In brief

Happy Halloween to all!

This is going to be quick today, because the wi-fi is not working right where I’m posting. I’m very excited and also rather nervous about the start of NaNoWriMo tomorrow. I can hardly wait to begin, but first I have oodles of errands to run, a costume to put together, and a dance to go to.

Have a great night, and see you tomorrow!

Some theories I have

As I prepare for my NaNoWriMo adventure, I’m making some assumptions which will be tested by the month to come. The project’s unofficial bible is Chris Baty’s book No Plot, No Problem (2004). It contains many suggestions which seem very sensible, and at least a few that I plan to disregard, including the following: 

1. Baty suggests that during the month the writer should eat massive amounts of junk food and consume equally massive amounts of caffeine. That’s not going to work for me. I’ve learned the hard way that when I’m facing any sort of big challenge, I need to go in the opposite direction. Junk food and massive doses of caffeine only stress my body out. During the month, I’m going to have minimal caffeine and try not to eat junk. I followed this strategy during my college exams, and I found it helped a great deal.
2. The contract you sign with yourself when you start specifies that you will not read what you’ve already written from day to day and will certainly not revise. Again, my previous experience tells me that this is not the most effective plan. I understand the intent of it, and I will by no means feel compelled to read what I’ve written or revise as I go. When I was writing the last book, I found that reading over the previous day’s work and making small amendments helped to get me back into the flow of things. I write partly by sound, and I need to hear the rhythm of the words to get into sync.
3. Baty also absolves all challengers from housework and dishes throughout the month. I live by myself, and am not willing to suffer the cost or environmental destruction of disposable dinnerware. I also don’t think that a dirty house will help me write. Besides, I find dishwashing soothing. I plan to keep my apartment livable for the duration. (If I had a partner, though, I’d be happy to take him up on this idea!)

See you tomorrow!

Preparing for the challenge

Today is Wednesday, and I’m in countdown mode for NaNoWriMo. I believe I’ve mentioned it before, but in case you missed it, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. It’s a writing challenge, a dare, a collective push by thousands of people all over the world to each write 50,000 word novels during the month of November. I’m going to do it, and I’m doing it in one of the recommended ways, which is to not plan very much about what the novel is going to be, and just to write it. That plan worked for my first novel, so I think I’ll go with it again.

The blog will be a little different for the few days leading up to November and during the month. I’m going to focus my writing energies into getting the book done, so the blog will still be here, and will be posted every time I have access to wi-fi, but it won’t be as structured as I usually make it. I’m planning on mainly giving you a report from the trenches—one writer’s daily diary into the experience. I’ll include my daily and mounting word count, too, so you can see how far I’ve gotten. I’ve never done this before, so I’m not sure what will happen, but I plan to finish it in the month. I know I can do it.

See you tomorrow!

Ding dong the damsel’s dead

I killed another techno-damsel today and I couldn’t be more pleased. I’m sitting here at my computer, mentally dancing on her grave. If you read this blog regularly, you know how much I love to dance.

I finally figured out how to get a web badge into my sidebar, courtesy of a helpful article forwarded on by the helpful people at WordPress. If you need to figure it out, too, search for info on inserting an image into a sidebar (or comment on the blog and I’ll send you the link).

There was a time when I would have just let the issue drop, figuring that I could live without a web badge or that I could get someone else to help me do it. I like being able to learn these things myself. Don’t get me wrong—I don’t intend to become a computer expert, but I figure that a person should be able to do the small things for herself. I can fix a flat tire, I can assemble furniture, and now I can insert a web badge into my blog any time I want to. That’s good to know, because sometime during the month of November I intend to insert another badge showing that I have succeeded at the National Novel Writing Month challenge. Who knew that the first challenge would start before November and would have nothing to do with plot, pacing, or word selection? According to the rules, we are allowed to work on character development before the month begins, and I think I just added a little bit of polish to my own. It just goes to show that challenges often provide more benefits than the ones you expect.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it:

198. The next time you face a technical challenge, try to figure it out using your own resources. These may include reference manuals, online help, or an e-mail to a helpful support person. If you succeed, dance on the techno-damsel’s grave. She didn’t need a knight-in-shining armor after all.

And make plans to vote, too

I’m glad that I don’t have a television, and it’s partly because there are some things I don’t have an opportunity to watch. One of these things is the Late Late Show with host Craig Ferguson. I love this comedian, and if I had a TV I would be hard pressed to let a day go by without watching his program. As it is, I do the occasional search on YouTube for some recent monologues, and I get to enjoy them as a rare treat.

I also get to enjoy his comedy on another level, because Craig Ferguson is someone I admire. Much like John Stewart of the Daily Show, Craig Ferguson has made a name for himself as someone who uses his comedic talents and fame as a force for good. Besides, I love the Scottish accent.

I remember the first time I noticed this quality about Craig Ferguson. As a comic who does a lot of jokes about the news, he took a public stand against making fun of Britney Spears for her alcoholic behavior and drug abuse. I appreciate the fact that he decided to do his job in a joyful way instead of just going along with the common flow. His speech was touching, and I appreciated his personal story. I also think it was one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard about the difficult problem of alcoholism.

