There is always that waiting waiting waiting feeling before the month of November kicks off. And during that time, there is only so much prep you can do for your novel before you start feeling burned out, or the temptation to write "just a little bit... it won't hurt anyone and no one will know if I already have a couple chapters..." hits. Just another week and a half, and you don't really want to start writing something else during this time, either. (Well, at least I never do. Your mileage may vary.)
This is my fiscally dangerous part of the year. Why? Because now I want to prep with goodies from the NaNo store online! This year I want the Camp NaNoWriMo tee-shirt, and both of the hoodies (because you can never have enough hoodies!), and the key chain, the deconstructed logo carry-all bag, the coffee mug (both the diner version and the travel mug)... ohhh, I am so very bad about all of that. And of course, don't forget the winner tee shirt from last year.
Out of curiosity, I have added all of this stuff up. If I went for everything, it would be $177.00 plus another $20.20 for shipping and handling. Yikes! I did note, however, that they are out of my normal size for the winner shirts for last year. If I am going to get one, I should get one now, and in one size smaller. I guess it's a good thing that I am working very seriously on losing weight! This can be like a pre-prize for myself on that goal.
I know I was talking about the site www.750words.com yesterday, and I still love the stuffins out of it. There only seems to be one real problem every once in awhile: the site slows down to the point you have problems logging in, or if you are logged in, you can't get to your writing page - or any page other than the one you're already on. I will need to leave to go to work soon, and I really wanted to write before I left. Here's crossing my fingers that it will be up and running soon!
Speaking of going to work, I need to get off my duff and go start some laundry. Writing or no writing, daily chores still need to be done!
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
750words.com And Other Bits
Thanks to a friend of mine on another blogging site, I have discovered this nifty little website called www.750words.com. It is based on the idea from The Artist's Way about writing three pages in a journal every morning. These "morning pages" are supposed to be sort of a brain dump of sorts, just you writing, unstructured, letting words flow out of your mind, through your fingers, and onto the paper... or in my usual case, into becoming on the laptop screen.
One of the things I love about the site, and don't go laughing here, is that they give you little badges for different achievements. Ohhh, don't go offering badges to someone who runs around World of Warcraft reading obscure books and eating odd things just to gain an achievement for the hell of it. You know I'll just be all over that site! So far, I have earned a turkey (writing 3 days in a row), a penguin (7 days in a row), a flamingo (10 days in a row), and a cheetah (speedy typist!).
What can I do with all these badges, you might ask? Well, nothing really. But a giggle or two over them, and a grin when I see a new one pop up is more than worth it to me.
NaNoWriMo is coming up in fifteen days. Do you have your plot bunnies well fed? Mine have decided to whisper in my ear as I sleep and give me dreams of the very vivid sort. This latest dream had me hanging out, talking with a couple guys who were working on a private plane. We were in the country somewhere; huge, leafy trees offering shade, and what looked like a boathouse-cum-shack with peeling white paint was very near. The sound of a couple small jets overhead cut though the nature noise, and we looked up, for some reason instinctively moving closer to the shelter of the plane to help hide our presence, although there was nothing we had done wrong. One of the guys made the comment that they were marking the perimeter, or doing something with the perimeter. This seemed to be enough of a reason for me to run up to the larger house for supplies. I don't know why we were going to run, and I don't know why the military (because that was who the jets seemed to be) were flying and dropping some sort of sonar markers along the lake shore, but it was apparently enough of a reason for the character I was to be alarmed.
In the larger house, a Native American man in his thirties was working, renovating a sunlit room. I greeted him, and tried to act as nonchalant as possible as I pocketed Band-Aids, Mercurochrome, and scoured the little medicine cabinet for whatever else I could sneak away with. He came in, though, alerted by the sounds of my scrounging, and asked me what in the world I was doing. Not in a threatening way at all, but for some reason the two guys at the plane and I were supposed to be a group unto ourselves. I turned, plastering a smile on my face that I was hoping looked a bit more genuine than it felt, and tried to play my antics off as just that - the nutty chick's silliness that everyone around was supposed to be used to.
I remember the sunlight streaming in through the glassless window in the other room, the room where he was working, and lighting the area behind him as he stood over me, and the motes of sawdust and tree fluff dancing erratically in the shafts of yellow gold. And I remember having the feeling of knowing him, and of his knowing me a lot better than either he or I would publicly admit.
And now, after writing all of this down, I have a funny feeling the basis of my NaNo novel has just been changed by the characters who inhabit that world. That's just fine with me... I have learned through the years not to fight them. They will take you where they want to be, and if you fight, you wind up with a story that doesn't come off nearly as well as you had hoped, or (and this is the more common result) you will find yourself with a half dozen or so partially written stories that have no life and no luster to them, and will never see the words "The End" to complete them.
