Yes, there were quite a few days where I didn't write anything.  Mostly that's weekends you see with no forward progress.  But I wrote on fifteen days and I hit my goal, and I'm calling it a win :-)


How about you?  Did you do NaNoWriMo this year?  How are you doing?

I found this at Coffee, Classics, and Craziness, and then I saw it again on Sidewalk Crossings, but it originated somewhere else entirely.  Let's dive in, shall we?


1. Insert the tag graphic into your post. (Check)
2. Link back to the original post. (Check)
3. Answer all — or as many — of the questions as you like. (Check)
4. Refer to our communal family bunny named Fanny at least once in your post. (Check -- see #7)
5. Eat three cookies. (I'm drinking cappuccino, does that count?)
6. Post a clean list of ALL of the questions somewhere in your post. (Check)
7. Tag as many friends as you want! (Check.  I tag Fanny the communal family bunny.)





What is your NaNoWriMo username?

The same as it is here!  Hamlette.  This link should take you to my profile.

(Did you know I made this from the title logo of the Richard Burton version of Hamlet?)

Are you a plotter, pantser, plantser, or plantser?

I'm a dedicated plantser.  If I don't have any plan at all, I fizzle.  If I have everything charted out with an outline, I fizzle.  But if I start writing knowing a beginning scene and an ending scene, with a pretty good idea of the basic story line, and have a few carrot scenes calling my name along the way, I am good to go.

How many years have you done the NaNo?

In one form or another, this will be my 12th NaNo.  A lot of times I've had a much smaller goal than 50K, though.

How many times have you won?

I've full-on won with 50K+ words four times, in 2005 (my first time!), 2006, 2008, and 2010.


What is your NaNoWriMo Origin Story?

The year I graduated from college, 2002, I heard about this new thing that had been going on for a couple years called NaNoWriMo.  (It started in 1999, but 2000 was the first year it was an online thing.)  I was just getting into blogging that fall, so probably I found out about it on a blog somewhere.  I was dinking around with writing my first novel already, so didn't want to start another whole new novel on top of that, but I liked the idea anyway.  So I discussed doing something similar with some friends.

Although I'd graduated from college, I still lived on campus because I am a cradle-robber.  I married a boy a year younger than I am, so our first year of marriage, we lived on campus because he was doing his senior year.  Which meant I was still involved with the creatively titled Writers' Group on campus -- I was an honorary member, not the co-leader anymore, but my best friend was basically the leader, and she loved the idea of Nano too.

But everyone except me was still going to college.  Full-time.  Hard to write a novel when that's the case.  I mean, you could do it, but it's probably not the wisest.  So we decided to do our own little mini-nano.  We would each try to write something 30 pages long in the 30 days of November.

I don't remember anymore who-all succeeded.  Besides me, I mean.  I dropped my novel (temporarily) and wrote a long short story called "The Reincarnation of Rudolph Valentino."  It was very silly -- a send-up of romance novels (even though the closest I'd ever come to reading a romance novel was a couple old Victoria Holt books) and of reincarnation stories that centered around an actor I had never seen act, but thought must be a really dreadful actor based solely on one photograph I'd seen of him in a book as a teen, plus the knowledge that critics had called him a "powder puff" at some point.

(This pic of Rudy changed my mind about him a little bit.)

Weirdly enough, the story worked.  The most surprising side effect was that I actually went and learned some stuff about Valentino, found some photos of him, and discovered I might actually find him interesting instead of laughable.  A couple years later, I finally saw some of his films and became a fan.  Which I wouldn't have done if I hadn't written that mini-nano story.

(This pic of Rudy really made me think I would like him.)

But I didn't really do NaNo until 2005, and it is 100% thanks to DKoren that I tried it again.  We met online in May of 2005, and we talked a LOT about writing, right from the beginning of our friendship.  In fact, she was my writing mentor before she was my best friend.  So when autumn rolled around, she started talking about doing NaNo, because she'd done it before and it was fun.  She encouraged me to try it too, so I FINALLY finished off my first novel (yes, it took me 3 years, and yes, it's crap) and prepared to tackle a whole new book I called Josey.  I won NaNo with it, and then again with its sequel, Pike, and the rest is history.

