Winnah!

I have been really bad at blogging this being the most time I have missed in two years. I really don't know how I did the 365 Days Blog along with Nanowrimo especially considering I did them both my first month!

Well, I finally crossed the finish line and I have completed the Nanowrimo challenge 3 years in a row! Now my goal is to get back to blogging.

Random Ramblings: Too Many Questions

And not enough answers...

Writing: I am now 9 days (I have not written yet today) into my new novel and I am proud to say that I have posted 20,773 words and I am way ahead of schedule. Like I have said before, one of the most satisfying things is when the novel begins to write itself. When story beats suddenly come out of nowhere and characters come to life. I was worried that my novel was lacking in an antagonist when suddenly the idea of turning a good supporting character into one of the main villains came to me. And it fits so perfectly and I don't have to change anything that I have written before. So when should the main protagonist discover the true antagonist?

Listening Part I: While I write I like to listen to music. I usually get distracted when I listen to Queen (I start to sing along) so I try to listen to movie soundtracks and the like. And one of my favorite bands/orchestras came out with another album. E.S. Posthumus's new album Makara is fantastic and the cover of Moonlight Sonata (featured below) is wonderful. What other music do you recommend I should listen to when I write?

Debating: So I feel that I am at a moral crossroads. I see something in the future that I feel can either turn into some sort of Dateline show or could be completely innocent. What makes matters worse is that I recently saw a Dateline episode that was basically the same thing I am seeing now and that did not end well. So what should I do?

Listening Part II: I have gone through the last five studio Queen albums and I have to say that these new remasters were well worth the purchase. The sound is so much clearer and crisp on the Miracle and Innuendo albums especially. The last two albums are bittersweet, Freddie knew the end was coming and it shows through the songs. While artistically I feel Queen was at their best on these final albums, the songs definitely had hints of retrospect, sadness and dealing with the cards you have been dealt with. So when am I going to post my reviews of each album?

Wishing: I wish I had the NFL Network so I can catch the Thursday games. I just cannot justify paying that much more a month for a TV package when the NFL Network would really be the only channel I would watch. I think I may cancel my TV when the football season ends. It could be that I am getting old but there is just nothing good on TV anymore. The bad stuff on TV clearly overshadows the good. And what TV I would watch, I can catch on the Internet. So should I cancel my TV service at the end of the season?

Calling: Speaking of the NFL game tonight...

Oakland at San Diego:

Both the Chargers and Raiders are in a free fall. Oakland is without RB McFadden and I think that is what will be crucial in this game. RB Michael Bush can also run the ball but lacks the explosiveness that McFadden has. The Chargers usually wake up at this point in the season and I think they will bounce back here.

Winner: San Diego Chargers

Singing: So a couple of Sundays ago I was attending the community choir practice and I got to hear the gospel song we are going to do. Oh boy... ...I really am going to be stepping out of my comfort zone here. A lot of dancing and hand waving and praising. I like to sing and the song is a ton of fun but the actions are not my style. I am going to have to hype myself up to do what they want me to do. I am gonna have to channel my inner Blues Brother.

And shame on you if you don't know who the Blues Brothers are. Have you seen this movie?

So there are some questions... ...now to find some answers.

Late Update

I had to blog on this historic date!

11/01/11

Isn't it that cool? I swear that I grew up during the best time of history. I got the best toys, best music, best movies and now best dates!

So I have started my Nanowrimo novel and I am happy (and yes I am tooting my own horn) that I am now at 3, 301 words! 

And I had a major distraction as my final Queen boxset arrived today. HUZZAH!  I really want to do a review on each disc. I am looking forward to rediscovering these songs.

I had a fun evening yesterday at my dad's and trick-or-treating around his neighborhood. We ate a ton of pizza and a ton of candy. And Logan was able to go around the block with his cousins and come back with a decent haul.

Logan was a Dementor this year. I did his make up even though he didn't think he needed it. 

