The pursuit for clarity continues.

Since the last time I was on here, I have begun to print out pages of my first (and very rough, I might add) draft and manually edit them. The act of writing on them and seeing them in my folder every day has been really helpful and is something I really enjoy. I can only print out five pages at a time since I print them in my school’s library and don’t want to pay 10 cents a page, but I currently have 30 pages printed and about 10 edited through with some extensive notes and fixes.

LORD, this story has changed so much.

I’m not sure I mentioned this, but my current project is a young adult, high fantasy novel centered on a world full of mages and mortals at war with each other. Yes, I know, not very original, but the story is so much more… I just haven’t quite figured it out yet. But, just in the few weeks of editing and letting the story settle in my brain, I have been able to fix up some of the really terrible plot landmarks.

My dad and I take some nights over the weekends to write together. We go to the Starbucks cafe in Barnes and Nobel and sit there for a few hours, absorbed in our own music and stories. The last few times, I focused on quality over quantity. That should be the focus for every writer, as far as I have been instructed, but the mentality of NaNoWriMo has had a hold on me. But, I took some substantial time to write a short prologue I liked and this has spurred the slow growing first chapter. I’m using my edited pages to base the rewrites off of. Even in the five paragraphs (yes, only five in a span of 6 or 7 hours working on them) that have come from those edits, a lot has changed for the better in my story.

AND I WROTE SOMETHING I LIKE! I DON’T READ IT AND CRINGE! YAYYYYY!!!

Anyway, I sent what I have written to my sister and her best friend—my “Ideal Reader” in the words of Stephen King—and their positive and instructional feedback has been really helpful! I also made a writing friend! I posted on my Instagram about my writing and a friend of mine from school told me he is also writing a book! It’s been nice to have someone to chat with about the problems of a high school author.

Research wise, I began to pull some stuff that might not be the most helpful now that I look at it. I work in my school’s library and my section that I tend to and shelve has all of the classic poetry. I thought it would be cool to add a poem at the beginning of every chapter to add to and foreshadow what happens in the chapter, but seeing as my book is not in the current world and is basically a totally different realm, I don’t think the poems I saved are plausible to use. But, on the bright side, I got to read some more poetry by my favorite poet (Tennyson) and a new love (Wordsworth). AND, I realized that the ancient weaponry books are in my section as well. That’s gonna come in handy. In addition, I figured out how the religious system is going to work! Haven’t spent too much time on it, but I have the basics and some names and feuds already mapped out. It’s kind of like Greek mythology but my own little spin on it. Needless to say, I am excited.

The mentality of second semester senior year has helped me continue with personal writing, but I am trying to fix a VERY failing grade in Calculus. I just finished out our school’s musical as the dance captain, and started the next show that we will be competing with for UIL. Rehearsals along with scholarship applications, starting online college classes, and continued homework have been obstructing my additions to the blog and my YouTube channel. Hopefully things will sort themselves out soon and I will be bored with my life once more, instead of busy, stressed, and seriously sleep deprived.

Stick around if you wanna see where this goes. (Honestly, it could really go anywhere at this point.)

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

-Alexandra