Tuesday, November 18, 2008
I Stand Corrected
It turns out that my claim to December being National Novel Editing Month was incorrect; NaNoEdMo is, in fact, in March. December is National Novel Finishing Month, NaNoFiMo. Thanks Michelle for pointing this out!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Geeky Blogger Networking
Hey everyone, go check out my guest post on How Not to Write! People are saying it's giving them lots of laughs.
The Waiting!
UMass finally got my transcript from PUCE (after I spent an hour in Tim's office doing mental troubleshooting - figures). The status of my application on their website tracker has changed from "complete application" to "under review." Now the nail-biting truly begins! Any day now I'll find out...and thus find out where I'll be living next semester, what job I'll have, what classes I'll be taking, and all sorts of other somewhat life-changing things.
Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm trying to keep mine out of my mouth, and trying not to check the website every half an hour.
Yesterday's word count: 27,030 (exactly 2,000 words written!). Today's goal: 28,339. The Helpdesk has been busy this morning, so I haven't gotten any writing done, with the obvious exception of that which you're reading. On the other (really awesome) hand, though, I only have one class today. Matt came down with the flu yesterday, and so cancelled my 2pm and 6pm classes, leaving me with just chemistry at 4pm. Time to get things done...or sleep.
Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm trying to keep mine out of my mouth, and trying not to check the website every half an hour.
Yesterday's word count: 27,030 (exactly 2,000 words written!). Today's goal: 28,339. The Helpdesk has been busy this morning, so I haven't gotten any writing done, with the obvious exception of that which you're reading. On the other (really awesome) hand, though, I only have one class today. Matt came down with the flu yesterday, and so cancelled my 2pm and 6pm classes, leaving me with just chemistry at 4pm. Time to get things done...or sleep.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Day Sixteen
I've hit the half-way point! 25,030 official word count on Saturday the 15th. I'll cheer for myself since I can't hear the rest of you from here.
I've gotten wind, however, that my excerpts are disturbing some people. Apparently they are causing "wondering" about me. While there is always some amount of the writer in the writing, I wouldn't really call my novel a revealing psychological portrait of myself. However, I think I'll stop posting pieces of it, at least for a while. Perhaps until it's done.
Today's goal: 26,672.
I've gotten wind, however, that my excerpts are disturbing some people. Apparently they are causing "wondering" about me. While there is always some amount of the writer in the writing, I wouldn't really call my novel a revealing psychological portrait of myself. However, I think I'll stop posting pieces of it, at least for a while. Perhaps until it's done.
Today's goal: 26,672.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Take a Break? Never!
I'm taking a break from writing...to write. At least I'm writing something different.
Catching up with a day's missed word count is a little more of a struggle than I expected it to be. I've reached 22,518 as of a couple of minutes ago, but my progress is slowing down. I really want to get through the last 800 words today/tonight, but it's amazing how much effort a half day's wordcount can be when you've already done a couple of thousand and you're not in the middle of an inspiring scene.
I'm not one of those writers who can say "This scene is boring me, so I'll skip it and write the next one, and come back to this later." Some part of me demands of some other part of me that I write everything in order. (It's the same part that demands that I fix grammar and spelling errors, even though that's kind of against the rules of NaNo.) My inner Editor is too obsessive-compulsive to let me concetrate on anything else, like writing productively, until that typo staring at me is corrected. Fortunately I type fast, so it doesn't hold me up too much.
This is the point at which I should say "Time for a break!" and go do something ELSE else, that's not blogging, that actually requires me to get up and change my position and surroundings. However, it's raining and cold and dark outside, and I'm entirely uninspired to do anything but remain inside where it's warm and dry. Training myself to actually take breaks while I'm working on something is pretty difficult. Whether it's a novel or a programming project, it seems more productive to sit and stare at the screen and produce nothing than to walk away, even though theoretically I know otherwise.
So here I am, sitting and staring at the screen and producing nothing but whining, bloggable drivel and complaints.
