My nano novel just derailed—but it's okay! It just looks like we're fleeing Reno now. Sooner that I'd been expecting. So now all those plot point cards I have...just have to take place while everyone's running for the coast. Yeah...I think we can fix this...

Anyway, my nano playlist is significantly shorter this year so I went actually included almost of the songs I've been writing to (minus those that really sucked). I noticed significantly more songs with female vocals made the list this year. Perhaps a symptom of having more female characters. I can dig it.

18 mp3s . 66.2 mb zip file . download

★ Yesterday was moving day! Today was go-out-and-buy-all-the-crap-we're-missing day. Tomorrow will be unpacking boxes day 3.0! For serious though, we mostly just have books left to unpack and the bookshelf is still...in the car. Obviously not assembled. At least James got the shower curtain up today! And we even got someone to come HOOK UP THE COLD WATER IN THE SHOWER. When we called the office about that they were like "why is that a pressing problem again?" Because I guess they forget that it's more enjoyable to shower when you're not getting scalded?? IDK, dudes.

★ We've been watching Undeclared but with all the moving drama we didn't get through much of it. OMG Jason Segal's character is totally the best part, even though he's only in a few episodes. I guess these guys are okay too:

LOL at how dated this show is.

★ I have like 6 unfinished mixes in my moleskine right now! Whaaat. A lot of them are story mixes I keep getting side-tracked on. The one for this year's nano novel is pretty much complete, but I've been putting off posting because I MIGHT FIND ANOTHER KEY SONG, OKAY. Then there are a bunch of Second Chances ones...a general story mix I gave up on because idk, it was too general; one titled "funeral/emo edition" NO SERIOUSLY; and one I started for Anna (Rayn's mom WHAT) as a teenager because I've been thinking too much about that story. Oh, and ~two~ SC couple mixes which are probably the closest to being done--but idk guys, can I mix about something I haven't done much narrative for yet? Is that like a spoiler?


GEEZ THAT IS TOO MANY UNFINISHED MIXES WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.

Oh, and I also have 6 songs noted for a mix titled oh you hopeless boys, I DON'T EVEN KNOW. Give me songs about hopeless boys!!

★ oh, and SPEAKING OF THAT NOVEL THING, nanowrimo progress is kind of lagging D:

19213 / 50000 words. 38% done!

GO UP GO UP GO UP!! James said I could take some time off unpacking duties tomorrow to write. Because he likes my hair. See what a great incentive that was??

HEY, IF YOU USE A MAC AND YOU HAVEN'T HEARD--FREE STUFF!:
http://www.macheist.com/
http://www.macheist.com/
http://www.macheist.com/

Haven't tried all the programs yet, but:

• Writeroom is the program I wrote my nanowrimo novel in last year and it's brilliant for that. Totally simple, distraction free writing. This year I'm using Scrivener and doing a lot worse lol but Writeroom is still awesome.
• Tinygrab is also really badass. I used it to show Sly and Matthew how my chat program randomly decided I wanted to block myself. Now that I'm looking at the cap, I'm trying to figure out what the hell I was reading in the lower left corner. And yeah, I was totally seaching for the word "abortion" in the search bar...maybe I just won't share these caps anymore.

Order the second, I wanted to reblog this from deelaundry, because in the spirit of this month so far (see last post) I am really into laughing at the stupidity of bigots instead of getting pissed off about it. I think that is probably better for your heart, so without further ado, this lovely clip from the Colbert report about these fellas getting stopped and trespassed in Salt Lake City for...

DARING TO KISS ON THE CHEEK IN PUBLIC! Enjoy! The high point may be the Mormon missionaries making out on the couch but idk, it's all pretty brilliant.  "I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT A PROFESSOR OF STICKING IT TO THE GAYS"





Nano update pending. I'm on track, but I don't want to post about it until I write today :)

They spelled it even worse than I did!!

(also, "emo's"?? lolol)

So with Halloween (which I spent helping James move his stuff instead of eating candy* or dressing up—BOOO to being a grown-up!!), October draws to a close.

I'm not going to beat myself up about my novel revisions—which I'd say are 1/3 finished right now—because that was pretty wishful thinking that I would finish those in a month. I did work out the problem I was having with my plot and map out some strategies for fixing it...so that could have gone worse at least!

