Category Archives: Uncategorized

The question of NaNoWriMo revisited

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I hesitate to admit this, but apparently it’s almost November already. I’m fairly certain it was mid-July just last week, but perhaps time has gotten away from me. At least I didn’t somehow miss Halloween. Yet.

November means NaNoWriMo, which I’ve brought up relatively recently(ish). It’s that special kind of self-inflicted torture writers endure/enjoy for one full month, attempting to produce a 50k word novel before November wraps up. This is only appropriate as The Thanksgiving Food Coma usually spells doom for writers who have failed to maintain a moderate to intense level of daily writing discipline throughout the month. Nothing about NaNoWriMo is easy, from balancing writing against other obligations to fighting against the madness-inducing 50k final word count.

This begs the following question: why in the Hell am I thinking about throwing all caution (and reasonable thought) to the wind and giving it yet another go? It would be in the shadow of the ass-kicking, brain-draining Hundred Days of Blogging (which is so close to being over but still so far away). The holiday shopping season will be upon us too soon, and I still happen to work in a retail setting that is going to get absolutely stampeded. There’s also the small matter of my birthday happening at some point next month, which I imagine will involve plenty of its own distractions as well. I’m still considering it, though. Not a damn clue why. Brianne posed a reasonable question in response to me voicing my interest in tackling NaNoWriMo: “Do you want to torture yourself?”

Perhaps? On one hand, it could be a good way to really kick-start my currently-unnamed novel project. On the other hand, I know too well that working under pressure usually doesn’t make for my best creative moments (although, to be fair, it’s hit or miss because sometimes it lends to me producing my best work). I think the answer will have to wait until November. Around midnight, November 1st. We’ll see where this ends up from there and then.

Writer seeks good reading

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Today was a good day, more or less, and the less parts will be left out for the sake of not ruining a perfectly good post. Ahem.

I met an old high school friend for lunch, as he happened to be in the area for work (which I assume means his company also employs yetis as there are an abundance of those living in these here mountains). We had relatively tasty food and caught up, talking about nothing and everything just as people who haven’t seen each other for greatly extended periods of time often will. It was an enjoyable time that, in hindsight, seems to have gone by too quickly. I’m immensely fond of visitors as well as lunch outings, even if they contribute to my financial stress more than they alleviate it. Instead of heading home immediately after lunch I stopped by Barnes & Noble. I had nothing in mind in terms of purchases, but I hadn’t wandered around a bookstore in far longer than I care to admit and so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before I ran into the problem I often run into at Barnes & Noble, or any other bookstore for that matter. I had an idea of the kind of book I’d like to buy, if I were to end up buying something, but I couldn’t quite put a name or specific author to it. The end result involved a fair bit of wandering around the store without aim or idea of where I should be looking. I eventually left without buying anything, which is just as well as I shouldn’t be buying too much for myself. I’ve been given the dreaded pre-birthday warning, and god help me if I choose to ignore that.

Part of the problem is this: as a writer, I have stories I’d like to read, and I know I’d like to read them, but some of them are stories I just haven’t written yet. Looking for some sort of comparable tale only works so well, especially when I can’t think of an author or title or genre even. It’s a big part of what drives me to continue writing. So I can one day hope such a story sits among the shelves of a bookstore, waiting to meet the expectations of a story-hungry reader.

A headache’s worth of determination

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Someone seems to have sneaked into my home and put a bunch of large rocks, heavy objects, and generally painful things somewhere in my skull tonight. Or, you know, I just have a particularly nasty headache. It arrived, gift-wrapped neatly, right after work.

However, I had a Screen Robot article I have been putting off and butting heads with for…longer than I care to admit. A nap was inevitable, followed by some ibuprofen, and then I sat down and tackled as much of the post as I could. Dinner, accompanied by an episode of Hannibal followed, and then I finally slayed the mighty dragon of my own laziness and excuses!

However, that headache is still rampaging about and so I think this will have to do for the night. Make it a great week, folks.

Sleepy, sleepy Sunday

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The fog plaguing my brain seems to be dissipating. Finally. Bonus: I have four days off this week as well, thanks to spending some vacation time.

