For reals. It's been awhile. And progress has been amazingly slow mostly because life is kind of odd. I got distracted by things like: coming to terms with the fact that according to the state I am disabled, figuring out that the state will actually help me get a job because I am disabled, working out like a fiend to try and not be so disabled, willing nerves to grow faster, playing video games and watching movies with boyfriend who is okay with the fact that I have a cane, giving advice to no less than three couples who have broken up despite having no qualifications to give advice on relationships, and also I decided I want to buy a fish. That's random but I found a fish bowl while cleaning my room (another thing I did instead of write) and decided it should be a home for a fish. Even though I have a cat. Who may eat it. Or at least mess with it enough to give it a tiny fish heart attack. But hopefully he will do neither of these things because then I'd be a fish murderer and mostly I just want a fish.
But honestly I write best when I am upset. When I got dumped, I started book one. And loved it. Because it was totally my escape. My life was shitty because my emotions were just wrecked so I wrote and wrote and wrote and could disappear for awhile. Currently, despite the fact that I am still technically partially paralyzed (there's such a thing as partial paralysis I swear), I am really happy. I like my life. It isn't shitty emotionally or even physically and so I have no need of an escape.
This is the test then of actually writing. I have to force myself to do it even if I'm NOT doing it to hide from the real world. Or doing it sneakily on my breaks during work because then it's like they're paying me to write a book on their time. I also have to find a job, move out, live independently. And honestly, ALL of these things are important. I suppose if I had to prioritize it'd go job, move out, live independent, write a lot. But writing is kind of the one thing I can do on my own without any requirements (aka I don't need a job to write). So....it boils down to I need to get back to some serious fantasy writing work. If only because I want to know how the series ends.
Or, when the hell did I get crazy enough to write a book?
Showing posts with label random real life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random real life. Show all posts
Monday, March 26, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The line between fact and fiction
So it's no lie that there are some similarities between my life and what I wrote. Minus the fact that vampires aren't real nor have they ever been (despite what the Sci Fi channel really really wants to believe). I've decided to release some of the obvious ones and some of the...lesser known ones.
McLaughlin (Roses's last name) was the last name of a kid who used to live down the street from me.
Connell's job as line cook at Top of the Hub (a real restaurant in Boston) was a job I used to have.
There are, to my knowledge, no hot dog stands with lines that long in Boston. Rose and Connell's fake date is from my experience at Pink's, a hotdog stand in LA that ultimately...just sells hotdogs.
Rose and Connell's car are a combination of the two cars I've driven. One of which is a maroon Buick with a baseball sized dent in the front that I didn't put there. The other is a Toyota with the gas tank cover ripped off (though that didn't make it into the book).
The apartment on Snow Street is real, in Brighton, and where I used to live for two years. It does have a garden and a porch but the sizes have been skewed for fiction (because who would give renters that much land?) The landlord was a guy though and he did not live downstairs.
The vast majority (if not all) of the dialogue is how I would actually talk. I do in fact physically say, "yeah, no" and "wolf-ified". I have no apologies to make for that.
Celia's entire character is kind of awfully based on my brief but horrific attempt at being a goth/punk. Yes I have dyed my hair every color under the sun. But no I did not wear black lipstick.
Bamboo is an actual restaurant in Boston but it is neither fancy nor sushi. It was the local Thai food place I went to with roommates when I lived on Snow Street.
There was in fact an angry old Italian man who lived across the street from us who did in fact swear at us in Italian. To my knowledge though he did not speak English. And I think he was married. But I figured it'd be nicer if he had a little redeeming scene in the book. The real angry old Italian man across the street yelled at a pregnant woman parking her car. Less nice.
Rose tells Connell to fuck off, which after doing he replies that he likes her and that she tells him to do that a lot. Not exactly true to life but...pretty close to how I met my boyfriend. I did in fact tell him to fuck off and instead of doing so, he asked me what was wrong. Several weeks (and several more fuck offs later) we were going out. Funny how that happens.
Spoilers for the second book (gasp!)
Sedona, Arizona is in fact going to be a straight up location. No I did not grow up there and no I definitely do not have a psychic mom who lives there (though she's...pretty close) but I did visit there and it left a big enough impression on me that I want to include it.
Connell's home town is in, yeah that's right, Maine. The south of the north if you will. Where you can go far enough off the grid where your closest neighbor is half an hour or more away. And of course, the locations that I remember from visiting Maine and New Hampshire as a child (and as a slightly older adult but let's be honest both versions of me have a terrible memory).
