the story of dawnyelle and austin

So, here's that post I said I might do on my NaNo novel. Currently, I think I've given it the title "Dawnyelle." This will probably only last a few days before I change it again. Enjoy, dearies. <3
Ugh. These two. They have put me through enough emotional trauma to last me a lifetime, and I haven't even started writing the freaking book yet.
Her name is Dawnyelle. She's broken and full of more self-hatred than anyone should have to bear.
His name is Austin. He's depressed, lonely, and lost.
They're next door neighbors who haven't talked in years. But when Dawnyelle talks him out of committing suicide (dramatic, eh?) and promises to show him why life is worth it, that all changes.
Soon the two are off on a journey of healing and finding beauty, together.
If I could describe it in one sentence (because that's what I had to do for the Snowflake Method), it'd be this:

"Two kids, one depressed and the other broken, find healing and beauty in Christ."

But it's so much more than that. So. Much. More. It's about struggling through the ugliness of the swamp to find a breathtaking waterfall. It's about letting go of loved ones, loyalty, grace, and learning to dance in the rain (literally and figuratively).

It's also about this puppy. And this cat.

This is Austin: (Aka Callan McAuliffe.)

I don't have a specific person that I think Dawnyelle looks like, but I'll stick with this one. It's, like, my favorite because of the camera (she has a thing for photography) and her gorgeous smile.

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Pinterest inspiration board.

Also, I wanted to give some very due credit to this lovely woman. She's the one who taught me about the beauty of life, even in the rough times. So you should all go check her blog out. Her posts are amazing. (And, speaking from someone who knows her personally—asdfghjkl she's amazing and wonderful and beautiful inside and out. I seriously don't know where I'd be without her. Or her four absolutely ADORABLE kids.)

Okay.

Sorry.

I told myself I wasn't going to get all sappy (HAHAHAHA.), so I'll just stop.

♥

Bekah Joan

a desperate plea for help

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I thought November was going to kill me.

Then I got a brilliantly stupid idea.
See, I barely have time to write now, so I figured I'd better come up with a way to be able to find time to write for NaNoWriMo.

I decided to get as much of November's school done before November actually gets here. Please note that it's the 22nd of October, I came up with this idea yesterday, and I was behind in all of my school except my math. Now I'm current in Chemistry, too.

Anyway, to get all of this school done, I have to do sometimes twice as much, sometimes one-third more of math every day than I normally do. I'm doing as much Chemistry reading in a day as I normally do in a week (thankfully, that's really not too much). English and vocabulary...well, those aren't too bad. I mean, I'm probably doing the most in those, but I don't mind them as much. They're language arts! Those are wonderful! (Yet so terribly time consuming.)
All the while, I still have to complete homework and such for my online classes.

So, I guess what I'm asking of you lovely people out there is to pray for me. I know I can't do this on my own, and I really, really need some help over here. I don't want October to kill me. That's November's job. ;)

Thank youuuuuuuuuuu.

♥

Bekah Joan

Tips for Surviving Both NaNoWriMo and Life

I was asked to do a post on this, so we shall see what happens. I think I'll do it in a "do" and "don't" kind of way...

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Do...

-Say no. Not to everything, mind you. Decide what's more important: spending time with friends or writing. School or writing. Work or writing. Your priorities must be straight. (And I am NOT saying that writing is always the way to go. Sometimes, people are more important.)
-Stay healthy. It'll help, I've been told.
-Be connected. Find other people involved with NaNoWriMo, whether on their website or in real life.
-Try staying up later than normal or getting up earlier than usual. (Notice the "or" there. I don't recommend trying both of these at the same time.)
-Remember that if you don't win, it's not the end of the world. This is something that I've had to learn personally, because I think there's a really huge chance that I'm not going to have 50,000 at the end of this November. However, I'm still going to try my absolute hardest. But I'm not going to sacrifice friendships/family/grades for this thing. (Yes, even school. I may not like it, but it's still a bigger priority than NaNoWriMo.)

Don't...

