Writing Advice

So, I've been asked enough times for writing advice that I feel not so arrogant in posting some here. Especially since, now that people are starting to read Volume One, blogging about Volume Two would be very spoiler-ish, which apparently people get very heated about. Personally, I like spoilers. I mean, I watched Lost from season 6 (which I'm still getting yelled at about). But that doesn't really have anything to do with this post >_>
Here's my number one piece of advice, the most important thing you need to be a writer: Confidence.
Haruki Murakami, my favorite author, has been quoted saying that the most important thing you need is talent. I mean, I guess that's important. Not as important as confidence, though. Without confidence, even if you're brilliant otherwise, you're never going to convince anyone to read your story. No one will believe it. You've got to take your plot and characters and stick to them. You have to believe in them. Okay, I know that sounds really corny. But it's true. You can write something absolutely absurd, and your readers will believe you and be on board with you as long as you have confidence. Besides, second guessing yourself means you'll never write past the first page of your story, you'll feel so bad about it. Trust me, this is how I felt when I first started writing Ishiki. But then I said, screw it, this is my story, I've just got to get words down.
Which leads me to the second most important part of writing: Editing.
Lucky for me, I have the ability to take writing workshops at school that taught me how to edit by giving me tons of my classmates' stories to work with. But you can do something like this with friends or online. Fictionpress.com is a particularly good site. Editing other people's work makes you more aware of mistakes you might make in your own. Always a good thing.
The best way to edit, in my opinion, is to read your story out loud to yourself. That's when you see little errors, but you can also control the flow of the piece better. Reading aloud takes a lot of time (I know, this is how I edited Ishiki) but it's WORTH IT! Just try it. Just one time. You'll see what I mean.
Another tip, use Microsoft's spell/grammar check, but not Mac's. Mac's sucks. It doesn't fix anything and is absolutely worthless. And I'm not just saying this because 'I'm a PC', however much I love my netbook.
Well, I hope this has been some helpful advice. I'll post more when I think of them. But for now, the new episode of True Blood is calling :)

Ishiki Art and..... Discounts?!?!?

Okay, so first of all, I want to make the announcement that Amazon.com has discounted my book to 30% off, which makes my book about $10! TEN DOLLARS! That's mad cheap, right? So now there are no excuses. You've just got to buy it. Buy it with your school books and get super saver shipping. I mean, Ishiki is cheaper than a NYC movie ticket now! Apparently, Amazon does this to all of their books. I just found out yesterday. I'm pretty excited about it, as you can tell.
I started Volume Two this week. I've been going to Starbucks with one of my good friends who is writing a book too. I really want to put up the six or so pages I have so far, but it's all spoiler-y and I know some of you haven't finished the book yet.
Now, something I've wanted to do for a while is post up some character artwork I've drawn over the years. Most of these were done two years ago. And hey, I never said I was a good artist. I'm not. I can only draw cute sorts of things. If any of you talented people want to sketch up some of my characters, send it to me at ishiki@gmail.com because I really do want to see my characters drawn well lol.
Well, I set up a DeviantArt account to post my sketches. Check it out:
tk-anez.deviantart.com

New Yorker...?

So, I've submitted that fly story to the New Yorker. I'll hear back from them within three months. And if that doesn't work, maybe I'll submit it to other literary magazines. Speaking of which, I'm going to submit a poem I wrote last year to a NYC poetry magazine. I'm pretty terrible at poetry, but I'm proud of this one. Maybe it'll make it. How cool would that be?
Another project I'm working on is an autobiographical essay for Glamour magazine's annual competition. I haven't started it yet, but I have a title and some ideas. I think I'm going to write about how I wound up writing the book even though I had a lot of setbacks, some of which I've written about here. But I might take it a step further and talk about some stuff that happened at the end of high school and beginning of college that threw me off writing in the first place. I know I'm being vague, but I don't just want to come out with it all right now.
I wish that I could make more of my writing public on the internet. Although if I did that, I would be able to get anything published because of the conflict. And anything I'm proud of, I try to get published. So there you have it. If my stuff gets rejected, though, I'll probably put it up here. I mean, the whole point of writing is to get people to read it! At least, that's my point.

