There’s some good news, and there’s some not-so-good news. If you were here with me, I would give you the option of which one you wanted to hear first. Void that you are, you are always with me in some way, but in spirit. Not physically. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this blog post. You’d just be staring at me while I sit in the corner, silently trying to make words happen with my mouth but failing again and again and again.
All that silence is uncomfortable.
And the way you stare at me makes me uncomfortable
So maybe it’s better this way.
Since I am the one choosing the option on behalf of you, I’ll choose the not-so-good first. It’s nothing personal; I just don’t like to leave things off on a bad note.
Here it goes:
I will no longer be posting chapter five here and chapter six through my newsletter. I suppose I still could, but that would be dishonest of me, and I’m not about that life. If you wanted to see what Allyson was doing with some gifts she never asked for, you’ll have to wait. This isn’t my own decision. There’s outside forces at work here (not you this time).
Which brings me to the good news, which is I will no longer be posting chapter five here and chapter six in my newsletter.
“What?!” you collectively scream. “I’ve been duped!”
Nah, fam. Hear me out.
I won’t be posting them here or there because someone else is going to publish those two chapters exclusively for me. The reason being is that my submission for the Nebraska anthology, Voices from the Plains, was accepted. It’s due to come out in December of this year. More details on where you can pick up a copy (if you would like) to come at a later date.
I’m absolutely thrilled for this opportunity. I hope it whets the appetite and stirs a little bit of excitement for the finished product. As far as the state of the novel, I’m hoping to have the final edits completed by the end of the year. I’ll have a special beta read opportunity for those who are subscribed to my newsletter, so if you like what you’ve seen so far, I’ll provide the sign up at the end of this post so you can be added to the list.
That’s about it for me. Come back next time for chapter three.
See you on the flip side.
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So, as you all probably know, I got engaged to my guy of eleven years over the holidays. And, if you know me personally, you know that I’ve been waiting for that moment for the past seven of those eleven. I’ve had a lot of time to plan things out, and now that it’s happened, I couldn’t be more unprepared. You see, the thing is, when you spend a good chunk of your life planning, you get too many ideas, then you end up in my situation. Absolutely no idea where to go from here.
I did know one thing I wanted to do for sure right from the beginning, though. Two words: Bridesmaid Proposal. When I first found the idea on Pinterest, I thought it was just about the cutest thing, and knew right away it was something I wanted to do. Small problem with that, though. Everything I found was super cutesy and nice for normal bride-to-be’s to give to their buddies.
I don’t know if you’ve caught on by now on this, and I don’t want to alarm you, but I’m not exactly what you would call normal.
So, the challenge: find a way to ask a small handful of girls to help a sister out when the sister is dark and a touch eccentric?
I started my journey in Hobby Lobby: a store not necessarily up to the task of fulfilling my gothic needs. I had my sister join me in this adventure, a woman whom I love dearly even though she thinks I’m a little weird. We wandered around for the extent of her lunch hour while trying to figure out just how we’re going to do this. We picked up a lot of things, and ended up putting everything back. Reason: I’m bad at coming up with ideas under pressure. Who was putting me under pressure? Myself. Naturally. I’m an anxious mess 99% of the time.
I spent the next several weeks browsing Amazon and Pinterest trying to figure out my life. I’d take screenshots and send them to my sister, anything from box setup to creepy little ditties, and she would likewise tell me it was cute or reject my brilliant ideas in the most brutal way possible. I always take her advice with a grain of salt, though, because she’s normal and I’m my own person. Grown independent woman don’t need no normie.
Ultimately, I did what I wanted anyway. I work like that. I have to face rejection to really know what it is I want. Otherwise I do what other people want just to make the process easier. Eh, not one of my best traits. Follower and all that nonsense.
Anyway, that’s not the point. You didn’t come here to hear about my shitty decision making skills. You came here to see my sick ass bridesmaid proposal boxes!
