Bye, bye November

The day and the month are almost over. I'm hoping to work on the novel once I'm done posting here. I'd like to at least make it to half way which is only about eight hundred words so it is possible.
I feel a bit better today. Well enough to go out to the world's largest Christmas store and now I can sit at my computer.
Lately, I've been having trouble with keeping a one track mind when it comes to writing. For instance, I'm trying to write my novel for NaNo, also Behind the Naugahyde, blog every day, write a few non-fiction articles, edit my comic book script and then today I got inspired with ideas about a novel I've wanted to start for a long time but honestly I'm scared to write it(more on that during another post). I know it's crazy to work on so many things at once but I'm a person who really writes better when I'm in the mood of what I'm writing. I try to create that atmosphere of what I want to write by surrounding myself with books, music and movies of the same feeling but sometimes inspiration for one thing strikes and I'm afraid to put it on hold. What if I'm about to write the best thing I've ever thought of but I don't because I put it on hold to finish something else first?
I think I need therapy for writing. I have a lot of paranoias about it.

I feel uck!

I woke up today feeling horrible. I stayed in bed all day because I could barely move and I missed work. I'm feeling a little better now but it's very uncomfortable to sit in my computer chair. I guess there's no need to point out that I got much of nothing done today which sucks because including writing I had a ton to do.
I'm not really sure what's got me feeling not well. The past few weeks have been stressful and my eating habits have been horrible. Who knows?
Tomorrow's the last day of NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo. Since I'm hoping to go to the world's largest Christmas store as well as the decorating, shopping, mailing, donating and other running around I had planned for today, I don't think I'll find time to write over 20,000 words.
While I am bummed that I didn't finish or even do better than last year, I did find out that there is NaNoFiMo, National Novel Finishing Month, which is December. That's my new goal and I accomplished that one last year without even knowing about NaNoFiMo.
I'm going back to bed and hoping to feel better tomorrow.

Another class?

Only two days left. I can't believe how fast the year has gone. I just realized that fall semester is almost over and that means winter semester is nearly here.
Right now I really want to go back to school next semester, I'm just not sure how I'd pay for it or if I'd have time for it.
I miss school, at least the good classes where I actually learned something. The last class I had I felt lost in. Not because it was hard but because all you had to do was show up. I didn't feel like I was getting anything from it and most of the time it seemed like the professor was just talking about her life rather than the class.
That class made me want to take a break but I think I might see what's offered next semester.
I'm thinking of taking another writing class but I'm kind of on the line. The first writing class I ever took taught me a lot about the basics which I never realized I had forgotten. I took another class that forced me to write so much and I liked a lot of what I got from it but the last one I hated. Not because I wasn't doing well but I just didn't fit in. It's hard to explain without telling the long tale, but maybe I will someday.
I guess I'll have to think about it.

Comic book notes and nothing else

I didn't have a ton to do today but I still didn't get much writing done. I had an electrician here trying to fix the half of my house that doesn't have power(and is preventing the illumination of my Christmas tree). He kept asking me questions and I had to have my computer turned off while he worked so nothing got done. Then there was work.

A few days ago I mentioned how I had been thinking about my comic book script a lot. Today while at work I came up with some good ideas that I think will make the story a lot better and hopefully more interesting to artists. I filled four pieces of notebook paper with notes so at least I did something productive, even if it didn't help with my NaNoWriMo goal.

Speaking of comic books I still have a stack of borrowed stuff to read. I am so far behind.

Holidays and writing

Only four days left of NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo. Aside from my one little technical problem, I've done okay with the blogging. I might even try to stay in the blogging everyday habit after November is over. As for my novel, well I'm not even to 30,000 words so I doubt I'll finish in time but I will finish eventually. Last year I was at 41,610 words by December and I was able to finish my NaNoWriMo novel by the end of the year. It was the last day of the year, in fact.
That was the first novel I've ever completed. I never really mention it. While it was quite exciting to complete a novel I will be the first to admit it was horrible. It wasn't really the kind of story I normally write. The characters were really complex and I was really not ready to write about them. Maybe one day I'll tear it apart and hope to make something of it but for now it's at rest and I'm okay with that.

I do have to say that I wish that NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo were in different months. I mean not November. I just felt so swamped with holiday things that I lost a lot of good writing time and you really just can't put the holidays on hold.

