Group work?

Goodness time flies. I can't believe the weekend is over and once again I got nothing done.
I did do one small, little thing but it wasn't actual writing. Lately, I've been frustrated because I feel like there must be a reason my writing isn't getting published. I know there can be many factors as to why and that even if my writing is great, I may still never get published. But before I go spending tons of money sending out submissions I would like to get some feedback on my stories so I can make sure they are not absolute crap. Of course, I show my writing to a few non-writers and I get the "that's really good" but since they have nothing to back it up with they could be lying to spare my feelings and if they aren't lying it would be nice to know why so I can do it again. So I've been trying to find a writing group in my area.
Also it would be nice to have some supportive writing friends. Don't worry I'm not forgetting about Jenni. I have asked her to look at some of my writing, other than my parts of Behind the Naugahyde. Believe me there is no better editor and reader than her, at least not that I have met but she is a busy lady. She's working hard teaching high school students to be great writers, readers and thinkers.
Anyway, I found a list of writing groups on the library website and I e-mailed the contact people to see what kind of writing group they were and if they were adding new members. Hopefully, I'll hear back with some good news. If not I'll try to find an online writing group but I feel like I'll be more committed if it's a face-to-face group. I get horrible anxiety when I think there's a chance that I'll run into someone I let down.
I just hope a writers group gets me back into the swing of things.

Stamped on

In a few weeks the price of postage will go from $.39 to $.41. I still have a stack of $.02 stamps from when they changed it from $.37 not so long ago so I'm excited I will get the chance to use those up. And I'm not really mad about having to pay an extra $.02. What I wish is that they would announce this much further in advance. Remember back in January when I sent out all those submissions. The self-addressed stamped envelopes that I sent with all those submissions, in hopes of a reply, all had $.39 stamps on them and I've only gotten responses from about a quarter of those. Sometimes responses take six months to a year. I'm pretty sure that small literary magazines are not going to go buy a bunch of $.02 to fix this problem, if they even pay attention to the postage on the stacks of self-addressed stamped envelopes that they deal with daily. The reason I'm fairly certain that one of those theories is true is because I did not get one submission response after they changed postage rates last time.
It would seem like it's no big deal because they are all rejection notices anyway and if on the off chance someone did accept my story they might spring for $.02 or not even use the self-addressed stamped envelope but rather a nice big envelope with lots of cool published writer stuff in it. But the truth is I like my rejection letters. Sometimes they give me good advice, they always make me feel like I'm at least trying and if I completely fail as a writer, at least I can have the world record for most rejection ever endured by one person. And that is a goal all in itself.
Anyway, at least this time they are fixing that problem by creating the "forever stamp" that will always be good even if the rate increases again.

Just watched: The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs

Answers to questions

Yesterday, I went to the LAAN (Lansing Area AIDS Network) volunteer appreciation party and was so excited to get my first responses to my written interview/surveys that I handed out. The volunteer coordinator said he had been working on it all day and his answers were great. They were just the kind of information I was looking for.
Of course now the pressure's on because I had to tell people why I wanted them to answer these questions so they know I'm writing a novel. That means I actually have to write it now. I can't back out of it and I have to do a good job too. I'm excited about the questionnaires, though. My hope is to realistically write about HIV, those who have it and the way it has affected our society, and hopefully do that well. That's why I've been asking for help from people who have dealt with it so much.
Although, I was a little bit worried about it because I asked some really crazy questions about "what if" scenarios. I thought they might think that I thought those "what if" situations were good ideas. Unfortunately, when writing fiction, you have to think like the good person and the bad person. Otherwise it gets kind of boring.

Birthday, BTN and comic books

I finally completed my part of chapter 11 of Behind the Naugahyde and shipped it off to Jenni. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves but once we're finished with our current chapters, 10,11,12, I think that it won't be many more chapters before we're done. It is so weird to have an ending in site, well kind of sorta anyway.

I have to admit that last week was crazy and I got nothing done. Thankfully though, the reason I didn't get anything done this weekend was because I was busy hanging out with my awesome friends, celebrating my birthday.
Not many people know this but I felt like the last year of my life was cursed. I know, crazy. But a day after my last birthday my landlord called and kicked me out of my house and after that it was money battles with him that lead to other money problems, a car that took off on its own and then finally wouldn't move at all, lots of medical problems with my family and so much other stuff. And since it all started right after my birthday I was convinced it was going to be a cursed year. So far this one is starting off pretty awesome. There have been problems but everything seems to be working itself out and maybe its just my determination that this is going to be a happy new year of my life. I'm very excited.

I did buy another giant stack of comics this weekend. That seems to be how I'm buying them these days. Am I the only person in the world that's bummed that Marvel's Dark Tower by Stephen King series is exactly like the book? Did I already complain about this? And my goodness I can't believe it's been almost a year since 52 started. Also I'm hearing super bad things about the new Wonder Woman writer but I bought them so I could decide for myself.

Tomorrow I'm back at work and I hope that this week I get started on some serious research or some character workouts for my new novel.

RENT!

