Probably a Pothead

Yeah, not what you think. Unfortunately, weed gives me a big fat headache. Every time. Dammit.

But anyway, like a lemming, I got an Instant Pot. I fought it for awhile, but my daughter keeps telling me how great it is, and all it does for her. So what could it hurt, I mean really. Worst case, it sits on the shelf and looks pretty.

How dumb is it that I majorly modified the very first thing I ever made in it? It’s not done yet, I’ll have to let you know

Still No Plot

Yep, no NaNo plot, still. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I keep coming up with plots that I could never write. What good does that do me?

Gonna be pantsing it again. At least I have lots of characters I’ve been fleshing out for awhile now, all living in my head. They can’t wait to get out and start doing their thing. Hopefully, their thing will lead to a story arc that works for me. lol

Damn

I still don’t have a plot. But I will, I will. Yes, thank you, I do know it’s only nine days away. Geez. On the plus side of things, I’ll be embarking on a 17-hour train ride on November 1, so it’s quite possible I’ll get my word count in for the day. LOL

 

Going for Two in a Row

Nano is coming up again in a couple months. Thought I’d try it again. Have no inkling what to write about, but maybe I’ll come up with something in the month and a half I have left to do that. Hopefully. Last year was the first year I finished, and also the first year I had an idea going in. So seems like that’s what works for me.

We’ll see.

Bees Bees Bees

I changed my header. Did you notice? Bees. Or, to be a little more specific, honeybees. A few weeks ago I was talked into going to a local bee association meeting because, hey, free food. So I went. I understood nothing. I barely knew what a hive looked like. And what do you mean there’s different types of hives? Whut?

While I was there, I happened to see an old friend of my parents. Said hi, hugged, the whole bit. We chatted awhile and laughed at my bee ignorance. He invited me over for lunch with him and his wife and to see his apiary and Mediterranean style garden. I said sure because, hey, free food.

So, anyway, I went. Was a lovely meal out on the deck. Was a fabulous garden with pathways and stairs and chickens and pheasants and all sorts of flowering plants and bushes. The best part, though, was the beehives. Nine hives. Two different types. Bees all over, not bothering anyone. Just going about their business. It was absolutely wonderful. Who knew I was going to get sucked in. We went to each hive and watched the bees in each for a bit. I looked at an observation hive made of glass, and watched the queen laying eggs, watched the workers and drones fawning over her. It was fascinating.

Next thing I knew I was in a bee jacket, with hat and veil, sweating my ass off. We were going honey hunting! What fun! Incredibly hot inside all the gear, but how exciting. We opened up a couple hives, looked at the frames inside, where the worker bees make all of those little beeswax cells, and looked for honey. Turns out pretty much all hives have some, but not all hives have EXTRA. That’s what we were looking for. And in the 4th hive we found some. And we took 10 full frames of beautiful golden honey.

I was hooked then and there, and I don’t even like honey all that much. I mean, I do. Who am I trying to kid? But it was the whole process that got me. How the bees make a colony, watching them do their thing, us doing our thing, all of it.

And now I have my own hive, complete with bees and 2 not yet adult queens who will have to fight it out when the time comes. All gifted to me by my friend, along with all the tools and the all-important bee suit.

My doctor, when I went to see her with 12 bee stings due to inexperience and mostly stupidity, gifted to me epi-pens and admonishments (“Wear thicker clothes, boots, gloves. Think! Don’t get stung! And thank you for taking care of the bees.”).

LOL

O.M.G. I did it!!

Day 29. Today I wrote over 5,000 words. Today I finished my story. Today I made it to 52,385 words. Today I am a NaNoWriMo winner. First time ever. I am so proud of myself. Not that my story, as it sits now, is any good. I’ll be the first to yell from any mountaintop that is completely Craptastic. I am proud of myself for completing this thing that I started. Everything they said would happen, did. There were days when I looked at my laptop with hatred, vowing to never turn it on again. There was a day when I wrote 19 words. All day.

But then there were days like today, when it all seemed to flow. When it was all fun. When I didn’t have to think about the words. I didn’t have to think about what to say. When the words were actually good.

Whatever. It’s done. I got my 50,000 in a month. I am ecstatic. Yay, me. And yay everyone who made the effort! It’s not easy. It’s not. I’m proud of everyone who started, whether they finished or not. Shit happens. Things get in the way.. Novels weren’t really meant to be finished in a month. But stories are meant to be told. Eventually. Whether it takes a month, a day, or a lifetime. If there’s a story there, it’ll get out somehow :)

That’s what I think, anyway

Six Days In

It’s day 6 of NaNoWriMo and I’m staying just ahead of my daily word goal of 1667 words per day. I just updated my word count and I’m at 10480. Yay me. lol. That’s a daily average of 1746. I’d like to be at least a days worth of words ahead of schedule, though. Heck, I’d like to be done with this thing now. Ha.

My writing is crap, my plot is shot to hell, one of my main characters crawled into a hole and died! What the fuck. I didn’t plan that.And now, out of nowhere, there’s a circus coming to town. I had the right words in my head, but when I looked back at what I’d written, sure enough it said ‘circus’.

So this is me signing off as ‘Just Along for the Ride’

Four Days…

Wow. Planning. 4 days left and I’m not so sure that I like being a planner. For NaNoWriMo anyway. Like I’ve said before, I’m a pantser by nature, until this year. I was so happy 3 weeks ago. I had a beginning, I had an end, I had characters. Wooo, right? No. In those 3 weeks my plot has changed no less than 6 times. I mean, like completely changed. Even changed genres. WTF! I’m overthinking. I’m finding holes where there are none. And glazing over plot holes I could drive a tractor trailer though. It’s stressing me out!!

 

Did You Notice..?

I’m blogging again. It’s been years, but I’m back. Maybe for a day. A week. Or maybe, just maybe, for good. You won’t remember the days when my blog post were plentiful and my stress level low. I’m feeling like there’s a correlation there. God, I hope so. Blogging as a stress reliever. Wouldn’t that be great?

There’s also the fact that I like to write. I’ve loved writing, but I’m not back there yet. I will be, I will. There’s loads of things that I love doing that I suck at. Golf, for instance. Writing will, once again, be one of them. Soon. I just have to get back into it. I can’t simply nano and quit like I’ve been prone to do.

NaNoWriMo 2016

Gonna try it again. Don’t know how many times I’ve said I was going to do it. Three sounds like how many I actually put pen to paper. Yes, I like to write. With pens and pencils and paper. Which makes it really hard, because transcribing is a bitch. I’ve been using computers for 38 years now. pretty much non-stop. And I can’t touch type. Still. And I’m not stupid. I don’t think. I should be able to, I just can’t. All of my children can. They fly through the words. No so their mother.

Anyway, Nano. You’ve heard of National Novel Writing Month? NaNoWriMo for those of us in the ‘know’. Writers from all walks, aspiring storytellers and published pros, hailing from around the world, set aside the Month of November to write a new novel. 50,000 words. 30 days. Which makes 1667 the magic number. 1667 words a day for 30 days will get you to that magic pie in the sky number. A number that has so far been beyond my grasp.

But, not so this year. This year I have a plan. This year I have an idea going in. I have a beginning and a glimmer of an ending. I have characters and events. I have even an inkling of a timeline. I have a first draft synopsis. Hell, I even have a cover.

Will all that help me get to my 50k? Seriously, I have no idea. But with 2 weeks to go before the 1st of November, I’m feeling pretty good about it. 2 weeks to gather my ideas about me. 2 weeks to live with my characters. 2 weeks to weed out the fatal flaws. LOL.

We’ll see how it goes