So, What's New?

Welcome back, Lynet! Sorry you lost a precious day of vacation. I sounds like still managed to have a fabulous time, though! Waiting to see your pics, once thery're approved.

Oh, and also waiting to find out what happens in Ironsides! Come on - No more vacation for you! Your public is WAITING!!!

 

No kidding. Scary guy torturing our beloved Errol, and you run off to Holland? You heartless creature, you.

I love Europe! Wish I could go more often. I haven't been there since my honeymoon, which we actually took two years after we got married (had to save up first).

My Great-Aunt Florence died at the ripe old age of 93 and left me a few thousand dollars. We used it, and our savings, to go to Florence, Italy.

I thought that was fitting, somehow.

But, je sigh. Green with envy. Someday I'll have the means to go again ... in the meantime, I can look at your pictures.

If they ever get approved.

 

I'd love to visit Florence.

Yes, I'm thinking about Errol, too. Trying to get the next chapter written.

Peeking in here while at work. But I've got every surface in my office covered with papers that piled up over the past week and I'm slowly wading through them, trying to make order out of chaos.

Tried to post my pictures to the Worldsims Gallery but can't seem to get them uploaded. Strange, because I can do it through this kind of entry but then have to wait for them to be 'approved.' And they use up my limited allowance for story pictures here.

Anyway, back to work...:(

 

Lovely pics, Lyn I'm liking that loft-window in the pink-stucco building. I bet that apt costs an arm and a leg to live in ... maybe it's owned by the driver of that green van ... explains why he can't afford some new tyres

I've always wanted to live on a boat like the one in the last pic. There's a canal back of my house ... maybe I'll just build my own ... now where did I put that hammer ....

 

Thank you. I have pictures of other houseboats, too. Eventually I will figure out how to show them to y'all (without waking the sleepy Flamey.)

 

I took one of my AP tests today. One down, one more to go!

Welcome back Lynet

 

Thanks, Flame. It's a thought. I uploaded a couple of pictures to see how that site worked. However, I'd still like to figure out why I'm not able to use the Gallery. Very puzzling. Besides, I'm not too excited about the Amsterdam pictures, either. I'll sort it out eventually.

Good luck Chee-Z

 

Yay I'm finished with my tests!

 

Hooray! Hope you did well on all of them.

 

Ach, I got some science results yesterday and got a C on one and a B on the other. Always knew that the Energy paper wasn't going to go well though. To be honest - I can resit next year - I don't care. I've got more important stuff to worry about.

 

So my daughter arrived for her weekend visit last night, looking very pregnant. I was up late talking to her and got up at 6 am this morning. I'm so tired here at work I can hardly think straight.

Anyway, I've been working on chapters for Ironsides, taking pictures. Just not quite sure when I'll get them uploaded. Trying to manage several little sims all at the same time, even yelling at them because I want them to stay together in a group for the picture and not wander off in separate directions. Sheesh. Then two guys who are supposed to be enemies start playing kicky ball in the background...I guess I don't pay my actors enough.

How about that business for OFB -- Movie production, a movie studio, actors, a stage set, custumes. Whoa, I think I've got something here.

The painters are in the house today but we've asked them to stay away for the weekend because of my daughter's visit so I plan to get some real sleep and stop talking crazy.

 

Stop talking crazy? How will we recognize you?

I'm loving your story, as always, by the way. More, please!

OK, here's what's new with me: I wrote (drum roll please) 6,000 words in my "actual" novel this week. I outlined the final chapter, now I just have to go back through and fill in all the blanks.

I write a skeleton story, just the basic events, then go back through and add details.

On to the details!

Anyway, quite proud of myself, and just wanted to share.

And BTW, for interested parties: Porta de Luca topped 100,000 words quite a while back.

 

You know SBW, there is a place apart from the computer. It's called outside.


100,000 - sheesh. That's almost as many words I say a minute.

 

This is a warning as my next post is dreadfully long and probably boring.

 

I''ll just comment on some previous posts...

I'm a terrible cook too, my Mum won't let me near the kitchen since I tried to cook Dad a cake for his birthday. Lets just say it made a nice doorstop. Before that I was on a warning for blowing up the microwave (twice). I agree with Babe, theres nothing wrong with toast

On the subject of naming things, my laptop is called Viki after the evil computer on that movie "I, Robot".

Well, ATM I have a bad cold, I stayed up most of the night hallucinating about gang warfare. On Friday my little sister went to one of the local private schools for sport and... well.... they weren't very nice. One of them chucked a log at her friend and my little sister started mouthing off at this 13 yr old ADHD girl, she's always really responsible in situations like that Then when they left the private school gave them the finger and so you can imagine her mood when she got home.

