Recently, I've received some emails from some pretty angry readers and I'd like to apologize here for the long wait since my last update. Status update: regarding the next chapter for Through Me, I have 15 pages. I'm not lying and I'm not making something up to pacify you guys.
Your next question might probably run something along the lines of: "Well, why don't you just post the goddamn thing then?"
Because I don't want to. Not because I adore making you all wait and I love receiving hate mail, but because I don't love the chapter in its current condition and it's already in its third rewrite. Something isn't jiving. However, in response to some readers' concerns, I can promise you that the story will be finished and I haven't abandoned it yet. I just need to work on it longer.
Why is it taking me so long? Because of school. And also, because of friends and the other distractions that come along with life. Yes, I'm aware some of you have said school can't be that busy, but I do like to spend the few breaks I have with friends and family sometimes. Or yes, to laze around and watch a little bit of TV. Call me weak, but I can't stop myself from slacking off with some mindless breathing moments too at times.
And why haven't I updated my blog in a while? Microbiology, Immunology, and General Pathology. I just finished a 15 page path essay, prepped for tomorrow's small group discussion on abscesses and septic shock, and I have to start cramming for Monday's exam. I would also possibly like to curl up in a ball and sleep too.
I can certainly update the blog with posts of daily blabbering about work, but the response I received since my last post didn't exactly go over too well ... and I began to feel guilty instead. Perhaps these readers think I should be working on the next chapter instead of blogging? Perhaps they'd rather wait for a post about an actual chapter update? Yep, I got intimidated. And just uncertain. I definitely understand the frustrations of readers when they have to wait and wait and wait ... only to find nothing, nope, no update yet. And I was just upset because I didn't have anything substantial to appease these readers. Not yet. So I kinda walled myself off, dropped everything else, and focused on school, thinking that "Okay, soon, I will post when I get the next chapter out. Soon."
Yeah, okay. Too bad getting the next chapter out hasn't been working out so far. Writing's definitely been on the backburner these past months and I'm sorry to say that it'd probably continue until summertime, at the very least. This course has exams and presentations mixed in with essays, lab reports, and so much other tedious work that I could scream. Plus, it starts 8am daily. Which means I wake up 5:30am daily. I average about five hours of sleep a night. I haven't been the kindest soul in the mornings this past year.
The semi-good news though? Thanks to all your patience and understanding the previous months, I was able to really do nothing but focus on my Pharmacology class and I'm happy to report I got an A? Yay?
And for those who are interested in some random details about my recent non-life, I practiced giving PPD shots (The PPD shot is injected under the top layer of skin, causing a blister to form and it's a common test given to diagnose tuberculosis. I'm sure most of you have received this test before for school or work forms and what not) the other day. This means me giving my very first injection to a fellow classmate and her returning the favor. Only her needle slipped out the first time before she could administer the saline solution and she had to do it twice. I am self-sacrificing. Kidding, I didn't mind because she did it very well and it was relatively painless. We all ended the day at the clinic with our very own teeny bubbles on our arms. Gold stars and stickers? Pfft, those are for babies.
Otherwise, I know, I suck. And I'm sorry for everything. I will try to fit in more writing, but I honestly am getting buried by the workload at this moment. Parents are also away on vacation for three weeks and us spoiled spawn of theirs are still figuring out how to survive on a day-to-day basis. My brother claims he's not hungry every time I ask him what he wants for dinner. Either he's going on a diet or he isn't quite willing to entrust his stomach and I suppose, his quality of life in my clumsy chef hands. What? Food poisoning's treatable.
If you wish to kick me off your reading lists, I completely understand. All I can offer right now are my meek apologies. And if you can find it in your hearts to lay off on the hate mail for now, I'd appreciate it too. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your time and patience.
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Nothing New
I finished up my board exams and I've been doing ... pretty much nothing the past week. Hung out with friends and family, watched 500 Days of Summer
(loved!), played Guitar Hero, went to the casino, gorged myself at buffets, and bummed around at home. It's a good life.
Except I'm trying to write and I feel incredibly unproductive. I've been in a major funk. My cousin wants to throttle me. I have 9 pages for TM 28, but every time I pull up the document, my heart screams "WHAT NOW!" and then my brain shuts down when I try to figure out the details. So then I wind up sitting in front of the computer, staring blankly at the screen for an hour or so. Same goes for the other non-FP novel I've been working on. Seven pages here and there and then nada. I will finish TM sooner or later if it kills me. I only have three more chapters or so to go! Get a movin', brain!
Alas, days of freedom are dwindling down again. Classes start this Friday. I just bought my Physiology books and am looking into US Health Care Policy and Behavioral Med bks for later. I also need to prep for another med school interview. Five hour drive, dang. It's going to be an overnight trip and I'm heading off tomorrow so by the time everything wraps up, I'll have enough time to ... sleep before I get back to school. And cue sadness.
Random events: my brother recently sprained his ankle during a basketball game. The dude who tripped him was actually on his team so it was very "WTH?" So my brother's hobbling around the house from his room to the TV to my room these days, bored.
More randomness. I got attacked by a mosquito again and I have an inflamed lump the size of a golf ball on my ankle. So my brother and I are both limping pathetically now.
My friend recently went to be an extra in that new Queen Latifah movie, Just Wright
. Haha, it's really out of nowhere, but she was bored and she showed up and got some cash for sitting and standing around. She was supposed to be part of the audience for a basketball game and she got to sit front row. She was also in several scenes where she had to walk around Queen Latifah and she totally tripped once. Fail. But I really want to see the movie now just to point her teeny face out and be like "SEE THAT DORK? I KNOW THAT DORK!" Especially if they actually on the rare chances keep in that tripping scene. I love my friends.
Also, tried to participate in that Cash for Clunkers deal to get a new car, but things didn't pan out. Bye bye, pretty Camry.
Another friend has been off to Tokyo for a week now, having the time of her life while I'm rotting here, and she promised me a lot of candy. Cool candy. See this, K? I have this down in writing and public now. No backsies.
Missed my cousin's wedding, but I got a lot of pictures and some videos of the events. They tried to dance down the aisle a la JK Wedding Style, but it was kinda funny since, in the words of my brother, "it was more like shy Asian shuffling". And my cousin is a party pooper. It looked like my cousin's bride was ecstatically waving her bouquet in the air while my cousin resolutely marched down the aisle as if he was trying not to associate himself with this shenanigan. My mom joked that the bride seemed thrilled that she finally managed to reel in my cousin.
(loved!), played Guitar Hero, went to the casino, gorged myself at buffets, and bummed around at home. It's a good life.Except I'm trying to write and I feel incredibly unproductive. I've been in a major funk. My cousin wants to throttle me. I have 9 pages for TM 28, but every time I pull up the document, my heart screams "WHAT NOW!" and then my brain shuts down when I try to figure out the details. So then I wind up sitting in front of the computer, staring blankly at the screen for an hour or so. Same goes for the other non-FP novel I've been working on. Seven pages here and there and then nada. I will finish TM sooner or later if it kills me. I only have three more chapters or so to go! Get a movin', brain!
Alas, days of freedom are dwindling down again. Classes start this Friday. I just bought my Physiology books and am looking into US Health Care Policy and Behavioral Med bks for later. I also need to prep for another med school interview. Five hour drive, dang. It's going to be an overnight trip and I'm heading off tomorrow so by the time everything wraps up, I'll have enough time to ... sleep before I get back to school. And cue sadness.
Random events: my brother recently sprained his ankle during a basketball game. The dude who tripped him was actually on his team so it was very "WTH?" So my brother's hobbling around the house from his room to the TV to my room these days, bored.
More randomness. I got attacked by a mosquito again and I have an inflamed lump the size of a golf ball on my ankle. So my brother and I are both limping pathetically now.
My friend recently went to be an extra in that new Queen Latifah movie, Just Wright
. Haha, it's really out of nowhere, but she was bored and she showed up and got some cash for sitting and standing around. She was supposed to be part of the audience for a basketball game and she got to sit front row. She was also in several scenes where she had to walk around Queen Latifah and she totally tripped once. Fail. But I really want to see the movie now just to point her teeny face out and be like "SEE THAT DORK? I KNOW THAT DORK!" Especially if they actually on the rare chances keep in that tripping scene. I love my friends.Also, tried to participate in that Cash for Clunkers deal to get a new car, but things didn't pan out. Bye bye, pretty Camry.
