Blaaaaarg.

So, life. Richard now works at PetSmart (shop smart--shop Pets-Mart) but we have to get up at 3 am to get him to work on time. The bonus? The kids get up at 7, so once I drop Richard off at 4 I have 3 whole hours to myself. There is writing in the works.

My daughter's a second grader now, my youngest is walking, and the 2-year-old has his own computer account (the guest account, anyway) and knows how to do many geeky things. Time marches on. My Angel game has been re-started again but with more attention to "why the heck are we playing" this time around, and it's been loads of fun so far. On the agenda: happy Connor with memories! Happy Wesley! Killing Angel (and bringing him back)! Fred the vampire Slayer! (I'm not joking.) Possibly vampire Gunn, but that's not unusual. Also, ambient badass, just for docholiday1874 . I may put the logs up somewhere and post a link for any who care.

As for writing, working on the old novel series but now have a firm idea for a new one (as opposed to the ideas that flit through my head and leave just as quickly)... trying out first-person perspective with a character that's coalesced from a few places. Won't elaborate for now because it's still very new, but the best short-hand is modern fantasy from the perspective of a young geeky Scully-type. I'm still working on Chaotic Attractors (chaosattractor ), and am in fact re-vamping and outlining the fic today. I'm pretty good with character and setting; it's plot and scene outlining that needs work (and I suck at action scenes, so that needs work too), and fanfic writing's an easy way to get to the nitty-gritty plot stuff.

We'll have money soon, and my self-imposed Exile From The World needs ending, so we'll probably start trying to re-build bridges soon. Which may be impossible, but one can have hope. I'm learning meditation and becoming a proper Druid, and very, erm, centered in myself. As centered as I ever get, anyhow, considering my, err, unusual sense of self. :) The drama-rama phase of my life seems mostly over. Thank God.

Anyway, random update. There should be more coming. :)

So I've been writing a lot lately. Like, actual, honest-to-God, words-on-the-page writing. It's awesome, and yet, at the same time bizzare, because this story that has my brain gripped out to come out my fingers is not my own. It involves someone else's characters in someone else's world, and anyone who knows me well knows how I balk and ultimately walk away from such endeavours.

Yes, I'm writing fanfiction. Prolificly. It's scary.

I've tried to write fanfic before, but I could never capture the voices, or I'd wind up deciding the story I was telling didn't really fit the world, or, and this is the big one, I'd wonder why I was going to such effort for something I could never really take credit for. Even RPing has often failed me, especially trying to run stories in "someone else's world." It's some other writer's sandbox, and I don't feel right playing there, somehow.

And then I started watching Angel. (brightwyrm, I blame this on you!!) I'd seen bits and pieces of Buffy and Angel both, but never really watched it through. The damn show crawled into my brain and stayed there. Soon after, a young Texan named Winifred Burkle took up residence, and I haven't quite been the same since.

I don't know what anyone else thinks of my fanfic series, Chaotic Attractors (chaosattractor), but for me, writing it feels... right. I find the character's voices easily, I find myself writing things I think the show might've done, I enjoy telling this story even though it's partly someone else's. Angel is not my first or best-loved fandom--those honors go to Star Trek and Babylon 5, respectively. Nor is the Wesley/Fred relationship (the basis of my fic) my biggest squicky fangirl 'ship... that honor goes to Marcus/Ivanova from Babylon 5 (ohh, yes, kickass British guys and tragic relationships. I'm there.)

But I've never wanted to write fic for B5. That's JMS' territory. I played Delenn once on a B5 MUSH, ran a couple of Star Trek places, but it always falls flat. It doesn't feel right, and I wind up walking away. Fandom after fandom, I love and adore from afar, maybe try writing fic or playing FCs (played Ginny an a Harry Potter MUSH too, and wrote some HP fic), but it never really... inspires in that way. What it inspires me to write is more of my own stuff.

Angel does both. I'm running an online Angel game (sort of online tabletop using the Primetime Adventures system, and I'll have a link to the wiki up when it's finished), and writing the fic endeavor, and have two other fics I've written... and I am actually properly outlining my first novel and preparing to write it. Holy crap.

