Oh No! NaNo's Starting To Wind Down

NOVEMBER 11^TH – SUNDAY

So I posted my last update super late again, but this time it wasn’t because I was slacking on my posting of the chapter. I had both of my new chapters up at about 11am. This meant I had an hour to post my weekly update here. That should be plenty of time for normal bloggers. Not so much for me since I’m so long-winded. However, since I’ve been writing these diary entries at the end of each day all I had to do was copy from Word and paste here on Blogger.

And then all hell broke loose.

Ever since January’s start of the weekly updates and new formatting I’ve instituted, I’ve been slowly learning HTML code. For almost a month now I’ve been writing only exclusively in HTML because it was easier and faster to write the code ahead of time; instead of going back through and finding all the places to add all my links and all of those yellow underlines so you get more info when hovering over with your mouse. For about a month this tactic worked. I thought I was slowly mastering HTML.

Boy, was I ever wrong! This past week when I tried posting everything I wrote at least half of it got erased because some line in one of the codes was off, and everything written after that bad code got deleted. I battled for almost four hours – Hubby sleepily rubbing my back to help calm me – before finally getting the post up. Didn’t even bother announcing via twitter or my Facebook account. I was too ticked and I didn’t have time. I was already running late for work.

By the time I got home, celestialTyrant was hanging out with Hubby and we stayed up until 11pm playing Super Mario Bros. Wii. So, the day that is normally fantastic for my writing availability ends up being a day I crash my writing streak. *sigh*

NOVEMBER 12^TH – MONDAY

Hubby coerced me in to watching Highschool of the Dead before work. So there goes three-some hours I watched TV instead of writing. I then did my shift, which ended up being longer than it’s supposed to be because no one else took out trash the entire work day and so the trash bags were piled up higher than the container could handle, and the bags were stuffed heavier than they could handle, so I’m doing a balancing act trying to get these bags to the back. Meanwhile, at least two bags ripped on me when I tried to lift them. Awesome.

By the time I got home all I wanted was a shower, late night dinner, and watch my Monday night shows.

Therefore, I go from a super-awesome writing streak to yet again going days without writing. I need to seriously tweak some things in my life if I’m going to get a proper writing rhythm down.

NOVEMBER 13^TH – TUESDAY

After wasting my Monday evening checking in on Facebook and DeviantArt in search for the winners of the Hey Arnold Halloween contest, I started off the day nervously checking once more.

Sadly, as predicted – especially catching all those stupid typos – I didn’t even place. I’m hoping to one day read all the other entrants in the contest, since I’ve now seen all the pictures entered. Sadly, ChibiSunnie didn’t place with her picture, which I thought showed so much more attention to detail and creativity than any of the other drawings – no offense to the other contestants. However, the winner and runner up were very well executed in their own right. I think they demonstrated more mastery over the art than Chibi – cleaner; more polished.

Here’s the runner up:

And here’s the winner: 

And here’s a refresher on what Chibi’s looks like:

Although Chibi didn’t place with her picture, she still took SECOND PLACE WITH HER STORY! XD Hazzah!

For a girl who claimed she couldn’t write prose; for a girl who never wrote prose outside of school work; for a girl who never wrote any fanfiction before; for that girl to get second place WHEN I DIDN’T PLACE AT ALL…. now THAT is saying something! And it should be saying it pretty loud and clear to all of you self-doubting writers.

NEVER DOUBT YOUR SKILL TO TELL A COMPELLING STORY!!!! 

You are always going to be your worst critique and doubt how good you are. However, you’ll never truly know until you get those words out there and see how people react to it.

SO STOP DOUBTING YOURSELF YOU SILLY PEOPLE!

Also… this story holds the lesson of

“LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TELL YOU THAT YOU’RE GOOD, DANG IT!” :-D

Yes, that goes for ALL my writers – as well as my readers here that might also write, but haven’t let me know so I could read their works. *hint, hint*

But there’s also a flipside to this lesson. And that is how to bounce back from rejection.

Yes, I was “graded” by “my peers” – the administrators of the Save The Jungle Movie Hey Arnold group – and not a publisher or professional editor. Yes, my career didn’t sink or swim with this contest. Yes, my story wouldn’t be “otherwise published” or “made money” if I had won. And finally, No, Craig Bartlett – the show’s creator – was not a “secret guest judge” for the contest and therefore my lack of winning was not him telling me that I suck at writing episodic-style stories. So, aside from not getting my name announced and not receiving the autographed book – which I would have given to Chibi anyway if we actually did collab on her gourd scarecrow story – nothing changed in my world.

But not winning still stings. Knowing that at least two other stories were better than mine – when I only know of five submitted stories total, including mine – is a bitter taste. Although having my name announced as a winner isn’t a groundbreaking achievement, it still could have been. My name could have finally been out there as a fanfic writer. I could have actually gotten more of a following. And there’s that nagging “what could I have done better if I had time to proofread” question – as well as the “should I have gone with one of the seven other ideas bouncing in my head” quandary.

I’ll admit that I tried to psych myself up. I tried to tell myself to just focus on my NaNo story now that I knew the results. I tried to tell myself that it didn’t really matter because I still have a faithful following regardless. I tried to tell myself that I could just start breeding plotbunnies for the Christmas contest coming up next month. Yet I still got in my writing funk and couldn’t shake it. Rejection – no matter how tiny – stings and all writers have to learn how to deal with it in their own right.

But enough moping! I say we celebrate those who properly beat me out of my prize!

So here is a reminder of Chibi’s amazingly awesome, secondplace earning, first ever fanfic!

But let’s have a drum roll for the fantastic winner of the writing portion of the contest.

Well, now that I’ve done almost an entire blog post just about the contest…. Let’s get back to the NaNo updates, shall we?

