It's weird, I do things in spurts. I'll be gung-ho about one thing, then move on to something else. First it was writing, now it's motorcycles. Thing is, I never lose the love for the previous thing (I count learnig fiddle, Swedish, and fire poi among those as well). Still, it's hard for me sometimes to get on LJ and document these things, since I'm never sure if anyone wants to hear about my adventures in Random.

I just got done with my first motorbike roadtrip. 9 days on the road - ambitious for a newbie. Had fun, stayed safe - no writing was done on my books, although I did take lots of pictures and do a ride report.

Nanowrimo is coming up in less than 2 days, which brings me back. I'm not participating this year, but I want to encourage those of you who are. Good luck with everything folks, can't wait to see the word counts!

First California is getting wildfires galore. We should be used to this right? Then I check CNN and see Hurricane Jimena is moving towards Baja California, also towards LA.

I can't help but wonder when the last time Pacific coast of the US had a hurricane hit. Hard to believe they're up to the J's in the Pacific's cyclone season.

Since getting my motorcycle back I've been wanting to make up lost time, but work isn't giving me enough time for any real trips. Next weekend however I'll be at least getting a 2-day weekend so I intend to go jetting around. :-D

.....great, now another hurricane is weighing on my mind. It's not enough that my parents are both down in New Orleans during peak hurricane season, now I have to watch out for my SoCal friends and family...

moschus posted an interesting entry today on the "art of the start". Anyway, she mentions a book by David Allen, Getting Things Done, that helps teach you how to prioritize the needs in your life.

"So if you've got ten things on your mind -- buy cat food, buy a new house, pick up the kids, resolve that fight with your spouse, go to Paris, etcetera -- you've already overloaded it with stuff it feels it needs to concentrate on all at once. Turns out it really sucks at this. When left to its own devices, the mind weighs everything equally, so that buy cat food is just as important as write compelling and socially relevant novel (and no doubt it is, to the cat). You want to work on that love scene, but your mind keeps turning back to Purina Chow, because it's worried that you will forget, and Snowflake will promptly starve to death or take to the streets and join a roving cat gang or something.


When you rely solely on your mind to remind you of these things, your mind takes that responsibility very, very seriously. And if you treat it as a bucket to fill with all those thoughts of tasks that need doing, the mind flits from one thing to the next, trying to remember, remember, remember."

I need that book. Must...find. Any help would be appreciated.

This would be the end of my post except now for the random part: anyone ever heard of Write or Die? I found it in the aforementioned post's comment section - it's a cool little site that motivates you to write how you want through negative reinforcement. I'm sure if they could shock you through your keyboard they'd try. ;) I just completed over 500 words of drivel (steam of consciousness stuff) that I was thinking of posting here but will spare you the torture temptation of gouging your eyes out reading. I find it amusing how the prods you to write, but then again I'm easily amused. ;)

Now must get back to work. *wavies*
(yes, for some odd reason I'm currently very bouncy. Go figure....)

I had an epiphany this weekend while having a Hayao Miyazaki marathon: for my steampunk storyline I plotted to a certain point and couldn't figure out the plot beyond that, but I didn't actually *write* to that point. Yeah, doesn't seem like much but I'm more than a little annoyed with myself, as the act of writing is what motivates me to discover what comes next.

The last month or so has been busy and eventful for me, mostly good things. It's amazing how being away from a computer for a while and getting past the withdrawal symptoms (and there are some) can make it so it's almost difficult to get back online. Hopefully I'm back, and writing, and blogging, and keeping up with you fine folks.

In other random news: I hate it when I do my math wrong. *sigh*

The kind of wedding march I'd LOVE to be part of:


And only because it's wedding themed and with my sister's wedding in less than 2 weeks I'm in that mode, I give you: Thriller Wedding. (ETA: Whoops, double posted the same vid! Fixed now)

Been a long week, nice but exhausting. No writing done but I'm going to get back into that this week.

Have a few things I need to work on with RL. Some things were kind of shown to me this week that, well, made me think.

Tomorrow I start work again after a week vacation - it's going to be tough going back. Anyway, I hope you guys are all having a great week and had a fantastic holiday weekend. *hugs*

Farrah Fawcett dies of cancer.

