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. 

The Story is Finally Done!

Oh man, this week flew by so fast I legitimately can't recall what I did.... I only have the chaos of Friday and Saturday in my head.

I remember being annoyed with myself on Tuesday and Wednesday because I had about seven or eight hours alone in the house and I accomplished NOTHING. I didn't do chores. I didn't write. I didn't even continue playing Fable so I had more to think about for my story next month for NaNo.

I honestly can't recall what I actually did on those two days. I know I continued pondering my Halloween Contest entry. One of those days I think I actually spent about five hours putting together a "creepy music" playlist so I had background music to inspire me. How do I spend five hours putting a playlist together that only has 18 songs!? Sheesh! My tunnel vision is HORRIBLE! Do they have meds for this reverse ADD? They should... I lose HOURS of my time and don't know how!

Thursday both Hubby and I had the day off, but I don't recall how we spent most of the day. I know I sat next to him on the couch for an hour or two scribbling out a rough outline of how my story would go - after spending all week harassing him and poor ChibiSunnie about what I should do. At around three I gave up and decided to use the good pre-hurricane weather to mow our lawn. I figured, "The grass needs to be cut anyway, and the exercise and quiet might help me think."

That quickly blew up in my face. I mowed three quick strips of the grass and nearly tossed the darn thing. The wheels or the actual reel-blades were rusting and giving off this high pitched squeak that was grating on me. After storming through the house - which apparently scared the daylights out of my husband - we both went to the store to pick up our paychecks and some WD-40. This, that, and the other thing happened in regards to people talking to us about work-related topics and we didn't get home until almost an hour later.

I was now ticked because I hadn't accomplished anything - even chores - throughout the week and I didn't have enough sunlight to mow the entire yard with our reel-mower. I still mowed the large section of the grass next to an apartment complex next door. It's silly that we have the property, actually. We have two trees with insanely low-hanging branches - which scratch me up like crazy when I try to mow under them by the way - cutting off this patch from the rest of our property. Plus, the apartment complex has a strip of grass maybe two feet wide and that's it. Why our landlord doesn't try to break off this part of the land and attempt to sell it to the apartment complex is beyond me, but I hate cutting something that doesn't even feel like my lawn.

Anyway, I go to mow under the empty trees without a care that I didn't rake first. One - I just wanted the grass done and didn't feel like I had time to rake. Two - I figured I could just mulch the leaves like I would with a gas-powered mower. I soon realized that I don't have enough horse-power in me to actually tear up the leaves and all they did was clog the mower. That meant I couldn't actually cut anything. So a little more stomping around before spending an hour raking leaves - and now grass clippings - in to a huge pile. I didn't even reach the trees where I actually wanted to rake before I ran out of sunlight. I did have one of the apartment tenants comment about the huge pile. Sheesh.

Friday I got in to a battle with my department manager, and was run ragged by the herd of people at the deli in preparation for the hurricane that's supposed to hit on Tuesday. I also stayed later than scheduled to wait for Hubby to be done with work. Originally I was going to use that time to FINALLY get to my story so I wasn't waiting until the last possible second to write it. I ended up using that time to work on stuff for my Wellness Champion position at work. I did manage to write a little bit during my lunch break - about a page's worth - so that was something.

When we got home I instantly changed in to crappy yard work clothes and headed out to get rid of that pile of grass and leaves. I raked the pile, as well as the leaves I intended to rake the day before, in to an old tote I had from our move. We now have a huge pile of leaves by our driveway because I have no clue how to dispose of the compost. At my mom's house you line the curb with it and a truck comes by to collect everything. We don't have that service here.

The intent was to finish the yard work - screw the mowing on "our side" of the property, no one notices the tall grass but us - by the time dinner was done and then write the rest of the night. Then Hubby reminded me that we had the LARP. I'm still so use to it being once a month that this new every other week schedule throws me off every time.

I really need to remember to bring either my netbook or an actual paper notebook with me whenever we do LARP and just lock it away in my car when we're playing. I should know by now that we won't actually start playing until an hour or so after we're supposed to - usually waiting on players to gather or update their character info. I wasted two or three hours that I could have been writing. Flarg....

Saturday was my Last Chance day. I went to work, got almost nothing accomplished because of yet another pack of customers fearing the worst with this hurricane, wrote a little more during lunch, and then dragged my tired butt back home to a house full of guys.

Granted, I was the one who invited everyone over. I figured if I was done writing we could all hang out, if not then Hubby could play Magic: The Gathering with the guys - a game I have no interest in - while I write so he wouldn't be bored. I then "sequestered" myself in my room with a couple sandwiches, a bag of M&Ms, and two bottles of water. Aside from a few bathroom breaks, I was in my room writing like a nut for SEVEN HOURS!!!