As I mentioned above, I was in a funk. I TRIED to concentrate on my NaNo story, but I just couldn’t really get in the mood to write. I punched out about 600 words – which is better than the NOTHING I’ve done the previous two days – and then stalled.

Part of the stall, however wasn’t because of the funk. It’s because I got to a part where I need to write a prophecy. I know prophecies tend to have significant years and that certain significant events usually occur on significant anniversaries of other significant events. All this said; I went to my handy dandy word document where I wrote down the backstory timeline of the world of Albion – well, the current era of Albion at least. But as I read through it I realized I based my dates too much on the ages I wanted key players to be when main events happened, but didn’t put any thought in the years between the events. For instance, the events of the main story take place 73 years after the main villain is born, 33 years after the cornerstone event, and 26 years after the main antagonist is born. These main events should definitely have more of a significance in the years passed between them. I tweaked and tweaked and tweaked for about two hours and still wasn’t content in how everything turned out. Such a waste of a day!

NOVEMBER 14^TH – WEDNESDAY

I just could NOT get started on my writing again until I had that timeline figured out. It was driving me bonkers! Working and re-working the timeline in my word document just wasn’t working. I needed something more visual than that.

So I got some of the multi-part continuous printer paper that we have stored with our D&D resources. I only had four sheets to work with, so I divided the full sheet in to four rows and 27 columns – each column just barely wide enough for half a sticky note. Although I knew most spaces would be blank, some of the events were moveable by a single year or two, so I needed exactly the count of 100 years. I then wrote down all of the important points of the backstory on half-widths of sticky note, and proceeded to place them on my gridded out timeline.

I started with the timeline I had after fussing with it yesterday. I then tweaked and adjusted so years were more significant to each other and people didn’t seem insanely old in the grand scheme of things. Creating world backstory is HARD WORK! Sheesh.

The construction of the grid, plus writing out the events, and shifting everything until I was satisfied took a total of about two hours! Either way, I feel accomplished and I think this visual representation was a LOT easier for me to navigate so I could progress faster. I’ll have to keep that in mind for future endeavors – although I sort of always knew that… I mean, I need to stop and draw nearly every character I’ve ever created to get them fully in my head. Same for house layouts. When I did the Halloween story last month I stopped for a few hours so I could research normal layouts for rowhouses, then take the rough layout of the Pataki home – which ALWAYS changes if you pay attention, I don’t think even the creators knew the layout – and finally compiled my own layout for the Old McKinney house. Even though the reader didn’t really know much of the layout, *I* needed to in order to continue my writing. u_u boy am I pathetic…. :-P

Well, I sat waiting for Hubby at work – similar to what I’m forced to do on Sundays when he does the price changes – and in my two hour wait I managed to finish off chapter 4. So even if I’m still over 9000 words behind, I’m at least hitting my secondary goal of at least one chapter completed each week. It’s only Wednesday, though. Perhaps I can get a second one done again.

NOVEMBER 15^TH – THURSDAY

The Great American Smokeout.

Once a year in November, Americans quit tobacco use for at least 24-hours in an attempt to have it kickstart a lifetime of being tobacco free. As the Wellness Champ of my store, one of my job duties required me to do SOMETHING to promote the day. Thus I spent about four hours of my own time to organize. That’s my OWN TIME, unpaid, at home, while CT was visiting last night. I put together Quit Kits with a whole bunch of information and goodies for people attempting to quit today, I made a promotional poster, and I “laminated” some anti-smoking posters using transparent contact paper. This resulted in me listening to the guys while they played Mario Party 8, but I couldn’t join in… :-( It also resulted in me not writing another word for the rest of the night. So add another 400 to the tally of how far behind I am.

As for today, I woke up bright and early to get ready – dressed professionally and whatnot. I set up one of those sample carts they have at grocery stores; I plastered it with the anti-smoking promotional posters and the Quit Kits. I called it the “Propaganda Cart”. I then stood by Customer Service all day while every single smoking employee avoided me like the plague. I did give away seven of those Quit Kits to customers, so I guess it wasn’t a total wash.

By the time Hubby and I both finished with work, did some quick shopping, and picked up Chinese food – Hubby had a craving and some extra cash in his paycheck - it was roughly seven when we got home. We ate dinner, watched our Thursday shows, and I didn’t write a friggen word! So much for catching up.

NOVEMBER 16^TH – FRIDAY

Both Hubby and I had to be at work bright and early today, but I did notice before heading in that I had a Facebook message from one of the admins of the Hey Arnold group that hosted the Halloween contest. She sent me the grade sheets five of the admins filled out for my story; even though PinkLotus27 kept saying there were nine judges. Unfortunately, I had to wait until I got back home at about four before I could see what I got. I averaged out to having roughly an 84% on my story. Not too shabby in the grand scheme of things, but still not good enough to have placed. Now I’m super curious what Chibi got for her story, as well as what she and Chopfe got on their drawings.

The thing that really got me though were the conflicting comments. How am I supposed to improve on stuff like that? Some people told me that everyone was in character for the most part, but I slid Arnold out of character a little here and there – which I’m inclined to believe; I’m horrible with keeping the stupid football head in character. Others told me that I had everyone dead on the entire time and that it was like they were reading an episode. Then there were some comments stating that I did the transitions perfectly, and others who said they were a bit “robotic” and “rushed” – whatever that means.

