Yup, It's Procrastination Time Again

So this week went by so fast I nearly forgot today was Sunday - and thus forgotten the blog update.

It's been a crazy week for RPGing and not so crazy for writing. So sorry about that. And sorry that it looks like my earlier prediction of having the chapter up this month isn't going to happen.

I still have my wedding thank you notes to write and my Operation Ruthless video to edit.

This Week's Procrastination List:

• Finished the cover picture for my main Facebook account's timeline. Thankfully my Lyco Rogue account doesn't have Timeline yet, so I still have some time to figure out what I want to do for that.... Maybe something as simple as a promo for this blog....

Anyway, here's the picture. 

Isn't Toothless adorable!? It was a pain in the butt to pixelize him, but he's adorable, no?

Also, the drawing was based on this one by Hirukio

And by "based" I of course mean "blatant rip-off".

• Hubby and I finished watching all five seasons of The Guild. Which sparked two things in me:
1. I want to make my own web series based on the chaos revolving around me and my friends! Buuuuuut, I don't want a "blatant rip-off" of The Guild.... so.... yeah
2. I AM SUPER DUPER MADLY IN TO MMOs AGAIN!!!!!!
Which means I'm once again addicted to a free "baby" MMO called Fiesta Online! Hubby and I got in to the game right around July 4, 2006 or 2007. We played a little more frequently than "casual gamers" but we weren't quite obsessed with the game either... For one reason or another, we stopped playing the beginning of 2009. BUT NOW WE'RE BACK! Whoot! If you have an account - or would like to start one - on the Teva server, just leave a comment below and I'll track you down and we can party together! YAYZ!
• Wednesday and Thursday - rare occasions where Hubby and I have the whole day together - we finally attacked the Back Room - where we've been storing everything we didn't trust in the garage - and slowly worked on turning it in to The Library! It's nearly done! SOOOOO MANY BOOOOOOOKS! Now, to figure out where to put the "non-book" stuff that was back there - like VHS tapes, the inflatable mattress for sleepovers, and a bunch of throw-pillows that we can't put on our couch since it's a rocker/recliner loveseat and the pillows just get in the way...
• Friday we once again played D&D!
• Sis-in-Law turned THIRTY!!!!! The big 3-0. Which means I have roughly 2 years to plan a party for Hubby.... *sigh*
• Work has been KILLER with all the nice weather lately! Stupid working at a grocery store....
• After work-craziness, I wind down with either some Fiesta or another game I recently started re-playing: Leisure Suit Larry. Because I am a perverted woman who likes to play super-cheesy dating sims where the lead is a complete loser but still thinks himself a Ladies Man. Ya know, I'm actually surprised The Big Bang Theory never made an online dating sim starring Howard Wolowitz. Now that he's married off I guess we'll never get one... La Sigh.
• Sporadically throughout the week I HAVE been working on Thank Yous! We JUST got the wedding thank you from my sister-in-law and her wedding was the August before ours, so we have about a month-and-a-half to keep on par with her....

In writing news, I finally got back in to beta-reading. CartoonLover16 sent me a rough draft of his second chapter. He's still working on it on his end, and I'm slowly reading it on mine. With everything else going on this week the only time I have to read his story is during my half-hour lunch breaks. It's a slow process, but I'm about 1/2 way through his chapter. YAY!

Speaking of YAY and Writing.... I got an AMAZING surprise this Monday!

Any repeat readers, as well as those I beta-read for, can tell you that I pretty much SWEAR by the knowledge of Ali Luke at Aliventures.com. Well, last weekend - after talking to Mekonraiba at D&D - I went on a reading spree over at Aliventures.com. I was trying to find anything and everything I could to revive his writing spirit. While there, I made multiple comments on archived posts. 

Now, normally Ali is AMAZINGLY NINJA QUICK when it comes to responding to comments - and I try to do the same here - but she didn't respond all weekend. I didn't really think too much of it. She's busy with her novel's online book tour, the posts were in the archives, and it was Mother's Day weekend.

