2:30 AM, Thursday night/Friday morning

Well, it's late. But it's finished. The 2nd Draft of The Mars Betrayal, which is really a massive rewrite from the ground up, is finished. I knew I had to have it done today.

So now I'm listening to Men at Work on my streaming radio and writing about it in my online chronicle. (my pretentious way of saying 'my blog.')

Anyway, I feel good about it, but felt pretty good about the first draft. I obviously had no idea about what I was doing when I first wrote it. I really hope I know more of what I'm doing now. I think I addressed the issues pretty well and am fairly confident there are no plot holes.

The main issue now is that it seems long. I didn't check, (kind of scared to) but it looks like it's probably 18,000 words long.

In any case, Annemarie will read it in the morning. I hope to have it sent off tomorrow afternoon or evening. I never actually heard back about a deadline for it, but I wanted to get this off fast.

So now, unless other crap comes up for next week, I will put a pile of time into The Cabin. I am still supposed to finish it this month. The first draft, that is. When I say "supposed to" that's just by my goals.

Today I also wrote three (or four..?) articles for www.helium.com. One was a poem. And the three articles I wrote for the last contest are doing well. Two are #1, and the other is #2. The problem is that the two #1's are 1 of 2. This means that they don't count toward contest points. Arg. Titles need to have three articles to become competitive. Ugh. And the #2 is 2 of 3. So it has like 2 points.

Peh. Oh well.

I wrote a fun article about media's role in elections today, but it is an initiated title, so it's not active yet. I'll put a link to it when it goes active. I am kind of hoping it will get featured on the homepage.

As for yesterday, it was fun. Dentist was not, but it wasn't too bad. The numbness wore off just before my interview. By the end of the interview, the pain was blinding. I went to a 7/11 and got some advil in me. That really helped.

So the interview went really well. I met two ladies in it: Lena and Laurel. They are quite different from each other, but they are both top-notch. I felt it went well, as we were actually able to have a good conversation about the job and the work that would go into it. They seemed to like me as well.

At the end of the interview, they had me do a test. I won't go into specifics, simply because that seems unethical to me, but I was asked to edit a paragraph. When they came back, I gave my strong opinion of the paragraph and they said my answer was perfect! So that was nice.

Hopefully they will get back to me next week. I would like this job (particularly if it pays well), but I don't look forward to the driving up and back every day. I will miss the family if I have to do that. But we will take it as it comes.

After the interview, I went to my (hehe) audition. That actually went well too! The dude said I had a lot of inherent talent for acting. I need some training on technical areas, but I can't (and don't want to) pay for that with money or time right now. But it's something to look forward to at some point.

It's late. This is a long post. I have to go to bed.

Gonna be a bestselling author.

carpe somnium

Tasty Tuesday!

Look! Two days in a row! Tomorrow I will try to make it three, although it is set to be a beast of a day... More on that later.

Today I wrote three or four articles for Helium. I rated a pile of mostly okay stuff also. I also finished re-writing Chapter 4 of The Mars Betrayal. It's feeling good so far. Tomorrow's Wednesday, and if I get any writing done it will be a miracle. So I am going to shoot for finishing this rewrite on Thursday. I will exercise that morning, come home and eat, and then get right to The Mars Betrayal.

Anyway, I am trying to place high in a contest at Helium right now. It is the in the Real Estate category and I have a few things to say about that, so I've written three articles for it. I would really like to get one more written tomorrow before I head up to Salt Lake City.

Okay, so tomorrow, here's what's on the plate: Exercise in the morning, but only if Annemarie gets to bed at a reasonable hour. She's burning midnight oil like mad these last two days, trying to get a translating job done on time. So if she's up as late as she was last night, I will need to stay home and exercise here. If she goes to bed earlier, I will head to the Rec Center.

Then I will print out two resumes and one cover letter.

I have a dentist appointment at 11 AM for a cavity to be filled, then I will get home and try to churn out one more article for the http://www.helium.com/ contest.

Thereafter, I will head up to Salt Lake City. This is because I have an appointment for an interview with a company up there. The job is a content and copywriter position. I, obviously, think I can do the job well.

But I decided to take advantage of being in Salt Lake and I am going to drop off a resume and cover letter at the Church office building up there. I have applied again for the Assistant Editor job at The Friend magazine. This is the third time they've posted the spot, and I don't aim to give up. So the first thing I'm going to do in SLC is drop off a resume and hope to meet someone face to face. That is my dream job (if I'm going to work for anybody other than myself) so I am going to get after it.

Then I have my interview at 3PM. After that, I have, I kid you not, an audition at 5PM. I sent off for some info on a talent management agency and they have called me twice to schedule auditions to see if they want to represent me. You see, I must think I have talent. Actually I probably do, not that I want to 'make it' in Hollywood or anything. I wouldn't mind doing some ad spots though. Those babies pay the bills well.

So the audition is supposed to be about a half-hour. I will jet out of there as fast as I can and come screaming back down to Provo. This is because I have two visits to make as part of my work in my church. My first visit is set for 7PM.

Big day? Yes. I hope it goes well. I believe it will, as long as I keep my wits about me and remember to enjoy it.

So that's the plan. It's late and I really ought to go to bed. Maybe I can get some writing done tomorrow.

To anybody who is actually reading this, please know that I really appreciate the support and well-wishes. So far this has been a great experiment.

I'm gonna be a best-selling author.

Carpe somnium