A New Start

Hello Lovely Readers!

It's March and I've decided it's time to really push my writing muscles again. That includes getting this blog up and running again!

So while I've been gone, several things have happened: I've graduated with my English Ed degree, I've gotten a job as a tutor with a company that is really great (I teach reading, writing, math, and offer homework help), and I've been writing lots of fanfiction!  (If you feel like checking it out, just look up birdgirl90 on Archive of Our Own and you can read it! Most of it is either Metal Gear Solid - from several years ago - or Marvel, which is what I'm currently working on.) 

I also got a dog and am trying to train her to be a psychiatric service dog to help me with my anxiety and bipolar.  So far, it's slow going but I have hope. I don't fully agree with my dog trainer's tactics all the time - she's pretty hands on and a little aggressive at times - but I am hoping it's going to be okay. Worst case scenario, she stays an emotional support animal.

I'm taking on a new project this month: Camp NaNoWriMo. It starts in April - the wave I'm doing with friends - and I am very excited.  My plan is to outline and flesh out characters this month so that I'm ready to go for next month.  I've always tried to do NaNoWriMo but I always get distracted two weeks in with all the holidays and stuff.  I'm hoping this time to stick with it!  The beauty is that I get to pick my word count. I think I'm going to aim for 30,000 words.

Everything else is going pretty well in my world. Knitting projects have been started and finished, though I have several ones to still finish - including a blanket, a shawl, another shawl, and several pairs of socks, and some handwarmers.  I'm starting to really read books again, which is kind of exciting. I've also been doing a lot of coloring; mandala coloring books are my favorite, done in Sharpie.

My main goals right now are to keep being awesome at work, keep working with my dog, and to keep writing again. I want to get back to updating this blog on a weekly basis, so possibly every Friday, though I might try to do bi weekly on Sundays and Fridays.  It depends. 

Thank you for still being with me, dear Readers.  Here's to new starts!

~Birdie

The Wednesday Lowdown

Hey there, readers!

I really wanted a clever title for the blog post.  See, I was thinking that for the rest of the summer I would update on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Then when school starts in August, I would do Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursdays (since Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm at school and will have time between classes to write so I don't lose my mind) with the possibility of occasional posts should something exciting happens.

I was hoping to keep the titles consistent, so like Sundays would be listed as "Sunday Editions" and stuff, but I can't figure out enough newspaper puns at the moment.  So for now, it is what it is.

At least it will be consistent.

Anyway, this was not what I wanted to blog about today.

Actually, in all honesty you guys, my blogs tend to be random, so I normally don't have a plan when I write them.  Monday was an exception because there was so much I needed to cover.  Normally though, I can't promise what you're going to get.

Again, not what I wanted to blog about.

Someone is making me fanart.

Someone online offered to pay me money to write a fic because they like what I write so much that they wanted more.  

Can we talk about this for a moment?

Remember in the previous blog post I mentioned the MGS fandom saving me during a dark period and how I write a lot for the fandom?  Yeah, so apparently I make more waves than I thought because people online actually know who I am due to my writing.  People online actually like my writing.  You know, the stuff I can chunk out in handfuls when I'm on a good day, the stuff that I like writing but that I also worry about posting because frankly, there is so much good fanfiction out there.

I am so floored.

I feel like I'm this wholly unremarkable person, and yet, people like what I do, (and for some reason, they like me too, but that's a post for another time).  And some of the people who mention it are people who's writing I adore, so it's a little like being star struck.  And the whole reason I do it is because it makes me happy and it makes my friends happy.

And then I found out that someone really wanted more of a particular series I was writing, and when I reached out to her to offer to write her one, she had a mini meltdown and proceeded to tell me that she would pay me or do fanart or both as a thanks.

Again, I am floored.

I declined the money.  

I mean, I'm broke as fuck (I have a dollar to my name until school starts) but this isn't why I do what I do.  

If you're kind to me, I will happily bend over backwards for you.  

If you ask and I like you or know you, I'll write you anything in reason.

(That goes beyond fanfiction.  Kindness goes a long way.)

Anyway.

I'm getting a piece of fanart.

Of my favorite OC.

With her canon character beau.

I feel like crying.

It means so much to me that people actually think enough of me to offer these sort of things.  

And to be kind enough to work with Andi.

Alright, honestly, I love Andi so fucking much.

She's my favorite character I've ever made, and I get to explore so much through her.

Every time I write her or RP her or talk about her or get to share her with anyone, it just.

It's like there's a piece of me that gets away from everything and gets to love my girl instead, even if it's just for a small fic or quick reply or brief conversation.

I'm learning to love myself through her.

I've been incredibly fortunate, too, cause my bff, my husband, and my sister all get an earful from time to time, and they are so patient with me, and actually...like her too.

See, this is the beauty of fanfiction, folks.

You can have these characters you love and make characters you love, and they get you through.

They give you something to look forward to and something to get out of your head.

It is a legit writing form, and no one will ever tell me otherwise.

I encourage it.

Which actually, let's talk about OCs for a moment, since I'm gushing about mine.

There are times you will not like someone's OC.
You will feel competitive or frustrated that they're everywhere or just annoyed in general.

This has happened in one of the tags I follow.

But that does not give you the right to publicly drag the character or the person who created them.  It makes me so mad that people do that.
Frankly, I don't like a lot of OCs.
But the amount of love that goes into them does not deserve me coming along and to the creator's face telling them I dislike them.

We all love our OCs.

If you don't like them, move along quietly.  

Feel free to bitch to your friends, but please, just ignore us in public.  

Call outs are cruel.

Anyway, back to the point.

