Update Schedule

There was once an update schedule. It lived a good life, a peaceful life. A quiet life. But then... things began to change. It became more and more erratic, sometimes completely disobeying its very reason for existance. And at last, the update schedule could take no more. It cast off its chains and went free, seeking new lands where it would be appreciated. This message it left where once it had lived, to warn other schedules of the peril.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Concentrating On What's Important In A World Gone Mad


Hi,
I know I wrote a post only yesterday (wow, this Thanksgiving vacation thing has really inspired me) but here we go again.
Anyone who's read a post or two who knows me knows that I love to read, and I love to write. But lately... well, to be honest, I've had a very hard time reading. And I know why that is; internet, phones, computers, and more internet. There's just so much that I do when I could be reading, and even when I do read, I find it very difficult to concentrate.
Over the last couple of days, I think I'm doing a lot better on that. I'm not up to anywhere near my old reading speeds- it's rather embarassing, actually- but I find myself reading with my computer closed in front of me, thinking "I could go on the internet instead" but continuing reading instead.
Writing is also better. I'm up to almost 57,000 on my current novel (not the NaNoWriMo one), and I've also done quite a bit of plotting which is really helping in continuing writing and will hopefully save the complete and utter disaster that's my first draft when it comes time to edit. I find myself just sitting down and writing, and I'm writing parts that I want to write and I'm feeling okay about them, which is something that hasn't happening in a while.
But the internet still lures me in. There's the blog, there's obsessively tracking my new phone order through UPS/ reading reviews/ watching video reviews, there's reading other blogs, there's Goodreads, there's email... the list just goes on and on. And I know I should be doing work or reading or writing or something important, but somehow I just never do. And I really wish I could change that.
Today, I think I did a little better. I went outside and got a little bit of exercise, I went grocery shopping, I went on a walk, I got some reading in, I got some writing in, and now I'm writing a blog post. But the internet was still a huge part of that. I found myself not even knowing what to do but opening up my Chrome simply because that was what I did. It's getting rather ridiculous, and it's bad for me, but I'm not really sure what to do about it.
I love the internet. I think it's one of the most amazing inventions ever, and I can't imagine life without it. I love the easy access I can have to it with a smartphone. I love how easy it is to interact with other people. I can't even begin to imagine what I'd do without Google.
But the harsh truth is that it's also sucking up my life, and not in a good way. It's not the only thing- TV is another culprit; I don't watch much, but when I do, binge-watching is an understatement- but it is a huge part of it. And I honestly don't know how to strike a good balance.
Back to the title- yes, the world has gone rather mad (among other things, Blogger for some reason put a random swear word in the title which I really hope doesn't appear again when it's published). The craze for new and better technology is amazing and wonderful and insane. There's so much out there, and it's all so outdated so quickly. I can't keep up, so I don't even try, but I do read about it, and that takes up my time to. It's all just crazy, and somehow I seem to be the only one who just can't handle all of the information and capabilities that phones and computers keep throwing at us. When everything changes so fast, how can I miss a second of my news feed? The internet has so much access to information that I just don't have time to process it all.
That was rather more of a rant than a real post. I'm sorry if it makes no sense; I don't generally edit my posts and I have the feeling that my stream of consciousness is not very comprehensible by the general public.
If anyone has any tips for balancing the internet with other things, that would be great. Or, if not, at least I'd know I'm not alone...

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Too many things to properly name this


When I started this, I was determined to have it only be about book reviews, and maybe some writing. But then I realized... well, it's about me, isn't it? It's my blog. There are things I can say to the world at large that I can't anywhere else, and yes that's twisted, but it's true.
I don't want to talk about my life in detail on here. I don't think it's fair to the people I'd be talking about. Me is fine, I'm in charge of what I share about me. But other people... well, it just makes me uncomfortable. So I hope to still be focusing on the reading/writing aspect of my life.
On the other hand, I feel like that's a bit boring. Today someone asked me whether I had any hobbies other than reading. This is someone who's known me for years. I was stunned by the question, and it made me realize just how little I talk about my hobbies anywhere. I do read, yes- and I hope I read a lot- but I also write. I do drama (Drama?). I freak out about the smallest things in grammar. I blog! There is so much more to me than just books, and I want that to reflect in every aspect of my life, even when I'm focused on the books.
Speaking of which, I haven't reviewed anything in a long time. Partly this is because of NaNoWriMo, but also because I've been focusing on WoT. And mostly because reading has become very hard for me. I can't concentrate. I read slowly. I obsess over missing the slightest detail. I waste hours on the internet. I don't like these things, and I wish I could change them, and I think I am, but it's a slow process. So posts won't necessarily be about books. Which I think is a good thing for me- I'm not good at doing just one thing. I get bored.
Oh, for all those still doing NaNoWriMo- good luck! 
To those reading this- no, I didn't mean you in my grumpy post-NaNoWriMo post (or if I did, I forgive you).
I'm going to end this post because it's gotten pretty convoluted anyway, but first some updates:
1) I read a book! I just haven't gotten around to writing the full, bloggable review. It's coming soon.
2) There's some stuff going on that's hard, which might affect how often I post. More on that if there's going to be a major change.
3) Thank you so much to everyone who's reading this! Those who I know about (thank you for your support) and those who I don't, all of you are awesome. I've been getting a lot more interest from Google+ lately, so I hope all of you are here reading this now. Let me know what you think in the comments.

-HH

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!