Amazon!!!

Ishiki is now available on amazon.com Here's the link: http://amzn.to/9NtuRi

Ishiki (Consciousness) by T.K. Anez

I'll update more soon.

ISHIKI IS ON SALE NOW!!!

https://www.createspace.com/3464426
Ishiki is on sale!! Buy it here: https://www.createspace.com/3464426
Thank you for your support! <3
Ishiki will be available on amazon.com and Amazon Kindle within two weeks!
But preferably, buy it from my e-store https://www.createspace.com/3464426 It makes everything much easier for me.
Thank you again!
I can't believe this is really happening!
I love you all!
TK

One More Day!!!!!!

Hey everyone!
Today is a great day. Well, it's my last day before I officially become a published author, which has been my dream since forever. Tomorrow, Ishiki (Consciousness) - Volume One goes on sale via amazon.com and my own e-store (I will give out the link tomorrow). Not only that, but I will be selling the book for the Amazon Kindle as well. That will happen as early as tonight. Again, I'll let you all know (and link you) when it's official. You might want to keep up with my official Twitter page, www.twitter.com/realtkanez , for faster details. Today, I've been setting up my accounts for royalty payments and touching up all the last bits through my publisher. After being on the phone with both my parents, going back and forth about all the financial stuff, it finally all feels real. We've done it. This is it.
Thank you :)

The Bad News Bug

So I got The Bad News Bug (A True Story) workshopped today and.... Everyone liked it :D I'm going to try to get it published, so I can't post the whole this here, but I will post some. Enjoy!

The Bad News Bug
(A True Story)

The girl in the baggy Neil Young t-shirt wakes up, but she doesn’t seem too happy about it. How do I know that the man on her shirt is Neil Young, you ask? I might be just a little fly, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t read. Besides, when you crash into a Neil Young poster enough times, thinking that reflection in the glass is another fly that can help you escape, you learn who the guy is.
Anyway, the girl wakes up because that tall boy is screaming. He’s in his sleeping boxers -- the bright green ones that hurt all ten of my eyes when I look at them. In one of his hands, he’s got a can of something labeled ‘LYSOL.’ What’s LYSOL? The can is bright orange, and it hurts my eyes like the boy’s sleeping boxers do. In his other hand, there’s a wad of tissues. The tall boy looks like he is ready for war or something. But I don’t see a fly swatter anywhere around, so I assume that he is not waging war against me. Thank goodness.


The story is six pages long.. That's just a bit because I don't want to get plagiarized or have issues with future publishing. What do you think?

I Just Want To Talk About Ishiki

Let's see. It's Sunday. So I guess that makes it FOUR DAYS until Ishiki goes on sale :D I am really excited, but thinking about all of this business stuff is making me exhausted. Pricing, promoting, gathering bank and tax information, getting the right spine width, page color, small misprints from the last proof, etc. That's all I can think of. Of course, I'm not being ungrateful. I'm so happy Ishiki is getting published. But now I'm anxious to get to the part I've always dreamed of. No, not my dream of getting a movie deal :P But I'm anxious to hear what people have to say about the story. FP is allowing me to get some feedback, but not as much as I want since the whole story isn't up there. I just want to talk about Ishiki (not finance or marketing). Who is your favorite character? What do you think will happen next? What is your favorite part? How bad do you want to kill Akira yourself? (<- okay, maybe that one's just for me) I want to talk about Ishiki.
So talk to me about it. ishiki@gmail.com

And for those of you who expressed interest in the fly story... Maybe I'll put some up when I'm on my other computer :D It gets workshopped tomorrow! Wish me luck '~'

