VACATIONS!!!!

Sorry, folks. But this is your update for this week.

Lame, I know, but bright and early tomorrow Hubby and I will be trekkin' back to my home state for a four-day mini-vacation/2nd honeymoon. We'll be kicking it up real classy like by staying in the same bridal suite we had for our wedding. We shall be eating year old lemon cake with blueberry frosting. There will be endless cuddling.

SO HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO MY WONDERFUL, SEXY, LOVABLE BEST FRIEND AND HUSBAND!

This past week was filled with frantic Wedding Thank You writing - before hitting that dreaded "year later" deadline - as well as massive cleaning frenzies and other such household chores. I also Beta Read a chapter of Keep Love In Your Heart for DarkAngel1326 that she sent to me LAST WEEK... so, sorry to her readers. That was totally "my bad".

Speaking of DA1326... she JUST started up her own blog about her writing. Check it out! Check it out! Check it out!

Also, Chopfe pitched me an idea of a collaborative webcomic. I'd write the scripts and he'd draw. He originally pitched "The Adventures of LycoRogue" since he's having insane fun drawing my "persona". So now I'm wondering A) should I go with this venture? It does sound like a lot of fun! and B) what should the comic be about?

Do you, my readers, have any thoughts? My little bag-o-tricks so far is...

1. Lyco with her crazy antics and adventures - what Chopfe pitched... not sure where to go with that though....Perhaps somewhere like here?
2. My everyday insanity portrayed through Lyco. Sort of similar to Junawashere's "My Life" comics. I think this is the one I'm leaning towards the most...
3. Completely forgetting about the Lyco persona. Starting from scratch with a fresh batch of characters as they go through the craziness my playgroup goes through during our D&D sessions. I was thinking of having it portrayed sort of similar to this Dead Alewives sketch - staying mostly in the "D&D world"  but then switching to the "real world" when people break character. Having never played, Chopfe is a little weary of this option.

All of this equates to me being mad busy preparing for our trip and not doing anything on the writing side of things. Not sure if I'll get any writing done this upcoming week with four days being spent snuggling with my hubby, but we'll see.

Now off to quickly pack before I need to scurry to work.

Soul Eater and Amara

This week has been a full one. Long work hours again. Another Massive Cleaning Day - as per usual with my lazy butt. FINALLY getting to those friggen wedding thank yous. Working on Amara's back story - which I'll get to in a moment. Watching my newest obsession - Soul Eater.

Yup, another anime has devoured my week.

Soul Eater is about three students at an academy run by Lord Death the Grim Reaper. The academy pairs up Magic Weapons - humans that have the ability to transform in to weapons - and Meisters - humans who can wield these weapons.

The seven main characters are:
Maka, the daughter of a powerful Meister and Lord Death's personal weapon Spirit the Death Scythe.
Soul Eater, Maka's partner - a Scythe.
Black Star, the last of a clan of assassins.
Tsubaki, Black Star's partner who can transform in to multiple ninja weapons as well as a katana.
Death The Kid, the son of Lord Death who has OCD and is obsessed with symmetry.
Liz and Patty, Kid's partners - "twin" pistols; they're really just sisters, Liz being the older one.

However, the one that I love the most is Crona!

Although even in the manga Crona's sex is still ambiguous, the anime seemed to imply that Crona is male, so I'm going to lean in that direction.

Anyway, Crona is the tragic, emotionally, physically, and mentally abused child of one of the villains of the series. He is the Meister of Ragnarok the Demon Sword, which was melted down in to Black Blood and then transfused in to Crona, therefore creating a symbiosis between Weapon and Meister.

Crona was never socialized and was routinely kept locked away in a room with just the bullying Ragnarok as company. Because of this Crona's catchphrase is "I don't know how to deal with... [insert situation here]." The way "he" says it in the anime is just too adorable! I just want to glomp "him" so badly! All "he" really needs is human compassion! Hubby better be warned that if I ever see a Crona cosplayer I just may glomp him/her...

Throughout the anime nearly every character has an "OMG, are they gonna die!?" moment. However, the only one that made me tense up and tear up a little bit was Crona's moment! I was huddled next to Hubby, clinging to the blanket with the hood of my sweatshirt pulled in tight. I was a mess!