First thing I did was decide on a theme. I am having my wedding in the fall, and I want it to be dark but not cheesy. Gothic romance. Think Phantom of the Opera. The Andrew Lloyd Webber one. Classy shit (said in the most unclassy way possible). I want Halloween, but not Halloween. Light Halloween.
I settled on buying little stress dolls on Amazon that look like voodoo dolls. They are absolutely adorable and I would recommend them to anyone who wants a cute, inexpensive gift. Plus, they smell like cookies. They feel nice in your hand. They are just all-around a great little gift. Just a little touch of fun for an otherwise super serious proposal. Or something like that. 😉
So. Damn. Cute.
Nextly, I knew I wanted to add something in there a little bit more…I don’t know…nice? I wanted to give my girls something they could keep that wasn’t just a cheap novelty item. Here, Hobby Lobby was exactly what I needed. I took a stroll through there, intending on just getting a box and some filler, and lo and behold, they had some of their fall decor out.
Sick ass pumpkins!
And my ring…is a hat!
I found some baby ones that were a hollow scrolly fancy type, and called it a win. Then I snagged a few fold up boxes and shredded filler paper (the stuff my sister picked out, no less), and some scrapbooking paper and got the hell out of there. I never much cared for shopping before, but I care for it even less now that the rona has taken over. Pandemics suck.
I knew I wanted to ask them in a unique way, and nothing on Pinterest or elsewhere on the wide wide world of the interwebs satisfied me. I had to turn to the one thing that never let me down. My one ace. Alright, I’ll cut the bullshit; I had to figure it out on my own. I ended up taking inspiration from Phantom of the Opera and my own mother who used to take existing songs and write alternative lyrics for them for plays. I spun Notes into a proposal. Why Notes? Because I have a thing with my best friend and the word ‘publicity.’ I couldn’t miss out on an opportunity for the inside joke. Originally, I was going to use it just for hers, but the thing as a whole really came out nicely, inside joke aside, so I used it for the other two as well.
Look at all that cool stuff!!
I added a card for them to take a selfie with for their answer, an information card for what little parts I do know such as the date and the overall theme I’m shooting for, and a couple quotes from Stephen King that I really like. Threw it all together, and off in the mail they went!
Off they go!
By now, they all have received their respective boxes. I’ve gotten one answer back with the selfie, one just a text (poor sport, what can I say?), and one I’m still waiting on a definite answer. All of them seemed to really like the contents inside at very least. I sent pictures of them all to my mom and my sister, and they both said the same thing: It’s cute, and it’s very you. I take that as a compliment, and therefore, a win.
So, that’s it. That’s as far in the wedding thing as I’ve gotten so far, and there’s a lot of time to figure it out, but just because it’s not for a couple years doesn’t mean that I can slack off. There’s a lot left to do. So. Much. Planning.
Hey, void. You look cute today. Also, did you ever do a bridesmaid proposal? Or, if you haven’t gotten married, what do you think of them? Obviously, I think they are adorable. My sister thought they were a little out of the ordinary. What say you?
Planning out a wedding is a lot to take on, yo. I used to be so sure of what I wanted. And then as soon as I got engaged, it’s like my mind was wiped clean and I don’t even remember how to do words good to talk about what want. What. Want. Who am I marrying? What day is it?? When am I??? Sheesh.
So then, here’s a roundabout update as to where I’m at on that.
I’m a planner-person. As in I like planners. A lot. Too much, one might say. It’s normal for me to have three separate ones for three separate things that could easily be combined into one but damnit, there are too many cute ones that come out every year and it’s so hard to choose.
But that’s not the point.
The point is I wanted a wedding planner. But the harsh reality is that I couldn’t find one that I liked. Every single one I picked up wasn’t me. They all had inspiration pages that would appeal to the average bride, I’m sure, but let’s face it: I’m not average. I am one of the ones who is kinda into the whole black dress thing. Those planners didn’t scream alternative. They screamed nice and expensive or cute and country and nothing at all inbetween.
