Giants Win the Super Bowl and I am Super Screwed...

Hey, imagine that, I'm posting my blog late... again... In all fairness, I had every intention of updating yesterday at noon...but I was in the process of passing out right about then.
For those who don't know, my husband works normal hours the rest of the week, but on Sundays he is given the Overnight shift. Since we have only one car, I drop him off at one in the morning and then pick him up again at ten. This usually results in me needing to drink coffee so I'm awake enough to drive at one o'clock, and therefore I am not capable of sleeping while he's at work.
This also results in me going in to a writing frenzy for about eight hours! YAY! I'm not sure why I can't be productive unless I'm hyped up on caffeine at two in the morning, but I guess it's marginally helpful. I just wish I was equally creative at a less ungodly hour.

So anyway, the blog!

I was passing out at noon, set the alarm for two o'clock, and then hit the snooze for two more hours since I still couldn't keep my eyes open. Now disappointed in myself for not having the blog updated at noon like intended, I got right on starting it. And then my stomach growled. Made the mistake of going downstairs to get something to eat. Our downstairs is one large open area with only small sections of walls separating the dining room, living room, and kitchen. So while downstairs you can hear everything going on in the other rooms.

My husband vegges on Sundays - as he's entitled to after that Overnight shift. However, this typically means leaving the TV on TBS all day. And dammit! TBS actually had good movies on yesterday. I got suckered in! I attempted to at least blog over the commercials, but still didn't get too far. Then my husband started playing a loud computer game on his laptop. So now I had TV on in front of me, and a loud computer game on a laptop right next to me. Total sensory overload... I couldn't put a comprehensible sentence together if I tried. By the time Animation Domination came on Fox I knew I was done. I had been attempting - and failing - to blog for five hours and barely had anything written.

Thus, the post being nearly 24hours late.

Which super sucks! I meant to write out a simple blog update in about an hour at most and then spend the rest of the day in writing-frenzy mode. *sigh* Well, at least I had that eight hour writing frenzy first thing in the morning.

I'm a little less than half way done with my next chapter. The thing really is a beast! Not even half way done and it's already eight pages long. This is clearly going to be the longest chapter I've written so I hope this makes up for the super-extended hiatus.

My issue, however, is that I also promised ChibiSunnie that I would write her a Valentine's Day story to make up for not making her something for Christmas. :D Well, I've been attempting to tag team both stories, but I was having perspective issues for the Valentine's Day story and that created massive Writer's Block.

I talked things over with Chibi - which helped a lot, but I still felt like I needed a male's perspective. I put a call out on facebook and had three guys offer to help. The two guys I actually know in real life didn't help too much. However, a guy from the Hey Arnold! group did help me figure out what I needed. So, thank you, Solace Of Songs. Getting another perspective really is helpful when it comes to breaking down Writer's Block.

Now, unfortunately, this breakthrough didn't happen until Thursday. I then attempted to track down episodes of Hey Arnold! so I could really get the voices of the characters in my head. Only to then be super bummed to discover that I'm missing two of my season box sets! I'm a proud owner of four out of the five seasons, and I was only able to find two of the DVD collections... Blarg!!!! And I guess Nickelodeon/Viacom has gotten pretty hardcore about taking the episodes off of YouTube, since there aren't really any there. Thankfully, I was still able to watch School Play, and that was really all I needed.

So the next chapter of my fanfic is on hold at least until the end of this week. I need to get cracking in order to get this fluff-piece done by Valentine's Day. However, that's the secondary issue with my blog post being postponed until today. As I already said, I had every intention of writing a quick post yesterday, and then spend the rest of the day working on the one shot. The fact that I spent the whole day watching TV super killed me. I now only have today to write this thing, so I'm keeping myself cooped up in my bedroom so my husband's TV watching or video/computer game playing doesn't distract me. Here's hoping for another frenzy like I had yesterday morning.

As for this one shot, well, I sure hope Chibi likes it! The character I had the Writer's Block about is now flowing freely, and it is so much fun writing his perspective! Ironically, the character I thought I'd have no problem writing about is now the one giving me trouble. So I'm writing the story a little unconventionally. I'm starting with everything in the guy's perspective, and then I'll go back and splice in the girl's perspective. Hopefully by the time I have the guy's POV finished I'll have a breakthrough.

On the plus side of everything, this one shot is a beast as well. I'm like, super writing! So, it may be seven months between posts, but when I publish a new story at least you are contently reading for like a half-hour.

