Okay - time to review the checklist I put together after going to A-kon 22.

1.  Take time off work so I can do the whole weekend.  DONE!

2.  Prepay my membership online to avoid that on-site registration line.  DONE!

3.  Repeat - take time off work so I can attend more classes/panels/etc.  ABSO DONE!

4.  Take bottled water and snacks with me so I don't expire.  GOT MY LIST OF GOODIES READY.

5.  Wear a costume!  I love costumes and this would have been a prime time to do it.  I hesitated since I thought I needed an anime/manga type of costume but I saw steam punk, StarTrek, a little bit of everything.  OMG, THE COSTUME'S ALMOST DONE!  I CAN'T BELIEVE I MANAGED IT.

6.  Bring a sturdier backpack - I managed to rip a hole in mine.  Luckily I didn't lose anything. I'VE GOT AN ASSORTMENT OF STURDY BAGS ALL READY TO GO.


Some things I did right!

1.  Went real early on Saturday so I could stand in the aforementioned lines.  Also gave me a chance to wander around without so many crowds.  I'M STAYING AT THE HOTEL THIS TIME, SO I CAN ATTEND SOME OF THE LATER PANELS WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT GETTING HOME.  I'LL DEFINITELY BE DOWN THERE EARLY AND LATE.

2.  Took the light-rail train down to the Sheraton so I didn't have to deal with driving and parking.  AND WILL DO SO AGAIN.  LIGHT RAIL IS AWESOME.

3.  Did as much research prior to going so I could plan out which artists to look for and what events I could crowd in. GOT THE SCHEDULES FOR EACH DAY PRINTED AND MY FAVES MARKED.

4.  Brought plenty of cash so I could scarf up books/bows/anything else I wanted.  I WILL TRY TO RESTRAIN MYSELF.

5.  Wore sensible shoes (need to keep this in mind for future costuming) since I was on my feet for almost the entire time.  This was the primary reason I watched that Japanese anime video.  The cool dark room with plenty of seats available was very attractive around 2:30 in the afternoon.  MY COMFY SHOES HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THE COSTUME - THEY'RE ABOUT THE ONLY COMFORTABLE THING ABOUT IT, ACTUALLY.  I'VE ALSO GOT MY NIFTY HAMMOCK SEAT CANE SO I CAN REST MORE EASILY.  [link]

Now to prepare for A-Kon 23!  -  YEAH, I THINK I'M READY...

So my NaNoWriMo manuscript is finished as of last night.  It's even done a few days early, thank goodness.  I finished up with 50,101 according to their little validator so I had a cushion.  I admit, though, that only the first 45k were the novel,  -Life After-.  The remaining 5k was a fanfic based upon Guts and Sass [link]

I ran out of story before I ran out of word count.  

I'm okay with it though.  If I'd continued on -Life After- it would have pushed it too much.  I'll probably let it ferment for a few months before I even look at it again.  Then, if it's worth it, I'll edit and polish and add and probably subtract a lot.  

But now that this one is finished, I'm going back and picking up -Samu Bataar-, the fantasy I wrote during Camp NaNoWriMo this summer.  It's had its fermentation time so I can look at it with fresh eyes.  

I'm glad I decided to do NaNoWriMo this November, although I was worried about having time for it.  As I suspected, though, time is almost always available for the things you really want to do.

Okay, I was struggling with my current NaNoWriMo novel.  I was left with my two protagonists moldering in an alley, keeping an eye on our semi-bad guy/potential victim.  

Then I fell back on a trope or cliche (not sure which it would fall under).  A one sentence paragraph - Suddenly, a shot rang out.  

And suddenly, I have a lot more to write about!  There are people chasing other people.  People rescuing strangers in the alley.  A big, long scene in an emergency room.  And the introduction of another key character.  Yay!  I'm almost caught up with my word count and I have a whole other character to follow around.  And someone I suspect will be instrumental in resolving some of the unlikely situations I've landed both my main characters and my secondary characters into.  Of course, he probably won't be able to help much with the ghost...

May not work for everyone, but seems to help me.  When I'm not sure where my story is going and can't quite get anything on the page I hold a word war with myself.  I don't usually try to write anything about the story itself, rather I concentrate on describing the place my character is in right then, or giving more background on that character or their family.

I don't time myself, just head the section ***Word war*** so I can find it easily later and start typing as fast and furiously as I can.  By marking it as a word war I can easily take a look at it later and stick it in a more appropriate place or take it out altogether.  

After 'warming up' like that I can usually pick up the thread of my story and get back on track.

Anyone else have any good writing tips that I can steal, er, borrow?

