NaNo Is Over!!

Hey guys!

Yeah, okay, I haven't been updating about November, but NaNo is over now, so I ought to catch you up. :P

I made it to 50k! Yay!! I'm not even finished with my novel yet. I hope to finish it by the end of December, though.

My novel is about a virtual reality roleplaying game that allows people to actually be inside the game (via wires and such connected to their body) and one day hackers mess with the gamers, trapping them inside the game. Then, the gamers figure out if they die in game, they die IRL.

I found out by my friend, Anna, that there is actually an anime that is pretty much the same plot, though... :/ But I went with my idea anyway since NaNo had been only a couple days away. 

My main characters are Dani, Jordan (her older brother), Alex (Dani's new friend in the game), and Fae (the "most awesome-est female gamer" as told by Dani and the first female gamer that had finished the game, so she's pretty famous in this gaming world).

Fae is also my favorite character. I LOVE writing her. She's sassy and sarcastic, but also has a sad backstory that gives her character depth. Jordan and her don't get along all that well, at least not yet, because he's controlling/protective (especially of his sis) and Fae does not like being controlled.

I'll show you part of a scene where the threesome had just met Fae. (BTW, Link is the game creator)

---

Fae placed her hands on the table and leaned forward. “The game was hacked.”

“We know.” Jordan said.

Fae leaned back again. “Did Link tell you too?”

“Told me at the HQ before joining the game.” 

“Why the heck did you join the game then?”

“I need to get my sister home safely.” Jordan said and Dani rolled her eyes.

“Aww, you're like a little guardian angel. But how are you going to get home from inside this game? I've been to all the regions here and I haven't seen any exit.”

“Apparently there is.” 

Fae crossed her arms. “Well, I'll follow you then, Angel Boy. If we find an exit, we can lead the other gamers there. Sounds easy enough.”

“Except we can die.” Dani murmured.

“Say what?” Fae said, eyeing her.

“Dani…” Jordan said with sigh.

“What? You said so yourself just a minute ago.”

“I also said that no one else was suppose to know unless they were working with us.” He said in a low voice.

“I guess that makes me part of your team then.” Fae said, the corner of her lips lifting.

“You better not tell your spectators or Link will kill me.”

“Aw, dang it. You don’t want to go back to Heaven, Angel Boy?” 

Jordan raised his eyebrows at her. “Don’t call me that again.”

---

I have yet to think of a title besides Game Over and I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I have plenty of time to think of one. :)

Did you win NaNo if you entered? If you didn't, you still got a lot of words in and that's great!! :D

Follow me on instagram for more recent updates @justjoys_blog

Cya later! <3

(Finally) A NaNoWriMo Update

Hello people!

I said I was going to do weekly updates during NaNo and I totally flunked...but I WAS out of town with my fam for these past two weeks, so I haven't had a lot of time. The first week was for a business adventure thingy my brother and dad were doing. My mom and I had fun and shopped. :D Oh, and we also went to the Atlanta Aquarium which was awesome! Here's a pic of a whale shark:

And the second week my dad had a work meeting in Florida, so we stayed there for a week. I had a ton of writing time during this period! Yay! I wrote about 2k words a day, but on the way back home, I kind of slacked off...and I was also a little stuck. The middle of a book is always the hardest to write. But I wasn't stuck for long. Yay again!

Now I am home and I'm getting used to the chill in North Carolina...Florida weather is amazing. And I can't believe that November is halfway gone! Where'd the time go?

Okay, now some more NaNo updates / random tidbits:

I did start a day early because I knew I was going to be busy the first week and that helped a lot.

I figured out that I don't write well in the car. I get distracted too easily and can stare out the window for hours. *shrugs*

I learned that I LOVE writing in scenes rather than chapters. Last year, I made myself write at least around 2k words per chapter, but this year I'm writing whatever amount I need for that scene and it feels soooo freeing and I can just mash scenes together to make a chapter. Voila! I have a scene with barely a hundred words in it and my longest has around 2k words (so I may make that one a chapter in and of itself).

Um... my brain just blanked...where was I?

Oh, plotting helped me a LOT for the first act of my novel. But now that I'm in my second act (I barely had it plotted out), I get stuck easier. I need to get back to my plot board and start planning more of it, but then I get stressed 'cause I gotta write my words in for the day, but if I get my words in, then I don't feel like planning...and yeah. But I just got to suck it up and do it. Lolzzzz...

*dozes off*

Hmm? Oh, right. Still here.

My favorite character so far is Fae. Makes sense since I planned her out a lot and she was my first character that popped into my head for this story. She's sarcastic which makes dialogue really fun to write. She also has a sad backstory that hasn't been revealed yet...Muhahahahaha

And I have another character who I am still trying to work out while writing... I gave him a backstory, but his wants/desires are still confusing to me and why does he want to stay in the hacked game? (oooh, is that a snippet from my novel. Yes...yes it is.) Sure he wants to help others escapes if he can, but whyyy?

