51055 WORDS!

Stats

This month, as I've written before, I started the NaNoWriMo Challenge. I've already written a lot (more than half) of it and I'm pretty sure I'll reach my mark (50000 words) by the end of the month.
That's not the point of this post though.
Because I've been constantly checking how many words I wrote, I got curious enough to wonder myself... just how many words have I ever written? Now, I obviously can't sum everything I've ever written up. However, I can and did actually, sum up everything that I've written (concerning stories and whatnot) that I've found in my computer. This doesn't include school assignments (although adding those would probably double everything up:D).
I have in my folder titled "My stories" a few categories:
I have Mesmeria, with its multi sub-folders (for every area in Mesmeria): 238225 words !!!
Then there is the "Finished" folder with dozens of short stories (most of them suck though): 26924 words
"Other Stories" folder (where the stories that don't happen in Mesmeria and that have something to do with fantasy end up): 26813 words
Chrono - 2215 words (some synopsis on one of my stories)
I dreamed the end of the world - 381 words (a dream I've had with zombies that I wanted to dissect with a friend but never got around to do it... sadly...)
Story beginning - 46 words (a fleeting idea that needed to be put on paper... er... screen?)
General Book of Potions... - 2955 words (this was my Harry Potter phase... don't ask...)
Pirates - 1883 words (my "make a game" phase... I was supposed to write the plot for a game that a bunch of us cooked up but the project fell through...)
Last, but not least, there is a story I was writing online with this girl from the other side of the country. It was fun until I went to college... Then I gave a lot of things up, writing was part of them for a while at least. We never really finished this story: "Jeux a la Magie" - 28688 words (written with Ana).

I stopped and thought about this after I've actually seen how much I've written... Without counting the collaboration, I'm almost at my 300000 word mark.

So, here's to 300000!!!
Over and out!

NaNoWriMo

Nation Novel Writing Month is, as the name implies, a widespread (international actually but the name wouldn't have sounded so nice with Int:P) challenge addressed to all the writers (both published and unpublished) which has been taking place for many years already.
Last year was my first year participating, with "The Witching Hour" actually. Didn't win then but I plan to do so now.:)
Basically, NaNo is an exercise for all writers. During the month of November, you're supposed to write day and night and achieve at least 1667 words per day, so that at the end of the month you'll have a draft of 50000 words. I only managed around 35000 words last year since it was my last year in college and I had a lot of projects to do.
NaNo started yesterday but unfortunately I wasn't able to start then. When I came home from work there was no power. When the power finally came back (my candles were almost dead, thank God!), I went online. My internet connection died 5 minutes after I opened my computer (yeah, rotten luck).
So, I'm starting NaNo today. A day late, so for me there will be 1725 words to type per day. I'm going to take a break from Adva and Cassie and Taegan and the rest of the cast and concentrate on another region in Mesmeria, the country of Ylenea. The story I'm writing this month is more or less a twist on "1001 Nights", only the "Tales of Ylenea" will be told by a drunken 1000 year old parrot bewitched by a lonely dragon.
If I forget to update Zombie Desk with any choice tidbits, I humbly apologize and I will give you a metaphorical candy to shut you up. :D (chocolate or bacon flavored, pick one)
Until next time, cheers!

Doodles

Vampire Girl - remake of a very old drawing

Dancer

Another remake - Venetian Mask - This is only for fun, trying new masks and sleeves.

Thief

Doodles that I actually colored... nothing fancy though

Banshee?

All Souls Night

All Souls Night

Can't remember exactly where I got the border brushes from, from dA, maybe Shadowbrushes?

No shades or highlights

No background - ended up cutting the right side

Right out of the scanner

Santa's little helper

Nah... just kidding, it's Cassie again... This started out as a simple sketch for the next chapter (no.4) from my other blog (here). I'll post the chapter sometime this week, still have a few pages I need to look over until then.
Anyway... this sketch had a mind of its own because apparently it wanted to be filled in, colored, the shit. :) I even made a background... part of one anyway, got bored halfway through and decided the drawing needed more snow (har har)!

Cassie - half transformed (those are scales - the green thingies)

The pattern on the dress came from a brush... from Google (long live Google because I can't remember the site I got the brush from:D).

19 - 21

I've just finished reading (drooling over) a wonderful book titled "Nineteen - Twenty-One".
19-21 is a manga written by Yohan and drawn and colored by Jenna (Kim Hye Jin). Not only was it fully colored which added a special feeling to the reading material but it also had cats!
I love cats! They are majestic and carefree and also cats always calm me. I can have fun playing with a dog or engage in an all out word-war with parrots or even make funny faces at turtles but it's only cats that really calm and relax me. Coming home after a stressing day and just petting my cats and hearing them purr suddenly makes me see the world with different eyes, a better place than it actually is.
I'm straying from the subject however.
19-21 is a story about a girl and a boy who start to take care of stray cats, it is a story about how they manage to change the thoughts of small-minded people about cats and ultimately it's the story of how important it is to see the world around us as filled with beings that survive with little to nothing and still manage to live life to the fullest without being sad.
You can read the whole story here:
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/nineteen_twenty_one/
The art is beautiful (a plus really but I would've read it even only for the story) and I like the ending.
Not every battle needs to be with the entire world. If you manage to change the heart of even one person then you can say you've spent your time wisely.
Enjoy the story, buy the volume (I'm going to) and feed a stray!
Until next time. I'm going to find my cats now.

My sense of color

...flew out the window. Not that I care much. I might redo this, since it's so freaking bright and shiny, but right now I needed to do something... umm... not dark, I think. My mood isn't exactly like this picture but I very much want it to be a fraction of it.
So, whatever, this is my way of venting my frustration.
Enjoy?
Or cover your eyes... it is bright.

