Spider...

I weave characters by day...
Spin plot lines at night...
I form a web of lies and deciet, masked in letters...
Ink is my thread...
Paper is my foundation...
I ensnsare readers in my creation...

Still Short...

Guck...

Relatives here... Love them very much, but not feeling well...

Short...

Not feeling well.

Updated "Mutts" on Fictionpress...

Murder...

Hehe... I killed my second-cousin-twice-removed... Hehe...

Kidding. For Christmas, my dad gave me the PC game "Agatha Cristie's: Murder on the Orient Express." Pretty fun stuff. It was a little frustrating to have to search every room on the train for something that was in my character's own room the whole time, but such is life...

Hehe... My brother's turkey just blew up... Don't ask.

Anyway, drew a picture of my two main characters - Bane and Meirzen - and each has three of the more important subservant characters in their storylines nearby. It's all together like those movie posters that have elements of the storyline. Mine just has people, though I was thinking about adding key objects. Maybe a horse and rope on Meirzen's and a ball and fire on Bane's... Or not... I'm always afraid of messing my work up. And I already did a killer shading job (or at least I think it is - my shading skill is nada) on this, so I suppose I should be content for now... I'll try and get it posted up here somehow.

Word counts...

YAY! I did a word count on my novel-to-be... I had to add up all the word counts of all the chapters since I have them all on different files... But it was all worth it because...

I HAVE A TOTAL WORD COUNT OF OVER 27,000! I'm halfway to 50,000 (minimum length for your average novel) and I only have 10 stinkin' chapters! *whoot*

Yeah, anyway, I am pumped. Nothing more to say.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

or happy whatever holiday you celebrate...

*sigh* Got a fabulous new keyboard (wireless, that weird bent thing where it is more comfortable for your hands, came with a mouse... the whole shebang) and what do you know, it doesn't work on my personal computer... So I am using it on my parents' computer and life is tough...

*sigh once again*

Ah well, I intend to buy myself a used laptop tomorrow, when everyone and their cousin is going to be getting rid of their old laptop. So yeah, I don't know if my parents should even bother to get me a new keyboard... I want the laptop in addition to my desktop so that I can have mobility. I don't care if it is new or whatever: I just want it to have word processing capabilities. I got sick of retyping things I had written on paper, so I intend to write my entire second draft of my novel on the computer.

Merry Christmas (or whatever) once again...

Hercules and Cleaning...

Call IX -I - I !! Absolutely laughed my butt off last night watching Disney's Hercules. Some of the jokes (that one included) are actually Roman in nature, despite the movie's claim to be Greek. (ex. "who puts the 'glad' in 'gladiator'" - gladiator comes from the Latin root "gladios", meaning sword) And they messed up some of the heroes and stories and gods. But hey, it's funny, no?

Loved that movie. Like RSC, you can enjoy it even if you know nothing about the source material, and love it even more if you actually do know something.

*blank stare*

Just finished up 3 hours of cleaning up my basement... We got nearly a third done in just that time. We still have a lot to do, but we did a heck of a job if you ask me.

But now I am tired. Geez, exhaustion seems to be following me around like a leech.

*zombie stare*

*emerges from grave of wrapping paper*

11:00... and ... still ... wrapping... (granted, we didn't start until about 9:30, so don't go ragging on us about the commercialization of Christmas. Yes it is a concern. But I am a tired zombie person right now, so don't bring it up with me... I might smite you...) We actually aren't giving many presents, but presents seem to take forever to wrap...

*drools and slouches away*

Writing a Monster...

How do you write an innocent monster? So far I haven't found any instruction manuals and the only thing similar is Frankenstein's monster. But while he is a monster on the outside, my character is a monster on the inside.

I think I am doing fairly well. He may do horrible things, but he is still completely innocent. He doesn't understand why what he has done is wrong. He doesn't try to justify his actions by thinking it is for the good of all. He does it to satisfy himself and doesn't understand why everyone else gets upset.

Anyway, I am writing his chapter now and I think that in his innocence, he is an endearing character. Of course, other people could hate him horribly, but I like him and I guess that is what matters. I wouldn't write a character that I hate.

Still Exhausted, Inheritance News...

Yes, I am still haunted by that monster that is fatigue. And as brevity is the soul of wit (and saves my fingers the effort of typing), I shall be brief...

News on the "Inheritance Trilogy" (beginning with Eragon, etc.): it is no longer a trilogy. It is to become a cycle, with four books rather than three. (not that this is news to any diehard Inheritance fan, which I am not ashamed to say that I am not...)

