I think I'm devolving.

I used to maximize every moment, seize the day, etc. etc. and lately by the time I get home from work I'm so drained all I can bring myself to do is lay around like a slug and play DrawSomething on my iPhone. Who am I? What am I becoming? Or unbecoming? Damn.

The Day Job is definitely sucking a bunch of my life away, but it's going beyond that. Maybe I need to start taking vitamin D? Maybe I need to drink more? AHA! This downward spiral SUSPICIOUSLY coincides with the point at which I decided to severely reduce my alcohol intake! Problem solved. I just need a glass of wine! ;P

Spring is almost here. Hopefully the change of season will shake me out of this rut. In the meantime, I'll continue to be quiet here when I have no energy and/or only want to whine. :)

I have been making slow progress on the new book, which I continue to be madly in love with. This is a contemporary YA and is definitely presenting its fair share of plotting challenges. How the hell do people make interesting stories about real life???? Haha. No magic system, no one changes into anything (except, perhaps, a new and improved version of themselves) and there are no evil overlords to vanquish. FOR THE LOVE OF RHINOS, WHAT THE HELL DO WE DOOOOO ALL DAY?

So, yeah. Trying to figure out how to get my characters to hit all their narrative touchpoints without a shiny paranormal action plot to move them along.

In other news, I'm growing my hair out. And making wedding invitations for one of my BFFs. And trying to get my addictions to Thai food and Teavana under control. Other than that, it's life per usual around here.

OH! I'll be in San Francisco at the end of the month. Do I have any SF peeps here? Anyone have any must see/must do recommendations?

Has anyone seen the film Another Earth? Ben and I watched it recently and it's been nagging at me. I can't let go of the central idea of the movie, which is what if you did something utterly unforgivable, something that ruined many lives, but then discovered a way to see what your life--and theirs--would have been like if you had never made that mistake? I love love love this concept and all of its inherent hope and heartbreak. There were other aspects of the film that are bugging me, though, and not in a good way. Like, say, the ending. And the "romantic" "relationship."

Anyone whose watched it, care for a spoilery discussion?

I'm eating croutons as a snack right now. Is that weird? I think that's weird.

Anyway.

I apparently have to resign myself to the fact that my blogging is simply going to be sporadic. *le sigh* I have the best intentions, really I do. For now, other things continue to worm their way ahead of my LJ on the priority list. I am trying to keep tabs on all of your blogs, though, even if I don't always have time to comment. :)

I started a new project. I feel like I have multiple personality disorder, as I've cycled through several project ideas since finishing TLOS but there it is. I guess, thinking back, I did something similar when I finished B&S. It still strikes me as both strange and wonderful that the things my brain wants to write do not always bear any relation to the things my creative heart wants to write.

I am INSANELY IN LOVE with the new project, though. It's another YA, which is one of the reasons I decided to delay again on the idea I mentioned in my previous post (the old notes), which was definitely adult. Also, the research is FASCINATING! I have two words for you, people: Shaun Ellis. If you can find the National Geographic documentary on him called A Man Among Wolves, watch it. Unbelievable stuff.

(P.S. No, I'm not working on a werewolf book.)

ETA: I meant to point you to this excellent post on Marjorie Liu's blog about how to differentiate yourself as an artist. Really, really great stuff. I've been thinking about it a lot.

Do you ever look back at something you worked on a long time ago and think, "Really? I came up with all that? Huh..."  :)

I've spent the morning going over old notes I made on a book (working title abbreviated: PR) that was Absolutely Going to be the Next Book I Wrote No Really...back before I started on TLOS. This story will not let me go. I have really good notes on it and I like the characters and the potential for conflict between them. Now I just need to figure out plot and how to tell the story. The backstory is huge and essential (I know, I know, everyone thinks that about their characters' backstories but this one really is) and I have to think creatively about how much of that information needs to get to the reader and when.

Hmmm. Time to get to work!

Saturday night was Game Night at my brother-in-law's and sister-in-law's house. Some folks rotated between games but I spent the entire night playing Telestrations or, as I like to call it, The Most Hilarious Game of All Time. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. I even got a headache from the laughing. So much fun.

