Couple of updates: finished my writing challenge! The good news was that I overshot my goal and hit 75,332 words for a total of 126,132 words on my novel’s current draft. The bad news is that I’m still not done. Hopefully I’ll be able to wrap it up in another 15,000 words or so… I really need to pick a week or two and do nothing but write so I can get it done. Then I can finally start editing. It was a great experience, though; more than anything else, I proved to myself that I can focus on writing and force myself to spew out words, even if they are generally crappy ones. They’re something to work with, which is a lot more than I can say for all of the half-finished stories floating around in my head.

Life-wise, I’ve graduated from community college and will be heading to a career school to get my bachelor’s soon. It’s an intense program, but I’m looking forward to it, for the most part. It’ll be nice to be done with school in a little over a year’s time. Not really looking forward to the whole job-hunting thing, but I can’t wait to move out and live on my own. In other cheerful news, I got to spend a week in Paris in April with my family for spring break, which was amazing. I loved the city and I’d go back in a heartbeat ♥

And now, art! I really haven’t been doing much art lately, between writing and other hobbies that have crept up (hello, roleplaying), but I have come across a few interesting works in my art folder I’d completely forgotten I’d done. I’ve added the decent ones to the gallery. Let’s not talk about the not-so-decent ones… I also have one sketch!

I tried to paint it a while back, but that didn’t go so well, so I need to try and color it normally sometime. It’s Elene, one of the most important characters in my novel and one who I’ve had a lot of trouble designing over the years. I’m not sure I’m set on this one, but it has a lot more of the feel of her than previous versions, so it’s certainly an improvement.

Finally, I’ve made a couple other site updates. I’ve edited the writer section a bit, mostly to update with more recent favorites and take things I’m not as interested in anymore. I also decided to clear out my links list in the site section; I’d rather stick to link exchanges for convenience’s sake. Let me know if you’d like to exchange links!

Anyway, the point of this entry is that I’m going on a writing hiatus for the next month. As great as it was that I wrote 50,000 words in November, I’m not even halfway done with the story. NaNoWriMo worked really well in getting me to buckle down and get it started, so I’m going to try it again with a higher goal and bit more time in hopes of getting to the end of the draft.

From 1 February to 7 March, I’m going to aim to write 2,000 words a day for a total of 70,000 more words. My best estimate is that this draft will end up at around 120,000 words, and I’d like to just buckle down and finish it so I can start on the long editing process.

Of course, I’ll still drop in now and then with a new doodle I’ve done or just to give an update, but other than that, I’m hoping to have a writing-filled February. Wish me luck!

Joking aside, I can definitely see improvement in my artwork. I still have a long way to go before I can consider myself anything close to good, but I have a better grasp of anatomy and shading than I did before. I can already look at artwork from 3-4 months ago and think it looks awful, so with more time I’ll probably improve more. Until then, though, I have to practice!

50698 / 50000 words. 101% done!

I won NaNoWriMo! I won on the 29^th, actually, with 50,423 words, and wrote a bit more the next day. I’m not even halfway through the story and what I have is pretty terrible, but it’s a draft I can actually edit, unlike the previous drafts, and for that I’m thankful. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it when I decided to do it the day before it started, but I pushed myself to write even when I had no idea how to fill the plot holes or get my characters going.

The one thing I didn’t expect to get from NaNo was the drive to keep writing. I have a good long ways to go before this draft is finished, but I figured once November was over it’d sit around and collect dust. On the contrary, I’ve been keeping at it, writing at least a couple hundred words every day to keep it going. More than anything else, I don’t want to stop writing now that I’ve found how much I love it again. I think there’s actually hope that I’ll finish this draft and be able to start polishing it.

I have been taking the time to doodle, though. This is the first artwork I’ve actually liked after inking in quite a while, so I decided to color it and it came out better than I expected. Partway through the story, my characters undergo a mysterious hair- and eye-color change, and she goes from normal blond to funky purple. I prefer the latter, myself.

Back to writing I go, then!

31391 / 50000 words. 63% done!

As you can see from my word count, NaNo is going quite well. I’m about halfway (probably two-thirds) through Part Three, and I think I’ll probably be starting Part Five when I hit the 50,000-word mark. I’m still pretty amazed at myself for making it this far! I’ve had a few days that the writing’s been tough or just not happened, but it’s flowing, all the same, day by day.

However, I’ve gotten to the point that my characters know more about what’s going on in the story than I do. I wrote a scene tonight that had no basis in the first draft or even in my outline, but it single-handedly figured out some of my biggest plot problems and gave me something to fill the gaps left by character changes. What’s more, it’s not the first time this has happened — the other day I was writing a tragic backstory that ended with the girl in question getting her revenge by sniping the men who killed her parents. Nowhere had I planned for her to be a killer, but it found its way in and stuck somehow.

I never would have gotten this far without Write or Die. I have a tendency to write a line, pause, and reread it and the past few paragraphs before continuing on. With Write or Die, I can’t even stop for a few seconds to do anything unless I want the page to turn red and Rick Astley to start blaring. It’s the best writing motivator I’ve ever had, and I couldn’t be more thankful for it. I’ve also really liked the new writing program I got, Liquid Story Binder XE, which is about everything I’ve ever wanted but never got with Microsoft Word. I’m definitely going to take them up on their November deal when I get paid.

