1) Guess what! I didn't experience the 10K Freeze for my NaNo novel! Unfortunately, I'm now experiencing the 15K Freeze.

2) November must be Run-Into-People-You-Haven't-Seen-In-Years month, because that's what I keep doing: running into people I haven't seen in years. It's awesome seeing old friends!

3) It's official: Thursdays are THE night to watch TV. Supernatural, instead of making me laugh till it hurts, made me cry for a change. And The Vampire Diaries has proved its awesomeness yet again by having a creepy, scream-at-the-TV cliffhanger and making me squee at parts where it looks like they're forshadowing things that actually happened in the books!

4) My alarm clock is so old that it now feels the need to randomly add minutes. I'm too lazy to fix the time, so I'm letting it believe that it's actually a half hour in the future. The real time is on my insulin pump, anyway.

5) I'm also too lazy to think of a #5. Happy Friday, everyone!

Fellow LJer karenkincy has written a YA fantasy called Other, which comes out next year. I've been eager to read this book long before it even had a publisher! Not only does the plot sound awesome, but Karen's use of detail from the snippets I've read is definitely something to envy. Check out her widget and get eager for Other, too!

Today, I saw a license plate that said "JOEDOGG." It is now my life's mission to create a character named Joe Dogg.

Why yes, I've been braindeaded. I just took two tests in two of my most loathed subjects while functioning on almost zero sleep. How could you tell?

I've been attending college for nearly two and a half years, and not once had I noticed that the buildings have automatic doors. I mean, they already have handles on them! Why would they need to be automatic?

So, I'm standing outside the math building, in front of one of the doors. Normally, I'd walk right in, but I was distracted. My dawdling lasted long enough for the door to decide to swing open on its own. So it swung open. Right in my face.

This is obviously revenge for all the times I've tried to push open that door despite the fact that it clearly says to PULL it.

Look! I'm not a total failure at NaNo!

I have written 8,500 of 50,000 words. I am now 17% done! no frills wordmeter

Okay, so I'm technically still behind, according to NaNo standards. But I'm still writing steadily! And it's fun! And I'm using way too many exclamation points!

I'm starting to get fearful, though, since my books tend to experience the 10K Freeze. This book is close to 10K. I don't want it to experience the 10K Freeze. It's too disturbing and cute!

Books probably shouldn't be both disturbing and cute, but this one is. Especially once I get to write the chicken soup scene.

Chicken soup probably shouldn't be disturbing and cute, either. That's the wonderful thing about NaNo -- you're too busy, you know, writing to know any better!

Fellow NaNoers! How are your novels coming along? Do they defy rational thought, too?

All week, my computer has been acting spazzy. This is far from a good thing, especially since I take online classes.

Today, I had to take a test for my online Spanish class. I kept praying and praying that the computer wouldn't spaz out on me. I accessed the test, made it to the final batch of questions, and --

The computer froze.

I had a panic attack. Then I got angry. Almost broke a cupboard.

The computer was still frozen.

Had another panic attack. Started reading Captivate.

Three hours later, the computer was still frozen. Then the firefox window my test was in disappeared. Computer told me it needed to be restarted.

PANIC ATTACK.

Finally, I was able to access the internet with no problem. Even managed to access the test again, despite the fact that normally, if you've accessed it once, it's impossible to access it again. The computer didn't spaz once!

Still, I'm pretty certain I've killed off a decade of my life going through this. Sigh.

It probably doesn't seem like much, but I'm still proud of my progress. (Especially since I did a NaNo no-no by writing the beginning three times. I can't go ahead with a story until I'm comfortable with the beginning first!) Hopefully, despite continued College Craziness, I won't get sidetracked from my NaNo Novel like last year!

How's everyone else this Friday?

That's right. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo, even though I crashed and burned greatly last year. So far, my word count is still zero, but that's because I want to do more research for my book first (and make sure it is the book I want to work on for NaNo). If anyone wants to buddy me, you can find me here.

So, who else is participating in this 50K-in-a-month insanity?

Happy Halloween, everybody! Hope you are all enjoying the three C's today. (Costumes, Candy, and Crazies.)

There are three things you need to know before reading the rest of this post:

1) I have a twisted sense of humor.
2) Greek mythology is even more twisted.
3) I wrote a book called Love and Arrows. It's based on Greek mythology. Therefore, it's twisted.

Got that? Good. Now I can show the comic I made a while back that gives a glimpse of Arden's back-history. (Grandpa Ares is not the only reason why he ended up screwed-up enough to be banished in LAA.)

( Why Are You So Messed Up?! )

Don't worry, his sister is just joking with him. Probably.

Too bad, eh? I could've revived and been a kick-butt zombie for Halloween. XD

I've actually been absent because of college-sponsored time-suckage. Funnily enough, I managed to write a silly short story amidst all that time-sucking. That sort of thing is inevitable when you're 1) too stressed to do homework, 2) imagining what one of your protagonists was like as a kid, and 3) all too amused at the thought of Ares, everyone's favorite Greek war god, trick-or-treating.

So, for your amusement (and my embarrassment), here is my short story (called "Snickers," 'cause I'm too unclever for a better title):


( Boo! )

1) No, my icon has nothing to do with this post. It's just new and amuses me. :P

2) I don't think I'll ever be able to hear any version of the song "Enjoy the Silence" without bursting into laughter. I blame The Vampire Diaries' need to have Damon and Vickie jump around doing what can only be called the Epically Crazy Underwear House-Destroying Dance.

