After nearly a week of being sick after sharing the Dude's flu bug (thank you SO MUCH, dear), I am finally feeling up to living again. As I've been focusing on sleeping and getting well a number of other things have gone to the wayside (namely, laundry and housekeep and writing) so I've got a lot of catching up to do. Fortunately Dude is also getting better so perhaps we can be productive this weekend.

There's gorgeous weather in store here in California for the next two days and I'm itching to get out on the bike. Ever since my back started hurting I've been leery of getting on but 1) I don't even know/think that's what hurt me in the first place, and 2) I won't know for sure until I try. I'm thinking a nice long daytrip to the coast could be just the thing. :D

I do need to get cracking on the writing front however, I've done less than half my goal for the week and would love to play catch up. While writing on the beach. In the sun. Mmmm, sun....

Summer will be here way too quickly and I'll have too much sun, but for now the nice temps are giddiness. Maybe a good ride would be just the ticket.

Totally over the top and SO awesome!! I don't even mind the blatant product advertisement (an artist has to pay for their art somehow right?). ;)

The chiropractor says I need to rest my back for a few more days but can return to work as soon as I'm ready. I've never been one to really enjoy sick leave, it feels like I'm cheating even when I desperately need it (and after last week's ouchies, I did need it) so I'll be happy when I restart.

Somewhat.

We all want to work from home right? Or have a day job that we enjoy, the kind where we do what we love and get paid for it. A nice goal right? Mine of course is to make enough money from my stories to eventually quit and do just that, or instead of staying home travel around wherever I want and write from there. It hasn't been until recently, with the advent of self publishing and ereaders, that the fulfillment of such a dream was accessible to the masses.

Right now I'm sitting in my office chair, ice pack against my back, and writing a sequel I've had planned now for a while. So many ideas, so little time, but I am determined to make the dream work. Little goals at first - pay off all my bills, no longer have to worry about student loans, etc - then bigger ones (quit the day job, save/earn enough passive income to live life out on the road). Who knows if there's a right or wrong way to do things; I've long since determined there is only YOUR way of doing things. Right or wrong, you have to decide on a course of action then DO IT, or you'll never get anywhere.

So. Back to writing. Probably should return the ice pack to the fridge soon, I may want to have frozen peas sometime with a meal. ;-)

Hey folks, long time silent, been busy lately at Casa de Fawkes. Writing, doctors visits (hurt my back, woes), and family visits took me away for a while but I'm back!!

Many moons ago I read somewhere about editing software, specifically at the time Grammarly (which isn't bad either but is pay-to-play). I paid it no heed - I mean, what can a digital program do that a human couldn't do better, right? - and went along my merry way using editors and beta readers with neurons instead of algorithms for brains. So when another writer friend suggested a digital editor website called Pro Writing Aid I did the same thing: laughed it off as a gimmick like Word's Grammar Check (of which I'm very much not a fan).

Then I tried it on my current WIP.

Wow. Let me try that again: Wow! Times and programming algorithms have come a LONG way since I first heard of editing software. Not only does it give grammar and spelling advice, but also tells you when you've overused certain words, cliches, passive voice, spelling/capitalization inconsistencies, even pacing (seriously, it showed me every time I delved into backstory). Best part of all? IT'S FREE. Check it out!

Unfortunately it highlighted a lot of areas on my current story that are, hm, in need of work which is always a bit depressing. BUT, better to find them now than pay an editor a per-mistake fee and find them then.

Oh well, it's time to ice my back again. Lower back injuries stink.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, whether you celebrate the Easter holiday or not. :) Sunday night I had dinner with the Dude's family which is always an interesting occasion. Learned his grandpa may have cancerous cells in his bladder, apparently they're going to "scrape it out" sometime soon which has me cringing. The man can tell a story but, like a good colonoscopy yarn gone wrong, I've never been much a fan of urethral dramas.

Took the weekend off of writing and am back with a bang this week. I'm also signed up for a Steampunk workshop over at Savvy Authors that so far is pretty nifty. I took a plotting class last year from the eponymous Rhonda Stapleton/Helms that was made of win (and she's apparently doing another this summer although it's not yet on the calendar). The Steampunk class is pretty cool too but there's only a few people signed up and it's not as lively as the plotting one.

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In motorcycle land, the rebuild commenceth. Slowly. I am a wiring dunce and am at the mercy of the Dude's work schedule which is crappy at best. I'm impatient to get working on it but may need to learn patience as mine and the Dude's schedules are radically opposite and until that gets settled it'll be a weekend project only. Le sigh...

