My resolution was effective

Yes, I'm back. And I have very, very, very good news. The borrowed laptop worked like a charm and I wrote more in four days than I did in the last two months. I'm so excited you cannot even imagine.

So, since the laptop thing worked, I went and bought one. Not only am I super excited about this coming weekend (I do hope to put in more writing hours), but I also nailed it with the color. It came to my attention because it was the only silver one in the line of black laptops, and the woman that I am I fixated on that color difference like a hound. Then the store owner, a really nice guy that also helped me chose the "tabletop" I'm currently using to write this post, closed the little machine and the cover was light violet with small darker flowers. Apparently the color is called "Blossom".

I'm not really a pink/violet person, but it was just so utterly cute I had to have it (and apparently no one wanted to buy it just because of that particular "girly" color - and I'm a sucker for the outcasts).

Now, I'm faced with yet another problem and this one's much bigger than mere writer's block or whatever the hell I'm experiencing lately.

I just realized my apartment has huge voltage problems. So huge in fact not even a stabilizer can solve - it is a nifty little thing, but it just cannot work miracles. My apartment building is apparently at the end of the line (one of many in my town's power grid) and there are just a little too many consumers hanging onto the same line, resulting in my having extremely low voltage.
The "tabletop" simply shuts down - on good days. On the bad ones (many of those) it just refuses to boot up.

I'm all battle ready for tomorrow and my visit to the electric company. Since the voltage stabilizer doesn't help, it means the difference is more than legally-permitted 5%.
Oh yeah, I'm ready to kick some serious electrical butt if they don't fix it!

Updated on 09/26/2008:
It is NOT a voltage problem. I checked! The voltage is utterly normal.

It's my computer that's dying a slow and extremely agonizing death. I guess it was providence that made me buy my blossom-colored laptop.

Zealous resolution

This is the final weekend I'll be able to entirely dedicate to writing, since Monday I start "school" again and there won't be much free moments from then on. So I decided to square my shoulders and (at least attempt to) finish The Phoenix.

Working toward that goal, I borrowed a laptop (yes, I still use the old-fashioned "tabletop", but I have all intention of purchasing a laptop soon), forsake Internet for a weekend (it's a distraction), and stay cooped up inside my apartment (if I face away from the window maybe I won't notice what a nice day it is outside).

No matter what it takes, I will write more than a couple of lines. I solemnly swear!

I'll tell you how it went on Monday. Cross my heart.

Blockage ranting

I had an epiphany this week. On Thursday, I think. ... I'm stuck. Yet again.

Yup, I have the writer's block. Although not the real thing, mind you. I'm not experiencing the temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity. I'm just lazy. I know exactly how the story should evolve, have everything planned in my head, but just don't find the "oomph" to put it all on screen.

And I finally figured out why that is.

Usually I write the whole story and then bang my head against the wall in search of an appropriate title. Then I use the first that comes to mind, because all others are even lamer than the first, and then I bang my head against my desk trying to create a decent cover.

In The Phoenix's case the title came easily, the cover even easier, and apparently my fuddled brain registered this as the finishing process and now I'm stuck in the middle of the story without an incentive to keep going.

I even downloaded the writing report card from Zokutou hoping it might "spur" me into action. Alas, it didn't work.