Go forth and spread disease to native populations.
Also, that Google turkey is very disturbing.
You know what I just discovered?
I am not in the mood for a blog post right now.
Also, that's what my friend meant by a twerking turkey.
I'm going to go to sleep now (okay, not really, but I'll stop inflicting myself on the internet).
How was everyone's Thanksgivings?

Saturday, November 15, 2014

NaNoWriMo


Quick NaNoWriMo update: it's going fine. Still more annoying than hard. I'm currently at 33,860 words, so I should be at 35,000 tomorrow (the next milestone). I'm still averaging more than 1,667 a day, and I only need to write about a thousand a day to finish on time (although I've never written less than 1667 a day except for one day where there were extenuating circumstances and I technically did it that night, just after midnight). I'm hoping to be finished in time to validate and submit on the 25th, and be done with NaNoWriMo, hopefully forever but definitely for at least 11 months.

Edit: Now at 36,500... my goal is to be done by the 25th to ensure plenty of time for validating in case of technical errors. The 20th would be nice, but I highly doubt it'll happen.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

NaNoWriMo... again


It is November, after all.
I went to one of those things where you go write with other people. It was kind of cool. But also... these people were all so dedicated. I mean, there was a guy with pages full of equations so the math in his story would be accurate and the science would work out. It's not that I'm not dedicated to my writing. It's not my top priority, but I get it done. I'm just not interested in sacrificing a month of my time to writing something that I know will be horrible.
I miss what I was writing before. I miss where I was in the story, and I miss being with those characters. This is pretty much the first story ever where Thomas hasn't made an appearance, one way or another. And, honestly, I don't like it. I miss having him. Yes, it's good to try new things- but I feel like I've been dragged away from doing what I love, handed something lesser, and told that secretly it's better even though it really isn't.
Also, the time commitment. It's not hard. Now, this might offend those of you who are struggling- sorry. But for me, it's just not hard. It's annoying, but in terms of difficulty it's not ranking very high. I just don't see the point, because it's not all that hard to do, just time consuming. And I really think that time would be better spent on other things. Like reading. Or anything else, really.
I reached 30,000 today, and to be honest, I don't feel all that accomplished. I felt really good about even a thousand words on a piece of writing I wanted to work on. I am positive that someday I will have a polished novel that I'll want other people to read. But it's not coming out of NaNoWriMo.
I guess I'm just not right (no pun intended) for NaNoWriMo. I don't see it as difficult, I don't see finishing as all that much of an accomplishment, and I resent it for the time it takes each day. I also don't like it in theory- 50,000 words is not a novel. 50,000 unedited words are, um... how do I put this gently? Not worth the pixels they're written in. Until some serious editing happens, what you have is junk. What I have is terrible. Probably everyone except those horrible people who do it all in one day and it turns out wonderfully (it's not fair) has something terrible.
I also feel really bad for the publishing companies. It can't be fun to recieve so many unedited, short, messy drafts every December. 
Wow, this has gotten long. Sorry, I just needed to vent about NaNoWriMo. Sorry I haven't been reviewing thing; NaNoWriMo has eaten my reading time.

Please, someone tell me about their huge struggle with NaNoWriMo, how they have... let's say 5,000 words. Make me feel better about having 30,000 (which I personally find rather pathetic, more than 10 days in).

Saturday, November 8, 2014

NaNoWriMo


I thought the hardest part about doing NaNoWriMo would be physically thinking up and writing the 50,000 words. And don't get me wrong, it's pretty grueling to write 2,000 completely unplanned words a day, but that's not what's keeping me back from The Win.
The real problem I'm having is motivation.
Yep, that's right. You'd think that would be the least of it- there's a clear end date, a clear goal, and a clear way of marking your progress, complete with plenty of inspirational pep talks and lots of really great people on the forums.
But to be honest, not only do I not really care about NaNoWriMo, I don't even really like it.
Now I feel like a bad writer. But honestly, I had this fine plot that I would have loved to let simmer for a few months and then carefully craft this beautiful novel from the bottom up, considering everything with the greatest care so that it turned out to be something I was proud of.
All of you dedicated NaNoWriMo people are probably screaming now that that's the point of NaNoWriMo, because otherwise I wouldn't have written it. Except that I would have. I wrote the idea down, and when it felt right, I would have begun to write it. I'm not the sort of person who never gets around to writing their novel. True, I might not write 50,000 words every month- but I don't think that's a bad thing.
I don't like my novel, and I don't like NaNoWriMo. I think that I had a plot I really liked, and it's been killed by being written really badly because I was under pressure. Meanwhile, it's a month in which I can't write my other novel, which was going really well and I really liked.
So far, I'm sure of only two things:
1) I could finish NaNoWriMo, but I'm not sure I even want to (except that now that I've started I hate to give up), and
2) I never want to do it again.
More about NaNoWriMo later... who knows, perhaps once it's over I'll see the worth in it.
Anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? How's it going for you?

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Review: Much Ado About Nothing


Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Beatrice and Benedick were adorable, the Friar was awesome, and it was really funny... but it just didn't do it for me. The whole plot seemed so... built on plot convenience. Oh, well.



View all my reviews

Sunday, November 2, 2014

I'm Actually Doing It!




That's right. As sure as I was of failure, it's 2 days in and I've completed nearly something like 16% of my novel.
Now, of course, I'm procrastinating, but I figure I deserve it.
That cool little widgety thing up above supposedly updates... I hope it works. I'm not going to share my novel with my nonexistant readers just yet, because I'm kind of ashamed of it (it's awful), but hey, it's the word count that matters, right?
Prepare for many posts about my growing success and then ultimate failure as I lose sight of the goal, get demotivated, and give up (you can tell I'm really optimistic about this.)