CarsonFaircloth
2 months ago

@Aneloquentleaf 

I've recently been dealing with the argument of Travel First, or College? A lot of the time people dream of traveling, but after college comes work, and after work comes life, and no one (or very few) hardly seems to actually go with their teenage dream of seeing the world. But if you skive off on school to travel for a year, two years, three years...your scholarships are void, and all of that hard high school work seems pointless. It's been quite a new wrench in plans I'd always thought I had worked out. >.<

NaNo didn't halt my writing, but then again, I finished my novel (I'd already been 20,000 words into it when NaNo started, so I wrote to 70,000 words for the competition) and only had to edit, which I finished after a month or two. But at least you haven't run into any major plot changes; in my first novel, those hit me at every turn, and it resulted in quite the disaster whirlwind for a first novel. XD It was confusing, and luckily, those bursts of idiotic inspiration come less and less in the middle of my work. Let me know when you finish it, though! I'd love to check some of it out!

We just finished midterms, so luckily I now only have to dread one English EOC, as I should be exempt from my finals with my grades and lack of missed days, which is a small relief. Summer really couldn't come soon enough; I'm always a completely different person in the summer, with no grades or sports or deadlines to stress about. It's wonderful. XD

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Aneloquentleaf
2 months ago

@CarsonFaircloth Yeah, I definitely want to get out and see the world, if possible, once I get out of school. Past that, though-- where I'll end up settling down, I have no idea. College itself seems far away still o.O

I haven't made that much progress with my novel since NaNo, sad enough as it is :P. Once November finished, I took a writing hiatus, then I returned to writing bits and pieces of various stories/poems that came to mind, and only recently did I finally get back to the book itself *sighs*. But no, no major plot changes as of now - the biggest editing move I've done on it was to delete the last thousand words or so from what I had written in November, because I remember that particular part was literally just some words I had thrown up to finally finish my word count XD. And that's okay, I'm the same way too, wanting to know how other writers 'do their thing' ^_^

Yeah, the last quarter just started this week, and I can already tell that the teachers are starting to crank the work up more in attempt to catch up >.< Summer bring can't come too soon!

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CarsonFaircloth
2 months ago

@Aneloquentleaf 

Same here. The thought of not living in America (permanently, I mean; I really want to see a good bit of the world before I settle) is odd, but at the same time, if I'm happy somewhere else, I'll stay. I suppose, having hardly been out of the country, I wouldn't know if something better is out there, though the patriot in me disagrees. XD

Oh, editing. I enjoy some bits, and hate others---the hate mostly comes from the scenes that I want to chop out entirely, which means a lot of re-writing and changing about in the rest of the novel. >.< But how far along are you? Made any major plot changes yet, even if you haven't gotten a chance to edit? (Sorry, I get curious on the habits and inner workings of other writers.)

And I feel your pain. Our teachers usually just go along with the flow, considering our midterms are determined by them, so they can always change things up if we haven't reached the goal they'd set. But when the end of the year comes around and EOC's loom closer...well, the classes with the EOC's tend to be put under lock down as the teachers begin to panic. Our English teacher, after almost an entire year spent on reading short stories and taking 150+ question tests, is just now beginning to focus on EOC practice, complaining that we're behind. -_- 

I wish summer break would hurry!

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Aneloquentleaf
2 months ago

@CarsonFaircloth Yeah, I honestly have no idea where I'll end up settling (or rather, where I'll /want/ to end up settling). Perhaps somewhere in the South, maybe New England, possibly the West/Midwest---for all I know, the other side of the world! :o

As tempting as going back to edit may seem, I always tell myself not to take a bite from that apple XD. I've hardly had a chance to write much recently, though, since everything's gotten much busier. I just started rowing last week, so I usually don't get home until 7 and then the teachers are starting to do the wow-it's-near-the-end-of-the-year-we-need-to-catch-these-students-up cramming time :P

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CarsonFaircloth
2 months ago

@Aneloquentleaf 

Too many ideas is my problem. And I definitely want to leave Tennessee as well, though I might want to return one day with a family of my own, after I've seen my share of the country/world. ^_^