Another thing that got me was that I lost points in originality! The main reason why? Because I purposely wrote the story to play out like an episode. I ended up losing points in originality because of that! One of the judges even commented that I lost originality points because I wrote an urban legend which “has been done”…. Um… the rules said “Halloween-themed, ghost story, or URBAND LEGEND”. Since I purposely avoided them doing something on Halloween specifically – a refreshing twist I would think – I therefore HAD to do either a ghost story or urban legend in order to fit the criteria. I then lost points for it? Worst part? I thought my story was a GHOST STORY and not an urban legend at all. :-P

I do have to say though, that Hubby was adorable. Yeah, I was a bit bummed out when I saw exactly what my marks were – and the comments that went with them. However, I tried shaking it off. Again, this is an inconsequential fandom contest. If I can’t brush off this “rejection” how can I handle publishers telling me no? Hubby on the other hand – who hasn’t read the story yet, mind you – started raging. “What are these people’s criteria for judging? Why is grammar part of the grading when most of these people speak Spanish? How can some of them say something like ‘You did great with your transitions,’ and then give you 14 out of 20 in that category? It makes no sense! How can they possibly think your story wasn’t original? Who else thought to write like an episode? That’s unique!” The overly protective and defensive comments continued. I think he got more riled up than I did. I kept trying to remind him that he hadn’t read the story yet and so most of the comments COULD be very valid, but he wasn’t hearing that. He’s adorable and I love his support!

Anyway, after the Contest Grading Raging, Hubby and I quickly got ready for our Vampire LARP. I personally wanted to skip it since I was still so far behind on my NaNo writing, but we haven’t played in about three weeks, and since I was in the fight scene we were finishing today if I didn’t attend I would sort of screw it up for everybody. Especially seeing as how “everybody” ended up being Hubby, his BFF who runs the game, and Omnibladestrike. There was no way they’d be able to do anything with any fewer players.

Considering the last time we played I sat around twiddling my thumbs for about an hour or so while we were waiting on Omni to show up – time I COULD have spent working on that Halloween story – I decided to bring my netbook with me this time. Perhaps I could get some writing done.

Nope. For the first time like…. EVER… when it came to LARP we actually started up more-or-less on time. Yes, we again had to wait on Omni, but BFF had something planned for one-on-one with my character and his, so we just played that out.

I did manage to type out forty words before he decided to do that quick scene…. So I got SOMETHING typed today. Does that count?

NOVEMBER 17^TH – SATURDAY

Another semi-worthless day.

Did my normal wake up early for work thing. Got out of work super early – 11:30am – and hung out with Hubby and the guys. If you haven’t noticed, it’s now become a thing for the guys to crash my home on Saturdays. Since Cyhyr and her boyfriend can no longer make their weekly Monday visits it’s nice to have this new weekly social get together – even if I miss out on a lot of it due to work and them playing Magic.

Anyway, I caught up on my massive amount of Facebook notifications – since I hadn’t checked FB since reading the grade sheets – ate, and waited around downstairs for a little bit. Since Omni and CT were both at the house we were gonna continue our Super Mario Bros. Wii game and try to beat it today. Instead they Magic-ed.

At about 1:30 I gave up and went upstairs to write. I managed a little over 900 words before passing out. Whoops. Well, fully refreshed, I woke up when I got called back downstairs so we could play Mario. That lasted until about 11pm. OMG, I’m so awesome with this “Don’t be sociable for just one month; just write, everyone will understand” thing, aren’t I? :-P So….. yeah…. So much for catching up on that word count today as well.

NOVEMBER 18^TH – SUNDAY

Alright, so, admittingly, considering how long this one post is, if I did give up on the diary blogging and just stayed offline throughout November – like I do in April – I probably would be a lot farther in my story. I just spent an hour updating this blog post, and I’ll probably spend another hour fighting with the formatting like I did last week.

Anyway, I had a sandwich and a nearly-full mug of coffee chillin’ next to me first thing this morning. So I once again attempted to conquer my story. Especially since this boring thing is four chapters down and STILL in the exposition phase. We haven’t even started the epic tale of them searching for the jewel shards, meeting the antagonist, or finding out the secrets of Connor’s past.

I did manage to at least tear through today’s 1667 words while I was awake via shots of my mug of coffee. Woke up at 2am to bring Hubby in to work and have been up since! Sheesh! To be fair, though, between this blog update and a lot of time doing more research – I really need to stop doing that - I only wrote for about two to three hours in the six I had available. Still, that just demonstrates that if I get my act together and find two uninterrupted hours I should be able to at least avoid falling farther behind. I mean, if I keep up the pace of 1667 words per day from now on out I’ll only hit 33,487 words, but it’s better than stopping at my current 16,513… right?

I’m just super nervous about this upcoming week. The house is a disaster. There’s crap EVERYWHERE. The dishes are all in the sink. So I have at least one full day of cleaning to do, but I’m working every day until Friday – yup, that includes working Thanksgiving. We’re hosting Thanksgiving on Wednesday, which means I have Monday and Tuesday to clean – like THAT’S gonna happen! @_@ We also need to fold and put away laundry as well as packing for our trip to PA for Thanksgiving with my family. We’re going to attempt to head down to PA after I’m done with work on Thursday. We’ll probably miss the Thanksgiving dinner my mom is making, but we can have leftovers! Then I’ll spend time with my family on Friday and probably won’t have any writing time. Saturday is the extended family Thanksgiving gathering. Sunday we’re heading home. That’s pretty much an entire week that I don’t foresee any writing time! I’m hoping to at least finish Chapter 5 so I have that new chapter for you folks next Sunday, but who knows.

So, I guess I just need you guys to wish me luck and we’ll see how well I do next week.

For my fellow Americans – I sound like such a politician – I wish you a very happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving. 

Liebster Award

Originally this was going to be my Author's Notes post, but something(s) came up that I just need to talk about! And the main part is me thanking a reader and follower for a great honor in my little world.

Kasie Whitener of Life on Clemson Road.

She had commented on my last post and gifted me the Liebster Award .

