Running a Little Late...

ROW 80 updates are supposed to be posted on Sundays and Wednesdays. Even though it's not mandatory that you update on these days, I still try to stick to that schedule because I like a little structure. Unfortunately I was a bit late in updating this week for no other reason than I was completely and totally sucked into watching the Golden Globes. I didn't mean to. I'm actually not a big award show person (aside from the Oscars) but for some reason the husband turned them on last night and we proceeded to sit there and watch them, and then watch the replay, and huddle under our respective blankets on the couch.

I was able to get a little writing done here and there. TUO is now clocking in at 30568 words due to a bit I went back and added to my first chapter. I also played with one of my stories that's been sitting on the back burner ever since I decided to rewrite TUO and get it published. I've noticed that I've been doing this more and more often recently; I will keep two documents open while I write. One is the project that I SRSLY working on while the other is something fun or mindless. When I get stuck on a scene or a sentence in the serious project, I'll move over to the fun one for a moment or two and let my subconscious stew over the problem. By the time I'm done with my self imposed time out, my subconscious has worked it's magic and I know what I need to do and where to go.

On reading fronts I have finished City of Bones - which is the first in the Mortal Instruments series. Like many popular books out there, I avoided reading it due to various reasons and instantly regretted doing so as soon as I broke down and started to read it. Overall it was a very good novel, though it did have your typical young adult love triangle, and at times it reminded me of a cross between Harry Potter and Star Wars. It also felt a bit predictable - but this could be because it's been out for awhile, so I've read a few reviews and was familiar with the plot before I began to read it.

As soon as I finished City of Bones I jumped into reading Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jennifer Lawson. It's amazing. Go out and buy it. Go read her blog as well - because it's pretty awesome too! I do have one bit of advice for when you start to read this book though; I do not recommend reading it while you're at the gym, working out. I was seriously laughing so hard at some of these stories from her childhood (specifically the one about the squirrels and then the one about the turkeys) that I had to stop the elliptical I was using and take a moment to catch my breath. Apparently laughing at the gym is a no go because I was also the recipient of quite a few glares from my fellow gym goers. Lesson learned; in the future I will only read where the only person who will be disturbed by my laughter is my husband and the cats.

WIP Wednesday the Seventieth!

Or... of Knitting and Writing.

Despite running around Paramount Ranch on Saturday, I still had time to knit a bit.

I'm getting close to the end of the blue stripe though, so soon it'll be time to start an orange stripe. I seem to go faster on the orange and slower on the blue... Maybe because blue is more soothing and orange is more exciting? Hmmm.

Writing is going. I'm slowly finishing up the editing/rewriting that I needed to do on TUO, and eventually I'll be able to move on to rewriting other chapters. Exciting, huh? The story is still clocking in at the 30,000 word mark, so unfortunately I have not made the 500 a day goal that I have set for myself - not even on the fun little side project I started. Thankfully, ROW 80 is forgiving. It gets that we have lives outside of our writing. I, however, am my own worst critic - however I think that's normal for writers, so it's nice to know I'm not alone.

I do have yet another idea fermenting in my mind (plot bunnies are prolific as real bunnies) that is set in a semi dystopian future where the world has been taken over by zombies. I blame this entirely on watching the trailer for The Host and listening to Radioactive by Imagine Dragons far too often. Seeing pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch as the new baddie for Star Trek didn't help matters either.  

Now to get back to catching up on Castle!

Check out Tami's Amis for more Work's in Progress, and be sure to check out a Round of Words in 80 days as well!

Adventure Time: Paramount Ranch

The husband and I have a resolution this year to go on more adventures. Things like exploring new places, getting out of town for a night away more often, go on more hikes, etc etc etc. So far we have plans to visit Cambria, San Francisco, and in July we'll be going to Hawaii for a friend's wedding!

But first we decided to visit someplace a bit closer to home. About an hour away from Anaheim is the Agoura Hills, birthplace of the first Renaissance Faire and home to a number of old movie ranches were Hollywood would film westerns and other things. Most of these were sold off to developers, but one has been preserved as a park and still has some of the sets available; Paramount Ranch.

