A New Chapter Awaits!......editing.....

Goodness! I've gotten about 200 hits since last week! I never get that many hits! So I guess that means everyone is appreciating the new Handy Links page. I'm glad. I really hope that page helps you guys out.

If you haven't noticed yet, I have a new page: Handy Links For Fellow Aspiring Writers. There will be more links added to it as I find them, and when I update the page those fancy "New" icons will then only be by the links added that day.... I'll also try to remember to comment about any updates in that week's blog update.

Sure, now I have no clue who's reading my actual blog and who's just hopping by to get some helpful tidbits for themselves, but part of me doesn't really care. Yes, it would be fantastic to have more readers. Yes, it would be wonderful to know more and more people care about what I have to say. Yet, I kind of like the idea of helping fellow writers out more. One of the reasons I find beta-reading so fulfilling. So if you're enjoying the links - and if any in particular are helpful - don't forget to leave some comments. Same goes for if you find a helpful link that I don't have listed. Shoot me a comment so I can add the link. :-D

As for my own writing news, well, it's been a bit of a struggle but I managed to finally finish my chapter! ChibiSunnie now has it for beta-reading and she should get her notes back to me by tomorrow-ish. With any luck and massive determination I should be able to polish it up and manage to post by Thursday! So, those of you who have been waiting since friggen APRIL for my latest update, you shouldn't have to wait much longer. Also, I'm hoping this year I'll break this supposed cycle of writing monthly until May/June and then waiting almost a year for a new update....

I'll talk about it more in the author's notes of the latest chapter, but my issue this time was the format I locked myself in to - the chapters each based off of lyrics of a song. I had a spot where the chapter felt like it naturally wanted to end, and it was an exciting chapter to write up to that point. I actually had it written by the beginning of July if I can recall properly. So the update would have been MONTHS ago except for one major issue - the point where I had stopped left about half of the song lyrics untouched. So I avoided, and struggled, and worked on other writings, and beta-read, and looked for a new place to live.

Thank god I decided one of my New Years Resolutions would be to update once a month. That deadline really pushed me the last two days. That, and letting you guys know that the chapter would be sent to Chibi by today.... I was still stuck and didn't like how I was ending the chapter. I even remembered the advice "If you're bored writing it, the reader will be bored reading it" and wondered if I should bother with the "missing lyrics". I was actually dreading writing the ending of this chapter, as well as nervous that the advice would be true and everyone would find the chapter dragged out and the ending anti-climactic.

I was staring at the chapter like it was a school paper I waited until the last minute to write. I just wanted to do ANYTHING else but work on it - including cleaning and packing. What made everything worse is that my poor netbook pretty much died on me. The battery doesn't hold power for more than about 45min and there's something wrong with the fans not starting up with the computer so it auto-shuts off as soon as I turn the thing on. So I have to go through a dance of turning the computer back on repetitively about five times before it actually stays on, and then transfer everything over to my desktop so I could actually use the files saved on the netbook. It was tiring and drove me insane. All the more reason I wanted to avoid working on the story that was saved on my netbook.

Thankfully, Chibi helped me through it. She motivated me and gave me mini-breaks every once in a while as she asked me for advice on her drawing entry for the Valentine's Day contest. So thank you once again, Chibi, for helping me get back in to writing.

And speaking of the V-day contest, now that the chapter is almost out of the way I just need to focus on packing and moving this week and by next Sunday I should be able to start up on my contest entry. YAY, more Brainy writing! He's not in my latest chapter at all, so it will be fun to get back to him.

Finally Got The Ideas Flowin'

Last week I was excited to have a story concept set for the Valentine’s Day contest. This week I spent most of my days wondering if I had to go back to the drawing board. This was the Halloween story all over again. I had ideas bouncing around in my head, but I couln’t get any of them to develop in to a full story.

A week of talking back and forth with ChibiSunnie as well as scribbling notes down whenever I was on a work break resulted in me still not having a clue what to do with Brainy fantasizing about him and Helga. Everything I thought of either felt cliché or it had already been done in the show.

