Final Nano Update

I made the 50,000 mark! 50,355 words written in 30 days.

Alas, the story itself is not concluded, but it will be. I'm not giving up on my characters or story now. I still truly like it, and I'm enjoying writing again.

Nano Update

Whew. 46,843 words written over the weekend on my story. I WILL make the 50,000 mark by midnight on Nov. 30, but the story itself won't be complete. I think I have about four chapters' worth of text. Ah well. I'll iron out the details when I revise it--AFTER I finish it.

I had a fairly busy weekend, and I don't have time to regale you all with the details right now. I'll blog about the Thanksgiving weekend, probably back-dating the posts.

Hope you're all having a great week!

Nano update

I made 41,111 words tonight. Some of the writing has nothing to do with my story, so I didn't post that stuff to the story blog.

Power lines were knocked down somewhere today and the power went off at work around 11:30am. I was sent home early. That really made a good start to my holiday weekend, in spite of the nasty weather. :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Site Pick

Find interesting and/or unusual websites of note at Metafilter, affectionately known as MeFi. The site is taking signups once again, for a one-time fee of $5 through Paypal. If you register, you can comment and post your own funky links. Lurking/reading is free. :)

However, if you don't want to pay, check out Monkeyfilter.

Bloom where You are Planted

I managed to get 1700-odd words written last night--which had nothing to do with my story--and I also spent two hours working on my cross-stitch project. I felt a sense of accomplishment.

I was a bad mom today. DD had somehow pulled the needle out of the cloth and then subsequently lost it somewhere in the house. (It was my favorite needle!) I didn't discover the loss until after she went to bed, so this morning I asked her about it. She said, yes she had been into stuff she knew she shouldn't have been into. I really reamed her for it, telling her that if the dog found it and ate it, it would be her fault. Sigh. I'm mean. I'll make up for being such a bitch tonight when I get home from work.

I think I had a mild anxiety attack last night as I lay in bed. I was trying to sleep, but my mind was racing, and I felt adrenaline rush through me after I heard a noise downstairs. The dog is always flopping around in her crate, so I'm sure that's all it was. So I didn't sleep very well. Then today, as I was getting ready for work, I felt all crappy mentally. That adrenaline rush started my pulse pounding again, and I would have done anything to stay home. However, I made myself get in the car and go to work.

Then I read a story like this and really felt bad about the state of the world.

I hate feeling helpless and out of control, and I feel that way today. It's another rainy grey day here in the heartland, and I wonder why even bother getting out of bed?

Would I like some cheese with that whine???

The Weekend

On Friday, DH had gone hunting all day. (The MIL watched DD.) He got home around 5:30pm and we ate some sandwiches from Subway for supper. Of course, DH was tired since he had gotten up early to drive to the woods, so he went to bed at 7:30pm on Friday night. I caught up on my Nano writing, posting the entries around midnight.

Saturday... he went hunting again and DD & I stayed home. She wanted to eat at Subway again, so we dug out $10 in dimes and nickels and cashed it in at the bank. Then we went to the restaurant and ate. Later, I decided to walk around the outlet mall because I needed to get my mom a birthday card. I also took DD into Claire's, so she could see where she would be getting her ears pierced for her birthday in January.

But then I started not feeling good. We went home and the more I sat there, the more I worried. The more I worried, the worse I felt. I decided I'd better go to the doctor's office while it was still open. So, we drove the half-hour to the doctor's and waited about fifteen minutes. They diagnosed me with having a mild urinary tract infection (UTI or cystitis). Yeah, I knew it was mild. I didn't have the screaming, burning pain, but I was afraid it would get worse. I didn't want to wake up at 2am with the screaming, burning pain, and no way of feeling better until morning.

I mentioned to the doctor that I hoped I wasn't getting an infection because of caffeine, and DD said "You drink too much pop, Mom." Heehee. I said "I'm sure the doctor appreciates your expert medical opinion."

$6 later, I had my handy-dandy prescription of Bactrim and we headed home. I was still on worry streak, but I drank a lot of water and tried to relax. (Especially since I didn't want to think about the $100+ that doctor visit probably just cost me.)

My mom called later and we decided to go shopping on Sunday. DD sang "Happy Birthday" to her on the phone.

