Actually... I had to work for seven days now, and I have two more to go before my next day off. On top of the non-stop work week, the football season is upon us. Hubby and I now have a standing date with Quarthix and his wife. We go to their house for the Thursday and Monday night games. They come to our place all day for the Sunday games. Which means two nights after work I'm jetting over to their place to watch the games, and the normal Sunday Get-together with Omnibladestrike will now be Football Day with Quarthix and his wife. Omni can also come over as well, of course, but he's not the hugest football fan, so I think we'll have to shift our meet-ups.
Also, sidebar... I've never given Quarthix's wife a name here, have I? All she's ever been is "Quarthix's fiance" and "Quarthix's wife"... she's a good friend of mine. She needs a name. Hmmm, pandas are one of her favorite animals, so she'll be Panda. Besides, Panda is one of my favorite "We Bare Bears," so that works too.
Back on track here, I also agreed that Rozsavaria and I need to hang out more. So the past two Fridays I've gone to her place. We've either watched "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" and crafted, or we talked about writing. So I guess that's going to be our new thing now. When Hubby and I aren't playing in Panda's D&D campaign one Friday a month, I'll hang with Roz while Hubby is at Friday Night Magic.
But wait, because we're not through yet!
I am horrendously out of shape and have wanted to get back into exercising for a while now. I greatly miss my Monday Night Aerial Yoga and Wednesday Night Kickboxing classes. However, the yoga shifted dates and instructors and... I just can't do it anymore. As for kickboxing, that is the one I REALLY miss. But my wrists and ankles are trash. Even wrapping them doesn't keep them sturdy enough, and I end up sore or even in pain for days after each weekly workout. So I have to get more weight off me first I think.
That's when I saw that Zumba came to town. I guess there's been a class here for a year or so now, but they just moved into the building across the street from my job, so it's the first time I've known about it. Last Wednesday I gave it a try right after work.
I promptly died.
But I enjoyed the class, so I gave it another try Monday night. I didn't die nearly as much, so I'm all set to go once more tonight.
So, let's recap:
- Mondays right after work I have Zumba. I then have just enough time to shower before going to Quarthix and Panda's house for football.
- Wednesdays right after work I have Zumba.
- Thursdays after work I have time to eat dinner and jet over to Q&P's for football.
- Fridays I'm either at Q&P's for our monthly D&D session, or I'm hanging with Roz.
- Saturdays seems to now be the day that Shadow comes to visit, and we might be shifting Omni's weekly visit to that day too.
- Sundays Q&P - and possibly Omni - comes over to watch football.
I'm exhausted just writing all of that. While football season is going on I'll never have time to myself!
I mean, I like all the socializing, but.... geez.
Plus, work is picking up again, so I probably won't have much time to write at work anymore. This might result in my overall writing slowing down a bit.
The end result tends to make autumn bittersweet for me: I get a BUNCH of socializing in, especially with people I haven't interacted with for months, but I barely have quiet time to just sit and write or play video games or whatever.
The fact that the start of this crazy new jam-packed schedule for me coincides with the week I don't have a day off just makes things even more exhausting.
So, yeah, sorry I didn't have this blog done on time. I tried really hard though. I wrote a little Monday night to get a head start. I wrote some more over my lunch break at work yesterday, but the day itself was pretty slamming, so I couldn't get much done. After Group I had Shadow come over so we could watch the latest "Miraculous Ladybug" episode - the first new one since my birthday in July. Once he left I finished writing this blog post, but it was after midnight by the time I was done.
It was not a good week to try to get this blog post up. So, sorry again, but thanks for your patience with me.
Ironically enough though, I DID manage to write something this past week. During the "it's still slow" portion of my long work-week I tried to catch up on my outline of "One and the Same." I used a few more tactics to try to get through my current writer's block. I mind-mapped. I created a calendar so I could jot down the timeline of "Peeping Tomcat" and more-or-less the timeline I wanted for OatS, that way I could see how long the whole series would take place. I jotted down a flow-chart of Adrien's reaction for the post-akuma fight at the beginning of the book.
See, OatS is going to start with an akuma attack. The point is to showcase how the world works: this is Ladybug, this is Chat Noir, this is an akuma, these are the supervillain attacks Paris has to deal with on an almost daily basis, this is how the superpowers work, this is who Hawk Moth is, and this is how the dynamics are between everyone. It's also supposed to set up why Ladybug believes its so dangerous for her and Chat Noir to know who each other is.
Adrien reflects on that last part when he's alone in his room. I needed to figure out how he goes from "Shoot! She's right! I almost put us both in grave danger because I know who Ladybug is!" to "Meh, it's fine. I'll woo her as Chat Noir and once she's in love with both my superhero persona and my civilian persona I'll show her I'm the same guy."
It seemed like quite the leap and I had no clue how I was going to do it. I also knew it had to be more-or-less done within just one chapter. Otherwise the rest of the plot wasn't going to happen.