There were long battles with myself...

Helga’s trying to make it to Wrestlemania?

She and Harold already had that adventure in “Buses, Bikes, and Subways”.

Helga’s late for class?

Eh, she wouldn't really care about that.

What if Helga’s breaking in/out of the Sunset Arms?

Again?

Alright, this is a reoccurring thing, so not too many originality points, but it could work. It's sort of a show running gag.

Obviously she’d be attempting to stop Arnold from finding out her secret, but what would be the cause of her predicament this time?

Her book of poetry she writes about him?

Already happened in “Little Pink Book”.

Her locket with his picture in it?

Arnold found that in “Helga’s Locket”.

She confessed her feelings and then regretted it; hoping to snag back the proof before Arnold got to it?

Oh, you mean like the answering machine message in “Helga Blabs it All”?

What if she wasn’t aware that she was going to confess?

I get it! Like in “Helga Sleepwalks” when she broke in to his house to confess while she was sleeping!

How about someone else making the confession?

Because that would somehow be different than a parrot reciting Helga’s poetry to Arnold in “Helga’s Parrot”…

What if an actual person blabbed it? 

Everyone knows that Brainy knows her secret, but if he’s the hero – and if he hasn’t said anything by now – there’s no way he’s the one who’s going to say anything. 

Phoebe obviously knows considering the amount of times they hint at it in the show, but what would drive her to tell Arnold? Does he suspect and is badgering Phoebe about it?

Dr. Bliss is yet another who obviously knows, but she’s sworn to secrecy thanks to Doctor/Patient confidentiality. Besides, what would cause her to talk to Arnold about that anyway? 

Same goes with Mr. Simmons. He’s a smart enough man to know the poems Helga submits for class are about Arnold, but why would he ever say anything? 

It’s possible after the “Helga’s Boyfriend” episode that Stinky suspects that she likes Arnold, but he never really says anything the rest of the series, so it’s also quite possible he didn’t put two and two together. 

Lila knows because Helga told her in “School Play”. She’s a possibility since she’s at least a child and not a close enough friend of Helga’s for it to feel like a betrayal. Maybe Lila feels she’s helping those two finally get together? Maybe it’s a way to direct Arnold from crushing on her anymore? If I’m ignoring the FTi confession scene from the movie, can I also ignore that Arnold drops his crush on Lila at the end of “Timberly Loves Arnold”?

Then I thought of a rival, a thorn in Helga’s side that surpasses Lila…. Helga’s older sister Olga. Sure, she doesn’t seem to know about Helga’s crush on Arnold – or really anything else about her sister’s life for that matter – but what would happen if she found out? Clueless Miriam found Helga’s bubblegum shrine to Arnold in “Arnold’s Hat”, and Olga seems to always help out with the household chores, so what if Olga was helping her mother by putting Helga’s clean clothes away and finds another of the Arnold Shrines? What if she stumbles upon Helga’s poetry? What if Olga goes to check in on her Baby Sister while Helga’s sleeping and finds the locket?

For a little while I ran with the idea that Olga discovered Helga’s secret and, in an attempt to help out her kid sister, decides to let Arnold know about the crush. Helga could somehow find out and panic. Then Brainy’s to the rescue in stopping Olga and keeping Helga’s secret safe.

Three problems:

1 – How does Brainy permanently stop Olga from telling Arnold?

2 – Why can’t Helga do the same exact thing?

3 – Why would Brainy fantasize about keeping Helga’s secret safe? If he kept her secret safe she’d be eternally grateful to him and fall for him – if it were a true fantasy – and if so, Arnold finding out the truth would be a moot point since fantasy-Helga doesn’t feel that way any longer.

So, if it’s illogical for Brainy to fantasize about helping Helga by stopping Arnold from finding out her secret, what could Brainy help her with? Back to the drawing board...

