Monday, December 7, 2009

Rainy Day in December

I've been trying to figure out my mood today. I woke up to the sound of rain in my backyard. Which doesn't sound all that amazing until I point out we haven't had rain of any quantity in maybe six months. Even with the rain the birds were still singing in the tree outside my window. I hadn't expected rain so my boyfriend had to make a quick dash out to the patio to put the flintknapping tool bucket out of harms way. Everything in there will have to be dried out later. But for now he just pushed it under the patio table out of the rain.

My plans to go to the post office and library flew out the window as my old truck doesn't have windshield wipers so I don't drive it in the rain. My boyfriend had an appointment at the beach with a photographer so I find myself home all alone. Too sick to go out, too bored to stay in, you know the drill.

So I read my library book, the Trouble With Magic, for a while, but I found I was dozing off. So I signed on to upload 4 days of daily self portraits. I do take them every day, but I don't necessarily get around to uploading them to the Flickr group every day. When I am sick and bored, it's not much fun doing self portraits, but it's real. It's tempting to skip those days. But the whole point of 'a daily self portrait' is to see the depth of who you are, not just what you look like when you are dressed up and presentable and going out to a party. And sometimes I hate the way I look at the moment of taking it, but months later when I look back on it, it's not so bad as I thought, because our eyes are clouded by our moods at the time.  It's hard to watch my face and body aging. So the daily self portrait becomes painful at times. It would be more fun to take them in reverse, starting at 100 and aging backwards. Seeing all the jowls, wrinkles, crows feet, excess weight and sagging gradually going away, like in the movie Benjamin Button.


Monday, November 30, 2009

Yay I'm a Nanowrimo Winner

Yay, I just finished validating my entry for Nanowrimo 2009 and got this lovely badge to show that I came, I saw and I conquered. And just for the record, finishing was way more fun than not finishing.

Last Day of Nanowrimo

Last Day of Nanowrimo 2009 and I still have over 5,000 words to go. Ever wonder how fast you can type? Check this out:
76 words
Speed test

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Still Nano-ing along.

I am floundering with Nanowrimo. Even though I wrote over 3,000 words today, the halfway mark is Monday more or less, and 25,000 words are needed to be on the mark.  I just passed 17,000. And I didn't really like working this hard so much that I'd want to write 3,000 words a day from now until Nov. 30.
One of the writers I follow has already passed 50,000 words. I think she's at 95,000. My guess is that she is trying to do 100,000, or a double Nano. I'm just not competitive enough.  I actually feel so guilty putting other things on the back burner so I can do this challenge. I'm not ready to throw in the pen yet though. I am learning a lot about novel writing. Like timelines for example. Trying to get things in the right sequence with so many characters running around. Or writing the ending for some scene before I've written the beginning or the middle.

The other challenge is losing characters as I go along. Forgetting to write about some of the groups and carry them forward in the plot.


I've also had to change genres from chick lit to mystery. That's because I've killed off someone and now we need to figure out who did it and why. And now I have a kidnapping. But I don't know yet who ordered the kidnapping or what that has to do with the rest of the storyline. I have a new found appreciation for fiction writers.
I also at some point want to donate some cash to Nanowrimo. It must cost a fortune to keep this all running.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Today's Nanowrimo Gathering Build-a-Bear Party

I'm very sleepy but I want to try out this write or die program that I learned about at the Nanowrimo meeting. One of the authors is a knitter. I invited her to get together with me to do some knitting. Then I found out her friend knits as well.
I met a kid there named Andy. He was working at Downtown Disney as one of the cleaning staff slash information guy on a scholarship program. He's from Bakersfield. Of course I advised him to move out of Bakersfield because it's hot and ugly there. I knew that because I went to 5th and 6th grades there.


After the bear part I went to Michael's. I needed beads for the green beaded collar I'm making called the River Runs Through it. I needed some root beer colored beads for the brown/gold section of the necklace. I spent more than I wanted to. When do I ever spend less at Michaels?

Today I had lunch at Carl's Jr. As I stepped out of the truck I managed to knock my glasses off and step on them with my first step out of the truck. They didn't break apart, but they bent beyond comfortable wear. Good thing they were only a dollar. I'm so hard on glasses. I don't dare buy any real ones that cost $500 or $600. I'd lose them in a week or scratch them or run over them with my truck.