-Edit. Pleasepleaseplease. November is not for editing. When it comes to NaNoWriMo, it's just a waste of your time. If you edit, you probably (definitely) won't have time to finish 50K words.

-Stop writing. You must keep going. Even after you've hit your word goal for the day, keep going. You never know when time will mysteriously disappear and you won't have time to write.
-Give up. Remember, though, that this isn't a life or death thing. If you don't win, it's okay. You tried. You most likely tried your hardest. That's good.

. . . .

Last November was a bit of a struggle for me. I didn't think I was going to make it until the last few days, but then I just wrote and wrote and wrote. I'm pretty sure I actually finished a day early.
But my point: you have to write (obviously), and you have to do a lot of it. I ended up writing a lot at night, after all of my school was done. It was really hard to actually have a specific time to write, because I didn't know when I was going to be done with school. It was (and is) basically different every day. Like I said before: school is more important than NaNoWriMo. I don't like that fact, but that doesn't change it. Work before play.
If you can schedule writing into your schedule, by all means, I've heard it's a brilliant idea! If not, I suppose we can struggle through writing at random times together!
♥
Bekah Joan

the beauty of math

This is a slightly odd post that I may or may not disagree with in the morning. Oh, well...Enjoy my little rambling about the alphabet and numbers combined.
Math and I are not good friends. In fact, you could say we're enemies. I want to kill my textbook, and I'm pretty darn sure those numbers try to strangle me every time I attempt an Algebra 2 problem.
But I can't help but admire my enemy. I don't always understand it. Sometimes I'm quite angry with it. On occasion, though, I see this strange beauty flash through. All of the numbers fitting together just right, everything working out perfectly—that's what's beautiful about my enemy.
For a minute, I feel like I can see into something I'm not supposed to. Something amazing. I love and cherish those moments, along with the, "Oh! I get it now!" moments.
I love figuring things out, although it normally takes me ten times more time than it should. But still, it's fun—until it gets frustrating.
Normally, I'm screaming, "Where the HECK did that dang THREE go?!?"
But I must admit (now, after I've finished my math for the day) that those moments of seeing math as beautiful are worth it.
♥
Bekah joan

NaNoWriMo Prep!

So, first off, I got a new notebook for my NaNoWriMo novel (along with three others, for stories that are yet to come. Yes, I have a small obsession with notebooks). This one fit perfectly for this novel, because a main theme in it is finding beauty.

 The next morning, I got up earlier than normal and made some tea. Then I opened up a window in my room, settled down on the floor, and made the cover page. I haven't done that before in my notebooks. But I got the idea, and I think I shall do it in all of my story notebooks from now on. It was quite fun.

Then I moved on to outlining with the Snowflake Method. I only got through step 2 before it was time for breakfast, and then school. But I now know the basic plot of my novel and am on step 4. Yay!

I'm thinking of doing a post about my novel (maybe). I would do it here, but I have to leave in, like, twenty minutes, and I won't be back until tomorrow night.

Oi. I need to finish packing.

♥

Bekah Joan

it's october, and that's weird.

September went by way too quickly. It's almost as if it didn't exist. Odd.
And now October is here, and soon November will be. And we all know what November brings. (For the strange ones who don't: NaNoWriMo!) Oi. I need to outline my novel.
Anyway, I'm kind of really excited. Ecstatic. (For November.)
The leaves haven't started changing as much as in other places in my area, but soon. Oh, very soon.
Soon they'll fall to the ground, filling the empty, chilled ground with rusty and bright colors.
Whoa. Random flowery (or...well...leafy) sentence. Awesome.
Anyway. I'm not sure if I really have very much to look forward to this October. Just school, working, the general being overwhelmed-ness, etc.
Of course, October brings November, so that's nice. And I'm sure this October will bring wonderful moments that I'll remember and cherish for the rest of my life. I just don't know what they are yet.
Oh, and then there's this song. Beautiful.
Thank you for reading this positively pointless post. It's appreciated. :p
♥
Bekah Joan