So I had to get a new battery charger for my camera - somehow I lost it. I bought a new one over Amazon, and it didn't work. So today I wondered into a Radio Shack and they had a Universal battery charger - with a car charger too - and now I have a battery charger that works!

But you know you can't just buy one thing on Amazon, so I bit the bullet and got a new lens attachment for $8. Not much money, and if it didn't work, I didn't spend tons of money! OMG, it is awesome! It has a macro and a wide lens attachment... and now that I have a fully charged battery...

( are YOU ready for the close up? )

I am so glad that next week is Spring Break. I get a week off from my awesome kiddos, and if I am super lucky, a few days extra! I kind of love this subbing gig! But on the flip side, I am soooooo ready for a permanent class I can call my own.

I already have my clothes packed, just a few more things to add, and it can be thrown into the car on Friday. I am working on Friday, so I will be picking up the Girls after school, and making my way up to Big-D!

As far my new skinny me, I am LOVING that I am looking kick ass!! I have 2 bags full of jeans and pants that I can't fit into anymore - several are my mom's, so she will have some "new" pants too. Hehe. So now, I only have 4 pairs of pants - 2 work, 2 jeans - that fit. Woot, shopping!!!

So I am really happy, and now I am in the next phase, to slowly reintroduce food into my diet. Tonight I had PASTA for the first time in .... at least since October. And it was divine. I can even have cereal - so ya baby, I'm having some flaky goodness in the morning and some scrambled eggs. Have to up my protein intake I found out. So have to get used to bigger portions and more food over the day. :-D No more "starving" moments during the day....

Love ya'll!!!

So I have severely neglected my LJ. TSK TSK. Which means, my friends, I have also neglected you. *shame*

So since it says the last updated was about a month ago, I figured it was time to come back.

Basically, in a nut shell, without much gloss and fuss, and not to further add to your sense of utter disappointment in not seeing my name on your friends' updates, I shall keep it simple, short, concise and not linger on with the abundant words when only a few should suffice to convey what has been going on:

Not a damn thing.

Ya... I have been subbing a lot more so that's been occupying my time. And quilting. I got a few paying projects, I pluck at as I have time. I also have sold one of my purses at school, and have several more people who are interested, so I may have to go back to making those more too. Jobs are slim in the education realm, and I don't know what to do. Money is tight, Dad is looking for a new job, Mom is continuing her drawing, and my brother is doing well, I guess.

I guess I understand why Tanis is wondering around, meowing at things - she is bored. And I guess in some way so am I. I'm doing what I have to - not even what I can - to keep myself sane.

Last weekend, I watched all the Twilight movies, on my own. I loved it, and want to do a re-watch every weekend! But it would be nice to have some other human there. The girls are great, but friends are nicer! They don't appreciate it when I sigh and point at Jacob taking off hi shirt, or when Edward is taking up half the special effects budget with his diamond sparkling skin.

Perhaps that is also why this last 8 or so pds will not melt off! I have lost 27lbs since October, and only the past month or so has it been not coming off as fast. I have taken up walking and lightly jogging, until my knees hurt. I even did some ab workout on the floor this morning. I am ecstatic that all my pants need pins in them to keep them up, or belts. I am waiting for my "final" weight to buy new pants. I guess lots will be donated to Goodwill. I do have one pair I got at Goodwill, actually, and it fits, snug at times, but fits. So that is my goal pants and pant size. As my parents say, I have a figure back. Of course I had a figure before - it was just round. :-D

Oh well. I need to pack up to get ready for subbing - I'm in Spanish. And no, I don't speak Spanish. German I could teach the basics, but not Spanish. That is why there is textbooks, and others who will be correcting the papers. Wee. Update me folks!! I give you *squishy hugs* all around the world.

Hope your day is Awesome!

I need a sewing icon. I have baking... and travel, and writing, but my quilting is not being very representative on here... I may fix that this weekend...

So my quilting has kind of tipped into extreme over the past few months. I stumbled on this book at the library and bought it.... wait, what? bought a book at the library? I don't think that's what the scanner is for, Chris.

