Writing & Designing...

...do you know how hard both are, if circumstances are right?

Writing:
- I still - STILL - still - have not decided my book heroine's name yet. I like Sarah, Naomi, Hazel and Miranda (and why? They're pretty unique, and I want something that will stand out). The book would probably have begun if MY name weren't Hannah, because HER name would have been. I am kind of tired of Kathryn for her name, so I just don't think that's her name. I know what she looks like. I just don't know her name.

- Having searched again and again and again for girls' names from the 1800s, I couldn't find any that I really was drawn to and loved. Again, I love Sarah, Naomi, Hazel, Naomi...but I can't find one I like. I'm so particular. *sigh*

- I have some things to be grateful for, though: I have her siblings slowly being put together. Yet I still need to do her mother, father, friends from that one-room schoolhouse... *sigh* I just can imagine all the research that will go into a book that I may not publish for forever, possibly until before or after college.

- Sometimes I feel discouraged about writing a book. How many books have been written about a girl growing up in the wild, unsettled Texas prairie in the 1800s teens, when Texas wasn't even an independent country? How many people chose to write something like that? The answer is that quite a many DO write about something similiar to that. So that's why I'm discouraged.

And here's something funny about me and my writing: when I start writing, it's really good, and then it slowly starts to get worse and worse until it's dull and boring. I've gotten better about this and can make it for several pages without letting the majority of things down. But I still need to work on that a lot more in order to make my writing read-able (not like I'm scribbling all over paper when I write and never use spell check. I don't have to use spell check all the time, but I almost always do just to make sure).

- Britt Nicole, my favorite singer (I have, literally, every single song she's sung on my playlist), said this in her song "Say it" from 2005: "The clocks on my wall keep ticking; the moments that I keep missing..." And then later on in the song, "I've got so much to discover..." That's true! I have so much to discover. The clock on my desk does keep...changing...it's a digitial clock, but whatever! XD

And when that happens, what do I do? Well, I try to talk to God and ask Him to help me through this and try to let me NOT be discouraged, to give me inspiration so I can crank out a lot.

Then I sit down and work on what I can. Additions to what her lifestyle says about her and what it's like. Her siblings...her sister(s), brothers. How they annoy her and how they make her feel better.

But I never get major work done on her.

That's what I'd like to do today. I know I just really have to pick a name and go with it - I can always replace it with a name I like better later on. :-)

(Sorry for this long, long entry about writing...)


Designing:

- I FINALLY figured out how to make a background, and it looks horrendous (I had to draw in the middle instead of fill it), but it worked. It worked! :-D I made it with GIMP (actually I have GIMP 2, basically the same;) ), which is also known as "the Free Photoshop." It is MUCH like Photoshop, and I am utterly amazed at what I can do with it!!

A somewhat dark photo became absolutely gorgeous. Backgrounds were created.
(Honestly...I scanned in a bunch of textured, colorful fabrics and scanned them into our computer for the background contents. But they worked!!)


Aaah. Well, I suppose I should finish this post up now. Since it's been so long. ;-)

Have a lovely evening! :-)

In Christ,

~Hannah~