If the town looks familiar, it's because it served as Colorado Springs for the popular show Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman. I won't deny that this is a big part of why I wanted to go see it - I loved Dr Quinn as a kid. 

(This was the train station, and Horace's office)

(Looking down the street at what I am pretty sure is the house that Grace and Robert E moved in to)

(Hank's Hotel)

(Bray's Mercantile)

(Jake's Barber shop and the Bank)

(And the Clinic of course!)

(Right through that door was where Dr Mike saw her patients)

My husband was amazed at how much I remembered from the show. At one point he, jokingly, refused to acknowledge that we were together saying that 'I was getting my nerd all over him'.

Of course he'll be just as bad when we go to visit the MASH set in a week or two. 

There are also a number of trails in the area. Most of them are very clear, so it's hard to get lost unless you go off the trail. However, not all the trails are labeled - we started off on Coyote Canyon Trail, which begins behind the train station. It takes you on a loop, up a hill behind the town, and then drops you off a little ways away from the town on the old race track.

(The view of the Western Town from the trail)

(A creek that runs around the town)

From there you can follow the racetrack down to other trails, but none of these are clearly labeled. I assumed that the larger trail we took was Medicine Woman Trail, which takes you up by where Dr Quinn's Homestead was (though that's long gone) and the Witches Wood where the fortune tellers tents were located when the Renaissance Faire used to be held out here. 

However all we encountered was some cement blocks on the top of a hill that didn't look anything like Dr Mike's place, or the cabin that Sully built for her after they married. The husband and I assumed that we had trekked up Marco Polo hill instead, which is where an old movie about Marco Polo was filmed in the 30's.

(Random cabin - believe it or not, some of those logs are fiberglass)

(The field where the church and the school would have been)

Unfortunately, the park closes at dusk, and, since the sun was setting, we couldn't stick around to check out the other trails so we headed back to the car. Overall it was a very good adventure, but next time we'll head out earlier in the day. I'd like to try to find the Medicine Woman Trail, and maybe even take a shot at the backdrop trail.

Next up: Malibu Creek State Park and the MASH set!

The Road Goes Ever On And On...

One of my resolutions this year is to finish TUO. I don't think that will happen this round, but my goal is to write 500 words, Monday through Friday. Weekends are reserved for the other resolution my Husband and I have made; to go on more adventures and hikes.

Currently the story is still hanging in there at 30,000 words as I go through and make the changes my beta readers suggested. I also have to tweak one or two things regarding where the castle and town are situated, and throw in an abandoned village in between the two.

I hope your writing is going well too!

WIP Wednesday the Sixty Ninth

The great thing about knitting is that even if you're working on a huge project, you can see some sort of progress. Right now I'm currently on stripe 7 of 19. I'm having issues with tension, but overall I really like how it's coming along.

The husband was teasing me that at this rate I'll be done by the time winter is over. I replied with 'well, at least it'll be done by the time we go on our next big trip' and 'this is why the moment I finish this I'll get started on the knitting and crocheting for Christmas.'. I'm planning to make scarfs for some of my cousins (green and white, or red and white, so it's Christmas-y but can be used year round) and I also want to make a blanket for my Mom and possibly my Aunts.

Unlike knitting, or sewing, or crocheting, there really isn't a measure of progress with writing unless you're working on a term paper. Sure you can see how far you've come, but you have no idea how much longer you have to go until you've reached the point where it's done - which can be 5 words from now, 15, 100, or 20,000. It all depends on the story.

This is probably why I get depressed about my writing sometimes and opt to knit instead: yes, I have an outline and so I have a better idea of where I am in the story, but sometimes it feels like it'll never get done.

You can probably tell by this little rant that I haven't made as much progress on TUO this week as I would have liked. I did get a bit written for another story, but as that's a fan fic, it doesn't really count. I also had plenty of ideas for my fun on the side story... which makes me think I should focus on that for now since it seems to be flowing better. I hate to flip flop between stories, but, thankfully, I'm not the only writer who does it - Neil Gaiman and a few others are guilty too! - so I don't feel as bad when I do.

