And now's the time--the time is now

I feel much better now.

Went to a reading at the Kaya last night. One of the stories, which I'll link to when he puts it up, really put things in perspective for me. Fandom is NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL. I cannot ruin my health over it. I'm going to write the Evil!Marty fanfic because a) I've got several willing betas, including ghostgecko, b) I've still got to write a slash (and as far as I know there aren't any Marty/Marty yet--would that really be icky-icky slash or just existentially weird? I almost want to get docsgirl's opinion on this), and c) because it's the only one that has any chance of an ending, but after that I think I might quit. Unless I get a really good idea. I'm vaguely working on one that centers around stargurl137's idea about Doc being Jewish, and it'll probably either involve the movie "Pi" in some way, or an alternate universe where everyone speaks Hebrew. Ideas for plot are welcome.

Anyway, I've got a new thing to perseverate over: My NaNoWriMo novel. Those who I've talked to about it know of the werewolf story, but I've scrapped that; I'm not nearly ready to write it. I still need to rehearse the scenes in my head--does anyone else do this, go over and over a scene of a story mentally until it's totally perfect, and only then write it? It's like actually putting the words down on paper or screen is already the final draft.
My first NaNoWriMo ever will be a story I'd been working on with Tammy. It centers around Elena and Aurora, a peasant girl and a deposed princess.

The plot:
Elena is a solid, skeptical peasant girl. At 21, she is not yet married, and decides to go out into the world to either seek her fortune or find a husband.
Aurora is a princess and is vaguely unhappy with her lot in life, but not sure why. Her parents are worried because at 16, she hasn't shown any interest in choosing a prince (or plucky peasant boy disguised as a prince) to marry. (I may switch the ages, I don't know.) In order to find her a husband to ensure the royal lineage, they hold a classic fairytale contest, involving such trials as a Maze of Thorns and a Hill of Glass.
Coming to the capital city, Elena is excited to hear about a contest. Upon hearing that the prize is "the greatest treasure in the land", she enters (yes, they let her and there is a perfectly good reason). And wins, and is terribly surprised to find that the prize is, in fact, the princess.
Aurora, being an honorable young lady, insists upon the rules of the contest being upheld. There is a short legal battle, and Elena and Aurora are given some gold, some horses, and 24 hours to get out of the city.
I foresee some interesting conflict here. Aurora is fairly classic, as princesses go--steeped in the rules of chivalry and courtly love, sheltered, and likes pretty things. Tammy played her (of course) as a fairly devout Goddess worshipper (although I had to restrain her from becoming some kind of priestess-mage). In response, I made Elena an atheist (there is a good reason for this in the story as well). She's also extremely unsophisticated and realistic to the point of being pessimistic, and probably a little opportunistic. I just have to make sure that I don't force them to react to the point of being caricatures.
The story itself is not a problem. I've got a few scenarios, some of which involve pirates, planned. And if I completely poop out, I can just resurrect Aurora's evil uncle.
The working title for my book is "Ramble On", after, of course, the Zep song. My journal for this book is: ramble_on_book. I will be posting as often as I feel like. If anyone would like to make an icon for me they are more than welcome.

Also, did anyone see the eclipse tonight? I know colbyucb was there, but sadly I did not recognize her and did not say hello. So hello now!
They had a little observation party on the roof of Brooks Hall, which I went to. Got to stare at the moon through a telescope and see a binary star (one was blue and one was white). I'm writing a poem about the experience.