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Blogging, Crafting, Random, Reading, Writing

Wrappin’ Up The Month with Fog: June Edition

June 30, 2015December 22, 2015 Emily

So, since I’m not doing much else with this blog thing, I’ve decided to try something new. I have no idea if it will work. I have no idea if I want it to work. But I figure, what do I have to lose by trying, right? ;P So, welcome to the first edition of Wrappin’ Up The Month with Fog! In these posts, I will attempt to recap what I’ve been doing for the past month and what I would like to do in the month(s) to come. Be warned, this post is long so let’s get to it, we don’t have a lot of time here.

Once More Unto the (Writing) Breach

So, the writing thing. Let’s start with fanfiction. I’ve been working diligently on Changing History rewrites, but not much else. I’ve also been trying to prepare for Camp NaNoWriMo July, but that hasn’t gone nearly as well as I’d hoped. I’ve been pretty distracted by rewrites and other not-so-important things. But yeah, I’ve made it most of the way through the rewrites now, and I’ve decided that once I’ve finished rewriting Second Chances, I’m just going to jump right into posting Part Four, Search For The Entwives, even though the first draft isn’t finished (which is irking me, by the way).
As far as original work goes, I have started formulating a plan for one of my stories, an Alice in Wonderland reimagining that I started as a NaNoWriMo project a few years back. I think this story is going to be my NaNo2015 project. I don’t want to get into too much detail, as it’s all pretty hazy at this point, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it, how I want to present it and market it, which is more progress than I’ve made in a very long time. I will keep everyone updated as this seed of a plan develops.

Have You Hugged a Book Today?

Books I finished this month
1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban– I’ve been rereading the Harry Potter books on audio for the past couple months and I finally got to my favorite of the entire series. Book Three was my favorite book the first time through, and I am happy to report that it has held up to the high standards I had set for it. I’d also like to say that, even though I know all the major plot twists, it has been so much fun to reread the books again with a new perspective. I’m also watching the movies as I re-read the books and I’m enjoying comparing them to each other. I haven’t watched PoA yet, but I’m looking forward to it. This re-read has also inspired thoughts of a new fanfiction (big surprise, I know ;P) and I’m having fun imagining my new character in each of the books.
2. Nation by Terry Pratchett– I started this book as a book club read in April. I managed to get about halfway through, but April was a pretty busy month for me, so I didn’t manage to finish it before the library required it back. I finally got it back from the library early this month… and finished it in one night. I couldn’t put it down. It was just so beautifully written. It’s hard to describe really. And the end took my breath away. It was really, really good and I highly recommend it, especially if you’ve never read Pratchett before, and are intimidated by all of the Discworld books. This is a separate book all on its own, so you can get a feel for how he writes, without committing to a whole series. Basically, it’s wonderful.
What I’m currently reading (in order of date started)
1. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett– I started this back in April, but as I said before, April was a busy month for me. I’m planning to start it back up in July, if I can get a few of my book club reads out of the way first. What I read was good though, I’m excited to really dig into the Discworld books from the beginning!
2. Inuyasha #2: Family Matters– I received a stack of these mangas as the result of a book swap on Ravelry. Inuyasha is a guilty pleasure from my failed community college days, when I would stay up until all hours of the night to watch repeats of the anime on Cartoon Network. I recently discovered that the entire series is on Hulu, which has renewed my love of the series. As I usually do with this kind of thing, I’m enjoying comparing the manga to the anime. So far, it is very similar, but there are some things in the translations that are much funnier in the book. It’s been very entertaining so far, and I’m looking forward to the rest of it.
3. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie– This is also a Ravelry book club read, that I was actually supposed to finish this month, but didn’t have a chance. I’m planning to finish it up in the first week of July, so I can join the discussion. As far as the book itself, I’ve really been enjoying the mystery! I have no idea who the killer is, but I have several theories that change with every page I read. This is the first of the Hercule Poirot books and also my first Agatha Christie and I already can’t wait to read more! I also found it ironic that my first Christie novel, the murder victim is named Emily… Coincidence? I think not! ;P
4. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum– This is my “running” book. I have it on audio from Librivox on the Nook Audiobook app (free audiobooks, hurray!) and I’ve been listening to it as I try to run my Couch to 5k program. It’s just as lovely and magical as I always imagined it would be. I have laughed so much at the different characters and I’m enjoying watching the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Lion work through all these obstacles with traits that they all claim not to have. I think there might even be a message about self-confidence in there somewhere, but I’ll save that for a book review.
5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett– This is an audiobook I got used for six dollars. And it is possibly the best six dollars I have ever spent. I’ve heard so much about this book, but somehow no one ever told me it’s a book about writing a book! How is it that no one ever told me this??? And I love the characters so much, every single one of them (okay, maybe not Hilly so much, but everyone else has at least a few redeeming qualities ;P). It’s written in different points of view, Abilene, Minnie, and Skeeter, and the actresses who read the different parts are perfect. I have laughed, I have cried, and I haven’t even finished the book yet! I can’t wait to watch the movie and compare!
6. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson– This is a book I recently started on impulse while I was knitting. I wanted something to do that wasn’t watching television. I’m not terribly far into it, but I am intrigued by the differences I can already see between the original material and the interpretations that I’m familiar with. It’s definitely creepy and I can’t wait to find out more.

