Why is reading important?

Thank you Neil Gaiman for showing us the way.  Every way.

It's safer to be a pessimist

Well, looks like it was too good to be true.  But now I won't have to name one of my future children Allegra, so fair's fair.

Name this feeling

You know that feeling you get when something that you're hoping for actually happens, and you're too scared to tell people just in case you've just imagined it, or it's a dream, or that something's bound to go wrong and you're going to lose everything because it's just too good to be true?

I have that feeling right now.  I might just have to make good on that promise of naming my fourth child something unusual.

Writing's just gone out the window today.  Funny that when I have a day to write, I'm doing everything but.

DEFCON 1

THERE IS NO NANDOS IN HERVEY BAY.

Ok, be cool, Augs.  There must be a way around this somehow.

...

...

...

Oh!  I will buy a freezer and fill it with Nandos chicken.  They're going to fly me back to Brisbane periodically for meetings and stuff, so I'll just have to be organized and have a sum of money I can exchange for chicken.

Crisis averted.

Roadtrip!!!

Wow.  Jut got back from driving four and a half hour straight and I'm feeling... surprisingly spry.  Thought I was getting too old for this shit.

On Tuesday, I got a call from a real estate agent asking me if I wanted to come and view one of the rentals on Wednesday.  I was fortunate enough to line up a couple more inspections, so I went on an impromptu road trip.

Stayed at an amazing place overnight, and apparently you can rent there, so I put in an application.  I seriously hope I get it.  I will be overjoyed if I do.  I will name my... fourth born (pending approval from the other half) after that place if I do.  If not, there's also a three bedroom apartment that has the feeling of grandma's house to it, which is also pretty cool.

Everything's right on the beach.  Talked to a guy with a metal detector and he showed me all the sinkers he found, and a pretty wicked ring.

Ducked into my new work place and said hi to everyone, then dumped about four boxes of books in my office and left my new manager, who was in a meeting, a note with a drawing to say that I'd been in.  I start on the 21st.  Hopefully I remember everyone's name.  ...Hopefully I remember some people's names.

.........hopefully I remember the receptionist's name.  I think it's Melanie. Maybe I can get away with calling her 'Mel' just in case it's a similar variant. I am a bad person.

In between it all, I got some writing done.  Started the impossible task of tackling Vert Glace Chapter 3.  Something about driving though vast, hilly country that was very inspiring for writing about Goats Island.

A Productive Day

Not so productive on the actual tasks I needed to get done, but a pretty productive day in terms of writing, and re-watching The Avengers.

I finished the second chapter of the Vert Glace re-write.  It is very dear to my heart.  I sent it to Will for reckoning.

I also got another chapter of Birthday Present up.  It's the one from Emron's POV.  I tried to make it funny.  Tried being the operative word.  :)  We shall see what happens.  It has a new follower.  I feel very loved.

And I refurnished the next chapter of Game in Play.  It always happens that when I am writing, I think that I am brilliant; a genius, a golden wordsmith.  Then, I read it over the next day and realize that the hype was just sleep deprivation.  I will sit on the chapter for a little bit longer, maybe get some feedback from my people before posting it.

But that's what I love about fictionpress. It's a place for my rough drafts.  I don't feel the pressure to be perfect there all the time.  Sure, I'd prefer not to post something riddled with errors, but it's a place where I can try out ideas and get feedback.  The process is interactive.  It's fun.

Talking about fun, my fellow writers on the Writing Challenge Story thread are still batshit awesome.  Someone needs to make this an illustrated collection.

A Plug, and not the butt kind

Garg.  I tried to post a kickass piece including examples about the Writing Challenge Story thread of the Labryinth Forum, and the formatting came out looking like arse. 

Still I wholeheartedly recommend it because of things like this:

ArcadianCrown:

She dragged her nails across the cave walls, their painted surfaces chipping as their ends began to split and fracture. Her baby-blue dress was pretty and trimmed with lace; small ribbons dotted the pockets and collars. Angry-looking stains splattered in slashes marked the front, dark and red.

"Mr Rabbit?" She called, her voice a pealing bell-like noise. "My tricky, tricky prince?"

I realize that I should be writing like this for every line of the stories I produce, but it's so damn hard ot maintain that level of word-ness (see!?!?  I'm already failing at the words) when you're also trying to focus on bigger plot elements.