Life hands you challenges. We all face them in our own way. My way? A pen full of ink and sheer grit.
01 October 2012
Goals in ink
My apartment is finally set up. Work has been busy, as usual, which is one reason I have not been blogging. Despite this, I still have my goals in mind. They are actually in arms reach right now, written up and taped by the desk. Some of them include:
One published novel (minimum) in the next five years
One NYT bestseller in ten years
It's no surprise that my focus is still my writing, even when I don't have the time I'd like to dedicate to it. Now, it's a question of making time. I grew up hearing a phrase so important to me that I'm considering having it tattooed on my arm. The entire saying is one my mother cites often. "You have time for what you make time for and you make time for what's important." The second half of this saying, "you make time for what's important," is what I intend to have as my tattoo.
I spent this weekend recovering from a virus and was so glad my apartment was clean. To be there sick and dealing with the mess would have been too much for me. Now, after a full recovery, I'm back to work and my schedule is, for the moment, back to normal. What's normal, you ask?
Job #1 I work most days, usually morning shifts that end in the early afternoon. Here, my hours have been crazy because we've had people quit and have been training new hires.
Job #2 consists of closing shifts on the weekends. The past few weeks, I've been scheduled extra hours here because a co-worker had to take some time off for personal reasons.
Yeah, things have been crazy. Last weekend, I believe, I worked 58 hours over four days, pulling double shifts (one at each job) Thursday through Sunday. I am so proud of myself for making it through those difficult cluster of days - and a little not shocked that I ended up getting sick. Now, I'm back at work and trying to set more goals for my future.
Hopefully, I'll be able to blog about more than work. Anything interesting happening to anyone right now? Please share!
22 July 2012
A Full Plate at Life's Buffet
Do you ever feel like you're standing at the buffet of life, holding a plate overflowing with food? That's kind of how I'm feeling right now. The problem? I can't seem to stop putting food on my plate. This, I think, is one of my biggest character flaws/weaknesses. I get fantastic ideas (thanks, ADD) but tend to fall apart when it comes to follow-through. Again, thanks, ADD.
Work continues and has been going very well. Working two retail jobs isn't exactly the glamorous life, but it means I have money coming in. I'm also (still) trying to teach myself to use my spare time to my own benefit. It seems like my free time keeps getting filled up by little, insignificant things that I enjoy in the moment, but afterwards... Yeah, it was enjoyable, but there's still all this stuff I want to do that I could've worked on instead. Continuing my buffet analogy, I think these impulse quick-entertainment to-dos are like the dessert bar. Lots of fun, good at hitting the pleasure center of the brain, but it won't keep me going.
Things at work have been a little crazier than usual, but I've kept at it and been working both jobs for almost two months. The manager at one job unexpectedly walked out, so we are in flux there while waiting for the company to transfer/hire someone new. At the other job, we have inventory coming up this week and the manager on vacation next week. This means I'll be getting some extra hours, which is all manner of shiny.
More good news: at the end of this week/over the weekend, I will be moving into my own apartment! Yes, I've had an apartment before, but it was at school and on campus. This time around, I get to pay my own bills and set everything up the way I want and I am SO EXCITED!!! I've been ready to do this adult thing for a while, so I'm really looking forward to these final steps. In terms of bills, I actually lucked out: all I have to pay (besides school loans, car payment, cell phone, etc.) is rent and electric. That's a fantastic deal in my book.
Right now, as usual, I'm doing as much as I can to load my spare time down with projects. Here are just a few of the things on my wish list of to-dos.
Moving - mentioned above. Duh. This is a must do.
Packing - Priority one after work and chores and... Yeah, it's on the list.
Novel in progress - a fantasy/horror piece; the initial idea was in my head for about a month before I started committing words to paper.
Screenwriting - my newest brain wave. Instead of seeking a Masters degree in creative writing (paying more money, taking literary criticism classes I really don't care about) I'm going to try my hand at screenwriting. Not sure yet whether I'll be learning on my own through reading and doing, trial and error, or taking online classes.
Media reviews - this morning's random brain wave. I've recently started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FINALLY!!!) and have been loving it. I'm going to try and write up some reviews to be posted on this blog. From there, I may branch out to other tv shows/movies as they pique my interest. If I can keep up with this, I may set up a blog dedicated just to these reviews. Time will tell.
Vlogging - This is always on the to-do list. I'm going to set up a studio of sorts in my apartment. planning for the day I own an actual video camera, external mic, etc.
Blogging - Doing this today. Finally. For once.
Running - I miss this. It needs to cool off in Texas.
