Anyone else ever find themselves blocked at around the same spot for their books? I always seem to suffer through the 10K Slump, and SR is no exception. FLG, however, is the exception:

I have written 13,426 of 85,000 words. I am now 15.79% done! no frills wordmeter

I feel so guilty for working on FLG. I mean, it's the sequel to an unpublished book; logically, my time would be better spent working on something different. That way, when if LAA is 100% rejected, I'll already have another book reasonably ready to query. But then again...writing is writing. Even though I should be writing SR, at least I'm still writing something as I work out the kinks for that book, right?

In other words, does your mood affect your writing?

All I ever hear from writers is how they can't write when they're in a bad mood (whether it's of sadness, anger, feelings of lameosity, whatever), because then whatever they write will always come out seeming sad/angry/lame/whatever, even if that was the exact opposite intent at the time.

I don't get that. At all.

Maybe I'm weird, but my mood doesn't affect my writing; my writing affects my mood. It doesn't even matter what I'm writing -- whether my characters are skipping off happily into the sunset or bleeding beneath that sunset as the villain bwahahas them, the result is always the same: happiness.

Yesterday, I finally figured out the reason why, as all my frustration and depression simply vanished the moment I allowed myself to write: it's therapeutic. I get to escape this world for a more enjoyably bizarre one, with characters who are so fleshed-out that no amount of moodiness will change their moods, much less the story. Writing's fun; writing's safe. As long as I have the ability to write, I will always have the ability to be happy, right at my ink-smudged fingertips.

Then again, I'm weird. Anyone else view writing this way, or is it just too hard to have it perk you up as you let your bad mood cause unplanned anvils to drop on your characters' heads?

I haven't done one of these in a while, and since I've been making great progress lately, writing-wise, what better day to start it up again?

Firstly, here's the word count for the ambiguously acronymized SR, my hush-hush middle grade project:



I haven't been working on that book much lately, though. That's because FLG, the sequel to LAA (eek! more acronyms!), has stolen my attention. (What can I say? I'm suffering through LAA withdrawal.) It's barely been a week, yet...




I am having waaay too much fun with this book, and am currently suffering through a different form of withdrawal now that the "Olympian Family Reunion" portion has ended. (Ares, surprisingly, was my favorite to write about. But he plays with sugar packets and introduces himself as "the god of war and awesomeness," so I guess it's not that surprising.) I don't think my writing streak will falter too much, though, since my protagonist is still having fun interactions with less godly characters, like this bit from last night:

Uber-Tacky Cowboy: "You must be Arden."
Arden: "You must be a stripper."

Writing's actually FUN for me again! Who would've thought?

Anyone else excited for The Vampire Diaries TV show? I've only recently been reading the books, but I already love them and hope the show will do them justice. Here's one of the trailers for it:



Also, m_stiefvater continues to prove that she's Queen of the Universe by not only writing awesome books, but making awesome trailers like this one to go with them:



Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to go procrastinate in a more writerly way by -- *gasp* -- writing. ;)

At the end of last night's episode of Harper's Island, a certain pair of character deaths made me cry.

I've also been reading The Vampire Diaries series as of late. Guess what it made me do? Yep -- cry.

I'm going to be honest: I was shocked. Not simply because I cried (that happens embarrassingly easy for me sometimes), but because I cried for these two things. Yeah, I balled my eyes out at the end of the Daughters of the Moon series, but that wasn't shocking because I had invested years of my life with those characters. However, for other books and TV shows like the ones mentioned, I still cry sometimes without having invested as much time with them, or despite not thinking I was that invested with them, period.

Why is that? I had no clue, until, last night, realization finally dawned on me: those characters, while I was blissfully unaware, had crept under my skin enough to make me care for them even when I wasn't sure that I actually liked them.

That's what I want to do in my own writing: create characters that creep under a reader's skin, so much so that when I do something earth-shattering to them, others will feel a little bit shattered, too. It's kind of inevitable, because even when you're unaware that characters have clawed themselves into you, you're still left with scars once they're actually ripped away from you in someway. The characters, although fictional, have managed to become human enough at one point that matters of likage no longer matter.

