pounds, shillings, and ounces

*Pokes LJ cautiously*
*Looks about from side to side*
*Slowly enters, sitting down carefully, as if the chair might be booby-trapped*

So... hi. It's been a while. I've been, how do you say, impossibly swamped. Between No Commas, work, class, family, friends, and The Novel (which is now called Hard Days' Nights on paper, but will always just be Alex in my heart), there's been little time for Journaling or Fanficcing or RPing even Anime-watching. Tis a sadly nerdless life I lead. (Says the girl running a webcomic, writing urban fantasy and double-majoring in Japanese and English.)

But for the first time in months I got a "day off" (read: I didn't have to go to work or classes, but I still spent the morning cleaning and the afternoon doing homework), so I thought I'd pop in and say Hello and play a little Catch-up. Let's start with the artsy stuff.

( On No Commas )


( On The Novel )

For the next month I will be doing almost nothing but writing research papers. When all that is over, I'd like to come back here and tell some amusing stories about the magical worlds of Chaucer, Shikibu, Marx, and Beckett. Preview: Dee learns the magic of "swyving," boils every philosopher's ideas down to a single sentence, and convinces a friend that Genji (yes, from the Japanese classic The Tale of Genji) is a vampire (mwahahah). It's been a fun semester, even if it has been a little hectic these past few weeks.

Other things I'd like to do over the holidays: write a few short stories, scribble up an outline for my kid's book, put together a more extensive backlog for Noses Off, and try to get back to work on the Fanfics.

( On Fanfics )

Okay, my back is starting to hurt (stupid computer chair), so I think I'll call it quits for the day. Time to play KH: 365/2 Days till I pass out. XD Hopefully I'll be back before the end of the year to tell some silly stories and report on creative progress. Wish me luck!

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

Today's avatar doesn't match my mood exactly, but it covers part of it. After a whole lot of editing and a whole lot of fretting, I sent off my first query letter for my novel (currently entitled The Last(?) Will and Testament of Alexander Stevenson, though I expect that to change before/if the book gets published). I fully expect to be pleasantly rejected in about a month's time. And then I'll send off another letter, and repeat the process until something exciting happens.

And I do think something exciting will, eventually, happen. Whether my book is good or not is up to everyone to decide on their own, but I personally love it and I'm also very confident in its marketability, which is important when trying to get your first work published. So I think that an agent or publishing company will recognize that as well, sooner or later.

So anyway, yes, I'm in a state of nervous excitement, and will probably remain there until I receive a reply. It's going to be a jittery month.

...

In other news, I got commissioned to do some cutesy artwork for a local hair salon, which is always exciting. (Turns out you don't need actual talent as long as your art is adorable, haha.) I don't know if I'm actually making money off of it, but if nothing else I'm going to ask them to help me advertise No Commas, and free publicity is always a good thing.

Classes started today, so I'm going from being "really busy" to being "unspeakably busy" in about a week. But at least I'm actually excited about this semester. Chaucer, The Tale of Genji, and lots of British plays. Should be a good autumn.

For those of you waiting impatiently for fanfics, I haven't forgotten them, I've just been preoccupied with the novel and the webcomic. Now that the novel edit is finished I do hope to get back to FY:NC, and probably BW as well. I'm also going to be writing some short stories for a couple of writing competitions. I want to try my hand at writing briefly, plus the prize money is pretty alluring.

In other words, I'm overloading myself as usual. But life just wouldn't feel right if it wasn't piled high with projects.

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

I took a break from posting the old comics on Noses Off! to post something new, sort of in honor of The Watchmen coming out tomorrow on DVD. The new comic is... well, it just is. I'm not posting them on LJ anymore, but here's where you can find it:

www.no-commas.com/nosesoff/newest.html

Bookmark it! ^_^ I should be posting mostly new ones from now on, so be sure to check every Monday for a fresh dose of silliness -- and don't forget to tell your friends about us, too!

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

My friend and I are in the process of co-writing something, so while she handles her bit I figured I'd stop by to assure everyone that I'm not dead, merely busy.

