Struggling Author's Blog

Moving, yet again confirmed.

2011-06-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I move a lot. This one however, will hopefully be my last move for a long time. This is a move that for one solidifies my residence, secondly it is long-term and not something that will be something to change in a short hop and a skip. This move is into a house, yes a house not an apartment. A house that will be owned by one of the residing individual's in name, only by one.

I promise this move is for the good of all involved.

Working on Documentation

2011-06-02T04:14:00.000-07:00

I have begun working on the documentation of a project called XliteWM. It is a window manager project on sourceforge. There is not much currently but as I get more finished I will work to get it uploaded as quickly as possible. The project's goal is to create an extremely minimalistic window manager utilizing the power of the library that is XCB. XCB is a replacement on Unix systems for the outdated Xlib.

Writing Contributions to Soon be Found Online

2011-05-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

In an effort to give back to the community that helps to support my writing, I am going to begin to edit and write articles in the Arch Linux Wiki. This is great for them because it will help their wiki become even greater than it already is. It is currently a wonderful resource for information about programs for all linux distributions, particularly Arch Linux but it is helpful to users using all types and varieties of linux distributions. This will also help with getting my name or at least my main username known and thereby create knowledge and hopefully grow this wonderful audience I have going here. :) Thank you all for reading my blog and have a wonderful day.

Well, today was a bit dull.

2011-05-21T00:36:00.000-07:00

Today, was not very exciting for me. It ended with me finding out that there might be a few hurdles upcoming fast to my financial stability. This is bad news for me. Worst case it means I will need to move again, hopefully to somewhere with less expenses. I am hoping not to move, but there is that possibility. I must take care of myself. I would like to keep this blog active and I will do my best to do just that. I will do my best to start writing again, but I have to keep finances secured so that I can keep a roof over my head. Wish/pray that I succeed and good night.

LibreOffice 3.4 to be released?

2011-05-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

I was looking around the Internet and I came upon a statement that LibreOffice was releasing the fifth beta for 3.4.0. This is exciting to me since it means that the office suite that I use is going to be getting a nice update. This is nice because it means the project is not dead, that there are many people interested in developing and pushing the productivity and usefulness of the suite. It is not an office suite that is necessarily required for me to write but it is definitely something I am interested in following. As with all new open source software there is a time after the release where bugs are found but my experience with this project is one that most major releases have few seriously critical bugs. I am looking forward to its release! Are you?

My 5 Essential Software for Writing

2011-05-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Below are the 5 most essential software packages that I have on my computer when it comes to my writing.

1. Libreoffice
This is the office software that I use to do all of my writing in. Nothing else seems to cut it. It is a full office suite and in my honest opinion it is the best one out there. This office suite is compatible with most other office applications including most if not all of those made by Microsoft. It comes with 4 different applications and a launcher for all of them (this has been called a quick launcher or a quick starter).

2. Linux
The one and only operating system that I can stand. This is a personal opinion and a preference, by no means am I saying that you should switch to it. It is not the only option that can be used for writing. I like it because I can make it as minimalistic as I want and have it do exactly what I want it to. Technically according to some Linux is not an operating system but just the kernel, I am one of those that sit on the fence on this topic. I can sometimes get what both sides of the argument are saying and agree with both of the two sides.

3. Openbox
This is my Window Manager of choice, this is not a full Desktop Environment (like is on Windows or available with KDE or Gnome.) It is a lightweight piece of software that manages my windows. Technically it is not necessary but I find it helpful, particularly when I have multiple windows open.

4. Tint2
This is my panel of choice, it is set up on my computer to show me what applications I have running and what time it is. That is basically all that I have it do, although it can do much more. For those that don't know what a panel is for a window manager it is similar to the bar that is typically located at the bottom of a the screen on a Window's machine that shows your running programs and the clock. My panel does not have a menu to choose applications from. I use the menu provided by my window manager.

5. VLC or Firefox or Audacious
While writing I almost always have one or more of these applications running. Firefox is a web browser, for those that don't know. VLC is a program for playing movies and clips, and Audacious is my music player of choice. I cannot write while it is quite therefore I need something that can provide my mind a little distraction so that my thoughts can flow.

I have returned!

2011-05-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile, but I have finally found myself a spot where I can write and blog frequently. This is not an ideal location, but it will work for now. I know there is a lot of work that I intend to do to this blog, but I need to start slowly and steadily. I will try to post frequently, but I will not make any promises. However, I will make one promise. That promise is that this will not be the last post you see from me!I am going to try to post at least once a week. No promises on that however. I have not been able to find a good job, or anything since moving so things may be a bit sporadic. If you know of any financial sources of money that I can use to stabilize my life. Please let me know.This will not be the last you read from me. I promise.

Moving...May have and may continue to disrupt posting

2011-01-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

I am moving, therefore I cannot guarantee that I will be able to continue to post for a number of weeks. I will do my best to resume posting as quickly and reasonably as I can.

I make no promises on the time period that will be required for me to move and establish a time and location to post from. Whether that place is from my new home or not is yet to be decided.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Resolution Failure?