Los Angeles is...undetermined as to whether it will be a location. I did live there for about a year, though a month of that was in a hospital. And they do call it Hollyweird for a reason. But I think I am forsaking it for a different California location that is...
San Francisco. Ok so I only spent like two days in San Francisco and one of those was spent at the Skywalker Ranch (yes of Star Wars fame) but it was neat. And plus how can you make a cross country journey book without actually crossing the country?
Yup that's it for spoilers. For now at least. I'll hit 50 pages in oh, say, thirty years or so and then I'll put up more.
Just kidding. I am trying to write more regularly. I swear. It was even my New Years resolution.
McLaughlin (Roses's last name) was the last name of a kid who used to live down the street from me.
Connell's job as line cook at Top of the Hub (a real restaurant in Boston) was a job I used to have.
There are, to my knowledge, no hot dog stands with lines that long in Boston. Rose and Connell's fake date is from my experience at Pink's, a hotdog stand in LA that ultimately...just sells hotdogs.
Rose and Connell's car are a combination of the two cars I've driven. One of which is a maroon Buick with a baseball sized dent in the front that I didn't put there. The other is a Toyota with the gas tank cover ripped off (though that didn't make it into the book).
The apartment on Snow Street is real, in Brighton, and where I used to live for two years. It does have a garden and a porch but the sizes have been skewed for fiction (because who would give renters that much land?) The landlord was a guy though and he did not live downstairs.
The vast majority (if not all) of the dialogue is how I would actually talk. I do in fact physically say, "yeah, no" and "wolf-ified". I have no apologies to make for that.
Celia's entire character is kind of awfully based on my brief but horrific attempt at being a goth/punk. Yes I have dyed my hair every color under the sun. But no I did not wear black lipstick.
Bamboo is an actual restaurant in Boston but it is neither fancy nor sushi. It was the local Thai food place I went to with roommates when I lived on Snow Street.
There was in fact an angry old Italian man who lived across the street from us who did in fact swear at us in Italian. To my knowledge though he did not speak English. And I think he was married. But I figured it'd be nicer if he had a little redeeming scene in the book. The real angry old Italian man across the street yelled at a pregnant woman parking her car. Less nice.
Rose tells Connell to fuck off, which after doing he replies that he likes her and that she tells him to do that a lot. Not exactly true to life but...pretty close to how I met my boyfriend. I did in fact tell him to fuck off and instead of doing so, he asked me what was wrong. Several weeks (and several more fuck offs later) we were going out. Funny how that happens.
Spoilers for the second book (gasp!)
Sedona, Arizona is in fact going to be a straight up location. No I did not grow up there and no I definitely do not have a psychic mom who lives there (though she's...pretty close) but I did visit there and it left a big enough impression on me that I want to include it.
Connell's home town is in, yeah that's right, Maine. The south of the north if you will. Where you can go far enough off the grid where your closest neighbor is half an hour or more away. And of course, the locations that I remember from visiting Maine and New Hampshire as a child (and as a slightly older adult but let's be honest both versions of me have a terrible memory).
Los Angeles is...undetermined as to whether it will be a location. I did live there for about a year, though a month of that was in a hospital. And they do call it Hollyweird for a reason. But I think I am forsaking it for a different California location that is...
San Francisco. Ok so I only spent like two days in San Francisco and one of those was spent at the Skywalker Ranch (yes of Star Wars fame) but it was neat. And plus how can you make a cross country journey book without actually crossing the country?
Yup that's it for spoilers. For now at least. I'll hit 50 pages in oh, say, thirty years or so and then I'll put up more.
Just kidding. I am trying to write more regularly. I swear. It was even my New Years resolution.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Merry Slightly Late Christmas
Luckily I am not dead though I am pretty sure I had the plague. For like a week and a half. Which left me having to do Christmas shopping last minute which ps is amazingly fun on crutches (read: not fun at all). Then it was Christmas Eve in which my brother drank a bottle of whiskey by himself and my father's childhood friend peed on our front lawn* but moving on!
I have not made any progress on my sequel. I know I know, terrible. But I was dying and couldn't exactly write and then I got distracted and did I mention Christmas? Ok but it is now officially after Christmas so I can get back to the grindstone. I promise. Really. But I wanted to do an update that said I was not dead because between the last one and this one I was dead. Definitely definitely dead. Definitely. Also I turned into Rain Man sometime over the holiday so hopefully that will also fix itself.
But anyway, Merry (slightly late) Christmas everyone and Happy (slightly in the future) New Years! Cheers to all the writing that will take place in 2012! (And maybe the end of the Mayan calendar, end of the world, aliens, something interesting hopefully.)
* I wish those stories were lies but the sad fact is they are completely true.