Things're going well, though nothing much has changed since I last wrote. I just finished Edit #2 of Alex (I still don't have a bloody title for that novel, damn it) and am in the process of trying to put together some query letters so I can get my hands on a Helpful Agent.

(Incidentally, after much waffling, I have decided that my book is good. It's not The Next Great American Novel, obviously, but it's fun and humorous and interesting, which is pretty much what I was aiming for anyway.)

I have an idea for my next book, a children's story about magic and dark forces and cow tipping and other nice things, but I'm going to wait until I'm satisfied with Alex before getting started. Besides, I need to visit a few places first.

I'm still working on No Commas, though my partner has been distressingly unproductive since Launch, so I'm not sure about the future of the site. If nothing else, I do expect to continue with the comic (Noses Off!). I may just have to drastically alter the web site itself. We'll give it another couple of months and see what happens.

Former Roommate Alicia and I are attempting to get our online text-based RPG Lux Nova running again, so anyone who's interested in joining, now's a perfect time to talk to me.

And in other news, work work work, jog jog jog, type type type, and maybe throw in a little sleep at the end there. Planning a trip to N'Ahlins with some friends in August. Should be fun. And then - back to school, where I will begin my brilliant career as an English student. We'll see how long it takes before I change my major again. ^^;

I'll try to write again sooner rather than later. I'm also going to try to have the next chapter of Broken Wings out by the end of July. But with my work schedule as packed as it is, we'll just have to see how well that goal goes.

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

It's been a week of accomplishments. ^_^

Check us out:

www.no-commas.com
(Where pausing just gets in the way of the laughter.)

Enjoy, and don't forget to tell your friends! (Please, please, please tell your friends!)

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

I finished my book!

I finished my book I finished my book I finished my book!

...So yeah. In case you didn't get the message: I finished my book. One year, 200+ pages, and many, many hours of paranormal silliness, sarcastic banter, and more vampiric puns than you can shake a stake at.

Now it's time to print it out, cover it in red ink, edit the living hell out of it, send it off, and prepare for the rejection letters to come flying in.

But for the moment at least, I dance the Dance of the Finished Novel.

Ole!

Cheers,
Dee ^__________^

Just barely made the due date! Blame the past week's lack-of-a-scanner for that one. ^^;

Origins: When Canis Met Rihga, Pt. 2
(This one's adowable.)

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

So here's been my life since classes ended.

( Life Without Homework )
So all-in-all, the end of May was both fun and productive, which is about as good as it can get. I just hope June will prove to be even better.

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

Because it's high time I show how the other characters wound up in Johnny and Rihga's apartment.

"Origins: When Canis Met Rihga, Pt. 1"
(Conclusions, you have been jumped to)

In other news... there is other news, I swear. I'm going to try posting it later this week. I've just been too busy to write about it up til now. But I've got a string of days off from work now, so we'll see what happens.

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

The thrilling conclusion!

Master & Commander-in-Chief, Pt. 3
(This is, officially, the silliest thing I've ever drawn.)

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

The Moste Glourious Conclusioun, In Whiche Three Enthusiastic Ladies and Two Unsuspecting Fellowes Take on the “Oni OVAs” (even the first three, which Dee thinks are a completely pointless waste of time but the boys insisted that we watch from the start because they wanted to imply that I wasn't willing to take the entire challenge with them, those ninnies).

Hear Ye, Hear Ye... And Let Us Beginne.

 

( Spoilers, Swearing, and Silliness Await )

 

 

And thus ended the OVAs. I decided to leave out Eikoden 'cause it was getting late and the boys were dragging a little, and besides, it's more like an extra story anyway. My Challengers received their first box of Pocky, the girls enjoyed another fluff-filled rewatching of one of their favorite (but honestly, not very good) shojo anime, and... well, the next day we all promptly detoxed by marathoning The Lord of the Rings, which may very well be the anti-FY. (Heheh.)

 

All-in-all, though, it was loads of fun.