BDV history - a never-ending project that I may never get to.
RP posts - bottom of the to do list, but still very much there. There are days it seems more like work than play, but it's writing, so this doesn't shock me. Still, it doesn't exactly help with the motivating.
Camp NaNoWriMo - this is becoming less of a priority. Would it be nice to earn a NaNo win while working two jobs? Yeah. Still, not sure I need a 50k/31day deadline looming. It seems better that I write on my own time as I'm able to.
Yeah, my plate is pretty full. I know I do it to myself. Maybe because of the ADD. I don't know. Anyway, that's just a few of the things going on in my life at the moment. I'll post a tour of the apartment on YouTube once everything is set up.
How do you avoid over-loading at life's buffet? Or do you grab way too much like I do?
16 May 2012
Graduated & off to Camp
One of my (possibly odd) prevailing thoughts this weekend involved spelling. Did anyone ever notice that graduate (the verb, the ceremony) and graduate (the noun, the person going through the ceremony) have the same spelling, but different pronunciations? I thought that was strange.
Bizarre spelling quirks aside, I did graduate on Saturday. The ceremony was good and it didn't rain on us, thankfully. I got to graduate with another member of my theater fraternity - my big. A big, for those who may not know, is an established member of a fraternity/sorority who acts as a mentor to one other new member. Usually, bigs and littles don't graduate together, so I thought that was really cool. I graduated wearing shoes made of purple canvas that, I was told, turned a lot of heads. My shoes could be seen from the stands. Both the photographer and the university president commented on my shoes.
Sunday was the party, which was nice and relaxing. The prep for the party was, of course, chaotic and stressful, but everything was great in the end. Family members and friends showed up and, despite some irritating last minute cancellations from some guests and others who simply didn't show, I did like the party a lot. There was plenty of good friends and good food - we're still figuring out ways to re-invent the leftovers so we can keep eating them!
Yesterday, I got more good news when I checked my grades - I made Cs in Spanish and Speech (classes I was expecting Ds in) and As in my theater classes. I've graduated college with a 2.73 GPA overall. I'm pretty happy with that. My first semester of college, I ended with a GPA of 0.93, which just proves how far I've come.
Still trying to decide on next steps. The ideas I'm kicking around include teaching or nursing, both of which involve a return to college, which will at least let me delay the repayment of college loans. Beyond that, my ultimate goal is to write, so I'm working on building my writing portfolio and, as usual, gearing up for Camp NaNoWriMo.
What is Camp NaNoWriMo? It's the same as NaNoWriMo, which takes place every year in November. The difference is that Camp NaNo takes place in the summer. I took part in it last summer and achieved my first NaNo win. The purpose of it is to write a 50k word count novel in one calendar month. That first win, last summer, I ended with a final word count of 50,066 words. In November of 2011, I got a second win with almost 60,000 words. This year for Camp, the people at NaNo are holding two sessions, as they did the first year. Last year's sessions were in July and August, back to back; this year, they have changed it to June and August, which I think will be better. With a month in between to recover, it increases the odds for participants to take part in both sessions and win both.
Besides my plans for Camp, I'm working on searching for a job, either in a theater or not at this point. I'll be getting back into blogging and vlogging regularly - a link to my YouTube channel can be found in the sidebar on the right. Look here for more updates on my life!
Bizarre spelling quirks aside, I did graduate on Saturday. The ceremony was good and it didn't rain on us, thankfully. I got to graduate with another member of my theater fraternity - my big. A big, for those who may not know, is an established member of a fraternity/sorority who acts as a mentor to one other new member. Usually, bigs and littles don't graduate together, so I thought that was really cool. I graduated wearing shoes made of purple canvas that, I was told, turned a lot of heads. My shoes could be seen from the stands. Both the photographer and the university president commented on my shoes.
Sunday was the party, which was nice and relaxing. The prep for the party was, of course, chaotic and stressful, but everything was great in the end. Family members and friends showed up and, despite some irritating last minute cancellations from some guests and others who simply didn't show, I did like the party a lot. There was plenty of good friends and good food - we're still figuring out ways to re-invent the leftovers so we can keep eating them!
Yesterday, I got more good news when I checked my grades - I made Cs in Spanish and Speech (classes I was expecting Ds in) and As in my theater classes. I've graduated college with a 2.73 GPA overall. I'm pretty happy with that. My first semester of college, I ended with a GPA of 0.93, which just proves how far I've come.
