Let's Dance

I'm considering participating in "Write here, Right now" which is a Nano-spin-off for February. Jasmine may do it with me as well. If I do.....I think I'll use it to work on Tasliri. Or an LQ project. Haven't decided. Haven't really even decided if I'm going to do it. Hum.

"You know what they say, familiarity breeds...uh, well, contempt, but..."

The second draft of "Absence" is completely done, so if you haven't read it and you want to, email me.
I had sooo much pleasure writing the ending. I'm very happy with it. *pats* The whole thing still needs a lot of work, but right now I'm just enjoying fangirling about everyone and everything in it. I think I might add a few more scenes.....like, more action creature-kicking scenes. Maybe some sort of scene solidifying Jack and Georgie's....whatever feelings about whatever. I don't feel like I did a very hot job of developing their friendship. And by hot I mean "skilled", not....whatever it is you're thinking. lol.
Anyway this is just me rambling, but this is what this blog is after all. I like the Hounds, I want to extend their scene. I want to give Ian and Josh some more "screen time" but....I think that might be over-doing it.

What kind of food are you guys eating to get so cool?

I got The Hard Evil Scenes That Were Haunting Me done tonight. :D I'm very proud and pleased and RELIEVED.

It's amazing what a firm deadline and a bit of Green Day do for the ol' writing synapses.

You only pull off a shrug like that once in a lifetime.

I keep forgetting about LIGHTING! It's so irritating! Like they're in a pitch-black environment, they have lights but I NEVER mention them and act like everything has like....an inner light. lol. Which is the case at ONE part.

I dunno, do you think it matters? Is it okay if I just mention lighting a couple times and then assume the reader knows what the situation is the rest of the time?

To Be Read Challenge

Okay, so I AM working on editing one of my projects....I'm not saying which cuz it's almost done and yeah....

BUT I've decided to take up the TBR challenge:
http://tbrchallenge.blogspot.com/

So here's my list:

1. War of the Flowers by Tad Williams
2. Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
3. Treason of Isengard by JRR Tolkien
4. War of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
5. Sauron Defeated by JRR Tolkien
6. The Peoples of Middle Earth by JRR Tolkien
7. The Other Wind by Ursula K. LeGuin
8. Star Wars: I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole
9. Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton
10. Tales of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
11. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
12. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

EDIT 02/22/08:
Alternates:
1. Republic Commando: True Colors by Karen Traviss
2. Lilith by George MacDonald
3. The Four Loves by CS Lewis
4. Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis
5. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis by Michael Denton
6. Darth Bane: Rule of Two
7. Vimy

"This is turning into a very bad habit."

So we have about five end of term essays. I've done three of them. But having MS Word open all the time, and in the aftermath of Nanowrimo, is a really big temptation for me. I keep opening blank documents and....writing things. I wrote a short story yesterday, and today I keep finding myself opening it and continuing the story. I have like four pages past the short story now. Single-spaced. I could have been writing ESSAY in that time, lol.
Although I HAVE made good progress on my essays as well. I just have about.....half of my metelski, and the philosophy one.
But yeah the short story I wrote...was really fun. And it was just enough to "whet my appetite" so to speak, to find out more about the characters. Cuz I really have NO idea what time, world, or anything it's in. Or what's going on. Or who anyone is. :P It's great. Plus there's like a ton of blood and action.
I think THAT'S my problem. I wrote a whole NOVEL last night without any death, except for Aegeus, which was told by someone else to my MC, so now I'm like going into severe bloodlust or something. Wahahaha. I mean, my two novels previous to this have had extremely high bodycounts, what with wars and monsters and all that.

All dead. All rotten. Men and Elves and Orcses.

Whew so haven't written lately, or edited. But that's cuz we have endterm projects and exams going on this week and next. Once I'm done with all that (and if I have any time away from friends and family) my object is to FINISH my jano for Christmas, andddd at least make a second draft of my Nano.

OH EM GEE ITS EROS! MY EROS!

Ok, check this pic out:

http://prometeus.deviantart.com/art/Eros-and-Psyche-7179569

That face! That is EXACTLY Eros' face in my novel! You don't even know!!! The kind of face....that you just want to slap!!! Of course I didn't deal with Psyche in my novel, so just ignore her. But the FACE, man, the FACE! I'm telling you, THAT is what made that dang guy SO much fun to write!!!!

