One of the reasons is poor planning. It’s not a big one. I have trouble planning around waking up at 4:30 and when I have to go to sleep in order to do that. This is mostly because I have the tendency to get nervous over issues of time and being late, but also because I have to put aside more than eight hours FOR sleep, in order to get eight hours OF sleep.

Another, bigger contributing factor is how draining the end of the week is. I would probably say that the days I don’t post are usually either on holidays or at the end of the workweek. ‘Nough said, really.

But there is also the fact that I do not have contiguous computer access. And that the wordpress app, although improving, cannot ever make up for the crappy Swype keyboard on the HTC MyTouch. Dictation is almost as bad. And when I was writing a post about Romeo and Juliet, because I had to use my phone to do something else (call or SMS I think), WordPress vaporised my draft. I’m really tired of it doing that.

My phone destroying things I’ve written is starting to become a common incident. Evernote, which I have never had troubles with before, ate at least a paragraph of Chapter 10, and it was a headache and a half to rewrite what I think I remembering writing a week after the fact. Yes, it took me that long to realise it. I was writing something else. [/defensive]

Ah well. I’ll probably recover by the time I have to do something insane again. Just in time. Right now I’m sitting on about 8 hours of sleep and two quite detailed nightmares. In the latter, which is the one I really remember now, after being awake and doing so much thinking, I remember being chased through a city very like Venice (which is weird, because yonks ago, I dreamed that I was hiding out in Venice), and I had to jump into the water and hide under a bridge near a dark area free of people.

My dreams are very rich in sensory perception, maybe because I insist on it in my writing. I could hear their footsteps and see the bubbles from the water. It was lukewarm, but my mind kept on insisting that it was cold. Everything was so perfectly coloured. I don’t have psychedelic dreams, but I do dream in realistic, if sometimes richer colours.

Anyway. I don’t think I’ve fallen too far behind. But I might just do a book review later today. Or not. The book I’m really into right now is one that I’m enjoying without having to really talk about it, and I’ve talked about the series before, so I feel quite content.

I do feel like I ought to do another book review though. I started doing a few things that could have continued on a trend, but it takes so much effort that I need for other things. Quite literally, but in an intangible way.

One of these is Academagia: The Making of Mages. Supposedly the first of five games, though it’s been out for a good year and all I’ve really heard of are nearly 70 patches.

The basic premise is pretty good. You create your character, a pre-teen mage, and then make your way through the first year of school.

But the game literally shows its breaker weakness immediately. Character creation offers a daunting plethora of options to customise your character’s backstory and the like, as well as basic stats the likes of strength and charm. But you are given only 10 points total. This is nothing like enough, while choosing from about five sections (or more, I don’t recall). Play the game if you don’t believe me.

This is only the introduction to the problem. There’s just too much. Too many attributes, skills, pieces of things. Too many other students. Too many teachers. Too many locations. And text covering everything. Whatever you do, you can be sure to unlock something to read more often than not. I like to read, but this game makes it feel like a chore.

I wouldn’t mind so much if the reading actually had a purpose. But the only purposeful reading is in learning the phemes (building blocks of the game’s magic, I never bothered with them) and in adventures. The problem with adventures is that because there are too many skills to train up, you will most often fail at whatever random task is in the adventure.

Other than that, it’s just a crushing amount of flavour text. And the absolute worst part of that in turn, is that the classes themselves generate absolutely no text except the pointless flavour that has nearly nothing to do with the classes.

No choices on how to behave in class. Whether or not your character will listen, fall asleep, take notes, whisper, draw insulting pictures of the teacher, participate in discussion, mislead a discussion, put a tack on someone’s chair… Who knows how long I could go on.

The short point is, there is next to no effort made to making the classes look like anything. They just happen.

You’re told in the text-heavy introduction (that the game itself whines about) that the classes train your skills. Training is your character’s actual ability, versus the study level of skills, which is the ability to exhibit knowledge on that skill. While that is interesting, I never saw classes have their stated effect.

However, I do understand the urge and almost the inevitability of writing too much. I started making my own notes on a school, and most especially on that world’s magic. There’s a lot of maths involved, and it all spans out to include history, present views on this and that, and what is expected of students, graduates, teachers, and people who live nearby. It’s hard not to make all of your writing world-building.

But the game is still unplayable.

Switching from Gamefly to Netflix was a good decision. It’s less money, and I can sew while watching movies. The same does not go for video games. I haven’t even really wanted to play any, aside from life simulators. I think I have a secret bossy streak that only comes out when I have a mouse at hand.

