2011

If everything goes according to plan 2011 should be an awesome year. I will be getting married and I will be getting a story published in CONCEIT MAGAZINE.

I've been thinking a lot about my future and what I hope for. I won't make any promises or resolutions this year. I do hope to write more and to blog more.
I know the blogging universe is slowly fading. There aren't many people still reading and writing in the blogverse but I still like to blog even if it's just for myself. I haven't kept up on it lately because this blog is about my writing and I haven't written much in a while.

Also, I felt like last year my writing group met less and I had less communication with fellow writers I had worked and talked with. But again, I didn't do much writing so it's just as much my fault as anyone's.

I guess I will see how 2011 goes.

It's gonna be a Happy New Year!

Yes, it's really been over a month since I've posted. I'm sorry about that. I don't have the lack of computer as an excuse anymore. There were the hectic holidays keeping me busy. The shopping, planning, cooking, cleaning, etc..., but really that still no excuse.
Honestly, my absence has been for a lot of reasons. I became unaddicted when I had to live without my computer, so I didn't have that need to post. Another thing is that a lot of my regular readers, who are also blog writers, haven't been posting on their own blogs as much or reading this blog as much. And sometimes it's just discouraging to write when it feels like no one is reading.
Honestly, though, the biggest reason I haven't written so much is because for the last year or so I've been working on something. Not a writing something but a personal something. And I don't regret the sacrifices I've made because I feel they've been worth it, but I think I've been putting it before myself and I've been down that road before. It's not a good one. So my New Year's resolution is to not give up so much. It's very vague but there's no way to define it in terms.
Last night, I think I made some head way in getting something I want that will help with my goals. I'm hoping that works out.
My goals for this blog are simple. Blog more, read more blogs and try to get some new readers.
Happy New Year!

Happy 2008!

I used 'Happy New Year' as a title last year so I had to go with something a little different this time.
I just posted the list of novels I read in 2007 on my livejournal

For my New Year's post, I have a few resolutions regarding writing, blogging, reading and life.

1) I need to write or work on a writing related project, (editing, submissions, typing in hand-written work) that involve short stories or novels that I intend to pursue publication for, EVERYDAY!

2) I need to update my blog at least twice a week with new material. At least once a week with a flashback post.

3) Aim for reading a novel a week.

4) I need to go back to school and I need to really step up the job search.

Those are my plans for the new year. I'm not sure how well I'll do but I need something to write about. And who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself.
I'm off to an okay start though. I already worked on my Christmas story today ( I know a little behind) and now I'm doing a blog post. I'm sure I'll read before bed.

The New Year is bringing pretty big changes in my life. One is a personal change that I never thought I'd be strong enough to accomplish.
The other is my job. I'm changing locations and going back to my old schedule. Part of me feels like a failure, part of me is relieved. A lot of me doesn't know if it's for the best and wonders what will really happen.
Two things are for sure. I will no longer have hours of customerless down time at work to do nothing but read, write and edit. But I'm going to be working nights and I'm a night person. I used to get way more writing and writing related stuff accomplished when I would come home from work and then write until I fell asleep. I never really got used to the new, now old, schedule. Maybe the change back will be good. Despite the fact that I will no longer be getting paid for sitting around doing my own personal work rather than store work.

Behind the Bell Swag-the coolest present ever!

Christmas was fantastic. I threw a Christmas Eve party with family and friends. A few people didn't make it but it was still a blast. I'm definitely going to do it again next year.
Christmas day was spent with just my immediate family and that went alright. Visit my livejournal to find out about my awfullest gift.

I must say that all irritation from awful gifts was completely erased by Jenni, out doing herself, again, this year.
I got a Mannheim Steamroller CD along with a picture of a shopping cart. This is a tribute to a former co-worker who tried to give me a stolen, regifted shopping cart in thanks for some Mannheim Steamroller tickets that I won off the radio on the first try after he had been trying all weekend.
She also got me an awesome "friend" frame with a picture of us at her wedding. In which she looks amazing and I look goofy, but I'm keeping it up so people can be in awe of how beautiful Jenni is and they can point and laugh at me.
There were lots of cool pictures, notes and cards that filled the package and some very generous gifts but I have to say the coolest thing was the time and effort that it took her to make a movie about the store that I still work at and Jenni has moved on from. It was nearly a half-hour of cool music, pictures, captions and the most creative thing ever. It's beyond fantastic. I wish I could share it with the world. It deserves an award! I can't imagine how much time it took her to make. And I know she has so little spare time between teaching, grading papers and all the other stuff that's piled on her to do list.
How am I lucky enough to have the absolute best of best friends in the world?

So Christmas is over and New Years is closing in. Work is madness and I'm still recovering from all the dishes and cooking from the last few days. I doubt much more will get done until 2008. I have plans though. I think I have a new writing project to start off the year.

*Since no one but Jenni will get the title. Bell Swag is this hideously ugly Christmas decoration trimming stuff that was painted to match the shoe store's pink carpet. And it is featured in the movie Jenni made.*

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yay! It's 2007. I cleared off my dry erase board with my unaccomplished goals from last year and replaced them with new goals for this year. All these goals are things that I can accomplish personally. For instance, I would like my book to be published but time may not allow for a publisher to like it and get it on shelves by the end of the year or it could just be a really crappy book that just isn't going to happen. I'd copy the list directly on here but it would probably make no sense to anyone but me.