:-(

There is no defense: I was perusing the files on my little thumb drive to keep from writing. However, in my search for a different story idea I'd come up with a long time ago and wanted to add to (which I can't find, arg, will have to check the ext. HD and hope I didn't erase it when I reformatted my computer), I came across my story from a year or two ago. I'd managed to forget a lot of the backstory I'd woven in and it's once again perked my interest. (This is one I have about 30k written of so far but it had been meandering so much I'd given it up and moved on with Life. I'd also read somewhere that people being whisked to another land was overdone in the genre and *cough* there may possibly, just a teensy bit, be some of that going on here...)

Whatever, now to pick a scene in my current/main WIP and add to it. The one good thing about writing out of order: you can pick and choose which part you feel in the mood for at any particular moment. ;-)

ETA: Okay so the day wasn't a total loss. I managed to get over 1k words between 2-3 scenes. Everything's spread out so no clue how much my total is so far but I'll compile it all together this weekend for a "grand" total. A little here, a little there - odd but it keeps me writing.

So far, today has been a bust. I've been having a lot of these lately, where I get home and take a long friggin' nap and thereby take up my entire afternoon with the blissful release of sleep. Now I just spent almost an hour catching up with my flist and am now determined to do some writing.

As soon as I get something to eat. And food for my dog. And wow, my kitchen is a mess, maybe I should clean it up. And scrub the toilet, polish the floors, do my laundry, box up books for library donation, organized my DVD/video game pile, put up the pictures...

*sigh*

Or just eat and write. Yup, sounds good to me.
(procrastination, thy name is "Sarah")

I doubt I'm the only one who's creeped out by Edward Cullen, although after watching the Buffy/Edward Youtube vid circling the flists I have to say the creep factor (based heavily on the EGADS!ness of Robert Pattinson so NOT being pretty) has gone up several notches.

However, I loved this article a girl on Facebook just posted: Ten Ways Twilight Has Ruined A Generation of High School Girlfriends. LOLing here folks, too true!

Yesterday, while not by any means a bust, was a no-write day. Spent the entire afternoon with the boyo and his family as they helped me comb out some of my dreadlocks. They were expecting it to be easy - guess I showed them. *sigh* Still have a little under half of my head to do, hopefully it'll get done sooner than later. I want my hair back, dangit! Already looking up good conditioners to fix my damaged hair but don't want to make any appointments with hairdressers yet as it's not done and I don't know when it will be.

Question for anyone out there who love gadgets as much as I do: what's a good ebook reader? For the last week or so I've been seriously considering getting a Kindle; I'm not sure I can spring for $400 but it can be a goal (along with a new Macbook, paying down my bills, an iPod Touch or iPhone, etc - yeah...) for the future. I'm worried though if I get a Kindle I'll come across the same problem I have with my iPod in that I have a ton of files that aren't universal. Annoyance much? Still, they're a lot smaller and easier to pack than a bunch of books, and, well, I love gadgets.

Any ideas? I know NADA about the ereader business (or the epublishing biz) but would love to see if it's for me (by spending money out my @ss, yeah I know). :)

via dragonmyst:

On Friday, Pennsylvania Senator John Eichelberger, who is sponsoring a bill to ban same-sex marriage in the state, held a radio debate with Senator Daylin Leach, who is sponsoring a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. In the interview, Eichelberger said there's no reason to allow gay couples to marry and said that they're not being punished. In fact, he lauds the fact that gay couples are allowed to exist.

Huh? No wait, I mean

HUH!?

Dear God in heaven what the EVERLOVING FUCK is up with those words? *can barely type from angry shaking* I mean, GOD WHAT THE FUCK!

... ... ... Fuck! I don't know what to say to stupidity like that!!!

*sad sigh* RIP Neda Soltan, the world will not forget.

I'm finding my process with this latest book of mine interesting. It was/is an experiment anyway; writing scenes completely out of order is kind of odd and new and, well, mostly odd. I have a plot and some direction, but it's as jumbled in my head as it's becoming on "paper".

