Winter is here!

Hi Everybody!
Well, December is almost over...and most of us have been enjoying a long break from our novels and the constant stress that dominated November.

I updated my blog with a new wintry theme...just cuz I love winter, and snow, and no Nanowrimo to worry about-I could go on for a while.

I just want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! Whichever you prefer, I hope you have a great December.

I have come to the conclusion that most writers have fandoms that they absolutely LOVE, right? Well, they're what inspire my writing. So I went out and collected a bunch of Christmassy fandom pics and memes, and here they are for your personal enjoyment:

Lord of the Rings

Harry Potter

LOL sorry if you're a Twilight fan.

Percy Jackson

Star Wars

Hunger Games

I am posting two new Top Five lists for you to send in, just for fun! I will probably start doing more of these...the first list is: 

• Top Five Fave Fandoms (oh my gosh, that was a..what do you call it...alliteration!)
• Top Five Useless/Terrible Christmas Presents (and these don't have to be ones that you have received, they can be things that you just thought up.)

My Top Five Fave Fandoms

1. Harry Potter
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians 
4. Hunger Games
5. Stars Wars

Then of course there are my unhealthy obsessions with Austin and Ally and old Shake It Up episodes...

My Top Five Useless/Terrible Christmas Presents

1. Cinderella coloring book. I got one of these last year, no kidding. 
2. Shoelaces. Hmm, these could come in handy, but it is true that all of my shoes have laces already.
3. Repeat books. (Although you could always give them to your friends...:) )
4. Christmas ornaments. Okay, let's enjoy this new ornament for another...two hours?
5. Christmas apparel. Let me enjoy this for one day, then put it away until next year, and by then I'll have outgrown it-yay!

   Okay, I will try to post on New Years...see you guys then :)

Love,

PumpkinIce

NaNo is officially OVER!!!

Hello All Readers,
Well, it's December first and NaNoWriMo is officially over.

Let's stop to give ourselves, our writing buddies, and everyone who participated a standing ovation! *cue whistles and cheers*. We worked, we stressed, we stayed up late...and no matter what you word count is right now, you know that you gave it your best shot...and won, hopefully! A lot of people on the Young Writer's Program had a word count goal of 50,000 words, which I found really impressive. It was my first year and I thought 30,000 would be plenty challenging.

Well, I survived the first year okay, and I'm determined to do 50,000 my second year! I'm proud of myself, and even though I still have some writing to do, I got the majority of my novel done.

Considering I've never gotten past page three of any book before, this is a pretty big improvement. ;)

Since NaNo is now OVER(whoop whoop!), I decided to put together a top five list of things that got me through NaNoWriMo. I hope you enjoy!

HOW I SURVIVED MY FIRST YEAR OF NANOWRIMO

1. Austin and Ally marathons...don't judge, they got me through a thousand words at a time!
2. Kristina Horner's NaNoWriMo YouTube videos- You should check them out! I love the five-minute vlog vids that summarize her whole month. 
3. Word sprints. Essential!
4. My candy stash. (Ugh, I feel like such a junk food junkie...)
5. My writing buddies! I didn't get buddies until late in the month, but I really appreciate it, you guys...I like having buddies!XD

So...I hope you liked it.
If you'd like to share your top five, feel free to message me with your list from my page on NaNoWriMo: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/user/1319785
I will publish them on a new page on my blog...if I get enough lists...
And when I say 'feel free', I mean PLEASE I DESPERATELY WANT SOMEONE TO ACTUALLY LIKE MY BLOG!!!!
So please do, and visit crazy tween writer again soon! Bye!
~PumpkinIce

And I still have work to do...

NaNoWriMo- Day 29
Total WCG: 30,000 words
Today's WCG: 29,000 words
My WC: 30,634 words

SO... as you probably know, I won NaNoWriMo yesterday.

WOW, that felt good! But probably not as good as it should've, because I still have probably another 20,000 words before my story is finished! It was really cool to win my first year, but that satisfaction isn't nearly as good as actually FINISHING a book.

And now...back to typing. At least I don't have to face editing yet.
Sorry this is so short- expect more tomorrow!

I'm on the Homestretch!!!!!

Nanowrimo- Day 28
Total WCG: 30,000 words
Today's WCG: 28,000 words
My WC as of this very second: 29,621 words-AHHHHH!!!!!!