DH did not come home Saturday. He opted to stay at his parents' house, so he could save on gas money. Yes, he went hunting again on Sunday morning. On Saturday night, since I was alone, yet again, I didn't feel like writing. I watched "Queen of the Damned," and "The Rage: Carrie II" on Sci-Fi while working on a cross-stitch project that I've been trying to finish for years. I got motivated because I ran across a new design I want to make, but awhile back, I told myself that I couldn't buy any more designs until I finished the one I was working on. I tried to go to bed around 1am, but my mind was racing. Not good.

Sunday, Mom picked us up at 8:30am and we went to a craft show. Then we went to drop off some clothes at Goodwill, and went shopping after that. Mom finished up some Xmas shopping. I bought nothing. Sigh. I have no extra money right now. A lot of people were shopping, though. I guess not everyone waits until the last minute like me.

We got home around 3:30pm and had KFC for supper. DH watched football, and I worked some more on my cross-stitch project. DD went to bed around 6:30pm, and I was so tired I could hardly stay awake. Not to mention I had an annoying headache from being so tired. I went to bed around 9 and I think I was asleep by 10.

Thankfully, no dreams, nightmares, or racing brain. I actually slept decently for once. However, it's Monday and Mondays suck.

It's a three-day work week, though, so I'm holding onto that to get me through the day. :)

Another Nano update

33,126 words written! (That's four entries, Nov. 16, 17, 18, & 19.) Woohoo! I got caught up on the writing after missing two days this week. As an average, I'm writing 1,743 words per day. Not too shabby. :)

However, once I reach the 50,000 mark, I don't think my Nanovel will be finished. But I will finish it. I still like my story and my characters. That in itself is amazing.

RSS

Ok, I am not a techno-geek. Here is a link to basic information about RSS, in case you were wondering. Yeah, I finally used the internet to learn something.

Quote

Hope this gets some people inspired. I found it to be inspiring:

"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, this is no other life but this." ~Henry David Thoreau

There is no other life but this.

SSDD

Entranced by "Lost," I could hardly bring myself to fire up ye olde laptop last night to work on my Nanovel. However, I managed to mangle my way through another 1700 words or so. I didn't post it to the blog yet, though.

I went to bed relatively early last night, around 11pm. I guess I was tired in spite of sleeping quite a bit last weekend. DD was tired, too. She usually watches all of "Lost" with me, but she ended up going to bed about halfway through the show last night. She's four, you know. Every time the show's logo comes on the screen, we practice letter recognition. The font they chose for that is great. Hehe.

Have I mentioned that she loves school? She can't wait to leave every day. I hope the rest of her school years are this good. Tonight we're going to a school reading program. I'll talk about how that went tomorrow.

SSDD: get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, play with DD, watch tv and/or write, check email (if I feel like it), read, go to bed. The unvarying sameness of my days is numbing. Mind-numbing.

At least the feelings of emptiness are fewer these days.

BE

So I've been surfing BE for several days now. I found some enjoyable blogs to read. I found some terrifyingly ugly blogs, and I found some just plain weird blogs. I had listed my journal on the site, but I decided to delete the listing.

My journal is for a more intimate audience. If I gained some readers, great. If not, oh well. I also don't update my journal as often as I update my blog, so that was another reason to remove it.

As a reader, I don't want to be surfing BE and come across a blog that hasn't been updated for months. It would immediately go onto my block list. I like the idea of the block list--I can avoid those hideous blogs as I mentioned earlier. The problem is that you can only block 25 sites. After that, you have to remove one in order to add one. The maximum number of blocks is 25. :(

I think I talked about hideousness in a previous post. Please, bloggers, do not add every available link and blinkie just because you want to. I admit, I have a lot of links. I can't edit the blogroll coding, though, so I'm stuck with what it looks like. I try to keep my links as clean and neat as possible. That is one reason I made a drop-down list for the archives; the list was getting too long. It's still too long. Perhaps I should delete the ancient entries.

Some bloggers complain about the knitting blogs. Those definitely fit into a certain niche. I don't dislike them; in fact, I saw some very nicely designed knitting blogs. However, it would not be something I choose to read every day. If I were a knitter, I would probably like to read those blogs and have one of my own.

What I do like to read are blogs about people's lives, and what they think. I try to put that into my posts here, because that is what I like to read. I suppose it would be boring to read the same kinds of blogs all the time, but like attracts like.

(And now I will post this, because it's been a day in the making!)

AIUSA

Actually, I used to be a member of AIUSA. I believe in the cause. I donate money when I can, because I believe the cause is worthwhile.