YAY! I just got home from seeing RENT again! I am so excited because not only did I get to see RENT, LAAN(Lansing Area AIDS Network) threw an after party where you could meet the cast and crew. I didn't know about it until I was leaving the show with my fellow RENT goers and I saw some of the LAAN staff. I stopped by to say "hi" because none of us had the $50 per person fee for the after party (it's not that outrageous because it is for charity). The LAAN staff was so awesome because they invited all of us to stay for free! I was so out of mind with excitement. I got to meet and chat with the cast of the RENT national tour. It was so exciting. I got them all to sign my RENT poster. I was bummed because even if my camera had been working I wouldn't have brought it since I had no clue about the party and it's not allowed in the theater. It was so amazing. The biggest bummer was that Jenni couldn't be there with me.
And the show was unbelievable. I wanted to jump out of my seat when they started singing RENT, I got goose bumps when Roger started singing One SongGlory and when they sang Seasons Of Love, I was in tears when Mimi sang Goodbye Love and when Collins sang the I'll Cover You reprise and I didn't even realize I was moving along with Today For You Tomorrow For Me, La Vie Boheme and the Tango Maureen until people told me after the show. I want to see it a hundred more times. The music and lyrics have so much meaning and are so powerful and the cast's performance is always so intense. Once again I can't rave about it enough.

I know that I may seem obsessed with RENT and the truth is that I am. This is one of those things that I have writer's envy over. I wish I had written something so amazing that touches so many people. Johnathon Larson made something so incredible and I can't imagine every being able to create something like it.
The reason I love it so much is because I relate to it. There are tons of things about RENT that make me think of my own life. I would list them all but lots of it is just too personal to share with any random people that may wander by. But one reason fits right in on my blog about writing.
No one in my family gets me and a lot of my 'friends' don't either. I'm not even entirely sure that any of them remember I write and that's probably because I make very little money doing it. Alright, I make no money! Anyway, you get a good job that earns you lots of money. That makes you successful which equals happiness. That's what they think anyway.
I've rarely had more money than enough to cover the bills in all my life. Sometimes I can't even pay the bills. And I'm okay with that because I want to enjoy what I do. I don't want to spend my whole life working to pay the bills and be completely unhappy. I want to do what I love and writing is one of those things for me even if I don't make money at it. When I try to explain this to my family they look at me like I'm nuts. When I got this new "good job" my family wondered why I wasn't ecstatic but my first thought was 'when will I have time to write, and paint and play my guitar and I be all alone with no one to talk to'. I wasn't happy about it and I'm still not sure it was the right choice. But to my family it was the only choice because having money makes you happy. That's why when I see RENT, and there are people who are okay with being poor as long as they have time to spend on the things that really matter to them, I don't feel alone. I think to myself 'wow someone finally gets it'. And that's just one of the reasons that I love it so much.

Questionnaires and work

I wasn't going to post today because I had absolutely nothing to write about. However, I didn't want to go more than a week without posting in fear that people would give up on my little blog and I would lose the few readers I have managed to get.

So what's been going on in my world of writing? Well I did manage to get my written interview done for the novel I plan on starting. I would have preferred face-to-face interviews but the people I plan on asking the questions all have very crazy schedules that pretty much include them working while I'm working. And somehow I don't see my boss giving me time off to do research on a novel. Anyway, since I had to give written questionnaires now I have to hope that somebody sends it back and in a timely fashion. I don't want to call people bugging them when they are graciously helping me out. I did include self-addressed stamped envelopes so hopefully that helps.

I finally got around to typing up the few pages of Behind the Naugahyde that I managed to write at work the last few weeks but nothing new yet. I thought this week at work would be a great time to get writing done since I wouldn't have to worry about my boss coming in but unfortunately that's not the case. I had to spend the last two days calling a woman asking to charge $50 to her credit card because of a mistake an employee made this weekend. I wish it had been just one mistake but it was four mistakes that cost the store about $200 total. So I didn't get to write because first I had to figure out what happened then try to fix it. Thankfully my boss is in Mexico and will hopefully come back in a very good mood, doubtful but you never know. And no I'm not mad that I actually had to work at work. I just hate having to be the one to tell employees they messed up and tell customers 'we need our money back'. It's not fun. Good book material but seriously not enjoyable in anyway.

And of course nothing else got done this weekend while I had time off. I attended a funeral and a wedding on Saturday which was definitely a first for me.
This weekend coming up is going to be hectic with Easter on Sunday and I'm going to see RENT on Saturday. That means I better get something done during the week.

Just watched: Dancing with the Stars
Just saw: Blades of Glory
Finally read: 52 #40-45 (I know I'm still behind)

Not much

My teleportation story has been edited and it is in the mail. There's no going back now.
Work has once again been slow this week. I wrote down some notes on new story ideas but mostly I tried to catch up on my comic book reading.
I must say that the writing tips of the day featured in my side bar, well, they're pretty lame. I'd take it out but I'm too lazy. Who knows maybe they'll get better. I do think it would be quite hard to come up with a new and unique writing tip everyday so I shouldn't complain too much.
Anyway, I thought I had more to fill up this post but I guess not.

Just watched: Dancing with the Stars
Just saw: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Finally read: Ultimate Spider-man #101-105 the clone saga

Editing and libraries.

