Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to get through this month. I’ve been so busy with college and other commitments, that I thought for sure I wasn’t going to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. Well, PRAISE THE LORD, I was able to reach my goal of writing 50,000 words!!! In fact, I even went over a little. The last time I checked my word count, I had written a grand total of 51,748 words. #YASSSSSSSSS

Now, if you too were able to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge, good for you! You’re one step closer to finishing your novel (or maybe you already did!). And, for those of you who maybe weren’t able to get there, there’s always next time, so don’t feel bad! Any progress is good progress. 🙂

Anywho, as my NaNoWriMo nightmare I mean journey was coming to an end, I started to think, if I could go back in time to the beginning of this month, what would I have done differently to make this whole writing-for-NaNoWriMo process easier? After a few jotted down notes, here’s what I came up with:

• I would have…GOTTEN AHEAD. There were so many days that I wasn’t able to write because I was either too busy doing school, had somewhere to be, and/or was sick as a dog. However, if I had managed to get ahead a little, I could’ve afforded to take a few days off without getting behind. Therefore, I suggest getting at least 5,000 words ahead in the first week of NaNoWriMo. 10,000 words is even better.
• I would have…NOT GOTTEN DISTRACTED. Reminders, reminders, reminders!!! I would have set a lot of reminders to help me remember that I actually had to write each day, since there were times I was too caught up in the other events of the day that I forgot. 😛 In addition, I would have cut down on the TV time and used it as a motivational tool to help me write.

Ex:

Strict, motivational Me: You didn’t reach your word count goal for today?

Lazy, weak, procrastinating Me: No…

Strict motivational Me: Then, NO TV FOR YOU.

That’s the basic gist anyway. Next,

• I would have…USED MY EXCERPT JAR AND OTHER WRITING TOOLS. Writer’s block was a chronic condition for me this month and could have easily been cured by the ready provision of plot ideas located within my carefully created excerpt jar. I mean, there were ideas specific to my CCR story in there! Also, (I only found this out after the fact) the NaNoWriMo website has an entire section devoted to helping writers get inspired. The section itself is called INSPIRATION, that’s a sign. On there, you can participate in individual or group “Word Sprints”, where you can set a timer for yourself and/or a group of you and your writing buddies and see how many words you can add to your novel before the time runs out. For an additional challenge, you can click on the “Dare Me” button, and a random, wacky plot twist idea will come up; see if you can incorporate it into your story so that it makes sense.
• Finally, if I could do this year’s NaNoWriMo over again, I would have…DONE THE YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAM. According to my research, the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program allows you to set your own word count goal for the month. For me, this would have meant that instead of having to write 50,000 words, I could have had a goal of writing 25,000 or something like that. Given that fact that I was very busy, doing this program would have cut down on my stress, allowed me to feel productive, and would have fit better into my crazy schedule. Therefore, I might actually do the Young Writers Program next year. I am Young Writer after all.

So, there you have it. My tips for surviving NaNoWriMo are:

1. GET AHEAD,
2. DON’T GET DISTRACTED,
3. USE WRITING TOOLS, and
4. IF YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME, DO THE YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAM.

Feel free to use these next year and I hope they make your NaNoWriMo journey feel a little less like a nightmare. Fingers-crossed they work for me too.

On a somewhat related note: As far as my general writing progress went for November, I did some file organizing/rearranging (it was getting messy on my PC), but other than working on my CCR story, that was pretty much all I did. Oh, I did jot down some new ideas…and worked a lot on the blog (believe it or not). I’ve also been thinking a lot about how to incorporate dreams into my various stories. More on that, if I ever figure that out.

Finally, as we move into December, each day leading up to Christmas, I’ll be posting a Cmas/winter inspired writing prompt, which I hope you’ll do because they are an excellent way to keep your writing skills sharp even through the holiday season. Modify them if that helps inspire you and maybe I’ll even post one of my prompt entries on here. Use preexisting characters/story-lines or make up some new ones, it’s up to you. Since obviously it’s already the 3rd, I’m posting the first 3 writing prompts today. Sorry, but did I mention NaNoWriMo ended only a few days ago? I’m still recovering. 😛 Anyway, enjoy the prompts. ‘Tis the season to be writing.

Much love,

YW

P.S. If you want the NaNoWriMo experience to continue, check out the Writeometer App to make up your own NaNoWriMo word count challenges either for one story, or all of them! It’s got some pretty nifty features!

