August Project Wrapup!

Waaaay back at the beginning of the month, I wrote about my August projects. I am quite happy with all three of them.

For the first time in the entire time I've had an account at 750words.com I actually wrote Every. Single. Day. Squee!!! {imagine happy dancing here} I am grinning like a loon just thinking about it.

I wanted the Summer Slowdown to be a pleasant moment each day, and it really was. The organizer sent lovely emails each day, and had a lot of thoughtful, soothing contributors. I'm on the mailing list, so I'll be able to sign up for it again next year. Another win!

It was a blast to post a picture each day for the August Break 2015. Most of the days I posted a snapshot I'd taken that day. I'm thinking about starting a series of Photo Phridays, to remind me to keep taking pictures. I may not keep the phunky spelling.

Somehow, I didn't post about my fourth August project! That's totally bonkers, as it was the most important one. I began training for NaNoWriMo! NaNoWriMo challenges the writer to do a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I've attempted it many times, and have never even come close to it. Mind you, it's always a good for me - I am a happier, stronger person when I'm writing. In late July I thought through doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I knew it would be good to prepare, but I didn't think it would help to spend 3 months outlining. I was at a loss, until it dawned on me that preparing for NaNoWriMo is like preparing for a marathon. That's when my plan came together. In August, September, and October I'll set a word count goal, and go into each month with at least a little bit of a plan for what to write. This lets me build up to the NaNoWriMo word count, and lets me try out different types of pre-writing and planning before I aim for the big fifty thousand.

In August I planned to write 12500 words (1/4 of a NaNoWriMo) of game fiction based on my dragons in Flight Rising. I wrote 63% of that word count goal, which is infinitely more than I wrote in July, so it's a total win. I'll edit and revise that into a readable narrative sometime soon.

I learned a lot about what works and doesn't work for me. Most importantly, I learned that I really do need to write. When I'm not writing, the stories get backed up and fester. When I'm not writing, it gets harder and harder to start again, which totally sucks. I am clearly at my emotional best when I'm writing as close to every day as possible.

How was your August?

#AugustBreak2015 27 Favorite Recipe

#AugustBreak2015 28 In My Bag

#AugustBreak2015 21 Real Life

Plague-born Dragon leaves for Nature

UPDATE: I've changed the name of the dragon in this story. A young person who is especially fond of the dragon previously named prefers it not be attached to that dragon.


I've been a bit stalled on my Flight Rising dragon game fiction. Today I seem to have gotten back up to speed :) Here' a bit of I think is pretty good for a rough draft:

The tiny dragon knew only her egg, shifting light, and the sweet murmur of her parents’ voices. When she grew enough that the shell felt too small, she cracked her egg slowly, quietly, so she could hear their voices. The world rushed into her senses, but didn’t confuse her; the familiar voices led her safely to her parents. When they first saw her, they fell silent. The hatchling wondered if she had done something wrong that made them take away the comforting sound. In a moment she understood nothing was wrong. Her parents welcomed her with words and song. She added her own tiny voice to theirs in welcoming her nest-mates.


At first, their parents kept them in the nest, distracting their curiosity about the world with stories and song. They gave each hatchling a name, and smiled as they repeated their own and each other’s names, getting used to the sound.



The ruse didn’t last. A hulking Imperial, covered in oozing sores dragged himself to the nest, commanding her parents to show him the hatchlings. They tried to fend him off, but the Imperial pushed them aside, to see and hold each hatchling in turn and “bless” them with his pestilential breath. Only Taliesen avoided that dubious blessing. As her parent fell, e swept Taliesen into the darkest corner of the nest. She understood without being told that she must stay still and silent. She didn’t move until the clan’s Patriarch had left, and her parents did their best to clean their other hatchlings.



