10 years

That's right. Ten years ago I started writing my first novel, or okay my second, but my first was 30 pages long cuz it got so out of control I had to kill it. Heh. Okay, 2 years later, I finished my first full novel. Eight years later (that would be now) I finally published my first full novel. Phew! And I learned how to make an em dash — .

I found all kinds of typos in my book when I got it in the mail so I spent a week correcting them, and then I republished it. Cuz apparently it's easier to see typos in print than on a computer screen. Booooo. Good to know for the future. Anyway, my book is available to the world now, so if anyone wants to download a free ebook version of it, here is a link. Scroll down for the free version. It's in a zip file. Or if you want to read a blurb or order the pdf or paperback, go to that same page. It's called Mandra. Have I said that ever before? It's a romance. It's cheesy and soap opera-y. I'm a bad marketer. But seriously, it may be good. It may be okay that it's kind of... I don't know what. When I'm reading it, I get all caught up in the story. But then later I think, "Wow, that was all very melodramatic." But whatever. It's entertaining, and that's all that really matters, right? It keeps you turning pages. If you're into that sort of thing. Romance. Hmm.

Hey. I worked 45 hours in one week at my housekeeping job. Can you believe it??!! That's at least twice what I normally work. Four people quit in one week, and then another is quitting this week. I am not looking forward to this. BLAH. Money, yay, but I'm exhausted. I can only take so much. My foot and my back started to hurt. (Yes, only one foot, I don't know why.?) Plus I felt this general dizzy tired weird surreal feeling, like I was swimming through life in a fog. I don't know. I'm in the middle (or sort of at the beginning - yay!) of my 2nd day off. I worked 2 of my days off last week. One at the beginning and one at the end. Seven in a row. So I asked for another day off, and here I am. Phew! THANK GOD.

I thought it would take longer to get the typos out of my book, but I'm glad it didn't. Egads. And the typos weren't too bad. But they annoyed me, so away they went! Now I'm going to make banners about my book. But here I am not doing that. I also have to... submit it to free ebook sites? Something. I forget. I'm too tired to think about it! BAH! So so so so so tired. Even though I get enough sleep. Just somehow the tiredness builds up. Booooo!

I don't even know what else is going on with the world. It's all work and book to me. I hope people like that book. Since it took me so long to get it out there. Yeesh. Novel #2 I decided will not be a free download. Since it's so smutty. And I have no way of knowing if people are old enough to download it, you see? I'll feel better if it's not free. But I am toning down the smuttiness. Making it more eloquent or something. I don't know. I haven't decided. I have to type it up on the computer first. I haven't read it in years. I wrote it 6 years ago. I sure am slow. And now I've fallen asleep on my keyboard...

I guess if that were true, it would look more like 804wet ga[08y[w0tg — wow! I typed random shit and up pops this program I didn't even know I had, having something to do with text to voice things... Plus the word "wet" ended up in there. Even when I'm random I'm typing words. Geez... Here is a more calculated randomness: jkdls;alfkdjslfja;slkdjf;alsk Middle row. Harmless.

Well, apparently I'm bored. So much to do, but so little motivation. Evil.

I may go watch Buffy and eat bad junk food. YEAH! Whoop! Not that that will help me feel healthier for going back to work. Work. Geeeez. BAH. I want novel writing to be my work. But not many people get to do that. Still that is my goal. I just have to write more novels. And publish the 2nd one... and promote them all... and.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Snooze. Seriously, maybe I will go take a nap right now. Bye.

Chris on 08.26.05 @ 11:52 am [link]

The quick brown fox...

...jumps over the lazy dog. Well. I finished editing my novel. I published it. I'm still waiting for a proof copy, though. Once I know it turned out okay, I'll make it for sale to everyone. And I'll release a free ebook version of it. Which I am working on today. But I'm being slow about it because I really need a day off. I'm pretending this is something I just happen to be doing with my day, la la la...

I found a dead mouse at work last week. This is gross, no? The day after I published my book. It always seems like when something good happens to me, something bad happens immediately after to smack me back into my place somehow. Or at least take the glee out of my sails. (I know that made no sense. ) Weird.

Short paragraphs today, kids. Heh.

Now a new question looms. (I'm feeling all writery today.) How to make my erotic second novel seem less smutty? Oh, my God, the cursor stopped blinking. Freaky. Okay, now it's fixed. Anyway! My second novel. It's got insulting slang in it, it's got detailed sex positions. What is my deal? And I don't know how to soften all of that without making the novel 20 pages long. Of course, I haven't read it in a while. Maybe it's not as bad as I remember. But still no one who knows me can read it. (Not that they can't read, I'm just saying... God, I'm weird today!) But that'll be a project for next week, I guess. I have to type it up on the computer before I change it anyway. Pfft.

Then I begin writing this soap opera thing I was going to write. And I had another story jump into my head recently too. It has promise. Heh, that should be it's name. Cuz that would be funny. Hmmmm. (Promise, that is.) Anyway. But I am exhausted! I worked about 19 1/2 hours last week on my two days off to get the first book published. Yawn....... But no rest for the weary. Or no rest for the wicked. One of those...

