Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A couple things

So I wanted to share some news with everyone reading!

First of all my favorite (and only) sister, Kellee, became engaged to her boyfriend Brett on Saturday. It's great news and we're all very happy for her. No official date has been set yet, although they're thinking of sometime in July or August. I'm pretty sure the wedding will be down in Orlando as they both live there which means I'll get to take a few vacations down there to "help" yay! :) I'm such a good sister aren't I? I'm excited about the wedding, I'm sure it'll be fantastic and I'm really happy for Kellee.

Second of all my cousin Nikki got married unexpectedly this weekend. She's still planning a Catholic wedding and reception for next summer but I guess she and Tom just didn't want to wait any longer. I don't blame her really, she's feeling pretty good right now even with the Chemo treatment she's on and she's feeling her mortality. I think she didn't want to wait another 9 months until their Catholic wedding date given her health. She and Tom got married in a little chapel with just their immediate family present. I think it's good for both of them, and as far as I can tell it's really helping Nikki's spirits. Which reminds me that I need to give her a call.

That's all i have to report, I haven't done any writing or much planning really but I intend to do one or both of those things this week. I hope everyone is having a good week!

Friday, September 19, 2008

You have chosen...wisely? Poorly?

So the network my studies are on has been taken offline for the next 30 minutes or so and therefore I can't work and have time to post something. The past couple months has given me little time to do much outside of work. Additionally, since work has been extra soul-sucking I haven't had any creative mojo to write, post or really do anything except veg and watch some TV while trying to stuff my soul back in. I'm pretty sure that my office has Dementors floating down the cube rows during our most stressful times just so we are that much more depressed.

Enough about that, I've not written too much lately due to the above but I have decided much to the chagrin of those who have voted in the poll to go with Option 3. I've decided to definitely not work on BoR during November. I need to think about something else completely. I also really want to write something that i can finish within November, something shorter and much much less complex. I have zero desire to write an epic, high fantasy novel during November-even one that's half way through. The truth is, I'm not even sure if I can finish BoR during November, everytime i think about the thing it just gets even bigger in my mind.

I thought for a long time about going with Option 1 but there are complications there. First of all a 10k word short story is very long and 5 of them together in a series are unlikely to be published in the type of magazine I want. But in order to reach the Nano goal I'd have to write each one that long which is a bad idea. Plus, I'd also have to come up with 5 unique plots and weave them together-a daunting task, even for short stories.

So we're going with Option 3, which has changed quite a bit in my thinking since I first wrote about it. It's not going to be a 3 part YA novel. I'm kind of excited about it actually, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be something akin to the love child of JJ Abrams and Neil Gaiman-if they could infuse their thoughts and ideas into my head. I'm hoping to spend the next 6 weeks planning it carefully so that it doesn't run away with me. We'll see what happens, it should be fun though. I'm looking forward to thinking and writing about something else for a change.

Even the best and most successful authors can take years to write a BFF, and I am certainly neither of those. I imagine that even when I finish BoR, it'll take years to edit and revise and rewrite. In the meantime, I really don't want to squeeze my brain so narrowly that I only think of the BoR world and nothing else. Writing this novel in November should (in theory) be short and easy when compared to my epic BFF. It's certainly a lot simpler and since it's going to be set in modern times it'll be a million times easier to figure out things (like distance, location etc) that you constantly have to think about in fantasy. There's a danger with that because you have to be sure of your facts, but with the google and wiki machines that's fairly easy to do.

But since it's me, I can't stray completely away from Fantasy so my main characters will have special powers. But it's going to be like government agency type of thing and it'll be very cool I think.

Sorry to disappoint any of you fans out there but don't worry, it isn't like I'm stopping writing BoR. I'll also continue to work on it up until November, planning won't take up all of my creative time-although again, work might suck my soul out some more. That beast [Blood of Renatus]will be finished eventually and it should be awesome when it is. But in the meantime I'm going to take a break from the BFF world and work on something else.

Also, if anyone reading this is interested in Nanowrimo please don't hesitate to ask me any questions. It really is a great way to get started writing or to jump start your creative juices. I'd certainly recommend doing it, not only is it fun but it does give you a huge sense of accomplishment.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Group Meme 3

So in order to follow along with Sarah, here is my mosaic...




If you want to create your own, then follow these simple instructions (stolen from Sarah's blog):


The Concept



  1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

  2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.

  3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.


The Questions



  1. What is your first name?

  2. What is your favorite food? right now?

  3. What high school did you go to?

  4. What is your favorite color?

  5. Who is your celebrity crush?

  6. What is your favorite drink?

  7. What is your dream vacation?

  8. What is your favorite dessert?

  9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

  10. What do you love most in life?

  11. What is one word that describes you?

  12. What is your flickr name?




1. Old chapel in Brittany, 2. lasagna photo shoot, 3. IMG_1527, 4. Green Womble House, 5. City Walk - Universal Studios Orlando, 6. Offering to the Gods (who must be crazy!), 7. A witness of time, 8. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 9. Writer, 10. Autumn walk, 11. ...it´s time to be a bit lazy..., 12. Bursting Aurora