Outlining Madness

Today I'm drinking a lovey lychee black tea from Franklin Tea, a local tea shop here in Nashville.  It has a subtly sweet, comforting flavor that almost reminds me of chocolate.  I've chosen it because I need some comfort right now.

I'm glad my snuggle buddies are here too.  They always know how to cheer me up. 

Background music: Mediaeval Baebes on shuffle.  I often listen to them while writing.

So what's got me so down?   I spilled water on my laptop tonight.  I know I'm being stupid...for lots of reasons.  It's just stuff, and I have backup plans for backup plans built upon safeguards, so logistically it's not that big a deal.  Like I said, I'm being stupid.  Really stupid.  I just hate the idea that I've potentially messed something up so bad.  Laptops are not cheap.  I don't want to be a burden, financial or otherwise, on anyone, and I hate the idea that I might have ruined an expensive piece of equipment.  I've taken action.  I've done all I can.  Now I just have to wait and see if I killed it.  *Sigh* I hate waiting.

As far as writing, I've been busy lately, which makes me happy.  Fun fact: I never used to write outlines.  For anything.  Ever.   When I wrote papers in college, I usually waited until the night before, sometimes had half an idea of what I was going to write about, and would then start pounding away on my keyboard with some Mountain Dew to keep me company.  Possibly not the best strategy, but I got really good grades on my papers, so I guess that speaks well of...something.

I've learned that outlines are really helpful, though!  Who'da thunk?   I currently have outlines written up for three separate books.  *Gasp!* I know.  I'm shocked too.  I've never actually written a book with an outline before, so knowing where I'm going and what I'm doing beforehand is kind of blowing my mind.  Granted, they're not very outliney outlines, more like a passably organized collection of notes.  I have plot skeletons assembled, though, plus characters, their parts, landscapes and scene descriptions, the whole nine!  Craziness.  As much of a planner as I am, you think I'd have been doing this for a long time.  Nope.  Now I just have to write the books, which is the most fun part!

The Goodreads giveaway for an autographed, pre-release copy of Out of the Shadows is still open, so go ahead and enter if you haven't yet.  I'll wait...

Here's the link to enter:  https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/202679-out-of-the-shadows

*Elevator music* Ba dum ba dum dum do do da... 

All done?  Fantastic!

in other news, I've been playing with doodling apps.  I've said it before, I'll say it again: I am not an artist.  Even still, I really enjoy drawing.  I tried playing with Paper 53 for a minute, but I couldn't get the hang of it quickly enough.  I also almost gave Bamboo Paper a proper try, but I'd already gotten used to SketchBook Express, so I couldn't be bothered.  SBX is the most similar to the (ancient) version of Photoshop I use, so I've already settled on that.  Look!  I did a picture of Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series! 

I got the idea for the brown background while doodling on a napkin today.  I also really like the variety and quality of the different brushes in SBX.  What apps or programs do you proper artists use? 

Thanks for reading!