An Update and Recommendations

One month late, what a slacker I am!

Well, updates first, of course! I am not sure that I had mentioned it before, but I was hired to be a waitress at a Tavern/Bar back in March. Recently, though, I quit that job and now I have a new job! I am now a Video Game Advisor for GameStop, which is pretty awesome if you ask me!

Also, I’ve FINALLY resumed work on my book, which I’ve been writing off and on for a few years now. My goal is to have the first draft completed by September 30th, 2016, that way I can start a brand new project for NaNoWriMo in November this year. =D

It was hard writing for awhile, with everything that was going on emotionally and mentally for me. Struggling through anxiety and medication and trying to figure out ways to handle situations that send me plummeting for an anxiety attack where pretty much my main villains when it came to story writing, because I was just SO obsessed trying to handle it, that I had a really hard time focusing on much else. Regardless, after working with my doctor and counselor to fix my medicine dosage, I am FINALLY feeling like my normal self (from before these anxiety problems started back in 2008) again, which is a huge relief and a lot of pressure off of my chest and mind.

That aside, I’ve been reading a lot. Have any of heard of the book “Awkward” by Svetlana Chmakova?

She’s done a lot of manga books, but this was her very first work I’ve ever read. I absolutely loved not only the artwork but the story as well! It was such a great read and I plowed through it in under 24 hours. If you’re looking for a book to read before the summer is over, I highly recommend this one, especially if you enjoy everyday middle school life drama for a young girl trying to fit in.

Still not sure? Here’s the synopsis for it:

Cardinal rule #1 for surviving school: Don’t get noticed by the mean kids.

Cardinal rule #2 for surviving school: Seek out groups with similar interests and join them.

On her first day at her new school, Penelope—Peppi—Torres reminds herself of these basics. But when she trips into a quiet boy in the hall, Jaime Thompson, she’s already broken the first rule, and the mean kids start calling her the “nerder girlfriend.” How does she handle this crisis? By shoving poor Jaime and running away!

Falling back on rule two and surrounding herself with new friends in the art club, Peppi still can’t help feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are already awkward enough between the two, but to make matters worse, he’s a member of her own club’s archrivals—the science club! And when the two clubs go to war, Peppi realizes that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive middle school!

And, if you’re looking for anything to Netflix binge-watch, they recently added a new Japanese Rom-Com by the title of “Good Morning Call”, and is based off of the shōjo manga of the same name, which is adorable! Synopsis? Easy: A high school girl finally gets her own apartment, but she has to share it with the most popular boy in school. No one can know they’re living together. Come on, now who doesn’t love that?

To be completely honest, I’m an absolute sucker for Asian Rom-Com’s. I just love watching them so much, with their exaggerated expressions and reactions and everything, it’s just so much fun!

On that note, I’m going to head off. I just returned home from work and, speaking of Netflix, I want to watch some more of my shows.

Cheers everyone!

– Soleil

 

 

Back to Blogging! (Finally!)

Did you miss me?!

It’s great to be back, I’ve really missed writing here. After NaNoWriMo and then suddenly FINALS at college (yeah totally forgot about those), I was really starting to wonder if I’d EVER get back to my little corner of the blog-o-sphere!

Whelp on to business! I just spent just about my entire day working on Astronomy assignments for my last class. This included:

• 1 Lab
• 2 Activities
• Exam #3 (60 questions)
• And the Final Exam! (120 questions!)

I can now successfully say that my mind is fried!

This is how I felt ALL day!

Totally time for a break. Taking into consideration that I have to be up at about 6AM and it’s already 12:40AM, I should go to bed. But, I have to unwind. I can’t go to bed with a head full of astronomy problems dealing with mathematical equations, scientific notation, Hubble’s Law and so on.

Time to start a new book! I just finished “A Frozen Heart” by Elizabeth Rudnick. It is an expansion to the already famous Disney “Frozen” movie. The book follows Anna’s and Hans’ Points-of-View (POV) through alternating chapters, which “takes a sophisticated look at events of Frozen, exploring the couple’s backstories, motivations, and doomed relationship.”

