How Was I to Know
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, December 1, 2008 at 7:41 am
I suppose I should add a disclaimer: not my child
NaNoWriMo 2008 is over. I didn’t realize there would be such a letdown once the NaNo site officially said “NaNoWriMo 2008 is over“. I was riding such a high last night after finishing, reality hadn’t hit me. But this morning…
SLAM!
Suddenly, I’m faced with a big question. What do I do now?
During NaNo, because I’d loafed so much in the beginning, it came down to the wire. I found myself with very little time left and lots of words yet to go. Naturally, I buckled down and spent every available minute writing. Yes, I discovered that hard deadlines work very well for me.
I’ll ask again. What do I do now?
No hard deadlines. Other than my own desire and pride, no real reason to finish Chester and Rube (I absolutely will, though). I’ve got time — not much, but there is some — and no need to fill it all with writing.
Knits 1200 stitches a minute!
Okay, I’ll come clean. Part of me was looking forward to the end of NaNo. I wanted time for my other pursuits, too. Like crochet. I want to start crocheting ornaments for a small Christmas tree I’ve decided to put upstairs.
And knitting. My Ultimate Sweater Machine (my second one — SoundGuy can’t figure out what he did with my first one) arrived early last week, and I’m dying to put some yarn on that baby and make something. I just have to figure out what to make.
But with all the yarncraft I plan to do (and I plan to do a lot), I still want to write. I want to finish Chester and Rube. I want to finish Emma’s yet unnamed story (and decide if her name is going to be changed to Desiree). After having so much fun writing Chester and Rube I’d like to try my hand at another similar-type story. Just for fun.
And since I work better with a deadline, I learned of a site through the NaNoWriMo forums that does NaNo-type challenges all year called Dream Writers. I signed up. I’m not sure yet if I’ll use it, but it could just be the kick I need. Or it might kill NaNoWriMo 2009 for me. We’ll see.
Despite the initial Oh, no. NaNoWriMo is over letdown, it’s starting to look to me like I won’t have trouble finding things to fill my time. How about you?
Happy Butt Wiggles All Around
by Lynn Daniels on Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 9:24 pm
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I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I crossed the 50,000 word threshold just moments ago, and am now a NaNoWriMo winner! The sense of accomplishment I’m feeling at this moment is almost comical, considering the story I’m writing is not one I ever intend to submit for publication. I chose this story because I thought it would be fun, because I felt I could let my imagination run wild with it, and because I thought it would be the ticket to making writing fun for me again.
It was all those things. And now I’m a National Novel Writing Month winner!
GO ME!
Thank you, Chester the duck with the smart blue felt fedora and Rube the giant purple dinosaur, for being so willing to put up with all the crazy things I’ve thrown at you. And I promise you that even though we reached our word count goal, I will see this story through to the end and I will make sure you foil the nefarious plans of the evil Centipig and his army of pigapede minions.
Thank you.
P.S. In case you’re curious, the song playing in my headphones when the You Won! NaNoWriMo image came up was “Let Me Let You Go” by Pride of Lions.
Candygram My Big Purple Foot
by Lynn Daniels on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 12:50 pm
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NaNoWriMo Day 25
It’s not looking good for me. Five days left, and I’m not even halfway done. And with my mother in town, my writing time during the day (also known as my alone time) has been drastically cut. But I never say never, and I’m still plugging away. Keep your fingers crossed for me, would you?
In the meantime, Chester and Rube were caught in a tornado but managed to find shelter with a number of other animals in a cave. And I don’t know why I did it, but one of the creatures in that cave turned out to be a landshark, although it’s never actually said.
Very slowly, a figure began to emerge from the dark recesses of the cave. An odd sort of creature, the likes of which Rube had never seen before. His eyes were flat and black and on the sides of his head. His mouth huge, teeth pointed and sharp. His body was long, ending at the point of his nose.
