gifs

19 January, 2014

Sundays

sundays1

[Animated GIF: A woman, drawn in anime style, stretches at her seat. Her desk is piled high with books. She says: “Say you sleep in on a Sunday morning and you think, I don’t want to do anything today”] sundays2

[Animated GIF: The woman turns her chair round, making an exasperated gesture. She says: “Then before you know it it’s already evening. You’re like, “What happened to my precious Sunday?”]

This lady is basically me, every weekend.

Sorry for the short posts lately — I’ve been caught up in beta reading, normal reading, and writing a fun first draft. It’s nice to be busy through January, it feels like I’m starting the year right.

Have a good Sunday, no matter how quickly it flies by.

10 January, 2014

Writing, Summarized in a Single GIF

writingimagination

13 November, 2013

What’s Up Wednesday: Lucky 13th

I’m slowly getting used to the fact that it’s November. I *may* have been, for a few days, entirely paralyzed with fear at the thought of buying Christmas presents but my friends talked me down. So, November, I have sort-of the hang of you. December, I’m almost prepared for you too.

wuwfall

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what’s up. It was created by created by Jaime and Erin. Want to join the party? Go right ahead, and remember to leave a link to your What’s Up Wednesday post in the widget on Jaime´s blog.

What I’m Reading

*looks around guilty*

I… I haven’t been reading much lately. I’m so sorry!

What I’m Writing

So, you remember how last time I talked about my editing process? It’s changed. Again.

I’m still doing a big picture edit but the “go offline, edit using Kindle and notebook” stage of the plan has fallen by the way-side. I know some artists think using computers all the time can mess up the creative juju, and I get honestly believe they’re right, but for now it’s working for me.

As I said last week, I’m learning to just let whatever works, work.

Editing is progressing steadily now, though as observed with my last first draft I don’t do well working in constant daily amounts. I work in a burst, have a day where my writing is dull and lifeless and the words just won’t come, and then the next day I’ll have another burst of work.

Is their a name for our kind? Sprint writers? Exhausted cheetahs? Flying greyhounds? If I think of something catchy, I’ll let you know.

What Inspires Me

Right now my main driving force is my other projects. Is that odd? Let me explain: I’m being motivated to finish this edit because I know, when I do, I can take on ALL THE BROKEN THINGS and turn it into the beautiful, kick-arse story I now know it can be.

I’m so excited to sink my teeth into that. The sooner, the better.

What Else I’ve Been Up To

I love this GIF. I can see many situations where I will use it.

I SAW THOR: THE DARK WORLD! I went to it expecting a fun, plot-lite movie, and what I got was a very fun movie with a surprisingly sharp sense of comedy.

It was really great. I recommend it.

I’ve also been studying for an Open University course, which is great fun. Scots get a small allowance towards learning each year, so I used it for a small, relatively low-stress course that appeals to my interests — “Start Listening to Music”, a foundation course in music composition and history. I get to listen to classic jazz like Ella Fitzgerald’s “Mack the Knfie” immediately followed by Queen’s “We Will Rock You”! It’s a great wee course.

It also means I get to study in a Pikachu onesie, because every little bit of entertainment helps.

openuniversity

19 June, 2013

Ready, Set, Write!

Because the site was down last week, today is the day I join Ready, Set, Write!, a writing challenge by the ladies who created What’s Up Wednesday.

Better late than never, right?

What I’m Reading

I’m reading through TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, which deserves all its praise. A timeless classic, though difficult to read at times.

Speaking of difficult-to-read, I read the comic Maus — a Holocaust memoir in graphic novel format. I really love some of the decisions behind telling the story in this format.

What I’m Writing

When I got my site back up, I set some Ready, Set, Write! goals. They went a bit awry….

PAST GOALS:

Saturday, 15th June 2013

Get outside for some excercise.
Edit chapter 1 + Chapter 2 of Leviathan Rises/Crush
‘I’m Back!’ blog post.
Draft this blog post.
Work to improve security on my sites.
Time off for Hannibal.
Driving test theory practice.

RESULTS: Got two hours of walking around the woods in, got my site live and much improved (in the backend, no frontend changes), did everything apart from the editing.

Sunday, 16th June 2013

Edit Chapter 3 of Leviathan Rises/Crush
‘What’s Left Of Me’ review crosspost
Time off for video games/Hannibal.
Work to improve security on my sites.

RESULTS: Again, got everything done apart from the editing. Very tired.

Monday, 17th June 2013

Lochindorb blog
Time off for video games/Hannibal.

RESULTS: By this time, I realised I’d overshot my goals. I was tired. I felt like I wasn’t achieving anything.

I ended up heading to bed early, doing some editing of the GIANT ROBOTS project, and watching Hannibal.

Tuesday, 18th June 2013

~~Edit Chapter 4 of Leviathan Rises.~~ Whatever you want, dude, slow down and take a break.

RESULTS: I finally settled down into a night of playing my DS, working on my site and plotting a DIVIDE THE SKY revision. (I’m thinking of giving these revisions code names, now: the CRY HAVOC revision. The SPIRAL revision. The WHAT AM I DOING revision okay maybe that one’s too unlucky.)

Today was pretty chilled, and I was happier.

Wednesday, 19th June 2013

What’s Up Wednesday blog!
Give up on bullet pointed lists.

RESULTS: Bullet-points successfully abandoned. They worked well for Jaime, who has training and structure behind her detailed lists, but bullet points tempt me into overloading myself with unattainable goals. So, they’re out!

Instead, let’s keep it simple.

FUTURE GOALS:

Wednesday, 19th June 2013 – Friday 21st

Write anything. More LEVIATHAN RISES, edits for GIANT ROBOTS, a DIVIDE THE SKY revision, that plot bunny about spiders… it doesn’t matter. Just spend some time getting the words down, and if I report in successfully next Wednesday I can treat myself when payday rolls around.

Bribery works, right? ‘Course it does!

Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd

Reading, gaming, and relaxing days, with some time out in the woods in the weather holds up. If writing gets done in the evenings, that’s great, but this weekend is about catching up on lost sleep.

Monday 24th – Wednesday 26th

More writing to be done. Blogging, editing, drafting, outlining, doesn’t matter.

But I’ll put a number on the progress I need to make: Three edited chapters, three redrafted chapters, or 3,000 new words.

Let’s do this.

What Inspires Me Right Now

Industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails have a new single “Came Back Haunted” is out, and I’m in love with that familiar NIN beat. This sounds similar to the slightly more ‘dancey’ tracks from their album With Teeth.

Also, it’s STRAWBERRY SEASON! Fruit is one of those things I didn’t get to have for a few years, because I was living on Tesco value noodles and sadness. Fruit was too expensive. Now that I’m at a better level of living, I just REALLY LIKE FRUIT. IT’S GOOD FOR YOU AND IT’S DELICIOUS.

AND IT GETS EVEN BETTER TASTING (AND CHEAPER!) WHEN IT’S SEASON. FRUIT. <3

I’m hoping to go on a trip to the local strawberry farm after pay day.

Lastly, if you’ve read this far in my blog post, you inspire me. Thank you for reading my ramblings, friend.

What Else I’ve Been Up To

I’m moving into a new job as a Software Tester next month, and I’m really excited about that! I’m spending a lot of time trying to learn some of the new technologies I’ll be working with. It’s a big change from my current work, and it’s really interesting!