I saw this tag quite a bit ago on Deborah’s blog, and it looked like so much fun! So, since I’m in need of a bit of happiness to beat the winter blues, I’m giving it a whirl. ❤
Guidelines:
Take the banner and put it in your post
List as many things as you want in each category
Come up with more categories if you wish
Tag as many people as you want
~
Songs that Make me Happy
Pure Imagination – (Lindsey Stirling, Josh Groban, and the Muppets cover. And yes, it’s as epic as it sounds. 😀 )
This is actually kinda tough…I’ve never thought about certain words I like. I just like all of them!
Vellichor – n. the strange wistfulness of used bookshops
Snippet – n. a small piece or brief extract
Wizard – n. a person skilled in magic
Sciamachy – n. a battle against imaginary foes; fighting your shadow (this is actually the name of one of my novel ideas)
Time – n. the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.
Twist – v. form into a bent, distorted shape
Encyclopedia – n. a book on many subjects (I remember liking this word even way back when I was younger. I think I liked it because it was the hardest word that I could accurately pronounce XD )
Petrichor – n. the smell of rain (that’s also a thing that makes me happy. 🙂 )
Scents that Make me Happy
Vanilla
Bread straight from the oven
Fresh-cut grass
Sugar cookie dough
Hot apple cider
Autumn – (As in, the fresh, new smell in the air)
Cinnamon
Coffee – (I don’t like the taste though!)
Sounds that Make me Happy (category I added)
The sound of a guitar being strummed
A crackling fire
Rushing water
Classical music – (It’s so relaxing to listen to)
Leaves crunching under your boots
Laughter, knowing you’re the one who caused it
Random Things that Make me Happy
Big, cozy blankets
Inside jokes
Hay rides
Going to the movies
Good memories
Writing down a great dream you had last night
Watching bloopers
Owls
Playing and/or listening to music
~
That was so much fun! It really brightened my mood. ❤ As for tags, I tag…
Hello beautiful bloggers! Guess what? It’s Beautiful Books time! You can link up on Cait’s blog here.
These look like really good questions, so let’s get right into them!
What were your writing achievements last year?
My biggest achievements were participating in JuNo and NaNo this year. I’m fairly happy with what I have so far. 🙂 For JuNo, I wrote Rewrite, which came up at about 47,000 words. For NaNo, I wrote Erase, which I wrote about 45,000 words of. I also did a lot of editing on Imprint.
And of course, we can’t forget the 1,000,000+ plot bunnies that showed on my back doorstep this year. Wait, that’s not an achievement? Oh. Well, I can’t just turn them away. Even if they drain my sanity.
What’s on your writerly “to-do list” for 2017?
> Keep working on editing the whole Imprint trilogy.
> Plot and outline my new trilogy about superheroes, and possibly write the first book for JuNo (and maybe do NaNo too, if I’m feeling crazy XD ).
> Get better at writing imagery. This is something I struggle with a lot. I know how I want things to look and appear, but I just can’t get it meshed right into the writing. It’s either no imagery at all, or clumps of description that seem clunky and awkward to read. 😛
> Try to write every day! If I really want to be a ‘real’ writer (whatever that is), I should probably devote a bit more time and energy into it.
Tell us about your top-priority writing projects for this year!
I don’t always know exactly what I’ll be writing. Sometimes I’ll feel like editing Imprint, or writing more of it, or outlining something totally different. But I definitely think I’m going to start on The D trilogy this year. (It might need a better name…It’s a working title.)
As for what the trilogy is about…I myself don’t even really know yet. XD It’s about heroes and villains and what would happen if the lines between them where fuzzy and meshed and that sort of thing. It has virtually no plot, but I have lots of scenes playing through my head and scribbled down in my notebook. I might do a separate post later on when I actually know what I’m talking about.
How do you hope to improve as a writer? Where do you see yourself at the end of 2017?
I mostly see myself tucked away in a dark corner, feeding my millions of plot bunnies, and typing what they tell me to.
This is legit me.
JK, that would totally never happen…*nervous laughter*…Right?
In all honesty, I really just want to try and improve in all the ways I can. Possibly begin work to publish a book. Who can know what the future holds? 😉
Describe your general editing process.