One of the things I love about the site, and don't go laughing here, is that they give you little badges for different achievements. Ohhh, don't go offering badges to someone who runs around World of Warcraft reading obscure books and eating odd things just to gain an achievement for the hell of it. You know I'll just be all over that site! So far, I have earned a turkey (writing 3 days in a row), a penguin (7 days in a row), a flamingo (10 days in a row), and a cheetah (speedy typist!).
What can I do with all these badges, you might ask? Well, nothing really. But a giggle or two over them, and a grin when I see a new one pop up is more than worth it to me.
NaNoWriMo is coming up in fifteen days. Do you have your plot bunnies well fed? Mine have decided to whisper in my ear as I sleep and give me dreams of the very vivid sort. This latest dream had me hanging out, talking with a couple guys who were working on a private plane. We were in the country somewhere; huge, leafy trees offering shade, and what looked like a boathouse-cum-shack with peeling white paint was very near. The sound of a couple small jets overhead cut though the nature noise, and we looked up, for some reason instinctively moving closer to the shelter of the plane to help hide our presence, although there was nothing we had done wrong. One of the guys made the comment that they were marking the perimeter, or doing something with the perimeter. This seemed to be enough of a reason for me to run up to the larger house for supplies. I don't know why we were going to run, and I don't know why the military (because that was who the jets seemed to be) were flying and dropping some sort of sonar markers along the lake shore, but it was apparently enough of a reason for the character I was to be alarmed.
In the larger house, a Native American man in his thirties was working, renovating a sunlit room. I greeted him, and tried to act as nonchalant as possible as I pocketed Band-Aids, Mercurochrome, and scoured the little medicine cabinet for whatever else I could sneak away with. He came in, though, alerted by the sounds of my scrounging, and asked me what in the world I was doing. Not in a threatening way at all, but for some reason the two guys at the plane and I were supposed to be a group unto ourselves. I turned, plastering a smile on my face that I was hoping looked a bit more genuine than it felt, and tried to play my antics off as just that - the nutty chick's silliness that everyone around was supposed to be used to.
I remember the sunlight streaming in through the glassless window in the other room, the room where he was working, and lighting the area behind him as he stood over me, and the motes of sawdust and tree fluff dancing erratically in the shafts of yellow gold. And I remember having the feeling of knowing him, and of his knowing me a lot better than either he or I would publicly admit.
And now, after writing all of this down, I have a funny feeling the basis of my NaNo novel has just been changed by the characters who inhabit that world. That's just fine with me... I have learned through the years not to fight them. They will take you where they want to be, and if you fight, you wind up with a story that doesn't come off nearly as well as you had hoped, or (and this is the more common result) you will find yourself with a half dozen or so partially written stories that have no life and no luster to them, and will never see the words "The End" to complete them.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010 And Other Bits Of Amusement
It's cloudy out today, and on my day off! No, I can't be enraged about that, really. It's still too hot outside for my Southern California moods to long too much for the sun here in the Great Plains.
It's that time of year - NaNoWriMo fever is beginning in my soul again. I know it's still a little over a month and a half away, but every September it begins. What will I write this year? Will I be able to stick with it, or will mundane bits of life come again to take over my time and energy, sapping both from me and leaving me with 382 words written on November 29? I'm lucky in that the job I hold right now allows me to bring my laptop to work and mess around online, doing whatever, as long as the customers are taken care of.
I actually have a good idea of what I want to write for this year. No, I'm not telling, at least not yet. Last year, I wrote paranormal. I still have the sheets of paper printed out, begging for editing. I think it's been long enough since I wrote it to go back and go through it with a fresh eye and mind. I have two days off right now; maybe I will do that.
Blender, a 3D imaging program, has been played with a bit as well. It has one hell of a steep learning curve, especially for someone who gets confused with PhotoShop! But I am hoping to figure out the basics relatively quickly and see what I can get done in there for SecondLife.
At any rate, that is what is happening lately, or at least some of it.
It's that time of year - NaNoWriMo fever is beginning in my soul again. I know it's still a little over a month and a half away, but every September it begins. What will I write this year? Will I be able to stick with it, or will mundane bits of life come again to take over my time and energy, sapping both from me and leaving me with 382 words written on November 29? I'm lucky in that the job I hold right now allows me to bring my laptop to work and mess around online, doing whatever, as long as the customers are taken care of.
