A Brief Word on Writer's Block

Ever wake up one morning, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, butterflies are flying, children are playing, unicorns prance through the street, rainbows spread off in every direction.

You lift your head up off the pillow and stretch upward as happiness and joy over take you.

"Good morning world and all who inhabit it!" you shout as you bound out of bed. "To be alive is a wonderful thing!" It's as if you were handpicked to be in a Disney movie.

Today, it seems, is a wonderful day to write.

You sit down, open up your document you put your fingers to the keys and - kaput. Nothing. Nadda. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Complete brain meltdown.

You type a few words, then delete them. You check to see what Twitter and Facebook have to offer, maybe play a game or 5 of Solitaire. You go back to what you were writing and stare at it for a very long, long time.

You know exactly what your story is about. You know exactly what your characters are going to do, what they're going say, how they overcome every challenge that they're going to face. But what you can't do is get it all down.

Writer's block is a necessary evil. Even though I hate it with every fiber of my being, after I get through a stint of writer's block and I write and I write and I write, damn do I feel accomplished. I feel like I could take on the world after I've knocked down a wall that's kept me from writing.

Anything worth doing is only worth it if it's a challenge, right? So, while writer's block does bring me down, I take it head on. I'll repeatedly slam my head against the keyboard, stare at the screen for hours without typing anything, get up and walk around for a while to let my brain cool off.

And always try to write something. Even if you write just one sentence, sentences add up - just like pennies. My mother once bought a car entirely with change. I am a firm believer that every little bit counts, even in writing.

And if you're easily distracted - lord knows I am, check out this article. I could definitely do some of the stuff I read in it but, I'm a slacker and the thought of going without internet and not being able to tweet or text at all times terrifies me.

Fair Thee Well,
April

Anime Thoughts - After Dark

So, it's my first weekend of being done with school for the semester and I've decided to celebrate by staying awake super late to watch InuYasha on Adult Swim that comes on at 5 & 5:30.

So, while I wait, I was watching Bleach which, though it is very mainstream [as is most of the anime I watch] I love it. After it went off, Cowboy Bebop came on and it got me to thinking about exactly how many episodes there were in InuYasha [yes, watching one show got me thinking about something completely different].

While I love InuYasha, I feel like every time I watch it the plot just isn't there or is getting put on the back burner or is just ridiculous or nonexistent. InuYasha is a bunch of filler because the little Miss Creator Woman decided she wanted a never ending series.

That is just about as crazy as the woman who was being threatened to be killed by ghosts if work ever stopped on her house [you know, the woman who was married to that guy who made all those guns or something. Google it!].

Anyway, I looked it up and InuYasha has about 167 episodes. I was surprised. I thought it was much longer. I figured as much time as I devoted to watching that show and I still hadn't seen every episode it had to be like 300 some episodes long. And then another thought occurred to me. The most repetitive [but addictive] anime ever [Yes, Dragon Ball Z] was probably, now that I thought about it, longer than InuYasha.

And I was right. Depending on which version you watch it has between 291 and 276 episodes. And still, I thought, if Dragon Ball Z is SO much longer why does it feel shorter than InuYasha.

Oh yeah, Dragon Ball Z i repetitive and it runs together BUT it follows a plot the whole time.

Sometimes InuYasha is like "I know we should be looking for this jewel shards or Naraku could take over the world but we should totally stop for 5 episodes and help this useless character find a dog or something!"

And every time I think about InuYasha and it's STUPID filler arcs [that usually make NO sense] I always have to think of the King of All animes created mostly of filler - Naruto.

I was such a fan girl for Naruto when I was 14. Then several things occurred to me. For starters, if I wanted to watch a bunch of 12 year olds beat each other up, I could pay a few of them to do it and watching the bloodshed IRL would be a lot more satisfying. Secondly, it should've been called "The Sasuke Show, featuring Naruto's Crappy Motivational Speeches Sometimes]. AND then when Sasuke left and the entire plot for the series ended... THE SHOW KEPT GOING! I was like... What is the point of this show to keep going OR why don't they move the plot along.

And sure, Shippuden did eventually come along - but long after I lost my patience with the show [I still cringe when someone says "Believe it"].

*shakes head*

And have you ever seen a show filled with more angst? EVERYONE in that show had a horrible childhood. A HORRIBLE childhood. No wonder they were beating each other up all the time.

Now, Bleach is long as hell, but it entertains me so. I'm fully invested in the characters and I love them. Unlike other long shows where the characters are annoying [Does ANYONE like Kagome? Anyone? And I was definitely ready to kill Tenten for being so far up Neji's ass that whenever she opened her mouth, his crap fell out].

Now, I know what you're gonna say - you liked Bleach better "when it was called Yu-Yu Hakusho and you like that show better when it was called Dragon Ball Z", as Team Four Star put it.

But that middle ground, Yu-Yu Hakusho, is my favorite. It may not be as contemporary as Bleach or as action packed as Dragon Ball Z, but that's the beauty of it. It's shorter, the characters are either completely lovable or you hate to love them, they have some sweet kick ass attacks [Dragon of the Darkness Flame anyone? And Kurama may have used plants to kill people but that whole T-Rex plant he had when he fought Karasu in the Dark Tournament was terrifying - much more terrifying that those big balls of light you see in DBZ] and, the best thing about Yu-Yu Hakusho, no filler. It came on, the plot ran it's course, and it ended. If there had been anymore it would be too long.

Which is why it's the only series that I own ALL of [well, that's also because DBZ is still too expensive].

And thinking about all of this got me to thinking of all the anime I used to watch - Big O, Case Closed, Lupin the 3rd, Witch Hunter Robin, G Gundam [which is the only Gundam that wasn't garbage in my opinion], .Hack Sign, Trigun, Ruroni Kenshin.

I like a bunch of newer stuff too, Death Note, Paranoia Agent [which I still don't fully understand], Azumanga Daoih, Super GALS!, Fooly Cooly [which I also don't fully understand], Samurai Champloo, Full Metal Alchemist.

Man, Full Metal Alchemist is definitely in my Top 5. It's like a perfect show. I'm watching Brotherhood now too.

Anyway... Ghost in the Shell is on and since I'm not really into that show I'm going to go read some fan fiction [FMA probably].

Fair Thee Well,
April