writing

NaNoWriMo update: 19,538 words written, 30,462 to go. Unbelieveably, it looks like I'm a tad ahead of schedule, woohoo!

I find that time takes on a whole new meaning as I'm working on my novel this month, and I start getting antsy if I'm away from my laptop for more than an hour or so. I did force myself to go to the gym yesterday, which was a good thing since I've been indulging in mini-chocolate bars pretty enthustiastically lately (thanks, Ruth and Kaarel!).

I'm also starting to have a mild panic attack about my trip to visit Mark Osier and Kathy Cogswell near Syracuse in about a week and a half. I had been counting on working on my laptop during the 6-7 hour train ride there and back, but just found out that Via Rail doesn't have power outlets in their regular class trains! Think it's about time to invest in a spare battery for my laptop; it'll come in handy when I go travelling in places where power outlets are not a sure thing, or at the cottage during power-outages.

Some days, the words seem stuck somewhere deep in my brain and it's agony wrench them out a few at a time. Even more agony to leave them as they are and not give into my almost-overwhelming urge to do the usual edit-to-death thing. Other days, the words pour out of me faster than I can type and my characters tell my story for me; those days are golden.

Overall, though, it's taking me less and less time each day to reach my quota, so I'm starting to have more time to work on my other columns and nonfiction. My story about NaNoWriMo for an Ohio newspaper is due Monday. Still haven't heard back from Chatelaine magazine, which I suppose is a good thing. Got paid for both my online community consulting gigs.

When I reach my daily wordcount quota today, I'm going to reward myself by buying the new Lord of the Rings DVD, yay! It's fascinating to me how my different online projects start to overlap in terms of who visits what project. I'm starting to get more e-mails saying things like, "Hey, I followed links from your NaNoWriMo cartoon page and found your LOTR Revisited page" and "I just noticed you're doing NaNoWriMo, too! Does this mean you're not going to be posting Waiting For Frodo as often?" :-D

Links/News:

YAY, the extended LOTR DVD comes out today! See my updated Waiting For Frodo.

Looks like the Brits turned out in droves at a Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets sneak peek.

With the help of sympathetic Web users, a New Yorker gets herself out of $20,000 in credit card bills. Source:
CNN.com. I'm amazed this woman managed to pull this off.

Love this 'Switch' parody of an American switching to Canada. :-D (from BoingBoing)

One year ago, I visited my niece Olivia and nephew Garrison in Windsor.

Three years ago, I moved into my Inkspot office!

Five years ago, I saw Wingfield Unbound.