Almost there!

Here it is, the last two days of NaNo already! There were times during this month when I didn't think November would ever end. I also didn't think I'd get the novels done, but I'm actually down to the last few thousand words and I want to finish tomorrow, so I'm not rushing through it today. I'll wait until after midnight and then finish the novel.

I will have 200,000 words. A little behind the 210,000 of last year -- and no, I'm not complaining.

It's cold here today! We're sitting at a high of 18f right now, it's cold here by the computer. I'm going to move back into my office in December, I think. The heat is better back there.

It's going to be an interesting December, trying to get things done. I'm working on the 2YNY2 book again -- have been for the last couple days -- and I think it's going alright. I fear the idea of the final edit, though. I'm going cross-eyed just trying to get this part done. I don't know what my problem is with this book, but I'll get there.

I still have to finish the edits on Paid in Gold and Blood as well. That shouldn't be too bad. I look forward to having it done and sending it off. Somewhere.

I got a story back from F&SF the other day and I have to remember to send it back out, too. Russ was surprised. He really liked this one. I wasn't surprised. (grin) I still have a few more things out, and a few things to get out before the end of the year.

I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that 2007 is nearly upon us.

Ack!

Must go work! 

Sailing toward the end of NaNo....

We're almost there! I keep counting, just to make certain I'm right... and I am! Only five more days to the end of NaNo this year.

It has gone quickly. Despite the loss of poor Zelda and the continued poor health of Kwi, I managed to keep my focus mostly on the writing. But, as always happens from about the 20th on, I start feeling really happy that the end of the madness is drawing near. I love NaNo, but by this time I realize that I have other things to get back to, and only one month to finish up a lot of work, and....

I manage to get it all done every year, but it's tough!

I'm just over 180,000 words and I plan to have 200,000 and a few by the end. So about 4k a day between now and the end isn't so bad. I even managed to do some serious work on the 2YNY2 book last night. Yay!

I am still thinking about rudeness, and at what point I stop considering it funny or entertaining, and if I ever consider it a helpful teaching aid. But, again, that's me. People have different tastes in things, after all. And maybe this really is something associated more with literary fiction because some people on NaNo are mentioning how abusive some of the people in the lit fic forum are. Maybe it's part of a pattern? A different mindset that I'm just not used to?

But, anyway... Dancer is nearly done. It is already nearly 20k longer than the last version (the one I hated so much), and the character emotions are a little stronger this time. I've cut out excess days (and still made the novel longer without them), and kept the action moving. I'm heading towad the finaly scenes and really looking forward to them.

Almost there! Yay! 

The Cult of Rudeness

I've been thinking about this for most of the day -- how it's become acceptable to be rude to people, especially on the Internet where you will not have to look them in the face. We all see it in 'real life' as well -- the snobbish woman ranting to the person serving her food, the man berating a service rep for something that person has absolutely no control over. I blame a lot of it on the fact that rudeness has become a part of entertainment -- Seinfeld, American Idol, Rush Limbaugh, etc. They've helped to make it acceptable to be rude. It's funny! We can all be impolite to someone else and laugh about it now! Isn't this fun?We are all rude at some time in our lives. Things push up over our walls and we snap. It happens. People have seen me go over the edge more than once.But why do some people choose to be rude as a first choice, rather than a last?I've been reading Miss Snark's blog off and on since the first time someone posted a link at Forward Motion. She has occasional good advice, some that I shake my head at in wonder... but the entire attitude that she creates -- that it's fun to ridicule and be rude to people who come asking for her help -- absolutely amazes me -- and more so that others seem to find this a wonderful way to treat people.I suppose I'm one of those people who just doesn't get it. I've always considered rudeness to be a legal form of cruelty. You can't go up and slap someone in the face, but you can do it verbally and make them feel like shit without even getting a slap on the wrists. At Forward Motion one of the most important site rules is that you have to be polite to people. It's kept FM in generally good shape for nine years now, so I think we're doing all right. I'm glad the site has always been that way -- since long before I took over -- because it would be harder these days to keep it under control. It's becoming acceptable Internet Behavior.

And now a professional is making it even more acceptable.
I cannot imagine having someone ask me for help or information and ridiculing them for it, and encouraging others to be equally rude. Okay, maybe people who contact Miss Snark should, seriously, take time to find out more about her, and maybe most of them even expect this behavior. However.... how about the people she hunts out on the Internet so that she has more to ridicule and be rude about?I don't get it. I don't find it funny. I don't even find it particularly enlightening because I feel the rudeness overwhelms anything helpful she might be saying.

The Internet is a perfect place for rudeness. You don't have to deal face-to-face with the person on the other side of the blog, email or post. You don't have to be polite because there's no payment for being rude, and rude is more fun. Rude makes a person feel superior to all the people proclaimed nitwits or clueless. That's one of the reasons the big rule on Forward Motion is that you can discuss the writing, but not the person. It's easier to be rude than to be helpful.

I don't think rude is funny. I obviously don't think it's particularly helpful, either.

Entertaining? Yes, for some people. But all-in-all, if I had a question, I'd go to someone offering helpful pointers than to someone making fun of others. 

Some days they are just odd....

