Writing Habits

Both Angel and Helen wrote about their writing habits recently, and because I'm a follower not a leader, the little English voice in my head is saying 'Oi! Anna, You should write about yours.' And the English voice in my head will not be denied. (Note: I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested!)

Clothing:
Pajamas. Almost always pajamas. I like to write in something comfy and easy. Something that'll (possibly) keep me from going outside and getting distracted. That is, unless I'm going out of the house to write.

In that case, it's jeans and a t-shirt. Normally a geeky t-shirt, one with Yoshi or Promises Promises on the front, and of course either flip-flops, or my skater shoes, paired with a pair of fun socks (my cupcake socks are a particular favorite).

Food/Drink:
Chocolate is a must, though I tend to eat a lot of El Fudge cookies too.

If I'm out to write, I MUST have an Iced Chai Latte. I love Hot Chai's too, but Iced Chai's always hit the spot (Lets see how many more times I can say the word Chai. CHAI, CHAI, CHAI, CHAI!). If Chai is not attainable, then it's definitely a Dr. Pepper. I'm addicted. It's bad.

Location:
Only during this recent try with NaNoWriMo did I discover, I'm a lot more productive when it comes to writing my own stuff, if I'm not at home. As much as I love Starbucks, Beans and Brews is the place that I find it the easiest to write. It's just enough noise to be in the background, but not enough to be hugely distracting.

If I'm unable to get to a Beans and Brews (i.e. I'm at work) then I just pull up a Google Document and start writing on my breaks or when I get down time.

Misc.

I've tried making playlists before, but I have a hard time writing when songs with lyrics are playing behind me. I've recently acquired a whole bunch of original scores for movies like Stargate, Harry Potter, P.S. I Love You, and Stardust. The P.S. I Love You seems to be the one I write to the most. I love it's Celtic feel and slightly upbeat tunes. Stardust is the second one I listen to most. I found that I can't listen to the Harry Potter or Stargate scores, because I know what is supposed to be happening at that moment in the movie and I get distracted.

I also can't write with movies or tv on in the background if I'm at home. I would normally end up pausing or muting it, otherwise I get distracted.

I'm one of those people who has her entire characters planned out. What they wear, how they act, how they dress, a small back story, everything I can think of. That way if I get lost as to where my character is going, I have something to refer back to.

Why British TV is better than American TV

I've recently been watching a lot of tv. Not that that is anything new, but I've been watching quite a bit of British TV. Not the Old British Comedies that are on late at night on PBS (though those are funny in their own way), but like a few main stream BBC shows such as: Merlin, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Coupling, Robin Hood, and a few others. As I've watched them, I'm realizing that British TV is a lot cooler than American TV.

Now, if you know me, then you know that I LOVE tv. I love watching full series over and over again. It may just be a fad, or a current obsession, but there are a few things that I think that British TV does better than American.

One: Awesome TV show ideas in general
Seriously, look at whats on tv now in America. Really the only thing we do, that stays on air for more than 3 seasons, is comedies and crime and medical dramas. NCIS, Grey's, Law & Order, Bones, How I Met Your Mother, Community, The Big Bang Theory and many more, they thrive in America, and, yes, they're amazing tv shows.

However, UK seems to come up with some of the greatest ideas, that America duplicates later on. Case and Point: Skins. Though I've never actually watched Skins (I've heard amazing things about it from my friends though), most people loyal to the UK version have been completely horrified by the MTV redux, and rightfully so. From all the reports that I've read, MTV!Skins is not as great an investment as they thought it would be. Though on the opposite side, The UK version of 'The Office' didn't last nearly as long as the US version of 'The Office'. Nonetheless, both shows originated in UK.