Hmm. Writer this and writer that. It's about time I got back to doing that. Instead of trying to start businesses. You ever feel like a lab rat? I feel like I'm being prodded in certain directions by forces beyond my control. Forces who are not me. Fate, God, whatever. It's weird. Things go relatively well for me when I'm writing. Though, on the surface the good luck doesn't seem technically connected to the writing. That's what makes it weird. I suddenly have enough money to live on, I start losing weight (but that's in my head anyway...), I don't know. My car window rolls down again in hot weather. Weird. Click, click, click, things falling into place. Like the Universe has given me a job, and if I do it, the Universe takes care of me. Weird!

--I just wandered off to go repark my car. Someone was in my spot last night, but now I am again. I'm petty. I don't care. I like my spot.

It's mine!

Anyway. (Pfft.) So, where was I? Have I eaten breakfast? I think so. Now I'm thinking about how neurotic I am. But I don't know what that means. Not really. Since I've always been that way. Who do I compare it to?

I'm too tired to make transitions.

Argh.

Books. Whadoyaknow? It's a word.

Sigh.

I hate it when people have babies and then abuse them. Like shake them. Grr.

I could be baby crazy if I wasn't poor and single. That'd be fun. I'd have lots of them and give them cool weird names. And stay home with them and coo at them and such. Man, that'd be GREAT. But here I am, trying to do something else with my time. BAH!

Ah, babies. Sigh.

Screw money and careers!

Damn, someone just dropped something loud upstairs. Yikes. Yes, back to reality. Okay, so novels. Yes, I will work on those some more. Wow, I'm hungry. Maybe it's time for lunch. I wonder what I'm going to do with my day. I already checked the ebook files for errors. Found none. Whoop! Now I have to choose colors and fonts and such. And put it all together. And create banner ads. Don't be alarmed. I'm creating ads for my own site. No one clicks on the Google ads. Which is fine. But it makes me wonder why everybody has them on their sites. I'll take them down eventually. And then.... I have to create a page for my new book. With a blurb and all that. Hmm.... having thoughts... cool. Okay.

I guess I'd better go. I'm being so weird today. Yeesh. Later.

Chris on 08.17.05 @ 12:54 pm [link]

Horcruxes

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Very exciting! Woooo! I should call up my best pal and chit chat about it. But I'm letting her eat dinner first. Muahahahaha!

Anyway, today I intended to work on my novel some more. But I went back and started reading it from the beginning and now it's crap. The original version isn't crap, just what I'm doing to it is. I'd been translating it into Renaissance English, and now it sounds stupid. That language doesn't come naturally to me, and you can tell. Booo. But not only that, the story wasn't written in it to begin with. It doesn't flow right. So, I decided to leave it in its modern English. Anachronistic as it may seem. It's very silly and embarrassing, but I was never trying to be a literary writer anyway, right? Sheesh. So, perhaps sooner than I expected my novel will be available to download. As soon as I take out the typos and brace myself.

I also thought up the idea for a science fiction short story soap opera that I can post at my site at regular intervals. Cool, no? Weeeee! That'll be fun. My life kinda sucks. I think up stories faster than I can write them. Wah. Poor me. Whatever! I'm so confused all the time. The other day I woke up and hallucinated puppet strings hanging above my bed. And I was insulted. Like what was the universe trying to say? That I'm a puppet??!! Grrr. And it may have been right. I guess I see now that it was. I was beginning to try to fit into normal society again and conform and blend in, and that was probably wrong. Dur. Still, I wouldn't mind having instructions for my life. Especially if it's gonna be a weird one. You know? Criminy.

Not much else going on. I took tests online and I suck at 10-key. Well, I'm okay. Passable. And typing about the same (yet here I am typing, weee!). I'd be a terrible office worker. Or... a passable one. Is that a life? No? Didn't think so. Especially when I can do other things. Better than I can do these things. Blurgh. ! Sigh.

I'm thirsty. I guess I should publish my novel. I guess I should stop talking about it in here and just do it. But I never have time to work on it. Except on my days off. Which this is. But I couldn't work on it today because I discovered Harry Potter in that space in my brain where fiction takes place and I had to clear it out before I could use the space for my own stories. See? Cuz I'd started book 6 already and hadn't finished it. For some reason I remember very little about book 5. I kept thinking, "Who are these people?!!" But book 4 stands out in my mind in bas relief. I don't know why. It just must be a goodie.

I'm still thirsty. Anyway. So. Fiction. What about that? Hmm. I hate me. La la la.... No, it'll all be better now that I get to speak in my own voice in my book. It's cool. Shite. But so much work. So much work to preserve instead of editing. Interesting. That's how I write poetry, that's how I make videos. I preserve things instead of changing them. It's like an archeological dig. It works better for me. I should have realized that. But nooooo..... Hey, I've lost 17 pounds. That's pretty cool, no? So something must be going right. Yippee!

Fine, be that way. I'm all sad about the end of HPATHBP (I'm not typing it out). Poor HP.

Well now, enough babbling. I'm gonna call my friend, then go grocery shopping, then.....???? GOD KNOWS WHAT. Argh. Later, alligators.

Chris on 08.03.05 @ 07:18 pm [link]