Writer's Block

Happy Holidays and such

2011-12-22T14:55:00.003-05:00

Hey guys! Just stopping by to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season. I unfortunately will not be able to update the rest of this year, but look for some new stuff and some updates in early January. (My computer fell victim to the dreaded Win 7 Security virus twice, so all hopes of updating this year were squashed.)

Thank you to all of my readers, reviewers and supporters for a fantastic 2011!

Much love,
Elyse

I'm back!!

2011-11-16T19:47:00.003-05:00

Hi kids! Long time no talk! I'm just stopping by to tell you that I finally have time to get back to my writing projects. The DSU presentation was fantastic and I'm very pleased with how everything turned out. Once I have a link to the published material, I'll post it so anyone who wants to read it can find it. I made some great connections too, so I'm excited to see where those lead.

In terms of writing, I'm working on a couple of different projects. The first is a website to collect all of my video game related material into one source. I'm also working on new stuff for the Deadly Premonition Wikia.

But I'm sure most of you care about my Fanfiction stuffs, and I have good news there too. Despite the hiccup with my missing revised Nightmare chapters, I should have them up within the next couple of weeks. I'm also finishing up the next chapter for Call My Name. And, in a random twist of fate, I got another push for my Haunting Ground story, and I'm now 3 chapters into that. That story will take much longer to complete, but rest assured that there is some material there.

I think that's it for now. Keep checking back for more writing updates!

I'm going to be a published author!!

2011-08-12T16:58:00.005-04:00

Sorry to everyone who has been looking for updates throughout July. I had some time management trouble and I did a lot of traveling, and now I'm missing the last rewritten chapter of Nightmare's Calling. Once I find it, I'll be able to post the complete rewrite of the story.

Some other sad news: I've decided to stop working on RoNK. I can't keep up with the story and I'm not entirely happy with the way I've written it so far. I'll keep my notes around in case I find the time and energy to continue with it, but don't look for anything new to be posted regarding that story.

But hey! I'm going to be a published author!

I submitted an article about female character design in horror games from a female gamer perspective. The committee loved it enough to ask if I would present my findings at their Game Design Conference in November. The paper portion of it will also be published, so I can finally add that to my resume. Hopefully this will also be a chance for me to schmooze with some gaming bigwigs. Getting your name out there is important if you want to work in the industry, and if I can prove that I know what I'm talking about, I might have an in with game companies for testing, writing, editing, and/or design.

I'll be focusing all of my attention on this presentation, so I won't be able to update any stories until after the conference. I'll be back as soon as it's done though. Wish me luck!!

Update for July

2011-07-06T12:42:00.003-04:00

Just so everyone's aware, I'll be out of town all next week and my Internet access will be limited. By "limited" I mean "I talked the lady at the front desk into giving me the password so I can turn in my Copyediting III assignment on Friday". Yeah.

The good news is that my family likes to spend the entire morning and afternoon in the sun and leaves me (the really white kid) inside without supervision. What's my plan, you ask? Why, with no Internet to distract me, I can spend oodles of time on Call My Name!

I hope to finish the next chapter at the very least. I only managed to add one page to it but it's looking to be a long one based on my outline. Look for that to go up sometime after I get back from vacation.

Oh, and to my Prince of Persia fans, my PoP back tattoo is finally done. We took the markings of the Dark Prince and turned them into a tribal-esque piece. One side is just the markings in sepia, kind of like a permanent henna tattoo. The same symbols are on the other side but in oranges and yellows and surrounded by black, bruised, decaying skin. It's pretty awesome. I'll post a picture when it's done healing.

The Woes of Being In Demand

2011-06-23T12:32:00.002-04:00

I'm going to get a couple story-related notes out of the way first.
1) Nightmare's Calling is done with rewrites. I'm not sure when I'll get around to posting them, but take solace in its completeness.
2) RoNK is back on hold. Shu is taking far too much time to write and I can't progress the rest of the story until I finish that part. When I get some free time, I'll go back and play some more DW7 to get the flow going again.
3) Rebel's Honor rewrite status has gone from "possible" to "unlikely" due to the number of current writing projects I have.
4) Sarat rewrites have slowed down again. I apologize for the turtle speed with which this project is getting done. Again, I blame my already heavy writing load and my inability to properly manage my stories.

Whew! Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here's why I'm so far behind.
1) I've been commissioned to repaint my old church's sign. While this may not seem like a big deal, we have to take its size and make into account. It's about the same size as 3 of me and weighs a good 200 pounds. It's also made of oak, which sucks up paint like no one's business. Oh, and it's got the texture of bark. Seriously, it's been a chore and a half to make this thing look like new. Hopefully I'll be finished with it sometime this weekend.
2) Copyediting III starts soon and my class has been in a panic trying to register. Our professor hasn't finished grading our tests and they're due tomorrow. To add to our duress, CE3 is supposed to be a 10-week ride through editing hell. This had better get me a job. If I find out that this certificate means nothing in the end, I may commit ritual suicide.
3) I finally got the administrative rights to the Deadly Premonition Wiki site. In addition, I was asked by another person to help with the DP portion of their Wiki for an LPer. It is an enormous amount of work even when you're not the admin for both sites. It's also testing the limits of my HTML and CSS knowledge to try and make the site look less like a wiki and more like an actual fan page.
4) I've decided on a new course of action in my job hunting slump. At this point I don't need an internship; I need an apprenticeship. My goal is to compile a list of copyeditors in well-known publishing companies and sent them letters asking them to take me on. I think if I can expand my network, get some hands-on experience with professionals and show the publishing world that I'm serious about this, I might land a decent job or get some better freelance clients. I would also feel better about creating a website to showcase my editing and writing skills and offer samples. Guess we'll see what happens with that.

Exhausted yet? Yeah, me too.

Another Quickie

2011-05-09T10:41:00.002-04:00

Quick update today:

-I'll be done with the first few chapters of Nightmare's Calling later today. If I can keep this speed up, I should have the story rewritten by the end of May. The Dragon's Jewel is next on the list.
-Still stuck on RoNK in the Shu portion of the YTR. I have the Aftermath chapter done for Wu though, as well as an Interlude chapter for the same kingdom.
-Call My Name is still moving slowly, but I'm getting back into the groove with that story. I want to try and keep those updates to less than a month in between.
-Sarat's back on! I pulled my second draft up the other day and started editing without realizing it. There's still a buttload of work left on it, but at least something is being done.

Writing for the next few weeks is going to be slow anyway. Dakota State University sent out a call for papers and presentations on the horror genre of games for their annual convention. I'm not a professional, but I still think it would be cool to present something. I'll be working on a couple of abstracts to send in as they're due June 15th. I apologize in advance for the extra time away from my stories. Hopefully it'll all be worth it if I'm chosen to present.

Mailbag #1

2011-04-18T14:24:00.003-04:00

I've received a bunch of PMs on my FF.Net account over the past couple of days with regards to my stories. To pacify everyone's burning desire for information, here are some answers that I hope encompass everything you wanted to know:

1)I hope to have edits for The Tigress's Song up next week. Yes it has doubled in size and yes it will include some references to Rebel's Honor and The Dragon's Jewel. It's amazing what you notice when you've been away from a story for five years. New items will include the start of Li's peach tree trips, her friendship with Lady Yang (as hinted in Dragon) and her ability to slip into nobility more easily.

