Making It Up To Everyone

Well, since I missed a grand total of three posts in April, I figured I'd make it up to you by continuing to blog for the first three days of May.

No more Screnzy updates, sadly. I really miss my script. I think I'll go back to it sometime next week, but I've got a lot of things going right now. I need to get on a routine with things. I've been talking about this since the new year, but I still need to work on it. I need to find a good schedule to do all the things I need to do, like my household chores, roleplaying, writing, and having some downtime. Do you know I haven't written a single book review all year? I've started to, but I haven't finished.

I'm falling behind on everything, I don't like it. I get stressed when I'm behind. And, as proven over the past week, when I'm stressed I have trouble falling asleep. And when I'm exhausted like I am right now, I don't want to do anything. It's a terrible cycle.

So, that's it. Tomorrow, despite having to work, I will do the following:

Write at least 2 roleplay posts
Write a blog post
Review my notes for Ghosts of Autumn
Attempt to finish a book review.

I own a laptop. There should be no excuses for my procrastination. I am going to work my behind off until I complete my list, and I'll continue like this until I'm caught up. Or, in the case of Ghosts of Autumn, until the novel is finished.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about the creative high I was on last night and today. For now, goodnight.

-Lizzy

I'm Gifted

Screnzy Update: I HIT FIFTY PAGES!!!!! That means I'm half-way to the goal of 100, and even though I'm only a day ahead, I'm really excited. I mean, it's not bad considering I didn't think I get anywhere with this plot, ya know? But the story's getting really good. Marie and Colin are having their first official date and they just admitted to each other that they've been married and have kids. They're so cuuuute together. =D

Anyway, despite my new found faith in the above screenplay, I haven't been able to get my mind off of the Charmed spin-off all month. It's not like the idea is just a back-up. This is something I'm definitely going to write, even if I save it for next Screnzy. I MUST DO THIS. I don't even care if I ever get it made. I mean, it seems unlikely anyway, seeing as how the original cast would have to come back, but just as long as I posted it online for more fans to see. It would be frickin' awesome.

So I was thinking about this spin-off of mine, which I've titled 'Gifted' instead of Charmed, and I decided I needed a place to keep all of my ideas and scripts and stuff, other than on some torn and stained pieces of paper cluttering my desk with their scribbles. So I opened up a wikia in which I will be transfering everything. The wikia is not yet ready for the eyes of the public, but I'll be sure to post the link just as soon as I've got it looking reasonably decent. =)

xoxo
Lizzy

Updates & What Happened to ME Time?

It's the last day of the first week of the new year (try saying that ten times fast) so I figured I should do this post if I wanted to stay on track with my new schedule.

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Hopefully this year will be better than last year - for you and me!

Now that that's over with, you may notice I've made some changes to Shades of Lizzy, as I promised. At the bottom of the page are some nifty new tickers courtesy of the TickeyFactory. They're counting down how much I have to write, read and blog this year. Speaking of blogging, I've estimated that one post a week will equal 53 posts (please correct me if I'm wrong. My math is terrible.), so you should be getting 53 posts, unless I choose to do Blog Every Day in April/August.

Another, unexpected update was the design of the blog. I didn't really want to change the blue and black design, but the black background wasn't working with the tickers so ... oh, well. I may be getting a new banner to match soon, but as I'm short on time, I have no idea when that will be.

Which brings me to part two of this blog. My time. The schedule I said I'd be making? Pretty much non-existent. Work has been crazy, I'm considering quiting, next week (or the week after?) is going to be even crazier because we're taking on more jobs, and I haven't been sleeping well. However, since I have tonight and most of the weekend off, you can expect me to be catching up on some stuff, like my writing and role-playing.

So, that's that. Just wanted to do a quick post to keep you all up-to-date. =)

Have a fun weekend. <3

-Lizzy

Goodbye 2010

Last year around this time, I did a blog post talking about all the good and bad things that happened in 2009, and how I was going to make 2010 an even better year. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking a lot about that post, and how much things have changed in a year, for better and for worse, and how I can do better in 2011.

First off, let's talk a little bit about things that have gotten better since last year. Some of you map remember that my parents got back together in April after a six-month separation. Obviously, that's the best news I've gotten all year. Also, I kinda got a job. Something that slightly ruined the way I spend my time, but allowed me to buy gifts for my parents.

I had another fabulous vacation, with much thanks to the new Wii. And there's a chance I may be going to either California or Florida sometime in the next two years. I've made progress in researching my family tree. Oh! And I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1, and it's definitely the best movie yet.