For those that don't know what NaNoWriMo is, here's the [link] .


I'm debating.  I did NaNoWriMo last November and also did the Camp NaNoWriMo in July.  Both times were a lot of fun and I ended up with a 50,000 word manuscript at the end of each month.  I even edited the first one and have a few hard copies so someone besides myself could read it.  I'm letting the second manuscript ferment for a while longer before I start picking it apart.

Now I'm trying to decide if I have the time to write 1667 words a day for the month of November.  There are a lot of things going on at work.  I also have a lot of continuing education I need to complete before the end of the year.  And a new exercise routine that requires some time commitment.  

But then again, I have time to sit here reading webcomics and looking at artwork on DeviantArt.  Not to mention all the time I spend reading books.

Okay, I've talked myself into it.  


Corbie, this is all your fault.  You got me hooked last year.  I didn't realize this could become an addiction.

The lovely MonsterKookies has been raising money for her town.  Goderich was hit by an F3 tornado about a month ago and the historic downtown was devastated (along with a lot of the rest of the town).  Her place of employment was hit and they are not going to attempt to re-open.  

Go check out her journals or go to this link:

[link] details.

She's got a video posted there that shows the town before and after the tornado tore through.  

She's trying to reach the $1000 mark on her donations - 100% of all contributions are going to the town.  She is also generously donating prizes for a drawing when she reaches that mark (she already had a drawing at $400 and will have one for the $800 goal she recently reached.)  

There's still a few more days to help her reach her goal since she's closing it down at the end of the month.  If you can, please go and contribute!

1, You must post these rules.
2, Each tagged person must post 10 things about themselves on their journal.
3, You have to choose and tag 10 people and post their icons on the same journal.
4, Go to their pages and tell them you tagged them.
5, No tag backs
well,let's start!

tagged me.


1.   is my niece
2.  I'm older than she is
3.  I have three cats - 2 adopted from the animal shelter, 1 found as a 5 week old kitten in the parking garage at work
4.  I have a 75 gallon tank at work with about 15 very large hermit crabs in it. (there may be more, they keep burying themselves.)
5.  My ears are pierced 14 times (in total) and I have 4 microdermals piercings on my arm
6.  I may get some more piercings.
7.  In 2010 I taught myself how to draw, wrote a 50,000 word manuscript and learned the basics of guitar and ukulele playing.
8.  In 2011 I'd like to learn how to play my husband's chanter.  (The reed instrument that you learn before learning to play the bagpipes.)
9.  I have no plans to learn to play the bagpipes.
10.  I don't tag people - feel free to grab this meme if you want.

I went to A-Kon [link] in Dallas this weekend.  It was great fun and I got to meet some great artists face to face like:
(thanks for allowing me to be your guest!), ,   , , and .

Went to a interesting panel on traditional art in webcomics paneled by and .  Saw lots of beautiful artwork.  Saw some very inventive costumes.  Watched an incomprehensible Japanese anime movie.  

While I had a wonderful time there's a few things I plan to do differently next time (and there will definitely be a next time):

1.  Take time off work so I can do the whole weekend.  I couldn't do it this time since I had just gotten back from vacation.

2.  Prepay my membership online to avoid that on-site registration line.

3.  Repeat - take time off work so I can attend more classes/panels/etc.

4.  Take bottled water and snacks with me so I don't expire.

5.  Wear a costume!  I love costumes and this would have been a prime time to do it.  I hesitated since I thought I needed an anime/manga type of costume but I saw steam punk, StarTrek, a little bit of everything.  

6.  Bring a sturdier backpack - I managed to rip a hole in mine.  Luckily I didn't lose anything.


Some things I did right!

1.  Went real early on Saturday so I could stand in the aforementioned lines.  Also gave me a chance to wander around without so many crowds.

2.  Took the light-rail train down to the Sheraton so I didn't have to deal with driving and parking.

3.  Did as much research prior to going so I could plan out which artists to look for and what events I could crowd in.

4.  Brought plenty of cash so I could scarf up books/bows/anything else I wanted.

5.  Wore sensible shoes (need to keep this in mind for future costuming) since I was on my feet for almost the entire time.  This was the primary reason I watched that Japanese anime video.  The cool dark room with plenty of seats available was very attractive around 2:30 in the afternoon.

Now to prepare for A-Kon 23!

Swiped from


1. YOUR REAL NAME:

Cynthia

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)

Cynizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal)

Red cat

4. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

Woocy

5. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink)

Blue Coke

6. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your middle name, last two letters of your first name then last three letters of your last name)

Yosuiaood

7. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (both parents middle name)

Marie Edward

8. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets)

Black Scamp

9. NINJA NAME: (First two letters of your first name added with Ruto)

Cyruto

10. PIRATE NAME: (Your middle name after the word Captain)

Captain Sue

It's year end  (work with me, I know its January but I'm still closing the books on 2010).

