Year half over and I have accomplished all of nothing

Egads! The year is half over, and I feel like I have accomplished nothing so far this year.

But if I am being fair to myself, and not being super-critical of myself, I must admit that at least, I am making progress---it is just none of it is actually visible.

The project that I am currently working on is a rather nonsensical one that was inspired by a comment from Nick Farrell back in October. He complained that Necronomicon rip-offs sell better than regular occult books. And being curious, I went and looked. He might be right.

So when Novemeber rolled around, and I thought about doing National Novel Writing Month for the millionth time, I decided that a Necronomicon rip-off was a suitable project...because I am poor, and would love to get my hands on some of that sweet, sweet Necro-RipOff money.

Unfortunately, the project was more complicated than I thought it would be (something to do with being an actual occultist who decided that a dollop of actual occult lore would be just the secret ingredient needed), and I had a problem with my meds.

And by problem with my meds, I mean that the insurance decided that some of my meds were not covered and they needed an act of Congress to get them approved. So I ended up spending two months without the anti-drepressant...which, well, just turned me back into the constantly blocked and panicky writer that gets nothing done because they would make more money working in fast food, but so does not want to. The quickest way for me to be blocked is for me to look for big money projects; it causes me to second guess everything that I do (and hello writer's block!).

Once I got back on the pills, it took time for them to re-stabilize me. So I lost about a four month block of time. I managed to do some work on the first Harmic Barrows story, but I ran into some plot problems, and the sneaky fear that perhaps I was copying too much stuff from other people. There is nothing like watching movies and realizing how much they inspired your current work to make one question one's ability to write.

So doubt over whether I should even bother to finish the first Harmic story was killing me.

Fortunately, I read an article about how someone gamed the Amazon best-seller system by picking super niche of niche categories, and had the urge to do the same myself. (One of the categories was Secret Societies--Freemasonry...hey, that could be one of mine!) And my mind stabilized, thanks to the yummy drugs.

So the last couple of months have been chewed up by a project designed solely to allow me to try to create a Amazon best-seller in a super niche category where three whole sales will make me a best-selling auther (hey, it could happen). In all fairness to myself, the project should have only taken a month at most, but I keep adding stuff to it (and I have notes for several other related projects--egads!).

Now, before anyone whines and says that I am cheating, I would like to point out that I am doing this little project (it is only going to be ten thousand words when finished) under a completely brand new pen-name, so it is not like it is going to help me sell books under my regular pen-name (that should make my critics happy).

So anyways, the year is half over, and I have accomplished nothing. Or something, depending upon whether or not, working on a nonsensical project is actually an accomplishment.

Yay me!!!

A hint of things to come!

As for the second half of this year, well, one knows that one's career path is a strange one when one starts reading tentacle erotica and calls it market research. Oh yeah! Tentacle erotica is coming!!!

NaNoWriMo 2013--The final three days!!!

The NaNoWriMo writers in Denver Colorado made steady progress.

Early November 28, 2013: Thanksgiving Day--at 3:49 pm, I was only at 30,574 words--needing 19,426 more words to hit the fifty thousand words in thirty days goal of National Novel Writing Month. I could imagine my Three Critics smiling among themselves that I was proving once again that I am incapable of accomplishing anything. And there was no way that I was going to prove them wrong--after all, there is no way that someone can actually finish twenty thousand words (40% of a novel) in just three days.

End of the day--November 28, 2013: Somehow, someway, by the end of Thanksgiving Day, I had managed to have written 7,804 words for the day--bringing me to 37,960 total.

November 29, 2013: Another hot writing day--6,668 words done in twenty-four hours--it brings me to 44,628 words for the month.

November 30, 2013--last day of National Novel Writing Month--despite a brief interruption of a friend fixing a computer problem--I managed to get 5,434 words done--bringing my total at 7:50 pm up to 50,059 for the month.