Do you have any writing “lucky charms”? 

No.  I don't believe in luck.

What is your absolute favorite NaNoWriMo memory?

The story I just related about writing "The Reincarnation of Rudolph Valentino" because it led me to Rudy, who is now one of my favorite actors.

How do you pronounce NaNoWriMo? (Na-No-RYE-Mo, or Na-No-REE-Mo?)

Na-no-WRY-mo.  How I've always said it.  Sounds very weird with "ree" in there because "wri" looks like "wry" to me, so why would I not pronounce it that way?





What’s the name of your NaNoWriMo Project?

It is currently "Untitled Snow White Retelling."

What is your project’s genre?

Western, because that's all I write anymore.  Also, fairy tale retelling, because I'm still getting a kick out of doing those.  Also, Christian.  And YA.  It's a Christian YA Western Fairy Tale Retelling.

Introduce us to your cast!

OH BOY!  Now for the fun stuff, bwahahahahahahaha!


Hopeful Mallone is a kind, generous, open-hearted young woman.  She's my Snow White character.


Levi's parents died three years ago.  He's my narrator, and he, his siblings, and his cousins are my "seven dwarves."  But seven orphans instead.


This guy needs a name yet.  He's my huntsman/handsome prince character.


Hopeful's stepmother.  Also needs a name yet.


The huntsman/prince's father, Wallace, leads the wagon train.  He's honorable, stubborn, and can be judgmental.


Hopeful's father is a charismatic leader of men, a preacher and a teacher, full of wisdom and love.  He's blind to his new wife's machinations and flaws, and loves his daughter more than anything but God.


Levi's older cousin who is very antagonistic and grumpy for most of the book.  Maybe for all of it.

What is your novel’s theme?

Love one another as God has loved you.

What are your novel’s main settings?

A wagon train of African-Americans heading to Kansas to start new lives in 1878.  There really was an "Exoduster Migration" made of former slaves and other free blacks who formed wagon trains and set out to make new, better lives for themselves in the west.  This story takes place during all that.

Are you using any plotting/story structures for your project, or are you just winging it like the beautiful pixie that you are?

Because it's a retelling of the Snow White story, it has that basic structure (envious stepmother tries to get rid of beautiful, sweet step-daughter, who befriends 7 outcasts, etc.).

What are some ways you prepare for The NaNo?

I talk to my characters in my head as much as I can, avoid writing for several weeks before, and binge on books and movies to tank myself up with creativity.

What’s in your writing toolkit? (pictures are encouraged!)

My laptop, Silver, is really about it.  I drink hot beverages and burn candles and listen to music while writing, like I always do.

(I won't be NaNo-ing in a forest, alas -- this is a photo of Silver from the summer.)

What was the initial inspiration for your NaNoWriMo novel?

I got a junior non-fiction book about African Americans in the Old West from the library a couple years ago for my son to read as part of our history curriculum for homeschooling.  In it, I learned about the "Exoduster Migrations" and immediately knew I wanted to et a story during that time.  And then I thought, "What if I had a Snow White character... who was black?"  And then I was like, "I am a white person -- can I write a book about black people?  How would I go about that?"  And right about that same time, Jamie Lapeyrolerie wrote a blog post about how ridiculous it is that there's this idea that you can only write about people of your same race or ethnicity, and she basically called for authors to step bravely out of boxes and write about everyone in the world.  And so, this book is me answering that call.

But I'm not being entirely brave.  My narrator is a white orphan boy, thirteen and scared and brave and lonely.  But the majority of the cast, the actual heroine and villainess and so on, are black.

What’s your NaNoWriMo Novel’s Word Aesthetic?

(Created here)

Share your Pinterest boards and music playlists!

Don't have a music playlist yet, cuz that will evolve while I write, but my Pinterest board is here.

What’s your absolute best advice to new (and old!) NaNoers?



And here's a clean copy of the questions for you!

THE QUESTIONS

PART ONE. . . Get to know me

What is your NaNoWriMo Username?
Are you a plotter, pantser, plantser, or planter?
How many years have you done the NaNo?
How many times have you won?
What is your NaNoWriMo Origin Story?
Do you have any writing “lucky charms”? 
What is your absolute favorite NaNoWriMo memory?
How do you pronounce NaNoWriMo? (Na-No-RYE-Mo, or Na-No-REE-Mo?)

