3 Months in 1 Blog

So let me just start by saying that I am currently waiting for both Coffee and my computer to restart. With that out of the way, let me also just add that I haven't really written anything in the story since then. Is it out of my mind. Not really. I've just been either stressed, busy, or just not in the mood to write. Worse yet is that I kind of feel like putting down that book and going back to my previous one, RED, and restarting it. Why? Because I have all these ideas on how to do it better and more correctly than before that will allow me to not get stuck and actually finish it.

On that note let me describe how RED current was working out to be. There was a main character who had an interesting (no, really!) past and for some reason decided to spend his life as a detective. He gets a call out from the middle of nowhere and they ask him to find their daughter. Blah blah blah blah, more characters, and next thing you know I was in a hole.

Another important part to RED was that all the characters were based around two scenarios. The first one was that they would all be considered a "color" and as such that would turn into both their name and a bit of their personality. T he second personality was based around a dance of some sort (very subtle in the story, but one could notice it if they were looking). Although I liked the characters that this created, it did not create any seen friction that could continue into a full blown story of amazing proportions. That is a skill that I can only think I have currently been able to develop. And yes, Plots are hard to make and even more complicated to make great.

So what do I want to do to RED that changes it completely and makes it possible to complete? Well, for starters, I want to base characters and the scenes they are in off of colors. In this way I can get a much more dramatic scene (as will be seen in the re-write) as well as a possible self style to the story. I'm even considering taking it to the next level and using it in the text a bit (though most likely I wont on the first version) just to really have some fun with it. The second thing I want to do is add a little bit of LA Noir. Okay, enough of RED, that's actually not even started and I just wanted to give my friends who had read what was written an idea of why I might want to restart. Trust me, its better.

Now back to the update of my life. Lets see, went back to school for my Masters of Science in Civil Engineering and a focus in Structural Engineering. I couldn't get a job without a masters because of the economy, so I went back as I promised my parents. Had my birthday back in January, it wasn't very good. Did not do much but study and work for more of February. Had a lousy Valentines Day (expected). March came around and things finally started to get better. I got out and got to hike, which caused sore legs for a few days but I think was more than worth it. I finally got a "haircut." I put that in quotes because I donated every last inch of it. 10 inches went to Locks of Love and then what remained was shaved off for St Baldrick's Day. If you'd like to see a few of the pictures or donate towards my cause, you can find them here on the St Baldrick's Day website. I'll be adding more soon. Also, the total length was 10.5 inches and I'm glad to be rid of it. It was too long.

And finally on my update, yesterday I got stood up by all of my friends to go drinking (except Wyatt, who I accidentally stood up because I was so tired I passed out, sorry!). Today I got stood up to go hiking. Sad end of the first half of the school year, but it happens. Now on to Spring Break and then to finish up my first semester as a grad student. Never thought I'd go through so much school (cause I hate it...).

As if There wasn't Enough Distractions Already

Thanksgiving has come and gone, Black Friday has passed, and yet there is still hope as we approach the final of the triplet holidays. The final one is known as Cyber Monday and, in the only way that can make sense, happens on this upcoming Monday. So what does this mean for everyone else out there? It means that I am once again uber-distracted by all of the awesome deals coming in.

Thanks to Facebook, I’ve become an addict to the online game Millionaire City. It’s like all the other games out there on these social networking sites. You start off small with the hopes of becoming something big and you have to watching it at least once a day to really get the full benefit of the game. Thank you Farmville for starting all of this...

BUT WAIT, there is way more than just that. As if I don’t already have enough video games to distract me, the large internet based game-center (for lack of a better term) called Steam has decided to also run a huge sale. Basically each day they will be giving out games at a huge discount (50% or more, sometimes close to 99% off) and so I’ve been watching it and collecting a large library of video games now. This has also taken both time and money from me. So, I’m having the greatest of trouble trying to get back into the whole “write stuff” thing. I have ideas, a lot of them, and they are all over the place. I’m ready to write them down too... but then I see the games and go back to that.

As far as my Holiday goes, this was definitely one of the more interesting ones. I’m not going to say it was good or bad, but it was somewhere in between for sure. Anyway, how was your holiday?

Change of Plans

Change of plans (Gasp, didn’t see that one coming), but I may not be doing the NaNoWriMo anymore. Besides the fact that I’ve been stressed to hell and thus have not been writing, I also got torn away from Colorado to go visit my Grandmother’s grave in Connecticut. I did enjoy going to Connecticut and seeing her grave, but I did so without my computer and thus greatly lost time in the NaNoWriMo as well as lost ideas/interest in the story I had.

However, I did randomly decided to start writing something else. To what effects it might be, we’ll have to see, but I’m going to send a small portion of it to one of my friends and see what she thinks. It should be weird.

Day Two of the No Video Games Program

And so I failed to make 5,000 words in my wake of what was yesterday (I don't honestly count it to be the next day until I sleep, the only exception of which being that I need the number of words completed before everyone else considers it to be the next day at midnight) and I haven't played video games yet. This of course makes me sad, because I love video games.

SO I started the program again today, 5,000 words to start playing video games. I figured that it helped me get 4,700 or something words yesterday so it wasn't a complete failure and already today I've made headway towards the final goal. Also, I might have to work a little faster if my friend calls me and wants to play and five... Anyway, it seems to be working really well so I think I'll keep this program in action. Next month I might keep it but I will lower the amount required each day so that I don't finish in the first eight days and then wait to play all month long. I'm not saying 5,000 words isn't a bit too much, just that I've gone into crisis mode and need to fix the problem that video games has caused this month

On a different note, the evolution of chapter 8 goes well. I've had a lot of interesting things to write about and kept the pace fairly forward for someone who is basically alone in the world I am describing. That's about as much as I can say, really. Actually I'm really looking forward to what happens after this chapter, there are some funny thing I want to say and some interesting points to make before the next stop on the list.

Well, gonna take a small break and then hop back on it.

Words for the Month: 9,206 / 40,000
Total Words: 89,265