When I heard that Starz was doing a show called 'Camelot' I immediately thought it was going to be a Merlin-esqe show. Thankfully I was wrong. Merlin is, by far, one of my all time favorite tv shows, I love the idea of seeing how Arthur grew up to become the king of legends. I love the idea of Merlin secretly helping him, trying not to actually use magic in front of him. The story of how Arthur met all the knights of the realm is amazingly told, and to top off the amazing stories, Merlin has some of the best actors I have ever seen! *cough*plusAnthonyStewartHeadisamazingandtheonlyreasonIstartedwatching*endcough*

I'm dreading the day where someone in America wants to remake Doctor Who. I'm sorry, but NO. Just No. Doctor Who as a an American, wouldn't work. Rupert Grint as the Twelve however. THAT I could totally get behind.

Two: Size 14 is Not Fat...
(to quote Meg Cabot)
One thing I love about British TV is that they're not afraid to let a main character in one of their tv shows have a little meat on her bones. Yes, some of them are, but (at least in the shows I've seen) a handful of them would probably be considered on the heavy side here on American TV.

One of my favorite companions on Doctor Who, was Donna Noble. Her character was slightly annoying, kind of abrasive, and rarely accepted it when she was told she was wrong. Granted those are her characters traits, but Catherine Tate is one of the funniest actresses I've seen. Not only that, but she openly advocates for theatre to remain just that, theatre, no fancy gimmicks or celebrity actors to lure people in to coming, "You have to have the right people in the right parts. Stunt casting and being gimmicky does the theatre a great disservice." Which I couldn't agree with more. On top of all these amazing qualities, she's got a little meat on her bones.

It's not just Catherine Tate. Billie Piper (Rose from Doctor Who), Lucy Griffiths (Marian from Robin Hood), even Angel Coulby (Gwen from Merlin), all of them don't fit into the standard definition of a tv actress that American TV has. They all have hips, little bellies, and butts, and when you have actresses like that, it says "Hey look! Normal people on TV! You don't have to be a size two to be pretty!!!", which I for one, LOVE.

Three:They know how to cast!
Okay, so this one is kind of a cheat. American TV shows are amazingly cast. Really, could you see anyone but Neil Patrick Harris playing Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother? Or what about anyone but James Roday playing Shawn Spencer on Psych? American TV has truly great at casting.

Blame it on the fact that I don't live in the UK and therefore when I see someone that I actually know on my favorite BBC shows it makes my fangirl heart flutter, or you could just say I'm easily pleased. British TV really knows how to showcase their actors. Bradley James and Colin Morgan are one of the greatest acting pairs I've seen in a long time, add the chemistry that David Tennant and Billie Piper (or David Tennant and ANY of the companions he's had) had in Doctor Who and you quickly see where I'm getting.

All in all, the title of my blog post may not be accurate. British TV may not be BETTER than American TV, but it certainly has its moments of awesome.

Just add this to the reasons why it'd be cool to live in the UK.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's.... WRITERS BLOCK!

a villain that attacks poor unsuspecting citizens at the most inconvenient moments.

Every time I feel like I have writers block I think of John Green.

Q. How do you deal with writers’ block?
A. I just give myself permission to suck. I delete about 90% of my first drafts (the only exception to this rule so far has been Will Grayson, Will Grayson) so it doesn’t really matter much if on a particular day I write beautiful and brilliant prose that will stick in the minds of my readers forever, because there’s a 90% chance I’m just gonna delete whatever I write anyway. I find this hugely liberating.

I also like to remind myself of something my dad said to me once in re. writers’ block: “Coal miners don’t get coal miners’ block.”

For the past little while, I've been having serious writers block. Not the kind where I can't come up with any ideas at all. It's the kind where I can't come up with any NEW ideas.

I have a small obsession with super heroes, and for some reason, I can't seem to come up with any other ideas than ones about superheroes. I have about four drafts of basically the same story from different perspectives, and can't seem to get out of this rut.

So I decided that I was going to force myself to write more in at least ONE of my superhero stories. Hoping that if I get further in them, then maybe that'll free up some of the space in my brain to come up with a new ideas.

In Photoshop weekend news, I made this reflective floral design by following this tutorial. It took me (roughly) six hours to make from scratch and I'm pretty proud of it.