After trying out about five different brainstorming tactics I just went "Meh. Just write it." The characters tend to talk to me when I just write prose, which is why I was a Pantser for so long. It's also why Peeping Tomcat became so long. I knew where I wanted to go with the story, but as I wrote each chapter Adrien's thought process and actions took me in directions I didn't realize before.
Even if he meandered around and I had to edit it down for the final story, perhaps letting Adrien just talk to me will help both of us sort out his thoughts better.
That worked for a little while. I got about two or three pages in. Then I had Plagg point out the bracelet Marinette gave Adrien. It was his way of hinting that it shouldn't be a problem for Adrien to get Marinette to fall for him.
As Plagg said in the episode Frightningale: "People are blind!" However, that doesn't mean Plagg is. I'm sure he managed to pick up that Marinette is head over heels for Adrien, even if the kid didn't figure it out himself.
Anyway, it was here that things went sideways.
I don't know why, but I began really thinking about The Bracelet. I couldn't write more of my practice chapter because I became so focused by this thought. Mostly, I wondered where the bracelet came from. Marinette just happened to have it in her pocket when she was playing the video game with Adrien in the episode Gamer. It definitely didn't look like something she'd make. So, as sweet as it was that Adrien made her a bracelet for her birthday, I really don't think Marinette made the one he has. Let alone made it for him.
So where DID the bracelet come from? Well, I came up with a whole fantheory about it, and honestly, until the show gives us a canonical origin, the fantheory became my headcanon. I then really REALLY wanted to see a fancomic utilizing my new headcanon. Well, I don't have the money to pay EdenDaphne for a full fancomic, and I had already given her the specifics for my commission anyway. The only other way - aside from me drawing it myself, and lord help me if I tried - for this headcanon to be drawn is if artists saw my theory and liked it enough to attempt to draw it.
How could artists know of my headcanon though? Well, it's a good thing I have a place like Tumblr where I could share my thoughts on the matter and other members of the fandom could see it! Which is exactly what I did. You can check out my full fantheory/headcanon about The Bracelet here.
As I was writing out the whole thing though, I realized that I had more than a simple fantheory and headcanon. I had an Athena-like plot bunny: popping out of my head fully formed and ready for the world.
So I set to work on writing the glorious ball of fluff that is a slice-of-life family bonding story. If you need some warm fuzzies in your life, enjoy my latest short.
"Build Your Own Luck"
Now the headcanon itself has been getting a lot of love over on Tumblr with 46 notes. Yes, on Tumblr that's barely any love, but I'm still new to the fandom's presence, so the 46 notes I did get is "a lot of love" for me. Anyway, my point is 37 different people have liked my theory, and it has been reblogged 9 times. As for the story itself, I received two likes on Tumblr; 40 faves between FFN, AO3, and DA; 364 views between the three sites; and six sweet reviews.
Anyone else noticing a theme with how nearly all of those reviews started?- Awww, that's adorable! And the thought that Marinette gave Adrien her lucky charm made by her dad is heart warming. Nothing she would do to a random person. But of course, she is jUst A fRieNd.
- (in reference to the above review) Well, I accidentally posted a review from guest account, but it was me :B So, not to leave this one without meaning, let me tell you I admire your writing skills and ideas.
- Awww, such a sweet nice story! The only thing that shocked me was FIVE-YEAR-OLDS play games like Mecha Strike? I love my high school students, but clearly I am out of touch with anyone younger.
- Aw, I love it! So sweet and adorable. I agree with your theory about the bracelet. It doesn't look recent, so there's got to be some special meaning behind it. Some special memory, someone special giving it to her. Like you said, Tom and Sabine are the ultimate Parenting Goals.
- Awww! I love this headcanon so so much and it makes sense!! The story was so well written and it just flowed really nicely. Massive kudos to you!
- They totally are. (In reference to my Author's Note about Marinette's parents being hidden treasures for the show)
It got a nice review over at writers group as well. There was a sentence or two that they suggested I change, but as a whole I got nods of approval. One of the members commented that it felt so true-to-life, and she'd love to re-enact my story and use it as a "how to bond as a family" training video! hehe. So... yay!
Here's hoping the more I work on "One and the Same" the more I can come up with fun shorts like "Build Your Own Luck."
After watching the latest episode of "Miraculous Ladybug," and having at least one more episode before September is through, I might be inspired enough to keep my plot bunny farm wonderfully replenished. Perhaps the plethora of plot bunnies will help me stay on top of my writing, even with the new crazy schedule I have to navigate.
Now, I'm not the only one who has been inspired lately. Like I said at the top, Roz and I have been discussing writing ideas. I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that she's chasing after a story that came to her in a dream. She's also trying to build a new character for the X-Future board now that Hubby is trying to restart the game.