Still trying to decide on next steps. The ideas I'm kicking around include teaching or nursing, both of which involve a return to college, which will at least let me delay the repayment of college loans. Beyond that, my ultimate goal is to write, so I'm working on building my writing portfolio and, as usual, gearing up for Camp NaNoWriMo.
What is Camp NaNoWriMo? It's the same as NaNoWriMo, which takes place every year in November. The difference is that Camp NaNo takes place in the summer. I took part in it last summer and achieved my first NaNo win. The purpose of it is to write a 50k word count novel in one calendar month. That first win, last summer, I ended with a final word count of 50,066 words. In November of 2011, I got a second win with almost 60,000 words. This year for Camp, the people at NaNo are holding two sessions, as they did the first year. Last year's sessions were in July and August, back to back; this year, they have changed it to June and August, which I think will be better. With a month in between to recover, it increases the odds for participants to take part in both sessions and win both.
Besides my plans for Camp, I'm working on searching for a job, either in a theater or not at this point. I'll be getting back into blogging and vlogging regularly - a link to my YouTube channel can be found in the sidebar on the right. Look here for more updates on my life!
05 May 2012
Love to Mothers
This is a guest post from Crazed Mind
Mother's Day is right around the corner. Are you ready? I know I am...Not! No not yet...but am working on getting there. You see I need to know just how do I tell my Mom how much I really do appreciate her. Hallmark has a new commercial....Tell Me. It makes me wonder just how to do that.
Let me paint you a rosie pretty picture of my childhood with Mom baking cookies and patting my head. Or let me tell the truth. Mom was a busy working woman raising 5 kids that were loud crazy and out of control 90% of the time. Mom taught me the home truths of life....work hard so you can pay the bills so your kids never worry about the lights being turned off. Love someone that you have seen their ugly side as it will be the one that is snoring beside you in the middle of the night. Hug your babies tight because there is a day they wiggle away to play with their friends instead. And use sun block...you will wrinkle...you will age....you will not like it but you can accept it when the grandbabes run to you screaming....NONNIE!
My Mom taught me that as children we are protected and as adults we protect. My Mom was tough. She fought for us as much as we fought with each other. My Mom most often fell asleep in front of the TV right after serving us dinner because her days started at 5 a.m. And my Mom did without meals, new shoes and at times even transportation so that we could have what we needed. I want to tell her....
Thanks for bringing me into this world.
I appreciate all you have done to raise me into a strong woman.
Your beautiful because of the lines in your face.
I love you! I respect you! I want to be just like you!
And this year I am just trying to figure out how to get it all written on one lil scrap of paper that will unfold out of a red rose.
We have one of these to share with you too. One that will be able to tell your mom or special person just what you want them to know. Now all you have to do is figure out just what you want to tell them too!
Mother's Day is right around the corner. Are you ready? I know I am...Not! No not yet...but am working on getting there. You see I need to know just how do I tell my Mom how much I really do appreciate her. Hallmark has a new commercial....Tell Me. It makes me wonder just how to do that.
Let me paint you a rosie pretty picture of my childhood with Mom baking cookies and patting my head. Or let me tell the truth. Mom was a busy working woman raising 5 kids that were loud crazy and out of control 90% of the time. Mom taught me the home truths of life....work hard so you can pay the bills so your kids never worry about the lights being turned off. Love someone that you have seen their ugly side as it will be the one that is snoring beside you in the middle of the night. Hug your babies tight because there is a day they wiggle away to play with their friends instead. And use sun block...you will wrinkle...you will age....you will not like it but you can accept it when the grandbabes run to you screaming....NONNIE!
Thanks for bringing me into this world.
I appreciate all you have done to raise me into a strong woman.
Your beautiful because of the lines in your face.
I love you! I respect you! I want to be just like you!
And this year I am just trying to figure out how to get it all written on one lil scrap of paper that will unfold out of a red rose.
We have one of these to share with you too. One that will be able to tell your mom or special person just what you want them to know. Now all you have to do is figure out just what you want to tell them too!
02 May 2012
Writing again
I've spent a good portion of my day, it seems, getting everything in order for my final end of term conference. It's a one on four meeting between each theater student and the professors during which they review how that student has performed in the previous year. Because this is my last time to meet with them, I'm making a point to gather everything I can - particularly samples of my writing. I've managed to locate one of the monologues I wrote and both the ten minute plays. I'm also going to print out some of my poetry, some of my blog entries, and some of my RP posts so that I will have them in my portfolio if they're ever needed in the future.
Finding the monologues and the poetry had me running all over campus. I also got my paperwork in order from the show I stage managed and pulled together old projects from theater classes as well. On top of all that, I've entered a poetry contest. Now that all that is finished, I need to get my mind off of English and onto Spanish. I can't believe graduation is so close!!!