Another bonus for you guys. I like to post extended Author's Notes here, so when I post the Valentine's Day story tomorrow I might have ANOTHER blog update as well! So check that out tomorrow or Wednesday! Whoot!

Before I leave, I want to give a quick Shout Out to my darling DarkAngel1326. I spent Saturday doing what she calls a "Writers' Conference" and what I call a "Sounding Board". Basically, writers talk through their Writer's Block. The author throws out ideas he or she is thinking of, and the other writer(s) will give input, or advice, or play the Devil's Advocate in order to make sure the new idea won't cause plotholes. You can also use these Conferences when you have NO CLUE what to write next. The author will explain why he/she is stuck and the other writer(s) can then throw out ideas of where to go. It's a great use of "two heads are better than one". It's basically what I was doing when I put the call out on Facebook for a guy's perspective.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up - aside from giving advice to writers who are stuck as well as further explain what I've been doing all week - is to state that the poor girl is nervous. She recently posted her second chapter to Keep Love in Your Heart, and it is NOT a popular ending to the chapter. Trust me when I say that it is a unique take that not many writers would be willing to do - due to the unpopularity of the key element. Also, trust me when I say the story will be GOOD and will be WORTH IT! So please, give the girl some love!

She also recently posted a story that I've personally read about six times. Check that one out too!

She's also keeping a similar Writer's Blog on her DeviantArt account. CHECK HER OUT, CHECK HER OUT, CHECK HER OUT!!!! :D

Well, I super need to get back to work on my story if it's ever going to be posted tomorrow!
Bye--- Oh wait... Coach Wittenberg has something to add real quick... Coach?

"Well, kids, it seems that the New York Giants have again beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Four years later, for the second time, repetitively. And that's great! Because the number one thing is winning! Well, maybe my wife Trish. No, definitely winning, and THEN Trish. Well, maybe winning, then Air Hockey, and THEN Trish. It's close. Trish, winning, air hockey... It's close!"

Um.... Thanks for that, Coach. Why don't you sort that out while I say goodbye...

So yeah! My Giants won the Super Bowl and I'm on a writing frenzy! February is looking good! :D

And Time Flies By... But Maybe Some Writing CAN Be Done

Man, I did NOT think of a good time to get married and move! October is the busiest wedding month! Plus, there's the craziness of packing, moving, unpacking, AND Halloween! Once THAT holiday is over, here comes Thanksgiving, and my family visiting! And THEN Christmas comes marching around the corner, along with the craziness THAT holiday brings... as well as MORE unpacking/organizing the new house, and going down to visit my family. New Years is just a few short days away and I still don't really have much free time to do anything. February has Valentine's day. And March has my sister's birthday and St. Patrick's day. I'll have to check my calendar, but April MIGHT bring Easter... either way, it will DEFINITELY bring my Mom's birthday. On top of that, it will also bring another ScriptFrenzy month! So there goes ANOTHER month of not writing! If May doesn't contain Easter, that MIGHT be the next big break I get. Funny how 1/2 the year has a holiday every month, and the second 1/2 only has Independence Day on the Fourth of July - unless, of course, you're also counting Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc.

January seems to be my only reprieve from the holiday season. So I guess I'll have to make the most of it!

I FINALLY got around to skeleton-ing the next chapter. Perhaps I can write it before a YEAR passes... sheesh!

I never heard back from that supposed Beta. Oh well, I *DID* overwhelm her with stuff. On the plus side, Good Old Delaroux popped on by and read my blog, and she gleefully volunteered to be MY beta! haha. ChibiSunnie also stopped by and ALSO volunteered to beta! I love my girls! Unfortunately, they too were just as stumped as me as to how to finish the chapter, but it is as I always say: "You never know where the seed for a great idea might come from!" Saying some of the dumbest things just in passing might be just the direction you need for the lightning bolt from your muse to finally strike you! Just spitballing with those ladies got the juices flowing and I think I finally know what to do with the story! So... YAY!

NOW my only problem is that I dove a little too deep. The chapter as a mind of its own and became its own story! The chapter needs chapters! Normally I would break this chapter up like I did when the Sweet 16 chapter ran long. However, I pigeon-holed myself in to this "every chapter needs a parent song" format, and so I can't really split the chapter up. So now I think I'm gonna do what I tried to avoid before... I'm going to make it a bam-bam-bam kind of chapter. No delays, just in your face "HELLO! YOU NEED TO BE SOMEWHERE ELSE RIGHT NOW!"

