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Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the shuffle around here ... |
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Best quote to describe me (Anonymous): "Do not think you are on the right road, simply because it is a well-beaten path." I am what I am. Learn to live with it. And realize that comment is as much directed to myself as any reader who ventures here. Tempest arrived 31 March 2009 - changing everything, but she's pretty awesome. Dogbert arrived 13 January 2012 and is working on making the rules change again. I have two writing personas, Ransom Noble and Sheta Storm. Each has goals, and I work on them slowly. Both are published, and will continue to strive toward bigger and better things. I finally figured out how to describe myself in three words: Creative, Determined, Ambitious. It doesn't have anything to do with how I relate to others, but I do use all of those in my many relationships as well as my career goals. I know others use words sometimes like "kind" or "caring" but I think that list is the most accurate if only using three words. Cast... Sesheta: Me Dilbert: My Husband Tempest: My Darling Daughter Dogbert: My Hungry Son Sheer, Nemo, EyeKandy(K), Diego: Friends/Brothers Sugar, Wolvenwings, Mrs. Light, Jori, Trillium (others will be added): Friends It's a start, anyway. Off-Site Blogs: http://ransomnoble.wordpress.com/ http://sheta-storm.blogspot.com/ Upcoming Events: Beaverdale Books signing for Art of Science - TBD Other Items about Me: "Invalid Item"  "Invalid Item" "Failing is a part of success. To make goals effective, you have to fail at them 50 percent of the time, or they didn't stretch you far enough." Chip Wilson, courtesy of an article by Ella Lawrence called Set Your Course from Yoga Journal |
| Yeah, I watch them late. But after the Town Hall debate, I start thinking that both the wives wore the same color. Bright pink. I didn't like the cut or material of Ann Romney's dress; it seemed a bit cheap by comparison to the gabardine suit that so flattered Michelle Obama. I swear that color would give up and die before gracing anything inn Hillary's wardrobe. It is feminine and soft yet bright. Not for a leader, who would wear blue or red. I wonder why we can't wear green or purple, but I sometimes forget what those mean. But how did those two women end up in exactly the same color??? |
| Yeah, it's here. Some kind of looming depression that I can't shake. 1. World building is going fairly well. I have a good pictures of at least one of my species, just left to draw a few things, which doesn't happen very well to pull out those things and do it. 2. 83 day streak at 750words. Been slowing down on the word count (only 1000 words a day, when most of the beginning of this month I did 2000), but most of that has been for time restrictions. 3. Mostly in a good spot to write for NaNo with Next Jane. Got good profiles of Meredith's roommates and the main antagonist now. The infighting among the roommates needed to come out before the month's end, and now it's set up - will be able to tweak outline tonight and be done. 4. Called about Tempest's testing. *sigh* *double sigh* The nurse had NO IDEA what I was talking about because whoever scanned the paperwork into their computer only did the fronts of pages, not the backs. Didn't realize that was rocket science and took advanced education, but it wasn't the nurse's fault. So taking the documents in so they can be scanned. She said I could simply mail them, but I do refuse to let go of my only copies when they messed them up (and threw them away) the first time. 5. Background check for the Y finally came through yesterday. Will find out options when I sign all the stuff on Tuesday: options include a class for me and the ability to sub for someone else. 7 weeks?! I had pretty much given up on it, but now it came through. So I might be able to dump the kids off and get a good workout or... write during November. Woot. 6. Need to update my driver's license.  While it doesn't actually expire until my birthday, it is the easiest way to get my voter's registration updated. And that needs to be done very soon. So I can't actually do it until the 21st, which is Sunday, and they're closed Mondays, so Tuesday is the day. And if I'm lucky, Dilbert will be here to stay home with the kids while I do it. Or at least ONE of them.7. Tomorrow is a home game, so no Dilbert. It's also a friend's birthday, but not sure if I'll see him. It should also be Pig Roast, but no one gives me details about that any more. 8. I feel very isolated in some ways. Preschool is a nice outlet, but there are friends I haven't seen in a long time and I miss them but I don't feel like I know enough of the schedule around football to invite them over at a specific time.  Plus having issues thinking that I am worth the trouble for them. Like when I called DocJ and she didn't call me back yesterday. I was too early for her daughter's piano lesson, but she didn't tell me a specific time to call back, and she didn't call. So, did she really want to talk to me? Guess not. It doesn't help that the friends I do see seem really busy right now. So yeah, probably lurking in scroll too much lately. I'll have to fix that somehow. |
