And So It Begins: Nanowrimo All Over Again

Mixed media art by Fayme Harper.

I have many ways of expressing myself. Sometimes I write a lot and sometimes I don't. This year I wasn't going to participate in the National Novel Writers Month. I felt like I had too many irons in the fire. But then I met the woman in charge of the local meetings for Nanowrimo and she introduced me to the California Writers Club and suddenly all I want to do is write. So as you can see, I've added the Nano badge to my sidebar. I'm writing a Steampunk Novel called Portal Motel. And now it's midnight, so that's all I have to say about that.

Some of My Favorite Words

I'm making a word list for a banner and so far here is what is on it. It's frustrating because some of them aren't in my online dictionary. I'll have to go look them up one by one.

Curvilinear

Vespertine

Lenticular

Funicular

Apatite

Eviscerated

Peperomia

Hypotenuse

Spectrolite

Kerfuffle

Ensorcelled

Molybdenum

Beguiling

Vortex

Crux

Prestidigitation

Periphery

Osculate

Epidermis

Calliope

Mentalist

Sox

Pendulum

Bibliomancy

Cephlapod

Abreaction

Clandestine

Paramecium

Slipshod

Apostate

Dodecahedron

Millipede

Wherry

plumbago

Malleable

Quirt

Triskaidekaphobia

Flavenoids
Petrichor

Starting Nanowrimo Today

I was intrigued about a book review for the New Gypsies, so I decided to make that the theme of my Nanowrimo novel. Currently the working title is Neogypsies and it starts out in 1978 in Laguna Beach Ca. I have 758 words so far, but it is time to break for dinner.

If I did the math right I need to write 1667 words a day to make 50,000 words in 30 days. I'm off to a good start today.

If you have no idea why I'm starting now, see my previous post.

I'm on the right. Taken in 1976.

Nanowrimo On My Own Terms

Like a true renegade, I just decided to do Nanowrimo, only on my own terms. Every year I fall afoul of Thanksgiving, and then I fall behind, and don't finish before Nano ends. It's so frustrating that I was going to opt out this year. But then in a stroke of genius I realized I could keep with the spirit of Nanowrimo, by writing 50,000 words in 30 days, only it would be my choice of 30 days, not theirs. So I'm going to start on Oct. 10 or 11, and go to Nov. 10 or 11, 2013. So it will still be 30 days, and after Nov. 1, I can still track my progress on Nanowrimo's graphs. I'm sure other people have thought of this. It will be obeying the spirit of the quest if not the letter of the law. And it will be a lot more fun this way.

It will also create less stress in my home during the holidays. I won't lose days worth of writing time because of traveling to see family for the holidays.

Last Of The Breed

My boyfriend recently decided to part with a collection of Louis L'amour books.  Until they sell, I thought I'd read as many as I could. So I randomly grabbed one on top of the pile.  It's Last of the Breed. So if you don't want spoilers, fair warning. This one is ©1986. I've read a few of his books but that was years ago.

Save Your Fives

I was watching a TV show called Deals and they interviewed a woman about saving your fives.  If you get in the habit of using cash instead of an ATM card, then every time you get a $5 bill in change, you sock it away for a rainy day. I desperately need to save money to get another used car. My 30+ year old truck gave up the ghost.  But I haven't been able to save anything. I sold the truck for $1000 and was supposed to save that and add to it, but I ended up spending $300 of it over time on other bills and necessities. I just used $110 of it to pay electricity.

So I'm hoping the 'save your fives' plan will help me build it back up to $1000 and then some.

Stumpy

I walked to the Dairy Queen with journal and pen in hand.  But when I got there the pen was gone. I tried to borrow one from the cashier but she was down to her only pen. So I walked to the liquor store nearby. In their meager area of office supplies, they had unsharpened pencils but no pens. I asked for a pen and he ferreted through the shelves behind the counter and still no pen.

I asked if he had a pocketknife to sharpen a pencil if I bought one.  None of those either. So he scrounged around in his junk drawer and came up with this sad little stump with a caved in eraser sleeve. Pitiful! But it works. As the saying goes, a short pencil is better than a long memory.  I've dubbed it 'Stumpy."