Tomorrow night is another Nanowrimo meeting. This time at a Starbuck's closer to my house than Downtown Disney. I plan to go to it but we'll see how it goes tomorrow. I was too busy celebrating being in Nanowrimo today that I didn't even get a chance to write much. I wrote a few pages in long hand at Downtown Disney. But I haven't had time to type it in yet so I don't know how many words that was. Not very many probably because my handwriting is big.

I watched an art show tonight and then I saw a show with fashion designer Marilyn Lewis. She's a great lady. Funny and talented and a real go-getter. I have seen her before on other shows talking about the restaurants her and her husband used to own. The show tonight showed many of her collection of fashion from the 70's. Even the dress Marlo Thomas wore on That Girl. Interesting stuff. Her looks could still fit into fashion today. They don't look dated at all. I'd be proud to own any one of them. She has some great little black dresses as well as dresses in silk and tweed. And little feather fascinators. She'd fit right in with Etsy and Steampunk.

She lives in a penthouse with her hubby of many years. She rents the rest of her Beverly Hills home. Compared to her I feel like a couch potato. And she's so rail thin. She compared herself to Twiggy.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Build-a-Muse?


I was thinking of going to a Nanowrimo gathering today to work on my novel, socialize a bit, get to know who else locally is doing this and so on. Then I found out the workshop is at Build-a-Bear in Downtown Disney where they'll be making a 'mascot' bear of their lead character. Considering my main character is a woman juggler in steampunk attire, I seriously doubt Build-a-Bear has that in stock, assuming I did have $50 to splurge. Have you seen their prices? And it doesn't sound like any of us will actually be writing. So I'm undecided. Besides I already have a mascot that I bought at Barnes and Noble years ago for Nanowrimo. It's a one eyed monster. I don't really feel like kicking him to the curb for a stupid bear. And if I was going to make a bear, I'd do a oddball looking thing from fabric and trim in my stash.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Nano Widget

I added the nanowrimo widget in the sidebar so anyone reading this can see how I'm doing. Not that anyone seems to read this blog, but at least I'll know how I'm doing. I'm about 2 days worth behind, even though I've written every day since I started. I started a day late, and I'm not writing enough each day, but I still feel optimistic about finishing this year.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Nano update

It's almost 7 PM and I haven't even thought about working on my novel yet today. And I've already been on line for hours and was just about to leave to eat dinner. Which means it will be another couple of hours before I sit still long enough to write again. I should have planned this out better. Yah think?

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Nanowrimo-live,love,write



I wasn't planning on doing Nanowrimo this year, so how did I get sucked into it? If you think you might want to write 50,000 words in a month, it's not too late to jump on. I've written 2000+ words already and I'm a little behind. I was doing pretty well until I started to doze off. I'm still fatiqued from my trip last week. If you are participating, add me to your buddy list. My name over there is enchantress. Happy writing.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Enough With the Heat Already


It's hot and humid and it's 2 AM. No sign of it getting any cooler than this tonight in S. Calif. And all those people in the zones where the fires are must be having a miserable and scary night.

I have found it is very hard to get along with people in this heat. I have to keep trying super hard to stay calm and relaxed. My boyfriend and I are staying in different rooms so we don't get on each other's nerves tonight. And I'm thirsty yet again so I need to go get another cold drink.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Reading What Others Are Writing

I ran across this site with writers today. http://elephantwords.co.uk/ I haven't had time to read it but it looks like a cool idea.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Hubchallenge goes on

I just published 2 new hubs. One on using the preformatting feature and the other on Rug Hooking for the Hubchallenge. I was hoping to get more done today but my boyfriend is already moping at the door and grousing about me spending too much time on the computer, and I just sat down. I'm trying to keep the peace so I'll stop now, but I don't go to his job and ask him to slack off a little and come spend time with me.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Freelance Writer

I've decided that as soon as I've either succeeded or failed at writing 100 articles in 30 days for the hubchallenge, I'm going to take a break from that site and focus on writing more for Constant-content. I've put their link on the sidebar.

