Karma Points

Posted the Craigslist ad for a new roommate this morning. It’s so bittersweet to see M leaving. She’s hands down the best roommate I’ve ever had and though I want her to stay forever, I really am happy that she found the man of her (and her parent’s) dreams and gets to live happily ever after. I just wish she could do it in the apartment with me, instead of upstate in Oakland.

Wrote 5 pages last night and completed Chapter 1. I’m very happy with how it turned out; it was exactly as I imagined it, and it’s so action packed (which is usually difficult for me to write), but it just starts the story off on such a great note. I love it. And I love Phillip and Dahlia. I’m fully aware that all my male characters are exactly the same, but I think it’s because I just never tire of writing brooding men who can’t seem to find a voice to express their feelings, but my how many feelings they have. I’m such a dork.

I dropped the left over brownies off at Jefferson Starbucks last night and they got rave reviews, which I was thrilled about since the last couple of recipes I’ve tried haven’t been as successful. I helped one of the barristas out by buying a pound of coffee so he could meet his quota. He’s fabulous at his job and brings in a lot of business, so it makes me angry that he still has to sell a certain number of bags to stay under the good graces of the powers that be. *shakes fist at Starbucks corporate* He thanked me profusely, but after all the free coffee, and more than that, just making my Starbucks feel like a second home and being so nice, it was absolutely the least I could do. I was just happy I could help him out after all the help he’s unknowingly given me.

I didn’t end up running any errands last night because I was wearing heels and I was a complete mess yesterday morning and forgot a bunch of coupons (as well as some work papers) at home. I figured I’d rather get everything done in one trip.

So, Starbucks tonight for Chapter 2, two errands, then home. Wish me luck.

Playing Catch Up

Friday went well. I passed my written driver’s test by 1 question (to be fair the ones I got wrong were ridiculous, like how much should a child weigh to be restrained in a car-seat; me getting that incorrect isn’t going to endanger anyone on the road and I’m sure when I have kids, I’ll know what the limit is.) I saw a black and white version of my photo and it was okay. Better than the last one, but I still think I have a bit of a double chin. Oh well. The card will be mailed to me in 31 days. Booooo. You get it right away in Wisconsin. :/

I got all of my baking done, although I was up until 1:00am. I definitely think the peanut butter brownies turned out better than the cream cheese brownies, but they both were pretty easy and C was very appreciative of the effort.

I laid around and did nothing for most of the day on Sunday, but around 5pm, I decided that I wanted to clean (maybe because I had planned on taking the garbage out since I made a mess with all the baking and I knew I had other trash to go out, but I had to clean in order to gather it up). I also mounted the postcards and rose photo I got at IKEA in the bathroom.

I plan on posting on Craigslist tomorrow to find a new roommate since M is leaving to get married and move to Oakland. It’ll be nice to have a lot of the cleaning already done so we don’t have to do too much work for interviews. I probably should do more work on the bathroom, but we’ll see. I really hope the person we find turns out to be okay. I know I’ve been so lucky the last three years to have drama-free roommates that are generally respectful and clean.

Anyways writing at Jefferson Starbucks tonight (I have a bunch of brownies saved for them) and then a couple errands before I can hopefully work my way through my growing stack of coupons. Yikes!

So Much To Do, So Little Time

Only wrote one page last night, but I had a ton of errands to run and had to transfer all my crap from my old wallet to a new one I got on sale at Kohl’s (under $7!), so I was happy I wrote anything at all.

The Packers won last night, so I wore my Packer shirt to work today to spite some co-workers who were making fun of me yesterday. I was like, ‘But wait… who won the Superbowl last year? Oh, that’s right, we did.’

I have to go to the DMV this afternoon to get my California license; after three years of being out here, it’s finally time… I have to take a written test, so I’m pretty nervous for that, not to mention the photo that I will have to carry around with me for the next 10 years. My last picture was TERRIBLE! But I’ve done my research, I’m wearing a flattering color (blue), I know just how to pose and to wear a little more make-up since the flash will wash me out. I got my hair cut and colored a month ago and I had a teeth cleaning recently. I’m determined to be happy with this new license!

After the DMV, I have 2 batches of brownies to bake for C’s birthday tomorrow, as well as my barristas at Starbucks. I’m trying 2 new recipes, so hopefully they’ll turn out as nicely as they look in the pictures.

I’m debating on if I want to wake up early tomorrow to take my Uncle out to sea, or wait until next week. Either way, I don’t think it’ll work for C to come with because of her studies. There’s a Badger game tomorrow morning as well. I feel like I should just get everything over with, but I hate getting up early on the weekends. And I have a feeling if I wake up early tomorrow, I won’t make it to Starbucks on Sunday… still, it would feel nice to get something accomplished on a weekend, as it’s a rarity for me.