3) Don't you just love it when teachers say your cell phone CANNOT go off in class, only to have their own go off while you're taking an exam -- and then they have a phone conversation while you are still taking that exam?

4) School has been stressing me out, so I drew a comicy (and very cannon) back history of one of my characters. If I ever feel like embarrassing myself, I just might post that here someday.

5) I have to take a blood test later. Since I'm a diabetic, I have to do this every year. My original appointment was last week, but my blood sugar went low in the middle of the night, forcing me to eat. Did I mention I have to fast for this? That I'm deathly afraid of going low again? That I'm hungry, which makes me feel low even though I'm not, and that the fridge is just a couple steps away? AAAHH.

You guys have all heard of Need, right? You know, the book by the awesomely-awesome carriejones ? If not, shame on you! The book is also awesomely-awesome, and it has a sequel! Plus, there’s a contest for the sequel, which you guys should check out. It involves making a playlist. Here’s my lame attempt to do so for Need:


Garbage -- “Right Between The Eyes”
Seek to destroy ‘cause they’re scared of you
that’s why they try to make a fool of you

Poe -- “Control”
You thought you could feed on my soul
but while you were busy destroying my life
what was half in me has become whole

Poe -- “If You Were Here”
If you were here
you would know how I treasured every day
how every single word you spoke
echoes in me like a memory of hope

Red -- “Ordinary World”
There’s an ordinary world
somehow I have to find
and as I try to make my way
to the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Sarah McLachlan -- “Push”
You’ve seen me at my weakest but you take me as I am
and when I fall you offer me a softer place to land

Skye Sweetnam -- “Smoke + Mirrors”
Bottled up is where my fears go
my fears go
I will never show my fear

Superchic[k] -- “Not Done Yet”
We’re not done yet
not going quietly into the night
not me and my friends

Within Temptation -- “Final Destination”
All around me I see danger
and it’s closing in on me
every second I can hear it breathing
I can’t stand the fear inside me

You know, this.

Maybe I'm more sensitive about this because, before I was diagnosed with diabetes, my mom had planned to take me to the doctor when it became clear that something was wrong. (Hellooo, insane amount of drinking!) She then rushed me to the emergency room before that appointment could happen when something DID go wrong. (Hellooo, stomach upchucking at a mere sip of water!) The girl in that article was dying from undiagnosed diabetes, and what did her family do? They prayed.

Idiots.

Sorry, I don't care how religious you are -- even if you didn't suspect she had diabetes, you should've suspected something was WRONG and taken her to a DOCTOR. I'm pretty sure God sponsors medical care.

I honestly don't understand how I managed to do well enough on my math placement test last year to get into Intermediate Algebra. Even for the "simple" problems, I get answers like 176.57, only to discover that the REAL answer is 2.

Excuse me as I lower my IQ some more by head-desking.

...please tell me that the last chunk of yesterday's Supernatural ep sucked. I know it probably didn't, but I want to feel less cranky at how the CW blacked out on me right when Not!Sam said, "Hello, Dean." The kicker? The CW decided to return only once the episode had finished.

*kicks TV*

On Monday night, I actually managed to fall asleep early!

...But then I woke up two hours later, at 1 A.M. I could NOT fall asleep after that. I was still attempting to sleep when my mom knocked on my bedroom door to make sure I was up.

Still, somehow, I was conscious for my math class. I didn't even drool on the desktop!

Our class had to take notes, though, which was basically a review of basic algebraic stuff before we delve into the nitty-gritty on Thursday. My brain exploded. (But in Insomnia's defense, that probably would've happened even if I WASN'T sleep-deprived.)

And I have to start going through this same process again tonight.

You better let me sleep, Sandman.

Screw you, Sandman.

Dear Sandman,

You hate me? Fine. Just pleeeeaze stop making me fall asleep at 9 A.M. My dreams are usually more messed up during the daytime, involving things like limb dismemberment or Richard Simmons. More importantly, though? My math class starts Tuesday at noon. I'm usually asleep at noon anymore with how you've screwed with my sleep cycle. Even if I don't end up missing class, I don't want to drool on the desktop. Besides, it's a MATH class. You don't want to deny it the pleasure of brain-deadening me by already making me brain dead for it, do you? You'd be doing the class a favor, not me, by killing my insomnia!

So, please, consider my plea. My math class would really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Me

P.S. Perhaps I can bribe you with peanut butter cookies?

Poll #1461522
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

Writers are...

Every time someone discovers I'm a writer, they say without fail, "Oh, wow! I could never write a book. I'm not that patient."

That kind of response always short-circuits my brain. I'm a writer, yes, but I'm also one of the most impatient people ever.

And you know what? It makes more sense that writers are naturally impatient than patient. I'm always getting a bajillion books ideas, which means I'm either writing the first draft of my current WIP as quickly as possible or writing several of them at once. If I get stuck, I don't spend time thinking of that perfect word/phrase/paragraph/whatever, but instead [complete my thought with bracketed blah-blah-blahs like this!] until I later revise. There's also this wonderful thing called procrastination that allows me to read old Archie comics or browse TV Tropes when feeling too fed up to keep writing.

With behavior like that, I doubt I have patience to thank for getting books written. If anything, I have determination to thank, for without it, my impatience would have gotten the better of me a long time ago, and that first book I started writing at 13 would have been both unfinished and forgotten.

What about all you other writers out there? Patient? Impatient? Some freakish hybrid of the two?