The Nutcracker was terrific. It put me quite in the holiday spirit. I've never really thought about it but maybe one day I should try writing a holiday inspired story. I just love the Christmas season wouldn't it be awesome to write something that people make a family tradition like the Nutcracker and so many other wonderful things.
In my family it's a tradition to watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation because anyone who knows us knows that movie is pretty much our family.

No work, no party, but there will be a map.

Surprise! I guess I'm so use to always getting the crappiest schedule possible that I just assume that my schedule at work is the crappiest possible, but surprise to me, I don't work tomorrow. YAY! So I managed to talk my sister into going to the Nutcracker with me tomorrow since she couldn't go tonight. Then I skipped out on a birthday party and stayed home to write.
I'd like to say that skipping the birthday party was because of my total devotion to writing but that was only a small factor. The party was a 21st birthday of a co-worker. I wouldn't have known anyone else there and the co-worker, who I'm sure would have been too surrounded in friends to talk to me for more than two minutes, is someone that I have a hard time talking to at work. I won't go into more detail because I really don't like saying negative things, but perhaps some of the stories will find there way into story lines for some of the fictional characters of Behind the Naugahyde. Let's just say that the fact that the co-worker has not taken a few minutes to stop by and sign the guest book at behindthenaugahyde.com is just one of the many reasons I didn't go. Plus it's a Saturday night in a college city bar and they don't even have a band, just booze.

Speaking of characters in Behind the Naugahyde, one of the suggestions was more stuff about the book. Sometimes posting these things is hard because I like to get Jenni's okay on everything before I post too much info. One of the ideas is to give a layout of the mall that Sole Comfort is in. Well first Sole Comfort is in a plaza and second there will be a map in the book.(I'll see what I can do about getting an exclusive sneak peak here or on the behindthenaugahyde.com) A very detailed map. Why you ask? Because their may be a battle between stores. Everyone has to chose a side. I can't put anything in stone because we still have to finish, edit and maintain suspense but the battle may include breaking and enter, stupidity, trespassing, stealing, eighty year-old security guards, the police ( and we're not talking fashion police), garbage diving, partial nudity, falling off of buildings, auto theft, kidnapping and cheap, ugly shoes that make your bunions hurt.

Too much work, too little writing.

I know I should have been writing but yesterday, after posting, I managed to go see Happy Feet. It's the first movie I've seen in a while and it was adorable. There was also a wicked cool Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix preview. Although the loud, annoying teenagers made me realize why I hate night/holiday/weekend movies(aside from the price). I'm all for being excited and showing appreciation for things that you love but fighting with your boyfriend on your cell phone is just rude.

I didn't attempt to shop today because I had to work. Tomorrow I work some more and I'm hoping I can talk someone into going with me to see the Nutcracker tomorrow night. Then I have to work again on Sunday and hopefully get my house decorated.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get a lot of writing done the next few days. Although, I have been thinking about my comic book script a lot lately. I really wanted it to have a sarcastic humor but I've been sending it to potential artist who never get back to me about it. Maybe the script needs a redo, maybe I'm not sending enough of the script for them to get it, maybe they just don't get it or appreciate it or maybe I just completely suck at writing. I guess I'll have to figure out what to do and add it to the to do list.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Well I've been up since dawn. We eat early so that you can fit in another meal with someone else's family. I'm tired and I haven't written a thing today. I have to work this weekend and find time to decorate my house so I'm not sure how much writing I will get done. Don't worry I'll still post and tomorrow's post won't be such a snooze fest.
It was pretty mellow for this year. Although there were a few dramatic moments. I'll save that story for another time. I'll just say for now that they mostly had to do with my sister trying to learn how to cook.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Where did the day go?

I'm tired. I've spent the whole day at the doctor with my dad , at work and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I'm hosting for my family and doing all the cooking. No one else will or can do it.
I tried to fit in some writing while waiting for the doctor but my dad kept talking to me. Until very recently my father and I didn't really talk often so the conversations now sound like we just met. It's kind of weird. It makes me feel bad that I didn't make an effort to talk to him more.
Anyway, while I started to write my dad asked me what I was writing. I said a book. He told me I should write westerns, then maybe he'd read it. Then he went into a long story about how he loves Louis L'Amour novels and has read them all. In my life I've never seen my dad read anything other than the sports section of the newspaper and Nascar magazines. Even when I was little he would talk about books that he had read. I would check them out of the library for him to read but he never touched them.
Well since he'll be sitting in a lot of waiting rooms for a while I thought about buying him some Louis L'Amour books for Christmas. Then maybe I can get a few seconds to write while I'm waiting with him.