I have not made any progress on my sequel. I know I know, terrible. But I was dying and couldn't exactly write and then I got distracted and did I mention Christmas? Ok but it is now officially after Christmas so I can get back to the grindstone. I promise. Really. But I wanted to do an update that said I was not dead because between the last one and this one I was dead. Definitely definitely dead. Definitely. Also I turned into Rain Man sometime over the holiday so hopefully that will also fix itself.
But anyway, Merry (slightly late) Christmas everyone and Happy (slightly in the future) New Years! Cheers to all the writing that will take place in 2012! (And maybe the end of the Mayan calendar, end of the world, aliens, something interesting hopefully.)
* I wish those stories were lies but the sad fact is they are completely true.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Why I cannot come to the phone today
Or any day for that matter. I have the plague.
Ok no, not the plague but a plague-ish type...thing. Ok fine whatever I have a cold. Because my family won't share pretzels but will give you a virus like whoa. And I am apparently going to have said cold for at least another week. Which is a fantastic excuse for why I am not currently writing my book except for the part where it feels like I swallowed a very unhappy porcupine.
The human body is just awesome. Someone get me some NyQuil STAT, I want to wake up in a week perfectly healthy.
Ok no, not the plague but a plague-ish type...thing. Ok fine whatever I have a cold. Because my family won't share pretzels but will give you a virus like whoa. And I am apparently going to have said cold for at least another week. Which is a fantastic excuse for why I am not currently writing my book except for the part where it feels like I swallowed a very unhappy porcupine.
The human body is just awesome. Someone get me some NyQuil STAT, I want to wake up in a week perfectly healthy.
Friday, December 9, 2011
This is why I am a horrible procrastinator
Alright so even though I said I'd work on the sequel and even though I ranted that I do 10 words or 10 pages a day and I didn't care which it was, I sort of...skipped it last night. I don't even have a very good excuse other than I stayed up late playing video games and talking to boys (I'm only human after all). And today I have currently skipped but I have a valid reason for why.
I was baking cookies.
Yup. Cookies. Baking. Decorating. The works. For the hospital staff at Glendale Memorial in California for putting up with me for a whole month. And helping me to walk, learn how to redo things, the works. For Christmas. So I'm like a cookie Christmas elf. And since I still have to use crutches (or a cane but I want a bitching one instead of the boring one I have) my aunt came over and helped. And then we gossiped for a bit. BUT-
I fully intend to write more tonight. Totally. I had ideas for what I was planning on doing and had started it. This is where the spoilers begin (does it still count as spoilers if the book isn't written and only like 2 people have read it?)
(If you haven't read the first book none of this will make sense. That's ok. You can ignore it.)
Originally I started like three days after the end of 'Witch Bloom' and immediately had Connell and Rose jump into a business partnership. It makes sense. She does wedding flowers, he wants to bake cakes. One stop bridal shop. But looking back, that didn't quite work. Rose is just a touch prone to wallowing so I figured, after the end of the first book, the second book would find her well...wallowing. Which gave me the idea that maybe Celia would sort of take a starring role. I like Celia. I do. She's sort of the high school version of me (when I wanted to be a goth/punk girl but failed miserably). And she didn't get that much play in book one so I figure, why not make her important for book two? So she is actually the catalyst for Connell joining Miranda's Flowers (which is no longer Miranda's Flowers because she owns it now and that's too morbid even for me).
I also had about 50 pages of plot building where Connell convinces Rose to help him find his father, they go to his hometown, spooky campground, evil shapeshifters, Rose finds an unexpected ability, Francois ends up showing up, and then Rose decides she wants to be with Connell. All of that is out. All of it. Now let me explain why.
Connell is still trying to find his family but there is a reason behind it now other than 'hey let's go do this thing so we aren't in Boston anymore'. I like things to be motivated. And of course that turns out to be layered. Since I changed the ending for 'Witch Bloom' from what it was originally, I intend to use Francois more. So he will probably have to tag along from the beginning instead of showing up only to immediately be rejected. Evil shapeshifters are no longer straight evil but have reasons for their actions (because if you're a bad guy you never think you're a bad guy you think you're doing the right thing). Rose might still have some unanticipated side effects and of course some new-found abilities even though she still kind of sucks at magic. I figure in the heat of the moment instinct would take over and she'd be able to somehow fake it.
