Recently in nanowrimo Category

Who's idea was it to write a mystery? And who's idea was it to start NaNoWriMo without knowing who killed Marisa and why? Cuz that was a stupid idea. I've been writing lots of character profiles. I'm kinda good at that. My word count is way behind. I think I am going to have to start writing down my free form thoughts about the crime and why it was done to her, even if it's stupid, to get my word count back up. That's what I am doing now, trying to figure out the players and who killed Marisa and why. Besides the fact she's an sneaky, cold hearted bitch.

This isn't a first draft. This isn't even a shitty first draft. This is like draft .2. It's 2/10th's of a first draft. Qualitywise.

On the plus side, I've been scrubbing the spots out of our horrible Dalmatian carpet with a Woolite Rug Stick. We were allowed to move into this no pets apartment building with two cats because the carpet in this unit sucks. It needs to be replaced. Because of that, he let us have cats, and did not replace the carpet. We were grateful. However, the carpet makes me sad. It's ugly and tan and spotty. I haven't had the gumption to drag home a rental steam cleaner.

The Woolite Rug Stick is not getting rid of every spot, but it's definitely fading them. And that is such a relief. It's a lot of physical work, tho. I'm trying to get the hallway and living room at least somewhat de-spotted because we will have house guests for the next six days. One of Wil's little buddies from the island Monday through Thursday and then my mom will be here Friday and Saturday.

I'm not sure what having house guests will do for my word count. All Wil and his little buddy will be doing is hanging out and playing video games and making messes. One of two things will happen. Either every part of the house, besides the living room, will be really clean. (Because there will be no room for me in the living room, and nothing for me to do there anyway.) or I will run away to the library all day and my word count will soar.

Or I will spend my days preparing food for them.

Or I will play the sims.

PS: Wil lost 8 lbs in the first week of our diet and I lost 6.5. So yay us!

I haven't written my words yet today, which goes against my strategy for winning this year: write first thing in the morning, don't stop until you hit at least 1667 words.

Now, I promise you that I'm not going to talk about my diet every damn day. But I am going to talk about it one more time to let you know that I am officially switching to Weight Watchers. It worked well for me before, and I think it will this time too. South Beach is just far to restrictive for someone with my limited tastes. I like the point system. I like trying to save up as many of the Weekly Points as possible to have a treat. I love that I can drink a Dr Pepper if I want to, as long as I count the points.

There are things about SB that I will miss. As much as you can miss something you've only been on three days. Ideas I will miss. You can eat all you want of the foods you are allowed to eat. You don't have to measure or worry about portions. The only limit is nuts. You can only have 15 almonds a day. That's not a lot of almonds, which is unfortunate because it's on the rather small list of "Foods I will actually eat." The thought of continuing on that diet just depressed me.

It was stupid to start NaNo and a diet at the same time, but at least on WW, I know I will have foods I can eat. Although a lot fewer daily points than I had when I started the last time. Maybe because I weigh 44 lbs less than I did the first time.

Day two of NaNoWriMo and my word count is 3,407. Once again I finished my minimum before Wil got home from work, if only about two minutes before. If anything, today was more of a struggle than yesterday. At times, I just started writing like a robot. You know, like "He got out of the car. The car was brown. He was wearing a shirt. It was plaid."

I would go on like that until I loosened up a bit, and something more pleasant came out. Later, I went back and fixed the dry stuff. I use a great program called Scrivener to write. It allows me to write "scrawling fragmentary ideas that don't seem to fit anywhere yet." I can jump from scene to scene. Whatever it takes to keep writing. I highly recommend it. It's mac only, but it comes with a 30 day trial, so you can try it out while you work on your novel throughout November.

The South Beach diet is not going as well. Yesterday was hard. I was hungry all day and the cravings for something sweet or something bready were intense. And this morning, I cheated. I admit it, I had the last bowl left in the box of raisin bran. It was delightful, and now it's all gone. I suppose, if you are going to cheat, better on day 2 of the first phase then day 12 or something, after you've worked so hard to get rid of the cravings. Right? I dislike this diet and it does not work well for my limited tastes for foods. I am going to finish phase one and see how I feel. I might switch to Weight Watchers. Wil can stay on it. I'm pretty sure the food I prepare for him would be low in points as well.

It's not fair! NaNoWriMo requires candy and Dr Pepper! Everyone knows that. My heart's not in it, but man, I have got to do something about the weight gain. I've got all these pants in a smaller size I can't wear right now.

Well, since I already finished my daily minimum words for NaNoWriMo, I guess I'll just keep writing. So far so good. My nickname on NaNo is jodiferous, of course, if you want to be buddies.

Not only is it day one of NaNoWrimo, but it's also Day One on the South Beach diet. I gained a disturbing amount of weight this summer, went back up a pant size. This scared the crap out of me, because up is not a direction I ever want to go again. Wil wanted to lose some weight he's put on since he started dating me. Because that's what happens when you hang around me. I'm fattening.

I blame Wil's workplace. This summer, they put him on a 2 pm to 10 pm schedule, and we ceased to have meals together. I did NOT mind not having to come up with dinner every night. Loved that part. But basically we started snacking instead of having healthy meals. We ate far too much Open Late Drive-thru fast food. We ate out way too much. And I developed a not-so-small addiction to Tiny Cherry Pies from Safeway bakery.

