Life Under Construction

Posts Tagged ‘NaNoWriMo’

I’m sending out Christmas cards this year, and I’m pretty darn excited about it!  I was totally going to MAKE Christmas cards this year, but I’m at a loss as to how to do such a thing in a short period of time (read: by Friday – which is when I’m sending out cards).  I am plagued by such questions as How thick can an envelope be for just a regular stamp? and Where on Earth would I get envelopes that take one stamp for construction paper cards? and the like.  Also Who even does that anymore besides first graders?.  You know?  I’ll do it next year when I’ve had more time to prepare.  Probably next year.  Maybe next year.  I’m up in the air about it (( at least I didn’t say “we’ll see” )).

So I’ve been sitting here trying to write a blog that doesn’t sound like I’m writing in in novel form.

I AM OUT OF PRACTICE, PEOPLE!

I’ve come to realize in the last few weeks that I love writing a lot more than I thought I did.  I mean, I knew I loved writing.  I’ve loved writing creatively since I was in the 9th grade.  But recently I’ve developed a desire to do it all. the. time.

When NaNo was first over, I was all like I am never doing this again! and Walter was all like Yes you are. and I was like I know! but I totally thought I’d at least give myself some time before I started working on another project.

Nothing like 50k words in 30 days, mind you.

But last night while I was laying in bed trying to get some shuteye my brain was working up a storm.  One of those furious-ideas-shooting-off-like-thunder-and-lightning-in-the-cloud-that-is-my-brain storms.  I keep a wee notebook by my bed for such occasions so that I can get them out and they don’t float around up in there trying to keep me awake, so I wrote them down (( I also wrote ‘fixed width columns’.  Whatever the Hell that means  o.0 )).  I’ve been thinking about trying my hand at short stories and this writing project Badass Geek asked me if I was interested in helping out with.

I look at all these fantastic pep talk emails from the people over at NaNoWriMo and I think “I can do this!”  I’ve never wanted to BE anything, as I said in my things you probably could have gone the rest of your life without ever knowing about me blog.  I haven’t ever seriously wanted to do anything with my life.  I’ve wanted to just ‘get by’ and do as little as possible since I was in the second grade.  I remember Mrs. Hammond telling me I was the laziest child she had ever met in her years of teaching, and that I was so smart and it made her sad.  And now?  It is like the gods of What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? have finally smiled upon me.  MRS. HAMMOND WOULD BE SO PROUD.

I wonder if she remembers me.

Maybe what I’ll do today is design a new header for my blog.  Maybe.

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?
How old were you when you realized what you wanted to do with your life?
Should I buy the Twilight series or just ask for it for Christmas?

…

Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Challenge:
December 2 Restaurant moment. Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?

This one is a tie:

1.  Breakfast in NYC with Lauren, Pham, and Katie.  It wasn’t the food, because the food sucked so bad.  It was definitely the company.  I ♥ them.  I already knew Lauren (we drove there together DUH), so it was fantastic and fun to meet Miss Dot Com and Mr. Pants.

2.  Breakfast at Bagels ‘N More with Walter.  It felt so normal, so good.  I wish every day could feel like that.

Hello there, Life.  We’ve met before, but I haven’t seen you in a while.

Do you remember my face?

No?

It’s kind of fuzzy?

Let me refresh your memory a bit…

Just in case you didn’t know yet, I reached 50′000 words last night and I am officially a NaNoWriMo winner!

I’m kind of sad about it being over, but I know I can always do it again next year.  You know I’m a fiend for the torture of beating myself up because the story is crap and not writing enough words every day, and not having enough time to blog or talk to friends and family or my husband (I HAVE A HUSBAND!!!!  At least I think I still do…), and conveniently forgetting to do things like vacuum or shower or put the dishes away…

It was an amazing experience.

Now I have this 93 page story of suck that I can rewrite as many times as I want.  I have it.  All those thousands of words belong to me.  I don’t even have to do anything about it if I don’t want to.  I can delete it if I want.  I can put it away and never look at it again if that is what I so choose.  But whatever I do, I’ll know forever that I did it.  And I’m so proud of me.

