Every Day of NaNoWriMo 2015

This was my 4th time doing (and winning) National Novel Writing Month. So for every day of NaNoWriMo 2015 I filmed a short vlog, here they all are. If you enjoy the video, consider watching the one I did from last year: NaNoWriMo in 2014.

New Glasses and Some Thoughts

I hope you like my new glasses, I won them from Jessica of Bookworms in Dresses. They are from a company called Firmoo and they came in a nice case with a keychain glasses screwdriver, so cool!

I've actually won a few other blog giveaways before so I think I need to give back soon and host some more of my own. What would you want to win in a new giveaway? A Nerdy Monster, button pack, etc.? I have some other ideas, and if you dear reader have something you'd like me to help you giveaway here, don't hesitate to ask!

Speaking of my Etsy shop, I really want to start working on some new products and that's one of my goals for the new year. In the mean time, tomorrow I'm launching a sale  for 15% off of orders that are $5 or more. The code will go live tomorrow! (check this Instagram for it!)

I'm posting this on Thanksgiving (and writing it the day before). I'm doing the cooking and hosting out-of-town guests and yet I still feel like this kid pretending to be an adult. Yet I'm 29, married, and living on the other side of the country as my parents. I don't know if I'll ever ditch this imposter syndrome (but maybe the fact I'm re-living my 14-year-old self is not helping.) 

I haven't gotten too personal here on this blog recently. That's for a few reasons, for one is it's really no ones business but there's also fear there of appearing too vulnerable. The truth is I've had hard time lately. The hard drive crash incident started it but it's probably a combination of things, being away from my family and friends being the biggest one.

Thanks for sticking around, reader, I hope to get back into the swing of things soon. I'll be going home for the holidays this December and I'm counting on that raising my spirits. So many highs and lows this year. Thanks, as always, for reading.

Thanksgiving: Thoughts from Places, Annapolis, MD

In which Thanksgiving is making my miss my family this year, but I'm trying to be thankful for what I have and the new home I've made here in Annapolis.
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I'm a NaNoWriMo winner!

I did it! It happened last night! I've written 50,000 words this month for my novel titled 'The Park Cats.' This is the 4th time I've done NaNoWriMo and it's gone, by far, the fastest this time. I can attribute part of that to the subject matter of my story, it's essentially CATS fan fiction with all of the copyrighted elements changed or removed. I've always written my CATS fan fiction as if they were actual cats roaming around a human inhabited world, much like the dogs in Richard Adams' book Plague Dogs. It's also similar to Erin Hunter's Warriors series.

I realize that there is still 10 days of the month to go and I don't plan on stopping writing, (trust me, my novel is in no way complete) however I will not worry about word count anymore and simple work on it for a bit each day. Here is a screen cap of where I'm at so far in this month:

I doubt I'll have this momentum if I attempt this again in a year, but it was a fun goal to always be ahead of the game for once (in previous years I tended to hit the bare minimum each day to complete on time). If I decide to keep working on my story beyond this month I know there are a lot of things I have to change about it. I'm hoping by the end of November I'll have a decent rough draft to share with friends, which is something I've never done before with previous NaNoWriMo novels.

Other things that have come out of this so far have been a re-read of the Warriors series which led to fan art searches which led to me drawing cat anatomy and logging into my DeviantArt page for the first time in forever. I'm also in the process of making my new CATS costume and I helped a friend sew plushie cats the other day...as we watched CATS. So...it's been a very feline intensive month for me, MagicCatJenny...how appropriate. 

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen | Book Review

I recently read both The Queen of the Tearling and The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen and I absolutely loved them! Below is my video review for both books (and my excitement for the third coming out June 7, 2016. Please let me know in the comments if you've read these books or not!

Cats WIP - MagicCatJenny vs Cats Costuming Part 2

I'm making a CATS costume again! Oh Everlasting, please let this work! Okay, so the Jemima costume I started and stopped about twice about 5 years ago is getting resurrected yet again. However, I have a real deadline now (Broadway Con in January) so progress is actually being made. I'm doing the Video/London style of the character Jemima, with a bit freestyle as well.

NaNoWriMo Tag Video

Here's my NaNoWriMo Tag Video, if you are doing NaNoWriMo then you are tagged! Let's be writing buddies! Here's my account.

Half-Way Jellicle

The makeup I did for my Halloween costume (a half-way Jellicle cat) was half-way as well. I used normal makeup as the base; foundation and bronzer. Then I used Ben Nye in black for all of the details. I then threw on some lipstick and set the black with powder and I was done! Simple and casual, perfect for a simple and casual Halloween.

Half-Way Jellicle - Halloween 2015

This Halloween was my first after moving to Maryland, so I did not have any old costumes with me nor did I have the funds to make an entirely new costume. I've been working on a new CATS costume for Broadway Con so I decided to use finished elements of that and my vintage CATS sweater to create a 'half-way Jellicle' costume. So 80s!

Marie Makeup

In December of 2014 I did some Cats styled Disney feline character makeup. The second one I tried was Marie from The Aristocats. She was a bit more in the Cats style than Simba was and I gave her a Victoria-like look. She turned out adorable!

Simba Makeup

In December of 2014 I did some Cats styled Disney feline character makeup. The first one I tried was Simba, my favorite Disney character. I tried style his makeup closer to the cartoon than actually going full Jellicle and I'm happy with how it turned out!

How To Prep for NaNoWriMo

What is NaNoWriMo? It stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is a fun event where participants try and write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. I've done it 3 times before. In 2010 I wrote Gizmos of the Apocalypse (50,015 words), in 2011 I wrote I Was A Teenage Nerdfighter (50,048 words) and in 2014 I wrote Everlast (50,018 words) I am participating again this year and I have no idea what my story is going to be about...at all.

Blogging vs. Vlogging

I blog and I vlog. Sounds like the start of a poem. Vlogging started as essentially 'video blogging,' a trend from the early days of YouTube. You talk to a camera, about whatever. It's a style of video making that is still strong today and one I partake in. But the difference is that you can produce many other types of videos whereas on your blog you are always blogging. So it's more accurate to say that I blog and I make videos, some of them are vlogs.