Sorry for the Silence

I haven't posted in a while, sorry. I decided to give up both on NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo at the same time.

Not that I've *really* given up on NaNoWriMo... just the principle of it. I'm here to write a novel, yes, and this got me jump-started, hurrah, but there's something that's just too too too neurotic about NaNoWriMo.

And I don't play well with others. I kept trying to stir things up in the forums and getting nothing back, which led to great frustration and the realization that the maxim "Everyone has a book in them" is really utter bullshit.

Maybe everyone *does* have a book in them. That doesn't mean they should necessarily write it.

But kudos to all WriMos for trying, including myself. Who knows if this book is any good or not. Who really cares.

I'm feeling a bit nihilist tonight. Winter is here and I've got my doldrums on.

There was snow the other day, just enough to make things pretty.

It's very cold in the apartment...

Big Ol' Jet Airlinah

Leaving tomorrow... well, today, actually, for a trip to the SouthLand to see a friend or two. Could be interesting. One is a former, shall we say, fling. The other I met in Germany in one of my many travels hither and yon.

The Fling, well, he's all married w/ kids now, and I have the feeling I make him distinctly uncomfortable, mostly due to some of the choices I've made in my life... some of which have landed me back here.

But I'll be on a plane in a few hours (in First Class, I might add) because I used my many, many Frequent Flier Miles to upgrade. Woo. And Hoo. Can't wait to see if they actually still serve *food* in First Class. God knows they don't in Coach.

I'll try to keep up with posting while I'm there, but I may just end up failing NaBloPoMo for November because of this trip.

Wish me luck! I really don't want to fail!

Online Life

I'm exhausted. Everything in my life is exhausting right now. It's just too much. NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo are eating my soul.

I keep thinking about how now everyone's building a life online in some way or other, even just with email. I have a friend who said that he now finds it unusual when people *don't* have a blog or some sort of website. MySpace, LiveJournal, Facebook... We are building a Second Life. Which isn't even mentioning Second Life.

We are becoming a society devoid of privacy, exhibitionists all of us. But you know, I think that's a pessimistic way to look at it. I really believe that our gravitation towards having an online presence is a way of breaking out of the isolation of our daily lives. I think it is symptomatic of a world that has gotten very lonely in recent years. We're reaching out to each other, complete strangers.

If you think about it, it's really quite beautiful.

.... Now if only we could stop judging each other...

Word War! and Week One Recap

The goal is: 10,000 words this weekend. 10,000!!!!

So I'm hunkering down to work on getting to 15K total words by 11:59 p.m. Sunday night.

I'm still getting settled in, and am using NaBloPoMo as a warm-up in a way... Good on NaBloPoMo.

Week One was both elation: (Obama!!!) and disappointment (Prop 8). Writing-wise it was both elation: (I'm finally doing this!!!!) and disappointment (I've been so caught up in the election that I've only got 5,000 words!!! D'oh!!!)

I'm very excited because I'm starting to feel like I'm defining my style a bit, and realizing that I don't need to be consistent in this draft, that I just need to try new stuff. (Or at least, new to me. Probably not so new to Virgina Woolf. Not that I'm comparing myself to her. But I *am* imitating her.)

This is just great. But from what I understand, Week 2 is known as "The Sophomore Slump" and considering how much trouble I had with Week 1, I am very nervous about Week 2.

It seems, though, if I can meet the Word War challenge, I might be well on my way...

Will keep you posted.

And So It Is.

It's here -- the end of the month. One month of blog postings, of ever-increasing anxiety about the election, of ruminations on the past and the future, and the 7-11.

What a month!

I'd like to say that I'm going to do NaBloPoMo again this month, but I'm going to be dedicating my attentions to NaNoWriMo -- woo-hoo!

This month has been great, I've enjoyed every post.

Thanks to those who read, those who didn't read, and good luck to those who plan on doing it next month! Viva NaBloPoMo!

Compromise

I've decided not to do NaNoWriMo this year, in spite of the votes for it. However, as a sort of compromise, I *will* be doing NaBloPoMo again, but decidedly not blogging (as I have been out of necessity, as a way of purging my nerves) about the state of the Political Machine here in Amurca. That's not to say I won't have an Election Day post... or a few following that.

I think the best thing that I could do with NaBloPoMo November is blog about writing, about why I don't write, and what I would write if I had the gumption to actually do it.

I'm disappointed in my lack of courage with NaNoWriMo, especially since I got two very enthusiastic comments. Am I being a total wimp??? Speak out if you think so. Public opinion may still sway my vote.

Regardless, November NaBloPoMo will RAWK!!!

NaBloPoMo October

So, I just discovered NaBloPoMo online. It's like NaNoWriMo, only you don't have to write anything necessarily coherent and/or publishable, just write 31 posts in 31 days. A challenge! It's not easy! A friend of mine tried to do it back in May, and she failed miserably, making it through maybe a week before she gave up. Albeit, she was writing a chapter of her dissertation at the time, and really didn't have time to actually post about anything except the deadlines that were making her crazy.

So, this month's topic is "VOTE". Alright. Here's my sitchy:

I live deep in the belly of NJ, a red county in a blue state. My father's cousin is a great big bigot that somehow got my email address and sends me horrible emails about how Obama is a Muslim, how he is unpatriotic, and other random b.s. about putting up a fence between the U.S. and Mexico to keep the undesirable immigrants out. To which I say, I hope you're enjoying that South Jersey tomato, Cousin Charlie. Wanna know who picked it?

Today, interestingly enough I saw a Prius in Hometown, NJ. A Prius--rare in these parts--with a McCain sticker on the back. Wha-wha-whaaat? One of these things is not like the other.

So, I'm thinking about heading down to Obama HQ and seeing if I can help out in winning the election so that it can put people like Cousin Charlie in their right place. Not because of his politics--I respect conservatives even though I don't agree with them. But I cannot abide his xenophobic and reactionary, nonsensical vitriol that holds less water than a slotted spoon.

The debate is tomorrow. I'm going to go to Local Bar and watch, if there's no Eagles game on. If the Eagles are playing, then there's no hope to see Biden tap dance around Sarah Palin's gender; train wreck of a moron that she is, everything that Biden does will be scrutinized for condescention and sexism.

Go, Joe! South Jersey believes in you! (Or at least this SJ Diner Girl does!)