Writing

Chit Chat – 2016 Highlights

by Elisa Romagnoli

Originally posted on my old blog: whenshescribblesblog.wordpress.com

2016.
An incredible year.
For some of us 2016 was amazing; for others it was terrible and stressful; and for some it was: ‘meh.’
I meant to start this scribble a long while ago and post it on New Year’s Eve but I didn’t feel like the timing was right; now, I think it is. We’ve opened up a new book, full of crisp white pages ready to be filled at out leisure.
Let’s make the most of these pages.

Before we close the previous book: how was 2016 for you personally?

For me, 2016 was bordering on amazing. Yes, there were pitfalls, lapses, tears, stress… If you can name it, it transpired last year.  However, with those downfalls, there was also personal victory and triumph. The biggest of these being that 2016 was the first year nobody said flat to my face that ‘I looked like a middle-schooler and there was no way I was now a high school senior.’ I still got the second glances and odd looks but nobody actually said anything.

I want to take a quick moment and share a few of my highlights from 2016. There are more memories waiting in my mind, but I have three in particular that stood out to me as I planned this scribble.

In 2016 I –

Went to Texas

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The view on my flight home.

The past July saw me in Texas for eight days, participating in HOME week at CCM.  I was put on a team with four other young people and during that week we built a two-minute short film from scratch and participated in some pretty amazing workshops.

My trip to Texas was probably my highlight of 2016 because God confirmed some things he’d placed on my heart and I’m now confidently pursuing a career as a film editor/director.

 

I completed #JustWriteIt

In the middle of September, I decided to jump on the Wattpad #JustWriteIt ship to write 10k in the two and a half weeks remaining.  Yes, the challenge was pretty easy compared to NaNoWriMo but it helped me prepare for November and gave me confidence that maybe I could write 50k in 30 days. After all, I wrote 9.1k out of 10k for #JustWriteIt in less than 24 hours because I’m crazy and I like to push deadlines with my procrastination.

I’ll be expanding on and editing the short story this February with my NaNoNovel – We Fall Down. My hope is to release the new version to Wattpad, Tumblr, and possibly SwoonReads mid to late March along with We Fall Down.

 

I completed NaNoWriMo

 

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All I used for my plot were random notes I would make in Evernote every couple of days.

In a series of posts, you can follow my NaNo journey in more detail but the gist of it is that I finished and won with my head still attached.  I wrote 51.8k, officially, in 30 days without much of an outline or any real clue of what I was doing. It was my first year too. Yikes!  I don’t know if I could repeat it the way I did last November.

 

I didn’t even come up with the premise and a shaky idea for my novel until the night before NaNoWriMo started because I had spent the entire week before procrastinating. I wouldn’t generally recommend doing such before NaNoWriMo – unless you are a pantser -,  but it all worked out well in the end.

 

I think I’m ready to close the book. Despite everything happening in the world and around me, 2016 was a good year.  I grew, branched out and made friends. I’m slowly building myself up as a storyteller both in books and film.

We’re all right in the midst of God’s plan, each with little bits and pieces of the bigger picture. God’s plan can be a bit difficult to figure out when we’re in the midst of things. But in the end, it all comes together. I’m a witness to it.

To another incredible year.

Stay Safe.

Elisa