NaNoWriMo - part 3 (self publishing and the like)

Well. The exam was extremely easy. I think everyone finished in under 30 minutes. And after my interview today, I'll be done with that class! Yay! It was starting to get to me. I love being done with block classes haha.

Right now I am continuing to procrastinate doing my other homework. Reading 20-some pages of analyzing art is not my cup of tea, so I'm putting it off. Haven't even made it through 2 pages and am already bored out of my mind. At least it's in English though... If it were in French, I'd never make it haha. I still have 3 hours to get it done though. There are only 2 questions this time, so that's not too bad.

French Civ exam #3 opens tomorrow. Blech. Not fun. At least my project proposal is done, printed, and ready to go. I'm way behind on my Isaiah project, but it's alright. Hopefully I'll get to work on that some time this week. That and maybe get in SOME hours for work. I didn't get in any last week. Boo!

I really want it to be November... Nano will make me incredibly happy and will give me something fun to do.

As for the book as a whole...

I really want to try to tie in some of the stories to one another and give it some more continuity, since I'm lacking a little in that department. I mean, a series of short stories is great, especially because they have a common theme, but tying them together makes it seem more polished and thought out. At least I think it does.

So far all I have is a connection to "Junkyard" and "The Creator." I want Jim (the creator himself) to hear about the Junkyard incident and then to go and try to fix the Androids that were killed in the events preceding it. I don't know if I'll come out and say it upright, but it will at the very least be strongly implied.

I really want to post things about my book online here, but I have 2 issues with doing so.

1. Idea theft.

I'm not too worried about that because I don't think many of my ideas make sense to other people right now. Lots of them are still in picture form and have very little solidified as of yet. Plus I don't think many people are that desperate. If someone could do something with just my basic ideas, they'd be creative enough to come up with their own story and therefore wouldn't need mine.

The second is more important.

2. "Self publishing"

I always want to leave the option open to getting my work published some day and if you "self publish" it's MUCH harder to achieve this. Since this book can be however long or short I choose it to be, based on the number of stories I write, it wouldn't be a particularly difficult one to conceive of getting published one day. So yeah... I don't want to run the risk of not being able to do that because I posted too much of it on the nets.

Rawr. Silly publishing companies.

I noticed that, since I started writing about Nanowrimo, my audience has tripled! Thanks everyone for reading my blog :) I really appreciate it. I'd really love to hear from my readers. As of yet, my blog has 0 comments and it makes me a little sad. So if you have a second, leave a comment please. I'd love to hear from you!

Maybe once I finish my French homework (and maybe read for Isaiah as well haha) I'll update with more stuff about my book. I need to develop several of my characters a LOT more. I have general ideas for stories and I know HOW my characters will respond to their situations, but I have very little idea about the WHY of it all. It seems important to me.

Anyway. I'm REALLY stalling. I need to get back to work.

Only 2 more months of this semester!! It's kind of hard to believe it's already half over. =3 Oh how time flies.

Bye friends!

NanoWriMo - part 2

I should be studying for my first final which is in... just over 2 hours. But I just don't have the motivation right now. So hi blog!

So, Nano story is already going under construction. I decided to take out the story "The Little Tailor." It's all fine and good, I just can't make it interesting enough. It'll probably be condensed and used as an intro.

To replace it, I came up with "The Mind of the Machine." But more on that later.

I started going through all the music I want to use as inspiration/mood setters for when I'm actually writing next month. I haven't even gone through 1/3 of the stuff on my hard drive, but it's alright. It'll give me something to do for the next couple of weeks.

Can you believe October will be over in just 2 weeks? Crazy, isn't it? Two weeks from now is November 1st! GAh!! So excited =D

I'm starting to solidify character names and basic personality outlines as well. Those are always subject to change, even while writing. It's pretty rare that I change names once I've started writing, but personality and background stuff change all over the place.

But anyway! Music!

I would LOVE to make playlists for each chapter/story section, but most of the music I use can't be found online at places like playlist.com. Amazing site, but my music taste is a little strange. So still looking in to that.

Does anyone know of a site where you can upload your own music to playlists? I don't want to make individual ones in my iTunes, though that is also an option. What do you guys do?

