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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Fluff the Ego, Please

Since I was emotionally high yesterday, I don't know if this is all in order, but this is all what happened.

I asked my sister if she liked the ending to Black Sight yesterday.  She and my mom both said they loved it.  It made sense and there is satisfaction involved in the ending, even if all of the options are less than ideal.

These were the same people that said trying to be a writer was a bad idea.  The same ones who told me I didn't have a future with it.   It felt, at times, that they were the least supportive people in the whole wide world when it came to this writing thing.

"You'll never make it."

"There's no money in it."  <-- That is true, but it shouldn't stop anyone.  There's no money in teaching anymore either, but teachers are some of the most revered people.
Oh, the gratification that they're the ones saying that it is good!  Now, I know they're family and they're supposed to say it, but remember my sister is the one that said it was stupid at first.

One of them, either my mom or my sister, asked me how I was going to support myself.  My sister said something like, "You can't do it by writing."  But then, "Well, actually, you could."

Oh, the satisfaction!  When people who have said one thing for years change their mind to the way you want it to change, there is not a better feeling.

Ha ha ha.  My ego has been fed.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Books that Suck (You In) and Those That Don't

Any book-lover knows what I'm talking about when I say a book just sucks you in and you can't get out to save your life.  You hate putting it down.

My writing is seriously linked with my reading--which it should be.  But I don't know if it's supposed to go this far.  If I'm reading a really junky novel or sometimes a really good novel, I can't write.  They deplete my literary juices.  The bad one just makes me hate the words and the good one just keeps calling me back and I don't want to concentrate on what I'm writing.

Sometimes though, if I'm reading a really good novel, it does make me want to write and I don't want to read it.  My middle ground is finding some small paperback that is interesting, but not too interesting.  Then I can write for a little while, then read, then write...

I borrowed 'Salem's Lot from the Jefferson Davis campus library.  Perk had it brought in for me.  I don't feel like writing, and I haven't.

Happy Friday.

Monday, October 25, 2010

No NaNo This November.

WARNING:  DUE TO THE IMPLICATIONS THAT PREVENT ME FROM PARTICIPATING IN NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH THIS YEAR, THERE MAY BE A GREY OVERCAST FOR THE LUNCH NUMBER BLOG.

Okay, that's out of my system.  I've done NaNoWriMo every year in high school.  Last year was my only successful year.  You could say I'm retiring a winner, but I really don't wanna skip it.

I'm a college student, give me some slack.  I have Long Ridge to worry about.  And that writing will count in the end.  It's not exactly for a grade, but I have to turn it in and my instructor tells me what I did wrong, and how to improve it.

Well, I'm taking on a new project, but writing isn't central to the project.  Don't worry, I'm not taking a hiatus from writing.  I wouldn't be able to function correctly if I did. 

Still, I'm already hating the idea of missing NaNoWriMo.  But it's okay.  It's not like I had any new ideas anyway.  Except the new project.  But I wouldn't change the project to fiction.  Maybe next year, if this year goes well.

Good day, and God Bless.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Bad Reviews, Bad Names, and Bad Writing

Most of you know I finished Black Sight last week--or week before last?  Anyway, my mother read it.  She loved it, but had trouble with the names and their pronunciations.

Sigh...  Most of those names can be found in a baby name book.  The rest were from a name generator.

My sister's reading it right now.  She first told me it was stupid, and then she told me the first few pages weren't very interesting (my mom agreed) and that it was just okay.

I said I wasn't going to rewrite it, but I think I will.  There's a bunch of stuff I left out and a bunch of stuff that needs taking out.

Here's to rewriting.

Good night and God bless.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

If You Made It Revisited

Since Halloween is swiftly approaching, (a holiday I have never been allowed to participate in any way, shape, or form) I've been thinking of some sort of piece I could do.  Something creepy and stuff.

Well, in August of last year, I wrote, "If You Made It..."  It's a Vent Piece with the tagline line , "Dr. Frankenstein was bad at being God." 

Like any piece I've written that has anything do with God, a lot of people liked it.  I was kind of surprised though when it came to this one.  Surely comparing God to someone as awful as Dr. Frankenstein would be bad.

I'm looking it over now, a year older, but not much wiser.  I'm revising it, just a little, mind.

What's really funny is that the seed for this VP come from Van Helsing. 


Something Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein were talking about stuck with me.  Unfortunately, I don't have said quote burned in my memory, nor did anyone put it in the IMDB for me to copy-paste.

Anyway, what Dracula said to Dr. Frankenstein, as I said, stuck with me.  The idea germinated.  After turning this idea in my head millions of times, I had something.  Although, instead of focusing on the movie Van Helsing, I went back to the stereotypical idea of the Frankenstein story.

And here it is:

If You Made It...
Creations
August 25, 2009 (Revised October 16, 2010)
J. C. Verdin

Dr. Frankenstein was bad at being God.

The difference between God and Dr. Frankenstein: God actually loves what he created. Dr. Frankenstein hated his monster. He was afraid of it.

