Recap Time!

Well, I've been slacking. There have been at least three times that I wanted to blog this past week. I even debated writing each blog post and editing the posting day so that it was like I posted them on time. But instead I think I'll just throw all the posts here. To be fair, I wasn't REALLY slacking this whole time. I've just been using all my spare time to work on my script for Script Frenzy. I didn't take any extra time to blog. My bad.

THURSDAY, MARCH 31

I came home from work and frantically wrote. I actually got a lot done. I had to stop mid-story to take care of my sister's dog and do laundry and yada-yada. I kept up a hurried pace when writing. So much so that I was ALMOST DONE by the time Conan came on at 11. I was distracted by the show - as well as talking to my fiance on the phone. However, I did brainstorm with my fiance to make sure I had the right feel for my chapter. We said goodnight just before midnight, but I didn't need to work until 11:30 the next day, and I just could not fall asleep with my chapter so close to done. I continued writing until about 1am. Sure, technically I posted my chapter on April 1st, but I still like to think that I made it in time. Now I'm free to work on my script throughout all of April without my readers throwing tomatoes at me for making them wait so long until the next chapter.

FRIDAY, APRIL 1

So I was able to post my next chapter sort of by my deadline. I'm just really excited that it only kept me about 3 weeks to write the chapter - my shortest time yet! I'm getting faster and faster XD Sweet! I'm just so super excited about posting on time so I have this entire month to work on my script for The Jungle Movie. I'm actually on such a Writer's High right now! Nothing can bring me down. I just have all this excited anticipation about reading people's reaction to my story. It is my drug! Being with my fiance and reading reviews are my drugs! XD I get this feeling of elation that I cannot come down from. On the super plus side, whenever I work during a Writer's High I'm just so bubbly that I get about three times the amount of tips I normally do. This of course makes the Writer's High even more powerful! *squee!*

SATURDAY, APRIL 2

OK, Writer's High killed. In fact, it was killed yesterday after work. I ran to my computer excited to see the many hits and reviews that I normally find after posting to Fanfiction.net. Instead I found that nearly no one had found my story yet and I didn't have a single review. Granted, I had posted at 1am and the email announcement alerting my readers of the post didn't go out until about 10am, but still, not a single review? Only six hits? Really? And then, finally, after work today I found a review- a bit of a lackluster one. Sure, NintendoGal55 is just as passionate about my chapter as she's been for all of my postings, and I thank her for that, but for my only review to more or less say "GAH XD Helga and *Spoiler*!? I just don't see it. And I don't like how he asked her out! He shouldn't try to replace Arnold!" *sigh* I don't mind constructive criticism, I don't, but I'm just a little bit of a Debbie Downer right now. I'm really worried that no one will like this chapter because of the unconventional pairing. In fact, I think the pairing I presented is even less popular than the dreaded ArnoldxLila pairing! I was so excited about this story and now I'm afraid I'm gonna lose readers because for a month they'll have this hated pairing. In fact, the next chapter I'm going to post is going to continue with this pairing, and so I'm SUPER nervous that I'm going to lose readers! TT_TT - WAAAAA!

SUNDAY, APRIL 3

OK, so I'm still a little depressed with my last chapter. I had a hard time getting myself to do any writing after I was done with work today. I ended up cleaning my room instead. And lurking on the Save The Jungle Movie facebook page. I still have some things to sort out before I start officially writing for Script Frenzy. I'm so far behind already though. I should have 10 pages scripted by today. I just can't get inspired. XP

MONDAY, APRIL 4

Oh boy, another day at my internship with Lou Reda Productions. I'm already in a funk from my apparently ill-received chapter, and now I get to archive footage. Joy. Or at least, I thought as much. Sure, the internship still bored me to the point where I had to blink myself awake - I'm really confused why my supervisor keeps asking me "having fun"? Does he honestly think I'm having fun? Anyway, during my lunch break I checked my email and found a message telling me that I finally had a second review, and it was a happy one!!! First two words "Awesome Chapter!" YAY! My only problem is that this reviewer is the exact opposite of NintendoGal55. Where she is so opposed to the pairing I presented, Knowledge Comes Wisdom Lingers is one of my readers I'm converting away from the ArnoldxHelga ship. She fully accepts the couple I'm presenting, and although I'm glad it is so easy to accept the pairing - which is what I was going for - at the same time I still fear that no one is going to want Helga to get back together with Arnold....

TUESDAY, APRIL 5

More avoiding of the actual scripting. I did a lot of research to review the formatting of screenplays, as well as trying yet again to make a Plot Board - basically a giant board with the plot points scattered across it so I can visually see where the story's going. I also took the time to just sit and look at my story stats for the chapter I posted. As mentioned before, only six people read the chapter the day it was posted. The highest count was 38 people on the second. I had 48 hits that day, so at least some people are re-reading the chapter, I guess that's a good sign, right? The very next day the readers again dropped down to eight. Yesterday only six people read my story, but it was read sixteen times, so again people must be re-reading the chapter, so it can't be all that bad, right? Right? I did get another good review today. Short, sweet, and a new reader. Yet again my fear of writing someone OOC is mildly extenguished. I always enjoy reassurance that I'm properly evolving the character's personalitlies so that they are clearly teenagers, and yet they still feel like the characters my readers fell in love with once-upon-a-time.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6