A delay caused by a turkey tale

I'm running late once again. Looks like I have about twenty-three minutes. This time I was updating my live journal with the attempted turkey thievery that was a part of my Thanksgiving holiday a few years back. I didn't post it here because it's not about writing.

Well I'm done with everything from my suggestions except pictures of my writing, which I keep forgetting to take and obviously there isn't time for this post, and my thoughts on Civil War which I still haven't read and once again no time before I need to post tonight.

I feel bummed that I don't get as much writing done as I would like. I know everyone says that you have to make time. I really just can't figure out how. I know; watch less TV, go to less movies and all kinds of things. If you notice lately I hardly ever put a TV show or movie that I've just watched at the bottom of my post. That's because I don't even have time for those things. And believe me I'd love to give up my job so that I could write, but I gotta feed Kreeg.

Sorry this post lacks excitement. I'm horrible under pressure and I think I put all my energy into the turkey post.

November what?

Yikes! November is flying by. Along with it so is NaNoWriMo. I've actually written more this month than I have in a long time but it's still not enough. I knew it would be tough to take on NaNoWriMo along with everything else but I thought it was worth a shot.

Currently, my writer is working on another short story. She gets carried away in these crazy thoughts about how she came up with the idea and how the things going on her life help or hinder her writing. Sometimes when writing it I wander really far off of my outline. Now I know why Jenni hates outlines.

Meanwhile, I'm still posting everyday. I've also been working on my parts of Behind the Naugahyde. I've updated my live journal a few times and hope to at least do one more in the next day or two. I'd like to finally share the attempted turkey thievery that occurred a few Thanksgivings ago. There are also crazy long e-mails that I write to Jenni. They are filled with stories from work, life and about the book of course. And I also dabbled a little bit in the non-fiction, but I've put that on hold for now. Mostly I've filled the pages of my personal journal.
I like to hand write in it. The computer always seems to cold and impersonal for your deepest thoughts. Although I wish I did type it because I'm curios how many words I've written in it in the month of November.

More like fiction.

Anyone who knows me well enough to hear the everyday tales of my life knows that my life could in fact be a work a fiction. Not to say that my life is full of action, excitement and adventure. My life is more chaotic, I guess. That's another one of the many reasons I like to write. My life really could make a decent book. Not because of me though, I'm not that intriguing.
Mostly what makes my life so fiction-like is the people. My family, friends and a lot of customers I've waited on have all been part of or are tales that some people don't even believe when I tell them.
Sometimes I wish I could just write everything I know about certain people. What a good story that would make. Yet I can't. Sure it would be a great story, but what about those people? I'll admit generally the people with the best stories are people I don't like so putting their stories out there and possibly making a profit off of it would be quite excellent. I'm just not that kind of person. So I have to take little bits and pieces of those people and put them here or there. No one will ever know the real story but no one will get hurt either. Also I tend to think that the people that make the best stories are also the kind of people to sue you as well.

I try to exaggerate situations and combine people so that they are in fact fiction, but I usually like the real version better and I wish I could share it. Especially when it comes to serious situations in my life. I wish I could write the truth because it's like therapy for me. There are some people I want the whole world to see for what they really are, but it would hurt others and I can't do it.

Now when people read Behind the Naugahyde or any of my writing, they can wonder whether that really happened or if that person truly existed. And I'll be happy and disappointed that I'm the only one that really knows for sure.

What is behind the 'hyde'?

I've almost covered everything on my list of suggestions. I still have to take pictures of my writing but I'm a little to tired to do that tonight. I also managed to borrow a stack of comics from my friend Fred, so perhaps I'll finally get around to answering the Civil War question one day.

So I guess that leaves me to give details about Behind the Naugahyde. I guess I could first explain the title. Most of the novel takes place in shoe store, more importantly a shoe store where the employees have to get your shoes for you rather than the new trendy stores that just have them sitting on the sales floor in boxes. Apparently it is inappropriate for customers to be able to see in the stock room so strip curtains are hung up to keep the customers from seeing the staff as they make gestures that show appreciation for a customer who is "just looking" at two minutes to close. These lovely hunter green curtains, that compliment the pinkish colored carpet, are made out of none other than the material that was all the rage in the eighties, Naugahyde.
And in the book the reader will find out exactly what happens behind those lovely strips of Naugahyde.

