Goodbye

I love Google and all of the wonderful services they provide. That being said, I'm sad to say that I'm no longer going to be using Blogspot for my blog. I've installed Word Press on my own domain and have since worked to set up my blog in a new location: http://www.lonitownsend.com/blog. Old content won't be there, and I'll be removing Revenge of the Ninja Squirrel from public searches. I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but I've been busy redesigning my site and editing my books offline.

If you have my blog bookmarked, update your link to the new location and give me a look up if ever you're interested.

Thank you all,

Loni Townsend

The Cera Chronicles

Yes, I have been lying in bed for over an hour trying to fall asleep but my brain won't turn off.  I'm tired, so very tired, yet still sleep eludes me.

As I found myself chewing on the bigger chunks of my second book, I realized that my brain needed a bit of a vacation.  Thus I changed my focus to look at one of my other writing projects: The Cera Chronicles.  This is one writing project where I'm going to let myself off the leash and poke fun at pop culture.  She is a traveler that is going from world to world, trying to find a cure for her father.  Rules regarding human nature?  Bah!  Who needs them.  In my novels, I try to adhere to reasonable thinking.  The Cera Chronicles are planned to be outrageous.  They'll be much shorter, 20K words or less.  They may offend some people.  But I think that's alright with me.  It might not win me any fans, but at least I'll have fun writing them.

And it goes on...

While my editors plug away at critiquing my first book, Thanmir War, I have started putting words to paper for my second book, Rise of the Teymir.  Seeing that this book has not been reviewed in my head repeatedly, I am finding it a bit more difficult to lay down the order of events.  That turns into writer's block.  I figure I'll just write all the interesting parts and figure out how to tie them together at a later time.

I've been rereading my old work that I have stored on Google docs and I'm happy to say that I've improved over the years.  I suppose practice does make... well, better.  I wouldn't go as far as to call it perfect because it's far from it.

I've decided that I'm going to start reading some of Amanda Hocking's books.  They seem to fit in with the Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews books, perhaps a bit more romance.  She's a self-published author.  I hear that they are entertaining so I figured I'd give them a try.  I'm starting with a zombie one since it was free on Amazon.  If I like it, I'll buy the others.

On the work front, I have officially passed my 6 month probation and I again work for the State of Idaho.  Hooray me!  My manager is leaving and my co-worker is debating if he is going to try for the position.  I think he'd be good at it, assuming that he'd actually want all the roles and responsibilities that come with it.  He is a programmer, tried and true.  But he is a good leader and has vision for the future, which I think is important for a team to succeed.

Seeing that my mini has died on me twice today, I think I'm going to give it a rest.  Until next time!

Character driven writing

There have been a few authors that I've enjoyed reading that speak of their characters as if they were real people.  Terry Goodkind wrote his book dedication to Richard and Kahlan for being able to tell their story.  Karen Marie Moning says that Mac takes over and Barrons has a mind of his own.  I laughed at first.  I mean, these are fictional characters, not real people.  And then it happened to me.

It was a slow process.

First my main character was just a cartoon character on sketch paper.  He didn't have much of a personality and I decided who and what he was going to be.  I decided that he was going to drive a motorcycle and date Britney just because she was attractive.  I decided that he was going to college for botany.  I decided that he had a little sister Melanie who was too advanced for her own good.

And then Derek said, "wait, you have it all wrong".  Derek took control of his own life.  He started to point out how my theories of who he was just didn't work.  As more and more words formed on my computer screen, he took control, showing me things I hadn't seen before.  Soon, I made discoveries about my characters that I didn't even know.  I've come to find out that Derek isn't exactly the selfless type.  He wanted more power and pointed out that not only was he an upholder (a whole nother class of people that he pointed out that I needed), but he was also much more.  He started dishing out details that I tried to protest, but he simply refused to listen.  With each revelation, I pointed out that it would complicate things and that I'd have to rewrite sections to fit.  He flicked his hand and said "pssh!  Sorry, but that's how it is.  If you want to tell the story right, you have to put it in there."

It makes me wonder if I've lost my mind at times.

With editing, I had hoped to cut down my word count of my book to a reasonable level.  I had cut out 10 pages worth of words.  And then added 10 pages worth of new content.  At least I am in the final stages of my editing, which I feel is a major step in the right direction.  With my sister-in-law's help, I managed to figure out the naming convention used for my calendar.  I also wrote a creepy poem that my Isto hunter recites.  I had hoped to bring him in again, but it doesn't look like he's going to return until the next book.