He most recently addressed the issue of why everyone should vote. I always vote, but I know many people who don’t. They see it as a game, something to use to poke fun at the system. Only a comedian like Craig Ferguson can explain how truly serious the whole thing is, and he understands this privilege in a special way. He recently became an American citizen. You may want to check out his work. I’ve attached two links.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it:

197. What can you do today to accomplish some sort of positive change in the universe where you live? Every action leads to others throughout the chain, and everyone has influence and the ability to influence the world. Do something today for the positive and pass it on.

Links, should you desire them:

“Ferguson speaks from the heart”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bbaRyDLMvA&feature=related

“If you don’t vote, you’re a moron”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdRVQ4xwwmQ&feature=related

More pervasive than Comic Sans

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of movies, and I saw another cool one this week. If you love geeks; if you love graphic design; if you want to know more about something that most likely pops up everywhere that you go; then see Helvetica (Gary Hustwit, 2007). Yes, it’s a documentary about a typeface, but it is so much more than that. Be ready to shift your perspective on the written word and the written world.

See you tomorrow!

Queen of the universe

Today I’m off to a free writing workshop given by the Seattle Public Libraries on Flash fiction. Flash fiction, also sometimes referred to as immediate fiction, is a term for very short stories. Since the stories are short, the whole plot must be contained in a small space, and the writing has got to be tight. The very brevity of the things makes them somehow both more and less intimidating than other fiction. I’m looking forward to the class and to the challenge.

By the way, you get two geek points if you know why the title relates to the content of the blog today. (I am geeky in so many ways that it makes perfect sense to me!)

See you tomorrow!

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off

I’ve been hard at work today transferring my individual blog entries into Mircrosoft Word files. I want to have a back-up copy, and I also want to be able to organize my daily posts for later writing projects. This effort has reminded me of the value of trying to start this sort of effort early.

My wonderful blog host, WordPress, has a back-up function, but as far as I can tell it won’t do what I want it to. This means that I have to open each post up in my blog editor and copy them one at a time. I’ve been at the project for hours and hours already, and I am finally halfway to completion. From this time forward, I’m going to save them daily into my own file. I just never thought about it before, and when I did, I thought I could just copy a whole bunch at once off the web. Au contraire.

I’ve learned a lot already from this blog. I pay closer attention to the world around me, looking for things to write about. I’ve gained practice as a writer, and the confidence to produce essays on a regular basis, with or without the help of the Muse. I’m also learning a lot about technology, about the great things it can do and the regrettable things it can’t. As I learn, I’m facing and expanding my own technological limits. I know the challenges are good for me, even as I sometimes want to shake my fist at the sky in a fit of helplessness.

This is, however, how lessons are learned. I learn by doing things the roundabout way, and I try to make things more efficient the next time. Meanwhile I’m slogging ahead and copying, copying, copying. Remembering that it doesn’t all have to be done today, I’m going to make another start on it tomorrow. I’ve been sitting in this chair for about four hours and I need to move about the universe before I freeze this way. It probably wouldn’t happen, but then again, I don’t want to tempt fate.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it:

196. Next time you’re frustrated because you realized you could have done something a better way, rejoice in your discovery instead of wallowing in your misery. Get the worst over with, and reward yourself with a small indulgence.

Act now

Yesterday I started the day feeling very stressed, so I decided I needed to take a mini-vacation. Since I had no set obligations for the day, I decided to let go of things I could do later, like the blog and some housework. Then I set about having a fun-filled time without spending oodles of money.

I started the morning with a leisurely pot of tea before venturing out. The weather was just perfect—crisp enough to make everything feel fresh, but otherwise warm and sunny. The air was full of the maple-syrup decaying sugar scent of fall. I even detected some wood smoke.

First I went to Sephora, and gave myself a mini-makeover. Sephora is a chain cosmetics shop, and the whole place is set up as a sampling extravaganza. I ended up with pinky-peach cheeks, raspberry-burst lips with a mango glaze, and Sunrise eyes. My fragrance of the morning was Yves Saint Laurent for Men, clean and crisp as the fall itself. The trendy sales woman who gave me the sample kept calling it YSL. I guess the acronym is supposed to make it smell even better. I had lots of fun putting on my new paint, and I didn’t spend a dime. I buy certain essentials at Sephora, so I never feel bad about an occasional sample day, and the store encourages it.

I wanted to go somewhere, so I decided to take a ferry to Bremerton. I love taking ferry rides. The ride is fairly inexpensive, because plenty of people in Seattle commute to and from work on the boats. If you go to Bremerton instead of Bainbridge Island, you get twice as long a ride for the same cost and I find some of the scenery even prettier. Once on the ferry I relaxed with a cup of smoked Japanese tea that I had bought in the terminal. Out on the water the air was full of the amazing salty smell that arises from the ocean. I find the scent very calming, and I watched the seagulls as they accompanied our boat to its destination. Once there, I had an ice cream cone before the trip back.

I spent the rest of the day at home, reading and putting my feet up. By the time I went to bed, I felt completely restored. Ah, vacation.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it:

195. When was the last time you took the day off completely? Isn’t it time for some sort of vacation? Take one today, or pencil it in at the soonest possible time.

Look Ma, I made a picture

See this little picture? Cute, right? It’s a web badge for National Novel Writing Month, and I can’t figure out how in the heck to get it into my sidebar. A lot of the help on this is in computer-ese or doesn’t tell me how to get it in the sidebar. But I got it here, after about an hour, and I feel very proud of myself, as I don’t know a lot about the technical aspects of computers. I am rejoicing! (and I’m still going to try to put it where it belongs).