Blogging From the Road

Greetings from De Queen, Arkansas. This is my second day here. We arrived last night after spending a day and a half on the road. It was about two ten-hour days. I am down here with my mother and my maternal grandmother for a family reunion that took place today, actually. It's been an interesting couple days.

It started on Thursday at about 7:19 in the morning when my mom came in to wake me up. My alarm wasn't going to go off until 8, but unfortunately, that was the time my mom wanted to leave. Naturally, I went back to sleep until 7:25 when my grandma, who came down the night before from Ludington got me up. I had woken up at like 4 that morning feeling a bit dizzy and was worrying that I was having a dizzy spell. I did manage to go back to sleep. when I woke up, I was still felling a bit unwell, but I still got up, got dressed, and did my last-minute packing. I made myself breakfast and got ready. I was the last one up and the second ready. My gradnma was up first at an unnaturally early time (I wish I had her habits--getting up in the morning is always really hard for me, especially now that it's summer and I have nothing better to do than sleep) and she, of course, was the first one ready. My mom was up second and the last one ready. She had to take a shower and do who knows what else. Point is: we were waiting for her. We, of course, didn't leave at 8, but that doesn't surprise me. We are not a family of efficiency. I always like leaving early and I get that from my mom's side of the family. My dad is almost never early. Nor does he leave on time. Usually. Exceptions will occur. We left at about 8:4. I got a bunch of reading done. I finished Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, though truthfully, I didn't have too much to go in that. I started working on the second book I brought: The Last Juror by John Grisham. I really like his books. He writes leagal thrillers and they're very good. We stopped at a rest area outside the city of Marshall, after about an hour, because my grandma needed to use the bathroom. It was okay because I needed to pee too. After we got back in the car, I decided to put my headphones on and listen to music. And then my mom deecided she had to listen to music too on the car radio. Loudly, I might add. But my headphones block out a good amount of noise and if I turn my music up loud enough, I can't hear the music or my grandma and mom talking.

Lunch was at Wendy's. I find it a lot easier to eat on the road now that I've gone back to eating meat. My vegitarian streak of about six years came to an end last year. I've decided that for the time being, it's just easier to eat meat. It's a bit hard to be vegitarian while living n the dorms and surviving on cafeteria food. Though Northern has a vegitarian station. I think I'll check that out this fall and while I won't totally devote myself to vegitarianism I'll at least try new things.

We drove from Michigan to Indiana, though I can't tell you which highways we took. I wasn't really paying attention. Then we drove to Illinois. We drove through several rainstorms iwth insane rain. It was a good thing my mom was driving. We stopped at a BP, though I don't exactly know where. I had no idea where we were or even what state we were in for quite a while. We could see the dark storm clouds in the distance and in the direction we were heading. Here's a photo I took at said BP:

The storm came even before we left with heavy rain and wind plus a bit of thunder and lightning. This is what the BP looked like after the storm hit:

There were a couple more rainstorms we drove through and I took a bunch of pictures of the clouds. I won't post all of them, but these are my favorites:

They aren't in any particular order. I had enough trouble getting them where I wanted in the post. I'm still very new at this. Blogging, I mean.

We stayed in Marion, Illinois, which is in the south. It was very hilly there with lots of trees. And it was really cool becaues the clouds hung low in the sky. It was kind of like being in the mountains. It stormed when we got ther eand when we went out to eat at this Mexican place down the road. My mom got a margarita and I had two sips because I wanted to try it. Didn't like it very much. Still sticking to non-alcoholic drinks. Didn't get very much sleep. Between my mom's snoring and my grandma's, it's a wonder I got any sleep at all. Plus my left arm was hruting for some reason and it also kept me awake. Plus I had caffiene, which helped keep me awake. That's all for now. Don't like feel like writing any more right now.

It's Late and I'm Still Up Plotting...

I'm currently working on the planning for a novel called Holding On Until Tomorrow, something completely different from Dante's Requiem. What can I say? I have too many projects that never get done. I'm trying to get a sense of things, plotwise, and I keep getting stuck. It's a really long story. *takes deep breath*

So there's a guy named Danya who is a champion skiier. The best of the best. He has a twin named Dimitri who is not as good, but still really good. Jealous twin. Causes an accident that ends Danya's career. Danya was hurt really bad. He doesn't remember much of the accident. Does not know Dimitri is the reason he lost everything. Fast forward a couple years. Same ski resort as before. Danya is suffering from flashbacks and trying not to have a mental breakdown, which is hardly working). Meets Nick. They have a relationship. A short one. Then they part ways and meet up again a couple years later. Nick's father is killed in a car accident and he gets shipped off to San Franscisco where his mother lives (parents divorced when he was a baby). Danya remains in Michigan (where the story has taken place up until now). This is all great. Fine. I just can't, for the life of me, figure out how Danya gets to San Franscisco. Because he needs to go there so he and Nick can rekindle their relationship, the one his family doesn't approve of because they're highly religious and homosexuality is a sin in their eyes. Did I mention that Danya is almost 3 years older? Oh the drama.