Butterfly Girl

This was done completely in SAI.

P.S. I've also been writing on Mesmeria but haven't finished the chapter yet. My free days weren't exactly as free as I envisioned them so I was stuck doing everything else besides the things I like doing (drawing, writing). Can't say I hope it'll get better. It won't. Yet.

Texts no. 3

I've made a special category for these texts since my sis and I keep exchanging moronic (but funny:D) messages.

So, here's this week's (month's?) batch:

1.

Sis: Yeah, I just managed to open my window, I'm standing here and hoping I don't get sunstroke. (This was following a convo about how freakishly hot it was outside, my sis managed to open a window in her room but was too lazy (I think) to remove herself from the open window afterwards).

2.

Sis: OMG! It's 5 and it's so sunny here! How's at 1?
Me: Sunnier.
Sis: I think you're a vampire.
Me: Hmm.. Well, I don't have fangs and I don't burst into flames when the sun touches me. Although I do like nights better than the days though. (Also, I don't sparkle, so I'm not a fairy either)
Sis: Hmmm... A werewolf? Witch? :-??
Me: I don't turn furry every month so the wolf is out. I'm not ruling out the witch though.
Sis: I'm burning! :)) So I might be a vampire. But witch seems more awesome :/
Me: A vampire witch? (A witchy vampire?:D)

3.

Sis: "Don't encourage beggars. They earn the most!" Does this include pigeons? Because I just encouraged some... (I'll give her that, she's brave, I wouldn't have had the courage to feed the birds, they could eat you alive if they see food)

4.

Sis: I jumped into a cab once and followed another cab. A friend said the local "follow that cab" :> :))
Me: Was it "follow that horse-pulled wagon!"?
Sis: :)))) Can you please follow the cab in front of you?

5.

Sis: Sis!!! I'm fucking scared of bees and there is one flying around here and the people believe I have Parkinson... :-s
Me: =)))) Did you use a floral perfume?
Sis: Nope. I don't even have perfume on. My pizza isn't flowerish either, no weed on me... Idk what attracts her/him here.
Me: Maybe it is attracted to your clothes or something. (Maybe its GPS was broken...)
Sis: Is not an object! Is he or she:)) God.
Me: Did you check it to know what it is, Einstein?
Sis: :))))) You check it, Zweistein. You wanna know the gender >:p

8.

Sis: The cow who elbowed her body onto at least 1/4 of my chair complains that these chairs are uncomfortable... Well FUCK YOU. How do you think they work at 3/4 the capacity?

I honestly had the most fun reading this. My sister is almost as lunatic as I am, but since I'm older I have more experience.:)))

9.

My sister started playing medieval SIMS or whatever.

Sis: I'm a horrible queen. This girl came to tell me she's possessed by demons and she's starting to like it. She asked me if she should go to church. I suggested a tavern. :-s (What an interesting option, I would have suggested the same).
Sis: And we also have a hot, but evil and unkempt bloodletter and an adventurous, good but drunk witch. :)) And I really hope your phone is on silent...
(This after waking me at 3.30, an hour before my alarm went off and I had to go to work... my sister really did learn from the master...)

10.

Me: "Green leaves and fish bits/Look at how the moron reads" - this was written big and wide on a wall. I felt kinda dumb so I'm sending it to you so you can feel too.:)))
(The verses are approximations since I translated them from my language and I tried to make them rhyme.:D)

Also, can you spot the weird thing in this post? If you do you can have cookies...















... I heard they sell them from a white van now.:D

What I've been up to lately

The weekend from two weeks ago there was a Medieval Fair in my town and my sister came to join me. There were the every year stands with jewelry and medieval hats (I really like those), the hanging rope, the guillotine (with only the wooden frame this year though), the people dressed as ladies and knights, ghosts and clowns (why clowns I will never know). There were also the dumb things like the million and one stands with silver jewelry where the owners offered to buy anything made of silver and sell you their merchandise that was the same as the one from the next stand and the last. It got boring after some time. There was no roasting pig as there was one year, nor the same jousting tournaments or sword fights that we had in the past years. But there was an enclosure with goats and chickens. Why? I have no idea. It wasn't really that popular. This year was remarkably disappointing.

Good thing my sister came over. We had fun, not so much at the festival but while we waited for the fireworks. We went to this park where there were swings and started talking and swinging (I haven't used a swing in years so it was really fun)... until the guard came and told us to cut it off, that we weren't children and we weren't supposed to use the swings. It was night, there were no children in the park and yet we "weren't supposed to use them". Although, a few minutes after we left the swings to take some pictures, there was a group of guys who came by and played in the swings. The guard stayed mum about them, damn him!

In any case, we even saw some trolls! There were small and filled with energy and downright annoying, always coming in front of the camera exactly when one of us pressed the button to snap a picture (I'm talking about the things called "kids" here now:P).

That was two weeks ago (more or less, since it was actually two weekends ago and today is Monday so...). This last week I've started working in parallel in two places and it was tiring as hell. But I'm getting my paycheck for last month today and it's my free day so I'm off shopping this afternoon.:) I'm even getting used to waking up at 4.30 (4.45 actually because I keep hitting snooze) to get to work at 5.30.

I think I'm becoming a morning person... LE GASP!!!

P.S. Sorry about not updating more often. Usually I go to work, come home around 15.00, shower, eat and sleep. Than either go out or curl up with a book in my bed or play something relaxing on my computer in order to disconnect. I simply didn't have the energy needed to draw or write anything new. But I have the next weekend free and I'm going to use it to draw, color and write (at least 2-3 chapters for Mesmeria).