So, that [show] tonight, eh? What a/n [adjective] season finale! I couldn't believe it when [character] [verb]ed [character]! And then the [event] at the end--well, I just [verb]ed like crazy.

Didn't you?

Or, rather, Pookie the snow monkey. But who's checking, really?

( Don't make me get my flying monkeys )

I am most certain Pookie is going to have his own empire shortly at this rate.

RRRRRRRRRRR WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND ANY SACRED HEART SCHOOLS IN CHINA

YOU FAIL SO HARD, INTERNET. FAIL.

I am really happy right now and I have no idea why. Seriously. Why am I this happy?

Look! A butterfly!

*giggles as though on crack*

*takes deep breath*

It's been a busy frelling day. So much stuff going on at work, I've actually had work, and yet I've still managed to write about 1500 words, so far. I'm hoping for 3k by tonight, but I'm taking a little breather right now, and mentally ordering everything.

I'm about to embark on one of the biggest scenes in the entire book, one that will span, I'm guessing, about three chapters all on its own. Lots and lots of stuff happens here, and there's pressure to get it all right. I know I've talked about this before, but I find these sorts of scenes both the easiest and hardest to write. Easy, because I know exactly what's happening, and the words just flow once it gets going, and usually some of the most brilliant moments/pieces of writing come out of them. As an example, all of my very favorite moments in Dark Vision are in those last chapters. Hard, because there's all this pressure, because I've been building to them for the entire book. The reader comes into them with certain expectations, and those expectations must be met, or they will come across as anti-climatic. I'm going to finish this one up by the end of the weekend (I hope).

At the moment, I'm just procrastinating for a few minutes. I admit it freely. I've been building up to diving into this all day, and now I've got a low grade headache. Could be just from work, but either way, I'm waiting for the advil to kick in before I tackle this. Which, by the way, cascades into a very traumatic scene for Mercy, followed almost immediately by another big pivotal moment - basically, this is the roller coaster at its fastest, steepest dive, and I'm just starting over that crest.

Ah, there it goes. The "snap" of the headache fading. Time to get back to work, then.

Holy shit, you guys. Um, that's A Distant Sort of Connection by eli_disappear, and I am all twitterpated and flabbergasted and impressed. And squishy on the inside. And yeah. Very good.

I know a lot of my little space pirates snippets are short, pithy, and amusing, especially lately, but that's because they're the only bits I really can snippet. As the book progresses, snippeting any of the more serious stuff becomes waaaaaaay too spoilery.

So, another amusing moment from the life of Mercy. Trust me, she doesn't find it all that amusing, and anyway, there is all too little amusement in her life at the moment. Author's note: Christopher is a young teen who works for his older half-brother, Connor, who has invited Mercy to attend a super secret thing with him, as his guest.

( ~snippet~ )

*sigh*

I think the first draft is definitely going to be over 100K. I really thought I could keep it under, but looking at my little shorthand outline of the last half of the book...I doubt it. I've crossed two things off that list. Two. Each "thing" was supposed to be about a chapter long. Well, some more stuff ended up having to happen in there - there always is, my 'outline' is far from detailed. But for those two things to get crossed off? Took four chapters. Arrrgh! And they were little compared to what's to come. I may have to rethink some of the ending and see what can be shuffled off to book two.

Oh, and I know I haven't done a wordcount update in awhile. I'm averaging about 2,000 words a day right now, which still puts me well within reach of THE END by June 1st. Still, I'd like to bump that up to about 3k a day, and then I'd breath a little easier.

So I admit it - I have one reality show addiction, and it's America's Next Top Model. Say what you will, but I admit to being utterly captivated by it. (I started catching marathons of old seasons on MTV, and that was it, now I Tivo all the new seasons.) Unlike a lot of reality TV, the goal is not to humiliate contestants, and though the judges occasionally say harsh things, I'm sorry, but I've read enough about the modeling world to know those are nice compared to what these girls will hear working as actual models. What the judges say and what their coaches say are trying to prepare them for that, and yes, push them to a higher level of skill/talent. Most of these girls are so young, this is their first dose of the really real world of business, and what it takes to survive it.

Anyway, it is addictive. I love picking my favorites, watching as some girls go from awkward and unsure to confident and poised. Who's going to break down and cry, who's going to be the b*tch, and who's going to be professional. I love predicting who will win, and who will go home. It's not all about looks. A LOT of modeling is about personality, and allowing your personality to shine. Anyway, most seasons have at least one "plus size" contestant. In the modeling world, plus size means a size 10 or 12, which means OMG a normal woman with actual curves! vs the skinny girls who have, well, none. And I know it's not always easy being a size 0 or 2 and I've had friends who have, by God, tried to put on weight and couldn't, who lamented having no boobs, etc. But I'm in that camp of curvy women who struggle to keep off those twenty (or thirty) extra pounds. Most of those curvy girls have humungous confidence issues that end up crippling them. Seriously, the judges are all for the curvy gals continuing forward, but 99 times out of 100, they can't get past their own confidence issues to really shine as models. The longer the competition goes, the more they start to crack.

