My six-year-old sister Emily has caught it. Today she wrote the following story. Way to go, Em!

My word count is 11,725.

And I haven't written anything today yet! I really should, but I've been so busy with tennis and speech co-op... now that is another story. I didn't have my expository speech ready yet this morning, and when I tried to draw an evolutionary tree as my visual (my topic was on convergent evolution), it just didn't work out. So instead of stressing out over my visual, I just wrote a whole new speech!  (And this was like two hours before I had to give it, too.) So I did my expository on CDs instead -- how they work. I was very pleased with the way it turned out, especially since I didn't have a whole lot of preparation on it!

My next speech has to be a humorous interpretation. *dies*

And tennis... it's been great for only day three! Today I took Betsy to the courts for about an hour. She is improving, too. It's fun when other people come to use the courts while we're there -- then I can watch them from a distance and try to imitate their serves. And I only hit the ball over the tennis court fence once this time. Much better than yesterday when I hit like five over the fence (at least). That got to be a pain.

Um wait... this was supposed to be about NaNoWriMo. But my life this week has been more than just NaNo.

I'll leave you with an excerpt from my (still unnamed) novel. I like this scene, even though I was feeling a little goofy when I wrote it. lol.

At the same time that Joel was getting his fishing lesson, William's spirits were sinking lower and lower as he participated in the classes for the handful of children on the island. This was even more dull than school back in Canada!

The teacher was an old man named Thomas who had no hair, and no teeth (which made him very hard to understand). He never smiled, but he didn't raise his voice, either. In fact, he spoke in a monotone. A toothless monotone. If one of the children misbehaved, he would walk over to them and knock sharply on their head for a good two minutes while the class continued.

The children varried in ages from three to fourteen, and Thomas believed in teaching them all at once. As a result of this way of thinking, the older ones had to review the learning material for the three-year-olds every day. The day started out with a pledge to the island, the ocean, and the sun and moon that William found very disturbing. Of course, he did not know the words yet, so he was not expected to participate, but as he listened to the chant of the other children, he knew he could never join in with them. Growing up in Canada, the idea of saying a pledge was completely foreign to him.

Next, they said the ABC's together. Then they counted to 100. After that, Thomas called the students up to the front of the class one at a time and had them spell simple, three-letter words. William was bored to death with all of this.

After this came Science. This was the worst class of the session, William was sure. Thomas gave the class a lecture on some scientific topic (at least William guessed it was scientific, but he couldn't tell at all what the man was teaching them about). Then he asked each of the students questions which they could not understand because of his missing teeth. When they did not know the answers, he calmly walked over to them and started knocking on the child's head.

This man is crazy, William thought, as Thomas was painfully knocking on his head. Why is he allowed to be our teacher? We aren't learning anything here. At least I'm not. I'm not even keeping up on my multiplucation tables!

"Neh we wih do hiftoree," Thomas said in his usual monotone.

William payed close attention. This was his absolutely favorite subject. Hopefully Thomas would not make it as miserable for him as he had the other subjects so far. But "history" turned out to be nothing more than the children saying a chant that went like this:

China, Japan, Russia, and India. These are the countries of Asia. The men of China built a wall around their country to keep out intruders.

England, France, Switzerland, and Germany. These are the countries of Europe. Long ago, some people rebelled against England and started a new country in North America.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States. These are the countries of North America. The United States is made up of that group of people who rebelled against England.

Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Argentina. These are the countries of South America. These countries are not important; nothing ever happens down there.

Egypt, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Kenya. These are the countries of Africa. The ancient Egyptians built giant pyramids and a strange looking statue called the sphynx, but other than that, nothing much happens here anymore.

Australia. This is a country that gets a whole continent to itself. No one is really sure what goes on here.

Antarctica. There are no countries here. It is cold and snowy, and no one lives here.

William found this exercise very dull, very uninformative, and very silly. Of course it wasn't true that nothing happened in South America, Australia, or Africa. And there were a lot more countries in the world than those mentioned in that silly chant. He started to raise his hand to say so, and then thought better of it. No sense in saying something that would cause Thomas to come over and start knocking on his head again. One time in Science class was painful enough.

Please excuse any improper grammar, punctuation, or spelling. NaNo is about writing, not editing. I'm stomping all over my inner editor, and it's great! *grins*

Oh, and I finished Algebra II this week!!!! We're having cake and ice cream tonight to celebrate.

Recently a friend loaned us some tennis rackets and balls. We had been wanting to learn to play tennis for a while, but never acquired any equipment. When our friend heard about that, he offered to let us borrow a couple of rackets and a set of balls. Great, we thought, we can play at the high school's tennis courts.

So Mom made a couple phone calls to find out who exactly we needed to see to get the key to the courts, and then we four girls set off in high spirits, with our water and rackets and balls -- oh, and our $5 deposit to get the key.

