I have respawned.
Hello, everyone who decided to stick around! I’ll use this sentence to say that I appreciate everyone who did stick around, whether it was intentional or not. The last time I updated was two years ago. Two years and ONE day to be exact. That was absolutely unintentional, which I think is cool.
Why such a hiatus? Life… life happened. Unexpected miracles. By that, I do mean that player 3 has joined the game that is life. (Please excuse my corny phrasings. I’m happy. I’ll try to limit it to that but no promises.)
The reason why I stopped at first was because I started working. I was doing data entry for a call center and I loved what I was doing and the people I worked with. I say “was” because recently I was let go due to financial issues on the company’s part. So, until I find a job, I am receiving unemployment… should I feel ashamed of that? Because I don’t… feel like I should. There’s no way I can continue paying off my loans and bills without it.
In the beginning, I found out I was pregnant. That was insane to me because we weren’t planning and I had just started working. I was actually on the third day of my job when I found out. The only way I found out was because that time of the month did not come and I even had a funny feeling about my body.
Now little junior is 15 months and I love my baby. But because of the little one and working, I’ve had no time for myself. Now that I’m unemployed, but looking, and the in-laws still take him on the weekends (which was a thing while I was working), I figured I’d take the time to jump back on for a little bit.
Since I’ve had no time to myself, I haven’t been able to play games. Being unable to play games means I’m unable to journal any of my opinions on any of them, which is a bummer. But I know I’ll find a way to make things work.
I did take a moment to look back on some of my posts, though. If I’m unable to review any video games, I’ll still try and write, draw, and work on my web design/dev skills. In fact, lately, I’ve been working on sprucing up my website so I can use it to impress employers.
“Here’s my resume.If you’re interested, you can take a peek at some other skills I have that may benefit you by going to my website blahblala.com.. I even designed and coded the layout by scratch. How impressed are you now?”
McDonald’s Manager: pls stop.
I’ll end this by mentioning I won’t be blogging regularly. Maybe once a week at most. I do want to blog more, but I’ll have to put effort into making time to do that. But that would mean not spending time with junior and.. well, you know, baby comes first.
Quick (mobile) update:
I’ve been away for a while, because I’ve been working on improving my graphic creating and writing skills. I’ve been able to share my services (free of charge) for some people already. I’m hoping that, the more I do this, I can eventually charge for my services at a reasonable price.
I’ll be away from home for a while, meaning I will be on a short hiatus from making graphics. But that won’t stop me from writing and drawing in general. Though, it’ll be a bit tough trying to go by without making something in Photoshop. I hate those random urges if wanting to fiddle with something digital, only to not have the resources available.
But I’ll live. When I return, I’ll be on a graphic-making spree.
Random Ramblings
Oh, my goodness. I’ve been browsing random writing forums for the heck of it.
I really enjoy finding those “Post the first xxx words/paragrahs/etc. of your book and receive feedback!” because I love reading everything that strangers write. This might sound really mean, but I like reading posts where the writing is… a little below average. It helps me learn what is and isn’t acceptable. Plus, I feel pretty good being able to read a small portion of someone’s writing and being able to say “This is good BUT this isn’t” and actually knowing what I’m saying. Unlike some people who just critique on anything and sometimes even offers terrible advice..
They say there’s no right or wrong, but if you’re telling someone to put more detail in their work or add punctuation when it’s already fine, you need to re-educate yourself a bit.
Though I’ve noticed that the amount of words I write, every time I do actually write, is steadily increasing.
Before, I could only write up to 1,000 words. Now I’m easily reaching 6k+, if I’m motivated enough.
As for the story I wrote a lot for and planned to rewrite: I already rewrote half of it. Sort of. I’ve lost interest in rewriting the most boring part of stories. So I decided to write out a few of the more exciting scenes to help with my writer’s block. I told myself I wouldn’t… but I can’t help myself.
This might even help me develop more ideas to make every aspect of the plot make sense. It’s a zombie story and I know what I want the virus to do — I just don’t know what kind of virus it is or how it’s made. I’m hoping writing ahead will help me figure something out.
Or I could eat some food.
A sudden update/response from my last entry.
