What’s something good in this world? Memes. And what else? Writing—and sandwiches. With this information, what must one do? Sandwich writing and memes together, and boom! Amazingness.
After one month of inactivity, I’m resurfacing with a post of referenced ideas. As one should.
A gap formed within the blogosphere during my absence, and you surely felt it. The lack of pizzaz & empty egotistical talk. I apologize for my impromptu leave—you missed me, no doubt—but life . . . You know the gist. Yada-yada-busy. Let’s get on with it.
If you blog, you write. Cue the duh. That’s perfect because I encountered a gold mine of Pinterest writer memes while I was gone, and despite my initial gaslight, girl boss, gatekeep methods, I decided sharing is caring. (Note: I’m not sharing a link to my account or board overflowing with pins. I haven’t gotten over the gatekeeping just yet.)
For those of you who don’t have a Pinterest account, I’m pasting the screenshots of the memes. It’s extra work (since apparently, WordPress can’t embed Pinterest links?! Pish posh, I tell you), so be grateful.
You’re tired of my yabbering. Let’s get on with it!
Hopefully, you found some of these funny, or else my humor is broken. I might be the only one who enjoys taking a break from writing for a laugh, but these were made by people I’ve never met, so there’s still a possibility you can relate. Let me know!
I started a story. No surprise there. But! I made a goal for said story and actually—get this—reached it before the deadline. Celebrations! Confetti! Champagne (but it’s actually apple juice)! Let me ramble about that contemporary short-story-that-might-become-a-novella real quick . . .
Guys! I cheated!
I finished it yesterday with a final WC of 10,022, but the story’s not over yet.
Okay, perhaps not entirely. I wrote 7,980 words out of my supposed 10,000 this month, but I started with 2,042 already written. The sad part is that 10k is half the original goal, but I get this confetti-sprinkled pop-up and a bunch of celebratory GIFs at the journey’s end, so what does it matter?
What Story Did You Win with, You Ask?
Why, thank you for such pleasant nosiness! [Su*cide Trigger Warning] It centers on a pastor’s kid and a girl who tries to jump off from her windowsill to end her . . . self. Surprisingly, it’s not as dark as I thought it would turn out, and the contemporary vibes are AGH. Primarily featuring Christian messages, finding your identity in the rubble, doing the right thing when the boundaries are murky, and, of course, goofy Christian friends.
If I ever doubted that contemporary was my favorite genre, my reaction to the scenes that work has sealed the deal for me.
said reaction:
I conceded to the idea on October 16, 2023—the date the Doc claims I began clickity-clackity-ing toward some semblance of a goal. After two days of minor updates, I left it alone until a random December day. I vaguely remember my dad coming home after saving this couple. The wife and her husband had been fighting, and she tried to k*ll herself, but my dad stopped them before she could and counseled them for about four to six hours.
My sisters and I prayed for them, and my heart went out to the couple. Somehow, it felt like God calling me to return to the story. But my lazy self was hardly consistent in that month. A passable excuse could be the hecticness of the season and my priorities being with school, extracurriculars, and another larger work-in-progress.
Time passed, and when I could’ve forgotten about this, I didn’t. I’m taking that as a sign, small as it might be.
Anyway, though I hit the goal, I’ll keep working on this lump of ideas and see where it goes. I may or may not mention it here since it makes me so darn happy in upcoming posts. Who knows? I would if I planned stuff. I don’t and therefore am as clueless as you. Speaking of planning . . .
I Outlined?
According to recent studies, I’m a pantser. Whenever I put my ideas to parchment, I realize even I wouldn’t read a story with that premise and then promptly lose enthusiasm.
The two lessons I need to learn:
Make better premises.
Remember that it’s just a rough replica.
Experiment!
Yes, I can count. I didn’t consciously take note of the third point of that two-point list, but I still applied it in the outlining process somehow, also unconsciously. I have four Letter-sized scrap pieces of paper to prove it. They might all be hardly a fourth filled, but that counts!
This video by Ana Neu inspired me to at least give it a shot.
