Nanowrimo and Life
Alright, so currently I'm 31k words short of where I'm supposed to be right now for Nanowrimo...yes I let life get in the way of writing-I had exams and work and finishing the internship application process...I have a multitude of excuses as to why I haven't worked on my novel/graphic novel. The main one being I haven't been that inspired to work on it. I love the story. I love the characters. I was outlining and setting up characters in October getting ready to pour my heart out this November. Obviously that didn't happen. I'm not normally the type to outline and prepare for a story. Usually I write whatever is in my head to write and the story/characters develop as needed. Maybe I over-structured myself. Maybe I was just feeling the pressure on top of all my daily stresses. The point being-here I am sitting in front of an empty screen trying to think of how to write this one little scene and I'm coming up blank.
But people don't want to hear that. I sat down November 1st and said "this time I'm gonna reach 50k" and people want to hear about your progress. Well, I can tell you that I have my introduction written out. Its also my excerpt to my novel on my NaNoWriMo profile. I also have the beginning scene written out. In total I have a page and a half of work done for my novel-thing. People may say it's because I'm working on a graphic novel and those don't have that many words. My graphic novel is different. While the graphic part has very little dialogue/narrative (and my wonderful sister is working on the art), the rest of the book is written out in short stories. So while reaching 50k in a multitude of short stories would be difficult, it isn't impossible. I have plenty of ideas for the written portions and seven volumes worth to write (yes we've worked the storyline into a seven volume graphic novel).
So, you may be asking yourself (as I am now) 'why are you writing your blog when you should be writing your story?' Well, if you read the beginning part of this whining post, I am drawing up blank. I figured that maybe if I wrote something else I may get into the swing of things and just transition over to the story.
Well, here's hoping :-)
Good luck other NaNo-ers!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Jacqueline Carey
Breaking from my usual self absorbed posts--here's something for everyone else. Recently, my favorite author Jacqueline Carey gave signed copies of her latest book, Saint's Astray, to bloggers and told them to give the book to lucky winners. No I'm not one of the bloggers--pretty obvious from my lack of blogging and no book mentioning. But I'm here to post links so that others can enter to win!
So here ya go:
Oak Business Services Giveaway
Sera Phyn Giveaway
Fictorian Giveaway
Amilianna Giveaway
Runaway October Giveaway
Oberon's Law Giveaway
Bella Deluna Giveaway
Courtney Conant Giveaway
Little Spartans Giveaway
Fantastique Books Giveaway
Laurie Hansen Giveaway
Some of these end Nov 15th so hurry up :-)
And for those that haven't read Carey's books, Saint's Astray is the sequel to Santa Olivia. From one review on Good Reads: Santa Olivia is a story that spans 18 years in a small dystopian community recovering from a disease outbreak in Texas. The local population has been cut off from the US and imprisoned in their town by physical walls and the military.
Loup Garron, the child of a genetically engineered soldier, tries to blend in with the rest of society. Although she follows her brother’s advice to be careful and hide her talents, she is torn between acting “normal” and embracing her “gifts”.
So here ya go:
Oak Business Services Giveaway
Sera Phyn Giveaway
Fictorian Giveaway
Amilianna Giveaway
Runaway October Giveaway
Oberon's Law Giveaway
Bella Deluna Giveaway
Courtney Conant Giveaway
Little Spartans Giveaway
Fantastique Books Giveaway
Laurie Hansen Giveaway
Some of these end Nov 15th so hurry up :-)
And for those that haven't read Carey's books, Saint's Astray is the sequel to Santa Olivia. From one review on Good Reads: Santa Olivia is a story that spans 18 years in a small dystopian community recovering from a disease outbreak in Texas. The local population has been cut off from the US and imprisoned in their town by physical walls and the military.
Loup Garron, the child of a genetically engineered soldier, tries to blend in with the rest of society. Although she follows her brother’s advice to be careful and hide her talents, she is torn between acting “normal” and embracing her “gifts”.
Friday, November 4, 2011
P&N
Procrastination and NaNoWriMo. I am a chronic procrastinator. If there is even the slightest chance I can put something off until tomorrow, it won't get done. I end up studying for exams the day of, my apartment never gets cleaned, and I have trouble making myself sit down and write 1,667 words a day on my novel to meet the 50k word requirement for NaNo. It's not on purpose. I have every intention today to write over 1000 words. In the course of 10 hours, I have written two sentences. 39 words. I have spent the last two hours staring at my notes trying to motivate myself to write when all I want to do is watch Dr. Who. And get distracted by Sherlock.