2011-01-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

It would appear as if I am failing at keeping my New Year's resolution. This is sad, however perhaps there is still hope for me. Somewhere I hope there is. Hope that I will be able to continue to post here, hope that life will continue to flourish. Hope that my writing is not done. Hope that the world will one day be able to find my work on a shelf. Hope that someone is reading this and cares, truly cares.

Since I have been failing to do entrecard as well, I think I will be removing the gadget from the side of my blog. Anyone willing to voice concern and care please feel free to post. Goodbye. I hope to post again soon.

Resolution for the New Year

2010-12-31T14:14:00.000-08:00

Well it is almost the end of the year, and I have made a resolution for the coming year: I am going to post here at least once a week. No excuses. A MINIMUM of once a week. I will accept no less. I think that it is a reasonable assumption for me to make that I can commit myself to posting here at least once a week. Hopefully I will be able to do so. I cannot afford to allow myself to let this blog go dormant once more. That would be an utter failure on my part. Well, it is time for me to go get ready to celebrate the arrival of the new year!

Good luck everyone with their own New Year's Resolutions!

P.S. Feel free to share!

I will be working on editing one of my novels tomorrow.

2010-12-30T14:40:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, if everything goes the way that I hope it will I will have time to start to edit one of my novels. Which one of them? Well, the one I have most recently written, of course. It was written during NaNoWriMo. I personally think that it is a little short, but more than likely while editing I will find a spot or two where I skipped an entire scene. Perhaps there will be a spot that I totally missed or screwed something up, but it will be fixed and corrected while I edit it. A work is never finished until it is perfect, but most of us (I know I do) fall short of that goal, having to accept the best that we can do and create.

Thanks to everyone who has been showing interest in my work. I will post an example of it on here sometime. However, I doubt it will be a novel. They tend to be long pieces of work, but perhaps I will post a song, poem, or short story soon. In my opinion it helps for those aspiring to write novels to write other forms of literature, otherwise our writings will fall short due to our own negligence. However, if any of you feel differently I do not fault you for it, some people are just programmed differently than others.

Thanks for reading this.

P.S. Below is a brief description for all of those that do not do not know what NanoWriMo is.
NaNoWriMo is a time of year, the month of November, where authors around the world sit down and write aiming to write a minimum of fifty thousand words within the month. It can be an exhilarating experience, but at times it can be quite depressing. I know from experience that it can be truly depressing when you have had to do other things for the month and the eighteenth comes around and you have less than ten thousand words written.

It is not usually a difficult task for me to write fifty thousand words in a month, but last November was extremely irritating in how it miraculously found other things that I needed to take care of or do. However, I made it and I am proud of the work that I did write. It may be the best novel I have written yet! No, that is not an exaggeration. That is how I presently feel about that particular piece of written work. Well, once again thanks for reading and I look forward to all of your comments!

Restarting Entrecard

2010-12-29T06:56:00.000-08:00

IN an effort to revitalize this blog, I have once again resumed using entrecard. I know it has been awhile since I was actually active, but life happened. I know that sounds like an excuse but it is not. So welcome back Entrecard users!

Resurrection and transformation

2010-12-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about the termination of this blog and I have decided that it would be of better use to me if it was not allowed to die. Instead it will be transformed into a site more focused on my writings. Therefore, from now on this site will be primarily used to inform those reading of my success or lack thereof in the publishing idustry and the progress of current writing objectives!

As a step towards this goal, I have arranged for a custom domain that will soon take effect. Thanks to all those that care and I look forward to your comments in the future!

Farewell.

2010-11-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

I am sorry to say that since I have been failing to write and update this blog I will be discontinuing it. If there is anyone reading this blog that would prefer me to remain updating this blog perhaps once to thrice a year, let me know. Leave a comment and I will see what I can do, but I will make no promises.

Sincere regrets

2010-07-26T14:08:00.001-07:00

I am so sorry... I had things happen in the last few months and after I had issues with my computer resolved I was mildly reminded that it is the temperamental piece of metal, plastic, and silicon that it is.

I will try to start re-posting as soon as I can...

With everything that has happened I even lost the time to work on writing my novels and on my graphic art. I do not like having had this happen, but there is nothing I can do. Nothing I could do to prevent it and I am not certain that I will be able to resume immediately anyway but I had some free time so I figured I would update everyone.

I'm back up and running

2009-12-21T22:42:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile but I have finally gotten my computer actually back up and running! I can type my novel once again. Unfortunately I've lost all of the data that I had on my computer... including the novel. Oh, well it has been long enough that I would've needed to begin novel 3 over again.

I will update you all on the progress!

Still here...

2009-10-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

I am still alive but I have not been able to find a way to get back online frequently and for that I am sorry. I am trying to get it figured out and I will be back to posting regularly as soon as I can. Until then please keep coming back and I promise one day soon I will be back. That is a promise you can bet on.

Sorry People...Computer Problems

2009-10-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry everyone, I am experiencing technical difficulty with my computer. I am not able to get online and stay there long enough to post most days. This post is coming from the local library. I am not able to come here regularly but I will try to keep updating this blog as much as possible.

