H'lo

I thought I'd do a quick hello and update you on stuff.
Well, I dropped my online writing group. I'd like to get back to it at some point, but right now it was acting as more of an anxiety inducer than anything useful. I just have too much to do. I can see the usefulness when I'm not quite so rushed, but right now I"m on a tight (self imposed-ish) deadline, and the online writing group was just getting in the way.
Unfortunately, while I did have some extra time, and less stress, I still didn't have as much motivation and energy as I needed. not much I can do about the energy, besides coffee. Even the motivation is going to be hard to increase, but I can encourage it but getting rid of some of the things I'd rather do. If I had an office without internet, that would be excellent. But I can't afford an office and an apartment (not that I've found one of those yet) so I've been looking for places with 2 bedrooms, one of which I'll use as JUST a creative office, no  video games, movies, web surfing. it will be for writing (and occasional drawing or playing music possibly) and nothing else.
But that plan has been on hold while I look for a place that meet's my wants, my price, and allows dogs. I have found several that meet two of those, but none that met all 3. Well three actually. but one of those I let pass because I thought I found two better options. in the mean time, the better options stopped returning my calls for a week, and when he did both the other places he had were no longer available. CURSES!
Anyway, so I've been without an office, and I'm easily distracted by my A.D.D.  like dyslexia (apparently it's one of the symptoms of dyslexia) which tends to lead to watching tv, playing video games, surfing the web, etc.
Then this occurred to me today while listening to the podcast Writing Excuses: I could go to the library! It's likely to be quiet, people aren't likely to bother me. If I need the internet it's right there, but I'm not likely to be so comfortable I'll start watching a movie, or playing a game. and I'm also not likely to fall asleep there (as I often do unintentionally at home). I probably wont get there everyday of the week, but if I can get there for a couple hours, 3 or 4 days a week, that will help alot!

Alright, I've got some things to do if I'm going to get there today (which I may not, I've already ran, and am falling asleep, but I'll try.) Have a great day!
XD

Unknown setting

So Sunday my writing group did an exercise for writing setting. I tend to struggle with writing setting. When I read, I tend to let much of setting details float by. I think setting is often times used pointlessly, or simplistically. It's purpose is often times to do little else but to paint a literal image in the reader's mind. But I tend to base the images off of personality or atmosphere, and memories much more than I do off descriptions. When the description serves more than one purpose, It sticks with me better. for example, when I read about Jim Butcher's character Waldo Butter's jet black hair, I remember it, but I don't visualize him that way. I visualize him as having dirty blonde hair. But when Patrick Rothfuss talks about his character with red hair, bright red, red as flame.  I remember, the image is powerful, it's brought up many times, and it is woven into the story. it's important. Now, Butters is a side character, and there can't always be importance to hair. Yet character description is demanded by the readers..... Long story short, because I often times ignore descriptions when I read, I tend to forget about descriptions, or forget the details of descriptions when i write. So practicing this was especially needed by me.

In the prompt, each of us was given a popsicle stick with a name of a setting, steam punk, ancient Japan, post apocalyptic, Egyptian, USA in the 1920s, etc. I wont give mine away, but I knew very little about it. We were also supposed to describe it as a tour guide, but by the time i'd wiki'd my subject, I'd forgotten that detail.

In entering the section of the city I call home, I always finds myself with
mixed emotions. The world isn't what it was expected, the last great war
had ended, it was supposed to end all wars. In those sections of the city
soldiers danced in celebration of the end of wars. In my city, there was a
new war, a younger war.
There was progress too. 3 sky scrapers fought for dominance of the sky,
two twins and a younger brother. It's one of my favorite sights. depending
on the angle, the towers looked both complete and in progress. construction
Workers toiled to finish, and desk jockeys rode elevators to offices.
And then there was our leadership. "I am not a crook" played on every screen
was echoed in mocking by small children. No things weren't perfect. The
ideology of uninhibited love of the previous decade had faded, and was fading.

I think that came out pretty decent actually. Can you guess my setting? 1970's America.
anyway, gonna try to work up the motivation to write some novel now.

Shutgun. Head. Sweet relief.

Dramatized reen-countment(made up word):


Another day at rayovac, working the ol' grindstone. AAA batteries in packs of eight are taken from a conveyor belt, and placed in display trays, ten per trey, cardboard seperators are placed on 3 trays of batteries before those trays are packed into cardboard boxes.  The seperators don't actually do anything, but walmart and Rayovac like to pretend they keep they keep the cards from bending. 250 of those boxes are stacked on a pallet and wrapped up to be shipped out. a normal day, with one caviot. A nerd believes he's found a common soul. I was not the nerd.... somehow.


I'm going to shorten the nerds names for comedy (and two irony's one for you and one for me.)


Fat: Oh, so wanna be an author, huh?


Me: *I shrug* yeah, I -


Fat: Oh that's cool. Yeah I like to think of myself as a writer too. A writer and a reader.


Me: Oh yeah? what do you like to read?


Fat: Oh all sorts of stuff. Harry potter, star wars, twilight. I like good quality stuff.


Me:....................... yeah, a lot of people like those books. I read harry potter.


Fat: Oh, not just the books. I love the fanfic. Fanfic in general is just awesome. I don't know why they don't publish some of that stuff.


Me: *Trying really hard not to slap myself in the forehead* I've never been a big fan fiction reader.


Fat: Well, sure you said you're a writer. so what do you like to write about? you ever do cross-overs


Me: Cross overs?


Fat: Sure, like harry potter vs. the darkside. Prof. Lupin and the half blood vampire. Cross-overs. Actually I wrote that last one. Lupin falls in love with Bella's daughter. Well not love, just immutable attraction. I think it's my favorite of all my writing.


Me: Yeah I don't really write fanfic.


Fat: What? Why not?


(By the way, next two blocks of dialogue are as closed to word for word as I can remember)


Me:..... Well...... (if you write fanfic look away)..... it's not real writing. You can't publish it either.


Fat:..... Sure, you can. There's lots of websites outthere that let you post fanfic.


Me: sure... but that's not the kind of published I'm going for.


Fat: So, then what do you write about?


Me: well, lots of stuff. Mostly speculative fiction (scifi/fantasy/horror/etc). I wrote a book about a carpenter that learns to use magic, finds out the history behind his runaway father, and saves a city from an evil-


Fat: so... was he like Harry potter's friend or something? was he a weasley? Don't call the evil thing Voldamort, he's dead. Try... moldavort! and you're welcome for that.


*Shotgun. Head. Sweet relief. (by the by, if I had a blog where I only complained about things, this would be my sign off. No you can't use it, I may not be done with it.)