Goodnight, February! Good Morning, March! (feat. all things February Freeze Out, where I ran off to, and a bunch of other random stuff)

EDIT NOTE: I was so excited to actually be posting something for once that I completely forgot to add in some asterisk notes I’d planned on including. SO I’VE FIXED IT. MWAHAHAHAHA.

 

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good morning, cyberspace!

It’s March, peasants! WOOT WOOT! I . . . honestly don’t know where February went. It seems like just a week ago that I was squealing and squawking about February Freeze Out, and now . . . it’s over.

And I hardly posted anything at all about it. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

. . .

Actually, scratch that. I literally posted nothing about it. My plan for the month was to do two posts a week–one normal post, one February Freeze Out update post–and, as I’m sure you can all clearly see, that did not happen. Like at all. I didn’t even manage to give daily updates on my Twitter feed like I had planned, which means that on the updating front of this challenge, I failed most miserably.

On the actual doing of the February Freeze Out challenge, however. . .

Yeah, I also failed that, too. But now that it’s March, I have NEWS! and UPDATES! and MORE NEWS! about anything and everything February-ish, so let’s just get this over with, shall we?

— FEBRUARY FREEZE OUT —

. . . What Happened? . . .

First off, I think I should address the fact that I hardly posted at all last month. In January, I posted a grand total of six posts (something I was immensely proud of, by the way) and in February, I posted . . . two.

*cough*

HOWEVER, my lack of posting had absolutely nothing to do with laziness, and everything to do with the fact that I was prioritizing my writing time. February Freeze Out was intense, you guys. Seriously. It wasn’t as mentally draining as I thought it would be–which is, of course, an absolutely wonderful thing–but it was severely draining on my free time. Almost every single free second I had available was spent tippity-tapping away at my laptop*, and that bizarre obsession to “win” grew even stronger towards the end of the month, when everything was coming together and I was making a mad dash for the finish.

Which is why the month started out halfway decent with blog posts, and then promptly fizzled into nothing near the end.

But although I didn’t write many blog posts–and although I didn’t technically win February Freeze Out–I am still SO IMMENSELY PROUD of all that I got accomplished towards this project last month, as you will soon see.

*i mean, YES, this is technically what i do everyday??? but typically i take breaks and do OTHER things beside writing, and in February . . . i really didn’t. aha.

. . . THE STATISTICS . . .

WORDS WRITTEN . . . many

CHAPTERS COMPLETED . . . a lot

BRAIN CELLS REMAINING . . . 0

Okay, so here’s the thing. At the beginning of the month, I was so!!!! good!!! about keeping a daily track of how many words I’d written*. And that in itself is actually quite shocking, seeing as though I’m usually about as organized as a squid–which is to say I am not organized at all. . . I don’t actually know how organized squids typically are???–BUT I WAS ORGANIZED, OKAY? It was glorious. A miracle. And it did not last very long.

My unorganized self is just so bad at keeping track of things. I try very very hard to do all those shiny charts and progress trackers and all that aestheticy stuff that other writers do, but like. . .? I just can’t keep up with it. Somehow, inevitably, I always end up losing track of something, and then my entire progress tracker crumbles apart.

It’s kind of like Jenga.

According to my Google Spreadsheet**, I stopped trying to figure out how many words I’d written/chapters I’d completed around the 18th of the month, which means I have exactly ten days of uncharted progress. (does this make me angry in retrospect, because i literally had less than two weeks to go with my progress tracking? why yes. yes, it does.) The statistics I did manage to track on that spreadsheet, however, are as follows:

WORDS WRITTEN . . . 16,800

CHAPTERS COMPLETED . . . 9

This, my friends, does not seem like a lot. But I would like to just calmly remind you that A) there were days where I had no clue how many words I’d written, so I just slapped a big N/A into the slot and called it good, and B) I wrote ~10 more chapters after I stopped keeping track of my progress, give or take a few. (but mostly give, because I’m pretty sure the count was more around the 15 chapter mark)

Although I have absolutely no clue exactly how much progress I made over the past 28 days, I do know that it was a LOT. At least, it was a lot for me, considering how slow I am when it comes to drafting things. And while the majority of all this could be chalked up to the fact that I’m revising, rather than writing everything from scratch, I still could not be more pleased with the progress I was able to make on this project.

Because even though I didn’t technically “win” February Freeze Out, I am now so close to finishing this draft that it feels unreal. Just two months ago I was starting from the very beginning, and now . . .

Now I am exactly five chapters away from finishing.

February may be over, but being this close to finishing a draft is so intoxicating that I can’t possibly get myself to stop until I finish. I’m forcing myself to have one free day–March 1st–wherein I let myself take a sort of breather, (in which I shall paint a whale, write a letter, and get a better grip on reality after such an intense month of writing)–and then I’m diving right back in to finish what I’ve started. I do have a tentative extremely firm finish date, and if I do end up achieving that, you guys will be the first to know.

Actually, that’s a lie. My mom will be the first to know. But you’ll be a close second, I promise.

So as far as February Freeze Out goes, this is it in a nutshell: I failed. But I’m still so so so excited about all of the progress I made, and even though I completely BUTCHERED updating you all on that progress throughout the month, I can firmly say that last month was probably the best writing month I’ve had in a while.

As far as the whole “punishment” thing goes, I’m still a little iffy on what I’m going to do to punish myself. I’ve been sort of toying with the idea that Penny gave, which is to share a chapter from the worst novel I ever wrote, but I’m not exactly sure how I want to play that quite yet. I do have a few ideas, though, so we’ll just have to see what happens! (mwahahahahahaha)

If you happen to have any ideas for a punishment now that I’ve failed February Freeze Out, go ahead and leave those down in the comments below! I might mash them all up into one Super Duper Punishment that I will completely regret concocting.

