Preptober (Part 1)

Hello, dear reader!


The leaves are changing, pumpkins are being sold, harvest time is approaching, the days are growing shorter, and the wind is growing cold (unless summer is being defiant and refusing to leave, as is my case).
It's fall! Beautiful, wonderful, long-due fall!
And that means October is coming. And that means November is coming. And that, dear reader, means NaNoWriMo is coming!

Last Saturday, I released a playful list of "helpful" things for Preptober. But now, with October just a day away, I'm sharing my real list. Well, part of it anyways. The other half will come out later.
So, let's get started!

(For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, and the challenge is to write 50k words (a novel's worth) in the thirty days of November. It's fun, stressful, terrifying, and rewarding. I highly recommend you try it sometime.)



#1. Clean the House


I know, it's cliche and over used, but it really is a good idea to get the whole house clean.
Whether you're a teen writer or a adult writer, a clean environment will help keep your head clear.
And if you deep clean the whole house now, you'll have much less to worry about and do during November.
So save your future self some time, stress, and energy that could be put towards writing, and get everything done now.


#2. Change out Everything


Batteries in the smoke detector, your desk light, light bulbs, batteries in your flashlight (so you can make a midnight tea/coffee run to the kitchen without disturbing the night), your clock batteries, everything.
Get these things done now, because (again) you don't want to interrupt the flow of writing to go but light bulbs when yours starts flickering like mad.


#3. Stock up now


Buy your tea (or coffee), spare pens, notebooks, flash cards, etc, now. Getting these early prevents the rush later and the risk of forgetting something.

Here are some items you might consider buying to aid you this November:

• A electric kettle
  
  For my fellow tea-drinkers, this is a worthy substitute to a classic kettle. All you do is keep it plugged in and full of water. It's like a coffee pot, but it's all one piece and doesn't need filters.
  These are generally small, can be kept at your writing station, and are far quieter then a kettle (or worse, the BRRRRRR and BEEPBEEPBEEEEEP of the microwave).
  
  
• Instant coffee
  
  Nasty though it is, instant coffee is fast, quiet, caffeinated, and goes a long way.
  If you have a electric kettle, you could keep that and the instant coffee by your writing station and have a cup without the hassle of making a pot at a time.
  
  
•  A space heater + fan
  
  
  Depending on where you live, you may want either a small heater or fan (or even both).
  Writing with a blanket around your shoulders is hard. It gets in the way of typing and makes you more likely to get sleepy (if you're writing at night).
  And if you're writing in hot temperatures, it really is torturous to sit there trying to come up with words.
  
  
• Head phones
  
  No, not earbuds, actual headphones. They block out more sound, and if you listen to a ambiance it's far more effective to get you "in the zone".
  
  
• Fingerless gloves
  
  These are meant for when your hands get stiff and cold while writing. Make sure they're tight, and comfortable, before settling on any pair for your writing purposes.
  For mine, I just cut the fingers off a pair that fitted my hand weirdly. Cutting the fingers off actually helped them fit better, and so they're the perfect pair for writing.

#4. Get your writing space ready


Set up your candles, stack papers, organize your notes, have pens on hand, and all that stuff.
But also, if you don't have them already, get around three items that inspire you. I have a oil lamp, a pocket watch, and two small (very common and very cheap) amethysts that are dyed green and purple.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to make the item you chose be something relating to your story. For instance, if your character uses knives a lot, having a knife displayed where you can easily see it might help you think of them.
Or, you can just go into a cheap store and find something you like and use it as a prompt. Whatever sails your ship. The point of this is to have something to stare at while you space out and work through your story.



Thank you for reading! Part two to this post will be more writing related, about plotting and planning and prepping. But I really do believe that the first step in preparing for NaNo is making it so you won't have any of the above things to worry about while also brain storming and prepping.

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you have anything to add to this, I'd love to hear from you.


     Yours,


                   ~ Edna 

Preparing For NaNoWriMo: A Parody

NaNo is coming swiftly, and with it, comes all kinds of stress and excitement.
Below is a list to help you make your way through these remaining days before the true chaos is born.


Octoer 1st:

Be completely relaxed. No need to worry or panic at all, the month has only just begun. You've got plenty of time. Not sure what story you're going to write? Eh, don't even try to figure it out. It'll come when it's ready.
Besides, you probably won't even be able to think of anything because you have so much time, you want to do something else.
Go do that something else!