Decided to kick it old school today and actually busted out one of my composition notebooks and a pen to work on a scene I’ve been struggling to finish for a long time, among the many, MANY, other scenes for my CCR story. 😛 It’s nice to take a break from the computer every once in a while. There’s something about the potential a blank page has, the way it feels under the fingertips, that is oddly…freeing and inspiring. I don’t know, maybe that’s the traditionalist, “back-in-my-day” part of me talking, but not having to stare a bright white screen for hours on end certainly helped get my creative juices flowing, and it was nostalgic; I hand-wrote the first eight chapters of my CCR story in a notebook, based on a dream I had one day that I simply couldn’t get out of my head. I eventually thought, maybe if I write it down, it’ll leave me alone. Then, once I started writing, I thought, maybe I can turn this into a story. The rest, as they say, is history. 😉 Anyway, besides the sentimental value that hand writing can bring to many of us, I find that my ability to process a scenario in my head and figure out (roughly) what I want my characters to say and how I want them to say it is easier for me to do when I’ve got a pen in my hand rather than a keyboard in front of me; don’t know why, but hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Just run with it, whatever it is that keeps you writing and increases your NaNoWriMo word count. C’mon guys, only 3(ish) days to go. Hang in there.

My prayer for you all is ideas that don’t stop flowing and fingers that don’t stop typing (or pens that don’t run out of ink, depending on your medium 😛 ).

Much love,

YW

P.S. Current word count = 44,284 words!!! #PTL

Howdy, young writers! It’s been three weeks since NaNoWriMo kicked off. Are ya’ll still alive? No, seriously. I’m happy to say that after staging a series of Writing Lock-ins (click the link provided for more details on what those are) featuring me, myself, and I over the past two weekends, I’m relatively on track as far as my WC (word count) goes. I’m currently up to 29,545 words, which isn’t exactly on schedule but considering how far behind I’d gotten just in the first week (thanks to a stupid cold; good news though, I’m better!), I’d say that’s pretty darn good. 😉

Alright, so now would be the part of the blog post where I’d impart some legit writing wisdom *magical sparkles* to you all, or at least, some (hopefully) helpful tips & tricks that I’ve learned during the last 21 days. 😛 I’ve been running around like a crazy person trying to balance school and my writing throughout this month so I made a list *sarcastic gasp of surprise* to help me remember everything that I wanted to say in this post before I slink back into my writing cave and you don’t hear from me for a while. (It’s really a basement and I plan on posting in another week, but whatever.)

Okay, first off: you know by now, my intense, undying love for dialogue; love, love, LOVE it. Well, what I’ve come to realize about dialogue as I’ve been writing for NaNoWriMo is that, it’s a lot like makeup foundation. Just go with me on this. When applying makeup, I always put on my foundation first; it lays the groundwork and gives me something to work with. Once I have my foundation on, I then add: blush, eye-shadow, eyeliner, mascara, etc. which together, contribute to the overall enhancement of my facial features. Similarly, laying the groundwork for your scene by applying a “base-coat” of dialogue not only makes the process of writing your scene easier by giving you something to work with and therefore, add layers of literary devices/elements to, it also gives you direction, which leads me to my next piece of advice. Earlier in this post I mentioned having to make a list so I wouldn’t forget of all the things I wanted to talk about within this post; I do the same thing for my scenes! Nothing helps me stay on track/focused on what needs to happen during a scene more than making little bullet point lists does. Usually, my lists include words or phrases of certain bits of information that need to be revealed/things that characters need to do before the scene ends. This strategy, coupled with using dialogue as my “writing makeup foundation”, IS A HUGE HELP when it comes to NaNoWriMo, because it allows you work quickly and efficiently through your plot outline. Even if the scene isn’t perfect, you at least have the general gist of what is going on within it along with some dialogue. Can you say TIME SAVER??? Something else that helps me, especially when I have an idea for a scene, but only for one specific part, is to start from the middle of a scene and then write my way out, either to the beginning and then the end or vice versa. This keeps me from giving up on writing the scene altogether and actually helps me come up with new material that flows naturally into and supports what I had already written for the scene. Finally, one of the last bits of advice I have to give is: PRINT OUT SYNONYM CHARTS!!! For the most commonly used words like: “said” and “look”, I’ve simply gone online and printed out lists of synonyms for each so that I can substitute those into my writing thus, making my story’s wordage more varied and interesting (maybe). 😛 Of course, knowing when, or when not to use the word “said” (and dialogue tags for that matter, I mean, who really even knows?!?) within story writing can best be explained by author Eleanore D. Trupkiewicz in her guest blog post, Keep it Simple: Keys to Realistic Dialogue (Part II) that was featured on Writer’s Digest. I personally found this article very helpful and very freeing, but I’ll let you all figure out what I mean by that last part on your own.

In closing, just remember:

1. dialogue = makeup foundation (Click HERE for another article on dialogue)
2. bulleted lists = task manager for scenes
3. stuck on a scene? start from the middle.
4. use synonyms for variety BUT…
5. make sure to read Eleanore D. Trupkiewicz’s article (link provided above) too, to learn how to keep your dialogue interesting but also simple, and so that your readers will be able to enjoy reading your story.

And as always, keep on writing, friends. Only 8 more days to go!