There are several better posts brewing in my brain right now, and most of them are fragments of ideas regarding (surprise) villains. I’d like to say that’s a little something different, but it’s mostly just fluffy silliness while I try to refocus my brain on other writing. Like the half-finished, half-rewritten Screen Robot post I’m doing a positively horrible job on finishing. There are only so many cheap shots one can make at the expense of crossover events (I’m looking at you, Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe you colossal piece of shit).

However, it’s about time for a late-ish dinner and at least one episode of Hannibal season 2 (there will also be posts about Hannibal, if only because I have limited patience for how oblivious the FBI characters seem to be to Hannibal HARVESTING AND EATING PEOPLE’S ORGANS).

Running into a wall (until the damn thing breaks)

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I’ve been in a bit of a writing funk this past week or so. Blame it on me not feeling quite 100% or perhaps on the sleep deprivation, but I’ve not really felt like doing much writing. This would be less of a problem if I didn’t have two things I need to finish within a reasonable amount of time (read as about a week ago, probably).

Naturally, I sit down at my desktop, I open Microsoft Word, and then I sit here and stare at the blank document as I become increasingly frustrated with not being able to string words together effectively. Given that I’m working on a post for Screen Robot and a guest post for Onezumi, I want these pieces to be perfect. My current mindset says give up, and there were a couple times today when I considered contacting the respective folks necessary and apologetically bowing out. Obviously bad decision-making on my part resulted in taking on more than I can handle writing-wise, right?

Except I don’t. I can’t, in fact. Just because I can’t force myself into a motivated state doesn’t mean I won’t damn well try as hard as I can until I want to smash my computer (the good news there being I wouldn’t smash this computer because it is a magnificent beast of a machine, courtesy of Jason’s hard work and computer wizardry).

A rather unwelcome guest has arrived, in the form of sleepiness, and so it’s time I turn my attention where it needs to be. If I finish one of my drafts for the night I’ll be pretty content. Two would be better, but the sleepies weighing my eyelids down seem to disagree with the possibility of that happening.

Productivity, coupled with World of Warcraft

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The last bit I needed for Thunderfury. Finally.

The last bit I needed for Thunderfury. Finally.

As I’ve stated a number of times before, I’m quite a fan of World of Warcraft. I’m not necessarily the best player by any stretch of the imagination, but I couldn’t help but return for some sad, twisted reason or another. The pre-patch to Warlords of Draenor dropped today, and I figured I should get moving on things I’ve been wanting to try but couldn’t quite work up the nerve to actually…er, well, try. Plus, I heard there would be a higher likelihood of being able to solo more recent old content, such as Cataclysm raids, and so I couldn’t pass up a chance to die magnificently in content I barely managed to enjoy when it was current. However, there’s more to my day than just staring at a computer screen (thankfully for both my need to be at least a little productive as well as the health of my eyeballs).

I ended up taking a couple vacation days this week (and next week) to tend to unpacking, organizing, and so on. This should be a bit shocking, I know. My desk migrated into what will eventually transform into the office/study/whatever, and I put a pretty decent dent in making the living room a liveable space. However, with a new patch comes the need to screw around in Azeroth, and so I found myself moving through the pre-expansion quests as quickly as I could. Once I’d done that, I decided I wanted to try my hand at getting Garr’s Binding of the Windseeker. It’s a prize that has eluded me for quite some time. However, as pictured above…luck was on my side today. So much so, in fact, that I decided to see how well this squishing went in terms of old content. As I type this, I’ve completed both Blackwing Descent and Firelands (finally killing Ragnaros) on my Warlock. I’m screwing around in Heroic ICC before trying anything else, and generally speaking I love how accessible old content has become.

Any other WoW players enjoying these new changes so far?

Managers and Bosses and Leaders (Oh My)

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It’s Day Ninety, I think. Or probably close enough. I need to not do this again any time soon, as it has been a soul-devouring experience.

Today’s post was one I should have made last week around this time, but I shuffled my feet a bit. I’m glad I did, as I received more relevant news that only made me want to wait until I knew I could do this topic justice. Hopefully I can manage that much tonight, despite being quite tired and behind on other responsibilities (I’m looking at you, Family Guy/Simpsons crossover article I need to write for Screen Robot). Moving, to state something rather obvious, is brutal. Moving along.

