So What? I'm a rock star.

I finally decided what to do with the money my grandfather gave me to get the boys Christmas gifts. He wants us to get toys, but I know my boys. They have all the toys they could ever want or need. Lately we've been rocking out on Guitar Hero in the evenings, and having a blast, but we're a family of five, and GH only allows 2 players at once. So, I decided the Xmas money would go into Rock Band 2. It's only been two days, but I can say it's a great investment. We have 4 playing at once, and rotate through the instruments*. The boys had friends over and they rocked the house. And when they're tucked into bed, the Hockey Nut and I rock the house. We must have pretty conservative friends, though, 'cause we can't seem to convince any of our own friends to rock with us.

I'm a terrible singer (tone-deaf in my opinion), but I often have to sing if I want to play with the boys. They're all too shy to sing, so I figure if I let it wail and show them it's not that hard and it doesn't matter if you look like a dweeb, maybe they'll come around. I'm still hoping.

And in the meantime, I'm really, really hoping the developers can hook me up with Pink's "So What".

It's funny, but while playing this weekend, I thought, 'how cool would this be at a convention?' And look-- Wil Wheaton had the same thought and the guts to pull it off.




* Plus, this game doesn't require shooting anything/one. RB has a wide variety of music (much more than GH). And the game teaches co-operation since they all have to play together to get through the song. Time & money well spent, IMHO.

If Winter Never Ends

I usually try to write about 6 pages per day. At roughly 1200 words per day, this works pretty well for me. The momentum is good and it allows me time to think about the story and characters and what comes next. I shouldn't have messed with my pace. I should have left it alone, but I'm really digging this story. So I challenged myself to go for 10 pages a day and work up to 13.

It worked as well as it was supposed to. I gained ground quicker, as I'd hoped. I can work at a faster pace, I've done this before, but like always, I run out of planned plot, and I wind up losing a day to plan out the next section. That was yesterday. So in the end, I might be a few pages ahead, but you know what? The stress isn't worth it. My 6 pages a day works pretty well.

Progress meter: 214/300 pages 71%

I'm a little worried right now because I don't have a clue about what I will write next. Those of you who know me know I usually have more than one project on the go, and for me to focus solely on one story has never happened before. So to not have *anything* on the horizon is really making me nervous. Has the pendulum swung too far the other way? Have I used up all of my ideas? Have I burned myself out?

I'm currently reading Jennifer Rardin's ONE MORE BITE. I have a feeling I would have liked the earlier books. I wish I was a faster reader and had more time for reading. So many books, so little time.

It's winter. It's cold. The world is covered in a thick blanket of snow. But we're not worried. We have Guitar Hero I, II, II and Rocks the 80s. The Hockey Nut and I have been rocking out the evenings. Him on lead and me on bass. He is musically talented, gaming gifted, and I-- I am an uncoordinated mess. But we're having fun. And you know, I kind of don't care if winter never ends.

Listening to: AFI - Miss Murder; Timbaland - Apologize

Snowballing

Have you voted today? Check out the 2008 Urban Fantasy Land Readers' Choice Awards. (It was a lot of work, so just check it out already! :o)

I've been writing, thus I haven't been blogging. The YA is going really well. I'm at that part where it's snowballing, and everything I've set up in the first half is paying off now in the second half. I took sometime this weekend to read over everything I've written so far, make notes, and just get caught-up in the story. I'm immersed and I don't want to come up for air. I don't want to go out of the house, I don't want to stop to make dinner, fix the fire, let the dog out. It's exciting, but frustrating. Is there any part of writing that isn't frustrating? I think not. (Estimated progress: 45.5k/60k)

It's currently cold and snowing. There's an Alberta Clipper moving through, and tonight the temperature will drop down to -30C and stay there for 3 days. These are the days I dream of living in a more moderate climate.

The Ominous Page 56*

I was tagged by Deb: "Open the book closest to you to page 56, copy down the fifth sentence, then the following two to five sentences. After that, make five other people do this, or at least ask them nicely."

The book closest to me is Vicious Circle by Mike Carey, and it's close because I'm working on the review for it.

Page 56: "There's something else," she said, and swallowed hard. "I met a man. Three years ago." She darted a quick glance at me, to see how much I'd infer from those words. I stared back at her, deadpan. I prefer to have the "i"-dotting and "t"-crossing done for me.

And now, if you're reading this, feel free to grab the book closest to you and have at 'er!


* That's not really what this meme is called. I have no idea what's up with the number 56 or the real name of this meme.

It was a time of epiphanies

It was a good holiday. I enjoyed the time off. We spent good time with friends and family. The boys seem happy with their loot. Relatives gave us a Wii. As as much as I love seeing the boys active, they have to play without me. Just a few days was enough to give me a case of Wii Shoulder. I love the tennis, bowling and golf. The boys can keep the baseball and boxing.

