NaNoWriMo 2011

So am I going to be doing NaNoWriMo 2011? Yes and no.

Yes, I am going to do it because why should I break my losing streak now? For the record, I have never succeeded in writing 50,000 words in the space of thirty days. At least, not on a single project. If you are willing to count the number of words that I have devoted to term papers during November the past few years, then I am scoring about fifty percent.

No, because I have three more postion papers, two book reviews, two research papers, and probably a lot of stuff I am forgetting here. In addtition to that amount of writing, I have to do the reading and research to support that amount of writing.

No. Do I look insane?

Yes, because I keep having scenes pop in my head. Damn it Harmik get back in the cab! I am trying to do homework here.

So am I doing NaNoWriMo 2011? Maybe. Depends on who wins in the cage match between Harmik and my college professors.

(For those of you who are curious, Harmik is a six feet tall troll who drives a cab in one of the stories that I am working on...he tends to be a little loud.)

You are only as good as your last editor

Today, I was reminded about one of the harsh truths of a writer's life: You are only as good as your last editor.

The reminder came in the form of looking at the published copy of something that I sold, and realizing that the title used was wrong. The title was from the month before, and now what I wrote for this month makes no sense at all.

I know how the problem happened. A form is being used for this particular publication, and they simply swap one article for another as they put the publication together. This month, they simply forgot to change the title along with the article.

Heck, I have made the same type of mistake myself on occasion. The only sad part (besides confusing readers) is that this publication is in hard copy form, so the mistake exists in a couple thousand copies. Fortunately, it has a short shelf life, and next month all the current copies will have been recycled.

Another reminder of this fact of life today came in the form of my midterm for Latin America Colonial history. What I turned in was in dire need of editing; then again, most of my homework tends to be in need of editing. It is what happens when you write something just hours before it is due, and turn it in (email it) to the professor just minutes after you are done writing it.

I will admit that I have trouble editing myself. Tense problems, mainly. Point of view problems, secondly.

The only way that I can effectively edit myself is to allow something to sit long enourgh to forget what I wrote, so that I can see what I actually wrote instead of what I think that I wrote. Needless to say, this is not always an option.

If there is any doubt that one needs to be aware of this type of stuff, I would like to mention something I saw on the way home. I passed a vacant lot, and noticed that it had two "for sale" signs up. Both from the same real estate agent. One sign had the phone number 303-xxx-4816; the other sign 303-xxx-8416. I suspect that this person is also self-editing. I also suspect that they do not know why they do not get half of their phone calls either.

Semester so far

This semester so far has been kicking me in the behind. Therefore, I have gotten very little writing done, outside of the three astrology columns that I have written for Campus Connections and the required essays for my classes.

(The first astrology column of the semester I finally got around uploading to Associated Content today if anyone is interested in reading it---about how the sun signs start the semester. I don't think that it will get many page views, but I am after the google-love and AC cloat.)

I think that the Faulkner class is kicking me the hardest. The other day, I was so tired that I looked at the schedule to see what novel I was supposed to be reading next---and somehow, I still ended up reading the wrong book. *groan* The bright spot? I wasn't the only student to do this. I guess that I am not the only person that is having their rear kicked this semester.

I do plan on getting back to writing sometime in the future; I am just not sure if it will happen before the semester is over.

For your kind attention

Once again, Morgan has the urge to mock his junk email.

I was going to ignore this junk email, a standard please consider relocating a large sum of money into your country story, clear up to the point where I got to this line:

Without a (heir) hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing and the big guns at the herms of administration at the bank will share this fund amongst themselves as it has been done if no trace of heir to such fund is found.

Huh? Why is "heir" in brackets? And how about a comma? Or perhaps a period or two? And is "herms" supposed to be "helm"?

Now, I will admit that I like the idea of "floating" money, though I imagine that it is not how I picture it. Heck, if I could float money the way I am picturing it, I would have a career in Vegas.
And if you think this person just accidently made those mistakes, consider "the France citizen" which is a term that they used in another sentence (a perfectly fine sentence outside of this term). I understand all French citizens consider themselves to be France, but I think that this might be carrying it a little far.

Hey spammer, thanks for your kind attention and giving me some sentences to mock.

Would I recommend freelance writing as a business

I am a freelance writer. Would I recommend this type of business to someone else? Probably not. A lot of people do not realize how much work writing is. It takes more than just stringing sentences together, and/or repacking information. While you can get paid to write, it takes time and energy to find clients and the pay is notorious low (I think that writers are still being paid as if it was the 1950's). Of course, nowdays you are also operating in a global market---can you low bid someone in India? Probably not. As far as business income goes, the bum begging on the corner probably makes more than you do.

I haz awesome ninja skills

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