On May 13, the new series, Welcome to Sanditon, by the same makers of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is airing its first webisode; there is a teaser out already, starring Gigi Darcy, who is going to the resort town as an observer for Pemberley Digital’s Domino beta test.

Based on Jane Austen’s Sanditon, the web series takes the setting of that book and expands it–and as well it might, as it’s Austen’s last unfinished novel; she only wrote eleven chapters. I haven’t read it before, so when I heard about the new web series, I resolved to read it before the series started. Life™ got in the way and I forgot about it for a while, until over the last weekend when tweets started coming up about it (I’m still following @GGDarcy, of course).

So I was up pretty much all night–no kidding, it was 6am when I finally turned off the lights. When I started reading the ebook (from here, it is public domain), I knew it was unfinished, but didn’t know where Austen had left off. I did wonder when the book had gone a bit longer than anticipated, but I was enjoying it, so I didn’t mind.

After finishing, I looked up and discovered just how early Austen had left off–sadly, just as the stage was set for a very interesting summer. The guests had all arrived, the last of which is the Parkers’ intriguing brother. For the latter it’s just a hello-how-do-you-do bit; not much in the way of characterization.

That continuation I read was fairly well done, however; a bit long in the end, but the “continuation by another author” bit explained to me just why I came across so many familiar passages in the book, not the least among them this quote:

“Indeed, I am very sorry to be right in this instance. I would much rather have been merry than wise.”
- Emma

“But now, once again, there seemed only time to enjoy his company; and for a brief period, [she] chose to be happy rather than wise.”
- Sanditon

And here I was thinking how very telling it is that Austen seemed to have a theme going on about “being merry than wise”. ;)

I’m definitely looking forward to see what Bernie Su and Hank Green do with Welcome to Sanditon; there’s a lot of potential here since the story is largely untold (you can even be one of the Sanditon townspeople by roleplaying along! See @SanditonSeries/townspeople). It seems fairly clear to me that Gigi is playing the part of Charlotte in the book (she has at least twice mentioned going there as an observer); but whether they follow the general storyline of this continuation or branch off after the arrival of the guests, is anyone’s guess.

Further reading: ‘Lizzie Bennet Diaries’ spin-off ‘Welcome to Sanditon’ invites audience to roleplay along, includes possible official Sanditon-related Twitter accounts (as yet unlinked to the official Twitter account), and of course take a quick look at the teaser video. :)

Obviously my experience so far is quite limited, but I can tell you that the first lesson was an amazing experience for me. Not right away, though. At first, I was hit with an uncertainty at the emphasis there was with getting published. It felt to me that getting yourself published was the end goal of the book–and while it is the best goal there is (but of course), I’m not there yet. I am nowhere near there yet.

Right now, I want to write. I wanted to overcome all the random reasons and issues I had that was preventing me from writing. At that moment, I felt that I had bitten off more than I can chew.

However, as I continued reading and thinking, I realized that for me, just writing wasn’t going to cut it. I’ve been writing all my life. Even if I never get another story done, ever again, I will still be writing in one form or another. What I needed was to be happy with the output of my creative writing. To tell a story that I felt, deep down, was professional quality. A story I might buy off the shelf. A story that makes my heart sing. Would it be publishable? Maybe not. But it would be my baby.

My sappy, cliched teen romance novel. I stole it from my sister’s bookshelf the last time I was home. Sorry!

When I was a teenager–a pre-teen, actually–I wrote this very simplistic teen romance novel (rather, novella). I loved it to bits, enough to show it to my older sister (who was actually a teenager), who also loved it. We printed it out and bound it into a book ourselves. She lent it to her friends who told me they loved it too. When I open it now, I laugh and facepalm at my trite story, outlandish scenes, unnatural dialogue; but man, I was proud of that book then, even before anyone had read it.

