Writing.

So, I finally finished my novel on the 17th of this month! I renamed it Black as Obsidian, and it ended up with 70.8k words, which I’m quite proud of. It took me a while to finish, in between watching Frasier and relentlessly munching on Pringles.

I managed to introduce one friend to the Sherlock fandom, so I now I have someone to squeal to. And I finally got to around to watching Start Trek: Into Darkness and it was incredibly engaging. It was even better than the first Start Trek movie. Benedict Cumberbatch was amazing as an evil guy!

I also have three Writing Buddies now! This is amazing! I used to just drown out my teachers’ voices in Science, SOSE and French and work on my novel alone, but now there are three people doing it with me. (Well, my main Writing Buddy has been writing with me since halfway through April, but two more have said they will also join our writing cult.) And these three Buddies are going to be doing Camp Nano in July, so hooray!

For July Nano, I debated on whether to do the next installment in the Parallel series, with Pandora and everything, or start an entirely new series set in modern times, and eventually decided on starting something new. It would be best to take a break from Pandora and her unending melodrama.

I’m not quite sure what will happen in my new book, but I do have certain ideas, and I’ve been doing research and fleshing out these ideas.

Basically, there’s this girl called Anastasia Holloway who’s sixteen and lives in Dover, in South East England. Dover is the closest point in England to France, with only 34km between Dover and Cap Gris Nez of France. This is ideal, because it allows for easy travel between England and France.

Anyway, Anastasia Holloway is the daughter of the head of quite a small business, with several branches based in the county of Kent. Dover, however, is where the main branch is. The business is Holloway Lucid Dreamers (see, I’ve been too obsessed with lucid dreaming), a business that hires LDIs. An LDI is a Lucid Dream Inducer and is trained to get to know clients and teach them how to lucid dream. They may want to apply for the company’s service for several reasons: either they have nightmares, want to explore their inner self or just want to try it for fun.

Lyson Rogers is one of these clients. He’s a twenty-two-year-old man recently released from jail. He’s been in there for a long time, having been wrongly accused of the murder of Anastasia’s science teacher. During the night he experiences nightmares and often chooses not to sleep, simply to avoid these horrible dreams. When he sees an advertisement about Holloway Lucid Dreamers, he thinks it’s a godsend.

He goes to the branch thingy and chooses his LDI – Anastasia Holloway.

As this is Ana’s first time being an LDI, she is nervous, and Lyson is a sharp-tongued, witty man who wastes no time teasing Ana. Their relationship at first is rocky, but when Ana discovers Lyson’s secrets, she will have to learn to get along with him.

What is this secret?

I’m not entirely sure. Something to do with him having abnormal powers while he lucid dreams.

I want the whole book to kind of be, like, spy-ish and awesome. There’ll government conspiracies, guns and shooting, spying, being sneaky, midnight meetings, and corrupt agencies looking to use Holloway Lucid Dreamers’ neurotechnology for evil. I am also planning to make Lyson and Ana accidentally blow up the Eiffel Tower, and I want the bad guys to shoot people walking down the Champs-Elysees. This is convenient because in my trip to France (July 11-July 4), I’m going to Paris. When I write about Paris all the details will be fresh in my mind.

Well, that was rather long. Sorry to have bored you.

-Nicola

P.S. Who’s doing Camp Nano in July?

 

angsty exams shuffle

Point the first: Chat?

The last three days have been crazy!

Maybe I should cut down on long, rambling posts.

Three parts:

• Angsty whinging makes everyone roll their eyes
• Exams are not as bad as they sound this semester
• Shuffle meme is amusing!

 

Ahahahaha

So I wish I could go back and read everyones’ posts!! But like I have to study really badly because I have NO idea what happened in American history 1830-1929 so that’s kind of bad (APUSH exam tomorrow YEAH)

But I’ve been studying all day so I decided to take a break and make up a little iPod shuffle game for you guys! I don’t know how your end-of-the-year schedules are shaping up, but I know that this is a really stressful time for a LOT of people so hopefully this will help you guys unwind if you need to? And maybe it will be fun? I just don’t know though I haven’t written it yet it might totally stink.

