Katie Runyon

On our drive today, we saw an interesting sight. The Loch Ness monster (and baby Lock Ness if you look closely). Of course we were not in Scotland, nowhere near. Instead, we were driving along in PA and there they were, in a small lake a few yards away from the road. I decided to get a picture as we went by as proof. PA seems to hold a lot of oddities, but I’m sure many other places have theirs as well.

While riding in the car, I also was able to write up a quick summary for chapter 22 (which of course is the last chapter for The Dark Within). It is a very rough outline, but things usually come to me more as I write. I’m nervous about this chapter in particular, since I don’t want to mess it up. I want to write it as I have imagined for the last few months, but I feel as if I won’t be able to get it quite right. I guess if I don’t, there is always another chance when I edit.

Of course, this is all up to my computer. Thankfully it hasn’t seemed to give me a lot of trouble while I’m writing, just while I’m doing anything else. It restarts out of no where, locks up, blue screens, etc. And many times will do it over and over again in the span of a few minutes. This has led me to recently abandon it for a while in hopes it will behave after getting an hours break (and I won’t be on the verge of throwing it out the window). My cell phone has also taken up a bit of childish behavior by imitating my computer. I lose texts or don’t get them when I should, it freezes sometimes when I try and watch a video, every so often songs will pause for a few seconds in the middle of playing them, and so on. And of course my laptop has been broken for quite some time and in the hands of another, waiting for at least an attempt to be made at solving the dilemma. If you search back far enough in this blog, you will see it was not my fault. But I really hope it can eventually be fixed. *hint* *hint*

Time to go. Wish me luck this week. If I don’t post again before Thursday…Have A Happy Thanksgiving!

My title says it all, so here I am. Visited a beach along the Delaware River today, where we saw someone decked out in scuba gear. Turns out he was doing some underwater fishing. To each their own. While out and about, ended up in a field of all grass almost surrounded by trees and it just had this setting that I couldn’t ignore. So, as I walked through it and a scene unfolded in my mind, I typed it all down on my phone. Of course, it is bits and pieces and will most likely not be in TDW, but it might be useful in the next one.

I can’t wait to get back to writing tomorrow. The day seems utterly dull and boring without writing. Then again, come tomorrow, I will be procrastinating for as long as I can! I’m sure the utter joy and excitement of finishing TDW is partly to blame. Once you get into the swing of things, it is easier and easier. Of course, once I stop for the weekend (or longer) it becomes harder to get started again. Which leads me to the idea of continuing on when I finish a chapter, instead of breaking until Monday. I might be too much of a slacker for that though!

Thanksgiving is coming up, as I’m sure you all know. I just began making my list the other day so I know what I need to get the next time I go shopping. So far we only bought the foil pan for the turkey and a graham cracker crust for the pudding pie I’m making. Along with that, I might attempt my first homemade lemon meringue pie this year. We’ll see how much else I need to do though.

I don’t know if I can get use to this dark at 5pm thing. I’m wide awake and have nothing to do! And me being bored never amounts to anything but tomfoolery.  Even though I should probably be working on those notes for chapter 21…Guess I better get to it.

I just finished chapter 20, which means there are two more chapters to go for TDW. Very excited! Looking at my progress meter and seeing that I’m 91% of the way done, it’s finally starting to dawn on me. Even when I’m finished with the second book though, I probably still won’t seem to realize it.

Yesterday, I didn’t get much at all done, but today, that later it got the faster I seemed to write. Of course, looking back over it I had a ton of mistakes. I don’t know where some of them came from, but they should almost all be fixed now!

Things are moving too fast for my brain to keep up. I just hope it doesn’t fry before I reach that finish line! But I think the odds of that are slim. This book will be done, probably before the end of this month and then it will soon be time to move on to the next one. It has been an interesting journey and the days have seemed to fly by. Still, I can’t wait to see the series complete and even move on to finally editing them, so they can move from the rough/first drafts they are into glistening gems. Or at least, one can hope!

I’ve NEVER done one of these before, but I found myself quite bored. I haven’t looked at the questions, so I hope there isn’t anything overly informative in there! But I guess I’m about to see!

1. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Not particularly. Usually it is just scribbles as I try to keep up with the thoughts coming out.

2. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Nope.

3. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?  Of course, I’m a likable person…right?

4. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Only everyday!

5. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yup. But I did have a decent amount of problems with them when I was younger.

6. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Heck no! I’m terrified of heights!

7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Don’t eat much in the way of cereal. Seems like a tossup between Frosted Flakes and Lucky Charms. Mmm sugar!

8. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Nope. Much easier that way.

9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Friendly’s Peanut Butter cup (the vanilla and chocolate one).

10. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? That’s a bit speculative. If I’m in the grocery store and I see someone wearing a mask over their mouth, then that. But more generalized? Age or gender? Unless there is something unique or strange, there probably isn’t much to notice!

11. RED OR PINK? Pink, since it is my favorite color.

12. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I have to choose just one? Then I would probably say my feet.