Rube leaned forward. He grabbed Chelsey from the top of his head and put her back on the floor. Setting his jaw, he stepped toward the strange creature. “What are you?” he asked.
“Plumber, ma’am,” the strange creature replied.
“I’m not a ma’am,” Rube said. “And you don’t much look like a plumber.”
“Candygram,” said the strange creature.
“Candygram my big purple foot,” Rube said, his voice hardening with frustration. “Now, what are you?”
“I’m only a dolphin,” the creature said. His head was turned, and he kept one flat black eye fixed on Rube.
Rube the dinosaur was going to contradict yet another answer he was sure was a lie, but the sound of the wind outside the cave stopped him. It howled. It roared. It sounded like it was going to try and tear the cave apart.
I love that I can do strange things with this story and it doesn’t matter.
Now I’m going to see if I can’t sneak in some more writing time and get those loveable critters to the Land of the Larrys.
This Time Chester is Giant
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, November 24, 2008 at 7:11 am
This is so cool! I’ve played with word cloud creators before, but not one the creates in color. Created at Wordle using Chester and Rube as it sits right now:
click to enlarge, opens in a new window
Playtime is over. Back to work.
11:54am ETA: What would talking animals call a tornado if they didn’t know the word tornado?
Give Me Back My Arm!
by Lynn Daniels on Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 1:20 pm
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NaNoWriMo Day 23
Yesterday was a good writing day. Today’s been a good one so far, too. Chester and Rube are 2/3 of the way to the Land of the Larrys, and they’ve just been caught in a massive storm. A tornado is heading their way, and they’re fighting to get into the safe haven of a cave in Hallowed Hills nearly 30 yards away. And the wind is more of an impenetrable wall than a wind. And it’s raining. And there are frozen balls falling from the sky.
Oh no! 
What ever will they do?
Right now, I’m doing laundry, watching Scrubs, and getting ready to eat some chicken soup that I hope will calm my tummy (LittleDude yelled at me earlier for saying tummy — he called it baby talk 
). Then I’m hoping to get some more writing in. If not now, then later tonight after everybody’s gone to sleep.
Oh, and before I go, I blognapped this from Andrew:
Created by Bunk Beds.net
The lesson learned here is I should never ever put myself into a situation where I’d be chained to a bunk bad with a velociraptor. I guess admitting I would probably cry like a sissy when he bit my arm off wasn’t the right answer. 
Are You a Little Teapot?
by Lynn Daniels on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 5:55 pm
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NaNoWriMo Day 21
LittleDude stayed home from school yesterday with a tummy ache. And since he didn’t go to school, he didn’t go to TKD, either. And since he didn’t go to TKD, I didn’t get my during TKD writing time. I did manage to squeeze a little writing last night — Garry Goat was very distracted by dandelions, so Billy Bullfrog was the one to warn Chester and Rube of Centipig’s evil plan.
Remember the Hokey Pokey thing I posted about yesterday? Chester wasn’t allowed to Hokey Pokey in Rube’s arms any more. Well, after Rube feared Chester had died, Chester is now allowed to Hokey Pokey, be a little teapot, or do whatever else he might wish to do in Rube’s arms. See? I did get a little bit written.
Today I picked my mother up from the airport and she’s in for the holiday. Since she arrived, she’s kept the kids busy and I’ve managed to squeeze in a little writing. That’s a good thing. I’ve discovered that Chester the duck with the smart blue felt fedora is not a doctor, and Rube the dinosaur’s ankle was purple not because of broken blood vessels but because Rube himself is purple. Whooda thunk?
I’ve also learned of a cool tool through a couple of different sources: somebody (can’t remember who — sorry) tweeted it first, then I saw something about it on the NaNoWriMo forums. It’s Write or Die: Dr. Wicked’s Writing Lab, and I’ve added it under Writers Resources on my Links page.
From the Write or Die page:
Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you’re fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.