October 3rd:

Oh man, you missed a day! Oh well, better late then never amIright?
So to start off, go buy a bunch of junk food. Just a ton. All the junk food. Don't worry about spending money on so called "important" things like binders, notebooks, pens, etc.
Also, make sure whatever you get is at least 50g of sugar per serving, and then neglect the serving size entirely (I mean, we all do that already).
You want as much sugar as possible so you can get a sugar high and write as swiftly as the wind.

(Don't worry about sugar crash, I hear those are just myths.)


October 7th:

Plan on no sleep. None. At all. Sleep is for the week. Are you even doing NaNo right if you get +4 hours of sleep? No, no you are not. Coffee and energy drinks are your friends. Stock up on those.
You know what? Might as well stop sleeping now, so that you're adjusted to the schedule when November hits.


October 18th:

Still haven't come up with a story? That's okay! Because guess what! It's only the 18th, you'll be just fine. 


October 29th:

Now you should clear your writing desk off. No slackers here! We're gonna be prepared for NaNo!


October 31st:

Still no story idea? Oh well, pressure generally gets ideas flowing pretty quickly. You'll surely find something for NaNo before tomorrow!


October 31st (11:59 pm)

Now you're a minute away from the most important day, the day all your hard work amounts to something, the day you begin, the day you play to win. All your training has led to this moment. Get ready! Now is the time you write the fastest, best, most fluent story you've ever written!


November 1st (12:00 am):

Just kidding. Now is the time you panic. :)



Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this post of me poking fun at all the procrastination that goes into preparing for NaNo.
On Monday, I'll be posting the real Preparing For NaNoWriMo post. If you couldn't tell, this one was purely a joke.

From now until December, the majority of my posts will be NaNo related, seeing as that'll be where most of my time is going.

I hope you have a excellent weekend (or what's left of it)!


                   ~ Edna

My Dramatic Return

Greetings once again, dear readers!


I have returned from my brief hiatus. Proper repairs were made, and now I not only have the ability to post, but I have a small pile of posts (some finished, some not) that I worked on throughout the time I was away.
It is my hope that I will now be able to maintain a regular posting schedule, but as of yet I am not sure. Please be patient in the mean time while I try to get everything sorted again. I also have yet to make banners for most of the posts, so that will take some time as well.


Upcoming post peaks:


~When Should You Share Your story?~

A post on when the appropriate time for sharing your story, novel, or general writing, based on goals, editing, and development.


~What I've Learned from Writing~

The various things I've learned from the random research writing leads me to.


~The Obligation of a Writer~

Writers all have a shared obligation, all artists do, really. This post speaks of the details.


~Where Your Focus Should Be~
Where the busy part of a writer's mind should be focused on; what's the most important thing?


~My Pet Peeves (Reading)~
We've all got those little things that annoy us to no end. This is a list of my reading-related peeves.


~My TBR~
I've done me TBaR list, but this is my actual TBR. Books I really own, and have been meaning to read for far too long.


~The Extras~
Have a handful of random plots, characters, creatures, and places? Things that just don't fit anywhere? Here's some ideas of how to sort them!


~My Favorite Blogs~

Blogs that I read and recommend.



I hope to see you soon!

        Yours,


                             ~ E.P.

A Post of Temporary Parting

Dear reader,

You may or may not have noticed that I mysteriously disappeared. And I assure you, I have a perfectly terrible excuse.
You see, the magical mirror-like device that I use to reach you across these distant lands has, more or less, stopped working. Perhaps a witch cursed it. I have noticed many of my fellow writers taking hiatuses, maybe she got them too and it's only a matter of time before we're all gone.

Or, you know, maybe it's just very old and needs to be repaired and their perfectly logical reasons for going on said hiatuses are true.

Either way,  I have been unable to write new material, and as for my creative work, I've had to write mainly by hand. Which is hard and inconvenient, but I'll manage.
Considering this, updates and whatnot will be far and few between until I have the proper repairs made.
I assure you that my hands will not be idle in the meantime. I will continue writing poems, poetry, stories, songs, and novels by hand. And when I make my full return, I will be ready to edit and revise it all.
Let this be a lesson for us; never let anything get in your way from being productive. Always persist.

Thanks for understanding (as I hope you do). In this temporary parting I offer one last statement; Write On!

  Until we meet again,



                                     ~ Edna Pellen

The Last Dragon by Silvana De Mari (Mini Review)

"The Last Dragon by Silvana De Mari" (or "L'ultimo elfo" as it's originally called)...

Also known as, one of my favorite books.