I’m really glad I have an account with Cracked.com. I’m reading the forums right now and came across two threads that caught my eye:
Story-telling pet peeves and
Top 6 Worst Trends in YA Fiction (I’m hoping my book will fall in the YA category because teens luv boox)
After reading a few posts from each thread, I’m already seeing advice from members that can help me improve my story. Honestly, though, I’m compelled to scrap everything and just re-write it all.
Reading the suggestions and feeling this way also reminded me that this is how I always felt when writing. I’d write something at first, feel either satisfied, content, or disappointed about it. Then, I’d read something that’d make me want to re-do it all over again. Somehow, re-writing everything actually makes it more appealing to me.
I might just do that, but the thing about re-writing interactive fiction is the coding involved in it. If I was just writing a story, I’d just write it all over. But since there’s coding in the writing, I have to write a scene, then put the code in. I can’t put the code in later because it’d be easy to miss any marks I try to make..
There’s also the fact that interactive fiction has tons of options and scenarios. I’ll have to rewrite, not only the base, but then the branching scenes whenever they come up.
I wish I could use Q10 to just write my story. But I already tried that and it didn’t work out. I ended up switching back to Twine just to fit in the codes I couldn’t work out in Q10 and visually see the branching paths when Q10 would just make it one, long story.
But… yes, I’m rewriting what I currently have. Er, I guess I’m basically just writing a new story, based off of the plot of the failed attempt.
Here I go: Attempt #2.
Writing an Interactive Fiction.
I’m writing an interactive fiction right now. I thought about using ChoiceScript, but I decided to use Twine instead. I felt that it’d be nicer to make it a bit more fun using Twine, where you can customize it a bit more than CS and the coding is a little easier than CS.
But after I finish writing it in Twine, I’m going to heavily edit it and transfer it to ChoiceScript.
I’m writing a lot, but I’m not too happy with what I’m coming up with. I used to be able to write so well. Since I haven’t actually been practicing on my writing skills, I’ve gotten completely rusty.
I guess my story could entertain some young’n’s, though.
Though I do plan on proof reading it a lot once the whole story is finished. I’d edit it by chapter, but that’ll only be when I’m extremely motivated to do so.
It probably doesn’t help that I’m writing the beginning. The beginning has never been a strong suit of mine when it came to writing.
The plot: Zombie apocalypse. (Yay! Bet you weren’t expecting that?!) But I changed up the virus and how some people are affected by it. So.. hopefully, that redeems the most common survival horror setting.
Also, I’m writing it out as an IF for a reason. I initially planned to write it as a novel instead, but I didn’t know how I wanted to write it — I just had so many ideas in my mind.
So, I thought of writing it as an IF and ask for opinions on it. After I finish a chapter, I’ll post it in my DropBox (can’t make it work on my website, for some reason), and then share it on here. I’ll either only share it here or share here and Tumblr, but that’s all I had in mind.
I’m also a little sad that the quality of the first chapter (sortofsomewhat halfway thru?idek) is low compared to what it could be. But I’m contemplating whether I should leave it mostly as is to be kind of a teaser to the actual story that’ll be in linear-story form. Or if I should take my time editing it and hook some unsuspecting lurkers.
You might be screaming at me: EDIT IT. OF COURSE, EDIT. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?
The reason why I don’t want to edit it right now is because.. even though I know what I want in the story, I’m not actually sure how I want the scenes to play out. Since I don’t know EXACTLY what’s going to happen, I’m not really putting my all in the first chapter. But I feel like, once I write a few more chapters, I can properly edit the first.
I’ll be thinking: “Oh, I know what’s going to happen exactly. So I should make the character feel this in the beginning and insert some subtle foreshadowing here and there.”
But right now my mind is thinking: “erlulzderp??” (Yeah..)
I also believe that once I get deeper into the story, I’ll be so invested in certain parts, that I’d use that energy to greatly improve the dreadful first chapter.
But, my plan with the story? Write it as an interactive fiction. Finish a chapter and share it. Collect votes on the most preferred choices given within the story. Base the next chapter off of those choices, and eventually have a well-developed story for the final product.
You might even consider the interactive fiction as.. a rough draft. That will forever stay as a rough draft.