When I was in high school and in the school newspaper, I wrote a short fantasy story that we eventually published. It may have been my first story in the paper; I don’t really remember. But people commented on it, saying they liked it; and a year or so later I made a sequel when people asked (ooops). I was proud of the story, and I had the guts to have someone else read it and decide if we should publish it.

Were these my only stories? Heck no. I had a lot. And I was very happy writing all of them, even though only a handful was ever seen by another pair of human eyes.

But now, where is that happiness and pride in what I make? Nowhere to be found. I scrap and abandon things left and right. My brain keeps rejecting what I write, that it’s not good enough even just for myself. Not good enough to even keep in a text file somewhere.

So I realized that though I may not have the goal to get published by the end of this course, if I came out with a story that I was proud of by the end–that would be passing with flying colors, for me.

Fortified with these thoughts, I plowed through the first exercise. Yes, plowed. It was difficult for me, at first. You can do the exercises on the computer directly, but I printed the worksheets out as advised and answered them longhand. Practically every other sentence I wrote, I had this urge to stop. “I get the gist of the exercise, that should be good enough.” “Why did I even do this longhand? My fingers feel like cramping.” “Ugh, look at my handwriting, is that even a ‘t’.” And so on.

But later that night, I was sitting on my desk with my worksheet results in front of me, feeling blown away with those two exercises. I came away with an idea, a Thing, that I was really interested in. I wanted to know all about it, and I asked question after question which I gave answer after answer. I felt excited. I felt like I was discovering something.

I’ve missed that.

Just earlier last week I heard about her new InCryptid book coming out, Midnight Blue-Light Special, which was released last week (March 5). I picked it up then, and got around to reading it the day after I did.

I couldn’t put the book down. Through the night, with aching and bleary eyes, I read through to the end. It was that good.

Cryptid, noun:
1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.
2. That thing that’s getting ready to eat your head.
3. See also: “monster.”

The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity–and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she’d rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and when her work with the cryptid community took her to Manhattan, she thought she would finally be free to pursue competition-level dance in earnest. It didn’t quite work out that way…

But now, with the snake cult that was killing virgins all over Manhattan finally taken care of, Verity is ready to settle down for some serious ballroom dancing—until her on-again, off-again, semi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca, a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St. George, informs her that the Covenant is on their way to assess the city’s readiness for a cryptid purge. With everything and everyone she loves on the line, there’s no way Verity can take that lying down.

Alliances will be tested, allies will be questioned, lives will be lost, and the talking mice in Verity’s apartment will immortalize everything as holy writ–assuming there’s anyone left standing when all is said and done. It’s a midnight blue-light special, and the sale of the day is on betrayal, deceit…and carnage.

Since my previous review on Discount Armageddon, the first book in the InCryptid series, I’ve read the first three books of McGuire’s October Daye novels. Or rather I’ve read some, and I’ve listened to some. So, armed with a bit more knowledge about her writing, I can say that so far, her InCryptid novels are still her best, for me.

Midnight Blue-Light Special is action-packed, and felt even more dangerous and exciting than Discount Armageddon. You’d think that fighting humans instead of “monsters” would be easier, but apparently not. The pacing is quick, and the humor is snappy–but it isn’t without it’s heart-wrenching moments. Of course, as life usually is, no sooner have you had a breather that something else is happening, and happening fast.

The characters are developed even more in Midnight Blue-Light Special, and if you loved Sarah, Istas and Ryan in particular, this book will deliver, in spades. Each of them have delightful, authentic scenes that made reading this book very enjoyable apart from the excitement of the actual storyline. I’m also admittedly a sucker for men like Dominic De Luca, all agonizing decisions and the overwhelming drive to do what is right.

And I have to say this–one of the most enjoyable scenes for me in the book comes right in the first chapter. Verity and Sarah head to a cryptid hospital. Their adversary?

It could have been your average attractive older Filipino woman, assuming you liked your attractive older women with wings, claws, fangs, and–oh, right–nothing below the navel. Where her lower body should have been was only a thin, pulsing layer of skin, providing me with a nauseatingly clear view of her internal organs.

