Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Crunch time (NaNo Day 29)

So.

It's crunch time. We're down to the wire.

In less than... wait... 24 plus... let's call it 9ish, so 12-9... carry the two... square root... divide... 3... plus 24.... 27 hours*, NaNoWriMo will be all over for another year. While I am not close to the 50,000 word goal, I have done exceptionally well this year. Right now, I'm at 20,996 words and counting. I've added almost 2000 words since 4PM, and I'd like to add another 1000 before calling it a day.

But, it's almost 9:20, and there's still a ways to go yet.

* Okay, so I'm not all that good at math. I'm not the engineer in the family, but at least I got the right answer!

Monday, November 28, 2005

Movies, this time for reel (NaNo Day 28)

Hee.

As promised, here goes nothing:

Constantine - John Constantine is somewhere between a exorcist and a demon hunter. He sees these things that no one else can see, and uses this ability to send the demons back to hell, all in an effort to get back into Heaven's good books. Except that Heaven isn't interested in taking him back for the "life he took" (his own, albeit briefly), and Hell is only too eager to have him back for what he's done to all those demons over the years. Enter Angela, whose sister Isabel committed suicide in a Catholic mental institution (and is now in Hell), wanting to know why. Turns out that Isabel and Angela also saw/see the same things Constantine does. Also, there's been an increasing number of demons lately, and a whole thing about the Spear of Power (dun dun dun!), and an impending apocalypse.

I like Keanu Reeves - I really do. I wish he'd be cast in more roles where he gets to smile and laugh sometime, because although I'm impressed by his ability to do deadpan, restrained frustration and outrage, the Neo-clone roles are making worry there's typecasting going on. Rachael Weisz was good - not overly sentimental or drippy or wimpy, but just vulnerable and tough enough. Tilda Swinton - love! She does androgyny like no one else. The story was good, if a little light on exposition, and the special effects were outstanding. Also, brings up some interesting questions about the nature of Heaven and Hell.

The Animatrix - Nine short films about the Matrix and the Matrix universe made by some very talented writers and directors. All of them have very different styles of animation (one of the films is a two-parter), and I'd be hard pressed to say which one I liked best, although The Second Renaissance Parts 1 and 2 were very useful in providing a historical context for the three movies. Look for it in the Anime section of the video store.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - A tanker truck explodes, and people start dying. The government isn't sure if it's toxic chemicals or a bioterrorism attack. Of course, it's the latter, but is the government agency who created the chemical agent really interested in releasing the antidote? Who is the former secret agent behind this, and isn't he supposed to be dead, like, three times over? And will the bounty hunters catch him before the Halloween attack?

I can't decide how much I liked this one. I like the concept of a pair of bounty hunters, a computer whiz-kid, a Welsh Corgi, a gambling tomboy, and a space ship, but the plot of this movie didn't really do it justice. The animation was good, though - I find some anime is choppy and skimps on the little things, but this one, like both Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke were strikingly detailed about the actions.

Sugar - On Cliff's 18th birthday, his sister gives him a mini bottle of vodka, a package of condoms, and instructions to take the subway to "go get sex." Did I mention his sister is about 11? (She was my favourite character in the movie!) While out following her directions, he befriends a hustler and becomes immersed in drugs and the seedy lives of those who live on the streets. At first, his friendship with Butch is great, but then Cliff starts to realize that things between them aren't going to end well, and tries to cut him out of his life.

The whole movie had the feel of a documentary, or an improvisational piece. The dialogue had a very unscripted, natural feel, and it looked as if it was filmed using an old hand-held camera. The story itself was barely there, at times very sweet and touching, and other times brutal and hard. I especially enjoyed the actor who played Cliff, Andre Noble, who died shortly after the film was released.

(Rant - One of the reviews on the back of the case suggested that this was a "bittersweet coming-of-age story". Frankly, I hate that kind of description because it's a cop-out. All stories involving teenagers discovering parts of themselves they didn't know existed and learning life lessons in the process are going to involve some joy and some pain - but that's how things are in the real world. Try to be more original next time, 'kay? End rant!)

Childstar - A famous child actor is sent to Canada to film a major blockbuster movie, but all he really wants is a family. He's spoiled and cynical, and is tired of being treated like a child. His mother is bored, self-absorbed, and when her son goes missing, sees it as an opportunity to renegotiate his contract. The driver is an aspiring director, and when he tries to impart some wisdom onto the child, he's rewarded with failure and a chance to screen his movie. Go figure.

