30-Day 5K – Day Eleven Monday, June 11, 2012

I know I’m supposed to be saving and all, but I’ve bought a bluetooth keyboard for my iPad and, dear God, do I love it! I’d been researching them for the longest time, but I’d hated the prospect of having to type at a miniature keyboard where I’d have to actually watch my fingers as I typed and the on screen keyboard for the iPad, while useful, is just not useful when it comes to the amount of typing that I like to do. My patience in this regard has paid off and I’ve found the perfect little keyboard that has normal-sized keys and is light enough to carry in my bag.

In honor of my new purchase, I’ve edited my 10,538 words to the end of Chapter 28 exclusively on my iPad today and I’m writing today’s post on it as well. Aside from the delight of being able to type at a normal speed on my iPad, this keyboard is doing wonders on my poor, overworked wrists, which makes me love it all the more.

Despite getting through much of the first-phase cutting of this chapter, I’ve still got to break it apart like I did the previous chapter and eyeball some of these word counts before I begin my rewrite and goodness, what a rewrite this will be. Characters will be stripped entirely and my link to my Reruns project is in jeopardy, but this month is passing far quicker than I would like given my lofty goal at the end of it and, if I expect to have anything to show for this month, I’ll need to continue pushing as much as possible.

I’ll end by noting that, yes, I could have easily edited more this evening, but I’d restarted Downton Abbey on Saturday while taking out my braids and, since I can’t stand to pause halfway through all the episodes, my latest procrastinating endeavour took the stage today…and will likely continue through Wednesday. The important thing, however, is that I write first and then watch as a nice reward at the end of the evening. 🙂

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Even later Monday, July 4, 2011

So the power went out last night and I didn’t get to do what I wanted. Still this feels like the day previous, so I’m going to treat it as such since I wrote this post yesterday, but wanting to save my iPhone in case the outage lasted all night, I’m posting now.

There is a Somalian woman who cleans the trash bins on the floor of the building at first-job. She knows minimal English and our conversations are never more than a “How are you?” each day, but every once in a while, we can manage a little.

I know she has children and she wants to learn enough English so that she can go to college just like I know that she works seven days a week and prays multiple times a day in a quiet corner in the stairwell.

The other day this woman and I were discussing Independence Day and she mentioned to me how July 4th got its importance in 1776. She smiled when she said this and told me that she had to memorize this for her citizenship test.

I saw her several times this weekend and we said our normal “How are yous” but I doubt I’ll ever forget that smile on her face as she stated that independence was in 1776. I’m not sure why, but in that moment especially, I was very, very proud to be an American.

I wrote 390 words today (when church was dismissed for the day) and even though I have long-since been an Anglophile and my subconscious “sounds” British to the point that I often forget and have to “Americanize” my characters’ dialogue and my favorite films are British and my most loved characters are British…still, I’m quite proud that I’m an American.

My Cheating Heart Thursday, March 17, 2011

I had to cheat a little to get this one in on time since I had a project to finish at first-job…which I didn’t finish. WordPress App saves all with drafts for the win! 🙂

My assistant at first-job left today, for good this time which is going to be a ton of work for me now. I’ll get through it but I know I’ll have a lot more of these close call nights than I did previously.

Why, oh why, didn’t I give myself some cushion yesterday??

I did make it to 264 words tonight (All bulls**t, I say.) though, it was a true race and clearly an exercise in allowing adrenaline to fuel creativity. Now, I’m so wired, I could almost finish the rest of the book on the same swig of energy…but, I’ll settle for a little bit of writing cushion and some Lego Star Wars instead.

Nine chapters in four months Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I finished Chapter 11 and wrote 1166 words tonight (cuz i finshd d gray c u 2mrrw).

I had made a stop to Bath and Body Works this evening and, since I always park near where the Gamestop is at the mall, I couldn’t help but stop a moment and came out with the first Rock Band game, which enabled me to cross another item off the “Stuff I Want” list. Game in hand, I desired nothing more than to come home and play.

Instead of going straight home to play my game, I remembered that I was nearly out of my daily steamer meals that I eat for lunch and since time has taught me that the moment I run out of food, I run straight for the junk in the cafeteria, I did the adult thing and went grocery shopping.

After shopping for only what I needed, I went home and even played an iPhone game for ten minutes, before putting away all my groceries and admiring my new BBW purchases, all with the full intent of playing Rock Band for the rest of the evening. There was just one caveat tonight…I knew I had to make a post before midnight.

