NaNoWriMo, past and future attempts

I have NaNoWriMo on the brain.  I guess I am just psyching myself up for the upcoming start date.  I am thrilled to be doing this again, as it helps me get a story out that had seeded itself in my mind.  And it’s a great exercise, as well!!

I thought I would like to write a bit about my past, and possible future attempts at Nation Novel Writing Month.  So, here it is, for any and all to see.  A bit of my ups, and downs while writing 50,000 words.  The amount, more or less, in a short novel.

The first year I attempted, which was the only year I completed it, was 2007.  The whole year, and a bit of the year before, I had this odd story in my head.  It all started around Christmas 2006, as I can trace it back.

That year, I was pretty sick around Christmas time.  Christmas Eve, my sleep was plagued, a bit, by what I like to think of as fever dreams.  My dreams, then, were odd, and fairly vivid.

These dreams involved a young Japanese girl, who became my heroine named Mizuki, and warring factions of Japanese Yokai (a supernatural being).  The two factions were the Tengu and the Kappa.

My dream showed the young girl falling under attack by fearsome Kappa, only to have the Tengu come to her rescue.  The dream was basic, but, it laid the ground for a larger story.

Everyday for thirty days, I wrote of Mizuki and her friends and family.  Relationships became entwined, and grew apart.  Villains and heroes formed, and the story, for the most part, went in it’s own direction.  Things really did happen to these characters, that weren’t originally in my plans!

It was actually pretty magical, for the story to take shape on it’s own.  To me, NaNoWriMo was a novel idea (no pun intended).  It allowed a procrastinating amateur writer to actually get something done.  I was thrilled beyond belief when, on November 30th, I had written a bit over the 50,000 word goal!

2008 rolled around, and no story really seemed to plant it’s seed in my subconcious.  I knew I had many months to prepare, so I thought long and hard, but nothing really came up.

Sometime that Summer, though, I found myself (repeatedly) listening to Help! by The Beatles.  It was a favorite CD of mine to listen to while I did the dishes.  I noticed that the songs on the album, if rearranged a bit, created a story.

So, I had my idea.  The story didn’t have a real basis.  Not like the previous one did.  I had an outline which was made of the tracks of the album rearranged to make a story.

When the time came to start writing, he story flowed pretty well.  It was a love story (as some of the songs on Help! lent themselves well to that type), and the characters began to take on lives of their own.

However, as the month trudged on, it became harder and harder for me to form a good story.  I reached a dead-end.  It wasn’t writers block so much, as it was me losing interest in my own creation.

This year, my inspiration came from MANY odd encounters on the chat site Omegle.  I actually started writing the story not long after those encounters, but soon forgot about it.  I believe that was procrastination or the fact that I knew NaNoWriMo was not long in coming.

Well, when my computer died, and I lost all the files on it, I took it as a sign that I wasn’t meant to write that story until November brought NaNoWriMo to me.  A sad part of that whole affair is, though, that I lost the copies of my other attempts.

I always meant to revisit both of those stories, at some point, and do a lot of work on them.  However, that is no longer possible, so I am going to have to put my all into writing this new one.  Wish me luck!

Up-to-date blog. (Ranting ahead!)

Well, it has certainly been a long time since I blogged last.  It’s terrible that I haven’t kept up with this, and it makes me sad.  However, a lot has happened to keep me away from this blog, and none of it is good.  Well, maybe some of it might be, I don’t remember.

First things first, I am without a computer.  Well, not totally without, as the one downstairs–my sister’s–works just fine.  My own computer, a machine that has served me rather faithfully for nearly six years, died unexpectedly at the beginning of the month.

It’s been rough, especially since I had someone buy, and am still paying for, a new monitor.  But, that’s how it goes, I guess.  I should have seen it coming as I noticed, about a month before it died, that the CD ROM drive didn’t function any more.  It must have been a sign of what was to come.

Before it died, though, I did something very important!  I applied for classes at the local community college.  I wanted to do something to better myself, and thought Damn it!  Why not? All the financial aid paperwork has been filled out, and come back (with good award grants, I might add).  Now it’s just a matter of waiting for an official acceptance from the school.

I am still unemployed, though, and am quickly running out of funds.  I need to find work, and am hoping that the extra thirteen weeks of extended benefits that is being looked at comes through.  At least it would be something to carry me through the holidays, and into the Spring semester, when I should be starting classes.

To keep my mind occupied, though, I am easger awaiting the beginning of November.  I amgoing to do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, for short), again!  My story has already formed itself in my mind, so I cannot wait to start writing.  I might even do a daily/weekly blog about my experience.