So, really, that's what I want to write: something so human that, even when the story is filled with things like vampires, psychopathic serial killers, or ninja zombie gerbils, it still resonates with people enough to make them care. That caring doesn't always have to result in crying, nor do the characters have to die to make you realize such, but the point remains the same. Stories don't have to match reality as we know it; they have to match humanity as we know it, for the good and the bad. Does it hurt? Yes, but it's still more gratifying than seeing some bland, perfect character skip off into Happily Ever After, because even if we happen to like her, we don't care about her, and having an unbreakable heart is always worse than a broken one.

I did not want to go to a farmers market.

My mom did, though -- namely, the one currently being held every Wednesday this summer. I agreed to go with her, with warnings for her not to be offended if I looked bored out of my mind, since I know she hates going to these kinds of things alone. (I did not go, however, when my mom was trying to convince me that it'd be fun, because of this: "There'll be lots of vegetables!")

But then my sister, who finds farmers markets as equally exciting as my mom, ended up having Wednesday free and was psyched to go, too. (They seriously find this kind of thing exciting. I think the Preteen Girl Translation of what I've been hearing all week would be, "OMG Farmers Market! OMGOMGSQUEEEEE!!!") But since she gets to go, that means I'm off the hook, right? I would have been, if I didn't want to hang out with my sister, now that I hardly ever see her anymore.

So, yesterday, all three of us went to the farmers market -- called the Twilight Farmers Market, actually, since it starts at 6 PM, with countless banner images of a hand holding an apple. Yes, something very similar to a certain "twilighty" book cover. Yes, I was horrified. Yes, I got the pun -- but, let me tell you, with the twilight time here still so bright and sunshiney that it could melt your eyeballs, Meyer's sparkly vampires would never stand a chance.

This, in a nutshell, is what happened when we arrived:

Mom: D:
Sis: D:
Me: zzzzz...

Mom: "There are hardly any vegetables!"
Sis: "This isn't like on the cooking shows!"
Me: zzzzz...

We left two minutes later.

What are those awesomely-awesome words and linkage, you ask?

BUFFY VERSUS EDWARD CULLEN

I've been seeing this floating about the internet lately and finally gave in to the urge to watch it, despite my villainous dial-up. I am sooo glad I did. It fully shows Edward as the creepy sparkle-stalker that he is. (How people can view Twilight as romantic is beyond me, especially after seeing this vid's take on the bedroom scene.) I laughed so hard that I died, then revived just so I could die laughing again.

 So, go. Watch. Die of laughter. You will not regret it.

Anyone else have their TV-watching line-up totally gutted come fall? I have had countless shows canceled this year (Reaper, Privileged, Eli Stone, etc.) and have even decided to ditch some shows because of their blahness (hello, Heroes and 90210!). I'm used to this happening, though, so much so that when Veronica Mars was canceled, I wasn't even that upset because, at the time, it was the first show I watched from the beginning that actually had a third season. Supernatural, a show I love, is actually having a 5th season in the fall, and I'm completely floored. That never happens, for I'm a television jinx.

My mom has even had some shows canceled for a change, including Samantha Who. She asked me last night if it was really canceled, because she saw the reruns on TV, plus a commercial where, in her own words, "Christina Applegate and that guy who builds houses were in this big house with a  bunch of other shows, so she must be in the fall line-up, right?" I pretended that sentence made sense and promised I'd Google the show status for her.

Speaking of shows canceled by ABC...anyone catch the series finale of Pushing Daisies last night? I liked the episode, but the bit at the end felt forced and tacked-on. Call me crazy, but I would've preferred the ep to end on the cliffhanger instead of jumping into a happily ever after, ends are beginnings narration. But Bryan Fuller plans to continue the series as a comic book, so even though that's how the show ended, I can be happy that that's not how the series ends.

Too bad none of the other axed shows I watched will revive like that to get resolution...

My mom now has a copy of Love and Arrows to read -- the book narrated by a bratty teenage love god, full of muppet jokes, zoophilia threats, and many other absurd things.

Excuse me as I go hide.

...and plan on buying Season 2 on DVD, check out this campaign. Yeah, the CW canceled the show, but there's still a chance (small or not) for it to survive through syndication or cable. (I'm personally hoping for the former, since I don't have cable service.) This show wasn't just the funniest on TV, but one of the best, so it'd be a shame to see it end already.

Nope, it's not having an early-morning appointment with the endocrinologist, despite the fact that I've been battling insomnia lately. (Because, let's face it, when you'll be shot-gunning in a car without air conditioning during the summer, it's better to brave doctors -- and the heat -- in the morning instead of the afternoon.)