Many people find themselves unable to write consistently. I believe that this is because their reason to write is intangible. For instance, I want to write and finish a book because I want to be published and make a living as a writer. That goal is a long way away so I often find it difficult to sit down to the task of writing.
If you haven’t played with it yet, give it a try! Last night I used it to write 530 words in 11 minutes. I might have to go back and use the word count feature next time instead of the timer. Gotta up that word count!
Doin’ the Hokey Pokey
by Lynn Daniels on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 7:41 am
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NaNoWriMo Day 20
Making progress. Proudly. WOO HOO!
Although LittleDude missed his TKD lesson because of an appointment with his allergy doctor, Master let him take class with MiniMe. With my iPod on, I got 45 minutes of uninterrupted writing time while they kicked and punched and blocked. Not as good as the 1-1/2 hours I normally get on Wednesdays, but certainly better than nothing. It was enough time to introduce Garry Goat and Billy Bullfrog, who have started to warn Chester and Rube about Centipig amassing his pigapede army. And I managed to work in Beverly Hillbillies and Star Wars references, to boot.That reminds me; do goats eat dandelions?
I’m currently in frenzied cleaning mode. It started yesterday and will last until tomorrow morning; my mother is flying tomorrow afternoon for the holiday. I’m not quite sure why I’m cleaning. Check that. I know why I’m cleaning; I just don’t know why I’m frenzied. Regardless of how well I clean, my mother will always re-clean. It’s what she does. One of these days, I’ll learn my lesson and just leave it for her. One of these days.
But not today.
Before signing off, I’ll leave you with this: imagine if you will a small white duck with orange polka dots on his belly and pointy green ears, wearing a blue felt fedora, trying to do the Hokey Pokey while being carried through a forest by a giant purple dinosaur. Got it? Congrats, you’ve just met Chester and Rube.
You put your right foot in
you put your right foot out
you put your right foot in and you shake it all about…
P.S. Happy 14th wedding anniversary to SoundGuy and me!
Seen Any Centipigs Lately?
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 7:39 pm
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NaNoWriMo Day 17
I’ve come to a conclusion. You see, every time I’ve predicted a good writing day here on the blog, it becomes a crap writing day. Crap writing day meaning I don’t get much written, not I wrote crap — that can happen any day and twice on Sunday. Of course, chances are one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. Or I could just be psyching myself out. Whatever the cause, I’m not doing it anymore. Not taking that chance. From here on out, I won’t talk about my writing day until after it’s occurred.
As you can see by my word meter, my total has gone up, but only marginally. In my defense, last week was a busy one with the tournament and all. And now that soccer’s over, it’s time for me to buckle down, BICHOK, and get Chester and Rube to the Land of the Larrys so they can finally confront the evil Centipig.
And speaking of soccer being over… We got no sleep this weekend, as we had early games, but the girls all had fun. They won one game and lost two, but they were still in great spirits at our little celebration on Sunday after the game. It’s funny; MiniMe has played soccer every spring and every fall since she was five years old. And every season, by the time we reach the end of the season I’m absolutely ready for it to end. Ready to get my weekends back. This season is no different; I was glad to see the end show up. Still, there’s a part of me that was sorry to see it go. A small consolation — MiniMe will be playing with some of the girls from this team this spring on the JV team. I’m still going to miss seeing these girls, though.
Now I have to go and steam my vegetables for tonight’s meal. And pray I get a lot more words in this week.
Evil Plot Revealed
by Lynn Daniels on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 1:56 pm
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NaNoWriMo Day Twelve
Didn’t make much progress over the weekend, but I didn’t expect to. The good news is MiniMe’s soccer team finished the season in second place after a lovely end of season party on Saturday. Soccer games and parties don’t leave much time for writing, though, so although I didn’t produce a big ol’ goose egg number of words, my weekend total was pathetic.