Okay I edited my teleportation story. Hopefully it's sci-fi enough and well written. That would probably help. I'll reread it tomorrow to double check for typos after I haven't been staring at it for a few hours.

What's my next project? Well I still need to finish my part of Behind the Naugahyde chapters 10, 11, 12. I would like to finish it this weekend but no promises.

After that I'm going to start a fictional story that centers around HIV/AIDS infected characters. I already know a bit about this subject but there is always more to know. I've been working on really professional sounding interview questions because I have a few people I want to interview for research purposes. I also went to the library for some books.
Here's a little fact for you. I know I've written at some point that there are three branches of the Capital Area District Library that I frequent. The main branch downtown because it has the biggest selection, the south side which is a few blocks away from my house but it's in the poorer side of town and it's usually filled with unattended children, and there's the one near my work in the wealthy town which is usually very quiet but has snotty librarians.
Anyway, I went to the south side branch yesterday and it had 18 books on the topic of HIV/AIDS. Today I went to the wealthy town library, which is about the same size as the south side library, and they had 4 books on the subject of HIV/AIDS. And that's what they carry not what they have available.

On a completely different topic, all this search for non-fiction makes me long for card catalogs. The little drawers in the library filled with index cards that listed every book in the library alphabetically under title, author and subject. I loved flipping through those when I was younger. I felt like I was an investigator looking for that one book that held the answer. Now that it's on the computer I'm just typing. I do that all the time. I'm doing it right now. Big wow.

So little time

Okay, although I've kind of sorta started it, I'm not sure I can get my science fiction story finished and edited by the deadline. So I was thinking that I could switch my sci-fi/western comic into short story form but I'm not even sure I would get that done in time. My other option is sending in an already completed story and the only one I have that would qualify, I'm not sure actually qualifies. The whole story revolves around the idea of teleportation but it takes place in current time and has no other science fiction element. Is that enough sci-fi for an all science fiction contest? I'm not sure. I guess I could attempt to finish one of the other options and if it gets to close to crunch time I can try the teleporting story.
I feel like ever since I started my new job I've had so little time to write, which disappoints me. Whether I ever get paid for it or not, writing is something I think I'll do for the rest of my life. On the other hand, selling shoes for the rest of my life, I hope not.

Under $10

Well after a bunch of attempts I finally got my sitemeter working, my sidebar now includes a list of blogs and a writing tip of the day. Plus, as can be seen, I decided to change to the super cool red template since I never figured out why I had a green one. Not that I'm dissing green. I like green, but I love red.
Anyway, at work last week I mostly read since I have a book that needs to be taken back the library but I'm not finished. I did write a little bit of chapter 10 of Behind the Naugahyde. Of course since I have to write long hand at work, now I have to find time to type up what I've written.
My new job is really boring, I don't have any crazy stories that would make good book material because no one comes in.
I did go to the book store this weekend and I got a book, 'how to edit your novel', on clearance for $3. I wonder what the quality must be if it only cost $3 but I'm on a shopping kick where I don't buy anything over $10. I've been using this with books, clothes and movies and it's working out pretty well. What did I do with all that saved money? I bought a giant stack of comic books and it's a crazy loophole because they are very rarely over $10 a piece.
Speaking of comics, I did get to see 300 this weekend. I had never read the comic but I liked the movie. I didn't splurge for the IMAX though.
Hope everyone had a fun and safe St. Patrick's day and didn't get too drunk off of cheap green wine that cost $2.50 a bottle but since it was green it was on sale for $2.00. Oh wait that was me and notice it's still under $10!

Been watching: The Winner, Dead Like Me
Just saw: Lemony Snicketts and a Series of Unfortunate Events

I fixed it. I think.

Okay, I fixed it. Apparently my browser sucked. So now in order to post I had to get Firefox as recommended by the blogger support staff. It's a bit of a pain to have to log into it but at least I can sign into blogger without having to wait two hours or leave a comment. And I can now post something other than just a really long title. Now onto the excitement.

I would have fixed this stupid thing yesterday but I was too busy having a rockin' time. Jenni and I, along with the rest of my adoptive family, went to see RENT! The show kicked butt and the theater was beautiful aside from the tiny rows that didn't allow for short little me to cross my legs without kneeing someone in the head. I felt even worse for Jenni and family because they are quite a bit taller than me so their long legs were wedged against the seats. Of course I fell asleep the night before without somewhat straightening my hair thus it was so huge I was afraid I would knock out the person behind of me. The rows were just that small. Anyway, we were all too busy loving the show to worry about the seating. I laughed, I cried, I tried really hard not to sing along. Needless to say I can't rave about it enough and I don't want this to be a novel length post so I'll leave it at that. I will add that the best part by far was the company.

So this week wasn't a very productive one as far as writing goes. I did however get more done than last week. I did a few submissions and I finally got some down time at work which I used to update my personal journal about all the chaos of the last few weeks.
Also, I started editing a story that I would like to start subbing. It needs a lot of work. It had a horrible opening line and paragraph, several grammatical errors and the tense I wrote it in was not consistent. Goodness.
And unless you count all the awkwardness and ignorance that occurred at work this week and spending time with Jenni, I did not get any work done on Behind the Naugahyde.

