(Originally post on the 20th on my new LiveJournal) I said a couple of weeks ago that I would be posting some story ideas soon, and while I still plan to do that, I'd rather do it later this month. Right now I want to talk about my most recent realization.
I've said several times over the past couple of months that this has been a really bad year. The worst ever. When you consider the events of the past few months, I'm sure many people would agree. The funny thing is that I don't. I sat thinking about this Friday night and came to the realization that, despite all the many problems and stressing, 2009 was a really good year for me.
My close friends know about the problems I'm going through right now, and I'm sorry to say those haven't changed. If they miraculously did on Christmas day this would be the best year in history and nothing would ever be able to top it. But, being the optimist that I usually am, I'm trying to look past those things. I want to make this post so that I'll always have something to look back on to remind of the good things that happened this year. This is also my way of thanking the people that changed this year for the better.
In 2009 I helped my friends build an rpg that is now bigger than any other site I've ever made. Because of that rpg, I've made a ton of new friends this year.
In 2009 I finished the last three books in the Twilight saga and loved them. I later got my parents into the series and we've enjoyed both of the movies together.
In 2009 I read the published novel of my best friend and loved it. It now sits on a Harry Potter shelf beside my bed and makes me smile every day.
In 2009 I got a printer/scanner, a cell phone, and an iPod touch. Yes, the little things make me happy too. =)
In 2009 discovered the power of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. However, I have every intention of using these powers for good.
In 2009 I started watching the vlogbrothers of YouTube. It's been about five months since I first saw their videos, but my life will never be the same. John and Hank will never know how much they've helped me, but I hope I'll be able to repay the favor one day.
In 2009 I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time, and won. Through this I realized that pretty much anything is possible. I'm a procrastinator. I wrote a nearly-finished novel in thirty days.
In 2009 I rediscovered my passion for writing.
In 2009 I became legally able to drink and gamble in Canada - though I haven't done either yet.
In 2009 I had the best vacation ever.
In 2009 I found some great websites. Like BabyDow and AverageWizard In 2009 I was introduced to Huey Lewis and the News. They have been my favorite band for over six months now. <3
In 2009 I fell in love with several shows, new and old. Charmed, the Mentalist, Castle, Vampire Diaries.
In 2009, despite having never seen any Star Trek shows or movies, I watched the new movie four times in one week. I plan to start watching the shows through repeats and YouTube.
In 2009 I went to the drive-in more than I did in the three previous years combined.
In 2009 I realized I don't look that bad with short hair.
These are just some of the things that had gone right for me this year. Some of them may sound silly or unimportant, but for one reason or another, they're what made me happy. Unfortunately, I can't leave out the bad things that have happened this year.
In 2009 my parents filed for bankruptcy. We're moving next month. In 2009 my dad asked for a divorce.
In 2009 I thought I might have to give away one of my cats. That's still being decided. In 2009 I thought two of my friends passed away. One did.
In 2009 I had the worst nightmare of my life, that sticks with me every day.
I've cried more in 2009 than any other year. But I think I probably laughed more this year as well. The bad things still bother me. A lot. Hell, I had a breakdown a few hours ago. But I think the good has outweighed the bad. That has a lot to do with my friends. There's no way I can possibly name all of them, but there are a handful that made a big difference for me.
Tippy- I will never be able to thank you enough for sticking with me this year. I don't know if I would have been able to make it through these past few months without you. The thought of talking to you keeps me going on bad days. I'm so thankful for you.
Iris- Though we haven't talked in a while, I think about you all the time. I still consider you one of my closest friends and hope we'll be able to catch up soon.
Emily- You always bring a smile to my face, even if it's not me you're talking to. You're a very talented writer. I love reading your posts.
And, of course, the rest of the SW members. Jess, Hayley, Hadie, Kat, Leslie, Leah, and Sam. You're all wonderful.
