Even though I have to work at some ungodly early hour in the morning, I thought I'd do a little writing anyway. The new novel for NaNoWriMo has been started; I fired up the laptop at 12:06am and banged away for a while.

notes on the process: I'm using the word count tool in the ol' wordprocessor, so I don't know if that's going to be official, or accurate, or what. but the tool is there, so I'm using it. Also, I've discarded the usual manuscript formatting (courier 10pt, double-spaced) for something a bit easier for me to read, and type.

Actually, it looks a lot like this. same font, similar formating. (I'm used to it by now) so the page counts will be approximate; I won't know how the final manuscript will fill out until I reformat it.

But now I really do need to get some sleep, so you'll have to wait until I post here tomorrow for my opinions on this project.

novel, in progress -- title to be determined
current word count: 574 -- not bad for the first half hour
pages: 1.5

working title: Shards of Moonlight
current word count: 2170
pages: 4

(actually, that's the title of the old book, the one I've set aside for a month to do NaNoWriMo. it's a good title though. and the two books may tie in at some point...)


The page count, much like the word count, is taken at face value direct from MS Word. The manuscript will seem longer when I reformat, because it'll be doublespaced, etc. I don't really care. This is just the first draft--a very rough first draft, because of the emphasis on speed--so by the time I work this mass of verbiage into a usuable manuscript it will be quite a bit longer. (and shorter in parts. and taller, thinner, wider, heavier, etc etc. This book will not be so much written, as re-written.)

I may do some more writing before midnight, but I seem to be doing well and I only got 4 hours of sleep last night so I may just go to bed early. As in, 9:30 kind of early. I'll let my dreams do some of the writing for me.

NaNoWriMo: which for those of you who haven't paid attention is National Novel Writing Month. Just click the link.

working title: Shards of Moonlight
today's output: 1066 words
the total so far: 3236 words (6 pages)

not a good day, novel wise. Not a good day at all, really, no matter what criteria we're using. I went out and voted after work, which involved a drive through rush hour traffic down to the ol' Blind Homestead out in the suburbs, where I'm still registered.

I did snag dinner and said hi to the folks. That was nice. The drive back sucked though. "the National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for where you're at, right now. No, really. God thinks you look a little dehydrated, and thought you could use a drink. You might want to start building an ark." The really fun part of driving on the interstate through driving rain is that terrifying half second as a tractor-trailor rig blows past you doing 60. Half of you wants to see it hydroplane, the other half knows that would like mean a death of the encompasing-fireball variety.

It took and hour and a half to drive down, and a little longer than that to drive back. But I did my civic duty, and I'm all in one piece. (two points for me.)

I had the laptop with me, so I was able to rattle off some more of the novel after dinner, sitting on my parents couch while the election results sort of never really came in on TV. (if that makes sense--there was all this coverage but at that hour it was still "too close to call") The only thing that stopped me was the battery in my laptop. (I left the plug at home... so it was writing under a time limit. which is what I'll be doing all month anyway, so it's good practice.)

You know, I really must be nuts. Here I am, taking on a personal project, working on a 50,000 word one-month novel. and how do I unwind at the end of the night? I write 400 or so words that don’t count for my total. –if I keep this up, I might not make it. Maybe I should just stick to fiction for the next couple of weeks and only give you the bland statistics rather than the play-by-play.

I don’t like discussing politics. I find that it rarely changes people’s minds, and more often than not, political arguments piss off and alienate friends. But today, I’m going to do it anyway. (this is the last time you’ll see something like this posted here)
(this is 1500 words I really should have been writing for the novel tonight...)
(click here to read the rest of the BS)

a review of what I did on the novel yesterday:

squat.

Yes, well, good to get that out of the way. Now if you read what I posted last night (which, going back to reread it, I'll admit was not the most straghtforward or coherent analysis of the election-- but I don't have the room or the time for that) (or the need. if you disagree with me, no arguments will change your mind, I think) ...if you wade through that mess, maybe you'll see what I was writing, and it wasn't what I should have been.

I'm going to make an effort today. Try a few different things. If any of that works well I'll detail what I did tonight/tomorrow morning on the next update. And now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a lot of work to do before I go to work this afternoon.

NaNoWriMo: November is National Novel Writing Month. Just click the link.

working title: Shards of Moonlight
today's output: 2,638 words
the total so far: 5,874 words (10 pages)
(Day 1 has more info on how counts are tabulated)

Bed. Now. I've got work in the AM. I'll be posting a little more info, and a novel excerpt tomorrow.

I worked the closing shift last night. I got home at midnight. I couldn't get to sleep right away, so I read for a bit and don't get to bed until 2am.

fooking 2am. shite.