I had a subplot all figured out and everything, but having a subplot that is only relevant to one chapter, and centering on OCs that we'll only see for one chapter seems a bit much. I'll spend too much time - and force the readers to invest too much emotion - on a situation and characters they won't see again. INSTEAD! I'm going to eventually write this chapter as it wants to be: it's own story. I'll elaborate on the events that occur, but it has to wait for now. Dear lord, this story births so many plotbunnies! I already have two "spin off" stories bouncing around in my head!

I'm not going to know until I write this bugger how much I'll like writing the chapter the way I must, but it's better than postponing any more, right? Plus Delaroux is finishing up her story Something to Return to. True, she's already being a busy-little-bee and working on ANOTHER story, but perhaps once she's done with this main story I'm beta-ing for I can concentrate on my OWN story, instead of investing so much time in the wonderful Flite11 universe she created!

Delaroux - don't get me wrong, I LOOOOVE living in your world, which is why it's so hard to leave! XD I'm not blaming you, chica, for postponing my writing, I charish every minute with your story, I'm just saying that sometimes a writer finds something so grand they forget about their OWN stuff... ya know? BAAAH! I should have deleted that last paragraph... now she's gonna feel guilty again! *runs away crying*

ANYWAY, I guess what I'm trying to say is... Since the job hunt thing seems to be flopping, I might as well use my time wisely and write. ^_^

That Took Forever!

Well, I finally completed my super-uber-fluffy Valentine's Day story! I really did intend to post the second and final chapter just a day or two later - not two weeks later! As I mentioned in my last post, I had an opportunity to write while getting my hair dyed, but stupid me didn't think to bring my netbook with me. I then waisted more time staring at walls when I ended up waiting for about an hour and a half for my laser hair removal treatment. The whole treatment takes about ten or fifteen minutes, and I never thought I'd wait for so long for my appointment; resulting in me yet again leaving my netbook behind. Because of this I decided to bring the thing EVERYWHERE with me.

And yet I lost another two hours of possible writing time. I just started an internship with a production company. I brought my netbook with me - as I have now decided to do - and yet I thought it would be unprofessional to bring it in with me. I then sat and literally did nothing but people watch for two hours because the company had no clue what to do with me! I wanted to run out to my car to grab my netbook so I could at least write, but I also didn't want to seem unprofessional! Gaar! Don't care, the damn thing is coming in with me when I go again tomorrow.

Anyway, with all of these missed opportunities, coupled with long hours at work - and then throw in my sister's dog randomly jumping in to bed with me and trying to climb over my netbook keyboard - meant that I only had an hour or so to write each night.

But I did manage to finish, and I posted yesterday. My next battle was the fact that I posted the story at like four or five PM and yet the email alert didn't go out until one-thirty AM. What's up with that, FanFiction.net?

OK, so now how about some talk of inspiration? I know I touched upon it in my Author's Notes, but I also promised to go more in depth here. First of all, let's start with the show Frasier. I loved, loved, loved this show! Anyway, in the episode "Visions of Daphne" the character Donny proposes to Daphne. Even though this moment was heart wrenching because Niles was there to witness he proposal and Daphne's acceptance, I still melted over Donny's speech and loved the fact that he referred to the engagement ring diamond as a star he caught for Daphne. I have yet to find another scripted proposal so sweet. I secretly wanted my future fiance to propose to me in the same manner.

In a way I got my wish. My fiance is really big in to astronomy and so for his birthday I bought him one of those stuffed animals that come with a code for you to register a star. Well, he decided he didn't want to register his name on the star his stuffed animal gifted him. Instead, he wanted to use the star for his proposal. He planned to register the star with the name "[LycoRogue] will you marry me" and then show the International Star Registry printout to me. I would then read the star name, realize the proposal, cry, and shout "yes I'll marry you!" Just like Arnold, however, his proposal didn't really go as planned.

He hadn't registered the star ahead of time because he wasn't sure he could predate the star name and he wanted the registry to have the date he proposed printed on it. However, the website wasn't working well on the day he wanted to propose. It kept glitching and freezing on him. I was in the living room with his parents - it was Father's Day - and I heard him slamming things upstairs. I kind of wish he wasn't so irritated prior to proposing to me, but it is what it is. Well, he finally got the star registered - at least he thinks so - but then the registry form wouldn't print. We still don't know if the star was ever officially registered, but we like to think it is, and that's enough for us.

After all of the frustration he ended up coming back down to the livingroom and his parents left us alone. He knelt down and - just like Helga in my "realistic chapter" - I instantly figured out what was going on and starting smacking him in the shoulder. He explained what he planned and I still cried at the thought.