I felt a little guilty since Omnibladestrike brought his laptop and wanted me to maybe help him out with the next chapter of his story. At the same time, Chibi wrote her first fanfic - YAY - for the contest and wanted me to beta read it; which I didn't have time to do. I hope she does well. I still need to beta the story anyway. She wants it nice and polished up before posting on DeviantArt. I have off tomorrow, so aside from massive dish washing and laundry - in case the impending hurricane knocks out the water supply - I guess I'm beta reading as well. YAY! :-D

Anyway, the Drop Dead Line was 11:59pm Central Time, October 27th. I finish my story and submit it at 11:30pm ET. I'm just as bad as when I wrote that birthday story for PinkLotus27 last year. Seven hours, sending it to her right about 11:30 my time, which meant she had an hour or so her time before her birthday was over. Nearly identical situations! XD
Major difference is that "I Thought You Liked Redheads" is one of my shortest stories due to the limited time and my Halloween story was able to make it to 6,000+ words and 11pgs. Let me remind you that the minimum it needed to be was 2500 words. I feel sorry for the judge(s).

I'm also a little ticked off at myself. Since inspiration - or opportunity - didn't hit until the last possible moment, I was still finishing up my story, in bed, next to my poor husband who was trying to get a few hours rest before going in to work at 1am. I felt so bad about keeping him awake - but he didn't want me to leave the bed - that as soon as I concluded my story I just sent the dang thing. No proofreading. No editing. First draft and submitted to the contest. There are only three rules to the contest: 1) 2500 words minimum, 2) must be "Halloweeny", and 3) PROOFREAD! Admittingly, I probably wouldn't have proofread anyway. After staring at a screen for 7hrs straight - yup, laptop came with on the potty breaks - my eyes were killing me.

Once Hubby was at work and my eyes were a bit rested up I went back through and found a typo - I used a singular noun instead of the intended plural - in the THIRD SENTENCE. There were three or four typos in the first page alone! I think I had about a dozen throughout the whole story. I don't think my story is going to do so good in the contest after all. *sigh* Oh well, at least I tried, right?

Chibi's drawing for the contest - she did one story and one picture to put in each category - is amazing so I hope she wins! Sorry, Chopfe, I know you entered as well, but hers is just.... WOW... so much detail! She hasn't posted the picture at the time of this update, but be on the lookout. If I find the time I might go ahead and do a Halloween Post this Wednesday! If I do I'll be sure to include Chibi's picture as well as other pictures and writings I can get my hands on that were submitted in to the contest. I'll also announce - if I know at that point - who won the contest!

In the meantime, you can read my entry either on DeviantArt or over on FanFiction. This is the first draft with the typos edited out. I'm probably going to update both once Chibi gets me her notes, but I wanted to have them available for you guys to read now if you so chose. I'm going to try - depending on when Chibi has time to beta - to have the edits done and up by that Halloween post. That is if I have time with work, the hurricane, and Halloween itself to write one.

Given that Thursday starts National Novel Writing Month I'm certainly going to try to squeeze that last blog post in on Halloween. I'm still not sure if I'll be blogging during the month of November.

Regardless, I WILL have one more post before I go in to writing craziness, be it Wednesday or Sunday.
Love you all! Have a safe and happy Halloween and take every precaution you can if you're in Hurricane Sandy/Frakenstorm's way.

This Will Be Quick...

This has actually been a quiet week in comparison to the past two. Nothing majorly exciting occurred and no insane progress was done on my story.

I'm actually not sure what to even talk about this week.

First and foremost, the kind words about my writing keep spilling in and I'm so humbled by each of them.
Thank you, All, once again.

I finally got to editing my Operation Ruthless video. The darn thing is about 1/2hr long! Aaaaand.... it's supposed to be 10 minutes at most. Whoops...

After two days of hearing myself yammer on about Hey Arnold! I got sick of hearing my own voice. :P It is now sent over to my darling PinkLotus27 and she can have the fun of figuring out how to cut down my ramblings. *sigh*

Once she's got the video down to the proper length it's back to me to polish it up, so I still have about a week's worth of editing to do before the June 23rd due date.

Oh! And speaking of Operation Ruthless; BaconNom-Nom - one of the heads of the movement - just posted this little jewel of a video. It's a great overview of the Operation Ruthless website and Bacon sounds so amazingly professional here. Great quality!

So if you're a fan of Hey Arnold! and want to know more about our movement to revive the series you should check this out:

Along with keeping busy with my video, I've also been keeping busy with work. I'm quickly learning that summers in a grocery store Deli are quite chaotic with all the sales....

However, I do still enjoy my lunch breaks where I get to work on my story. Not too much progress this week, but I AM still getting stuff on paper - so to speak.