So I just can't figure out how Danya gets to San Franscisco without making him out to be a total creepy stalker, because he's not a creepy stalker. And a long-distance relationship just isn't cutting it. And it's driving me crazy. He needs to go out to San Franscisco because he loves Nick and they need to have a relationship so there can be lovely drama with the family.

I already know how this is going to end and it's not going to be pretty. Why do I have to write such angsty stories?! There's no way this story is going to end happily. The good news is that I eliminated a few plot lines that weren't going anywhere, really, and created confusion. And I got rid of a character who made things eternally complicated. But I'm still stuck. Things were going so well. I have three chapters forming with more on the way. And more ideas and a general idea of where things are going. But not anymore.

And yes, it's after midnight and I'm still up plotting.

The other problem is that Bryan, a really close friend of Danya's who has helped him through all the drama he's faced with his family and stuff has randomly dropped off the face of the planet. Not to mention Danya's family and they had such a huge role in Danya's life up until the point his twin brother attempted to kill him or at least maim him enough to end his career so he could take his brother's place and win their parents' affections, not to mention all the fame and glory Danya has been enjoying plus all the moolah. And he got away with all that and I'm not sure how. I guess there weren't any witnessess or proof or something. I don't freaking know. So hopefully I'll be able to get some closure with Danya and his family when I finish fleshing out the rest of the first part of the novel.

I should really stop this because I'm tired and I don't think clearly and it's probably the reason why I'm not able to work past this little problem right now. It's not even that important because I haven't finished fleshing out the first part of the story yet. I'm doing an outline and I've only gotten to chapter 3 and all this stuff doesn't happen until later. I'm still trying to figure all that out. Danya needs to have a huge confrontation with his family (especially with Dimitri) because they were the ones who caused him to be so fucked up in the first place.

Why do the plot bunnies have to bite me so late at night? And it didn't start out this way. I suddenly realized that Nick's mom isn't married to Nick's stepfather until after Nick moves out to California to live with her--they're only dating and after Nick moves out there, they get married. And I started writing it down and now it's devolved into this. So I'm seriously hating myself right now. And I'm going to bed so I can give my poor brain a break. Me + being tired = me not being able to think coherently. As is illustrated by my above sentences which are epically run-on sentences.

Ugh

I've fallen very behind in this blog (not that it matters since no one is reading it anyway) and I've also fallen ill. It's summer and I have some sort of a cold. I blame my mom because she had it first. I've just started feeling under the weather. Sore throat, slightly stuffy nose (though that might just be my allergies), etc. And I'm starting to cough, just like my mom. She got some cold medicine that I've been sort of taking on and off though it tastes absolutely disgusting. My mom says it doesn't, but what does she know? I think it tastes disgusting.

I didn't get up until 1PM today even though I went to bed at about 11. I guess I really am sick. I was going to get up at 8:30 so I could return bottles at Kroger, and I even set my cell phone alarm, but after it went off, I turned it off, and went back to sleep. I did end up going to Kroger and returned the bottles. I didn't get very much money back. It didn't help that I spent money on White-Out and candy. Then I decided to go to Borders and look around there for a while. I got kind of distracted and spent a lot more time there than I probably should have. I only got one book to read because I have a huge pile of books that I need to read. It doesn't seem to ever get any smaller, only larger. Sigh. Maybe one day I'll be able to get rid of the pile and use the top of my dresser (it isn't very high) for other things rather than for keeping stacks of books. I'm so bad now that there are two piles of books on the floor. I keep swearing that I'm going to not buy any more books until I read my other ones, but that never seems to happen.

Dante's Requiem Character List

This list is subject to change because some charaters will be added and others removed. I'll try and keep it up to date the best I can.

Dante-main character
Arlen-main character
Gabriel-semi-main character
Heather-very minor character
Shepherd-main antagonist
Fyran-minor character
Alex-prominent supporting character
Naomi-minor character
Raphael-very minor character
Hunter-supporting character
Ivana-main antagonist
Raelynne-very minor character
Vance-supporting character
Dr. White-minor character
John-main antagonist
Ingleson-main antagonist
Devyn-very minor character
Taran-very minor character
Dr. Ryan-very minor character (I don't even remember who this person is. D: I have too many characters)
Daire-minor character
Aleksei-minor character
Xander-prominent supporting character
Caelyn-minor character
Hayden-historical character
Harou-historical character
Janet-very minor character (I don't even remember who she is. Hopefully no one important)
Jayden-historical character
Bryan-historical character
Kyle Ingleson-historical character
Aiden-minor character
Adrian-minor character
Ann-minor character
Basil-Council member
Brock-minor character
Carmine-Council member
Cassandra-minor character
Evelyn-supporting character
Inessa-Council member
Katina-Council member
Keagen-very minor character
Luna-minor character
Lisa-? (Who the hell is she? I forget!!)
Patrick-minor character
Rihanna-very minor character
Luna-Council member
Spenser-Council member
Taralyn-minor character
Yasmin-Council member
Yuki-very minor character
Zeke-Council member
Danielle (Dani)-minor character
Heather-minor character
Brad-very minor character. Named only.
Emily-very minor character. Named only.
Christopher (Chris)-very minor character. Named only.
Brenden-minor character
Rachelle-minor character
Henry-minor character

