Woohoo! I really CAN host a podcast! =D

Tonight was awesome. Can't wait for y'all to hear Episode 6. It's predecessor, Episode 5 should be available soon. Very excited. Probably too much so, but I don't care. Having notes on hand really helps with hosting, I'm glad I got that worked out. I'll spend the next couple of weeks refining my process (there were still a few bumps) and soon I shall be a mean, lean, hosting machine! Mwahahaha!

Or something like that.

*dematerializes*

THE ONLY WRITING PODCAST YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO BECAUSE WE ROCK

OUR EQUALLY KICK BUTT FORUMS

Epsiode 3 of The Dead Robots' Society is now available. This time we talk about multiple projects, being a reading hermit, and brown dragons. Enjoy. :)

If we call ourselves the Dead Robots, does that mean we don't get in trouble if we "die" for awhile? =D

Deep philosophical questions aside, just finished recording with the gang. As a certain Shadow Thief that I am inordinately fond of once said, "Yes, I'm still here!" Though in this case "I" should probably be changed to "we", since for some reason the podcast isn't all about yours truly. (Go figure)

I'm glad we're back, though. I'm also extremely glad not to have been the host this week. (Not that I won't ever be the host again, I just seriously wasn't up to it tonight and was glad not to have that responsibility.) Everything went well, despite the tremendous thunderstorm happening outside my house as well as a small scare with our sucky recording equipment, and I think our topic was one with a lot of "meat" on it as Justin would probably say. And hey-- I didn't mention brown dragons once! Take THAT, Ryan. XD

And now, the next sound you hear will be that of me, collapsing into my bed from exhaustion. Ker-thunk. Snore. Goodbye world.

As always, you can subscribe to the wonderful podcast that is The Dead Robots' Society by clicking here, or visit our website or our excellent and lively forums. And if you have a podcast of your own and also a promo for said podcast, PLEASE send it to us. Please please please. I am still amazed at how few 'casts have promos readily available and we want more, for they are delicious and salty.

The Dead Robots' Society is a weekly podcast by writers, for writers. My name is Amanda Cales and I am one of the many fine hosts in this roundtable style podcast. Each week we gather together to discuss issues and topics relevant to the world of writing in the hopes of inspiring other writers to reach their goals, and have a good laugh along the way. :) You can subscribe to our podcast and download episodes at our homepage, available here. Please tell all your friends about this great new show! =D

And on a personal note....SQUEE I'M IN AN ACTUAL PODCAST WOOHOO!!! =D Someone wrote a blog entry about us and everything!

You know, it's really beginning to annoy me how few of my favorite podcasts have promos available for download on their websites. It's the easiest, most obvious way to advertise your podcast and ensure it's popularity, and yet so many of them totally skip out on it. I'm baffled. Not to mention it's making MY job as a podcaster harder, because we need promos to run during episodes The Dead Robots' Society and I'm coming up empty. Equally frustrating is the fact that some podcasts won't run our promos until we've been around for awhile. On the one hand I understand where they're coming from since pod-death is so prevalent these days, but on the other...not having any fans is the primary reason for pod-death. You'd be pretty hard pressed not to keep going if you had fans banging down your door every day demanding more, y'know? It's sort of like a self fulfilling prophecy, or one of those weird snake things that eats itself. I've always thought those were really cool. I know, I know, but it's true...

I did absolutely nothing useful today. There, I admit it. I got wrapped up in BG2 and just never left. I feel kind of bad about that, but I'm still stuck on String Shift. (Though cursing that little twit Ellesime out during that dream sequence was fun--I don't usually get many opportunities to swear loudly at my computer, it's very therapeutic) I know what I need to do--revamp my protagonist's character and put some of what I cut out back in and tweak a few major plot points and probably delete the last four chapters I've written--but the enormity of it all is scaring me off. I do have a few notes about the protagonist that I scribbled during the quieter parts of my game, but other than that I haven't touched it for a few days. My end of August deadline looms large in my mind, and while I've decided I'm OK with showing my First Readers an incomplete manuscript, it still gnaws at me. I know what I'm doing. I've done it ever since I was a kid. I'm hiding myself in a video game while I gather myself and recover from burn out, but the question now is which comes first: The end of August, or the end of the game? And when am I going to be able to face up to the fact that writing takes actual work?