That’s right, folks. A manananggal in New York. I was grinning madly when I read it, and laughed like nobody’s business at the way it was dispatched. Which I will leave you to find out. ;)

Because you should. You should get a copy of this book to find out (well, that, among other more substantial things). It’s a fast, exciting trip, with perfect pacing and humor. Pick up Midnight Blue-Light Special and you won’t regret it (you might want to get Discount Armageddon first).

Enter me: I’ve always loved writing. I’ve felt more at home with writing than with anything else: I prefer emails, letters, text messages, and chat. Writing opens my mind, whereas speech takes a circuitous route. It’s therapeutic. I wrote when I was younger, I planned to take up journalism (which for me was just the “more serious and practical” choice if I wanted to write for a living), I wrote for the school paper.

It’s also something I gave up when I went to college. For lots of stupid, lame reasons. I still wrote incessantly (as my various journals can prove), but I stopped writing creatively. As I grew older, so did all these insecurities and ideas grow: larger, deeper, more difficult to dislodge. As they say, when you don’t use it, you lose it.

And that’s a shame, because I still love writing, I still love stories. It’s embarrassing how many times I started and stopped writing creatively so many times over the past years. (Exactly how many times? I don’t really know. I don’t keep count.)

But I’d always thought, I spend money on my other hobbies, the stuff I collect, the things I do. Why have I never spent any money on my first love: writing? (That’s not precisely true; I have a few writing-related books I bought.) So last year, just before Holly stopped offering the full How To Think Sideways course, I took the plunge and bought it.

Why (aside from my friend recommending the course)? Here’s an excerpt from the first lesson’s information page:

Lesson 1: How to Start Writing a Book, and Never Fear the Blank Page Again

…Finally you’re going to learn four techniques that will keep you writing in spite of fear, perfectionism, excuses you’ve made in the past for why you can’t do this, and a tendency to lock down one half of your brain or the other (shared by most folks).

(Emphasis mine.)

Fear. Perfectionism. Excuses. Those are all me. Those are all the reasons I don’t write, even though I know I can. Those are all reasons that I know I am plagued with, but is keeping me from writing anyway.

And this is why I said I took part of a plunge: I bought it, but I didn’t start it. I’m not entirely sure why. It was money I really needed, money that needed to go elsewhere at the time. Every month the course fees were deducted from my Paypal account, I winced. But I didn’t start it. I’m listed on the website as an HTTS graduate, I have all the lessons waiting for me, but I didn’t do a single thing.

(I obviously have some really, really big issues.)

Well, Holly has released a new, upgraded version of How To Think Sideways (called Ultra), and classes start this week. I’m planning to join–since I purchased the full course earlier, I’m able to join this upgraded course for free, but there’s a 3-day introductory price when it goes live if you’re interested (exact price is still unknown, but you can take a look at the (older-version) standalone lesson prices to gauge the range).

I’m planning to join–and I’m saying it here, so that I feel guilty about backing out. If I keep it to myself, I might very well back out. So I’m saying it out loud.

I’m planning to join–and I’m hoping you guys join as well (if you have writer-ly aspirations) so we can drag each other along when needed. If there’s someone making a similar journey with me, it’s more likely I will finish, buoyed and prodded along by the energy in the air.

I’m planning to join–and maybe write a little about the experience, to make me feel motivated to keep writing and not get discouraged at every little bump in the road.

(I’m saying I’m planning, because I can’t “officially” join until the doors open on Monday for Legacy students. Otherwise I would say “I joined”. Really.)

So, yeah. There. I’m joining, and you’re free to scold me soundly if I drop out of the course yet again.

Disclaimer: the HTTS links on this post are connected to my affiliate account. I do get some money by promoting, but yes: I did take the course, and yes: I can recommend it. I’ll be posting a few updates on my progress here as well.

