Friday, December 01, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
I WON!!! Woohooo!!!
Stayed up ALL night on Sunday, wrote 12,000 words, and went to sleep at 9:30 in the morning Monday as the proud completer of a 50,050 word novel. Still have enough editing to take out a rhino, but I think I can make it through. And for some horrific reason unbenownst to man or myself, I have not yet posted up the link to my profile so that the world can revel in the magnificence of my glorious blue bar (not to mention an excerpt about ninjas).
Here goes: http://www.nanowrimo.org/userinfo.php?uid=120766
Oh yes, and here's my latest sentence. A winner, if I may say so myself.
Stayed up ALL night on Sunday, wrote 12,000 words, and went to sleep at 9:30 in the morning Monday as the proud completer of a 50,050 word novel. Still have enough editing to take out a rhino, but I think I can make it through. And for some horrific reason unbenownst to man or myself, I have not yet posted up the link to my profile so that the world can revel in the magnificence of my glorious blue bar (not to mention an excerpt about ninjas).
Here goes: http://www.nanowrimo.org/userinfo.php?uid=120766
Oh yes, and here's my latest sentence. A winner, if I may say so myself.
"The crisp autumn air hit her like a package of meat."
I couldn't have said it better myself...Sunday, November 26, 2006
I have again been a bit of a slacker in keeping the countries of the world informed on the novel writing front. However, last night I stopped writing at 38,951 words, leaving me just shy of 39,000 words exactly, by 49 words to be precise. My father challenged me to write a sentence of exactly 49 words, thus putting me exactly at the 39,000 mark. Here's the sentence, and yes it's 49 words so you don't need to waste your time counting:
"Patrick walked through the lobby, shiny black shoes on polished stone floor, to the elevator at the other end, where another snazzy coated white gloved man stood looking rather like he had just walked out of an Edward Gorey book and was missing only a monocle in his eye."
The only part I lament is that I sadly had to cut out the word stoutly, which was in there somewhere... I don't even know where anymore, but I like the word stoutly. Too bad.
"Patrick walked through the lobby, shiny black shoes on polished stone floor, to the elevator at the other end, where another snazzy coated white gloved man stood looking rather like he had just walked out of an Edward Gorey book and was missing only a monocle in his eye."
The only part I lament is that I sadly had to cut out the word stoutly, which was in there somewhere... I don't even know where anymore, but I like the word stoutly. Too bad.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
Epic Tales from the Front Lines of NaNoWriMo 2006
I set out on this month's journey beginning with a character based upon myself, putting her in my life, and starting with events exactly as they happened to me. I intended to break off along the first tangent that presented itself. It soon became clear, however, that no such tangent was doing anything of the sort. I was simply increasing my word count further and further with an accurate depictment of my life (that is, if my name were Sarah). Beginning to feel a bit panicky, I wrote the following letter:
Dear Plot,
Will you please grow a backbone? I did not offer you my entire life story for you to leech onto. Just one, simple, personal issue. You have now taken more than your share of my life and mind, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would find your own path. I do not create weak plotlings that follow in everybody else's footsteps, thank you very much. Now get Sarah out of MY grandmother's apartment and into somewhere interesting where SHE belongs or I'm going to have to let my inner editor decide what to do with you.
Trying to remain civil,
Your Mother
Astonishingly enough, when I returned to my work the next day, Sarah immediately got out of my grandmother's apartment - in fact she even ran away, excitingly enough - and off to much more interesting things of which I was not a part, thankfully. However, it then became apparent that although my plot had indeed found its own voice, it was NOT a voice I wanted to hear. Out of my grandmother's apartment turned out to be into a cafe where she did nothing other than meet a cute Irish guy for whom she hasn't stopped swooning since. This was CERTAINLY not something I had in mind, so once again I wrote a letter explaining to my plot just what I thought of it's idea of a turn of events:
Dear Plot,
Alright, I have to hand it to you. I told you to give yourself a good kick in the pants and get moving, and you did. Congratulations on that, I commend you and I appreciate it greatly.
