Those who have read my blog posts from last April know what I like to do while participating in Script Frenzy: document the day-to-day of the event. So I took a ten minute time-out each day to quickly write a blip about my journey. Join me on my trip towards failing Script Frenzy... *sigh*
APRIL 1ST - A Sunday, therefore it was spent sleeping. I attempted to finish Character Creation for the D&D game I talked about; that way I would be all set for the next game session. However, every time I went to read the books for research I passed out.
APRIL 2ND - Hubby and my 6month anniversary! It was also Monday which means Cyhyr and her boyfriend were visiting for game night. With massive cleaning still needing to be done on top of everything... yeah.... no writing done again. FUDGE!
APRIL 3RD - Failing continued when it came to Script Frenzy. I opened Celtx and saved the file. Does that count? However, I DID spend about two hours working on my latest chapter. Granted, it was mostly spent editing and re-writing portions I already wrote and sent to ChibiSunnie for beta-ing, but it was still SOMETHING!
APRIL 4TH - Woke up to find the latest newsletter from Aliventures. Since it's a newsletter and not a blog post I can't link it. This then resulted in my Setting Goals blog post in order to relay all of it over.
APRIL 5TH - I wrote about five pages of script before getting stuck. I HATE exposition!!! Switched over to my fanfic and hit the 11,000 word mark! Super, crazy-long chapter. It's about 19 pages long. Not done yet, but I'm getting closer. At least I'm accomplishing SOMETHING, even if it isn't my script. Chibi reminded me that I wasn't much farther last year, and so I'm not quite at the Point of Panicking yet....
APRIL 6TH - Cleaning commenced for Easter weekend, plus I still needed to take care of the in-laws' kitties while Hubby's parents are still on vacation. At about 2pm, Hubby and I got kidnapped to the local college by his BFF. I ended up running in to Makonraiba. Since I couldn't work on my own stuff anyway, agreed to beta the new opening to his story. Better than before. Finished off the day with the first actual D&D session with everyone. Just wish a troll that was in the college common room we were all in would have stopped his elitist BS about how "his" way to play D&D was infinitely better than our way... I'm normally not violent, but I was about to show him my own "Ol' Betsy and The Five Avengers". Anyway, no writing was done.
APRIL 7TH - Yeeeeeeaaaaaaah... was lazy and watched X-Men: Evolution with my hubby all day... Day 2 of absolutely no writing.
APRIL 8TH - EASTER! :D Started off the day with some VeggieTales movies. Then over to take care of the kitties while making dinner at the in-laws' house. Then trucked everything up to my sister-in-law's house. After a few hours up there, we came back down to the in-laws' house to again take care of the kitties and clean up after using Mom-in-law's kitchen. Went home and passed out. Spending the holiday away from home means a third day of no writing. I'm such a slacker!
APRIL 9TH - First day on the job! The meat/cheese slicers didn't remove my fingers, so it's a start. Also, it's easier for me to actually, oh, I don't know... write? Easter holiday weekend is over, and Hubby literally smacked my butt in order to get me back to work. I had about two hours before Cyhyr got out of class and came over for the weekly get-together. Her boyfriend was already here when I got off of work.
APRIL 10TH - Hubby and I went in to work at the same time, but I worked an hour less than him. Therefore I spent an hour in my car working on my story in the backseat. Once I got home I didn't accomplish much more since Hubby's obsessive X-Men: Evolution watching suckered me in as well.
APRIL 11TH - FINALLY finished the chapter and sent it to Chibi. It was on time too! Granted, I originally wanted to have the chapter published by Easter, but I still made the week goal I established in my last post. So there is nothing left to stop me from getting back on track with Script Frenzy... except for work having me stay an extra two hours to cover a call-in.... when I've only worked there for three days!!!! Good thing I'm a quick study! @_@
APRIL 12TH - Got edits back from Chibi, but I had some follow-up questions, so the chapter wasn't completely ready for posting. I then used the 1/2 hour between when I got off of work and when Hubby did in order to work on... gasp... MY SCRIPT! I also finally started talking in the Script Frenzy forum since the region leader was commenting that no one posted anything there since April started. Only managed to get a few more paragraphs done - not even a full page - before my script writing halted. Hubby's BFF is going through a romantic crisis and so we spent the rest of the day trying to cheer him up. At least it was for a good cause...