I don’t talk about my day job on here in much detail, and it’s largely because I know the pitfalls and dangers of doing such things. I can, however, say that it is a company that stresses leadership over management. I’m not a store manager, but a store leader. I’m not a boss, but someone who leads by example. I hope I’ve accomplished this so far, at least, and I constantly strive towards making that happen.

In the past week or so I lost two of my District Leaders, both of whom I hold in very high regard. Dan hired me (and, on more than one occasion, was so kind as to call me one of his best hiring decisions), and Bill chose me for my promotion to store leadership.  They were mentors to me, and genuinely good people. They were, above all else, leaders. When they were in the trenches, so to speak, they would perform tasks at the store they would expect other employees to do so as to lead by example. They showed genuine interest in the people who worked for them. At no point did it feel like there was some great, looming power in the store when they would visit.

They weren’t bosses. They weren’t managers. They were leaders. I feel like my life has been enriched by knowing them, and I’m hoping I can take the lessons they’ve taught me and improve myself both in and outside of my job.

I doubt very much Dan or Bill will ever find this (I’m hoping not, at least, because it’s a lot more sentimental to me than it may necessarily appear). They were why I was, and am, so enthusiastic and passionate about my day job. Innovation and all that good stuff. Needless to say, this post is in honor of my two District Leaders who did me a world of good. I strive to make every week a great week, and “do more with less; God bless”.

A worthy cause – Intervention

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Hi, folks. Second post of the night (woohoo), and though I am in the middle of frenzied last-minute packing I still wanted to share this. It’s that important to me.

Intervention, or Interventioncon, the premier showcase of online creativity is up for a grant that could be a world-moving, life-changing thing for this event. All it needs is 250 votes, which should be easy to accomplish. Voting is so simple: click the following link, then click vote and connect via Facebook.

https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/business/detail/37955

For those of you who need convincing, read on.

What is Intervention?

Intervention is called, as mentioned above, the premier showcase of online creativity. It has been featured on many news sites of all sizes, and has been home to many brilliant, terrific guests. It’s a weekend long conference filled with educational panels on a number of topics (ranging from writing to comics to social networking and so on), tremendously fun events such as a special season premier of Doctor Who at this past year’s iteration, loads of opportunities to spread awesome and kindness to others, and a generally good time that should have more time than a weekend (I can dream, right?). I can say from experience that I leave Intervention every year I attend feeling revitalized and ready to write, create, and implement all of the new things I learned. To define Intervention in a post like this doesn’t do it justice, but there’s so much more to talk about. For more information about what Intervention is, check out its web site at http://www.interventioncon.com.

Why support Intervention?

Intervention is all about enabling independent artists in moving forward with their craft. It started as the mad, brilliant dream of Onezumi Hartstein, James Harknell, and a number of other dedicated, terrific individuals, and has grown into such a fan-freaking-tastic community since then. There is no con scene that can compare to the community Intervention has built in these past five years (plus the years it was being created behind the proverbial curtain). It’s all funded by a small group and donations. No shady corporate puppet-masters or shit like that. Enablers, people who donate on top of registration, are also very helpful (and I urge anyone who attends to provide even a little as an Enabler as it goes a long way towards keeping Intervention alive). This, however, is a chance for Intervention to receive a tremendous grant and it only requires a few clicks of the mouse (or taps of the finger if you’re on a tablet, smart phone, or other smart device). In a world where such actions are usually rewarded with refreshing Facebook to read a few new, probably boring, status updates, you could do SO MUCH GOOD INSTEAD. The statuses will still be there, but this is a chance to make a huge impact on an event that is making a huge impact on so many lives. I cannot, CANNOT stress this enough.

Vote, and encourage others to do so as well

It takes only a few seconds, and the good it could do will affect so many artists by way of this event. It costs nothing other than a few brief seconds, and it’ll leave you with a feeling you’ve done the right, good thing. Get to it.

The link, again, because pretty-please-with-sugar-vote:

https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/business/detail/37955

Thanks, folks, and definitely check out next year’s Intervention. I hear it’s supposed to be pretty spectacular.