Let us get back to using this thing, shall we?

I have decided to use my almost dead blog to chronicle my NaNoWriMo process come next month. I already have a few of the kids at work acting as my cheerleaders for the process, so let us see how it works. I have my chromebook all ready for transportable typing, as Drive is an offline app (yaay!) and my work has no wi-fi. Or at least, none that I know of.

I am going to write during my hour long breaks at work with an attempt to clock in about 700-800 words per break, and then the rest of my word count at home. That way I can get done more in a faster time, and honestly, 700 words isn't that much. And for any quotas I have not hit, I have Saturdays. I will do a weekly log of how much I write and what progress has been made. The days leading up to november will be all planning, which I will do here, also during my hour long breaks. I have a plan, and I shall stick to it!

My goal for November: actually finish a novel for NaNoWriMo.

Wish me luck.

Creative Writing Wednesday: A Picture Says a Thousand Words

Write them.

Attempting at the writeworld tumblr's picture challenge. Now to write a snippet on the above image.

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He was focused.

His eyes were entirely on the events unfolding in front of him. The old woman feeding the birds next to the bench near the trashcan, the two men playing chess at the table across from him, he watched it all. He watched because he knew that something was going to happen soon.

He wasn't sure what, but he knew that it was going to be different from every other day he sat here. A slight smirk danced across his face. Yep, today was going to be different. But how? So far, it was all the same people doing the same thing on the same dirt park path. He adjusted his over-shirt and leaned back on the bench. Maybe he just had to think less about it.

Down the street came the shave ice guy with his large block of ice safely contained in a cooler, the syrup bottles clattering together with an almost melodic sound as they sat in the cart. He walked up, a few coins in his pocket. "Hey Marcus."

The shave ice man looked up at him. "Howard! How've you been?" Marcus opened his hand to Howard, who was already putting the change into it. "Getting your usual?"

"First off, I'm doing alright, and secondly not today. I'll take a green apple instead. I'm sensing something's going to happen today." Howard smiled.

Marcus grinned. "Oh, really? I'll keep my eye out for anything different." He handed Howard the paper cone of bright green shave ice and continued on his way. Marcus knew that his regular customer always had a feeling that something was going to happen. Sometimes he was right, sometimes he wasn't. He seemed pretty confident about today, though. Today was a day to keep an eye on everything.

Howard sat down with his shave ice back on the bench and looked around. So far, nothing different happened. He took a taste of his shave ice and smiled.

He made a mental note to get green apple more often.

But so far, nothing different has happened.

The day went on, and he continued watching.

The Character Creation is coming along nicely

We now have our complete roster for Superhero U. Plus we know who is rooming with who. We have the mad scientist and the Avatar in one, a time traveling southern Belle and a kung fu master in another, and our Dorian Grey roomed with a kinetic energy master. All of the other guys get their own rooms.

And for teachers we have all sorts of fictional characters to work with, including doctor Doom, Sherlock Holmes, The Flash, and many more!

I cannot wait to start!

I have decided to do more creative writing and saw a challenge to use a first line every season for a literary magazine. This quarter's line is:
On a perfect spring morning with flat seas and clear blue skies, 
Captain Eli P. Cooke made a terrible mistake.
I'm considering doing this. It's due on the first of February so I have time to work on it. And if it's any good I may submit it to the contest.

Musings of the Morning

Well, here I am on a Thursday morning, sitting in my lovesac with a laptop actually on my lap. In exactly one week at this exact time, I'll be at the college looking for my classroom my Guiding Children's Reading class is located in.

Only two classes this semester, but I'm totally fine with that. I'm most likely going to change from my major to a certification program so I can get a job faster. Plus, most of the classes I need for the program are ones needed for the major because of the similarities between the two. I mean, it's jumping from Early Childhood Education to Daycare. How different can they be?

Hopefully when school starts up I'll have more worthwhile things to post. I'm really only posting this so that I habitually post every day. I actually want to keep this one up.

Creative Writing Wednesday: The First

I have decided to dedicate my Wednesdays to one of my passions: creative writing. I'm just going to post pieces up on these days, and when I run out of pieces I'll start making up new ones. Hopefully my creative writing professor from last semester will give me a few exercises once her advanced class starts.

Anyways, here's my first piece for Wednesday- a piece I wrote some time last year because I needed a good setting description of a regular area I use.

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Hey kid.

Yeah, you.

It looks like you’re searching for a good time. Well, I can tell you now that you aren’t going to find it here at all. You need something just a little out of the ordinary. Well, I’ve got just the place for you.

