I’ve been staring at the screen for several minutes trying to think of a clever way to open up this post, but my brain’s all, “Haha, nope. Go take a nap or something.” I tend to ignore my brain, but a nap sounds awfully nice. So Thursday my throat started feeling like murder, and then as the day progressed I slowly seeped into a state of death. Then over the weekend it all came in full force—fever, a throat that felt like a dragon was lodged inside trying to claw and burn its way out, a headache akin to a volcano ready to erupt, all that fun stuff. So yeah, if it has appeared to anyone like I’ve disappeared off the planet, I haven’t. My brain feels like it’s floating through space, but I promise I’m still here. Just been sick. Still am, actually, but I’m slowly improving. I do tend to relapse all the time though, so any prayers that I’ll get well soon and actually stay well would be such a blessing to me! Last Saturday (the 13th) I officially finished my Beauty and the Beast novella for the Rooglewood Press Contest! Writing it went surprisingly well and I’m rather happy with it, but it is going to need a fair amount of editing. I was planning on tackling said editing last week, but we were gone for the first half of the week and then I got sick the last half, resulting in zero editing. All my brain’s been good for is staring blankly at the television these past few days. Not exactly the best time to be perfecting a story. Scary thought, really. I was really hoping to have it written and edited up for my beta-readers by the end of this month, but now I’m not sure I’m going to have time. Which also means it probably won’t be completely finished by the end of October like I was planning. My hopes were to have it done and sent off before NaNoWriMo. Ah, plans, how you do like to explode on me. Or just laugh hysterically. Ah well, if I have to send it off in November it won’t be the end of the world (I mean, it could be the end of the world, but I promise it wouldn’t be my doing). I’ve been trying to accept life as it comes and not put it on a schedule. I can get pretty stressed when my plans go kaput. I’m learning to just roll with it. Still a WIP, but I am trying. I know I haven’t really said anything about the actual story. Since it’s for a contest I don’t want to give too much away. And since it’s short, explaining the plot would pretty much spoil the majority of it, you know? But if you’re all that curious about it, it does have a Pinterest board that you’re welcome to peruse. Also I listened to THIS SONG while writing most of the last section of it. It’s one of the most gorgeous songs I’ve ever heard. Seriously, go take a listen. Thank you, Pandora, for hooking me up with beautiful music! I declare that site reads my mind. I must get well soon. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is literally sitting in our house right now from Netflix and I can’t watch it. My brother and I like to watch those movies in his room with his nice TV and surround sound system but I don’t want to germinate his room, so the disc is just sitting there, tantalizing us. Being sick is so very not fun. Who cares if I technically saw it in theaters. I NEED to see it again! Because, obviously, I need my heart ripped out and torn into a million pieces again. You understand, right? RIGHT? Speaking of epic movies, MOCKINGJAY PART ONE TRAILER. My excitement levels are so very high. And while we’re on the subject of movies and things. . . Today is Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday! Who doesn’t love those two hobbitses? The one who was determined to stay in the comforts of his hobbit hole only to stand face to face with a dragon. And the unlikely hero to save all of Middle Earth. Both of whom remind us that however unworthy and small we may feel, we can conquer anything if we put our minds to it (and aren’t afraid to accept help, occasionally from very unlikely friends). Sometimes I need the inspiration of those two. So happy birthday, my dear hobbitses! To all you Whovians, what do you think of the new season of Doctor Who and the 12th Doctor? Because I kind of instantly fell in love with 12. I am SO excited. I honestly didn’t know what to think. I wasn’t against Capaldi, but I had never seen him in anything and had no clue what type of Doctor he’d be. But. . . *incoherent squealing* He’s great! Speaking of which, I haven’t watched the newest episode yet. Another thing my brother and I like to watch together but can’t right now. I need to get wellll! I need a Doctor! (See what I did there?) Well, I think I’m off to read or nap. Or, you know, something that allows me to ignore the world. My brain is still a little too dead to accept the fact that my inbox is exploding and I need to edit my novella and do some critiquing for other people and start on a guest blog post. Hopefully in a day or two I’ll be a bit more back on my feet and can begin tackling these things. But for now I’m just like derp. And yes, this post has absolutely no point or order to speak of. But sometimes I like to just type and talk and let my random thoughts roam free. A dangerous thing, but it takes a lot of effort keeping them locked away inside my head all the time. Plus, between linkups and reviews and tags and whatnot I feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve written about just life. Every now and again I need some random posts. I do hope you don’t mind. Hopefully next week my brain will be more functional and can work out something actually tangible. So what kind of posts do you guys like reading in the blogsphere? Do the random, life-oriented posts interest you, or do you rather more focused articles? And what types of posts do you like writing more? Have a hobbit-filled day! (Because hobbits make everything better.)