I love nearly every character, and I was routinely heard saying "OMG, I heart [insert character name] so much!" However, Crona just tugged at my heartstrings. "His" speech patterns, mannerisms, tragic backstory, and gloomy disposition just make me love "him" the most out of the entire cast.

LOVE YOU, CRONA!

*ahem*

Moving on....

So, aside from grinding through insanely long Thank You letters - it's been about a year since the wedding, a simple "thanks for the toaster" won't suffice at this point - I've also spent my work breaks typing up Amara's backstory some more.

There's a key part of Amara's tragic life that cropped up over the last couple of months, so I need to calculate where it would fall in her timeline, how she reacted, and how extreme of an event it is.... I've gone through quite a lot of revisions over the past week. There may be some more this upcoming week. We'll have to see what Hubby thinks.

This would be a lot easier if my characters truly "talked" to me and I was truly just the medium between "them" and the page. I get the character's voice in my head, and when I start writing Amara's backstory - much like when working on my Hey Arnold chapters - the story tends to go in a completely different direction than I intend. That's the closest I get to having my characters "take control".

What I really need is for my characters to really "live" in my head like they do with Delaroux and DarkAngel1326. Both girls joke about how noisy it is in their heads because of all the chatter between characters. Here's a great example of what I mean via DA's one journal entry.

Granted, I get more peace my way, but the characters also take longer to develop. It's my analytical nature I guess. Everything has to be played out and properly calculated in my head before anything goes on paper. I check for continuity and realism. I never let things just "be".

I will give you the opening of Amara's tale, however. This part hasn't really changed much over the years. Her current part of her history is getting a great deal of detail, however, so perhaps I'll add more detail to Amara's childhood before I officially post.

Anyway, without further ado, Amara's heritage:

I came from a clan of gypsies. My father’s clan the Umâgo rode through the forests of Mesonía in the land of Gancrock. They would find a clearing and set up their camp of wagons, hunt for a season, pack up again, and follow migration. The gypsies were trackers and poachers by trade, but they did so respectively to Nature. They prayed before and after each hunt, and they would use every bit of the animal for both their own needs and for the goods they would sell. Never would they hunt to the point of endangering the species; for if the animals were gone, so too would be the gypsies’ way of life.

Nearby was an unknown clan of Elves; the Araphelium Tribe. They were the keepers of the Mesonía and they were untouched. They knew of the other races, of course, and they would feud with a Drow tribe every century or so, but they mostly stayed hidden and protected the forest. My mother was of this noble tribe that kept away from the N'Tel'Quess; those “not of the people”.

One day my father was separated from the hunting team. As he wandered through an unknown section of forest, he found my mother mending the injured leg of a fawn. My mother has such pale skin that the sun’s rays almost reflect off it. Her hair is a black so rich a clump of it could be mistaken for an onyx. Her hair was long and free then. As she knelt by the fawn, her hair kissed the ground. My father had to have her.

My mother heard his first step forward and stood straight and proud, shooing the fawn. She called out to my father and he stepped into the light. My father’s hair was tied into a ponytail and his beard was short and gruff. He was tall and strong. My mother could see his muscles through his tight shirt. When their eyes met my mother submitted. Without a second thought, my father walked up to her and kissed her.

For months throughout the hunting season, my parents would rendezvous in the same spot. When my mother became pregnant with me my parents decided to move in together. My father, however, refused to leave the gypsies.

The Umâgo had always preferred to remain separate from Gorgios (outsiders). They had little interaction with them except for trading purposes, or in extreme medical conditions in which the Umâgo were ill-equipped. “Gypsies with gypsies begetting gypsies,” they’d always say. Interbreed right up to the point of inbreeding, and then go find another nice gypsy clan and start over. However, even finding a “worthy” new tribe was a task for the Umâgo. Most other gypsies prided themselves in their frequent interactions with Gorgios, as well as their easy manipulation of them – giving all gypsies the bad name of “swindlers”. Because of this, the Umâgo considered themselves the most pure and superior in comparison to the other gypsies, and they would not yield to a lower standard.

All of this meant the adult gypsies were a bit uneasy to have a Gorgio living among them, let alone one that was now family. What my father did was beyond taboo, and as a result not only would I be the first half-human in my father’s clan, but I would also be the first half-gypsy.