No thanks.
So, void, I did what I do best. I gave up my search (even though I had it narrowed down to about three that I could try to make work) and decided that if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.
It’s like pastel goth.
I started making my own planner in this cute notebook I got from Barnes and Noble a while back. Now, I haven’t gotten far in it due to moving and cleaning and getting caught back up with writing, but I have a general plan of how it’s going to play out. And that’s half the battle, I think. That and getting the lettering right… Seriously, how do people make interesting handwriting look so easy??
Fancyyyyy
Like this, for instance. Wanna know how I decided to do the little frilly lines? This book right here:
Hell to the yeah
Nothing like a good butchering to get your inspiration on.
I’ll check in every once in a while when something interesting pops up. Wish me luck.
Welp, the boxes are unpacked (mostly) and the house is clean (kind of). I’m sitting in an office that is workable. For years I’ve wanted an office with a door—a dream that seemed unachievable in the apartment dining-area-turned-office corner I spent five years. Now, friends, my lovely void, I have TWO. Two doors. One leads to the living room where living and naps (mostly naps) happen. The other leads to the kitchen for sneaky snacking. For all this house’s quirks and horrendous disasters that we are discovering almost daily, it’s worth it. It’s worth it for these two doors. Fight me.
Seriously, we don’t – Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com
Just kidding.
But seriously. Life has been busy and it isn’t slowing down any time soon. But as things are ever evolving as we get used to this new normal, I’m finding time to make time for what really makes me happy: this. Well, not so much this as in blogging, but writing. And by new normal, I don’t just mean being a new home owner. This corona biz has everything a little bit crazy. My job is listed as “essential,” which is both a blessing and a curse. On the bright side, I still have a job. In case you didn’t know what my daytime looks like, it’s usually a lot of Walmart eyeballs and phone calls. But that one is only open for four short hours every day, so that means that I get shoved out into the store I thought I had escaped from five years ago and help out where they need me. Another bright side: overtime. Overtime is a cursed word in the corporate world, but when so many people don’t come in because they are sick or they are afraid of getting sick, well, maybe it just isn’t so bad after all.
But Manda, the collective void asks, why is it a curse? Well, friends, I work in the Midwest, where the gun-toting Bud-chugging meth-using populace watches tornados from their front porch and get fucked up on Saturday to repent on Sunday and judge anyone who doesn’t conform to their lifestyle when they show up to work on Monday. It’s not really that bad. But it feels like it during a pandemic.
Is this the new Not Today Satan because I’m here for it – Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com
“Fuck six feet apart, fuck face masks, and fuck the democrats!”
If these people were the picketing type, that would be their chant. Unoriginal and asinine. Perfect combination for the majority of the Midwestern type in which I reside amongst.
Sometimes I think that I don’t fit in. 😉
Rant aside, the whole essential employee whatnots is bad because by the end of my shifts I’m exhausted and the mere thought of doing anything but watch mindless television is panic-inducing.
But, my dear void, that was BEFORE I got the office up and running and in working order. It’s my happy place. In this chair, at this desk, is where I thrive, and I’m so ready for it. Not only for the story writing and blogging and whatnot, but for writing quick little articles on Textbroker for some extra spending cash. Lord knows I need it now more than ever. So there’s that.
And now, a little update, because if I tell you, I’m more likely to follow through with it. I want to work on a few things on this page. You know, the layout, the theme, organizing, linking the things that help me sell stories better, all that shit. I still want to do book reviews, but I might do them on a once a month basis instead of biweekly. For the other post, I think I want to show off things I’m working on, whether it be story-wise or house-wise or wedding-wise or fuck, just life-wise. That way, you get my awesome shitty opinions on books AND get to see the person BEHIND that shitty opinion. All the fun shit. J
That’s enough from me for now. How about you? What have you been doing lately? Pick up any new hobbies? Or are you “essential” like yours truly?
Manda Kay Writes 