LIEBSTER AWARD

"A Liebster Blog Award is given to talented bloggers who have less than 200 followers. 'Liebster' is a German word that means 'Dearest' or 'Beloved.' It also means 'Favorite.' So, in a way the award not only recognizes these bloggers as amazingly gifted in their own right but also as your very own personal favorites." --  aRVee at I Love Mandaue

The Liebster Blogger Rules Are:

1. Thank the one who nominated you by linking back.

    -- Check. I linked back to Kasie.

2. Nominate five blogs with less than 200 followers.

    -- Well....  I don't read any blogs with less than 200 followers except for one my friend was writing. But he hasn't done much in the last month. Either way, I guess we can do a shout out to Thinking In My Pajamas. And we'll shout out back to Life on Clemson Road.

3. Let your nominees know by leaving a comment on their sites.

4. Add the award image to your site.

    -- Check it out on the right hand side!!! So pretty!

So YAY! Such sweetness! Such awesomeness! I feel loved. Also, I find it amusing that Kasie awarded me the Liebster for my formatting! YAY!

 "I like The Rogue's Scribe for formatting. I'm also really impressed that she kept a journal. I'm so bad at daily writing that I used to do all of my journal entries the night before they were due. Using different colored pens for each, of course, so they would look like they'd been written on different days. That was fourth grade and I've never gotten any better at it."

Teehee, super duper awesome sauce! :D Now I must search the web for fellow Liebster winners in order to find other great blogs! I also must now try to track down enough "small" blogs to find valid nominees.

In writing news: Guess who already has the next chapter's song picked out, chapter skeletoned, and the outline written! I've been bringing my writing notebook to work since I've had quite a few shifts long enough to have a lunch break in them. I'm just tearing through this chapter. I already know it's going to be mostly dialogue, which will be nice. I just hope it doesn't feel as repetitive as my "I Will Always Love You" chapter. Either way, I feel like I'm in a good groove. I just wish writing that script came so easily as this chapter. I might have actually won. I guess I just wasn't inspired to write that but I'm super inspired to write this. In fact, I wasn't even going to have this chapter. I had an entirely different one planned out, but it didn't feel like it flowed well, so I wanted to write this chapter first. The one I was originally intending on will be either next chapter or the one after that.

With such great progress in my writing, I'm excited to speculate that I might have the next chapter up before June. There are only two things that might prevent me from not making that goal. First is that I NEED TO WRITE MY FRIGGEN WEDDING THANK YOUS! It's been seven months! They NEED to be written already! Sheesh! The second is that I need to finally get around to editing my Operation Ruthless video. The due date was pushed back to June, which really helped me out since I filmed it about two days before it was originally due. I guess bad college habits die hard. Anyway, it's filmed, but I might need to update a few facts on it, I need to capture screen shots and videos to edit in to it, I need to make a few graphics, and I might have to record some more audio with some updated information. It might be a bit of a process, and I want that done before June. If the Thank Yous and Operation Ruthless are completed easily enough I SHOULD also have the next chapter done this month as well! Oh! And don't forget I'm going back to my weekly blog updates. Busy, busy, busy!

Also, I've been obsessing over a small multitude of things lately, which has spawned - at the very least - two new plot bunnies. First up is the song "Do You Want To Date My Avatar?" which is a promotional music video for web series "The Guild" staring Felicia Day. If you play any type of MMO game than THIS is the show for you. Even if you haven't, it's still a great show. Check it out if you haven't before. As for the song I mentioned... well, check out the video yourself!   :D

Anyway, the plot bunny from this song also has a taste of "You've Got Mail." Basically, Helga discovers that Gerald got Arnold in to an MMO, finds out Arnold's character name, creates her own character, and tries to "revive Cecile" via the MMO avatar. She figures she can retry her "Cecile" approach of being her true self via a persona and this time she doesn't have the REAL Cecile ruining everything. The "You've Got Mail" tie-in is that - much like Joe Fox - Helga would know who Arnold is and tries to get him to like her for who she truly is before revealing herself. I think it could be really fun to write. Only problem is that I never had enough expendable cash to actually play a MMO aside from Fiesta. So some researching may be needed. We'll see.

The other plot bunny goes back to an old one actually. Prior to my "I want to do a Hey Arnold!/A Midsummer Night's Dream crossover" idea I had my "Hey Arnold! would be super cool as a Much Ado About Nothing crossover" plot bunny. My biggest issue with that was the sub-/parallel-plot of Claudio and Hero's love gone array. Quick overview of the play:

There's Hero and her Perpetual-Maiden cousin Beatrice. Hero's father is hosting the Prince and his men as they all return victorious from war. Now in a time of peace, they can all think of love. So the Prince's "favorite" Claudio pines for Hero and is quickly engaged to her. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed Perpetual-Bachelor Benedick teases Claudio - a short-lived wing-man - for getting married. Beatrice and Benedick continue a long-standing battle of wits with that Love-Hate passion. The Prince decides to liven up the boredom of waiting for Claudio and Hero's wedding by plotting to get Beatrice and Benedick together. Meanwhile, Prince's half-brother - who fell out of favor with the Prince - plots revenge on his brother's favorite, devising ways to emotionally harm Claudio. I won't give away more than that. 

Now, my issue with doing a straight crossover is that the Poison Tongued Beatrice is the perfect part for Helga, and yet Arnold would better suit the Love-struck and Gullible Claudio. So the "casting" of the play's characters just wouldn't work with their personalities.

HOWEVER, if I take out the Claudio/Hero plot and just focus on friends trying to trick two people in to converting their Love-Hate relationship to a purely Love kind, we might have something. So my idea is to do an "inspired by" adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. Gerald and Phoebe, for whatever reason, decide to "kill time" during the last few weeks of summer vacation by plotting to get Helga and Arnold together. Chaos ensues. Another one that could be fun. YAY!