As for my NaNoWriMo novel, well those watching my profile know that it's not going so well. I'm sure it's still possible that I could make it but not likely. I'm not giving up though, and I'll still write the novel no matter what.

The best shoes ever!

Oh my, I'm almost out of ideas from the suggestion box. That's okay though. I'll think of something but first let me do another suggestion.

I've been asked to describe the best shoes for writing the next great American novel. This is a tough question because I take shoes very seriously. To be honest I don't usually have shoes on when I'm writing in my office. Although writing is work and for work I prefer Dansko. I have grown a bit partial to Earth as well. But I have to say the ultimate creative shoe is the Converse All Star, Chuck Taylors, high tops of course. They come in so many colors and patterns that it's near impossible to not find one that fits the mood of your story. They also have a lot of history about them. They've been around for a rather long time, 1917 I believe. Originally a basketball shoe, they have been worn for many different things.
They've been featured in Save by the Bell, House, Back to the Future, Rocky, Grease, Fast and the Furious, Sky High, To Kill a Mockingbird (the movie), and Sin City( the comic and the movie) just to name a few. Also popular among rock bands, Kurt Cobain and even mentioned in a song by Snoop Dogg. Never really a shoe that is worn by the popular, fashion trendy crowd, yet it has stayed in demand for nearly ninety years.
It's got character, style and is loved by all. I think it is definitely a shoe that helps the imagination soar. And if I'm not writing at home it's most likely what I'm wearing. I currently have five pairs myself and my grandma has pink ones (pretty wicked huh?). Although by far the coolest I've ever seen, are ones I don't actually have (and another reason they are awesome shoes). This design was originally made in 1989 and just recently brought back in 2005.
You can design your own on their website so we might have to have some made for the crazy shoe, Behind the Naugahyde book tour!

Punks and favorite chapters

Okay another close call. I was posting on live journal first. Why? Because I wrote a punk story that I wanted to link to since it was on my blog suggestion list.
I have to say that I did not do that story justice. Jenni, my partner in writing and crime, did a fantastic job and probably could have told the story much better. She has a way with dramatic retellings.

Another suggestion from the box was about my favorite chapter in Behind the Naugahyde. Well we haven't finished it completely so it's hard to say. I can say my favorite chapter so far is six. Mostly because it's rather adventurous and crazy. Jackie, who I'm a bit partial to, really shows her kick-buttness. I do think the chapters we are working on right now seem pretty awesome. I am becoming particularly fond of chapter eight, (Jackie=bad ass! and the infamous shopping cart finally makes its debut) but I have a feeling that once Jenni is done with her part of chapter nine, I will probably love that as well since I am a bit partial to the holiday season, especially when it involves drunkenness. And I hope to like the last few chapters since they will most likely be full of scandal and debauchery. Who doesn't love that?

Well I better wrap it up since 12:00 fast approaches. Although I must leave with this thought, and I apologize because I believe this is really getting too much mention. I feel bad for writer's who work hard, truly struggle to put out good work and end up with nothing in the end, while O.J. Simpson gets rich off a book titled "If I Had Done It This Is How I Would Have Done It"(or something like that). I really hope no one picks that book up.

Just watched: The Office, 30 Rock

Sad story :(

Another slightly early post for me. And a not so happy day for animals. It's the start of rifle deer hunting season. Also here in Lansing, 18 pit bulls that were bred as fighting dogs, were found in an abandoned house today. The owner can't be found and is believed to have gotten away with more dogs.

About a year and a half ago, a little pit bull wondered up to the door of my home. The right side of her face was hanging off and her neck was ripped open. She had no collar or tags. I really wanted to help her but I didn't have the money to take her to the vet so my only choice was animal control. The officer who picked her up said it was clear she was bred for fighting. When I gave her to them she was hot to the touch and it was obvious her wounds were infected. The shelter doesn't adopt pit bulls out because they're too aggressive. So even if they could have saved her, they wouldn't. I only had her for a day but I was heart broken by it.
The night they took her I wrote a story about her. I've just recently started my attempt to get it published. Getting this story published is important to me. It has a message that I want to share. Not just about abusing animals but about giving them up just because someone is tired of them. Even if I get one person thinking, it would be worth it.
That's one of the reasons I write. I have some crazy dream that it can make a difference.

Sorry about the seriousness. It's quite a change from the past few post. Don't worry, I'll be back to more suggestion topics tomorrow. And I think I might even post a crazy but true punk on my live journal(I'll be sure to post a link).

Kreeg rules and jobs suck!

