Casual Saturday: Power Rangers Fan Film

I wasn't able to post yesterday, but there was still something I wanted to post about. When I was younger I loved the power rangers. I was even a power ranger for Halloween in forth grade. Now that I'm an adult, I find myself looking forward to the upcoming reboot, so when I heard about the fan film that was getting so much attention I had to check it out. I wish I could say I liked it. I think the majority of people who watched it did like it. I think the biggest problem that I had with the fan film is that the power rangers always fought aliens, in this it took place after some sort of war against the machines. The film had no zordon or alpha, no Goldar or Lord Zedd. The story was lacking, the acting wasn't as great as it could have been, but it was a power ranger movie so I suppose it's ok. I didn't believe any of the people in the roles that they were in. This did not feel like a power rangers movie. The power rangers has always been a little goofy, and that is part of it's charm. I would love to see a dark power rangers film that still had the charm of the original show. What's wrong with fighting some villains and then hanging out at Angel Grove High? That's what the original rangers did. What's wrong with Bulk and Skull being goofy? Maybe the fan film was too gritty for me.

Writing isn't as easy as you may think...

In the past I never listened to talk radio, but within the past six months I've found that I enjoy listening to the John J and Rich morning show on my way to school. This morning they were talking about this woman who has made over 5 million dollars on YouTube for just opening up packages of toys. They thought the idea of the channel was silly and asked for people to call in and talk about people they knew who made a profit for doing something silly or something simple. The first caller was a woman who said she knew a former school teacher who earned enough money to quit his job and support his family by writing erotica. She then went on to say that his main audience was in Europe, and her tone of voice let on that she didn't take writers seriously. Maybe it was the type of book he wrote, or maybe she just wasn't an avid reader. Maybe she has no idea what it's like to write, or maybe she only considers manual labor to be work. It doesn't matter what her reasoning was for thinking writing isn't a good career choice, it's a view that seems to be widely shared. I usually don't even tell the people in my daily life that I'm working on self publishing a novel. They seem to have the idea that it's a hobby. For me, writing is not a hobby, it's what I want to do with my life. It also isn't easy. Aside from just thinking up the story and putting everything together to see how to works on the page, you also have to know how to self edit. If you self publish, like I am planning to do, you do all the marketing, I'm pretty sure that school teacher she was talking about was a self published author. You have to read through your own book so many times that there comes a point where you almost grow sick of your own beloved characters. You're constantly changing things in your novel, you have to know at least the basic rules of grammar. If you self publish then you have to seek out someone to draw your cover. There are a lot of things you have to do that I'm sure I haven't even run into because I haven't published yet, but I know that writing isn't easy. I knew that when I decided to take on the job of self publishing a novel.

What if no one reads it?

I'm sure the question that's crossing my mind right now is the same question that's crossed almost every writer's mind. What if no one reads it? I haven't even published anything yet, but the question has been weighing heavily on my mind. Maybe it's the reason I haven't finished editing. Maybe I'm not sure of myself. How much would it bother me if no one reads the work of fiction I've been working on? Maybe it'll bother me a lot, maybe it wouldn't bother me at all. Even if no one reads my book, it won't take away from my accomplishment. I would have written a book, promoted it, and tried my hardest to sell it.

Casual Friday: Things that women in their thirties shouldn't wear or do...

I recently turned thirty, and although I don't look or feel thirty, I was annoyed when I came across an article telling women what they should throw out when they turned thirty. I read the entire article, which was more like a picture gallery. Each slide made me more annoyed. Some of the things were ridiculous and probably meant as jokes, but others where things such as graphic tees and Pink. I see women of all ages all the time wearing sweatpants from the pink line, and I never consider them too old for the products. Clothing and make up does not have an age limit. Articles like that one only serve to make women feel self conscious about themselves. I feel like all women should be themselves, dress like themselves in the appropriate situations. Clearly no woman should wear a graphic tee to a job interview or a fancy dinner, but that doesn't mean there's no place in their closet for it just because they've turned thirty.

Would my characters have had a decent Valentine's day?

