The Month of Words {NaNoWriMo}

Once a year, during the lovely month of November, writers all over the world get together and write.

Nation Novel Writing Month: also known as NaNoWriMo

50,000 words in a month.

Roughly an eighty-eight page novel.

Cramming 1600+ words in per day isn't an easy task, nor is it taken lightly. You must be dedicated, willing, and slightly insane to take on such a challenge.

So while it sounds like a lot of work, and it is, it is also an experience that one won't soon forget.

This year, 2014, I decided barley three days before it started that I was going to participate.

Did I not tell you that one must be slightly insane to do it? Indeed.

I skimmed through pinterest looking for ideas for this new novel, trying to figure out what on earth I was going to write about. I can't remember the pictures I was looking at, or the thoughts going through my head, but in a few minutes I had decided. I was going to write about what I knew and what I didn't know. The emotions I had experienced and the unknown I hadn't.

Heather Byrd is one of those people who clutched a dream through the years of High School and one that pursued it. Now, she's living it: the dream of being a writer in New York.

Heather is sentimental: "I do so love Autumn. (I refuse to call it Fall: it is the most unromantic name of the season anyone could ever think of!) The leaves are starting to turn and I’m squealing inside. How could anyone dislike Autumn? Its so beautiful from the leaves to the sweaters."

She's passionate: “I still do want to write. Its a beautiful art, and its a part of me. Especially writing about people, as of course you know. Humans are complex creatures and I think that they are misunderstood way to often... And they need people to remind them that life isn’t all about them, its about a planet of people working alongside each other to make this world a better place.”

But she's also confused: “The thought about my future. The thought that maybe I did wrong in moving out here so fast upon finishing my degree. It was always a dream of mine to move here, and I love it don’t get me wrong, But maybe it was..” Heather frowned a little, “...impractical, I guess?”

And scared: "What am I doing May? Spending four years getting a degree and then moving to New York to write for a living? That sounds insane. How is one suppose to make a living off that?" 

This book isn't complicated. It doesn't have a major plot of people saving the day or others dying in heart-wrenching death scenes. Its a story of a girl who's passionate about life and confused about her purpose.

I wrote and wrote as much as I could, and while I didn't get even close to the goal of 50-thousand words, I enjoyed the experience and push it gave me every day. 

I will be continuing to write Heather's story and hopefully finish it. The characters have all become dear to me: I can't leave they're story untold. 

Enjoy your December, my lovelies.

<3 Eva

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She loves the serene brutality of the ocean, loves the electric power 

she felt with each breath of wet, briny air.

-Holly Black 

November

A small peek into what my life has held the past couple weeks, specifically the first week of November. Most of the pictures have yet another picture to view if you simply click them!

Squealing with sophisticated but ecstatic delight as I pull out the scarves, sweaters, hats, and everything that only Autumn allows. 

The writing of a 50,000 word rough-draft of a book entitled Mastering the Unsaid Words for the annual event, NaNoWriMo. (Aka, write a book in a month) 1,600 words roughly per day. I'm a little behind (okayi'mabout7kbehindbutatleasti'mwritingk?), but its been amazing to have this forcing me to make time for writing. It is certainly something I needed!

(photo via pinterest, word concept and design by Evelyn Ashby)
(Click the cover to visit Pinterest Inspiration for the book!)

Taking pictures of my lovely friend's Knight costume. It was a learning experience full of giggles. Supposedly I'm next.. 

Enjoying the crisp cold weather of late. The wind rips apart the trees until they stand bare, and the leaves dance across the lawn.

The reading of poetry, specifically Whitman, Edgar Allen Poe, Keats, and Emily Dickinson.

Creating a wishlist of all the oxfords, backpacks, and cute random things I want for my birthday; which happens to be coming quickly upon me.

Reading has been going up and down in the chart of my daily life. I finished A Room With a View a while back and fell in love with its strange uniqueness. The book that was suppose to follow still hasn't come in from the library, so I'm not reading that.

And because I want a lighter read since I've recently been reading deep, thick books, I haven't picked one out yet. =)

I got Uncle Tom's Cabin from the library not to long ago and should be reading that.. Oh well, we shall see. Writing is taking up so much time now and days I hardly have time to read! But. I shall make time for it.