Here's what I have so far. It's all raw and hasn't been fine-tuned AT ALL, so many of these songs have the distinct possibility of a non-future on my list. But we'll see.

I look through the files that are sorted according to artist, so if it seems skewed in the early-alphabiet direction, that's why. I'll get to the later ones (hopefully) when I have the time. ^^;; haha.

"Lovers Scorned"

• "If I apologised" from Mirrormask
• "Wishing you were somehow here again" from the Phantom of the Opera
• "I'm with you" by Avril Lavigne
• "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne
• "My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne
• "The Scientist" by Coldplay
• "Enchantment Passing Through" from Aida (the musical, not the opera)
• "Radames' Letter" from Aida
• "Goodnight Julia" from Cowboy Bebop
• "Rain" from Cowboy Bebop

"Junkyard"

• "Baroque" by Malice Mizer
• "Path, vol. 2" by Apocaliptica
• "Go" by Asia
• "Requiem for a Dream" by Clint Mansell
• "The City is at War" by Cobra Starship
• "Otherworld" from Final Fantasy X
• "Crawling in the Dark" by Hoobastank
• "Down with the Sickness" from "Queen of the Damned"
• "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett
• "Epiphany" from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• "Rakuen" from DNAngel
• "City of Angels" by the Distillers

"Brother" or "Always Half, Never Whole"

• "Silver and Cold" by A.F.I.
• "Learn to be Lonely" from the Phantom of the Opera (film version)
• "Kiss Me Goodbye" (both English and Japanese versions) by Angela Aki
• "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from Les Mis.
• "Javert's Suicide" from Les Mis.
• "Crawling in the Dark (Studio Version)" by Hoobastank
• "Frozen Flower" from DNAngel
• "Darkness" by Darren Hayes
• "Mad World (Full Version)" from Donnie Darko

"Heart(h) and Home"

• "Jinsei no merry-go-round" from "Howl's Moving Castle"
• "Koe" by Tsukiko Amano
• "You Showed Me" by the Backstreet Boys (yeah I know. It's a good song though, so no hatin')
• "Wandering" from Final Fantasy X (I think...?)
• "Caged Bird" from DNAngel
• "Mitsumeru Saki Ni Wa" from DNAngel

"Dancer in the Street"

• "[jibberish from non-transfered Japanese text] - Acoustic Version" from DNAngel
• "Boku wa Koko ni Iru" from "Full Metal Alchemist"
• "True Color" by Cyndi Lauper
• "Blackbird" from "I Am Sam" (remake of the Beatles' song)
• "風の辿り着く場所" from/by I Have No Freaking Clue
• "Ave Maria" - Cowboy Bebop Version

"Curiosity"

• "The Sore Feet Song" by Ally Kerr
• "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" by The Backstreet Boys
• "I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme)" from "Treasure Planet," written and performed by Jonny Resnick
• "Flying Teapot" from Cowboy Bebop
• "Yagami Light's Song" from DeathNote

"Serenity/1000 words/Simon Says (Nothing)"

• "Shape of my Heart" by the Backstreet Boys
• "Sayonara Solitaire" from Chrno Crusade
• "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Mis
• "Always Know Where You Are" from Treasure Planet, performed by 98 Degrees(??)
• "Green Bird" from Cowboy Bebop
• "Flying Teapot" from Cowboy Bebop

"Asylum"

• "Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette
• "Misera Cantare" by A.F.I.
• "Sekai no Yakusoku" from... uh....?
• "Introduction (Titles)" from "Edward Scissorhands," written by Danny Elfman
• "Darkness" by Darren Hayes
• "Opening Titles including Underground" from "Labyrinth," written and performed by David Bowie
• "Enter Sandman" by Metallica
• "Suffering Planet (remix)" from Final Fantasy 7 (originally)

"The Creator"

• "I Know He Lives" by April Meservy
• "Clocks" by Coldplay
• "Don't Give Up" by Eagle Eye Cherry
• "Concerning Hobbits" from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
• "Higher" by Creed
• "If You're Not the One" by Daniel Bedingfield

"The Mind of the Machine"

• "Easy as Life" from Aida
• "The Alchemic World - Two Years Thereafter" from "Conqueror of Shamballa," a sequel film for Full Metal Alchemist
• "Caged Bird" from DNAngel
• "Let Me Be Your Wings" from Thumbellina