Update and next plot info

2009-09-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

I did not get much written today on novel three for I had a lot of other things I needed to do. However, this seems like the perfect time to continue with the plot info I have begun to provide.

The Dogs are central to the entire plot of the book. There are two key Dogs you will meet in the first section of book one: Isabelle and Maureen. Isabelle is the leader, the only Dog that is supposed to speak English and in charge of interacting with Sir Michael. Maureen is her youngest sister and at that is very protected by Isabelle. That is until a catastropic turn of events makes her the focus of all in the Kingdom.

Sir Michael has difficulty performing his duties in the begining. He grew up in another land, one in which he had very little interaction. He is not used to dealing with others and is not sure how to react to his new surroundings. Therefore, it is a challenge when he is dropped into his new position. Add on top of that the catastropic events ivolving Maureen and it is not surprising he seeks help. Unfortunately for him, not all the help he recieves proves beneficial......

Stay tuned for more later.....

Novel Progressed a few thousand words today!

2009-09-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today I have almost hit the 10,000 word mark on novel three not that I have a set limit of how many words must go into a novel, just that I like knowing how many words that I have gotten down. It helps me to feel as if I have accomplished something. Most common novels have anywhere between eighy thousand to a hundred and twenty thousand words in them, of course that is not counting the books' epilogues and prologues. I am going to go write some more tomorrow, but that will be tomorrow's work not todays. I will let you all know how that fares at the end of the day.

JFYI (Just for your information): I finally have an office chair to utilize while typing instead of an uncomfortable dining chair. It may not speed up my writing, but it will make it likely that I will be able to spend longer stretches of time writing.

Now I am going to go back and write some more. Good night and sleep well.

Novel progressed some today!

2009-09-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

Today has been good for the novel, I have gotten a couple thousand words written so far and I am going to be going back to write more as soon as I am finished here! I am going to begin trying to write daily. I will find some other time to work on the game, my first priority must be the novel. As much as the game is fun to work on, which is more important to me writing or working on the game? It is definitely writing and therefore, I need to stop trying to do both equally and focus on one or the other.

The statement above: "I am going to begin trying to write daily." Does not mean that I haven't tried to write daily. It's real meaning is that I am going to attempt to set aside time everyday to just write.

I do realize that some of you reading this may have been looking forward to me getting further progress made on the game, and I promise that it will happen. I just can not promise that it will happen soon.

Good night, everyone. I am going to go back to working on the novel now!

Novel progressed today

2009-09-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

Today, I got a little time to work on the novel, not much but some. I probably got about a thousand words written. It's gotten to an interesting point to me and will probably begin to progress faster if I get time to write it. Currently the novel has focused on two of the main characters, although it will most likely focus on all five throughout the book.

For once I'm going to give you a bit of background into the series. My fiance pointed out to me that I am not giving any plot info and without that what's the point right? So here goes:

The series is based in the Kingdom of Ruksnort. It is a land similar to what we live in, however there are a few huge changes: Humans exist, but so do many other races: Minotaurs, Stone Giants, Flying Beasts, and most importantly a race of half Dog-half humans. There is a man in charge of relating to these Dogs (as they are called) and his title is the Master of the Dogs. Sir Michael is his name and his job is to ensure they are safe, protected and happy as they turn out to be very important to the Kingdom's safety.

There are two brothers who "rule" the land: Robert the Dreaded and King Sylvester. Now King Sylvester was given the right to rule the Kingdom and his brother Robert saw himself as better fit to rule. Some might think this simple jealousy but in reality he has some important qualities you find out about later on. Robert spends his days wrecking havoc on his brother's Kingdom, earning him the title of Robert the Dreaded, a title that is thought to follow him to his grave.

That's all for now, more to follow soon. Please let me know if you are interested in hearing more.

Today was a dud...nothing interesting

2009-09-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today, I got absolutely nothing accomplished. Unless you count grocery shopping as accomplishing something. My S.O.'s jaw still hurts. The poor baby!

I hope it stops hurting them soon. I really do. I want to be able to work again. I need to make some progress otherwise I might as well not have started writing!

I know this is a short post but I am not going to be wordy when I don't have anything to say. Good night everyone!

Game Day, Made progress on model

2009-09-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

I know I didn't post yesterday and I am sorry. My S.O. was having problems with the jaw again. We ended up staying up most of the night trying to get it to stop. My post was the least of things on my mind.

Onto more relevant things the model for the game is coming along and it is looking pretty nice. If I do say so myself. I expect that it will be done regardless within a week, if not a week a couple weeks. However, that length of time is dependent on three things: how much I work, how much time I spend on the model, and how much time I spend on the novel.

I willpost again later today (hopefully) and let you all know what else I got done today! Have a good day.

Worked on model for game today

2009-09-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today, I worked on one of the models for my game. It is coming along splendidly!! If I get as much time as I did today tomorrow I would not be surprised if it is practically animation-ready at the end of tomorrow.