Any thoughts? Like I said, I might add more to the story, but as of right now it's already six pages long and I'm not even done yet.

D&D is apparently my Muse

Well another week's gone by. I still haven't written anything for Chopfe's birthday - still not exactly sure WHAT I even want to write aside from a very broad topic. I haven't gone back to work on any of the Daily Challenges from July. I opened up and re-read the latest chapter I'm working on for What Is Truly Meant To Be, but I didn't add anything to it. One of my friends has been near-ruthlessly teasing me about my "lack of imagination" - which is EXACTLY what a fiction writer wants to hear. AAAAAAAAAnd ChibiSunnie's birthday is this week and I'm drawing a blank on what to gift her.

I've talked with Ali Luke via emails and she's given me encouraging words. We've talked about how I might be able to branch out in search for paying writing gigs. However, the more we talk about what I could write an informative blog on - or even a guest post about - the more I realize I am a Jack of All Trades; Master of None. There's really nothing I can give advice about. Further more, as much as I know it's not his intention, the more I talk to celestialTyrant the more I feel the mediocracy of my life come to the surface.

Fret not, though. This isn't an All Is Emo post like before. Despite all these hardships and shoves towards self-discovery, I have indeed written this week.

My wedding thank you notes.... finally. :-D

Well, more than that. Especially since I have about two weeks to go before my year anniversary and still about 40 Thank Yous to write...

DarkAngel1326 was super excited to have the basics of an original character plotted out. In July she used the writing prompt "Of Blood and Honor" to write a fantasy starring the Hey Arnold characters Gerald and Phoebe. She used this setting again for the prompt "It's Too Late". She soon fell in love with this little world she created - as did her readers, I'd wager. With a little debate, she decided to start fresh with her new world, yank it out of her fanfiction comfort zone, and make the story an original. But since she didn't have Gerald as a pre-established character, she set forth to fully create her lead "33".

In my offerings to help her out I started talking to her about the first D&D character I put a lot of thought in to creating.

Amara Yori

I talked about how I helped develop Amara by "interviewing her" and just let my mind have a dialogue with my character. I also sent DA a 2-page description of Amara that I wrote up in 2009. I mapped out all 30 scars she has on her body and how they were inflicted. I might change a few of them though. Considering her mother's healing abilities there's no reason for Amara to have scars from being grazed by an arrow...

DA was impressed with the amount of detail put in to Amara. To be fair, I've been working on Amara since 2004 and she's only been working on 33 since July/August. Even so, Amara is still evolving.

At the beginning of the year I introduced Amara to Delaroux. Not only does Delaroux have an entire population in her head, but each one of her characters are darker and deeper and more well-rounded than Amara. Sure, Delaroux has had a harder life than I, so perhaps that's why she's able to come up with such angst-driven characters. You feel and root for her characters, mainly because they had such a rough life and you enjoy watching them flip off the world. My only issue - and I have to stress that Delaroux was talking in-character at the time - was that it was pointed out that Amara's life - in comparison - wasn't so bad, and therefore she shouldn't be so angsty.

Amara's backstory changed a little then.

After talking to DA about Amara, I was inspired to go back through everything I have on her and to send Amara's story to DA to read. I discovered that I had a hardcopy of the backstory, but I didn't have the file on my computers anymore. This meant spending the last few work breaks retyping the backstory. This also meant evolving the story.

I'm almost finished with the most recent incarnation of it. Although I'm still not 100% happy with it, and I'm sure there will be about seven other revisions as Amara develops more, in the meantime I think I'll actually post her tale on DeviantArt and FictionPress. I'm still debating if I should also post on FanFiction under Dungeons And Dragons.

Yes, I'm creating my own world, but so does nearly every Dungeon Master when starting a campaign. I'm still using the basic Laws of the Universe, races, class system, deities, and equipment developed by Wizards Of The Coast. I'm essentially writing out a D&D campaign in story form. It should probably go on FanFiction and not FictionPress, shouldn't it?

Regardless. I'm hoping to have that up before my next blog post.

It's not Hey Arnold related - for those of you who only know me through that fandom - but it IS something, correct?