Or the cats need attention.
Or I get the munchies and I spend time getting food.
Point being, I suck at this. Last year, I was able to write quite a bit for NaNo. I didn't make 50k but I did pretty well. I haven't written since last november, and I seem to have lost my drive to write. I tried writing a short story every month, even created a Facebook group for it. But, unfortunately, I've let life get in the way. Between work, classes, internship interview process, a social life, and the apartment I've found plenty of excuses.
Well, here's to hoping I get my shit together long enough to write something.
Excerpt:
Here's the first paragraph I've done.
"With the ever-exploited facts of global warming hanging over the heads of humanity, most people thought the world would end in a natural disaster. The ozone layer would be destroyed and living creatures would be wiped out by solar rays. The world would be encased in another ice age. Religious freaks thought that their god’s minions would come down to earth and the devout would be taken under wing as the heathens were destroyed. Government experiments would get loose and kill off the human race in a pandemic. Some surmised that terrorist attacks and weapons of war would destroy us all.
How surprised was everyone when death came in the form of tiny white spiders?"
and after that it's only two sentences.
I can do this...it's only 49,846 more words to go :-)
Or the cats need attention.
Or I get the munchies and I spend time getting food.
Point being, I suck at this. Last year, I was able to write quite a bit for NaNo. I didn't make 50k but I did pretty well. I haven't written since last november, and I seem to have lost my drive to write. I tried writing a short story every month, even created a Facebook group for it. But, unfortunately, I've let life get in the way. Between work, classes, internship interview process, a social life, and the apartment I've found plenty of excuses.
Well, here's to hoping I get my shit together long enough to write something.
Excerpt:
Here's the first paragraph I've done.
"With the ever-exploited facts of global warming hanging over the heads of humanity, most people thought the world would end in a natural disaster. The ozone layer would be destroyed and living creatures would be wiped out by solar rays. The world would be encased in another ice age. Religious freaks thought that their god’s minions would come down to earth and the devout would be taken under wing as the heathens were destroyed. Government experiments would get loose and kill off the human race in a pandemic. Some surmised that terrorist attacks and weapons of war would destroy us all.
How surprised was everyone when death came in the form of tiny white spiders?"
and after that it's only two sentences.
I can do this...it's only 49,846 more words to go :-)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
H.E.A.
When I was a young girl, I believed in the fairy tale version of love. That a prince/handsome guy would sweep me off my feet at first sight and we'd live happily ever after. While we like to think that we can keep our childish dreams as we grow up, a few broken hearts later and our views change a bit. Even though we grow cynical of our fairy tale love lives, we still crave that romantic ending. A Happily Ever After. Unfortunately, life doesn't give us our endings. Boring marriages, unhappy relationships, lonely women. This has lead to a very profitable movie genre: romantic movies.
These movies help renew our childish dreams. Each predictable, love-filled, stereotype of a good/romantic relationship touches our hearts and stays in our fantasies. It lifts us up and helps us through the tough times. The romantic, lovable characters could be us: we could be the woman randomly bumping into the perfectly flawed man who will fall in love with us and give us the life we want.
The problem with this scenario is that we judge all our relationships based on what we see in these movies. On our fantasies. As we know from growing up, life is not like that. Our relationships are not like that. The difference is that our men are real. They're not some character created to tug on our heart strings with perfectly thought out speeches. They're human. Real men make mistakes, say crappy things, and are not mind readers. But, in the case of us lucky women, they love us. They may not show it the way we want them to, but they worship us in their own way.
The point of this post isn't to give links to a bunch of good movie clips. It's to put things into perspective, ladies. It's good to have a dream. It's good to have the fantasy. But don't expect every moment to be like a romantic movie. At times, it can be a disaster. A relationship isn't just the attraction and the love, it's also about working through the disasters together. During which you may want to kill your significant other. I highly recommend not following through on those urges. It's messy. But if you love a person, and you feel it's worth the trouble, you'll get your happy ending.
