November 28, 2006 at 8:30 PM. Nanowrimo is over! Take that, you crazy 67,000+ words of unending drivel!
Okay, so this year, I'm feeling a bit more relief than usual. This story has been hard. For some reason, it's been a pain trying to pry it out of my head and putting it into words. There have been points where I could have seriously been driven to drink, just like my main character.
Anyways, if you feel like reading a first draft about a burned out actress in late 18th century France trying to solve the magical murders of a bunch of astronomers, go to this page. You can read it in either installments or download the entire thing.
Yes, this means you can breathe a sigh of relief too since this is my last Nanowrimo post of the year. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...
The corporate wives' club. This is so weird and out of my ken that I almost don't know what to say. Maybe it'll be better all around if those high-powered men married robots.
Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans. Hey, I've never noticed this one before. There are some fairly thought-provoking articles (enough so that it makes me want to yell at the computer screen) like the lack of strong female characters on TV and the debate about whether sci-fi is a "male" genre and fantasy a "female" genre. And sexual harassment at science fiction conventions. Ooo, now I want to crack some heads...
Onesome: Black-- I saw a white Christmas tree the other day all done up in "black and white"; I was thinking an Oakland Raiders fan might like it! Do you have any color preferences for your Christmas decorations? ...or maybe a theme you've found somewhere that resonates with you?
I prefer the traditional decorations. I think themes are a little too tacky. (To be honest, I think the holidays in general are too tacky.)
Twosome: Friday-- leftovers? ...or do you have plans to order a pizza in to counteract all that turkey?
I'd rather have the turkey leftovers than the pizza.
Threesome: Sales-- Okay, the big question: are you going to 'attend' any of the "Black Friday" sales? ...and if you are, are you hard core serious like the 5 am "be there" crowd?
Are you nuts? Friday means I'm staying the heck out of retail.
In trying to figure out why a comment to my other blog couldn't publish, I discovered that Blogger has been hiding a huge stash of comments since September which it never saw fit to inform me of.
Arg!
So once again, if you feel like I'm deleting your comments before they can show up on this site, I'm not! If you don't see your comment up within two days, feel free to e-mail me and I'll see what I need to fix.
101 Reasons to Stop Writing. Maybe a more accurate blurb would be "101 Reasons Not to Get Published." Yes, there's a lot of dreck on the bookshelves, but wouldn't some fault lie on the shoulders of the publishers and the editors who let it get past the slush pile in the first place? The writer is responsible for actually putting a crappy novel into existence, but is he really to blame for the reader picking up the book?
There's a lot of bad writing out there, but people have to learn how to be smart readers too. I'm a rather fast reader, but most people aren't and reading time is precious. It's obvious that no one wants to waste their time reading bad books. But if readers spent a little more time picking what they read (by reading reviews and synopses, listening to trusted word-of-mouth sources, and ignoring what's "in" or what's "good for you") instead of grabbing the nearest bestseller at the airport newsstand, more people would be avid and satisfied readers.
What most squicks detractors of Nanowrimo is the false expectation that some (arguably most) participants come away with. I've read a lot of Nanowrimo posts where people claim that the novel they write this November will be good enough to publish. I've also read posts where people won't show what they've written because they think it'll be so good that somebody will steal it. People use the Nanowrimo challenge as an excuse to call themselves writers and novelists--i.e. artists with actual discipline--without going through the hard work of editing so other people can look at them an awe.
But I'd like to say: let people write whatever they want. The critical point for good writing is not Nanowrimo itself, but afterwards when you have to do extensive editing to get rid of the bad parts. And if you're not willing to edit, you deserve the heaps of rotten tomatoes thrown at you.
Onesome: A Day--or so ago? Oops, wrong meme. Wait, that might be cool... "A Day or So Ago, I saw......." You fill it in!
...a girl in high heels breeze past me while I was walking up a fairly steep hill in hiking boots. The world's not fair, I tell you. I bet her feet don't hurt either.
Twosome: in-- case of rain, do you carry an umbrella? ...or do you just hoof it in a hat?
I always carry an umbrella. I've also started wearing a hat because it's been getting cold.
Threesome: the Rain-- in Spain? Nah, how about locally: has the rainy season kicked in for you yet? Snow? Nothing? Come on, it's almost Thanksgiving here in the States!
In What is the worth of words?, Michael Rogers--"The Practical Futurist"--pens a hypothetical report from 2025 in which literacy has practically disappeared upon the inundation of visual media and technology. Reading "is a luxury, not a necessity!" he proclaims. But before you get completely indignant, note that this is a Swiftian satire meant to spotlight the current erosion of reading and writing ability in today's society.
