writing 10 Comments

In Lieu Of NaNoWriMo

I now have two unfinished stories — at least two, that is — which I think are worth finishing. One I began in 1999, and one I began officially during last year’s National Novel Writing Month, although I had the ideas brewing for a couple of years before that. I also have… *counting* …twelve unfinished stories and one complete short story.

The last thing I need is to start a new project for NaNoWriMo.

If I’d ever successfully “won” NaNoWriMo — that is, written 50,000 words during the month of November — I could invoke the Zokutou Clause, which states:

You have to start your novel from scratch, unless you are a previous NaNoWriMo winner. If you have already attained the status of Winner, you do not need to start a new novel, as your main aim is now to finish one. You can now consider yourself a winner if, by midnight on the 30th of November, you have either:

  1. Written 50,000 words on one or more previous works.
  2. Completed your novel’s first draft.

I have, however, not written the requisite 50,000 words in one month, so I do not qualify.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
14,681 / 50,000
(29.4%)

So, this November, I intend to work on last year’s NaNoWriMo story. I’ve found a sturdy little piece of software to help me write my “story bible”; in fact, it’s already helped me locate one continuity error in the 32 pages (1.5-spaced, not double-spaced) that I’ve written so far.

My plan is to research where my characters hail from, discover their individual backgrounds, and figure out precisely how a team of vampires can capture and kill an incubus without seriously injuring themselves. Hopefully, by the end of November, I will at least have enough backstory figured out so that I can continue writing without worrying about the details that form the basis of the intrigue.

Don’t be surprised if I come to you for help, like I have in the past. I suck at dialogue, which is only a symptom of my general social ineptitude, so I’ll be needing some guidance along the way.

crafty 2 Comments

Return of the Soy Candles

I have a kitty on my lap and the smell of Drakkar candles in the air. Sometimes, life is good.

I hadn’t made candles for several months. Then, last week, one of my co-workers approached me and asked, “You make candles, right?” I answered in the affirmative, and he went on to say that he had been disappointed by his most recent Yankee Candle purchase, and was seeking a new supplier of smelly-good and long-lasting candles.

He explained that he required a big, manly-smelling candle. So, I had him sniff the Drakkar tealight I keep at my desk, and he was sold. (I had referred him to the somewhat outdated list of fragrances on my website, and he’d decided it was either that or evergreen.) We agreed that I would make him an appropriately large and smelly candle, and he would give me ten bucks for said candle.

Of course, I was almost out of wax, so I had to make a run to Michael’s tonight; and, of course, the pint-sized mason jars I bought at Big Lots for the purpose of candle-making didn’t look quite as big when I unpacked them. But that’s OK. The price listing on my site says that 16 fl. oz. candles are $10.99 plus shipping, so I’m actually cutting him a deal. 😉

I always have a problem actually *selling* my candles, being that the only people who buy are people to whom I feel I should just *give* candles. Then there’s the random e-mail I got a year or two ago, asking if I do wholesale.   o.O   Um, I melt wax in a glass three-cup measure in my oven, dude. Sorry, but I can’t be your primary candle supplier.

I’d forgotten how much I enjoy making candles, though. It’s really a cold-weather pastime for me, since I have to have the oven on for a good part of the evening, so I haven’t done any candle-making for a while. Tonight was probably the first time in… *thinking* …maybe close to a year.

Making candles also helps me be more productive in other realms, too, since I have to keep myself occupied while the wax melts, then again while it cools to a good pouring temperature. I ended up going to Kroger while I was out at Michael’s, and getting stuff for Friday’s potluck (OMG ice cream cone cuppie-cakes with white chocolate chips). When I got home, I made my dinner (also purchased at Kroger — I haven’t had imitation crab in ages), did a load of laundry, put the dishes away, cleaned up my desk, and did some maintenance to the LSM website, all while either waiting for the wax to melt or to cool.

I’ll have to order up another 10lb bag of soy wax and maybe some essential oils to experiment with. I have a crapload of votive-sized containers in a cupboard in the kitchen, just begging to be made into random gifts…

health & fitness 1 Comment

Head Cold Update

Got a sore throat last week. Started taking medication to head it off at the proverbial pass. Nasal spray, Theraflu, Mucinex, generic Meijer severe cold tablets, and plain old tea with honey.

Had a couple days of runny nose, some hoarseness, but nothing too serious. Thought I’d successfully fought it off.

Yesterday and today, I was SO exhausted. I can breathe, sure, and I can speak and hear fine, but I’m dead tired. Hence the lack of substantial blogging. And the fact that I posted my podcast a day late, since I couldn’t make myself focus on editing yesterday.

I was so tired this morning, I declared a do-over. I called in late to work, went back to bed for 15 minutes, then got up and started my morning over. Sure, I had to take a short lunch today, and will again tomorrow, but I think it was worth it. I actually felt pretty good until the evening, when I really started to crash.

Speaking of… it’s totally time for bed.

otaku 2 Comments

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

I’m taking Friday off of work, so that Aaron and I can drive eight hours to Utica, NY for an anime convention.

Normally, we wouldn’t go to two out-of-state cons in a row like this — after all, we just did Otakon a couple months ago. We’re making an exception for SITACon, though, since they invited us as guests. They’re covering our hotel room, some of our travel expenses, and our admission to the con.

This is weird.

Aaron is going to be presenting a Meet-and-Greet panel about his podcast, and is going to be on a massive Podcasters Unite roundtable panel, with the hosts of half a dozen other podcasts. I told him I’d join him for his Weekly Anime Review Podcast panel, being that it’s just him and all, but I’m probably just going to be running Nikon recon during the roundtable discussion, taking photos of the panelists for posterity. Assuming none of them are camera-shy, which could conceivably happen. Podcasters can be like that sometimes.

It was very considerate of the con chair to invite me, too. I mean, he listens to Aaron’s podcast enough to know that a.) we’re married, and b.) we go to cons together, so he invited us both. Very cool.

I guess I’m still not sure what to think of this whole thing. I’m not sure if it’s going to be fun meeting other podcasters we haven’t met before, or if it’s going to be a thinly-veiled popularity contest, or what. I *think* it’ll be fun… I *hope* it’ll be fun…

And if it starts to go downhill… hell, I’ll *make* it fun. I’m a guest at an anime convention, dammit! ^_^

photography 4 Comments

“Published” Photos?

I received a message on Flickr today, from an Alexandra Moss at schmap.com. It seems that these two photos are to be included in the second edition of an electronic guide to Baltimore — with my permission, of course.

How neat!

It somehow validates my meager talent and boosts my self-esteem when I get non-solicited praise on my photography. I forget sometimes that I really am OK.

Incidentally, these Schmap Guides seem to be pretty cool. If I could put one of these on my Palm IIIc, or even an iPod Photo, that would really be the bee’s knees.