Another friend has been off to Tokyo for a week now, having the time of her life while I'm rotting here, and she promised me a lot of candy. Cool candy. See this, K? I have this down in writing and public now. No backsies.
Missed my cousin's wedding, but I got a lot of pictures and some videos of the events. They tried to dance down the aisle a la JK Wedding Style, but it was kinda funny since, in the words of my brother, "it was more like shy Asian shuffling". And my cousin is a party pooper. It looked like my cousin's bride was ecstatically waving her bouquet in the air while my cousin resolutely marched down the aisle as if he was trying not to associate himself with this shenanigan. My mom joked that the bride seemed thrilled that she finally managed to reel in my cousin.
The Wedding Cakes - Cuteness, it was made up of tiny vanilla and strawberry cupcakes.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Say What?
I wasn't going to mention the whole plagiarism incident again, but the girl who plagiarized my story didn't take the initiative to remove the story of her own accord so earlier in the night, I went and signed up at Winglin to ask the administrators for their help.
And that led to me going through the comments left on "her" story just to see what exactly has she been saying and how the readers have been responding. At first, you know, it was kinda amusing in a "Are you for real." kinda way seeing the way she responded to readers, thanking them and telling them to comment more because it'll give her ideas, but the more I read, the more, ah, pissed off I got.
Because instead of the attention-seeking young girl I imagined her to be, she started to come off as this high and mighty writer who was encouraging people to write and continue their fanfics and noting how sad that some writers never update and abandon their works and ...
Oh, for god's sake. Hypocrite, much?
One of her many gems of wisdom:
Sighs, I'm sorry, please put up with me. I know I should go the high road and just stop thinking nasty thoughts. You know, cleansing breath, good karma, all that jazz.
Still. If I ever find out who this girl is in real life ... heh.
Anyway! I still need to get the rest of the lab stuff down for my practical on Friday and prepare for my mock interview with the Dean that's immediately following my exam.
But in response to some concerns that I might remove False Facades, rest assured. I probably won't be doing anything to the story. I removed it once before, remember? And during that time, I realized that it wasn't fair to suddenly wipe out what had been left on the site, free for your eyes and comments, for years. Especially since the plagiarists probably had saved copies on file while the readers who really deserved to read the story were just left hanging.
I also realized that just because I removed the story, it unfortunately doesn't mean that certain readers, again, haven't already made personal copies and that some of them might have them ready at hand to distribute and share without my consent. Case in point, I checked the dates of this recent plagiarism case and I believe this girl actually posted up the story during the period of time False Facades had been removed. I think by having the full story back up, it might perhaps help me in tracking down more plagiarists; i.e. there's more of the original story bits to match with copies out there in Google searches.
More importantly, unlike the works of many other authors who have been hit with plagiarism, False Facades is nowhere near polished. It was written when I was very young and while I'm dabbling in revisions in private, I think this draft, which retains its rough and fluffy state, will always have this nostalgic appeal to me and some readers. Without its bizarre, over-the-top sort of humor, the story just wouldn't be the same and I feel that no matter how embarrassingly written certain areas were, I'd like to keep this draft out there. Just for fun. It was the original that had started me off on Fictionpress and drew the attention of most of my readers now and I think it deserves to be kept around to show how far I've developed and how much further I still need to go.
Plus, unlike the authors who are actively protecting their works for publishing interests, I definitely know that while False Facades might make for a light affair, some wacky sitcom, or even a cartoon, I doubt it will ever see the light of day in the hardcore publishing industry. (I'm sorry, FF, but it's true. Don't fret, I still love you the same.)
Thus, I came to this realization that this story is perfect to be left open and free for your perusal and entertainment. Nothing serious, everything at the whims of the characters. While I might still finish up revisions (yeah, some day in the far off shiny future) and self-publish it on LuLu.com, I'm more interested in doing so in order to attain a better copyright on the story so the draft will most likely always be around on Fictionpress.
What this does mean though - and I've been thinking long and hard about the future of FP - is that I probably, sadly, will never be able to post anything with more original ideas. I still want to write for fun and hone my writing (though I wonder how the fear of plagiarism's going to ultimately affect my posting, if I'll ever hesitate over a chapter one day and worry "I need to protect and hide this from the world."), but I'll probably stick to revamping cliches and we'll see how things goes. Do you guys have any favorite cliches you particularly enjoy?
Until then, I'll stick to finishing up Through Me and after that ... we'll see.
And that led to me going through the comments left on "her" story just to see what exactly has she been saying and how the readers have been responding. At first, you know, it was kinda amusing in a "Are you for real." kinda way seeing the way she responded to readers, thanking them and telling them to comment more because it'll give her ideas, but the more I read, the more, ah, pissed off I got.
Because instead of the attention-seeking young girl I imagined her to be, she started to come off as this high and mighty writer who was encouraging people to write and continue their fanfics and noting how sad that some writers never update and abandon their works and ...
Oh, for god's sake. Hypocrite, much?
One of her many gems of wisdom:
Katrina -- 24 May 2008 at 12:13 a.m.And ...
I encourage other fanfic authors to finish their work too. I have seen a lot of kimerald fanfics out there but only a few got updated and finished. After a couple of chapters they were just left forgotten. It was sayang cause some stories had a very good and unique plot and some started out really well. I hope some authors will read this and have a little inspiration to finish what they started. I also encourage other fans to write fics too. I know you guys got lots of creative ideas.:)
Katrina <email address removed> -- 24 May 2008 at 12:03 a.m.AND!
thanks again for reading.
--
angelica, crimson rose and tanya- thank you for the comment.
--
pink_butterfly and bisangni- yes crazy love will be ending soon. I know you guys hated being bitin, sad but this has to end. I don't have a new story right now to replace crazy love. I can't even promise that I will have the pleasure of time to write another one since school has been taking most of my time. I am actually very glad that you liked this story, my first ever fanfic story. Thank you all for reading . Till my next update.
Katrina -- 22 April 2008 at 6:41 a.m.So now her dear readers have printed copies of "her" story. Good going, plagiarist. Thanks.
thank you for the comments.
angelica- wow, you really got the whole story printed on paper? thank you for the kind words. :)
hope you like this chapter.
HAppy Birthday Kim Chiu!
Sighs, I'm sorry, please put up with me. I know I should go the high road and just stop thinking nasty thoughts. You know, cleansing breath, good karma, all that jazz.
Still. If I ever find out who this girl is in real life ... heh.
Anyway! I still need to get the rest of the lab stuff down for my practical on Friday and prepare for my mock interview with the Dean that's immediately following my exam.
But in response to some concerns that I might remove False Facades, rest assured. I probably won't be doing anything to the story. I removed it once before, remember? And during that time, I realized that it wasn't fair to suddenly wipe out what had been left on the site, free for your eyes and comments, for years. Especially since the plagiarists probably had saved copies on file while the readers who really deserved to read the story were just left hanging.
I also realized that just because I removed the story, it unfortunately doesn't mean that certain readers, again, haven't already made personal copies and that some of them might have them ready at hand to distribute and share without my consent. Case in point, I checked the dates of this recent plagiarism case and I believe this girl actually posted up the story during the period of time False Facades had been removed. I think by having the full story back up, it might perhaps help me in tracking down more plagiarists; i.e. there's more of the original story bits to match with copies out there in Google searches.
More importantly, unlike the works of many other authors who have been hit with plagiarism, False Facades is nowhere near polished. It was written when I was very young and while I'm dabbling in revisions in private, I think this draft, which retains its rough and fluffy state, will always have this nostalgic appeal to me and some readers. Without its bizarre, over-the-top sort of humor, the story just wouldn't be the same and I feel that no matter how embarrassingly written certain areas were, I'd like to keep this draft out there. Just for fun. It was the original that had started me off on Fictionpress and drew the attention of most of my readers now and I think it deserves to be kept around to show how far I've developed and how much further I still need to go.
Plus, unlike the authors who are actively protecting their works for publishing interests, I definitely know that while False Facades might make for a light affair, some wacky sitcom, or even a cartoon, I doubt it will ever see the light of day in the hardcore publishing industry. (I'm sorry, FF, but it's true. Don't fret, I still love you the same.)