"How can you choose a favorite book? That's like choosing your favorite child!" My past self cries in dismay from her magical time portal.
Ah, past self, indeed you were once right on this matter. You still partly are, because I said "one of my favorite books". It is amazing, though. Really. It's one of those books that makes me smile and laugh just to think of.


I've mention this book before, in my post titled Reading Suggestions and my post about my Book Shopping List. That's because I love it. I really, really, love it. Now, in a spoiler-free fashion (because I dare not disgrace this wonderful work of fiction), let's get into why.


Mini Review:


#1. Yorsh

Yorshkrunsquarklejolnerstrink, or 'Yorsh' for short, is the lovable, adorable, precious, and innocent protagonist. When the story opens up, he's a young elf with no family or friends, all alone in the cruel and sunless world that hates and fears his species. And it's this cruel world that he's bent on saving, but first he has to traverse it without getting caught by any humans who want to cook him with rosemary and gobble him up (or so he thinks).

He's brilliant, funny, sweet, easily confused, brave, and (again I will say it) adorable. In all my years of reading, I've not once met a character quite like him. He alone is enough reason to adore this book.


#2. The Imagery

Not literal imagery, this isn't a picture book. I mean the descriptions. They are amazing, and not just the pretty ones (which there are many of). There are also lots of cold, damp, lonesome places that are conveyed so well, I can practically feel it.



#3. The Simplicity

Some credit has to go to the translator for this, but the word choices are just perfect. Sure, there's a miss spelled word every now and then, but overall the way this story is written is just perfect. It's so splendidly simple, no over the top words (well, despite Yorsh's full name), no complexity.

Even the plot, characters, world, mechanics, magic, and descriptions are kept simple. But again, not in a bad way. It's more of in a way a child would see things, which is very fitting seeing the perspective it follows. It's very likely that it would be more complicated, if from a different point of view.

But in any case, I love it. I recommend this book to anyone who is trying to figure out their "writing voice", because it most certainly helped me with mine.


#4. The Dragons
The dragons... Oh dear. The dragons are wonderful in so many ways. Snarky, bitter, whiny, but deep down kind, deeply feeling, and adorable. Not adorable the same way that Yorsh is, but in their own way.

Aside from what the dragon is like character wise, the way dragons are presented as a whole is entirely new to me. But I can't tell you why, it might be a spoiler.


#5. It Doesn't Pull Any Punches

This story does what it has to without hesitation. That's all I can say on this matter.


~~~
That's all for the good half. There's so much more I want to say about this, but I can't without spoiling it all. Really, just go read it. You will lose nothing by reading it.

Now, onto the sad half of this review...



The Downside:

I obviously adore this book. It's one of the best fantasy books I've read.
But there's this tiny, small, infuriating problem with it.

Take a look at these:


The Last Ogre by Silvana De Mari

The Last Spells by Silvana De Mari

The Last Prophecy In the World of Man (+ epilogue) by Silvana De Mari

My Name is Yorsh by Silvana De Mari

Arduin the Renegade by Silvana De Mari


What are these? These, dear reader, are sequels, plus a prequel and a pre-prequel to the prequel. This collection is known as "The Last Elf Saga". Why is this a problem?

This is a problem because if I want to read these follow up books to the story that I love so dearly, I have to learn to speak Italian.
Why? Because that is Silvana De Mari's native language, and the only book translated to English is "The Last Dragon" (or "The Last Elf" in the United Kingdoms).
Why? I have no clue. But in any case, "learn Italian" is now on my list of priorities.

Oh, and did I mention that some of the books aren't even in print anymore? Because, haha, they aren't. Ha. I may never be able to read the rest of this beautiful story. Haha. It's so funny that I have tears. Wait, no, those aren't tears of laughter, those are just tears. Silly me!

Seriously though. If you know of any way to get these books in English (and the ones that are out of print in any language because I will translate them myself, word for word if I have to), please please please tell me.


~~~
Well, that's it. That was the very unprofessional "downside" part of this review that turned into a even more unprofessional plea for help. I'd be amazed if you actually read through all of that.

If you ever have the chance, you should seriously read The Last Dragon/The Last Elf/L'ultimo elfo. It's not flawless, but that's what makes it perfect. Thinking back, there was only one thing about it that I thought to be out of place or disliked, but maybe the next books explain it.

We native English speakers may never know...



On a completely unrelated note, I'm writing this ahead of time and editing it on the same day that the last post came out, so by the time you read it I will have just come back from an adventure. Let's hope it was a good one, and I can get some stories out of to share with you.



       Yours,



                                      ~ Edna