Looking for a monster...

I tend to neglect the story that I'm working on almost as much as I neglect this blog. Or rather, I'd say it gets even more neglected. Because I can come on here and ramble about nothing but I actually have to be eloquent and productive on my story. I happen to really like it, so I want it to be good. Unfortunately, that means that we spend a lot of time apart. My expectations for it are just too high to meet on a regular basis I guess. I realize that this isn't a good way to go about working on a story, but I don't seem to be able to convince myself to just write and not care.

But anyway.

It's gotten to a point where I feel like I need some more action. Haven't had any since pretty near the beginning. So I figure my party ought to run into a monster or two while wandering in the woods. So I need a monster for them to run into. Nothing too bad, as the main characters are just learning how to fight with staves, but enough that there'll be an interesting battle scene. There have been a lot of talking scenes lately and it is most definitely time to break up the monotony. Unfortunately, the only thing I have in my head are Spidrens, which is a complete and utter copy of Tamora Pierce's book Wild Magic, wherein Daine and Onua encounter a group of Spidrens while they're on their way back to Corus. I'm not trying to be "OMG SO TOTALLY ORIGINAL!!" but I don't want this to copy the flow of action scene for scene from my favorite YA books.

So. A different monster. One that's about on level with the Spidrens in that it's totally scary to encounter if you're not used to the fantastic but it is also possible for some experienced fighters to dispatch without a huge amount of strain. I'm kind of thinking that the girls will end up hiding behind a rock or something though. I'm going for a bit of realism here, in that you do not become a master fighter in a week while you are also traveling most of the day.

Oh, and spiders aren't entirely bad in this story... in fact, the whole point of the quest is to try to save some incorporeal spiders from some unknown force.... but that's neither here nor there. THE POINT IS I need a monster.

EDIT: This is not the kind of monster I'm looking for at all.

But I totally need to make these now!!

Procrastination Station

I've killed a few more goals! Hurray! Unfortunately, I have been slacking on the picture taking side... which makes things difficult to document. I could tell you that I came in second in a cake decorating competition (YAY!) after putting in probably at least 20 hours off the clock on the stupid thing, but it's no fun unless you have a picture of the cake to oggle. So I'll tell you more about that later when I remember to bring my camera to the store and snap a couple pictures of my (and my co-workers'!) prize winning cakes! I also need to double check with people about the exact awarding of the prizes. I know that we cleaned up, but I've heard different things about how the cupcakes placed...

Also, I made naan! Or rather, we made naan! Caitlin (i.e. my soulmate and heterosexual life partner) came to visit for four days last week. Which was amazing. I'm so sad that she had to go back home, but we know that it won't be forever. But we made naan and it was good, but didn't take pictures! So I'll make it again soonish and take pictures because a blog with no pictures is no fun. And I still need pictures of the house. Geez, I'm bad about this!

Sometimes I think that procrastination should be considered an art form. If it were, I'd be certain to win some great awards for it.

In other words, my phone gave up the ghost a few days ago, due to NO fault of my own. The touchscreen just went white and refuses to be fixed. Thankfully, they're sending me another one. Yay! And it will be here today! YAY! Unfortunately, I have to make sure I'm here when it gets here so I can sign for the package, which means I'm pretty much chained to the house today... which isn't awful, there's stuff I need to do around here, but there were other things I wanted to do outside of my house as well... oh well, those will have to wait. Maybe I should get back to work on the saddle pad that is cut out and ready to sew... or make some polo wraps!

Best news of all though, I paid off my credit card! Hurray! We're not completely debt free yet, still have my car payments to chip away at, but it'll get there! It's so nice to not have that hanging over my head, and I'm one step closer to my goal of living debt free!