I've been thinking

...About vampires. No I haven't but I felt like making a not that vague reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't have much to report these days that I'm between plots. I'm on winter break so I have one less thing to stress about during the holidays, thank some deity for that. I always take this break as a chance to finally breath. I'm not saying that I don't usually breath, in fact I'm kind of a fan of that activity. What I meant was that I am always wrapped up in something. Usually it's building my stories, often writing, frequently school, occasionally radio, reading books, and anywhere else that it will fit, listening to podcasts. I don't let myself just take a breather often. I'm perpetually charging. Like this:


I'm always plugged into some project or task that I can't just let myself be these days. The holidays are a time of being around the people you love, be it friends, family or both. They're also a time for reflection, especially new years.

Part of this post I think has a lot to do with me running out of media to consume for the break. Usually when I start running out I binge and download about 10 new things to listen to and a handful of shows to watch. Right now I'm almost out. I know where I want to go next to get another fix, but there are other things that need me right now. Like my writing. My novel still needs a couple thousand words. My radio show, needs new content. More urgently, I need to stop being plugged into a wall just charging for a quiet day and get out and use up my battery. On the other hand I do need to slow down a bit and be aware of my surroundings.

Today began unlike most others. I was woken up several times before I finally melted out of bed. I ate mundane breakfast and watched a few DVD's. I didn't burst out of bed dashing all over and buzzing about what I was going to do today. I just enjoyed a morning to myself. No interruptions. After this I had lunch, showered and got on with some of the audio editing I needed to do for my show. That was it. I did go to the station and listened to podcasts still unheard but other than that I surfed the web. It was an unambitious day, but it was good. I liked having a day where I went wherever my mood felt I should and there was nothing stressing me out. Just a nice and cloudy day.

I think I've gloated about my day enough, and meandered plenty. Go ahead and comment, not many do. I won't put in my contact info, most readers already know it. If you don't, check out the contact info page, or every other recent post. I'll have a better and more coherent entry later this week. Well, coherent for me.

Dangerous Writing and Reading

16,110 words. 19 days. I haven't been keeping up with my word count as I should have. I've been slowly grinding my writing wheels at a leisurely pace. From where I stand now I can see the icy winter shores of December right on the horizon. Now more than ever, I have to furiously spin the wheels of my imagination. The literary tapestry I'm weaving is not even close to finished, but I have to hurry. Time is slowly running out.

I attempted NaNoWriMo last year, it was a failure. In fact, it failed so epically that it had to be called an Epic Failé. The accented e is reserved for the most epic of failures in my circle of friends. Now, yes I failed to write a novel last year, this is my motivation for writing at the moment. I have to finish. I need to prove I can do this. That and on my show two Tuesdays ago on Abstract Discourse I said if I didn't finish that I would be punished live on air, but not in THAT way. I mean there's a window, and polite company, god you guys! Sick bastards.

Moving on, this Sunday I'm going to have the perfect writing environment at the Office of Letters and Light's Night of Writing Dangerously.

For those of you who are barely familiar with NaNoWriMo, the Night of Writing Dangerously it's a writing event held in the Julia Morgan ballroom in San Francisco. six straight hours of writing. With raffles and snacks, and tons of writers I can talk to. Or ignore, my choice. If all goes well, my word count will get a maximum 9,000 word boost. If not, I'll still probably have a decent word count boost, plus I'll have met some new people, some of whom, I can hopefully brainwash into joining my Furthest Edge project. A small side note, no news to announce as far as thats concerned except that I've only got two episodes left for this year, weird. So writing, I hope to be doing a lot of it this weekend to catch up.

School is being a pain in my ass, right when I get involved in writing a novel and commit to it, the classes pile it on. I can't answer how many tests I'm taking in the next week and a half. Or the amount of assignments due. I wish I could put all that aside and get to it when I get to it. My grades aren't taking this novel too well. Well only two classes, but they're important ones. My growing apathy isn't helping either. Once upon a time I was eager to go to school, then somewhere along the way I lost that. I could blame the teachers, but for the most part that's not it. I think it's the reality of it all. As time ticks ever so slowly, I'm constantly told that this is important for my future. That it's all riding on how I do this year. I want to write. That's all, I just want to write until I collapse. I feel good when I write, It's more satisfying than turning in a research paper. Or getting a math problem right. I know I should care about that, and to an extent I do, it's just that things are different now, I'm different. I don't have the enthusiasm, Writing is the crack I'm addicted to and I can't get enough. When I'm writing or I'm talking on the radio, it's a rush. I feel such freedom. It's my way to unwind. It relaxes me. It stresses me out at times, frequently actually. Yet, I feel so calm when I just talk with my co-host every week. As much as I love all this though, much to certain people's shock, I don't want to do that for a living.

I once posted a facebook status that went, "I love it too much to want to do it professionally."

At the time I felt that there was too much pressure around jobs and I didn't want my favorite pastime turn into a weekly stress inducing time suck.

Anyways, that's my lament for this post. I have been reading again, last week I talked about books with my co-host Shannon Bowman-Sarkisian and I was motivated to finish off some of the books on my shelf. The Girl in the Arena was one of those books. if you listened to that show, then you know I did not think highly of the book. I soon realized that this was because I stopped right before the story picked up. It is not a magnificent book but it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. I will be making that clear next Tuesday in my next book review.

I've also been popping back into some of my favorite books, Vintage: A Ghost Story and The Twilight Gods. both paranormal LGBT books, both really close to my heart as a reader. Despite the fantastical situations in the books, I often related to the emotions and confusion and angst that comes from being a teenager. Both were stand alone books, both felt too short, by the end I had fallen in love with the characters and just wanted them to keep going.

So I guess, if any of this spoke to you in any way, comment below. or contact me via all the methods at the end of this post. I also want to pose a question to you readers, what books are your favorites and why. Do you occasionally go back and stroll down memory lane with the characters?

Next week expect me to blog a little about the Night of Writing Dangerously.

Contact me in the following ways:
Email me: anglemeister.lpz@gmail.com
Email my shows: FEshow@kpdo.org or AbstractDiscourse@gmail.com
Follow me: @Anglemeister