...so I have a little time to blog, and I figured if I wanted to start promoting my personal blog again, I should stop using it to complain about people. Thus, here is my latest post.
My creative thoughts are all scrambled again, which means I'm having a hard time focusing on anything, much less writing anything down. I'm running between several threads of ideas, none of which I can commit to--I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just my problem with commitment.
First of all, my new story idea is really taking off...in my head, of course. I really like it, and I think I might want to make it my next novel project. Having said that, I'm not sure if I want to start now or if I want to save it for Camp NaNoWriMo. Still, that's at least six months away, and I don't know if I can keep this idea fresh for that long.
Speaking of which, I have to edit/finish my Kennedy story, the draft of which I wrote for NaNoWriMo. I know I have to do some major restructuring of the characters' backstories, which I actually changed to accommodate for the story idea above (they were too similar). I also need to finish it, considering I hit 50k at the climax and didn't keep writing. However, the task is daunting, and without any writing software on my new laptop (Christmas gift--thank you, Mom and Dad!), it would be difficult. The most I can do right now is start printing out the draft and making notes and grammatical edits by hand. I'm also not sure whether I want to hold onto the manuscript and keep editing for a few years like I had been planning, or to go ahead and edit it enough to get the five free proof copies NaNoWriMo is offering this year to their winners. My parents want me to do it, but I'm not sure I want anyone to read it. I know my lack of research, lack of experience, and general naivety make the story sub-quality, and I really don't want to embarrass myself by having friends and family read it. Still, five proof copies is a lot, and they would be nice keepsakes. Who knows--if I were to become a famous author (doubtful), they could be worth something someday. I'm just not sure what I want to do.
I won't take much time to say I'm still doing everything in my willpower to keep myself from writing any Hunger Games fan fiction. All I want to do is write a backstory for Finnick and Annie, but I know that it would be a long, time-consuming process that will result in nothing more than one in a million other posts about the subject on Fanfiction.net. Sure, maybe I could get my classmates to read it, what with everyone reading the Hunger Games, but I don't want to push it anyways. Still, I can't deny that it's rattling around in my brain.
I've been trying to solve the problem to my Shakespeare story. I've decided that there really does need to be one more female protagonist to even out the characters, but I'm unfamiliar with any of Shakespeare's other plays, which means I'm sure my readers will be as well, and I want the main characters to be at least somewhat familiar to the audience. Bother. So, I've been "shopping" on Wikipedia for candidates, none of which particularly inspire me thus far. I'm also still trying to decide how the story should end, what should happen to whom, etc.
In addition to these ideas, I'm supposed to be writing a short story for my school's, and ultimately for ACSI's, creative writing contest. But, to be honest, I'm completely uninspired. Last year I sent in what I considered a good, solid short story (confirmed by my teacher), and the ACSI judges utterly destroyed it. Apparently, they're looking for a little Karen Kingsbury, which I refuse to become, even for the sake of pleasing them. At first, I wanted to be sure to do something controversial, just for the fun of it, but I don't even see the point in that anymore. Then, I was thinking of just submitting the editorial that I wasn't allowed to publish in the school magazine (for said controversies), but the insipid guidelines for the contest stipulate, at its core, a five paragraph essay, which my editorial is not, nor will it be enhanced by such. I might submit it anyway, as well as use it for the school (and ultimately ACSI) speech competition (which we students, for some godforsaken reason, are all forced to participate in), but I'm not sure if my teachers will allow that. We'll have to see. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to going back to school.
Last but not least, I've got about a dozen review that I should write, though some of the books I haven't read since the summer. I think my friend and I have decided to take a more popcorn-style approach to the book blog, which will, hopefully, result in more reviews over time. Still, it would be wise to stock up before school gets back in, just in case. However, writing a minimum of 300 words about how you feel about a book, in a certain format, is not as easy as it sounds.
So, as you can see, my brain is a little tangled right now. I'm sure it will sort itself out once school starts up--nothing is a better stimulus for creativity than procrastination.
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