Incoherent Rambling Monday

Hello, all. Happy Monday! That day when staying in bed really seems like a brilliant idea (especially since last night I had decided to ignore the fact that it was Sunday night and stayed up rather late). When the first class of the morning (read: 10 am) goes by in a bit of a blur (an Italian blur, in my case). When all you REALLY want to do is take a nap, but then you know you'll never get to sleep at a normal time, so never mind. The kind of day when yet another rejection letter seems so very fitting, you know?

This weekend was spent writing, discovering that A Very Potter Musical is really quite funny, procrastinating, and ranting about the Phantom of the Opera sequel, called Love Never Dies, that Andrew Lloyd Webber has come up with in order to relive his glory days. It makes the phan in me curl up and weep in utter horror and disgust. Seriously, Lord Andy, how many bad fanfictions did you read in order to churn out a plot as twisted, disturbing, and completely out-of-character as that?!? (And seriously, couldn't you pay somebody to check that your dates lined up, at the very least? Come on, now.)

It was also spent juggling some very bizarre plot shifting for A Tangled Web (which is becoming more and more tangled by the second, let me tell you). First, I had a minor panic attack whilst attempting to restructure the romantic subplot in it to go along with the revisions (read: cutting out romantic subplot entirely) in A Bridge to War. I think that got worked out. Then, yesterday, I felt like I'd backed myself into a corner with a problem my characters are currently dealing with.

Today, at work, while I was sweeping the second floor landing in Hilliard (maintenance jobs are such fun, but they do let me do lots of plotting; this particular corner of the second floor landing of Hilliard Hall also gave me the larger plot for Letters to Oliver, so I'm not complaining. Plus, the side staircases have fantastic acoustics, so singing in them is fun too) I had a bit of a revelation. As soon as I finished work and got back to the dorm from my voice lesson, I called my beta to run it past her, just to make sure it made logical sense instead of just Caitlin-sense. She wasn't home, but I hope she'll call me back soon.

A note on betas - they are wonderful. Erin, my beta, is also my down-the-street neighbor, one of my closest friends, and (apparently) my lookalike (don't get me started). She's awesome, and terribly logical when I come to her in a gibbering panic about this idea that I've had but where does it fit in and how the hell do I get from point a to point b and what is this character doing now and hey, if I did this, then I could - no, that wouldn't make sense, would it?s. She is wonderful at taking my rambling and pointing out the sense hidden under all my ums and what ifs? and general confusedness.

So, even if you don't know your beta face-to-face and can call them at a moment's notice, they are your saviors and should be treated as such (and I'm not just saying this because I'm waiting for you to call me back, Erin). Be nice to your betas. They're funtastic.

(A side note: all those people who are currently making my lovely beta's life a confusing, hellish mess, cease and desist, or I shall have to hurt you the next time I'm home from college.)

Right. Off to make a PowerPoint about vampires. :)