Part 1: Pokémon Go and finding inspiration
I know, I know. I can hear you sighing deeply and thinking, “Amanda, why must you talk about that app? Don’t you think the game has saturated the media enough?”
And to you, I will admit that even I am growing tired of reading/hearing it everywhere. But give me a chance to explain…
My sister created an account on day one and I officially became her co-pilot when it came to her catching Pokémon. I would accompany her as she would drive around subdivisions and it was my job in the passenger seat to catch any wild Pokémon that jumped out. I joined her on her various walks (partially because it’s probably not healthy how often I don’t leave the house and I could use the exercise).
We explored three different nearby parks and tramped through a trail behind a nature center. The scenery was so pretty I couldn’t help but take some pictures on my phone.
Can you tell I like taking pictures of water?
Discovering new places and visiting nature really gave me some inspiration for my July writing project.
Part 2: July writing project
Remember how in my last post I had promised myself to write every day and obtain at least 31,000 words by the end?
Yeah…
On July 1st, I didn’t know what to write. However, I did have a kernel of an idea and I figured hey, why not? But because I am a planner rather than a pantser when it comes to the writing process, I had to sit down and do a little planning in terms of fleshing out characters and story arcs.
About that…I may have taken the brainstorming step a little too far. I say that because I didn’t actually start writing until July 9th. The ninth! (But on the bright side, I had a great start when it came to the world-building and creating complex characters. Plus, I even drew a map on Paint to help me out.)
I spent the first three days of actual writing by reaching the 1,000 word mark. After realizing that 1,000 words was rather easy to achieve, I increased it to 1,200. At some point during the month, it graduated to at least 1,300 words.
When I woke up this morning, I only had 2,162 words to go. And because I am a stubborn person, I made the decision to reach my 31k goal. Two thousand words are do-able in one day. No way was I going to admit defeat when I was thisclose.
So despite being eight days behind, I officially reached 31,295 words in total.
My adventure/low fantasy story actually worked out very well for me. In June, I was worried that I’d grow bored of my stories and end up creating multiple short stories to try and stretch to the 31k goal.
I need to have more faith in my abilities.
Part 3: Vocab Words
Do you remember a blog post I created last July? You know, the one where I expressed my love for previously unknown words that I came across and try to memorize them? (If you need to revisit this blog post, just find it in the right side bar. Go on. I’ll wait for you.)
I’ve started this practice up again.
While I have been reading books these past couple of months, I’d input these new words into a notepad on my phone and carry on reading, knowing I’d eventually research their definitions at a later time.
These past three days, I have finally researched their meanings. I even made flashcards out of them!
The reason why they are green is simply because that is the only kind of index cards I have laying around in abundance at my house. They remind me of “play” money, much like the version my siblings and I would use as children whenever we needed currency for our many imaginative games, haha.
I’ve also tried to find ways to insert a few of these words into the July writing project. Just because I can. (Additionally, I’m hoping by doing this, I’ll memorize the words quicker.)
Maybe I’m weird for voluntarily creating flashcards to memorize words. But I guess we’re all weird in some way.
P.S. Happy HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD book pub day! (Yes, I’m eagerly awaiting my pre-ordered book to arrive in the mail. Just like a bajillion of other people.)
