The novelling continues! Things took an odd, but not unexpected twist today (or was it yesterday?) when it turned into a fantasy novel of sorts (one of my characters turned out to be not human). This is the fun part about NaNoWriMo, when these things happen. I'm not sure if I'm happy he turned out to be a faery descendant, but so be it. I'm not going to argue with wherever these things come from, especially not when my word count is sitting at 37,512. If I write 2,000 words a day, I shall finish before we head south for Thanksgiving. Of course, I shan't be celebrating until I clear that 50,000 word mark by at least a few hundred words, check the word count on Immelman (my EeePC) against my Mac, and upload the whole thing to the NaNo website, but still, I am in better shape than I thought I'd be when I started afresh two weeks ago.

Has it really been only 2 weeks since I started writing this novel? Geez! How time flies! My goal of getting work done on "Pawn" has kind of fallen by the wayside (as well as getting any other work done), but I suppose the sooner I finish this novel, the sooner I can get back into everyday tasks, like answering emails and cooking dinner and submitting haiku to more journals.

Speaking of which, the newest issue of Simply Haiku is up. Here's a link to the senryu page: http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n4/senryu/senryu.html Scroll down a ways and you'll find my infamous "guests for dinner . . ." poem. Yes, it really did happen. The other guest, other than the 6 legged ones, was Russ. It was one of the first times he'd ever come over to my (parents') house, and I wondered if Mom was trying to impress him by putting pepper on the broccoli . . .

Now if I can just figure out somewhere to submit the haiku from my novel . . .

The novel continues! I'm up to 18,503 words now, which, for those of you who are counting, is a little over a day ahead of schedule. So that's good. The novel is evolving in odd, unpredictably interesting ways, which is why I'm able to be ahead a little bit.

On Sunday, I took a class at Richard Hugo House http://www.hugohouse.org/ from Jeff VanderMeer called "Exploring Your Booklife." The lessons were taken from his new book, "Booklife" which talks about how to balance one's writing life with other activities, as well as how to meet your writing goals. It was a medium-sized class, about 7-8 of us, which was good, because that way everyone had a chance to ask all the questions they wanted. Although we did some writing in the morning, it's the first class I've taken at Hugo House that wasn't craft oriented. That said, it was extremely helpful. Yesterday, I made myself a list of goals for 2010, including steps to take in order to reach said goals. So often, it seems like I'm either overly optimistic on when I'll finish projects, or I make myself arbitrary deadlines that don't mean anything. Now I think I've got a better grasp on what I want, and what I need to do to get there, so maybe I won't feel like I'm floundering around quite so much.

Well, time to figure out what's for dinner and get a few haiku things done. I'm still hoping to get to work on "Pawn" tonight. On Sunday night, I'd just finished getting ready for bed when an idea about Lucian's past popped into my head, so I opened my notebook and jotted it down on the bathroom counter. My muse must have seen that as an open invitation, because then she threw a few more ideas at me, and before I knew it, I was sitting on the bathroom floor, back against the cupboard, writing page after page of backstory. Some 45 minutes later, I finally exhausted that train of thought and finally went to bed. Even when the timing's weird like that, I really can't complain when the inspiration hits me.

Oh, one last thing: if you're a fan of Pink Martini, check out their new album, "Splendor in the Grass." I've been listening to it over and over, laughing and dancing around the kitchen, much to the cat's chagrin.

Well, the novel continues. Today I reached 10,220 words, so that's just over 1/5 of the way done! I'm getting to that point of it, though, where I need to throw in a bit of a twist to keep it interesting, so my narrator just discovered a hidden room in the restaurant. I have no idea where it came from, or what's going to happen to it, or if I'm about to take a sizeable step away from the usual plot, but at least I have an interesting place to resume tomorrow.

The rain continues in copious amounts. Last night, Guy Fawkes Day, we fell asleep to thunder & lightning. Time for sleep so I can get up and churn out 1,667 more words tomorrow.

Well, even though I don't have as many words as I did when I abandoned my first novel this month, I'm still feeling good about the change. I'm at 4,857 words tonight, and although it's tempting to grind out that next 150 to make it to 5,000, I'm going to call it a night. My wrists are still recovering from planting spring flower bulbs yesterday, and typing several thousand words since then isn't doing them any favors.

So that's the update. Still playing catch-up. When I get there, then the experiment of working on two novels at a time can resume.

