Curtain Call

For some reason, this blog post has been really difficult to write. I don't know why though! It's just not coming very easily today.

I started my IP this week! I'm really excited for it, because my main character is a bit of a snot. Gotta love those. But also because it's about theatre. And that, dear readers, is my secret love.

I love the painted sets, and obviously-not-real props, the garish costumes. I love memorizing lines, and going to six-hour-long rehearsals, and even sitting doing nothing because all you got was a tiny supporting role. I love opening night, with the bright lights and the where's-my-prop-I'm-in-the-next-scene panic and the (hopefully) deafening roar of applause as we all make our bows.

I love it and it's ridiculous.

Ergo, my IP.

Virginia Claremont (still not certain about that last name-- it might need to be a little more flashy) has a passion for acting-- and she's good at it, too. That's how she lands the lead female role in the school musical. It just so happens that Bob*, the most gorgeous thing to ever walk on a pair of legs, is cast as the lead male, and, as I mentioned in a previous post, shenanigans ensue!

*Note: Bob is not his name. Sooooo not his name. But he's such an obvious nod to a real-live person that I'm slightly embarrassed to call him by his name. Because it's the same name as the real-live person is what I'm getting at. I'll probably change his name. Later.

Anyhow. There's my IP, a tiny bit more fleshed out!

Also, I always forget to put in a little segment of my writing. So! Here's some writing. It's a tiny interaction between Virginia and the love of her life (as she likes to think of him). It's not really a hugely fleshed-out scene yet, so. It might seem... odd. But I love these two.


“‘ey, Virginia!”

I jumped. I knew that voice. I plastered a confident smile onto my face before I turned. “Hey, *Bob*!”

There he was, standing there like a Greek god. The most wonderful man on the face of the planet. The answer to all my prayers. And the lead male role in the upcoming school musical.

“Heard you got the lead in the musical.” His smile was so adorable, sitting on his face, crooked and relaxed, like it could stay there all day.

“Heard you did too,” I said, grinning back.

*Bob* shrugged and rubbed the back of his head, tousling his dark curls. My heart fluttered.

Sweet heaven above that kid was beautiful.


I know that putting the name "Bob" in there kind of ruins the effect a little bit, but oh well. That just shows the importance of good names, I guess!

OK that's all I have for you tonight. Gotta get back to writing.**

**I so wish this were the case. I actually have to study for a chem exam. Which is ridiculous. Seriously, scheduling an exam when the final is only two weeks away, I ask you, grumble grumble...

Thankful

I don't think anyone is surprised that I forgot to blog today.

doh.

Anyway. First things first: my individual project.

Still stressing out about this. But I have an idea, and I think it might be a good one. So here's the pitch:

I want to write (two chapters or so) about this person (still trying to decide girl or boy-- girl is easier, and might make more sense, but I've never written a boy for this class) who is in theatre. Shenanigans ensue! I like this because maybe I can play with form with this one! And that's fun.

So: who's excited for Thanksgiving? I am. Here is why:

food

that's all.

No, it's not. But it is a lot of why I'm excited. But also I'm excited for time. What with all the work my chemistry class piles on me I rarely have time for anything other than homework.  So! It is lovely to have time for things that are a little more fun and exciting.

Like reading or playing my guitar or drinking hot cocoa without abandon.

...this sounds so lovely that I am going to do all of these things right now.

ok probably not right now but definitely when I wake up

In Which I Berate Myself In The Third Person

Guess who forgot to blog!

Yeah, Heidi, how is this any different than normal

So we won’t dwell on that.

Finished my short story! Well, “finished”. There are still things I want to change about it, but I’m pretty sure that even published authors feel that way about their work. But it’s a good, solid draft that I don’t feel absolutely terrified to turn in. So that’s what I’ve been writing this week.

I’ve been thinking about what to do for my Individual Project and I have

no

idea

at all.