Don't knock me for being an Eragon reader. I am torn between loving and hating the books, depending on when I am reading them. But in any state of mind, I hate the time spent with the elves in "Eldest." I just do. And I am sick of Eragon making an ass of himself over Arya. *bleh*

I dunno. It depends on my mood...

Deletion and Exhaustion...

I do believe I am to delete yet another character from my book. *sigh*

I am too exhausted to write more.

Exams, Katharine Kerr and a writing dilemma...

Today's exams were so incredibly, ridiculously easy it defies belierf. Now I have time to dread tomorrow's. History... *bleh*

A really excellent author that I have dicovered is Katharine Kerr. She writes Celtic fantasy and does so incredibly well. It confused me the first time I read one of her books because her characters reincarnate and at the beginning of the book, they had one manifestation and then in the next chapter they had a new manifestation. But you catch on pretty quickly and the books are great. I haven't read many yet, but the ones I have are highly original and I recommend her as an author.

I now face a dilemma... I have to figure out how to kill time in one of my chapters for my character Bane. He has found a new home, among loving people, except for the fact that they are rebels and he is only slowly realizing it. But I have to figure out how to write him living a normal life until he begins to notice strange things.

Actually, having written the above out, I suddenly came up with an idea... Maybe I am not faced with a problem... Hmmm...

100 kinds of Mutts...

Don't have much time to write, considering I must go study for my next exams tomorrow. But if you are looking for something to read by me, go to my Fictionpress account and check out my new additions to my Mutt story... You will read and you will enjoy.

Life is crazy...

Exams are insane. Mine start tomorrow, so, while I will update everyday, don't expect much bulk... But Friday I am home free and the blog will be inundated with my life.

Anyhoo, I came up with the most fabulous idea for one of my characters that would kill time. All of my character's lives are moving at a fairly similar rate in the story, but while two characters' lives will take some time to explain a bit, the third's has a lull of about six months story time. So I came up with a time-killer that will ultimately end up tying the story closer together. At least, that is the plan...

Wrote another two of my Mutt stories, but I'm cutting into study time right now, so I should get offline.

Writing Advice, Steroids and Stress... the triple threat

To any writer out there who might be reading this, I hugely recommend the book "Stein on Writing, " by Sol Stein. It is honestly the best book on writing that I have ever read (for fiction or nonfiction) along with "Revision" by Kit Reed. These two books are absolutely fabulous. These are books that I would definitely recommend buying.

Anyway, I was listening to the radion on my way to school yesterday morning and they were talking about steroids in sports and how competitive parents can somtimes influence their kids into taking steroids.

I hate those parents that expect perfection out of their kids. Perfect grades, always winning in the twelves sports they play, talented in every thing that they might ever do. It is insane.

The suicide rate in Japan is crazy. So much is expected of them in their schools and jobs that if they fail, they feel that they have disgraced their family and sometimes they're under such stress that their kill themselves.

I don't know what the suicide rate is among kinds with perfectionist parents, but I'm sure that it is probably pretty high. I hold myself up to really high standards in school and the stress that I impose on myself is crazy. I have never been so tired doing a school year as this year. Seriously, I sleep whenever possible.

The Promished Long Story...

(yes, last post was one big sentence and a little one... shoulda made it all one big one... ah well)

K, in drama class, we are currently doing a project in which I, along with a few other students, are directors, while all the other students are actors. The directors were given choices of short sections from longer plays (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Waiting for Godot, etc.) and had to cast their plays and direct and all that good stuff. It has been an absolute blast.

I have the smallest cast - only two - as I am doing a seven or so minute clip of 'Waiting for Godot'. My two people are the best cast you could ask to have. Line check (when all is needed is memorization - not even expression is requiered) was over three weeks ago and they had their blocking down by then. They were acting for line check! *huggles them*

So from then on, we have had pretty fun practices. With over an hour and a half per class and the play only being 7 minutes long, we have either enough time to do an enormous amount of acting or a little acting and a little fun. Usually it is the latter.

So last class, we did the play about 4 times and then were bored. So we began to take apart the room and put it back together. When we act, we take all of the tables (we have long tables rather than individual desks) from one side of the room, shove them among those on the other side and stack up all of the chairs so that we have an entire side wall of the classroom free to work against.

We did it again and again, doing it faster and faster. We had it down to a system. Then we found a stopwatch and began to time ourselves.

Practice was nearing its end and another group came in to see what we were doing. We handed them the stopwatch and told them to hit the stop/start button when we told them. Start . Scramble - thump - thump. Stop.

12.01 seconds to take the room apart. 12.01 seconds to move 3 tables across the room to park between the other tables and to take 12 chairs and stack them up to sit in a corner. 12.01 seconds for three people to accomplish this.

