I'm a Winner!

Yes, it's true. I Won! I'm a bona fide, card-carrying, badge-earning winner of NaNoWriMo. I finished writing 50,000 words of pure genius. Well, I can't guarantee that's it's pure genius, but at least it's the beginning of something.

Twenty-five days ago I began with a blank file, the misguided notion that I could write a novel in one month, and an idea for a novel. Now I have 50,000 words of what could someday be a best seller (a girl can dream, right?).

However, please, O, please don't ask me if you can read it now. These 50,000 words are just a draft of the beginning of a novel. Maybe someday in the future, after thousands of revisions, and thousands of more words, I'll actually have something worth reading, but right now I just have 50,000 words, a lot of gaping plot holes, lots of inconsistences, boring dialogue, and probably a lot of worthless nonsense.

But at least for now, I can go back to my previously scheduled life.

NaNoWriMo: Happy Donation Day and Hitting the Halfway Point

Today is NaNoWriMo Donation Day. It's the day when the good people at The Office of Letters and Light, sponsors of NaNoWriMo, encourage us Wrimos to donate toward the program. The National Novel Writing Month is a free program that is made possible by donations from viewers like you and me. No, wait, that's PBS, what I mean is that this program is offered free of charge to anyone who wants to take part; however, it costs money to put together and host this program so they need good people to donate money to make it all possible. Here's a little video that explains it rather well.




So, yes, I donated toward the program. And why not? If I didn't have NaNoWriMo to push me to get my novel written, the novel would just stay safely tucked away in my brain for years on end waiting for me to have the time to write it (never), waiting until I can make sure I have the idea perfectly outlined (Who am I kidding?), waiting until I am sure that I know what I am doing (procrastinating), or just plain waiting.

So here I am, close to the middle of the month, and I have hit the halfway point. I actually have written 25,000 words of my novel, out of the 50,000 word goal. That means that this novel is beating the three P's of procrastination, perfectionism, and paralysis.

May the long-winded, rambling, wordiness that is verbosity lead me to 50,000 words so that I can win this thing!

NaNoWriMo: Day ARGH!

No, I didn't just go all pirate on you. That's the sound of stress, but not stress caused by writing my quota of words for my NaNoWriMo novel. No, it's the sound of the stress caused by my attempt at trying to manage the stress in my life. When I embarked on this great, non-pirate filled journey, I envisioned long nights spent trying to come up with the words to fill a 50,000 word novel written in just one month. It does sound stressful, right? What I wasn't expecting was that coming up with the words wasn't the problem, the problem was that my life really is pretty stressful, and no amount of denial will cancel that out.

While I'm working on the novel, the words just seem to flow. Granted, I can't vouch for the quality of said words, which may end up being as good as a banshee screaming or me singing out loud (which actually sound like the same thing). Yes, while writing the novel I actually get lost in the story; I become the protagonist in my made-up world, and experience things that I have never done or will ever do as long as I retain my sanity (the jury is still out on that one). It's been an exiting, lucky, thirteen days of non-stop action.

My real life, on the other hand, has gone on as it usually does. With things needing to be done around the house, and me doing these things around the house. Then, today, I had an epiphany. Why don't I ask the other members of this household to help around the house a bit, especially now that I've taken up this temporary, new task of attempting to write a novel in one month. Some support here people, please? So I pick easy jobs like, "Someone, anyone, could someone please let the dog out?" I wait, repeat myself, no response, repeat myself again, then I hear "ARGH!" coming from the other room. Apparently, letting the dog out is a stressful job. So now I have myself under stress from all that needs to get done, and another family member that is stressed out beyond belief because of my bright idea to ask for help around here.

Then, I have an epiphany (great day for those, I hear). I will reduce my stress by not asking for help around here. Hear those crickets chirping? That's the sound of peace and quiet. The sound of stress reduction. The absence of ARGH!

NaNoWriMo: Day 4

Well, this post should actually be called Day 5, since technically it is the 5th day of NaNoWriMo, but I’ll still call it Day 4 because all I have to report is what I wrote yesterday, and I’m still hoping for a successful day.

