Quick Update

Fuckers at the computer shop haven't fixed my computer yet. The first guy who I talked to about the problem and told me he fixed it never ordered the part and no one knew. I called last week about it and another guy told me the first guy didn't even write down what he was going to do to fix it and never told anyone to order the part. So now I have to wait like and extra week or two before getting it back. I am SO pissed right now.

On the bright side, I have a nice general outline for the next three chapters of Someone to Watch Over Me. I know what's going to happen in all three, I just need to get rough drafts written and some details worked out so that I can get them beta'd and posted. I thank you guys for being so patient with me on this whole thing and I hope to have my computer back soon so I can get them written before I lose anything and change my mind on things in the story. Lol.

To make matters worse on the writing front, I COULD have written something for today and saved it to my USB drive, but since my parents' only had the trial version of Microsoft Office 2007 on their computer and it expired recently, I was totally fucked. They're out right now purchasing the key code to upgrade to the full version of MSOffice 2010, so maybe when I can get another day like this on the computer (assuming I don't get my computer back first) I can try to write something.

On the job front I haven't heard anything. Good side: no rejection emails. Bad side: Still no calls for interviews, despite friends of mine in the same field and on the same level as me getting interviews. I've sent out a crapton of applications, both online and hard copy, so I'm hoping next month will be busy for me on the job front. As I type this I have filled out three applications online today alone, as well as getting four hard copies ready to mail out tomorrow for schools in Ohio alone. The whole MSOffice issue hindered me as well, since I couldn't edit my cover letters to tailor them for each school I was applying to, and I don't feel comfortable sending out the generic one I attach to my online applications. I couldn't even type them out individually with the correct information as it wouldn't let me do anything but open previously saved documents and print them. I couldn't edit them, I couldn't even type a new document. ARG.

Pray for me, if any of you are the praying type. Or wish good luck for me or something. If I don't hear anything from anyone by August I am going to be one pissed off person. My back-up plan is to sub for another year in my county and find a part time evening job, but I don't want to resort to that. If I don't have a real teaching job, that screws up my licensure after next June and I don't want to piss around with that.

::GIANT HUGS:: to you all, thanks so much for putting up with me. :)

(Oh yeah, I catered a graduation party with my dad this past weekend, and I had to hand make 200 fucking cannoli for this spoiled brat. Only about 50 got eaten and I was a little upset about it, but I did get paid $200 for all the work for it. Part of that is going on the debt I owe my parents, the rest on my computer repair fees. Woo! No stealing from my last sub paycheck!)

Updates and Chapter 11 Notes

So today I downloaded an app to my phone that will let me write up and organize better memos to my phone than the Memo app that came standard on the phone to begin with. Once it was installed, I opened it up and started outlining Chapter 11 (which will be posted as Chapter 12). I've pretty much got the entire chapter outlined, I just need either the time to write it on my parents' computer, or get my laptop back to write it out.

Speaking of my laptop, I called the computer place I took it to and he said he could fix the fan. He said I should be able to have it by mid-week this week, but I obviously do not, since it's Friday and I'm typing this on my parents' machine. I'll call either tomorrow or Monday for an update, and I'm REALLY hoping that he's not going to say something about my motherboard needing fixed, because I do NOT have the money for that (yeah, still no calls about jobs yet. I'm trying to stay positive). We'll see.

Back to the story. There are still a few minor details that need to be hashed out for the chapter, but the skeleton is there.

It deals with the upcoming holiday, which is Thanksgiving, and what Bella and Emmett decide to do with their situation, since it's the first without their parents, while figuring out how to have Thanksgiving together, Emmett and Rosalie spending time with Rosalie's family, and figuring out how EmRo will explain James and Victoria's presence at a family event. That's one of the details I'm still chewing on.

A few questions you might have:

What's going on in the BellWard end of things? Good question. I know, but it's some good stuff I'm not ready to spoil yet. Maybe when I can get a draft of the chapter I can post a teaser.

Will there be any Jalice? A little mention or two, for now. ;) Tidying up what's going on for the holiday.

Will you stop it with the stupid, cutesy couple names already? Sure, for now. It saves time from having to type out their names, and those who know me know I'm lazy, so it's perfect. Plus initials only can get confusing after a while.

What about the Francis family? You've only mentioned them a couple of times and aren't they kind of important to this story? I mean, aren't they the reason BellWard are stuck in her house all the time with Jasper a witness to their naughty handshakes? They're still there, faithful readers, and they'll have a bigger part soon, as will the Volturi family. I figure I'd take some time to develop the BellWard (oops!) relationship a little, which is slow going when I have no idea how that kind of relationship develops. Anywho, I think things will pick up in general and a lot of what is introduced will get more face time.

