Looking Back

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." --Lao Tzu
This past week, while procrastinating from what I should've been doing (plotting SECOND-HAND SCAVENGERS), I rediscovered some old, cringe-worthy stories of mine. 
I, like many authors attest, started writing when I was little. Let's say as early as ten. Almost thirteen years later (I turn 23 on October 23rd!) I have a handful of completed, and a larger pool of unfinished, stories to my name.
Clicking through documents last opened in 2005, I couldn't help but smile (and wince).
Just for fun, I thought I'd share a couple lines from a few of the books I've written (novellas, really). Don't worry-- I'll spare you the Sailor Moon fanfiction devoid of proper punctuation and paragraph breaks.

"Kika found herself running to Tokyo Tower as the screaming became more audible.  She soon saw before her a small girl shrieking as she was being trapped by a large Oakwood tree.  Kika blinked, this is getting weirder and weirder." --Myst Princess, June 29, 2005
"Rei screamed a loud kiyap to distract Xander, which as she thought, it worked extremely well.  Xander froze like a deer in headlights and blinked." --Fairies, November 11, 2005
"Around me I only say ten remaining men from my ship.  Slowly the pirates were over-powering us, but I didn’t care.  If I was going to die, then I was going to die fighting." --The Black Dawn, April 27, 2006
"My swordstick lay where I had left it the previous night, behind the barrels of water.  I took it out, watching for any signs of my younger sisters.  They would die for a stick like this.  I reasoned with myself." --Times of War, July 4, 2006
Phew. That was painful. And these are just a select few of the stories I wrote. Some of them are even on paper--can you believe that? A time before computers were a common thing!
Well, now that I've eaten a large portion of humble pie, I'm going to go beg my little sister for some of her Layne Family Famous chocolate cookies.
Or cheesecake. I never turn down a good cheesecake. I hear they have pumpkin cheesecake out right now...

Rocking My NaNo

Okay, that title was false advertising. I'll admit it.

Am I on track to finish by the infamous November 30 deadline? You bet! Did I sprint out of the word count gate on November 1? Not so much. Because I'm a fan of self-inflicted humbling here's my word count chart so far.

Yup. Those first two days, I didn't write. At all. Then I wrote a lot and managed to catch up, even get ahead. Then I didn't write anything on Sunday. Laziness and Procrastination were paying me a lengthy 24 hour visit.

                                       

But that's how it works with NaNoWriMo. You get behind, catch up, get ahead, and fall behind again. Or maybe you're one of those insanely awesome people who have already hit your 50,000 word mark.

                                        

No matter what word count is reached come November 30, the point is that major writing was done. And I plan to blow 50,000 words out of the water. Or so I hope.

So excuse me while I bang my hands against a keyboard and attempt to make words.

Preferably words that make sense.