My head hits the pillow and the alarm goes off. I got 200 minutes of sleep. Now I'm dragging my ass back into work to set up the holiday displays. before the store opens. (I hope you, the ungrateful shopping public, appreciates the sacrifices I make for my measly hourly wage. )

I'm running on coffee and will power. I hope I don't run out of either.

NaNoWriMo: November is National Novel Writing Month. click the link.

I kept writing after midnight, so technically part of tonight's output rightly belongs on Day 7's tally. I don't feel like parsing things that fine at the moment. (it all goes for the same total anyway.)

working title: Shards of Moonlight
Friday's output: 720 words
today's output: 1,479 words

the total so far: 8,073 words (12+ pages)

The goal is 50,000 words before the end of the month. If you were to crunch the numbers (do I have to do it for you?) I'm running about 2000 words behind at this point. There's still time to catch up.

As promised, a short excerpt:
(no comments from the peanut gallery. As I've said before, this is still the rough draft. If you think you can do better you should be participating in NaNoWriMo instead of giving me grief)

"As he ducked under his opponents first swipe, Trey wished he had thought to get his helmet from off of the saddle horn before sending his horse fleeing. He stepped low and inside, within the thing’s reach, to avoid the swinging club. As he dodged, he also brought up his sword, which scraped with a slithering rasp across the creatures chest. Trey felt a twinge of fear. The creatures wore armor of some sort underneath those rags. His missed blow left him off balance, and as Trey stumbled, he felt as much as saw the long, powerful arms of thing closing in a bear-like hug. He twisted and dropped to the ground to avoid being entangled, so only caught a short glimpse of his opponent's face. It wasn’t even vaguely human. It wasn’t an ape either. Trey had never seen anything like that face. It was rough and flaky, not hairy but like a rock covered with lichen, the mouth a mere gash, no nose to speak of. The eyes were solid black and glassy, and stared out unblinkingly.

"Trey attempted to jump back, but again found himself stumbling. A quick glance to the ground showed Trey the obstacle: Kellen had fallen, and while the young man was still moving, the rock ape he had been facing was about to brain Kellen with its club.

"Trey threw up a hasty block, not stopping the club but diverting it. Small black obsidian chips studded the club head, previously unnoticed, and what would otherwise have been a slight glancing blow tore open a gash on Trey’s right arm instead.

"Trey knew he had to finish quickly, before the blood from the wound ran down and fouled his grip. Trey attacked feverishly. His sword connected three times, but all he heard was scraping steel, glancing off the rock-like armor. Changing tactics, Trey stepped back a half step and aimed with the tip of his sword instead of the blade. It had been ages since he had fought in this style, but the ape-thing certainly wasn't a fencer. Trey connected with the armpit, felt the sword bite instead of scrape, and Trey took the gamble rather than wait for a better opportunity. Throwing his weight into the blade, Trey drove the steel deep while stepping forward, once again almost tripping over Kellen, who still struggled to regain his feet. Trey's sword was ripped from his grasp while the rock ape fell heavily forward. Trey scrambled back to keep from being crushed. Kellen wasn't so lucky, and Trey heard the poor man moan as the weight of the creature fell on him.

"Unarmed, a bit shaken, and still facing one ape, Trey heard a call from Mope, his first corporal, 'Sir! Sword!'.

"Trey snatched the tossed sword out of the air by its hilt, but the blood from his arm had slicked his grip. Trey almost fumbled the sword, and while he was trying to secure it, the rock ape swung at Trey's head with a clawed hand. Fighting by reflex, Trey managed to bring up the sword to parry the blow, but lost the blade from the force of the it. Diving to both avoid another attack and to recover the sword, Trey shouted between breaths, 'Mope, Duelist stance, go for the joints.' Mope didn't have time to do much more than grunt and nod his assent, but Trey noted his second fall back into the perpendicular stance, one arm out in a classic fencing position.

"Trey turned from Mope to see a rock ape almost upon him. By instinct, he went for a hilt punch, noting too late that Mope's spare blade lacked the guard of his own sword. Cursing, Trey tightened his grip on the hilt, as much to make sure no bones were broken as to secure his hold of the sword. Trey saw an opening in a crack above the thing's collar bone and stabbed high. The ape retreated with a roar, and brought up an arm to parry Trey's cut.

Trey was now on his feet, with a clear opening and a better idea of what he was facing. He took a moment, and immediately found a better target. Trey stepped inside and to his right and brought the sword around to the back of his opponents knee. As the rock ape fell to the ground, Trey killed it much like it's brother, sending a blade in at the armpit to find the creature's heart. He dispatched his second opponent in time to see the rest of his squad finishing the mop up. A handful of surviving apes dropped their clubs and ran off at surprising speed, in an odd four legged lope."

go to yahoo, search "parenthetical aside" and boom, what do you get?

me. this page, actually.

proof, at least as of 7am today. I have no idea how long I might manage to hang on to the top link spot. (Now I need to figure out step #2, so we can move on to step #3, profit!)