2) Call My Name has not been forgotten. I've finished about a page and a half of the next Rebecca chapter. It will probably be another two or three chapters before the blonde lady and the brown haired man are explained, but the latter will be making a lengthy appearance in the current chapter. I'm not trying to be mysterious about who they are. Savvy players probably guessed it during their first appearances. Remember that I'm writing from the perspective of Claire and Rebecca. They wouldn't know/recognize either mystery character at this point.

3) RoNK is still coming along. The majority of the Wu and Wei perspectives for the first battle have been written. I'm currently working on the Shu majority portion, and after that will be a mixture of the three groups. I haven't planned the Aftermath chapters because I haven't finished deciding what will happen during the Battle chapters. This is the first time I'm completely winging my content (to an extent; it's still based on RoTK after all). My goal is to have the first parts up by the end of May.

4) I think I mentioned this in my last entry, but my rewrite order at the moment is Tigress, Nightmare's Calling, Dragon, and then Rebel's Honor. The last story needs a bucketload of work and I have plans to rewrite the climax and add some more of Ma Chao's perspective on everything. All four are connected, but Rebel is definitely the odd man out.

5) This issue isn't really new to me, but the people who constantly berate my earlier fictions for being historically inaccurate should really lay off the fanfiction. I wrote most of those when I was in middle and high school, before I actually read the novel and really got into the historical part of it. I don't care if I'm mixing up the order of the campaigns and battles. I don't care if certain characters are alive or dead at the wrong times. That's the whole point of fanfiction. If you want accuracy, read the novel and stop looking for ways to justify your OCD through my profile page. I'll be keeping the majority of these features in my rewrites, so get over it.

I'm sorry if I missed your question(s)! Feel free to PM me and repeat what you said. Thanks to everyone who sent me messages and left reviews during this last round!!

Editing assignment

2011-04-12T18:20:00.002-04:00

My current copyediting class has a motto: Edit at least one thing every day. My professor doesn't care if it's a story, an article, poetry, or something trivial like an advertisement. She claims that if you practice your craft on something each day, it'll become natural. I don't think she realizes that people like me do this anyway. It makes reading difficult. Honestly, I can't finish a book anymore because I find myself reaching for a pencil and making notes in the margins.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you find yourself doing this, seek medical attention. It is not a healthy practice.

On the up-side, it means I've finally begun doing what I've promised for a good five years now. I've pulled out my old stories and started editing them.

I'm finishing the first chapter of The Tigress's Song as I type this (yay multitasking!) and I have notes set aside for the second chapter. It's still not wonderful and it's not going to turn into a full-blown story like its sequel, but it'll be worlds better than before. I plan on starting Nightmare's Calling shortly after that (during which I will address the naming issue that grates on my nerves to this day). I'm not sure if I'll redo Rebel's Honor. That one needs some very serious work. I'll probably finish the first two stories and then turn my attention to The Dragon's Jewel since it plays off of those. New Kingdoms fans can relax, as I haven't stopped working on that story either. Writing is moving at a steady pace there.

I also randomly wrote another Prince of Persia one shot last night. It'll probably go up on Thursday as usual. My group of gaming friends had a very robust debate on romantic couples in games and I spent a good 10 minutes arguing that there was no romance in The Two Thrones. Infatuation, maybe, but no romance. I think that's what spurred the creative juices. Plus I've wanted to write a PoP story that's from the SoT trilogy for a while now. I started a Deadly Premonition one shot about Nick and Olivia as well, but that one's not finished. No word on when I'll get that one posted.

RE and RoNK Updates

2011-04-07T15:32:00.002-04:00

I had my interview with Highlights for Kids yesterday. I must say, that was the most fun and exciting interview I've ever had. Everyone there was super friendly and eager to tell me about what they did for the magazine. It goes a long way towards hiring good staff members. If it's obvious that they want to be there, why wouldn't anyone else? The hiring manager told me that I would hear back from them sometime in May. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

In writing news, I posted the next chapter for Call My Name today. It's shorter than I wanted it to be, but the transition between that chapter and the next Claire one was going to be awkward otherwise. I apologize for its tiny length. I also apologize for delaying its release one week. My computer is still making strange noises and is having problems connecting to the Internet. It's difficult to get anything posted when you lose your connection partway through the process.

I am also halfway through writing the Yellow Turban battle for New Kingdoms. My pattern at the moment is to write some kind of introduction, a focus on the preparation of each kingdom participating in said battle, the battle itself and an aftermath portion. I'll probably also include "interlude" chapters for the various side stories. That way readers can read the whole story or just focus on the major fights (sort of like how Wikipedia talks about the noteworthy fights on its RoTK page but leaves the side stories for the different bio pages). As far as posting goes for that story, I'll probably stagger it. Once I have all the appropriate chapters written for each battle, I'll post weekly until the aftermath chapters are up. I won't leave off in the middle of a battle that way. So when I'm finished with the Yellow Turban stuff, you'll know because you'll start to see them.

This story is still going to take years to do. I'm not even going to try and sugarcoat this one. I'm also still unsure if I want to continue through to the end of the book and include Jin or stop off at Wu Zhang Plains. This is still more DW related than RoTK. Yes, I know Jin is in the new DW game (and wtf is up with Sima Zhao getting half of the stages?), but I'm not as familiar with that part of the story. My knowledge pretty much wanes after the Battle of Cheng Du.

I think that's all for now. No word yet on when the next RE chapter is going up. I'm only one page into it. I'd like to blame DW for pulling my attention away, but that'd be silly. I'll have a better idea about that one once I get through next week's homework.

My Life is Odd

2011-03-25T18:30:00.002-04:00

Update on my doings: I finished one semester of copyediting and still want to kill one of my professors, managed to get an interview with Highlights magazine, wreaked havoc at PAX East while dressed as a Pokemon, played through the entirety of Warriors: Legends of Troy, nearly lost my story files because my cat thinks making the keys click is fun, and bought my brother a fedora that looks like a wedge of cheese.

For all my complaining, I really love my crazy life sometimes.

My computer's going in for repairs sometime next week, but I have all of my files saved on a jump drive so I can work on another computer. I'm finally getting my writing groove back and I'll be damned if cat hair-clogged processing chips are going to stop me.

The next Call My Name chapter is going up next Tuesday for sure. I wanted to get a couple of chapters written so I didn't fall behind again, but it happened anyway. *Sigh* I'm about halfway through the next chapter as well. In addition, I finally decided to stop outlining and start writing some of New Kingdoms. I've been so obsessed with getting the entire story planned that it never occurred to me to take it one battle at a time. Duh. As of right now, I have the intro snippets rewritten and I'm mostly done with the first Preparations chapter. I just need to finish writing Shu's stuff. Next will be writing the actual Yellow Turban Rebellion and the aftermath. If that turns out well, I'll jump right into Dong Zhou nonsense. I still won't post too much until after those battles are written so I can get a sense of the story and its flow. Any ROTK fans/readers know how easy it can be to lose direction in a story like this. I've read it twice and I still get lost at some of the junctions.

