• Random Ramblings

    Of timelines and related suckage

    On Friday I finished getting my edits and notes from my last read through into the computer. On Saturday and Sunday I battled the novel’s timeline – by which I literally mean the amount of time that passes between events. When I first wrote the novel it took place in a much shorter time period – less than a year – and now it takes place over almost four years. There were still references to time that were from the original timeline. I figured it out but it honestly sucked and was probably the least amount of fun I have ever had working on this novel – meaning I didn’t enjoy it at all.

    Since I’ve been working pretty exclusively on my novel the last two weekends, I took the time this evening to get caught up on my finances and do some laundry (I’d really rather be working on the novel – now that the timeline business is taken care of I can have fun again). However, clean clothes are good and knowing how much money I have left to spend this month is, you know, the responsible adult thing.

    All of that said, I have no creative blurb for the night. I will get back to that tomorrow.

  • Imagined Snippets,  Random Ramblings,  Red

    You shouldn’t have been compatible

    I wasn’t able to post yesterday because my website was partially down – some people could access it but I couldn’t. <sarcasm>Yay for changing domain registrars without updating the DNS.</sarcasm>

    Finished getting my edits and notes for Part Two in tonight.  Once I get Part Three in, I have several things to fix. I think I’m going to start with the timeline. Originally this novel was going to take place over much less time than it does. It’s been extended, but not everywhere so there are still places where it talks about months passing when it’s been over a year. It’s not going to be difficult to fix but it is going to be tedious. I love my writing app but I can’t just tell it to find every single reference to the passage of time. Maybe someday.

    Moving on to some Red fun:

    “What the hell does that mean?” Joshua demands.

    “Creatures from the in-between have tremendous power.,” Dominic explains. “That power doesn’t die with them, it gets released. If they die in the in-between it gets reabsorbed into the balance. If they die in your world, it finds the nearest compatible host.” He frowns. “You shouldn’t have been compatible.”

    Joshua can’t help but think of software and hardware. The comparison doesn’t reassure him. “Why not?”

    “Humans are weak. The power would burn most of them.”

    “I… So I’m strong for a human?”

    Dominic opens his mouth, shuts it, and nods. “Yeah,” he says eventually. “We’re not safe out

  • Imagined Snippets,  Random Ramblings,  Red

    A wraith from the in-between

    Entered my edits and notes for Chapter 8 through Chapter 16 of Part One and Chapter 1 of Part Two. I had less time to work on the novel today because of annoying adult responsibilities like having to make food and wash dishes.  The struggle is real.

    I’m thinking of calling my recent Joshua/Dominic or Joshua & Dominic writings Red, after the color theme that’s emerged across the images and text.

    Dominic catches Joshua before his legs give out and lowers him to the ground, prizing the blade from his hand to set it on the dirt beside them.

    The light is gone. Joshua feels a tingling throughout his body, stronger in his head, and then he doesn’t hurt anymore. The pain from the car accident injuries is gone. He touches his forehead, exploring. His fingers still come back sticky with blood but it doesn’t seem to be flowing and he can’t find a cut.

    It’s not until Dominic waves a hand in front of Joshua’s face that he realizes Dominic is speaking, that Dominic has been speaking this whole time. There’s a buzzing. Now that he’s aware of it, it’s all Joshua can focus on. What is it? There’s nothing out here except for their wrecked car and the smoldering remains of whatever Joshua just killed.

    Abruptly, it’s gone. 

    “Can. You. Hear. Me?” 

    “I can now,” Joshua says. “What just happened?”

    “You absorbed the power of a wraith from the in-between.”

  • Imagined Snippets,  Random Ramblings,  Red

    Then the red light comes

    Working full time and going to bed early really get in the way of finishing a novel. I’ve input my edits and comments for the first seven chapters. There are several chores that I would normally have handled over the weekend that still aren’t done. Looking at my upcoming weekends in bulk, I have a lot of plans that are going to get in the way of my novel. It looks like it’s mostly going to be evenings after work for a while.

    Before I forget what I envisioned happening next from my Joshua/Dominic (or maybe Joshua & Dominic) blurbs:

    The scream it gives is bone piercing. I fall to my knees, almost pass out again from the way it digs into my headache. It’s fear that keeps me conscious. Not fear of this beast because it’s already dissolving to ash, but fear of whatever is making Dominic shout at me. 

    I can’t make out his words though and I don’t know what he wants me to do.  Then the red light comes, emanating from the dead thing’s remains and pouring into…me.

  • Random Ramblings

    About that novel of mine

    I’m sooo fried. Thursday aside, I’ve spent a huge chunk of my long weekend reading my novel from beginning to end. 363 pages today, because I suck at dividing things up, apparently. 1/4 on Friday, 1/4 on Saturday, and 1/2 today. My novel is literally divided into three parts. I could have done one per day but that would have made way too much sense.

