Camp Nanowrimo and Despair

So, I'm taking part in Camp Nanowrimo and it's not going well.

I lie.

It was going well until my weekend was shanghaied by family.  My mother came to visit, and NO WRITING WAS ACCOMPLISHED.

I tried.

I lack inspiration.  I really, really want to finish my trilogy.  Sadly, the characters are not speaking to me at the moment.  I honestly can't write at the moment.  After the weekend, I'm seriously in despair over my pathetic word count.

There is another story that's been pretty vocal lately.  I don't want to work on it because I want to finish the trilogy.  I would have to toss all of my notes and the outline for the trilogy and sort of start over seven days into Camp Nanowrimo.


It looks as though the second story won.  I entertained the thought for just a moment, and one of the characters threw an arm around me and crowed "We're going to have SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!"  I give up.

                         

I have survived....

My dance studio had a show in March.  I was a participant and discovered I have a little acting talent.  This is only my third show, so I'm constantly discovering new talents I didn't know I had.  I have discovered that I can make people laugh. For instance, my maid role in the Nutcracker stole alcohol at the party and got drunk...it was great and people came up to me after the show and told me I was hilarious.

This last role was a character role; I didn't dance, but I still had a lot of fun.  The only drawback to the whole thing is that I was sick throughout tech week and the show (and the week after, but who's counting?).  Really sick.  Running a fever sick.  As in I-had-to-miss-work sick.  I never miss work.  I only miss work when I have a migraine (which I get roughly every six-eight months), so taking two days off in a row is RARE.  Still, I needed the time off and recovered a lot faster, I think.

Here's a picture of me in my role.  You can't see my face, but it kind of drives home the awesome hat I got to wear.  Seriously.  It was the best hat ever.  The show was set in the 1930s, and I was supposed to be channeling Ginger Rogers with the tilted hat.  The number one reaction I got from other dancers was "You look like a mob boss wife in the Godfather!"  Hey, I'll take it.

Note the awesome hat.  I wanted to steal my entire costume (I didn't!); it was that awesome.  Here's another shot of the awesome hat.

Look at those acting abilities!  I look like the concerned mother I'm supposed to be. I hope you all enjoy the pictures.  I know I enjoyed being in the show and doing something a little out of the ordinary (even with a fever over 100 and doped up on cold medicine because I didn't have an understudy).


Now that the show is over, I'm able to return to my normal life of dance, writing, and work.  Oh, and Camp Nanowrimo is coming up.  :)  Just in time for me really to focus on my writing.  Woot!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!!

Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!

One thing few people know about me was that I was born in New Orleans.  My family moved to West Virginia when I was still young, but we didn't leave behind everything in the Big Easy. 

The thing we definitely kept was the food and tradition of Mardi Gras.  Of course, almost no one in my school heard of Mardi Gras or some of the food my family made in celebration of the day.

Yesterday, it was my time for celebration, especially since I wouldn't be able to commit a lot of time to it on Tuesday.  I made jambalaya and King Cake.  Here are some pics!

My jambalaya.  I cook a brown jambalaya instead of a red jambalaya.  Don't tell my mother, but I prefer this type over the tomato based jambalaya I ate while I was young.  It's a simpler dish, without the need for roux and other things.  I found a good andouille sausage at the grocery store for some authentic flavor, and it was awesome. 

And King Cake!  Ok, I made a bit of a mess with the sugar, but it still tasted awesome.  Half of it is already gone, since my roommates and I have been sharing it since last night.  It's not really cake, but more a quick bread in my cooking experience.  I rarely make these, since there is a bit of work involved.  It was totally worth it.  Warm cinnamon and sugar inside, cripsy colored sugar outside and you have an awesome meal, my friends. 

Tomorrow starts Lent, so I hope that the King Cake will be gone when I wake up and I won't have to avoid it.  That makes things hard.  Especially when I love King Cake.  And jambalaya.  I suppose that is why freezers were invented.  Anyone else celebrate Mardi Gras?

Here comes the thaw...

Kudos to anyone who read the title and started singing "Here Comes the Sun."  Actually, that's kind of what this post is about.  We have a reprieve here in Morgantown, WV from the cold, snowy, and generally icky weather patterns we've had now for a month and a half.

