Nanowrimo Is Over -- Party!

All righty, then. Nano is finally over, as of midnight tonight, but for me it ended yesterday. I hit my 50,000th word and almost passed out. There are still those that are writing and trying to make it before midnight and I wish them lots of luck and easy flowing words. What did I write, you ask? It is the biggest collection of crap I've come up with yet. I mean it, seriously, it's awful. However, when I realized that the story was just ... pathetic, I quit trying to put it together and forcing it to become what it so obviously couldn't be. I started writing scenes that are loosely connected at best and completely disjointed at worst. I do think there is some good material in it if you take it piece by piece, but all together, well, I wouldn't make my arch enemy read it. That would be cruel and unusual punishment. So, now, I take a breath in relief that it's over, put the damn thing on a shelf, and hopefully let it be totally forgotten. May it sink into the void of oblivion and never be heard from again. Yes, it is that bad.

The one good thing that came from the month of November is my enjoyment of writing. I've written so many research papers that I had really started hating the idea of writing. Nano let me remember what it's like to write for fun, letting the mind travel down imagination roads without needing to be justified or cited in any way. Yes, I know that were I a published writer, I'd have to justify my writing somehow, after all, the point of published writing is to make money. However, since I am not one of the lucky ones that makes their living from their imaginations, I can write to please myself, unless of course, I want someone to look at it and critique it for me. That's a whole other story. I've been down that road several times and I'd like to go there again but I don't have the energy to spend on it at the present moment. There's too much homework to be done.

In other news, Em is being very sneaky. I think it has something to do with presents. T on the other hand seems totally oblivious. It must be a guy thing.

The final thought today? A quote I'm particularly fond of, "You're not a donkey, you don't have to be an ass." Just a thought.

Nano Is Almost Over

I'm still behind in nano but that doesn't stop me from writing as if I have a chance. I switched the whole pitch of the story midstream but I'm not sure that I like the new direction this foolish thing has taken. I don't think there's much of anything salvageable in the whole sorry mess but I hope there are a few pieces that can be used somewhere else. There are a couple of nice scenes that I think I could polish up and use. Of course, I would change the names so the innocent would be protected.

I've got over 19,000 words down which leaves 31,000 to go before the 30th. I'm pretty sure I won't make it at this point, unless I get some kind of brainstorm and have the time and energy to get it down on paper. I don't really see that happening but, who knows, it's a possibility.

In the meantime, I've been reading a new book by Gyles Brandreth called Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance. It has been fairly interesting so far. A bit unbelievable but fairly interesting. I'll let you know what I think of it when I finish it.

In other news, T has become the class clown at school. I'm not sure what to think about that at this point. He used to be the quietest kid in the class. Em has cavities ... again. I would love to go to the dentist and hear that her teeth are squeaky clean and she's been taking really good care of them. Alas, it seems this is not to happen in my lifetime. I'm suggesting that she just hang it up and get dentures. Life would be so much easier if she could just take them out and put them in a glass of water at night.

Food for thought for today is: Just when you think you're ahead, you realize the people right behind you are about to lap you.

Harry Potter Opening And I'm Still Writing

Those of you who know me well, know that I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. Since that is the case, it should come as no surprise that I went to the midnight show last night. I was disappointed, not in the film, but in the audience. Gone was the festive sense of anticipation that was present at previous opening nights. Out of the few hundred people who showed, I saw maybe three or four in costume. The pageantry of the night was part of the experience and that is definitely gone. The last time a Harry Potter show opened it was closely related to the release of book 7 in the series. Now, there is no wondering what comes next, no debating about who lives and dies. It's all there, in writing, and it feels like the fans have moved on.

Don't get me wrong, the movie was great. They ended it at just the right spot leaving the watcher ready for the next one. We all know what happens but we need to find out how they create it. One warning, the snake, yipes. That's all I'm going to say.

So, the review? The movie was great, the audience wasn't and lets face it, the audience is part of the experience. Find yourself a bunch of easily excitable friends and some girls who squeal and jump at all the right moments of terror in the film. Surround yourself with these people and your experience will probably be just fine.

