Author Envy

I was going to blog about volunteering for my local PAWS animal shelter, but this was on my mind... I follow Patrick Rothfuss' blog, though I've never read his debut fantasy fiction novel, The Name of the Wind. It's next on my pile of things to read. Today I read his blog entry that contained a link to a video interview of him at a London convention (I stopped after about 25 minutes, when they started giving out spoilers about his new book). I got a serious case of author envy. It took him 14 years to complete his first book, and a lot of that time was world-building, which honestly I haven't done a lot of. From how it looked in the interview, from the first time he set out to write his story, he knew the main character. He knew that all the books in the series was a telling of his main character's life story, and he really knew who Kvothe was. Me, I'm not so sure I know Rain very well, even though I've completed my first draft. How did that happen? Feeling overwhelmed now...

I know this is going to be a very long process, I just get impatient and a little too hard on myself. Why do I have to get inspired at 12:00 in the morning? Maybe my dreams will help me keep the inspiring thoughts...

Photo: I don't have one this time. Too tired to sort through old ones.

Heating Up

I'm finally getting some short-term goals set for my novel. For the next two weeks I'm going to edit two chapters a day, with a red pen. Then, I'll use some program or poster board to map out the whole plot, and look at it and make any changes that are necessary. Then I'll start with the rewriting. If I don't make a plan like this, I get very easily overwhelmed and then get very little done. Never a good thing...

Otherwise, the job hunt's been challenging. I applied for volunteering at my local PAWS shelter, so that might be something I'll do. I've been working on my mindset about summer... I have to be okay with not being productive, and give myself a break... summer's all about having fun!

It's not quite summer weather here yet, but it sure feels like it sometimes. When it's the middle of the night and I have my window wide open, that's a sure sign summer's here. I have to admit though, I'm more of a fall/spring/winter person. I'm not a happy camper in too much heat.

Photo: From my trip to Hawaii last year. Summer-y thoughts to ya!

Summer's Beginning

It's strange to be at home. At first it was rather easy to slip into my usual "vacation at home" mode, but by now, I'm really feeling how I'm not going back to school anytime soon. And not back to UBC at all. I miss everyone. I miss watching movies and TV shows together and reacting with everyone in the room. It's one thing to watch alone and discuss things online, and completely another to watch when you're all in the same room. I miss going down the hall to knock on someone's door when I feel lonely, or just bored. I miss eating dinner with everyone every night. Heck, I miss hearing noise down the hall. My house is so quiet.

I'm slowly starting to work on my novel again, after a week or so of losing myself in TV shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer anyone?). I've decided I have to start making some kind of short-term writing goal for each day or at least each week. It's trickier and more difficult, now that I can't just write 500 words of whatever and be done for the day. I have to be careful now. And I can't let all my self-discipline from going to classes escape me, or I won't get anything done!

Still working on getting a job, too. Hopefully that will come soon. If not, maybe I'll go back to making websites for people...

Crazy. It's not even June yet, and it's summer for me.

Photo: Flowers by my house. Took it a few years ago. Still need to take more current pictures...

Changes

Today is my second full day back home, and it's still strange. I don't hear people down the hall except my mother and my cat and I can't just walk fifty feet to hang out with my friends. It's quiet. That's not a bad thing though, I just have to get used to it. My room is bigger, I can make whatever food I want, and I don't have schoolwork to do. But I miss my friends.

Lately what I've been doing to keep from being bored is watching TV shows online. After I was done catching up with Doctor Who and Torchwood, my friend recommended Life on Mars, and then Ashes to Ashes, which I'm currently watching. On the side, I'm watching The Big Bang Theory, which really helped me lose some stress through finals. Geek jokes are awesome. The series I have yet to watch are Bones, Buffy, and The Tudors. All in good time... though I hope it won't keep me too much from all that I want to do this summer.

Lastly, some news about Glasgow. My accommodation is going to be in a larger self-catered complex, in a flat with 10-12 people. I didn't expect to have such a large flat, since my first few choices were smaller complexes and smaller flats. But I'll have more people to meet and probably more friends, so that's a plus.

Anyway, gotta get back to unpacking. If you're in school, good luck with finals. Otherwise, I hope you have a great start of summer.

Photo: a picture of the whiteboard outside my dorm room during the last few days I was there. My friends are awesome. :)