The model is of a humanoid. I will be working on adding gender into the possibilities for uses with it. I will also include size and eventually I will be making clothes. What would a game be if all th characters were nude, unless it was made to be animated pornography (which I will not ever make.)

I will also be using this model to help me create a Christmas present for some of my family. I know it is kind of lame, but I think that they will appreciate it. And I am broke. Rent takes a huge amount of the money I make. If I can figure out how to do it I will be adding a feature to this blog to allow you to play a demo of the game. Not it will be a demo, if it ever happens to make it to this blog.

If at that point you would like to fund the completion of the game, you will be more than welcome to do so.

Well, I am done posting (for now) so good night everyone!

Today's post, Progress on new game model and a decision

2009-09-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

As evidenced by the post minutes ago, I have bee behind schedule in making posts. Which is why I am making this one now instead of trying to work for a little bit more before writing this post.

Having had to restart on that model for the game I have decided to change some of the types of chracters in the game. This is due to want more than it is to need. I could make the game with what I had started to model-wise. I still would have needed to redo the model, so that did not have anything to do with my decision (perhaps it did minutely.)

Now that I have said that I have made the decision to try to write and publish some short stories across the web. This is for multiple reasons, but one of those reasons is in hopes of it helping me to get my novels published when theyare ready!

Well, I think I a finished posting for now so good night and I would love to hear from some or one of you on this.

As promised AND Yesterday's post

2009-09-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

As promies here is a picture of the model that I was working on for the game. I do know that the background is just plain blue but it is my default background when I am working. I do know that I could change it but it works for me. Therefore, I haven't changed it.

I hope this will help you all to know what you can expect from me in the category of models. I know it is not super-realistic nor is it extremely simple, however it works. That is what counts most. It has to work.

Sorry it's late but here is yesterday's post

2009-09-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

I know this is late, tremondously but nonetheless here it is.

I worked all day on one of te characters for the game. It was comig along splendidly until I found a hole a BIG HOLE in the model. It is too big for me to be able to fix. I just don't know how to do it. Therefore I am going to have to redo the entire model. That means the 50+ hours I spent on this one model for the game is worthless. Completely worthless. Oh well, it was fun and good for practice.

I will post a picture of it here, later today to let you all see how it looked. Just so you know it is beyond my knowledge to repair so please don't suggest that I try again to repair the hole. I just don't know how to do it. I have tried. I really did not want to have to give up on this model.

Today was not great due to work...grrr...but better than yesterday!

2009-09-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well, as you know I didn't get anything accomplished yesterday and expected to get a lot more than I did today. However, what I got today wasn't horrible it just wasn't great. It's getting there though, someday soon I will be back to my normal pace and writing up a storm. Until that day, however, I need to be content with what I do get each day!

It's just difficult to be content when its so much less than what I am used to! I try though! I really do! Besides, I am actually content with what I got today considering how much time I had to work on it!

Well, perhaps tomorrow will be even better! One can only hope! And possibly pray to the powers that be! Pray and hope! Pray and hope! Someday I will get back into my groove and then someday I will be published and I will be able to post the news here first! Well, maybe after I tell a few other people. You know, family and stuff.

Goodnight.

Bad Day... Good day...

2009-09-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry everyone unfortunately I didn't get to work on my novel or my game at all. Sorry. The culprit: a call from the temp agencies. I had to go work for someone else today. Sorry!! My sincere apologies. Maybe tomorrow I will get to work on it!

Game Day... No Success

2009-09-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well, today I worked on the game but made absolutely no progress. I mean NONE! Absolutely none. As depressing as that is I know I will get something written on the novel tomorrow.

A slow day for one usually but not always means that the next day will be profitable for the other. Inverse equation? I think so, just haven't figured it out yet.

As you all know I will let you know sometime tomorrow how much progress I make. Perhaps tomorrow I will get a have a great day and end the day with having written around 6-9 thousand words! That is usually what I get on a good day. I know, I know for those of you that are good at math are probably thinking if that is a good day why don''t you have more than two books written? Well, honestly, the answer to that question is I have written more but only completed those two. Also, I only want to focus on this series if possible because it has the most longevity and vitality within it. Some of my other works end up being very wordy, dry and boring! I would hate to think of someone trying to read them. Others though are quite interesting (speaking as impartial as the author can) but are incomplete and do not seem to want to be finished.

Well, everyone have a good night!

Ha Ha Success Over 2 months but no real progress today oN novel or game

2009-09-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well, today I realized thanks to someone's comment that this blog is over 2 months old!! Hooray!! Success!!

However today was not as much of a success for my novel or the game, I did not make any headway. I spent the majority of my free time working on a few problems with the coding of the game and got nowhere. I do have to admit that I am more or less feeling my way in the dark in that aspect of the creation of the game. Therefore, I honestly expect a lot of fruitless hours spent on programming it correctly or at least functionally. Perhaps sometime I will get someone to assist me in that aspect but for now I expect to do it myself. Besides, I kind of like the idea of being able to say that I did it all by myself! Lol!