She wanted to help care for her nest-mates, but her parent wouldn’t let her get close to them. “You might get sick, too.” Looking around to make sure no one could hear, e continued, “You have to leave, before you get sick. That’s why we can’t leave – we just don’t have the strength.” Taliesen could hear her nest-mates starting to cough, already succumbing to the Plague given them by the clan Patriarch. Her parent guided her to look out across the landscape. Impossibly far away, she could make out an enormous tree. “There,” her parent told her, “That’s the heart of the Viridian Labyrinth. In the lands of Nature, you’ll be safe.” E hugged her close, adding, “Well, safer than you will be here. Go, now, while no one’s looking.” Frightened of the distance, yearning to stay with her parents, she gazed at her parents, and her nest-mates, pouring them into her memory. She started to speak, but her parent put a loving claw over her mouth. “Go. May the Gladekeeper guard and guide you.”

Flight Rising fiction

I have a lot of fun playing the online dragon-breeding game Flight Rising. I mention this because I've been writing fiction about my Flight Rising clan.

Here's a bit of that fiction:

"You feel called to the Search." Olympe stroked her friend's back under Reina's half-furled wing. It wasn't a question - even a sleep-deprived Spiral dragon would be able to tell that Reina grew more and more restless.

"No! No, of course not," Reina lied, tucking her wings back down. "I was, well..." she trailed off, knowing better than to try to convince Olympe, when Reina didn't believe it herself. Olympe wanted Reina close to her almost as much as she wanted Reina to be happy. Almost. But not enough to keep Reina grounded when her heart called her away.

Olympe put a small bundle on the ground in front of Reina. "When you find the right place, put this on the ground, and call on the Gladekeeper." She pressed her cheek to Reina's, breathing in her scent for a long moment, then stumbled away, knowing Reina would understand.

Reina didn't speak, and didn't watch her friend half walk and half fly away, deeper under the tree. Reina did understand. Some farewells are too big, too important, for words. Reina wanted to be close to OIympe, too, almost as much as she wanted to find her Charge. Almost.

Reina cradled the bundle gently, then threw herself into the sky. Only the clouds and wind saw her tears.

#AugustBreak2015 Yellow

#AugustBreak2015 13 Last Year

#AugustBreak2015 30 Smile

#AugustBreak2015 29 Listening

#AugustBreak2015 26 Door

#AugustBreak2015 25 Green

#AugustBreak2015 24 In The Distance

#AugustBreak2015 23 Water

#AugustBreak2015 22 Curves

#AugustBreak2015 20 Two

#AugustBreak2015 19 Sweet Delights

#AugustBreak2015 18 Look Up

#AugustBreak2015 17 Reading

#AugustBreak2015 16 Fire

#AugustBreak2015 15 Art

#AugustBreak2015 14 Favorite Smell

#AugustBreak2015 07 "5 facts about me'

#AugustBreak2015 11 "edge"

#AugustBreak2015 10 "talisman"

#AugustBreak2015 09 "earth"

#AugustBreak2015 08 "smooth"

#AugustBreak2015 06 "notebook"

#AugustBreak2015 05 "citrus"

#AugustBreak2015 04 "numbers"

#AugustBreak2015 03 "skin"

Projects!

I'm participating in three different August projects. They're each smallish daily things meant to support my overall well-being.

First Project: I always always have a better day if I pour out at least 750 words a day in the form of a stream of consciousness brain-dump. I'll post about how well I keep up with this. I aim to to this every month, and I don't think I've ever actually written every day of a month - but the attempt is its own reward :)

Second Project: I'm participating in the #SummerSlowdown2015. I found this project via the 30 Day Art Journal Project (I'll write about that some other time). The #SummerSlowdown2015 is a lovely series of prompts/suggestions, one sent each day, to help you slow down and enjoy the end of summer (or whatever season you're in wherever you happen to be). The first day I managed to do the prompt/suggestion before I saw the email :) I'll blog about these from time to time over the month. The first two prompts have been lovely.

Third Project: Finally, there's the #AugustBreak2015. This blogger takes a break during August, blogging pictures without explanation in August. She's shared a series of prompts/themes/ideas for each day, and invited others to join in. I'll post pictures as close to daily as I can :)

Pictures inspired by the prompt "Breakfast"

Pictures inspired by the prompt "Air"