Post-Novel Syndrome

I miss writing. A lot. Wah. :( But it's good I'm done, cuz I have no time. Sigh. I wanna wriiiiiite.
Haha I miss all my lame characters. Gah.

*wanders off*

*pokes jano project*

Proof? Ya want proof?

Click to enlarge, eh? And I switched the pic over on the right, cuz I got a winner version!!

Novel: pwned.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!! REACHED 50K!!!!!!!!!!!! Stephana est victor.

Yesh. I am happy. Too happy to express in a blog.

And actually, it's kinda fascinating, because I'm both relieved and burdened cuz now I have another novel-length manuscript to edit. O.o I'm also kinda sad cuz.....no more spending all my spare time with Dionysus. haha.

Peace out.

Come break me down, I dare ya! *music overload*

I'm on FYE-AHHHH!!!!!!
Pretty much my wordcount is....ermmm......over 46k. :D:D Which leaves less than 1000 a day from here on out!!! I'm thinking, maybe, possibly, that I can finish tomorrow, since both of our classes have been canceled. But I dunno. Maybe I should spend the extra time on studying.
But yeah I went to the coffee shop and wrote two 500-word random scenes to stick in, and then thought up another one which I wrote when I got home. :D I'm rocking this thing. And two of those scenes were HILARIOUS and I'm really happy with them. :D The other one was mostly word-padding, but oh well. I haven't even resorted to pirates or ninjas yet!!! O.o I was thinking I would have to today. And of course, there's always Leoj Arbod and Arthur Dent when I REALLY get off my rocker. :D
But yeah, feeling encouraged. I'm thinking it might be possible to finish this thing without resorting to disturbing and shady circumstances. haha.
Playing missmustang videos in the background is very stimulating to my creative processes, as well. You'd be surprised. *shameless plugging* Haha.
Oh man. Dionysus and the cats....priceless.

So yeah. I'm gonna win. Win this. Watch me. :D

The End. And then some.

WOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4k day, baby!!! That's what I'M talking about!!! :D Or even aboot!

Yeah so went to a write-in today. I'm really sad cuz the one at Second Cup near me got cancelled, and they're planning the after party to be in South Keys where I'd have to bus to, soooo I don't know if I'll make it to anything else. Wah. Ah well. Twas fun.
But YEAH!!! I wrote 4000 words! WHEEEE! Which brings me up to 43k, cuz I barely wrote at all yesterday. I officially reached the END of my story, though, which is bad but somehow isn't fazing me at all right now. I decided I'm going to go with the alternate ending deal. The first one will be "Pirates of the Mediterranean" and will feature Theseus and his Greeks. They'll discover their inner pirate and....well I don't know quite what they'll do yet. And then the other alternate ending will be "The Way of the Ninja" featuring Ariadne and Dionysus, cuz, come on, you always knew they were secretly ninjas. Haha.
Since I have about 7k left, I'll just have to write 3500 on each of those random side-stories. I think that's doable.
Oh yeah, to reach 43k I also went back and added in a couple scenes that I had considered doing before but didn't happen. Yays. I'm impressed my story lasted to 43k: I was expecting it to barely reach 35k. :P And hopefully when I go back and edit, there'll be lots of other scenes that I can add to. We'll see.
And having finished it, I feel like I've got a pretty decent story-arc, even if a lot of segments are rather crappily written. A lot of things will need to be added in, like I need scenes establishing the other Greek's personalities, cuz I really had no clue who they were when I started, and then at the end they suddenly all had lives. Haha.

But yeah, overall I'm SUPAH HAPPEH! :D

"What do you need the scoop for? Burying a body?"

Wordcount: Just past 38k.
Sanity: Wacko? I prefer unbalanced!!


I was walking to the mall this morning, and to keep myself from thinking about the cold part I ran through the rest of my plot in my head. It was actually VERY productive. I had been trying to decide how to wrap up Theseus' plotline, and also if/how I should wrap up the 13 youth's ....whatever, not really plotline but their fates, and I figured out how to do BOTH simultaneously, and it ended up being kinda cool too. So I'm happy. I haven't written it yet but I know what's going down.
I did finish the curse scene yesterday. That was good. Good progress. I've barely written today though because I think I'm going to finish. O.o Dang.