Alright, well as I opened with; clearly this wasn't the Author's Notes post I set out to write originally, but it needed to be written first. YAY! The Author's Notes post will either be next week or a "Special Edition" sometime later this week. Depends on my scheduling. :D

Love you all so very much! I'm so glad I'm back. Big internet hugs!

Slacker McSlackson is Slacking Off!

Boy have I been slacking again. Well, after a few days of pulling my hair out I finally finished my next chapter. It was a bit of a squeeze, but I managed to get it up on Fanfiction.net on May 31st. Still feel bad that it kept me two full months to give my readers another chapter. Especially since it was the shortest one I've written. I also don't think it was all that great..... :-/

It got a lot more reviews than the last chapter however. And they were all positive reviews too, so I didn't go through the "writer's funk" that I did the last time. Funny, a chapter I felt was crappy seemed to impress at least a little. *shrug* I guess I'm a lot harder on myself than I thought. I am starting to convert hard-core ArnoldxHelga shippers in to *Spoiler*. I'm both super excited that I write the love triangle so well as to convert these shippers so easily, but also a little fearful to bring it all full-circle and return to the ArnoldxHelga ship! At this rate I might keep Helga with her new beau, but it just doesn't feel right to do so. At the same time, I'm going to be hard-pressed to prove to everyone that Arnold does deserve to still win Helga's love.... GAAAH! What did I do!?

June 1st my stories had 72 visitors, but 210 hits! Before that the most I had was 73 visitors and 177 hits on April 2nd, right after I posted my last chapter before my Script Frenzy hiatus. Other major days include 62 visitors and 115 hits on Oct 26th when I posted my second chapter "Goodbye to You". Then on Feb 28th I had 65 visitors and 112 hits for the posting of my second chapter of my Valentine's Day story. Finally, there's the 155 hits and 60 visitors for my "I Will Always Love You" chapter posted on March 9th. Either way, my return from my hiatus was met with a large crowd and I thank them all!

I also picked up a few new readers this time around, so I'm super excited about that! Thank you to all my new readers! YAY!

Some of my new readers are from that Hey Arnold forum I spoke of last post. *Waves* Hey guys!!! Thank you for supporting me! We really are like a nice little online family, aren't we!? Loves!

And it's that warm, fuzzy, welcoming feeling I get from the forum that is my downfall. Instead of writing the next chapter of my story - which I've had more-or-less planned out since November - I have been lurking on the forum just waiting for someone to post something so I can comment back... *sigh*

Also, while working some more on Acts 2 and 3 of The Jungle Movie my partner ChibiSunnie brought up InuYasha: Final Act. InuYasha used to be my favorite anime and so, now that I was reminded that the TRUE last season of the show was up online I HAD to go watch it! 26 episodes, 3 days, emotional rollercoaster, and now InuYasha withdrawal!!! Must. Not. Search. For InuYasha. Fanfiction!

I also finally got around to finding and purchasing the next two volumes of Fruits Basket after two years, and so I was hooked on reading them. Only three more volumes to go before I'm done with that series. Will I go through withdrawal like I am with InuYasha?

My fiance is also reminding me nearly daily that I still have the 4th Percy Jackson story to read. However, he told me the story ends in an epic cliffhanger and he still has the 5th book with him - four hours away. I'm trying really hard to wait until the last minute to read that book so that I can go straight in to the 5th one when I visit him at the end of the month. Will I go through Percy Jackson withdrawal as well!?

Then, while writing a post for the forum I discovered that a webcomic I once enjoyed was back from it's multi-year hiatus. I had to go back to reading it, however I couldn't quite remember where we left off and so I had to read the old comics first to remind myself.

Reading webcomics then gave me the urge to start working on my own again, and so at least one night was wasted with that. It probably would have been more, but I only have Photoshop on my desktop and my desk itself is such a mess it's hard for me to get to the computer.

Then there's the search for the last wedding vendor I need: The florist. I also have to finish collecting addresses of everyone from my fiance's side of the wedding guestlist so we can FINALLY send out the invitations. I'm also starting to work on smaller details, like the center pieces and favors.

All these distractions are keeping me from writing. They're also keeping me from cleaning and it's a perilous path to go from my bed to my bedroom door. I REALLY need to organize!

I honestly don't foresee myself working on another chapter any time soon, but I still wanted to give everyone an update on where I am.

Touching Base and Giving Reviews

It's been a while since I last posted and I just wanted to touch base. As per usual I've been horrible when it comes to writing. After I posted my last chapter and blog post I had every intention of continuing writing that day. However, I was actually interested in getting the skeletal timeline down for the script I'm starting April first for Script Frenzy. That way I can just sit and write because I knew where I was gonna go with it. However, work got in the way. And then my co-manager got sick and so I had to pick up more hours which got in the way. And I was only doing openings and so I was exhausted and wanted to sleep, which got in the way. And then my sister was never around to take care of her dog and so I was the one that played with the needy mutt - which, you guessed it, got in the way. And so I STILL don't have much of an outline done and I'm probably not going to when April comes around. So I'll probably spend the first week or so of Script Frenzy just piecing everything together and then knock out the 100-page script over a weekend or something.

Further distractions took form a day or so after I posted my last chapter. I did something I rarely did - I drank coffee because I was DRAAAAAAAGGING at work. I don't know if it was the fact that I only drank coffee maybe twice before in my life and my body wasn't use to it, or if it was the brand of coffee Subway sells: Seattle's Best, or if it was my listening to a co-worker when he told me that adding a package of hot chocolate mix to the coffee helped make it less bitter, but somehow, for whatever reason, that coffee made me so sick that I actually left work early for the first time. After an hour or so nap I felt a little better, but kept myself bedridden. I wasn't feeling well enough to write, but I was also getting bored and didn't really feel like playing video games. That was when I saw it, one of two books my fiance lent me nearly a month prior and was constantly begging me to read. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

We had seen the Disney movie "based" on the book and he ended up falling in love with the series - even declaring that the author Rick Riordan officially dethrowned his previously favorite author: Orson Scott Card - which also dethrowned "Ender's Game" as my fiance's favorite story and series.