Also, as you have probably noticed. I also redesigned my blog background. It certainly describes the fact that my head is in the clouds most of the time. The redesigning took me FOREVER to figure out. But I did it and I'm really proud of my self for it. (:

Photoshop Weekend.

This weekend I went and saw Burlesque. It's such an awesome movie! I give high props to Cher and Christina Aguilera. The music, the dancing, its SO amazing! I highly recommend seeing it.

Anywho, afterwards I was browsing my favorite Photoshop Tutorial site and ran across this amazing tutorial for a Casino Style Sign. I was giggling so much I knew I had to try it. At that moment I decided to try and make at least two things a weekend that didn't just involve alternate photo coloration, or icon making. I've been wanting to try and challenge myself with different tutorials and such, and this was the perfect way to start.

Even though I followed the tutorial to the letter, I'm pretty impressed with it myself.

(click to see full image)

the second tutorial I followed was this one for Roses with a Splash effect.
Although it's not as good as the one in the tutorial, it's still pretty good.
(this is a picture from my own wedding, pictures taken by Wendy G.)

(click for to see full image)

I'm hoping that if I keep doing tutorials, eventually I can start making things all by myself. Things that are awesome! *crosses fingers*

It's time to come to terms with my fate.

I'm just going to have to come to grips with the truth.

I just write better from a boy's perspective. It's not really a BAD thing, I mean, J.K. Rowling did alright for herself. The thing is, you'd think that with me, you know, BEING a girl I'd have an understanding and insight to the female mind. Not to mention, most girls find it incredibly easy to write from a girl perspective, I've always found it a bit difficult. Girls are normally a lot more complicated (or at least I make them be), boys are simple, casually read characters that are easy to give a bit of depth without making them be huge drama queens kings.

I know. It's a bit odd.

Really, the only person I have to blame is myself. When I would write with friends online, I'd always end up writing the boy part. I had 5 years of writing from a boy's perspective, writing from a girls perspective is odd, and obviously doesn't come naturally.

So, what this all comes down to, I have now come to terms with my fate, that I'm at my best, when writing from a boy's point of view.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor."

Obviously, I'm not the Doctor. Namely because, I'm not a Time Lord (the fact that he's a fictional character means nothing.)

This is my introductory post where I introduce myself to all of you! *crickets*

Okay, so there aren't many of you, but oh well, I'm here anyway.

My name is Anna Gailey. I currently reside in Utah, with my husband and two cats, Aerith and Rikku. I work ten hours a day at my job and end up crashing on my couch when I get home then turning on what ever TV show I happen to be obsessed with at the time.

I really do watch an awful lot of television. It'd be pathetic if it weren't so awesome (tee-hee). My current obsession is Doctor Who (hence the title of the post) and Psych. I often quote movies and TV shows in normal conversation. There are also times where I'll be listening to someone talk and a quote will pop in my head and I'll just start laughing. This is what happens when your brain gets run over with pop culture references.

I'm an aspiring YA/chick lit/awesome author. My writing is still kind of lame, but I'm hoping it gets better. I love books and escaping from my own world to something completely new. I often have at least one book in my bag and one in my car (wouldn't want to get stranded without something to READ!). If you're ever in Barnes and Noble and see a girl in the YA section hugging the Meg Cabot books... that's probably me.

I also enjoy making fandom graphics for many of my TV shows and movies that I love so much. I'm currently most versed in coloring already awesome pictures and making them even more awesome. Also, I love playing with crop when it comes to icons. I'm wanting to branch out a little try making my own vectors and other graphics, and go into web design.

I obviously have many interests, but the highest and most important is my interest in all things NERD (or geek if you prefer, though I honestly don't see a difference...). I'm a massive geek, a nerdfighter, beyond huge fangirl, and gossip monger. Feel free to pimp me out to all your friends. Cause I'm kind of awesome! ♥

I hope to entertain you a little, and hope that you'll follow me.

Allons-y