The Super Crossover Hybrid Story

Before I get started, did everyone see my big, old, love-fest, thank you note? I posted it during the week. If you didn't read it - or know about it - then perhaps you should take a quick moment to make sure this doesn't happen again! ^_^

On the right just under my wonderful Liebster Blog Award is a little section titled "Followers". There's only two of you listed right now, but there can be more! If you have an account with Blogger - or virtually ANY Google-owned site - you can use the little link there to follow me and make sure to not miss another post.

Don't want to go that route? Well right under "Followers" is the "Subscribe To" section! You can drop me in to your favorite RSS through there!

Not sure what an RSS is? No problem, just under THAT is "Follow By Email". This blog doesn't spam. It gives you an email notification whenever I post an update. Cool, huh? I know at least two people following me this way! ^_^

STILL not satisfied with these options? Well you can follow me on Twitter: @LycoRogue. Simple, right?
Or you can check me out on Facebook. I don't really do MUCH under that account anymore, but I DO try to remember to post statuses about my blog updates.

Has everyone found their favorite way to find out when I post? Is everyone going to find my Non-Sunday updates now? Super awesome sauce! ^_^ Moving on to the actual blog post now!
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So this week was filled with super-delayed beta reading, home maintenance projects, cleaning, work insanity, and all-day friend visits. Not to mention finishing off Ali Luke's story Lycopolis.

So I find out - super duper late - that Chopfe had a birthday this past Monday! So I have to REALLY get over this Writer's Block so I can write him a belated b'day gift. Worst part is that for a couple of months I've had something in mind that I was specifically waiting for his birthday to write.... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then I missed it.... *sigh*

BUUUUT speaking of birthdays! My lovely DarkAngel1326 had her birthday this week as well. So part of that super-delayed beta reading - as well as one of the things I beta-ed the week DA and OmniBladeStrike sent me stuff - was a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Hey Arnold crossover story. A story that AngelBlood666 wrote as his gift to HIS beloved Beta. So, sorry dude for getting the edits back to you so slowly, but YAY that DA loved the gift! ^_^

As for my own gift..... well..... *sigh* Writer's Block got me there too... so I "gifted" her the same thing I gave ChibiSunnie for Christmas. I told DA I'd write her ANYTHING she wanted me to. So now she's keeping this "One Story Coupon" tucked neatly away until she can think of something.

When it comes to Lycopolis, I highly recommend the read. I can't wait until Ali has books 2 and 3 done for the series! Check out my review on Amazon - it's the first one I've ever written, yay!

So now that I can't hide behind reading - although I DOOOOOO have a few more good books waiting to be read - I SHOULD start cracking down on my writing, FINALLY.

And speaking of which, since I don't have any new stories for you lovelies to read I decided to give you all a taste of that epic "BLARG, EVERY FANDOM I HAVE MUST BE IN THIS CROSSOVER" Hybrid story. I talked about this story last month.

The main portion of the story is a sort of an original taking place in the world of Fable. The world, as well as the "quest" that the story follows are both highly influenced by the Legend of Zelda series. Then I mooshed in elements and character traits/backstories from about six different games/movies/shows.

I've got InuYasha, The Vision of Escaflowne, Fushigi Yuugi, The Little Mermaid, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Tomb Raider. I'm sure there were more that I "stole" from, but this is all I could remember right now.

