*sniffle*

I am genuinely sick now. I've spent the past 2 days in a haze on sinus congestion. Last night I took some NyQuil and promptly passed out for almost 12 hours. And after all that sleep, I still can't funtion properly today. So, in honor of the First Annual Vacation Illness, I plan on playing canasta today. Maybe some laundry too. No writing today. :(

Hooray!

I wrote an entire page in the past hour. This is a step forward for me, so-to-speak. I'm not feeling too well right now, however. My throat is getting very sore and I'm afraid I'm getting sick. Just the thing I want to do during the first days of my vacation! I do believe I'll stop for tonight and watch a little History Channel until I fall asleep.

An afterthought

Is it wrong to completely abandon a major plotline because it will require too much research? I've been toying with this thought for a while. I have another plot I can use that I actually like better, but I don't know if I want to completely give up my original idea just yet. I know with fiction you can just make stuff up, but there is a degree of authenticity that readers enjoy. I'll give one example that actually pertains to a movie rather than a novel: in the film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Ratner is getting ready to go out on a date with the slutty girl. His sleezy friend (what the hell was his name??) tells him that she'll surely want to have sex if he plays "Led Zeppelin 4, side 2." In the next scene, the couple is in the car and Zeppelin's "Kashmir" is playing. I know I'm being picky about this, but "Kashmir" is neither on Zepplin 4 nor side 2. The fact that Cameron Crowe wrote the screenplay (and the fact that he's a huge music-buff) makes me wish that he'd done a little more research on that trivial little scene.

I just want to do things right and not have my credibility screwed.

From A to Z

While on my lunch break at work today, I walked around the mall, stopping briefly in Waldenbooks to check out the new releases. Just for fun, I looked over the shelf where my book will eventually be (once I finish writing it, publish it, etc.). In my particular Waldenbooks, it will sit between John Saul and Alice Sebold. Not bad, really. You've got Anne Rice just above and Shakespeare just below. I'd say that's a decent spot. I've heard of some writers actually changing their last name or using a specific psuedonym just to have a plum spot beside a famous bestselling author in the bookstores. And if for some odd reason, this novel turns out to be a Young Adult title (what are the odds??), I would be near JD Salinger and RL Stine. I remember reading RL Stine's "Fear Street" series when I was younger and I think it would be sweet to be on the same shelf as him. :)

*grumble* Sunday drivers...

So this morning, as I'm blindly driving to work at 7:30, I had an epiphany about the backstory for one of my main characters. It's something I've had trouble with for a while because a lot of the things I came up with sounded like complete and utter crap. And I should've pulled over and scribbled something down as soon as I had this epiphany because once I got to work and was able to sit down to make a few notes, I forgot most of it. Some of it has come back to me, but there were a few details I'm sure I'll never remember at this point. I'm so irritated with myself. I keep a little notebook beside my nightstand for this purpose! I should start carrying one in my purse too.

The Waldenbooks store in my mall stopped carrying "Writer's Digest" in their periodicals section. I think I may have been the only person in the county buying it every other month. When I had a subscription to it, WD was a monthly mag, not bimonthly. How sad. I still have a subscription to "The Writer" magazine, but it's still not the caliber of WD.

Procrastination is my best friend

Ok. I know I'm totally contradicting my first post by not posting/writing every day. I'm a busy lady! Last night I crashed around 11pm, which is my prime time on the computer (baby's asleep and I have some "me" time). My work schedule is erratic; since I work in retail, I don't have a real set schedule aside from my given 35 hours a week. For example, I worked yesterday from 8am until 3pm. Today I am off. Tomorrow it's 8am to 4pm. I haven't worked a lot of nights recently due to one of my coworkers in the office being on maternity leave. She'll be back at the end of the month and I'm sure I'll be back to the lousy 12pm-9pm and 8am-4pm back to back once again. Needless to say, when you add in time with Kayleigh and Brad (and my dog), it doesn't leave a lot of free time for me to check my email, let alone concentrate long enough to write anything respectable.

Why am I not spending my day off writing?

You see, all the shit I've been putting off all week (due to my lack of time) has gotten out of control. Laundry has taken over my basement, dog hair roams freely on my carpets, and my dining room table, well, it's seen better days. I'm eating lunch at the moment, which is a good excuse as any to check my email and other random crap.

I am on my vacation starting on September 26 and ending on October 6. How awesome is that? I plan on writing tons during that time. My daughter will be at day care most of the time (we have to pay for 5 days a week whether she goes or not, so dammit, she goes!), so it will be just me and the dog...yay!

"What's your name, little girl?" ~~ Lynyrd Skynyrd

I have issues with names. For the life of me, I cannot stop changing my main characters' names. I find a decent name, go with it for a while, then end up hating it by the end of the month. What the hell. It wasn't this hard to think of a name for my daughter when I was pregnant last year. Perhaps I am thinking too hard. But I don't want to hate my characters based on their stupid names...

In the beginning...

This will be my first attempt at "real" blogging. I've actually blogged on Myspace for almost 4 years now, but I guess you could say I'm serious about it now.

I'm trying to write a novel, you see. Having this blog might give me a little bit of motivation. I get stuck sometimes, and then I realize, "Holy shit, I haven't written a single page in a year!" So if I write daily here, maybe I can write daily there too.

My goal is to have a decent chapter finished by the end of this month. It may or may not be a realistic goal for me. I think the most I've ever written at any given time was five pages (and that's when I stopped for almost a year).

Before I end this entry, I want to make a few things very clear.

1. This blog is what it is: a simple yet therapeutic way to help clear my mind of all this bullshit so I can proceed with my novel. I'm not blogging to call myself a "writer" because this isn't real writing, so to speak. This is just another online journal for the whole world to read.
2. If my grammar isn't the best, or if my spelling isn't up to par, then go fuck yourself for caring too much. My brain works too fast sometimes and my fingers don't always keep up. Plus, I have a habit of typing everything in lowercase. I'm lazy. Kiss my ass. I guarantee, my writing on here differs greatly from how I write my novel.
3. No one reads anything from my novel until it's finished (or if I happen to feel vulnerable enough to let out an unfinished copy). Please don't ask me detailed questions because odds are, I'll just ignore them.

Please comment! Comment frequently! I need all the advice I can get, good or bad. Trust me, I'm a big girl and I can handle criticism. :)

Thanks for taking a chance on me, I know I'll make it worth your time...