Southern Writing

Review of the week ending on 04/23

I've definitely been getting some things done this week, but not as much as I would like. I'll have my week in review tonight, since tomorrow is Shabbat and I might not get a chance, and since I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up with my days.

Dade City Main Street news article: 472 words
The New Gay weekend preview: 393 words
Olivia backstory part 1 (for OWbN): 3,395, finished
The New Gay Open Mic at The Social: I edited this! It was written by Jeremy Gloff.
Olivia backstory part 2 (for OWbN): 514 words
On the cheap: Low cost art (published): 343 words

So, not the best or the worst. I have some ideas bouncing around in my head, and I have some things I want to work on in my novel.

The word counts above also don't count the amount of times I've managed to hurt myself this week (I've done everything from break a tooth to step on some sort of stone or piece of wood and hurt my foot) or the contacts I've made. I'm especially excited about the chance I might have to write about the Vaudevillains.

I think that's about it for now. I hope I can sleep through the night without any horrible injuries taking place.

My 5 favorite characters

Catherine Gardner posted one, so I figured I should, too.

For anyone new to my blog, Gardner is my Joneses. I strive to keep up with her, and I admire her work and work ethic. (I really need to update my blogroll, don't I?)

Please check out her site and buy up all of the magazines and anthologies her work has been featured in.

Now, on to the characters who have been waiting impatiently for their introduction.

Evelyn (Eva Garza)

Evelyn was invented for a role playing game, not a story. But, her story has spawned a few I've written down.

As a young girl growing up in Ybor City, Eva resented the control her parents exerted over her life. This resentment grew until one day, when she was around six or seven, she killed her mother. The authorities didn't quite know what to do with the young murderer, so she was placed in the care of an asylum. When a vampire discovered her artwork for sale at an international gallery, she was ripe for the picking.

As a vampire, Evelyn did things like kidnap nuns to use in plots she devised against her enemies and once staked herself so someone could rip out her eyes and throw her body in a dumpster as part of another plot. Surprisingly enough, she died supporting the political ideals of "the good guys" instead of as the consequences of something horrible she'd done.

Vinn

Vinn came about because of another character I made for a role playing game. When I went through a difficult breakup, writing a short story about him was good therapy. The story was published in Vol. 1 Issue 3 of Arrhythmic Souls.

Vinn is a slacker and a slob. He's overweight and has greasy hair and bad manners- not what you'd usually think of as a vampire. When he moves in with Monica and turns her, he doesn't think of the challenges that await. Soon, he realizes almost everything she does annoys him, from watching Oprah to trying to talk about her feelings. He has to figure out if having a swell piece of arm candy is worth it and, even worse, has to come to the realization that she doesn't really need him around.

Olivia

Olivia is a character in the grand WIP I've been toiling over since 2000. I've finally gotten to the point where I'm comfortable drafting the story, so I'm hoping she'll make her debut soon.

When Olivia was born, the village elders saw her as the fulfillment of a prophecy (never mind they'd made the same decision about someone else a few years earlier). Through some unfortunate events, Olivia becomes immortal and has her eyes ripped from her (for some reason this is a theme in my stories, to the point where other people have made it a plot point in game without even knowing it's a theme I'm obsessed with, ooh spooky) and has to deal with the fact that her former followers now see her as a tool of the devil.

Len

Len comes from the same WIP Olivia does. He's based off of a guy I had a crush on for at least 10 years of my life, and he comes in handy because he's a genius in a world with remnants of technology, and he's going to rebuild civilization almost single-handedly.

Len grew up in the same kind of religious cult Olivia did, but he never bought that the "people who came before us" deserved to die. While he's a supporting character, he partners with the main villain of the WIP to build up a city around a museum. He spends most of his time fiddling with old artifacts from the distant past and tries to make things work. In one of the first scenes, he fixes an old crank phonograph, which helps establish the kind of guy the main villain is. Len isn't really a villain (who is?) but he's way too curious for his own good. In fact, he sets off the chain of events that shapes the entire story.

Angel or Devil?

I'm working on my second draft of "Seeing God," a story about a blind girl (more with the eyes!) who experiences her parents dying in a car accident. She escapes the twisted metal of the crash and stumbles through the forest only to encounter a being in the woods. Some clues point to the being as an angel, some as a devil.

I really like this character because it's so ambiguous. I toy around with the myths of angels and devils a bit. I'm pretty sure that if I met a devil who could trick me into thinking it could commit miracles, I would follow it blindly. The only difference between an angel and a devil is the final outcome. This story, and possible related stories, deal with this idea that when it comes to beings outside of the human plane of existence, it can be hard to tell what side they're on. Eventually, humans have to act, have to take a side. I like that this character is a symbol of how we can't know the ultimate consequences of our decisions until after we've chosen which side we're on.