I don't really have the basic plotline of the story written down, so I'm going off of memory. The main storyline I was working with would be the plot to Fable.
Male Lead's family is somehow important in an overall plot of the villain; they get attacked; Male Lead wasn't at the house at the time and is now thought of as an orphan. The Male Lead is taken in by an academy built specifically to "train heroes" for the land. The Male Lead graduates and sets out on his adventures, whatever they be. Meanwhile, back on Earth - which is another world/separate dimension/parallel universe; haven't decided - Female Lead is taking care of her grandfather's old estate and comes across this weird stone platform in the woods. She somehow accidentally activates the platform and is transported in to Male Lead's world - I guess you can throw "Stargate" in with the above list.
Female Lead finds herself in an ancient platform ruins similar to the one she teleported with. She's then attacked by bandits that set up camp by the ruins. Luckily, the Male Lead was in the area and able to rescue her.
There is an awkward interaction when she tries to explain where she came from, and the Male Lead realizes she found a way to activate the Cullis Gate - a name taken straight from Fable, so I'll have to come up with my own. They then quest to find out how it is she was able to activate it when no one else could, and how to bring her home.
Meanwhile, her arrival is thought of as part of a prophecy and it triggers the arrival of the antagonist. His plans that he set in motion when he attacked the Male Lead's family can finally be completed. While struggling to find answers, Male Lead must now combat the antagonist's henchmen. As the story progresses the Female Lead becomes better at combat in order to protect herself, not rely on the Male Lead, and to assist the Male Lead.
The lead characters discover the legend of a powerful sword created by The Four Sisters and sealed away with the use of powerful gems - one of which was shattered and magically distributed throughout the kingdom. The Female Lead has one such shard as a charm on her necklace. The story transitions in to InuYasha with the new plot of tracking down the other shards of the jewel - don't worry, InuYasha fans, there's only about 15 shards and this part of the story shouldn't take too long to get through. I guess this is also sort of Legend of Zelda-ish since there are a few games where a Triforce is shattered and Link must find the pieces and put it back together - each time only needing 8 shards. Anyway, they must track down the shards for two reasons. The first is that the sword the jewel locks away will help defeat the villain. The second is that the jewel will be powerful enough to send the Female Lead home.
Throughout their travels to find the shards the story again goes to the Fable story line where the Male Lead starts to uncover the truth about his past and heritage and why he - and the Female Lead - are so important to the antagonist.
The story reaches its climax and the True Villain shows himself. Much like any good Legend of Zelda game, the main antagonist is simply the puppet of the True Villain. The Leads must work together to defeat this evil and again bring peace. Then the Female Lead uses the jewel to activate the Cullis Gate. I have yet to decide if A) The Female Lead goes home, B) The Female Lead decides to stay with the Male Lead, or C) The Male Lead decides to go with the Female Lead to Earth - forever leaving his world behind. There are a multitude of animes - some of which I used in my hybrid - as well as Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess that have this ending, so we'll see where I go with it.

I know, there didn't seem like there were too many Legend of Zelda moments in there even though that's the secondary story I'm working with. Most of the elements I "stole" end up in the details - mostly centering around the sword and the jewels. The Male Lead also has the traveling companion that Link has in most of the games - manifesting itself in the most renowned form of a fairy.

Along with the Find The Shards quest that is prominent in Legend of Zelda and InuYasha, the other main InuYasha detail is that the Male Lead is a half-demon. I don't quite recall why I went down that route or if I'll keep that characteristic.

The other animes/movies/games that I listed show up in the character builds of the Leads, Antagonist, True Villain, and the Male Lead's mother - whose backstory is important to the plot.

As I warned you guys, this post is getting epicly long, so I'll finish up with an excerpt I wrote detailing the legend of the sword. This part is a near-blatant rip-off of the Legend of Zelda Hyrule/Triforce Creation Story, so I'll have to tweak that I think. In this excerpt I named the sword Destiny, but I'm going to change that to something less lame/cliche eventually. :P

According to Gyatearian faith, the Four Sisters - Dryea, Maynor, Krysum, and Alrea - created Gyateara in turn. The eldest sister Dryea, Goddess of Power, used her burning touch to rouse the land into creation. Her sister Maynor, Goddess of Wisdom, cooled the molten lava by pouring water into the world. The third sister Krysum, Goddess of Courage, made he newly formed continents green by producing plants.

The world was fresh, new, bountiful, and breathtaking. But there was no one to appreciate it. That was when the youngest sister Alrea, Goddess of Love, molded creatures out of the land. Using what her sisters created, she gifted her creations with each of her sisters' blessings. Finally, she breathed upon them all with her warm, gentle breeze and Gyateara was populated.

Once their work was done, the Four Sisters gifted their creations with one last token to guide them. The Sisters forged Destiny and left it in a case; locked and waiting for its true owner. Each sister then gifted a jewel - a key - to their favorite creature, hoping one day that Destiny will belong to the one they all favor equally.

With their final gift bestowed, the Sisters departed from Gyateara in order to look upon the world from afar. The Sisters left in a loud thunderclap and blinding explosion. It is said that those who can find the precise spot the Sisters left Gyateara - and possessed one of their jewels - will be able to follow them to a new world.