Took today off in hopes better of a better future

2009-09-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Well as I the title of this post says , I took the day off. I am hoping that I will be able to type at a somewhat normal pace tomorrow (aka the day after today.) As a consequence I got sick today. Which sucked royally but our dues must be paid one way or another. I will admit that my writing is an addiction, hopefully one day it will be more than that! Hopefully one day it will be a career and then I will be able to thank you all for supporting me! Let alone at that point I might actually reveal my name. Perhaps I can get published without one... hmmm.... Questions, questions.... Well good night!

Despite all attempts today nothing happened!

2009-09-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well, today was unfortunately a huge disappointment. I followed up on all my applications making appearances where possible and calling where they were not. No luck. I am still looking for a way to help make the requirements of life meet. I need the money, WE need the money and yet we can not find a way to get it. WE need it badly! My S.O. is in significant pain. She is worried about needing surgery and yet we can not afford it. There is no way we can afford surgery and besides it would hurt them tremendously.

In between visits to places and phone calls I tried to write and I got nowhere. Not one word! Extreme sadness!!

Slow day, yesterday and today

2009-09-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised I did get some time to write yesterday and today. unfortunately having been unable to write for so long I can only get my thought flowing at a trickle which means it is slow and sometimes complete nonsense. I will do my best to get back into my groove and I know eventually I will find it but until then I will have to settle with only a couple hundred words at a time. For me that is laughable and completely humiliating but what else can I do. I know I will be back to typing at my normal pace soon so I will just wait it out. This always happens when I cannot find the time to write and I hate it but there is very little else I can do. I have tried everything that I can think of before to help me get back to my pace but nothing seems to help. Not exercises or prompts or anything that I have been suggested or read about helping another.

I am sorry I failed to post yesterday my internet was giving me problems. Well good night everyone.

Novel to Resume Tonight or Tomorrow

2009-09-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

I know one thing for sure that I will be getting around to working on the novel soon, either today or sometime tomorrow! I cannot promise exactly when but I know it will happen. I will make it happen. Novel three of the series will once again be in progress and novel four will begin sometime in the near future 2-3 months from now if I can work on it as much as I would like otherwise it could take a lot longer, possibly years. I cannot personally imagine remaining sane without seeing progress on my works. I know some authors take forever to write one book and generally only write a few their entire lives, I just don't see how they do it!

I jus don't see it. I am not happy with myself without having put in time for a couple thousand words a day. However, like the maority of people I must work to support myself and those I love and that duty sometimes frequently cuts into the time I have to write.

Novel will be picked back up soon!! Today or Tomorrow!!

Move and Unpacking soon to be finished. Work to Resume!

2009-09-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

The move is almost complete everything is almost set up where it goes. It will be finished tomorrow and I will be able to resume my life of writing and creation. I have missed it tremendously and I, for one, am looking forward to its return. I am excited and cannot wait for tomorrow to get here. Tomorrow novel three will be resumed and the game will return to its rightful place (that is to say slowly and surely on its path to completion.)

I am so excited for life to return to something resembling normalcy!!

Apology and promise to resume postings

2009-09-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

I am sorry during the moving process I tried to rush posting by using the email to post option and somehow I didn't get it to work right. I'm truly sorry. I don't know how it happened. I promise that as soon as I can I will get back to posting at least once daily. Please, please forgive me. I promise not to move again anytime soon. Promise.

Last night's tally. Novel 3 is on its way!

2009-08-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Last night as I had guessed I did get a few hours to work on the novel. I successfully managed to get 2,000 words written. That is 2,000 words that were edited before they were tallied. I am hoping that I will get a few more hours to work on it tonight but I am not sure if I will get them tonight. I know I will get a few hours soon, but I think I might be moving tomorrow into a new apartment and will probably not get time to work on it.

If I do get time to work on it I will get another thousand or more words written. If I get more than two hours I will probably average about 800-1,000 words per hour. I would love to get severa hours, i.e. 8. If I ever did I will most likely get at least 9,000 words written and edited.

Tonight, I will get a few HOURS to write!

2009-08-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

Today my S.O. is feeling better. They are not completely better, however I will probably get a few hours to write tonight. This means will probably get to write about 2,000 to 4,000 words tonight. That total is not counting the times that I end up re-writing or deleting parts of it. I am seriously looking forward to the time!

It will be a great night, tonight!! Good night, everyone! I will post about my success tomorrow.

S.O. soon to be better! Novel will resume!!

2009-08-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well today is better than some. I believe that my S.O. will be better soon. That means I will be able to work on my novel once again. Hopefully I will get a few hours of time to work on my novel. If I do then I will make some good progress on the third installment of the series. That is great news for me, however it would be greater if I was to find out that the first one was finally completely edited.
Only if I could figure out a way to make them speed up without losing any quality. Hmmm. Any suggestions? Any suggestion at all would be welcome. The only thing that I know for sure would be to make it worth more to them, unfortunately the only thing that would do that for them that I know of is money. Grrr... Writing is my life. Only if I could somehow get it published soon...