Finding the monologues and the poetry had me running all over campus. I also got my paperwork in order from the show I stage managed and pulled together old projects from theater classes as well. On top of all that, I've entered a poetry contest. Now that all that is finished, I need to get my mind off of English and onto Spanish. I can't believe graduation is so close!!!
01 May 2012
Coffee Cravings
I am a total coffee addict. It is like a life line to me. I do not need it to get going but love it for the flavor and warmth. Also what a great way to wake up in the morning!
But as a dedicated coffee drinker, I have to have times where I can get it on the go. And who does it best? Your right....Starbucks!
So today I am thrilled to offer Two $10 Starbucks e-Gift Cards for giveaway. I am sure you can find a way to use them in no time at all. This giveaway will run from May 1st to May 15th. I want to thank all the blogs that are jumping in on this bandwagon to share. Great group...I know because we all hang out together over on facebook. A bunch of chatty patties and pauls we can be sure. It would be fun if we could all get together at a Starbucks and share.
Here are the girls and boys of the band who brought you this giveaway!
But as a dedicated coffee drinker, I have to have times where I can get it on the go. And who does it best? Your right....Starbucks!
So today I am thrilled to offer Two $10 Starbucks e-Gift Cards for giveaway. I am sure you can find a way to use them in no time at all. This giveaway will run from May 1st to May 15th. I want to thank all the blogs that are jumping in on this bandwagon to share. Great group...I know because we all hang out together over on facebook. A bunch of chatty patties and pauls we can be sure. It would be fun if we could all get together at a Starbucks and share.
Here are the girls and boys of the band who brought you this giveaway!
27 April 2012
Again with the goals
With graduation two weeks away (!!!) I've gone and set more goals for myself and given myself more personal projects on top of my school work. Smart decision? Probably not. Nevertheless, I'm going to try and get everything done. The current project is a writing portfolio. I'm a little surprised I don't already have one pulled together. However, I'm not precisely shocked, which is somewhat unfortunate. Clearly, I know myself too well and don't always work hard enough on shaking myself out of old habits. With that fact recognized, I'll move on. Discussing my own shortcomings is not the topic of this particular blog entry.
The first thing I need for this writing portfolio is more samples of my writing. I do have a few things - research papers written for class, two one act plays I wrote, poems from creative writing, etc. - but I really need to punch it up and show the range of my talents. I'll be pulling entries from this blog to show some of my personal, non-fiction writing. I also plan to lurk some of my own character posts over at a few of my RP sites (more on this later.) Beyond that, I need to figure it out. I could add my NaNoWriMo wins, but am not 100% sure at the idea of including unedited manuscripts that were written in thirty consecutive days and still aren't finished. Besides the sheer massive outpouring of writing for word count's sake that is NaNo, I don't have the means at present to print out those monstrosities. Maybe I could skim some favorite sections and offer them with a summary of the previous action.
For a lot of the writing portfolio, I intend to pull heavily from my favorite RP site and the one I've been on the longest, Big Damn Verse. I've been a member since before that particular site existed and have served as a member of the admin team since fall of 2007. Going into our seventh year, the site has maintained a lot of the same core group of members and a lot of the same staff. We have seven years of original story lines, characters, etc. built up and plenty more to come. If I'm going to be pulling samples of my writing, I'd be stupid not to be pulling from my other online home.
My other big BDV project is a constant work in progress that I need to get caught up on. It won't happen until after graduation, I'm sure, but it's not impossible. That project is the BDV history. I came up with the idea back in 07 or 08 to summarize each of the episodes the ships run through. This would allow new members to know more about what each ship had been through and what sort of characters might fit in with existing story lines. It would also give veteran members a chance to re-read and examine character story arcs away from the massive amounts of collaborative writing that take place in the in-character threads. It seemed like an easy way to step back and make sure we didn't have too many identical SLs running or spot running themes or view a running storyline arc on its own, etc etc etc. I think I kept up with the project for six months, but that guesstimation might be too generous. Now, I feel like I need to dive back into it because 1. it's a project that can, in theory, be "easily maintained" once it gets up to speed, 2. I still think it would offer new members a tremendous advantage, and 3. bragging rights. If I'm able to catch every BDV history thread up to speed on my own, I will be able to say without any doubt that I've read every IC post on the site. That's the theory, anyway.
So, there we have it, the list of things I'm going to work on when I'm not doing homework or packing or cleaning the apartment. Ha! Wish me luck. I'm afraid I'll need it.