I’m going to try a more loose approach and just define sort of the setting? And then hopefully the music will provide the tone of the scene! Maybe. It is a mystery at this point.

1. Intro/Prologue

2. Preparing for the Big Event

3. The Guests Arrive

4. Who’s That Boy/Girl?

5. The Banquet

6. Well that was… Not what I expected

7. Singing on the Balcony

8. S/He heard me/What’s your name?

9. Interrupted!

10. Morning Search/Does anyone know where I can find (X)?

11. My Sister’s Wedding/Royal Wedding

12. Something’s Stirring

13. The Dance

14. Spying/a New Partner-in-Crime

15. Midnight Expeditions

16. We Shouldn’t Have Done That

17. Running/Did they see us?

18. Omens and Consequences

19. Research in the Library

20. Finding the secret passage/a clue!

21. Cornered

22. Fight Back/Rescued

23. Putting it together/We were right/The Kiss

24. Final Confrontation

25. (Near) Death Scene

26. Avenge the fallen

27. Victory (OR Flight)

28. You’re Alive! (Only if you chose Near Death scene and not just Death Scene)

29. Explanations/Apologies/Resolution

30. What’s next?/Confessions

31. Closing monologue

so ok this probably makes zero sense but it’s a combination of brain deadness and the 56789876543 stories circling in my head right now rhdfjhd

Anyway I hope it’s doable?? But most of all I hope it’s fun!

Sorry for the random like rambly post ok anyway back to studying now

 

Graduation :)

I’m finally graduating today.

I, of course, was forced to wear a skirt and a pair of high heeled death traps to match.

Luckily, I got the ‘honor’ of choosing them, which apparently was supposed to make this situation better somehow. (Not even slightly. But it made my mom happy, so that’s what I’m gonna wear. I’ll get over it.)

I just can’t wait to see everyone else’s dresses/outfits, and maybe my friend had better luck with that self tanner this time.

The only thing that worries me is the fact that I forgot to bring my shoes to practice this morning so I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to get through the ceremony without falling on my face.

Whatever, I’m getting the heck outta Jr. High today!

 

Noteflight

Look, guys! I wrote music!

• The Mistwood
• Night Waltz

I seriously didn’t know what to call them.

So, I’ve just discovered that I love to compose. You guys should try it, too!

 

Agafhsgg

I know, such an imaginative title!

Well, I had my interview for my new school on Saturday. It was really scary, but the interviewers made it easy and comfortable. I haven’t gotten the results back yet, but I think I may have gotten in! Yay!

I can’t wait to watch TGG, and also Star Trek: Into Darkness because I think Benedict Cumberbatch plays evil people awesomely. It comes out May 9 in Aus, but I’m not sure about when TGG comes out.

Novel still in progress. -.- 62k words and going on strong. I’m finally up to the Final Battle!

Nicola out!

(My posts are becoming frightfully short!)

 

*FLAPS ARMS WILDLY*

Ok so I’m supposed to be working on my English paper and studying for my AP Art History exam but it’s REALLY HARD BECAUSE I’m sooo distracted argh!!!

I’m so hyper because I combined excessive quantities of sugar with talking to my friend on facebook about ships, and I kind of have a giant crush on a guy in my class which is such a lost cause but my heart is like a honeybadger it does what it wants
AND ALSO

THE GREAT GATSBY MOVIE

SO we read GG this year in English and it was really good!! I loved how descriptive it was so normally I’d be like, “Oh awesome this movie is going to be totally sick!”

But then

they cast Toby Maguire

as Nick

Like nothing against Toby Maguire, he’s a good actor, but he’s just too… wimpy!!

I thought maybe he just acted wimpy for the Spiderman movies but then I saw one of the trailers and?? It just wasn’t right.

Like in the book, Nick was intentionally reserved in his judgement, but he still stood up for himself and what he thought was right!! And like RHGHG JUST TOBY MAGUIRE IT DOESN”T WORK!?!?!?!

