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NaNoWriMo:
24,624 words so far
Believe me, it's getting a total re-write when I finish it and holiday gift making.  This is totally gonna be an outline.  Parts are good enough, parts I think go off track because I'm rushing.

Reading:
Finished Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 4).  So I had pre-ordered it because it was a Harper Connelly book.  Loved the first three.  Didn't read the teasers, etc.  Starts out with the same formula as the other books -- and then, it becomes clear:  everything needed to complete the series is in this book!  What?  Yup. Final book. Damn.  Though she does say on her message boards she'll never say never, it's done at least for now.  Shame.  There's a character who wasn't a main main character but a semi regular character anyway, who I felt could have been explored a lot more.   Oh well.

My current to read pile is big, so I am still on a reading spree while working on NaNoWriMo and then of course I need to work on Christmas presents at some point but been soooo dizzy lately, haven't started them yet.  Here's how backed up I have gotten:  Graceling (starting it now), Fire (Graceling) (next), Anansi Boys,  Tempest Rising (Jane True),  Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate), Beautiful Creatures,  Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1), Moonshine (Cal Leandros, Book 2),  Madhouse (Cal Leandros, Book 3),  Deathwish (Cal Leandros, Book 4).  Needless to say, even though I can rip though books that are good in a few days usually, I can also slack.  So with this stack on my desk waiting for me, I've not yet broken into the remaining $75 gift card.  I know how to show a LITTLE restraint ;)

I do think I may have to get my sister the Sookie Stackhouse 8-copy Boxed Set (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood) for Christmas though.  The silly girl is trying to get the books from the library. She is still waiting for book #1.  She waited though 40 some people then had to work when it was her turn to pick it up, they wouldn't hold it til she could get there, she's back to waiting through 30 or 40 people again.  She'll be taking 20 years to read the series at this rate.

Health
Same old, same old.  Been uber dizzy.  I can't tell if it's MS, or shots.  It happens on non shot days so I think it's just MS flaring up as it's been for about a month now.  And since it is any day, not just shot days... well.  Sucks to be me.  It's listed as a "Common" MS symptom.  It's nice to be common for once.  Many of my other symptoms like tremor, headaches, etc -- they're all listed under uncommon on the NMSS site.
  

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Links:
I found a house that Melissa and Brian might both wanna buy.  Any other Doctor Who fans too.  Here.  Kinda afraid to show Brian.  Our house might end up with a makeover and I don't watch Doctor Who.  Though he could decorate it worse.  It'd be better than turning it into a Star Trek ship or something.

Yeah, in case you didn't click that link -- it comes from me spending  too much time at this site tonight: http://lovelylisting.com/  Man the things that people do to their houses.  Namely houses they want to sell.  Really matching your comforter to your wallpaper?  Couldn't find matching carpet too?  Something that looks like blood on the floor?  Couldn't throw a rug down for the picture that you're using to try to sell the house?

Watching TYT:

TYT talking about Carrie Prejean's sex tape made me LOL. 

Oh also liked TYT telling off Pat Robertson for saying that Islam isn't a religion.  Video here.  Cenk slams Christianity some to prove some points, so sensitive types need not watch. 

Lister update:
Lister went to the vet.  His ear is still being irritated.  But he's still on track to have the cone and stitches removed next week.  He'll be so thrilled.  He's HATING the cone.  Cats love sleeping but contrary to popular belief they do occasionally do more than eat, sleep, and poop.  Lister is having a tough time walking around as he just crashes into stuff with the cone on, even though it's clear.  He does venture out around the house, once in awhile.  But yeah..  He mostly sleeps it off still.  As I was waking up today he did come running into the room and jumped on the bed, taking over my pillow before I was quite ready to give it up.

NaNoWriMo:
Writing: 18,853 words so far, plan to write a little more before bed.   I may have to do a COMPLETE re-write when the year is over.  Ivel's story is sucking at the moment.   The concept is okay but woah boy...  It isn't so bad that I wanna beat myself or anything, but bad enough that I'd gonna be a 50k outline when I'm done.  *nods*

Reading:
I finished A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories).  I'm kind of annoyed.  Not by the book, it was good.  By how many fans gave it one star reviews.  Apparently a lot of them read the short stories in the anthologies they've been published in before.  They're disappointed.  If they'd read the book description they'd know that.  I did read the book description and have never read the short stories before, only the full length novels, so I loved it.  *shrug*    Have also gotten another 60 or so pages into Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel, which is getting way more interesting now.  Yay!  Want to finish it though.  Am on page 200something out of 300something.  Don't want to rush but have tons of books I'm excited about starting next too.  Ahh.  The problems of being a junkie.  

