Maneki Neko
Administrator

I honestly admire that you all can stick to writing and finish stories. XD I feel kinda silly being unable to get through with most of mine. <_<;; I really need to learn to disconnect the part of my brain that makes me double guess every word I write, at least until I'm done and start re-reading it. lol

The 100 story prompts sound like fun! I'm surprised you say you can meet the deadline though lol (though it's probably slightly easier if you don't -have- to finish them xD), I think I would be on the "12" prompts with a full year and still not manage. xDD But it's a cool idea, I think you should do it! (I might even attempt it too when I'm past the deadline for this story. Even though I never did finish my artist 100 prompts.... nor even my photographer's 100 prompts <_<;;; or even my "a pic a day for a month/year" photo challenges........................................ ..... I THINK I SEE A TREND )

I'm making decent time on my story though. I passed the min. words threshold yesterday with 1k words more, and I'm still nowhere near the middle of the story lol so I'm wondering if I'll make it under the max. one (or even that far, heh), if I should time skip or not, etc. I actually don't want it to be an insta-love romance, but I also don't want to bore the reader with 100 pointless dates that get nowhere. xD So I'm considering how to deal with a larger timeskip in a shorter story, haha. Or if to make it 'closer' to insta-love anyway. Ah, choices, choices, I ended up really distracted reading the writing blogs yesterday though... and then browsing for jobs. Okay, that last one was actually a reasonable distraction from writing, so I'm forgiving myself.

Yum, garlic chicken (not so much the soup part <_<). I hope you'll feel better soon. You know how those internet flues are, all viral. It can't be helped you caught one.

Can you hop on vent to explain this live thing to me?

Haha, on the FAQ I only saw mentioned bank account transferring, but again, it was a quick read, it might not have been updated or something if it's a recent change. Still, a deeper read about it and search for said posts may help me when I get to it. :P

An uplifting paragraph. Very true, people in a small niche try to find others to pass the love to, so... the problem is always finding those first few. ;P No wait.- the problem is finishing anything. *keeps getting distracted* lol Must remind myself to cross bridges when I get to them only. The other day I was all "D:" when my friend was trying to give me advice on writing.

Her Advice: So you write the draft for a basic beginning, middle and end and then you write. And tada! Story done.
Me: . . . <_< I had the basic 3-points skeleton. Story is NOT done. T_T
Her: No? D: You just write it and there it is.
Me: T_T

XD I envy her skills of "writing it and there it is", it's a good view, but it seems to fail miserably with me since I get stuck often. (Then again, this last bout of laziness was brought less out of being stuck and more out of 'lets see how many webpages I can design before I decide I don't want a webpage about this').

Oh, you didn't mention it, though I think I've seen his tumblr in the past, probably from goodreads, I'm fairly sure the rss was added there. I should have a look.

And I'm glad you feel better!! But you should still go to the doctor if you're not improving more by tomorrow. I have a tendency of going "if I feel sick tomorrow I'm going to the doctor" and then feeling better just the one day lol <-can literally scare her body into feeling better for a while xD-| I haaaate doctors, but they're a necessary expensive evil.

Yeah, the websites thing is pretty lame, but hey, what can you do, eh? I just really don't get why I have to pay double taxes though. It sounds rather wtf (I'm guessing it's related with tax evasion somewhere... ), but then again I'm not very savvy in economy and such.
Gumroad seems interesting, but from what I see (admittedly, just a quick read of the FAQ) it doesn't support ppal to retrieve payments and that's just about my only way of getting paid other than Western Union. And we all know no one likes that because you can get scammed- unlike with paypal /sarcasm. But I'll have a deeper look at it, it might be interesting to keep the link around, if they take or start taking paypal, the fees would be decent. Thanks.