Another day of blogging and I still have several suggestions to tackle.

Quickly I'll cover a few things that Jenni just brought up. The name "grapenuts" is clearly just plain nuts and there is nothing else that can be said.
There are several reasons pants split. Maybe the pants shrunk while they were being worn. Maybe you sat on a nail. Maybe you were wearing Dansko's on ice and your feet slid in two different directions.
And to make split pea soup you have to split the peas. Duh!

Now on to previous suggestions.

Today I'll start with Kreeg. He is my best friend and biggest fan. He always sits with me while I'm writing and he never has any bad comments about anything I read to him. There are so many good things to say about him that it would take forever. One important thing about Kreeg is that he too is a writer. Although he is a dog of few words he does blog those few words on dogster.com .

Now I guess I'll cover the jobs I've had to work while I struggle as a writer.
My first job was as a waitress in a pancake/burger style diner. I worked there for three years. I met some great people as far as customers were concerned and I got to work with all my friends. The only thing that sucked was my boss. He was a real strict, cheap ass. He would charge little old couples that could barely eat one fry a piece for an extra plate if they wanted to split a meal. He would tell the wait staff to ask people to leave if they stayed too long and were just drinking coffee, even if the whole place was empty. Once a woman found a hair in her food that was clearly from his balding, uncovered head and he wouldn't give her a refund. I saw him slap someone that worked there. He made his employees cry all the time and never apologized. He let his wife take all the tables and leave all her dishes to be bussed by the other waitresses, leaving them with no tips and a ton of work. He once fired a girl because he wouldn't let her take drinks to a table since it was his granddaughter(who worked there)'s turn for a table, and the girl told the customers why she couldn't bring them out when they were yelling at her for their drinks. He had a guy who was his manager for sixteen years and one day he told him "I'm cutting your pay and hours so my grandson can be manager". Once he told me that if I didn't like the way he treated me I could walk out the door. I quit in the middle of my Sunday morning shift and by the end of the week had convinced seven other people to leave with me. Damn the man!

I once worked for another diner with a creepy boss who wrote me a bunch of bad checks. It took the credit union three months to notice his account was closed and by that time I was over $2,500 negative.

I also worked on a dock of a department store. They kept promising to promote me to the sales floor but that never happened. They would ask me to skip class or call into my other job when they had extra large shipments. They gave me a five cent raise. I also got expired coupons to their store for my Christmas bonus.

I worked at a restaurant where I had to dress like a milkman and dance every half hour on the half hour. People get pissed when they have to wait for their ketchup because you're dancing.

I also worked at a bar where the owners were evil. No joke. They called me stupid because I once put the wrong drinks on the wrong bill and the manager had to take ten seconds to fix it. They charged me for a mistake order when a cook put sauce on something, that the menu didn't mention came with sauce, because I didn't specifically ask for "no sauce". They made people pay for an appetizer when it came out after they were done eating their dinner(you can imagine what that does for a server's tips). When I started I told them I was in a wedding and needed a weekend off three months in advance. The week of the wedding the schedule went up and I was scheduled; I went out to "lock my car doors" and never came back.

Those are just the highlights of the jobs. There were more awful moments and more awful jobs. I could write a novel and I'm sure I will. Now I sell shoes which isn't too bad.

My favorite job was working at KB toystores. I had no complaints except that they went out of business.

Oh what a wonderful dream of being able to write full time and not have to have crappy jobs. Although they have given me wonderful ideas for writing. I can think of at least one situation or person from each job that has given me a great idea for a story.

More from the suggestion box tomorrow.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Wow! I got so many super ideas for blog post that I don't even know which one to start with. Of course, I'm not sure that I could fill a whole blog on some of the topics, not because they are not good ideas but rather I'm just not that awesome.
So I'll talk about a few of them this time and then maybe a few more next time.

For starters when I am writing I like to snack on take 5 candy bars. This has just become a new addiction since I gave them out on Halloween and then got stuck with so many. I also like cool ranch doritos but only when I'm a using pen and paper rather than typing. This is because I can eat with my left hand and have no problems. The doritos often leave seasoning on my fingers that can be a nuisance if you're typing with both hands. I also like toast because you get like 20 servings for a dollar, peanut butter right from the jar and gummy bears.

