september has been somewhat sporadic

Heeeey guys. Last week life decided to land me with a mysterious case of the stomach flu that put me out of commission for the majority of the week. But while I was sick I learned a few things, aside from the fact that I would still rather have a cold for a week rather than throw up even once. For example: graham crackers do not make a suitable substitute for saltines - let that be a word to the wise. The worst thing about throwing up is how paranoid it makes me of eating any food at all. It probably takes me an additional day or two to recover every time I've had the stomach flu or food poisoning because it takes me ages to be willing to eat anything other than saltines and chicken broth, though ginger ale and sprite are a heaven sent substitute for straight water ><

Anyway, as a result, the shirt still needs finishing, though I did get bias tape on the neckline which goes a long way to making it look better. What I really need to do is finish the side seams and do the bottom seam since that fabric frays more than I shed but I can't do either until I've settled on the sleeves which is the big hang up. I can't decide on length and I'm getting tired of sticking myself in the arms with pins as I try to visualize the different options.

It's been almost a month since I started my school-less, job-less life so I suppose it's pretty sad that yesterday was the first time I've left the house during the day for something more extensive than checking the mail. Tim takes the car to work so I'm left with the bus system if I want to really get anywhere and let me tell you, I do not trust the bus system. It's a great program but they recently changed their routes and times and it seems like every place you look for route info gives you a different schedule so you can bet I planned the crap out of my little adventure yesterday and even then I was paranoid that while I was on the bus it would start taking a different route and how would I cope with that, huh? How?! Despite my barely controlled panic, I made it safely to and from campus. How old am I again? >< I went in to pick up my final short story for the writing class I had at the start of the summer and the fact that I couldn't remember what it had been about meant that I didn't argue with the B+ the professor had given it. We don't always write things we like, haha.

Autumn never lasts longer than a month here and if you were to judge based on the weather yesterday and today, it only lasted two weeks this year. The start of September gave us serious heat and sun but yesterday the temperature plummeted down to low 60s, high 50s with a cold wind. I love fall so I hope it doesn't disappear on us entirely but I hate that it means winter is coming [hold the GoT jokes, please] because winter is my least favorite season. Yes, it can be beautiful and all but it typically drives me permanently indoors because I can't handle the cold and with as wet as it's been this year, forecasters are predicting that this coming winter will be the worst that we've seen in years. I finally replaced my old sweatshirt last night which should delay my inevitable decent into popsicle-ism. We also got a hair clipper set as Tim was long overdue for a trim. Considering I've never used one of those trimmers before last night, I'm pretty proud of the fact that his head is still attached!

I had been running into mental blocks, trying to work more on my fantasy WIP and I was starting to despair about ever making headway when my brain suddenly switched gears on me. So I've been doing some research for another story idea that's been sitting on my back burner for a long time. I need to do some digging around and find those files/pages that I had worked up the last time I wrote for it but starting here with a somewhat fresh slate is also giving me the opportunity to look at the story idea and characterization with new eyes. The plot is about a kid who has been delivered on the doorstep of an uncle he never knew after his mother's death. It sounds so stereotypical when laid out like that but I am excited about the characters and how easily I'm connecting with them as well as their various struggles. I don't always feel like I have much experience to draw on when it comes to realistic fiction - my life just hasn't been that long or exciting. Sam, David, and Emi, however, feel very much like people I know and theirs are stories I'm confident I can tell.  : )

belated, busy, fingers crossed

Guys, I'm making a shirt! I spent my whole day yesterday making [yes, making] the pattern from scratch, cutting out the fabric and sewing all the main seams. I realized too late that I should have taken progress photos to show you guys  : /  I've had a ton of the nice fabric I used for my sewing class's final project left over and I've always intended to make a shirt from it so I'm super psyched about this. I decided to use some fabric from the button down shirt project we did too and I like it a lot better in this pattern. I feel kind of bad for wasting it on the class project as that's not a dress shirt I'm ever likely to wear but the fabric is getting a chance to shine here. Because both fabrics are wovens, I went with a kimono-style shirt [or, as apparently some Americans call it: a lampshade-style. really? why would you ever equate a piece of clothing to a lampshade?]. I've got all the main seams sewn and now I'm having to make some adjustments to the side seams to fix the sleeves a little and I am feeling a desperate need for marking chalk. Seriously you guys, if you ever do any sewing, marking chalk is the best thing I can ever recommend that you get as far as sewing tools. Hopefully I'll be able to go over to Joann's tonight and grab some so I can finish the shirt this weekend. Then pictures, I promise.