S.O. still sick

2009-08-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

Why do people get sick? I have never understood how people can get sick all the time. I don't get sick often and when I do it is not for long. My immune system compared to my S.O.'s is incredible. Basically invincible. I am not and I know that but wow the difference is amazing. We can do the same things and they will get heavily sick and I will not get sick at all. I hate it when they are sick because then I have to take care of them and I get nothing done. It is irritating especially when I have thought running around in my head.

As you can guess that means I did not get anything done today on the novel... grrr. Sicknesses are so infuriating. Makes me want to go out and eradicate the world of all bacteria and viruses. I know I can't but I want to. If anyone knows a way to do this please let me know.

S.O. still sick

2009-08-21T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well today a not helpful for the novel. My love is still sick. Still trying to fight it off. Somehow it ha gotten the betterof her. I expect her to be sick for awhile (a couple of days). I hope that they are feeling better tomorrow. I doubt they will. I doubt I will get to work on the novel either...grrr. Hopefully someday soon I will. I am sorry that this post is so lat. My apologies. I will try to post earlier tomorrow, but I can make no promises, good night.

Slow day... S.O. is sick

2009-08-20T18:51:00.001-07:00

Well, today was a long day. It started at 5 this morning and has yet to end. My love is sick and I have been taking care of her and the kids all day. Unfortunately for me that meant I was unassisted in taking care of the housework today, as well. I hope they are feeling better tomorrow. If not it will probably be a slow day as well. That is something that has happened numerous times before. It is also the cause why at times when my novel is streaming out of me that it is forced to go on hiatus. I hope that the Great One will see to it that she is better tomorrow. If not them I can not tell you when the next day that I actually get work done on the novel will be. If she isn't better tomorrow, maybe the next day. Possibly not. Probably not.
I sincerely hope she is better tomorrow.

Little girl is potty trained!

2009-08-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Finally at last potty trained!! Potty trained!! She can go all night without having an accident! Hooray! Amazing!! Spectacular! I am so pleased! I am looking forward to them not having any more accidents! Not one! Tonight she is going to bed in panties! I am scared! Petrified and excited! Hooray! At last! Congratulations little one!! Hallelujah!! Congrats! It is about time!! Finally! Congrats!! At last! I am so excited! So scared! Petrified! I can't wait to see what happens! I cannot put int words what I am feeling at the moment! I am at a loss for words! A complete loss of words! A complete and utter loss of words! That is a first for me! A first that I hope will be repeated multiple times in the near future! A first that I cannot fathom ever happening again!

Oh wait apparently I can put it into words! I just did! Well sort of...

Just a note now about the third installment of the series: failure to launch. Repeat failure to launch! In other words I have attempted to start it but each time it does not go right, somehow it goes completely off-track. It keeps going so far off-track that it does not even make sense with the rest of the series that has been so far written.

New feature of site and a test of it!

2009-08-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I just found something I wanted to try so here is my first trial of it. If this works I will use it to keep any post that is significantly longer than 400 words from showing. If there is only a few words over 400 I will not bother to use it. I will never use it if the post is under 400. In this way, I will be able to keep the posts on the first page for as long as I can tolerate without having the page be excessively long. Once I get this blog going I can easily see me posting 2000 words at a time. It would only take ten posts of that length to make the homepage of this blog extremely long! Just so you know from here on I am going to be talking about whatever I can think of.

I am working on figuring out what book three of my series is going to be about and how it is going to proceed from book two. I know that picking up where book two left off will not be a problem. There is so many options take and so many decisions for the characters to make. It will definitely be interesting to me to see how it progresses. Hopefully that means that it will be interesting to those that actually read them after they are published.

Book one is currently about a third of the way edited the first time. It will require at least two or three rounds of editing. Each round will take less time to do, meaning that the novel will be completely edited hopefully in about twice the amount of time that it takes for the novel to be edited the first time. I will be excited to have a fully-edited manuscript in my hands! I am excited at the prospect of querying agents anytime in the near future.

If it goes better than I am honestly expecting than I will have an agent shortly after it is completely edited, if not then it will take a few months to a couple years. I would prefer that it not take years to get an agent or a publisher because by then I will have a lot of novels of the series written and waiting to get published. Which on one hand would be great, but on the more practical side would be horrendous!

Just so you know the next line is a test, only a test this post is over.

As I said this post is over, why did you click to see what else I said?

Success!! Book two is finished... Now it needs to be edited!!

2009-08-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

At last, book two is finished. Haha, success! Success, at long last it is finished! I can't wait to start on book three!! Hopefully, I book one will be completely edited by the time it is finished. As much as I doubt that that will happen, I can hope. If it is edited by then, they will be working on book two and I will begin the querying process for book one. I hope that goes smoothly and quickly. I am planning on querying agents first. Hopefully I won't need to query a lot of agents to get one that I like.
I am thinking of adding a gadget on here to allow people to add themselves to a list of others that would like to purchase the book upon publication. If I do create a widget for this blog to do that, each person that signs up to it I will do my best to let them know when I will be in their area so that I can give them a personalized signing to their book. By agreeing to buy the book now each individual will add up and eventually help to persuade agents and publishers to look at my novel. Once it is looked at I can only hope that it will get published. That would be wonderful! Those individuals would be of such a great help that I would mention them all in the front of first novel, somehow!