He then told me that he not only registered the star in the Cassiopeia constellation because of our love for the movie "Serendipity," but also because I had the same freckle pattern on my arm as the character Sarah. For those who don't know the reference, towards the beginning of the movie the male lead Jonathan notices that the female lead Sarah has a freckle pattern on her arm that looks like the Cassiopeia constellation. Just like Sarah, I too had no clue I had this constellation on my arm until he pointed it out. It was just so sweet that he noticed something so tiny! Anyway, it just made the proposal so much better! I debated having Arnold register the star in a constellation Helga's freckles resembled, but I then thought that freckles were Lila's thing, and so I left it with Helga's zodiac sign.

Well, just like Helga, I never actually answered the poor boy, I just kissed him, shoved my hand in his face, and yelled for him to put the ring on. He teased that he wasn't sure what my answer was, and so I finally, officially said "yes" and proceeded to call him "My fiaaaaaance" for the next hour or so.

So, aside from Donny's proposal to Daphne inspiring my first chapter, and my fiance's own proposal inspiring both chapters, I also had a third inspiration: Niles Crane. Going back to the Frasier OTP of Niles and Daphne, my last inspiration was the episode "Niles Proposes to Daphne." In this episode Niles plans this extravagant evening so Daphne's proposal is the most magnificent night of her life. However, things go array when Daphne announces that she has the flu. Niles decides that just the two of them cuddled next to the fire is the perfect moment and proposes without all of the fanfare he originally planned. This inspired my ending of Arnold proposing even though he couldn't play off the illusion that the engagement ring was a fallen star.

Well, I believe that is the extent of my Author's Notes.

As for my return to my chaptered story, I'm working on the skeleton plotline today, and possibly starting to write the next chapter tomorrow after I'm done with the internship. If this week goes like the last two did it might be a little before I get the chapter up. I'm sorry for anyone who was waiting for it. If I hadn't stopped to work on this fluffy story I might have had the next chapter up by now. Anyway, any ArnoldxHelga shippers should get that box of tissues ready, because I have no choice but to break those two up again in the upcoming chapter. Sorry.

Where Does the Time Go???

I'm so annoyed with my writing availability right now! I really wanted to post my "realistic" chapter for my Valentine's Day fluff piece a day or two later. It's now over a week later and the story still isn't done!

Between work, wedding appointments, impromptu social events, and taking care of my sister's overly-needy dog, I've only had about an hour or so to write every day, making this chapter's writing process a long one. And the longer I take writing this, the longer it will be until I can get my next chapter for my main story posted. GAAR! I just want to post this chapter already!!!!

The thing that really kills me is that one of the days this past week, I was getting my hair dyed. I had an hour wait before they even started, and then I had the hour or so of them dying my hair and me just sitting around. I COULD HAVE BEEN WRITING!!! But I decided last minute to go get my hair dyed right after work, and so I didn't think to bring my netbook with me. Then, the very next day I went to one of my laser hair removal appointments. There is no point in bringing the netbook since 1) I'm blindfolded so I won't get blinded by the laser, and 2) the whole thing takes maybe fifteen minutes. However, I didn't anticipate waiting over an hour and a half for them to finally get me in to my appointment!!! I COULD HAVE BEEN WRITING AGAIN! Nope, instead I had to spend both days staring at the walls - because I didn't want to read a four-month-old issue of Glamour - and humming along to the same radio station I'm stuck listening to while at work! Such wasted days!

I have tomorrow off, and so normally I would be able to finish my story with all of my free time. However, I just recently got a volunteer position with a local production company and so I'm now spending my weekdays off there. In theory, the company office is only open until five, and so I might be able to write after that, but it never seems to work out when I'm done with my actual work at four. I wouldn't hold your breath that I can get any writing done any time soon. We'll see.

Be My Valentine

So my super-fluffy Valentine's Day themed one-shot is posted! Actually, it was posted yesterday, so yay for posting ON Valentine's Day! I just wish i was able to post it earlier in the day than noon. Oh well.

I was nervous that I wasn't going to post it on time. It's difficult to get on to the internet at my fiance's house. I ended up uploading the story on Saturday before I left to visit him. This way if I could get on the internet I wouldn't need it for a long time in order to upload and edit the story. This is a great thing about FanFiction.net, I can upload the story without posting it to the public.

I'm so excited that fifty-seven people read my story - and apparently greatly enjoyed it - on Valentine's Day. Best part is that it had sixty-three hits, which means the story was re-read six times. I even had two great reviews and one story fave yesterday. Coupling that with being with my sweetheart all day and Valentine's Day was great!

