Posts (page 2)
Markie sometimes teases me for spending more time drawing up pretty plans than actually doing the stuff I'm planning. There might be something to this, concidering my blog is mostly a list of my plans and how crap I'm doing at them! But sometimes my plans work out. So a couple of weeks ago I had a complete freak out over everything I had to do and, as I often do, I blogged my escape plan. Whaa haa haa.
I got the assignment in at the last minute, and the last minute is always better than a late minute, so I'm not going to complain. I also got 81% on it. Yay me!
I'm also on top of my OU reading and have managed to survive the week without skimping on the note taking. The new course is a little odd. We're supposed to do online group activities, which is tricky since we're supposed to be able to work in our own time, but there we go. It is the first presentation of a new course. They couldn't have known that getting a bunch of part-time students online at the same time within a 2 day time frame was going to present an issue. </sarcasm>
Now, my problem is that I haven't managed to gain any time back yet, and I'm relying on finishing the assignment early to have time for the seventh sanctum contest. I've got another chapter to read and the assignment to do. I could be cutting it close. Luckily, there's still time after the assignment deadline to work on the picture. Just hope I can find the time!
Poor old scrapbook isn't getting any love, but that was part of the plan. I didn't expect to have any time, and surprise surprise, I didn't. *sigh*. I also haven't read anything. This does mean I'm in serious danger of failing my novel challenge for the year. This seems sad :(. If I let it slip now I'll have no motivation to read anything on any other month! I do still have tonight and tomorrow. Maybe it's not too late...
Frankly, I'm feeling alittle overwhelmed at the moment. OK, I'm feeling a lot overwhelmed. I've only done 1 scrapbook page, I've barely started this months book, I've got tonnes of work to do on my contest drawing, I haven't done any work on Cold Spell for ages, I've got an assignment due in next week that I still haven't finished, I hate what I've done already, plus now I have 2 sets of reading to do this week just to keep up with the OU study calendar and the great plan I made to keep ahead has gone out of the window because of this stupid assignment! And for some reason I'm here blogging instead of doing one of those other things. I seriously need some focus and a new plan. Problem is I spend so long making plans I have no time for anything else.
OK, let's prioritise here. The most important thing on the list is the OU work. It's the only thing that won't wait, so I'll make a start on my reading now and spend this evening working on my assignment, with a quick break to watch Doctor Who. I could really do with finishing it tomorrow but I do have until Wednesday, so it's not all bad. I'll just have to stop obsessing about it and send it in even though I'm not happy. At the end of the day it's not going to make a difference to my degree.
The scrapbook will just have to go on the backburner, possibly even until August when my 2nd course finishes. Sorry scrapbook, you just don't get priority. I also need a shorter book. I really want to read Making Money, but I just don't have the time! I'm switching one of Markie's mini Doctor Who books :o).
The deadline for the Seventh Sanctum contest isn't until July, so if I concentrate on college work for a while and get ahead again I should be ok. I'll put that aside until I've done my first assignment for my new course. However many days before June 17th I get the assignment finished is the number of days I get to draw. That sounds fair.
As for Cold Spell, I really want to work on it, so I think I might take it to bed with me and do a little in the evenings when Markie is watching stuff.
OK, that sounds like a plan! Though now we've been invited out for dinner tonight. Meh. Best laid plans...blah blah blah. Better get to work...
So, Seventh Sanctum have announced the next contest. Slightly unusual, but here it is: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/contests.php
It seems that the goal is to generate an item and then advertise it in some way. Well, I suppose I could have a go. What's the worst that could happen?
At the moment I'm rather drawn to the Cursed Flute of History Circles, though I'm not sure how I'd draw someone using it. Maybe have to do a comic strip style thing. That would give me a chance to play with Comic Life on the Mac, and Markie is abandoning me for a few days...very tempting. I shall have to have a think. Watch this space!
Yes, as the forth month of the year draws to a close it's time to see how I'm getting on with that list. Can't believe that it has been four months already. I have no clue how I'm going to get through this whole list :o). Oh well, let's see what I have managed to do.
1-3 & 7) The writing goals
I haven't managed to work on any of my writing goals this month. I did start planning 'The Diabolist's Debt'. Not sure why. I'm pretty sure it wasn't on the list. Maybe I'm just getting a head start on NaNo. I do really want to do some more work on 'Cold Spell' though, plus I have the ideas for my short stories. Just need the time to write them!
5&6) The drawing goals
I did miss the seventh sanctum contest this time round, though they have just announced the winners so I'm sure a new contest will be up before long. Hopefully it will be something I can do with only 1 character :o). Maybe I could write a story about them and knock something off goal #7 at the same time.
