I said December was “Me Trying to Submit Frostbite” month.

That was before I realized how many stamps I’d need.

I need a lot of stamps.

Like, over 100.

I don’t have that many stamps. I don’t even have 30 stamps.

So I think we’ll try this again in January. With stamps.

So you may or may not know that I’d been writing a novel about dragons and was dedicating it as my First Ever Finished Book to my friend Dee. Because she’s awesome and loves dragons.

Well, it’s still my First Ever Finished Book. And it’s still dedicated to Dee. But… um… it’s not actually very good. I mean, that’s kind of what happens with first books, or so I hear. They aren’t actually that good, and a few years down the road of published-dom you might actually pull it out and say “I can rewrite this” and get something totally awesome. But… well… for now it’s kind of stuck in the closet with the rest of my old projects.

But it’s still dedicated to Dee. I should ask if she wants to read it. She’ll be nice and say yes, because she is nice, and then I won’t bug her about it in case she hasn’t actually read it. ^_^; Yes, yes. Good plan.

I finished the lengthiest part of writing — the writing. Now all I have to do is edit, write a query, send out queries, get rejected, send out more queries, get rejected, get rejected, get rejected, get accepted, hassle over a contract, advertise my book with friends, family, and cheap online methods, then beg local bookstores to carry it and maybe even bring me in for a book signing, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble and even though I dread meeting strangers.

Yeah. Done my cute, neurotic rear.

I have three super hero stories. One is about a good guy, one is about a bad guy, and one is about a neutral character.

Isabelle is a good guy. Well, girl. Of the three stories, she’s one of the few protagonists with actual super powers. Though the other stories have characters involved in the struggle between good and evil, they don’t all have super powers. In the world I created, you don’t have to be super to be a hero.

I’ve been sending it to my brother as I write it, and he hasn’t cried yet. Which is a good sign, I think.

Edit (August 25, 2006): Yeah, he cried.

AHAHAA!! *crying many tears……… in a very manly way* All happy and superheroy and then BAM… teenage love mush… (Jon)

I’ve been working a bit on my story about a Japanese girl with amnesia.

Anyway, I’ve been looking up the Shinto religion because I reference it in my Jane Doe story. Apparently, Shinto believes in lots of little gods (kami) that are in pretty much everything but especially nature: rocks, people, rain, waterfalls, grass, cows, etc. They have three main immortal gods, but they’ll worship just about anything they think is a god. Like, someone who is very charismatic.

I found a description or two of Shinto priest garb, plus some pictures. They wear really funny-looking hats.

You may ask yourself: “Is she just doing this because she likes anime?” Well, yes. This story is mainly drawing on my familiarity with anime. But, if you’re honest with yourself, it would have been a waste for me to watch so much anime and learn so many quirks of the Japanese people without using that knowledge. I mean, really, what’s the point of being a writer and an anime fan if you can’t make a blatant show of both at the same time?