Egads!

So there's this book. That I really really want. Like superwant, and have been wanting for oh.......6 months? Something like that. And so it gets published next Friday, August 3.

Super, right?

Wrong.

It gets published in the UK August 3. I get to wait until spring-ish next year.

So, off to ebay I merrily trot.

And what do I find there? A signed ARC (advanced reader copy)! Signed! Cooooool!

So I bid.

(Keep in mind that the US-UK exchange rate at the moment is a bit over 2 dollars to the pound, so..it sucks).

Then someone outbids me.

So I bid again.

And now I'm trying to debate how much I want a signed first edition by an author I love for a book I really really want.

Also, shipping has to be taken into account. I've already talked to the seller, and it's going to be 12.56 (pounds) to ship. That works out to $25. Yikes.

I'm in the process of transferring $120 (59.18 pounds) from my bank account to my paypal account in case I need that much, but $120 is 2.5 weeks of personal expense money for me. As in, 2.5 weeks that I have to make do with what food is in my apartment and hope no one hits me up for money.

*sigh*

I do so so want it, though.

As Expected

I are NOT NOT happy.

So I got my lease, we all knew this.

I also had to call the local electric company and the gas company so that I would have both when I moved in. Fair enough. I'm not huge on talking to people on the phone, but that's life.

So I call PGW (Philadelphia Gas Works). I DO realize what I did wrong there; I neglected to remember that my social security card has my middle name on it and so a conflict came up. Ergo, Kate has to go into the city to do it in person, with lease, two forms of ID, and social security card.

Kate is annoyed now, but she already knows what she did wrong. So she calls PECO (Philadelphia Electric Company) to get electricity and do it right this time around. THIS time, I have my social security card out beside me as I'm on the phone, so I give the right name.

And with THIS one, there's ALSO a conflict, so I have to go in to do THAT one in person, too!

I thought I was finished with this in-and-out-of-the-city crap. And now I have to go sit around at PGW and PECO to show them my two forms of ID, one of which will be my green card (so I'm bound to get funny looks), and HOPEFULLY, MAYBE, when I get home tomorrow, I will have things set up for my apartment.

But at this point, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Good things?

Well, I think I've given up on scriptfrenzy, mostly because I can't summon up the requisite enthusiasm. Ah well. Next year, maybe (if it happens).


But I signed a lease on an apartment, so I have somewhere to live as of July 7. Scary. My own place. (Yeah, the parents are paying the bills. But it's still my place).

And I'm getting another feeler on a job, this time for working on a campaign. Awesome.

This only guarantees that every other aspect of my life is about to go crumbling into a zillion pieces.

You watch.

(Oh, and I don't think I'm going to rewrite the novel-from-hell. Probably).

A Month (nearly)

Well, it's been nearly a month since I finished the novel-from-hell, and I have been gloriously not doing anything since. (I might/might not finish Scriptfrenzy, I'm 10,000 words in so far).

I've decided that this afternoon I'm giving it a read-through. Huzzah.

That means tomorrow I'll decide to rewrite it. You watch.

Scriptfrenzy!

Now, I thought that I'd talked myself out of doing scriptfrenzy. I'm a book-writer, not a screenwriter, and I've no desire to be anything but. Besides, I've gathered that it's even more of a difficult biz to break into, and seems like I've already got my work cut out for me enough with the regular writing.

Then somehow, I find myself doing it.

I'm trying to not be too surprised about it.

The screenplay I'm writing is an idea that I'd had and put down in my little notebook o' plots, but it seemed too cliche to ever be worth seriously committing time to it. So I've decided that there's no harm in writing a screenplay that will never see the light of day about it. Better than scrounging one of my good plots on it.

Of course, it was going to start as a lighthearted romantic comedy. Mostly because I imagined that they'd be the easiest thing to write about and the plot vaguely fit the bill.

But this is me. Of course it's already got a conspiracy and a totalitarian government. Again, I'm trying not to be too surprised. They're things that tend to creep into my stuff, whether or not I intend it too.

The good news is that it's only 20,000 words, and I'm already 3,000 in. I'm guessing that I'll be finished by the end of the week, around Friday or so. Then I can get back to writing (or more accurately, avoiding writing) the sequel for the novel-from-hell.

On the personal front, still no job. Still no apartment. Another thing to try not to be too surprised abot.

Another one bites the dust

As of five minutes ago, I finished the umpteenth draft of the novel-from-hell. The end is largely the same as the last draft, but that's okay, because I liked the ending from the last one. It was the middle that was screwy.

Anyway, that means I get peace from it for a full month while I try to forget it ever existed. I will put my energy into
a) finding an apartment
b) finding a job
c) writing a paper
d) starting on the other two projects I've got lined up.

The other two projects that I have are of a much more comedic nature than the one I just finished. I don't know if I'm much good at comedy, but it'll be something different. The goal is to at least start writing one of them over the next month, though if I do script frenzy, perhaps that will be my June project.

In any case, at the beginning of July, I'll start editing the novel-from-hell. Goal is to have it edited by the end of the summer, or by September at the latest. (Going to depend on my work schedule, when I get a job). That means by the fall, I should be ready to submit it to agents. *gulp*

End of an Era

After two years, Miss Snark is hanging up her blog and drifting away into retirement. She will be missed. I know that I learned so much from her, and wouldn't be where I am today without her. I'm not published, but I'm not quite as clueless as I once was.

The bad news is that she's going.

The good news is that the blog's staying up, so generations hence can learn from her snarky wisdom.

Miss Snark

You will be missed.
Thank you for everything.