Generic Music That Has No Specific Category but that Seems Useful in Some Way or Another:

• Same acoustic version as "Dancer in the Street"
• "Prelude 12/21" by A.F.I.
• "La Chanson d'Azmaria" from Chrno Crusade
• "Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy X
• "The Sending" from Final Fantasy X
• "One Day More" from Les Mis
• "Finale" from Les Mis
• "Music of my Heart" from "Music of the Heart," performed by N*SYNC with Gloria Estefon
• "Not One of Us" from "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride"
• "Heaven (Candlelight Remix)" by DJ Sammy and Yaonu

WOW That's a TON of music. This almost seems like spam haha. But there's so much music!!! It's insane.

I love this haha.

Ok. Procrastination over. Must study. Test at 9 and I have to leave in just over an hour. Yay!!

Wish me luck =3

Consideration of the... month?

Originally I was going to have a "consideration of the week" and, as the name implies, change it every week or so.

That was about a month ago. Whoops.

Here's my first one since I don't have it copied down anywhere.

""[Teachers] can explain that the students will not be expected to comprehend every word [of the language being taught], but should strive to understand the general meaning of what the teacher says, much as they would do if they were sojourners in a country in which the target language is spoken."

- Blair E. Bateman, 2008

Student teachers and new instructors often feel intimidated by the students and feel they should slack up a bit in the use of the target language. I believe this is not the case, and this quotation is one of many ways to avoid such an outcome.

(My first thought was to say "to avoid such tomfoolery," but that seemed a little facetious.)"

Now... for my next one? I'm not sure. So much considering!!

Oh... I know... >:3 Eevil smile mwahaha.

NaNoWriMo

This year, I am once again going to try NaNoWriMo. I've made it twice I think and attempted it 3 times so far. Last year I didn't make it because of how sick I was. Not a fun time.

Anyway.

NAnO! I'm excited :3 I just wish November weren't so far away. Well, at least as far as that's concerned. As far as school work... November can just stay as far away from me as possible XD I have 2 major projects and a presentation for work and I have to write a chapter for a book we're presenting to the Dean of the Education Department. Stressful! Plus whatever other assignments and exams my professors feel like throwing at me haha. So yeah.

This year, I'm very set in my story. Most of the pieces are in place, I just have to start playing. Ironic... I hate playing the waiting game and yet that's what I'm doing.

This year, my book is called "Humanoid City." I'm not gonna say too much about it right now because I have no "off" button when it comes to my books. =P

Here's the info I have on my Nano page:

"Humanoid City" is a set of short stories all taking place in the same city on the Border Lands. There are different neighborhoods and many different lives, each with their own stories to tell. Each story is about the struggle between humans, androids, and humanoids (a mixture of the two). Everyone is different, and that's what makes them human whether they look like it or not.

Story Titles (subject to change and in no particular order):

1. The Little Tailor
2. Lovers Scorned
3. Junkyard
4. Half and Never Whole
5. Hearth and Home
6. Dancer in the Street
7. Curiosity
8. Serenity / 1000 Words / Simon Says (Nothing)
9. Asylum
10. The Creator

Yay!

I can't say too much about it because I don't want to be in danger of "self publishing" because then I can't go many places with my finished product.

If anyone out there is also doing Nano, please add me as a Writing Buddy! I love sharing this experience with other people.

For those of you that don't have ANY idea what I'm talking about, here's the idea:

NaNoWriMo stands for Nation Novel Writing Month. In the month of November, we are challenged to write 50,000 words of a novel that we start on Nov. 1st and no sooner. It's crazy but it's SO much fun. It gives me all the motivation I need to start writing again.

I find that, when I have too much to do, I somehow get it all done. But when I don't have very much I tend to get NOTHING done. Weird, isn't it?

Anyway. I'm just excited :3

A lot of my inspiration comes from Tokio Hotel, to be honest. It's a confusing story, but I came up with the idea when I was trying to remember song lyrics of theirs from a song that was stuck in my head. Then I remembered that the name of their tour for their newest CD (Humanoid) was called "Humanoid City." It really has nothing to do with them other than that, but the name inspired me, as does their music on occasion.

