All I need now is an airship...

And maybe a bodice.

Steamcon is in November this year and the boyfriend and I have made it our goal to go. I've never seen Seattle and I've always wanted to go, see the Space Needle and the original Starbucks. Now we have a reason to go. Since Steamcon is so inexpensive, all our expenses will go into driving up there and staying for a couple of days. Yay!

Anyway, I'm stoked outta my head today because I FINALLY got my beautiful steampunk skirt in the mail. It's taken several weeks to get here and I wasted no time trying it on. Of course, this isn't the final project but it's a good start! I'm wearing: steampunk aviator goggles, Jayne Cobb beanie (from the show "Firefly"), brown tanktop, beige steamwheel skirt.

Career Crisis

The boyfriend noted something this morning that I thought was worth mentioning, "I've noticed that many people who go to college overshoot their ability levels and end up trying for a job that they'll never do."

I totally agreed with him, especially in the health field. Sure, it sucks to be disappointed when all you've ever wanted to do was be a nurse but if you need a GPA of 4.0 and you're only at 2.5, it's going to be a little difficult to get there. It's not bad to change your mind if you know that the goal that you're shooting for is a little bit too high. I'm living proof of this, since I changed my major from literature to health and everyone (even my ex boyfriend) was shocked and called me out on it. But I knew what I wanted and what I could handle and I wanted to write but I couldn't handle literature. I still feel that being a literature major takes a lot of the fun out of reading. Sure, you want to know things about the theme of the story and about the characters but analyzing every little bitty thing? Not for me.

If I could, I would write full time. If I knew that I couldn't fail. This reminds me of something Christian said at the conference, "Writing is a full time job. When you do it, you do it every day and you get paid for doing it. Hopefully, anyway." But you cant just write and expect to get somewhere. Many classic novelists had jobs while they were writing, such as being an editor or a scientist or some laborious day job where the only time they had to come home and write was at night. So, of course, I might end up like them. Working the day job until the night job takes off with something special.

As Christian said, there's no way of knowing whether you're going to get published. You just have to keep trying. "Someone will eventually like your work," he promised. "But you have to keep searching for that person." Then, when a girl said, "I'm 18. What are my chances of getting published?" he laughed and replied, "More likely than mine! Americans told me I was too European for them at first and had to publish outside of America, in Europe, before anyone took interest."

So, I know I might have the GPA for it but I'm not trying to be a doctor. I may have the smarts but I'm not shooting to be a physicist. Why? My hand is stretching in a different direction, one that is less likely to happen but one that I want so badly to take hold of. I'll keep with my day job and push at my night job. Because I know something that many my age don't: if you have a back up plan, no matter what, you are sure to succeed. You will always have something to fall back on. And, of course, that is where Health comes into the picture.

Back to Living in Ink

I am very sad that the conference is over.

I have a few regrets. I regret that they didn't have any classes on fantasy writing. I regret that I was not awake enough this morning to appreciate the Dialogue seminar (even though it was just ok, anyway). I regret that the keynote speaker, Christian Moerk, didn't have another talk. These, of course, are things that I couldn't have changed, even if I wanted to.

However, I appreciate sooooo much after this conference. I appreciate the Point of View versus Point of Narration class because it made me think and end up asking another author for advice on the subject that a professional editor was giving my group. I appreciate the time during the lunch hour that I got to speak with Christian, to get to know him a little better. I appreciate my Complex Characters seminar because I can work on creating my characters in the close 3rd person, something which I'm struggling with.

I want to give you all tons of stories from the conference but it will just have to wait until tomorrow. Tonight, I am tired and I need to get to bed asap to start the long, 7-hour trek home. (I"m happy about this, however, because I bought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to listen to on audiobook on the way home so I can get a good laugh for 7 hours.) I hope you all can wait until then. I promise to relate many stories of Christian and the seminars and the people that were there. There is so much to tell.

But for now, goodnight.

And a special thanks to my grandparents, who made this whole thing happen.

Day 1

The first day (or night, as it was last evening) of the Central Coast Writer's Conference was AMAZING!!!

To start off with, I got to see a ton of people that I knew. My best friend's cousin, a friend from church, a former instructor and a very good writer friends. Also, the key note speaker was AMAZING! His name is Christian Moerk and he is from Denmark. His new book, Darling Jim, is pretty popular now, so if you look him up, I'm sure that you'll find it. He was witty and sarcastic, all that you could want in a good author. He called people out on dumb questions and answered the good ones in good humor. Most of all, he gave good pointers and he was very firm about the fact that you need to write every day. I felt that he was the best speaker I've seen in the 3 years that I've been to this conference.

Then, my good writer friend and I skipped off to the lecture of the night. The one we had signed up for was about story structure and, I am happy to say, I am going about outlining my novel the right way. According to the author who was instructing us, there are seven steps to outlining a basic story, seven steps that all stories have:

1. The weakness and the need. The weakness can be based off of the need, such as character lashing out due to their unawareness of their need.
2. Desire. This needs to be deeply connected with the need of the character in some way. The character knows of his or her desire but not of his or her need.
3. Opponent. This cannot be the character; normally it is some tangible force that the character is struggling against.
4. Plan. This involves how the character is going to go about defeating the opponent and achieving his or her desire.
5. Battle. This is the big finale, and can be resolved with an actual action or just words.
6. Self Revelation. This normally takes place during the battle when the character finally realizes his or her need.
7. New Equilibrium. This is the ending, how the character ends up. It could be anything from happy, sad, not getting the need, getting the need, dead, getting what they want but not being happy, not getting what they want but being happy... the list goes on and on. Every book needs this.

