Sunday, November 30, 2008

NaNoWriMo 2008 End

Word Count: 50,323/50,000
Time Left: 00 hours, 24 minutes, 22 seconds


I did not post at the week two end point, or week three, or week four. I considered doing so multiple times, but despite my excellent start and good intentions, I wound up just a little bit behind. And by a little bit, I mean that I wrote over 15,000 words today. That's not quite so bad when you consider that I can do about 3,000 in an hour of steady writing (I could probably type faster, but when you're making the stuff up, at least a tiny bit of time is needed to think), but is a little bit more than I would aim for in the future, and I'm lucky today was a Sunday.

Still - I WIN!

And you all called me crazy.







Saturday, November 08, 2008

NaNoWriMo Week 1 End

Word Count: 6,076/50,000
Time Remaining: 22 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes

I'm off to a good start; I'm ahead of my word count at this point in time for either of the last two years, and that's even with the fact that I had something keeping me away from home every night this week. And I've settled into a pretty decent habit of writing every night, helped, I'm sure, by the fact that I had already picked up work on last year's novel. This one is turning out to be a bit more difficult to write due to the different genre. I've had to go back and seperately introduce each of the characters just to get into their heads and get to know them enough for me to actually write them, and I think I've changed who the main character is, or at least added a second one. However, it is coming along.

Now I'm off to bed, so that I can wake up in time to write a lot tomorrow - or at least get a number of other useful things done around the house.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

On Routines; NaNoWriMo 2008

Having recently moved, I've noticed in a particularly strong way the fact that different places seem to lend themselves to different routines, and how much easier it is to change a routine if something bigger in your life is also changing. Without even planning it, I find myself going to bed earlier, spending less time on computer games and more on useful things, finding time to read a lot more again. Suddenly I've started actually cooking, and cleaning, and decorating. Sure, I tried to do my fair share in keeping up with cleaning before... but all of this, with one change of address, has become almost natural to me.

I've lived other places that naturally lent themselves to different activities. One that even encouraged me to get up in time for a leisurely breakfast every day - an activity I have never, at any other place or time in my life, been inclined to participate in. I've lived more places - though not all - that lent themselves to staying up very late at night every night. One place I can think of actually encouraged me to eat healthier, and I went through relatively few of my candy supplies.

A lot of the changes here could just be "growing up," but I find it interesting that these things become so much easier when there are new surroundings to match.

Another change I've found myself making, one I'm particularly pleased with, is the fact that I've started writing again. Somehow during the move I found the time I had misplaced before and renewed my work on last year's novel. I find I still like it every bit as much as I did when I misplaced my time and stopped working over the summer, and in the past couple weeks I've done some editing and written a couple thousand words.

Since I've found that extra time, I've decided to take the change again, and pause this novel for a month while I start something new... and participate in NaNoWriMo 2008. My user name is Myth. As always, I invite you to join the challenge and participate with me! Or just follow along with my weekly updates here and cheer me on.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

It's Ender Again!

I've been horrible lately, allowing myself to become so busy that I neglected to check Hatrack River daily for updates. I just don't know what came over me. Had I not been so neglectful, I would have realized a lot sooner that I have not one but TWO new Ender's Game related works to look forward to.

Marvel will be putting out a comic adaptation of Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow at a yet to be determined date, and a new Ender's Game novel (!!!!!) will be available in November. I know exactly where I'll be when Ender's Exile comes out on November 1st, and it doesn't involve leaving home for any longer than it takes to purchase the book and return to curl up and read.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

On Proving Your Point With The Bible....

I just had someone say to me something along the lines of "every person you love is going to leave you, it says so on page 4 in the Bible." It was a complete joke, but I had to be smart and prove this wrong by pulling out my Bible to look. I figured I'd end up with some random story about creation that would never apply.

So guess what I opened to?

The fall of man.

Perhaps one of these days, I'll learn....

Friday, July 11, 2008

A Narcissistic Post....

....of my "modeling" way back over spring break.

In Holland, Michigan.....




No, the dress didn't fit. I think it was meant for a child. The back wouldn't zip, and though it's hard to tell, I'm holding the apron on with my hands. It ends where my hands are. And those wooden shoes? Not half comfortable.


The Dutch Village had all sorts of fun statues and... statue-like things. We took a million silly pictures. I could have easily spent a whole day there.



The rest of Holland had some pretty interesting statues too.



In Marquette, Michigan.....


The most freezing water I've ever stepped into in my life. There was snow on the banks. Real, white snow. Way up in northern Michigan near Canada. Did I mention it was cold?





In and around Austin, Texas.....




Because everyone should ride a frog at some point in their life.