The Value of Blogging and Snuggling

Yup, did it again. I totally missed a week of updating. But, hey, at least I'm still updating relatively frequently. Neither DarkAngel1326 nor Cyhyr have updated their blogs in a while. So, at least my semi-frequent updates "count," right?

Although, DA1326 IS still in school and that's obviously a priority. So her infrequent updating is understandable. Cyhyr is also in school, plus she just blew through something like 15,000 words in a little over a week! So I guess she also gets a pass. It seems that Cyhyr's priorities are more on writing her fiction and less on writing her blog. If she's going to spend time at the computer writing SOMETHING; it seems she'd prefer that something to be her stories. I have to give her credit for her priorities. It seems that it should be more important for authors to care more about their manuscripts and less on their journalistic blog updates.

Even famous writers such as Rick Riordan - if they have blogs or other form of social networking at all - only update online every once in a while. Riordan's only been updating about once a week because he's in a holding pattern while his latest story is being edited. Since he can't do any further work anyway until his editor is done, Riordan uses that free time to finally catch up on his online presence. I haven't been following him long enough to know definitively, but I'm assuming his blog and Twitter accounts are barely touched when he's in the full swing of working on his manuscript; be it the first draft or one of his many revisions.

So, to bring this full circle, yes, I can give myself credit for updating at least bi-weekly, as opposed to the infrequency of the other authors I know who blog. However, they seem to prioritize so that the craft of writing their manuscripts trumps any work on their blogs. Perhaps I should focus more on this priority outline. Perhaps I'd be further than I am with my writings if I let this blog fall to the wayside, and instead use the two hours or so a week working on my stories.

Then again, I do seem to have faithful readers here, and I'd hate to disappoint you by just abandoning this blog. Plus, it is important for authors to have a fanbase; a platform; a gathering of faithful readers. I feel this blog does help me in that realm, even if it's just a slight bit. I'd hate to alienate my readers here that may not enjoy my Hey Arnold or X-Men fanfiction.

Besides, the fact that I missed last week DOES seem to display that I do - at least to some degree - have the priorities of "manuscript first; blog second". I could have easily wrote a blog post last week explaining why it kept me until the last minute to work on my chapter. I could have discussed why I didn't have the time to proofread the chapter prior to posting my update. I could have promised that it would be up before the end of the week - a promise I was able to complete, by the way.

However, I much rather prefer to have used the time I would have been blogging as time spent to complete my chapter and proofread it. I'd much rather have the chapter posted before putting a blog post up so that I had something to show for my week. Instead of telling you what I accomplished, and then showing you later, I'd rather just wait until the task was done.

At the same time, I didn't anticipate it taking so long for me to complete the proofreading process. I honestly thought I'd have everything completed by Tuesday, and therefore would have the blog post ready by then too; having me be only two days late instead of a full week.

Considering all of that, having this blog truly is beneficial to my writing; and proves that I really should never neglect it entirely. Even if I sometimes do fail at posting weekly, it helps train me to be in a regular writing rhythm. It gives me a reason and/or excuse to seclude myself and just write. It may be a completely different writing style or skill set, but I do practice - and hopefully improve - my writing each time I write a new post. The icing on this little cake is that it also holds me accountable.

I feel guilty whenever I go a week without posting. This therefore keeps me from forgetting about this blog. It holds me accountable for my weekly writings. If I miss a week - as I did last week - I feel even guiltier if I miss a second week. It truly, and honestly keeps me on the "regular writing" path. Now that I've been posting weekly chapter updates for the Writers' Huddle Summer Challenge, I feel obligated to keep up that rhythm. That way when I do my weekly blog updates I also have a new chapter for you to read.

Reader base, practice, writer discipline, and accountability. These are the things this blog brings to me and teaches me about. These are the four reasons I will keep working on my blog. These are the four reasons I'm not fixated on the "Manuscript first; blog second" priority ranking. These are the reasons why I'm working on an update now instead of working on my next chapter.

So, please forgive the delays.

Now that all of THAT is out of the way, how about something fun? How about a new chapter update?