I dearly love Don McKellar. He's got a dry, twisted, almost sarcastic sense of humour, and while you don't really laugh at his movies, you just might grin sardonically. None of the humour is really slap-your-knee funny, but it's barely there, just enough to make you chuckle every now and then. He wrote, directed, and plays the driver for the young star, and does a pretty good job of it all. Jennifer Jason Leigh does very good detatched narcissism. And Mark Rendall, who plays the Taylor, the child star, is excellent (a bit of trivia - he's also one of the voice of Arthur!)

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Knitting and movies (NaNo Day 27)

Three more days folks, and then it's all over.

So I did a lot of knitting and movie watching this weekend. First, the knitting.

I made Karen a scarf for her birthday last month, and I just finished weaving in the ends yesterday, so I'll bring it to her tomorrow.

Karen's scarf, whole


I also finished a mitten I made last January, but ended up having to frog because the thumb started to unravel. There will be no pictures of this mitten, because it looks nothing like its mate. I don't even know what pattern I used to finish off the top of the first because it looks nothing like the top of the second.

Year-old mittens


Proving that I'm a sucker for punishment, I've started a second pair of mittens using some leftover Lopi Denise gave me a few weeks ago.

New mittens


I'm going to make these with a cable on the back. There isn't much there right now, but this is what the first twist looks like:

Close-up of first cable on new mittens


One more project - it's a scarf that was going to be a basketweave scarf, but I frogged it and will be making a broken mistake rib scarf instead.

Mistake Rib scarf


This is the one I'm going to take with me to work on during lunch this week.

Now, enough knitting!

Movie stuff. Happy birthday, Michael Vartan. Frankly, I don't understand your appeal, but lots of women (and quite a few men) drool over you constantly, so maybe it's just a matter of taste, I guess.

Updated, Monday morning: Okay, those were really crappy reviews. I was tired, impatient, and having trouble typing (see reasons 1 and 2). I was also struggling with trying to recap all my knitting, all the movies I watched, the two pizzas I made, and wanting to write 500 more words on my story so I'd be over 20,000 words (didn't happen - boo), so I was also overwhelmed. I'll try and do better reviews of the movies tonight. For now, though, I will say to anyone who read the review of Constantine, even though I complained it seemed slightly too long, I rather enjoyed it.

A teaser of sorts: the movies I watched this weekend were
Constantine
The Animatrix
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Sugar
Child Star

Saturday, November 26, 2005

It's a miracle! (NaNo Day 26)

No, not that I somehow miraculously made it to 50,000 words since Thursday (it's closer to 19,036).

I actually went to church tonight. It's the first Sunday of Advent, and I always like the Advent masses. There's something so deliciously ironic about an institution who stole the original ceremony from the pagans (the evergreens, the approximate time of year, etc. - Yule, anyone?), complaining that the original reason for the season has been stolen by commercial interests.

Let it never be said that whatever higher powers exist don't have a sense of humour.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you South of the border (NaNo Day 24)

If today's the day you celebrate Thanksgiving, happy turkey day!

If you celebrated Thanksgiving with the rest of Canada last month, happy Thursday!

If you're Julie and I still haven't sent you an email wishing you the best, happy belated birthday!

If you're me, then your word count is at 17,359 tonight.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Consider the lobster (NaNo, Day 23)

After work tonight, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a case of tonic water, my fizzy beverage of choice. As I walked past the seafood area, I chanced to look upon the herd (group? school? frat house?) of lobster in the tank.

They know they're doomed. That's why they're there, with those elastics around their claws. Most creatures who are doomed (but don't know their hour yet) are usually either passive with acceptance or panicky with fear. Not the lobster. Oh, no.

There were three or four in the corner engaged in what can only be described as some kind of tag-team wrestling action gone crazy. Since they couldn't use their claws to pinch off other bits of their opponent, they were using them to bash the living hell out of each other. The rules of engagement (only two persons in the ring at a time; tag the team member when you wanted to be relieved) had been tossed aside in a massive free-for-all. If the lobsters weren't engaged in the main scuffle, they were contributing to one of the many side events that were also taking place.

There was one lobster who was sitting apart from all the action, near the public side of the tank. He wasn't fighting, but he didn't look any less fierce or pissed off than the others. Sitting there, his powerful claws rendered useless by those thick elastic bands, his antennae were twitching as if to say, "I know what's coming, and I'm not going quietly. If I have to, I'm taking one or two of you mofo's with me."

I can respect that, which is part of the reason I don't eat lobster. (The other is that they taste yucky.)

On to other things....