Thus, I came to this realization that this story is perfect to be left open and free for your perusal and entertainment. Nothing serious, everything at the whims of the characters. While I might still finish up revisions (yeah, some day in the far off shiny future) and self-publish it on LuLu.com, I'm more interested in doing so in order to attain a better copyright on the story so the draft will most likely always be around on Fictionpress.
What this does mean though - and I've been thinking long and hard about the future of FP - is that I probably, sadly, will never be able to post anything with more original ideas. I still want to write for fun and hone my writing (though I wonder how the fear of plagiarism's going to ultimately affect my posting, if I'll ever hesitate over a chapter one day and worry "I need to protect and hide this from the world."), but I'll probably stick to revamping cliches and we'll see how things goes. Do you guys have any favorite cliches you particularly enjoy?
Until then, I'll stick to finishing up Through Me and after that ... we'll see.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Memorial Day Weekend & FP Plagiarism
Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend! I went to one banquet family reunion and two BBQs and gorged on way too much food. It was a nice break.
Unfortunately, I believe I'm practically five months behind on responses so I hope most readers can get their answers from this blog.
I know. I suck. I haven't updated in ages. I'm sorry. Super sorry!
I just finished Histology, which was a packed course with an exam every week. I had my board exam last Friday and ... now we start Neuroscience.
Friends and family think I'm joking when I say I'm going back to school tomorrow. They're like "Silly! It's summer vacation now!"
No ... it's your summer vacation. It's my start to a brand new course. I'll be rolling out sometime in July so wait for me then before you guys start having fun, yeah?
Yes, I'm quite depressed. I'll try to fit writing in there somewhere.
Of other bad news, I recently received messages from readers about plagiarism issues and the uproar in the FP community over how plagiarism had affected a major FP writer, Myrika. I believe she not only had to deal with multiple cases of people posting her story on other sites, but some of them had the nerve to try to slap the story up onto Lulu.com for profit. Sadly, Myrika has made the decision to remove her stories and stop posting on Fictionpress.
I generally like to duck in and out of FP.com to browse random stories and favorites and while I haven't been able to follow all of Myrika's stories, I'll have to be blind not to know that she is one of the top writers on the site - one of the most responsible, proliferate and talented ones with a way with words and timely updates. We've been around Fictionpress for roughly the same time period - I remember when I first started out, she was working on her earlier stories and since then, she's churned out quite a list of impressive works (compared to my measly ... 3. Okay, 2.5 stories. Okay, fine, 1.75. Ouch.) She's a truly dedicated writer and no one - especially not someone who has spent so much time on her pieces - deserve such disrespect, such blatant theft of her works.
I respect her decision to remove her works and work on her writings in private. I respect her calm manner in addressing all her readers and her resolve to protect her stories. I know sooner or later, she can get her polished works published and that would truly be the reward she and her loyal readers deserve for all these years of devoted writing and support. She will be missed on FP, of course, but perhaps, we can soon look forward to a whole new era of published writers stemming from Fictionpress origins? Like, we can soon be properly bedazzled by them in their new and sparkling ... Super Saiyan forms. (Sorry, Dragon Ball references were all I can think of.)
I've certainly heard about several writers making their attempts toward or are already well along their road to publishing. Ooh la la.
And then there are the rest of us still hanging around on Fictionpress for our hobbies. I've recently noticed some very nice stories and I'll try to make a point of noting new kickass writers soon. Everyone who enjoys writing have my respect as long as they, in return, have respect for all others - writers and readers included - and are truly continuing to hone their skills with their own ideas and talents.
May everything work out for everyone who puts in their greatest efforts. Karma's great at that.
Unfortunately, I believe I'm practically five months behind on responses so I hope most readers can get their answers from this blog.
I know. I suck. I haven't updated in ages. I'm sorry. Super sorry!
I just finished Histology, which was a packed course with an exam every week. I had my board exam last Friday and ... now we start Neuroscience.
Friends and family think I'm joking when I say I'm going back to school tomorrow. They're like "Silly! It's summer vacation now!"
No ... it's your summer vacation. It's my start to a brand new course. I'll be rolling out sometime in July so wait for me then before you guys start having fun, yeah?
Yes, I'm quite depressed. I'll try to fit writing in there somewhere.
Of other bad news, I recently received messages from readers about plagiarism issues and the uproar in the FP community over how plagiarism had affected a major FP writer, Myrika. I believe she not only had to deal with multiple cases of people posting her story on other sites, but some of them had the nerve to try to slap the story up onto Lulu.com for profit. Sadly, Myrika has made the decision to remove her stories and stop posting on Fictionpress.
I generally like to duck in and out of FP.com to browse random stories and favorites and while I haven't been able to follow all of Myrika's stories, I'll have to be blind not to know that she is one of the top writers on the site - one of the most responsible, proliferate and talented ones with a way with words and timely updates. We've been around Fictionpress for roughly the same time period - I remember when I first started out, she was working on her earlier stories and since then, she's churned out quite a list of impressive works (compared to my measly ... 3. Okay, 2.5 stories. Okay, fine, 1.75. Ouch.) She's a truly dedicated writer and no one - especially not someone who has spent so much time on her pieces - deserve such disrespect, such blatant theft of her works.
I respect her decision to remove her works and work on her writings in private. I respect her calm manner in addressing all her readers and her resolve to protect her stories. I know sooner or later, she can get her polished works published and that would truly be the reward she and her loyal readers deserve for all these years of devoted writing and support. She will be missed on FP, of course, but perhaps, we can soon look forward to a whole new era of published writers stemming from Fictionpress origins? Like, we can soon be properly bedazzled by them in their new and sparkling ... Super Saiyan forms. (Sorry, Dragon Ball references were all I can think of.)
I've certainly heard about several writers making their attempts toward or are already well along their road to publishing. Ooh la la.
And then there are the rest of us still hanging around on Fictionpress for our hobbies. I've recently noticed some very nice stories and I'll try to make a point of noting new kickass writers soon. Everyone who enjoys writing have my respect as long as they, in return, have respect for all others - writers and readers included - and are truly continuing to hone their skills with their own ideas and talents.
May everything work out for everyone who puts in their greatest efforts. Karma's great at that.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day! I hope everybody had a lovely, lovely day with their families and loved ones. We celebrated Mother's Day a tad earlier this year and my brother and I took our parents out for dinner on Wednesday night since Dad was home from work as well. They're the best parents ever and they do spoil me entirely too much. LOVE!
Anyway, in other news, I'm okay! I'm alive! Everyone can rest assured that I didn't bring home swine flu with me from Cancun. Nor did my friends. I think. I don't know about that guy who almost got arrested for having sex on the beach - nah, he's fine. No flu symptoms and he paid the cop off.
If only that was a joke.
I had my latest exam last Monday and I have another one coming up this Friday. I got two hours of sleep last Sunday and nearly had a nervous breakdown at 3 AM because I couldn't seem to get the material down, but the test went better than I expected.
HOWEVER! I didn't bubble in two of the correct answers because I'm a scantron fail kinda girl so ... goodbye, 5 points. I want to punch someone.
After having an exam every single week these past few months, it's somewhat of a sad breather when our last exam isn't immediately this Monday. Too bad there will be five more days of information than the last one. My friend destroyed my happy bubble when she told me that the reproductive systems, male and female, each had two chapters.
My reaction was basically: "LIES! THERE IS NO WAY A CHAPTER IS DEVOTED TO SPERM ALONE! STOP LYING TO ME, BAD FRIEND!"
She flipped to the chapter - Spermatogenesis - and I realized histology is cruel.
"Why - why do sperm get a chapter by itself?" I babbled. "Even the urinary system is just one massively long chapter. IT DOESN'T DESERVE ONE WHOLE CHAPTER!"
Naturally, of course, it would be a guy who'd take the time to inform me with a smug smile, "But it's important."
Important, my -
Other news: I got a haircut. Finally. My friend was getting ready to chop my hair for me because I was always searching for split ends during lecture. I have sorta side bangs now.
Also, I recently won a writing contest and they awarded me a $75 Amazon gift card. Score!