This sounds a lot like the past issues with Facebook and their policies on photos and content you post on your timeline, which a lot of people complained about–and skimming a few articles, it looks like when Facebook bought Instagram a while back, there were already people worrying about something like this happening to Instagram (I was blissfully ignorant). Well, it did happen; although this morning when I opened my Instagram account, there was a note about how your photos are still your photos (the CNET article on that is here).

My immediate thought when I read their message was, “well, you know how people reacted to Facebook’s policies on content, why did you even try to pull that off here too?” This is in the middle of me deleting my Instagram photos one by one (which is not a walk in the park–every 20th photo I delete, I get rate limited, which is understandable for creating content, but a bit odd for removing content). I decided that since most of my photos I do send on to my Flickr account, and with the update to the Flickr iPhone app that adds filters, I’d just stop Instagramming (albeit the Flickr filters kind of underwhelmed me at first try). (I didn’t want to remove my account completely, mostly so that I can keep the above photo up ;) haha.)

All I can say is, this move by Facebook/Instagram couldn’t have come at a worse time for them. With limited Twitter support and the new Flickr app, this extra bit with their policies–though quickly responded to–just isn’t doing them any favors. A few friends of mine have already removed their accounts. And my deleted photos aren’t coming back.

Of course, that also left me rather scared about jumping in and healing all these new heroic instances. I’m still a bit traumatized about Heroic Shadowfang Keep back in Cataclysm; I remember the multiple wipes on Baron Ashbury, the tank quitting on us (and as a healer, that just pretty much puts the blame on me), etc. I didn’t know if I had enough spirit (I read somewhere that raids brought folks up to 10k spirit, and I was sitting a little shy of 5k!), I was worried about not having enough mana regeneration and not having enough throughput. But no one ever wins sitting at home and not trying, so I just dove in last night.

Thankfully, I did have enough spirit, although it would cut close sometimes. But the highlight of the night was in Heroic Scholomance, in the room with the mini-boss after Lilian Voss. The tank told us to wait until he had rounded the mini-boss and the last pack (or maybe it was two packs?) before AOEing. The rogue Tricksed; however, he was out of sight of the tank–and chaos ensued.

What was left was me, a mage, and the tank, all low on health after Tricks played havoc with aggro. Bubbling and healing the tank, I was left with about 20% health; healing myself up, the tank got dangerously low. Pain Suppression on the tank while I healed him up and said goodbye to my mana. The mage was teetering at this point, but then so was I, so after a shield and renew on them, I tried to get myself up as soon as I could. When I got myself up, the tank was again dangerously low. Void Shift saved him–I basically healed myself to get him back up haha. While my Mindbender beat up on mobs to make them give me some mana, I did a quick Hymn to speed things up, after which I got the two of us clothies up again in between trying to make sure the tank doesn’t suddenly die. Eventually (THANKFULLY) the mobs all soon died.

The rest of the dungeon went by without too many problems, and at the end of it, the tank said, “awesome heals”.

And my night was made :)

I definitely first thought there were too many things going on with priests, there is no way I am going to keep everything straight in a fight. I mean, Pain Suppression AND Void Shift? Really? But they saved us tonight and I am crazy grateful I had taken the time to keybind Void Shift this week.

This is why I love healing. The praise might be few and far between, there are no shiny DPS numbers, and oftentimes a lot of responsibility falls on your shoulders on fights. But nights like these, when a tank you don’t know compliments you on your healing, and you know without a doubt that you had kept the fight going by supporting the tank and the DPS by using everything in your arsenal–the feeling is priceless and unparalleled.

Bring it on.

And I keep starting, and stopping, and hitting that Delete button.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

I gave Diablo III a whirl during the Open Beta Weekend.