It is bitterly cold out there tonight. We're supposed to be getting a snow storm, but I think it's too cold to actually snow. We'll see. Either way, I'm not walking again tonight because it's so so so cold, and I'm such a delicate flower, that I might freeze something if I do.

Plus, the laundry is about to grow legs and smother me in my sleep, so I need to do something about that.

(Oh, and the story is coming. I have really good days followed by really bad days. On Monday, I got about 2000 words written, and then yesterday I had a migrane, so I got less than 100 words done. Tonight, I'm feeling wordy, but I have to constantly interrupt myself to fetch the laundry from one place to another.)

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

An announcement (NaNo, Day 22)

Can I have your attention for just a sec? Thanks...

My total word count as of Dec. 1, 2003: 11,024
My total word count as of Dec. 1, 2004: 10,954

My total word count as of Nov. 22, 2005, with eight days to go: 15,019

I'm really hoping to make it 20,000 by the weekend, and 25,000 by next Thursday, when NaNoWriMo is done for another year.

Monday, November 21, 2005

"... - the good spanner, I might add - ..." (NaNo, Day 21)

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit that I've posted an excerpt of my story on my NaNo profile. It's from an exchange I wrote Saturday afternoon, and it cracked me up (it's not very long - less than a page in Word).

It struck me last night that in about two months time, I'm going to look back on all this and wonder what the hell I was thinking blogging about this. I mean, it's kind of dorky the way I keep going on and on about it*, and when it's all over with, I'll wonder what all the fuss was about. Then I'll go back and reread November's posts, and want to crawl into a hole and pull the hole in after me. It's almost like...like...

Back in high school? When you and Lori used to rush to each other's lockers after class? And breathlessly discuss which one of the many guys you have crushes on you saw before, during, and after class? And at some point, the list of guys becomes so long you have to start writing them down? And then you have to start narrowing the list of guys down? And one of you, you can't remember which one, comes up with the idea of the Top Ten Babe List (TTBL)? Which is updated on a weekly basis? And rankings are complied using a complicated system of how many times you've seen him, how long you saw him, who you saw him with, and whether or not you actually got to make eye contact/speak to him?** And you keep doing this for, like, two whole years until all the original guys have graduated/you've graduated?

And ten years later, you come home for Thanksgiving and find a copy of the list you kept stashed in a drawer?*** And you read it? And you cringe - hard - and wonder what you were thinking at the time?

Yeah, something like that.

*And have spent a total of about three hours drawing diagrams so I know where everything is.
** I went to a Catholic high school, and we all wore uniforms, so what they were wearing was pretty moot.
*** That scraping sound you heard was my mother trying to open the drawers on my desk in my old room at home in order to look for the list. The joke's on you, Mom - I hid it somewhere else! Heh heh heh...

Saturday, November 19, 2005

I'm not an engineer - I don't even play one on TV! (NaNo Day 19)

You're sick of this already, aren't you? Don't worry - there are only 12 days left!

I'm staring 12,000 in the face. A few minutes ago, I was over 12,000, but I had to delete a whole bunch. It's all well and good for you to say that someone went down a level to do something, then went up two levels to do something else, but at some point, you're going to need to draw a diagram so that you don't have a character doing the same thing, but going two levels instead.

Christ, I'm boring myself now. I'm going for a walk, cleaning my apartment, making dinner, and watching a movie tonight.

(I was very good and restrained myself at Costco this morning. I came out with less than $100 of stuff I will need in the foreseeable future, such as tissues, bagels, socks, and something I'm bringing home for Christmas to share, so I can't tell you.)

Friday, November 18, 2005

Friday, thy name is frustration (NaNo Day 18)

It's one of those days where I want to write, and have a whole lot to write (because I've finally worked out some logistical issues in the storyline), but have no time to. I finished work early, went for groceries and gas, came home, and had to get ready to go to the Sudbury NaNo group's meeting. At which I was the only one to show up, but I'll save that rant for later. Tonight I'm going to see this new movie about this kid who's going to wizard school - I hear it's the fourth installment, but I doubt you've heard about it.

Anyways, I went hogwild last night and downloaded a few CDs. Right now, I'm listening to PJ Harvey's "Is This Desire?" and loving it completely.

Will try and write something before I leave, and update you when I return.

Update (Saturday morning):

I wasn't sure whether to make a new post for this or just add to this post. I'm going with adding to this one because it's still too early to broadcast the day's accomplishments.