#Hashtags and other minutia

I admit, I have not been very active on social media lately. Frankly, it’s been a little overwhelming. But here are a few of the highlights from June:

My Favorite Tumblr Reblog
My Favorite Tumblr Post

Two faves from Instagram:

And one more from Tumblr, just for fun ;P

Do I Actually Have a Life? (real life stuff that happened)

Alright, as I mentioned briefly in the reading section (under The Wizard of Oz) I am trying out one of those Couch to 5k apps. The app I’m using is C25K Free for Android, just in case anyone is interested. It’s a pretty cool app, it runs simultaneously with my Nook Audiobook app, so I can listen to my book and the C25K app pauses my book to tell me when to run and when to walk, so I don’t miss anything.

I have managed to work my way up to Week One this month, which is an accomplishment for me. I found a little park not far from where I live that has a sidewalk for running/walking. It’s pretty and I get to spend about an hour listening to an audiobook and trying not to feel self-conscious. I keep telling myself that it’s good for me, not just my body but my mental state as well, but I’m not seeing any results yet. Basically all I’ve accomplished is discovering that my ankles hurt all the time and spending a ton of money trying to find ankle supports I can wear with my shoes. But I’m gonna try to stick with it, despite my tough schedule and the intense heat down here in Texas. It hasn’t been too bad where I live yet and I make sure to go just as the sun is setting so it’s cooler, but man, it is something else. I’ll try to remember to post my updates on my Twitter (and consequently Facebook) so you guys can keep up with this insanity. I have no idea what I’m doing.

“And In Conclusion…”

Writing: July is Camp NaNoWriMo! I plan to write the first draft of a brand new fanfiction, a Loki/OC set during the year of his imprisonment in Asgard (Thor: The Dark World). In the event that the first draft does not make 50k words (which, if I’m being honest, is pretty likely), I’m going to write up the first draft of a short continuation of my Bruce Banner/OC, Worth Living For. Basically, this is the month of Avengers writing! I am going to attempt to continue to post at least one rewritten chapter for Changing History, but that is not my priority this month.
Reading: Finish The Mysterious Affair at Styles and start up The Color of Magic again, for sure. I’m also going to try to get my book challenge down to the halfway mark. I have a stack of comics that need to be read, which should help with that 😉
Social Media: I am going to try to post more frequently. No really, I solemnly swear! Even just scrolling through Tumblr and reblogging things, or posting to Instagram with what I’m knitting and/or crocheting. I’m also going to try to add more of those posts to my Facebook and Twitter. Since I’m working on something new for Camp, keep an eye on the Twitter feed, I’ll probably be doing some word sprints with the NaNoWriMo Word Sprint peeps!
My personal life: Honestly, I just want to get through Week Four of my Couch to 5k. If I do that, I will feel like I’ve accomplished something. And I have Tour de Fleece coming up in July as well, which is a challenge to spin yarn while the champion bike racers spin the Tour de France. I’m looking forward to it, especially in light of the weird amount of attention this post got on my tumblr a few months ago 😛 Keep an eye on my Instagram and Tumblr for updates!

And that’s it! I promise, not all of these posts will be this long, but I am going to try to make one at the end of every month, just to keep everyone abreast of my activities. We’ll try this out for a few months and then reassess the situation, so let me know what you think! And now, I’m off to prepare for Camp NaNo! 😀

Cooking

Welcome To The Year of The Sheep!