Love,

YW 

So, the first few days of NaNoWriMo have passed, and I was really looking forward to sharing my daily progress with you guys…until I actually looked at my progress. It’s not pretty, folks. That’s why I decided to include some of my thoughts during each day in addition to my word counts, for some comic relief. 😛 Here we go…

11/1/16: TURN UP! It’s the first day of NaNoWriMo! I’m so excited! I’m going to get so much done this month! (Oh, little, innocent, idealistic me 😛 .)

Word count: 1,005

11/2/16: What is this. Where am I going with this scene!? Who are these characters?! What even.

Word count: 1,005 + 459 = 1,464

11/3/16: I hate NaNoWriMo. Why did I agree to this.

Word count: 1,464 + 30 (this was a low point for me) = 1,494

11/4/16: I put all the material I’ve written so far for this thing into one document and named it “crudness”. That’s what it’s come to; “crudness”.

Word count: 1,494 + 477 = 1,941

As you can see, I’ve off to a bit of a rocky start. 😉 Being sick didn’t really help me much this week either, but I’m determined not to give up! Based on my stats, I can still catch up and finish my 50,000 words on time, I just have to up my daily word count average a little. Hopefully, amidst school projects, papers, exams, holidays, musical rehearsals of various kinds, and sleeping, I’ll be able to keep up with this thing because I really do want to try to finish my CCR story, or at least, get very close to finishing. To help me with this goal, I’ve been trying to implement the Writing Basics as well as keep to my Month-by-Month Outline. (If you don’t remember or know what these two things are, click on the links provided.) I’ve even turned on the Hallmark Channel as my personal favorite form of background noise. That’s right everyone, THE HALLMARK COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS IS HERE. #boom Also, tea has become my friend. Lots and lots of it is what keeps me going when all I want to do is fall asleep at the end of the day. Anyway, let me know how you’re doing or what you’re doing to keep on this crazy NaNoWriMo train, and fingers crossed that I can stay on it too!

Much love and many productive writing days,

YW

P.S. To track/update your progress on the go, download the Wrimo Companion app for your mobile device!

Chapter 3:

When we got to the cemetery, we were sure that Gwen’s wand would lead us to the old lady; we were wrong. We searched the entire area, including the spooky forest surrounding it. Nadia even went as far to look under the gravestones…and when I mean she looked under I mean she looked under, as in underground. Apparently, she could pass through solid objects.

Disheartened that the wizardess was nowhere to be found, I sat down with my back leaning against a tombstone. Nadia floated down next to me once she’d finished her search and as she gazed at the tombstone behind me, she started giggling.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, concerned that perhaps the whole getting-turned-into-freaky-creatures was finally getting to her.

“Well, I was remembering the first Halloween we ever shared together,” She smiled sentimentally.

“Oh, yea,” Gwen said as she crossed over to us, “That was one of my favorites.”

“Do you remember when we all came down to the cemetery to play a neighborhood-wide game of ‘ghost in the graveyard’?” Nadia asked us.

“Yea, I do! That was so much fun! Running around, ducking behind tombstones, trying not to get caught by the big kids. I remember we kept getting caught because I would laugh so hard every time Gwen screamed ‘Ghost in the gravy!’ instead of ‘Ghost in the graveyard’.” I said, doing my best Gwen impersonation.

“Hey! How was I supposed to know how to say it! I was only 6!” Gwen protested as Nadia and I laughed.

“That was one of the best moments I remember having ever since I moved here.” I remarked, surprise by how I could have forgotten the fun we’d had. Huh. Even if it was childish, I still had fun with my friends that night.

Shortly after our brief walk down memory lane, Gwen got another hunch and discovered that the old lady was actually down by the library. Slightly depressed that we didn’t find her where we originally thought she would be, we continued flying through the moonlit sky to find her.

Chapter 4:

We went to the library; she wasn’t there. Then we went to the grocery store, the bakery, the pizza place, and even to the post office. Gwen swore she was in each place we visited but as soon as we got there, my keen sense of smell told me that she had just disappeared; only a faint orange ‘scent trail’ was left behind for us to follow. We kept missing her and after each location, Gwen found a new one. We were on a wild goose chase. It was getting close to midnight and the old lady was nowhere to be found. Soon it became harder and harder to track her scent. Would we ever find her? I wondered. We were getting desperate; I mean who knew how long we had before we stayed as a wizard, werewolf, and ghost…permanently?

As Nadia and I sat (well, I sat, she floated) outside of the post office on the curb, Gwen was still busy spinning around in dizzying circles with her wand, trying to find the wizard lady. We had been sitting/floating quietly when Nadia suddenly began to cry, although it sounded more like a spooky wail.

“We are neverrrrrr going to find herrrrrrr!” she sobbed.

