Redeux

This may or may not be legit. Obviously, I’ve been blogging elsewhere(s) and WordPress has changed muchly from when I was here last. Truth be told, I hate social media. I like looking at pictures, I like writing, I like working, and the modern art and writing communities do nothing for me anymore. I express myself rather freely now because I really don’t give a damn. The art and writing community is nothing more than a giant “look at me” campaign, and 90% of the time, those with the loudest campaigns or get all the attention (basically, they just talk a lot) have very little talent.

But you can’t say those kinds of things anymore because someone’s feelings may get hurt.

Tired of playing the game /done

So that’s pretty much why I left social media, the two big ones, in any case, not including blogging for the public. Why must I feel compelled to have something useful for a stranger in every post? It’s why I gave up my other WP blog. We live in the Info Age now. I’m not going to teach anyone anything new, and furthermore, I don’t want to. I can barely maintain my real friendships, what the hell made me think I had time for internet friendships. It’s all very superficial, and life is too short.

So instead, I’m revamping this WP for my own entertainment: to house the occasional kosher book review, and for random posts about temporary interests.

Currently, I’m re-educating myself on Greek history and mythos, so expect a couple or few posts upon that… when I have the time for it. Working 2 jobs that amount to ~40 hours a week on top of teaching two middle grade students doesn’t leave me much time to kibitz very much.

April CampNanoWriMo

Check-In

How many arms and legs do I need to hand over to get approved for a house?

Quite a lot with some to spare, it seems. If all goes well, I will be one happy camper. My to-do lists are going off the pages. When a couple items are checked off, ten more appear on it. I’m feeling absolutely frazzled and I’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. It’ll be our first home, and I know the approval is only half the stress. I’m not looking forward to the other half either. Just the finished product. But it sure does feel good to check things off lists, I highly recommend it.

Due to the recent real-life happenings, I haven’t written much in Parallax. I wrote three chapters at around 6k words so far. I was shooting for 10k for this month and I still may be able to make that figure, but I’m not hopeful. I had decided to participate in April’s CampNano a couple weeks ago for 30k words, but that was prior to real-life endeavors.

It’s finding the time to write (I take a while to settle in) that’s a struggle. Parallax is a new approach for me: I used the Snowflake method and have over ten pages worth of an outline. The beginning chapters of the MC has already been altered, but that’s a good thing because the original opening was weak, and I glad I found an alternative. Alterations and additions and subtractions are anticipated and welcome.

In my first finished novel, I implemented a different format: I made a basic checklist of things that needed to happen in the next chapter or two, and that’s how I eventually made it to the end of the book. It worked for that novel, but it wouldn’t have worked for Parallax because of the amount of characters, subplots, backstory and foreshadowing that needs to happen here in this so-called epic fantasy I’m writing. I have to say I feel much more organized using an outline, and in leaving it open to alterations, the outline hasn’t taken out all the spark of writing it.

So for April CampNano, I’ll see what I can do. I’m feeling pessimistic about it.

I just dug up an old fanfiction story (FFIX), and I hate to say it but I’m feeling drawn toward it. I really don’t want to put Parallax on the backburner again for the umpteenth time. I haven’t finished the fanfiction, heaven knows where I was going with it, and it certainly needs a total rewrite, but I do so love Final Fantasy IX. I’m hoping this is just a momentary lapse in interest.

As mentioned before, my real life and writing life is kind of crazy. I’m debating putting up some of my writing here but I really sort of meant this blog to be about the art of writing and book reviews, not a personal blog. It’s up for debate as of now. So for now, I’ll keep my personal life to a minimum.

The Final Empire: a Review

While it’s still fresh in my mind, let me capture the subplots in Mistborn to help me better rework the intricacies of Parallax.

Please note that there are a heck of a lot of spoilers in the proceeding content. If you’re planning on reading this book, ah, well, maybe you can skip this review!