Thank you, Australia Day

Why do long weekends always seem so short?  Here I sit, on the evening leg of a public holiday, wishing I had more time, even though I was quite productive with the time that I had.  

I'm coming to grips with the idea that writing is never done.  I don't run out things I need to do!  I have ideas I need to get down on paper!  I need to edit things that I've written!  I need to continue writing things I've started!  Three days is not enough. A life time is not enough.

I've made good progress (good progress for me anyway.  I've started giving myself pats on the back for any sort of progress because my butt's too sore from being kicked) on Vert Glace.  There was this part that I had to re-write around the Chapter 7 area that I've been stuck on.  This weekend, I managed to push through the last part I *had* to write for it to join back to the rest of the story.  It's not my best work, but at least it's down and I can edit it later.  The idea of having to do another whole story edit freaks me out.  I'm not even halfway through the second edit, for heaven's sake!  I don't know if I've ever put so much effort into a story.

I also revisited Vert Glace's sequel, which I almost finished at 125k (I remember writing over 100 000 words  in under 2 months while waiting for people to get back to me about their Vert Glace thoughts... scary), but couldn't find the will to close.  I made some progress on it this weekend, and I hope that I will be able to manage with a fresh eye after a 3 month break from it.  It would be great to finish either editing Vert Glace or writing Lordchaser by the end of February.

Highlights of January

A couple of days ago, the ants in my apartment got so bad that I declared chemical warfare on them.  I'm not usually one to go to such extremes, because of how poisons travel through the food chain and such.  But after writing down the pros and cons, and doing some deep soul searching, I finally installed some ant baits.  

Things were ok for about 2 days.  

Now they are back.  I was ok with the old ants - the little red ones were tenacious little critters which I admired.  It's these large black ants that I've gone to such extremes to eradicate because they bite!  And it's an international policy not to negotiate with terrorists!  I'm fine with you eating all the food scraps in the bin and scurrying around on the floor, but do you really have to mob the gentle giant that walks among you, preparing meals and just trying to relax after a day at work? 

Ok, enough about the ants. 

Entries for the January contest are in.  The two that I'd like to mention are:

The Invocation by Tante Liz.  

This story is another installment of something which I will nickname Adventures About Persephone.  It skips several thousand years into the future from A Careless Kiss of Frost. 

The other story that I found interesting was JustJazzyD's Aeternitas.

For one reason.  There's this character in there called Sir Reinald that has so much potential.  I think that he is a character with an interesting story to tell.  Maybe I see a bit of myself in him.  I don't know.  For some reason, the bit character really made an impression on me.  

Hello Blackbird

Tomorrow I'm going for a blood test.  I fricken hate blood tests.  There's something that's just not right about having sharp metal things penetrate your skin.

Tonight I pulled in some extra hours and managed to get Hello Blackbird somewhat decent.  No doubt when I read it tomorrow, my mind is going to contort into the 'scream face'.  I haven't read the other entries yet, but I have read the titles.  And the titles already sound pretty flipping awesome.  

But for now, here it is. 

As I mentioned before, this piece started as a character building exercise.  Here's my notes:

HELLO AVERY BLACKBIRD

ELEVATOR PITCH

Avery’s photographic memory makes her bold and angry for a blackbird.  The Wolfman that saved her life uses her for these qualities.

CHARACTER PROBLEM

She is not of the world of men, but neither does she completely fit in with her kind.  Her photographic memory has given her a rage driven bloodlust that sets her forever apart.

CHARACTER’S SOLUTION

Finish the Wolfman’s orders and go back to her life as a cushy bird.

PROBLEM

She can’t forget the atrocities she saw, and so she will never be able to be free to find another mate, have eggs, and fly in the spring... like normal birds.

LIMITATIONS

Photographic memory.

COMPLICATIONS

Her memory of her mate and eggs, killed by humans, makes her unable to find peace.

GREATEST FEAR

That she will become like the humans

DESCRIPTIONS

The cold assassin who regards humans with distain.

My Internal Struggles Continue

WHAT IS IT WITH ME AND FOOD POISONING?  The paramedics that came to my work today (it was embarrassing beyond words, by the way) gave me the choice between being taken to hospital and going to see a doctor tomorrow.

