Beastie Boys On Being Stupid
Via Salon.
Day 14: Crap
NaNoWriMo Day 14“But Keely,” you ask quizzically, “that word total looks awfully familiar. In fact, it appears identical to the word count you posted on Day 13.”
“Huh. How about that,” I reply unhelpfully.
My other life interfered again. I ran another umpiring clinic tonight, and I’m mentally done. Talking non-stop about umpiring for 3 hours and doing my best to be charming, entertaining, inspriational and above all, correct is tough work.
I really wanted to have The Win under my belt on Nov. 15, but that’s not going to happen now. But I’m ok with that. Nov. 16 has a nice ring to it as well.
Day 10: The Writer’s Crutch
NaNoWriMoI may be one of the few crazy NaNoWriMo participants who not only is challenging herself with 50,000 words in 30 days, but also doing so while dieting.
I know, the gasps are echoing around the community. For the month of October, I read many blog posts advising that Wrimos need to have ample stocks of essential supplies on hand. Essentials being: chocolate, candy, frozen pans of lasagna, and more chocolate. Fuel the creative brain! Munchies are inevitable!
Well, I’ve done really well for the most part, refusing this advice. However, one little vice has crept back into my life: Diet Coke.
I sure hope my trainer isn’t reading this.
It started last Saturday at the library write-in. After a couple of word wars I felt bleary and blurgy. I needed some quick pep, without calories. A quick trip to the next-door Safeway and I clutched my bottle of Diet Coke like Gollum who recovered his Precious. It worked, but now I’m craving it more and more when writing (but not when coding — strange).
But I can quit Diet Coke again, right? Like I’ve quit 3 times before…
Day 0.5 – Midnight Kick-Off and Getting Crushed in Word Wars
On a scale of 0 to a kid at the end of her Hallowe’en route who realizes she has not one but TWO full pillowcases of candy, just how giddy were the Writmotaurs last night at Kick Off?
It became clear that all that nervous tension building in the #fntwp over the past few days was intentionally generated to serve as fuel for the Word Wars. As a rookie, I felt understandably but quietly confident that I’d show well in these wars, what with my 90wpm touch typing skills and all.
Until I was crushed. Obliterated. Broken down into my smallest constiuent parts. Not just by the Cyborgs who have earned their elite status for proliferative verbosity under pressure and are assessed as a class of being unto themselves, but by, well, everyone else too. Including the Handwriters.
(Note to self: go to a smaller write-in where I’ve got a statistically better chance of winning.)
However, my faith in all things YYCNaNo was quickly restored when the table of expert NaNoists next to me applauded my end count after each war. What was this devious positive reinforcement technique they were practising? I felt… encouraged. Proud of myself. Ready to do more.
And that, my friends, is my first #NaNology observation. Veteran NaNoists are not only experts in word wars but subtle manipulators of the writing spirit.
Well played, Calgary Wrimotaurs, well played.
Twas The Night Before NaNoWriMo
For me, days are usually defined solely by a (mostly) uninterrupted period of wakefulness. Go to bed, and when you get up it’s the next day. However, there’s a big event happening Thursday morning which has me confused: All NaNo’s Eve. it’s technically Thurs. morning if you’re one of those pedants about days and nights and clocks and such, yet it’s tonight by my pragmatic definition.
All I really know is that at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 1, NaNoWriMo begins and I’ll be at a 24-hour truck-stop diner with a dozen or more other Calgary-based Wrimotaurs, launching into our 30-day writing frenzy. This night/morning will be a challenge in one important respect: it goes way past my bedtime.
I hear a lot about the habits of writers; creative bursts of energy in the wee hours, fueled by obscene amounts of caffeine and some competitive games called Word Wars. All I can think of is whether my eyes will start to bleed by 12:07 because I’m invariably asleep by 11:00 on school nights like this, I hate even the smell of coffee and can’t we all just get along?
In addition to the challenge of writing 50,000 words in November, I’ve also agreed to post a daily, minimum 50-word blog entry on my NaNoWriMo experience (hereinafter tagged #epicnanoblog). After all, what’s 50 words on top of 1,667? Apparently it’s epic, but I’m sure the true significance will reveal itself in the coming weeks.
It’s here in this section of my blog that you’ll find my #epicnanoblog posts and any other whining that needs to be done about this self-inflicted, self-indulgent mayhem. I’ve also installed the NaNoWriMo widget in the sidebar so everyone can shame me if I fall behind the pace. Wish me luck!