How are your WIPs going?

Check out Tami's Amis for more Works in Progress

New Year, New Blog...

Once upon a time I had two blogs. One for writing and one for knitting. This lasted for a few months until work got busy, and then I was loaned over to IT. Slowly both blogs became neglected, the posts coming fewer and farther apart. As a result, I have decided to close one of the blogs and do all my posting (writing, knitting, sewing, music and meatlocker Mondays) on the other one. As this blog has been around longer, has more posts, and more readers, it has won out over the other blog and gets to stay.

To reflect the fact that this now a writing and a craft blog I have changed the title and the url, added some gadgets to the side, and imported some posts from my writing blog - so now everything is in one place!

Here's to more posts and adventures in 2013!

Les Miserables...

I don't remember how or when I was introduced to Les Miserables - I just know it was the first musical I was ever obsessed with as a kid. While all the girls were drooling over Phantom of the Opera and Eric, I would walk between classes humming 'I Dreamed a Dream' and 'Castle on a Cloud'. So, of course, when I found out that Les Miserables was coming to the big screen, I dragged my husband to see it, and I loved every minute of it. The costumes! The sets! Anne Hathaway! Hugh Jackman! Helena Bonham Carter! And, of course, this man - Russell Crowe.

Now, I know Russell Crowe is getting a bit of crap for playing Javert. People aren't really happy with his portrayal and how he sang the songs. In his defense, Russell is an amazing musician and a lovely singer - but the part of Javert is just not his range (either that or we're just so used to hearing basses sing it that it's a shock to hear someone who isn't a bass sing it). However I think he still did a good job of playing Javert, and towards the end of the movie, when Javert begins to question who he is and everything he believes, he got a bit more emotional and his singing had a bit more oomph, and was MUCH better as a result (and much closer to what I was used to hearing as a kid)

So, today, the last meatlocker of the year, goes to you Monsieur Crowe.

WIP Wednesday the Sixty Eighth

Merry (Belated) Christmas everyone!

Last year we weren't able to celebrate much - I hadn't started my job yet, and the husband's job had cut back his hours, so any funds we had were saved to be put towards the bills. This year was a different story! Thanks to my new responsibilities at work I've been putting in a lot of overtime hours, and the husband has a new job, so we were able to enjoy ourselves a bit more. We were even able to go on a mini vacation and get away for a night!

I hope your holidays went just as well as ours!

I'm still plugging away at the ravenclaw scarf when the boys allow me to knit. 

(even then it's under protest)

I'm currently on the sixth stripe and it's going pretty well. I love how the colors look together - they aren't quite what the pattern calls for (I think they're off a shade or two) but they're just so gorgeous!

And they go quite well with my new bracelet!

I'm also still writing when I can. The story - the title of which is now The Undying Ones - comes in spurts and it's currently clocking in at 30,000 words. The average novel is about 50,000 words. I've also been tinkering with a short story I started for giggles one day, and I just updated my FF.net account for the first time in over a year. 

Check out Tami's Amis for more great Works in Progress!

Meatlocker Monday - The Hobbit Edition

The husband and I went and saw The Hobbit on Friday (because we're big Tolkien nerds like that) and let me just say it did not disappoint. Especially this guy - Mr. Richard Armitage who played Thorin Oakenshield.

I'm alive, and... oh look... here's another handsome gent to look at!

I'm sorry I haven't been updating very regularly lately. Work started getting busy in August, and most of my energy has been spent working on my writing and focusing on that blog (It's over here in case you missed it!)

Last night we were at a friends house when Reign of Fire came on. Do you remember that one? It's where dragons take over the earth and burn everything to the ground. Christian Bale plays a grown up version of the kid who discovered the dragons, and I was surprised to notice that Gerard Butler is his best friend. I never realized he was in it!

So here, ladies and gentlemen, is Gerard Butler again - the hottest Scotsman alive!