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Forgot to update yesterday. But I guess now that I'm caught up, the drama of the daily struggle has lessened and the only jucy thing remaining is what story elements I will choose to divulge. (Am I sounding like a writer yet? ^__^) Also, being caught up makes it a cinch to hit my NaNo quota. After breaking myself in at 3,000+ words a day, the regular 1670 goes by quick. My current word count is 17,138 (and it's the end of chapter 4) - I'm actually above quota!

I absolutely hated everything I wrote yesterday, so the hard part was to NOT go back and redo it all - because that would kill my word count. I was on the verge of needing to type with my monitor off. Yesterday saw some boring real world type stuff - parts of town, introducing the classroom setting. Bleh. (probably why I hated it - I'm bad at that stuff. Hence the fantasy writing.)

Better stuff today: some foreshadowing (some of it for the story this is prequel to, though it may come out at the very end of this book as part of a subplot) including a crazy mysterious man shouting "RUE" amidst his mumbling; Two houses, two conservatories, and secret stuff going on in both. My Main Character is quite perplexed.

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I don't like admitting it (who does?) but I'm not feelin' the NaNoWriMo this year.  I know, I know. I'm supposed to "just keep writing anyway".  It's the exercise in making yourself write, not necessarily the story that comes out of it.  I know this and yet, I've just decided not to do it this year. 

I will, however, fiddle around with this story idea a bit more, here and there.  I think there's something to it (and hey, I DO have an ending for it!) and maybe it's more that I think it deserves more time/effort than a violent 30-day writing gorge can give it.  Or, that's a hoity-toity excuse.

I do feel shame, and I do feel guilt. I read the cheering-on emails I get from Chris Baty and others and for a moment or two I think, hey, I'm only a week behind. Maybe....?

And then I think, don't be silly.

And then I think... well.... ..... maybe?

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So very much to do and never enough time in the day. Mostly because I am able and willing to sleep, to say good night, and wake up to say good morning, and pleasantly say 'Yes, I did sleep well. You?'

October's end was quite unexpected. And therefore unexpectedly busy. I regret none of it, but I am a wee bit saddened that nanowrimo is 9 days old and I haven't put pen to paper, or fingertips to keyboard if you like, in its employ even once.

Well, that's not true--I did resketch several chapters to incorporate some development that's been swirling in my head since my trip home, but alas 50,000 words seems a damn near impossibility now, even with my jump start from previous work on it. Sigh. I'm torn between setting a realistic goal of a couple of weeks later, OR desperately trying to make up the time. I still have so much left undone--around the house, at work, on my contract, that I just don't know what to do.

And then there are the animals. I am so very desperate to get them adopted out. I want to get on with the business of grieving their loss, of getting over their absence and believing that I've done the right thing by finding them better homes. I am tired of being practical and logical, tired of loving them and yet holding myself at the distance of a mere caretaker. Coming home is a reminder that they are my burden and my failure. If I had been stronger, I would have forced myself to recognize the unsustainability of this situation earlier, and adopted them out when they were younger, cuter, etc. Now they are older, less adoptable and I've only just recognized how little space exists between the rock and a hard place I've been occupying for two and a half years.

My biggest comfort, beyond the hope that I will find them better places, is my love and the new life that's waiting for me. That fate and luck have offered up such a sweet reward--a door opening just as I was prepared to walk out of the old one and shut it behind me--is yet another sign, I hope, that this has been the right direction all along.

I just wish I could run down the road and through that open door a bit faster. I want to get the crying over with, and I'd prefer to do it in the arms of the someone else I trust to help 'make everything better.'

The road, though, is a pages long to-do list. Time to get back to it.

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Whew! I caught up (13,407 words)! [hoorah! hoorah! - the crowd of one in my apartment goes wild!] And I just barely made it. Okay, I sort of cheated, but not really. I'd written a couple hundred words in Michigan on the first day, but decided I didn't like it as the beginning of my story.  I put it aside, and started again when I got home and could concentrate better. Today I got to exactly the spot where that bit could go in, so TaDa! So, "cheating" in that I copied and pasted, and only made a few quick changes to make it fit (now that there were more people in the scene than the way I'd first written it). But definitely NOT cheating because I did write it for this story and in the month of NaNo. I just did it so quick it felt like cheating (it was about 7 minutes to midnight when I realised I was precisely AT the setup for the scene), but I'd always intended to see if the snippet could go back in. I mean, if anything, I've actually been shortchanging myself on my word count all this time, 'cause no one ever said you had to write the thing in order.

In the story today: My MC caught the local shop owner gossiping about her and decided to listen in. And she also heard there's a new boy in town who apparently thinks my MC is pretty. Then he walked in and caught her eavesdropping!

