July Campnano 2015 - Countdown #1 Update

Countdown Series #1

Want to follow my daily progress? Follow me at:
Twitter @ HE_Anev

Campnanowrimo

Project Goal: To get a first draft this novel.

Stage of writing: First Draft

What inspired my current project: I read a story on tumblr and read comments that said someone should write a story based off that topic. The suggestions and my desire to expand on it inspired my own version. It's paranormal (not sci-fi as I originally stated).

Last Update WC: 56,641

Month's Total WC: 4,007
Total Story WC: 60,648

Daily WC:
1. 0
2. 1,586
3. 0
.

.

7. 354
.
.
21. 2,026
.

.

28. 41

.

.

31. 0

Last 200 words: 

I had my suspicions something felt amiss, especially since Sedric didn't once take his eyes off the piece of paper with the pizza orders. He took the pad and walked to the far corner of the room, "I'm going to order the pizzas now. Last chance to change your orders."

Chase and Dylan walked over to listen in on his order to make sure that he ordered correctly. Zadie walked over towards me, "That was odd, wasn't it?" I made sure that Sedric was preoccupied before nodding, "Yeah, I didn't trust them."

"We tried to keep them away from your personal items," Eddy said, "But they were pretty slippery."

"I appreciate it," I said taking a deep breath and releasing it, "I couldn't keep my eyes on them the entire time."

Eddy leaned in, "We can do a sweep of your apartment before we go, to make sure that they didn't put any bugs or cameras in here."

I nodded, "Thanks." Having them sweep the rooms would reassure me that they hadn't done or tampered with anything. Still I couldn't fight the chills that gave me goosebumps from having Griffith and Ottis in my apartment.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts of the Month

Total Words This Month: 4,007

Yikes, this month was not very productive at all! So many things hit me at once. I just couldn't get motivated to write. :( 

• Started ok the first week but then I had to prepare for vacation the next week but we were leaving on this Saturday. I did not plan ahead and has last minute things to do before packing.
• The 2nd week of the month was my vacation. I had a great time but we drove all day Saturday then the following Saturday on the way back. It made me exhausted. It took some time for me to recuperate and to unpack.
• Don't really have a good excuse for the last two weeks other than trying to get readjusted to my normal schedule.
• I did have some terrible back pain where it hurt to sit. I think it was something I ate but I have no idea what it was so that worried me.
• I went to a local YA Author Festival which was fun on the fourth Saturday of the month.
• Unmotivated to write I decided to read instead and that's been helping. Especially since I'm terribly behind on my TBR list.

Overall, not my best Wrimo but it's still better than nothing. I'll continue aiming to finish this story but looks like it'll take a little longer than I wanted. Also I'm hoping to get some revision and editing done in August. Not sure what projects or how that's going to work out yet but I'm thinking about it.

How did you guys do for your Campnano? Better than me I hope! :D

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review: Shoplet Featuring Schneider Pens

I've never heard of Schneider Pens but apparently they are a pen company in Germany! Stride, Inc. is the manufacturer of 15% of their writing products but I got these pens courtesy of Shoplet. I had the option to try these pens and I thought I'd give it a try!

The products:

• Schneider Xpress .8mm Porous Point Pen
• Slider Edge 1.0mm Ballpoint Pen
• Slider XB ViscoGlide Ballpoint Pen
• Slider Ballpoint Pen
• Slider Memo XB ViscoGlide Ballpoint Pen
• Slider Memo XB

Here's my samples of the pens on my EcoSystem journal. They all write well, as expected from a typical ballpoint pen but I needed to write a line or two to make the pens start up. Not sure if it is because they are brand new and needed a little priming but I did set one aside for a bit and had to do the same to get it to start writing again. Not a huge issue but don't expect to start writing with the ballpoints on the first stroke.

Let's talk about overall appearances. I really like the rubberized exterior. It's firm but gives a little in the grip. It adds more friction for us people who have naturally moist hands. I tend to wash my hands often so I had no problems with pen slippage as I wrote. 

Can't comment much on the clips as I don't clip my pens but they were pretty springy and strong so I don't think they'd break off easily if you clip your pens. They are better than BIC in that case.

The Slider Edge 1.0mm Ballpoint Pen is triangular, it's an odd shape but if you're used to writing with a Lamy Safari grip then you'll be fine. I didn't mind that type of grip. I did notice that just looking at it and imagining it was a round grip instead of triangular, reminds me of a Stabilo pen. 

The Slider XB ViscoGlide Ballpoint Pen design reminds me of a Pentel RSVP. For some reason the pen's cap seems tighter than the other pens and requires more force to pull off and put on the cap. Not a huge issue since I think it might loosen during use but I wouldn't want to open this with someone next to me. lol

Now, I'm not a huge ballpoint pen expert. I like my BIC pens just fine and maybe it's a personal preference but I still prefer those in terms of writing experience. I felt indifferent about my writing experience with:

• Slider Edge 1.0mm Ballpoint Pen
• Slider XB ViscoGlide Ballpoint Pen
• Slider Ballpoint Pen

They all felt very similar to me as I wrote, on par to a BIC but BIC cost less. I'm not sure how to discern a high quality writing experience with a ballpoint. I might be missing the "wow" factor about these pens because I'm not as familiar with writing with a quality ballpoint. Maybe these pens weren't quite for me.

All these pens require some pressure to write, I'm not sure they would write as well as a gel pen as one of them states. I do have to mention that they are smooth and consistent and do not blob like BIC. So I guess if that is a big issue and you don't like blobbing or skipping from BIC, then you won't get that with these pens in my experience so far.