Going Too Far

So I have this bad habit of taking things too far, and being over-ambitious. Which would make you think I was a straight-A student and completely put-together, but that's not me. I focus on my writing like crazy, and am pretty chill about everything else. So any writing, editing, promoting, proofing, etc. drives me to exhaustion. I just get so excited about it that I'll work on it 24/7. Literally. I stay up until the middle of the night and wake up early in the morning (when I'm working, I mean... otherwise I'm known to sleep until noon :P) And it works for a while, and I get things done. But slowly I begin to get exhausted. Like the kind of exhaustion that makes you burst into tears in the middle of the day for no reason or the kind that makes you see spots whenever you move. Okay, that sounds a bit dramatic. But what I'm trying to say is that I drive myself into the ground, knowing from the start that I'm going to do it.
So I had the idea that for my creative writing class, I wouldn't submit a chapter of Ishiki to get workshopped. It's a crazy idea for three reasons. The first is that I take creative writing classes specifically to get feedback on Ishiki. Secondly, I have never written a short story before (only novels). And the last reason has to do with the subject matter of the short story I wrote.
It's told from the point of view of a fly. Not just any fly, but the fly that lived in 914 Laf with me and Sam last winter for four days. The one he named 'the bad news bug.' And if you know me personally, you have definitely heard the story of the bad news bug.
So now you're thinking, okay, it's a bit weird, but not SO weird. You're wrong. Because as I was writing this, I decided to put a love triangle into the piece. Yes, love triangle. The fly falls in love with me, so he tries to kill Sam (which is subsequently his biggest fear, and what's funny is that Sam has been having a gnat problem in his apartment today... ironic) But in the end, I have to kill the fly. And it's all tragic and stuff. Or it would be... if it weren't about a fly. I thought this was a GENIUS idea when I first started writing it, but now I'm having second thoughts. I'm kind of embarrassed. But this class is so damn boring, I guess this will spice things up. Besides, I'm getting workshopped on the same day as Nadia, who also wrote an insane short story.
Maybe I'll post it up here after I edit it. I might actually submit it to the New Yorker just for kicks. Can you imagine if that gets picked up? I'll leave you all with that thought :)

Volume Two :)

Work on Volume Two of Ishiki started the other day. I was going crazy without writing, so I started even though I still have to go through my proof and make Volume One available for sale. Now I'm into Joey's second year, starting with chapter 14, The Sleeping Giant.
Who is the sleeping giant? He is the most important part of volume two, just like the spectre was in volume one. But who exactly is he? Well, that's a secret! I can't give everything away, can I?
I was really close to naming the chapter Like a Sleeping Giant, from some Eminem lyrics, but I decided against it. It was because the transition from volumes one and two had chapters that went like this:
end of volume one: Chapter 12 - The Monster
transition: Chapter 13 - The Spectre
start of volume two: Chapter 14 - The Sleeping Giant
These are the three major players in the book that take Joey from poor kid from the Yukina Kido Houses to what he becomes at the end of the book. The Monster refers to Mark Masterson, The Spectre is self-explanatory, and The Sleeping Giant.....
Anyway, here's a preview of Volume Two, just some chapter titles that I've already written or am thinking about:

The Sleeping Giant
Same Song and Dance
What Really Happened
Who Killed Joseph Roberts
The Scars of Dreams

It's strange to have titles already picked out, since volume one everything was titled way after I finished the chapter. I hope volume two comes out good, because it's gonna be different than volume one. Everything's gonna get way darker, less structured, more risky for a YA novel. At least, that's what I have planned. You never know until it's in print! :)

Happy July First!!!