Yea, I am aware of this. However, to 1)get funds and 2)recycle books that are no longer (if ever) popular, the library puts them on a shelf with the honor system of you pay for them. So I found the craft section, only .50¢/book mind you, and stumbled on this cool book with patterns for play quilts. And I put it back - I don't have kids, nor will I and so why would I use this? And then ended up getting it - I know others who have kids, or will have them, AND it was only .50¢.

And I love the book! So I figured I wasn't going to slave over a bed sized quilt, but could make elements of some of them into smaller, more kid friendly sizes, and I am almost done with my first one. I'm piecing the back together tonight, and hope to finish at least some of the binding, and take pics and put it up on my etsy, and here, to sell. :-D

I may have stumbled on a business! I looked up play or activity quilts and there isn't anything out there like what I have made. And I already have some design modifications and new designs rattling in my brain.

And on the writing front, I am still in the process of going through my first read through. Mom already finished the book (no correcting, just some plot pointers) and liked it. Thanks Mom!! :-*

School called me yesterday and I subbed today and will be back tomorrow. \O/ considering I got my second "thanks but we hired someone else" email from a school district for the other job I had applied for. Damn you!! rejection will make me... stronger.

Ok, so yes... I need to go back to watching Big Bang Theory re-runs and quilting. I think I forgot I made hot chocolate. Mmm... Kitchen Time!

Updates! Updates!!

So I noticed I guess I am not officially registered over at songfic50 anymore, but I still have the writing table, and lookie, I found some of my song fics already written... so I figure I'd be super nice, and update the fic table, thus, letting my brain know we have posted the fic...

It makes sense to me.

So... Here is the list of the newly updated fics:

Torchwood:
Gwen/Rhys: Foundations: a short ficlet where Gwen thinks of how "loving" Rhys is and how understanding he is about her job. PG.

Gwen/Jack: Almost Lovers: Gwen is told by Jack to let him go. After all, she has Rhys, and that makes her complete, right? PG.

Jack/Ianto: Walk this Way: friendship/fluffy piece where Ianto is listening to some music on his way to work. PG.

Moonlight:
Beth: In Your Arms: Beth just needed to relax. PG

The Cleaner: Another One Bites the Dust: The Cleaner does not mind being called. She protects humans from Vampires, one bloody scene at a time. PG

Josef/Sarah: You Put a Spell On Me: Spoilers for ep 10: Sleeping Beauty. A song reminds Josef he was romantic, once. Like a few decades past. PG.


Ok there are others, but I will be doing those later...

So I have a private LJ now for my fic. And after staring at the oldness of it all, although it was beautiful on it's own, it just didn't suit the newness ...

I have redesigned! doxy_fics is newly colored, and has a shiny banner. Ok you can hate on it. I didn't pour over it for days and agonized over picture vs text placement... it's simple. It gets the job done.

So ... now I guess I need to update it since the old content was swept away and left me with a date of 2009... eeks. Looks like I have some fic to revisit and write!!

darn.

I'm done! With the first draft!

62,775 words later the novel has come out of me! I should use a birthing metaphor perhaps... but it wasn't as painful as I thought. I know... me finishing a novel, and saying it was painless. Of course I did stop writing *gasp* for several weeks - RL work.

So, now, I am on the prowl to see if any of my friends would like to beta - ok really a first run though of "is this worth saving?" - my little ditty. I have it in pdf format and it is only about... maybe... 318 pages. I really wanted to print it out and have a physical copy so I could edit (I love pen and ink and paper...mmmmmmmmmm) but Kinko's wanted me to pay like $200 for one copy. *cough*

So on my Kindle it goes... And now I am breaking out the writing guide books and redying myself for the great revising marathons I am sure to have... I did figure out that Scrivener has a text-to-speech button, so I can listen to it out loud as I read it on the page. It's good to listen to your work since if you miss something, it will be obvious - of course it will not help in the spelling, but that's why you have eyes!!

So... slowly closing 2011 and I may have written a book! WEEEE!!

I came down here to Galveston especially for the Dickens on the Strand event, and omg! I LOVED it!

