The end of Nano

Well, all...Nano's end is upon us. I've completed a little over 12K on my novel I started with them. Is that wonderful? Yep, a lot better than last year's fat 0!!!

I got pretty far in my story and hit a block I couldn't break through. So, I did what I've always done...started something else. Maybe I'll finish something someday!

There's a helluva cold snap going on here in the Texoma area. Driving to work this morning was challenging to say the least. I did find, however, that I missed snow a lot more than I'd thought I ever would. I don't miss shoveling it. Don't get me wrong. But I DO miss seeing it cover everything in a shiny glittering blanket. It's days like this I miss Alaska the most.

HTE and I are working on a collaboration together. I'm waiting for a dwarf to make an appearance then it's mine again. I'm very excited about this and can't WAIT to move forward. :-) It's novella length, so it's doable despite my "ooooh shiny" moments.

Well, my ms isn't writing itself.

To all...have a safe day and I hope your Christmas Shopping is almost done.

Working my WIPs

A collaboration in the works...HTE and I have decided the time has come. I have a fae murder mystery. It takes place in a world HTE has created...an alternate future. A few of his fantastic characters make cameos, but the story revolves around a woman, part fae, who witnessed a terrible crime. She's become the next target and has to choose between two roads. Should she run and assure her own safety and the safety of the man she loves, or remain with the one man who makes her feel safe, knowing that their lives, possibly their very souls could be forfeit?

Stay tuned. :-P

Happy Day Before Turkey Day

For my friends in the States, happy Turkey day. I probably won't be able to blog tomorrow. There will be lots of cooking between now and then, so I expect to be busy. I'm still writing, though not as much the last couple of days that I would have liked. It's been hectic.

Today HTE is getting ready to head this way for a doc appointment. He'll drop off the little guy and head to the doc. I'm pretending I don't notice his edginess. Doctors make both of us very nervous. :-)

To all, I'm out.

Weekend Wonder

This past weekend was fantabulous! Did I write? Yeah, some. Did I get some house cleaning done? Yeah, some. Did I do anything worth blogging about? YES.

WE TRIMMED THE TREE. Yep, that's right, we have our tree up EARLY!! Why? Because we wanted to. :-)

I also haven't had my tree up and decorated for three years in a row. Last year we were off to California. We had a blast, but HTE and I both missed having our own tree. The two years prior getting my ex to do anything even remotely family oriented was like pulling teeth. But that's another story.

Anyway, it's gorgeous and I hope HTE will put up some pics for you guys. I have to run.

Later. :-)

Chili bust

*sigh* The record is still held by the bragging lady of my previous post. My dearest HTE's chili was ONCE AGAIN completely gone (ie eaten!!!!!) yet he didn't place first. Maybe next year, love. His chili, btw, is one of the best chilis I've ever eaten. Hands down. Packed with delicious and well blended flavor, heat slowly increases as you eat it until you've eaten the entire bowl and realize you're sweating...fantastic.

Anyway, my chili never made it to the block. I needed a crock pot, it didn't show up until too late, so I couldn't heat it up in time for the judging.

They, apparently, want to do another fund raiser in a couple of weeks. Bring in some"crock-pot" creation so they can raise more money for the Christmas Party. The Chairperson or LIC (Lady in Charge) told me this with much enthusiasm. "How exciting! We asked them (the students) what they wanted 1. bake sale or 2. cooked lunch to buy. They said they wanted cooked lunch! Great, huh?" Umm, hang on a sec...let's do the math:

bake sale: I supplied 2 dozen chocolate chip cookies, 10 packages of russian tea cookies, and 16 graham cracker crusted mini pudding pies. cost: less than $20 The bakesale brought in $400 something. No I wasn't the only contributor, but I did contribute half the goods.

chili cookoff: 2 pots of chili (one of which wasn't sold). Total bowls contributed: 15. cost: almost $100. The cookoff brought in $262. The only contributor? No. Only one pot of 9.

So, no, not great. Am I thrilled? No. Will I give something? Yeah, Chips or sodas. I'm done cooking for the Christmas Party. Very done. I could have bought 12 tickets by now. Or, bought the two I need and have $100 toward possible babysitting cost. I got a thank you. That was something.

Maybe I'm grumpy about it...but when I've given this much, why WHY do you keep coming to me to give more? You're burning me out. Did I tell her that? No. I'm bringing chips or soda and that's it. Done for the rest of the year.

