Update

Hullo.

*clears throat* Right. Hi, then.

Long time, no blog. It gets harder to blog the longer I’m here. A) Because there’s not as much new and interesting to write about, and B) because long-term writing projects and I never have gotten on well.

But here’s a quick update, and I’ll try to be more regular again – though I think I’m going to start doing short entries, more like glorified Facebook status updates. Not these chapter-length gizmos I’ve been churning out. Sound cool? Well, if not… :P It’s my blog and I’ll fudge if I want to.

Right. So. Started a new language course. This one only meets thrice a week, which is nice – I go on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, which means I have Monday completely free and most of Wednesday. Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time at Starbucks and the library, indulging in English television shows and movies. (Side note: I rewatched the first Captain America movie yesterday, and if you see Joss Whedon will you tell him I want my heart back? Thanks.) I’m also still reading a lot – I think I’m up to something like 52 books in the last four months? Not a bad average…could be better, but I’ve abandoned a few that weren’t interesting, so.

Next month is November, which means National Novel Writing Month (which is now International, but InNoWriMo just doesn’t have the same jazz to it) which means No Plot, Lots of Word Padding, and Guilt Monkeys Galore. My blog entries in November may consist mainly of “Word count met for the day. *Wilts*” and so on. :D But I’m going to try for it. I’ve haven’t really won NaNo since my first year in…what, 2009? Pretty sure it was the year before I went to college. So I’m trying again this year. I’m doing an urban-fantasy rom-com set in Frankfurt, and before you laugh I have my reasons:

1.  My sister and I are both trying genres we haven’t ventured into before this year: she’s doing sci-fi, and I’m trying the whole rom-com thing, but I had to throw in the fantasy because I just don’t know what to do without at least an elf or two or a mad scientist or some kind of alien invasion or magic or something.

2. If I set it in Frankfurt I can use real places I go and things which means I can describe things accurately in a real setting without having to do a ton of research.

3. If I get desperate for words I can start artistically translating into German. :D

Nothing much else is going on – I’m super homesick, which is great (I think it makes my parents happy, lol) and I’ve decided that while I still like Europe, Germany isn’t really top of my favorites list. I’m down to two hundred and fifty-one days until I fly home. Not that I’m counting. :D

I’ve been going to ICF (International Christian Fellowship) every week and I really like it – to the point that I slipped and actually called it “my church” instead of “the church I’m going to” to a friend today. I’ve met a few people there who are really nice, and I’m attending a Thursday-night Bible study – though it’s really late and far for me to be out, and if another group starts up closer to home, I’ll be switching to go to that instead.

So, yeah. That’s my news – or lack thereof. I guess I can add that I’ve been vacillating back and forth between going to grad school when I get back or working a year first. The choice was heavily weighted by the fact that I Did Not Want to take the GRE, but I recently did some more research and found five or six schools that don’t require it if you’ve got a high enough GPA. So… yeah. We’ll see. The one I most want to go to still requires a GRE score, but not for all its programs, so I’m waiting to hear if they waive it in some situations. I’ve got a while yet before I have to decide, but I’m trying not to leave it for the last minute, either.

It’s getting cold here, and it’s full-on dark by six o’clock, which makes it feel much later than it really is. For example, it’s only 8:30 and it feels like it’s about eleven. So I’m going to go post this, curl up with The Order of the Phoenix and some hot cocoa, and turn in for the night.

Laters!

~Mags