1.

I am still on the wrong continent.

2.

Hurricane Forever is also still on the wrong continent. I thought my sooperwoman would already be in her new home by now. Bah.

3.

I started Northern Expression's Celtic Leaves. Such a lovely piece.

But I desperately need to either stop talking about my needlework on this blog, or to somehow reconcile this identity with my other online identity.

The latter would be preferable, but I am also certain that it is a problem to which there is no solution.

4.

I think my Monday posts are going on temporary hiatus until I get my act together to start blogging again. It makes me feel very lazy, but hey, I am very lazy.

1.

I rather think I've been neglecting this blog for too long.

But I did try to return to the UK, got stuck in Dubai and decided to return to Singapore, so I do sort of have an excuse.

2.

Dubai is an inspiration.

It is what I imagine a charter city that's run out of money would look like.

Certainly, it does not meet the definition of a charter city. But the point of a charter city is that build it, and they will come.

They came, they saw, they left.

3.

I ran into a stop for most of the last week.

But it's kick-started again.

The first time in my life that my synopsis has actually helped me.

1.

Working on Hurricane Forever. It is going wonderfully well.

2.

No 'actual' post today because I'm a nitwit, and I'm a nitwit who is extremely busy.

I did try. But I think anything I put up would be worse than last week's Monday post, which was generally a waste of time altogether.

3.

I do need to start something for this month, however, and I really ought to do it soon.

1.

Slightly tipsy.

Drowning my sorrows of at least a month's worth of endodontic treatment.

2.

Hurricane Forever is going quite well, thank you very much.

I'm simultaneously editing section 1 and writing section 2. It seems to be a combination that works well for me.

BUT I've discovered that I'm shitty at writing scenes with more than three people. Hell, more than three people.

3.

I suspect I have an ending for Hurricane Forever too, which is rather nice.

1.

The novel formerly known as TLOL is now officially Hurricane Forever.

Because I think I'm funny.

2.

Thinking about allegories in my work.

They never used to exist, but now I see them left and right.

I think that will probably be the topic of my next Monday post. This week's one was pretty crappy and I apologize for that.

3.

Hurricane Forever is going surprisingly well. My current process (well, my current planned process anyway) is to write the novel and add comments to the synopsis as I go along to fix things.

So far so good.

Previously, all the clay was just random lumps. This time it's like I put the clay into the mold, popped it out, and am now reshaping it a bit.

1.

I have given up on WriteWayPro for now.

It's both flexible and not flexible enough.

2.

Here's a paradox for you.

The story that my heart would like to write is a grand story of great love and great tragedy.

The story that my mind would like to write is a novel on the rise and fall of nations, cultures etc.

This is the fundamental conflict that drives and hinders my writing.

Reading

1.

Nadia says that I shouldn’t blog about the books I’ve read, or not read, as the case maybe.

My DNF rate last month is over 20%, probably closer to 30% – out of 15-20 books read. So basically, I was really mean in January.

Or maybe the books I thought would be good to read were really really bad.

2.

The problem is probably not the books.

The problem is probably me.

I need to stop looking at novels like they are vitamins.

Good for me, take 1 a day.

3.

I just have very little patience for fiction lately.

I read because I crave mental stimulation. The best to drive me insane is probably to lock me up in a room with nothing to do.

But most novels don’t seem to do that any more. Short stories are like popcorn, light, fluffy and not substantial at all.

I want that substance. Not in terms of size or heft, but something for the various bits and pieces of my brain to chew on.

4.

I signed up to be a guest reviewer for Book Chick City anyway. Why not, right?

Plus, I like to talk about books. That’s why I used to review books online and read reviewer blogs and stuff like that.

Maybe if I talked more about what I was reading, it would kick-start me out of this slump. Though, at this point, it feels like it’d require nuclear fission to do that.

1.

This post is brought to you by ScribeFire for Firefox. As opposed to Windows Live Writer.

I do miss the many keyboard shortcuts that WLW had though. Like Ctrl+Shift+C to open up categories, and the ability to have it remember links, so when I mention Nadia, for instance, it'll link to her website automatically.

Especially since most of them don't work.

2.

In my attempts to procrastinate all things synopsis/studying, I have switched my choice of browsers from Chrome to Firefox and have decided to delete Opera completely from my laptop's consciousness.

This is followed by me jazzing it up, with Echofon -- I really want something that has Reply All and immediate shortening of URL and ability to change views with a keyboard shortcut -- and Scribefire, to be followed by something for an RSS Aggregator and something I can use for Gmail when I can't connect with Outlook.

3.

I'm also currently contemplating putting an end to my attempts to finish my synopsis as it is clearly going nowhere.

But I think I'm going to see whether I can dig up one of those list things for the Three Act Structure, which asks you stuff like inciting event, climax, etc.

This I'll input into Excel, with each of those items on the left column, and Acts I, II and III across. Because in every Act, those items ought to link up somehow.

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