An insane amount of work

Working all day, but not on Ishiki :( My second JapLit midterm paper is a lot harder than the first one, and I still haven't finished it. I'm editing Ishiki's second chapter to submit to class, but since I'm in Starbucks I can't read it aloud like I usually do for editing. And there's not enough time to go back to Chinatown to do it in my room, and come back in time for class. So I'm whispering it to myself here. Like a creeper.
I've got to read aloud my first scene of Ishiki in class today. I was supposed to do it two weeks ago, but there wasn't enough time. So I'm getting nervous all over again. I hate reading out loud. My accent makes me stumble over words, and I just wind up embarrassing myself. I get so nervous. And no one believes it, either, because apparently I'm always acting real cool in class. But on the inside, I'm majorly freaking out. I hope hope hope people like what I have to read today! Ahhhh

i'm embarrassed

God what a week! So much stress. Haha. I went through 4 phones this week. Long story. And just made a fool of myself right now.
Writing's been okay. It's hard to write while being so angry. Joey's having a meltdown right now, and it wasn't planned. That's how it's going. :P I've got midterms these two weeks also. Two papers for Japanese Lit due Tuesday, one paper for creative writing due tomorrow, bio test on Thursday, Mass Culture paper (10 pages) due ...sometime? Okay, it's not really that bad. Sounds bad, but papers are easy to write. My temper's been so short lately, that it's pretty inhibiting.
I haven't been blogging for a while because when I've gotten the chance to write, it's only been a short time. Fortunately, the writing's been coming naturally *knock on wood*. Not today, though! Haha. But it'll be alright. I'm thankful because I never outlined the part I'm writing now, and it's coming out well.
Although now I feel lost.

I Thought She Knew - nsync

Can't stop listening to it. It's so mellow, it feels like drugs haha. Which is good.

Chapter 9 - There Goes Gravity

What do you think of that title? I guess it'll only be finalized when I finish the chapter. By the way, finished Chapter 8 yesterday :D I'm very, very proud of it, because it sets up the rest of the book. Tak is set up to die; Joey is set up to go crazy. Am I giving too much away? '~'
I'm starting to wonder how long this book is going to be. I'm still only in Joey's first (of three) year at school, although he's only got one or two months left of it. There are so many more things that need to happen. And I have to have the book completed and perfect by June 30th, so I can get a free print copy of it. Then I can shop it around to get published.
It scares me to think of when the book is going to be over, though. It's such a big part of my life, I don't want to let it go. I think I'm worrying too much, though. I just love this project.
Well, anyway, off to start Chapter 9. Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow :) <3

Gonna finish chapter 8 today :D

Chapter 8 was the easiest chapter yet *knock on wood, since it's not all done yet* So things are going well with Ishiki.
But I've got a killer headache, and I'm far away from home. So if you're reading this, could you swing by Starbucks and give me some Excedrin? <3
Probably gonna have to take a break from writing this weekend, seeing as tomorrow might be Sam's first day off in FOREVER. And then Sunday's Valentine's Day. So, later!

Past-tense thoughts in narrative... x_x

It's interesting. And really weird to write. But I hope it'll read clearly.
I just set Tak up to die. :(
One of the files I use for research got fucked up at some point, and I just noticed it today. So I had to redownload it from my email, and fix the format. It took a long time, since the file is so big. That was kind of annoying.
And okay, so I need new music to listen to while I write. I've been using the same old playlist for months and I'm getting sick of it now. Trying to switch it up, but I can't find anything I like. It could just be this day, though.

BLIZZARD! :D

We've got blizzard conditions here in NYC, so all of my classes (which I planned to skip -_-) are cancelled for today! But I'm still here at Starbucks, working. Haha. And there a surprising amount of people here! I would have thought that everyone would stay home today, because no one here seems to like snow at all. I'm watching all the snow blow everywhere from the window, and it makes me so happy. I love snow. Only a girl from 需給 could love snow this much, I think :)
About Ishiki, I'm getting a bit worried that the dance scene is too romantic. But maybe that will be good, to contrast with next year's dance scene (Same Song & Dance) that I've already written. Also, I'm going to bring Akira in soon, to break up the mushy gushy stuff. The biggest thing that I'm fighting in this scene is keeping it from being cliche. There are only so many ways you can write a high school romance. I'm trying to make it heartbreaking for Joey, without making Tak seem like a bitch. Ever since creative writing class last fall, I've been worried about making her seem like a bitch. Because in the end, she loves Joey.