Yep, it's official. I've started my novel over. It was inevitable, I'm afraid. I mean, any time I spend half the afternoon outside planting over a hundred spring bulbs when I should be writing must mean that there's something seriously wrong with the story. So, having dirtied my hands and cleared my head, I came back inside, warmed up a bowl of leftover jasmine rice, and had that "aha!" moment that I've been waiting for. I could almost hear the door slam as my muse walked back into the house, waved her arms in the air, and announced, "I'm back! Did you miss me?"

So my word count has gone from 5,000ish to 1,004, but it's all good. I am not trying to write another fantasy novel. (Working on one--"Pawn"--is quite enough!) Instead, I am now writing a haiku novel. Or rather, a novel with haiku in it. And haiku poets. (No, they're no one you know.) And that's all I'm going to tell you, because that's all I know, and frankly, you aren't going to get to read it anyway. (Sorry.) So I'm glad I finally made the choice to bail and start fresh. I feel like a weight has been lifted from me, which may seem odd since I'm now 5,000 words behind for the day, but just being able to look forward to writing tomorrow morning means a lot. Why spend 30 days with a novel you hate?

Anyway, time to answer a few much-neglected emails and then to let my wrists rest for the night. Typing on my Eee PC is an interesting experience, and while I am getting used to the smaller keyboard, it just makes me love my Macbook all the more.

Oh, and did I explain why I'm using my EeePC (aka Immelman) for NaNoWriMo this year when I've got a perfectly wonderful Macbook? Well, I haven't used poor little Immelman for much since I got him, so I figured now is his chance to shine (yes, my laptops apparently have genders...don't ask). Anyway, since Immelman is considerably more convenient to tote around to cafes and libraries and such, he gets the honor of being my official NaNo laptop this year. It's also my way of separating my NaNo noveling from my "serious" work on "Pawn." Yes, it's confusing. Just trust me. It all makes sense in my head.

Why Immelman as a name? Go watch a few episodes of the anime show "Last Exile." You can find it on Netflix. The animation is gorgeous, and I loved Neo's character, but the ending of the series...well...let's just say someday I'm gonna write a better, more satisfying one.

Good night, all.

Maybe someday I'll be smart enough to prepare for NaNoWriMo. Not by plotting out my story or characters, but by simply getting in the right mindset to begin 30 days of frenzied writing. In previous years, I've been frantically finishing up other projects before changing gears and launching into NaNoing. This year, my intent was to do that and be done with this draft of "Pawn" before Nov. 1st rolled around.

Fail.

While Russ & I spent last week relaxing in Port Townsend, I did not get more than about 10 minutes of work done on "Pawn." Before that, it was getting ready for the Seabeck Retreat, going to said wonderful retreat, and basking in the aftermath. As a result, I was still only halfway through this draft of "Pawn" when the proverbial clock struck 12:00 on Nov. 1st.

That said, I have been dutifully working on my NaNo novel since then and just cleared 5,000 words a little while ago. This would be worth celebrating for several reasons, the first of which is that we're into day 3 of NaNoWriMo and I have yet to scrap this version and start over. The second is that 5,000 words by noon of the 3rd day means that I'm right on track to finish it early this year (before Thanksgiving, is my goal). And the third is that I'm finally making good use of my little laptop (Immelman).

Unfortunately, there's just one tiny problem: I'm not in love with my novel. Sure, it's in 1st person present tense with an elf, a winged guy, and even haiku in it, but for some reason, it's just not exciting me. Could I write 45,000 more words of it? Maybe. But if I'm not enjoying it, if I'm not itching to sit down and work on it at least some of the time, then something's fundamentally wrong.

In going back through my word count sheets for the previous 4 NaNo novels, I determined that Day 3 & 5,000 words is not the latest that I've restarted a novel. In 2006, I scrapped all 6,668 words on Day 4 and started over, somehow managing to finish 3 days early with over 51,000 words. So it's not impossible. Not recommended, but not impossible.

So am I going to stick with this start and grind through the mediocrity, or am I going to jump ship like I always do (okay, except for year 1, but I started that one a day late & on a complete whim)? I'm hoping that a cheddar, mustard, lettuce sandwich and a cookie will help me decide. Stay tuned!