Update on NaNo...ummm, I have not been writing. I've been making chili instead. LOL.

To all, I'm out.

Of Chili and Chilly

Tomorrow I have to bring my chili in for a chili cookoff. I'm competing against a guy who suggested that women "may not" be chili cooks. He feels that most women make chili that tastes like it came out of a can. They just can't compete with guys.

Hmmm

*huge smile* I'm from Texas, ya'll. And if I know how to cook ANYTHING, it's chili. So I ask him, are we talking competition style red or what? He's all like, huh? LOL. Amateur. Okay, do we only have the appearance of meat and gravy (sauce) or are we going people's choice? He just stared at me. Poor guy.

Traditional Red Chili is defined by the International Chili Society as any kind of meat or combination of meats,cooked with red chili peppers, various spices and other ingredients, with the exception of BEANS and PASTA which are strictly forbidden. It is suggested that all ingredients other than meat be pureed so as not to take away from the purity of your chili (seriously people) and to aid in blending of spices and such throughout the entire dish.

People's choice chili is a more traditional chili that MUST have beans or pasta in it. It's a heartier and usually less fiery chili.

Traditional Verde chili is defined by the International Chili Society as the same as above, only use green chilis instead of red.

So, it appears we're going more people's choice. So, I'm going to pull out my verde and kick some butt tomorrow. I wonder if he'll know what hit him.

On another note...we have a returning female champion from last year. She placed, though not first. She's thrown down the gauntlet and said she'd beat everyone again. Am I worried? No. Do I think I'll win? It depends on where the judges are from. From the south, maybe, from the north, probably not. :-)

On the home front, little man is doing great, growing like a weed. :-) I'm teaching a new block and having a blast, and HTE is gearing up for the holidays. He's stocking our music for the season and just being wonderful! Today the wind is so strong it's tearing up the countryside. Gusts greater than 55mpH. How wonderful. I chased my cap this morning, right into the street. Not fun stuff. And the SUV took a helluva beating.

I hope it lets up soon.

Off to write some more NaNo.

Later!

O Happy Day

I'm having a wonderful time working on my NaNo WIP. For those who don't understand what that means...my National Novel Writing Month's Work in Progress. LOL. I haven't made it far, but I DID fix a rookie mistake.

For a while I wondered why I didn't like my WIPs. All the way back to Bound In Darkness...why didn't I enjoy reading them when I was done? I figured it out last night. Because I didn't write what I enjoy. I love snappy dialogue and a spunky female protagonist. Throw in some excellent sexual tension and an alpha male with an attitude and self confidence and I am usually happy. Of course, I HAVE to have a great storyline and strong movement. So what was I missing? A female with a backbone. I don't really know why. I have one. Very rarely have I ever "let" something in my life push me along. I have always made my own way, especially in relationships. If I had a need, I fixed it. If I wanted extra spending money, I got a second job. I never sat on the side and whined about what I didn't have and why the world ran me over or how someone used me.

If I was used, I made sure it never happened again. If I lied, I took the consequences. Honesty became my best policy b/c of that. LOL. So why was I writing females who let the world dictate what and who they should be? I don't know. Maybe I'm trying to stretch my fledgling writing wings or trying to understand. It doesn't really matter, though. I rewrote 15 pages of dialogue (not continuous pages) and redirected action sequences.

And suddenly, lo and behold, I loved my FP (female protagonist). She did and said some things that had me chuckling and I admired her self-confidence. Now I can't wait to see what she says and does. She's made some pretty incredible mistakes, but hey, confidence doesn't always mean correct. :-) So, if nothing else, NaNo forced me to look at the way I write. I am so thankful for that.

I have to run this morning, I have a lot of work ahead of me for the day.

Good luck all.

To all, I'm out.

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day. I know it's tomorrow, but we have parades today and tomorrow in honor. I just wanted to say: to all the people who serve and who have served whether it was two weeks to 30+ years...Thank you.

It's a hard thing leaving the life you know behind and taking up the responsibilities of a military member. Even harder when you've been sent to places you don't understand, for sometimes 3 to 4 years, cultures you'd never be comfortable in, and do it because your C-I-C says to. It's not easy, but you do it, or have done it.

About half of the population lives in their hometowns (or within a 100 mile radius). Of the remaining half, almost 75% of them never move from their state.

That says something for our military members right there.