Random Ramblings: Da-Doo

Shivering: I rather would have cold weather than I would having it unbearably hot. But then I would like to live in a place that has a decent furnace. Our place gets soooo cold. It is nice in the summer because it stays pretty cool most of the time. We finally turned on our heater the other day after trying to go through days without it on.

Watching Part 1: Speaking of shivering. I watched the 2nd episode of the Walking Dead. I cannot recommend this show enough if you like your TV a bit spooky.

Writing: You are going to see this every Random Rambling I do. The Nanowrimo competition starts this Tuesday and I am looking forward to cranking out the first couple thousand words. Reaching 50,000 words really is not that bad when you average out how many words you should do a day. You need to do 1,667 words a day, I like to do more on an average because I like to take Sundays off from writing. Seriously, if you can blog for 365 days in a row, this is a walk in the park!

Meeting: I am meeting with my writer's group here in a couple of hours. Unfortunately I cannot stay to long but I look forward to getting some motivation going.

Watching Part II: Last night Kristy and I went and saw a production of "Little Shop of Horrors" put on by Utah State University. Now I love the movie a lot and I absolutely love the music. But I have not seen the original Broadway musical. This production was set in this small and tight theatre and it was a blast. We sat only a few rows from the stage and I was amazed at how detailed this small production was. The sets and costumes were absolutely perfect and the plant was surprisingly detailed and animated. It actually felt like it was its own person. I know an actor was in the plant giving its motion but the plant felt like it had its own emotion. I won't spoil the ending here if you have not seen the musical and have only seen the movie. It is a lot darker than the movie but a whole lot more entertaining. I would love to see this again.



Singing: Last Sunday I joined the Logan Community Choir with a friend of mine. He asked if I like to sing Christmas songs (which I love to do) and said that this choir is a lot of fun. We sat in the tenor section and I was overwhelmed. Luckily we were sitting by a guy that knew the music. I am really looking forward to tomorrow's session when we are introduced to a couple of new songs that we will perform. Last Sunday we started to learn "Still, Still, Still", "The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy" and the main chorus from the Messiah. Tomorrow we learn some sort of song heavily influenced by gospel music and he expects us to dance and really go to town. Should be a lot of fun.

The Plot Bunny

Today I met with some other Nanowrimo writers at the local Hastings.

I like to meet new people but I do find myself incredibly shy at times. And I honestly don't want to share my stories, I guess I am paranoid in my old age. We have a nice little group of writers and I am looking forward to hearing their experiences with writing. Hopefully it will motivate me when I get behind or when I am at a loss for words.

One of the members of the group gave me a real cute homemade Plot Bunny. A Plot Bunny is the term some groups of writers give to the little ideas that start off big stories. Basically, a Plot Bunny gives you a small idea and it reproduces... ...like a bunny. These little creatures will not rest until you write what they are telling (begging) you to write. Even if has nothing to do with your story, or it goes in a direction you don't think it should go, this bunny will eat at you until you do. Some just come right up and tell you what to write, some just carefully weave its way into your novel.

I just need a name for my Plot Bunny. Any ideas?

Random Ramblings: *Insert Title Here*

Blogging: It seems that I just don't have enough to blog about anymore. These Random Ramblings blogs cover most of the stuff that happens to my family and I. I want to blog more, I just don't know what else to say aside from the column and my NFL-inspired blogs. I might have to resort to mission stories or comic book stuff.

Listening: For some reason the Phantom of the Opera has been calling my name. That was the first major musical I saw and from the moment I heard the music, I loved it. It also takes me back to my college days with my friend Lared where we would crank this out in the car and sing. And I usually would do Christine's part and surprisingly I could hit a lot of her notes. Now I didn't say that I sounded good but at least I could hit them!

Surveying: I know I have been pimping this out a lot lately but it really works. Since June, I have made a little over in $200 worth of Amazon gift codes. I just recently placed an order for the Queen Boxset #3, which I paid NOTHING for. It comes out in a few weeks and I am giddy with anticipation.

Singing: Speaking of singing and music, I was invited to join a community choir. They are setting up a Christmas program and they even have a baritone section! I am thrilled to be invited and I hope it is a lot of fun. It should be since we are singing Christmas music. But I hope it continues past the Christmas season.

