Winter is Coming

Today is one of those days where I have all this crazy energy zipping around through me (despite my lack of sleep) and I am feeling the need to be productive about it rather than do that strange activity--or lack thereof--that happens every night. Who needs sleep anyway, when there are things to write? I spent my day at work pretty much doing the same thing; be productive, create things, laminate things (boy do I love the laminator), and boss children around like nobody's business.

It might be because of the coffee, or possibly because I read several books that I loved a few years ago again. Always love me a good re-read, and for some reason I haven't seemed to have much time for those lately. 

Speaking of books, note the picture to the left: in it, my teetering stack of libros is actually about to fall over. Unfortunately, I do not have one space in my apartment that can fit all of my books. If a container is not big enough, it needs to either expand or overflow. You can probably guess which option I took. I have books in my closet, on the shelf above my closet, on my bookshelf (yes, I actually have one), on the floor, on my bed, on and in my dresser, and on my windowsill. Because of sheer lack of space, I started putting several books on my Kindle as well. Gotta roll with the times.

I puled a few lovely books out of one stack earlier this evening, only to have the entire thing topple over on me. So, of course, it inspired a blog post rather than any kind of upset over the mess. I had it coming, really.

They say that the best way to become a good writer (besides writing) is to read. So, my recent reads have been: Masques, Steal the Dragon, and When Demons Walk, all by Patricia Briggs. I also read Summers at Castle Auburn, by Sharon Shinn; The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater; and I started reading my favorite book of all time, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Not exactly my favored genre, but it always leaves me smiling.

On the note of writing: I know I did this last year, and I've done it again. I bought a tablet. This time, it is the Surface (I'm about to sell my iPad). I needed something that was more for working and less for playing. So far, I am very happy with my decision. I'm not sure if it's helping me write more or not, since I wrote on my iPad as well, but since buying it I have written dozens of pages and hundreds of words. Might be a part of my current energy spurt.

Somewhat disorganized, like my books and the rest of my personal life, is my writing. This here is what it looks like when it's all out and I'm working.

Yes, I'm in my bed. It's comfortable and I have no desk.

Note that the books are also out, merely because I couldn't be bothered to move them when I started writing. Also, the computer is open to iTunes. Very productive, obviously. It's playing the music from Frozen, which I just watched on Saturday.

When I eventually put it all away, it looks better, though the stickies and books stay out. Also a notepad for my current work. It happens.

In other news, it is winter. Basically. It snowed for the first time in Seattle today, which also happened to be the day I was collecting pine cones for school. Of course. I saw this though, and couldn't resist taking a picture, because as you may or may not know, my life is generally documented through photos (though I use a lot of words to describe them as well). Fall is my favorite season, and I can never resist the way leaves look against the ground, especially when they are all colorful and stuff. It's the best.

Then, of course, when my car looks like this in the morning, I am less happy.

And, as always, some things make me appreciate it a little more.

Alright, my lack of sleep last night (from reading, what else?) is catching up to me know. I can tell as the pictures gain in numbers, and the words start to slack off. Also, I'm jumble-typing, though I edit before you can see.

Gotta love the instant gratification of technology these days.

Hope You Brought Your Ninja Skills

I find sometimes that when I'm bored, the best thing to do to cheer myself up is to throw on some Abba or Pat Benatar and prank someone. My most recent one happened when my cousin (whom I live with) was out of town for the weekend, and I was about ready to start cleaning because I was so bored (I mean, who does that?)

It began with this..

Because what ninja prank would be complete without nunchucks? 

Or a ninja mask?

Then came the part where you open the door...

And found this inside. LASERS!

Unfortunately, it also made it difficult for me to enter or leave my own apartment, since walking through it would ruin all that effort I had just put forward. It was totally worth the reaction, though. What prank isn't?

Next, I believe it will be filling the bathroom with balloons.

Distraction

I will be completely honest. I have done no editing, and next to no planning for my shadowguard novels since I finished book 2. I could lie and say it's because I'm a preschool teacher in my other life,  but that would be lying (obviously).

In reality, it's because I've started an entirely new book, and gotten pretty far on it too. It's an elongated version of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, with a twist. I'm trying to keep the story itself fairly close to the original, while also making it fresh and unique. You can read the version I'm using as a reference here.

I also plan to write other versions of Aladdin, Peter Pan, and The Wild Swans (which I've actually already started). I have always enjoyed rewritten fairy tales, and I have to say they're in part easier to write than other novels. At least this way, I don't really have to come up with the main plot...that part has already been done for me!