I don’t really have a process. I really don’t. I write what I think looks good, I give it to my family, see what they think, then fix things based off of what they say. I think it’s a bit biased with my parents, but I’ve gotten help from my aunt and siblings a little too. I should probably have some sort of actual process. *shrugs*
On a scale of 1-10, how do you think this draft turned out?
If we’re talking about the two drafts I haven’t touched since I JuNo and NaNo, I’d say they’re pretty messy and basically…
I’m doing this a lot of the time. I have no idea how to go about finishing them (because yes, they are not finished yet. Erase in particular is barely half done. *cringe*). I need serious help.
What aspect of your draft needs the most work?
How ’bout…every single aspect of them? That they’re dangerous landmines of plot holes and rabbit trails?
What do you like the most about your draft?
I really love the characters most of all. There’s a lot of them, which I think makes for a challenge, but I love it. They’re all so fun to write and I love getting to know all of them better through writing. I’m actually having a fun time with world-building too. *le gasp* I know. It seems crazy, but it’s crazy fun! 😛
What are your plans for this novel once you finish editing? More edits? Finding beta readers? Querying? Self-publishing? Hiding it in a dark hole forever?
It would be really nice to find some beta readers once I’m ready. I’d also like to try querying…but everything needs a TON of editing still. So, not so sure when I’ll ever get to that…Hiding it a dark hole forever is sounding more and more tempting…
What’s your top piece of advice for those just finished writing a first draft?
I’m going with the answer I’ve seen given by most bloggers, just because I agree with it the most.
LET THE DRAFT REST.
Don’t try to edit it immediately after you write it. You’ll get frustrated, and it will most likely turn into a creative mess. It’s important to step away from your work. It gives you time to mull it over and be more prepared to revise and edit.
Do any of you guys have any writing goals this year? Maybe some interesting writing quirks? Let me know down in the comments below!
Well, golly. It’s actually 2017? *waves at time passing by at abnormal speeds*
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” – I’d say this quite perfectly sums up 2016, for me at least. There were a lot of worst times, but there were also a lot of very best times. And since I try not to be a pessimist, here are the best of times this year for me. 🙂
Life ~
~ I went to two of my cousins’ weddings this year. (One of which I was a bridesmaid in!) The first wedding was in March, the day before Easter, actually. We took a long drive up to northern Minnesota and had a nice time meeting with family. My brother was one of the ushers. The second wedding was in June, (and it was super hot, let me tell you…). It was at my cousin’s parents’ barn, which is like seven miles away from us, so no long drive this time. I was a bridesmaid in this one, and I had to wear high heels for the first time…I stumbled a lot. XD But I got to wear a super cute dress, so it was okay. 🙂
~ I turned 16 in July this year! I’m not much of a…party person, so there was no ‘Sweet Sixteen Bash’ or anything. I just hung out with family and ate cake, you know? Thus far, being sixteen is no different than being fifteen. Excepted sometimes I feel obligated to get a job and pay a lot of things for myself. That doesn’t really work out though, since I still don’t have my driver’s license…
I honestly hate driving…I don’t even know why.
~ I got braces towards the end of October (which worked out good because I was partially distracted by NaNo and such). At first, I absolutely detested them. They hurt my teeth and my face and I basically wanted them off. Now. But we’ve come to a civil relationship and I hardly notice them much anymore. Plus, there’s like a million rubber band colors to choose from…O_O
Writing ~
~ I finished Rewrite during Junowrimo this year. I had already written 14,000 words from my failed attempt at Nanowrimo in 2015, so I was ahead by a bit. I still ended up with 45,000 words though, and a half finished story. It was a ton of fun to write though! ❤
~ I also wrote Erase this year during Nanowrimo, which I had much better success with (compared to last year’s attempt..). I didn’t win, but I made 45, 000 words. And the story’s far from over…like, 70,000 words from over…it’s going to be monstrous and an absolute dream to edit, I imagine.
~ I’m working on revising and editing Imprint to get ready for publishing (maybe). I have my parents and aunt helping with things like sentence structure and wording. I have the first few chapters relatively polished, and I’ve written my very first query letter. It was…interesting, and I still don’t know if I’ve done it right, but I guess I’ll find out when I send it out. XD
Blogging ~
~ I participated in the first annual Silmarillion Awards put out by Jenelle Schmidt and D.J. Edwardson, and it was a TON of fun. 🙂 You can check this post to see who the winner was for Most Epic Hero (hosted by Aragorn). It was also my most viewed post this year on my blog. Thanks to all who commented! ^_^
~ I somehow managed to reach over 80 subscribers…so, um, that’s AWESOME. 🙂 Thank you to all who read and comment on my blog. You rock! ❤
~ Also this year, I wrote 86 posts. 86 GUYS. That’s a TON for me.
