I've done writing! Yay!

...On something people want to read, even!

Maybe!

I was cruising Kotaku this evening -- as I am wont to do, given my job -- when I came across an outside link to a very nice article.

I was reading a blog post earlier wherein one of the commenters mentioned that this site is not appropriate for teens.

She's right. That's why we have the age warning on the very first page after typing in the address, after all.

But, how hard would it be to do something that WAS specifically for transgendered teens?

For my zone, anyway.

I have settled on an idea for my novel for NaNoWriMo.

It is cheesy. It is historically inaccurate. It will likely tick a number of people off.

It will also be a blast.

I'm sure that nearly everyone here is familiar with the uncomfortable feeling of having to put up with your gender presentation and physical sex not matching exactly at one point or another.

I think I've posted a blog asking this same question in the past, but I can't remember and I can't find it, so I'll just go ahead and do it again.

How many people here prefer writing their stories by hand before taking them to the screen?

MORE WRITING IS GETTING DONE! HUZZAH!

However, that brings up an interesting question, and I need reader/author input on what is to be done. Those who don't want spoilers on the next PFH, DO NOT READ.

It's here, it's here!

You know that next part of Princess For Hire: The Second Semester that I promised, like, months ago?

It's finally written!

I've just sent it off to my official reviewer to read over before I post it, so expect it sometime late today/early tomorrow I guess, depending on how it is received by she.

No, it's not up to my old quality. Yes, it will get better. Heck, to be honest, I'm just glad I managed to sit down and churn out about five and a half pages in one sitting!

I am not what you would call a calm sleeper. I tend to toss and turn throughout the night, waking up, and falling back to sleep over and over again. Sometimes I come closer to consciousness than true sleep, and during these times, when I'm almost in control of what I'm thinking, I tend to have my clearest -- and often, strangest -- dreams.

Last night, this happened to me, and the result is something that, while nil on actual TG content, I still felt compelled to share.

Heya peeps! Long time no hear, right?

Let's kick this thing off right, then.

How many here can tell me the difference between good writing and great writing?

Anybody?

A tough question, right? After all, there are so many ways to judge a particular work. Great characters, but crappy story line? A great story, but terrible dialogue? Mediocre everything, but nothing particularly wrong with any one part? What makes a work of writing good, and what makes one bad?

Alright, so. As anybody who's talked to me recently knows, I've been planning, and hoping, and planning on a gaming PC build for several months now. I've gone through about fifty redesigns, ranging from under 300 dollars up into the low thousands. I've debated between producers of this and that, what features I needed, even what to name the damn thing.

Well, last week I finally got the money together to purchase the parts.

Alright, this should probably be in the forum section, but meh.

I'm asking this here, because I've cruised the Crystal Hall forums and found lots of contradicting recommendations from fans and don't recall ever really seeing an official response. So, here goes:

What IS the recommended reading order for the Whateley Academy stories?

I could always go strictly by posting date, but that seems inefficient and ends up with having to backtrack a lot as character's stories are started at the beginning of the year chronologically but much later as far as when they were written.

My little sister is not what you would call the most computer literate person in the world.

Nevertheless, when she said she had a "really good" computer that a friend had given her, I let my hopes get a bit up that it was something I could use, since I'm trying to build a gaming machine at the mo'.

The only downside, even if it didn't work out, seemed to be that attached to the offer was a whole slew of other computer parts and fiddly bits she didn't want to have to mess with, that I would have to take off her hands.

Let's face it, we've all had our off days in writing. Heck, lately that seems to be ALL I've been having.

Given that, some times we just need a little help kickstarting our creativity, right?

Melanie's Rules For Writing That Doesn't Suck

(Or: Why I Stop Reading Stuff)

Yup, that's right. In the span of the last five weeks, I've had TWO birthdays, my actual "OMG I'm a year older" one, and my BCTS birthday as well.

Ain't it just like me to start another new story and not post on it when I promised new parts soon?

I REALLY need to work on my reliability as an author.

I just posted the 2012 Ultimate Writer's Challenge challenge list in the forum.