I’ve also got this awesome badge of awesomeness to let everyone know I won this year.

I’ll try to keep the NaNo talk down for the next few days as I try to regain some semblance of normalcy in my day to day life.  I need to get back into the swing of things.  Friday will be my last day as an employed person, so I’m sure I’ll talk about unemployment a lot.

Have you guys noticed that once I get hooked on something, I talk about it constantly?

Welcome back to reality, self.  It’s been an amazing roller coaster of a ride, but I think I’m ready to get back to regular.  I’m glad you’re all still here (I’m assuming you are, so you better be!) and didn’t ditch me during my month of the crazies.  I’ll be back to blogging on the regular in the days to come.

What have all y’all been up to these past 30 days?
Has anything noteworthy happened in my semi-absence?
Will you hate me if I forgot how to blog?

***

Final word count:  50′080.  WIN!

I LOVE…  snogging my husband.  I miss him.

I LOVE…  doing I LOVE…Fridays! every week.  It’s my favorite blog to write each and every week, except maybe this week my favorite was Trust me.  You WANT to read this. (AKA the time I almost killed a man) but I still love my ILF.

I LOVE…  writing.  It’s the only thing that’s challenging that I actually WANT to do, as opposed to all the times I realize something is challenging and give up (which is always).

I LOVE…  how Anissa’s friends and family and all the ladies over at Aiming Low are praying and pulling for Anissa.  She had a stroke this week, and she needs ALL your prayers and well wishes.  If you want to help out the family in any way you can, go to THIS PAGE and fill out the form.  I’m praying for Anissa.  Are you?

I LOVE…  Twitter.  I kind of  stopped using broke up with forgot about it for a while, but with this awesome TwitterGadget doohickey I added to my iGoogle home page a couple weeks ago, I remember to check and update it a lot more.  Like fifty times a day more.

I LOVE…  Twilight.  It’s true.  I make no secret of my love for all things Edward Cullen.  Going to see New Moon this afternoon with Sarah.  It was my least favorite of all the books (because there was practically no Edward!) but the movie looks good.  When NaNoWriMo is over I’m going to re-read them.

I LOVE…  Edward Cullen.  You’ll probably get a lot of that from me in the next few days…  SINCE I’M GOING TO SEE NEW MOON.

I LOVE…  that John Green likes Twilight.  No, Siriusly (<- I love when I do that)… he does.  PROOF!!!!

I LOVE…  Edward Cullen.  What?  I said that?  Oh, well… I do.  I love him.

I LOVE…  this song…

I LOVE…  the Glee mash-up of Young Girl and Don’t Stand So Close To Me.  Mr. Schue totally NAILED it!  I have to say that I love all the Glee mash-ups so far.  I really look forward to more of them.  :D

I totally went all Linky McLinksalot on all y’all today with this great amount of links I’ve posted (and by great I mean ‘large’, not ‘really freaking cool’), but I swear they are all awesome (and by awesome I mean ‘really freaking cool’).

What do YOU love today?
Have you seen/are you going to see New Moon this weekend?

***

Word Count:  33′531

I LOVE…  making new characters on WoW.  It. is. addicting.  World of Warcraft FTW!!!!!

I LOVE…  raising awareness and supporting causes I believe in.

Today is To Write Love On Her Arms day.  Check out TWLOHA here.

I LOVE…  that I’m able to talk to my husband as often as I am.  I’m grateful every day.

I LOVE…  that I call him a blogger, and it disgusts him.  :D

I LOVE…  days when I write furiously because I can really feel the emotions of my characters.  I actually cried a little bit on Wednesday night when I was writing a particularly heart wrenching scene.

I LOVE…  having silly conversations with my friends that make me feel awesome.

I LOVE…  that Glee was back on this week, and it was so totally worth the wait!!!!!  Each episode never feels long enough, especially this week’s, but it’s always awesome.