HELLO! As you can probably tell, I am VERY excited! I am officially 379 words away from becoming a NaNoWriMo winner my very first year!

Now I will pause to calm down and say Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had fun, spent time with family, and ate a lot... and wrote!

It has been a crazy month full of ups and downs. Now that I'm about to finish, I wish I'd started blogging earlier- but there's always next year...

I'm officially FREAKING OUT!! I can't wait to validate my word count! Okay, I should be writing right now. I am going to post a rundown of my updates:

• 29,740...I'm going to get my victory candy stash...
• 29,843...99.48% there...
• 29,900...don't scream...
• 30,022!!!

I DID IT!!! I WON NANOWRIMO!!! I HAVE A PRETTY WINNER CERTIFICATE!! YESSS!! SINCE I CANNOT SCREAM OUT LOUD I AM RESORTING TO TYPING LIKE THIS!!!

Victory tastes sweet...like a strawberry Starburst.

;D

Let's Talk NaNo-My Characters are acting crazy!

NaNoWriMo-Day 26
Total WCG: 30,000 words
Today's WCG: 26,000 words
My WC: 29,021 words

Hello Fellow Writers,
Today I'm talking about something VERY important to your book. Your characters. Specifically something my characters have been doing lately.
Pre-NaNoWriMo, I spent a lot of time thinking about my characters, their motives, and their personalities. The goal here is to make them come to life, right? Unfortunately, my characters have been doing just that.
I'll be totally stumped, trying to think of SOMETHING to write, when suddenly one of my characters pops out of my imagination to give me a pep talk. Here's how our conversation goes:

Character: You look so pathetic right now, I'd just leave you alone, but you're making me sick.

Me: Excuse me? You don't try to sass me, I made you and I can crumple you up and throw you in the trash can too.

(Character quivers a little and loses defiant glare)

Me: Yeah, that's right. Now can we have a civil conversation? Hi, I'm me, and I made you. Nice to meet you.

Character: Oookay...so I am here on the behalf of everyone in your novel, and we just want you to know that we wanna be written! Please.

Me: Huh?

Character: You've been sitting here now writing for like half an hour Googling random things! Please...stop staring at Ross Lynch's face, I beg you. Listen up, sister, it is NaNoWriMo and this novel's gotta get written!

Me: Am I hallucinating? I doubt you're even real. Besides, I have absolutely no inspiration right now!

Character: No, you're not hallucinating. Plus, isn't a writer supposed to believe in her characters? I'm crushed that you thought I was a hallucination. Anyway, we're tired of sitting around. I am here to actually show you what is going on inside your novel, then all you have to do is write what happens next. I'll just let you follow me around for a bit. Then you're on your own. Got it?

Me: I think I really am going crazy- but this is all I've got. I guess a little time in my novel wouldn't hurt...

Character: Yes! You're coming with me, girl!

Character then grabs my hand and yanks me into the swirling vortex of my book...

For the next chapter(about 2,000 words), I'm magically inspired and writing at the speed of sound and all these exciting things that I didn't plan on happening happen and speed along my plot and I'm so happy and then-

Character's voice from afar: You're on your own now...Good luck to you...I know you can do it!

Then I am totally stranded and have no clue what to write next.

Please, please comment if you have the same issue with your characters! My sister has this problem too. Apparently, about half the writing population's character's do that to them. Interesting.

If this does happen to you: Look on the bright side! You are having personal chats and assistance from your characters- I mean, how cool is that? Even if they do leave you alone by the end of your brief spaz, and even if it is kinda weird 'cuz the whole thing is in your imagination...hey, you're better off than you were before!

For those of you who are now who are looking at me like I'm crazy and are now about to close out this tab- I seriously do recommend chatting with your characters often. You may feel like a little kid with an imaginary friend at first, but it really does help. I 'talk' to my characters about plot, their feelings about certain events that have happened in the story, and their motives for certain things. It's helpful, really.

And no, I am not a crazy person. Please try it before you trash it.

Anyway...
 Good luck on your novels! I will write again soon!
~PumpkinIce

Healthy Dose of Encouragement for all NaNoWriMo participants!