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Actual conversation we just had:

Brian: You know I love you and shit
Me: You love shit?
Brian: And you.
*insert my raised eyebrow wtf? look here*
Brian: Hey you got top billing.
*insert same look here again*
Brian:  You know you give me that look a lot when I speak.

Indeed I do.

Random thoughts:

In this OMFG Obama is a 'Kenyan Socialist Nazi Terrorist-loving threat to freedom' world, 1 Republican voting on anything that Democrats support is bi-partisan.  So The House did indeed pass a bi-partisan health care bill.  I'm still against mandates.  But it's nice to see the parties finally working together.  Now we know who will be the next person to be kicked out of the big tent that is the Republican party.  ;)

The daughter of one of the victims of Fort Hood is calling for everyone to not blame Muslims.  She says, basically, that this was just a man with issues.  Not a group of men.  Not a Muslim.  But a man.   Bravo to her for being one of the few voices of reason.  A victim.  One of the only people with true reason to be angry.  And she is wise enough to see things for what they are while others are not, even through her own pain.

My CC is back!  I missed him.  This will mean nothing to any of you.  I'm just glad.  I've not talked to him in ages.

11,551 words so far.  I'm almost caught up to where I want to be, even if it means lots of re-writes later.  It could be worse.  Way worse.  Could be way way better too.  Poor Ivel does not like having his world rushed.

I feel like hell.  Didn't go pick up meds today.  Put it off til tomorrow.  Woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck.  Muscle aches etc.  Brian said he didn't do it.  Head is all stuffy.  Thought I had a fever but then it went away if I did.  I need sleep.  zzzzzzzz.

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I am 1/5th the way through! More than 20%! I passed today's NaNo catch-up goal (10,000 words) with over an hour to spare, and surpassed it (10,578) with half an hour to spare. I'll catch up tomorrow for sure! I'm only stopping now because my MC is going to bed, too, so it seemed like a good spot.

In the story today: Apparently my MC has a revered ancestor named Quinlin Hart and her mother was having a bit of a salamander problem - the magic kind that are made of fire. It lost its tail, but it'll grow back....

...Don't know when my main plot will kick in. Not that I know what that is yet. Maybe tomorrow it will reveal itself. She's gonna catch some unsettling gossip about herself. And there's someone new in town. Now if only I knew what that gossip was...

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NaNoWriMo update: 10,124 words so far.  I skipped a day, or was it two?  Plus I did some minor tweaking.  No, no major editing -- I know I'm still supposed to have crap.  Just a little tweaking as I had screwed up a bit so bad, I had to fix it enough to be able to keep writing the crap even ;)  I'm sure when I finish this my main character will be happy to know I'll re-write his world -- probably next year.  After I finish holiday stuff anyway.

Me update:  I'm almost expecting to experience Night Twitches soon, aka Myoclonic Jerks.  I don't usually attempt to predict these as they happen so rarely.  But, I've actually had something similar happen a few times  while awake the last two days now.  So, I'd say it's a good bet they're coming for me -- soon.  I'm overdue for them anyway.  They suck. But I've not had them much since on the higher doses of anti-seizure pills either.  So, maybe I am wrong.  Maybe the similar things I experienced while awake made up for the falling asleep ones I've not had happen in ages.  *nods*  Speaking of sleep.  I feel so sleepy that I could fall asleep right here, right n

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Didn't quite hit my double quota before midnight like I needed to catch up for nanowrimo, but I should get there before I go to bed tonight. Currently at 6,120. Need to get to 6,668 before I go to sleep. (Though I really should be at 10,002 if I were caught up.)

In the story today: a gnome named Hollaby, a gnomide (that's a female gnome), an injured rabbit who got some healing and is now being chased by a kunal trow flying about on a bulrush. But the rabbit's in good hands in my main character's saddlebag....

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I wrote over 3300 words for NaNo today, but I'm still 5,000 behind due to my late start! But if I can write double the daily quota for the next three days I should catch up.

In the story so far: a shapeshifting woman, a very dark cavern, and a garden built by gnomes out of rock, moss, and non-native plants....

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I spent the first few days of November at my mom's in Michigan, where there was only dial up internet, no cell phone signal, and adorable nephews to distract me. So I'm getting a late start on my writing. The daily quota (if you write every day) is 1,667 words. I'm about 7,000 behind.

Here I go!

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I haven't been writing nearly enough over the past year or two, as my sparse blog can attest. I mean, I've been thinking about my writing a lot for months now, but mostly in terms of research for my big ole epic young adult fantasy series. But nothing that I've really been writing down.