I am confident that Jenni and I will finish "Behind the Naugahyde"this year. I'd also like to get around to rewriting my comic book script and finding an artist for it. Of course I'd also like to finish my Nanowrimo/fimo novel. And there's a real giant size project that I kept mentioning last year but I won't be able to start it until the weather gets better.

As for the progress of that still untitled novel, I've written quite a few pieces in different places lately and now I have to find them all and put them together. Also I have a small chunk of writing that I wrote along time ago that I think would fit perfectly into the story. I didn't write it for any particular reason so I've never done anything with it. I didn't want to use it before because that would be cheating on NaNoWriMo and NaNoFiMo but since those are over and neither one completed by me, I can go ahead and throw it in. That's if I can find it.

2006 Year in review!

Well only a few hours left of 2006. It's been really tough year personally but I have had a few good things in the writing part of my life.

The year started off well when my story "Papa's Little Angel" won second place for short fiction in the LCC division of the L.A.N.D. writing contest. And after talking about it for some time Jenni and I officially began writing "Behind the Naugahyde". I was also very excited when my short-short story "Sweaty Palms" was published in the September 2006 issue of Writer's Post Journal.
Not to mention that Jenni and I received three letters from agents requesting to see more of "Behind the Naugahyde" and BehindtheNaugahyde.com was started.
I would have completed NaBloPoMo by posting everyday during the month of November but I missed one post and I also started a new, not yet titled, novel but did not finish NaNoWriMo or NaNoPloMo. And I received 89 rejection notices this year.

Last night I switched to the blogger beta version. I'm not sure how long it will take me to tag my post but I'll try to work on it.

Hope everyone has a safe and very happy New Year!

Not quite done

Well the New Year is near here and I don't think I'll have my Nanowrimo/fimo book done. That's okay with me because the goal of Nanowrimo got me started on a project I might have put off and the same goals don't work for everyone. So I'll be okay. Sure it would have been nice to end the year with a finished book but you can't leave behind everything from the past year.
Besides just about every book I've read about writing a novel says that three months is the average time for completing a novel in which case I'm doing okay.

I hope to post a year-in-review kind of thing tomorrow but I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to. Once I'm done with this post I'm going to switch to the new and improved blogger version. Wish me luck!

It's a Wonderful Gift(s)!

Today a box full of wicked cool stuff arrived at my door step. It was a writer's dream come true. It included a cute little bin to organize my office with, tons of envelopes so I can stop whining that I couldn't send out submissions due to the lack of them(envelopes), as well as postage stamps to also prevent the same whining. I also got pens and a notebook for all of my bad ideas and white out to get rid of the evidence that proves I actually came up with an idea that awful. There was lots of other wonderful stuff in it to. I'll start the New Year off with no excuses as to why I'm getting nothing done so I guess I'll have to actually do something.
Although the best gift of all was really the thought put into each item. Obviously, the sender has been reading my constant griping about my lack of supplies and thought that would be something useful to give me. It also seems the gracious gift giver doesn't believe that sending me a ton of writing supplies is a waste, which makes me feel pretty good.
It could also be a hint that I need to finish my part of the next three chapters of Behind the Naugahyde!

Thanks again, Jenni!

Sometimes I think life isn't that great then wonderful people remind me of how lucky I am.

Christmas Vacation!

Today was the first day of my five-day holiday vacation. Yet somehow I ended up back at work to get my boss a Christmas gift and explain the inventory procedure. How does this happen?
I know that the next few days are going to be filled with holiday extravaganzas but I plan to get a lot of writing done. I think I'm already off to a good start having already done more writing today than I have the four previous days combined, maybe more.

I work in the field of shoes so I already think about them a lot and you can imagine how many characters I can come up with at work when I put the shoe project into affect. I also find myself thinking about other people's shoes. I saw a crossing guard helping children across the street in shoes that were nearly falling apart and I started thinking about how they got that way and why the man was wearing those particular shoes. Are his shoes worn out just from helping children across the street or does he have to walk everywhere? Are those just the pair of shoes he wears for the job because there really is no reason to wear nice shoes, did he step in a puddle with his good shoes and have to wear his old pair for the day or can he just not afford shoes and if so why not? It really gets the mind thinking.

I also had some really odd thought provoking questions about shoes and death but maybe I'll save that for another post.

I'm trying to get a Christmas present ready for my blog readers but no promises. And I'm also of thinking about finally switching over to blogger beta for the New Year. Is there really a better time for change?

Nanofimo:12570+ 29438=42008

IT"S DONE!

Well just in time to put on my list of writing accomplishments for 2005, I have completed the rough draft of my first novel. After pushing myself to finish it for NaNoWriMo and failing, I decided to push myself to finish it by the end of the year. Today I got up and struggled through the last chapters. Now keep in mind it's not really finished. I'll put it aside and read it later. I already have notes on things I should check for. So to give you a lot of info would be a bad idea, seeing as how I'll probably tear it apart considering how I feel about my work(I never think it's good). I will tell you this, right now it stands 22 chapters long.

To wrap up my New Year's Eve post I wanted to say how excited I am that in this year I got my first fiction story published and had an ashcan made for my first comic book(hopefully to come in 2006) . There were many other things to be proud of. Out of all the submissions I sent out I received 22 rejection notices. That means 22 people may have taken the time to read my work! I also have wonderful people reading my blog that I started this year, thanks everyone! It's a lot to be happy about.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!