On Oprah I will wear a nicely tailored black pant suit and make it my own by wearing a cool baby-tee that has a super hero or some crazy thing on it and also wear dress boots that are a bright color that is also in the shirt I'm wearing, perhaps red.
Jenni will wear a nice suit possibly green because it just looks fabulous on her and she will wear a crazy color, vegan friendly pair of shoes, because crazy shoes will be a must on our promotional tour. People will come from afar to see what crazy shoes we will wear next.

Llamas spit.

For To Kill a Mockingbird discussion topics of chapters 8 & 9: Why did Boo Radley decide to leave the security of his home just to put a blanket on Scout? Did Francis deserve to get punched in the teeth? These aren't good questions they were just the best I could come up with after skimming through the chapters rather quickly.

I'm not sure who the mysterious hero is in 52. The last time I read it (thanks to my brokeness) I think Lex said it was his son, but maybe I'm not remembering correctly.

My life is no longer without a car but when I was without it I felt completely useless.

As for the cold. I love it. I hate heat. I love dressing in layers. I love sweaters, mittens, scarves, boots and coats. I like snow falling. I like warm blankets and hot tea and hot chocolate. I like sledding and ice skating. I like not breaking into a sweat when I walk Kreeg. I like sitting in front of the furnace vent. So throw rocks at me if you want but I'm going to say it, "YAY! cold weather".

The rest of the suggestions will have to wait for another post. I don't want to use up all the good ones and some of them may even get their very own post. Stay tuned!

Stuck

It's a rather early post for me but I had the day off of work. I had planned to spend the whole day writing but I kept getting sidetracked. Now that I have time I feel unmotivated.
I have so much to be working on, so much that I want to be working on. I'm trying to force myself to do it but things just aren't coming to me. I'm stuck for ideas on everything. I keep thinking about other stuff. I couldn't even come up with a better blog post than this.

Comic books, I miss you.

Another close call but it should be expected of me.

As some people may know I'm not the wealthiest person in the world, I'm not the poorest either. Lately though I've had a little less luck in the money department. This has caused me to cut back on a lot to things and now I think I'm going through comic book withdrawal.

Comic books are expensive when you add up quite a few issues. I'm about four weeks behind and I want to know what's going on in the world of crime fighting. I don't think I've ever went this long without buying comics. I think my store might stop pulling my books for me and then I'll be in this struggle to find back issues or wait for trade paper backs.

Also, with all the novel writing and blogging I've been doing, I haven't really worked on or even thought about a comic book in a while.

Comic books are my true love when it comes to writing and reading. I guess I could always catch up on all the old comic books and trade paper backs that I've bought but never read. I'll still miss my new stuff.

A book by its cover

Once again I'm cutting it close. This time I have about an hour rather than twenty minutes but it's still pretty late in the day. It's not that I'm procrastinating, it's just that I'm a night person. I write at night. Night and early morning is when I write my best stuff.

Tonight I spent some time talking to my friend Fred about a story he is working on.
Fred is my neighbor and he works with my dad. Sometimes I babysit his kids for him and his wife. He's a really cool guy that is always trying to help everyone.
I have to admit when I first met him I was guilty of judging a book by its cover. He's a very large guy, he could easily be on a pro football team. He likes NASCAR, sports, and hunting. He's a mechanic.
When he and his family came over for my dad's birthday I thought, like most people he would find my toy and comic book collection to be a little ridiculous, but he thought it was cool. Then after a few years of knowing him I finally mentioned I wanted to be a writer. I don't tell a lot of people this because some people think that it's just a dumb idea, my family in particular, but when I told him he was very excited. Apparently he writes as well and now we talk about writing all the time. He lets me read his work, which is very good. I laugh sometimes thinking about how my dad thinks writing is completely stupid and he doesn't know that one of his best friends is a writer. Of course just like my dad and I, most people would never expect it but I think that makes it all the more cool that he does it.
Anyway, Fred is working on some short stories and a comic book script. When I get a few extra minutes I promised to get him started in the blogging world and that will be one link I'll be sure to pass along.

Just in time

Goodness, I almost didn't think I would get to post today, but there are about twenty-four minutes left in the day. If I type fast and keep it fairly short, I think I'll make it.

I've been trying to find some information on pen names or pseudonyms. After coming up with my non-fiction ideas, I've become rather excited about finding time for them. I did a little reading and there were a few suggestions that if someone chooses to do both fiction and non-fiction, using two different names can be beneficial. There were several reasons for this but the main one was that non-fiction is truthful and that what is written can alienate your fiction readers. Before they could believe anything a writer wrote wasn't necessarily what the writer believed but rather what the characters had to believe to make the story work. In non-fiction there is no hiding behind that and most people tend to write non-fiction to reflect their views. Even if it doesn't, it can be hard for some readers to believe otherwise.