( Cut for some spoilers about this season in general, and last night's finale in particular. )

Here's a challenge: cast your dream TV series of all time. Three to five actors, must include at least one male and one female. Tell me why they'd be so awesome together.

(Bonus points for show premise/location.)

I prefer working opens to working closes, but they sure do mess me up if I haven't gotten enough sleep. Last night was up until 2-something again, woken by the alarm at 4:45am, and off to work. Ouch. There were many yawns. And that meant that I came home this afternoon, ate something, fell asleep around 5ish, and woke up now, at 9:30pm, my day all whiled away before its time. Ah, well.

I think I'm going to eat a pomelo and watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in bed. If I get enough sleep before my open tomorrow, maybe I'll actually be able to bang out the rest of That Thing I'm Writing without, you know, falling asleep on the keyboard.

Speaking of writing, man I love doing it again. I hadn't really forgotten that I loved it, I just hadn't been able, for so long, to get to the place I am now, the best, most-creative-juices-flowing place, where nothing else matters quite as much. Maybe it's not the best thing for my relationships with other people in the real world, maybe it's not the best thing for my sleep patterns, but it's the most important thing to me, being able to get in this head space, being able to be so focused and switched on. I would live like a lonely hermit all my life if I could just be like this all or most of the time and get everything that's in my head out of it, watch it all happen on the page, see how it can play out.

I love having a scene or a notion or a characterization in my mind, and then writing it, and in the writing it changes or becomes more nuanced, and suddenly it's better than it was to start with, it's its own thing, independent of me. It's a story. It's a person, or a moment, and I'm just the witness. I love that more than anything.

Complete and utter GIP. Normally I don't post such things but this is an icon I made, you see. It is not a thing of brilliance, but it is in fact the only icon I have made in my whole entire Internet existence, so I am very pleased and have decided a post is needed.

...GIP!

So, given my extreme obsession with all things OT4, there was no way I could not picspam the awesome that was the OT4 in this weeks gossip girl. And so I bring you the very best of the UES royalty. If only all episodes could focus on this foursome, the show would be even better than it is already.



( we're the non-judging breakfast club. we're your best friends. )

I have started this post three times. All three times I was complaining about different petty crap. The weather. The rpg of doom (last night), the fact that ABC, in all its wisdom, has canceled Women's Murder Club (I know kistha - I share your outrage and bitter disappointment.)

And I deleted each of those a few sentences in, because they all just sounded like whiny complaining. I don't want to whine and complain today.

So instead, I'm just going to say - my coffee is quite excellent this morning. A little earthier than I remember huehuetenango being, but perhaps I'm getting it mixed up with Kenya AA - last roast for both of these was back to back, so it's possible.

Dinner tonight is going to be crockpot stew, which always makes me happy because 1) it's awfully yummy, and 2) it's the easiest homecooked meal. Anything in the crockpot is, really. But the idea of going home tonight and having to do nothing but some possible seasoning, and cutting the bread to go with it pleases me no end.

Other than that, I'm actually busy at work today. Between that and writing, not sure how much I'll be around.

a quick one, because I realised in order to stay awake and write my paper and study for French, I have to visit blairwaldorfs and read all the amazing shiz that goes down there.

goddesspharo's Gossip Girl- 1x17 Woman on the Verge picspam is made of awesome. Commentary=win.

Um, it just occurred to me- uh, Vanessa? Why're you bitchin' 'bout Blair (when she insults Chuck and Blair when they arrive with Nate( when she paid for your Ikea furnished apartment? Biting the hand that feeds you? All these Brooklyn people are so icky sometimes. Can't blame Blair for all her Brooklyn=eww faces.


this video=winwinwin. adorable to the max.

I can't wait for tomorrow to be over so I can finally get my life back, and watch House, Supernatural and Ugly Betty while finishing up Christal's present.

 

Oh, Mercy. My poor MC has no idea what she's just done. At times like this, I almost feel cruel as an author. Of course, if other characters weren't so very crafty, she wouldn't end up in these situations.

So I'm on Wikipedia researching around for the story I'm working on, and I'm kinda surfing around articles about welding and metalwork and come to the Tap and die article. Allow me to recount the first few sentences for you.

Taps and dies are cutting tools used to create screw threads in solid substances including, but not limited to, metal, wood, and plastic. A tap is used to cut the female portion of the mating pair (e.g. a nut). A die is used to cut the male portion of the mating pair (e.g. a bolt). The process of cutting the threads in a hole is called "tapping" the hole.

No wonder construction workers are so notoriously horny and crass. The spend all day around mating pairs.