Today is the First Day of Finals Week

Bleeeeeeh

Not much to say today. I'm down with a bad cold and trying to finish up a book at the same time.

However, you did not come here in vain. Here is the promised picture that goes hand in hand with this post. Click on the picture to see it bigger.

Checklist for June - August

You may remember this post. It was a checklist for my "crunch time" plans. I have decided to do another one of those, except for summer vacation instead.

-Start June NaNoWriMo novel on the 3rd.

-Finish June novel A.S.A.P.

-Lunge into Heroicits book four, if it has not already been started. Finish quickly.

-Going into July, begin Heroicits book five. Scramble through epic finale.

-Maybe do another Secret Project?

-Take a day in late July to plan for August novel.

-August. Write August NaNoWriMo novel like a maniac.

-Second half of August, do spoof play. Die laughing.

-Furiously write S & E's, pretending not to go through Heroicits withdrawal.

Oh yeah, and there was something else in there, too. Something about query letters. Oh well. And, this is a lot more work than it looks like. 'Freedom's Eyes' threw off my groove.

The Evolution of Rayon

I was browsing my pictures folder, and I stumbled on several pictures I've done of Rayon over the years. The first was from August 2010, back when I still said 'I can't draw'. Here are some main drawings that show the evolution of my drawing style and Rayon's character:

The very first Rayon drawing, done in the margin of my notes for school. Yeah... a fail. But hey, the sword belt is on the correct side!

Another attempt, this one of him with Sara. Looks like I was trying to figure out how to draw muscles. (Fail.....)

Another attempt! The date on this one is late November, 2010. That would've been just after finishing my first NaNoWriMo. As you can see, I was slowly figuring out these things called 'muscles'.

Some time passed, and I attempted to do a sideways pose. I kind of failed, but it looks like I was on the right track.

Another attempt! This one shows the beginnings of my current style. There are still some 'fail' aspects of it, though. 

Ah, this is much better. It was a random doodle that ended up an accidental masterpiece. This is only a small part of the drawing. You may recognize it as Rayon's drawing on the 'meet the MWW' page thing.

Oh look, his muscles are much better. The fur on his tail is much fuller, too! This picture was actually from October of last year. It was one of the first times I trusted scanning with grey scale.

And suddenly... I discovered chibis!

This picture is from the Christmas special. It was another attempt to draw Rayon sideways. My style actually changed halfway through the Christmas special, but I reverted back to the old one so I could keep the whole thing consistent.

Here was an attempt to do the turned-head angle. It was tricky, but it helped me figure out how to draw him better.

Right when I thought this was my best hand-done Rayon drawing....

Boom. Bam.

That was an accidental drawing, too. Now, I'm off to see the Avengers with my parents. My birthday is tomorrow, did you know that? Well, now you do.

EDIT: Oh. My. Gosh. 'Avengers' was an awesome movie. YOU SHOULD SEE IT. It's fantastic!

Camp NaNoWriMo 2012

I had a bad headache around lunch, so I took some medicine. Those didn't work, so I took more medicine. The medicine finally kicked in around two in the afternoon, when I usually get really tired. The result... loopyland!

Those poor sane people on my contacts list. I may have to apologize to them later for my loopyness. I'm acting like a nut right now.

Since I don't want to start rambling about something, I will instead state that HEY! Camp NaNoWriMo is in 16 daaaays! I picked out a plot and everything, and here's my cool little badge thingee.

And! Ooh! A link to my NaNo profile! Looook at it.

http://campnanowrimo.org/campers/lewolfwriter/novels/lady-tornado

Overall Page Counts

Every once in a while, I'll pull out my calculator, a piece of paper, and a pencil, and I will do math of my own free will. This is usually when I tally up the page counts of my stories. It happens maybe once or twice a year.

Since May is technically the half-way mark of the year (or maybe it was June, oh well), I decided to do another tally. Due to much conflict in my head, I did the Magical Kingdom and Heroicits tallies last.

