Day 73

I didn't get any writing done today, but I finished the map and wrote several pages worth of encyclopedia info.

K.

Day 72

Sorry about the lack of updates. End of term, and the exams that come with it, approaches!
Writing is not something I have a whole lot of time for at present, sadly. I just did a bit of writing today, and a lot of work on the map of Lemon Forest. I think it looks quite nice. I'm just doing up a rough sketch of it on lined paper, but I'm going to do a large inked version to go in the book! I'll just show you guys the pre-production, and no one else, because there are a few secrets to be found! Nothing that will be explained, of course, but definitely a few interesting things. I'm not sure when this will be done, or how much I'll be able to update over the coming weeks, but nonetheless. . . .

Also, I changed the name of the Lemon Betallion to Lemon-Aid! We can thank my mother for that one!

K.

Day 69

Just a small bit of writing today. I wasn't going to update, but I knew I had to work at least a little bit!

K.

Day 68 + excerpt

Hello hello! I had a nice evening today. My boyfriend and I stayed in and watched The Village and Sleepy Hollow. It was my first time seeing these films and I enjoyed them very much, especially The Village.

In any event, I got some writing done today and I thought I'd share some of it with you. I started chapter seven, which I'm already enjoying, and I hope you enjoy it, too. Comments, criticism and carrot cake are always welcome!

Excerpt of chapter seven

Rosehips awoke in the morning to the sight of burning embers in the fireplace. She stretched and yawned, still feeling some semblance of warmth from the dying flames, and she sat up and glanced around.
A warm morning light was pouring through the nearby window, and Rosehips could see book dust dancing in its glow. Outside the window, the sky was blue and bright, with but a few fluffy, white clouds scattered here and there. Rosehips spied the book Marcus had been reading the night before, shut and with a gold ribbon bookmark placed somewhere near the middle. It sat alone on the nearby table, where an old white candle with a blackened wick and layers of melted wax sat in a bronze holder. Rosehips stood and drifted over to the book. Stamped on its dark blue cover and written in gold were the words "A Book of Fairy Tales". The book was much too heavy for Rosehips to pick up and read, but all the same, she pushed the cover open.
"Snow White and Rose Red?" she read aloud. "But none of these are about fairies!"
"Rosehips?" came Marcus' voice came from the other room. "Is that you?"
"Yes!" Rosehips called back, shutting the cover. This kicked up a bit of dust that had Rosehips coughing.
"Good, ye're awake!" came Marcus' voice again. "Come into the kitchen when ye're ready." Rosehips caught her breath, shooing the book dust away with a tiny hand, and made her way into the kitchen.

K.

Day 67

And I'm back! The Forehead launch went really well and I'm feeling better, also. Finally, I had some time to myself to write today. I was definitely feeling inspired thanks to a video I watched.

Sorry about skipping the progress report this week, but I wasn't in any fine state to write one. To make up for it, on my own terms particularly, I finished chapter six this evening. I'm very happy because I think chapter seven is going to be very interesting. Actually, I'm hoping that the subsequent chapters will be interesting. Six was a little uneventful, but it picked up at the end, and I unintentionally tied together a plot inconsistancy I was having trouble with! Excellent!

I also worked a small bit on the encyclopedia today. Not too much, but I did start a new entry on "Humans and the Lemon Forest".

I'm hoping to get some writing done this weekend. I'm thinking of cover ideas and book titles as well at the moment.

K.

Day 64

Only a very little bit of writing tonight. I was distracted by this 24-hour flu I seem to have. YUCK! I won't be able to do much writing this week, either, so this may be the last update until Thursday. I apologise in advance. I can't wait until the end of December when I'll finally have some time to do stuff!

K.

Day 63

Sorry for my lack of productivity yesterday! I was working on making some Christmas presents for my family and friends. I was up late in so doing and away from the computer, so I didn't really get any writing done.

I didn't get much done tonight, either. I'm working on the Forehead, which is a student review from the English department of my university. I'm its present editor. It's a once-per-semester deal, so I don't have to worry too much about it eating lots of my time, but at the moment it's what I'm doing.

As far as writing goes, I'm nearing the end of chapter six. I haven't been terribly productive lately, but chapter six is a bit slow. It's picking up, at least. Interestingly, there's some good character development on Citron. She's more mysterious than I initially thought she would be, and it's fun to write.