Well, there it is! My published book :) This is just the proof copy, so it's not for sale yet. Sam designed the cover and laid out the book :)
I think it's very special that I get this book on July First.
July 1st, 2004: I started writing my first book, The Underdogs
July 1st, 2005: I started writing my second book, Kaeritai
July 1st, 2010: I publish Ishiki (Consciousness) - Volume One , and start working on Volume 2
:)

Thanks to everyone who has supported me through this process <3

Ishiki, Part One

The title of this post might as well be, my boyfriend saved my book. Here I was going nuts about the June 30th print copy deadline, thinking that I was never going to be able to finish the book in time. And I don't know how we even got to this, but my boyfriend and I came up with the idea that the book would be split in two parts. Not officially, but for now it will be. Because I wouldn't be able to have a complete, well edited book by the thirtieth. So since I have more than half done, I'm going to edit up to Chapter 13 (the halfway mark) really well, and have that made into a book so I don't waste my NaNo win. It's still gonna be a lot of work, but at least it's manageable work rather than killing myself and rushing through the end. Also, this way I can show the book around without worrying about anyone getting (stealing) the full story. Not that any of my friends or family would do that, but I still get paranoid about the possibility of anyone seeing the book :x So you get to the climax in Part One, and then it's like "I want you to get published so I can read the end!!" I hope :P
But my favorite part about the idea is that this is how a lot of books in Japan are published, with two separate books. Kinda adds a whole other layer to Ishiki, I think! And, yeah, maybe it is a bit of a cop out. I won't hide my disappointment in myself for not having the whole book finished in time. But I have to be reasonable. This two-part idea makes a lot more sense. And Chapter 1 is fully edited, 2 and 3 are close to it already. Chapter 13 gets workshopped on Thursday. This is gonna be okay! :)

19 Days Left :O

Hi everyone :)
Long time, no posts. Lots of things have been going on. I've moved out of Chinatown, and I'm now in the East Village, which is so nice. I stopped working in the Starbucks because my apartment is much more convenient, and it's huge and I got a coffee maker and everything. It's been taking a bit to get used to.
I've got 19 days to the deadline for Ishiki, which is really scary. I feel like I still have a lot left to go, but I've never missed a deadline like this, so hopefully it'll all work out. I've come to a huge milestone with Chapter 13, and now I'm on to Joey's final year at Ketsumu.
I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I'm planning a sequel to Ishiki. It's all setting up now, and I'm planning on starting it right after the deadline for Ishiki, which I'll be editing too. The sequel's name is Kaeritai. And I think it's pretty funny that I'll start writing it on July 1rst, because that's when I started my first book from when I was 13.
Right now I'm trying to figure out chapter titles. I can't figure out what to name Chapter 4, because I'm not really too into the current title 'Love and Dreaming.' It represents the themes of the chapter, but it sounds too romantic for a first person story of a 13 year old boy.
This is what I have so far:

Ishiki
1. An In-Between Day
2. Mud Between My Toes
3. Akira
4. Love and Dreaming
5. Games
6. The Message With No Name
7. Expectations and Absenses
8. Up Against The Wall
9. Rivalries Resurrected
10. The Eiji Ward Carpentry Company
11. Shadowboxing With The Snowflakes
12. The Monster
13. The Spectre
14. The Sleeping Giant

The Monster, The Spectre, and The Sleeping Giant are the three main players that will bring about the end of the book. Those three titles are the ones I'm proudest of.

Akira gets workshopped today !

Chapter 3 is getting workshopped in class today, and I have to say that I'm not nervous at all. Maybe it's because I'm still riding the high from Sam fixing his stupid work problem, which I've been waiting for the past 4 months to happen. I've already got one critique for Akira that was emailed to me. It said that my 'writing is really improving,' which I find hilarious since I wrote chapters 2 and 3 literally back to back in the same week. Maybe it's just that I had more of a chance to edit this chapter before submitting it, whereas I had no time at all to edit Mud Between My Toes since I had a thousand midterms at the time.
Starbucks is pretty empty today. Well, relatively empty. There's still a ton of people, but there's no line around the store. It's probably because of the nice weather. It's 70 today, and it'll be 79 tomorrow. Everyone chooses to work in Washington Square Park (right across the street) instead of here, which works well for me because I'll have a space. I moved my chair three times today, and I think everyone thinks I'm nuts. But I have a couple of spots that work best for me, so I move closer to them until I can actually get them.
I can't wait to get published. Each day the dream just becomes clearer. I know that most people don't take me seriously, but I know that this is going to happen! Because I won't give up until it happens. I can practically feel a copy of the book in my hands when I think about it. I know that seems stupid. And maybe you think I'm stupid, too, but that's fine.
Today's a Gackt kind of day. I'm listening to Mars and thinking about writing The Underdogs back in 2004. Also,there's a little weiner dog carrying a bottle of SmartWater in its mouth across the street. Lol.