So a couple months ago I decided that it was time I finally attempt NaNoWriMo. I've known about this crazy thing for years. Even bought the book way back when. But never really gave it a good shot. Too busy, to dried up of ideas, too much of a first draft perfectionist.

But this year is the year. With all the research I'd been doing I hit upon the perfect idea of what to write about. Okay, I still have no plot, just like my epic has no real plot. But while that is a hindrance for the epic, it is not a problem for NaNo (in fact the NaNo book was purchased for just that reason, what with its title of 'No Plot, No Problem'.

I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to come up with the back story for one of my minor, yet key, characters. I know where the story it has to end up, and I know a few things that need to be included. But other than that, not only is the storyline fair game, it is totally unnecessary to my larger ideas. So I don't need to worry about getting locked into something or messing things up. If I just come up with one tiny bit of a useful event or one clever description of something, it will have been worth it.

It may even help me to knock out some of that perfectionism I get when I write. I'm the type of writer that seems to have trouble concentrating during the revision process, so I tend to try to get it perfect the first time 'round. I often won't move on in my first draft until each sentence is perfect. How liberating to say: "It doesn't matter how crappy this is!" In fact, the crappier the better! Since the single goal of NaNo is word count and word count alone, I can write crappy lengthy wordy sentences - on purpose!

So last night, as I was posting a little update to my facebook status, it occurred to me that it might be nice to use NaNo as an excuse to make friends with my lonely vox once again. I'm going to try to put my NaNo updates here every day, though they may only be copied straight off my facebook... But since you probably can't see my facebook, I figured you wouldn't mind.

So, wish me luck!

(p.s. I'm going to go ahead and be a dork with my first couple updates and put them in seperate posts, since they were seperate days. And I'm going to lie about the dates, too since they were really posted to facebook earlier...because I can. I can and I feel like it. ...*thpppttt*)

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Today (and every day so far) I've been working on my Nanowrimo Novel. I just reached 5,000 words. I made my goal for today. But I started on Nov. 2, not the first, so I'm still 1,667 words behind more or less. http://www.nanowrimo.com.

I'm also making sourdough bread. It's a day long project. But while it's rising I do other things, so it's not so bad. Like I ran to the fabric store to pick out fabric for 2 aprons I'm making for Christmas presents. See my cooking blog here for more about the bread: http://witcherycookery.blogspot.com/

I also worked on the Evony game, building my 2 cities. I just check in long enough to make sure something is always building. Sometimes things like walls take 16 hours to build. The game continues on in real time whether I'm watching it or not.

And I'm reading a novel. So that right there was my day in a nutshell.

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I am currently reading Fade Out! So far, it is amazing. Testing week is over, so i have a short break till next time.
It is also the 5th day of nanowrimo and i am WAY behind. I'm supposed to be at 8340 words, im not even close. I will be up all night doing that. The crap load of candy i have will help me through it.
Other good news, 2 MORE DAYS UNTIL THE RACHEL CAINE SIGNING!!
...I need to find a ride, but i will be there!

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First thing: If you ever thought to yourself, "Gosh, I have no idea what actually happened with Enron," maybe you should consider seeing a documentary called Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.  I wasn't particularly interested, because it sounds boring and I didn't know a thing about Enron.  I still don't understand what energy trading is, but otherwise I feel pretty solid on the sleazy awfulness that is corporate America, specifically Jeff Skilling and the hundreds of other jerks behind the Enron collapse. There's also a scene with Phillip Glass music and a strip club. It's on Instant Watch if you've got Netflix, and it's better than the trailer:

enron the smartest guys in the room - Trailer

Phillip Glass without Strippers, plus Legos

They Might Be Giants - Why Does the Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma)

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I've made the mistake of writing the "end" of my NaNoWriMo story. 

It was in my head, and I was excited, because I'd actually come up with an ending.  Which I didn't start out with - so you can imagine my pleasure.  This freak of a story which I'd embarked upon without any knowledge of the characters or the world they live in (or, rather, die in, since I've already killed off half the cast) was just sort of flopping along, without any arms or legs, and while I pitied it, I kept on writing.

And then last night while at the gym (it's annoyingly cliche that my brain really DOES work better during exercise) I struck upon how this monster would actually end.  So I rushed home and wrote it, while it was still all pink and fresh and gleaming.

And now I feel like I'm done.  I know I'm not; I mean, there's a whole lot of middle-stuff that I haven't even considered yet.  Step one, character. Step two, ?? Step three, result!  It's the Underpants Gnomes of stories.  I'm finding it incredibly hard to care about the middle stuff though.  My brain has convinved itself that it's finished this story, and it wants to move on to the next one.

I sense the rest of this month of writing is going to be very painful.

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