Sometimes a woman's go to do...

I upgraded my apartment a little tonight. The other day, my mom gave me two chairs that need a little work. One has a post coming off the back and they both need to be painted. Then, the artist with whom I commissioned my Cthullhu finally finished it, but I don't have a cat friendly space to store it. So, today I went to Home Depot and bought some paint and wood glue. I also went to Target and bought a shelf to put up to protect the Cthullhu with no name.

At Home Depot, I also found an African violet with dual colored leaves and a cute green pot that follows the color scheme I'm envisioning for my apartment. So, since I was planning on putting up the shelf, I decided to buy the flower, too, so I can have a little life in here.

I picked out three sample pots of paint- samples of colors I'd like to have in my apartment. I'm going to paint the bathroom first, then the bedroom, and finally the kitchen and dining/living room area. I'm thinking blue for the bathroom, purple for the bedroom, and golden orange for the kitchen and dining/ living room.

When I got my shelf home and painted, I asked my roomie if I could borrow his screwdriver. Like most things I plan to do, he told me he'd do everything himself. And, he sat on his couch, reading. So, I grabbed his screwdriver, used it to punch holes in the wall, screwed in the thingy that goes around the screw and then screwed the screw into the thingy on both sides, which I measured using knots I tied into yarn. The whole process took about three minutes. And, now I have a cubby for my Cthullhu and a shelf for my flower that my cats (hopefully) won't get into.

And, if you have a name for my Cthullhu, please let me know. I'll be naming him when he comes in the mail.

Yes, Cthullhu loves me!

About three years ago, I commissioned a pink Cthullhu with daisies from a sculptor and a book cover illustrator I know from the One World by Night organization. For the past three years, I've seen him once a year, and for the past three years, I've asked about the pink Cthullhu with daisies. This year, he said he'd almost finished it when I saw him at Megacon, and a couple days ago he wrote me to tell me it was finished! As soon as it arrives, I will have a new mascot!

Help me name my Cthullhu!!!

I'm hoping he'll keep me in writing shape. I need someone to take me to task for procrastination. Lately, I've been focused on writing for newspapers and websites, so my fiction has suffered.

In the past three days, I've written about 3,000- 4,000 words worth of news and features, and 200 words worth of short stories and pieces of my novels.

Someone help!

If you know what my new pal here should be named or have a suggestion on how to keep up with placing the fairy tale worlds in my head on paper, feel free to leave a comment or two.

The New Gay: Tampa is a go!

My newest gig is up and running.

I'm going to be writing events listings and features for The New Gay's Tampa edition. It's a website that offers up cool things to do and a new way of looking at the world; it's based in DC, so for right now I'm the only writer regularly working on the shennanigans going on in Florida.

I'm looking forward to writing to a new audience and building a new readership base.

And, if you want to get in on the ground floor of The New Gay, go ahead and query them. They're looking for a few good writers.

Progress report for 04/12

I got a lot done today, even though I spent most of it at my mom's, eating chocolate and prime rib. I also have an announcement tomorrow, and I hope I will have one after Wednesday, as well. This has been a pretty good week, thus far.

On the cheap: 543 words

WIP: 1,800 words

Govi: 2,696 words

New character backstory: 1,364 words

Seeing God: 1,593 words

*I don't think I've mentioned it before, but these are totals, not how much I've written today. So, I've written about 3,000 words today.

A glamorous day in the life of a freelance writer

Last night at sundown began the first day of Passover. I wasn't supposed to work at all today. You are all witnesses to how writing turns religious practice into Epic Fail.

Around 4:30 a.m.: I hear my roomie's phone vibrate and it wakes me up. I live in a studio with a guy who works at a hospital and has to be at work by 6 a.m., so I keep my apartment at a frozen 65 degrees so I can sleep through the entire night without him waking me up. Last night, since it was so cool outside, the air conditioner kept stopping, so he woke me up. And, I couldn't go back to sleep.

Around 5:30 a.m.: With my roomie out the door, I turned on my laptop to check some email.

Around 6:00 a.m.: After just falling asleep, I woke up to the sound of him coming home. It turns out he almost got to work before he realized he didn't work today.

Around 7:00 a.m.: I finally get back to sleep.

Around 11:00 a.m.: I wake up almost bright eyed and bushy tailed. I check my emails, respond to a few, and get dressed for the gym. I also eat a pickled tomato and sliced turkey lunch meat for workout fuel. I eat it over the sink. My roomie is sleeping right next to the fridge, because we're cramped for space.