8) Read at least 1 fiction novel a month
Yesterday I finished 'Wicked'. To say it wasn't what I expected would be an understatement. It is absolutely nothing like I imagined, plus it was a bit racey.
It is a good book but a bit heavy and not exactly uplifting so I'm taking a little break and going back to Pratchett this month before I tackle the sequel.
I am now very interested to see the musical (there's no way it can have as much sex in it, surely?) and also to actually read the Wizard of Oz to see how much of it maps, but that's going to have to wait for a while. Next month I'll be 'Making Money'.
9) Actually read all my OU books
Read Book 3: Exploring the Brain and got sent the book for my new course. Joys. Now I have to read a chapter of the new book every week and a chapter of the other book every two weeks, plus I've got Fred's book too. So here they all are:
Yes, that looks like a thrilling couple of months for me! And I've got an essay to write this week. See what I mean about the time?
10) Finish Wedding Scrapbook
I have finally managed to make a start on this. I've made a page and a half. OK, that doesn't sound like much, but I'm getting there. Maybe I'll take a picture of the pages and upload them. Anyway, I've done a page with the invitations and I've done most of the wedding cake page. I might get another done at the weekend. I've bought loads of stuff for it.
I guess that's all for April. *Sigh*. Hope the list goes down a bit quicker next month.
TTFN!
The deadline for the Seventh Sanctum contest went rushing past and I didn't have anything even close to being finished. Oh well. I'm hoping the next one will be more of a single character thing. It really was the panic vampires that did me in at the end.
I am loving the new generator, though. It's called a Symbolitron and it comes up with story concepts that map to something symbolic. For example, I just got "The story about monster trainers where the characters map to the Ten Plagues of Egypt." Too much fun :o). I'm looking for something like that for my demon hunters in the new book I'm planning, 'The Diabolist's Debt'. I was thinking seven deadly sins, but maybe there's something better I can use. How about this: "The love story where the main character moods map to the Ten Sephiroth of the Kabbalah." Hmm, back to the drawing board, methinks.
OK, it isn't technically the end of March, but Jane is visiting and I'm not going to get anything else on the list done between now and Monday, so I might as well see how much progress I've made now. Um, just for a change, I'm only going to write in the goals I've actually made any progress on. The original list is around somewhere if you need reminding on what I'm neglecting.
3. Edit 1 novel of choice and actually let someone read it
I'm still having fun with this, but the going is slow. I haven't had a lot of time, but with OU assignment of doom out of the way hopefully this will pick up a bit of momentum and I'll get a good chunk done before May. What's May, I hear you ask? I'm getting to that!
5. Continue learning to draw manga and put at least 3 original pieces of artwork on my deviantART page
Yes, I now have 1 originial piece of artwork on my deviantART page. Huzzah! And another one within a week or two for sure. This goal is going pretty well.
6. Enter 1 Seventh Sanctum Art Contest
I have decided how I'm going to lay out my Charneldream and the panic vampires pic (in a cunning way that means I don't have to struggle with fiddly things like bodies at this stage in my education) and I decided to make the vampires bald because the hair is what always takes me the longest and there's not much time left! I haven't actually drawn anything other than the headshot of Charneldream, but I've set aside some time next week to work on it. Yay :o)
7. Write and workshop 3 short stories
Well, I had an idea for a short story. It's not really my usual thing, but I might go ahead and write it anyway just for the practice. I suppose it's speculative fiction. We were talking about how sharks don't age and if scientists could use that on us and I got an idea. Yes, there are lots of stories about people living forever, but I think I've come up with a different angle. I also have an idea for a slightly weirder story, but I'm still looking for my take on it. If I actually write them both then that would be 2 down.
8. Read at least 1 fiction novel a month.
This month I read 'Where's My Cow?' as promised. I also finally managed to track down this book , which is No. 2 of one I read a while back, so I read this too. I'm liking this series. It's slightly cheesy boarding school teen horror, and "OMG, twins, how cliche!" but it is nicely creepy and Queenie Chan is a good artist. In some ways it reminds me of my old Point Horror groupie days, but with pictures! Plus there's only 3 in the series so it's not too much of a drain on the old bank account.
OK, it's still a bit of a cheat because it's a manga rather than a novel, but hey, I read something at least! Next month I'm going to read Wicked!