I know that the protest is valid. AI is constantly protesting the treatment of civilians and soldiers in other "conflicts" around the world and they should hold the U.S. to the same standard. The U.S. should not have carte blanche to do whatever it wants to do, wherever it wants to do it.

I do not want to justify the killing of the Iraqi insurgent as referred to in my previous post, because there is no moral justification. However, war is hell, and I'm sure the soldier felt his own life was in danger or he wouldn't have done it.

The only problem is that he got caught.

Choose Your Scapegoat

In last night's tv news broadcast, Dan Rather muttered something about the so-called "fog of war" and then, without further ado, a video of the marine who shot the "unarmed, wounded" Iraqi insurgent was shown.

Fog of war, my ass. You know this goes on, every day. This guy just happened to get caught doing it. (You can see the actual video on that link.)

Unethical, perhaps. Morally wrong, perhaps. But war is morally wrong. People die in war. This is a war.

So get over it. You send them to kill, they will do as they are told.

Amnesty International is all huffy about the "rules of war." I hate to tell them, but there are no rules.

Now, I will add that video clip to the dark closet of things I wish I had never seen.

Heh

I added some new blog links over on the sidebar. I found them while trawling BlogExplosion, and I'm sure I'll be back to visit them.

It has been interesting, trawling these sites at random. I used to feel all alone, out in the great blogosphere, but it seems like everyone has something to say.

I like it.

However, I do not like the sites that are so hideously ugly that I have to click on by. For example, sites that have way too many blinkies, or take too long to load, or freeze my browser, or use awful colors, or have too many columns with too much information. I don't know where to look first. And if I have to figure out where the blog post is, I immediately know that blog is not for me.

I like the variety of bloggers I've seen on BlogExplosion. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds and nationalities. When you click the button, you never know what you're going to get. :)

A quiz

Haven't posted a quiz result lately, but this quiz was interesting.

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What kind of blogger are you?

Halfway Mark

25,201 words written--as of last night. I'm writing an average of 1,800 words a day, and even when I miss a day, I'm able to make it up. After failing Nano two years running, my progress this year is phenomenal.

(Yeah, I just used the most overused word of the moment. LOL)

In other news, I slept about 18 hours on Saturday and I was still tired on Sunday. I ended up taking another two-hour nap in the afternoon. Oh, and I still did three loads of laundry and cleaned off the dining room table.

Scintillating, isn't it?

Posted

Two entries posted to my Nanovel. Now, if I could only find some conflict....

20,240/50,000 words. I am so thrilled with my progress. My story might be a little boring, but I am writing daily (for the most part), and I'm writing fiction. :) This is a major milestone for me.

Nano Update

Shortly, I will post another entry to my Nanovel. I did not write on Wednesday, and managed to only write 1700 words last night. So tonight, or this weekend, I have to make up another 1700 words and keep up with the daily entries. Sorry for the delay!

(17,526 words written)

Want more blog traffic?

Someone sent me a link to this site today. Interesting premise.

Author Suicide

Iris Chang, only age 36, killed herself. She is famous for writing "The Rape of Nanking."

Sigh.


Are all writers destined to depression???

Uh, yeah

Happy Veterans' Day to all you vets out there.


I didn't write last night. My brain was too scattered to think straight. I tried to relax by taking a long, hot shower, but that didn't work.

Is Friday ever going to get here?

I will be catching up on my word count tonight. Or I hope to, at least. We'll see. :)

Nano update

Woohoo! Up to 15,826 words. Check out my prose attempt here. Thanks for reading!

New Journal entry posted

Read it here. It's a response to a collaborative prompt from The Alchera Project journal collaboration. I enjoy doing memes and collaborations.

Another Nano Update

Two entries posted in my Nano blog. Thanks for reading!

I'm up to 14,098 words so far. I'm right on target. That's all I ever hoped for. People have already (supposedly) surpassed 50,000, and kudos to them.

I am right where I want to be.

And, the best part is that I still like my story!

Weekend

The week had passed quickly and I was certainly looking forward to being home for two days, just as I always am. Work is draining. I was looking forward to writing more wordage on my Nanovel, and playing with DD.

However, I think I turned into Hormone Hell by mistake. Sometimes you just can't see the warning signs until it's too late.