I also find that several pictures of theirs or those made by their fans give me ideas about the city itself and the way I think the people in it would look.

Here are some pictures that inspire me (since I haven't put up any pictures in a while):

Disclaimer: These are not my photos. They are pictures I found on the internet. I don't know where many of them came from since I simply did a Google Image Search.

This one is one of my favorites. The man here looks very much unreal and mechanical... until you look at his face. Then he doesn't seem so "inhuman" after all.

This one is just beautifully shot. The gears are well placed and the colors are soft and cold at the same time. I chose this one because her tears are oily and obviously inhuman when, apart from the tiny gears on her cheek, she looks completely human.

I like this one because it's simple. The unpolished feel of it is what makes it beautiful. The red of his heart is the only color he has, but I think it's the only color he needs.

This is my favorite. I don't know if it's "official" or not, but I don't care. I love many things about this. The colors and lighting are very warm except on his mechanical parts. His skin and his shirt look like they've absorbed the light, but his inner machine merely reflects it and doesn't take it in. To me, it looks like he's checking to make sure no one can see him. It also illustrates for me that "beauty is skin deep." When you tear away his skin, he's a different kind of beautiful. One that is raw and exposed and deep and has nothing at all to do with the face above. Even the skin on his arm is cut away a little. It's beautiful to me.

So anyway! That's all I have for now. I'm going to start compiling music for this project soon. Yay! =D I'll post song lists and things later when I can. I can't post music here as far as I know, but I can at least post song names and maybe YouTube links or something.

A lot of the music I'm going to use will probably be German. As stated, that's mainly what I listen to. But we'll see. I'm going to go through all my music archives and not just the stuff on my hard drive right now.

Wish me luck on my crazy endeavor! =D I'm excited haha.

Memories - lots of them

Now I remember why I never actually sort through my external hard drive when I say I will. It's far too full of memories.

Pictures of places I'll probably never see again, friends I no longer speak to, times and relationships that are lost but that still have a place in my heart too dear to me for words. Re-reading words I wrote so long ago. A more innocent and care-free me who doesn't deal with the same stress and worry that I carry now.

Her burdon seems so much easier to me. I can't compare my two selves because everything was so different back then. I'll never know how things would be had I made different choices, but I wonder about it sometimes.

It makes me think... walking back through my own life.

I can hear the ocean again. I can hear the French farmers rioting and the German kids screaming when their country won another football game in the World Cup.

I can almost see those places when I think about it. I can smell them. And the people... the cats and cigarettes and laundry detergent... I can hear Jake crying in the next room, only a few months old again.

I can hear Emily and Brittany laughing by the lake on the day we met. I remember Lake Erie with nothing but fondness and loving thoughts. I met my family there.

I can watch my brother walking away, not to come home for 2 long years. That was the first day he ever really hugged me and told me he loved me.

I can remember the sight of the scars, Mell, when you showed them to me for the first time.

I can remember you, Amelia, telling me you almost jumped off the scaffolding back in 11th grade.

I can remember you, Zack, getting drunk and telling me more about your ex-girlfriends than I ever needed to know.

I remember painting your daughter's room, Missi, and suffering through the August heat with laughter and a small feeling of accomplishment.

I remember our kiss in the rain. I remember telling you how soft your hands were, how smooth. You laughed and said girls are silly and I didn't even mind. Your presence just made me smile, even though I thought that would be the last time I saw you. You whom I promised to forget.

I remember you, Celeste, leaving your daughter in my arms while you ran off with some man, not telling me when or if you'd be back and not leaving me any instructions at all. Not even a phone number.

I remember, Wesley, when you told me she was pregnant and all our friends hated you. She told me you loved me and thought of me when you were with her. I felt violated by your thoughts, but you wanted my sympathy and understanding. And I gave it to you.

I remember, Scar, when you asked me to run away with you. I'm sorry I couldn't. I would have loved to. I miss you so much. I'll never forget the day I helped you pack your life away in the back of a beat-up minivan, wishing your life would be better once you finally got away from your abusive mother.

I remember the dark hotel room, late at night in the middle of a convention when we really talked for the first time. So much has happened to us since then, hasn't it Donald? I wish things were easier for us both.

