Finished Chapter 17 AND 18!!!

I had just been aiming to finish Chapter Seventeen last night, but I managed to finish Chapter Eighteen as well!  Of course it isn't all that much of a feat since I sliced off part of what was originally supposed to be Chapter Seventeen and made it into the next chapter.  It was just getting so ridiculously long - over 50 pages.

I'm excited to start the main story again - get from the past to the present and into the thick of things.

Chapter Nineteen, here I come!

I Had the Weirdest Dream Last Night

Parts of it were completely random, as dreams tend to be.  However, the strangest part of the dream was because of an oddly coherent segment.  And during this portion of the dream, I knew exactly what was going to happen next.  It was as though I were writing it as I slept.

I am seeing through the eyes of a girl named Mina, who has a mentally retarded older sister (who disappeared without a trace).  She transfers to a new school where she is snapped up by three super popular girls.  She's in class with all three of them and a cutie named Charlie (blonde hair, blue eyes - classic good looks).  While they are in class, a woman from the office c comes in to do a presentation.  The three girls don't want to watch the presentation (which isabout mentally disabled people), so they go to the bathroom, taking Mina along.

A girl comes up to the bathroom door while they're in there, fixing their makeup and whatnot and one of the girls (who looks strangely like Chastity from "10 Things I Hate About You" the TV show) squeals, "Lock the door!  Lock the door!  She's crazy!"  So, Mina locks the door.  Then she finds out that the girl is mentally retarded.  So, feeling bad, she opens the door.  She starts saying things such as, "I'm so sorry for closing the door" and "Wow, you're really, really pretty."  (She is pretty, with long dark hair and blue eyes) The girl responds, "Thank you, Mina." (Apparently everyone knows Mina, the transfer student)

They go outside and Charlie is there.  He takes the girl away, leading to the realization that she is his younger sister.  He doesn't even glance at Mina because several times it has happened that a girl is nice to his sister just to get close to him.

Mina, however, is determined to get to know his younger sister because she reminds Mina of her older sister, who she misses sorely.  So, she starts to spend time with her.  Eventually, Charlie also starts to spend time with the both of them of them.  There are even times when just Mina and Charlie hang out.  Of course, during this time, the two of them start to fall for each other.

The three girls find out and are jealous that Mina is spending time with Charlie, so they tell her not to hang out with Charlie's younger sister (apparently she isn't cool enough).  Mina is confused as to what she really wants - she wants to be friends with the three popular girls, but she does want to hang out with Charlie's sister.  The only problem with that is that sometimes hanging out with his sister makes her miss her own sister terribly.

Mina ends up standing up Charlie's younger sister.  He finds out and gets really upset.  Instead of yelling or anything, he coldly tells her not to bother coming around any longer.  Mina keeps trying to talk to Charlie and apologize for her lapse in judgment.

She runs into his little sister at school and realizes she's the one who needs an apology.  Charlie's little sister is very forgiving and says she just wants to be able to hang out with her friend again.  Charlie realizes he can't protect her forever, no matter how hard he tries.  So, he grudgingly lets Mina hang out with her again - although that doesn't mean he's forgiven Mina.

Mina apologizes to him and explains her situation, with her older sister and everything.  Charlie is shocked and not only forgives Mina, but comforts her too.

The End.

I seriously can't believe I dreamt this.  It has some plot holes, but it makes complete sense.

I Stand by the Last Post I Reblogged (on Tumblr)

Meaning the post here.

The best ideas really do come in the shower.  I just took a shower (my first time taking a shower at 7 a.m. in a long, long, long time, I might add) and I was struck with brilliant epiphanies for Shadow.  I literally haven't thought about this story since the Thursday before last.  I've felt guilty about it, but I haven't taken the time to think about it.

And now I'm inspired, motivated, and ready to get crackin'!  It's hard not to hate your WIP sometimes for being so draining, but when you get an idea that you're so excited about, it's backing to loving it.  I've never been so enthusiastic about any of my WIPs.  That's probably why they haven't ever made it past a few chapters.

But Shadow - it not only is quite close to being completely planned out, but a sequel is also in the works.  Of course, it would be smart to finish actually writing this one before getting to the sequel.

Still, I can't wait!

300 Pages!!

Yes!  It's finally happened!  I've hit 300 pages - 75,812 words!  I'm so tired of Chapter 17.  I want to finish and be done with Part 2 haha.  Then I can move along to Part 3 and back to the main action.  The faster I finish Chapter 17, the sooner I can get to Part 3, right?

Chapter 17

When I'm finished with this chapter, I'll be done with Part 2!  So exciting.  Then it's back to the main action.  I've always enjoyed writing, but for the first time it really feels like work - and that's okay.  I love it - I really feel like I'm accomplishing something.  297 pages and counting.  Of course, I'm going to be revising like crazy, rearranging stuff, cutting stuff out.  For right now, however, I'm just going to watch as my word count and my page count build up.

Milestone #1

I finished Chapter Eleven.  This means I've also finished Part One!!  This is so exciting!  I feel like writing really does require blood, sweat, and tears.  Even though this is still a really, really, really rough draft and I still have a ways to go, it's still really meaningful.

Current Stats

Part: Part One, complete

Chapter:  Chapter Eleven, complete

Pages:  148

Words:  38,486

Recap: Super Con!

Let's see... what happened this past week:

• I had a midterm in ochem.
• We identified the smells of esters in ochem lab - that was fun:  we smelled banana, peach, raspberry, nail polish remover, and wintergreen (that one was my favorite).
• I finished Ch. 9!!!
• We ate quiche and did origami in French class.  Fun :)
• I finished Ch. 10!!!
• I went to Super Con...
• I met Vic Mignogna!!!!
• I met Crispin Freeman!!!!

Awesome week :)

Character Profile Worksheets

Now that my ochem midterm is over and done with (YAY!) I can finally work on my story some more!  This is exciting :)

Right now, I'm taking a brief hiatus to write some Character Profile Worksheets.  I just want to make sure that I get my characterization right.  There are so many important characters in this story that I want to make sure they all have clear, three-dimensional personalities and such.

I'll probably do the two main characters' profiles tonight and then write a little bit of Chapter Nine before I go to bed!

100 Pages!

YAY!  I hit the 100-page mark and finished Chapter 8 yesterday!  Super exciting!  I can't wait to start working on Chapter 9.  This is going to be a fun one to write.  I can't wait for it to be read either.

Speaking of reading, I'm reading Jonah Lehrer's Proust was a Neuroscientist.  It's absolutely fascinating.  I'm learning so much and thinking of both art and science in a new ways.  This is definitely a must-read for anyone who likes art, science, psychology, and/or philosophy.  It's brilliant.