As we walked onto campus, we were a bit nervous, never having been there before. This place has a high fence all around it, so as we walked inside it was sort of like entering a prison or something. I turned to Amy and said, "It's not like we're entering the Institute or anything!" (If you've ever read The Mysterious Benedict Society)

Of course, we were stopped by security. "What are you doing here? Do you have ID?" I don't know why I was so nervous, it's not like we were breaking the law or anything. We were allowed to continue.

So we made it to the desk where we could pick up the key. Whew! "We'll need a copy of your driver's license to give you the key." Of course I don't have one. So the woman at the desk went to go check with someone else to see what we could do. "I'm sorry, but you'll need an adult to be responsible for you." Frustrated, we left campus and wait for Mom to get there.

Finally Mom showed up (on my bike) and we were able to finally secure our prized key. Our troubles weren't over, however. Mom turns to ask a man (who she thinks is a security guard) if there is an exit out a different direction, and it turns out he is a police officer, leading away a student in handcuffs!

And of course, there were all the weird looks you get from all the high school students who no doubt are wondering what you are doing there. *screams*

And then, the tennis courts were being used anyway! So we had to go all the way back home without playing.

I guess it doesn't sound that bad now, as I write it, but all in all, it was the kind of experience that makes your blood boil. When we got home I put on my iPod and listened to Handel's Water Music to calm down. *grimace*

Oh, and NaNoWriMo! Isn't it something that my happiness depends on a number? As long as the number is up, so am I. If the number goes down, so does my writing interest. Hmm, there's something not quite right about that. Oh well. Anyway, I'm now at 7,341 words! Not as good as some people... but at least I'm ahead of schedule.

I hear that week two can be tough... well, I'm preparing to meet it head on. Now if I could just get a running start -- a giant leap ahead on my word count, that is. *heads off to write*

Yes, I'm doing NaNoWriMo. And yes, I'm still getting used to the idea myself. Because it wasn't until just a few hours before the starting line that my evil friends, writer4him and Bluejane convinced me to do it.

Actually, I wanted to do it, but I had no plot idea. And then, while chatting with them last night, I decided to rewrite a book I started like two years ago. But I am totally re-writing it. I'm not even going back and reading the old manuscript, if I can help it. I want it to be entirely fresh and new.  So we'll see how it goes. Unfortunately, I have forgotten a shocking number of characters' names, so I will have to go back and find them. lol.

And of course, I'm already way behind on my word count, but I'll recover sometime this month (hopefully). Hmm, well, this is only the second day, I could stop worrying about it, right? It's not like I have a big fat 0. I actually have 908 words. I'm hoping to catch up today.

So you know where I'll be for most of my free time this month -- either glued to my pen, or glued to my keyboard. Holler if you need me.

We just finished up our church's special meetings Thursday night. The preaching was excellent each night!

Sunday morning my sisters and I played I Sing the Mighty Power of God on our violins for special music (that's Amy on the piano). I love it, and I can't wait until they're ready to play in church full-time -- with the congregational singing, that is.

Can you believe I like shopping at Walmart?! Well, I had fun today. About as much fun as one could have at  Walmart, I imagine (that means it wasn't exactly a thrill, but it was a tad enjoyable).

For my birthday a couple weeks ago, I received some walkie-talkies (a.k.a. two-way radios, but I've always called them walkie-talkies), which I had wanted for years. They have come in very handy -- I can go on a walk and have all my peace and quiet taken away while I talk with Amy the whole time (kidding, kidding). No, they are fun. But one way they come in handy is shopping! Today Mom and I took them to Walmart -- she gave me a list of things to get in the grocery section while she shopped the other end of the store, and we both had a walkie-talkie so I could ask her questions like "What brand of tostadas do you want?"

I got a good amount of groceries, and then Mom finally got to the grocery section about that time, so she gave me some more things to pick up. Then I went to the check out and did that all by myself (well, until the very end, when Mom showed up, but I had already paid anyway).

I was so pleased with myself for knowing how to unload/reload my cart at the checkout -- I put the cans and other stuff like that at the start of the line, so I could put them in the bottom of my cart afterward. And I saved the stuff like cereal for last so it wouldn't get crushed. LOL, that might not seem like a big deal, but to me... I have my  moments when I just don't think.

My #1 problem with shopping is that I had the hardest time finding some of the things on my list. Most of the time, I was in the wrong aisle, but other times there were just too many items on the shelves, and it was almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack (okay, okay, that was a big exaggeration, sorry). I know, that will improve with experience.

But all in all, it was a fun time, and I am actually looking forward to next time I can go shopping with Mom at Walmart again.

No, in case you were wondering, Walmart is not my favorite place to shop. That would probably be Kohl's.

Does anyone remember what I said last year -- that I was going to post about each subject I was doing in 9th grade? Umm... well, that never happened, did it? So how about a post on what I'm doing this year, for 10th grade?

Bible
This is the most important subject, of course. Each year I have had a course on a different topic. This year I am doing Landmark's Inspiration of the Scriptures. I think this should be pretty interesting. I would appreciate a little different layout, though. It is pretty much just write the definitions, read the lesson, fill in the blanks, learn a verse, and take a test. Every week it is the same thing. And it doesn't seem very personal. We have found several instances with this curriculum when the answer key is plain wrong, or something is screwed up with the formatting, or there is something in the lesson that I read and think, What in the world?! But overall, I would say it is pretty good.