I hope that 2010 is better than this year was. I'm going into the new year with a lot of goals and plans. I want to write almost every day, finish and edit my novel, stop procrastinating, and I've even added the common lose weight reservation. I want to read more too. I talked about doing a fifty-book challenge back in October but I had to stop because of the 'bad' list. Well, I want to restart that. I'll be talking more about my writing and reading in January. Like I said, I have big plans.
To everyone who read this, I hope you've had as good a year as I have. I also hope you join me in going into 2010 with a positive and optimistic attitude. Try not to let things get you down. Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays) and Happy New Year.
-Lizzy<3
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
When Life Gives You Lemons...
... throw 'em back and ask for something useful. ;)
Sorry I haven't felt like updating this in a while. Um, shortly (about two weeks) after my last post, my dad asked my mom for a divorce. Yeah. That was eight days after they celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary. They've been trying to have a baby for over two years. Aparently none of that matters to him anymore.
Long story short, due to our financial problems, we were planning on moving anyway. But because we're basically broke, we'll still have to move together. My mom and I will be sharing a room, and my dad claims he'll be cooped up in his for the six hours a night he'll be home to sleep. We move sometime next month, if everything goes according to plan.
Now, changing the subject, I participated in NaNoWriMo last month. Thank God for that! As much as I hated spending my days and nights feeling like I was avoiding my friends and mom - who's really needed me these past months - the writing got me through November. Well, I can't let NaNo take all the credit. I probably still would have gone mental if it wasn't for my friend Tippy, who gave me the push to keep writing when I didn't want to and made me laugh on my especially bad days.
The briefest description I can give you of my NaNo novel is that a family of five one-by-one start seeing or hearing a ghost. Their spirit guide, Annie. It's a three-story novel about this family learning to cope with these new abilities. By the end of NaNo I reached the 50,000 word goal and am almost finished the second story. I plan to continue writing throughout December and reach 8ok by the time I finish the third. I will edit this novel early next year, and already have a publishing company in mind.
And, because writing has helped me so much lately, I don't want to fall back into my old ways of only writing when the inspiration really hit me. I want to be an author. I have to act like one. I have to make writing work for me. My dad once told me I could be a writing and a teacher and still have a family like I want to. That's always sounded like a challenge to me, so I intend to prove him wrong. Hopefully by writing 50k, he saw that I might actually have what it takes. If not, I'm going to next year.
I want to make writing part of my daily routine, as crazy as that's going to be. But my mom just took on a full time day job, like my dad. And they both work (together - bleh) at a night job. So I won't be spending as much time with her as I usually do. My home chores are just dishes and laundry, which easily work around my other projects. The main thing I want to make work is my friend life and writing life. Both are unbelievably important to me. I could never live without both. Trust me. I've accidentally tried and it never ended well.
So, as long as I stick with the Something Wicked website, and push myself to make the posts there like I'm pushing my novel writing, I think I'll be just fine.
Ashley, a girl I met yesterday on the NaNo forums under the name of DragonYoga, came up with a brilliant idea of writing six novels a year in the style of NaNo. 50k in one month. A similar project to this, WriYe (writing year) has been running for three years or so, but I think that's a bit more demanding. At least I could possibly work six months into my schedule, right?
Well, we start next month. There are about twenty of us signed up so far. Few of us are actually trying for all six novels though. I promised them that I'd try my hardest, despite the months being pretty busy - like the big move next month. But I'm not going to put a ton of pressure on myself like I did for NaNo. I'd never survive if I did. But if I continue to push my writing, and just write without planning ahead or editing as I go, I might just make it.
I've also thought this would be a great way for me to incorperate fan fics back into my life. I still read them all the time - Harry Potter, Twilight, Charmed, Supernatural - but writing doesn't come easy for me. I have this small story that's a work in progress posted on fanfiction.net. I've been getting reviews for a while begging me to update. I'll probably work on that first.