Directions? Well, that’s a little difficult. Just take the first shady-looking back alley you find and walk down it. Then keep going further and further. The streets are going to look darker and scarier the further you go, but that’s completely natural. At the point where you find yourself hopelessly lost and every time you try to backtrack you end up getting even more lost, you know you’re really close.

Now’s the part where you have to pay attention, because the place is really easy to miss. Eventually you’re going to run into a completely nondescript street with a completely nondescript door on the side of a completely nondescript building. The only distinct feature is a neon sign with half of the letters burnt out completely. The ones that haven’t gone yet look like they’re going to go at any second. If you squint enough, you can read what they say.

Arnie’s Place

Open the door. The only thing beyond it is a staircase descending further down than you can see. Go down them. The further down you go, you can hear the sounds of muffled jazz music that you can swear are getting louder, but it stays the same all the way down. There will be a moment where you want to give up and just leave, but keep going. Like the alleyways, the exasperation means you’re close. And just at that moment, you see a bright red door with a blacked out glass window. Go ahead and open it.

You’ve made it. Congratulations.

The club is cozy, with a small dance floor, a well-stocked bar, and lots of lounge chairs. The décor itself is… odd, to say the least. It looks as if the room flew through the stream of time and picked up whatever thought it looked good, but in the end looked outrageously tacky. The best way to describe it is a bizarre fusion of a retro-futuristic 60s lounge, a 1930s speakeasy, and a lavish Victorian parlor, full of ornately molded white plastic, red naugahyde seat cushions, and hardwood floors. There is a small raised area near the dance floor for the occasional live band to set up and play, and behind that is a hallway leading to private rooms for whatever you want them for.

The first two people you’ll run into are Arnie and Max. Arnie is the owner of the place, and he has his chair near the entrance. He wears pinstripe suits that were fashionable 70 years ago with matching fedoras. If you look close enough, you can see his skin has a reddish tint that isn’t quite natural, but that doesn’t matter. Arnie is friendly and hospitable, but do try your best not to get too close to him, and never make him angry. Especially in the club. That will end really badly for you.

Just a little past Arnie is Max, the barkeep. Unlike Arnie, he looks completely normal, with dark hair and a relaxed demeanor. He knows every drink under the sun, and has crafted a few potent libations of his own. Only try “Arnie’s Special” if you are particularly brave or stupid. He’s always up for a good conversation as long as it doesn’t get in the way of his job.

The only thing I may have to warn you about is the patronage. The regulars there are… unusual, to say the least. Some of them aren’t even human. Heck, most of them aren’t human. Don’t worry about it, though, because Arnie has a very strict club policy that everyone who enters is forced to follow. Not following it is grounds for instantaneous expulsion. He has the rules to keep the peace, and all of the patrons respect the rules, as not many clubs will accept their kind. So yeah, don’t worry about any of them devouring you, because that’s a no-no in Arnie’s Place.

Yes, I said devouring.

And that’s all you really need to know. Oh yes- when you meet Arnie, and you will (he has a tendency to personally greet newcomers), let him know that Mr. Cutter sent you. You get some drinks on the house.

Hyped for the new campaign

Coming Sunday is week 2 of 2 of character creation for our next campaign. I am looking really really forward to this, honestly. We're going to be working with the new system which will be a combination of GURPS and traditional Pathfinder in a school style setting.
The difference between the school and a normal school though is that it is super hero based and will have classes for those that are either heroically or villainously minded.
So far we have a kung fu master, a cybernetic boy genius, a guy who turns into light, a time traveler, A Dorian Grey-esque swordsman, a matter manipulator with split personalities, a kinetic energy manipulator,  and the Avatar.
I am looking so forward to this. Everyone will be updated as to what is going on.

Welcome.

I'm going to re-re-who-knows-how-many-re-attempt blogging. Now that I have a smartphone, I can make crazy posts on the go and such.

Now, allow me to introduce myself. I am Laura, also known as Keyla, also known as Momma Shakespeare. I am a part-time community college student studying to work in the daycare business. I have a small family consisting of a dad, a younger brother, and a parrot that wants to murder me. I can also include my lovely boyfriend as part of my family, as he practically lives at my house.

I enjoy reading, writing, making jewelry, tabletop roleplaying, playing music (voice, pennywhistle, ukulele, percussion), and occasionally doodling. My interests include fantasy, sci-fi, the metaphysical, and other not-so-real things.

What am I doing with this blog? I'm not too sure quite yet. We'll just see where this takes us, okay?