Sorry. I really haven't forgotten about my blog. I missed it and have been craving writing on here, but it just wasn't happening with the whole craziness that was February. Seriously, February can go to hell. What an awful month.
I'll pretty much break it down.
-I kept going back to the Eye Institution in Morgantown, WV (about 45 minutes from my town) almost every week to check on my eyes for this stupid pseudotumor. I'm getting better and the swelling is almost gone, but the constant visits and tests are taking a toll.
-I almost didn't make it through the month money-wise. I was so tight on money from doctor's bills and a ridiculously high electric bill that I begged my mom for help. I hate asking for help with money, absolutely hate it, but I had no choice. My mom, however, insisted she was going to help me whether I liked it or not, and helped to pay for the remainder of the doctor's bills covered by insurance.
-Essays, essays, more essays, work, essays, essays, work, essays, work, and more essays.
-Got a bill from the hospital for $3000 from the ER. Apparently the insurance company told me they wouldn't cover the bill because my diagnosis wasn't an emergency. My symptoms were also symptoms of MS, lyme disease, and a friggin' brain tumor. Am I supposed to let that go? I'm a student and can only work part-time, so that $3000 is 1/3 of my yearly income.
-Dealt with a co-worker stealing my tips, but I had no way of proving it since those tables were all off-camera.
-Delved into a deep depression again from all the stress. I never want to see another hospital again.
But I guess in every storm there is a silver lining:
-My diploma arrived in the mail. Apparently I did graduate. I now have a Bachelor's of Science in Graphics/Fine Arts with a minor in Spanish, cum laude.
-Valentine's date with Sean in which we gorged ourselves, then went to see True Grit. Good movie, and I'm not a Western fan.
-Luckily, my mom is now a nurse, so she is pulling some strings to take care of that $3000 bill. I also talked to the optometrist who originally recommended me to the ER in the first place and he nearly crapped himself. He was seriously outraged and offered to write a letter on my behalf. Hopefully it will be taken care of.
-February is over.
I would like a break from the crap. Come on, fate, throw me a friggin' bone, here.
All right. Pity party over. Anyway, as an escape I've been writing a lot. I'm working on my rewrite now, and the comparisons between my second draft and this most recent one are astounding. Here, have another break down:
-I've turned chapter one into two chapters, chapter two into two more chapters, and increased the length of each chapter by 2-3 pages.
-The battle scene at the beginning of the book. Boy, did I have problems with that one on the first writing. I have a friend who knows a ton about ancient warfare and I got a lot of helpful advice from him about tactics, so it reads more realistically. In the first draft, the only thing I got right was that spearmen (the protagonist's tribespeople) are strong against horsemen (the attacking mercenaries. Thanks, Sid Meier's Civilization! In the new draft, I've included positional tactics such as flanking and repositioning, and what would happen once those sword and axe wielding horsemen were dismounted and fighting hand-to-hand with spearmen.
-I use a somewhat useless but fun website iwl.me, which shows what author you write like when you copy-paste your text into the field. I've gone from writing like Dan Brown (egad) and J.K. Rowling (not a bad writer, in fact, I love her books, but it's not the style I'm going for) to Neil Gaiman (SQUEAL), Ursula Le Guin (one of the best fantasy writers of all time), and Arthur C. Clarke ("I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.")
-My increase in words so far is over 4000. I have five chapters written for the new draft. In the second draft, I would still be in the second chapter. Damn, did I move the story too fast!
Well, that's it for now. I'll try not to disappear for a month again, but I can't promise I won't be abducted by aliens or Atlanteans or anything.