However, Rose and Connell are not going to get into an immediate relationship. I know I classified it as a paranormal romance book and I realize I skimped on the romance but this one I am sticking to. I haven't decided if they will eventually, if it will be in this book, or if it will never happen. It is obvious he is interested in the idea (as is Francois but I'm undecided on him) but my reasoning is this. She just got out of a seven year relationship with a douchebag but nonetheless, seven years. If she jumped into another relationship immediately it'd be more of a revenge fling than anything else. She needs some time to get her shit together and figure out her life since basically everything about it has changed.
Will there be tension? Of course. Will there be romance? Maybe some because I can't go completely cold turkey. Will she get with anyone? Undecided. And I am staying undecided. I'm just gonna write and see how it turns out. Speaking of writing...I should go do that now huh.
I was baking cookies.
Yup. Cookies. Baking. Decorating. The works. For the hospital staff at Glendale Memorial in California for putting up with me for a whole month. And helping me to walk, learn how to redo things, the works. For Christmas. So I'm like a cookie Christmas elf. And since I still have to use crutches (or a cane but I want a bitching one instead of the boring one I have) my aunt came over and helped. And then we gossiped for a bit. BUT-
I fully intend to write more tonight. Totally. I had ideas for what I was planning on doing and had started it. This is where the spoilers begin (does it still count as spoilers if the book isn't written and only like 2 people have read it?)
(If you haven't read the first book none of this will make sense. That's ok. You can ignore it.)
Originally I started like three days after the end of 'Witch Bloom' and immediately had Connell and Rose jump into a business partnership. It makes sense. She does wedding flowers, he wants to bake cakes. One stop bridal shop. But looking back, that didn't quite work. Rose is just a touch prone to wallowing so I figured, after the end of the first book, the second book would find her well...wallowing. Which gave me the idea that maybe Celia would sort of take a starring role. I like Celia. I do. She's sort of the high school version of me (when I wanted to be a goth/punk girl but failed miserably). And she didn't get that much play in book one so I figure, why not make her important for book two? So she is actually the catalyst for Connell joining Miranda's Flowers (which is no longer Miranda's Flowers because she owns it now and that's too morbid even for me).
I also had about 50 pages of plot building where Connell convinces Rose to help him find his father, they go to his hometown, spooky campground, evil shapeshifters, Rose finds an unexpected ability, Francois ends up showing up, and then Rose decides she wants to be with Connell. All of that is out. All of it. Now let me explain why.
Connell is still trying to find his family but there is a reason behind it now other than 'hey let's go do this thing so we aren't in Boston anymore'. I like things to be motivated. And of course that turns out to be layered. Since I changed the ending for 'Witch Bloom' from what it was originally, I intend to use Francois more. So he will probably have to tag along from the beginning instead of showing up only to immediately be rejected. Evil shapeshifters are no longer straight evil but have reasons for their actions (because if you're a bad guy you never think you're a bad guy you think you're doing the right thing). Rose might still have some unanticipated side effects and of course some new-found abilities even though she still kind of sucks at magic. I figure in the heat of the moment instinct would take over and she'd be able to somehow fake it.
However, Rose and Connell are not going to get into an immediate relationship. I know I classified it as a paranormal romance book and I realize I skimped on the romance but this one I am sticking to. I haven't decided if they will eventually, if it will be in this book, or if it will never happen. It is obvious he is interested in the idea (as is Francois but I'm undecided on him) but my reasoning is this. She just got out of a seven year relationship with a douchebag but nonetheless, seven years. If she jumped into another relationship immediately it'd be more of a revenge fling than anything else. She needs some time to get her shit together and figure out her life since basically everything about it has changed.
Will there be tension? Of course. Will there be romance? Maybe some because I can't go completely cold turkey. Will she get with anyone? Undecided. And I am staying undecided. I'm just gonna write and see how it turns out. Speaking of writing...I should go do that now huh.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
What do lobsters dream of?
Disclaimer: this has nothing to do with writing and more to do with my father being kind of a terrible (hilarious) person.
Ah Christmas, the season of giving. Also the season of Christmas parties. And what better way to combine the two than a Christmas Yankee swap. In which you buy a cheap gift, draw a number, and then spend the entire night trying to steal the best gift from that bitch who drew number 1. The true spirit of Christmas: stealing.
My mother's gift: a rather practical Mary Lou's coffee gift certificate and some scratch tickets. As it is a party full of officers of the law, it is both useful and appropriate (and not potentially insulting like buying twenty dollars worth of donuts). My gift: two bags of coffee and some pumpkin scones. Again, relatively practical but not fight-worthy by any means. My father's gift: two lobsters. Do we see a break in the pattern here?
