The Good (Nano), the Bad (November) and the Ugly (the News)

The weather’s been pretty grey and dismal, but I’ve managed to push through it and get some writing done the last few days. I reached the required 50K late Thursday night to complete the Nano challenge and added another 1500 words yesterday. There’s still story left over to tell so I’m going to be filling in plot holes until it’s done, then I’ll start the dreaded editing while I work on something else.

The daughter was home on Tuesday for a job interview with our local archive, a part-time job that could lead to full time in the future (knock wood). It’s a great opportunity for her and they hired her on the spot. Now we just have to find a job for the fiancé (he’s already started applying) and a place for them to live. I must say it will be very strange for her to be living in town but not under our roof.

November is usually such a cheerless month and this month has been no exception. If I ever have the money I’d like to spend the months of November and February someplace sunny, like Arizona or New Mexico. Or better yet a tropical island where you don’t have to worry so much about crazies with guns - like that woman in the states who’s taught all her children how to handle a fire arm, including her 4-year-old daughter.

Speaking of crazies, yesterday was Black Friday in the U.S. Apparently, that’s what they call the first shopping day after Thanksgiving (which was Thursday). Stores open real early in the morning and the bargain hunters are out in full force. I heard about people getting injured in department stores and most disturbing of all was the report of a Wal-Mart employee getting trampled to death by bargain hunters.

Don’t believe me? Read the whole story HERE

Just Rewards

The writing was going went well enough the other day that I decided to reward myself in the evening and I turned on my MSN for the first time in a long time.

I started talking to my writing cousin who has her second children’s book coming out next week and a third in the works for next spring. Anyway, in the course of conversation she sent me a clip off U-tube called Wizards of Winter. This is a light show of Christmas lights that is done using the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as background music.

I think I should mention that I love the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Especially their CD Beethoven’s Last Night. Ask my daughter, she’ll tell you. :-)

This reminded me that in the spring I noticed that they were going to be playing at Copps Coliseum in the future so I quickly went to the TSO website and low and behold, they’re playing on December 5. There’s still time to buy tickets.

When I mentioned this to the husband he asked if they’re playing in Toronto, so I checked and wouldn’t you know, yes they are. On December 26. Late Christmas present? Early birthday present? Makes no difference to me as long as I get to see them.

'Tis The Season

I think the highlight of my Christmas shopping expedition yesterday was when the woman at the aromatherapy stand in the mall tried to shove a sample under my nose to try. When I explained to her that I have a scent allergy she responded with: “We also have non-scented products for you to try.” WTF?

The rest of the day was a blur of crowds of people, many stores, making a list and checking it twice . . . and Toys ‘R Us. I have four great-nephews, one great-niece and one nephew all under the age of 10. It doesn’t help that I’ve never even met 3 of them. This time of year, Toys ‘R Us is a godsend. The end result is that the kids are all bought for and after all, that’s what Christmas is all about. The kids.

The mall we went to just happened to have a Chapters in it, which I might have been able to avoid if my husband hadn’t wanted to look at some CDs there. I’m to Chapters like a kid is to Toys ‘R Us. My restraint came from just not looking too hard. One of my dreams is to go to Chapters with a shopping cart and just load ‘er up. As it was I came away with a couple of books which I think will end up being a Christmas present to me from the cats . . .

Nice, the way that works out.

Huh?

What do you mean you stopped by to see what scintillating words of wisdom I have to offer? Oh, yeah, I guess it has been a while since I've posted.

I've made it to 40K and I'm still going strong. I think my novel will exceed the 50K it's supposed to be, but the longer the better. I keep thinking it's going to need some heavy duty editing when I'm done, but when I stop to peek back a lot of it isn't as bad as I think.

Yesterday was slow going, story-wise. I took some time off to brush the snow off my car to go sign some papers my hubby had for me at his office - broke the blade off one of my brand new windshield wipers, couldn't find a parking place anywhere even close to the office, came home in disgust to find the garbage can still sitting on the front porch, so I went to the corner store to get a garbage sticker and then wrestled the can to the end of the driveway (we don't have curbs).

Today I'm far enough ahead that I can safely go with a clean conscience to a get together with some old friends tonight, and Christmas shopping tomorrow. I'm easing up a little on the writing and my goal for the weekend is reach the 43K mark.

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After my cranky post on Wednesday I checked the mail and had a happy surprise (I would have added an edit to that day but I didn't want to spoil the whole cranky ambiance).

Anyway, a couple of weeks before Halloween I entered a contest on Gennita Low's website (check out her blog HERE and read her first novel on-line for free). She posted a picture and asked for captions and picked my caption out of all the responses. :-)

The prize was the winner's pick of a selection of books. I chose one of hers because 1) I didn't have it and 2) I really like her writing. Not only did she send me her book (autographed and everything!) she sent me a bonus book too. It made my whole week.

Now I just have to resist the temptation of reading them until Nano is over.

Humbug Hump Day

You want a happy little airy fairy post? Go elsewhere. You won’t get it here.