While I haven't published anything yet, I have been working on my writing for awhile. Due to school and work it's been hard to get any content out. I still found myself thinking about my characters during Valentine's day. Would they have had a happy Valentine's day, or would they have spent it the way I did? At work, bored out of their minds. I'm not sure how much I disclosed about the werewolf series that I hope to have published sometime soon, but Anyssa is the main character in that series and she's locked in an apartment sized jail cell as part of her punishment for reviewing werewolves to the outside world. ZB, the main character in the zombie story I started but never finished would probably have lost track of time and not know it was Valentine's day. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish that novel, but I do see potential in it. Lastly, I've been working on a grim reaper novel, and my main character would be working with no Valentine to keep her company. Why didn't I give any of these characters a happy Valentine's day? The answer to that is simple, I feel like my characters have to go through things to make them seem more real. They can't always have true love, or even a happy ending. No one would want to read about a character who has everything going for them. Imagine how boring a novel would be if the main character got everything they wanted and a happy ending. I don't think many people would want to read that. I am aware that lots of people enjoy reading books with a happy ending, but I think the happy endings need to be earned. No one wants to read a book where everything comes easy. Hopefully, no one wants to write a book like that either, it's just lazy.

My blog needs some work

Looking through my blog, I realize that it needs a lot of work. I have to get more detailed with my reviews and I have to go more in depth for my casual Fridays. More than anything else, I need to get back to talking about writing. I need to change the layout of my blog, do lots of editing, find interesting topics that people want to read about. Hopefully I'll be able to do all of those things and get this blog back on track.

Weekend Review: Life After Beth

I love zombie movies, however, not all zombie movies are worth watching. When I saw the ad for Life after Beth it looked like an orignal take on the genre. It was supposed to be a mix between drama, comedy, romance, and horror. It didn't take me long to decide that this was worth a watch, and it also took me about half the length of the movie to regret that choice. The movie is about a guy who loses his girlfriend, only to have her come back as a zombie. At first everything seems great and it just seems like she has some holes in her memory, then she decides it would be a good idea to eat people. This movie had potential, it could have been great, but it just falls flat.



One and a Half Stars Out of Five 

Casual Friday: Valentine's Day

It's the day before Valentine's day, and I can't help but wish for one of those big teddy bears or some other nice surprise from my boyfriend. Unfortunately, I will be working that day and won't get to see him, but we plan to have our own Valentine's day. Anyway, I just wanted to stop in and tell whoever's reading this happy Valentine's day. Hope your day is packed with roses and candy.

Should I put my writing before my needs?

Recently, it was time for me to leave work and instead of allowing me to leave the store manager told me that I needed to put the store's needs before my own. I can not express how angry this made me. The job I have now is not my dream job. I'm sure it's someone's dream job, but I'm barely scarping by with what I get paid. It's even worse now that I barely have any hours. Why am I talking about this issue which seems so personal in my blog? I'm talking about it because it got me thinking. I've been slacking on my writing. I actually have an almost finished novel on my computer, just waiting for it's final edits and I have yet to release it. I have another novel that I can't wait to devote some time to. I have several ideas for comic books that I haven't even gone over, and worst yet, my boyfriend is waiting to draw the images for those! This leads me to wonder, should I put my dream before my own needs? It's something I've wanted to do my entire life, but I'm not getting the chance to. Not that I would give up on school and quit my job (oh how I wish I had a new one though). I just wish I had more time to devote to writing. I'm sure that I could find some time to cut somewhere. Maybe I could combine my writing time with something else. Maybe I could bring my tablet to the gym, or use my cell phone to type up ideas. I do know one thing, I won't be giving up on my dream.

How do I make my dream come true?

Today I realized that I've been working for ten years (since I was twenty). The jobs I've been working haven't been ones that I've liked, but usually I can find something about the job that doesn't make me totally miserable. The jobs I've been holding aren't ones that I like, and I know I have to go to college to get something better. The reason I bring up my job at all is because I'm not doing what I dream of doing. I'd love to be getting paid to write books, but so far I haven't finished one. I think even when I was a little girl I wanted to write. I used to write goofy little horror stories and show them to my parents and teachers and sometimes to my friends as well. I fell like I'm not driven enough. I feel like I need to do something to ensure that I have time to sit at the computer and type out at least a paragraph a day. I need to use the notebook that I carry everywhere. I need to get motivated and snap out of this funk, because I can't let my dream pass me by.

Promotion

I've been thinking about self promotion a lot. I used to promote myself a lot via twitter, and I am trying to move on to facebook and other mediums. I also know that I have to update the look of my blog and maybe get a website of my own. I am not sure that I want to let people view my instagram, since that's really a private glimpse into my life. Other than that, I'm not really sure how to get more views. Do I take out an ad on facebook? Do I join groups and hope that people will like my facebook page? I even considered entering a reader's digest contest, but that costed money. There has to be some way to get myself out there and build an audience for when I am finally able to release my novel.