Hey… I have a NaNoWriMo update for all you lovely followers of mine… And it’s not going to be a good one… 

This is the second stage of Beautiful Books 2016, and it is hosted by the amazing Cait @ Paper Fury! You guys should just click that link and go read all the other posts in the beautiful Books 2016 link-up because I’m sure the majority of the NaNoWriMo community will have better news to report than I do… But here goes nothing! I shall answer these ten questions since I already did stage 1, and then I shall go curl up in bed and try to sleep because I have to get up insanely early tomorrow so I can get school work done since I have an insanely busy week that requires me to get up insanely early every morning, and I will most likely end up dreaming about how I could be writing instead of doing psychology and algebra and history and medical terminology and chemistry. That was possibly the worst run on sentence I have EVER written, so I’m just gonna answer those questions now! 

1. Overall, how is your mental state, and how is your novel going? 

Ummm… Insert screaming and crying emoji here! Basically, this post still applies… I am drowning in school work, I have tech training Tuesday, and I’ll be in the car/hospital waiting rooms for most of Wednesday and Thursday and won’t be home until reeeeeeeally late Thursday night. And for my novel? I have ONE day’s worth of writing! I told you this wasn’t gonna be good! But the good news is that all that time in the car will give me at least fourteen hours of writing time! It might not be legible, but I WILL catch up! Maybe… I don’t care if I lose Nano, but I am NOT going to lose it this badly… 

1. What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)? 

Oh good! I can answer this! Here’s my first paragraph: 

Looking up from the pages of his sketchbook, Nico Deverow let his icy blue gaze slide over Adam and Pennryn Rachadon with a practiced indifference. He was pretty sure he’d just been asked to serve as Adam’s “guide and mentor as he got to know the wonderful school,” but he couldn’t really be sure because of the fuzziness in his head. Adam’s colors were strange, shimmering around him like a silvery mist and then fading into the air like a chameleon would fade into it’s environment. It wasn’t normal, and Nico didn’t like it. He saw enough abnormal things that nobody should ever have to see on an hourly basis; he didn’t need abnormal people on top of it. And his Aunt and Uncle would have a fit if they found out he was “guiding and mentoring” a Rachadon. It might taint their precious reputation, and the idea of that made Nico sick and ecstatic at the same time. 

1. Who’s your current favorite character in your novel? 

I LOVE Nico’s character! His POV is really dark, but it’s SO fun to write! 

1. What do you love about your novel so far? 

You mean what do i love about the 1670 words of my novel? Everything! Ok, so, the words themselves aren’t that great, but I love the world, and the people, and the tone, and the theme, and just every aspect of the story! what’s not to love about a messed up society of royal mist born and a couple of kids rebelling against that society to become shamans?! 

1. Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes? 

Not that I know of, but I haven’t actually read it that closely… I do know that my screenreader can’t say any of my character names correctly, and it’s about to drive me up the wall. Also it keeps insisting that all the names are misspelled, and that is slightly concerning because autocorrect tends to step in without my knowledge and turn things into other things that just really do not belong in my story! 

1. What is your favorite to write-beginning, middle, or end-and why? 

I think that’s a tie between beginning and end! I can write an awesome start and an epic ending, but the middle sometimes makes me want to crawl in a hole and read somebody else’s already published book.

1. What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day to you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space! 

I don’t typically eat anything whilst i’m writing. I can’t stand crumbs on my notebooks, and refreshable braille displays plus food equals BAD day! Basically, a braille display consists of a bunch of tiny pinholes for the dots to pop up and show me what’s on my computer screen, and when stuff gets in those holes, I get some weird words! And then I end up sending the thing back to the company to be cleaned and explaining how chocolate got in there… And that’s not fun! Snacks are distracting anyway, so I save those for writing breaks, or procrastination time! I do listen to music while i write though! I make a playlist of songs that go along with the theme of my story, and also an instrumental playlist that fits the tone of the writing for when I really need to focus. Nature sounds are awesome too! I write best either late at night or WAY early in the morning when my family is reasonably quiet. I’m the only one crazy enough to get up at 5 AM, so that works out grate! And I don’t have a pic of my writing space, but I write at my big corner desk so I can spread all my index cards and notebooks out without worrying about my dog laying on them like he does when they’re on the floor. 

1. How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad, or do you work alone, (like, ahem, batman)? 

I do NOT show anybody the first draft of my work. I don’t mind sharing the synopsis, or little snippets of my writing, but nobody is going to see the whole thing before i edit it! 

1. What keeps you writing even when it’s hard? 

J. K. Rolling did it; I can do it too! Maggie stiefvater did it; I can do it too! Kami Garcia did it; I can do it too! People are expecting me to finish this thing, and I AM GOING to finish it!!! I may lose NaNo this year, but I AM NOT going to lose without a fight!!! 

1. What are your top three pieces of writing advice? 

Just write; don’t think. Your first draft is going to consist mostly of characters slogging through mud and getting nowhere, but sooner or later one of them might find a diamond. 

If you don’t know what to write next, think about the last scene you wrote. Can your character react to it in some way? Does it require further action from one of your characters? What was the purpose of it? Where is it leading you in the future? Don’t think about whether it’s necessary or not, just figure out where it is leading you to go next, then go there. 

If you don’t wanna write, suck it up buttercup and write anyway!!! It’s never going to get written if you don’t write it, so you might as well write it now rather than later. If you need an incentive, tell an obnoxious friend or family member that you are going to write insert word goal here in a designated amount of time, and ask them to bug you incessantly until you reach that goal. Trust me… You WILL hit that goal if you pick an obnoxious enough person because you’ll desperately be trying to avoid a text/tweet/phone call from THEM! 

That’s it for now! Be sure to go check out all the other Beautiful Books posts, and let me know how your writing is going in the comments! Hopefully it’s going much better than mine!