PART TWO. . . Prep

What’s the name of your NaNoWriMo Project?
What is your project’s genre?
Introduce us to your cast!
What is your novel’s theme?
What are your novel’s main settings?
Are you using any plotting/story structures for your project, or are you just winging it like the beautiful pixie that you are?
What are some ways you prepare for The NaNo?
What’s in your writing toolkit? (pictures are encouraged!)

PART THREE. . . Inspiration

What was the initial inspiration for your NaNoWriMo novel?
What’s your NaNoWriMo Novel’s Word Aesthetic?
Share your Pinterest boards and music playlists!
What’s your absolute best advice to new (and old!) NaNoers?

I spotted this over on Hayden Wand's new blog, Leatherbound, and it looked like so much fun I just have to give it a go myself.  So for the first time, I am linking up with Cait at Paper Fury and Sky at Further Up, Further In for their NaNoWriMo edition of their usual link-up series.

Right now, I'm working on the first draft of my YA western retelling of "Twelve Dancing Princesses," the second story in my Once Upon a Western collection.  I call it Dancing and Doughnuts.

Overall, how is your mental state, and how is your novel going? 

My mental state is currently flurried because my father-in-law is coming to visit us this weekend, we're hosting a pre-Thanksgiving get-together on Saturday, and then next Thursday, we're also having friends and family over for a Thanksgiving meal.  I'm getting over a cold, and yeah... it's been a crazy month.

How's my novel going?  Well... it's only 7,000 words right now.  Now, I wasn't planning to do a full-on Nano this year just because Cowboy says I'm too crabby when I do Nano "for real," so I don't do that anymore.  My goal is 30,000 words or the end of the first draft, whichever comes first.

All of which means I am woefully behind.  But the month is only half over right now, and if I can get some nice long stints in, I could possibly still finish that first draft off.  We shall see.



What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)? 

I’d passed through quite a number of similar towns in the last few weeks. Quiet, a little lazy, dusty, boring. When I reined in by the dingy clapboard building marked ‘Saloon,’ why, I had no reason to think Peabody Crossing would hold any surprises.

Who’s your current favorite character in your novel?

My protag, Jedediah Jones.  He's a Civil War veteran -- he was in the Union cavalry.  Now that the war is over, he's made his way out west and is taking whatever jobs interest him.  He just finished a cattle drive to one of the railroad hubs in Kansas, and decided to see a little of Kansas while he was there.  He's such a sweet, cheerful, intrepid guy that I can't help but love him.

What do you love about your novel so far?

My characters!  Some of them make me laugh and laugh, especially these two boys I haven't gotten to yet, but who are known to the townsfolk as Trouble and More Trouble.  With good reason, I might add!

Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes?

Possibly?  None that I've noticed so far...


What is your favorite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?

Middle.  The very beginning of a story is often hard for me because I have this great fear that I will screw the whole thing up before it really gets going.  Once I'm in the swing of the story, it goes quickly and merrily, but those first couple of pages are me gingerly feeling my way into the world and the characters and the story's particular flavor, and that's just not as fun.  And sometimes I struggle with endings that satisfy me -- those conclusions can be so important, and I don't want to screw them up either.

And because first drafts are, by nature, going to be rough anyway, those glitches are pointless, and I know that, but... they're there anyway.

What are your writing habits?

Most irregular.  By which I mean that I only write 3 times a week *in a good week* because... I'm a wife, a mom, a homeschooler -- I have a lot of stuff going on.  My three kids are at home with me all the time, and I just can't write fiction with them around, so I have to either wait for them to be in bed, or leave the house to write.  And I do go to Starbucks and write for a couple hours several Saturdays a month, but I can't do that all the time, heh.  After they're in bed, I can get in maybe an hour of writing, maybe an hour and a half if I stay up late.  But that's also the only time I have for watching movies and spending time with Cowboy, which is why I only manage to write about 3 times a week.

Is there a specific snack you eat?

I like to have something warm to drink, either tea or hot chocolate, whichever I'm in the mood for.


Do you listen to music?

