I'm Gonna Wait Till the Midnight Hour

So here I am, Halloween night, waiting for the stroke of midnight at a local coffee house with several other of my fellow Nanoers. I'm told that a pirate will announce when midnight arrives, and we can start novelling in earnest.

On the subject of Halloween, we had 43 trick-or-treaters tonight. Not too shabby, when you consider that we live on a horseshoe drive and we missed the trick or treaters of the five o'clock hour. Now, next year, Halloween will fall on a Friday. Am I going to attend a midnight write-in? Heck no. I hate sharing the road with drunk drivers.

Ten minutes and counting....

Halloween preparations and Nano news

This weekend actually proved pretty productive, in spite of having to go in and work for four hours.

- At work, in the four hours, I turned in the last of my September P & Ls, got my property mailings done, and was able to box up some of my 2006 files, giving me more room to work with.

- On the halloween front: Bought the pumpkin and candy for the trick-or-treaters and got the last piece of my costume. The yard is now decorated and a lot of leaves raked and swept. Some of them even made it into the yard debris bin!. Decided I'm going to make Peanutty Halloween Cookie Pizza, which is a new twist on this recipe: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=15308
It uses chocolate chip dough instead of sugar cookie, and halloween m&ms take the place of candy corn, and it also uses dry roasted peanuts. Today I also finished making a black cat necklace that I bought unassembled at Michaels. I'm currently working on the favors I'm going to give out to my co-workers. Two pencils, and a couple of pieces of candy, tied with orange ribbon. Sadly, it took me three tries to find it. Freddy's doesn't have gift ribbon in either orange or black! Big Lots came through, and most of their Halloween stuff was 50% off. Three are done, seven to go.

And that brings me to something that's very irritating. The stores already have their Christmas stuff out! Grr! Whatever happened to enjoying Halloween and Thanksgiving?

-Nano news: Last week, I took a page from Chris Baty's No Plot, No Problem and cleaned off my desk. One week later, it's still fairly clean. :) I had another idea for a novel. I'm not going to discuss it here, because whenever I've brought the topic up on the net, I wind up having technological issues. Only thing is, I can't see very far past the idea, which is typically not enough for a Nano. So that's on hold for a bit. I also attended the local Nanowrimo kickoff party for the first time ever. That was kind of fun, and we even got a little treat bag to take home with us. :) Portland's got a lot of people doing Nano, it seems, because there were at least 50 people in the US Bank meeting room.

I said I'm going to use dice as part of my novel, so allow me to introduce you to them. It's a Chessex 7 die polyhedral set, frosted teal with white numbers. http://www.chessex.com/Dice/Frosted/Teal.htm I won this set at one of Gamestorm's last GM raffles (they use a different method of giving away swag these days). Oh, yeah, Gamestorm is a local gaming convention. I've been attending it since its very early days. Since most of the games I play now involve the use of only one type of die (6-sided or 10-sided), this is actually the only polyhedral set I own. So why not put it to use for a gaming related novel?

Gotta run...I think I'm getting a cold, so it's off to take some Cold-Ez to ward it off. Zinc lozenges are icky, but they do work!

Going with the Flow

This week, I made a fair amount of progress with my Nano novel. I came up with the title, as I'd previously mentioned. I plan to use some actual dice rolls as part of the story, so I'm going to pack a d20 with my laptop.

The characters are starting to flesh themselves out, and the outline is starting to take shape, though I'm not quite sure where to take the story yet.

Well, there's still some time to come up with it....

A Roll of the Dice

So I have a title. The opening scene is actually inspired from a real-life event.

My husband and I went to have dinner around 9 pm and stopped at IHOP. We walked in the doors, and the restaurant was lit, but totally deserted. There was barely any noise from the kitchen and no one was around to greet us.

Finally, someone showed up to serve us and seat us.

So thanks to the Dare I took, I dug through my Yahoo account's Spam folder and came up with the names for my characters.

