Procrastination: A Severely Contagious Disease

Hello. My name is Dominique. (Hi, Dominique.) I've been suffering from procrastination for perhaps three years now. I have productivity that's horrendous at being productivity. I'm okay.

If no one understood the reference I've just listed above, it's a playoff of the first chapter from The Fault in our Stars by John Green. The original quote was said by the main, narrating character named Hazel (Hi, Hazel) and was speaking about cancer and the lungs she had that stunk at being lungs. Why is this relative to the main topic of my post? Because I've been procrastinating from writing this blog post by rereading this book.

Another symptom of procrastination I've been dealing with for the past almost-two-months-or-so is this wonderful game called Don't Starve. It's an indie game found on Steam. You play as a gentleman scientist named Wilson who is transferred into a demonic, alien world and must survive in order to get back home. I played it yesterday for nearly three hours straight instead of writing what I'm writing now.

And then there's the popular, rechargeable and incredibly sociable symptom which most call the phone. If you've never heard of this so-called contraption, it's a widespread device used to make calls, send messages, record videos, take pictures, catch up, and most of all - play games. My first hand choice of gaming on my phone is Tiny Tower. (If you don't know what Tiny Tower is, run. Run and never get involved in it.)

After that, we have the loyal Skype desktop application for Windows 8. And you know what it can do? Make video calls, share screens with friends, chat, send files, socialize, and who knows what else. Maybe it could bake me fresh pumpkin-cinnamon cookies for me on command. On it, there are these things called sociable humans that you can make contact with. It's rather useful and loots time like a robber in a bank.

Plus you've got the almighty sketchbook! With the sketchbook, you can draw pictures and sketches (such a creative name, the sketchbook has!) and color and doodle. How fun. Very, very fun, and if you suffer from perfectionism (which I will discuss in another blog post), you may have symptoms that come with this symptom. This includes wrist pains, gradually decreasing self esteem, and uncontrollable screeching.

Then, of course, who could forget Pinterest? Pinterest is like Tumblr (shhhh)...but not. You can re-pin pictures to bulletin boards on your profile page and scroll indefinitely on different category pages. Most link the sources where they get the pictures, and sometimes you can learn from the source (ex. Like a braid you re-pinned? There could be a link to a tutorial on how to make it).

And all of this procrastination leads up to the major point - my disease has kept me from writing about my NaNoWriMo experience from last month. I won at about 51,050 words.

-Dominique

I'll have my usual NaNo post up. I promise.

But right now, I am currently exhausted from writing and have decided to go back to my usual procrastination. But I promise, it's a going to be a wonderful post, with lots of wibbly wobbly, cheesy wheezy, inspirational . . . stuff. So be prepared, my dear Internet! Be prepared!

(Yes, I won. Now stop bugging me and give me a break, Mr. Conscience. You too, Inner Editor.)

And - we're clear. (iCarly Finale TV Review)

Okay. Okay okay okay okay okay. Okay. Okay? No. Not okay.

Around an hour and a half ago, the very last iCarly episode aired on Nickelodeon in the east coast, concluding five seasons of a phenomenal show directed by Dan Schneider, who also directed Drake and Josh, Zoey 101, and Victorious - three more favorite shows of mine. When all three ended, I was alright. D&J was a big smack in the face for me at first, but I got over it quickly. Zoey 101 was a little abrupt, but after watching a few reruns, I couldn't care less. And for Victorious, well - I didn't get that into it, so I wasn't that affected when I found out it ended. In fact, I'm not even sure if I cared at all.

But iCarly has stuck around with me for, what, since second grade? I remember watching it live on my dad's birthday. The next day, everyone was talking about it at lunch and telling each other their opinions. I had immediately fallen in love with the show. I never missed an episode. (Of course, now that I'm older, I still have a few episodes I've missed, which will help me relieve the HORRENDOUS AND MONSTROUS FEELING I HAVE IN MY GUT. But we'll talk about that later.)

Sitting down to watch the last iCarly - iGoodbye - was like sitting down to watch a best friend jump off a cliff to her death. Or, well, at least jump off a cliff to become severely injured. Considering that the show has - had (cringe) - been around since I was seven years old. Seven. Years. Old. And then it was just ending in front of me and I was like WHAT IS GOING ON IN MY LIFE I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

But anyway, I should probably get on with it so I can go obsess over the old episodes on Netflix and things like that. (I was on the iCarly website ten minutes before I opened up Blogger to write this.) From this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! Beware!

