01.03.10 - A New Year's Resolution

Okay, this is something that I'm sure happens a lot in the beginning of the year, but I'm making a resolution. I've made several over the past three days. Some of which I'm going to list here. But my main resolution is to blog every day. No matter how tired I am. No matter what I write about. I need to blog, to actually keep writing. It's hard and it will be a challenge so, here it goes.

Anyways, other solutions:

1) Never regret something that once made you smile.

2) Take a picture every day. At the end of the year, I'm going to compile them together. At the moment, I have no idea what to take for today's picture. I'm off and I have spent the day watching movies and napping. Totally a lazy Sunday. But lazy Sundays are good every once in a while. I needed this one.

Okay, I have to get back to the long list of things I have to do this evening, including make dinner, but expect blogs every day! My total of like two readers.

Precious Fragile Little Thing...

I have made my NaNoWriMo account. I'm excited and nervous. I really want to win this and accomplish something so we shall see. It's over here. Also, my website is updated with a new picture, new playlist and a link to my NaNo profile. :) (That's over here.)

The new journaling idea has been working out so far. It's actually helping with plotting, so I'm gonna be keeping that up. It's been fun. I try to take some time out of my lunch hour to do some writing and it's been successful. Also, I try to do something writing related when I get home too, so that I'm not all distracted by the internet. Trying to get ready for next month. I'm seriously doing this and I wanted to try this for a few years now. Last year was a half-hearted attempt. This year, I'm going to do this.

So for now, I'm going to write away from the computer and that temptress, the internet, while I'm waiting for dinner to be ready. Wish me luck!

New thoughts!

So, I'm going to be attempting a new writing exercise inspired by Amie. Her prompt last week to write a letter from your character. Well, since I've got more than my fair share of characters rolling around in my brain, my idea is to write a journal as the character. I had done this a long time ago as part of a role playing game I was playing online at the time. The character had lost her boyfriend and suddenly she was just lost and that wasn't like her. So she went on hiatus from the game and I write a private journal for her. It worked out really when and when she got back to the game, she was more like herself. Yes, there was heart break still, which was obvious since she'd lost her love, but she was the character in my head, not the one who had managed to come out of my fingers. So that's my new idea. We'll see how well it goes. :)

A random burst of inspiration

So I was sitting at my computer, admittedly goofing off and listening to music and something hit me, a little bit of my new novel. I know that I haven't shared anything of that here so here it is. A little for those of you who read this. It comes from last Monday's prompt from The Writer Chick.

Izzy sat at her desk, computer on in front of her and her headphones plugged in. Looks like her iTunes had it in for her, a sappy love song with a waltz beat to currently blasting in her ears, making her heart tighten. She still missed him and it had been a year. School was going to start in a couple of weeks and all she had on her mind was the boy she'd killed. Her fingers were poised over the keys but nothing was coming out. She couldn't get out a word, not even in her journal. It was killing her to keep this all inside.

Suddenly, from the world outside the earbuds, a hip hop beat. Frowning, she pulled one out of her ear and glanced at her closed bedroom door. That couldn't have been Helene. She didn't listen to that kind of stuff. Pausing her music, Isadora stood and moved to the door, tucking her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. The music was coming from the spare bedroom down the hall.

The door was cracked open and she could see someone swaying to the beat, leaning over the bed. Curious, she pushed the door open and the redhead whirled on her.

"Miranda."

"Hey, cousin!" The other siren smiled at her, the smile that meant trouble, plain and simple. This was not good. "Guess who's moving in!"

“She’s just staying with us for a little while. Her mother miscarried again. And I thought you liked your cousin.” Tessa looked at her youngest daughter, a slightly annoyed look on her face. “Besides, she’s soon to be marked, like you. It’s time you started to spend time with sirens your age, talked about getting ready to join the council. There is so much in your future, little one. It’s time you started to get ready for it instead of hiding in your room.”

“I go out, Mom.” She flopped down on the bed as her mother was getting ready to go out. “Lena and I went out two nights ago. I even picked up a sailor.” It wasn’t something she was proud of, but she knew her mother worried. Helene had all but forced her on the boy and she knew she had no choice. She couldn’t disappoint them.

“Is it really that bad that I don’t hang out with girls from the coven?”

Her mother looked at her in the mirror as she put in her earrings. “It reflects poorly on me, little one. I’m one of the prominent members of the coven’s council of elders and my own daughter wants nothing to do with other sirens. It is that bad.” Tessa smiled sympathetically and spritzed perfumes on her wrists and neck and moved to sit next to her daughter. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m going through a lot right now. I have to get pregnant, Randa’s here and my sister is having a hard time with this miscarriage. You know how bad I got last time. This is worse for her.”

She knew her aunt Aria had three in a row and her mother only had one. At least the birth before that had been a boy. That was excusable. Poor Aria. Sighing, Isadora pushed herself off the bed. “Alright. I’ll see if any of the girls want to go out with us tonight.”

Tessa smiled. “That’s my girl.” She stood and kissed her forehead before heading out of the bedroom and towards the stairs. “Make sure you watch out for each other. And try not to get blood on your dress, little one!”

Now it's time to go...

Oh, look. Another month went by and I haven't posted. I promise you that I have been writing during that time though. I'm putting together a new novel idea and it's working out pretty well at the moment. It's unique (or so I'm told) so we shall see. It's taking the Greek mythology surrounding sirens and modernizing it. So all of my fingers and toes are crossed on this one.