I haven’t played Diablo II in a looo~ong while, and World of Warcraft is my most recent RPG experience. As such, I did take a few minutes to reorient myself and stop hitting WASD keys. I played a bit with all of the classes, although I finished the beta with my class of preference, the Wizard. I really am more of a range sort of player; bashing things with the Barbarian is fun, but I get annoyed with all the running around because of knockbacks and the like.

On gameplay

I don’t know if they tuned the game easier for the beta, but it was fairly straightforward (and not as stressful as I remember Diablo II to be–but then I’d like to think I’m “better” at these games now than I was in college). Resource constraints are mostly forgettable except for the more intensive fights, when I’d need to use more of the skills and manage my resources (arcane power, mana, fury, etc) a bit better, and maybe down a potion or two. For the most part I don’t need to bring along so many potions–the random health globe drops is usually more than enough to keep me going between (and sometimes in the middle of) fights, although it can sometimes be a challenge getting to a health globe when you’re up against a crowd (accidental clicking on monsters instead of the ground, for example).

Graphics is smooth, and the storyline is solid: it feels fairly immersive, with interesting lore points along the way. I’m very impressed with how enduring Deckard Cain is ;) all those years plus a couple days in the crypts being hunted by Leoric’s guards, he’s got amazing luck ;) I like that the stash and gold is shared across your characters. I haven’t been able to test out the forging, but it looks very promising.

Co-op play is fun, although I was confused at first as to who was going to be doing the questing. There are prompts for started “events”, i.e. boss or mini-boss fights, but for the most part the quests can be done by either regardless of where they are in the storyline alone (I had a level 2 friend join me for level 5-ish quests–and he actually started the quest himself). I don’t fully understand how aggro works yet, exactly, although I’m guessing I’m complicating things too much and forcing the game into a more WoW perspective–but I can’t help but be worried when the boss is on me rather than the tanky monk, or if my demon hunter friend is getting beat on when I’m on my stocky barbarian.

I did miss WoW’s emotes ;) I missed jumping up and down with the spacebar, waving to the NPCs I meet, that sort of thing. Of course, I feel like this is one of those times where hardcore Diablo fans will turn their noses up at me for even thinking of /flirting with the NPCs ;)

On the classes

I played mostly with the wizard, which was sufficiently “blow-uppy” with pretty arcane spells of purple and blue and pink. I also like the arcane power gauge–such a pretty pink/purple globe with stars in it! I’m not entirely sure if the DPS stats on my one handers affect my spells, since I don’t swing the weapons myself, so I don’t exactly know if I should treat them as stat sticks like in WoW or actually care about the DPS numbers on them. I’ve yet to really discover how to use the skills: the Ray of Frost felt like a HUGE resource drain, I kept shooting my Arcane Orb where the mob wasn’t anymore, and the Shock Pulse felt a bit too random for me. Frost Nova and Wave of Force were useful to get away from enemies, unless I accidentally clicked on one of them.

The monk, to me, is like a “shiny” melee character. Quick hits and flashy effects can do that to you ;) She felt rather squishy though, and I’m not sure if I should be dual-wielding one-handers for more damage, or get a shield to get more block.

The opposite of that is the barbarian–pure force! I don’t mean to say there are no pretty badass effects with her hits, but she definitely felt quintessentially barbaric, which is good when you’re of that bent. Destruction, single hit kills, and the like are very satisfying when all you want to do is smash things.

I was a bit hesitant about playing the demon hunter, because back in D2, I rather sucked as the assassin. I suck at traps and kiting. But nevertheless, it was fun giving the demon hunter a whirl, although honestly, running around in heels that high? I think she felt a little overdone, but I’m sure lots of folks will want to play with someone looking very “badass”.

Last but not the least, the witch doctor was…interesting, and possibly the most amusing. I think she’s the squishiest at the start, but it felt quite hilarious throwing huge jugs of spiders around (though it felt a bit random, damage-wise).

