welcome to the master plan

NaNoWriMo '09: WON, with 50,025 and thirty minutes left until midnight!

*dies of exhaustion*

My graph, in case anyone wants to see how INSANE this year was for me.

About to dive into an hour long Write or Die session in an attempt to catch up. Wish me luck!

My poor, neglected LJ...*cuddles it*

Things I am excited about tonight:

- Hit 10k on my NaNo on day four! This is awesome and happy-making and I'm super proud of myself.

- New SPN episode tomorrow night, and it looks like it might have a chance at taking Mystery Spot's place as my favorite episode ever! Also? Even the promos are oozing with EPIC GAY.

- We're leaving for ChiCon next week! I still can't believe we're really going, even after having most of the year to get used to the idea. I think there's a part of me that just refuses to believe the boys are actually real. They're just too pretty (and funny, and generally awesome in every way) to be true!

- Oh, and I almost forgot: new Sherlock Holmes trailer, TOTALLY highlighting the Holmes/Watson! I don't know if I've ever anticipated a pairing so much without actually seeing the material first. YAY FOR THIS.

Thank you for the well-wishes in the last post, everyone! *hugs* My sister and I are going to sit down tomorrow and start seriously planning, which makes me very excited!

It's been a good few days. We went to see Religulous yesterday, which I adored. Bill Maher expresses my opinions about religion better than I could. I love him! The movie was really funny as well. The friends we were with didn't fully agree with some of the ideas in the movie, but they laughed at least as much as we did.

I'm totally looking forward to Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I'm not a huge Kevin Smith fan, but I really liked Dogma and I generally find something to laugh at in his other films. And, of course, I love Seth Rogan! The man can simply do no wrong.

In diet news:




I've lost five pounds! I certainly wasn't eating perfect over the weekend, mostly due to Mom and Dad leaving and Grandma cooking for us every night, but the scale's definitely heading in the right direction. I went for another hike/run yesterday, which was pretty good. However, I did learn the importance of a good warmup - try to do too much too fast and you feel awful.

Speaking of Mom and Dad, they're doing well. I told them to call me every day they're on the road, and so far they are. I just worry about all that driving. They're both good drivers, but there are a lot of bad ones out there. Last I talked to them, they were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and were VERY happy to be done with Iowa and Nebraska! They're very sick of the car, but I think they're enjoying finally being on the road after all the stress of moving out and saying goodbye.

True Blood Sunday night was awesome. I'm completely hooked at this point. I'm very behind on Supernatural and Heroes, as I can no longer watch either of them at their normal times, but I'm going to catch up by watching them online at some point. I hear they're both going pretty well, especially SPN.

My new novel just hit 18k. It's going well, if a bit disjointed because I keep writing it without looking back to see what's already there. I want to get it to 25k by the time NaNo starts and attempt to finish the draft completely during November.

Oh yeah...and the economy totally sucks. I guess the financial world is supposed to end today or something. But honestly? Until I can't afford to buy food or pay my rent, I'm not going to worry. We'll deal, the way we always do.

The plus side? Bad economy = Obama up in the polls, which means a happy Sulwen!

1 - The Mirador by Sarah Monette 5/5
2 - Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale 4/5
3 - Transformation by Carol Berg 4.5/5
4 - The Phoenix by Ruth Sims 4/5
5 - I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert 4/5
6 - Sing the Four Quarters by Tanya Huff 3/5
7 - Regeneration by Pat Barker 5/5
8 - Atonement by Ian McEwan 3/5
9 - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 4/5
10 - Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling 5/5
11 - Yarn Harlot - the Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee 5/5
12 - How Not to Write a Novel by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman 5/5
13 - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro/ White Teeth by Zadie Smith/ The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor 3/5, 2/5, 4/5
14 - The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene 5/5
15 - Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch 5/5
16 - Bag of Bones by Stephen King 5/5
17 - Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop 4/5
18 - Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling 5/5
19 - Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey 4/5
20 - No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty 5/5

This is my fifth or sixth time through this lovely little book. I read it whenever I miss NaNo, and it does a great job of scratching the itch. Chris has a real talent for motivation, and I usually find myself picking up an old project or starting a new one every time I read his book. Highly, highly recommended for any writer.

It's that time of year again! Every year at about this time, I start to get revved up for NaNo...despite the fact that it doesn't start for another three months. I'm getting ready to start my planning for this year's novel, but I'm not quite there yet. So to help pass the time, I'm going to go through this year's forums and collect my favorite bits in this post. Cause I'm obsessed like that! I'm also going to put random writing-related stuff here. So this post is pretty much just for me - I don't see anyone else being particularly interested.

Ok, this became more my gratuitous "Yay Nano!" post more than anything else...

( Read more... )

I made a new icon. I came across this quote on one of the old NaNo forums, and it just struck me as beautiful. I think it's pretty good for plain old Paint. It makes me long for fall, that magical chill in the air, hot cider, the smell of leaves...it's writing weather. I wish it wasn't still July.

On a side note, does anyone else remember when ff.net was good? When most of the fic there was rated NC-17 and you had to click a little approval box to read each chapter and it was mostly GOOD? Because I do, and though LJ is an infinitely better vehicle for fanfiction, I kind of miss the good old days of ff.net. Maybe it's just because that's where I started. I don't know. But I feel like fewer and fewer people in fandom even remember that, and it makes me feel old.