“Aw, that’s not true, Nadie. We can’t give up. She’s got to be around here somewhere,” I comforted, trying to put my arm around her in an effort to console her; it went straight through.

“But whaaaaat if we cannnnn’t? I doooonnn’t want to stayyyyy like this foreverrrrr! I wwwwwwwant to be a huuuuuuman again!”

“I know, I do too. And you won’t stay like this forever, I promise. We’ll get through this, just like we got through that Halloween when it was below freezing, and you couldn’t stop sneezing.” I laughed. “Do you remember that?”

A small smile stretched across her ghostly face.

“Yeaaaa…And I couldn’t heeeelp it, it was freeeeezing!”

We both started giggling.

“We’re in this together,” I reminded her, “And that’s how we’ll finish this.” And there’s no place I’d rather be, than with my friends.

“Thanks, Casssssssssie. I just wish we knew whyyyyyy she turned us into ccccccccreatures in the first pppppppplace,” Nadia replied.

I bit my lip; I had a feeling it was because of me. I know I said I wanted to act more serious, like a grown up, but now, I would give anything just to be a kid again and trick or treat with my friends…

Just as finished my thought, Gwen got another location.

“Guys, I’m serious. I know where she is this time,” Gwen stated confidently.

“Are you sure? Because last time you said that, we wound up here; a post office of all places!” I lamented.

“I’m sure. Now stop arguing and let’s hit the road.”

“I think you mean air.”

“Fine, air.” Gwen huffed exasperatedly. “Let’s just go!”

Taking her cue from Gwen, Nadia grabbed us once again by our collars and flew us to the place where Gwen had seen the wizard lady last: a cul-de-sac near our neighborhood. Great, I complained silently. We are going right back to where we started.

Finally, we arrived at the neighborhood. We gazed around, anxiously searching for the old lady’s mansion.

“I doooon’t see it annnnyyywhereeee,” Nadia moaned.

“Wait…I…I think I smell something,” I said, sniffing the air with my snout. “It’s over there.”

Gwen and Nadia turned in the direction I pointed and sure enough, toward the end of cul-de-sac sat the dark, creepy house we had seen at the beginning of our trick or treating adventure. Man, I thought quietly to myself, It’s hard being serious all the time and trying to keep it together. I’d have taken trick or treating over this crazy night anytime.

I pushed that thought aside as we ran up to the front of the mansion. Gwen knocked furiously on the door, muttering angrily under her breath. The front door creaked open and the old lady/wizardess beamed at us.

“Well, it sure took you long enough to find me, dearies.”

We all stared wide-eyed at her, our mouths open in shock.

“What does that mean? Look what you did to us!” Gwen yelled. “Now change us back. RIGHT NOW!”

“Oh of course, my little ones. Why do you think I was hopping around town? I was gathering the ingredients to turn you back. That, and running a few personal errands,” she winked.

“You weeeerrreeee?” Nadia asked innocently.

“Yes, I needed to gather my ingredients to make these.”

She held out another tin tray, but instead of holding cookies, the tray held three silver goblets that were glowing green and had white smoke curling out of them. Gwen, Nadia, and I started to reach out to grab them, when the wizard lady moved backward, taking the goblets out of our reach.

“But first,” she crooned, “I must know if you learned your lesson.” She turned toward me. “Did you learn your lesson, Cassandra Morgan?”

“Umm…how do you know my…? Never mind.” I huffed.

This wizardess was really getting on my nerves. What lesson? I wondered. Being turned into a werewolf and hunting down a mysterious old lady hadn’t really taught me anything, besides learning that rolling in random patches of filth along the way is quite enjoyable. Huh. Who knew? I tried to think hard. Wait…maybe I had learned something.

Well, Cass?” Gwen prodded.

I took a deep breath before responding. “I learned that sometimes, being childish can be good a thing.” I glanced at best friends as I smiled. “In fact, you’re never too old to enjoy spending time with your friends, no matter what adventure you end up going on together.”

I hoped that was what she meant by a lesson. Luckily, the wizardess’s face twisted into a smile (or as much of a smile as she could muster).

“Very good, Cassie. You are never too old to experience the magic of Halloween. Now drink up. It’s almost midnight. We wouldn’t want you to stay like this forever.”

“Definitely not.” Gwen nodded.

We quickly grabbed a silver goblet (although the old lady had to help Nadia with hers, since her hand kept passing through it every time she tried to grab it) and gulped down the green ooze. Suddenly, we dropped to the floor in a dizzy heap.

“Remember, you’re never too old for Halloween.” The old lady whispered as dark shapes raced across my vision.

The old mansion faded from view as the world went dark…

Chapter 5:

I woke up to the light of the Halloween moon just as Nadia and Gwen were coming to. NADIA AND GWEN! I exclaimed joyfully to myself as I got a good look at them. THEY’RE THEMSELVES AGAIN! Wait, I thought, am I myself again? I glanced down and to my great relief, my paws, snout, fur, and whiskers had all disappeared. The potion worked! I was so elated, I forgot to tell Nadia and Gwen that the transformation had worked. They had their eyes shut tight, scared that they hadn’t changed back.