Other than that, no real good news and I wonder why I'm so unmotivated these days. These past few years, actually. I just can't seem to sit still and focus. Well, that's how it goes. Keep on truckin'!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
SKoW Hall of Fame
I was inducted into the SKoW Hall of Fame yesterday night and they gave me these pretty, spanking new banner and avatar. I think the SKoW staff and the owner, Jenina, have always outdone themselves and their hard work to recognize writers' own hard work (especially since they and us - we all don't get paid) is one of the top examples of how certain members of the online Fictionpress community truly rock my socks off.
In addition, thanks must go to all those readers who took the time to read, review, nominate and vote for their favorite stories. Without them, none of this could have been possible.
Look! Pretty graphics by their special graphics specialist, Cheryl! (You should check out the other graphics she made for the rest of the inductees - some of them took my breath away. If I could, I would put all my favorites up here, but then that's probably dorky and the other writers may not appreciate silly me displaying a row of THEIR graphics like they belong to my own personalharem collection. Pokemon, much? Kickass Author, I choose you!)
But here are mine:
I'm going to miss my equally cool avatar I got from SKoW Round 6, but all the other cool kids are updating their profiles all the time so I guess I should get with the program too.
Also, it's my badge to show that I am antiquated now and my name should no longer pop up again in the nomination process because readers are incredibly sick and tired of seeing me again (Ew, Maeven again? I thought she's collecting pension in Florida by now.) - yah, I joke, but no really, that's how it is. Haha, so keep an eye out for new blood and excellent stories and nominate your heart out! I believe the nomination period for SKoW Round 7 just started, ooh.
One of these days, I should definitely write up entries for stories I feel deserve way more attention. Yup!
In addition, thanks must go to all those readers who took the time to read, review, nominate and vote for their favorite stories. Without them, none of this could have been possible.
Look! Pretty graphics by their special graphics specialist, Cheryl! (You should check out the other graphics she made for the rest of the inductees - some of them took my breath away. If I could, I would put all my favorites up here, but then that's probably dorky and the other writers may not appreciate silly me displaying a row of THEIR graphics like they belong to my own personal
But here are mine:
I'm going to miss my equally cool avatar I got from SKoW Round 6, but all the other cool kids are updating their profiles all the time so I guess I should get with the program too.
Also, it's my badge to show that I am antiquated now and my name should no longer pop up again in the nomination process because readers are incredibly sick and tired of seeing me again (Ew, Maeven again? I thought she's collecting pension in Florida by now.) - yah, I joke, but no really, that's how it is. Haha, so keep an eye out for new blood and excellent stories and nominate your heart out! I believe the nomination period for SKoW Round 7 just started, ooh.
One of these days, I should definitely write up entries for stories I feel deserve way more attention. Yup!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Second Day
On the second day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
False Facades Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 have been reposted. By the way, I've already gotten a few messages again about how the story reminds them of a certain manga, anime, TV drama, movie, etc. Yes, it may remind you of certain stories, but please don't leave a message with this underlying implication that I had somehow plagiarized another story. After I've had my story plagiarized several times myself, I don't take accusations of plagiarism too kindly.
The notion of copying someone's idea was one of my pet peeves back when I first uploaded this story and I'd like to kindly remind readers that just because a story has certain similar elements to another story doesn't mean that the author necessarily plagiarized. Based on your criteria, this would indicate that all cliches are basically copies of each other - all those vampire with mortal girl, best friends falling in love, step-sibling love, rivals-turned-to-lovers stories should all sue each other for copyrights.
Plagiarism is the exact copy or near rewording of the same exact scenes, lines, and dialogue. A post on the non-infringability of plots and/or ideas by published author Justine Larbalestier summarizes points from blogger, Candy, most succinctly: "You can’t copyright a plot or an idea. You can only copyright the specific expression of that plot or idea as recorded in some sort of tangible form. Think about the nightmare of attempting to nail down and legislate a plot or idea for a story. How specific would you have to be before you could declare something unique enough to copyright? i.e. 'An angst-ridden story about a vampire falling in love with a human.' Dude, if you can copyright that and collect a small fee every time somebody published that story, you could have your own giant pool of gold coins to swim in, Scrooge McDuck-stylee."
Please keep an open mind. I can swear on my life that False Facades is an original writing of mine, from its characters to the dialogue, and I will never copy someone else's hard work.
I honestly never even heard of Hana Kimi before I published False Facades on Fictionpress. And to those who have told me that the story is a copy of "She's The Man", the movie came out in 2006, way after I put up the story in 2003.
And I believe that asides from the crossdressing girl, the plot line isn't really the same as these other stories. I think.
But you all are entitled to your own opinions and the more I try to defend the writing, the more I may seem like a snotty know-it-all or something. :) So in the end, I can only say that I hope you'll still enjoy the story as it is. That's all!
Thanks.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The World Wants Me to be a Public Speaker
My genius French professor decided on Tuesday that we should give short presentations on various cities in France for sometime next week. This isn't so bad because it seems short and relatively easy.
Then I received an email from one of the editors of the literary magazine that had published a short story of mine a while back. Short and brief, it was a simple invitation for me to read sections from my story at one of those cafe reading nights. Then she emailed me again with more details, stressing that she and the other editor hoped that I will accept.
My throat closed up.
I've realized that I'm an intensely private person. I like to think things through - sometimes, I tend to overthink things to the point where my friends and family want to smack me. I regret moments when I post things or say things too rashly and I can dwell on mistakes for days.
But all's well when I'm still relatively hidden. I can accept all kinds of harsh comments or pointedly cutting reviews. I can nod and take it in stride, accept everything as tidbits on how to improve my writing.
To stand out there in the public though ... all my senses seem particularly heightened. Everything seems brighter, hotter, more suffocating, more painful.
I remember, way back in high school, I had received Honorable Mention in the Bertelsmann Random House, Inc. Creative Writing Competition during my senior year, but it was during a time when writing was still mainly my secret and I had no courage to attend the award ceremony by myself.
Only later, when I received my gift package and award by Fedex, did my parents find out about the details. They weren't exactly pleased, but I think they'd been pretty much resigned to the fact that it's the way I am.
Even last year's fiction award ceremony featured me sitting nervously in the back row with my friends prodding me up on both sides. My presenter had to search for my presence in the audience before making his speech and I just made a beeline up - shook hands awkwardly - out the doors.
I'm a wimp.
I think that my short stories have always held more pieces of myself than anything I'd ever attempted to try to voice out loud. For some reason, they've been the places where I'd more often than not laid out my heart and tears, but I don't believe they will ever see the light of day unless it's for a professor or a judge's remote eyes. Even now, my Fictionpress postings aren't something that I'd necessarily wrenched out of from somewhere deep within me - they're the types of stories I jot down for shameless fun and what I feel can be sent forth in the world without worries about people plagiarizing an extremely personal account of mine. Like some weird form of protective device?
Then False Facades was plagiarized. Several times.
And I quickly realized that no matter how rough my writing can get, I can't relinquish my hold on these stories. To me, taking an awful draft of mine is no different from stealing one of my more polished works. Is it like a mother loving all of her children equally, in spite of the fact that some of them may drive her completely batty and she's just counting the days until they fly the coop?
Either way, I think I'm losing my zany, flighty spirit I've set aside for Fictionpress fun.
I'm more wary now.
And I think it affects my writing more than I'm willing to admit. I'm not sure if it's necessarily a good thing. I may be obsessed with trying to write better these days, but is it good for my mental health to lose the remnants of my freewheeling, unrestrained style that I'd kept solely to let loose?
I need to get back to just simply enjoying writing again. I've signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year solely for this purpose, but I hesitate to say this out loud. With my sleepless schedule, I may not finish, but I hope the deadline challenge will allow me to just freewrite what I've been thinking too hard about these days. Hopefully. Maybe. I don't know. I do have some new ideas though and it'll be nice to use this time to test new waters. I'm thinking since the whole point of this month is to basically bang out as much words as possible (though they offer 50,000 words as the finish line), this can be a freeing experience and I need not spend so much time obsessing over each word and sentence structure. Maybe. In these recent years, I've been getting really anal for some reason and to let go of this anxious controlling instinct I've developed, this might just add to my burden rather than offer relief. I picture fingers itching and skin crawling.
Wow, how did the topic of presentations get to this long reflection on writing? Huh.
