Maneki Neko
Administrator

Haha, I still wouldn't call the computers here 'cheap', however I agree that they're not expensive enough that the investment isn't worth the mental ease of not having to share a computer and whine about everything the other wants to install and what times you get to be online. xD
Oh, the horror. My dad was like "Why did you install MSN, it's full of virus!" <-he was the one to go installing weird stuff and giving it viruses. xD

lol, sorry I made you extra aware 8DDD But after the initial shock it's funny to picture the characters dying every fifty steps or so? It's almost like they're immortal! :P

Yes, yes it is! Though I don't know why I bump up movies but not books. I guess I'm just most critical with them. On that note, I told myself I'd finish my two TBR and go into romance and ended up reading anything but. xD

Ah~ I remember when we had only the one computer and it was a fight to see who got the internet when... ;P

Hm, I hear the stopped breathing happens a lot in Romance. Weeks' writes Fantasy though, at least as far as I understood it. (It was a real shame, that; I actually started out really liking the books but each one after was just worse and worse... ) So either Weeks' read a lot of romance before writing his novels, or it was just a sad combination of happenings that took him to specify how long his character stopped breathing and had me picturing his death every so many pages. XD

Ohhh, haha, I think the closest thing I have is also from about the time I was sorting things out and rearranging my room (repainting, really). Buuut, now I don't know where those pics are. XD I spent a while browsing through (or trying, damn internet) all my old PBs and none has them. <_<
lol, Twilight. I couldn't spare that one if I'd wanted- I only read it because the library had it, so I would have minded if it got ruined.
I do know I need to give Austen another try. I just think of her writing style and get discouraged. <_< who knows? Maybe ll end up loving her books.

Yeah, movies and books can be like that. Regardless of how low you rate them they can still be your favorites. X) (Though I admit with movies I tend to rate up my favorites- like Ginger Snaps. I know the series is kinda sucky, but man, I still love those movies... <_<)

Oh yesss, I noticed that a lot (that's why I'm sometimes "forced" to draw art of my new characters even if don't like to). I tend to do it too, mostly because it's easier to work off visual than off text descriptions (not because the descriptions might be bad, but because what I envision based off it might not be what the person did).
Unlike you though, I can't say I've surpassed any of the ones I hoped for art from. I always aimed way up high. ;P
I think of writing first always, too, though I can't say I've done much of that until recently.

Nope, stopped breathing isn't translation error - I was reading the books in English, and I'm fairly sure they all were English-born. (I'm fairly sure the one that pissed me off the most was in Brent Weeks' books, though. That's when I noticed it the most, and I'm sure it wasn't specified that it was "for a moment" XD) I admit I haven't come across it often, but I've had a couple times already in the past and it's been annoying as hell. Yes, please, "held their breath," not "stopped breathing." *shakes head*

Ohohohoho, I have managed to put all my TBR in a single short shelf, which was only half full until recently. (But today I brought 4 more books home hah, so there goes the empty space... xD)
But you shouldn't look at my digital collection. Nope, don't look. I totally don't have 20GB worth of books in my SD cards. Nope! ... okay, maybe I do...

That is a loooot of books. I keep four different (but small) bookshelves. Three are actually meant to be more of like... cleaning supply shelving units lol, but they're white and pretty (and have doors and were cheaper than bookshelves that are open and get filled with dirt) so I used them in my room. xD And one real bookshelf. They're all odd sizes.... Mostly I keep the double-doors one for manga, the other two for various coffee table books, artbooks, study books and other things that fit nowhere; and my real-bookshelf for real-books (which sometime manages to get on the other shelving units too).
I have none in the bathroom though xD But that's because I'm a big no-no on taking books anywhere near water.
That said, I've been pruning my collection heavily to fit in what I have and keep any other surfaces free, keeping only those I really loved. (It's not working, but not because of the books precisely lol). I've been switching all else to digital even if I don't like it as much.
My dad however, ooff, he's got a whole room in the back FILLED with books... or two rooms. Plus in several places of the house, too.