How long will this story be? Beats me. However long my befuddled mind can make it. I'm not going for length really, just trying to get the story stuck in my head out.

Really, how can Jake afford this private security for TWO households? Not telling. Nyah, nyah.

What's Pete up to? Ooo, wouldn't you like to know.

Was Charlie into some bad mojo that got him and Renee killed? Not necessarily. You know how bad people are. They get paranoid and decide killing people makes them feel better. I suppose it's cheaper than a therapist, but definitely messier.

When will Bella and Edward HAVE SEX already?! Soon, grasshopper. I have to psych myself up for that lemon, seeing as it will be both their first time doing it and my first time writing a full fledged lemon. Don't look for the nitty-gritty, I'm going for tasteful. I'm really nervous about it, so deal with it, mkay?

How many more effing questions are you going to make me sit through? No more today, but if you have any you'd like to ask, just ask me. :)

Testing...

So I downloaded a program that I update my blogs & upload pictures to from my phone. I took my computer in to see if this mom & pop shop could fix it cheaper & they told me one of the fans died, it wasn't a hardware issue (like my motherboard, per Geek Squad's assumption). It might be cheaper to fix, but I'm unsure if that's it.

In any case, I'm hoping I can update here, maybe post some rough teasers so I have something to come back to & build upon when I have a computer to write on again, whenever that may be.

Thanks for sticking with me!

Head's Up

Wondering where I've been? Besides working my ass off more than any substitute teacher has probably ever worked (unless they happened to be a music ed sub taking bands to contest and getting a final concert ready in the wake of a teacher going on maternity leave after having her contract non-renewed, thus having her leave her messes behind once she was gone for everyone else to clean up, which also screwed over the students), my computer has died. Geek Squad at Best Buy said it was probably the motherboard crapping out and would take between $200-400 to fix. I don't have that money because I only got sub pay (I was ONE day away from being paid first year teacher pay for the six-week gig, but the final week was only four days instead of five) and I have other obligations to take care of.

They told me to maybe try a system restore or whatever it's called, where I go into safe mode and go back to a working system save point from before. I tried it twice and no can do. I don't have the discs to try the system reboot thing, where it resets everything back to factory settings or I would have tried that (never fear, I have backed up all of my files, including my fanfic chapters and ideas). I might call around to local repair shops and see if they might be able to figure it out and fix it for cheaper, or maybe point me in the right direction of a decent refurbished laptop for $400 or less, cause I might be able to swing that, if I'm careful. I have no idea, since I have to call SallieMae tomorrow and BEG for a forbearance or something on my loans since I do NOT have the money to shell out for loan payments right now, and forbearances cost money to have done or whatever. Urg. I need to find a job QUICK and I'm also freaking out about that since I haven't gotten any calls for interviews after having applied for a bunch of teaching jobs in my state as well as others. I'm really hoping that when everyone has told me that it's early yet, that July should be about when it starts, they are correct and I'm freaking for nothing.

So... How am I updating now? Since I still live at home, my parents are okay with me using their computer. I can't live on it like I could my laptop, which severely sucks, but I can get on it a couple of times a day if I try. However, since my grandpa is living with us for the month of June, and the computer is in the guest bedroom where he sleeps, AND I'm sharing the computer with two parents addicted to computer games, I can maybe, MAYBE get on once a day if I try. That hampers my writing time severely, especially when I have the urge and not the opportunity to get it out. I'll try to write things down as they come so that maybe I can get an update out when all is said and done, but I make no promises. I'll try my best, but no guarantees.

I do have a new phone with better web capabilities, so I'll still be on Twitter all the time and going on the web as I can, but until I can figure out an easier way to post to this blog, these updates will be few and far as well.

Thank you SO much for your patience and understanding, and for slogging through this rambling post. I can't say more, because grandpa is ready for bed, so I gotta get out. Save me. ;)

SQUEE!

ZOMGWTFBBQ! Yes, Chapter 11 (really Chapter 10) of Someone to Watch Over Me has been posted! I had the urge to write yesterday, and even though I was waylaid by being away from my computer most of the day, and then coming home to a dead computer because a storm had killed the electricity, I pounded out the last bit of the chapter that had been languishing on my hard drive for weeks now. I stayed up a little past my bedtime to go over it, but I managed to get it done in about a half hour. My awesome beta Feisty Y. Beden beta'd it and got it back to me today and I was super excited! The edits were quick and easy, so I was happy to post today. :)

The response to the chapter has been awesome. Everyone enjoyed the update and have given me a lot of encouragement and well-wishes for finding a job and hoping things in general in my life get better. I hope so, too, and I'm touched to have readers like you who care. It makes me feel better on those days when I am in tears because of frustration and just want to delete everything or because I feel like I can't do anything right.