I'm babbling. Look for RE updates next week for sure. Hopefully all of the writing for New Kingdoms will get the creativity flowing again so I can finish what I've already started. Toodles!

I Hate My Field

2011-02-21T21:23:00.004-05:00

I really hate when my writing is sloooooooooooooooooooooow.

Midterm week came and went, but it's still hanging over my head. I'm currently arguing with one professor about the lack of points awarded to me on one question. She was looking for the removal of some punctuation marks and changes to others. Instead, I changed a preposition. Technically there is nothing wrong with any punctuation marks for that question. The preposition was not wrong either, but it's the copyeditor's job to help sentences look better and I felt that a different prep worked better. I followed my instincts. And my training. Neither are apparently good enough.

I realize that this is a poor excuse for not updating, but it's the truth. It's a huge blow to your writing ego when a professor who is teaching you the basics of copyediting disregards the rules taught to you and tells you that you're flat-out wrong. Writers live by these same rules. Things like this make me wonder why I desire a job in this field.

On the other side of the proverbial coin, I'm working on meeting with the managing editor of a popular kid's magazine. One of the ladies who works in the editorial office graduated from the same college as my mom and offered to help me out (since the alumni office at my alma mater is garbage unless you earned a science or engineering degree). I'm hoping to impress her enough that I can get some volunteer work or an internship. I know better than to assume I'll get some kind of editing position. I just need something to help me gain experience.

Between classes, arguments and meetings, I haven't had much time for writing. Sorry guys! The good news is that the next chapter for Call My Name is done; it just needs some polish. I've also finished a couple of Persona one shots that I started a while ago and jotted down ideas for the others. In addition, I'm combing the DW7 websites for info so I can get back into New Kingdoms by April. Excitement!

Midterms and Writing Update

2011-02-05T20:12:00.002-05:00

Hey crew! Sorry about the lack of updates. I decided that I'm falling too far behind again, so I'm going to try and write a couple more chapters of Call My Name before I post anything. That way if I get behind again, I'll at least have something to share with you guys.

Midterm week is coming up on Monday, so that'll be my focus for the next four or five days. After that, it's back to writing. My sole focus is still Call My Name. I'm pretty sure this is on my FF.Net page, but I'm going to hold back on New Kingdoms stuff until after DW7 comes out in March. With the influx of new characters, I want to play through some of their scenarios before I try and write anything. I've also broken the story down into sections so I can write NK without feeling overwhelmed. Look for that story to pop up sometime in April.

I think that's it for the moment. I still try to float around FF.Net and FP.Com to read and review stories, so I won't be away from those sites completely. More CMN should be up in a few weeks...I hope.

P.S. Job hunting still sucks chicken cock. That is all.

I Wasted A Day With Email

2011-01-11T18:06:00.002-05:00

I received an email today from a woman in California in which she was deeply sorry that I would not be interviewing for their position. I spent a good portion of my afternoon going over the email to try and figure out what position she was talking about.

Needless to say, I couldn't find it.

Said woman then spends the rest of my afternoon trying to explain the position to me and how some of my qualifications met their requirements but not others. I eventually had to forego the entire conversation because she was bugging me. Lady, I don't care that I'm not getting the position. You are one of thousands of employers that tell me the same thing daily. What I care about it that I didn't apply for the position and, therefore, don't require an email telling me that I fail in the job hunting department.

In writing updates, I've finished the brief polish on my last Dragon's Jewel chapter and am about two pages into the Call My Name chapter. Depending on how much classwork I finish for my copy editing courses, I may finish it by Thursday, If not, it'll be posted by next Thursday.

A Rusty Spoon Needs To Meet The Job Market's Eye

2011-01-05T22:28:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful and safe night of partying and macking with random people. I spent the night...watching my parents get drunk. Yep. That's right. No parties for me. I can't really complain, since that meant I didn't have to deal with police checks and insane drivers. Oh, and the token black guys showing up at my friend's house. I'm not being racist; there's seriously one every year that just randomly appears. No one ever knows him. He just wanders the streets, looking for drunk college kids to let him skimp a beer and disappear into thin air.

I'm actually under house arrest until I find a job. Mother seems to think that forcing me to plunk away at the keyboard all day will eventually land me a job, not realizing that its prime story writing opportunity and no one wants to hire anyone who doesn't have 53259327589 years of experience in said position. We're American like that.

In writing update land, I've polished the next chapter of The Dragon's Jewel and am currently tidying up the next one for Call My Name. I just finished the train segment in RE0 so that should help to keep me focused in that universe for a while. I hope...

Smack The Job Market In The Face

2010-12-29T10:11:00.002-05:00

I made it back from the two feet of snow I was buried under in Jersey! Yay! However, due to the extended time away from my laptop, the next chapter for Call My Name may have to wait until next week. I'm going to try and finish it tonight, but we'll see what happens. The Dragon's Jewel will have its regularly scheduled update. I also took down the Persona 4 one shot due to lack of interest but I have a random PoP one to take its place. Nothing on Sarat or Spitfire yet.

In gaming news, I'm about halfway done with my Apocalyptic run of Darksiders. I couldn't help it. I'm already going to have to put Splatterhouse down because my mom hates it and I want to focus on Call My Name. For whatever reason, though, she's okay with Darksiders. I need to play something or my head will explode. Next on my list is Enslaved, which I finally picked up, until she goes back to work next week. Then its back to Splatterhouse. Cheers!

Although it may sound weird, I'm kind of relieved that my running stories are dwindling down to just one. It gives me more time to focus on my job hunt. Seriously, guys, this is the worst possible thing anyone could experience right now. There are hundreds of jobs out there that I qualify for and yet no one is willing to take a look at anyone who doesn't have 5+ years of experience. The problem is that this round of college graduates doesn't have the experience so their skills are rendered useless. None of us are going to get good jobs until we're thirty, and by then the market will be looking at the graduates after us for their energy and enthusiasm. This generation got the major shaft. Its awful. I wouldn't wish this on anyone, much less myself.

I apologize for the depressing nature. But its the position I'm in right now and I hope this will explain some of my lack of energy and motivation for Fanfiction and FictionPress. Thanks to everyone who's poked at me to finish my current stories and encouraged me to write new ones. You guys keep me going. For reals.

The end is here?

2010-12-21T17:38:00.002-05:00

Guys, I'm seriously thinking about giving up on FanFiction and FictionPress. I'm just not getting the same kind of feedback and attention that I used to and its getting a little depressing. Sure I have one or two people that constantly let me know that my stories are being enjoyed and that's great. But its hurtful when I ask for reviews and no one takes the time to leave me one, and yet there are stories written by people who don't grasp the concept of punctuation and grammar who have hundreds of reviews. I don't understand it. I don't think I ever will.

At any rate, the last round included chapters for Call my Name and The Dragon's Jewel along with a one shot for Persona 4. I'm thinking of taking the latter down because no one's reading it. Call My Name probably won't get any more love until after Christmas but look for new Dragon chapters by Thursday.

Current Plans and Future Stories

2010-12-07T20:37:00.003-05:00

For those of you who still check my FictionPress.Com page, I apologize for the update taking so long. Sarat stuff is moving slowly and Punch Down even more so. I'll talk more on that in a minute.