However...
I do NOT write chick lit for crying out loud! When I sent you out of my life to go find your own voice, I meant something that I, your author, might actually enjoy! I am not amused by an MC who is based upon yours truly having nothing better to think about than some cute Irish guy she met in a cafe, kapiche?
Now lets get some action around here or I'm gonna have to blow up her plane, and we BOTH know how detrimental that would be to the storyline.
Thank you,
Your Mother
Miraculously, my plot once again listened. I was given a storyline, an actual storyline to work with, something that may actually be salvageable into something half decent, given several months of editing. I was so impressed by my little plotling I just had to write another letter:
Dear Plot,
You're the greatest. I've written you two angry letters so far and each time you have not failed to whip yourself into shape right away. I wish I could give you a present or something, but I'm not quite sure how to go about that. Let me know if you'd like any explosions or anything and I'll see what I can do.
Much love,
Your Mother.
Nevertheless I soon came to find that EVEN with a half decent plot laid out in front of me, the whole thing was still sounding rather pansy. Only 15 pages in and probably two thirds of it has been spent in cafes, and this Irish guy is still popping up too often for anyone's good. Feeling useless once again, I wrote the following letters:
Dear NaNoWriMo Forums,
You are seriously damaging to my word count. Is there any way you can please not be so distracting? I'm still about 1500 words short of catching up to today's quota, so if you could just disappear entirely and let me finish, that would be great.
Distractedly,
Captain Hook
P.S. Don't even THINK about mentioning the irony of this letter...
Dear Cast of Characters,
I would like to give all of you a swift kick in the pants. Grow a grain of sense, will you?
Irritatedly,
Your Mother
Dear Plot,
We've been through this a million times now, and I know you're doing a much better job of giving me an actual story line to work with, but GET OUT OF THE EFFING CAFE'S WILL YOU? Ceaseless conversations over tea and coffee do NOT constitute action!
Getting impatient,
Your Mother
I soon left to finish my banis and other miscellaneous meditations, during which I had an epiphany about how good my potential plot might actually be able to become given the proper effort and editing time. I was reinspired and returned to my document with an iron will. No sooner had I typed three sentences, however, when I suddenly realized to my utter horror that we were back in my life! My character was suddenly planning a trip through Europe with none other than a friend based on Sierra herself! How did this happen?? Will somebody please grow some sanity around here??
I set out on this month's journey beginning with a character based upon myself, putting her in my life, and starting with events exactly as they happened to me. I intended to break off along the first tangent that presented itself. It soon became clear, however, that no such tangent was doing anything of the sort. I was simply increasing my word count further and further with an accurate depictment of my life (that is, if my name were Sarah). Beginning to feel a bit panicky, I wrote the following letter:
Dear Plot,
Will you please grow a backbone? I did not offer you my entire life story for you to leech onto. Just one, simple, personal issue. You have now taken more than your share of my life and mind, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would find your own path. I do not create weak plotlings that follow in everybody else's footsteps, thank you very much. Now get Sarah out of MY grandmother's apartment and into somewhere interesting where SHE belongs or I'm going to have to let my inner editor decide what to do with you.
Trying to remain civil,
Your Mother
Astonishingly enough, when I returned to my work the next day, Sarah immediately got out of my grandmother's apartment - in fact she even ran away, excitingly enough - and off to much more interesting things of which I was not a part, thankfully. However, it then became apparent that although my plot had indeed found its own voice, it was NOT a voice I wanted to hear. Out of my grandmother's apartment turned out to be into a cafe where she did nothing other than meet a cute Irish guy for whom she hasn't stopped swooning since. This was CERTAINLY not something I had in mind, so once again I wrote a letter explaining to my plot just what I thought of it's idea of a turn of events:
Dear Plot,
Alright, I have to hand it to you. I told you to give yourself a good kick in the pants and get moving, and you did. Congratulations on that, I commend you and I appreciate it greatly.
However...