As of this point in time, I have about 75 pages left to edit.  I've just added another unanswered twist that will return for more interesting exposure in the second book.  At least it'll help explain Peter's presence.  Let's see if I can get to the end without revamping everything again.

The definition of me

I like who I am.  Over the years, I've decided who I want to be.  I want to be polite refinement.  I want to be casual ease.  I want to be super mom and wonder wife.  I want to be graceful elegance.  I want to be sexy geek.  I want to be selfishly selfless.

I won't nag.  I don't want to be viewed that way.  I won't pester you to do chores.  It doesn't mean I won't ask you to do something.  It just means I'll ask you once, and then I'll just do it myself.  I am independent.  That doesn't mean I will choose to pursue my passion and desires if it comes down to the choice between that or a request made of me, spoken or not.  I'd rather put aside what I want if it means that you will gain a sense of fulfillment by my presence or actions.  I will play with you, if that is what you want of me.  I will give up what hours I may have.  I don't want to say "screw you", even though some see that as spine and confidence.  That's not who I want to be.  That's not selfless.  I will be strong and bold, but I won't do it at the cost of manners.  I detest rudeness.  I will put you before me if I see fit.  Don't think less of me for doing so.  I strive to be the person people appreciate, not put up with.

This is who I am, and I like it.  I am a good and loyal friend.  I am a firm yet loving mother.  I am a happy and hopefully sexy wife.  I am a hard worker.  I will do my best in any situation I can.  I will be the best me I can be.

This is the definition of me.

Editing sucks

I have found that editing on a netbook is less than ideal, especially when the MS Word document is over 300 pages... single-spaced... size 11 font.  A lot of the time, I find myself wanting to reference a different portion of the book to keep with consistency and then I have to juggle with keeping two spots in one mega electronic document.

Thankfully, I have a terrific husband who was willing to print off all 315 pages for me so that I could better edit my book.  I has been extremely helpful to be able to write in the margin, make notes, underline certain words, cross out others, and flip back to see the content side by side.  However, I've found that it's a lot more difficult to quickly set aside a stack of loose papers than it is to lift a netbook out of the reach of an interested 15 month old girl.  Granted the paper doesn't interest her nearly as much as the glowing screen, but she still wants to climb up onto the bed and play around where she can fall off.  Who am I to deny her the simple pleasure of playing with mama?  Therefore, when she is on the bed, there's no editing taking place.

I have decided to rearrange my schedule for the rest of the month in order to put serious effort into getting through my editing before Christmas.  This should give me 1 1/2 hours to work baby and husband free four days out of the week.  Seeing that I'm only on Chapter 5, I'm not certain of the validity of my aspirations, but I'm willing to give it a shot.  Wish me luck!

Taking a moment to breathe

Life has been busy and I thought it'd be best to take a moment to breathe.  So here I sit wrapped up in a fleece blanket in my husband's chair, eating fried rice and drinking a Red Bull.

These past few weeks have been filled with projects, work, outings, and frustration.  We have a coat closet now that just need a kick plate to cover the hole in the door and some flooring.  Chris has done a fantastic job with it.  Just getting to the closet is a bit tricky at times since there's always something in the way at the moment, in order to block the hole.  But it'll be good soon.

I've done another project at work that I'm pleased to say that my coworker is happy with.  I have proven myself effect that he can tell me what he wants done with a particular project, and I can get it done in a clean fashion, though it may take me a few attempts to get everything in order.  Work is nonstop.  Sometimes I think I should get up and walk away from my desk more often, but I suppose I'll do that when the work lets up.

My brother has announced that the Mona Lisa will be closing so the gang went out for some fondue.  It was fun, but I had to bail on my best friend and leave her to babysit, which I felt bad for.  But Kimi loves playing with Beverlie, and Beverlie is a trooper when it comes to kids.  I'll be taking her out to the new Twilight movie this coming Friday as part of the thank-you package.  Even though I haven't read the books, I figured I'll probably enjoy the movie anyways.  No, I haven't seen the other movies in the series either.  I'm not about to hate it just because over-fanatic fans have made it "uncool" or a joke in today's society.  I'll watch it with an open mind and judge the quality for myself.