Absolutely!  For Dancing and Doughnuts, I'm listening to tons and tons of my beloved Bobby Darin because his music matches the story's bouncy tone so nicely.


What time of day do you write best?

Mornings are absolutely the best for me.  I don't have my brain cluttered up with stuff from the day, I have lots of energy, and I can focus much better.  But I've learned to make myself write at the end of the day too.

Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!

I just sit on my couch or in the rocking chair if I'm at home -- or at our desktop computer if Cowboy has gone to bed early.  When I'm at Starbucks, I sit wherever I can, just so it's not right next to a window.  I don't like too much glare on my computer screen, gives me a headache.

How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad or do you work alone (like, ahem, Batman)?

For the last few years, I have been sharing my first drafts with my best friend and writing mentor, Deborah Koren, as I write them.  Pop out a couple pages, share them with her, discuss, move on.  It only works because we 100% trust each other with our babies -- she shares her work with me too that way.  And we are very careful to be only cheerleaders for a first draft, no criticism.  We can point out flaws in the rewrite.

A crazy side effect of sharing our work so instantly and intimately?  We boost each others' creativity levels.  If one of us is writing frequently, the other will pick up on that energy and start writing frequently too.  It's so cool.

(This was us more than 10 years ago.  She's giving me a piggy-back ride, and I'm laughing so hard, I'm having trouble hanging on.) (Yes, we've always been this weird.)

The rest of the world, though, doesn't get to see works-in-progress.  Not until much farther on down the line when I need beta readers and so on.

What keeps you writing even when it’s hard?

My incredible stubbornness and refusal to quit just because something is hard.  I mean, giving birth is hard too, but you can't just quit in the middle of it and be like, "Sorry, baby, you have to stay in there."  Baby has to come out.  Book has to get written.

What are your top 3 pieces of writing advice?

I remind myself of these three things often, especially for first drafts:

Elisabeth Grace Foley has announced on her blog, The Second Sentence, that she is going to hold a Pinterest Storyboard Party next Thursday, November 19.  One week from today!  I'll for sure be sharing my board for "The Rose-Covered Cottage," the story I'm submitting to the Five Magic Spindles contest.  It's changed a little since I previously shared it, which I'll talk about next week.


I might also share the board I'm making for a story/novella/novel that has landed in my brain and gelled over the last couple of weeks.  I know I've made a poor showing in NaNoWriMo this year -- I had great intentions of writing at least 25,000 words and doing a half-Nano with a novel I've had in my head for two years, Son of a Gunfighter.  But then I frittered away my evenings at my parents' house by watching episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with my mom, got ambushed by this new story idea, and have had to spend my writing time doing edits on "The Rose-Covered Cabin" since it has an actual deadline.  Sorry, Nano!  Next year.

Anyway, again, details on the Pinterest Story Party are here.  If you're a writer and make storyboards on Pinterest, I hope you join the fun!

Elisabeth Grace Foley tagged me for this here -- thanks, Elisabeth!  It's been a while since I nattered on about my writing process, and like most of the writers I know, I would often rather write about writing than work on any of my WIPs, hee.  Okay, here are the questions and my answers, and random pictures of people writing that I have collected over the years :-)

Angel (David Boreanaz), Angel

Is there a certain snack you like to eat while writing?

Hot beverages.  Hot chocolate or mocha or tea, generally.  I can't eat and type at the same time, so food-like snacks get saved for reading and editing.  But I love to have something hot and friendly to drink while I write.

When do you normally write? Night, afternoon, or morning?

I write on Saturday mornings if I'm not going to a movie, and after 9 pm and my kids are in bed a few evenings a week.  I infinitely prefer to write during the morning when my head isn't cluttered with things I need to be doing and other every-day stuff, but it only happens on Saturdays right now.

Jerry (Bobby Darin), State Fair

Where do you write?

On Saturdays, I write at a local Starbucks, unless it's full, in which case I go to the nearby Panera.  I can get my hot beverage and spend an hour or two focused on nothing but writing, which is a treat.  When I write in the evenings, I'm in the living room, either on the couch or in my rocking chair, which I inherited from my Grandma.  I posted about this in more detail here back in January, if you want to see pictures.