And I have two villains. One I hate. That's good. The other one is suppose to be not as hated, but he's still doing something really bad that makes him a villain. So, bad in a good sort of way...? Or good in a bad sort of way? Or..nevermind...

Now for word coouuunt. My word count is....*trumpet noises*

20, 536!

As of right now. And I need to write more to get today's goal in. So I will write about what my novel is about on a later date! Thanks for reading!

Oh, and to get more updates sooner and such, follow me on Instagram @ justjoys_blog

My Book Came In!! / Infinity Dreams Award

Guyyysss!!! A few days ago the draft of my NaNo book came in!! I had to wait 2 weeks for it, but IT'S HEEERREEEE!!

I designed the cover, but the colors are a little off. I may have not used the right color format. It's suppose to be a little more red. Like the back it goes from brown to red, but it's suppose to be dark red to a lighter red. It's sooo cool, though, to see my book that I created as an actual book! ^-^

Yeah, that's my face on the front cover (I took a selfie to test it, but it actually turned out well on the first try ;P) and I just edited the photo to make my hair red and to change the background to a forest. I may change the cover or tweak a few things later.

I hope to finish edited it and get it out on eBook in summer!

~*~

I was tagged by Anna from the fascinating world of Demigods & Unicorns for the Infinity Dreams Award! Thanks Anna! <3 (Check out her blog! It's amazing!)

The Rules...
~Use the Infinity Dreams Picture
~Thank the Blogger who tagged you
~Tell us 11 facts about yourself
~ Answer the 11 questions given to you
~ Tag 11 bloggers (and come up with 11 new questions for them)

Alright, now unto the facts.
*You probably know, but I wrote a novel and am currently editing it.
*I love cats! My family and I are breeding Ragdoll kitties as well.
*I love the bohemian look!
*Granny smith apples are my favorite.
*My favorite T.V. shows are Once Upon A Time, American Idol, and Survivor.
*I play the violin and guitar.
*I love steampunk stuff.
*I want to learn sword fighting or/and bow and arrow skills. (I mean it'll help with writing...right?)
*I was happy that flossing would be easier because of no braces...yup
*I have two wisdom teeth that will have to come out this year .-.
*This is the last fact and am happy that this is. It's really hard of thinking up interesting facts. xD

Now to answer Anna's questions:


1. Would you rather go a year without reading or a year without listening to music?
Why do you torture me so? Uuuugh, I would say a year without music even though it pains me to think about that.

2. Would you rather have really short hair or really long hair?
Hmm, I love both! I even want to try a pixie cut someday...maybe...but I really love long hair because then you can braid it and do more things with it. So long hair it is.

3. If you had to live in a fictional world, which fictional world would you choose and 

why?

Camp Halfblood and all those places from Percy Jackson!! Well, that's not a world...but still. xD The camp sounds so fun and the pegasus and sword fighting and bows. Plus CTF sounds fun, 'cause you get to use real weapons and the missions sound scary, but fun and adventurous.

4. Do you like December or July best?

December, because I love snow and my birthday is in December and also Christmas and yaaassss...

5. What's your current favorite song?

I LOVE MUSIIICCC. My brothers just showed me some new Christian songs that are realllyyy catchy. Here are two: 

Mine - Hollyn & Believer - Capital Kings 

6. What is the longest you've ever gone without sleep?

The only time I can think of that was the longest was when my youth group held a Lock-In. Basically we stay up all night playing games, and doing other fun activities, and worship, and breakfast. So, I've stayed up for around 24 hrs. 

7. What color shirt are you wearing right now?

Blood Red (Yes, I added an adjective because just "red" is boring. xD)

8. Chocolate or Vanilla?

CHOCOLATE ALL DA WAY

9. What's your favorite quote? (It can be from the Bible, from a book, a movie, a 

song, anything.)

I have a lot of favorite quotes. Especially since I post quotes for the week. Well, like I said in the last post, my recent favorite verse is: Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? ~ Esther 4:14

10. What's the last book you read?

Champion from the Legend trilogy. THE ENDING. OMW. THE FEELZ. Right now, though, I'm reading Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It's the book form of the movie, which is AWESOME. IF YOU LOVE STAR WARS YOU WILL LOVE IT. WAIT, IF YOU DON'T LIKE STAR WARS, YOU WILL LOVE IT AFTER THAT MOVIE, BUT MAKE SURE TO WATCH THE MOVIES IN ORDER, DON'T WORRY, IT'S WORTH IT!!!! ;P

11.  What is one movie you hate? (And what made you detest it so?)

Both Percy Jackson movies. UGH, SO TERRIBLE. It's not like the books at all! And they are boring. Plus, in the movie they are 16, but in the books they're 12 then 13! And Annabeth is a brunette in the movie....She's suppose to be a blonde. I could go on, but you get the gist.  