Aside from writing, my life’s been consumed lately by VDex, which is an online, battle-less Pokémon game. It’s absolutely addicting and perfect for a Pokémon fanatic like myself who wants to catch ‘em all. (My trainer card is here — I’ve been a bit busy catching Pokémon!)

I’ve also found time to do a bit of art, mostly when I’m procrastinating on writing. Lately I’ve felt that I need to work less on improving my coloring and more on just sketches and drawing in general. I drew and inked this last week, but went back the other day and inked it by hand instead of using the line tool, just to get the feel of it. I colored it anyway, mostly to play with the brush tool, but I didn’t even bother coloring properly in the lines.

Lately I’ve felt like all of my sketches have been mediocre, and I keep scrapping them instead of trying to do anything with them. I think what I need most is practice, though, so I’ll probably work on sketches and simple coloring instead of full artworks. They’ll probably be posted here in the blog instead of in the gallery, hopefully so I can see myself improve over time. (Maybe I’ll even try my hand at requests for practice after NaNo finishes? You never know!) In any case, grumpy ol’ Lei was fun, although I’m not sure I got my own color scheme right. Lei looks good in dark blue, though.

I’ve had more than enough typing for one day, so I think that’s enough from me. Until next time!

5001 / 50000 words. 10% done!

Like many others this month, I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. Every November, writers challenge themselves to write a 50,000-word novel in one month, which results in a lot of writing! The key is to not edit it and instead to just write, write, write and see what comes out in the end, for better or for worse.

I’ve attempted to participate several times after the past few years, all with terrible results (last year’s total was 6,284), but this time I’m going to do my best to see it through to the end. I’m rewriting Orenji Pan from the ground up, which it’s desperately needed since about the time I finished the first draft in 2003. So far, I’m on track with the word count goals, and though I can see a lot of points that will require serious editing, even getting this much done is a win for me. I’ve figured out more things about the story I want and need to change in the past three days than I have in the past six years, and I finally feel like I have something worth editing. I won’t be finished by the time I hit 50,000 words, but I’m hoping that the accomplishment will get me to finish rewriting it so that I can properly edit it.

That is, if I make it that far. I’ve been able to force myself to get this far, but it’s not been entirely easy. The first day I managed to just let myself write and not fret too much about what I was writing, but the second was a struggle, and today I kept procrastinating even though I knew exactly what I’d be writing. I already know there will be days I won’t have as much time to write, like days I’ll be stuck at work all day, and I hope I’ll be able to make up for it when I have to. My carpal tunnel isn’t helping matters, either…

Anyway, I doubt I’ll be doing much art this month, since I’m focusing on writing above all other hobbies, but I’ll update when I can. Wish me luck!

So today I would like to talk about the games I’ve discovered recently: Professor Layton. I first saw them in a magazine ad, of all things, and finally decided to try the first game out at Carolyn’s insistence. What she neglected to tell me, however, was how INSANELY ADDICTING these games are.

The premise of the Layton games are puzzles: whether it’s a puzzle the size of a mystery or simply one remembered from looking at a clock, puzzles are everywhere for Professor Layton and his young apprentice, Luke, to solve. These puzzles usually have little to do with the actual plot and instead BREAK YOUR BRAIN range in difficulty. No puzzle requires higher-level math (or anything you can’t do without a four-function calculator at most), but they can really make you think.

At some points, however, the puzzles border on the ridiculous when they interfere with the plot. For example, in the second game, Luke and Layton have to cross a rope bridge over an enormous chasm. Luke is apprehensive, so Layton suggests he do a puzzle to take his mind off it. But what is the puzzle about? CROSSING A ROPE BRIDGE OVER A HUGE CHASM. Way to take your mind off it, really…

The plots of the games are… interesting, to say the least. They begin as simple mysteries you expect to be solved over the course of the game, but there’s a point in both games where the answer turns into something completely unexpected. I won’t spoil them here, but it’s nothing you’d expect.

So now that I’ve finished both of those fantastic games, I’ve been playing Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, which came out for the PSP recently. I’m not terribly good at it, but I find both the story and the gameplay really interesting so far, and I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds. (And really, after so many years of only 2D games, anything resembling 3D makes me happy.)

As for the title of this entry… the entire time I was playing Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, I managed to lose my stylus every time I put it down. I think there’s probably a puzzle in that.

I made some comments about the artwork on the deviantArt post, but I wanted to go into it a little more deeply here. I was going through my old Orenji Pan folders the night before last when I came across a CG I’d completely forgotten I’d done, since it wasn’t in my old dA account with the rest of my old art. Despite its many faults, I had to admit I liked his pose, and I wanted to try doing it again.