How often do you write a new novel? 

Too often.  I need to staple my pants to the chair and get myself to finish revising my last novel, I really do.  Let's see... since 2002, I have written 6 novels, so that's one every 2 years or so.  None until this last one have felt like they were worth revising and trying to have them published.  I've been working on revising #6 on and off for over a year now, and I just need to quit getting distracted by other stories.  (But I'm probably going to start my new novel next month during NaNoWriMo anyway.)

Caje (Pierre Jalbert), Combat!

Do you listen to music while you write? 

Yes!  In fact, music helps me get into my writing "zone."  I love to listen to movie soundtracks and Bobby Darin while I write.  A lot of times, I'll experiment with different albums when I'm first writing a story or novel, and find one that suits it perfectly and stick with that for most of my writing.  For instance, I listened to almost nothing besides the soundtrack for The Quick and the Dead (1995) while writing my last WIP, with a little Bandelero! (1968) and Hour of the Gun (1967) mixed in.

What do you write on? Laptop or paper?

My laptop or our desktop computer.  But I take lots of notes on bits of paper that wind up taped to the big mirror in our master bathroom.

Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), Castle

Is there a special ritual you have before or after you write? 

I read back over a scene or two that leads up to where I'm going to write, to remind myself where I was heading and get back into the story's flow.  That's about it.  I used to also light a candle, but I only do that rarely anymore.

What do you do to get into the mood to write?

Spend time during the day going over what happens next in my story so I have it fresh in my mind when I finally get to work on it.

Horatio Hornblower (Gregory Peck), Captain Horatio Hornblower

What is always near the place you write? 

Um... myself?  Seriously, I don't have any talismans or charms or anything like that.

Do you have a reward system for your word count?

No, but I do often come up with rewards for finishing off a story.  Like I told myself that if I finished off the major overhaul of my current WIP, I could start watching the TV show Leverage, because I have season one of it on DVD and haven't started it yet.  I did finish the overhaul, but I haven't had time to start Leverage yet, isn't that awful?  Soon!

Julio (Rudolph Valentino), Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (I think!)

Is there anything about your writing process that others might not know about?

When Dana Andrews perches on a desk in my brain and starts talking, I take notes.  Lots of notes.

Mark MacPherson (Dana Andrews), Laura

Well, that was fun!  I'm only going to tag three people:


If you're also a writer and want to do this tag too, consider yourself tagged!

...I met my best friend.  On the internet.

(This is us analyzing some minute detail of a movie.)

And, actually, I owe my friendship with her to Combat! too.  Remember how I started taking German class, where I fell for Cowboy, because of C!?  I first found DKoren's blog because of it.  On the night of June 14, running into the wee hours of June 15, 2005, I was off work, but Cowboy was working.  (We worked third shift back then, and I had Tuesday and Wednesday off every week, and he had either one or the other, so I always had one night off with Cowboy, and one night off by myself.)  We had no kids yet, and I seem to have run out of things to do, but wasn't ready to start my weekly movie marathon.  I remember I was bopping around LiveJournal, searching for bloggers who listed things I'm interested in as their interests too.  I searched for Combat! and found a few vaguely interesting blogs.  Then I searched for Vic Morrow.  And I found a blog by a person who loved not just C! and Vic, but so so so so many of the same movies and actors and TV shows as I did.  I left a comment on one post, then another and another and another... and she started replying to them.  And over the course of two hours, we exchanged comments, first on her blog and then on mine, and then on both simultaneously as we went back through each others' archives and found more and more posts about things we were both interested in.

That continued for probably a week, until one night one of us suggested that instead of conversing by trading blog comments, maybe we should exchange email addresses.  We did.  We've been exchanging email messages ever since -- generally at least one a day, though sometimes we get busy or tired or whatever.  If I don't get at least one message from her sometime during the day, the day feels wrong.  Some days it's just a tiny message of a couple sentences.  Sometimes it's page after page.

(This is us whenever we meet up at the airport for a visit.) (Except we're not actually muscly, handsome guys.  But aside from that tiny detail, it's us.)