K.

Day 61

Not much writing today. I missed out on my walk because it was a horrible day. I ended up doing some retail therapy instead, hah. It helped a bit but didn't inspire me as much as a walk would have, so I didn't write as much as I would have liked.

I finished the picture of Citron I was working on. She's quite cute and I'm pleased with how she turned out, especially since I haven't really drawn in a couple of months. I'll post it over the next few days.

K.

Day 60

Ugh, sorry for my lack of updates. I've had a few days' worth of schoolwork and an exam. I also haven't been feeling myself at all and I'm not feeling very confident with anything. My writing, singing and "art" is all suffering because I don't feel like I'm doing a good job with any of it. I won't get into it now.

Anyway, I got just a bit of writing done today, but I'm working on a character drawing. Tomorrow's supposed to be kind of a nice, so I might go for a walk or something to help me feel better and to inspire me. I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder) so I'm feeling drained, uninspired and generally displeased of late. I apologise for it; I'm sure it will pass soon.

K.

Day 56

Just a bit of writing both today and yesterday. I have a linguistics exam on Tuesday so I have to study lots for it. I may not update tomorrow, either. I'll try to work hard on this soon and I'm sorry.

K.

Day 54

The two you see here are Chauncey and Trees, the boar and beetle from chapter two. I started writing chapter six today, and this duo made an appearance, so I thought today would be a good day to do an illustration of them. Here you are! I think they're kind of cute. I just wanted to do a little illustration so it's not in colour, but imagine, if you will, Chauncey with an enormous pink snout and the bow around his neck blue, and imagine Trees is a bright, emerald green that glitters in the light!

I got a few paragraphs of chapter six done today. It wasn't the most work I've done in awhile, but it was a fair amount and I'm more or less pleased with how it's going.

Chauncey and Trees are part of the Lemon Betallion, which is Lemon's personal army. Trees is the brains of the duo, and Chauncey is the brawn. As a symbol of being in the Lemon Betallion, Chauncey later comes to wear a miniature lemon on a green chain. There is only one place to find the miniature lemon, and that is in Lemon's quarters, where she grows them. Miniature lemons are often used to prove authenticity with Lemon, as she doesn't show herself often.

I'm working on a noble fairy at present, and I may post up a concept drawing of her tomorrow or anoter time soon.

K.

Day 53

Sorry about the lack of an update last night - I was working on something for an event I'm planning and by the time I even thought to write anything, it was 3 am! So, I went to bed!!

I got chapeter five finished today! I really like that chapter as it's so nice and peaceful, though it ends on a slight note of urgency. Tomorrow will end the peace for another while, as I'll start writing on chapter six, which I am anticipating to be full of action!

I really like Marcus. When you read his description, you think of him as being a somewhat grumpy and weathered man, but as he is better introduced he is shown not to be like that at all, but rather a very nice old man. He's the sort who should have been a grandfather but never got the chance. Ohh! I just gave something away! I've said too much!

I got a bit of work on the encyclopedia today as I was waiting for my hair appointment and had the book with me.

I hope everyone's having a good week! Let me know how you're doing, will you?

K.

Day 51

Just a very small bit of writing today. I wasn't home much and I had a really bad day, so my mom and I went to see Bee Movie, which was very cute and fun and it definitely cheered me up! Who knew Jerry Seinfeld would make a great voice actor?

I'm sure I will get to write more tomorrow, as today I didn't get home until 11 pm! Tuesdays are so busy!

K.

Day 50 + Milestone report

Today marks fifty days since I've started this project. I've made a lot of progress! First, I'll talk about today's progress, then I'll go into the milestone report. This will take place of the weekly progress report.

Quite a bit of good writing in today, as well as some brainstorming. I'm going to try making this blog flashier sometime soon, just to make it more pleasing to the eyes. I got another good chunk of chapter five done and if I progress like I did today, I may be able to have this chapter done by tomorrow. I'm also starting concepts on cover art for this book. I haven't made any decisions or anything, but I will likely do up some sketches for feedback's sake.

Milestone report

Last milestone report: Never!
Next milestone report: Day 100

I will do this on any large day number that marks a milestone in this project. This will probably be 50, 100, 150, 200, 300 and 350.

