Lately, I've been forgetting to log into Livejournal, which is really sort of sad. I just get caught up in other stuff and then suddenly it's ten p.m. and I have to get ready for bed... :/

Anyway, I don't really have news to speak of. I've been working and writing fanfic of late. But I thought I would do a meme since it looked amusing and I'm in the midst of some major procrastination. So here goes:

Post snippets of your Works in Progress on your journal. Gakked from wonderful_words.

( Seth/Eirika multi-chapter – Distance )
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( Seth/Eirika drabbles - Falling )

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( Seth/Eirika multi-chaptered – Untitled )

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( Seth/Eirika – Utitled one-shot )

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( Seth/Eirika oneshot – Invincible )

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( Current project - Artemis/Holly – Untitled )


I finish most of what I start but now and then projects just don't take off. I was surprised how many snippets I had lying around in my FE folder actually.

So I did it. Apparently. I finished all the changes I planned to make to my third draft. I went over all the comments by both my readers and did my best to make the story better. I feel oddly at loose ends, though. Shouldn't I be ecstatic or something? Maybe it's the perfectionist in me. Maybe I'm just twitchy because I'm not in the middle of anything anymore, neither a game nor a story nor a project.

*frets*

I'll need to print out the thing and then have it read for typos and read it myself once more. I need to figure out how to format it and where to send it. And then I need to let it go.

Well... at least I finally finally got this done, though. That's something at least.

I've been working on my edit all day. I mean literally, since this morning. With occasional breaks of course, but basically all day. I'm stopping now.

I'm proud to say, though, that there are only four things left to do. Two are just places where I have to tweak earlier chapters to make everything fit just right. The other two are bigger: I need to see about paring down one chapter and writing a new one. That'll be something to do next weekend.

This is what's left, listed by chapter so I can strike it out when it's done:

Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three


The other twenty-one chapters are revised and done with.

Chapters five and ten are done! I'm clear up to chapter twelve now. And suddenly I feel like I need a nap.

Something shocking happened today. I actually had the nerve to work on my rewrite. No one could be more shocked than I. I finished the scene I'd left hanging in chapter one. I'm now clear to move on to the bit in chapter five that needs to be cleaned up.

I have no idea how this happened. As recently as last Saturday I was still feeling overwhelmed at the thought of working on it. I'm not sure what tipped the scales. Last weekend I finished my second Artemis Fowl fic. I was tired much of this week as I went back to work. I had a couple of really interesting dreams. I listened to a random book that mentioned laziness, which may have spurred me to action somehow. I also told the folks on the site that I couldn't do news anymore. My chest clenches at the very site of a press release. Newswise I'm toast for a good long while.

Anyone interested in doing news for an RPG site? All you need is knowledge of and interest in RPGs. ;)

I'm still going to do stuff on the site, but after a steady year of news I need a break from it, even if the timing is awful. But it's truly a load off.

Anyway, I'm going to post edit updates like I did for the second draft since that seems to be encouraging and I need all the motivation I can get to finish this thing once and for all.

So: Chapter one done!
(Chapters 2-4 previously finished)

So I've been on vacation this week. Finally. Mostly I've been taking it easy and staying up late a lot, though today I went to the museum of nature to finally get a look at the revamped exhibits and tomorrow I'm going to brunch with a friend. It was strange to see the dinosaur exhibit; it's so different from the old one. I recognized most of the old pieces, though, and it was like seeing old friends. I practically lived in that exhibit as a child.

I've gotten lots of writing done. Upon finishing my first Artemis Fowl fic (which I began posting last week) I started writing a second one, mostly devoid of plot but somehow 9,200 at the end of the penultimate chapter. I so wish I knew someone who'd read the series so I could run it by them.

Oh and Pet Dragons seems to be eating my existence, but that's nothing new. ;)

It's 1:38 a.m. and I am totally incoherent right now, but very greatly amused.

There's an application I play on Facebook called "Pet Dragons." I play it with a bunch of other people and it's become like a fandom for me basically. We're playing the original game. Tonight the new game "Pet Dragons 2" was due to launch. A bunch of us North American players were staying up late to play it (name our new dragon, choose a cave location, ect.) and the European players got up early for it.

According to the status message from the devs, the server lasted five seconds before it crashed.

Epic.

Pet Dragons fans are so dedicated we killed the server. And now everyone is messaging about i frantically. It's awesome. I can hardly think straight for being up nearly three hours past bedtime, but it's so very funny I'm glad I didn't miss it.

Note to self:

In future, avoid writing stories centred around intelligence and counterintelligence operations as they tend to lead to brain implosion due to having to answer questions like: Does Opal know that Artemis knows that she knows that she's been monitoring his communications? O_o

I may have rearrange scene order so that the story actually... you know... makes sense.