In other news, though, UMass finally got my PUCE transcript. Now it's back to the waiting game. I have my fingers crossed!
Catching up with a day's missed word count is a little more of a struggle than I expected it to be. I've reached 22,518 as of a couple of minutes ago, but my progress is slowing down. I really want to get through the last 800 words today/tonight, but it's amazing how much effort a half day's wordcount can be when you've already done a couple of thousand and you're not in the middle of an inspiring scene.
I'm not one of those writers who can say "This scene is boring me, so I'll skip it and write the next one, and come back to this later." Some part of me demands of some other part of me that I write everything in order. (It's the same part that demands that I fix grammar and spelling errors, even though that's kind of against the rules of NaNo.) My inner Editor is too obsessive-compulsive to let me concetrate on anything else, like writing productively, until that typo staring at me is corrected. Fortunately I type fast, so it doesn't hold me up too much.
This is the point at which I should say "Time for a break!" and go do something ELSE else, that's not blogging, that actually requires me to get up and change my position and surroundings. However, it's raining and cold and dark outside, and I'm entirely uninspired to do anything but remain inside where it's warm and dry. Training myself to actually take breaks while I'm working on something is pretty difficult. Whether it's a novel or a programming project, it seems more productive to sit and stare at the screen and produce nothing than to walk away, even though theoretically I know otherwise.
So here I am, sitting and staring at the screen and producing nothing but whining, bloggable drivel and complaints.
In other news, though, UMass finally got my PUCE transcript. Now it's back to the waiting game. I have my fingers crossed!
Day Fourteen
For the first time, I've actually gotten behind on my wordcount. I didn't write at all on the 12th; just didn't get to it. I'm playing the frantic catch-up game in all my classes, so I spent the day doing homework. I finally got my VB midterm done this morning (it was due Tuesday, but I got an extension). HW07B for Data Structures got finished yesterday (on time! Wow!), and I'm taking my chem exam next Tuesday (which was originally more than a week ago). I also need to start and finish two homeworks for my server class, which the prof says are the most important ones of the semester. Of course.
Last night's word count: 20,708. Today's goal: 23,338. I'm less than a day behind. Hopefully I can catch up this afternoon.
As far as UMass, they are still giving me a hard time about my application. I finally got the business with the fee sorted out, but now they are insisting that they can't look over my application until they have my transcript from PUCE. Since that has to come from Ecuador, one of the slowest countries in the world, I'm worried that it won't get there in time. I have to reply to UMass by December 1st to tell them whether I'll be going. It's November 14th and they're refusing to look over my application. Talk about getting down to the wire. I've emailed Tim and PUCE, my advisor, the admissions officer at UMass, and their dean of admissions (who hasn't seen fit to reply to me yet.) In short, I've talked to everyone I can, and now all I can do is just sit and twiddle and hope that transcript comes through ASAP.
Last night's word count: 20,708. Today's goal: 23,338. I'm less than a day behind. Hopefully I can catch up this afternoon.
As far as UMass, they are still giving me a hard time about my application. I finally got the business with the fee sorted out, but now they are insisting that they can't look over my application until they have my transcript from PUCE. Since that has to come from Ecuador, one of the slowest countries in the world, I'm worried that it won't get there in time. I have to reply to UMass by December 1st to tell them whether I'll be going. It's November 14th and they're refusing to look over my application. Talk about getting down to the wire. I've emailed Tim and PUCE, my advisor, the admissions officer at UMass, and their dean of admissions (who hasn't seen fit to reply to me yet.) In short, I've talked to everyone I can, and now all I can do is just sit and twiddle and hope that transcript comes through ASAP.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Day Twelve
Last night's word count: 18,317. Today's goal: 20,004.
I need a place to put these awesome little NaNo image thingies! So here they are. Like you hadn't figured out already that I'm a participant.
I need a place to put these awesome little NaNo image thingies! So here they are. Like you hadn't figured out already that I'm a participant.
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