I'm in bed and writing on my laptop. On Monday I finished typing up the handwritten pieces for Texas novel. I didn't write on Tuesday or Wednesday and didn't get up early to write either. It's still dark at 5 am and I just couldn't deal with it. I'm so lazy about getting out of bed. It has to stop though. Although I like writing after work, it's just too easy to skip it and do other things. I have to try writing in the morning again. Then I'll get it done and I won't have to worry about trying to fit it in with the rest of my day. I'm just so not a morning person, but I guess I'm going to have try and become one.

All the writing books says that you should write in the morning before you're critical mind has a chance to activate and nag you about how horrible you write. I think I owe it to my writing career to become a morning writer.

Before the money seminar last night, I did get an idea for a comedy screenplay about a woman who is a money seminar junkie. I got the idea from Ed Norton and Helena Bohnam-Carter in the movie "Fight Club", who were support group junkies. That was funny how they kept running into each other.

My character is a money-seminar junkie who is still in sad financial shape after many years, but who luckily gets an idea to start a business and it becomes a success. The plot follows her from klutzy financial ditz to Wall Street loved CEO, to her falling in love with a loser gigolo and then about to lose her company until her best friend, another money seminar junkie, comes to her resuce. And as in any good Hollywood romantic comedy, she falls in love with the guy best friend and gets back her company.

That's writing isn't it? I haven't had an idea for a screenplay that I've liked in a long time. It thihk this would be a fun one to write, once I get around to it.

Tonight I wrote 781 words for my Texas novel. It's not much, but it took to an hour to get it out even with me typing. Even if I just wrote 500-700 words a day, I would be done with novel sooner than the rate I'm writing it now.

I have the urge to get back to my baseball screenplay and to keep writing my timelines novel, but I'd like to fnish the Texas novel first because I'm so close to the end. It will be the first novel I've ever finished, and I think this accomplishment will be so amazing for me.

One thing in the money seminar that I got was that completion was very important. I have so many half finished stories. I need to just sit down and finish them even thoug they suck just to finish them. I think the energy of those completions will do wonder for my writing self-esteem. I still have two unfinished novels that I want to complete as well. There's just so many things to write and complete, but I'm having the hardest time finding the motivation to just sit down and write. I don't have blocks to writing, I have blocks to siting down and starting. How do you solve that problem easily?

I went to a seminar on money last night given by the Learning Annex, which I only attended because I received an email coupon to go to the seminar for only $20 when it would have normally cost $60. The seminar was actually quite good, and at one point the speaker asked the audience if any of us had made money in the last five years in California. No one raised their hand, and he said if we didn’t buy real estate we were fools because real estate has just skyrocketed in California over the last five years. He said we didn’t have to buy in the hyper-inflated real estate world of the San Francisco Bay Area, but could have bought property elsewhere in California and we still would have made money.

I’ve been thinking about his question since then because of course like everyone else in the room last night, I felt totally stupid when he said that. But you know, the more I think about it the more I feel like I did make money in the last five years and that I’m in a much better financial position than I was in 2000.

First of all, I don’t own a house but I have a positive networth. I didn’t for a long time because I am a serious shopaholic and didn’t care too much about money thinking I was always going to earn it. It wasn’t until I saw the size of my credit card debts that I realized that I was in serious, serious trouble. Well, all that’s changed now. I will be pretty much debt free by the end of year. I will have paid off all my credit cards and my car as well.

The following incidents have helped me achieved positive networth.

1. I’ve always contributed to my company’s 401(k). Sometimes not very much, but I’ve always tried to have money taken out of my check and put into some kind of retirement savings. I did end up taking money out of my 401(k) at some point to pay off some of my debts, which was a big mistake because of the taxes I had to pay, but since then I’ve managed to build the amount back up to what it was before.

2. I moved my money out of the stock market and into money market funds before the market crash in 2001. I probably moved my money out a little too quickly and missed out on some of the market’s bigger gains, but at least my 401(k) didn’t turn into a 101(k).

3. Before the stock market crash, I had some good stock tips and doubled the amount in my 401(k). So I did make money in the stock market boom, which I managed to keep.