In Twine, at least. When I write it for ChoiceScript, it’ll have so many more options and it’ll be written much more nicely. Plus, the reader has full control over the decisions and be given multiple endings, whereas in Twine, decisions will determine the outcome for the next chapter and, ultimately, the story’s end.
Twine says that I have 6k words right now, which isn’t that great to me. Considering the choices that might not even be picked, that just means I have less than I anticipated for a first chapter. (The prologue’s word count is included in that too, so, there’s that..)
But, yeah. I’m actually writing something for once and going through with it. I like the idea I have, but it’s just taking me a while to get to that part in the story.
I’m so excited to actually get there. I don’t want to write out those scenes yet since I’m pretty sure I’ll do that, but then write an event before it that’d make no sense when merged together.
And I’m trying my best not to fluff like I did as a tweenie. . .
Freelancing without a Mentor
My cousin is a graphic designer/artist/pin-up model who lives in L.A., so I lucked out with being able to ask a few questions about my career choices: should I continue; advice getting into the game industry; know what to expect; etc.
It was assuring to know that when I told her of my plans of trying to get into the video game industry, she told me that, as long as it’s my dream, I should absolutely pursue it. Yet, it wasn’t very assuring to be told that most of her friends in the game industry had little to know knowledge of designing games, and still obtained a game design position. Her friends were the perfect examples of: “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”
Since they all live in California, though, I’m not as peeved about it. After all, their chances of running into anyone in the game industry are 90% higher than compared to where I live. That just means that I have to put a ton of effort into what I plan to do.
Earning a Few Extra Dollars for Your Pocket
Hello! Have you wanted to find some ways to earn a few extra bucks for your wallet? I have just the sites for you.
I want to first let you know that these aren’t ways to earn a lot of money in a short amount of time. For some of these sites, if you want to earn a decent amount, you’re going to have to dedicate yourself to these sites.
I’m also going to be including my referral links in this post. You don’t have to use them, but I’d very much appreciate it since I’m sharing these sites with you. I’ll also provide two different ways to use my referral: a shortlink or regular referral link.
I am not going to provide images, to avoid breaking any (unofficial) rules I may have missed/misread.
1. POSTLOOP
SHORTLINK REFERRAL
REGULAR REFERRAL
Postloop is a site where you sign up on various forums and get paid for simply posting on them. A really simple concept – what’s keeping you from joining already?
When you first sign up for Postloop, you must first go through the application process. You’ll be directed to Postloop’s portal and within this forum, you’re required to post TEN (10) responses to already-made threads. Once you write your ten posts, someone will review what you wrote and will email you whether you passed or failed the application process.
If you failed, they will email you stating whether you can try again or if you’ve been rejected indefinitely. If you’ve been rejected, you can try again after the amount of time they specified is up – don’t be afraid to email them any questions you have regarding the rejection.
If you’ve passed the application process, then you’ll be given a list of forums that you can sign up for and post on. You MUST subscribe to a forum for any of the posts to count towards your payment. Any posts made BEFORE you subscribe to the forum will not count.
Also, you will be required to make an account for any forum you subscribe to. My suggestion: Sign up to a forum, subscribe through Postloop, THEN post after making sure all is done properly.
Postloop ONLY sends payments through PayPal.
2. PROBUX
SHORTLINK REFERRAL
REGULAR REFERRAL
Probux is one of those sites where you view advertisements to receive money. Most advertisements are required to be viewed for 5 seconds for a payment of .001 cents, but it adds up if you visit Probux every day. There’s also tasks and offers at higher prices. There’s also something called “ProGrid” that gives squares made up into a picture, and clicking each box can make you a winner of .10 cents or even $5. You’re only given 20 chances per day for ProGrid.
Another site like ProBux is Ojooo. If you sign up for enough PTC sites, you might be able to earn more than you would with one PTC site. For example, if you earn .10 cents a day on ProBux, you could double that by signing up for Ojoo and earning .20/day.
If you’re able to use the rented referrals correctly, you might even be able to double your $5 a day on Probux to $10 a day with Probux AND Ojoo! (If you need help using rented referrals to eventually increase your payments to that much, don’t be afraid to ask. It isn’t a method meant for anyone looking for quick money though – it takes time for this to build up.)
