Sandpaper and Silk

29,966 / 50,000 (59.9%)

Lunch came, and by that time Carmen was absolutely ready to go home. She needed to talk to her dad about home school, she just didn’t feel right about going to private school around all the people that she wanted to avoid in her life. She knew that it might be hard for her to talk to her dad about something so serious, but she was willing to take his chance. Maybe if he was so brokenhearted and down, he might not really care about whether or not Carmen went to home school. Yes, Carmen might have to find a teacher, but she was sure that would be plenty easy. Maybe Molly Ann might even decided to do it, since there was really no use in doing anything else since all the maids were the ones who cleaned most of the time. But nevertheless, Carmen was fed up with school. She knew she might have to spend today and maybe Monday at school, but that was way better than the entire year. School was only a week in, that day being Friday. She still had weeks upon weeks of school left, and there was no way she was going to be able to put up with that. She shook her head in disgust, and left on her journey towards her car. She did not want to come back, but she knew she had to. As she walked down the stairs, she spotted Brooklyn out of the corner of her eye. She looked over at her, wanting to know how she was doing at least. But Brooklyn was fine, she was surrounded by a bunch of girls who she had always been friends with, and who were just as superficial as Brooklyn was. All they cared about was their fathers’s bank account and their own trust fund. Carmen looked away just as quickly as she had looked over, and she continued her walk towards her white Mercedes, standing out and sparkling parked in the middle of all the other dull and not-as-expensive cars. She had turned her head just in time to miss Brooklyn’s longing gaze towards her. Carmen handed the security officer her senior-off-campus pass and headed towards her car, not knowing that she was being watched by not only just one person, but three. Carmen got into her car and left the school. She just wanted to get away, even if it was only for an hour. She felt too secluded their, and yet so in the middle of everything. Michael had not talked to her that day, he passed by and nervously glanced at her, but other than that showed no sign of recognizing her. Jason might have or might not have been at school, for Carmen had not seen him yet. But Carmen didn t really care all that much. At that school, there was no need for friends. The only break that she had was lunchtime, and she left to go to a restaurant every day. There was no way she was staying some place that she didn’t want to be in.
( There's more where this came from! )

19,365 / 50,000 (38.7%)

“Letting you keep your distance, if you must know. I have not really wanted to disturd you and your father while it is your time to sulk. You have each other for that.” Carmen looked own at her feet.
“Um, actually, that is not all true. My dad has not been very open to the idea of helping me. He has been stuck in his room, not coming out. I seriously have not seen him since the day of the accident. But Lucas says he has been going down to the kitchen every day for food. He says that dad is lkike a zombie almost. But that, I would not know...” Carmen trailed off, not wanting to get too emotional before school started. Molly Ann had an extreme look of sympathy on he face, and she couldn t take it anymore. She leaned over and gave Carmen a warm hug, wanting to comfort her like she needed to be at this time of her life. How dare her father neglect her at a time like this. Molly Ann was determined to show that she cared about Carmen and her happiness. “Thank you Molly Ann, your support means a lot to me,” Carmen said as she pulled away from her. “But I do have to get to school. Maybe we can talk later?” Molly Ann let out a huge smile and nodded her head, almost excitedly. “Well, good bye then.”
( There's more where this came from! )

Oh my gosh! I can not belive I didn't write anything in my novel last night. I had this huge paper that was due today that I was working on for anatomy, and I kept finding all these mistakes and I had to revise pretty much everything. So I plan to write double tonight. And then make up tomorrow because I have no school. But I am no way behind in my writing, that's for sure. So that's definitely a good thing. I'll post tonight's writing tonight or tomorrow morning. :-)

18,674 / 50,000 (37.3%)

She tried to close her eyes so that she wouldn t have to watch as she plummeted to her doom, but for some reason, she could not do so. Some irresistible force was keeping her from closing her eyes to her death. She let out one last scream. Two seconds before the car slammed into the rocky crevice, Carmen thought of her dad, of Stacy, of how she was meeting her doom just like Stacy did. She now knew exactly how Stacy had felt when she found out that she was going to die within the next second. Like a slow motion video, Carmen watched as her face met the ground beneath her.
( There's more where this came from! )