“Guys! Open your eyes! The potion worked! We’re all humans again!” I screamed happily.

Once they’d actually opened their eyes, Gwen and Nadia began screaming too. It was a whole five minutes before we were calm enough to think.

“Well, now that we’re normal again, we should probably head home,” Gwen pointed out.

“Aw! Not yet. Come on, let’s hit a few more houses and get some more candy before we head home. After all, it’s Halloween!” I exclaimed.

“Wait?” Gwen asked, completely stunned. “Cassie, I thought you said trick or treating was childish? And besides, it’s too late anyway.”

“No, it’s not. We’ve got 10 more minutes, at least. Come on! And, it’s not childish…it’s fun. And I want to have fun with my best friends.”

“That’s the spirit, Cass!” Nadia beamed. “Let’s hit the last few houses before we head home.”

With that, we headed back toward our neighborhood, hoping to find a light on.

I guess nothing’s too childish, I reflected as Gwen, Nadia, and I walked side by side, as long as you love doing it and have your best friends to share it with.

“Hey, I wonder if anyone has any meat flavored gummies. I think all that time being a werewolf has turned me into a real meat-lover.” I joked as my two best friends and I celebrated the last few minutes of the most special Halloween we had ever had.

The End

So, I hoped you enjoyed this story! To be honest, when I was reviewing it, there were so, so, SO many things I would have changed/wanted to change/ended up changing. 😛 In fact, I realized that this story is probably still in the drafting stage. I would love to develop it further and possibly do some illustrations to go along with it, maybe even turn it into a children’s book!

And as for the things I would have changed…here’s a list of some of the major areas:

• Sentence Variety: specifically when it came to dialogue tags; replacing words like “said” and “asked” with different/more interesting verbs.
• Word Choice: choosing the right word to fit the moment/mood.
• Dialogue: letting dialogue stand on its own sometimes, without using tags.
• Character Development/Timing: I would have liked to have expanded the story, maybe have the characters go to all the places mentioned during their journey so that by the time Cassie realized how much she liked hanging with her friends and trick or treating, it would make sense and not seemed as rushed. Also, it would have given the characters more depth.
• Details: I could have added more details about the old lady and/or the specific abilities each of the characters gained by becoming Halloween creatures, and maybe those abilities could have contributed to more character development.
• Using More Indirect vs. Direct Characterization: allowing the readers to draw conclusions/picture the characters on their own.
• Proofread: oh, the necessity of proofreading. If I had a nickel for every misspelled word I saw… 😛

Those are just some of the MAJOR areas and though I can’t say that I’m completely happy with this story, I at least have a good draft to work with, and now that I know the areas that need improvement, I have a clear direction for the future as to how I can make this story even better. If you take away one thing from reading this story, let it be this: DRAFTS ARE IMPORTANT. They show you were you need to improve in your story and allow you to gain feedback (either from yourself or others) that can help your overall writing. So, share your work with others or with us here; don’t be afraid because your work isn’t perfect. Stay calm and remember: it’s only a draft. 😉 As always, keep on writing, friends.

Love,

YW

So, I’m currently sitting in my room with a stuffy nose, sore throat, numerous aches & pains, and numb taste-buds which means 2 things: 1) I can’t taste anything = the worst form of suffering because I love food and 2) I’m sick the day of Halloween. Grrrrreat. I also have school tomorrow. Super Grrrrreat. Anyways, before I go and down some more Alka-Seltzer (ew), I thought I’d update you all on what I’ve been up to for the last month or so.

1. Began an excerpt for my Fantasy Fiction (FF) series, for the first book. #yasssss
2. Was inspired by a new book I got from B&N as well as an impromptu trip to Longwood Gardens (that place is magical) and wrote an excerpt for an entirely new story idea; worked on developing the plot-line and characters. #wheredidthatevencomefrom
3. Did some random arting/concept art for my FF series.
4. Wrote a little more dialogue in my math notebook. It’s starting to spill into my homework…oh boy. 😛
5. Had a writing/brainstorming session with KD17 in which I started a FF scene, this time for the second book. #productive
6. Wrote for my main CCR story…I’m still stuck on this one scene I haven’t finished and it’s 9 pages long and I just can’t. Ughhhhhh.
7. Kept working on that same scene for the CCR story.
8. And kept working.
9. Did I mention that scene yet?
10. Wrote more “math-notebook” dialogue and a tiny bit of a scene for my FF series.
11. Began going through story files. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
12. Reconstructed a storyboard for my CCR story. (If you don’t know what a storyboard is, you’ll find out on here eventually. 😛 )
13. Worked on files…A LOT.
14. Finished a journal. If you know me, you know this is a big deal. I still can’t believe it. *dies*
15. Started going through said journal. #helpme
16. Got a new journal!!!
17. Worked on developing some background stuff for my FF series. I’m trying to develop each of the different cultures of the kingdoms within my story; there are 11 of them…
18. Began another excerpt inspired by a trip to the doctor’s office. #painisgoodforinspiration
19. Oh! And for school, I’ve been reviewing stories/essays/articles and having to write “reviews” on them = my life. I’ve also written a memoir, summary, and definition essay. Not the most exciting stuff, but I’m learning a bunch.

