November never seemed so far away...

Well, it's been another month, so another update is in order, I suppose. I have no idea how many people are actually reading this, and eBlogger's being a pain and just ate a rather long update, so I don't know how coherent this will be.
Another birthday has come and gone. After last December, where I was reminded that seeing another year is not, as we so often think, a given, I'm glad enough to see it, but I can't say I've progressed substantially since last year. I still live at home. I still haven't finished a story. I still have to figure out where I want to go so I can determine how to get there, rather than going about it the other way around as I seem to have been doing.

I have been job hunting, as I have been for pretty much the entire year. This past Tuesday, I went in for an interview on a job at the local library service center. It's not even part time - maybe 15 hours a week - but it's set hours and more pay than I'm getting now, and it looks more tolerable than being a Target "team member" or putting pickled pigs feet on shelves in grocery stores again. The interview lasted all of ten minutes. I don't believe I outright blew it, but I don't know how well I did, either. The only question I'm pretty sure I aced was when I was asked how I would feel about handling library material which I didn't necessarily like or agree with; I don't consider it my place to judge such things, and the whole point of a library is free access to information whether or not I approve of or care for it, and I told them as much. Anyway, now it goes to Human Resources. How long before I hear back? If I don't hear back by November, I was told, I ought to call them back. (Translation: If you don't hear back by November, we don't have anything to say that you'd want to hear anyway.) This leaves me in that gray area where I don't know whether or not to fill out more applications. I always feel nervous enough when even one application is "out there." Having more than one is almost more than I can take. But I do need an income, as soon as possible, and whether it's a Dream Job or a Bill Payer, I can't help feel that I'm stuck in neutral until I get one.

I have also managed to keep writing, if a bit more irregularly than I ought to be writing. The third draft is up to Chapter 8, wherein I'm finally getting up to events that used to, in the first round, take place round about chapters 3 or 4. I'm writing in keeping with the String Theory: it's easier to cut a length of string that's too long than it is to stretch a length of string that's too short. In other words, editing will be easier if I have too much material than if I don't have enough. I know that's not the scientific definition of the String Theory, but I'm not a scientist, so this is my personal string theory. Of course, I've only ever finished one remotely book-length story (long, long ago - and don't ask about it, because it pretty much was a juvenile effort that sucked spider-infested burnt toast) and never attempted professional publication, so I don't know if it holds water in the real world. Hmm... strings don't hold water, do they? I may have to rename my theory...

My websites continue to evolve. I finally broke up and reorganized my original site, the Realm of the Bright Dreamers, which had existed in more or less the same state since I first went online back in 1998. That's next to nothing in real world terms, but in Internet terms that's forever. Much like Skyhaven Adoptions outgrew the Realm and came to dominate its own site, so, too, have my book reviews. The Realm of the Bright Dreamers is no more: in its place are Brightdreamer Books & More and Dreamspire Castle. The former is dedicated to my book reviews (just cleared 500 with my last update), my DVDs, and other Barnes & Noble affiliate stuff, more streamlined as I intend to try pushing it more as a book review site. Dreamspire Castle holds what remains of the Realm, with my links and my (few) stories, and an adopted cyberpet section which currently seems to be the most active region. I hope to have some original art hosted there eventually, and maybe some more stories. I keep wanting to write up some of my weird dreams and late-night idea fragments as short stories... but I digress.

Speaking of websites, part of my birthday haul this year was a full version of Macromedia Flash 4. I know, I know - current version is Flash 8 or 9 or whatever. We don't have current-version budgets in this family, and hopefully Flash 4 will still do the job. This ads fuel to the dangerous embers of idea which first sparked when I received a free book on Flash 4. See, Flash 4 can do animation. Flash 4 can do games for web sites. I like animation. I like games. I have web sites. I can't help feeling that I need some sort of a schedule, and perhaps a few industrial-sized alarm clocks, before I boot it up, though, lest I be lost forever in the vortex. In the meantime, I can read up on it, so read I shall.

I suppose that's enough wasted time and blog space for now. I ought to wander off and see what I can do with the rest of the day. And tomorrow. And the next day, and the next... yeesh, November's so very far away...