As far as frustrations go, I have found the freezing habit of my netbook to be thoroughly annoying when I'm trying to edit a book that's 194K words long.  That translates into a 311 page Word document at size 11 Calibri font, single spaced without the extra spacing between paragraphs.  As you might be able to tell, I don't appreciate my computer seizing up when I'm trying to scroll to a different point of the document as a reference. Chris ordered me a cooling stand which I hope will alleviate most of the problem, but my little Acer Aspire One has a bad rep for the whole freezing issue.  I don't want a full-sized laptop, and all I'm doing is word processing.  Chris has offered to get me a new netbook, but I keep putting it off, hoping that the issue will just go away if I ignore it.  We'll see.

Compiled!

I've finally got a compiled piece of work.  Through my three points of views, I am telling the story of love and war.  And after rereading the first half, I realize with great dismay that it's somewhat boring.  Now that I've begun my editing stage and lay out the story along a congruent timeline, I see the parts that need tweaked.  A bit more creative description here.  A little removal of unnecessary detail there.  I haven't been able to sit down and get through it all consecutively which has been a detriment to the whole editing process, but I think I'm still on schedule for my Christmas deadline. 

Now if only I could stop changing the story.  Alright, so it's not exactly the story that I'm changing.  However I've decided to work in someone that I could kill senselessly.  So, I've created a valet.  Peter Collins, the Commander's valet, will meet an unfortunate end.  I haven't exactly figured out how yet.  And I hope that I make the character loved enough that my readers will be outraged by it.  But all in all, I think he'll add value and personality. 

The Diet Science

Weight loss is math and science, combined with some will power and self discipline.  Here is the technical stuff.

To lose one pound of fat, you need to burn 3500 more calories than you consume.

One gram of fat is 9 calories.
One gram of carbohydrates is 4 calories.
One gram of protein is 4 calories.  

Our bodies will burn calories, even if we aren't doing anything.  To figure out where to start, you should discover your Resting Metabolic Rate.  This is the number of calories your body burns without any consideration towards exercise or even getting out of bed.  There are a number of RMR calculators on the web, but I used http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php, even though it's a bit more difficult to navigate.  Once you go to the page, click on the link for BMR & RMR Calculator, fill out the fields, and click calculate.  After doing so, you'll notice a list of numbers referencing factors and categories.  We'll get to those in a second.

First off, we want to look at your RMR.  This number is important because this is how many calories you can eat while staying absolutely still and neither gain or lose weight.  Seeing that most of us get out of bed to at least use the bathroom once or twice, this number isn't our guide, but it is our foundation.  Next comes the list of numbers.

Everyone's life is different.  I work a desk job and I hardly get up from my computer while at work.  Therefore, my life classifies as sedentary.  But the fact that I do get out of bed in the morning means that I'm burning more calories than my RMR, so I get to times my calorie limit by 1.2, meaning that I get my RMR count plus an additional amount to supplement my movement.

This new number is the number of calories we can eat in a day without losing or gaining weight. 

Losing 1 pound a day isn't reasonable or healthy.  It's better to think of things on a weekly basis.

Now here's the math to losing weight.

Say my RMR is in the 1300 range and with my sedentary lifestyle, I can eat in the 1575 range.  That would be 1575 calories a day, over 7 days.  1575 x 7 = 11025 calories a week.  Now we want to subtract a pound a week.  As mentioned at the beginning of this post, a pound is 3500 calories.  So 11025 - 3500 = 7525.  With a goal of losing 1 pound in 1 week, I need to limit myself to 7525 calories a week or (divide by 7) 1075 calories a day.  That is assuming I don't exercise.  The more you exercise, the more calories you can eat since you'll be burning them off.

This math is good, and it's the same math used by any calorie tracking tool you find out there.  However, you'll eventually end up with a snag if you keep following this.  This snag is that after about a week of depriving your body of calories, your hormones (one called Leptin in particular) starts to panic because it thinks that your body is starving.  It then decides to start storing fat, making your weight loss cease.  That is why I endorse a weekly over eating day.  You can ask my sister-in-law, it works.  Eat whatever you want, pizza, burgers, whatever, over the span of one day, and then drop back into your reduced calorie diet the rest of the week.  I'd still recommend tracking it, since you should have close to 1000 calories above your average just for that one day. 

This next part really isn't important, but since I'm a programmer, I like to understand how to calculate everything.