The final count:

NaNoWriMo and other Novels: 1,355 pages combined.

Pages for Non-Series Stories: 310 pages, 269, 157, and 30 pages combined. (There was this random thirty pages in there. It's funky.)

Pages done by Heroicits since November '09: 1,661

Pages done by Magical Kingdom since December '08: 2,218 (MEEP!)

Heroicits pages so far this year: 306

Magical Kingdom pages so far this year: 304 (At this point, Nessah punched Rayon. Tsk.)

OVERALL: 6,000 pages, more or less.

I am blown away. When my hands stop shaking, I'll draw a special picture to celebrate. In the meantime, EVERYONE PARTY! YEAAAAH! I HIT 6,000 PAGES! SIX THOUSAND PAGES! WHEEEEEE!

LOL: A Study

Sorry for no post on Thursday. I was faced with a dump-truck load of work. My brain's reaction was to shut down in self defense.

Yesterday, I was kind of dragging towards the afternoon (usual for just about everyone) when I saw an almost-empty thing of icing on the counter. I ate some. The sugar went right to my brain.

I danced around the house hyperly. It didn't end there, though. I had a chapter to work on....

Following this, mom asked me to mow the lawn. I did so, trying to ignore the elderly couple next door who may or may not be looking for someone to mow their lawn. 

I came inside, and began drawing random pictures.

Next, since I still had energy, I began a new blog pos-

Sloppy Drawing Time

Haha, bet you thought I forgot to post, hmm? Well, I almost did...!

The below is how I draw Rayon, thanks to DevianArt's new program.

Warning: This a personal fail, but feel free to watch anyway.

Edit: Holy crow, that plays it fast. Look here to see it with a button to make it slow down if you want.

Edit 2:

I also drew this with it.

Things I've Learned from Being a Writer

There are many things writers learn. It's picked up slowly, over many years of writing. Here are some of those:

-Normal people don't appreciate jokes about death/dying/murder/kidnapping.

-Having imaginary friends when you're older than 5 is not socially acceptable.

-Running around screaming, "I figured out the plot hole! I know what happens next! He gets violently murdered and she gets kidnapped by ogres! It all fits into place now!" will result in people looking at you funny.

-Most people don't know what plot bunnies, writer's block, and guilt monkeys are.

-To most, 'Rayon' is a type of fabric. This will change once I'm published.

-People want to know why I never go anywhere. I tell them I am becoming a hermit. This is untrue. I am actually becoming an author.

-I can eat my weight in snacks during November 1st.


EDIT: Yesterday was National Star Wars Day. Do you know why? May the Fourth be with you.

Letters from the Cast (Part Three)

(For an explanation, look at this post.)

Dear Rebecca Black,
I love Fridays as much as the next person. However, unlike the next person, I do not think it should be spent partying, nor do I think Friday deserves a horrible song to go with it. Please, please, refrain yourself from singing about Fridays, or any other day of the week. We learn those things in kindergarten. Once you're past kindergarten, you don't need to sing songs about it to remember it.
-Sandra


Dear Lady Gaga,
I find your bizarre, impractical clothing choice and bizarre, strange music rather disconcerting. I have always viewed the "popular" clothing and music as strange, but I think yours tops just about everyone's. An outfit made out of meat? Another made out of Kermits?
Still, where on earth or out of it do you get your ideas?
-Sara

Dear LE (Far Fetched and Beyond blog), 
Wait. What were we supposed to do?
-Harret

This Counts as a Post Too

Um... so, yeah. I planned on writing up today's post last night before I went to bed. Instead, I started a drawing in Paint that continued for a whole hour. Here, dear readers, is probably the best drawing I've ever done in MS Paint so far.

In other news, I have finished up Heroicits book two. Many of you read the Facebook post and found out. At the current moment, I am working on another S & E that has illustrations. Here is one from that chapter:

Yes, yes, that is peanut butter.

Happy May, everyone!