So. All you Jane Austen fans, remember the first time you watched/read Pride and Prejudice the little thrill of excitement you got when Lizzie gets the letter that Lydia has run away with Wickham and it changes everything in an instant? Wasn't it awesome?

I just wrote the equivalent scene in my book.

[Except my Mr. Darcy is kind of late and also kind of in the wrong place at a really bad time but he'll pull himself out of his comparably smaller scrape soon (and admirably) enough. He's also not quite as awesome as Mr. Darcy; I won't be that presumptuous about my hero, unlike certain rampantly popular teenage vampire novel writers I could mention].

How is it I have no icons pertaining to food? Or mainstream sports? (My icon of John Sheppard golfing, I guess, but that doesn't have the same vibe as football by any stretch of the imagination).

At any rate, one of my coworkers brought in buckeyes. Homemade Buckeyes. The BEST BUCKEYES I HAVE EVER EATEN. In honor of the big game tomorrow, of course. Go BUCKS!!! (I am a total peripheral fan, not at all truly devoted, but I just love the hype).

Hmmn. Okay, "Eye candy" works well enough for actual candy, I guess.

Rest cannot be overrated. My day off of Nano was a good one, even though I didn't actually end up getting that much extra sleep. I did try. I was actually lights out at about ten till nine, and I snoozed for about an hour and then I just did not feel sleepy, plus there was house construction going on, so that didn't help. Still, just the fact of getting to lie there, unhindered by any particular pressure (including intimidation at how short the hours until the alarm sliced through sleep and feeling a relaxation block as a result), was enormously helpful to my psyche.

I got up about an hour later, played some C&K online, chatted with some friends, and caught up on qwi_xux's Avatar fic. And then I went to sleep again. And then I woke up at 4:30 because my hair needed washed and we have this office bowling thing this afternoon and I want to look nice.

After that, it's back on track. With both writing and homework. More of the same tomorrow, plus shopping for my nephew's birthday present (nothing like the last minute- in this case, the day of) and babysitting. Sunday: church, birthday party, more writing and homework. Then a short week! Yay!!

Guess who's back... sooner than forecasted...!! *GGGGG*

Right now in Spanish class we are watching a movie called "Women the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." In the story, all the stress of the women in question can be traced back to social problems (read: men), but it has been in the back of my mind all morning because I feel on the edge of at least a temper tantrum. Yesterday I didn't get to work until eight because I was so drained, and then I had to use my lunch break to catch up on homework. Then it was off to Panera for one precious hour in which I got 1500 words done, scrambled off to church, arrived five minutes late, came home, thought I wrote 1500 more words only to discover at second glance that I'd only written 1100 more which just goes to show how utterly scrambled my brain was. This little incident almost made me want to cry, which, really? That's just pathetic. They're just fictional, recreational words and I already passed the freakin' Nano minimum word count! After a brief moment of astonished clairvoyance in which I realized this, I closed my laptop and went to bed.

I am going on strike today. No writing. No homework. After work I am coming home, fixing a salad or something and then I'm going to watch DS9, read, or maybe listen to a tape and work on my cross stitch. I am also prying myself away from whichever of these activities trumps the others and getting in bed at 9:30. The only possible damper on this plan is if my mom is up until almost midnight working on the house again and wants to watch DS9 late. I will have to discuss this potential conflict of interest with her as soon as I get home.

Sleep is such a glorious gift to mankind, and cannot be appreciated enough.

(*hugs miana_dude in humble sympathy. I acknowledge that my stress, is, at least 80% self-inflicted. Have fun at the movies tonight. I never thought I'd say this, but for your sake at least, yay Twilight!)

Ladies and gentleman, today was a very special day for writing, for two reasons. Why? I'll tell you.

(1) I passed the 50K milestone! Yay!!

(2) I wrote a really, really great scene that combined basically everything I want this book to achieve. Insight into theater for the un-educated, key character buildup and interaction, and lavish homage to the Bard. Most of what I wrote tonight is set during a key rehearsal. I went into the night thinking, "I've established that X character is trouble. I need to actually have him 'cause' trouble. I sat down and figured out what X character's history with Gigi is, and even though I didn't put that back story to paper, this time the choice was deliberate rather than stalling because I didn't know. Then later Charlie did something hot, which, really, Charlie, you're supposed to be my lead's (eventual) romantic interest. It's about bloody time.

In short, tonight I turned a corner, brought things enough into focus to where the end, though it be a blurry pinprick on the horizon, is at least in sight. I feel like I can start heading in that direction now with at least a minimally-justified effort at tension-building in the middle. Now I'm going to shoot for the end, piece by piece. I feel... very satisfied.

Jalen, darling, any idea when we'll be online simultaneously? You're 15K behind now, I think, and I need my cheerleader!!

I'm on a tight schedule this evening, so I'm just going to post these with no preamble to speak of. Hopefully, there aren't any super embarrassing typos. ;-)

( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season Four recaps )

On a final note, I finally got to watch last Saturday's Merlin while I was wolfing down my supper. One of the best episodes so far! *hugs poor Merlin*

So my weekend with respect to Nano was... weird? Friday I got nothing done, and yesterday I tried but the inspiration was just not coming. I find that I just cannot write in small spurts whenever I can fit them in. I need a block of time, set aside from all distraction, to just disappear and devote myself only to the words, words, words (thank you, Hamlet).