Math
Right now I am finishing up about two weeks' worth of Algebra II, and then I will dig into Geometry. I am using Teaching Textbooks, and I simply love it. Most everything is so easy to understand. I am so going to miss Algebra when I finish it in a few days!! Maybe I can find a used Algebra textbook or something just to do it for fun (and you all are thinking I am crazy, right? lol). Or maybe I'll like Geometry even more! The other day I learned how to graph systems of inequalities, and that was pretty cool.

Science
Sigh. I have a love-hate relationship with this subject. I love Science!!! And it usually doesn't matter what I am learning about -- I can't help being drawn into the subject. Only... I don't want to write lab reports. I don't want to write lab reports! I don't want to write lab reports!... Okay, I think you get the idea. This year I am doing Apologia Physical Science. I really like it. I don't think I would really mind doing the experiments that much, but I don't want to write about them, so I have gotten out of all of them so far.

History
Right now I'm doing Ruth Beechick's World History Made Simple, but it is definitely not going to last the whole year. I don't know what I will do after that. WHMS is not that bad, but it's not my favorite subject. Maybe because I just don't love history. IDK.

Logic
I'm doing The Fallacy Detective. I like it (very entertaining! lol), but I'm not very good at it at all. Recognizing fallacies is hard!! Well, I can recognize that they are fallacies. Figuring out which fallacies they are is a different story.

Writing
Well, of course I love writing. I write in my journal a lot, and I always seem to have some book or story in progress (but actually I hardly ever finish anything). I'm reading through Writers INC this year, and I think it will be a handy resource in the future.

Misc.
I'm still playing violin and piano, too. I play each of them pretty much every day. Also, I am supposed to be doing some audio-related stuff this year. My first project is to narrate a children's book and put sound effects and music to it. Now if I could just find all the sound effects that I need. I don't want to pay a cent for them, though...

Okay, folks, I think that's it. Hopefully I didn't leave anything out. I still can hardly believe I'm in 10th grade! I mean, for so many years, when I was younger, 10th grade just seemed so unattainable. And now I'll be graduating in less than three years!! That's almost a bit scary.

In other news, my 15th birthday is this coming Sunday.  We don't really have anything "special" planned, but it should be a pretty busy day in spite of that -- packed with church-related stuff, which is best, anyway! I thought this was pretty neat: I now know of two other people that I share the same birthday with! One is a year older than me, but that's still pretty cool. If one of you two reads this, be it known that I am wishing you a happy birthday, too.

October should be a pretty fun month. It starts with my birthday and takes off from there! We have a bunch of company coming this month. So hopefully it will provide me with sufficient blogging material. If you would like to see what we did last month, be sure to read my mom's September in Review blog post.

That's right, folks, we now have a new column on The HSB Backyard! I'm excited about this, and I hope you will be, too. This is simply a way for kids ages 6-17 to showcase their photography in a competitive way. There are no prizes -- it is just for fun.  Enter your photo each week, and be sure to check back when the winner is posted! See the post on the Backyard for more details, and then send in your photo. If you like to take pictures, head right over. This is for you!

In other news, I got tired of waiting for the new HSB before I got a new template, so I made one yesterday. I love it! Only... something is wrong. It's like HSB is simply ignoring part of the HTML coding! It is so frustrating! So it will be up soon, I am just working on it right now.

First of all, thank you all for your support. I didn't realize how many other people were going through the exact same thing!

So what would happen after I post that entry than the very next day get an idea and sit down and write 2,000 words! I sort of have an idea for the plot... right now it's more like a general direction, but we'll see what happens. Yesterday I wrote another 1,700. I think the reason it is going so well all of the sudden is based on three facts:

1. I am writing about something that I find interesting.
2. I am writing in first person, just letting the writing flow (who cares if it's grammatically correct? In fact probably a good chunk of it is NOT. But I don't care for once!).
3. I didn't wait to come up with an entire plot before I began writing. I just thought of a good opening sentence or two and went from there.

And even if I never finish this new... book? it's great to be back to writing again anyway!!

However, with blogging... another story. I guess maybe that's more of a matter of being lazy and just needing to sit down and write something.

There must be something wrong with me lately. I can't come up with ideas! I want to write something (fictional). I can't think of anything!! I want to post something on my (seemingly neglected) blog. I can't think of anything that I really want to say.

And it is soooo frustrating!!

If i just post random photos stored on my computer that will probably bore you real fast. Of course, maybe I could come up with some fun stories about them... maybe.

When I found out that one of my friends could come up with book plots just from dreaming at night... I was like, That is SO NOT FAIR!!! It didn't make a lot of difference when she assured me that she couldn't just come up with a book plot whenever she wished, though. The fact that she gets any ideas from sleeping is just... not right!

Are any of you having the same problems? Any help for me?