I was so excited by the response to the new chapter that I wanted to start the next one. I thought I has a start figured out to it, but it wasn't coming across like I wanted, so I need to spend a little time working it out. Since it's the start of November or so in the story, talk of Thanksgiving plans might kick the chapter off, so I need to figure out a feasible plan of who is spending the holiday where without the awkward situation of having James/Victoria/Jasper/Edward tag along and having to explain that to the families. But... there might be a meet-the-parents situation, but I'll leave which parents as a surprise (Edward's? Rosalie's? Hmmmm...)

Ah, I'm just brainstorming out loud, figuring it out as I go. If any of you are reading this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how everything is going in the story and any questions you have, as well as thoughts on what I've got going here.

I might just start the next chapter tonight after all!

Thank you all so much for reading and being patient with me! *hugs*

FFn Profile Update

For those who do read this blog, or if you've just come here because of my FFn profile, welcome! I just posted a GIANT note in my profile there detailing why it has taken me so long to update. I hate doing it there, since I thought this blog idea would work, but after receiving a disturbing review basically scolding me for not updating and forgetting my readers, I thought I should post something more people would read instead of hoping they'd find themselves here. :)

I hope everyone understands the reasons why. For me, I need to feel myself in the story in order to write it, and with the stress and depression I'm experiencing, it makes it difficult to bother. Sometimes when I even think about working on the story, I feel a sense of dread and I can't explain why. Writing fanfic isn't my job, and I know I can't please everyone, but I fear that I fail at writing because it's not an exciting story or it's not playing out in my head the way I'd imagined it from the start.

Anyway, I'm not going into another pity party or anything. :) Thank you all for your patience!

Chapter 10 Teaser!

Okay! To prove to you guys that I've actually been working on chapter 10 of Someone to Watch Over Me, I bring you this teaser:
“Lalalala, I can’t hear you talking about my best friend’s sex life, lalala,” I chanted, watching her fight not to smile at my behavior. While I considered Carlie a friend as a result of being Jake’s girlfriend, I did not think we were close enough for us to be comfortable sharing the intimate details of their relationship. Even though I wasn’t much more comfortable hearing Jake say anything about his and Carlie’s sex life, it didn’t feel as awkward. He also only made comments about it to annoy me, but never got into any gory details.

Carlie pulled my hands away from my ears, and I looked at her warily, arms at the ready to react if she insisted on telling me what I didn’t want to hear. “I’m just saying, we’ve never gone that long without before and if he’s not… you know… with me, then he must be getting it somewhere else.”

I tried not to cringe at the thought of Jake doing… you know… with anyone, especially not Carlie. “Ok, Carlie. Let me just say something. I know it probably doesn’t help much, but I’ve known Jake since we were kids, like, little kids. I know that he doesn’t get involved in anything unless he really cares, and I know he’s dated girls before. I can honestly tell you that you are the woman for him. I have never seen him treat another girl as well as he’s treated you, never cared so much for someone as I’ve seen him care about you. He wouldn’t fuck this up over some random chick and sideline sexy times. I honestly believe that whatever he is doing that is taking time away from your relationship is nothing as heinous or devious as you’re thinking. I’m sure he has his reasons for whatever and things will go back to normal very soon. Just trust Jake.”

“I do trust him,” she said, slumping onto the counter. “I trust him with my life, and I love him. I don’t know why I’m being so silly and thinking that whatever the hell he’s doing has to somehow be the worst-case scenario. Drama queen much, Carlie?”

I chuckled. “Don’t worry. I know it’s gotta be tough to have a great relationship and then something changes, and you can’t help but fear the worst. Just trust your gut about Jake. Is it telling you he’d do something like that?”

She shook her head. “No. I overreacted. I’m so sorry to have come here and bothered you about it, Bella.” She looked abashed. “I feel really stupid.”

Yep. That's part of Chapter 10! Yay! There's still some work to go on it, but it's coming along nicely. Since my grandfather is visiting this week to give my aunt a break, that means my mother is bothering me even more and hiding out in my room, so that makes it more difficult to get in "the zone". I'd hoped to have it done in time to let everyone know about my participation in the Support Stacie Auction to see if I could get bids, but it was not to be because of the aforementioned circumstances.

Speaking of Support Stacie, the April Author's Auction is now closed! Thanks to everyone who bid, and congratulations to my good buddy TabithaAbraham/knit1purr2 for being the winning bidder! She was bidding to get the next chapter of StWOM, but I talked her into considering something else, since I have the chapter mostly done and don't want her to waste her money on something like that. Once the details are banged out, I'll let you guys know what's up!

Happy reading!