I'm an accountant.  I'll see you in April after the audit.

Actually, I'm producing quite a bit right now, only because my sister gave me a Totally Tangled book and the pens, pencils, paper and other stuff to use with it for Christmas.  It suits my mood and my very short attention span.  Thanks, Sis.  

It also scans really well, especially since I don't have to worry about color.  Black, white and gray are fairly definitive of my mood anyway.

Well,  back to it.  The hermit crabs are chirping in the background (I'll have to post a picture of my 75 gallon tank with the 15 large hermit crabs sometime) and my month-end checklist isn't getting any shorter.

is raising funds to get Chapter Two of Toilet Genie [link] print. She has both a Kickstarter program and a Storenvy site and has some really wonderful stuff out there.  Even though she has reached her minimum Kickstarter goal and will be able to print Chapter Two, she could use even more so she can print the book and also do such mundane things as eating.

So get on over to either her devArt account or to the webcomic and follow the links.  She's not only offering great extras, like prints, buttons and cell-phone charms, she's also offering some of her original artwork (Looking at both links, looks like the original artwork is on Kickstarter only).  

I'm picturing my niece's children at an Antiques Roadshow 70 years hence:

Appraiser:  "So you have not only the original watercolor Cover of Toilet Genie Chapter Two, by the celebrated artiste, Cari Corene, you also have one of the original watercolor illustrations from Chapter Two and the printed version of the world-renowned web-comic, along with prints of Chapter One and Chapter Three.  You even have full-sized prints of many of her other works.  Who blessed you with such bounty?"

Ungrateful future kids of said niece:  "Well, Mom's aunt left her these pictures and we just wanted to know if they're worth anything.  Great-Aunt was kind of nuts about this comic.  She kept drawing all kinds of fan art.  (whispers to the appraiser) We think she stalked the poor artist."

Appraiser: "Well, you don't know how lucky you are that your great-aunt was so crazy.  Rarely have I seen such a pristine collection of this artist's works.  I believe the Museum of Modern Art is putting together a show to feature Cari Corene's works as we speak.  Let's go give them a call right now."

Niece, tottering in behind the ungrateful kids and observing the looks of avarice:  "I'm donating these great works of art to the museum before my kids can attempt to sell them!"

See?  You too can mess with the heads of future generations by helping fund Blix-it and Toilet Genie  [link] .

I've crossed the finish line!  50,224 words, 100 pages in Word (8.5 x 11 inch paper).  Its drivel, but its my very own drivel.  I'm so proud of myself I can hardly stand it!  There's a beginning, a middle, an end.  Twenty two chapters and an epilogue.  Actual plot was involved.  Two main characters, several ancillary characters, one sub-plot, a flash-back, even a genuine bad guy (or was he?)

For someone that had never heard of National Novel Writing Month [link] the morning of November 1st, I feel pretty dang good to have created an actual first draft novel by November 28th.  Even if I do nothing else with it, I'm reserving bragging rights for the rest of my life.

Thanks again to Corbie (the genius behind Riven Sol [link] ) for getting me involved in this. Her fiendish plot was successful.

Thanks also to all my writing buddies at the Addison B&N Tuesday night write-ins.  They were a definite source of inspiration.   

Finally thanks to my husband and my dad for their patience and encouragement.

What was I thinking?  I was reading my usual round of beloved webcomics yesterday morning and got to Elaine Corvidae's Riven Sol [link] . I love her story and as usual read all her comments, too.  She had to mention the beginning of National Novel Writing Month [link] .  

I haven't written anything longer than a blog entry since high school (a really long time ago).  All the sudden I'm 1545 words into a 50,000 word novel that must be completed by November 30th.  Ya'll can laugh at me later.  Believe me I'll be there too - rather hysterical - but there.  

I'm already behind on word count.  I need 1667 words a day to make it.  Considering that I didn't have a main character, plot, or a clue until I was eating a McDonald's happy meal for lunch yesterday I feel that 1545 words is a reasonable start.  Hopefully, I'll be able to make up my deficit by this weekend.  

I'm also almost through reading the guidebook for those insane enough to attempt this.  No Plot? No Problem!  Perfect name for a book like this.

I haven't been posting much lately although I have been doing lots of sketching.  Guess I won't be posting much in the way of drawings 'til after this is done.  Doubt I'll post anything from my rough draft novel either.  Confidence is not terribly high right now.