This year, I'm trying out a little bit of new technology, something called a Liquid Storybook Binder. It's supposed to help you organize a novel and also lets you write it. Though I've used Word and Notepad with the same result.

Dusting off the Cobwebs

Wow, has it been almost a year already? And what a busy one it was, just as this one is now. I took a week's vacation in September, and I'm only just now getting caught up at work, just in time for all the month-end fun to begin.

So here it is, October again, and Nanowrimo looms just around the corner. At least I've decided on my costume for this year. It took a bit of doing, because finding a devil costume that is appropriate for an office is not the easiest task. Fortunately, Party City allows you to try on costumes. I was skeptical that an "Adult Standard" would fit, but it did, and as a bonus, the neckline has a drawstring that allows one to make it lower or higher.

The Nano site is currently as slow as molasses (can't imagine how bad it would be with dialup), but I'm hoping it'll improve. I did donate my $10 to keep the site going. I've taken a few dares, and finally, finally, things are starting to flow a little, and I think I have a story starting to take shape.

This year, I'm going to try to get a good start by attending a midnight write-in and taking the 1st day in November off. We shall see how well the strategy works...

Post Nanowrimo - Pre Holidaze

Well, another November has come and gone. The first part of the month, I got pretty behind because I had to work four ten hour days because I got Monday October 30th off.

I endured setback after setback, but finally, on the 18th, I started writing like a fiend, and finally got caught up on November 29th. This despite the fact that I misplaced my outline (it was in my gaming bag) and didn't find it again until the 29th.

Therefore, I finished out the last day of November by writing the 50,000th word during the 10 o'clock hour. But I wanted to finish with an average of over 1,700 words before I verified. So prior to eleven, I verified my Nano with about 50,200 words, and called it a night. Phew, that was a really tough one.

The Battle Continues...

This Sunday marked my first 2,000 plus word day. This in spite (or perhaps with the help of) a power failure around 10:30 pm.

However, I'm still a bit behind. Slowly, but surely, I continue to chip away at the deficit and am currently a little over a week behind now.

But hope springs eternal. The month is only half over...

Post Halloween - Nanowrimo is here!

So, let's see,

The candy contest came down to a tie between myself and one other player for first. The owner threw us some tiebreaker questions, and it all came down to who came the closest (without going over) estimating how much she spent ordering from Oriental Trading (one of my fave places too). I won with $119.95.

I gave a good portion of the candy away in the grandkids Halloween bags, but there is still a little bit left.

Now, on to Nano. I was all set to do Love, Death and Fast Food. I really was. But once again, I had another idea. The outlining went along swimmingly, so that's what I decided to go with. Once again, Mara Ravenclaw makes another appearance, but this time, she's only a bit player.

Five days in, and I hit the 5,000 word mark. Not the most auspicious beginning, but hey, I'm not all that far behind, and I had to work long hours and had horrible commutes last week. This week, I get to carpool, so my word count should increase.

October! October! October!

So, September draws to an end, which means I can now start my Halloween shopping and decorating! So I did just that, heading over to Dollar Tree for a few things.

I still have to dig out the Halloween stuff tonight. On a side note, I am tied for first in the Trivia contest I entered. So now it's all down to how well I interpreted her blog entries and whether or not I guessed right on her candy expenditures. We shall see...

So, at the end of September, I missed the monthly goal by scant inches. Doh!
This month, I'm starting out with over 210,000 words, and with a day of having already written over 1,100 words.

I've got a pretty good outline so far for the Nano, but then again, I thought I was doing good on the Julno too. We shall see how things go this year...

The 200K Mark and Assorted Things

Well, I made it to the 200K Mark. Less than 50,000 words to go, which is one whole successful Nanowrimo.

This week was also my 5th wedding anniversary. Wow, has my husband been putting up with me for that long already? We decided to celebrate it for real next weekend, but went out to dinner and a movie on the day of. Dinner was a disaster, but my husband was a cheap date that night because they refunded my money for his meal (he'd ordered a steak well done, they delivered it quite late and very rare).