At the very least, brainstorming how Brainy could save the day – using a real-world problem like in that The Big Bang Theory scene I posted last week – gave me that “Olga finds out about Helga’s crush” plotline. I think it could become a really cool “Olga and Helga Redefine Their Relationship” story. Plus, I’ve wanted to write an Olga story for a while. At least now I have a plot idea for that Olga story.

Oh, the Plot Bunny Farm is filling up fast! I might have to do another post about them all!

So as of Thursday I still had no clue what I was doing. I tried to switch gears by listening to my Valentine's Day playlist. I hoped that - much like how I get inspired to write chapters for my story - one of the songs will speak to me and inspire a story for the contest. I also started rewatching episodes of the Disney Aladdin cartoon series.

Inspiration hits in the weirdest ways. I landed upon a comedic love song entitled "Skullcrusher Mountain" and that really got my juices flowing.

Certain elements of the Aladdin cartoon also inspired me, but if I were to relay what parts over to you I'd give away some key points of my story.

Point is, I think I've finally figured out my Valentine's Day competition story! Whoot! I'm still going with Brainy fantasizing about Helga, but it will play out almost like a cheesy 1960's melodrama cartoon a la "Wacky Races" or "Dudley Do-Right". Let's just say that Arnold - in his "Eugene, Eugene" villainous persona Lawrence - portrays the singer in "Skullcrusher Mountain" with poor Helga as the captive woman.

Now that I know what I want to do with my Valentine's Day story I can finally concentrate on how I want to finish up my latest chapter for What is Truly Meant to Be. This way I can stick with my New Years Resolution to post a new chapter every month. Best part is, I think I FINALLY know where I want to go with that too.

So for the next 11 days I'll be working on WITMTB as well as packing to move in to the new apartment by February 1st. Then, once February rolls around, I'll use the last 8 days of the contest working on this Brainy story. If I could get the Halloween story done in one day, having over a week should be simple! Especially since the hardest part - figuring out the plot - is already taken care of!

Hopefully, by next week I'll either have my latest chapter done, or at least finished enough to send to Chibi to beta! 

Brainstorming a New Brainy Story

I had a really wacky work schedule this past week, so I’m a bit mixed up on my days. This week crawled along and flew by at the same time. I honestly didn’t remember what I did which week before going back and reading last week’s post. Sheesh….

Well, thanks to my amazing beta, muse, and friend ChibiSunnie, I was able to narrow my Valentine’s Day contest ideas from about 30 all the way down to the one idea I’m going to use…and it’s not even one of my ideas. I’m writing one of hers.

As we were spitballing back and forth to figure out what I should write she had made a comment about Brainy fantasizing about being with Helga and have this cool daydream segment similar to ones Helga does about Arnold.

I loved this idea! She just made this comment in passing and it stuck with me. This is why I never reject ideas. Even if you don’t use something, it can still be enough of a seed of thought to sprout a brilliant idea!

So now I’m struggling to figure out what I want to do for the fantasy. I’ve been playing with the idea of an Indiana Jones-like story. Hubby thinks I should go with a more James Bond-like story. Chibi thinks that I could do a story where Brainy transitions between personas based on the situation he comes across. I guess I need to figure out the problem that Helga is going to come across so I know which persona Brainy would use to “save” her.

An example from The Big Bang Theory has Leonard block the only stairwell in the apartment building and a distressed Penny complains that she’s going to be late for work. Leonard won’t be able to remove the block on the stairwell fast enough to get her to work on time, so he opens up the broken elevator shaft, pulls her close, reassures her that she’ll be alright, and then carries her down to the ground floor by sliding down the elevator cable.

Along with figuring out which Brainy Persona I want to go with, as well as the trouble Helga finds herself in, I also want to finish up my chapter of What Is Truly Meant To Be in order to keep up with my new resolution of writing a chapter every month. With Script Frenzy in April and NaNo in November I’ll already be down two months, so I really want to make sure that January isn’t another lost month.