February 20, 2015February 20, 2015 Emily

So, yesterday was the Lunar New Year, also more commonly known as the Chinese New Year (but apparently that is no longer politically correct. Who knew?), and to celebrate I got the BRILLIANT idea to cook myself something special. Because that’s what you do for holidays when your boyfriend is out of town for work. Even obscure holidays that have nothing to do with your location or cultural heritage. Everybody knows that.

Here in the Southern U.S. of A, we generally tend to eat cabbage (for money) and black-eyed peas (for luck) on New Year’s Day. These are actually new traditions for me, that I didn’t discover until my first New Year’s in Texas in ’08, when I woke up hungover at a friend’s house and she proceeded to shuffle me off to her grandmother’s and shovel these weird things onto my plate, with little to no explanation. And thus was I introduced to the concept of food as symbol (after I sobered up enough to have someone to explain it to me, that is).

Apparently, the Chinese have a similarly weird tradition of associating their food with symbolic superstition, to an insane degree. Here’s a list of foods and their meanings that I was able to find. Seriously, just take a look. Go on, I’ll wait…

(…)

See what I mean? So, rather than trying to dig through all the symbolism, I decided to go with something that several sources seemed to think were fairly agreed upon Lunar New Year staples. The first is Buddha’s Delight, a pretty fantastic vegetarian smorgasbord that is actually meant to be eaten by an entire family and symbolizes the Buddhist tradition of cleansing your body by abstaining from meat (I substituted the carrots for shitake mushrooms). The other, was a whole, steamed fish, which apparently is a homonym for prosperity in Chinese. There is a saying, apparently, that literally translates as both “let every year be plentiful” and “let every year have fish”!

I’m not gonna lie, the Buddha’s Delight was great. The tofu kind of fell apart on me and it was WAY more than I thought it would be, but it tasted good. But honestly, the highlight of this entire culinary escapade was indisputably the fish. I have never in my life cooked a complete whole fish before. I was super excited. I may have Facebooked about it a little. And so now, I present to you, the tale of my New Year’s fish, told in pictures and Facebook statuses:

About to enjoy a fun filled night in with the new guy I just picked up at HEB... — About to enjoy a fun filled night in with the new guy I just picked up at HEB…

"Please, good sir, step into my sauna..." — “Please, good sir, step into my sauna…”

When Extreme Steam goes wrong... or right... depending on which side of the plate you're on... — When Extreme Steam goes wrong… or right… depending on which side of the plate you’re on…

RIP little buddy. You will be remembered (as delicious)... — RIP little buddy. You will be remembered (as delicious)…

So there you have it! My Lunar New Year dinner! Never mind that it took me nearly three hours to put together (and that doesn’t count shopping time and the two extra trips to the store I had to make because I forgot something :P), it was glorious and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Preferably with friends and some paper lanterns next time… 🙂

新年快樂

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Happy New Year) everyone!

Blogging

Regarding My Imminent and Glorious Return…

January 25, 2015 Emily

Hey, everyone I’m back!

(…)

What do you mean, I’ve been gone three years? That’s crazy talk! I haven’t…

…um…

…well…

Okay, so maybe it has been three years. But I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth, I can assure you! So much has changed in the past three years, about me, about my work, about how I feel about my work. It would take days, weeks, possibly even months to explain everything and, if I had to guess, you probably don’t want a super-long post rehashing my life. Which is lucky, because it just so happens that I really don’t want to write a super-long post rehashing my life, so it really works out best for everyone if I just start fresh and let you guys know what’s going on RIGHT NOW.

Okay? Good!

For the past three years, I’ve been spending a lot of time on tumblr (link goes to my blog there). While I mostly spend my time reblogging and commenting on OTHER people’s stuff, I have on occasion posted my own original thoughts and ideas there as well. So right now I am currently working on bringing my original posts over to this blog and backdating them, so you can read my thoughts in order without having to dig through thousands of posts that are not particularly relevant or necessary (though if you want a laugh, feel free to dig around in there to your heart’s content :P). I’m also planning a theme change of some kind (I don’t know what I was thinking when I picked out this theme, why didn’t one of you stop me?), and updating the links in my sidebar, as a few of them are terribly out of date, and I have a couple of new platforms where you can find my stuff, so those links need to be added as well.