16,427 / 50,000 (32.9%)

It is inconsiderate for him to think and believe that he is the only one who is upset by this and that should be taken car of.”
“Jason, stop it!” Carmen could not take hearing bad things about her father. “Just, stop talking like that, Jason. I can not take it.” Jason glared at her yet again with that look of his that told Carmen she was in for a scolding from him when he got her alone. She cringed at that, and looked down at her water. Jason took in a deep breath, obviously ready to say something, and something very harsh, when the waitress came by and asked them what they wanted to eat.
( There's more where this came from! )

14,119 / 50,000 (28.2%)

That look slightly scared Carmen, but as she thought abut it, she knew that Jason wouldn t try anything when there were so many people around them. So instead of hurrying into her car and driving off at high speeds, Carmen waited there for Jason, looking as cool with the idea as she could. Jason made his way over to her, not taking that look off of his face, and gently smiled as he stopped right in front of her. He took a few seconds to catch his breath, and when he spoke, he breathed in small gasps.
“Hey. I have something to talk to you about. Can we go somewh--”Carmen instantly refused.
“No, Jase. No. I am not going to be anywhere in private with you, not after what happened yesterday.” Jason grew a hurt look on his face and it took a while for him to think of something else to say. Carmen looked around nervously. But then, she realized that there were probably about ten groups of people watching the exchange between Carmen and Jason. Obviously they all knew about the problems Carmen and Jason were having in their relationship. Carmen looked away from them and back up at Jason, waiting for his reply. Finally, he took a deep breath.
( There's more where this came from! )

12,031 / 50,000 (24.1%)

Carmen Sawyer sat on her computer that night, completely lost in her thoughts. She heard the clock on her wall ticking, and the hum of her computer was evident. There was dead silence. No one made a sound in her house, and she had the feeling of drowning slowly in time, not knowing what to do. Every time she thought of something, a voice inside of her convinced her that it was a bad idea, and she was yet again stuck with nothing to do. She had no energy, no incentive to do a thing. Suddenly, her compute beeped at her. She looked up at its screen. Jason was instant messaging her. It read:

Snwbrder783: Hey. Are we going to do something today?
PrtyNPlatinum64: Hey Jase... I do not know. I have bad news, though
Snwbrder783: Really? Tell me
PrtyNPlatinum64: I can not when I am not in front of you. Can you just drive up here? My dad is not in the right state of mind to really care. I will meet you on the terrace, okay?
Snwbrder783: Sure, I guess that is cool. But now you have me worried. What is wrong?
PrtyNPlatinum64: Jason, I will tell you when you get here. I can not tell you right now. Please, just hurry up, alright?
Snwbrder783: Carry, do not talk to me like that. It is disrespectful. You know that I do not like it at all.
PrtyNPlatinum64: I am sorry, Jason. I did not think.
Snwbrder783: It is okay this time. Just remember what happened last time. I will be there in about a half an hour.
( There's more where this came from! )

8,522 / 50,000 (17.0%)

She hopped out of her car, not waiting to close the car door completely, and rushed towards the front door. She pulled it open at top speed and as she looked around the entrance hall, she spotted Molly on the foot of the stairs leading to the residence hall. She had her face burried in her knees, shoulders quivering with force, sobbing at uncontrollable measures. Carmen rushed to her side. Molly lifted her head, makeup smeared all around her face, and said to Carmen with unbelieveable difficulty, “Your dad’s waiting for you upstairs in his room.” She gave Carmen a warm hug and gave her a little nudge, encouraging her to go upstairs. Carmen did just this, at a much faster pace than normality would allow. She rushed passed all four rooms in the residence hall, including her bedroom, her office, her father’s office, and Stacy’s office, before getting to the fifth one and the end, Stacy and her dad’s bedroom. She pushed the door open without knocking, finding her father layed out on his bed, face down, and sobbing teh same uncontrollable tears that Molly had been at the foot of the stairs.
( There's more where this came from! )