4. I was never unemployed during the economic downturn that hit the SF Bay Area after the stock market crash. I was lucky, very lucky and blessed.

5. I forced myself to curb my freespending ways, still a horrifying daily, daily struggle, and made my instead save money. I have money taken out of my check which goes straight into savings. This method really, really works. If it doesn’t hit my checking account it’s like it’s not there.

6. I earn more money now than I ever have in my whole life. My salary increased by 23% since 2000, but this is also my third job since then. The moving around for more money thing really does work.

And it’s not like I didn’t spend any money either. I moved to an apartment that doubled my rent in 2002, and I bought a new car in 2000.

And now I’m like, okay, maybe I’m not financially where I want to be but I’ve made darn good progress in these last five years when I had pretty much negative networth at the start of the millenium.

Yes, I’m still around. I just haven’t felt like writing. I’m having fun with my new laptop. I finished typing up all my handwritten pages of my Texas novel using my new laptop, and that’s been fun. I went to CompUSA yesterday to try to find a laptop sleeve for it, and ended up buying a Mac laptop sleeve because it was the only one I liked. I think I remember seeing laptop sleeves at the SFMOMA store, so I’ll have to make a trip over to there to see if I can find a better sleeve. I just want to find something to cover the laptop when I’m carrying it in my backpack or another bag so it doesn’t get scratched.

What else? I got an A on my Greek Drama midterm. We have to do a 8-10 page paper and I received approval to compare Eugene O’Neill’s “Mourning Becomes Electra” to Aeschylus’ Oresteia. Supposedly O’Neill based this play on Aeschylus’ trilogy and my paper will compare and contrast the two plays. I haven’t read this play since junior high and don’t remember any of it, and I’m looking forward to rediscovering it. I fell in love with Eugene O’Neill’s play “Long Days Journey into Night” when I had to do a book report on a play, and ended up reading most of his works. But like I said it’s been awhile. I wonder if I’ll still love O’Neill as much now that I’m older.

I’ve been reading Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” this week, and having only ever seen most of the movies, it’s been fascinating to read the book. The book consists of letters from the captain of the boat in the North Pole to his sister. The sea captain picks up Frankenstein and ends up telling the man his life story. The captain then faithfully writes to his sister all that he’s been told, and Frankenstein even edits the letters to make sure the captain has his story right.

I think Kenneth Branagh’s portrayal of Frankenstein comes the closest to the person written about in the book, but his movie plot version altered the book’s plot in a big way although much of the important plot points were kept in place. No other Frankenstein movie comes to mind except for Gene Wilder’s version. The creature in Mary Shelley’s version is much more menacing and more evil in that 19th century romantic sort of way.

I wonder if the Dracula movies were based on any novels. I’ll have to investigate because that genre of horror movies is a particular favourite of mine.

I typed up 8.5 pages last night, and 2.5 pages this afternoon. I might type up more later when I watch the new NBC series "Revelations". It was on Bravo at 6 pm, and I watched and was very intrigued. It's an interesting series to say the least.

I'm going to try to get up at 5 am to write on the weekdays. I'm not a morning person, but everyone says that writing in the morning is the best. I'm going to have to change my sleeping habits and go to bed between 10-11 pm. What an early time to go to bed. I've been going to between midnight and 12:30 am for years. I need my 6.5 hours of sleep to function, so if I want to get up at 5 am I have to be in bed earlier. Wow! Talk about a change in lifestyle. What a frickin' drag!

I can write at night after work, but it's too easy to have that time gobbled up by other things. I have to think how this is going to affect my workouts. I haven't been going to the gym at all, and I feel guilty because I do pay a monthly fee for it. It's better to go to the guy after 7 pm during the week when it's not crowded. 5 pm to 7pm is the gym's crowded time.

I guess I could still go to a coffee shop and write more or read or something. I haven't decided if I should continue to write by hand or write by computer. If I write by hand, I could spend the time after work typing up what I've written. Or there's always editing. I could be editing after work instead of writing, since editing is a different skill set than writing.

I'm not going to start taking my laptop to work with me just yet. Maybe someday, but not now.