As the subject heading rather gives away, I have finished writing my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel. Whoo hoo! A few quick facts:

Title: Grab the Chickens and Run! (also the opening line)
Genre: Fantasy
Total words: 52,500
Total pages (single-spaced 12pt. Times New Roman): 92
Total days to complete: 23
Avg. words per day: 2,282.6
Total cups of tea consumed whilst noveling: plenty
Number of years I've done NaNoWriMo: 4
Number of years I've won NaNoWriMo: 4
Number of years I tell myself this is the last time I'm going to do NaNoWriMo: 4

So yeah, I hit 50,00 this afternoon and kept going for 2,500 more words just trying to wrap up the story. It's an odd tale to be sure, the strangest yet. Imperial Violet, Columbia, Tendril, Spiro, Emperor Hayleodoren, and Chelak are just some of the characters. Then there are the 13 miniature chickens. And the pirates. And the ten giant ducks who never make an actual appearance, but get mentioned several times. And the water dragons. And the dreadful death-by-shark that I didn't show. And it's still printing. (Maybe I should request printer ink for Christmas?) But it's done. Tomorrow, I'll get it verified on the NaNoWriMo website and print off my winner's certificate to post on my wall with my other three. Then I'll make some barley hazelnut salad for Thanksgiving, clean up the house a bit, go for the walk I never got around to taking today, and possibly celebrate by taking a trip into Seattle without my laptop. Oh, and get back to working on Lucian's story, the novel from last November, because believe it or not, the day after NaNoWriMo, I go into noveling withdrawls. But now, it's time to wash the dishes, because believe me when I say, there is no (clean) spoon...or fork...or knife...

The weather has returned to rainyness. Never a good sign when you get up in the morning and it starts getting darker before you've finished your breakfast. Ah well, it's good weather for writing.

Unfortunately, what I want to write is not my NaNo novel. Not this novel, at least. I have somehow, though no fault of my own, gotten enamoured with Lucian and his story again, Lucian being the protagonist of last November's NaNo novel. He also appears in 4 short stories and several others that are still percolating in my head and in notebooks. This returning infatuation would have been useful about 3 weeks ago, though what I want to write is a continuation of "Nullum Desiderium" (last Nov.'s novel), picking up from right after the climax, so I'm not sure about how I would have worked that logistically into NaNoWriMo. But had I been writing about Lucian this month, I probably would have hit 50,000 words by now. (I am aiming for 40,200 today.) Sigh. I blame Torchwood. Anyway, just needed to get that out of my system so I can return to the novel I'm supposed to be working on this month, tentatively titled, "Grab the Chickens and Run!"

On a non-noveling note, you can check out four of my haiku on the Haiku NW website. Here's the link: http://sites.google.com/site/haikunorthwest/poems-by-members/tanya-mcdonald . Earlier this week, I found out that bottle rockets has accepted two of my poems for their Feb. '09 issue. One of them is a tanka, the first I've ever written or submitted (thanks to MDW for his help in revising a few lines), so I'm excited about that. Here's the link to the site: http://www.bottlerocketspress.com/ . So if anyone's keeping track, that's 10 poems I've gotten accepted for publication so far this year...out of 99 submitted. Granted, I won't hear back from The Heron's Nest until early January, so I guess it's really 10 poems accepted out of 89, but either way, I feel both humbled and pretty tickled about it. If next year by this time I can add a short story publishing credit to that list, I'll be ecstatic.

All right, time to put the laundry in the dryer and get on with the business of banging out a few thousand words of my NaNo novel. The sooner I finish it, the sooner I can dive headlong into Lucian's story again. :)

Well, I passed the halfway point of my novel and am getting closer to being in the home stretch. Word count at present is 31,402. I readjusted my daily word count goals to reach 50,000 words by the Wed. before Thanksgiving. If I accomplish that, I may keep writing a bit more just to beef up the word count for the Seattle area, but I am just not completely enamoured with this story, not like my other novels. Maybe it will be shinier in January when I reread it, but I just don't feel the love this time around. Lucian keeps popping into my head, asking why I'm not writing about him and Nivalis, so I've promised to do so in December, along with catching up on my much-neglected reading, haiku submissions, house cleaning, yard work, and impending Christmas present shopping. But hey, it doesn't have to be a fantastic novel of astute brilliance. It just has to be 50,000 words long.

Admittedly, I am having fun with parts of my novel. It just isn't very coherant and I'm realizing that while it's fun to watch movies about pirates and read stories about them, it's rather a different matter to write about them. But it's good if I'm getting it out of my system in a NaNo novel. That way, I can refocus on Lucian and his crazy world, which has gotten crazier as the story progresses in my head.