Because we know a lobsterman (it's New England, who doesn't?) we even get said lobsters for free. Which he puts into a box and wraps and then brings to the swap. And then the entire gathering spends the next hour trying to steal the lobsters and swap out a package of flashlights (the gift I got stuck with) for something they would actually find delicious. The lobsters are stolen no less than half a dozen times. I steal them, exchanging a perfectly good George Foreman grill for them, and had believed to get away with them as the next several steals were for a bottle of rum. That is until a perfectly nice woman with several young children steals them from me and leaves me with said flashlights (which is a terrible gift by the way).
Now I would be quite fine with that if it were not for this woman's intentions. Did she plan on eating the sweet sweet meat of lobster goodness, which personally I don't go for but I've heard from some is quite tasty? Nope. Not even a chance. She wanted to set them into the water and let them go free, Hollywood style. Now, wait a second there. Freedom? For lobsters? That have been out of the water for eight hours and probably had their tiny lobster lives flash before their eyes several times as small children tormented them for entertainment at a Christmas party? The closest body of water also, is a freshwater pond so unless you intend to drive an hour and a half to the ocean and set them free, chances are they aren't going to make it home to see their lobster families for Christmas.
Now when my father hears of this he is understandably upset. Lobsters are for eating and sometimes for dressing up but not for freeing back into the wild. So what does a well-informed, slick talking officer of the law to do? Tell the woman that the the lobsters have been out of the water too long, they will not survive. Of course lobsters start to produce ammonia when they are on land, if she were to release them back into water now they would drown. They are going to die either way so would she be interested in a trade for some coffee beans and he will tell the children he is taking the crustaceans to a 'nice friendly lobster farm'? Not wanting to be a monster and the cause for the death of two noble sea creatures, the woman complies. My mother and father enjoy a delicious lobster dinner.
And the story about lobsters being out of water too long, producing ammonia, and drowning? Utter bullshit. But the way he said it, you'd have assumed he had a PhD in lobster physiology and was the world's leading expert on the hard-shelled bastards. I will give him credit. The man is good.
Ah Christmas, the season of giving. Also the season of Christmas parties. And what better way to combine the two than a Christmas Yankee swap. In which you buy a cheap gift, draw a number, and then spend the entire night trying to steal the best gift from that bitch who drew number 1. The true spirit of Christmas: stealing.
My mother's gift: a rather practical Mary Lou's coffee gift certificate and some scratch tickets. As it is a party full of officers of the law, it is both useful and appropriate (and not potentially insulting like buying twenty dollars worth of donuts). My gift: two bags of coffee and some pumpkin scones. Again, relatively practical but not fight-worthy by any means. My father's gift: two lobsters. Do we see a break in the pattern here?
Because we know a lobsterman (it's New England, who doesn't?) we even get said lobsters for free. Which he puts into a box and wraps and then brings to the swap. And then the entire gathering spends the next hour trying to steal the lobsters and swap out a package of flashlights (the gift I got stuck with) for something they would actually find delicious. The lobsters are stolen no less than half a dozen times. I steal them, exchanging a perfectly good George Foreman grill for them, and had believed to get away with them as the next several steals were for a bottle of rum. That is until a perfectly nice woman with several young children steals them from me and leaves me with said flashlights (which is a terrible gift by the way).
Now I would be quite fine with that if it were not for this woman's intentions. Did she plan on eating the sweet sweet meat of lobster goodness, which personally I don't go for but I've heard from some is quite tasty? Nope. Not even a chance. She wanted to set them into the water and let them go free, Hollywood style. Now, wait a second there. Freedom? For lobsters? That have been out of the water for eight hours and probably had their tiny lobster lives flash before their eyes several times as small children tormented them for entertainment at a Christmas party? The closest body of water also, is a freshwater pond so unless you intend to drive an hour and a half to the ocean and set them free, chances are they aren't going to make it home to see their lobster families for Christmas.
Now when my father hears of this he is understandably upset. Lobsters are for eating and sometimes for dressing up but not for freeing back into the wild. So what does a well-informed, slick talking officer of the law to do? Tell the woman that the the lobsters have been out of the water too long, they will not survive. Of course lobsters start to produce ammonia when they are on land, if she were to release them back into water now they would drown. They are going to die either way so would she be interested in a trade for some coffee beans and he will tell the children he is taking the crustaceans to a 'nice friendly lobster farm'? Not wanting to be a monster and the cause for the death of two noble sea creatures, the woman complies. My mother and father enjoy a delicious lobster dinner.
And the story about lobsters being out of water too long, producing ammonia, and drowning? Utter bullshit. But the way he said it, you'd have assumed he had a PhD in lobster physiology and was the world's leading expert on the hard-shelled bastards. I will give him credit. The man is good.
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