| They're killing me. Along with the non-easy naptimes. Picked up some finger foods today to feed both kids, like cheerios. Neither the husband or I are feeling the best, though today I am pretty much better and he did go to work. Maybe it was just yesterday? Yoga class cancelled for the time being. I expect it, but i also feel (esp in the legs) where I miss the activity. And I STILL haven't heard about my background check at the Y (6 weeks and counting)? They should just tell me SOMETHING, right???? Agonized yesterday for one race and today for a second, but I'm getting through those names. Not sure I have enough or that they won't change, but if I have a list to get the feel for them, I think I can get past it and world build the rest of what each needs. So much freaking work - this world better be worth it when I get to the writing! Then I got a glimmer of a fourth book in the series for next month. Hello? I don't need that many books to write! That's not even the world I'm working on! Trying to get my head around an expressive language disorder and what that really means for Tempest, and I think Dogbert wants more books to be read to him, too. Poor sweet kids. Maybe my throat will stop hurting at some point and I can read out loud to them more. Tempest does connect with books and she will repeat phrases as she sees fit in her daily life. |
| ESP when there are language issues. However, despite that damn 'expressive language disorder' Tempest got tagged with, this morning she asked to sit on the potty and pooped! I finally know that it is sinking in. She has one hand of painted pink nails to prove it. And, I hope, many more to come. |
So, I had two possible projects for NaNo, and that got narrowed to a definite one today. I tried to finish my "Freeborn" opener and I realized I couldn't get the outline together. The premise is good. The protagonist interview is good. I'm afraid to think about how many words I have in world building and sketches and everything else, because I pulled them from 750words and I had almost 50k there alone, over half of which was written in the last six weeks.  So when I add in the other character sketches and the fizzled novel and all the rest from the past six years? Why don't I feel like I have a better handle on this? Have I just never asked the right questions? Have I just not delved into the proper stuff to get the real answers? I'm not sure, but I know I'm making progress now. It's much more than a simple vague haze where I want it to go. I'm going to organize it all, make up a key so I can keep names straight, and work on the reference manual that's going to have to accompany me through this series. And also get a freakin' word count on how much I've put into this thing already. At least I admitted that to myself when I tried to do the final outline to complete the challenge. And lucky I had another project that does fit together nicely! The one I'm planning to write (also turned into a series possibility) is The Next Jane. Found just over 21k of notes on this one, not counting what had been done previously. Will organize and put that into a reference, too. Neither of these counts all the pages in my comp book. However, I did manage to get my outline into Excel and it's nearly there. So when I add those little bits (and they're seriously small pieces that are missing) I can call it good and tackle the next part. My first two chapters are a little fuzzy on the conflict categories. So at some point, I'd love someone to put some eyes on this thing and tell me what they think. I'll include my premise and protagonist exit interview and go from there. Any takers? I also need to remember to read through the notes from the people from my class last year on the short story that spawned this novel to incorporate those ideas into my notes. Yikes! At some point I need to switch around some names in Freeborn, too. Gah. I'll take names to help me with that, too! Kids are doing good. I have some guilt about working so hard on these things, but now that I'm so close for getting it in order I hope I can focus more. I still have a scratchy throat and that doesn't help for reading to the kids before bed. Dogbert is a happy guy. Tempest is engaging. Yet I still feel guilty for not being better for them. For not doing more. And they napped in series instead of in parallel today, which is always tougher for me. But bedtime, or I'll never catch them in the morning. |
| I dreamed more than once about updating the entry log. And once about Tempest's flu. Yuck. I think I know which novel I am writing, but the funny thing is all my contest entries are for the other project. But I think I will have to world build that one a lot longer to do it justice. Still. I can afford to have some patience. Dilbert will be gone the next two nights. That will ease the distraction factor i had tonight. My afternoon was shot to hell by the kids not napping, too. And then when I finally did get Tempest to nap (because she could do nothing but cry and whine) I had dilb wake her because I didn't want her to sleep too long, which turned into another crying and whining festival. Ouch. Only wrote 1k @750 because so tired from the afternoon and evening while watching tv is never good. Plus writing descriptons. Double ouch. Religion seems to play a freaking huge role in the novel I think I am going to end up writing next month, and Lorien  said something to me a long time ago about the prison system and that helped me. Weird that it fits together. Still, I will take it.This book also has more than one story, so I might have to figure those out. Is it only the 9th? Seems like I have been working on this longer. |
| And that probably can't last. 750: 70 day streak. 10k this month so far, for a total of 480k since I joined. And that doesn't count all the scribbles in my comp notebook about these two projects. I average 3 challenges a day, the same ones for both the projects I'm prepping. I am seriously insane for attempting this. And yet it's working. Except I ought to do the log, since no one has done it since I last did 7 hours ago, but I need to go to bed. Took me too long to write since it was late evening. Hope someone gets it before Brandiwynš¶  tomorrow morning. Tempest seems to be feeling better, but I have the mild flu symptoms of sore throat, headache, and weird tummy (not queasy and not achy, just odd). Hope it passes soon. Think Dogbert might have a touch of it, too, but what can you do? I finally found more resources on the type of outlining method I was trying to remember, and saved them to the iPad. Whee! That should knock that out of the park tomorrow. |