Harry Potter was.... okay. Most of my problems have to do with the director for this one - Chris Columbus left every stinkin' element of the plot in, which made the movies too long, dull in spots, but true to the book. He was also good at playing up the emotional elements of Harry's struggle with discovering who and what he was, and has a proven track record with movies with and aboutchildren (and their families). Alfonso Cuaron cut a lot of the superfluous stuff, made the struggle as much about adolescence as it was about good vs. evil, and made a better movie than the first two. And he's a pretty good director, too.

This one was directed by Mike Newell, who brought you such notable films as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pushing Tin, and Donnie Brasco . Besides being British, I'm not sure how this qualifies him to direct the movie based on the book where things take a definite turn for the worst.

The third one remains my favourite for many reasons, the first one being the director made the actors act like teenagers. In this one, where they should be even more into the angst because they're supposed to be 14 (and because of events at the beginning), they just seemed too wooden. There was very little effort put into convincing the audience these are just typical teenagers who happen to be wizards. Instead, they came off as wizards who don't have beards and grey hair yet.

But, good for Newell for leaving out chunks of the book that would have made the otherwise long movie even longer. Except that in leaving out parts, there should have been a smooth transition from one part of the story to the next, and it wasn't happening. If you're going to leave out the aftermath of the attack at the quidditch match, could you at least make the next scene not be the one where the trio are on the train back to Hogwarts? Tell us a little of what happened when they got home!

There were some funny bits, and one outstanding bit near the end, but they weren't evenly spaced throughout the movie. I thought the actors were great, especially the two who played the Weasley twins (and who had more screen time than the actress who plays Hermione). The special effects were also good - I was dizzy during one particular chase scene (if you've read the book, it was during the first challenge!).

So, that was the movie.

When I got home, I listened to another of the CDs I downloaded, and loved it. Let's hear it for Rogue Wave's descended Like Vultures, people! And the Cash Brother's How Was Tomorrow? - that one was before I left for the movies.

Word count (and I'd like a drumroll for this): 11,110! Less than 2000 words before I surpass the totals I got in each of the last two years! Woo-hoo!

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Membership (NaNo Day 16)

I am now a member of an elite organization, that millions of people across the continent are also a part of.

I got my Costco card today - fear me! I can buy goods that I don't need in bulk!

(No real writing done yet. I was making muffins and thought up the "fear me!" line, and had to get it down before I forgot it. I'll keep you updated.)

Update - see? I promised I would! I just cracked 10,000 words, and, even though it's only quarter after ten now, I'm going to bed.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Meanie (NaNo Day 15)

Today is the halfway point, and I'm nowhere near halfway. However, I made considerable progress tonight (9011 words and counting!), so all I need are a few more days like this and I'll be all set!

During this marathon sessions, one of the peripheral characters did something nasty to one of my main characters. Bitch.

In real life things, congrats to Jen for correctly identifying the Star Trek alum who appeared in Crash. You win ten points, which are redeemable for nothing. Except maybe coffee or tea next time I'm in your neck of the woods. (I also forgot that we also watched In Good Company, which I'd seen when it came out. It's still a great movie.)

Monday, November 14, 2005

Miss me much? (NaNo Day 14)

Lest you think I was neglecting posting my daily word counts while I was in Owen Sound, the truth is that I couldn't connect to Blogger. Damn unsecured wireless network that I was stealing bandwidth from! However, as I'm only up to 7326 words, so obviously, I didn't get much written. But you know who got a lot written last week? Scaper. That girl has mad NaNo skillz - she'll reach 50,000 words by the end of the week if she keeps up the pace she's going at. I'm chartreuse with envy!*

Fun things done in Owen Sound: met the outgoing Tommyboy, and as a result, pretty much everyone else at the market. Knit. Went out for supper at a neat restaurant. Went to a craft show at the Tom Thompson Memorial Art Gallery. Went to the Spinner's and Knitters Guild show at the library. Played with a sweet-natured Chesapeake Bay Retriever and her grumpy sidekick, an adolescent Himalayan (who's actually also quite sweet - when he wants to be). And watched a metric tonne** of movies:

  • Sideways - Meh. It was okay. I can now join the throngs who can say they've seen it.
  • Garden State - Lovely. Understated. Reminded me of some of my favourite Canadian films. Zach Braff is awesome.
  • The Delicate Art of Parking - If you haven't seen this, why not? A mockumentary about Parking Enforcement Officers, and I found myself getting completely sucked in by the middle of the movie. Features a couple of cast members from Corner Gas***.
  • Crash - Not the David Cronenberg film. The "Oh my god, this is bloody brilliant!" film. Seriously. It was brilliant - it was so good, I was shaking at the end. (Ten points to the first person (except Rachelle!) who can tell me which former Star Trek cast member appeared in one of the storylines.)
  • Being Julia - My new favourite period piece. Annette Benning was stunning!
The drive home was uneventful. Except for the wind farm I passed - *that* was cool.