My goal to write more than ever before certainly paid off. While I'm not sure if I reached 300,000 words like I wanted, I did do pretty awesome. More than six fanfics complete, another successful NaNoWriMo year, a failed but still lengthy movie script for Screnzy, and lots more started projects. My hope at reading more, however, didn't pay off.

Back in September, I was given seventeen books for my twentieth birthday (titles below). So far I've read nine of them, and am about half way through of the the six books I got for Christmas (titles below). Even if I miraculously finish that one by midnight, I'll have only read 14 new books this year. My goal was 50, so it's a bit of a let down, but I'm pleased with how much I did read.

Of course, with the good comes the bad. I had to give up a cat at the beginning of the year. Some people who I called my friends showed their true colors. And I did some things I'm not proud of, too. But, like last year, the good outweighs the bad.

So, here's what I'm planning for next year:

-I will read 50 books that I have never read before, write book reviews for each of them, and participate in at least five book challenges.

-I will write at least 300,000 words, keep a track of all words written, and continue to update my WriYe account with this number.

-I will participate and win both Screnzy in April and NaNoWriMo in November.

-Using a combination of my new Wii Fit and John Green's Fitness for Nerds routine (http://dft.ba/-johnfit) I will lose enough weight that I'll feel comfortable in a one-piece swimsuit by vacation time.

-I will keep a detailed schedule and check it every day so that I don't forget to do my household work, or neglect my friends.

-Using the webcam that I'll (hopefully) be getting around Valentine's day, I'll make a video for the Project for Awesome in December to raise awareness about Lupus.

-I will finish writing and editing Ghosts of Autumn.

-I will not be as angry this year. I will forgive myself more. I will let go of the little things. I will build my self-esteem up to where it needs to be.

-Lastly, I will update my blog at least once a week, so I'm not rushed to write an end-of-year post seven hours to midnight on New Year's Eve. ;)

It's a rather long list of promises, I know, but I really want to do this. Each thing is something I need to do to better myself, and better my life. I thought by 2010 I'd be somewhere completely different that where I am in my life. I have only myself to blame for that.

To make it easier to follow along with my progress through the year, without having to read through all my posts, I'll be changing the blog's layout a little bit. It's hard to explain right now, but you'll see soon.

If you're still reading this, then I have to ask you a favor. Post your New Year's resolutions below. You can do it anonymously or sign it. If you don't do the whole resolution thing, just tell me something you wish would happen to change in 2011. If you'll be keeping a blog next year with updates on your resolution list, link me to it. I don't want to do this alone.

---

Before I go, I just wanted to do a little bragging about how awesome my parents are, and how well they know me. Without me putting the majority of these book titles on my birthday/Christmas lists, they got me:

John Green's-
Looking for Alaska
An Abundance of Katherines
Paper Towns

Maureen Johnson's-
Suite Scarlett
Scarlett Fever
Girl at Sea
13 Little Blue Envelopes
The Key to the Golden Firebird
The Bermudez Triangle

Garth Nix's-
Sabriel
Lirael
Abhorsen

Rick Riordan's-
PJO: The Lightning Thief
PJO: Sea of Monsters
PJO: Titan's Curse
PJO: Battle of the Labyrinth
PJO: The Last Olympian
HoO: The Lost Hero

James Patterson's-
Witch & Wizard

Margaret Peterson Haddix's-
SC: Among the Hidden
SC: Among the Impostors
SC: Among the Betrayed
SC: Among the Barons

Amazing, aren't they? =D

I'll stop rambling and go work on that schedule now. I hope everyone has a great night. Be safe, and have a Happy New Year!!!

Love, Lizzy<3

My Dreams, Coming True

Ok, so as you may know, I've been kinda obsessed with getting a webcam or video recorder since mid-July when my best friend Tippy got one and started vlogging, and then I was introduced to the VlogBrothers and the 5 Awesome Girls and Alan Lustufka and Katie Campshure and ... now I can't go a day without visiting YouTube.

So of course I've been going on about this in real life as well. But I did get good (and more important) birthday presents, and my family didn't really give out presents last Christmas. Besides all that, my mom is sort of against webcams for safety reasons. I told her I could do the same things with a video camera - which she's wanted forever - but she's still undecided. So now that I'm getting my own money (well, my parents are paying me to clean the apartment while they work) and the desktop computer is now located in my bedroom, I asked my mom if I could get a webcam now.