I actually have a good idea of what I want to write for this year. No, I'm not telling, at least not yet. Last year, I wrote paranormal. I still have the sheets of paper printed out, begging for editing. I think it's been long enough since I wrote it to go back and go through it with a fresh eye and mind. I have two days off right now; maybe I will do that.
Blender, a 3D imaging program, has been played with a bit as well. It has one hell of a steep learning curve, especially for someone who gets confused with PhotoShop! But I am hoping to figure out the basics relatively quickly and see what I can get done in there for SecondLife.
At any rate, that is what is happening lately, or at least some of it.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
I Did It!
Yes, indeed... and the over 8,000 words left were written yesterday. I completed (won) NaNoWriMo for this year and I am damned proud of myself, probably moreso than I really have a right to be.
It isn't completed yet, but I am planning on taking a few days off before I dive into it again. Then will come the second draft, then editing, then possibly a third draft... At any rate, I have most of this down on electronic paper, plus at least two more ideas simmering on the back burners.
Now if I can find a real job soon, that would be sweet.
It isn't completed yet, but I am planning on taking a few days off before I dive into it again. Then will come the second draft, then editing, then possibly a third draft... At any rate, I have most of this down on electronic paper, plus at least two more ideas simmering on the back burners.
Now if I can find a real job soon, that would be sweet.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wrapping Up
NaNoWriMo ends in about a day and a half... a little less than that, actually. I have 8,893 more words to go until I hit 50,000. So why am I not writing like the wind? Because I just went pffttthhhh a couple days ago. Just blah. No writing for days.
I will do it... I can get there and I will get there. Hell, I am writing right now, aren't I? I just drained my brain or something and could not for the life of me even see my characters.
I think I will make a pot of coffee and try to get to work. Even if I just do a few words here and there, it will help. I know part of it, too... I fear that if I start wrapping up the story, I will come to the end before I see 50,000. Which is utterly ridiculous as I can go back and write more if I need.
I also know that once I get it all down, I can arrange it in the right order (which it's not in at the moment), and then begin filling in the gaps, then do a slight rewrite before putting it away for a little while.
I will do it... I can get there and I will get there. Hell, I am writing right now, aren't I? I just drained my brain or something and could not for the life of me even see my characters.
I think I will make a pot of coffee and try to get to work. Even if I just do a few words here and there, it will help. I know part of it, too... I fear that if I start wrapping up the story, I will come to the end before I see 50,000. Which is utterly ridiculous as I can go back and write more if I need.
I also know that once I get it all down, I can arrange it in the right order (which it's not in at the moment), and then begin filling in the gaps, then do a slight rewrite before putting it away for a little while.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
NaNoWriMo 2009
I am doing it, and I am doing much better than I thought I might. Of course, I am knocking on that mental wood as I type this! An excerpt, the same as is on my NaNo profile... and what I will put up here for now:
Silence. It permeated everything it seemed, even though the crickets still called out their song and the wind still blew in the branches of the old trees. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for him to speak first, determined not to give up that quarter. And when it seemed as though he was not going to speak, that I must be the one to open my mouth and allow the words to somehow escape, tumbling out from behind my dried lips, I heard his voice, as clear as a bell, aiming straight for my mind and soul as though it had been precisely sent.
“Dangerous to be sitting out like this at night, you know.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Okay… so there it was. The first words, and where were they going to take us? I shuffled my feet a bit on the pavement, waiting to see what he would say next, or whether or not I should be thinking of something witty to say, something that might knock this stranger off his feet with its intelligence and ---
“You don’t talk much, do you.”
It cut through my thoughts, this statement that was nothing like a question. I threw my head back, looking at him from down the bridge of my nose, able now to better make out his features than when I had been so far away.
“Nah, not so much. Only when prodded.”
“I would bet I could prod you.”
I laughed, my loud, ridiculous laugh, nervousness showing clearly through it at the innuendo he had just made. A smile danced upon his lips as he watched me fight to regain control of myself, a fight I won much sooner than I had expected.
Silence. It permeated everything it seemed, even though the crickets still called out their song and the wind still blew in the branches of the old trees. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for him to speak first, determined not to give up that quarter. And when it seemed as though he was not going to speak, that I must be the one to open my mouth and allow the words to somehow escape, tumbling out from behind my dried lips, I heard his voice, as clear as a bell, aiming straight for my mind and soul as though it had been precisely sent.
“Dangerous to be sitting out like this at night, you know.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Okay… so there it was. The first words, and where were they going to take us? I shuffled my feet a bit on the pavement, waiting to see what he would say next, or whether or not I should be thinking of something witty to say, something that might knock this stranger off his feet with its intelligence and ---
“You don’t talk much, do you.”
