Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well, this thread actually starts out on a fantastic note.

I have found not one but two people who are willing to beta for my fanfic. Yay! After searching for almost a month I found them. Of course I only need one so I'm going to have to tell the other one very kindly to leave . . .but this is really great. I hope this will be what it takes to really get me back into this project to the point where I'm meeting all my deadlines.

I try to post 10 pages weekly but I missed my deadline for chapter 21 on the 14th and I still haven't posted it. Oh God. I'm over a week behind. At some point it starts to feel like you're drowning in your own pathetic lack of initiative.

But in about ten minutes I will have a beta. And that feels fantastic.

Good, dedicated betas are so hard to find! It's wonderful that you've come up with one (and a backup maybe?) XD.

So demand an example next time?
I have the opposite problem. I'm betaing two things: somebody's senior project for next year, and this vampire romance story...and they both suck.

Tell the first that her writing style is too different from yours, so properly betaing it would be too much work for her and you don't want to trouble her.

Well, yesterday was fairly productive!

I finally finished chapter 21 of my fanfic. It only took...three weeks? Ugh, it's ridiculous. I think I was traumatized by having to write, right off the bat, about a character that I dislike immensely--and not even in a fun oh-man-this-b***h-is-crazy way. Just in a what-a-waste-of-human-life way.

Also, I got back my first chapter from my Beta--yes, she got back to me an all that in time. I think she'll be very useful for catching my carelessness and she's not completely useless when it comes to stylistic suggestions. So I thin I'll keep her. I mean, I was reading through the betad chapter trying to find a reason not to work with her...but she just kept being right and I just kept being wrong. So I gave up on that.

Also I announced all the winners for my poetry contest--which was interesting. Then I used the results from my poll to start a NEW contest. Check the sig. This time it's prose and poetry--two contests. I think this should be a fun one. Maybe some of you guys want to enter? Or maybe you're busy with other projects.

And now I'm off to go swimming. I was going to start chapter 22 but then Colleen called...and now I'm going swimming. I'll think of it as my treat for finally finishing chapter 21.

Thanks for your support! I need it.

Especially since I am crazy and it's getting worse.

I'm leaving for Michigan on the 7th and it's questionable just what kind of time/internet access I'll have up there so I'm trying to churn out at least 4,500 words on my fanfiction before I go. So far I have one: Sirius.

Profound, isn't it?I

t's just that it's starting out with action and I'm horrible at action. I'm actually glad that I get the opportunity to screw around and experiment with it in my fanfiction, but it really does make everything that much harder.

Additionally, I sent back the hopefully finished chapter 1 to my beta the same day I received it--the 2nd--and I haven't heard back from her. Am I wrong to freak out a little? It hasn't even been 48 hours . . . but it should take less than an hour of her time to read through one last time. I told her that I try to update weekly--that should tell her that I need chapters Betad and double-checked within that time span. Less if we're ever going to catch up to my current chapters. Maybe I wasn't clear? Maybe she's confused because we're starting with chapters which have already been posted? Either way if she doesn't get back to me by the end of tomorrow we're going to have to have a serious talk about time frames. Even i she does get back to me we'll have to have this talk. Which...will probably result in me contacting one of my back-ups. Somehow I just feel like she didn't realize what she was signing up for.

I need to start this out by saying that my father is ridiculous. In what world is it okay to spend close to $200 on movies and dinner ou for no special reason in the span of 3 days when you've recently discussed the need for a budget with your spouse. I don't know where my mother finds the patience to deal with him.

I managed to get up to 3,000 words today. I'd write more but I'm tired. I had to wake up early to go walk a dog--which I don't really mind because I get paid to do it--and I staid up till about 5 writing yesterday. I might have gotten more done but my father certainly knows how to monopolize my time. Between the dog, a movie, and dinner I think I lost six hours that I could have been writing.

And, for the first time ever my car is on E to the point that it has no bars(digital read-out) because I had to hurry to let the dog out and get back home so that we could make the 2:30 showing of wanted. God forbid we wait an hour . . .

Also, my beta didn't get back to me. So I sent her message through ff.net asking if she even got my e-mail and clarifying the kind of time-frame I need my beta to work with. And then I offered her an opportunity to bow out with dignity. I told her I would like to clean up 1 chapter a week but with 21 chapters that would still be 5 months. Which is crazy. But if I shorten the time much the that starts to be crazy, too. Oh well. What's another 5 months when I started this story almost 5 years ago? That's a long-a** time for a 17-year-old.

Hopefully my beta will respond quickly to the message and I'll finish chapter 22 tomorrow. So far it's been fueled by Landon Pigg and lots of dialogue.