Wishing everyone their Happily Ever After this corporate-created, consumer-driven joke of a holiday :-) Happy Valentine's Day.
These movies help renew our childish dreams. Each predictable, love-filled, stereotype of a good/romantic relationship touches our hearts and stays in our fantasies. It lifts us up and helps us through the tough times. The romantic, lovable characters could be us: we could be the woman randomly bumping into the perfectly flawed man who will fall in love with us and give us the life we want.
The problem with this scenario is that we judge all our relationships based on what we see in these movies. On our fantasies. As we know from growing up, life is not like that. Our relationships are not like that. The difference is that our men are real. They're not some character created to tug on our heart strings with perfectly thought out speeches. They're human. Real men make mistakes, say crappy things, and are not mind readers. But, in the case of us lucky women, they love us. They may not show it the way we want them to, but they worship us in their own way.
The point of this post isn't to give links to a bunch of good movie clips. It's to put things into perspective, ladies. It's good to have a dream. It's good to have the fantasy. But don't expect every moment to be like a romantic movie. At times, it can be a disaster. A relationship isn't just the attraction and the love, it's also about working through the disasters together. During which you may want to kill your significant other. I highly recommend not following through on those urges. It's messy. But if you love a person, and you feel it's worth the trouble, you'll get your happy ending.
Wishing everyone their Happily Ever After this corporate-created, consumer-driven joke of a holiday :-) Happy Valentine's Day.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
TFNS
I hate seafood. Something about all types of seafood just sets my stomach on edge. That being said, I love tuna fish noodle salad. It's the only seafood containing meal I will eat and enjoy and ask for seconds. It's good. After making some for lunch today, I figured I'd share this very easy recipe with everyone :-)
Ingredients:
1 5oz can of Albacore Tuna (or your favorite tuna)
Mayonnaise
Relish
1 stalk of celery
3 cups elbow noodles
salt and pepper
1. Empty the can of tuna into a medium sized mixing bowl. Cut up the pieces of tuna with a fork. Add a few scoops of mayonnaise and mix. If you like a bit of tang to your food, add a scoop of Miracle Whip instead of plain mayo.
2. Mix in a couple scoops of relish.
3. Cut the celery in half length-wise. Then chop into small chunks and mix in with the tuna.
4. Boil the noodles until they are cooked to your liking. Strain the hot water. Rinse the noodles under cold water until cool. This is a cold dish. Trust me, mayo does not taste good warm.
5. Mix in the noodles. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3 Servings. Add more noodles to stretch for more people.
Sorry the pic is horrible quality (phone camera) and the food is half eaten (pic was after thought) but you get the idea...:-)
Ingredients:
1 5oz can of Albacore Tuna (or your favorite tuna)
Mayonnaise
Relish
1 stalk of celery
3 cups elbow noodles
salt and pepper
1. Empty the can of tuna into a medium sized mixing bowl. Cut up the pieces of tuna with a fork. Add a few scoops of mayonnaise and mix. If you like a bit of tang to your food, add a scoop of Miracle Whip instead of plain mayo.
2. Mix in a couple scoops of relish.
3. Cut the celery in half length-wise. Then chop into small chunks and mix in with the tuna.
4. Boil the noodles until they are cooked to your liking. Strain the hot water. Rinse the noodles under cold water until cool. This is a cold dish. Trust me, mayo does not taste good warm.
5. Mix in the noodles. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3 Servings. Add more noodles to stretch for more people.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
R.A.K.
One of the downfalls (or upsides, depending on the type of person you are) of working in retail is that you have to deal with a lot of people. These people will be grumpy, needy, greedy, and mean. Through my ten years of experience, I have to say my view on humanity and society has gone completely downhill from the optimistic attitude I had when I started. Not all the people you meet are going to be bad, though. I always have a place in my heart for my happy customers: the ones who understand what I'm going through, who are polite to the people they're talking too, and who make the day better by a simple smile and a kind word. So, while I normally don't care much for my job or the people I deal with, I have to say that a small act of kindness, even if it's just a smile, can change my view in an instant. It brightens my day and I'm able to go about brightening others' days because of it.
Random Acts of Kindness. It can turn this seasoned skeptic into a happy optimist. By being kind, and opening your heart to others, you can change the world. Each act of kindness inspires at least one person to do the same.