I LOVE…  Café World on Facebook.

I LOVE…  sleeping through the night and waking up without the stress of having had a severely messed up and stressful dream.

I LOVE…  that 20SB is now partnering with ItStartsWithUs to help make a difference in the world!

I LOVE…  The Chartjackers song I’ve Got Nothing.  Basically you just need to watch the video, because it’s these great guys working for a great cause.  THEN go on iTunes and purchase it.  I am ordering you to do it.  Then tell all your friends to do it.  You can ONLY buy this song on iTunes, so hop to it!

On a totally related note, everyone should pick up their phone and call all their local radio stations and ask them to play this song.  If they don’t have it, tell them they should!  (( Yes YOU, I’m looking at you! )) I’d love to hear this on the radio!

I LOVE…  that you guys keep coming back to my blog every Friday to tell me what you love.

What do YOU love today?

*****

Word count:  20′558

When you’re reading a book, what do you like the most about it?  What do YOU like to see in a novel?

Hi.  :D

I’m feeling in a sharing mood, so I’m going to share today.  I’m taking some time to write a blog because, while on Friday I didn’t write at all, on Saturday morning/early afternoon I wrote more than 4′000 words, and I really fell in love with the scene I was doing.  I feel like I’m really getting to know my characters more, and that makes writing a lot easier.

On Saturday Jean and I went to Danielle’s house, which neither of us had seen, and then we went to dinner at 7 Moons *drool*.  I was wicked excited, because I hadn’t seen Danielle since her wedding day last year, and I just ♥ her, and Jean is always awesome to be around (I ♥ her too!).  We had a great time (well, I know I did!) talking about men, being married, anxiety, knitting, beads, and vacuum cleaners.  And pets.  And cookies.  We totally stayed there for at least two hours after we ate, just sitting at our table talking.

My voice was hoarse when I got home.  lolz.

Oh!  And on the way to Danielle’s (Jean was driving) I actually said ‘lolz’ out loud.  In the car.  Turns out it doesn’t sound as cool out loud as it does in my head.  I mean, it wasn’t the first time I’d said it, but it was definitely the first time to someone outside the crazy world of blogging and gaming and such.

Anyway, it was a blast.  And I didn’t feel guilty about going out because I’d written so much!

I’ll also have you know that I started writing this blog Saturday night when I got home, so if it gets long I’m going to put quotation marks around the quick in the blog title.  I like to be prepared, you know?  I might not have as much time to write on Monday, and I like sharing so I would feel sad if I didn’t have the time.  This way I have a blog for you guys AND I get to share, so it’s a win/win situation.  (also made the tektek on Saturday night out of boredom because Walter had already gone to bed when I got home. ]:  )

There wasn’t much to speak of on Sunday.  I spent most of the day playing WoW, because I’d done almost three days of writing the day before.  I didn’t have to write much.  So I leveled and had fun on a new character.  This week?  Human paladin.  I’m in love with starting new characters on that game.  Then I had dinner at my mom’s house, om noms, and after that Sarah and I watched the two latest episodes of Grey’s Anatomy.  WTF is happening to Seattle Grace Hospital?  I mean, really!  I can’t stand the Mercy West people, and everyone is breaking rules all over the place!  First Derek and everyone that was in on the inoperable tumor, then Yang with the embolism, the Chief really just needs to step down now.  And what’s up with the Hotness Monster attacking Yang in her room like that?  These people from Mercy West are so dumb!

Also I really didn’t get to talk to Walter much with everything I was doing.  That = lame.  His internet was crap and not working, but today it is better and I got to talk to him for a good 48 minutes this morning.  It is the right way to start my day.

Anylolz, happy Monday!!!

How was YOUR weekend?

*****

Word count:  13′455

Let me tell you what my problem is:  I have this love affair with procrastination.  Sometimes I’ll have a huge goal set for myself, and it’s a goal that I want to achieve so badly I can taste it.