I was actually tempted to bring in Lycopolis to read over breaks. However, the reviews I've read about the book implies I won't want to stop once I start. Probably not the best thing to attempt over 15-min breaks then...

I also recently received the FULL second chapter of CartoonLover16's story - I was only given the opening portion to edit before. I haven't started tackling that quite yet, but I'm excited to do so. It might take a little bit to Beta, however. His chapter has a higher word count than my 2012 Valentine's Day story. I mean, it's less than the latest chapter of my story, but it's still a lot.

OOOO! And speaking of CL16, I was surprised yesterday to discover that he drew me a little present:

HAHA, I seem so intense! XD

Teehee, I have fanart of... ME!


He also commented on my last post that he'd like to make title cards for What Is Truly Meant To Be. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

I'm actually super happy to see that CL16 and I are finally clicking as friends. It's fun to have little dialogues with him. Now to start "socializing" more with Devious.Editor! ^_^

A Most Grateful Author

Man, has this been one exciting week for me, and it’s all thanks to you guys!

SO. MUCH. LOVE!

I honestly feel amazingly validated when it comes to my writing. I’m soaring on such a Writer’s High right now!

Let’s break this down, shall we?

Wednesday I posted my insanely-long fiftieth post. We all took a trip down memory lane. It was delightful, no?

Anyway, I wake up Thursday to discover that there was a huge influx of people to my blog – and at least a third of those readers were new!

Now, I’ve posted about my blog updates on Facebook before under my Lyco Rogue account. I recently started tweeting about new blog posts a couple of weeks back. However, I think this may have been the first week I remembered to post about the update while on my main account…. I can’t recall… I have a feeling I’ve posted on my main before too, but it would make sense that all the new readers came from my main account - that is, if this WAS the first week I remembered to post there.

Anyway, point is, for some reason I got something like twice the readership this past week and it feels AMAZING!

I also had three new people post comments on my blog, but I’ll get to that in a little bit.

So, now I KNOW people are reading this thing, and that gets me so excited. I mean, this isn’t an informative blog at all. You are all here reading my JOURNAL entries. You’re not learning anything. You’re not bettering yourself. This isn’t for your benefit – simply your enjoyment. The fact that you care like that is just so cool!

Thank you.

Now, I’m going to jump all the way to today. Today, while waiting for Hubby to get off of work, I saw in the grocery store book bin something that made me really smile for two reasons:

I was scanning the books to kill time, I saw the font and thought “That kinda resembles…” Saw the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” across the top and squealed like the fangirl I am.

I had inherited the rest of the series from my dad. I own the Hollywood movie – which is not the best adaptation, but still a good movie – as well as the BBC miniseries – which is an almost verbatim adaptation… Upon hearing of Douglas Adams’ death I coordinated with some fellow Sci-Fi nuts and we walked through high school the next day with black armbands and towels over our shoulders.

Point being, that I originally smiled because there is another book to the series! I also originally thought that it was a posthumous manuscript that was just polished up/completed by the new author listed on the cover.

As I read the dust jacket I discovered that I was wrong. The entire book was written by a new author – with permission and support from Adams’ widow. I was a little disappointed, but then it dawned on me: 

THIS IS BASICALLY FANFICTION TURNED CANON!

Also, the new author – Eoin Colfer – is the bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series. I haven’t read the series yet, but it gave me confidence that this sixth book will feel like the other five.

Anyway, this “fanfiction turned canon” thought also reminded me of another series I recently discovered: Astonishing X-Men. It was started back in 1995. Volume two written in 1999. But I’m specifically referring to the third volume written in 2004.

I was introduced to this series when Hubby discovered the Motion Comics version on Netflix. How am I so late to the game with these things!?

Well, the thing that really excited me about Astonishing X-men was who wrote at least half of Volume 3:

Joss Whedon.

The brilliance behind Buffy: The Vampire Hunter, Angel, FireFly, Serenity, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse, and the recent blockbuster and record breaker The Avengers. 

This guy is like THE sci-fi nerd, and I LOVE the man for it! 

My point being that even though the man has dabbled in comic book writing, he’s mainly a TV guy. He’s not a Marvel Comics staff writer. So, for him to write 24 issues for X-Men is again basically someone writing fanfiction and it being canon! 

If they can do it, why can’t I? 

Granted, there isn’t much call for any official Hey Arnold! works; so THAT probably won’t be my meal ticket, but it IS possible. 

I thought this once before while my mom was gifting me the How I Met Your Mother companion books “written” by Barney Stinson, and the Nikki Heat novels – companion books for the Castle TV show - “written” by Richard Castle. 

Then there’s also the latest “Must Read” going around lately: 
50 Shades of Grey. 