Movies ~
I saw a lot of good movies this year! Some are new this year and some I just saw for the first time.
Zootopia ~ 5/5
Aww, this is possibly the best animated film I saw this year. It was just so cute and fun and HILARIOUS. XD
Captain America: Civil War ~ 5/5
You can read my full review here, but basically IT WAS NOT OKAY. BUT ALSO AMAZING. It’s complicated…
The Tourist ~ 4.5/5
I really, really liked this one! It had a lot of action and wit and I DID NOT see the plot twist coming…There were a few suggestive parts and language, so I bumped it down a half star, but otherwise, totally fun!
Napolean Dynamite ~ 5/5
Guys, I think this may be the funniest movie I saw this year. IT’S JUST SO HILARIOUS. My sense of humor could be described as lethally sarcastic, which is why I found it so funny. Definitely a must-watch!
Finding Dory ~ 5/5
I actually didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. It was no Finding Nemo, but I still loved every minute of it. It brought back maybe a bit of nostalgia, since I remembering watching Finding Nemo a lot when I was younger. 🙂
Lord of the Rings trilogy ~ 5/5
I have to give these all five stars. I just have to. They’re SO. GOOD. I don’t really have to say much else. If you haven’t watched them, DO IT. NOW.
Doctor Strange ~ 5/5
You can read my full review here. But mostly all you need to know is that it was EPIC. I totally loved it. There were a few sprinkles of weird stuff here and there, but all in all, it was a GREAT movie.
Trolls ~ 4/5
This is probably the movie I liked the least this year. And it’s not that it wasn’t good or anything. It was. Though had I been younger, I think I would’ve enjoyed it more. But there was a lot of references to the 80s which was fun to see. 🙂
School of Rock ~ 4.5/5
This was hilarious, is all I can say. All the school kids are awesome in their own way and I really liked their relationship with Dewie. It was just a fun movie to watch.
Reading ~
So, I kinda feel like I…failed…in the reading department this year. Don’t get me wrong, all the books I read were (for the most part) SUPER GOOD. I just didn’t read very much is all.
I only read 35 books this year. That’s not too bad, but I feel I could’ve read more. A couple of favorites from this year…
Goals for 2017 ~
Writing-wise ~
I’m really trying to focus on polishing up Imprint, but I do plan on doing either JuNo or NaNo, depending on what’s going on those months. I plan on sending out a query sometime at the beginning of January to a publishing house. I don’t know how it will go, but I’m excited to find out!
Also, I’m trying to outline a new trilogy! O_O It’s kind of weird, now that the Imprint trilogy is mostly written. (Of course, there’s still a bunch of work that needs to be done on all three books, but still.) I’m excited to start this new series.
I also got a Wattpad account and I have more than a dozen ideas for some novellas and short stories I may or may not post on there. We’ll see. 😉
Reading-wise ~
Since last year’s reading was a bit of a bust, I’m setting my a bit lower this year in hopes that I’ll be more motivated to reach it. My Goodreads challenge is set for 50 books. We’ll see if I can make it!
Blogging-wise ~
I really want to connect with more bloggers this year. I follow so many blogs, but I never really interact with the authors, so I’m going to try to comment more and make new friends. 😉
Life-wise ~
The most important thing I’m going to try and focus on this year is digging into the Word. I feel like for the most part, I’ve been neglecting God’s Word. I’m on a mission to change that and become more immersed in the Bible than I was last year.
Other, smaller things ~
~ I should probably get a job of some sort. I don’t know.
~ I need to drive more, despite my sheer dislike of it. And that’s made harder by the fact that I live in a cold, icy state, where driving is dangerous this time of year. 😛
~ I also am trying to find ways to share my musical abilities with others. I’m not much for being the center of attention, but I would love to be an accompanist or play in an orchestra maybe.
Phew…That’s a wrap! I hope you all had a wonderful 2016 and have an even better 2017! Have you made an resolutions? Goals? Chat with me in the comments below!
Short & Snappy 