Ok so now that’s out I’m looking forward to everything else about it!!

Also I’m TOTALLY obsessed with the song Lana Del Rey sang/co-wrote for it omg

I’m soooo crazy about this song, I especially love the bell that goes off when she says “Young” and “but” and the whole atmospheric feel–it feels so sweeping and grand and UGH!! It just FEELS like a movie song and I love it!!!

Ok sorry enough freaking out I’m done for now BACK TO PAPERS YAY…

(This paper is never going to get finished omg)

 

My reaction to How To Train Your Dragon 2

YES.

JUST YES.

 

[One Shot] Schooling

Just wanted to let you know that I’m doing okay. Life’s just a little too stressful right now, but I should be back after I graduate a week from now.
In the meantime, Have a One Shot starring older Camille. Because apparently that’s the only character I write about these days.

The door to a little girl’s room creaked open, revealing a sleeping figure underneath the blankets.

“Should we wake her?” A voice asked, “She looks so peaceful.”

The two figures in the doorway looked at each other. No one spoke.

It was true, the girl was sleeping halfway off the bed, with her hair flung carelessly across the pillow in every direction, and a trail of drool coming from the corner of her mouth.

Maybe, the two thought, they should let her sleep a little longer.

Something else, however didn’t agree with this proposition. A flash of black and white slipped through the doorway and jumped on the bed, landing on the sleeping girl.

“Cookeh,” groaned the seventeen-year-old from beneath the covers.

This little girl was only little in her parents’ eyes, now. She was, in her own words, ‘A mature and completely responsible adult.’ Yeah, right.

Though she could fully control her powers, and reading hieroglyphs came more naturally to her: The school that accepted Allie, Katy, and Cat wouldn’t accept her, because she was(“…And this is only their opinion,” Camille claimed) ‘a lazy half-mortal’.

Which meant it was regular High School for the daughter of Nut. No special classes for each god and goddess, or her own individual training time. Just Honors English and Volleyball practice.

And that’s what she did every week for the nine months of school.
~

“-And this is why Romeo and Juliet is such a tragic love story…” The teacher droned on.

Of course, no one was paying any attention.

Several students were either texting behind their books or sleeping, and it looked as if the couple in the back might be eating each other’s faces off. Ugh.

Your typical High School classroom.

“Would any of you like to voice your opinion?” The teacher asked.

One half of the previously mentioned couple stood up, walked up to the center of the classroom.

“I don’t think it’s a tragic love story,” He said, adding emphasis with air quotes, “I mean Juliet was, like, what- thirteen? And Romeo was just in love with this other girl a couple days before. Tragic love story my-”

“Thank you, Carter,” The teacher interrupted, “Please return to your seat.”

Carter’s girlfriend snorted, “It’s true,” She said, “When I was thirteen the only thing I cared about was whether or not I was missing the newest episode of Jersey Shore.”

“Camille,” The teacher said, “Anything you’d like to add?”

“Carter pretty much said exactly what was on my mind,” Camille said.

Every day, The teacher wondered how these students ever got into his class.

He only stopped wondering when they turned in their essays.
~
In the Academy of Ra, the students always wondered what real High School was like.

On Fridays, they were allowed to watch movies or TV after training as some sort of reward, and this is where all of their ideas came from.

“I’m sure they all sing and dance through the hallways,” One claimed.

“On Wednesdays, They wear pink,” Claimed the other.

And this is what they did every weekend that year.
~

“-And that’s why the story of Isis and Osiris is so tragic…” The instructor droned on.

Very few were paying attention. Several students either doodled hieroglyphs on their papyrus or slept, and then there was that couple that never separated-clinging to each other like leeches on skin. Disgusting.

Another day at the Academy of Ra.

“Would anyone like to contribute to the discussion?” the instructor asked.

No one said anything, they all knew better than to disrespect the instructor. But they were all thinking the same thing, ‘It could’ve been avoided if he hadn’t gotten into the coffin in the first place.’