I don't obsessively search my own name on Google or anything. (though I do an ego search every couple of months just to see how many of my old web pages are still hanging in there.) This came up while I was checking the hit logs (a benefit of paid account on Tabulas; fork over the $28 bucks already, you cheapskates) and noticed where people are linking in from. Interestingly enough, folks occasionally (once or twice a month) come surfing in from one of the search engines.

updates on the novel later; I plan to check in with that again tonight and do a little more writing before midnight.

I'm not out of story ideas, I don't think, so I wouldn't call this writer's block. I'm just not very motivated to write so far this week. Even so, I've been trying to work on the novel in small bits. A half hour here, a half hour there, just enough so it doesn't feel like I'm abandoning the project. From what I've read over at the NaNoWriMo forums (and in Chris Baty's book, "No Plot, No Problem") this kind of ambivalence and lack of progress can be typical of Week Two.

I've got a day off tomorrow, so I guess I'll see if I can't defribulate the damn thing and get some bulk writing done. I've got a lot of ground to make up if I plan on hitting the 50,000 word goal before the end of the month.

Not much else to cover, really. Work sucks in that sort of background way that you don't really notice until someone asks you about it, and then you stop and think, and it occurs to you that work sucks. My social life is going through a dry spell, literally and figuratively, after some unexpectedly large utility bills last month really ate into my entertainment budget. After filling the gas tank on my car and making sure I didn't starve, I couldn't even scare up $6 to go hashing, let alone cover one of my usual bar tabs. I haven't had a beer in two weeks.

It does no good to carefully budget if you then get knocked on your ass by unexpected expenses. [shrug] It doesn't really help that the price of everything seems to be going up, while my pay raise still hasn't been approved, or been processed, or whatever. Remind me to bug my boss about that.

I'd have to say the main reason I'm postponing any updates on the novel is that at the moment, I haven't done a whole hell of a lot. There's work to be done. I'm ignoring it.

I may be waiting for a "dare to be great" situation. Where I could come online and say, "why yes, I have done a lot of work. Let me tell you..."

at the moment I can't say that. I've been slacking.

But there is still two and a half hours tonight. And a whole lot of time before I have to go to work tomorrow. I'll have to see what can be done.

-- Best Web Site Name of the Week --
also of note -- blogging the novel -- the build -- Radio Free Bender -- recipes -- reviews --

My standing recommendations (links go off site):
-- ComicSnob.com, a daily comic review blog. (disclosure: I'm a contributor over there) --
-- Websnark -- Schlock Mercenary -- Boing Boing -- Neatorama -- Needcoffee.com --

I haven't posted anything here in about a week. Some of you might be thinking, "so what?" Others might have noticed I'm in the middle of at least one really big project (NaNoWriMo) and might remember that I work retail (big bookstore that starts with a "b") and this is of course the lovely holiday shopping season. And I'm sure the bulk of you don't care.

That and there was this special-occasion-thing last week. I'm not talking about it.

However, there are likely a few curious/concerned/voyueristic folks out there, so for the benefit of that portion of my readership, I guess I'll start alphabetically--

Birthday: don't want to talk about it.

Bookstore: sucks. Between interviewing new people, then training them, I've barely had time to finish the holiday display setup. and don't get me started on work schedules.

Budget: I've been feeling awfully broke recently. When I can't afford to spend the evening (or afternoon) at some local dive bar, I guess there isn't too much to report here.

Exercise: I've been slacking there. I'm not too worried; I'm not gaining any of the weight back. yet.

Novel: Slacking there, too. Some miniscule progress has been made on the mad adventure that is nanowrimo, but I don't feel like crunching the numbers to see just how little I've done in the past, oh, ten days. I'll pick it up again today. No, really. I might have some good news this weekend.

Social Life: (see Birthday and Budget above) I did meet at least one very nice young lady on the internet. I like her a lot, but it's not going to work out for other reasons. Still, I'd have to say there are enough positives to the experience that I'll try it again.

