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.