I also entered an on-line trivia contest. http://fabulouscheesebabe.blogspot.com/

It's a four week contest, with prizes going to the winners. My googling skills were spot-on, because I got 11 points out of a possible 11 after I pointed out to the gal that there was more than one flower that smelled like carrion and was pollinated by flies. Fortunately, I picked Stinking Corpse Lily, rather than my first thought, Corpse Flower, which is actually pollinated by beetles. Her original answer was Voodoo Lily.

This week was a bit tough, as one of the questions (a four star silent film) seems a little subjective. Four stars for one site could be ten for another, after all. But I took my best guess, so I hope it's right...

Getting Closer

This was actually a pretty good week for me, as I had a couple of 1,000 word plus days, so I was able to regain some lost ground. Better yet, I'm less than 5,000 words to the 200K mark, so I should be able to make it this month, barring any unforseen things.

30 days has September, so my club goal for the month is 20,550, so I currently am about 15,000 words from it. Doesn't seem too impossible at this point...but time will tell.

On the PbEM front:

Sodium Noir - the ST is his spotty self, but at least he is posting more than once a week. We also have four new players. We shall see how long they stick around. Things are getting very interesting for my PCs though...

Mage Phoenix - Picking up, but it's still tough having to interact with a player that is very very slow to post.

Paradise Heights - A new game, modern soap opera style. Thought I had a posting partner, but she flaked. However, the GM was kind enough to oblige me. I just wish she had a list of locations, I would have renamed the bar...

Paradise Lost - Slow, but the ST put a new rule in place for posting. We shall see.

Puzzles of Darkness - Slow, and entirely the ST's fault.

Riverton - Picking up, and should be easier to post now.

Shadowrun - Steady, but slow.

On the Nano front - Funny, but I find that my creativity does run out once in a while, and I'm rather uninspired at the moment. But it is only September...

Labor Day Weekend

And where exactly did the summer go? It seems like there's just never enough time to do everything you want to do. Heck, I play in a semi-monthly RPG, and had to miss a few games because I had conflicting plans (family events take precedence over games).

But in any case, August was a tough month for me. I didn't make my month's goal, but I'm still happy to report that I passed the 75% mark, and I'm less than 10,000 words away from hitting 200,000 words. However, I spent the first four days of September camping, so I wasn't able to do any writing. Boy, do I have lots of catching up to do this month already...

So, Halloween is fast approaching, and along with it Nanowrimo. So what am I going to do this year? Hmm...

I do still like the idea of Love, War and Fast Food. At least the title sounds pretty catchy. But on the other hand, a good serial killer story might be fun to write.

The Halfway Point

Well, today, I finally reached the halfway mark of my year's goal, and only 3 days into June. Whoo hoo!!!

Yesterday, my coworker told me that making a tv show about the things that happen at hotels would be a good idea. I agreed, but said, probably should just write a novel instead, no hotel would want their name associated with the show when you focus on the drama. She said to let her know if I did start, I told her, oh maybe next month I'll start working on it.

The reason she said it was this: the GM (General Manager) for one of my properties called and asked me if we have credit card slips going back more than two years . I said, I believe so, but they're in the warehouse. She then tells me that a homicide detective had shown up at the hotel, investigating a murder, and asked for these records to establish that someone was there and not in Oregon. After making sure the homicide didn't occur AT the hotel (it didn't), I verified that the detective was trying to establish someone's alibi using the credit card receipts (seeing if he'd signed it). I then told her that Legal might have to get involved, but we'd be more than happy to track down the info if need be...

See what I mean about drama at hotels? I can't wait until July so I can start working on this....

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, I finally hit the 120K mark this weekend! Finally, because things were getting just a bit sluggish, and my word count was starting to fall. I also finally finished the minimum for the month, and am about 1,000 words past it.

