Ok. Here goes.

1. LEAP DAY! 2-29-08, 10:26
2. I'm going to write until I need to leave for my Shakespeare class at around 1:15. I'm going to take a short break for lunch maybe around noon-ish.
3. I'm going to go back in the Merlin story and write the joke scene and the Guinevere scene. Try to add some more imagery and a three day re-cap of being at his mother's.
4. I went back and added a little bit of those scenes but they were coming out like crap. Then! I got this great idea of what if when Merlin takes the paper his mom just handed him he saw a front page article about his replacement. So I wrote that and now I'm past 1,000 words on both stories. Almost to 2,000 on the muse story actually. RAWR!!! Sorry I have to rawr at myself everytime I start thinking negatively. I'm going to finish. I will.

ok!!! The universe is aligned in my favor. I'll explain in our after class meeting. WOOT!! How I will finish? No clue but I know now that I will. Somehow it will work out and I will finish. I'm emailing you the updates right now. Going to eat lunch and then going to class.

I WILL PREVAIL!!!!




Writing thought for the day:
It does help, to be a writer, to have the sort of crazed ego that doesn't allow for failure. The best reaction to a rejection slip is a sort of wild-eyed madness, an evil grin, and sitting yourself in front of the keyboard muttering "Okay, you bastards. Try rejecting this!" and then writing something so unbelievably brilliant that all other writers will disembowel themselves with their pens upon reading it, because there's nothing left to write. Because the rejection slips will arrive. And, if the books are published, then you can pretty much guarantee that bad reviews will be as well. And you'll need to learn how to shrug and keep going. Or you stop, and get a real job.
-Neil
The other thing that I would say about writer's block is that it can be very, very subjective. By which I mean, you can have one of those days when you sit down and every word is crap. It is awful. You cannot understand how or why you are writing, what gave you the illusion or delusion that you would every have anything to say that anybody would ever want to listen to. You're not quite sure why you're wasting your time. And if there is one thing you're sure of, it's that everything that is being written that day is rubbish. I would also note that on those days (especially if deadlines and things are involved) is that I keep writing. The following day, when I actually come to look at what has been written, I will usually look at what I did the day before, and think, "That's not quite as bad as I remember. All I need to do is delete that line and move that sentence around and its fairly usable. It's not that bad."
-Neil Gaiman again.
I'm trying to channel Neil. I WILL be Neil's protege. I will. I'll make it happen.

Ok I'm adding this quote too. Because it made me smile. Oh Neil. What a kidder. haha.

I was always so relieved that anyone wants to publish anything I've written. In many ways I feel like the biggest challenge hasn't come yet. Because, if pressed, I would confess that what I'm really scared of is that one day somebody will knock at the door and they'll have a clipboard. They'll say, "Mr. Gaiman?" And I'll say "Yes." They'll say, "It says here that you get to make stuff up and get paid for it." I'll say, "Yes." "And it says here that you can do anything you want. You can go and do fantasy and you can do real fiction and you can do TV, films, whatever you want." And I'll say, "Yes." And they say, "Well it's over. It's done. We've caught up with your game, Sir. You are going to have to go and get a real job. And work normal hours."