Rain rain rain...

It's flooding here :O Usually I love the rain for writing, and what it does to my hair (haha) but I'm kinda dreading the walk to the bus stop later tonight. It's nice while I'm inside though.
My new goal is to write 800-1200 words every day, which is about 2.5-4 pages standard format. I didn't want to push the goal too far like I did in November (1667 words a day) because that just encourages bad writing. So far this plan is working. And I'll be here all day, probably. I doubt anyone is going to come out in the rain to visit me, that would be nuts.
I'm getting closer to the end of Joey's first school year! I've got about two more events to write (I'll have to double check with my outline, which I stupidly left at home) and then it'll be his March break. And then he kills his father *spoiler alert!* and then it's his second year.
I've decided he'll only have two years of school, and leave before the third. That way I can write the sequel and have the freedom of decided whether he'll go to a new school, or wander. The sequel won't be told in his perspective, anyway. It'll be kind of a weird sequel, if all goes as planned. And I'm pretty excited about it, too. But one book at a time :P
Today is March 30, so that means that I've got exactly three months to finish the book '~' I remember this being much easier to do in high school. Guess I had a lot less work then. Although apart from a biology test, I don't have any more work until finals week, which is at the very end of April.
April's supposed to be a rainy month, right? Rain = good writing. Lol.
By the way, the retard crew just showed up at Starbucks, right behind me x_x

Today's Plans

Today I have to suck the life out of one of the greatest books I've read in a while, No Longer Human, for JapLit :( I'm so bad at writing papers. And honestly, I don't think there's any point in writing papers like this, because my views aren't insightful or helpful, and aren't going to teach you anything new about this book. I wish we could just have tests in this class instead. At least I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one in my class to feel this way.
Then I get to see my bffs :D And then I've gotta edit Chapter 3 of Ishiki for class, for Monday, send it out, re-edit, print it, pass it out. Chapter 3 was really fun to write, so I'm excited to work on it again. It's not gonna be like Chapter 2, which I had no time to edit because I was swamped with midterms. Even so, I know the douche in my class is going to have something to say with it. The ending of the chapter won't be 'grounding' to him, or maybe he'll be sad that my characters 'don't wanna be my friends.' Actually, I'm excited to hear what he has to say! Because I'll have more funny things to tape all over my wall :P
Well, that's for later. Right now it's blah blah blah Dazai Osamu blah blah blah ....

First Day Back!! :)

What a great day back at school/working! Everyone's complaining because it's raining but that's perfect writing weather, I think. I'm really excited to be back on schedule, waking up early and all. I'd been sleeping til like 12:30 every day during spring break :/
I've been reading all the Harry Potters over again, and I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I really like how she titles her chapters. They're all very specific, so when I read the table of contents I get really excited about what's to come. I'm trying to do that, too. The chapter I'm writing now has a specific title like that.
I'm not looking forward to creative writing tonight. I might get sick in class again.....because I'm allergic to bullshit!!!! :O
Just kiddingggg.. Prof Hood is so smart and insightful and definitely not racist at all. And she's sooooo open-minded about me writing young adult novels, too! She'd never say anything like, "Your school isn't Japanese enough. Where are the sliding screen doors and chopsticks?"

Table of Contents (so far...)

Just wanted to put this up. Titles are always changing though! I can't ever make up my mind :P Tell me what you think!