| Tempest had her psych/IQ test. She scored 'at least average' in verbal reasoning, which is something good. She scored gifted in nonverbal reasoning. I mentioned she was my little artist, and the tester said she also scored like an engineer. Sigh. There's no running from the enginerds. She scored like her daddy. But that doesn't mean she won't learn to love books, too. Mostly "caught up" to Day 9 on the prep - couldn't do much at all yesterday because of the craziness. Tempest did make her swim lesson, late, but she's doing good. Dogbert isn't himself with his ear infection, but he's sleeping a good deal and that might help if he has this crazy stomach flu thing Tempest has, too. I'm not sure it's a good idea to go to DBQ tonight. Dilb has to work there tomorrow, but all I want to do is sleep. And write, of course. The writing insanity is going fairly well. Two projects, both extremely ahead of the calendar, and writing sprints of 992 and 928 for 15 min. Daily NaNo chunks in 25 to 27 minutes. That isn't bad. Not that I'll be stopping at 1667 words a day... I liked this week better when we were feeling good. I also got two DOs from Textbroker today. Behind on a lot of things, but oh well. I've never ever been able to catch up on everything. And Dilbert left a banana peel and a pop tart wrapper in a glass downstairs for like a week. It's really bothering me, but I am also doing my best NOT TO PICK UP AFTER THE OTHER ADULT IN THE HOUSE. Bad form, that. |
| Is way off from my current streak at 750 words - but it brought me to an exact 467 000 since I began. Nice. I've been world building at 1000 a day for most of the month, then started tracking upward. Yesterday I wrote 1400 words. Total for the month is nearly 29k. Tempest wasn't napping, but I think she just succumbed. Diapers stink and were part of the problem. Dogbert was easier today. Sigh. Though it helped he fell asleep in the swing at the park after Storytime. Tempest has an appointment with the psychologist next Wednesday, so we have to skip gymnastics. We could probably make part of it, but it seems rude to snatch her out in the middle. The next appointment would have been a Tuesday, and I would rather not pull her out of preschool, so gymnastics suffers. Dogbert is working on tooth #6, but he has only woken up twice the last two nights, rather than 4 times, so I am happier and sleeping better. This morning I actually woke before the kids, but i am a little worried they heard me stirring and then woke up. Sheesh! 6:15 is too early! I want them to wake at 7. Today's storytime had three kids that Tempest knew, and two of them went to the park with us afterward. Much fun! I think I have most of what I need in order to manage the universe for the story. I think I'm to the point of putting names in order so I know what to do with things in my novel. Maybe. I have some more drawings to do, too, and that will be useful during my prep time. I nearly have all of Dogbert's birth announcements out and thank you notes are about half done. Also picked up the art museum pass at the library and might take the kids this weekend or next Monday. Haven't heard from the Y when I asked about my background check yesterday. She said she was going to check on it, and it has been four weeks. Makes it difficult for me. I'd really like to be the member and teach and everything, but not all is within my power to grant. Also time to get those goals in order so I can track progress and stop feeling like I'm spinning my wheels. Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based goals. |
| But I'm not sure how to quit. Any of it. I'm a little afraid I'm not able to keep up with this stuff. Sure, the writing happens during the quiet time - but i kinda only have a handle on about three species so far. Too ambitious a project? Probably, but I'm not sure I can get my mind to switch now. The Y yoga I need to email about, because I think my temporary membership is done on Saturday. Which means no more workouts, no more classes, unless my background check is done and we finalize that. Blah. The other yoga class need some energization - or something - to get SOMEONE there. Because in the three months I have been 'teaching' it, I have had class 4 times. Not acceptable. Preschool is fun so far, but it is also time consuming. Activities on Wednesday, [yoga, gymnastics, swimming] will dwindle shortly if the Y membership doesn't come through. And that actually might help a bit against the hurried, frenetic feeling. Mondays and Fridays seem the only days where I don't have something scheduled. The football games have been very trying, too, and this coming Saturday is the last one for September. That might help. Four in a row is definitely too much. What were they thinking? Mood changing like it nearly always does around this time, and I'm not sure what to do. Need more vitamins, need more exercise, and I'm not sure it helps. might help if the baby slept. We'll see. Or we won't, because the exercise thing is going to be a lot tougher next week if no Y membership. I think my brain is suffering something like the abstinence violation effect: I can't hold it together so I just want to let go of everything and stop trying. But everyone needs a break and I already admitted I'm not really getting one. Sure, the workouts might help, but they also might take me to the point of not having enough milk for Dogbert because I'm worn so thin everywhere else. And stressing out about that isn't what I need to be doing right now. I finished the goals book and I'm working on putting my thoughts together. Next is a yoga book, picking up a language or two, and then NaNo Prep, along with all the other stuff. Plus I have to remember the thank-you notes for stuff I got when Dogbert was born. For some reason I keep putting them off like they're going to drag me down into a sea of oblivion. |
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