I do NOT write chick lit for crying out loud! When I sent you out of my life to go find your own voice, I meant something that I, your author, might actually enjoy! I am not amused by an MC who is based upon yours truly having nothing better to think about than some cute Irish guy she met in a cafe, kapiche?
Now lets get some action around here or I'm gonna have to blow up her plane, and we BOTH know how detrimental that would be to the storyline.
Thank you,
Your Mother
Miraculously, my plot once again listened. I was given a storyline, an actual storyline to work with, something that may actually be salvageable into something half decent, given several months of editing. I was so impressed by my little plotling I just had to write another letter:
Dear Plot,
You're the greatest. I've written you two angry letters so far and each time you have not failed to whip yourself into shape right away. I wish I could give you a present or something, but I'm not quite sure how to go about that. Let me know if you'd like any explosions or anything and I'll see what I can do.
Much love,
Your Mother.
Nevertheless I soon came to find that EVEN with a half decent plot laid out in front of me, the whole thing was still sounding rather pansy. Only 15 pages in and probably two thirds of it has been spent in cafes, and this Irish guy is still popping up too often for anyone's good. Feeling useless once again, I wrote the following letters:
Dear NaNoWriMo Forums,
You are seriously damaging to my word count. Is there any way you can please not be so distracting? I'm still about 1500 words short of catching up to today's quota, so if you could just disappear entirely and let me finish, that would be great.
Distractedly,
Captain Hook
P.S. Don't even THINK about mentioning the irony of this letter...
Dear Cast of Characters,
I would like to give all of you a swift kick in the pants. Grow a grain of sense, will you?
Irritatedly,
Your Mother
Dear Plot,
We've been through this a million times now, and I know you're doing a much better job of giving me an actual story line to work with, but GET OUT OF THE EFFING CAFE'S WILL YOU? Ceaseless conversations over tea and coffee do NOT constitute action!
Getting impatient,
Your Mother
I soon left to finish my banis and other miscellaneous meditations, during which I had an epiphany about how good my potential plot might actually be able to become given the proper effort and editing time. I was reinspired and returned to my document with an iron will. No sooner had I typed three sentences, however, when I suddenly realized to my utter horror that we were back in my life! My character was suddenly planning a trip through Europe with none other than a friend based on Sierra herself! How did this happen?? Will somebody please grow some sanity around here??
Friday, November 03, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
I've been slacking on my duties. I've already been traveling for over three weeks and have not once updated the clamoring populous on my glorious adventures. Since i've slacked for too long and have too much to write about to fit into a less-than-obscene length of blog, I will now proceed to catalogue the highlights in order of appearance.
1. Jeez, I can't remember back that far. Ok, ok, ok.
2. Packing until like 4 in the morning the night before I left. Way to go. Yeah, planning ahead totally went out of fashion like last century.
3. A museum exhibit on sustainable architecture that made me truly consider switching majors. Still considering that one.
4. Super drama.
5. Aftermath of super drama. (A continuous occurance)
6. Danish relatives. Those guys are freaking awesome. I can't wait to go to Denmark. Maybe I'll never come back.
7. Walking all the way from Arlington cemetery to the Capitol. With a modern art detour in the middle, including the greatest painting I've ever seen maybe. Also including the book entitled "Boring Postcards: USA". A truly entertaining piece of literature I must say. Not literature I guess. I mean who would think to send such horribly dull photographs to loved ones and relatives across the country? I'd be mildly insulted to recieve such a piece of mail. Or maybe I'd chuckle heartily. It's difficult to say. It might depend on whether it was sent by Daniel or not.
8. The American Bakery Expo. One of those things that if I passed a sign for it in a convention center I'd probably wonder vaguely to myself in passing who actually attends the American Bakery Expo. Well now I know. Me. Pretty cool though. Learned some awesome chocolate techniques that I'm gonna bust out on everybody as soon as I get home to the chocolate.
9. Philadelphia. Reaching the level of "critical mass" as far as historical info goes. You're lucky I didn't combust. Or unlucky if you'd have preferred that. Each to his own.