I never let myself look back on what I've written unless I've finished the book. Otherwise...well, as you said, I'd never make it past the editing. You always want to change things, and eventually, you'll change something that merits starting over completely. You'd go mad if you edited as you go; I did that once, and it took me forever to get anywhere, and I hated the result in the end. >.<

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Aneloquentleaf
2 months ago

@CarsonFaircloth Yeah. I have little idea (or rather, too many ideas) of what I want to do, or even where to go... Though I would like to get out of the South, or at least Tennessee. And then there's always the money thing :P

And awesome! Getting a literary agent is hard to do when you're under eighteen, but I wish you the best of luck! Hopefully there'll be someone out there willing to take a look at your amazing book :D

As for me, actually, I have! Or rather, continuing on with my NaNoWriMo novel. Once November was done, I stopped working on it for a while---actually, only recently have I started it up again >.< . I'm not allowing myself to look back on what I had written, though, or else I'd never make it past the editing haha

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CarsonFaircloth
2 months ago

@Aneloquentleaf 

I haven't been on quite as much, either, especially on this site. Mostly I check in on TI, but that's about it for my internet usage now.

Ugh, I know. Ever since we took the ACT Plan test I've been getting mail and emails from all sorts of colleges, which doesn't help anything in making a decision. I still have no idea where I'm going, as it mostly depends on what I want to do, which I've changed my mind on a million times. I suppose you just don't know until you have to decide.

Ah, yes. I actually completed Powerless (I recently finished editing it as well) and am currently in the process of searching for a literary agent, which takes a dreadfully long time. My other works are more or less on hold, since I'm trying to put everything into finding an agent. I figured I should take everything down while I do this, just to be safe, but things are going well!

How have your works been? Started any novels?

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Aneloquentleaf
2 months ago

@CarsonFaircloth Once again, I am terrible >.< . I just never check Wattpad. I've been scaling back my general Internet usage, actually :P

Yeah, being a psychiatrist might be cool ^_^. I keep going back and forth. Medical, literary, musical... I just don't know. One on hand, people tell me that I should at least have a general idea of what I want to do, and on the other, people insist that there's no need to worry. I'm not putting too much stress or anything on it (I've got other things to think about :P ), but recently I've been getting a TON of college mail/email, so it's hard not to have it on my mind to some extent...

Anyway, I noticed you took down your works a while ago-- how are they going? I never got the chance to read Mechanism, but I did read parts of Powerless and what had been up-to-date with Red when I used to get on here ^_^

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CarsonFaircloth
4 months ago

@Aneloquentleaf 

Eh, I forget about this site sometimes, especially who I've sent messages to. It gets confusing. XD

Ugh. Blood pressure...another weakness of mine. I hate that part of a doctor's visit. >.< I know. I'm pitiful...but at least I'm not confused and saying I want to be a doctor. :P

And I know...it's been raining all day. I'm frustrated; it's January, not April! I want snow. -_-

...ew. I would not be able to have his job. XD I'm leaning more toward being a psychiatrist, though I know that would involve medical school and diagnosing illnesses, so I'm just not sure. If not, an editor or agent should be in my future. But I have heard of a radiologist before...I just never understood what it meant. My dad's job is one of those that's hard to explain as well. I try, but people never really get it. I don't even know, either. 

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Aneloquentleaf
4 months ago

@CarsonFaircloth Oh goodness...so sorry it took my so long to reply! I guess I thought you still hadn't replied to my last message and then I kinda forgot until now XD. But I'm back!

Anyway, I have a friend who's kind of like that---last year in biology she started feeling nauseated even when the teacher was just talking about how to take blood pressure...and she actually wants to become a doctor someday!

Haha hopefully the cold has killed off your bugs by now...though, for me at least, it hasn't been cold at all. As I'm typing this, it's raining (when it SHOULD be snowing!)

Yup, he's an interventional radiologist, which is kinda hard to explain...even I don't know completely what he does XD. Basically he does various procedures as well as looks at CT scans/ultrasounds/PET scans/et cetera

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