Yea, so that was my month. Now you might be wondering (or not; whateves) what I’ll be doing this month. Well, let me tell you. This November, some of my writing friends and I will be participating in NaNoWriMo! *cue trumpet sound* National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a month-long challenge for young writers and writers in general. The challenge is to write 50,000 words (or less, depending on if you do the young writer’s program) by the end of the month; that divides out to about 1,667 words per day. I know it sounds crazy, and it definitely wasn’t easy last year when I did it, but I went from having 12,000 words for my CCR story to having around 53,000. And if you did that math, yes, I did type up some material I already had and counted it for NaNoWriMo. It was my first time!

All in all, it was hard work, but I was able to flesh out the plot for that story and now I’m going to use this year to work on developing/expanding some of those scenes that I wrote way back in 2015; you should join me! You don’t have to have a story already, you can come up with a whole new one or work on many different stories at once, as long as you end up with 50,00 words total. Sign up today on their website—it’s free! Click here to go to the NaNoWriMo website where you can track your progress and connect with writing buddies who can support you as you try to get through the next 30 days. You might even find KD17 and myself on there. 😉 Just one piece of advice: DON’T TYPE INTO THE TEXT BOXES ON THE WEBSITE!!! This is for a brief synopsis and/or excerpt of your story, not for the whole thing. To avoid losing all your work, type your story into a Word document or Google Drive and save often, like, every five minutes often. I’m serious.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll be updating my own word count progress throughout Novemember through one of our 3 media channels (either on here, FB, or Insta) and I’d love to hear about your writing progress whether you’re doing NaNoWriMo or not. As always, keep on writing, friends.

Love,

YW

Chapter 2:

After school, Gwen and Nadia came over to get their costumes on. Gwen decided to be a wizard this year. She wore a vintage, black lace dress, a frilly pink and black ‘magician’s’ garb complete with flowy long sleeves, and a pointy hat to match. She even had a gnarled tree branch that she wrapped some wire around to look a like wand. I had to admit, it was a super cool costume. Nadia wore a white sheet dress with rips in it along with tufts of black gauze sown in various places. With white Uggs and white stockings, she looked the picture of a modern-day ghost. Finally, since I had to go out trick-or-treating, I figured I should try to put together a quality costume, for my friends, of course. I decided to go as a werewolf, so I dressed in a tan turtleneck, a brown skirt, caramel stockings, leather boots, and my mom’s animal fur vest. I also glued felt ears I had cut out onto a headband and used my mom’s eyeliner to paint some whiskers on my face. Once I had explained to Nadia that no animals were harmed in the making of my mom’s faux fur vest (she’s an animal rights’ enthusiast), we all grabbed our pillowcases and headed out for a night of ‘fun’.

The night was perfect for trick or treating, even if I had to go out against my better judgment. The air was warm with the hint of a cool, fall breeze. The wind blew through the red, orange, and yellow-leaved trees, filling the air with pleasant rustling sounds. As we started to collect candy from the first few houses on our street, I actually started to enjoy myself again. As Gwen, Nadia, and I all laughed and talked about our past Halloweens together, I began to feel that it was the right decision to go trick or treating instead of staying home after all. It was like old times…until we knocked on Mr. Cash’s house.

“Trick or Treat!” we all shouted joyfully.

Mr. Cash, a kind, elderly man used to teach at our old elementary school. He always decorated his house with the best Halloween decorations and gave out the full size candy bars. As my friends and I each took our favorite candy from his pumpkin-face bucket, he smiled playfully at us.

“Aren’t we a little too old to be trick or treating?” he said light-heartedly.

Nadia and Gwen laughed as we all sauntered down his driveway to the next house, but as my friends started talking about a project due for art class next week, I frowned. Mr. Cash’s comment still rang in my mind. Too old? I thought, too old for trick or treating? I knew it, I scolded myself, this whole thing is too childish. I should’ve never come out tonight.  I stopped walking before we got to the front door of the next house. Gwen and Nadia turned, concern on their faces.

“What’s wrong, Cass?” Gwen asked.

“He said we were too old to be trick or treating,” I reminded them as embarrassment colored my face.

“Ah, don’t listen to him, Cassie! He was just joking anyway. He loves it when we come to visit him each year,” Gwen consoled.