Something I love about Bollywood movies is that the length can be ridiculous (multiple mini clip shows don’t help), and the story is rarely focused on the smallest group of people possible. Every character is full of emotions and wants. Hum Tum has no less than three love stories–four, if you count the first marriage.

Hollywood movies struggle with one. I remember liking The Holiday because it had two stories, and it was possible to completely ignore the crappy, boring one.

Oh wait, five love stories. The cartoon characters Hum and Tum have their own very briefly touched on story told in animated shorts. That’s probably what had me interested in the first place. In spite of all the horrible cartoons I have been exposed to in recent years (please learn how it’s done, Industry), I still love the medium.

Not sure I want to even try to contribute to it anymore. It’s starting to feel like a chore just to participate on the consumer’s end of the deal. Boo, there’s my old roller coaster. I need to do something more productive today. There’s laundry that I have been putting off.

I would love for someone to invent laundry that washes itself. Maybe it’s not an interesting idea, but it would save me several hours over the course of ONE load. Oy, that dryer. I’m glad it’s a part of the flat. If it were mine, I’d take it out back and shoot it.

I’m very good at that. Writing makes me good at making up euphemisms and vulgarities that aren’t.

Anyway, most of what I really picked up beyond mechanics that were missing or didn’t work, were in the cutscenes. I really liked the cartoony descriptions of the weapons. Although I don’t think the story was any great shakes, the subtext was hilarious.

We’ve all seen that movie or read that book/comic/fanfic. The one where the villain is brought in as part of the crew and fits in a little too well. Sparks may fly, or they may be merely joked about.

Or you get both and it’s so clear and present that the subtext becomes context, and you get a romantic subplot that you did not sign up for. I like those kinds of things.

Qwark and Nefarious had scenes together that told a sort of James Bond meets Bogart kind of largely imaginary plotline. Attempted murder turned into life-saving. The once-villain bitch-slapping the current villain away from A Certain Someone. Betrayal followed by lip-trembling contemplation of a group photo.

It really does stop being subtext at some point. Once it becomes your story’s context, it’s a subplot. Which I find even funnier than the implied joking.

As creepy as it is that some people don’t just say “Character x Otherone”, I find that just about all the fun is in just saying it. But there could be a little more to love here.

Or not.

The point is that as often as I have seen this, it’s never been quite this funny before. I think it was the conversation about man-hugging.

But it’s for a good reason. A few of them. Mostly. The weekend had a lot of family visiting going on, both to see us and us to them, so that was not only time well spent, but time not around a computer really. When I was around one, I was playing The Sims 2. And it was not my computer. So I plead guilty to all charges.

I would say that it’s not been all that interesting the past missed posting days, but that would be untrue. I have come up with an irritatingly large stable of ideas that is getting to egg me on, which can be good and bad. I also found out that I lost an entire paragraph of chapter 10, which pisses me off, especially since it’s been as hard to write as every other put together.

But it’s better to focus on the things that I can see go better faster. I’m really hoping to contribute largesse to the needleworkers’ guild, but it’ll take time to complete.I’ve been working on the outline–my slice of even weave linen is too small for the design I’m making, but I managed to tweak some stuff around the edge when I realised it. It’s a griffin, so I shrunk its earhorns and I’ll probably shrink its talons a little bit. Maybe its tail. I’m glad I picked this design. It’s a better size for the end project, and it’s easy to tweak. Still, cross-stitching takes time.

Haha, I’m actually appreciating an element of the novel now. Natalie having to do all of the costume embroidery by hand. I mean, I’ve never used an embroidery machine, but still. I have used a sewing machine, and I’ve done the same stuff by hand. I know the time and effort difference, and can apply it otherwise.

On a completely unrelated note, Dragon Hunters is a bizarre watching experience. I honestly cannot say if it’s good or bad. I think it’s because my audio was freakishly out of sync with the video. I went back and fixed it, and now I think I like it while not lauding it as genius.

I feel oddly productive. Maybe because of all that sewing. I have most of the griffin’s back, the outline of its head, and most of its beard done. I have also used up half of the black floss I cut. However, I still don’t think I got much done. No writing either. Still pissed about losing that paragraph.

The world depresses me a good deal. I spend a lot of my time hearing inane or outright stupid statements that undermine my belief in even reading books, let alone writing them.

