Hello, everyone. If you do not remember me, I am the “owner” of this blog. Hah! It’s been quite a while (almost a year, actually) since my last post. I have a lot more to write about now that my life has gotten into a routine again (shouldn’t it be the other way around?). Let’s recap real quick, shall we?
Last year:
-Moved out on my own
-Graduated college with Bachelor’s Degree in English, Minor in Writing
-Got a full-time job where I had been working part-time (not using college degree)
-Given lots more responsibility, including a Stage Crew to manage
-Now working side-by-side with Boyfriend
-Lots of OT
-NaNo 2010
This year:
-Moved apartments
-Cat got real sick and was in/out of the vet for a couple months
-Lots of debt later, she’s doing very well and on steady medication (poor baby)
-I’m on a make-it-from-scratch kick
-I live to eat
-Boyfriend and I are coming up on 1.5 years together ... I’m waiting for the “question”
-He may join the Air Force (fully supportive if he does)
-I want to move to Europe
-Boyfriend gave me August 31st deadline to finish my favorite writing project, Of Demons and Keepers, which I’ve been working on for over 2 years now
-Next week, we are going to Colorado and I’m going to treat half of the vacation like a writing retreat - Boyfriend knows and supports this (he’ll probably be asleep anyway)
Wow. Looking back on it like that, I don’t feel like I’ve done much. Well, technically, that’s just the general overview of everything. Of course I’ve accomplished a lot of other things (reading fantastic new authors’ books, cooking, learning new things, good quality time with Boyfriend, new life experiences...), but you get the main idea.
Now currently, I’m working on something I did NOT accomplish last year because of school and my “new” job: reading 50 books in 2010. I didn’t get very far at all. This year I’m trying to do the same thing, but without the number goal. I’d just like to read as much as I can while still having a life. Boyfriend bought me a Nook for Christmas last year and I have not been able to put it down. I always wanted an eReader, but constantly second guessed my decision to actually follow through. Finally, I bit the bullet and told Boyfriend, yes, I definitely want one, and don’t let me change my mind. So we went out and bought the NookCOLOR, and BOY, OH, BOY! Let me just say... if you do not have one and are thinking about getting one, GET ONE. I love it more than anything else I own. The only thing that I would add to it, is being able to hook up a keyboard so I don’t have to drag around my computer. They don’t have a lot of apps out for it yet (Android is always really slow about that, it seems), but I didn’t really buy the device for games and such anyway. I bought it for the eReader.
Now in my list up top, I mentioned that I’m currently trying to finish OF DEMONS AND KEEPERS by August 31st. I’m definitely going to make that deadline. I really am pumped about finishing this book. Currently I’m in the nitty gritty part where I have the skeleton and am lacking the flesh, muscle, veins, organs, etc. I’m almost 60K into the novel and just need to add in everything that’s lacking. I know that’s not very specific, but maybe this will explain it better than I can. After all, I’m still learning....
Recently I found some blog posts by Stacia Kane. She talks about how she writes a novel in three acts - 30K for each act. There are a total of three blog posts where she delves into how she approaches writing her novels using three acts. It’s quite genius and opened up my mind to a lot of new ideas. Follow this link and see what you think.
Also, while you’re there, look into her Book section on her website. Her Chess Putnam (Downside series) books are AMAZING. Did you hear me? They’re... FANTASTIC. I don’t know how else to say it. Frankly, all three current books (there will be six total) kept me up at night for two reasons: 1) I couldn’t stop reading. 2) I was scared. Now, okay, it doesn’t take a lot to scare me, but it does take damn good writing to make me feel anything. And Stacia Kane is a damn good writer. Check her out for yourself. And if you sign up to be a member of the Downside Army, she’ll email out newsletters every now and then and sometimes includes member-only snippets of her stories. I promise, you won’t regret reading her work.
Okay, I’m finished ranting for today. I need to go make some word count before Boyfriend gets here to help me cook dinner, then it’s MasterChef time! Wooh!