The instructor always bragged on his students. Always turning in papers on time, being so respectful, but what he didn’t understand were the tiny drawings along the sides of the papyrus.

 

I procrastinated!

Wow, that’s nothing new!

Except exams and TCAP are approaching really quickly and I don’t even know if I’ll have time to study! I also have this major project I need done by Monday!

The worst part is I STILL PROCRASTINATE!!!!

I’ve spent all my time on Tumblr and currently I am rewatching Vikings. The good news is that Athelstan didn’t die like everyone expected him to. The bad news is that he got rid of his adorable hair and grew a beard. One with a rattail. (collapses to ground in despair)

How does THIS

(swoons in background)

turn into THIS??

noOOOOOooo OOO I do not like this new development at all!

The season finale is tomorrow and I’m not ready. Vikings is slowly ruining my life.

It’s been a week of issues, from irrelevant to really relevant. I keep meaning to post, but I usually feel bad if I spam things up here, and my life is pretty crazy/mundane. You’d think that closing in on the school year means relaxation, but…

The best part is that the English TCAP is out of the way and I don’t have to do the Math TCAP. Except my science teacher still drives me bonkers and I still have intense feelings of deep resentment. Along with the urge to stand up in the middle of class and kick over his lab equipment.

One more month! Just one more month!

Anyway, every time I manage to leave the house, my social awkwardness rises exponentially.

On Friday, I went out to eat with my friend and her sisters’ friends. I ordered some sushi, and then the waitress said something else. I didn’t hear her, so I sort of hesitated and just ended up saying “No, thank you.”

I got, like, three sushi rolls while everyone else got their order, plus optional side dishes. And sushi is really hard to eat in public without stuffing the entire thing in your mouth. I managed to spill it all over the table.

I sat there, hungry and awkward as I fumbled with really unnecessarily decorated wasabi.

And then, today, I went with my friend to the Main Street Festival, which is some really big thing with lots of arts and crafts and stands. It was supposed to be fun, but I wore a sweater and it was raining. I was soaked to the bone and trying not to look like the Really Dopey Human from the Black Lagoon.

I stopped at a stand with super neat necklaces! They had dictionary words inside, and I was deciding between “mystic” and “wander.”

I told my friend I had my heart set on buying one and asked the woman selling the necklaces how much it was without the chain. She gave me the price, which was way out of my budget.

A normal person would be like, “Oh, OK,” and leave. I had already told my friend within earshot of the seller that I really wanted one and asked the price, and as you know, I am incredibly awkward. I felt obligated t0 buy it, and I did.

I had five dollars left, and then my friend went and came back with a sandwich and fries for me. Immediately I felt awful and as if I needed to repay her back somehow, so I used my remaining five dollars to buy a giant cup of lemonade for her.

So that’s how I ended up with 67 cents. I don’t have a job or an allowance, which means I have no way of earning money. I spent all my summer job cash on books and this fair. Hurrah.

On the bright side, the charm is really neat!

The whole “post every other day” thing didn’t quite work out. But I’ll do my best to see you in a day and a half!

 

Shortie Post

Well, the 25th was ANZAC Day. I don’t know if you guys know about it, but it’s basically where Australians give our thanks to the soldiers who fought for us to give us such a wonderful, peaceful society. #lestweforget

And then on the 26th, George Jones (apparently the king of country music) died, Dad celebrated his 69th birthday, I passed my test of application to my dream school and have scheduled an interview, and Uncle Francis (whom I’ve apparently met but cannot remember for the life of me) died while on the toilet.

And today, the 27th, Dad has decided to do a 10km run to prove that at 69 he is still fit and strong. And possibly to get rid of some bad feelings about his brother Francis dying. Me and my mum are giving him moral support, though, because 10km is a long way for a 69yo. I run the first and last 2.5km with him, while Mum runs the middle 5km, and I’ve just finished my first 2.5km. I’m now extremely bored and decided to write a short post about nothing particular.

And, Rainfall and Sbcpup, don’t stop writing your NaNo novels!

Well, that’s all from me.

 

FML

Argh, poo homework!