As she said in the intro, her guide isn’t exhaustive. Take what may compliment your writing style, and apply it how you please. I used the “brain barf” outline style and place plotting; they’re neat and messy, and I love them. It’s also refreshing to see a young writer (with an extreme yet very authentic Australian accent) being relatable, sharing encouragement and tips openly, and building such a supportive community. She’s Christian, too, and her vlog videos are as aesthetic as they come.
But Back to the Main Topic . . .
Here’s proof, people.
It was inspired by Justin Bieber’s song “Hold On.” How does one translate electric guitar feels into a story? I have no clue, so I opted out of that the first chance I got.
A cool song, nonetheless.
Sure, it says “novella” in incoherent writing on the top-right corner of the page, but will it ever really reach that point? I say no, but we, as always, shall see.
The Place Plotting section looks empty and soulless, but the real one’s on the other page, ye of little faith.
Okay, That’s Basically It.
Nearly all my academic, extracurricular, and other-ish work is complete. I know, it’s a shock to me, too. I want to say the stress is easing out and making way for a more chill phase, but that would be a lie. A blatant lie.
How was your Camp NaNoWriMo? If you don’t know what that is or didn’t participate, how well did April treat you, and what’s up with writing?
Consistency is a fickle thing, so I’m taking whatever badge of accomplishment I can get. Good golly, 25,000 is a big number. Expect a writer-to-writer encouragement at the end and another post in conjunction to this one.
Drafted: 3/20/2024
We’ve come this far.
Thank you to my over-half-a-decade laptop for not giving out on me, Google Docs for not crashing, and NaNo for stressing me with my deadlines by simply existing.
To the slumps and bouts with doubting everything, you can eat my dust while you rot.
ROBIN WILLIAMS!!
A Wild Ride Indeed
There are days and weeks when you feel like a machine, chugging through 4,908 words in 15 days, which is the best run in my book, bestowing upon myself generous extra points since it was the holidays. Then comes the subsequent period when you forget all about your draft because . . . life. And school. And extracurriculars. And committee work.
Sometimes, you get discouraged, comparing yourself to people who’ve “made it”—who finished their drafts in 60 days or less, who have been writing for years, and who can juggle three drafts and other responsibilities like a champ. Those who know what they’re doing lightyears better than you.
Who are lightyears better than you.
Oops, wait a second. Wrong post. Self-deprecation is scheduled for 30 minutes from now.
Ahem, sorry about that. There’s a but meant there. Let’s try that again.
Who are lightyears better than you, but, as my Pinterest board of writing quotes says . . .
“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”
Margaret Atwood
You can be sure a heartbroken me pinned those to her board after an emotional drop from thinking her writing was flawless to rereading what she wrote. Why do I mention that a lot? I never learn my lesson.
But if you’re a writer, don’t you, too? Don’t you keep writing even when you don’t believe anything you say has value? Don’t you keep writing even when it seems impossible to get anywhere with it?
As far as I know, we all go through these mental obstacles (thanks, Pinterest!). If you feel alone or discouraged, maybe remember not every short story out there is Pulitzer-prize worthy. Not every piece will become critically acclaimed.
And whatever small step you take toward completing your goal is still one step closer to THE END. If anyone hasn’t told you yet, congratulations. You’ve reached whatever point you’re in on your writing journey without becoming bald from constant hair-pulling. (I hope.)
Ultimately, the world needs more writers. We’ve stuck with this masochistic road this long, so why stop now, right?
Thank you for reading!
Future-but-pretty-much-present me here. This post is pretty outdated since I made this decision recently that, well. . . Eh, we’ll talk about that later. (Later as in, 30 minutes from now.)
If I was too vague, the “hitting 25k” part was for my Swan Lake word count. I wanted to celebrate 20k at first but somehow postponed this post long enough to reach 25k before releasing this. This is nearly a month later than its original draft on March 20 last month and then again with the new milestone on March 31, but who’s keeping track? Ha. Haha.
Now, excuse me, I must make more content for you all.
A Christian Kid's Journal 