Though it is great fun and excitement to write for Hubpages, and I do make a few dollars a day with adsense, the one article I sold on Constant-content paid me $75. And frankly I'm just working too hard on Hubpages to be working for free. I'm not sure why I took that direction to begin with, other than I just love the way Hubpages look with all their glossy photos and video links. Of course I'll leave all my articles up on Hubpages because I'm no dummy and I like the income from there, as sparse as it is. But with the economy being what it is, I need to be earning a living.

I am conflicted though, because I did want to reach the 500 article mark on Hubpages. Jimmythejock did it so very long ago and I feel like I'll never get there. I'm not even to 300 yet.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Earthquake

We just had a 5.0 quake roll on by with the epicenter in Lennox CA. I thought the kitchen shelving unit was going to land on my head for a moment there. Twitter is going nuts right now. Search #earthquake on Twitter.com if you want to follow along. No serious damage reports yet. Let's hope it stays that way.

My cat, however, may not get his apetite back until tomorrow. His food is still sitting there uneaten.
The rides at Disneyland are closed for inspection, as I'm sure the ones at Knott's are too.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

100 Hubs in 30 Days...still working on it.

I'm having a great time working on the 100 articles for the #hubchallenge. I just put up another article about succulents. Someone was grousing that the challenge was a terrible idea because it's going to create low quality hastily written articles that are just going to gunk up the Internet. I'm sure that is possible, but most of us take pride in our work and will be doing our best not to let our quality suffer. My quality has actually gone up because I've been on the site for 3 years and there are a lot more bells and whistles now than at the beginning so I can make my work there better and better with videos, RSS feeds, photos, and so much more. And I feel a great passion is happening like a writer's revival of sorts. Writers that were in a slump and haven't added new material in a long time are coming out of the woodwork to meet the challenge and show off their skills.
Won't you join us over there as a reader or a writer?
http://hubpages.com/profile/Moonmaiden

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

My Hubchallenge Listings So Far

Hmm, I'm not going to get very far if I keep adding stuff to the ones I've already written instead of moving on. Here are my first five.5/100

http://hubpages.com/hub/You-Dont-Need-a … o-to-Dance
http://hubpages.com/hub/Polka-Dot-Pandamonium
http://hubpages.com/hub/100-Reasons-to-Dance
http://hubpages.com/hub/Skirts-101
http://hubpages.com/hub/Keeping-a-Daily-Blog

I'm doing pretty good for the third day of the challenge considering I didn't even start until day 2.

When I Get Discouraged

Someone asked me tonight about an erotic story I wrote a few years ago. I just checked the website and that story has had 325,569 hits. Perhaps I should write another one. I can't post it here because Blogger is so vanilla. I'm surprised my friend remembered that story. It's been years since he's read it.

Hubchallenge 3


I finished another hub. This one is about Polka Dots. My love for polka dots actually. Like for sewing and fashion and home decor. Go see.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Keeping a Daily Blog


I just finished my 2nd article for the challenge. http://hubpages.com/hub/Keeping-a-Daily-Blog
It's about Blogging, a topic near and dear to my heart. This blog isn't my daily one obviously. My daily one is Craft a Day. You've probably seen it. It's the blog I have with the most followers. Thirty-two followers the last time I checked. It seems kind of funny to write about writing. I sure seem to be writing a lot lately. What I'm supposed to be doing is reading. I'm halfway through Breaking Dawn and it's overdue already. Yikes. That 2 weeks went by fast.

Write for Hubpages



I'm just accepted a challenge to write 100 articles for Hubpages in 30 days. My first article is about dance: http://hubpages.com/hub/100-Reasons-to-Dance I think this is a great publicity stunt on their part. And the first thing in months that has motivated me to write more for Hubpages.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Journalspace Bites the Dust

I just became aware that my blog on Journalspace no longer exists. Indeed, none of the blogs on journalspace exist,and they suspect employee sabotage. http://www.blogherald.com/2009/01/02/journalspace-blogging-platform-dies-why-you-must-keep-your-own-backups/

Ever wonder why you should back up your blogs? I haven't actively written on that blog in a few months so I'm not crying too hard. They may or may not be able to retrieve blogs down the road. It is a shame if I lost all those years of blogging, but I am glad I didn't put all my eggs in one basket as I also blog here, on tribe.net, on journalspace, on vox, and on some others. That way if any one of them goes belly up, I don't lose everything. I will survive.