Your friendly neighborhood PSA

I have just a couple of quick notes this morning:

I'm working on a new layout. I haven't liked anything so far, though, so it may take a bit. But I promise I'm working on it.

Pandora's name is now (tentatively) Cassandra/Cassie--which still fits my Greek dorkiness. But now we don't know if we're going to keep it, as the kitty is a hellion and attacks Athena. D:

The Suits is still coming along. I wrote about half of chapter 7 today, and a bit of what's to come in 8.

Letter #7 was not only a rejection, but a total waste: The agency is no longer accepting new writers. I don't think I'll count this as a rejection, but a mistake. But either way, I'm still at 7 letters and no good news.

BUT I was thinking while watching Underworld. I may be restarting the book, again. And totally dropping the "tapes" idea. Perhaps the macabre funeral thing will work with something else?

I wanted to dislike Twilight on the pretence of it basically being yet more paranormal romance. But, in wanting to prove everyone wrong on how good it is, I borrowed it from my sister, and was 80 pages deep 45 minutes later. All 495 were finished in about 4 total hours in the last two days. Needless to say, I didn't dislike it afterall.

I'm already 2 chapters into New Moon. The bandwagon kidnapped me. Help?

Money in 4 days. Tony comes over in 2/3. Hurrah, human interaction! And I get to be computer saavy!

Feist is amazing, kthx.

My physical writing portfolio is edging on being as thick as my skull, just FYI. :D

This blog post was almost pointless. XD

Summer plans...I sound like a musical

First off: Ni90 has been kicking my ass into shape. Which is good, because otherwise the project will never get done. Even if some days getting the words out is like having a root canal. But something's getting done, yeah?

Also, people need to stop trying to ruin Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls for me. No, I have not seen it yet. I plan on seeing it next week when I can fit into a theatre without feeling like a sardine. Also, I missed the after-credit stuff for Iron Man, and I'm slightly miffed.

I need to remember that I need to get my pass for Kumoricon this summer, I need to renew my Livejournal, I need to pay for the next six months here, and I might be hitting Warped Tour and The Sammus Theory. Let's hope I can do all of that on no job this summer. *crosses fingers* Likely, I'll end up dropping Warped, paying for 2 months on my LJ, and then going from there.

Oh, and we got a new cat. Athena is angry at the usurpation of space, but has generally been ignoring the fact that there's a new cat in the other room. At least thus far. When the door opens, she does rush to get in, but otherwise she ignores it. Oh, and the kitty's name? Pandora. Gods, I'm a Greek nerd.

And the Loki thing figured itself out--and no one has pointed it out as a weak point in the new chapter so far, so I suppose I tweaked the legend enough to fit without decimating it like Troy's adaptation of the Iliad. Bully for me.

Lunch calls. Feed me, Seymore. Rawr.

The mistake of a gaping chest wound

I've been updating a bit around here this morning, if you hadn't noticed. The header is different again, but I'm MUCH happier with it now. Also, I've spent the last two hours on fanlistings (so those finally work again)!

I knew that joining Ni90 again was going to be a good idea. In the last two days, it's gotten me to write almost 1900 words (not a ton, granted, but with a goal of 750/day, it puts me 400 words ahead of schedule). And I'm hoping this scene ends soon, because two people talking about the anthopomorphic identity of Death is getting really old. And I need to create tension, and it's just not coming.

ARG. Loki, do something...exciting. Jeezy Creezy. There's potential. AND I did get the thing with the scar/heart/venom face worked out okay. I was afraid the recount of folklore versus the myth itself was going to screw me up (as I had it from a friend that Loki suffered venom to a gaping chest wound, not the face). If manga can take Ragnarok (2, 3) and use it for 9 billion projects, I think I'm allowed to tweak the myth a little to fit my purposes.

Now: bed, so that I can get up at some kind of decent hour tomorrow and get some more written (and hopefully this chapter FINISHED).

Yet more queries...

I reviewed my query letters, and realized the count is at 5 flat rejections or "this isn't for me" responses (1 online query), and one letter I never got a response for.

I'll be sending out #'s 7, 8, and 9 tomorrow.

I just hope "urban fantasy" is a real genre. I don't know what else I can concieve to call this project. I've tried gothic, and fantasy, but someone told me that Jim Butcher was considered "urban fantasy," and since it's a bit of a similar environment...

Wish them luck?

Deadlines not approaching...

My new goal is to have The Norse Myths finished by tomorrow. Then I can write a bit about The Vagrant as death and throw my Loki quips in there like I wanted to. And then, perhaps, I'll move onto Grimm or Le Morte D'Arthur.

Oh, and I finally took a photo of the King of Nothingness painting. Hurrah.
My professor didn't quite know what to think and then got mad at me when I wouldn't explain the character--don't ask me an open-ended question like "What is it?" and expect a pretentious five-minute answer. If you want one of those, ask a better question.

Ooh, and if I get some writing done and the reading that had better be done, I will probably reward myself with some Prince Caspian. That is, if I can even get into the movie this weekend.

So, I must go finish reading up on Odin and Loki, and I'll HOPEFULLY do some writing before bed. Perhaps I'll join Novel in 90 again this summer--it helped fantastically for the first part of last year...

The Marvel Complex

I have figured it out. Someone in Marvel *cough*STAN LEE*cough* totally has a jones for REDHEADS. I'd thought this ever since I saw Spiderman after X-Men, with the female leads both being redheads, but Iron Man has capped it for me. Pepper? Jean Grey? Mary Jane?

Needless to say, I thought Iron Man was spectacular. Seriously amazing. I haven't seen a superhero movie that funny, fast-paced, and hard-hitting in YEARS. Well worth the $6.50 to see it. I didn't expect it to be good at all, but Robert Downy Jr.'s acting was spot-on, and for once I could stand Gwyneth Paltrow in a film. WIN.

And I got trailers for everything else I wanted to see this summer--well almost. Indy, Caspian, and Batman. (Best Batman trailer so far, BTW.) Perhaps this summer's films won't be so bad after all.

It's a damn good thing that I like books...

I've finally settled down a bit from the chaos that is May Move-out. I've even visited the old crew at work--and without the "when are you coming back?" pressure, which was really nice.

This summer may shape out well.

I picked up some books that mnay help shape my thesis, and now have a HUGE summer reading list. However, if this is all I'm doing this summer, it shouldn't be too bad. So far, I've got:

The Norse Myths translated/retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Sandman Volumes I-X by Neil Gaiman

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

The Nibelunglied

Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory

Celtic Myths and Legends translated/retold by T.W. Rolleston

The Annotated Grimms' Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm (duh).
I also need to pick up any volumes of Fables that I can get my hands on. I have an itchy writing hand, but at the same time, I want the story to come together instead of wandering aimlessly, and I need to do the research before I can do that. Therefore reading comes first.

Commentary to come?

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On another note, the Stumptown Comics Fest this year was pretty damn rad. Brian Michel Bendis was awesome, and told me that I got the first good photo of him in 20 years (EPIC WIN!)

Additionally, Tara McPherson was really nice, and I've fallen in love with her art. I'm really surprised that she and Bendis were able to go to this con, especially since it was so small/indie. Pretty damn cool.

Comic book month in Portland was a major success. It makes me happy to see that I'm not the only weird person I know trying to hail this as literature--a whole city has done it now too.