Explanation of Absence

So I didn't get around to posting last week. I've been dreadfully busy with house work, work work, writing work, parkour/conditioning work, and self-education. And a friend is back in town until the 31st(day after tomorrow). And I've been trying to get out more to enjoy this wonderful fall weather. And NaNoWriMo is looming ever closer on the horizon—it's almost on top of me now.

Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in a day, and posting seems to have drawn the short straw. Along with sleep. My apologies.

I don't want to, but I might have put posting on hiatus until after NaNoWriMo. At the very least I'll have to stop until the current phase of housework is over.

Again, my apologies. I'll try to think down some ideas for posts.

In the mean time, heres a nifty webcomic you can waste your time on (don't worry, the art gets better.)

Go mbeannaí Dia duit,
M. S.

Writing Progress Report

I was supposed to post this earlier, today, but for some reason I just didn't get around too it… oh well. It's not midnight yet. It's not late. (nodd) Though if I keep mistyping, it will be.

Okay, let me tell you how this is going to work. Come November, I'll be posting Weekly wordcounts for NaNoWriMo and talking about what I've written. Probably.

In the meantime, though, I'll use this to keep track of projects started and (hopefully) finished. I'll post progress wordcounts as I go, too.

Alrigh, now that it's explained…

Project's Began: 0 (nothing new)

Projects Continued:

Artificial —  This is the story of an artificial human who is found by love and escapes the bonds of slavery. It's cliched, but alos Sci-fi.  I like it, and that's all that matters at the moment.

1,100 new words, all written it one sitting directly after reading a Magical Words post (seriously, that blog is awesome, as are all the authors on it. Go see for yourself, I'll wait.) It brings the total word count up to 2,100. Another 2-4 thousand words to go, I think.

 Escape — This is another personal piece — I'm not even sure how to begin explaining it. I got inspired by running barefoot and coatless through a thunderstorm. That night, with it's awesome lightning flashes, hail, and sharp concrete (ouch) pretty much set the opening scene. Now I'm just exploring with my imagination.

Roughly 300 new words, written in a night of desperate war against writer's block. Victory, however small. Total word count: 7,300. Exactly.

Hick's Wood

This isn't so much a story as a series of vaguely story like ideas and random scenes. It's about this magic infested forest place—Hick's Wood—which is in part due to Old Man Hick (I know, I suck at names. I'll probably save them later on.), a slightly mad super-magician with more power than is probably good for anyone. Magical and malign creatures are drawn to this forest, partly because of him, and partly because of the natural magic—the same reason Hick makes his home there.

Hick employs a force of rangers, the Wardens, to protect the forest from invaders and invaders from the forest. These are ordinary (well, almost ordinary) men and women who have been armed with training and whatever magic they can get their hands on…

Yeah, I could go on for quite some time with this last project, but I probably shouldn't. And I don't have the time if I want to get this posted while it's still sunday here.

360 words, written while tired and feeling slightly sick (I'd skipped a meal or two. One of the many risks of being a cliched absent minded creative type. I'm totally re-rolling myself as a dashing rogue.) Another complete scene, but a random one. Evil unicorns.

Total word count: ? Um, I'm not really sure. I have two or three scenes floating about, dealing with different monsters, and another longer thing following on one of the Wardens.

And that's all. Hope I didn't bore you too much.

Go mbeannaí Dia duit,
M. S.

Friday Music Post Reboot #1

So, keeping to schedule, here's a post about music.

Last night I was watching music video's, and one of them I watched just happens to be a favourite from a few years ago (and one of my theme songs), so I thought I'd share it.

Billy Currignton's people are crazy:

This song has three truths. First, God is great; second, beer is good; and third, people are crazy.

Some people are against alcohol, and I understand that, but it isn't alcohol that's evil—Christ himself turned water into wine. It's the drinking to excess that's sinful. All good things can be misused.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do. In the words of Mark Crilley, "I'll be back with another one… real soon."

Go mbeannaí Dia duit,
M. S.

Busy — Setting a Schedule.