And yes, I'll still post 'for free' to my writing blog I guess, not that anyone reads it, not that I update it often enough for anyone to care either. xDDD It's not like I'm actually finishing anything anyway. lol

But I think I'll also put up my own shop if I ever finish up anything, of course that would require I work my weakest weakness ever: any sort of advertising whatsoever. <_<;

Yes, I think writing is the same as drawing in that aspect- if you enjoy it and you want to do it (both of which I do, I just wish I could finish things lol), it doesn't matter much if a lot of people don't like it. It's a big world anyone, there's bound to be someone somewhere who enjoys it too. XD

As for giving out too much, hmm I'll have to consider that. And you're awesome. All the links and advice are very much greatly appreciated! Even if there's something that's not immediately useful, there's things that are still interesting or that might be useful soon/in the future. So please, do ramble. 8D Though I'm sad to hear you're still feeling unwell. Definitely go to the doctor! Even if you feel better tomorrow. And even if it's not the same your co-worker had it's still better to have whatever it is checked out.

I hope you feel better~ *hugs*

Ohhh, good old Trillian~ Good old times. I stopped using it when there was some major effup and nothing connected- or things crashed on connect... so I switched to Pidgin (back then known as Gaim) on a friend's recommendation and couldn't be happier (oh, the lightweightness! xD)

loool, yeah I know what you mean, it's actually quite comfortable not having to be a wake at a specific hour. Speaking of Australia (totally random, but it reminded me of this), the other day I was bored so I started re-checking out createspace and smashwords and such and was awfully disappointed by things that hadn't been there just last year when I first checked them out. I forget what the createspace thing was (something about amazon being mean to international users xD), but smashwords now "has to" withhold 30% of all earnings because of US taxes (for countries that have no tax contract with them, and of course, mine doesn't have one *rolls eyes*) which just suuuucks- because I have to pay 16% taxes here. ô_ó
And if I get paid by paypal that's 3%+0,30c lol so that's like 50% taxes right there on what? 1 dollar earning per ebook, if I'm lucky? I didn't know if to lol or cry at that. <_<; So basically it's no longer worth it (for me, being outside of the US) to upload my ebooks anywhere except maybe for the sake of advertising (which is the only upside, after all those %s I saw fly out my window)- but I might as well be giving them out for free, after all. xD

So yes, pardon me while I cry in a corner for a second (and then promptly go download zencart xD).

Reddit sounds lolzy... until you show up on it, I guess.

What you say about the filler and such is more or less what I was trying to do, but I still have my doubts, I'm so used to RPs over stories by now, where you sometimes have to give up more of the background on the post for the other player's sake rather than the "average reader"'s sake, that I still wonder if reading some random dialogue isn't boring to the reader. lol
For instance I have one of the characters speaking about having been married once, but after all that blah blah is done, I wonder if it's not giving out too much too soon or just plain boring to follow up on the other character's life style in turn. XD That is, when applied to a short story specifically. If I was aiming for something much longer I'm fairly sure I'd expand.
So, basically, on the one hand it's learning something (character background and perception), but is it something important enough to keep? (... I guess it's important if one turns out to be married currently xDDDDD which is not the case- but just because for me as writer it's important for development reasons doesn't necesarily mean my judgment on importance of it is good, if that makes any sense, my mind's a little fried today.)

It's not something that can't be edited out or in later, but I'm just curious (and annoying ).

Haha, soooometimes I do that. Other times I just stay online during the day whether I'm actually sitting in front of the comp or not. My AIM has been kind of silly sometimes though (I've had people log in and the thing go "5 hours online" after only 10 minutes XD) which is why I don't much trust it. It's probably related to my not-actually-using-AIM (I use pidgin).

What's your niece doing up at unholy hours? XD I'll never understand how people can be up all night, just like people seem unable to get me waking up early.