I am getting fanart of my favorite OC by a girl who is super kind and likes my writing and is officially the second person to ever draw her.  

(My bff drew some great Andi stuff that is my phone wall paper, and I will never, ever get rid of the art.  Ever.  It means so much to me.)

I am, in fact, blown away.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to end this post and go squeal a bit while trying to knit something.

(Next post will be about that, brace yourselves. I got yarn for a really cool project, bwahaha.)

~Birdie

Oh Hey There!

Hi there, my dear readers.

I know I have been absent for over two months.  A lot has been going on, and I was also completely enjoying my summer break.  Seriously.  I was at the pool at least three times a week this summer, weather allowing.  (We had a few hail storms in there, and it is monsoon season now, but other than that, I've been making an effort to get off my computer and go outside.)

So rather than rehashing everything that has been my summer, I propose we start new.

School starts in one week.

I'm really excited about it.  I love being on campus, I love learning new things, and I love doing papers and things.  And since I'm now an English Education major, I'm especially excited about this semester.  I did not drop my GPA last semester as much as I had feared; I am still in the 3.0 range.  It's just not where I would like it and I know I am capable of bringing it back up.  Next week is the start of a redemption period for me.

I've started setting little goals for myself each day.  The feeling of satisfaction from achieving them is really helpful for me right now.  My anxiety has peaked for the first time really since spring and I don't really want to go into details, but little goals help keep it in check.

(I'm also going to be seeing a therapist at the end of the month who is trained to give out medication for my anxiety.  After having a panic attack from talking wedding, my fiance, mom, and myself talked about it and decided it was for the best.  I have a lot going on and I need to be the best me I can possibly be.)

I did get two scholarships this semester, which is awesome! One is through my dad's main job and one is through his part time job.  This is the last year I qualified for the scholarships and I feel really blessed that I got them.  Of all the years to get financial help, this one was a biggie.

Wedding plans are going pretty smoothly.  I'm trying not to think too much about it, because school is more pressing right now.  But the church is reserved (I took in the deposit check today!) and I'm going to be visiting my fiance's family over Thanksgiving break.  I'm nervous about that, but everyone is being pretty awesome to me about it.  Fiance's best friend's girlfriend has actually friended me on Tumblr and is being above and beyond awesome.  So that's pretty cool.

And yeah, I think that about sums everything up for now.  I'm planning (now that school is back and I'm on an actual schedule again) to update at least twice a week.  I might do more depending on the week.  During midterms and finals, it might be less.  We will see.

Have a great Monday, dear readers!

~Meaghan

Yup, It's Strep Again

So I was right this morning, my dear readers.  Somehow, the antibiotics didn't get rid of my strep throat infection from a week and a half ago.  The doctor didn't even have me come in; that's a sign of how bad it was.

Now I'm back on antibiotics and hopefully I'll be feeling better soon.  The one good thing is that I caught it before it escalated to where it was initially.

This worries me though.

In 2012, I was sick nearly every month of the year.  I had repeat strep, repeat sinus infections, yeast infections, and at one point, an ear infection/strep/fever combo like a few weeks ago.  That was also the year I gave myself mild carpal tunnel from knitting too much (I was trying to get a sweater done for my dad for Christmas) and had to give my hands and arms a month long break.

I really don't want to repeat that year.  I don't want to get into a loop of reinfections and weakened immune system.  Not cool.  Not okay with this.

So I'm on a new toothbrush, and in a few days, I'll swap it out.  I'm planning on washing the sheets and blankets this weekend, as well as throwing all snot items (used tissues, old water bottles) out.

Bleh.

And that is your update about the post this morning.  Healing energy would be great if you have any to spare, or just positive thoughts. All are greatly appreciated.  :)

Until the next post, loves.

~Meaghan

St. Brigid Update

Hey again, readers!

(How about this, you get a second blog post in the same day! It's like I didn't miss yesterday at all!)

(That was a lot of exclamations.  My bad.)

So here it is, the St. Brigid update that I've been promising for ages.  Really, it was because I've been having trouble getting good pictures of it.  And I still feel like these pictures are kind of bad, because they were taken with my phone camera.

(Every time I use flash, it makes the stitches blanch out in a sea of green, so I have been taking them in the dark.  And they're kind of fuzzy.  Bear with me, please.)

A little pale, but those cables are so beautiful.  So worth the effort.

She's coming along pretty well over all.  I'm halfway through the second repeat of the pattern.  I need to repeat it ten times total for the back, so this is slow but sure progress.

This picture shows the true color better.

Cables drive me nuts but are so beautiful that it's worth it.

It's definitely not a sweater I can work on when watching TV.  Like, all my concentration goes into it.  But I love how it's turning out.  I took it up a needle size because I am a pretty big gal.  So far, I'm still on my first ball of yarn, but that will probably change soon.

The yarn is Cascade 22 in Hunter Green, a color I have been drawn to for ages.  

Interesting story about the yarn, actually.

So, a few years ago, I went to a yarn store with my friend Kristine for the first time.  I didn't have any projects in mind, but I wanted some of this Cascade stuff because it was so nice feeling and looking.  So I bought three skeins of it - one pink, one purple, and one green.

Fast forward to when I was ordering the yarn for St. Brigid back in January.  I found this green online and absolutely loved it.  So I bought it.

When it came in, I took it back to my yarn stash, thinking it looked familiar.  So on a whim, I compared it to the green I had bought back at the yarn store in 2010 or so.  

It's the exact same color.

If that isn't destiny telling me that I am supposed to knit this sweater in this green, then I don't know what is.

(And yeah, I hold on to stash yarn for long periods of time.  Doesn't everybody?)

Alright, so there's the Brigid update.

Off to do more rows.