Sometimes I think it's Fred. Something about her just... walking in and cozied up in my brain and carved herself a room. I like playing her as if she were my own character, I find her voice easily, I could probably even LARP her now. And in the way characters I adore do, she inspires me to do what I want to do with myself. Maybe it's the "I wanted to be a physicist and then life threw me a curveball or five" thing... I dunno. I identify, though I'd rather be friends with her than be her. :)

But really, I think it's that a lot of my creative impulses are close enough to those who made the Buffyverse that I feel I can make my kind of stories there. Romance amid sweeping epics, and somewhat superpowers, and modern (or somewhat futuristic) realms with bits of magic and religion thrown in... that's my type of writing. I love The Dresden Files too, for all that, but I don't know if I could ever find Harry Dresden's voice... but I do credit Jim Butcher's LiveJournal (jimbutcher) with some keen writing tips.)

It's bizzare, this thing that's taken over my brain. For a while I worried, but then today I realized that scenes for Iliane are shaping up, and I can almost feel the words for it coming out like they haven't in years, and the dream of publication is actually on the horizon again.

So, thanks, Joss, and Amy, and Fred Burkle, and all the rest of the people who're running around in my head insisting I re-write half the series. :P It's inspiring, and that's always awesome.

Take the World of Darkness Quiz
by David J Rust

Is anyone really surprised? No?

Didn't think so. :)

Really really writing now!!

I have three chapters of my fanfic series up over at chaosattractor... go check it out! Or else!!

Blee. Back to writing I go.

Title: Lost
Author: Me!
Fandom: Angel
Disclaimer: Mutant Enemy owns this, not me
Spoilers: For "Not Fade Away"
Summary: An Illyria POV ficlet about the end of "Angel" and her feelings regarding what happens. Artsy and angsty. X-Posted to weslyria

( He is leaving her.. )

Wow, I haven't used this thing in over a year.

Since I am now burning with words of burning-ness, after months of... various problems... I have stuffs to post. Specifically, an "Angel" fanfic series, "Chaotic Attractors," that's gonna be over at a LJ just for it,  chaosattractor. I'll probably have other stuff too, may go here, may not.

I've also cleaned out back posts, left some so the journal's not totally empty, but I'll keep cleaning as I post. Whee!

Since LJ posts backwards, I'm putting a list of links to the Mage posts so far here:

Post #1, New Beginnings
Post #2, Storm of the Century
Post #3, New Year's Resolutions
Post #4, Groundhogs Without Shadows
Post #5, A Rainy Day
Post #6, Memories of Spring
Post #7, Birthday Present

I'll be re-making link lists occasionally.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Makes sense. :)

Been writing a lot. Mostly game stuffs. Those who do not read the Emerald Chronicles boards, and want to see the reams of writing I've been doing, may feel free to ask for email-ness. Is all pretty good. I yanked my book characters into WoD, hee hee. (Except the character I'm playing, funnily enough.)

Probably gonna go write more post-age now. RP good! Writing about RP better! :)

How White and Nerdy Are You?

Funny. I guess I'm saved by being a girl.

Barely.

You've Experienced 64% of Life

You have all of the life experience that most adults will ever get. And unless you're already in your 40s, you're probably wise beyond your years.

Holy crappity. Now I feel old. Thanks, Elspeth. :P

In other news, I'm doing a major re-write of the Prologue and then writing up Chapter One. The two scenes already there will stay, but likely be expanded and possibly shuffled a bit. I'm going to be trying something to help explain the messed-up chronology of these novels, which is to put a date before each scene. Let me know if it's intrusive.

Off to fiddle with stuffs now...

...OF THE HOFF!

Summer of The Hoff!

Yet more laughingness. :)

Okay, so Bryan already posted this, and Chris (not Schetzle, Michigan Chris) posted linky, but in order that everyone has the full ream of goodness:

Star Trek Inspirational Posters!

So much laughter. So very much.

I really need to get TOS on DVD, man.

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

So very, very amusing.

Thank you, Chris and Brian, for yet again making me giggle. :)