Then we had them time us putting it back together. Start. Scramble - thump - thump. Stop.

14.26 seconds to put the room back together. 14.26 seconds to move everything back to its alloted place, pressed against the wall and chairs tucked in.

We went crazy. We were high-fiving and hugging and screaming, all while the other group was standing there looking at us as if we were insane. We probably were. But let me tell you, doing that over and over again is good exercise. We were hot and sweaty and we felt good.

I highly recommend that for fun if your teachers don't mind you taking apart their classrooms. *shifty eyes*

Yes, yes, t'was fun. And now the final performance approaches and we prepare to blow away all competition. *limbers up* Seriously, I do think that we have the best cast, barring maybe one, and I am not just saying that because I am the director.

Yup, yup, yup. Wish us luck!

Not much time...

I had a big long story to tell, but I have to leave soon for the night and I didn't want to miss another day and so this is a post mostly for me and not really for you, but I still hope you enjoy it even though it is nothing really to read on account of the fact that I have no time and am posting only so that I don't miss another day...

Notice something missing?

*gasp* I missed a day...

Have currently finished 5 chapters and am moving on to the 6th! Yay! Also I am working on a story for my little sister's Christmas gift: I'm going to bind her a little book... AND I have to work on typing out an old story for my grandmother's birthday in February - I wrote it when I was very little and she loved it, and so she wants a copy, but it was all written in long-hand.

Anywho, must get back to work...

Victory...

Psh, you thought that you had heard the sports stories of incredible odds... Just wait to you hear this one...

Fitz looked up at the scoreboard. 29 to 9. They had lost. But it didn’t matter to her. She was proud of her team.

The team had been formed on short notice. The board announced that there was to be a scrimmage with another private school – playing their varsity team - in a week or so. A draft quickly began. The board had accepted the challenge without really considering whether or not the kids would be interested or willing to play. So kids were coerced into playing, having had their arms twisted by various adults.

Fitz hadn’t played basketball in over two years and even then she had been on a team for one day. (she had quit because of the scariness of the boys… she had been the only girl…) So when she was drafted because of her height, she was rather bitter. But finally she decided that it would be the best thing for the school – school spirit and all that – so she finally agreed, albeit reluctantly. The final count for the teams were 7 for the boys’ and 7 for the girls’. 7 against 20.

The teams – the boys’ and the girls’ – were finally formed on Tuesday. Practices were announced to be on Wednesday and Thursday and the game would be on Friday.

Fitz missed the first practice, as did many of the girls. So when Thursday rolled around, most of them were learning how to play basketball for the very first time – Fitz included. Practice lasted for two hours. Two hours to learn how to beat the varsity team.

Uniforms were ordered, but they were to arrive on Friday at 5 p.m. It was thought that the game would be at 6:30, but then it was moved to 4. But the printers came through and they delivered the uniforms at 1.

Friday arrived. A pep rally was held, with food and karaoke as well (the karaoke was bad… most of the boys can’t sing at all… the entire school laughed a lot)

The teams reached the gym of the other school. The girls’ game was to be first. There was a great deal of anxiety as they practiced. Most of the girls were horrible shots – they had only learned the night before.

When the game began, the team was timid. When breaks were called, the coach was teaching them how to play. They were learning by total immersion.

The first quarter ended 18 to 0. It looked hopeless. Half-time was 20 to 0. But by the third quarter, the team began to understand how it was done. Their defense became formidable. The other team’s scoring slowed. Fitz’s teammate Brownie was short, but fierce. She scored the first point. Bammi, another on Fitz’s team, began to score. The score rose. Fitz even scored a basket, despite her hopeless shooting ability.

Then Bammi fell. Her ankle seemed shot. The team feared that she had broken it. But then the news came that she was fine. The ankle was sprained. Bammi was out for the game but the bones were whole.

Fitz’s teams’ subs came only when a player was desperate. There were only two players to spare at any one time. The other team could switch out their entire team whenever they wanted.

Heather was the fantastic dribbler. Anna played defense. Megan was all over the other players. Michelle played nearly all of the game. They were learning how to play as they went. The coach would call a timeout whenever possible to show them a technique. They were getting it.

Final score: 29 to 9. But the team didn’t care. They had come from 20 to 0 at halftime to 29 to 9. They still lost by 20 points, but they blocked the 70 or more other shots that the other team had taken. They felt as though they had won.

The boys’ game was more aggressive, but the girls were too excited by their victory to care that the boys ended up losing. The school had put up a challenge to the other teams. They had made a dramatic entrance. With only 7 players on each team against 20, two days of practice (1 day for most of the girls) and little to no experience, they never gave up. It was a victory for them.