I remember the first time I heard your voice, Bill. You'll never know it, but it touched my heart in ways you'll never know. Your music was a comfort to me when I felt very alone. It... I don't even have the words. You got me through a very dark time in my life and I will always love you for that.

I remember watching a random and amazing movie with you, Sam and Forrest, laughing through it and quoting it for weeks afterward. Melinda always seemed like such a wonderful name after that.

I'm sorry I called you a pansy, Garrett, the last time I saw you. That was over two years ago now. You're one of the strongest men I know and I'm so honored to call you my friend. I love you so much and I'm glad we're still writing one another.

Sheldon... I didn't know how much I needed you when we met. You did so much for me and I feel so selfish and dense looking back at it. But I think you needed me too. I kept you from being a complete hermit haha. Every time I think back, I either laugh or want to cry. We had an amazing year together, didn't we? I think you're right. Our friendship is the kind that can survive just about anything, even a zombie apocalypse. That will start in northern Canada. I'll write to you soon.

I remember you, Tom, being little more than a voice on the phone that meant more to me than anything in the world. I'm sorry things aren't going to work out the way you would like. I don't have the strength to save you anymore.

I remember so many things. So many hard and painful things. So many nights when I didn't sleep, when I was curled up and crying in the corner but was too afraid to say anything about the demons in my head. I was never crazy, but I was dealing with so much when I was so young. I'm surprised I survived it.

I'll never forget when my brother told me he knew I wasn't alright back then. I want to forget the hurt in my heart when I swallowed my words and didn't ask why he said nothing.

I wish my history were less depressing and miserable sounding. I try not to remember it but when I do it all comes rushing back to me.

I should stop talking about this. It's depressing.

My Church

I don't often talk about my religion in the public domain. I don't like getting in to arguments when nothing is accomplished but that both sides are angry or hurt or... whatever. I like discussing, but it's pretty rare that strangers want to do anything more than hate me for what I know to be true.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and, almost 2 weeks ago now at our bi-annual general conference, President Packer said something that upset a lot of people, though it wasn't his intent.

He is a good and loving man and I know that he only had everyone's best interests at heart. I know it doesn't necessarily seem that way, but it's true. If you had listened to his tone of voice when he said the "offending words"... to me he sounded like a teacher (which he is by trade) and a concerned father looking out for his children.

I know my own father said a lot of things I didn't want to hear while I was growing up. He still does it, though thankfully not as often. Only last year he said some very harsh, and I thought hateful things to me that, now that I look back on it, were exactly the things I needed to hear. It saved me from a very terrible life and a disastrous marriage. I don't often like to talk about it, but I'll make the rare exception.

Often, our caretakers feel compelled to tell us things we don't like to hear because they only want what's best for us. They want us to be happy even if the path is a very difficult one to take.

I'd go in to greater detail, but I'm too tired. This fever has seriously worn me out.

One more thing though. Someone posted this quote on a facebook page and I really liked it, so I thought I'd pass it on.

Bye friends!

‎"The church is like a great caravan traveling through the desert. At times desert animals nip at the heels of those traveling in the caravan; desert thieves try to rob and harm the members of the caravan, but the caravan goes on nothing can stop it. That is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Nothing can stop the truth from going forward. We are either part of the caravan or we will be left behind, but the church will go forward. I want to be a part of the caravan" Bruce R. McConkie.

Sick

Sorry for the lack of posting. I've been swamped with work and research and blah. And to top it all off, I'm sick. Last night my fever went up to 102. Not the worst I've ever had, but it made sleeping interesting.

My room mate thought my fever-induced commentary on our conversation was hilarious. I don't remember it XD Whoops.

I had dreams all night about volcanos and fire and things of the like. On my twitter, I even posted something to the effect of "I can't sleep when my head is on fire."

I forced myself to go to class yesterday. Blah. Not the best idea I ever had but it wasn't too bad until I got home. I basically collapsed when I got here and slept until 8:30. Then I slept from about 10 til 8 this morning. I feel like I have a hangover... not that I know what that's like. But my head is killing me. Rawr! lol =D

Dr. Who has been keeping me company. David Tennant is love. ♥

My room mate is awesome. Let's just leave it at that, shall we?

Anyway my crazy internet escapades will continue once I'm a little more human.

Speaking of non-humans...

This is awesome.