At some point, we started instant messaging too.  Until Sam was born, we IMed just about every evening, from 8 to 9pm, when I had to get ready for work.  On my nights off, we'd watch movies or old TV shows together -- start them simultaneously on our individual TV sets, thousands of miles apart, and then IM during it and share thoughts and reactions, etc.  We still do this, and in fact, we watched the Russell Crowe version of Robin Hood together last night.

As we started to go from blogging buddies to email pals to internet friends, I developed "mentionitis."  I couldn't stop throwing her into conversations.  "My blog friend Deborah says this.  My blog friend Deborah likes that.  My blog friend Deborah got a story published."  I'm an ISFJ, and we make friends very, very slowly.  Achingly slowly.  It can take me years to go from saying "I hang out with that person sometimes" to "that person is my friend."  Generally, I pop a qualifying adjective onto the word "friend" for a very long time -- these girls are my 4-H friends.  That guy is my work friend.  This is my blogging friend.  For about a year, I referred to DKoren as either my blog friend or my writing mentor -- and she's still both!  But eventually, I dropped the adjective, and called her my friend.  And then one of my best friends.  And now, my absolute best friend.  (Okay, yes, I've just been switching out the adjectives, I guess.)

But about a year after we met online, we did something audacious.  We met in person.

(This is us, having each others' backs as usual.)

In fact, DKoren flew out to Wisconsin and spent three or four days with us.  We'd both participated in NaNoWriMo the previous November -- my first time through, her... I dunno, fourth?  I mentioned that I called her my writing mentor -- I still do.  I've learned more about writing from her than any class or book I've ever taken or read.  She encouraged me to finish off my first novel and then use Nano to start my next, and so I did.  When she came to visit, we exchanged our Nano novels and read them over the course of one long night.  And we watched a bunch of movies together too -- I remember The Sheik, but I know we watched others too.  And likely some Combat!  And we realized that... we needed more.  So we met up again a few months later, at a C! fan get-together.  And the next year, I flew out to visit her, 7 1/2 months pregnant and all.  All told, we've gotten together 7 times, and will continue to do so whenever we're able.

So happy friendaversary a few days late, my absolute best friend!  Here's to the next ten years of sharing silly adventures, movies, writing discussions, revelations, flashes of insight, story collaborations, and tiny details of our lives that we can't get through the day without sharing.  You're the Tonto to my John Reid, the Doc to my Wyatt.  I don't know where I'd be without you.  I love you!

(This is what happens when we get together in person, which is why we have to limit ourselves to once a year or so. The world can't handle that much awesome us on a regular basis. Also, replacing chandeliers you shoot down gets expensive.)

Okay, yeah, um.  Heh heh.  It seems I've signed on to do NaNoWriMo again.

Sort of.

Before you get too excited (or annoyed, if you're Cowboy), be aware that I am NOT going to write a novel in November.  I've done Nano six times and won four, and I'm a chapter away from finishing my sixth novel.  I know I can write 50,000 words in 30 days.  I know I can write novels.  So this year, I'm not caring about my word count.  Oh, I'll still enter it on the site when I write, post snippets, all that fun stuff.  But I'm not going to be bummed when it turns out I "lost."

So why am I signed up?  Well, I've got a handful of short stories that have been waiting a year to be written, while I concentrate on this novel.  I'd like to try to knock out rough drafts of them.  And I haven't done Nano since 2010, and I'd like to attend a write-in or two and meet some other writers, or some such fiddle faddle.

Anyway, if you're doing Nano too (seriously, or non-seriously like me) and you want to look me up, I'm Hamlette there too :-)

This will be going on my laptop's desktop again, starting next Friday:

...NaNoWriMo!

Yes, it's that time of year again.  And I'm participating again.  You can see my profile here, read excerpts of my novel when I post them, see how far I've gotten (and how far I have to go yet), etc.  I'm writing a novel tentatively titled Swapped, though I'll probably change that.  It's about a young lit prof whose apartment burns down, so she moves in with a colleague, but then she starts falling for her new housemate's boyfriend, and her own boyfriend starts getting interested in her housemate...

I'll try to finish up this meme by the end of November, though.

I did it! I did it! Woooo! I finished NaNoWriMo 2008 a day early and with several hundred words to spare! I crossed the 50,000-word finish line this afternoon. I finished four whole stories and wrote a goodly chunk of a fifth, can you believe that?

