Horses, Wagons and Other Imaginary Friends

This is my imaginary horse, the Irish Cob, aka Irish Gypsy Cob and Tinker Cob. Isn't he lovely?

He pulls my imaginary Vardo, which alternates between the Bow Top and the Showman. Both are light enough to be pulled by a single horse, although a second horse was often added for going uphill. (See, I'm not just wasting my time writing; I'm learning stuff too.)

He's featured in my current NaNoWriMo project. In the novel, his name is Merry (his person is Pippin, the youngest child of a couple with a Tolkein obsession).

The detailing on these wagons is amazing; even the underside is decorated. In the course of my research, I came across a UK website. I emailed some questions about size and weight and horsepower; I got a very helpful response from the lovely Stef within a couple of hours. It closed with the Romani expression Atch Konyo - Stay Peaceful. I like it. It may become my new mantra. My frazzled neurons could use some peaceful right about now.

I have learned, as two weeks of graveyard shift stretched out into two months, that I am not a creature of the night. And so, as of tomorrow, I am switching to swing shift, because the fustercluck with the hotline ovens still isn't straightened out. Fortunately, I am valued enough that my boss said "Come to work whenever you want. Just write your schedule down for me." I think he's afraid that I'll stop coming to work. As well he should be. While my sensible self realizes the the good things about my job (income, insurance) the rest of me is bored to tears with the endless cycle of tea breads and rolls and breakfast pastries (the TPS reports of my world) is screaming F**K Pastry! and is only a hairsbreadths away from running off to join the circus. Or just running off period. And while I do occasionally get to stretch myself when a catering order asks for a 'nice dessert', that's beginning to seem pointless too. I am a carrot-motivated person. I work for praise. And while my boss, and my coworkers in the kitchen give me positive feedback, I hear nothing from the outside. Nothing. Whether I send out cheesecake from a box, or knock out a three item mignardise plate for 40, I hear nothing. It's disheartening. Yes, I understand the value of being self-motivated, and continuing to learn and grow for my own sake, but damn. I'm not used to this. And I don't like it. See what I mean about being frazzled from the graveyard shift? It wouldn't bother me so much if I weren't fried beyond belief.

In a way, I blame Cavalia. It opened up new worlds and possibilities. It showed me that the life I've made really doesn't fit. Somewhere, I got off course. And a lot of it could just be my attitude right now. We'll see what happens as I return to the sunlit lands. But right now, I have a horse, his boy and a circus family of shapeshifters that require my attention. My imaginary friends who are living my imaginary lives for me. Yay for NaNoWriMo, for giving me a way to explore possibilities, no matter how 'crazy' they might be.

NaNoWriMo 2010 - The Story (or lack thereof) So Far

Despite the headstart, I think I may have even less to work with this year. Last year, I had characters who had been living in my head for years. This year, they are new acquaintances, and I don't know much about them yet.
There are two main characters, one more vivid than the other other. He's a shapeshifter with Multiple Form Disorder, comes from circus folk, and is a Vardo builder/artist. His parents are huge Lord of the Rings fans and named all five of their children after characters in the trilogy. The youngest isn't very bright, or as the shifter community puts it "he's not the sharpest claw on the paw."
She's a whitelighter/granola kind of person, vague and flighty, who is about to get a crash course in walking on the wild/dark side. Hopefully, she'll get more interesting; otherwise, I foresee a swift and brutal end, because main characters shouldn't be boring.
The writing starts Monday. After being up all night at work (do not get me started on my feelings about what should have been two weeks of graveyard shift having stretched out to two months! The hot line oven still isn't installed.) I'll be going to a four hour kickoff session at Jill's. She said there would be snacks. And chocolate. Her children will probably come home from school to find all their Halloween candy is gone...