Believing it wasn't even that hot out yesterday when the temp was in the 90's also isn't crazy. (Not for Arizonans, at least.)

What's almost crazy, but not really, is believing that I can complete this complex angel cross stitch in a month as a birthday present for my sister even though cross stitching a napping dalmation puppy had taken me just as long.

Oh, no. What's really crazy is when my mom buys our doggie yet another outfit and says she's spoiling her. Sorry, but when you buy dog outfits, no matter how cute said doggie looks in them (or maybe because of how cute she looks in them), the only one you're spoiling is yourself. XD

We all know they exist. I even have first-hand proof that they exist, in the form of my older sister. Although now, in her twenties, she willingly reads books about things like plants and cooking, she has always refused to read when it comes to fiction. This is unfathomable to me, for I was an avid reader even before I knew how to read. (No, seriously! I would flip through books and make up stories out loud, pretending that I was actually reading them.) Because of my insane case of book-worminess, I attempted to make my sister read countless times as a kid with no success. I eventually had to succumb to the fact that she was a lost cause.

Non-readers like my sister are always on my mind when writing. Even though I failed to convert her, will I one day be able to write a book that'll help convince others that reading is actually *gasp* fun? If I do, I will not hesitate in calling that one of my greater accomplishments of my lifetime.

Such thoughts are on my mind more than ever now, after diving head-first into my first attempt at a middle grade book. Those readers are at such a crucial age -- if they don't get hooked into reading then, they may never, ever be. This book is still in the early stages, so there's a big chance it'll crash and burn, but I'm still determined to make this WIP as entertaining as I can before possibly reaching that kind of revelation.

Except, I really don't want to fail at this book, almost more-so than I have for all my other novels. My sister asked about the premise the other day, and instead of getting bored, she was actually excited about it. She even told me how she'd be willing to try to read this book, for she loves the idea so much. My sister said this, the reluctant reader. I may be getting closer to converting non-readers to book-worminess than I thought -- and if that first non-reader happens to be my sister, this great accomplishment of mine will also end up being my greatest accomplishment.

It's almost 7 AM, and I have yet to fall asleep. Oops.

Double oops? Forgetting to post here. I have been trying to catch up on reviews and such on my other blog Beside The Norm, though, so it all evens out. After almost two years, it has gotten its first major layout change. I'd like to know what you guys think of it -- it took forever to work out properly, but I think it turned out well in the end. (Yes, it's still pink, but not as pink anymore, so if you're allergic to the color, you don't have much to fear!)

Hmm...my mind is starting to get really spacey. I should go try giving this mythological thing called "sleep" another go now that I've accomplished my blog updating duties.

(Adorable pics of our newish-doggie Brandy taken by my sis, because no way would they have come out right if I'd taken them, heh.)

That's right -- in the epic, ever-bloody battle for my brain, I ultimately triumphed over my term papers. No more researching, no more writing, no more head-desking! Just freedom! FREEDOM!

...until my characters sneak out of their hiding places, that is. Then I'll have to focus my full attention on my WIPs again, where I'll have to research. And write. And head-desk...

Sigh. The battle never ends.

Posting this as part of Team ravelda. (And because m_stiefvater has awesome writing, so why not pimp out Shiver?) :)


For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

...at Borders:

Me: *looks at various fantasy books*

Worker: "Hi! Need any help looking for something?"

Me: "No, just looking."

Worker: "Have you read Jim Butcher?"

Me: "No..."

Worker: *magically pulls out a Jim Butcher book* "This is one of his books! He writes great books! Here are more of his books! You should read Jim Butcher!!!"

Me: *runs away*


...at Best Buy:

Me: *looks at various DVDs, including Wrong Turn*

Mom: "Oh! Is that Halle Barry?"

Me: "...No, it's Eliza Dushku."

Mom: "Who?"

Me: >.<

That's right. I'm as old as The Simpsons -- and, in less than twenty-four hours, will no longer be a teenager. Excuse me as I go feel old.

Me: "Aahhhh, my 5-page term paper is only 2 pages -- and due today. Ah-ah-AHHHHHHHHHHH." *head-desks*

Brain: "Head-desking is not an acceptable form of procrastination."

Me: *head-desks to death*

Brain: "Neither is dying."