Any other night like tonight, where I went about my life, pretending to be an adult, it would not have mattered if I was seven words from completing the chapter, everything else that happened this evening would have taken over my mind and kept me from writing. I would have spent too long in the grocery store making plans to cook all these recipes that I would never get around to making or gone to Macy’s as well and dropped another 2-400 on stuff I don’t really need or bought three or four games that I had perused, but hadn’t put on the list and then gone home to play all of them well into the night. I had so many viable distractions tonight and yet…I finished Chapter 11.

I’ve heard it said that it takes 21 days to make a habit and I’ve proven that wrong many, many times as I get to day 23 or 25 and completely lose it. With this blog, however, I’ve grounded myself into something that keeps me accountable to me and the progress I’ve made just astounds me.

I completed “the heavy notes” for Damen just after my birthday in 2009 and I spent the vast majority of 2010 trying to accomplish what seemed fairly simple at the time; just write. But, I went from October 2009 through November 2010 with only getting through 3.5 chapters of the whole book. I look back on the progress I’ve made since December 2010 and I smile…wide.

I’ve completed nine chapters in four months, when it took me more than nine months to get to four chapters last year. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This blog keeps me honest.

Hair! Saturday, January 22, 2011

…not the musical.

I really did intend to write today, but I’ve decided to take my hair out of these braids and, since that is a five-hour process, any writing really isn’t happening tonight.

What’s frustrating is that I had ample opportunity to write this afternoon, but had forgot to load the novel to my phone and thus was without any work.

I tried to just delve into a later chapter, but quit when I realized the futility of writing something I wad just going to edit out of existence when I finally caught up to that part of the novel.

While I’m not proud of going this long without writing, I am proud that I’ve gone now 22 days straight without missing a post. I haven’t managed a feat like this since…well, never.

Also, while I didn’t get to write much today, I did spend some time with folks who are somewhere between the buddy/friend line. I also learned about the use of dashes from a new Twitter follower, so it’s a great day overall.

Anyhoo, I’ve still got three fourths of my hair to unbraid and somehow straighten into something presentable.

It’s very strange, though: most of this week, I’ve had the time to write, but was just not in the mood, yet now I’d long for just a few more hours in this day so that another 48 hours won’t pass without a word added to the novel. There’s a moral here…I just know it.

Hi ho! Netflix! Friday, January 21, 2011

My eyes are tired, but somehow I managed to watch Netflix. I heart it so much already and, now that I’m reasonably warm and comfortable on my sofa watching some strange Japanese film from long ago.

I doubt I’ll get much written today. I may edit later this evening; I remember writing something last night, though the days are running together for me lately. I’d say I need a break, but I’ve already had numerous breaks this month and the month is almost done.

I hope that February will be more fruitful. Also, there’s nothing that stops me from writing in the morning; though if I can just make it to first-job on time tonight, I’ll feel all right.

For now, onto more foreign film and “Arrested Development!”

Mmm…writing… Thursday, January 6, 2011

I wrote and edited 783 words tonight, which is really incredible considering that I wrote close to a hundred words while half asleep and didn’t think I’d get passed fifty words tonight.

It’s hard to really grasp why I wouldn’t want to write anything when I devote so much of time thinking about the craft and my plans with it. Not a week goes by where I don’t add another entry to my “Book ideas” note on my iPhone and daydream about my own characters on my way to and from my first job.

I often think about whether Damen would have embraced a Kindle or if he would have remained true to paper books. It is very rare that I don’t try to picture Luka as best I can and identify things that make him too similar to Damen and ways I can change that. Today, my aunt even told me how much she likes reading Flight now that she’s started it while at my own Nana’s. The craft is a part of my very being…so how can I reach a point in the day where I grumble, “I just don’t want to…”?

It defies any logic and while I’d like to just blame the first job, I can’t help thinking that I never had these problems while trying to write Flight. I finished the 450K-word novel in less than two years, but here I am rounding the corner on Year 4 of Damen and I’m still in “I just don’t want to” phase. Back then, I even had to teach myself to give up drinking so that I had the capacity to write in the evenings instead of fall asleep after a light buzz, but all I really wanted to do tonight was cuddle in my blanket and watch “Seinfeld.”

Once I got the juices flowing (and hit a more planned part of the novel), I got a partial second wind, but I don’t I’ll write another word tonight; perhaps it’s real fatigue since I’m getting that pang in my stomach that starts when my body is too tired to stay upright, or maybe it’s just plain laziness.

Either way, at least I got in some writing tonight. Tomorrow’s another day.