APRIL 13TH - My day off! Cool! I was all set to use it to really punch through with the script writing. Hubby would be at work for 5 hours, so I'd be completely uninterrupted. Then I got a call from the landlord. We're renting the house on the month-by-month basis. It's a super sucky way to do it, but we couldn't afford the extra $100 a month for the landlord to write us a lease... HATE our landlord. Makes no sense, you'd think with a lease it would be CHEAPER, but whatever. Anyway, while we're renting the house he also has the house on sale. The deal is he gives us 24hr notice of a showing, we have to be out of the house during the showing, and if the house is sold we have two months to find a new place to live before we're evicted. Goody, right? Anyway, the landlord called to inform me that there'd be a showing 9am Saturday and again 11am Sunday. So my day off to write turned in to a day off to clean - something that's been neglected with all the writing and random visitors.
APRIL 14TH - Virtually no writing done yet again. Not only did I have to work, but I also wasn't feeling well, so I spent the day watching TV with the hubby. His BFF again stopped by. He seems to be getting better with each visit, and it was fun talking about X-Men for about an hour. Still need to write about 45 pages... awesome! :P
APRIL 15TH - Well, originally wanted my chapter up by now at the latest, but I DID say it would be up by "Tax Day".... and technically that's April 17th.... So that's two more days to work on edits from Chibi, figure out how to rework the epilogue, and get this thing posted. Since I was waiting for edits from Chibi, I used my "Well, I'm up dropping Hubby off anyway, might as well write" hours to FINALLY work on my script. Only wrote 9 more pages, so the page count is 13 instead of the 50 it's SUPPOSED to be, but at least I didn't give up completely on this project.
APRIL 16TH - Work, people over, quick last-minute edits to the chapter, and sleep. Not a very productive day for writing. Plus side... In-laws came home so at least writing-time won't be taken up by take-care-of-kitties-time....
APRIL 17TH - IT'S UP! IT'S UP! MY FRIGGEN CHAPTER IS FINALLY UP! Also, I got out of work before Hubby again, so I was able to punch out another page or two of the script before he got off of work. But the main thing was that I got my stupid, forever-long, chapter up! Whoot! Now to find time to do my Author's Notes blog post..... But first, more of the script.
APRIL 18TH - Super bad day at work. Craziness, working with employees I haven't previously met, working 5 out of my 6 hour shift before getting a break... oh yeah, and a dehydration-induced migraine. Got home, crashed for about 2 hours, spent the rest of the day drugged up on pain killers and curled up on the couch trying to get my head to stop self-destructing. Went to bed at like 10pm! Plus side.... I have a nice review for my chapter already. :D
APRIL 19TH - Day off. Desperately needed to use the free time to clean and write! According to Script Frenzy's webpage I can still make the 100page count by the April 30th deadline if I write 8 pages a day! Let's see what I can do. My major problem is that I picked this plot because it was based on a game Hubby and our friends were playing - so I figured I'd get re-inspired each week. Of course, we switched gears and played OTHER games during the Monday Visits - or Hubby's BFF steals everyone to his lake house.... So no cheating, I have to do this plot completely on my own. :P I did manage five pages, but I'm stuck with all the combat I need for the script.... :P
APRIL 20TH - Work and house guests, as per usual. I am completely and utterly stalled with this script. I am just not inspired. With 10 days left I'm struggling between forcing myself to at least ATTEMPT to write - I mean, I DID put everyone on hold for Script Frenzy - or to just wave the white flag. I'm only up to 20 pages. Hubby suggests that I just stop, but I signed up for this, could I really be a quitter? I'm not even 1/2 way to were I was last year and I was supposed to have LESS distractions this year. In fact, if it weren't for my lack of willpower to walk away from my husband watching the TV for like 7hrs straight I WOULD have been about on par. I'm actually super upset about this. I had it all planned out. I had it all strategized better than last year. So why can't I write?