Yesterday I was all about the experience. Last night, I even wrote a post reporting on how successful the day had been, including all sorts of statistics about my word count, about how I would finish the novel well before the 30th of November, and about how I had it all figured out. However, after barely surviving this morning, I started to look over what I had written, and laughed so hard that I about laughed up my lung. Who was I kidding?

This morning my son was running around practically yelling, “Danger, danger, Will Robinson,” like the robot in Lost in Space. You see, while I was being all Zen and writing all sorts of amazing things for my novel for the past few days, life was still going on all around me; I just didn’t notice.

Remember all those silly rules I wrote after Day 2? Something about sitting away from distractions like dirty dishes, piles of dirty laundry, clumps of dog fur? Did you know that just because you can’t see something, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist? You did? Then why didn’t tell me this? Let me tell you, I woke up this morning and noticed that all these things had magically materialized all around me.

Clean uniform pants did not exist in our house this morning. Food? Oh, that’s right, I was too busy to notice that we were all out of food. So, today I spent the day doing all those things that I hadn’t done while I’d been writing these past four days, which means that later on tonight, I’ll be drinking a nice hot cup of very strong coffee. Who needs sleep tonight? Not I! I have this thing to win!

NaNoWriMo: Day 3

 

 

Today I attended the NaNoWriMo Kick Off event, met some really cool people, and met many different types of writers. Before today, I always subscribed to the idea that writing is best done in complete isolation and in a sound-proof environment ― hence the statement in my previous post about noise cancelling headphones.

Anyway, I packed my laptop, notebook, pens, pencils rubber bands, index cards, stapler, ruler, highlighter pen, paper clips, glue stick, scotch tape, various styles of post-it notes, a letter opener (What was I thinking?), I actually talked myself out of bringing a calculator (Big mistake, I actually needed that one.), chocolate, and my handy-dandy noise cancelling headphones. I wanted to make sure I was prepared. I'm not sure for what I was preparing, but I was prepared.

I went to the event not expecting to actually get any writing done but to meet other real life people that were crazy enough to attempt this. It was good to find out that these other Wrimos (that’s what we’re called) were not just some avatars on an on-line forum; they were real, flesh-and-bone people.

And, I did get some writing done, not as much as in the previous two days, but I had a lot of fun being around other people that were working toward the same goal. It’s a bit like when I was training for the marathons with Team in Training; there’s something about being around others that have the same goal in mind. The Wrimos even gave me this really cool sticker that I stuck on my laptop. It says, "Limitless Imagination, Dangerous Overcaffeination, Questionable Sanity." I think that it pretty much sums up the whole thing.

The surprising thing for me today was finding out that I can still write my novel with people around me that are talking, joking, laughing, and having a good time. Since this experience is supposed to be fun, why not have fun while doing it, right?

NaNoWriMo: Day 2

No longer was yesterday All Saints Day, a very important Holy Day for Catholics, it was also the first day of NaNoWriMo. I am convinced that having started the day off with Mass and Holy Communion fed me in a way that allowed me to get through the day, and boy was it a doozy!

It was non-stop excitement all day, and with all that excitement, it was a miracle that I was able to find any time to start on NaNoWriMo, which would have been very sad indeed. How could I fail on the first day, right? But I am happy to say that not only was I able to carve out some time to work on my novel, I actually generated 2,141 words, well above the required daily average to reach my goal of 50,000 words by November 30. At this rate, I will be able to reach my goal and win this thing well ahead of schedule, probably even as early as November 25. And if not, at the least, it gives me some leeway if a day comes by in which I may not be able to generate the daily word quota.

So far today, I’ve been able to generate an additional 1,732 words, and I've gained a lot of experience in just two days.

• I learned that starting the day with prayer helps start the day off right.

• That I need to work in a place where I can’t see the dirty laundry, and the piled stacks of dirty dishes.

• To stay away from people that will distract me or at least to not be able to hear them (Thank you noise cancelling headphones).

• Not to answer the phone while working on the novel.

• Only check e-mail and social media during pre-determined breaks.

