Category Archives: creative

writing

NaNoWriMo 2007

So, who’s in?

I have Amy, Beth, and Aaron on my Writing Buddies list at NaNoWriMo.org. Anyone else I should add? Post your NaNo username in the comments, and I’ll add you as a Writing Buddy.

Last year, in 2006, I didn’t officially do NaNo; instead, I tried adding to my incomplete NaNo from 2005. I didn’t get terribly far with that. In 2005, I actually started a new story for NaNo, but petered out halfway through November. In 2004, I wrote on a previous story, but didn’t officially do NaNo. This will be my first year actually successfully “winning” NaNoWriMo.

(Like my positive attitude? Me, too.)

I have 1800 words written for my first day. I’ve figured that if I can write six pages a day, with how I have Word set up, I should get between 1700 and 2000 words per day, which should get me to the finish line in plenty of time. It also makes it easier for me to break things into 2000-word chapters, so I can finish one complete thought in one sitting. That’s going to make the month a lot easier to swallow, I think. My plan is to write several different characters’ stories, and tie them up at the end into one big overarching story of how things work in one particular aspect of my future society.

So, again I put out the call: who’s in?

podcasting

Volunteering Again

I had a slightly spontaneous (but not entirely unexpected) meeting with Sensei this afternoon. He called around noonish asking for some help with the podcast he wanted to start — mainly, where to start. So, we met at the dojo (a five-minute drive for me), drove over to Starbucks (another five-minute drive or so), and talked about podcasting over coffee. (By the way? If you’re into corporate coffee, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is delish.)

After an hour of discussion, mainly about what podcasts are and how to create them and what we want to do with ours, I went home with his new H2 recorder, a CD of original music, a password or two, and some other vital info.

This is the result.

I spent two hours on the editing and tweaking of the files (which will get progressively easier as I (we) learn the appropriate level settings for the recorder), and I spent considerably longer than that setting up the domain name and the libsyn account.

Now, I know I don’t need anything else on my plate right now, especially since I’m a.) job-hunting and b.) revamping the drum corps website. Oh, yeah, and c.) planning to do NaNoWriMo in a week. But, really, I could streamline this to a one-hour operation after zen on Wednesday nights. Aaron suggested I barter for a discount on my aikido, but Sensei suggested that this could be what I contribute to the sangha (zen community). I don’t want to get sucked into more than I should, but I know that my talents are best used, rather than left to languish. Plus, like I said before, I like to feel… not so much important, but needed, I guess.

We’ll see how this pans out. I want to be helpful, but I know that sometimes that translates to being used, depending on who I’m “helping.” I may have to cut some other projects free soon to make room for this one.

crafty 2 Comments

Candle Redux

Just got done making a batch of Kahlua candles. Now the kitchen smells like coffee with a hint of chocolate. Mmm.

I really hate having multiple time-sensitive project ideas in my head, especially when I’m so under-motivated to actually *do* any of them. But… I’d really like to make a minor push for candle sales this holiday season. I have e-mail addresses for all of my former co-workers, and I know they like my candles, and I’d like to offer them some sort of deal — maybe a choice between free shipping and a tealight sampler pack or something.

Thing is, my candle website is horribly out of date, and needs a facelift and a new backend — um, that came out wrong. I mean, I need to redesign the site as well as make it database-driven instead of manually-updated. I need to photograph all the containers I have available, plus include other containers I can order online at a moment’s notice (these hex votives have been favorites of mine, for example).

That’s going to take some time, and I already have more vital things to tackle. Finding a job, retooling the LSM website (per the Board of Directors and Executive Director’s instructions), and NaNoWriMo, which isn’t so much an imperative as it is a personal goal/desire.

So, if I ultimately decide to do a sales push, and I don’t make time to get the website redone soon, it’ll have to be with some sort of catalog-style one-time thing. And I’ll have to hope that my former co-workers don’t get pissed at me for spamming them.

aikido, crafty, gaming, jobhunt 3 Comments

A Quickie

I pulled my groin in aikido on Saturday, while trying to roll. I’m getting annoyed with myself for not “getting” it yet. At least my leg seems to be on the fast track, and feels like it should be healed by Wednesday’s class. It really put a damper on the weekend’s other extra-curriculars, though.

This week, Monday through Thursday afternoons, I’m attending an outplacement workshop paid for by Sky/Huntington. I was dubious about its actual value, but it actually seems like it’s going to be helpful. Among some of the highlights will be resume-crafting, networking and job-searching, and negotiating a job offer. I’m actually looking forward to some of this… plus, it gets me out of the office for half a day.

Rob has requested another manly candle, to be picked up this week. In looking at my records, I realize I haven’t made any candles since February (which was the last time Rob requested a manly candle). Candle-making is definitely a seasonal thing for me, being that I don’t like to have the oven on in the summer, and my timing mojo gets thrown off if I melt candle wax in the microwave instead. Maybe I’ll have to ramp up the seasonal candle-making a little earlier this year, and be sure to give everyone at work a going-away candle with my name and URL on it. 🙂

Update, 11:45pm: Rob’s candle came out well. I used a blow dryer to even out the surface — I should have tried that long ago.

In other news, bumping up the difficulty in Civilization IV really makes a difference: from me beating all the computer players in Chieftain mode to me getting my ass kicked and barely making it to the end of the game with one city intact in Warlord mode. If it weren’t almost midnight (and if I weren’t gainfully employed and due at work at 8am), I’d start another game.