As the Year Winds to an End

Holidays over... check.
Sickness healed... check.
Renewal madness started... check.
Ready to get back to a normal schedule that really won't happen till after New Year's... triple check!

All in all, I suppose the last few weeks have been a learning experience.

• One can't write and drive at the same time in long car trips. Actually, the composing portion of your brain doesn't pack and stays at home.


• Whatever romantic plans you're hoping for will be ruined by the weather and your boyfriend's head cold.


• The sister who always made everyone late waiting for her to get ready still hasn't changed.


• Heather Sellers is right; you can't work when you're sick. This includes creative work, housework, backlogged housework, or driving anywhere. However no one will believe you are too sick to do whatever they need you to do for them, even if they are in the same house with you and see how many times you're running to the bathroom.


• Your boyfriend will surprise you with an insight about your work habits and be right, reminding you why you love this man when you're starting to suspect you are just suffering from a need of perverseness.


• You can't please either family for the holidays. My first thought is to not leave my house and they can come visit next year. But Chad's probably got the safer solution with a neutral location.


• There is never enough time off to get the backlogged housework done.

And I think that's a pretty good summation of my life for the last two weeks.

I had a good long visit with Billy and Misty last night, in town from Florida briefly. I hope 2006 vacation schedule is better and we'll be able to head to Florida.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Is Telling Stories Still Fun

Notes from the 27th: Chad made an observation about my writing habits and it struck a chord. "You keep talking abou the business stuff. You aren't just telling the story. And that's why you keep distracting yourself with doing other stuff; you're not having fun."

Not that I have fun doing the dishes, but it was still scary accurate, and followed by a bout of me being sick that left me unable to think straight. But it's been a week since that came up in the conversation, and I still remember it.

has this stoy been in my head too long? Unknowningly, Chad stumbled upon an answer to why I've been so disheartened and undisciplined with my own work. It click, I'm not enjoying the words I'm stringing together. A deadly, dangerous snare for a writer to fall into, and one I disguised as "I'm not published yet and it's my own damn fault" pique.

Today: I squeezed in a half a page--and with the renewal craziness that's a feat--and feel good about it. I just have to remember to give the unpublished demon the boot out of head and get caught up in the story again.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Sick, Stressed, and Finding the Love

No actual post due to being sick and stressed.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Finally done with B.A.s

Got Krista graduated finally. I'd post pictures but none of the ones I took came out really well. Ceremony is much easier to sit through with the university colleges divided in half. You could actually get a seat in the stands and it only took about two hours.

So now all three of us will be back in Pumpkin Center. Kai came back to my parents' to look for work. Krista will be moving back home on the 23rd.

And no, I can't drive and write at the same time.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

The X-Men Soap Opera

898 words today. And a heap of editing to do to get the words meshed together with the previous words, but I'm not starting that until I get 6000 words this week.

And I did a bad yesterday. I was reading what was available on the X-Men 3 movie due out May 2006. The big stand up of the X with Wolvie's claws for the 3 was in the theater when we went to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (And yes, the pagan enjoyed the movie that was faithful to the books which are Christian allegory no matter how much C.S. Lewis was in ambivance about it.) Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest preview got me hyped, so I went looking for X-Men 3's. Which a teaser is available that I can't play at work.

Anyway, I ended up reading fans whining about Gambit STILL not being part of the cast. (Best answer: Gambit was a victim of Katrina) The movie story line, which Rogue and Gambit--whereever he is--are too young to have met yet and giving a strong reason for Rogue and Iceman's connection that is in the comics, is a different creature from the comics. I know that. I also know the comics are a soap opera with sixty years of continuity. But Rogue and Gambit are part of the reason why I stopped reading X-Men (the second part being I couldn't afford all the titles).

Rogue and Gambit are my favorites. And they have passion combined with trust issues. Both combined with feisty tempers (what do you expect they're Southern) on both sides--as Rogue occassionally channeling someone else's personality--has beacoup conflict storytelling potential. But instead of concentrating on that, the writers are in a rut of "their powers keep them apart."