Once all of that is accomplished… who knows! I have a couple of ideas that I’d like to blog about (which is why I’m bothering to resurrect this thing in the first place), but as usual, my blogging will most likely be sporadic, though hopefully not “three-years-between-posts” sporadic. I’m hoping to eventually start blogging on a regular basis, but I’m not yet quite sure how that’s going to work. I have a lot of writing things going on right now, but I do want this to become a regular part of my writing life. I have things to say, I swear!

So, anyway, I just thought I would make everyone aware of what’s going on and get myself pumped up for whatever’s next on my writing journey! I would also like to give a shout out to my friend, Peggy, who’s own blogging journey is what has inspired me to dust off the old blogging skills and give this thing another shot. Check out her blog, writergirl007.com. I’ll also add her to my sidebar under Blogs I Love.

Toodles!

Random

Fun Fact!

November 28, 2014January 27, 2015 Emily

So yesterday, the boyfriend and I were watching Good Eats with Alton Brown and we came upon this fun fact:

“In America in the 1930’s and 1940’s spinach was a slang term for nonsense.”

(…)

Do you know what I think? I think we need to bring this back. I mean, come on!

“Ain’t nobody got time for that spinach!”
“This spinach is getting out of control!”
“Stop talking spinach!”

And my personal favorite:

“That’s a bunch of spinach!”

Spinach… not just for the salad bowl.

Random

Write Five Things You Like About Yourself

November 13, 2014January 27, 2015 Emily

Okay, I debated the merits of posting this here. This is a thing that was sent to me on my tumblr (kind of like a chain letter, but nothing bad happens if you don’t pass it on :P), and after much soul-searching, I’ve decided that I really like what I have to say here and it deserves entry in the blog. So, here goes, Five Things I Like About Myself:

My eyes- I love the color of my eyes. They are green, with a ring of dark blue around the iris and they change color depending on what I’m wearing, some days more blue, some days more green. I have really bad eyesight, so I have to wear contacts or glasses and when I was a kid I got colored contacts that were aquamarine and they were the freaking best! I miss those 😛
My nose- Yes, okay, another physical trait, but I promise this is the last one. I really do hate most things about my body, but I love my nose for some strange reason. I can always look at my face, even on a bad day, and just say “Well, at least I have my father’s nose.” I know that’s probably a weird thing for a girl to be thankful for, but it’s true 😛
My child-like enthusiasm- I know this is probably something about myself that most people find annoying and/or obnoxious, and I apologize for it constantly, but the truth is I wouldn’t change it for anything. When I am 90 years old and in the nursing home, I will still be squealing like a gleeful five-year-old every time a squirrel runs anywhere near me. I will still sit and have very enthusiastic and detailed conversations with other nerds in their 90’s (or anyone who will listen: nurses, visiting children, visiting adults…) about Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Supernatural, the newest crop of Marvel movies, and whatever else has bitten me with the obsessive bug by that time (I’m sure the list will be innumerable). There is a line in a Yellowcard song that I heard recently: “They say you don’t grow up, you just grow old. It’s safe to say I haven’t done both.” (the song is “Here I Am Alive” and it has become my new theme song, btw) and I really hope that I still embody that line until the day that I die. 😀
My strong need to defend those close to me- I have a motto. I have had this motto since I was in high school and I had a strangely defining moment in my life, when I realized that this one simple phrase could basically sum up my relationship with the world at large. You can do whatever you want to me… but don’t mess with my peeps. If you are my friend, I will not tolerate others hurting you, physically, mentally, emotionally. Even if it’s something that someone has done to me in the past and I just shook it off and said it was no big deal, if you are my friend, and it happens to you, I will not tolerate it. I will go to the ends of the earth to defend you from whoever or whatever is hurting you. And I have my father’s wild temper, so to whomever decides to test this motto… God help you, is all I have to say.
My creativity- My brain does not shut off. Sometimes it can be very annoying. Especially when I’m lying in bed, at 3 AM, knowing I have to get up and go to work in a few hours, but I cannot get this idea for a song I wrote 5 years ago out of my head. But that creativity fuels my writing, and writing is something that I have discovered I love to do. I can’t imagine living in a world that did not contain all these imaginary worlds inside it. Everywhere I go, these other worlds go with me in my head, and sometimes, when this world starts to suck too bad, I can pull them out and just live in them for a while. Okay, so I sound like a crazy person, but I am of the belief that all creative genius comes from a place of insanity. It’s a fine line, but I toe it with pride!