Her answer was that we'd have a family discussion about it. Now, I really shouldn't be so worried. These things usually turn out to be in my favor. I'm not saying I'm spoiled, but ... well, maybe I am a little. ;) Anyway, my mom is really, really against this and thinks I'm going to get sick of the webcam and all that. I've brought this up to my dad before and he thought I just wanted it to make my blogging easier. Naturally I explained to him how I could never quit blogging completely. And there are things I would still do with my blogs that I couldn't do on camera, and vice versa.

My book blog, for example, would stay a blog. I may make mentions of what book I'm reading in a video like I do here, but that's as far as it'll go. "Shades of Lizzy" will continue on as a blog and a vlog, depending on my mood and time constraints. Sometimes I think it would be easier to talk to a camera than have to type everything. Also, I've had plans for videos since I was a kid. Harry Potter discussion things. And now that I've started watching YouTube, I'd like to be in a collab channel. Better yet, a while ago I found this project on the NerdFighters site for a Harry Potter-does-YouTube kinda collab thing that I definitely wanna restart and do a normal collab. Lastly, Tippy asked me back in December if I wanted to be a part of a podcast. I realize all I need to do that is a microphone, but why just get that when I can kill two birds with one stone?

So those are my ideas, and it's what I'm presenting to my parents. If you have any good ideas for things I should tell my parents, tell me. Or if you have ideas for what I should do with my blogs/webcam, tell me those too.

Love,
Lizzy ^_^

January Review; Writing Stats

I talked a lot in December about how I was going to make 2010 better than last year. How I was going to finally make something of my life and not let the little things get me down any more. We're now entering the second month of the year, and some of you may be wondering if I still have high hopes, or if I've given up yet.

The answer is, I'm more optimistic than ever. January was a very crazy month. Some great things happened, and there were some set-backs, but overall I'm happy. I moved, and I'm really pleased with my new apartment. I picked up a story I'd abandoned months ago and am almost finished it now. I discovered some amazing bloggers and challenges. I wrote on all but two days! So yes, I'm still hopefull. This year has started out perfectly.

I admit, my writing did fail a little last month. I fell behind and never quite caught up. That being said, I'm about two thousand behind on the year's total (easy to make up) and probably over eight thousand behind on the story total for "Oh, Baby!" I am about five chapters away from finishing the whole fic, which is great! I anticipated having to continue writing the story into February, so it's no big deal. I'm going to keep at it until it's finished.

As scheduled, I'm going to get back to writing Ghosts of Autumn (NaNo '09) this month, and hopefully have it revised and edited by the end of the month so I can get my free bound copy of it from CreateSpace. I've already started editing a little bit by reading over the copy I printed out after NaNo. There were several spelling and grammatical errors I was able to catch, and some stuff that got mixed up when I changed character names, ages, and where they're from. I'm a little stuck on how to make it longer though.

In case you don't remember (or weren't reading back then) GoA is split into three short stories about the Naylor family, who start seeing and hearing ghosts. I finished the first story Sweet September, and am almost finished the second one titled Cold October. The problem is that SS is a lot shorter than CO. I have no idea how to fill it. I've always been terrible at fillers. I just like to get right to the point and write scenes that are important to the plot. In CO I was able to work on a ton of sub-plots and bring in new characters - that one story alone is about twenty-five thousand words.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the characters in GoA recently as well. As I told Ari over at Reading In Color, I want to start writing more poc main characters. And what better way to start than with the novel I want to get published first. I just need to figure out which MCs I'm changing now.

Technically, there are about four main characters in my novel, and about four important side-characters. Six of these characters are part of the Naylor family, the other two are the Yardley sisters. So, no matter who I change, I'll have to do it to more than one. I think I've pretty much decided to switch the sisters, Annie and Kristen. I was never completely happy with the celebrity I chose to represent Annie anyway.

In other writing news, I was on the WriYe forums today and saw that they have a February mini-challenge going on. Romance. As I've said before, romance is never my main genre (well, once maybe) but it sneaks into almost all of my writing somehow. The challenge is just to write something - anything - romantic this month. Whether it be a short story, novel, or a fic. Ironically I came up with an idea for a romantic comedy a few days ago. I hadn't planned on using it this year as I'm already booked full, but I'm going to give it a shot until I get overwhelmed.

Basically, the idea is that three women attend a wedding and, over the course of the weekend, they all fall for different guys also attending the wedding. It might be another three-stories-in-one kinda thing, but I'm going to try not to turn it into that. I've been working some basics out for the past few minutes. I think it's going to take place in California (unless someone suggests another place to hold the wedding) and the names of the four main characters (including the bride) are going to be Diane, Avery, Willow, and Nathalie. These may change later, but I'm quite happy with them so far. And of course, at least two of them will be poc.

