Fair Warning

So, I'm not knitting nearly enough (and I fear that I will not get my Who scarf done in time for Halloween. Which is stinky).

Also, it is nearly that fateful time of year again ... November. A month filled with family, love, turkey and wild-eyed, manic, coffee-swilling novelists.

Yes kids, I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to also attempt NaBloPoMo or not, but if I do, I'll probably do it over on my LJ -- as I discovered last year, it is really hard to blog about knitting when you are writing a 50K novel, and not, you know, actually knitting.

Go figure.

I bring you two, and also three

Yesterday I mentioned that I'd met one of my three big goals for November. Earlier today, I met my second major goal. I've hit 50,466 words (and I'm nowhere near finished!). I can't even begin to tell you how proud of myself I am. When I decided to this, many of my close friends and family members gave me that wide-eyed, uncertain, do we need to call in the professionals who bring jackets that are all arms look.

In anycase, I plan to go celebrate by drinking a little more whiskey than is good for me, and by having a good snog. Or three.

And speaking of three, as I write this post, I'm meeting my third major goal -- to post daily during the month of November. I fell off the subject of knitting a ways back, but fear me not, it'll be back.

I still haven't decided what yarn to buy!

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us!.... Yeah!*

So, I made the first of my three goals for the month.

At the end of every Wednesday in November, I was either at or above the projected word count. I decided in early November that if I made this goal I would:

1. Be more likely to actually finish, and
   
2. Get a neat treat-reward-thing

Only, I never quite got around to deciding what that reward would BE. So, suggestions? What's some really yummy, decadent, luxury yarn that isn't so expensive my husband will have an apoplectic fit if I suggest buying it during the Month of Christmas? What would YOU want your prize to be?

My reward for finishing NaNoWriMo will be to get the T-shirt, and of course the satisfaction of having really DONE it. And of course the reward for successfully completing NaBloPoMo will be... thirty more posts than I had when I started. And did I mention satisfaction for stick-to-itiveness?

ETA: Okay, I've just made a decision. My other reward for finishing NaNoWriMo will be to donate $10 to the cause. Whaddya think, Koren? You with me?

*With apologies to Nirvana.

The Home Stretch

Well, I'm closing in. I've got a bit over 44,000 words written, and won't go to bed tonight before my word count is at least 46, 676, which is the "official" word count goal for today. That leaves me with just over 3000 words to write on Thursday and Friday, and then genties and ladlemen, I will be done.

I am so doing this.

Speaking of home stretches, there's three days left of NaBloPoMo too. I'm gonna make that too.

And then maybe in December I can start knitting again.

Then I would have something to post about!

A bit of a quick update

It's crunch time in NaNoWriMo land, genties and ladlemen. My fellow Wrimo-ers and myself should have written 50,000 words by this coming Friday.

I have at least one friend on my LJ Flist that's already reached 50K, and let me take a moment to express my awe. My Koren has, (and let me be proud here) managed to hit her word count goal EVERY DAY for the entire month. How much does that rock?

I set my personal goals up so that I'll be caught up at the end of every week. My "week" is a bit off-kilter, as I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, so my Sunday night is really on Wedesday. Anyway, I'm meant to have 46K and change written by tomorrow night. I've made my word goal (and my NaBloPoMo goals too, come to that) every week this month, and fully plan to hit it this week as well.

I was at 35K this morning, and am now sitting pretty on 41,005 words. Neville and Ginny have had a fight, and she's just told him about Tom Riddle. Trust me, it all makes sense in context.

But then, doesn't everything?

Christmas Knitting

It seems like I attempted to post on this topic earlier this month, and then ran into the problem that many of my recipients may (or may not — don't get your hopes up, y'all) be reading this blog.

But here's what I'd like to accomplish in December, once NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo are behind me.

• Scarf for Barbara — I've actually started this one
• Hats for Morgan, Rowan and Rhiannon
• Scarf for Liz (another co-worker) she also knits, and crochets, and last year she gave ME a scarf, so I'd really like to reciprocate

Okay, there's more I'd like to do, but at the rate I'm going, I don't know that it's going to happen.

Having just read Stephanie's Christmas knitting list, either I have a firmer grip on reality than she does, or I'm a wimp. Or, you know, both. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Omphaloskepsis

I think that it's interesting that of all of my throw away comments on this blog, the one that has generated the most commentary was my piteous query, "But what do I write about?" Several people offered suggestions (many of which I fully intend to take advantage of) for future blog posts.

Tekopp in addition to reassuring me regarding the price of post to Norway (not too dear) asked an interesting question:

How do you feel about daily blogging and why are you (not) going to
continue with it?