The shoulder pain has been a blessing in disguise. Since I can't play, I've been reading, and boy, do I have a lot of reading to do! Look what my husband gave me:

 

This is in addition to what came in the mail. 

(How do you like those cat scratches on my desk? *wry g*)

Our camera definitely has a problem, and I don't think we can fix it. It's not reading the memory card, but the card itself works fine. (I checked it in an external card reader.) Maybe next Christmas Santa will leave us a camera under the tree.

So how am I able to post pictures? This is kind of embarrassing and difficult to admit, but it finally occurred to me that I could use another camera. Yes, I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. But wait, it gets worse for me. Over the weekend, my husband suggested I use a web cam. He would have set it up for me, but he got busy doing other things-- mostly playing with the Wii-- so I set about working on it myself on Monday. Could I find the disk on my husband's messy desk? No. Could I find a driver online to make it work? No. So I went back to his desk and tried again. Not only did I find the driver, but I found the software for our old digital camera. And yes, that's when it occurred to me-- Duh. We have an old camera. Did it occur to me two weeks ago when I cleaned up the hall closet that for some reason houses four film cameras, our old digital camera and my sister's old digital camera? See, I told you this story was embarrassing. Not just because I forgot we have an old camera, but that we have a half a billion junky old cameras that we're never going to use.

This summer we are having a yard sale. A big one. I've already started putting stuff into boxes. I'm determined to clear out the clutter. Not only does it stress me out, but it's a fire hazard. I find I'm drawn to the clutter-free decorating style. Not quite modern, though. I find modern to be cold sometimes. I like clear tabletops and desktops, clear walls and floors, but there should still be some personality in the room, some indication that humans live there.

I had a few ideas about the UF WIP over the holidays. There are a few scenes I need to include, and I need to go through and eliminate -ly words, and clean up the language. I have no clue how to edit, and I fear I'm only going to muck it up yet again. Or, hate it and throw it out, as I've done in the past. And that is why I've been working on the YA. It's better. I started writing it with a plot and character change, and although it's no fun knowing most of what's going to happen, it's easier, better, and there are bonus, unexpected little things along the way. Turns out I'm a plotter after all.


Check out my books on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/profile/lindsayyorklevack

Google Can You Hear Me?

Dear Google,
I love the recent improvements to Google Reader. The page is brighter, easier to read and with less visual clutter, much easier on the eyes. Since I have more than 250 subscriptions, believe me, easy on the eyes is a very good thing.

But I have to know one thing: why is there a feed bundle for "Steampunk", but not for "Urban Fantasy"? Please Google Reader, could you add an "Urban Fantasy" feed bundle? You can find lots of great links to use over at Urban Fantasy Land.

Which brings me to the next item on my wishlist: I'd really like to switch my Wordpress.com blog over to Google's Blogger without losing everything. I regret starting the blog with Wordpress.com, but at the time Blogger was struggling with posting pictures, video wasn't even an option, and spam was out of control. These issues seem to have been dealt with. I love the addition of Open ID to Blogger. My readers don't have to sign up for Yet Another Account to leave a comment. I also love that Blogger will allow me to use various gadgets and flashy things from other sites, like Good Reads and Amazon. I admit I was also attracted to Wordpress.com's stats tracking, but I see you've addressed this with the Webmaster Tools. Oh, Google, I never should have doubted you!

Just one more thing, dear Google: I'd love to be able to use different coloured stars in Google Reader. While reading over 250 subscriptions, it would be nice to be able to sort my starred items by using different coloured stars. This would give me back some time when I build my own posts as I could easily find similar subjects by colour.

I hope you can hear me, Google. I've been good this year. Urban Fantasy Land is averaging 700 hits per day now and we have over 160 Google Reader subscribers. I post there almost every day, and I post here at least once a week. I would love to be able to give my readers even more, give the site some flash & pizazz. Please Google, can you help me?

Sincerely,
Reformed Google Doubter

Two halves make a whole self.

For the last six days I've felt like my metaphysical self had been separated from my physical being, and strapped to me as dead weight to carry. I was exhausted. I couldn't focus on anything, could barely stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time. Dizzy and disoriented. Coherent thoughts floated beyond my reach. I felt like someone was juggling my brain and eyeballs.

Maybe it was the flu. Or maybe it was myself telling me I'm making a wrong choice in my life, thus the feeling of being cleaved in two. (Cleaved or cleft? Brain not functioning at 100% yet.) Is re-evaluating one's life decisions usually a symptom of the flu?

At any rate, I'm happy to be back on my feet again and feeling more like a whole person.