If Rogue can't touch, Gambit is leaking energy uncontrollably. Last I checked, it's back to Rogue can't touch in the current comics. And Jean Grey is really dead and Scott Summers and Emma Frost have hooked up. But back to the ones I care about, and why I can't read X-Men anymore.

Now all this alternating shaboinging (To my knowledge, there has been two opportunities for shaboinging: 1) when Eric the Red suppressed their mutant power in Anartica and 2) when they lost their powers after Rogue dragged Gambit back from the white light.), no touching, and combusting is supposed to keep the couple and the readers sexually frustrated and hooked into the relationship.

It's bullshit.

First reason, every so often somebody comes up with a mechanical means for suppressing mutant powers. Why doesn't Rogue keep one for recreational use? Or have Forge or Beats--both science geek--make something?

Second reason, Joseph--the clone of Magneto that had the hots for Rogue--built a room that suppressed her powers. Go in and she could touch. Now the writers killed ole Joseph off--can't have any true competition with the Ragin' Cajun after all--but he didn't dismantle the room before he died.

Shaboinging isn't the impossibility that Marvel writers want to think it is. And I got tired of waiting for the writers to wake up and remember Gambit is a schemer who think of my two points and five more to be with the woman he loves.

Really they should have made her pregnant after the first shaboing. Unprotected sex lesson and all that jazz. But then they killed Jean Grey off before she Rachel Summers, but that's getting into the whole time travel mess.

So I'll enjoy the movies. Others are talking about spinoffs with the teen X-Men. Maybe if that happens, Gambit will finallly appear. Till then, I'm content to drool over Hugh Jackman as Logan.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Progress!

I actually made my word count today! See Discipline Under Fire for the proof.

Tonight's plans: I have to go shopping for some essentials in at least 2 different stores. Yuck. Then I have to work on the take-home final for English 611 and finish the house cleaning before the trip. The adjuster is coming tomorrow night too.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Finding rhythm once again

Of course I pick the completely messed up schedule week to try to get back into a routine. Thursday and Friday, I won't be at work and will be going to my baby sister's graduation. Monday and Tuesday of next week will have me closing on my refinancing (I hope) and going to get my blood retested.

I've got a page and a half handwritten, a good start for this morning. And now I'm stuck with blood splatter pattern. The body was in bed this time. Hmm, too bad I can't afford a computer program to help me plot these crime scenes.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Feeling a little silly with glee

I finally finished the stupid paper for English 575! Now all I have left is the take home final for English 611. That I'm working on Tuesday night. Today, I'm going out to see if I can catch the end of the Faire.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Carson Fire and Elf Life

My brain hurts. I finished my ten-page paper today, finally. A day late, but it's done. I don't have anything to start on the 20-page paper here, though I'll probably have to work on it tonight. So I tweaked the link list, namely the Webcomics part. Check out the new ones, I heartily recommend them. Now the rest of this blog is to explain Elf Life's new status: hiatus disappointment.

I started reading Elf Life when Fans used Baughb in the "Times of War" storyline. He was only a guest start, but I went ahead and read the other comic's archive to understand the character.

I fell in love.

This comic is EPIC in scope. The artwork was a distinct way of depicting elves that I hadn't seen before. It wasn't the tall, thin, Tolkien-copy, and I liked it. But the story was were the true WOW came in. The Convergence was the world of man and the world of the elves, fairies, goblins, etc. slamming together. Baughb, the hero of the story, managed to save a group of elves but was lost in time through a fairy gate. His legend grew in his absence, so imagine everyone's surprise when he shows back up in the village centuries later and they find out he's a complete and total goofus. But most of the goofus behavior is just an act to cover up just how competent he really is, how he failed to save the Princess and the fairy Glynhial and return to the time he had left, and that he knows what the future has in store--the destruction of the elves' world.

Only Baughb can save what's left of their world, if he can bring the various fighting elements together. He knows it will kill him, but he hopes to save Filis and Airek, the best ones able to lead the elves after this second Convergence. Oh and Filis is the missing Princess and Baughb is in love with her, but he doesn't want her to die with him.

Did I mention that Baughb also has to survive his younger self in our present's murderous attacks on the future self in the past?