* I'm not exactly sure what colour chartreuse is - for all I know, it could be a soothing shade of taupe.
** A guesstimate really, since I didn't have scales to measure them.
*** Which, I just realized, I missed again tonight. Gah!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

One more thing... (NaNo Day 10)

The other reason I didn't get anything written today is because tomorrow morning we're having our book club, and I haven't finished the book. So I've been reading like a madwoman, and have less than a quarter to go. However, I still need to finish packing, etc.; therefore, no writing was accomplished today.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

More days like this (NaNo Day 9)

Back in my first year of undergrad, I had one evening course which went until 9PM on Tuesday evenings. One night after class, I needed to stop at the library on my way out to pick up an item that was being held in reserve for me. As I went to open one of the doors, I saw someone had stuck a note on the glass:

Thunder Rider,
9th dimension was boring. Meet me in the space pub
Cosmos Woman

I was intrigued. Who was this Thunder Rider, and where was this space pub? The only student bar on Campus was Isaac's, the campus pub. I didn't' take the note, just in case Thunder Rider hadn't seen it yet, but I did write it down and have held onto it for the past ten years.

And now, I've incorporated it into my story. Thanks, Cosmos Woman!

I need more writing days like this. It was an especially productive evening, which is perfect, considering tomorrow night I'm busy, and then I'll be away for the weekend. Today I've managed over 1000 words, bringing my total up to 6534. Woo!

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

My iPod {hearts} me! (NaNo Day 8)

Rough day today. On my walk tonight, while I was stewing over everything, this is what Gretchen played for me:

Get Free - The Vines
Born Slippy - Underworld
Filthy Bastard Cabaret - Big Rude Jake
Breath - Swollen Members (f. Nelly Furtado)
Out of My Head - Junkhouse
Step Back - Bumblebeez 81
Rock & Roll Hootchie Koo - Bootsauce
Au Fond du Temple Saint - David Byrne (f. Rufus Wainwright)
Flower Duet - Delibes (from the opera Lakme - you may know it from the British Airways commercials a few years back)

In short, good venting music to start with, and the calming stuff just as I arrived back at my apartment.

And Jeff? If you're going to make me guess who you heard on the CBC at lunchtime, give me more than one guess! I would have gotten to the right answer in less than five guesses anyways!

Anyhoodle...

Writing has been sporadic and light lately, despite my desire to write write write. I've managed to get my word count up to 5516, which is only 500 above where I was last time, but I've gotten those words in a relatively short period of time. If I were able to focus on the writing, instead of the need to do other distracting things, like washing the dishes or making dinner, I'd be so much further ahead.

Alas, it's almost time to call it a night, despite wanting - nay, needing! - to know how this scene ends.

Monday, November 07, 2005

No news... (NaNo Day 7)

...is not good news. More tomorrow.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Busted! (NaNo Day 6)

Today has been one big huge bust.

I ended up not going to the second day of the workshop, although I had intended to go until at least noon. Except that I woke up with a headache that didn't go away, and only got worse - a lot worse. I've spent the entire day until now laying on the couch, watching whatever was on that required the least amount of brain power to watch (except for Frantic, which is just about one of my favourite thrillers), and telling myself that the drugs will kick in soon. Hopefully. Maybe. Argh. Kill me now!

So, I've gotten no writing done today and I have to do 6000 words to get caught up. Like that's going to happen, now that the drugs have kicked in - at the same time (I'm spaced out and sleepy! And twitchy! Woo!) Also? Starving. I could eat everything in my apartment, which is a sign that I'm on the road to recovery. Blah

And now I'm going to go do some superficial cleaning so my apartment isn't a sty for the rest of the week.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Late late late (NaNo Day 5)

Betcha though I wasn't going to post anything today, huh? Well, it's been a close thing - I almost did. It's been a long long day, and it's not over? Why? I know get to have fun prying my contact lenses out of my dry, tired eyes. This could take all night.

The bellydancing workshop was okay, but it wasn't really what I expected. The instructor has a very different style of dance, which involves using happy hands. Now, I can dance the choreography, or I can do the happy hands, but I can't do both at the same time. Plus, there were so many people it was hard to see what was going on.