Ah! I need four-day weekends like this more often. Amidst Easer activities I've been writing. Writing! And it's been going well! I'm so relieved. I'd been in such a rut. It's fanfic mind you. I had planned to work on my rewrite this weekend but instead I worked on an Artemis Fowl fanfic. *geek* But it's been so nice to be writing steadily. Last night I stayed up hours past bedtime to finish the chapter I was working on. I kept going till I ran out of plot. 2300 words. I can't remember the last time I wrote that much in one evening. Months. The story currently stands at just under 6000 words. I imagine it'll be just short of 10K when I finish.

I only wish I had the details of the later scenes worked out. I need to brainstorm. I so want to write more. I so love writing and I've so missed it...

Let's just quote A.M. Klein for good measure:

Then he will remember his travels over that body—
the torso verb, the beautiful face of the noun,
and all those shaped and warm auxiliaries!
A first love it was, the recognition of his own.
Dear limbs adverbial, complexion of adjective,
dimple and dip of conjugation!

Is there something about book six of a series that requires it to be cracky? I'm reading the 6th Artemis Fowl book today -- only a 120 pages in -- but once you get to chapter five or so it starts getting really cracky.

Best line so far:

"Get your pants on. Then we can discuss your theories."

EDIT: Book all done. I wish there were more. Or at least some more resolution what with so many things being up in the air at the end of book six but, most especially, with Artemis an Holly.

*wanders off to find solace on ffnet*

I think I'm due for a vacation. I haven't had one since September. I need to hold out until the end of May.

I should have posted during the week when I was all excited. Has anyone on my flist read the the Artemis Fowl books? I've been reading them and... I love them! They're great! I can't believe I didn't know this. On the up side it means there are six of them for me to read-- I'm currently in the middle of book five, though heaven knows I've got spoilers up the wazoo thanks to Wikipedia. There's even a ship I like, though it may be the wrong one, which is depressing, but you'd think I'd get over my need for canonicity...

Things have been otherwise uneventful. I been having troubling writing, which makes me feel... awful. So instead I've been writing reviews for RandomNPC. I posted on for Persona 4; a feature review for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, and I've got a draft of one for PuzzleQuest Galactrix, which I do not recommend as it was a very sloppy piece of work: bad controls, some poor gameplay decisions, obnoxious loading times-- the works.

Oh and I found a rather cute piece of Seth/Eirika fanart that I feel must be shared with the universe:

( explodes from cuteness )

Just a note to my flist... I haven't been on for a week or so. I've had some problems with eyestrain this week so I tried to reduce the amount of time I was spending online. So I'm really sorry for missing-- well basically, everything. I did a quick run through my flist to see if there was anything urgent... and sadly there was. :/ If there's anything else I should know, let me know.

And a belated meme from wonderful_words

"Comment and I'll give you a letter; then you have to list 10 things you love that begin with that letter. Afterward, post this in your journal and give out some letters of your own."

( The Letter 'M' )

First of all I would officially like to tell the record companies of Our Lady Peace, the Foo Fighters, Yellowcard, Stabilo, and Nickleback to kindly go to hell. I own the CDs and ripped them on my now defunct computer and now that I have a shiny new PC I'm not allowed to play the tracks thanks to their bloody software protection and will have to rip them again... assuming it lets me. Way to go, guys! Nice job. Screwing over fans who actually pay for your music is always a good move, especially for a small Canadian band like Stabilo.

Okay. Rant over. And now the music meme.

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game, post your own.
I used WMP, so it's a bigger collection than what I have on my poor little 4GB player.

( 20 songs, some of them easy, some of them from small Canadian bands no one is going to know )

Hmm... I really should get some sort of music icon...

There is, at this very moment, an owl perched in the crabapple tree outside. And I got PICS!

You have to understand that my neighbourhood is about 15-20 minutes out of downtown Ottawa so I'm always amazed at the creatures that show up around here. It seems to be a combination of the large number of old trees here and our proximity to the Gatineau Park. This is the first time I've seen an owl, though. Take a look!

( An owl! Hoot! I mean Woot! )

wonderful_words reminded me that I should post more and since I'm procrastinating like mad at present, I thought I might as well do so.

RL-wise... Ugh. I was exhausted all week and rather despondent. I feel paralyzed vis a vis my third draft and filled with doubt about my ability to write something publishable. And without my writing... I feel adrift.