Then Monday comes around and I find the following email:

"First, thanks so much for the comments.... Also, would you like a free copy of my novel Lycopolis? I think it'd be your kinda thing. I'm looking to get a few more reviews on Amazon, but there'd be no obligation whatsoever to review it unless you felt like it....And if you're happy for me to sign it, lemme know what name you want it signed to (if that makes sense) :)
Cheers,
Ali"

OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!
A free, autographed copy of a novel written by a woman I consider my mentor!? I'm not sure if it's because of the frequency that I comment on her blog, or the fact that I'm constantly telling her that I use her posts to help those I beta-read for, or if it's because I openly admit to being as much of a RPG nerd as she is, or if it's simply because she knows me as LYCO rogue... but whatever her reasoning, I am beyond excited!

So, be warned, people... there may be less of my own writing, and perhaps a review here once I get my hands on Lycopolis. If you are interested, Ali has a link for you to download the first five chapters for free.

Also, don't forget to check out the blog itself!

OH! And by NO MEANS am I trying to exploit Ali's kindness by telling you guys about it, so please, PLEASE don't try to con her out of free copies of her book!

I mean, I trust you guys, but I felt the need to stress the above point.

Anyway, that is all for me this week. Now to get ready for another killer day at work... friggen nice weather...

Liebster Award

Originally this was going to be my Author's Notes post, but something(s) came up that I just need to talk about! And the main part is me thanking a reader and follower for a great honor in my little world.

Kasie Whitener of Life on Clemson Road.

She had commented on my last post and gifted me the Liebster Award .

LIEBSTER AWARD

"A Liebster Blog Award is given to talented bloggers who have less than 200 followers. 'Liebster' is a German word that means 'Dearest' or 'Beloved.' It also means 'Favorite.' So, in a way the award not only recognizes these bloggers as amazingly gifted in their own right but also as your very own personal favorites." --  aRVee at I Love Mandaue

The Liebster Blogger Rules Are:

1. Thank the one who nominated you by linking back.

    -- Check. I linked back to Kasie.

2. Nominate five blogs with less than 200 followers.

    -- Well....  I don't read any blogs with less than 200 followers except for one my friend was writing. But he hasn't done much in the last month. Either way, I guess we can do a shout out to Thinking In My Pajamas. And we'll shout out back to Life on Clemson Road.

3. Let your nominees know by leaving a comment on their sites.

4. Add the award image to your site.

    -- Check it out on the right hand side!!! So pretty!

So YAY! Such sweetness! Such awesomeness! I feel loved. Also, I find it amusing that Kasie awarded me the Liebster for my formatting! YAY!

 "I like The Rogue's Scribe for formatting. I'm also really impressed that she kept a journal. I'm so bad at daily writing that I used to do all of my journal entries the night before they were due. Using different colored pens for each, of course, so they would look like they'd been written on different days. That was fourth grade and I've never gotten any better at it."

Teehee, super duper awesome sauce! :D Now I must search the web for fellow Liebster winners in order to find other great blogs! I also must now try to track down enough "small" blogs to find valid nominees.

In writing news: Guess who already has the next chapter's song picked out, chapter skeletoned, and the outline written! I've been bringing my writing notebook to work since I've had quite a few shifts long enough to have a lunch break in them. I'm just tearing through this chapter. I already know it's going to be mostly dialogue, which will be nice. I just hope it doesn't feel as repetitive as my "I Will Always Love You" chapter. Either way, I feel like I'm in a good groove. I just wish writing that script came so easily as this chapter. I might have actually won. I guess I just wasn't inspired to write that but I'm super inspired to write this. In fact, I wasn't even going to have this chapter. I had an entirely different one planned out, but it didn't feel like it flowed well, so I wanted to write this chapter first. The one I was originally intending on will be either next chapter or the one after that.

