2011 is odd, writers' ADD, and my last novel.

Note to self: Don't write two stories at the same time. It gets too confusing.

Now, will I take my own advice next time I want to rewrite an old novel at the same time as write a new one? Probably not. Maybe I'll reread this blog post and have an "ah-ha" moment right before overloading my brain with two novels at once.

I really don't like this post's title. But anyway.

In case anyone reading this post doesn't understand what I'm talking about, January 1st 2011 I began rewriting my very first novel (which I'll call LoZ, for now), the only problem was... Well, no. That's an understatement. There were so many problems with that novel, but I won't go into them atm. The only thing that had me overly worried was that I stopped writing something else when I began editing. I'll call that MP. At about 25,000 words--or something near that--I gave up MP for an entire month. (Doing this always scares me, because I've done it before and never finished the novel.) Then, because I think I've caught writers' ADD or something, I gave up finishing rewriting LoZ and turned back to my other story. So all was good from February 10th until today, when I decided that I really wanted to write the last two scenes of LoZ and be done with that novel for another four years. Or whenever I give it another look and another rewrite.

I stopped writing LoZ because I didn't want to figure out the last bit. Why any part of my mind concluded that it would be easier to write the ending after putting it aside for a few weeks, I have no idea.  

I always say that I'm trying something "new" with each novel I write. This isn't my usual style, I'm trying something new. So... I'm not sure what my "usual style" is, because it's always different. But 2011 is the oddest year for my writing so far. ("Odd" seems to have become my new word. I find myself using it all the time, which is, um, odd--as well as, you know, ironic.)

So far, my writing in 2011 has consisted of me jumping between rewriting LoZ and writing MP. Literally every month I switch stories. At least I know this won't go on for the rest of the year. Once I finish rewriting LoZ, I'm going to try to force myself to stick to MP, but the sad part is, MP is probably going to be the last novel I write for the next four years.

I can't help but think that I won't have time to write novels while I'm in college, and even if I have some free time, I don't want to overwhelm myself by trying to bang out novels in four or so months like I do now. Still, I don't want this to be my last novel for four years! That makes me very sad. It also makes me want to stretch out writing MP until August when school starts, though being that I'm already 48,000 words into the story, I don't think it'll last past June, if that long.

Yeah, yeah, just because I'm going to college doesn't mean I have to stop writing. But I'm going to a conservatory. I used to think that conservatories had less classes than regular colleges. Now, I've realized they have more. Yes, so if I go to this one school I might only have three academic classes, but add to that dance classes in ballet, tap, modern, jazz, rhythm/improv./partnering/otherstuffthroughtheyears, and any extra things I want to participate in, then that doesn't leave much time for novel-writing. 

That's a dance major for you. Too bad for me I also like writing and being in theater. It'd be so much easier if I only enjoyed doing one thing. But I could never pick between dance a writing. (That's why that creative writing minor looks so appealing, even if it would use up all my free electives. *sigh*)   

I've been writing pretty much non-stop for about four years now, so I can't imagine suddenly not writing that much anymore. In the back of my mind, I had this idea that maybe I would slowly go through and edit my novels. You know, whenever I had some time, just start reading and marking the manuscripts up with pretty colored pen. That would mean bringing my novels with me in the printed form (because I hate reading on the computer. Seriously hate it). I must've mentioned something about bringing my stories with me to my mom, because she was like, You're not bringing them with you, are you?

Well, I might? I can imagine myself packing up a big heavy box of manuscripts and sticking it in my dorm closet or something. I can totally see that. I can also see myself lugging the box from college to my house every time there's a school break.  

I don't know. All I do know right now, is that instead of finish rewriting LoZ, as I was in the midst of doing when beginning this blog post, I have written 800 + words here instead. Yay for anti-productivity.

Radio Music and Broadway Songs

Sometimes, I listen to song lyrics and can’t help but wonder what the songwriter was thinking when he or she was writing. Half the songs on the radio sound the same and are either about falling in love or heartbreak. That’s why I listen to movie soundtracks when I write, though those can get boring if I’m not trying to concentrate, so while I do turn on the radio occasionally, I’d rather listen to Broadway musical soundtracks. I think I like Broadway songs because they tell a story. It can be a love story, just like those songs on the radio, but the music is so much fuller, and the singers are actors or actresses, so they have so much emotion in their voices.

Some of the wittiest lyrics I’ve ever heard come from the musical Spamalot; some of the best musical accompaniment I’ve heard comes from Next to Normal. The worst lyric’s simile that I’ve heard comes from Katie Perry’s Fireworks. Her opening line is “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind,” and makes me wince every time I hear it. She’s probably asking if someone has ever felt ever felt as if they had nothing holding them down, but it sounds an awful lot like she’s asking if anyone has ever felt like a piece of garbage.

Essays...

I'm such a hypocrite when it comes to writing essays. Twice now I've had to write an essay on "how to write an essay"--the first one was confusing; the second annoying. Both times I had this section where I talked about how you don't. Ever. Ever. Start. Writing. The. Intro. First.

Guess what I just did.

Yuppers. I'm working on an essay (er... actually, I'm writing a blog post instead of writing my essay, but, uh, you get what I mean) and the first thing I wrote was the introduction. Actually, I think I might've written the conclusion first, but I'll have to see if I can circle the essay back around to include that paragraph.

So I keep thinking back to my other essays and wanting to force myself to start with the body of the essay, like I keep writing is what you're supposed to do. But I don't actually care that much (I care about a good grade, that is, but I don't care about going against my own advice).

The last four essays I wrote I started in the middle, and I just don't feel like it this time. I like my opening paragraph. The thesis is iffy, but I'll fix it up later. And I like my opening sentence. (Now let's just hope my professor does, too.) I got some nice quotes for the middle, and after that I've no idea. I hate planning anyway. So I'm going to start with the intro because I feel like it. So what if it's hypocritical. I have my own way of writing, and I'll stick with it. I hate forced writing. I hate forcing myself to write forced writing. So the answer is simple. I won't.

Intro... check. Conclusion... possible check. Body of the essay... nonexistent. I can deal.

Now back to writing this essay.

Books, libraries, and not reading fast enough.

I really hate it when I get a book from the library and then have to return it without finishing it. I dislike when I don't finish a book on my own (I just have this thing, even if I don't like a book, I feel bad returning it without reading it), but worse than that is returning a book that I want to finish.

Cinda Williams Chima's novel The Exiled Queen was supposed to have come out last September, but for some reason, my library did not get the book until three weeks ago. Come on, people--it's January! And guess what? I didn't get to finish it. I have to admit, it didn't start off as good as I had hoped (and after reading Catherine Fisher's Sapphique and not being able to put it down, it's not surprising I read the first few chapters of The Exiled Queen rather slow. Plus, I was editing my novel and then my writing class started up... But I'm just listing excuses here). 

So go figure, it finally started getting good about 100/200 pages ago and it's due at the library tomorrow. The obvious answer would be to renew it (or read super fast, though I doubt I could read more than half the book by tomorrow morning when I go into town), yet I can't renew it because someone else has it on hold. I hate when that happens.

Okay, okay, minirantover.