I mentioned in a previous post that I really should do a full post about it – and perhaps I still will – but what I need to say now is that it was originally a fanfiction for Twilight. It’s now a bestselling, highly discussed trilogy. I need to first find the right fandom to join, but… 

I CAN ACTUALLY MAKE MONEY OFF OF FANFICTION! SWEEEEEEEEET! 

OK, so let’s come back around to my writing and the validation of it. 

I already established that people are ACTUALLY READING WHAT I WRITE… which is epic to me! And I just established that writing fanfiction instead of original works actually isn’t a waste of time. If I find the right fandom it can actually become a money maker. 

Question is, am I really good enough? 

A question that creeps up on me all the time.

Yes. I am a good writer.
Yes. People enjoy reading what I wrote.
Yes. It is fun for me to write and get the stories out – even if there isn’t a readership.
BUUUUUUUT

Is it good enough to eventually lead to monetary gain? 

Although the jury is still out on that question, I’m starting to think that the answer may very well come back as “Yes.”

Back in February I discovered a Hey Arnold! themed contest on DeviantArt. There were a multitude of categories that I could submit in to, but let’s face it, the only one I could actually do is writing.

I wasn’t sure which story to go with – and there wasn’t a limit – so I just submitted all of my love-themed/fluffy one-shots: 

The story I wrote for Valentine’s Day 2011, both parts 1 and 2: 
I Caught You A Star
Clumsily Perfect 

The story I wrote for PinkLotus27’s birthday this past year: 
I Thought You Liked Redheads 

And the Valentine’s Day story I wrote for ChibiSunnie this year: 
For Whom the Bells Toll 

Well, I’m not sure which story actually won because I have yet to find a listing of the contest category winners. However, I came back from dropping Hubby at work at 1am this morning to discover that I now have a 3-month Premium Membership on DeviantArt as the winning prize for the contest! 

Knowing my luck, I was probably the only one who submitted in to the writing portion – therefore only competing against myself – but still… YAYZ! 

So, thank you to the head of the contest - CreativeWave85 – for awarding me the winner of the writing portion of the competition as well as paying for 3 months Premium membership! 

Now I just need to figure out what to do with said membership…. 

Anyway, long and short is that I actually won a competition with my story! I NEVER win writing competitions! 

While I’m talking about DeviantArt, let’s talk about another form of writer validation: Inspiring People. 

As I mentioned in my last post, I already knew for a while that these were coming. Chibi already informed me that she’s planning on drawing fanart for each chapter of my story. However, it’s still so amazing to see the resulting fanart. 

Fanart based off of something *I* wrote! 

Just think, to see how others see a scene you wrote, and see how closely it resembles the one in your mind. I really can’t imagine how surreal it must be for writers to see their work adapted as graphic novels or movies! 

Anyway, here is the wonderful piece of artwork done by ChibiSunnie based on the second chapter:

These are all such angst-ridden scenes!

Chibi apparently isn’t the only one inspired by my works. 

DarkAngel1326 completely blew my mind this past week! 

Now, she first blew my mind when I commented on getting Lycopolis from good old Ali Luke, and DarkAngel commented about me being her writing mentor! 

But the brain explosions continued when I squealed about Ali, and then my wonderful mommy stepped in to do what moms do best – encourage and gush over their children. At first I didn't think much of it – just a proud parent – and then DarkAngel joined in:

Mom: YOU CAN BE NEXT...YOU ARE THAT TALENTED!!!!!!

DarkAngel: I agree!!!! Write! I want a book from my writing mentor!!! even if i have to buy it XD I don't care.

Mom: SEE YOU HAVE A FOLLOWING NOW STOP PLAYING AROUND AND WRITE MY DEAR LITTLE AUTHOR...

First off: D’aaaw! Mommy! DarkAngel! Yous guyz! *blush*
Second: hehe, OK, Mom. Lay off the caps lock! ^_^
Finally: OMG! “even if I have to buy it”… DA, I heart you, girl!

This is insane! I already have at least two super-devoted readers. It’s not much when compared to bestselling authors like J.K. Rowling or James Patterson or Stephen King, etc., but it’s still more people – and certainly more DEVOTED – than I ever expected!

Thank you so much, ladies!

HEARTS!

Also, just yesterday I got a message from FanFiction to let me know that someone added one of my original stories to their favorites! Buried under tons of newer fanfiction, my originals are still being found and shown some love!

So, you, my readers are most CERTAINLY validating my writing.

Now for the kicker! We’re going full circle back to Thursday when I saw new comments on my last blog post.

First was CartoonLover16. So, welcome, Buddy! Don’t worry about me beta-reading for you! Remember, if I didn’t enjoy doing it I wouldn’t – I mean, it’s not like I’m getting paid or anything.