13. WHOM DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My big sis and her cute little kids.

14. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Well since I’m in my jammies, I’m not wearing shoes. But I am wearing purple slipper like socks. As for pants, they are black and pink, with a little cartoon dog plastered all over them.

15. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Nothing, but a few minutes ago I was listening to “Never Say Never” by The Fray.

16. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Well, according to my skin color it would be white since I’m so very pale. But if I could pick, I would have to say pink.

17. FAVORITE SMELL? That’s an interesting one. And one I don’t think I have an answer for!

18. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Don’t watch sports, but if I had to I would probably choose football?

19. HAIR COLOR? Natural? Or at the moment? I was born blonde, but right now my hair is an auburn color.

20. EYE COLOR? People have said lots of things, from purple to blue. They are usually around 3 colors. The outside rim is usually a dark blue, with the inside a green, and then a golden ring around my pupil.

21. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope, I am about the only one in my family with pretty perfect vision. Which they don’t understand.

22. FAVORITE FOOD? Potatoes! Fried…mashed…chips…love them all.

23. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings?

24. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? It was on Halloween, so we watched The Haunting in Connecticut.

25. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? It’s so faded, it hardly has a color anymore!

26. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter, since I hate being overly hot. At least in the cold you can bundle up and move around. In the summer you just want to lay down and die.

27. HUGS OR KISSES? Depends on who I’m getting them from!

28. FAVORITE DESSERT? Ice Cream.

29. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? Does reading my own while I write it count?

30. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? My mouse? My wrist? I guess this is referring to a mouse pad design, but mine is just a plain old blue.

31. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? NCIS

32. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Might be able to do a little bit more with this than smells. A river/waterfall would probably be top. It is usually nice and relaxing.

33. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? The California coast (I’m on the east coast).

34. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Is making a fool of yourself considered a special talent? No? Then, I don’t think I do.

35. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? In a hospital? In New Jersey.

36. HOW DID YOU MEET YOU SPOUSE? Uh..I don’t have one.

37. DO YOU SLEEP WITH YOUR CLOSET DOOR OPEN OR CLOSED? I don’t have a closet door, but I have a door to the attic in my room. Which of course I keep closed, since there is no reason to keep it open.

38. CAN YOU SKATE? It has been many years since I tried and even then I wasn’t so great.

39. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? Can’t I just love them all?

40. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION ABOUT YOU? Why? What did you hear?

41. IF YOU COULD HAVE A FREE PASS FROM YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER, IS THERE A CELEBRITY THAT YOU WOULDN’T SAY NO TO, IF THEY WANTED TO SLEEP WITH YOU? Wow, what kind of girl do you think I am?

42. DO YOU LIKE YOUR NEIGHBORS?  Well, being that they live quite a distance away…sure, I love them!

43. HAVE YOU EVER SLEPT OUT ON THE BEACH BEFORE? Nope, can’t say I have.

44. HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY FOR HAIR CARE PRODUCTS WHEN IT’S TIME TO BUY MORE? Well, being I don’t use any…none.

45. DO YOU HAVE ANY TATTOOS? Nope.

46. DO YOU MAKE YOURSELF CRY TO GET OUT OF TROUBLE? Nope. I’m a good girl, so I never get into trouble in the first place

47. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED HARD? Just a few hours ago. The cast from Merlin can be quite entertaining.

48. WHO DID YOU SEE IN CONCERT FIRST? I’ve never been to a concert I’ve lived a poor and sheltered life.

49. HOW OFTEN DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS? Sometimes, but they are always really strange. And I mean REALLY strange.

50. DO YOU ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT? Yes. It is a must! A few years ago, one of my friends died after being thrown through the windshield.

Alright, I had to take a few questions from other ones because a few of them were originally “who sent this to you” and “who do you want to respond?”, etc.  I hope you learned a little about me…but not too much.

Just finished chapter 19 of TDW today. It’s  bit shorter than usual, but I don’t want to draw it out when it doesn’t feel like it needs it. So it is what it is. This means that there are 3 chapters left to complete, which is exciting and making me quite impatient. It seems like just yesterday I was writing the first one and now I’m almost done with the second! *Crosses Fingers* I hope things stay on schedule and I get everything wrapped up by the end of the month. Finishing this chapter earlier should be a big help for that.

As far as my plans for after I finish, I’m probably going to take a bit of a break for a month and get some reading and plotting done for the third book. So, come the new year, it should be time to go back to writing. I’m trying to not think about it too much, so I don’t distract myself from what I’m doing now. But sometimes a few thoughts swish around in my head, but nothing overly dramatic.  Now it’s time for me to start making dinner. Don’t worry, ideas will pop in my head in the early morning hours as I’m trying in vain to fall asleep. Then I’ll jot them down in illegible handwriting that I have to decipher the next morning.

EDIT: Oh, and it is my big sis’s birthday. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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Thanks to this video of two of the actors from Merlin messing around, I have “You’re The Voice” by John Farnham stuck in my head. There seems to be quite a few videos with clips such as this one. If you watch the show (or even if you don’t), some of them are just funny to watch. Here’s the youtube link for those that want it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXU5EenKi88. You can check out some of the related videos for some more.