My latest worry isn't the plot but the subplots - namely any romantic ones. I have ideas but although I have two (maybe three) male romantic possibilities, even *I* can't decide who gets the girl. The more I think about it, the less I want to have to. The biggest arc is definitely my MC's internal one, based on a decision made before the book even started. The way things are going now, I think I'm going to write out the main plotline then one at a time add the sbplots in during revisions.

Anyway, I'm off to write out another scene that's been in my had for a while. Short and sweet probably - it should be fun to write all the connectng bits at a later time during the first pass of revisions (or second pass of writing the initial draft). This thing is like a patchwork quilt, pieces all over that may eventually make up a whole if I cut and sew them together right. It's an experiment and I hope it works. Only one way to find out...

ETA: Woohoo, metrics!

YAUF
Daily word count: 1,179

So far my biggest day on this WIP. A respectable word count in my opinion. :-)

Over the last two days there has been a lot made about the happy-happy-joy postings of writers, and how this apparently is "bragging" or "boastful" because these people don't also portray the downsides of writing. Several people on my flist now, writers who are among my favorite blogs and seem like people I'd *totally* dig if we met in real life, seem subdued and apologetic now for being happy.

W.T.F?!!

My flist is filled with writers. It's a pretty tight community and that fact is gratifying. I love it when authors allow themselves to have an online presence - it makes the books they write or the successes they have all the more special. It's hard work balancing both professionality and approachability - some are such awesome pros about it and some descend into epic fail. However, as writers we all understand one main thing:

Writing sucks.

It's not easy. Frankly, for many of us it's more of a struggle than most day jobs we've had. Unworkable plots, low attention spans, kids screaming for attention, boss screaming for such-and-such: the fact we can get a word in edgewise, let alone a word on paper, can be a miracle in and of itself.

Often, the only consolation we have, the thing that keeps us going when we can't see any light at the end of this particular tunnel, is the goal of publication. Or of landing an agent. Or, omg, of actually just *finishing* a book! We know the bad shit already, why do we need to be told more?

So don't make my friends feel bad because they only post about the good stuff. They are not gloating, they are not being vain or waving their pretty pink-and-scented-rose publishing contract in our faces. They are helping those of us still in that tunnel to see that, yes, there is a light, despite the overwhelming darkness we see. The tunnel will end, perseverence and hard work pay off, and *this* is what you have to look forward to. They don't dangle the carrot in front of our faces, they give us the stamina to go get it ourselves.

For that, I so *totally* heart my flisters.

Spent last evening after the wedding hanging out with a friend and her husband (who I hadn't before met, totally love the guy) before starting home. The road was blurring a bit (it was after all 1am) so I spent my night taking a nap at a rest area before making my way back home. Now that the dog is watered, fed and walked I'm eager to work on my WIP...only to realize I left my journal for the book at work. *cue faceplant* I've got most of it in my head anyway, but still, urgh.

Grocery shopping is high on my list, as well as laundery and perhaps a bit of picking up around the apartment. Between watching the boy work on my motorcycle and writing, I haven't given myself enough time to give this place the thorough cleaning it needs. Sadly enough I'm really contemplating having a maid come in to do it because I always seem to get distracted and *forget* to finish my chores. No wonder my mother sometimes felt like pulling her hair out when I was a kid. ;-)

I'm right now attending my best friend's wedding, which I drove 3hrs to see (totally worth the trip). Haven't seen him in way too long and now he's moving to Indiana. Bummer...

Today at work I managed 505 words, which isn't what I'd like to end up with but may since I don't have either my journal or USB drive.

It's really awesome here right now. He used to be my best friend - we've grown apart over the last couple years (mostly because we lived so far apart) but it's so cool to see him married and to such a sweet girl. I'm tickled pink for him, well and truly.

Looks like the music is about to start up so time to party it up. :-) I love weddings, especially the fun ones with those I love!

I had a rant planned about writing, got about one paragraph into it and chucked it as it sounded pretentious and whiny. So I headed over to my flist and saw a post about the flipside of confidence in writing by m_stiefvater that is neither whiny nor pretentious, just full of dishy awesomeness. If you've ever thought your favorite author had it "easy" after s/he got their contract or book published, read this list of distinctive un-goodies.

