Stephanie here. Today is the last day of the Go Teen Writers word war! You have until midnight tonight to get in as many words as you can.
When you're done writing for the day, submit your words on this form. I'll tally up how many words the entire group wrote, plus we'll figure out who wrote the most overall.
Midnight in what timezone?
ReplyDeleteI had the same question.
DeleteIt's a valid question :-) Central time zone.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI should have been more clear. My brain is so fried right now! I'm glad you girls asked!
DeleteSo I (Eastern Standard) have an extra hour? Cool
DeleteI really wont use it, I will be sleeping then.
I went to a converter to convert it into GMT but I'm still confused, sorry. Is that Central European Time i.e. Brussels or some American timezone?
DeleteI think it is Central Time in America. Both Stephanie and Jill live in the US. To make it easier, look at the time on the comment you posted and do the math from that. This blog is set to the time they want things done in.
DeleteRose, I'm pretty sure it is supposed to be Central Time Zone USA/Canada To convert to GMT: http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/central-time/
DeleteTime zones are so confusing, aren't they? But yes, like Bookishqueen said--the time it says on the comment is indeed the time they want things done in :)
DeleteThanks guys! I feel silly xD I'll post this comment and just check.
DeleteOk, I'm 6 hours ahead so that's grand :) Thanks!
DeleteRose, you live in the UK? Me too! :)
DeleteI live in Ireland, so nearly :)
DeleteI live in New Zealand, so I'm about 21 hours ahead. XD Good luck, all you guys!
DeleteI think, from NZ, it should be 19.5 hrs.
DeleteCan't wait to see what all everyone has achieved this week!
ReplyDeleteI know, me either! I'm going to guess...100,000 words :)
DeleteThere are a lot of people in it, so that just might be about it.
DeleteI'm going to guess it's a lot higher than that. Maybe closer to 350,000. That's only 35 people writing 2K a day.
DeleteTrue.
DeleteRandom question, but do like school reports and essays count towards your total word score? Cause I've been spending the majority of my week writing those. The joys of being homeschooled- you do schoolwork right up until the end of June.
ReplyDeleteI doubt it...but I know how it is :P I'm still doing Science, Math, Bible, Journalism, and Chinese. xD
DeleteHaha, I've got Bible, History, Language Arts, and French. Past my writers block now -blew up a building- so I can get some more writing in by the end of the day, hopefully.
DeleteGuys, do you have Bible as a subject?!
DeleteYep. Mine mostly consists of reading the Old Testament, summarizing it and making a timeline of the books.
DeleteSeriously? I suppose it makes sense if you're homeschooled. In my school, we do Religious Education (along with nine other exam subjects), which isn't biased towards or against any faith in particular. You learn about morality from different worldviews, community, leadership in a religious context, atheism, the state of faith in the world today etc.
DeleteIreland is a multicultural country so our school has to be fair to people of all faiths and none. Techincally, it's religious school - set up by a nun and named after a saint - but it's still secular enough to be acceptable in this day and age :)
You don't have to believe in the faiths you're taught about, you just have to study them, as it's not 'faith development', it's education ABOUT religion, which is just the way I like it :)
I was wondering about school too, but I didn't ask because I didn't want to have to count all the words anyway. (Plus I was thinking,'What about algebra?' you can write a lot with algebra and not say anything! Haha)
DeleteI like having Bible as a subject, and glad that I am homeschooled so that I can have it.
Nothing against you, Rose, I think that I would get tired of learning about what different people believe. A little here and there is ok, but in school five days a week? Yuck...:)
Back to the word war, I didn't write as much as I should or even could have... :-) Oh well, I enjoyed it.
Naomi
I think it's cool to learn about different religions in the world, and not be expected to believe them. I am a Christian, and I think it's important to be sensitive about others beliefs, even if you don't agree with them. Then, you can share what you believe with them in a nice, polite way. That way, they can look at you and say, "Now that girl really acts like Jesus."
DeleteNaomi- Your algebra thing made me laugh. Yay, I'm finding homeschoolers everywhere!!!
Oh, and I forgot to add, I also find it amusing that we are discussing religion on a writing blog. :) I am amused by little things.