Eating: One of the tastiest coconut-cream donuts EVER! Just thought you would all like to know.

Reading: I am plowing through my collection of spooky/horror comics and I am almost halfway through my Hellboy collection. By Yoda, I love these books. I highly recommend this set of books. The art has a spooky atmosphere and the writing is top-notch. What I really love about these books are the various folk stories from all over the world which he investigates. The strange other-worldly fairy tales and legends really make for some spooky and funny moments. If you liked the movie, you will love the books. Seriously, check them out! They are available not just in comic book form, you can also pick them up in bound tradepaperback editions and I am sure you can find them at your local library.

The Wolves of St. August, The Corpse and the Iron Shoes, the Conqueror Worm and Darkness Falls are some of my favorite Hellboy tales.

Plotting: I am getting really eager to start writing for the NaNoWriMo competition. This will be the third year in a row for me and I cannot recommend it enough. Seriously, if you have any desire to do some writing, you should check this out and try it. It is extremely rewarding. You know who I am talking to! I am meeting up with a couple of local writers this Saturday to chat and plot our novels. Should be fun!

Cheering: Logan and his football team got their first win last night in a blowout. Logan had to block against this huge kid and did really well. They definitely played like a team last night and it was fun to watch. Logan definitely like defense and he is pretty good at snatching flags. We only have two more games.

Logan and his small team. We are missing three kids. One quit, one is a bit flaky and one broke his arm.

An action shot. Not sure who that is. So let's pretend it is Logan.

Watching: I watched one of the saddest things yesterday. I watched an ESPN E:60 special on professional wrestler Scott Hall. He was always one of my favorites and it was extremely sad to see him in such condition. Have you seen the movie The Wrestler? This guy is living it. So sad, I really wish I could do something.

Watching Part II: The season premiere of the Walking Dead. Holy crap, the first thirty minutes was fantastic. I must have bitten off all my nails! I know (mostly) what is going to happen since I read the comics but seeing it in full color (the comic is in black and white) and hearing the sounds really make a huge difference in how scary it is. I am surprised at the amount of gore is allowed for this TV show but I cannot see it any other way. I look forward to the rest of the season.

The Write Stuff: NaNoWriMo 2010

HUZZAH!

I have completed my third NaNoWriMo competition. This year I only had the ending figured out (which I have not written yet) and nothing else. I barely had a cast of characters so I thought I would have my work cut out for me. So I just started to write.

And I successfully completed my 50,000 word journey and I still have not completed my story. I am right at the end, at the very exciting conclusion! Who will die? Who will live? Who will have redemption? Who will lose his toe? Just seeing if you are paying attention. No one loses their toe...  ...or do they?

I am a little embarrassed that I wrote about vampires. It seems like those little bloodsuckers are everywhere. And I am not a fan of the sparkly lovey-dovey vampires either. My vampires are creatures, they are like animals. They are completely opposite of the sparkly vampires. I got this idea a long time ago. I was going to join this writing contest so I was brainstorming an idea for a horror comic. Unfortunately I totally got the contest wrong. I was writing an ending for a comic that they were publishing instead of creating a new story. So I retooled it into what it is today. It is set in the old west and involves two brothers that see things completely different. An unfortunate incident occurred and split the two of them apart, now they are reunited and face an even greater danger.

I was surprised that these characters took a life of their own. I am also surprised that there were events that I did not see coming until I was actually writing them. This is the part I absolutely love about writing. When things go off on their own direction, when something comes that is not planned, when small characters become important and "write" themselves back into the novel. I just love that!

I am already looking forward to ScriptFrenzy this April. I am not sure what to do for that, I was thinking of continuing my Alpha Flight comic book but I may try a stab at something else. A long, long time ago I had a fun idea for a Seinfeld episode and I have always wanted to write some sort of musical. We'll have to see come April.

Anyone *ahem* Jeremy *cough*  that has a desire to write and has always wanted to give it a shot, I cannot recommend doing the NaNoWriMo challenge. It is very rewarding and you will not regret it.