I really can't believe it's already been fifty days since I started this project. I'm still really enjoying it and I do try to work on it every day, even if there are days that I don't do anything. Over the last fifty days, I have written nearly five chapters of fiction, eleven pages of background encyclopedia work, and I have drawn numerous concept sketches. This is a full-colour drawing of Rosehips, for example, this is a picture of Bluebell welcoming you to Lemon Forest, as well as Lemon Forest itself, and this is a concept picture of Wildflower. There are also several others I have not made public, some of them being too rough, unfinished, or just secret! In addition to these drawings, I have also made a Rosehips doll. She sits on my desk and sends me inspiration.

That is my progress, so far, since day one of my project. I still have 315 days left to go.

I just might make it.

K.

Day 49

No real progress today, on this or anything. It was my last day of study break, so I decided to protest by doing nothing. This wasn't very effective. Ah well.

I will hopefully get some work done tomorrow, and maybe even tonight before bed. I just felt a bit like vegging out and relaxing today before heading back to school regularly again. One thing that's nice about writing a children's book (among the many nice things) is that I can feel like a child again while writing this. I really miss being a child sometimes! I hope that any child readers I gain through this book will cherish their younger years and not wish themselves to be adults. I did that when I was a child and I regret it.

Tomorrow, I'm reaching a milestone in this project. It will be my fiftieth day! It's hard to believe it, but I will be about 1/6th of the way through my time on the project. I'm already doing very well with length, too. I won't give any sort of estimation regarding my expected time to be finished, but I want everyone to know that the writing is progressing very well and I'm still enjoying it very much, regardless of my non-productive days such as today!

K.

Day 48

I wrote off and on all day today, what with how nasty the weather was. I didn't have anything else I'd rather be doing. Because of that, I got a good chunk of chapter five finished, and I got to work on another story I've kind of been putting off for awhile. I need to write faster, though I am doing fairly well at about 1/3 of my story! It's not going to be terribly long, keep in mind, though it may be longer than I was originally anticipating. We shall see.

This entire chapter revolves around Marcus McGillp and Rosehips. I will not say how, because I don't want to spoil anything. The next chapter will focus on the main line of plot, and I will likely alternate those two until they intertwine.

I'm really enjoying this chapter. Marcus is a nice character to write about. In all the stories which feature people who aren't what they say they are, it's nice to write about a character who's really genuine.

K.

Day 47

Some good progress today! I wrote a small chunk of chapter five, and I got to introduce Marcus! Here is a small bit for you to read. This is how I've described Marcus. Feel free to let me know what you think! Positive and negative is all great for me!

Looking down at her was a man's face. He had a pipe sticking out of the corner of his mouth and a dark blue cap on his head. His face looked like it had seen better days, with weathered, cracked wrinkles snaking through his complexion, and a rough grey beard across his jawline. Despite this, however, he had the kindest dark blue eyes Rosehips had ever seen. They were the kind of eyes that couldn't lie to you, even if the mouth was. They were the colour of the ocean at night, but they weren't at all as cold.

There he is! I won't dare draw him because I have such a clear image of how he looks that I wouldn't want to ruin it by drawing a terrible picture! Besides, I'm sure you can imagine him, too.

K.

Day 46

I surprised myself tofay by getting through chapter four. I said I'd finish it by the end of the week, and I guess I did! It ended on a suspenseful note. One thing I learned about writing from reading is that you should always end the chapter mysteriously so as to keep the reader interested, then to begin the next chapter with something different to hold onto the suspense. That was one thing I loved about reading when I was younger.

In chapter five, I will introduce Marcus McGillp, the lighthouse-keeper. I like him a lot, and I'm happy I'll be writing about him soon!

K.

PS: I'm going to try working on this more often rather than working on NaNoWriMo this year. Perhaps next year, but I have too much going on now, and I'm trying to work on a polished novel by next year anyway,

PPS: I've also decided I will only self-publish this book, after a lot of thought. The children's literature market is very competitive, and I don't like competition - it makes me an unpleasant person. It may sound selfish, but I'd rather do things the way I want. This isn't about making money, after all, it's about persuing my dream! I'm looking into lulu.com's publishing service. Wish me luck!