    The good news is that the first third is looking really good and the last third is looking pretty good. The middle third though, it’s got definite issues. I don’t know how to fix them all. Yet. I’m determined to get there though.

    That’s all I’ve got for today.

  • Imagined Snippets,  Random Ramblings,  Red

    The screech and force of an impact

    I got an SSL Certificate for my website and installed it, so now there won’t be any more warnings from browsers that my site is not secure. Though, in my defense, I’m not actually collecting sensitive information here.

    I also went back and updated the tags on a bunch of my posts to be consistent with the (improved) tags I use now. I was hoping to finish that process tonight but it’s taking a while what with my posting tons of tiny posts instead of a few longer ones.

    This is going back to the snippets from the last few days. It occurs to me that I need to find some way of referring to them, like I did with the Don’t Bleed and Unheired Prince ones. Unfortunately, nothing is occurring to me at the moment so I’ll have to think on it.

    The only time Joshua was in a car accident, he saw it coming. Not for long – just a second or two – and certainly not long enough to avoid it, but enough to know it was coming.

    That’s not the case tonight. The car is racing smoothly through the night and suddenly – terrifyingly – there’s the screech and force of an impact and Dominic and Joshua are thrown forward into expanding airbags.

    Joshua must have blacked out because the next thing he knows, he’s blinking through sticky moisture, taking in shattered glass and crumpled plastic, metal, whatever cars are made of, and the absence

  • Imagined Snippets,  Random Ramblings,  Red

    It’s not like he was made to hug

    I updated the design of my non-blog website over the weekend. Responsive design makes images wonky to deal with and I’m still figuring out the best way to handle them, but I figured I can tweak them as I feel like it.

    Joshua runs at Dominic and hugs him as soon as Dominic walks into the bar.

    “Er…” Dominic flounders awkwardly, arms splayed. His hands spasm into fists before he forcefully relaxes them and pats Joshua on the back a couple of times.

    Joshua pulls away, rolling his eyes. “Fucking figures. Thousands of years pretending to be human and you don’t even know how to hug properly.”

    “How drunk are you?” Dominic demands, sidestepping that observation. It’s not like he was made to hug. The reek of alcohol covers the human.

    “Eh,” Joshua shrugs. “Lost track.”

    “‘Fucking figures,’” Dominic retorts icily. “Warlock assassins are on our asses and you get drunk.”

     “I thought you were dead,” Joshua states bluntly. “So, yeah, I’m drunk.”

  • Imagined Snippets,  Random Ramblings

    How do you think we survived?

    The Good Omens mini series has made me so happy. Aziraphale and Crowley were my favorites in the book but they absolutely make the whole show for me.

    This is completely unrelated to the above:

    “I can’t believe you’re addicted to vampire blood.”

    “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

    “Oh, really? Your hands are shaking why then?”

    There was nothing on that planet! There were no animals, no people, no edible plants. No food of any kind. We were trapped there for almost six months. How do you think we survived?

  • First Sentences,  Random Ramblings,  Story Excerpts

    “Beautiful”

    This is the first paragraph of my novel the Other Side, of which I posted an excerpt a while back:

    My name is Taia Marie Eaton. I am 23 years old. A graduate of UCLA. A planner. A dreamer. A teacher. A student. A woman of creativity. I am multifaceted and always changing. Contradictory. Flawed. I am things I like and things I dislike. Intelligent. Questioning. Beautiful. At times, selfish. Doubtful. Complacent. Always striving to give. To ask. To be. To try. To improve. 

    I generally think the novel has a really good premise that I did the most obvious possible thing with. Just the fact that a romantic love story is important to it is proof of how much my writing preferences have changed. If I were to rewrite it now, the closest thing it would get to having a romantic love story would be for the main character to be in a happy relationship that adds no drama to the novel at all.

    What really strikes me about this paragraph now is that she knows she’s beautiful. So while it may have a love story, at least it doesn’t involve the cliched protagonist who doesn’t think she’s beautiful and doesn’t expect any guy to ever think she is. So that’s a win for past me.

  • Random Ramblings

    Welcome home (again)

    Today I watched the series finale of Star Trek Voyager. Aside from a stray episode here and there, I hadn’t watched Voyager since it finished airing and I must say that rewatching it has been a lot of fun. I remembered all the broad strokes but for many episodes it was like watching them again for the first time. As a Trekkie, that’s a treat.

    So, 18 years and 30 days later, welcome home (again), Voyager.

    Erika out.

    (I don’t own the picture, it’s a publicity photo for season 7.)