So now I am going to go bake some gingerbread and stop ignoring Cowboy and Dano :-D

I just passed the NaNoWriMo halfway mark! I now have 25,045 words written. Yay me! I hope to celebrate by going to see Quantum of Solace this weekend once Cowboy gets back from his business trip and I'm not a single mommy anymore.

And as if on cue, I hear Dano waking up from his nap. Adios!

Did you know they make peanut butter-filled Oreos now? I guess I'd seen them a few times, but we tried them for the first time this weekend, and they're pretty good! About on par with the mint ones, I'd say. Like the mint ones, the filling isn't as sticky as ordinary Oreos, but other than that, they're grrrreat! They're not as strongly flavored as the minty ones either, just a nice chocolate-and-peanut butter mix.

And yes, they're of great assistance when one is pounding out 2,000 words a day. I'm past 16,000 words now, and I put a new snippet up last night.

NaNoWriMo is going really well so far! I've made my word count every day so far, plus a little extra. I'm shooting for 2,000 words a day so I can take Sundays off and do stuff like go to a movie or just take a break.

This past Sunday, I went to the library and saw I Want to Live! (1958), the true story Susan Hayward got her Oscar for. It was quite cool -- I especially dug Simon Oakland as the reporter whose story inspired the screenplay... I'm used to him as the other sergeant in "The Long Way Home" (Combat!). And it was neat to see Theodore Bikel as something other than a Mountain Man or a Russian submarine captain obsessed with American scenery.

And in other news, I'm considering starting another blog. Yes, a third one. Because I'd like to have one to link to from my Huggermugger shop, a blog that deals with crafting and stuff like that. But at the same time, I feel like maybe I should just link to this one, and stop fracturing myself. I already have a seperate writing blog -- would a seperate crafting blog be too much? I like having this blog be mostly for friends and family, just talking about random stuff, and so I don't particularly want to link to it on Huggermugger. Hmm. Any thoughts, anyone?

So, I've obviously gone entirely mad. Again.

Yes, I signed up to do NaNoWriMo for the fourth year. I'm signed in as Hamlette as usual, and you can view my personal page here.

As you can see, if you visit my page, I'm doing fanfic this year. It's not strictly a novel, but instead a collection of short stories in which Sgt. Saunders tends to save the day. Which is why I'm calling the collection "Saunders Saves the Day," since it's nice to have a title to put on my the Nano profile.

I'm doing fanfic this year for a couple of reasons. One, I still haven't finished Salem, the novel I started for Nano last year. And two, I have a whole bunch of Combat! ideas bopping around in my brain, and this will be a great way to get several of them down on paper.

Actually, I had planned on skipping Nano entirely this year, but I've become something of an addict to this month of write-your-fingertips-off madness. Daniel is still taking at least two hours of naps a day, and that should be enough time for me to get my wordcount in. I just won't be able to do little chores like sweeping the floors or putting away laundry unless I've made my wordcount for the day already. Or at least, that's my plan!

And if you think I can't write 50,000 words of fanfic, well, my three Marc d'Yae stories ("Hide and Seek," "Finders, Keepers," and "Ashes, Ashes") total 46,499 words.

Well, so much for NaNoWriMo. Cowboy finally got hired for this new job he applied for in November of 2005 (yes, it's with the government, why do you ask?), and so we're moving to Connecticut. By December 10th. And while there is much rejoicing around here for the long-awaited job offer, there is also not a little moaning and groaning from the person whose task it now is to pack up our worldly goods: me. Because most of said goods are mine, and because I'm home all day, not finishing out the last two weeks of coal-mine-ish drudgery. But I also have Dano to deal with, which means that on a good day like today, I manage to pack 9 or 10 boxes, total, between nursing, changing diapers, and assisting the baby star with his latest costume change. And that means that, alas, I have no more time for Nano :-(

(Truthfully, I'm not as sad about this as I'm pretending to be, because my novel was being difficult and I was struggling to crank out my required 1,667 words per day. I was keeping up -- got 20,242 words as of the 12th -- but I wasn't enjoying it. But don't tell anyone I said that, huh?)