We watched the new James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace" this weekend, and it was pretty good, but not as good as the previous one, "Casino Royale." I'd probably go so far as to say unless you're a rabid fan, just wait until it comes out on DVD. Don't really have anything else coming out that I want to see. Okay, okay, I'll admit a curiosity about "Twilight," but I don't think my fellow audience-goers would appreciate all my snarky comments about it. And I'm not sure I can watch it sober. Might be a good candidate for renting and watching with a healthy glass of whiskey.

And on that note, it's time for sleep. Beli tano! (Good night!)

The novel continues! After getting no writing done on Saturday and only a couple hundred words written on Sunday, I am now back on track. This is why I wrote so furiously last week to get ahead for the weekend. Now I'll be writing furiously to get ahead for Thanksgiving. I've got 17,171 words right now (yes, I stopped there for the symmetry), which is 500 more than I needed for today, so I can rest easy tonight.

The reason I didn't get any writing done on Saturday is that I spent it in Port Townsend with fellow haikuers (haikuists? haikuophiles?). The Haiku NW group invited the Port Townsend haiku group over here in the spring (before I was a member), and the Port Townsend folks were gracious enough to invite us over there this fall. I don't know if the Port Townsend folks have a website, but here's a link to ours: http://sites.google.com/site/haikunorthwest/ . I had a surprisingly wonderful time. I say surprisingly because I never know what to expect when I meet up with a bunch of folks I don't know, or don't know well. But everyone was very welcoming and I felt right at home. Even the weather cooperated. The rain stopped, the sun appeared, and by nighttime, the stars and moon were even peeking out. It was truly a wonderful experience, the whole day, and I came home glowing and jabbering about haiku and related topics. In fact, it carried over to the next day, and I spent more time getting haiku ready to submit to bottle rockets (http://www.bottlerocketspress.com/ ) than I did working on my novel. (Oh, and check out the Highlights section of the bottle rockets website.)

But now it's time for bed so I can get up and write 1,667+ more words tomorrow. And wonder when I'm going to hear back from Realms of Fantasy magazine. And compose haiku.

Hit my word count for today and I'm up 199 words for tomorrow already. Hurray for stories with multiple viewpoints! Hurray for Columbia and Imperial Violet! Hurray for pocket chickens and pirates! Hurray for dragon-sized pelicans! Now I'm going to bed.

P.S.
I think I might be writing a fantasy novel. What do you think? ;)

Well, I just caught up on my word count for yesterday. (Stands up, stretches, sits back down.) Apparently writing in a dim room with soundtrack music from "The Dark Knight," "Transformers," "Batman Begins," and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" is working. I've been drinking copious amounts of tea all day, which means my bladder has been politely reminding me to get up and stretch throughout the long novelling hours. Belle has been lending her support by sleeping most of the day in the chair opposite mine in the front room. But now it's time to make a quick run to the grocery store, followed by dinner of some variety and more novelling. If I can make 5,001 words by bedtime, I'll be pleased.

Speaking of pleased, I just found out that I got a haiku accepted for print publication in the January issue of Magnapoets. Check them out! http://www.magnapoets.com/

“It doesn’t seem like a rooftop,” I replied, plucking a sprig of rosemary for luck. And it didn’t. We had a greenhouse up here, an herb garden, roses, and even a small apple tree in the northeast corner. Until the autumn rains had started a couple weeks ago, we’d slept in the gazebo or out under the stars. I still preferred it to our room on the thirtieth floor, cozy that it was with its fireplace and thick blankets. But none of that mattered any more, not with pirates in the building.
“Columbia, we have to go,” Imperial said, an underlying urgency in his gentle tone.
I realized that I’d stopped in the middle of the lavender patch and was gazing around the rooftop, reluctant to leave all this to the pirates. “Maybe we could—”
Imperial cut me off. “No, we couldn’t. We’re no match for that many of them, you know that.”
“Two years,” I murmured, tears welling in my eyes.
“I know,” he said. Placing an arm around my shoulders, he hugged me to his side, careful not to squash any chickens. “We’ll find somewhere new.”
A chicken squirmed inside my thigh pocket—either Snow or Ceylon—and I wiped my eyes. “Guess I’d better go first.”
“Just don’t look down and you’ll be fine.”
I gave him a look that said fine didn’t relate to anything in this situation, then climbed the five steps to the top of the rooftop wall. Double-checking that my sword was firmly in its scabbard on my back, I maneuvered myself around onto the ladder. “No heroics, Imperial. You’re right behind me.”
“Right behind you,” he promised with a nod.
Clutching the sides of the ladder, I found the first rung and tested its slickness. It wasn’t bad, but I was glad to be wearing my Vibram soled boots.