For the Fanfiction.Net crowd, I'll definitely have the next round for The Dragon's Jewel up by Thursday. The next chapter for Call My Name will have to wait until next week since I'm only one page into it (still).

I spent a while thinking about what I wanted to do with my pages on both sites this past week - helped by my resolve to halt the job hunting and resume tweaking until the holiday insanity is over. Here is the plan I've come up with regarding both for the near future: First, I'm going to get the rest of Dragon posted. There's a note dangling above my computer to remind me that this story needs love every Thursday until it is completed. Second, I'm going to take Train Wreck and divide the 'chapters' up into individual stories. Its just not getting the attention I thought it would as a story. Any more one shots that I finish for Deadly Premonition will follow this vein. The same will go for any Persona 4 one shots I've done and will finish in the future. This will require some maintenance for my profile section, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Third, I'm going to focus solely on Call My Name when the first two parts are done. Anything else will only get attention if I'm suffering from writer's block and need to get into the writing groove.

Once I have my currently-running stories taken care of, I plan on starting an ambitious project. If I can prove to myself that I can stay on a writing schedule for more than a few days (a.k.a. everything I've said above goes to plan), I'm going to start New Kingdoms and pick back up with Sarat. That way I'll stick to one story on FF.Net and one story on FP.Com. Spitfire will be updated periodically, most likely. Depending on how well I keep up with both of those stories, I'll slowly introduce more of them. This will also depend on what happens with any possible jobs that come up and the completion of my copyediting certificate.

I still have plenty of FF.Net stories planned, including the Haunting Ground one, a Harry Potter fic that I doodled on vacation back in July, a full-blown PoP story that incompasses both storylines and a rewrite of my first ever DW story (written for a friend's website that, unfortunately, stopped taking submissions a week before I was ready to send it). I also found notes for stories in the Ronin Warriors and Reboot universes. I'm a sad, sad woman, folks. I have a bunch of stories that might make it to FP.Com, but I'm more hesitant to publish those. I do plan on pursuing publication for most of them. There are some that I could spare for FictionPress though.

I think that's all for my writing updates. Now I must return to my video game juggling. I'm finally wrapping up PoP: Forgotten Sands and slowly working through Splatterhouse. They're both gorgeous and wonderful to play, but the latter is my favorite so far. I'm a horror girl at heart. Plus I really enjoyed the arcade versions of the game. My next project is the new Castlevania, which I started but had to stop in favor of Splatterhouse. Sore thumbs, here we come!

Frustration

2010-12-05T19:02:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately I'll probably only get one update this month. At the very least I'll get the next chapter up for Dragon. The goal is to get the latest chapter done for Call My Name, but I haven't really made any progress with it yet. We'll see what happens. Nothing new for any of the other stories. Its been a stressful couple of weeks. I'm still out of a job, my family is in a spending frenzy and my mom responded to having her house cleaned and decorated by handing me a bill. I'm a little miffed right now. Many apologies for letting the stress get in the way of my writing. That's just how its going to be for the time being. Keep checking back for updates. And for those of you who celebrate Christmas (I don't, but I know I'm a serious minority here), many good tidings and blessings to you this holiday season!

General Ramblings

2010-11-19T16:23:00.003-05:00

I updated Call My Name, The Dragon's Jewel and Train Wreck yesterday. It'll probably be a while before I post another DP one shot for that last series. I'm still plowing ahead with Call My Name and my Persona 4 stories. I'm also working through the Haunting Ground stuff, so as always I guess we'll see what ends up being posted. I won't make any promises because there's no point - things change too quickly for me.

Writing update aside, I'm growing increasingly frustrated with the Playstation Network. I've spent several days now trying to update profile information and game lists and whatnot, but every time I try to leave the page I have to log in again. Now I'm at the point where I won't even stay logged in from the sign in page to the home page. What gives? I have things that need to be documented, people! I can't be waiting around for this forever.

I think I'll stop my rant there before I go into overdrive. I need to focus on this weekend anyway. BJ Penn is fighting on Saturday and WWE Survivor Series is on Sunday. I have to focus on something else besides the Dolphin's embarrassing loss yesterday to the Bears. *Think Dashing*

Why Job Hunting Is Useless

2010-11-14T20:28:00.002-05:00

My resume-sending count this week is up to 57. This is insane. I can't get a job in my field because I don't have office experience, and the places that could give me office experience don't want to because I'm out of state and heaven forbid we conduct a phone interview. If this keeps up, I'm seriously going to consider a move to another country. No one here is willing to take a chance on anyone or anything. We wonder why our economy continues to suffer, and yet we spend all of our money sending people to school to train for jobs that are skipping the country. Screw this...I'm not spending anymore on college.

Oh, right, story updates. My bad. Chapter 11 of Call My Name and chapter 18 of The Dragon's Jewel are undergoing revisions. I'm about one page into chapter 12 for the former story. I'm tweaking the next oneshot for Train Wreck, although that probably won't make the Thursday update. I've also been spending a lot of time writing bits and pieces for the inevitable Persona collection. So far I've finished the Fool and the Magician, I've got a few paragraphs left of the Emperor, I'm halfway done with the Priestess, I've written a few pages for the Empress and Fortune and I have ideas/outlines for Justice and the Chariot. So far so good, I think. Look for some new stuff on Thursday since I'm actually on track.

Now I'm going to go back to sulking about my job situation. Toodles!

Too Many Stories!

2010-11-06T20:22:00.002-04:00

I finally got around to posting new chapters of Call My Name and The Dragon's Jewel. I'm currently one page into the next chapter of the former and doing minor edits on the latter. I've set aside my Sarat updates for the time being. There's just not enough focus. I really love those stories and that universe, but I've discovered that I need to be 100% focused on it to make any progress. I'm not sure when I'll get back to it, but as always I have a ton of notes to help get me back in the groove.

I'm kind of torn about where I want to focus my attention right now. Its the curse of having too many ideas in a tiny brain. A majority of it will stay in the RE universe until I'm further along there. I have outlines and ideas for that story; its just a matter of wording everything correctly. I have a couple of chapters for my Haunting Ground story and the Persona oneshots, half a oneshot for my Prince of Persia series, one and a half oneshots for the Deadly Premonition universe and New Kingdoms looming over me. For right now, the rest of my attention is with Persona, but only because I've been playing the fourth game and researching the third one. I'm familiar with the first two (including both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment), but I'm not entirely comfortable writing about those characters yet. I guess we'll see what happens.

I think my real confusion is that I don't want to post another story without having the majority of it written. I fell behind with Call My Name and now I'm struggling with it. The DP oneshots don't worry me because I have enough to keep my interest when I'm having trouble with my other stories (that's how the first two were written, in between chapters for my other works). Both the Haunting Ground story and New Kingdoms require research and checking some terminology, so progress there is slow. PoP is stuck until I start another run-through of the game. So that leaves the Persona stories. My fear there is that I'll get three, maybe four stories posted and then become distracted as usual. This isn't a oneshot collection where the number of stories is irrelevant. The number needs to match the arcana.