Yes, that is right--somehow, I managed to go from a sure loss to a win in the last three days of the NaNoWriMo. I am a winner of the 2013 National Novel Writing Month.

And at 7:50 pm, I crossed the line of fifty thousand words for the month.

Nanowrimo 2013 week four progress

Where I was at 3:49 pm on Thanksgiving Day during the NaNoWriMo.

The last update on my progress towards the goal of fifty thousand words in thirty days (oh, the insanity of National Novel Writing Month) found me sitting at 22,379 words on the 21st of November--basically, 44.7% done and only at 64% of the suggested amount done by that point, with 27,621 more words needed to hit the goal...and a suggested 3069 words a day if I wanted to divide up the remaining words up evenly though the remaining days of November.

November 22, 2013: Getting a bug up my ass, I spend more time setting up the front and back matter template for a possible Golden Dawn/Wiccan/pagan/magical correspondence course than I do working on the Nanowrimo. At the end of the day, I only advanced to 24,574 words.

November 23, 2013: It was a community networking day in my local Wiccan/pagan community. I spend three hours at the Mercury Café talking to other people in the local Denver Wiccan/pagan community. When I get home, I post a blog post about an idea that I have for a Golden Dawn community project--the idea is met with the sound of crickets chirping. 25,864 words.

November 24, 2013: It is a grey day--and it affects my mood. The slight depression makes my total of 26,227 words look really bad.

November 25, 2013: Still feeling a little blah. I do a whole ten words that day, bringing my total to just 26,237 words. I do promise myself that I will continue working on the rough draft until it is complete...because I am stubborn.

November 26, 2013: I work on the rough draft and advance my word count to 28,471 words. Plus I spend a hour or two taking photos of jewelry for the Celtic Soul Etsy store. All in all, between the two tasks, I consider this to be a very good day, full of accomplishments.

November 27, 2013: I manage to get to 30,156 words by the end of the day. That is only 67% of the suggested word count for that point in the month, and only 60% of the way to the final goal of fifty thousand words.

Early November 28, 2013: Thanksgiving Day--at 3:49 pm, I have only wrote 418 more words. It looks like this attempt of cracking the goal of National Novel Writing Month is going to be a complete failure. And that probably surprised no one--especially my Three Critics--after all, my Three Critics claim that I am not really a writer in the first place, believing in their hearts that I should go back to flipping burgers for a living.

National Novel Writing Month 2013 progress week 3

My NaNoWriMo 2013 progress week three

As you might remember, National Novel Writing Month for me this year started off rough with me tossing my first idea into the round circular file. I did catch up a little bit on my shortage week two, which left me at 11,564 words on day fourteen, and only halfway of where I should have been at that point (according to the suggested 1667 words a day that the official NaNoWriMo site suggests).

I wish that I could say that I have managed to catch up to where I should be at this point in the challenge, but I haven't. As always my failure to do so will probably make my Three Worst Critics very happy.

Day 15: The night of the local Open Full Moon ritual which I attended (I am a member of the Hearthstone Community Church's board, so I try to always attend the OFMs). 12,231 words.

Day 16: Spent the day running errands--my word count continues to grow ever so slowly. Looking over the stack of books that I want to review on one of my other blogs, I start writing a post about Demonolatry. 12,330 words.

Day 17: Reading over the daily email of a Yahoo group postings, my planned Demonolatry post starts to look more complicated, simply because I am about to give a positive review to an author who ended up getting roosted for one of her previous books (and has annoyed one of the big names in the Golden Dawn). I end up spending more time than I originally planned to on finishing the Demonolatry post (which is located here). 12,506 words.

Day 18: The best day so far during this year's NaNoWriMo--I add 3943 words to my total. I finally hit the point where I am a third of the way towards the final fifty thousand word goal for the month--and 55% of where I should be. 16,449 total words so far.

Day 19: I don't gain any ground, but I do not lose any ground either. 19,128 words.

Day 20: Again no gain, no loss. 21,357 words.