Apparently, I'm too busy to maintain a blog with any regularity. This really isn't being surprising to me, what with work, writing, NaNoWriMo coming up, music, familial obligations, sword practice, lack of sleep, etc. It doesn't help that I never actually had a schedule, choosing instead to post whenever I felt like it.

So, if I want to keep this blog alive—and some small part of me that does (though I don't know why)—then I need a plan; though, planning goes against all my instincts. (Wow, that last sentence was a mess. Sorry.)

Anyway, the friday music posts I used to do were the closest I ever came to schedule, so I'll revive them. Additionally, I'll try to do writing progress reports on alternating sundays because, if I put up my progress for all to see, hopefully I'll be motivated to write more. I don't think I'll be able to post much more than that, but I promise I'll try to come up with something creative and/or interesting to post at least once a week.

If anyone actually reads this blog, then I apologize for my sporadic output. I'll try to do better in the future. But feel free to berate me anyway. I like being reminded of my flaws—it reminds me I'm still human.

Go mbeannaí Dia duit,
M. S.

Late…

I'm late. I meant to post something a couple days ago, but… Best laid plans don't always work out, and it's difficult to keep a non-existantant schedule. And I don't know what to post about. I had a couple interesting ideas, but have since lost the thread.

So, have some muddled thoughts.

 I'd fallen into a recent slump, writing wise, as I've had difficulty putting my B in C. After a few days of writing nothing, it got to the point that I started to worry if I could create with the same creativity and skill I had before. I worried that I'd ruin my projects if I tried working on them. If you've ever been in this sort of mental state, you have my sympathies.

Inorder to fix myself, my sleeping schedule had to take the bullet. I sat down around my normal bedtime, said a short prayer, and dove write in. I had a vague idea of the next scene I needed, a memory of what came before it, and the trust that, even if it was crap, I'd be able to fix it later.

It worked.

I looked up after the scene was finished, and found it to be three hours later. I'd written about three hundred words. That's slow, extremely so, but it still made me happy. It reminded me that whatever worries I had keeping me from writing, they would melt away the moment I started stringing sentences together.

Rather like now.

I don't know if you'll walk away with anything after reading this; I don't care if you do read this. Sometimes you just need to forget about your cares and write. Look in a mirrior and see the story, not yourself. It feels better than beating yourself up. Trust me.


Go mbeannaí Dia duit,
M. S.

NaNoWriMo

So, we're in October now… I knew NaNoWrimo was drawing closer, but it still managed to sneak up on me. Just one more month of freedom before my mind melts in the chaotic frenzy of writerly abandon.

This will be my third year battling the novel demons. I hope for triumph, but I never really know what's going to happen until it's happened.

In 2011, I went with carefully laid plans. I lead an army of loyal characters, men and women armed with a plethora of strengths, weaknesses, and conflicts. I armoured myself with a plot of epic proportions (for me, atleast), and took up the sword of language. But even the best laid plans go to hell once the combat starts.

For the first fifteen thousand words, victory seemed assured. But the enemy was crafty; he turned my characters and plots against me. Amidst growing doubts, I floundered onwards. I refused to give in, but my desperate actions only dug me deeper. After 30K of hard fighting I was forced to face defeat.

I'd killed my story…

Yet, despite that, I can still remember my first NaNo. I remember how bodly I strode, a prayer my only weapon, daring the winds to stop me. Oh, how I wrote recklessly. Words rewarded my courage, giving me more than I had thought possible. I conquered.

So, then, this year is the tie breaker. This year makes or breaks my NaNoing soul… Except it doesn't, because I know that, in this game, one win is worth the suffering of a dozen losses.

So, win or lose, I will continue NaNo. I will continue to write, even if a prayer is all that drives my pen, even if Christ is all I have left. Because when it comes down to it, Christ is all I need.

Are you up to the challenge? Will you walk with us into the shadows? NaNoWriMo is a month away, but the time to prepare, if preparation suits you, is now.

Go mbeannaí Dia duit,
M. S.