When I got home, I promptly tried to forget the whole thing, but my intestines had other plans.  Thanks for the excruciating pain, innards, I love you too.

After reading this I was compelled to work on the January Labyrinth Contest, though I'm surely too late to enter it, given that it's due tomorrow.  Being in Australia, I suppose I have a bit more time than my US counterparts because I could technically work on it tomorrow night as well and still have it in on time.  :) Is that cheating?

Here's a part I just wrote:

Only one man dared meet her gaze.  Avery knew him as the Wolfman, for underneath his handsome, young mask, that was what he was.  Perhaps he had been human once, but something had broken him beyond repair.  She understood the crazed lithe look in his eyes, for there were times when her own pain drove her to those depths of maddening despair.

She perched on the barstool next to him and had to remind herself that she had no feathers to fluff for warmth. 

 “Of all the taverns in all the towns, fancy meeting you here.” The Wolfman raised his mug to her, then drank to his content. 

Avery’s eyes narrowed. “I am here because you called.” 

“And so you are,” he agreed.  “Do you want something to drink?”

“What is it that you want done this time, Wolfman?” she demanded.  “Twenty four times you have called me now, and twenty four times I have come without fail.  After I do for you this task, I will have what was promised to me, and I will gladly forget you along with the rest.”

Depending on whether my insides throw another tantie, I may or may not finish the rest in time.  Though really, I have no one to blame but myself if I don't, for I'm working on it the night before it's due when I've had weeks... but hey, look, an excuse!

It has begun

The conversation I had when I linked up with DJ on twitter:

DJ: Yay I have a follower.

Me:  I not only follow you, I absolutely adore  you.  Develop your page, and we will build twin platforms to authordom.  You will call yours Isengard and I will call mine Mordor.  Wait... has someone already done that?

DJ: I certainly hope not.  I like how you automatically assign yourself Mordor.

Me: As if you'd know what to do with Mordor.  

Ooooh.  And the google pictures are just priceless. I'm going to have to repost more than one.

Some days, the path is a meandering one

At 10:30pm I tried to atone by doing something useful.  I began editing Manifesto so that it wasn't so wordy.  An hour later, I have reposted the chapter and I feel like my evening has not been an entire waste of time.

I had such high hopes for Saturday in terms of writing, but at the same time, I regret nothing.  Twitter sucked up a lot of writing time today, but I also learnt a lot of cool new stuff.  Like #tenqueries was a thing.  I haven't ever approached any stage where I'm ready to start querying.  Reading through the tweets in that category has put in perspective just how much further I have to go.  Rather than feeling deterred, I feel kind of excited, because it's more real now.  I have more of an idea of what agents are looking for (well, what they're not looking for).  I have a direction.  

Procrastination at it's finest

So after some hours of fartarsing around, I've just made my first twitter post.  It is a strange place, but I'm going there because I want to document, as much as I can, my journey into writerdom and some of my thoughts are barely a bite full.

I also get to follow my favourites.  Comics.  TV shows. Matthew Reilly.  The possibilities are endless.

Oh, and I thought Union J was a parody of One Direction that existed purely so that Mindy could experience her first girl moment in Kick Ass 2, but thanks to Twitter, I now know that they are a real thing and that the world is a scary place.  Thanks, twitter.

I'm due to hang out my washing soon.  The sun is ablaze and the wind is ablowin here so it's the perfect day to get that stuff done.  The beach is across the road, too, so I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to resist its siren song.

Looking forward to the weekend

If I drink any more tea, I'm going to become a teapot.  I can not wait until the weekend... well, I'll have to, given that tomorrow's Friday, and only after I wait through Friday will I get to the weekend... but yeah.  I can't wait!

This is the first weekend in ages that I haven't had to

a) drive down to Brisbane to haul my shit
b) spend time with family (I know, makes me sound like a terrible person)
c) spend time with friends (...makes me sound like a terrible shut-in)

I have two whole days to do with whatever I will!

Of course, I'll have to spend a bit of time tidying up, what, this being a rental property and all, and there's also that ant problem I have... but after that, I'm totally writing to my heart's content!

8:02am

When Solemn puts Roast on fictionpress, that's if he doesn't decide to fix it up and publish it, I'm going to recommend that everyone reads it.

