NanoWrimo 2012 is over, and I crossed the line at about 6pm tonight, with a word count of 50,298.
As you can see, NaBloPoMo definitely slipped by the wayside, but on my list of priorities, NanoWrimo beat NaBloPoMo. Aspiring YA author and all 
The heat today – around 35 degrees – did try to kill me, my writing efforts and my poor Mac, but we got through. I’m actually kind of flat now that I’ve hit 50,000 words. Like, I expected something else. I know I’m not happy with a lot of the scenes in my book – it’s merely a patchwork of the most important aspects, written in two different points of view. I need to find a giant cork or white board, now, and rewrite the structure and outline, and just chip away at getting the whole story down.
I’m pretty proud of it, actually. It’s YA fantasy with a dash of romance (literally, like three chapters from the end is the first romantic hint) and no freakin’ love triangles. It’s going to be awesome when it is actually finished and a proper book. I can’t wait.
But now Nano is over, I get my life back! Tomorrow’s plan? Cleaning! I literally have a pile of stuff on my floor in front of my bookcases – art supplies, sketchbooks, pens, power cords – that has to be sorted from my trip to Sydney, plus a chair full of clothes that needed to be folded and put away; a wardrobe that has clothes and shoes falling everywhere, at least a small army of socks under my bed and just things everywhere. Every time I thought about tidying up, I sat down and wrote. 
Other than a cleaning blitz, I have emails to send, semi-hysterical fan fiction to write, blog entries about Sydney and my uni interview to write, drawings to compose and a dozen other things I’ve forgotten.
Right now, instead of researching and tapping away at Ultraviolet, I’m off to snuggle into bed (as in, kick off all the sheets and drag my fan so close to the bed that it might as well just climb in next to me) with the iPad and read fan fiction, because as far as I’m concerned, December started as soon as I validated my novel! 
Monday, November 19: If you had to get locked in some place (book store, amusement park, etc) overnight alone, where would you choose to be locked in?
Book shop. The odds are that the bookshop has somewhere comfortable to sit or curl up. There’s a chance they’ll have a coffee shop for drinks and snacks but if they don’t, who cares? Endless books. You’d have to pry me out screaming. After I totally presented the manager with a list of books they really should have had in weeks ago, and I am not amused.
If it were Kinokuniya in Sydney, oh man. Not only books, but endless art supplies? It would be heavenly. It would have to be ‘locked in over a weekend’, because I would be the happiest person in the world if I were stuck in there.
Five Things I Want to Buy When I Get a Job…
- My beloved Mirror Mirror Wedges from Gorman. Seriously, those shoes are amazing-balls. I think I’ve finally begun hitting my stride as far as my sort of style goes, and these shoes are
- New Momiji Dolls! They’re about to reopen distribution in Australia. It’s been almost a year, and I think there are half a dozen limited-edition dolls I have on hold, and then around half a dozen regular edition that I need to acquire.
- An iPhone 5! I get my iPhone 4 on a plan, so it’s actually cheaper for me to switch phones when my contract expires. The only reason I’ve put it off is because of unemployment – I didn’t want to be committed to a contract at the moment. That, and Marc Jacobs hasn’t released any cute iPhone 5 cases yet
- Books! I have e-book copies of Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor, and Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and I really, really want hard copies. Those are just two of the books I’m busting for. My fishpond wishlist is rather long, and Amazon Kindle charges double for Australian users. Australian ebook retailers can charge up to $30 for an ebook, which isn’t ever going to happen,
- A Kate Spade bangle! Her idiom bangles are awesome-sauce, and I’ve been eyeing them off for ages. Her pink one disappeared for ages, but it has just come back in, and it must be mine. Maybe for Christmas?
This is what a trip to Sydney will do to you. Make you want a load of beautiful things, but you are so utterly broke, all you can do is gaze dreamily at online stores. (You can check out most of these items on my Pinterest, if you’re interested. I’m just dreaming my money away right now 
)
So, we went to Sydney today for my Portfolio Review at Sydney Uni. We being my sister (she graduated from Sydney Uni this year!), my father (Driving Monkey extraordinaire) and me (partial degree princess). We left after 7 a.m, and Mia and I slept the entire way down. We are hardcore party people. We made it to Sydney for breakfast at the best coffee bar in the city, Workshop Expresso. I, of course, don’t drink coffee. But Workshop iced chocolate? Like liquid crack. Seriously, I can’t think of a drink more addictive.
Then we headed off to Sydney University. Wow, that school is gorgeous. It’s basically in the buildings of an old mental asylum (which would be awesome… if I hadn’t been watching American Horror Story. Okay, I’m just kidding ), and is gorgeous. Old sandstone buildings, beautiful green grounds. Or rather, on my University Comparison Scale – I – This place sucks, it’s like a prison and you need hiking boots to get around vs. 10 – There are hotels that aren’t this fancy, and I can safely wear heels, or go barefoot!, Sydney Uni ranked a charming 8.
I managed to wrangle a Review with one of Mia’s favourite lecturers, S, who was awesome and super enthusiastic. Some of the advice he gave me was a little different than Mum’s friend T gave me, so I’m combining all the ideas. The best thing is that the updated guidelines say any A2 sized works – or bigger – can be photographed, so I don’t have to lug a giant artwork to Sydney.
I also got a look at some parts of the end-of-year show, and some work was incredible. An artist named Sarfa (i’m not sure that’s the spelling) has drawn the most incredible lifelike portraits. Another one of my sister’s friends did these two amazing portraits of a character from Homestuck, and another girl – Bridget – did a series of stylised images that were screenprinted – using up to seven colours. For anyone not familiar with screen-printing, it’s very precise work, with no room for error. As well as the printmedia works, I saw this incredible glass work, with glass ‘bubbles’ littered all over the floor. It was incredible.
After the uni, we went into the city, and Mia and I hit David Jones. They had an awesome Ted Baker display. in an old-fashioned sweets cart, and I am totally in love with Ted Baker’s Tishaa laptop case. I can’t seem to find one online, so hopefully when I get my new laptop, they’ll still have some left. We checked out the shoe department – it sucks – and the Christmas department.
Where I totally inquired about the price of Valencia. Who is Valencia, you ask? Valencia is a Christmas cow that stands about knee-high. Hand-painted and airbrushed with golden hooves and horns, the first year she was there, she was apart of half-a-dozen other animals, all worth several thousand dollars. They all sold, except Valencia. Valencia has been there for roughly six years, now, being stuffed into a corner and covered with lights and/or tinsel. She’s been seriously damaged and, as of today, one of her ears is missing. I adore Valencia, so I asked how much they want for her. They no longer have her on the books, so they’ll be calling me. I really hope they give me a reasonable price, because she’s awesome and I’d enjoy trying to fix her up.
My father took us to the sushi train for lunch, which was delicious and amazing and awesome – tempura prawns, sashimi, scallop and veggie roll, eel… I could go on I just love Japanese food. We hit Kinokuniya afterwards, and then Gorman, where I tried on the most amazing, awesome, wicked pair of wedges that must be mine. I have no idea how, but I need them. They were so comfy and amazing-looking. They come in pink and silver, and I don’t know which colour I want!
We left after that, since it is a two hour trip home. Hopefully when we go back down next week for my formal interview, oh dear god, we can hit the Wii U demo store, Gorman and Kinokuniya again… I’m a simple girl at heart It was a good and fairly casual day. Except now I’ve fallen behind on NanoWrimo. I’ll have to catch up tomorrow!
10:40 pm, Friday, November 30th, 2012 
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