And people can be worse than that monster. At least the monster didn't know better. We do. But God will never stop loving us no matter what.

At least Dr. Frankenstein disappeared. God still shows Himself. Seriously, how many of you can go to an aquarium and think, "Hey, me and that fish have a common ancestor!" Come on, now. Have you seen some of the things they pull out of the sea? How okay are you with believing you are related to a crawfish?

As the creation (not the mutation) shouldn't we love the One who created us? If not love Him, can we respect Him? Reverence Him? Hey, this God didn't have to make us, but He did. The Monster had it figured it out.

The doctor couldn't control his creation and it led to his doom. Thousands of years after Creation, after the Fall, after the Crucifixion, God is still in control, even if it seems like there are more and more atheists, even if socialism takes over America, even if a thousand people are murdered. God allows it to happen.

Why? It's not just about one person. It's about everyone. That $20 you lost may pay someone else's phone bill. That person was killed in a car accident and other people got saved.

I don't know where it is in the Bible and I don't know the exact quote, but no matter how many bad things happen, God will use it for good. I know it's there, I saw the verse on VeggieTales (oh no, not them again!). It was the episode about Joseph. (I think it may have been Romans 8:28.)

Could the doctor handle the big picture? No, he could not. Just as the one creature he created got out of hand. God gave us free will, but He's still the Big Man Upstairs. Good night and God bless.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Lunch, Personal Ads, and a Car Wash

Lacey and I usually leave campus for lunch.  Today, we really didn't know what to do.  Brilliant, Writer BFF suggests we go to the car wash.

For college students, we are kind of lame.  We laugh at mostly clean jokes and aren't wild or crazy on Saturday nights.  But that's okay.  We're responsible, matu--well, really responsible, good Christian gals.

Well, on the way to the car wash, Lacey mentioned she had responded to a personal ad and that she was meeting him today.

So, agonizingly lonely person that I can be, I started considering, jokingly, what I would ever put in a personal ad if I was ever brave enough or pathetic enough to put one in the paper.

"Lonely writer seeks companion."

 Not telling at all.  Then I added, "Height:  5'3.  Weight:  *hesitating* More to love."

Lacey added on, "Preferably male."

I laughed.  That too.

So, "Lonely writer seeks companion.  Preferably male.  Height is 5'3.  Brown hair and eyes.  Blind."

When I said 'blind,' my first thought was, "Oh man, someone's gonna take that seriously and think I really can't see."  I am blind, but I wear corrective lenses.  It sucks and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy--on second thought, maybe I would.

Lace and I had a lot of fun today.  After the car wash, we went to WalMart and Fred's.

Yeah, college girls gone wild.  LOL.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Downsizing

I haven't been spending that much time on Writing.Com lately.  Tonight, I spent some time reviewing people.  I'm hoping to get some reviews in return and I have, but...

I deleted a bunch of stuff in my portfolio.  Since I haven't been on as much, and I'm wanting to publish, I won't need as much space in my portfolio.  When it's time to renew (or even befrore, if I can), I'll switch to the cheaper membership.  It only holds 50 items.  I managed to get it to 40-something.  I took out a bunch of folders.  They made the second-largest (probably) percentage of items in my port.   So, My Vent Piece folder, while I left a bunch of them there, there's plenty missing and they're not divided my VP set anymore.

Change is good sometimes.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

The End

I finished Black Sight this morning.  Sort of.  There's a beginning, middle, and an end.  It needs an edit.  Badly.  It's nowhere near as long as I would have wanted it, there are parts I forgot to add.  But I'm waiting to do that.  I'm not going to look at it for a while and work on some other writing project.  I'm not re-writing Black Sight.  On that, I am adamant.  I'm tired of this story.  I love my characters, make no mistake, but I'm done.  Done.  Done.  Done.  At least for a little while.

My mother never read that story I printed out the first time or second time, or whatever.

I got another story I've been itching to work on, so I'll move onto that.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Double Epic Fail!

Yeah, you know how I was supposed to get 35,000 words for Black Sight.  Well, I looked at my planner today, the day after my deadline, and saw I had two goals.  One for Black Sight and another for the romantic comedy.

Okay, I've been stretching myself too far.  I have essays to write for English Composition for college, I have short stories or articles to write for my Long Ridge.  Then there's downtime pleasure writing.

Time to start making realistic goals, I guess. Or none at all for now.  I can't make my deadlines right now.

For the record though, I'm only a day late.  Yup, I got 35,000 words into my pen drive.  It's not all on the Black Sight Word document, but it's there.  As far as the romantic comedy goes, well, I haven't touched it in weeks.  I don't even have names for all the characters.  No worries, my main characters are named.  There's the first chapter on my writing.com.  Since I have this insane dream to get Black Sight published, that one's not published.

So, you're up-to-date on my writing life.  Writer-Overload.  Red alert.  Red alert.


 The Romantic Comedy.   <--In case you're interested.