It tastes good.  That’s why I want it.

But no matter how much I want it, I’ll go out of my way to do everything but what needs to be done to achieve that goal.

Take NaNoWriMo for example.

Yesterday I laid in bed for about 40 minutes after I woke up, plotting just how I would get up, pee, get something to eat, and then sit at my computer with Word and just write.  I would write until I couldn’t write anymore, because I really want to get a jump start on this.  But once I got up, you see…. things didn’t go as I’d planned them to go.  It was 9am.

• I made my bed.
• I peed.
• I realized we were supposed to set the clocks back during the night, so it was only quarter after 8!
• I set my clocks back an hour and realized I had more time to write than I thought, so I figured I wouldn’t rush it.
• I waited for Sarah to wash some dishes so that I’d have a spoon for chocolate milk.
• I sat down at my computer and checked my Facebook (BAD IDEA ALWAYS!), because I can’t write on an empty stomach.
  • I Restaurant City’d.  I country Story’d and Roller Coaster Kingdom’d.
• I logged in to WoW to see if my auctions had sold.
• I made and drank chocolate milk.
• I figured I was already logged in to WoW so I did a few quests.
• I realized it was noon-thirty when Sarah said it was time to go.
• We went grocery shopping (took nearly two hours).
• I talked to Walter on MSN, and played some more WoW (I was due at my mom’s for 5pm for dinner, so I couldn’t just sit and write for an hour).
  • Deleted some characters, made a new character.
• I went to my mom’s for dinner.  It was good.
• I got home and finally sat down to write.
• I wrote 96% of this blog
• Then and only then did I finally write 1′684 words, reaching my quota for the day.

That looks nothing like the day I had planned.  I’d planned to have all the necessary writing done before noon, so that we could go grocery shopping and I could go to my mom’s without breaking stride.

Stride?  What stride?!!

And all in there I tweeted, I Facebook’d.  I even wrote most of today’s blog.  Because I have a procrastination problem.  No matter how good my intentions are when I start out, I’m going to procrastinate.  It is one of the handful of things in life I can ever be 100% certain of (we’ll discuss the others in another blog, because I have to write some more… you see?).

Walter:   If someone could die from procrastination, it would be you.

I pretty much choked on my own laughter right there.  Because it’s true, it would be me.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year?
What’s your word count?

Word count: 1′684

I LOVE…  my new last name.

I LOVE…  hot chocolate.  Especially the kind with the freeze dried marshmallows.  With a little cream in it.  Mmmm.

I LOVE…  hot tea on a cold morning, with a little milk and sugar.

I LOVE…  that Walter sent me flowers on Tuesday because he knows that I hate Tuesdays, and then he forgot he sent them.  DORK.  ♥

I LOVE…  that my nephew is going to be Peter Pan for Halloween this weekend.  The costume is so effing adorable!  I get to go around Trick-Or-Treating with him, too!

I LOVE…  both Robin Williams and Mary Martin as Peter Pan.  Since I already have Hook on DVD, I now need to find the Mary Martin version of Peter Pan on DVD and my life will be complete!  Not really complete, per se… but it will be better.

I LOVE…  that every few nights before bed John will ask me where Uncle Walter is, if he can sleep over our house again, and tells me that he misses him.  It’s cute.  But GET IN LINE, BUDDY.

I LOVE…  Casey and Cappie back together!!!!!!!!!!!! Srsly, they kissed, and amidst the squealing and giggling I may have semi-shouted “this is the best moment of my life!!!!” (read: I totally did).

I LOVE…  that it’s the weekend.  I can play WoW on Saturday all day if I want.

I LOVE…  that National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) starts on Sunday (see my nifty little badge over there in the left hand column??)!!!  I have been waiting for this since I failed last year, and I’m totally going to win this year!!!  I’ll probably post my progress updates a few times a week, and you probably won’t get very many normal blogs from me until it’s over, since I have to focus on my word count, but I hope all y’all will stick around until it’s over.  I could use all the support I can get!

