Cafe Au La Tao

Writer's Block: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

2008-05-07T05:32:28Z

What is one thing you MUST do before you go to bed at night?

I tend to have a lot of little rituals for bedtime, things like the order I brush my teeth, my hair, washing my face in, etc. I also crave a last smoke before I start all my prep, like brushing my teeth (cuz after would be truly gross).

Lately, I've also been having a cup of coffee an hour before bed, but I'm trying to switch to either water or green tea; something less likely to keep me up. Hah, maybe I should make LJ, or some journal, a bedtime routine; then I'd actually post more.

the universe is telling me something...

2008-05-05T04:35:53Z

so there I was, alone in the house, my mom had taken the girls out for a couple of hours for the local Apple Blossom Fair, and I was going to write. I turned on the pc, went out for a quick smoke, and then went to the bathroom. Which is when I noticed that the lights wouldn't turn on.

Weird, I thought, that they'd both burned out at the same time.

Then I went into the kitchen, and came to the realization that the power was out. No pc. No writing (handwriting is slow and I hate transcribing to the pc later).

Oi got tagged...

2008-05-01T05:34:19Z

windtear tagged me.

The rules: 
a. Link to the person who tagged you. 
b. Post the rules on your blog. 
c. Write six random things about yourself. 
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. 
e. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog. 
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.  

1. I love catalogs. They don't have to be about anything I use or like; I've flipped my way through door knob and mechanical catalogs quite happily. I have almost as much trouble throwing them out as I do books I hate.

2. I like Nora Roberts almost as much as I like Lois McMaster Bujold. It's kind of embarrassing, but ever since I read Out of This World ( a collection of short stories), I've been hooked.

3. My laugh is a cackle. Not hideous, but definately a cackle. I used to find it embarrassing, but it's kind of nice when friends would search through crowds after hearing me.

4. I've recently discovered that my lack of social skills has a medical term; dysemmia. There's not a lot on the net about it, but my mom bought a book on how to deal with it, so hopefully....

5. Even when my kids aren't around, I tend to leave the tv on kids shows. It's not a way to feel in touch with them; I just find I'm so used to the sounds that it feels weird to not hear it.

6. My mother bought us a PS3; I've finished Guitar Hero 3 at Easy level, and I'm finding Medium a *lot* harder! Now I'm thinking hard about what game to get next, which reminded me of how much I loved playing Populous: The Beginning, and now I'm wondering where the heck the pc disc of it went to. Possibly my ex has it, which is annoying; now I want to play it again!

Who to tag...
ataniell93, elorie, ktprincesswitch, kk1raven, </font>mmegaera</div>

torn

2008-04-25T04:08:02Z

I have a tendency to be socially disfunctional. As in, I tend to assume that my idea of friendship is everyone else's idea of friendship, and I fail to grasp the subtle grades of frienships between 'acquaintance' and 'buddy'.

Anyway, after being burned a little because I failed to recognize those distinctions on Facebook, I just found a really old... I guess it would be aquaintance. We were roommates a decade ago, he buggered off to a different town (for lots of awesome reasons), and I rarely ever heard from him again. So, now he's a facebook friend with several people I know, though I haven't seen many of them in a really long time either.

The end result of this ramble is, I sent him a facebook email instead of instantly friending him like I might have before being burned by my lack of facebook social skills. Still, I'm torn; maybe I shouldn't have emailed him either. Hell. If he replies, that's nice, if he doesn't, then too bad.

Now I just need to keep telling myself that.

spring reversed

2008-04-19T18:50:46Z

so it's snowing here, which is absolutely disgusting. Yesterday it was nice, almost balmy, and today?

great gallumping bears!

2008-04-04T05:34:08Z

I've become obsessed with weight loss; it helps to keep me from meeting my goal of writing a novel, or so I've come to believe. At least this time around, my distraction is healthy. And yes, it is healthy; I'm going to the gym (only once a day, a few times a week) and starting to watch my calorie intake, since that's just basic good sense. No surgery, or flaky pills, yadda yadda yadda.