Disclaimer: Big Damn Verse is a Firefly/Serenity based RPG. ALL Firefly, Serenity material including characters, Firefly/Serenity photos & graphics belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Studios. The Big Damn Verse is NOT affiliated with any of the above. We make no profit, nor do we ever intend to. Disclaimer text copied from BDV main page.
The first thing I need for this writing portfolio is more samples of my writing. I do have a few things - research papers written for class, two one act plays I wrote, poems from creative writing, etc. - but I really need to punch it up and show the range of my talents. I'll be pulling entries from this blog to show some of my personal, non-fiction writing. I also plan to lurk some of my own character posts over at a few of my RP sites (more on this later.) Beyond that, I need to figure it out. I could add my NaNoWriMo wins, but am not 100% sure at the idea of including unedited manuscripts that were written in thirty consecutive days and still aren't finished. Besides the sheer massive outpouring of writing for word count's sake that is NaNo, I don't have the means at present to print out those monstrosities. Maybe I could skim some favorite sections and offer them with a summary of the previous action.
For a lot of the writing portfolio, I intend to pull heavily from my favorite RP site and the one I've been on the longest, Big Damn Verse. I've been a member since before that particular site existed and have served as a member of the admin team since fall of 2007. Going into our seventh year, the site has maintained a lot of the same core group of members and a lot of the same staff. We have seven years of original story lines, characters, etc. built up and plenty more to come. If I'm going to be pulling samples of my writing, I'd be stupid not to be pulling from my other online home.
My other big BDV project is a constant work in progress that I need to get caught up on. It won't happen until after graduation, I'm sure, but it's not impossible. That project is the BDV history. I came up with the idea back in 07 or 08 to summarize each of the episodes the ships run through. This would allow new members to know more about what each ship had been through and what sort of characters might fit in with existing story lines. It would also give veteran members a chance to re-read and examine character story arcs away from the massive amounts of collaborative writing that take place in the in-character threads. It seemed like an easy way to step back and make sure we didn't have too many identical SLs running or spot running themes or view a running storyline arc on its own, etc etc etc. I think I kept up with the project for six months, but that guesstimation might be too generous. Now, I feel like I need to dive back into it because 1. it's a project that can, in theory, be "easily maintained" once it gets up to speed, 2. I still think it would offer new members a tremendous advantage, and 3. bragging rights. If I'm able to catch every BDV history thread up to speed on my own, I will be able to say without any doubt that I've read every IC post on the site. That's the theory, anyway.
So, there we have it, the list of things I'm going to work on when I'm not doing homework or packing or cleaning the apartment. Ha! Wish me luck. I'm afraid I'll need it.
Disclaimer: Big Damn Verse is a Firefly/Serenity based RPG. ALL Firefly, Serenity material including characters, Firefly/Serenity photos & graphics belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Studios. The Big Damn Verse is NOT affiliated with any of the above. We make no profit, nor do we ever intend to. Disclaimer text copied from BDV main page.
21 April 2012
Freaking out over future plans
I graduate in three weeks. Oh my god. Oh. My. God.
Because graduation is approaching a lot (read: every spare minute) of my free time has been dedicated to my studies, classes, homework, etc. My days have fallen into a pretty regular pattern. Wake up, get breakfast, go to class, eat lunch, go to class, go home, do homework, eat dinner, do more homework, go to sleep to do it all over again the next day.
A lot of things have had to fall by the wayside, including my writing, my blogging, my vlogging, and my RPing. I'm less than thrilled, but school has to be my priority because if it isn't, I may not get out and I have to graduate. Six years at one school is long enough.
There are other concerns, of course. I'm getting zero response on my job search and am beginning to get scared. I'm not sure what to do if I don't get a job. The plan, I suppose, would be to seek a masters in theater (most likely in stage management) or seek a masters in creative writing. The advantage to the latter, aside from the strong appeal, is that I could easily get that degree through online classes.
As for where I'll end up, I suppose only time will tell.
16 April 2012
The best laid plans
Today, I had every intention of getting a lot of things done. I made plans to get a vlog recorded. I worked on my mountain of homework. I wrote more cover letter drafts that I will read and send out tomorrow after a good night's sleep. What I actually completed today, on the other hand, included the updating of my resume, an hour long nap I did not plan on taking, and the mountain of homework. Since I wasn't able to vlog today, here's a blog entry. Personally, I'm just thrilled the homework is done. This means I get to spend tomorrow cleaning the apartment and packing as well as taking a Spanish test and writing a speech. Fun times. Always.
15 April 2012
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