Issuing an Invitation

So, my writing partner Olivia and I just got an invitation to Camp Nano. For those who don't know, it's another opportunity to make yourself crazy for a month trying to deliver on what most would consider impossible goals. (We know better, don't we?)

She and I both write paranormal/paranormal suspense/paranormal romances. We're going to get a "cabin" during April for this craziness. We need two more people to share the lunacy with, because the cabins hold four people.

Any takers? We'll have virtual everything, from favorite snacks to favorite alcohol. The conversation will be good, the writing will be sparkling, and goals will be met and then exceeded.

Speaking of goals...

Regarding my ROW goals, I'm off my back, breathing, and back at Starbucks working. Of course, I left my TB drive at home, so everything I'm doing today is in Word, and I'll transfer it when I get home, which will be about 11 hours from now. I'm thinking I should be making a checklist before I pack my stuff.

Have a wonderfully productive week. See y'all on Sunday!

My Head is Spinning!

Hi everyone!

Hope all of us are recovered from Overeating Thursday and Black Friday. Here's my goal rundown:

80 Pages for this Quarter: Completed, but mostly due to Nano.

Planning: Still going. I've gotten over 60,000 words for Nano right now, so I think I'm going to use my Scrivener software and do some major rearranging of scenes and things. I think I may need to make better sense of it all before I continue any more planning of big things.

Fried Chicken: I haven't had any in the past week.

Pizza: I've managed to stay away from that, too.

Exercise: There's one that I'm failing miserably on. I have to find a way to organize my life better. It will come in time.

I hope everyone else is doing well. It's going to be short and sweet today, as I'm getting the flu that's been slamming my roommates to the ground. So, it's off to the kitchen to make a big batch of homemade soup to get me through this crap.

See you Wednesday!

Wow, What a Week!!

Happy pre-Thanksgiving, everyone! I've been running around like a crazy person buying things for Thanksgiving, and writing like a crazier one. I cracked the Nano 50,000 word goal the day before yesterday, reaching 50,088. Not that I'm quitting for the month - oh, no! In fact, I've got a meeting with writing friends tonight. But I've got to get my Thanksgiving prep done first.

Goals:

I've made my 80 pages for this round, having done over 200 just for Nano.

Planning has suffered somewhat this month, as I've been focused on output alone. I've had a weird few scenes centered around a therapist office. My heroine had a breakthrough - and a meltdown. It made me tear up and leak a bit while I was writing it. (Since I was at work at the time, that might have been not so great. Luckily, my students know what I'm like and it doesn't faze them.) I got a couple of interesting motivations, from the werewolf guardian/secret assassin, so that's going to be fun to play with. Especially since one of her phone calls is overheard by the heroine's lover. Talk about it hitting the fan!

Exercise and junk food aversion fell by the wayside for the past week or so. My words were more important than anything, and my lack of kitchen participation showed it. Oh, well.

I've got to put a plug in here. Now, before I do, I have to say I'm in no way involved in this company and have not financial or personal interest in it whatsoever. My Nano output has been phenomenal this year. I've never done anything close to this in only 19 days. And I have to say that I don't think I could have done it without using Scrivener. I downloaded their Nano trial version, and it blew me away. It's now my go-to piece of writing software. I can't say enough about it. (Getting down from soapbox now.)

Off to go make some applesauce and some cranberry/orange compote.

Have a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving. (Isn't it wonderful - the leftovers mean we won't have to cook, and we will have time to write more! One more thing to put on the list of things to be thankful for.)

Calculus and Cookies...

For all of us mathematically-inclined (or crazy) people out there, I was thinking about a new exercise today for my students. It was an exercise in junk food. Specifically -- cookies.

Now, everyone has a favorite cookie. It could be chocolate chip, Oreos, oatmeal, or those delightfully addictive mint cookies that the Girl Scouts tempt us with every year. (Mint cookies and I are very familiarly acquainted.)

What if each student, choosing their favorite cookie from a predetermined list, took the dimensions and tried to find out how many cookies could fit into a specific area. How much area was taken up by the cookies? How many cookies were used? And how much of the original area was left? Here's where the calculus bit comes in. Integrals are used to find the area under a curve. (We knew calculus had to show up eventually.)

Get the answer right for your type of cookie, and you get to eat said cookies.

How's that for incentive?

Personally, I can't try the cookie thing, because I'm still trying to lose weight. And it's going slowly, I'm afraid. So is the exercise. But some of my other goals are going well.

For instance, my planning is still going forward, as is my writing. My Nano word count is just over 20,000. I have no idea what my page count is, but I'm sure it's inching toward my 80 pages for this quarter.

Not so good on the fried chicken front. I bought some last night on my way home from work. Once I got there, I went to bed. I was utterly exhausted, and I let the guys figure out whatever they wanted for dinner.

I haven't ordered any pizza though, so that's still good.

Fighting the junk food craving is a day to day adventure. But I sure wish the cravings would go away.

See you on Sunday!