Okay, so I think that covers it. Feel free to do one of these yourself if you like, and let me know so I can read it! It may seem difficult, but I discovered that it’s actually quite rewarding, and I’m very glad I gave it a shot!

Random, Writing

Okay guys, sorry…

May 5, 2014January 29, 2015 Emily

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I’ve been gone FOREVER! I got a new computer, then I went on vacation (which basically meant I camped out on my couch in my pajamas and marathoned Game of Thrones), and then I went back to work and discovered that our internet privileges have been officially cut off. And work time = Tumblr time. So that means I need to get into a new routine, which is really going to suck because me and Change? Yeah, we don’t get along so good 😛

So, if anyone cares, please bear with me, I’m going through a revamp on my life, so posting and answers to posts might be a bit spotty for a bit.

In other news? Well, I’m still working on Changing History…

No, I didn’t finish it last month like I thought I would.

Yes, I am a lazy, horrible excuse for a human being.

Yes, I still plan to finish it some time in the near future.

No, of course I’m not working on anything else, why on earth would you ask something like that, why are you being so nosy, god, give me some space, you’re smothering me!!!

(…)

So… Yeah… Not dead. Thought you’d like to know. Carry on! 🙂

Blogging, Writing

Internet as Motivational Tool?

January 20, 2010 Emily

For the past two months, I have been experiencing financial difficulties. Therefore, I was not able to pay my cable/internet/too-many-bills-to-mention. As a result of this, the company that provides my cable, internet and home phone was forced to disconnect me until I could pay. Now you would think that such a lack of distraction would produce a flurry of writing activity, creating masterpieces of the written word, the likes of which have never been seen before.

But no, instead, dear friends, I descended into a creative funk. Though my writings lay within my fully functioning hard drive, the lack of network connectivity seemed to turn my computer into no more than an empty shell, devoid of life and purpose. And so I ignored the offending piece of machinery as one would ignore an antique clock that never chimes, but you can’t make yourself throw out because your Great-Aunt Doris, twice removed on your mother’s side, gave you that clock and besides it still keeps good time and you swear that one of these days you’ll get if fixed and hang it in the hallway. But then it passes from your mind into oblivion until the next time you open the coat closet, or venture into the attic or the basement and you think, “I really should do something with that clock.”

But I digress. The point is my computer sat collecting dust while I sat in the living room watching “Gone with the Wind” and feeling sorry for myself. But the moment my bill was paid and my internet was back on, I went to work on my fictional endeavors with a fervor I hadn’t previously thought I possessed. What in the world made me think I had to have the internet to be productive? None of the projects I have been working on in the last week or so have required the use of the internet. I could easily have accomplished everything I’ve done so far in the time that my internet was MIA. No research was required to continue my works-in-progress. And even if there had been, I’m perfectly capable of writing without research and simply rewriting when the research can be accomplished. It’s something I’ve done many times in the past.

I don’t know if the answer to that question will ever be found, but I’m more than willing to hear opinions and theories on the subject. One possible explanation I’ve come up with is that I was simply due a creative down-swing and it just happened to coincide with my lack of internet service. But that seems a bit too convenient. Is it possible that I’m simply addicted to the Web? I’d like to think that wasn’t the case. I don’t think I spend much time surfing the digital waves, but many of my projects are bound for a home on the super-information highway, particularly my FanFiction and my YouTube fan videos.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. I would love to hear your theories on this strange phenomenon. 🙂 Until next time, may your days be filled with unending, interconnected bliss.

Blogging, Uncategorized, Writing

Please Forgive the Unexpected Interruption

November 16, 2009November 16, 2009 Emily

Well, as you can clearly see, I have not written an entry in quite some time. There are several excuses I have for this:

#1. My internet was turned off and was just recently restored to me.

#2. I finally got a new job.

#3. I went to visit my parents for a week.

#4. If none of the above are sufficient to explain away my absence, then the only other excuse I have is to please see my previous entry entitled “The Fine Art of Procrastination”.

Wonderful! Now that we have that out of the way, I would like to tell you that I’m working on a new novel for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), though I don’t think I will make my 50,000 words like I’m supposed to (see above reasons #2-4). I’m really excited about the concept though. It’s the first novel idea I’ve developed in probably a year or so and I already have the end planned.

