It's That Time Again

November 1 starts the word count. I'll find a counter, as in the past, and stick it on the left. Help keep me accountable! Oh - and feel free to pass along any great story ideas. I'm fresh out right now.

This is Not The Post I Want to Write

But I've determined that what I want to write should not be written here. So, on that note . . .
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(March 20, 1999)

Someone said the test of courage is not to give up but to rise up and take command of our moods. When talking to someone we trust doesn't ease the stress, then writing it down can make a world of difference.

Writing to ourselves can bring out many causes of sadness or anger that we didn't know we were harboring. A daily journal has been the source of help in learning what we have hidden away unconsciously, only to come out and whip us at the most unlikely times. It is a way of "cleaning house" and making corrections in the privacy of our own minds without having to tell the world.

Do not hurt your neighbor, for it is not him you wrong, but yourself.

Peace,
Tawanka

It's Time to Write . . .

As I am occasionally wont to do, I was cleaning up my email and found a particular one that has lit the fire under my muse's proverbial behind and she now demands that I write. She has kicked my editor out of the building and I could probably crank out a good 3K this evening, but alas I'm telling her to cool it - at least until tomorrow. I've got real writing for work to do (yes, at home), this blog post to finish (which I've thought about writing, oh, about six times in the past three days) and books I'd much rather be reading.

'Course, now that she's gone to sulk in the corner of my subconscious, I'll probably be lucky if she decides to come back out tomorrow evening. Fickle *&^%$.

And a little randomness from my life, because it's oh-so-interesting:
- Love this chapter that my friend Amanda found on Goodreads. Particularly like this quote: "She is unique and utterly herself and that is close to the heart of the reason you love her . . ."

- synerG on Tap at the Weatherspoon Art Museum. Good night. No new volunteers for the tourney, but a good night. ;)

- My fine luck: April 29 Buffet is coming to Charlotte! Yeah! Finally! After skipping the Carolinas completely in 2007, he's coming back around. Ok, so who's buying the tickets? Oh wait . . . I'll be in Belize. Guess it's just another reason to go see him in New Orleans at the Jazz Fest one of these years. Or keep a better eye out for Freddie . . .

- My fine luck, part deux: The client meeting that will keep me from watching the ACC tourney on the big screen in the big, beautiful conference room tomorrow and probably drinking green beer. Back to the mantra: "It IS a good thing to be more than 100% billable. It is a good thing to be more than 100% billable. It IS a good thing . . ."

My potential . . .

to be published has just increased pretty significantly.

I've been invited to be a co-author on a research paper that we'll submit to a journal at the end of spring semester. Yes, a scientific journal. No, I don't know which one (yet).

You see, over the past two years, I've invited students from the Bryan School of Business at UNCG, under the direction of Dr. Nir Kshetri, to do research on course at the tournament. The idea behind that is two-fold: (a) students get hands-on experience in market research and (b) the tournament gets the benefit of some great research, supervised by a trained professional.

We've gotten enough information to find out some motivational factors for attendees and I'm sure, as we write this paper, we'll discover even more information.

So, wish me luck! Keep your fingers crossed that it gets accepted and published!

"What Happens Next?"

I heard that a lot tonight, from people who call themselves writers. I can't really say whether they are 'writers' or 'people who write;' I don't know them well enough. I haven't read - or heard - enough of their work. For some, their talent shone through while they read their work. Others, it seemed a bit hidden. Nonetheless, I heard a lot of writers read their work this evening, and yes, I was one of those.

I took the first 700 words of the second book (the one I just started writing?). I'm not sure why I went or even why I read. But I did - on both accounts - and it was thrilling.

Others who read shared open letters to grandchildren, bits of memoirs they're writing, short stories, bits of their NaNo novels and there was lots of poetry. Even a really fabulous recitation of an e.e. cummings poem, which had to be told to form the basis of the "response" poem that the author wrote. It was a nicely diverse crowd, and I'm happy to say that I wasn't the youngest there. No, the youngest there was pretty talented himself, discussing his father's soup-making ability. I certainly wasn't the oldest there; my, that was an interesting story about whales and a frozen Neolithic man.