I did manage to see Ghost Rider last weekend. I haven't really read too many comics with Ghost Rider so I'm not sure how the movie compared. I do imagine that the penance stare is cool in the comic books but it doesn't really translate well onto the big screen as the big finish for beating an evil villain in an action movie. I was impressed that Roxie didn't just sit around waiting to be rescued(Don't want to spoil anything). Over all I'd say it was a pretty decent movie.

New schedule

I have gotten absolutely nothing done this week, not even submissions. I know, the shame, the shame. This new work schedule is kicking my butt. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually. I'm already starting to adapt. By next week I'll be back on track.
And I didn't manage to use any of that joyous down time at work that I bragged about. While the store does have very few customers, the lady that ran the store before me left it looking like crap. So I've been rearranging and reorganizing everything. I'd explain it all but that's a super boring story. I didn't want to live it and nobody else wants to read it.

Good bye to where it all began

Am I the only person that just can't sign into blogger. If I try the regular 'sign in' page it takes hours to load and today I tried signing in by leaving a comment. It told me I had an incorrect password for twelve tries so finally I gave up and came back later. It's just becoming a big pain.

Enough complaining.

Good news, Jenni and I managed to get chapters 10, 11, & 12 of Behind the Naugahyde planned. From what I hear Jenni has already got a big chunk of hers done and well, I haven't started.
On a sad note about Naugahyde, tomorrow will be the last day that I will work in the store that started it all. The store where I met Jenni, the store that had all the crazy customers and employees that may or may not have inspired the novel, the store with the ugly, green, Naugahyde curtains.
I'll still be employed by the same company and there is always a chance that I could end back at the other store for a short or long period of time for various reasons. And to be honest the store really hasn't been the same in a long while. Still, it's sad to think about it. The other store is lonely, it has very few customers and I think they are a different kind of customer, I'm not sure yet. Most of all they only have one stock room/wall with one entrance and it has a fabric curtain, not Naugahyde.

Sci-fi stories and work drama.

I haven't gotten much done this week. I did my obligatory submissions on Sunday but not much else. I guess I thought I would take a small break since I just got done writing a novel. Ideas for my next project are in the works. My plan is to write a sci-fi/fantasy story. I know I'm a genre hopper but I don't want to get stuck in a rut and to be honest I'm not entirely sure what genre I would want to write exclusively. I read everything and I want to write everything.

I had been reading sci-fi short stories trying to get inspired for an idea but I wasn't having a lot of luck. Then I started thinking about the awesome Jenni, fellow author of Behind the Naugahyde. It was her strong belief in animal rights that got me thinking about this idea. I'll give more details when I figure them out but for now I must keep everyone in suspense.

Aside from vague descriptions of sci-fi stories I don't really have much else to say about writing for now.

I am excited that next Monday I will start a new job but really it's still my old job. I'm moving to a different location where I will have no one to talk to and little work to do so I will have plenty of time for writing and reading.
The drama leading up to the new position has been so ridiculous that the sequel to Behind the Naugahyde has pretty much written itself.

Lets hope next week involves less madness and more writing.

It's done, finally

It's been 3 months and 15 days. A little over schedule, well a lot over schedule depending on which goal we consider. My Nanowrimo goal, Nanofimo or just to finish in three months. Anyway it matters no more because after 98497 words, I am finished with my still untitled novel! Yay!
I really have no idea what to do with it. For now I will let it sit and then I'll go back. Hopefully I won't realize that it is all crap but that's most likely what it is.
Now I think I'm going to write a sci-fi/fantasy short story for a little change of pace. Then I hope to make some edits to my comic book script and figure out something to do with it.
And hopefully I will talk to Jenni soon and we can start planning the next chapters of Behind the Naugahyde.

Just watched: The Office, Scrubs, 30 Rock
Just saw: Hannibal Rising
Just read: Dark Tower-The Gunslinger Born #1

A pleasant surprise

After doing my submissions yesterday I decided to check my e-mail one more time before I headed to bed. I was surprised to see Jenni had sent me her part of chapters 8 and 9 of Behind the Naugahyde! So I stayed up and read them. They were so awesome and I'm so excited about them. And I now I'll go through and make comments and fix the things in my part that Jenni noted. We're planning on finding time this week to plan the next chapters. YAY!

I also got a mailbox full of rejection today. One of the editors said that my story couldn't have been more depressing, however it was interesting but I should try not to use so many "thens". At least I learned something, right?
Well not really. I just searched the document. Out of 880 words I used "then" twice!