Hrmm I'm not sure it goes with Reddit. I never use those things, but it didn't advertise it as openly as the Google reader thing (so it might and I just don't know it). Heeeeell, I don't even really know what Reddit actually is lol (I just know it appears in social buttons with all the Digg, Sumblupon and stuff xD so I'm guessing something similar).
Ffff the fish tank lol, I remember that. I think I had those two too. Plus a whole page of translation/languages related things with word of the day and stuff I ended up never looking at, and one with games I never played.
Yep.
XD
I used the Foxie theme for a while before I got bored and put it in random for games.


Okay, I have a silly writing question! *raises hand* How do you deal with transitions and the "too much dialogue or too much summing up" in short stories?
Example (just to babble on). As I'm kinda stuck on my book I decided to work on a short story that (if I make it in time) I want to try and submit for an anthology. Blah blah, I did like 2.2k words in a few hours which made my novel cry. xD But those 2k words where a tad of setting establishing and then quite a bit of character interaction until I reached a spot I figured was too soon for romance (they just met after all and it wasn't meant to be a one-nighter xD); so, rather than bore people with mindless interaction that went nowhere and pointless dialogue (or is that boring people in a romance/erotica? XD), I figured I'd be like "Well, they talked for a while about stuff and then went home." XD Obviously it wasn't literally presented that way, but you get the point?

So, how do you personally deal with the "When it's enough or too little" for something (be it interaction or the fading-to-black "boring stuff happened after" for transitions between time-skipping scenes?
Do you 'know' or do you just 'write on' and see what happens? What makes you think a transition is needed? (when you as writer/reader are getting bored with the dialogue or scene?)
And, additionally, how much does background info establishing is important in a short romance/erotica (say between 5k and 15k words)?
(I say romance because I want to focus on that, but there's sure to be some erotica in it too, I do have to fill up like 8k more pages with something, after all xD)

Hah, I annoy and make you think ;D

Yes, actually I went to take some paperwork today to get in some classes, but don't know if they'll take me (or if I'll have to wait until next year). That sucks that it doesn't match up :/ Being so close to graduating and not being able to do so is most annoying.

The dog was crazy, and by the end of his stay I was too. On the upside, his stay made Haru behave better. xDD Now she obeys a lot more, far from perfect, but a lot more lol- I'm thinking she went all "D: They gonna replace me if I don't behave T__T *behavesbehaves*"

iGoogle goes away? Shame, not that I used it a lot anymore, but it was my favorite of the i/my!Services. But I suppose since there's Google Reader... It's most annoying though, when they put something out and decide to take it away a month later (ok, iGoogle has been out longer than a month, but still... ).
I like desktop apps better (but with cloud synch), so I went with FeedDemon (Lite). I played with it all of yesterday and I'm honestly quite very happy; it can synch with your Google Reader feeds (which is where all your "follow"s from blogger go to) and is pretty light weight. It's even a sort of browser too, which I rather liked since if I decide I don't want to open chrome (I keep tabs from last session so it often takes a while to load <_<) just to see one particular page in full, I can do it from Feed Demon directly. I can't say I've played with it long enough for a proper "review", but so far I'd recommend it. It has tags that you can use on individual entries (and that I haven't used yet), most often viewed feeds, and you can organize in folders, etc.

Yeah, bookmarking to read when in the mood is something I do too; sadly, since I bookmark a lot of stuff, half often don't get seen again (hence my sudden need for a rss reader <_<; ).

I read through the blogs yesterday and they were pretty cool. I can see why you like PV better though. They have really useful and interesting stuff there. And thank you for the extra link. Will be looking at it right now~

Haha, yes I saw you on AIM a couple times, but every time I hovered it was like "Has been online for 12 hours" (not that I trust it that much) and figured you'd be going to bed soon, so I didn't want to bother you (It always makes me feel kinda bad when people go "hi!" and I was just about to go offline XDD).
Usually I do log on at around 8am when I'm up and don't go out, but lately I've been kinda busy and MIA in the mornings. And since I go to bed super-early (because, after all, I wake up at 7/8am xDDDD)....
My friends tell me off for being 'crazy' and waking up that early when I have nothing to do. xDDDDDDDDD But but... if I wake up after 9am I feel like I wasted the day T_T (even if I do nothing that day... though I usually have house chores to deal with, so.)