Grrr... Novel is still not finished...Grrr

2009-08-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I have gotten a little more work done on the novel but nothing major. Not enough to finish it or enough to really say that work was even done I want it completed SOON. It is driving me crazy!! I will get some time to work on it tonight!! Tonight will be the night that book two is finished!! Haha!! Only a bit behind schedule (months). Hopefully, the next one won't take so long to finish. Hopefully I can find someway of staying home and making money! Hopefully, I can get the editor of the first book to finish editing it. Hopefully, they will soon be able to start on book two!
I know that is a lot of hopefuls. That is the best I have at the moment. I know tonight I will be working on the game as well. Perhaps when it is finished I will let people buy it from me, to support this blog. Perhaps someon will be interested enough to help me support my family while giving me time to work on my writing.
If someone was to do so. They would be my angel. They would be a lifesaver!

Problematic Day for the Novel

2009-08-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, today the starter in the van went out. Therefore, I have spent the majority of the day getting the old starter removed. It was stuck in the spot where it was connected to the starter plate. Stuck so hard that when I finally did get it removed that it broke into three pieces. Three pieces. I broke a starter!! I have never heard of such a thing. Never!!

Of course, the fact that I was working on removing the starter meant that I did not have time to work on finishing book two of the series. That fact has irritated me all day. I need to finish it soon, real soon. It is beginning to haunt me. It needs to be finished. Needs to get finished soon or it will drive me mad/sane, whichever of the two I am. I hope to get time tomorrow after the new starter is put in to finish it. If so it will be finished, I guarantee it.

Just so you know I keep my promises and my guarantees, unlike some NOTHING gets in my way of upholding them.

No news is in some cases bad news

2009-08-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

Well, today I was supposed to get a call from a prospective employer, one that would actually be somewhat beneficial to my writing, but they never called. When I called them they told me that he position had been filled and hung up on me without any acknowledgement that they should have been kind enough to call me. Especially when they told me that they would be calling me EITHER way.
Grrr, it irritates me when people do that. Well enough about my irritation of the day.
Today there has been little progress within the realm of editing and creating my wonderful children: books! There has also been no progress made in regards to the game.
Today has been an all-around slow, dull and disappointing day for me. I hope that tomorrow being the start of the weekend will be much better. Hopefully I will see by the end of the weekend the completion of book number two of my series. If it goes amazingly well I will get to see the birth of book number three. Then the series will have truly begun!!

Total amount of books written

2009-08-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I have never stated on this blog how many books I have written. Currently I am trying to finish up the second book and begin the third. That is all of one series. That total does not include any of my works that I am currently not trying to get published or currently working on.

The second book is just shy of being completed. Then I will begin the third one as soon as possible.

The first book of the series is currently being edited and as soon as that is finished I will begin the querying process. I will begin by querying agents but I may end up querying publishers as well. I do not have a clue on what will happen at that point. I only hope that it does not take forever. I would be in heaven if it went quickly and smoothly. That would be wonderful. Extremely wonderful. Angelic.

Sorry about the lack of posts

2009-08-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

Having the girls and everything the household money has not been going as far as it should. Therefore, I have been out looking for another job. I have not found one yet, though I am looking for anything even if it is only temporary.

Due to this I have not made any progress on he novel or the game.

Slow day, nothing happening here...

2009-08-07T16:11:00.001-07:00

Well, today we had family over and no progress was made on either the novel or the game. Perhaps something will happen tonight. Hopefully, something will happen tonight after they leave.

The girls have been behaving well, today. They have not made a single scene. Even if they have been in time out several times. Thanks to them I have had a few ideas pop in my head. I hope to get them written down before they evaporate.

No progress toay... yet

2009-08-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well today has been slow ith the novel an the game, i.e. nothing. The girls have been relatively good. I am hoping to make a little progress tonight in one of those two areas. Perhaps I'll get something done. Perhaps not. Only time will tell...

Have a good night

Not much progress... slow novel day... even slower game day

2009-08-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well today has been one of my more unsuccessful days relating to my current novel and my current game. The whopping total today is two paragraphs written for the novel and absolutely nothing on he game.

If my girls would behave then I would get more time to work on them, but they are more important to me than getting the novel and game finished. Most days I can get something day and I am happy with that. Today however was extremely depressing.

Hopefully I will get some progress made tomorrow.

Woohoo! I made it!! 1 month!!

2009-08-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's finally here!! The one month anniversary of the conception of my blog!!

One month!! 31 days!! Exciting stuff!! Exciting times!! What will happen next!! I wish I had more time to blog! This is kind of fun!! In a bizarre sort of way!

I wonder if I can get this blog to last a year. That would be astounding!! Might warrant a new ame by then...

One year... hopefully a published author with a real, true-to-life blog!!

I wonder why no one has commented... If you are reading this please... please comment.

I guess that will be my next project: getting people actually to my blog ;(

The blog has survived almost one month!!

