for November when I see what Season 4 of The Walking Dead has to offer!!

My Dusty Mind

Throughout my life I have hidden myself from the world. I had no obligations to share my thoughts and no real future ambitions. All I knew how to do was to write. In my childhood, people often encouraged me to write about my feelings, and to share how I must have felt in certain situations. Quite frankly, I felt it was none of their business, but because I was so nice I decided, what harm would come from writing?

Turns out, I really enjoy it. I enjoy moving a pencil or pen across a sheet of blank paper. I enjoy the thoughts pouring out of me even if sometimes they just get lost in the air. Writing, in a sense, has saved me. It helped create a magical world inside my mind where I could escape to if things were not quite right. I imagined heroes and villains, mystical creatures, nobility, and courage. Over time I began to see things in a different light.

Inspiration comes from within me. People often ask me, how did you manage yourself when you have suffered so much? In truth, I have no idea, but I know I never lost sight of hope and family. I grew up with three siblings and I often saw myself as a motherly figure. I took it upon myself to care for these children and give them a life worth living. Life is a gift and I wanted to make sure that that gift was taken care of. When I look back at my past, though there was much suffering, I do not think I could change a thing. The events of my past have made me who I am now. They have given me strength and courage even if it is just in small amounts. They have also given me experience which I find valuable not only life but in my writing.

When inspiration runs short, I look outside and see an entire world of beauty. Sometimes that is all it takes. Sometimes I fall asleep and wake up with a mind brimming with ideas. Other times it takes more effort where I often stare at a blank piece of paper almost afraid to mark it. What if my ideas are bad? What if nothing makes sense? What if I make a mistake? What if the world ends? Eventually, I stumble upon an idea just by asking questions. If the world ends, as we know it, then what happens after? What would life be like?

Though I have been writing for some time now, I still feel quite new. There is so much to learn but the way I see it, I have my whole life to explore it. One day at a time I will conquer my demons, rescue my idling ideas, and seek inspiration in many forms. Writing is my life and my savior.