It’s a bright sunny day out there today and normally this would put me in a good mood, but not today, thank you.

First of all, I appear to have an allergic reaction to the laundry detergent we’re using. My clothes are making me itch. It’s been going on for a while now, it just took me this long to clue in. This is not a problem that’s easily solved either. You try finding an unscented laundry detergent on a limited budget.

My husband does not appear to support my desire to become a hermit. He coerced me into going to the movies last night (not with him, with a friend I used to go to cheap night at the movies with last year while our husbands bowled). And what movie did I see? Madagascar II. I'm still not sure why it was called Madagascar, it took place in New York and mostly in Africa.

There’s two things I need to say right here. I don’t like small children and I don’t like most kid’s movies. Disney movies are the exception (at least the properly animated Disney movies). I really, REALLY hate computer generated animation. As big a Star Wars fan as I am, I boycotted the last movie because it was computer generated. Yuck! Phooey!

Okay, I digress. I must admit that the movie itself wasn’t bad. Despite the computer animation, it was kinda cute and even humorous in places (although my friend said it wasn’t nearly as good as the first one). However, the kids versus adults ratio was unacceptable. As was the fact that the majority of these mothers had not bothered to teach their little urchins how to behave in a theatre. Some of the mothers were even worse than the kids. Has no one mastered the fine art of lowering one’s voice these days?

I have another friend I sometimes go to the movies with who I wish would lower her voice sometimes when she has to speak during the film, however she usually goes to the movies with her legally blind husband who also has a bit of a hearing problem and she's used to making a running commentary telling him what's going on. I can make allowances for her. The blonde woman in front of me with the three kids who had attention spans of gnats? Not so much.

And now my sun has disappeared so I can be justifiably cranky again.

Nano Is Stealing My Soul

I’m starting to lose interest in the games I normally play, I’m only checking my e-mail a couple of times a day, I log in to Absolute Write and briefly skim through my favorite threads - sometimes I don’t log in at all unless I see a post I want to reply to.

I don’t even turn on my MSN any more; Facebook? What’s that? Last week I went five days without even stepping out of the house and I’m proud of it. I can’t remember the last time I picked up a book to read.

Then there’s this really weird thing I’ve been feeling lately in regards to my writing. A feeling of *dare I say it* optimism. I’m starting to believe I might actually finish Nano this year. Not only is the writing going well, the story has a nice arc to it. This one might even be the one that sells.

Time For A Quiz

It's feast or famine with me isn't it? Sorry, I've been sick the last couple of days. The only updating I've managed to do is my Nano word count and my writing blog (the link is to the right under works in progress).

So, just to let you know I haven't forgotten you, here's a quiz for you:

What Colour Blue Are You?

You Are Periwinkle

You're very intuitive and sensitive. You often know other people better than they know themselves. You're also quite optimistic, and you think well of yourself and others. You know your dreams will come true.

What Color Blue Are You?

I Remember

I remember my grandfather, who was with the St. John’s Ambulance in both WWI and WWII. I remember him showing me how to draw a pine tree and gifting me with his oil paints.

I remember my father, who fought in WWII and in Korea. I remember he was injured for his country, and had problems with his injuries all his life. I remember his love of power boats and even though our cabin cruiser was old and only 20 feet long, we could still pretend. I remember the hot summer day when he wouldn’t cut the back lawn until all the baby frogs the size of crickets from the pond in the back had finished passing through.

I remember my brother-in-law, who fought in Korea. I remember his sense of humour and his amazing artistic talent. I remember the way he didn’t like watching M*A*S*H because he said there was nothing funny about war.

I remember my uncle, who was a tail gunner in the Lancaster for the 9th Squadron in WWII. I remember the way he liked to tinker with small engines. I remember his ready smile and his addiction to Louis L’Amour westerns.

You are all remembered.

You are still missed.

If It's Monday This Must Be Nano

You notice how the further into Nano I get the shorter my posts are? That’s because blogging doesn’t count towards my total daily word count.

Saturday I had to go grocery shopping (which I hate) and then we went out to dinner and a play at the local theatre (which wasn’t bad). This was the husband’s office Christmas party. Hubby had to go to bed early because he had to be in Toronto the next day for a bowling tournament, so I found a Star Trek marathon on television and wrote until about 3:30 a.m.

Last night I watched K-Pax (which I’d never seen before) while writing. I had already reached my minimum word count for the day, but I wanted to finish the scene I was working on. Again, up until 3 a.m.

The writing has been going well, pretty steady, especially after dark. I’m starting to wonder if the reason I get more writing done late at night is because I’ve exhausted all my procrastination tools. I’ll stare at the computer screen and type a word, then open up spider solitaire, then close it again because I’ve already played it 100 times in a row, then I’ll just keep re-reading what’s on the screen and before I know it I’ve not only reached my limit, I’ve exceeded it.

Same thing happens when I check my e-mail, or my blogs, or Absolute Write - I’ve checked them so often by then there’s nothing new. Less communciation means less distraction.

Now excuse me while I take a break from procrastinating and get a little writing done.