That goes for ALL I Beta for! I might comment here about how time consuming it is and how my own writing gets pushed back because of it. DO NOT CONSIDER THIS TO MEAN YOU’RE A BURDEN! I love reading your stuff! I love helping you! I love Beta-reading.

I’m just trying to explain to others why my own writing might be taking a little bit.

Speaking of which, little side note: with Beta Reading done, I’m back to working on my own stuff while at work. It’s slow go, but I AM progressing. Not sure when the chapter will be up though. I STILL have Operation Ruthless and Wedding Thank Yous to deal with. @_@

Back on topic. I also want to thank my cousin for writing such sweet words about writing. I guess writing isn’t a family trait, so I’m ecstatic to have that talent. Also, thank you for the offering of a contact in publishing! I’ll stash that offer away until I need it.

But the most exciting to me – for obvious reasons – would be that Ali herself discovered, read, and then commented on my blog!

DUMBFOUNDED!!!!!

For me, the highlights included these parts of our little dialogue:

Ali: I'm very touched to be your mentor ... and I'm really thrilled that my blogging's been helping you. And you've inspired me to write something about fanfiction soon (I've got quite a few other readers who I know are fanfic writers too...). Keep writing, keep blogging; success isn't overnight, but it'll come!

Me: I'm so excited to see whatever post you write about fanfiction. And thank you for the kind words. I find our similarities amusing and it's stuff like that, and how Rick Riordan and I seem to have similar stylings, that truly proves to me that published writers aren't much more different than I am. That I can actually become published as well.

Ali: Ah, and that's something else I want to post about at some point ... the fact that however distant the "real" writers seem, there's honestly not such a difference.
You're a great writer; that's obvious from your blogging alone (and I haven't read your fanfiction but I'm guessing by your dedication to it and what you've said about the comments you've received that you're great at that too). Heck, with a blog and fanfic out there online, you *are* published, technically speaking... :)

Also, thank you Chibi for chiming in with

Chibi: That's so exciting!! :) And I agree with what Ali said about your writing. :)

Anyway… *SQUEAL* Ali thinks that I’m a great writer!? Based solely on this blog!? I mean… THIS blog!? It’s not even fiction! It’s not informative! It’s a JOURNAL and she still thinks that it’s “obvious” that I’m a “great writer”!!!!

*Faints*

I’m just… just… just… WOW!

So one last thank you to EVERYONE!

Thank you family for the support.
Thank you Ali for the encouragement.
Thank you glorified fanfiction writers for giving me hope.

And super duper thank you for my amazingly, wonderfully, fantastically devoted fans!

You humble me to no end!

So much validation crammed in to one week! I now know how Arnold must have felt in my latest chapter! The Universe is speaking to me and trying to direct me.

And I’m ready to listen!

Mark my words: I WILL be a professional author before I’m 40!

Fifty Posts!? The Journey Thus Far

Oh man! Wednesday!? Boy am I late....

I originally had no clue what to write about this past week. Frankly, I barely did anything in regards to writing. But this is my FIFTIETH post! How could I NOT do something awesome!?

I had a "blah" post written, but this milestone was killing me when I realized I didn't really celebrate it.

So after a long-overdue talk with DarkAngel1326 I got re-inspired for this post.

I'm proud to realize how far I've grown recently. So let's use this milestone as a means to look back at some highlights.

I started this blog over on FanFiction. I had recently returned to the Hey Arnold! fandom and was reading all the fanfiction I could. As I looked through the authors' profile pages I noticed a trend of people leaving writing updates for their readers. I thought this was a brilliant idea, so I started doing the same. After a few months I realized my profile was filling up pretty quick even though I wasn't really updating frequently.

That became the birth of The Rogue's Scribe, back on September 30th, 2010. Well, technically I launched my blog January 27th, 2011, but I backlogged my first 5 posts so they appeared here listed as the month I wrote the entry over on FanFiction.

So 2010 - which was really backlogged from 2011 - had only one post per month. 

My first official post to this blog was also the start of my periodic "Plot Bunnies" postings. It was a thought about writing a story where Helga is the antithesis of herself - sweet and charming to everyone most of the time and then really angry and anti-social some of the time, instead of her normal bully-self with lovesick moments.

The rest of the month was spent talking about my first ever Valentine's Day story; starting with this post  - which also made for two plot bunny posts in a row.

February was also the official start of my participation in Script Frenzy. That would lead to a crazy April tradition. I'll get to that in a moment, but first....

March was the advent of my FanFiction Appreciation Circle, and I made sure to also include it here. I just need to remember to go back and update it every once in a while... :P

OK, now back to Script Frenzy. Last April I spent all my writing free time working on my The Jungle Movie script, which meant avoiding my blog. However, April was probably my most writing-heavy month and I wanted to talk about it. That's when I decided to archive Script Frenzy in diary form. I finished up April in a second post. I then just grouped all of April together as one long post this year after going completely off-line for the month.

