cool and unusual punishment

chrona gets hit by a truck (Book Poll)

Alright, now that I have your attention, it's an update chapter. As many of you know, NaNoWriMo has been a massive undertaking for me every year since I arrived on this site. In fact, it's the reason I came here on the first place--just to post my NaNoWriMo, and it spiralled out of control ever since. My favorite stories are undeniably my NaNos, I spend a lot of time planning them, working with them, and I pour all of my heart into them every year. I've joked to friends that November is my monthlong "vacation from reality" and while I still have human things to do during that time, there's always been something unique about the experience of fully devoting myself to a book.

This is why I must confirm with a heavy heart that I am terminating my NaNoWriMo for this year.

My adventure with the Dog Days War was hectic from the start, but I was actually excited about the theming, characters, and most of all the setting and slick wordplay. However, my goals were insanely high on the back end of Deja Vu and Roses and Thorns and this month has been an emotional, physical, and scheduling nightmare. I started slipping around the 8th when I tried to charge forwards to compensate for an upcoming college visit, but by the time I finished the visit my word count was dropping by the day. I started writing just to get words down, which embittered me to the story, and then I was trying to play catch up with a story this book had no business beating and contending with at least three projects and numerous tests in school. By the end I was dreading even opening the document, had multiple nervous breakdowns (one that involved hyperhydrating to the point of fatigue), and I was playing chicken with my scholastic responsibilities on a work schedule for Thanksgiving weekend that would have required 10 hours of optimal work every day.

I gave up.

I think large parts of the story were not ready yet. I think they could have been ready if I had more time but I'll never know, so it's not worth dwelling on it. I don't think pushing through would have made me hate the book any less and I definitely don't think the characters deserved that. I'm glad I got the opportunity to write out of my comfort zone a little, sending characters from town to town in a story with two distinct villain sets, and even if I wasn't executing most of that well as I hoped, I do think there's hope for the book if I left it breathe and don't force myself to choose between it and school. School is two more years. With any luck, I have several decades left to write books. (Hopefully I didn't just jinx that.) 

Anyways, my traffic during NaNoWriMo has never been optimal, but slowing to NO updates is definitely going to have some effect on my activity. I've also been absent from the stories of others, DMs, and most of the internet. I apologize if I haven't responded to you lately but my stress levels have been crazy and I really haven't had any time to talk to people.

With that aside, I do want to talk about the future, but I just hit 1.4k, my first 100 follower mark in close to a year, and I want to play 'the future' fast and loose with this account. I want a schedule that doesn't screw with junior year but I also want to produce content that people are engaged in. I want this to be fun for all of us and I think communication is the way to go about that. If you're interested in influencing what I write in the future, I'm going to do some quick synopses on projects I've been considering. Hit me up below with your top five or so, ordered if you want... I can't imagine honestly going for more than three of these at a time, so be a little frugal.

I'm going to order these by how well-planned they are, because barring MASSIVE fan support for any one story, it's likely going to hold heavy sway over any decisions I do or don't make.

GIVENS

0) The Space Between Stars: I have all of The Space Between Stars finished. I'm going to keep posting it. I can do three or so projects around this no problem.