Morning Glories of the Corn

For reasons unknown, the random morning glories are flourishing and blooming more than the ones I painstakingly planted. These same unknown reasons are likely responsible for the lack of blooms on all the vining flowers, and for the complete lack of female blossoms on the pumpkins and squash. I learned about male and female pumpkin blossoms and hand pollination here , but I can't work with something that isn't there. There are quite a few buds still to open, but this late in the season, it's unlikely that there will be pumpkins. Even if by some miracle pumpkins appear, they will most likely be eaten by squirrels. And the corn, it's about as high as an elephant's ankle. But it's attractively festooned with morning glories.

For Book Club, (first rule of book club, don't talk about book club...) we're reading Eat, Pray, Love. So far, I like it, although I don't understand the author's penchant for spending her nights weeping and sleeping on floors. If I'm going to be miserable, I prefer to be physically comfortable whilst being so.

I do understand her fascination with Italy and the Italian language; and yes, I was interested to learn that Ciao! comes from sciào vostro, an expression used in intimate conversation, an expression that means "I am your slave". Of course, I can't see myself ever saying or hearing sciào vostro , but I do like learning new things. No matter how apparently useless they might be. Actually, uselessness rather adds to the appeal.

Although, I suppose nothing is useless to a novelist. I could possibly work sciào vostro into the current work in progress, but perhaps I'll save it for NaNo 2010 : Morning Glories of the Corn. I have no idea what it's about. I have 82 days to figure that out. Ciao!

All kinds of projects

After months of procrastination, an outstanding and generous job of formatting and designing by my friend Erin, and some last-minute hurdles at CreateSpace,

my NaNoWriMo 2009 is finally being made into a free proof copy. I should have it by the end of this week.

Erin also provided me with an e-book version.

I found a free novel writing software program - yWriter5. It has a lot of neat features that theoretically will make NaNo 2010 much easier. I'm testing it out by converting my Scriptfrenzy screenplay into a novel. I loaded the whole thing in and then started redoing it. So far my word count is -237. Yep, -237. Taking out all the screenplay formatting leaves a void.

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It seemed like such a simple plan; get the closet doors out of the garage and reinstall them in my room. I moved half the stuff in the garage, hauled out the doors, washed them off and dragged them inside. They were the wrong ones. Start over. Right doors, only half the hardware is missing. Off to the hardware store. Three times. Finally, all the hardware is attached. I shoved the bed out of the way so I could swing the door out far enough to pop the wheels into the track. There was a sickening crack. I had splintered the bedside table. 3 trips to the hardware store, one minor injury, a casualty (the table), a lot of frustration and the use of every swear word I know in every possible combination. All in all, a typical do-it-yourself project. All that was missing was a six-pack of beer. The upside of the casualty is that I rearranged things and now have a small writing desk in my room so that I can work undisturbed by television, music or phone conversations.

I finally got around to playing with the watercolors I bought over a month ago and the book on watercolor painting I got from the library. This is my second attempt at a cloud. It looks better than the first cloud(damning with faint praise). The example in the book added mountains. I added lava because I wanted to play with the iridescent paints.

The garden is coming along nicely. So is Puppy. Her surgery was a complete success and she needs no further treatment. We have started going to the park again. She isn't allowed to play in the water yet, but she's happy just to be outside. Her stitches come out on Friday.

I'm a Winner! I have a Blog Sticker That Says So

Oh, Yeah Baby! The first draft of my first screenplay is done! If you follow this link to the excerpt, please be gentle with any comments. It's a first draft. It's supposed to be bad.

Next up, the long dreaded editing of the NaNoWriMo novel. I need to have something worthy of claiming my prize of one free paperback copy by June 30th.

Speaking of, I need a cover design. If anyone's good at drawing. let me know. There could be some free chocolate or pastry in it for you. Plus, the finished cover would look good in your portfolio. Everyone needs a portfolio.

The "Prize"

I did it!

