Well... darn. I keep meaning to update this journal more often but I come here and stare-the page stares back and I have to walk away. There's this very cool Buddist saying: "Wiseman speak because they have something to say; fools becuase they have to say something." So I guess lately I really haven't had much to say. I suppose I could yammer on about my life: went on vacation to an anime convention in Sandusky-yes, that was uber-cool. Came home with a case of food poisoning. Not so cool. Been too sick to write or draw. Also not so cool. Forked over $174 to have one of my kitties' teeth cleaned. I was expecting $300 for a tooth extraction but it was not necessary. Very cool.

That's all a part of life's ups and downs and I am always hoping I reflect that in my writing. Not that I would wish to write life-drama (which I consider seriously boring) but that there is enough real-life events going on in the story to give my readers a sense of identification. My characters suffer from serious debt and wonder how they're going to pay the bills. They wonder how they're going to get through school the next day. I have a character who loves animals and has a number of pets. She ends up stranded from home for a month and comes back to find her pets dead or dying of thirst and starvation. As much as I loath to write about everyday, soap-opratic material, I am forced to concede that realism starts in reality; the basic necessities and circumstances of life. So rather than concentrating on the fact that my character is up to his backside in debt, I make mention of it, use it as a detail in the greater scheme of things and in so doing, I have discovered that often the mundane, everyday reality can sometimes act as a cause to an effect. Cause: low funds or lack of money. Effect: character is offered a job he can't refuse because of the debt.

By the way, you might find it amusing that in my story, the culture has 'debt insurance' where people can invest in cases of emergency-such as bad health or death. But the twist is that the main character's father never invested in insurance. So that really screws things up for said character.

I'm so mean.

I love journal writing! I started out with nothing to say and found I had something to say after all!

'nuff said!