Then there’s also my beta reading for DarkAngel1326, Devious.Editor, Chopfe – if he gets back in to writing his story like he wants to – and now I also get to help out Chibi! She’s attempting another story since she did so well with her first one. She wants to do a story for Stinky and Lila, so I just sent her my notes on what she has so far. Am I going to have stiff competition against her again? :-D

On top of everything else, however, I do have the “fun” of repacking up my house since Hubby and I are moving in to a new apartment as of February 1^st. I HATE packing. Unpacking isn’t so bad since you have blank spaces to fill, but to take an unorganized house and to try to organize it in to boxes so like items are together for unpacking…. Gah, I HATE it.

Oh well, I guess I’m off to try to figure out at least one of my two stories…

Figuring Out The Valentine's Day Tale

I know that my last post was on a Wednesday, but this week still feels like it flew by!

I did manage to do the beta reading for Devious.Editor and DarkAngel1326. I'm proud to have finally found the time to help those ladies out. Devious has some work to do in order to finish her chapter. She has blips where she describes what she wants to happen in that part, but doesn't have it fully figured out yet, and she needs to figure out how she's going to end the chapter. So I guess Fugitive isn't going to be updated as soon as I had implied last post. I will be working with her and hopefully help her finish the chapter in a timely manner.

As for DA, well her story is fantastic. There were some places that I made some suggestions that I feel would help pull at the heart strings a little more, so she might have some tweaking - depending on whether or not she follows my suggestions. However, once she feels confident that she has the story at its best I hope she posts it on DeviantArt and/or Fictionpress. The world needs to read it. :-D

As for me? Well, the above beta reading was the extent of my "Writing World" ventures. I did manage to finish Professor Layton. So that's one less distraction. Now my thoughts are all on the Valentine's Day competition that the Hey Arnold group is hosting.

They will be using the same scoring as for the Halloween Contest, so I REALLY want to try to make up those points in originality. Therefore, I'm avoiding the Helga/Arnold, Gerald/Phoebe, and Harold/Rhonda/Curly pairings because those will probably be everyone's go-to. The problem being, that there are so many MORE options I could go with and I don't have any strong feelings to follow any one of them in particular. I have until February 8th to figure it out though.

Here are my reigning thoughts on what I should do, and there are a LOT of them:

• Grandpa Phil and Grandma Gertie
• I've stated before that it would be fun to do a "how they got together" story about these two; the transition from Gertie bullying Phil to them actually dating and getting married. I still feel like this is too large and too complex of a story to write as a simple Valentine's Day tale, so it's again getting slotted away.
• Perhaps a story just about their wedding day. It would be sweet with a little chaos thrown in. I just need to do some research on the average wedding in the 1940s... it's a shame my grandparents aren't still alive....
• I could do a story about Gertie's pregnancy and/or birth of Miles and the chaos a new baby brings to the already hectic life of running a boarding house. Problem there is that I have no experience in the "new parent" department yet, so I'm not sure how true-to-life I'd be able to make the story just on second-hand info.
• A simple, quiet tale of Phil and Gertie during the years of the show - 80, raising a grandson, taking care of the Sunset Arms, and growing old together. I'd probably do the story through the more-sane POV of Phil, and how in his opinion Gertie hasn't changed one bit.
• Miles and Stella
• Keeping with the Shortman family, perhaps a story of Miles and Stella while they're still in the jungle, before bringing Arnold to Hillwood. Or perhaps their new lives in Hillwood and getting reaccustomed to "civilization" along with parenthood. I feel these two don't get too many stories for two reasons. 1 - we don't know terribly too much about them, 2 - everything about their lives that needed to be said was told beautifully in "The Journal" episode.
• Oskar and Suzie
• I already did a pseudo-romance story about them during the July Daily Challenge. Do I want to do another one?
• The Million Dollar Question for this couple is "Why did Suzie marry him in the first place?" so perhaps there's a story there.
• I don't have any theories on the matter, so that might prove a bit tricky...
• Perhaps the story isn't the REAL story of how they got together, but a bunch of mini-stories via the boarders' theories on the subject.
• Bob and Miriam
• Another dysfunctional couple that people wonder about. A lot of theories float around about Bob actually being a looker and a charmer in his day and then showing his true colors after he and Miriam are married. I might be able to work with this.
• There must have been a time where these two were legitimately happy together. I just need to backtrack to before Miriam started drinking.
• Did Bob crush her dreams of becoming more than a house wife right away and that's what drove her to drink?
• Did she start drinking after the stress of caring for Olga and keeping house while watching her dreams die?
• Did she start drinking after having Helga? Either as a continuation of some postpartum depression or because she sincerely didn't want another child?
• Did she start drinking relatively recently, as a way to cope with not having her "perfect" Olga around as a buffer between her and Bob?
• I feel like this story might be a bit of a deep and twisty one... perhaps another to slot away for another time...
• Another fantastic plotbunny that crept up was a story where Bob is tempted with an affair with an employee - or possibly a returning client - and the proof that the Patakis truly love each other as Bob and Miriam work through this threat of infidelity.
• Definitely a larger story that needs to be slotted away.... I have so many stories like this!
• Coach Jack Wittenberg and Tish
• Another dysfunctional couple, but this one routinely shows off that they really are madly in love. Writing a story about these two is like writing a parody fanfic of the show “According to Jim”; partially because it’s the only show I know of where the couple is obviously in love but compete constantly, and partially because Wittenberg is voiced by Jim Belushi and the wife on both shows is a blonde.
• Perhaps the story of how Jack and Tish became a couple. The story was briefly told by Tish in the episode “Best Man” and it might be fun to explore it some more.
• Maybe a fun story of Tish and Jack STILL competing heavily while Tish is pregnant with Tucker.
• Since Tish isn’t in the ONE episode that Tucker is in, and since Tucker is never seen or mentioned past the episode “Benchwarmer” – which includes his surprising absence from the “Best Man” episode where Jack and Tish get re-married – it is sort of fanon that Tucker is actually Jack’s son from a previous marriage.
• Perhaps there can be this bittersweet story of Tish having a crush on Jack since they were kids, watching him marry another woman and having a kid with her, and then Tish being there for Jack when he goes through divorce.
• Another multi-chapter plot bunny?
• Ernie and Lola
• Switching back to the Sunset Arms boarders. At the end of "Ernie in Love" he and Lola made up after their fight. Lola was trying to coax Ernie in to having dinner with her again, but Ernie tried to slow things down with a simple "we can have coffee". Did this relationship grow now that Lola had gotten over her shallow views on Ernie's height?
• Harold and Patty
• Another couple I touched upon twice during the July Daily Challenge. One was Patty's POV during the episode "Hey, Harold". It wasn't really a romance, but it showed the potential there. My first story about these two, however, was "Letters From Nowhere", another July Daily challenge prompt in which Rhonda sends secret admirer letters to Harold, but he thinks they're from Patty. It's kind of a romance yet again, but I've never actually wrote a true romance story between these two.
• Perhaps a continuation of Letters From Nowhere. What happens when Harold arrives at Slausen's looking for Patty without realizing he's supposed to be finding Rhonda?
• Maybe a story about how they finally transition from friends to "more than"
• How about a bit of a heartbreaker story of Patty - who is two grades higher than Harold even though he's almost two years older - going off to college and Harold feeling stupid, alone, and left behind?
• I kind of like this one, but it again feels larger than a Valentine's Day one shot.
• Rhonda and Sid
• I don't really get this pairing, but apparently there are some subtle clues throughout the show that suggests that it IS canon that Sid has a crush on Rhonda. Hubby likes this pairing the most out of the Rhonda possibilites.
• My fear is since I don't really get this pairing it would take me too long to figure it out and I won't have time to actually write it.
• Sid and Nadine
• ChibiSunnie unintentionally brought up this possibility to me when she did a comic suggesting such a pairing. Although neither of us believe this is going to be more than a short high school fling before they mutually part ways as friends, it would still be fun to see them as a couple, even for a little while.
• Nadine and Peapod Kid
• Established canon after Peapod's reaction in the episode "Married". I don't really get this coupling though, so if anything I'd have this set up as a love triangle with the above pairing of Nadine and Sid. Perhaps a tale of Peapod wooing Nadine away from Sid. Thing is, I just can't refer to the kid as "Peapod" the entire story, so I'd have to come up with a "real" name for him.
• Lila and Stinky
• Another couple that Chibi came up with, mainly due to their similar rural backgrounds. They could actually make a really cute couple. I’d probably focus on Stinky winning Lila over, under the shock of his peers since Lila and Rhonda are clearly still the top two girls that the gang would love to be with.
• Eugene and Sheena
• I wrote a very long story about these two last Valentine’s day as a gift for Chibi. Do I want to write another one?
• If the answer is yes, should I write one where Eugene finally realizes his feelings for Sheena? Or one of them actually dating?
• Helga and Brainy
• Pairing Helga up with anyone other than Arnold is already sort of taboo, but it is certainly unconventional to pair her with Brainy! However, that is precisely what I’m already doing with my main story.
• Part of me wants to submit my fifth chapter – when Brainy asks Helga out – to see how far it could get in the contest, as well as sort of promote my story.
• However, that will completely take away from the actual writing portion of the competition. I feel like I need to write a brand new story.
• Should I write a sort of “companion” story to my main one in which I show more of Helga and Brainy dating?
• Should I write a story completely separate from my main story, but still have Brainy and Helga paired off?
• Tommy and Maria
• Two side characters that we know little to nothing about aside from Tommy’s affection to yell for Maria to “come over here!”
• Mr. Simmons and Peter
• I would have to pretty much completely construct Peter’s character since he was only briefly seen in the “Arnold’s Thanksgiving” episode. Would that count as creating an Original Character? Because creating OCs isn’t allowed for this contest.
• I’m not sure if I want to follow this couple because AngelBlood666 already wrote a really nice story about these two for his July Daily Challenge, and I honestly don’t think I’d be able to surpass his tale.
• Lila’s Parents
• I also want to do a story with these two, but we know nothing at all about Lila’s mother and almost as little about her father. I would certainly be severely bending the “no OCs” rule since I would essentially be creating two brand new characters – including coming up with their names.
• Unfortunately, I feel like this is a no-go for the contest, but perhaps I’ll slot it away for next Valentine’s Day…