DeleteThanks, Catsie, I agree totally! And yes, I'm sorry for disrupting the writing thing but it won't kill anyone. Just imagine if you had to spend all your time reading the Bible and you weren't Christian, how ludicrous would it seem to be studying something you believed was a myth? It's better to make it all-inclusive :)
DeleteAnd good for you, wanting to be like Jesus. It's likely that the man Jesus did exist, and I really respect his teachings about kindness etc. I'm not so sure about his divinity/God or anything, but he was a very good man and deserves respect.
I think there are a lot of people on this site that are homeoschooled, many teen writers seem to be. I'm not - it was recommended to suit me intellectually but my parents work, so it wouldn't work out.
Oh, I don't have a problem with off-topicness. It's fun discussing this.
DeleteC.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, and I really agree with his point of view on who Jesus was in his book Mere Christianity.
Yeah, if both of your parents work, then I guess homeschooling really wouldn't be an option.
My teachers recommended that I at least skip a year or two of school but I'm already the youngest in my class by a long way!
DeleteIt's OK without homeschooling, because I'm doing a programme called CTY (if you're not American or Irish, that's Centre for Talented Youth), where I get to stay in a college camp for three weeks and study college subjects even though I'm about five years too young :)
I'll jump in here. :)
DeleteYes, Bible is a subject in my family. Has been forever. That is one of the (many) reasons my mom homeschools us, as a matter of fact!
Catsi--homeschoolers are everywhere ;) There's quite a few of us around here, and even more Christians.
Rose--we learn about other religions in school, but not much. We did a bit this year because we were focusing on geography ("countries and cultures" was the name of the curriculum we used) and social studies, but we learn about it from our worldview :)
We also have something in the U.S. called dual enrolling, which is where you take college classes as a high schooler and it counts for both college and high school credit. I'll be doing it in a couple years and a bunch of the other homeschoolers I know do it too.
I'd love to be in a country where you can do dual enrolling! We don't use credits.
DeleteI do think it's a bit biased and frankly, not a fun way to live your life, if you just keep one worldview all the time. There's a difference between consistency and blindness to reality. You guys seem to be on the right side though :-) It's not just other relgions we learn about - we do focus on Christianity quite a bit - but we have sections on faith development and the psychology of religion etc. It's very interesting but the exams are extremely hard!
Amanda, you spelled my name different. I like it like that. Hey everybody! I'm changing the spelling of my name. I like Catsi better. It looks cooler. :)
DeleteI'm taking a college-level biology test this summer (even though I'm three years young for college), so I can get college credits. Basically, I don't love biology enough to want to do it again. :)
My mom home schools all of us for the reason of wanting us to have a Christian education, too! I love it.
Y'all are home schooled too??!!! :D
DeleteYep!
DeleteLoving this.
DeleteWow! There are a lot of homeschoolers on here!:-)
DeleteAnother reason I like being homeschooled is I get more spare time the public schoolers so I can write, read, and do other things.
I am going to be doing dual enrollment next year, too. I am a little scared actually.
Rose- Jesus is a wonderful man.:) He is beyond everyone in how good He is. (because He is sinless and we are not) The only way that He could be that good and sinless is if He were God.
Naomi :-)
I love having the free time of a homeschooler... Except its nonexistent the last week of June. Isn't it funny, how public schoolers start doing less and less work as the year comes to a close, but homeschoolers do more and more to finish up?
DeleteIt's so awesome getting to know everybody on here. There has to be a conference now, I can't live with never meeting you guys in person.
~Catsi (My iPod is freaking out and won't let me put my name in, so I had to use Anonymous)
Sorry, that was a typo. Glad you like it though. xD And yes, the free time is awesome! So's going into the McDonald's with the homeschool group and freaking out the cashiers. LOL. Oh...and all the awesome homeschooler jokes...:P Okay, so everything is awesome. Heheh. ;)
DeleteFreaking out cashiers in McDonalds... *rubs chin, contemplating the idea* Sounds fun. :)
Delete~Catsi
I am homeschooled too, and I had no idea there were so many other homeschoolers on here! Yay!