2009-08-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

In two days this blog will actually be a month old!! That is extremely impressive for me. Usually I fail at updating the blog. This time around I have at least managed to get a post up every few days. Not at all a constant schedule, but I am getting there!

Birds and My Cats

2009-07-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

I just realized how many birds were in my apartment. This is ridiculous. The girls' father owns two cockatiels, four parakeets, and a sun conure. Add that ontop of the one parakeet I have it is a lot of feathered fiends. At least they are all in cages. Safe from the cats that would eat them alive. LOL.

Seriously though, my cats would never eat a bird. To much work. All those feathers and bones. It is a lot easier to just eat the food out of the food dish. The cats would never eat them, play with however is something one likes to do. A lot. She likes to scare them when they are sleeping inevitably keeping me up the night.

Stupid furball!

Game and Novel Stalemate.... Girls... Grrr

2009-07-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well, today I found out that my novel's editor has not made anymore progress since last time. Somehow neither have I with the game. The girls have been mediocre at best. Neither extremely good today nor horrid. That is a surprise. I was expecting the day from hell. Perhaps worse than hell.

The school preparations are almost complete so that we can soon start school with the two of them. I am not optimistic about the outcome of the first week. It will definitely be interesting.

The novel's editing is on page 86 of 267. I guess that is more than a sixth from what she told me last... grrr.

The game is at the exact same spot I have not figured out how I want it coded. When I complete it I am going to celebrate. Less than when the novel is published though. That novel is my pride and joy.

All is quite, the girls are in bed.

2009-07-25T20:48:00.000-07:00

At last the girls went to bed without a fight. We read them their books before bed and they actually climbed under the covers without a problem. Not one complaint. Not one whine. Nothing. Perfectly well behaved. No fighting. No whining. It was bliss. I however know that that means tomorrow will be hell.

A fiery, blistery hell. One that will make me regret the fact that they behaved so well going to bed. Tomorrow will be a rolling headache. A headache so bad it will feel as if my head is dragging on the floor.

An apology...

2009-07-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I have been slacking on getting my posts uploaded I apologize sincerely for failing to get it done. It has been extremely hectic here with the girls. I am getting ready to help home-school them for the upcoming schol year. Albeit pre-k, it is still a lot of work. There is all of the books, rewards and activities that need planning. Once planned the materials need to be purchased. It is just a lot of work.

Overall the girls have been behaving. They have had their bad days but the longer that I help raise them the better behaved they become. Soon hopefully they won't be the little hellions their single father has allowed them to become.

Game Creation

2009-07-17T23:40:00.000-07:00

Today I am proud to state that the game I have been working on is finally taking shape. Albeit crude. It is a simple one player game where on has to collect items before being killed. The more levels one passes the harder the challenge. At least that is what am hoping to get out of it. I only hae the basics of the first level so far.

New Day and progress on novel!!

2009-07-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well today I was told by the one editing my novel that it is 1/6 of the way done with the first edit. I am expecting it to take at least three. A start however is still a start. I wonder how far this will go. I hope she edits heentire novel quickly, otherwise I might have another novel to hanh over when she gives me the final edit.

Just noticed that my profile says the blog was created next month.

2009-07-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that my blog profile says it was created in August. Seeing that I am now typing it and it is July. I don't have a clue what happened. Silly computer glitches. Oh well. Big deal. I am not going t make a mountain out of a molehill. If anyone knows why this happened please let e know... No I am not creating new posts i August and sending them back here to the tenth. Why the heck would I do that??

Nice girls...

2009-07-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Today the girls are behaving. I don't know what changed, perhaps their father not being home has something to do with it. ( I HOPE NOT) I think I might take them to the park later. That way they can run off their energy. Run off their built-up, pinned in energy that I would, if I could take from them. But alas, they are two and four and I can't do that.

Today and the Girls...

2009-07-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

The girls are running about completely misbehaving as I try to sit here and corral their behavior in. Try, try, try I am failing to do so. I don't know how I am supposed to write while they misbehave. Why d they not listen today? Why am I all alone. Why are they here if they ae not going to listen to me. Why are they not listening. Time outs are doing no good. I wish I could get them to listen but they won't. Darn kids!!

Just a big welcome to Everyone!

2009-07-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

As you can see this is a brand new blog. I, however, have never been all that good at keeping blogs alive and current. I seem always to get lost within other sections of my life. However since this one is completely about my life and its progression I should be able to keep it going. It should be easy and fun!! I have always wanted to do this ad actually succeed at keeping it online for all to view. Thank you for stopping by on the first day of this blog. I hope to see many of you back here. Please tell your friends about this blog too.

Ok, now more about me...

I am a single female helping to raise a couple of girls (2). Note the kids are not technically mine but for the purposes of this blog: They are mine.

I love to write fiction. I am currently trying to get one edited while I write another one. My grammar is not great but I have seen worse. That is why I am having it edited.

I love to create graphics usng open-source software ranging from Open Office, to GIMP, to Blender. I even have learned to program (a little) so that I can create games.