And NaNoWriMo planning really came together this week! After a certain amount of panic (why did I promise to shave my head?? Am I crazy??) I managed to through together 2/3 of an at least semi-coherent plot! Sticking with the Nano idea I posted about previously, but retitling it Grift for the time being. I have 27 index cards of scenes and all my major characters (including the villain!) have been figured out.

My only concerns right now are that the "big" con the characters pull is not that interesting D: Oh, a Jamaican switch? La-dee-freaking-da. Even though it's not the main thrust of the story, I still hope I can eventually come up with something better. Oh, and I'm still trying to figure out what the heck happens with Oliver. And I have no idea what'll happen at the end. But I can't be alone with that last one.


I want to stay up and start writing after midnight, as is traditional, but I might be too dead after all the moving adventures to really give it my all until tomorrow. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE KICKING IT OFF TONIGHT, THOUGH!!

*full disclosure: we did eat some Starburst to keep from crashing when we had to delay lunch. Then I gave the remaining ones to a trick-or-treater who had the misfortune of stumbling onto my doorstep. I live in an apartment and wasn't expecting any kids to come by, okay? At least I didn't give him those three remaining Camels in the junk drawer. See, I'm responsible.

I see you guys talking about rewards for meeting your NaNoWriMo word goals.
Here's my NaNo pledge:

IF I DO NOT REACH 50K THIS YEAR
I WILL SHAVE MY HEAD

(oh, eta: this was suggested by james)
And yeah, I'll post pictures to confirm. But hopefully, it won't come to that :D

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of art/design stuff this month, but I didn't forget about...



( wherein I make very little progress on revisions )

So, planning. That has been going just all right too. The good news is that I've worked out a lot of the important backstory and managed to overcome what I thought would be a huge stumbling block. This will be meaningless to everyone who is not me, but I FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET AROUND SENDING ISHIDA TO JUVIE \o/ Because that was going to cause me a monster headache in research lol. And I think my solution adds to the story.

( character stuff where I lament the fact that everyone needs aliases )

( and my villain woes )

Ugh, the more I think about that scenario the more it seems totally bogus. My instincts are telling me to come up with something better. Back to the drawing board! THERE'S STILL TIME!

wow, the coffee shop I'm in is playing Go Sailor! Portland continues to be amazing ♥

if you want a listen too: a fine day for sailing (on my tumblr)

This week was THE WEEK FROM HELL in terms of dental work for me. Don't avoid the dentist for 5 years unless you want to get a gazillion fillings, okay kids? At least I lucked out and found an awesome dentist so getting the fillings wasn't so bad (I'd recommend her for any dentist-phobes in the Portland area). My mouth is still just mega sore because the cavities were all BETWEEN my teeth so the fillings shifted their positions a bit and I have the kind of feeling you get after having braces tightened.

And then yesterday was THE DAY FROM HELL in terms of my emotional well-being and my relationship with my family. Two I'm-freaking-out phone calls to my cousin helped but yegods, my grandparents do NOT approve of my decision to move in with my boyfriend. That conversation actually went 20 times worse than I could have imagined. I feel like I've permanently fucked up my relationship with them and I don't think I'll be able to stop feeling bad about this for a while.

But hey, I'm 24 23 and it's my life and blah blah blah let's get drunk and forget about it

OH! Something that is not horrible: I found what looks like a really kickass graphic novel program at PNCA!! I've been doing sooo much drawing lately (SORRY, OCTO D:) and I was looking at some webcomics the other day and thinking about how much I miss doing comics. And it looks like program is not all that hard to get into. I need a portfolio of 15-20 pieces of my best stuff (at the moment, I think there are about 5 I am not ashamed of), but I've also been meaning to put together a show for a local coffee shop so this is a really good motivator.

Also need to start going to figure drawing again because I am sooo rusty on anatomy.

So graphic novel certificate then maybe go for my MFA in visual studies?? This is my new plan because I am flighty. But as James pointed out, drawing is really really one of my favorite things. And I don't think I really need an MFA in Creative Writing k thanks.

I hate that there is so much text in this entry, so here's a "why did I save this?" doodle from my "doodles" folder:


ART SCHOOL, HERE I COME!