Day 21: Awoken up early by bill collectors--it throws me off for the entire day. I start working on the chapter that explains how fast food companies squeeze their workers to maximize their profits (the one chapter that has to be published, even if I hit delete on the entire book). Only 1017 words for the day. My grand total at the end of week three: 22,379--44.7% of final goal done--64% of where I should be at this point.

In order to finish the fifty thousand word rough draft on the 30th, I have 27,621 words still to write--basically, I need to write 3069 words a day to accomplish that.

And for those interested, I have already promised myself that if I miss the final goal that I will continue to hack out words until the rough draft is complete.

NaNoWriMo week two progress

At least, I am visible on the chart.  

So yesterday was day fourteen of the joys that are the National Novel Writing Month, therefore it is time to update all my loyal readers about where I am at in the process (and by "loyal," I mean random people coming by who are so bored that even this entry is entertaining).

[For those of you who have not came directly from the last entry, my score on November 7, 2013 was 4918 words with an estimated finish date of January 11, 2014--basically, I was at 42% of the suggested word count by the end of that day.]

Day 8: 4945 words--estimated finish date is January 20, 2013. I did complete some writing this day, but it had nothing to do with the NaNoWriMo--it was a rant for the Hearthstone Community Church's monthly newsletter...those words do not count towards the novel.

Day 9: Depression rears its ugly head. At the end of the day, I am only at 4959 words--January 30, 2014 is when I might be done with the first draft.

Day 10: I hit 6701 words by the end of the night, with January 14, 2014 looking like my estimate finish date. I also hack out a short erotica story and upload it to Smashwords. Just like the OFM column, the erotica story does not count towards my NaNoWriMo word count.

Day 11: 6722 words--I fall to January 21, 2014. Maybe I shouldn't have written that erotic story the night before.

Day 12: 7968 words--January 15, 2014. Sadly my wife's computer is exhibiting problems.

Day 13: 9695 words--January 7, 2014. Yep, my wife's computer definitely has an issue--joy! I get to share the computer with her until her computer gets fixed...which means that given a choice between her working on her business or me working on my rough draft--she wins.

Day 14: 11,564 words, and my new estimated date of completion is December 31, 2013. I need to hack out 2,261 words a day (opposed to the 1667 that I would need if I had not fallen behind), and am currently at 49.5% of where I should be at this time.

Tonight is the Open Full Moon ritual, therefore I am probably not going to get a lot done today on the rough draft. I imagine that will make some of my haters happy--after all, I suspect that they would like to see me fail to complete the NaNoWriMo goal this year also. I am undecided on whether I should let them be happy or not--but I will admit that there is part of me that wants to set them on fire with lots and lots of words.

NaNoWriMo 2013 week one

You can barely see my progress this week.

As some of you know, I am once again attempting the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month...actually, it is international nowdays)--that wonderful time of year when some writers welcome insanity into their lives and try to write a fifty thousand word rough draft in the space of thirty days--yep, that is right, an entire rough (first) draft of a novel.

This is my seventh attempt. The first five happened in college. The first year, I missed my word count by the amount of words that went into that semester's term papers...which is why I count the first year as a partial win. My last year of college, I lasted a whole day...it was the same semester as I was doing my senior seminar in literature (I was reading two books a week just for that class). Last year...depression, exhaustion, it was just not a good year for me at all (in hindsight, I have a real good idea of what was actually derailing me).

So here is how my first seven days of Nanowrimo went:

Day 1: Just three words written. At that pace, I would finish on June 19, 2059. Things could only get better...well, provided that I did not completely give up. I had went to one of the food banks on this day (and realized that I really needed one of those two wheeled shopping carts on the way back--thank goddess for the kind Christian ladies who decided to have mercy on me and give me a ride...because after half a mile [three quarters] I was exhausted).

Day 2: 207 words completed--it is really just an outline (still exhausted from the food bank run). On a bright note, estimated date of completion--March 1, 2015.