So NaNoWriMo this year is a very different experience. The first year, I did it in 3 weeks so I could go on vacation the last week -- that was nutty and kinda stressful, but fun. The second year, I did it in 30 days like a normal person, and it was still a bit stressful, but mostly because I didn't know quite where my novel was going.

This year, well, you'd think having a 3-week-old would make it ultra stressful, right? That Nano would be an extra stressor I don't need. But it's not true -- this year, Nano is my escapist relaxing place. The thing that reminds me I'm not just a combination wet bar and warm furniture for the Little Dictator. Okay, we're only two days in, but so far I'm getting my word count in just fine, albeit in little slices here and there when he's either eating or napping. Mostly when Dano's eating, since I can't do a lot when he's nursing. But I can type with one hand, so I get my word count in slowly but surely :-)

Obviously, I've gone utterly mad. I've signed up to do NaNoWriMo again this year. Even though I'll have a month-old baby to deal with. I realized he does sleep now and then, I'll be home 24/7 now, and it usually only takes me a couple hours a day to get my word count in, so why not try it? What's the worst that can happen? I fail to complete the challenge -- which is exactly what happens if I don't try it at all. And I actually have a plot outline for this novel, which is more than I had last year.

This year's novel is going to be Salem, the third book in the yet-unnamed trilogy that started with Josey and continued in Pike. If I manage to finish it, that will make three novel first drafts in three years, which is pretty doggoned impressive, if I do say so myself. And then maybe I can really force myself to start seriously revising them? Here's hoping!

Is it just me, or does the lead singer of Hinder really wish he was Steven Tyler of Aerosmith? Honestly, this video for "Lips of an Angel" bugs me, he's so wacked out and weird. But the song is awesome -- it reminds me a lot of the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo this year. Haven't yet found a 'real' video for the song, this is just them performing and it doesn't sound nearly as good as the version on the radio.

If you're wondering why I'm linking to a bunch of vids lately, well, we got a new monitor and all of a sudden I can see videos so much more clearly! Our old monitor was, well, old... everything was kinda dark and murky. Fitting considering we call our apartment The Crypt and keep vampire hours, but not very good for watching stuff.

Just got back from The Prestige. It left me... disquieted. It was well-acted, nicely filmed, and entertaining, but I'm left with a very odd energy running through me. Which is why I'm blogging and doing email right now instead of hopping straight into doing my Nano stint for the evening. I don't think I could focus on it, and if I tried, Pike would probably get all twisted or something. And I don't want to risk that.

The Prestige hinges on so many secrets (a few of which I guessed, a few of which I didn't), that I don't want to say much about it here. And I wanted a teensy bit more from the ending, just like another 30 seconds or something. If you're a devotee of Hugh Jackman or Christian Bale, you'll probably enjoy it (I am, on both counts, and I did, except for this fidgety aftersense). Don't expect it to be brilliant, just expect it to be entertaining.

Oh, and that was David Bowie? As Tesla? Really? Weird. Totally didn't recognize him. Andy Serkis had a nice smaller role, though. Yay Andy!

(How odd is this: the word verification word that I have to type in to post this is the usual sort of nonsense word... except that it begins with the word 'trap'. How freakily apropos.)

Ooooh, Pierre Jalbert just sent us a group letter thanking us for the fanzine! Here's what it said:

"Thank you very much for sending me your litarary production from so many dedicated fans. It is indeed astonishing that after 40 years it still captivates so many people.

"Now that I'm retired, I'll enjoy reading them. Kindly convey my thanks to the authors.

sincerely,
Pierre Jalbert
"Caje" "

Big grin here :-D

Oh yeah, I started my NaNoWriMo novel tonight. Got in 2,169 words, so yay me! I need at least 1,667 every day to hit 50,000 by the end of the month, so I'm well on my way :-)

I FINISHED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finished the first draft of Josey!!! Just a few minutes ago, right before midnight. Whoohooo!

It's 196 single-spaced MS Word pages long, 98,385 words, 33 chapters. Yeowsa.

The first sentence is "How can I begin?" and the last one is "And I smiled." :-)

I'm going to celebrate now. I'm going to watch a couple movies and maybe a Combat! ep or two and run around screaming in jubilation. Yippeekiyay!