That's all I've got for today.

-Lizzy<3

Crazy, Crazy Day

I think the title says it all.

Finished packing and stuff on Friday night. Then, when my mom came home at eleven-thirty, we threw the last-minute stuff in boxes and hit the road. It was a twenty-minute drive to our new home (from Milton to Mississauga), and now we're in our new home! My mom and I spent most of the night moving boxes around together. You know, keeping kitchen things in the kitchen, taking all twenty+ of my boxes into our room... that kind thing. My dad got to sleep for a few hours since he had to get up and six-thirty and pick up the rest of our furniture (couches, hutch, armoir..) with his friend and bring them here.

When that was done my parents went back to the house to get our cats, since they didn't feel like cooperating when we wanted to leave. My oldest two, Smokey and Oliver, are here with us now. As mentioned in my previous post, Mickey could not come with us. My dad finally managed to get him in the box and take him to the shelter. I'm trying not to dwell too much on any of this.

So, I really like the apartment so far. The bathroom's huge, I'm sharing the master suite with my mom (computer's in my room!), we have a fireplace and a dishwasher now... It's very nice. The downfall is that it's freezing in here. It's only starting to warm up now. I managed to get a few hours of sleep between all the madness, but I should probably go back to bed room.

Now, onto more exciting things.

Bookmarked, my new book blog, is finished!! Yes, as soon as I finished dinner, I ran to the computer and got to work putting the finishing touches on it. It'll probably go through a few changes as I really start to use it, but it's fine for now. Also, I've already done my first review of a book I read last year. So, head on over to www.esbookmarked.blogspot.com to subscribe and let me know what you think. Okay?

xoxoxoxo,
Lizzy

Busy, Busy

Just a quick update because I feel really bad for not having posted since Sunday when so much has been going on.

Writing: Going good. I'll post my word counts at another time because I'm trying to make this a quick post.

Reading: I have started reading a book online, more on that later.

Book Blog: Bookmarked has been started. You can go and subscribe if you want, but keep in mind that it's not done yet, and may not be for a few more days.

Moving: I'm moving in two days. Ahhh! I still have a lot to pack, and my mom is sick so the packing is pretty much left up to me now. There's a pretty good chance this is the last time you'll hear from me in January.

Real Life: sucks. I have this cat, Mickey. He's great. He's a beautiful grey tabby, only a little over a year old. Unfortunately my parents want to let him go. Tonight will mark our fourth attempt at this - and probably our last as we're kinda running out of time before we leave. I thought last night was it. I did my job and helped my dad get Mickey into a box - and then he broke out when my dad was carrying it down the stairs. Lovely. So you'd think I wouldn't be punished for his mistake right? You'd think he would take pity on me and not make me trick my poor Mickey again. Ha. I don't know what he'll do to Mickey if we can't do it tonight. I really don't want to think about it.

Lastly, I've created a new email address for my blogs. So if any of you have comments or suggestions on my blogs, I'd appreciate you emailing me at blogsbylizzy@gmail.com - Thanks!

-Lizzy<333

Help Us Search

Tonight I'd like to share with everyone something I've never told anyone before. I have a half-sister who I've never met.

She was born on March tenth, 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. My mom gave her up for adoption, and got to choose the family she went to. We know that her name is Martha, and she would have an older brother named Matthew.

Tonight my mom signed up on a site to start searching for Martha, so I'm doing my part as well. I know it's a long shot that she's reading this blog, but I've always wondered if we'd ever been close to meeting each other.

If your name is Martha, and you were born on March 10th, 1986 - or if you know that person - please send me an email at rowlingfan@msn.com. You have no idea how much I want to meet you.

-Lizzy<3

Replies & Poll

I think my list of books to read now surpasses a hundred. I've been flooded with recommendations for the past three days. Not that that's a bad thing. Actually, it's probably for the better seeing as how I've become a pretty fast reader over the past year. I'm not going to bore you with the list just yet, but it'll be coming soon on the new blog.

Yeah. So I decided to create a book review blog. I haven't actually started it yet, but I plan to sometime this week. I was going to yesterday but I couldn't decide on a name for it. I did come up with ideas though.

-Book Smart
-Bookmarked
-Virtual Bookshelf
-Lizzy's Bookmarks

There were others (Page Turner, Read Right, Good Reads, Don't Judge a Book, Cover to Cover) but my mom and I like the above four best. I like Book Smart and Bookmarked, she likes Virtual Bookshelf and Lizzy's Bookmarks. Help?! Tell me what your favorites are, out of the choices here or something you make up. I'll choose the winner sometime on the weekend.

