See this to get why: http://twitter.com/DancingDeer/status/6010383892

Pictures of the sunset tonight: http://img130.imageshack.us/g/94930968.jpg/

38 158 words, baby! Oh yeah. I might still reach my weekend goal of 40 000. If I don't procrastinate or distract myself. See my twitter (on the right side of this page EDIT: only for my wordpress blog.) for quick updates on how it's going. And now for a little excerpt:

That night, after dinner, Liam and I go up to the roof with blankets, cushions, and our cameras to watch the sunset. Facing the backyard, I admire the sky. “It’s so beautiful,” I say, taking yet another picture, knowing the picture will never compare to the real thing.

The sky is alight and the burning sun sinks behind red-, yellow- and brown-leafed trees, leaving behind streaks of purple like a pale iris and soft baby blue. These colors, I know, will turn to deep blue-black that will cover the entire sky. Only stars, pin prick dots of light, will pierce through the vast emptiness.

Yay! I'm getting there. See learningtobreatheanovel.wordpress.com/ for more about my novel.

I just wrote a poem. I didn't think about what I was writing, just let my fingers write what my subconscious wanted to. Here's the result:


It's okay if you don't get it, because even I don't. But it's an interesting exercise. Try it and post the result on your blog. (And leave a link to it in the comments here.)

This time, the school opened the gates at 4 am so students couldn't chain them together. When I got there at quarter to eight, I saw small dumpsters and people standing/sitting on them, etc. Unfortunately, they weren't as organized as yesterday. Anyway, even though I could have easily gone to class, my friends and I decided to participate.

This means that an hour or so later, we went looking for more dumpsters. Why? The teachers and students had a tug of war over the dumpsters and the teachers won. Also, the principle shook one of the dumpsters that a friend of mine was sitting on. She almost went flying off.

Around town, we found 6 dumpsters that we ended up pushing/pulling around until we got back to our school. And yes, people who saw us and didn't know anything had this kind of face: o.O or O.O or *disapproving face*

By 10 o'clock, we got what wanted. We won.

See, the blocus/protest was against a reform that would make our French school system even more confusing, could make more students fail, could make us pay to go to a public school, could control us for weapons... They're already trying to make sheep out of us, and are already employing fear as a way to get us to do what they want us to do, but this reform would make all of this even worse.

I'm not 100% certain about all this, I haven't read any article about the reform. I only know this from speeches that the leader of the protest gave. (He had a megaphone this time.)

What they wanted was a reunion with the "rectorat" to talk about all this. Now guess how they won in the end?

Well, it's something that doesn't surprise me: it's so typical of my dad. He showed up sometime before 10, heard the leader's speech, talked to him the other students and the school principle. Principle walked away, my dad then gave the leader advice on how to obtain a reunion. (I was embarrassed/proud. The proud part only really came later, when I asked my dad what he'd told them. At the time I was just "Ugh, typical...")

I don't have anything more to add, although there are rumors of another blocus tomorrow. How knows?

-Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
-Street Magic and Demon Bound by Caitlin Kittredge
-Strange Angels and Betrayals by Lili St Crow
-Max by James Patterson (it's the fifth in the series)
-The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
-Shadowland by Alyson Noel
-Tempted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
-Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison
-Going Bovine by Libba Bray
-The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
-City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
-The Giver by Lois Lowry
-Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip M Hoose
-Graceling by Kristin Cashore
-Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
-Wit'ch Fire by James Clemens
-Going too far by Jennifer Echols
-Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard
-Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
-The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance
-You Know You're a Writer When by Adair Lara
-WAKE and FADE by Lisa McMann
-Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
-A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
-Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

ipod with camera
lapdesk
lungs by florence and the machine
tape recorder
typewriter
new camera

Snow white
Cinderella
UP
Alice in wonderland
Robin Hood
Peter Pan
Sleeping Beauty
The Jungle Book
The Aristocats
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Pocahontas
Hercules
Return to Never Land
Atlantis: the lost empire
The Sound of Music
Bednobs and Broomsticks
Grease
Chicago

lost season 5
supernatural seasons 1-4
skins seasons 1-3
heroes season 3
true blood seasons 1-2

I'm not delusional, I know there's no way my parents are going to buy me all that. But a girl can dream that her parents will win the lottery, right? In any case, look up those books, you might end up wanting to get them. (Think of them as recommendations. Even though I haven't read them yet.)

[If you didn't already know: I live in France and go to a French school.]

A "blocus" (a french word) is a manifestation where high school students (lycéens) block the entrance to their high school. These "blocus" are always in revolt of a change in the school system that they don't want.

Today, there was a blocus.

Around quarter to 8 am, I arrived at school. Two cars in front of us wouldn't move. I decided to get out of the car there and walk the rest of the way up to the school. I see a crowd, closed gates and remember seeing a group on Facebook about a blocus happening today. I hadn't taken it seriously because you often hear "There's going to be a blocus: no school!"

But this wasn't a joke.

There were already a few policemen there, ready to restrain violent students. (It never got violent.)