Since we now know how much we can eat, we can look at what to eat.  A calorie will land in one of three sections: Carbohydrates, Fat, and Protein.  I listed the values of each at the beginning of this post to explain how calories are calculated. If you take the time to examine food labels, you'll see these three values listed and with a bit of math, you can see how they add up.  Pay attention to the grams (g) and not so much the percentage.  If you see 1g of fat, then that means that 9 of the listed calories are from fat.  If you see protein and carbohydrates listed at 1g a piece, then you get 4 calories each.  My Red Bull is 110 calories and with 28g of carbohydrates (28 x 4  = 112), you can see how that adds up.  A typical recommended diet will be 55% carbs, 25% protein, and 20% fat.  I wouldn't worry about this so much since different goals have different percentages.  An athlete will consume more carbs.  A body builder will consume more protein.  Me, I typically average 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat.  It works for me.

With the 40/30/30 percentages in mind, we break that down into how many calories in each category we can eat.  Back to my limit of 1075 a day, that means that 430 of those will be carbs, and 323 (rounding) will be protein and another 323 will be fat.

Does your head hurt yet?  Let's break it down even further. 
Since 430 calories are carbs, and there are 4 calories in 1 gram of carbohydrate, then that means I can have 108 (rounding) grams of carbs.
Math goes on to say I need 81 grams of protein and 36 grams of fat.


As a side note, I'd like to mention that it's best to eat several times a day.  I aim for six.  To break that down in a diet sense,  that's 1075 / 6 meals a day, or about 179 calories a meal.  That's not a definite rule, but it's a good guideline.  It's the same concept of snacking throughout the day and it keeps that hormone I mentioned earlier happy and out of starvation mode.  A small snack a couple hours apart will help with the weight loss battle.


TL;DR

That is how effective dieting works.
1. Calculate how many calories you need in a day
2. Take that number and times it by 7 to get a weekly value
3. Subtract the calorie deficit needed to lose weight (3500 x #ofpounds)
4. Divide by 7 to get a new daily value and don't eat more than that
5. Splurge one day a week


I hopes this helps explain how dieting works.

Sincerely,

Loni

The plot thickens!

I should really pay my sister-in-law a consulting fee for the great ideas she passes on.  I've struggled with writer's block when it comes to the twin.  Political intrigue would be fantastic, if only I knew how to get it.  Well, Abi has a few thoughts up her sleeve and another mention in one part of the story takes off with a whole new venue of possibilities.  The Commander shares a few of his thoughts regarding the zealous Miasho upholders that are a bit too dedicated to the old ways for his tastes and the Twin gets to deal with the extremist groups head on.  She pointed out that someone will always be trying to wrestle to gain power.  Considering that the Thanmir stick to their own provinces, it's going to be the Miasho loyalists who think that the elementals are demeaning and need to go.  They have valid points.  A majority of the elementals (though the reader doesn't see them) do have a superiority attitude.  It shows in the rules laid down, setting conditions for the human habitation on Chikara.  The Miasho upholders take the view that their gods are powerful and the humans outnumber the elementals when it comes to the mortal/beast plane.  They think they can survive without elemental rule and use the fire province as an example. 

The political intrigue comes in the form of playing the characters off of each other.  Ira wants power.  Landau (who is the leader of the extremist group) wants the elementals stripped from sovereignty.  Harim wants Ira dead.  Aito wants MaTisha.  Kaio, the twin, is pulling the strings with his merry band of retrieval experts (kidnappers), business mediators (assassins), and information specialists (spies), all of which either work for or belong to the Hobbs family (Alistair is one of eleven sons). 

Hopefully it turns out as well as I'm planning.

Sleep Disorders, Names, Book Reviews, and Costumes

A couple friends brought up that I might have a sleep disorder.  When I lay down to sleep, no matter how tired I am, it takes no less than a half hour for me to finally drift off.  It's due to the fact that I'm usually thinking, which was what spawned this whole blog thing to begin with.  They are probably right, but I doubt I'll look into treatment for it.

Just a quick blurb about my writing.  I've been working my way through the twin's point of view and have found that my sister-in-law thinks like an evil political genius, which is what the twin is.  I might have to hire her to write a speech or two for me.  I've also decided that some things need to change.  For one, I need to name my provinces.  For another, I think I'm going to rename the Commander.  His name is Kieser.  First off, that's not a very human name.  It's also pretty close to the Twin, Kaio.  I don't want the readers getting confused between the two, so I think Kieser is going to become Cameron.  Finally, I'm going to rework the main character/female lead story a bit to take out some of the dreams that preordain them to be together and add in more desperation to return home, which will then make the decision to stay that much harder for the hero to make.  It's got to be believable. 