So, after my triumph on Thursday I was suddenly two days behind. So what did I determine to do today, Sunday? Catch up. All the way up. Since my personal goal is 3,000 words a day, well... you can do the math.

Would you believe? I did it. I actually did it. I'm at 45,030 words. I wrote Nine-freakin'-thousand words today. The plan was to hit every hot spot of my trifecta. Phase I: Panera, for lunch and 3K words. Then, Starbucks for Phase II: Caramel Apple Cider and 3K more words. Finally, Borders for a Gingerbread Latte and Phase III. Everything went to plan, except they were out of Gingerbread Latte at Borders so I got the Peppermint Mocha trio instead.

I have to admit, I think I would have given up and gone home after 6K words if it hadn't been for the fact that I'm also going to Best Buy in about half an hour to hopefully knock back some key pieces of my Christmas shopping at this special, Platinum Best Buy Card holder After-hours invitational thing. At Starbucks, I hit a really low, "this is crap" moment in which I was just staring out the window at a Marathon sign in the distance, wondering what the heck I was thinking, trying to convey to people how much fun it is to do a show if they've never done one before, and how great Shakespeare in general is. I had run out of direction. Sure, the structure of a production gives me a framework to follow, but the energy of the plot was definitely missing.

And then, in Phase III, Charlie and Lyssie witnessed the tail end of a fight between Gigi and her rival sister with threatening implications. And then they made a bet about how the first off book rehearsal would go, which made getting through that 'demonstration' of the process a little more interesting than just: "And this is what off book is like." And then they went cauldron-scavenging together in the props vault.

I wonder how many more of these mini cycles of despair and satisfaction I have to go through before I write the final word of this first draft?

Still: 9,000 words. We're halfway done and I'm still caught up. Tonight, my reward will be to spend lots of money on Christmas presents, watch DS9, and Merlin.

Flisters, this weekend is extra-special because I basically, by some miracle, have no homework to speak of. There's a questionnaire I ought to read over for a movie we're going to watch in class on Tues & Thurs, but really? What's a questionnaire? I plan on taking delightful advantage of this fact by: (1) Sleeping in with even more relish tomorrow (2) Slaying more of my "Middle ground" Nano beasts (for those of you who read your Maureen Johnson pep talk this morning (3) Getting a lot of chores and errands done, (4) Taking a nap on Sunday. A long nap, and (5) Knocking back lots of DS9 with mom.

This is also my weekend to do something with Jennifer, my little sister. Usually we go out on Saturdays, but last night Joy called and was telling me about a children's choir from Africa that's putting on a show at one of the local churches here in town tonight and I thought that sounded pretty awesome. I realized after the fact that this would also be an awesome thing to take Jennifer to, so hopefully I can get in touch with her and it will work out that we can go tonight despite the last-minute rush. If so, my schedule will look something like this:

• Bank, McDonald's, Gas station (on the way to work)
  
• Work until 4 or 4:30 or so (call Jennifer's family to make arrangements for the concert).
  
• Come home, eat, write as many words as possible before leaving.
  
• Leave by 6:15 at the latest to go pick up Jennifer for the concert.
  
• Concert, take Jennifer back home
  
• Finish daily word count, plan for Saturday

Straightforward, but hectic anyway. Best get to it. See y'all!

I did it! 6,000 words in almost exactly four hours. Now, pardon me while I go lash my wrists to the rest of my arms so they don't fall off. I'm still on track. Boo-yah!!

Predictably, I took my extra hour of sleep this morning. I'm also not dressed yet, because my PJs are so comfy and I spend 80% of my time in office clothes, so some days getting changed is like pulling chicken teeth. I did make scrambled eggs since I haven't been eating well the last handful of days and my body was sort of nagging at me to give it something lean and whole and healthy. I beat them a little longer than usual and made sure to keep stirring them while they cooked. As a result, I must say, they are almost perfect. Yum!

Today in class our lecture is going to be on one of the key elements of the second essay we have to write. If it wasn't, I would seriously consider skipping class, but I will have to drag myself there. Only six more class periods, thank goodness. I am so sick of the haul back and forth. At least the workload feels easier, somehow. I think mostly because I'm over the hump. The other good news is that next semester, the my class will be at a much more convenient time of 4:25 - 6:10 on Tuesdays and Thursdays which means I don't have to go back and forth to work and I can actually work consistent, sane, eight-hour days. I am ridiculously excited by this small change in fortune. Also nice? Next semester is my LAST CLASS before I graduate. Whee!!

I know one thing, I'll look forward to doing Nano next year without having to work around homework.

Two weeks till Thanksgiving!! :-)

Well, today was a bit of a conundrum, writing-wise. First, I wasn't allowed to leave work until 5:00 because I didn't start until 7:30 (the getting up early thing isn't working out as well this week). And there was also church tonight. So may plan instead of going out of my way to one of my 3 go-to prize spots was to just get a coffee at the gas station and take my gear to the local library and write as much as possible before I had to take off for church.