I think school's been getting me down. I have quizzes and exams coming up again (yeah, when did they ever stop again?) and I feel so drained these days. So blank.
Then I received an email from one of the editors of the literary magazine that had published a short story of mine a while back. Short and brief, it was a simple invitation for me to read sections from my story at one of those cafe reading nights. Then she emailed me again with more details, stressing that she and the other editor hoped that I will accept.
My throat closed up.
I've realized that I'm an intensely private person. I like to think things through - sometimes, I tend to overthink things to the point where my friends and family want to smack me. I regret moments when I post things or say things too rashly and I can dwell on mistakes for days.
But all's well when I'm still relatively hidden. I can accept all kinds of harsh comments or pointedly cutting reviews. I can nod and take it in stride, accept everything as tidbits on how to improve my writing.
To stand out there in the public though ... all my senses seem particularly heightened. Everything seems brighter, hotter, more suffocating, more painful.
I remember, way back in high school, I had received Honorable Mention in the Bertelsmann Random House, Inc. Creative Writing Competition during my senior year, but it was during a time when writing was still mainly my secret and I had no courage to attend the award ceremony by myself.
Only later, when I received my gift package and award by Fedex, did my parents find out about the details. They weren't exactly pleased, but I think they'd been pretty much resigned to the fact that it's the way I am.
Even last year's fiction award ceremony featured me sitting nervously in the back row with my friends prodding me up on both sides. My presenter had to search for my presence in the audience before making his speech and I just made a beeline up - shook hands awkwardly - out the doors.
I'm a wimp.
I think that my short stories have always held more pieces of myself than anything I'd ever attempted to try to voice out loud. For some reason, they've been the places where I'd more often than not laid out my heart and tears, but I don't believe they will ever see the light of day unless it's for a professor or a judge's remote eyes. Even now, my Fictionpress postings aren't something that I'd necessarily wrenched out of from somewhere deep within me - they're the types of stories I jot down for shameless fun and what I feel can be sent forth in the world without worries about people plagiarizing an extremely personal account of mine. Like some weird form of protective device?
Then False Facades was plagiarized. Several times.
And I quickly realized that no matter how rough my writing can get, I can't relinquish my hold on these stories. To me, taking an awful draft of mine is no different from stealing one of my more polished works. Is it like a mother loving all of her children equally, in spite of the fact that some of them may drive her completely batty and she's just counting the days until they fly the coop?
Either way, I think I'm losing my zany, flighty spirit I've set aside for Fictionpress fun.
I'm more wary now.
And I think it affects my writing more than I'm willing to admit. I'm not sure if it's necessarily a good thing. I may be obsessed with trying to write better these days, but is it good for my mental health to lose the remnants of my freewheeling, unrestrained style that I'd kept solely to let loose?
I need to get back to just simply enjoying writing again. I've signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year solely for this purpose, but I hesitate to say this out loud. With my sleepless schedule, I may not finish, but I hope the deadline challenge will allow me to just freewrite what I've been thinking too hard about these days. Hopefully. Maybe. I don't know. I do have some new ideas though and it'll be nice to use this time to test new waters. I'm thinking since the whole point of this month is to basically bang out as much words as possible (though they offer 50,000 words as the finish line), this can be a freeing experience and I need not spend so much time obsessing over each word and sentence structure. Maybe. In these recent years, I've been getting really anal for some reason and to let go of this anxious controlling instinct I've developed, this might just add to my burden rather than offer relief. I picture fingers itching and skin crawling.Wow, how did the topic of presentations get to this long reflection on writing? Huh.
I think school's been getting me down. I have quizzes and exams coming up again (yeah, when did they ever stop again?) and I feel so drained these days. So blank.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Some FAQs
I sit here before my laptop, two shirts on underneath another white sweatshirt with my hood pulled over my head and my feet shoved in my pink fuzzy slippers.
My brother came home a while ago and stopped in the doorway. "Why do you look like a marshmallow?"
"Because it's cold," I snarled, hunching forward and shifting my epidemiology papers, trying to look busy even though I've been comatose for the past few hours with a cup of hot water by my side.
I can't focus on anything. I swear, I must have been a bear in a past life. Hibernation in winter, go!
Except it's autumn now. So I must have been one lazy bear.
Anyway, there were just some common - and not so common - questions that I forgot to answer so I thought I'd get to it here:
Have you read the Twilight saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn) by Stephenie Meyer? Just curious... :D
Yes, I did. And I also read her other book, The Host. Of all five books, I believe I prefer The Host.
Can you post up some character pictures?
I know that it's getting to be a popular thing to post up pictures for characters, but I'm still thinking about it. Maybe it's because I'm a bit wary of the limitations they might set on readers' thoughts. Maybe it's because sometimes, I'm not actually certain myself how my characters look like specifically (I shape characters more through dialogue and interactions usually) or that the colors I think of can get so vibrant, I'm not sure yet if they're actually veering off into paint, photography or cartoon for that matter. And it feels funny to me to post something and give it my blessing as "This is now Tristan. You may dream of this face now."
However, I'm more than open to seeing your ideas for characters (actually, I'm extremely curious) so if you have pictures, please feel free to email links or post images in comments, if you can. I may compile pictures in a future post if some of you really, really wish to see character pictures.
And a more recent question:
Why did you leave out a description of Adel at the party?
No worries, I just decided that I'd rather wait for the next chapter since no one there was getting a clear look at Adel in Chapter 21 anyway.
By the way, I thought it was kinda cute the way most of the reviews for Chapter 21 started out with either WTF!, OMG! or other variations with Oh!
When will you repost False Facades?
When I'm done with revisions, which is turning out to be a major rewriting of the story. And with my schedule these days, it's going into the backseat right now. It's schoolwork at the wheel and Through Me buckled into the passenger seat at the moment.
I have a midterm floating up, an exam next week, a Genetics Disease presentation in two weeks, and two papers to write. In between, I'll try to see if I can get some writing done.
Wish me luck.
My brother came home a while ago and stopped in the doorway. "Why do you look like a marshmallow?"
"Because it's cold," I snarled, hunching forward and shifting my epidemiology papers, trying to look busy even though I've been comatose for the past few hours with a cup of hot water by my side.
I can't focus on anything. I swear, I must have been a bear in a past life. Hibernation in winter, go!
Except it's autumn now. So I must have been one lazy bear.
Anyway, there were just some common - and not so common - questions that I forgot to answer so I thought I'd get to it here:
Have you read the Twilight saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn) by Stephenie Meyer? Just curious... :D
Yes, I did. And I also read her other book, The Host. Of all five books, I believe I prefer The Host.
Can you post up some character pictures?
I know that it's getting to be a popular thing to post up pictures for characters, but I'm still thinking about it. Maybe it's because I'm a bit wary of the limitations they might set on readers' thoughts. Maybe it's because sometimes, I'm not actually certain myself how my characters look like specifically (I shape characters more through dialogue and interactions usually) or that the colors I think of can get so vibrant, I'm not sure yet if they're actually veering off into paint, photography or cartoon for that matter. And it feels funny to me to post something and give it my blessing as "This is now Tristan. You may dream of this face now."
However, I'm more than open to seeing your ideas for characters (actually, I'm extremely curious) so if you have pictures, please feel free to email links or post images in comments, if you can. I may compile pictures in a future post if some of you really, really wish to see character pictures.
And a more recent question:
Why did you leave out a description of Adel at the party?
No worries, I just decided that I'd rather wait for the next chapter since no one there was getting a clear look at Adel in Chapter 21 anyway.
By the way, I thought it was kinda cute the way most of the reviews for Chapter 21 started out with either WTF!, OMG! or other variations with Oh!
When will you repost False Facades?
When I'm done with revisions, which is turning out to be a major rewriting of the story. And with my schedule these days, it's going into the backseat right now. It's schoolwork at the wheel and Through Me buckled into the passenger seat at the moment.
I have a midterm floating up, an exam next week, a Genetics Disease presentation in two weeks, and two papers to write. In between, I'll try to see if I can get some writing done.
Wish me luck.
Friday, August 22, 2008
SKoW Round 6 Awards Graphics
Some people have asked about the award graphics. The winner list and the graphics could all be found on the SKoW site.
