A busy Thanksgiving break
I had such big plans for this break. I was going to get away and do some serious backpacking. Even though I had not finished settling into the new place I knew where all the backpacking gear was located (ie all the important things have been found). While about a third of the apartment is still buried under boxes, I was going to leave it all for a few days. Instead, all that got thrown into the wind. Where to start.
For those of you who don't know, November is National Novel Writing Month. On a whim I decided to participate. It really was a whim, I was staying at a sublet and had nothing better to do so why not write. I didn't really think anything would come of it. The goal is to write at least 50,000 words over 30 days. Easy huh? Well, to make things a little more difficult, I was moving over part of that time and trying to unpack. I think what ended up happening was that I used NanoWriMo to procrastinate on the unpacking. I normally can unpack quite quickly but because I have a slightly smaller place and was easily becoming buried under all the paper they wrapped everything in, the writing was a way to escape. I didn't think I would actually make 50,000 words but when the first 20,000 flew by I started to really believe I could do it. After the 35,000 word mark though I was really struggling. One of my story arcs was getting harder to write which lead me to start procrastinating on the writing by getting back to the unpacking. In fact, on Black Friday, I went out to the large Asian market, Super H Mart and bought some much needed food and on a slight whim, a rice cooker. Yes my priorities are in line, I opted to get a rice cooker over a microwave. I had 20,000 words to do over the four day weekend, 5,000 words each day. Did I make it, you bet. And boy are my wrists hurting. I also didn't run out of story, but the arc that I was having trouble with turned into pure drivel at one point. I kept writing that drivel simply to get past that point to the more interesting part of the story. I did write this in chronological order as I found I didn't have the heart to skip around. Now that I am at the 50,000 word mark, I think I will try to keep it going. There is still story left so I might as well get the rest of it out now while I have spent much of the last 25 days writing. I have also spent the last 3 days enjoying really good rice and stirfrys. I have got to get away from all this junk I keep finding myself eating. I know, if I don't buy it I can't eat it. I will have to start heeding that. And since the oven doesn't work, not sure when they will give me a working one, I won't be baking myself any sweets either.
I picked up two nice new pots to put my poor Norfolk pines in. I had to divide them as I couldn't find a nice pot big enough for all of them and I didn't feel like shopping around. Seems there is nothing in DC, you have to travel out to Virginia or Maryland to get to the Targets, Best Buys or the Walmarts. On a good note the pines seem to be doing well, so far. It was a little pathetic, I was trying to piece together the moss layer after I transplanted them. I hope it takes.
I also went in to the DMV on Friday as it was open. I contested a parking ticket. It was a little unnerving. I had to swear under oath and state my name for the record and all that good stuff. In the end I denied the ticket and told them I had just moved and hadn't received my plates yet. He wrote my ticket off as a warning.
Well, enough typing for tonight, I think my carpal tunnel needs a break. I will try to post a little tag in the side bar later to show off my NanoWriMo winner status. I did have fun doing it and I am happy I was successful my first try through. I wanted to participate for the last two years but various things have kept me from it, one of which was the AT so no complaints there. I am glad things came together for me this year and I hope I can get something useful out of the drivel I wrote. I might try to post some of it on my writing blog sometime as I haven't updated that blog is forever, but I am not sure I really want to inflict it on anyone.
For those of you who don't know, November is National Novel Writing Month. On a whim I decided to participate. It really was a whim, I was staying at a sublet and had nothing better to do so why not write. I didn't really think anything would come of it. The goal is to write at least 50,000 words over 30 days. Easy huh? Well, to make things a little more difficult, I was moving over part of that time and trying to unpack. I think what ended up happening was that I used NanoWriMo to procrastinate on the unpacking. I normally can unpack quite quickly but because I have a slightly smaller place and was easily becoming buried under all the paper they wrapped everything in, the writing was a way to escape. I didn't think I would actually make 50,000 words but when the first 20,000 flew by I started to really believe I could do it. After the 35,000 word mark though I was really struggling. One of my story arcs was getting harder to write which lead me to start procrastinating on the writing by getting back to the unpacking. In fact, on Black Friday, I went out to the large Asian market, Super H Mart and bought some much needed food and on a slight whim, a rice cooker. Yes my priorities are in line, I opted to get a rice cooker over a microwave. I had 20,000 words to do over the four day weekend, 5,000 words each day. Did I make it, you bet. And boy are my wrists hurting. I also didn't run out of story, but the arc that I was having trouble with turned into pure drivel at one point. I kept writing that drivel simply to get past that point to the more interesting part of the story. I did write this in chronological order as I found I didn't have the heart to skip around. Now that I am at the 50,000 word mark, I think I will try to keep it going. There is still story left so I might as well get the rest of it out now while I have spent much of the last 25 days writing. I have also spent the last 3 days enjoying really good rice and stirfrys. I have got to get away from all this junk I keep finding myself eating. I know, if I don't buy it I can't eat it. I will have to start heeding that. And since the oven doesn't work, not sure when they will give me a working one, I won't be baking myself any sweets either.
I picked up two nice new pots to put my poor Norfolk pines in. I had to divide them as I couldn't find a nice pot big enough for all of them and I didn't feel like shopping around. Seems there is nothing in DC, you have to travel out to Virginia or Maryland to get to the Targets, Best Buys or the Walmarts. On a good note the pines seem to be doing well, so far. It was a little pathetic, I was trying to piece together the moss layer after I transplanted them. I hope it takes.
I also went in to the DMV on Friday as it was open. I contested a parking ticket. It was a little unnerving. I had to swear under oath and state my name for the record and all that good stuff. In the end I denied the ticket and told them I had just moved and hadn't received my plates yet. He wrote my ticket off as a warning.
Well, enough typing for tonight, I think my carpal tunnel needs a break. I will try to post a little tag in the side bar later to show off my NanoWriMo winner status. I did have fun doing it and I am happy I was successful my first try through. I wanted to participate for the last two years but various things have kept me from it, one of which was the AT so no complaints there. I am glad things came together for me this year and I hope I can get something useful out of the drivel I wrote. I might try to post some of it on my writing blog sometime as I haven't updated that blog is forever, but I am not sure I really want to inflict it on anyone.
posted by Canadian Loonie at 4:49 PM
1 Comments:
I think you made the right decision buying a rice cooker over the microwave. I love mine and it is so easy to make dishes that go good with rice. The only thing I use my microwave for is to reheat stuff I probably shouldn't be eating anyway!
As for your book, it's so hard to let people into your writing. I'm sure people would love to read some of your November project, but if you don't share it's understandable.
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