Day 3: Spot massive plot problem. Only at 223 words--I might finish the first draft by September 7, 2015.

Day 4: Decided to toss the first attempt for the time being--someday, I will attempt to finish Farmer Ants...but not this month. Switched to an idea that I had earlier in the year, Burger Flipping Confessions. The only problem with this idea is that someone might mistake the novel for the story of my own life--it is sure to get at least one family member upset. Still, I am starting to feel desperate, and I had been kicking around doing this one for at least six months. I reset my word count. By the end of the day, I have 1434 words done on Confessions--new estimated date for completion is March 20, 2014.

Day 5: I don't actually remember what happened on this day. I know that I had a panic attack about something...probably the household budget. I do dimly remember talking about going back to looking for a job in food service. At the end of the day, I am only at 1447 words--April 23, 2014 is the new estimate for date of completion.

Day 6: The calendar for the NaNoWriMo that I had printed out said, "Send in the flying monkeys." Sadly, that is exactly what happened. Some person took offense to a very neutral, and very true statement that I made on the internet, and decided to let me know that they were upset. I am presented with a choice of giving into their demands which will take days to accomplish (if I can even do it that quickly) or allowing them to sic their lawyer on me...considering that I had done everything that I was legally required to do, I decide to ignore them and work on the novel instead. There is now a chapter in Confessions that I am really hoping ends up on the cutting room floor, but might end up in the finished novel if the theme shows up again. I finish the day at 2029 words--maybe by March 28, 2014, I will be finished with this rough draft. (Also took some pottery photos.)

Day 7: First day of actually hitting the suggested daily word count. I feel more positive than I did the day before considering that a flying monkey did not succeed to derailing me. (I took more pottery photos.) The chapter I wrote needs a heavy reworking. But still, at the end of the day, I am at 4910 words, and might finish on January 11, 2014.

So in summary, I am at about 42% of the word count that it is suggested that I be at by the end of day seven. On the bright note, I believe that I have enough to flesh out the rest of Burger Flipping Confessions. And I took a temporary cover shot yesterday for the book.

If you buy ebooks on Smashwords, Burger Flipping Confessions is currently set at "Reader determines the price" which as we all know is the same as setting the price for free, except that you are actually considered to have brought the book (unlike the "free" setting), therefore you can access the final version on Smashwords after I edit it and set the price to something realistic.

Getting ready for Nanowrimo 2013

It is that time of year again, when writers start to prepare for thirty days of insanity, for the great and terrible NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The goal for writers who decide to join the insanity of the naNoWriMo is to write the first draft of a novel--aka fifty thousand words (1667 words a day for thirty days).

This will be attempt number seven for me. (And no, I have never succeeded in completing this challenge...which probably makes the Three Critics* very happy.) The first five attempts of the NaNoWriMo for me happened during college/university (which is where I was when I learned about this challenge), so it is understandable that I failed those years. My best year was actually the first year, where my shortfall on word count remarkably was the same amount of words that I ended up writing in various final papers that semester. All the rest of the attempts grew steadily worse...my attempt during my capstone year lasted a single day. And last year...well, in hindsight, it took me much longer to recover from college than I thought it would (plus there was something else going on that kept distracting me from the task at hand).

Will I succeed this year? Unlikely, as the Three Critics are sure to point out. After all, I am a writer of flash fiction and poetry, not a real writer at all. But that is ok, my Three Critics need to remain better than me--the world would not be right if I somehow even managed to match their level of success (not alone surpassed it).

So what am I going to write about this year?

This year (until I change my mind mid-stream...which I have done more than once during the NaNoWriMo...two half-completed rough drafts do not add up to a single rough draft), I am going to attempt a (sort-of) science fiction novel: Farmer Ants.