Just awake enough to move my fingers...

Absolutely wiped out, but proud of myself... We had a basketball game today and it was a blast, as well as a great story. Will tell all as soon as I am awake enough to type it all out... But for now I am retiring to my bed.

G'nite...

Exhausted...

Too tired to write much... Got 2 hours of sleep last night, went to school, drove around on errands with my mom, went to basketball practice and just now got home at 9:00...

*yawn* Zzzzzz...

Ocean of Tears...

I started posting my second draft of "Ocean of Tears" on Fictionpress. Yay me!

Anyway, I am currently working on chapter 4, having just taken a break to write here. I have a little over 1200 words and I'm running out of things to say for this chapter. My goal is at least 2000 words, but something like 4000 would be better. The first two chapters are a little over 4000 and the third is about 2500 I think. In my first draft, most of the chapters were quite short. So this time I am trying to make them a bit longer and take the time to tell the story as it is.

I suppose to make it longer, I could describe Bane's entrance into Deu, but that would take inspiration and right now I am rather lacking in that department. I have no enthusiasm for this chapter. Gah! I want to write a Quina chapter, but I have to get through this chapter first. I refuse to write them out of order.

It's funny, Quina is my favorite character with Red running a close second. But my readers seem to not notice her that often. My brother hates Quina and loves Red. He also loved Chagrin (a half-elf) and Risa (a gypsy) but they are both gone in the second draft.

*sigh* Writer's Block is a terrible disease to have. I am stuck in this chapter, but I will persevere.

Hmm... I just realized that I made the first chapter I wrote the second chapter and so I am actually out of order right now. But I am going to continue my work. If I leave it alone now, I fear that I will never come back to it... Actually I will, but that doesn't mean I want to... *bleck*

Ah well, such is the life of a writer.

Cats...

I forgot my beloved haiku at school again today... My humblest apologies. I will do my best to retrieve them, but no promises anymore. I am to be extremely busy tomorrow and I am forgetful enough with nothing to do.

Anyway, I was reading a book on the musical "Cats" today and am now waiting impatiently for my copy of the DVD from the library. (I could go to the rental place, but I am lazy and I don't feel like spending money on something I can get free if I only wait a few days...)

I love that musical and highly recommend it. It really doesn't have a plot - it's more of a long string of introductions to all of these different cats. Really cool. It has one song in which the subject of the song makes some suggestive dancing movements, but I'd only give it about a PG and if you really are offended, just skip it. The rest of the DVD is to die for...

What would be even better would be to go see the play if it is ever being performed near you. I have never been, but I am waiting anxiously for a performance near me to show up somewhere.

Cryptic...

I would've smashed the Deusen, but the tigers came too late...

You would only understand if you were at history club tonight at my school... Or you could guess.

Anyway, I lost the paper with the haiku I was going to post... I think I left it at school, so look out for it tomorrow...

Writer's Block + Bored = Reduced Shakespeare post...

I am lost. Tired. Alone. Writer's Block has hit me. But never fear, I will overcome it. I have simply to push through the initial meeting between Bane and Lam and all will be well... It will be fairly easy - Bane is blind no longer (my apologies to all who loved his non-seeing, but writing blind characters is butt-kicking hard...) - and the meeting will be made easier...

I am bored. In all honesty.

And this brings me to the third topic of this post: Reduced Shakespeare. If you haven't heard of it, look up "The Reduced Shakespeare Company" somewhere on Google. Clips of their DVD are available on YouTube for viewing (type in RSC), though I recommend getting the DVD and watching it all the way through. Absolutely hysterical.

"Divide we our kingdom by three... Cordelia, you go long." ~ King Lear in the middle of a football game...

Excellent stuff that. If you are a Shakespeare lover, and even if you are not, this is something worth seeing. A little crude - probably a PG - but so is Shakespeare when you understand it in the vernacular.

Hmmm... My day is being brightened by the smell of the pot roast cooking in the oven...

Raining Coffee Pots...

We have a fairly large industrial-type coffee maker down in our basement. I don't know why, but we do.

Today my mom was working in the basement and by freak accident, the coffee maker fell on her head. It cut her scalp a little and there was blood everywhere.

She's fine, however. It was more a shock of the moment thing. I mean, how many people can brag about the sky raining coffee makers? Not many, I expect.

Nothing much else to say... I slept in until 1 in the afternoon and then was working in the basement. Then I went to a bingo fundraiser for our school and I just got back. Nothing to say about writing or anything else...