A break Tuesday, December 14, 2010

I took a Guitar Hero slash movie break last night. Honestly, I just wasn’t in the mood to write. (Dear God…it’s 6 degrees out right now…)

I played Guitar Hero until I hit another wall; another crappy song that’s too hard for me to quickly master and will require three or four weeks worth of playing before I get it. I made some lasagna (which I left out now that I think about it, though it may still be fine since I haven’t turned on the heat) and I sat down to watch Branagh’s “Henry V” again.

The first time I attempted “Henry V,” I was very cold and tired and I just didn’t get it. I tried to follow along with the play on my Shakespeare app, but like most film adaptations of Shakespeare, the script was hacked to pieces and jumped everywhere. I then tried to at least follow the story with the help of SparkNotes and wiki articles on the play and the titular character. In the end, I kept falling asleep since I was lost between the accents and the old English and, when I woke up for the last time, Emma Thompson was on the screen speaking French and she had all this hair! I just wanted to jump through the TV screen and tackle her with a bottle of Frizz-Ez and a flat iron. By that point, I was so confused because I wasn’t sure if there were supposed to subtitles or not and since I wasn’t sure how much I missed while asleep, I gave up on it for the night.

Last night went much better and, like with many of Branagh’s films, I cried a bit at the end. It was the sight of the king carrying one of the dead boys across the battlefield that really got me. I enjoyed it a lot this time around and even got an added bonus from when I finally placed Steve from “Coupling” with an unwarranted and loud “Norrington!” shout at the television when it came to me.

At 2am, I still wasn’t tired, so I watched a bit of “Little Shop of Horrors” and sang along through half of the film until I realized I was probably going to just fall asleep downstairs and crawled upstairs to bed.

A part of me sort of wishes that I had written something, anything, but overall, I’m glad I took a break. I’ve been feeling out of sorts lately and not wanting to do anything, so hopefully the break will help give me the boost I need.

Twenty-six pages later… Friday, June 4, 2010

I’ve been writing almost consistently for the past week. While I wanted to have Chapter 3 complete before the end of May, I’m glad I’m not rushing it.

This draft has been shaping quite differently from the last. It is almost as if I’m using the original draft as a guide to write the novel. Pieces that I had spent a lot of time shaping the first draft, are being either lightly touched upon or glossed over altogether in the second. It it is almost like I’m working off what I call “heavy notes” for this draft, but I refuse to call it that, because that means I didn’t have anything worthwhile complete in 2009. That’s not quite true though; as I learned with Flight, the “heavy notes” are a big part of the process and once I’ve got those together, the novel sort of shapes itself.

I’ve almost been jotting little notes on the iPhone here and there for the makings of some Star Wars stories. I remember saying to myself, not too long ago while making some edits on Wookiepedia, “I really don’t have a story to tell when it comes to Star Wars.” Lo and behold, as I was taking down my braids the other night, a story came to mind and just developed over the next day. I can’t wait to get really started on it. In fact, I can’t wait to just have a fully complete draft of the novel so that I can justify writing anything else at the moment. I’ve got an SVU story and now a Star Wars story just waiting to be written and I’d like to write them before I get too bogged down with other stories and forget. There’s also a Harry Potter story I’d like to write before things get too hectic as well.

Man, I’ve got a lot of writing to do. I’ll have carpal tunnel before too long for sure!

iPhone – exclamation point! Sunday, November 22, 2009

Ah, my beloved iPhone! I’m writing this very post on a WordPress app on my iPhone. I cannot say enough that I simply adore this phone. From having everything together like my phone, iPod and tiny netbook in one place just makes me feel happier than I’ve been in a while.

Needless to say, I had to break my desires to be computer-free this Sunday as I attempt to get my phone perfectly customized. That said I find it best to at least recognize that I must include my iPhone in whole in my zeal to abstain from my computer entertainment and chores or this goal of mine is practically useless.

All iPhone-related joys notwithstanding, I am dreadfully behind in Damen and also my Harry fic. With Tuesday, Thursday and also Saturday virtually free this week, I think I’ve got a good chance at getting pretty far into at least Damen; I’m not sure how much I care about the Harry fic at this point. People are starting to talk and get excited about the book because I’ve been gabbing quite a bit about it. For the first time in a long while I feel like my work has some meaning for someone other than me. I won’t say that I’m getting a little worried that I’ll disappoint others, but I definitely feel the need to get on with this project.

Well, as much as I adore my iPhone, I can’t keep typing like this for the rest of the night. The only sentiment I’ve got at the moment is iPHONE FTW!!!