I had an old skirt I made in college which is tartan, but has the full box pleats in it so it is really nice and flow-y, and my mom had a lovely white shirt with a high collar and nice embroidery on it, so it fit perfectly. I had a green jacket which kind of went with the whole thing. This morning dressing was fun, I was so nervous! I knew there would be ladies dressed to the nines, what would they think of mine? But I went, sans hat (since I didn't make one) and because I was in "costume" I got in 1/2 price! Whoo hoo!!

I got there about 10ish, when gates opened, and walked around and around, stopping at some of the vendors and chatting. I found one shop which had these really lovely corsets... and I bought one! You know, when they are made properly, they really are comfortable. Who knew! Don't pay a few bucks, since my old one was very uncomfortable, go for a bit more expensive, and it will most likely be better constructed. It's a lovely slate blue, and made my curves stand out! I asked about when I loose more weight and the lady said to send it and they would exchange it for a smaller one. Since they rent them out a lot, if it's in perfect condition, then I would get an exchange. NICE!!

So I walked around all day with this lovely corset and my skirt blowing since the breeze picked up. The festival is near the other side of the shore, since Galveston is an island, there are two shores, and they had free tours of a 1877 ship, Ellsa. Since I was in a dress, and idiot me had my hands sort of full, I didn't go below deck, but my friend who I went with, did so she took some pictures. It was awesome to read about the different things on the ship, and since I am finishing a Steampunk genre book, which features a boat, I tried to absorb as much as I could.

And of course they had the Steampunk Square, and had a lot of people dressed in Steampunk flare. Took pictures of that and LOVED the different things people had on. Of course took pictures of the well dressed ladies, and even had some beggers. I think my favorite were the people dressed as chimney sweepers. I have to remember that! Beggers and chimney sweepers are easy costumes! :-D

My feet were hurting after all that walking, so we headed back to the hotel, which overlooks the Gulf of Mexico. In fact my friend went out walking, and I opened the balcony door and am listening to the water. It sounds like a busy freeway, but it is just high tide waves. Nice surfing weather - saw several people out this morning already with their boards. I really wanted to see the Steampunk Circus and the music, but parking is kind of expensive to have to pay for it again. I think, if I do this next year (I hope!) I'll go later in the day, maybe around the Queen's Parade (about 2pm) and that way I can survive the afternoon. Of course around 12pm or even 11pm there were a lot more people, so that's a bad thing.

The special guest this year was the great-great-great granddaughter of Charles Dickens, so I brought my book - The Mystery of Edwin Drood - to be signed. I told her that being an English teacher meeting her was really a treat. :-D The book will be treasured! Now I don't have an excuse NOT to finish reading the book! Even so it is a story Charles Dickens never finished... I do like a good mystery!

I just checked and I do have a picture of me in the corset, so when I get home and load it to my photobucket (and remember the passwords) I shall show you what I looked like... and some of the styles of Victorian England (in America, and in Texas... )

Over all, I don't mind my feet hurt. I had blast, and I am so very glad I came down. Well worth the trip, and I hope next year I can do it again and bring some others down. Or if not, I will enjoy myself on my own too!!

So yes, I skipped like... lots. Busy busy!

And today I can officially say I HAVE WON!!! Man for a competition where basically the opponent is you, yourself and that guy in the mirror, winning sure seems cool. And the best part, you have others who think it's cool too!

Did no NaNo(ing) yesterday since it was my birthday - and I was up at 5am and standing in a Black Friday line by 5:30 - but officially hit 50K at 12:10pm today! And at a perfect place too since it was the end of one "scene" and right before my last resolution and ending, oh and the epilogue. So maybe in total I have about 10K more words and I will be finished. Done. No more writing on this .... and start editing like... January. I don't even know if it is good enough for editing. I like parts, and others I know it's padding, fluff, crap, NINJA (without the ninja, just the "need insert thing here" for a few 100 words).... so a bit of distance will be good.

You know what though? I have learned I CAN write by going forward everyday and not spend time back editing. And I CAN write something from the beginning to the end! Two huge things I thought (and did) struggle with the most. But now that the end is in sight, I can do it... and relax along the way.

I think I may just finish that other book I had started back up over the summer. I have it outlined. And I can do 50K in 26 days, so why not kick some serious writing butt and bust it out of my head? Editing is the fun part, right?

right?