And yet, I know that some part of me went because I wanted to know if those 700 words were as good as I thought they might be. And my answer came, during the break and again at the end of the night, as people made their way to me, and said, "So what happens next?"

Obviously, I've got people's attention for the first 700 words. Let's see if I can keep it up for the next, oh, 50,000 or 60,000.

If nothing else, I can tell stories pretty well in person, it appears.

I Just Couldn't Wait Any Longer

I couldn't. Really.

I've had this idea in my head since the middle of NaNo 2007, trying to keep it quiet, trying not to think about it, trying not to develop the plot or the characters, because I knew if I did, I wouldn't be able to use this idea for NaNo 2008. I'd end up having to write it earlier than this November.

And yet, on my way home from the Spinks Banquet tonight, the first chapter blossomed in my brain. And not only the first chapter. The title, too. (It might help to know that I haven't decided on a title for my NaNo 2007 book yet.)

So it's called, "The Million." At least for now. At least until the revision begins.

And seeing as how I've got 627 words, it will be quite a while until the revising process begins.

I guess I'm back in writing mode now - and I've got to find a new idea for Nano 2008.

A Look Back . . .

T minus five hours until 2008 arrives. Happy New Year!

Just have a quick minute before I go to have a fabulous (I hope!) lasagna dinner with some old friends, an acquaintance from high school (she remembers me; me, not so much) and some other people I honestly don't know. Then, we'll be off to Tanglewood, where we'll be walking the 5K through the Festival of Lights. Probably the only way to experience the lights, I'm convinced.

Expect two late posts (really, I wanted to do these today, and it just didn't happen) about whether I accomplished the List for 2007 (as well as the new List for 2008) and, because I think it would be interesting, a review of the quotes I've included at the bottom of my emails. They probably match my mood on the blog; I can promise that they match the mood in my personal writing, but that's not for general consumption.

Completely unrelated: I've figured out how to completely wipe a hard drive (well, as much as you can wipe one without drilling holes through the motherboard and melting other parts of it). It's not the easiest, but it's done. Goodwill got the computer and I feel good that the mercury and lead in the computer didn't get put into the landfill.

And because I have no focus, there's seven-layer dip in front of me and it's almost time to go have lasagna, I'll bid adieu for now.

Happy New Year!

Nanowrimo

Almost done.

No blogging when you've put in as many words as I have in the past three days. I've gone from 22, 700ish to where I am now.

46, 173.

I'm technically ahead of schedule. I'm ready to be done. It's exhausting. And the book may not be neatly finished at 50,000 words. I think it might end up being 60,000 or so before the first draft is all said and done.

Word of the Day

Courtesy of Dictionary.com:


"pro·cras·ti·nate /proʊˈkræstəˌneɪt, prə-/ [proh-kras-tuh-neyt, pruh-]verb, -nat·ed, -nat·ing.

–verb (used without object)
1. to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.

–verb (used with object)
2. to put off till another day or time; defer; delay.

Origin: 1580–90; pro-1 + -crāstināre, deriv. of crāstinus of tomorrow; crās tomorrow + -tinus suffix forming adjs. from temporal advs.)]"

Yeah, I might get back to my novel this evening. Ok, I will. I just want to clean out my email first. And maybe try to find my lost memory card for my camera and the card reader. And put away the clean clothes. And fill up the new purse. And do the dishes. And go paint the shelf on the shed (Oh, wait, it's dark. Darn . . . hmm, I could just take the ever-so-useful headlamp out to paint . . .).

I could just camp on the lottery website and refresh the screen until they update the winning number for this week. Or take the recycling out. Or put the dead houseplant in the composter. Or make brownies. Ooh, or pumpkin bread. Or empty my Google reader. Or blog more. Or call my brother and my sister and my other sister. Or . . .

Good words

Because I'm at the beach:
"The weather is here, wish you were beautiful." -- Jimmy Buffet

And, I intend to get deeply into a good book this weekend:
"Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live." -- Gustave Flaubert