"Like... is any of this for real... or not?"

Apparently, I'm not a real blogger.

I know a handful of people who blog regularly. One of them is The Girl In The Capital (we'll call her GC from here on out). I check her blog on a daily basis, even though she only updates it once or twice a week. And no, the dates aren't predetermined. In fact, GC's blog is the only one I frequently check for new posts. Any other blogs I peruse, I check them maybe once a month and then catch up on the new ones.

You might think that I'm weird, but not really. I like The Girl In The Capital.

Anyway, she wrote a post about a boy she's been seeing for little more than the past month. GC goes on to talk about how she met the "Cute Writer" and how they've spent several weekends together. It was a formal introduction of the boy to her readers little more than a month after their "first date." But when I read this post, I noticed something.

There was no mention of actually dating the boy. GC wrote, and I quote, "The Cute Writer and I have been kissing on a regular basis for about a month now." So I asked her about it, and she told me it was a blogger's euphemism for dating. "Kissing on a regular basis" = "Dating," apparently. I did not know that.

So as a joke, when GC told me that it was a blogger's euphemism, I said "So I guess I'm not a real blogger then." And then I was told that I needed to have a blog to be a blogger. GC doesn't know I have this one, yet. And I also apparently broke a fundamental rule of blogging? It was explained to me by GC and a mutual friend of mine and GC's (that lives in the capital too) that on a blog, you need to mention a person twice before you can formally introduce them.

Oops, sorry The Girl In The Capital, I guess I broke that rule. Forgive me?

Something New

I'm a writer. Not just this blog, or articles or papers or essays or short stories or long stories or poetry or scripts. I do all of that, but for nearly the last year, my focus has been these novels I've written. I started the first book in July 2007. It wasn't the first time I've written a story of that length, but it is the first one I did properly. It was the first one of that length that I finished and actually enjoyed. It took me three months to write the first draft, which was over 72,000 words. I haven't gotten to the self-edit/second draft yet because, well, I've been working on sequels. It took me little less than three months to write the first draft of book two, which was close to 83,000 words.

Now here I am, about ten and a half months since I started the first one. And I'm getting close to finishing the third book of the series. All three are in continuity, following the same world, revolving around the same characters. In short, they're about super heroes. You can expect more details pertaining to plot and characters later, but in the meantime, I just want to share my excitement with you.

I'll certainly be finished the third book before I hit the first year anniversary of when I started book one. That all in it's own is both exciting, and impressive. A lot of people that know I'm writing books tell me about how it takes people years before they finish their first book, and here I am nearly done the first trilogy of the series. Each book is individually titled, and I don't yet have a title for the series itself. But I'm sure I'll come up with something fitting at some point.

When it comes to super heroes, or super powers, it's difficult to do something new. Practically everything's been done. After all the comic books, novels, television shows, cartoons, and blockbuster films, practically nothing is new or unseen. So when I started, I knew right away that there were going to be some similarities to existing super hero work. But at the same time, that knowledge helped keep me on track. Because this way it wasn't always about trying to think of something that hadn't been done before, but trying some things in a way that hadn't be done before. I like to think that to some extent, I have.

An example of something new for me, and something I've never seen done before:
I'm nearing the end of the third book, and it's at a point where the last HUGE battle is taking place. We're talking a small handful of heroes versus several hundred bad guys. Close to two thousand even. Instead of writing the whole battle out in a chapter or two, I'm trying something different. Something I've never done before. I'm about five chapters into this battle so far. Each of these chapters are from the perspective of a different character, so you can see each personal battle and try to put the pieces together for the overall thing. The exciting bit? I still have another eleven or twelve chapters to write before I've written from every hero's point of view, and THEN I can start to wrap up the fight. So instead of an epic sounding battle that lasts two or three chapters, you get ten to fifteen chapters or so of the battle, each from a different point of view.

I don't know what you think, but it's exciting to me. And fun as heck to write.

Good Deeds

Good Deeds for the last two days.

Wednesday:
I was out of the house really early that morning. I was meeting my friend Beverly for breakfast. I know her from high school, but she graduated like 3 years ahead of me. Anyway, she moved to Texas a couple years ago, and she was visiting Montreal, so we got together for breakfast. I was out of the house earlier than expected, so I went to the nearest public park to sit on the swings. I noticed a large amount of trash, mostly beer bottles and an empty two-four case. So I cleaned that up. That was my good deed for Wednesday.

Today (Thursday):
Walking back home from meeting a friend (a bit younger than me, but just as mature, which is nice), some kids are playing hockey in the street. They must've been like five or six. Anyway, they shoot the ball and it goes flying down the street towards me. No, it didn't hit me, but it did go by me. Instead of keeping my pace, I turn around and chase the ball. When I finally caught it, I rolled it down the street back to the kids.

I feel slightly better about my day now, after doing that. We need more people doing random acts of kindness in this world.

Capital

So I'm back from my trip. I was in Ottawa.

In short? It was a good time.

In not so short? Well...

Friday night I went to this party with the girl I was staying with. I half expected it to be one of those "don't know anyone, so not having the best of times" kind of parties. I was wrong. Oh, I was so wrong. I made friends with nearly everyone there. Got to put my mixing skills to test too. I came up with a bunch of new recipes with someone I met at the party. I used to try to come up with recipes for drinks a couple years back. I made some good ones, so it was fun to get back into it.

Saturday I went to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. I'm not going to say anything about it for those who haven't seen it, but I enjoyed it.

Sunday I spent the afternoon with my friend. It was good. A lot of walking though, and a lot of time out in the sun. I think I got heat stroke, as I didn't feel well. Didn't eat supper, and had a good three hour nap. Which was nice. But then I didn't sleep any that night. Literally. I was up all night long.

Monday... skipped school. I'm out of school though, so it was my friend skipping. Enough said.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to writing my books.

The First

So I went out with two of my friends tonight. For the sake of example, we'll call them Clark and Chloe (Clark's idea. He calls me Pete). Anyway, the three of us have been pretty close for the last few months. In fact, that's how long we've known each other and been friends, but we've always been close. We used to go to this pub called "Reborn from Ashes" (not really, but again, sake of example) on Thursday nights and Saturday nights.

Now, Clark's been having troubles with some people at this pub. People like (always for the sake of example) Alexander, Whitney, and a few others. So he decided to take me and Chloe to this new pub, called VIP. First time Chloe and I had ever been to this place. We were excited to check out somewhere new, and we were under the impression that there was going to be karaoke this night. This was all Thursday night, by the way, even if it's Friday (at least, here it is). Anyways, we get there, and...

...it's dead.

Two people other than us. Three if you count M.C., the bar mistress. No karaoke. Just... lame, quiet, not energetic at all. In the end, it reflected on all of our moods. The walk back to the car (a good, long walk) was a quiet one. We were all... not bad moody, but certainly not happy.

I both hope and know that this weekend is going to be a million times better that last night ended up being. I'm out of town for a few days, getting back Tuesday. I'd tell you all why, but it'd take me hours just to think of the right words to explain. All in due time, don't worry.

PS: Just to confirm, I am allergic to nuts. And a great many other things as well.