May and June of 2011 only had one post each, and neither really spoke of much of anything. May gave my usual excuses for not writing or updating anything. June announced me FINALLY posting the next chapter, gave a bit of a ratings recap for my stories, and then had me ramble on about shows I was watching and webcomics I wanted to work on - none of which were ever actually written.

Then wedding planning hit hard core and I took a massive writing hiatus - both with my stories and with my blog. It didn't seem to really matter anyway, no one really read either.

Then, on October 2, 2011 I finally got to marry my best friend after an 8-year long-distance relationship. So don't you DARE let anyone tell you long-distance never works out. It does if you put in the effort!

Our Wedding Gift from ChibiSunnie

With the wedding and move behind me I could finally re-concentrate on writing. I also started posting my writing up on DeviantArt in hopes of getting more of a readership. 

However, I didn't really get back in to writing fanfiction until I decided to write a one-shot as a last-minute birthday gift. THAT got my creative juices flowing again. That, plus entrance in to the world of Beta Reading. One person quickly became three, and then four, and then five, and then down to three and I'm currently back up to four! Beta Reading is time consuming, and typically keeps me from my own writing. But it's rewarding work and it's fantastic to work with all these other authors. It's also fun to see what others create and know that I'm helping those stories be told. On top of all that, I've made such great friendships through Beta Reading and having my stuff Beta Read. I love all my Beta Writers! And my Beta Reader! HEARTS TO ALL!

December brought on the typical "Winter Depression" in the form of a massive Writer's Funk where I hated my lack of writing, my lack of discipline, and even my fear that I couldn't write as well as the people I Beta-ed for. I was certainly in a slump and lost faith. Then, right at the end of the year, I get a simple review of my story: "please". Such a simple, sad request for me to continue writing. My story DID matter to someone. Even if it was just ONE person, I couldn't abandon them. I added "Write More Frequently" to my New Years Resolutions and looked forward to 2012.

Along with a new year, 2012 also brought a new outlook on everything I did writing wise. Including a blog make-over, as well as the official start of my Sunday Blog Update Days. Although I did fail at first, it was a new weekly deadline that kept me focused and had me write SOMETHING weekly, even if it wasn't fiction. I was starting to really get in to the writing rhythm, my confidence was getting reboosted, I was openingly posting my blog updates on Facebook and DeviantArt - whereas I didn't previously advertise my updates - and my blog posts and stories were actually being read and faved again!

February of this year found me again writing. I worked diligently on a massively long Valentine's Day Story that I wrote as a combo Late Christmas/Thanks-For-Being-a-Sounding-Board-For-My-Chapter gift for ChibiSunnie. At the time it was the longest thing I ever wrote: 11,000 words long. It would soon be surpassed by my latest chapter, but I'll get to that. The task of writing for two background characters was difficult, but my husband supported me, Chibi helped with some ideas, and I got a glance in to the brain of a 9-yr-old boy via advice from Solace of Songs. The story didn't get the greatest response, but seeing how happy it made Chibi was grand enough.

Also, February was when my beta reading progressed to also include original works. In order to do so I set up an as-of-yet-unused account with FanFiction's sister site FictionPress. 

I also battled with another bout of Writer's Funk. This time my concern was with my inability to write ANYTHING SHORT. I had JUST posted an 11,000 word story, and then read drabbles people wrote. Drabbles are stories that are between 100 and 1000 words, and the authors can say as much in them - if not more - as I say in my epicly long stories. Will a publisher/editor ever take on something I wrote if it is so long-winded?

In March I discovered Aliventures and everything seemed fine again. I mainly use the blog to give advice to the people I Beta Read for, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that Ali Luke's advice and inspirational posts don't help me as well. Everything she talks about just seems to validate my own writing, and the fact that she's ninja-quick when responding to blog comments really helps with that validation. She is amazing and I have dubbed her my writing mentor - whether she likes it or not! ^_^

Her amazing, awesomeness only increased when I got a personal email from her a couple of weeks back! For someone I'm seriously starting to admire to take notice of me like that just makes me smile! I mean, she had already validated my fanfiction writing and now this!

Let me take a moment to clarify... While in one of my Writer's Funks I felt like I didn't compare to "actual writers" because I "cheated" with fanfiction. I wasn't creating the characters or the setting. I was just parroting someone else's creative. Then Ali commented back that fanfiction is really hard to do well. It's difficult to write in someone else's style, create new situations for the characters, and have it all be in-character and convincing. Since I've had multiple reviewers comment at how amazingly well I've done with keeping everyone in-character, and having my stories feel like real episodes... well, I guess I'm doing a good job after all.