But then I had, like, the most awesome, productive day of work ever. At ten till five I was preparing to make my to-do list for tomorrow and all of a sudden I had this massive brainstorm of a way to manage both the big picture and details of my workload (now that I'm getting a much sharper picture of what all that entails) and I could not stop until 6:00. So no writing today, but I don't even care because having a great day at work always makes me bizarrely happy and that's going to carry through probably all the way through the weekend.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to have a 6K evening. Ambitious, I know, but I think I can do it. Even if I sleep in I can still leave at 4:00 because I worked an extra hour this evening.

Now it's time for Deep Space Nine.

I should use my "Employee of the Month" icon for this post, I suppose, but Suki's expression in this icon better captures how I'm feeling right now. ;-)

Season 3 of DS9 quickly, before I go. This is where I started keeping on top of episodes not long after I actually watched them (novel, eh?), so some of my commentary gets pretty fun, I must say. ;-)

( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 3 )

Tomorrow, Season 4.

I just now got settled in at Panera. For the record, the Fuji Apple Chicken salad is AMAZING. As is their new mac & cheese. And the buzzer number they gave me was 42. It's not everyday you get the answer to life, the universe, and everything handed to you in a convenient, travel-size item. I was almost reluctant to give it back.

(I will not eat my pecan sticky bun until AFTER I've finished my word count)

Joy wants me to go sit with the kiddies tonight after they're in bed so that she can run to the store for a sale. Which means I have to book it out of here as soon as I'm done, and swing by the house for my shower supplies while I'm at it, since I need to get that accomplished tonight as well.

Speaking of running to the store for a sale... I watched all of the SNL skits from when Taylor Swift hosted the other night. Amazingly, I was able to watch all of them with almost no eyerolls of disgust at cop-out crude humor. I'm going to venture a guess that things were toned down a bit because isn't she a minor? I don't actually know that, but she looks like one. In any case, this skit was my favorite. I laughed so hard because all of these things I can attribute to either myself or someone I know. (The "reaching in the back to get something out of your purse" is TOTALLY me; I've pulled a back muscle a couple of times trying that). The one about song lyrics is my mom.

wOMGosh, grav_ity I was driving to work this morning, and on one of my favorite radio stations you will not believe who they interviewed: the lady who invented Jenga. NOT KIDDING!

Is it sad that this has topped off the renewing of my Nano energy unlike any of my own efforts? LOL

(Unfortunately, nothing at all that she said was immediately inspirational toward the development of evil overlord fantasy novels with a side dish of prophecy, but hey, it's still freakin' cool!!!)

Last night mom and I rounded the corner into Season 5 of Deep Space Nine, and last week I finally caught up retrofitting my episode reactions. So prepare to be inundated over the next three days with Trek commentary goodness.

( Deep Space Nine, Season 2 )

I hope we get to watch another one tonight, but at the rate mom's doing... whatever... upstairs (something involving a hand tool that makes a really annoying buzzing sound) I'm starting to feel doubtful.

Gigi, stop channeling Adelle DeWitt. I need you to be the original diva you are. Thank you muchly.

Love, me.

So today was an interesting day, full of productivity on many fronts. First, sleep productivity. I slept in till glorious 9:30 (could have gone longer, but I had a lot to get done), woke up, wrote about 1500 words, did half of my homework for next week, raked the front lawn and hauled all the leaves to the backyard compost pile, took a shower, took some Ibuprofen, took a nap, and then went to babysit Noelle for the evening. Fed her, played with her a while, then put her to bed. Wrote 2K words straight with no distractions, then turned on the TV for a snack break and got sucked into watching the premiere of the new season of Legend of the Seeker, which I didn't even know was coming on tonight, but I'm easily persuaded to procrastinate. ( Casting spoiler ) Anyway, during commercial breaks and fight scenes I kept typing away valiantly and came up with another 1K words. Finally, I came home, watched one ep of DS9 with mom and managed to squeeze in one more 1K before the midnight bell, reaching my goal of 24K before the end of the day. Whew!

Tomorrow, more of the same with the addition of church. I have to finish my homework and clean the bathroom and I want to write 5K to shave my weekday goal down to 2K per day this week. I think then maybe I won't get quite so burned out. Either way, I'm only 1K away from being halfway done with the Nanowrimo victory goal!

I chose this icon because I'm starting to feel like that's how my non-Nano-ing flisters must be starting to feel about those of us who are doing it: "Blah, blah, blah, something about Nano, Blah, blah" ;-)

Okay, today I still got up on time, but with decidedly less 'huzzah' I'm glad I'm closer to the end of the week than the beginning. I haven't even changed clothes yet because it's cold and pantyhose are so tedious. Sleeping in on Saturday will be a welcome reprieve, and I may take a writing break on Sunday if I still feel I need additional recuperation after Saturday. Or write on Sunday so that I can take a writing break on Monday. We'll see.

Also, I'm expecting a visit from Bob today, so that doesn't make things easy.

Friday-ho!!!

Now, off to conquer the pantyhose and figure out what to wear after that.