Random Ramblings

I am so glad that my year-long blogging quest is over because yesterday I was in NO mood to blog. Yesterday was just not a good day. It wasn't anything specific but it was just an accumulation of stuff. But I don't want to get into it.

I know for a fact that I don't miss blogging on Sundays. But you know what I miss most about the 365 Challenge? Reading everyone else's blogs.

WHERE ARE MY FELLOW BLOGGERS AT?

I used to love to log in and see all the blog updates. Now instead of six-seven blogs, I only get a couple. I guess I am going to have to figure out another challenge because I miss reading those blogs. C'mon fellow bloggers! Let's see some blogs!

I have made a new friend named Randy. He is an older gentlemen and we have spent a few hours last week getting to know each other. I met him through another new friend of mine, Leslie Sansone.

Yeah, in an effort to lose some weight and to keep up with exercising, I now do these Walk Away the Pounds videos. And I have to admit that I like them and they are pretty enjoyable and you do get a good workout doing them. Usually videos like these are annoying. They have a host that goes way to fast and is way to cheesy and there are usually other people in the video that are just annoying as all out. I have found that these people are pretty normal and are not cheesy. These walking videos are almost all women, except for my new friend Randy. I am glad he is there so I don't feel so stupid marching around the house with a bunch of ladies.

I recommend them to anyone. In the last two weeks I have already lost the three pounds I gained from eating that EggNog Fudge.

Thanks Randy! You can see him way in the back.

This is my last week of the NaNoWriMo challenge and I am lacking motivation today. I have been writing on the fly with this novel. Not knowing at all where I am going with it. But last night while watching Sportscenter I think I know where to take it. And it is very close to its conclusion! I have written 37,024 words.

At least I don't have a lot of blogs to read so I can concentrate on my writing... *hint hint*

Last Days of September

Day 343

This is it. I did my final Matt at Work column just a few days ago and now this will be my last Last Days column!

But that isn't entirely true. I still have two months before my New Year's Resolutions are up and I cannot quit now. So the blog and this column will continue for at least a little bit longer. We are entering the home stretch, I gotta gird up the ol' loins and take it to the end.

WRITING:

No set writing yet but I have been jotting down notes in preparation of next month's National Novel Writing Month. I have an idea for a story involving vampires (I know, I know... so overdone) that I thought about six years ago. It is a horror story (sorry ladies, no lovey-dovey vampires here) set back during the Old West titled Blood Mine. I know how the story ends and I know how the main character gets there but I have no idea where to begin. I am hoping NaNoWriMo gets the creative juices flowing.

READING:

I am currently reading two books this month. I finally received The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore and I am about halfway through that book and I am a few chapters in Driven: An Autobiography by Utah businessman Larry H. Miller.

Both books have already proved to be well worth reading. I'll have some reviews of them when I complete them sometime this month.

EXERCISE AND EATING RIGHT:

Same old song and dance. I don't think I eat what I should and I think I eat way too much. But I am eating better than I was a year ago. I am still exercising, I am trying to run every other day (except Sundays) and I work out on my Total Gym the other days. I feel better and I think I look better. This is definitely the longest I have been exercising, I don't think I have done something like this since high school. I am going to run the Top of Utah 5K next year so I am some motivation of working out during the winter.

OTHER STUFF:

I am still playing the bass guitar almost daily and I am really starting to pick it up. I don't know how to read music and I don't know what notes I am hitting on the bass but my ear is picking up the notes and telling my fingers what I should hit on the bass. Recently I have learned Queen's Under Pressure and I can almost do it without looking. I am probably up to about twenty to twenty-five songs.

So it was not a bad month at all. I only have two months before I hit the one-year mark and I am looking forward to seeing how far I have gone.

Please Take Out a Pencil

Day 333

About a year ago I joined a cool website called Illustration Friday. Illustration Friday is a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation and then upload a thumbnail to their website so everyone can see what everyone came up with.

