I feel like I'm going to explode

My aunt and uncle from Texas decided, in the generosity of their hearts, to take everyone out to dinner. And since they lived in Brazil for many years, they love Brazilian food. So we went to Rodizio Grill. I had never been before, so I was exactly sure what to expect. I didn't expect the best meat I have ever tasted, and I certainly didn't expect the way that it was brought to the table.

There were servers who brought skewers of meat, asking everyone if they wanted some, sometimes three or four servers at a time. When someone said they wanted some, they would saw the meat off the skewer and drop it on the plate. We were there for about an hour, and I have never eaten that much in all my life. It was amazingly good, and yet at the same time, I ended up with a little bit of a stomach ache. I'm sure it will take days for my stomach to recover.

I had a great time thought.

Family, family, everwhere

I love having extended family over. I have my favorite aunt living next door, which has been great for the last two years, and right now, for Christmas, we have maternal grandparents over, and just now one my uncle and aunt from Texas has come to visit, for my mother's birthday this week.

It's great. There's love everywhere, everyone is talking, and there have already been a round of hugs, with another forthcoming when the cousins get here.

I sure wish that this could happen more often!

An interesting observation

I have just realized that my most interesting stories/ideas, have all come from two places: Either they have been stewing in the back of my mind for at least three years, giving them time to ferment and become as great as they need to be, or they come to me in a dream.

I love my dreams. They tend to be a little (okay, a lot) on the weird side, and they almost always have a cute/gorgeous guy in them. Sometimes it's someone I know, either personally (though that only happens rarely) or from a movie or TV show, and sometimes it's someone I have never seen in my life. Not even in my writing.

Most of my dreams lately have been about relationships. I'm sure that tells you a little about what I have on my brain right now. Sometimes the relationships are really cute, sometimes they are heartbreaking, and sometimes they are stressful. It's always been interesting to wake up, remember the dream, and try to understand why I dreamed about that particular thing/relationship/man.

My dreams are usually the reason I like to sleep in late, aside from my bed being warm and my room being cold. It always bothers my parents, since I'm stuck living with them right now.

There have been four dreams in particular that I have loved enough to start writing a story based on them. It always takes work to make it all make sense on paper. But once it's down, then I feel so much better.

Technically I have six dreams I had that I wanted to write, but two of them never got written.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas celebration, and that everyone received great gifts like I did!

A Question needing an answer

This one is to all you readers who are also writers. I need help. (This is the part where you all get to learn my bad side... *sigh*) I am really bad at sticking to one task for longer than a few days. I've only managed to stick to something long enough to finish it once, and I'm still working on it now, after an entire year has gone by. I bounce around between genres depending on my mood and what movies/TV I have been watching, and most of the time I get to between 9k-20k and quit, either because I'm bored, or I want to write something else, or I don't like where the plot is going and I can't stick with it long enough to fix it.

There, now you all know what a bad writer I am. I know that'll shatter at least one person's view of me, and you can think less of me, but it's the truth.

Now, here's the question to all you writers. How do you stick to a novel long enough to see it finished? I would like to know your secret, so that I can do the same, and finish something.

I have a friend who says that he doesn't worry about me and my writing career because he 'knows' that I finish things, but I really don't, and I don't know where he got the idea. I've only ever finished one thing, and it's still not novel length. Sure, I've written two short stories and they both went on to win at least second place in contests at my local library, but that's not the same as a novel. And I really want to be able to finish things, so that I can have them move out of the way for my millions of other projects I have lined up in my head.

Okay, I'm done with my ranting and complaining.

Thank you for any help anyone is willing to give.

You should all watch this

A really cool, $300 movie that looks like it came from Hollywood!

Just for Clarity's Sake

I think some people have misunderstood what my new website, IBDB, really is or is supposed to be. You'll remember I talked about it twice recently.

It's not like GoodReads, it was never supposed to be like GoodReads. It's supposed to be like IMDB. You won't get any 'junk' mail unless you want to, and the whole purpose of the website is to add books. For example: I just finished reading Once Bitten, Twice Shy, by Jennifer Rardin, and I put up that as the first book on the site. If this dissuades you from looking at or helping with the website, you have the wrong idea. Everyone is supposed to join and add books, because I haven't read all the books in the world (nor plan to) and I haven't read the same books as anyone else.

So. Let me say again, you are supposed to join and add books with me, not wait until I have added more books myself.

I really am trying to make this a big thing, so that other people can have a chance to avoid reading things they might find inappropriate. I kind of what this to become a national thing, someone that they talk about in the newspapers or on the Yahoo! news page. Not because I want the fame, that would just get in the way of my life, but because I feel that this kind of website should exist like that. It should be just as large as Facebook, or GoodReads, or IMDB.

Okay, I'm done with my shameless advertising.