Now, onto replies... because I think it's easier to do it here than in the comments.

Heather: The Gift sounds cool. Thanks! Oh, and I've already got two people offering to help you with the movie. =)

Ari: Thanks for the recommendations. I'm really looking forward to reading Silver Phoenix after I read the summary. I will be joining the challenge. Definitely at level 3, probably at level 4. And what's MG?

Okay, that's all I can think of. Oh, and I'm working on updating this blog. Maybe a new layout, some new features, ect. So, keep watch for that.

-Lizzy<3

Changes To Be Made

I'm going to ignore my pile of things to do to day, in favor of discussing two important issues with you, and a possible new project or two for myself.

First, I've been hearing a lot about Haiti this past week and it's been getting me a little depressed. I mean, I usually stay out of the current affairs - politics, war, American Idol - but this just seems to be getting worse as time goes by. It's especially bad knowing that there's nothing I can do to help. So that why I'm asking anyone who reads this blog, to please give to the Red Cross or another trusted organization that you know is helping the Haitians. Every little bit helps and you'll earn my gratitude and respect - and let's face it, my gratitude and respect is what you really want out of this deal, isn't it? ;)

Second on my list is big publishing problem. After reading a well-written open letter to Bloomsbury publishers by Ari(here- http://blackteensread2.blogspot.com/2010/01/open-letter-to-bloomsbury-kids-usa.html) earlier, I became aware of how Bloomsbury has used a Caucasion model on the covers of two books featuring African American main characters. Thankfully they've already changed the cover of Liar by Justine Larbalestier, but Jaclyn Dolamore's Magic Under Glass still has the wrong cover on it.

Please go over to Ari's blog (http://blackteensread2.blogspot.com/) and join in the discussion about how to get Bloomsbury and future publishers to change. And while you're at it, start buying and/or checking out books with main characters of a different race than yourself. While I've never shied away from books not featuring a white MC, I haven't read many either.

Now, onto my new projects:

You already know about my writing challenges which I'm happy to say are going quite well. And I've talked a little bit about the 50-book challenge I wanted to take up last year before real life interrupted it. I'm obviously still doing both of these.

Also, I'm managing the site for the 6 Months, 6 Novels writing challenge I'm doing. I'm involved in two rpgs right now. Toss in my one writing course, chores, and the inconvenience of having to spend time with my family, and you'd think I'm booked full, wouldn't you? Not quite.

I've been working off and on for the past couple of weeks on another site. The official site of Elizabeth Sabourin. Because I figured I'll need it when I start publishing my stuff later this year. Besides, I need a place to store links to all the sites I'm on so when I make new friends I can point them to the site and say "I'm at all of these places. Check me out!"

But after reading Ari's blog, and being linked to a couple of writing challenges, I thought about how I really need to start reading more. I mean, I know I said the 50 book thing was going to happen, but I feel the need to clarify. It's starting next month. As soon as I get to the new apartment, I'm finding the nearest library and taking out a stack of books. But it's not just the reading that's bothering me.

As I said above, I have no problem reading books that don't have white main characters, but I don't think I ever have. I have a list of over fifty books to read this year compiled by my friends and mother, but I don't know if any of them are really going to get me out of my set ways. It's not only the color of the MC I'm talking about, the genre is also something to look at. I'm a fantasy freak. Supernatural, horror, some romance and comedy too. I'm slowly getting into historical fiction by accident. I need a wider variety of books to read.

So, I'm calling on the help of anyone who stumbles upon this post to send me book suggestions. Any books. Any rating, any genre, any length, any author. Keep in mind that I'll be skipping over any sex scenes as best I can. I'd rather just stay away from non-fiction. Anything else goes. Tell me what books you like and why.

Thinking about this, I wondered if, while I'm reading all of these books, maybe I should start another blog that focuses totally on book reviews. I know I've done reviews here in the past, but wouldn't it be cool to have one place devoted to the reviews? -shrug- Just an idea.

So let me know. Give me books to read, tell me if I should go ahead with the new blog. I want to know what you think.

xoxoxo
Lizzy<3

Goodbye 2009

(Originally post on the 20th on my new LiveJournal) I said a couple of weeks ago that I would be posting some story ideas soon, and while I still plan to do that, I'd rather do it later this month. Right now I want to talk about my most recent realization.

I've said several times over the past couple of months that this has been a really bad year. The worst ever. When you consider the events of the past few months, I'm sure many people would agree. The funny thing is that I don't. I sat thinking about this Friday night and came to the realization that, despite all the many problems and stressing, 2009 was a really good year for me.

