Wooo Hooooo!!!!!

That's right, babies! I finished that bad boy. 50,158 words.

I'm really pleased with myself. I mean, the book is nowhere near done, but I feel like I accomplished a lot, and managed to do it without completely stressing myself out. Okay, I will admit there were some moments where I felt like a lunatic, and I definitely panicked in the third week, when I was sitting at something like 36,000 words, and 50,000 seemed so far away, and unattainable. And then I hit 40,000, and then I turned the corner this past weekend and hit 46,000, and suddenly it didn't seem so unattainable.

I'm really happy about it! Yay me!

Torqued Off

You know, I wonder about people who make really really bad movies. And I wonder how cheap they are to sell to HBO. Because HBO has been showing Torque, I'd say, pretty much every day. It's like the summer I lived in Marietta, OH, and they showed Harry and Hendersons every single day without fail. I keep seeing portions of Torque, and it's a movie I'm determined to see in five minute increments, because it would otherwise give me a brain aneurysm, and I would be dead on the floor being eaten by my cat. Because it's really horrible. Highly stylized, all primary colors, and really bad acting. Probably the best person in there is Ice Cube, and well...that's not saying a whole lot.

On the other hand, I saw Capote tonight. Amazing film. Philip Seymour Hoffman did a fabulous job as Truman Capote, and Catherine Keener was very sympathetic as Harper Lee. I had no idea that she was so involved with the writing of the book, for I don't remember him mentioning her at all. But I think the movie did a great job capturing Capote's character. The end was especially sad, where he was so eager to be done with the book, he needed Smith and Hickock to be executed so he could have resolution, and yet he still needed to talk to them and convince them that he was their friend and there to help them. But I can't help but think that if Capote weren't such a drama queen, this process wouldn't have been as destructive to him as it was. On the other hand, it's also possible that he wouldn't have written such an amazing book. He was horrible to Harper Lee at the end, with her biggest triumph with the film of To Kill a Mockingbird. Hoffman was very true to the character of Capote, which I found admirable, because he was a difficult person.

Updated word count at left, as always.

ARGH!

I'm behind. So, so, so behind. 2,764 words, to be exact.

Two Thousand Seven Hundred Sixty Four words.

Behind.

If I can just make it to...I don't know, 42k, I'll feel like I can finish. It is, at least, not a complete two days behind, but it's daunting. It seems to be the theme of this year's challenge for me - can I catch up?

Non book stuff. I'm definitely doing the holiday challenge at the Y this year to stay motivated over the holidays. I guess they're doing it later this year. They used to start the day after Thanksgiving.

And, in other news, The Amazing Race sort of sucks this season, and my sentiment in watching it is that my show is broken and and the Weavers SUCK. I hate them, and as they've whittled down the teams, the more screen time they get, and the more I hate them. And the race is much less fun when I'm actively rooting against a team instead of cheering for one to win.

Cool

My number for today is a palindrome!

Catchup and Random Crap

Okay, first off, this is something totally random I thought about this morning, spurred by a picture of the man. Do you think G. Gordon Liddy dyes his mustache? I saw a giant picture of him on the back of a bus this morning, and man, dude's got to be in his seventies, and his mustache is all luxuriant and black. However, every time I see him, I think of him in Miami Vice (yeah, don't ask which of the two episodes he was in this is from), and he tosses this...thing...on a conference table, and says, "You know what those are? Ears." Pause for effect. "Sandanista ears." Ewwwww.

Also totally randomly. I'm sitting on my couch, and it's 7:27pm, and I can totally see the moon out my window, which I've never noticed before in the whole five years I've lived here. That's sort of nice.

Okay, other things. Well, the only other thing, really. The book. The book is...hard. I mean, I feel bad. Emilia is a really sweet person. She's a little one dimensional right now, but overall, she's nice. And I had to marry her to an asshole. An asshole who's going to kill her. And I had make Iago, who is, believe me, an asshole, rape someone. Which was . And then I had to give Emilia a miscarraige, and the girl's got a lot of woe ahead of her. However, I am on track.

Last night I needed to get out of the house to write, because history bears out my inability to write at home (well, I did tonight, but last night it wasn't happening). So I decided to try a new place, the Greenberry's down in Rosslyn off of Rhodes. So I got down there. Plenty of parking (that's good), went in and not very many people were in there, which was fine. I got myself a vanilla caramel latte (YUM! Excellent coffee), and sat down. Not so much on the plugs, but that was okay, I was pretty charged up. The a guy sitting at another table gets up and goes outside, and comes back in with a gym bag, which he leaves by the door, and he sits back down at his table. Hmmmm. Weird. About five minutes later, he get up again and goes back outside and comes back in with...a mic stand. A mic stand? Shit. Is there going to be music tonight? He goes back out and comes back in with a reading stand. For....music? Maybe? Then another guy comes in, and they greet each other, and one of them says to the other, "Well, we might be reading to each other." My mind at this point is whirling with possibilities. Is it Bloomsday? No, that was in the spring, and Greenberry's is not an Irish bar. Some other obscure author that they are going to be reading? The Beowulf society? More people come in, and some of them have instruments. I am completely confused by this, put my headphones in and ignore it, because, frankly, I have my word count to think about. Then the music starts, and it's, not offensive. A keyboard and a flute. It's...whatever. And then the first guy gets up and welcomes us to "Poesis." Yeah, and it's not just a poetry reading. It's a jazz poetry reading. Yeah, that was pretty much the end of the writing, and finally at 8:45 I bailed because, frankly, I was not missing The Apprentice: Martha in favor of an old guy who bore more than passing resembalance to Mark Twain read sex poetry.

