"Cat in the wall, eh? Okay, now you're talking my language. I know this game."

Eudora Welty's "No Place For You, My Love." That's the short story I'm still trying to finish this paper on. I'm kind of hoping that maybe if I ramble here, I'll get some more ideas. Basically two Yankees, one from Syracuse and one from Toldedo, meet in NO and decide to drive south towards the southern edge of Louisiana. Not much on characterization or plot, mostly description (BOINGO! GOT SOMETHING!), but Welty's kind of a genius for her descriptions.

You would think that reading all of this awesome lit for my courses helps my writing, but really, and I've mentioned this before, but the wonderfully awesome Dana, who runs the tumblog Reasoning With Vampires, has helped me so much with her awesome critiques and commentary of the Twilight series (not a "saga." "Saga" implies something happens). Reading RwV keeps me more aware when I'm editing and writing.

And speaking of writing, I have just finished watching the first two series of Misfits.

So, yeah, it inspired me to outline a book idea I've had for a while, which I'm not too happy about, considering HANNAH is the one book I want to focus on (and for some reason, I can't multi-book when it comes to writing. Short stories? Yeah, no problem). I mean, awesome show, but ugh, no more book ideas!

Agh, and it looks as if this will be another sleepless night.

"And the gang likes to screw it up and make it about themselves and take it away from Charlie and ruin his hopes and dreams!"

So I should probably get this insomnia thing checked out, huh?

I want to edit when I finish this reading response so I can query, but I need to force myself to sleep first :/

Also, in sadder news, my grandmother passed away on Saturday, so if the fates are smiling upon me, I'll be driving up to Kansas tomorrow for the funeral before the storm moves in, the storm closes campus, and I won't have to rush back to Stillwater to get to class.

"Taxes, they'll be lower. Sun. The Democratic vote for me is right thing to do Philadelphia. So do."

I finished my short story(!) for workshop, and now I want to just ball up from exhaustion and pain (slipped on ice, busted my knee, and not to mention, this weather is killer on my arthritis). But still, the short story thing calls for a Jersey Shore fist pump.

Take it away, Vinny.

*sigh*
Takes me back to last year when one of my best friends was living with me and we'd watch JS for the fun, guilty-pleasure lulz, but alas, she is now a grown up with a grown up job in another state.

In writing news, I'm back to editing HANNAH now that the short story is done.

"I'm not asking you to do anything. Just turn a blind eye while I rob this place stupid."

In case you don't know, my post titles are just random It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia quotes.

Anyway, I'm just now realizing that my first short story of the semester is due Tuesday, and I've been so preoccupied with the random crap thrown at me, I forgot :/   Fortunately, short stories are so much easier for me than books. I'll churn it out tonight.

In other news, some dillhole stole my purse last night, trashed it, and took my and my best friend's phones out of it. My cash and phone were gone, but fortunately, my credit card was still there. Agh, sometimes I really hate people. I got a replacement phone today, but seriously? You're just going to take some girl's purse for a stupid phone? Are you so dumb you wouldn't realize I'd have that sucker shut off and a police report filed so you can't sell it without them knowing? Artards.

So yeah, that's my crap news of the week.

Back to writing, I have a 15-20 page short story to snap out.

"Yes, my good man, I'll have the milk steak, boiled over hard, and your finest jelly beans...raw."

Ahh, why did I have to do one more writing workshop? And why did I have to sign up for four lit courses? Oh, right, I want to graduate.

Trying to polish up HANNAH so I can enter the manuscript in to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest and start querying again. The whole editing-my-book-while-doing-short-stories-and-reading-for-courses makes me just want to pull a Sweet Dee

Okay, maybe not on trash and outside of a club, but I think you get the idea, haha. My writing momentum is slowing down, but I blame exhaustion due to Senioritis. Though, thanks to Reasoning With Vampires, I get little bursts of editing energy. That tumblr has made me all the more cautious and meticulous about my writing and editing.

On a non-writing related note, I watched the SKINS series five opener last night. It was all right, but I just hope it doesn't go the series four route- completely insane with nothing relatable about it and absolutely ridiculous. I do like some of the new characters (Rich, Alo, and Grace, most def), though. Franky...eh, she was adorable, but her story and background were a little too-- I don't know-- something I just couldn't buy. Mini was annoying, Liv and Matty were eh, and Nick was ugh. I love Alo's van and his bromance with Rich.

As for SKINS US, I don't care what anyone else says, I adore it so far. Yeah, it could be a little better (like filmed in America and set somewhere specific, like Baltimore, with an all-American cast...won't lie, the Canadian accents are distracting), but I think with time, it will get better. I love Stanley more than Sid, Cadie more than Cassie, and I find Tea more intriguing than Maxxie (and I loved Maxxie). Most fans might diagree, but I think James Newman is perfect for an American Tony. He reminds me of every "popular" guy when I was in high school: short, cute but not "OMG SO HAWT," cocky, etc. The only thing that I can't buy, really, is that no one in the gang has a car. They're middle class American teens...at least one of them would have a car.

What's so funny about this whole SKINS US controversy is that my mother has it on series record so we can talk about the new episodes together. Yeah, my mother is a SKINS fan, back to when I first showed her the original. So much for parents hating the show, haha.

All right, I'm done.

"What is this word, spa? I feel like you're starting to a say a word and you're not finishing it. Spaghetti? Are you taking me to a spaghetti day?"

Okay, so I'm starting my new writing blog, and hopefully I'll update more on what's going on with me, writing wise (because, let's face it...my life is pretty boring :D). Well, let's see, shall we?

As some know, I'm working on editing the final manuscript of my novel HANNAH BOUDREAUX & THE COUNCIL OF ANCIENTS (I will probably refer to it as "HANNAH" for short throughout, jsyk), which has been through, what?, seven or eight (maybe more) drafts since 2008? I've edited this book more time than I can count, and now I'm doing the final touches.

I'm thinking of doing some book reviews...when I'm not doing my (massive amounts of) readings for class, and expect some updates on my Advanced Fiction Writing workshop (working on my first story for that class now).

So my prediction for the semester:

And yes, it is 5:16 in the AM my time, but I'm having a bit of insomnia going on :/  Expect a lot of late night posts.