I guess I'm ambivalent about the daily blogging. On the one hand, I am enjoying the challenge, and the discipline, of making a post every day. On the other hand, well, I intend for this blog to be primarily a virtual scrapbook and history of my crafting, both knitting and sewing. I rarely touch too deeply on other aspects of my life here, and I'm pretty okay with that.

So, I think that I might decide to blog daily on a private journal, something like LJ, where my posts can be locked if I decide they need to be. I don't think I'm going to try to maintain daily posting here though, because people, I'm going to start to bore myself. Yesterday I posted a picture of a peacock and went to bed. I mean really.

BUT (you had to know there was going to be a "but" didn't you?) I definitely want to post to this blog more often. I enjoy the process and exercise of writing, and I enjoy the exhibitionist aspect of putting up pictures of things I've made. "Look at how neat I am! Look what I did!" I am the very Leo-est of Leos when it comes to this sort of thing.

So, in answer to your question, tekopp, I don't think I'll continue to blog daily at this blog, but I am definitely going to be blogging at least weekly. And I'm (so far at least) really glad that I decided to do NaBloPoMo.

omphaloskepsis: from the greek, to contemplate one's navel.

Nothing to Write About

In lieu of an actual blog post, I give you more Bird Pr0n:


In my defense, I at least took this picture, instead of finding it on Flickr's Creative Commons page. Last summer we vacationed in Pigeon Forge and this fellow wandered past our cabin.

Tune in tomorrow for a real blog post.

Nothing To See Here, Move Along

I can't find my camera.

This bodes ill on day 4 of NaBloPoMo. How am I going to excite and titillate the masses without my camera? We'll ignore, for the nonce, the fact that I haven't actually knit anything worth blogging about in the last several days, and just focus on my total lack of cameratude. It was on my table yesterday before the party. (Yesterday 20+ lovely people invaded my home, ate candy, wore funny clothes and imbibed fermented beverages. Good times. Gut Glory only knows what became of my digital picture maker).

Oh, that reminds me, did I remember to tell you that I decided to do NaNoWriMo afterall? On October 31 I was very smugly helping a friend work out a plot point in her story when all of the sudden a plot-bunny the size of a moose bit me square on the tuckus.

Immediately, I ran to the computer and composed an email to three friends, begging them to talk me out of this insanity. I seriously miscalculated—all three of them had already committed to NaNo and were no help at all. (By 'no help' I mean, one of them said "Ooh, that would be awesome you totally have to do it!" and the other said, in a brilliant bout of reverse psychologizing, "You're probably right, it would be too hard for you." I hate you both so hard.)

So, let me leave you with a random picture of a scarf. No, I didn't find my camera, I took this one the other day when I was playing with my camera settings. I know it looks like a ball of yarn. You're going to have to use your imagination. I'm too busy writing to knit.

NaBloPoMo (or How We Knew She'd Finally Lost Her Mind)

I'm sure you've heard of NaNoWriMo (if you haven't, either you don't know any geeks or you live under a rock.) Well, for those of us who don't actually know 50,000 words, apparently there is "NaBloPoMo" or National Blog Posting Month. The theory is, you make one post a day, everyday, during the month of November. (Can you say Meme? I knew you could!)

Now, those of you who know me in what passes for my real life, know that I work as a Team Lead in a customer service call center for a national bookstore. We are entering the fourth quarter, where retail does more than half of their year's business. This is when call center season really heats up. This seems to be a logical and reasonable time for me to decide to post daily. Yes.

As a side note, what's wrong with June? I grant you "NaJuWriMo" sounds funny, but people do not pretend to me that "NaNoWriMo" doesn't sound silly. I certainly grant you that there could be some confusion as to whether the Ju is referencing June or July, but surely we can work that out. Why does it have to be November, which is a notoriously busy time of year even for people who don't work in a retail environment? (Yes, I know the "No" really refers to Novel, not November. Hush.) I could conceivably string together 50,000 words in June. In November, I only know two words. "Sleep" and "Coffee". That would make for a decidedly boring novel.

But I digress. Frequently, and with panache. Tune in daily! There will be thrills! Chills! Photos! An attempt at being vaguely interesting!

Since I'm going to be posting daily, I did some research on what makes a good blog post. Many agree that good photos are KEY for generating and keeping a reading audience. Never one to shirk from duty, I present you with.....

A duck! (Photo © Victor Geere)

P.S. When I initially considered doing this, I was talking to my husband about it. I referred to is as NaNoBloMo (National November Blogging Month?) Anyway, let's just say that my husband was disappointed about what that doesn't mean. If you catch my drift, and I know you do.