(Word continues to be dodgy. Guess I'll have to restart my computer again. Dunno what's wrong with it, but it's not a happy Beastie today.)

Well, it's bedtime, and thus ends the first day of noveling. Thanks goodness we get an extra hour tomorrow (errr, later today...it's later than I thought). I went to Top Pot this afternoon and wrote until my battery ran out four hours later. After watching "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" this evening with Belle, I wrote a bit more. So the word count presently stands a wobbly 2,130 words. I say wobbly because I'm still not enamoured with what I've got. I like bits of it more than I've liked previous opening day bits, but I cannot promise I won't wake up in the morning and decide to start fresh with something different. I know, I know, I should just work with the 2,130 words I've got, but if I don't like them, then the next 29 days are gonna be hell. This is why everyone else plans their novels out to some degree. Oh well.

That said, I did type my daily quota of 1,667 words at Top Pot, proving that it was a successful writing venue. The girl behind the counter even asked how my novel was coming along when I went back up there for another cup of tea, which was nice of her.

I just need to figure out what kind of novel I'm writing. Is it a fantasy? If so, then there are likely to be faeries in it, and if so, then can I write it in the same urban environment as I wrote "Nullum Desiderium" or will it just get confusing? Or do I need to break free and write something else? Can I write something without fantastical elements? Do I want to? I would like to fit the tiny chickens in somehow, but most of all, I want to write something that I'll look forward to reading on my birthday in January. Perhaps sleep will sort all these thoughts out. Boa noite.

Yes, you read that correctly. Last night, we went to the 21 & over night performance of "Night of the Living Dead" at the Seattle Children's Theatre. Here's the link: http://www.sct.org/browse/Production.aspx?prod=4497 . I'm not a fan of zombies and steadfastly refuse to watch any zombie movies with Russ, but this production was great! I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt at the end. Zombies or not, it reminded me of how much I love watching live productions on stage.

Yesterday, I dyed a long, lace & cotton dress of mine from cream to green. My hope is that dyeing it dark green will make it less transparent than it was. If it looks okay when it's dry (and still fits me), I'll probably wear it to the NaNoWriMo kick-off at Denny's tomorrow night. If not, or if I chicken out, I shall wear something more modest. Should be an interesting, entertaining party, even if I don't get much writing done.

I also received my contributer's copies of Lilliput Review #165. I've got a poem in there on the same page as Ed Baker and M. Kei, and across from a R.H. Blyth translation of an Issa haiku. I know the arrangement is chance, but still, it's pretty cool! Visit Lillie's website at http://lilliputreview.googlepages.com/home .

Continuing backward in time, Tuesday night was Portuguese class. All I can do is heave a sigh. She's a nice person, Ana, but she doesn't know how to teach. She even asked us (all 6 of us...down from 17 people who showed up the first night) what we'd like to learn and how. We told her, and I had hoped that maybe we'd actually learn something in class, but no. I won't complain any more, but if she's teaching Portuguese 2 next term, I certainly won't be taking it.

Monday night I went to Hugo House for the Charles de Lint reading. Actually, I showed up a few hours early so I could hang out in the Cabaret and write. After having a good chat with Fay at the desk, I got a bit of editing done on my novel (Nullum Desiderium) before folks started showing up for the reading. It was excellent! De Lint read his entire chapbook "Yellow Dog" aloud, and he has such a storyteller's voice that I was utterly mesmerized the whole time. I think the whole room was. Then he played some songs on his guitar and sang. Some were ones he'd written, and others were covers. At the end, I bought a copy of "Dingo" and "Little (Grrl) Lost," the latter of which I'm about halfway through reading. It's even better than I thought it would be. (I'd read part of it in "Firebirds Rising" months and months ago.) Here's a link to the book: http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/littlegrrl-desc01.htm

So that about sums up this week so far. I did finally fill out my ballot and pop it in the mail, so I can feel like a good citizen now. Next on the agenda: pumpkin carving!

After an unsuccessful search at Goodwill for a Halloween costume, I headed into downtown Bellevue for a concilliatory doughnut at Top Pot. http://www.toppotdoughnuts.com/ OK, even if I had found a costume, I was planning on going there to scout it out as a potential NaNoWriMo write-in spot. I'd been there once before with Sherra and Doctor, but had been too distracted to notice the ambiance.

