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Merry Christmas, dearest readers!!!
   How are you all doing? I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a marvelous week! I certainly did. We got all of our Christmas decorations up and ready to go, and our house just looks so purty. :) I've got lights up in my room, and stockings, and a big red bow and a little Christmas tree. Agh. I'm just so happy!!!! Christmas is definitely my favorite time of the year. :D
   But hark! I bring good news, good news indeed! Something that I am most excited about.

   Nearly one year ago, in January 2015, I finally started writing my book. You might even remember the blog post I had dedicated to it. On Thursday of this last week, I reached an even more monumental point in my journey as a writer.
   I finished the first draft of my book.
   The finished page count is 253. There are 34 chapters. And, minus chapter titles and the like, it has 167,488 words.
   Guys. I looked it up. The average maximum acceptable length of a first time fantasy novel is 115,000 words. Yeah, editing is going to be soooooo much fun, I can hardly wait! *Insert sarcasm here*
   I have a lot of work ahead of me still. I will, however, be taking the month of December off. This way I can get my mind to cool down a little, focus on this crochet order that I am desperately trying to finish before Christmas, write some short stories and enjoy the season in general! So starting January 2016, I'll get to work on editing.
   But until then....
   I don't want to stop writing entirely. There are at least 2 fanfics that I'd like to write during this time, and maybe a short story. So hopefully next week I'll have a fic for you. (Sneak peek: it'll either be one for Winnie the Pooh or one for BH6. What a shocker)
   Yeah, I'm excited about a lot of things at the moment, hehheh! One of which is the fact that I'll be turning 16 this month, which I actually find more than a little scary...
   Anywho. I'm not going to be ignoring Christmas in my blog posts, though. My fanfics might be Christmas themed, we'll see. Either way, there will be Christmas-y things included. For starters, I'll be including a Christmas song or two I like. Maybe a Christmas verse, or a Christmas memory of mine. And maybe, maybe, there might be a few bonus blog posts having to do with the season...
   So keep your eyes open for those. And I'd love to hear some of your guys' favorite parts of Christmas! So yeah, it'll be fun! :D
   Before I stop rambling and leave you all alone, I wanted to quickly share some of the things I've learned the last year in my writing adventure that really helped me to get through and write as much as I did. Hopefully, it might be able to help some of you all who are doing the same. :)

1. Write persistently and as much as you can stand. Then write a little more.
   This was an incredible game-changer for me. For about the first 9 months, I was writing nearly everyday, but only about 500 words. Now don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this. I was getting stuff done, but I wasn't really feeling what I was doing. I wasn't getting involved with my story. But for about the last 3 months, I started pushing myself to write 1,000, 2,000, sometimes even 3,000 words a day. And that helped me so much. Not to mention that I would have gotten my book done a lot sooner if I had done that from the beginning...

2. Find the time of day where you're most inspired.
    I feel most writerly in the evenings. Or late at night. Or in the wee hours of the morning. Obviously, this can be a bit of a problem, but it helped me get more done and to enjoy what I was doing a little more. And if you feel inspired at some other point in the day besides the time you set aside to write, you stop what you're doing and go write. 'Cause if you're feeling it, you gotta get it down or it's gonna be gone.

3. Stuck on what you're writing? Get up and move!
   Sometimes when something wasn't working out for me, I wold grab my outline and pace back and forth in my room. I'd quietly talk to myself about what I was doing, what wasn't working, what I wanted to happen in my story. And nearly every time, if not every time, I would figure something out. I got past some huge plot holes, added some huge things to my story. It helped me. A lot. 


Wow guys. I have so much more I feel like I could share. Not that I am BY ANY MEANS an expert, or even have the slightest clue of what I'm doing, but I feel like I've learned a lot by doing this. And man, it feels so good to be done! Wahoo!
   So yeah, I hope these few things could help someone out a bit. On one last note, I want to remind you to never give up. You might need to re-write that last 1,000 words you just slaved over for the last hour and a half or you might have to rethink some things. Whatever you do, don't. Give. Up. And that's an order.
   To start the Christmas season off, I'm going to share this song with you all. It's "Christmas Is" by Francesca Battestelli, and it is a great one to get you in the Christmas spirit! Hope you enjoy, and have a wonderful week!