Hmph, this makes my head hurt. I guess I'll keep going with my RE story and see what I end up doing for the rest of my stuff. Whatever takes my attention will be next, I guess. The worst part is that I have about 10 other folders with story ideas related to fanfiction, and I could pick up one of those at any moment. Ugh. Its one thing to have a creative writing streak in you...its another thing when you can't control its flow.

At any rate, look for more regular updates with Call My Name and The Dragon's Jewel. In all likelihood, another story will be posted once I'm done with Dragon. And now I need to lie down. I think I have stories leaking from my ears...

Oh you RPGs

2010-10-27T20:59:00.003-04:00

This has probably been one of the most productive weeks I've had in a long time. My goal is to post the next chapter of Call My Name tomorrow and possibly the next chapter of The Dragon's Jewel. I've also got another one shot for Train Wreck, but that may have to wait until my next update.

I think I'm going to have to change the status of New Kingdoms. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get enough written for the story to make me happy. My thought right now is to leave the snippets up on FanFiction as drabbles right now and then change its status when I overcome this blockage. I think the problem is that I have too many stories on my plate right now to be able to focus on such a large undertaking. But fear not. I still have a ton of notes to help me pick this back up when I get some more ideas out of my head.

I've been spending my time playing the new Castlevania game and Persona 4. I'm not sure what prompted me to pick up the latter, but I've been unable to stop writing stories for it. I know...you're shocked. I'm refraining from posting anything though until I get more stuff written. The idea right now is a series of one shots based on each of the social links. I have The Fool done, part of Fortune and The Emperor, and I'm ready to dive into The Magician next. We'll see what happens with that one. You know, this is why I don't get into RPGs. Too much character investment and too many story ideas. I need to FOCUS!!!

For the FictionPress crowd, I've finished the edit of Sarat and have been working on typing the second draft. The next chapter of Spitfire is almost done as well, although I'm not sure when I'll post it. As I said, there are a ton of stories on my plate right now. We'll see what happens.

Unrelated note: I can't decide who I want to win the World Series. Its 2-2 in the bottom of the 4th of Game 1 right now. I really need to make a decision. Football and hockey take my attention, but none of my teams are playing right now. So I have to focus on baseball. Gah! Too many decisions!!

What the heck is in Iowa?

2010-10-22T11:12:00.003-04:00

New update today! I just posted chapters/stories for The Dragon's Jewel and A Beautiful Train Wreck. The next chapter for Call My Name is done. A few edits and some polish and I should be ready to go next week.

I've been taking a break from survival horror and started playing Persona 4 a few weeks ago. I admit I'm addicted to it. There's something about the story and the characters that just draws you in. I'd compare it to Deadly Premonition in this sense. Even after only a few hours, you become so invested in what is going on that you feel like you're a part of the story. Its fascinating. Its also nice to get a little cultural lesson thrown in to the game. My only problem is that I'll likely get an idea for a story or one shot series now. Yeah...like I don't have enough on my plate.

In other news, I finally got the chance to go and visit my sister in Iowa last weekend. Most people think of corn and farming and nothing when they think of Iowa. People, there is so much more to the state. I fell in love with Des Moines just as quickly as I fell in love with Australia. I've spent the past few days looking at jobs out there so I can live in the city. Its so young and clean and hip out there. Wish me luck, guys!

And will someone tell the creators/publishers of Splatterhouse to stop pushing the release day back? I'm supposed to be enjoying the game right now and Thanksgiving is too far away.

I wish I was dashing.

2010-09-21T11:10:00.003-04:00

I'm slowly working through the next chapter of Call My Name. My goal is to get another 4 pages or so in since the plot is thickening quickly. I'm also finishing an small edit to my next Deadly Premonition oneshot. They're kind of addicting to write; there's so much you can do with the cast that its a bit overwhelming. But at least its enjoyable. Its hard to write when you're not 100% into it. Work is also progressing with RONK. Haha...I just realized what that looks like...sorry *ahem* I'm a nerd. I've finally decided what I want to do with the opening chapters, so that should be picking up soon. I'll start posting for that story once The Dragon's Jewel is completely up.

In other random news, I watched WWE Raw last night for the first time in its entirety. Usually, I'll just watch the first half or so and then lose interest (I'm a Smackdown girl at heart). But I was curious to see what would happen after a huge PPV match the night before. I wasn't disappointed. As a bonus, Dashing Cody Rhodes fought another tag team match. He's my absolute favorite. The best part, aside from watching him fly around the ring, was listening to the commentary about what makes him so dashing. I wish I could be that dashing. Seriously. But alas, I would have to be a WWE Diva and I would not forsake my dignity to dress and act like they do. I guess I'll leave the dashing-ness to Mr. Rhodes.

General Story Update

2010-09-15T09:56:00.004-04:00

Happy Wednesday! My typical posting day is coming up tomorrow, so I think I'll celebrate my return to normalcy by posting for The Dragon's Jewel and for Call My Name. I'm finishing up the editing for the latter's chapter and have already dove into the next one. I'm also working on a challenge set up for me by a gamer friend of mine. We've both finished Deadly Premonition at least once and we've been comparing stats and theories for a few days now. He has asked me to explore a bunch of the relationships in the story to see what I can come up with. We've counted almost thirty different interactions that happen between sets of people, so there's a whole lot of them to explore. I've already written two of them and I have the rest of the list waiting. We'll see how many I can get through.

With that being said, I'm going to be setting my Prince of Persia oneshots aside for a little while. I have stories outlined, but I need to go back and start playing the PS3 release again to get back into the groove. I will get back to them, but its going to take a little bit of time for that to happen.

I'm kind of happy that the next game I have on my list is the Splatterhouse remake. Its due out in October, right before Halloween, and I don't have any plans to write stories for that game. True, the underlying story makes for good drama. The games themselves, however, are focused on beat 'em up play and copious amounts of gore. Unless the PS3 remake focuses more on the story (which is doubtful if you've seen any of the trailers), I'll be able to keep my focus on other stories while I work through that game.

A couple of people have asked about the other story on the bottom of my FF.Net page, the Haunting Ground one. I'm very, very slowly working on that. Its another story that flows better when I'm in the middle of the game, so I'll have to go back and play it to get the story moving again. I have the first two chapters done, but I want to be further into the story before I post it. No worries, it'll make an appearance in the future.

New Postings and a Million Spoilers

2010-09-12T11:18:00.004-04:00

I finally did it, folks. I gave up on the job that has caused so much grief for the past 9 months or so. While I will miss most of the people and the full time benefits (kind of), it makes me feel so much better to know that my health will finally improve and I'll be able to focus on more important things...like writing...and getting a job in my field. Here's to hoping that I will be able to concentrate more on my stories and my sanity than surviving at work.

To celebrate, I will be posting two new bits at some point today. The first will be the next chapter of The Dragon's Jewel. The second will be a short one-shot based on Deadly Premonition. I'm still tweaking the latest chapter for Call My Name, so that will hopefully be my next post sometime this week.

