Lupe's in Nashville today, so I have some time to myself today--2 hours & 20 minutes to be exact. And because I never got around to writing last night (I had to fake my way through some Chopin) I figured I would do it now.

I'm writing up my thoughts because if I keep twittering them, Hilary & Chris will kill me. And I'm seeing Chris tonight, so I have to be careful ;)

I wonder what she would think if I told her that John is based on her ex? That could be potentially awkward, except that I'm not CT, I'm Erin. And by that I mean just in that scenario--I'm the friend of the girl and the boy in the relationship and when they break up, they assume that I'll take her side. So the guy just distances himself, afraid of what might happen if he tries to stay friends with me/her. So...I'm a little bit Erin, or maybe she's a little bit me. But on the whole, I'm more like Ciera than Erin, and neither are me.

iTunes is amazing right now. "It's Gonna Be Love" from A Walk to Remember (appropriate movie much?), A Little Bit Longer by the Jonas Brothers (definitely works), & then "Innocent" by Avril Lavigne. One might even argue that the song from before these, "When You Believe" from the Prince of Egypt could work in some way. Now it's an instrumental from Firefly that's a little creepy, but whatever, it helps me write, haha!

I just thought for a sec that CT should have a twitter, and that made me realize just how long I've been writing this novel. Since before twitter. Oh. My. Obviously I suck at finishing things in a timely manner. Also, the exchange I almost wrote (if I can actually use it, I might, maybe.) was this:
cautionarytale: I am totally lucid, I swear
johnnyboy: Don't listen to @cautionarytale she LIEZ!!
cautionarytale: @johnnyboy I don't lie! I always tell the truth. I just tell it slant.
johnnyboy: @cautionarytale ...did you just reference Emily Dickinson?
cautionarytale: @johnnyboy And what if I did?
johnnyboy: @cautionarytale I would have to commend you on your good (but weird) taste in lit
cautionarytale: @johnnyboy from you I'll take that as a compliment

Only John's name wouldn't be @johnnyboy, I just can't think of any others right now. But I just came up with @cautionarytale and it is perfect. Yay me! It's one of the better CT meanings. Both names are taken, which sucks, but whatever, this is fiction!

My top 3 favorite books (one for each level of reading):
Adult: The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
YA: Looking for Alaska by John Green
Children: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
(spoilers for Alaska & Gatsby will follow)

+ Gatsby: Main character dies
+ Alaska: A main character dies
+ Lucky: How to get on after a loved one dies

In one chapter of my book CT, Ciera requests Erin to bring her a few books. They include: The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares, Charlotte's Web by EB White, & Feed by MT Anderson. (short list, she may request more, idk) Why? Because she wants to read books that deal with death, because she herself has to deal with it.

Let's look at my own writings, shall we?
CT: About death & how we deal with loved ones dying
The Conqueror: a civil war/power struggle; Many loved ones died in "The Overthrow"; death & how to move on afterwards (Basically it's the story of the people caught in the crossfire)
You Always Knew*: Just go read this one, okay? It's short (and leave comments here if you have any, that journal is no longer used)
The Elementist: Not a major theme or anything, but Tara has to deal with her mom remarrying a few years after her dad's death. (Note: This is the comedy of the group; totally satirical & funny, not depressing)

And then we have Marhsall Manor where OMG NO ONE DIES. But it's still about a kind of loss, but regaining it. Basically that old theme of Love Always Wins in the End. It's HAPPY.

*My only published piece. In a high school literary magazine. Made it past query & full request, but was ultimately turned down for a proper publication.

So, we can all agree now that I am completely morbid and move on. That is all. :)

Oh! And if you could recommend any books like those listed above, that would be great.

Things to have open when writing
+ TextEdit: main manuscript
+ TextEdit: outline/notes/ideas
+ WordCount (to show me how my "progress" really isn't much & therefore I should keep going)
+ Safari - research purposes ONLY. When search is over, CLOSE IMMEDIATELY

Things to NOT have open when writing
+ Safari: Email
+ Safari: Twitter
+ Tweetie
+ Safari: Facebook
+ Dailybooth
+ Livejournal: Update
+ Livejournal: Friends Page
+ iTunes: playlists
+ any movies
+ any tv show
+ Solitaire
+ MSN (any at all)
+ ANYTHING other than listed in first list

(I did my real blogging here today)

I made myself a deal earlier: if I wrote a full chapter of CT, I could read the rest of The Higher Power of Lucky...buuuuut I kept opening tweetie, email, LJ, etc. And now I'm watching Castle. After this I have to work on my bio for Italian class. I'm very close to writing a chapter's worth (I bent the rule, I didn't write a new chapter, I finished two that weren't done), only about 400 words off, but even if I finish that tonight (which I better), I won't have time to finish the entire book. I learned my lesson today...but I'll probably do the same thing again tomorrow.