It has an awesome writing vibe, at least for me. One of my difficulties with Soul Food Books has always been the distraction factor. Either the music is too loud (and there's no way to get away from the speakers) or conversations are too easy to hear. Sometimes, I like listening to other peoples' conversations, but not when I'm trying to write. Top Pot in Bellevue doesn't seem to have that difficulty. The music was innocuous enough and the ceiling high enough that I couldn't hear the conversations behind the counter. Plus, it's a spacious area with lots of tables, and an entire wall of bench-to-ceiling bookshelves. I figure if I get stuck at any point in my novel while I'm there, I can just take a gander at the titles on the shelves, and an idea will present itself.

Oh yeah, and they have doughnuts. And tea. (And coffee, espresso drinks, soda, sandwiches, scones, etc.) Frankly, a doughnut alone is enough to get me all bouncy. Add a cup of black tea and I figure the words ought to just flow out onto the screen if my fingers can keep up with my brain.

One week until NaNoWriMo starts! http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Also, if you haven't checked out the Hugo House website lately, please do! My profile is up on the Write-O-Rama laureates page: http://www.hugohouse.org/laureates#Tanya

I'm heading into Redmond in a little while, but thought I should mention that it's 9 days until NaNoWriMo begins. While I'm continuing with my non-planning, I am starting to get the pre-NaNo jitters. I'm not worried about creating a character or a setting or a conflict. Judging from the NaNo forums, at least for the Seattle region, a lot of people plot their novels out, making elaborate character charts and everything.

I don't.

For the past three years, every time I've started a novel in Nov., I've started over after the first few days. All I can deduce is that it's due to trying to steer the fledgling novel in a direction my muse doesn't want to go, at which point she digs in her heels, crosses her arms, and refuses to go any further. End of novel. Start over. For me, the fun of NaNoWriMo is giving myself permission to write whatever pops into my head--50,000+ words of spontenaity--then putting it away until my birthday and reading it then. For three years in a row, I have been pleasantly surprised by what I read in January. So I'm excited to discover what comes out this year.

My problem is that I've been getting back into the "Nullum Desiderium" world, and while that's a good thing, the timing could be better. I remember finishing the rough draft of "Elf-Blessed" the night before my second NaNoWriMo, then trying to switch gears and write about something else the next day. Yeah, that didn't work out so well. I had to start over. The year before, in the thick of writing "Elf-Blessed," I couldn't even get my novel out of Lithonia, though I did manage to place my novel a few hundred years in the future than from when "Elf-Blessed" takes place. Last year, I'd written a short story for my SF/F Writing class in October and didn't realize that my muse had fallen in love with Faery and was not nearly finished with it. Tried to write my novel about pirates in Corvallis; had to start over and write about Lucian instead.

So that's why I'm a bit worried. I've been editing my short stories and reworking the end of the novel from last November, and here we are at nine days until a new NaNoWriMo starts. I'm a little curious what my muse will decide to do, and a little nervous, too. Will she let me write something new, something completely different, or will she insist that I try to write a new novel about Lucian, Delkana, Oriana, Mazzy, and the fey? I'd be all for that, but I haven't finished the novel from last year, not satisfactorily. Also, I haven't ever written a sequel novel during Nov., so I'm not sure how it'll work. Plus, I want to meet new characters, ones I've been intentionally avoiding for the past month or so. And did I mention that I'm hoping to make the time to not only write a novel in Nov., but also continue with my other writing? We'll see how that works out.

OK, time to head off to Redmond whilst the sun is still shining so gorgeously.

I'm presently basking in the warm glow of accomplishment, which is good since our furnace is still broken. Of course, the fact that I accidentally had caffeinated tea at Soul Food Books this afternoon could also have something to do with my cheery, bouncy, cranking up "The Nightmare Before Christmas" soundtrack on the stereo and dancing around the kitchen, belting out Jack's songs whilst sweeping up fir needles episode. But I'm better now. A full belly of sushi will do that.

Yes, today I finally sent off a short story to a fantasy magazine! I'm sure that Realms of Fantasy magazine is a bit too high to aim for one's first story, but I submitted "Nullum Desiderium" (the tithe story) anyway. I should hear back from them within 8-12 weeks. I know what the response will be (thanks, but no thanks), but just getting something sent out is exciting for me. Maybe by the time I hear from them, I'll have another story ready to send somewhere. I also submitted some haiku to The Heron's Nest, and should hear back from them in early January.