Only one great line

Tonight I finished my part of chapter 9 of Behind the Naugahyde. It's weird because the idea for Behind the Naugahyde really came from how much Jenni and I wrote about our jobs in e-mails and on live journal. We started thinking we could write a novel.
I just told Jenni this recently, but when we started and even now, I felt this horrible pressure about writing my part. Jenni would always have an amazing way of dramatically retelling stories. There were so many times when the muscles in my face would hurt from laughing so hard. I, on the other hand, wasn't so clever at writing them. I knew Jenni's part would be fabulous and mine would not be. For what we've gotten done, that is true.
Sometimes it scares me that I feel so much pressure about writing. This isn't the first time I've felt pressure to make something good. Of course all authors want to write great things so I'm sure I'm not alone.
The first time I remember having this incredible pressure to write something was in my tenth grade American Lit class. We had to write a poem for some reason, I don't really remember. It was one of those on the spot assignments that I absolutely hate. Anyway, I wrote the first line "She's in love with herself". My teacher came by and just started raving about what a great line that was. "It's a beautiful opening line. It's so powerful. I instantly want to know more about her." That' probably not what she said word for word but it was similar to that. Of course the first line was the only line I had and then I just became run over with this pressure to write lines that were equally great. I sat there forever trying to figure out what else to say about her that would be powerful, something that wouldn't disappoint the people that wanted to know more, like my teacher. Well time was up so I scribbled down a few meaningless lines about how she thinks she's all that, I can't even remember them now. I turned it in completely heartbroken that I had only one good line and that I my never have a series of great lines that make an unforgettable work of art.
I don't know what I ever did with that piece of paper. I'm sure I threw it out because it was awful and I didn't need the constant reminder that I cracked under pressure. Also I think I'm a bit of a coward and don't want to have it sitting around. I might be tempted to try to see what I would have come up with if I wasn't under the pressure of the time restraint. Of course I would always be under pressure with that line because my teacher had put that comment out there and because I want every line of everything I write to be one of those great lines.

Saving and signing in

I never knew what auto recovery was or that I had it turned on until I wrote for two hours last night and then my computer froze. It decided to shut down Word and take all my unsaved writing with it.
After a search on the Internet I found out that there is an auto recovery option for Word files but I was certain I had never turned it on. Apparently it was set to save every ten minutes anyway so I only lost a paragraph. Yay!
And no the novel still isn't done yet.

I would have posted this last night or earlier today but ever since the new blogger happened it takes me a year to get on to the "sign in" page. It wasn't until I was on someone else's comment page where I needed to sign in so that I could comment that I figured out I could go right to my blog and post since I was already signed in from posting the comment. It's depressing to think of the time I wasted trying to sign on before I figured that one out.
All the time I tried to sign in and failed I kept thinking of the Slowsky's. Those cute little turtles that prefer DSL to cable Internet because they like things to be slow. I love them.

It's kind of cold

Goodness, it's cold and I mean 5 below actual temp cold with a wind chill of negative 25. That's what I mean by cold. But I'm not complaining. I prefer this over the heat waves of summer. In fact it's the perfect weather to sit inside and finally finish my NaNo novel because I haven't done that yet. So close though, so close.
I did work on Behind the Naugahyde, which is kind of my Saturday thing. After working and dealing with loony customers each and every Saturday it's quite easy to come home and write about loony customers. I also re-read the whole chapter seven and sent some notes of to Jenni.
Today I worked on submissions and they were boring as usual.
That's been about it this weekend. I didn't get too much done because I had to work both Saturday and Sunday despite the advisory to not leave your house. Why can't they cancel work the way they cancel school? Oh well, I have tomorrow off and hopefully I will finish my novel.

Recently watched: Capote
Listening to: Barenaked Ladies-Are Me

Lucky number 7

What a day?! The release date for the 7th and final Harry Potter book was announced today. Coincidentally, it was on the same day that Jenni sent me a completed (but not yet edited) edition of chapter 7 of Behind the Naugahyde. Is it the universe's way of trying to intertwine the fates of great books present and future? Probably not, but both things happening have made my day super exciting. (Anyone else think it's odd that Jenni made one of these great things happen and J.K. Rowling made the other. That's two J's folks go ahead and count them. Sorry I'll stop now. Unless I think of something else like that if you combine "Behind the Naugahyde and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" there are 7 H's within. And yes I know it's sad that I counted those.)

I got a chance to read the completed chapter of Behind the Naugahyde and now I'm making some notes and Jenni will make some notes. Then we'll combine minds to either act or not act on particular notes. Then we'll do the acting or not acting. After that it's on to chapter 8.
As for the Deathly Hallows release date I am excited but also bummed since it will be the end and of course I'm naturally always bummed that I am not the author. I will still count down in great anticipation and will be in line at midnight on July 21. The store I bought the last three at is out of business so I'll either have to brave the long line at some giant store or find another independent store. And no I don't care if it cost more. Also I will have to ask for the Friday and Saturday off of work. On Friday there will be all kinds of festivities which I cannot miss and I need Saturday to read the book before someone ruins it for me. And someone will because mean people do that.

So it's been an exciting day for me. I made it to the library and found the book I was looking for. I actually ended up going to the branch in the richer part of the capital district which was lacking in parent-free children but was not void of snotty librarians. Not that I'm complaining. It's more of a comment. I could never complain about a place that lends me numerous amounts of books for free. I love that!

Library blues

Wow! I cannot believe January is now over. And no my NaNo novel is not finished but I'm so close that it's really shameful. If I had just worked a little harder on any given day I could have been done with it in three months but no need to dwell. I'll get over it. And finish it, by the end of this week.