For those still interested in trying to finish enough of the 2011 set to get the prize, there's still time! It's open 'til March 1, 2012 for those who wanna try to get it, and of course, it's not like I'm gonna tell people they can't write stories off the list's ideas whenever they want anyhow.

So it's been a while since I posted anything of real substance, no?

Well, here's the sitch.

I think I've already said this, but I've moved back in with my parents in my home town. I've got another job (at a surprisingly small pay cut) and I'm getting to see my cousins more often than I have in over ten years, which is great, not to mention playing with my niece Shelby and spoiling her with lots of toys.

Whoo, boy!

Well, in the last month or so things have been cah-RAY-zee for me.

About 25 days ago I turned in my two week's notice at my job at the hotel. I'd just, well, I'd had enough of everything, and of being stuck where I was, and so I decided to push the issue and set myself a date to move back home -- Monday, the fifth of September.

Thinking ahead, I decided to go ahead and fill out an application or two online ahead of time so I'd already have some prospects brewing before the end of my time at the hotel.

This is where things got weird.

First of all, I want to do something I only see authors rarely do -- thank all my readers for their comments.

When I first started here, I felt lucky to get three or four comments on any story or story part I posted. And you know what? I still do. Seeing that people like my work enough to responds -- and often into the double-digits of comments, no less -- always makes me feel amazing. To know that my work has affected someone enough that they feel the need to let me know about it -- it's a powerful thing, and one I hope I never stop appreciating, because every comment is special.

Alright, so here's the sitch.

I have the next part of PFH:TSS finished, with part 6 started. I also have the next issue of Switcheroo finished, with the next one about halfway done.

I was planning on waiting until I had a backlog of a part or two extra each before posting any more, but I want to know what people think. Should I post them now, or wait until I've got a buffer before doing so?

Melanie E.

So. Switcheroo and related characters.

I know some people have been less than happy with how little description I've actually given most of them in the story. First of all, I apologize for that.

However, to help with things, I have a little bonus for you!

Here are a handful of pictures of the Switcheroo cast I've drawn over the last few days. I'll add more posts like this as I get more characters done.

Keep in mind I'm not what you'd call the greatest artist, so bear with me on these:

Ladies and gentlefolk, may I present, the June 2011 Writer's Challenge Topics! *applause!*

In the last twenty-four hours I have managed two pages of "Princess For Hire" and three pages of "Switcheroo," giving me a total of... three pages of "Princess for Hire" and three pages of "Switcheroo" ready for the next postings! Almost there!

Seriously, though. I'll try to have the next part of each story out by the middle of next week. In the words of the great Ellen Hayes, I am finally entering a period of not-suck that means my writing is progressing again.

Who'da thunk rereading your own stuff would help?

Anyhow, I'm off to write!

Melanie E.

If one good thing has come from my Year O' Challenges, so far it seems to be Henry Harrelson's Custom Fit Boots.

I've been following the comments on all the stories, and I've seen that a number of people seem quite interested in seeing more stories in this particular universe.

This month's writer's challenges!

--Spies Like Us?
--The Song
--Creepshow
--Life On Stage

Month long challenge:

HOlding Out For A Hero

Sorry this isn't up to my normal par for these -- and a week late -- but with my crash and all I forgot all about it!

Melanie E.

I wasn't going to say anything, but...

It has recently come to my attention that someone has been cross posting their entries to my Ultimate Writer's Challenge at other sites. While I wouldn't do anything to stop this (even if I could,) I would like to ask that if you're going to do this you wait at least until the challenge is over.

Part of the entire point of the challenge is to draw authors out into posting, and readers into responding. By cross-posting stories to other sites, that somewhat undermines the second goal by splitting the potential readers between sites.

Alright, so here's the question.

I'm working on both PFH Book 2 right now and Switcheroo heavily, with another few projects getting worked on here and there. I'm not going to make any changes to the way I'm doing PFH, since it's into the second book already, but I am thinking about making a subtle change in how I do postings of Switcheroo. Specifically, I was thinking about going from two chapters per post to one, so that I could potentially post more often.