Leave it to me to wander in the one night of the month the place is hosting a poetry reading. A jazz poetry reading. ::shakes head::

Updated word count at left. Same excerpt up at nanowrimo.org.

Do You Have Any Idea How Fast 1666 Words a Day Adds Up?

Yeah. I was really bad this week. I avoided writing earlier this week, despite being under the gun on word count and time. I had so much to make up. And part of the reason I was sort of avoiding it was because I wasn't sure where to go next. I had to fill in the back story on Iago. It's hard to write this, because Iago needs to be horrible without being a monster. I can't believe the character would be totally one sided and horrific from the beginning. He has to evolve into the person he becomes by the end. And it's really hard to put Emilia into his power, because she's not a stupid person, but he preys on her weakness. It will require a lot of rewriting, because it's such a delicate balance, and it has to be believable. I don't know - when you know how far your character is willing to go to get is own way, getting him there is...hard. I don't know, if I were not writing something where the end was predetermined, I don't think I would be able to write this. So it's definitely a stretch for me.

I am now caught up, but I wrote for almost four hours straight, and that? Is really hard. A lesson, I suppose, that trying to write four thousand words in one day to catch up is maybe not the best idea.

Anyway...good long weekend, despite the lack of writing activity. Friday I got my hair cut and went out with my ASP buddies. It was awesome seeing them again, because we basically did not stop laughing the entire time we were there. They had great stories about the new crazy people at the company, and all the changes and weirdness that drove me crazy when I worked there. Hung out later with some of the people that I'm closer to there, which was awesome. Such a good time. Saturday I headed up to Maryland for a baby shower, which was full of good food, but wow, lasted a really long time. But it was great to see her, because the last time I saw her, she barely looked pregnant at all, and now she has totally popped out. The baby started to kick, and we could actually see her belly bulge out, which was totally weird and Alien-like. But I got her Harold and Purple Crayon, which was well recieved. I love that book still. It did lead to stories about how her husband used to write on the walls, which was totally funny, and also exactly the kind of kid I would expect him to be. Spent the night up with my friends up in Maryland, and went out for a fabulous dinner of tapas. I'm amazed that Frederick has such a varied restaurant scene and such a cute downtown. It's really much more of a community than a lot of other areas around here. I guess it's why I like Arlington so much. They've spent time creating neighborhoods, and it makes such a difference to live somewhere that has a center of some sort.

So that's it. I'm done writing for the day. I'm watching the Miami Ink marathon on TLC, and I'm gonna go cook myself some dinner.

Victoreeeee!

You know, some days it's good to be a Democrat. Kaine seems to have won pretty handily here in Virginia, Corzine won in New Jersey, Bloomberg won in NYC. Seriously, this is very good. The Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General races look like they haven't called them yet (seriously, did I see one ad for either of the Lt. Gov. candidates, or for the Dem candidate for Attorney General?). Why do I live in the one state where you elect each person separately? Virginia is so weird.

But..woo-hoo democrats!

Other stuff. The looming horror that is NaNoWriMo. I'm in a good place, but I worry. I do. How do I make Iago sneaky snaky enough without him tipping his hand that he's a manipulative bastard? And my poor Emilia. She's so sweet and stupid, and it's going to end so badly for her. Damn Shakespeare for creating someone like her. And her family is so nice. Well, except her sister, who is a drunk bitch. But her brothers are nice. But it does progress. I think the most difficult thing are the, ahem, sex scenes. But they're sort of important. New word count to left, as promised.

You know, everything else I have is random observation, like, the leapfrog "game" system that really teaches kids math looks disappointing and stupid, and that I hate the Weavers on the Amazing Race, and that I probably really, really need to get out more.

In December. When NaNoWriMo is over.

Ermmm

No word update yet tonight. I haven't written a word yet.

But I had to post this. It's fun!

Other minor things: I was the recipient of a campaign phone call from the Jerry Kilgore campaign. What I gleaned from this incredibly offensive call was: Kilgore hates gay people, immigrants and women. Oh, and add to that he doesn't seem to have plan to pay for the crap he wants to do, and he wants to take the bike path along I-66 away because he wants to widen it. My reaction to that? Fuck people who live in Fairfax and drive into the city on I-66. Take public transportation like the rest of us. Grrr.

Sorry. Bad tempered about this campaign. I think Kilgore is so completely sleazy and smarmy.