For those of you who have been anxiously waiting for Romance of the New Kingdoms, that is the next story on my list. Seriously. I'm waaaaaaaaaaay overdue to post the first official chapter for that one. I think the hardest part for me has been taking the historical narrative and translating it to modern day. I want all of the battles to stay the same, but I know that they can't because they would happen differently today. For example, the Battle of ChiBi took place on Cao Cao's fleet of ships, but that can't happen very easily when you're in the middle of a big city/cities. Characters like Sun Ce that died from health problems would likely still live with modern health care. See where my problems lie? But fear not. I will persevere.

In the midst of all these stories that I've been working on, I've been jotting down ideas for one-shots based on Deadly Premonition. The characters in that game are some of the best I've seen in a very long time. For those of you who haven't played it, the story is set in a small town in the Northeast (presumably Washington) where a murder has just occurred. Each person you come into contact with has their own unique personality and series of quirks that either help or hinder your investigation. Some of them make you laugh, some anger you, and some are just too weird to comprehend. But they all add color and dimension to the narrative in a way that makes the game captivating and intriguing. I'm already in my second run of the game to work on side quests, which give you the chance to interact more with the cast.

Overall, the game is a brilliant piece of work that is barely hindered by out of date graphics. My one gripe is that the game sometimes crashed unexpectedly, but so far it has been right after save points. Driving was also a pain, but I suck at driving games so most of the issues were based on operator error.

In reading other reviews, I've noticed that a lot of people were genuinely surprised by the ending and discovering who was behind the whole plotline. I can't say I felt the same. SPOILER ALERT!!!! SWERY did a fantastic job in hiding clues all over the town to help the player figure out who the murderer was and who was pulling the strings. Yes, there were two antagonists. The first one - the killer - was the most obvious. With all the focus on red trees and their connections to the murders, one would think that anything red would immediately stand out. For one, there was a red tree in front of the police station...another was in front of the murderer's house. It stuck out like a sore thumb every time I drove past it. His whereabouts during the in-game murders were always at the scene of the crime. Finally, during a scene where he and an officer quickly leave an apartment building, the licence plate give him away: HESTHE1 - HE'S THE 1. Seriously, if that doesn't give it away than nothing will.

The second one - the initiator - was a little trickier to discover. He didn't really appear until after the game had started, but he was immediately suspicious. After all, he handed the main character a red seedling, and red was already an established theme. Some of the things he said were also suspicious...how can you let a dog out of the window when you're locked in a cellar and the dog's outside of it? Finally, in the scene where one character talks about the purple fog, there is a seedling in a pot resting on top of the clock tower, just inside of the frame on the right, and there is one soldier who looks and moves exactly like him. Despite all that, I pegged him as the initiator as soon as I saw him because of one early clue. In the very first room, where you first interact with the angel twins, there is a map on the table of all the other red seed murder locations. Each is marked with a doll in the initiator's liking. There are no other characters that look remotely like him in the game. END SPOILERS!!!

So while the mystery wasn't hard to figure out for me, I would still highly recommend this game. It was easily one of the best I've played in a long time...and I've played a lot of them. At any rate, stay turned for more updates and possibly more reviews if I can find the time to finish all my games. Toodles!

I liiiiiiiiiiive!

2010-08-18T21:17:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the long wait with no news, folks! I've been going through a bit of a crisis since May. Its finally starting to ease up, just barely enough for me to get my head above water. But there is some good news in this. I promise.

Following my complete mental breakdown last week, I went into hyper writing mode. It can be both a scary place and a wonderfully creative place. While in said overdrive, I managed to complete the final chapter of The Dragon's Jewel AND the epilogue. Win. I will be posting them slowly over the next couple of weeks. By slowly, I mean that every four days or so I will pop up with another chapter until everything is posted. I have to keep you guys guessing a little bit.

The next story I plan to finish is Call My Name. Honestly, its the only one I have any energy for right now. Its also my most popular story, so I feel obligated to pick back up with that. Everything else is going to be on the back burner until CMN is done or mostly done. Here's hoping I don't fall back into chaos.

P.S. I finished my first run through of Deadly Premonition last weekend. Look for a random one-shot posting in the near future. Its becoming a theme with me, unfortunately.

Wow I'm slow

2010-03-26T12:04:00.003-04:00

Wow I can't believe March is almost over! At any rate, I finally have my Internet back, so new chapters of Dragon's Jewel and Call My Name will go up either tonight or sometime tomorrow evening.

I think I stated this on my FF.Net profile, but I'm putting most of my stories on the back burner for the time being. Details are in the personal blog. My focus for the moment will be in finishing up The Dragon's Jewel, which only has a few more chapters left to be written, and Call My Name, which is one of my more popular stories. FP.Com's focus will be Punch Down, I'm thinking. Sarat revisions are creeping along as usual.

I received an email from a girl I've known for a while over at FP.Com about why Punch Down has taken so long to write. I've gotten quite a few emails and whatnot about it from fans despite the lack of reviews. Basically, I suck at writing romance. Seriously. I'm terrible at it. That's mostly because I'm not a big romance reader and quite frankly, romantic things in general make me feel uncomfortable. Some of that might be apparent in my DW fanfiction. Punch Down is, at its core, a romance. The humor and sarcasm dripping from Sandy's mouth is how I react to romantic nonsense in my own life, but that doesn't mean I haven't experienced it. This makes is that much harder for me to write something that is believable without being flat. I'm trying, guys. It will get done; I don't like to leave stories unfinished, especially those that are so close to my heart.

Fear not, however. If I have to call off of work for an entire week and do nothing but write the whole time, I will do it to finish Punch Down. The same goes with my other stories. Stay tuned.

Another quickie...

2010-02-28T21:47:00.002-05:00

I WILL HAVE NEW CHAPTERS BY TUESDAY!!

No, seriously, I promise to have new stuff for Call My Name, Dragon's Jewel, and quite possibly *gasp* Punch Down. Woot! I'll have more info in the general blog, but I'm finally coming out of my dark time, and that combined with two days off in a row means that new stuff can be posted.

Sarat revisions are still underway. That story is going to be the death of me, I swear.g

Writing Related update

2010-02-04T10:42:00.003-05:00

Hello all! I apologize for not getting the next chapter of Call My Name up like I said I would. I probably won't be updating for a few days due to some major setbacks in my life at the moment. As usual, nothing can space itself out in my universe; it all has to happen at once.

Please keep your thoughts and prayers with me over the next few months. I'll do what I can to get more chapters churned out and finish up the Sarat revisions. Thanks to everyone for your support and patience...it is much appreciated.

Updates and the Usual Nonsense

2010-01-29T11:39:00.002-05:00

I just posted Chapter 11 of The Dragon's Jewel this morning. Call My Name may or may not get an update today. If it does, it will be after I get out of work at 10. Yuck. I'm still working through my Sarat file while trying to churn out the rest of Dragon's Jewel. I'm...so...close...bah! Seriously, you'd think that another 3 chapters or so would be cake. But its the climax of the story and I want it to be good.

On a slightly unrelated note, I checked the story stats on FF.Net for the first time in forever today. Over 2,000 hits on Rebel's Honor and The Tigress's Song, just under 2,000 for Nightmare's Calling, over 1,000 for The Dragon's Jewel and just under 1,000 for Call My Name. Cheers! It makes me feel all kinds of happy to know that people are still reading and enjoying my stories. I haven't checked FP.Com yet, but I've been inactive there for a while so I'm not sure what it would look like anyway.

