Today I will be Productive... or not.

[imbecamiel]

So. Life has been... busy. Seems like I'm always tired lately. I almost fell asleep during our Bible study last night. Several times. While we were singing. I've also taken to drinking about twice as much Mountain Dew as usual. (I need caffeine. Very much. Heh heh, so yes, drinking Mountain Dew. No, despite the odd way that sentence sounded on re-reading, I haven't been driven to drink in that way. 'Sides, it's another nine days before I could do that legally anyway. :P I'm tired. And rambling. *headdesk*) Universal consensus is that we're way overbooked at the moment. Unfortunately, there is also nothing we can do about it for a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to April being over. (Not least because a certain week in May is going to be Totally. Awesome. :) ) But yeah, I'm too tired to even list it all right now. So on to happier subjects...

First off - Mom upgraded my LJ account to a paid one as an early BD present! Yays, I finally get more icons :D So I've grabbed some awesome ones from Niro and shall be looking for more. I need some LOTR ones. I also need one for when I'm feeling crazy and hyper. :)

And as of today I'm officially finished with my big editing/rewriting project for the trucking company! Yes, I was supposed to have it done nearly a month ago, and yes, I did get the work done and sent to them several days before the deadline. But the man who hired me has been in Washington DC for the last month, and the company's content expert has also been out of town for over a month, so it's been kinda crazy, and there've been additions and changes and more proofreading... And I've been nerve-wracked, waiting this long to find out what they think. BUT the content expert loves the way I re-worked the manual, and everyone seems to be happy, and I just got my check, and the man who hired me has officially "declared victory" - his words *g* - and I'm DONE! Unless they hire me for the next project. But they're in the middle of some reorganization, and it'll likely be a bit before I hear anything on that, so... :D

And the temperature got up into the 40s today, so I have worn short sleeves with no sweater in celebration! I'm ready for spring, but springs here tend to be... indecisive. On Monday we got six inches of snow. Normally I'd be delighted, and it was beautiful and fun, but I'm ready to be done now. :P

And... my karate teacher keeps reminding me that I'm neither a ballet dancer nor a singer, so I need to actually shout and look intense and mean. I'm not sure I have a mean and intense look. And it seems mildly annoyed just doesn't cut it. BUT apparently I'm improving, because today she was really, really happy and said she was impressed, and... she wants us to compete in some upcoming regional karate tournament. Like, seriously wants us to. O.o

On a not-so-happy note, I have IMed Nef to inform her that I hate her now. I was writing really, really well and actually being prolific for days in a row and then she distracted me. Good, fun distraction, but still. Now I have writer's block and Can. Not. Think. So yeah. I hate her now. Though considering we're still on speaking terms and I've been drawing lots of stuff for her book (the new one) and helping her and I didn't actually punch her during karate despite having plenty of opportunity... she doesn't seem to be taking that fact too seriously.

I need more Mountain Dew. *trudges off to try to pretend like she can write*

Comments

[scarvenartist.livejournal.com]

You will spend the rest of April drinking Mountain Dew, and I'll spend it drinking cappuccino, I guess...with some espresso here and there too, maybe. :D I'm definitely sympathizing with the tiredness right now. *wants May to be here SO badly*

But yay for paid accounts and more icons! LOL, I'm regretting a bit that I updated my other LJ with a paid account, and now it's going to waste...I miss the icons.

Congrats on getting that editing job done too! One more down! How many other things are you still working on currently? I know you've had a lot, so it must be a definite relief to get some of them done, no matter how much you enjoy doing it. ;)

*giggles* Ah, yes, sisterly "hate." *shakes finger at writers-block-inducing Nef* Oo, but you say you've been drawing stuff for her book?!? *jumps up and down* Want to see!! :D

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

Gah. Yeah, every time I think I really shouldn't drink so much Mountain Dew... yet another thing comes up which causes me to even more desperately need caffeine. Last night my crazy bird decided to wake me up in the middle of the night, screaming like he was being killed, and I had to get out of bed twice before I could get him to settle down. Still can't figure out what he was going on about. *headdesk* And here I'd been trying so hard lately to cut down and keep myself to one can of pop a day. Not happening for a while, I guess. :P I wish I liked coffee... Wah, I want it to be May SO much!!!!!

As for editing jobs... Until today I thought I was pretty well on track with it, wrapping things up and finally getting to a point where I could focus more on writing. Then today I got the new issue of the homeschool magazine to work on (not V's). And a deadline that is way beyond shorter than usual to completely impossible. I'm gonna have to write back to her, because the only way I could conceivably get this done is if I get a minimum of sleep and do pretty much nothing at all but edit, which is just... so not possible right now. And to make it worse, I have to mail it to them in hard-copy - so I can't work right up to the deadline, I have to get it in the mail 4-5 days before it's due. I just... These people tend to be rather disorganized and often behind schedule, but this... Man, I'm too tired to even get really mad about it. *sighs*

LOL, I did actually manage to get a bit written yesterday, though, so my relationship with Neffie may not be completely un-salvageable. ;) And I did finally get a whole bunch of my more recent drawings scanned in (though not much from the new book)... I just don't have time to upload them. Argh. I DO plan to post at least a few on SNWCG within the next few days, though. Unless I go completely catatonic or gibbering insane, in which case Nef'll have to do it for me. :P

[scarvenartist.livejournal.com]

Yeah, every time I think I really shouldn't drink so much Mountain Dew... yet another thing comes up which causes me to even more desperately need caffeine.

Meep, I know exactly what you mean. I really ought to try to cut back on the coffee...I hate being virtually dependent on two to three cups a day, just to stave off headaches...but something always does come up. Like last night, we had about an eight-hour thunderstorm, and I slept horribly. Solution? More coffee, of course! :P

Oh, yikes, that magazine does sound more than a tad disorganized...I wonder if they simply don't understand the intricacy of the editing process, or what? *scratches head*

Eeee!! *happy squeal* Yes, you DO need to post them on SNWCG! It's been forever and an age since I've seen any of your drawings.... Definitely a bit of withdrawal here. ;) I'll be looking forward to them!

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* Yeah, I don't know. It just gets pretty chaotic. Even after they've sent the magazine out for editing, there'll be articles missing, and they'll be sending changes and additions... And for writers they're just not that great at communicating. It's been the primary reason I've been determined that I absolutely do not want to even look into long-term work at any magazine or newspaper, despite opportunities that've come up. (Working with ROC has definitely been better, though - their editing department is miles and away more organized and professional. Certainly helped improve my outlook on magazines.) I wrote back to this woman and told her that I could either do a very cursory job, or she'd have to give me at least twice that time to do it thoroughly. Took me a couple drafts before I could do it without being really rude, which says a lot about my mental state at the moment, considering I usually really do have a hard time putting my foot down with things like this (such as a client not paying me for six months... :P).

He, I'm glad you want to see the drawings, though! :D I'm trying to get them posted, but apparently life hates me at the moment. My browser crashed like six times when I was trying to upload the pictures. *sighs* Hopefully sometime later today...