Does this story seem interesting at all to you guys? Should I bother working on it some more? I know that once I'm done with it I'll just redraft the whole thing and keep redrafting until the story drifts away from the fanfiction and becomes original. In the meantime though, what do you guys think? If you want I can "leak" more information about this story in future posts. Just let me know below - or via Twitter or Facebook.

Thank You Note for My Readers

Let me start off by apologizing for the semi-emo blog this past Sunday. I debated editing that stuff at the end out, but I was so frustrated with struggling to edit the format of the post I gave up editing the actual WORDS of the post. Plus, I think it will be good for Future Me - and any struggling writers - to look back, see my doubts, and then see how I concurred them.

I do feel the need to clarify something though. Sunday, when I was whining about fading in to obscurity and never getting famous, well.... Let's just all admit that we'd like to be famous. We'd like to have our names live on forever. We'd like having complete strangers know we exist. We'd like for someone three generations from now to still know we lived.

But my reasoning for fame is beyond that. My passion is to write. I get bored or aggravated or stressed out doing anything else. Even editing film - as much as I love it - irritates me to no end when I can't figure out a problem. I never have that with writing. I have a problem, or a Writer's Block and I might get mopey about not knowing what to do, but I never get angry or stressed or agitated. I love writing. I love how soothing it is to me. If I could I would spend all day in front of a computer screen and just type.

THAT is my main reason for griping. I can't survive on my passion unless I'm "famous", unless enough people know of my work and like it enough to pay me for it. I need to be "famous" in order to give up my job and be able to stay home all day.

So I guess I'm just really ticked off that I haven't worked on my story since June, and that I haven't finished the July Daily Challenges, and that I haven't written ANYTHING in over a month. I'm frustrated that the ones closest to me IRL haven't read my works. I'm irritated that I'm paying back a $20,000+ loan for a college degree I'm not even using.

If you had gone to 18-yr-old me, ready to start college and looking towards the future. And if you had asked her where she'd be in a decade, you know what she would have told you?
"I'll be married with at least one kid. I'll be writing for a newspaper and possibly working on a novel on the side. I definitely want at least one novel published by the time I'm, say, 35. I'd also like a second child by then."

Hmm, well, I'm at least married. I might have ONE kid by the time I'm 35. I gave up on journalism - it's too boring and intrusive of a career for me. And I still have time to write that novel before I'm 35. So it's not ALL Doom and Gloom... but still, I'm certainly not where I thought I would be.

So I'm sorry for dumping my insecurities, self-doubt, and generic "emo-ness" all over last week's blog.

I DO care for each of my readers. I DO love that you love me so much. I DO understand that I don't have that vast of a portfolio - and I need to work on that. I DO love that I have fanart for my story - and screw having a whole group dedicated to it! It's not even done yet! It's not even 1/2 way done yet! I DO love and appreciate every last one of you.

You encourage me. You motivate me. You ground me. You lift me up. You remind me why I love writing. I'm no longer writing just for me. And I'm not writing to become famous.

I'm writing for you.

I'm writing as my thank you for all of your love for me.

I'm still going to write the stories I'd want to read - as any writer should. I'm still going to write because it's my passion and it makes me happy.

But you, dear reader, helps remind me WHY it makes me happy.

So thank you. With all my heart, thank you.

Originally, I was plowing through Lycopolis fast enough that I thought I'd be able to do a full review of the book in this week's post. However, I got stopped by a couple of wonderful emails this week. DarkAngel1326 is back to writing! YAY!

She sent me her latest chapter of Keep Love In Your Heart, as well as a prologue to a new story she's working on. She's struggling with deciding on what to do with the new story. She knows how she wants it to grow, but isn't sure it will be able to do so as a fanfic. Yet she's still not confident enough with her writing to give up the "playing in someone else's sandbox" crutch. Can't say I blame her; I have the same struggles. Anyway, I'm trying to encourage her to just take the leap and make this new story an original. We'll see how that goes.