APRIL 21ST - I got about three pages done throughout the day. Pathetic really, but I'm forcing through. I haven't even gotten to the main plot of the story, it just doesn't want to be written. I feel drained whenever I attempt - it's like forcing a fatty to run a mile every day. Still not sure if I should just quit with only a 1/5 of the story written, but I'm still pressing on. I did attempt a real effort this time. Hubby had some friends over right after I was done with work. I attempted to be a good hostess at first, but they started talking about Magic: The Gathering and they might as well speak Klingon. So I sat in the living room for like five hours while they talked and played Magic. Every time I attempted to write I couldn't think over how loud they were. *sigh* I was too tired to do my normal 2am writing session while Hubby is at work. Maybe while he's sleeping throughout the day.
APRIL 22ND - I set up a playlist to try to keep me pumped. I stayed in my bedroom - AWAY from the TV. Hubby's asleep downstairs, so I had no sounds distracting me. And I'm spent the day fighting the urge to just play Mario 64. *sigh* Why does this script suck so much!? With the distraction of The Lorax fanart to celebrate Earth Day, I was only able to crank out another four pages. Plus the new Blogger format sucks. I want to go back to the other way. It didn't feel as sterilized and it felt more user-friendly... I can't stand websites changing their layout when the old ones work perfectly fine. Pwah.
APRIL 23RD - My day off was spent LITERALLY playing out the main battle sequence that really catapults the plotline. I broke out Hubby's Heroscape, built the "set", placed the "actors" in their positions, and then played out the battle the way it would happen if it were just a normal game of Heroscape. I then documented the fight and managed a nine-page battle sequence. Epicly long for the beginning of a movie, but I'm just going for page counts at this point in the game. Got up to about page 40. Goody, I'm making REAL headway now.... :P
Plus, can you believe it kept me FOUR FRIGGEN HOURS to set up and play the battle sequence? I think the most annoying part was that I wanted a casualty of war, but the character I created to be that casualty just WOULD NOT DIE! I even started him off with 1/2 the health as my other characters, but every time I tried to kill him off he ended up surviving! The main characters, on the other hand, would have each died like 4 times if I didn't "fudge the rolls"... in other words, when the character would have died in game I just added more injuries to their script counterparts. *sigh* Nathan, you will forever be my epic NPC that WOULD NOT DIE! :P
APRIL 24TH - My first 8+ hour day of work since I quit Subway almost exactly 7 months ago. I was supposed to get a break, a lunch, and a second break. But it kept so long to get to my first break that by the time I got back from lunch I only had about an hour left of work. In other words, my legs got REALLY tired. Plus I had to be up and at work at 7am - another thing I'm not used to anymore. So even MORE tired. And I FINALLY got my hands on a copy of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.... only for my Hubby's one friend to call and interrupt the movie... and then his mother stopped by and interrupted again.... and then a different friend called and interrupted a third time. The damn movie kept almost 3hrs to watch! :P I attempted to write, but my mind was so burnt out I couldn't think of ANYTHING. Why am I failing Script Frenzy so hard core!?
APRIL 25TH - Cleaned like a boss in the morning, nearly killed myself by scrubbing with too much bleach, and then - when I was sufficiently tired out - I went to work. It. Felt. Like. The. LOOOOOOONGEST. Day. Even Hubby said I felt like I was away FOREVER. It was only a four hour day.... Anyway, Hubby had a buddy over by the time I got home. I cleaned some more, and then Hubby's BFF came over and the four of us watched TV shows and played Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I have five days to go. 60 pages. Mom's coming to visit for her birthday this weekend. I should just give up. *sigh* I won't wave the white flag, but I'm not actively participating anymore. Not like I really participated at ALL this year. Shouldn't have even bothered signing up. Such a waste. I should have just continued with my beta reading and waited until next year. I didn't think I'd have many distractions, but I didn't take into consideration the power of snuggling up to my hubby while watching endless hours of TV.... *sigh again*.... I super duper really need to find a quiet place next year.....
APRIL 26TH - Super Duper Cleaning Day part 2. I scrubbed EVERYTHING down... the counters, the floors, the bathrooms, the refrigerator, the dishes... I was a cleaning BEAST in my attempt to get ready for Mom's visit. In my cleaning furry I did manage to pull something in both my back and shoulder.... so the evening after picking up Hubby was spent watching movies and icing everything down....