This is frightening, because I am a slow writer. I can’t word-sprint to save my life. Not even if a giant word-bear was chasing me through a thick word-forest. Deadlines are my writing downfall.

Wow, Heidi, that’s surprising and no one could have guessed this

Let’s move on to what I’ve read this week.

I bought and finished Crossed, by Ally Condie. I also got to meet her (again!) and she is

so

nice.

How can a person be so nice? It’s ridiculous.

Anyway, I would recommend Crossed, especially to people who liked the first book, Matched. It is a sequel that does not disappoint.

I haven’t started M is for Magic yet (sorry Becca) but I definitely will this weekend.


Oh are you, Heidi, or are you going to watch cat videos on youtube instead of doing anything productive


...I really shouldn’t let you guys see me talk to myself. It’s embarrassing.

Get Lost or Get Back

This week I finished my ghosts story

and I hated it so much that I wrote "and it was all a dream" at the end. Because it was that stupid.

Well, maybe not, though. Three people in class today came up and told me they really liked it. So maybe it's not hopeless. I guess I'll keep working on it.

Though if I still absolutely hate it after reworking it, then I am dropping it faster than a hot potato after it's been sitting in the core of the Earth for 3,000 years a baby giraffe a suspicious pebble on the ground that actually turns out to be a bug something fast.

...just kidding. I just wanted an excuse to make up a ridiculous comparison.

(kind of a weak comparison though. Check back sometime over the course of this next week. I'm sure I'll have changed it at least three times)

Anyway. I've been thinking about what to write for my final project in this class of mine. I'm still trying to decide if I should whip up something new or reuse one of my old projects.

(by the way now I'm thinking of those pineapple dole whips from Disneyland)

(yum)

(anyway)

We'll see where that takes me.

Well, I suppose that was a little update about my writing life this week. Here's been my reading life:

my chemistry book

yaaaay

I went to the library yesterday, though, and got a collection of short stories called M Is for Magic by Neil Gaiman. I've heard some good things about Mr Gaiman, so I'm excited to read this. That'll probably happen on Friday after my chemistry test. In that after-test stage where you want to do nothing so you sit in your room and eventually you get up and wonder what you've been doing with your life for the past four hours because you can't really remember but you think that maybe you watched some cat videos on youtube

or is that just me

that's probably just me isn't it

Saved

"I woke up and the air tasted like snow. The frost was white on the grass, but the places where sun shone through the breaks in the tree leaves left patches of green on the lawn.  The air was bright, as if it were summer, but the winter chill nipped at any exposed skin, reminding you that the days of August were far behind you, and the cold seeped through your skin and into your bones no matter how many layers you had on.

This was how I knew our house had a ghost."

A short anecdote:

Last Tuesday, I was up pretty late trying to churn out a rough draft for my ghosts story. It was being stubborn, but I yanked and tugged until it was in a jumbled mess all over my page. Throwing my hands in the air in exasperation (metaphorically, of course-- not sure anyone actually throws their hands up in exasperation), I decided to just go to bed.

When I dragged myself out of bed the next morning and got out my computer, I saw that it wouldn't turn on.

What.

After repeatedly pressing the power button, my computer finally turned on.

First thought: "Aw no, all my firefox tabs closed, dang iiiiiiit"

Second thought: "Oh no oh no oh no oh no I forgot to save my YA story oh no oh no oh no" etc etc.

Moral of the story: Save often, because your computer might randomly stop working for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

I left for school on my rusty old bike (at least I assume it's rust-- the seat won't move at all) thinking about how I had to rewrite that whole thing. It was particularly cold outside, and I was so grumpy. What was I going to write?

My first YA story (the one I lost) was not coming together at all. Not even the beginning paragraph, which is the part of the story that comes easiest to me. I felt like I was literally wrestling with my brain (yeah, literally) for this story. And now I had to write it again?

So, I ditched it.

And I'm much more excited about this new story. So much more that I started this post out with the first few lines of said new story.

Moral of the story: Don't save that often?