Thursday, October 29, 2009

Three Days and -- some hours

I am writing on ...well, actually the title should be "TWO Days -- some hours", as I'm writing at 2:36 AM on Thursday. This is good practice.

Last year I learned, by participating in NaNWriMo, that my peak "writing time" begins at around 10:00 PM. So I expect to find myself writing around this time all month. I still don't have much in the way of any ideas, but progress HAS been made: I have two Writing Buddies and a couple of Vague Notions; the local fellow WriMos have spoken up on the NaNoWriMo website and a Kick-Off party location and time has been set; quite a few folks have stated their intention to come. My friend James from last year has reconnected (even on Facebook!) and will be there, so there'll be at least one Familiar Friendly Face. Of course, this will NOT be a "social" for the most part, as we will all be hell-bent on launching our novels.

This week at the museum we're ("we" = Education Staff) going about in costume in honor of Halloween week. I'm wearing my very nice 1830 day dress (E-bay!) and portraying Rosaline Peck, first non-Indian woman living in Madison. She and her husband moved here and put up a cabin which became the first inn or boarding house; she acted as hostess to the guys who were building the first capitol building.

Yesterday I struggled some with the length of the gown and the fact that the hooks up the front seemed to come open. I put on the pellerine (a sort of cape deal worn over that leg-o'-mutton style dress) which covered the hooks.
I figured I could help the first problem with an extra petticoat, SOOOOOO today I did wear an extra petticoat, I wore a bit higher-heeled shoes.....and I realized that I had worn it BACKWARDS. Yes indeedy, ladies and gennulmens, the hooks go up the BACK. MUCH less trouble today.

Wonder if that could be worked into the plot? OK, I'm taking a poll (short poll, I have no delusions about my vast readership):

Ancient GREECE? or Ancient EGYPT?
Magical and Fantastical? or Historical and "realistic"?
First-person? Third person? Narrator?

Just heard that some part of Colorado is socked in with heavy snows! We import our weather from the west, via Minnesota. Laissez les bon temps ROULET!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

ONE WEEK!

OK, I thought I'd win the Worst Lousy Blogger award here -- but this year I lost. And get THIS! I lost to a housewife in New Zealand who doesn't even have a computer!! I mean, I don't even see how she can be considered!


Anyway, rather than waste time on sour grapes.......no, by gumbo, I AM going to waste time on sour grapes, but being a writer I'll procrastinate and do it later.......just noting here that in ONE WEEK it will be Sunday again (duhhh) and the date will be...

NOVEMBER 1, 2009. What that means is, it will be the first Official Day of NaNoWriMo! Yes, I am participating again. I'm all registered and everything. I hear that rumbling "if she can't write a lousy BLOG but once every blue moon how can we believe she's going to crank out 1,667 words a DAY???" Ah, well you may say that.

But don't, because I don't have an answer. Anyway, I mean to give it a shot and I'll try to document it here. (Operative word, O Ye Naysayers: TRY.) Smartasses.

So I'm off to begin the earliest preparations. At this point I have:

No ideas

No plans

No plot

No characters

....but an Iron Will (stop that cackling, you in the back) and my cherished little netbook which goes everywhere with me and has (I'm SO not making this up) something over FIVE HOURS' battery time on a full charge. Take THAT, Barnes & Noble, with your two lousy outlets both in one corner of the cafe.

Watch. This. Space.

written by dale-harriet, Optimist of the Century (for our region, which includes Lilac Lane only)