Dreaming and Days of Future Past

I've said this before and I'll reiterate right now, that I do enjoy my day job in procurement and I find it satisfying, but that is not my dream. 

*queue soft, inspirational music*

I have a dream! That dream is to wake up at 7 every morning, come downstairs in my bath robe, fix me a cup of hot chocolate, and open up the manuscript that I will pour all my creative juices into for the day.

*record screech*

Well, I guess I could be doing that anyway via starving artist fashion, but I'm a little more pragmatic than that. I need to make a living to support this hobby I have, but one day I hope to turn the hobby into the career that can put food on the table. And oh how satisfying THAT will be!

I have so many stories in my head that I don't have time to get down on paper right now. I would have liked to have been done with After months ago and already deep into Dreamland or beyond, but I can only do what I can do with the little time I have. Rest assured, that my free time is going into After - Part Three. 

Hell, I've had two prompts floating around in the ol' noggin for over a week now that I haven't had time to pen. If I don't get them down somewhere soon, I'll forget them. One is decent, one maybe meh, but you can't ever tell just from a prompt. The story doesn't really come to life until you work with it, and decent prompts aren't always easy to come by. I can go for months without a prompt, then have two fall into my lap within a day of each other and send my brain into hyper drive trying to untangle them. 

Think I'm going to get to them after I publish this post. Don't want them getting away!

Evan Peters

On the fun side of things, I got to go see X-Men: Days of Future Past last weekend. I really enjoyed the movie, but I'm not a hardcore X-Men fan. I only read a few of the comics when I was a kid, mostly Rogue and Phoenix stuff... which means I was not a fan of The Last Stand, but whatevs. Thank you for turning that fubar back around, Simon Kinberg! 

I just thought Days of Future Past was really well done, and it had some excellent comedic moments as well. Someone who's unfamiliar with the X-Men mythology should still be able to enjoy this movie, but I STRONGLY recommend watching First Class first if you haven't seen that one. 

My favorite introduction of a new character to the screen was Quicksilver! YAY, TATE!! Yes, I know his real name, but Tate is the first thing that pops into my head, even after watching American Horror Story season 2. I can't even remember what his name was in that season. Probably because I always referred to him as Tate. 

Okay, okay... Here on out, I'll refer to him as Quicksilver, because.... QUICKSILVER!! But that's only going to work up until the next Avengers movie releases. Then everyone's going to be confused. 

Welcome to my world. 

Bioshock and Editing

I believe I have finally managed to get a good editing process down for myself. Goals are easy when you're still in the first draft process and you're just writing words, words, and more words, but it was difficult for me to set goals during the editing. Mostly because I didn't have a good process. First there are rewrites, then you have the macro-editing, and then you have the micro-editing... All of which I find very daunting tasks. Hell, there are probably more editings in there I should be doing that I don't know about. Don't tell me! Don't tell me!! I don't wan't to know about them, or it's just going to scare me more.

So a couple weeks ago, I was able to work out a goal for myself, and I started to meet it everyday. So I upped that goal last week and I met it EVERYDAY! WOOHOO!! It took a bit of adjusting to create an attainable goal while I juggle work, family, and sleep, but I think I've finally done it.

If I try to do to much, I end up over reaching, stressing myself out and then the inevitable crash and burn catches up with me. Once that happens, it's hard to get started again. Doubts and fears creep in, and other projects dance enticingly at the edges of my mind. Don't worry though, I am determined to make this work. I'll get through this one step at a time, one page at a time, one word at a time, until it's done and I can hit that publish button. Then I will begin the next project and finish it the same way. 

And.... I still don't have a release date for part three yet... sorry! But we're getting closer!

So please don't hate me for taking some time off this weekend. I enjoy playing PC games and grabbed Bioshock Infinite while it was on sale for $10 on Steam. My husband has played it, and it's one of his favorite games. He was not spoiled to the ending when he finished it, so he had a pretty mind-blowing experience. Me, on the other hand, I tell him back then, "I'm never going to play it. Go ahead and tell me how it ends."

Oops! I really had no intention of playing the game, and I suck at first person shooters anyway. Why would I think I'd play it? Guess I won't be having games spoiled for me anymore. But I played it, and I enjoyed it. Of course I had it on EZ mode, but that did not distract from the story. Shame I was spoiled to the ending. Now I'm left to imagine how mind-blowing it could have been.

I guess FPS games aren't so bad... I still need to finish Mass Effect 3.

After all the edits are done, of course. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Long time, no blog. Am I right?

Sorry about that. I've been updated on Facebook more and more lately, which isn't to say that much, but that's where my posts have been. If you haven't followed me there yet, here's the link. There is also a Phoenix Curse facebook fan page, but I hardly ever post to that one anymore.

So here's a brief rundown of the past couple of weeks. My husband and I celebrated our 6th anniversary last weekend, and it was wonderful. We didn't go anywhere, but we did take a couple days off work just to spend time with each other. One of those days included an hour long full body massage at a day spa.... shortest hour ever!! I definitely recommend doing that if you never have. It is amazing!

That was followed by a stellar week in the editing/rewriting journey, and I plan to match and exceed that this week! Yesterday, I had the pleasure of my first root canal and a crown prep on top of that, so I did not hit my daily goal... imagine that?... but it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. Little ibuprofen afterwards and I was almost back to my normal, charming self.

Here's a life tip for everyone out there. Don't eats nuts, I repeat, DO NOT eat nuts the day after you've had a root canal. That is a BAD BAD BAD idea! Feel free to pass that on to friends and loved ones out there.

Ahem...

After my wonderful 5+ hours experience at the dentist, I came home to relax a bit. We've been living in our new house since the end of February and haven't take a walk around the neighborhood yet, so I asked my lovely daughter if she wanted to go with me. It was a beautiful weather last night, so we headed out on to find the nearest walking trail. It was just my daughter and the little stinker since my husbands ability to walk has been very limited due to a injury.

We find a trail and are walking through a nice, open area behind some houses. Bunnies are hopping around being bunnies, and it's just a picturesque day for a walk. Then Arreis (my daughters pen name) says, "I want to show you something," and she hands me her phone.

This is what plays.


Then she hands me this nifty little green and blue bracelet that she made out of rubber bands. Not gonna lie, I teared up a little bit! It was such a beautiful walk and a memory I will cherish forever. So glad I can share her love and creativity with everyone too!

To all you wonderful mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!