It's too hot outside. Today it was up to 95 and the humidity was probably somewhere in the 40-50% range. It's been like that all week. Our plants are surviving, but barely. I used up a couple of basil plants tonight for pesto, and dad's tomato plants are walking a thin line between being OK and wilting to death. The scary thing about that is tomato plants LOVE the heat and the sun, but the weather we've been having for the past couple of months has been so oppressive that we have to watch them like hawks to make sure they don't die on us. On the bright side, my Japanese eggplants are doing splendidly, as is our second batch of cucumbers. They're HUGE and starting to bloom, so we'll probably be getting some lovely cukes from them soon. The cantaloupes are going nuts. Five fat little spheres of yumminess so far, with more on the way I'm sure. I probably need to take pictures. F-list, bug me until I do that. Our rose has bloomed four times since we got it, though I feel bad it's usually too hot outside to go take proper photos of it. Our other miscellaneous plants are doing well too, such as the catnip and sunflowers. Unfortunately our squash plants bit the dust a few weeks ago due to some kind of fungus that got into their stems and hollowed out the fruits, plus a few bunny attacks. So we didn't get much squash this year, but what we did get was very tasty and I look forward to next year. Maybe it'll be cooler. My kingdom for a 70 degree day with an actual BREEZE!

I turned 19 years last Thursday on August 2nd, and now I'm finally officially back from my celebrations! Actually I was back yesterday, but I was so busy playing Baldur's Gate, writing, and recording Episode 2 of the Dead Robots' Society podcast that I didn't have time to make a post here about it. :)

Thursday was the big day, of course, and mom took the day off work so we'd have the whole day together. :) As a family we all went out for breakfast at the Waffle House, something I haven't done since I was very, very young. They had a couple of new people on the line so it was pretty chaotic and it was probably a good twenty minutes before we got our food, but it was still kind of fun. Unfortunately when we got home we found out that our dog, Bruno, had chosen this day to get in touch with his inner escape artist, so some of the morning's festivities were colored by having a hot, tired, filthy dog burrowing under our fence whenever we all left the house. But we managed.

After a short rest at the house, we struck out again and went to Triad Comics, which is quite possibly my favorite place in the entire universe. =D By extraordinary luck, they were having a wonderful half-off sale on all their $1.00 comics, so mom, dad, and I all camped out for quite awhile at their gigantic clearance table, sorting through stack after stack of comic books. Dad went on a Superman binge, mostly in the .25 boxes underneath the table where he likes to "hunt", and mom found herself a LOT of wonderful Batman comics up above on the 1.00 side of things. She even managed to halfway complete a series she'd started the last time we were there. As for me, I got many excellent things, ranging from Sailormoon to Fathom to Supergirl to Ghost in the Shell to X-men to the beginning of Witchblade: Shades of Gray, and the pride and joy of my comic collection thus far: First Born #1. (For the uninitiated, go here) Calling the art of this series "gorgeous" doesn't even begin to cover it, and I am thrilled to have a true first edition in my possession. =D

After comics we went to McKay (Knoxville's only dimensionally transcendental book store!) real quick so I could pick up a few more Agatha Christie novels, mostly because they're showing Miss Marple on PBS again and I'm thrilled about it. Unfortunately I couldn't find "Bertram's Hotel" like I wanted, which sucks, because even though I know how it ends now (after nearly two years of wondering thanks to an incomplete audiobook! *shakes fist*) I know they sometimes fudge the plots a bit (*coughSLEEPINGMURDERcough*) for the TV series and I'd like the original version. But OMG, Peter Davison sighting for the WIN!!! =D He was the crooked lawyer if any other classic Who fans were watching. He's always so hard to recognize, but there's no disguising that voice. Ha! Spending countless hours into those Big Finish audios does some good after all. He looks good for his age. And Tom Baker was on last week for "Towards Zero". That was awesome. Thought dad was going to faint. Of course they killed Baker's character like ten minutes in, but it was still nice. Now I want them to bring on Sylvester McCoy. Please excuse me while I attempt to build a mind control device to this end. =D

And, of course, there was Thai food. Yummy Thai food. And a new Fresh Market in Farragut that is HUGE, closer to the house than the one on nasty cluttered Kingston Pike, and they have CASABA MELONS. I have been looking for those since we left Columbia, Missouri. That's like six years of searching, people. Six years. Finally found them. HUZZAH! =D And they have many other wonderful things as well, such as sun dried tomato stuffed olives and Bistro Chips. Yummiest chips. EVER. And if you get bored looking for food you can snicker at all the old, fat, rich snooty people walking around, 'cause that's primarily what Farragut is made up of. Haha. I may be poor, but at least I walk straight and have a good rack sense of self, y'know? =D

Oh, and did I mention that I only spent about $28.00 on all the comics and books? Yeah. XD Triad rocks. The Daily Show rocks too, 'cause Jon had Matt Damon on as a guest for my "birthday show". Woohoo! No stuffy authors or politicians for me! Nope, I get Matt Damon. =D Hurray.