Anyway, Ali really picked me up and made me feel like I was a "Real" writer, and then she validated me even more with the personal email. Writer's Funk turned to Writer's High!

So, yeah, Ali is AMAZING and has a a fantabulous blog and is also a writing coach. So I STRONGLY encourage EVERYONE to read her blog. Even if you're not a writer, some of her advice can still apply.

Well, back to MY blogging.
After reading some of Ali's posts, and some of her guest posts on other blogs, I ended up spending nearly an entire weekend just reading other blogs. That's when I truly discovered something. 

Now, I knew when blogs first came out they were online journals/diaries much like how this one. I also knew that over the years people were making money off of their blogs - I just thought from advertising revenue and book deals for popular bloggers. 

What I failed to realize is that most blogs are now INFORMATIVE. They're like online magazines. I was very outdated with my blogging and that was probably the main reason I don't have much of a following. 

I don't care though. This blog just wouldn't work if it wasn't a journal. Plus, I'm not really an expert on ANYTHING, so I have no clue what I would do an "informative" blog about - perhaps wedding planning after the craziness I went through for mine, but I feel like it would be a short-lived blog. Plus, I already attempted the wedding blog, but more on that at the end.

Still, I wanted input on my blog, and so I asked what you guys thought. On March 4th, 2012 I got my very first blog comment. It was about the font and format of the blog, as well as how difficult it was to read. It kept me a little bit to really listen to the critique, and when a second comment the following week stated roughly the same thing I knew it was time for a change. The rest of March was spent tweaking the layout and finding the "perfect font" - one that was readable, but still looked like it was hand-written. One of the people who commented on the poor readability came back about a month later - after about four font change-ups - and let me know that this font was the winner.

So thank you "It's Like We're Related" for your input and your help in making this blog easier for everyone to enjoy.

I also received my first piece of fanart! I knew it was coming for a couple of months, and I saw the rough sketches, but to see Chibi's finished product was awesome! It was a drawing of a scene that *I* wrote!

Image drawn by ChibiSunnie

And it won't be the only one! She already has at least one piece of artwork planned out for each chapter, as well as some ideas based on the story I wrote her for Valentine's Day. She is awesome sauce!

And speaking of Chibi's Awesome-sauce-ness, March finished off with one of the best things to happen to my writing. After months of being a Beta for other people, I ended up getting Chibi to be *MY* beta reader! She was awesome. She really worked hard on helping me finally post my latest chapter. Even with her crazy-busy schedule of finishing up her master's program at college, she managed to take time outs to help me through my writing. She helped me condense, and work through plot holes, and talk through scenes and dialogue to make them feel more "real". She was amazingly encouraging and made me smile at how much she enjoyed reading what I wrote.

The best part was that she kept me motivated. Knowing how busy she was, I didn't want to waste her time. I also got motivated with each positive feedback I got from her. I found myself cranking out scenes almost daily. I was excited to write again. Plus, the one key element Ali typically talks about was finally there: a deadline. I gave myself deadlines countless times: "I'll have it done by Thanksgiving", "I'll have it done by the end of the month", "I'll have it done by her birthday", "I'll have it done by the end of the year", "I'll have it done by Valentine's Day"... Rarely did I ever keep to my self-appointed deadlines. And when I did keep to them, it was after a mad-dash, last-minute, self-isolation writing frenzy about 24hours before my self-appointed due date.

Telling Chibi when I'll get something to her; telling Ali when I want to finish my chapter; posting a temporary "This Chapter Will Be Up Soon" author's note on FanFiction; it all motivated me to keep to my word. I was now accountable, and I think that's what I needed.

Case and point: I had the event-appointed deadline of a 100page script by April 30th in order to "win" Script Frenzy, and yet I focused on my chapter instead - there by only writing 40pages for Script Frenzy this year.

So April was a good writing month in the fact that after nearly a year-long hiatus, I FINALLY updated my story on FanFiction. A new record with a little less than 16,000 words! The chapter was so long that it didn't fit as one post on DeviantArt. The chapter hasn't had much of a response, but that's to be expected after being away for a year. The few people that DID read it were impressed, plus I actually have the beast done. I count that a success.

April was a crappy writing month in regards to Script Frenzy. I failed. I failed so hard core. I didn't even get to the half-way point in 30 days. I was informed by friends that I didn't "fail" because I at least attempted. Still... let's face it... I failed hard core! I at least learned what I did wrong and hopefully I can do better next year. I will "win" Script Frenzy in 2013!