APRIL 27TH - MOM'S BIRTHDAY!!!! While she was driving up to visit I was at work. I actually worked long enough to get a lunch this time, so I brought my netbook along. I did manage to work on the script a touch more, but I got interrupted by the HR rep who was practically begging people to sign up for her wellness program through the store. *sigh* I got maybe two more pages before I had to stop. I continued work, went home, Mom showed up almost right after - I wasn't even out of my work clothes yet - and we spent the evening with Hubby's BFF playing games and introducing my mom to the wonders of Netflix. We must have started and stopped about five different TV shows, we'd get about ten minutes in and she'd go "Oh, does it have *INSERT SHOW NAME HERE*?" Oh mom.... Happy *2nd birthday. :D
APRIL 28TH - Another long day of hanging with my mommy. We hung out at the house chatting for a little while, then we went to go eat, and then we took her to Hubby's BFF's house; which is up a mountain and on a lake. My mom LOVED the view. I didn't think we'd ever get her to leave his backyard. There was an awkward moment when Hubby told his BFF that we were kidnapping him, he replied that first he was going to shanghigh someone on to the lake in his canoe, and then Hubby flipped the canoe - on purpose, of course - when pushing it off the shore... causing the BFF to be drenched head to toe in his regular clothes, almost losing his keys in to the lake, and without any clean clothes to change in to. He later thanked my husband for allowing him to "go commando" since the only pants he had left were his swim trunks.... why wasn't he wearing those originally!? Anyway, Mom stopped repremending for the horseplay and we headed back to our place. More movies and games before BFF's roommate picked him up and Mom headed out to her hotel room. Then it was a few brief hours of sleep before Hubby needed to go in to his overnight shift at work.
APRIL 29TH - Well I pretty much waved the white flag on the whole script thing. Mario 64 was calling my name - too bad I couldn't really play because the cartridge is slightly goofed up and you can't read anything... Either way, I miss playing video games, it feels so long since I've done so.... Instead of my normal 8hr writing spree while Hubby was at work, I ended up spending about 4hrs reading a loooooooong message from my beloved Chibi and responding to her in an equally long manner. She did cheer me up a little by reminding me that just because I didn't hit 100 pages and got the "Won Script Frenzy" badge or whatever, that doesn't mean I "failed" either. I set out to do something that no one else I know set out to do. Granted, Cyhyr's boyfriend wanted to do it this year as well, but he opted out because he knew he didn't have the time to make the commitment. I did have the time and I wasted it, but at least I made an effort. That's something, right? And I DID manage to accomplish at least one writing goal this month: POSTING THAT DARN FANFIC CHAPTER!!! Speaking of which, I think I might have to do a blog post about 50 Shades of Grey....
APRIL 30TH - Fought with my bank, social services, my other bank, and the electric company. All before work. At work I got my break two hours in to my six hour shift. Which is beyond stupid, and resulted in mild dehydration that cramped up both legs. My legs are swore, I'm laid up on the couch, my back is killing me, I'm tired, and there is really no chance of me even THINKING about the script. So there you have it. I officially ended Script Frenzy with a lousy 40 pages. Super lame.
And thus the month is past, and so is Script Frenzy. I got back in to the rhythm of daily chores during the weekend my mom was here, so I'm hoping to keep that up. I also STILL have to do the wedding thank you letters - because I'm THAT much of a loser. But all-in-all hope for the next fanfic chapter at least structured before June.
So here I am, back from the hiatus and ready for more writing! Yes, I'm bummed about my poor turn-out with Script Frenzy. However, I now know that I need to be stronger and not only take an internet hiatus, but let Hubby and his friends know that I can't have visitors over April. I also think I'm gonna try a graphic novel script next year, but I could also convert my story in to a movie script if I'm done with the story by then.
Anyway, moving on to my Author's Notes post. Hopefully that will be my return to Sunday Blog Updates.
"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."
Me: "I'm only up to milestone four, and that is only on FanFiction.net... So I haven't really branched out to original character's yet..."