MR
 

 

Enjoy the Journey

Hello readers!
   I hope you're all doing well. :) I'm doing pretty good. I need to finish crocheting a couple viking beard orders, finish Inktober, finish my book before the whole blessed year is over. But yeah, nothin' too big. :P
   And I am so sorry this is a bit late!! Last night it was either do my inktober or blog, and I desperately wanted to stick to my inktober commitment. :P The post is up now, though!
   So. In case you didn't all already know this, which you probably did unless this is your first time reading my blog, I like to draw. I like to draw a lot. As a matter of fact, I'd like to become a professional illustrator one of these days. Unless of course God would rather me do something else.
   But man. Someday's it can pretty diggity-darn difficult to draw. Sometimes the picture just isn't working out. So I might finally give up and get on Pinterest for a little while and look at other people's art. And guys.
   People are good. 

   I mean, stinkin-blinkin good. Well, of course the people who have been drawing for 30 years are going to be good. But not even those people. I mean the art students or the 13-year-old's who are good.  Yeah, all of you artists and art lovers out there know exactly what I mean. Those people who when you learn their age you don't believe them. I mean, you're 13 and you drew THAT?!?!?! What even????
   Yeah. Those people.
   Now don't get me wrong. Those people are so cool and amazing and inspiring. But sometimes it can be a little discouraging.
   Like, my little brain doesn't understand. HOW ARE YOU THAT GOOD??? It's downright incredible and breathtaking and unbelievable.
   But then there's me. After looking back and forth at my art and theirs, my art and theirs, then beating my head against my desk and crumpling up my failed WIP picture and throwing it into my garbage can, I get to wondering this.
    First off, how??? And second, why? Like, how and why are you so much better than me?
   After this I either drown in my own depression or push it aside and throw myself desperately into my art like a viking into a roasted boar. The second option is always better, by the way.
   But you know, I've been thinking.
   I'm 15 years old. I'll be turning 16 in December. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember.(As a matter of fact, I have this sketchbook from when I was about 7 or 8 that is full of these pictures that make me question my mental health at the time, but that's beside the point.) Though I've only gotten really serious about it in the past few years, since probably about 2012 or so.
   Fortunately, I have noticeably improved in that time. But to me, it sure doesn't feel like much.
   I mean, look at how good all of these other people are!!! They are amazing! And look at me! I'm just... me. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who thinks this way.
   There's nothing wrong with looking at someone else's art and getting inspired by their awesome ability. Sometimes this can give you that push you need to try again and keep moving forward.
   But sometimes, it does the exact opposite.
   I quite often think something along the lines of 'why am I such an untalented loser?' But I shouldn't think that way. No one should ever think that way. Even if you don't draw, but you write, or you don't write, but you make woodcrafts or whatever.
   No one should ever think that way. 
   Why not?
   Well first off, everyone has their own pace of learning. Some people learn faster, some learn slower, some have plain just been doing it for a long time and that's why they're so good. Maybe you learn a little slower than that ridiculously good 13 year old. And that's okay!
   'Cause you know what? No matter what creative thing you do, drawing or writing or whatever, we are all on a long journey. A very long journey. A journey that actually never ends until the day you die.
   Every time you take up your pencil or other creative tool and put it to use, you're taking another step forward on that journey. Even when whatever it was you were trying to do turns out nothing like what you had imagined and it feels a lot like you're taking a step backwards, you're not. Every time you draw, you are learning something new, or learning how not to do something.
   You're taking a step forward.
   And every step forward you take is a step closer to where you want to be as an artist, writer, crocheter, woodcrafter, musician. As a creative person.
   It is so easy to get focused on the goal and forget that you are on a journey and that this journey is supposed to be fun. Because I mean, this journey is going to last your whole life, so it had better be fun.
   Sometimes you've gotta take a step back and think.
   Sure, I'm not where I want to be as a creative person right now. I'm not always (read 'hardly ever') happy with what I make.
   But that's okay. 
   Because even though I'm not at that shining beacon in the future of artistic perfection, I am somewhere. You're on the road, you're walking in that direction.
   You're moving forward.
   And as long as you keep moving forward, and you stay on the right path, you're going in the right direction.
   I mean, just think about what you're doing. If you draw, you literally take a blank piece of white tree mush and a wooden stick and make something out of it. If you write, you literally take these thoughts and visions in your mind, and create something out of them. If you play an instrument, you are literally making an inanimate object sing. Yeah, I stole that last line from Pinterest.
   But do you see what I'm saying?
   No matter what phase you're on in your journey, you're still a creative person and you're still doing these things.
   That's amazing!!!
   So dearest creative person, remember this:
   Don't give up. Keep moving forward. And enjoy the journey. 'Cause in the end when you're looking back on it all, the journey is going to be the part you remember the most.
   So make the memory good.

    MR