November: Thank Goddess It's Over

I don't know.  I actually really enjoy November, for the most part.  And I think I'm getting better at this whole writing-a-novel-in-a-month thing, kinda the way I kept getting faster during each successive word war or sprint.  At least, this year's novel-in-a-month has a lot of potential, I think.  It needs some editing, but I think I actually finished the story.  Which is way cool.  Lifechanger took a year to write, because I hadn't finished it during November, and I didn't touch it again until the next November.  So, this is an improvement.

But still.  I basically dropped my webcomic (I'm compiling a list in my head: next year, build a month-long buffer, buy enough canned foods for the month, make sure my laundry's as done as possible, etc.... ), and I need to start that again.  (Tomorrow, when I watch Dr. Who, is a great time to draw.)
The house needs some serious cleaning; there are only clean clothes because I talked my husband into taking clothes to the laundromat for me, so we could have clean clothes, and I could catch up on my novel; the sink is full of dishes ... well, there's a lot to get done.
Starting with sleep.

But anyway, I wanted to just state, for the record, that I am ending the month with 50,183 words, having spent 34 hours writing.  It's been a good month.  

broken girl

Hey, I'm writing!
It's crazy, I know. It's November, which means I'm busily working on a novel, and, as a rule, I only update Facebook in November, and that's mostly just word count.
Also, I'm sick, which means I should be drinking orange juice and sipping tea and eating soup all day long, from the comfort of my bed, right?
Well, I have had both orange juice and soup, I've got some tea right in front of me, and I've been in bed a lot of the day. But I also wrote over 2,250 words today, and I watched an episode of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne (one of my favorite animes) with DP (before a short nap).
Now I'm up, because I'm drinking more tea, and I'm looking at--and being inspired by--a friend's blog. (See it through this elegant and finely-crafted link.)
So, I'm inspired to write in my blog. I don't think I can do multiple daily updates, but maybe I can do multiple weekly updates?
Maybe?

So, NaNo update, since I'm here:
Finished all the Changeling stories, yay! The last one's a bit short, but once I can slow down some, I'll be able to flesh it out.
I find that when I'm able to write slowly, my first drafts are not very rough, because I'm taking at least a year to write a long story. But when I'm writing a story in a matter of days, it's very rough, and I'm interested in finding out how long the first revision process will take.
I started Lifechanger today, or rather, I started finishing Lifechanger today. It's last year's NaNo, and I'm actually very proud of it, because I basically took MANY threads my brain was chewing on around that time and wove it together into a complex novel with an interesting storyline. (Especially once I figure out what role the mother plays ... )
And it's not proving that hard to get back into it, even with Changeling making my brain all twisted and dark and scary ... yes, just as though it weren't already.

Oh, and I've hit the halfway mark. Go me!

November is Here!

Holy Rusted Metal, Batman!
The first week of November is drawing to a close, and my, has it been nuts!
Hallowe'en was a GOOD day, filled with sewing and friends and feasting and serious emotion. THEN, instead of writing frantically on November 1st, or even going to game, as it was a Sunday, I spent The Entire Day sewing, because I had a concert to go to. And not just any concert: Emilie Autumn was in town, boys and girls.
It was amazing. I made a corset, bloomers, etc. I bought boots that kick ass. (I have pictures of all of this, but alas, my computer refuses to recognize my camera, and thus will not upload the pictures yet.) The show itself was an insane steampunk Victorian burlesque nightmare, with stiltwalker, fire-eating, flaming hula hoops and lots of blood. Also, I met EA before and after the show; just for a minute before the show, as Emilie Autumn was leaving her tour bus to go into the venue. She greeted each of us, and hugged us and gave us each a kiss, and she is just adorable. After the show was an exclusive reading (of her book about bipolar disorder and institutionalization, both modern and Victorian), as well as an opportunity to get a picture with her and get something signed. I gave her a rat that I had knitted, and I got hugs from EA, Naughty Veronica and Captain Maggots (both members of the Bloody Crumpets, her backup singers/dancers). It was all just delightfully wonderful.
I spent the next several days recovering.
Today I finally sat down and did some serious work on my National Novel Writing Month novel. I have written 3000 words in total so far; if I had been writing 1667 every day like I was supposed to, I'd have about 10,000 so far. Alas. But I plan on writing like a mad girl to catch up.
I was unfortunately unable to watch V for Vendetta yesterday (I was still recovering) like I wanted, but I watched it today, and it was delightful as always.
It also made me think of the time a few years ago when I shaved my hair. I've been thinking I should do that again. There are multiple reasons; the one I usually share is the one to do with the stereotypical view of feminine beauty, and how it usually involves long hair (speaking of, I can put my hair in a ponytail now!), and the fact that my hair doesn't look very good long, at least in my opinion. I did want to prove to myself that I could be beautiful without long hair.
But for Samhain (which aside from the feasting I completely forgot about), I have a tradition of drawing a card which informs my magickal/personal processes for the coming year. This year I wanted to just choose the card, because I want the Tower. There are reasons, and if you want to know, ask, and we can discuss it.
But I think that shaving my hair--a symbolic beheading--is appropriate magickal work for the Tower. So we'll see. I'd prefer to borrow a beard-trimmer to do the work: anyone who reads this have one I could borrow?

