One Week Left

I will have my rough draft completed in less than seven days. I can do it, I know it. I just need to do it. I do have a lot left to do (the timeline was left in the dust about a month ago), but I am pretty good at scrambling and finishing things at the last minute.

College news - if you're interested - is as follows. I was waitlisted to Davidson last Saturday and rejected from Stanford on Tuesday. Yup. So I think that I'm going to Elon and I am looking forward to it.

One week. Let's do it.

Gearing up for Spring Break

I'd rather not talk about what I've done this week. What I am going to do though, is work my tail off over Spring Break. I have a lot to do, but I can do it. Yes I can.

I hear from Davidson tomorrow. And Stanford next week. Mah.

(Short blog is short. My apologies.)

Attitude Change (and Revert)

Well, I still have not done very much this week, though I have done more than I have lately. I'm going to work on it a bit more today after I finish this blog, and I'm going to have time over the weekend to work on it because of a lovely lack of homework. I foresee a lot of work in my future. -sigh-

Speaking of sighs, I received an email today about a scholarship I entered. I submitted some of my work for a creative writing scholarship and I was not chosen as one of the five finalists. The email said there were 83 (85?) applicants for the scholarship and I know that there has to be losers in order to have winners. I do not feel confident in my writing anymore, honestly. After reading Song of Solomon for English class, I feel even less confident. I want to create something great, something meaningful beyond a plot, but it's just not coming.

I'm still waiting on admission information from Davidson and Stanford. I'll find out about Davidson on the 26th and about Stanford on April 1st.

Not Much. Honestly.

This week has been a wash. I've written about a page and a half in my notebook, but nothing else. I know I am behind, and I want to catch up, but I also want to do my English homework, my Govt homework, Econ, German, etc. I have had difficulty in doing this project when the deadline seems so far away (though not so far anymore!). I need to kick it up a notch and do my project.

I haven't been very happy with myself this week for a combination of things, including Senior Project. One thing I am looking forward to in college is having a clean slate where old assignments and grades do no matter nearly as much.

Just keep going... just keep going... just keep going....

Plans

I finally finished the "Epic Battle" chapter of my book. It took up seven pages of my graph paper notebook and it took 3.5 hours to write. One more section down - just five more before I'm caught up.

I have a lot of work to do still. I just need to do it, instead of wasting time on the computer or watching TV. Also, writer's block really stinks. I know what is going to happen, but sometimes it is hard to translate that into words. Or I don't know what's going to happen, but the book needs this transition period, so I have to make it up as I go.

This Friday/Saturday I am going to Elon University for their Fellows weekend to see if I will be accepted to their Honors College (basically). I'm going to be interviewed (which I am not looking forward to). Also, I have to attend a class and do an impromptu writing assignment afterwards which I almost am looking forward to.

When I was writing the epic battle part, I realized I had to sacrifice quality just so I could get it done. I do not like that, but it is necessary. Sigh.

Really Not Much New

I have worked on my book, but I have not made a great amount of progress so there's really not much to say about that. I have about six sections to do in the next week in a half to catch up.

I am feeling a bit nervous about being able to finish in time. I know I can do it, I just need to do it instead of thinking about doing it. Mah, writing is a fickle beast.

And by the way, the soccer field is 105 paces (my paces) long. That is one part of writing that I really like - getting to research random stuff, like the melting point of stone or how far 100 paces is.

[Insert Unintelligible Moan Here]

My book really got put on hold this week because I am finishing a scholarship. I have little more to say about that. I really wish I could work on ONLY my book, but that is not possible right now.

Apparently, the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) that FAFSA gave me is about 7/10 of our real annual income. We own part of a property in Germany, so that effectively killed most of my hopes for financial aid. Hence the scholarship. Ugh.

I am thinking of quitting a few of my activities so I have more time to write. The thing is, I don't know if this particular week is just really stressful, or if this amount of stress is going to normal from here on out.

Progress! Maybe!

So this week, I completed "Return to Falleon - Orphanage/Transition," "Contact with Erise," and I am halfway through "Fire Business (Rabbit Recall)" and "Leyes' Moment." I plan on finishing the latter two today and tomorrow, which means I will be only two sections behind instead of five. Which is quite the good news bad news moment.

The thing is, the two sections I do have done were 1834 and 1980 words respectively. That's around 3 and 1/2 pages each, single-spaced in 12 point font. That is a lot of writing. I am rather proud of myself. Now I just need to catch up on the other sections and I will be super excited.

Last Saturday I had a meeting with my mentor Dr. Ellison. We talked about the first fifty pages I sent her. She said she really liked the plot, the characters, and the world which was amazing to hear. She gave me some ideas on how to develop relationships between the characters as well as a fair amount of grammar rules to look out for. Man I love praise... I just need to make sure it doesn't go to my head.