11:45: One hour workout plus ten minutes in the steam room.

1:05: Get home, call city hall to confirm info about problems election signs for a story, take a shower, eat a bit of food, and read over some letters I have for another story.

2:00: Call the guy who put up the signs and get his comment. Call the director of a local org that helps businesses to try to get my hands on their budget, which I've been trying to do for a week. Informed she is out sick, but hopefully I'll get the budget soon. Look for the emails of two people I need pictures for by tomorrow; I've already talked to them about the pics and left them voice mails, but the pics have not been sent.

3:00: Try to get in touch with the host of a Passover dinner I thought was today. Field questions about whether or not I can write press releases and whether or not I'm willing to write articles for $5 a pop. Get all of my files and notes together for a story I had to write tonight. Get all of my files and notes together for a feature I had to write.

4:00: Drive to the used bookstore to trade in books. Most of them are not indie enough, so I get $7 in store credit and buy The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories. Drive home in defeat.

5:00: Roomie apologizes for waking me up over and over and we end up going out for sushi and drinks (his treat). We head to my new local favorite for sushi and I drink a Woodchuck hard apple cider at the bar next door.

7:00: Get home and watch Better Off Ted, because it's awesome. Try to take a short nap. Fail.

8:05: Write On the cheap about The Taco Bus, start reading the ghost story book, change the filter on my AC and put a load of laundry in. Field more emails, from inquiries about my broken love life to more about the possible freelancing opp.

9:00: Work on my new, untitled WIP, realize my washer isn't draining and try to fix it, start looking at my notes for the new story, read a little more in a couple books and try to start watching The Dresden Files.

10:OO: Write the election story I've been working on the past few days, look over an email from another disgruntled person, send off a couple more emails, and realize I'm not going to finish The Dresden Files Ep. 8 tonight. Find $10 extra in my Mechanical Turk account!!!!

11:00: Start gearing up for bed, watch a little more Dresden, and write a blog post about my busy day. Get very sleepy, and very cold, because the AC is on 65 degrees again. Take my now dry clothes out of the dryer and throw them in a heap in a laundry basket. Pray my cats don't roll around until their debris covers the newly cleaned clothes. Pray I will have a night where I sleep the entire night through.

What I've accomplished:

On the cheap: 521 words
Times article: 481 words
WIP: 1,252 words (approx. 500 from tonight)
This blog: 793 words

Test mobile post

I figured I'd try playing with my Blackberry a bit and see what it can do. It can post! But, I don't see an option to post pictures from my phone.

04/06/09 in review

Today has been a pretty productive day. I made some calls for stories for the Times and managed to write a little over 1,000 words in my fiction.

I enjoyed an hour workout and cleaned the creepy black stuff growing on the grout in my shower.

Now, I think it's about time for bed.

WIPs:

Govi (novel): 2,172 words

Untitled WIP (novel): 712 words

March in review

March wasn't that great writing wise. I only wrote six stories for the Times, and one of them had a correction. Not an "oops- spelled the word wrong" correction but a "got a phone call from an angry city councilman minutes after the story went live" kind of correction.

I also found out my editor's leaving.

April's been much better so far.

I didn't seriously work on any of my fiction.

I got myself a boyfriend, and scheduling him into my life has been interesting (I'm not sure if me having to schedule him in is a good thing or a bad thing.)

I spent a good part of the month getting over the stress caused by the correction. I don't take my own mistakes well, but I at least think I handled everything professionally. I've also had a bunch of writing pros tell me about their own corrections. It was a live and learn moment, emphasis on learn.

I also wrote four or five stories for Tampa Bay Art Network (which is currently down), and I got in touch with another group that produces a blog in Washington D.C. I'm just waiting for them to give me access to their site to start posting. Once they do, I will be sure post my new online digs.

On the health front, thanks to stress and some nonexistent nutrition, I gained five pounds in a little less than four weeks. I realized this last week, and since then I've lost half a pound. I'm hoping once my current roommate trauma is over at the end of the month, I'll be able to live the fabulous life I'm destined for. Fortunately, I've been going back to the gym and eating a heck of a lot better since the weigh in last week, so I think I'll be fine.

Today they had Bones playing on the TVs in front of the cardio equipment, so I managed a 30 minute workout (after 30 minutes on weights) while watching something engaging (instead of CNN or Paula Dean) and got over my usual 15 minute "I don't wanna" exercise hump without too much hassle. Then I headed to the steam room.

My gym has a steam room, with aromatherapy sprays and tiled benches. It is heaven.