Here is to all you WINNERS - if you are still fighting for your 50K, or are still fighting around 20K - YOU WROTE!

And it is good.

Today's question is brought to you by the makers of Aleve.

Nothing relieves the stress in your mind, body and soul, like 2 Aleve and some good strong tea, mmmm.

Ok so I haven't had any Aleve, but it is sitting next to me taunting me. Just sayin'.

Well, I am usually the type of writer who goes back and re-reads previous lines/pages/chapters of her own story, to stroke the muse into milking something out. I usually gush over how amazing it is, and then, turning to my muse I have a talk, something like this:

Me: Ok, so that was like, wow. Good. What's next.

Muse: Hell if I know.

Me: Wait... we left the character off at a kinda cliffhanger, and you don't know what's next?

Muse: Ask the character. You seem to be having an affair with them. I mean, they visit you in dreams. Whoooo.

Me: *rolls eyes* Next scene please.

Muse: Na.

Me: Cough it up!

Muse: *cough* fine.

... and we go. It's the stop and start which most likely kills my motivation and momentum. So NaNo lesson to drill in my tiny brain: do not re-read whole chunks of previous work. Read the last lines, and no editing. Do not ask muse, just write, muse will catch up, or send character to help.

Q: How has NaNo made you look at your writing style/way differently? Since most of you have done NaNo before, has your style of writing developed and changed over the corse of NaNo's past?

I'm noticing that my sections (scene cards) have been getting wordier and wordier... I have 4 more to go and just started number 7. I'm not even near the climax, well, maybe the last scene was a bit since it had some action that picked up the pace, but the major climax is still coming. *mind/gutter*

33,511/50,000

Oh ok... so now you are expecting daily updates? It's day 17, do you know where your characters are?

I had a whole entry done, and then figured it wasn't want I wanted to say... I hate that! Wait... can I use it to beef up my word count?!

I am lucky to have some great friends in RL (and you all on here!!) to be in my cheerleading section. Most (in RL) are non-writers, and I am sure just chalk up my gleeful FB posts about my word count as just another oddity, but I also have my family behind me. Most vocal is my mom *waves* who actually reads my blog! EEK! :-D

In addition I have several students who are writers - or at least know the library carries books and checks them out on a regular basis - who come around about once every other day to ask me about my word count. This morning, as one of them said good morning, I said, "I am 29.5K!" Yes. I am that crazy wacky person who talks about word count as if it's like a pet. Of course, considering what my actual pets do, the WC is a pretty good pet.

I've met some of my NaNo locals - although I have been too busy to do a write in - and they are cool. Normal people. And I have trolled the local board, but to have people - real, live, those who know you - tell you they are so proud... *glows* I wish I could bottle it up and save them for the days the well really has gone dry and I am wishing for just a small reason why I keep scratching the paper. For now, cut and paste will do. It helps to know there is someone who cares, even if they are not fully understanding our strange affection to tea and late night jell-o raids. It pushes you through that patch of a day or so of no progress.

So let me be YOUR champion and cheer in your section! We CAN do this! And muse be damned, we WILL reach 50K. Even if it's on December 15! RAH RAH... or is it RA RA (since my setting is in Egypt after all...)

So... question: Who are your champions? Who do you gush to about your secret obsession and then ponce on when they ask "what the heck IS NaNoWriMo?" Or even better, have you talked about NaNo to a complete stranger, only to realize that the tone of your voice should be reserved for when you are showing others the pictures of the kids?

32,407/50,000K

Wow! A single day update!!

Well the stats button is still stuck. And so is the cute graph. I loved how that line was my nemesis and my word count would jump it - or stay the same - and taunt the gray line to move up, up up! toward 50k, as my little green bar surged ahead...

Opps.. I guess I should not teach descriptive words all day and then write a blog. But it's pissing me off, basically.

I have manually calculated what I (think) wrote today... somewhere about 3k words. Now yes, that's like a freaking lot of words, but I see it as perhaps a sudden break in my otherwise silent musing. Of course, while doing dishes, and avoiding looking at an overwhelmingly white page, my muse did taunt me with an epilogue. Really? REALLY!? I haven't even gotten half way though the BOOK and you are feeding me an EPILOGUE? Can we move to the here and NOW? Get to the action and get my characters moving toward the hidden treasure-y bits... maybe finally have some good fight scenes or something.