Here is my current working synopsis:

Luke is just an ordinary boy going to high school in a small town, being bullied is about the only break in the boredom that is Sagebrush. But then he learns that there is something different about himself, something that he must keep hidden--for it is the same thing that fueled the witch hunts of yore--the ability to drain energy from other people. Yet as he tries to survive high school without being discovered, little does he realize that someday he will look upon these days as a happy time before the world changed forever, before the aliens invaded Earth.

Yes, I know...this one is bound to hit the floor like a unwanted piece of liver. But this is not about me, is it? No, it is about the Three Critics. I have to fail to make them happy, don't I? Of course, I do--because after all, they have to be right about me never succeeding as a writer. Their world would make no sense if I accidently proven them wrong and succeeded in finishing the NaNoWriMo challenge this year.

(The only thing worse than me completing the NaNoWriMo would be if afterwards, I cleaned up the rough draft and made it into a successful novel--you know, one that actually kept me out of food service because I made sufficient money from it to live to write another day.)

[* The Three Critics are the three people who shout the loudest that I am a hack, and unable and unworthy of being a great writer. There are some days that I only get out of bed and drag myself to the keyboard, in order to spite them.]

Getting ready for NaNoWriMo

So I decided to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) again this year. Nanowrimo is a trip into insanity--what?! no?!--where writers try to write a fifty thousand word novel (first draft) in the space of thirty days.

[To learn more about National Novel Writing Month, check out the Nanowrimo website.]

This will be my sixth attempt to accomplish this task. This attempt will be the first time that I have tried to do it without those pesky college classes also being involved. Maybe the sixth time will be the charm. (Yes, I have five unfinished novels and a pile of term papers to show for the previous attempts.)

I thought about not doing Nanowrimo this year, and devote my time to writing short erotica stories instead--but considering that I really need to build up my stock as a writer and need to diversify, I just as well do it. Besides, with the Christmas season approaching and the fact that nothing that I put this quarter is going to affect this year's income, this is as good as any time to work on an urban fantasy novel.

So how am I getting ready? I am thinking about the setting that I plan on using for my story (think James Bond meets Harry Potter), and listening to James Bond soundtracks. And yes, this is more preparation than I have ever done for the Nanowrimo.

Camp NaNoWriMo June 2012



Camp NaNoWriMo June 2012

As many of my friends know, for the last few years I have attempted to "win" the annual NaNoWriMo that is done in November. And by winning, I mean that I have attempted to hack out write fifty thousand words in the space of thirty days. So far, I have lost every year...by about the same amount of words that have been needed for the various college and university term papers that I have been required to write.

But this year, for those of us who are swamped during November, there is Camp NaNoWriMo. Or Camp Insanity as I am going to call it. Yes, I plan on writing a very bad novel this summer...even if I am eaten by bugs and poisoned by ivy.

My working title is Asteroids and Axes. It is a working title; who know what it will be by the end of the month.

And my plot?

Mankind is colonizing the solar system. The asteroid ore pod Molly Brown returns to Earth transporting its precious cargo of metals back to a resource hungry planet. It is also carrying a surprise in the form of an unidentified astronaut. A dead astronaut. A murdered astronaut.

I am not sure if that is enourgh of a plot, but that is all I have right now. Why? Because I just learned that Camp NaNoWriMo starts in a couple of hours (mountain time that is). And this is a last second attempt to make sure that I actually crank out a novel this summer...I will explain that comment later (let's just say that I am not pleased about the fact that my semester is still not over yet...long story involving paperwork).

Nanowrimo results sort of

This post is for those people who are curious about how much I managed to do in this year's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Basically, I gave up a couple of days into the month. Reason: I was swamped with homework. I am not sure how many words I wrote in November...provided that one is willing to count homework, it was at least twenty thousand words. I do plan on finishing the novel I started, but it is going to have to wait until the semester is over.

Back on Lulu

I am back on Lulu. Last night, I learned that Lulu is having a short story contest (actually, it is flash fiction that they are asking for---just 600 words). So I decided to put together a short piece, starring Basil James, the spy-magician I created a couple of years ago during a Nanowrimo.