All-in-all, that has been my life for the past couple months.  Mostly full of downs, but, there are some good things to hope for, in the near future.  I guess I’ll just have to play the waiting game.  To quote Homer Simpson, “The waiting game sucks.  Let’s play Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Welcoming an old friend to WordPress

I wrote a little bit about reconnecting with an old friend a few posts back. Ahhh, the power of FaceBook. Well, said old friend has now started her very own blog!

I’d like to welcome Charolotte aboard, and hope she enjoys her own little corner of the web that she has created. I plan to read what she has to say, and will do so!

Check out her blog at: http://charolotte.wordpress.com/

Mourning in the digital age–A Farker’s Farewell

Today I got some sad news.  A friend of mine who I met through Fark.com, as a TotalFarker, passed away yesterday in an automobile accident.  Obviously someone should mourn the passing of someone they knew and liked.  And I am doing so.

My issue with the whole thing is, how do you mourn someone you really didn’t know/never met physically?  I don’t want to do something…inadequate.  To me, writing this is helping me, by making me think of some of the many hilarious conversations we’ve had.

It also makes me feel a bit selfish, though.

I guess I will just say my piece about Thai, and leave it at that.

Thai Williams, known to me and others as his TotalFark handle Arelas, was someone that I talked with on a daily basis for an entire year’s time.  Now that I think back on it, he helped me feel comfortable at a job I didn’t really enjoy.

He didn’t do anything in particular, but, he was just there to talk to.  And that did help me trudge through.  I remember passing a day making a banner for a fictional Presidential Election in which Thai was named President.

It reads: “Vote Arelas for President in 2008.  The candidate with a vision (and the meds to clear it, eventually!).  I was known as Thai’s vice-president in those days.  It’s a position I will always cherish, since he kindly bestowed it upon me.

Though I wasn’t around in TotalFark for a long while, I still thought of Thai (and all the rest of my friends).  I am saddened, though, that I fell out of contact with him.  I wish his family and friends all the best.

I will miss you, my friend, and I will think of you when I see an alpaca!  Good-bye!

Blogger’s block

I am seriously suffering from blogger’s block–that’s writer’s block, but for bloggers.  I have been known to succumb to it occasionally, and I find it awful.  There are things I want to say here.  When it comes to writing them down and making it into something cohesive, however, I end up with bupkis!

I have been trying to write a blog (which you will someday see, I promise) unsuccessfully for a few days now.  I will sit, and find my stride–typing like a fiend, getting those ideas into words–and something seems to interrupt me.  That’s happened each time I  set to writing.

Yes, I know that there is a “save draft” feature, and I use it.  When I come back to the saved draft, though, the blog seems to have lost it’s…magic, I guess is a good word.  It doesn’t flow as well as it did when I originally started writing.  There’s no way for me to say it otherwise.

I guess this blog, in some way, was a good exercise for me to get those creative ideas working, again.  Hopefully it will manage to kick my mind’s arse, and make it work too.  We’ll see how that turns out.

Connectivity Issues…

Alright, so the ‘net is running at home.  Seemingly when it wants to, though.  I can connect and do a number of searches then…BAM!!  Disconnection.  For long stretches of time, too.  I called customer support for Verizon and they are watching the line for any errors that may–or may not–occur.  I guess we’ll see what they say when they call sometime this afternoon.  Wish me luck.  Or help me, if you know any reason this might be happening.

Back to the ‘Net!

This is just a quick post.  I seemed to have disappeared for some time, but, I am back!  I had to have my internet canceled for the better part of the last two months, but, I am back!  Yay!

A blog about old blogs

Still, my hand hovers over the “Add New” link in the dashboard.  For what I want to add is something that isn’t truly new.  I thought about this long and hard, and the decision always came out the same.  I had some- and I’d like to say this without sounding like I am tooting my own horn, here- good blogs over on the other space I used.

I don’t know if they are truly as good as I think they are, but, Dan likes them.  And he really is the audience I seem to be catering to.  I would like to give these blogs a new place, away from the horrors of the myspace.com “blog” section.  Especially this one, which was fairly recent.

After playing “Guitar Hero” last night, with my sister, it made me think of this blog.  And thinking of the blog made me want to post it.  Again.  In this shiny new space.  So I just might.  Maybe Saturday nights will be the time for oldies.  Oldies in blog form, of course.  And, maybe as I post it, it will take on a new life.

So you can think of it as a “special edition” blog.  With shiny new features, even!  The special effects won’t blow you away, but, they will be there.  That is, if I can think of anymore to add to it… or change in it.  Then again, new audiences won’t know what’s new unless they managed to read it before.  Ah well.  Here it goes.  The next post will be an old one.  I apologize to you, my loyal reader!