Actually, it wasn’t that bad a of read and for any Disney (especially Disney “Frozen” fans) I would definitely suggest you pick it up. It’s relatively cheap. I got it at a BJ’s Wholesale Club for about $8 or $10. You can find it here on Barnes & Noble’s website for $9.73.

I’m thinking of picking up some of Brandon Mull‘s books. I have the first “Fablehaven” book and the first “Beyonders” book. I’m not sure, can I read “Beyonders” first or do I have to read “Fablehaven” so I can understand the world? Are they connected at all. Time to check the blurbs on the back of the books!

Anyway, off to read (although bed would be the smarter choice at this point…yay for lack of sleep later!)

Look for my words again soon!

-Soleil

Let’s Go To Camp Together!

Earlier today, I admitted to not knowing what to write but having the urge to write. While I really only did get myself to sit down a type a few words (literally maybe three sentences, if that), I’m not sure that I feel satisfied with that effort. For starters, I was out driving around, running an errand and then getting dinner from Taco Bell, when a thunder and lightning storm rolled in suddenly with 70 MPH wind gusts! So, mom and I took shelter at Taco Bell until the storm let up enough for us to drive safely home. After eating, I tried to write on the paper wrappers that had held my soft-shell taco, but it was a wax-type of paper and the pen the employees let me borrow did not write very well on it.

My pen wouldn’t work….so here’s my sad face ^^^

I was determined to type what I had written into my Word document when I finally returned home and did so promptly. I also intended to keep going, but then I got sidetracked by the end of Jeopardy, then Wheel of Fortune, then trying to get the WiFi back up and running so I could get online, and then I put on my latest Korean dramedy: “Playful Kiss”. (By the way, I only watched the first two episdoes of “Shut Up & Let’s Go”. Since (Spoiler), they kill off Byung Hee (who is the only interesting character by far) at the end of the second episode. He’s the one who has the orange eyes, remember? Here’s a photo refresher!):

Anyway, “Playful Kiss” is much better and more comedy than drama. I highly recommend this show! Suffice to say, though, I never did write any more tonight. I’m planning to make a good part of the day of it tomorrow. Hopefully I can keep myself motivated enough to actually do this.

Now, only a few days ago, my best friend since 6th grade (oh my goodness, we first met back in 2001!), and one of my writing buddies, Kels, introduced me to a website called Camp NaNoWriMo! It’s an interweb-tacular (just made-up this mashed-up word) site that promotes NaNoWriMo all year long, by running “practice” months in April and July for hopeful-NanoWriMo’s to get a feel for what November is all about before the actual National Novel Writing Month comes along!

This site allows writers from all over the globe to interact and even “share” a cabin together (a cabin can include 11 writers, I think) for the month. It’s basically your own private chat room between you and your cabin-mates so you can not only bounce ideas around, but motivate, and help one another stay on track. Hey, you might even learn some new things about writing…like a more proficient way to outline, or what inspiring music to listen to as you write (I for one am a fan of classical music and movie soundtracks…really, anything orchestral).

Anyway, you can set up your “Writer Profile” and “Writing Projects”, set word count goals and track your progress through the month as you go. It calculates your daily average and what it actually should be for those days you are totallyl being a slacker (I admit to being guilty of this myself), and you can have more than one “Writing Project” going at a time.

While I’ve only just joined myself today, I can already proudly say that I want to recommend this site to any and all fellow writers or aspiring project-takers to try out. Signing up is free and so is the site. Of course, there is the option of donating, which helps the site to operate for free. Oh, and I’m pretty sure that you’re donations can be tax deductable. See this link here from their FAQ section regarding that option: Tax Deductable Option!

Well, if you decide to join me on there, my user name is the same: Soleil Porche …so send me a message and maybe we can make a cabin together and do our best to support and help each other. I think it would be fun! Let’s do our best together!

Look for my words again soon!

Soleil