Other, less important things. I can't link to it, but the Washington Post Sunday Source section ran a story about how hip leggings are. And, really...I just...I know I've been ranting about women's fashions a lot here, but the leggings look just wasn't good in the eighties, and it's so not good now. With little short skirts. ::shudder:: At least I didn't wear the spandex ones with heels, though one of my roommates did.

On Track and Chugging Along

It's going well. I didn't get too much writing done yesterday, but I had a massive session today and wrote almost three thousand words. I feel like it's pretty good, as well. Some issues, some depth that I'm going to have work out, but that's for the second draft. I found leaving the house and getting a change of scenery was a great idea. I went up to Commmon Grounds (or it might be called Murky's now, I'm not entirely sure), and camped out there for about three hours, with a history teacher on one side of me, and a medical student on the other, and a caramel latte in my fist. However, not having access to the internet and other distractions resulted in a large amount of productivity. I spent a few minutes figuring out my weekly word count goals (12,500 words a week, if anyone cares), and I am well on track for the week.

Anyway. I have an excerpt up, and you're welcome to go take a look at it. There is at least one misspelling, and please, remember it's a first draft. :) Go to the NaNoWriMo website, click on the "Team 2005" link at the top, and do an author search for "Culturemaven", my profile should come up. Click on my author name, and you'll find my profile and the excerpt.

Remember, remember

It's Guy Fawkes day. I don't know why, but I'm sort of fascinated by Guy Fawkes day. So, I guess, happy Guy Fawkes day?

Just some random things here. New word count posted at left. I feel good about it. I just spend a decent chunk of time writing, and spend to spend a substantial chunk of time tomorrow as well. However, I think I will betake myself from my domicile and find someplace else to write. Someplace without internet access of the constant staring presence of my television set. However, it's going nicely, I'm in a pretty good place with it.

Some other things:

1. I love Marueen Dowd. I identify with her. This article in the Washington Post just makes me like her more. I sort of like that she does what she does, and doesn't feel like she needs to have a particular ideology in order to back up how she feels about something.

2. I saw The Dying Gaul last night. Beautiful beautiful film, but missing something emotional at the core. I didn't really connect to any of the characters, and they did such terrible things to each other, that I was having difficulty feeling empathy for any of them. But I will say that Patricia Clarkson in da bomb. She is beautiful, and I can only hope to look that good when I'm that age. Also, the house in which Campbell Scott and Patricia Clarkson live, beautiful and antiseptic, has a pool I would kill for. One of those pools that seem to have no edge and the water just runs over the side. God, I love those pools. I coveted the whole house.

3. I finally got my ceiling fixed. Well, partly. It's been patched, and he has to come back a few more times to sand and put a skim coat of putty on, but mostly done. The big stuff. Though it was incredibly awkward to deal with the payments, since Paul and Kasha payed him directly, and I was like....uhhhhhhhh...AWK-WARD. Money complicates things.

4. I got a notification on Thursday that I have a job interview coming up. It was very weird, but I'm looking forward to it. Of course, my mom said, "Is this going to be another job you don't like?" and I was like, "I don't know until I go and talk to them, do I?" I mean, how do I know whether or not I'll like the job until I talk to them? Of course, sometimes you don't know until you're acutally in the job. But an interesting opportunity, nonetheless. It sounds like there's an information session I have to go to, and then possibly a long time of...who knows what? But should be interesting.

Back on Track - I Hope

Okay, feel a little bit better, more back on track. Though I managed to forget my Palm at work today, so I don't have what I wrote at lunch time. But I managed to bang out about 1500 words, plus what I wrote today, so I feel better. I actually did the calculation, and I have to do 1666.666666 words per day to finish on time. Hopefully I can buy some time on the weekends.

But I feel like I'm in a solid place right now, though I am thinking about slightly changing the tack of the story. But I think right now I need to concentrate on what I'm doing and not try to alter stuff that's already been done. It would change the tone of the book if I do what I'm thinking of (which is to concentrate on two characters instead of just one.)

New total over at the left!

Behind! Three days in and I'm behind!

I think that says it all. I only wrote half of what I was supposed to write yesterday. Grrrr...Stupid reality television. Stupid Survivor (stupid people voting off Brandon instead Jamie, who's a jerk and deserves it).

On the other hand, I traded it in for the sweet relief of Markus getting canned on The Apprentice. So really, I guess either way, I was a winner.

I have a feeling I'll be spending an intimate Sunday with just me, my iBook, and several large cups of coffee.

I don't know my word count as of today. I will amend tonight.

Aaaaaand....We're Off!

A great beginning today for the novel. I wrote some on my commute. I would have written during lunch, except I had to go to a farewell lunch today. So far it's...good. I like it, so far. I feel like I got a good start on it. I sort of feel like the first four or five pages, if I can keep them on track, are a good sign.

Anyway, I'm keeping a daily count over on the left over there, below the NaNoWriMo particpant button. I promise to do my best to keep it up. I don't have an excerpt yet (c'mon, I've only written three and half pages!), but I promise to send you over to them when I have them.