9. Actually read all my OU books
Book 1: From Cells to Consciousness - Read it. Book 2: Beyond Reasonable Doubt - (really really short, but) Read it. This is all good because for some crazy reason I signed up for another course in May. Yes, I did say we would get to May. The new course is Applying Psychology and it's only 15 points. It's a new course and it messed up my plans. I was going to take an extra year to get my degree and do a level 3 30 point course as my last one. Then this one cropped up and I realised I could cut a year off if I did this one this year. I had the choice of starting May or September, my Biological Psychology course has a huge end of course assessment in September so better to avoid the trauma and get this out of the way first. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. No, it's got nothing to do with me wanting to be an ML for NaNo this year...
That's it for this month. I'm not sure that the list is getting smaller quick enough. Maybe I put too many things on it. Oh well, it's still early in the year. Until next time, TTFN!
It's so annoying when that happens. You're just minding your own business, surfing the net, eating your Snickers Almondy cakes, quaffing your wine, when your clothes go and get smaller behind your back. How rude is that? Just because I'm over 25 now and my metabolism is slowing down is no excuse for wastelines to contract in the tumble dryer. Naughty clothes indeed.
But, since I can't afford new clothes there's no harm in slimming down just a smidge to fit into my otherwise fine garments' new dimensions. *ahem*. So how's a busy girl with a big list of goals for the year supposed to fit a workout routine into her already packed schedule?
First of all, I can make some extra time by getting up earlier. Markie is often very good and goes to the gym in the morning, but I tried that once and found it too stressful having to get to work for 9am. However, fitness does not have to happen at the gym. It just so happens that at home I've already got a Rosemary Conley body conditioning kit, a skipping rope, and some twisty thing I got from half price or less.com for £1.99 and have no idea how it works. So with those things I should be able to put together a fairly decent little 30 minute toning programme and then have some time left of a game of Wii tennis and a shower before work. Morning doze time well spent then :o).
Next, I should actually use my gym membership. This would mean going there twice a week, and one of those times I should probably go to one of those fitness classes my membership lets me have for free. It just so happens there's beginners aerobics on a Monday night, so lets try that. This week I plan to go tomorrow morning and Thursday night and get a bit of time in the pool. Getting a second trip in on a regular basis could be tricky with my time constrains, but it's ok. I have a couple of cunning time saving exercise plans up my sleeve.
I shall take great delight in screwing the buses (an unorthodox form of workout I know) by cycling to work. This is a great time saver. I'd be going to work anyway and as a slave to the public transport system cycling will actually get me there quicker (well, it will when I'm a bit fitter and can cycle at a descent speed anyway). So, a great way to keep fit and I'M SAVING TIME!
Unfortunately, sometimes losing precious hours is inevitable. If I'm at the gym I'm losing time that could be spent reading, but with multitasking that doesn't have to be the case! If the weighwatchers girls can read OK! on the step machine I don't see why I shouldn't read 'From Cells to Consciousness'. Plus, the increased flow of oxygen to the brain during exercise helps with memory. Well, it could do.
Now, to just stop my clothes shrinking any more...
I finished the headshot of Charneldream I was doing for the Seventh Sanctum art contest, but then I remembered that I don't have a scanner anymore so I can't post it yet. But then I decided to play around with VectorDesigner and I made this. No, it's not Charneldream. You'll know her when I post her. She has pink horns. Seriously!
This was a lot more annoying to do than my Star Kitten avatar, which I hand sketched then coloured in Photoshop, but I think it come out ok. I like the eyes (though I don't think I've uploaded a high enough resolution for them to show up well on here). I have learned that VectorDesigner is a pain, I miss my scanner, and next time I try vector art I'm doing it on Inkscape and I'm using a pen (touchpad was a real bitch). On the plus side, I uploaded it to my deviant art page so it counts as a goal accomplished :o).
This morning I had an idea on the bus. This is not unusual for me, which I why my filofax if full of random plot notes, but this one was interesting. This one finally sealed the fate of something that I have been internally debating since November. It's offical. Cold Spell is going to be Book 1 of a trilogy. Huzzah! So, I've been thinking about how to approach the task and what kind of structure makes a good trilogy. This is where Star Wars comes in. The original trilogy, that is :P.
The first thing we need is major story arc. What conflict is going to span all three of the books? We need an Empire and a Rebel Alliance. These guys need to be kicking off against each other from page 1 until the very end of the series when the good guys finally either win or are defeated by the overwhelming forces of evil that should have by all rights snubbed out our plucky heroes some time ago. Got that? Check. Now we have to give them something to do.
Book 1 - They win the battle, but not the war
We need A New Hope. In part 1 our plucky heroes will embark upon their small scale adventure which must be completely resolved within that volume. Rescue the Princess, destroy the Deathstar. That's it. Some forshadowing is good. If anyone is going to be revealed as anyone else's father in part 2 we might want to drop a few hints in here, but basically the point is to get a completely self contained story with scope while leaving plenty of scope of expansion. Why? Because practically we're much more likely to sell the book if we're not asking publishers to take a chance on a whole trilogy in the first instance. There's no reason why it shouldn't stand alone. Well, I've got one of these in the editing, so better work out what comes next.