The show tonight went well. I stepped on my veil on the first step and almost dropped it. Then my coin belt almost slipped off. But we were awesome! We rocked that joint!

So, word count so far. Last night when I called it quits, I had 4071 words. Tonight I have 4977. Wait - 4977? Jeeze, I might was well stay up and write 33 more words so that I crack 5000.

Or, I could scrape off my makeup, chip out my contacts, have something to eat, and go to bed. Yeah, I like that idea better.

Friday, November 04, 2005

PSA and milestones (NaNo Day 4)

I like how this whole thing starts on the first day of the month. That way, I know how many days have passed by looking at the calendar.

(Hi! I'm a dork!)

From the lovely acro-tastic folks at NaNoWriMo comes a new fun faux word - NaBaUpYoNoDa! Or, for those of you not in the loop, National BackUp Your Novel Day. So, for all of you playing along with NaNoWriMo at home, back that baby up!

(Are you getting the impression that I've had too much caffeine today? Me too! Wow! It's like you're reading my mind!*)

Last night, when all was said and done, I think I only had 2253 words. I'm now up to 3375 words! AND, I'm finished the introduction! Which is actually all about something that takes place about 3/4 of the way through the eventual story. But! I cracked the 3000 mark before the 15th. Yay me! And because I'm awash in a happy glow and more than a little spun out on coffee and tea and lattes, I'm going to reproduce one of my favourite passages:

Character A: Byrnes! Fancy running into you here! I'’ve been looking all over for you, only to meet you here on this doomed planet! Poetic, don't you thing?
Character B: It's freakin' Shakespeare.


See, it's funny because Character A is there to kill Character B. But maybe you figured that one out already.

The soundtrack has been narrowed down to 66 songs. So I'm thinking it's going to need a little more work.

* Or, what's left of it, anyways.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

On surpassing Day 1's total this morning (NaNo Day 3)

When I left for work this morning, I had 1776 words. Before I left for bellydancing, I had 1963 words. Sweet Jesus, I'm falling behind! I only need to write a little over 4000 words before bedtime to meet today's total. For now, I'm going to do the dishes and do a little tidying so I don't have to do it in the morning.

A question for y'all: how are you choosing the names for your characters, place names, pet names, etc.? I have a bunch of things and people to name, and since there are a lot of fun place names in Northern Ontario, I'm going to use some of them. And there were some great street names in Halifax, and those are becoming people. Mayhaps I'll post the complete list of names et al tomorrow.

Or maybe the soundtrack. Whichever comes together first.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

The word count button is my new bestest friend (NaNo Day 2)

903 words so far. Yay me! Of course, by the end of today, I should have 3334 words, so maybe I should get cracking. But first, a dilemma....

Part of the story is set on a space ship. Because I'm a girl of limited imagination when it comes to schematics, would it be terrible if I just used the Serenity (from "Firefly") as a model? It's sort of the inspiration of my story, but different characters and stuff, and it's in roughly the same "fiction" (another way of saying fictional universe) as where "Firefly" was set. I'm not close to that part yet, so I still have time to change my mind.

Other than that, I'm happy with how it's going. The outline has really helped me see where things are going, and now all I have to do is get them there. I'm recycling the names and character profiles I made last year, since the whole story is the same one I tried to do last year, but got bogged down in the beginning part.

Also still up in the air - my NaNo soundtrack, which all the cool kids are putting together. Mine keeps changing, but I'll have it nailed down soon.

And, while Dave has a picture of himself finishing Day 1, I'm not nearly as photogenic and won't be posting pictures of me at the end of today. Sorry*.

* Well, not really. I mean, look at this photo - do you really want a closeup of that? I didn't think so.

Update at 11pm: Bedtime. My total is up to 1539 now.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The first day of the rest of the month

Quickly....

Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I already feel behind because I didn't stay up until midnight to start. But I got up early (like I do everyday) with the intention of getting a little of it down before I go to work (stupid work! It interferes with my ability to NaNo*!)

(If any of my managers read this - ha ha, I'm just kidding!)

I meant to write a post last night to basically give you something to read for the next few days, but I lost track of time and didn't. And haven't. And now, won't. Don't fret - it was going to be a playlist anyways**.

Good luck to Dave, the Furious Redhead, Scaper, and all of the Sudbury NaNo Posse. We're all in this together now.


* That sounds vaugely naughty, doesn't it?
** Playlist numero 2; or, as I like to call it, "The One Where I Decide I Lurve The Scissor Sisters".