Students, I learned later on, had come to the school at 4 am, pushed dumpsters in front of the gates and chained the gates together with padlocks to stop them from opening. They also tipped over a recycling dumpster (bin is too small) and lit the magazines and such that were inside on fire. I didn't see the fire.

A mass of people were blocking the only gate they hadn't chained: the gate leading to the teacher's parking lot. They let the teachers in their cars go through, but refused any students who wanted to get to class. (Why would you want to go to class when you have a very valid excuse not to?)

They booed the students who wanted to get in. (This I disapprove of. It makes you feel ashamed and it's just mean.)

They also had a speaker and played music. At one point, one of the students, either a junior or senior (première or terminal), stood on top of something and gave a speech. I couldn't hear him that well -- he didn't have a megaphone or anything. However, it must have been good because the huge crowd of people listening cheered.

Once or twice we heard people chanting something.

At some point, we went to a café. When we came back, the crowd blocking the entrance had been reduced. Instead of going to class, we went home. (There'd have been no point. Hardly anybody was left and we'd already missed a few lessons.)

Oh, and they played Get Up Stand Up on their speaker.

I've got a few videos of all this, but they're very bad quality:

I know it's a mess but I'm way too lazy/don't have time to make it neat. Anyway, I have a folder called "Writing/Editing" in my bookmarks with all my favorite links and since they're useful I thought I'd share them.

http://www.caroclarke.com/writing.html
Writing | Caro Clarke - writer
http://www.sff.net/people/dan.perez/writing/writing.htm
Dan Perez: Writing Advice
http://www.novel-writing-help.com/
Expert Novel Writing Help and Advice
http://www.fictionwriters.com/tips-synopsis.html
Tips About How To Write a Synopsis from Fiction Writer's Connection -
http://www.poewar.com/
Poewar.com: Write Well, Live Well
http://www.feath.com/idea/idea.htm
Feaths Bookcase: Story generators and prompts: fantasy, genreless, tarot, starters and quotes.
http://www.steampunk.com/sfch/writing/ckilian/
Advice on Novel Writing
http://www.tennscreen.com/plots.htm
TSA Writing Tips-No Nos
http://xtremelifeblog.com/get-organized-before-you-write-your-novel
Get Organized Before You Write Your Novel | XtremeLife
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec98/shunn.htm
Proper Manuscript Format by William Shunn *Writers Write -- The IWJ*
http://koti.mbnet.fi/pasenka/quotes/q-writ.htm
Quotes about writing
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/quotes2.htm
Writers on Writing
http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2151501/1/How_To_Write_A_Fight_Scene
How To Write A Fight Scene, an Essay fanfic - FictionPress.com
https://www.createspace.com/pub/l/books_booksie_proof.do?rewrite=true&ref=342865&utm_id=4487
CreateSpace Makes Self-Publishing Your Book Easier Than Ever
http://www.deepgenre.com/wordpress/admin/craft/line-editing/
Line Editing in 10 Easy Steps (DeepGenre)
http://writinghood.com/writing/basic-tips-for-editing-your-novel/
Basic Tips for Editing Your Novel | Writinghood
http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2005/04/novel-vii-edit.html
Paperback Writer: Novel VII: Edit
http://bethestory.com/2008/08/08/editing-your-first-novel-7-things-you-must-know
Editing Your First Novel: 7 Things You Must Know – be the story
http://hubpages.com/hub/Editing-that-Mess-of-a-Novel
Editing that Mess of a Novel
http://www.autocrit.com/websitepublisher/articles/6/1/Edit-Your-Novel-In-Three-Steps/Page1.html
Edit Your Novel In Three Steps
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/08/book-publishing-glossary.html
Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: Book Publishing Glossary
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2008/03/query-letter-mad-lib.html
Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: Query Letter Mad Lib
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/07/anatomy-of-good-query-letter-iii.html
Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: Anatomy of a Good Query Letter III
http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2606686/1/Me_as_a_Writer
Me as a Writer, an Essay fanfic - FictionPress.com
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3263715
Starting Your Research | National Novel Writing Month
http://www.squidoo.com/NaNoWriMo-2009#module62533252
EelKat's NaNoWriMo 2009: Jack's Revenge
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/EelKat
Squidoo : Lensmaster Page
http://www.squidoo.com/JustForWriters
EK's Lensography For Writers
http://answers.yahoo.com/my/qa/index;_ylt=ApySUlkr5TjGc0JpyJ60TrXsy6IX;_ylv=3?link=answer&more=y&show=KyC1KHhKaa
Yahoo! Answers - Get answers, ask questions, find information
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/genredefinitions/
Writer’s Digest - Sub-Genre Descriptions
http://writingfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/young_adult_novel_guidelines#ixzz0UTlW6kQG
Young Adult Novel Guidelines: Tips on Writing for the YA / Teen Market | Suite101.com
http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/
The Bookshelf Muse
http://www.squidoo.com/CharacterProfiles
Creating Character Profiles
http://www.squidoo.com/writingadvicethatdidntwork
Writing Advice Didn't Work for Her (or Me Either!)
http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Thousand-Faces-Bollingen/dp/1577315936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257965230&sr=1-1
Amazon.com: The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Bollingen Series) (9781577315933): Joseph Campbell: Books
http://www.cherylrainfield.com/writing-fiction-articles.html
Writing Fiction - Articles on Fiction Technique, the nuts and bolts of writing by author Cheryl Rainfield
http://www.writersreliefblog.com/
Writer's Relief Blog - Author's Submission Service
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_871SdrUIr8Q/StC6i3a7tyI/AAAAAAAAAEc/BklmUoH3Rko/s1600-h/literary+vs+commercial..jpg
literary+vs+commercial..jpg (image)

