Here We Go...

With less than an hour until Script Frenzy begins, I am confident enough to say that I am not prepared. Sure, I have spent the last month and a half thinking about this day, but thinking is about all that I accomplished. It seems that no matter how much time I have, I will never be ready for these month-long challenges. I am just not disciplined enough to get organized. Maybe part of the excitement is the unknown. I have a basic idea of what the story is. I know most of my characters. Hopefully the rest will come to me while I sleep or in the creative process of writing; otherwise this might be a painful experience.

I can do this! I know this story like the back of my hand (basically). It was thought up three years ago during the unforgettable Christmas when we convinced my younger brother that a zombie virus actually existed. My subconscious has been generating ideas and making connections for the past two months. I've got this. Writing a script is no more scary than trying to write a novel. At least there are rules for me to follow this time.

I aim to write four pages a day. I don't know whether this is an unrealistic goal or not, but I'm sure I will find out soon enough. Wish me luck!

Tattoos and Candy

If I could live off of candy, I have no doubt that I would. Last week I went up north to visit for Mom's 60th birthday. We (the siblings) treated her to lunch in Fisherman's Wharf and stopped at the Candy Baron on Pier 39 for salt water taffies. There is something so incredible about candy stores; it is like living inside a cartoon. I instantly have the urge to stuff my pockets full of whatever I can get my hands on. One of two things happen when I am in a candy store: I either am so overwhelmed by the choices I walk out empty handed, or go crazy and buy too much. After making a lap around the aisles, I walked out having taken nothing but pictures.

 Luckily, Mom was on it. When she entered the store she grabbed a bucket and began filling it with handfuls of rainbow colored treats. She waked out with a gallon bag full of salt water taffies. Now, I have tried to buy some in Los Angeles, and maybe I just didn't go to the right place, but it seems as though Northern California has the best taffies. We thought she went a bit overboard, but the bag was demolished a couple days later. Clearly, we underestimated the allure of candy.

During my visit I finally was able to coordinate schedules with both my friends and tattoo artist. The stars and planets aligned and I finally got the first two tattoos of my BFF tattoo collage. Yes, tattoo collage. Eventually I want to get matching tattoos with all of my favorite people (participation purely voluntary, of course).

Now, I originally wasn't planning on getting two tattoos in one week, but when your best friends offer to pay for it, it is difficult to refuse.

Enter dinosaurs! 

I realize that my obsession has now reached levels of mental illness, but I figure I would rather get silly dinosaurs with two of the people I love most than some common sparrow or koi fish (no offense to anyone who has either of those). I have never been good a following trends anyway.

                                                                                                                   

False Alarm

Remember how I was panicking (sorta) about March being Script Frenzy and I was nowhere near prepared? Yeah, looks like it was all for nothing. April. Script Frenzy is the 30 days of April. Silly me. It was the universe giving me just the right amount of drive to get my little butt going. So, this month? I will be doing character sketches and story outlines. Yes, I am committing to it. Right here. Someone needs to kick me if I don't do it.

As if the universe thought I wasn't serious, on Thursday morning my internet refused to work. This happened to be the same day that my brother left town for the weekend. While I am not completely technologically inept, it seems I lack the necessary troubleshooting skills to figure it out the problem. I tried resetting the router, unplugging and switching out cords. No luck. I figured that I could plug an ethernet cord directly into my laptop, but that was not the case either. On the bright side of things, I was forced to work on my writing. I mean, what else was there to distract me now? Aside from phone calls and movies, of course.

This is definitely a distraction.

What worries me the most is how utterly lost I feel without access to the internet. The fact that I can't check my email is enough to send me into a mild panic. I can't even count the number of times I have opened my computer to look up some random fact, image or whatever, only to remember that I have been cut off. After four days, I was beginning to try to live a new life without it. My morning routine of coffee and aimless web surfing was ruined, instead replaced by reading or working on my novel. A better existence I am sure, but now that I have been reconnected, I will probably go back to my unproductive ways. 

Wait, no I won't. Wasn't that what this whole blurb is about? Me getting on track with my writing? Damn. Okay, so even though I am going to be busy with my new job (hopefully) and visiting my hometown this month, I am GOING to be productive.

Unless Tiger Lily has any say in it...