Happy Halloween & We're Back In 3, 2, 1...

Greetings, everyone, and happy Halloween!

 

The pumpkin featured in the photo above is named Mabon.

 

He was my pumpkin last year. Sitting in the far left corner of my desk,

he kept me company while I wrote, read, and finished assignments. He

was a great friend and provided a home for a Long-legged Sac Spider.

I don't have a picture of this year's pumpkin, yet, but I'll probably post

a photo of her on Thanksgiving. She will be keeping me company 

throughout NaNoWriMo this year.

And that, my friends, brings us to our next order of business this evening.

**********************************************************

Today is October 31st, also known as Halloween where I'm from.

Also known as one of the busiest weekends of my year.

 

This I was dressed as a cat, I consumed more sugar than I probably should have, and I was cold. I gallivanted from one party to another... to yet another, and I have no pictures to show for it. I ran around out in the rain and fog, went traipsing about in the woods, and spent time drawing on my new digital sketch-pad. Tonight I went Trick-or-Treating - although, I didn't beg for candy because I'm a bit too old for that (Note: This too old bit is up for debate, since my friend insists that one can never be to old to Trick-or-Treat. My neighbors, however, think differently. No more candy for me. So, perhaps this means I need to trick them from now on...).  

 

The point is, I spent most of my weekend having fun and not accomplishing much in the vein of writing. However, as I've already mentioned, it's Halloween. And while Halloween is loads of fun, that also means we're only mere hours off from the start of the new month... 

 

and NaNoWriMo.

**********************************************************

 

For the last month and a half or so, I've been on hiatus. I know that disappointed some of you, but the hiatus actually came around at the perfect time. All of that time away from blogging on-line was supposed to be spent writing new blogs, however, that didn't really work out. I ended up tumbling through the worst bit of my depression thus far, instead. I was sick. Our friend - who had been living with us - left. I started reorganizing my life. I've been trying to finish a project for my family. My room needed to be cleaned (and it's done now). I've been trying to make a decision on which school to go to and what to major in next Fall. And I was having some computer problems, which I think I've fixed.

Basically, I was suddenly very busy. 

It's nearly November 1st now, though, and it's time to get this blog back up and running. Since I couldn't pre-write NaNoWriMo blogs anyway, we'll be seeing literally brand-new material this month. And, while I'm NaNo-ing, I'll also be writing the blogs that should have been completed on my hiatus. So, when NaNoWriMo is over, you'll still be seeing more carefully crafted blogs here. 

The short version? Ink Is Gold is back in action!

 

**********************************************************

 

One last note:

 

I'm excited!

We're about to cross over the line into NaNoLand here in Michigan.

There are a mere twenty minutes standing between us and the novel-ing madness of November.

 

In these last few minutes, I'd like to say: 

Good luck to all of you novelists out there! Let's make this the best ride, yet!

 

I've got my OpenOffice documents up and ready to begin writing the moment midnight strikes.

I've got my outlines open and ready to go.

I've got a cup of hot caramel coffee.

 (In theory) 

I'm ready to go on this novel writing adventure!

 

And to start myself off, I'm going to aim for 7,000 words tonight.

What are your starting goals? Have you hit them, yet?

PS (really cool): Has anyone noticed that the NaNoWriMo site isn't failing under the massive influx of users logging on this year? Thanks Office of Letters and Light for all of the wonderful work you've been doing to update the website and manage the server issues! We love you!

Camp NaNoWriMo And The Brick Wall

Okay, for those of you who don't know already, Camp NaNoWriMo in July is kind of a beta test run. As in, you participate and the people who run this gig - Office Of Letters And Light - look for bugs and what not in the site. (They've already fixed the stats page - which was, apparently, glitching up. I don't know. I didn't see it, but thanks for taking care of that problem OLL!)

Anyway, here's the deal.

July has become extremely busy for me. I'm still participating in the beta Camp NaNoWriMo, but I'm not holding many illusions in my head. There's a pretty good chance I won't finish this month.

The thing is... there's another Camp NaNoWriMo next month! As in, another chance to try my hand a writing 50,000 words in a month. I'm pretty happy about this and I am nearly bouncing in my seat with excitement for the new features coming to Camp NaNoWriMo. Cabins, anyone?

Okay, so, I don't actually know what cabins are, yet, but they look like possible fun.

Hopefully you'll all be joining me next month. 

Now, moving on.

Ever have one of those days where you stumble into a realization that feels more like a brick wall than a thought? And then, for quite a while afterward, you just sit there thinking about said 'wall' and wonder how you failed to notice it before? 

Today was one of those days in my writing world. Except, I think I might have known the brick wall was there and I was, quite possibly, just refusing to look at it.

You see, earlier today, I was watching this video I'm Goin To Summa Camp! Word! and I realized something. 

I have never had a traditional NaNoWriMo experience. 

This is sad, mostly because I have participated in NaNoWriMo three times (four if we're counting this month) and I have never done it properly. The point of NaNoWriMo is to write a lot and fast with "literary abandon". I write a lot... kind of slowly and with a lot of editing in the mix, which is not supposed to be happening. To accentuate my point even further, during this month, I've been working on a rewrite! Which I have a deadline for and it is supposed to be in perfect form... yeah, not a great choice.

So, shout out to LaurenLiterally, because you have inspired me to try something new.

Next month, I'm handing myself over to a real NaNoWriMo experience.

Camp NaNoWriMo

I am horrible about checking my e-mail.

Therefore, before I get to the point, I have to say: Thank you, Neve! Without you, this post would not exist because I hadn't heard of this before you mentioned it.

Moving on. There's some fun stuff happening over at NaNoWriMo.org. Namely, Camp NaNoWriMo has just opened! It even has it's own website, which is mentioned in the 'Breaking News' section of their front page.

For those of you who don't know, Camp NaNoWriMo is a novel writing summer camp created by the lovely people of the Office of Letters and Light. 

Okay, so you don't really get to camp. 

In reality, Camp NaNoWriMo is quite similar to NaNoWriMo. It's premise is the same. 50,000 words, one month. The difference is that Camp NaNoWriMo takes place in the summer, instead of during November - which is a great opportunity for all of us who have exceptionally busy Novembers to take some free time and settle down to write 50,000 words or more without stressing.

Even more fun, is the fact that Camp NaNoWriMo takes place during the month of July... and August. Two months of pure motivation right in a row.

Thank you, Office of Letters and Light! This is excellent.

For those of you who wish to participate, travel over to this link and sign up or sign in!

Camp NaNoWriMo



(I will be participating and, as I mentioned a couple posts ago, the bars on the side of my blog recording writing progress will be changing. 

Anyone in for a little competition?)

PS: Yes, I know it's Thursday. However, this post is relevant to tonight (starting at midnight), so I thought it was appropriate to post it early. Next week, things will run on schedule.