Oh yes, for my friends: Yes, I'm picking up chicks on the Internet. When you stop laughing, I'd appreciate it if you didn't make too big of a deal about it. (it's not like any of you are setting me up on dates or anything. just making use of the tools at hand. )

I have other irons in the forge, too. I still get out to the bars each weekend, though I couldn't say whether that is a good way to meet people, or just a way to commiserate with others who have similar problems. I did meet (and then dated) one lovely redhead at a bar many years ago, but that may have been a statistical anomaly. I plan to get back to hashing soon, which is a great way to meet folks and get exercise, and well, drink more beer. (I'm sure I've mentioned this before: I can get along with just about anyone, if they happen to like the occasional beer. Odd, but true. Beer drinkers are just good people.) And some of those people hashing are women, about 50% shockingly enough. (well, less than 50%. but not by much) Not that I plan on dating the other hashers, but if you don't go out and meet and talk to women, well, I can pretty much guarantee that they aren't going to come randomly knocking on your door. (unless they're selling cookies, and that better be all you want from the girl scouts, you sicko.) And of course, a number of lovely ladies come into the store each day. But I'm not so good a salesman that I can get away with selling them 3 CDs, a DVD, a membership, and myself. I ain't that slick.

All right, so enough with the inner feelings crap for today. Here's how the weekend appears to be developing.

Tonight: My paycheck typically clears a day early, so... My pipe and I are planning on an appearance at the Fox and Hounds for a relatively late dinner. I don't think it'll be a real drinking session, more like a three-and-out.
Tomorrow: working a late shift (until 10pm) so by the time I get off of work I won't find a parking space in Buckhead, I'll tell you that. I'm considering alternatives; maybe I should look into who's playing at Smith's or the Brandyhouse.
Saturday: Georgia Tech home game, vs. Virginia. I'm not going. ([gasp] infidel! blasphemer!) Instead I think I'll do the exercise bit and run with the aforementioned hash Saturday afternoon.
Sunday: Going down to PTC to say hi to the folks and help Dad with some work around the old homestead. And bum dinner. I think Mom mentioned something about ribs. Mmmm, barbecue.

then it starts all over again early Monday morning. [sigh]

If you feel like meeting up and/or tagging along for one of these lovely evenings and/or afternoons, give me a call on the mobile and I'll fill in the details.

latest on the NaNoWriMo bit:

19 Nov: 1,581 words
20 Nov: 752 words
21 Nov: 2,841 so far this morning.

this mess is running over 13k at the moment. We'll have to see how things go for the rest of today.

22 Nov: 2438 words

The novel currently stands at 15.5K. Please note, that means I am still way behind. But I have eight days yet, and if I double my current output, I should still be able to hit 50,000 words before the end of the month. (which is the point of this nutty exercise, for those of you who might have forgotten.)

I suppose I'm still waiting for inspiration to hit me like a bolt of lightning or something. You know, that one evening where I settle in and write for six hours straight. But you can't order inspiration like a pizza. (I suppose I could go ahead and order a pizza, and then grab my laptop, a six pack, lock myself in a room, and see what happens. certainly wouldn't hurt.) Until then, I guess I just need to keep grinding away at it.

(one final aside: there's a holiday in there, too. While I plan to lug the laptop to the ol' homestead for T-Day, I don't know that I'll be able to reach my quota with everything else that'll be going on; I should probably plan on doing 15k in the next two days. you know, doubling 22 days of effort before Thursday.) (it's almost funny.)

let's hear it for bank holidays!

Now, usually, when we have a bank holiday (edit: actually, it seems like any national holiday, no matter how insignificant, is going to end up being a bank holiday) my paycheck clears a day early. That usually means: I get to go spend Wednesday night at the bar. I guess Thanksgiving is special, being a Thursday and all. My check from last week already cleared the bank; if I weren't already in my pajamas (and of course, if I hadn't already been to a bar tonight ) I'd likely be headed out to cash in on my ill-gotten-but-also-hard-earned gains.

I'm already mostly drunk. I don't feel like getting dressed just to head out and trade in that 'mostly' for a 'completely'. (setting aside for a moment the fact that if I left now to go drinking I'd have to taxi my ass home)

no word yet on how this new found solvency will affect the writing; I had supposed that I wouldn't be able to go out and drink until friday, at the earliest.

hope ya'll had a nice holiday yesterday, whether you spent it with family, friends, or your favorite bartenders. I did enjoy my holiday with the folks, but it does leave me a bit nostalgic for days when the day after thanksgiving was also a day off.

at least I got to sleep in today.

Actually, that would have been something like a week ago, but pop culture sci-fi references don't always bend to suit real life calendars...

One more day to write. Well, for the NaNoWriMo thing, anyway. And what am I doing right now? Drinking and writing, I have a feeling (this is a time-delayed post, written much earlier in the day, so I can honestly say that this exact moment, in real time, I am writing the novel, not writing this.) (Neat, ain't it?) (well, if you don't agree with me, that's still no call to use language like that...)

At some point in December, I'll attempt to deconstruct the process and figure out why I failed. (50K was the target, and I'll be short.) (Still, I've got 20K+ of wordy goodness that I might not have had otherwise. so, no loss) Until then, you'll forgive me if I write like mad trying to see what small tatters of my pride can be salvaged from this half-baked adventure.