With such great progress in my writing, I'm excited to speculate that I might have the next chapter up before June. There are only two things that might prevent me from not making that goal. First is that I NEED TO WRITE MY FRIGGEN WEDDING THANK YOUS! It's been seven months! They NEED to be written already! Sheesh! The second is that I need to finally get around to editing my Operation Ruthless video. The due date was pushed back to June, which really helped me out since I filmed it about two days before it was originally due. I guess bad college habits die hard. Anyway, it's filmed, but I might need to update a few facts on it, I need to capture screen shots and videos to edit in to it, I need to make a few graphics, and I might have to record some more audio with some updated information. It might be a bit of a process, and I want that done before June. If the Thank Yous and Operation Ruthless are completed easily enough I SHOULD also have the next chapter done this month as well! Oh! And don't forget I'm going back to my weekly blog updates. Busy, busy, busy!

Also, I've been obsessing over a small multitude of things lately, which has spawned - at the very least - two new plot bunnies. First up is the song "Do You Want To Date My Avatar?" which is a promotional music video for web series "The Guild" staring Felicia Day. If you play any type of MMO game than THIS is the show for you. Even if you haven't, it's still a great show. Check it out if you haven't before. As for the song I mentioned... well, check out the video yourself!   :D

Anyway, the plot bunny from this song also has a taste of "You've Got Mail." Basically, Helga discovers that Gerald got Arnold in to an MMO, finds out Arnold's character name, creates her own character, and tries to "revive Cecile" via the MMO avatar. She figures she can retry her "Cecile" approach of being her true self via a persona and this time she doesn't have the REAL Cecile ruining everything. The "You've Got Mail" tie-in is that - much like Joe Fox - Helga would know who Arnold is and tries to get him to like her for who she truly is before revealing herself. I think it could be really fun to write. Only problem is that I never had enough expendable cash to actually play a MMO aside from Fiesta. So some researching may be needed. We'll see.

The other plot bunny goes back to an old one actually. Prior to my "I want to do a Hey Arnold!/A Midsummer Night's Dream crossover" idea I had my "Hey Arnold! would be super cool as a Much Ado About Nothing crossover" plot bunny. My biggest issue with that was the sub-/parallel-plot of Claudio and Hero's love gone array. Quick overview of the play:

There's Hero and her Perpetual-Maiden cousin Beatrice. Hero's father is hosting the Prince and his men as they all return victorious from war. Now in a time of peace, they can all think of love. So the Prince's "favorite" Claudio pines for Hero and is quickly engaged to her. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed Perpetual-Bachelor Benedick teases Claudio - a short-lived wing-man - for getting married. Beatrice and Benedick continue a long-standing battle of wits with that Love-Hate passion. The Prince decides to liven up the boredom of waiting for Claudio and Hero's wedding by plotting to get Beatrice and Benedick together. Meanwhile, Prince's half-brother - who fell out of favor with the Prince - plots revenge on his brother's favorite, devising ways to emotionally harm Claudio. I won't give away more than that. 

Now, my issue with doing a straight crossover is that the Poison Tongued Beatrice is the perfect part for Helga, and yet Arnold would better suit the Love-struck and Gullible Claudio. So the "casting" of the play's characters just wouldn't work with their personalities.

HOWEVER, if I take out the Claudio/Hero plot and just focus on friends trying to trick two people in to converting their Love-Hate relationship to a purely Love kind, we might have something. So my idea is to do an "inspired by" adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. Gerald and Phoebe, for whatever reason, decide to "kill time" during the last few weeks of summer vacation by plotting to get Helga and Arnold together. Chaos ensues. Another one that could be fun. YAY!

Alright, well as I opened with; clearly this wasn't the Author's Notes post I set out to write originally, but it needed to be written first. YAY! The Author's Notes post will either be next week or a "Special Edition" sometime later this week. Depends on my scheduling. :D

Love you all so very much! I'm so glad I'm back. Big internet hugs!