Along with getting accidentally caffeinated at SFB ( http://www.soulfoodbooks.com/ ), I also talked to Sarah about having NaNoWriMo write-ins there. She said it was cool. Thursday night is the best for them, but with the Haiku NW meeting on the first Thurs., SFB poetry night on the third Thurs., and Thanksgiving on the last Thurs., that doesn't make for a lot of Thursdays that I'll be attending. Oh well. Maybe I'll see if I can organize some daytime or weekend write-ins there, because I found the coolest rubber ducks today at Tree Top Toys, right across from SFB. They have lights inside that change colors. Very cool! Beacon ducks. I couldn't resist. So now I have to go to write-ins so I can show them off in all their color-changing goodness.

Hmmm, caffeine still seems to be in the system...

OK, time to buckle down and study Portuguese for class tomorrow night. Boa noite!

It's been a busy writing day, and I haven't gotten a thing written.

Well, that's not entirely true. I've emailed a few folks. I also sent a handful of haiku/senryu to Modern Haiku for consideration in their next issue, then got some haiku ready to share at tonight's Haiku NW meeting at the Bellevue Library. http://hometown.aol.com/WelchM/Haiku-Northwest-Monthly-Meetings.html

Now I need to write a clever bio for my Hugo House Write-O-Rama laureate profile and scrounge up an unscary photo of myself. Check out this website, http://www.hugohouse.org/laureates in two weeks, and with any luck, I should be there. I'm no good at asking for money (I always detested candy bar sales for choir back in middle school), but I hope you'll give a bit to Hugo House. It's an amazing place and although I don't go there as often as I'd like (1.5 hour bus ride each way makes it a bit of a trek), I always leave with a bit of a glow about me. Whether sitting up in the incredible library, pouring through the journals of Anais Nin, or attending a class taught by an awesome writer, or listening to a performance in the Cabaret, it's always well-worth the journey there.

Did I mention that I'm taking Charles DeLint's class later this month? It's titled, "Heroes and Villains: Making Your Protagonist Step Off the Page." I'm rather excited about it (understatement), and am glad I signed up when I did since it's now full. But there are lots of other classes available at Hugo House, so check them out! http://www.hugohouseservices.org/home/Catalog/Catalog.aspx

I'm also plotting how to spread the word of NaNo to the masses. I'm thinking flyers in bookstore and library bathroom stalls would be a good place to start. Here's the website, though it's having technical server difficulties right now: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ .

OK, time to biographize.

Yes, it's October. Fog, reddening leaves, and that tinge of anticipation in the air... That's right, it's a month until NaNoWriMo starts! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! All the juicy info is at www.nanowrimo.org . This will be the 4th year I've done it. You'd think I'd know better by now, eh? But it's fun, at least fun enough that I seem to forget the parts that aren't fun, like hating the story by week 2 and wanting to start over. But the fun is that most everyone who's doing NaNoWriMo across the globe is feeling like that, which is where the fun comes in. YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Usually, writers, at least during the process of writing, are alone, which is what makes NaNo special. Just knowing others are out there struggling to hit that 50,000 word mark by 11:59 on Nov. 30th is a driving force. And having an excuse--nay, a duty--to write every day is powerful. So is the desire to be able to brag about having written a 50,000 word novel on Dec. 1st. And although I always fear that the novels I churn out during November are wretched and deserve to be buried in the backyard, they thus far haven't been. We'll see if that holds true for this year's novel.

And as if NaNoWriMo isn't exciting enough, there's also Write-O-Rama at Hugo House: http://www.hugohouse.org/giving/writeorama/ . It's on Dec. 6th this year. (Last year, the first Saturday of Dec. fell on the 1st, which was right after NaNoWriMo ended, and I was all written out.) Write-O-Rama happens twice a year, and I had a great time when I went in June. This time, I'm hoping to be a laureate (eek!), so please check out the Hugo House website on Oct. 15th to find out how you can donate to their wonderful writing community.

Now, it's time for tea and to study Portuguese. Class was much better last night, more structured and full of good words/phrases/explantions, so I shall be sticking with it and not jumping ship for Scottish Gaelic. Fingers-crossed that BCC will be offering Scottish next term (and not on the same night as Portuguese 2). Ate logo!