Ishiki (Consciousness)
1. An In-Between Day
2. Mud Between My Toes
3. Akira
4. Love and Dreaming
5. House Lights Go Low, Let The Games Begin
6. The Message With No Name
7. Expectations and Absenses
8. Up Against the Wall
9. Rivalries Resurrected
10. The Two of Us

Well, chapter 10 isn't done yet, so that chapter will probably be changed depending on where it goes :o I just like looking at the table of contents to see how far I've come, especially since each chapter averages 17 pages.

Starbucks is so empty!! :D

Since it's spring break, there's no one here. No lines, choice of any seat. Which is perfect. I'm sitting at one of the low tables by the window, next to four outlets (one for my laptop, and one for if I wanna play Pokemon, of course!!) And it's so nice out I can't believe it. My phone says it's 62 degrees, but I think it's definitely warmer than that. I'm warm outside even though I'm just wearing jeans and a button-down. Feel like I should have worn shorts or something.
Today's my first time writing again in about a week! Midterms + sinus infection kept me from writing :( But now I'm back! Sam even read the book!! It's the first time someone's read the whole thing. I was really nervous about showing it to him, but he said that he liked it :)
My creative writing class says my book is like Harry Potter. I was pretty pissed about it at first, but now I'm taking it as a compliment because I've been reading Harry Potter lately and it's damn good!!!! I can only hope my book is that entertaining, because when I was reading the Deathly Hallows, I couldn't put it down for hours!

meh :l

The thing about this blog is, I've made it real easy for people to read it. Which is what I wanted, because I like to read people's blogs when I'm bored, so I'm just kinda paying it back. I don't mind it if people follow my blog or my facebook or whatever. Until now. Harmless following is all I expected, but now it seems as if I have one or two people who are following me for the wrong reason. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not being stalked by a stranger or something. It's someone I know. Very well. It seems as if they've been trying to screw me over with the information that they read here and on my facebook. Not cool, at all. This stuff is supposed to be fun, not to be used as a tool to mess with me because, what? Do you have something against me? I don't know what it is.
I haven't been blogging because, to be honest, I feel violated because of this one person. They had my trust and have now tossed it in the garbage. I wanted to write all of the truth on this blog, as a tool for myself, but also for something to amuse you with. I don't want to have to filter my thoughts here, and this one person is making me have to do that. I'm not comfortable with it. So, I'm going to try to get comfortable writing here again. I'm going to try not to filter my thoughts just out of fear of 'someone.' Because I'm tired of playing games like that. I'm done with it. I'm out. As of now, any thing that certain 'someone' calls me out on that they found here, has no merit anymore. That 'someone' is not allowed to read this anymore. And for the rest of you, if you're here, I hope you continue to read. Or not. Whatever is cool. I'm only here to entertain, and to occasionally ease my writer's block.
Goodnight.

An insane amount of work

Working all day, but not on Ishiki :( My second JapLit midterm paper is a lot harder than the first one, and I still haven't finished it. I'm editing Ishiki's second chapter to submit to class, but since I'm in Starbucks I can't read it aloud like I usually do for editing. And there's not enough time to go back to Chinatown to do it in my room, and come back in time for class. So I'm whispering it to myself here. Like a creeper.
I've got to read aloud my first scene of Ishiki in class today. I was supposed to do it two weeks ago, but there wasn't enough time. So I'm getting nervous all over again. I hate reading out loud. My accent makes me stumble over words, and I just wind up embarrassing myself. I get so nervous. And no one believes it, either, because apparently I'm always acting real cool in class. But on the inside, I'm majorly freaking out. I hope hope hope people like what I have to read today! Ahhhh

i'm embarrassed

God what a week! So much stress. Haha. I went through 4 phones this week. Long story. And just made a fool of myself right now.
Writing's been okay. It's hard to write while being so angry. Joey's having a meltdown right now, and it wasn't planned. That's how it's going. :P I've got midterms these two weeks also. Two papers for Japanese Lit due Tuesday, one paper for creative writing due tomorrow, bio test on Thursday, Mass Culture paper (10 pages) due ...sometime? Okay, it's not really that bad. Sounds bad, but papers are easy to write. My temper's been so short lately, that it's pretty inhibiting.
I haven't been blogging for a while because when I've gotten the chance to write, it's only been a short time. Fortunately, the writing's been coming naturally *knock on wood*. Not today, though! Haha. But it'll be alright. I'm thankful because I never outlined the part I'm writing now, and it's coming out well.
Although now I feel lost.