The Schneider Xpress .8mm Porous Point Pen is probably my favorite pen of this batch. I liked the felt tip and the bold consistent lines it lays down as I write. Although you'll have to watch out for shadowing for thinner papers. I had minor shadowing on my notebook which you can see in the picture below. The only concern I'd have is how well the felt tip would last during long term use.

Out of the ballpoints, the Slider Memo XB ViscoGlide Ballpoint Pen and Slider Memo XB are my favorites. I felt that these wrote smoother than the black ballpoints. I'm not sure why that is. I did notice that as I wrote for my own personal writing. I do like that the colors of the pens to match the ink inside. The light blue is different from the typical black exterior but may not be as aesthetically pleasing to others. I don't mind it, it's just something different. 

All these pens have waterproof ink which is fantastic because like I said, I sometimes smudge my wet hands on the paper as I write. The ink does take some time to dry, so I'd say give it a few seconds to dry. Not sure if I'd recommend these pens for lefties.

Overall, I think these are solid writing pens. They are great to try out if you're interested in expanding your writing experiences. I'm grateful to be able to have the opportunity to try these pens out. I'll have to try them out some more just to be sure that I'm not missing something but so far these are my thoughts.

Have you guys tried these pens before? What did you think of them?


**Disclaimer: These products were provided by Shoplet and in return for this review I was able to keep the product in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was paid. All Promotional Products, Medical Supplies, Office Supplies, and/or Office Stationary are courtesy of Shoplet.

June 2015 Junowrimo Wk 4 - WritingProject: Countdown #1 and WYDM - Update #4

Countdown Series #1

Want to follow my daily progress? Follow me at:
Twitter @ HE_Anev

Campnanowrimo

Project Goal: To get a first draft this novel.

Stage of writing: First Draft

What inspired my current project: I read a story on tumblr and read comments that said someone should write a story based off that topic. The suggestions and my desire to expand on it inspired my own version. It's paranormal (not sci-fi as I originally stated).

Last Update WC: 52,379

Week's Total WC: 4,262
Total Story WC: 56,641

Daily WC:

1. 1,136
2. 0
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 2,007
8. 0
9. 550
10. 0
11. 569
12. 0

Last 200 words: 

What could I do? My eyes slid to the gas stove and the matches I knew were in the drawer. I could blow this whole cabin down. Take them down with me.

Unfortunately, I didn't know who could be around and didn't want to hurt any by passers. I still didn't know who could be outside. I heard another knock, more insistent than before. I thought about peeking out the curtains but then it's possible that they could see me too. I bit my lip. I'd have to peek in the peep hole and hope I didn't make too much noise getting to it.

I slid off my shoes not trusting that they'd be quiet on the hardwood. I got up and slowly made my way over to the door. My heart thudded panicky in my chest wondering if these people would be friend or foe. There were little creaks from the floorboards thanks to my weight but after pausing I realized they didn't notice. I shifted my weight testing the board in front of me before putting my full weight on it. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would You Date Me?!

Want to follow my daily progress? Follow me at:
Twitter @ HE_Anev

Campnanowrimo

Project Goal: To get a first draft of a romance/contemporary novel.

Stage of writing: First Draft

What inspired my current project: A story that was going to be based off a couple of characters in my head that were supposed to be a comic. Then I realized I need a story before I actually draw it. lol

Last Update WC: 18,744

Week's Total WC: 3,300
Total Story WC: 22,044

Daily WC:

1. 1,375
2. 0
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 0
8. 0
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 825

No excerpts since I'm hand writing everything and don't want to type it up as I go but have some blurred pictures instead! lol *dodges tomatoes*

Visual evidence on how much I wrote in the notebook. XD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts of the Week

Total Words This Week: 7,562

Decided to list some of my thoughts I've had during the week to give you a little more insight on my progress and/or struggles.

• Skipped the check in last Friday since I hadn't written much and decided to finish off on the last day of the month.
• Notice all the zeros? lol I ended up feeling a bit burnt out and fell into a lull and got stuck with writing. 
• Still enjoy working on two stories at a time so I'll probably do it with July Campnano.
• Unfortunately I am not able to catch up with my word count goals but I'm not too worried since I'll work on it again in July. 
• Handwriting takes me longer to write than typing but I like how it flows on paper better.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of the Month Thoughts

Total Words This Month: 40,342

So I didn't make my overall word count goal of 60k but I didn't do too bad. I've made a little over 40k which is better than I thought but less than I had expected. It looks like 40k is something I can consistently do during a month. Anything more than that is pushing it for me.

I could have pushed myself to do at least 50k but I decided against it since I'll be working on at least one of the projects during July. I'm pretty sure I'll work on Countdown #1 but not sure if I'll stay with WYDM?! since I feel like I need to plot it out better since it took a weird turn. lol

In the mean time, in July I'll be going on vacation for a week so my expected turn out will be less than I'll expect. Initially, I thought 25k for the word goal but I've since lowered it to 20k because I think I'm going to spend more time plotting for my other story during my vacation and I'm not going to track those words. Writing takes no vacation! lol

My goal is to finish Countdown #1 so I can work on the other books in the series. Then my second project will most likely be plotting. Not sure which project I'll work on. I may focus on one or two for plotting, depends if I get stuck...either way I'm excited to be nearly done with the first draft!

I'll probably run through it once or twice and fill in any plot holes the best I can before I move on to the next book. Then I'll let it sit and focus on a different story. :)


Did you guys do Junowrimo? If so, fantastic! How did you do?


Other Updates:

Update #4
Update #3
Update #2
Update #1