Return to FictionPress

2010-01-22T11:11:00.003-05:00

I've mentioned a few times that my brain is a never-ending fountain of randomness. Proof appeared last night in the midst of work on my PoP story. For whatever reason, I decided to take a break and pull out my Sarat file. And now I can't focus on anything else.

I wrote Sarat years ago for a creative writing class. It started as a short story that would fill about 20 pages and would be based off of a previous work or author writing style. My teacher gave me the Harry Potter series. But, as we all know, I am incapable of sticking to page guidelines. It went from 20 to 160 in the span of two months.

As of right now, its the only full length novel I have posted for others to read. I have more finished, but I'm not entirely comfortable sharing them because I would like to get them published professionally. Yeah, right. But I'm still going to try.

At any rate, I've picked up my Sarat revisions where I left off. My guess? I'll probably get to around 200 pages. Eek. If I can stay on track and keep my focus on the story, I can have the edited version up within a week or so. There are a lot of things I never explained, words I misspelled (shudders) and plot points that need to be moved around. Its a rather daunting task. But I think I can manage it.

Regardless of where I get to in the Sarat rewrites, I will have the next round of chapters up for my FanFiction stories by next week. I'm in the middle of a 7 day work week...otherwise I'd be more diligent.

New Post!

2010-01-12T09:34:00.002-05:00

No new updates on my writing, but I'm happy to announce that I will be posting new chapters for Call My Name and The Dragon's Jewel at some point today! I hope to finish the second PoP oneshot today as well, but that may be asking for a miracle.

Check the other blogs for more updates.

Almost ready...

2010-01-06T20:59:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year! Chapter 9 of Call My Name is nearly finished, and I'm ready to wrap up The Dragon's Jewel. The first chapter of the Haunting Ground story is also done, but I think I'm going to save that one for when my other stories are finished. I'm nearly done with my research for the first chapter of New Kingdoms as well. With luck, my first round of chapters for the new year will be up sometime this weekend. Stay tuned!

New story

2009-12-18T09:00:00.004-05:00

I...am going to kill myself.

Between finals and the craziest work schedule I've ever seen, I got a little bit done for chapter 21 of The Dragon's Jewel and chapter 9 of Call My Name. But, more importantly, I started a new Haunting Ground story. I'm not sure why, but I don't question my brain anymore.

The story is based off of the bad ending. There's a surprising trend of Daniella oneshots and a lot of Fiona/Leon stories (I'm a fan of some, but most are just plain weird). There's nothing about what would happen if Riccardo did actually impregnate Fiona. So...I'm writing one. At this point, I just have an outline, some notes and part of the first chapter. I probably won't make this my focus though. I have two current stories running, plus my PoP oneshots and the promise of new stories for the new year.

So, my goals for once finals are over: finish writing Dragon's Jewel, since I'm at the climax and will probably only go to 25 chapters total; switch focus to Call My Name, since that is one of my more popular stories and I've been away from it for too long; churn out another chapter of Punch Down and see if I've still got juice left for that one; finish the second oneshot for PoP, since that just needs another few pages; sit myself down and figure out what I'm going to do with New Kingdoms and the Haunting Ground story. Yeah, its a lot. But I'll actually have time to do them now. There's no more school to worry about, I've secured a full time position, and my roommate and I don't see much of each other anymore. I promise, I'll get something done before the new year.

Coming Soon

2009-12-12T10:56:00.002-05:00

Woo I'm nearing the end of grad school! The next week is going to be hectic, but I'm getting close to the end of Dragon's Jewel and I've been working on the next chapter of Call My Name. Look from some more Dragon's Jewel around Christmas. I've also been dreaming up new stories and I'm starting work on an outline for a Haunting Ground oneshot. It may turn into a full story at this point. Stay tuned for details.

I have time for writing??

2009-12-03T12:49:00.003-05:00

Finished chapter 21 of The Dragon's Jewel and picked up some of my novel writing again. This is a terrible thing considering that I have 2 major papers due in two days and finals are coming up in a few weeks. Eek! Look for some of these new chapters to be posted in the coming weeks.

Dragon's Jewel

2009-12-01T18:09:00.002-05:00

Finished the next few chapters and started number 20 yesterday. Whew, its gonna be a long one...again. But its more dramatic than most of my other stories, so bear with me, people. No new updates for at least a week with school papers. Shoot me please.

Quickie

2009-11-15T11:10:00.003-05:00

Finished chapter 17 of The Dragon's Jewel. My characters are plotting to kill me, I'm sure. I'm also about halfway through chapter 9 of Call My Name. I should have more done after Thanksgiving when my homework load lightens a bit.

Back in action

2009-11-12T22:21:00.004-05:00

Woo I'm back! Reasons for my absence will be on the other blog, so I'll refrain from ranting here. As for writing updates, I have the next few chapters written for Dragon's Jewel and Call My Name. I think I'm going to focus on just those two for right now since I have the most invested in them. My schedule should clear around Christmas time, so look for new postings then. And now that I have a new computer that doesn't die on me every 30 minutes, I should be able to keep up with this more. Toodles!

Small update

2009-08-14T14:04:00.002-04:00

I've managed to temporarily solve my computer woes, so hopefully this will mean more frequent updates. At least, for a little while. Pace starts up September 9th, and I'll be pretty swamped with full time classes and 30+ hours a week at work. I hate school.

I finished some more work on the next Punch Down chapter and the second story of In Search of a Past. Everything else has remained untouched for the moment. I'm trying to reconfigure my writing schedule so that instead of trying to get a page in on every story I have going, I work on one story a day. If I can get that down, then maybe my updates will have a consistent frequency even into the coming semester.

And don't worry, I have notes for each of my stories on where I want to take them next. Its not a matter of writer's block; its a matter of time and energy. I may take breaks, but I never completely give up on a story.

Generic Update

2009-07-31T10:04:00.003-04:00

My computer has life again!!!

My apologies in not updating recently. Life has been a roller coaster for the past month or so. I'm using bad cliches, it was that bad. I won't bore you with details in this blog. Read the other one if you really, really want to know because you have no life of you own. No worries; I sympathize.

And so, on to the list:

Call My Name: Chapter 4 will be posted today. I'm about halfway through Chapter 8 and I have the plot line all typed out. More likely than not, it will change because I add something that MUST be dealt with later in the plot, but hey, that's how it works in the writing world.

The Dragon's Jewel: I'm currently on Chapter 13 writing-wise. I won't spoil anything too much, but Zhao San and Lu Ba are currently on a journey. And I'm sorry for the cliffhanger in the last chapter. There will be a resolution in the near future. Damn teenage angst.

In Search of a Past: The second story is about 2 pages long, and the goal is between 5 and 6. This is one of those collections that will probably move at a slower pace, so I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I have a story arc planned in the near future. But first, we have to grow the Prince up a bit.

Romance of the New Kingdoms: I started the next set of chapters for this one yesterday, but this is going to be another slow moving one. The fact of the matter is that its very large in terms of content, and I'm not entirely sure how I want to format it. I'm either going to do something similar to the snippets, where I have smaller chapters from each kingdom, or I'm going to do separate ones and then a collective one when the battle(s) starts. Look for this one in the next month or so.

