Been busy ...

Sorry to have disappeared off Planet Earth. Too many terrestrial concerns at the moment. Nothing bad, just stuff. You know how it goes.

This year's edition of Seasonal Affective Disorder seems a lot more "affective" than usual. I'm wandering around in a zombie state usually reserved for much later in the season, after months of lack of sunlight. You know, like February. In February, my mantra is "only six more weeks to normal again." I'm not sure what to say to keep myself going in mid-November.

More later. I need bed now. Again.

I'll be in touch again soon.

PS -- NaNoWriMo just ain't happening this year. But you knew that already, didn't you? *grin*

NaNo, NaNo

In the sidebar you'll note an indication that it is now October: I have placed my NaNoWriMo participant's icon.

For those unacquainted with this literary adventure, NaNoWriMo is short for "National Novel Writing Month", a yearly November endeavour in which writers all over the world strive to finish a 50,000 novel in just one month. According to their website, this banner will show my progress as NaNoWriMo goes on. Since it's still early October, I won't worry about the "unknown" part until later. (In other words, I'll procrastinate by trying to fix it once November arrives!)

This is my third year saying I'm going to do NaNoWriMo, and this year I'm planning to actually "git 'er dun".

NaNo No Mo'

You might have noticed that all of the NaNoWriMo stuff is gone from the sidebar. I'm letting it go.

Still, I got almost five times more words this year. That's a new record for me!

Happy writing, everyone!

Not a good start ...

Today has all the makings of a bad day.

First of all, I think our dryer is on its last legs. I realized this when my clothes were still too wet to wear about ten minutes before I had to go out the door. So I am now wearing pants that I wore when I was forty pounds heavier. I look like a monochromatic clown.

Then I got to school and opened up my lunch bag to have my customary morning Diet Pepsi. Except that it wasn't there. Every morning since 1986 I have started my day with Diet Pepsi, and I'm feeling quite unsettled, not to mention sleepy. (But if I start to twitch, please head to the nearest corner store posthaste!)

On the plus side, today is "Take Your Kids to Work Day", which means that the school is practically empty of grade nine students. It is sooooo nice and quiet. I love them -- I do -- but absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.

I'm going to try to find an empty classroom and do some writing on my spare period. I should probably write a fair bit today on NaNo. The hard part is actually being able to concentrate.

Did I mention that I always have DIET PEPSI on the desk when I'm WRITING?!

It's going to be one of those days.

Just crossed 5000 words!

The story is really starting to take on a life of its own. Unfortunately, so is my headache. I must be getting too into this or something. Angst on the page means angst in my head? Who knows?

In any case, I'm halfway to where I should be at this point in order to reach 50,000 words by month's end, but about five times ahead of what I managed the other two years I signed up for NaNoWriMo, so this is going well. I'm going to go take my last Advil, and a nap, and then write some more when I get back up.

Have a good one.

Day Two of NaNoWriMo.

Word count: Zero.

'Twas one of those days a supply teacher dreads: the day that just kept going wrong. Between technology issues that lasted two periods, a nearly-unmanageable class of "young" grade nines (that I saw three times), and the remnants of a hurricane bearing down on my barometer of a head, I pretty much crawled into bed the moment I got home. Hubby took Piper to the "Barkatorium", and I slept for four hours. Have I mentioned how much I love Hubby?

I almost fainted in a classroom today. That scared me. It also scared the students I was talking with at the time. I don't like scaring students. It was at the end of class, when my students had left and the next ones were just coming in. I was just gathering my things and stood up at the desk, and the room tilted and it felt like my head just drained of all weight, and next thing I knew I was grabbing onto the edge of the desk and thumping back down into the chair. It just came out of nowhere.

It must have been the migraine. Only thing I can figure. Yes, I am a fainter (just ask anyone who was there my first day of junior high -- gack!), but usually it's something that comes on gradually; I can spot it before it hits. And it's usually only if I'm very hot, or extremely stressed, or sick. Never suddenly because of a headache. Good thing I had a CAT-scan done recently (all was normal), or I'd be freaking. (Both sides of the family have a history of fatal aneurysms.)

Enough about my noggin!

I know what I'm going to write. Well, not so much what I'm going to write, but the style/format it's going to be written in. I've been mulling it over since I got up from my long nap, and I'm quite excited about it. I will begin writing tomorrow, and it will be awesome!

In the meantime, I think maybe I'll go back to bed. Nighters!

And so it begins ...

Welcome to another November, and another NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)! This is the third year I've signed up, and the third year I'm determined to crank out a 50,000-word novel by month's end. And (I'm crossing my fingers here) this may be the first year I actually do it!

I have a few ideas rattling around in my brain, so tomorrow I'm just going to grab one and go with it and see where we wind up.

Missing the kick-off tonight was a bit of a bummer, but I was so tired by the time I got home from taking Piper to the Bark Park that I found myself actually lying my head down on the kitchen table. I decided that, since I have to work tomorrow, a nap would probably be a good idea. Unfortunately, I slept through the get-together at Pizza Hut, but I'm feeling much better than I was.

So tomorrow I will get started and write at least 3334 words, and that will put me back on track. Hopefully the creative part of my brain will come up with some interesting dreams tonight and add some fuel to the fire!

Happy writing, everybody!

NaNoWriMo 2006

After writing a 28,000-word "novel" in three (really, two) days, doing 50,000 in a month ought to be a piece of cake.

Yes, folks, I am signing up for NaNoWriMo again, and this time, unlike last year, I am actually going to write something!

Wish me luck!