Friday, mom and I went clothes shopping. She gave me $100 as a birthday present and I decided to spend it on an entirely new wardrobe, which is something I've needed badly for about three years. We went to Wal-Mart, which was having a massive back to school sale, not to mention it was a tax free weekend, so no sales tax on anything. =D Did my birthday have good timing this year or what?! Anyway. I bought LOADS of stuff. Snarky shirts, three pairs of jeans that fit me wonderfully and to top it off, a black bra that does NOT make me want to set it on fire. (In fact it's quite possibly the most comfortable bra I've ever encountered) Right now I'm wearing my favorite outfit that I assembled: Black jeans that fit me like they were tailor made for my body and this shirt, which I bought with dad in mind. XD

Saturday I furthered my make over by getting my hair cut for the first time in months. Decided to keep it long-ish, but get lots of lovely layers. It looks wonderful, and Cindy had bunches of helpful styling tips. I've decided to start styling my hair more instead of just letting it air dry and hoping for the best. I might *gasp* actually spend time in the bathroom messing with my hair! What a shock! Maybe I'm a girl after all...mom got her hair done in the same style as mine, only longer, and I must say it looks lovely on her. Most of that nasty blonde stuff she had left over from her color days is gone now and she looks very nice. Layers are my new favorite thing ever. They just give your hair so much "oomph" without too much work or maintenance. It rocks. Next time mom gets a little extra money she and I are going shopping again for some different hair brushes and maybe even a curling iron. =D And maybe even PRODUCT. Liek OMG. Girl mode activate.

Sunday was spent watching movies and playing hours and hours of Baldur's Gate 2. =D Oh, and yelling at PBS for showing A Scandal in Bohemia instead of Miss Marple: Ordeal by Innocence. Not that seeing Jeremy Brett (♥!) back on PBS for the first time in years isn't wonderful and all, but we were all expecting Miss Marple and we were all pretty disappointed. Maybe next week. :)

Monday, as you know from the beginning of this monster entry, was spent doing some more normal things...but I have to say, after the past five days I feel like a totally new person. Amazing how much your outlook on the world improves when you've finally got some nice clothes that fit, a new hairstyle and some shiny comics sitting on your bedside table. (Did I mention that between the two of them, my parents bought a stack of comics they could barely carry for only $33? Yeah. Triad ROCKS.) So far, being 19 is pretty sweet. Now all I need is for a handsome alien to come pick me up because I've finally reached the average age most young girls are abducted by handsome aliens in time traveling phone booths. =D

Happy birthday to me!

Tonight The Dead Robots' Society got together and recorded the first episode of our podcast, Episode Zero, which is a fancy way to say "introduction". :) It's not published yet, but I had to have myself a big ol' SQUEE about how much fun it was. Can I just say that I absolutely love doing this? I think I like the chatting with everybody beforehand just as much as I like the actual recording...can't wait to do it again next week.

Get ready, folks. Soon I'm gonna be famous. =D

Still wrestling with last night's plot problems in my head, but I'm taking a break as was advised. Honestly, though, it's driving me a little bit crazy not doing anything, so I think in the meantime while I get my head together I'll keep working on Sky Warrior's outline, as well as my unnamed pirate ship story that I abandoned temporarily in April. The Eldara Chronicles need attention, too, I kind of forgot about them after NaNoWriMo '06...sigh. I hate it when my body can't keep up with my mind. I also hate it when my mind HAS THE FORESIGHT OF A DRUGGED YAK and leaves me stranded in the middle of a serious plot crisis. Insert profanity here. >=P Stupid head. *kicks it*

On the bright side, there might be a meeting of The Dead Robots' Society on Thursday to record some more promos, and then we're going to start working on our episodes soon afterwards. I can't wait. That podcast is easily the most exciting thing happening in my life right now and I'm really psyched about it. =D Expect to see it plugged in pretty much every post I make from now on.

So far, I'm having a really great day. :) Had lots of great, vivid dreams I don't remember. (Nor do I remember the last time I slept so soundly) Got the kitchen cleaned up and picked a couple of yummy cherry tomatoes from the garden. (Really need to force myself not to be so impatient in the future, though, since once again they were a little under-ripe) Relaxed, ate a yummy breakfast, and had a lot of fun adding new subforums over at The Dead Robots' Society official forum. phpBB is such a nice change from EZBoard. I'm glad to see that forum building technology has taken a turn for the better, instead of having to deal with EZWhore's stupid rigidity all the time. I also got to learn something new, which is always nice. Once again I went in, knowing absolutely nothing, and with a little research (and a very helpful technomage to back me up ^_~ *grins at Graham*) and managed to make something useful out of nothing. Pretty good feeling, that.

My brain is still refusing to work on anything writing related, though I might give it a shot later on anyway. Now that I'm done messing with the forums I'm kind of out of things to do and writing something might be the only way to stave off boredom. Or maybe I'll cruise the internet looking for some new podcasts to subscribe to. =D My current list could use a major change, methinks.

Ja! *skips off*

EDIT: OMG NEW EPISODE OF CHILDREN OF THE GODS UBERSQUEE HURRAY! *jumps up and down* =D =D

Chat went great. Very excited about upcoming episodes of the podcast. We're going to start recording as soon as July 8th. =D *does a happy dance* I'm going to be in a podcaaaast...

In the meantime, visit & bookmark DeadRobotsSociety.com! You'll be glad you did.