The Tigress's Song: I know, it doesn't seem like this one should take so long to rewrite. But it does. Sorry. I just started Chapter 2 last week, when my computer returned to some sense of normalcy. My goal had been to get it done over vacation. Then technology decided to hate me. Once this one is up, New Kingdoms will be a go.

Punch Down: I'M SO SORRY THIS IS TAKING SO LONG! I have the next chapter written, but something is off. And because I can't read anything anymore with a not-critical eye, I don't feel comfortable posting this until I fix it. It may mean a change in my plot line. But it WILL be posted soon. My goal is mid-August. You may cut my hands off if I miss the deadline without a valid excuse. Its a shame, too, because this is one of my more popular stories.

Sarat II: Spitfire: I'm going to try and post the next chapter of this one today, simply because I have it. I'm part way through chapter 8, trying to introduce Rei to the cast. I'm hoping to attack this story with more gusto once the end of August rolls around. Hopefully by that point, some of my fanfiction will be completed.

Sarat I: Rewrites are all on my computer, and I'm going through them slooooooowly to make sure stuff makes sense and my typos are all gone. No word on when this one will make it up. Seriously, I can't tell. I have too many writing projects as it is.

I think that's it for stories that are currently out there. All of my novel work has been set aside so I can update my posted works more frequently. Grad school starts up the beginning of September, but I don't have to do any extra reading assignments beforehand so I should be able to get stories churned out faster. Once the 9th hits, things will slow. But hey, its only one semester's worth of work. Hopefully my hands won't fall off.

And I'm sorry if there are typos in this. Its very hard to type when 5 out of 10 fingers are bandaged. I hate my job.

One Story down

2009-07-12T17:13:00.005-04:00

Rebel's Honor is finally posted!!! I'm not entirely thrilled with the ending since there was so much more I wanted to do with it, but sometimes things just can't be helped. As soon as my rewrite is done for Tigress's Song, RH will go through some changes at the end. I need more angst. ANGST!!

Punch Down and Spitfire should have new chapters up sometime today. I'm on vacation for a full week, and I always see it as a challenge to write as much as I possibly can before the real world comes back full throttle. That being said, here's my goal for vacation:

-Next chapter of Punch Down and Spitfire, or at least get them started
-Finish Chapter 13 of Dragon's Jewel
-Rewrite of Tigress's Song; it won't be major because I want to keep the tone that it had when I wrote it as a teenager, but some things desperately need fixing
-finish typing the rewrite of Sarat I so I can start uploading the edited chapters
-finish Chapter 8 of Call My Name
-start the next story of the PoP series

...daunting? Yes. I hope I remember to eat...and breathe.

Vacation!

2009-07-10T16:48:00.003-04:00

Vacation time is coming up for me. Natually, this equals oodles of writing time, since I burn way too easily and I need something to do while everyone else is broiling.

I'm planning on getting the rest of the Sarat I rewrite finished over the break. There are a couple of spots I'm still tweaking before I'm happy with it, so it shouldn't take too much more time. I've also been working on a new chapter of Sarat II. I'm really loving the direction this cast of characters is taking me. Leia's my new favorite. Something tells me that she'll come out of her shell soon enough. Punch Down is also done in terms of the next chapter, but I'm doing some last minute tweaking on that as well. I should be able to upload that one by Monday.

Dragon's Jewel has slowed down a bit, but I think it's because of the change in scenery that's happening. I set it aside for a week and I'm ready to get back to it. Same goes for Call My Name. I finished the outline for it earlier this week so I have some idea of where I'm going. It came out to 10 pages. Yikes! I also started a series of oneshots and stories based on the Prince of Persia saga for Xbox 360/PS3. I couldn't go to bed until the first one was written, and now a whole bunch have popped up.

Rebel's Honor is almost done. Cheers! One more chapter and an epilogue to go before wrapping that one up. Then the focus will turn to Dragon's Jewel and Call My Name. Once either of those start nearing the end, I'll begin the Romance of the New Kingdoms story. I only like to have so many in ciruclation at once.

See you all after a nice, long drive to South Carolina!

Writing Introduction

2009-07-01T13:37:00.000-04:00

The goal of this blog is to keep track of the different stories that I have going on right now. Whether this helps out the fans or me more will be decided. Hey, sometimes I just need a swift kick in the ass...and there's nothing like a guilt trip from someone else who loves your story to get you motivated :P

I guess it'll depend on what I'm working on and where I'm at to determine the format. Sometimes it will be a list of the stories and what's going on; other times it will probably be more informal because I'm only working on one story. But I'm at the point where enough people want to know, so I hope its not confusing. Smack me if it is.

So, as a first update in Elyse's Storyland, I'll make a list:

Rebel's Honor (DW) - this story is finished, but I haven't uploaded the whole thing yet. I'm not entirely happy with the way the story went towards the end and I'm in the process of trying to rework it. It'll be more obvious when I finish posting the story. When that happens, I'll go into more detail.

The Dragon's Jewel (DW) - I'm currently writing Chapter 13 of this story, and its taking an exciting turn. Since only 6 chapters have been posted, I won't go into too much detail about what's happening. I will say that the gang is getting ready to make a journey and Liu Chan's becoming a real jerk. Yay.

Call My Name (RE) - I just started chapter 8, which is a Claire chapter. I wrote out the whole storyline and it came to just about 10 pages. Yikes! I'm finding that, the more I write, the more it reads like a game summary. Its kind of weird and kind of cool at the same time. This one is making me curious since I've never written something quite like it before.

Romance of the New Kingdoms (DW) - I'm going to take this story at a slower pace. A lot of people expresses interest in it, but not enough for me to want to add it to my growing list of stories. I'll probably write the first couple of battles and finish off my other stories before I post this one. Its gonna be a long one.

Punch Down (OW) - I'm stuck in another plot hole. I think my problem with this story is that its so close to me and I know that other people involved in the real life drama read it. I'm almost done with the next chapter, but it needs some work before I'm satisfied with it enough to post. Its a shame, since its one of my more popular stories in general. You people are such romantics.

Sarat Rewrite (OW) - I'm done with the rewrite, but it needs to be put on my computer and then edited again. Since my week long vacation is coming up, chances are I'll get it done by mid-July.

Sarat II: Spitfire (OW) - I've got the next chapter up and running, but I'm going to hold off until the Punch Down chapter is done...only because I promised a dual update to my readers. I'm part way through the next chapter as well. Its odd to me that I managed to write Sarat in the span of a few months and yet this story is taking me much longer...oh wait, Sarat was the ONLY story I was writing at the time. Joyous. And yes, I do have at least one more story planned in this saga...hopefully more will come to me...I just love this cast!

Stories in the works: Another Sarat (when I finish the rewrite and the second one), a Xu Huang story (because he needs some fanfiction love), the Dragon Master Prophesy (which may be too large to fit on the fictionpress site), and a Prince of Persia story that mixes the new one with the Sands of Time trilogy. I'm shocked that I haven't written one of these sooner; PoP is the reason I own a PS2 ;)

DW = Dynasty Warriors
RE = Resident Evil
OW = Original Work