I honestly do not plan on selling a single copy (price floor is $1.49 currently on Lulu) considering that I set the price to $2.99. But then again, it was the contest entry that I was interested in---I could use a Barnes and Noble NOOK.

Anyways, just in case you are curious, the title of the flash piece is Magic and Bullets: A Basil James Incident.

National Novel Writing Month 2011

So in a moment of insanity, I decided that I am going to attempt to do the National Novel Writing Month Goal of writing 50 thousand words while doing four literature classes. What I know about my novel so far is that it is humor, and the title is Then the Cat Threw Up. That is all I know. No plot, no plan, and several large papers to write for my classes. It should be a disaster.

Does peer pressure work?

Today, I was reading the blog of another writer, and I noticed that they had a little note in the sidebar about the number of words that they have written in their current project. Which brings me to the question---does peer pressure work for any writer?

One of the suggestions that the Nanowrimo people suggest is telling people that you are working on a novel. The theory is that people will hound you to keep up your stream and complete the project in a timely manner. Who are these people who can make a writer get to work?

My friends are the last people who can motivate me to work. In fact, it is almost certain that my friends will cause me to slack off. And my beloved wife is no help either. I think it is mainly because she doesn't picture me as a writer.

(Honestly, can you picture me as a college professor? That is what my wife thinks I should be.)

I have never found peer pressure to be a good motivator for me. Maybe I am weird; perhaps there are writers who find that posting their process helps motivate them.

For myself, I have found that self-motivation is more important. Then again, I have OCD tendencies. A project gets under my skin, and I can't focus completely on anything else until I work it out of my system. Not even the threats of an editor matches the head of stream I can generate when my touch of insanity rears its head.

(I call it insanity not because I think that I am insane, but rather because of how other people [non-writers] react to me when I am in its grip.)

And if you are curious about my latest project---I have written a whole three words. C'mon peer pressure! Bring it on!

It is a small world

Today, I gave my presentation in the Korean War/1950s class. We also had to create a two page handout for our classmates summing up our topic (mine was Robert Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers). In the interest of self-advertising, I chose to include my pen-name Morgan Drake inside of brackets enclosed by my legal first name and my last name Eckstein (which I actually use as part of my penname).

Turns out that one of my classmates (someone I have taken a couple of history classes with) is one of my online NaNoWriMo friends. It took her a couple of minutes to figure out where she seen the name Morgan Drake before---I tend to use it as my online handle everywhere---but she did make the connection.

After class, she properly introduced herself to me, and we talked a few minutes about the joys of attempting National Novel Writing Month while going to college. It is a really small world, isn't it? I wonder if she is on Facebook.

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.)

Only 3026 words so far, many more to go

Well, I have only done 3,026 words so far for NaNoWriMo. I should be almost at twelve thousand words (11,669 to be exact) at the end of the day if I was on schedule. Basically I have written six nights for a little while each day, and have only accomplished like two days worth (a touch short actually from even that short goal of 3,334 words).

It is enourgh to drive home the point that I might not even be capable of being a hack. But then again, I had homework, newspaper articles and finished off reading Dracula. I might not be a great writer, but even on a busy week I hacked out three thousand words. I guess that is something to smile about.

In the old days, we used to travel by couch and buggy, or maybe horse and buggy, horses, boat, or just on foot. There are some that believe that we used to (and still do) travel by fairy circle, stone hedges and by flying around on broomsticks. The latter has always puzzled me. Why would anyone trust their existence to a slender piece of wood with straw tied to the end? I do not care how strong of a candle you light, the rarity of the feathers that you tie onto it, or the awesome power of your charms; it is still just a stick being held up by the power of positive thinking. I will stick with mechanical means of travel, thank you no. Then again, given the security line and the reliability of pilots nowadays, going to a broom closet and selecting your own means of travel might be preferable if it wasn’t for the exhaustion that making a broom fly would result in.