This all makes perfect sense to me. A lot of the reason I don't discuss subjects such as politics, at least not in depth, here on my blog is because I don't want to scare potential readers away and it is easy for people to misunderstand and misjudge when facts are printed that lean in a certain direction.

I probably spent a little too much time today looking into using pen names and I didn't find much that was helpful. Do I have to register this name or does it depend on the circumstances of individual situations? And when I submit queries to a publisher which name do I use? And do I tell them what the other name is? And not to sound materialistic but what about getting paid, if that should ever happen?
Stop laughing, it could happen!

Well I guess I'll have to continue to research and hope to get something written as well.
I think I'm gonna make it in time and not ruin NaBloPoMo.


Just watched: The Office (I know I should have been working on my post but everyone needs a little break!)

Time for non-fiction?

Wow! I was browsing through the NaBloPoMo randomizer and there really are a lot of people talking about dreams. What are the odds of that?

I've come up with a few ideas that would make good non-fiction pieces, at least I think so. I'm not really sure I want to dive into it though. I already have a ton of writing to do. There's Behind the Naugahyde, NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo. I also have my personal journal that gets filled pretty fast these days with all the chaos in my life. The last thing I need is more to write.
Also, I've never tried to get non-fiction published in a magazine before. It would require a bit of research like where to send it.
I guess I'll see if I get any extra time. Right now I'm falling behind on everything except my blogs. I've kept them up daily but there not very interesting. I was warned about trying to write a blog everyday and how I'd ending up posting just to post.

Dreams

As I anxiously await the election results I decided to do my daily post.

I woke up in the middle of the night, as I often do because I really don't sleep well, and I could remember what I had just been dreaming. I usually remember when a dream was bad and I don't think this one was. I did sit up and think that with a little working of the details I could make a great story out of it. I've done this with a few dreams I've had or at least tried. So I play the story over and over in my head because I didn't want to get out of bed. And I just kept thinking about it hoping I would remember in the morning. Of course I don't remember and it's driving me mad. It's so far gone I can't even grasp it and if I ever do recall it, I doubt that I'll know that it was from that particular dream. Now I'll just torment myself forever for forgetting.
Who knows maybe there was no dream and I dreamed I had a cool idea or maybe the idea really wasn't that good. I guess I will never know, but I will have to start keeping a pencil by my bed.

I'm going to be stuck in Ann Arbor the next two days and I'm not sure how much writing I'll get done. I'll still post of course. Even though I have to be up super early I'm hoping to put a huge dent in my novel tonight. I'm starting to get behind what I should be and I don't want to not finish.

Please VOTE!

Okay tomorrow is election day. It may not be a presidential election but it is still very important. I've been posting on my live journal and on MySpace to remind people to vote. I'm a person who wants to make a difference no matter how small. ( I say this because I'm well aware that I only have two readers!)
That's really the reason I began writing. I had something to say. And when I was young, and even now, people never seemed to listen to me. I'm not good at speaking. So I write and I try, in everything I write, to have a message. Even if it's wrapped up in colorful characters and crazy plot twist, it's there.
That's also the reason I try to get my writing published. I won't lie and say that making enough money to write for a living would be a bad thing. But I want to people to see my message because it's important to me.
Well, it's nearly the end of the day and since I can't seem to make much sense about why you should vote I'm going to end my post and invite readers to stop by D.B.Echo's blog for an excellent post about why you should vote!

Currently listening to: Bad 80's and easy listening music while trying to win tickets to Happy Feet, the adorable dancing penguin movie that has a preview of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.(YAY! I love dancing, penguins and Harry Potter. I also have no money so I must win these tickets!)

Nothing but writing

Jenni and I spent three hours on line last night working out the next three chapters of Behind the Naugahyde. I'm so excited to be working on it again. And we have so many funny, huge things happening that I just can't wait. I often thought that it would be hard to work with someone on a project especially something as big as a novel but Jenni and I seem to think almost a like. I can't tell you how many times we both push the send button at the same time and end up sending close to the exact same message. They saying that great minds think a like must really be true. I think that it's so awesome it works out that way, otherwise we might both dread writing it. Right now we both get so excited. I just hope that everyone else who reads it loves it just as much.