So, what was cool about this was that I was able to outline this in all three of my main characters. Since my novel is told in three perspectives, all three characters have to have their own need, weakness, desire, opponent, plan, battle, self revelation, and new equilibrium. I know what all of those are now!!!

This is turning out to be a VERY benificial conference. I'm glad I came.

Well, off to get coffee and get ready!

Status

Tomorrow is the Writer's Conference. Woooopppppeeeeeee!!

Can you tell I'm excited?

After a looooooong 7 hour drive, I am home at my mom's house. And I am exhausted.

Yet, I am still going dancing in 15 minutes.

This is gonna be a wiiiiild weekend! Haha!

Barely Awake

Yesterday was Jo's 22nd birthday. It's so funny that he's now two years older than me and he's been able to drink legally for a year. We went to a fairly expensive sushi bar with some good friends who love sushi as much as we do (and it's hard to find a good sushi bar in NorCal because you're far from the ocean) and Jo tried sake for the first time. He loved the hot sake but, of course, he's a lightweight (as am I), so he felt the effects right away. I actually had a tiny sip of it, but it was kind of cold by that time. I liked it but I still would have liked to have tried it hot. 3 1/2 more months until I can!

I also had a job interview yesterday.

I've needed a part-time job for quite a while now. I get just enough money from the government to get by; however, if any of my friends want to go to a movie, I'm scraping the barrel for every last dollar. In reality, I only need about 12 hours of work. An extra $150-$200 a month would just be fantastic! If I got this job, I'd be working at one of the front desks at the university, assisting students on how to get places on campus. I could do that! 5 years of customer service experience right here! I think the interview went fairly well and, supposedly, I'm going to find out if I either get a second interview or just get the job or didn't get anything on the 1st of October, the day I'm driving down to the Writers Conference. So, I'll either be coming home to my mom with a "yaaaay!" or an "awww... darn."

We'll just have to wait and see.

I keep thinking about the conference, which is literally a week a way. I know that I have articles to edit this weekend, a chapter to finish for my class (yes, we finally get to FINISH the chapter in my Computer class), and a Human Sexuality test to study for but all I want to do is write. I've written the Prologue and the first part of Chapter One, but, other than that, I'm finding it hard to find time to write this week.

However, I've been debating on posting a bit of my prologue here. What do you all think of that idea? I'm mostly afraid that someone would steal it.

I've also discovered that I am tired all the time now. I never thought that was possible but it's true. I'm pretty used to it now and the only time when it ever consumes me is in the morning. For example, I got up at 9am this morning, ate a bowl of cereal, and then sat back down on my bed to write a blog entry. At 10:15am, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of total exhaustion and could barely keep my eyes open, so I set my laptop aside and laid down, thinking I would close my eyes for just a couple of minutes. I woke again at 11am and got up to do some chores before Jo's mom got here. And then it was go go go from then on, working on my Human Sexuality study guide and studying for my Statistics test. I just don't seem to have time for anything until 11pm, unless I try to get some writing in during the middle of the day. It's sad.

This aside, I was shocked to learn that my university's health center ordered 1,000 flu shots and they ran out in just 2 days. Being a health major and in the health professionals club, that's just awesome to me! I cant wait for the H1N1 shots to come out so I can get myself vaccinated.

8 days until Writers Conference!!

On Writing and Conferences

I hate getting geared up and ready to go and then having to halt without even beginning.

That's how I feel about my writing at the moment. The conference is less that 2 months away and I have promised my self that I would finished my 2nd draft outline by the time that I got there. If not started my second draft already. However, like some brick thrown at my head, I am in need of inspiration.

Oddly enough, this is partially why I am going to the conference. Inspiration. And also to make my second draft sound amazingly fantastic so I dont have to do too much with my 3rd draft. (I don't know how many drafts my novel will take before I am satisfied with sending it to a publishing company.)

If I was 8 again, writing my stories for the first time (I began writing in 3rd grade and haven't stopped since), then I would consider taking my characters aside and having a sit down (or slap down) with them. I would tell Jacob to be more stubborn, Tristen to figure out what was going on, and Ellion to move it a long. But, unfortunately, they wouldn't listen to me. Especially Jacob, since he's been part of my character collection since I was in 4th grade and has not left me since.

My block could be partially due to the fact that I'm at my aunt and uncles, dealing with a screaming 5 and 7 year old when I'm not working at my uncle's restaurant. But that's no excuse! So I will slap myself on the hand and try to finish a chapter outline today.

Speaking of the conference, I had lunch with my grandfather yesterday, who found out that I don't have two cents to keep myself going (which is why I am here, working for my uncle, 5 hours away from my beautiful apartment, my adorable gecko, and my boyfriend). He started asking me all these questions about the conference, like "would it help the writing of your novel" and "what kinds of classes are you taking." Suddenly, before I knew it, he was giving me the money that I needed for the conference, telling me that I deserved it. (Yes... well... I am getting published in September, so I agree with that statement.)

So thank you grandpa for all of your help! I am now even more excited to go since I have the funds to pay the fees!