Yes, I thought about err, borrowing that book online first, given the price tag attached. XD I've honestly never managed to get through a Jane Austen book I think (the writing always made me put it off when I started them, or go slow unless it wa a library one, and the blurbs just make me go 'meh'), so I figured if it has zombies on it, it might help get into the story (even if it's obviously not going to be anything like the original). ;P
But that's because my friend kept saying I HAD to read Austen and I kept telling her she HAD to read Brontë... <_<

And yes, better recommendations if you fill in more books and stuff. You might also want to edit your 'favorites' shelf so that it doesn't automatically add everything your rate 5 (probably. At least for me, a 5 rating doesn't necessarily mean it's my favorite book, just that I really liked it xD I might rate something 3 and still add it as a fave. Yes, I'm that weird. )

Ah, I don't add manga to my goodreads (I have a MyAnimeList that I never update for that xDDDD), though I've been known to add the occasional recompilation or two of local comics. There's just something about adding every single manga individually instead of putting one manga and claiming you read the entire 20 books series... that makes me very lazy. I fear if I start adding all the silly manga I've read I'll not only have a crazy number for "read books" but also annoy even myself with the "has read (manga, manga, manga, manga, manga, manga... )" lol

Random question of the day: The friends list on one's profile, does it display friends at random or based on their activity?

Agh, that horse face thing drove me up the wall, I was glad she wasn't a main-ish character and only appeared sporadically afterwards, 'cause really, I honestly was starting to picture a human body with a horse head whenever she came in the picture. Okay, I got it, she's a werehorse.

Haha, well, it's good to go with what you feel at the moment, so if you feel like drawing, you have to take advantage of that before you no longer feel like it and find you need to do 50 images for some convention, or something like that. I'm honestly not as much into drawing as before (though I think I've mentioned that), I just don't like the way I do my own characters (which was my main reason for getting into drawing), and I felt I was improving enough for my expectations- which led me to realize I didn't really care so long as I could find art in any other way. xD

Reading while trying to figure out how people do something might be a bit difficult. At least when I like books, because (as shown above) I tend to visualize rather vividly, so I really get fully into the stories. xD (or at least when I like them enough not to be all aughhh horse faaaace xD - or the 'stopped breathing' one. I hate when people "stop breathing" You don't stop breathing. If you do, you die. The first time I read that I kept picturing the character stopping short in place and falling dead on his face, which caused a funny reaction when I kept reading the sentence and he was alive.... so confusing for my poor silly mind )
/end funny visualizations.

But yes, I get what you're saying x) I think if you read enough you kinda soak it in regardless, so long as you enjoy that read.

Ah, I can understand why you'd be more into digital. Honestly if I traveled enough to merit reading more than one book through it, would probably praise digital, and I do know it's very handy for keeping a lot of books when you would normally fit 1/3 of one. X) But as it is, since I'm home half the time (and when I'm not it's because I'm actually busy doing stuff and can't read, not to mention I wouldn't read it in public transport because I'd be afraid it would get stolen xD), so really, sitting with a book, the smell of paper~ ah... love it If I know it's a book I might enjoy keeping however I much rather buy it to have a paper copy, if not it will probably sit on my ereader forever and might not get read. xD

Then again I have things in my TBR paperback pile that might not get read either... since we do a lot of book trading at the used shop, I tend to take back a pile and bring back another. xD Never ending story (though lately the only interesting stuff they have... is the one we brought lol).

What led me more to digital though is that not only regular books have become super expensive here, but it's also a lot harder to find Fantasy, not to speak of m/m suff... I mean sure, we have fantasy- we have Tolkien and LeGuin, and only the other day I found they FINALLY deigned bring some Pratchett and Hobb. It was a shock, honestly. xD It was more sshocking when I found that Jane Austen with zombies rewrite... forget the name, I totally wanted that one. xD But alas, expensive. <_<

... not that ebooks aren't ridiculously expensive too for what they are, imho (they shouldn't be over $10 if you ask me, what few I've bought -and never again- are edited worse than paperbacks, and if *I* notice it, then it speaks volumes for the bad editing), but... that's another story.