The game comes with a handful of miniature dry erase spiral bound notebooks, dry erase markers, and word cards. Everyone gets a word, which they write on their notebook. They then have 90 seconds to draw the word on the following page, like you would in Pictionary. When time's up, you flip the notebook page over to hide your drawing, pass the notebook to the person on one side of you and receive a notebook in the same condition from the person on the other side of you. The timer starts again and you have to look at the drawing in your newly received notebook, guess what the word is and write it in the notebook. Flip page over, pass notebook. Timer starts again and you now have to draw the word in the notebook. And so on until you get your original notebook back. Sort of like a combination of Pictionary and Operator. You score points if the word at the end matches the word at the beginning (and you can also score points for most creative and most hilarious).

Let me show you why this game is so freaking hilarious. My word: Director.

( Picture heavy (but so funny!) )
Seriously. Best game evar.

So I bought my first Coach bag over the weekend.

This is a big deal for me. First, I have never been the kind of girl to want things just because everyone else has them or because they're the cool things to have. Particularly not with clothes or accessories. If I buy trendy things at all, it's usually ages after the trend is truly trendy, when I have been beaten into submission by the overabundance of said item permanently imprinting itself on my consciousness. You know, sort of like how I am finally warming up to Adele's "Rolling in the Deep."

However, I have recently experienced an irrational yearning for... gasp... trendy things. Like Ugg boots. (I bought Bearpaw boots because they're cheaper but still well made and holy jesus are they amazing. Why did I wait?? Like wearing slippers everywhere.) Or a Coach bag.

I do not spend big money on handbags, people. I set my bag down on the floor of restaurants, kick it under tables at weddings, and cram my lunch into it on weekdays. Really, the notion that I would "invest" in a nice handbag is a joke. Also, I carry the same handbag all year round, every year, until it wears out.

So why, you may be asking, did I just spend an absurd amount of money on a Coach bag? I honestly have no idea. I did learn that part of the reason they're so expensive is that they're very well made and come with a lifetime guarantee. But I just keep repeating that to people in order to justify my unholy love of The Precious.

I absolutely adore my new bag. I can't even pretend that I'm not insanely infatuated with it. Which means, I suppose, that it was a worthwhile purchase, considering I bought it at a discount, am 36 years old and have a good job (meaning I can theoretically afford it and, damn it, I'm old enough to buy ridiculous, expensive things for myself).

But I continue to be plagued by the question... who have I become? Why am I fulfilled by a Coach bag?

Disturbing. And yet... I love my bag. So much. Did I mention that?

Remember when I was all, "Dudes, you should go check out this Maggie Stiefvater post on revisions right now"? Well, Maggie has turned it into a multi-author series (all starting from this post here). Ten authors post dissections of early and final drafts, explaining why and demonstrating how they shaped their first drafts into the final product. Very, very cool. I highly recommend all you writer-folks check it out.

Argh.  So I wrote this big post revealing Logan's family tree/breed analysis (we had him DNA tested) and LJ absolutely will not let me post it, saying the file is too big (no matter what I delete). So... if you're interested, hop over to my Blogger blog to see the results!

There's a song on Snow Patrol's latest album called Life-ning that lists out things the singer wants from life. For example:

Words of reassurance
But only if they're true
Just some simple kindness
No vengeance from the gods

The chorus is simple: just the line "This is all I ever wanted from life" repeated.

It's a beautiful song and it's been circling my head for the last few days. I started thinking, what would Megan (the main character in TLOS) have written for her verses of this song? And what would the main characters of the book I'm currently working on write?

Understanding what motivates your characters is absolutely essential to writing a good story and crafting good character development. I make sure I understand that at a foundational level before I put any words on the page--like, what does this character want most? What is the thing that drives his/her decisions and actions? But thinking about it in terms of this song and the breadth of desires addressed in its lyrics and what I learned about the singer by listening to them brought it to a whole new level for me.