Until then, it's making me late for work this morning.  Sigh.

Weekly updates hoy!

I think this is the first time I've updated a story weekly.  It fills me with a sense of pride and joy.

Editing is not fun.  Not fun at all.  But I did it, and now Chapter 7 of Birthday Presents is posted!  I was reading over the old posts and I noticed that the authors notes are just crazy balls.  fun. fun. fun.

Watching Seirei is really giving me a lot of motivation to work on Sasha's story, and not a lot of motivation to write about Tessa Cerbi.  I'm going at snail pace with the Vert Glace re-write.  I mostly get up a little earlier in the morning and see if I can't make 50 words by the time I have to leave for work.  By the time I get home, especially on days I've overbooked and all the clients have show up, all I want to do is overeat, roll around on the ground, and go to sleep.

I always tell people that a trained monkey could do my job.  Now I see that they even have more fun rolling around on the ground than I do!

Honestly, any day now they're going to tell me that I'm obsolete.

Anime Anime Anime

I've found my ultimate anime collection.  It's a folder of DVDs which I use to burn anime on.  In it, is a little heartwarming gem called Seirei no Moribito.  I don't think it was every too popular, but it has to be one of my favourites.  I don't know why animes like Naruto get so much ravelove while actually good stuff like Seirei doesn't even hit mainstream.

The main character is a formidable 30 year old spear wielding bodyguard called Balsa who I admire.  If Sasha Suter becomes even half as kick ass as her, I'd be happy.

Balsa gets forced to protect a young prince called Chagum who is being hunted by his own dad for being possessed by a water spirit.

The story is wonderfully told, and the art is fantastic.  It's completely different from your run of the mill anime - by the way, I finished Devil is a Parttimer and it was a thoroughly disappointing non-conclusion.

If you want something that is entertaining in a mindful way, watch Seirei.

Actions speak louder than words, especially if you're clumsy and you smash things all the time.

So the thought of updating Game in Play translated into action after dinner.  I read through my beta's notes, edited the chapter, then went through that whole process of does-it-sound-stupid-if-i-read-it-aloud editing.

And now, Chapter 7 is up.

Now, to bed, because I'm right exhausted and I've got work tomorrow.

Fooood.

I think Gluttony was named after me. Last night, I went out to a buffet dinner at the Sheraton and actually ate myself into mild stomach pains.

I'm still feeling the lingering food induced sluggishness today, even after a day's work packing, moving and driving.  It makes me feel... old.

Birthday Presents is picking up nicely on fictionpress.  Most of the readers don't actually leave a review (sadface) but a few are actually following it, which is cool.   I like having multiple chapters, because in the stats you can see how many people get past the first chapter, and how many have actually read the most recent one.  :)

I'm thinking of doing another Game In Play update before I edit the next Birthday Presents chapter, but editing the nano story is really hard - it's like trying to untangle paperclips.  I read back over some of the stuff and I realize that it doesn't actually make sense.  Not only that, but it's also crazy balls.  In 2012, I was up writing at all random hours, which might explain some of the crazy.  I don't even remember writing parts of it!  Also, the story is yet to end. I need to find an ending that puts a cap on the whole frothing pot of crazy.

I've also worked a bit more on Shadechasers (which, thanks to fictionpress stats I know that practically no on reads).  I'm wondering if it's because the main character's name is so weird.  Here's something from Chapter 5:

Pressed against the window seat of the cab in the van, Dawn’s face was as stone.  She wondered when Duck would learn that she was not going to answer that question.  The ugly truth was obvious enough, wasn’t it?  How many trials of this did she have to sit through?  She snatched Duck’s spoon before he could ferry another bit of yoghurt to his mouth, and ate it.  The melting cold sweetness on her tongue brightened her mood just as much as seeing the indignant look on Duck’s face.

I don't know if I'll enter the January Labyrinth Competition.  I've jotted some some line, but it all depends on if I can find a way to use it to develop some characters I have in mind.  All of my entries so far have been from characters that I'm trying to flesh out.  Stephen Theiss eventually becomes a student at Von Hohenheim's Academy, set in the present day on an island powered by alchemy.  Red and Lofae are characters from a story about the scheming of a powerful magic user called Tiam who is trying to seat his candidate on the throne.  And of course, Sasha Suter is from the world of Vert Glace which I talk non stop about.

