I had a breakthrough today.  A long overdue one, but late is better than never (at least that's what I've always been told).

I never realized how hard it is to write a good character.

That is, I never realized how much work actually goes into learning about your character. And not just memorizing their eye color, weight and favorite food but actually learning their habits, their motivations. What's their favorite memory? Why do they behave the way they do? One thing I've always struggled with is getting inside the heads of my characters, learning their motivations and driving forces. I'll scratch the surface but not dig deep, and digging deep is what you have to do if you want a strong story that resonates with a reader.  This is really what this book is about, I think - learning to dig deep.  I get lazy, and want to stop at the statistics.  Because we are so much more than our weight and eye color, aren't we?

I've been mostly working on my outline today, getting down the history of each of the main characters as well as some secondary ones (that's where this whole spiel came from!).  I feel like I've hit my wall and broken though it - woohoo!

Sunny weather and coupons

Have I mentioned how much I love the sun?  I live in the Northwest so we see the sun approximately 2 weeks a year (and that is our summer and we like it).  This weekend is forecast to be sunny in the mid-70s -at the risk of sounding like a 4-year-old, I totally think this would be a great weekend to go picnic somewhere.  That is seriously one of my favorite things to do - sit on a blanket under a tree, eat and fall asleep in the summer sun (well that and ramble endlessly).  I love it so much I even went and mowed my lawn (have you seen my lawn?  No matter where you live, the answer is yes.  It is that large.) so we could sit outside yesterday and eat on our blanket.  I love it.

I'm not sure how many people know this but I've really gotten into budgeting over the past year; I even went and taught myself excel so I could have a spreadsheet (make no mistake, I will be one of those old people running around going "back in my day we didn't have smartphones or apps and we LIKED it).  I feel like I could be better at using coupons, though.  My real problem is it seems like coupons are always for things I don't never buy/don't need.  What I've been trying to do is pay attention to when meat we actually use (mostly chicken) goes on sale and stock up then.  Right now our menus are done in 4-week cycles (ie I shop once every 4 weeks for 90% of our groceries.  We weren't having luck with just doing one big trip every month so every other week we run for milk and fresh fruit/vegetables), but things aren't always on sale when I'm ready to shop!  I believe I could cut costs down further by stocking up when stores place things on sale.  Even though it will mean an extra trip, it might be worth it to save an extra $5-10.

Daily art after the jump

It is the middle of 2012. Where did the first half go?

This year is going by fast.  I swear I just bought my house and painted it (wait that was a year ago...)

What have I learned over the last 6 months?  Probably not as much as I could have, but more than I expected to (so I guess that means I break even).

- I've learned you can't wait for things to magically fall into your lap, you have to go get them.  Because if you do that, you'll spend all your time waiting.  It's better to go out there and get started, even if it seems overwhelming, because as long as you keep moving forward you'll reach your goal eventually.

- I've learned that failure isn't permanent, unless you want it to be.  I like to think of it as part of the learning experience, something that helps you become the person you're supposed to be.

- I've learned there are things more important than a steady paycheck, like being happy.  And not making your husband crazy by grinding your teeth at night because you're so stressed out.

- I've learned how to budget, because when you are on one income that is what you do.  I've learned to enjoy doing things that I might have passed up in lieu of spending money (going to the park, wandering around the mall).  In the same vein, I've learned how to enjoy the little things like cooking and walking the dogs (unfortunately I still haven't learned how to enjoy my garden).

- I've also learned that paint gets everywhere.  Somehow, magically.  It doesn't matter if you're painting your bedroom, paint will inevitably end up down the hall in your dining room, too.

Daily art after the jump >>>

I is for insurance. And idiotic.

Since I quit my job (remember that?  Like a month ago?) I've been trying to get insurance.  Which noone told me is actually a full-time job in of itself.  (Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty healthy individual.  I have no idea what people who actually have conditions do...)  I actually can't even get past the paperwork stage because ehealthinsurance and the insurance company I'm trying to apply with are in this vicious cycle (it would be funny if it wasn't true) of: submit paperwork, the insurance company is behind 2 weeks and the paperwork expires, the insurance company says they need new paperwork, submit paperwork, repeat.  Repeat repeat repeat.

This has been going on for a month and they are making me crazy.  I mean, come on.  When YOU take two weeks to get something done don't go back to the person who submitted the paperwork on time and go "whoops that expired now we need a whole new application :B".  Lame.  Lame lame lame lame lame.

Okay enough of that rant...

So we've been going back to old games on the PS2 lately and we actually started Silent Hill 2 last night.  I'd forgotten how excellent that game is, from the graphics (which don't really show their age in the CGI cutscenes) to the story to the voice acting to the puzzles.  (I'd also forgotten how much I hate the combat, but since I've already ranted today I won't yell about it too much... plus right now I hate the insurance company waaaay more than I hate the bad hit detection >:O) I remember it being way more difficult, but that might be because I was a kid when I played it.  It's still a lot of fun.

daily art after the jump

Ramblings

I would like to make a cartoon someday.  It is something that I've secretly been rolling around in the back of my head for several years, and would require a lot of pre-work work (I'd need to learn programs and how to write a script, which is totally different from writing a story!).  But I think it's something I can do.  Maybe Definitely not alone, I'll need help.  I'll need voice actors, just to name something that is glaringly obvious.  But it could be fun.

So I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead last night and I liked it more than I thought I would.  Basically a guy named Joe is a terribly sick and overweight man who decides he's going to eat only fruits and vegetables in the form of juicing them for 60 days, three meals a day.  That's pretty hardcore dedication.  My favorite part was when he mentioned how he only did the fast for 60 days but the desire for healthy food has remained with him beyond that.  That's really the important (and hardest) part - you can do anything for a set period of time, but once that time has passed unless you picked up better habits you're just going to lapse back into your old self.  I think what I'm trying to get at here is while it's really hard to change bad habits, you have to just take it a day at a time and remember what you're gaining back (maybe your health, maybe your time).


Daily sketch after the jump --