What disturbed me most was not the article itself but a comment about the article I read somewhere else suggesting that there is too much money going into the math and sciences and that as a solution, this money could be better used to fund literacy programs. I really don't think that is an answer. Not only can you not function in society without the ability to read, but you'd also be equally helpless if you didn't know how to add or if you didn't know how basic things work. I don't think enough money is going towards education in general--but that's another can of worms I'm not opening now.
If you want to get people to read, let them read something that they would enjoy even if it's not on the literary snob's list of approved brain food. All the literature teachers won't help you if the only thing they recommend for children is the "classics" with the stipulation that everything else is trash. When I look back at the assigned reading I had to do in grade school, it's a wonder I didn't go completely mad. Some of that stuff was dull, plodding, and downright depressing.
So, my age now equals the number of letters in the alphabet and I pretty much feel the same as ever. I'd probably celebrate by, er, studying. And writing a lot.
As I've mentioned in previous years, my birthdays tend to be somewhat depressing days. Something ominous, school-wise, always lurks around this date and no one (other than my family) seem to realize that I even have a birthday. While everyone else stops work on their special day to gorge on cakes decorated by their friends and taken out to restaurants, I slink around not saying anything today because I have to make my own damn cake if I even feel up to it. And no, I don't remind people about it because then they'll feel bad and I'll figure, what's the bother if they've never asked me in the first place?
Yeah, yeah. Never mind me--I'm just being a stupid brat. Go outside and have a nice weekend. I'll just stay in and kill some more characters in my Nano novel.
So today, this blog has hit another milestone. Five years of being online. Big, fricken' deal, you might say. There are older blogs around and they're wittier and more profound. Or they're six-month-old blogs that post pictures of cats or the latest eye-glazing political screed, and they have at least four hundred and fifty seven comments on each post because they are just so popular and fresh.
I'll just plod on, grumbling if the case warrants (the annual complaint this year: no time). To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this site--sometimes I like the thought of it being so underground that only a few people know about it and at other times, I lament the fact that the only visitors are random google searchers.
But in the end, does it really matter how old your blog is? Not really. Once you've been relegated to the dust bin of the tail end, you pretty much stay there.
Onesome: In--cumbents? Do you have any left after Tuesday's happenings here Stateside? You don't have to go all political, especially if you hit things yesterday, but where there any surprises to you? ...and if your area didn't vote, well then how's the weather?
Politics? You ask me about politics when I'm completely stressing out about everything else? Besides, I can't vote, being Canadian and all. (However, I can tell you that I was somewhat amused that the Republican supporters were running about looking more stressed then me--after all, I live in the most liberal county of Idaho, although that's not saying much.)
As for the weather, it snowed this morning and everyone was saying "Merry Christmas!" But I was too stressed to really appreciate it.
Twosome: the-- Headlines can be a bit bizarre. Do you have any good ones you've run across lately?
No. I have not been reading much news lately.
Threesome: News-- at 4:30, 5, 6 and 11? When do you watch the news channels? ...or do you? Are you more on-line? ...or maybe even one who reads the paper?
I have no television (or newspapers), so my only source of news is online.
* * *
And, at the very end, a bit about real life although I'm pretty sure you don't really give a damn because there's more important things happening in the world: I got two flat tires earlier this week. My cell phone doesn't work. And it sucks.
Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D. - I read this like, oh, about a month ago and it's just this morning that I thought, well, I better do a review of it. Except there's really nothing to say about it. Goldberg answers the questions that people are to afraid to ask because they might seem stupid, silly, or sophomoric. It's funny and a fast read. And if you don't like reading weird IM transcripts...well, we'll just leave it at that.
The Dog Who Loved to Suck on Toads. What can you do when your dog becomes a drug addict? Not much. The best you can hope for is that you pet will decide to get high only on the weekends.
A student got stabbed yesterday, on campus, in the middle of the day.
I thought this was a rather bucolic college town where the typical college student wouldn't have to worry too much besides getting his bike taken for a joyride. But apparently not.
Onesome: Off-- to do something productive? What are your spare time hobbies? ...or do you have a life < g >?
Heh. What life? In my spare time this month, I'm doing Nanowrimo. This year, I'm writing a supernatural murder mystery set in a quasi-late-18th century France. But, of course, no one cares about that. Right now, I'm behind on my word count because some other stuff comes first.
Twosome: to see-- beyond the horizon? Where would you like to take your hypothetical 'unlimited' vacation?
Everywhere. If I had such a vacation, I wouldn't want to stick to just one place.
Threesome: the Wizard-- There's always (or should be) a fix-it wizard around the place; do you have one you can call on to take care of those minor repairs that crop up? ...or are you "it"?
Er...what fix-it wizard? I don't think there is one.