Happy Friday, everybodies!  What do YOU love today?

I was going to blog about my crappy night’s sleep, but I don’t want to bore you all with it.  Instead you get bullets because I’m lazy and have nothing profound to say, but still have things to say.

• I don’t understand why some nights I can sleep really well, and why other nights I don’t sleep at all.  For two nights I slept like a freaking log.  I slept the whole night through and even overslept (which felt so good!).  I’m not one of those people who can fall asleep whenever they want, sleep whenever, for however long they feel like it.  I have to have a set sleeping schedule or I’m all messed up.   Well, last night I wasn’t really stressed out, not that I noticed at least.  I was kind of tired when I laid down, but I kept waking up every 2-3 hours just to roll over and try again.  I wasn’t uncomfortable, I just couldn’t stay asleep.  I guess I did bore you with last night’s crappy sleeping story…. Now I want to take a nap.  At my desk.  It’s probably not a good idea.
  
• Last night I laid in bed thinking about next month’s NaNoWriMo story.  I came up with a lot of great ideas but forgot a few of them.  I have decided to sleep with a notebook next to my bed from now on.  I’m very excited about this year, because I’m really going to finish it this time!  50′000 words, here I come!
• I need to learn how to clear my mind before bed, but it always feels like the only time my brain can work uninterrupted to solve all the world’s problems.  My brain is all like “She has assumed the position, overdrive ACTIVATED!” and I’m bombarded with ideas and thoughts and aggravations.  Can I file for assault against my brain?  Is that even legal?
• Yesterday at work we found out when our last day is going to be.  I’m relieved to finally have a set date.  Sad too, but most of the sadness has evaporated and I’m left now with relief and still some stress.  It’s going to be hard turning our customers over to new people, so we want to make it as easy for them as possible.  The only suckiest part about losing this job is that it’s the best job with the best group of people I’ve ever worked with.
• I sang at karaoke last Friday.  Yeah, you read me right.  It was only me and Mike and Tim and Sarah and Jeff there, and I was embarrassed and my heart was pounding, but Mike tricked me and made me sing.  If he ever puts in an Africa song, don’t believe him when he says he’s singing it.  That was the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard in my life.  I’m just sayin’.  I hope he doesn’t think he can do that every time, ’cause next time I’ll leave him to make a fool of himself by himself!
• I’m still trying to decide whether or not I want to continue with “What If?” Wednesdays.  Any input?  Keep it or forget it?  I don’t care either way, perhaps that’s a good indication that I should find something else to do with my Wednesdays….
• I miss Walter.
  

That’s about it.  I hope your Tuesday (and mine) is very un-Tuesdaylike.

I LOVE…  that vacation probably starts tonight at 8:01!  I might have to work on Monday, but I won’t know until Sunday I think.  And even if I have to work Monday, I’ll still be happy……

I LOVE…  that once the weekend is over Walter is going to be here.  WALTER. IS. GOING. TO. BE. IN. RHODE. ISLAND. I’ll let that sink in for a minute.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE…  that I’ve almost completed another thing on My List with NaBloPoMo.

I LOVE…  Nerdfighters!  DFTBA!

I LOVE…  all the men and women who fight for this country.

I LOVE…  my sister Alli.  Sometime I’ll tell you the story behind this picture, but I just wanted to show it to everyone today.  I love her so much, she’s a real special kind of special.  And she’s mine.

I LOVE…  the idea I’ve come up with for this year’s NaNoWriMo novel.  I’m keeping it a secret, but I’m wicked excited about it!  I want to start writing it now, but that would be cheating.  And I’m not cheating.

I LOVE…  watching the Red Sox win.

I LOVE…  that after tonight I’m not going to be driving Mike back and forth from Narragansett to work!  I love you, Mike, but I hate that drive every day.

What do YOU love today?

I’m going on a blog vacation next week, if you want to guest post just let me know in the comments or email me at irishgamergirl[at]gmail[dot]com.