Monday, November 27, 2006

Still alive

That's about all I can say for now.

Holidays were good - more on those later.

Behind on NaNo (~34K done) but still pretty confident of finishing.

Mind turned to mush by huge wave of grading. Hate grading. Need new job.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Check In

26K and counting on NaNo... but now I'm getting really behind on critiques.

We have a houseguest this weekend, an old college buddy of Jay's. Usually our little place feels cozy, but plenty big enough. Add a third person... really start to feel the lack of doors. The only doors in our place that don't lead outside are the ones on the bathroom and the closet.

I enjoy having company. It's always nice to talk to different people, especially ones as charming and well-educated as our current guest. But it's a rare person who can fit into an already small space without making it seem tiny. Kind of like my mother's idea of high praise - "I didn't really notice him much."

Oh crap... does that mean I'm turning into my mother? Ha ha. There are many things I think are awesome about my mom, don't get me wrong. But you know that saying about "if you can't be a good example, at least you can serve as a horrible warning"? It applies.

Agh! Must. Write. More. Words. Back to NaNo.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

damn that grading thing

Losing valuable writing time to grading today... granted, this is theoretically why I get a paycheck from the college, but still. (And I "wasted" several hours knitting this week, too.)

I'm at 17000 words and counting. Don't have the exact count with me at the moment. Going pretty well - at least I'm not letting myself get massively behind this year. I learned my lesson writing 25K in three days at the end of the month in 2005. Not fun.

Writing at this speed reminds me of painting in my high school art class. First I block out the basic shape of a scene using dialogue (the underpainting), then I add character thought and movements and maybe a little detail here and there, and finish it with a gloss coat of description.

Back to the blank, white page...

Monday, November 06, 2006

Meep

That's what I say to Jay when I have nothing to really say. Kind of a substitute for "hello", I suppose. Though, come to think of it, I think that's what I set my email notification to back in college...

Anyway.

First meeting of the student women's group was interesting. A small turn out, but lots of good ideas. Our second meeting is Thursday, so hopefully we'll keep chugging along.

NaNo count is up to 8825 and I'm still working on it this afternoon. Day 6 should be at 10002 words to be on track, and I think I should be able to get there without too much effort. (Famous last words)

Back to work!

Friday, November 03, 2006

NaNoing

4371 words done.

45629 words to go.

Might be even quieter around here than it has been. (Is that possible? you ask.)

This will be my 4th year participating. Hoping that it's also my fourth time winning. Last year was a nailbiting finish and I loathed every minute of it. Hopefully, with a return to a familiar genre and cast of characters, this year won't suck quite as bad.