What To Do When You Realize You Don't Know Your Main Character Like At All

I just realized as I was preparing to write an entry about Dante, my MC, that I don't know him, like at all. Which scares the hell out of me because I've been writing him for more than a year. And I barely know anything past his basic info: Name, Date of Birth, Blood Type, etc., but other than that, I don't really know too much about him. I do know his personality a bit, but like I said, it's not a whole lot. So what I'm gonna do is head up to the store and buy a huge 5 subject notebook like I did for the other story I'm plotting for next year's NaNoWriMo (or this year's, I guess you could say now) and start writing down everything I can. The other thing I did for this story is use binder clips to clip each section together. Like for instance, I have a bunch of stuff about the main character Danya, so for all his stuff, I use a blue binder clip. And for plot stuff, I have a yellow binder clip. And for another main character's info I have a green binder clip. It's really hard to explain. But it works beautifully. So tomorrow I have to go up to the store and get another 5-subject notebook plus small binder clips that I can use to organize everything. Fun fun.

And So I Return...

It's been a while since I posted anything. Not that anyone reads it anyway. But I have decided that I'm going to focus on the book I'm writing. Actually, there are two books that I'm writing. The first is called Dante's Requiem. The second is its yet-unnamed sequel. It used to be called Identity but I decided that I hate the title so I'm gonna rename it. I just haven't decided waht to name it yet. It'll come to me eventually, I think. -_- I suck badly at titles. So I'm gonna start blogging about Dante's Requiem. Eventually I might post chapters here, if I ever get that far. Not that I'm expecting anyone to read this. I'll start my ramblings in another post and maybe I'll even figure out how to link the posts or something to make them really accessible. If I can figure it out.

Adventures in Driving

Worked again today. Got up earlier, at 8 instead of 8:15, so I could make my lunch. It didn't really take that long. I had to be careful about what I packed because some of the kids have allergies, some of them severe. But it was all right in the end. I was going to leave a bit earlier--I got ready at about 8:50 because I knew it was going to take some time to get things set up and stuff. It took me a really long time to get the GPS system set up. I ended up leaving almost five minutes late. But it was okay because I had plenty of time to get there. Traffic was actually light today, especially compared to yesterday. Yesterday there were a ton of people on the road. Today there weren't nearly as many though there were still quite a few. I didn't really have a problem until I got to 696. There wasn't really a problem until I tried to get off at Southfield Road. I just got a bit lost and mixed up. I got off 696 only to get back on it again. I had to go around the block and figure out where the hell I was going. I was only a little later than I thought I'd be and I was still early. While I was trying to park, I almost got hit twice while backing up. Scared the living daylights out of me. I was still early. I got settled in and started working. Today was better because I had a better idea of what to do. The kids were a lot friendlier. They were older. I think that's why. I liked them a lot better than the younger kids. They were a lot easier to deal with, although some of them were still a bit rowdy. And lunch was better because I actually had one to eat. I set it up all by myself though one of the teachers came in and helped. I was trying to be careful because one of the kids in that room was severely allergic to peanuts, milk, and shellfish, I think. Everything turned out all right. Oh yeah, they had a couple rooms open and I was in the art room. That was how I met a bunch of the kids. And one of them gave me a picture. It was so sweet!

Anyway, that afternoon, I stayed in the science room with Fabi, one of the teachers. They learned about bugs and stuff. It was fun. They split up into three or four groups and rotated. I could have moved to the different rooms, but I was happy in the science room. I got to go home early, which was nice. But I forgot my water bottle. I just emailed my boss and she said she'd rinse it out and keep it until Friday, when I work again.

Driving home was a pain in the ass. I got lost on Southfield road trying to find the freeway. I did a lot of driving around the block. I'm sure the people on the road thought I was nuts. There wasn't a lot of problems until 275. Like right before the ramp to 14, there was something going on. I'm not really sure what. A firetruck came and blocked the right lane, which is where I was, so I had to change lanes, which was hard. I was a bit less stressed after I got to 14. I finally got home. So I don't work until Friday, which is really nice. I'm glad I have the day off tomorrow. I need a break.