It cut through my thoughts, this statement that was nothing like a question. I threw my head back, looking at him from down the bridge of my nose, able now to better make out his features than when I had been so far away.
“Nah, not so much. Only when prodded.”
“I would bet I could prod you.”
I laughed, my loud, ridiculous laugh, nervousness showing clearly through it at the innuendo he had just made. A smile danced upon his lips as he watched me fight to regain control of myself, a fight I won much sooner than I had expected.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
All Souls' Day
I am considering hopping on the Blue Line and going up to Los Angeles today. It is still rainy outside, and that is a nice change, believe it or not. (Actually, I just peeked out and see fluffy poof-clouds that look like huge cotton balls floating around and letting the bright blue of the sky color the scene every so often. Very, very nice.)
Then again, I've got a major bit of work to do on my NaNo novel. It got shoved to the side yesterday in questionable favor of homework and a paper I needed to write. How dare this happen! And in November... gah!
I don't think I will be going out the back door, however. Two guys from the third floor are bringing huge pieces of furniture, La-Z-Boy type things, out onto the fire escape and rolling them over the railing, letting them fall about 20 to 25 feet into the back alley. They land with a loud, cracking thump-whoosh into the filthy oil-shiny water and wait as one by one they are dragged to the opposite corner to hopefully be picked up by the trash collectors.
I am just thankful they decided against stacking the furniture against my wall again.
Then again, I've got a major bit of work to do on my NaNo novel. It got shoved to the side yesterday in questionable favor of homework and a paper I needed to write. How dare this happen! And in November... gah!
I don't think I will be going out the back door, however. Two guys from the third floor are bringing huge pieces of furniture, La-Z-Boy type things, out onto the fire escape and rolling them over the railing, letting them fall about 20 to 25 feet into the back alley. They land with a loud, cracking thump-whoosh into the filthy oil-shiny water and wait as one by one they are dragged to the opposite corner to hopefully be picked up by the trash collectors.
I am just thankful they decided against stacking the furniture against my wall again.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Countdown To NaNoWriMo08
Less than an hour and a half left of October, 2008. This means Halloween is nearly done.
This also means madcap noveling is about to commence all up and down the West Coast of the United States,. I wish you all luck, and hope mine is just as dandy.
This also means madcap noveling is about to commence all up and down the West Coast of the United States,. I wish you all luck, and hope mine is just as dandy.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Food, School, And NaNo
I went to FitDay.com this morning and, just out of curiosity, I plugged in all the foods and drink I consumed yesterday. I know I overindulged.... we're all guilty (if you could say that) of it at times. But holy cow and columbus! I ate three and a half times the normal amount of calories we're supposed to have. And fat content? Not even going there.
A couple weeks ago I managed to snag an insulated lunch tote from a carpooling fair at work. This morning I am putting it to what I hope will be good use. Inside it at the moment is one baggie with slices from one red delicious and one gala apple, one baggie with Trader Joe's no-salt-added corn, and a small rice bowl I picked up at the Tokyo store in the mall (for the corn). I am going to add a couple tea bags of chai tea and a mug before I leave for work. I like chai because I can drink the hell out of it and only use a couple packets of Splenda. With coffee, I use more Splenda (not so bad) and loads of creamer from work (bad).
My coffee I have been drinking this morning, and have feasted on one d'anjou pear - my favorite. Good stuffs, Maynard.
I've fallen a bit behind on studying, and plan to remedy that like mad this weekend. Silly, ridiculous me. The e-books will be open in another window while I'm at work, too... most of the stuff for work has been caught up, and I am waiting on a few reps to call or write me back regarding the Difficult Airway Workshop coming up in a couple weeks. I have an off-rotation student coming in for an exam, and the SICU stuff needs to be done. Oh, and tests need to be graded from last week. That's nearly about it.
Maybe I will branch off and jot down ideas about my NaNo novel, too. I know what I will write. I think. I'm pretty sure. Hells, I'm never really sure until I begin the thing just after midnight on November 1st.
And who knows... maybe people reading this blog will be buying it this time next year.
My novel, not the load I'm shoveling...
A couple weeks ago I managed to snag an insulated lunch tote from a carpooling fair at work. This morning I am putting it to what I hope will be good use. Inside it at the moment is one baggie with slices from one red delicious and one gala apple, one baggie with Trader Joe's no-salt-added corn, and a small rice bowl I picked up at the Tokyo store in the mall (for the corn). I am going to add a couple tea bags of chai tea and a mug before I leave for work. I like chai because I can drink the hell out of it and only use a couple packets of Splenda. With coffee, I use more Splenda (not so bad) and loads of creamer from work (bad).