Hormone Hell: pop. 1

Saturday was a good day. I wrote 2,000 words, and DH took us out to eat. We came home and watched movies. Maybe I shouldn't have watched "The Alamo." I have to add another line of dialogue to the "things I wish I had never heard or seen" category. Billy Bob Thornton, as Davy Crockett, talks about how he was fighting (massacreing) some Indians. He says they shut the Indians in a lodge and set it on fire. Afterward, as they dug through the ashes, they found some potatoes, and because they were so hungry, they ate the cooked potatoes: potatoes that had been cooked in the fat of the people who had died in the fire.

Yummy.

On Sunday, DD and I watched the Barbie movie "The Princess and the Pauper." I think that is when my depression hit full-force.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

Prince(ess) Charming is a load of crap. No one loves anyone that much. I am embarrassed I let my kid watch such a blatant piece of propaganda. Sigh.

I wish I wasn't so cynical. I wish I believed in soul mates and all that crap.

It's all crap.

So here it is, Monday morning, and I'm hoping this week passes quickly.

Already behind but forging ahead anyway

Well, intrepid readers, I ended up not doing any Nano writing last night. I did do some other journal writing, but nothing in regard to my Nano. I am not that far behind, though. I will catch up tonight. It's only 3,334 words (counting today's portion). I'll just do some more flashbacks or something.

Heh. At least I'm not feeling like giving up--yet. I still like my story. I was just in "one of those moods" yesterday.

WTF?

Last night, I finished my next section of story, and I couldn't get the post box for my blog. I guess Blogger was overwhelmed last night or something. I have dialup but still, it shouldn't take over twenty minutes to even TRY to get the post box up. I had no problem logging into the Blogger site. Sometimes even that is a hard thing to do.

Anyway, I posted both yesterday's entry and today's entry. I am at 10,716 words, and couldn't be more pleased with my progress. I am enjoying my story, having ideas for the story, and even liking some of what I'm writing. Amazing how great a little progress can make me feel. I know I can finish!

Is it just me or are these days passing by in a blur???

Thanks for all your feedback. :)

TGIF!

Look for another Nano update later tonight.

Am I the only one who feels this week has passed in a blur?

Nano update

New post to my Nano blog. Already up to 7222 words! Yay me.

Nano Update

I posted another 1802 words to my Nano blog. So far, I'm pleased with my progress, keeping to the word count or above. Although I faced some initial resistance to the blank page, knowing I need to complete a certain daily word count goal has been enough motivation--so far!

Thanks for reading!

I heart Blogger, but

why do I seem to have trouble accessing it a lot of the time???

Annoyed and Frustrated

Obama for President in 2008. Please.

Yeah, my chosen candidate seems to be going down in flames. Another election in which I supported the moderate candidate, only to have all the bible-beaters and the freemen-types overthrowing the government. Sigh.

I am not better off than I was four years ago. In fact, I'm worse off, possibly facing loss of my job to outsourcing to foreign countries. The economy is in the toilet. No candidate had a decent proposal to get us out of the slump. Instead, the cronies will continue to line their pockets with oil revenues, while the middle class back breaks.

People are STUPID!!!!!!!!!!

Nano Update

Another 1900-odd words written tonight. I actually feel as if I might finish this year. :)

VOTE!!!

Get out and do your civic duty today: vote!

Looks like Boss Tweed is alive and well. These so-called poll challenges and "voting irregularity watches" are just another way for lawyers to make money. I predict that if this election is "stolen" through the courts the way the last election was stolen, then there will be a very angry populace and things will be quite different in four more years.

Then again, the media could be making a mountain out of a molehill, since there is a dearth of any "exciting" news. Maybe things will progress smoothly.

I will place my vote after I get off work. I plan to take DD along with me. Yep, I'm indoctrinating my kid at an early age. :)

I broke through the inner procrastinator

and updated my Nano blog with the rest of today's word count goal.

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Out of the starting blocks

I had a very productive lunch half-hour: I got the synopsis and the first few paragraphs of my WIP done. That's 285 words down, 49,715 to go. :)

Nov 1 = Excitement

Nanowrimo starts today. It's not too late to sign up. I haven't posted anything yet, to my Nano blog, but I will soon--like tonight, after I get the first 1,667 words written. :-P

I had my first paying acceptance letter today! writeforcash.com accepted my "how to make a bass fishing jig" article. I will be receiving $15 for it. I am so happy!

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!!!!