It’s a fantasy novel, set in a desert (but not SciFi like “Dune”). Basically, a young mage wants to use magic to turn this desert into farmland. The magic is too strong for him and if he goes through with it, it will destroy the world, but of course his pride convinces him that he can do it. So his brother, the leader of the Royal Guard, has to go into the desert and retrieve the ashes of the Phoenix to bind his brother’s magic so he can’t perform the spell. The guard almost dies and is rescued by a Desert Elf who helps him on his quest, but she has a very powerful secret that I shall not reveal here. The story is full of all kinds of cool magical desert creatures that I’ve thought up, plus, there’s a dragon. I mean, really, could it be any better?

Anyway, I’m gonna need a lot of luck if I’m going to finish this thing by the end of November. So far I only have 5,000 words. I just don’t think I’m gonna be able to pull it off, but I’ll try to do as much as I can. I’m just proud of myself for actually trying to take this thing on. I meant to do it last year, but I got so distracted that I didn’t even start. So actually, this is improvement. Anyway, wish me luck! I will write again and let everyone know how I’m doing.

Blogging, Writing

Results of My Full-Time Writing Venture

October 3, 2009 Emily

Well, if anyone follows me on Twitter, you will recall that I was not very enthusiastic about the outcome of my full-time writer experiment. I’ll get right down to it. I calculated it up and on average I only worked on my writing projects 3.3 hours per day. That is a far cry from the eight hour a day goal I had set for myself. But after taking a couple of weeks to reflect on it and allow the sinking disappointment and inevitable self-loathing to dissipate, I have decided that it is just the beginning. If I give up now, how will I ever improve? And so starting next week, I will begin fresh and I will set a goal of beating my time from the last week. I think it’s definitely achievable considering I didn’t work at all on that Friday because I was packing for vacation. I’m still hopelessly optimistic about the entire situation. If I can improve even a little bit, it would be a huge step for me. So I’m looking forward to continuing my experiment and keeping all of you updated on my progress in the coming weeks! I wish everyone out there a successful week, whatever your goals are. And if anyone has any suggestions that might improve my performance, feel free to leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!

Blogging, Writing

Full-Time Writer (Trial Period)

September 12, 2009September 12, 2009 Emily

So, I have recently stumbled upon the opportunity to discover what it might be like if I could make enough money doing what I love. In other words, I lost my job. I have decided that I will take one week and act just as if writing were my full-time occupation. I will work an eight hour day, Monday through Friday, and I will concentrate on the various projects that have recently been shoved to the side because of my stress over my job.

I feel good about this little venture. I know that it won’t be permanent (unfortunately, my husband and I do not make enough money for me to sit at home all day), but it will give me a taste of what life might be like for me one day. It’s an exciting prospect.

I’m also a little uneasy. After all, I know how I operate. I start something wonderful and at first I am completely gung ho about it. I throw myself into what ever project I’ve decided to do and I just go to town. Then, when that “new project” smell has faded away after a few days, I generally tend to, well, forget about it. I don’t really give up, per say (such a nasty phrase, “give up”). It’s as if the wonderful idea that I had just a few short days ago is just gradually shoved down the totem pole by the next brilliant idea and the next and the next, until it’s so far down that I forget I ever had the idea in the first place. Trust me, many the diet and fitness routine has gone that route and it is not a pretty picture when I realize what I’ve done. The self-loathing knows no bounds.

However, I believe that this might be just a tad different. First of all, I have a set amount of time committed to the project. I will commence this little experiment on Monday, September the 14th and end it promptly on Friday, September the 18th. The timeline itself is a bonus because I have something concrete to work towards instead of the goal of “forever and ever”. And the relatively short length of time means that the “new project” smell will not have completely faded away before it is time to end the venture (hopefully, fingers crossed). Also, I have absolutely nothing better to do for that week. As I said, I have no job, and I can’t start looking for one until after Sept. 27th (I’m going to Las Vegas with my husband. Yay!). So actually this project will keep me from losing my mind to boredom. That is incentive in and of itself. And lastly, this isn’t something that I HAVE to do or I’ll hate myself for all time. There are a lot of writers who write and have jobs. I might be one of those writers and I might not. I’ll never know until I try it both ways. And I much rather try it for a week and discover that I love it, than decide to do it forever and discover that I hate it.

So wish me luck everyone! I’ll be sure to let you know if it all goes well (or not). We’ll see!