So, once again. Happy Veteran’s Day. I hope you know you’re appreciated.

I’m out.

Wednesday???

So, I didn't make my 12.5K goal for the week, but I DID get a large part of the house clean, finished paperwork I'd been avoiding for months, learned a few new things about ventilators and anesthesia systems (what I'll be teaching on in a few months), decided on an educational direction, enrolled in a mentor program for officer training, helped HTE by taking the kiddie while he worked on his car, developed three outlines for new WIPs (yeah, yeah I know), developed a budget, coordinated leave, and caught up on all of my email.

Nothing like a writing deadline to make me complete all my other projects. Boy I tell ya...LOL. Anyway, broke 2K yesterday. Am smoking up the computer today. Already have over 500 words for the day. Unfortunately, I'm skipping around again, but hey...at least I'm getting it done.

Later all.

Still Truckin'

Still writing. I’ll update my word count tonight. It should be better than it has in the past week (hopefully at least double). We’ll see though. You know, Chris (the founder of NaNoWriMo) says that the first week is full of flowing words and crazy ideas. Both HTE and I have found the opposite to be true. We are both writing better in the second week than the first. Why? Who knows. We have a very similar writing style and I believe it works for us. Slow start, flowing middle, rough end. I know I’ll be changing my beginning at least a dozen times when I start editing. Until then, I’ve turned the letters red and let myself move on. According to the averages of NaNo…I should be at a little less than 12.5K. This morning I started out at less than 2K. Hmmm. I may need to push myself. *huge grin*

Later

Conspiracy

You ever have one of those days where everything in the world seems to conspire against you?

I have been thwarted at every turn to write today. From a freak rainstorm last night that prevented me from having extra time this morning, to a "oh you didn't know about the mandatory lunchtime meeting", followed by a mad lunch rush with mile long drive through waits, and don't forget a mandatory Physical Training formation after work that'll add another hour and a half to my already packed day. *sigh*

Why am I writing to my blog instead of my WIP? I left my USB drive at my desk. LOL.

:-)

I wonder if this counts toward my word count today.... LOL.

1582

In the year 1582 the Gregorian Calendar was put into practice...you know that wonderful idea that every four years should have an extra day...Shakespeare married Anne Hathoway...Japan had a massive revolution...and King James IV of Scotland was captured. Why is this an important number? Because it is my current word count. *sigh*

I need to write more. So...I'm pushing away from the shinies and trying to get some words down during my break.

To all, I'm out.

Sunday fun

Yes all...I'm still making my way through NaNo. Am I getting as much done as I'd like. No...but I AM having a great time doing it. All in all, that's the point, I'd say. Right now HTE and I are discussing who's procrastinating more. So far, I'm the winning procrastinator, but we'll see. *Huge grin*

Anyway, I have two more things to update today then I'll be free to write.

I'm out.

200 words

I wrote 200 words yesterday. Why only 200? Life interrupted like crazy. Now I'm doing what I can and writing up a storm. My blog'll be short so I can focus on NaNo. Have a great day all.

I'm out.

100 WORDS

100 words. I only completed ONE HUNDRED WORDS yesterday. *sigh* I'll have to work on it today. TGIF, people. I needed it.

So on the homefront, kenderkin is doing great. His baby wellness checkup is next week so we'll see how much the monster's grown. LOL. HTE is doing well. His frustrating writing day ended in completing several other projects he'd been stressing over, so all in all, not bad. Yesterday was unproductive for me, but his head is flowing with ideas.

I'm still optimistic about NaNo. So, we're getting a late start. Who cares, really. I mean, after all, when have HTE and I EVER done anything the easy way? We love a challenge. *huge grin*

On the work front...I've been extended yet another year. I'm not leaving this neck of the woods until 2009. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet, but it does mean that I have longer to stabilize. Kenderkin will be almost three and we'll have paid back some considerable debt. Other than that, I'm not really sure, except to say I'm SOOOO happy I've switched to teaching a different block. Another three years in my previous one would have killed me!

Anyway, back to the grind. Have a great day all. Good luck on day three!

I'm out.

NaNo...first day

Wow. Who'd a thunk it would have been this difficult to start a story. I never have trouble, but yesterday, I floundered. Not only did I flounder, but when I started the story, I kept jumping POV. I would jump from 1st person and 3rd person and back again. It was a rookie nightmare. I hope it gets better. *sigh*