I think I'll make another trip to the library tomorrow. A different branch. There's actually one within walking distance off my house but when I'm there I feel like I'm in a day care. The parent to child ratio is discouraging. I almost think parents drop their children off thinking who's going to kidnap them in a library. And it's horrible if that really is their only alternative or if they have other choices and that's what they go with.
The downtown library is better. Although most of the library has started to become consumed by the DVD section. It's depressing to see it change but I'm sure I'm not the first person nor will I be the last to hate to see something change. I just try hard to remember it the way it was. When I was younger I loved the library. My grandma would walk with me to the library every week. I remember having a goal of reading every book in it. And I used to picture that all the souls of the people in the books came out at night and haunted it. I don't think even now that I'll ever be able to stay in a library at night by myself.
Although if it does become completely dominated by DVD's I might be okay. I don't really get weirded out by video stores.

Just watched: The Devil Wears Prada (and no I did not borrow it from the library.)

You don't need THAT

One more day left in January and I'm not quite done with my NaNo novel so I guess my deadline has been bumped to the end of the week. Of course I do have tomorrow off from work and miracles can happen. After all this is my fourth day in a row of posting so you just never know.
I did learn something today while reading the last bit of my NaNo novel. I had to go back and read the last part I wrote because I couldn't remember exactly where I left off. And yes I'm pretty sure that's a bad thing but oh well. Anyway back to the thing I learned. You really don't need that as much as you think. I write the word that all the time. Way too much to be exact.
I've decided that I can't stand the word that.
See I could have just said that I've decided I can't stand the word that.
And in the last sentence all I need to say was that I could have just said I've decided....
Once again there was no need for that in the last sentence. I could have kept going on but it would never end.
So I learned something new. I can eliminate a good chunk of my word count if I just go through and take out some thats and when NaNoWriMo time comes around I will put that in every sentence and then edit them out in NaNoEdMo.

My trip to the libraries

Yet another post, goodness. I actually don't have much to say about writing today it's all more about reading.
I went to the library today, well two different branches of the Capital Area District Library. Originally I was searching for a few sci-fi/fantasy books because I'm thinking of writing a science fiction/fantasy story to enter into a contest. I haven't read much sci-fi fantasy although I've watched a lot of it. And I did write an eight page script for a sci-fi/western comic once. Although nothing ever happened with that. Anyway, I thought I should read a bit but I couldn't find any of the books I had in mind and I'm really horrible at just picking a book by looking at it so I ended up with nothing in that department.
I did however think to ask if they had a copy of Hannibal Rising. There are 37 copies in the CADL libraries and only two were available one of which was at the second branch I visited but was the first I asked if they had it. The other was at the first branch I visited but hadn't thought to look and/or ask for it. What are the odds? I think there are like maybe ten branches, give or take a few. Anyway, I've read all the other books by Thomas Harris except for his first book that isn't connected to the others. I liked them all but was a little bit disappointed in the way Hannibal ended. I won't go into details in case someone hasn't read it but it did not end like the movie.
I actually bought the first three for a dollar at a used book store that was going out of business. This was long after I had actually read them but I thought I might want to read them again one day so I picked them up. I couldn't afford to buy the hardcover of Hannibal Rising and wasn't sure I wanted to so I checked it out. Maybe I'll buy it one day if I like it.
And I can't even believe it already has a movie coming out.
I also checked out the trade paperbacks at the library but there wasn't anything that I didn't already have that I would be interested in reading. I have bookshelves of TPBs and I haven't even made a dent in reading them. At least now I have something to feed my comic book need while I'm insufficiently funded to buy new comic books right now. I'll just have very little idea of what's going on currently. It'll be annoying but I'll be okay. I think.

Just watched: Heroes

It's kind of like a weekly update

If I'm not going to post everyday I should come up with a better posting schedule. Sometimes I don't post for a week and then I post two days in a row. That's okay I like to be unpredictable.
Once again it is Sunday and I kind of felt like giving a weekly update on my writing since I didn't post much this week.
Since today was Sunday it was submission day. Sometimes submissions remind me of preparation for the SAS shoe sale. For those of you who have never worked in a particular crappy shoe store this is what it includes. It starts with going through the computer system and trying to find anyone who has bought an SAS in the last six months but isn't on the list and put them on the list. This may or may not include looking up the address in the phone book and/or fixing several errors. Also you want to keep an eye out for customers who haven't shopped there in years and remove them because they've mostly likely passed away and their family will call or even come in and complain that you sent mail to the deceased and that conversation is not pleasant. I think of that part as looking up different companies and then doing research to make sure my story would fit and trying to avoid letters that have rude comments about how I clearly didn't look into guidelines. After that comes the best part. Folding, stuff, sealing, labeling and sorting by zip code over 3,000 envelopes and if you're lucky your boss will get them at a reasonable time so it doesn't have to be done in four days (but you're not lucky). Needless to say that part reminds me of printing, folding, stuffing, sealing, addressing and recording all submissions.
Speaking of ridiculous tales about a shoe store, I did work on Behind the Naugahyde this week. I try to make Saturdays my Behind the Naugahyde day but I got sidetracked with blog reading yesterday so I didn't get as much done as I hoped. I did however get a surprise visit from the awesome Jenni while I was working at the previously mentioned crappy shoe store.
I'm still attempting to finish my still not titled NaNo novel before January's over. It can be done but if not, I'm certain it will be done by the end of the week which won't be too far off target, only about two months and three days.