I get a holiday because it’s ANZAC day today, but I have spent hours on homework and still have this monstrosity:

 

*is not looking forward to next year’s homework*

 

Success!

Yes! I’ve finally reached 50k words, but I think the finish line is about 10-20k away. Ugh.

Oh well. I find that I write lots during class, and today I have five periods where typing madly on a laptop isn’t suspicious because everyone else is doing the same thing. And the other three periods are Art. Today is a great day! (Although I did just have three hours of sleep last night because I was trying to find somewhere to stream Elementary’s pilot – and I was unsuccessful – so I’m going to be acting weirder than usual today.)

Anyway, what else can I tell you…?

Lucid dreaming isn’t going well. I keep forgetting to do reality checks, and this morning I remembered none of my dreams. For all I knew, I could have been lucid dreaming the whole night. However, this whole dreaming business has given me a great idea for my July novel.

I’ve decided to do the July Camp, because I’m really only missing 4 days of writing because of France.

Oh, France!! I’m so excited! I know five swear words in French now

Now I have nothing to type, so… bye.

 

Excuses, Excuses

Ok, so in the next two weeks I’ve got a show (costuming for that show, too), two major projects, and lots of homework as my AP classes push towards completion so we can start to prepare for the AP exams!

That, combined with my regular procrastination, doesn’t leave me with much time, so I may not be posting for a while! (Not only because I’m busy, but because these things will probably eat my life and I most likely won’t have much to post about ^^”)  I might hang out on the Chat just because I get bored while working on homework or something, but for the most part if I’m not on it’s not because I’ve left or anything!! I love you guys and I feel bad every time I totally clock out ^^” So I’m not going to do that this time!!

But yes anyway I hope you guys had a good 4/13! And I hope you have a good REST OF FOREVER. In case I never come back (it’s entirely plausible). But I hopefully will!

OK so this post turned into a rambling I can’t even remember what the point was ok bye.

 

Lucid Dreaming…

…and a holiday wrap-up! What did I do these past two weeks of school holidays?

I slept!

I listened to brainwaves!

I went to Kings Cross and George Street in Sydney!

I got a hairbrush (again)!

I composed some songs and neglected them!

I wrote 37k words of crud!

I did no homework and I’m currently thinking of doing it on Monday on the bus!

I was cruel to animals (but making guinea pigs dance is just so cute)!

I wasted time!

I thought about stopping my procrastination but decided to do it later!

I got interested in lucid dreaming!

That’s about it. SO, to the second part of my post, I really want to try lucid dreaming! My fascination was born when I read a book about a lucid dreamer, and so I looked it up and became really interested. Some are born with the ability to lucid dream, but most learn to. Now then, what exactly is lucid dreaming? According to Wikipedia:

“A lucid dream is any dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. ^[...] In a lucid dream, the dreamer can exert some degree of control over their participation within the dream or be able to manipulate their imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can be realistic and vivid.”

So if you learned to lucid dream, you could basically do whatever you want and control everything. I began looking up how to lucid dream, and it seems like it requires a lot of practice, but I’m up for it. Will you guys join me in my quest to lucid dream? It would be cool if you did, and super cool when I hear about the first person to successfully lucid dream.

It just sounds so awesome. You can do whatever you want. You’ll be wandering around in your own subconscious!

Anyway, to do it, you’ve got to keep trying. You need to make new habits – like doing reality checks, writing in a dream journal, telling yourself you’ll lucid dream before you fall asleep…

It can all be found here. Thanks, wikihow.

How’s my progress? Hmm. Well, I wrote one of my dreams in a dream journal, and asked myself while I was eating breakfast if I’m actually dreaming.

Am I dreaming?

Doubt it. I don’t think my subconscious knows how to type like this.

Must continue writing novel now.

Do I have five fingers?

*checks* All good.

P.S. If you want to try lucid dreaming, try listening to Theta Binaural Waves on YouTube (3 to 8hz, I think).

 

six parts of insanity

AKA six parts that are too long.

Also, quick grammar question! Which one is correct?