I Thought She Knew - nsync

Can't stop listening to it. It's so mellow, it feels like drugs haha. Which is good.

Chapter 9 - There Goes Gravity

What do you think of that title? I guess it'll only be finalized when I finish the chapter. By the way, finished Chapter 8 yesterday :D I'm very, very proud of it, because it sets up the rest of the book. Tak is set up to die; Joey is set up to go crazy. Am I giving too much away? '~'
I'm starting to wonder how long this book is going to be. I'm still only in Joey's first (of three) year at school, although he's only got one or two months left of it. There are so many more things that need to happen. And I have to have the book completed and perfect by June 30th, so I can get a free print copy of it. Then I can shop it around to get published.
It scares me to think of when the book is going to be over, though. It's such a big part of my life, I don't want to let it go. I think I'm worrying too much, though. I just love this project.
Well, anyway, off to start Chapter 9. Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow :) <3

Gonna finish chapter 8 today :D

Chapter 8 was the easiest chapter yet *knock on wood, since it's not all done yet* So things are going well with Ishiki.
But I've got a killer headache, and I'm far away from home. So if you're reading this, could you swing by Starbucks and give me some Excedrin? <3
Probably gonna have to take a break from writing this weekend, seeing as tomorrow might be Sam's first day off in FOREVER. And then Sunday's Valentine's Day. So, later!

Past-tense thoughts in narrative... x_x

It's interesting. And really weird to write. But I hope it'll read clearly.
I just set Tak up to die. :(
One of the files I use for research got fucked up at some point, and I just noticed it today. So I had to redownload it from my email, and fix the format. It took a long time, since the file is so big. That was kind of annoying.
And okay, so I need new music to listen to while I write. I've been using the same old playlist for months and I'm getting sick of it now. Trying to switch it up, but I can't find anything I like. It could just be this day, though.

BLIZZARD! :D

We've got blizzard conditions here in NYC, so all of my classes (which I planned to skip -_-) are cancelled for today! But I'm still here at Starbucks, working. Haha. And there a surprising amount of people here! I would have thought that everyone would stay home today, because no one here seems to like snow at all. I'm watching all the snow blow everywhere from the window, and it makes me so happy. I love snow. Only a girl from 需給 could love snow this much, I think :)
About Ishiki, I'm getting a bit worried that the dance scene is too romantic. But maybe that will be good, to contrast with next year's dance scene (Same Song & Dance) that I've already written. Also, I'm going to bring Akira in soon, to break up the mushy gushy stuff. The biggest thing that I'm fighting in this scene is keeping it from being cliche. There are only so many ways you can write a high school romance. I'm trying to make it heartbreaking for Joey, without making Tak seem like a bitch. Ever since creative writing class last fall, I've been worried about making her seem like a bitch. Because in the end, she loves Joey.