Just watched: the Simpsons (yay! Bartman), King of the Hill(yay! Dale Gribble who has a freakishly scary resemblance to my dad) and Family Guy (yay! Rupert they really don't feature him enough)
Currently reading: Illness as a Metaphor and AIDS as a Metaphor by Susan Sontag

Real Life, Not Fiction

I know there are sometimes when I don't post too often but I really hate to write a post just to post something. I take writing very seriously and I attempt to put a lot of thought into things before I let others read them.
Usually I post about what I'm writing. The story that I'm working on right now is one of those stories that is more non-fiction than fiction. I like to use fiction to write about my life rather than posting it here. Many people may not care about the boring life I lead but I feel vulnerable sharing my personal life with random strangers that may happen by this blog. There are lots of reasons I feel this way and to share them would be putting myself out there, which is exactly what I hate to do.
There are people who are willing to put themselves out there and share the most personal things about themselves. They are not like me. I hide bits and pieces of my life in fiction because there people don't know if that's what really happened to me and if that's I really felt. They don't know if it's the truth or some tale that my mind weaved.
Anyway, I hope anyone reading this is still with me because there's a reason for this post, I swear. I read a blog today that was written by someone who did not hide behind fiction but was brave enough to tell an unbelievable but very true story. Read it if you get a chance. Start at the "fire" entries. It may take a while to read through all of it but it's worth it.

Here's the plan

My NaNo novel should be done by the end of January. I'm nearly finished and I definitely think it's a realistic goal even though I did absolutely no work on it today. I know I'm super far behind but the last three months have been crazy hectic. To be honest I'm surprised I wrote anything at all. Besides most books about writing say three months is average time for writing a book and I know there are authors that have taken a lot longer than that.

Anyway, as I get closer to the end of a project that has consumed my writing time for the last three months I wonder what I will do when I'm done. Obviously, I'll continue to work with Jenni on Behind the Naugahyde but that isn't something I can work on non-stop because it requires communication between Jenni and I.
There is a novel I've been thinking about that I'm sure I've mentioned it before. Not by title or by idea just that it's a book that is about a very serious topic and that I'm scared to write it. That hasn't changed, I'm still scared to write it. And I think it's time is coming but not just yet. I think I'm going to take a quick break from novel writing and work on a few other things. The first being my comic script that I had come up with a million changes for during NaNo months. There is also a short story contest that I'm interested in entering. I don't have any current works that would qualify so I'm thinking of writing something specifically for it. I'll need to do a little research so I'll know what they're looking for and then I'll decide on that. And of course, I'll work on Behind the Naugahyde.
That's the tentative plan for now. Tomorrow's my day off so I hope to take out a big chunk of my NaNo novel. Then maybe when I'm finished I can come up with a title so I can stop calling it NaNo novel.

Also I just want to thank everyone who's been reading lately and leaving really great comments. I appreciate them but I often feel pressure about responding to them because I can never think of anything to say that might be good enough. Just know that I love them. And from now on I'm going to try hard to respond to them. Thanks!

And speaking of giving thanks don't forget that tomorrow is Hug A Writer Day!

Submitting

This weekend Jenni and I have been working super hard on Behind the Naugahyde. I finished my part of chapter 8 and Jenni is coming along well on her part while also managing to educate our future leaders which is a super tough job. YAY Jenni!
My office is now clean, well, organized, I guess. I'm sure it won't stay that way for long but I sure do feel like I get more done when I can find what I'm looking for.
Today was once again submission day. I try to do those every Sunday. They are my absolute least favorite part of trying to be published. Creating a story is the best, editing is somewhere in the middle and then at the very bottom is submissions but if you want to be heard you have to send them out.
So I sat at my desk and sent out boring submissions. Just so everyone has some idea how boring and time consuming it is let me share the process.
After writing a story and doing tons of editing I am ready for submissions. I usually start with my Writer's Market but once I've went through that I search around on-line. I figure out what genre my story would qualify as and how many words it's got then I go through Writer's Market and find companies that the story might qualify for. Then I go to their website if possible, try to read samples and makes sure that my story does qualify. I also check my previous submission list and make sure I haven't sent another story to them in case they do not accept multiple submissions. Then, if I've already sent the story to another company I make sure they accept simultaneous submissions. I also check to make sure they are currently taking submissions since a lot of publications are run by universities and only accept manuscripts during the school year. After that I format the script to their guidelines, write a cover letter and ship it off hopefully by e-mail but usually by snail mail. Once I'm done I put it in my submission log so I don't send it to the same place twice and for several other reasons.
It's not all that boring though. I've had several occasions when I realize that I wrote the wrong story name in the cover letter, wrote the wrong publication name in the letter, or spelled the editors name wrong. I've also stapled the pages together upside down (although I've heard you're not suppose to staple the manuscript at all so I've stopped). Also, I've written on the envelopes so that they were upside down and I can't count how many times I've accidentally written Ashley Review on my Self-address stamped envelope just because I'm so use to writing " _________ Review". Sometimes I catch it but I'm certain other times I don't. It's okay though because I like to pretend that all the magazines didn't except my story because I made some stupid mistake and not because my story was crap. It was probably a combination of both but I can pretend. I am a fiction writer after all.