Went to see X3 this weekend. Looks like they left it open for another sequel. If you go, be sure to stay until the very very end (after the credits), because something interesting happens.

In Muse Grove, Challenge Week 6 is upon us, so I think I'll try again for 5,500 words, which is better than the 5,000 I went for last time. I'm currently at 2,600, with Monday still to go.

My goal for the week, and I'm crossing my fingers here, is to hit 125,000. I'm currently at 120,375.

May: Week #1

So, the first week of the month of May has arrived, and my birthday arrives shortly after. My mother's is actually tomorrow, so I arranged to have flowers sent to her. I wanted to send her a plant, but they wouldn't deliver it on her birthday. Oh well...next year maybe.

At work this week, I heard about all the drama that was going on at one of our hotels. I told the GM that her place should be a soap opera, or maybe just a reality tv show. Seriously, it would be a good idea, but I doubt any hotel would go for this, especially not a small chain. It could be bad for their reputation.

So, in this case, truth is stranger than fiction, but it also can make for a good piece of fiction. With the summer being all about travelling and light hearted fiction, I've decided that my tales will be my project for Julnowrimo, and I'll think of something else for Nanowrimo. So, now to work on an outline...it'll be a good project to occupy my lunch hour.

In any case, the first week of May went pretty well. I met my goals for Challenge #4, and made my count for April as well. Though looking at my count, I wonder how I will make Nanowrimo. Well, I'm sure I'll manage. The road map seems to help me stay on track, and I can always use the weekends to catch up. I could take some time off from work in November. Unfortunately, I really don't have any vacation time to spare.

So, April summed up:

1st day wasn't so good, but I still met the minimum for the month.
The Conspirators have won 2 challenges in a row
I can't eat lunch at my desk (which means I can't type out my novel)

So, my goals for the moment are simple:

Week #5 5,000 words (I'm going for a lower goal cause I'll probably be real busy that week)

May's goal: 21,235 is the minimum; I'm going to make mine 25,000

So far, I'm at 6,945 words, a little shy of 1,000 per day.

Words remaining: Minimum: 14,290; Personal Goal: 18,055

With that said, time for bed....

April's Curtain Call

As April draws to the close, I now pause to reflect upon how I did.

1) I finished the monthly goal, and surpassed last month's count. I'm hoping to break 29,000 before I submit my word count for the month. I'm fairly hopeful about it.

2) I'm currently at close to 39% completed for the year. Some of my fellow club members have upped their goal to 300K. I'm not sure I'm ready for that, but I would still be on target for 275K. Well, we'll see as things progress...

3) I'm the Team Leader for Week Four of the Muse Grove Challenge http://http://musegrove.suddenlaunch3.com/index.cgi#Teams
My goal for this one is 6,500. I have less than 5,000 words to write before Cinco de Mayo.

4) I've decided I'm going to either read or outline on my lunch breaks, because I can't use the computer at my desk (silly rules).

But May is the month of my birthday, and Memorial Day at the end of it, so I'm not sure how well I'll do next month, but I am currently slated to finish in early November. A pretty nice improvement , considering last month, it was the end of November.

I've also decided to do a prompt from Challenge Now for May. 5K words minimum. We'll see how that goes...

And of course, I still need an idea for July....

Post #3 for the Month

Looking back through my logs, I've noticed that this post will be the third time I've posted this month. Maybe I can stay on track with weekly updates on Sunday, but I sort of doubt it...

On the good side, I have now met my goal for the month and am forging ahead. My new goal is to hit 90k by the end of the day, but so far, it's going slow. After about 4 hours or so of writing, I'm now about 200 words away. So many distractions sometimes. My kid asking for Google searches and downloads of things, and lots of IMs on various gaming related topics.