#regerts

*NOTE: when I say “written”, what I actually mean is “rewritten”, because this draft is mostly revision. meaning I’m writing and rewriting and rewriting a lot of things over and over and over again.  **Super Mega Shoutout to Phoebe for helping me figure out Google Spreadsheets!!! I had absolutely no clue how to work Spreadsheets at the start of February, but this girl was absolutely amazing and gave me a live tutorial on the ins and outs of the program, and I am just so immensely grateful to her and her astounding patience.

— What Else Happened In February? —

Despite what I said earlier, I did manage to get a few things done in February that were non-writing-oriented.

Well . . . sort of. Basically all I really did last month was write, but it was FUN, OKAY?? (I am, however, ready for a really long nap.) But I also managed to squeeze in some other things that I’m pretty excited about, so let’s talk about those, shall we?

. . . READING . . .

I read two three? books last month! And while that might not seem like very much at all, it’s kind of shocking that I was able to read even ONE book, because–as I said–there was SO. MUCH. WRITING.

*is ded*

But I did manage to read two three books, so I’m still right on track with my goal for my Goodreads reading challenge! HUZZAH!

 BOOK ONE . . . The Boscombe Valley Mystery (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, #4) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Okay, so technically this is a short story, but Goodreads counts it as an entire book, SO WE ARE COUNTING IT AS A BOOK, OKAY.

And also you can never go wrong with Sherlock Holmes, so. 10/10.

BOOK TWO . . . Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

I’m really not sure of my thoughts on this book yet. I liked it–that much I know–and the ending was definitely plot-twistery (ignoring the fact that I accidentally spoiled myself for the ending, of course[i’m not bitter, you’re bitter]), but as for my overall thoughts . . . I can’t really pin them down.

Part of me is saying that it was really good, and part of me is saying that I’m just a tiny bit disappointed by the plot-twist ending, for a really peculiar reason that I don’t think anyone else would agree with. I won’t go into too much detail on the why’s of this, because I’d hate to spoil anyone for the ending, but as of right now I’m just very internally conflicted.

I’m certain of the fact that I did like this story, though. There was one scene in particular that I . . . did not like so much . . . but other than that, it was a really good, quirky, fun book, and one that’s pretty outside of my reading style (contemporary just ain’t my jam, folks), so I’m really glad that I took a chance and picked it up at the library.

BOOK THREE . . . Dark and Deep by Phoebe Morryce

I’m not sure if this technically counts since it was a beta read, but as this was the absolute best book I read all month . . . I’m gonna say it counts.

I don’t think I can go into too much detail on this book, seeing as though Phoebe’s still working on it and all that, but OH. MY. GOODNESS. This story took me on a roller coaster ride of intense emotion, and I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve been impacted by a story like this since I read The Lunar Chronicles for the first time two years ago. It was that good.

I’m feeling kind of blessed that I’m friends with such a talented writer, to be honest. . .

. . . MUSIC . . .

Aside from writing and reading and writing some more, I also discovered some really good music last month. Some of it made it onto my project’s playlist, some of it didn’t, and most of it I’d already heard before, but still. Rediscovering music is almost as good as discovering it in the first place, amiright?

Some of the more interesting highlights include:

THE ZOMBIE SONG by Stephanie Mabey

FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE by The Cure

WINNERS NEVER QUIT by Owl City

and EVERMORE by Dan Stevens

^^THAT SONG IS NOT GOING ON MY PROJECT PLAYLIST^^

And also, sort of going in line with the whole “music discovery” thing-a-ma-jig. . .

My friend started her own YouTube Channel???

I didn’t even know this till literally a week ago (#worstfriendever), but my friend, Em, started her own YouTube channel around January of this year, and ASDFGHJKL. I AM SO EXCITED. She’s currently posting mostly song covers, but I’ve heard tell that she’d really like to start posting her own music in the future, and I just . . . I am such a proud friend bean right now, okay.

So if you’re into music and and covers and you’d like to check her channel out, here’s a handy dandy link for you! And if you’d like to check out some of MY favorite songs she’s covered so far, well . . . AREN’T YOU IN LUCK, SIR:

Now, I’m not one to claim favoritism (*cough*), but these two songs MIIIIIGHT just be my absolute favorites she’s covered so far. I didn’t even know that Hostage existed until I heard this cover, but it just has such a haunting and lilting melody, and now I am thoroughly obsessed.

It’s a problem.

(thanks, em. XD)

All righty, then! I think that about wraps up February! A wrote a lot, I read a lot-ish, I listened to a lot of music, and I totally and completely failed February Freeze Out.

Aha.

Make sure to keep those eyes peeled for my punishment post in the near future, my friends. I’m not exactly sure what it’s going to be yet, but I’ll do my best to make it embarrassing.

because what other kind of punishment is there

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TALK TO ME, PEASANTS!

What kinds of things have YOU been up to in February? Have you been writing, reading, wrestling apes in the jungles of Africa? Did you participate in February Freeze Out, as well? (and if so, did you end up winning? [please tell me I’m not the only one who lost my own challenge. ahahahahahaha.) What sorts of goals do you have in mind for March? and most importantly, now that I’m back from my unplanned hiatus. . .

Let’s talk about ALL OF THE THINGS! down in the comments below! And as always, until next time. . .

*flings cookies in the air and disappears*

Featured Photo by Quentin Rey on Unsplash

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