Overall

I’m pretty excited with my quick peek into D3–it’s definitely whetted my appetite and I’m looking forward to the May 15 launch. I will probably stick with my wizard main class, but anything after that is fair game. I’ll admit feeling a bit nervous with my squishy class when going up against the main bosses (I suppose going through it the first time in a co-op is not exactly the best way to gain confidence!) but…bring it on!

I suppose you might say that for me, this was a case of “any publicity is good publicity”, because I told myself I would get myself a copy of her book on its first week out. After all, I’ve been meaning to try her writing, so why not now?

I know this review comes late, but–holy moly, this was totally worth it. I knew I would feel good about purchasing the book even if I didn’t like it, but the enjoyment I got from the book was so. totally. worth. it.

Why, is there full-price Armageddon?

Okay, I was just trying to be cheeky. I still don’t know why the book is named Discount Armageddon. It’s the first in a series (named InCryptid) chronicling the life and times of one Verity Price, who comes from a long line of cryptozoologists. Think monster hunters, only in reverse. Well, they hunt some monsters too, if said monsters don’t behave. But otherwise they have a full-time job of taking care that the “monster” population doesn’t drive the super clueless human population batty and insane.

I mean, really. What is there not to like about Discount Armageddon? You’ve got mad ninja skillz. You’ve got all zombies, werewolves, vampires–or close enough. You’ve got hot smouldering young male arch enemies. But you’ve also got Dancing With the Stars! I mean, really.

(Okay, I don’t watch Dancing With the Stars. I actually don’t watch much TV. But that was so awesome anyway.)

You’ve got all that, you might almost forgive bad writing. But this is fabulous, cheeky, witty, enjoyable writing. I couldn’t put the book down. I grinned through a lot of it, laughed out loud sometimes, and reread pieces multiple times for the enjoyment of it.

Okay, but will I like monsters?!

Well, I know I’d rather not meet a monster myself, but Seanan McGuire’s characters are superb. She’s got some good stereotypes here, but she’s given them such a fresh feel they don’t feel like stereotypes at all: a loligoth waheela, a stunning-and-snobby blonde dragon princess. I mean, you could say Verity could be such a stereotype too, but between her tireless care for the community she cares for, her preference for parkour over public transportation, and her passion for dance, she’s absolute fun to read and follow around.

Also impressive (to me) is how she’s taken creatures from almost every sort of mythology available and mixed them together to form this interesting and colorful society. We’ve got your usual mythological creatures present in fantasy like shapeshifters and dragons and ghouls, but mixed in with tanukis and waheela, along with a smattering of original creations like cuckoos and Aeslin mice.

(I think I like the mice best of all.)

For a trivia fiend like me, oh my gosh I must find out every small thing there there is in this amazing new world!

This is what I don’t like about series books

Sadly, this glimpse into this amazing world feels all too fleeting. Maybe it’s because I practically devoured the book while reading it–it was so difficult to put down. It’s an easy and enjoyable read that time flew while I was lost in Verity’s world, and after finishing the book, I wanted more, more, more!

(There’s also a glossary at the end of the book. This was almost embarrassingly very interesting to me.)

Discount Armageddon was something kind of like an impulse buy, but I’m so pleased to have bought it. It was enjoyable and entertaining with interesting characters and fast pacing that just keeps you glued to the book for hours on end. I’ll definitely be looking forward to the next books in this series!

Last year, I went to France and Italy with Ellen. We planned for a good many months and saved for more, but for two weeks, we were there, saying goodbye to spring and welcoming summer.

Of course, I meant to write about it. But it was difficult: it was sad writing about it the weeks after the trip, because I wanted to be back there; and then it just got easier to remember it through a hazy cloud of nostalgia. Ellen has been writing little bits and pieces in her blog, though, so go and check that out! I feel quite ashamed. I should try, too–

–and so I’m resolving to write about it, in little chronological bits and pieces. Maybe I can relive a little bit of that dream, that excitement, that sense of wonderment–and take you all with me.

Happy Valentines, everyone. :)