 

Next up: Avatar marathon nights. And I'm sure I'll be back with a Quote Wall for that, too. XD

 

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

 

Back after 2 weeks of finals hell!

Master & Commander-in-Chief, Pt. 2

Oh, and you should have read "Legislation with a Porpoise" first. Yeah. There's a ChibiBama canon. XD

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

Yeah, the title is a Portal reference. I have no shame.

Figured I should post because it's been a while. I've been pretty swamped with school stuff the past couple of weeks. But now (drum roll) I'm done for the year! Just how "done" am I? Observe today's Facebook status:

Dee was all like, "Sup, Finals?" And Finals were all like, "Nothin' much. How 'bout you?" And Dee was all, "Oh, nothin'... just kickin' yo' ass!" And then she was all WA-BAM! POW! SPLAT! and Finals were all, "Oh, snap! We give up! You win!" And Dee was like, "Damn straight." And then she had an ice cream cone. True story.

So yeah, I am emphatically done.

Which means I should be back in the Interweb World, more-or-less, from now until August. Of course I don't exactly have "free time," as my business associate and I are hard at work turning our web site dreams into a reality (No Commas tentative launch date: June 19th. Tell your friends!), the web comics still need creating, and oh yes, as a matter of fact I am still writing my severely ridiculous novel (Finish Goal: August 2009. Publish Goal: December 2009. What can I say? I have no sense of reality).

Don't worry. I'm still squeezing fanficcin' time in there, too. ^_^

The point is, my summer is going to be packed, but it's going to be packed with everything that I want to do. And that, my friends, is the best kind of busy.

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

I am seriously, seriously annoyed at this sudden crackdown on copywritten music in home videos.

I mean, what the hell, music companies? It was bad enough when I couldn't post "Phenomena" (see my last LJ post for details) on YouTube due to "Mahna Mahna" (copyright!) playing in the background. But now I can't even post my school project on frickin' Facebook, where it is making me absolutely no money and is solely there to entertain and amuse my friends and family?

I just don't get it. Is there anywhere a girl can post her projects to share with her friends anymore? That's a serious question, by the way: Does anyone know of a place where I can post stuff like "Phenomena" without getting it stripped from the Interwebs? I just want people to enjoy it, damn it, I'm not looking to rob the music industry of a couple bucks off of a song from a children's show that hasn't made new episodes since the bleeding '80s! 

This is just such total B.S. The music industry needs to get its head out of its ass and let people post their damn home videos somewhere without demanding money every time someone listens to their bloody song.

...It's an Astronomy Project, for God's sake!

ARRRRGH!
Dee >.<

And you thought I wasn't gonna make my update day, did you?

Master & Commander-in-Chief, Part 1

I may have to stagger the next couple of comics, so don't be surprised if Part 2 doesn't show up until next Wednesday. It figures I would decide to draw an intricate comic trilogy right around finals week, huh?

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

The thrilling conclusion!

Live Free or Twi Hard
(Need I say more?)

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

And in honor of this obscure but most glorious of holidays...

I could survive for 47 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

So new life goal: Avoid being chained to a bed with a velociraptor.

So far, so good.

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

Swiped from Cara.

( Fun, Short Ficcin' Meme )


That's all I got tonight. Now time to work on the last Twi Hard comic!

Cheers,
Dee ~_^
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Because I believe it's my personal duty to bring you the best and the nerdiest whenever I can...

New Potter Puppet Pals!

It is the silly. And worth it if for nothing else but that last line. XD

The Phantamu?
So I got to see The Phantom of the Opera on stage this past weekend.

( General Musical Ramblings )

I already have the movie "best of" soundtrack, but I decided I wanted to go ahead and get the entire score, so last night I set out to torrent the original Broadway cast (because I'm a pirate, gyarr!). I found what I was looking for, of course. I also found the music... in Japanese! XD

Check this out!

And I am more than happy to upload the entire soundtrack for anyone looking to swipe it.

Cheers,
Dee ~_^

 

The plot thickens!

Twi Hard: With a Vengeance
(Rihga may be a prophet.)

Cheers,
Dee ~_^