6,925 / 50,000 (13.9%)

*Beep**Beep**Beep*
Carmen woke up in a start the next morning, surprised by her alarm clock. She glanced at the clock. It said, in birght, bold, red numbers: 6:20. She groaned into her pillow. She had forgotten that it was a school day. She got up relunctantly and clammered over to her full length mirror. She hated the mornings, and she was never in the mood to get ready for school. Even though it was a small private school at the bottom of the hill, it was still a pain to have to go there. She had begged her dad time and time again to let her be home schooled, but he refused, saying that the experience of a school out of the home, even if it was just a small private school, was still worth the knowledge of every day life in the world. Of course, that was just mumbo-jumbo to Carmen and she despised her dad, if only for a small reason, for not letting her be home schooled. She once protested by saying she would not have to waste a bunch of money on gas, but he came back, saying that money was definitely not an issue for them, and Carmen could not say anything to that, because of course she knew that that was perfectly true.
( There's more where this came from! )

4,870 / 50,000 (9.7%)

The siding on the outer walls was painted in a slate color with a darker gray color of flat stone on the bottom half. There were approximately 30 windows just on the front wall, not including the section that peered forwards on the left side of the house. On the parking terrace across from the left section of the house was occupied by about 15 cars, some were covered and some were on display, but they were all the most expensive makers of luxury cars. There were BMW's, Mercedes, a Bentley, a Porche, and even a Jaguar. A trail left from the parking terrace leading back down the hill. The trail was covered by the shades of trees, and it bent to the right a small bit, leaving it impossible to see to where it led. There was another trail, yet gated and uncovered, the led to what seemed like the back of the house. The cab driver knew that this was one expensive house, and this was not just anybody in the back seat of his car. This was somebody important. But the man was now getting out of the taxi and was walking towards the driver’s window. The driver subconsciously told the man how much money was owed, and he didn’t even count the money to find that he was left with a rather surprising tip. He was entranced by the beauty of the house. He listened as the rich man told him about security watching his car, making sure that he left without one stop, and the driver agreed by force. The man walked towards the entrance to the house, and the cab driver knew he had to leave for fear of being prosecuted. So he backed up, taking all the time that was unsuspicious. But soon, he was turned around, heading down the drive, and soon back onto the highway, the gates of Serenity locking him outside where he belonged.
( There's more where this came from! )

WORD COUNT: 2702
The afternoon sun trickled down through the trees as the day continued to slowly creep away. The dry mountain air surrounded the atmosphere as the few cars and the people in them continued their destinations to far away places. Not many people who traveled through the Santa Barbara mountains finished their destination there. The only places to go were the ranch homes and estates which costed millions upon millions of dollars that were spotted along the highway, the Santa Barbara Country Club, or the Old Spring Tavern restaurant. There was a slight breeze blowing which was barely notable in the soft leaves of the trees that piled along mountain sides and valleys. The sky was without a single cloud in its wake and the temperature was perfectly comfortable. This kind of whether was the kind to put people like Wayne Sawyer at complete ease, removing their worry of all things surrounding them.
( There's more where this came from! )

And Gosh, am I excited! I can barely wait for 12:00 A.M. to strike. I have everything for my introductory scene all planned out and now I'm just anxious to start! I'm already getting tired, though. I guess I'll just need more Halloween candy in my system before I start. Wish me luck, as I'm really needing it about now! ;-) Good luck to everyone!! And have fun!