...And I'm Done!

I did it! I finished my super-fluff story! But I'm not going to post it yet! Not until Monday.

I didn't think I'd be finishing the story today, honestly. I opened the file and read what I had written and I didn't know where to go. Well, I knew where I WANTED to go with the story, I just didn't know how I was going to get there. Plus, I had work in a few hours, and so I wasn't sure I would have the time.

Then, suddenly, inspiration struck. I went on a writing frenzy and voila, the story was done! I didn't even realize how quickly I completed the story! I love when the stories just flow out of me like that! But OMG the fluff!!! XD

I can't wait until I can post it on Monday!

And the Story Goes "Fluff, Fluff, Fluff"

Well, I started my fluffy Valentine's Day story. I'm not going to tell you what I ended up going with, but I will say that I'm holding off on the Phil and Gertie story and the Wedding story until I have the time to do another chaptered story.

I've had some fun working on this fluff piece. I'm still finishing it up - I had to do some researching while writing yesterday, but I wasn't going to post it prior to Valentine's Day weekend anyway. I really enjoy going all goofy and sweet! It' s such a lovely change of pace from the downer story I'm currently working on.

My only fear is that I'm making it too fluffy. It might be so sweet people will get toothaches from it. Also, it's not very realistic for things to go so wonderfully. My story is so fluffy it's like the love-child of Marshmallow and Cotton Candy made love to the spawn of Cotton Balls and a big fluffy bunny. My story is the resulting grandchild of such massive fluff.

I have already taken care of this problem; fear not. During my hours alone at work AGAIN today I devised my solution. My original one-shot will become a two-chaptered story. Definitely posted by V'day will be my Super Fluff chapter. The more-realistic version of the story will then shortly after be posted as the second and final chapter of the tale. Whether or not I post the realistic version by V'day will depend on my writing availability in the next week. Perhaps, depending on how exciting the Super Bowl turns out to be tomorrow, I'll write in between the commercials. ^_^

The Fluff that Dreams are Made of

Yesterday I had to work about four hours alone again - the joys of opening! YAY! And so I was able to ponder more fanfiction writing.

I wanted to take my day off tomorrow to write - so as to not keep my readers waiting forever this time. However, I don't really want to post my next chapter yet. Valentine's Day is coming up, and three things occurred to me. One, I'd be lucky if I could write the next chapter in time to post by Valentine's Day. Two, even if I could finish the chapter by V'day I'm not too sure I'd want to post it. It's kind of an anti-valentine's day chapter, and I wanted to post something fluffy. If I had completed the last chapter the way I originally wanted to - instead of breaking off the ending and making this new "break up" chapter - then the next chapter WOULD be Valentines-y. I don't think I could get two chapters done in time, especially when I'm visiting my fiance for V'day. Anyway, this led me to my final thought. Perhaps I'll put my story on hold for right now and write some Valentine's Day fluff one-shot!

Now the question becomes, what do I write? I had a few ideas bouncing around in my head yesterday. First was to do fluff on a couple I don't see too often -in fact, the character's aren't even listed on the FanFiction.Net Hey, Arnold! character drop down menu. I wanted to write a story about Grandpa "Steely" Phil and Grandma "Pookie" Gertie a la "The Notebook". Although I do want to write this eventually, this wouldn't be a one-shot, so I slotted it away.

Next I was thinking of something else I don't see too often - Helga and Arnold's wedding day. This idea seems promising, and yet it also feels like it would be a cute fluffy chaptered fic. Perhaps I'll just write the ceremony as a one-shot fluff piece for V'day and add chapters around it later. A possibility.

I then back tracked a little to think of maybe a fluffy story about how Arnold proposed - or maybe the dominating Helga was the one to propose! This is another possibility, and this one would actually be a one-shot!

Back tracking even MORE I thought of writing about Helga and Arnold's first date. It would be awkward and adorable and filled with all those "firsts". Perhaps they could even have an uninterrupted kiss! But then again, they would only be ten and so how much heart-fluttering could I give my readers?

What if I did an AR fic in which I rewrote either the infamous April Fools Day Tango or the Valentine's Day Dueling Dates scenes as if they happened when Arnold and Helga were teenagers instead of nine. How would everything go differently? Would everything go differently? The great thing about the show is the fact that these kids did things that teenagers would normally do, but it still seemed natural that nine-year-olds were doing them.


So anyway, these are my Valentine's Day fluffy story ideas. Perhaps you have an opinion on which one you'd like to read? If so, tell me in the comments! Take care!