American Whitney

My name is Whitney, and I’m a procrastinator. (Hi, Whitney)

Time and time again, I start an ambitious project with a deadline and then keep convincing myself I still have time to finish it. This time, it’s two Halloween costumes that I have to have finished by Saturday afternoon. So far I’ve copied the pattern for the shirt (I spent $12 on that pattern, and it looks like one I’ll be able to use as they get older. So I’m not going to chop it up when they’re tiny). Tonight I’ll make the pattern for their vests and pants. (Want to make your own patterns? For $5 you can buy a roll of art paper at Michael’s in their kids’ section. It’s meant for easels, and only 18″ wide, but it’s a snap to tape parts together and it’s sturdy enough that it won’t accidentally tear like the regular pattern.

Thankfully, I’m not new to sewing. Once I get everything cut, assembling it will be a snap.

The downside of putting off buying everything for sewing costumes is that in the end, you’re stuck with buying what will work- at a price that’s usually higher. Had I started to assemble these during the summer like I’d originally planned, I could have looked for fabric in Downtown LA where it’s unbelievably cheap. Heck, I would have had time to distress them so they didn’t look brand new.

Oh well, lesson learned. (While I put off my original costume concept- which was going to be Sheik from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I do have enough bits and pieces to actually pull together an awesome Halloween costume. I think you’ll like it.)

Though I do have a bit of good news to report. I’m on day 6 of my first week of the 250 word challenge, in which I write 250 words, six days a week. If you look at the bar to the right, you’ll see that I’ve already exceeded it- and I still have one more day in the week. It resets on Friday. So at least there’s something I’m not behind on.

Another bit of good news? The Oldest Kidlet actually slept through the entire night. You’d think this is crazy for a 6 year old, but for the last year he’s woken up at least once a night for almost the entire year. Heck, I might use the humidifier every damn night if it helps him hit a deeper sleep.

Here’s to hoping that everyone out there has a productive and happy Wednesday.

Any procrastinators out there? Anyone recovered from this maddening curse? Feel free to commiserate or share your tips.

Yes, this is a post apologizing for a lack of content. At least it’s better than last week when I forgot it was Friday entirely.

This week’s been a blur. The youngest has decided that he’s going to start acting like a two year old, so much of my time has been keeping the boys from killing each other. My brain’s been buzzing just trying to get the day to day stuff done that any time I’ve sat down, I haven’t been able to think of anything else. (Some of this is extremely personal family stuff that I can’t really get into, sorry)

Number of times I fell asleep in bed with my laptop open: 2

On the bright side, I finally found my DVD of The Mummy Returns. So now I can watch the movies and reiterate that Alexandria is not an Evey clone. Not in the least!

Next week, I’ll start outlining my character process and include a throwaway piece- what I dub the scenes I write and have no intention of including in a project. Usually they’re just to help me establish how characters relate.

Sometimes writing isn’t about what you write.

That sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Of course writing is about writing. It should be so easy. You sit down and then… squirrel!

If you’ve seen UP and remember Dug, that’s pretty much what being a writer can be like. I’ll sit down to write and then, suddenly think of emails I haven’t returned. Or realize I haven’t checked Twitter in a half hour. Or decide to make myself a somewhat time consuming meal.

I’m very good when it comes to procrastinating. I’ll sit down and think of a hundred things that I’d much rather be doing, and then do them. Or a show I haven’t seen, and in the interest of emptying my DVR, watch. (With the necessary distractions I have, I’ve managed to forget that I was writing this several times, in fact. 8 to be precise.)

So for now, it’s about writing whatever I can. Whether it’s a tweet, a blog post, or some bit of fiction that I don’t think anyone would care about. That’s why writing isn’t entirely about the content, just about writing.

So what have I written this week in lieu of my still unnamed Adventure Serial Project? I have written 5 blog posts (two of which were deleted), including this one. I wrote twenty-eight pages of a revised draft that I doubt anyone will ever see- unless you really want to.

You see, once upon a time, I ran a Star Wars role-playing game online (along with my best friend). It ran for years and I have some of the transcripts. Sadly, it ended with a couple adventures in progress. Which means, those characters are still active in my mind. When I sit down to write, I usually spend 15-20 minutes placating them, so that I can move on to what I would prefer to work on.

I was in the middle of my daily exorcism, when I realized that everyone’s dialogue was much too long. Much too flowery. I’d been watching Sense and Sensibility and had just finished reading Mansfield Park. Looking at the dialogue, it was as though Jane Austen had been writing Star Wars.

On a whim, I snagged a transcript and rewrote it as a mashup- Regency dialogue and some societal conceits mixed in with the game. It was surprisingly easy, and the rewrite just flowed out of me. Granted, I wasn’t changing much- but even for revising a draft, that was a lot of work to do in one day.

So nothing new on Project X, sadly. Except a bit of a confession about the detours I take. Next week I promise to have something of substance- deciding what types of characters I need.