(This is pretty much my favorite 'Anne' book..)

Climbing the mountain not far from our house was a last minute decision last Saturday morning. Gorgeous view; but perhaps I would have gone to bed earlier the night before had I known..

A somewhat blurry of the view from the top, taken by yours truly.

And last, but most certainly not least, listening to amazing music. Such as the Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, The Honey Trees, Broken Bells, Band of Horses, Death Cab for Cutie, the list goes on. Regina Spektor has recently been making my regular listening time. Firewood is officially one of my favorite songs. =)

A small peek, indeed. =)

Love you my readers,
<3 Eva
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Books, Cider, and Autumn

As the weather grows colder, the house grows cozier.

Sweaters come out, mugs are filled with cider, the front porch is laden with pumpkins, and trees turn to radiant reds and orange; reflecting the autumn sun as they flutter to the ground.

An important key to enjoying your autumn to its fullest (because indeed, Autumn is the best season of the year) is a book.

But not just one.

Many, many, books.

That, my friend, is an important key.

Keep the books flowing constantly through your day.

When you finish a book, have another one waiting.

When you have a moment of rest, read, read, read.

Flood your minds with words and stories that will become as dear to you as flesh and blood.

You will feel secure in these stories, in those pages that smell of memories, in that book that becomes thicker and thicker each time you read it with your thoughts and emotions.

To fulfill this oh so lovely plan, I have compiled a small list of books I will be reading this Autumn. Its not long, nor complicated: it is simply a list of random books that have called me to rest in their pages. Nothing more.

I am at the moment reading:

A Room With A View; by J.M Forster. Written in 1908 it addresses the standing of the social circles; and follows Lucy Honeychurch as she visits Italy and meets a young man with emotional problems, but who is also of lower social standing than she. Though her older cousin, and other ladies and gents of her social circle, snub their noses at them, she finds George and his peculiar, but honest, Father strangely interesting.
   I cannot say much with out predicating for I am but in the fifth chapter. It is an interesting book to read; I feel that if I were to have lived back in the years before the 20's I might better understand the underlying sarcasm and satire. But I am enjoying it, nonetheless.

After I finish Forster's book I will be changing paces and jumping up to a book written in 2010:

Unbroken; by Laura Hillenbrand. A World War II story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Louis Zamperini grew up a cunning delinquent, a reckless youth that spent his time stealing. In his teens he found that sports, racing especially, distracted his rebellious spirit and gave him a goal in

life. But World War II interrupted that dream, and when his bomber crashed in the ocean he had to fight for his life: only to be brought ashore by Japanese. Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of a man who turns his life around and (its my understanding) becomes a Christian in the life changing events of World War II. I am very excited to read this, especially since it appears to be an amazing story of God's mercy and love. Let us hope I can get it soon; the library's books have a lot of requests. :)

The rest of the books in my list:

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare; by G. K Chesterton. I know very little about this book. A friend recommended it to me and I suppose you could say I'm taking her word for it. I know a bit about Chesterton (enough for me to trust him) and I think this is a book I would enjoy. I love books that I know very little about before reading it; it gives off a sense of mystery...

Bleak House; by Charles Dickens. I started this about year or so ago, but when my birthday rolled around in November I ditched it to read Lord of the Rings. (We have to be a certain age to read it) So I've read about 200 pages of Bleak House, but should really read the last 700. :) 

Night; by Elie Wiesel. A book mentioned by Abby in her most recent Blog Post, It looks to be something I would enjoy. Someone's experience of WWII? Yes please. 

These last few are books that have been in the back of my mind the past couple months. I do realize that they all (except Mere Christianity) are on the darker side, and I promise it is not on purpose.

Mere Christianity; C. S Lewis 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; by Robert Louis Stevenson

Dracula; by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein; by Mary Shelly

Rain and wind and wind been my companions these past several days, and my heart fills with joy as I watch the autumn burned leaves fall to the ground..  
 
What books are your Autumn Book List? 

I've been playing around with layout, as I'm sure you've noticed, and have settled on this one. The Raven and the Writer is sort of a new title to my blog; I think it better befits the mood and flow of my blog. 

I finally have an answer for the Alice in Wonderland riddle:

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Because The Raven, my dear computer, is my writing desk.

<3 Eva

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