So those are my thoughts on all the couples I can think of for this Valentine’s Day contest. Anyone have any thoughts on which story I should focus on? Which one do you think could be a real winner? Which one is most intriguing to you? Let me know in the comments below! :-D

Ringing In 2013

Drawn by DeviantArtist Dracu-Teufel666

Okay, well I swear I didn’t intend to have a holiday hiatus.

Drawn by DeviantArtist Pluvias

My INTENTION was to postpone the December 23^rd post so I had time to finish last minute Christmas stuff, and then have my belated post Christmas evening; as a way to wish you all a happy holiday. Then Christmas got crazy, I got distracted by a gift Hubby gave me, and I had to get ready for a road trip home to celebrate my cousin’s wedding this past Sunday. Which is why there also wasn’t a blog post on the 30^th. Because of the bad snow storm on Saturday, I couldn’t drive down after work like intended, spend the night hanging out with the family and working on this blog post, get up early Sunday to get ready and post this entry, and then go to the ceremony at noon. INSTEAD, I got stuck in a snow bank, carefully traversed through town doing last minute errands, shoveled, went to bed early, got up at 3am to shovel some more, and then left at 4am to do a five-hour drive, arrive at my mom’s with barely enough time for me to get ready, drive to the wedding, and then by the time we got back to my mom’s I crashed.