I not only reached the goal of 50K words, I exceeded the goal. Probably due in no small part to the numerous repetitions of 'flying vampire monkey demons' in the 'flying vampire monkey demons attack the elementary school during recess' chapter. I'm hoping to come up with a better name for them during the editing process.
I have a personal goal of 75,000 words (25,000 words in 8 days, 4 of which are days off from work. I can do it!) I still have an ambush, a desperate duel, a destiny revealed and a Conjuration of Doom to get through. Not to mention a tidy wrap up that lays the ground for a possible sequel. Right now though, I will take my victorious self to bed. 5am won't come any later just because I HAVE WRITTEN MY FIRST NOVEL!!!!!

Stalled at 41,348 words

I don't know what comes next. I have an awful feeling that I have 40,000 plus words of back story. Oh well. The plot has given hints of making an appearance, it's gotten very dark, and is demanding additional sacrifices (in addition to sleep, sanity, and several not so important characters). One of my favorite characters is probably going to die so that another character can reach his destiny. Sucks to be a supporting player, doesn't it.

I was going to go to a cafe with my shiny new laptop, which now sports a NaNoWriMo sticker (from Monday's write-a-thon at Valhalla's. I also won two tiny tubs of playdoh and some coffee in the word wars). Instead I came home to do my exciting Friday night routine of laundry, cleaning, and bill paying. Virtuous procrastination, that' s the ticket.

Tomorrow I will go to the weekly write-in at Borders. The NaNoites take over the cafe for a few hours every Saturday in November. I have fallen in with the sci-fi/fantasy, Goth, RenFaire, role playing, pagan liberal writers. Really cheerful Goths - must be some kind of sub-sub-culture.

The point of word wars is to write as much as possible in an allotted time span - usually 10-15 minutes. If you want to win, you can't stop to correct, so I spent as much time after the word wars going back to fix all the typos as I did in the word war itself. They're still fun though.

I completely forgot to do Chapter 6 in the Artist's Way this week - I may try again on Sunday, or I may wait until the end of the month, when NaNoWriMo is over. Once it's done, I 'll have a few months of normal until Script Frenzy starts in April.

Where have I been?

Let's see, first there was week 4 of the Artist's Way, which involved reading deprivation; no books, magazines, email or internet. Or tv or radio with words. It was great - it's amazing how much more time there is when you aren't being sucked into a vortex of other people's words and images. Week 4 ended up being about 10 days long, I don't remember why...oh, right. Lots of Halloween festivities.
I've kept it up pretty much; no TV except for Project Runway, maybe Robot Chicken once in a while. Not a whole lot of reading going on yet.

I haven't transferred my photos over to my new laptop (I love it! Acer Aspire 5532) yet, so I don't have pictures of my Halloween costume for you. I'll get them up eventually. I made an absolutely fabulous hat, and discovered a previously unknown talent and passion for making hats. Go figure.

NaNoWriMo is taking up a great deal of time. It's day 12, and I have passed the halfway point: 25, 615 words as of 8:13pm this evening. Feel free to applaud or to bow before me. I mean that. I don't really have a plot outline ( or an actual plot, really) so I write in the freewriting style, just like I did in my writing group and in Morning Pages. So, that probably helps, as I am not bothered with such pesky details as 'does this fit into the plot', 'where did this character come from' or 'what's going on here'. No, it's just a way to get the voices out of my head, and have some fun along the way. I've reached a point where anything that isn't writing is just getting in my way. I don't want to be doing anything else. Except sleeping, making hats, and taking Puppy to the park.

I have another 24385 words to meet the 50K goal, although I will keep on writing through the 30th, just because I love it. So, if you don't hear much from me, don't worry. I'm off in a world far far away, glued to my shiny new laptop.

No so Random

I am starting Chapter 4 of the Artist's Way tomorrow. This is the week I've been dreading, since there is no reading of any kind outside of the book & the exercises! No tv! No radio! No computer! What awful timing! Nanowrimo starts on Sunday - I can't check in with my accountabilibuddies until Tuesday night. I just joined a very chatty e-coven. I have to skip a week as soon as I did my intoductory post. Project Runway is on tomorrow night! Ack! This is going to be rough.

So, everyone have a great week, Happy Halloween, and for everyone in the Denver area - I hope you get a snow day Thursday :)