i am aragorn // in which i survived november which is a metaphorical fall off of a cliff

Hey y’all!!

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Let’s catch up! 🙂

This is the only gif that describes my NaNoWriMo experience this year. It’s a miracle, guys. Wowee.

As a junior in high school, I was a lot busier this November than in past years. This was my third year participating in NaNoWriMo, and because of that, I knew more of what I was doing with my time. However, because I was doing more in life, I know how much time I was going to have for extra stuff like writing.

Even so, I made writing my #2 priority. I say #2 because I was making sure I was allowing myself to breathe this time. In 2017, NaNoWriMo was about figuring out how the month worked. 2018 was about getting to my goals, and I did. I won last year. This year, I won, but with the understanding that I hadn’t won by official rules.

I made it to ~20,000 words this year. That is a whole 20,000 more words than when I started, and I am okay with that. That goal was all I had in mind. I didn’t know if I would win by official rules, but I did know that I was going to win for me.

A few days ago, I knew that I wasn’t going to reach 50,000 words in the alotted time, so I came to my mom and asked her what I was supposed to do. I explained that I was upset and mad at myself because I wasn’t going to reach the wordcount. I knew that I wasn’t, and there was nothing I could do about it, because there was no way that I was going to be able to write 35,000 words in a few days.

She said, and I am paraphrasing here, “You’re right. So just do it later. Say you won so you feel good, and then go out there and win. We’ll get you a nice winner shirt and then when you win by January 1st, it’ll be true!”

She is a very, very wise woman.

So that’s what I did. I worked my hardest for the time I had, and I was happy when the month was over. I love NaNoWriMo, but still, I have a hard time liking it sometimes. XD

I finished strong with 20,887 new words written. I am proud of me.

I’m really excited about this because I am about 50% done with the written outline I have, which means things are getting close to the end! My big goal is twenty chapters (hopefully) with at least 6k words in each one, although we will see how that evolves when we hit editing season XD *cries in the corner*

I am currently on Chapter 12, and I will be trying to hit 50k from 2019 NaNo by December 31st. We shall see where we are at that point. But for now, I am happy with the words I have written so far. It has been a journey. I love my characters, and I love myself when I am around my characters. We’re a whole bunch of fun. 😀

I mentioned this before I left in October, but the key to not losing my sanity during the last month was understanding that priorities shifted since the last time I did NaNo, and that was okay. I was working as hard as I needed to be. This was especially important considering the amount of schoolwork and extra classes I was taking.

I am a very simple person. My brain takes up the space with all it’s thinking and many times, overthinking. I can’t have too much in my life going on, so I have learned to effective balance extra-curriculars with my normal life.

This year, I think I did quite well with that.

To recap, I hope to finish NaNoWriMo 2019 by the end of the year. Whether that just means hitting 50k or actually completing a draft (which is what I am hoping happens), I will know I took my time, and I will win.

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Here is a little snippet from what I wrote this month. In this bit, our protagonist Jaxen is in the hospital wing, courtesy of arch-nemesis Kai O’Doherty. An incident happened between them, and Artemis went after Kai, and then Zarah went after Artemis.

Also, it was harder than you would think to find a section of the novel that isn’t exclusively plot based and spoiler heavy. I want y’all to read the book and not know what happens when it’s done. XDD

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As Coran got up, the sliding door opened on the opposite side of the room and Zarah came back in. Both of the boys’ raised their eyebrows in a bit of surprise, but there was an element of admiration, for the fact that she was there implied that she had gotten Artemis to settle down. That in itself was a feat.

“What happened? Did you get Arty off of her warpath?” Coran laughed. It was funny because it was rare. 

Zarah glared at him and stared straight ahead at Jaxen. The fact that she was ignoring Coran again so quickly after she had acknowledged him amused Jaxen immensely. Sighing, obviously annoyed, she commenced with her news.

“I got her to not murder him. Kai is grateful, but not nearly as grateful as he should be. He nearly escaped with his very life. She would have killed him. That’s not to say that she didn’t hurt him. Anyway, Artemis is pouting in our dorm now.” She snickered a bit at the last sentence. 

Jaxen, watching both the silent war between Coran and Zarah and additionally, Coran trying to not trip over various medical carts as he left the room. Maybe this was the reason that he was an engineer and not part of the spies and thievery unit, he thought to himself. It was awkward and gawky, but it had an endearing sort of way about it, like an old relative that everyone sort of makes fun of but loves just the same.

“Where are you going?” she asked, clearly reluctant to acknowledge him as he was leaving.

He simply said, “I’ve got work.”

“Of course, you do,” she muttered under her breath. Everything Coran did would be annoying to her, no matter how hard Coran would try. It was pointless to think that she would be content with his actions. As a fox will always go after small animals, so Zarah would hound her admirer until he, many times, practically gave up on his affections. Zarah didn’t care if he did or not, or at least that was the front she put up. It was a good front.

She stood to the side, letting him pass with reasonable distance between them. It was extremely amusing to watch all of this calculated avoidance. Jaxen was confused, but more than anything, dying of laughter internally. This entire relationship was ridiculous, and if anything other than utter hatred passed between them later on, it was probably going to be ridiculous then, too. 