Snow, icicles and slush are starting to melt today, and you can hear the dripping water running everywhere.  It certainly lifted my mood to experience that today, and now I am ready to be productive by running all of the errands I've put off for two weeks.  My to-do list is pretty long and requires some effort to finish everything in a reasonable amount of time.

My only hindrance is the constant rehearsals, teaching, and dancing at the studio.  I have to be there tonight and Friday night; I'm helping with a Leap n Learn (my studio's version of pre-ballet) class, and Friday night is rehearsal.  Busy, busy.

I am up to six pages on the new chapter of "An Aunt's Love" and hope to finish it soon.  I am even taking my notebook with me to work so that I can work on the chapter on my lunch hour.  :)

I am actually writing!

It's almost bizarre, but I've written three whole pages since I updated.  Three whole pages.  It's wonderful, but it also feels a little like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  My mind keeps protesting that this is not normal for me.

It used to be months between writing bouts. Literally months.  As in six to seven months.

It's a little frightening.  It makes me wonder if this is a return to the levels of updating awesome I used to have instead of the past year and a half of "I've got nothing" when I've tried to work on my fanfiction.

Either way, I'm glad it's happening.  It means the characters are pleased and wanting to interact with me...or something.  I'm hoping to sit down tonight and do some more work on it, so keep your fingers crossed.

The Weekend That Wasn't

My weekend passed by in a blur of illness, frantic rushing about, and too much time at the dance studio.

Friday I was home sick due to a random attack of particularly bizarre flu-like symptoms.  These symptoms were enough to cause me to consider staying home within minutes of waking up.  My usual "stay home" decisions are made after getting up, maybe getting into the shower, getting dressed, and attempting breakfast.  It is about this time that my good sense overrides my feelings of responsibility in making it to work.  One part of my brain is saying "Must go to work - things to do!" and the other part of my brain is screaming "Go back to bed!  You're SICK.  Do not spread illness!!"

This time, however, I sat up, looked around my room in the pre-dawn light, brain went "Nope!  We're sick!  Really sick!" and I texted my supervisor before allowing myself to cuddle back into my blankets until my sister woke me at seven AM, asking why I wasn't ready to go.

I still had to drive her to work, since she doesn't drive.  In my sick state.  It was an adventure, especially since I fell on some ice and sliced my hand open.  Imagine me driving in my car, blood oozing down my hand while trying to make a left-hand turn.  An adventure, I tell you.

After dropping off my sister, I returned home, where I promptly returned to my pajamas and bed.  I then descended into bizarre dreams that I'm still trying to understand.  I managed to find some electrolyte drink stashed in the pantry from the last time illness ran through my apartment, drank some of it, and when back to sleep.  I woke briefly at 5:00, when I had to go and retrieve my sister from work.  After returning home, I went back to sleep.

Saturday, I woke up very early and thought I felt better.  I had an event at my dance studio for volunteer work, so I decided it would be a great idea to go.  I spent five hours there, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.  The kids were adorable, but it was way too much for my introverted ways and I returned home, unwilling to socialize with anyone.  I locked myself in my room with my laptop and headphones and worked on the outline for the next chapter of AAL, emerging only for pizza and an episode of the Big Bang Theory.  (I swear, that show is my life.)

Sunday, church was out of the question as my roommate's friend was in town visiting.  I managed to sleep in a little bit, eat some leftover pizza for breakfast, and then returned to my computer for a round of "let's see if we can work on something productive!"  I did manage something productive, but I spent a lot of time checking outside to see what the snow cover was like.  It was bad.  One of my friends ended up taking me to rehearsal, where I spent all of forty-five minutes.  Most of that was watching others and walking on when I needed to.  All in all, very short rehearsal, when my friend returned to save me from the snow.  (She's my hero.)

Suddenly, it's nine o'clock at night on a Sunday, and my brain suddenly caught up with me going "where did our weekend go?"  I woke up this morning, frantic with the idea that I had lost a day somehow.  It's like a time warp.  (Oddly enough, I was listening Rocky Horror Picture Show while I was writing this weekend.)  Just a jump to the left!

I posted an update!

Since I was told to stay home from work today due to an outrageous amount of snow...

The road on my way home from the bus stop.  

I updated!!  Enjoy all.  I rather liked the chapter.