Various writing bits and procrastinating digressions.

On a related note, here's some other super-short, word-limited stories. Was a fun little challenge while procrastinating on other things:

1. Defenestration.
2. Running scared.
3. Lost: one cause.
4. Dead love; alchemical resurrection.
5. Underneath, it wasn't a mask.
6. Death was easy; they demanded life.
7. I left the body on his doorstep.
8. She gave him the choice: "Wizardry or me."
9. When he finally looked outside, it was raining ashes.
10. In the end, it really was all just a dream.

Nine is my favorite story, and also, perhaps coincidentally, my favorite number. Man, I'm writing dark and bittersweet stuff lately. No wonder I don't want to work on Sanctuary, even if it is post-apocalyptic. It's also genuinely fluffy. Which is probably why people liked it. But I have to totally rewrite the first and last scenes, I'm guessing. The first probably needs it more than the last.

Inevitably, when I set my Pidgin status to "Writing" I get distracted and do other things. Sometimes for hours. Even when I've got my document open and everything all arranged and I know I'm going to start writing right now. This procrastination is, as always, a manifestation of my fear of writing--or rather, my fear of being criticized, which comes from my big insecurity over being perceived as "wrong" in some way. Which comes from being right most of the time, I suppose, though it was very much heightened by a certain event when I was eighteen when I was told I was wrong about something very deep and dear to me.

1581 words on the Snow Queen story today. I anticipate a thoroughly awful first draft. But I keep telling myself that awful drafts or even awful finished pieces of absolute terrible drivel are better than unfinished masterpieces. I just have to keep slogging away, especially when it gets hard.

My mother is trying to tell me the reason that I'm sleeping poorly is that the way my (makeshift) bed is situated, my head is pointing north and that I should try sleeping at the other end. Because feng shui says so. I'm tempted to try it.

And on a last random but disturbing note, Pidgin crashes the first time I try to tell anyone about the AI in Zak's story. It's really fucking creepy. Once, it did it 3 times in a row. Is it some string of characters that I end up using that somehow breaks the program? Am I typing too fast? I have no idea. Thinking about putting some of my Zakai writings online. Don't know. Weird brain I have.

(no subject)

Slept for 10 hours or so today but still managed to do things, even if I was lazy.

Gloves for airship pirate outfit done, finally. Fingerless, thin black fleece. No effort, just kept forgetting. I want to prance around in my steampunk clothes, but I lack a place to do it. I kinda lack real-life socialization in general, right now. Completely.

Spent an hour or so trying to catch Dima, one of the new horses. The other, Bella, is very friendly and very assertive, which is a pain when the shy, younger horse is trying to come see me and the other is biting her and chasing her off. This is tough because Dima has to be caught, since we have to medicate her eye twice daily--she had a corneal ulcer that she's recovering from. Both these girls are rescues, and Dima definitely shows it. She's skinny, shy, and covered in scabs. Bleh. We need a round pen. We also need a bigger barn. And more time. I need lots more time. I'll try to post horse pictures as soon as I have them. My mother has taken a few, I think, but they're on her phone.

Was surprised by an unexpected dinner guest who is a very sweet old southern lady but whom I find pretty unpleasant to be around because of her very contrary political views, rampant racism, and the way she treats me. Pretty much the same reasons I don't enjoy my stepdad's company, actually, except she's just techno-illiterate, not afraid of any advancements.

Playing Final Fantasy VI (III US) again. I've never actually beaten it. Trying to change that this time. I just wanted something that had enough of a plot to keep me distracted so I won't keep thinking about the bad things in my life right now. I haven't written today and I don't feel like it. Maybe I'll get more done... I don't know. Also haven't felt much like RP, probably because I've barely had enough uninterrupted time to even think about it, or when I do, no one's on. I don't even really feel guilty for not being on TK right now, which is unusual. Maybe I'll end up leaving like I end up leaving everywhere. :| It isn't that I'm not having fun, I suppose, it's just not what I feel like at the moment. I don't know what I do feel like. Which is pretty much the story of my life.

CHUPAQUESO ACHIEVED!

OMG. Chupaqueso. Between this and chicken-fried bacon, the Internet is making sure I will never be thin again. Surprisingly easy. I think I should've used the muenster on the outside and the co-jack on the inside instead of vice-versa. I'd take a picture, but I eated it. (For those too lazy to go click through the website, it's a crispy shell of fried cheese filled with even more cheese.) OMNOMNOM.

Food meme!

Ganked from siliconshaman.

The saying goes, "as American as Apple Pie!"...so what foods define where you live? Be it locally or Nationally.

• Grits. Made by grinding hominy (corn that's been soaked in lye). Common breakfast food, kind of like a porridge, but eaten with butter and salt and pepper or other savory seasonings, not sweet.
• Sweet (iced) Tea. Strong black tea made by boiling the leaves in the water. Sugar's added while it's still hot so it's almost tea-flavored simple syrup. I read a while back that the southern US iced tea was originally green tea, pre-WWI. Not sure if it's true or not.
• Southern-style BBQ. Pulled pork or beef or whole chickens cooked in big smokers often made from old oil drums. Sauces are a jealously-guarded secret... which can be a big pain when you have food allergies and have to know ingredients and they refuse to tell you.
• Hot boiled peanuts. Green peanuts boiled in the shell in salted water in huge batches, then dipped out and served fresh. Common to see roadside stands selling these at the right time of year.

Bonus round... What tastes define Summer for you?

• Iced tea. Mentioned above. Probably the only thing I miss about the south when I leave. I make sun-tea, sometimes, or brew mine more conventionally and ice it, but I almost always have sweet tea when I go out.
• Cheap frozen ice pops. The kind that come a hundred to a box that you throw in the freezer and cut the tops off to eat. I think my ex-girlfriend and I once went through a box in under two weeks. Great treat for keeping cool if you don't have air conditioning.
• Watermelon. Mmm.