My coffee I have been drinking this morning, and have feasted on one d'anjou pear - my favorite. Good stuffs, Maynard.
I've fallen a bit behind on studying, and plan to remedy that like mad this weekend. Silly, ridiculous me. The e-books will be open in another window while I'm at work, too... most of the stuff for work has been caught up, and I am waiting on a few reps to call or write me back regarding the Difficult Airway Workshop coming up in a couple weeks. I have an off-rotation student coming in for an exam, and the SICU stuff needs to be done. Oh, and tests need to be graded from last week. That's nearly about it.
Maybe I will branch off and jot down ideas about my NaNo novel, too. I know what I will write. I think. I'm pretty sure. Hells, I'm never really sure until I begin the thing just after midnight on November 1st.
And who knows... maybe people reading this blog will be buying it this time next year.
My novel, not the load I'm shoveling...
Friday, October 17, 2008
T Minus 15 Days And Counting...
Here comes NaNoWriMo '08. Here come the nefarious plot bunnies, and those flying guilt monkeys, and all the caffeine (and nicotine for those who do) one can possibly absorb into one's body in a single month.
Here comes writing like... dare I say... John Norman at his most repetitive. I swear the man was pulling a NaNo before NaNo was born. And neglected to pre-invent the EdMo (National Novel Editing Month).
I don't know what to write. Bites like hell. Most likely someone will die in it, though. I'm such a morbid one when skribblink. Die, die, die. The air is heavy with the stench of maggots as they feast on dead blood and rot, hidden deep inside an expired mattress. The Forever-Youngs playing at eternity, tasting salt metal oozing from another's wrist.
Yep, getting awfully flowery there. I think I'm ready for NaNo.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Concert
This is an email I wrote to a man I am amazed to know, the day after I saw Nine Inch Nails in Inglewood, California. It captured the images I saw perfectly, so I am including it here.
Just silliness, but I got to go see NIN last night at the Forum. Such
an odd conglomeration of things from my past... the sound engineer
leaning over his board, thrashing and banging his head as he got into
the music, just like my Drug Ex used to do. The sea of people opening
up into mosh pits below me. The smell of different types of weed, of
beer on the steps growing stale. Music of the past 20 years of my life
rumbling and stabbing through me. It was like I was at the Anti-Club
again, sitting in the corner writing bad poetry, staring at people
through my curtain of cigarette smoke and chickory-cinnamon coffee.
And it was like I was on stage again, the music singing only to me,
and through me, and I was the music and it was me, and there was
nothing. Nothing else and nothing. Alone in a bowl of 18,000 people.
Damned normal for me.
At one point the screens showed blood spatters on a wall. And the
music, the instrumental being played, had chiming bells over all...
and instead of the bells being in a minor key, they were in a major
key... happy... I don't know which song was being played, but it was
such an opposite, and it was perfect.
This might be the basis for my NaNo novel this year. I have a month and a week to go still, so who knows what dastardly tales will demand my attention between now and then. (Can you possibly be any more vague, Sydney? Well, yes... yes, I can.) The papers due for History and the start up of Sociology might derail my novelling this year, but at least that will be worthwhile.
Just silliness, but I got to go see NIN last night at the Forum. Such
an odd conglomeration of things from my past... the sound engineer
leaning over his board, thrashing and banging his head as he got into
the music, just like my Drug Ex used to do. The sea of people opening
up into mosh pits below me. The smell of different types of weed, of
beer on the steps growing stale. Music of the past 20 years of my life
rumbling and stabbing through me. It was like I was at the Anti-Club
again, sitting in the corner writing bad poetry, staring at people
through my curtain of cigarette smoke and chickory-cinnamon coffee.
And it was like I was on stage again, the music singing only to me,
and through me, and I was the music and it was me, and there was
nothing. Nothing else and nothing. Alone in a bowl of 18,000 people.
Damned normal for me.
At one point the screens showed blood spatters on a wall. And the
music, the instrumental being played, had chiming bells over all...
and instead of the bells being in a minor key, they were in a major
key... happy... I don't know which song was being played, but it was
such an opposite, and it was perfect.
This might be the basis for my NaNo novel this year. I have a month and a week to go still, so who knows what dastardly tales will demand my attention between now and then. (Can you possibly be any more vague, Sydney? Well, yes... yes, I can.) The papers due for History and the start up of Sociology might derail my novelling this year, but at least that will be worthwhile.
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