      

That was fun! Now it's my turn to give out questions:

1. Plastic or glass cups?

2. What book would you want in movie form (and it'd actually follow the book and be amazing)?

3.Would you rather use a melee weapon (sword/up close fighting weapon) or range weapon?

4. Do you want to become famous?

5. What do you feel when you see your name in a book? [Or what would you feel (if you haven't read a book with your name in it)?]

6. What was one book you had to stop because it was soooo boring or hard to understand?

7. What have you done that was so embarrassing you wished you could hide or press a reset button?

8. Would you rather have super long finger nails or super long eyebrow hair?

9. What was something you became soooo excited for?

10. Top 3 favorite hobbies?

11. Can you type a sentence with your eyes closed?

And I tag anyone who wants to do this!! Have fun!!

QOTW / NaNo Is Over / Daily December #1

~*~

    I have endeavored NaNoWriMo this November and it has been fun, stressful, hard, but overall an amazing experience.

What helped me write were three main things: Music, family and friends, and my determination to finish with 50k. 

The music consisted of mostly piano music, sometimes Christmas music...

...like a lot more piano music than this from the same artist...

I'm so grateful for my friends and family that have cheered me on and given me ideas when I was about to facedesk from being so stressed about word counts. I have endured late nights of writing and crazy days of trying to catch up from not making par days before.

My graph that shows that I've been barely keeping up, though I remember being about a week under par, which scared me, but I caught up...phew. You can see that was between days 11th & 16th.

I am happy to say that I made it to 50k. I feel so excited that I made it and the purple winner bar under my word count makes me happy and relieved.

I still have a couple chapters left to write (stress free 'cause NaNo is over!) 

Eek! It's bittersweet that NaNo is over, but I look forward to editing and formatting my book as an ebook later on!

    I am totally up for this challenge next year and I encourage other writers to do the same! It was an awesome month! Though, make sure you aren't stuffed full of things to do in November because it takes up a loooot of time.

~*~

Daily December #1 - December Goals

(Elly is hosting a December Daily challenge! Click here to check out what it is and how to do it.)

My goals for this month:

* Finish writing the draft of my book from NaNo

Because, like I said above, I still have a couple chapters to write left...AND I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A TERRIBLE DEATH SCENE. *sniff*

*Start exercising again

I had been working out every day before and it felt great, but then NaNo hit and my world had basically revolved around it. I can't wait to jump back into it!

* Post more fun blog posts

Again, because of NaNo I haven't been posting a lot of fun blog posts, so hopefully I'll be doing more soon!

* Have fun of course!

Christmas is near, my brother's birthday is near, my birthday is near, Christmas parties are near, family and friend gatherings, overall, this month will be fun. :D

Hope you enjoyed this post and, wow, I can't believe it's December first already...

NaNo...Again... / Pray For Paris

Yes, I know.

Another NaNo update.

But this will (hopefully) be my last for a while, because I don't want to bore you guys. :P

Anyway, here is my Novel title, synopsis and an excerpt:

Don’t Lose Hope

    Because of her red hair, Farryn has been sheltered her whole life, but after slipping past the guards one day and playing in the woods, she ends up a captive. For eight years she’s blamed Emerson, The one who deserted her. When an opportunity to escape appears, she grabs hold, not expecting an encounter with the very one who abandoned her.

    Farryn struggles to trust him as he helps her gain freedom and when a new threat arises, can they, together, save her family as well as their village?

Excerpt:

    She sat down in the chair and faced him. He didn’t know exactly where to start, but why not say it directly? “I know who you are…Farryn.” She looked away. 

    “You may know my name, but I’m not the same naive, little girl.” She faced him again, voice rising. “You left me, Emerson! I had to fend for myself for-for eight years!” Her chin trembled. “You know what I did in that time? I grew up! People are terrible. Everyone has darkness inside and some people exploit it to use as power. Lie to get what they want, kill to take revenge. And the fear…oh fear. It grabs you when you’re least expecting. Fear steals you’re freedom, so I stuck it down and hid it in the very depths of my soul. Now you…you, the one who started this all,” She stood, waving her hands around, “came back to reignite what I tried to destroy.”  Tears stained her cheeks.

So yes, that was an emotional scene I wrote...

I'm two days behind schedule, Gah!!

~*~

You may have already heard this, but Paris was attacked yesterday afternoon. Please pray for the injured and the people who have lost loved ones.

