In other words, here's how I wrote this short story. Read on if you're interested in seeing how many hours a day I spend just watching YouTube.
Saturday, some time in the late afternoon Laying on the floor in the hallway talking to my mom. I tell her that I want to write something for Lauren since her birthday is coming up fast. She helps me come up with an incredibly chaotic idea. So, you have my mother to thank for this masterpiece.
I proceed to sit around and do nothing, letting the idea simmer in my brain and develop a little more.
Saturday, 7:00-9:00 pm Opening a blank document and just staring at the screen.
Saturday, 9:00-11:00 pm Sitting around doing nothing.
Saturday, 11:00 pm Frantic, maniacal brainstorming session (some photos will be blurred because they contain the real names of Lauren's siblings instead of the altered ones and I don't want to put that stuff out without permission).
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Saturday, 11:30 pm Taking what I brainstormed and turning it into an outline.
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Saturday, 11:30 pm-Sunday, 6:30 am Sleeping.
Sunday, 6:30-11:30 am Getting ready, going to church, eating lunch, frantically running around.
Sunday, 11:30 am-12:45 pm Working on the first draft on my phone in the car as we drive to a soccer game. Falling asleep halfway there.
Sunday, 1:00-3:00 pm Being at the soccer game. Some wild stuff happened. (Sorry people who ended up in this photo. Your privacy doesn't matter quite as much as Lauren's.)
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Sunday, 3:15-4:30 pm Working on the first draft on my phone in the car as we drive back from the soccer game.
Sunday, 4:30-6:00 pm Eating supper, doing normal person things (even though I'm not a "normal person.")
Sunday, 6:00-8:00 pm Finally getting onto my computer and typing like a madwoman (which I am.)
(I took a little break here to crack my back and inform my family that I still existed)
Sunday, 8:30-10:00 pm Printing out the document, taking the keyboard tray out of my desk and setting it on the floor, annotating all over the printed-out first draft with a red pen while laying on the ground and listening to Hamilton.
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Sunday, 11:30 pm Realizing that I've been watching YouTube for an hour and a half and going to bed.
Sunday, 11:30 pm- Monday, 6:00 am Sleeping.
Monday, 6:00-7:00 am Typing up the second draft edits written out the night before.
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Monday, 7:00-8:00 am Getting ready, I've also been juggling a dog-sitting job the whole time, so if you see something in here and think, wow, that took her a really long time to do, I most likely also popped over to the neighbor's in there.
Monday, 8:00-9:30 am Working out. Very bad coffee jitters.
Monday, 9:30-10:00 am Watching the end of Lego Ninjago with my brother because that movie is fine art.
Monday, 10:00-10:45 am Changing the font of the document and doing copyedits. Over and over and over. Seriously, my eyes hurt. Dang copyedits. Also wasting a lot of time.
Monday, 10:45-11:00 am Pasting it from Google Docs, tweaking some formatting issues because Wattpad sucks, reading over it one last time. I think I can recite it from memory by now.
Monday, 11:00-11:15 am Doing this, because why not? Also panicking for a second because what if I had her birthday in my calendar wrong. (It was fine, I was right. I'm always right.)
Well, that was less than 48 hours, but there's the gist of it. If you read through all of that, first of all, thank you, and second of all, go see a doctor because something must be seriously wrong with you. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the very rushed writing process behind The Incredible Quest. And woah, look at how much time I spent just sitting around lol.
