brb... skyrim

So, at the precise moment of you reading this, I am doing something along these lines:

I have been waiting for this game since there was just a hint that it might just happen. And oh my god Nordic setting? Did you see the dragons? Dragons! And the beauty of the landscape, and the utter brilliance of the new graphic engine. And a men's choir singing the theme in Draconic. Draconic, people. How cool is that? I will not lie. The main theme makes me tear up a bit. Just a bit though.

This one actually does make me cry. Don't make fun.

And here are some more videos for your viewing pleasure. Check out more at www.elderscrolls.com

distractions

I’m one of those scatter-brained people who can never seem to get anything finished in a reasonable amount of time because of how distracted I get. Especially with chores. Halfway through folding a load of laundry… I need to go look up this really obscure fact right now. *drops towel and goes to computer* *opens browser* Now why did I come back here? *opens Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Blogger* *An hour later, husband comes in asking why I haven’t finished the laundry* Oh… I… umm… forgot?

I almost always have three or four projects going on at once, and I can’t focus on just one for very long. I get excited about it. I itch to work on it. And then I start, and about a third of the way through, I get another idea for a project. Then I want to work on it, but a third of the way through, another idea comes strolling into my head. For instance, earlier this week, I started a craft project. I bought all the materials I needed, and then some, and I sat down to work. And I haven’t touched it since Monday. Other things were more important, and now my sitting room is a disaster zone.

changing gears

Last week, I tried working on the sequel to The Clockwork Giant again, and things were going nowhere. I couldn’t write because the plot was a bit ho-hum, spawning one of last week’s posts (go big. go bold. go dangerous.). But even though I knew the plot needed work, I couldn’t seem to plot properly. Things were just a mumble-jumble in my head, with no sense of order to rope in the chaos.

So I changed gears. I knew I needed a better plot, but I didn’t know where to start. So I started doodling the inside of a PBV-1 (technological terms!), and after drawing the gauges, instruments, and controls, I started to fill in the scenery. Then, there were other PBVs, airships, explosions, and bullets raining from every direction. Well, that’s interesting, says my muse Victor. So I ask him, How can we get Petra there? And ever-so-dutifully, Victor started giving me more images—airships, an EMW (more abbreviations!), a battlefield, and the Guild council chambers. I didn’t write any new scenes. I kept on with the drawings, and when I ran out of steam on one thread, I started another. Only when I had a good number of drawings did I start transcribing the images to scenes, which actually only turned out to be ten. But those were ten scenes I didn’t have before.

review: death cloud

Death Cloud – Andrew Lane

It is the summer of 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. On break from boarding school, he is staying with eccentric strangers—his uncle and aunt—in their vast house in Hampshire. When two local people die from symptoms that resemble the plague, Holmes begins to investigate what really killed them, helped by his new tutor, an American named Amyus Crowe. So begins Sherlock’s true education in detection, as he discovers the dastardly crimes of a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent.

go big. go bold. go dangerous.

So, two weeks ago, I officially started writing the first draft for the sequel to The Clockwork Giant, but since starting, I’ve written very little. Yes, last week, we installed laminate floors, and as a result of that, I had a lot of projects to do during the day that couldn’t wait until I was done writing for the day. That said, I don’t think I would have gotten much written anyway. Something’s wrong with my plot, and until yesterday, I didn’t know what.

Now, being NaNoWriMo, this is as good a time as any for this post. Oftentimes, writers come to a standstill in the middle of a project. All of a sudden, nothing makes sense. It’s all crap. Every last bit of it. Might as well scrap it and start over. When I was a pantser, this happened to me all the time. I just sort of wandered around until things made sense. Oh, that’s what I was trying to say? Okay, now I can write properly.