Drawn by DeviantArtist Korewa13th

So forgive me my past two missed weeks.

Sadly, not having time to write blog posts also meant no free time to write, period. Well, okay, I lied about NO free time, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

The week before Christmas was spent franticly attempting to finish off all the crochet gifts I was making for everyone. The only thing even remotely exciting in the world of writing is that I received an email from Devious.Editor! You guys haven’t heard that name in a WHILE, have you? Well, not only did she want to reassure me that she was still alive, but she also wanted to send me her latest chapter to edit. So those of you who are fans of her story “Fugitive” there should be another chapter up soonish. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten around to beta reading it yet. But I aim to before this Sunday’s update. We’ll see how that goes.

Drawn by DeviantArtist Pika

So now that the holidays have come and gone, I’ll be working on cleaning house – since that’s been neglected for about two months, finding a new one, and generally relaxing after all the holiday chaos. Part of that relaxing process is going to consist of continuing two new video games, which will hopefully not, but most likely distract me from any creative projects for a little while.

One is celestialTyrant’s game that he’s keeping at our house, and the other is a Christmas gift from Hubby. Sorry about this. Blame them.

The first game is an ADORABLE Wii game called Kirby’s Epic Yarn. I cannot properly describe how amazingly cute this game is without spending an entire post just on that. So instead have a Let’s Play of the opening of the game. OH! And just FYI... Chuggaconroy's commentary is VERY similar to CT's when he plays... so it's also a bit of an insight in to him. :-D

As for the gift from Hubby? Well, let’s just say that he did really well! See, for YEARS I’ve been trying to track down “Professor Layton and the Curious Village” for my DS. I read about the game back when I used to get Nintendo Power and fell in love before even playing. Problem was I didn’t have the money to buy it when it first came out. In fact, I almost NEVER buy a new game when it first comes out because of how expensive they are. So I was waiting for the game to be old enough that the price would drop. However, the game sold out before that happened, and I couldn’t find a copy since.

The Professor Layton series is up to four games now, and I refused to play any of the other ones without first playing Curious Village. Soon the second game “Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box” became just as hard to find. I guess people just loved the games so much that once they bought them they never traded them back in to the game stores. You can just guess what two DS games I got for Christmas this year.

I’ve been playing “Curious Village” pretty much non-stop since Christmas and I just MAY be at the half way point. I LOVE this game! This series already is in my top three. May have pushed Fable out of the number two spot; depending on how well done the sequels are.

So, again, sorry. I technically HAVE had time to work on this blog post, or beta read, or work on my own story. I’ve just been distracted by video games. Guess that’s what happens when you cut them out completely. Sort of like when you “finish” your diet and just back the pounds right back on because you missed all the food you cut out.

So let’s take this time to figure out this year’s resolutions. Although I didn’t stick with ALL of my resolutions last year, I did manage to use most of them as excellent guide lines, and 2012 was more-or-less a fantastic year because of it. Let’s aim for 2013 to be even better, shall we?

RESOLUTION NUMBER ONE: Improve upon writing style; be it voice, grammar, spelling, speed, consistency, schedule, professionalism, or all of the above.

Practice makes perfect and I’m hoping to have a lot more. I really improved over the last year. Even if I didn’t consistently write my fiction, I almost always hit that Sunday Update Day goal. I need to focus harder on getting updates done on time, as well as being just as consistent with my fiction updates.

I need to take what I learned from this year’s Script Frenzy, and definitely from my first year of NaNo. I'm going to participate in every free-entry writing contest I come across. Starting with a Hey Arnold Valentine's Day contest. Entries need to be in by February 8th. Any suggestions on pairing to write about?
Even when I'm not working on contest entries - ESPECIALLY when I'm not working on contest entries - I need to crack down on scheduling time for my writing instead of “finding” time for it.

Less TV. More Writing!