Coran shot back a somewhat pained grin at both Zarah, back turned to him, and Jaxen, who was in the hospital bed. Then, the door shut and they were left alone together again. Clearly flustered, Zarah shook her head and smiled lopsidedly. 

“Hey.”

Jaxen made his lips into a thin line, causing dimples to form on his cheeks. “Hi again.”

“How’s your arm?”

“Numb and hard to move.”

“Well, don’t move it then.”

“Gee, thanks, Zarah. That’s really helpful.”

She laughed. “I’m good at that kind of thing, I’ve been told.”

Zarah circled his bed again and sat down where she had been sitting previously. Noticing that it was more awkward in silence with her than with Coran, Jaxen closed his eyes in hopes of maybe blocking it out temporarily. It worked for a little bit, but there’s only so much you can block out in a completely silent room. 

“I know you like Artemis, Jaxen.”

Had the bed not had rails on both sides, Jaxen would have rolled off and fallen out of the bed. He sat up sharply, much to the chagrin of his right arm, and well, the rest of his body. 

“Was it really that obvious?”

“You practically watch her do everything when she’s around you. Yes, it’s obvious.”

Jaxen let himself fall back and settle back into the bed. He covered his eyes with his good arm. It had been an interesting day, to say the least. It was something he would never have dreamed of happening, even though he had a fairly vivid imagination. This, to greatly understate it, was a day that he would be aware of for the rest of his life. It was not a question of if he would remember it, however; rather it was a question of whether he would actually live to see the day in which he would be able to remember it. 

He sighed. “What do I do, Zarah?” He tried not to sound dismal and discouraged, yet it was unavoidable when you’ve been in an airplane wreck, captured, and sent into military service. Upon arriving there, you were beaten up twice, and then got beat up again and stabbed, all of these things happening within the course of a few days. 

“Well, you have a few courses of action. Number one,” she paused and held up a finger, illustrating the number so that the poor invalid in the bed could properly see. “I suggest that you heal. You can’t do anything when you’re… like this.” She waved her hand at the mess that was before her. Namely, Jaxen.

“Thanks.”

“No problem, and secondly, I say that you’re going to want to talk to Artemis about how you feel.”

At this proposition, Jaxen groaned loudly. His arm was still over his face, so the sound was muffled, as was the sentence that followed. “It’s like you’re trying to make life worse for me.”

“Shut up,” she laughed, “I barely know you, so I am not trying on purpose. You just happen to hate what I say.”

He raised his other hand and gestured wildly at the ceiling. “Exactly!”

“Okay, calm down. Third thing you should do, go beat up Kai.”

Jaxen at this moment was realizing why he had thought she was crazy to begin with. She had a way of killing people, or so her air told him, however now he was sure of it. If he went to fight Kai, his hypothesis would have proof. It was too risky. Did she want him to be stabbed again? 

“Alright, you loser. If you won’t, I will.”

“No need to worry about that. I am sure Artemis has already probably given him what for concerning our incident.”

Zarah scoffed. “No doubt. When I found her, Kai had just fled with a forming black eye. She socked him good. Even so, I still think you should tell him who’s boss.”

With a sigh, Jaxen moved his arm to the side so he could talk easier. “Leharr is the boss.”

“Yes, but I don’t see him dealing out retribution. We’ve stood up for you, but I believe you need to go get him back. Don’t let him step on you.”

“Honestly, I’d rather have him beat me up again.”

Zarah pointed to his bandaged arm, full of pain killers. “You’re telling me that you would rather have another one of these than to go beat him up about it?”

“And I’m telling you that I’ll be getting another one of these either way!”

Clearly upset about his choice, she added, “Why wouldn’t you try anyway?”

“Are you kidding me, Zarah?”

She raised her hands in defense with a face that said ‘you know I’m right so I don’t know why you are upset about it.’ Jaxen was not truly upset about it, however, knowing that she was right gave him less room to find another option. He didn’t like the options that she had given him, but knowing that there were no other options made him more receptive to her advice.

Chapter 10, Boketto – Mirage of Shards

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I really like my characters, have I mentioned that? 🙂

On top of NaNoWriMo, I did/found a couple other things which I have loved during November. One of which is Disney+. I am a sucker for Disney anything, and what’s that? I can watch it anytime? Yes please! I have watched Ratatouille at least twice, as well as binge watch the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World. I had never seen it and wanted to give it a try, and I love it. It has made me cry many times already. While it isn’t perfect, I like it better than a normal tv show today. 10/10, recommend. Lucas Friar is everything. xD I finished the entire three seasons already… hm.

Additionally, I went and saw Frozen II which was stunning. As a child who obsessed over the first one and then subsequently hated everything to do with it for a while, I was skeptical at first when I heard about the sequel coming out. However, it’s so beautifully done and I cried. Also it was really interesting because as a Christian, a lot of the messages about identity lined up with scripture and what I believe? Which was funny? But anywho please go see it. My favorite sequence is the sea horses and then Show Yourself. I get chills every time I listen to the song. 😀

Well anyways, that’s all for today, kiddos! I hope my writer friends had a lovely NaNo season and that you achieved your goals! See y’all next week!

Now go forth, mis amigos and amigas, and smile. Your day is just beginning. Make the best of it. Don’t procrastinate. Work hard. Make me proud. 🙂

Love you all,

Madeleine