That's Edmond asleep on top of Zaphod, who looks like he's gone crazed. They're just odd little guys some times.

I've had three really good writing days. I admit that I had them at the expense of getting virtually anything else done, but I'm still happy about them. I might even take a day or two more, though I will try to get a few things cleared away first thing tomorrow. Tonight, though, I'm battling with the 'too tired to care' problem. I keep opening emails I should answer and closing them again because anything I would say right now wouldn't be particularly helpful to the people asking me questions.

It's been a long few days. As usual, about this time, I look forward to the end of November. It's fun, but it's tiring. And I have other things I really, really need to do.

But as long as I have a NaNo novel going, it will draw my attention. I can't help it. I enjoy it too much.

Even when I am this tired.... 

The Half Way Point

It's the 15th. We're half way through NaNo. I'm at 116,940 this afternoon, and should have more before the day is out.

I am also getting some work done for DTF today, so that's slowed me up a bit. And a bit of Vision stuff, as well.

But the writing is going well. The Servant Girl came in at 102,085 words. The rest of my word count is now Dancer which, so far, I am really enjoying. I wish I could just throw myself into it, in fact. Which I might just do, so there.

It's cold today. And I think I'm going to have to move my computer back to my office, because it's warmer in that part of the house. I've been cold all day sitting here, and it isn't helping.

Of course, first I had to really clean up my office again, and we all know how soon that's going to happen.

I really enjoy NaNo, but about this time each year I really start looking forward to it being over, too. Maybe I shouldn't be wasting time writing this, though, right? I still have most of a novel to finish!

One book done, on to number two

I finished The Servant Girl this afternoon. Tonight I started Dancer. The second book is sf, and I'm enjoying it so far. I'm about 3,000 words into it. I should have 5,000 for the day.

Hmmm... I think Zaphod just rolled over and fell off the table, poor little guy. I think he was really tired.

Anway, back to the writing. It's going well. Dancer appears to be moving along quite nicely. It's an sf novel, too. I write a lot of fantasy lately, so moving over to an sf novel is kind of fun. Maybe I should have started with this one.

But I have not complaints about The Servant Girl. It moved along very well, and I think it's a good first draft. I am thinking about some major changes in the setting and background for the book, but that will come later. Now it's time to turn my attention to the new book.

I did get the 2YN classes posted, though. Stuff like that can slip right past me when I start working like I have been this month.

I'm not sure if I've said how much I like NaNo. I really do enjoy it, even this year with everything else giving me problems and being annoyed and in a bad mood. But I can write a novel or two in November, and enjoy the process of just writing for the joy of writing for a few weeks. I'm already past the 'NaNo and nothing else' days at the start of November, but I'm still fitting a lot of NaNo writing in. Russ thinks it' s great. He's made me several meals and cleaned up and handled all sorts of things for me while I made it through The Servant Girl and started Dancer.

But now, alas, it's time to start slipping back into the real world. I'm probably a little late already.

It's been fun, though. And I intend for it to continue to be fun, too.

So now I'm heading back into the world of Dancer and continue with the first meeting between Cha and Devlin. 

I went to the zoo today

And then I came home and wrote over 5000 words on The Servant Girl. So, all in all, it was a good day. I'm getting tired now, but I think I'm going to try for another 1000 or so.

I might have the novel done this weekend. It's very close to the end section now. That's good. And I've come to like the novel better again. Obviously, a lot of this is about my personal mood and has little to do with whether the novel is any good or not.

I had fun at the zoo. It was a short day there, and very cold. I rushed from one building to the next. There were too many loud school kids, too, but over all, I think I did all right. I just hope that at some point I get the time to sort out the pictures from the last few trips and post some of them in my zoo blog.

Now is not the time to think about that, though. Now is the time to get back to work on the NaNo book and get a few more words in before midnight. Then decide whether to go on with it or go sleep for a few hours. 

More Sadness....

We lost Zelda today. She was nearly 17 -- old for a cat, I know -- and a wonderful little tough cat who could bully any of the others in the house. She was ill this last weekend, and when she went to the vet on Monday, he didn't think there was much that could be done. She died this afternoon.

It's hard to lose so many furry friends in one year. That makes four cats and the dog, plus the two little orphan kittens who didn't make it.

It's not been a good year.

Into the heart of NaNo

This is day 3. I've done all right, despite a horrible cold and feeling lousy. I've just plugged away at the writing, a little at a time, and still managed to average 11k a day so far. Outlines are wondrous things that can get you through just about anything. It might not be the most inspired writing off the start, but I'm beginning to feel better about the story. Oddly, it's coming in way over the expected word count so far. If it keeps going like this, it's going to be over 120k.

I am keeping up on my NaNo blog -- link is to the right, isn't it? -- with little snippets of the rather uninspired writing for this year. I'm not getting a lot else done right now, but I don't care. I try to take a week or so for NaNo and just have fun. Granted, the cold has made it less fun than usual, but at least I'm writing fiction. (grin)

I'm finally starting to get into the feel for NaNo. The joy of leaping into a story and only coming up for air because you have to. I miss that sometimes. It's good to find it again. So...

Back to work. It's part way through day three. I have 27,100 words. It's looking good!