Yesterday got a bit lost, especially near the end, but I did manage to get some words written on latest WIP:

YAUF
Total: 649

All that while at work. I was hoping to get more done later at home but ended up accompanying the Motorhead (aka, sig. other) to the junkyard to look at motorcycle engines, then out and about until I got home and crashed (then got woken up late to listen to some family woes from same motorhead but that was fine by me).

So far today I've done just over 500 words. It helps that work's internet is down and all I have is my phone, but I'd love to get more done since I'm going to be driving a lot tonight for a friend's wedding.

Meh, work beckons. Ciao!

It's been a while since I did any book reviews, mainly because I'm usually woefully behind on my reading lists and better more people have already done the reviewing to death. However, I really love this series and the book is still fairly new so I'm going to let you guys know what I thought about the latest book.

I loved it.



CRY MERCY by Toni Andrews

I just want a normal life…even if I'm not entirely sure I'm human.
My name is Mercy Hollings and I'm a successful hypnotherapist in Balboa, California. The problem is, my good fortune is dependent on a dark secret. I can make people do whatever I want using telepathy, a power I call "the press." And that ability has hurt some people I never wanted to hurt, so I try to keep it under wraps.

I also try to keep people at a distance…at least, I used to. Recently a group of fearless characters broke through my self-imposed walls and became my friends: Sukey, my receptionist-turned-P.I.; Tino, a Chicano gang leader; Hilda, a wealthy society widow; Grant, a retired millionaire—and Sam, my sexy-as-hell ex-boyfriend.

But with friends comes drama. Tino has inadvertently led me into the dark world of gang violence, and Sukey has pushed me into searching for my biological parents, the only people who can finally tell me who—or what—I really am.

I picked up the first book in the series, BEG FOR MERCY, on a whim at Walmart. It was in the romance section but looked different enough to capture my interest, and the blurb on the back was definitely not something I'd read before. Mercy's talent is different: the press gives her the ability to coerce other people into doing what she wants them to, but with it comes the responsibility for her subjects. Due to her background and the problems her ability has given her, she's learned to be wary of it albeit finding an ingenius way of using it for good.

Before I go any further, I have to say what my absolute, total favorite part of this book is: the characters. The story itself is kick-ass, but people, it's the characters that make this come alive like nobody's business. You have the cougar rich older lady who refuses to age gracefully, the gang leader who's looking to turn over a new leaf and leave his life on the streets, a young woman who spent most of her life being stepped all over and is only now acquiring a backbone along with certain other talents... and these are just the side characters. Mercy herself is as multi-faceted as the rest - there's a whole history to her, reasons why she is the way she is and why she doesn't go around willy-nilly telling people what to do. She could easily rule the world and have people eating out of her hands but she knows the cost of her talent and refuses to let it get the best of her. Then there's the mystery of who (or what?) she really is.

One of my favorite parts of this book was, quite frankly, the gangland territory. I have, or have had in the past, several friends who were part of gangs. I think that's why I love Tino's story so much - Ms. Andrews does such a phenomenal job with the voice of these characters. She did her homework on how the chicano gang culture works and it shows in the well-formed characters her words bring to life.

The plot and Mercy's ongoing revelation of who she is also deserves to be highlighted. Mercy herself is such a well-rounded character: she makes mistakes, some of which have fatal consequences. While she loves her friends she isn't above using her power to get them to do what she wants (although to her credit, she feels guilty about it). Some of the lifelong problems she always blamed on others turn out to be her fault. She's a flawed character yet human in those flaws, and that's what draws us to her; that's what makes us want to keep reading these books.

Definitely recommended if you like urban fantasy and fiesty heroines. I'd suggest reading the first two books first though as several relationships or subplots in the background might need some backstory to be fully understood. You can visit Toni Andrews over at her blog on BraveJournal or her website.

Now it's time for me to head out of work and write a bit more. Maybe finish Robin McKinley's SUNSHINE too (doubt I'll review that one since it's been out way too long and probably reviewed up the yin-yang). Probably head over to Wallyworld and see if they have Sarah Dessen's book I've been thinking of buying. ...or, just taking a nap. Whichever comes first. ;)