Finally have some writing done! It's tricky though because my netbook only has Microsoft Word Starter, and so a lot of the formatting I need to do - such as specific margins throughout the script - can't exactly be accomplished. I needed to instead copy and paste a copy of a screenplay so that the margins are already established. The only problem is that I need to do a lot of copy and pasting whenever I need a different set of margins. XP Also, I still don't know exactly where I want to go with a lot of the plot. I only got about five pages in today before I hit a wall. I'll have to work with my writing partner ChibiSunnie to figure out what I'm doing. In the meantime I guess I'll just work on scenes I know what I'm doing with and then thread all of these completed scenes together later. This is the most random way of writing a script! You're not supposed to write them non-linearly like this! XD

THURSDAY, APRIL 7

And now we've come full circle back to today. I spent about five hours yesterday working on my script and I only have five pages done! XD I did spend a lot of time "researching" again. Watching some "Hey, Arnold!" episodes to hear how people talk and see how they dress and see what is already established. I then did a LOT of describing, as well as figuring how to update all of the character designs. I feel that you can go decades with the characters having the same design as day one as long as the characters don't age. "The Simpsons" for example. Poor Bart and Lisa are still ten and eight, and are still wearing the same outfits, even after decades on the air. When "Doug" transferred from Nickelodeon to Disney the characters got a make-over. Whenever Ash Ketchum ages or moves to a new region in order to catch more pokemon he also gets a make-over. That said, I felt that with the "Hey, Arnold!" characters all aging to fifth graders they too needed a waredrobe upgrade. Figuring out what to do with these make-overs chewed up a lot of time. I then spent a lot of time on the STJM facebook page trying to send ChibiSunnie my plot ideas. Well, at least five pages is better than none, right?

And now today I'm working on this blog instead of scripting. To be fair, I originally thought that I needed to be somewhere in about an hour and so I thought blogging would be better than to start up a new scene, only to leave once my muse finally strikes. Anyway, turns out I didn't need to leave, and so I'm off to see what I can write before I need to leave for work in four hours.

Back to the Grind

So after my post yesterday I feverishly started writing out the plot of my next chapter for my story. In fact, I was almost late for work because I refused to leave until I was done writing out my chapter's skeleton! I DO THIS ALL FOR YOU, MY READERS!!! XD

When all was said and done, and I had a few moments to myself while driving to my internship today, I ended up mentally changing the entire beginning of my next chapter. Oh well. See, originally I was going to have Arnold talk to Gerald and Gerald would say something that would get Arnold thinking. Therefore, Gerald would inadvertently break up Helga and Arnold. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that to poor Gerald. Plus, if Arnold dumping Helga ended up being a twisted form of peer pressure, then his realization that he really is in love with her - as seen in the first chapter - seems less powerful. It would be kind of like "Well, yeah, I'm in love with her, I always was, I was just coerced in to dumping her." I need more of an "I thought I just liked her, and gave her up because I didn't love her, and yet it turns out I do".

My only problem with the later scenario is that it feels too much like Arnold's reaction to Lila in the episode "Arnold and Lila". Quick recap for those who don't know or remember. Lila, through a twist of fate involving Helga, ends up thinking Arnold has a crush on her and forms one for him as well. Arnold goes on "dates" with Lila even though he doesn't have this supposed crush on her, but eventually ends things because he's a nice guy and doesn't feel like dragging Lila along if he doesn't like her "that way". It's not until after he breaks it off with Lila does he realize that he really DOES have a crush on her. And thus two and a half seasons pass with Arnold crushing Lila and all the ArnoldxHelga shippers sending death glares to the Wendy's mascot look-a-like.

However, seeing as how this scenario of "just kidding, I really DO like you that way" has already occurred in canon, it just might be precedent enough to make Arnold's reaction believable. If he made that mistake with Lila, why not do so again with Helga? Aw, but then we have the "but he already knew he liked her romantically because they already dated" argument. GAAR! XP

I still think I'm going to leave it with Arnold thinking that he doesn't love Helga and having her love him and them being in a long distance relationship just isn't fair to her. This whole thing is ironic because I'm using the song "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston as my inspiration for this next chapter... Gaaaah, I'll figure it out.

Regardless of me not really knowing how I'm going to set up the inevitable breakup, I still managed to write a few paragraphs today. I actually brought my netbook in with me this time when I went to my internship. Smart move because I did end up needing to kill about a half an hour before they had something for me to do.

Once I was done with my internship and I came home I had every intention of working some more on my chapter - before it became another three month wait like the last one - and yet I was distracted by another of my Fandoms: Castle. I was running late at work last night and so I ended up missing the oh-so-important first half of the episode. I fought with the internet a bit today, but ended up getting to the episode. Afterwards I wanted to go back to a fanfic that someone had written based on the episode preview and see how close they were. Unfortunately the story I was looking for was buried under tons of new fanfics inspired by the episode. I ended up spending my night reading those instead of working on my own story. Worst yet is that I never did find that original story I was looking for...

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I also have tomorrow off - which is rare on two accounts: 1) I rarely get two days off in a row and 2) rarer still is me getting a Wednesday off. Well, I didn't find out my schedule until about nine PM, and so there is no way I can give Lou Reda Productions a heads up that I'd be coming in; resulting in me having an old fashioned day off again. I'll try REAL HARD to use it to write, but I do have a messy bedroom that I've been neglecting...

We'll see how this goes. Stay tuned!

That Took Forever!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where Does the Time Go???

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

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

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

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