“Yea, he’s such a sweet old man.” Nadia agreed.

“I don’t know, maybe I should’ve stayed home…I think I’ll just turn around and head back.”

“No!” Gwen said, alarmed, “Come on, Cass! You promised Nadia and me that you would come trick or treating with us!”

“No, I don’t think I can do this.” I said. I never should have come. “Sorry, guys.” Just as I turned around, Nadia grabbed my arm.

“Just one more house, Cass, please…” she begged.

I stared at her for a moment.

“Alright,” I consented, “just one more. Then that’s it.”

Satisfied with my answer, Nadia and Gwen pranced off down the street. As I jogged toward them, I saw that they had stopped dead at the end of the street. Right in front of them was an old, very creepy, very dark house. It looked like it had once been a mansion, but now it was covered with cobwebs and surrounded with gnarly trees that looked like they were dying. Finally catching up with my friends, they turned their puzzled faces toward me.

“Has that creepy house always been there?” Gwen asked.

“I-I don’t remember seeing it here before.” Nadia stuttered.

“Do you think anybody’s inside?” I wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, but it sure looks like whoever lives there wants us to come to the door.” Gwen stated ominously, pointing to a dark hooded figure on the porch. It seemed to be beckoning us to join it.

“I don’t want to go up there!” Nadia said, starting to tremble. She was clearly freaked out. However, Gwen was never one to shy away from a chance to get more candy.

“Ah, don’t be a baby, Nadie,” she said, “What if she has, like, a whole bucket of candy, just waiting to be taken?” she goaded.

“I’m not a baby,” Nadia replied sternly.

“Well, then let’s go.” I decided as we all started up the narrow walkway.

When we arrived at the front door, a wrinkly old lady in a purple cloak approached us. Her skin seemed to glow and her white hair that looked like smoke in the autumn wind. It had a weird kind of shine to it that looked like tinsel was woven in between the strands. She held out a tin tray to us, and smiled, or at least she tried to; she didn’t have many teeth.

“Happy Halloween, children!” she cooed. “How would you young folks like a Halloween cookie?” she said as she offered the contents of the tray to us.

There were only three cookies on it. One was shaped like a wizard’s hat with purple frosting on it. The next one had white frosting on it and was shaped like a little ghost. Finally, there was a crescent shaped cookie with yellow frosting on it. Gwen reached out her hand to take a cookie when Nadia stopped her.

“Gwen…” she warned under her breath.

“Oh please, Nadie,” Gwen whispered back, “She’s just an old lady. What harm could she cause?” Gwen said as she grabbed the hat-shaped cookie and took a bite.

“Yum!” she exclaimed as the old lady smiled. “This cookie is delicious!”

Seeing that Gwen was okay, Nadia followed her example and took the ghost-shaped cookie. After Nadia had taken a bite out of her cookie, the old lady turned toward me and held out her tray.

“How about you, dearie?” she asked. “Wouldn’t you like a cookie, or are you too old for such things?” she said, as her eyes twinkled with mischief.

Slightly annoyed by the old lady’s remark, I snatch up the last cookie, the moon-shaped one, and gobbled it down.

“Well, thanks for the delicious cookies, ma’am but we have to get going. Houses to get to, candy to collect.” Gwen smiled.

“Oh, of course.” The old lady cooed. “Don’t let me get in the way of your adventure. Have fun trick or treating!” she said as she waved us on our way.

Once we had left the dark mansion, I started to taste something funny in my mouth. I think that Nadia and Gwen did too, because they were hunched over and making sour faces.

“Ugh, what is this taste?” Gwen asked, her face distorted in disgust.

“Could it be from those cookies we had?” Nadia asked.

“Ugh, I think so…it’s weird,” I said, “My mouth tastes like…fur…” I coughed.

Suddenly, the world started spinning and Gwen, Nadia, and I all fell to the ground. I think we might have blacked out for a while because when I woke up, it seemed to have gotten darker outside. I sat up, rubbing my head with my hands when I noticed that I wasn’t rubbing my head with my hands; I was rubbing my SNOUT with my PAWS.

I tried to stand up, but I was too dizzy so I crawled to the side of the street; I happened to gaze into a puddle nearby. My face was covered with fur. I had a long snout, real dog ears, whiskers that weren’t drawn on with eyeliner, paws, and a fluffy mane wear my curly, brown hair should have been. I had turned into a werewolf.

I started to scream when I realized that I was howling instead of screaming. Great, I thought. Either I am dreaming, or my parents forgot to tell me something. Just as I was processing my own transformation, I saw Gwen get up from the grass.

Oh boy. Her face…unlike mine wasn’t covered in fur. However, it was covered in…sparkles? Everytime she moved, her face glittered like a disco ball. Her hair was now a shiny, silver color; it took had streaks of sparkles in it. She locked eyes with me, and her face exploded in shock. I don’t think she knew that she looked like a magician…wizard…whatever.