I still copped out on the hand, but past that I think it’s safe to say I’ve improved a great deal. For one, I don’t shade things like there’s a bright neon light on top of them, nor do I completely ignore where the light’s coming from. (Still not great at it, though; I think I should do some light/shade studies to figure out just how I should be shading instead of guessing and making it look bad.) There was no reason for him to have a random wing in the first place, so it didn’t make it to the new one, but at least his hair looked more manageable in the old picture. Let’s just pretend he has a hair tie on in the back…

The one thing that really hasn’t changed is his ridiculous school uniform. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking when I designed it at age 12, but it certainly wasn’t anything sensible. I think you’d have a hard time finding a guy to actually wear this thing…

I haven’t decided on who to do next in my little “portrait” series, but Kiyoshi and Lei are likely candidates, since I have some solid ideas for them. However, both of them will probably be more complex, so perhaps another standard portrait will follow. One of the girls, maybe?

I have another artwork in the works; I’m thinking about doing portraits for the main ten characters of Orenji Pan. You can see from the gallery which ones I tend to draw more than others, so doing the ones I hardly ever draw should be good practice. I’ll count the two recent ones I did of Ichidou and Shii as part of it, and Mikoto’s halfway done, so it’s only seven more after that. More than anything else, I want to get myself drawing on a regular basis for practice — there’s still a lot I need to improve on, and the best method for that in art is just to draw more.

As for the title of this entry… since the last post, I have noticed no less than ten new Halloween decorations around the house. I’m starting to think my stepmom is addicted to putting them up…

Anyway, recently I decided to pick up and reread the three Isaac Asimov books I own: The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn. Out of all of Asimov’s works, or at least the ones I’ve read, these are my favorite of his works. Some of Asimov’s works, like the early books of the Foundation series, focus more on the futuristic settings and the sociological impacts of technologies than the characters, but the Robot series is an exception. Even though I’ve read the books multiple times, I still can’t help but read it and wonder just how Elijah Baley’s going to figure out how to escape the mess he’s in. I’m definitely going to reread the Foundation series next; maybe this time instead of borrowing them from the library I’ll actually buy copies. I also really want to reread the Dune series, and actually finish reading Frank Herbert’s biography.

On a completely different note, I think working in retail has made me completely oblivious to the holiday season. I mean, we put the Halloween candy out in the middle of July and the Christmas stuff went out in September — how exactly am I supposed to care about the holidays when in my mind the shopping season’s already been going on for months? That’s not the case in my house, though. Apparently Halloween is my stepmother’s favorite holiday, and it seems I notice a new decoration in the house every single day. It started with the witch in the yard, and today I found she has a Halloween-themed soap dispenser. Not to mention this…

It’s pretty terrifying at night, when there’s no lights except the ones coming from his head…

I also did this yesterday, and though it’s nothing fancy, I found it really interesting that I managed to make the cross-hatching style I often use when I draw with pens work on the screen. I really have no idea who this character is, but I love his funky collar.

If I end up drawing more (and I think I might, I’ve really been enjoying this), I may be posting more sketches here. I did another full artwork yesterday, but unlike Squall I’d rather clean it up before posting it.

Summer’s over, and I’m back in school now. I managed to get quite a bit done on my websites this summer, a lot of which I’m really happy with, but these past few weeks I’ve gotten lazy. I spent time watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I really enjoyed, and I’ve been watching Merlin too. (And Gossip Girl, but shhh! It’s a guilty pleasure! That’s it, really! … I have to confess, I enjoyed it a lot.) It’ll be weird having TV shows to follow when they start up again this month; I’ve never really followed a serial TV show before this year when I got back into Lost.

I suppose that’s all for now. I didn’t end up getting sick, as I wrote in my last entry, but a huge can of pineapple juice fell on my toe the next day. Had to be something, I guess.

It’s just a faucet, but it made me remember to be thankful for the little things in life — the things we never think about and take for granted until they’re not there. Just about every time I’m sick, I wonder why I’m not utterly thankful to be healthy whenever I’m feeling fine, although more recently I’ve had those little flashes of “hey! I’m healthy and everything’s going fine; life is good!” more often.

Of course, as I say this, the flu is going around my house, and I’m pretty sure I’m getting sick myself. But I’m sure I’ll be thankful when I get better.

On a completely different note, happy birthday to my stepsister! She turns 18 today. When I asked her what her plans as a new adult were, she informed me she was going to get a tattoo of Harry Potter’s lightning bolt on her forehead. I’m sure it’ll be fake, but that will be something to see!

Why the change? To be honest, I’ve always had a hard time using op.com as my collective. The name, based on my original fiction, has always made me feel like I needed to use my original characters in the layout or just make it orange. The same went for sites hosted on the domain — I always felt like I had to use my own artwork, which doesn’t go so well with putting fansites and fanlistings on here. So I’ve moved all that off so I could make the personal site I always wanted to.

You’ll notice what you’re reading now is a blog entry; I decided to make a blog while I was making the domain more personal. That said, I don’t really expect to update it on any regular basis, since I’ve never had that success with a personal blog before. As such, the infrequent updates will likely be about whatever I’ve added to the site, artwork or otherwise, or whatever I decide to write about.

I hope you enjoy what’s here, and happy surfing!