10. Walking around the Princeton campus with a Stanford sweatshirt on. Hehehe.... That was really funny actually.
11. New York City!! I love that place.
12. Ok, you know that New York cheesecake that's supposedly all famous? For all you skeptics out there, no it's not overrated. That cheesecake was the most incredible wedge-shaped food I've ever eaten.
13. Staying in a hotel IN times square.
14. Another architecture exhibit in the Guggenheim that only served to strengthen my resolve.
15. Broadway! WICKED! Absolutely amazing! The costumes! The music! The set! The show! Woohoo!
16. The Met with IVI!!
17. A personal meeting with author Tamora Pierce.
18. That meeting taking place in a bookstore that was ENTIRELY kids books. Picture books EVERYWHERE. I almost died I was so excited.
19. Visiting Emmanuelle at Bard. I was SO happy to be here I can't even tell you.
20. Possibly the best meal of my entire life. Warm figs stuffed with blue cheese over baby greens and sliced grapes in a balsamic vinaigrette garnished with crushed hazelnuts. If that doesn't sound good to you its just because I haven't described it correctly. Oh my freaking god. Dessert: chocolate creme brelee with fresh raspberry sorbet, a chocolate ball thingy that was really intense and good but I don't know what to call it, and a crispy chocolate thing that I also don't know what to call, but it made the whole thing look all classy like it walked straight out of Gourmet magazine. And tasted like it too. All in the bustling metropolis (not!) of Rhinebeck, NY. Whoda thunkit...
21. Man bashing. Woot.
And now i'm still at Bard trying to figure out how to stretch my trip to the longest possible length without jeopardizing things like NaNoWriMo.... Pretty awesome here. I mean I'm in Emmanuelle's dorm, how can I complain?
So that in a nutshell is a few tiny fragments of my trip strategically described so as to make them sound as dull as possible, thereby wasting more of your time than necessary. There was WAY more than that and the things I did put on there were MUCH more exciting, but heck. I don't have time for this, and neither do you.
1. Jeez, I can't remember back that far. Ok, ok, ok.
2. Packing until like 4 in the morning the night before I left. Way to go. Yeah, planning ahead totally went out of fashion like last century.
3. A museum exhibit on sustainable architecture that made me truly consider switching majors. Still considering that one.
4. Super drama.
5. Aftermath of super drama. (A continuous occurance)
6. Danish relatives. Those guys are freaking awesome. I can't wait to go to Denmark. Maybe I'll never come back.
7. Walking all the way from Arlington cemetery to the Capitol. With a modern art detour in the middle, including the greatest painting I've ever seen maybe. Also including the book entitled "Boring Postcards: USA". A truly entertaining piece of literature I must say. Not literature I guess. I mean who would think to send such horribly dull photographs to loved ones and relatives across the country? I'd be mildly insulted to recieve such a piece of mail. Or maybe I'd chuckle heartily. It's difficult to say. It might depend on whether it was sent by Daniel or not.
8. The American Bakery Expo. One of those things that if I passed a sign for it in a convention center I'd probably wonder vaguely to myself in passing who actually attends the American Bakery Expo. Well now I know. Me. Pretty cool though. Learned some awesome chocolate techniques that I'm gonna bust out on everybody as soon as I get home to the chocolate.
9. Philadelphia. Reaching the level of "critical mass" as far as historical info goes. You're lucky I didn't combust. Or unlucky if you'd have preferred that. Each to his own.
10. Walking around the Princeton campus with a Stanford sweatshirt on. Hehehe.... That was really funny actually.
11. New York City!! I love that place.
12. Ok, you know that New York cheesecake that's supposedly all famous? For all you skeptics out there, no it's not overrated. That cheesecake was the most incredible wedge-shaped food I've ever eaten.
13. Staying in a hotel IN times square.
14. Another architecture exhibit in the Guggenheim that only served to strengthen my resolve.
15. Broadway! WICKED! Absolutely amazing! The costumes! The music! The set! The show! Woohoo!
16. The Met with IVI!!
17. A personal meeting with author Tamora Pierce.
18. That meeting taking place in a bookstore that was ENTIRELY kids books. Picture books EVERYWHERE. I almost died I was so excited.