I recently completed four of the proposed seven book series by Lisa Shearin about Raine Benares, an elf seeker stuck with a soul-sucking rock.  It's been entertaining so far, but it brings to light things that I want to avoid.  Such as repetitive descriptions, tons of exposition, and an unbelievable character or two.  Over the top is fun.  Unbelievable makes it hard to accept.

Since my sister-in-law only had the first four on audiobook, I've decided to move to a different series that I've been meaning to get to for a while.  The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher.  I'm about halfway through the first book and though it's not as lighthearted as the Shearin series, it is captivating.  I read the negative reviews on goodreads.com and I'm pretty sure I won't have the same issues that many of those readers suffered with.  A: I haven't read the Dresden Files yet.  B: Violence in a book where a war is breaking out doesn't bother me.  C: I know it's fantasy, not sci-fi.

I read one book review for George R.R. Martin that I had to appreciate.  The writer said something to the effect of "just because the book isn't the style that you like to read doesn't mean that it's a bad book and deserves a low rating.  Judge it by the writing which is fantastic."  The writer was commenting on a book that I finished, but I couldn't continue with the rest of the series since it was so darn depressing.  Some may disagree with the reviewer, but I don't.  The writing is good.  It's just too much for me.

Last item on my list of updates is costumes.  Halloween is coming up and I've decided that I'm going to make Kimi a ghost costume.  She loves pulling fuzzy blankets over her head and walking around like that.  I figure, just get some white fleece material, cut a couple of little holes, and viola!  Hopefully she likes it.  If work allows me, I'm going to dress up like a pirate.  My sister-in-law has many articles of clothing that will work for the task so it'll require minimal effort to throw together.  This year, I hope to take Kimi trick-or-treating through the HP facility.  I'm looking forward to it.

Music and Characters

I'm often inspired by music when it comes to visualizing my characters.  For instance, two songs that often make me think of my hero are "Whenever, Wherever" by Shakira and "I've got a feeling" by Black Eyed Peas.  It represents how Derek is passionate and carefree.  Granted, he doesn't always appear that way in the book, but the songs still apply to his personality.

I've finished writing the primary part of the first book which is from Derek and MaTisha's point of views and now I'm focusing on the twin, Kaio Geotellus.  Much like I struggled with the Commander, I'm stuck thinking about what kind of situations this character will get into.  He's a very powerful man, ambitious, and completely devoted to his brother.  His song is "You're gonna go far, kid" by The Offspring.  Kaio is willing to start a war for the sake of his brother's happiness and eventually declares himself Sovereign after his brother is killed. 

The next few weeks will be focused on feeling out the Twin's story, finding out what he's truly capable of, and making him a lot more gray than black or white.  He's got an arsenal at his command.  Assassins, spies, powerful Miasho upholders, and an army of men ready to do his bidding.  With what I have written now, he seems like a man resigned to having to fight if he must.  It's my goal to turn him into a very dark, yet seemingly reasonable master of war.  He's not the bad guy, at least, not in this book.  I want the reader to understand why he's doing what he is, feel his loyalty, and not blame him for taking the actions that he does.  If I can do that, then I will consider it successful. 

My Goal: Christmas

I have about 150k words typed towards my book.  The upper limit of a fantasy novel is 200k.  As I reread my work, I know there are parts that are going to get rewritten since my first draft is grossly lacking.  It's far more tell than show.  But my goal is to have a rough first draft by Christmas.  I think I can do it.  It's only taken me half of my life to get to this point. 

Chris has asked me if I've looked into publishers.  The entire idea is quite daunting.  But I don't want to settle for self publishing.  This book is for me, writing because I love writing and this story is clawing its way to freedom.  If I go the route of self-publishing first, then it makes me feel like I'm doing it for the money, which I'm not because I have a great job and I enjoy what I do.  Is it important to me that other people read my book?  I don't know.  I think I'd like to share it with friends and family.  I think it would greatly please me to hold a physical copy of my book in my hands, complete with cover art and synopsis, just to say that I did it.  I got the story down on paper.  And for that reason, I don't want just an e-book either. 

I don't know if I'd ever be able to make it big as a writer.  I ask "why" all too often.  Not "why won't I make it".  That's not the issue.  It's also not "why do I write".  I know that.  But "why does Derhan not eat Kieser?"  "Why doesn't he just use this power and get the whole thing over with?"  "Why don't they see that attack coming?"  With each question, it morphs into further considerations and tweaking of the story.  Tweaks in the story cause the butterfly effect.  I think way too much.  But who knows?  Maybe I'll get a following like my favorite authors have and be a top seller.  I think I'd be able to sell at least 10 copies (with the support of my family).  Heck, I'd even autograph them!  But before I get carried away, I better get back to writing.  Christmas is my goal.  Wish me luck!