Serious epic fantasy mixed with baudy humor and naked fairies and mermaids. But the writing is what would keep you coming back. Carson combined "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge with "Popeye" and it WORKED! This coming from a major "Popeye" hater too.

So why the disappointment? It's the updates. Okay, some things we readers can understand: the computer died, major illness, no electricity due to weather, have no money and must get a real job, moving. Long spans of no updates peppered the archive while you were waiting for the next page day after day. And silence about why there were no updates became more common. Readers gave up. Then the website would be tweaked and our hopes would rise, aided by a trinkle of updates that would end without warning. Or it would be a full text update when I came for a comic. But I put up with it because I saw the potential and was hooked on the story. I STILL want to see Filis become a hero and win her elf. I want Baughb to save the elves and beat his fate. And if he and Filis can't beat their fates, I want it to be a noble sacrifice.

But now Elf Life has been put on hiatus in favor of a political comic that Carson hopes will appeal to a mainstream audience. Why? Because Elf Life doesn't earn any money; because not enough people like fantasy.

What the fuck? In a world where Lord of the Rings sweapt the Oscars, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has made it to the big screen, and Harry Potter is breaking all the records in movies and print, you can't find an audience that likes fantasy? Oh wait, those examples delievered what they promised.

Look, I don;t hate Elf Life or Carson, and I wish him well on his new venture. I'm waiting for the printed version of the comic or CDs or something I can buy that will have the completed story. But I cannot recommend Elf Life to people knowing their are just going to be disappointed like I am.

And speaking author to author, addressing Carson now: Elf Life is too good for you to keep fucking up. If it is truly your life's work, what you want to be remembered for when you die, take the break, develop a business plan, and create a buffer so you can win back the Elf Life audience with steady updates on a sane schedule. Just email me and let me know when I can buy the finished product, because I'll only be checking in every six months or so. Good luck with Winger.

My public service message for the day is done.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

I hate it when I don't know where I've already been

Work on Zy came to a screeching halt this morning because I couldn't pack the notes (had to pack for class tonight) and there are elements I want to use in this scene from my notes. I discovered I need to go tweak the Strual interrogation, I forgot how many tentacles the Ecanians have. Times like this makes me wish I had some drawing talent.

And I'm back into my size 14 grey slacks. Still a little snug around the waist, but way less snug than the jeans were Friday, but they aren't cut the same as the jeans. Oh whatever, I'm reveling and enjoying the 100% juice fruit punch from Tropicana. Shopping for juices has been fun, just about everything in the flavors I drink has only 15 - 25%.

http://www.jefferydeaver.com/index.html Just finished the novel "The Bone Collector." Different from the movie, which is well expected these days. I still like the movie as a forensic based police procedural that allows the viewer to play along. I want to finish the rest of the series and catch up, but I don't know how much time I'll have for reading between semesters with the writing and the sewing I need to catch up on.

Plus my baby sister is graduating college with her B.A. in Theater on the 16th. And then she's finishing the garage room off and moving back in with my parents. She's got a lot done, there's just some painting left to finish and trim work, as well as the actual moving in.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

One assignment done

And three more to go. Boyo, I wish I was kidding about that.

However cooking went well today so I have lunch for the rest of the week. So now I need to see if I can squeeze some more words out of my brain. Fictional words this time.

I swear, after this semester ends I'm going to the beauty salon and get pampered.

*Snort* I should have known. Okay time to pack up my fiction words and go hold down the table at the restuarant of our RenFaire friends' choice. I don't mind, really. And at least Chad grabbed me before I got down and dirty into Zy's world.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Okay it's shaping up to be a good Friday

I had my doubts, especially when the jeans I wanted to wear didn't get dry in time. Yes, I had to do laundry this morning because I crawled into bed as soon as I got home last night. So I ended up squeezing into a pair of size 14 jeans. It is a squeeze, but I can close them. Fruit is working, maybe?

I breezed ahead on Capt. Kate's short story, my Friday reward. Though I think I may have to take it away since I'm not making as much progress in Zy's novel. This weekend will be finishing up school assignment again. Something is due every Monday and Thursday for the next two weeks, but then I get a nice long break before the Spring semester starts on January 17th.

Read Free!
The BookWorm