My close friends know about the problems I'm going through right now, and I'm sorry to say those haven't changed. If they miraculously did on Christmas day this would be the best year in history and nothing would ever be able to top it. But, being the optimist that I usually am, I'm trying to look past those things. I want to make this post so that I'll always have something to look back on to remind of the good things that happened this year. This is also my way of thanking the people that changed this year for the better.

In 2009 I helped my friends build an rpg that is now bigger than any other site I've ever made. Because of that rpg, I've made a ton of new friends this year.

In 2009 I finished the last three books in the Twilight saga and loved them. I later got my parents into the series and we've enjoyed both of the movies together.

In 2009 I read the published novel of my best friend and loved it. It now sits on a Harry Potter shelf beside my bed and makes me smile every day.

In 2009 I got a printer/scanner, a cell phone, and an iPod touch. Yes, the little things make me happy too. =)

In 2009 discovered the power of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. However, I have every intention of using these powers for good.

In 2009 I started watching the vlogbrothers of YouTube. It's been about five months since I first saw their videos, but my life will never be the same. John and Hank will never know how much they've helped me, but I hope I'll be able to repay the favor one day.

In 2009 I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time, and won. Through this I realized that pretty much anything is possible. I'm a procrastinator. I wrote a nearly-finished novel in thirty days.

In 2009 I rediscovered my passion for writing.

In 2009 I became legally able to drink and gamble in Canada - though I haven't done either yet.

In 2009 I had the best vacation ever.

In 2009 I found some great websites. Like BabyDow and AverageWizard In 2009 I was introduced to Huey Lewis and the News. They have been my favorite band for over six months now. <3

In 2009 I fell in love with several shows, new and old. Charmed, the Mentalist, Castle, Vampire Diaries.

In 2009, despite having never seen any Star Trek shows or movies, I watched the new movie four times in one week. I plan to start watching the shows through repeats and YouTube.

In 2009 I went to the drive-in more than I did in the three previous years combined.

In 2009 I realized I don't look that bad with short hair.

These are just some of the things that had gone right for me this year. Some of them may sound silly or unimportant, but for one reason or another, they're what made me happy. Unfortunately, I can't leave out the bad things that have happened this year.

In 2009 my parents filed for bankruptcy. We're moving next month. In 2009 my dad asked for a divorce.

In 2009 I thought I might have to give away one of my cats. That's still being decided. In 2009 I thought two of my friends passed away. One did.

In 2009 I had the worst nightmare of my life, that sticks with me every day.

I've cried more in 2009 than any other year. But I think I probably laughed more this year as well. The bad things still bother me. A lot. Hell, I had a breakdown a few hours ago. But I think the good has outweighed the bad. That has a lot to do with my friends. There's no way I can possibly name all of them, but there are a handful that made a big difference for me.

Tippy- I will never be able to thank you enough for sticking with me this year. I don't know if I would have been able to make it through these past few months without you. The thought of talking to you keeps me going on bad days. I'm so thankful for you.

Iris- Though we haven't talked in a while, I think about you all the time. I still consider you one of my closest friends and hope we'll be able to catch up soon.

Emily- You always bring a smile to my face, even if it's not me you're talking to. You're a very talented writer. I love reading your posts.

And, of course, the rest of the SW members. Jess, Hayley, Hadie, Kat, Leslie, Leah, and Sam. You're all wonderful.

I hope that 2010 is better than this year was. I'm going into the new year with a lot of goals and plans. I want to write almost every day, finish and edit my novel, stop procrastinating, and I've even added the common lose weight reservation. I want to read more too. I talked about doing a fifty-book challenge back in October but I had to stop because of the 'bad' list. Well, I want to restart that. I'll be talking more about my writing and reading in January. Like I said, I have big plans.

To everyone who read this, I hope you've had as good a year as I have. I also hope you join me in going into 2010 with a positive and optimistic attitude. Try not to let things get you down. Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays) and Happy New Year.

-Lizzy<3

When Life Gives You Lemons...

... throw 'em back and ask for something useful. ;)

Sorry I haven't felt like updating this in a while. Um, shortly (about two weeks) after my last post, my dad asked my mom for a divorce. Yeah. That was eight days after they celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary. They've been trying to have a baby for over two years. Aparently none of that matters to him anymore.

Long story short, due to our financial problems, we were planning on moving anyway. But because we're basically broke, we'll still have to move together. My mom and I will be sharing a room, and my dad claims he'll be cooped up in his for the six hours a night he'll be home to sleep. We move sometime next month, if everything goes according to plan.

