Finally, I am going to finish something

I’ve decided to get back to The Cure Program full-time. Well, as much time as possible. I’ve also asked Professor Harding to edit it for me, and he’s agreed. I need to have it finished by xmas break so that he can look at it. In the meantime he is going to help me with the parts I’m stuck on. The bad side of this is that I am dropping NaNoWriMo this year.

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo since 2005. That year, I finished writing a novel for the first time — but did not make it to the 50,000 word mark. Up until then I had started several novels and left them in limbo. In 2006 I quit because I wasn’t happy with what I was writing and I didn’t have the time (it was my first semester of college). In 2007, I won but didn’t finish the novel. To me, I have won twice. I have already gotten the full NaNo-experience, and I think it is more important to finish The Cure Program rather than let it collect dust. I don’t have time to do both. I need to jump on the opportunities that I have: my professor will be available at the end of the semester to edit for me, and the genre I am writing in is apparently very hot right now.

So, during the month of November, I will finish my baby. I will finish writing it and prepare to begin the editing process. In December or January, I will start contacting agents. Thumbtacks will get written, just not right now.

I do, however, plan to attend the write-ins for my NaNoWriMo regional group. That way I’ll have specific time set aside to write, and I can get to know some other writers in my area. Hopefully they won’t mind hanging out with a NaNo-dropout. :D

Priorities

I need to follow Miss Britt’s lead and prioritize. (If you want to skip my boring to-do list, help me figure out why we beat ourselves up!)

I have a long list of projects. Every time I turn around, another one pops up and insists on being completed as well. (For example, as I plan this year’s NaNoWriMo novel an old WIP pops up and begs to be completed.) I have priorities and I have things that I think are priorities. The question is, which are which? Continue reading

Taking all my sunshine

Things have been very frustrating lately, but I’ve decided that the only way to deal with them is by writing and ignoring the things stressing me out. Easy to say, tough to do. Still, I think that by focusing mainly on my writing this coming winter I might just make it out of everything alive. Mainly, there are two people who are causing me the most stress. One is a family member and the other is a good friend. Both are for very different reasons — or are they? There is nothing I can do about either of them, considering one is seen as a golden child in the eyes of everyone else (so who is going to believe me when I say that this person treats my sister and I like dirt?) and the other yeah-I-knows me but continues to do what they do anyway. I do have to say that I’ve decided not to take anymore shit from either of these people, no matter what the consequences may be. I’d rather have them and everyone else angry with me than be treated like shit. I do matter, despite what these people’s actions may say.

Anyway. My back is still hurting. Every once in a while — like when I stand up — I’ll get a nasty little spasm, and for the most part it just aches in general. It’s all in the lower back, which was what I hurt when I fell last winter. (I sound like an old person. Oh my goodness.) I’ve noticed that since then it will hurt occasionally for a few days, no matter how much rest I give it or how many times I pop Aleve. I’ve accepted that it’s probably something I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my life, but I don’t like it. Speaking of pain, I am still getting pain in my arms — still mainly in my left arm. As I type this my fingers are not very happy. ): I’ve accepted that this too is something I am going to have to deal with, unless I can magically find a good doctor who can actually figure out what’s wrong.

I didn’t mean to make this a complaint post, but that’s exactly what it’s turned out to be. Sigh. Here are some good things that have been happening: Continue reading