10.16.08
Posted in Writing at 8:53 am by Lynette
My husband has now joined the blog-o-sphere. It did not occur to me until he created his own blog how surprising it was that he had not done so years ago. I guess he is so mired in geekdom that I just took it for granted that he was already “out there,” so to speak.
So now, he has put me to shame since he is going to start blogging. I can’t seem to be spurred on by my friends’ blogs, but perhaps a bit of friendly, “in-house” competition will spur me to become less sporadic of a blogger.
Check his out…it’s new, so not much to read yet, but stay tuned. It will be good reading down the road…I guarantee!
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10.04.07
Posted in Writing at 5:40 am by Administrator
I have once again signed up for NaNoWriMo. This is the National Novel Writing Month competition in which you are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel, or the beginnings of a longer novel as long as it’s 50k words, in 30 days. I did it two years ago. Last year, I failed…only reaching about the halfway mark before life got in the way.
What makes this especially challenging is that this contest (really you are only competing against the clock and there is no tangible reward) occurs during November when you are gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. That makes the challenge all the greater.
I will post a word counter once it all gets started so you can follow my progress. And of course encourage me with lots of comments on my posts along the way.
And if you have any really great, unique, fun or even mediocre plot ideas or suggestions, please feel free to send them my way!
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11.09.06
Posted in Writing at 5:26 pm by Administrator
Just to let you know, I am diligently plugging away at my NaNoWriMo goal. I am, as of today, at 18,177 words out of a goal of 50,000, with 21 days left to go. If you are interested in reviewing my progress, you can go to this page: http://www.nanowrimo.org/modules/xoopsmembers/ and make the top search field state the following: “find authors whose name contains labs”
Now, I can’t imagine why you would be interested in this, unless it’s a Saturday night, you have nothing to do but look for spare change in your couch cushions and surf the ‘net, in which case, please get a life! Anyway, if I do not post here much in the next few weeks, it’s because I am frantically trying to keep up with Rita, who is trying to attain the lofty goal of writing 90,000 words in November. I will never write 90k words this month, but hey…I can at least keep up with her for the first 50k!
Stay tuned…
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Posted in Writing at 5:16 pm by Administrator
Last Friday night, my kids’ school had their annual Fall Festival. Each classroom hosts some sort of silly game, and the kids either buy an endless game playing bracelet or tickets to participate. They run from classroom to classroom, playing games, winning prizes, and consuming vast amounts of candy. In short, it is nirvana for kids.
In my hesitant efforts to get involved without getting sucked into the volunteer vortex, I agreed to do 2 things: run a game for one hour and bake a cake for the cake walk. The game was the easy part. The cake, a different story altogether.
I used to bake cakes and decorate them for my own benefit, and for those of others. I took three cake decorating classes at Michael’s craft store and learned how to make all sorts of flowers, patterns, etc. I have a toolbox complete with fifty or so different tips. You know the plastic kind you get when you buy a tube of icing at the grocery store? Amateur toys! Mine are metal, numbered and serious business. I have multiple shaped cake pans: Mickey Mouse, Scooby Doo, a scarecrow, a haunted house, a candy cane. The problem is, I have not used them in two years. We moved twice since I last used my cake decorating skills, so when it came time to bake the cake, I could not find the pans anywhere. At last, we found them stored in a box under the house labeled “Christmas decorations and cake pans.” Don’t you love movers’ interpretations of sorting like items in one box? Anyway…
The pan was located, I slaved over the cake for two hours, I dropped it off at the school with moments to spare, and then I went on to work my shift at the Lollipop Pull Game. Meanwhile, Tracy takes Molly & TJ off to explore the myriad possibilities for their festival enjoyment. Soon, TJ comes rushing back into the room where I was diligently helping kids pull lollipops. He was squealing and laughing and jabbering a mile a minute.
When I finally calmed him down, here is what I discovered: he had won my cake in the cake walk! He told Tracy, “Dad, I’m gonna go win Mom’s cake for her.” The cake walk, run very much like musical chairs, consists of a circle of numbers on the floor. When the music stops, each kid stops on a number and an adult pulls a random number out of the hat. The first number drawn? TJ’s number.
It was quite possibly one of the sweetest moments in my life. Oh, and here is the cake:
For many kids that night, including Molly, it was a vain attempt to win a coveted cake. For TJ, however, it was a cake walk.
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11.01.06
Posted in Writing at 4:15 pm by Administrator
I have a personal goal of 3,000 words a day for November’s “NaNoWriMo” or National Novel Writing Month, in order to achieve the much coveted “50,000 word novel in 30 days” elite status. Oh, I cannot write every day. That silly goal is for my friend Rita. Ha ha. O foolish one! Of course, she’ll probably get the last laugh and do it, knowing her. I just dare her to write something akin to 90,000 words of ROMANCE. Then we’ll see who has the last laugh.
Meanwhile, here I sit, procrasti-writing. It’s my new phrase. I’m actually writing. I’m just procrastinating writing what I should be writing. Hence, procrasti-writing. I’m a genius sometimes.
Oh, I’m also photographing the beauty that is fall in Indiana. Right outside my front door stands a glorious maple tree that has deigned to hold off turning until the last possible moment. It’s a smart tree. Almost all the others are barren and spindly with their leafless, twiggy look. But not Miss Maple. No. She shines spectacularly amidst the grey and blankness of late fall.
So while I procrasti-write, I also enjoy the splendor of God’s glorious creation. Here–enjoy it too!
This is the tree from my vantage point (my office window).
A close up of the multi-colored leaves, still in the process of changing colors.
The view the rest of the world sees from the street.
Just look at those shades of red!
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