No Thanks

I'd thank God it's Friday, but I don't get to take the weekend off from writing during Nano.

Hahahaha! I bet you thought I was serious yesterday when I said it was time to buckle down, didn’t you? Well I lied. It wasn’t time to buckle down, it was time to wander over to Absolute Write and socialize over there for a while.

Again, I was up until 3 a.m. last night, but I made my word count.

Today I’m still about 500 words short, but I’m hoping to make up for it tonight.

I never used to be a night owl, but I’m starting to notice that I make the best progress between 12 and 3 a.m.

Maybe it’s because of all those vampire books I’ve been reading lately. My Muse was bitten and turned into one, so now I can only be creative in the darkest part of the night.

Buckle Me Up, Buckle Me Down

The first year I participated in NaNoWriMo I ran out of story before I ran out of words and finished with a measly 33,000 words. The novel seemed complete to me. I’m still editing it. I think I signed up a couple of other years as well, but I only remember the last time when my word count was a whopping 2,000 words. I am determined to finish Nano this year.

You’d think being unemployed would mean I can sit here all day writing, but unfortunately that’s not the way it works.

Here’s how my day has gone so far.

I slept in until 10 a.m. because I was up until 3 a.m. writing. This was my own fault for piddling my day away and then allowing myself to be distracted in the evening. I was 400 words ahead of the game when I started yesterday, and finished with 100 short of my daily goal. Which means, my friends, I slacked off to the tune of 500 words. Let’s not let this happen again.

Got up and did the normal things (showered, dressed, had breakfast) and then phoned the daughter to talk for awhile. Checked my emails. Checked my horoscopes (yes, more than one). Read the updates to the blogs I have listed in my favorites.

It’s noon now, time for the virus scan to start. Too early for lunch, considering I only finished breakfast 1 ½ hours ago. Maybe I should run a couple of errands . . .

The dentist had just received a cheque from hubby for the bill so I made the trip downtown for nothing. It was such a nice day out though that I didn’t want to go back home right away. So I went to the mall. And I bought a book. And I tried on some clothes (the pants were too small, and the jacket was too big). And then I decided to treat myself to some Chinese take-out for lunch (noodles and mixed veggies, yum!). On the way home I wished I’d taken one of those little plastic forks so I could have eaten my lunch in the park or something. It's beautiful out thre today.

And now it’s almost 3 p.m. and the only writing I’ve got done is blog updates.

Time to buckle down!

Cats, Plants and Birds

Yesterday ended, as it started, with cats and plants. After I finished house cleaning in honour of my sister’s impending visit, one of the cats noticed that one of my plants was dangling within reach and swipe, a large chunk of my wandering jew ended up on the floor (along with some dirt and dried foliage).

*Sigh*. The cat ate enough of the plant, before I rescued it, to make himself puke all over my nice, clean floor, and then disappeared, figuring his work was done. I cleaned up plant, cleaned up the puke, then carried on.

In the evening, before I went to bed, I noticed the cats dishes were empty, so being the responsible owner I am, I filled them. Now, the bookcase above the cats’ dishes has a row of plants on top and the spider plant decided to attack as I was setting the bowls back on the floor. In the ensuing struggle, the plant toppled, spilling dirt all over the floor and all over the freshly filled cat dishes. It took another half hour before I had the mess cleaned up and could go to bed.

*sigh again* Such is the way my life has been going.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

There is this really weird looking bird on the Africam today, and I’d really like to know what it is. It’s black, with red on the front of it’s neck and around it’s eyes. The beak is also black and starts out wide at the top, but then tapers off to a thin point, but curved like a toucan.

Okay, it was driving me crazy enough that I googled African Birds and I have discovered it is a Ground Hornbill. And just for your further edification, here’s a picture of it:



Oh, the things I do to get out of writing!

NaNoWriMo

Yes, I confess, I waited until the last possible second to sign up for NaNo this year, so I only have myself to blame for the fact that it took me almost three hours to get logged in.

The first few days are always crazy on the NaNo site. The server is overloaded as everyone tries to log in at once, and then you get morons like me who try to sign up at the last minute. I couldn’t remember my password from the last time I’d done NaNo, so I had to ask for a reset and because it was so slow I kept getting timed out, hence the three hours.

I was off to a slow start on Saturday, only about 700 words, but surprisingly enough it didn’t bother me. It was still 700 words more than I’d managed in the last couple of weeks.

I started to catch up on Sunday. Late Sunday night I tried to update my word count and I thought it didn’t work (again, I kept getting timed out until I gave up) but if you look to my NaNo widget on the right, you’ll see that it did work.

To stay on track I need to do a minimum of 1600 words a day, but I’m hoping for 2000. This will keep me ahead of the game for when the unexpected happens, like today when my sister from New Brunswick is dropping by for a late lunch.

So now, instead of writing the day away, I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store for something to feed her (and her husband), and a slap dash job of cleaning up the house. *sigh* Do you notice that these things happen every time I just start getting my writing momentum back?