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I WON!

Hi, everyone! I attempted to write a novel in a month and I won in the first try! Here is the proof:

Congrats to everyone who won and if you “lost” remember that the real prize of NaNo and its sister Camp is your novel that you worked hard to create!

In the meantime you’re welcome to visit my newest blog, which is where I post my stories. I will post my Camp novel there shortly. Come by and say hi!

Camp NaNoWriMo Participants

To my surprise and delight I discovered that I didn’t have to wait until November to enter a prestigious writing competition. I was driving myself mad with the waiting because I’d essentially finished plotting and making character profiles and I had nothing to stimulate me until then.
Fortunately I discovered Camp NaNoWriMo. I was relieved because I don’t much to do in August other than attending one class in one day for four days of the week and piano lessons. The writing bug has bitten me again and I’ve been writing at any chance that I can, including during seminars and classes. Now I have something to test my writing abilities.
Of course I am aiming to win but I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. There is always November and next year. I have plenty of story ideas (though they don’t have the potential to be turned into novels) to keep me busy. I’ve only told a few people of my plans for August so that I won’t be pressured by other people asking how I’m doing with my novel.
Below is the book and pen that I plan to use. The book is of A4 size, has 200 pages and has silky paper. The paper is lined with thin grey lines spaced at 8 mm. There are thirty lines per page and the book is stitch-bound. My mum bought it for me at the mall just when I was getting into pretty notebooks. The pen is Standard B-Gel with a 0.7 tip. I chose black ink because I’m using blue ink for my journal at the moment.
To August’s participants, good luck! Don’t worry about much. Just strive to get the words out. Happy camping!

Trying to Make It

I think that I’m pushing myself too-hard to draft my blog posts by hand. I have a notebook that I dedicated solely for blog posts. But I’m not into blogging as yet and so writing posts is difficult for me at the moment, especially as they only take up three pages maximum.

Please bear with me as I struggle to build this blog. I feel that everyone should be proud of their strange habits. Stationery addicts shouldn’t be ashamed of sharing their love for the newest products. I’m only a blogger among the millions, and I may not be the greatest, but I want to share my love for stationery to the world.

 

Collection

Here are photos of what my notebook collection looks like (though the books are arranged differently now):

And this is what my pen collection looks like:

What do you think, Nifty?

Journalling Habits

I’m amazed at how powerful journalling is constantly. It’s the friend that will never turn its back on you. It’s the confidante that you can rely on to tell anything. It’s the thing that keeps you grounded and level-headed.
My journal, Catie, which I started in 16 April 2011, has proved to be invaluable in my life. Since I started journalling honestly in her I feel that my life is more-balanced and controlled. She helps me to see things as they really are. I cannot imagine what life would be like without her now. Occasionally I wonder how I will have enough material to keep writing but then an outpour of ideas comes flooding in, renewing my faith in journalling.
I’m now on my fifth journal, which is a binder that holds 200 sheets of B5-sized lined paper (the rings are prying apart). I’m on page 64 and estimate that I will finish it in a couple of months. I number each page and label every corner with the date (this has helped me enormously – thanks, Kristin of Journaling Saves!). I also mark each book with the dates that I kept them. I set myself the challenge of using only one pen for the entire journal, which is a blue gel pen with bold ink (review will be up soon).
Do you journal? What weird habits do you do in your notebooks?

Resume

Apparently the best way to re-start a dead blog would be to continue posting as if nothing had ever happened. But that doesn’t seem to be ethical. So I will apologise for the lack of posts because I ran out of material to discuss.

I promise to try to find new things to talk about on this blog. Even if you don’t think that you will have regular visitors, someone will find your posts interesting enough to follow you. That should be encouraged by posting consistently.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this article and special thanks to those who check back regularly.

NaNoWriMo 2012 – Update

I have written complete profiles for the characters of my NaNo novel, including their favourite foods, drinks and colours. They might not be relevant to the story but I think that it’s important to know your characters’ traits inside and outside, especially when writing for a crazy event such as NaNo where you are under time and word constraints.
I’ve decided to use loose-leaf folio paper to write my novel in. This is so I don’t have to worry about running out of or wasting paper because of the pre-set number of pages. I may add more pages as appropriate. I have designed the cover of the makeshift novel and written the dedication as well. I keep the novel in my folder that I take to school every day.
The working title of my novel is “Friendships”. This is the first word of the entire title. The story is based on the plot of the fan fiction that I wrote several years ago. I have yet to fix the tiny holes but will do so before November.
How is your preparation for NaNoWriMo going? And, if you aren’t participating, what’s keeping you from it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.