Okay, first of all, Sam. Sam was awesome. She was just. Wow. Just wow. She was just so Sam. That's the only way to describe her. I absolutely adore Jennette McCurdy and her acting in this episode was awesome. Just. Just awesome. I can't.

Spencer Shay/Jerry Trainor was amazing!!! I've always loved Spencer and he completely developed in this episode. I know I'm over stressing this episode, but everyone just changed in this finale and I'm just blurting everything on my mind! He went from setting things on fire and never being serious to being serious when he knows seriousness is needed...but he still set something on fire...

FREDDIE!!!!!! WHY DO YOU SPEAK SPANISH!?!?!?!? Also, your purse made me laugh really hard. And the fact you have a phablet the size of your head, but you know, whatever.

Gibby and T-Bo were cool, too. In the beginning of the series, Gibby wasn't a very big character. Later on, he showed up as a main character in the intro and I freaked out! I was so happy. I was really disappointed when he didn't go Gibbehhhh and take off his shirt at the end, though. And I love T-Bo! I knew I'd like him when he first appeared in an episode. And the fact he can put tacos on sticks? Mind = Blown.

JDKFJSHAKJFHDKJSAHFKSDHFKHIRETHFDJK. Mr. Shay finally appeared. I flipped out. He didn't look the way I imagined him, but he sounded the way I imagined him, which was weird. And speaking of appearances, what about Socko? What the heck? Dan Schneider is such a troll. (Not as big of a troll as Steven Moffat, though. Steven Moffat is the biggest writer-director troll in the universe.)

Mrs. Briggs appeared again, too. That made me smile. And Sam and Carly, they did it! They did the thing! Like, the thing! (The whole pointy joke they did in the first episode? iPilot? Yeah? Okay, I'll shut up now...)

And finally, Carly Shay/Miranda Cosgrove. She did astonishingly. I can't even. ALL HER CRYING AND HAPPINESS AND AFJASDHFKS MADE ME CRY EVEN MORE DURING THIS EPISODE. I can't. I'm sorry. Let me go wallow in a pit of my own self pity.

Last but not least (DEFINITELY NOT LEAST!!!!) are the end flashbacks. I'm sorry, but that is too much for the feels to handle. I was so emotional. Hfjdshfjkasdhfad I can't even. What is this thing you call happiness? I don't believe that I understand. And at the end, when Freddie said and - we're clear, I wasn't expecting it. I just flipped out and collapsed with all of my almighty feels.

But that's it. I guess that's it.

And - we're clear.

-Dominique

The month (so far) in review.

This month has been chaotic. Very, very, very chaotic. Chaotic to the point where I want to pull out my hair and stomp on the floor and fall down the stairs and pull myself into a fetus position at the bottom and leave myself there to die. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without my friends there to keep me together.

I'm at my boiling point. I'm around 4,500 words behind in NaNoWriMo and I've written almost 3,000 words today already. I feel too tired to continue, but I know I need to, so I decided to take a break and get some relief out of a nice blog post. (Oh, hello, audience. Sorry that I haven't posted in a while.) It's always relieving to publish my inner feelings to the world for my class and others to see and judge. (Can you breathe the sarcasm?)

But seriously, these blog posts pull me together, yet at the same time, make we want to implode. (That wouldn't be a very pretty sight, now would it?) I haven't posted in around two months due to procrastination with Skype and Minecraft, and I feel really bad about it. It's makes me feel even better to know one of my Nerdfighter friends Mary Rose manages to update her blog once per week. (Just kidding. Check her out here. She's awesome.)

And then there's Seussical the Musical. I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned Team Aladdin once or twice here in my blogging haven. Auditions for this year's play were two weeks ago, and I managed to make it to call-backs and get a minor part. I should be excited about that, right? WRONG. I mean, I get to see some of my best friends and everything, but not I have rehearsal to juggle with NaNoWriMo every week. Plus the fact my best school friend didn't make it through.

I do have a refuge when all hope is lost, though. I've just recently finished reading Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys and After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick. I'll post a full book review for both sometime this week (I have Thanksgiving break), but I'll just say one was incredibly beautiful and outstanding while the other one was okay, but incredibly disappointing. I'll leave you in suspense, my dear reader, until I post the full things.

And congratulations to me for being shoved into the exciting position where I wait for the Doctor Who Christmas special to come out again, because Steven Moffat just refuses to hand out any more Season 7 episodes until December. I waited for almost a year or more for S7 just to be cut off from my television heaven once more. And (spoilers!) Amy and Rory are gone now, too. I'm just gonna go dig up a hole, jump in, and wallow in my self pity now.