So, in typical style, having reported my good writing behavior last week, I haven't written much of anything this week. I am ashamed. On the bright side, I did get a lot of awesome feedback from my lovely friend Chelsea about the stuff I wrote last week which will be super helpful in preliminary editing. I also found my thoughts turning to an old short story from over a year ago that I wanted to turn into a book but haven't spent much time on. Thus, whilst my epic job search journey continues, I have much to do, hurrah!

I've been keeping tabs on a friend's [and by friend I mean an awesome lady whose blog I've been lurking around for a while now] posts about Dragon Con and the fantastic cosplays she saw there. Super nerd confession alert: I have wanted to go to a convention and cosplay since junior high. As some Utahens know, Salt Lake held their first ever Comic Con this month and while finances and nerves were road blocks for going this year I really really really want to go next year and I'm hoping to have a costume as well. Hey, I have a sewing machine and an imagination, why not? I'd love to have people to go with or see there as it's not really Tim's type of geekery so if anyone is thinking of going next September let me know!

This post hasn't been very writing-y, huh? I am seriously in reading withdrawal. I've had only access to my own, thoroughly read collection for two weeks and I'm craving new things. I did just reread Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. I first got this book for an unconventional research class over a year ago and it was so wonderfully rich that I wasn't prepared to tackle it again until now. For those not familiar, Til We Have Faces is a sort of retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, told from the POV of Psyche's oldest sister, a wonderfully unreliable narrator. I can never criticize Lewis's writing - in fact, his books are the few that I get so excited about that I will actually underline certain lines and passages [this is a big deal for me, as I'm sure some of you avid readers can relate] - and I understood so much more this time around that it blew my mind all over again. If you've never read C.S. Lewis before, I highly recommend this book as well as The Screwtape Letters if you 're interested in a sort of reverse-psychology about Christian ideals. [Lewis is renowned for the Christian themes in his writing as well as his straight up writings about theology. The themes are much less blatant in Till We Have Faces, though, so if you aren't feeling the Christian thing, I still recommend it as it can be read without getting into all of that if you'd rather not.]

jobless but not purposeless

This has been my first week in four years without a job and while the ability to sleep in has been welcome, sitting around the house all day has been less awesome. That really just means that I need to get my rear in gear and work on those projects that I know I have with what's left to unpack as well as other things but motivation has been a bit hard to come by. I've been less and less of a couch potato as the week's gone on, though, so I have hope for my productivity.

My biggest achievement this week is that I have written, at least a little, everyday which hasn't happened in an embarrassingly long time, let me tell you. It definitely helped that I had promised to show you guys something this week. I've been going back and forth as to what I should share because, while I love feedback, I don't want to give everything away, besides, it's not nearly polished enough for that yet.

In order to understand this and further bits that I share, I'm giving you some context for the story to hopefully explain terminology. As always, comments and questions are welcomed and encouraged.

This first part is a section out of a sort of prologue I have in the works. I'm not sure if I'll keep it or not, getting rid of it would require a lot more exposition in the first chapter and I don't know if I want that there.

        People are born with their destiny written in their skin. Marks like black tattoos aren't visible at birth but reveal themselves after the onset of puberty. Each person has two marks, one that indicates a primary talent or skill and a second that divulges a person's defining character attribute. The exact timing of their manifestation, their position on the body, and their order are completely unpredictable.

      Citizens are required to record all marks in the public record for census purposes but this procedure also identifies those that manifest marks that identify them as a threat to others and the community at large. In a proactive effort to ensure the safety of the community, individuals with such marks, called Malmarks, are banished as soon as their threatening mark is known regardless of age or situation.

This second bit is a peep from the first chapter. The speaker, Mona, is reflecting on her family's reactions to finding out that she is a Malmark.

        When a Malmark is found, no one is to speak to them, even their family, but my father's expression, and not his silence, was the only proof I needed to fully realize what I was. The look on his face cut me to my center though I don't have a name for the emotion I saw there. He blinked once, then let go of my arm. The absence of his touch, warm and always gentle, seemed to wake me up and I started sobbing in full force. I tried, through my tears, to apologize for hurting them all, for bringing this embarrassment on our family, and countless other things that I wasn't even sure I was responsible for. How could I be? I hadn't done anything. I was apologizing for my future.