Hello Again

As what seems to happen in November...I tend to fall off the face of the Earth (in terms of blogging). I knew as much going into the month...but with work deadlines, Thanksgiving, and 2 USC home games to attend...this November has not been the best month for me to focus on a novel. So, at last count, my "novel" is a whopping 2,141 words. Hooray!

Incidentally, I could also argue that the loss of daylight savings time could play a part for November not being a good month. An entry in the Wikipedia states that, "The disruption in sleep patterns associated with setting clocks either forward or backward correlates with...lost productivity as sleep-disrupted workers adjust to the schedule change."

However, a co-worker of mine has decided to use December as his Novel Writing Month. So, I figured I might as well join him. Work quiets down a little as we near Christmas and New Year. Plus...there's one more day in December than in November. What happens if I don't make the 50k word quota by the end of the year? Well...we'll just cross that bridge if we come to it.

At A Stalemate

Between going to a reunion on Friday, a football game on Saturday (Fight On Trojans!), and church, choir rehearsal, & a musical today...I'm pooped. And alas...my word count remains the same. Let's hope next weekend is a little less busy, for novel-writing's sake. =P

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 1,590

The Seven Things Survey - Part II

Without further adieu...here is the rest of the "seven things" survey...

Seven things that scare you:
(some of these things creep me out rather than scare me)
1. furbies
2. Van Gogh paintings
3. certain types of rollercoasters
4. traffic in India & the Philippines
5. "bad" germs & bacteria
6. horror movies
7. Edgar Allen Poe stories and poems

Seven things you love:
1. God
2. my family
3. my friends
4. my sorority
5. my church
6. musical theatre
7. USC Football

Seven things you hate:
1. farmer tans
2. jet lag
3. different time zones
4. zucchini
5. cilantro
6. losing touch with friends
7. not sticking to your word

Seven random facts about you:
1. I went to 4 different elementary schools
2. 3,4,5 & 8 are my favorite numbers (don't know why)
3. sheep are my favorite animals
4. I have a fascination for gnomes
5. I have a collection of pressed pennies
6. I sleep pretty well on airplanes
7. I can move my right ankle bone

Seven things you can do:
1. I can see those 3-D picture things
2. play the flute
3. fold a paper crane
4. type 70 wpm
5. spend hours on the internet
6. count in binary
7. recite the Greek alphabet

Seven things you can't do:
1. harmonize
2. play guitar
3. swim
4. splits
5. ski
6. play by ear
7. knit

Seven songs people should listen to:
1. On My Own by Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg (from the musical Les Miserables)
2. Meadowlark by Stephen Schwartz (from the musical The Baker's Wife)
3. For Good by Stephen Schwartz (from the musical Wicked)
4. Mother India by Caedmon's Call (had to stick a non-musical in somewhere)
5. Some Things Are Meant To Be by Mindi Dickstein & Jason Howland (from the musical Little Women)
6. Loving You by Stephen Sondheim (from the musical Passion)
7. Seasons Of Love by Jonathan Larson (from the musical Rent)

Seven things that attract you to the opposite sex:
1. compassionate
2. has great empathy
3. good sense of humor
4. good singing voice
5. nice smile
6. eyes
7. intelligent conversation

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NaNoWriMo Word Count: 1,590

1/50 Of The Way There

So far, it's taking me about an hour to write every 500 words, give or take 10-20. With that in mind...it's going to take about 98 more hours this month for me to reach my goal of 50,000 words, not including potential writers block hours.

I'm thinking about plot and storyline a bit too much on this 30-day exercise. I should probably just invoke the stream of consciousness method, and write whatever comes out of my head at that present moment:

In psychology and philosophy stream of consciousness, introduced by William James, is the set of constantly changing inner thoughts and sensations which an individual has while conscious, used as a synonym for stream of thought.

Of course...I like being in control of my plots and characters...and I would like my story to be somewhat coherent. That would make it much easier to revise it in the future, if I mustered up enough energy to do so once November has come and gone. Ah well...I'm sure the closer we get to "turkey time", the less coherent my story will become. That is...if I'm still in the middle of writing it.

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 1,027

Another Year, Another Novel

Well...if you count the non-existent one from last year. I tried to write for NaNoWriMo in 2004...but I didn't get too far beyond what I had listed on day 2 - which was about 1500 words. I figure, if I can get beyond 2k this year...that's at least an improvement. My story line should be a little more coherent than what I attempted last year...so we'll see how close I get to the 50k goal.

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 495

Good luck to me and to everyone else attempting this great literary feat.