SHORTLINK REFERRAL
REGULAR REFERRAL
3. QMEE
SHORTLINK REFERRAL
REGULAR REFERRAL
Qmee is a worth-while site if you’re wanting to earn a few cents for doing nothing. Payments are sent automatically to (ONLY) PayPal once you request it.
How does Qmee work? You download the tool, which shows up on your toolbar on the right side of the web address bar. When you search using eBay, Google, or Amazon, the tool shows relevant ads on the left-side of your browser and each site shows how much it pays. (Usually 5-7 cents each ad.) Don’t try to fool the ad by clicking on every ad. Use the tool as you would any other search engine – click on site, browse for a few minutes, or make a legitimate sale – and the cents will go into your “piggybank”.
Since I’ve been trying to find some good deals on hotels for my 21st trip to Vegas, I Googled “Vegas hotel deals,” and a few Qmee ads showed up for me. They were 7 cents each, but as I viewed an ad, the price would decrease (5 ads at 7 cents; view one and the remaining 4 ads were priced at 6 cents).
But in a few seconds, you can get almost a dollar if you search using the right keywords.
After a few minutes of searching, myself, I was able to receive 29 cents. I don’t plan on requesting payment though, until I have a few dollars, since I don’t need any pocket change at the moment. But now I have 40 cents (and counting) of a few seconds of searching, since it’s a new day and I can browse more searches that’d bring up Qmee ads.
SLICE THE PIE.
SHORTLINK REFERRAL
REGULAR REFERRAL
The reason why I didn’t number Slicethepie is because there’s been a lot of mixed reviews for it, the way Bubblews has been receiving reviews. I haven’t requested payment yet to be able to vouch for the site myself, but so far, I’m impressed with the program.
It’s a site that pays you for listening to music and reviewing it. Your payments depend on the reviews you leave for the songs. Some people have been getting payments of 10 cents or less. As for myself, since I make sure to give detailed reviews, I receive a minimum of 12 cents for each review and a maximum of 18 cents. After an hour, I was able to rack up over a dollar on the site. Pretty easy money. (Especially considering within that hour I was on Probux and Postloop.)
CONCLUSION
If you have any of your own thoughts on these websites, feel free to share them below. I’d love to hear your experiences (both good and bad) on the sites I mentioned. Also, if you’re in need of assistance with any of the sites, don’t be afraid to ask. I wish you all luck on using any of these sites, should you choose to do so. Happy earning!
Bubblews Update: 4 Hours Later
As I was writing my 4th post, I clicked “submit” only to be directed to the “Register/Login” screen and logged out of my account. After multiple, failed, attempts at logging in, I tried searching my account and posts on Google. All of my posts and account were gone, but still cached in Google Search.
I only made the account four hours ago. I made sure to read their ToS, so as to avoid account deletion. Beside their contact form, there’s a small list of reasons someone’s account could’ve been suspended. Here they are:
What are the rules and how can my account be removed/suspended?
-Submitting more than 10 posts per 24 hours
-Submitting copy & pasted (Plagiarized) material
-Utilizing Traffic Exchange and Traffic Purchasing Websites for your posts
-Utilizing IP manipulation software
1) I might’ve seemed spammy by submitting something every hour. But I didn’t even know of this limitation until after my account was deleted. I didn’t see anywhere in their ToS mentioning that rule; I had to find that on various forums asking about ToS violations.
2) None of my 3 posts were plagiarized. (The 4th wasn’t even posted by the time my account was gone, so it doesn’t count.) The first post included my thoughts on Snooki, but is some of my opinion shared so commonly on the topic I discussed, that it’s considered copied? The second post was an original concept for a fantasy fiction I had. Now, how is THAT plagiarism? The last one I posted was about my thoughts on my 21st birthday coming up in July.
3) I did not buy or exchange traffic for any of my posts. The almost one-full-dollar I earned was all on me.
4) I’m not even — I was on there to write and be paid for what I love. Why would I take advantage of that, at the risk of getting deleted?
I did some research on other Bubblews first-timers and a lot of them mention being told of how account deletions are common. Account deletions can happen, pretty much, at random. I’m going to assume a bot does all of the checking. If I would have thought my frequent posting in a short amount of time would’ve triggered the alarm, I never would’ve done it. Now I have nothing to protect.