Now, changing the subject, I participated in NaNoWriMo last month. Thank God for that! As much as I hated spending my days and nights feeling like I was avoiding my friends and mom - who's really needed me these past months - the writing got me through November. Well, I can't let NaNo take all the credit. I probably still would have gone mental if it wasn't for my friend Tippy, who gave me the push to keep writing when I didn't want to and made me laugh on my especially bad days.

The briefest description I can give you of my NaNo novel is that a family of five one-by-one start seeing or hearing a ghost. Their spirit guide, Annie. It's a three-story novel about this family learning to cope with these new abilities. By the end of NaNo I reached the 50,000 word goal and am almost finished the second story. I plan to continue writing throughout December and reach 8ok by the time I finish the third. I will edit this novel early next year, and already have a publishing company in mind.

And, because writing has helped me so much lately, I don't want to fall back into my old ways of only writing when the inspiration really hit me. I want to be an author. I have to act like one. I have to make writing work for me. My dad once told me I could be a writing and a teacher and still have a family like I want to. That's always sounded like a challenge to me, so I intend to prove him wrong. Hopefully by writing 50k, he saw that I might actually have what it takes. If not, I'm going to next year.

I want to make writing part of my daily routine, as crazy as that's going to be. But my mom just took on a full time day job, like my dad. And they both work (together - bleh) at a night job. So I won't be spending as much time with her as I usually do. My home chores are just dishes and laundry, which easily work around my other projects. The main thing I want to make work is my friend life and writing life. Both are unbelievably important to me. I could never live without both. Trust me. I've accidentally tried and it never ended well.

So, as long as I stick with the Something Wicked website, and push myself to make the posts there like I'm pushing my novel writing, I think I'll be just fine.

Ashley, a girl I met yesterday on the NaNo forums under the name of DragonYoga, came up with a brilliant idea of writing six novels a year in the style of NaNo. 50k in one month. A similar project to this, WriYe (writing year) has been running for three years or so, but I think that's a bit more demanding. At least I could possibly work six months into my schedule, right?

Well, we start next month. There are about twenty of us signed up so far. Few of us are actually trying for all six novels though. I promised them that I'd try my hardest, despite the months being pretty busy - like the big move next month. But I'm not going to put a ton of pressure on myself like I did for NaNo. I'd never survive if I did. But if I continue to push my writing, and just write without planning ahead or editing as I go, I might just make it.

I've also thought this would be a great way for me to incorperate fan fics back into my life. I still read them all the time - Harry Potter, Twilight, Charmed, Supernatural - but writing doesn't come easy for me. I have this small story that's a work in progress posted on fanfiction.net. I've been getting reviews for a while begging me to update. I'll probably work on that first.

I'll try to do another blog post sometime next week, or maybe later this week to let you all know how it's going, and fill you in on what stories I'll be writing. Right now, I'm super tired because I haven't had a full night's sleep in a few days. Plus I had about five nightmares last night (like, the worst I've ever had) and didn't dare go back to bed. And now? Now there are men fixing the roof. With very LOUD hammers and saws and things. =(

Anyway, I'm off to get more hot chocolate. Later.

-Lizzy<3

Pet Peeves

Current Mood: stressed, excited, creative
Currently Listening to: random rock music

So .... my main reason for posting right now is because I don't want everyone to think I've abandoned this blog. It's just that my latest assignment for the institute of children's literature was due on the twentieth and I thought it was later, and I haven't even started writing it yet. :(

My assignment is supposed to be an article written on whatever I want. But since I really hate writing articles - even though I'm decent at it - I've really been dreading this one. I have, however, come up with an age group and subject. I'll be talking about the responsibility of various pets, for a young child. At least that's the plan. After I finish this post I'm going to do some research - I really only know about cats.

On the subject of books, I got Eclipse today. I'm really excited about it, but I have to share it with my mom. And I'm not really allowed to read too much because of this assignment. That reminds me, have I mentioned how big of a fan of Twilight my mom is? Oh yeah, she's obsessed. She read Twilight and New Moon in like four days. She was more excited to see the movie than me! Then again, I really wasn't looking forward to it anyway. I mean, the Harry Potter movies have been pretty bad, I expected the same with this.

We did buy the movie this Saturday... or Friday night, actually. I was pleasantly surprised, but it wasn't as good as it could have been. I mean, Robert Pattinson as Edward? He's not even good-looking. And they deleted some of my favorite scenes and lines from the book. -sob-

My dad watched it with us today and actually liked it! Which is really surprising, because he hates a lot of movies. Now my mom's got him reading the first book. Tell me, is it a good or a bad thing that my parents have been calling each other Bella and Edward all day?