• Celebrate by doing a happy dance the moment I hit 1,667 words, then keep writing.

• Don’t edit the work as I write, I’ll have the rest of my life to edit the novel, but only 30 days for NaNoWriMo.

I also learned that I don’t need to spend countless months doing background research before I even start the story. For example, I don’t know anything about BASE jumping, but my character has already done a BASE jump, and it’s only the first day. I figure that I’ll learn about BASE jumping and other crazy stunts from my character as I write the novel. I’m looking forward to all the crazy, extreme things that my character will do.

By the way, my character is a man. What in the world do I know about being a man?

This whole thing will be a learning experience.

Tomorrow will be the local area NaNoWriMo Kick Off event. I’m a bit intimidated by the prospect of hanging out with writers that actually know what they’re doing. It's like I'm an impostor or something. But I read somewhere that a writer is someone who writes, and I think that defines me rather well. Not that I will be shouting it from the rooftops, but I guess the fact that I write makes me a writer.

So the writing continues!

NaNoWriMo: Day 1

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, starts today. The program is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, which averages out to be about 1,667 words per day, or 69.46 words per hour, or about 1.16 words per minute (as long as I stay awake for 24 hours). I can do this. Please pass me the coffee. This year I will actually win NaNoWriMo. And to win it, all it takes is to actually reach the 50,000 word target by the end of the month.

It's sort of like a marathon, you know, you complete a marathon, you get a medal. And since I've already completed three marathons (been there, done that), I think it's time for a new challenge. That's right, at least if I complete this challenge I can actually say that I won. I can't exactly say that I won any of the three marathons that I've completed. When you complete a marathon, you're just a finisher. When you complete NaNoWriMo, you're a winner!

The goal is to be a winner. So I've spent the past few months planning my novel, outlining, writing character sketches, acting out some of the characters, and developing a strategy. Here are a few of my ideas:

1. I will not watch T.V. That's right, no T.V. But what if I'm running on the treadmill?
2. Ok, no T.V. except while running on the treadmill, or unless a really good show is on, or the Netflix DVD arrives.
3. Limited time on Facebook (whatever that means).
4. No outside interests other than writing, or praying, or housework, or taking care of the children, or shopping, or hanging out with friends (I hope I didn't forget something).
5. No radio, no music, no media distractions, other than enjoyable radio stations, music that I like, and interesting YouTube videos of cute puppies doing the kibble dance.
6. I will write a minimum of 1,667 words per day.

There, that's the plan. I can't wait to see my word counter go up, up, and up. That's because I will be a wiener winner.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is so much fun. What better time of the year to go out in public dressed up as a character, act like the character, and not have people think you're weird. Well, they might still think you're weird, but at least it's socially acceptable, at least it's mostly socially acceptable.

 

This Halloween I wanted to be Deanna Troi from Star Trek the Next Generation. I searched high and low for an appropriate costume, but wasn't able to find one. Instead of wasting more time and risking not having the costume in time, I ended up coming up with my own costume.

 

In order to make a costume of Deanna Troi, first I decided that I wanted to go as the Season 7 Deanna Troi that wore a standard blue Star Fleet uniform. Next I went and bought a mock turtle-neck shirt in blue, some black felt material, and off I went to design my own costume. This is what I came up with.

 

 

Not bad for someone who is at the most a beginner seamstress, and beginning seamstress is probably not the correct term, it's probably more like aspiring seamstress, or desperately hoping to be able to sew, or better yet, a person who owns a sewing machine and a pair of scissors. By the way, in case you were wondering, I'm the one on the left. I'm just saying.

 

Luckily, I already owned a Star Trek Communicator badge, and I was able to find some pins in the jewelry section of JoAnn Fabrics that looked like Star Trek rank insignia, or pips as they’re known by any serious Trekkie, which I’m getting close to approximate. I was also able to find a phaser at the local costume store. That's right, they had phasers in stock, but not any Deanna Troi costumes, and they call themselves a costume store?

 

With my brand new facsimile of a Starfleet science officer costume, a group of us went to a big Halloween street party in our town and had a great time.

 

Here we are getting ready to leave.

