I’m sure that one of these days I’ll break down and get a website or something, but as I do not want a free one and am a broke college student, that route is not currently an option.
In the meantime, I’ve added a few (ie two) new pages to the non-blog section of the blog. The first covers past projects and the second covers current projects, so that bored and interested parties might be able to learn a little bit more about my writing. Both pages will be permanently accessible through the menu on the left-hand side of your screen (under the “About Anna” page which is directly beneath the sultry grad-day photo of yours truly).
The best part of either page really must be the little banners. Actually, they’re the reason why I decided to do the listings in the first place. I got on a bit of a paint.NET binge and decided that it’d only be really pathetic if I couldn’t say that they had some purpose. Purpose is born!
But you shouldn’t be reading over my random projects right now; you should be heading to the theater to watch Half Blood Prince along with everyone else in the world. I’ll be going that direction myself in the next couple of hours, so just pretend that we’re theater buddies. But I warn you: I scare easily. Yeah, I’m totally that annoying viewer in the back of the audience who jumps and gasps when they aren’t supposed to, and then acts as if it’s the result of a nervous condition. I can’t help it if I spasm! Ask my doctor!
Then tomorrow I’m off to spend some time with my grandmother again. I don’t know how long I’ll be there—I’m assuming till at least Friday, but it may turn into a shorter stay than expected. But my work-in-progress needs a kick-start so we’ll see.
In the meantime, while you’re pining away for me like I tell myself you will be, watch that movie and give me your thoughts. And then read my project summaries and tell me how silly I am. Mind-reading squirrels…? Seriously, Anna? Yes, seriously. It’s a nervous condition. Ask my doctor.
It’s been a while since I last posted, but for good reason. I’ve found that prohibiting myself from getting online does wonders for my production capacity. And since I’m too addicted to Facebook and email to let myself just switch off wi-fi, it seems that I have to physically remove myself from striking range of the series of tubes. I swear they have vacuum power.
So when my grandmother asked me to come stay with her for a few days to help around the house, I knew that I should begin turning out my next project in another self-sustained writing retreat. I had planned to start July 10th, since that’s the day I planned to return my other manuscript to NY, but starting early wasn’t a bad idea, if I had the time. I told myself that I needed to hit 15,000 words by the end of the week, at a pace of about 3,000 words a day. I also told myself that I’d probably get distracted and never manage it.
So what did I manage by the end of my stay?
26,500 words. That’s right. I amaze myself sometimes.
Getting out the first draft, in all its rough and tumble glory, is always my favorite part of writing, and I’m really enjoying the beginnings of this book. I’ve put it on hold since Saturday, when I came home, because I need to clean up the draft of Grim before sending it out later this week, but hopefully I’ll be able to pick this draft up and get back to work again without too much trouble.
AND the batch of books that I ordered from Amazon came in while I was away, so now I have plenty of reading material. Considering I still have books on loan from a friend, I think that I’ll be set for the next few weeks. Which is good, because I really don’t need to spend any more money.
That’s the only update on my end, but since today is MJ’s memorial service, I guess that I should leave you with a video.
“If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.”
-Michael Jackson, King of Pop
“Don’t get it right; just get it written” is a sentiment that I have championed for ages, and yet, deep down, I’ve never been able to commit to it myself. This is poor policy, I know, and is coming back to get me.
I’ve pseudo-transformed my week-long visit to Colorado Springs into a mini writing workshop i.e. “I only know one person here and should give her enough space that she doesn’t kick me out to sleep in the hall”. Besides, my creative writing class this semester is, more likely than not, going to be demanding. It is in my nature to at least attempt to rise to the challenge.
Thus far, these attempts have left me sentencing five or six starters to my “In Progress” folder, which is a deviously titled album that really contains a short story graveyard. It’s where characters and settings go to die when I can’t think of anything else to do with them, and one day, I’m sure, they’ll all rise up as story zombies to eat my internal organs. Or at least their personal metaphors (heart of ice, balloon for a head…).
I will try to take the day in this cute little coffee shop to actually finish a short story. It’ll probably be the first one I’ve completed in six months. And then I will celebrate by writing another, because I’m sure to hate the first.
But maybe that’s not important. Don’t get it right; get it written.
Hello! My name is Anna W. Waggener and I'm an author of Young Adult Fantasy and other well-intentioned lies. To learn about me, please feel free to read along. And comment! I love comments.
I’m sure that one of these days I’ll break down and get a website or something, but as I do not want a free one and am a broke college student, that route is not currently an option.
It’s been a while since I last posted, but for good reason. I’ve found that prohibiting myself from getting online does wonders for my production capacity. And since I’m too addicted to Facebook and email to let myself just switch off wi-fi, it seems that I have to physically remove myself from striking range of the series of tubes. I swear they have vacuum power.
“Don’t get it right; just get it written” is a sentiment that I have championed for ages, and yet, deep down, I’ve never been able to commit to it myself. This is poor policy, I know, and is coming back to get me.
