Progress Report No. 4

I suppose a progress report is overdue, so here we go:

Like I predicted, my November was too hectic for me to actually make a meaningful attempt towards NaNoWriMo's 50k target. In reality, I probably only wrote ~9k overall. As the year approaches the end, I've started having minor panic attacks right before I drift to sleep that I will never finish writing this damn thing. I know it's a pressure I've put on myself -- that if I don't finish a draft by the end of this gap year, I will have to defer this project for an even longer period of time once my future career plans start kicking in. I've been contemplating setting up stricter writing schedules the way I used to do with my study schedules as a college undergrad--waking up earlier, sacrificing sleep, etc.

The problem with that, though, is that I don't necessarily write better under pressure. I wrote a completely new scene last weekend, and it turned out to be probably my favorite piece of writing that I've produced in the past month. However, the rest of the stuff I've produced has left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I think my writing has improved since high school in the sense that I've become much more precise with my language and more restrained when it comes to purple-y prose. But on the other hand, I feel as if I've lost the ethereal and poetic quality I held so much pride in before. It's still there somewhere, but I haven't figured out quite how to coax it back out. Optimistically, I might have made a breakthrough yesterday afternoon--a key piece of music came up on my iPod as I was writing a particular scene, and though it was only two sentences, those two sentences were reminiscent of my old vignette style--in the best way.

Anyways, I have a lot of work to do. =_____=

In other news, lots of good deals on YA books via Amazon today. I went a book shopping spree and bought the kindle edition of Days of Blood and Starlight ($3) and hardcover copies of The Fault in Our Stars ($6) and the boxed set of Legend, Prodigy, and Champion ($20). I wasn't madly in love with Legend, but twenty dollars for three hardcover books was too good to resist. In any case, I'm excited to read the rest of the trilogy. Eleanor and Park is also on sale for both the hardcover and Kindle editions, but I think I'm going to pass on that book. I've already wrote my thoughts about that book here. I really wish I had someone to discuss that book with, because I feel like I'm the only person in the world who wasn't head over heels for that book!!

Meanwhile, I've been spreading my time between two books. Finally got my hands on a copy of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, which I've been reading in small bits during my lunch breaks at work. The book hasn't quite gripped me, so it's been a slow but steady process. I also read the first part of Nights at the Circus in one sitting over the weekend, and I remain in awe of Angela Carter's power. Considering how much trouble I had with the frame narrative in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, I was surprised by how invested I became in the story-within-a-story in Nights at the Circus.

I feel like I should start having a Currently Reading and Currently Listening section on the side of this blog...