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!