God, I am hungry. The book promised I would not be, but the book doesn't know who it's dealing with. We are on Phase One which lasts two weeks. Phase One is supposed to cure you of your sugar and carb cravings. I certainly hope so, because I've been riding a wave of sugar cravings of significant size for months now. No fruit, no carbs, no sugar, no fun. Lean protein and stupid vegetables. This diet will be easier for Wil. He looOOoooves vegetables. And his favorite way to eat them? Raw. He also likes plain yogurt. You know what I like? Buffalo wings, cheese burgers, fruit, potato chips, french fries, Dr Pepper, bread, candy and, of course, Tiny Cherry Pies. What I don't like are vegetables.

Sucks. I'm hungry even though I just ate grilled chicken wrapped in lettuce with South Beach "Ranch" Dressing. (I like to think of it more as inspired by a vague idea of what Ranch Dressing looks like.) I want some raisin bran. I want a bagel, toasted, with butter AND peanut butter on it. I want Red Vines which I can't even have anyway because they don't have them in Canada.

Please help, someone bring me mini reece's peanut butter cups. Pleeeeeeeease. That reminds me, can you freeze peanut butter? I've got a big jar of Jif and it's calling my name. I don't want to throw it away, but I need it to be unobtainable for a while

I haven't mentioned it, but I am going to participate this year.

My NaNo page. Be my friend.

I haven't mentioned it, but I am going to participate this year.

My NaNo page. Be my friend.

I've put a lot of thought into this. Because in addition to having trouble writing, I'm having a lot of trouble sleeping. I am having zero trouble thinking, however. That's all I do.

Anyway, lot of thought and what I've come up with is this: as a writer, I have become flabby. As little as a year ago I was writing all the time. At work I wrote technical documentation, bug reports, hundreds of emails, a large percentage of what I did every day was written communication. Personally, I spent hours chatting, blogging and writing emails to friends. I was always writing.

Nowadays, I have a hard time writing a chatty email. I chat online with very few people. And I've become remiss at blogging. I could use my boring mundane life as an excuse, and maybe it's partially to blame, but even when things happen I don't blog them. My writing has become, dare I say it, flaccid. I can't get it up anymore.

I'm not giving up on Nano, tho I am woefully behind. Since there is no viagra for writing, I'm just going to have to keep plugging away at it, and this blog, and hope I get my muscles back.

I've received compliments on the title of my story, so I think I should explain. It's not mine. It's a title of a Shivaree song which, along with "Goodnight Moon", helped inspire this need in me to write a mystery. My character's name is, therefore, Fiona Black and what happens is her own little mess to deal with - dead bodies, black mail, intrigue, things that make you wear something other than pajama pants and leave the house. Which is not something that happens to me a lot right now.

Here is the song and lyrics. I hope Shivaree doesn't mind. Buy their music. They rule. Have I ever posted "Goodnight Moon?" I can't remember, I cannot find it anywhere on the blog.

"Little Black Mess" by Shivaree

I should try to be good
Forever and ever, amen
So I'll touch wood
And hope I don't get caught again
Without my lines
And off the mark
Looking for signs
I can't see here in the dark
My opening won't be a great success
Till you come get me out of
This little black mess

I'll play my part
And say never ever again
Then cross my heart
Cry until you say when
A little cheat while you turn away
Things we repeat one more time
Day after day
I've lost my appetite so nonetheless
It fits like a glove now
My little black mess

Who's to say if we'll know
When it's time for this old thing to go

And so if I'm good
Could you forgive how I've been?
You misunderstood
Now if you'd just let me begin
To put on my face
I'll put on the room
Go take my place
One more time
Then we can resume
It's true I'm sure to die out here unless
You come help me out of
This little black mess

Since we have channels that broadcast in the EST on our cable, I have already watched Bones and House and it's not even 9pm. (I only like shows that are one word nouns. And have SCIENCE in them. Science is cool.)

So my feuvision dvd is on, and so is my nanocam. Maybe you can see the fire burning in the background. Très réaliste! I want to break 5k tonight. Which would put me exactly 5k + 2 words behind schedule. I've got to work out a better system for my day.

I think that if I had marshmallows and butter, I would easily break 5k. I have the rice krispies already. I have the technology.

I'm behind. I've been behind since day 2. I don't want to talk about how far behind I am. Let's see where the day takes us.

I've turned the Nanocam on, but before too long I am going to need to go and put the pork chops in the oven. Mmmmm... pork chops.

We just returned from Costco where I bought something I've wanted for years. A DVD of a fire in a fireplace. No, I am not kidding. I don't have a fireplace, but I love them. And really, what is a writing environment without a crackling fire, this time of year? No, it does not give off heat, but the heat vent is right below my feet, if I really need it. It may sound weird, but the fact that the television is occupied with something makes it less of a temptation to turn it on and watch it.

As a bonus my Feuvision came bundled with Eauvsion and a Hivervision. Each one comes with the same selection of Jazz, Ambient, Classical, and Holiday Traditional music on it. The fireplace comes with fireplace sounds. The winter dvd comes with winter sounds, whatever they may be. But the fish tank comes with ocean sounds. Which is a bit disappointing because I think I'd rather have fish tank noises. However, the scenes change, and it's not always a tank, but sometimes fish in a more natural environment. We have the fish on right now. The ocean sounds were not enough to mask the music coming from Wil's headphones (he's going to go deaf I swear) so I am actually listening to the sound of thunderstorms on my headphones.

It's a variable potpourri of nature sounds, I'll tell you what.

I'm saving the fire for after dark.