Omni also messaged me the other day to say that he thinks his writers block the past couple of months is because he was stumped with the culture for the race he created for his story. He did a rework and likes the new direction he's headed. I sent him some follow-up questions, and I think he's off to the races now. We'll see.
Also, it seems Jowy's Pixie has been wanting to write a blog for a while now, and after seeing this one, she has decided to give her own author's blog a shot. She's planning on talking about her fanfics, posting her own fantheories and headcanons, sharing her thoughts on the latest episodes, and generally talking about her writing process. She's new to blogging, so she doesn't have much up quite yet, but she seems to be leaning towards Sunday post updates, so keep an eye out for her.
You can find her over at Taurus Pixie.
Finally, since I'm promoting people anyway, how about another reminder that Celeste Straub has her first novel coming out in less than a month!
She now has pre-order links for all of her e-book sellers.
She's still working on last-minute edits before the finished product goes to the printer. Once the printer has the file, Straub should have a pre-order link for the print version. Assuming she gets said link by Monday I'll be sure to share it with you fine folks next week.
And for those of you that are on Facebook, Straub is throwing a month-long release party for her premiere book. The official Facebook party is on October 4th, but between now and then she'll post games and prizes.
If you would like to hang out with the author and some of her fans, you can hop on over to her Release Party.
Alright, well, as I mentioned earlier, it was after midnight when I finished writing this, and it's now past 10am by the time I finished getting my edits done. So I think that's enough of a delay on this post. Sorry one last time for that. I'm hoping to get back into the proper rhythm of things this upcoming week and actually updating at my normal time next Tuesday.
Also, it may now be September 12th, but I still feel the need to close out with one last thing: a solemn reminder.
Alright, well, as I mentioned earlier, it was after midnight when I finished writing this, and it's now past 10am by the time I finished getting my edits done. So I think that's enough of a delay on this post. Sorry one last time for that. I'm hoping to get back into the proper rhythm of things this upcoming week and actually updating at my normal time next Tuesday.
Also, it may now be September 12th, but I still feel the need to close out with one last thing: a solemn reminder.
I can totally relate to the whole trying to brainstorm, but then just writing it to see where it goes. I found your fan theory on the bracelet to be really fascinating and it all totally made sense. I think it's really cute. I wonder if we'll ever actually find out in the the show? Because the bracelets do seem to be pretty important, highlighting the bond between Marinette and Adrien.
ReplyDeleteI'm really hoping that I can check out those one-shots (I'm guessing they're one-shots) you created over the next few days. I'm super excited to sit down and read them! I'll be sure to leave a review. I can't help but feel like we're almost in competition with each other to see who can make each other cry the most when leaving reviews ahaha. But you totally deserve all the kind feedback though. You're so talented!
Thank you for the advertisement by the way, that was really sweet of you. I'm actually leaning more towards Fridays now ahahah, I can't seem to make up my mind. I really need to though.
I tried zumba once...never again. Like you, I died. But it sounds like you're really busy and having a lot of fun at the moment. If my life was as busy as yours, I'd probably have a breakdown. I can't keep up that many activities on top of work and stuff ahaha. You're a braver woman than I am.
Awesome blog entry as usual! Good luck with all of your activities ^_^
I don't know if I'd ever define my blog entries as "awesome" but thank you for thinking so. ;)
DeleteYes, both “Making Headlines” and “Build Your Own Luck” are one-shots. However, “Making Headlines” directly correlates with “One and the Same” once it's written. Much like how “Birth of the Mimicker”, “I am Terravenger”, “A Plan Forms”, and “Creating a Gremlin” are all companion shorts for “Peeping Tomcat.”
I also hope that we find out the canonical origin for The Bracelet, but at the same time, I kind of don't? Because then my headcanon can sit like Schrodinger's Cat: both canonical and AU until the show proves one way or the other...
I do have to say that I'm perfectly content in us trying to one-up each other in regards to making each other cry with our reviews. ;) I accept this challenge. You also deserve all the love you get. Your stories are so gritty and unique! Which is why I'll gladly advertise for you. ^_^ I already told you that I promote fellow writers, especially ones I enjoy. We're not in competition with each other; we're colleagues.
As for the update day... if you backtrack far enough on this blog you'll see I've been all over the map. I was posting only when I had an update to talk about, then once a month, then weekly but with no set day, then weekly on Wednesdays, then Sundays, then eventually Tuesdays. It's alright. Just feel it out for what schedule best suits you.
Finally, I am a lot braver than I give myself credit for, and I need to remember that. Zumba, much like all exercise, gets easier with time. It also depends on the learning curve you give yourself. I'm lucky to have a very casual instructor with a bunch of women who – for various reasons – have to modify the dances/exercise so they don't injure themselves. Gives me the freedom to only push myself as far as I'm comfortable doing – which still tends to be too far, but what can I say? I'm apparently an anime lead. ;)
Best of luck with your writing.
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