Explains why Disney never comes up with its own ideas (not that I'm complaining).

As far as the Shadowguard goes...I've started book 3 and finished about 5 pages of writing. Yay me!

A Brief Hiatus

Alright, brief may be a relative term. In my defense, I was under stress.

What with my last job being horribly depressing, learning the ropes to my new job, moving to Seattle, and trying to make all these sudden payments on TOP of my current bills, I've been a bit out of touch with writing my blog lately. But fear not! I have not quit writing. Progress has abounded! 

Moving to Seattle

In other news, I am also adopting a puppy. He is eight, half blind, and utterly adorable.

This is him:

Ignore that girl in the background. She is the unimportant writer in this bit about the vastly more important Sir Theodore Alonso Poodleton Fluffbutt, of Kensington. Or more fondly known as Teddy. Sir Fluffbutt sounds a bit pompous.

Now, back to writing.

Recently (in May, actually), I discovered the amazing superpowers Hawaii has on a writer's ability to ACTUALLY GET WORK DONE. Kona is a very relaxing place to write, and I practically finished my book while there while also managing to snorkel, sweep the "beach", get bitten by THREE separate lava monsters (long story, but I wound up slicing open my toe...three times), dive with manta rays, and come up with thousands of cheesy manta ray jokes.

What's a manta's favorite book? Fifty Shades of Ray!

Heh, still find that absolutely hilarious.

Well, unfortunately, a return to real life was in order, which quickly put a halt to my amazing progress, and it took until yesterday for me to finish the book, which was really only 6 pages. Sometimes it takes me a bit to get the right feel for an ending.

It must have been fate, though, because the date in my book was July 1st, which also happens to be the date I completed it.

So, I've begun the initial stages of revising (highlighting all the bad stuff), I've gone through six chapters, I've drafted a storyboard (which really means I've just made a list of things I want to happen) for book three, and I've even come up with some kind of tentative titles for the second two books. The Shadowguard was easy, obvious, and simple. Now I'm struggling. Sequels always have such a hard time to live up to the expectations set by the first book.

I'm rambling. It's been too long. This is what happens to me.

Progress Report:

117,238 words

49,890 words added

188 pages

2 chapters revised (still)

24/6 chapters edited

The January Fog

Although I live in the Pacific Northwest, I have never, in all my 23 years here, seen a fog come and stay for as long as this one has. Beginning at the start of the new year, it seems almost as if this fog will never end. Not only is it unending, but it's thick. Like this:

Makes it hard to drive in. Familiar land becomes unpredictable and scary. Yuck.

Our lovely fog has had its good days as well. Like this:

 

 Made the Space Needle hard to see, and I've seen some eerie pictures of it going around Facebook.

 Here is another pretty view.

And it comes with this cute little frost, which has a habit of freezing the roads. And the parking lot where I work. Where I also slip and fall.

A friend of mine moves between Arizona and LA. He's been complaining lately of his cold weather: a practically-arctic 40 degrees. This picture is for him.

The weather hasn't been the only fog around here, either. I've been in a kind of fog myself, either from work, lack of sleep, being sick (the flu has been going around like crazy), or lack of real writing progress. Or all of the above. Not to mention my birthday is coming up (23), and all I have to say for it is four gray hairs and the beginnings of laugh lines. I feel old.

In other news, my writing has recently taken a turn for the better (and not in terms of quality, since nothing has changed in that department). I bought myself an early birthday present; an iPad! I have discovered the joy of Pages (though I will always be faithful to my lovely Word), and now I am writing at work during my breaks. Progress is inevitable.

I may also write while stuck in traffic. But I always did that anyway, using the voice-to-speech on my phone. Handy, technology.

To conclude: I've decided to add little progress reports to the end of each post, so I can monitor my writing pace. During my first book, I wrote page numbers as my status on facebook, but I quit that for the most part. So, for now...

Pages: 108
Words total: 67,348
Words added: 15,348
Chapters revised: 2
Chapters edited: 24

Mistakes

Everybody makes them. Unfortunately, I do too. And when I make mistakes, I tend to obsess over them, and come up with multiple ways to fix them, which results in changes to the rest of the book(s), which equals a lot of work and "stress" (nothing is stressful when it comes to writing for me. I suppose that would change if it were my actual job. For now, it's my destreser).

So, while browsing through facebook, I saw this image and thought it was an excellent idea, since it spells out my exact problem. I signed it, dated it, and now I will try to remember it while writing.