Now, the details become a bit hazy after that, but one of little sister's classmates was walking home, and who should she meet? Yes, little miss possesed herself. So she came to our house and the girl followed her. Then the girl saw my sister and started yelling threats etc... "I'm going to bash you, I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill your family, I'm going to burn your house down, I'm going to stalk you and get you at school, I'm going to kill your dogs..." and my little sister was all this time doing the responsible thing by shouting back... In the end, the girl wouldn't leave, she was chucking rocks at our house, opening the gate, threatening to jump the fence, etc... Well little sister went out there and started yelling at her (where was I? Under my bed hiding of course ). They sorted something out, though, and the girl left. I had to do the whole big sister thing, hug her while she cried etc... At school everyone thinks she's invincible, but truly she's kinda scared, it's all a bit too much for her I think

Wow, I'm not sure if this is what you're supposed to write about...? I wish I could write about going somewhere with friends, but I guess this is what's happening, I can't exactly choose what to write... Everyone has their Porta de Luca days where just about anything could happen, But at the moment I'm having a Porta de Luca week :dissapointed: and it's not a very good one...

And to top it off, my friend was hit by a car. It hasn't really registered yet. But meh... Live life one day at a time and it'll work out. I won't even start on my tangled relationships, I've said waaaay too much

I can't believe Porta de Luca is so long! Congradulations SBW, what an achievement!

I love hearing about your lives, I don't know why, maybe because you all have a great sense of humor. I tried telling my family one of your jokes, but it fell dismally flat. They don't have a sense of humor, it's sooo frustrating! Ah well...

 

OMG your friend was hit by a car? Is she all right?

I'm a bit embarrassed at how much I've written in PDL, actually, but it's such a breeze to write. My novel is harder for some reason, but I've been clicking along lately.

I'll have you know, Babey, I wrote the novel outside in my lovely backyard, on my laptop. So that almost counts as fresh air.

Wisenhammer.

I was going to call you something else, but I knew it would be censored.

 

OMG, AlisonB, what an awful week you've had. Life can be so dreadful sometimes. Fortunately, you can expect the good times to come back around again. They always do.

I think you're right about the humor. I check the forum daily because someone will always say something that will make me laugh. And laughing is healthy.

Great Scot, SBW! Last chapter? I've said it before--I don't think you ever sleep. How could you have the time? For PDL and your novel and your little girl and your husband and your house and your job...whew...

And 100,000 words in PDL? Too bad they don't pay authors by the word anymore. And Josh is going to need a bigger website to hold all your words and all my pictures. (I've used half my allowed picture space already. Guess I should delete the Dear Emmy pictures. )

 

I just got feverishly inspired to write, which is weird because just the other day I was worried my creativity had gone poofsville. Turns out I was just in a temporary slump.

Didn't play sims today. OK, tried to, got pre-empted by daughter, so I went and wrote still more. Today when I started le novel was skimming 44,000 words. Tonight, I'm exhausted but happy and it's just under 50,000, with a lot of filler scenes still to be written, not to mention last chapter, which changed again. Filler scenes and last chapter will, with any luck, bring me to the requisite 80,000 words. Not to mention all those pesky little details I tend to overlook in my first drafts. Like place, darling, place!

I think writing PDL has actually helped me with my novel. I tend to overthink the latter, not so much the former. I think about a scene, I write it, I move on. Can't go back except for minor edits because it's out there, written, done. So I decided just to write the darned novel and see where it took me. Of course I had a lot of it thought out ahead of time but it just flowed as fast as I could type.

So now I'm at a very good place and might actually make my self-imposed deadline of June 1. Then I have to write the synopsis, which for me is the hardest part. Then it goes to agents, who send me scathing rejections. I think I'll start with the agent who's already reading my first novel.

I'm sorry if this is interesting to no one but me. It's late and I'm bleary eyed. I'm on a diet, on top of it all, and it makes me sleepy. Lost two pounds in four days, though. Gonna be a little thinner for the wedding, I hope.

And I wanted to say, Alison, I hope next week is better!! I hope your friend is OK. I'm glad this forum makes you laugh and relates to your life in a positive way.

And now, to bed. Despite popular opinion, I actually do sleep.

 

So, what's new today is I went to the May Day festival, which is a very big deal here. Lots of people showed up because the weather was glorious. It's a big hippie/green friendly festival with a parade and a pageant. My brother and brother-in-law-to-be march in the parade every year (they're musicians).

Anyway, it's very cool, and pagan, and non (actually, anti) corporate. People dress up and have a great time and everyone's generally very nice to each other.

Of course, hot dogs cost $5, but you can't have everything, now, can you?

What does your part of the world do to celebrate spring?