I know that I'm also working on a NaNoWriMo novel right now but I've figured out a solid plan to work on both. Don't worry there will be enough time because I will live, sleep and breath writing. I love it that much. I think it's discouraged to work on other stuff while doing NaNoWriMo but as long as I don't cheat my novel and I get it done I don't see anything wrong with it.
My plan is that Jenni and I break our novel up into pieces. This not only works well for the format of our novel but we can also break down the writing fairly so neither has too much or too little to write. So for the next three chapters I have nine pieces that I need to write. Some are bigger than others but I'm going to aim for writing half, one or two a day depending on their size. Once I'm done with that the rest of my writing time will be for my other novel and of course I'll throw in a blog post.
It's a lot of writing but I love to do it and I really don't do much else so here it goes.

More bookmarks and novel writing

Another day of NaBloPoMo. I thought that I should try checking out the blogs of fellow participants. Of course, to check out all the blogs on the list I'd have to go through a letter a day and that's a lot. I'd probably never get anything written. I figure the bottom of the list probably gets the least amount of hits so I'm starting there. I've already added quite a few interesting blogs to my bookmarks and it's a nice change that they aren't all blogs about writing.

I'm still making a dent in my novel. I'd like to use my unplanned day off tomorrow to get ahead. I'm also hoping that tomorrow might bring a meeting with Jenni so that we can get some more work done on Behind the Naugahyde. I know it seems crazy to be working on two novels at once but we have breaks in Behind the Naugahyde when Jenni and I are trying to find time to work out the next chapter(s). Plus the novels are nothing a like so that helps.

Currently watching: The Wedding Singer

No car and no contest

I'm back with my second entry of the day. I really hope that the readers and fellow participants in NaBloPoMo don't think I just put my name on the site to get more readers and had no intention of blogging everyday. It was really circumstance beyond my control. I'll sum it up real fast so I don't dwell on it.
Couldn't pay bill, Internet shut-off. Borrowed sister's broken down laptop with slow dial-up, couldn't get a connection. Would have taken the time to drive or take bus to library but axle broke in car and had to find way to get the car towed out of the middle of the street.

Now that we have that out of the way, I hope people continue to read on.

A while back I decided to enter a short-short story in a contest. It was an odd little story about a bubble gum used to get revenge on a door to door salesman. The whole story came from an on the spot writing exercise in my creative writing class. It was by no means an idea I had been working on for a while. I probably would have never given it another thought if my professor hadn't suggested that I enter it in a contest. (It's entirely possible that she was just trying to be nice.)
Well, I did. At the time I didn't realize how tough the contest I was entering was and that it more focuses on literary fiction, which my story wouldn't qualify as, although they say they except everything. After looking around a few writer's forums I came to the conclusion that I had lost. Yet November rolled around and I decided to check just to be on the safe side. I wish this was the part where I said I won but no, I didn't.
I was nervous checking to see ( I couldn't check until today because of my Internet problems). I wasn't nervous that I was going to lose but rather that I didn't want to win. At the time I didn't see that my story was quite silly and that the magazine was rather well known. What if I had won and people remembered me for my stupid bubble gum story?
I often feel regret about my work once it's too late. I don't even like people reading my work in front of me. Is this normal or am I completely out of my mind?

I'm a bum

Wow! I feel like such a bum. I already missed a day of NaBloPoMo but my internet went down and it was out of my control. That's no excuse but I will post every day starting now. I spent all day yesterday trying to get on-line with my sisters computer but it just wouldn't connect. Now I have my DSL back and I'm not going to miss another post. In fact, I'll do two post today to make up for the one I missed.

NaNoWriMo is going well. That wasn't really messed up by my lack of internet. The only thing I couldn't do was update my word count.

Well I just got called into work so I'm cutting this post a bit short but I'll post again after work.

Happy NaNoWriMo & NaBloPoMo

YAY! NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo have officially started. I'm just now starting my daily blog post but I started my novel as soon as midnight rolled past. According to my word count I got around 1500 words.
I'm going to try to get over to the NaNoWriMo sight and figure out how to update my word count status. I can't remember how it worked last year but if I have to put the whole file into a word counter it will be a while before I can update since this laptop doesn't have a functioning disc drive. I've started writing my novel on my desktop that is currently lacking internet so there's no way to upload the file if that's what needs to be done. Oh what a crazy world.

Well everything is off to a good start except for the fact that I wrote this post once already and dial-up kicked me off before it published. I'll just hope for better luck this time.

BTW sorry I'm not risking spell check.