And now, I've just realized, I start a science project next Monday. Woo-hoo! (Can you breathe even more sarcasm?) It's not a hard project, and I already have all of the supplies ready to bring in, but seriously. This month is way too chaotic.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! I have a test tomorrow as well. I'm totally ready. I think. And then there's the spelling bee...and the fact I still need to get my best friend a birthday present...and I also need to get my other best friend a birthday present by December second...and that I'm probably going to be pestered on Skype for not getting on enough since I'm too busy writing...

This is going to be a long, long month.

Signing off,

-Dominique

That little piece of me.

So I wrote another 50,000 words this August. 50,017 words, to be exact.

This is my third time doing this challenge, the third time I've written a blog like this (if you don't count the Script Frenzy post, of course). By now, I know the NaNoWriMo challenge inside and out. I know those last-minute tips that everyone saves for the very end and I know how frustrating and impatient you can get when you're sitting down writing for too long. I've heard it all, from all of the NaNoWriMo gurus and veterans.

And yet, still, I end up in the same place in the last week.

Every single time I have done this challenge, I have ended up very, very far behind by the time the last stretch has arrived ("the last stretch" is a term for the last seven days of NaNo month). And I'm not even sure why this time because I was all caught up in the first week. It's kind of weird.

But I guess the important thing is that I've learned something, or thought of something that I keep in my foresight (or hindsight), right? Something to do with writing, my imagination, something I'd like to carry with myself for the rest of my life (if I don't forget it all by then). Or, at least, of course, until I stop writing.

What I learned, you say? Well.

I learned (by myself) that there is a little piece of our imagination, a piece of us, that tucks itself in the back of our heads as we grow up. It's that piece of our imagination that helps us to, well, imagine, the most of things. It helped us imagine ourselves as Disney princesses and pirate sailors when we were so small. And when we grow up, when we're old enough, that piece of us hides. It hides and waits.

I believe, now, that writers, the jobs of us writers, are to help others to find this so-called piece of themselves again. I believe that we are supposed to help others find their young selves again between book pages and in audio books, maybe even on a movie screen, as long as the story is being told. Our job is to help them find the little (yet so important) piece of their imagination again.

And, if we're brave enough, try to find our own.

-Dominique

NaNoWriMo Nonsense | "Cheat Week"

Word Count: 37,338
Days Left: 5

Okay, so I decided to start making this a blog series. Just because I can.

So, this is the last week of Camp NaNoWriMo and I'm happily going at my own pace. (Haha, just kidding, I procrastinate in the morning, as usual.) I write at a pace of about 5,000 words per day (my parents tell me I can't play Minecraft or the like if I don't write that amount by the time my dad comes home from work). And, of course, I'm doing pretty well until I've missed a day's worth of writing completely. Imagine writing 10,000 words in a day. Yeah, not pretty.

If I didn't write 10,000 words today, I would have to write 15,000 tomorrow. And I had been out with my family the entire day, coming home at about 7:00 at night. And I still wrote the 10,000 words. How, you ask? That's what I'm here to tell you.

I call the last week of any NaNoWriMo event "Cheat Week" because it usually consists of caffeine, desperation, late nights writing, and my friends tempting me to get on Skype for a minute (or sixty) of writing. And of course, that's what usually happens. So I have done my research on the forums of the NaNoWriMo website and have collected a few useful cheats for anyone who is in desperate need of a boost in word count.

Before I continue, use these cheats at your own risk! I only recommend using these if you are seriously desperate and have absolutely no hope for yourself anymore. (Or if you're really lazy, either way works.) I've only used these little cheat tips a few times (including today), but I will leave what you do with them to you.

(Also, these "cheats" aren't against the NaNoWriMo rules. I checked, so don't be too hesitant about them. ^~^)

1. Use flashbacks. Flashbacks save a whole lot of time. Flashbacks can be written originally or copied from an earlier section of your novel. This is one of my favorite and most useful cheats. They can be from 300 words long to 2,000 words long! It's your choice.
2. Use previously written prose in your novel. As long as you have written it, you can have one of your main characters read it aloud or something. Whether it's a Druna fanfiction or a scary story, it doesn't matter! Just put the thing in there and bam! There's another few hundred words (or thousand!) for you.
3. Write dream sequences. My own dreams usually don't make sense, and they sure are fun to write down! The fun thing about dreams is that they are seriously random, which makes it very entertaining to write! When writing this, who knows? Maybe it could lead to a plot twist or two!
4. When in doubt, ex-ter-minate contractions! (Sorry, I know that was pretty cheesy, but I couldn't resist!) This can add (usually) 300-600 words to your novel. Just paste it in Word and use the Replace feature. It's as easy as that!

