Final Stats for NaNo 2015: 

Final word count-- 30,012
Pages-- 71
Percentage-- 100.12% 
Average word count per day-- 1002 
Number of Days I Took Off-- 2


So it's a short story. But I mean, doing this on top of high school, I'm pretty satisfied with myself xD. I actually wrote a lot on Thanksgiving, which was surprising. I didn't do any writing on my birthday and then a random day a week before because we had family in town. 

I WON, GUYS! 

Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving. 

The only day of the year when you can eat as much as you want and it's okay because it's patriotic and everyone's thankful. 


Okay, but seriously, sarcasm aside, I love Thanksgiving. I'm making the stuffing again this year and Rosie's in charge of the cranberries again. The boys do nothing except clean and repeatedly ask when the food will be ready. 
Ironically, I'm starving right now because I didn't eat breakfast before Mass and now I'm blogging and I'm kind of giving up on breakfast for today. 

Oh! My birthday updates! 

Okay, it was literally one of the best birthdays in my memory. And I've had some pretty awesome birthdays. My 15th was a lot of fun, and my 13th was on Thanksgiving... But I mean, this one was just awesome. 

So, my mom and I started driving and I had no idea where we were going, and suddenly we end up in San Louis Obispo at a spa resort. It was so beautiful. 
So then, Mom and I are walking down a path, when who jumps out in front of us yelling HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

Maddie!!! 
Except my mom was in front of me, so at first she jumped in front of her and yelled, "HAPPY BIRTH--oh that's awkward." Then she saw me and tried again. I was so surprised, but it was an amazingly awesome surprise. 
So me, my mom, Maddie, and my aunt stayed at the resort for one night. We went into downtown San Louis for dinner and Maddie and I were up until two am watching Mockingjay Part 1, because I'm lame and hadn't seen it yet. 

Maddie gave me a beautiful charm bracelet. My aunt gave me the most comfortable finger-less gloves that she made. 
It was a good birthday. 

The author took a break from writing this post to do chores and make stuffing. 

Thanksgiving feast preparations are taking place in my home. I just finished the stuffing, Rosie's working on the cranberry sauce, Lilian is in charge of the whipped cream for the pie this year, Penguin's chopping stuff (not sure what, I didn't pay attention), and Ronnie job is, as put by my dad, "just keep being cute." 

Blaze came into the kitchen while we were all working with the belt from someones bathrobe and started whipping it around. 
B: WORK, SLAVES! 
Dad: Are you doing anything helpful right now? 
B: I'll ask the questions, sir. 
Dad: What are you doing? 
B: I'm the slave watcher
Dad: That's not a thing. 

The house smells amazing right now, especially because I still haven't eaten any food yet today. 

I'm off to work on NaNo. I'm about 5K words away from my goal. I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving filled with wonderful food and family :). 
--Abby

Book Review--The False Prince

In a faraway land, civil war is brewing. To unify his kingdom's divided people, a nobleman named Conner devises a cunning plan to place an impersonator of the king's long-lost son on the throne. Four orphans are forced to compete for the role, including the defiant and clever boy named Sage. Sage knows Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point--he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of duplicity and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together. 







I. Loved. This. Book. I cannot express it enough. The only thing that makes me happier than this book right now is the fact that I have its two sequels xDDD. It's woven together so perfectly and it throws twists at your face until you decide you'll probably die with this book, but at the same time it doesn't overwhelm you. I was up until late almost ever night this week reading this, so yeah, I was pretty tired at school this week, but it was worth it. 
The shining glory of this book is definitely the twists and turns and how they all fit together. At many points in the story, I felt like throwing the book now and squealing. I mean, I could guess the culprit of a couple Sherlock mysteries, but there were things in this book that I just simply did not. see. coming. This is officially going to be the next book I throw at Blaze over and over and over until he finally reads it and loves it. I did the same with the Percy Jackson books. It took so much bribing to get him to read those, but he loves them. He'll deny it, if you ask him, but I've lived with the kid for thirteen years, he loves them. 
GAH there's nothing left to say READ THIS BOOK

5 out of 5

Day Seventeen.

I'm not dead, I promise. 

DAY SEVENTEEN OF NANO 2015 STATS

Current word count: 18,080

Today's word count (so far): 507

60.27% of the way to meeting goal

Snippet:

I closed my eyes and listened to his footsteps against the cement ground. He could be lying of course, but why would he? He had no reason to, unless he was trying to get me to quit. But why would he want that? In a rebellion, weren’t you supposed to get as many people to side with you as possible? “I didn’t know,” I stated plainly. I looked at him. “Is it true? This is mutiny that I’m a part of now?”

“It is.” He stopped pacing and looked me straight in the eye. “Are you prepared for the worst?” 

I know. Only five hundred words. I'm a pathetic human being. 

But in my defense, I had a lot of homework today, and tenth grade is starting to get me stressed out. English, mostly. I have so many stupid essays to write and rewrite. Blah. 

PLUS next week we have the whole week off from school, and I plan on doing tons of writing then! 

Okay, so, this Sunday is my birthday... 

Wow. 

I've never been so scared for my birthday before. I have no idea what the heck I'm doing to celebrate, because apparently my mom has something planned but she won't tell me what it is, and also, sixteen????? That can't be right. Wasn't it just my fifteenth birthday? Wasn't I just at that seafood restaurant eating lemon slices covered in ketchup and salt? (I bet you're wondering why I would do that. Don't question greatness, people.) (I made my friends try it too, it was great xD) 

But yeah. Sixteen. 