So... I've been writing a little fanfic instead. Fire Emblem (and Seth/Eirika), of course, a short fic idea I came up with a year or so ago. It takes place during TSS and is told from the pov of a female halberdier who happens to be rather taken with the Silver Knight. I suppose it suits my mood. The story can't, per se, have a happy ending, at least not for the narrator (for obvious reasons), so the tone is melancholy at times.

I've also been posting Moments, the mostly-fluffly AU piece I spent most of last year writing, and Happiness, the Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness fic I wrote in the fall.

I really should go back to my fic-- I wrote some 2,500 words today-- but I'm not entirely sure how things play out in the last chapter. :P

( Year in Review 2008. Dang. My 2007 answers were so much better :( )

Happy New Year!

I don't know what is lately, but it seems like I can't pick a ship that floats.

So I was watching this anime tonight-- all night from 7:30 till 11:00-- and I was enjoying it because it's been so long since I've done it that I can't remember the last time. But then something unpleasant occurred. Randomly, about four episodes from the end of the series, there was a conversation where it was revealed that the main female character is not in fact in love with the young, innocent fellow you've been led to think she's in love with for like 20 episodes. No no, she's actually in love with brooding hero fellow. Why, I don't know. He's wise, okay, I'll give him that, but he seems otherwise bereft of human emotion. I wasn't crazy about him to begin with. Now I'm just sickened. I don't like being led around like that. I'm a shipper. A natural born shipper. I will get attached to the first ship you dangle in front of me and pulling the rug out from under me at the very end of the series is... well %#&% that. It's a deal-breaker. I'm not going to rent the final disc. Why bother? I got the gist of what happens from Wikipedia. And I'm so tired of being disappointed. So many books, so many stories, movies, etc., so many of them just screw things up.

I need to write something soon. I've been without a story for a few weeks and it always makes me crazy when I go for too long...

I need to write. Everyone else's stories are such a diappointment. Such an utter disappointment.

(Oh and and newsflash! Most girls prefer nice men over brooding loners who seem indifferent to women. Indifference is not attractive. And at least my female characters have more good sense. Male anime script writers clearly do not know anything about female characters. Gee. Shocker.)

Man it's not bad enough that there's a person with my real name who pops up on Google searches with reference to illegal substances no less, but I just noticed that there's also someone on deviantart with the exact same username as me. A guy. And not just "wolfraven"-- there are a ton of those around-- but "wolfraven80." I wonder if it's the same person who once accidentally registered to a site using my hotmail address. O_o

Apparently I lose at originality. ;P

Well apparently Nano did the trick because here I am on a Saturday night looking over the notes jenniferlupin and Kitsilver sent me about my original story (Nano and listening to Viva la Vida over and over as it makes me think of my story). It's not quite as overwhelming as it was in August. It's manageable. Almost. ;P


The worst part is, many of the "complaints" were the result of material I chopped out during the rewrite. I cut out a ton of stuff to speed up the early chapters and for clarity's sake some of it needs to go back in in some form (not sure what and how yet...). The original version was painfully slow, but now I need to go back and explain some things and maybe put a couple scenes back in. Hmm... *ponders*

Plus I need to somehow work on the world-building in early chapters add clarify the politics. Ack! I think that's my brain breaking. It's so tricky with fantasy: how do you avoid info-dumps? In real world stories all you have to worry about is character and setting; you don't have to introduce a whole new world with its own set of rules. The trick is not overwhelming your reader at the start and yet giving them enough to make it interesting.


Still getting used to the new PC.

50,054 / 50,000 (100.1%)

Finally!

So, just to recap:

1. I managed to be more behind this year than I ever had before-- 8000 words behind by the 15th, which resulted in my writing 8000 words during my six hour stay at the Write-in of Doom.

2. I managed to finish later than I ever had before-- around 1:30pm on the very last day.

3. I completed 16 and a half dares.

4. Dare sixteen was "Include the Urbandictionary.com word of the day on every day your work on your novel" and dare sixteen and a half was when my friend Elaine dared me to add two more words of the day so I had the Leet word of the day and a Japanese word of the day (the latter set of words all went to my Wapanese character). The net result was that I had to work in 90 words, some of which were truly awful excuses for words. Highlights included:

bike-sexual, flesh forks, textrovert, sargasm, pre-wasted, vegetarian vampires, etc.

Seriously, WTF O_o

5. I also had a dare wherein you have the title of every chapter be a song title from a band of your choosing. I used The Police. They have some really strange song titles so I got to name one chapter "Tea in the Sahara."

( All sixteen and a half dares )

So now, the torment is finally over and, with any luck, I'll be feeling strong enough to finally dig into that third draft. Oh and btw, the Nano is called "Reality Check (or How Weird Al Yankovic Saved My Nano). ;)