I wasn’t expecting my account to be deleted anytime soon — four hours after creation soon. I didn’t back up any of the posts I wrote, because I figured I had enough time to do that. In the end, I’m mainly hoping for a retrieval of my posts and I wouldn’t care if my account is revived. I just want the thoughts I had for that moment.
Maybe for some people it works and, for others, works well. But I wish I was one of the few that made it far enough to reach the minimum payout of $25-$50. I had ~$2 in my account after four hours of its birth. Not a lot, considering.. McDonald’s. But at the same time, it’s on my own time and doing something I like.
But being penalized for — I don’t even know. Usually things like this aren’t given any warning at all, but I wish it worked so minor offenses were given warnings to fix up. After some warning, you’re given the boot. If you violated some major term, then you’re given the boot, but emailed as to what it was.
I’m guessing it was the quick posting. Maybe viewing my posts, though I didn’t mean for it to seem like I was trying to cheat? If there was the option to not count my view, I’d check it, as I always do with sites that prioritize site views. But I didn’t even think my own IP would work in increasing the view count, since I didn’t notice anything.
I contacted them, so hopefully I get a non-automated reply within 48 hours.
If you’re trying Bubblews, I still suggest you check it out — just be very careful. I should have read reviews on Bubblews before joining, to know what I was getting into (random deletions, faulty bot checks).
UPDATE: As I posted this, I received an email from a live person. I really hope everything works out, or I at least figure out what I did wrong.
Isn’t Writing Wonderful?
You guys don’t know this, but I have a lot of drafts with either half-finished posts or completed drafts that I didn’t feel like sharing, for reasons. Most of the time, I’d even write something made up of only a few hundred words, whether digitally or traditionally.
It was always a problem for me to write something and realizing the post I made felt a bit short. Some of my posts are that: too short for my liking, but still like to keep around. I didn’t know what else to do with them, since they’re not being read by anyone.
I earn a few dollars, here and there, with the art I create. I like the option of working on my own time, doing something I enjoy, and have others be part of it one way or another. Making a profit from my art made me wonder of any other ways to make some side money online.
There’s this site I found, called Bubblew.
It’s a website dedicated to writing. The best part of it all — besides being paid — is that you can write about anything. You can talk about your day, submit a review, or inform others on whatever they might’ve missed out on at Comic Con.
I just tried out the site for the heck of it. There have been other writing submission sites that I’ve signed up with. But I have to admit that this site is proving to be a better alternative than the rest, in my opinion.
Every Bubblew post must meet the requirement of 400 characters. For my first post, I wasn’t exactly sure what to write, since all other topics I thought of posting on here exceeded 400 characters (and I didn’t want to bore the Bubblew readers too much). But I was able to think of something pretty quickly — something I had on my mind for a while, actually — and submitted it the moment I finished the last sentence. It feels really nice to be able to submit something that you don’t have to thoroughly edit, just skim for major errors.
If you want to see the post I wrote, you can click this.
The way that Bubblew pays you isn’t by the amount of words or for each article you post. You’re paid by the amount of views, likes/dislikes, comments, and shares you receive on each of your posts. I’m enjoying the way this method is working out so far; within minutes of posting and gaining a few notices, I earned $.13. Since the start of writing this post, it has increased to $.2.
If you’re someone who loves to write, from random blabs to educational information, I recommend this site for you. Especially if you’re considering freelancing for an option, see how much attention you gain on this site and take any criticism you could get into consideration. It’s not something to make a living off of (maybe? who knows? quite possibly..) but it is a helpful start for some pocket money.
Also, if you’re the type to write, but not share any of it, then this site might encourage you to do the opposite. Even if your post isn’t well-liked, you’re still paid based on both likes and dislikes. So even if you get some dislikes, you’ll still earn something while being able to find out what writing style you notice to be less favored. It could be that push to get you out of your comfort zone to write in a different voice or find a topic that other people might want to get involved in.
For a starting point? This site is conveniently fun.
Personal Gaming Updates
Just some personal updates on what I’ve been gaming lately, like a gaming diary of sorts.
Striving to be First Player 