That's it for now. Expect more blog posts soon! Wish me luck, and if you're writing a novel this August as well, I hope the little tips helped you!

-Zoe

NaNoWriMo Nonsense | Cupcakes vs. Muffins

(( I was desperate, okay? Enjoy this conversation between two of main characters, in which repetition ensues and contractions are completely rejected, copied from the Camp NaNoWrimo novel document of yours truly. ))

        Lyra and Maddie exchanged a glance of relief before finishing their breakfast. After a long moment of silence, they began to talk. “Hey, Lyra, what do you think is better? Cupcakes or muffins?” Maddie asked curiously. Lyra raised an eyebrow in confusion.
        “Uh, why do you want to know, exactly?” Lyra replied, puzzled, as she stuffed a piece of her scrambled eggs in her mouth. Maddie shrugged and did the exact same thing that Lyra had done with her scrambled eggs, chewing it slowly and carefully as she did so.
        “I do not know. I just want to. It is a pretty legitimate and debatable topic for a conversation, am I right?” she said, grinning as she ate. Lyra rolled her eyes and continued to eat, completely ignoring her question. “Oh, come on! Please, just answer!” Maddie insisted persistently.
        “Cupcakes, I think. Wait, I do not know, I think um, maybe, uh, muffins. Wait, no! I really do not know. Aren’t muffins just cupcakes without all the icing and sprinkles and extra happiness?” Lyra replied, raising an eyebrow at her again.
        Maddie looked offended. “Of course they aren’t! That’s terrible! Muffins deserve as much love as cupcakes do, even if they aren’t as exciting and happy looking and all that other jazz. They are amazing! I especially like blueberry muffins, but I think cupcakes are just...better.”
        Now, Lyra looked even more offended. Her jaw dropped at her auburn haired friend and she put her fork down loudly on her plate. It made a loud screeching noise as it did so. “Okay, now I am defending the muffin family. Muffins are super duper amazing, like you said, but they are just...they are nicer! They are less messy and they do not have really sticky icing that gets all over your fingers. It gets really annoying when the icing gets on my fingers, too. I know that most people do not really care and just lick the stuff off, but it’s different for me! It’s just a really weird and actually, rather big and extraordinary pet peeve that I have.”
        Maddie seemed to stop eating and crossed her arms over her chest, angry at Lyra’s replies. “Even though cupcakes can get really sticky and messy and get all over your fingers, and they can get super crumby and stuff, they are just better tasting in general. The icing makes it nicer and it’s fun to just lick off instead of eating the entire thing. The sprinkles are really fun and delicious. Muffins are a disgrace to the food chain!” She insisted.
        “No, they are not! Cupcakes are more of a disgrace to the food chain than muffins are!” Lyra replied stubbornly. “Cupcakes are seriously unhealthy most of the time. They have way too much icing, the sprinkles are overused, and sometimes people put ice cream or pudding or tapioca or something else like that! Muffins are just sort of like...fun, tastier bread! And they are shaped differently! Different shapes are cool!”
        Maddie looked disgusted by Lyra’s speech. She ate some of the rest of her breakfast and looked at the thirteen year old girl before her. “How could you say that? Cupcakes may be unhealthy sometimes, but they are seriously amazing and I am pretty sure that I can name at least five people who would prefer cupcakes rather than muffins any time now!”
        “Unhealthy sometimes?” Lyra scoffed, rolling her eyes and eating more of her breakfast as well. “They are always unhealthy, if you have not noticed, Madeleine Smith! They are filled with sugar and sprinkles and icing and all that unhealthy stuff that parents usually do not let their children eat too much everyday!”
Maddie only rolled her eyes. “You are just jealous because you know that muffins are not that good, anyway. Muffins are just complete rip offs of cupcakes, you know. They are the boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of cupcakes.”
Lyra finished her breakfast and looked at her, astonished that she would say such a thing. “First of all, muffins are not, at all, boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of cupcakes. They are actually very, very tasty, while cupcakes are boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of muffins.”
Maddie looked at Lyra, with an expression that said are you kidding me? “You have to be kidding me, Lyra. Muffins are boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of cupcakes, and you know it. There is absolutely no possible way that they could be boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of muffins. First of all they aren’t boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty. But whatever. I am done with this conversation. Let’s finish our breakfast now, shall we?”