Well, in the end, though the words came slowly, I did hit the 90K mark today. Had a fair amount to reply to on the boards, and I started working on the club's second April writing prompt. I finished the first, and you can find it here. http://250k.blogspot.com/2006/04/april-prompt-detective.html

Well, my intro for the Shadowrun game won, but the Moderator edited it a whole bunch, even changing the ending to be a bit less dark.

A Third of the Way!

So, today I hit the 1/3 mark! Not too bad, considering April is only a little more than halfway through. I've also got about 15,000 words done for this month, which means I'm less than 5K away from the month's goal.

In addition, I signed up for Julnowrimo, July's novel writing month. Might be a tough thing to accomplish, considering I have a wedding to attend the first part of the month. But we'll see.

On the PbEM Front:

Sodium is up and going, though the ST's posts are but a trickle. At least he's posting. A lot of the other players are too.

MP is terribly slow, but there is some activity now that FF is back.

Riverton is going in fits and spurts, same with PoD. But I sympathize with PoD's ST. It's not easy looking for work, and his quest may be over soon. (Crossing fingers for him)

Portland Shadows - Not looking too good. I did my part and got my character done though.

First Cabal - ST has been too busy to post, but is looking to start again.

Shadowrun - Both characters are in campaigns, plus a little side stuff. I also submitted the story by the deadline. Turns out only one other person did. Last time I checked the polls, the story was winning by a handy margin.

Writing Prompts: The club has two this month, I'm working on one. I'll post it here when it's done, because it will be long. Also trying to work hard on this week's Muse Grove challenge. Our team won handily last week, so it would be nice if we won again.

April Optimism?

Well, unfortunately, I wasn't able to complete my March Madness goal of 31,000 words. Gamestorm was just too much fun, so I wasn't able to get any writing done that weekend. I did, however, exceed the monthly goal, so it wasn't all bad.

So now comes April. The monthly goal is a little smaller at 20,550. At this writing, I'm closing in on the 30% completion mark as well as 7,000 words, so I'm a bit over 13,000 words from making the goal for the month.

Alas, though, the words are flowing a bit slowly. On the very bright side, Sodium Noir is back up and running again! Yay! As I've said before, the trouble with PBEM games is that they experience lulls from time to time, especially on the weekends.

So, my hope is to try to hit the 30% mark tonight. Guess I'll have to try to come up with something original.

And then there's still the quandry of Julowrimo and Nanowrimo. I need to come up with something. Maybe July would be a good time to do a Shadowrun piece and put it up on the Proboards website. I may know enough about the setting by then...I hope.

Weekend Slowdown

I always hate PbEM games on the weekends. People don't post, though you would think that they would have MORE time to post, not less.

In any case, this hasn't been the best of weeks for writing. While I only missed the 700 word goal once, I've missed the 1,000 word goal twice, and after about 4 hours of writing today, I am finally back on track for making the 31,000 word goal for March.

So, let's start with the setbacks: I went to a lunch to meet the GMs, and had to run a lunchtime errand on Friday, so I lost a couple of lunch breaks of writing. In addition, I had one PbEM game abruptly end (again), but there's always the UGR (Universal Game Room) A couple of the others are slowing down too. Doh!

The ST of Sodium hasn't posted again, but others are posting in hopes that maybe it will get going again. I sure hope so.

On the Successes:

I have taken on the club Writing Prompt and am making some good headway with it. It's keeping my word count afloat, really. I also suggested a bonus St. Patty's day prompt, and that has yet to be released, but I have an idea where I want to go with mine.

I also hit 50,000 words two days ago! This also puts me at the 20% completed mark. I think I'd like to hit the 25% mark before the end of next week, but we shall see how things go

I didn't have to work this weekend. Yay! But I will need to next week.

So, 11,000 words down, less than 20,000 to go. HOWEVER, Gamestorm (the local gaming Convention) is just around the corner at the end of the month. That means that weekend I probably won't be spending much time writing at all. Ah well, such is life sometimes. I will still have about a week to make up the lost days and several days previous to try to get a bit ahead...