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Some people have a knack for making their lives seem grand adventures, no matter how boring it may be. I have no such knack unfortunately, at least not with my own life. So off I go now to live vicariously through my characters' eyes, experiencing their adventures right alongside with them. It's so much more fun living in one's own imagination, especially when one is dreaming up a Steampunk world filled with airships, zombies and mad scientists. Fun, HOOO!!!

So I finally went to see "The Hunger Games". I'd wanted to wait until the crowds were gone so I wouldn't get a mob mentality in there. A personal thing I guess, I wanted to experience it, not observe the reactions of the people around me.

I'm not sure what to think of it, honestly. As much as I liked it, the action and the story and the reality, I found it simultaneously sickening and....repulsive. Yet, I want to see it again.

( Okay, spoilers behind a cut.Collapse )

This movie disturbed me. Profoundly. The dichotomy of everything was constantly jarring, no matter how "used to it" I got as the movie progressed. For the record I've not read the books but I did read the Wiki synopsis of each and, considering the hoopla surrounding them recently, I can't help but know what they're about. I fell in love with Peeta, rooted for Katniss, and HATED everything about the Capitol.

*boggles* I honestly don't know what to say, I'm still reeling. It's strange - I didn't think I'd have such a visceral reaction to this movie. Rue's truncated story and even the final tribute who held Peeta hostage in the end... God.

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I was going to write tonight as I'd come up with several good ideas, but I'm too damned depressed now. And nauseated. No, not from the motion of the movie's cameras (although it did get confusing for a bit). I just.... I need to lay down.

jimhines posted an amusing ditty that I'll be singing through today. If you know the songs from Disney's "Beauty And The Beast" and have noticed the trend of authors pushing their books on you via Twitter, Facebook etc, you'll find this amusing. ;)

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A writer friend of mine was talking today how she's managed to slough off the pressure of watching word counts, and I can't help but be envious. As a writer there's always some detail you obsess over, and for me lately it's been my "production numbers", especially on a daily basis. It's one of my goals to write a certain number of words each day but more and more I'm beginning to realize that trying to put constraints and boundaries on my goals doesn't work for me. For many people, perhaps the majority, it does help to have specific goals, something you can look back on and say with a sense of pride "I accomplished THIS."

This doesn't work for me. I have a mental block that, when set with a deadline or a due date or a boundary, I want to go another way. Suddenly whip out that manuscript I haven't worked on in months just to revisit old friends. Think of a new story that steals my attention and powers of brainstorming. Clean my house and fold the laundry. (The last one is a sure sign I'm doomed)

Last week blackholly posted a blog entry about how she wrote her story DOLL BONES. I already referenced it on my blog once but felt it was worth mentioning again because, well, it's applicable to how I feel now (again). In it she states she wants to do 500 words a day, which is certainly a modest goal, then proceeds to do a LARGE number of 400, 100 or 0 word days. EPIC FAIL, right? Nope, because she still manages to get a nearly 40k story finished in less than 4 months. Let's forget the 4 months which sounds forever: she FINISHED A STORY writing at a very truncated pace.

Go read the post. She took a lot of days off and kept track of EVERYTHING (including deletions) in that time frame.

I wanna be that. Not the worrywort who angsts about the fact she only wrote 470 words yesterday, or that over the weekend was only a few hundred. That's still progress right? The story is moving forward which, sometimes, is all you can say, but it's more than many people can report on their stories. One can say they're a writer, or want to be a writer, but not many people put in the time.

TL;DR - Every little bit counts. Don't give up just because you think you're moving at a snail's pace, or because "everyone" in the world writes faster than you do. Wish more writers would do what Holly Black did, that's a pretty encouraging post (one I actually bookmarked for inspiration). :-)

My backyard had maybe twenty of these little plants. Now they're all scattered in the wind and I feel happy again. I haven't done that since I was a little kid.

I'm sure there's a life lesson in there somewhere, but I'll be damned if I don't care what it is. :) Monday suddenly sucks a little less.

We all know Mondays are tough to get through, but today seems more difficult than usual. Maybe it was because I had such a nice weekend; the Dude rarely has 2 days off in a row so it was really awesome to hang out with him for longer than an hour. Plus I now have my new project (the motorcycle) to work on, and ideas are spinning in my head for this new story...

Arg. I'd much rather be home today. Blargh.

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Since I'm writing a Steampunk story, I figured it would be a good idea to incorporate some of that genre into my TBR pile. I spent yesterday looking for new books/stories and found the "Flash Gold" series by Lindsay Buroker. I also discovered that Cherie Priest has released more stories since Boneshaker (a copy of which is waiting beside my bed for a quick re-read this afternoon), will have to look those up.

Any other Steamy recommendations? ;)