It’s hard to care about crafting a sympathetic, strong character when all the next generation needed to like Harry Potter was to be told to? It doesn’t even seem to be an age thing. I desperately wish it was a Harry Porter thing. I understand social phenomena (as much as one can).

But I don’t get this… this… obedience. It’s bizarre and creepy.Kids who can’t obey their dad telling them to stop hitting each other will like Gumball because he’s the titular character. They used to have reasons to like a particular power ranger. She’s a pretty girl. He makes the best jokes. He’s an antihero.

I asked a little girl why she likes Harry “best”. Her answer? I tell no lie, and give it verbatim: “Because he got married.”

This world disgusts and repulses me to my core.

But I’ll survive. And maybe I’ll get over it. It’s just hard to live in a world with lower creative standards than mine.

By signing, you hereby release [BLANK] from liability, and waive the right to make claims arising out of, or relating to, the content or the use of your name, hometown, mage and/or likeness as set forth in this agreement

There’s a short story I want to see. A story about someone suing over illegal use of their mage. I honestly had no idea what was meant until I made the connection between what I was reading, the internet, and the real world. In that there was one at all.

I don’t think I’d write that story, it’s too dumb for me. Doesn’t really offer enough of what I already do, and too much of what I don’t want to bother with–i.e., lawyers. But maybe someone else could change my mind. Also, I hate tags. I’m trying to use them more, but I just don’t like them. They’re so easily used to clunkify one’s blog.

There’s no particularly order to these tips, they’re just things I’ve been doing.

1. Set a goal.

• This is not a deadline. It’s just something to achieve. 200 words in a session, introducing a certain character, or even something bigger that you’re working toward, such as self-publication.

2. Even if you aren’t interested in a Smashwords ebook, put that kind of front matter into your story document.

• It might only help with a new story, but having text relevant to what you’re writing already in your document keeps it from feeling less empty, and it also makes it harder to fuss over wordcount.

3. Turn procrastination into planning, not the other way around.

• If you tend to start making notes and can’t help derailing your writing time entirely to plan ahead with scenes you may never get to, then try doing it on purpose. If you start to wane in writing, outline the rest of the scene or chapter you’re working on. It will give you a sense of direction.
• Just keep it relevant. While it can be good to make a note of a future plot twist, planning it out in great detail for chapter 20 while you’re stuck on chapter 4 may later feel like procrastination. Which leads me to my next point…

4. Don’t feel guilty.

• To me, this is the most important. Maybe nobody is counting on you to finish, or maybe you are, and that’s all that matters. Feeling guilty just locks you up and keeps you from writing anything at all. Whatever is causing it, take time away from it. If not writing is making you feel guilty, then write. Even if you throw it away. If you feel guilty even when you write, then try writing something else. But don’t wallow.

5. Change your work space.

• If you can’t relocate entirely, then try just changing how cluttered or tidy it is. What smells are around. A really good thing to try is a different manner of writing–a different word processor, or a change from keyboard to pen, or vice versa. A change-up can rattle things loose, especially if you like to use lots of different methods in any case, and just got wrapped up in one.

These have been working for me, although it’s still not epic. I just thought I’d like to share them.

This will be a good 11×14 picture when it’s done. That may be when my first child is showing off first steps. Haha.

Been working on this today while watching Castle and doing laundry. I keep meaning to take some time to write, but this is so relaxing.

Sewing is what I was doing the last time I didn’t feel like writing. Maybe I just ended up there again.

Not a great time for it, but when a whimsy catches a breeze, she doesn’t get to direct it.

This really just makes me laugh. It reads as rather good, I think, except that it doesn’t really lead anywhere. It can’t quite be anything. A prologue to a really cheesy villain, maybe. Or a crappy beginning to something with a wide-eyed protagonist that is still an infant. “She sucked in power like air into a vacuum, and then it overtook her. Her body reversed its inclinations, and the power rippled back into the world. That was when the trouble started.” I think I just liked writing the word bromidic.

I could give it to Pippa, but she has her own world. Her story definitely starts when she’s older. At least twelve. She’s a fun one, but not where my mind is at the moment.

Although that may be because I’m not sure where my mind is. This morning, it was all around a story and that stupid Bronco outside my window. I had to move my car so they could tow it without doing damage to my vehicle. But other than that, it’s been a pretty productive day. Laundry has gotten done, and I actually got another colour into my slowest project ever. I’m going to get back to work on that in a minute, actually. It’s been a really slow day, but in a good way.