Here are the ones the designer, Leila, created for my Amazing Wordsmith award:
The ones for Most Humorous aren't available yet due to technical difficulties, I believe.
Pretty, huh? They made my heart go "Whee!" I may be biased, but I think these awards are the prettiest yet. I remember vaguely way back in the day (I feel ancient), I think I received an award for Best Overall with a simple image of Beauty and the Beast. Not that it wasn't cute, but I think SKoW has really come a long way with all the intricate, new graphic designs.
Here are the ones the designer, Leila, created for my Amazing Wordsmith award:
The ones for Most Humorous aren't available yet due to technical difficulties, I believe.
Pretty, huh? They made my heart go "Whee!" I may be biased, but I think these awards are the prettiest yet. I remember vaguely way back in the day (I feel ancient), I think I received an award for Best Overall with a simple image of Beauty and the Beast. Not that it wasn't cute, but I think SKoW has really come a long way with all the intricate, new graphic designs.
Unfinished Business Chapter 9 and FP Anonymous
Unfinished Business Chapter 9 has finally been posted! Sorry about the cliffhanger, but the next stopping point I had in mind would make the chapter way too long.
I've been thinking a lot about my writings and why I have this almost fanatical desire for a certain level of anonymity. I've seen writers around on fictionpress who wouldn't think twice about offering up their facebook and myspace accounts, listing up all sorts of contact info from AIM to MSN to whatever. On some level inside me, I think that it must be nice to be able to make friends amongst fellow writers.
On another, I find it a bit scary opening yourself up so freely to the world wide web. Ever since the plagiarism issues, I've realized that not everyone around fictionpress lives by a good set of morals, let alone the random people who might float in from haphazard search engine inputs.
Ultimately though, I think it's brave what these people do. For me, I have a pet peeve about people finding out about my writings. I don't mind talking to readers and posting chapters if I could hide behind a penname and some level of anonymity, but to completely reveal my true identity ... wow.
It's a weird quirk of mine. Unless I have something completely polished and substantial to me, I don't like to offer it up with my real name attached to it. That usually doesn't include romances. Romances are probably one of my favorite kinds of stories to write for fun, but family stories are definitely my forte in the literary workshop/award/publishing domain. (Oh, quick happy note, a short story of mine has recently been accepted for publishing in a small literary magazine. I believe it's a really small publication, but I'm still happy they liked my work enough to accept it. The editor got back to me with a list of helpful revisions and I returned it to her several weeks back. It's all thanks to an English professor of mine who noticed it and submitted it on my behalf for me. I only wish I had more professors like that.)
Fictionpress to me is still a productive hobby and a way to practice my writing and a way to entertain myself and other readers out there, but my chapters are really rough. This is why I started posting writings online for two years before I dared to tell my cousin that I've been writing as a hobby.
It's why I posted for nearly four years before I let literally a handful of my closest friends find out I frequent fictionpress.
I didn't tell my ex at all that I liked to post my writings online. My cousin might have accidentally mentioned it to him once though or something because somehow, he found out and pestered me about giving him a link for a while. I still didn't tell him.
My cousin thinks I'm crazy and she usually lets it slip out sometimes to some friends that I write online and that they should read my writings. I try to shush her or cut her off a lot. It doesn't always work. One time, I believe I tried to tackle a mutual friend and then had to physically pry his fingers off the mouse to keep him from checking out the link immediately.
My cousin's a sweetie, but she doesn't take hints very well and the last time she started to talk about my stories to one of her friends again, I literally unleashed my full strength and karate-chopped her across the arm or something. It probably gave her a bruise on her arm for her efforts, but she got the hint.
It's weird, but I think I like having a sense of anonymity because there are still levels of writings I haven't explored yet and I'd rather not have to worry about the reactions of people I know, acquaintances and whatnot, finding their way to my writings and then attempting to offer their feedback and comments.
Because I haven't yet figured out for myself what completely works and what doesn't. Darker themes, sex scenes, more mature language ... I haven't really tried working with these elements at all. I haven't yet figured out when or if I would. Think of me as still sorting out my writing ideas. Baby steps. It's tough to write to an audience. And it may be tougher still when the audience knows you.
Thus, kudos to all the brave souls out there who can vent out their ideas and thoughts with no barriers. Maybe someday, I'd be just as secure about my FP writings too. :)
Writing note: Through Me Chapter 20 is coming along. It was around the same length as the UB Ch. 9 draft this morning and I chose to finish up Ch. 9 instead.
Random note: My friends and I went on a crazy karaoke marathon the other day because it was really cheap. On a weekday, you can get a room til 8 for only about $11 per person. That meant my crazy friends decided to meet up at like 2 and we literally stayed in the room for six hours. By the time we staggered out of the room, our voices were hoarse.
They also got me addicted to a song, Sara Bareilles' Love Song.
Over a weekend sleepover at a friend's place, we happened across her interview and she mentioned that the original idea behind the song was her feelings against all those people who were pressuring her to come out with a hit song even though she didn't have any particular inspiration then. I thought that was cool because in a way this could be taken as a song against writer's block. Bwahahaha, take that, evil block.
I've been thinking a lot about my writings and why I have this almost fanatical desire for a certain level of anonymity. I've seen writers around on fictionpress who wouldn't think twice about offering up their facebook and myspace accounts, listing up all sorts of contact info from AIM to MSN to whatever. On some level inside me, I think that it must be nice to be able to make friends amongst fellow writers.
On another, I find it a bit scary opening yourself up so freely to the world wide web. Ever since the plagiarism issues, I've realized that not everyone around fictionpress lives by a good set of morals, let alone the random people who might float in from haphazard search engine inputs.
Ultimately though, I think it's brave what these people do. For me, I have a pet peeve about people finding out about my writings. I don't mind talking to readers and posting chapters if I could hide behind a penname and some level of anonymity, but to completely reveal my true identity ... wow.
It's a weird quirk of mine. Unless I have something completely polished and substantial to me, I don't like to offer it up with my real name attached to it. That usually doesn't include romances. Romances are probably one of my favorite kinds of stories to write for fun, but family stories are definitely my forte in the literary workshop/award/publishing domain. (Oh, quick happy note, a short story of mine has recently been accepted for publishing in a small literary magazine. I believe it's a really small publication, but I'm still happy they liked my work enough to accept it. The editor got back to me with a list of helpful revisions and I returned it to her several weeks back. It's all thanks to an English professor of mine who noticed it and submitted it on my behalf for me. I only wish I had more professors like that.)
Fictionpress to me is still a productive hobby and a way to practice my writing and a way to entertain myself and other readers out there, but my chapters are really rough. This is why I started posting writings online for two years before I dared to tell my cousin that I've been writing as a hobby.
It's why I posted for nearly four years before I let literally a handful of my closest friends find out I frequent fictionpress.
I didn't tell my ex at all that I liked to post my writings online. My cousin might have accidentally mentioned it to him once though or something because somehow, he found out and pestered me about giving him a link for a while. I still didn't tell him.
My cousin thinks I'm crazy and she usually lets it slip out sometimes to some friends that I write online and that they should read my writings. I try to shush her or cut her off a lot. It doesn't always work. One time, I believe I tried to tackle a mutual friend and then had to physically pry his fingers off the mouse to keep him from checking out the link immediately.
My cousin's a sweetie, but she doesn't take hints very well and the last time she started to talk about my stories to one of her friends again, I literally unleashed my full strength and karate-chopped her across the arm or something. It probably gave her a bruise on her arm for her efforts, but she got the hint.
It's weird, but I think I like having a sense of anonymity because there are still levels of writings I haven't explored yet and I'd rather not have to worry about the reactions of people I know, acquaintances and whatnot, finding their way to my writings and then attempting to offer their feedback and comments.
Because I haven't yet figured out for myself what completely works and what doesn't. Darker themes, sex scenes, more mature language ... I haven't really tried working with these elements at all. I haven't yet figured out when or if I would. Think of me as still sorting out my writing ideas. Baby steps. It's tough to write to an audience. And it may be tougher still when the audience knows you.
Thus, kudos to all the brave souls out there who can vent out their ideas and thoughts with no barriers. Maybe someday, I'd be just as secure about my FP writings too. :)
Writing note: Through Me Chapter 20 is coming along. It was around the same length as the UB Ch. 9 draft this morning and I chose to finish up Ch. 9 instead.