A special kind of special

Birthday Presents.  Updated.

I'm puffing out my chest because I edited it myself, too!  Since getting home from work, I've spent 1.5 hours tap tap tapping away at my computer, and reading things aloud.  It's amazing how many mistakes you catch when you do that - I had to re-word almost every sentence of the chapter.  The implications of that for my past posts which haven't been edited is scary.

Fyloe just posted a link to this image on the forum which I think is quite fitting:

Thank you Sasha Suter

Ha! Just finished writing Birthday Presents.   I really enjoyed writing about a kick-ass female character.  No doubt at some point someone will point out the sexist and shallow undercurrent that forms the subconscious backbone of the story line... but meh.

I'm going to continue to model Sasha Suter off Black Canary.

Tomorrow, it's back to Vert Glace.

How anime is saving me money

Almost. Finished. Writing. Birthday Presents.  I think I've gotten a bit batty writing this story, because I'm starting to name chapters (these names are usually for myself so I can keep track of what each chapter is kind of about) things like "Where did Emron Krampft go?".  But it's almost done now.  It has to be.  After that, it's just about force feeding the chapter to my willing beta who takes it and turns it into something consumable by other people.  Thanks DJ.  I know the job is thankless.

Also, I've started to watch The Devil is a Part-Timer!  which is, if you suspend disbelief, a really cool anime.  It's definitely big on the laughs with some quote unquote touching emotional interludes.  Importantly, it's inspired me to live frugally... well, more frugally than I already am.  So weekly shopping for this week came to a grand total of  $40.70, just less than $20 short of my weekly budget.  It may have been lower, but I wanted to buy a fancy honey instead of run-of-the-mill honey.  And I wanted to buy fresh fish and not frozen/processed.  Does that make me a snob?

More importantly,

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW WITH ESSENTIALLY 20 EXTRA DOLLARS.  WOO HOO.  MAKE IT RAIN!!!!

...I'm probably going to do something boring, like just save it.  :(

For a writer, I'm not really that creative.

A Case of Mistaken Identities

Had a busy weekend in Brisbane.  Here are the highlights:

Nandos.

That's a highlight in itself, but let me continue.  While I was stuffing my face with chicken, I saw the following lookalikes (no bullshit):

- an obese Hitler
- an average-joe Russell Crowe
- a really buff Steve Carell

I'm not sure what kind of alternate universe flows around the restaurant, but I can easily see how time-space-reality can be warped by seriously good chicken.

An argument I had with my partner:

Me: I'm pretty sure pink lemonade is made from lemonade and Ribena.

Him:  *laughs*  Ribena is prune juice.

Me: No it's not.  It's like a concentrated fruit drink.

Him:  It's more like a constipated fruit drink.

He won the argument at that point on the account of the awesomely bad pun.  For those who want to know, Ribena is made from blackcurrants.

Unproductive.

Only managed to squeeze out 300 words today.  I suppose that's better than no-hundred words.

I'm discovering places that I didn't even know existed in Aeryoine.  Did you know that the country has a palace, and a famous atrium?  Cause I didn't until today. This is why I write.

The Skysea Atrium was one of the great marvels of Aeryoine.  In size, it would have approached a small town.  The space was a cultivated landscape that was meant to represent all the territories of the country.  There was a large pond that represented the sea, complete with the outlying islands.  The country’s mountain range was a series of small, forested hills.  Wooden stair cases rose up the sides of the atrium to tiered walkways where visitors could marvel at the wonder from above.  The entire space was encased in a glass dome speckled with stained glass that acted as a time wand of sorts.  At each hour, what seemed like random splotches of colour would converge on stone slabs arranged deliberately in the space to create intricate portraits of the history of the country.

This is what happens when you spend too long browsing architect-porn.  I was google imaging, trying to find a suitably interesting picture to support the word 'architect-porn'.  I didn't find anything except maybe that there's some really disturbing sloth memes out there.

Not to get down in the new year...

But I'm finding it harder and harder to
a) find new anime that I like
b) find a fan subbed torrent of it put together by people who do it for the love of it.

It might be the end of an era.

Watching anime and writing go hand it hand for me.  It's why my characters are crazy balls.