I had been dragging my feet for the same reason I dragged my feet about Harry Potter - the book series was written for children half my age. I'm not sure why this was an issue for me since I've been OBSESSING over "Hey, Arnold!" for the past year and a half - and that series not only ended nearly a decade ago, but was for ten-year-olds. I still play with toys on occasion and watch movies that are aimed at children, so why am I embarrassed to read childrens' books? Not sure, but it was an issue.

Anyway, there I was, sick, in bed, bored, and staring at this novel my fiance has been begging me to read, and so I did. I was instantly drawn in to Riordan's writing, mostly because it so closely resembled my own writing style. If I write similarly, obviously I would enjoy how it was written. Plus, it gave me hope that my writing style could be publishable some day - even if it were for middle-schoolers. Another bonus for Riordan was my love of Greek Mythology. Finally, the story itself was actually really funny, even to the point of me reading passages that I enjoyed out loud to my fiance so he knew what I was laughing at while we were on the phone. I greatly enjoyed the story and even acknowledged my fiance's "I told you so"s.

Well, now I really was in trouble, what little precious time I had at home was spent reading this novel instead of writing my own. Sure, I thought about my own story a little while at work all of those hours alone, but nothing was committed to paper. Also, since I didn't really remember the Greek mythology too well it kept me at least twice as long to read "The Lightning Thief" because I was going through my "reference book" at the same time. Let me explain, sure, Riordan was good at having different mythology references explained. He understood that the average thirteen-year-old wouldn't know who Medusa was. However, a few years ago my fiance - who is a HUGE Greek Mythology buff by the way - told me about this book he had as a textbook in one of his classes: Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton. I have always enjoyed just reading the myths in this book, but now I was using it to get the "full scoop" on the references Riordan used in his story. For example, one of Athena's children starts freaking out around spiders and references Arachne. Riordan has it simply explained that Athena turned Arachne into a spider and that Arachne's children - all of Earth's spiders - always had a grudge against the children of Athena. Reading my "reference book" further explained that Athena was the goddess of crafts and invented the loom, and so when Arachne claimed she could weave as well as - if not better than - Athena, and then proved it in a contest against the goddess, Athena raged against the girl, causing Arachne to become so distressed that she committed suicide by hanging. Athena felt guilty and turned Arachne into a spider so all could appreciate her weaving prowess.

Anyway, my point is that for every single reference Riordan makes in his book, I then spend about twenty minutes reading the myth corresponding to said reference. I've read at least half of the myths by now. Worse yet was that my fiance had also given me the sequel "The Sea of Monsters" to read. He wanted me to bring home the whole series, but I stopped him at two - not thinking I'd even read them. Well, I was able to hold off on the second story for almost a week, again working on the movie script skeleton, but I was really in a reading kick now - especially since I'm actually tag teaming the "Mythology" book and the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series - and I could not be stopped.

Also, my fiance's best friend hosts LARP games, and when I'm visiting for Good Friday through Easter, they will be hosting their Changeling game. Since I'm visiting, I'll be participating even though I've never played this game before and know nothing of the rules or characters. So now I'm reading "The Sea of Monsters", the "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes", as well as the wiki-pages for "Changeling: The Dreaming" - which then leads me to read my book "Irish Fairy & Folk Tales" by W. B. Yeats since the majority of the characters in the Changeling game are based on Irish faerie myths. Yup, reading four things all at the same time, plus spring cleaning, plus wedding shopping now that it's nice enough to go outside again, plus all of the stuff I told you about at the beginning of this post, and so I don't really have extra time to write - another reason I haven't posted in almost a month.

Aside from being busy, I've been uninspired to write the next chapter for one very important reason: I'm not sure how to portray Brainy. He was never really developed in the series and so I more-or-less have to build him a personality for my story. I'm afraid of two things: 1) I'll make him in to a "Marty Stu" and/or 2) people will root for him over Arnold - whom I think I'm already alienating from my audience with my last chapter. Honestly, even I'm not sure how Arnold could possibly win Helga back one last time, and so more feet dragging.

Anyway, my laundry has been done for about an hour now and so I should really get back to that. Sorry to everyone eagerly awaiting my next chapter. I strongly suggest reading any of Rick Riordan's novels. ^_^

Posts, Thank Yous, Author's Notes, and Timelines

Yay! My next chapter is up! And it only took me about six weeks this time. That's a new record! There were nine weeks between chapters one and two, and thirteen weeks between chapter two and chapter three. Sheesh, I'm ticked off at my favorite writers taking YEARS to finish their novels, and I go and take MONTHS to finish simple little fanfiction chapters! Who's a hypocrite? X-P Anyway, I'd like to start off by thanking my readers for their faithfulness and kind reviews. I love watching my hit meter get higher and higher, and for so many to come back after three months - I love you guys! I recently added an appreciation circle to my FF.net profile to thank all of you, but here it is again:

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*APPRECIATION CIRCLE!!*

OK, so I would like to take the time to send out a thank you for all of my readers. You are the reason I keep writing. I'd also like to thank all of you who have either faved me or my story (or both *squee*). Your love for my work - to the point of wanting to go back and re-read it - humbles me and drives me to become a better writer for you. Thank you for your faith in my talent. Finally, I'd like to thank my reviewers. You guys tell me what you think after reading, you are my way of knowing what is working and what isn't. You are my guidance and I appreciate every word of it. You take me in and give me such kind words of encouragement. You drive me to keep writing even when I'm tired from all of my hectic hours, you make me smile when I have a bad day, you swell my ego, you prove to me that I do have a talent that I should master, and finally, you humble me with such phrases as "[This] could well turn into one of those epic fanfictions that has hundreds of reviews!" (Thank you TrulyNonsensical). And now a list of all my faithful readers - those that have reviewed multiple times, faved more than one story, or faved me as an author. I write mostly for you, thank you for staying with me. Stars go to those who either faved or reviewed every story I've posted. You are my superstars ^_^
- Acosta_Perez_Jose_Ramiro* (Thank you for reviewing EVERYTHING I post... you missed a chapter of What is Truly Meant to Be tho.. ^_^) - Annemarie22 (if you review my fluffy V'day piece I Caught You A Star you can get a star! See how nicely that works out?) - Anonymous Latina (Thank you for reviewing every chapter! Check out my one-shots!) - Azure129 - Dotjuh (Thank you for the Author Fave) - Helga G. Pataki (Thank you for the Author Fave) - iHeartPhantomoto (Thank you for the Author Fave) - Knowledge-comes-Wisdom-lingers - KPFan72491 (Thank you for the Author Fave) - Loonytunecrazy*** (Three stars for faving every story, writing a review to every story, and faving me as an author, you ROCK!) - Mony - NazgulNazgul (Thank you for the Author Fave and review) - NicNack4U* (Thank you for faving all of my stories!) - NintendoGal55* (LOL, I love how you listened and went back to my first story. Here's your star ^_^) - SuprSingr (Thank you for the faves and reviews) - TrulyNonsensical (Thank you for the Author Fave) Special love for the following reviewers who really made me smile:
- Acosta_Perez_Jose_Ramiro: I'm always happy to see your name in my mailbox whenever I post something. Thank you for the support. - Anonymous Latina: Thank you for reviewing every chapter of my stories. I love to see what you think of my progress (Also wanting to fave a story twice XD You're awesome) - Knowledge-comes-Wisdom-lingers: I really appreciate you telling me that you had to rush to my most recent chapter as soon as you saw the alert in your mailbox. Even after three months you still needed to know what happened next. Your patience humbles me. - LoonyTuneCrazy: Like I said before, you just rock! I always look for your name when I post something new. - NintendoGal55: I love that you get so invested in my stories. You are the type of reader I write for ^_^ - PokeshippersShadow1: I love that you wanted more of my TJM oneshot. Your faith in my writing for the movie inspired me to do just that for April's Script Frenzy month! - Rachel Cabbit: To receive such rave reviews from an author I admire is mindblowing! And sentences like "The best revelation of Gertie and helga I've read in the fandom" certainly swell the ego ^_^ - SuprSingr: Thank you for constantly reassuring me that I'm staying in character. It's my biggest fear as a fanfic writer. - TrulyNonsensical: Again, thank you for the kind words and the belief that so many others will eventually enjoy my work. - Vanjoygree: As with PokeshippersShadow1, your enjoyment and kind words inspired me to write my own TJM script in April, so stay tuned!