Real life has been a bit of a pain in the butt. Working and paying bills and trying to find a roommate have occupied my thoughts. I'm hoping once things settle down again that my blogging and writing will take a more regular turn and we'll have weekly updates again instead of quick monthly ones.

Also, new blog picture thanks to the wonderful Michael Abella. He is my hero. That is all as it is time for work. :)

It has definitely been a while.

I know that I am yet again giving apologies, but there was some family things that I needed to take care of. My grandmother passed away at the end of July and to be quite honest, I hadn't done anything the week prior to her passing and since then. It's been emotional and draining and I didn't have much in me.

Now, I've started something that I've been toying with for over a year now. And, it's definitely NOT easy. It entails creating my own mythology surrounding a kind of creature, making it work, using what's there, melding it to what I need. It is so much work, but I'm kind of jazzed about it. I have index cards in different colors on my doors at the moment and its kind of funny. They're all grouped together by different catagories. Seems a little more orderly than I usually am, but we'll see how it works.

For now, I'm going to go try to write as much as I can tonight. I don't get a lot of time to work since I've got a full time job, but since other authors make it work, I've got to suck it up and do this. No more excuses.

Do You Honestly Expect Me To Believe We Could Ever Be The Same?

So, it's been kind of a crazy week with everything that's been going on. No excuse, but I let most things get away from me. But considering I've become productive again, I'm just gonna take it and run with it.

I spent two hours writing in Barnes and Noble yesterday. Sometimes I do my best writing in places like that, where I have my music on really loud so I can't hear anything but I can see people moving around and doing things, interacting. So I'm not completely detached but I can focus on what I'm doing. Ended up needing a new notebook which is very exciting. I rewarded myself with new pens and post its. I love post its. They're my weakness; ask anyone. My family used to put them in my Christmas stocking. It's a sickness.

Anyways, this new idea is stemming from one that I'd mentioned previously regarding the guy who was in the Army. Well, I have an actual plot idea, which is pretty cool so I'm trying to write as much as I can. He's interesting and I'm still diving into him. For a while, there won't be anything typed up, either. I'm going to do what I did in college when I wrote stories or fanfiction (yes, I was one of those. Still known to dabble when the mood strikes. Don't judge.) where I wrote everything out by hand first and then from paper to computer was a revision. We'll see how well that goes.

And all the things that you never ever told me...

When you find out someone is sick, it's very strange. It's the uncertain feeling, like you're not sure if you should be mad at someone or not. I don't really have anyone to be mad at right now. It isn't anyone's fault. And there isn't anything that anyone can do about it, so all that you can do is pray and try to be there for each other. I found out last night that my grandmother is dying from a very rare brain disease. It isn't something that's easy to deal with, obviously, but it is something that I have to deal with. As a writer, it's an interesting moment to see how people interact, how people come together to support us in this time. People take so much for granted and it's funny how to the story in my head is about someone who takes who he is for granted and then when that's gone, he doesn't know how to deal with it. But I think I'm putting him on hold for a little while.

Right now I want to write a tribute to the woman my grandmother is. She grew up in Brooklyn, worked as a nurse and lived all over the place, including the Philippines. She has always been a constant in my life and not just as my family member. She is an inspiration, involved in everything she can possibly be involved in. Always strong, she was my spiritual guidance, my go to when I wasn't feeling well. I have never known a woman with the strength and perseverance of my grandmother. One day I hope to write someone like her, but for now I can only try to get my feelings for her down on paper.

For those of you who read my blog, and I know you are few at the moment, but I ask for your prayers and to keep my family and myself in your hearts. We will have a trying time ahead of us and I know we will all need the support of good friends and kind people. Thank you.

I Give It All My Oxygen

Been an interesting day. Went visiting all over the place and met some nice people. Worked on the website some (www.me-night.com) so that was mildly productive. The only thing I didn't like about today was that I didn't really write anything. This makes me sad. Granted, I am writing a blog right, now which is good, but I didn't write anything story wise. So maybe as soon as I post this, I can open Pages and get something actually out there. I need to get focused and start working towards something.

I might try running with the idea I'd been working on the other night, about the guy in the Army. I think he might be a fun character to wrap my head around. Not my usual, but I think I should start simple and work my way up. Not sure what to name him yet, though. I want him to be someone people looked up to because he was brave. Now that he's stuck at a desk, that mentality has changed some. He needs to feel a purpose in what he's doing. Gee, I wonder where he's coming from. Let's see how this pans out.

OH! I almost forgot. I have a Twitter now too. http://twitter.com/me_night Please follow!

Apologies

I have been completely MIA lately and I'm sorry. I let life get away from me yet again and haven't focused on what I needed to be doing to get ahead as a writer. Let's just say this is take two on my trying to get better.

I've had a lot of great character ideas, especially while at work. One of my coworkers mentioned a certain kind of person, one of those action hero types and this person started to evolve in my brain. He had been someone who came from a broken home and did the only this he could do to feel involved: he joined the army. Working hard, he climbed the ranks, thinking he'd finally found a place to belong. But when he got hurt and was slated to a desk job and with that, he had to figure out where his place was when he wasn't on a battlefield.

Then my head keeps going and I start a romance novel in my head and I'm not sure I want to go that route. If I do, it'll be more like a realistic story and I'm not sure this is what I want to do.... Any suggestions?

Also, my website will be under going a MAJOR overhaul and there will be a twitter up soon. I have to be good about this and the more things I have to try to do everyday, the better I'll be. I can't keep letting events and life get in the way of what I want.