Isto

I really should be asleep right now.  Unfortunately, my husband hurt his shoulder and I woke up about an hour ago to rub some Tiger Balm on his aching body.  As usual, I started thinking instead of falling back to sleep.

The past couple of days have been dedicated to working on my book.  To make my main character more interesting (since he wasn't complicated enough) and throw my readers off, I created a fairytale monster called an Isto.  My main character is accused of being one and thus all that encounter his elemental/seal-covered form go running in terror since an Isto is said to be the vengeful dead.  It is common belief that they are immortal since "how can you kill something that is not alive?"  They take on many forms so any sort of terror or foolery is blamed on Isto...Istos?  Or Istoes?  I haven't decided yet.  I think I'll leave out the 'e'. 

On to what has been keeping me up for the past hour.  I really don't have much content for my second book.  I have a basic outline which deals with the consequences of the first book.  There's a plague killing off jespers.  Rin is introduced to help find a cure.  Derhan finds his last guardian on an island.  LaTonya has to keep her half-brother from dying.  The earth clan demand a new Teymir.  The guardians have lost their marks.  MaTisha and Kieser must settle the unrest and unite the provinces.  It all sounds rather uneventful, doesn't it?

In comes the Miasho deities and the Isto.  De, Tu, Li, and Na hunt down their brother Ko with some bad news.  Taking on the niniers (which was never part of Derhan's master plan) has upset the balance, releasing the monsters that they had to imprison long before the humans or elementals existed.  These are the Isto and they aren't just fairytales this time.  The first to be targeted are the upholders.  Miasho power kept them at bay so the first item of business is to destroy their adversaries.  That means Nicholas, Alistair, Alissandria, and Satch all have their hands full with undead monsters who wish to rip them to shreds.  That should add a bit excitement to the storyline.  How will the hero vanquish the Isto and save the day?  Not sure yet, but the details will work themselves out.

Back on Track

In the midst of illness, child care arrangements, mini-vacations, and football games, I'm finally back on track.  For the past two weeks, I've been out of the swing of things, binge eating fast food, desserts, pizza, chips, and other forms of junk food.  I also haven't worked out at all.  But today is the last day.  Starting tomorrow, I'll be eating healthy and exercising once again. 

Though I've been a lazy bum, I have reveled in the fact that I've gotten the opportunity to write.  A great deal of time spent thinking through my story and revising certain facts.  For instance, if the reader is able to figure out what my main character is, then shouldn't the people traveling with him and spending all waking hours with him also figure it out within a reasonable time period.  On that note, the reason why he kills all the people that he does is because he's recognizable as a fire elemental when he's transformed.  If it's just the hair and eyes, it'd make more sense to have him wear a hat and some form of glasses or blindfold instead of killing a bunch of guys.  And if the guys know that he's an elemental, why would they try to fight him?  Instead, they run in terror!  Well, a short man with red-glazed hair and red eyes just isn't that scary.  Let's throw some creepy black markings on his skin (all the seals on him becoming visible) and make his skin glisten like polished bronze, and his eyes glow with a backlight of fire.  Now that, that makes him a bit more scary.  The glowing eyes bit started with Jebaliah and I decided to keep it as an elemental trait.  Since MaTisha's power is sealed, she doesn't have that trait until her power is released.


In addition to the deduction of my hero being a fire elemental, I asked myself "why wouldn't my characters take advantage of the Miasho art to hide from authorities?"  I decided that they would.  So MaTisha gets a new scarf to hide her identity, which doesn't work on Derek, of course, since he's a Miasho deity.  With the changes I've made, I've been rewriting several scenes to make them flow and adding a few scenes to try to add more life to one of my favorite characters, Alistair.  I want to make sure to do him justice on paper.  A highly intelligent, sociable assassin.  I liken him to some of the popular anti-heroes in television, like Spike from Buffy or Xellos from Slayers.  Hopefully it shows in print.

Thoroughly Annoyed

I know I had it.  I remember typing it.  Yet I search my netbook, I search my Google docs, I search my desktop, and it's not there.  That makes me thoroughly annoyed.

I had written a section of story for the first book a while back about how my main character was sneaking into the opposing side's palace, sees a tapestry on the wall, realizes that he caused his own dilemma, and gets captured by Kaio because he's cocky and underestimates his enemy.  I can't find it anywhere.  I'm going to have to retype it and remember all that I put in it.  What bugs me, it was one of my inspired pieces, so the first draft had turned out pretty good.  Oh well. 