So if you read DA's stuff - and all of you should, it's awesome! - please give her some encouragement!
**SIDE NOTE: DA's b'day is this week! Whoot! I wish I knew what to do for her birthday. I mean, the girl got me three amazing gifts.... Must. Think. Of. Something!**

Speaking of encouragement, Omnibladestrike also sent me something this week! If you're having difficulties remembering him, well, he's my IRL buddy who's writing an original fantasy tale. It's been a bit of a struggle, and he's restarted the story about seven times now. But I'm sure Ali Luke can reassure him that most great novels are like that. She even commented SOMEWHERE that Lycopolis is a far cry from the original draft.

Anyway, he sent me his new prologue. It kept me a while to get to it - crazy week, plus beta reading, plus what I'm going to talk about next - but I have to say I'm quite impressed by what he has. Yes, there's still some polishing that needs to be done, but in comparison to past drafts, this one feels like it's by a completely different author. I'm amazed at how much he has grown during his "Gah! I can't write!" self-discovery hiatus.

So let's also throw out some mad props to Omni! You go, dude! And trust me, we WILL get your story to a point where you'll be proud to show it off!

Aside from getting back in to Beta reading, I've also spent the week watching Hubby play Persona 4. I'm not really one for turn-based games - which is why I'm not a big fan of Final Fantasy or Pokemon - and the first 4hrs or so of the game just draaaaaaaaaaag on.... but after THAT the game is really interesting to me. Also, I completely love the soundtrack! I'm actually listening to one of the songs on loop while writing this post.

I find myself compelled by the story, shocked by the insane amount of "OMG, WHAT!?" moments, and now I'm excitedly waiting for Hubby to finish the game so we can track down the anime of it.

And speaking of shows....
I was visiting CelestralTyrant this week. When Hubby and I were finally on our way out the door - at 1:30am - I noticed a book on CT's end table:

GAH! WHAT!?

I squealed like the little fangirl that I am, snatched the book from the table, and had the following conversation:

Me: OMG, OMG, OMG! Is this legit a book version of the old cartoon series!?

CT: Um, I guess. I dunno. I've had that book forever.

Me: Isn't it amazing!? I totally heart this series!

CT: Oh, uh, it actually bored me every time I tried to read it.

Me: Are you kidding me!?

CT: Yeah... so if you want you can take the book. Like, seriously. Just take it. Merry Christmas.

OMG! CT, you are AWESOME!!!! So, naturally I tracked down the old TV series on YouTube. Sadly, the only posting I could find has the episodes split up in to three 7min segments - so THAT'S kinda annoying. But at least I can still watch it! *squee*

DreamWorks! You need to get this series out on DVD! NOW! ShoutFactory, if you get the rights to put this show on DVD after doing the same with Hey Arnold and Reboot.... well.... I might as well just sign my paychecks directly over to them from now on! XD

Granted, the likelihood of the series being put on DVD anytime soon is slim-to-none considering most people don't even remember the show. Even I only remember it every once in a while - but when I do I go INSANE with it! As I tend to do with most of my fandoms....

So, this actually all circles back to my writing. No, I'm not working on an Invasion America fanfic. However, I fear the same results the series - and book - got.

Much like DarkAngel1326, I fear my writing isn't good enough. I see how renowned all these other fanfiction writers are in the fandom. Whenever someone asks, "Who's a good writer?" or "What stories should I read?" I see the same ones come up over and over... and my name is never even thought of. There's at least one DeviantArt group dedicated to fanart of a fanfiction. My work isn't nearly as good as that. I mean, I get ChibiSunnie's awesome fanart, but... well...

Hubby reassures me that I'm too harsh on myself; that I have at least five super-devoted fans. And I love each and every one of them for that! However, if you're a show and you have an insane cult following, but the mainstream doesn't even know of you, you still get cancelled. Am I destined to be Invasion America? Or Invader Zim? Or Firefly? Am I destined to have a handful of really loyal fans, but still fade in to obscurity?

I dunno. Maybe I'm just being too harsh on myself. Maybe I should really be grateful I have even that handful of fans - and that they are so devoted to my work. Maybe I should stop thinking about becoming "famous" and just focus on telling stories. Go back to the "I don't care if anyone reads this, I'm writing this for me" attitude I had when I started "WTMTB".

Self discovery is hard, man! :P Maybe I'll have things better sorted out next week. At the very least I hope to have a link to DA's birthday gift.