NaNoWriMo-Day 25
4:26 PM
Total WCG: 30,000 words
Today's WCG: 25,000 words
WC: 27,000

I am embarrassed to admit that right now I am moping and dodging my next thousand words. My writing is awful, I said. This story is stupid, I said. Why am I even bothering to write this crazy thing? I said.
As I type, I'm sitting in a comfy recliner and thinking of all the reasons NOT to participate in NaNoWriMo. Then my sister(Hi, Sister!) ,who is right now sitting in the other room typing, emailed me and asked about my word count. Of course I had to confess that I was avoiding typing...and she sent me this link.

Who can watch this and NOT be encouraged?!?!

So than you to Big Sis over there, and I hope this is helpful. Now I'm off to type my next thousand words...and I'll update when I finish. :) 

10:24 PM

So I ate dinner, washed the dishes, and finished my word count! Still 2,000 words ahead and very happy. Towards the end of my type-a-thon I started to get sick of writing. You know my 'Worst Sentence' page? I had so many that it was hard to decide which to post. Here is another for you: 

'How he’d been furious because of a predicament exactly like this-when he was sitting across the room dying, and I refused to check, just because I didn’t want anyone to SEE that I cared that someone was dying across the room from me who just so happened to be my best friend.'

I stopped to check my word count and saw that I had six more words. My Big Sister (who is now sitting next to me) said, "Why don't you do a six word story?" Here is my last sentence for today:

'This is so crap right now.'

Hey, quantity over quality when it comes to NaNoWriMo, right?

This voice in my head is saying, You keep telling yourself that... right now. 

Don't listen to the voice! Get that word count in and remember the magic word:

EDITING 

Remember this is an event that happens AFTER NaNoWriMo is over and it magically makes your novel all better. 

Happy noveling, everyone! Write on!

Love, PumpkinIce65

Let's Talk NaNo: I am seriously sleep deprived!

11:46 PM
Word Count Goal(WCG): 30,000 words
Current WC: 26,020

Dear Fellow Crazy Writers,
Does the above noted time warn you of my level of sanity?
Well, Readers, it's officially Day 24 of NaNoWriMo, but for a writer like me, there is ALWAYS something to blog about. Which is why I am blogging so late. At night and in the month.
I just decided to write a blog on a whim, and here I am.
Let's talk writing.
Last night, I got two thousand words ahead, and am now deliriously happy. Sunday nights are the worst ones to stay up on, but it's worth it, right? My plot seems to be coming along nicely, which is great, but my writing is rapidly deteriorating.
Today's Worst Sentences Ever!:
'Suddenly, something went straight through my chest.'

I mean, seriously, what IS that? I am this sad right now over that one little sentence.

I think we've all had that sleep deprived sentence that we look back on and think, "What could I possibly have been distracted with to turn out a sentence like THAT?"
I've had at least a hundred of them. You're not alone. I'm pretty sure that every Wrimo reading this has stayed up late, written sentences while they were half asleep. (Psst:that's what I'm doing right now!) Monday morning is the absolute worst. I know because I felt absolutely awful when I woke up this morning. Here are my tips for conquering your early-morning struggles:
1) Put your alarm clock, if you have one, across the room from your bed.
I have seriously the most annoying alarm ever. It's this super loud, buzzing BEEP, BEEP! that kind of makes me lose my sanity. It is sitting on my dresser a couple feet from my bed, and every morning I drag my butt out from my nice warm comforter to turn it off. Gets me out of bed. Yay.

2) Stretch. 
It may sound stupid, but doing a few quick stretches wakes you up a bit, gets your blood flowing, and loosens you up. Just give it a try. You might like it.

3)Skip the caffeine.
I love coffee as much as the next guy (PSLs, mmm!) but that burst of energy in the morning isn't gonna last long. We all know that. Although a homemade frappucchino is not all that bad in the morning...

Must resist the urge...

Lastly, try not to stay up too late. I know, I know. I have been struggling to be in bed my ten thirty since the beginning of the month, and not once have I gone to bed before one o'clock in the morning. But still, try to get organized, guys. We're all struggling with it. I have homework, babysitting, Orchestra classes, Drama classes...the workload is enough to drive me crazy. I'm sure all writers are just as busy as I am. SO...I'm working on it and you can too.
I love y'all! Love writiting, and fellow Wrimos, DON'T get discouraged this close to the end! You CAN reach that Word Count Goal!
Love, 
PumpkinIce65