You know we don't care at all, just lemme see you up up against the wall

I was pretty upset this morning, since I had a later start than I wanted to, but when I saw how nice and sunny it is in NYC today I felt a lot better. Grabbed a good seat at Starbucks. I think my boyfriend is going to visit me soon, too.
Finally, I've gotten up to the first school dance. I'm pretty excited to finally write it, since it's been in my head since forever. Although I'm worried this chapter is a bit choppy because it goes like this:
PAGE 1-2: All dialogue between Tak, Yusuke, and Joey. Then Hoshimi is introduced.
PAGE 2-3: Shizuka and Hoshimi's father dies
PAGE 3-4: Dance starts
There aren't any transitions, really. Lots of scene breaks. But I won't know if it's that bad until I read it all over, and now I'm to excited to write more to proofread it. :)

I wear sunglasses in Starbucks

It's because I'm practically a celebrity here. Just kidding. It's just so damn sunny at my window seat! I literally had to fight a girl for this chair. It sucks that I'm just going to have to leave it in an hour to get to class.
I've got a 500 word story due for creative writing class today, so I'm using it as an opportunity to rewrite the beginning of Ishiki. I'm adding a dream sequence as the opening, so that's what I'll be submitting. It's all about the spectre. For its dialogue, I've decided not to use any contractions. That just makes it a lot creeper, I realized! :O Beginnings are difficult, but since I already have so much of the book written, and because this scene doubles as a stand-alone, it's not bad at all.
And it doesn't hurt that I've already got a surprise visit from my friend this morning :)
Now back to getting strange looks for my sunglasses.. At least my eyes don't hurt anymore :P

I had "strep throat"

Shit. Haven't been working the past few days. But I did decide to go to class from now on. No more faking sick, I guess :P It's pretty rough because I have no idea what I was thinking when I left off Ishiki last time. Introduced a new character; put another character in a coma.. But I have no idea how to transition from here to the next big event (the school dance). And then there's the question of whether to have the dance go smoothly, or to add conflict during it..
I'm forcing myself to write at least a little bit before I leave for a Superbowl party uptown (go Colts!) It's so cold here, though.. I wish I had money to take a cab there! Anyway, I guess what's really on my mind are transitions. They're probably the hardest part of writing a book because there's really no way to plan them ahead of time. But I've got to think of one! Hm....

Chapter 8 - Up Against The Wall (been waiting forever to use this title!!)

I basically worked myself sick yesterday, but I didn't realize it until I got into my 6:20 class and started to shake and get really dizzy. 6:20-9:00, so you can imagine... But I got home alright, and passed out immediately. I'm not used to going to sleep early, so I woke up at 8:00 AM today and couldn't go back to sleep. I decided not to go to class today so I could get more work done -- I'm going with my friend to buy dresses for a charity event this weekend, so I'm outta here by 2:30.
I've been reaching the point with my book that I'm only focusing on the main events. It's like 'this and this need to happen, but how do I get from point A to point B?' That's definitely not the way to write -- takes all the fun out of it. So how do I go from a school shooting to a school dance anyway? Gotta kill Shizu's dad in the process, no big deal. Lots of dads are going to die in the coming chapters :( Hm, I think it's time to bring out my secret weapon >:)

What am I going to name this chapter, anyway?

I've been struggling with writing this part of Ishiki, and the event is taking me forever. Basically, I have to write about a school hostage situation that takes place in my main character (Joey)'s hometown. I've been researching articles about 9-11 from 2001 for inspiration, since I'm not sure how it should be reported. It's a little awkward, since everyone can see what I'm doing on my computer since I work in my local Starbucks. I hope no one thinks I'm doing anything shady '~'
I'm getting excited about this part of the book, though, because the professor character is getting a lot of development. I never used to like him until now -- he was always just that certain character that needed to be there. But this new-found liking of him is making this chapter go by faster. I've been getting lots of work done on it even when I'm in class (I usually can't concentrate as well when I'm class.)
It's also been helpful that my local Starbucks is open again -- it was closed during most of January. I'm back to working in here morning til night again. A couple of my friends stopped by today, and it was a nice break, but back to work now!