More good news, yesterday was a great writing day between LittleDude’s TKD lesson and MiniMe’s soccer practice (she’s playing a tournament this weekend and then we’re done!). I anticipate another good writing day today — LittleDude’s got a doctor appointment so he won’t make it to TKD, but MiniMe will be going to her lesson. And Wednesday’s usually a light day, so chances are LittleDude will get to take the lesson with her. So tonight, Chester and Rube will finally make it to Cranky Canyon on their way to the Land of the Joes. I’m thinking that while in Cranky Canyon, they’ll learn of the evil Centipig’s plot to take over Feckerson Forest.
This story has been fun to write and fun to plot, and MiniMe’s been a tremendous help with it. Bouncing plot ideas off her has been enlightening; she’s got a great mind for fiction.
And now it’s time to prepare for LittleDude’s arrival, after which I’ll whisk him away to the doctor.
Have a great day!
Killer Calf
by Lynn Daniels on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 7:44 am
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NaNoWriMo Day Seven
I was only able to write during one TKD lesson yesterday, so I didn’t add as many words to my count as I’d hoped to. When LittleDude takes his class and MiniMe’s class, my word count rocks. But yesterday LittleDude just took LittleDude’s class and sat and talked to me during MiniMe’s.
Hey, I’ll take quality time with my kid over word count any day.
Today looks promising, though. Even though SoundGuy’s off work, he’s informed me he wants to go down to the studio — he’s got a drummer coming in to lay tracks. You know what that means? That means I can go with him, plop down on the sofa there, pop in my iPod (to block out the noise), and write write write. I’m pretty sure today I’ll be able to get Chester and Rube to Cranky Canyon where they’ll first hear of the impending doom planned by the evil Centipig and his army of pigipede minions.
I have no idea how my little Chester the duck with the smart blue felt fedora (and orange polka-dot belly and pointy green ears) and Rube the giant purple dinosaur will defeat the evil Centipig and his army of pigipede mnions, but I’m pretty sure it’ll have something to do with squishing. There’s already been a lot made of squishing and Chester’s reluctance to squish or allow Rube to squish for him, so I’m thinking that’s how it’ll have to be.
I guess we’ll see what happens when we get there.
In other news, I think I may have lost my mind. I’ve been frustrated lately with my weight and my fitness level and wanting to do something about it. The other night while surfing the ‘net, I found something to do about it.
Couch to 5K
I’ve never been a runner; even in school, when we were supposed to be running during gym, I was one of the people walking. And whining. I was an expert whiner.
The Couch to 5K program (to be known here as C25K from now on) is supposed to take you from couch potato to marathon by easing you in to running a little at a time — 20-30 minutes 3x/week for 9 weeks. I figured I could find 20-30 minutes 3x/week, and if I could actually run the track at the local high school instead of walking it, well, I’d feel like I really accomplished something. Plus I’m pretty sure it would help take my extra weight off.
A loss of 15 pounds would make me very happy. A loss of 20 pounds would have me dancing in my backyard naked. SoundGuy wants me to lose 20–not because he thinks I need to lose weight; he just wants to see if I’d actually dance naked in the back yard.
Some men can be so one-track.
I planned to start C25K next week, as I knew I didn’t have 3 workout days left in this week (gotta do it while the kids are in school and SoundGuy’s at work), but I wanted to give it a shot yesterday. A “pre-week one”, if you will. So I grabbed my iPod and a stopwatch, put a water bottle on top of my mailbox, and started walking and jogging the flattest part of my neighborhood, the street my house is on.
Week one, the program has you taking a 5-minute brisk warmup walk then alternating running 60 seconds and walking 90 seconds for 20 minutes. I made 14 minutes before my right calf started killing me. SoundGuy seems to think my broken ankle five years ago changed my gait and I’m still favoring that ankle, putting more pressure on my right foot. I’ll give it a little more time and see what happens with it. If it persists, I’ll have to look into a solution. Maybe see a doctor. Anybody have any ideas?
I think today I’ll close with a quiz I blognapped yesterday from Nadia:
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Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP) |
 Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men |
Random Photo
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NaNoWriMo