“Cassie?!” she half whispered, half screamed. “What are you?!”

“I don’t know…” I murmured. “I think I might be a werewolf.” I was still trying to process everything when I remembered that Gwen thought she was still human. “Gwen, you have to see yourself. Come look.” I gestured to the puddle.

When she saw her reflection in the mirror, her eyes grew wide. She gasped as she clutched at her hair.

“I…I look like…that lady we saw…”

“Well, at least you’re not old.”

Gwen shot me a dark look. “Not helping, Cass.”

“Sorry.” I amended. I took a moment to regroup. “Ya know, I’m starting to think that that old lady wasn’t just an old lady.”

“No kidding.”

This time I gave Gwen a dark look. “I think she was…”

“A wizard?”

I nodded.

“Wait,” Gwen said, holding up her hands. “If she’s a wizard…”

“Wizardess.” I corrected.

“Whatever… then, she’d be able to cast a spell on us!”

“Possibly, or, cast a spell on something we ate…”

“The cookie!” Gwen exclaimed, realization dawning on her.

“Exactly! She cast a spell so that depending on the cookie we ate, that was the creature we became.”

“Okay, well if that’s true, what did Nadia turn into?” Gwen asked, starting look around her.

“I think a better question is: where is Nadia?” I said, starting to get worried. I didn’t see her anywhere, but I wasn’t sure if that was because it was dark out or she was really gone.

“Nadia!” Gwen bellowed. Nothing but silenced fill the air.

We both stood there for a few seconds until a chilling whisper spoke to us from a bush a little ways away.

“Oooooover, Heeeeere.” A wispy voice called to us.

It was Nadia, only she was transparent, and I don’t mean that she had a very light complexion; she was literally see through. To top it off, she was floating; she had become a ghost. Poor, Nadie. I could only imagine how scared she must be. I knew I was.

“Are you okay, Nadie?” I asked.

“Yessssss,” she moaned, “But I cannnnnn’t stoooooooop taaaaaalking like thisssss!”

“It’s because you’re a ghost, Nadie.” Gwen said matter of factly.

“Yea,” I backed her up. “I think that old lady was a wizard…”

“Wizardess.” Gwen interjected.

I stuck my tongue out at her. “A wizardess who gave us each a magic cookie that turned us into Halloween creatures.” I finished.

“But wwwwwwhyyyyyy?” Nadia asked.

“I don’t know!” Gwen said exasperatedly. “All I know is that we have to find that old lady and demand that she turns us back into humans asap!”

“But where do we start?” I asked our oh-so-fearless leader.

“What do you mean? It’s right over…oh.” She stopped when I pointed out that where the creepy mansion had stood just a couple of minutes before was now…gone; like it had completely vanished and all that was there was an empty yard covered with black trees.

“Wwwwwwwwooooooowwwww!” Nadia exclaimed. “Whhhhhatttt haaaaaappppenned to that hooooouseeeee?”

“It couldn’t have just disappeared. Could it?” Gwen mused.

“We are talking about a crazy old lady who turned you into a wizardess, Nadia into a ghost, and me into a werewolf!” I declared. “I think it’s safe to say that this lady is capable of some strange things.”

“Good point. So what’s the gameplan, then?”

“Well, um, wait!” I screamed in delight. “Gwen, if that lady has powers and she is a wizardess that means that since you are one too…”

“I might have powers too? I don’t think I could change us back though.”

“No, maybe not, but you might be able to use your magic to locate the old lady and her house.”

“Okay…I’ll try.” Gwen said reluctantly. She closed her eyes and held her breath.

When that didn’t work, she pulled out her ‘magic’ wand, held it out in front of her, and started spinning around in circles.

As she was concentrating, and circling, I started to sniff the air with my canine-like nose. There was definitely a strong scent leading out of the neighborhood. It was so strong in fact, that to my astonishment, I could physically see the scent. It was a bright orange streak of smoke bounding down and out of our street. I glanced back at Gwen. I may be able to point us in the right direction, I thought, but I don’t think I can pinpoint where exactly the house will end up. I hoped that Gwen would be able to find its location. Just as I was starting to lose hope, she suddenly stopped spinning and her eyes popped open.

“I’ve found her!” Gwen squealed excitedly, “She’s in the local cemetery! Let’s go!”

“But the cemetery is all the way on the other side of the neighborhood. It’ll take forever to get there,” I pointed out.

“Not for meeeeeee,” Nadia said meekly, “I can just floaaaaaat thereeeeee.”

“Great! Do you think you can carry us?” Gwen asked.

“I think sooooooo,” Nadia nodded as she grabbed onto the back of our collars. “Now, let’s gooooooooo before its toooooooo laaaaaate.”

To be continued…