Hah, yeah, it's been pretty crappy. I have a proofreading sample to turn in to see if I get a job and I'm afraid to send it after all the rejections. <_<;

lol, I use all: mohair, fake fur and kk wigs, so I'm covered for any cat taste. xD And since I like to leave my dolls sitting around precariously... (well, precariously for a house with cats, that is I can put them out of a dog's reach but cats climb! XD)

... Although, I can very well argue that the last pup I had around for like a month (a street-rescued pup we had for a while until we found him a home) could climb like a cat. XD Honestly, we barricaded the entire place to keep him in a pup-proofed area and he got through climbing. All of a sudden he'd appear in the strangest places (mind you, after chewing up the hell out of everything)- I called him Houdini. lol (On second thought, I should have called him Jaws XD his chewing skills were as good as his escaping act)

Thank you for all the links! I'll start bookmarking and looking around (once I'm done with my "morning coffee" routine: mails, forums, etc before idle browsing xD)~ that first link does look promising in regards to contracts and reposts though. That's always good to keep in mind if one decides to get published via publishing house.
Frankly I've never been one to follow blogs very consistently, I only really started two years or so back when I needed some real help with decluttering (and now I follow just the two blogs on the subject of decluttering/simplifying one's life, mostly for inspiration sake and the occasional cool tip xD). I think I really need to find a decent rss reader to make a proper following though.

(And I never remembered my question after all Y_Y)

lol, I guess that means you were playing it a little too much. I downloaded it but I haven't yet gotten around to installing and playing it, I've just had such a busy shitty week, that I don't much feel like experimenting with any more new stuff. <_< Honestly, I've had the worst streak of rejections this week work/study related (and after a lot of running around to make ends meet too T_T), so I'm kind of even afraid to touch anything.

Dog people drink coffee. That's an interesting finding (and perhaps not entirely off) lol Perhaps it would interest you to know I have a dog (but I'm not precisely active and social offline)? Though I would totally have a cat (or two) if I had no BJDs (wig-licking, augh) and my dad liked cats. :P And definitely, there are more cat people online, so perhaps you're onto something there.

Oh, I couldn't remember, I was fairly sure it was in regards to self-publishing of short stories or something of the sort; I remember as much because I was reading that note about EL James making 1m/week <_< and reading the comments of someone talking about self-publishing, the question came up in my mind... but I thought I wouldn't bother you and surely I would remember it by the next morning. Surely. So there you go. I should make heed of my local saying on regard to things that are certain. (It doesn't translate well to English though xD)

But but, yes please, DO link me to a lot of writing blogs!
Self-publishing and writing tips are all cool by me.

Right. XD Still makes little sense to me, but I guess it works. And lol hey, King of the Demons is really good, imho. Congrats.
XDDD Right, monsters that rip clothes off, that does makes sense.

Really? XD I guess, I've got the coffee thing from movies, but so far most Americans I've chatted with were all "Ewwww coffeeeeee", except for one, who was like "Coffee? Where?" and one who liked it and couldn't have it. <_< But then again, I haven't talked with enough to make a generalization I suppose. X) But now that I think about it, I seem to get the tea thing a lot with people I chat regardless of country, so maybe I move in tea-drinking circles without realizing it, and I'm just the odd one out (I'll have coffee over tea any day, though I don't particularly mind tea... I do, however, drink it as it comes- no lemon, milk or sugar in my tea. I do change hot/cold though xD).

Yes, Stargate movie was a bit cheesy XD it came with the year it was filmed on I suppose. lol

Hmm I wouldn't know. I did get a couple emails not long ago, and one today, so maybe it's working again.

Now, I'm fairly sure I had another random question about writing for you today but I can't remember what it was about, at all. x_x