I'm really good at procrastinating

I'm sitting at 44,500 words (88 pages).  I have Noteflight Crecendo (the super awesome paid version of Noteflight).  I have the ending planned.  I have 12 fretting pages to write.  That would take me an hour and a half, most likely.  Why am I not writing?

I'm too busy getting distracted by random stuff on pintrest and facebook and buying a laptop. (maybe-we'll see.)

In other news, Haili has been very busy.  Today she went to tutor training at her community college to learn how to be a writing tutor and offered to write a little blurb for the school newspaper about NaNoWriMo to see if she could get a group of people together for write-ins and stuff.

Why am I writing in third person?  Just another Really Random Me Moment...yep.

So...yeah.  I got a job!  I help people with their papers...so if you know me and know where I go to school (PSEO, not high school) come see me if you need help!  I'll be there Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Friday afternoons, plus one random hour on Wednesday at 2...but hey, it pays $8 an hour and I work 15 hours and get paid for training, so I've already earned...$52.  Nice.  And I Disneybounded my tutor picture- blue striped shirt and a white rose-lace trimmed cami, complete with a blue hairbow as a headband.  Can you guess?  Also had to take my senior picture with a panther for the yearbook Tuesday.  I brought When the Stars Fall and the panther read it with me.

I've also discovered that two things can go together.  Fairy tales + Bible verses = one happy Haili.
Whilst planning my novel for November (or looking for Beauty and the Beast wallpapers for my desktop...one of those options might be more truthful than the other) I stumbled across this wallpaper showing Adam (the beast) during/after his transformation.

And it dawned on me that bible verses could go with fairy tales.  I mean, fairy tales and the Bible are kind of teaching the same thing- how to live a better life.  The fairy tales just go about it in a more entertaining and sometimes odd/disgusting way, that's all.  (Though you Prodestants don't know what you're missing- Tobit is a fretting awesome book.  Tobit goes blind because he didn't put cloth over his eyes, slept outside and birds pooped on his eyes and he got cataracts.  Then the archangel Raphael comes down in disguise and helps Tobit's son Tobiah go on a journey, and free a woman from a demon that killed the last seven husbands she had...just read it.)

So, realizing this, I went into research mode.  And found this gem: 1 Peter 3:3-4. And if this isn't Beauty and the Beast, I don't know what is.

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
Or this:
"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
-1 Samuel 16:7 

I've also discovered a theme in this novel: the theme of light and darkness. Being blind, Calista lives in literal darkness.  Damien as well lives in shadow, but his darkness is more what's inside.  Both have to overcome the darkness to find the light.  Which is why this last verse is so awesome.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
-John 1:5

And now this child needs to go live in darkness for a few hours and get some sleep- after she writes 5 pages, that is. And there I go with the 3rd person again...geez.

Adios, peoples!

PS:
Where was this when I was looking for a beauty and the beast dress?

Dress (clipped to polyvore.com)

Of course, I don't think you can buy this. But still...

"Playing Blind"

So, I often find myself purposely not turning on lights, going around with my eyes closed, or  just not looking at what I'm doing.  I'm trying to understand what it must be like for Calista. And I've found that all this "practice" at being "blind" has some advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

• When cutting onions and you tear up, you can keep your eyes closed while you put the onions away.
• Too lazy to turn the light on? No biggie.
• Power outage without a flashlight? No problem.
• thirsty? still no problem.  Made it down out of my loft bed, found a cup, went to the bathroom, filled it, and brought it back without spilling it.

Disadvantages:

• Spilling said water all over the place the next day because you're a klutz and forgot it was there.

Yeah.

Idea I had today while reading Alex Flinn's Cloaked (which combines several fairy tales: Frog Prince, Elves and the Shoemaker, Six Swans, and more)
A combo of The Little Mermaid and The Six Swans: Main girl is half-turned into a swan by the evil step-mom, but something interrupts the spell, and as the youngest, she only gets partially affected.  Retaining her human shape, but losing her human speech to swan-speak, she has 3 seasons to either make shirts of flowers or have someone fall in love with her.  Or something like that.  There's a prince, too.  And the girl and swans are heirs to the Air Kingdom.  Perhaps they were winged humans.  I like that idea.  A lot.  Though I suppose they could still be merpeople...