 

 

By the way, the guy dressed as a toilet man was the most popular person in the entire place. Everyone stopped to get a picture with the toilet man, or John, or any number of names that will not be mentioned in my PG rated blog.

 

 

I met a lot of other Star Trek characters and even ran into one of my biggest fans, who told me a lengthy story about how he grew up watching me on T.V., how I was his childhood crush, and how the show shaped his world view. And like a good ship's counselor, I politely listened to him. Here are some of my new Star Fleet friends.

 

 

Now off to get some candy. It's Halloween, in case you didn't hear.

It's a Thing!

 

As if life around here isn't complicated enough, now I have a new challenge: finding delicious gluten free and dairy free recipes.

I just recently learned that Bubba is gluten intolerant. We were already dealing with his casein allergy (a milk protein), and his peanut allergy, and my soy allergy. Yes, with each additional allergy, entire food categories are eliminated.

If you have ever been quoted as saying: "I just love pizza. I can't live without it, " watch out, you just might find yourself having to cut gluten (pizza crust has that) and dairy (um, hopefully I don't have to mention that cheese is a dairy food item) from your diet.

But I digress. What in the world is xanthan gum? That is the question. At our house, we spend a lot of time reading food labels, ingredient lists, nutritional information, recipes, and we do a lot of cooking from scratch. It's partly because we're concerned with eating a healthful diet, but mostly because we need to watch out for allergens in our food. While reading food labels we frequently would encounter xanthan gum. We would laugh about it, wonder what it was, joked about how delicious it was and about how we were all out of it and needed to add it to our shopping list. Little did we know that it was "a thing." Yes, you can walk into a store and actually buy xanthan gum.

And how do I know this? Because I found myself in the position of having to bake gluten free/dairy free brownies, and I learned that you need to use xanthan gum when you bake with wheat flour substitutes. It has something to do with having to make up for the elasticity that is lost when gluten is taken out of a recipe. Now, I can't speak for other recipes, but the first gluten free/dairy free brownie recipe I tried did not turn out too well. The brownies ended up being dense, crunchy, and not very chocolaty. And since I used oat flour, they sort of tasted like really bad oatmeal cookies.

However; being one to not give up so easily, the adventure will continue. I will explore strange new ways of baking, I will seek out new recipes and new ingredients, I will boldly bake what I have  never baked before.

Let's hope that it's yummy!

Where Are My Six Hours?

You would think that homeschooling two special needs children is very time consuming, you know, with the having to be responsible for all aspects of their schooling, their mothering, and the getting them to their various appointments, and you would be correct, it is time consuming. It's not just time consuming, it completely consumes you. It can consume you to the point that you forget you even exist.

Don't get me wrong, I loved homeschooling my children. By being with them all day long for so many years, I've come to know them and understand their challenges in a way I would have never gotten to know had they been in school for six hours every day. But I digress. The point I wanted to make was that now that my children are in a "brick and mortar school," I seem to have even less time. I'm busier than I ever was before.

What happened to the extra six hours a day I was supposed to gain by placing my children in a school outside the home? It seems that I spend all my time in the car, driving two children in two separate directions, driving them to two different schools,  getting them to their schools on time, taking them to separate doctors' appointments, taking them to all their various therapies, and picking them up from school on time, just so we can hurry back home, eat dinner, and spend more time driving around to their after school activities. And this is with just two children.

So, yes, although it defies all logic, I seem to have even less time now that my children are in school.

A New Chapter in My Life

With the new year, some changes have come my way.  Homeschooling children with special needs has taken a toll on me and on the entire family.  The burden of being the only one in charge of my children's education on top of all the demands of parenting special needs children was too great. Slowly, but surely, the Lord was guiding me down a different path.  One that would free me up to be a better mother, a better wife, and just a better person.  This month I made the difficult decision to place my children in what homeschoolers' refer to as "brick and mortar" schools.

This was not an easy decision, but it's the right one for us right now. So now, instead of homeschooling my children all day long, I'll be spending a large portion of my day driving them back and forth to their new schools. I'm sure that I'll be just as busy as I was before.