"Did you kill anyone?" "No...but I was ABOUT to!"

(click to enlarge)

Wordcount: 38333
Sanity: Very very strained.
Body count: BIG FAT ZERO!! This category is seriously affecting the one exactly previous.

Sooooo I'm still deathly afraid of my plot running out. I'll be honest. :D But Evan and my dad gave me the good idea of pulling a PotC:3 once my main plot is done: just make everyone pirates and do random things. That sounds like fun. I also could do an "alternate ending" with ninjas. :D You know it's a good idea. Just admit it.
But yeah Ariadne just woke up...I have to do the curse scene today...which I've been looking forward to for FOREVER bout now of course I'm afraid to do it in case I mess up.
Plus I'm not sure how much of Catullus I want to use in her curse. ARGH so complicated. Be strong. Must be strong.

Yeah but overall tis going well....once she curses, I can kill off a certain person. w00t! Bloooooood.....bloooooooooooood.

The full quote from the title of this entry:
"You two LEFT me in that den of sin! And Flippy was in there trying to kill people!"
"Did you kill anyone?"
"No....but I was about to!"

Like nothing else in the world

W00T!!! Freaking SWEET writing session tonight!
(my homework suffered a bit, but it's okay!!!! That's what the weekend is for!!!)
But yeah, you should all go to my nanowrimo profile and read my new excerpt. Eros is pretty much....hilarious. I love him.
Yeah so I caught up completely, to 35k!!! YAY!! And had tons of fun doing it. I'm still terrified that my story is going to finish before 50k, but I'm making a list of random scenes to go back and do, so I think it'll be okay. I really haven't been word-padding that much this year. No flashbacks, limited rambling, and only one or two dream sequences. :P
Anyway so yeah I'm very happeh abouts this. OH Adrastus was cool this time, too. I....yeah I like him again, haha. Ariadne's just kinda a moron, but she gets her sweet curse-scene soon, so it's okay. :D
Man, it's all coming together.
This, my friends, is why I write.

Fangirls, Egan M., and Nano-Numbness

I just want to rant! On all my blogs that ever were, are, and shall be!!!
On what topic?
Kuro/Fai fangirls. Seriously....ENOUGH, you debaucherous women!!! I swear, I'm going to explode one day from righteous, righteous, RIGHTEOUS anger. Men can be friends! It's true! I know it's hard to understand, but they can!!! Sacrificing limbs for your friends does not mean you're GHEYYYY!
Holyyyyy cow.
All right I'm done. Sorry, I know this is my writing blog, I just....am feeling emotionally strained in that area. LOL!

Ok so onto writing!!!
Here's something I posted on my personal blog, in response to a request for dirt on my older sister.....I thought it made sense to post it here as well.

The Mostly Fictional Adventures of Egan M.
Episode One

Disclaimer: Scandalous content used for comic purposes only, as well as to drive site traffic through the roof. Any resemblance to any persons, real or fictional, is mostly incidental and in no way my fault.

Egan M. was the very wise sister of a neurotic blogger. She lived in a vast barren desert and worked at a hospital. Living in her apartment with her were a small fuzzy rodent named Frosh and a slightly attractive cactus named Lepidus. Lepidus was not Greek, contrary to popular belief.
But this story is not about Lepidus. This story is about Egan M.
Egan M. also had a boss who communicated solely through fuzzy-quality conference videos with audio that sounded strangely remixed. This anonymity of her employer gave her some unease once in a while, but as Egan M. was in the medical profession in a vast barren desert, she did not feel it was important.
Egan M.'s life consisted mostly of bossing medical students around and being bossed around by senior doctors. She was often ordered to work late nights. Usually when she was working late nights, all alone in the vast (but not barren-there were lots of babies) hospital, her boss would call her and give her orders. One night, during one of these calls, her boss cleared his throat in an important way. "I have something to tell you," he said.

Who is Egan M.'s boss? Is she secretly working for a crime lord? Why the heck is Frosh in this story?
To Be Continued....