“Look at you, your hair is a mess –“ along with the rest of my life, “—and you wore that shirt yesterday.”

“Look at you, your hair is a mess,“ — along with the rest of my life — “and you wore that shirt yesterday.”

I have a feeling it’s the latter, but I’m too lazy to Google it.

 

Sandwiches, Daring Tasks and Padding

Sorry for the mini-hiatus (so mini you probably didn’t notice it was a hiatus); I went to Sydney for five days with my dad, where he got really cheap laser surgery. So now he doesn’t need glasses, and he looks really old and strange – but then, at 69 years old, who wouldn’t look old and strange?

I think the worst part was the three days we went to Kings Cross, the sin capital of Australia (or, as I like to call it, the place where people go to get bashed up on the streets for no apparent reason). I was really scared to go outside because about 30% of the people there are mentally ill and shout at each other and scream “I HATE MEAT!” while flicking pork out of their sandwiches. Sadly, I had to go outside because Dad was required to remain semi-comatose for the first few days after the surgery, and he didn’t want to pay for room service, so I had to walk to Coles and buy sandwiches (skillfully avoiding the mental people).

And then at night, you could hear them partying outside until dawn, and when you woke up in the middle of the night you’d look outside and see paper plates and beer bottles all over the pathways. The poor people in fluoro green vests had to clean every morning.

Anyway, time to ramble.

So, I’ve surprised myself by the amount I’ve written for my novel. As of this minute, I’ve written 37655 words in 11 days, which is amazing and totally unexpected. The problem is, I think my plot is going by really slowly. See, I did a detailed plan and everything, and I imagined it to move by quite fast.

37665 words later and Prince Matthew still hasn’t been given the daring and life-threatening tasks to save his precious kingdom! COME ON! wHY IS EVERYTHING SO SLOW?

Well, I suppose it’s not all bad. I might have an actually acceptable novel this time round, with an actual plot rather than a vague idea and tons of padding and irrelevant events. (coughthesweetestwindcough) And I think the novel’s word length might surpass that of 60k. Now that would be exciting! And I’m pretty sure that as long as I reach 50k before the end of April (which seemse very likely), I still win, even if I’m still working on the novel after April.

I hope.

Also, I haven’t brushed my hair for more than a week, because I lost my brush and can’t be stuffed to get a new one.

Blah.

Congratulations for reading through all that rubbish. If you simply skipped to the end, congratulations on your common sense.

~Nicola

 

For those..

Who remember Jes, it’s her (and her brother’s!) birthday today!

 

Happy birthday Jes! And Toast!

 

Welp.

I think I have officially spent too much time watching the X-Files.

Today I got a “birthday gift” in the mail from some company I don’t even know and never filled out anything for!

Anyway, they sent me one of their “state-of-the-art shaving razors” that “lathers as you shave” ??

It’s really dorky looking:

There’s absolutely NO WAY I’m going to use this thing!! It could be an assassination attempt–maybe the blades are poisoned? Or maybe they’ll just shoot out of the razor and hurl with deadly velocity towards an artery!

But anyway the box told me not to open one end… OF COURSE THAT’S THE END I’M GOING TO OPEN!!

The other one might be rigged with some kind of tracking or timing device! Who knows, it might have sent out a brain-washing radio wave!

So yeah long story short I need to stop watching X-Files.

(But not before I bury this thing under 5 miles of dirt so it can never hurt anyone)

What’s the sketchiest thing you’ve ever gotten in the mail?

 

Victory Lap!!

As of two nights ago…

I HAVE FINISHED MY ILLUSTRATIONS!!

So now I can take mORE drawing assignments (and I promise I’ll actually do them this time)!!

I’ve been on a kind of princess dress obsession kick, so I wanted to draw everyone their own custom princess dress!!

My friends and I had some fun with it when we made a SUPER COMPLEX princess dress generator/M.A.S.H.-type game. And then the fun was trying to make what we got look good!

Anyway, it would help me if you would fill out the (g) items in this form, and there are more options if you want to get really specific!

Read More because of the long form!