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. — 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!