Just saw: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Just watched: last week's episode of Smallville

Antagonizing

Every time someone post a link to my blog on their blog I feel this horrible pressure to write a really great post. I know that my writing a great post isn't going to happen but that doesn't mean I don't feel the pressure.

My novel for NaNoWriMo which turned into my NaNoFiMo and well is still not quite done, is a novel about a writer. It's a novel about a writer who struggles with the pressure of writing well and about how everyday things in life inspire creative fiction. The short stories that the writer writes are all different but they all have one thing in common, human antagonist.
I've been reading about antagonist and their role in current fiction. What I've found is that most commercial fiction have human antagonist. Literary fiction can be woman vs. nature or woman vs. herself but it's not likely to sell. If you want a book that sells you better have a villain of sorts.
Does that mean the literary books aren't worth writing? I guess it depends on why you write. For me, the person I struggle with most in my life is myself so I like literary fiction. The reason I write is for me, not for money, so when it comes time to decide what to do with my novel I don't think I'll just break it into the short stories and ship them off. I know that means that the book doesn't have much of a future but oh well, for me it's been the therapy I can't afford and maybe it will mean something to someone else so I'll try my best to let others read it. Although, if I read it in a few months when I'm ready to make edits and find that the short stories can be saved but the internal battle of the writer is horrible than maybe it will see a different fate.

Anyway, this all got me thinking about my bad blog posts. I write on here about my struggle to be an okay writer. It's a battle with myself. Maybe that's why few stick around to read it. Maybe I need to come up with some crazy menacing villain who is trying to hold me back from writing.
I'm sure I could think of a few humans that could be considered my antagonist like my family and people who call themselves my friends, the publishers that won't publish me and the people that keep comic books a male dominated industry. Maybe then more people would come back to read.
The thing is that there isn't a person that keeps me from writing. I'm very fortunate to not be trapped behind the bars in the yellow wallpaper. Maybe these people keep me from being published but not from writing. I would like to get published and I do write about how I am trying to get published but it's the writing that matters. I won't get published if I don't write and if I don't do it well. So it is the blank page that is the antagonist on this blog and maybe a crazy villain will appear from time to time. Does this mean that people won't come in flocks to see my blog? Probably, but that's okay because this blog is for me.
I don't have anyone near me (oh Jenni why did you leave me?) to sit and talk to about writing. To be honest they don't really care but my blog cares. That's why it's here. Read it if you want to.

Book search

Today I spent nearly an hour in a book store looking for a book. A particular book but not a particular book, if that makes any sense. It wasn't a book I was even sure existed. What I wanted was a book, preferably humorous, about people at work. And by work I don't mean jobs like police detectives because I'm sure that wouldn't be hard to find, although not necessarily in the humor department. I was thinking more like entry level or slightly above and in the customer service field would be even better. Off the top of my head I can think of a bunch of T.V. shows and movies but I couldn't think of one book. I spent today looking and even asking the store employees and I came up with nothing.
I'm not sure if that's good or bad. In general, that's what Behind the Naugahyde would be. On the bright side there's not much competition. On the bad side maybe it's because no one would want to read it. Although, the second option I must refuse to believe.

Anyway, I was trying to work on Behind the Naugahyde this weekend but my crappy note taking or the lack there of, had me sending an e-mail to Jenni asking to borrow her notes. I must remind her of one of her high school students.

Also, I'm trying to make Sundays my days for working on my submissions. So that's what I did today. I also got maybe 300 words written in the novel from the NaNo months that I'm still trying to finish.

Hopefully, I'll get a ton of stuff done tomorrow. I have the day off and there is suppose to be a bad winter storm over night. It's an ice and freezing rain storm so I doubt there will be any snow to play in. That will leave me plenty of time to stay in and write.

ConTEMPLATEing

I've bee considering change my template for a few reasons. One of them is that I will be able to use some of the features on new blogger and the other is because I honestly have no clue why I have my current template. I'm not really picky about the set up of my blog so that isn't my concern. I'm just not sure why I picked the color scheme. Not that I hate it or anything it's just that I usually chose red when given a choice. So either red wasn't available, I missed it, or I hated it for some reason. It was so long ago I honestly don't remember.
Anyway, I'm thinking I might change it so that I can have a list of my labels and as motivation to finally make a list of links to all the blogs I read since I'll have to redo all my links. If I do change it I'm torn because they do have an updated version of the template that I have now or I can get something new. Decisions.

In other news, I got my first rejection notice of the year but it wasn't from a submission I sent this year so I'm not sure what it counts as and it really doesn't matter anyway. Jenni and I also got a rejection from an agent (sorry I forgot to mention that in my e-mail Jenni) and that was sent out last year too. Lets hope submissions sent out in 2007 have a little more luck.