Noveling and Other Such Things

So, yWriter5 is still pretty fantastic. I feel a little scatterbrained because I can't see everything in one place, but honestly it's no different in that sense that what I was doing before; when I'm using Microsoft Word, I keep one "cumulative" file with everything put together, but when I'm working on a specific chapter, I work on it and save it as a separate file. So really the only difference here is the lack of a cumulative file. Also, yWriter pretty much sets it up so that you not only write each chapter separately, but each scene. While this was a little daunting at first, I eventually realized the wisdom of it - each scene needs to be crafted with as much quality and cohesiveness as is possible from the author. Each scene needs to be strong; no wimpy scenes! Now, that's not saying that each one needs to have the same punch as every other one, because that can wear out the author (and definitely the reader), but you can have a low-tension scene that is also strong. Oh, the things that I am learning from my fiction workshop (did I mention that this is the third time I've taken it for credit?).

Neil Gaiman just made multiple posts about his daughter and her friends and their failed attempt to make pancakes without him. This makes me feel better about my lack of "professional" behavior when it comes to my own writing. I really do adore this man, on an odd sort of level. First it was through his novels - because let's face it, he's brilliant. Then I started following his blog, which was obviously an insight into his life; it was something of a synopsis of what was going on in his head on an almost-daily basis. Following him on Twitter has become a little surreal for me - I get these individual, spur-of-the-moment thoughts from his head that don't really get put into his blog. And sometimes, if I'm lucky, he RESPONDS to me when I mention him on my own Twitter feed. It's like we have a very faint, nonexistent relationship. Or something.

Really my dream is to get deAngelis out, become something of a name in the fiction world. And one day he and I will be at some event, some dinner or something, and I'll lean over and be like, "Oh hey, remember the chick who thanked you on Twitter for the pancake posts? That was totally me." And he will be all like, "O HAI." Or something. (Actually my second awesome dream is that maybe his daughter will pick up one of my novels and fall in love with them. I could die happy, then. Oh please oh please oh please.)

Okay, time for fun stuff that I found on the interwebs.

This one I came across through looking up how to get an apartment properly. I'm transferring to IUPUI in the fall and I need a place to live; while it's looking like I might end up living with my buddy's girlfriend (which would be awesome), I do still need to find an actual, you know, apartment. Now, I wasn't looking on Craigslist, because that just seems like a horrible idea to me, but I did stumble across this little gem. It made me laugh out loud for a good minute or so, which is hard for internet things to do.

My fiance kind of squee'd over this house, because he desperately wants to build a house that is more-or-less mostly underground. While I understand that it will save us on energy bills and all, I really do want my study to have lots of windows. Especially since we're going to build in the woods somewhere. If there's any wooded areas left in this country by the time we get our own place.

Also, this was a fantastic WTF moment that had me giggling all day.

Really I only feel like throwing all that at you. I tend to be better about linkage when I post regularly, which clearly has not been happening lately.

Although, before I forget, go check out my friend Jason's youtube page. I'm tellin' you right now, when I get deAngelis on the big screen, he is definitely going to be in the cast. That's pretty much going to be my only stipulation. Jason is studying to be in the film industry and honestly he is a fantastic voice actor. He sends me little snippets through voice messaging on our phones, and so far I have Sherlock Holmes, David Tennant (as the tenth Doctor), Christopher Lee, and Michael the Archangel from my novel.

Also he has sent me a recording of him reading "Sweet Afton", by Robert Burns.

This guy kind of rocks my world. So go give him some love, but don't tell him I sent ya. :-P