Yay! goodreads! *stal-err...friendsfriends* You work fast! Already 100+ books in there! You're lucky you missed my 2012 reading challenge- I zoomed through my 100 books. <_< lol (I usually read much slower but I got all stressed because I was 20 books behind, haha, I went ahead and did 100+ books ahead instead... )

Well, the one i read of Lackey sure hit the drama bar up high. xD But I guess in the right mood it works. I just vividly remember... oh, I think it was her books, but I can't recall for sure (my friend who recommended gave me the book, but also gave me a few others to read along the same time).
I just remember reading some fantasy book around the same time and the author going on and on about this girls' 'horse face', to the point were it was so lousy stated for a foreigner like me that I started doubting if she didn't literally mean the person was actually a talking horse. xDD (to my credit, there were talking horses in the book). I just had to ask my friend about it (and of course she just loled at me and told me no, it's a real person. xD)
But yes, back to topic, I look in awe at people who write 10+ full length books and actually sell them too (particularly with how some of those are written!). What's their secret? how do they do it? Why can't I write a small lousy one? XD So frustrating.

Haha, I don't think I draw nearly enough for me to remember I'm an artist. xDD I'd love to sketch up the setting (I'm lousy at backgrounds, but I've been toying with the idea for a while of doing paint-y backgrounds for kicks and practice, I'm just lazy as usual). Not so sure about sketching up my characters, i only do that when I'm out of all other choices.
But it's a cool idea. Even if I fear art might distract me from writing, perhaps the time off will help me.

Oh, yes! I saw you had updated your tumblr with a lot of art 8D I spent a while browsing back to the last I had seen lol I'm glad it's helped put you in the mood to write though, even if you're still tinkering with ideas rather than actually writing X)

My project, for a change, stalled again, because I'm at a bit of a loss on what to do between the running away and the... er, shit that happens. XD I'm thinking I'll just force-read myself through my two TBR books, not to leave them hanging unfinished forever, and get to some of my romance books to see if I relax myself with them and maybe get some silly ideas out of them (I don't know why, but m/f romance books make me lol more than anything, and I don't want to touch the m/m ones because they're on my ereader and paper > digital xD).

Which brings me to... why u no have goodreads yet? *puppy eyes* No wait you can't make puppy eyes to a neko, can you? How about Puss In Boot eyes? Come on, be nice, get a goodreads. I like to stalk friends' reads. How else will I know what to read next?

Hmm, that's right about the short stories turned novels. (I have to admit, I've only read one trilogy set of Lackey's books- and I much agreed with the friend who recommended them to me when she said "Read them, it's like a fanfic", so while I can see she does well in sales and all and is somewhat in the genre, she's not one I look up to. xD [except maybe on the sales part and 'how can she sell those and why can't I'? way lol])
But, it is true. Although the few I've read the short stories of first (mostly Orson Scott Card's Stuff) I ended up liking the short story better, which isn't much encouragement in a way. xD
At any rate, I'm not planning to push it if it's less than average novel/novella length, but it would certainly be nice if I can color it enough to make it.


Writing out the culture might be interesting, but I'm not sure how much into play it'll come in the end (the culture where they have most the adventuring right now is pretty typical, I'd say the one uke comes from is more interesting- and I only have the necessary bits that have popped up on it fleshed out).
Then again, if I write more on them it wouldn't hurt to have a schemed out culture from the get go. :P
Trolling fantasy arts sounds good though x) But I fear I'll come up with ideas for other things rather than my current story lol *scatter brained*
Reading might work, but I have two (completely unrelated) books that I had started to read and I kinda want to finish those first (which i've been neglecting to do <_<). /stops making excuses because all your ideas are actually cool. xD

I think I need someone to brainstorm my next step in the story with right now. xDDD Because I'm at a crossroads of sort and don't know which way to take, haha.

Ohh, good suggestion. I know just the thing. x) (thankfully lol I don't think I could get stuck more often if I tried it.)