I'll try to do another blog post sometime next week, or maybe later this week to let you all know how it's going, and fill you in on what stories I'll be writing. Right now, I'm super tired because I haven't had a full night's sleep in a few days. Plus I had about five nightmares last night (like, the worst I've ever had) and didn't dare go back to bed. And now? Now there are men fixing the roof. With very LOUD hammers and saws and things. =(
Anyway, I'm off to get more hot chocolate. Later.
-Lizzy<3
Sorry I haven't felt like updating this in a while. Um, shortly (about two weeks) after my last post, my dad asked my mom for a divorce. Yeah. That was eight days after they celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary. They've been trying to have a baby for over two years. Aparently none of that matters to him anymore.
Long story short, due to our financial problems, we were planning on moving anyway. But because we're basically broke, we'll still have to move together. My mom and I will be sharing a room, and my dad claims he'll be cooped up in his for the six hours a night he'll be home to sleep. We move sometime next month, if everything goes according to plan.
Now, changing the subject, I participated in NaNoWriMo last month. Thank God for that! As much as I hated spending my days and nights feeling like I was avoiding my friends and mom - who's really needed me these past months - the writing got me through November. Well, I can't let NaNo take all the credit. I probably still would have gone mental if it wasn't for my friend Tippy, who gave me the push to keep writing when I didn't want to and made me laugh on my especially bad days.
The briefest description I can give you of my NaNo novel is that a family of five one-by-one start seeing or hearing a ghost. Their spirit guide, Annie. It's a three-story novel about this family learning to cope with these new abilities. By the end of NaNo I reached the 50,000 word goal and am almost finished the second story. I plan to continue writing throughout December and reach 8ok by the time I finish the third. I will edit this novel early next year, and already have a publishing company in mind.
And, because writing has helped me so much lately, I don't want to fall back into my old ways of only writing when the inspiration really hit me. I want to be an author. I have to act like one. I have to make writing work for me. My dad once told me I could be a writing and a teacher and still have a family like I want to. That's always sounded like a challenge to me, so I intend to prove him wrong. Hopefully by writing 50k, he saw that I might actually have what it takes. If not, I'm going to next year.
I want to make writing part of my daily routine, as crazy as that's going to be. But my mom just took on a full time day job, like my dad. And they both work (together - bleh) at a night job. So I won't be spending as much time with her as I usually do. My home chores are just dishes and laundry, which easily work around my other projects. The main thing I want to make work is my friend life and writing life. Both are unbelievably important to me. I could never live without both. Trust me. I've accidentally tried and it never ended well.
So, as long as I stick with the Something Wicked website, and push myself to make the posts there like I'm pushing my novel writing, I think I'll be just fine.
Ashley, a girl I met yesterday on the NaNo forums under the name of DragonYoga, came up with a brilliant idea of writing six novels a year in the style of NaNo. 50k in one month. A similar project to this, WriYe (writing year) has been running for three years or so, but I think that's a bit more demanding. At least I could possibly work six months into my schedule, right?
Well, we start next month. There are about twenty of us signed up so far. Few of us are actually trying for all six novels though. I promised them that I'd try my hardest, despite the months being pretty busy - like the big move next month. But I'm not going to put a ton of pressure on myself like I did for NaNo. I'd never survive if I did. But if I continue to push my writing, and just write without planning ahead or editing as I go, I might just make it.
I've also thought this would be a great way for me to incorperate fan fics back into my life. I still read them all the time - Harry Potter, Twilight, Charmed, Supernatural - but writing doesn't come easy for me. I have this small story that's a work in progress posted on fanfiction.net. I've been getting reviews for a while begging me to update. I'll probably work on that first.
I'll try to do another blog post sometime next week, or maybe later this week to let you all know how it's going, and fill you in on what stories I'll be writing. Right now, I'm super tired because I haven't had a full night's sleep in a few days. Plus I had about five nightmares last night (like, the worst I've ever had) and didn't dare go back to bed. And now? Now there are men fixing the roof. With very LOUD hammers and saws and things. =(
Anyway, I'm off to get more hot chocolate. Later.
-Lizzy<3
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