You know we don't care at all, just lemme see you up up against the wall

I was pretty upset this morning, since I had a later start than I wanted to, but when I saw how nice and sunny it is in NYC today I felt a lot better. Grabbed a good seat at Starbucks. I think my boyfriend is going to visit me soon, too.
Finally, I've gotten up to the first school dance. I'm pretty excited to finally write it, since it's been in my head since forever. Although I'm worried this chapter is a bit choppy because it goes like this:
PAGE 1-2: All dialogue between Tak, Yusuke, and Joey. Then Hoshimi is introduced.
PAGE 2-3: Shizuka and Hoshimi's father dies
PAGE 3-4: Dance starts
There aren't any transitions, really. Lots of scene breaks. But I won't know if it's that bad until I read it all over, and now I'm to excited to write more to proofread it. :)

I wear sunglasses in Starbucks

It's because I'm practically a celebrity here. Just kidding. It's just so damn sunny at my window seat! I literally had to fight a girl for this chair. It sucks that I'm just going to have to leave it in an hour to get to class.
I've got a 500 word story due for creative writing class today, so I'm using it as an opportunity to rewrite the beginning of Ishiki. I'm adding a dream sequence as the opening, so that's what I'll be submitting. It's all about the spectre. For its dialogue, I've decided not to use any contractions. That just makes it a lot creeper, I realized! :O Beginnings are difficult, but since I already have so much of the book written, and because this scene doubles as a stand-alone, it's not bad at all.
And it doesn't hurt that I've already got a surprise visit from my friend this morning :)
Now back to getting strange looks for my sunglasses.. At least my eyes don't hurt anymore :P

I had "strep throat"

Shit. Haven't been working the past few days. But I did decide to go to class from now on. No more faking sick, I guess :P It's pretty rough because I have no idea what I was thinking when I left off Ishiki last time. Introduced a new character; put another character in a coma.. But I have no idea how to transition from here to the next big event (the school dance). And then there's the question of whether to have the dance go smoothly, or to add conflict during it..
I'm forcing myself to write at least a little bit before I leave for a Superbowl party uptown (go Colts!) It's so cold here, though.. I wish I had money to take a cab there! Anyway, I guess what's really on my mind are transitions. They're probably the hardest part of writing a book because there's really no way to plan them ahead of time. But I've got to think of one! Hm....

Chapter 8 - Up Against The Wall (been waiting forever to use this title!!)

I basically worked myself sick yesterday, but I didn't realize it until I got into my 6:20 class and started to shake and get really dizzy. 6:20-9:00, so you can imagine... But I got home alright, and passed out immediately. I'm not used to going to sleep early, so I woke up at 8:00 AM today and couldn't go back to sleep. I decided not to go to class today so I could get more work done -- I'm going with my friend to buy dresses for a charity event this weekend, so I'm outta here by 2:30.
I've been reaching the point with my book that I'm only focusing on the main events. It's like 'this and this need to happen, but how do I get from point A to point B?' That's definitely not the way to write -- takes all the fun out of it. So how do I go from a school shooting to a school dance anyway? Gotta kill Shizu's dad in the process, no big deal. Lots of dads are going to die in the coming chapters :( Hm, I think it's time to bring out my secret weapon >:)

What am I going to name this chapter, anyway?

I've been struggling with writing this part of Ishiki, and the event is taking me forever. Basically, I have to write about a school hostage situation that takes place in my main character (Joey)'s hometown. I've been researching articles about 9-11 from 2001 for inspiration, since I'm not sure how it should be reported. It's a little awkward, since everyone can see what I'm doing on my computer since I work in my local Starbucks. I hope no one thinks I'm doing anything shady '~'
I'm getting excited about this part of the book, though, because the professor character is getting a lot of development. I never used to like him until now -- he was always just that certain character that needed to be there. But this new-found liking of him is making this chapter go by faster. I've been getting lots of work done on it even when I'm in class (I usually can't concentrate as well when I'm class.)
It's also been helpful that my local Starbucks is open again -- it was closed during most of January. I'm back to working in here morning til night again. A couple of my friends stopped by today, and it was a nice break, but back to work now!

Hi There!

Hi! Everyone I know has been starting blogs lately and I love it! I read them all the time. So I've decided to start my own blog to chronicle my time trying to write and publish my first novel, called Ishiki (which means 'consciousness' in Japanese). I usually spend around 8 hours a day working on it at my school's Starbucks. I think this might be a good side-project for those times when I have writer's block >_>