I have yet to add this part. Although, I think it would add about 500 or so words to my word count. But I am hungry. So I shall heed my stomach and eat quickly as my muse finishes flushing out the frakin epilogue, and update the word count. *glares at muse*

So, the question of the day is this: anyone else getting signals from the muse (or other wicked thing) about scenes that have nothing to do with the one you are working/struggling with on NOW?

CRAP! If I would have known I had lapsed 3 days AGAIN I would have totally done a forehead post last night!

Ok... so remember that "brick wall" I was talking about like 2 weeks ago?

Yea. I see it.

In fact, I feel it. My words have been slowing down... and that wickedly cool stats tab? I hate it. It says November 28 is when I will be done... well that was as of this morning. I have yet to enter my new word count I have been tapping at for the past... err... 5 minutes? Three paragraphs, yo!

In NON(NaNo) news, it's been a year since I got my car. :-D A friend asked if I baked it a cake, but alas, I don't have the ingredients to make one... Happy Anniversary Car (loan)!

So, has anyone else hit the "wall" while we are on the mid-month stride? Anyone else wishing to hear the small voices that only 2 weeks ago drove you insane?

Sheesh, this is bad. So very, very bad. On so many levels bad!!

I don't think any of you care, nor are counting, since ya'll are busy counting your words. God bless writing programs with the automatic word counters!

But who of us, seriously, don't go back and count the words on the screen sometimes? I know when I cut and copy my NaNo from Scrivener, into Yarny, it suddenly gained like 200+ extra words in my count. I did a double take... and recopied - and still had more according to Yarny! I made sure it was not counting my dividers as a word... nope. So not a clue how from one program to the next it gained. At least it didn't loose, not that I care since I am posting my Scrivener count, not my Yarny count.

On an off topic (at least with NaNo) and related to loosing, I have lost 11.4lbs in 6 weeks. Yes, dieting (aka paying for help/cheerleaders) has played a huge part, but also the thought that I am doing NaNo for the first time, and may as well get a shiny new bod to go with my shiny new novel. Ok so really the two didn't start at the same time... but look how I connected it!

So my three day question is... have you found different programs giving you different counts (and how many of you just tried it to see if it really does work?), AND have you found ways to up your word count while connecting seemingly non-related events together in your novel (aka those helpful ninjas just *happened* to show up when the story was boring)....

And discuss. Use adjectives, people!

22695 / 50000
(45.39%)

22,695/50,000 wds

meter from word count meter

Smash!Up time! AKA Chris is filling her time with something other than this blog post!

So, yeah. Week 2. Like half way through week 2. So we should be in a decent pace plunking the word count down - I mean up - and showing off those shiny word count meters on the NaNo forums. Just posted in my local area forum - the only place I trust myself, because I am sure I can find something that will fill my hours on the other forum threads - and saw the nifty word count bars below ones name.

Ya. So why do I want it to be Friday so bad? Yes I want a day off from working, so I can cuddle Mac and Scrivener and just stroke my muse and make her purr and pour out the words, but I guess I also want to see a bit more on my word count.

I'm really getting nit-picky and a bit dramatic, aren't I? After all it's only week 2, almost week 3 and we only have 22 more days. So what?! Doesn't matter that I had my characters start their adventure at about word count 11K, and have just now sort of introduced my protagonist(s) about word count 15K. No matter that I am spending time pouring over maps of where my story is set, and even went as far as PhotoShop my character's route as they try to escape said protagonist(s) and also fool their fellow companions. Combined that took about an hour to do. Of course as I write, I fact check, and I can't NOT fact check because I am citing a real country, that has real city and town names, and am having to carefully spell them. The fact that they most likely do not house fugitives, and people who wish to do my characters harm, doesn't concern me, but the proper way to get to the next town, does. I say it's the Journalist in me.

GAH!

Roadblocks abound! How do we overcome these bumps, Wrimos?

17,373/50,000 wds