Yeah total randomness.
As far as Nanowrimo goes......
Well....it's kinda fascinating. Cuz everything was going fine, until I was like, "Dang it, there's no way my plot is going to last for 18k more words." So then I just kinda screeched to a halt. It's like by not writing, it'll stretch out to more words? lol. Sigh. I'm going to work on it though. Get 'er done.
Plus plot-wise I'm in the drug-happy moment before the trauma. :P Once I get into the trauma it'll be more fun.

9 days!! w00t!

Don't even talk to me about handmaidens.

WHEEEEE went to a write-in today!!! I wrote 3,000 while there which brings me up to 30k altogether. :D:D:D
Story-wise I accomplished a lot as well. I got them OFF of Crete (You don't even know how exciting that is) AND I got to write like THREE friendly dancing scenes! LOL! One of those being Ariadne and Dionysus, which was pretty much the funnest thing ever, cuz I love both of them. AND I got Adrastus a girlfriend, which just makes EVERYTHING better, LOL! So I no longer want to kill the poor guy. He can live.
*Adrastus breathes huge sigh of relief*

This is a random note on my writing style. When Susan proof-read my story for lit a while back, she noticed that I use commas a LOT! Like, a heck of a lot. Once she pointed it out to me I noticed it as well, and now I can't STOP noticing it! Haha. So as I've been editing Absence I've been deleting ALL commas unless they're crucial to the grammar. Yay! You'd think I would do that before, but you'd be surprised the amount of ways a comma can justify it's existence!!!

So altogether pretty happy about my writing life. :D The only thing I'm worried about is I really don't know if my story is going to last to 50k, especially considering how much I covered today in 3000. :P

"This isn't fear. This is anger."

Haha the title for this entry is so applicable to how I'm feeling about my writing. In general.

I just made the HUGE mistake of going through all my word docs related to the different stories I've written.
.....
I get attacked by SO many plot bunnies. Usually I'll get about 10 pages in, and then stop. But I keep them around, cuz there's some good things in some of them that I can use in the future.
Anywho. My complaint is my completely ambiguous outlines. A really old project, a fan-fiction actually (I can't believe I'm writing a fan-fiction.....but that's a defense for another day), that I really want to finish someday cuz I think it's got something there. Anyway, at the time I wrote like a half-page outline, so that in case I stopped working on it for a while (as I did) I would know what my thoughts were. But then, tonight, when I read it, it was SOOOO amibiguous! Pretty much NO help at all. It describes ONE big scene pretty thoroughly, and then, hahahaha, says, "Takes on other jobs. Eventually they find out about something hidden-" and then goes OFF into this other dude and what he's doing.
WHAT. TEH. HECK. I have NOOOO idea what that's even ABOUT! I know it's important to the plot, but besides that......something HIDDEN? *hysterical laughter*
Ohhhhhkay. So that plot needs a *tad* more help than I thought. Like, a lot. And I have noooo idea how to help it really at all.

Besides *that* doomed project, I edited a few more pages of my jano today in between classes, and I'm at 26,667 for my Nano. *happiness* For today I should be at 28,333, but I'm going to write-in tomorrow and am fairly confident I can get it all done there. They're almost...off...Crete. That is my ultimate goal for this weekend. Get them OFF the freaking island.
Oh yeah, Adrastus got SHOT! :D *happiness* I can't kill him, but I can sure as HECK bloody him up a bit.

"He's the brains, sweetheart!"

I have had an ATTACK of the most disturbing and lethal manner by STAR WARS! BADDDD situation!! Haha. Basically, Theseus and Adrastus had to get in the palace on Crete to rescue Ariadne, and I was having PROBLEMS with just getting them in. But then they rescued her and all these quotes from "A New Hope" TACKLED me. Rofl. So now we've got the whole "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" scene, and then the "Didn't you have a plan for getting out?" They didn't jump into a garbage chute, though. Actually I don't really know how they're going to escape. But then when Theseus tells them his plan, Adrastus pulls a line from ROAD TO EL DORADO! I KID YOU NOT! And they go off into that scene! You know the silly one on board the ship??? "So that's the plan then, is it?" "That's...pretty much it." "Well, I like it! So, how do we get on deck?" :P
Good times. But I've almost got my word quotaaaa for the day. Happy day.