DeleteAmanda - homeschool jokes are totally awesome! Have you ever watched "homeschool family" by Tim Hawkins?
Catsi - I want to use your new name in a book. It's so cool-sounding :)
Haha, thank Katelyn! You're welcome to use, as long as I get a copy of the book when it's published. :)
Delete~Catsi
So it is settled...right? When we have a writers group, in our spare time we are going to group up and freak out some unsuspecting cashiers someplace. Right?;-) haha!
DeleteAnd homeschooling jokes...like being unsocialized? We are breaking rules talking to each other! Haha, just joking!
Haha, exactly! My family always jokes about us being unsocialized because we're homeschooled.
DeleteJust a random question to get to know people- does anybody do NASP (national archery in the schools program) here?
~Catsi
I don't, but I think it would be cool to do archery... I assume that you do then? Are you really awesome like Marida in Brave or Katniss? :-)
DeleteDon't forget Queen Susan from Narnia. :)
DeleteWell, I'm better than Katniss in the area of holding your bow the correct way (she doesn't), but I am not nearly as consistent as any of those girls you named. Do you guys do any sports?
Delete~Catsi
I race walk (I promise you that it is a real event). I've been doing it since sixth grade. I'm the 2011 midget race walk regional champion.
DeleteI don't get to brag about that a lot...
Never heard of race walking before, but it sounds like you enjoy it.
DeleteTrue, I did forget about Queen Susan, but wasn't her bow pretty magical also?
DeleteI don't do any sport, but I do work out at the gym and I have been trying to get better at running farther. Oh, and I like dancing! I guess that isn't a sport either, just exercise.... :-)
Katelyn and Naomi--yes and yes. xD
DeleteMy sport is bowling. Sort of. I'm not a sports person.
I'm not either, Amanda. Although I do like bowling some too. Like for my birthday or something. And some on the Wii, although that's really not the same thing at all.
DeleteAnd Naomi, I don't think it was magical, exactly. The only thing said about it (if I remember correctly) was "trust in this bow, and it will not easily miss". I don't know, maybe it was magic. *must re-read Narnia books* Isn't Narnia so awesome though? I simply ADORE Narnia!
I would love to go to Narnia. If you find a way, let me know! Haha!
DeleteJesus loves you very much Rose! :-)
DeleteHaha! Katelyn, yes! Lol, the "Homeschool family" vid by Tim Hawkins is hilarious!!!!!!!!!
You guys are hilarious!!!!!!! :D
1- Homeschool jokes. Love hearing those! XD
2- Cashier thingie. lol.
(btw, I'm homeschooled too. ;) )
Sports. Well, I don't really do any sports at the moment, but I like exercising and all. :)
-Koren Elise. :)
A writer for Him.
I'm at camp for five days next week. If I happened to win and didn't respond to the email because of that, would I not be eligible?
ReplyDeleteI know it's a"what if" questions (teachers aren't big fans of those, haha). But im just curious :)
Just sent you a private email, Alyson...
DeleteExcited to see the results!
ReplyDeleteI probably won't win because of exams and the fact that I only did three days out of the five, but I still wrote more than triple what I would've otherwise!
DeleteI also had exams that just finished up today. Still, I managed to make a lot of progress on my WIP, so thanks for the word war and for everyone who was so encouraging!
DeleteThat's awesome, Rose and Jill! I honestly didn't write much, but I adored doing all the question answering and encouraging ;)
DeleteAnd Lydia, I can't wait to see either. :D
I loved this excuse to give myself an extra push. I rarely write nowadays, and this helped me get back in the habit, baby step though it may be.
DeleteDon't think about all you didn't do, gals =) I'm super proud of everyone who simply participated!!!! It was so much fun.
Amanda, I want to see what all the Fast Writers did, lol!
I haven't decided if I'm fast or slow yet. :) define "slow writer" for me ;)
DeleteLydia, you're so right. Even though we may not have reached our goals, this was so much fun!
DeleteAlyson, my thought on this (keep in mind that this whole notion was thought up only the other day) are that a Slow Writer either writes at a generally slow pace, no matter how often they write; can write fast, but doesn't nearly as often as they should; or naturally processes their ideas slowly. Clear it up?