Random note: My friends and I went on a crazy karaoke marathon the other day because it was really cheap. On a weekday, you can get a room til 8 for only about $11 per person. That meant my crazy friends decided to meet up at like 2 and we literally stayed in the room for six hours. By the time we staggered out of the room, our voices were hoarse.
They also got me addicted to a song, Sara Bareilles' Love Song.
Over a weekend sleepover at a friend's place, we happened across her interview and she mentioned that the original idea behind the song was her feelings against all those people who were pressuring her to come out with a hit song even though she didn't have any particular inspiration then. I thought that was cool because in a way this could be taken as a song against writer's block. Bwahahaha, take that, evil block.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Michael Phelps and Magical Tootsie Roll Pops
These past few days:
Beijing Olympics! Whooo! The opening ceremony was breathtaking and Michael Phelps is a FISH! A really cute fish who Hulks out with that sculpted body of his as he roars his triumph. So intimidatingly adorable.
(Photo credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Phelps' natural ability to flush out those lactic acid within minutes plus his wide wingspan apparently makes him the perfect swimmer. He just glides through the water and can literally be halfway across the pool while the others straggle behind him; he gave such a great lead, the last anchor on his 4x200m freestyle relay team could actually pass the others coming toward him as he was heading back haha.
SKoW! Results are out and I wanted to thank those of you who took the time to vote for me. I'm actually still checking out some stories on their nominees list because they've highlighted a lot of interesting new writings, but I thought I should drop a note first and foremost to thank you all for your votes and support! I was awarded Amazing Wordsmith and Unfinished Business won the Most Humorous category. Wow. You guys are the best. There's a new pretty layout on SKoW and there are also these amazing graphics for the winners, which I'll post up in a later post because some of them aren't working yet. The designer, Leila, really outdone herself this time because they're really stunning and oh so cute.
It almost makes me want to look into graphics tutorials. Except knowing me, I'd obsess over it for maybe two hours and then throw in the towel with a completed image of a stick figure with a red dot on its nose to represent a clown. Or Rudolph.
SAT Coaching! Yesterday was my last session with my high school kids that I'm coaching/tutoring for their SATs. It's a nation wide program with different chapters in different cities and its mission is to provide SAT and college application support for those who are underprivileged and want the extra help. I volunteered to be a verbal coach because I've always enjoyed the verbal part and I despise math with a passion that will scare small children.
When the site director came in and made a speech about how kids in the program usually went down for their second diagnostic SAT since they didn't get a chance to practice their newly learned techniques yet, I just groaned, "Oh god, he's throwing in a disclaimer. Your SAT scores all plummeted. Forgive me, I'm a horrible coach."
Except it turns out the director has to make the same spiel to every group and my kids's scores actually all increased ... well, their verbal parts at least. But I'm only responsible for their verbal sections; we can blame the math coaches. It was a proud parental moment. Two of my girls actually went up 300 points on their SATs! When the director came back all grinning and beaming and saying that my group had the most improvement, I was momentarily stunned and just blurted out, "Why?"
"Because you're a good coach?"
I turned to give my kids a suspicious look. I suppose that wasn't a very good reaction.
My kids laughed their heads off. "You have no faith in us! We showed you! See!" They kept grinning and smirking with such satisfaction and were like "This is the highest I've ever gotten. I can't even believe it myself."
Then they started with the "Thanks, Helen!"
Big goofy grin. I had a funny combo of being both dazed and proud and self-conscious at the same time.
But seriously, I had this bad feeling in my stomach the last two sessions because I was afraid I hadn't emphasized certain points enough. It felt like I coordinated a whole lot of their favorite vocabulary games ... and then brushed over general points regarding writing and critical reading. Some of them didn't even do their homework nor did they bring in their personal statements for me sometimes. I was terrified they were going to be disappointed by their grades.
But! They're so awesome.
Or, as they wondered, "It could be the Tootsie Roll lollipops you bring us. They're magic."
I'm gonna miss them. They were such an amazing group and they really meshed well. We had our quiet members and the talkative ones and somehow, they all ended up being very sociable yet diligent (most of the time) kids. It's lovely to see their hard work get paid off. Now if only they can keep up their practice when I'm not around to glare them down ...
Writings. In response to Through Me questions about who the heck is Calhoun (a.k.a. Cal), he's Justin's friend and he was first introduced in the gym scene in Chapter Fourteen.
I'm currently working on the next chapters for Through Me and Unfinished Business. It's a toss up between them both right now and I've been flashing back and forth between both documents.
Beijing Olympics! Whooo! The opening ceremony was breathtaking and Michael Phelps is a FISH! A really cute fish who Hulks out with that sculpted body of his as he roars his triumph. So intimidatingly adorable.
(Photo credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)Phelps' natural ability to flush out those lactic acid within minutes plus his wide wingspan apparently makes him the perfect swimmer. He just glides through the water and can literally be halfway across the pool while the others straggle behind him; he gave such a great lead, the last anchor on his 4x200m freestyle relay team could actually pass the others coming toward him as he was heading back haha.
SKoW! Results are out and I wanted to thank those of you who took the time to vote for me. I'm actually still checking out some stories on their nominees list because they've highlighted a lot of interesting new writings, but I thought I should drop a note first and foremost to thank you all for your votes and support! I was awarded Amazing Wordsmith and Unfinished Business won the Most Humorous category. Wow. You guys are the best. There's a new pretty layout on SKoW and there are also these amazing graphics for the winners, which I'll post up in a later post because some of them aren't working yet. The designer, Leila, really outdone herself this time because they're really stunning and oh so cute.
It almost makes me want to look into graphics tutorials. Except knowing me, I'd obsess over it for maybe two hours and then throw in the towel with a completed image of a stick figure with a red dot on its nose to represent a clown. Or Rudolph.
SAT Coaching! Yesterday was my last session with my high school kids that I'm coaching/tutoring for their SATs. It's a nation wide program with different chapters in different cities and its mission is to provide SAT and college application support for those who are underprivileged and want the extra help. I volunteered to be a verbal coach because I've always enjoyed the verbal part and I despise math with a passion that will scare small children.
When the site director came in and made a speech about how kids in the program usually went down for their second diagnostic SAT since they didn't get a chance to practice their newly learned techniques yet, I just groaned, "Oh god, he's throwing in a disclaimer. Your SAT scores all plummeted. Forgive me, I'm a horrible coach."
Except it turns out the director has to make the same spiel to every group and my kids's scores actually all increased ... well, their verbal parts at least. But I'm only responsible for their verbal sections; we can blame the math coaches. It was a proud parental moment. Two of my girls actually went up 300 points on their SATs! When the director came back all grinning and beaming and saying that my group had the most improvement, I was momentarily stunned and just blurted out, "Why?"
"Because you're a good coach?"
I turned to give my kids a suspicious look. I suppose that wasn't a very good reaction.
My kids laughed their heads off. "You have no faith in us! We showed you! See!" They kept grinning and smirking with such satisfaction and were like "This is the highest I've ever gotten. I can't even believe it myself."
Then they started with the "Thanks, Helen!"
Big goofy grin. I had a funny combo of being both dazed and proud and self-conscious at the same time.
But seriously, I had this bad feeling in my stomach the last two sessions because I was afraid I hadn't emphasized certain points enough. It felt like I coordinated a whole lot of their favorite vocabulary games ... and then brushed over general points regarding writing and critical reading. Some of them didn't even do their homework nor did they bring in their personal statements for me sometimes. I was terrified they were going to be disappointed by their grades.
But! They're so awesome.
Or, as they wondered, "It could be the Tootsie Roll lollipops you bring us. They're magic."
I'm gonna miss them. They were such an amazing group and they really meshed well. We had our quiet members and the talkative ones and somehow, they all ended up being very sociable yet diligent (most of the time) kids. It's lovely to see their hard work get paid off. Now if only they can keep up their practice when I'm not around to glare them down ...
Writings. In response to Through Me questions about who the heck is Calhoun (a.k.a. Cal), he's Justin's friend and he was first introduced in the gym scene in Chapter Fourteen.
