Stranger than fiction.

I really need to start sleeping with the Eee next to the bed, because sometimes my nightmares are more bizarre, imaginative, and downright creepy than any story I could come up with – and I need to start writing this crap down while it’s still fresh and scaring the crap out of me.

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark as Noah playing the role of Moses leading the Aztecs away from the evil water to a paradise prophesied by the gods, ya’ll. And that’s just the start of it. Don’t even get me started on the flies, the carnivorous octo-blobs, the faceless people, the not-quite-right version of reality, the prophetic text sprayed across the street in gray paint and very large Courier New font, the swinging elevator, and having to chomp my way through something that was half-shrimp, half-tiny dragon…while it was still alive and shrieking at me.

Well, if anything…it’s fuel for more bizarre stuff in the otherspace if Ken ever goes back there.

This probably needs a title.

It’s amazing and sad that major news sources are taking this long to say anything about the June 2nd death of fantasy author David Eddings.

I am having a terrible time focusing on work this morning. Part of that is because I’m trying to remember a book that I wanted; it was a reference book of some sort, yet I can’t seem to even remember what subject it was about. It’s been on my mind for three days – yet now that I’m putting together a book order, it’s completely slipped my mind and it’s driving me buggy.

I wonder if it’s possible to be senile at 30.

I’m also getting pulled off on tangents by snippets of Ken’s story (book two, which I’m back to calling Ken’s story as I’m not happy with the title Earth’s Tempest – sounds like a romance novel). I’ve been posting bitlets of dialogue to LJ now and then, but keep wanting to write more. I just…completely suck at having a work ethic right now, unless it involves actual deadline work that I get paid for. I really need to get out of that trap; that’s how many authors end up sinking themselves, by focusing only on the 9-5 and then saying “Oh, that story…I’ll work on it again tomorrow.” And of course tomorrow never comes.

Last distraction? Feeling gypped that I paid $4.99 to watch City of Ember On Demand. That…that was godawful. Even worse was that I kept thinking “Oh hey, that boy looks like Roman – oh. Oh, no, he doesn’t. Dear god, no, he really doesn’t. Boy? Boy, please close your mouth. Please. No one likes a mouth breather.”

It randomly struck me, as I was trying to figure out how to fit seven job descriptions of average length onto two bloody effin’ pages, that I’m very bad at knowing the difference between middle grade fiction and young adult fiction. I blame this on my own personal reading experiences growing up; I devoured books voraciously and never paid attention to their reading level, so they all blended together in my mind (especially since in my hometown library, there was basically an adult section, a children’s section, and a YA section that lumped YA and MG together). The age of the protagonist(s) is no longer an indicator, as you can have MG books with 18-year-old protagonists or YA books with 12-year-old protagonists. It’s mainly a matter of length, content, and maturity of storyline, I guess…but it’s still a blurred line that I think I often walk incorrectly.

Need to send out a few more queries today; I’ve been slacking, but to me, sending out just one query is a lot of work. I never understand people who can send out fifteen to fifty queries a day. It takes time to research an agent, custom-prepare your sample materials according to their guidelines, adjust your query letter to fit their style and requirements, and then obsessively triple-check everything to ensure you’ve added the right things and didn’t make any mistakes. If it takes me less than an hour to get a query packet together, I feel like I’ve half-assed the job.

Also need to finish revising the SB synopsis. Still waiting on initial “Yes, I’d like to see more / No thanks, not right for us” responses from several queries, as well as waiting for a response from the agent with the full.

The Magazine of Fantasy and Sci-Fi is currently accepting submissions. I may try my hand at short stories again. My inability to write them is an obstacle I really need to overcome.

Have almost completely lost interest in World of Warcraft, for a variety of reasons. Laptop keeps overheating and crashing while playing; chill mat doesn’t help much (I suspect there may be an abundance of cat hair in the internal fan, contributing to the crashes). Have no desire to level another class to 80; I have two 80s, and that’s more than enough. RP in-game has gotten entirely tedious, with OOC drama that I have no desire to deal with; since RP was the main reason (beyond a few dailies) that I logged on regularly and I’ve now found entirely spectacular non-WoW RP with a friend, I have little reason to pop into the game anymore.

Oh, btw…the majority of you have already heard, but yes, Hikaru and I are engaged. No date set yet. Happy birthday, love. He’s 24 today.

Oh, yeah. One other thing.