This story: Buy A House , was amazing to me. A woman buys a house for a complete stranger. When asked why, she replied simply, "She needed help." While a couple newspapers covered the story for a day, I feel this should have been front page material for weeks. The kindness and generosity of people astounds me, and it shouldn't. While I'm not saying everyone should run out and buy the homeless houses (unless you want to, then go ahead and be a hero to someone that needs you) but I am saying that even the smallest acts can change lives.
This story: Flowers, is an example of just that. A man's boss was excessively mean to him. He responded by buying her flowers. From then on, she was a nicer person in general. She smiled more, she treated people better. It was a small, thoughtful act that completely changed this woman's life.
So why am I showing these stories to all of you? Why am I writing this? Because performing random acts of kindness has become an amazing feat of saintliness when it should be a daily common act. When people need help, there should be people to offer assistance. We, as a society, as a race, have become self-centered, greedy, and too cautious of others to even look at the people they pass by on the streets.
This story: Shoes, shows what happens when you pay attention. This kind old man was selling second-hand shoes and allowed a young girl to polish them for some money. Upon hearing that she was saving up to buy her brother's uniform, the old man took her to the store and bought it for her. This was all witnessed by a man just out for a walk. He was so moved by the old man's act, he told the man he was a hero. To that young girl, the old man was a hero. She didn't have to work for that uniform now.
Helping others can have a ripple effect. Missing is about a family that gets a community to look for a missing local boy by simply helping. They started asking around the neighborhoods and town and suddenly, a large group of people are doing the same.
The most touching story I read wasn't about poverty or helplessness or anything major. It was a small act of kindness in response to an observation: live kindly , is about one family who is trying to spread kindness to others. This post I'm sharing is about others sharing kindness with them. The father takes his daughters out for cookies and is told he's being a good parent by a complete stranger. The mother picks her daughter up from daycare and the teacher gives her an inspiring card because the teacher noticed she looked a bit stressed as of late...
It's the smallest things that effect us the most. Make that small thing a Random Act of Kindness.
Random Acts of Kindness. It can turn this seasoned skeptic into a happy optimist. By being kind, and opening your heart to others, you can change the world. Each act of kindness inspires at least one person to do the same.
This story: Buy A House , was amazing to me. A woman buys a house for a complete stranger. When asked why, she replied simply, "She needed help." While a couple newspapers covered the story for a day, I feel this should have been front page material for weeks. The kindness and generosity of people astounds me, and it shouldn't. While I'm not saying everyone should run out and buy the homeless houses (unless you want to, then go ahead and be a hero to someone that needs you) but I am saying that even the smallest acts can change lives.
This story: Flowers, is an example of just that. A man's boss was excessively mean to him. He responded by buying her flowers. From then on, she was a nicer person in general. She smiled more, she treated people better. It was a small, thoughtful act that completely changed this woman's life.
So why am I showing these stories to all of you? Why am I writing this? Because performing random acts of kindness has become an amazing feat of saintliness when it should be a daily common act. When people need help, there should be people to offer assistance. We, as a society, as a race, have become self-centered, greedy, and too cautious of others to even look at the people they pass by on the streets.
This story: Shoes, shows what happens when you pay attention. This kind old man was selling second-hand shoes and allowed a young girl to polish them for some money. Upon hearing that she was saving up to buy her brother's uniform, the old man took her to the store and bought it for her. This was all witnessed by a man just out for a walk. He was so moved by the old man's act, he told the man he was a hero. To that young girl, the old man was a hero. She didn't have to work for that uniform now.
Helping others can have a ripple effect. Missing is about a family that gets a community to look for a missing local boy by simply helping. They started asking around the neighborhoods and town and suddenly, a large group of people are doing the same.
The most touching story I read wasn't about poverty or helplessness or anything major. It was a small act of kindness in response to an observation: live kindly , is about one family who is trying to spread kindness to others. This post I'm sharing is about others sharing kindness with them. The father takes his daughters out for cookies and is told he's being a good parent by a complete stranger. The mother picks her daughter up from daycare and the teacher gives her an inspiring card because the teacher noticed she looked a bit stressed as of late...
It's the smallest things that effect us the most. Make that small thing a Random Act of Kindness.
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