DeleteJill, they should have posts that we keep up the conversations on for days more often! I made so many friends, lol.
I know! I loved how we all got to connect and encourage each other.
DeleteYes! It was awesome. It's been an amazing week in a few ways for me. :)
DeleteI could do this every day. :)
DeleteI submitted my final tally of words written this week! Let me know if you received it! :D
ReplyDeleteYep! Got it!
DeleteSorry, but I had to share something that only writers would understand. I had a pretty good idea of who committed the crime in my story. And then I was writing this scene (a few seconds ago, actually)and was like "he'd make a good bad guy. Nobody would see it coming..." So now I know who REALLY did it!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's always the simple things in life :)
It is awesome when you know who did what!
DeleteAwesome,Alyson! I love it when everything in your story just clicks together. Ever written a story where the culprit is the detective? My upcoming idea does that. It's not written from the detective's POV, of course, it's from his assistant's. His assistant in detective-work, not crime.
DeleteYAY ALYSON! That is definitely something only we writers would get ;)
DeleteOk, my comment came out wierd. I was trying to say that I like stories that have unexpected twists, and that I'm doing something like that in my next novel.
Delete~Catsi
I'm debating whether to stop for the night. It's almost midnight GMT so I should, but my brain has gotten obsessed with this story since the Word War - I did over 6,000 words today alone and my brain is utterly frazzled! I keep being drawn back to it but I don't think I can write another coherent word. I wish I hadn't missed out on two days of the War! Still, it really pushed up my word count so thanks for the Word War!
ReplyDeleteWow, I would definitely fall asleep. I don't think I will last until midnight EST.
DeleteWowwwww Rose! That's amazing! 6,000 words in one day! That is...WOW!! :O
DeleteIf I ever wrote that much in one day... I don't know, I'd probably have to be up for 24 hours straight to get all that in. And do nothing else but type. Yeah, I'm definitely a slow writer.
Delete~Catsi
I was on a roll yesterday, it was so fun :D I only got 3K done today, but that's still enough to keep me vaguely happy. And who knows, I might get in another 1000 between now and midnight!
DeleteCatsi, you should email Lydia too! xD gracex10d (at) gmail (dot) com -- like I told Jill. I think we were discussing the Slow Writer's Group on Monday's post.
DeleteOh. Well, I'm not going to win.
ReplyDeleteI've been aiming for unattainable goals and then not caring when I didn't make them because they were unattainable, for the past week-ish, but now I'm trying to make a smaller daily goal and making sure I stick to it.
It doesn't matter how quickly I can write as long as it gets written, I guess.
Off to write my daily goal.
I'll submit my word count soon.
"It's not about winning or losing, but about enjoying the game"
DeleteYou're fantastic. Don't forget that. So glad you joined this adventure.
And remember Mrs. Morrill's 'bird by bird'? :-)
DeleteWhat Lydia and Naomi said :) You did awesome, Katia. Really. :D
DeleteAdded my word count, now I'm off to bed. I didn't even write 1k this week, but I just wrote over half of that in the past 20 minutes... I blame it on writers block.
ReplyDeleteAt least you wrote something, and we had fun chatting in the comments :)
DeleteNeither did I, Catsi. xD But the comments were awesome. I think talking to everyone else was better than writing for me. :)
DeleteSame!!! So much fun getting to know people. :)
Delete~Catsi
Submitted my total at 8:07 (Pacific Time Zone) with a total of 31,027!
ReplyDeleteLydia, I think I'll define myself as a fast writer. Haha. Since I'm the first one who's commented, I'll name us :) I'll call fast writers "The Dark Side" or just "Speedy Fingers" :)
All speedy fingers, reply below :-)
HOW DID YOU DO THAT MANY?! You'll probably win :P I only did three days of the challenge but I do consider myself a fast writer. I judge it because I can do 1000 words in 25 minutes at my usual speed :)
DeleteI'm a Speedy Fingers too. If I really try, I can get 1k in just over 10 minutes. also, awesome word count! You truly are a fast writer.
DeleteIf I know exactly what I'm going to write about and I've already done thousands of words that day so I'm in the flow, my best is similar to yours, Imogen :) It doesn't happen all that often though, I usually just give myself 30 minutes to write each thousand and that way I can stay well within my limit.
