NaNoWhyTho: In Which Kenzie Tries Again

good morning, december!

Well, it looks like the WordPress editor has undergone another drastic change. HUZZAH! It really must be a new month up in here. XD

So! Yesterday I told y’all about my smol little book gremlin–Project Goblin. And also about how I kinda sorta failed NaNoWriMo. This was, of course, an unfortunate circumstance. But in true Kenzie fashion, I have decided to bounce back, and bounce back strong.

And this time around, I will not fail.

After some chatting with my lovely writing group–known currently as The Cabinettes (shhh, it’s an inside joke)–we the people decided to partake in a new sort of NaNoWriMo. A second chance NaNo, you could say.

A NaNo which we have fondly stole the title for from twitter dubbed NaNoWhyTho.

I’m not sure if we have a specific goal for the month, but I think the general concensus is trying to write 15,000 words in the month of December–either in the 24 days leading up to Christmas or in the 30 days of Decmeber excluding Christmas.

Honestly, at this point it’s sort of like a free-for-all for all participants involved.

However, for me, personally, I’m going to be trying the latter option–which is to write 15,000 words within 30 days.

Again.

See, November did not go well for me. This I have mentioned before. (see: yesterday’s post) But I don’t want to let this year go by without participating in some sort of creativity challenge! I want to write and be merry and watch the snow fall down outside while cozying up in warm fuzzy socks and lowkey panicking because Christmas is less than a month away and I still haven’t found presents for every single person I’ve ever met… I want to work on my book and feel like an author and simply create. And it’s been a ridiculously long amount of time since I’ve felt this way.

So naturally I should milk this for all it’s worth, amiright?

But I digress. This is a relatively small post to announce a greater act of epic and complete idiocy and chaos, and I’m lowkey extremely excited about this, folks. This is NaNo: Take Two. And if I have anything to say about it, this time around I’m going to win.

(also, I know better than to make any major promises, but I’d really like to keep you guys updated on my word count throughout the month! so I will try my best to do regular posts with–at the very least–word count updates. but if this blog happens to go stagnant silent again this month, you can find updates over on my instagram page, @thesmudgedthoughts. I’ll be doing daily updates in my stories [hopefully], so come check us out on the ‘gram, my friends! [ew ew ew ew i will never use the phrase “the ‘gram” again, I swear)

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talk to me, peasants!

what sorts of crazy, chaotic things are you up to in this new month, my friends? hit me up in the comments and let me know what books you’re reading, what stories you’re working on, and all the many exciting Christmas-y things you’re planning for this last and final huzzah of 2020!

As always, until next time…..

photo credit: Ben Kolde on Unsplash

THE FRANK EXPERIMENT: Introducing Frank

good morning, cyberspace!

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17th, 2020

Exactly one week ago today, I met a typewriter.

He was a beautiful thing, all sharp edges and dusty keys and a mysterious orange goop which clung to his white frame like dried cheese puff powder. He was thick and heavy, with the word OLYMPIA stamped across his front like a badge of honor and a look of extreme shock on his face. (which I’m fairly certain was from having found himself in the back room of a strange little thrift shop without getting broken into a million little pieces, but I digress.)

This was my first impression of Frank, and though I didn’t know how closely intertwined our paths would soon be, I could feel my heart skip a tiny beat just at the mere discovery of him. Here was a typewriter which had clearly seen better days, but which had survived. Here was a machine which, despite all odds, had withstood the test of time.

Here, my friends, was a trooper.

Unfortunately, when I first discovered Frank in that dingy back room, I didn’t even consider the potential of buying him for myself. For one thing, he was an electric (and I am, in the most stubborn of ways, a mechanical typewriter snob [or, shall we say, I was]), and for another, I already had two typewriters at home. I didn’t need a third one. I didn’t have ROOM for a third one. It wouldn’t do to dwell on the impossible, and–in any case–that cheese puff powder was slightly disturbing.

So I left him.

Now let’s fast-forward by precisely one week, shall we?

February Freeze Out! (it’s March Hare Madness all over again oh no)

EDIT: Sorry for the late post today, guys! I kind of forgot it was Tuesday. Aha.

#fail.

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good morning, cyberspace!

If you’ve been around Smudged Thoughts since last March, you already know that I’m screaming.

Most profusely, in fact.