My how time flies

Kimiko Ann Mori Townsend is now a year old.

It was a good party, though it didn't go of quite like I had planned.  I had envisioned giving her a cake she could make a mess of and singing "Happy Birthday" with a single candle.  Well, we cut the first slice of double cheesecake and brownie and I hand it to Abi to give to Chris so that he could give it to Kimi.  When I asked him where Kimi was, he said on the floor with her new toys.  I asked him about the cake, and he said she wasn't digging it.  Then I asked about the whole singing and candle thing and his response was... "uh...".  Oh well.  I guess this was just the first birthday of many to come.  Not sure when we'll use the candle that's shaped like a 1.  Maybe when she's 10.

It's those little things called words that usually get forgotten.  Like singing Happy Birthday on your daughter's first birthday, or asking the woman you love to marry you.  Yep.  That's right.  He forgot to ask that question when he proposed.  It's one of my favorite memories, him getting down on one knee and lifting the ring up in the traditional fashion.  And then he didn't say a word.  He just looked at me.  And so I hugged him since I very well couldn't answer a question he never asked.  Later that night he did.  He was "I guess I forgot to ask, will you marry me?"  After five years, I'm still happy I said yes. 

My best friend is a newly wed and she mentions all the little things that are just "guy" about her husband.  It makes me laugh because I realize that Chris is very similar only I've grown used to all the nuances.  For instance, the question "where is...?"  I may not have a good mental database (see last blog for explanation), but I am perceptive.  I don't know if that's a talent I developed before or after marrying my husband.  It could just be a female trait.  It makes me come off as a know-it-all at times (I've seen this in myself at work), but I can't help the fact that I notice and deduce things fairly easy.  It helps since it usually provides an answer to the "where is...?" question.

As Kimi settles in for her morning nap (since she's used to getting up around 7 now with my new schedule), I'm getting ready to take advantage of some serious writing time.  I haven't written in 2 weeks.  That causes problems because my brain is changing the story again.  Third book took another leap in a different direction and now I have to fit the pieces together again.  Of course, that affects the first book.  *sigh*

How not to look like an idiot.

I'm not so good at thinking on the fly.  I may be able to narrow my eyes and spit out a mean comment that'll make a T-Mobile rep cry (ask my sister-in-law about that one), but being able to tout useful information on demand is beyond me.  Take work for an example.  I know how to write CSS, design nice looking pages, and throw together a working website, but when my co-worker asks me layout the CSS for our latest project, I draw a complete blank. 

On the drive home, I was comparing my mind to a search engine rather than a database.  I have to ask it to go out to other places to look for the information I need rather than storing it all in tidy orderly tables in my memory.  I suppose I've been ruined by Google in that fashion.  When information is at your fingertips, why hang onto it in your brain?  Of course, when you put it into practice, it makes a person look even less impressive than they really are. 

As a result, going back to my work example, I look as if I need to be guided through every step of the process.  Compounding that with the fact that I know there is an expected adherence to a style not yet defined, I find myself just using copy and paste to take existing style sheet information and using it in the current project.  Yes, my impressive knowledge of web design is to copy something my co-worker has already done.  Gee...

What I would really like to do is sit down and develop my calorie tracking tool on my own time to show that I'm not full of crap and that I can do this job.  Slight problem with that plan.  It comes in the form of a 2 1/2 foot tall, walking bundle of energy that is absolutely offended by computer use that consumes more than the time it takes for her to cross the room.  Yes, even blog posts.  I've had to walk away about 7 times so far.  That makes it difficult to keep focused on writing code.  She almost deleted a 9 page document that holds my writing from the Commander's point of view for my book by slamming on my backspace key repeatedly while I was trying to finish a sentence. 

So I suppose I'll go on looking like an incompetent idiot until I'm able to pound out code without looking up references.

A commander, a medic, and a nomad are standing on the edge of a cliff...

With my new schedule, I found it difficult making the time to write.  Typically, I would write when I'm alone so that I don't feel like I'm neglecting my social duty to my family.  However, now it's wake up, Kimi, work, Kimi, Chris and Kimi, bed.  I don't have that alone time between work and Kimi anymore.  As a result, I've written a disappointing 800 words this week towards my first book.