I'm tired. Going to bed as soon as I post this, gonna keep it short.

+ Theatre test went...not so okay. I mean, I don't know the score yet, but I was really unsure about most of my answers. Not expecting an A or anything.
+ But because I finished in 20 minutes I got to go hang out in the caf with Elena, Julia, Whit, Travis, & GuyIThinkIsnamedAlex. I really should ask someone to clarify that for me. I helped Julia with her math homework some, but not much because I never took statistics so there wasn't much I could help with. Elena begged me to work for the school paper again because she, as a reader, wants me back. She doesn't like the other book reviewer on staff and thinks the girl has horrible taste in books. I pulled out my copy of the last issue and showed Elena what I do to that girl's articles. I copyedit them with no mercy. And there are a LOT of mistakes. I really wonder why Shawn & Sheldon don't fix these up before they go to print. So then Elena & I finished editing that article & moved on to the movie review. It was so bad we stopped after a few paragraphs. We were gonna cry or something, haha.
+ In psych we analyzed our self-portrait drawings. I wish I had mine now so I could see all the things mine maybe means, because we switched with other groups for the analyses. And I had to turn mine in.
+ I also got back my paper from a few MONTHS ago, FINALLY. I got a perfect score! My teacher even wrote on there that my writing is amazing & that she expects to see me published some day!! :D :D :D

+ Go to nerdsomewriters & read the great haiku that Lia wrote for poetry week. My poem on "something I don't like" (not spoiling it) will be up tomorrow night. Or tomorrow afternoon if I have time to post before I go to Rockford to help my grandma move in.

+ Watched Maureen's blogtv show for almost 2 hours earlier with Jenny & Hilary and that was fun. :) She went through her old baby pictures & memories and stuff. Apparently her mother saved giant wads of hair from all of Maureen's haircuts. Which is really kind of creepy. I saw the hair. Maureen smelled the hair. It was strange, but amusing.

+ Jenny also sent me a few 5AG songs on mp3 so I could get them on my iPod. I now have italktosnakes throwdown stuck in my head. Hayley G H-O-O-V-E-R you ready for me to take over your screen?

+ Worked on CT some, did a major find & match for dvds & cases; and watched Castle.

The end.

I'm going to hate getting up for school next week. I'm really enjoying this whole sleep in as late as I want thing. And the staying in my pjs until 3 thing too. I love the leisure. It's funny, not two days ago I was complaining about it & begging for routine. But it's a Tuesday, which is my day off usually, so I guess this is the day I'm used to relaxing. Back to work tomorrow.
Mailed off packages to Karina, Casye, & Samm today, and a card to Eliza (little present included), so those should be arriving later this week. K & Casye, I sent yours to your school addresses. Karina's because that means it's late, haha (actually, I already had it addressed that way for that reason) and Casye's because we decided that was better.
I got offered a job while I was there, which was weird. I told both Kayla & Angelica to go apply, so I guess it's whoever gets there first, haha. I stopped & saw Ange on the way home and dropped off her present and picked up mine, as well as The Eyre Affair which she's had since August. I'm going to loan it out to Jean, one of my favorite clients at JC (because she's a big litgeek). I think she'll love it, or at least, I hope she will! :D


I'm currently sitting here with Karolina, my Macbook, in front of me and Annabella, my old 96 Toughbook, to my left. I don't have any way of transferring files off of there (well, I do, but it's a major pain & would require the Dell to work properly, which it doesn't always), so I'm copying down everything I've written for CT (I still don't have a title!!). I forgot how much I loved the early chapters of this book! They're so funny :D

I have lost so many things today it's driving me crazy. I had lost my pliers because Renee cleaned the dining room, so I had to make & fix some things earlier using my hands & some scissors. I told Samm she better appreciate her gift because I put my life on the line to make it, haha. And I can't find one of my notebooks, which has the profile for Holly in it that I need for The Wasted. It's so annoying when I can't find things!!
Renee found my pliers though, way too late, but at least I have them now. I'll bring them down to my room later.