Haha, yeah I know what you mean. I'm kind of eager, but I wish I wasn't having such a hard time hitting a road bump every time I finish a 500 word scene (which is practically what's happening). And its weird in this last part, because I know what the next two scenes should be, but I'm not sure how to go about them, so I keep thinking maybe I should skip ahead, butt their future is still a tad blurry. xD

And what's about angsty scenes that write faster (and longer)? The initial scene that pushed my uke into traveling, I wrote it like whoosh! lol 700 words at 100/wpmin tops (writing it straight on the comp). <_< All the rest of the scenes were hard to get past 300 words. I'm like augh. At this rate my novel will really be a short story trilogy instead if I don't go back to make it pretty. xDDD (But even then, I guess it would be an improvement. I don't think I've written 10k words in forever xD)

Good! I would hate to be annoying you with all the random/frustrated questions. >.<

Your description gave a funny mental image of my uke with wings instead of arms xD but proper, too. Yeah, I then when I go back in to add/edit the first things (mostly I'm fleshing out what I can of the skeleton in a semi-readable base, and then I'll try and spice up with descriptions and such (and change the initial description since I already decided I'd change the second MC's looks after like 3 scenes so he jumps from black hair to red hair xD), I'll try and add enough so that the sheltered thing is more easily understood.

To be honest I'm a bit nervous because the 'top' one is also gonna be somewhat sheltered (in the sense that he's also from a high up family, but younger child on it), he's just more used to being independent and saying "welp, I'll craftily avoid all road blocks and go do improper things where I shouldn't", so he's more used to it. xD (though I toy with the idea it would be funny to have two who know and like absolutely nothing about camping, I don't want to right out starve them in the middle of nondescript forest xD)

I do like to see the characters grow and change. In fact, if (and that's still a big if) I were to manage to make the whole book, I would actually like to continue it on with a sequel (or two, all fantasy comes in 3s?), and I've also toyed with the idea that if that were to happen the characters would most likely end up reversing roles in the relationship (which would not make the original topper very happy at first, haha). But sadly that's still far far away. I need to focus on finishing the first part. xD

Haha, I liked Twitter better than FB, I mostly used FB to 'like' crap, but for a while now I've wanted to get rid of it also. If it wasn't because there's things you can't access without an account there, I'd drop mine. (Plus, the privacy on that place. Ugh! And not to mention all the ajax in it makes my comp hate me. xD Always, something doesn't work as it should because its full of fancy automatically updating scripts. I'll reload the page when I want to, thanks very much, I don't need a live feed.)
Oh, the FB games... lets not go there. xD


lool! Yes, I think he wants to be helpless and free. xDDD Hm, to slowly develop him into a stronger character sounds good, though I'm afraid the typical-uke-annoyance might be a put-book-down factor. (Then again, I guess you can't make everyone happy)
But please, do ramble on. XD It's actually a very good take on it (somehow it doesn't sound as good when I think it as when someone says it lol). But yes, basically I had him rather weak on the start because he's from a culture where nobles under 20 are mostly sheltered and kept from prying public eyes, and only after 20 they get sent out to learn whatever it is they want. He craves adventure, but he's too rooted into his beliefs to go out and seek it alone, and he's sort of forced into this adventure. So probably the problem is that I was trying to rush him into being something he's not yet, and/or having troubles with his own inward fight on whether he actually wants to go along the adventure or say "I'm going home." - or rather, have troubles portraying it the way I see it in my head, while keeping something that keeps sense on paper (Technically he doesn't have that much of a choice on going or not, but that's besides the point... xD)

Not abandoning stories when they get hard in favor of new, shiny, apparently easier ones sounds good <_<;; Haha, I'm sorry, I know I get frustrated fairly easy and dump all these "wryyyyyyy" questions on you. <_<; I hope I'm not annoying you too much. xD

Haha, yeah I saw that familiar colorful icon fly by and paint rainbows on my screen until it settled- truly, it was a sight worthy of SDMIA!

asfdafsd I don't know how you do it. I can't be bothered to do it often unless it's actual friend blogs. XD Actually I tried to minimize my sites a while back, mostly the only thing I successfully dumped was twitter. xDDD But only because the people I followed and were my friends there I already had on FB, LJ, etc, so really it was pointless to keep it, imho.

Hah, I have another writing problem-- err, I mean, question. What if you're writing your story and you realize you hate one of the main characters? XDDDD (Ok, not hate, just can't find a way to make him less... umh... typically uke. xD He reverts back whenever I try.)
And would you recommend working on more than one story at a time, when development is slow in one? <_<