That's not my only problem.  My mind has been jumping to the third book where it has no business being.  I thought to myself, would 14 years really be enough to throw my main character off the deep end?  Honestly, he's stronger than that.  So then my thoughts processed the way I designed my world.  There are layers.  The Drethamir exist in the top layer where time passes at a rate much, much slower than what we think is normal time passage.  Then the next layer down is the Realm.  An hour in the Realm is several hours by our time.  Further down is our time.  My thought, what if there was yet another layer down, one where time passed more quickly?  It'd be where the crafters reside, making their metal elemental items.  That would also be an ideal place to imprison an elemental as a punishment.  My underground chamber moved to a new layer and became the prison cell Thanmir Julvan vacated and redesigned to hold the most powerful being Chikara ever encountered, aka, my hero. 

That added an interesting twist.  Now that I have the chamber in a different layer, I can change things around.  Instead of 14 years passing for him, it's over 5,000, one year for every day.  That would be plenty of time to throw him over the edge.  Toss the sadistic nature of the Sovereign into the mix, and you have a well trained monster that eats other prisoners fed to it for meat, has been mentally conditioned to obey certain commands such as come, sit, and sleep, and has forgotten most details about his life prior to imprisonment.  Until the day the Commander, Kieser Hartford, is captured and thrown to the mighty Miasho beast deity. 

Derhan doesn't eat him.  Kieser doesn't know that it is Derhan at first since the huge furry monster with four arms, two sets of black wings, horns, and a tail looks nothing like the red-haired amorous elemental.  They had kept the details about his nature a secret.  Anyways, back to the story.  Kieser doesn't complain about the monster not eating him, but doesn't trust the mighty beast until he sees the beast transform at the Sovereign's command from his hiding place behind the fountain.  That's when he realizes Derhan isn't dead like everyone thought.  The Kieser and Derhan interaction while imprisoned is not new.  Unfortunately, Derhan is one of the last people to see Kieser alive before the Sovereign executes him.  But that's a different line of thought.  Back to the prison. 

I sat and contemplated why Kieser survives his encounter with the monster.  Why would Derhan not eat him if Derhan has no memories of who Kieser is?  The monster likes eating people.  They taste good.  Well, that throws a kink in the plan.  Derhan towers over the Commander, hungry, insane, and scents the air.  He smells his own blood.  Alright.  Why would he do that?? 

That took me back to the first book and a dramatic change in my character.  I turned him into a temporary guardian.  Derhan and MaTisha conceive a child that dies before birth.  Guardians are most often chosen prior to birth and Kieser would fit the profile of a combat guardian quite well.  The mark only appears after MaTisha joins Harim in the battle on the border between the fire and earth province.  Harim falls to Teymir Ira and Kieser is left with a sense of loss.  He doesn't know what his purpose is anymore.  Just before MaTisha transports to her province, she approaches Kieser about continuing the war.  He pledges his services out of a duty to his fallen leader, but as he accepts and she disappears, a guardian mark appears and a welcoming connection to the unborn elemental forms. 

 That's why Derhan doesn't eat him.  The connection is in the blood and even though the child doesn't make it to birth, it still exists.  That led me to think about Warren Bateman, my medic, and Satch Lander, my nomad.  They also make ideal candidates for guardians, Warren as a care guardian and Satch as intellectual.  Satch is a bit pouty, but he can be smart.  I'm not sure if I'm going that route yet, but I've decided to go ahead with the Commander.  It'll do to explain things in the third book.  Now I need to get back to writing the first book...

Super Loni

I had forgotten the joys of real programming.  My first week on the job has been enlightening.  Brice, the first half of my two-man programming team, has been a patient and effective trainer.  He's been teaching me how to do my job while getting caught on tangents that lead to one explanation of technology after another.  I've been learning a lot, more than I can fully absorb, but I'm catching on bit by bit. 

My schedule changed with the new job.  Instead of going in at 6:00, I'm going in at 8.  It's kind of nice.  I'm not getting up at 4:30 anymore.  I've started getting up at 6:00 to do my workout.  Then jogging Kimi to daycare with Abi.  At work, I'm cramming my brain.  I get off at 5, though I didn't take an hour long lunch.  I zoom to pick up Kimi from daycare, get her home and feed her, cook dinner and have it ready by 6, give Kimi a bath, load up some laundry, and then settle for the night.  Yeah, I was feeling a bit super at that time. 

Kimi is taking steps now.  She isn't fully walking, but she's getting close.  Life is moving so quickly that I'm afraid it's going to pass me by.  I guess I'll just have to be super to not miss anything.