Book 2 - Things get bad, then worse, then...
We need another plot arc and it needs to be tied into the big one. So our heroes are doing their thing, our bad guys are doing theirs, invariably they don't want the other doing whatever it is they're doing and mightly plot things on an even grander scale than last time follow. But now we're on part 2. We've already got people hooked. We don't need to fix everything right away. Potential romances from part 1 should blossom here, but it's very important that absolutely no one is happy at the end of part 2. So when putting lovers together we must instantly throw a horrid misunderstanding between them or drag them kicking and screaming away from each other. We want to pile on the pain and the big bad bearing down on them and just when we think all is lost and Luke's had his hand cut off and Han's been taken by the bounty hunter we roll credits. Ha ha, now you'll have to read the next one if you want to see how this mess is going to get worked out.
Book 3 - The final showdown
This is where we're wrapping up our major story arc, so although we do need a minor plot to span this story (where it involves Ewokes or not is really a matter of personal choice) the resolution of it should really end up in the same place as the big one - the heroes either win or lose once and for all. This is also sudden death mode! Anything can happen. People can switch sides, and should, secret weapons can be revealed, bad guys can be redeemed, good guys can be tempted, anyone can die because they're not going to be needed again in the next one, and for various reasons our lovers still can't get it together until the very end. Lets face it, everything that came before has led to this point, so we've got to make it one hell of a ride.
Um, I wonder what's going to happen to all of my characters when I get them to this part...
Most people who read this blog will by now already know the events following my last post. Anyone who doesn't know, well it's not going to take a genius to figure it out. I did consider doing a whole post about my feelings, experiences and stuff, but I don't really think that's going to do anyone any good. Suffice to say that we're both doing ok and we're looking to the future. Oh, and we got a cat. His name is Darwin.
In the spirit of moving on and getting back to normal, I decided to make my first post (on my first day back at work) the somewhat belated February roundup. So here's how I've been getting on with my goals for the past couple of weeks:
1) Get at least 1 rejection letter from a publisher for a short story (acceptance letter counts too!)
I'll be honest, got nothing on this, so moving swiftly on...
2) Finish the last six chapters of Technomancer, my 2005 NaNo
I think the last six chapter is down to the last four chapters, but as we discussed before the whole thing kind of stalled, so I put it on hold and jumped right on to...
3) Edit 1 novel of choice and actually let someone read it
Got Markie to print out Cold Spell for me and I read it through. There are some definite problems, but so far the editing is going well. Slowly, but well. I spent two days solid and only got through 39 pages, so I get the feeling this is going to be a long project, especially as I've now decided to completely rewrite a character and change is plot. Jack never did gel with me, but I'm feeling pretty confident that this new direction I'm going in with him could really give the book that extra something it needs to pull the whole thing together. Watch this space for more developments and possibly some extracts!
4) Write new text for projectmonkey.me.uk
Still not done that. Not that project monkey seems to be up at the moment...
5) Continue learning to draw manga and put at least 3 original pieces of artwork on my deviantART page
My deviantART page is still empty, however...
6) Enter 1 Seventh Sanctum Art Contest (why the hell not, sounds like a laugh!)
I have got as far as doing a headshot of Charneldream for the Evil and Company contest, so it's a start. I'm not sure if I'll actually enter the contest. I'm thinking more of a single character thing would be more suited to my first try, but I'll post her when I'm finished with her either way, even if I don't manage to do her panic vampire minions at this point.
7) Write and workshop 3 short stories, not counting the one I wrote yesterday. That was last year.
I haven't been on my workshop for a couple of weeks, and editing is taking up most of my creative energy at the moment. I'll get to it though.
8) Read at least 1 fiction novel a month, with the exception of November when I'll be a bit busy
In February I read Thud! OK, I actually finished it in March, but I did finish it, and it's been a challenging month. This month I'm giving myself an easy job and reading "Where's my cow?".
No, I don't think that's cheating...
9) Actually read all the course books the OU are going to send me in a couple of weeks
I did let my reading slip, but I'm back in the game now. I've nearly finished Chapter 3, which I should have finished last week, but never mind. The next chapter is on consciousness, and I'm rather good with that if I do say so myself, so it shouldn't take to long to catch up.
10) Finish wedding scrapbook
Hmm, did I really agree to do that too? OK, I suck. This I have not started yet. At least it's on the list!
That's all for now, folks. TTFN!