I passed my CPRW exam. I am now a Certified Professional Resume Writer.

That’s all.

Hrn? Hrn.

Ever notice that many writers have a morbid fascination with death? Why do you think that is?

About half done with the SB synopsis. May finish it after work today, or may do it tomorrow; off work tomorrow (mmm-mmm, the sweet sound of me sleeping in and snoring my head off).

Huh. Well. That’s about all. Don’t really have much to say. Still waiting on query responses as patiently as ever (you know if I’d heard something good I’d have run here to babble about it by now); still not writing much other than picking out a few ideas daily. Less in a mood than just generally tired, and not spending much of my off-time on writing due to allergies making it hard to see the screen.

…well, maybe I’m in a mood a little. But mostly I’m just working and taking some downtime to figure out what I really want to work on, stick to, and finish next. I’m tired of waffling between filler projects.

S’all.

Bleargh.

So I was bad this weekend. I didn’t write the Shadow’s Breath synopsis, but I did have a marvelous time going to Mitsuwa and Terminator: Salvation with Hikaru. The movie was a bit of a letdown, but I still had a great time; considering that I rarely get out of the house and really need to stop pulling the hermit act, the movie was more important than staying at home and writing what’s basically an overgrown plot summary.

…and I wasn’t wholly bad, since last night I did most of my work for today. So today I can take the free time to be good and write my synopsis, no matter how boring it is. Right? Right?

…well, as soon as the allergy pill kicks in and I can see…

Just a little bit.

Right now, my Lean Cuisine microwave macaroni and cheese feels like the last meal before that long, slow walk down Death Row. I have about ten minutes before I have to go shower, tie my (now fabulous, thanks to Mohammed at Yehia hair salon) hair back, and wiggle into that penguin suit. Naturally, I’m spending that last ten minutes stalling and pretending it isn’t happening. So, you get to listen to me ramble about story crap.

Last night I barely got two hours of sleep, because someone needs to start using his Breathe-Right nasal strips again. (I kid – I’d have tossed and turned even without your snoring, love.) While I laid awake, I ended up browsing Amazon – and I found out that there’s a ninth book coming out in Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series. You have no idea how happy this makes me; the eighth book seemed to be leading towards some final conflict, although the plot description of the ninth doesn’t seem to indicate that it’ll be the last. I never preorder books, but I preordered A Wizard of Mars. I love this series; it trends more towards middle grade than young adult (by today’s standards, as opposed to when it was first published) but it’s one of the smartest young readers’ series I’ve ever read. It’s intelligently written and tackles complex concepts and problems while still retaining its innocence, wonder, and simplicity.

Speaking of YA, though…I tried reading Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones while sitting in the stylist chair letting Mohammed nearly yank my bloody scalp off. The setup is interesting, and the writing is pretty good in a rather lyrical way that reads more like impassioned, poetic fanfic than anything else…and it left the same cloying feeling in my mouth as fanfic. Imagine my surprise when I made that comment on Livejournal and someone told me that Cassandra Clare is a well-known fanfic writer who was embroiled in some huge scandals a few years back. Who’d have thought, eh? I don’t really do fandom at all, but I can tell fanfic-style writing. Makes sense, I suppose.

I may push aside my early prejudices and give it another try.

I do need to focus more on my own work, though. Last night Ken’s story wouldn’t leave me alone; I ended up working out some things focused around a new character in the series, and lingering on some things I had planned for Roman – working out the logistics, and expanding the concepts so they involve more primary characters than just him. As I plan things out, I’m seeing the storyline growing darker as Ken gets older, but we’ll see how that works out. Also, I’m scrapping the beginning I wrote before. It’s just…so overdone to start the first chapter with a dream sequence. I can keep the sequence and maybe work it in later, but I think I’m going to start the first chapter off differently. I have a few ideas, just no time to write them. Maybe this weekend, once I really get some bloody sleep. I just need to get through tonight and get through one more day of – ~shudders~ – work (it’s been getting bad again lately), and then I can relax.

Well, except for our tickets to see Aisha Tyler Friday night, but that’s definitely relaxing. I love the Improv comedy club.

…and their raspberry lemon drop martinis.

My time’s up, so I’d better go get ready. Bah. Well, I stalled as long as I dared. Wish me luck.

…and no. No pictures. I’ve gained weight since I moved due to compulsive stress eating, and I’d rather not have any of you seeing me looking like an orca trying to pretend to be a penguin.