Massively Distracted

I’ve done just about everything today from enter recipes on my ipad, plan out my shopping trips tonight and I almost bought a Hello Kitty wallet to replace the current one I have, due to the fact that it’s deteriorating, but changed my mind at the last minute. At one point I went on a mission trying to find a case for my out-of-date phone, but had no luck. I’ve done all of these things and barely any work.

Wrote over four pages yesterday at Starbucks and ran one errand, which was thankfully successful before going home to find that my uncle’s ashes had been mailed to me in a plastic black pepper container. I didn’t sleep well; I feel like there has to be some bad juju involved with keeping part of someone’s ashes in your room (because the rest are in Wisconsin).

Starbucks tonight for a while, then 3 errands to run after that before I’m forced to watch Jordan get voted off Big Brother… bummer. :/

Feeling Nostalgic

Found a website called Dear Photograph which has me reminiscing. C and I saw Super 8 last weekend and we got to talking about our childhoods and it brought back all these memories of when I was young enough that it didn’t matter who you were, as long as you were at the empty lot behind the row of houses just off Lookout Trail at dusk to play kick the can and ghost in the graveyard. I think that may have been the last time I felt carefree, before the weight of the world came crashing down on me along with hormones and adult responsibilities. I yearn for the simplicity of my youth.

But I digress.

Wrote about 8 pages last night at Jefferson Starbucks; unfortunately they were all outline, but I think it will work to my benefit tonight. I’m trying not to get ahead of myself with regards to Phillip and Dahlia’s budding romance, but as per usual, my excitement seems to be getting the better of me. Maybe I should just write a scene where they’re together (just for me, not for the books) to get it out of my system.

Work’s been a bit slow, but I’m afraid of complaining because it’s actually nice to have some time to breathe. I might have to microwave the remainder of my coffee to stay awake for the rest of the afternoon.

Not sure how long I’ll be at Starbucks. I have some errands to run, and I’m sick of getting home so late. I’ll see how I’m feeling when I’m there.

Once More With Feeling

It’s been a while, but I miss this. And as NaNo descends upon us in two months, I thought it best to get into the habit of keeping track of my writing, among other things.

The only thing you need to know about the past six months is that I have a new job that is easily the best gig I’ve had since I graduated over three years ago and I just started writing my sixth novel: Phillip Kelley and the Family Feud.

I finished typing up the first PK book (Phillip Kelley and the Counterfeit) about two weeks ago, having finished writing it, sometime in July. I have just under a page on paper for PK2.

Jefferson Starbucks tonight, with no hope of K joining me as she moved across town in the interim and now lives on the other side of the hill. I miss writing with her, especially after having gone through all my previous blog posts. I forgot how much of a staple she was in my life before she moved. But that’s how it always goes; you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.

And for the record, she is still 7 pages short of finishing our TV pilot, lol.

Word Ninja, out.

The Whole Darn Thing

I DID IT!

I can proudly say that the Gray series is officially complete. (Minus editing of course).

I finished typing up my fourth book last night at Starbucks! I emailed A, and an old roommate who read my work the entire thing. It’s like an actual weight off my shoulders… because now I can stop carrying around that hugeass notebook.

After Starbucks, I ran a couple of errands and got some great deals; I was extremely pleased.

Work’s been going slower than normal because of my impending trip to Phoenix, but I wrote two and a half pages of Phillip during lunch and I picked it up like it had only been a matter of hours since I’d last written in it, rather than several days. My goal was to have 20000 words on paper by the end of the month and I’m just about halfway there.

I’ll need to write about 2.5 pages per day, which is doable if I write during lunch, keep up my schedule at Starbucks and have at least one marathon on the weekends. Who knows, I might even surpass that goal… wouldn’t that be lovely!

I discovered two new artists in the last few days that have been keeping my creative juices flowing. They’re both British artists and have actually collaborated before.  The Lake Poets’ ‘How Do You Love Me’ is my favorite from his EP, it’s so simple and sweet and it’s kind of become my anthem for Phillip and Dahlia. Morris Ford‘s acoustic strumming is the kind of music I live for and I know both albums will be on repeat on my iPod for the next few weeks at Starbucks.

I’m looking forward to so much of my trip and it will be nice to get out of L.A., because even though I love this city, it’s still a place where I work and I don’t often get to play here (more like can’t afford to).

Tonight I’ll be running one last errand, then lots of packing and hopefully I can get to bed early since I can’t sleep in tomorrow. A and I have plans to go to a hockey game Saturday night and take a trip to Sedona on Sunday, which will allow both of us some time to write!