In Summary...

I may have been gone for a week... that was bold of me, I know, but there are always good reasons for my blunders. Okay, not for every day, but in general, I've been busy with something. So, in summary...

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were wasted on gaming. Really badly wasted. But from what I've told myself, that's the last of my gaming until... well, at least June. I'm putting myself on gaming probation until then, so that I can focus on my studies. Whether or not the probation continues is based on how well I can get into writing mode again. If I fail tremendously at that, I will allow myself a cooling-off period, then it's back to the books... editing and writing them, and reading many a book not related to my course.

Thursday was also choir day... that's allowed, right? You know what, I'm not asking. That's allowed. And Saturday was mass day. That's encouraged!

Sunday... well, Sunday began my nightmare: Coursework Journal for English. Due in on Friday. I have barely gotten anything done... I am well and truly screwed. You see, on Monday, I went to see How to Train Your Dragon, and last night I went to see OneRepublic live... tonight I was watching Glee... tomorrow I plan on watching Lost... though I might jus watch the episode recorded... but I also have a Poetry Night at the Gutter Bookshop to attend, and choir, again. Which means, in short, that I need to work my ass off: Tonight, getting things ready to be typed; tomorrow morning, typing up at least one movie, preferrably two; at lunch tomorrow, after a drama meeting; and as soon as I get home, until it is done, but not if that intrudes on time getting out for the aforementioned Poetry Night. If I don't get it done... tomorrow night will be busy!! And if it's still lacking just a little bit then... well, looks like I'll be up early on Friday morning typing it up, then rushing into the computer room in the morning to print it and submit it and swear my head off in rejoice that it's done.

I just realised I don't know what to do for a cover for it!!

Ahem... I'll just ask tomorrow. I'm sure our lecturer isn't so cruel that he would leave us to figure it out for ourselves... no wait, he might be. And he might do a song and dance about it too...

In other craziness, I seem to be acquiring ideas at a much faster rate than usual. I think this happens when I don't have time to actually use the ideas. Three things that inspired my ideas: "General Justice", "Materialistic Bishop" and one of my own tweets! I know, crazy. I remind myself of Walt Whitman now... only there's no way I'm posing naked for my own book! And I won't insist on multiple editions of it, just for the ego-feed!

Oh hey, you know what's fun.... I actually don't know. I typed that while reading a tweet (that didn't include those words) and I have no idea how to conclude that sentence. Someone conclude that sentence for me! There will be a prize of some sort for the best answer. I might write you into a story... or write a poem for you. Anything to procrastinate just a little bit more.

Days of lectures left: 7

Stories le Lulu.com

So I was checking out Lulu.com, following my previous rant about expensive printing costs, and I found a rather easy way to provide the short stories for charity in print. I can even make them in colour if I want, but I don't see the point as I'm not much of a drawer, and I don't have suitable models for photographs.

However, if I were to print in colour, I could get what I estimate to be 16 pages printed in A5 for only €6.00! That's quite good! Add on €1.25 for revenue (€1 for charity, €0.25 for Lulu.com) and it's only €7.25 to print. In black and white printing, it costs even less! For a mere €4.61, the same size book can be printed. Adding on the same revenue and it only costs €5.86! Less than €6.oo people! It's a bargain, and that's only for people who want hard copies of the stories. It's great news for me, who will want to print a hard copy to display them at some stage.

If I choose to go for Lulu.com and Amazon.com though, it could be more expensive. In fact, I believe the price is doubled! So for those ones, I will be printing three stories together and upping the revenue to €3.75 so that each story still earns the same amount for a sale. I will need to do further investigation into the matter.

Still, low prices for stories, with all the money going to charity! Some specific charities I'd like to support are: The Laura Crane Trust, The Hanly Foundtation and The Manuela Riedo Foundation, who each deal with specific problems facing people. The LCT are sort of our partners in the Den; all the money we raise goes to them. The Manuela Riedo Foundation is a new one, which my friend Niamh is singing for in July (in Switzerland!!) The Hanly Foundation were really annoying people last Friday, but with a good cause. I'd like to support them if I can, but all I could do was buy a scratch card then, and only to get rid of them.

Naturally, I'll need to get in touch with every charity in advance to get a logo and a registered charity number. Here's where you can come in! Recommend a charity, leave a link to it, and I'll see if I'm not already covering the topic. If I am and I'm not writing for a charity under that topic, then I will pick the most suitable charity (based on the recommendations given).

If your recommendation is accepted, you'll be entered into a draw to win a free paperback copy of the story representing the charity. In fact, you'll get multiple entries. Each time a story is released, there will be a competition for one person to win a hardcopy of it, shipped to anywhere in the world! And it couldn't be easier to win. Just keep telling people about the stories, through Twitter and blogging and word of mouth, and each time someone says you recommended the stories, you'll get an entry. There will be more details later when the first story is published, which, by the way, I have begun planning.

Watch this spot ladies and gentlemen!!