I told myself that this christmas, I wouldn't ask for books, just movies. I have enough books, I told myself. Now you're probably asking me in a deadpan tone, "How many books?" Yeah, that's right: I'm asking for books anyway.

-Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
-Street Magic and Demon Bound by Caitlin Kittredge
-Strange Angels and Betrayals by Lili St Crow
-Max by James Patterson (it's the fifth in the series)
-The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz
-Shadowland by Alyson Noel
-Tempted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
-Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison
-Going Bovine by Libba Bray
-The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
-City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
-The Giver by Lois Lowry
-Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip M Hoose
-Graceling by Kristin Cashore

That's 16 books, by the way. I couldn't help myself! Now, it's 1 am and I should dry my hair and get some sleep.

http://learningtobreatheanovel.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/a-mix-of-stuff/

And word count:

From now on, anything related to my novel will be here: learningtobreatheanovel.wordpress.com/

I just impulsively joined NaNoWriMo!

A little snippet from my novel.

When I saw Liam — pale and small and still — in that clean white hospital bed, I felt lost, the kind of lost you’d feel if you were dumped, blindfolded, in a random place and told to find your way back home, without a map or a compass.

My website: midnightadrenaline.webs.com

In writing: deleted bunch of stuff, wrote 800 words.
Word count: 26 539
In reading: read The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Sacci Lloyd and Blood Promise by Richelle Mead. (Both recommend.)
Now reading: What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell, highly recommend based on what I've read.
In school: first day back after hols was horrible.
In homework: I don't understand the physics and I have to hand it in tomorrow morning.
Website recommendation: http://letthewordsflow.wordpress.com/
Now must: do homework, shower, choose outfit, and SLEEP.
Want to: write

Yesterday I wrote 284 new words.
New total:

In other news, I've watched:

• Slumdog Millionaire
• Transformers
• Watchmen
• Great balls of fire!

(You need to watch these movies if you haven't.) The list of movies I still need to see is never-ending...

I've read:

• Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine
• Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
• Stone Cold by Robert Swindells

Again, these books are good, although Carpe Corpus, the sixth in a series, isn't worth spending money on. I won't be buying the seventh book, an eighth if there is one. Stone Cold was... unbelievable, in a very good way: read it. Ink Exchange had the most beautiful writing. Definitely worth reading. (Although you should read Wicked Lovely first. It's kind of a series, but IE is a companion novel.)

Websites I recommend:

http://mydrunktexts.com/
http://www.fmylife.com/
http://mylifeisaverage.com/index.php
postsecret.com/
icanhascheezburger.com/

However, I must warn that these will easily make you lose several hours of your life -- that you'll never get back. So please use with caution.

Homeworkwise, I've done bugger all. But I will start today. (I'm on holiday.) I have, including today, 7 days to do my huge pile of homework. This homework includes:

• Maths (to be handed in)
• French (book to read (Germinal) and 8 exercises)
• Science (drawings to redo)
• English (dossier thing to start)
• Spanish test
• Maths test
• Science test
• Physiques to hand in

Aren't I lucky to be in the French school system? It's not all for the day I go back, Thursday 5th. Lucky me. Oh, and I have two presentations coming up, one in French and one in Geography. Yay.

Total for the week of Mon. 12th to Sun. 18th: 1825 words. Chapter 8 is finished, and very short. But I will no longer obsess over chapter length anymore. Now, on a more random note:

You know, my entire school life, I have never worked. Not really. I've kinda just lazily floated down the river while others struggled to fight against the currents... I should have used this to my advantage and actually worked. I could have gotten such great grades... But I never did. I didn't feel that I had to, that needed to. It wasn't necessary.

Now, I'm kinda of worried about what will happen when I actually do have to work. I though it'd be this year (I'm finally in high school, which starts a year later in France) but nope. I'm still floating down that river with ease.

I got a 17 (out of 20) in physics even though I only half-studied. And I'm using the word studied very lightly. I just got an 18 in maths, but it was an easy test.

Take right now for example, I should be studying for my science test. It's on everything we've done except embryos. But am I? No. Am I even worrying? No. And I should... But I can't find that worry of failure in me.

I guess my motto is "If there's somebody with a worse grade than you, then you're fine." Bad motto, I know, but I can't help it.

Okay, it's now much later, I've done my "studying", and will do more during my lunch break.

Goodbye.

Powerful, emotional scene written, but I feel it's missing something. It can be more powerful. Words for the day: 533.