Anyway, I found sparkpeople, a free online weigh loss support group. they provide a lot of info, including nutrition trackers, calorie trackers, exercise trackers, etc. I'm not sure how they manage to remain a free site; I think it's the sparkpoints (go to the site, you'll see what I mean).

pretentious

2008-03-18T05:50:50Z

still procrastinating and not sleeping! well, since I hadn't posted much recently, I thought I'd do it twice tonight and get it over with.

elves dislike noise

2008-03-18T05:15:52Z

So tired tonight; yesterday I did weight lifting at the gym and boy do I feel it today! Plus I didn't get enough sleep, inspite of the fact that I KNEW I had to get up this morning at 6:30 am. Silly me stayed up till almost midnight, I'm still not sure why... found the girls' medical cards tonight, though, so woohoo, now they can sign up for all the stuff that requires it. I'm just glad I finally found them; I didn't know if me or the ex had them, and was worried they'd gotten lost in the move.

out of the hermitage

2008-02-04T00:39:11Z

time to get back into my online life, lol. spent most of january reading, exercising and playing with the kiddies. I'm still reading, exercising and playing with the kiddies, but I'm slipping back into my fav online stuff, like DragonFable. My eldest loves to play it too, in fact in Jan she spent more time online than I did! creepy.

Last week was Ex's week with the kids, but I ended up with them for most of it because he was helping friends of his girlfriend move to alberta, and got stuck halfway there due to snow. I was supposed to have the girls wednesday night and they'd pick them up on thursday evening; instead I had them till saturday morning! Lol, and when you add in the fact that Ex (who's 33) had just gotten his tonsils out the week before that... I'm starting to feel pity for the guy! Again, creepy.

I don't love him anymore, but he is the girls' father. If anything happened to him, they'd be devastated and I'd hurt for them.

perchta @ 2007-12-31T23:09:00

2008-01-01T07:12:49Z

an hour till midnight to go here, but I doubt I'll remember to post then, so here it is.

Happy New Year!

I'm dreadfully aware of how alone I am tonight (I'm home with my mother, and as much as I love her, it ain't the same), and equally aware that that is my own dam fault.

On the plus side, I do have a lot of resolutions for 2008! So cheers to all, and now I shall go back to sipping on my bacardi breezer (island pinapple flavor). Mmmm.

sheesh

2007-12-29T23:57:02Z

okay, so my youngest has a talent. All summer long, whenever they (my two kids) go in the back yard at our new place, she ended up with cat poop on one shoe. And only on one shoe. The other kid is fine, never has a spot on her.

And now, we've got a foot or more of snow, and yet somehow she still manages to get cat poop all over one boot! And the landlady turned off the outside taps, so I'll have to wait till spring to wash the gunk off. sigh. Glad we found a second pair of boots!

Duck fleming

2007-12-13T23:44:06Z

My eldest had an upset tummy, so school sent her home. She proceeded to rest for an hour, then eat chicken, veggies and a bowl of cheerios. Well, maybe she just needs the rest....

Outline is finally done, in that I now know all the major plot points, and how they follow each other linearly. I think. I should dive back into writing it, now that I have a better handle on it. I am glad I've been reading lots of Jim Butcher lately; it was a bit like an epiphany to suddenly realize that sex didn't have to be the lowest common denominator; 'hey, this isn't a LKH-esque novel I'm writing!'. At least, not a more recent LKH novel.

and no, I'm not saying I'm stealing plot, lol. I'm stealing that old action-action-action flow for the novel. I admit I had to keep reminding myself to find solutions for the situations I'd put my MC into that didn't use sex as the solution; I'm way too obsessed with getting Lick of Frost for xmas, what can I say...

the girls are watching the Best Christmas Movie Ever (here's a clue: "Light the lamp, not the rat!")

snap goes the weasel

2007-12-07T00:16:17Z

My top 10 things to do instead of writing/outlining:
   (from most minor to most frequent)

10. edit my LJ entry tags.
9.  scan fifteen year old artwork.
8. play with my daughter's WebKinz (she asked me to during daddy's week).
7. surf LJ for new userpics.
6.  surf amazon and my library's online site for new books to read.
5. watch cartoons.
4. cleaning.
3. post to LJ.
2. Facebook.
1. Reading, reading and more reading.