RESOLUTION NUMBER TWO: Become healthier!

Not a writing resolution, but still an important one. Both becoming healthier and writing consistently seem to have the same principal of goal making. As well as having support and a “buddy” to help you stay motivated. I need to lose a few more pounds, and both Hubby and I still eat like college students. I need to be more active and possibly get Hubby more involved so it is easier for me to stay on track. Hopefully, this will spill over and help me better time manage so I can also write – and have the energy to do so.
Pass me some of that Basil Pesto Hummus if you please!

RESOLUTION NUMBER THREE: Get more organized!

Another one that is seemingly unrelated to writing at first glance. My house is a sty. Completely. I miss one day of cleaning because of this, that, and the other thing. Before I know it, the pile of dishes and laundry are both overwhelming and discouraging. Lo and behold, I then just sit on the couch, moping about how gross our house looks, but don’t actually accomplish anything. Either that or I finally snap and go in to a cleaning frenzy that lasts a full day or two.

If I can stay more organized with the house I’ll find more time to write because I’m not worried about the chores I’m neglecting. I can then just focus. I can also learn how to better avoid being discouraged when the writing piles up. I’ll get in to a more consistent rhythm with everything and that new attitude will certainly spill over in to my writing life.

RESOLUTION NUMBER FOUR: Finish “What Is Truly Meant To Be: A Hey Arnold Musical”

Including the chapter that has been in the works since the summer, I have eleven left before the conclusion of the story. As long as I can get a chapter out a month – which can be possible if I follow Resolution Number One – and I don’t add any more chapters to the story I can finish up before 2014! I started the story in 2010 so I think three years to finish an 18 chapter fanfic is more than enough time! Sheesh!

RESOLUTION NUMBER FIVE: Work on World Building Gyateara
For those who don't know/remember, Gyateara is the name of the world I created for my NaNo story. It started off as sort of a parody of the world of Albion from the game Fable. However, I've also done a lot of world building for my D&D character Amara. Mostly focusing on one country though. So why not put Albion and the country I created for Amara on the same planet? I sort of touched upon this idea during my last actual post. Gyateara can be this land that most of my High Fantasy stories take place - as well as quite a few D&D campaigns. To accomplish this goal, however, I have to first build Gyateara. It will be a fun project to do throughout 2013.
Maybe I can even do this along side DarkAngel1326 since she seems to be building and even bigger and bigger playground for her story "Of Blood and Honor" - as well as possible accompanying stories.

RESOLUTION NUMBER SIX: Become a better beta reader for my writers
It's pathetic that my writers have to wait days, weeks, or even months before I get around to reading their stuff. How does that help them? Now they're in a holding pattern while their muse and writing drive slips away because I can't find an hour or two to help them out. Then their readers have to wait forever for the update because of my slacking.
ChibiSunnie is such a fantastic beta for me because she's quick! Without a word, she motivates me to work daily so I can send something to her daily since she does such a quick turn around. Her quick responses drive me to keep going. She keeps me in that writing flow. I need to become more like her.
DA constantly praises me as her beta. It's time to become the Awesome Beta she keeps claiming I am!
*Scampers off to finally beta for Devious.Editor and DA*

So there you have it. My six resolutions for 2013. Let's see how well I stick to them!

Honestly, I had so many other blog posts figured out. On Christmas I was going to go on about the presents I made, the awesome ones I got, and all of that jibberjabber I have above about Professor Layton and Kirby was going to be in that long post. Then on Monday I was going to do sort of a Year In Review to reflect on 2012. Then I was going to have this post the following day to talk about my resolutions. So I had to sort of jumble everything together in to one post. I may still do that Year In Review post for Sunday, but then again I might also talk more about the Valentine's Day contest. I guess we'll just see what I feel about writing.

In the meantime... DE and DA both have stories chilling in my mailbox. So I'm off to do some reading!

HAPPY 2013 EVERYONE!

Drawn by DeviantArtist Athyess