19. Visiting Emmanuelle at Bard. I was SO happy to be here I can't even tell you.
20. Possibly the best meal of my entire life. Warm figs stuffed with blue cheese over baby greens and sliced grapes in a balsamic vinaigrette garnished with crushed hazelnuts. If that doesn't sound good to you its just because I haven't described it correctly. Oh my freaking god. Dessert: chocolate creme brelee with fresh raspberry sorbet, a chocolate ball thingy that was really intense and good but I don't know what to call it, and a crispy chocolate thing that I also don't know what to call, but it made the whole thing look all classy like it walked straight out of Gourmet magazine. And tasted like it too. All in the bustling metropolis (not!) of Rhinebeck, NY. Whoda thunkit...
21. Man bashing. Woot.
And now i'm still at Bard trying to figure out how to stretch my trip to the longest possible length without jeopardizing things like NaNoWriMo.... Pretty awesome here. I mean I'm in Emmanuelle's dorm, how can I complain?
So that in a nutshell is a few tiny fragments of my trip strategically described so as to make them sound as dull as possible, thereby wasting more of your time than necessary. There was WAY more than that and the things I did put on there were MUCH more exciting, but heck. I don't have time for this, and neither do you.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
So I'd had plans to create a blog once I went away on my travels so everybody could keep up to date on my absolutely fascinating travel stories (ha!). But then one day my dad calls me over and shows me the subject headings of his bulk mail. And the blog just couldn't wait.
This is a poem I created from those subject headings. Actually, I can't take very much credit for it, since I didn't do ANYTHING except copy them down in the order they showed up in. I have neither added nor subtracted anything. Maybe some day I'll do another one with some conjunctions and things to make it coherent. But I found this pretty hilarious just in pristine original form. So here goes:
township
systematically
reluctant agonize
inconclusively
injured
Korean
optical illusion
special
game show
delay habitual
encore councilor
child Latino
pact
trousers decoration
parity foolishness
packet
flow nighttime
whenever
exaggerated front man
undressed respective
crow
rapprochement vertical
spin-off
half-baked
comic
socialite square
slack
houseboat
pare amuse
switch grove
blast furnace
tumultuous
turnaround blurb
disastrously
midweek underpass
Cabinet fledgling
who'd
credit limit alcohol
malnourished
reincarnate proper
wise guy trespasser
glib hypochondria
passage ethnic
dissect comet
hurdle hurl
Well, I hope that was as entertaining for you as it was for me (but I kinda doubt it). I swear that's exactly how they came. Each line is a subject heading from my father's bulk mail inbox. And the messages get even weirder if you open them up. I wish I got junk mail like that...
This is a poem I created from those subject headings. Actually, I can't take very much credit for it, since I didn't do ANYTHING except copy them down in the order they showed up in. I have neither added nor subtracted anything. Maybe some day I'll do another one with some conjunctions and things to make it coherent. But I found this pretty hilarious just in pristine original form. So here goes:
township
systematically
reluctant agonize
inconclusively
injured
Korean
optical illusion
special
game show
delay habitual
encore councilor
child Latino
pact
trousers decoration
parity foolishness
packet
flow nighttime
whenever
exaggerated front man
undressed respective
crow
rapprochement vertical
spin-off
half-baked
comic
socialite square
slack
houseboat
pare amuse
switch grove
blast furnace
tumultuous
turnaround blurb
disastrously
midweek underpass
Cabinet fledgling
who'd
credit limit alcohol
malnourished
reincarnate proper
wise guy trespasser
glib hypochondria
passage ethnic
dissect comet
hurdle hurl
Well, I hope that was as entertaining for you as it was for me (but I kinda doubt it). I swear that's exactly how they came. Each line is a subject heading from my father's bulk mail inbox. And the messages get even weirder if you open them up. I wish I got junk mail like that...
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