Memoirs of an English Major

“Hell, if I had concentrated my efforts, I could’ve written a book,”

   I didn’t even notice, but this blog is now about a year old! Wow. It’s amazing what has happened. And with a word count like that, I’m quite impressed. So, in a celebratory fashion, I’m going to link the top 5 posts with the most words that are NOT fiction, each with a small description. 

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I know I have been slightly lazy in my posting habits. It’s not that I haven’t been working on things, just pondering my next move. In any case, I would like to at least reveal where it will be placed. Recently, I have been working on a novel length work. Well, more like attempting. In fact, after the last re-scrap, I think I’m only about 2000 or so words in. And I can’t post the first section quite yet, not because it isn’t in a state for publication, but because it was a story used in a contest that is supposed to be anonymous until the winner is announced. As the contest is still going on, It’ll be simply stubbed out until the time is right. Until then, check out the section on my site at rvillegas.org/wiki.  I feel that by putting into a Wiki format, I’ll have better control at viewing the progression of the work through all the revisions. It will also allow me to view each version and compile a better understanding of me as a writer. Plus, it should make for an interesting way of looking at my writing process.

Lately, I’ve been in a strange writing mode, primarily due to the work that I writing. I’ll make sure to post all my notes one of these, though I’ll have to sort them out. In any case, I’ll give a little bit on insight into the work. It is told from the first person view of two characters. Lately, I’ve concentrated on creating the two characters voices and making sure they are distinct. It’s slightly trickier considering one is female. The tricky part mainly figuring out a way to pass the story along between the two characters, each having their own say in the matter. It’s actually quite challenging and I’m glad that I scrapped my original idea in favor of this form. It will make for a better story. For now, feel free to explore what is on the wiki now. Should be interesting as to what comes of it. Till then, enjoy.

   This will be a short post for now. I know I haven’t written much over the course of this week, but lately I’ve been in a lackluster mood. Not quite sure why, but I’ve been apathetic to the world around me and I really wasn’t sure why. As it turns out, all I needed was the proper kick to get back to work. Right now, I just got out of Pixar’s latest film Wall-E and it was exactly what I needed to spark me up and get me back into the exact mental state to create everything I have set out to create. Sometimes, it takes a small, computer animated robot to put everything to perspective. Thank you Pixar for reminding me what it is I strive to achieve and for making it all clear. Sometimes, all I need to do is pop in a John Lasseter produced film to just remind me why I do what I do and why it matters.

     This is completely out of my normal post and also out of the usual posting time. In fact, I should be sleeping at this moment. But I had the strangest dream and felt like sharing it. The odd thing is, I think I could work this sort of thing into a story. And since I’m writing it and analyzing it, it should help. I know who the people are in the dreams, but to avoid the issues dealing with people in my dreams, I’ll omit the names. If you would rather not read about my dreams, feel free to skip this post. If you’re curious what my strange mind creates in my waking mind, venture on.

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But I love Keith Olbermann

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” - Nick Carraway

   It’s strange how and why I tend to do the things that I do. Take this web site for example. Did you know that this is only the 4th blog I have actively updated? It’s true. Originally, I had a blogger account before Google bought it out, where I would comment on general geek topics with a couple of friends. In fact, that was the first blog I had used in a charity effort to post for 24 hours straight. It was actually the only time I had stayed up for 24 hours straight and it is something I would not mind doing again, should the need arise.

    But tonight’s post is not a rant on my writing past, but more so on the present. This week has been a pretty slow week to my creativity and writing style and frankly, I’m not too sure why. Perhaps it could be the week has taken a tole on me or perhaps it is my lapse in passion. Or perhaps my event in Chicago may actually be effecting me more so than I thought. Before you read on, this post may be a bit more personal and commentary on my life than other posts and if you would care not to read a memoir section of this site, you can skip this post. But, as this is my site and my content, I feel it is just and correct to write on this. And so, I continue.

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Well, as you can see, I have made some changes to the sidebar. I have removed the Project Wonderful ad box. It actually did nothing for the blog money wise and it started to look tacky. It’s a great idea for bigger blogs I guess, but for my “anti-niche” niche blog, it doesn’t seem to fit, so it gone. My end report is that I’m not the type of site to make money off of that sort of ad box. It is not a negative comment against Project Wonderful, just that it is not for my site. I’ll try something some other time, but right now, this is not it.

    If life were a John Hughes film… screw it. I’d still be single

   It’s Thursday and usual this would end the week of posting, but I’m leaning towards having a post up tomorrow as well. If anything, it will be a work of fiction ready and waiting for your consumption. But my mind is currently split between writing and coding. It’s a common practice that I have become used it, but it is a bit hard to switch mind sets in one sitting. If you’re curious as to what I am working it, it is an Adobe AIR app using Flex as the engine. It will be open source and it will be something that writers should be able to use. Hopefully by the end of the month, I’ll have it in an alpha state to actually use, though the code won’t go up till later this month. In any case, I know this is short, but I must get back to coding. So, for those of your craving entertainment, click on the more tag and enjoy the video below.

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Ever since Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote earlier this week, I’ve been extremely excited. Even though I still have yet to purchase my first Apple computer, I am a huge supporter of the company and its principles. I know some out there really don’t see why I support the company, considering that I’m well aware I could not only build a faster computer at a cheaper cost. Well, to be honest, it’s not the hardware that’s attractive, but simply a lot of the programs that are made for the mac side, such as Scrivener and Textmate. Sometimes though, I do wish those Objective-C coders would migrate their cocoa applications over to the Windows side, just so I could try them out.

     But tonight’s post is not about WWDC. The event itself is covered in numerous places, so if you want more information on that, please refer to those articles. Nope, tonight is one other thought that entered my head during my travels, captured in my new orange book. It is another stray thought, though it is once again that of a character. It is a fairly fleshed out character and is already part of a story. As to where this will be worked into, I am not quite sure. Probably somewhere important. Anyway, enjoy.

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