I know you're wondering how my nano effort is doing. I'm happy to report that I'm over 16,000 words. I'm nowhere near where I should be but I am writing. Granted the words are mostly crap and the scenes go off into neverland until I have to just stop and start a new chapter because I've rambled myself into a corner, but, hey, I'm writing. Isn't that the purpose of nano, anyway? People on my buddy list are doing great. One has even been finished with her 50,000 words for over a week. Am I jealous? I can't say that I am. I don't feel the same sense of urgency to win that I felt last year. I'm happy being a participant and getting the feel of creativity again. Writing papers for school sucks the creativity right out of you.

In other news, Em has a "team-building luau" tonight with the other members of the band and orchestra. I'm not sure what a cookout with hot dogs, chips and drinks has to do with a luau, but there you have it. T has a new x-box and kinect and he's loving both. What a great way to get a gamer moving. It's so much better than the wii.

And what, you're asking, is the thought to be going on with? Sad to say, I don't have one. Between writing, kinect, homework and so-called luaus, there is no time for thought. What were you thinking? :-)

Writing Tangents And A Book Review

I'm here to report that I'm still behind in my Nano writing. I've finished almost 10,000 words but I should be closer to 25,000. However, I have a good story line going and I think I can still make it if I can find a few undisturbed bits of time between now and the end of the month. I've gone off on a few tangents but I decided to go with it because there are some good back story ideas in them. I'll have time to cut and edit later but for now I'm going to keep going. Besides, the tangents make the word count go up.

I'm glad to report the aliens have repaired my hard drive, my kids have kindly quit holding my computer hostage, the brain reformed, the flue finally dried up, and I'm back from England (thank you, Histrel, for an amazing visit to York). So, no excuses are left for not writing. Well, except that I'm here instead of there. This blog was calling my name so I thought I'd take a break from writing and update everyone. Yeah, I know, another excuse not to write.

I need to report that I've finished the book I wrote about earlier. It's called Full Dark House and Christopher Fowler is the author. It isn't bad, not great, but not bad. There is a tremendous amount of jumping from present to past and back again without any warning. This is a bit confusing in the beginning, but, if you read for longer than a few minutes at a time, you catch on to the time leaps pretty quickly and the story starts to make sense. He does a nice job of making some very interesting characters. I find myself liking his MC's and his minor roles are full blown people. Some writers, me included, forget to make the walk-ons have as much personality as the MC's even though they don't play a big role in the story. The problem I have with this book is with the mystery itself. There's enough death and gore to go around and you feel like you're nicely on the trail of the killer when he switches tacks on you. The real answer comes out of nowhere and that particular storyline isn't introduced until quite late in the book. I think that's what I like least about this book. The whole thing is logical and stumbles along quite nicely until the last 1/4 of the book. All of the sudden, there is a new element that, quite frankly, was irritating to me. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind surprise endings but this one made no real sense. Most surprise endings make sense after you know the answer. You can look back on the story and see that you were set up all the way through. Not so here. There is nothing to suggest that the answer is involved in the case at all. It was a great disappointment. However, it is the first in a series, and because he did such a good job with his characters, I am willing to buy the next in the series to see if he gets better with his mysteries. If he does not, and I'm afraid he won't, that will be it. I won't be buying anymore. So, there you have it, my thoughts on Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler. If you like a mystery whose answer makes no sense and you enjoy really good character development, this is the book for you.

In other news, T is thinking of playing a dancing video game with some friends from school. He knows he's being set up for a huge loss of dignity but he's willing to go through with it anyway. Usually, there is only one reason why a teen would be willing to do this sort of thing. I'll let you figure it out. Em's band class is having a team building luau next Friday. I'm not sure what eating hot dogs and chips then doing activities has to do with a luau but there you have it.

One more piece of information to give you something to think about. Just because something is the size of a rat does not make it a rat. Gnaw on that thought for a while and see where it takes you.

Alien Interference

It's day eight of Nano November and I'm not doing well with my writing. There have been reasons, good reasons, actually, for this lapse of writing ability.

1. Aliens landed in my back yard and completely messed up my computer's hard drive with their advanced technology.
2. The teens have hijacked my computer and are holding it for ransom until their demands are met. Completely unreasonable demands, I might add.
3. The brain has imploded under it's own weight with the ideas banging around inside it.
4. The flu hit hard and refuses to let go.
5. My "trip to see England" piggy bank figured out how to legally make its own money and I'm currently vacationing there.

Yeah, I know, the alien thing is the only reasonable one on the list so we'll just stick with that story.

Other people on my Nano buddy list are doing great, though. Keep on writing. Hopefully I'll be able to join the ranks of the actively writing before long.