.

.

.

IS THIS MY LAST POST AS A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD HOLY COW IT MIGHT BE!!!!!!!!! 

And on that bit of craziness, I just heard my dad saying that we're having mac n' cheese for dinner. Happy birthday to me x) 

--Abby, the freaking almost sixteen year old who hasn't even driven a car yet 

I'm so behind. 

omg I just remembered the dream I had on the night before my fifteenth birthday. Like, it was a total deja vu moment. I legit haven't thought about it in a year. Wha........

NaNo Day Seven

DAY SEVEN OF NANO 2015 STATS

Current word count: 10,668

Today's word count: 1903

35.56% of the way to meeting goal

Snippet:

I looked at him and said softly, “I could get fired.”

“We all have to make brave choices sometimes, don’t we?” he said, a twinkle in his eye. “What do you think is the right thing to do?”

I frowned. “Make you leave.”

He shook his head. “No, no, that’s what the law thinks is the right thing to do.” He pointed a dirty, wrinkle finger at my heart. “What do you think is the right thing to do?”

I took a break from writing to eat lunch today and I was making a turkey sandwich and lately I've been craving Subway, so when I was making my sandwich, I thought what if I toast this like they do at Subway and make it amazing... 

It was amazing. 

I also was kind of starving. 

I thought I would bring that up because lately I feel like all I talk about on here is food... Which isn't true, but I always complain about how hungry I am... 

I mean, if we're just going off of what I put in this blog, I'm a moody fifteen year old girl who doesn't eat food and sleeps all day and speaks fluent sarcasm. 

....

I'm very sorry if I come off that way sometimes, because I guess I am like that, but I don't want to be. I am actually a generally happy person. And sometimes I can be deep. Like last night, I went to adoration at a near-by church and I got very deep and started asking God all these questions because I am a lost little sinner. But I love going to adoration because it's so peaceful and you can just see God in everyone there. 

SEE?? I can be deep. 

--Abby

Day Six and a Weekly Sum-Up.

I've been reading blogs of other people who are also doing NaNo, most of whom I know, and they're all doing like 3K words a day, while I'm sitting here in my little corner of shame with my 1.5K words per day, on average. I have to remind myself that a lot of those people are homeschooled and have more chances to write than I do. But still, I could be doing better. 

DAY SIX OF NANO 2015 STATS

Current word count: 8,765

Today's word count: 2,211

29.22% of the way to meeting goal

Snippet:

“Mom, do I have to conquer the world?”

“No,” she replied thoughtfully. “I suppose not. But someday,” she looked at me, “you’re going to grow up and you’re going to have to make it yours somehow. Every human leaves their mark in some way. You just have to figure out what you have to offer the world.”

So, I suppose since I've been gone for a bit, I owe you [my four readers] a weekly sum-up. 

Best moment this week 

Hm. Well, on Wednesday, the high-school went on a day trip to L.A. for the LIFEsocal event. It was super loud, there were over 7,000 Catholic schools students crowded into a basketball stadium and there was music blasting, and I'm surprised my ears weren't permanently damaged. David Henrie, the actor, was there again, like last year (If you click that link, you also get to read about the day when I almost met Rick Riordan and then didn't.) What surprised me was how Catholic he is! Like, I knew he was Christian, but when he was giving his speech, he started talking about transubstantiation and I was like, uh, YESSS!! 

Random moments of the week

On Monday, it was drizzling, so me, Em, and a few others sat in the middle of the soccer field at school and ate a whole box of Double Stuf Oreos. It was super quite because everyone was in class and it was drizzling...Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds. 

Also, on the drive to L.A., I was in a carpool with a bunch of crazy amazing people. We ate M&M's and listened to a lot of country and Disney music. And we listened to this song. And this song. They're hilarious, we were cracking up. I showed them to Blaze and Penguin and they cracked up too. xD 

Shame moment of the week

In PE we played a weird game where we had to do push-ups and dress up in costumes and run... And I had to wear dress pants that were too big for me, a knight chest-plate thing, a huge leather jacket (which was SUPER COMFORTABLE), worn-out flip-flops, and crutches. It was rather shameful, how horrid I looked.

Made me happy

The leaves are starting to change! 

My mother got chamomile tea ;)

Late-night texting with Maddie.

NANO

Made me freak out

Geometry tests :(

SO. MANY. LONG. TERM. ENGLISH. ASSIGNMENTS. I'M. LOSING. TRACK. OF. WHATS. DUE. WHEN. 

We're having an English seminar next week about the Iliad and I'm excited but in no way prepared. 

NANO

Things I've pinned ;)

This pretty much sums up my essence.

Because.

Have you detected a theme yet?
I started like three new boards this week:
One dedicated to Autumn, one to Winter, and one to fuzzy socks and tea xD

And here's this, because it's not winter just yet.
And this is hilarious.

I sent this to my friend who doesn't care for
sarcasm and I was like, "This is probably the most sarcastic
thing that ever happened." 

Well I have food waiting for me, and I haven't eaten since Blaze and I were fighting over the frozen pizza earlier. 

So... Five hours ago. 

I get hungry quickly when I'm writing all afternoon. 

--Me, the hungry, emotion-driven, sarcastic writer 

Day One

DAY ONE OF NANO 2015 STATS

CURRENT WORD COUNT: 1,461 

TODAY'S WORD COUNT: " 

4.87% of the way to meeting goal