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Alright, now that is out of the way, how about some extended Author's Notes?
As I mentioned both in earlier posts and in the A/N for the chapter itself: the song that inspired me was "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston for the movie "The Bodyguard." It was tricky to translate the song in to prose. If this truly were a musical it would be easy to have Arnold wish Helga farewell and then belt this song out to her. Unfortunately, I can't do that in prose form - at least, not without being flamed or banned from FF.net. Although, if I don't have any other ideas for next year's Script Frenzy I just might redo this whole story as a legitimate musical. ^_^
The big problem I had when it came to writing the song as a chapter was that the song sort of repeated the same ideas: I'll only be in your way if I stayed with you, and so I'm leaving for your own good even though I'm still in love with you, but I'll always remember you and those memories will be so bittersweet; again, goodbye and please don't cry over us because we both know I'm not what you need right now; finally, I'd like to wish you a good life, all your dreams will come true, that you will be happy and joy filled, and most importantly I wish you will find the great love of your life. That was the whole song summed up, and in dialogue it's tricky to make that paragraph a full chapter. I hope I did a good enough job.
Another hurdle was trying to reserve some sympathy for Arnold. I needed to leave the audience with the thought that he still had enough of a redeeming quality for them to still hope Helga takes him back one last time. He broke her heart twice, and I hated making Arnold do that. It would have been so much better if I just left it as Arnold dumping Helga in eighth grade and not returning until their senior year. However, I already set up that Arnold was at Helga's Sweet Sixteen, and from there those two just managed to get back together - IT WAS THEIR OWN CHEMISTRY, NOT ME, I SWEAR!!! X-P Point is that since they got back together at her birthday, but I needed them to be broken up when she was eighteen I had no choice but to write this chapter. DON'T HATE ME ARNOLD, I'M SORRY I MADE YOU SUCH AN IDIOT!!! I just hope I didn't make all of my fellow ArnoldxHelga shippers *SPOILER: Hover Mouse To See*
A final hurdle I had was the fact that I'm actually in a successful seven-year long-distance relationship. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it hurts to want to hold him or kiss him but he's not here. Yes, there are days I wish I could just run home and curl up in his comforting arms. Yes, there are times I get upset because I really need to talk to him and he's not available. Yes, there have even been times where I resent him because I feel like I'm only dating someone in title alone, and I desperately want to go to a bar and flirt and dance with a random guy just to have that interaction. I've even thought about a few of my guy friends who ended up having crushes on me, and wondering if I would have returned their feelings if I never met my fiance. I even miss having that fun in college of just being single and flirty. So Arnold does have valid concerns.
However, my fiance and I talk every night on the phone just before going to bed. We IM, email, and chat via webcam. We visit each other multiple times a year. We even have phone-dates where we sit on the phone while eating similar food and watching the same movie, like in When Harry Met Sally or in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. And finally, we have family, friends, and video games to distract us. It's tough to have a relationship like this, but it's not as hard as most people think. I'm actually a little surprised that people call me strong for being able to hold on to such a tough relationship. My response is that at least I'm not an Army spouse; at least I know my loved one is safe; I could never sleep knowing my beloved was in a warzone. Knowing that long distance relationships DO WORK if you put the effort in to them makes Helga's argument terribly valid, and I sort of hate not having Arnold at least TRY the relationship out.
I even debated redoing the chapter so that he was breaking up with her over the phone. Helga's resentment for being alone would cause them to argue - as Arnold feared they would - and a guilt-ridden Arnold decides to let her go. I didn't like the idea of Arnold dumping her over the phone, however, and so I left it as Easter Monday.
I also want to touch upon one more thing. Thanks to the concerns voiced by one of my readers, I'd like to verify something. Yes, the chapters of What is Truly Meant to Be are all prequels to the first chapter. If it didn't take me months to post an update it might be easier to pick up on. Basically, the first chapter has the pull of Arnold running to confess his love to Helga. We then have the shocker ending of *SPOILER*. I then wanted to show everyone how they got to that point. I wanted to show the journey Arnold and Helga took from him dumping her when they were thirteen all the way up to his love confession five years later. However, if I had placed the chapters in chronological order the fact that Helga's *SPOILER* wouldn't be such a shock.
To clarify, here is the official timeline:
CHAPTER 1: LIFE AFTER YOU Arnold and Helga are both 18 - or Arnold's about to turn 18, depending on where in the year you place his birthday and if he's older or younger than Helga. It is the summer before college and Arnold realizes his love for Helga and races back to Hillwood to see her, only to be surprised at what he finds.
CHAPTER 2: GOODBYE TO YOU The story as a whole flashes back so you can see how Helga and Arnold end up where they are in Chapter 1. This chapter is right after Arnold breaks up with Helga when they were thirteen. Helga is on a destructive bender and Phoebe tries to help her get past the hurt of Arnold dumping her.
CHAPTER 3: LADY IN RED We now jump about three years and it's Helga's Sweet Sixteen party. I used some "Word of God" about the pitched-but-never-made show The Patakis. For instance, Olga moved back home and the Patakis are slowly but surely becoming a little less dysfunctional. They're sort of like The Simpsons now, where the family can be at each other's throats, but the viewer still knows that they truly love and care for each other. Arnold had moved away with his parents right around the time they turned fourteen. Since I had Arnold break up with Helga during the school year, perhaps the Shortmans move over the summer between eighth and ninth grade - a nice transition point, just before high school. Anyway, even though Arnold comes back to visit throughout the year, he still hasn't really interacted with Helga, and so he never really noticed how amazingly beautiful and popular she had become while he was away. Not needing her front to prevent people from teasing her really helped charm her classmates. And recharm Arnold.
CHAPTER 4: I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU A week has passed since Helga's Sweet Sixteen party. Aside from an April Fools prank during Harold's Passover and Easter Sunday itself, Helga and Arnold have spent every moment together. It is now the Monday after Easter and Arnold has to head home with his parents. We know from the first chapter that Arnold and Helga aren't together, and this chapter shows why.
CHAPTER 5: *SPOILER* I think telling you the songs the upcoming chapters are based off of could be a bit of a spoiler, but you can look if you wish. Just hover your mouse over the word "Spoiler". Anyway, this upcoming chapter is shortly after Arnold returns home, so Helga's still sixteen. A certain someone comforts our broken-hearted blond as he tries to woo her away from Arnold.
CHAPTER 6: *SPOILER* Again, if you want to know, hover over "Spoiler". This chapter is sort of an overview of Helga's years without Arnold. I'm not sure if this will be just before the grand return of Arnold that we saw in the first chapter, but Helga would be about seventeen or eighteen here - depending on what I feel like. ^_^
CHAPTER 7: *SPOILER* The last of the "flashback" chapters. We're finally back to Arnold as we see the last days of his Senior year in high school. Something weird is going on around him and it makes him realize that maybe he still loves Helga. By the end of this chapter he's on his way to make that epic trip we see in the first chapter.
CHAPTER 8 AND BEYOND And now we're back to "present day". Chapter Eight will start with Arnold's reaction to Helga's Big Reveal at the end of the first chapter and continue on in chronological order from there. I believe I have about sixteen chapters total for this story. That is, of course, unless another chapter runs long like Chapter Three did and I have to split it up.
OK, I hope that cleared some things up for you guys. Well, I'm running late for work, so I'll hope to see you soon. ^_^

Castle Fanfiction Devoured More of My Life

Well, I did it again. I allowed myself to be consumed with Castle fanfiction. I spent about four hours reading more fanfiction in an attempt to find that illusive story I mentioned in the last post - the one written based on the preview for this week's episode. I had to muse about the fact that an amazing episode such as this week's "Countdown" ends up spawning an insane amount of fanfics. Seems a good episode inspires many. If only Hey, Arnold! was still on air, perhaps it would have a lot more fanfics.

Anyway, when I noticed that it was about one PM and I still was reading fanfiction I forced myself to close all of the stories I had opened up in sort of a queue form. I then FINALLY reread the story I was looking for in the first place - I ended up looking through the list of my reviews in order to find the story; should have done that in the first place.

I worked on my own story periodically throughout the rest of the day, but I was frequently interrupted by showering, laundry, eating, taking care of my sister's dog, and watching episodes of Hey, Arnold! as a means of research.

I did manage to get the opening of the chapter done as well as the set up leading to Arnold's realization that he has to break it off with Helga. A few more days like today and I might get this done before mid-March. Which means only two months in between chapters XP At least my readers will be so use to the hiatuses that taking a month off to write during Script Frenzy will seem normal to them...