Finally, April was a good month for blogging. I wrote my first "informative" blog post, thanks to inspiration from the Aliventures Newsletter. I also managed to snag a second follower after she read said post. My first follower - Hebo - was originally following me via my Facebook posts, so I'm not entirely sure how long she has been a reader. She's from some Spanish-speaking country, so the fact that she reads such long-winded posts in English impressed the heck out of me! Love you, Hebo!!!!

However, the second follower is a lovely woman named Kasie. According to her blog comment, she started following on April 19th. It was only two weeks later did she gift me with The Liebster Award! See the pretty picture on the right hand side? Right at the top of the blog? Yup, that's from her. Starting May off right!

So let's show her the love she showed me and check out her blog. 

And now we're finally back to the very merry month of May.

I finally got back in to Beta Reading after my April hiatus. I started off with such a mad flurry of writing that I thought I might get my latest chapter done before the end of the month. With work, the nice weather, cleaning, video/computer games, and Beta Reading... well... the writing got pushed over to "type while on lunch break at work". I'm still progressing, but at a much slower pace. Not sure when the chapter will be up now.

I'm a little upset that I didn't manage to do a monthly writing update like I have planned to do all year, but I am getting better as I progress.

Life is getting better, and hopefully so have I.

It's been a fun ride over the past two years and I'm looking forward to hitting that 100-posts mark in less than a year! I'm excited to see how much more I grow and change.

I've come up with a lot of plot bunnies over the course of this blog.

Want to read them over? Here they are:

• Going In A Different Direction
• The Fluff That Dreams Are Made Of
• The Plot Bunnies Post!
• Liebster Award

How about all of my Author's Notes posts?

• That Took Forever!
• Posts, Thank Yous, Author's Notes, and Timelines
• Epic Author's Notes are Epic
• Another Crazy-long Author's Note

The Current Top Ten Posts?

1. Using Blogs and Birthdays to Procrastinate
2. The Plot Bunnies Post!
3. Cleaning and Brainstorming and Championship Games; Oh My!
4. Castle Fanfiction Devoured More of My Life
5. Script Frenzy Fail Diary
6. Epic Author's Notes are Epic
7. Another Crazy-long Author's Note
8. New Years Resolutions: Take Two
9. Well.... that took longer than expected....
10. Helpful Writing Hints and Script Frenzy Prepping

Finally, before closing out this momentous post, I want to give a shout out to all the great people I met since I started blogging:

• PinkLotus27 - originally BrokenRose24. She was one of the first in the Hey Arnold! fandom to welcome me as a friend.
• ChibiSunnie - a great friend I met while working on my freshmen year of Script Frenzy. We were co-authors and I'm so excited that she's now my Beta Reader. She inspires me and I have no clue how I'd be able to write anything else without her consultation. Plus, she is one of my biggest fans! I can't wait for more fanart!
• Delaroux - the first person I started Beta Reading for, back on November 12, 2011. She got me in to this wonderful "profession" and became another great friend. It pains me that the time difference has kept us from really talking anymore. I MISS YOU, GIRLY!
• DarkAngel1326 - She is one of the main people I still Beta for. We have become such amazing friends and really keep each other going. She is another one of my big-time fans. When I posted on Facebook how excited I was to receive an autographed novel from Ali she responded with:
  
  DarkAngel1326: "Yay! You get an autographed book from your writing mentor!!! I'm just waiting for you to make one so I can have a book from MY writing mentor!"



*whimper* DARKANGEL!!!! <3

• devious.editor - One of the people I Beta for. We haven't gotten as close as I have with the above girls, but we are starting up some dialogues and she still seems like a sweetheart.
• CartoonLover16 - Another one of the people I Beta. Again, I haven't really had much interaction with him and so we're not as close, but he seems like a cool guy.
• Rachel Cabbit - I'm not terribly close to her, but she is an amazing fanfiction writer. She's one of those people that can say so much with just 100 words - amazing! I was so excited when she reviewed one of *MY* stories!
• Kasie Whitener - The wonderful blogger who gifted me the Liebster Award. Thank you, Sweetie!
• Ali Luke - Okay, you HAVE to know who she is by NOW! My writing mentor - whether she wants to be or not! Muahahahaha!

This blog has been such a blessing, and I'm so happy I kept it going - as opposed to my previous failed attempts:

• Obsession Anthology - my first-ever blog. I did moderately alright with it...
• The World Building Project - My second attempt. Didn't get very far with it. It was an attempt to learn world building for Dungeons & Dragons... as well as novels...
• Highland Gamer Wedding - My attempt to journal about my wedding planning; in part to keep as a memoir, in part to help others on their journey. Yeeeeeah... THAT didn't happen...

I love you all so much, I apologize for the super lateness and I probably should have saved all of this for my 100th post... but still. ^_^ I hope this trek down Memory Lane was as fun for you as it was for me. Here's to another 50 posts together!