I was rereading a part of my book so I could properly transition into it, and when I was reading it, I realized... I realized that I freaking love my story. I love the characters, I love the world, I love the intrigue, I lovelovelove the characters. I'm not saying this out of conceit. I've been thinking about this story since November of 9th grade and it is amazing to see it actually be fleshed out on paper. I am going to be sad when I 'm done with it, but happy too.

I could say something cliche now, like "I'll always have these characters in my heart" or "The story will never really be over for me," but that's just sappy. So I will end this post with a palindrome.

No sir! Away! A papaya war is on!

...Yup.

Still Behind

Yeah, I really need to work on my book. This last week was my catch-up week and I haven't been doing much catching up. My schedule has me writing three sections of the book a week, but the schedule for last week included two sections that are rather large. I am working on the book; I'm just not getting very far with it. I have a lot of stuff going on this week... I just hope I can get it all finished.

In happier news, I placed second in the State Literary Meet for 1 hour Essay. I wrote on the question, "Is the Tea Party a viable force in US politics?" Yeehaw.

I have a meeting with my mentor on Saturday, so I need to get organized. Yup.

Mleh

I am behind with my writing this week and I did not finish the last section of last week's writing. I am feeling frustrated about a certain class, incredibly, incredibly frustrated by it and just in a mleh-y mood all together.

On the plus side, I've been accepted by Elon University and I am going to compete for a spot in their Honors College and I've been offered their Presidential Scholarship of $4500 a year. The thing is, Elon is my third choice. But still.

Mahhh I am ready to leave high school. Or have a vacation at the very least.

Just Keep Going

Nothing super exciting or important happened this week. I did meet with part of my critique group and I received helpful feedback. I realized that I neglected to add some things to my timeline, so I'll have to go back and look at that. As to my goal for this week, I have completed 2 of 3 sections. I might switch the 3rd section for one from another week. I'm not sure. In any case, I'm just doing my thing. That's it.

In other news, I found out that I'll hear word about Elon University two weeks sooner than I thought. Huzzah.

S-S-S-Snow Day! I Mean... Week...

Nyah, I greatly dislike being stuck in my house for great periods of time. On the upside, I am actually on track with my timeline so far, and I am (pleasantly) surprised by this development. I have finished the sections "Corinth's Suspicion," "Filio's Icicle," and "Poison." I have the first two typed and I'm going to type the third after this blog.

On Saturday I am meeting with my critique group to talk about the chapters I sent out earlier. I talked to Mrs. Moore over Christmas Break, and we thought it would be a good idea to... release (I guess) the the critique group from this after the meeting on Saturday. The chapters I sent out totaled around 45 pages and over 26,000 words (and that's about 1/6 of the plot). I realized that making them read through the entire thing would be much more time-consuming than I originally thought. I gave them the option of receiving further chapters though, if they wanted. Even if it is just from one section, the feedback I receive can be used with the other parts as well.

I am ready to go back to school. Not ready for homework, but I am ready to see other human beings again.

I Almost Forgot to Post This

It's a good thing I didn't though.

Our timeline was due this week and I did not realize quite how much work I still had to do. Or maybe, I've just been avoiding this fact. Either way, I need to write three sections (ranging from 2 - 6 typed pages) every week. While this does not sound like much, in actuality, this might take two hours or more per section. I have lots of work ahead of me.

On the bright side, I will be finishing the last of my college applications this weekend with my Elon application. On the gloomy side, I have yet two start one of the two essays. One the other gloomy side, I won't find out about Stanford, Davidson, or Elon until April 1. Three months.

On another bright side, I got accepted to University of North Carolina Asheville, so I am definitely going to college somewhere.

Christmas Whatnot

I'm kind of bummed because I thought we had one more week of break. I'm not quite sure why I thought that, but it was kind of a letdown when I found out we didn't.

Let's see - Christmas and New Year's were pretty much the same as usual. Not much to say there.

Yesterday I applied to Stanford and today I applied to Davidson. The only college left to apply to is Elon University. Just two more essays... just two more essays...

I applied for Davidson's writing scholarship and the funny thing is that the finalists for the scholarship have to go to Davidson for interviews. Okay, that isn't funny in and of itself. The funny part is that they have to go April 7 - 9. If (somehow) I am chosen as a finalist, I will have to turn in my Senior Project two days early. Okay, that's still not funny. The truly funny part is that on the project proposal sheet, I put down April 6th as the date I would be done, thinking, "What the heck? Why not?" A sign perhaps? I sure hope so.

I hope all of your holidays were marvelous. See you on Tuesday...