Wow, I can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since I updated this. Things have certainly been hectic and I really did want to keep up with this regularly. Since NaNo ended, everything sort of blew up in flames around me. The end of school came and went and I did great in all of my classes, it was actually one of my best semesters, but everything else seemed to just want to spiral out of my control. I don’t use this much for that type of blogging (complaining), but I figured it was worth the mention.
Anyway, my dog, Molly, decided to get into wrapped presents my mom had in her room and basically ate nearly a pound of chocolate. And they make chocolate with this chemical that is poisonous to dogs. So, there was a trip to the vet, who recommended taking her to a vet hospital…which cost a lot of money. She’s alright now, doing pretty well actually for eating all that chocolate/plastic, but apparently she now has a heart murmur. It could be from the chemical, as she didn’t have it last year when she went for a check up, or it could be the beginning of heart disease. Hopefully, it is not the latter.
On top of all that, my mom had [bunion] surgery last week and is being an uber pain. My grandmother fell a couple of weeks ago and broke her pelvis and back. And I’ve been having chest pains/trouble breathing, but it is most likely related to stress – I have insane anxiety – and I decided to go back on my stupid anxiety medication that I haven’t taken in a year and that makes me A) tired, B) really really effing tired, and C) I can’t focus for the life of me when I take it.
I don’t talk about the anxiety a lot and putting it on here is sort of like broadcasting it to the world, but lots of people have stress and anxiety disorders, so yeah. Plus, writers are always damaged some way or another 
So taking the anxiety meds puts me in a woozy, mellow state. It’s weird, it’s like coasting through life…pretty much probably high, I would say, even though I have never been high before. But, I don’t like it and I definitely don’t like taking them. I like to deal with stress on my own, but when it starts preventing me from sleeping at night, I have to take extraordinary precautions. The downside is, that I am trying to edit my book. I want to get things done by February for that Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. I want to enter, even to try. I’ll regret it if I don’t. But, the meds make me unable to focus, so editing has become a slow, painful process. Right now, I feel clearheaded enough to even type this post and start working on it, but it’s been 24+ hours since I last took anything.
Anyway, that’s my life story for everyone to see. I’ve completely gone in and revamped the Prologue. It’s the same, just better wording and sentences and whatnot. More description. I’m satisfied for the moment with what I have there, though I know that the editing process is long, gruelling, and a pain. I already know that even if I ever got published, I would always find something to add/change/delete.
Today and tomorrow I’m going to try and concentrate on Chapter One. I rewrote the entire first part, where I introduce the main character, Brynn. I hated that beginning with a passion. The more I read the book, the more I skipped over that part, so I knew it had to be changed, it was just a matter of changing it into what. I had to wait for the idea to come and it did and I am definitely happier with it now! 
Now, just for the rest of the chapter…
I wanted to document the editing process for myself, as well as just to have something to update my blog about. I wanted people to know that once NaNo was over, I didn’t set the book aside and go, “Okay, I’m done now. It can collect dust.” I want to keep working on it and make it something that I enjoy reading and that other people will too, whether or not it’s just my friends and family or people who enjoy burning books. This world, my world, is so completely developed in my head that not a day goes by where I don’t think about it, the characters, the history, and the future.
Plus, it keeps me sane 
Anyway, to recap, the Prologue is done for the moment. Chapter One is in progress. I need deadlines! haha. Maybe I’ll look at the calendar and make a schedule to have certain chapters done by, so that I can have someone else read over it and give me some feedback as well. We’ll see.
And, to anyone reading this, Happy Holidays! Mine already started, I celebrate the fun Chanukah, but I know tonight is Christmas Eve, so I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season. Enjoy yourselves!
Fun Fact: Brynn’s name was originally Bella. I came up with it in my junior year of high school, so about 2004, early 2005, and then after I recently read the Twilight Series, I had to go back and change her name.