I'm currently working on the next chapters for Through Me and Unfinished Business. It's a toss up between them both right now and I've been flashing back and forth between both documents.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Through Me Updated and More SKoW
Chapter 18 has finally been posted to Through Me. I've actually been working on this chapter for quite some time. I know, I've always been horrendously late with updates, but usually it's because I couldn't get the time to sit around to type. If I actually get to work on a chapter, it usually takes two days, sometimes less, a few hours.
For those who were with me at the beginning of False Facades, I used to churn out those chapters daily. I don't know how I did that, but I did remember that I had more free time back then. I miss those days.
Anyway, about this latest chapter, I've finally realized that this has been what I've been working up to all along for Adel and Tristan. Through Me has in a way been something for me to practice my writing with and has been an experiment of sorts. False Facades was written in chapters that just rolled off the page in a rush of dialogue and action, hitting certain plot points in my head one after the other. Through Me takes things much more slowly - excruciatingly so sometimes - but I wanted to see how a story might form if I let things relax and just go. At times, it got away from me and it was a hit or miss with readers.
Some preferred the fast pace of False Facades. Others liked seeing the relationship develop in Through Me, even though my cousin still keeps saying I should just have Adel and Tristan kill each other and put each other out of their misery (and that's with Tristan as her favorite character).
Anyway, I think I've learned more about what works and what doesn't. In a way, I've become much more critical about what I write and what I post. Mmm, good learning experience.
Another note, look it! I'm such a dork, but I really like the newest layout (Thumbelina inspired by Nic S) on SKoW and so, I was browsing the site to check out the graphics and I found the little button thing that's like "I'm nominated!" so I just wanted to ... post it up here. Haha, be still, my heart. It's so cute! Look, it's Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella and she's running down the steps and it says Once Upon a Time, I was NOMINATED! Oh, I expire from the cuteness.
Did I mention my soft spot for fairytales and dreamlike, fantastical scenes? I can't explain it. It's not even so much the Disney aspects (oh, yes it is, who am I kidding? Finding Nemo and Little Mermaid are my all time favorites), but I actually spend time searching for pictures that are based on nature and earthy qualities, soft and dreamy with almost this surreal, ethereal glow. My desktop background must appeal to me - even just blades of grass in soft focus make me swoon. The SKoW layout and all these graphics are so whoa right now ... I'm so giddy, forget the results. This nomination badge thingie is already my prize.
Watch. Even if I hadn't been nominated, I would still have been the loser who posted this thing up anyway haha.
You see how I can write Will's character now, don't you?
Oh, and before I forget, I just wanted to thank emotionless-stares and whoever else for nominating me. I don't know who nominates me unless you say, but I sure appreciate it.
With that note, I just wanted to let you know I'm still working on revisions for False Facades. They're taking a bit longer than expected, but I may post up a sneak peek of some snippets as I'm going along.
Also, I'm writing up the next chapter for Unfinished Business and I'll begin working on Through Me as well.
For those who were with me at the beginning of False Facades, I used to churn out those chapters daily. I don't know how I did that, but I did remember that I had more free time back then. I miss those days.
Anyway, about this latest chapter, I've finally realized that this has been what I've been working up to all along for Adel and Tristan. Through Me has in a way been something for me to practice my writing with and has been an experiment of sorts. False Facades was written in chapters that just rolled off the page in a rush of dialogue and action, hitting certain plot points in my head one after the other. Through Me takes things much more slowly - excruciatingly so sometimes - but I wanted to see how a story might form if I let things relax and just go. At times, it got away from me and it was a hit or miss with readers.
Some preferred the fast pace of False Facades. Others liked seeing the relationship develop in Through Me, even though my cousin still keeps saying I should just have Adel and Tristan kill each other and put each other out of their misery (and that's with Tristan as her favorite character).
Anyway, I think I've learned more about what works and what doesn't. In a way, I've become much more critical about what I write and what I post. Mmm, good learning experience.
Another note, look it! I'm such a dork, but I really like the newest layout (Thumbelina inspired by Nic S) on SKoW and so, I was browsing the site to check out the graphics and I found the little button thing that's like "I'm nominated!" so I just wanted to ... post it up here. Haha, be still, my heart. It's so cute! Look, it's Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella and she's running down the steps and it says Once Upon a Time, I was NOMINATED! Oh, I expire from the cuteness. Did I mention my soft spot for fairytales and dreamlike, fantastical scenes? I can't explain it. It's not even so much the Disney aspects (oh, yes it is, who am I kidding? Finding Nemo and Little Mermaid are my all time favorites), but I actually spend time searching for pictures that are based on nature and earthy qualities, soft and dreamy with almost this surreal, ethereal glow. My desktop background must appeal to me - even just blades of grass in soft focus make me swoon. The SKoW layout and all these graphics are so whoa right now ... I'm so giddy, forget the results. This nomination badge thingie is already my prize.
Watch. Even if I hadn't been nominated, I would still have been the loser who posted this thing up anyway haha.
You see how I can write Will's character now, don't you?
Oh, and before I forget, I just wanted to thank emotionless-stares and whoever else for nominating me. I don't know who nominates me unless you say, but I sure appreciate it.
With that note, I just wanted to let you know I'm still working on revisions for False Facades. They're taking a bit longer than expected, but I may post up a sneak peek of some snippets as I'm going along.
Also, I'm writing up the next chapter for Unfinished Business and I'll begin working on Through Me as well.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
SKoW Nominations
I hope everyone's Fourth of July went well! :)
Unfinished Business Chapter 8 has been completed. After I review it once more, I will post it sometime soon when I get home from work and actually get a chance to sit down. I'm working on the next chapter to Through Me, specifically there's an idea that's caught my attention regarding it, so hopefully, I'll get that out soon.
Random tidbit: I work in a lab evaluating the neurotransmitters of Sprague Dawley rats. We fabricate these sensors that can be implanted so that a new rat doesn't have to be executed for each study and the cute thing gets to eateateat until it's nearly doubled its weight. The research findings are applied to theories regarding Parkinson's Disease and epilepsy treatments, etc. and we've recently gotten a paper published with my name listed after my mentor, the primary investigator, so that's been exciting.
And I'm exhausted. Nothing new.
On another awesome note, I've been notified by the judges, Cassie and Kyra, that I've been nominated in the Some Kind of Wonderful Awards Round Six under the category of Amazing Wordsmith and that Unfinished Business has been nominated for the story category of Most Humorous (Incomplete).
If you have any free time, please take the chance to check out the site and all the nominees to cast your vote. SKoW has been around for a long time and they've always generated an excellent reading list and nice awards, not to mention that I'm in love with this Round's Theme. Fairytales. Whoa.
I'm a Disney kid at heart and I absolutely adore the graphics that's around on the site right now. Annie Leibovitz's dreamy editorials have always made my heart flutter.
To my knowledge, SKoW hasn't started its voting process yet so please keep an eye out for when it starts. Until then, happy reading and judging!
Unfinished Business Chapter 8 has been completed. After I review it once more, I will post it sometime soon when I get home from work and actually get a chance to sit down. I'm working on the next chapter to Through Me, specifically there's an idea that's caught my attention regarding it, so hopefully, I'll get that out soon.
Random tidbit: I work in a lab evaluating the neurotransmitters of Sprague Dawley rats. We fabricate these sensors that can be implanted so that a new rat doesn't have to be executed for each study and the cute thing gets to eateateat until it's nearly doubled its weight. The research findings are applied to theories regarding Parkinson's Disease and epilepsy treatments, etc. and we've recently gotten a paper published with my name listed after my mentor, the primary investigator, so that's been exciting.
And I'm exhausted. Nothing new.
On another awesome note, I've been notified by the judges, Cassie and Kyra, that I've been nominated in the Some Kind of Wonderful Awards Round Six under the category of Amazing Wordsmith and that Unfinished Business has been nominated for the story category of Most Humorous (Incomplete).
If you have any free time, please take the chance to check out the site and all the nominees to cast your vote. SKoW has been around for a long time and they've always generated an excellent reading list and nice awards, not to mention that I'm in love with this Round's Theme. Fairytales. Whoa.
I'm a Disney kid at heart and I absolutely adore the graphics that's around on the site right now. Annie Leibovitz's dreamy editorials have always made my heart flutter.
To my knowledge, SKoW hasn't started its voting process yet so please keep an eye out for when it starts. Until then, happy reading and judging!
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