Anyway, I believe this is an adequate telling of recent events, and I have to work at 6am tomorrow. So, love you all, talk to you later.

One more Christmas update ...

Because I totally forgot!
Apparently, my Grandma knows Stephanie Meyer (who wrote Twilight), and Grandpa said that when I finish editing, etc., my novel, they can ask Stephanie Meyer for her agent's contact info, and that would be a serious networking leap for me.
So, I'm pretty much going to start on it as soon as I get back from my family's house.

The problem is ... while I was writing, I didn't have as much of a problem with it, because I was seriously just in the "write and don't worry about it" zone, but now ... I am seriously wondering if it's worthwhile at all. Blah.

Anyway, I love you all!!

BIG FUN SCARY

The Office of Letters and Light (NaNoWriMo) presents:
The Year of Doing Big, Fun, Scary Things Together
Chris Baty says: "The Big, Fun, Scary Adventure Challenge works like this: All of us come up with a list of things that we've long dreamed about doing, making, or being. These can be hard-nosed acts of practical skill-acquisition, such as becoming a ninja and learning to kill people with one's eyebrows. Or they can be fantastical notions such as going back to school and getting a degree in business administration."
So, I'm picking out some goals, and listing them here, under the headings of Big, Fun, or Scary. Feel free to comment with your own BFS goals. I'm also going to try to keep up with my progress and stuff. I've got a lot.

BIG:
-rewrite, revise and edit my 2008 NaNo novel
-win NaNo 2009!
-get furniture (a real bed, or at least a futon, instead of mattresses on the floor, maybe more shelves, a better computer desk, etc.)
-find a way to live a life I like better than the one I have (no matter what) (I stole this word-for-word from someone else. More specifically, for me: while it's partly about improving my life in some way (getting a better job than what I've been having, or improving my surroundings somehow), it's also about being more happy with life as I know it, finding things to be grateful for or happy about ... more joy and more peace)
-spend time at/create a women's retreat (We'Moon has something)

FUN:
-sew a new wardrobe for myself
-write every day (or at least sit down in front of the computer, or work on ideas, or something writerly)
-learn violin
-learn to do fancy stuff with knitting
-finish the poetry CD project I started this year (this means finding someone who has recording equipment ... I was borrowing my sister's GarageBand, but then I moved)

SCARY:
-get a gods-damned job!
-sell artwork! in a gallery! (or a cafe, or something like that)

Love you all!

Still Somewhat Depressed

But not so lonely. That's fine. Depressed is pretty much par for the course, for me. So I'm all good, there.
I'm also at the place that I predicted in my last update: my story is done, and my words have not yet run out. I mean, it's not done-done, there's wrapping up stuff to accomplish, but I can't write that right now.
On the plus side, I seem to averaging about 3,000 words a day, for the past little while, which means I don't have to push myself too hard to get to 50,000 by Sunday, or even Saturday. (Saturday is preferable, because that means I can play on Sunday.)
I'm running low on inspiration, though. I dunno, I've been like that all month; NaNoWriMo predicts certain times of elation and certain times of frustration and dragging feet (Week One is awesome, Week Two is hard, etc.). But I've had an awful slog the whole month, except for the 15th, on which I wrote 6.5K in one day. That was cool. Lots of shit happened.

Anyway. Still depressed, like I said. So this will be short, and I'll try to force myself to write some more. My goal for the day was to hit 40,000, which is about 6,700 words, but if I write just a little more, I can get 4,000 words today, which would be decent.

Sorry I'm so focused on my novel. Next month, I swear, I'll talk about something else.
I love you all.