I did it for a couple of weeks and then life just got too busy and soon I slacked off. I had to unsubscribe from their e-mail list since I felt so guilty that I was not participating. I would sketch during Lost and then fix it up and send it on through. It was a fun experience and I was surprised at what I created. Other submissions made mine look like something out of a landfill and were absolutely fantastic but all-in-all I was happy with what I was able to do.

Which got me thinking. One of my earlier goals was for me to do some art. I don't think I have really accomplished that goal (as of yet anyway) but it was not high on the list like some of my other goals. I am thinking of next year already and what I want to accomplish and I think I have an idea. I do want to continue my blog and now I have a perfect excuse. I will join Illustration Friday again and do a weekly drawing and I will blog about it. Blog about how it came to be, blog about how I did it and of course post the pic. Now I have something to blog about weekly and hopefully having the excuse to blog about it here will keep me going.

I probably won't start until the new year since I will be concentrating on my new NaNoWrMo novel all through November. And I invite my fellow bloggers to try out either (or both) contests. It is a huge time commitment but I think you will be surprised about your output and how creative you can be under the gun.

Here is what I did for Illustration Friday.

"Breezy"

This was my first attempt. I can tons of things that I would definitely do different. Oh well...

"Intricate"

I thought about how intricate nature is and went for one of the simplest things in nature, a drop of water.

"Legendary"

I am so disappointed in this scan. It looks so much better in person. Freddie is legendary in his own right and he was the first thing I thought of.

"Poise"

I thought of a young gymnast or dancer. I like the figure in general until her neck. Ugh, I definitely would want to redo this but I don't think it was that bad for a couple of hours work.

"Subtract"

I thought of absolute zero temperatures. I like the way this turned out but her eye has an odd shape. I really need to practice my faces.

New Year's Resolutions Part I

Day 60

Every year I make New Year's Resolutions and every year I forget them and I get just plain lazy and I don't accomplish them. And every year I claim that 'this year will be different' and we know how that ends.


But this year WILL be different because I am going to use this blog as a way to motivate and more importantly, hold myself responsible and accountable for these New Year's Resolutions. Over the next few days I will cover all that I want to change. For this column, I am going to concentrate on how I am going to challenge myself when it comes to my hobbies. As you already know, I like to read and write and this is what I am going to blog about today.

WRITING


1) Last November I participated in the NaNoWriMo event and finished my novel well over 50,000 words. Because I passed that mark, I was given a special coupon code to use to get my book published in book form and to help me market my book. But I only have six months to use this coupon code. So my first New Year's Resolution is to finish my novel. I recently started writing a new beginning to the book that I need to complete. I have another chapter based on the Deacon character that I need to write and then I need to rewrite and edit. To assist me I am giving this book to my sister and my cousin Jeremy to assist in editing. I don't have a lot of time left to accomplish this so I need to get cracking on it. The plan is to at least spend an hour on it a day.

2) While I am editing my novel I am also going to plot out my next book for next November's NaNoWriMo competition. I can do this when I am bored of my novel.

3) There is another writing competition called Script Frenzy that I might try as well. Basically it is the same things as NaNoWriMo except this time you develop a script. You get to choose whether to write a screenplay, stage play, TV script, or comic book script and you get to choose whether to write with a partner or on your own.
This starts in April.

4) And of course I will continue to write this blog. That should be an easy one. I also want to keep updating my other geeky blog, The Banshee Blog at least monthly.

READING

I love comics and I will continue to read them, I really don't need a New Year's Resolution to do this. But for this year I want to do something a little different.

5) I don't read books/novels as much as I should and this is what I am going to change. With the help of my friends from the Bad Genious Board I am going to try to read a book/novel every month. And I will post a review of the book on this blog too.


I already have January's book lined up. My friend Jon recommended 'Beat the Reaper' by Josh Bazell. A couple of other books I have planned to read is Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis and Bret Hart's autobiography Hitman.

Later this week I will go over some other New Year's Resolutions. Some other hobbies and the dreaded EXERCISE resolution will make his dreaded appearance.