QOTW / More NaNoWriMo Updates

~*~

It's been a week since I updated you guys on my word count and other NaNo stuff, but that was because I've been sooo buuusssy! NaNo takes up a lot of time, but it is also very fun. I'm glad I decided to take on this challenge. I also can't wait to edit my story... xD

During the week, I hit all the daily word goals except for yesterday. I was only 200 words short though and that's really easy to write. I've had some writer's block, but I'm pushing through it. So far I have 15,173 words and I changed some things in my story:

*Instead of only using my MC male POV, I changed it, so I have my female MC POV

*I changed my MAIN main character (if that makes sense) to my female, as her stakes are higher in the story than my male

*I added another character that will change the story in a way...

So yeah! Exciting stuff!

Let me tell you the name of my main-ish characters, description, and random lines from them 'cause why not?

Farryn

She has crimson red hair and green eyes. Once a noble's daughter, she was kidnapped and has blamed Emerson ever since. Through all the torture she's been put through, she bundles up her emotions and fears and hides it in the darkest parts of her. She has changed...

She growled and grabbed one of the bars of the window, then let go, wide-eyed and opened mouth. What have I done? These memories I hid, I hate, they’re festering…they’ve been festering and-and it’s turning me into…I’m turning into…a monster.

Emerson

Dirty blond hair and brown eyes. He is a foster child along with his brother, Thomas, and sister, Edith. He met Farryn as a child, walking through the woods, but one day, saw her getting kidnapped. He didn't help, too scared to move and he's blamed himself ever since, but then he gets a quest to find her and bring her back to the village...

“Maybe this will help keep you focused.” Emerson pulled out the letters he hid in his pocket. 

“Wha-how…where did you find those?” Thomas glanced at the door.

“In the shed, but don’t worry, I wasn’t trying to find you out, just some flower seeds.”

Thomas

Blond hair and blue eyes. As said above, he is a foster child. He loves helping people and is loved by the village when he grows up. He hands Emerson the quest to find Farryn...

..."I can only help with so much.”

“Yeah, like a huge soup kitchen.” Emerson said and, in response, Thomas gave him a side-long glance. Some people came up to thank him. “The whole village loves you.”

Lily

Raven hair and brown eyes. She is the motherly figure that gets locked in with Farryn to help her while she's young. She is very bubbly and talkative. She wanted to help Farryn escape, but was thrown out before she could...

“Oh my, oh wow! Rynny, I missed you, I thought you’d come sooner. Oh my!” Her voice sounded breathy and high-pitch.

Carver

Bronze-colored hair and gray eyes. He used to love writing, but his dad didn't approve and took matters into his own hands, gaining him the job of guarding Farryn. He's not like the other buff guards and definitely does not know the ways of being one yet.

“Uh, yeah. Carver.” He stuck out his hand, then dropped it.

“Yeah, first name I’ve gotten from the guards. Not really a pleasure to meet you.” Farryn crossed her arms.  “Is it time?” 

“Aye, follow.”

“You are really new…You’re suppose to hold or tie my hands up and walk me out. Maybe a few threats and slaps, or perhaps a knife to my back.” She shrugged. “You’re welcome.”

(I'm still figuring out this guy, as he is my newest character.)

So yeah, der we have it. I may change bits and pieces of my characters since I'm still in draft mode and I didn't say a lot about the characters...there is muuuch more about them, but I didn't want to write everything here before I was done. :P

My synopsis is coming soon! I just need to put the finishing touches and also...think of a title...

Thanks for reading!

QOTW / NaNoWriMo Updates

And I believe that I am awesome and you are too. Lol.

~*~

Hello!

Man, I have been super busy writing! Here are my NaNo updates!

Day 1:

Since November 1 was on a Sunday, I was couldn't write that morning, plus when I came home, my brother and I had to take care of a dog for a neighbor. Then  I procrastinated, thinking I could get 2,000 words in at around 2 hours, but no, more like 5 hours. That was a realty check. 

I finally got to 1,668 words late at night and was so relieved! I typed in my word count and checked the graph. It said 813 average words per day. I thought the time was messed up, but realization dawned on me. It was 12:01am. I missed typing in my word count by a couple minutes! Thankfully, I could change when I put in my words, so it's all fixed.

Day 2:

The day went much smoother! I started early afternoon this time, 'cause I had school and such. I wrote and typed and wrote and typed. I took a break when I hit almost 1,000 words. At around 8, I went on a virtual NaNo chat. The ML hosted Word Sprints. Basically you have 20 minutes to write as fast as you can and see how many words you get. It helps a lot! My highest word count was 360, but other people got up to 700!! 

By the time I was done writing for the day, I had written around 2,100 words! And it was only 10pm! 

In total I have 3,905 words!

Today is the third day. I am about to start writing now! Woot!

(Ugh, I haven't thought of a title for my story nor a synopsis! I will tell y'all when I do though!)