Anyway, I still can't tell you much about my rpg informational site/blog that I'm working on. Work is kind of at a stand-still right now due to my busy schedule. But I'm still on Something Wicked, and just joined an rpg owned by another friend of mine, Emily. It's an original storyline, kinda like X-Men. I'll give you the link in my next post. I'm also done an rpg of my own.

It'll be called Incinta Incanto, and it's a Harry Potter rpg. All the boards are put up and stuff, I just need to finish my character bios. I'm still not sure if I should open right now. I mean, what's the point on opening when my two best role-playing friends are so busy? Well, maybe I'll be able to do it the next couple of months. Fingers crossed!!

xoxoxoxo
Lizzy <333

Mysteriously Wicked Royalty

Okay, I know it's Monday, but I don't have any movie news for you. My mom and I started watching The Librarian 3 last night, but we were too tired to finish. Sunday is just way to hectic a day to watch movies - or do anything productive, for that matter. I can tell you that it's shaping up to be better than the second movie in the series. Moving on, I'm here to promote those sites I've been telling you about.

First up, Marauding Mysteries. MM is a marauder-era Harry Potter role-play site, owned by my friend Tippy. The basic setting of the plot is that the Marauders, Lily, Snape and so on are in their sixth year at Hogwarts. The war is raging, and many sub-plots are already in effect. Lily (played by Tippy), while dating James, has started an affair with Severus. Meanwhile, Remus had a one-night-stand with a seventh-year Kyndrick (also Tippy's), and now she's pregnant and he's trying to figure out the best way to tell her that he's a monster. Lucius Malfoy (mine) is currently trying to deal with braking up with the only girl he's ever loved, while getting to know his long-lost half-sister, and keep his drunk mother and influential father out of his life.

More sub-plots of MM are taken from other books or tv shows. For example, we have a Twilight plot in which Tippy plays Alice Logan-Longbottom, and her brother Hayden(Edward). And my other friend Iris plays Serenity(Bella). We still need Jasper and Emmett's characters.

One Tree Hill also has a plot here. I play Haley who is in here seventh year, married to Nathan, just found out she's pregnant and is trying to help in the war. Unfortunately, we've only filled the roles of Haley and Brooke.

While MM may seem a little dead right now, I intend to make my four+ posts today or tomorrow which should get people back. Here's the link- http://hoggymysteries.proboards.com/

Next up is MM's sister site, Something Wicked This Way Comes. The history behind Something Wicked may be a little confusing, but I'll try to make it clear. On MM, I asked how far we had to stick to canon, seeing as we'd already changed so much. Eventually it was decided that we'd stick to canon, but Tippy wanted to make another site that would focus on what could have happened to our characters. So, the plot of Something Wicked is AU.

Basically, Severus made a deal with Voldemort to spare Lily and Harry's lives. He married Lily and had a daughter with her, and now they're trying to keep Harry from joining the Death Eaters, while pretending to be loyal to Voldemort. Remus' wife, Kyndrick, died when their daughter was five, and now Olivia Lupin is in her last year at Hogwarts. But guess what- she's so much like her mother that she becomes pregnant - with Fred Weasley's child! Then there's Lucius. Since his father's death, he's taken over the family business, bringing his sister into it. He and Narcissa are spies, loyal to the Order. But they haven't been able to tell Draco the truth about them so he's ready to go join the Death Eaters.

Many more plots are in effect. Aside from Lucius, I play Luna Lovegood, Blaise Zabini, Cooper Moon, and Haley James-Scott. I'll also be taking up 2-4 more characters. Yes, I know I'm insane. But I think it's allowed since at least four of them will be adults, and there aren't that many plots for them yet. Anyway, here's the link- http://hoggydays.proboards.com/index.cgi

Lastly, just a little notice for those of you who are keeping track of my projects, Tippy has offered to help me in making a site/blog that will focus on advertising role-playing sites. We will write reviews of sites we come across and post them up so people can find the perfect site to play on. Plus we'll have other features that sites such as RPG Directory, Blank Pages, and Caution 2.0 have. Can't post a link yet, but I promise it'll be amazing!

Oh, and on a quick side note, I finished New Moon a couple of days ago. Actually, after I finished my last entry I curled up on my bed and read until I was finished. lol. Uh, must be going now. Please, please, pleeeeeeeeeease join MM and Something Wicked, I'll love you forever if you do! And send me a pm when you do, or comment here. ^_^

xoxoxoxo,
Lizzy