#wizard stories

[wizard-studies]

Oooooh I’m starting back up with journaling this year and I’m so excited about it!! I always forget how much I enjoy just. Rambling about life in a pretty notebook until I’m doing it :-)

[wizard-studies]

I swear that finals simultaneously makes us the most human and most inhuman we ever are.

Because you might really love what you’re studying! And it’s such a struggle to be pulling late nights, burning out, tired eyes and a tired mind and the cold setting in earlier and earlier these days. It’s a lot. Especially when you want to enjoy the projects you’re doing, know you’re capable of it, but the exhaustion just takes away your capacity to love the work. It’s a helpless feeling, and it wears you down like nothing else.

But also, the little moments just get so much sweeter. When your breaks are shorter, you have to squeeze more goodness into them. And so breaks from work are for important things. They’re for making peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallows in it, and every moment you’re making the drink is a moment you’re not working—so you savor the ritual of the stirring the mint in your cup, of measuring the chocolate, watching the marshmallows bob. Breaks are for sleep, and it feels so nice to get in bed, to be warm, when December rattles your windows. Early mornings are a distant thought when it’s 3am and your sheets are soft. And breaks are for dancing with your roommates, impromptu, all of you in pajamas. And even if none of you know how to dance, and you’ll be back to work in a song or two, and it’s so so late at night, it’s good. Maybe you’re a little too burnt out to call it feeling alive, but you feel human, and you think that’s almost as good.

[wizard-studies]

Nano Update 11/10/21

Hoo boy. It’s been a “write 2,300 words on the weekend, then meet bare minimum if that on the weekdays” kind of week. My writing buddy’s been in a slump too, although she caught up today (by doing three days of writing in three hours. Oh, that I could be so prolific). I’m still above where I need to be (5,000) but nowhere near my stretch goal (10,000) at roughly 6,000 words. 

I’ve been trying to write at 3pm, since that’s when I’m out of all of my classes. However, I think I want to start writing in the mornings. I wrote before class on the morning after fall back, and met word count within an hour, which is a new level of efficiency for me, if not a new level of productivity. I guess that’s what I get for being an early bird! I’ll have to try and keep up this whole “getting out of the house and writing before class” thing up as the days get colder. 

I’ve been getting into some fun territory this week, content-wise. Introducing the last of the main cast, and setting up some foreshadowing for the end of the book. It’s exciting!

Good luck, y’all, and happy writing. Only 20 days to go!

[wizard-studies]

A small poem

about the same things I always say

is just not enough for you.

I think I’m gonna be a little too late.

I think I have to go back home.

—Predictive Text Poem, by autocorrect and me

[wizard-studies]

The struggle (having reading to do on the history and significance of the fantasy genre for class, which is taking up the free time allotted for working on personal fantasy novel writing for fun) is real

[wizard-studies]

Alright, now that it’s October, I’m going to focus on reaching the big writing goal of 2021: finishing the second draft of my novel. In this spirit, I’m writing out a rough plan for the next few months.

October: Preptober

Yonder has twenty chapters. The first seven need to be rewritten entirely. I think my goal for October is going be editing the heck out of the remaining thirteen chapters, putting notes where things need to change, etc. That gives me two days per chapter:

Oct 3-4: Chapter 8

Oct 5-6: Chapter 9

Oct 7-8: Chapter 10

Oct 9-10: Chapter 11

Oct 11-13: Chapter 12

Oct 14-15: Chapter 13

Oct 15-16: Chapter 14

Oct 17-18: Chapter 15

Oct 19-20: Chapter 16

Oct 21-22: Chapter 17

Oct 23-24: Chapter 18

Oct 25-26: Chapter 19

Oct 27-28: Chapter 20

This pass would mostly be editing changes to the storyline in, flagging places that need stronger worldbuilding and writing, and flagging character/plot inconsistencies, etc. I want to leave the the last few days of October free so that I have some leeway if I fall behind, or so that I have a breather before Nanowrimo.

November: Nanowrimo

I always set a stretch goal, a "safety net" goal, and a normal goal for nano. This year I think my low will be 200 words, my normal will be 500, and my stretch will be 1,000. Between this being my first year on campus and the fact that I’m not actually drafting, I think that’s pretty reasonable! The long term goal is just to finish rewriting the first seven chapters anyway, not to write a whole book. And if I finish, I’ll follow up on the bigger chunks that need to be rewritten that I flagged in October, and if I finish that (which I doubt will happen), I’ll get to work on smaller edits.

Which brings us to December! Aka smaller edits month. I think I’ll spend the first week going through and doing any major edits that I have flagged, and after that, I’ll edit a chapter a day, getting all the nitty gritty stuff and polishing a bit. Adding some character voice and tightening up the language and stuff.

Again, it’s a rough plan, but I’m pretty solid in the stuff for October at least, so I’ll be starting that tomorrow! I’m excited! I finished Yonder’s rough draft on New Years last night, and I’m really hoping that I can finish the second draft this year. :-)

[sirhattergeisha]

- The Tales of Three Brothers

The Tale of the Three Brothers is a fairy tale told to wizard children. Supposedly written by Beedle the Bard, it is published as part of a series of works that collectively are called The Tales of Beedle the Bard. While most wizards view this story as one that teaches children morals (e.g. humility, wisdom, etc.), some believe that the story refers to the Deathly Hallows, three highly powerful magical artifacts coveted by generations of wizards, and the three Peverell brothers who first obtained them. 'The Tale of the Three Brothers' also has a different variation, referring to the twilight as midnight to make it more suspenseful for the entertainment of children, but in Dumbledore's original copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard it refers to the journey taking place at twilight.

- TheIllustrationArt