I had the darn thing written by Sunday, as I have been for the past month. However, between picking Hubby up from work, passing out, and going to work myself I only barely had the time to finish writing; much like the week before. I didn't want to post a non-proofread chapter for a second time, and so I opted to just wait until I was done proofreading before posting the chapter and this blog update.

Monday I had a full work day; nine long hours that completely drained me.

There was no chance that I was going to do anything that required thinking at the end of that day.

So, I set out to proofread after work on Tuesday; especially since it was my shortest work day this week. Instead, I ended up doing all the backed-up chores that have been piling up over the past week or so. That, and Hubby convinced me to rewatch Trigun with him after he completed his half of the chores.

Wednesday I was determined to get the chapter finished. After Hubby distracted me with more Trigun, I finally accomplished my goal, and posted the chapter both on FanFiction and DeviantArt that evening. It was too late for me to work on my blog post though.

Thursday I had every intention to finally get the blog update done, and to start work on the next chapter; maybe finally concluding the events that occurred on the forum all on June 22, 2012. However, Hubby informed me that  2-Feathers-And-A-Stone wanted to boot Maddog24 and Duchess over to our apartment for a few hours. She had finally had their second daughter - a few weeks early - and she wanted some time alone in the house to clean and finish getting the place ready for their new baby girl. Duchess usually gets in the way of cleaning, and sometimes MD24 does too. I welcomed the visit, and so I didn't really get too involved in things like my writing or finishing off my chores as I expected MD24 to show up at any moment.

The minutes ticked in to hours and next thing I knew it was close to six, we still needed to do laundry, and so MD24 decided to just stay at home. He then asked if they could maybe swing by on Friday. He never showed up then either. At least this time I was in "screw it" mode and just did what I needed to do around the apartment. My sister is visiting this weekend and I wanted to at least have all my chores done.

Sadly, the working 9days straight - plus not feeling 100% to begin with - took a toll. Instead of using the hours between me and then Hubby getting off work to clean or at least write.... I.... passed out.

Apparently I was so tired that I completely slept through my alarm. Hubby ended up waking me up by calling to see if I was going pick him up; since I had the car. I was already a half-hour late. WHOOPS! He understood and we laughed about it when I got there to pick him up.

So late on a Friday evening I gave up on the blog post. It was so close to my normal Sunday update anyway that I just allowed the week to pass. I did the same for the next chapter. Since I would be posting the links to the chapter I completed this Wednesday I decided to just go for the "vacation" from writing and not worry about the next chapter until this upcoming week. It also gave me the free time yesterday and today to just hang out with my sister during her visit.

Besides, allowing Hubby to distract me with Trigun also allowed us to do something that we haven't really done in a little bit. Something I desperately missed. We just ignored the world and snuggled on the couch for hours. It was a great stress reliever.

The only problem now is that I have the one song from Trigun stuck in my head. It's a "folk song" that was written for the show/manga that is periodically sung as a nod to the "old days" and the main character's lost companion. The song was released as part of a Japanese soundtrack to the series, but since only the first two lines are ever sung in the anime, only the first two lines were ever translated. So a normally five-minute-long song is stuck in my head as two lines that take about thirty-seconds to sing. So I have 30sec looping in my head and I'm singing it at work.

Worse yet? Hubby finds it amusing to sing the opening two notes to get the song stuck in my head again.... Thanks, Babe...

Bah, anyway, if you want it stuck in your head too - for some crazy reason - then here's the song.

Otherwise, here's the chapter I completed this past week. It consists of Chayse's attempt at the Danger Room at a higher difficulty level than recommended for him.

Rescues and Robots on FanFiction
And over on DeviantArt

I'm excited to say that I actually have two people who have faved the story on FanFiction. I also have good old ChibiSunnie devouring the chapters. She's a bit confused now and again because she doesn't know anything about the X-Men fandom, but she still seems to be greatly enjoying these chapters. So... YAY! Maybe I can convert her in to the fandom before I'm done. Muahahahahaha.