Snow Days 2009

The last couple of days, I have been snowed in. Oh, I could have gotten someplace if I really wanted to, but I am finding that as I grown older that the urge to brave the weather lessens every year.

I have discovered that you can tell a lot by how someone spends a snow day. In my case, I napped a lot. My wife, Toni, spent the day napping also (she thought she was coming down with some bug).

I could have spent it working, but my heart was not into it. The same goes for homework. I am still having days when I hear my sister's opinion of my entire life in my head (basically, she thinks that I am doing everything wrong and generally wasting my time while leeching off of others).

It is for that fact that I really do not feel guilty about not accomplishing anything on these snow days; after all, I am not expected to. There is also the little fact that I am doing National Novel Writing Month starting on November 1^st. I figure that considering that I am going to be attempting to write 50,000 words in thirty days, plus do everything else that I need to do in November, that a couple of naps while being snowed in are not the end of the world. In fact, I might actually earn them next month.

Early warning---most of my posts that I do in November are going to read: Day X of NaNoWriMo, Y words done, Z words to go.

NaNoWriMo is approaching fast

National Novel Writing Month (NaNiWriMo), which takes place in November, is fast approaching. And I am so not ready for it.

I have yet to slip over to the NaNoWriMo website and register for this year. I have yet to figure out my plot, or even what type of novel I am aiming for this year. I have yet to choose my inspirational/plot suggestion/grammar checking book. And I have yet to attempt to get ahead on my college homework to attempt to make any of this happen.

A large part of delay is the fact that my sister's voice is still ringing loudly in my head. There is nothing like being told by your favorite relative that you are wasting your time pursuing writing, a college education, and your career to take the winds out of your sails...except maybe a bullet though the heart.

Ironically, this may actually be the best chance I have to actually hack out 50,000 words in the space of thirty days. Revenge and proving people wrong is a big motivator in my family.

I guess we will see at the end of November if she did me a favor or not.

Thinking about my NaNoWriMo plot

Yesterday, I was visiting the local Denver support site for National Novel Writing Month (can you write 50,000 words in a month?!) and hit the plot me button. Got this for a plot.

While traveling to Timbuktu via pack mule, a man with horns lives in a dungeon creating shadow puppets.

It is probably as good as any plot that I am going to walk into NaNoWriMo with. So far, in the past, I have tried Maritian colony murder mystery, and fairy tales gone wrong.

Then again, I may not even need a plot. Last year, I ended up dropping out early in the month as term papers took me out. We will see about this year.

Of course, this year I have the additional handicap of my sister's voice ringing in my ears; basically, she exploded at me for being a selfish b******, and told me that I will never be a writer. There were a lot of other stuff said...needless to say, I still feel an urge to stuck her head in a toliet.

Anyway, it is just 27 days and 12 hours until the writing frenzy begins. Are you ready?

Red Letter Day Fall Semester 2008

Today was that marvelous day of the semester when I learned whether my sacrifices for the semester were going to pay off or not. This year, not only have I neglected my business (something that you can do when you are self-employed), skipped an issue of writing for the student newspaper of the Community College of Denver (technically, I am independent contractor, so that is also self-employment), I also blew off National Novel Writing Month; I have also ignored friends and delayed meeting new applicants for the lodge. But today was the red letter day...the day when I learned that barring serious accident (like death or complete paralysis) I am going to pass all of my classes with a C or better.

In previous semesters, I learned my fate much earlier, but the standards of the University of Colorado at Denver are higher than the Community College of Denver's. It is always nice to have the burden of having to ace one's finals off one's mind. I just need to do a good job on them, don't have to get a perfect score (though a perfect score would really help in two of my classes).

So it is official: I am actually going to pass my first semester at the University of Colorado at Denver.

I guess it is time to think about getting back to attempting to write for money...