I got back from an outing yesterday, and brought home ten books from the library. I've read one, started three others, but keep losing my focus. Rachel Caine's Glass Houses just couldn't keep me interested, same with Silver Bough by Lisa Tuttle, so I had to settle for Night Lost by Lynn Viehl, which I managed to finish, and now I'm onto Fool Moon by Jim Butcher. I tell myself it's research since I'm writing in this genre, but I know I'm really procrastinating.

I think I'll go dye my hair, and outline after dinner...

trust the voices

2007-12-06T23:32:10Z

I'm impressed. In two of the romance/supernatural/erotica novels I've read in the past few days the writer mentioned Emma Holly. I've read a little bit of her work, but obviously now I must read more! I'm still debating how much sex to include in my story; on the one hand there's stuff like Jim Butcher's which is more plot/character driven (yay plot!) and then there's stuff like well, dozens of authors where there's tons of sex scenes (which, lets face it, help sell books).

I guess it comes down to whether or not I want to, and whether or not it detracts from the story. Or maybe I'll do without in the rough draft, and add sex scenes in later, if I think it needs more oomph.

I generally have a harder time writing romantic scenes than sexual ones. Probably because since my seperation I haven't been in a relationship, so I'm still sensitive that way; sex can be just flesh, but love... that's painful. I'm not sure there's a relationship equivalent to masturbation.

but it's not finished...

2007-12-05T22:11:09Z

I must be the only person in the universe to not know that Robert Jordan died in september. Or else I failed to absorb the words when someone told me... I've blanked out on things I didn't want to hear before. Garg.

For years, we would joke about hoping he finished the series before he died of old age. Well, he didn't die of old age, but he still died before finishing the series!

yawn

2007-12-05T17:59:41Z

I don't blame my youngest for being slumped in a chair this morning; we're all tired, I think. Instead of easily sliding into sleep last night, I was busy trying to work out a story scene in my head; can't sleep when that happens.

I am feeling a little pissed off, though, which helps to wake a person up. In a local (provincial, really) pagan email list I help mod, an acquaintance of mine has come forward and is complaining about the shit end of the stick he was handed by a provinical group he'd belonged to. Now, this group was annoying from the getgo, I know the local members and don't like them. He, on the other hand, saw them as harmless. Hah, now he's finding out they aren't. Still, I'm torn. I want to post on the issue, but as a mod, I shouldn't be stirring the pot.

Mainly, what's pissing me off, is that the guy who's been... blacklisted and slandered by this group, is trying to bring his situation to the attention of the pagan public, and people are complaining because they don't want to be involved. WTF? Why do people join a list and then expect not to be involved?

perchta @ 2007-12-04T22:01:00

2007-12-05T06:06:32Z

I know, I should quit changing my bloody theme here, but I can't help it! It's the season for something purdy and jolly, so I've gone with this one for the next few weeks, then in January I'll go back to the cute Mad Lab one.

I've decided to go back to doing an actual outline for this novel. Scary. I was trying to write it adlib, and finding stuff being left out or forgotten. so back to outlining it is!

Lemme think... now that the tree and mantel are decorated, we've kinda given up on everything else, sigh. which is just as well. We moved here in September, and we still have tons of boxes everywhere. So I guess I know what I'll be doing when procrastinating from writing! (though today I cleaned instead of unpacking OR writing).