DeleteI can write about the same as you Rose. My highest this week was about 1700 in 30 minutes. But a thousand in ten? Wow! That is some truly fast writing.
DeleteWow, Imogen! That's really fast! I think my best this week was 1k in 15 minutes. It takes a lot of focus.
DeleteRose, if you can type that fast, you're probably going to have a higher word count than a lot of people. Even if you only did it for three days.
Wow to you too, Alexa! My average is 1,000 in the amount of time you got 1,7000.
When we go to the computer lab at school to write an essay, everybody always stares at how fast my fingers move. There's always a person who just stops working the whole time and goes on about how I'm not even looking at the keyboard. It's really hard not to laugh when that happens.
................
Delete.................
*speechless at the incredible speeds in which some people can type*
...................
Catsi
TEN. MINUTES. FIFTEEN. You're KIDDING, right?!?! I'm with Catsi here........
DeleteUm, yeah. My fingers don't even move that fast. Even if I knew exactly what I was going to type. Even if all I had to do was type out something I wrote in a notebook.
DeleteTyping out something I wrote in a notebook is probably the thing I hate most. I can't stand copying stuff I've already written.
Delete~Catsi
I'm definitely a slower writer. I'm shocked that you guys can type so quickly.
DeleteCatsi - I know, right? I'm like, 'I already did this once. Do I really have to do it again?' And then I usually find a different way to say it, so then I end up with several different versions of the same thing, and I can't decide which one to use.
DeleteRight! It's soooo annoying. I prefer to just write it all once.
Delete~Catsi
Ugh, no way could I type stuff from a notebook because I'd have to keep looking up and down. I type really weirdly, it's not even the right method, it's about two fingers on each hand but I'm used to it xD I really don't get it that fast often AT ALL. It was probably only once. I'm comfortable around the 25-minute mark, because then I can actually think about what I'm writing :)
DeletePS: My typing speed - which is usually about 50WPM (words per minute, therefore 100 words in 2 minutes and 1000 in 20), I don't know how I managed that really fast 13ish minute 1000 once - is probably because I spend too much time on the internet xD
Jill, join the Slow Writer's Group ;) Email Lydia: gracex10d(at)gmail(dot)com. We discussed this on...Monday's post? Not sure.
DeleteDumbfounded at the inferiority of my speed.
DeleteDon't think about it in those terms Lydia, all that matters is the effort you put into it and that you spend the time.
DeleteThe time I save first-draftng I''ll have to make up for in editing, so it evens out. It's not a very bad first draft, but I used a lot of telling not showing just as a kind of note to myself to nsert 'showing' details later on. I can't imagine edting as I go, I'd need to finish it first so I could see the story arc.
So the speed deosn't matter as long as you commit to your quota and just persevere at it :)
I think we should have a shout out to Mrs. Morrill and Ms. Williamson! Thank you for planning the Word War! I had a story that needed writing, but I was being terribly slow at it and this help me along. Win or lose, I still had a blast doing this and connecting with other writers. Thank you a bunch and I hope you had a blast!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, you ladies are Awesome! With a capital A! I'm now past my type two writers block (aka laziness) and on track to finishing my novel. Yay!! Thank you!!!!
Delete~Catsi (still experiencing technical difficulties with comments)
THANK YOU, THANK YOU MRS. MORRILL AND MRS. WILLIAMSON! This was absolutely incredible! I had the best time making people smile. :D I had a really awesome week with other writers and this was about half of it. :) Thank you thank you thank youuuuuu! <3
DeleteYes, thank you so much! This was a great week and I loved chatting with everyone. I also made a lot of progress in my WIP that I wouldn't have made without the word war. I really hope you'll consider doing this again in the future! :)
DeleteHint hint, you should do another one during the summer (preferably not in the last two weeks of July) ;)
DeleteYes, we will definitely have to have another one!
DeleteYAY!!!
DeleteWoo! This time I'll actually do all the days of the challenge ;)
DeleteYay! Another Word War! :D
DeleteYou ladies beyond rock.
Delete