Well I've basically finished my preparing for my story. I know what's going to happen, and I know my characters very well by now. Really, I don't have much to do in preparation. Just preparing mentally, really. I'm a little nervous about writing 2000 words in one day, I mean, I've been practicing here and there, and it seriously takes some concentration and some major time to get that ammout of words in one sitting. But I have faith in myself, and I'm going to push my limits. I already planned out approximately how many words I'm going to dedicate to each section of my story. Here is the rough approximation:

1 -- 2000
2 -- 5000
3 -- 9000
4 -- 2000
5 -- 10000
6 -- 2000
7 -- 3000
8 -- 10000
9 -- 1000
10 -- 2000
11 -- 3000
12 -- 1000

Of course, you don't know what is in each section, but you soon will over the time of Novemeber. Just so it's cleared up, I will be posting each night's writing to the journal after I'm done, and anyone interested in reading it can find it here. I won't be doing any editing, and beware that it might be very choppy, contain many grammar and spelling errors, and have any other imperfections made possible. But none of that really matters, as everyone knows. So enjoy!

My first Character Profile! Carmen Elizabeth Sawyer is my main character. Get to know her, she's the biggest part of my novel for November, which also means she has to be absolutely perfect! ;-) Here's her profile (Provided by Critique Circle Online):

Carmen Elizabeth Sawyer

October has fallen and NaNoWriMo is only one month away…Which means people all around are now jumping into extreme planning of their novel at this very exact moment, preparing for November! The site will be reconstructing today until 3 pm, opening it’s doors to all November 2005 sign-ups. I myself won’t be home to sign up right away, but later tonight I’ll do it in a heartbeat.

In other news, I’ve found a perfect site to prepare me for my novel: Fiction Factor. It has many things offered there to help with anyone wanting to write a good novel. The one thing I found most helpful, though, was their tutorial on making a prefect, simple template for your story. I’ve already written mine all out, and I'm really satisfied. For anyone who wants to do that, it’s absolutely free, just in case you were wondering.

I hope this helps any of you wanting to try and go for the challenge! Happy writing, my friends! (Or whatever it is that you do)

I’m participating in NaNoWriMo this year (2005) for the first time and I’ve decided to write down my adventures and frustrations, as there will be plenty, I guarantee you. I’ve already started planning for it, even though I won’t be starting until the appointed time: 12:00:00 a.m., November 1. I’ve got a great plot sorted out and I’m really excited — and I still have over a month left until I can actually start writing!

I went to Create-a-Character to fill in attributes that I wanted the main character to have and it came out perfect for the storyline that I have brewing in my mind — which I won’t be giving away. You’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?! ;-) Well, this is what the site came up with:

—-
MC(Main Character) is a trustworthy ally, always there for friends and family but specifically focused on those in authority. MC basically doesn’t trust his/her own decision making ability, so looks to others who he/she feels knows the answers.
As a child, MC connected with the father figure, who was very loving and gave great advice. Perhaps MC was abused outside the home, picked on in high school, and looked to the father figure for answers on what to do. As a result, MC learned to look to authority for the rules on how to survive. As an adult, MC has associated with a company or system that he/she looks to for answers. The flaw is that the company or system may be destructive or evil in some way, opening an opportunity for growth where this character makes a decision for him/herself. MC strives to create a happy life for herself, away from the drama her father’s house has caused it.
—-

It’s perfect. So that’s the main chacter for you all. And that’s all I’ll be saying about that! Well anyways, for anyone who’s going to or wants to paticipate in NaNoWriMo, I’ll be blogging about sites that I’ve found that will help, and also different strategies that I’ve come up with. I have many reasons for doing this, including having a place to keep things written down so I don’t forget anything, and letting the general public/friends know what's going on with my NaNo.

Which reminds me — I do have a Sims 2 blog, Serendipity Sims. I have two stories going right now, one on the Hampton family, which I created for a challenge for the game. Another is a story called Destiny at Heart, which chornicles the life of Autumn Parker and her adventures with her hectic family life. I use the Sims 2 to create pictures for these stories, illustrating the story more completely. The Hamptons is more where I play the game and then make up a story to what happened, whereas Destiny at Heart is more where I write the story and then create pictures to go with it. If you'd like, you can go check htat out as well! There are lots of brilliant and amazing people in the Sims 2 blogging community. :-)

I plan on posting more in the very near future about my plans for NaNoWriMo 2005. I hope you all enjoy it, as I know I will!

Happy writing, My friends! (Or whatever it is that you do)