Oh, and I watched Next, it was entertaining though not a great movie. I just find Nicolas Cage very creepy (and not in a good Tim Burton kind of way).

ouching

2007-12-03T07:44:26Z

take two; I tried to preview my post, and it not only blocked a pop-up, it erased my post! dam webbrowser....

to recap, I was stupid on Friday night (like, half an hour after I posted on LJ) and sprained my ankle. It's much better now, but dam it hurt! The worst part was that the ice pack wasn't in the freezer, so I ended up with frozen zuchini loaf on my ankle instead. On the plus side, the loaf was very yummy!

It threw off my plans for the weekend; couldn't stand on a ladder to string up the outside lights, but my mom and I did manage to get the tree up today and my kids helped to decorate it. The stockings are hung on the mantel over the gas fireplace, and it's finally starting to look xmasy here (and yeah, even in my head, I say xmas).

It also threw off my plans for writing; couldn't sit at the pc and write when my ankle needed to be up.

In a complete segue, I adore iLike on Facebook; I use the Music Challenge to listen to music, so I can find new bands to listen to. My prezzie list is ever expanding!

smitten

2007-11-30T19:21:25Z

OMG. why can't I meet men like this????

http://xkcd.com/304/
http://xkcd.com/350/

lalalalalala....

2007-11-29T06:05:06Z

okay, so I still haven't finished my 'final' chapter of my nano novel, I've been stuck on picking a name for my new mc. It's one of those half avoidance/ half serious issue things. I mean, I could just call zer X, and change it whenever I get around to it. However, I really do find that my character's name, as well as personality sketch are vital. I get a mental image of who ze is, but I also tend to carry around a lot of psychological tags for various names.

Oooh, sitting here typing this is useful! I just realized what my mc's name should be. Not what I thought it was going to be, either.... sigh.

huzzah

2007-11-26T19:54:10Z

So I'm 'done' writing my nano novel, in that I've managed to shove 50k of words together. But it isn't actually 'done'; according to my outline, I've got approximately a third of it written, which sucks because I've lost interest in it due to well, writing a lot of filler and losing interest in the main character. That suggests to me that I need to do a re-write and I'm not up for that quite yet.

However, in the middle of nano another story came to me, so I'm going to try and start working on that one, and see if I can maybe switch off between the two.

Here's hoping!

perchta @ 2007-11-21T17:41:00

2007-11-22T01:43:32Z

so here I am, reading my email and I see my LJ paid account is up for renewal. No prob. Used paypal, added 100 pics just cuz. All paid up and I'm a happy clam for another year.

and then I realize that all of my icons are on my laptop, which is refusing to connect to the internet. dam it, dam it, dam it.

wakee wakee

2007-11-16T22:05:34Z

so, last night I plan on doing some writing with enkanowen. Instead I get cold and curl up in bed for a few minutes. Works well enough for twenty minutes, then poof; I'm asleep. For twelve hours. Oops.

I procrastinate, there for I am.

2007-11-13T21:02:48Z

Taking yet another little break from nano (which seems to be happening a lot lately), I give you this link: Sylar as Spock!

not liking the sticky

2007-11-10T07:44:20Z

Sticky Post for nano at the top of my LJ, that is. However, I don't know which graphic I prefer. Calendar or logo... hmmm. well, tomorrow I'll change it, but at the moment I just can't decide.

Oh, and yes, my story is going, but so slooowly. Maybe it won't read that way, but it sure seems to drag on and on! Plus, an entirely new character just thrust his way into my MC's life, which I totally wasn't expecting. My MC needed to fill a few minutes (or words) before the love interest showed up and instead of just having a nice cup of coffee and pondering life as people walked by, a brand new character just appears and sits down with her! gah.

So now my MC is upset, her love interest is pissed off and the minor character? He's wondering why the hell everything suddenly went to shit, it's not like he was doing anything! Grrrr.